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Jared was an idiot.
A giant, immature, candy devouring, animal loving idiot.
“You hired a babysitter…for your dogs? A…a dog sitter?”
“Yeah,” Jared grinned, rubbing Harley behind the ears before tossing the torn-up tennis ball as far as he could, grinning at the two golden-brown blurs that went racing across the park.
“You do realize, you’re like, with them, all the time right? Why the hell do they need a sitter?”
Jared shrugged, clapping and laughing as Harley and Sadie wrestled in the grass.
“’Cause I feel bad leaving them alone as much as I do, we work crazy long hours.”
“You bring your dogs to set dude.”
“Yeah, but I’m not always there with them.”
“It’s a waste of money,” Jensen grumbled, bending over to pet Sadie when she came over and bumped his hand looking for affection.
“You’re not paying for it,” Jared grinned, flopping down on the grass and struggling to keep Harley from attacking his face.
Jensen rolled his eyes and sat down next to him.
“No, but it’s still a waste of money.”
“Wait, wait, wait…she’s coming from Florida?”
“Yup,” Jared chirped, making them sandwiches.
“And she’s driving…”
“Yup.”
“And you’ve never met her…”
“Dude, chill out,” Jared laughed, handing over a sandwich and a beer before walking into his living room. “No,” he told Harley and Sadie when they sniffed to see what he had in his hands.
“She could be some sort of like, serial killer, that’s going to kill you and steal your dogs for a secret dog fighting ring.”
Jared laughed, spray of bread crumbs from his lips.
“I’m so sure that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Dude, I’ve been talking to her for almost a month now.”
Jensen rolled his eyes and flipped through the TV menu until he found the game.
“Is she like, insured and bonded or something?”
“Nope, but she’s got enough experience.”
“So she’s not even professional? Or…wait…is there even such a thing as a professional…dog…sitter?”
“No idea,” Jared shrugged. “I just ran an ad, she called, we talked, sent some emails, Skyped. I like her, she seems cool…and a fan. She’s bringing her own dog too.”
“Oh great, so we’re gonna have another monster running around.”
Jared laughed, “Actually from the pictures and what she’s told me about Dayzee, maybe these two can learn a few manners,” he grinned, rubbing Sadie’s stomach with his foot.
“So she’s a trainer?”
“Nope, but she’s got experience. On top of her own pets she’s worked for a groomer and even helped take care of and train horses and llamas!”
“Llamas?” Jensen asked with a shocked look on his face, before finally rolling his eyes again and took a bite of his sandwich before he called Jared and idiot to his face.
Jensen was actually surprised when she showed up.
He was expecting some fresh out of high school all smiles school girl, expected her to show up in a Civic and was expecting Daisy to be some little yellow-gold chihuahua.
Tayla was actually in her early twenties, drove an old school Monte Carlo with a rumble that would make Dean proud and Dayzee was a jet black border collie that had Jensen wondering if she had any wolf in her background.
“Hey guys,” she grinned, pulling her seat forward so Dayzee could hop down out of the backseat.
Jensen’s eyebrow arched when Dayzee looked straight at him, then Jared and then turned back to watch Tayla.
“Hey Tay,” Jared grinned, pulling her into a hug before crouching down towards Dayzee and holding his hand out for her to sniff.
She glanced at Tayla again before hesitantly sticking her nose out, eyes glued to Jared suspiciously when he reached up to scratch her head.
“Give her a couple days,” Tayla said, petting Dayzee to let her know she was okay.
“Tayla this is Jensen, which I’m sure you know already. Jensen, this is Tayla.”
“Nice to meet you,” he smiled, reaching out to shake her hand, before copying Jared and letting Dayzee sniff it. “She’s a gorgeous dog.”
“Thanks,” Tayla grinned, “I definitely got lucky with her.”
Jensen smirked.
Lucky didn’t quite describe it. Jensen was convinced Tayla got Dayzee from another planet.
“Is she gonna start talking to me soon?” he asked, nervously looking away from the non-blinking stare Dayzee had fixed him with for the past two minutes.
“If she does can you tell her I’ve been friggin’ waiting,” Tayla laughed from the kitchen, coming back out with a beer for both of them, killing time until Jared finished his shower.
“She’s just…staring at me,” he said, still watching Dayzee who finally looked away and wagged her tail when Tayla came back into the room.
“Yeah,” she shrugged, “she does that.”
Not that Jensen ever really doubted that Tayla wasn’t qualified to look after Jared’s dogs but only a week after she had gotten there he realized why Jared had hired her.
He came out of the bathroom in Jared’s room to see her standing in his closet literally not breathing because she was trying so hard not to laugh.
His eyebrow arched and he could have sworn he had neon letters across his forehead that spelled out ‘WTF.’
She just silently giggled more and put her finger to her lips.
All of a sudden Dayzee came bounding down the hall and into the room, stopping dead in front of Jensen and staring at him.
It wasn’t the first time he felt like the dog was reading his mind.
His eyes quick shot over to Tayla before bouncing back to Dayzee and as if Dayzee had seen the tiny movement her head whipped around to see Tayla who busted into giggles as Dayzee bounced over and started flailing her front paws with Tayla that made Jensen think of doggie boxing.
Then she turned around and ran back out, snorting down the hall and her tail hitting with loud thunks all the way out to the living room.
He finally turned back to Tayla, his eyebrow still arched.
“You’re playing hide and seek with your dog?”
Tayla shushed him, nodded and took off to her own bedroom trying not to giggle, shooting a look down the hallway to make sure Dayzee didn’t see her.
Jensen still stood frozen for a minute more before chuckling softly and shaking his head.
He had to plaster himself to the hallway wall as Dayzee went running past him to go find Tayla again. He made it to the living room just in time for Jared to come through the door with the dinner he had gone out to pick up.
“What?” he asked, stopping right inside the door at the look Jensen gave him.
“Your roommate’s a freak.”
Jared cocked his head, brow scrunching in confusion right before Tayla came pounding down the hallway with Dayzee flailing right behind her. She hit her knees right inside the kitchen threshold and slid across the tile as Dayzee pounced, laughing the whole way.
Jared started laughing and Jensen turned back from where he was watching over his shoulder and cocked his eyebrow at Jared.
“See?”
“Who’s winning?” Jared laughed, taking the styrofoam containers to the kitchen.
“Well Dayzee cheated and asked Jensen for help,” she laughed, tousling Dayzee’s head.
Jared shook his head as he took their dinner out of the plastic bags.
“Traitor,” he said, giving Jensen a disapproving look that was ruined by his wide smile and dimples.
Jensen just shook his head and laughed.
When the door flew open Dayzee jumped up, bouncing up and down on her front legs as Tayla cheerfully announced ‘mommy’s home!’
She had a fifty pound bag of dog food slung over her shoulder and Jensen’s first thought was why would they need that much food? But then again, Harley had always had a more than healthy appetite and add in the fact that Dayzee was there now and they had three dogs and well, he could understand.
His second thought was ‘holy shit she’s got fifty pounds on her shoulder’ and he jumped up, hearing his momma in the back of his head scolding him for being such a poor Texas boy and having no manners.
“Shit, that’s gotta be heavy, here lemme help you,” he said, stepping over where Sadie was sleeping at his feet.
“It’s alright, I got it,” she grinned, “After spending half my life hauling around hay bales and bags of horse feed, I can manage,” she said, tuning down the hallway to the laundry room.
He was kinda impressed of the fact that she could handle the large bag, liked that she wasn’t some girly girl push over. Then Jensen deflated, feeling strangely inadequate and turned to chug the rest of his beer quickly before he could analyze the fact that he just might have offered to take the bag in order to impress her.
They were in between scenes and Tayla brought the dogs out to one of the open areas of set and the three of them hung out on their break and played fetch with them.
Somehow, which nobody ever figured out how, a stray dog made it onto set that day.
“Shit,” Jared hissed behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder to see him and Jensen scramble to grab Harley and Sadie’s collars. Dayzee however was halfway across the open lot, making her way to where the chewed-up tennis ball had landed.
It wasn’t until then that Tayla saw the stray, mangy and thin, and watched it charge at Dayzee.
Tayla pushed off at about the same time, streaking across the concrete and tuned out the shouts from Jared and Jensen behind her.
She almost jumped the last few feet, grabbing a hold of the scruff the strange dog’s neck and yanked him clear off his feet. She made sure Dayzee was busy running back to the boys before she turned back.
The dog spun, lashing out and Tayla jammed her hand into its mouth. It bit down once before she was able to grab a hold of its lower jaw and tongue, preventing it from biting down again.
In a matter of seconds she had the dog flipped onto its back, hand still in its mouth and pinned down beneath her weight, growling deep in her throat at it.
By that time some crew members were rushing over and she could hear Jensen running up behind her.
Jared had manhandled the dogs into the nearest trailer and the crew stumbled to a halt, sudden flurry of activity. Someone had some first aid tape that they quick taped the dog’s muzzle shut with and there were ropes and hands everywhere trying to fasten a makeshift collar and leash.
She felt Jensen’s hand come down on her shoulder to try to pull her away from the mess.
“Shit! Are you okay?!”
“I’m fine,” Tayla snapped, wrenching her arm from his grip, still forcibly controlling the dog while the crew managed to slip the rope over his head, one of the PA’s off to the side on the phone to get animal control’s number.
She’d been bitten by the dog.
And he didn’t look at it.
She didn’t let him look at it. She had just growled and ran off, hand red with blood, tires leaving black stripes on the pavement. She had freaking growled. Like, deep in her throat animal growl.
Or it might have been the dog but Jensen was pretty damn sure it was her.
But Jesus Christ, she had been bitten by a dog. She could be infected, with…with rabies, or distemper…or the black plague.
And okay, so that last one wasn’t really a threat but she’d been bitten by a dog. Jensen was pretty sure that was about the same as sticking an open wound into a septic tank, or you know…something like that.
And she had run off, she wasn’t answering the phone for him or Jared and now he was at home, pacing a small hole into the carpet and freaking the fuck out over the fact that she had been bitten and hadn’t let him check it out.
And okay, maybe the fact that that was what had him so twisted in knots was just as scary.
He so needed beer for this shit.
The plan was to get her out of his head for the night. And if that required taking a keg home well then…fine.
She was a master at avoidance. They had spent the better half of a day roaming around Vancouver looking for the cream colored Monte Carlo, but no matter how freaking noticeable that car was they couldn’t spot it anywhere. Afterwards Jensen pretty much killed the battery on his phone, calling her nonstop until she turned hers off, which then prompted him to leave messages until he was told by a computer generated voice that her mailbox was full.
So he really wasn’t expecting to see her sitting at the bar, a beer in her hand, the white of a bandage wrapped around her palm stark against the amber of the bottle.
He slid silently onto the stool next to her, nodding at the bartender who brought over a beer for him and a fresh bottle for Tayla.
“I got this one,” he nodded to the kid and he watched her hand wrap around the new wet bottle, waited for the clumsy attempt at holding it that never came, watched her handle the slick glass like there was nothing wrong with her hand and all he wanted to do was yank it underneath the small hanging light over his head and rip the fucking bandage off so he could see for himself.
“Don’t,” she said, short and curt, lifting the bottle to her lips.
Jensen watched its entire trip from the table to her mouth and back again.
“What?” he mumbled.
“I can hear you thinking, you’re about to say sorry. Don’t.”
She was right of course. As soon as he had shifted his brain from the ‘oh god’ gear into the ‘welcome back to the present’ his first thought had been to apologize.
He also knew however, that she hated that.
Unless you were directly responsible for whatever had happened the last thing she wanted to hear from you was that you were sorry. It was a pet peeve of hers. Kind of like people assuming she didn’t know about cars because she had a vagina.
Or gravy on her mashed potatoes.
“What?” he asked when he finally realized she had said something.
“Did you drive here?” she said slowly, eyebrow arched like she was talking to brain damaged invalid who was drooling and she was waiting for his double blink of a response.
“No,” he finally mumbled, blinking twice subconsciously.
“Good, ‘cause we’re taking my car.”
He wasn’t sure what that meant. She took her car everywhere but he wasn’t sure where she wanted to go.
He followed her anyways.
Turns out they were taking her car to his apartment.
She didn’t even wait for him to get out before she was headed into the lobby, using her spare key, both Jared and her had one, and went in without him.
He felt like a scolded puppy, which should really be Jared’s territory and then he got to thinking about her basically being a dog trainer and scolding him and he remembered that he had gone out with the intention of getting beer…lots and lots of beer.
He followed her into the kitchen just in time to see her close the fridge door with, hallelujah, two beers in hand.
He nodded and took the offered bottle in silence, head hung low in a useless attempt to not stare at the white gauze wrapped around her palm.
She took a sip of her beer before she set it on the counter behind her with a muted thunk.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, making him look up at her with wide eyes.
“Wha…”
“I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. I was running high on adrenaline and I snapped at you.”
Jensen was too busy gaping like a fish to respond at all so she continued.
“I just…” she sighed, eyes darting downward and away from him. “When I get like that…when I start running on adrenaline, I just…I tend to fight first, ask questions later.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Jensen mumbled.
She smirked and looked back up at him. “I’m sorry alright, I know you were trying to help, but I was so hyped up and you just…you wouldn’t leave it alone.”
“You got bit by a dog Tay, what the hell was I supposed to do? Act like nothing happened?”
“It wasn’t that bad! I’ve had worse. Everything was just a mad scramble and I was ramped up and you wouldn’t freaking drop it!”
She sighed and scrubbed her hands over her face, staring at the white gauze wrapped around her palm when she dropped them.
“Did you at least see a doctor?” he asked quietly, propping his hands on the counter behind him.
“No.”
“What…”
“It’s really not that bad,” she cut him off, picking at the end of the bandage. “Couple days and it’ll be fine.”
“Damnit, Tay a dog bit you, what part of that aren’t you getting? It’s like, mandatory for you get tested for rabies.”
“I don’t have rabies,” she said shooting him an annoyed look.
“How the hell do you know?”
“’Cause I know…damnit Jensen, this is what I mean….you just…drop it,” she growled, reminding him of the rumble he heard in her throat on set.
He clenched his jaw and stared at her for a moment before shaking his head and finally looking away.
“Fuck,” she mumbled, “I came here to not fight with you.”
“I’m not gonna apologize for being worried about you,” he said quietly.
“I know,” she sighed. “I just…the way I grew up, unless you broke a bone or something you didn’t go to a doctor. Hell, the last time I went to a doctor for anything I was in middle school. I just…I deal with shit myself, that’s just who I am Jen.”
“I know,” he said softly, knowing where she had come from, how strapped for cash they had always been. “But it doesn’t have to be like that anymore. You can afford it, hell, me and Jared can afford it…”
“No,” she cut out, looking back up at him. “I’m not taking handouts…”
“Damnit Tay, that’s not what this is about.”
“Jensen…”
He stopped when he heard the crack in her voice. He knew how hard this stuff hit her. Jared paid her more than enough and yet she still shopped at Target and refused to splurge.
“I know,” he said quietly.
They stood in a thick silence for a minute before Tayla held out her hand, meeting his eyes after he looked at her quizzically.
“I know you wanna check it out,” she smirked.
He fumbled with his hands for a minute, slipping his thumbs into his pockets, like he was trying to prove that he didn’t want, didn’t need, to check it out for himself.
“Jensen.”
He sighed and reached out tentatively, being overly cautious about peeling the gauze away. Unwrapping it until he could see the mottled red and purple ragged wound across her palm, matching mauve bruises on the back of her hand.
“Jesus…”
“It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise,” she said quietly, letting him cradle her hand in his.
He shot her a look that said he clearly didn’t believe it but he didn’t respond, not wanting to get back into the argument they had just had.
He sighed again, slipping his fingers up to wrap around her wrist and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
He dropped his head into the crook of her neck when he felt her fingers curl into the fabric of his t-shirt.
“I was worried about you,” he whispered.
“I know,” she said back, and he could feel the heat of her breath against his collarbone.
“Don’t pull that running off shit again either, you scared the crap outta me,” he smirked, squeezing her tighter before pulling back enough to see her eyes.
She grinned back, “’Kay.”
He watched her in silence before he swallowed hard and broke the silence.
“You wanna stay here? It’s late, Jared’s probably asleep already.”
“Yeah,” she nodded, looking over at the microwave clock. “I kinda don’t wanna go through his interrogation right now anyways,” she grinned.
Jensen nodded with his own smile.
“I’m gonna go steal your shower,” she grinned, “You wanna maybe pick a movie or something?”
“Sure,” he grinned, watching her as she went down the hall.
“Have you seen Shooter?” he asked when he heard her shuffling back down the hallway after her shower.
“Yeah, but it’s been awhile.”
“Any good?”
“Yeah, it’s a little confusing but pretty kick ass, I’m game for watching it again,” she said making her way into the living room.
He selected the movie off the pay-per-view screen and finally looked up at her to see her in a pair of his pajama pants and one of his worn-out t-shirts.
“I’d been wearing those clothes all day, they were getting kinda rank,” she grinned, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and kicking at his leg until he scooted over enough in the oversized chair he was sitting in for her to squeeze in next to him, draping the misty blue micro fiber blanket over both of them.
“It’s all good,” he mumbled, letting his arm settle around her as she curled into his chest and the movie started playing.
After the movie it dissolved into a giggling fight about where she was going to sleep.
He was adamant that he wasn’t going to let her sleep on the couch, what kind of gentleman would he be? But she refused to kick him out of his own bed and after much chasing and tickling and threats of personal harm he finally convinced her that they both would fit into the bed, it was a king after all.
When he came out of the bathroom, flicking off the light he saw her tense as steel as far over on the side of the bed as she could be.
“I’m not gonna bite,” he grinned, lifting the blanket to climb in beside her.
“I know…it’s just…Jared tends to flail in his sleep. Don’t wanna get a black eye,” she said, shooting him a grin. She had found that out the hard way the first week she was in town and Jared did give her a black eye before the bed she ordered had been delivered.
He could tell by the way she had paused though that that was just an excuse.
“I can sleep on the couch if this makes you uncomfortable.”
She rolled over onto her back and glared at him.
“I told you, I’m not kicking you out of your own bed. You pull some shit like that and I’ll just leave.”
Jensen rolled his eyes, repositioning his pillow.
“I just…I’ve never really…”
“You’ve never slept with anyone before?”
Her eyebrow arched.
“You know what I meant,” he grinned.
“Not really, I mean, yeah when I was a kid and I’d stay overnight at my grandparents’ or my sister’s or something, I just…I dunno, I get tense. When I’m by myself I’ll turn over and move and shit in the night. There’s been times I’ve woken up with my head at the foot of the bed, or even without a shirt on once,” she laughed. “But I dunno, whenever I slept over I would just like, freeze, on the edge of the bed and that’s where I would wake up,” she shrugged, trying to downplay the suddenly intimate turn conversation they were having had taken.
“That can’t be very restful.”
She chuckled, “Naw, it’s really not.”
“What about guys?” he finally asked.
There was no teasing or shock in his tone, he was honestly curious and trying to actually have this conversation with her, which is the only reason she let herself continue.
“Not really. I mean…well, you know, I have,” she mumbled, skipping over actually saying it, “But it wasn’t anything…cuddly,” she said, waving her hand as she tried to pick a word.
“That’s bullshit.”
She looked back over at him in surprise.
“I mean…least they could do…”
“Oh my god, don’t finish that sentence,” she grinned, making him laugh.
“I’m serious though, that’s crap, that in your entire life…” he paused, blinking at her like a light bulb had just been turned on.
“What?” she asked quietly, not sure she wanted the answer.
“You’ve never been held have you?”
“Jesus,” she hissed, rolling her eyes and turning onto her side, putting her back to him.
“No, hey…come on Tay,” he said softly, reaching out to grab her shoulder and roll her back towards him. “I’m serious here.”
“What are you my shrink now?”
“If you want me to be,” he said plainly.
“Fuck,” she hissed again, reaching up to rub her hands over her face.
“That’s all it ever was, wasn’t it?” he asked. “Fucking,” he finally added quietly.
“We are so not having this conversation.”
“I’ll drop it if you really want me to, but I just…I don’t know, I feel like I should know this already, how lame of a friend am I that I don’t even know that the only guys you’ve been with have been douche bags?”
She rolled her eyes at him again.
“I’m serious Tay, I’ll go sleep on the couch if you want me to. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable.”
“And I’m serious, I’m not kicking you out of your own bed. I’ll deal.”
“Tay…”
“Drop it Jensen.”
He sighed, “Alright,” he said quietly, watching her as she rolled back over onto her side, turning her back to him.
The silence between them seemed oppressive to him. He knew he had pushed it. Knew he really had no right to ask her the things he had, the things he wanted to. But at the same time she was his friend and even if they hadn’t known each other all that long in the grand scheme of things she was pretty high up on his list and he felt like he should know these things.
He knew about her past, the way she had grown up, her parents and siblings. Her dogs and old jobs and it hit him just then, watching her stay tensed on the edge of the bed, that she had never once mentioned any kind of relationship or boyfriend.
He felt like an ass for never noticing it before.
“I’ve just been fucking up all day haven’t I?” he asked quietly, reaching across the space between them to run his hand gently down her back, his own t-shirt soft and worn under his fingertips.
He could feel her sigh, the way her ribs pressed against his hand.
“You didn’t fuck up Jensen,” she said softly. “I just…I don’t like to talk about shit. You know that.”
He nodded, knowing she couldn’t see him and let his hand sweep back and forth across her back. She was still tense and he could tell she was trying not to let herself relax into the touch.
“Jen…” she whispered.
“Sshh,” he hushed her, shifting so he could increase the pressure and knead his hand into her tense muscles.
He refused to let himself contemplate what he was doing. She was uncomfortable and edgy and the only thing he allowed himself to focus on was the fact that his impromptu backrub was starting to make her relax a little, whether she wanted to or not.
“Bastard,” she mumbled, relaxing against his hand.
“What?” he chuckled.
“I’m a sucker for backrubs.”
“So I see,” he laughed when she kicked back against his shin.
“Why don’t you take your bra off?” he asked, fingers tripping over the strap underneath her shirt. “Can’t be comfortable sleeping in it.”
She shot him a look over her shoulder and smirked. “Why? So you can cop a feel?”
“Hey,” he grinned back. “I’d at least buy you dinner first.”
She laughed again.
“Seriously, it can’t be good to keep ‘em all…wrapped up like that all day,” he joked, tugging on the strap.
“Dude…did you seriously just say that?” she grinned, looking over her shoulder at him again.
“What?” he grinned back, shrugging, “I’m free ballin.’”
“Dude! TMI!” she laughed, kicking him in the shin again.
“Ow! Hey, stop!” he laughed, draping his own leg over hers so she couldn’t kick back again.
Before she could wiggle herself free his hand slipped up hot against the skin of her back and she felt the hooks give way on her bra.
“Oh my god, you did not just do that,” she said, half pissed, half laughing as she sat up.
Jensen laughed and dodged her hands as she tried to slap him.
“You little asshole.”
“I’m serious, just…relax a little,” he said still grinning.
She glared at him but pulled her arms inside the baggy t-shirt and had the bra slipped out one of the sleeves in a couple seconds.
“Impressive,” he smirked.
She shrugged with a grin, “It’s a girl thing.”
He grinned back before hesitantly reaching up to tug on the hem of his t-shirt that she was wearing.
“C’mere.”
“Jensen…”
“Just…just let me take care of you for tonight,” he said quietly, watching his fingers wrap in the soft cotton of the shirt before finally meeting her eyes again.
She held his eyes for a second before nervously looking away, down at his hand.
“C’mere,” he said softly again, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her back down into the bed.
She let him pull her down next to him, fitting his chest flush against her back with his arm around her waist.
“Just relax hun,” squeezing softly, feeling the way every muscle in her body had tensed.
“Easier said than done,” she whispered back.
He rumbled a laugh in his chest and planted a kiss on her cheek before settling behind her.
He slowly slipped his fingers down her arm until he could tease the swollen flesh around the wound on her hand.
She watched the way his fingers moved over her palm, letting him tangle them together softly.
“Promise me something,” he said quietly behind her.
“Hmm?”
“If it doesn’t start to heal…
“Jensen,” she huffed.
“Just…” he cut her off, “If it doesn’t start to heal right, or it gets infected or something, just…let me take you to the doctor,” he finished quietly.
He still had his fingers threaded through hers.
“Please,” he whispered, his breath ghosting across the back of her neck and she couldn’t stop the shiver that raced its way down her spine.
“Yeah,” she whispered back. “Yeah, okay.”
He squeezed his arm around her again, fingers still linked with hers and she felt his nose settle somewhere around the crook of her neck before he settled into sleep.
Jensen groaned, ignoring his cell phone that was slowly vibrating its way across his end table.
“Jen,” Tayla whispered, elbowing him in the stomach. “Jensen, wake up.”
“Ans’r” he mumbled.
Her brow scrunched before she was able to decipher what he had just mumbled against the back of her neck.
She laughed against him, swatting at his hand that was on her stomach.
“Jensen, it’s your phone,” she grinned.
“So,” he mumbled again, “You answer.”
She laughed again, “I can’t reach it.”
He finally groaned, rolling away from her long enough to grab his phone off the end table behind him, instantly rolling back and burying his face back against her neck, phone basically lying against the side of his head.
“’Lo?”
“’Bout damn time you picked up the phone!” Jared said hysterically. “Man, I thought she would have come back last night but I just woke up and she’s not here and I’m really starting to get worried and I tried calling her phone but she’s still got it off…” he started rambling, unaware or unconcerned at the fact that Jensen was still asleep for the most part and only getting one out of every two or three words.
“…and Dayzee’s freaking out and I’m freaking out which makes her freak out more…”
“Dude, she’s here with me,” Jensen slurred against her neck, as if Jared should have known that already.
“WHAT?!” Jared cried though the phone.
Tayla laughed as she felt Jensen cringe, turning his head away from the phone, his nose dragging over her neck.
“Talk to her!” he mumbled shoving the phone at her.
She reached up and took the phone from him, laughing again at his appreciative snuffle.
“Jared?”
“Oh my god! Jesus Tay, you scared the crap outta me!!”
“Sorry!” she quick cut him off, not wanting him to get started into another hysterical tirade.
“I just needed some time yesterday, ran into Jensen at a bar and came back here. It was late and we figured you’d already be asleep so I just crashed here.”
“Tell me you’re okay,” Jared sighed and she could practically see his shoulders falling.
“I’m fine, I promise.”
“Thank god,” he breathed out. “Dayzee’s upset,” he finally added and she could hear the grin in his tone.
“I don’t doubt it,” she smiled, “I’ll be home later.”
“Why don’t we meet for lunch, drag Jensen’s lazy ass outta bed.”
She laughed again, “Sounds good, where?”
“How ‘bout that lil café over by set?”
“Sure, how about….” she leaned over to see the clock over Jensen’s shoulder, “One o’clock?”
“Sounds good, see ya babe,” Jared said, before hanging up.
“Here,” Tayla smiled, plopping the phone on Jensen’s cheek with a smack.
He groaned, reaching up blindly to grab it and put it back on the nightstand behind him before he once again buried his face in the back of her neck.
“We gotta get up soon, we’re meeting Jared for lunch.”
There was an unintelligible mumble from behind her that made her laugh again.
“You’ve got a half hour and then you’re getting out of bed, taking a shower and we’re meeting him.”
He grumbled again but nuzzled against her and pulled her tighter against his chest.
She laid quietly in the golden haze that was filtering through the curtains and thought he had fallen back asleep.
“Hey,” he mumbled.
“Hmm?”
“You sleep okay?” he asked quietly, sitting up enough to peek over her shoulder, squeezing his arm around her lightly to make sure she knew his meaning.
“Yeah,” she finally said after a minute, “Yeah I did,” she said twisting enough to smile at him.
“Good,” he grinned back, squeezing her again and planting a lazy kiss behind her ear before he snuggled back down into his pillow, his nose still pushed against the back of her neck.
“Jared!” Tayla called from the kitchen.
She could hear him crashing down the stairs, no doubt knocking over boxes and making the general mess from moving in even worse.
Jensen appeared from where he was unpacking his own room down the hall and they both laughed when they heard a cuss and the distinct thud of Jared hitting the floor.
“Huh?” he asked, finally appearing, hair a mess.
“You packed the kitchen, where are the rest of the boxes?”
“That’s them,” he said, motioning to the cardboard massacre around her feet.
“It can’t be, we’re missing like all our pots and pans and things.”
“Those stayed at the apartment.”
“Why?!”
“Cus they came with the apartment?” he answered slowly, hoping to not get in trouble.
“Fuck,” she hissed, craning her head back and covering her eyes with her hand.
She finally sighed and held out a hand, “Credit card, give me, now.”
Jared’s eyes went wide and he glanced over at Jensen.
“Why are you looking at me?!”
“Well why do I have to pay?! Your name’s on the house too!”
“Dude! You eat more! Therefore you should buy the cooking supplies!”
Jared paused, mouth open in affronted shock.
“Yeah okay, I see you’re point,” he shrugged, pulling out his wallet.
Tayla glanced over at Jensen and they both smirked.
Not a week later they boys came home from set, kicking their shoes off by the door like they had everyday since they moved in. Jared groaned and was already headed towards the kitchen where Tayla was making dinner when Jensen snagged the back of his collar and choked him, pulling him back towards the living room entry.
“Ugh, dude what?”
Jensen just pointed, hand still wrapped in Jared’s collar.
Tayla had gotten squares of cork board and literally paneled an entire wall of the living room with them. But amidst the squares she had tacked up a couple dozen pictures of them together and separately, friends and family.
“That’s pretty friggin’ sweet,” Jared said quietly.
Jensen just smiled and hugged her when they made it to the kitchen.
“It’s awesome,” he whispered before heading upstairs to change.
“Bath time!” she grinned.
Dayzee’s head fell, tail barely wagging and she plastered her ears to her head.
Jensen laughed, “Looks like someone’s not fond of that idea.”
“She says that now,” Tayla grinned, planting her hands on her hips, “But when she gets out she’ll break something jumping around so much.”
Jensen laughed again as Dayzee walked past Tayla and into the bathroom. Tayla simply pointed once at the tub and Dayzee climbed over the side and stood there.
“I want mine to do that,” Jared pouted, leashes in hand for Harley and Sadie.
“Tell me about it,” Jensen grinned, dodging a goodhearted cuff to the back of the head. “If I could be guaranteed I’d get a dog like her,” he said pointing to Dayzee, who turned to look at him, “Then I’d adopt one, but I’d end up getting saddled with some dumb mutt like you,” he grinned, ducking away from Jared’s hand again.
“Then you’d just have to hire me as your trainer,” Tayla grinned.
Except the only thing that came to mind when she said ‘trainer’ had nothing to do with dogs and Jensen swallowed hard.
Jared grinned, “I’m gonna take these guys for a walk so I won’t have to let them out after they’re wet, that kinda defeats the purpose.”
“Alright,” Tayla grinned, throwing some towels into the sink in the bathroom. “I should be done with her by then so that works.”
Twenty minutes later and Jensen had to piss.
And of freaking course they were currently down to one bathroom. Jared had just bought the house the month before. The apartment he had been renting got pretty small with an extra body and an extra dog around. He went ahead and splurged and got one big enough for all three of them, six with the furchildren, since Jensen was over all the time anyways.
But the bathroom in Jared’s master bedroom was being remodeled, which left the one Tayla was currently in for her and Jensen.
Which normally wasn’t a problem, but damnit, Jensen needed to pee.
He had even contemplated using a tree in the backyard, but it was freezing outside. And it had started raining…which didn’t exactly help with his needing to freaking piss problem.
“Tay? You almost done?” he knocked on the bathroom door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and feeling like an idiot.
“Not really,” she called back, “Why, is Jared back?”
“No but…I gotta pee.”
She laughed, which really didn’t help Jensen feel like any less of a moron.
“It’s alright Jen, you can come in.”
He cracked the door open and could make out the hazy form of her crouched down in the tub through the murky shower doors and rushed over to the toilet, his bladder seeming to sense that he was close and not willing to wait any longer.
He kept an eye on her, nervously waiting for her to look over or something as he whipped his dick out, but after he had his junk tucked back in and the toilet flushed and she still hadn’t looked up from where she was scrubbing Dayzee down he kinda felt like a dirty old man, watching her while he peed.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Umm…yeah,” he said nervously.
“Can you hand me my shampoo?”
Jensen’s brow furrowed but he reached up to the top of the shower doors and grabbed the green bottle off the top of the track.
“I thought you washed them with regular dish soap.”
“I do,” she said, soapy hand sliding the door open.
And holy shit she was naked, Jensen quick whipped his head to the side and held out his hand for her to take the bottle, fumbling to sit down on the closed toilet lid as he lost his balance.
“But regular shampoo makes the white on her chest cleaner than the Dawn does,” she finished, as if nothing had happened.
Jensen glanced out of the corner of his eye to see her squirt her shampoo into her hand before scrubbing down the white blaze of hair on Dayzee’s chest.
“Oh don’t give me those puppy dog eyes,” he groaned, looking up to see Dayzee pinning him with a pitiful gaze. “I hate when you do that.”
Tayla laughed and grabbed the shower head to rinse away the soap.
“You gotta talk to your mom girl, I’m not qualified to let you out.”
“Daddy’s not gonna give you a get out of the tub free card so just chill,” Tayla grinned, rinsing Dayzee’s back off.
“Daddy?”
Tayla shrugged and looked up at him where he was sitting on the toilet. “You and Jare are the closest she’s had, well, except for my Dad, and that’s kinda messed up,” she grinned and Jensen laughed.
Jensen fumbled again and looked away when Tayla stepped out of the shower, closing the door behind her and grabbing a towel to dry off with.
“Shake,” she said, looking at Dayzee who was staring at her through the crack in the door.
“Damn,” Jensen grinned when sure enough, Dayzee shook, the water confined to the shower stall.
Tayla laughed, hooking the closure on her bra and pulling on a pair of jeans.
She opened the door to the shower, towel in hand and Dayzee hopped out, standing patiently, wet tail going a mile a minute and slapping his leg over and over as Tayla rubbed her down.
“We’re back!” Jared called down the hall
“Just in time,” Tayla grinned, opening the door and letting Dayzee run out, towel dragging along behind her.
Jared grinned, looking over at Jensen.
“You peeping on my girl while she washes the dogs?” he grinned.
And whoa, did Jared actually mean his girl? He had never gotten those vibes. No way he had missed that.
Tayla laughed and pushed Jared in the chest and went down the hall to finish rubbing Dayzee down with the towel. “Just gimme a minute and I’ll do your two monsters.”
“Why are you even here dude?! Leave!”
“But it feels weird! How many times have only one of us had time off?!”
“Damnit Jensen, if you don’t leave I’m gonna have Clif throw your ass out.”
Jensen just arched his eyebrow. “Clif won’t touch me, he loves me more than you.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Jared grinned.
Tayla was kicked back in Jared’s director’s chair, watching the verbal tennis match between the boys and trying her damnedest not to laugh out loud.
“It feels weird,” Jensen whined.
“I know you don’t believe me, but I’m a grown up, I’m perfectly capable of working by myself. Now for god’s sake Jensen, take your time off. I’m happy for you man! I’m not bitter or pissed or…okay, maybe I’m a little bit jealous, but sooner or later it’ll be me with an extended weekend while Kripke and Co. works your ass to the bone so for the love of GOD just…take Tayla to LA or something!” he finished, throwing his hands in the air.
“Hey! Why are you dragging me into your dysfunctional workaholic marriage crisis?!”
Jensen turned to glare at her.
“Please, I’m begging you Tay, you know if he stays here he’s just gonna be on set everyday, which completely defeats the purpose of having time off,” he finished, shooting Jensen a look over his shoulder.
“Shut up Sasquatch.”
So of course, Jensen and Tayla had tickets for a flight to sunny Californ-i-a in the morning, Jared grinning his ass off as he waved them off and Jensen glaring daggers out the window of the SUV at him.
Not that he was against the trip, he was looking forward to showing Tayla around, she had never been to California, and given she was living with the two of them that was just kind of…weird.
But still, he just felt, wrong, leaving Jared alone, working, after so many years of being back to back against it all.
“Calm the hell down, jesus,” Tayla hissed next to him, smiling at Clif who laughed quietly in the front seat.
“I hate you all,” Jensen pouted, hunkering down in his seat and crossing his arms.
He calmed down during the flight. He knew Jared was right, were their positions reversed he would have been kicking Jared’s ass off set too. And the further south, into the warm southern weather they went was just putting him in better and better spirits.
“So where you wanna go first?” he asked, leaning into Tayla.
She just arched her brow and grinned at him, “You’re the native…you tell me.”
“I’m a Texan thank you very much,” he shot back, pretending he was insulted.
She stuck out her tongue and it dissolved into a childish pushing match until one of the flight attendants actually came by and shushed them. Which just resulted in more giggles.
It was gonna be a good trip.
By the time they landed at LAX Jensen had a super secret grand plan and was feeling good. He looped his arm around Tayla’s neck and marched them straight to the rental car counter. Tayla wanted a pickup and Jensen just laughed and told the lady behind the counter to hook them up.
From there Jensen went straight to the nearest Target and they grabbed a cooler and snacks and beer and generally pissed everyone off in the store with their running around and laughing, yelling Marco and Polo across the aisles.
Pretty much everyone was glaring at them as they checked out and Jensen dumped the ice and some of the snacks into the cooler right there by the bags. Their own cashier just chuckled and called them cute.
After much wrestling with bungee cords, and each other, they had the cooler strapped down in the bed of the truck and Jensen peeled out of the parking lot.
Tayla smacked him when she saw the parking lot rent-a-cop in the little baby SUV that flipped a u-turn and tried to catch them. Jensen just laughed and asked what the extra insurance was for if not to ‘thrash the hell’ out of the truck.
They hit the road right after that, windows down and radio blaring. Tayla kicked off her shoes, putting her feet up on the dash. They had the window in the back open so all she had to was twist around to get whatever they wanted out of the cooler.
She had a memory card full of blurry pictures by the time they made it to Long Beach. Jensen teased her and told her to save space but she just stuck her tongue out at him and downloaded it all to her laptop and started over.
They stopped for gas and a bathroom break and Jensen reappeared from the convenience store with a gaudy cheap California snow globe clutched in his hand.
Tayla attacked him in a hug, riding piggy back back to the truck and the little plastic dome found a home on the dash for the rest of the trip, casting glares and small rainbows all over the cab whenever the light hit it.
Tayla may or may not have had an epic fit when Jensen pulled up to the RMS Queen Mary. She had a bit of a thing for the Titanic, found it fascinating and had books on it back home and the Queen Mary was about as close as she was going to get.
She made Jensen wait at the truck while she emptied her memory card yet again just to make sure she had the maximum amount of space in her camera.
They had lunch on deck and took one of the paranormal tours, the entire time of which Jensen spent with his voice dropped down into the Dean octave range, which just led to large amounts of giggling and jokes while they trailed at the back of the group.
They spent some more time exploring unguided and killed a little time before hitting the road again.
She wasn’t really paying attention until Jensen pulled up and parked in front of Beach City Grill.
Tayla busted out laughing and convinced him to split a sandwich with her, despite the fact neither of them were really hungry. They walked while they ate and he showed her a couple of other spots nearby where they had filmed and told her stories from the set, finally looping back around to the truck and hitting the road again.
He went west until his hit the coast and started the drive north. At the next gas stop she stole his sunglasses from the dash. He just reappeared from filling up the tank with her pair that he had stolen from her duffle in the bed.
She sat sideways in the seat, her feet propped up in his lap, his hand a warm weight over her ankle, watching the miles and miles of ocean pass by as the sun set in the sky. They didn’t talk much, the radio providing the soundtrack.
Jensen heard the whir-click of her camera and glanced to the side. She just smiled soft and small and framed up another shot of him in her sunglasses smiling against the sunset over the sea and snapped another picture.
They made it to Santa Monica just in time to see the sun sink below the horizon. Jensen didn’t even take the time to get a hotel room first, he just drove to the pier and they took a slow walk to the end as it grew darker.
They ate dinner at a little restaurant on the water, watched the lights from the ferris wheel and the park twinkle against the sky and dance across the water.
They spent the night in a hotel on the beach, the balcony doors open wide against the cool breeze, the entire room smelling of salt and sand. Jensen sat leaned back against the headboard, Tayla resting back against his chest with her laptop on her knees, going through all the pictures she had taken so far. They had a movie playing in the background that neither of them were paying attention to, too engrossed in picking out which pictures to add to the wall when they got home, finally lulled asleep by the lap of the waves well after midnight.
Tayla was ready to kick his ass when he woke her up in o’dark thirty the next morning but he just chuckled, rubbing her back until she reemerged from under the pillow and promised her it was going to be worth it.
Which of course it was. They got coffee and breakfast and watched the sunrise over the water. They slipped into the aquarium before the rush and took their time wandering through the shadows and water. Tayla managed to get a few shots of Jensen without him knowing, features thrown into relief in blues and blacks, those were definitely making it to the wall.
When their fingers were pruney from the touch tanks and they refilled their cooler with sodas and snacks they finally headed back to the truck and hit the road again.
*lots more California tourist shenanigans that never got written*
“You gonna be okay if me and Jensen head down to Cali this weekend?” Jared asked, trying to distract Tayla with his question while his hand snuck over to steal some of the awesome food she was cooking for dinner.
The audible smack of the tongs coming down on his hand made Jensen snort his beer where he was sitting at the island counter behind her.
She shot a look over at Jensen before looking back at Jared who now had his hand cradled against his chest.
“That hurt!”
“That’s what you get for trying to steal food!” she said pointing at him with the knife she just picked up.
Jensen was still laughing, forehead against the counter since it wasn’t safe to drink his beer yet.
“Shut up!” Jared said at him, his anger bleeding into laughter. “I hate you guys.”
“Yes, I’ll be fine on my own, I have lived by myself before. It’ll give me a good chance to invite over a half dozen guys for a wild orgy,” she said, going on cooking and mixing ingredients like everything was normal.
Jensen finally stopped laughing, sharing a wide-eyed look with Jared.
“God you guys are too easy,” she laughed, popping a pan in the oven. “I was joking, geez!”
“Just…you know…keep it in your bedroom.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed Jared in the chest towards the other side of the island where Jensen was, where he couldn’t reach the food.
“Anyways, we’ve got the redeye flight on Friday night, so we’ll head straight there from set.”
“Damn you guys are gluttons for punishment,” she grinned, pulling out the homemade biscuits from the oven.
“Jared’s idea,” Jensen said, shooting him a glare.
“Whatever man! You’re the one that said you wanted to spend as much time with your girlfriend as you could.”
“Shut up,” Jensen mumbled, shoving Jared’s shoulder and grabbing one of the warm biscuits.
Tayla laughed at them both and pulled the corn cobs off the stove before turning to the pork chops in the oven.
“Ten more minutes,” she said, placing the tongs on the counter.
“Ugh, I’m gonna waste away,” Jared groaned, letting his head thump down on the counter.
Jensen just smacked the back of his head.
It was fun.
He got to spend the day with his girlfriend, all dressed up and feeling like he was in classic Hollywood. Something about the racetrack just felt old wealth. Then again, horse racing was ‘the sport of kings.’
He was in a good mood, forty-eight hours away from the crisp November air of Vancouver had done him good. He had a bit of a hangover from watching the Cowboys game with the boys, was groggy as hell from the red-eye flight back home and a camera full of blurry photos from the track, but he was happy.
At least up until he woke up half dead the next morning, heading to the kitchen to get the first dose of coffee that would be mandatory if he had any hope at all of making his call time.
Tayla was at the dining room table, sipping her own coffee, dogs already taken care of. She waited until he had poured his first cup, downed half of it, refilled and finally turned to lean against the counter.
Even then all she did was arch her brow at him.
“What?” he rumbled, sleep rough.
“Were you not gonna tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“Think about it real hard,” she said, irritation clear in her tone, and fuck if he didn’t know what had her panties in a twist. Things had been kosher when he flew out Friday afternoon.
“Umm…”
“The Breeders’ Cup, seriously?”
“How do you even know about that?” he asked, momentarily stunned by her knowledge, it had been a last second decision to even go.
She just arched her brow again.
“Right, crazy fandom, my bad.”
“So…”
“So,” he sipped at his coffee, “What about it?”
“Were you not gonna tell me you were going?”
“Ummm, it was kinda a last minute decision, why?”
“Uh, hello, I used to work for a thoroughbred breeder. Acting is your gig, horses are mine.”
Even through the fog of drowsiness he could tell she was pissed. Not like ‘thanks a lot jerkhole haha’ pissed, but like, legitimately upset that he hadn’t told her about it.
“Sorry, I just,” he shrugged, “Me and Danny decided to go last minute.”
She nodded, “You decide to go to the biggest horse race outside of the Triple Crown and you don’t even think that I might like to go…”
“No offense but it was kinda a me and Danny thing,” not sure why he was feeling so defensive about the fact that it had been a date, with his girlfriend.
“Well god forbid you even tell me you were going to be there.”
“Why are you so pissed?” he snapped, coffee and confusion slowly but surely clearing his head.
“Whatever Jensen,” she mumbled, snapping her laptop closed, taking her coffee and heading out back to where the dogs were.
She passed Jared as he came down from the stairs and he bent to kiss her cheek good morning before looking up at Jensen as she closed the back door.
“Wow, I think that’s a new record for you, pissing her off before noon.”
“I don’t even know what her problem is!”
“What happened?” Jared asked, pouring his own cup of coffee and pulling out the stuff to make his protein shake for after his run.
“I dunno! I’m barely awake and she’s going on about that damn horse race I went to and excuse me if I decided to go to a damn race with my girlfriend, I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings or something, I mean, she knows I wouldn’t do that on purpose and I know she would have liked to have gone and yeah okay, I prolly shoulda offered to take her, it’s not like she woulda been a third wheel or anything….
“Calm down man,” Jared smirked.
“I just…I dunno why she’s so worked up over it.”
“You know damn well why she is. Horses are her thing, she used to help raise them from little wobbly babies up until they were on the track themselves, that’s like, her world and she’s been away from it ever since she’s been up here. She prolly misses it, just like we miss Texas summers and real barbeque.”
“Yeah,” Jensen sighed.
“The real question,” Jared started, in a tone that Jensen knew meant he wasn’t going to like the end of the sentence, “Is why are you so upset about hurting her feelings,” he said calmly, finishing his coffee before squeezing Jensen’s shoulder and heading out the door for his morning run.
And really, Jensen wasn’t ready to answer that question.
*after X amount of time, Jensen goes back to LA for a weekend only to come home early cus he and Danny broke up*
“I’m gonna get another round,” Tayla said, slipping out of the booth they had taken in the back corner of the bar, “Anybody want anything different?”
Jensen shook his head, not looking up from where he was destroying the label on his empty beer bottle.
“Same’s good,” Jared grinned before she walked off.
“Can I ask you something?” Jensen mumbled, picking a piece of paper out from underneath his nail and grimacing.
“Dude, you know what size underwear I wear and what kind of lube I prefer, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing sacred between us anymore.”
Jensen grimaced again, Jared and lube was really not what he wanted in his head at the moment.
“Are you…I mean,” he sighed.
“Dude what?” Jared grinned.
“You and Tayla…are you, I mean, you two, you’re not…into each other…are you?” he finally forced out when Jared arched his brow at him for his stuttering.
He was not however expecting Jared to toss his head back and laugh so loud the people in the table next to them looked over.
“Are you kidding me?!” he grinned.
“Well…no,” Jensen sulked, pissed that Jared found it so damn funny when it had been the only thing Jensen could concentrate on for the past couple days.
“Dude, she’s my friend. Granted, she steadily making her way towards the ‘best friends’ list, but uh yeah, there’s nothing like that between us,” he grinned, taking a sip of his beer. “Wait…did you think there was?!”
“I dunno,” he shrugged, still picking at his beer bottle. “I mean, you called her ‘your girl,’ a few times…and I mean, she walks around half naked and it doesn’t seem to faze you and…her washing the dogs…”
“Oh my god shut up, dude, you were the one in the bathroom with her,” he grinned, chuckling when Jensen’s eyes snapped to him. “Gimme a break dude, I know she washes those dogs naked.”
“You…see! That’s what I mean!”
“Dude, she lives with me…us. That’s just how she is. If she’s comfortable with you she doesn’t much care, you just haven’t been around long enough yet to notice it.”
Jensen looked away again.
“Wait…do you like her?!”
“No! Well…”
“Oh my god you so do!”
“Can you not sound like a teenage girl?!” Jensen glared.
“Dude! Seriously?! This is awesome!”
“What?!”
“Like, two of my best friends!”
“Seriously. Teenage. Girl. I don’t…I didn’t even say…I mean…”
Jared rolled his eyes. “Whatever man, you so do. And you should so tell her.”
“Yeah right, she’s my friend too man, that’s just…it’s weird.”
“Whatever, you know she’s a fangirl, it’s not like she’s going to be upset over it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure whether that’s a pro or a con, I mean, if…” he sighed, “I don’t want it to be because she’s a fangirl.”
“You think that low of her?”
“No!” he spit out, looking up at Jared again. “I just…god, I dunno man,” he said crossing his arms and letting his head fall to the table with a dull thunk.
“Wow, I guess it’s a good thing I got a wild hair up my butt and got shots,” Tayla grinned, sliding the three little glasses onto the table. “Looks like someone needs it.”
“Are those purple nurples?” Jared grinned.
“Sure are,” she smiled back.
“Sweet! We haven’t had those since we shot that episode!” he said, snatching one off the table.
Jensen groaned and finally lifted his head.
“You alright?” Tayla asked softly which totally just screwed Jensen to hell.
“Yeah, ‘m fine,” he mumbled, forcing a smile and lifted his own shot with a mock toast before slamming it back.
“They’re inducing her on Wednesday if she doesn’t go into labor before then, so I’ll get three or four days with her either way,” Jared said, zipping up his luggage. “I’ll be back on Monday.”
“Cool,” Jensen said, holding the door open for him as he pulled his suitcase behind him.
“God…I can’t believe I’m gonna be an uncle,” he sighed, face split with a grin.
Jensen laughed and pulled him into a hug, “Tell everybody I said hi,”
Jared nodded, bending down to kiss Tayla on the cheek.
“Take care of my babies,” he grinned.
“They’ll be fine,” she smiled, rolling her eyes.
“I want pictures!” she shouted after him and Jared waved and nodded as the driver pulled off to take him to the airport.
They headed back inside and Tayla made a beeline for the computer, opening iTunes and turning on some music.
Two hours and a trip to the store later and there still hadn’t been a song that came on that Jensen didn’t like. Not that he hadn’t figured Tayla shared his taste in music, there just never was really a chance to just listen to music, between working and studying scripts and going out and everything else.
He kinda liked it, understood why she always preferred the soothing comfort of music in the background instead of watching some of the nameless crap that was on TV these days….Supernatural aside of course.
They puttered around in the kitchen marinating a couple steaks, Jensen playfully dancing along to whatever song came on next.
Tayla laughed, popping a cherry tomato into his mouth and he grinned as he bit down.
She was washing some potatoes when ‘Crazy Love’ came on and he groaned and rolled his eyes at her.
“Seriously?”
“What?!” she said, looking innocent. “You have a good voice!”
He rolled his eyes again and she tossed another tomato at him which he fumbled to catch before it fell to the floor.
“And don’t gimme that ‘I have too many friends that are better than me’ crap. You could very well record your own CD and make a buttload off it,” she grinned, pointing at him with her knife.
“Yeah, because you fangirls are rabid,” he grinned back, cringing as she slapped him on her way past to the refrigerator.
“No, because you have a good enough voice to do it. You’re one of the very few actors that could successfully make the jump from actor to singer without the need of your fame to back you up I mean, look at…Will Smith or….”
Jensen’s brow arched.
“See! Most of them suck, which is why I can’t even think of them.”
“Thanks…I guess,” he grinned, moving up beside her to put the tray of potatoes in the oven to bake.
He did however start singing along with the chorus, playing air guitar and getting right in her face as he heard the recorded version of himself sing along with Jason on the computer.
She laughed and tried to push him away from her which only made him lean into her more until she abruptly removed her hands and his support and he had to catch himself on the counter.
He stopped singing and stared at her, swallowing hard at the look in her eyes and his hand came up to cup her cheek before he bent down to brush his lips against hers.
“Don’t,” she whispered when he pulled back and he opened his eyes to watch her. “Not unless…not unless it’s real Jensen,” she said softly, finally prying her own eyes open to look back at him.
“It’s real,” he rumbled, “It’s definitely real,” he said again, bending to kiss her again.
“Shit!” she hissed when smoke started seeping from the oven and he let her push him away from her to open the door and pull out the charcoal bricks that had once upon a time been potatoes.
She laughed, sliding the pan onto the stove and looked back up at him.
His hand covered hers as he pushed the door to the oven closed, turning it off quickly before he linked his fingers in hers tugging her towards his bedroom.
*and you know, sexy, romantic, mushy times are had*
