Chapter Text
Chad and Sophia had gone to pick up Jared and Alice early in the morning, so they could spend all day with them at the apartment, Jensen had sent a text message to Jared asking for Chad's address and told him, that he would arrive a little late to the birthday since he had to work some extra hours at the hospital first.
Alice was seating on Chad´s lap on the couch next to Sophia and Jared was seating on his chair next to them, they were around the coffee table in the living room, which had all kinds of candies, sodas and food on it, they had spent the afternoon together just the four of them, playing one and watching movies, that was the kind of celebration they liked these days . Ever since Alice was borned and Tom had become more possessive and Jared had stopped going out to clubs or parties, so Chad being the best friend in the world that he was, had changed his wild days of parties for lazy afternoons with Jared and Sophia.
Chad took Sophia’s hand who nodded imperceptibly and cleared his throat.
“Alice, Jay. Soph and I have some important news to share with you”
Both Jared and Alice were looking at Chad curiously.
“As you both know we went to the doctor yesterday, that’s why we couldn’t join you for lunch” Jared frowned but nodded.
“Well it turns out we’re pregnant, Soph is having my baby” Chad leaned over his wife and gave her a tender kiss on the lips, Jared wheeled himself next to Sophia to give her a hug and congratulate her.
Alice pulled Chad's shirt collar trying to gain his attention, “Uncle Chad, how come you and aunty sohp are hav’ng a baby? where is the baby coming from”
“Oh boy…” Sophia said.
“Come here baby” Jared said and Alice went to her father and sat over his lap. “When two people love each other as much as uncle Chad and aunty Soph do, sometimes god bless them with a baby, just like it bless me with you, the baby is growing in aunty Soph’s belly until he can be ready to meet us”
“Did I come from your belly? daddy?”
“Yes, you did. Remember those pictures I showed you where daddy’s tummy was big as a balloon” Alice nodded, “Well, that’s because you were in my belly at the time”
Alice’s eyes went wide, “is the baby gonna be as big as me?” They all laughed.
“No princess, the baby is gonna be little like the one we saw in the movie you liked so much last week”
“But he grow up. right, daddy?”
“Yes, princes, and then you can play with him and be her best friend”
“I like that, I want the baby to be my friend too”
“He will be, baby” Jared kissed his daughter over her head. “How far along are you? Soph”
“Just six week but everything looks good, we were thinking to wait until the twelve week before we tell anyone just in case but you and Alice are part of this family and we couldn't keep this from you”
“I’m soo, sooo happy for you guys, that baby is gonna be one lucky kid with you two as his parents. How have you been feeling? any nausea, dizziness?”
“I’ve had some nausea and I’ve been sick to my stomach every morning for the past week, that’s wath clue us that something was going on”
“I used to be sick a lot back when I was pregnant with this one,” Jared said, kissing Alice in the temple. “But eating some crackers in the morning and drinking ginger ale tea helped me a lot, you should try it, Soph”
“Yeah, we already bought some,” answered Chad.
The doorbell rang and Chad went to the door to open it, Jensen was standing outside the door with a pie in his hands. “Hi man, I didn’t know what to bring but I supposed you can’t ever go wrong with pie” he said giving it to Chad.
“Common in man, you’re just in time for dessert”
Jensen went inside the apartment, he said happy birthday to Sophia and then went to kiss Alice and Jared hello, he took a seat on the chair next to Jared’s wheelchair.
Chad and Sophia went to the kitchen to look up for plates for the cake and new drinks for everyone.
“I’m glad you could make it” Jared smiled shyly blushing as he did.
“I’ll told you I’ll be here”
“I’m happy to see you, Jen. I miss you” Alice said, hugging Jensen from Jared’s lap.
“I missed you too baby”
Chad and Sophia came back from the kitchen with some champagne glasses and cake for everyone.
"I want to make a toast," Chad said, raising his glass. "Jen, even though we haven't known you for a long time, I appreciate you and I'm very grateful for everything you've done for Jay, so, today we want to share with you the reason for our celebration and I also want you to join us in a toast to the baby Sophia and I are expecting"
"Oh, my God! Are you pregnant?” Jensen asked, surprised.
Sophia nodded smiling, Jensen got up from his seat and hugged her congratulating her, he did the same with Chad, who started asking him about what to expect from the pregnancy and what care he should have with Sophia, Jensen answered him the best he could, although he was very emphatic that they should consult with an obstetrician and he even recommended one of his best friends Christian Kane, who was a specialist in the field.
They spent a couple more hours talking about pregnancy and remembering what Jared had been like when he was pregnant with Alice, it was 10 p.m. and Alice was asleep on her father's lap. "I think it's time for us to leave," Jared said, accommodating Alice better over his lap and leaving one of his hands free to maneuver his wheelchair.
"I'll take you home," Jensen said, rising from his chair immediately.
"There is no need" Chad said "I can take Jay and Alice, you don’t have to bother"
"It's no problem, man, his house is on my way and I'm sure Sophia wants to go to rest now," Jensen said pointing at a sleepy Sophia on the couch, Jared looked at his friend who was about to fall asleep on the sofa.
"Don’t worry Chad, Jensen can take us, I'll call you as soon as we arrived home"
Chad was hesitant for a second but then he nodded "Ok, Jay, see you tomorrow” Chad said.
"Do you want to carry her and have me push your chair or do you prefer me to carry her to the car?" Jensen asked.
“I like you to carry her, if you don’t mind”
“Not at all”
Jensen took Alice from Jared's lap and they both said goodbye to Sophia and Chad, they left the apartment and took the elevator to the parking lot, Jared transferred from his wheelchair to the passenger seat of Jensen's truck while Jensen put a sleeping Alice in the car chair he had bought for her, then, he then took Jared’s wheelchair and put it on the trunk of the truck.
They made their way to Jared’s house in a comfortable silence, Jensen parked on Jared’s driveway and got out of the car to get Jared’s chair from the trunk, he put it next to him for Jared to transfer, while he went to the backseat of the truck to take Alice out of the carseat, she didn’t even stirred whe Jensen got her out.
Jared was at the door opening it to lead Jensen in.
“Where do I put her?” asked Jensen, first door to the left answered Jared and followed Jensen, he put Alice on the bed, tucked her in, and they made their way back out to the door.
“I really enjoyed seeing you two today. I know we just saw each other yesterday but I love spending time with you and Alice” Jensen reached out for Jared’s hand and grabbed it.
“I really like it too. And my daughter likes you as much as I do, thank you for everything Jensen” Jensen kneeled in front of Jared and grabbed his other hand.
"Jay, I... I know it's late and you're probably tired but I've been thinking and I have to be honest with you." Jensen swallowed. "I like you Jay, I like you a lot and I know you're married to another man but I can't help what I feel for you." Jared was looking at Jensen with wide eyes, he never thought, not in a million years, that someone like Jensen could be interested in someone like him.
"I don't know what your relationship with your husband is like, but I must tell you, I don't think you're happy with him, and you're so brave Jay, so incredible, you more than anyone deserves to be happy, Jared" Jared was stunned, he didn't know what to tell Jensen.
"I don’t want to pressure you or anything but I think it's fair that you know how I feel, I want you to think about it and tell me if you want to give us a chance. And if at the end you decide that you don’t want anything to do with me, that we can only be friends, I’ll respect your decision Jay.”
“Jensen I…” Jared was dying to tell Jensen that yes, that he also had feelings for him, that he didn't love Tom and that he would give anything to be able to have a family with him and Alice but Jared couldn't say anything, the fear that he felt for what Tom could do was stronger than everything and after what had happened last time, Jared was sure Tom was capable of anything and now, not only his and his daughter's life would be at stake, but Jensen's too. “I don’t…” Jared trailed off.
Jensen smiled sadly, "you don't have to give me an answer right away, Jay. Just take your time and think about it" he gave Jared a peck on the lips and got up from the floor. “Good night, Jay”
“Good night Jensen”
Neither Jared nor Jensen saw the man in the car that was parked in front of Jared's house, the man was taking photos of them and smiling wickedly as he did.
It was past two a.m. when Jared woke up suddenly, he had a headache and went out of his room to get a pill and some water from the kitchen. He hadn’t been able to sleep all night. He was coming out of the kitchen, when he heard the front door of the house closed with a loud thump, Jared got scared and looked at the door.
Tom crossed the room from the door to where Jared was seated in a second, he stood in front of Jared blocking Jared’s way to his bedroom.
- "Oh, Seeee what we have hereeeee, if it's the cripple of the house. Tell... meeeee Jare, what does it feeeeeels like being completely useless?" – Tom slurred the words, he was completely drunk, he grabbed Jared by the neck. "You sure know a looooot about that"
- "Tom please, Alice is sleeping – Jared said quietly, trying to reason with Tom but the mention of Alice only seemed to infuriate the man more.
- "I DON'T CARE IF THAT BASTARD IS SLEEPING!" – Tom shouted and punched Jared's face so hard and suddenly that it caught him off guard and knocked him out of the wheelchair. Tom kicked the wheelchair toward the wall to the right side.
Jared was disoriented for a few seconds but then immediately reacted and started trying to crawl away from Tom on his elbows.
-"You think you can get away from me, bitch?"
Tom yelled and dragged Jared by the legs, tossing him to the wall on the side, he kicked Jared on the ribs and then bent down and grabbed him by the hair, forcing him to look at him.
- "You can’t run away from me, you damn whore! you're mine and it's time for you to learn your lesson"
Tom hit Jared hard on the head a couple of times Jared tried to fight him off him but after the third blow he stopped fighting, he was sore and disoriented, he felt Tom stepped on his ribs and kicked him. "You need to learn to behave, bitch! What did you think? that I wouldn't know you were fucking around with the damn doctor"
Tom was hitting Jared without stopping. "You won't leave this fucking house anymore, not even being a cripple can stop you, I'm going to burn that chair so you have to crawl on the floor like the damn worm you are" Jared couldn't take the blows anymore and lost consciousness.
Jared woke up some time later, he didn't know exactly how much time had passed but he knew that at least a few hours, he looked from side to side and couldn't see his chair anywhere, Tom wasn't in the living room either and Jared could see some dawn light entering through the windows. Jared turned on the floor and felt a sharp pain in his ribs. He let out a sob and had to lie on the floor for a few seconds to catch his breath before he started trying to crawl toward his room.
Jared began to crawl on his elbows towards his room slowly, the process was very painful and he had to stop several times to catch his breath, when he reached the room he looked at his bed, Alice was still sleeping in it, Jared did not even try to get on to bed, since it was the same as trying to climb everest for him right now. He lost consciousness again and after a few seconds or minutes Jared woke up again with Alice's crying face in front of him, he didn't even know when he had fallen asleep, Alice looked scared and pounced on him when Jared opened his eyes, he let out a groan when she hit him in the ribs with her leg.
“I’m sowy daddy. I’m sowy” Alice cried and let go of her father.
“it’s ok baby, daddy’s okay”
“I need you to do something for daddy baby, I need you to get me the phone that’s under my pillow”
Alice nodded frantically and went to the bed for the phone, he gave them to Jared and sat on the floor next to him. “Listen to me baby, we’re going to play our game, remember, the one where we hide” Alice nodded again, she was staring at Jared wide-eyed and with tears in her eyes.
“You need to go hide in the bathroom and close the door, you will get inside the tub and cover your ears. You wait for me there until daddy or Jensen go for you. Ok”
“No daddy no, come wif me” Alice lower lip was trembling.
“I’ll go baby don’t worry, I just need to get on my chair and I’ll go join you in the bathroom, alraight.” Alice shocked her head no “please baby, for daddy” she remained hesitant for a second but then she nodded, went to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
When Jared heard his baby girl put on the lock of the door, he called Jensen's cell phone and the doctor answered immediately.
"Hi Jay, I was about to call you too"
"Jen..." Jared's voice was low and weak which alerted Jensen immediately.
“Jared what's wrong? what happened?"
"Jen, you have to save her please, save my baby," Jared said, crying.
Jared could hear Jensen talking to him but he couldn't understand him. "I don’t... I don't feel well"
"JAREd ... jared answer me, answer me please"
Jensen continued to call Jared's name over and over again but it was too late. Jared had lost consciousness.