Six months ago.
Fear had never felt so real before. Jared may have got away but that didn't mean he was safe, not by a long shot. He had to get as far away from Jensen as possible, he had to keep on running – driving as fast as he could away from that psychopath. Jared felt the warm gush of blood flowing down his side as he sped down the road in Jensen's car. Shit, he was losing a lot of blood. He had to get to a hospital, fast.
Through the haze of panic Jared eventually ended up at a hospital, for the life of him he couldn't remember how he had managed to navigate himself there, but it didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was that he did get there. He could find somebody to help him now. Bursting through the doors clutching Jensen's bloodied shirt to his wound he found himself an instant priority amongst the medical staff.
Distantly he felt himself being lifted onto a gurney while someone tried to properly stem the blood flowing from his side. The doctors shouted orders around him and a couple may have even tried to ask him . . . something, but he couldn't be sure. He felt so distant from his own body, his hearing was distorted so that he felt he was hearing everything underwater and it all felt so surreal – the relief and fear melding together like an impossible dream. He was safe now. It was over, and with that as his last thought he finally allowed the sweet pull of unconsciousness to claim him.
When he awoke it was to a bright white hospital room, he had a moment to reflect how familiar this whole scene appeared. He half expected Jensen to walk through the door to take him 'home' just like last time. No. Not this time. Jensen wasn't here. He was safe. With great effort Jared managed to pull himself into a sitting position, instantly regretting the motion when he felt the intense pain in his side and the pull of his obviously new stitches. It was at that moment that the doctor entered the room, seeing Jared's pained grimace he immediately rushed over to the bed and helped Jared to lie down again.
"Sir you need to lie down or you'll break the stitches, not to mention cause yourself some serious discomfort."
Jared simply nodded, too tired to attempt much else. The doctor's posture visibly stiffened.
"I'm Dr Reynolds. If you're feeling up to it I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."
Again Jared nodded. He was starting to feel marginally uncomfortable with this doctors sudden 'all business' attitude and lack of bedside manner.
"O.k. we'll start with something easy can you tell me your name? You were pretty out of it when you arrived and we couldn't find any ID."
"It's Jared. Jared Ac-Padalecki. Jared Padalecki."
Why did almost just say – that? That wasn't his name. That wasn't his life. It was all lies.
"O.k. Mr. Padalecki. You were in a very serious condition when you turned up last night. You lost a lot of blood but luckily no major organs were punctured and we were able to patch you up without any complications. We'll keep you on morphine for the next few days while we monitor your condition, your recovery goes well then you should be out of here in a week or so. When you leave we'll prescribe you some painkillers and something to help you sleep if the fits you were experiencing last night are still present. You will be left with a scar, there is nothing we can do to prevent that but all things considered you were very lucky. There's just one more thing we need to cover before we can get back to aiding your recovery. After you were admitted last night . . . due to the condition you were in we were obliged to phone the police. They'll be along to talk to you in a little while but I'll ask you now so I know whether it's necessary for them to be involved. Do you know what happened to you? Can you tell me how you sustained such a serious injury?"
Swallowing past his suddenly very dry throat Jared nodded.
"I-I was attacked."
"O.k. do you know who attacked you?"
This was his chance. He could spill everything, they'd go after Jensen. He'd be arrested and Jared would be able to sleep safe in the knowledge that Jensen wasn't going to come after him. For some unknown reason though he just . . . couldn't. He couldn't force the words out. He couldn't just tell them it was Jensen, and he had no idea why.
"I . . .didn't get a good look. It was dark, I think they just wanted my wallet . . ."
"It's o.k. I understand. I'll leave you to rest now and send the officers in a little later."
With that he left the room. It was obvious that Doctor Reynolds wasn't entirely convinced, but the lie was out now and Jared wasn't about to take it back. It was confusing how strongly Jared felt about it. Not once did he change his story, not to the police, not to his family or his friends, not to anyone. He kept the truth to himself, locked down where no one could ever get to it. He just wished he knew why.
Now
Jared shook himself out of his thoughts once more. He had to stop doing that. He'd been distracted all day thinking about the past and it had caused him to fall drastically behind on his work.
Which is how he ended up here. Still at work nearly and hour after closing trying to catch up. He'd managed to get his boss to agree to let him stay and finish up on the condition that he locked the door when he left. Not exactly the ideal way to spend his night but he had to finish the work.
It was . . . eerie, being the only person left in the building. The feeling of being watched was back but he tried to ignore it. He really didn't have time to focus on his paranoid suspicions right now. Forcing his concentration back where it was supposed to be he managed to get a whole – ten minutes of work done before he heard a noise. It was soft, almost unnoticeable but it made Jared . . . uneasy. It was only a moment later that he heard it again, louder this time and this time it definitely sounded like a footstep.
Jared looked around the room quickly before tentatively calling out.
"H-hello? Is there someone here?"
Silence.
He was losing it. Jared didn't think his paranoia would get to the point of blatantly hearing things that weren't there but apparently it just did.
Jared had just sat back down and put his head I his hands when he heard it.
The unmistakable click of a gun.
He slowly raised his head and looked up to see a – couldn't of been more than thirty - man staring down him. The first thing that struck Jared about the man (besides of course the Smith & Wesson Revolver he was aiming at Jared's skull) was the look of pure hatred on the man's fairly handsome face. The man gave some kind of silent signal and it was only then that Jared realized there was more than one. He was being surrounded by at least ten men all with guns and giving off 'fuck with us and you're dead before you hit the ground' vibes in buckets.
Jared tried to will himself to remain calm and deal with . . . whatever the hell this was.
"Can I help you?"
Wrong thing to say if the menacing step forward what Jared assumed was the leader took, the gun in his hand never wavering.
"Look I don't know what's going on here but if you're after money we don't keep any on the premises . . ."
"This isn't about money."
The sudden harsh words left Jared momentarily stunned, after a moment he regained what little composure he had.
"O.k. then what is it about?"
The man's face broke into a menacing smile before he simply said.
"Penance."
The look in his eye clearly showed that this was it, he was going to pull the trigger and Jared was going to die.
It was at that exact moment that all the lights in the room went out at once leaving them in darkness.
Jared was petrified, he was trapped in a room with a group of men that wanted him dead and now he couldn't even see where they were.
Through his terror Jared noticed that there was something – strange about this whole thing. I was then that he heard what sounded like . . . choking? It was like someone was choking on his own blood, the sound lasted all of five seconds before it was followed by a sickening thud. This was followed by the soft snick of a blade and more choking. It happened again and again, Jared counted at least five times.
All the while Jared was backing up, feeling his way to the door. He was confused. What the hell? What was happening? He couldn't see a damn thing but he was starting to think that maybe that was a good thing.
He'd just hit the wall with his shoulder when suddenly there was someone behind him. A hand was clamped over his mouth and he was pulled back against a masculine body. Jared tried to struggle but the man was strong he merely shushed Jared and pulled him out of the room and into the dimly lit corridor.
It was only when Jared saw one of the men from before stumble straight past the door he'd just exited that he realized. This guy, whoever he was, was trying to help him. He'd just saved his life and at that knowledge Jared allowed himself to slightly relax. Only when the gunman was far into the room and away from the door did the man release him. Turning to face his rescuer Jared was stunned to see the familiar green eyes that haunted him staring back.
"Jensen?"
TBC
