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Allen, TX 1995

The ringing wouldn't stop. Alan picked up the phone but the ringing continued. He looked at the handset curiously before setting it down. He felt a nudge and looked around, no one was there. Then again. With a groan, Alan opened his eyes to the darkened room. The ringing continued, he reached up rubbed his eyes and glanced over at the digital clock next to him. 2:54 AM. Who on earth would be calling now?

Alan threw the covers off and staggered out of bed and down the stairs. It must be important because the phone had been ringing for a while now. His heart pounded, his first thoughts going to his son, Josh, who was away at college, terrified that something had happened.

Picking up the receiver he uttered a gruff, "Hello?"

"Mr. Ackles?"

"Speaking."
"This is Officer Brown from the Allen Police Department. There's been a bit of an incident.."

"Josh? Is he alright? What happened?"

"The kid said his name was Jensen," the officer said, sounding a little confused.
"Jensen?" Alan whispered in confusion then looked over at the key hook noticing his son's set was missing "Damn it," he hissed uncharacteristically when he realized that his younger son had undoubtedly snuck out of the house.

"What happened?"

Earlier

The house was finally quiet. Jensen carefully slipped out of bed and changed back into jeans and a t-shirt and thew a sweatshirt over, nights could still be cool in Texas this time of year. Stooping down he pulled out his brand new paintball gun from under his bed where he'd stashed it earlier that day, then carefully headed out of the house.

"Hurry up, Jay," someone whisper-shouted loudly as Jensen closed the door and headed to meet up with 2 other boys nearby.

"Shut up, Scott," Jensen whispered back before hopping into the waiting car that idled on the side of the road. The three teens slowly drove off.

Stopping a few streets over they boys pulled out their paintball guns and loaded them, taking careful aim at window ACs and bird feeders in a yard they began shooting, after getting a few hits they moved on to another house and gave the white garage a splattering of color.

This went on for a few more houses before the whoop whop of police sirens could be heard.

"Let's get out of here," Scott said and Bryan, their driver, took off.

Losing the police was harder than anticipated, they'd manage to get past one car only to find another one close behind.

"There! Turn onto the highway." Jensen suggested and they veered onto the interstate at the last moment and floored it hoping to put some distance between them and the car following them.

For a moment or two, it seemed to work and they didn't see any police behind them. But before the boys were able to celebrate to patrol cars came into view, then a third joined from an on-ramp. The next exit was blocked off and they were quickly joined by squad cars four and five.

Jensen looked behind him nervously, "Guys I think maybe we should pull over," he tried to suggest.

"No way, we got this," one of his friends said and their getaway car sped up more.

It was only a few minutes before they all realized they'd have no choice but to stop as several more police cars joined the chase.

Eventually pulling over to the side of the highway a megaphone could be heard "Step out of the vehicle. Hands up!"

One final desperate look was shared among the boys before Jensen put a shaking hand on the door handle and slowly stepped out.

Jensen couldn't tell what happened next, it was all too fast, a rush of bodies, shouting, hands roughly grabbing him, and then being thrown to the ground. The air in his lungs was pushed out as he landed face down on the side of the highway and a heavy knee to his back kept him immobile. His hands were yanked back and cuffed tightly behind him. The officer kneeling on him was saying something but Jensen couldn't really focus on him, getting air back into his lungs being his priority.

He remained like that, face down on the side of the road with a man much larger than him, kneeling on his back, each breath a struggle, and the side of his face pressed down with large hands into the asphalt. Jensen couldn't see anything except for a bit of grass and the edge of the road. He couldn't hear much either but after what felt like a long time someone shouted "Its just paintball guns."

The officer kneeling on him got up and roughly pulled Jensen up and sat him on the curb, "Boy, if you were mine you wouldn't sit for a month," the officer growled at him, Jensen swallowed nervously but didn't answer, "Name, age?"

"Jensen Ackles. 17, sir," Jensen answered timidly.

"Who should we call?"

Jensen sat on the curb between Bryan and Scott, they were each about 20 feet apart, he had tried to say something briefly to Scott but the officer nearby gave him a cuff upside the head and told him to be quiet, so he did. Bryan's dad was the first to arrive, Jensen winced at the angry look on the man's face and quickly looked down at his shoes, he was going to have to deal with whatever was coming soon, he didn't want to see the stormy expressions on this man's face too.

Soon a familiar sedan pulled up and a tired-looking man got out and approached the officers. After some talking, Jensen was pulled to his feet, not nearly as rough as before, and the handcuffs removed. A firm grasp on his upper arm lead him to his father, Jensen looked up at the man and was about to say hello but the look on his face made him snap his mouth shut again. He'd never seen his dad this angry before, he half wanted to ask if he could stay there on the side of the road.

"Apologize," Alan ground out.

Jensen swallowed and quickly told the nearby officers he was sorry for all the trouble he'd helped cause before his dad grabbed him by the back of the neck and led him back to the car. Jensen climbed in without a word.

Jensen squirmed in the seat as his dad drove in silence, he couldn't take the quiet anymore, "Dad, I'm…"

"Jensen, be quiet." Alan cut him off sharply, his jaw clenching in agitation. Jensen reached over to flip on the radio, but his father turned that off immediately as well. Jensen sat in the uncomfortable silence until they pulled into their driveway and into the garage. He climbed out of the car, unsure of what was going to happen next.

"Go to bed," Alan ordered in a tone that did not invite argument. Jensen climbed the stairs to his room, glad he no longer had to share with Josh, changed quickly and collapsed into bed.

The smell of coffee and bacon and the sounds of hushed voices woke Jensen a few hours later, he rubbed his eyed and sleepily made his way to the kitchen where his mom and dad were talking. The pit in his stomach clenched further when he walked in and they stopped talking to look at him. Dad still looked pissed, although not quite as much as the night before and Mom had that sad look of disappointment on her face as she gestured for him to sit down and poured him a glass of milk.

Jensen gave a small smile of thanks and she made up a plate of food for him. Jensen looked at the toast, eggs, and bacon and didn't want to eat it knowing it would sit like rocks in his stomach, but he forced down a few bites before looking back at his mom pitifully.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not very hungry right now," he whispered.

Donna nodded understandingly but pursed her lips as well, disapproval was written all over her face and Jensen quickly dropped his gaze.

"What were you thinking?" Alan asked, his arms crossed as he leaned back against the counter.

Jensen shrugged, "It sounded fun."

"But you knew it was wrong, didn't you? That's why you snuck out in the middle of the night."

"Yes, sir."

"And you went ahead and did it anyway."
"Yes, sir."

"Jensen," the voice sounded so tired, "you're grounded."

Jensen nodded, "how long?"

Alan didn't answer right away, he looked at his wife as they silently communicated.

"A month," mom answered, "I am so disappointed in you, Jensen."

The boy bit his lip and nodded, he was about to get up and leave when his father added, "go pick out a belt and meet me in the den. And not that huge one of your mothers or I'll pick one out."

Jensen's head snapped up as he looked at his dad with a little bit of surprise, he had hoped that the grounding would be it, he knew better than to say anything other than the expected, "yes, sir."

Jensen climbed the stairs and went into his parent's room and opened the closet doors where the selection of belts hung. He looked longingly at the wide almost 5-inch belt of his mothers that felt like a smack with a magazine. There was a selection of smaller belts but Jensen skipped right over those quickly finding the widest one he could that was almost two inches. He cringed looking at it, but it was the best choice he could find. The trip down to the den seemed to be both excruciatingly slow and way too fast. Jensen handed the belt to his father without a word between them, they'd both done this dance before. He was far too big to go over his dad's lap anymore, he had been for a long time now. Jensen gave one last sad look at his dad, in hopes that he'd change his mind, but Alan was resolved and only hardened his expression further at his son's attempts at escaping a well-earned punishment. With a sigh, Jensen pulled down his pajama pants and put his hands on the desk, leaning forward a little waiting for the onslaught on his backside to start.

Alan didn't wait long and he applied the leather quickly and deliberately, having his son crying in no time. He didn't let up when the tears started though, this wasn't just an innocent mistake, he had KNOWN better and decided to do it anyway and he was going to ensure that that didn't happen again.

Jensen thought he was going to die, his ass was on fire and each lick just intensified it, he cried and begged but his father just kept at it until he was sure he couldn't take anymore and then suddenly it was over, Dad pulled him up into a hug.

"Don't you EVER do that again, you hear me, young man?"

"Yes, sir," Jensen said between hiccups and sniffles, "are you still mad?"

Alan looked into watery green eyes, "I'm not happy, but I'm not mad. Here," he handed his son back the belt, "put it away and go to your room."