Comrades and Brothers
Part 4
Sunlight flooded in from the window the next morning startling Jensen into the land of the living. He gave a groan that sounded suspiciously like it belonged to that zombie flick Night of the Living Dead. He rolled over, twisted under the warm bed sheets, head protectively covered by the pillows. Someone grabbed the bed sheets and tossed them off the bed. Shivering from the sudden chill in the room, Jensen attempted to snatch them back but the pillows were suddenly pulled from under his arm.
Jensen lay curled on the bed, wished he didn't take off the jacket last night. He was in nothing but jeans and an under shirt, had dumped his jacket into the closet before going to bed, same as his socks and shoes. He glared up at a bright eyed, grinning Jared Padalecki already getting his dose of morning coffee. The man offered a mug to Jensen who sat up immediately and took it, drinking deeply. Jared took residence on the couch, legs crossed as he lay stretched, all 6'4 of him. It was a ridiculous sight Jensen had to admit, the couch was only 5 and a half feet long.
"Jim back yet?" Jensen asked finally once he finished half the mug, feeling refreshed and less grumpy.
Jared shrugged, didn't seem too bothered as he looked around the room for signs of the hunter. "Doesn't look like it. I mean it's only, like, you know, nine. If he's hunting a werewolf or whatever it'll probably take him more than a few hours. I mean…the show, we make it look easy, ya know? We only have, what? Forty minutes of air time? So we have to finish everything by then." Jared tapped his chin thoughtfully. "So like I guess in real life, everything's harder. Ya know?"
There wasn't much to say to that logic so Jensen just shrugged. "I guess." He was still having a tough time believing this was real life. He half expected to wake up on the set, Eric and the crew looming over him with feral grins asking well, you two get your beauty sleep, princess, forget we had a show to run? He half expected to see Misha with his iphone out, snickering, saying between fits of giggles, OK you got me, it was me, I did it, I spiked the punch, forgive me man but this was so funny, I had to, I'm sorry but I had to, oh man the looks on your faces. He rubbed his face tiredly, stared into his mug. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. But aren't you, at all, worried?"
He heard the rustle of fabric as Jared uncrossed his legs and shifted on the couch to get into a more comfortable position. "I guess. I mean, come on, man, he may be a hell of a hunter but he's human, you know?"
Jensen nodded as he took another sip. The coffee wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. "Yeah I get you. When do you think he'll return?"
"Beats me." Jared paused for a moment. "You know we're going back today."
Jensen knew, oh yeah, he knew. It was all he could think about since they found themselves in this mess. He wondered idly what the Winchester brothers were doing in their world, hoped Dean and Sam Winchester didn't mess with too much, tamper with too much. He hoped he didn't have to explain to Misha about his erratic behavior, his sudden channeling of Dean Winchester practically the entire day even when they weren't doing takes. He paled as he considered a whole mental list of what Dean Winchester could have gotten up to.
Jared must have been thinking the same thing, or something similar because he suddenly let out a groan and said, "God, if we're here, Sam and Dean are at the set, with the crew. Dude my wallet, the cards, fucking Gen."
It took a moment for Jensen to wonder why Jared put an emphasis on Gen like it was a big deal, but then he realized who she was, who she played, and yeah, okay, it might or might not be a big deal. Ruby. Right. Ruby the demon. Ruby the demonic bitch that strung Sammy Winchester along for a good chunk of the series. He thought about it and the longer he thought, the more he had the urge to snicker at the sheer irony of the situation was until he couldn't suppress it anymore and he had to look back down into his mug to escape the look of utter disbelief and annoyance on Jared's face.
"It's not that funny," Jared said sullenly from the couch, sipping the last remnants of his coffee.
Jensen shrugged and said smugly, "It actually really is. Sam Winchester and Ruby, man. Think about it."
"They're just characters," Jared shot back. "It's not like I'm really Sam and she's Ruby."
"Tell that to Sam Winchester when he realizes he's married to Ruby in another world."
Jared scowled before getting up to dump the empty mug into the sink. "Yeah. Whatever. It's not like I had him in mind when I decided to marry Gen. Oh what would my TV counterpart think if I married the woman who played as the bitch that manipulated him the entire series? Maybe he'll see the irony in this!" He said it in an annoyingly high pitched voice that did nothing to ruin Jensen's mood. He dissolved into another fit of laughter and Jared threw his hands up in frustration, the universal sign of Why do I even bother? Jensen really had no clue.
The rest of the morning seemed to drag, Jared was sat in front of the TV, quiet and sullen, worrying over a situation they were both helpless to do anything about. Jensen was sure Sam Winchester had more sense to realize how strange and utterly bizarre the situation was and would not give quickly into impulses he wasn't so sure Dean was immune to. Dean Winchester was the brother that had Jensen more worried about. The guy lived on instincts to survive, he was prone to act now, think later. Jensen would know. He played the guy, he made the guy, he was in his head, he walked in his shoes, he wore his jacket, felt his emotions and thought his thoughts.
It was a little past noon and nothing had happened, no one came back into the motel with good news or bad news. Jim was still on the hunt and Jared was getting fidgety which in turn put Jensen on edge. "So what now?" Jensen asked for the fifth time. He saw Jared's eye give a miniscule twitch, if you blinked you'd have missed it. It was beginning to be one of Jensen's favorite pastimes. He was bored and annoying Jared was fun.
"I don't know. Why don't you watch TV while I see what's going on with Bobby?" Jared had already made it half way to the motel phone before Jensen had the chance to protest.
Jensen flicked the TV on. He wasn't really one for TV, he hardly watched Supernatural back in the real world and just as he figured there wasn't much on to begin with. The motel had only a handful of channels, the typical news channel, a weather channel, a guide to the motel and maybe one entertainment channel that ran chick flicks 24/7. He turned the TV off and fell back on the bed. He could hear Jared dialing Jim-Bobby's number, a few minutes of silence after that which told Jensen he got the automated voice mail instead.
"Hey Bobby, it's me Jared Padalecki. Was wondering how the hunt was going. Hope everything's okay over there." He paused, took a deep breath and kept going. "We're still back at the motel, me and Jensen. Nothing's happened so far. Gonna give it a few more hours, but we might have to call on Cas. It's prayers, right? We pray and he answers? Well I think I'll give it a shot. See ya later, man." Jared gave a breathy laugh. "Or if things go well, not see ya later. Yeah okay, I'm hanging up now. Bye."
There was a click and Jensen assumed he hung up. "Think uh, Misha, Castiel, Cas, whatever, think he'll be able to help us?"
Jared shrugged as he stared down at the phone, slumped against the wall, shoulders hunched the same way as he would if he was Sam. "I dunno, man, I dunno. I sure as hell hope so." He looked up at Jensen and for the first time since they landed here, where ever the hell they were, Jensen felt the utter hopelessness of the situation. He swallowed audibly. "I just, I just can't get rid of this feeling here," he gestured to his lower abdomen, "in my guts, you know? Like we were supposed to have already been back by now and something just went terribly wrong."
Jensen didn't say anything for a moment because yeah he felt it too, something dark churning in the pits of his stomach, made him queasy. He gave a halfhearted grin instead and said finally, "You're worrying too much, man. Sam Winchester's rubbing off on you." Then he made a show of looking at his watch, showed it to Jared. "It hasn't even been a full day. We got here at four yesterday," he announced loudly. Jared shot him a skeptical look and he continued, "We still got a couple hours before we can start panicking."
Jared went quiet for a moment then shrugged and said, "Yeah. Okay." It didn't sound like he believed Jensen, couldn't say he even blamed him for the lack of enthusiasm but Jensen was grateful Jared dropped the topic at least, even if now he wasn't saying anything to Jensen.
At two in the afternoon, they got a call from Jim/Bobby telling them not to worry, said he hoped everything would go as planned back there as well, though when Jared put him on speaker Jensen could hear the lack of enthusiasm in his voice same as it had been with Jared and he tried to ignore it, to squash that feeling that was growing bigger and bigger in his guts that persisted that something was going to go horribly, terribly wrong.
"Ya'll okay on food there?"
Jensen had dug into the refrigerator that morning and took out some turkey slices and made a sandwich. It didn't have much, just came with the essentials and for a cheap motel room that was something. He was a bit wary of the already open milk carton and when Jared saw the same as he did, he took it out and dumped everything into the sink. So they didn't have milk but they had beer and coffee. What more could anyone want?
"We're fine," he said into the phone.
There was a grunt on the end of the phone and Jensen could hear movement, a gun being fired, some shouts that didn't sound like any human he ever heard and he realized they caught him in the middle of the hunt. It was weird not being there to witness the fight, only heard the aftermaths of a gun going off, of the silver bullet hitting its mark, of something clawing at the hunter in retaliation. Jared was quiet on the other side of the table, staring into the phone like if he tried hard enough he'd be teleported to the fight.
"Good. Look boys, I gotta go." There was a hesitance in his voice, he had gone quiet for a moment and Jensen tried to imagine that Jim or Bobby, whichever, had paused in the middle of fighting with a contemplative look on his face as he tried to sort out his answer in his head, that the monster stopped along with him with a look of utter bewilderment. It was a laughable image, something only found in cartoons these days and sure enough, there were more shots fired on the other end, a squeal, huffs of breaths, feet pounding on pavement like Jim was running. "You take care." Then the click that told them both he hung up on them.
Jensen was still trying to get the image of Jim Beaver, their Jim Beaver, with a rifle being chased by a real werewolf with fur and claws and fangs out of his head when he heard Jared slam the phone on the receiver. He looked up in surprise. "Dude," he said.
Jared sighed and ran his hand through his hair, turned to look Jensen in the eyes. There was a set to his jaw, a determination shining in hazel eyes, like he made up his mind about something. "You heard him, man. He was running from whatever it was he was hunting."
"Yeah, so?" Jensen could feel his heart pounding. The thud, thud, thud of it was fast, like it would explode out of his chest if it went any faster. He sucked in a deep breath, tried to make sense of what Jared was saying.
Jared was already putting on his sneakers as Jensen got himself back under control. He looked like Sam Winchester but at the same time Jared was far from him it was hilarious. Sneakers instead of combat boots, weaponless and an easy target, he had no idea what they would be walking into, had no idea where to go. They were both as defenseless as kids.
"We're going to help him, Ackles. Because it's the fucking right thing to do and because he's already helping us and come on, man, where's your sense of adventure?" Jared said as he suddenly turned back to him.
Jensen opened his mouth in a gape before pointing out they had no clue where Jim even was. "He didn't say anything about his location! We have no idea, man. No. Idea. Plus this isn't the set. This is a city. A real city. A fucking big city," he said. It was kind of funny to Jensen he had been doing nothing but playing Devil's Advocate since they got here but considering Jared's over enthusiasm to things, it shouldn't have come as much a surprise.
Jared only grinned like he already thought about that and Jensen needed to get with the program already. It only made Jensen want to scowl because it was a reasonable thing to consider. "We have a celestial being on our shoulder, Ackles. An all-knowing celestial being might I add." He put emphasis on the all-knowing part and Jensen stood back on his heels with a scowl as Jared prayed to Castiel. Misha really. If or when they got back, Jensen was going to omit this part. The smug bastard didn't need an ego boost.
Misha appeared, literally blink-and-you'd-miss-it appeared, behind Jared. It was pretty unnerving if you asked Jensen.
He cocked his head to the side in that bizarre Castiel way, a small frown tugging at his lips as he considered the two men that for the moment replaced Sam and Dean Winchester. Jared jumped a few inches off the ground in surprise and Jensen had to cover a snicker into an awkward fist.
"You are still here," Misha deadpanned. If Jensen hadn't been working with the real Misha for years he had thought this guy wasn't surprised but as it was, he worked with the actor, knew the actor, knew all the facial tics that told him what he was really thinking and this Castiel guy was hella surprised, like he thought he would come back to a room full of hunters by now but was instead greeted with the lame counterparts. It irked Jensen a little, that he and Jared were a disappointment to come back to.
Jared shifted awkwardly on his feet, his eyes dropped to the carpet like he felt and heard and saw the surprise and disappointment too and wasn't too sure what to make of it, what to do about it. "Yeah," he said finally, looked back into Misha's eyes. "We, uh, want you to take us to Bobby Singer."
The angel guy was quiet for a moment, mulled the request over, then looked back to Jared with a stare that made Jensen wonder if angels really could see straight into your soul. "Why do you want me to take you to Bobby Singer?"
Jensen had to give props to Jared for not backing down under the scrutiny of the angel of Thursday. Misha sure knew how to pull off a poker face. "He might be in trouble. We wanted to help him, you know, in thanks for helping us instead of leaving us in a ditch somewhere." Jared was channeling awkward college kid Sam Winchester now. He had the awkward lift and drop of his shoulders down pat.
The angel squinted at him, then finally glanced at Jensen standing a few feet away from them by the bed. He sighed, the first real emotion Jensen saw from the angel by far. It was weird thinking of Misha and Castiel as two separate people, angel, whatever. He found himself trying to compare the two every chance he got. But then he would realize, no, Misha wouldn't do that or that, he wouldn't play him like that. Castiel was an angel, one that had fallen for Dean, for Sam, for the rest of humanity on the show.
This is why I'm an actor and not a shrink, he thought.
"I do not think this is a good idea," the angel said to Jared. "You are technically, by Dean Winchester's terms, 'civilians'." There were air quotes around civilians and Jensen couldn't help the snort that got out. It was funny, god damn hilarious, because it was so true.
"Take us to him anyway," he found himself saying, feeling a little Dean Winchester suddenly.
"He is hunting a Rugaru," Misha/Castiel continued, like the warning was supposed to be enough for them to change their minds. It kind of was. Jensen didn't really want to get any more involved than was necessary and the way he had been told things, that they just had to stay in the motel and let things ride out, he was more than happy to do just that. But if Jim or Bobby was in trouble, well character or not, he was real and if he died while they sat back in the crummy motel, well, Jensen wasn't ready for that kind of guilt just yet.
"Yeah. Okay. Come on," Jared said, taking a deep breath. "We're not gonna back off, man, so let's just do this thing."
The angel sighed and beckoned them over. "Yes, I'm beginning to realize that now. Come then. Come here so I can touch you two." Which wasn't a weird thing to say at all. An awkward silence descended and Castiel coughed into a fist. He beckoned to them again and said, "I have to be touching you two to move you."
Shrugging Jensen and Jared moved closer. Castiel touched their foreheads and closed his eyes and a brilliant light engulfed the room, in the blink of an eye all three were gone.
Angel travel was weird was all Jensen could figure. It was like one moment he was closing his eyes, felt the light pressure of fingers on his forehead and he was just waiting for something to happen, to feel the ground under his feet try to swallow him down in a vortex of some kind, feel the wind brush through his hair, the ray of sunlight heating his skin but he got none of that. Blink once, you miss it. One moment they were all in the cramped motel room, the next he was sitting on his butt on cold, hard pavement, shielding his eyes from the unfiltered sunlight dancing heated rays on him. It was cold outside and he realized a little too late he forgot his jacket.
He and Jared had been in the middle of an argument, Jared had already put on his shoes, by the time either thought to call down Castiel and truth be told, when Jared announced he would, pray to the angel that was, Jensen hadn't thought it would work so he didn't bother getting ready. But it had and he was outside in the cool breeze in nothing but a tee shirt and jeans with holes in them, socks too, he couldn't forget those. He wiggled his toes for good measure, wondered if it was too late to ask the angel to take him back so he could grab his jacket and sneakers.
His old sneakers were dumped on the ground in front of him and Jensen squinted up to see Jared's large bulk looming over him like a sinister shadow. With a mumbled thanks he put his shoes on. He got up and looked around. They were outside somewhere, Jensen got that right. In front of some warehouse it seemed. Castiel was nowhere to be seen, like he had taken off as soon as he dumped them there. Jared saw the silent question in Jensen's eyes and said simply, "Angel business."
Right, like that was all he needed to know what was going on. Which he did. They had been in the middle of season six, Castiel's season as Jensen dubbed it. Misha had been pleased with the script, getting to play a range of characters; psycho, God, fallen angel looking for redemption, you name it Misha played it.
"Hey, hey, Ackles," there was something in his voice Jensen couldn't figure, made him look up sharply, jolted from his thoughts. And he saw Jared point at something behind Jensen, said, "Look behind you, man." And just as Jensen whirled around, he heard it, a low, terrifyingly close growl that couldn't possibly come from any human, he gulped.