Home
Halfway up the hill, Jensen started to hear the howling, the chorus of
big-chested barks highlighted by high-pitched yelps, and not for the
first time, he wondered what exactly he was doing here. Why he was
doing this: facing the prospect of an afternoon filled with slobber and
whining and at least a year of finding dog hair stuck in the cracks of
the backseat of his car, when Jared was planning on doing it all
tomorrow anyway.
Except he knew why.
Because Jared had called him earlier—shoot going long, just a couple
extra hours, he'd be home later than he'd thought, as soon as he could
be, sometime tonight, promise, could Jensen call the boarding place for
him? Tell them he'd be out tomorrow—and he'd sounded so tired,
disappointed, so ready to be home, that Jensen had, well. Hopped in the
car instead of picking up the phone.
And here he was.
The volume of the barking increased when Jensen got out of the car,
dogs dashing out in their runs to look at him, wag and whine and smell
the air to see if *this* was their person, if it was time for them to
go *home*, and it was loud, yeah, but Jensen still thought he could
pick out Sadie's bark from the rest.
He sort of wondered if he should be worried, that he apparently knew
Jared's dogs that well.
The sound dimmed for a moment when he stepped into the office, but it
was replaced pretty much immediately by the high-pitched yips of the
lap dogs, coming from the glassed in area off to the side of the main
room. Yorkies and Dachshunds and white things with long fur and bows on
top of their heads, all of them tumbling over each other to paw at the
glass, to attempt to get at him.
The guy behind the desk looked up. Freckles and red hair, sticking
straight up in half a mohawk, and a look in his eyes that said that he
might recognize Jensen, but he wasn't going to show it. Besides, this
was Los Angeles and Jensen wasn't, say, Brad Pitt, who very well,
Jensen knew, might have one of his mutts housed in one of the runs
outside.
"I'm here to pick up Sadie and Harley," Jensen said. Then, after a
moment: "Padalecki." The kid narrowed his eyes, and yeah, he knew who
Jensen was. Or at least who Jared was. "Jared got held up," he said.
"Won't be getting back until after closing time tonight. Asked me to
come get them." The kid started to open his mouth, to no doubt say
something along the lines of: 'we can't do that', so Jensen said, "It's
okay. Check their file."
Because Jared had added his name to the approved list of people to pick
up his dogs months ago, even before this whole thing between them had
begun. Just in case, Jared had said. For emergencies, or for situations
like this, when Jared couldn't get there.
The kid's eyes narrowed farther and his lips thinned, but Jensen's name
was in the file and finally he nodded; when he looked up, he was
looking friendlier again. He coughed once, clearing his throat, then
pushed a button on the desk, speaking into the microphone there: "Sadie
and Harley Padalecki are ready to go home. Repeat: Sadie and Harley
Padalecki are ready to go home." Then he printed out forms for Jensen
to sign, and it was only a few minutes later that the back door to the
office banged open and he heard the familiar sounds of Jared's dogs
pulling at their leashes.
He wasn't quite sure what to expect in the moment when the dogs saw
that it was him and not Jared picking them up, but he'd been pretty
sure he could expect a moment of confusion, a 'what are you doing here?
Where's our person?' But there was no pause, no hitch in their surge
forward. Their tails thwapped at his thighs and Harley bounced up to
put his paws on Jensen's chest, and Sadie, sneaky girl that she was,
gave his hand a wide, wet swipe with her tongue.
Then the girl handed their leashes over and Jensen was the one being
pulled out the door of the office, towards his car, where they hopped
right into the back seat with no encouragement whatsoever.
Jensen had done this whole pick up deal with Jared before, to keep him
company, and he knew that the ride home would be filled with barking
and scolding. Jared, of course, spoke back—'Did you have a good time?
Oh yeah, guys, I know. I'm sorry I had to leave you. I know, I know.'
Jensen had rolled his eyes at Jared for that, but when the barking
started up—which was pretty much immediately, as soon as Jensen turned
the key in the ignition—he heard himself saying, "Hey, guys. It's okay.
We'll be home soon."
And then he snapped his mouth closed, 'cause, yeah.
Yeah.
But this was the other thing: without Jared's encouragement, without
Jared talking back to them, the dogs had pretty much calmed down by the
time they reached the bottom of the hill. By the time they reached the
highway, Harley was curled up behind Jensen's seat, maybe asleep, and
Sadie was sitting quietly behind the passenger seat, her nose pressed
into the two inches of open window, tasting the air.
The whining didn't start again until they pulled off of the highway,
until they started taking the maze of roads to Jared's house. Then
Harley sat up and Sadie started making her high-pitched barks, and they
were pretty much quivering by the time he pulled into Jared's driveway.
Jensen kept the leashes on until they got in the house, just in case,
because, well, Jared *wasn't* there, but as soon as he managed to get
the front door open and closed again, he unclipped the leads and the
dogs were off.
He made his way to the kitchen then, to put out food and water, and he
could hear nails skittering over hardwood floors: first to the living
room, then to the kitchen, then upstairs to the bedroom, then back down
again. He could hear snuffling noses and tails bumping walls as they
searched, and when they finally met him in the kitchen, they were
starting to look a little confused as to where Jared was. At the same
time, though, they didn't seem to be any less happy to see Jensen,
given the way their tails were still going, the way they were still
smiling at him, pink tongues swiping at his hands and wrists.
Harley started in on the food, but Sadie went to the kitchen door
instead, looking up at Jensen pleadingly, and so he opened the door.
She was outside before he got it all the way open, Harley hot on her
trail, and it was a nice day: warm and sunny, much better than the rain
they'd had for the better part of the week, and Jensen found himself
stepping outside, too.
He sat down on the steps after a moment, watching the dogs dart in and
out of the bushes, playing tag. He watched as Harley bowled Sadie over;
as Sadie went down on her haunches, barking joyfully, then took off as
fast as she could go across the yard, Harley half a length behind her.
There was an old tennis ball at Jensen's feet—chewed and dirty and
disgusting—but he picked it up and bounced it once on the stair next to
him, and the next thing he knew he had two dogs right in front of him,
dancing and barking. When he finally threw the ball, they took off with
enough force that he was showered with bits of dirt and grass.
He wasn't quite sure how much time passed in a haze of warm sun and
tennis balls and dogs curling up at his feet to take a nap, but the
next thing Jensen knew, he heard the front door of Jared's house open
and close again. Then, after a moment, Jared's voice calling out,
"Jensen?"
Sadie raised her head at that, ears pricked forward, and Jensen called
back, "Yeah, man, outside."
He wasn't sure Jared would be able to hear him through the door,
through the empty house, through the dogs that were suddenly up,
whining, wanting inside, but he must have, because less than a minute
later the door from the kitchen was opening again and Jared was
stepping outside and into the twined bodies of his greeting committee.
Jensen watched as Jared knelt down, grinning, eyes bright with
laughter, doling out ear scratches and pushing noses away from his
face, saying, "Hey, guys. Hey, I missed you, too. Hey, calm down."
Then, "Jensen?"
There are things Jensen had planned to say when Jared asked why: 'Hey,
it was the least I could do.' Or, 'I knew you wouldn't be happy tonight
unless your mutts were here, too.'
What he said though, grinning, his thumb rubbing across his eyebrow,
his gaze holding Jared's, was: "Yeah. So. Uh. Welcome home."
End.