Chapter Text
“Alan! Alan!”
Uh-oh. Something was up. Jensen peeked around the corner to get a look at his mother who´d just run – (I did certainly NOT run, Jensen darling, a lady never runs. I was merely striding! he could practically hear his mom chiding him) – well, who´d just hastened toward the extension. (It´s a winter garden, Jensen!) where his father had been hiding all afternoon to ‘organize his books’. AKA watching the pre-game chatter on the crappy telly he´d sneaked down from Josh´s old room. The battered glass panel doors his dad had got from a junk yard about ten years ago, were now building a part of the walls of a much needed extra room, provided a perfect view and, given his mom´s excitement, also good enough auditive access to what was going on.
Sure enough, he saw his old man hastily stuffing away the beer bottle he´d held in his lap, and scrambling up from the slightly threadbare overstuffed chair they´d inherited from grandpa when the old folks decided to sell their house and move into a tiny apartment at the “ Golden Years” retirement home. Jensen couldn´t help it, the name of the place made him roll his eyes. Each time. It was kind of a knee-jerk reaction.
“Alan? ALAAAN! Oh, there you are, dear!”
Jensen grinned. His father´s show of getting up from his knees in front of the impressive book shelf covering one entire wall of the extension (sorry, Mom; the WINTER GARDEN), dusting off his trousers with one hand while holding one of his heavier volumes in the other, a slightly irritated frown on his face, deserved an Oscar. Sometimes Jensen wondered how far his Dad would have come in Hollywood, had he ever decided to pursue his career as an actor after the few TV characters he´d played as a young man.
“What is it, Donna? Is the house on fire?”
“Of course not, silly.” His mom eyed the –admittedly quite baggy – trousers disapprovingly. “And I´m glad, cause if you had to leave the house in these pants I´d die from embarrassment. I´m pretty sure I threw this pair away at least half a year ago!”
Jensen watched his father´s face turn an interesting shade of pink for a moment; but he stood his ground.
“They are perfectly suitable to be worn at home, Donna. And that way, I spare the good pairs you have me wear when we´re going out!”
Jensen´s Mom only rolled her eyes at that, and Jensen was pretty sure he heard her murmur something like, “Lord, give me patience...!”. He grinned. His parents, albeit married for almost 30 years now, could banter like that on a daily basis; but they were probably the perfect example for `teasing is a sign of affection´.
“So, I wonder, if it´s not a fire, what else would make you burst in here, sweetheart? As you can see, I´m kinda busy and -”
“Oh, jeez, Alan, your dusty old books won´t go anywhere. Guess who I just met at the grocery store!”
Jensen´s father sighed inwardly.
Jensen could tell from the way his eyebrows moved the tiniest bit.
“Mr. Peanut in a top hat?”
That got him a playful slap on his arm.
“I´m serious, Alan! Mrs. Holloway.”
Jensen frowned. The name sounded only vaguely familiar. His father was at a loss, too, if his face was anything to go by.
“Who?”
“For God´s sake, Alan! I could swear you never listen to a word I say!”
Probably not too far from the truth, Jensen thought.
“Mrs. Holloway, whose daughter Sharon works at Collins & Sheppard as a secretary! She went to High School with Josh, and for a while I hoped the two of them would hit it off, she´s such a sweet girl, you know, and such a respectable family, not at all like this Bingley girl he used to go out with, I can´t say I shed a tear when they broke up right before prom, I swear I´ve never met a blunter person than her mother in my life! Downright rude! And she never even brought cookies or a pie to the church sale, her oven conveniently always seemed to break down right before it, I mean, seriously! And then she had the nerve to take one of the pies home with her, saying it hadn´t been sold, but I personally saw her putting it under one of the tables so no one would sell it! So, when Josh and whatshername...ah, Sheila, was it, finally broke up, I had such big hopes for him and Sharon, but, well, you know what happened then.”
It was clear from Jensen´s father´s expression that he didn´t have the slightest idea what his wife was talking about. Even Jensen felt a little dizzy. He knew for a fact that Josh had been dumped rather unceremoniously by Sheila the day before Prom after he´d found her making out with one of his classmates in one of the boys´ bathroom stalls – according to Chris, she was “Giving Todd Bradley a blowjob that made him whine like a dog in heat”. Josh had been pretty upset after that, had drunk way too much of the sweet, and heavily spiked, punch on Prom Night, fallen down the stairs when leaving the school building and broken his ankle.
He´d spent the next week in the hospital, where he shared a room with a guy his age who happened to have a very attractive, very smart, and very sweet sister, who Josh was going to marry in a few months. Fate, as Chris had put it, could `be a bitch, but sometimes she gets it right.´
“So, uhm... Sheila...?”
“Not Sheila, Sharon. Sharon Holloway, Molly Holloway´s daughter.”
"Well... yes?”
His father´s confusion hadn´t cleared one bit, it seemed.
“Well, Molly Holloway told me that Sharon had told her that the late Mr. Collin´s son will visit the company next week. You know how everyone was talking about the company closing down after old Mr. Collins had died, his son, who has a very strange name, not that I can remember, but it was definitely strange, sounded European or even Russian if you ask me, but you know how old Mr. Collins could be so eccentric on times, always traveling to the weirdest places, anyway, and the Sheppard’s living in England now, but well, to cut a long story short, this Collins boy is going to visit, and Molly Holloway said that Sharon told her that there is still hope now , him coming and all. Isn´t that great?
“And what´s more, he´ll stay at the old mansion up the hill, as far as I know it has been closed since Mr. Collin´s death, and it´s a shame, such a nice house, and the gardens always so perfectly kept! Carla from the bakery said her sister´s husband was hired to mow the lawn once a month, but that´s it, I can´t even imagine what those beautifully arranged flower beds will look like after such a long time! Just think about our small garden, and how much work one has to put into it to keep it nice and tidy!”
Jensen sighed, oh yes, he could tell a story about mowing duties, and pulling weeds for hours, and cleaning the driveway from any plant that, according to his Mom, was a personal offense to her proud home owner´s eye.
“So, what you´re saying is, some boy no one has seen or heard of in years will stop by to have a look at his late father´s struggling company.”
“Well, yes! Isn´t it exciting? And you know, I bet he´s good looking, too, Mr. Collins was such a handsome man, and they say his wife was a real beauty. I wonder how old he is? God knows this town needs some fresh blood on the market!”
Oh, jeez. Jensen made a mental note to warn his sister. He had an inkling where this was going. Having been the victim of his mother´s futile match making attempts for years, it was his duty to save his little sis from being thrown into the game without a heads-up.
“You realize the young man visiting could also mean that he´s intending to sell the company, or go ahead with the closure, or move it elsewhere.”
Jensen´s Mom made a dismissive gesture with her hand.
“Oh, don´t be such a grumpy spoilsport. He´s reopening the mansion, and rumor has it that he´s already hired someone to clean and cook for a whole two weeks after his arrival. That has to mean something good, right? Oh dear, I have to go tell Lauren all about it! She´ll be thrilled! We have to invite the young man to church, maybe even organize some welcome gathering after mass on Sunday, his father was such a generous donor whenever we needed something for repairs or charity...”
She had already turned and was headed through the open glass doors again, murmuring to herself. His father looked a little dazed, Jensen´s mom could have that effect on people, but also relieved.
Jensen slipped around the corner, having made sure his Mom was well out of sight, and entered the room that had become his father´s refuge during the last years, aside from his garage.
“Hey, Dad!”
Alan Ackles jerked, and Jensen could barely grab the beer bottle that had almost slipped his father´s fingers.
“Christ, Jensen, stop sneaking up on me like that! You´ll give me a heart attack one day!”
Jensen handed him the beer and bent down, pulling a six-pack out from under the stuffed chair. He took one of the remaining two bottles and straightened up again.
“Cheers, Dad! Didn´t know you were so easily scared.” He grinned, and they clanked their bottles´ necks together.
“So, what was all that excitement about?”, Jensen asked casually, taking a long swig from his bottle. Man, he´d been looking forward to it for hours.
“Well... looks like the Collins kid is coming to town. Your mother seems to think he´s going to keep the company.” Alan sounded hesitant.
“But...you aren´t?”
“God knows I´ll be the first to kiss the guy if he decides to give it a chance. It´s not like jobs are easy to find around here, and with the company closing, the whole region would suffer tremendously...but I know the numbers we´ve made lately, and without some heavy investment into modernizing the whole production progress, and new markets, it doesn´t look too good. Sometimes I`m surprised I still have a job, being one of the older employees down there. They´ve let off people constantly, or rather, not brought in new ones for the ones retiring. And no one has invested in the company for years.”
Jensen frowned. His father had been an accountant for Collins & Sheppard, the local company producing convenience food, for almost 30 years. He´d actually taken on the job when Donna had gotten pregnant with Josh about a year after their wedding – to have a stable job that would provide for his family. The acting had always been kind of a fun dream, or so he used to say.
“So...you think he´ll sell? Or...close it?”
Alan rubbed his front pensively. “I don´t know. Your mother thinks it´s a good sign he´s showing up personally, after so many years – what, the boy can´t have been more than five when he last visited with his mother during the summer months.”
“It could be.”
“Yeah, it could. Let´s just hope it is.”
They finished their beers in silence. Alan eyed Jensen for a moment before he started to say something, but closed his mouth again.
“What”, Jensen asked, eyebrows raised.
“Uhm... I got the impression your mother thinks the Collins boy would be a good catch. She´ll do her best to throw one of you into his path, if I know anything about her.”
“Well, he´s filthy rich, if the rumors are true. If he´s single, everyone around town will try to sink their hooks into him, won´t they?”
“When did my son become such a cynic? You should be excited about some...uhm...`fresh blood on the market´, as your mother put it, either for Mackenzie or yourself. Your mom´s very enthusiastic about the situation.”
Jensen sighed. “I´ll try to dampen Mom´s enthusiasm, if that´s what you mean.”
His father grinned, then snorted. “Good luck with that.”
“You could be helpful, you know? Reigning her in,” Jensen fake-glared at his father.
“Oh, no, no, no. Son, once you´ve been married for almost 30 years, you know where to pick your battles. Besides, I think she really enjoys herself a lot, with all that scheming and plotting. Let´s have her have some fun.”
Jensen sighed again. “Well, if you put it like that... I only hope all of us get through it without bruises.” He remembered the last time his mom had dragged him through the church hall to meet some visiting nephew of a town family he barely knew, and shuddered.
“Josh´s the lucky one...again. Well out of sight and happily engaged.”
“I´m sure he´s devastated to miss out on all the thrilling events that are to unravel here, come next week.”
Jensen rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We´ll see if you´re still laughing once Mom hits her stride!”