The Claim

Wake Up Call

It's been six months since Eloise's life changed and she never thought that things would be where they were now. If anyone were to ask her if she would ever see herself as part of Jensen's world, she would flat out refuse and say that they were crazy for even thinking that. And yet, that's exactly where she was.

When she agreed to move in with Jensen, she had a plan. She was going to look for a new job, it didn't matter what it was, and she was going to find a new place for herself. But now, six months later, her plan was long forgotten and, if she was honest, she actually didn't mind it.

Over the course of the last few months she got to know the men that worked for Jensen and became comfortable around them and their world. She knew which ones were married and which ones were single. Hell, she even helped a few of them with gift suggestions and making plans for dates, anniversaries or birthdays.

Without even noticing, Eloise became the go-to person for everything that wasn't directly associated with their world and she was okay with it. Slowly, but surely, she had gained the respect and friendship of Jensen's men and she knew how much that meant to Jensen.

As for her relationship with Jensen, things were definitely different. As they spent more and more time together, Eloise's feelings towards Jensen began changing. While at first she only saw him as a friend and protector, now she was seeing him in a whole different way. And she knew he felt the same.

The late night snacks in the kitchen, the long walks around the back garden, talking and laughing, were the moments that changed their relationship. From there, it was a matter of time before they would start acting as an actual couple, even if they were both still a bit reluctant about taking the next step.

Eloise was sitting at a table, smiling and watching Jensen talk to the father of the bride, who's wedding they were attending, and was hit with the realization that she could see herself being in a fully committed relationship with him. The thought had crossed her mind a few times in the past, but she always pushed it away out of fear of what that meant for her. However, now she was certain that she could actually do this and be a part of his world.

She watched as Jensen approached her, a smile on his lips, and Eloise stood to meet him halfway.

- "Having fun?" - He asked, wrapping his arm around her waist and leading her to the bar.

- "I am, actually. You?"

- "As long as you're here, always."

- "Smooth, Mr. Ackles. Very smooth." - Eloise said, laughing, making him laugh as well.

- "I try."

- "Boss? Sorry to interrupt Miss Ellie, but we have a problem." - Misha interrupted, his eyes cold and worried.

- "What is it?" - Jensen asked, tensing up beside her.

- "I just got word that a few of our guys were ambushed not far from here. Boss, Jared was one of them and it's bad."

- "We gotta go."

Eloise nodded and returned quickly to the table to grab her purse before joining Jensen by the door. Getting in the car and driving back to the house as fast as they could, Eloise couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach and kept praying that Jared was okay and that it wasn't as bad as Misha had said it was.

Eloise knew that Jared was Jensen's consigliere, advising him and helping him run the "family". She had asked once why Jensen had chosen Jared to be his consigliere, since the man was clearly younger than him, and he told her that it was because they had grown up together and Jared was always the more level-headed one. If anything happened to Jared, Eloise was worried about what Jensen might do.

They arrived at the house fairly quickly and, before the car was even at a full stop, Jensen was already getting out of it and running inside the house. Eloise followed suit, running as fast as her heels would allow her. Getting inside the house, the scenario in front of her almost made her stop in her tracks, but she stood strong.

There were men sitting all around the foyer, all bloodied and injured, some more than others, but they all had some sort of injury from the ambush. She saw Misha going into a room and quickly followed him, knowing that he was most likely following Jensen.

In the room, Eloise found Jensen, Misha, Jake the driver, and a doctor that Eloise hadn't had the chance of meeting yet, something she was grateful for. In the middle of the room was Jared, laying on a table, and it was clear that the doctor was working as fast as he could to stop the bleeding that was coming from Jared's abdomen.

- "What the hell happened?" - Jensen asked Jake, anger coating his voice.

- "We were coming back from the meeting with Don Sheppard's consigliere when we were ambushed. They came out of nowhere. I tried to get us out of there, but I wasn't fast enough and Jared ended up getting shot. I didn't even realize it until we were away from them." - Jake explained, holding a gauze against his own shoulder.

- "Could you tell who they were?"

- "Yeah. They were definitely Elijah's men, Boss."

Hearing Elijah's name for the first time in six months almost made Eloise throw up. She had thought that the man had given up. She even mentioned it to Jensen and he had agreed with her. They were just playing it safe now and making sure that that was the case. It was now clear that it wasn't.

- "Fuck! I'm gonna kill him, that's it. I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."

- "Boss, with all due respect, maybe you can wait on that until I finish treating the men. I mean..." - Dr. Beaver told Jensen, bandaging Jared's wound as best as he could.

- "Sure, but as soon as everyone is good to go, that son of a bitch is dead."

Jensen turned, anger written all over his face, and that was when he saw her. Eloise realized that up until that moment, he hadn't noticed that she was there.

She heard him call her name as calmly as his anger would allow it and ask if she was okay, after all this wasn't something she was used to. Eloise looked back at him and nodded, telling him that there was work to do, before walking over to Dr. Beaver and asking what she could do to help, a determined look on her face.

Eloise had to stay focused on something other than the thoughts that were running wild in her head. This was all her fault. Jensen's men were hurt because of her. Jared was in bad shape because of her. If only she had kept her mouth shut, none of this would've happened.

A few hours later, Eloise walked into Jensen's office, wiping the blood from her hands.

- "You okay, sweetheart?"

- "The men are going to be okay. It might take a couple of weeks for a few of them to be able to go back out there, but they are all going to be okay. Jared needs plenty of rest and to stay off his feet, but Dr. Beaver says that, if Jared follows all the instructions that Dr. Beaver gave him, he should make a full recovery as well."

- "Even if that is all great to hear sweetheart, that's not what I asked. Are you okay?"

- "I will be when this is over. Please tell me you have a plan to make that son of a bitch pay for what he has done."

- "I do, and the men that weren't in the ambush are already carrying it out."

- "Good."

- "Ellie, you need to know something."

- "What?"

- "Because of what Elijah did, I declared war on him. That means that..."

- "I know what it means. I grew up surrounded by mobsters, remember?"

- "I remember. We're going to be okay, sweetheart. I promise."

Eloise felt Jensen wrap his arms around her, and in that moment, for the first time in hours, she broke down. She couldn't shake the guilt that was building inside of her. Because of her, men were injured and now Jensen had declared war on a rival family, all because she couldn't bite her tongue and just walk away.

Jensen had been right the night he laid the Claim on her. Her no-nonsense attitude got her in trouble as well as a lot of other people. And she will never forgive herself for that.