That's When We Uncover [Jensen Ackles + Misha Collins | Cockles | mxm]

Chapter Seven

I wake up alone.

Shuddering in the cool night air, my sweat-slick limbs tangled in crisp sheets and heart running a marathon in my heaving chest, the first word on my lips is:

"Mish?"

My brow furrows into a disgruntled frown as I pan the room with bleary eyes. It's dark; a glance at the bedside alarm clock confirms that it's only 12:14 A.M. 

The curtains framing the open window flutter in the breeze; beyond that, city lights shine like small embers floating in the ebony sky, mingling with the perpetual sounds of passing cars and pedestrians to create the typical California backdrop. Normally I'd find it soothing, enough to lull me back to sleep. But tonight, like too many other nights of late, it isn't enough.

Body moving on autopilot, I throw the blanket off and scramble out of my empty bed, shivering as the chilled air closes around my bare torso.

My limbs feel heavy, my head throbbing slightly, and I wince as I struggle to recall the events of the previous night. I think Misha found me in the nick of time because a few more drinks and I would be nursing a raging hangover right now, with no recollection whatsoever of how I came to obtain it. As it is, I feel fine. At least that's what I tell myself.

My ears tune in on a distant sound, carrying weakly through the walls: an insistent vocalization that I struggle to place as I pad across the room to the door.

I feel like I'm floating in a restless sea, weightless and lost, as I make my way down the dark hallway. I need my anchor.

The next cry shocks me to my senses and I almost stumble into the wall to my left. It's JJ, I'm sure of it now. I rush to her bedroom door and turn the knob, the wailing growing more persistent with each passing second.

"JJ," I hiss, scrambling to the edge of her bed. "Shh, it's okay. It's okay." But my words hold little sway over her fear.

"D-daddy?" JJ's whimpers taper off into sniffles, her blonde hair fanning out in a wild array against the pink bolster.

I fall to my knees by the bed and pull her head into the crook of my neck, stroking her back through her purple pyjama shirt. "I want 'Isha," she whispers, snivelling profusely against my neck. I tighten my grip on her, eyes squeezing shut, thinking me too.

"Come on," I whisper, giving her wrist a gentle tug. She complies, slipping out from under the covers and gripping my hand tightly as I lead her out of the room.

I open the guest bedroom door where Misha's staying and peer tentatively into the pitch-blackness.

"Mish," I call out, trying in vain to keep the quiver out of my hoarse voice. Misha mutters something I can't make out and slips the sheet over his head.

"'Isha," JJ gasps, pushing past me and rushing over to the bed. She flings herself on top of him, clinging like a barnacle to the sleepy man.

Misha tries to sit up, groaning his displeasure as the sheets are yanked down to his shoulders. His eyes flutter open and he gets a facefull of clingy little girl whimpering softly in his arms.

"Baby," he sighs wearily, voice holding a deep timbre that is so familiar I push off of the doorframe with the sudden, desperate urge to be closer to him. "And other baby," he appends, smiling ruefully at me as I walk over and sit down on the edge of the bed.