One Last Beginning: A Last Chance {Jensen Ackles Fanfic} *under editing*

Chapter 7: A dark past

Jensen was awake all night, aswell as Jared. Jensen was laid on the bed, with Jared sat on the side of his own. Jensen was losing his mind. Everything he had done, he'd done to keep away from him. Sloan. The fucking bastard haunted him for years and never seemed to leave his shadow. Images of his family's death flashed through his mind as his thirst for vengeance increased. James, his younger brother slaughtered like an animal, his baby sister Ava, killed brutally and both his parents dead in their own beds. It was Sloan's way of warning him off the investigation that Jensen was leading. They were getting close and Jensen had incriminating evidence that could've potentially brought the whole crime ring crashing down. However, he forgot everything as soon as he saw what Sloan did. The day he came home from a late night job, was the last time he ever came home. The sheer horror and devastation of burying his family had wrecked him; anger, rage, grief and vengeance was the only emotion he'd known back then. But now as he matured, he still sought the same for Sloan, but with wisdom and even more strength. He'd only left the SS to track down Sloan, and over the years he'd been gathering information, in order to hunt him down. This was the only reason he was distancing himself from Gale, so that the past wouldn't repeat itself with her. If anything did happen to her, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"Jensen?" Jared spoke up interrupting Jensen's thoughts, his voice quiet but alarming.

"I don't know what to do.." Jensen muttered quietly. His eyes finally opened and they flew to Jared's face.

"I'm going out of my mind.. Should I leave? Should I stay? I really have no idea.." Jensen sighed heavily as he sat up and turned the lamp on.

"Leaving is just going to endanger other people, Jensen. If you want to track this son of a bitch down, you need to be stable and working in the right state of mind. Moving around isn't going to help," Jared sighed as he rested his arms against his knees, and looked at Jensen with somber eyes.

"I have to go though, Jared. The risk of dangering Gale has increased too much. If I stay and the same thing happens to Gale, I don't know what I'd do with myself..." A sudden picture of Gale laughing appeared in his mind, causing a small smile to flutter across his face.

"You really love her don't you?" Jared spoke up, looking at Jensen with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, I do." He sighed heavily as he stared at the far wall.

"I'm pretty sure she loves you too Jensen," Jared smiled slightly at the expression on Jensen's face. "She herself might not know it, but the rest of us do." Jensen needed that. His night was becoming so depressing that he was unsure if there was any redemption. Hearing that -of which he mostly didn't believe- gave a slight spark of emotion in his empty chest.

"You two are perfect for each other. She's going to carry on acting like it's not true, but trust me when I say this Jensen, she will fall into your arms eventually." He came and sat next to Jensen, to support him.

"I can never have her though, even if she supposedly loves me. I can't be with her knowing that she could be killed any minute. I'll only be content when I personally have had the chance to rip the bastard's innards out."

"You can't do that Jensen. You can't just up and go. What do you think Gale's gonna think? She's already falling for you and if you just leave her, it's going to wreck her as well as you."

Jared's words rattled Jensen's mind: what should he do? He wanted a normal life, a woman to love without the constant worry for her life, a family of his own to settle into without the never leaving apprehension of the past repeating itself to his family.

"Just be there for her. I'll help you in everyway I can to track Sloan down. Don't let him get to you, that's his primary aim." Jared put a hand on Jensen's shoulder.

"Shit... It's your wedding soon too isn't it!?" The thought hit his brain, producing yet another worry.

"Dammit Jensen! Can you stop worrying about everything? That's one day that no one can ruin. I won't let anyone." Jared's expression was set firm as he looked at Jensen with serious eyes.

"Your going to be there and I don't care," Jared's voice heightened when Jensen looks ready to interrupt. "Your my best friend and I can't exactly concentrate with you half way around the the freakin' world on some psychotic high." They both chuckled as Jared sat back on his own bed, looking at the frame of Gen and himself on their engagement party. He smiled whole heartedly, as he eventually rested his legs on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"That's gonna be you and Gale, one day. And I'll be giving you the married life advice." Jared and Jensen laughed, the atmosphere lightning a little, but admist their chuckling, they must've drowned out the slight thump of a woman outside, a shockwave of emotions portraying themselves through her wide eyes.