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Aug. 21st, 2010 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
longsufferinglyTitle: Picture You By the Ocean
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
poor_choices
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles, mentions of Gabe Tigerman/Sandy McCoy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Kidfic? Generally schmoopy.
Word Count: 5200 words.
Summary: Tractorbeam timestamp! About eight years later. A family vacation to Washington DC, pretty much.
Notes: Written forpinkfinity for Sweet Charity! Title from Tom McRae.
Disclaimer: Lies and untruths.
Jared rubs his forehead. He loves Jensen, he really does, but that doesn't mean he understands Jensen. He's honestly not sure anyone understands Jensen. Jensen himself included.
"I thought you liked awards," Jared grits out.
"Of course I like awards," says Jensen, like whatever his issue is totally obvious. "But it's in DC."
"Do you have some sort of issue with DC you've never mentioned before?" asks Jared.
"Is DC like DW?" asks Penelope. "Dora...Dora...Courtney?"
Jared smiles at his daughter, picking her up and putting her in his lap. "Good guess," he says, tickling her side lightly. "It's the capital of the United States. Do you know what the capital of California is?"
Penelope considers for a long time. "It's C," she says hesitantly, "but the capitals of United States are U and S."
"Different capitals," says Jared gently.
"The capital is the primary city in an area," says Jensen absently. He's doing work, so he's not totally paying attention, but Jared has never seen him so distracted he can't take a break to teach Penelope something. "It's not always the largest or most well known city, but it's usually where the government seats are."
A lot of people feel Jensen should talk to Penelope like a five-year-old, and not like a grown up, but Jared thinks they're stupid. If Penelope doesn't understand something, she asks, and she has kind of a hilariously short fuse for patronizing adults and bullshit.
As far as Jared's concerned, his family is awesome.
"Government seats?" asks Penelope.
"Like the president, or the governor. The president lives in the White House, remember? That's in Washington DC," Jared explains.
"What does DC stand for?"
"District of Columbia," says Jensen.
"Okay," says Penelope. She considers again. "Why don't you want to go?"
"Yeah Jensen," says Jared, grinning. Arguments are way easier when Penelope is on his side. Jensen has a lot more trouble winning against kid logic. Jared feels sure Jensen advanced too quickly to ever use it himself. "Why don't you want to go?"
Jensen scowls half-heartedly. "I don't like traveling. It's a pain. We'd have to find someone to take care of Heisenberg, hotels are unsanitary, there would be new restaurants and I wouldn't know which to trust--need I go on?"
"We could do research," says Jared, barely resisting rolling his eyes. "And think of all the awesome educational stuff we could go see. We could take Penelope to the Air and Space Museum and you could teach her about physics."
"Space?" asks Penelope, bouncing in Jared's lap. "I wanna go to space!"
"I'll be on hiatus," Jared says reasonably. "You have tons of vacation time. And Penelope doesn't start school until September. We could go for a couple weeks, see the sights, check out the zoo..." he puts Penelope back down and goes over to Jensen, wrapping his arms around Jensen's shoulders and leaning in close to kiss his cheek. "Also, the President wants to give you the National Science Award at the White House. How can you not go?"
"They could mail it to me," Jensen says, but a smile is tugging at the corners of his mouth, and Jared knows he's about two seconds from caving. Jared nuzzles his neck again, feels Jensen's sigh. "Okay," he says. "We'll go to Washington. I'll let the President tell me I'm awesome."
"I'm sure he's very flattered you have time for him," Jared teases.
"Are they gonna have aardvarks at the zoo?" asks Penelope. Jared is really ready for this Arthur phase to be over. Penelope keeps asking them to get another baby so that Heisenberg will have someone to talk to, like baby Kate and Pal. Jared's not totally opposed to another kid, but he's the lead on his show, and Jensen is Jensen, so no one really has time to take care of another baby right now.
"I dunno," says Jared.
"Aardvarks aren't actually like Arthur," Jensen says.
"I know," says Penelope, patiently. They have this conversation a lot. "But I still want to see them. And space."
Jensen grins, looking down at his laptop to hide it. "You can stop trying to convince me. I already said yes."
Penelope bounces over and sits in Jensen's lap, instructing him to look up things and find out what they can do, and Jared has no doubt they're going to have a detailed day-to-day breakdown of everything they're going to do while they're in DC.
He grins to himself and starts researching hotels.
*
Chad is convinced that having a dog will help him pick up chicks, which Jared does not think is true, but he can't deny that Chad needs all the help he can get. And, besides, it means that he's always happy to babysit for Heisenberg when they leave town, so Jared certainly isn't going tell him otherwise.
"Dude," Chad argues, "now that you and Jensen and Gabe are all fucking lame and married, I need a wingman."
Jared looks at Heisenberg, who is drooling all over Chad's pants in a way that makes it look like Chad has wet himself. Heisenberg is an awesome dog, and Jared loves her, but she's probably the stupidest dog he has ever met. Her tail chases her.
"Yeah," Jared agrees, giving Chad a sunny smile. "Well, she's all yours for two weeks."
Chad considers him with a thoughtful, unwavering, and completely non-sexual look. Coming from Chad, it's actually horrifically disturbing, and he squirms under the scrutiny.
"What?" asks Jared.
"You're really good for Jensen, you know? Man, when I met him, if he got an award from the fucking president, he wouldn't be able to shut up about it. I would have strangled him. Now he's all excited about teaching that kid of yours about, like, what the fuck ever. It's cool."
Jared blinks. He knows Jensen is different from when they first met--all of them are. Gabe can talk to Jared now. Hell, Gabe can now, occasionally, speak to women he doesn't know. Not consistently or anything, but baby steps. And he managed to propose to Sandy, even if he was so nervous he didn't actually ask, so much as get down on one knee, show her the ring, and smile hopefully, but Sandy thought it was cute, and they've got their own kid on the way.
"Uh, thanks," says Jared, not sure what to say. He shrugs, smiles a little awkwardly. "He's good for me too."
Chad shrugs, rubbing behind Heisenberg's ears. "Get out of here," he says awkwardly. "This is getting way too gay for me."
Jared laughs. "Thanks for that moment, Chad. And for taking care of the dog."
"Seriously, she is gonna get me so much pussy. Aren't you, sweetie?"
Heisenberg continues to drool all over Chad, wagging her tail enthusiastically.
"Bye, Chad," says Jared, and lets himself out.
*
Jensen hates flying, apparently because he understands so much about thermodynamics. Jared initially wants to ban him from explaining how the plane works to Penelope while they're on it, so he doesn't infect her with his crazy, but Penelope insists.
"It's okay, papa," she assures him. "I'm not silly like daddy is."
Jensen ruffles her hair. "That's my girl. Now," he says, doing a quick sketch of a wing, "we're gonna learn a lot more about this at the Air and Space Museum, but this is gonna give you a basic overview of how planes fly."
Jared smiles and leans back in his own seat. He likes to travel, and while he does it a good deal for work, he prefers being with Jensen and Penelope, no matter how awesome his costars are. He takes a minute to stretch his legs and offer up a silent thanks that he could convince Jensen to do first class. He doesn't generally believe in wasting their money on needlessly extravagant things--that's really not how they're raising Penelope--but coach seats are way too small. He reaches across the aisle and squeezes Jensen's knee, smiles wide when Jensen looks up with a fond grin.
"What?" asks Jensen.
"Just glad we're doing this," says Jared honestly. "We need more family vacations."
Jensen looks a little guilty, and Jared feels bad.
"Don't give me that look," he chides. "It's fine. I'm just excited. You're gonna meet the President. How awesome is that?"
Jensen shrugs. "I like awards, not award ceremonies."
Penelope has gotten distracted from Jensen's drawing and is instead eagerly peering out the windows, looking at the activities on the runway, Jared figures she's not really paying attention to them.
"Chad said--before you met me. You wouldn't have shut up about it," says Jared, flushing a little. He feels bashful about his impact on Jensen's life. He loves Jensen, no matter what, and he never really meant to change him.
Jensen shrugs, looks away from Jared to Penelope. "It's still cool," he says. "But it's not everything." He looks back to Jared and smirks. "Besides, it's not like it's the Nobel Prize."
Jared laughs, bright and surprised. "Over achiever."
Penelope tugs on Jensen's sleeve. "What's that man doing?" she asks, pointing out the window.
Jensen leans over to look and starts explaining softly what everyone is doing to prepare for takeoff. Jared can tell he's a little nervous, even now, but he's putting on a brave face for Penelope.
Jared settles back in his seat and closes his eyes. He likes to think they've both changed for the better.
*
Jared's show is Y: The Last Man, which Jensen made him try out for and then take when it was offered to him. It's based on a comic book series, so of course Jensen likes it, and Jared gets to hang out with a monkey, which is also fairly cool. The show had been a fairly hard-sell--Jared's the only guy in the cast, because the whole premise is that his character, Yorick, was the only male creature other than the monkey to survive a massive worldwide extinction of anything with a y-chromosome. But the whole thing has been surprisingly well-received--they're on HBO so they can amp up the violence and the nudity, and they were renewed for a second season about halfway through the first. So Jared's not a star, but he's pretty used to getting recognized.
"Oh my gosh!" says the girl next to them at the baggage claim when she gets a good look at him. She's bright red, and she looks away, blushing madly.
Jared smiles. He's got Penelope on his shoulders, and Jensen isn't paying attention at all, watching the conveyor belt with incredible intensity to make sure he doesn't miss their bags. Knowing him, he's probably worried that they've ended up somewhere totally random, never to be seen again. For all Jensen's brains, he's still really irrationally paranoid.
"Are you, um--" the girl isn't looking at him, but her cheeks are bright red. "Yorick? From, um. I mean."
Jared resists the urge to laugh. "Well, Jared," he says. "But yeah, I play Yorick."
"He's an actor," says Penelope brightly. "Papa, is that mine?" she asks, pointing to her bright pink suitcase coming off the unloading ramp.
"Unless someone else has a princess suitcase, yes," Jared teases. He looks back to the girl and smiles. "Always glad to meet a fan," he says, which is mostly true.
"Oh!" says the girl. She clearly feels bad for having disturbed him with his family. Jared can relate. "Are you, um. In town for the show?"
"Oh, nah," says Jared. "My husband's here on business."
Jared's never been willing to hide his family for the sake of his career, and he's been very lucky that it's worked out. It actually keeps the press off him, for the most part--as it turns out, having a pretty normal home life with one husband and one child isn't great for selling tabloids. Occasionally, they'll try to run stories about how he's having an affair with one of his costars, but given he's on the record as being gay and all his costars are female, it usually fizzles out pretty fast.
"Oh," says the girl, her eyes flicking up to Penelope, and then over to Jensen. Jared is generally not a shallow guy, but he has to admit he's glad Jensen has mostly gotten better about his appearance. He wears clothes that fit, and he got glasses that really complement his face, and the first time they went out in public together, the interviewer assumed he was a model. Jared had felt very fucking smug about it.
"But we're also using it as an excuse for a family vacation, right?" Jared asks, squeezing Penelope's leg.
"I'm gonna learn about thermodynamics," she says, and Jared has to bite down on a snort of laughter. Penelope isn't a genius, not like Jensen is, but she's growing up with a lot of smarts and precociousness. Unsurprisingly.
"Oh," the girl stammers, clearly taken aback. "That's cool."
"Dad's a physicist," says Penelope. She loves bragging about Jensen. "He's getting an award from the President."
Jared laughs. "Sorry, um--did you want an autograph or a picture or something?" he offers. "You probably weren't looking for our life story."
"Oh, no, no!" the girl says quickly. "I don't want to interrupt your vacation or anything."
Jared smiles gently. "I wouldn't offer if I minded."
"That's our last bag," Jensen interjects. He smiles at the girl, awkward, but--Jensen still has a fucking amazing smile, and the girl flushes darker. "I can take a picture for you if you want," he offers. "But then we should get to the hotel."
"If it's really no trouble," the girl stammers, and Jared unloads Penelope. She claims her bag from Jensen and hangs out by his legs while he snaps a photo on the girl's phone.
She thanks all three of them profusely and takes off with her own luggage, still bright red.
"She thinks you're dreamy," Jensen teases smugly.
"I am dreamy," Jared agrees, wrapping his arm around Jensen's shoulders and taking Penelope's hand. "But I am also taken."
"You are taken," Jensen agrees, and they hail a taxi to the hotel.
*
Their first day in DC it's supposed to be overcast and on the cool side, so Jensen and Penelope agreed that was the time to go to the zoo. They looked at a map and came up with an itinerary back in LA, and Jared is more than willing to be dragged along by his eager daughter and his equally eager husband. Jared pretty much loves all animals, so he doesn't care where they go.
There are aardvarks in the Small Mammal House, so naturally that's their first stop, and despite the fact that they look nothing like Arthur, Penelope is completely fascinated with them. Jared used to be concerned about getting around, seeing everything, getting the full experience of things, but Jensen read about thirty thousand child development books and assured him that letting Penelope set the pace is important, and Jared is content to hang in the back with Jensen, watching their daughter decide which animals correspond to which Arthur characters.
"Could we get an aardvark?" she asks, as they head toward the big cats. She also loves tigers.
"No, that would be illegal," says Jared.
"But you're an actor," Penelope points out. "Actors can have things normal people can't."
"Only really big famous actors," says Jared. "You have to be in movies to get exotic pets."
"Also, Heisenberg would be jealous," says Jensen.
"My stuffed animals aren't jealous when I get new ones. They're happy to have friends!"
"Your stuffed animals only have the feelings you ascribe to them," Jensen explains.
"Ascribe?"
"The feelings you imagine them having," Jared interjects. He grins. "Hey, tigers!"
"Tigers!" says Penelope, running over to peer up at the distant animal.
"Please don't try to destroy our daughter's childlike sense of wonder," Jared says, elbowing Jensen in the ribs with a grin.
"It's not childlike if she's actually a child," says Jensen. "Also, shut up."
Jared just leans down for a kiss. He loves vacation.
*
The Air and Space Museum the next day is hilarious.
Jensen, of course, loves it. He's like a kid in a candy store. Penelope asks him a billion questions, and Jensen explains everything in detail, energetic and enthused, and draws a fucking crowd. All these little kids gather around with more questions and clarifications, and pretty soon it's like Jensen's leading a school group or something, shadowed everywhere he goes by a bunch of kids and their confused parents, who keep doing double takes when they see Jared, like they're not quite sure if they recognize him.
Jensen, for his part, seems mildly baffled by his popularity, but certainly not upset. There's nothing he loves more than babbling on about science to anyone who will listen, and by the end he's actually giving an impromptu demonstration about string theory, using volunteers from the audience.
"You missed your calling, man," says Jared, carrying a wiped out and snoring Penelope out of the museum as Jensen flushes slightly next to him.
"I'm getting a presidential medal," Jensen points out. "I think that means I'm doing pretty well."
"Yeah," says Jared. "But, dude. That was awesome."
Jensen blushes. "They were very receptive."
"Well, you weren't dumbing it down. Kids like it when you treat them like adults."
Jensen looks at Penelope and bites his lip a little, smiling. "I noticed."
"You're good with kids," says Jared. He leans over and gives Jensen a kiss.
"This is you wanting another one, isn't it," says Jensen, sighing.
"Maybe not a baby," says Jared. "I mean, there are plenty of older kids who could use a family."
"Not everyone gets along with me," Jensen points out.
"Jensen," Jared says, gentle and a little incredulous. "Did you see what just happened in there? You had more fans than I did."
Jensen snorts. "That's because the straight fanboys think Tracie's hotter than you." He winks at Jared. "They're wrong."
Jared doesn't let himself get distracted. "I think we should think about it," he says, smiling down at Penelope. "We're not screwing this one up too bad."
"Nah," Jensen agrees. "Not too bad."
*
After four days of dedicated sight-seeing, everyone is fairly exhausted, so instead of their planned excursion to the National Building Museum on Thursday, they end up hanging around in the hotel. Jared and Penelope take advantage of the pool, splashing around in the sun, while Jensen sits under an umbrella, avoiding the light and reading some giant book about particle physics and trying not to look amused when Jared and Penelope come over and drip on him.
"This was kind of a good idea," Jensen says grudgingly, when Jared stretches out on the deck chair next to him.
Jared laughs. "Did it hurt to admit that?"
Jensen just sticks his tongue out.
*
They split their time in the Natural History Museum between the dinosaurs, which Jared and Penelope totally love, and the butterflies, which Jensen starts out wary of and then ends up liking even more than Penelope. He spends half an hour staring at the little window where you can watch the butterflies coming out of their cocoons while Jared and Penelope wander around looking at the rest of the insects and being kind of quietly amused.
"Daaaaaad," Penelope finally says. "I wanna go to the American History Museum too! We gotta gooooo."
Jensen blinks, coming out of his daze. "Oh, yeah." He grins at Penelope sheepishly, reaching down to take her hand. "Let's go."
The American History Museum is mostly just a lot of random crap, some of which Jared finds awesome and most of which he just finds bizarre, and he's not entirely surprised when Penelope gets bored after about a half an hour and drags them back to Natural History. She and Jared spend more time at the dinosaurs, and Jensen goes back up to the butterflies, because he's kind of a crazy person.
"I think I should get a degree in entomology," he says, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Jared raises his eyebrows. "What would you do with a degree in entomology?" he asks, laughing.
"Be awesome," says Jensen. "With bugs."
"Oh," says Jared, shaking his head. "Obviously."
*
The White House dinner is on Saturday night, so they spend the day getting ready. Penelope, who usually feels that stains and rips are a sign of clothing being well-loved and worthwhile, has begun to freak out about how she's going to look in front of the President, and Jensen keeps insisting it's not a big deal and they should all dress normally. Jared has to practically wrestle him into his tux, which ends up involving a healthy amount of groping and making out in the bathroom.
Once Jensen looks like someone who is properly honored and respectful of the President and the award he's being given, Jared brushes out Penelope's hair and puts it into two long plaits down her back. She's wearing a blue dress that Sandy bought her, and she looks beautiful. She spends at least half an hour critiquing every aspect of her appearance in the mirror anyway, and Jared just gives up and gets changed himself. He's used to being the sane one in the family.
At the dinner, they have a kids meal for all ready for Penelope, which Jared finds adorable, and she happily eats her chicken fingers and babbles on to the Vice President's wife about how her dad was teaching her all about space and all the other kids were really interested but none of them got to go home with him. And how people keep asking Jared for his autograph because he's a really big star.
"It's hard being famous sometimes," she tells the Vice President's wife earnestly, like this is a big secret.
"Your papa seems to do very well with it," the Vice President's wife replies. She looks utterly charmed; Jared can't blame her. Penelope got all of his ease with people.
"Well, he's really good at being an actor," says Penelope decisively. "I don't watch this show, cuz it's on HBO, but I watch the show he did before sometimes, and he's really funny! Do you watch his show?"
"Penelope," Jared says gently. "I keep telling you, it's not for everyone."
"I do, in fact," says the Vice President's wife, flushing a little. She smiles at Jared. "You're very talented, Mr. Padalecki."
"Jensen told me to try out," says Jared, smiling fondly at his husband, who's talking to another one of the winners about something so complicated Jared can't even begin to follow it. "It's one of his favorite graphic novels."
"It's so nice to see a strong marriage in Hollywood. I wish it wasn't so rare."
"Well, we got together before I was even getting regular acting jobs," says Jared. "He's my biggest fan."
"How did the two of you meet?" the Vice President's wife asks. "I wouldn't have expected you to travel in the same circles."
"I moved into the apartment across the hall from him," says Jared. "Just ran into him the first day, and--well, the rest is history."
"Love at first sight?" she asks, smiling.
Jared glances back at Jensen, lets the grin grow wide and huge on his face. "Yeah. Pretty much."
*
"I wanna be an ambassador when I grow up," Penelope declares on their way home. Jensen has his award pinned to his tux and looks very, very smug. Jared is pretty sure he caught him sending Gabe and Chad a gloating text, but Jared honestly feels like he's earned that right. After all, the fucking President just told Jensen he was awesome. That's the kind of thing he gets to brag about.
"Why an ambassador, huh?" asks Jared, wrapping his arm around her.
"I was talking to the ambassador from, um, Spain? And she said she got to come over here and help out people when they come from Spain and get lost or something, and that sounds really cool! I could go somewhere else and help people."
"There are a lot of ways to do that," Jensen says. "But ambassador is a good career."
"And she gets to go to dinner parties! I like dinner parties," she declares.
"You were definitely the life of the party," Jared teases. She was the youngest person there by a good ten years, and the teenagers who were around were mostly sullen and antisocial, while Penelope loves making friends.
"They were nice! And I learned a lot," she tells Jensen earnestly. "Did you know the Vice President is the President of the Senate?"
"I did know that," says Jensen fondly. "Do you know what that means?"
"If the Senate votes on something and there's a tie, he gets to pick who wins," says Penelope obediently.
Jensen laughs and leans in to kiss the top of her head. "That's my girl."
Penelope glows with pride, and it's not long before she's settled against Jared's side, fast asleep.
"This was a big night for her," says Jensen, grinning at Jared.
"For you too," Jared teases.
Jensen shrugs. "I've gotten tons of awards," he says, and Jared wonders when his voice lost that boastful tone when he said things like that.
Chad really was right. It's kind of scary.
"But she's never gotten to do anything like this before," Jensen continues. "It's big for her."
"She's gonna be the most insufferable teenager ever," says Jared. "I hope you realize that."
Jensen's quiet for a long time, looking down at his daughter. "It would probably help with that if she had a brother or a sister," says Jensen softly. "She displays certain tendencies associated with being an only child."
"There's nothing wrong with being an only child," Jared says, trying not to feel too hopeful. "Or an insufferable teenager. Everyone's an insufferable teenager."
"Still," says Jensen.
"We could get her a brother or a sister."
Jensen snorts. "It sounds like you want us to go to a pet store."
Jared puts on an innocent expression. "Is that not how babies are made?"
"Dumbass," says Jensen, laughing.
"We could look into it when we get home?" Jared suggests.
"Yeah," says Jensen. "Let's do that."
*
The second week is a little more relaxed. After the dinner, Penelope gets more curious about the government side of things, so they hit up some monuments and the Captiol and the Pentagon, and even do the tour of the White House again--the official one this time, not the special award ceremony one. She insists on visiting some embassies, in preparation for her eventual ambassadorship, and then wants to go back to the zoo so she can decide what country she wants to go to based on what kinds of animals they have.
"I like vacation better when I don't have to decide what to do," Jensen admits. "And when we're not on the plane."
"Never let it be said we are not raising our daughter to be a confident and self-assured young woman," says Jared, as Penelope drags them back to the aardvarks.
"We're awesome parents," Jensen agrees. He swings Penelope up onto his shoulders. "Hey, kid. Do you want a brother or a sister?"
"Yes!" says Penelope, instantly. "A brother. Can he talk to Heisenberg?"
"Probably he's gonna be older than a baby," says Jared. "Maybe even older than you."
"Older than me?"
"A lot of people want babies," Jared explains. "But not as many people want to adopt older kids, so there are a lot of older kids who could use a family who will love them. Do you think we could be a family like that?"
"Yeah!" says Penelope.
Jared smiles. "Well, okay."
Penelope considers. "I wanna go somewhere in Asia. Where there are tigers."
"You can't have a tiger for a pet either," says Jensen patiently. "Even if you're an ambassador. It's bad for non-domesticated animals to be taken out of the wild."
"What's domesticated?"
"Animals which humans have tamed. Pets," says Jensen. "Dogs and cats are domesticated."
"Some cats," Jared interjects. He doesn't really trust cats.
"Well, if that's true, the I guess just Heisenberg and a brother would be okay," says Penelope grudgingly.
"We appreciate your sacrifice."
*
Their last night, when they're out to dinner, Jared finally gets approached by a journalist.
"I'm so sorry to disturb you," the man says, looking genuinely apologetic. "But my editor would kill me if he thought I let you go without at least asking about doing an interview."
"An interview?" asks Jared.
"I'm from Metro Weekly, we're DC's premier LGBT publication," says the man. "I don't know how long you're in town, but--"
"Hey, guys, give me a sec," Jared tells Jensen and Penelope, with a grin. He gets up and goes with the man. "We're actually leaving tomorrow," he says apologetically.
"Oh," says the guy, looking disappointed. He flushes. "Sorry, you're just--honestly, you're kind of a personal hero? I mean, seriously, successful actor married to a smoking hot scientist? And a beautiful daughter."
Jared laughs. "I could probably give you a soundbite or something, if that'll help," he offers. "Nothing too in-depth, but."
"Okay," says the guy instantly. "Um--" he fumbles for a tape recorder. "is this okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay," the guy nods. "So, um, what brings you to DC?"
"My husband received the National Science Award."
"Oh wow," says the reporter, looking impressed. "That's a huge honor, right?"
Jared grins. "Yeah. I'd say you should be talking to him, but he hates interviews. He's kind of awkward."
"You must be very proud of him."
"I am," Jared says, with his biggest smile, just to prove the point.
The reporter takes a second to recover from that one. "Did you get much of a chance to see the city?"
"Yeah, we were here for two weeks. We've had a great time."
"What were your favorite spots?"
"Personally, I like the zoo. I lovee animals. We went twice. This is what happens when you travel with a five-year-old. And the Natural History Museum. Who doesn't love dinosaurs?"
The reporter laughs. "That'll do for a quick sidebar. I'll let you get back to your dinner. Thank you so much."
"Of course, no problem. You've got a great city."
Penelope perks up when Jared comes back. "Are people going to ask me for interviews when I'm an ambassador?"
"Yeah," says Jared, sliding into his chair. "But they'll probably expect you to talk about important stuff, not just if you're having fun in the city or whatever."
"Oh," says Penelope, looking vaguely disappointed. She perks up. "Like about the senate?"
"Among other things, yeah."
"Okay," she says, "I can do that." She returns to her chicken fingers.
*
On the plane home, Penelope explains in detail to the stewardess exactly how the plane works, and Jared shoots her an apologetic look. He's unspeakably grateful when she looks amused instead of homicidal. She falls asleep before they're even off the ground, and Jared ruffles her hair. He's sitting by her this time, with Jensen across the aisle.
"Okay?" he asks Jensen, as they take off.
Jensen shrugs. "Worth it," he says, with an adorable little smile.
Jared laughs. "That's your way of saying you had a good vacation and I was right?"
"I had a good vacation and you were right," Jensen parrots faithfully. He grins. "Thanks for talking me into it."
"Hey," says Jared, "that's what I'm here for."
He settles into the seat, puts his arm around his kid, and falls asleep as the plane takes them back home.
Author:
poor_choicesFandom: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles, mentions of Gabe Tigerman/Sandy McCoy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Kidfic? Generally schmoopy.
Word Count: 5200 words.
Summary: Tractorbeam timestamp! About eight years later. A family vacation to Washington DC, pretty much.
Notes: Written for
pinkfinity for Sweet Charity! Title from Tom McRae.Disclaimer: Lies and untruths.
Jared rubs his forehead. He loves Jensen, he really does, but that doesn't mean he understands Jensen. He's honestly not sure anyone understands Jensen. Jensen himself included.
"I thought you liked awards," Jared grits out.
"Of course I like awards," says Jensen, like whatever his issue is totally obvious. "But it's in DC."
"Do you have some sort of issue with DC you've never mentioned before?" asks Jared.
"Is DC like DW?" asks Penelope. "Dora...Dora...Courtney?"
Jared smiles at his daughter, picking her up and putting her in his lap. "Good guess," he says, tickling her side lightly. "It's the capital of the United States. Do you know what the capital of California is?"
Penelope considers for a long time. "It's C," she says hesitantly, "but the capitals of United States are U and S."
"Different capitals," says Jared gently.
"The capital is the primary city in an area," says Jensen absently. He's doing work, so he's not totally paying attention, but Jared has never seen him so distracted he can't take a break to teach Penelope something. "It's not always the largest or most well known city, but it's usually where the government seats are."
A lot of people feel Jensen should talk to Penelope like a five-year-old, and not like a grown up, but Jared thinks they're stupid. If Penelope doesn't understand something, she asks, and she has kind of a hilariously short fuse for patronizing adults and bullshit.
As far as Jared's concerned, his family is awesome.
"Government seats?" asks Penelope.
"Like the president, or the governor. The president lives in the White House, remember? That's in Washington DC," Jared explains.
"What does DC stand for?"
"District of Columbia," says Jensen.
"Okay," says Penelope. She considers again. "Why don't you want to go?"
"Yeah Jensen," says Jared, grinning. Arguments are way easier when Penelope is on his side. Jensen has a lot more trouble winning against kid logic. Jared feels sure Jensen advanced too quickly to ever use it himself. "Why don't you want to go?"
Jensen scowls half-heartedly. "I don't like traveling. It's a pain. We'd have to find someone to take care of Heisenberg, hotels are unsanitary, there would be new restaurants and I wouldn't know which to trust--need I go on?"
"We could do research," says Jared, barely resisting rolling his eyes. "And think of all the awesome educational stuff we could go see. We could take Penelope to the Air and Space Museum and you could teach her about physics."
"Space?" asks Penelope, bouncing in Jared's lap. "I wanna go to space!"
"I'll be on hiatus," Jared says reasonably. "You have tons of vacation time. And Penelope doesn't start school until September. We could go for a couple weeks, see the sights, check out the zoo..." he puts Penelope back down and goes over to Jensen, wrapping his arms around Jensen's shoulders and leaning in close to kiss his cheek. "Also, the President wants to give you the National Science Award at the White House. How can you not go?"
"They could mail it to me," Jensen says, but a smile is tugging at the corners of his mouth, and Jared knows he's about two seconds from caving. Jared nuzzles his neck again, feels Jensen's sigh. "Okay," he says. "We'll go to Washington. I'll let the President tell me I'm awesome."
"I'm sure he's very flattered you have time for him," Jared teases.
"Are they gonna have aardvarks at the zoo?" asks Penelope. Jared is really ready for this Arthur phase to be over. Penelope keeps asking them to get another baby so that Heisenberg will have someone to talk to, like baby Kate and Pal. Jared's not totally opposed to another kid, but he's the lead on his show, and Jensen is Jensen, so no one really has time to take care of another baby right now.
"I dunno," says Jared.
"Aardvarks aren't actually like Arthur," Jensen says.
"I know," says Penelope, patiently. They have this conversation a lot. "But I still want to see them. And space."
Jensen grins, looking down at his laptop to hide it. "You can stop trying to convince me. I already said yes."
Penelope bounces over and sits in Jensen's lap, instructing him to look up things and find out what they can do, and Jared has no doubt they're going to have a detailed day-to-day breakdown of everything they're going to do while they're in DC.
He grins to himself and starts researching hotels.
*
Chad is convinced that having a dog will help him pick up chicks, which Jared does not think is true, but he can't deny that Chad needs all the help he can get. And, besides, it means that he's always happy to babysit for Heisenberg when they leave town, so Jared certainly isn't going tell him otherwise.
"Dude," Chad argues, "now that you and Jensen and Gabe are all fucking lame and married, I need a wingman."
Jared looks at Heisenberg, who is drooling all over Chad's pants in a way that makes it look like Chad has wet himself. Heisenberg is an awesome dog, and Jared loves her, but she's probably the stupidest dog he has ever met. Her tail chases her.
"Yeah," Jared agrees, giving Chad a sunny smile. "Well, she's all yours for two weeks."
Chad considers him with a thoughtful, unwavering, and completely non-sexual look. Coming from Chad, it's actually horrifically disturbing, and he squirms under the scrutiny.
"What?" asks Jared.
"You're really good for Jensen, you know? Man, when I met him, if he got an award from the fucking president, he wouldn't be able to shut up about it. I would have strangled him. Now he's all excited about teaching that kid of yours about, like, what the fuck ever. It's cool."
Jared blinks. He knows Jensen is different from when they first met--all of them are. Gabe can talk to Jared now. Hell, Gabe can now, occasionally, speak to women he doesn't know. Not consistently or anything, but baby steps. And he managed to propose to Sandy, even if he was so nervous he didn't actually ask, so much as get down on one knee, show her the ring, and smile hopefully, but Sandy thought it was cute, and they've got their own kid on the way.
"Uh, thanks," says Jared, not sure what to say. He shrugs, smiles a little awkwardly. "He's good for me too."
Chad shrugs, rubbing behind Heisenberg's ears. "Get out of here," he says awkwardly. "This is getting way too gay for me."
Jared laughs. "Thanks for that moment, Chad. And for taking care of the dog."
"Seriously, she is gonna get me so much pussy. Aren't you, sweetie?"
Heisenberg continues to drool all over Chad, wagging her tail enthusiastically.
"Bye, Chad," says Jared, and lets himself out.
*
Jensen hates flying, apparently because he understands so much about thermodynamics. Jared initially wants to ban him from explaining how the plane works to Penelope while they're on it, so he doesn't infect her with his crazy, but Penelope insists.
"It's okay, papa," she assures him. "I'm not silly like daddy is."
Jensen ruffles her hair. "That's my girl. Now," he says, doing a quick sketch of a wing, "we're gonna learn a lot more about this at the Air and Space Museum, but this is gonna give you a basic overview of how planes fly."
Jared smiles and leans back in his own seat. He likes to travel, and while he does it a good deal for work, he prefers being with Jensen and Penelope, no matter how awesome his costars are. He takes a minute to stretch his legs and offer up a silent thanks that he could convince Jensen to do first class. He doesn't generally believe in wasting their money on needlessly extravagant things--that's really not how they're raising Penelope--but coach seats are way too small. He reaches across the aisle and squeezes Jensen's knee, smiles wide when Jensen looks up with a fond grin.
"What?" asks Jensen.
"Just glad we're doing this," says Jared honestly. "We need more family vacations."
Jensen looks a little guilty, and Jared feels bad.
"Don't give me that look," he chides. "It's fine. I'm just excited. You're gonna meet the President. How awesome is that?"
Jensen shrugs. "I like awards, not award ceremonies."
Penelope has gotten distracted from Jensen's drawing and is instead eagerly peering out the windows, looking at the activities on the runway, Jared figures she's not really paying attention to them.
"Chad said--before you met me. You wouldn't have shut up about it," says Jared, flushing a little. He feels bashful about his impact on Jensen's life. He loves Jensen, no matter what, and he never really meant to change him.
Jensen shrugs, looks away from Jared to Penelope. "It's still cool," he says. "But it's not everything." He looks back to Jared and smirks. "Besides, it's not like it's the Nobel Prize."
Jared laughs, bright and surprised. "Over achiever."
Penelope tugs on Jensen's sleeve. "What's that man doing?" she asks, pointing out the window.
Jensen leans over to look and starts explaining softly what everyone is doing to prepare for takeoff. Jared can tell he's a little nervous, even now, but he's putting on a brave face for Penelope.
Jared settles back in his seat and closes his eyes. He likes to think they've both changed for the better.
*
Jared's show is Y: The Last Man, which Jensen made him try out for and then take when it was offered to him. It's based on a comic book series, so of course Jensen likes it, and Jared gets to hang out with a monkey, which is also fairly cool. The show had been a fairly hard-sell--Jared's the only guy in the cast, because the whole premise is that his character, Yorick, was the only male creature other than the monkey to survive a massive worldwide extinction of anything with a y-chromosome. But the whole thing has been surprisingly well-received--they're on HBO so they can amp up the violence and the nudity, and they were renewed for a second season about halfway through the first. So Jared's not a star, but he's pretty used to getting recognized.
"Oh my gosh!" says the girl next to them at the baggage claim when she gets a good look at him. She's bright red, and she looks away, blushing madly.
Jared smiles. He's got Penelope on his shoulders, and Jensen isn't paying attention at all, watching the conveyor belt with incredible intensity to make sure he doesn't miss their bags. Knowing him, he's probably worried that they've ended up somewhere totally random, never to be seen again. For all Jensen's brains, he's still really irrationally paranoid.
"Are you, um--" the girl isn't looking at him, but her cheeks are bright red. "Yorick? From, um. I mean."
Jared resists the urge to laugh. "Well, Jared," he says. "But yeah, I play Yorick."
"He's an actor," says Penelope brightly. "Papa, is that mine?" she asks, pointing to her bright pink suitcase coming off the unloading ramp.
"Unless someone else has a princess suitcase, yes," Jared teases. He looks back to the girl and smiles. "Always glad to meet a fan," he says, which is mostly true.
"Oh!" says the girl. She clearly feels bad for having disturbed him with his family. Jared can relate. "Are you, um. In town for the show?"
"Oh, nah," says Jared. "My husband's here on business."
Jared's never been willing to hide his family for the sake of his career, and he's been very lucky that it's worked out. It actually keeps the press off him, for the most part--as it turns out, having a pretty normal home life with one husband and one child isn't great for selling tabloids. Occasionally, they'll try to run stories about how he's having an affair with one of his costars, but given he's on the record as being gay and all his costars are female, it usually fizzles out pretty fast.
"Oh," says the girl, her eyes flicking up to Penelope, and then over to Jensen. Jared is generally not a shallow guy, but he has to admit he's glad Jensen has mostly gotten better about his appearance. He wears clothes that fit, and he got glasses that really complement his face, and the first time they went out in public together, the interviewer assumed he was a model. Jared had felt very fucking smug about it.
"But we're also using it as an excuse for a family vacation, right?" Jared asks, squeezing Penelope's leg.
"I'm gonna learn about thermodynamics," she says, and Jared has to bite down on a snort of laughter. Penelope isn't a genius, not like Jensen is, but she's growing up with a lot of smarts and precociousness. Unsurprisingly.
"Oh," the girl stammers, clearly taken aback. "That's cool."
"Dad's a physicist," says Penelope. She loves bragging about Jensen. "He's getting an award from the President."
Jared laughs. "Sorry, um--did you want an autograph or a picture or something?" he offers. "You probably weren't looking for our life story."
"Oh, no, no!" the girl says quickly. "I don't want to interrupt your vacation or anything."
Jared smiles gently. "I wouldn't offer if I minded."
"That's our last bag," Jensen interjects. He smiles at the girl, awkward, but--Jensen still has a fucking amazing smile, and the girl flushes darker. "I can take a picture for you if you want," he offers. "But then we should get to the hotel."
"If it's really no trouble," the girl stammers, and Jared unloads Penelope. She claims her bag from Jensen and hangs out by his legs while he snaps a photo on the girl's phone.
She thanks all three of them profusely and takes off with her own luggage, still bright red.
"She thinks you're dreamy," Jensen teases smugly.
"I am dreamy," Jared agrees, wrapping his arm around Jensen's shoulders and taking Penelope's hand. "But I am also taken."
"You are taken," Jensen agrees, and they hail a taxi to the hotel.
*
Their first day in DC it's supposed to be overcast and on the cool side, so Jensen and Penelope agreed that was the time to go to the zoo. They looked at a map and came up with an itinerary back in LA, and Jared is more than willing to be dragged along by his eager daughter and his equally eager husband. Jared pretty much loves all animals, so he doesn't care where they go.
There are aardvarks in the Small Mammal House, so naturally that's their first stop, and despite the fact that they look nothing like Arthur, Penelope is completely fascinated with them. Jared used to be concerned about getting around, seeing everything, getting the full experience of things, but Jensen read about thirty thousand child development books and assured him that letting Penelope set the pace is important, and Jared is content to hang in the back with Jensen, watching their daughter decide which animals correspond to which Arthur characters.
"Could we get an aardvark?" she asks, as they head toward the big cats. She also loves tigers.
"No, that would be illegal," says Jared.
"But you're an actor," Penelope points out. "Actors can have things normal people can't."
"Only really big famous actors," says Jared. "You have to be in movies to get exotic pets."
"Also, Heisenberg would be jealous," says Jensen.
"My stuffed animals aren't jealous when I get new ones. They're happy to have friends!"
"Your stuffed animals only have the feelings you ascribe to them," Jensen explains.
"Ascribe?"
"The feelings you imagine them having," Jared interjects. He grins. "Hey, tigers!"
"Tigers!" says Penelope, running over to peer up at the distant animal.
"Please don't try to destroy our daughter's childlike sense of wonder," Jared says, elbowing Jensen in the ribs with a grin.
"It's not childlike if she's actually a child," says Jensen. "Also, shut up."
Jared just leans down for a kiss. He loves vacation.
*
The Air and Space Museum the next day is hilarious.
Jensen, of course, loves it. He's like a kid in a candy store. Penelope asks him a billion questions, and Jensen explains everything in detail, energetic and enthused, and draws a fucking crowd. All these little kids gather around with more questions and clarifications, and pretty soon it's like Jensen's leading a school group or something, shadowed everywhere he goes by a bunch of kids and their confused parents, who keep doing double takes when they see Jared, like they're not quite sure if they recognize him.
Jensen, for his part, seems mildly baffled by his popularity, but certainly not upset. There's nothing he loves more than babbling on about science to anyone who will listen, and by the end he's actually giving an impromptu demonstration about string theory, using volunteers from the audience.
"You missed your calling, man," says Jared, carrying a wiped out and snoring Penelope out of the museum as Jensen flushes slightly next to him.
"I'm getting a presidential medal," Jensen points out. "I think that means I'm doing pretty well."
"Yeah," says Jared. "But, dude. That was awesome."
Jensen blushes. "They were very receptive."
"Well, you weren't dumbing it down. Kids like it when you treat them like adults."
Jensen looks at Penelope and bites his lip a little, smiling. "I noticed."
"You're good with kids," says Jared. He leans over and gives Jensen a kiss.
"This is you wanting another one, isn't it," says Jensen, sighing.
"Maybe not a baby," says Jared. "I mean, there are plenty of older kids who could use a family."
"Not everyone gets along with me," Jensen points out.
"Jensen," Jared says, gentle and a little incredulous. "Did you see what just happened in there? You had more fans than I did."
Jensen snorts. "That's because the straight fanboys think Tracie's hotter than you." He winks at Jared. "They're wrong."
Jared doesn't let himself get distracted. "I think we should think about it," he says, smiling down at Penelope. "We're not screwing this one up too bad."
"Nah," Jensen agrees. "Not too bad."
*
After four days of dedicated sight-seeing, everyone is fairly exhausted, so instead of their planned excursion to the National Building Museum on Thursday, they end up hanging around in the hotel. Jared and Penelope take advantage of the pool, splashing around in the sun, while Jensen sits under an umbrella, avoiding the light and reading some giant book about particle physics and trying not to look amused when Jared and Penelope come over and drip on him.
"This was kind of a good idea," Jensen says grudgingly, when Jared stretches out on the deck chair next to him.
Jared laughs. "Did it hurt to admit that?"
Jensen just sticks his tongue out.
*
They split their time in the Natural History Museum between the dinosaurs, which Jared and Penelope totally love, and the butterflies, which Jensen starts out wary of and then ends up liking even more than Penelope. He spends half an hour staring at the little window where you can watch the butterflies coming out of their cocoons while Jared and Penelope wander around looking at the rest of the insects and being kind of quietly amused.
"Daaaaaad," Penelope finally says. "I wanna go to the American History Museum too! We gotta gooooo."
Jensen blinks, coming out of his daze. "Oh, yeah." He grins at Penelope sheepishly, reaching down to take her hand. "Let's go."
The American History Museum is mostly just a lot of random crap, some of which Jared finds awesome and most of which he just finds bizarre, and he's not entirely surprised when Penelope gets bored after about a half an hour and drags them back to Natural History. She and Jared spend more time at the dinosaurs, and Jensen goes back up to the butterflies, because he's kind of a crazy person.
"I think I should get a degree in entomology," he says, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Jared raises his eyebrows. "What would you do with a degree in entomology?" he asks, laughing.
"Be awesome," says Jensen. "With bugs."
"Oh," says Jared, shaking his head. "Obviously."
*
The White House dinner is on Saturday night, so they spend the day getting ready. Penelope, who usually feels that stains and rips are a sign of clothing being well-loved and worthwhile, has begun to freak out about how she's going to look in front of the President, and Jensen keeps insisting it's not a big deal and they should all dress normally. Jared has to practically wrestle him into his tux, which ends up involving a healthy amount of groping and making out in the bathroom.
Once Jensen looks like someone who is properly honored and respectful of the President and the award he's being given, Jared brushes out Penelope's hair and puts it into two long plaits down her back. She's wearing a blue dress that Sandy bought her, and she looks beautiful. She spends at least half an hour critiquing every aspect of her appearance in the mirror anyway, and Jared just gives up and gets changed himself. He's used to being the sane one in the family.
At the dinner, they have a kids meal for all ready for Penelope, which Jared finds adorable, and she happily eats her chicken fingers and babbles on to the Vice President's wife about how her dad was teaching her all about space and all the other kids were really interested but none of them got to go home with him. And how people keep asking Jared for his autograph because he's a really big star.
"It's hard being famous sometimes," she tells the Vice President's wife earnestly, like this is a big secret.
"Your papa seems to do very well with it," the Vice President's wife replies. She looks utterly charmed; Jared can't blame her. Penelope got all of his ease with people.
"Well, he's really good at being an actor," says Penelope decisively. "I don't watch this show, cuz it's on HBO, but I watch the show he did before sometimes, and he's really funny! Do you watch his show?"
"Penelope," Jared says gently. "I keep telling you, it's not for everyone."
"I do, in fact," says the Vice President's wife, flushing a little. She smiles at Jared. "You're very talented, Mr. Padalecki."
"Jensen told me to try out," says Jared, smiling fondly at his husband, who's talking to another one of the winners about something so complicated Jared can't even begin to follow it. "It's one of his favorite graphic novels."
"It's so nice to see a strong marriage in Hollywood. I wish it wasn't so rare."
"Well, we got together before I was even getting regular acting jobs," says Jared. "He's my biggest fan."
"How did the two of you meet?" the Vice President's wife asks. "I wouldn't have expected you to travel in the same circles."
"I moved into the apartment across the hall from him," says Jared. "Just ran into him the first day, and--well, the rest is history."
"Love at first sight?" she asks, smiling.
Jared glances back at Jensen, lets the grin grow wide and huge on his face. "Yeah. Pretty much."
*
"I wanna be an ambassador when I grow up," Penelope declares on their way home. Jensen has his award pinned to his tux and looks very, very smug. Jared is pretty sure he caught him sending Gabe and Chad a gloating text, but Jared honestly feels like he's earned that right. After all, the fucking President just told Jensen he was awesome. That's the kind of thing he gets to brag about.
"Why an ambassador, huh?" asks Jared, wrapping his arm around her.
"I was talking to the ambassador from, um, Spain? And she said she got to come over here and help out people when they come from Spain and get lost or something, and that sounds really cool! I could go somewhere else and help people."
"There are a lot of ways to do that," Jensen says. "But ambassador is a good career."
"And she gets to go to dinner parties! I like dinner parties," she declares.
"You were definitely the life of the party," Jared teases. She was the youngest person there by a good ten years, and the teenagers who were around were mostly sullen and antisocial, while Penelope loves making friends.
"They were nice! And I learned a lot," she tells Jensen earnestly. "Did you know the Vice President is the President of the Senate?"
"I did know that," says Jensen fondly. "Do you know what that means?"
"If the Senate votes on something and there's a tie, he gets to pick who wins," says Penelope obediently.
Jensen laughs and leans in to kiss the top of her head. "That's my girl."
Penelope glows with pride, and it's not long before she's settled against Jared's side, fast asleep.
"This was a big night for her," says Jensen, grinning at Jared.
"For you too," Jared teases.
Jensen shrugs. "I've gotten tons of awards," he says, and Jared wonders when his voice lost that boastful tone when he said things like that.
Chad really was right. It's kind of scary.
"But she's never gotten to do anything like this before," Jensen continues. "It's big for her."
"She's gonna be the most insufferable teenager ever," says Jared. "I hope you realize that."
Jensen's quiet for a long time, looking down at his daughter. "It would probably help with that if she had a brother or a sister," says Jensen softly. "She displays certain tendencies associated with being an only child."
"There's nothing wrong with being an only child," Jared says, trying not to feel too hopeful. "Or an insufferable teenager. Everyone's an insufferable teenager."
"Still," says Jensen.
"We could get her a brother or a sister."
Jensen snorts. "It sounds like you want us to go to a pet store."
Jared puts on an innocent expression. "Is that not how babies are made?"
"Dumbass," says Jensen, laughing.
"We could look into it when we get home?" Jared suggests.
"Yeah," says Jensen. "Let's do that."
*
The second week is a little more relaxed. After the dinner, Penelope gets more curious about the government side of things, so they hit up some monuments and the Captiol and the Pentagon, and even do the tour of the White House again--the official one this time, not the special award ceremony one. She insists on visiting some embassies, in preparation for her eventual ambassadorship, and then wants to go back to the zoo so she can decide what country she wants to go to based on what kinds of animals they have.
"I like vacation better when I don't have to decide what to do," Jensen admits. "And when we're not on the plane."
"Never let it be said we are not raising our daughter to be a confident and self-assured young woman," says Jared, as Penelope drags them back to the aardvarks.
"We're awesome parents," Jensen agrees. He swings Penelope up onto his shoulders. "Hey, kid. Do you want a brother or a sister?"
"Yes!" says Penelope, instantly. "A brother. Can he talk to Heisenberg?"
"Probably he's gonna be older than a baby," says Jared. "Maybe even older than you."
"Older than me?"
"A lot of people want babies," Jared explains. "But not as many people want to adopt older kids, so there are a lot of older kids who could use a family who will love them. Do you think we could be a family like that?"
"Yeah!" says Penelope.
Jared smiles. "Well, okay."
Penelope considers. "I wanna go somewhere in Asia. Where there are tigers."
"You can't have a tiger for a pet either," says Jensen patiently. "Even if you're an ambassador. It's bad for non-domesticated animals to be taken out of the wild."
"What's domesticated?"
"Animals which humans have tamed. Pets," says Jensen. "Dogs and cats are domesticated."
"Some cats," Jared interjects. He doesn't really trust cats.
"Well, if that's true, the I guess just Heisenberg and a brother would be okay," says Penelope grudgingly.
"We appreciate your sacrifice."
*
Their last night, when they're out to dinner, Jared finally gets approached by a journalist.
"I'm so sorry to disturb you," the man says, looking genuinely apologetic. "But my editor would kill me if he thought I let you go without at least asking about doing an interview."
"An interview?" asks Jared.
"I'm from Metro Weekly, we're DC's premier LGBT publication," says the man. "I don't know how long you're in town, but--"
"Hey, guys, give me a sec," Jared tells Jensen and Penelope, with a grin. He gets up and goes with the man. "We're actually leaving tomorrow," he says apologetically.
"Oh," says the guy, looking disappointed. He flushes. "Sorry, you're just--honestly, you're kind of a personal hero? I mean, seriously, successful actor married to a smoking hot scientist? And a beautiful daughter."
Jared laughs. "I could probably give you a soundbite or something, if that'll help," he offers. "Nothing too in-depth, but."
"Okay," says the guy instantly. "Um--" he fumbles for a tape recorder. "is this okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay," the guy nods. "So, um, what brings you to DC?"
"My husband received the National Science Award."
"Oh wow," says the reporter, looking impressed. "That's a huge honor, right?"
Jared grins. "Yeah. I'd say you should be talking to him, but he hates interviews. He's kind of awkward."
"You must be very proud of him."
"I am," Jared says, with his biggest smile, just to prove the point.
The reporter takes a second to recover from that one. "Did you get much of a chance to see the city?"
"Yeah, we were here for two weeks. We've had a great time."
"What were your favorite spots?"
"Personally, I like the zoo. I lovee animals. We went twice. This is what happens when you travel with a five-year-old. And the Natural History Museum. Who doesn't love dinosaurs?"
The reporter laughs. "That'll do for a quick sidebar. I'll let you get back to your dinner. Thank you so much."
"Of course, no problem. You've got a great city."
Penelope perks up when Jared comes back. "Are people going to ask me for interviews when I'm an ambassador?"
"Yeah," says Jared, sliding into his chair. "But they'll probably expect you to talk about important stuff, not just if you're having fun in the city or whatever."
"Oh," says Penelope, looking vaguely disappointed. She perks up. "Like about the senate?"
"Among other things, yeah."
"Okay," she says, "I can do that." She returns to her chicken fingers.
*
On the plane home, Penelope explains in detail to the stewardess exactly how the plane works, and Jared shoots her an apologetic look. He's unspeakably grateful when she looks amused instead of homicidal. She falls asleep before they're even off the ground, and Jared ruffles her hair. He's sitting by her this time, with Jensen across the aisle.
"Okay?" he asks Jensen, as they take off.
Jensen shrugs. "Worth it," he says, with an adorable little smile.
Jared laughs. "That's your way of saying you had a good vacation and I was right?"
"I had a good vacation and you were right," Jensen parrots faithfully. He grins. "Thanks for talking me into it."
"Hey," says Jared, "that's what I'm here for."
He settles into the seat, puts his arm around his kid, and falls asleep as the plane takes them back home.
