Chapter Tags: angst, mentions of cheating, mentions of abandonment, hints of fertility issues, teasing
Chapter WC: 2215
Read this fic 4 weeks ahead when you Subscribe! Super Impatient? Buy the fic in full as a PDF and binge read!
Six Weeks Later
Today couldn’t have come soon enough as you finish zipping up your final case, looking around your room that’s now a little more bare. You walk over to the photo of you and your parents on your tenth birthday, picking it up and staring at it for a long moment, smiling softly to yourself. You’re beaming at the camera, holding your birthday cake proudly in your hands, your father on your left side, also smiling wide, and your mother on the right. She’s smiling, but it’s only been in the last few years that you’ve noticed that her smile never reached her eyes, and as you stare at them, you realise how empty they look. Is that why she left? Was she that unhappy here with you? You place the photo back down and sigh. You can’t help but wonder how long your dad has been sneaking around with Clarissa. What if they’ve been doing it for years and your Mom found out and left?
There’s a knock at the door and you see your father poke his head around it. You’re quick to move away from the photo, and head back over to your suitcase, playing with the zip to keep yourself busy.
“Hey, so Uncle Jensen is here,” he tells you softly.
“‘Kay,” you reply quietly, not wanting to look at him.
“Can we not do this today, sweetheart? I’m not gonna see you until Christmas.”
Good, you find yourself thinking. Trying to avoid your father and Clarissa for the last six weeks had been difficult, but you’d managed it. You’d spent your time with your friends. There had been a lot of parties to go to as people had one last hurrah before leaving for college. You were vague about your plans, because you didn’t want people to know you were going to some fancy all girls school just to retake senior year. Luckily, most of your friends have never cared enough to ask you too many questions, and you’re fairly sure you’ll lose touch with most, if not all of them, after a few months. Your friends had changed when you started to, and you’d drifted apart from the friends you had through middle school, finding new friends in high school that shared your enthusiasm for boys and partying, only they knew when to stop, and you know that that’s never really been your forte.
“Can I ask you something, Dad?” you speak up, moving to sit yourself down beside the case.
“Sure,” Jared agrees. He steps up to the case and puts it down on the floor, giving him the space to sit beside you.
You stiffen a little at his close proximity, and shift yourself over slightly, looking down at your skirt. “Are you the reason Mom left?”
Jared stammers on a reply for a moment, and you finally look at him. “I mean… probably, but… you know that I don’t know for sure,” he explains.
“Do you think she found out about you and Clarissa?” you ask abrasively.
Jared sighs and clears his throat. “Sweetheart, me and your Aunt Clarissa…”
“Did she know?” you ask again.
Jared reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, because there was nothing going on between me and your Aunt, and there still isn’t.”
You scoff, shaking your head, “of course not. That’s why I saw you two so close in the summer house? That’s why you begged me not to tell Uncle Jensen, right?”
“Baby girl, it’s–”
“Complicated, right,” you finish for him. “Doesn’t seem that complicated to me.”
“I know you’re not going to believe me, but it’s the truth, and there’s things you don’t know–”
“Like what, Dad?” you press, “What don’t I know? Just tell me.”
The idea that you don’t have the full story has haunted you for weeks. Does Jared know something about your mother’s disappearance that he’s not telling you about? What could he possibly know that you don’t that would make what he’s doing okay?
“It’s not that simple, it’s not my place.”
“It sure seems like your place, Clarissa has made all of our business her place, like she’s trying to replace Mom or something, is that what you want? Do you want her to replace Mom?” You stand up, getting angry.
“Clarissa is family,” your father reminds you.
“So is Jensen, and what you’re doing isn’t how you treat family.” Jared purses his lips, and you grab your case. “I don’t even want to look at you. No wonder Mom left you.”
You tug your case hard, dragging it out of your bedroom and towards the stairs.
“Y/N, wait,” Jared calls after you.
You regret what you’ve said, he’s still your father after all, and you know he’s hurting too, but you can’t back down now. You stop at the top of the stairs, unable to get your case down because of the weight, anyway, and let your Dad catch up with you.
“Let’s not let that be our goodbye.” You lick your lips, fresh tears in your eyes and look away, feeling him pull you into him and hold you tightly. “You’re the most important person in my life. There’s nothing I love more than you, you know that, right?”
You hug back, relenting ever so slightly, and Jared kisses the top of your head. “Time apart will be good,” you sniffle against his chest.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” he agrees, stroking your hair softly. “But if you need me, I’ll be there in a heartbeat, okay?” You nod.
“Uncle Jensen will look after me,” you remind him.
“Yeah, I know.”
“I won’t tell him, but you need to. He deserves to know.” Jared sighs heavily, and then kisses your head again.
“I know, baby girl.”
You close your eyes and hug him harder, and while you’re still angry, and you’re still upset, and not all is forgiven yet, you’re sure that’s gonna take a long time, so you at least pretend for a moment that it is.
Jensen is leaning against the hood of his car when you and Jared get your cases outside, and you can barely look him in the eye as he helps your father load the trunk with your things. Understandably, you’ve been avoiding each other since you tried to kiss him, so a three hour drive with him alone is going to be interesting to say the least. You’re going to be arriving a week earlier than school starts, due to Jensen needing to put in prep work for the school reopening, but you figured it was a good opportunity for you to unpack and settle into your room, get out and explore the area before the boring part starts.
Plus, according to Jensen, you need to buy a uniform. What kind of school has a uniform anymore? You crinkle your nose at the very thought. You’d requested a single room, but Jared had been the one to break the news to you that your wish hadn’t been granted. Your roommate’s name is apparently Holly, and the worst part is she’s the teacher’s pet that monitors the rest of her classmates and their dorms when teachers aren’t around. That means no smoking on the window ledge, and no sneaking boys or alcohol into the room. You never have shied away from a challenge, though.
You reluctantly give your Dad one last hug goodbye, your walls well and truly rebuilding themselves since your moment of weakness at the top of the stairs, and you head towards the passenger side of Jensen’s SUV.
“Look after her, please?” Jared asks Jensen as they approach each other for a hug.
“Of course, man,” Jensen smiles, slapping Jared’s back.
You slump into the car and slam your door shut, angry that Jared could act so normal around Jensen like that. You quickly realise that Clarissa isn’t here, which is strange. She’s almost always around, she might as well live with you. You would’ve assumed she’d come to see her husband off, considering she won’t be seeing him for the next sixteen weeks, but maybe her guilty conscience is finally catching up with her.
As the men part, Jensen approaches the car and climbs in.
“Where’s Clarissa?” you can’t help but probe.
“I said goodbye to her at home,” Jensen replies simply, starting the car.
You purse your lips, watching as your Dad stands by the door and starts to wave you off. Jensen turns the car around on the drive, and you glance back at your Dad as he watches you leave. Time apart from him is definitely a good idea, and as you drive out of the gates, you sigh a breath of relief to be leaving.
The first hour of the car journey is painfully quiet, and Jensen attempts to drown out the awkward silence with music. He insists on playing his older stuff, and thanks to your Dad’s taste in music constantly being rammed down your throat your whole life, you find yourself tapping your foot and mouthing along to the lyrics occasionally when you know Jensen isn’t looking.
“Are you hungry?” Jensen asks, “there’s a diner about two miles from here, we can stop if you want.”
“Sure,” you agree, looking out the window.
Jensen pulls into the diner once you get there, and the two of you walk inside and get seated at a booth. It’s a little awkward sitting opposite Jensen like this, forced to look at him, so you focus on your menu until the waitress returns to take your order.
“And for you, Dad?” she asks, turning to Jensen once she’s taken your order. Jensen seems a little thrown off for a second, and then makes his order and the woman slips away, blissfully ignorant to her mess up.
“You okay there, Dad?” you tease, smirking at him. “Oh sorry, do you prefer Daddy?”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Jensen warns. “I’m too young to be your Dad.”
“You’re not too young to be my Daddy,” you continue to taunt.
“I said that’s enough,” he warns, and although his tone is firm, he’s still got a small smirk on his face. You giggle and sit back in your place.
“Anyway, you’re four years older than my actual father,” you remind him.
“So? I’m still too young,” he insists. “Your Dad was only two years older than you when he got your Mom pregnant, that’s too young.”
“Wow, now you sound like Grandma,” you tease. “I don’t think it’s too young, maybe I should get pregnant.” You shrug nonchalantly and play with your knife and fork, waiting a moment before looking up at Jensen’s face.
“I think I speak for both me and your father when I say, we’ll kill him, and then you.”
You laugh at his reaction. “I’m joking. You and Clarissa had the right idea. I don’t think I want kids.” You frown slightly, “did you and Clarissa… want kids?”
It’s Jensen’s turn to play with his knife and fork as he sighs heavily. “Yeah, at one point.” He sits up straighter, grabbing his mug of coffee. “But everything happens for a reason, and I don’t think we were meant to be parents.”
He takes a swig of his coffee. You can’t deny that them not having children does make what Clarissa and your father are doing easier – less messy – at least for Jensen.
“We tried for a while, and then your Mom…” Jensen trails off, glancing guiltily at you. He clears his throat. “Anyway, with Clarissa helping you guys out, and then me getting this job… it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Jensen doesn’t say any more on the matter, and you want to ask so many more questions, like why Jensen even decided to take the job in the first place, why Clarissa didn’t move with him, if he has any idea what she’s doing with your father, but then food arrives, and it forces the conversation to an end.
It’s quiet as you both eat, and eventually you take a gulp of soda to wash down your food and clear your throat.
“I’m sorry I tried to kiss you,” you blurt out.
“Let’s just not talk about it,” Jensen offers.
“I just don’t want it to be awkward between us,” you admit, feeling your cheeks heat up.
“It won’t be if we pretend it never happened.” You nod, knowing he’s right. You drop it, and take a deep breath.
“Okay, well, thanks for dinner, Daddy, you can get the bill,” you smirk, pushing out of the booth, watching Jensen roll his eyes to himself.
You leave the diner and rummage in your purse for your cigarettes, lighting one and inhaling deeply. Jensen steps out after a few moments, and he instantly frowns disapprovingly at what you’re doing.
“I said you weren’t allowed to do that.”
“We’re not at school, you’re not my Principal yet,” you remind him. “Besides, I’m eighteen, I can do what I want.” You smile sarcastically at him and take another drag.
“You know your father hates you smoking.”
“I don’t see him around here,” you shrug. “And I know I called you Daddy in there, but you’re not him, either.”
“No, but I am responsible for you while you’re away, so put the cigarette out so we can hit the road.”
Jensen walks away, heading to his truck and you roll your eyes, throwing the remainder of your smoke onto the floor.
“Yes, Daddy,” you mock, following on behind him.
![Don’t Wake Me Up || Chapter Fourteen [FIN]](https://thepublishinghive.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-02-at-12.51.34.png)
Leave a Reply to Senior Masterlist – negans-lucille-tblrCancel reply