Quill, Parchment, & Ink

Title: Blood Doesn’t a Family Make
Characters: Jensen/Cougar (implied), Beth Jensen
Fandom: Losers
Summary: Cougar didn’t like to interact with people, but the Jensens hadn’t ever exactly been people in his mind either…they were just Jensens.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Cuteness alert
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me or well…yeah I’m just not going there tonight.
Author's Note: So this…is the product my warped and scary brain…when it should have been working on the upteen other things I’ve got on my list. And it was supposed to be 500 f’ing words—not 1500! And I’ve already gotten poked to do another fic or two. (The request has been for a specific incident…so we’ll see what happens.) Thanks to starhawk_writes  for her abuse of me (in a good way since she cheerleads and encourages me) and kaitlia777  for the title.



“Beth!” Jensen paused in mid-bump and grind (something in other circumstances Cougar wouldn’t object to, but when the tech was ‘dancing’ he was all for him stopping) and turned in a panic to look at his partner. “I need. We need. Shit! Beth gets out of school in ten minutes!” He flailed, waving a hand at the dinner he was preparing and then at the door as he obviously tried to figure out what to do.

Cougar set aside the old rifle he had been repairing for a friend of Beth’s foster family before grabbing Jensen’s hands as the blonde came within range. “Relax, I will go get the niña,” he assured the other man.

Jensen didn’t look completely reassured. “You remember where the school is from last time? You’re sure you don’t mind? I hope she doesn’t think I didn’t want to come get her!”

“I remember. I will let her know you are making dinner.” Standing up, Cougar tugged him closer and kissed him lightly. “Do not burn it,” he cautioned as he headed out the door.

“Right.” Jensen nodded, listing towards Cougar. “Crap! Dinner!”

Cougar smiled as he heard a crashing and banging behind him. Figuring Jensen wouldn’t set fire to their home—on purpose anyway—he continued to the car and headed out.

When Jensen had first told Cougar that he was going to be Beth’s guardian (in the wake of his sister’s death), Cougar had panicked. Sure he liked kids well enough, but what did they know about raising a child? In addition, he was positive Jensen meant to leave the Army (and therefore him) in order to stay with Beth. Jensen had quickly assured him that he intended to do no such thing. Jensen would be better able to provide for Beth by staying in the military. He’d requested and received bereavement leave and gone home to get things in order. Cougar had followed as soon as he was able to arrange things and found that his normally scattered-brained partner was actually capable of making plans. Jensen had flow charts and diagrams and actual plans. But he wasn’t Jensen. Cougar had simply been there for him…figuring sooner or later one of the two Jensens would need him; either his Jensen would fall apart and lean on him or Beth (also being distinctly unJensen-like) would need him.

The second night he was there, a noise had disturbed him and he’d opened his eyes to find Beth staring at him. How the five year old had gotten into their room without waking them he’d never figured out, but she’d been clutching the soldier bear Jensen had given her (and he wasn’t even going to ask about the rifle the bear had started sporting after his second trip home with Jensen) and looking at the two of them. Jensen had sleepily asked what was wrong and Beth had sniffed. Cougar had lifted the blankets and she’d crawled in between them, Jensen tossing an arm over her before dropping off again. Cougar had lain awake for the rest of the night, realizing that this was his life now.

Beth had pitched a fit when they’d prepared to return to the field and Cougar had been concerned until Jensen pointed out that she always pitched a fit. They’d called when they reached the jump off point and she’d been fine (if a bit teary-voiced still) which reassured them both.

Pulling up about a block from the school, Cougar parked the car, locking it out of habit and sticking his hands in his pocket as he strolled towards the building. They’d been home long enough that he didn’t feel his skin crawl every time he walked in public, but he still scanned the area for hostiles out of habit. And tried not to shudder when he realized he was surrounded by suburban housewives. Jensen could do this; could chatter and charm the women as they descended on him while he waited for Beth to exit the building, but Cougar wasn’t comfortable with meaningless gossip. Luckily since Jensen had lost track of time, he reached the gathering of parents just as the bell rang.

Bracing himself not to react to the children streaming outwards, Cougar scanned the hordes for a familiar blonde head. Just as he was beginning to think he’d somehow missed her in the massive amounts of kids milling about, he heard, “Uncle Cougar! Uncle Cougar!” above the chatter.

Turning, he had just enough time to put his hands out before Beth barreled into him and proved she was a Jensen, immediately beginning to chatter away non-stop. As soon as she paused for breath, he hoisted her higher and touched his nose to hers, asking, “¿Tienes un buen día, niña?”

That set her off again, rambling about what had happened during the day as he took her backpack from her and set her back on her feet. Taking her hand, he started to steer her away from the crowd and towards the car.

“Excuse…Sir, excuse me! Excuse me! You! With Beth Jensen!”

Cougar about-faced as he realized the female voice was addressing him, careful not to let go of Beth. They’d had an incident when they’d gone to the mall (that had been bad on many levels), when Jensen had let go of Beth and she’d disappeared. Neither one of them had recovered quickly from that panic.

“Hi, Mrs. Thompson,” Beth greeted the woman cheerfully. “Uncle Cougar came to pick me up today!”

“Ah, yes, that’s nice, dearie,” the woman replied. Cougar’s brown eyes narrowed at the tone in her voice, but he didn’t reply. “Could you let me talk to your uncle um Cougar for just a second?”

Beth looked suspiciously at the teacher, but Cougar leaned over, whispering to her and she nodded. “I’m not leaving you alone with him,” she informed the teacher. “But you can talk to him.” She indicated to Cougar that she’d stay where he’d placed her so he could let go of her.

Keeping an eye on her, although he knew that once Beth gave her word, she wouldn’t leave his sight, Cougar nodded at the teacher; trying to look encouragingly at her.

“Yes, well, um,” she responded, clearly flustered, although he didn’t think he was looking at her that threateningly. Drawing her spine straight, she blurted out, “I’m afraid I can’t just allow you to take Beth Jensen with you.”

“Why?” Cougar replied. He knew he was allowed to pick Beth up. Jensen had carefully filled out all the paperwork that gave him permission to pick her up and it had never been an issue before.

“Well,” she sighed. “Frankly, you don’t look anything like her.”

Cougar just blinked in response. That was definitely a new one. He and Jensen often took Beth out when they were home, but since she so obviously resembled Jensen, there were never any questions.

A small growl came from beside him and he caught Beth as she barreled towards the teacher. “No, niña,” he ordered. He lifted her up and looked her in the eye. “You will not,” he said firmly.

“He is my uncle. He is! He is!” Jackie insisted, although she didn’t struggle in Cougar’s grip. Instead she latched onto him, winding her fingers into his vest.

Cougar rested his hand on her head, making a low sound in his throat that always calmed her. He found that the wordless murmuring sound worked well to calm both Jensens and Beth responded to it like she always did, snuggling into his grasp and relaxing. “I have permission to pick Beth up from school. I am listed as one of her guardians.” Shifting Beth around, he pulled his wallet from his pocket, offering it to her. “Carlos Alverez.”

“I’ll need to check this,” she said. “Come with me.”

Well aware that just taking Beth could cause more trouble than just following this woman into the school and clearing it up, Cougar shifted Beth into a more comfortable carrying position. As he started up the path, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and thumbed it open, typing in Clrng up trbl @ skl. B hm soon. Stay put. as he walked. Showing it to Beth, he got her approval before sending it.

When they reached the office, the teacher had a file out on the desk and was going through it. A minute later, she looked up at him. “You are listed on Beth’s paperwork. I still need to call her guardians though…”

“Why?” Cougar interrupted. “If it says I can take her, I should be able to take her.”

“You’re not the one who normally picks her up and we’ve had some issues with non-custodial parents lately,” she explained, even as she picked up the phone.

“Is she calling Auntie?” Beth asked softly.

Cougar nodded since he’d watched the number and knew it wasn’t Jensen she’d dialed. “It will be okay, niña,” he assured her.

The teacher was having a hushed conversation with whoever had answered the phone and while she apparently wasn’t getting the answers she wanted, she had stopped glaring at Cougar. He wasn’t worried about the glare (he’d seen worse), but it had been causing Beth to growl again and he knew they’d taught her better manners than that. He made a mental note to speak to her later about respect and adults. Finally the woman hung up the phone and looked across the desk at him. “Mrs. Fletcher confirmed that you and Mr. Jensen are home right now and have Beth for the next few days. In the future please have someone inform the school when Beth’s home arrangements have changed.”

Cougar nodded, accepting his wallet back from the woman and turning to go. Beth turned her head so she was looking over his shoulder and stuck her tongue out. He chose to ignore it.

“Uncle Cougar,” Beth asked as he carried her out to the car, “where’s Uncle Jake? Why didn’t he come with you?”

“He’s at home, niña, making dinner.”

She considered this for a minute as he set her in the car and carefully buckled her in before sighing. “Are we stopping for pizza or Chinese?”


¿Tienes un buen día, niña?—Did you have a good day, child?
niña—child



Drawn by the absolutely fabulous (and talented) mme_terpsichore  after reading my story. Fantastic isn't it?