Jensen and Sloan didn't wait for the others to eat. They simply sat down and ate quietly. "So what do you have planned?" Sloan asks as she gets up and puts her plate in the sink.
"Just get dressed in your workout stuff and meet me outside." He instructs. Sloan nods, still curious, and walks upstairs to her room.
Sloan grabs her usual workout clothes and tosses them on her bed. She locks the door before pulling off her tank top and shorts. She pulls on her grey sports bra and black leggings that have a white design spiraling down the legs. She brushes out her hair and goes downstairs, carrying the brush with her.
"Can you braid my hair for me?" She asks Jensen, sitting on the couch next to him. He nods and Sloan hands him the brush before turning sideways. Jensen puts her hair into two dutch braids before standing up.
"Ready?" He asks.
"I just need to get my shoes but then I'll be ready." She tells him. Jensen shakes his head.
"You don't need 'em." He says.
Sloan stands up and follows him to the backyard where she sees a skateboard that was missing its wheels balanced over a wooden board that was elevated by two bricks, two more boards on either side of it. Sloan raises a brow at the setup.
"You are going to stand on that skateboard and try to balance while staying up."
"Seems easy enough." She says with a shrug. "How long?"
"Sam as yesterday. Ten seconds." He answers. Sloan nods and walks up to the boards. She puts her hand on Jensen's shoulder as she steps up onto the skateboard. "Move your feet out some." He instructs, kicking at her feet. The teenager huffs and moves her feet until he stops kicking them, standing with them almost shoulder width apart.
"Better?" She asks. Jensen nods, stepping back and crossing his arms as he inspects her footing.
"Perfect." He says, stepping forward again. "Now, I'm gonna move these boards," he says, gesturing to the two outer boards, "and I want you to stay up for at least ten seconds." Sloan nods and braces herself.
Jensen walks forward and yanks the two boards away at the same time. The skateboard wobbles slightly and Sloan almost falls. "Adjust your footing if you have to." He instructs. "You can move as much as you want on a surfboard. This is just to help you get your balance back."
Sloan nods and slowly inches her feet inward until she feels like she's balanced enough. She moves her right foot too far to the left and makes the board wobble violently. Sloan is unable to recover fast enough and the board flips over. Sloan falls and hits her shoulder on the ground, causing pain to spread through the stump. She cries out and sits up, grasping her shoulder. Within a second, Jensen's on his knees in front of her.
"Are you alright?" He asks worriedly. Sloan nods, blinking away the tears. She can't tell if they're from pain, embarrassment, or frustration. Probably all three. "I'm sorry. Maybe we should have started with something easier." Sloan shakes her head and stands up.
"I'm fine." She tells him. "How long was that?"
"Five seconds." Jensen tells her with a sigh, standing up.
"Let's go again." She says, walking to the board. Jensen sighs again but doesn't argue as he follows her to the boards.
He places the outer two back in their places before putting the skateboard back on top of them. Sloan steps up and adjusts her footing before nodding. Jensen slowly pulls the boards out and Sloan wobbles slightly before adjusting her footing again, bracing her legs like she would on a real board.
Sloan smiles as she counts and realizes that she's stayed up longer than the last time. At eight seconds, the backdoor opens and she gets distracted, looking over her shoulder quickly, making her lose her focus and balance. She falls backwards this time, landing on her butt. Sloan groans in frustration looking up to see everyone now outside. She pushes herself up and Jensen resets the boards.
"So, what exactly are you doing?" Gen asks as she eyes the contraption.
"Working on balance." Sloan tells her, using Jensen's shoulder again to get on the board. He slowly removes the wooden ones and Sloan finds her balance quickly.
"She has to stay up for at least ten seconds." He explains. "This is her third try."
"What happened on the other two?" Grayson asks, looking away from Sloan and to Jensen.
"The first time, I leaned too far to the left and fell." Sloan answers, wobbling slightly as she looks up from her feet. "The second time, I got distracted by the four of you."
"So it's our fault?" Jared asks in amusement. Sloan nods.
"How long has it been?" Danneel asks, looking to her husband.
"Seven seconds." He answers. Sloan counts in her head, smiling when she reaches fifteen. She jumps off the board, ignoring it as it falls to the ground and fist pumps the air.
"Fifteen seconds!" She yells triumphantly before turning to Jensen. "What's next?"
"Now we start working on muscle." He says. Sloan nods and follows him to the concrete behind them. Jensen grabs a green towel from the ground and looks at her.
"What are you gonna do? Whip me?" She asks, raising a brow at the towel.
"I should but no." He says, rolling his eyes. "Pushups."
"I can't do pushups." She tells him. "Only got one arm, in case you forgot. That's why we're doing all this."
"That's what the towel's for." He says before gesturing to the ground. "Get in position." Sloan huffs as she kneels on the ground. She places her arm under her like she had on the tube the day before and stretches her legs out, almost like she's planking. "I'm gonna hold the ends of the towel to hold you up." Jensen says, looping the towel under her abdomen and pulling on it, keeping her up. Sloan straightens her arm out, the limb already shaking from all of her weight being on it. "Alright. Give me ten."
Sloan slowly lowers herself, keeping her back straight, until her nose is almost touching the ground. She slowly pushes herself back up and Jensen pulls on the towel, helping her a bit. By the third pushup, Sloan's arm is shaking so much she can barely push herself up. By the fifth, she's having trouble going down.
"We can stop at five." Jensen says, seeing her struggle. Sloan shakes her head stubbornly. "Sloan, don't strain yourself. We have plenty of time." Sloan shakes her head again, lowering herself despite every muscle in her arm protesting.
"I can do it." She tells him.
Sloan ignores Jensen's continued protests as she forces herself to keep going. On the seventh pushup, Sloan starts to lower herself when her arm gives out and she collapses, Jensen barely pulling on the towel in time to stop her from hitting the ground.
"Alright. You're done." He says, his voice leaving no room for argument as he gently lowers the girl to the ground before dropping the ends of the towel. Sloan rolls over onto her back and looks up at him.
"What's next?" She asks.
"Rest." He says, making the girl groan. "Sloan, you're not going to improve anything if you keep pushing yourself like this. You're just gonna do more harm than good."
"Thirty minutes." She says. "I'll rest for thirty minutes then I'm coming back out and doing the next workout."
"Sloan, you're not listening." Jensen says. "You're going to go inside, get something to drink, and rest. We can come back out after lunch, if I think you've rested enough." Sloan looks at the others for help but they all seem to agree with her father.
"Fine." She huffs, standing up. "I need to ice my shoulder anyway." She mumbles as she walks up the back steps and into the house, where Bandit meets her at the door. Sloan chuckles and pats his head before moving to the kitchen, grabbing an ice pack from the freezer and walking to the living room. She sits on the couch and holds the ice pack to the end of her shoulder.
After a few minutes, Grayson joint her, sitting on her right side. Sloan sighs and leans over, placing her head on his shoulder. He wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her into his side before placing a kiss to the top of her head and resting his cheek on it.
"I could've done it." She says quietly. "I could've done all ten pushups if he hadn't've stopped me."
"Sloan, your arm gave out." He tells her. "You couldn't have done anymore even if you tried."
"I could have." She argues. "I could have pushed through it. I only had three left."
"You're just stubborn and don't like the fact that you didn't reach your goal." He says and Sloan pulls away, suddenly upset.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asks him. "You don't think I can do it, do you?"
"What?" He asks in shock before shaking his head. "No. No, I never said that! I think you can do it but you need to pace yourself and not push too hard." Sloan shakes her head, still not convinced.
"You think I should give up, don't you?"
"No." Grayson says sternly, taking her hand in his and placing his other one on her leg. "Baby, I think you can do it. I think you can do anything you want to. I just think you need to make sure you aren't hurting yourself while you do it." Sloan sighs and scoots back into his side. "And right now, at the pace you're going, all you're doing is hurting yourself." Sloan nods and Grayson kisses her head again.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak out." Sloan says, looking up at him. Grayson smiles and nods.
"I know. It's okay." He tells her. Sloan smiles up at him cheekily. "What?"
"You called me baby." She says.
"It just slipped out." Grayson says quickly. "I didn't mean-" Sloan laughs and places a quick kiss to his lips, shutting him up.
"It's okay." She tells him, snuggling back into his chest. "I kind of like it." Grayson smiles and Sloan closes her eyes, drifting off to sleep quickly to the sound of Grayson's heartbeat.
Sloan wakes up when someone shakes her shoulder. She blinks her eyes open and sees Jared standing in front of her. She shakes her head, snuggling closer to the whatever the warm thing under her head was.
"Go away, Jared. I'm sleeping." She mumbles, closing her eyes.
"I can see that." He says in amusement. "On my little brother." Sloan's eyes snap open and she sits up, remembering that she had failed asleep tucked into Grayson's side. She feels her cheeks heat up as she blushes, making the man in front of her laugh. "You're lucky I found you and not your dad."
"He didn't see?" She asks, surprised that he hadn't come into the living room. Jared shakes his head.
"He's been in his room most of the time trying to find more workouts to do." He says. Sloan nods slowly, still tired. "Gen told me to ask what y'all want on your sandwiches."
"I can make it." Sloan tells him. "Gen doesn't have to make our sandwiches for us. She's already done so much while she's been staying with me and Mom."
"I'll go tell her. Although you know she's gonna do it anyway." Sloan nods and Jared walks out of the room.
Sloan looks at Grayson, who was snoring softly with his head at an awkward angle. Sloan laughs lightly before gently shaking him. Grayson mumbles incoherently before shifting a bit in his sleep.
"Gray." Sloan says, shaking his shoulder again, waking him up. "Gray, it's time of lunch." Grayson slowly sits up and runs a hand through his hair tiredly, looking around. He looks at Sloan and gives her a cheeky smile.
"You fell asleep on me." He says smugly, making Sloan roll her eyes.
"Get up." She tells him as she stands. "If we don't get to the kitchen now, Gen's gonna fix our sandwiches for us."
Grayson groans but stands anyway, grabbing Sloan's hips and keeping her from moving as he looks down at her. Sloan's never felt like a short girl, standing at almost five feet, nine inches, but standing next to Grayson, who's six feet tall, she feels four feet tall. Sloan tries pushing him away but he barely budges.
"Gray, let go." She says with a chuckle.
"Only if you give me a kiss." He says. Sloan rolls her eyes but stands on her toes and places a kiss to his lips. As promised, Grayson releases her and she starts walking away.
"You're so needy." She calls over her shoulder.
Grayson takes a few quick steps towards Sloan, reaching out to tickle her and she lets out a shriek, running to the hallway with the boy hot on her heels. Sloan grabs the doorframe and quickly turns the corner into the kitchen before running and hiding behind Jared.
"Ha! I'm at base!" She says to her boyfriend. "Which means you can't tickle me!"
"Oh, so I'm base now?" Jared asks in amusement.
"Sloan, you're going to wake your sister and Tom." Gen warns the girl.
"Sorry." She says before looking up at Jared. "By the way, your brother's a little handsy." She tells him jokingly, laughing as she sees the giant's eyebrows shoot up and he looks at his younger brother questioningly.
"What?" He asks.
"You make it sound like I'm a perv." Grayson tells her before looking back at his brother. "I just put my hands on her hips. I didn't touch her like you think."
"He wouldn't let go until I gave him a kiss." She adds with a smirk. Jared rolls his eyes at the teens.
"Just keep it PG." He tells them before giving his brother a pointed look. "And no hands below the waist."
Sloan walks over to the counter where Gen was putting sandwich stuff out just as Jensen and Danneel walk in. Sloan grabs a plate before moving to the bread bag. She sets the plate down and tries to untwist the tie that was on it but can't keep the bag from moving as she does.
"Here." Danneel says, stepping forward and opening the bag for her. Sloan gives her a thankful smile before taking out two pieces of bread and putting them on the plate.
Sloan grabs the meat package, seeing that it was still sealed. She puts the corner of it in her mouth before pulling down on the rest of the package, trying to tear it at the perforated seal, but there's not enough of the package in her mouth and it ends up just tearing the corner off. Sloan huffs and tries the other side, the same thing happening. She can see Jensen out of the corner of her eye, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, waiting for her to ask for help.
Jensen and Jared have been trying to teach her that there's no shame in asking for help so they've implemented a new rule that she has to ask for help when she's struggling with something instead of the two of them just jumping in and helping. Gen and Danneel think it's cruel because they all know that Sloan is too stubborn and independent to ask for help and Grayson hates the new rule because he's never been able to stand seeing Sloan struggling with anything.
Grayson starts walking over to help but Jared grabs his arm, stopping him. Grayson looks up at his older brother with a slight glare and Jared shakes his head. The younger boy sighs and leans back against the wall watching as his girlfriend continues to struggle, gripping his biceps tightly as though it would be enough to keep him from stepping forward to help her.
Sloan tries a few more times before turning to Jensen, looking at the floor with frustrated tears in her eyes. She doesn't understand why she's tearing up, which just makes it worse. She's not sure if it's just all the frustrations from the day getting to her, her exhaustion, or the fact that she feels like everyone's just sitting back and waiting for her to fail so they can prove a point. Sloan looks up from the floor and sees Jensen's eyes soften when he sees the tears in his eyes. He almost regrets making the rule at the sight of her watery eyes.
"Can you help me?" She asks quietly, holding the package out to him. Jensen nods and uncrosses his arm, pushing himself off the island. He takes the package and opens it before handing it back to the girl. "Thank you." She mumbles, not looking him in the eye. She quickly makes her sandwich and grabs a handful of chips before walking to the table, setting her plate down before returning to the kitchen to get a water bottle. Sloan sits down and places the water between her legs, twisting the top. Her legs squeeze the bottle as she opens it, spewing some of the liquid over the top and onto the chair.
"Damn it." She mutters as she sets the bottle on the table. She grabs some paper towels and quickly cleans up the mess before throwing the paper towels away and returning to her seat. She eats quickly and quietly, just wanting to get back outside to continue training. When everyone finishes, Jensen informs Sloan that Jared will help her with the next few workouts while he runs to the store.
She follows Jared outside, the two stopping under an oak tree, the lowest branch hanging about eight feet off the ground. Sloan looks up at the branch before looking at Jared questioningly.
"Pull ups." He says simply before gesturing to the spot in front of him. "Come here." Sloan moves to stand in front of him. "I'm going to help you up and hold onto you so you don't fall and it's a little easier." Sloan nods and turns around, allowing him to grip her waist. "Jump." He instructs. Sloan pushes off the ground and reaches for the branch, quickly grabbing it and securing her grip.
"Got it." She says. She starts to pull herself up, Jared pushing her a little bit to help. She manages to get ten done, reaching her goal. She lets go of the branch and lands on the ground before Jared lets go of her. She turns around and grins at him, getting a smile and high-five in return.
"What's next?" She asks.
"Go get your bathing suit on." He instructs. Sloan smile widely, thinking they were getting back on the tube.
Sloan runs into the house, ignoring Jared's chuckles behind her. She runs to her room and quickly changes into her striped bikini. When she returns to the yard, she sees everyone now outside and a paddle board in Jared's hand. She furrows her brow in confusion as he hands it to her.
"What are we doing?" She asks.
Jared doesn't answer, simply walks to the end of the dock. Sloan to the others for help but they simply shrug. She puts the board under her arm and walks to the end of the dock, the end of the board dragging a bit behind her. She comes to a stop next to Jared when she reaches him.
"Put the board in the water." He instructs. Sloan toss the paddle board into the water. "Now jump in and pull yourself onto it." Sloan raises a brow at the man.
"What's in the point in this?"
"You need to figure out how to pull yourself back on your board after you wipeout." He explains. "You're used to being able to hold it in place with one hand and pulling yourself up with the other. You need to learn how to do both with one." Sloan nods before jumping into the water. She comes back up and pushes the hair out of her face before placing her arm on the board.
Sloan tries to simply push up on her arm to pull herself up but all that does is make the board slip out of her grasp. She tries slinging one of her legs over the end that doesn't really work either. She tries a few different techniques and by the time she thinks she's almost got it, Jensen's back from the store.
Sloan huffs and glares at the board like it's physically wronged her. She then slings her arm back on top of it and pulls the board to her ribs before wrapping her leg over it. She pulls it towards her with her arm and leg while she pushes herself towards it, allowing her to slide right onto it. She grins before pushing herself up into a sitting position, straddling the board with her hand in front of her to keep her balanced. She puts her hand in the water and paddles, turning the board around so she's facing the dock.
"Next?" She asks for what feels like the millionth time that day.
"Paddling." Jensen answers. "We need to see how well you can paddle with one arm." Sloan nods and Jensen disappears, grabbing another paddle board.
While Sloan waits, she reaches into the water and splashes it at Grayson, who was sitting on the end of the dock with his feet in the water. He glares at her before kicking some water back. Sloan splashes him and doesn't realizes that as she was, she was getting closer to him until she's suddenly right in front of him.
Grayson smirks and puts his feet under the board, bringing them up and flipping the board over, taking Sloan down with it. She comes back up and spits the water out of her mouth, glaring at him as she flips the board back over and climbs back on, returning to her sitting position.
"You better watch your back, Padalecki." She tells him with a playful glare. He simply laughs as Jensen returns and tosses his board in the water before jumping in and climbing on, copying Sloan's position.
"With two arms, you paddled pretty fast. That's because you had a continuous motion going." He says. Sloan nods, following her father's thoughts. "But with one arm, there's going to be a short pause between each stroke. So we need to see how fast and how well you can paddle with one arm."
"So this isn't really a workout, just a test?" She asks, getting a nod in response. Sloan shrugs. "Easy."
Sloan leans forward and brings her legs up onto the board behind her, laying flat on her stomach. Jensen copies her movements and tells her to go. Sloan puts her hand in the water and pushes it back before bringing it out of the water and repeating the motion. She slowly starts moving forward before eventually picking up the pace a bit, still going a lot slower than she used to. It doesn't take long for her to get tired so she stops and returns to her sitting position.
"Not too bad." Jensen tells her. "It's a little slow but I think once we get your muscle back, it'll be faster. Maybe almost as fast as you used to be." Sloan nods and turns her board around before laying back down and paddling back to the dock.
"Can we use the tube now?" She asks, smiling when Jensen nods.
When she reaches the dock, she slides off of her board and into the water. Jared grabs the board while Sloan pulls herself op on the dock. The others go inside to get their bathing suits on while Jensen and Sloan make sure they have everything they need on the boat. Within fifteen minutes, they were out in the middle of the lake. Sloan jumps onto the tube and holds on.
"I'm gonna go a little bit faster than yesterday. Try to stay on for twenty seconds this time." Jensen tells her. Sloan gives him a thumbs up and he kicks the tube away from the boat, waiting until it's far enough away to start the engine.
Sloan waits a minute before putting her arm in the correct position and pushing herself up. She loses her footing and tries to recover quickly but ends up falling. She tries a few more times, trying to get used to the speed, before she's finally able to stand up. She finishes her twenty seconds and the boat slows down, making her jump off of the tube before climbing back on.
"Make a few turns this time!" She calls. "I wanna see if I can stay up." She gets a thumbs up in response and holds on.
She manages to stand up and stay up on the first try and waits a minute before the boat starts turning. It's slow turns at first and Sloan manages to stay on, even managing to control the tube after a while, but when the turns start getting fast and sharper, it gets a bit harder.
The boat turns to the right and Sloan braces herself as she goes over the wake, turning her body and manipulating the tube enough to go back over it but her arm goes a little bit too far back, throwing her off balance and making her fall backwards off the tube. Sloan breaks the surface and laughs before swimming back to the boat.
"How was that?" She asks as she climbs up the ladder.
"That was great!" Danneel tells her with a smile.
"Yeah, I think with a little bit more training, you'll be back out there in no time." Jensen tells her, making Sloan smile.
"Really?" She asks excitedly. He nods and Sloan smiles wider, anticipation filling her every fiber, her excitement making Jensen smile as his heart swells at seeing her genuinely happy for the first time in what feels like forever.