A/N: Here's the fourth chapter! Hope you like it! Some more Cassie/Lance action!
Chapter 4: You're Like a Never-Ending Summer
Cassie, as per usual, was sitting at her desk, when the infamous knock at her door rang through her ears. She looked up, and saw Lance, smirking, resting on the sill. "You ready to go?" he asked. She nodded her head, and turned off her computer. "Where's Sammy?" he said, as he surveyed her office. She smiled. "I left him with Hodgins, I didn't want him to be alone in here, and he seems to calm the 'King of the Lab'". She laughed. He laughed too, and motioned for her to follow him.
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"So where is it, the place that we're eating at?" she asked. He shrugged. "It's just a little diner, they have pretty good food. Good burgers."
"Do they have salads?"
"I double checked, they have quite a menu, most of it suitable to your vegan tastes."
She blushed. He double checked just to see if there was anything I could eat…how cute, she thought happily. "Thank you for checking. Not many people would care that much." She replied. He gave her a weird look. "Well, it would be pretty sad if I took you to a place you couldn't eat at." He said. She had to agree with him, but she still couldn't help but feel slightly giddy. They walked out of the Jeffersonian, and started down the sidewalk. Lance had told her it was in within walking distance, and even though he preferred using his car, Cassie was very eco-conscious and would rather walk.
After 10 minutes of walking and making casual conversation, they arrived at the small diner. They walked in, and Lance motioned for a waitress to get a table for two. Cassie observed the place, and noticed it was nice and cozy, most likely a Mom-n-Pop place, but it was perfect. Lance, like the nice gentleman he was, pulled out the seat for her, and she felt heat rise to her face.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
They both observed the menu, and a waitress went over to their table. "Hi, my name is Maritza, I will be taking care of you today. What can I get you?" she asked, but she was only looking at Lance. Lance, who didn't even seem to notice (which cheered up Cassie, who wanted nothing more than to rip off the young harlots head) spoke first. "I'm going to get a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake."
"And I will have a Greek salad and water with lemon."
The waitress looked between the two, confused at the two very different orders. Lance and Cassie noticed this and smiled. She walked away, leaving them both alone.
"She was totally checking you out!"
"Ah, no, she was just observing."
"Yeah, perhaps those dimples were too alluring for her."
"Do you find my dimples alluring?"
Cassie blushed and ducked her head. His eyes widened, and a proud smile formed on his face.
"Oh my god!"
"What?!"
"You do like my dimples!"
"What? You're crazy."
"You do!"
"You're nuts."
Lance knew he wasn't going to win the argument, but was very content with himself. Finally, their food came, and just as they were about to eat, Lance got a text. His eyes widened.
"What? What's wrong?" Cassie asked, obviously concerned. His eyes glanced from her to the text. "We're needed at the lab. Both of us."
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Cassie and Lance walked quickly into the lab, and everyone seemed to be very busy. "What happened?" Lance asked quietly. Cam came rushing over to them. "You showed up much quicker than what I expected."
"Yeah, yeah, what's going on? Why is everyone so panicked?" Lance asked. Cam motioned for them to follow her. "An anonymous hinter gave us an address over the phone. We sent Brennan and Booth there, only to uncover several children's skeletons."
"Oh, God, that's sick." Cassie said, shaking her head in disgust. "That's not even the worst part. All the children's bodies have words carved into their bones, each in different languages. There was a child at the scene, about 7 years old, who was tied up with rope. He hasn't said a thing." Cam replied.
Cassie, who usually would have been excited to get a case where she was needed in both of her major departments of study, was dreading what was to come, but eager to solve this case. "We are going to need you a lot for this one, Dr. Blackwood, and I realize that this is most likely your first real case. But you need to be completely prepared and ready for anything. I want Dr. Sweets to assist you with anything you may need, if he isn't working with anyone else." Cam explained. Lance nodded frantically. "I am more than willing to do anything to help Dr. Blackwood, Dr. Saroyan."
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Cassie calmed herself down, and decided that the first order of business was to talk to the child. She retrieved Sammy from Hodgins' office, and her and Lance walked to hers.
"I'm very afraid." Cassie admitted openly. Lance shrugged. "You know you'll do fine…"
"It's not me that I'm afraid for, Lance, I'm afraid of what I will find. This kid is going to be so traumatized….."
The conversation died as they reached her office, and they saw a small boy, with blonde curly hair and blue eyes sitting on the couch, opposite of the couch Cassie usually sat on. Cassie tentatively knocked on the door. "May I come in?" she asked softly. The little boy jumped from behind the couch, obviously startled. Lance, who was confused as to why she asked to go into her own office, figured it was just a technique when working with children. The boy nodded his head slowly, and Cassie and Sammy slowly walked in. Lance followed them in.
"So, my name is Dr. Blackwood, this is my dog, Sammy, and this is my friend, Dr. Sweets. What's your name?" Cassie asked softly. The boy simply stared at them. "Not a big talker, huh? That's okay, I wasn't either when I was your age. How old are you?" she asked. He held up seven little fingers in response. Her eyes widened. "Seven WHOLE years! Wow, you're so big for your age! You look like you're 9 or 10!" she said excitedly. Lance smiled. The boy blushed and ducked his head, but obviously accepted the praise. Sammy slowly crept up to the boy, and laid his head in his lap. The boy looked startled, but slowly pet it. "He likes you. See? He wants you to pet his head just like that." Cassie said kindly. The boy continued to pet the golden retriever. "Sammy wants to know your name."
"Doggies don't talk." The boy said, startling both Lance and Cassie.
Cassie grinned. "Just because dogs don't talk doesn't mean they don't have something to say. He wants to know your name. Why don't you tell Sammy?"
The boy looked anxious, but still spoke up. "C-Caleb." He said nervously. Cassie lit up. "Caleb? That's a nice name."
"T-Thanks."
"Hmmm. That's strange. Sammy wants to know something."
"W-What?"
Cassie frowned. Lance, observing all her tactics, was more than impressed. "Sammy wants to know…why you were tied up in that barn." She said softly.
Caleb's blood drained from his face, but he resumed petting the dog. He closed his eyes. "C-Caleb doesn't want to talk about that." The boy said coldly. Cassie sighed. "Sammy doesn't want you to be scared. Are you scared?" she asked. He shook his head. "Caleb isn't afraid of anything. He can't be."
"Everyone is allowed to be afraid sometimes, Caleb. Why can't you be?"
"Because he gets mad when we got scared."
"Who? Who gets mad, Caleb?"
"….T-The man."
"Do you know what his name is Caleb?"
"….."
"Caleb, I promise you, you will not get in trouble."
"…his name is Mr. Tom. That's what he makes us call him."
"Who else does he make call him Mr. Tom?"
"…Me and the other boys."
"What other boys, Caleb?"
"The other boys. He took them too."
"Mr. Tom took you all?"
"…y-yeah. Caleb was very scared. Caleb wanted to go home. Mr. Tom said we couldn't."
"Did Mr. Tom tell you why he couldn't let you go home?"
"M-Mr. Tom wanted us to be a family. He said Caleb, Nathan, Nicky, Matty, and Seth were gonna be his family."
Cassie smiled sadly. "Thank you, Caleb. You can sit with Sammy until we have your Mommy and Daddy come to get you." She said. The boy's face lit up. "I-I can see my mommy and daddy again? Really?" he asked softly. She nodded. "Of course you can, Caleb. I will make sure you never have to be separated from them again." She said strongly.
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"Thanks to our little friend Caleb, we were able to put a name to the faces I recreated. Nathan McNamara, Nicholas James, Matthew Wong, and Seth Masters. All between the ages of 6 and 10 years old." Angela said sadly. The team was called into her office, and she portrayed four small faces of boys who had 'missing' written across their photographs. Cassie struggled to compose herself, feeling the tears brimming in her eyes. Brennan and Angela both wept quietly, while Cassie bit her lip, refusing to let any tears fall. Suddenly, Cassie fled the room, heading towards her office.
Cassie slammed the door behind her. She needed to find answers, and find them quickly. These children, she thought, need to go home. They need their families to know what happened to them. As she logged onto her computer, her door opened. "Are you okay, Cassie? Do you want to talk?" said the voice Cassie instantly knew to be Lance. She turned around. "You. I need you, you're a profiler, right? You can find Mr. Tom, right?" she asked desperately. Lance went over to her and rubbed circles into her back. "Cassie, you and I both know that finding a man actually named Mr. Tom is very unlikely…"
"Look into the FBI database for anyone named Thomas who was convicted of anything related to child crimes. We can look into the DC area for people named Thomas. We have his address, so we can ask his neighbors who he was. We can check the local supermarkets, toy stores, downtown-"
"Cassie. You need to rest. You've had a stressful day, you need to go home and sleep."
"NO! That's just what this man wants, he wants us to all go home and forget about it, meanwhile he could be hurting more kids!" she exclaimed angrily. He raised his hands in defense. "All I'm saying is…I don't think it would be a terrible idea to go home. Cuddle with Sammy, eat some ice cream, watch a movie…don't push yourself farther, Cassie." He said, obviously concerned.
"I can't do that! These children need to go home! Their mothers and father, sisters and brothers need to know what happened to them! It is our job to bring justice to them! How can…How can I go home, knowing that I wasn't able to do that?" she snapped. He looked into her eyes, and knew that there was much more to it, but wasn't going to ask because he knew she wasn't ready. "You made so much progress with Caleb over there. You reassured him, gave him hope. And you still got the information that we needed to give faces to those kids. I think you have done more than enough for the day!" he replied, exasperated. She sniffed. "There is no such thing as 'doing enough' when it comes to catching a psychopath who killed 4 boys, and god knows what else he did to them!" she said softly. He continued to rub small circles into her back. "Cassie, you being exhausted and tired tomorrow when you come into work tomorrow won't help anyone solve this case. Face it, we need you here, specifically for this one, more than anyone else. You've done so much in the short time you've been here. We are all proud of you. I'm proud of you." Lance explained. She looked up at him, tears still threatening to fall over. "I'm going to go home and try to rest. Take Sammy for a walk, eat some milk-free ice cream, and watch The Notebook or something. Okay?" she asked. He smiled a little bit.
"Okay. Now, let's get you home."
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Cassie lied in her bed, eating her Green Tea soy ice cream, as she watched Ryan Gosling profess his undying love for Rachel McAdams in the rain. "Such bullshit, right Sammy?" she asked softly. Sammy, who was lying at her feet, whined in response, clearly understanding she was sad. She always promised herself that she would never get this attached to a case, even if anything about the patients or case itself was similar to her childhood. She didn't cry, and for that she was proud, but she didn't know how much longer she would be able to pull the strong, emotionless therapist act. Sammy stayed by her side the whole time, and she didn't even have a panic attack, although she thought she would.
Lance sat on his sofa, raking his hand through his short, brown curls. Figuring out Cassie was much harder then he originally thought. Although her happy, cheerful demeanor yet calm, mature nature was one of the things he loved most about the young linguist/therapist, when he looked into her eyes, there was a lingering sadness, one that didn't go away. He had seen the same thing in a few of his patients, and even himself, but didn't want to go through the possibilities, for he was afraid of the assumption he would create. He had already contemplated a lot of theories, but each were too painful for him to think of. He could only hope that Cassie would make it through the night.
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Lance walked to Cassie's office the next morning, with both of their breakfasts in hand. He ordered his usual, a caramel latte with a blueberry muffin, and ordered her usual black coffee with a ginger molasses cookie. He realized Cassie had a really rough night the previous day, and he thought maybe a little morning treat would help her feel better. He knocked on her door, and when there was no response, he opened the door.
"Good morni-"
Lance practically dropped his food when he saw Cassie. There were 3 large marker boards lined up in her office, all with different languages on all of them, in different orders. There were also photographs of the children's bones. "Um, what are you doing…?" he asked slowly. She didn't even glance his way, but somehow knew it was him. "The inscriptions on the bones were all in different languages, one language per skeleton. I have a theory that our murderer wrote these inscriptions based on each child's ethnicity. Matthew Wong, aged six, was of Asian descent, as his parents are both Chinese and from Angela's facial reconstruction diagrams, we can tell that the boy had epicanthic folds, a common trait among those who are of Asian ancestry. The language inscribed onto his skeleton was most definitely Chinese. And Nathan McNamara, age 8, was of Irish descent. The language inscribed into his skeleton was Old Irish." She explained. She finally turned around, and saw him with their breakfast. "Oh, Lance, thank you so much." She said gratefully. He shrugged, a blush on his cheeks. "It was no big deal. I just figured you were going to have a busy day and needed to start your day off on a good foot." He replied. She took the coffee and cookie from his hands. "How did you know I liked black coffee and vegan ginger molasses cookies?" she said in awe. He blushed again. "O-Oh, you know, I saw you drinking black coffee the other day, and I asked the guy at Starbucks what vegan stuff they had, so I took a lucky guess. She took a happy bite, and turned to her work. "So, is there anything else you discovered, Dr. Blackwood, as you made your genius conclusions?" he asked, as he munched on a muffin, leaning against her desk. She grinned. "I have also concluded that this man must have either taken a very lucky guess, or knew these children personally. He knew these kids, how else could he tell Seth Masters was of Lithuanian descent or that Nicholas James was of Nigerian descent? Even if he didn't know them, he must have followed them before he kidnapped them. The kidnappings were not sporadic, they were premeditated." She explained thoughtfully. His eyes widened, and he nodded, motioning for her to continue. "I've also concluded that due to the one year age difference between them all, and the fact that they were of all different racial backgrounds, these kids were most likely kept rather then killed on the spots. I think he was conducting some form of experiment."
"A scientific experiment?"
"Perhaps, I have Hodgins running the victims' bone marrow and blood from the scene for any types of drugs or sedatives, anything that could prove that he was doing some form of test. The only other type of experiment he could have done would be a social experiment, which makes sense, but not enough to fulfill all of the details of the murder."
Lance was very impressed. This woman was much smarter then he first thought, and he still thought she was smart then.
His growing affection for her suddenly grew much stronger.
