This is just another filler chapter! Cassidy and Butch desperately needed a break from all the drama. And to be fair, half of my brain had writers block whilst I was writing this, especially near the start. But I think it's turned out okay, for a filler. I need moaar reviews for this story, so review! ^_^
Cassidy ran a shaky hand through her dishevelled hair as she pushed open the door to the female bathrooms. As soon as she was in there she closed her eyes and burst into tears of despair, leaning against the door.
"Cassidy…?"
The moment she heard her name, Cassidy's eyes shot open and she stopped crying after a large sniff. She felt like curling up in a ball and dying when she realised that not only had she been caught out sobbing, but by Jessie, who was standing over by the basins in front of the mirror, staring at her curiously. Cassidy sniffed again and wiped her nose with her sleeve, scowling at Jessie and standing up straight. "What are you staring at, Jessica?" she snapped, glaring at her rival through teary eyes.
Jessie carried on staring, a little taken aback. She'd never seen Cassidy cry before, so she assumed something truly awful must have happened. "Nothing," she replied "What's the matter with you?"
Cassidy swallowed, holding back more tears desperately. She forced herself to look Jessie in the eye "Nothing," she sneered, before giving a scornful snort and turning to leave. Thankfully, Jessie didn't follow her out of the bathrooms.
Cassidy rushed down the corridors now, holding her head down so as not to make eye contact with anyone passing by. It had been awful, in Giovanni's office. Far, far worse than the first time. He'd hurt her this time around, on top of everything else. She knew there were going to be several large bruises on her body the next day. The worst thing was, she couldn't do anything about the situation. She was powerless against Giovanni. Everyone was. In the past, Cassidy had heard countless rumours around headquarters about what Giovanni did to punish his female agents, but she'd never cared in the slightest. As long as it wasn't happening to her, what did it matter?
But now it was happening to her, and it did matter.
Cassidy's hand hesitated in front of the door handle of her room. What was she going to tell Butch? Surely he'd notice her tear stained face? Surely he'd want to know where she'd been for the past hour? There was only one thing to do; lie and pretend everything was fine. Cassidy took a deep breath, stood confidently, and opened the door to the room. Butch was sat on the bed, busy checking something out on their shared laptop. He didn't even glance at Cassidy when she came into the room. She lingered by the door for a moment, before walking over to the bed and climbing on to it, tucking her legs up snugly as she sat next to Butch, who still wasn't looking at her. Cassidy edged closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes scanning the screen of the laptop nosily. Butch sighed in annoyance and shut it off before she could get a proper look, he then glanced at her wearily, and she smiled in return.
"What are you smirking at?" he said gruffly.
"Nothing," Cassidy said, raising her eyebrows "Looks like someone's in a bad mood."
"Mm. I must get it from you then, mustn't I?" Butch replied, glaring at her.
"Honey, I'm sorry about earlier…"
"There's only a certain amount of times you can say sorry before it becomes meaningless, Cassidy," Butch said, snapping the lid of the laptop shut.
Cassidy sighed "You don't need to be so sensitive. I don't ever mean it when I'm bitchy to you."
"Then why do you do it?"
"Because," Cassidy mumbled uncomfortably, pausing for a moment before putting her arms around Butch and kissing him on the cheek. He only pushed her away irritably in return.
Cassidy blinked, seeing that she really had upset him and this wasn't one of those jokey, pretend sulks. "Look, you can't blame me for being a little snappy, considering what happened to us last night."
Butch glanced at her wearily again, but as usual, the way she was looking at him won him over. "I know," he hesitated for a moment "Come here," he said feebly, putting an arm around her and pulling her close. She sighed in relief and smiled as he kissed her on the top of her head. "Where've you been anyway?"
Cassidy felt her heart skip a beat as she tried to come up with a believable lie. "I went for a walk," she replied breezily.
Butch glanced over at the window, which had heavy rain pattering against it, and then looked back at Cassidy with a raised eyebrow, unconvinced. "Sure."
"Not out there, you idiot," Cassidy said quickly "I just went for a walk around headquarters, to sort my thoughts out."
Butch nodded acceptingly, though somehow he didn't feel she was telling the truth. She'd been gone an hour, there was no way she'd been wondering around headquarters aimlessly for all that time. The thought that she was lying to him was upsetting, but right now he simply couldn't be bothered to bring up something that could start yet another argument. "So you're ok now."
"Yep, I'm fine," Cassidy replied, forcing a smile. Butch only gave a small smile back, and then went back to looking slightly miserable. "Hey, what's with the face?" Cassidy said, nudging him in the side with her elbow "I'm happy, therefore you should be happy."
"Yeah," Butch said feebly "the thing is, when I am happy, you're grouchy."
Cassidy sighed wearily "We're both as bad as each other sometimes," she said, before tilting her head up and forward so that her and Butch's noses were touching "Cheer up, honey," she simpered, her arms wrapping around him.
Butch had to smile at this. It was a nice break receiving affection from the usually callous Cassidy, and regardless of being concerned that she was lying to him, he couldn't resist moving in for a kiss while he had the chance.
Knowing that her 'love power' was always a sure fire way to win Butch over, the corners of Cassidy's lips upturned slightly as he kissed her, and she smiled completely when their lips parted. "You can never stay in a bad mood with me for too long," she smirked, tapping him on the nose "You're not like me."
"Ain't that a relief," Butch teased, Cassidy smirked and gave him a playful shove.
Butch chuckled and was about to get revenge with tickling, but he suddenly noticed something on her face which made him hesitate. Cassidy saw him staring at her and glared back playfully. "What the hell are you staring at?" she giggled.
Butch frowned and gently took hold of her chin, turning her face so he could properly see the pink-purple bruise on her cheek. "Cass, what's this?" he asked with concern.
"What's what?" Cassidy replied, swatting his hand away from her face.
"You've got a huge bruise on your face."
Cassidy felt her heart drop. She swallowed nervously, the smirk disappearing from her face. Giovanni had only hit her face once, but certainly hard enough to bruise her. How could she lie her way out of this one? There was still no way she could explain to Butch. Giovanni had made it perfectly clear that if she said a word to anyone about his actions he'd put her through more pain than she could possibly imagine. And in any case, she didn't even want Butch to know. There was absolutely nothing he could do about the situation, so what was the point?
"Tell me where that bruise came from, Cass," Butch said gravely, his eyebrows raised with concern. Cassidy averted her eyes, her face still captive in his hand.
"Ugh, do you really need to know?"
"Yes," Butch snapped.
Cassidy closed her eyes for a second and sighed, grasping Butch's hand by the wrist and lowering it gently. "Ok, so I was about to walk through these doors downstairs, right?" she began, looking him in the eye with impeccable confidence "And this dim-witted grunt just barges his way through from the other side, and, of course, with everyone watching, the door smacked me right in the face. I should have totally kicked that lowlife's ass for flinging the door open like that, it was humiliating."
Butch blinked, his previously tense body relaxing. "Oh, right," he mumbled, suddenly feeling foolish for assuming that someone had done it to her purposefully. "So nobody beat you up or anything?"
Cassidy cocked her head to one side with a weary sigh "Honestly, Butch, do you know me at all? You really think I'd let anyone beat me up? Per-lease."
Butch felt relieved at this, realising it was silly to have worried in the first place. Cassidy was a strong girl, and realistically he could barely imagine her getting beaten up by anyone. Whenever she'd gotten into catfights with other Rocket girls in the past, she'd always won by a mile. Butch smiled "Ah, you're right. I know you're a tough cookie, I just thought Jessie might've been atcha again."
Cassidy snorted, an eyebrow raising. "Messy Jessie? Like she'd dare do anything to me."
"But if she did you know I'd go sort her out for you, right?"
"I know, mister protective," Cassidy teased, rolling her eyes at him "I can look after myself you know."
Butch shrugged "Just looking out for ya."
"Greatly appreciated," Cassidy smiled "But honestly, Butch, you don't need to worry about me so much. I mean, you should have seen your face just then when you thought someone had done this to me," Cassidy smirked, gesturing to the bruise on her face, at the same time as wanting to kick herself for not only lying, but making Butch feel stupid, when his assumption was in actual fact, true.
"Well what would you do if you thought someone hit me?"
"I'd call you a big wimp and tell you to go beat the crap out of whoever did it to you! Anyway, since when would you let someone hit you? I thought you were tough," Cassidy said smugly, poking him in the chest.
"I was speaking hypothetically, einstein," Butch replied jokingly, prodding her in return.
"Prove it," Cassidy said, she giggled and let fly a playful punch to his upper arm.
"Is that the best you can do?" Butch asked, laughing.
Cassidy scoffed and crossed her arms, but a smile was tugging at the corners of her lips. "I was going easy on you. Wouldn't want to give you a bruise, you big ba-" but she was cut off as Butch's arms wrapped around her, gentle but tight.
Together, they collapsed upon the bed. Cassidy's heart melted a little when her eyes met Butch's eyes, soft and calm as they always were. "You big baby," she finished, just as Butch's lips touched hers. She puckered her lips slightly and closed her eyes, kissing his lower lip and then pulling away ever so slightly, an inch between them. She opened her eyes, smiling as her gaze met his, ready to go in for another kiss…
Suddenly, Butch's lips were gone and in their place was a pillow, buffeting her. Butch was laughing. "This is war!"
Cassidy managed to wrench away the pillow from him and shoved him back down on the bed. "Two can play this game!" she giggled, sitting on his chest. She bent down and kissed him. She snaked her hands through his hair until they were at the base of his neck and, with a light touch, tapped the spot just below the hairline.
Butch jumped, laughing. "No, no stop!" he gasped, writhing his head this way and that to escape her ticklish touch.
"Say it," Cassidy smirked, her other hand now squeezing his side, his other ticklish spot.
Butch put up a fight for a mere few more seconds and then gave up. "Alright! You win, you win," he said between fits of laughter. The tickling stopped. Butch sat up and Cassidy slid into his lap, their faces inches from each other.
"I always win," Cassidy said, pleased with herself. Butch only nodded and then pulled her into another kiss.