Author note: I'm really sorry this has taken me so long to update, I have been struggling with Cassie, she keeps trying to go off and do things that don't really fit the story. I think I have her back on track now so keep reading. Thanks SC x
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, I'm just borrowing them to keep me entertained
Chapter 10 In which Cassie gets Ambushed
Cassie was exhausted and absolutely famished. She had been forced to avoid the Cafeteria at lunch because Tyler had spent the entire period watching the door for her. She had hit the vending machines in the dorm common room, and when she said 'hit the vending machines' she meant basically cleaned them out.
The problem was, with the amount she had been forced to tap into her gifts that day, it was still not enough. By the end of last period she was shaking, some sort of hypoglycemic reaction to the overuse, abuse really, of her gifts throughout the day.
Almost stumbling from the building Cassie made a beeline for the cafeteria, no longer caring if Tyler was lying in wait for her; as luck would have it the cafeteria was almost empty as she filled a tray with salad, a burger, fries and chocolate pudding with custard. When the Cashier gave her a look she shrugged, a mumbled "missed lunch" all the explanation she gave. Within minutes she had devoured everything on her tray, but was still hungry. Grabbing her bag she headed for her car and into town to grab some additional supplies before heading over to Pogue's apartment to walk him through making the poached pear tart.
In the drugstore Cassie grabbed bags of all the sweets and chips she could fit into her basket, before heading over to the bakery to pick up the supplies she had ordered for delivery. On the way to the bakery, something caught her eye in the window of the store next door. The shop itself was a small boutique the sort of place you'd not think a small town like Ipswich would have enough foot traffic for, however with the school and many of the underclassmen not having driving licenses yet it still managed to do a good trade.
The thing that had caught Cassie's attention was a gorgeous little dress in midnight blue with a silver belt that sat low on the hips. Not the sort of thing she had ever worn in public before but with everything that had been happening it seemed that remaining invisible was unlikely to be an option for much longer. She figured she might as well have a bit of fun while she still had the chance. So on a whim Cassie darted into the store and bought the dress and a matching pair of spike heeled boots, the combination, the sales girl assured her was 'hot'.
She stuffed her new purchases into her book bag as she collected the supplies from the stock room of the bakery. With a nod to her boss Cassie returned to her car, wolfing down a couple of bags of chips and a tootsie roll before pulling out of her parking space and making her way to Pogue's apartment.
She let herself into the building, knocking on his door while concentrating on keeping all the packages in her arms, so that when the door opened she jumped in shock almost dropping several of the parcels. Laughing Pogue caught the package before it fell to the floor, while opening the door wide to let her in.
"Hey Cass, got enough stuff there?" he asked while guiding her through the door. A brief thought occurred to him, if she was surprised by him answering the door then she was obviously not using her gifts at the moment, which should make things easier for all of them.
"Yeah, well your friends did decide that you had to make one of the more complex deserts on my list. I figure the more we get prepared in advance the less likely you'll be to screw it up on the day."
"Nice, tell me again why I put up with that kind of abuse from you?" Pogue responded with a wry grin.
Throwing a grin over her shoulder Cassie made her way into the kitchen, swinging her hips as she went. "You put up with me because you have no choice, right now you need me, either that or you'll be feeding Kate ice cream from Ben and Jerry for desert."
"Hey, that's not such a bad idea, I think I even have some in the freezer here" Pogue said opening the door and pulling out a mostly full carton.
Cassie fell on the desert, producing a spoon from out of nowhere. "Oh God I am soo hungry, how did you know chunky monkey was my favourite?"
Laughing Pogue lent back against the counter. "I didn't, that's Kate's tub, I always keep some on hand for emergencies. That way if I do something wrong the ice cream king's can fix it"
"muumm, it's mmu, good plan" Cassie's voice was muffled from the large spoonful of ice cream she had just shovelled in. "Oh I'm sorry, did you want some?" she asked offering him the now mostly empty tub.
Pogue held up his hands in surrender, "No, you go ahead, it looks like you were in dire need"
"Yeah, I missed lunch" Cassie responded pulling herself up onto the counter, barely pausing in her ice cream consumption. "I never realised how hard it is to concentrate on Mr Matherson's lectures when all you want to do is run down to the front and steal the bag of chips"
Putting on a fake solemn expression Pogue couldn't help but retort, "I understand completely, I mean what kind of teacher can't give a lesson without eating, like two bags of chips?"
Grinning Cassie licked the spoon clean, tossing it into the sink before jumping off the counter and stowing the remaining creamy goodness back in the freezer.
"Well shall we get started?" She asked "I've had a crappy few day's, and right now the idea of baking that poached pear tart combined with all that yummy ice cream makes me think things might just be looking up."
Cassie began to move around the kitchen pulling pans, chopping boards and other equipment from the shelves and cupboards while Pogue unpacked the bags she had brought with her, consulted the recipe and began pulling the remaining ingredients out of the fridge and cupboards.
Working together they began to prepare the pears for poaching, Cassie peeled one explaining as she went, turning the knife over to Pogue watching and guiding him through several pears until he had produced a couple to her satisfaction. Next they combined the wine and other ingredients in a pan, before adding the pears and setting them to poach.
Together they worked through the rest of the recipe Cassie standing back and coaching where needed until they were interrupted by the front door opening.
"Hey Pogue man, you here?" It was Caleb. At his voice Cassie froze the spoon she had been holding clattering to the surface. In that instant she reached out with her new gifts, it wasn't just Caleb they were all here. All the colour drained from her face as she turned to look at Pogue, betrayal evident in her eyes.
"You told them?"
"He didn't, not really" Said a new voice from behind Cassie. Spinning to face the door Cassie felt her pulse quicken, and not just in fear as she lifted her head to meet those crystal blue eyes.
"Tyler"
It was one word whispered on an outward hiss of a breath. One word, one thought, and inside she crumbled. The inner turmoil didn't show however as Cassie straightened her spine, firming her resolve she pushed past him and into the living room. The door out of the apartment was blocked Reid leaning against it with a smug smirk on his face,
"Going somewhere sweetness?" He asked his gaze running up and down her body in a silent assessment.
Growling Cassie whirled on Tyler, stalking forward "What have you done?" she demanded fire in her eyes.
Tyler's only response was to shift his eyes from her face to the other person in the room, taking his cue from Tyler, Caleb stepped forward holding up one hand with a wry smile. "I think, that might have been my fault"
Turning Cassie scowled at him. "I think you better explain yourself Mr Danvers, and fast my week started off bad and has continued downhill and this situation is not helping any" she bit out, running a hand over her hair, twisting the escaped sections back into the bun at the nape of her neck.
Caleb stepped forward, a wry smile twisting his features "It was weeks, I didn't think you'd come back. I wanted to thank you, then the other week I saw you in the hall, but just for a moment, then you disappeared"
As Caleb stepped forward a small smile began to develop on Cassie's face, all others in the room forgotten.
"You did it, you stopped it, on your own? Was it like I saw? What was it? Who was it?"
"It was exactly like you said it'd be, and thanks to you I now have someone in my life who trusts me and loves me, all of me" While he had been speaking Caleb had moved around the couch and was now standing directly in front of her.
"How can I ever thank you?" Cassie had a grin spread across her face as she placed a hand, palm flat against his chest.
"You already have, it was all worth it."
"Yeah, that's what I don't get" Caleb responded taking her hand and cupping it between his two much larger ones.
"What risk? Tyler mentioned your brother saying something about a mental asylum, and now you say helping me was worth the risk. I think you've some explaining to do, don't you?"
At the mention of Tyler, Cassie visibly stiffened. She tried unsuccessfully to pull her hands from Caleb's grasp but he held firm.
"Tell us, maybe we can help, trust us like I trusted you."
Cassie stood with her head drooping, like a flower on a broken stem. No one moved, no one spoke for what seemed like an age, the silence was interrupted by the ring of a phone, without looking up Cassie fumbled through her bag and with a shaking breath answered the phone;
"'lo"
"Cass, What's wrong, are you ok, I'm on my way, what happened, you have to tell me what's wrong, look just hold on"
"Lex?"
"What is it Cass, come on you can tell me" the voice on the end of the line moved from terror to cajoling, trying to soothe.
"It's them, they figured it out, they found me."
A muttered curse and then, "Ok, just stay there, keep calm, don't say anything I'll be there as soon as I can." With that the line went dead.
Taking a deep breath Cassie turned facing the room at large, "I'll talk, but we have to wait, this is not just my story to tell. Lex is on his way, we can talk then."
Pogue stood with arms folded leaning against the couch, at in response to Cassie's statement he tilted his chin, "Who's Lex?"
"My Brother"
"The Guy from the bar at the weekend?" This was Tyler and without looking at him Cassie nodded before moving to the couch and folding in on herself, tucking her chin onto her knees and closing her eyes.
The Son's looked at each other all realising that nothing more was going to be said until this 'Lex' arrived Pogue slid down the wall until he was sitting resting his arms on his bent knees, Caleb sank onto the couch beside Cassie with a sigh. Glancing at his brothers Tyler shook his head and began to pace, he wanted to understand, now. But one glance at the girl curled up on the sofa gently rocking with her eyes closed told him now was not the time to push.
Reid had barely moved from his position at the door, taking a deep breath he prepared to copy Pogue, until he caught the smells floating through the apartment. In an instant he was across the room barging into the kitchen hooting with joy as he spotted the freshly made desert sitting on the side, the glaze still in the pan where it had be left forgotten.
Smiling to himself Reid grabbed a spoon and the pie and headed into the main room with his prize.
With a satisfied sigh he dropped into the armchair and began to tuck in. It wasn't until his first moan of appreciation that anyone took any notice, looking up Pogue all but shouted, "hey, that's my pie!"
Of course this drew the attention of the other boys in the room and before long they were all huddled round the pie dish devouring it with the speed only teenage boys can manage.
With a sigh the boy's sat back satisfied smiles on their faces.
"Man, that was good" Reid said patting his stomach.
At that point Cassie looked up, "You know that wasn't finished right?"
"It gets better than this?" Reid asked with a gesture at the empty dish.
"Course it does man, she makes stuff for the bakery in town. The best deserts in the state!"
"Really?" Both Tyler and Caleb turned to look at Cassie who just nodded her head once in confirmation.
Any further cross questioning about Cassie's ability to bake goodies was stalled by a knock at the door.
Everyone froze until a second knock and a familiar voice had Cassie on her feet moving to open the door.
"Hello, Cass, are you in there?"
The door was flung open just as Cassie reached it and a tall dark haired guy strode purposefully in, his eyes quickly scanned the room taking in each of the Son's and their startled positions before landing on Cassie. With one stride he was across the room scooping her up into a deep embrace.
The Son's all stood silently and watched as Cassie sobbed into this man's shoulder. After a short while, in which Cassie seemed to have calmed somewhat, Caleb cleared his throat. Stepping forward he extended his hand to the man.
"You must be Lex, I'm Caleb Danvers. Look I understand something has happened but I really don't know what and if you could just expla.."
Caleb trailed off at the look that was turned on him. Lex shifted Cassie to one side, further from the four boys in the room. He considered each of them in turn, carefully measuring them before focusing on Caleb. Lex looked him in the eye, then glanced down at the extended hand. The tense silence stretched on before Lex once again met Caleb's eyes and took his hand, in a grip that was perhaps a little too rough to be completely friendly.
"Lex, so these are the Son's of Ipswich, I must say from what I've heard on the grapevine I was expecting something a little more..intimidating I guess.
Reid and Pogue visibly bristled at the comment but a glance from Caleb silenced any comeback they might have made.
Taking a deep breath Caleb spoke again "Look, we don't want to cause any problems, actually we would like to help if we can. A few months ago Cassie told me about her 'gift' and with her help I was able to protect my family, and if she is to be believed many others too. Right after that she just upped and disappeared." As he spoke, telling the story all eyes in the room were drawn to him, when Cassie finally moved her head against Lex's shoulder to meet his eyes Caleb continued
"Then you just disappeared, poof. Until last weekend, when you met Tyler." At this point Lex's eyes flicked to the younger boy standing tense on the other side of the couch, throughout the entire narrative Tyler had not looked away from Cassie.
Caleb continued as if nothing had changed Cassie slowly lifted her eyes to meet Tyler's and once their eyes met neither one of them could look away. The conversation moved on around them as Cassie felt herself drawn into those deep eyes of his, all at once she was there, inside his mind again, only this time she was pretty sure he had invited her in himself.
Cassie was instantly hit by wave after wave of emotion, he must be a pretty good actor as none of what was going through his mind seemed to show on his face. Predominant among the emotions were fear and concern, strangely both of which seemed to be directed mostly at her.
Tyler for his part had been hoping to get a chance to speak to Cassie all day, to try and let her know how much he really cared, standing there wrapped in her brother's arms she looked so fragile he wanted nothing more than to go to her and protect her but all he could do was gaze at her with longing, wishing there were some way to make her understand. Then she had looked up, had met his gaze and he felt it, on some level he recognised the feeling as familiar but on a conscious level he recognised Her, Cassie. Somehow she was with him, but still all the way across the room. With that realisation he began to see more, to see Cassie as she truly was, and it saddened him to realise just how different she really was, just how controlled she was in her everyday existence.
As Cassie's life was being shared with Tyler she was seeing him, the real Tyler, not Reid's partner in crime, not the championship swimmer, the quiet student, the obedient son, but Tyler the boy and the outline of the man he would one day become. As the shared their secrets, their past's, their very essence with each other around them the room finally fell silent, Caleb's narrative, of what they knew and his demands for an explanation fading away as the remaining occupants of the room finally noticed what was happening, or at least that something was happening between Tyler and Cassie.
Alexis reacted first, involuntarily tightening his grip on his baby sister, while Reid, true to form launched an empty soda can at his best friends head. The resultant spray of soda, from the not so empty can had everyone flinching away with yelps of displeasure. Effectively breaking both the staring contest and defusing the mounting tension in the room.
Cassie pulled herself away from her brother for the first time since his arrival, growling in displeasure at Reid, she seemed to have caught the worst of it and was now frantically pulling a very wet shirt away from her body. Casting an appealing look to Pogue who just motioned to a door on the right of the room Cassie scooped up her bag and entered the bathroom.
Minutes later she emerged to find that her brother seemed to have bonded somewhat with the others over punishing Reid for their impromptu shower. From the look on Reid's face as he hung suspended upside down from the light fitting he was less that pleased with the new turn of events, although his eye's lit up when they were able to focus on the large expanse of leg currently on display, Cassie soaked through had been forced to put on the only clothes she had available, her new, very short mini-dress.
What Reid did next was quite possibly the stupidest thing he could have given his current predicament, but when has something like that ever gotten in the way of a Garwin? He let out a long, loud wolf whistle, his eyes continuing to scan Cassie, from the bottom up. "Phew, Sweetness, where have you been hiding all my life"
At this Cassie stopped, crossing her arms and quirking one eyebrow at him one finger raised in a signal to wait.
"Oh, come on now don't stop walking yet, just a couple more steps…"
At this Cassie shook her head a smirk crossing her face, "Oh now you've done it, I was going to try and save you, but that last comment put's you even beyond my help."
"Wha??" Reid tilted his head to the side, the image might have passed as cute, had he not been hanging from his ankles.
Cassie's only response was to twitch her finger in a circular motion. The result of which had Reid turning on the invisible rope that held him until he came Face to Calf with one Very pissed off older bother and an almost as angry best friend…
"Uh, guy's look…I uh, didn't really mean anything by it, it was just harmless fun I mean, she's hot.." Reid's voice trailed off as he realised that he was not helping his case any, " Caleb man you gotta help me"
"Why Reid, because we're brothers? Tyler's your brother too and he seems quite willing to pound your face in, in fact he may even be more keep than Cassie's older, stronger, more muscled brother here" Caleb responded gesturing with his hands before folding them across his chest, taking a defiant pose with feet set wide apart.
With his back to Cassie Reid failed to see her fighting with all her might to suppress the giggles that were desperately trying to escape, but after a minute where everyone else stayed just looked on, mostly fighting to hide their own amusement, Cassie regained control, flopping onto the couch she freed Reid with a quick flick of her wrist he landed with an oomph in a heap on the floor.
"Ok Gentlemen let's step it down a gear shall we," at the looks from everyone around her Cassie grinned raising one hand palm upward in a shrug
"What, you thought all I could do was see the future, can you only throw those big electricity ball thingies?"
The four Sons of Ipswich shared glances before settling themselves in to hear the full story.