AN: This chapter is two months later as I needed the time to pass for something big that's going to happen soon. So I wrote a little summary about what's been going on for Cassidy, before I put any dialogue. Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed. By the way, thanks for the reviews so far, people! ^_^
Cassidy peered out of the dorm-room window, deep in thought. It was only five pm, but being late October, it was already dark out. Breathing out gently, Cassidy saw her breath cause a little mist on the window in front of her. She was waiting for Butch to come back from having a cigarette, then they had to go out in this freezing cold for a mission that had recently been assigned.
The past two months had flown by surprisingly fast, in Cassidy's opinion anyway. Nothing much had changed or happened, Giovanni had left her alone, and the one time he did call her to his office it was with Butch and work related. Cassidy wasn't sure whether he'd maybe found a new female Rocket to abuse. Maybe he didn't want her anymore. But there was no way she could be too sure. She still remained wary, and she still shuddered at the memories of the things he had done to her. Over the past few months, things had been pretty perfect between herself and Butch, too. There were barely any arguments, even Cassidy had been being sweet...up until most recently, she couldn't quite figure out why, but just lately she hadn't been able to stop herself from coming out with mean remarks- "Leave me alone for once!" or "Shut the hell up, raspy." or "Get out of my face." -for no real reason at all.
Maybe it was because there was a problem playing on her mind. Something she didn't even want to acknowledge, although she knew she would have to at some point. It wasn't going to go away, not if it was what she thought it was. Yet she convinced herself it was nothing to worry about. She couldn't help but worry though, not when she was lying in bed at night wide awake, the same thoughts circling her mind over and over and over...
"Ugh, man, it's freezing out there."
Cassidy snapped out of her thoughts and turned around from looking out the window when she heard Butch's voice and the door closing. "So I see," she said, Butch's nose and cheeks were, cutely, a little red from the cold. "Ugh, the boss is a jerk for sending us out to work in this weather. I wish we didn't have to go."
"You and me both, babe. But we gotta, so we may as well suck it up," Butch replied, hovering by the door and waiting for Cassidy to move away from the window. "C'mon, it won't take long."
Cassidy sighed wearily. He was right, it probably wouldn't take long. All they had to do was break into a Pokemon collectors house in a forest and take their Espeon. But still, Cassidy had been tired all day. "Ok. Let's get going."
It had been ten minutes since Cassidy and Butch started walking through the forest, branches and leaves crackling under their feet. If they were to look back they would see no visible light, it was so dark in the forest that it was indiscernible where the trees ended in the sky and where the sky itself began. Completely black. The air was icy cold, so cold that they could see their breath in front of their faces as they breathed out.
Cassidy wrapped her arms around herself tightly. "It's so cold," she uttered. "Wheres the map? I've got a feeling we took a wrong turn around... five minutes ago."
"What?" Butch groaned, "Why didn't you mention it at the time?"
Cassidy shrugged, kicking the leaves in front of her. "Because, I wasn't sure. Where's the map?"
"I uh, forgot to bring it," Butch mumbled.
Cassidy frowned and gave him a shove, even though it was partly her responsibility to bring a map too. "Who forgets to bring a map to a dark forest at night, moron?"
"Both of us, obviously," Butch replied wearily. Despite the fact that she was insulting his intelligence and quite frankly being a bitch, he chose not to get angry at her. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to it now. Her most recent mood swings never ceased to amaze him, today had been one of her worse days.
"No, you. God, why are you so dumb?"
"Gee, I dunno. Probably because the stress of being your partner causes loss of brain cells," Butch said with a smirk, proud of his own comeback. It only resulted in a sharp slap on the arm from Cassidy- which hurt all the more because of the cold. They walked in silence for another few minutes, then a soft sigh escaped Cassidy's lips, and despite insulting him just a moment ago, she snugly linked her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked.
A little further and they could faintly see a vague yellow glow in the distance. As they got closer it appeared to be the house the were to break into. A fairly small, homely looking cottage with a black slate roof and a smoking chimney, along with the glow of artificial light filtering through the closed, flowery curtains. It looked very appealing and cosy compared to the ice cold forest with only the smell of damp leaves instead of a warm fire. Cassidy unlinked her arm from Butch's and crossed both arms across her chest again. "We'll go round the back, climb in through a window," she decided.
"You don't say. I thought it'd be better if we knocked on the door and asked for permission to rob them," Butch replied sarcastically. Cassidy rolled her eyes and muttered something just as sarcastic about him under her breath. They made their way around the back of the house, treading carefully in the dark. The back window didn't have closed curtains, nor was the light, of the room it led to, on. It was an old, double hung window and Cassidy was able to slide it up from outside. Just perfect for break-ins.
She opened it as carefully as possible so it didn't make a sound. As soon as she stuck her head through she could smell warmth, home cooking and fresh laundry. "I'd kill for a lie down on that bed over there," she said wistfully, faintly making out a double bed at the far end of the room.
"Tough break. You want me to give you a leg up?"
Cassidy turned back to him with a smirk, though it was too dark for him too see her expression. "Well, I think that's best, I'm certainly not giving you one, you fat lummox, I'd probably break my back," she scoffed as he helped her up.
"Hey, you," Butch scowled, "I'm not fat, I'm in perfect shape thank you very much."
"Whatever," Cassidy grunted distractedly as she got one leg through the window.
"Whaddaya mean 'whatever'?"
Cassidy turned her head to glare at him. "Keep your stupid voice down!" she hissed.
"You're the one who's talking!"
"You're talking right now!"
"I'm replying to you, stop talking and then I will!"
"Why should I? You started it."
"Oh for-... Make sure you're careful going through that window, wouldn't want you to slip and hurt yourself," he said sneeringly, before shoving her from behind through the window a little too vigorously, though he only realized he'd been a tad too rough when she tumbled through and fell down on the other side with a thump.
"Whoops..."
There was a long pause.
"Ouch!" Cassidy finally hissed, rubbing her head where she had bumped it. It felt good to be indoors, especially when it was so warm and nice smelling. But she was furious at Butch, who poked his head through the window to see if she was ok, though he knew what was coming.
"You ok?" he asked.
"You fucking jerk!" Cassidy snapped, looking up at him. "How dare you push me, I'm gonna do ten times worse to you now!" she hauled herself up from the wooden floor furiously, only to immediately gasp and fall back down again as she felt a throbbing pain in her ankle. She grimaced in agony.
Seeing that she was actually hurt, Butch felt a pang of guilt, despite what she had just said. "Aw man, I'm sorry, Cass. Are you ok?" he said gently, climbing through the window himself with a successful landing, unlike his partner, who was gritting her teeth to tunnel the pain away. He crouched down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, which she slapped away.
"I'm fine. Don't touch me," Cassidy snapped as she pushed him away, attempting to stand again, a little more carefully this time. But once again, pain shot through her ankle and she ended up in a heap on the floor again, burying her head in crossed arms. "I think my ankle's sprained."
"I didn't mean for you to get hurt," Butch said sheepishly, daring to re-put his hand on her shoulder. "We're in the middle of a break-in though, so d'ya think you could maybe get up?"
Cassidy glared at him, her upper lip curling. He clearly didn't give a damn that he'd just shoved her through the window and caused her to hurt herself. All he cared about was the job. Insensitive sprung to mind. "You insensitive, heartless-..." she paused. "I hate you."
Butch blinked, and swallowed. He'd become used to Cassidy's moods over the past few weeks, but saying she hated him? Now she'd gone too far. He knew she didn't mean it, she was just annoyed with him because it was his fault she fell through the window. He shouldn't have been so rough. It still hurt his feelings though, horribly. "Hey now, there's no need for that."
"I mean it. Leave me alone."
Butch removed his hand from her shoulder as if she was burning hot. "Fine. If that's what you want. I'll leave you alone, when we get back to HQ. But like I said, we're in the middle of a break-in right now. You can't stay down there."
"Help me up then, jeez, you should have helped me the moment you knew I was hurt, but instead, you smirk and make stupid r-"
Cassidy cut off when there was the sound of a door creaking open, a click of a light switch. The previously dark room was flooded in sudden lightness, and there was a middle aged woman standing by the door, looking worriedly confused at the two people on the floor, who were both looking dumbfounded and staring back at her as there really was no other option. The woman's gaze turned to horror when she saw the red R's on their fronts. She took a step back, her eyebrows knotted together.
"I'll call the police!" she blurted out shakily.
Butch and Cassidy glanced at each other worriedly, but Cassidy's expression soon changed to a sneer and she turned away, leaving Butch to make up an excuse. Which, wouldn't be easy. In any other situation the pair of them would be either out of the window in a flash of light and running back to the van, or, using violence and threats to stop the police being called. But Cassidy couldn't stand, and she was clearly still in pain, so neither was an option.
"Please don't," Butch mumbled, not knowing what else to say. This was pretty embarrassing for him, he would much rather have put up a fight. But without Cassidy standing right by his side, he didn't seem able to.
Cassidy felt her heart thud. It suddenly occurred to her that if the police were called, she and Butch would be put in jail, then the boss would either bail them out or leave them there. If he bailed them out...
"I'm going to get my husband! D-don't you dare move!" the woman said shakily, obviously thinking that the two Rockets were armed.
"Couldn't if I tried," Cassidy muttered as the woman backed out of the room. "I hope you're happy, Butch. You've really messed up this time."
"Feel free to make me feel worse than I already do."
"I'm glad you feel bad, you should be ashamed of yourself," Cassidy said, speaking the words as if she took great pleasure in saying them.
A few seconds later and the woman was back, with her husband, who didn't look particularly threatening, but had a stern look on his face. Cassidy and Butch looked at the man nervously, knowing they were in big trouble whatever they said or did. "Well, well. If it isn't Team Rocket," the man said, a glint in his eyes. "It's been years since I've seen one of those big trademark red R's."
Butch and Cassidy stayed completely silent and tense.
"Shouldn't you be running away? Or pulling out guns?" the man continued curiously.
"We're not armed," Butch mumbled, "And uh, she can't walk, she sprained her ankle."
"All thanks to you," Cassidy added bitterly.
The man shook his head at them, chuckling, his wife, Julie, still by his side looking a little less frightened knowing the thieves weren't armed. "I was never this incompetent when I was a Team Rocket field agent."
Butch and Cassidy stared at him, both surprised that this middle aged, kind looking man could have ever been an agent like them. "We're not incompetent," Cassidy snapped, "Well, I'm not. But as for raspy here..." she shot her partner a glare. He looked down embarassedly.
"We should still call the police, John. They're crooks,"Julie muttered. John looked at her.
"I was one of them once," he said quietly, before turning back to Butch and Cassidy. "I'll let you two off the hook."
"Oh, thanks, we appreciate that," Butch replied, he meant it, but couldn't help sounding a little offhanded. Team Rocket were the ones supposed to be in control, not the victims.
"I can't walk," Cassidy murmured out of the side of her mouth. She couldn't stand up, let alone walk all the way through the forest back to the van.
"I'll have to carry you," Butch said wearily.
"I don't want you to," Cassidy hissed.
Julie sighed. "Oh, goodness, if it's really that bad you can come and sit in the lounge for a while, and we'll put some ice on it," she said, albeit a little grudgingly.
Both Butch and Cassidy were surprised, but relieved, that these people were kind enough to help. They followed the older couple through to the lounge, Butch had his arm around Cassidy, even though she sneered at him. The lounge was pleasantly warm and smelt like homemade bread, there was a large hearth at the front with a roaring orange fire, and there were patterned rugs and quilts scattered around to cosy the place up. Julie explained she used to be a nurse as she helped Cassidy get comfortable on the crotcheted-blanket covered couch, with a footstool in front for her leg to rest on, then she went to fetch an ice pack to put on the sore ankle. John looked over at the two rockets sat stiffly on the couch opposite him and raised an eyebrow.
"So, which one of my Pokemon were you planning on stealing, hm?" he asked.
"Your Espeon," Cassidy replied, straight away, as if she felt no guilt whatsoever.
"It's nothing personal, it's just business," Butch added quickly.
John nodded. "Well, if anything, I should know. I used to be one of Giovanni's top agents, retired a few years ago," he explained casually, warming his hands by the fire.
"What rank were you? We're A class," Cassidy said proudly.
"So was I. I used to be Giovanni's very favorite agent, I was so skilled, then again, so were most agents in those days. The organizations a little different now, isn't it?"
"How'd you mean?"
"Well, it used to be a lot more furtive, few people knew about it, therefore it worked better. But now, it's all over the media when there's a Team Rocket robbery. And I'm sure I heard that Giovanni has a shortage of agents because he can't afford to hire new ones due to debt."
"He doesn't need new ones. He has plenty of good agents like me and Cass," Butch said defensively. Being an agent, it was Rocket nature to stick up for Giovanni if anyone ever said anything against him. "Gio' knows what he's doing. He's a great leader."
Cassidy sneered. Would Butch be so defensive over Giovanni if he knew what he was really like? "Shut up, Botch. Stop trying to be such a know it all."
Butch had just about had enough at this point. He looked at her and frowned. "Stop being rude."
Cassidy just snorted, and mocked him in an overly raspy voice.
John watched amusedly. "You know, I always used to get along perfectly with my old partner. We had the closest bond, never argued once," he sighed happily at old memories, then smiled at Cassidy and Butch, who now had a huge gap between them because Butch had moved right to the edge of the sofa away from Cassidy. "I take it you two aren't like that?"
"We're okay," Cassidy smiled, to Butch's surprise. "We just have a love-hate relationship."
"Yeah. I love her, she hates me," Butch said miserably. Cassidy looked at him, her head cocked to one side, she reached over and gave him a gentle shove.
"I only hate you when you push me through windows and make me sprain my ankle," she corrected him, " I love ya really, numskull. You're just a little too slow to grasp that, aren't you?" she smirked and nudged him playfully. "Just kidding, froggy."
Butch smiled and nudged her back, despite the continuous name calling. "Alrighty then, blondie."
Julie came back into the room with an ice pack for Cassidy, who smiled gratefully as she was handed the cold ice pack. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Julie said with a sigh, sitting down. "All you need to do is rest it plenty, perhaps see a doctor to check how bad a sprain it is."
"I'll be fine," Cassidy insisted fiercely, she hated even the slightest amount of sympathy, unless it was from Butch. "It doesn't even hurt that bad anymore, give it ten minutes and we'll leave."
"You do know sprained ankles can take up to a week to heal...?" John pointed out.
Cassidy looked at Butch. "You can carry me back to HQ."
"Nah, we're not walking back. I'll go get the van now, then I'll come back and pick you up," Butch replied, standing up and putting his hands in his pockets. He looked over at John and Julie and smiled. "Uh, thanks for your help, and we're sorry for breaking in. It's just our job, y'know?"
"I understand," John said, nodding.
"Mind if I use the bathroom before I go?"
"Of course, it's straight up stairs, first door on the left."
Butch was gone for a good half hour. Cassidy was happy to relax in the cosy lounge by the fire while he was gone chatted with John and Julie , filling them in on what life at Team Rocket was like as they appeared interested. They also seemed genuinely kind people and were glad to help despite the fact that Butch and Cassidy would have stolen their Espeon without a doubt if it wasn't for Cassidy's sprained ankle. Julie even offered Cassidy a drink and some homemade bread with peanut butter, then she explained about the Pokemon she and John collected and cared for, it turned into a strict lecture about how stealing Pokemon was wrong, luckily Cassidy took it lightly and smiled. "Each to their own."
Although Cassidy was perfectly comfortable and actually quite enjoying herself, there was a little voice inside her, warning her that Giovanni wasn't going to be happy about the mission being aborted. In fact, he'd be fuming. She could picture the scenario, just her and him would be alone in his office, no escape, he could do what ever he wanted to her and there would be nothing she could do about it. Half of her didn't even want to go back to HQ. She just wanted to stay in this warm house, talking to these kind people, wait for her ankle to heal, no worries. But that wasn't an option.
Butch was back within the hour. He and Cassidy both thanked the old couple gratefully and Butch even promised that they wouldn't try stealing from them ever again. John and Julie said goodbye and told Cassidy to have plenty of rest for her ankle. Butch helped Cassidy outside, which was icy cold, and then helped her into the passenger seat of the van.
Cassidy switched the heater on in the van as they drove out of the dark forest, the headlights flooding the area ahead with two shafts of light. She leaned her head back on the headrest and sighed. "Well, that mission went well," she said sarcastically. "The boss is going to kill us."
"Not quite," Butch smirked, keeping his eye on the road.
"He will, he's going to be absolutely furious. We just can't do anything right anymore, can we? I mean, technically, you can't do anything right, but we both-"
"We didn't fail," Butch interrupted.
Cassidy stared at him. "Yes, we did. We didn't steal the Espeon, therefore we have failed," she said slowly. "Un-der-stand, dummy?"
"Ahh, but I'm not a dummy, you see," Butch said with a hint of mischievousness, "Y'know before, when I went to the bathroom?"
"Yeah?"
"I didn't really go to the bathroom. I went and found their Espeon, got it in a Pokeball, and those old fools were none the wiser," he grinned proudly.
Cassidy's mouth formed a smile. They hadn't failed, Giovanni wasn't going to hurt her, this time. "You really do have an evil streak, don't you?" she chuckled, feeling relieved that she was safe from Giovanni's clutches, proud that Butch had done something wrong right, and also a little guilty for the poor old couple that had been so kind and helpful.
"Well, I wasn't gonna let us fail another mission. I'd feel bad if the boss blamed us both, because it was fully my fault we got caught. I shouldn't have pushed you through the window. I feel like a jerk for hurting you, Cass," Butch said sheepishly.
"It was an accident," Cassidy said reassuringly, she felt like a jerk for saying she hated him. "Although, you'd better be extra nice to me and look after me while my ankle's healing. Seriously, I want to be treated like a princess," she smirked.
Butch snorted. "I already treat you like a princess! But alright, I'll be 'extra nice' to you, meaning I won't push you through any more windows."
Cassidy rolled her eyes. "Thanks, you're too kind..." she said sarcastically. But she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you."