(Ch 6)

(This chapter is a bit short and I know that's disappointing. But I figured short is better then nothing? Right?)

It had only been about a week since she fell asleep in the snow and her big secret came out. Well part of it anyway. Ever since Matt worked out that she was cold blooded he and Foggy would check the weather periodically throughout the day and if it started to get to cold Matt would insist that she either leave with Foggy or stay for the night. Two days ago he'd sent her home early so she could beat the cold front home. She'd argued against it but Murdock wouldn't hear it. She was sure that her job was to be his secretary but she was beginning to get the feeling that he thought his job was to take care of her. There was absolutely no reason for him to do that she told him as much but ever since they found her hibernating in the snow her 'I can take care of myself' argument didn't seem to hold much weight but it didn't stop her from trying.

One a morning following on of their infamous arguments Cassalie woke with migraine like nothing she'd ever experienced before. A groan escaped her as she tried to sit up. The movement was instantly reject by the throbbing pain behind her eyes. For a moment she conceded to lay there but as the minutes ticked by she was plagued with the knowledge that she would have to get up eventually or, god forbid, Matt might worry. She took a deep breath and counted to 10 in her head, bracing herself. Another groan sounded as she finally sat but that was as far as she got. Her head dropped into her hands as she sat cross legged on her bed. The poor girl had been prepared to sit there for a few more minutes while she braced herself, yet again, to stand but sudden wetness on her hands propelled her to the bathroom. At first she had though it to be tears, she'd never cried in her sleep before but it wasn't unheard of, but this didn't feel like tears.

The bathroom mirror confirmed her fears. Blood leaked slowly from behind her eyes. Her sounds of shock and fear bounced around the bathroom walls. For a moment she simply covered her mouth and stared at her reflection in the mirror before finally jumping into action. She quickly washed the blood from her face and went back to the mirror to get a better look. There was no visible damage. Here eyes were the same dark hazel they always were, no broken blood vessels or bruising around them. She began to panic in earnest. She couldn't go to the hospital. She's a medical anomaly. Passing as a mutant may have been a simple matter for a superficial routine, but this? They'd want to take blood and when she came up negative for the X-gene it would turn into a whole new set of tests. They'd ask questions she couldn't answer and she'd end up in every medical journal in the country. After a solid half hour of pacing in her bathroom and fighting of the overwhelming waves of nausea brought on by the fear, shock, and pain she realized the bleeding had stopped. There was still blood on her face but the flow had stopped, or at least slowed. With this realization she managed to get her breathing under control and her heart to stop pounding. Unfortunately the migraine was going nowhere.

Alright. She thought to herself. The bleeding stopped... so a handful of pain killers and I'll just... go to work. And pray that is didn't start up again.

Another half hour and a handful of whatever was in her medicine cabinet and the pain was still going strong. Maybe she could call in. Just this once. With the decision made Cassalie managed to stumble back out into her apartment and immediately regretted leaving her blinds open with the light streaming in from the sun and the reflection from the snow all but made her vomit where she stood. She scrambled over to her bed and used the nightstand to support herself as she tried to concentrate enough to dial the office number, all the while acutely aware of the jay outside pecking on the wood of the windowsill as if hoping to rouse a worm from it. Every impact of it's beak against the wood seemed loud enough to make her teeth rattle. Damn thing. It must have been warm enough for the birds to come out despite the snow on the ground.

After misdialing for a third time she cried out in frustration. "Would you shut up, you stupid bird!" She yelled, glaring at the little thing just as it looked up into the window and cocked it's head the way birds do. After that everything happened so quickly but it seemed like an eternity to her. The bird froze, standing unnaturally still as the feathers around it's eyes began to turn gray. Soon it's head and back and wings were gray. It spread to it's beak and it's tail, to the very tip of it's talons. It wasn't until the beady black of it's eyes finally turned the same dull color did she realize what had just happened. Just outside her window now stood a tiny stone bird that had once been a living hopping innocent bird that she had blamed for a problem it had not caused.

Slowly, cautiously, Cassalie moved closer to the window. Climbing up on her bed so she could reach the latch and slide it open. The wall of cold air the greeted her mad her head throb but she endured long enough to pick the little stone creature from the brick. She turned it over in her hands, frozen with it's little head cocked as if listening for something. It had no idea what was about to happen to it. Suddenly she dropped it had burned her and gave a small gasp. It fell to the mattress and bounced lightly once as she tripped over her own feet trying to get away from it. Her back hit the wall hard as she pressed herself into the corner created by the kitchen divider. She wouldn't get away from the prettified bird fast enough.

She huddled deep in that corner, breathing hard and near tears as she stared at the bed as if she expected the creature to suddenly rise and attack her. She'd just turned a bird to stone. She'd looked at it and it turned to stone. Or did it look at her? Had it even been her fault?

After what could have been minutes or hours of watching her bed she shot up and back into the bathroom like wolves were nipping at her ankles. Cassalie leaned heavily over the sink and stared hard into her own eyes, thinking maybe turning the Blue Jay to stone had something to do with her migraine and bleeding eye? But when she'd looked before nothing had changed. Would there even be a visible change? There was no rule anywhere that said gaining the ability to turn something to stone would alter the user in anyway. But there was a change. Now that she was this close and this intent she could see it, or maybe it just hadn't been there before, a ring of yellow creeping in from the corners of her irises. Barely there but she could see it now, bright and bleeding into her natural green-brown.

Again she was hyperventilating and one sharp turn away from emptying her stomach all over the floor. This isn't happening. She bargained. I did not turn a bird to stone and my eyes are not changing color. This is just some terrible migraine nightmare- She screamed out loud when the phone rang both from surprise and the fresh throbbing the harsh sound had incited.

Again Cassalie was stumbling to the phone but this time all she had to do with pick it up. "H-" She swallowed hard. "Hello?"

"Cassalie?" Matt's voice came through the other end. She could almost make out audible relief through the blood rushing in her ears. "Cassalie. It's almost noon, what are you doing?"

Noon? Shit. She was supposed to be at work hours ago. Though in her defense this morning events are a justifiable sick day. "I-I'm fine...I just." Another hard swallow and a glance at the frozen bird laying in the middle of her sheets. "I can't come in today."

There was silence on the other end and she knew Matt was working his blind man magic to determine whether or not she was lying about being okay. Not that he would need it. She couldn't even muster up enough fake composure to pretend she was fine. "Cassalie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just can't come in." She insisted, trying to fight back the panic in her voice. Not that it mattered, her boss picked up on it immediately.

"Are you in trouble? Do you need me to come get you?"

"NO!" She clamped her hand over her mouth. That did not sound convincing. "I mean... That's okay. You don't- Don't worry. Everything fine. I'm fine. I just can't come in today." She needed to stop talking. Everything she said was only going to give him that much more reason to come investigate because for whatever reason Matt Murdock had taken a personal and intense interest in her well being.

"Cas-"

"I'llseeyoulaterMrMurdock!" She said as she dropped the phone into the receiver.

"Did you get a hold of her or do we have to dig her out of another snow drift?" Foggy asked peering into Matt's office but he paused when he saw his simply holding the phone, brow furrowed, as the dial tone sounded at him from the speaker. "What's wrong?"

"She hung up on me." Matt muttered, letting the handset click back in place.

"What did you do?" He asked, figuring they'd argued again.

"Nothing." The blind man said, pulling his coat from the rack. "She sounded scared, I think she's in trouble." He pulled a breifcase from under his desk.

"Is that what I think it is?" Foggy asked, dismayed.

"Just in case." Matt answered pushing past his friend. "Now, are you going to drive me or do I have to take a cab?"

Foggy made a noise between a sigh and a whine as he followed his partner down the stairs.