AN:Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Much appreciated!
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Happiness Is Not a Smoking Gun -5- Cat Got Your Tongue?
She whipped her head around at the sound of her name. Barely freeing Nick from the chargers hold, she had still been in the middle of checking his back.
"Coach, help him out," she instructed before taking off in a wild sprint towards Ellis' cry for help.
Slicing through the oncoming horde, Sophie practically leapt into the gun store, looking frantically around for Ellis. She spotted him further back, cradling a purple-faced Cas. Panicking only momentarily, she collected herself and fell to her knees in-front of the duo.
"What happened?" she hastily asked Ellis.
"She—she—I ran in an' a smoker had 'er!" Sophie cut him off, making very quick checks of Cas' vitals. When she reached the girls neck, a look of sheer panic broke out onto her face. A sheen of cold sweat collected on the back of her neck and she shoved Ellis away.
"Hey!" he protested.
Sophie knew what this was. She has only ever seen it once before…by accident. Forcing her friend's mouth open she glanced in, confirming that in the shock of the event, the pregnant lady had swallowed her tongue. It was common enough and easy to fix—if only Cas would stop struggling and stay conscious for just a little longer.
The blonde shoved her fingers into the other girl's mouth, grabbing the slimy muscle and dragging it out of her windpipe. In the process Cas chomped down on the medics hand, causing her to let go of it. Ignoring the pain, Sophie grabbed the girls tongue again and successfully dragged it out of her trachea.
Cas sat up, sputtering, coughing, and gasping for air. Her face lightened from purple to red to pink—unable to go any further because of the violent coughing fit. Shooting up and running to the back, Sophie turned off the alarm by pulling out the wires, causing a minor burn on her already bitten hand.
This day couldn't get any better.
Running back into the room she left Cas and Ellis in, she could spot Coach and Nick picking off the last of the swarm. She kneeled by Cas' side, getting her friend to look at her.
"You okay?" she asked.
Cas nodded, not trusting her voice just yet. She had only managed to get back to breathing, still coughing once in a while.
Sophie nodded back, her concern showing clearly in her eyes. She patted Ellis' shoulder in a silent order to keep an eye on the girl. She made her way over to Coach, who insisted he was fine until the next safe house, which led her to Nick.
She didn't like to admit how attached she was to the conman. Even though they were married (sort of), both of them still had the tendency to act like what they had was a fling. She didn't like to admit that she truly cared for and deeply loved a man (let alone a man who was just as strange as her). So when she approached him, it surprised them both when she grabbed him in a tight hug and started tearing up.
"Woah, woah, hey there," he shifted awkwardly in the embrace to hug her back. "It's alright. It's over; we're safe."
He was trying hard not to admit the same thing.
She sniffled, burying her face into his chest, "I—I just—I was so scared. And you were dragged off like that—and Cas! She almost died."
The entire group stiffened at the small girl's hysterics. Even Cas hadn't had the previous displeasure of seeing her friend this upset. The stress just went straight to her head and exploded.
Quickly realizing she had an audience; Sophie pulled away from her husband and furiously wiped her eyes.
"I'm okay," she said.
"You sure?" Cas croaked out.
Letting out a relieved giggle while still wiping her eyes, she nodded.
"I should be asking you that." She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Come on then. Let's get the ammo we worked so hard for and get to the hospital…or at least a clinic of some sort. We need to check out Cas and I need to bandage my hand."
Thankfully, they found a safe, enclosed section in the first floor of the hospital. Tonight they would at least have at least gurneys to sleep on. Sophie made her rounds with a small help from Cas (she wouldn't let her move around much due to "recent trauma"). Sitting on a gurney with a roll of gauze and an antiseptic beside her, she pathetically tried to wrap her hand.
Nick found her fumbling with the roll, cursing in whispers, and throwing miniature fits. He chuckled and sauntered forward, grabbing the gauze and gently taking her hand. She quieted her fussing and allowed him to wrap it.
It was sloppy, she wanted to say, but it was a lot better than how she would have done it. She looked up at him with thanks, keeping eye contact.
"Um," she started, dropping the stare and moving it to the floor. "I wanted to say something."
The conman shifted. He braced himself, anticipating the worst.
"I, uh, know we've technically been married for, what, four months now? I just noticed that we, uh, haven't—I haven't…"
His eyebrows furrowed as her face contorted.
"I wanted to say that I love you."
He was silent, so she stayed silent. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for him to laugh at her. Damn, she thought, she was still so young. He was older, more experienced, had an ex-wife. If he could leave one woman so easily, what was to say that she was any different?
"That's it?" he finally said.
Scrunching her eyebrows together, her head shot up so she could look at him. "What do you mean, 'that's it'? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to say that out loud? Jerk."
He laughed, stepping right up to the gurney and pulling her into a hug. "I didn't think it needed to be said," he explained coolly, "I thought you would just know." He captured her eyes with his own. "I knew. I knew all along."
"Oh," she mumbled.
He took her hand in his, wedding bands side by side in the dull light.
Ellis was cradling Cas to him like he would never let her go. After the scare today, he was shocked to find the baby didn't suffer any damages. He was relieved when he found out that Cas would be okay and recover fully.
From behind her, he buried his face into her shoulder and squeezed out a few happy, relieved tears. Cas could feel the dampness and tightened her hold.
"It's not your fault," she cooed.
"I should've been there," he whispered back.
"You got jumped. I should have been there for you."
Argument building in his throat, he was cut off before he could counter.
"Ellis, it's okay—I'm okay. Soph' said I was going to be fine, so I'll be fine. You're fine and our…son is alright too. You don't have to be sorry," she reasoned.
"I love yew, Cas. I love yew so much. We're gon' get to that eye-land, and yur gon' have our baby, and we're gon' live hap'ly ever after."
Cas couldn't help but chuckle at her fiancés fantasy. It was nice.
With any luck, it would be what happened.
The next morning, Cas found Sophie sitting beside a backpack full of medical supplies, with an unwrapped hand, vigorously flexing it.
"Don't doctors ever take their own advice?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
Sophie glanced up, not stopping the movement in her left hand. "Nope; we wouldn't be very good doctors of we did."
"Stop moving your hand and wrap it back up; you'll break the scabs."
"Bite me."
A second of silence passed between the two before they broke into a fit of giggles.
"Already have!" Cas gasped out between laughs; this, of course, sent them spiraling into more laughter which inevitably woke everyone else up.
"What's all this giggling about, hmm?" demanded Coach, walking into the room.
"I—I told her to bite me!" choked out Sophie, keeping the girls in their laughter.
"Well," sighed Nick, shaking his head, "at least we know Sophie's back to normal."
She shot him a look, slowly calming. He simply smirked back.
"Alright, tiny; where we headed next?" asked Coach.
She shook her head and glanced at the door. "Get out of the city," she stated, "the freeway should take us to a set of marinas. From there, we get a boat and go island hopping until we get to our island."
The group nodded, pulling themselves together and packing.
Today would be much better than yesterday.
FN: To the marina! If you guys could, please keep reviewing. It's really nice knowing what everyone thinks about the story ^^