"Now I realize there is no righteous path, it's just people trying to do their best in a world where it is far too easy to do your worst."

-Castiel; from Supernatural (2014)

Feeling her stomach knotting up and rolling around like a bowling ball made Cassidy hesitate as she walked down the candy aisle with Kai. A familiar nauseous feeling rattled itself throughout Cassidy's body. For the young mother, bouts of nausea was something she was accustomed to, it was a replacement for morning sickness. In some ways, Cassidy found herself lucky she didn't experience morning sickness — she heard stories of how terrible it could be, and it terrified Cassidy. For Kai, she would get severely nauseous in the morning, with little moments of queasiness throughout the day, but that was it. There were rare moments, though, where Cassidy did end up throwing up. Maybe once or twice throughout her entire pregnancy with her son did Cassidy ever throw up. Being pregnant again, the young mother experienced the same thing — severe nausea in the morning with little moments of queasiness throughout the day.

But in that moment, standing in the candy aisle, the queasiness Cassidy felt was different. It was definitely the kind of queasiness that would lead to vomiting. She had to get to a bathroom, and fast. Scooping up Kai, Cassidy hurriedly shoved her way past some customers and thankfully found a bathroom before the nausea became too much. Finding the nearest open stall, Cassidy shoved Kai in, closed and locked the door behind them, and Cassidy's vomit just barely made it inside the toilet. Kai, startled by the turn of events, had started crying, though it was a delayed reaction.

Wave after wave of vomit ripped its way through Cassidy, all the while hearing Kai's faint cries. For the sickness, the young mother could only assume that it was because of built up stress. With the doctor appointment and leaving Eiji, Cassidy had to think up some solution, and stress seemed to be the most possible one.

Once there was nothing left, leaving Cassidy to violently dry heave, watching as bile and spit came out of her mouth, Cassidy took a moment to notice how her body was reacting. Her throat and face burned; hot tears rolled down her cheeks; Cassidy's stomach was doing flips. Cassidy's hands ached from gripping the toilet bowl so tightly, her knees hurt from kneeling for so long. Kai's cries had calmed to whimpers, and that alone made Cassidy feel worse.

"Kai?" Cassidy whispered, her throat feeling raw. "Are you OK?"

"Scared...," he whimpered.

"Mama's sorry." Wiping her face, Cassidy tried her best to clear her throat. "I wasn't feeling good. The baby's gonna make me sick sometimes, OK?" When she turned to see her son, the young mother felt her heart drop. Kai's eyes were red, the tip of his nose was red, too. His bottom lip was stuck out in a scared pout. "Give mama a hug," she rasped. "It'll make me feel better."

With a nod, the two and a half year old scooted closer to his mother, carefully wrapping his arms around her. Cassidy returned the embrace just as gently. The pregnancy was definitely going to be an odd, maybe traumatizing, experience for Kai, and Cassidy would do everything in her power to comfort him. She'd have to reassure him to the best of her ability. It was the least she could do, anyway.

The embrace lasted a solid two minutes before the duo pulled away. Cassidy's stomach was still feeling a bit queasy, but she put on the most convincing smile ever. "See?" she said, her voice slowly returning to normal. "All better."

"Promise?" Kai asked.

"Pinky promise."

~. . . .~

It took Cassidy a minute to get herself all cleaned up, and once Kai had officially been calmed down, the duo made their way out of the bathroom and back into the candy aisle. Cassidy had promised to get Kai his most favorite candy for being such a trooper. The two and a half year old had been ecstatic at the news. Even though there was some reluctance from Cassidy to go down the aisle that made her sick, she was going to keep her promise to her son.

"This one!" Kai pulled out a bag of M&M's, shoving it at his mother enthusiastically.

"Are you sure, Kai-bear?" Cassidy knelt down, giving her son an arched brow. She knew that purchasing the entire bag of M&M's would go through a good number of the money that had been brought, but Cassidy didn't mind. She'd do whatever it took to make her son happy. When he nodded happily, Cassidy gave a small smile. "M&M's it is," she responded. Taking the bag from him, the duo made their way to the check out.

Kai happily walked beside his mother, gripping onto her tightly with a huge smile on his face. It was little moments like those, where Cassidy got to see her son smile, that she experienced actual happiness. Kai's happiness and wellbeing had always been on the top of Cassidy's list. Any moment where Kai found himself truly expressing happiness or excitement or enthusiasm over something, it would be enough to make his mother feel even a tiny wave of happiness. For Cassidy, that's saying a lot because she had to teach herself to suppress her feelings if she were to survive with her uncle.

At least Kai seemed to be finding some enjoyment out of their escape.

~. . . .~

Aya Song had come to Japan when she was nearing her twenties, trying to get away from Seoul so she wouldn't be jailed on multiple felonies. Aya had been relatively popular in South Korea's criminal circle for her abilities in hacking, tracking down missing people, and for gaining valuable information on people. Criminals knew better than to piss her off — Aya enjoyed looking into her employers' backgrounds, that way she'd have some blackmail should they try anything — but Aya was in such high demand! Drug lords, pimps, gang members — any kind of criminal that lurked in Korea's underbelly wanted to have her so they could get the upper-hand on their enemies.

Unfortunately, though, authorities in Seoul caught up to Aya's work and was threatening her with jail time. She had the help of a few accomplices to help her get to Japan under a new alias. She lived in the new country as a woman named Mia Lang, with I.D. that had been forged so perfectly that Japanese officials believed it to be true. Aya made herself at home, living in the new country for a little over two decades while rebuilding her reputation with Japan's finest criminals.

One case that had been brought to Aya, by a young drug dealer named Junichi, was about a teenage girl and young son who'd gone missing. The girl's uncle was desperately trying to find her, and he wasn't sure where else to go. Certainly the young Korean woman wondered why a case like that hadn't been reported to the police — it seemed too far out of her field, but she reminded herself that she did have experience when it came to finding missing people, and she was pretty damn good at it, too. But what was so special about some runaway and her kid? And that oh, so desperate uncle Junichi had written down, he wasn't anyone Aya was familiar with.

"Eiji Hisakawa," she murmured, narrowing her eyes slightly. Giving a slight hum, Aya took out her laptop and started on her work.*

(A/N):

This chapter's significantly shorter than the other ones, but I tried to put in as much detail — even if it wasn't good — as possible. If there's anything that came off confusing, don't hesitate to let me know. This isn't one of my better chapters, I can tell you that.

OHSHC isn't mine. All I own are my characters and the subplots I put in.

If you've got ideas for subplots or OCs, don't hesitate to let me know, OK?

Thanks a bunch.

Willow