CHAPTER 11

10:23 AM MST

Will couldn't remember the last time he had been fascinated by something for so long. The sight of her naked body wrapped in motel sheets, her eyes closed in slumber, enthralled him. She was beautiful; she was the completion of himself. She was intoxicating, even asleep. He couldn't help himself from brushing the wispy strands of hair from her face, reveling in the softness of her skin against his fingertips. He was fairly certain there had to be a God if someone like her existed.

He glanced over at the clock across from him as he lay pressed up against her, in the same state of undress as she. He knew she would chastise him for not waking her sooner, but she needed the sleep. And he needed the reminder of the good in the world by just being with her.

Reluctantly, Will carefully untangled himself from her arms and legs that were draped over and around him, sighing with disappointment as the heat from her body left his side. The entire trip, he felt useless as she did all of the driving, shopping for their meals in the form of power bars and water, and now footed all of the bills herself. It was time he put himself to use.

Carefully tucking the blankets around her still sleeping form, Will brushed a gentle kiss on her hair, lingering for a moment to smell her shampoo. He stretched as he pulled on his clothes from the night before that were scattered all over the floor.

Glancing down at her, he thought about staying, about gently waking her with kisses, letting himself explore her body in the daylight. His hesitation proved to be his plan's undoing, and he saw her shift toward what would have been him, then open her eyes in panic. "Will?" she said, pulling herself upright. Will couldn't help but smile in appreciation as Cara's tired state left her reaction time a bit slow, her breasts greeting him before she quickly covered them with the sheet.

"Hey," he murmured, swooping down to give her a lustful kiss.

"What's wrong?" Cara asked when they parted, Will sitting next to her on top of the sheets.

"Absolutely nothing," he replied, making her smile softly in relief. "I just wanted to scour the crummy neighborhood for some breakfast for you."

"Will …" Cara reached up and touched his face, which made Will laugh gently as the sheet drooped and revealed a bit of herself to him. She began to cover herself, embarrassed, but Will grabbed her hand, gently pressing it down onto the bed.

"Leave it," he said softly, kissing her neck. "You're beautiful."

"Will," Cara's voice was weak from desire caused by Will's sensual kisses, "you shouldn't go out in public."

"Cara," Will surfaced from her neck, nuzzling her nose with his, "please let me be a gentleman. If I had my way, I'd make you breakfast in bed." He pressed his lips onto hers, eliciting a soft moan from her. "And then I'd eat my breakfast," he added suggestively, his lips traveling down her neck.

"Will … I … can't … think straight …"

"Mmm, good."

"No," Cara softly picked Will's head up, cupping his face. He was rewarded with the entire sheet dropping down, revealing her chest once again. As Will began to take advantage of the situation, Cara once again pulled his head back up, looking into his eyes. "Will," she breathed, swallowing hard, "we have to get on the road. It's only another 12 hours from here."

"Please let me do this," he whispered, his voice low and serious. "It's all I ask. Then you're in charge."

Cara's eyes narrowed, seeing the smouldering look he gave her. She knew she was weak to it, and she also knew that he knew she was. "Fine," she said softly, pressing a kiss on his cheek. "But get something-"

"-with bacon. I know." Will smiled down at her, capturing her lips with his. As their tongues dueled, he knew that he would have to leave at that instant if he wanted to retain any control of himself. Regretfully, he pulled away from Cara, pressing a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back in twenty minutes. I saw a deli up the street from here coming in earlier."

Cara nodded with a sigh. "Are you sure you can't just owe me for when you're not a fugitive?"

"I'm sure," Will replied, standing.

Cara smirked as her eyes fell below his belt. "I can think of other things besides bacon I'd really like right now."

Will smiled, knowing what she was insinuating. "You can have that when I get back."

Cara watched Will pull his jacket over his wrinkled shirt he wore the night before. He took her car keys out of her coat pocket, sticking them in his. "Will," Cara's voice was serious. "Please be careful. Do you have your phone?"

"Yes," he replied, approaching her from the other side of the bed, closest to the door. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, groaning as he felt her hand travel south below his belt. "Jesus, Cara," he mumbled into her mouth in reaction to her touch. He felt her hand linger as he broke from her lips. "You're not making this whole gentleman thing very easy on me."

She smiled. She knew Will still struggled with darkness and light, and it was now manifesting itself into having to choose between his primal instincts or restraining himself. "I was hoping you'd reconsider," Cara murmured into his ear, kissing his neck. There was no doubt in her mind she wanted a repeat of earlier that morning, but more importantly, she didn't want him to venture out without her for fear of something happening to him.

In a quick moment, Will grabbed Cara's wrists, pinning her down onto the bed, his body hovering over hers. She saw his breath was ragged, and knew she might be able to tip the scales in her favor with one more move. He shut his eyes, his head leaning back as she pressed her hips toward his. "Cara," he groaned, his eyes still shut. He opened them, peering into hers. "I'll be alright," he reassured, still holding her wrists in place.

"You read my thoughts?" Cara asked, wondering if he would admit he had.

Will shook his head softly. "I can't," he admitted. "I just figured you were trying some very unfair tactics to change my mind."

"Wait, you can't read my mind?" Cara was confused. "But I thought you could read everyone's?"

"No," Will replied, releasing her wrists and stroking her cheek. "You're only the second person I've not been able to read."

"Who was the first?" she asked.

Will hesitated, unsure whether to reveal his secret. "The man who tried to kill me in the hospital. I couldn't read his thoughts."

"What man? A doctor?"

Will paused. "... Honestly, I'm not even sure he was a man."

"Wait …" Cara's gears were spinning wildly. "... You saw a shape-shifter, didn't you?" Will nodded. "That's why you flipped out on me. You thought I was him."

"I thought he was using you against me," Will corrected. "With the vial, and the fact I couldn't read your thoughts ...Turns out, he's Rich's suspect in the murder case. His face matched the sketch."

"Which face?"

"I guess his real face."

"Shit," Cara mumbled, "this could potentially be really confusing."

"You're telling me," Will replied under his breath.

"So how do I know you're you?" Cara said, her eyes narrowing at him as she sat up and pressed herself against Will. "I think I'll need to do a full body exam."

Her hand slipped down low again and Will jumped. "Cara Jane English," he breathed, grabbing her hands, "you will be the death of me."

"Uh-oh, I'm in trouble … you used my full name." Cara's seductiveness was causing Will to unravel at the seams. He kissed her one last time; it was soft and sensual.

"I'll deal with you when I get back," he whispered, pulling away from her slowly. Without another word, he opened the motel room door, ducking outside into the cold, clicking the door shut behind him.

She laid in bed for a few moments, her hand running over where his body made an impression in the sheets. She idly wondered why she was one of the only two people Will could not read thoughts from. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, she thought, thinking of all the embarrassing things she could have possibly ever thought or would ever think during their friendship - and now relationship.

Using the sheet to cover herself, Cara stood from the bed with a sigh. She really didn't want Will to go out there alone, but knew with his full strength back, he had more of a chance protecting himself than she did protecting him. As she approached the door to lock it, she heard a quick bang on it. In a moment of vulnerability, Cara opened the door without peering through the peep hole, thinking it had to be Will, since only a short amount of time had passed. Maybe he came to his senses.

Instead, she gasped as a tall, well built man that she, oddly enough, recognized threw open the door, knocking her to her knees with a single invisible force from his hand.

It was the murder suspect that had tried to kill Will.

True to his word, Will returned in eighteen minutes with a bag of food in hand, trying to balance a cup of coffee he bought for Cara as he knocked on her motel room door. "Cara?" he asked after not hearing a response. Maybe she's in the shower, he thought. He knocked again, frowning when there was, yet again, no response.

Rolling his eyes, Will grumbled at the thought of trying to use powers he wanted to deny having to access her room. He set the bag and the coffee cup down and gripped the door knob, focusing on its battered golden sheen. A moment later, he heard a definite click, which he knew meant he was successful. "Huh," Will mumbled in surprise, picking up the bag of food and coffee. Doggett was right - he did have more powers than he realized.

As Will pushed open the door with his elbow, his eyes grew wide at the scene before him. He carelessly dropped everything on the floor, his heart racing as he examined the room. One single sheet was laying crumpled near the doorway, streaks of red blood painting it. There were signs of struggle everywhere, from the overturned end table to the broken lamp that was shattered at his feet. He knew it was Cara's room; he knew he hadn't gotten them confused because of her clothes that were strewn all over the floor where her travel bag was. She was trying to get to her knife, he thought quickly.

"Cara!" he yelled, kicking open the bathroom door. It was empty. "Shit!" Will slammed his fist into the dresser next to him, breaking the end of it cleanly off. He panted, glancing around the room in a panic. His eyes fell to the bright red blood again on the sheet he knew Cara had wrapped herself in when she woke up, anger burning inside of him as he thought of what was done to her. His eyes scanned her clothing again, noticing her shoes were missing.

The shrillness of his phone ringing in his pocket startled him, and he roughly opened it, still breathing heavily. "Cara!" He shouted, knowing she was the only person to have the number.

"Sorry to disappoint," the man's voice said on the other end. "Cara's preoccupied at the moment."

Will knew his voice - it was the man who had been watching him in the hospital, the one who had tried to kill him. "You fucking bastard."

"Well hello to you too, William."

"Where is she?!" Will shouted, the invisible force from his rage shattering the glass from the picture that hung above the motel bed.

"She's in good hands. She's being well taken care of. That is, if you follow my rules."

"I swear to God, if you lay one hand on her, I will kill you, you son of a bitch!"

"A little late for that. She's quite resilient for a human, you know."

"I will fucking rip your head off!"

"You only get to keep Cara alive by following my instructions." The man's voice was cold, collected. "After all, it was you who put her in this position. It's a shame that the human half of you has such weakness. Good talent wasted."

"I must not be that much of a waste if you want to kill me. So face me. Let her go."

"Actually, she's not just valuable to you, William. She's quite valuable to me at the moment."

"If you touch her-"

"William, do what I say to save her life." Will heard passing traffic in the background of the phone. He's driving, Will thought quickly. He pressed his eyes shut, trying to read a thought from Cara to gain some sort of clue on her location, but instead just receiving a debilitating pain in his head. The man laughed as he heard Will's reaction to the pain. "Haven't you yet figured out that you can't read her thoughts? Or mine for that matter? Or any of our kind? Only the humans. Their thoughts are worthless anyway."

"Cara is human," Will growled. He tried again and unsuccessfully gripped his head in pain. "Why don't you come and face me?!"

"In due time," the man replied. "Cara's life depends on one simple task. Bring me your father. Alive."

"You know I won't do that."

"Are you certain?" the man asked with a smile. "You have two days to decide. Either you bring me your father, or I kill her."

"You'll kill her anyway," Will said darkly, realizing how much of a disadvantage he had.

"Not necessarily," the man replied. "If we're able to extract the shield, she'd be quite useful in future population efforts."

"Listen, you sick fuck-"

"Two days, William. If you focus hard enough, you'll know where to find me."

Will nearly crushed the phone in his hand as he heard the man hang up. A tear slipped down his cheek, not knowing what to do or what to choose. She said it's 12 hours from here, Will thought.

He had to get to his parents. Not only for Cara's sake, but for what his father knew that he didn't yet know.