The moments ticked by and Cas could not move. He sat on the floor breathing in big gulps of air past his raw throat. Then he felt the door to his office open and the rush of a body swooping in on him. It was Sam. "Cas, oh God. Cas, I'm calling the police. What happened?" Sam had his phone out in his hand.
Cas reached up and grabbed Sam before he could dial. "No," he croaked out. He struggled to get up. Sam slipped an arm under his and helped.
"Who did this?" Sam was gripping Cas' shoulders, willing him to look at him.
"It was A. He said that some files were missing. He wants them back." A shadow seemed to pass over Sam's face. Cas didn't want to talk. He wanted to go to M. He needed to know that she was okay. If this was A's brand of communication, he could only imagine how M had been treated.
"Well, we need to call the police." Sam's phone was out again, and Cas once again arrested his progress.
"No. He said that he will have M hurt if I report him. I shouldn't even be telling you this. Please, don't call the police." Cas was rasping this all out and now, he felt the overwhelming urge to just run. Get to M and see that she was okay, that Lil was okay.
Sam was dialing anyway, but apparently not the police. "Dean, it's about Cas. I don't know what to do. A hurt him." Sam repeated the threats to M over the phone. Cas felt panic rising. Dean counts as contacting the police. M could be in danger. He propelled himself from the room. He had to get to her. He had to make sure that things were put back to right. I have to find the file too.
He tore through the streets on the Triumph. The air was sobering and brought his mind back into a kind of focus. He knew that he did not have the files, but perhaps he knew who did. It was something to deal with once he had determined that M and Lil were safe. What he couldn't determine was whether it was Sam or Dean that had lifted the file. It had to be one of them. It almost didn't matter though. They were a team. A team that would get people killed.
He rounded the corner and saw her house in the distance. Nobody was on the street, and aside from the sound of his engine, the neighborhood was both visually and auditorily silent. He pulled into her driveway a little too quickly, cut off the engine, and swiftly made his way to the front door. He knocked and entered in one move. M was laying on the couch. There was no sign of Lil. M looked shocked to see him, but the slow way that she moved into a sitting position told Cas much. Two quick strides and he was at her side. "Did he hurt you?"
"Not so much." She looked away from him then. Cas could see the bruising on her arm as she moved. Her sleeve had slid up a little revealing the signs of her own encounter. She caught his look and moved to cover it. She reached up then seeing Cas' own bruising around his neck. "Oh, sweety."
"Stop. It's nothing. He said that you would be harmed if I didn't find the files. I don't have them, M." He didn't mean to sound so desperate, but the words fell out too quickly to be controlled.
"I tried to tell him. I'll talk with Lucky. Maybe I can fix this." She paused a moment and took in a few labored breaths. "The bigger issue for me is with the meds. I can't miss treatments. I missed my treatment this morning, because of this." She waved a hand out casually. "The damage is maybe done. I don't know."
"Let me take you to the doctor. We can get you in. Better late than never, right?" Cas was trying to sound light and commanding at the same time. It was just coming across as scared though.
"No, I already called in and they said that I have been removed from the trial." She reached over and gave Cas a little pat on the hand. "I am going to fix this. I just need to figure out what I did. I don't think that I left anything in your office. Did you check?"
"There is nothing there. Plus, I think that A checked too. He was there when I got back. He had been in my house too, or so he said." Cas looked around. "Where's Lil?"
"She's upstairs." M sat up a little more. "She doesn't know about what happened, and I plan to keep it that way. She was still asleep when he showed up at 3:00 am. I should have been ready for him. He had told me that I needed to address the issue. I just thought that he would give me a little more time. I mean, we had only just met after I left your office Monday afternoon. It wasn't even 24 hours before he was hounding me about the files again. We met again yesterday and then again when he was looming over my bed at 3:00 am. I think that his theatrics were designed to get me to rush this fix, as if I were not taking this all quite seriously already. Sometimes I think that the A is for asshole." Her attempt at lightening the mood would have worked if Cas had not experienced, first hand, how bad all of this really was.
"He said that he has a man that will hurt you and Lil if I don't help him get the files back." Cas brought whatever lightness back into darkness. M's face clouded.
"He threatened Lil?"
"Yes."
She sat still for a moment and Cas watched a story playing out on her face. She seemed to be struggling with how to respond, how to cope, and how to proceed all at once.
"I need you to do something for me." She cradled her face in her hands then. It was a look of desperation and sorrow.
"Anything."
"I am worried that this might not work out in my favor. If that happens, Lil will have no one. I don't have any way of protecting her if things go wrong for me. I need to know that someone has my back in this."
"What can I do? Just name it." Cas was desperate too. He needed to know that he was doing something to right the wrongs.
"Something crazy. Promise to take care of Lil if I can't." She paused a second and looked deep into his eyes. "I know that I should have a million other people that I could ask, but I don't. I am actually so desperate that I am asking a guy that I have known for less than a month to take care of my girl. And deep down, I know that I wouldn't find a better, more appropriate guardian for Lil even if time and reason were on my side."
"I wouldn't hesitate to take care of her."
"You understand what I am asking? It wouldn't be temporary if something happens." She was dancing around the issue. She seemed to be fighting the finality of being direct, yet she was being direct enough for Cas.
"I completely understand. I don't think that I have much hope of getting out of this unscathed though either." Cas took her hands. "You have my word though, I will not let any harm come to her. She will be my priority." He pressed his head down onto their hands and hoped that it would not go so badly, but he knew that they were already tumbling through the darkness, and that there was no longer much room for hope.
Review, Fav., Follow. Thanks Mummabro and BeautifullyDamagedSimplyMe for the reviews. Hopefully, I haven't tormented poor Cas too much. The next chapter is more M and Cas, with a little Dean. 'Till then.