“Who are you?” Cas growled.
“Not Ashley’s friend.” The man said, laughing at the anger on Cas’s face.
“Where’s my baby?” Cas demanded to know.
The man sighed, “I figured you would come sooner or later. Although, I had hoped it would be sooner.”
Cas frowned, “Aren’t you wondering if I’m going to kill you?”
“No. You’ll kill Ashley, but not me.” The man said, cocking his head at Cas. “Beside you can’t kill me, there are police downstairs.”
Cas considered him for a moment, trying to figure out what his game was and how he knew about the police.
“So, where is she?” Cas asked again.
The man smirked and turned around, leading him to the living room. Coral was on the floor sleeping. Cas rushed to her and picked her up immediately. Then, he looked over at the man who was leaning against the doorway with amazement on his face.
“You aren’t going to stop me?” Cas asked confused.
The man laughed, “No.”
“Why not?”
“Why should I? This is between you and Ashley. I have nothing to do with it.” He said, just as the front door opened.
“Kyle?” Ashley called walking in to the room. She stopped dead when she saw Cas holding Coral.
“You found us.” Ashley said, dully.
Cas nodded, watching her. He tightened his hold on Coral.
“The police are here.” He said calmly.
“What, now?” Ashley asked worriedly.
Cas nodded. “They’re downstairs waiting for you. They figured you out.”
He wanted to kill her, but killing her would point all kinds of fingers at him. Besides, he thought, despite what the man said, he didn’t think he’d allow him to kill Ashley. Obviously, there was something between them.
“Is that how you found me?” She asked, looking over at Kyle.
Kyle looked bored watching the two of them.
“I was looking in the wrong places.” Cas admitted solemnly.
Silence filled the apartment.
“Are you going to kill me?” Ashley asked, watching him.
Cas shook his head, “I think I’ll let the police handle it.” Cas said, right as there was a pounding from the front door.
Kyle sighed and went to open it.
“Hands on your head!” the officers yelled coming in to the apartment.
Cas watched as the police swarmed into the apartment. Sheriff Washington following them, looking unsurprised to find Cas there.
“I should’ve assumed you would be here.” Sheriff Washington said, looking over at Cas.
Cas gave him a small smile and held Coral closer.
“Alright, cuff them.” Sheriff Washington said pointing at Kyle and Ashley.
Ashley glared at Cas while Kyle still looked bored.
“I’ll get my revenge on you, you know.” She yelled, as they took her away.
Cas watched them get arrested as Sheriff Washington came over to him with a frown. “We would have gotten them.” Sheriff Washington said.
“I know. But she’s my little girl.” Cas said, staring down at the man.
Sheriff Washington shook his head. “I should arrest you too for interfering in an investigation.” He said but then looked down at the baby in his arms.
“But I guess I’ll let you off the hook, but just this once. Don’t get any ideas now.” He said, smiling at the cooing child.
Cas smiled. “Thank you, for everything.”
“Just doing my job. Now get home. I’m sure Hannah’s worried sick.” Sheriff Washington said. Cas nodded and made to leave. “And Cas?” Sheriff Washington called, making him turn back.
“Try to stay out of trouble.” He said, making Cas laugh.
Cas nodded and turned away to leave. At last, he thought, they would get the happily ever after, after all.
Chapter 9
When Cas got home, he found Hannah was still awake, pacing the length of the house as she always did since Coral had gone missing. He knew she had been waiting up for him. When he walked in the door, she turned to begin yelling at him, but once she saw the bundle of joy in his arms, she stopped and began to cry. She took Coral from his arms and hugged her as tightly as she dared, tears rolling down her face all the while. Her heart felt lighter than it had in ages and all she wanted to do was love and be with her child and now, she had that chance. Coral had only been gone for a little over a week, but to the young parents, it had seemed like forever.
“I’ve missed you.” She said through tears of laughter and joy, talking to the baby.
“It’s OK Everything is OK now.” He said, moving to hug her.
She moved back though and shook her head. “But what about us? What about being a werewolf? What about Ashley?” She asked worriedly.
“Ashley’s in jail. We’ll deal with you being a werewolf and we…well I’m not sure what we are anymore.” Cas said quietly watching her.
She nodded. “I liked it, you know, being a wolf.” She admitted quietly. After her first transformation, they hadn’t talked much to each other. Cas had been obsessively hunting Ashley to, making it impossible to talk about anything.
Cas smiled, “So it’s not as bad as you anticipated?” He asked.
She shook her head with a smile, “No. It’s not.” She paused, handing Coral back to Cas. She watched Coral for a few minutes, mesmerized by how much she was the same and how much she had grown. “But I do think we need to talk about some things.” She whispered to him, knowing that this was just the beginning.
Cas sighed, “Like what?”
“Us. How everything was. How we will be.” She said looking over at him carefully.
Cas thought about that. “I’m sorry, I’ve been such a jerk.”
“I’m sorry I was such a bitch.” She said with a soft smile.
“How do you want to change it?” He asked, not sure how she wanted to proceed.
“I guess…I don’t know. Do you still want to be together?” She asked nervously. She quietly waited his response. She had no idea what he wanted. She felt like she didn’t know him anymore so much had changed between them.
He nodded, “I do. I just was so worried and—“
“I know, but if this does, God forbid ever happening again, are you going to be the same way? Why do you have to pull away from me?”
“Hannah, it’s not like that. I love you.” He said.
“Well you have a funny way of showing it.” She said bitterly.
“Come on, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for everyone.” He said, growing annoyed by her.
She nodded, looking away from him. “I guess all we can do is try and make this work.” She said.
He nodded, “Do you still love me?” He asked quietly.
She gave him a sad smile, “Of course I do.” She reached up and kissed him softly on the lips.
“Good.” He said, watching her carefully.
They had a long ways to go to show each other that they loved each other. All they could do was try, after all. They had been together for such a long time; Cas didn’t know what he would do without her. He wondered if they could even fix what had happened or if their relationship was permanently damaged. He secretly hoped they could be together again. Hannah was a big part of his life, obviously, and he couldn’t imagine a life without her. He promised himself he would try for her and for their child.
The weeks that followed Ashley’s arrest and they were still tense. Cas didn’t go to work and Hannah felt uncomfortable leaving Coral with anyone. She still went to see Mrs. Moon, who was doing better, but there was an odd aura in the air. The little family hardly left to do anything or see anyone, too afraid of being exposed to the outside world. After surviving two kidnappings, the last thing they wanted to do was be introduced to new people. Hannah had learned her lesson about making friends too quickly. She promised herself to trust his instincts; if Cas didn’t want to do something, she didn’t push h
im anymore.
Finally, after a month of living in anxiety and fear, Hannah was forced to face that fact that if something didn’t change they would live like recluses for the rest of their lives. So she came up with an idea.
“I think we need a vacation.” She said, one day.
“Where to?” He asked curiously.
“Anywhere, but I think we need to work on us and getting back to how we were, how we’re living now can’t be good for Coral.” She said thoughtfully.
“Or we could move.” He suggested, wanting to get out of the small town.
“Or that.” She paused, considering. “Do you think that’s the best idea?” She asked. While it wasn’t a bad suggestion, knowing what she knew and being who she was now, she didn’t want to run from her problems anymore, but face them head on, like an adult would.
“I think that we need to get away from the past and move to the future.” He said carefully.
Hannah looked at him carefully, wondering if he had read her mind. “I don’t want to run, Cas. I don’t want to be a coward.” She said quietly.
“We aren’t cowards.” He protested.
“We barely go out. People talk about us.” She countered.
He groaned and leaned back in his chair, looking over at the happy baby playing with her food
“I don’t want her growing up in a town where all they do is talk about us.” He paused. “I think we should move back to the city.” He said, looking over at Hannah to see her reaction.
She frowned, “But we moved out of the city to start a family and to get away from danger.” She reminded him.
“And look how that turned out. There’s more danger here than when we were in the city.” Cas said dryly.
Hannah sighed and nodded. “Alright, we’ll move. But I think we should move to the suburbs.” She said.
Cas thought about the offer and nodded slowly. “I guess that could work. We haven’t done that yet.” He said smiling slightly.
She smiled back. “I’ll start researching places. Do you have anything in particular in mind?” She asked.
“I don’t care. I’ll begin looking into job offerings.” He said taking her hand from across the table and squeezing.
“As long as we’re together I don’t care where we go.” He added softly.
She smiled back and leaned over to kiss him. It was a soft kiss that held promises and a future together. As long as they had each other, nothing could go wrong. They would fight and disagree and probably not talk to each other for days on end, but as long as they were together they were strong and there was hope. They had been with each other through the hard times and the best of times and yet they were still together.
The couple looked over at the baby cooing in her highchair. Yes, as long as they were a family, they could fight against all the evils that they confronted, and win.
The End
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