Chapter 21

“Cass? Cass…you’ve got to wake up, we need to get out of here.” Garrett whispered, shaking her slightly.

Her eyes flicked open. “Garrett?” She asked, not daring to believe he was actually here.

“Shhh,” He kissed her forehead. “I need you to move, we’re leaving.”

She complied, getting to her feet quickly. There would be time for talking and kissing and apologies once they were safe…

The light flicked on, blindingly bright. “Well, well, well. What have we got here?” Bryce Callahan stood in the door, fully armed and smiling unpleasantly.

“Let her go, Callahan.” Garrett said, pushing Cassidy behind him. “She’s of no use to you.”

“She’s been quite a bit of use up ‘til now… getting rid of that nasty little brat of yours… and bringing you here to me. And all she had to do was keep breathing, and you were caught in a nice little catch-22.”

“You have me, you’ve got what you were after, Cassidy’s not pregnant, so just let her go.”

“Maybe.” He smiled maliciously. “I want your word, Garrett Spencer. You agree not to leave… and I’ll send her away on that nice plane you parked on my roof.”

“I want to know she’s home safe before you kill me.”

“Will watching her take off with your pilot flying suit you?”

Cassidy seemed to have regained herself in the past few minutes. “Garrett, you can’t…”

He hesitated but nodded. Turning to Cassidy, he kissed her firmly. “Just go, Cass. I have to make a necessary sacrifice.” He turned back to Callahan. “She gets hurt in any way I’ll make sure you pay.”

“Come up to the roof and watch, if you like. She won’t be hurt.”

“Garrett, you can’t,” She repeated. “I need you…”

“And I need you alive.” He told her. “Besides, when don’t I have a plan?” He muttered into her hair.

She bit her lip but simply nodded, taking a sudden interest in her feet.

“Come along, then.” Callahan led the way, up the stairs to the roof.

“Go, Cassidy.” Garrett gently pushed her towards the stairs of the plane.

She forced herself not to look left or right, not to look at Garrett or at Bryce Callahan or at anything but the plane until she got on it. And then she flopped into a seat and started to cry.

The same malicious smile crossed Bryce’s face. “Kill him.” And the team of agents on the roof opened fire just as the plane took off.

~*~*~*~

Holly watched as the plane landed, Nathan was practically the only thing keeping her from running towards it, and that was because he’d taken a firm grip of her shoulders. “Nathan, he could be hurt.” She practically hissed.

“Yes, I know that, but charging out there and being run over by a plane would probably not help him out much. Wait until they land.”

“But…but what if something happened? What if he died? What if Cassidy died? Make the plane land.”

“They’re landing,” he said firmly. “They’re landing right now, and then we’ll go down there, and as soon as I’m sure Garrett’s okay I’m planning to kick his ass.”

She nodded and followed him as they made their way down to the landing pad. “What if he’s dead?”

“He’s not dead, Holly, don’t talk like that,” Nathan said firmly, then felt something within him crack as only Cassidy – and a tearful Cassidy at that – got off the plane.

“No…” Holly choked as Cassidy made her way towards them. “No…they’ve got to go back. He can’t….my boy can’t be dead…”

Cassidy was taking an intense interest at her feet, but Nathan asked her as gently as he could manage, “Did they… did Callahan kill him?”

She nodded, tears falling to the ground because she still would not look at them.

Holly let out a sob. “You…you *let* him die! How could you just leave him to die?”

That made her look up, distressed. “I – I didn’t, he made me go, I tried to make him stop, Callahan opened fire on him when the plane was taking off, he said… he said he had something planned…”

“Well he can’t be planning anything now. You let him die. You could have stayed and fought with him instead of running away!” Holly shouted angrily at her daughter-in-law. Garrett couldn’t be dead. She wasn’t going to go home and plan a funeral for her first born son, this had to be some kind of sick and twisted nightmare. “You killed him!”

“I didn’t!” Cassidy nearly wailed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want…” The tears forced her to stop.

“Come inside, both of you,” Nathan said rather hollowly.

Holly followed him inside, but didn’t sit. She paced the room, trying to find some way to make this all not happen, to make him six years old again. “My boy…you killed him.” She repeated.

Cassidy merely sobbed.

Nathan called Gavin into the room, a certain indefinable numbness settling in.

Gavin entered, followed by Grace. Upon catching sight of Cassidy, however, he knew what had happened. “He’s dead.”

Grace took a seat next to her sister. “Cassidy?” She said in a quiet voice.

“I didn’t,” Cassidy said shakily. “I didn’t kill him, he made me go, I tried to stop him…”

Grace hugged her tightly. “Of course you didn’t kill him…he was protecting you…he was trying to get you back safe and sound.”

“But he’s dead!” Cassidy wailed, her face in her hands.

“Yes,” Nathan confirmed, still feeling empty… as if he suddenly found his arm no longer connected to him.

Holly continued to pace the room, every once in a while she’d stop and glare at Cassidy, blaming Garrett’s death on her. It had to be someone’s fault…if Cassidy weren’t there…he wouldn’t have gone.

“Mother, lay off Cassidy. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Garrett’s.” Gavin said firmly.

Holly looked as if she’d just been slapped. “It’s *her* fault. If she hadn’t gone and gotten kidnapped then Garrett would still be here.”

“If he’d had the good sense to not turn his back to her in a crowded café, then she wouldn’t have been kidnapped. And no one encouraged him to go.”

At that, Grace shot a glance at Gavin. His face was expressionless.

“You.” Holly stood before her younger son. “You goaded him into going.”

“I did no such thing. Garrett was never terribly bright once his emotions were involved in something,” Gavin said.

“How dare you talk of your brother that way! All he ever did was try and look out for you, and this is how you repay him?!?” She slapped him across the face.

“Holly. Calm down.” Nathan said, but a certain commanding edge was missing from his tone. “Gavin’s all we’ve got left…”

“Thanks, I love you too,” Gavin shot sardonically. “What if I don’t *want* your damn organization?”

“This is what you two were raised for, requiring everything you need to know about the organization for a future take over.” Holly said. “And it’s a disgrace to your *brother* who worked so hard for this while you stayed at home and brought girls over and enjoyed yourself to refuse.”

Gavin felt himself go red in the face. “Sorry if I don’t rank my value with the number of people I’ve killed in cold blood!”

“I said that’s enough!” Nathan fairly barked at the two of them. “Your useless quibbling is not helping matters any. Just making the situation worse.”

“No matter how much you two fight, it won’t bring him back,” Cassidy said quietly.

Gavin bit his lip before he made a sharp response to his brother’s new widow.

“If he didn’t need to bring you back he’d still be here.” Holly snapped at Cassidy. “Good for nothing little wench… killed your husband and lost his son…”

Something within Cassidy snapped, and she was suddenly on her feet. “You nasty foul woman, don’t you *ever* talk to me about that! You can’t even understand –“

“Cassidy.” Grace had gotten up as well. “You need to try and get some sleep.”

Cassidy laughed hollowly. “Right, that’s exactly what’s going to happen tonight.”

“You need to sleep.” Grace repeated. “Your temper is no help when you’re like this…”

Cassidy was still staring at Holly. “You can’t even begin to understand,” she said, then walked out of the room before she dissolved into sobs.

Holly looked around the room at her husband, then to her younger son’s slut and then to her younger son himself. “The two of you might as well stay. Gavin you stay in your room and *they* will stay in you and Garrett’s old room.” She muttered before leaving the room herself.

Gavin gently led Grace from the room. “Come on, I’ll bring you up,” he said softly.

She nodded and followed him. “What’ll happen now?”

“Honest to God, I’ve got no idea.” Gavin kissed her softly. “But you won’t lose me, promise.”

She nodded and hugged him before entering the room. “Cassidy?” She called, noticing a weeping lump in one of the beds.

“This one used to be his,” she said quietly. “It was his bed.” She was sitting up suddenly, glancing around the room. There was a collage of photos on one wall – supposedly of the boys, but it was clear Holly had made it for essentially it was of Garrett.

Grace sat down next to her, glancing around the room. “You need to sleep.” She said gently.

“I can’t,” Cassidy said, voice shaking as tears continued to fall. “I *saw* it… he was standing there, and Callahan gave the signal… there must have been ten of them, and he fell…”

Grace watched her sister. “I can’t imagine how horrible that must’ve been for you…do you need me to stay? Like you used to do for me?”

“Please,” she said, then continued as if enchanted. As if she had to speak despite the pain in her throat that was trying to keep her silent. “He saved me, Grace, he saved me from my parents… he loved me, and I love him…”

“I know,” She said, trying to make Cassidy lie still. “He was a complete wreck before…Gavin said he’d even convinced himself that he could get you back by killing me. He was desperate.”

There was a long pause. “I didn’t even know I was having a baby….”

“Callahan’s an asshole. He’s a monster for what he did.”

Cassidy broke down into sobs. “It was a little person, mine and Garrett’s baby, and he killed it, just like he killed Garrett…”

“I know he did…” Grace wasn’t quite sure *how* to be comforting towards her sister…it wasn’t as if anyone had been there for her after David was killed… She left the room for just a moment, going to the room that Cassidy and Garrett were supposed to share when they came home, and grabbed the teddy bear from among Cassidy’s things, bringing it back with her.

Cassidy sobbed, squeezing it tightly.

“Choke the teddy bear, he won’t mind.” Grace told her. “Looks like *you* needed it more.”

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