At the library everyone probably thought they were joined at the hip. Dean wasn’t taking any chances of Cassie getting hurt again. She and Sam sat at the microfiche readers while he stood behind them looking over their shoulders and keeping watch for suspicious activities. Dean stood behind Cassie as he massaged her shoulders and tried to ignore the fragrance she was wearing. She smells so good. She touched his hand.
“Look at this,” she said getting up so he could sit down.
She hesitated to touch him even on the shoulder. The more time they spent together, the more she loved him. It’s already going to be devastating if I walk away. Dean turned to make sure she was still behind him after a few minutes.
“You okay?’ he said taking her hand.
“I’m good,” she said faking a smile.
Dean let Sam know they were going outside for a minute before he took her out the front door.
They sat on the bench outside in the sun. Dean took her hands in his.
“We promised we would try be honest, all of this is new to me you have to help by doing your part.”
“I guess my parent’s dying is just catching up with me,” she said refusing to bring up something they had already decided.
He held her close to his chest.
“Nothing I can say can bring them back, but I love you; I hope you give me the chance to take care for you.”
“I love you too and you’ve been taking good care of me,” she said with a smile that showed in her eyes.
Dean kissed her as he took her hand to lead her back inside but before they could make it back in her phone rang so they returned to the bench. She listened for a second and handed him the phone.
“Who is this?” he asked none too gently.
He hung up after a few minutes and put his arms around her as she let the tears flow.
Sam looked around wondering where they could have gone. Probably making out in the car. He printed the page that was up on the screen Cassie had been using and the reference page after he printed what he found. Once he had the pages he went to find them. Standing near the door he could see them outside the window. This doesn’t look good.
“What going on?” he said to Dean as Cassie cried.
“The sheriff called, her cousin is in the hospital after trying to pick up the car she sold him; There was a bomb in the car.”
Sam’s jaw dropped.
“That could have been Cassie,” Sam said sitting down.
“They don’t think he’ll make it, Sam,” Dean said motioning for him to take his place.
Cassie didn’t even look up when they switched places.
Dean walked over toward the car and pushed redial on Cassie’s phone. When the sheriff picked up Dean ranted at him about not being able to find out who was tormenting Cassie’s family.
“Would you allow this to continue if they weren’t a black family?” Dean asked.
“You watch it boy, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“What I know is the woman I love has lost both her parents in less than a month, and now her cousin could die in an incident that was obviously meant for her. Damn you if you don’t figure this out there will be hell to pay,” Dean said ending the call.
He took a deep breath as he looked up and saw Cassie wiping her face and talking to Sam. Greed, only greed can cause this much damage at least with ghosts you know they aren’t in it for the goods.
In the car Sam began reading over the printouts.
“Cassie, how are you feeling?” Dean asked attempting to turn into the parking lot of Denny’s and read the expression on her face as he almost side-swiped a car.
“Dean,” she said as he made the turn.
“Multi tasking is for women, don’t try it,” she added with a smile at him.
“So you’re better,” he replied rolling his eyes as they all exited the car.
He met her as she got out the car, as he tickled her until she started to laugh. Sam stood by awkwardly watching them and checking out there surroundings. They were drawing a bit too much attention for him.
“We should get inside,” he said.
Three waitresses thoroughly ignored them while they waited at the table; Dean was getting a little hot under the collar when an afro American waitress came over.
“Hi, I’m Carol,” she said putting down the menus.
“Let me know when you’re ready,” she said after reciting the specials.
She gave Cassie a wink before she walked away.
“Do you two want to be alone?” Dean teased Cassie.
“No, silly you know how it is in these small towns. It’s not an accident three other waitresses didn’t wait on us even though they clearly saw we hadn’t been helped,” Cassie said as she gave Dean a gentle push since he was practically sitting in her lap but she took his hand in hers to hold.
He gave her an I want you now look, and she mouthed “stop it” to him while she tried not to smile.
“Hey no fighting kids, I’m not running you back to the hotel so you can make up,” Sam said laughing.
“Very Funny, Sammy,” Dean said dryly.
Cassie smiled to herself.
Sam told them that according to the articles the Dorian’s were known for their smuggling activities at the beginning of the century. It looked like it started before Emancipation when the slaves from the mines were brought to live in this area and bringing with them at the cost of their lives, diamonds.
“Okay so the slaves give them the idea that diamonds should be next on their list of things go do?” Dean asked.
“I doubt if it wasn’t something they weren’t already doing. Moonshine and tobacco were the biggest deal back then; illicit products have always been around in one form or another,” Sam said.
They stopped talking when the waitress brought their meal. They were sitting in the back so they took up where they left off after she placed the food on the table. Then they all ate in silence as they contemplated their next step.
“Maybe we should leave all this to the sheriff,” Cassie said taking a sip of her coffee.
“Well, that might have worked but he and I had words earlier,” Dean said avoiding Cassie’s eyes.
“You pissed off the sheriff?” she asked as he gave her a hound dog look.
“Not wise,” Sam added.
Cassie and Dean were quiet.
“Why?” she asked while picking at her eggs.
He explained how he didn’t like seeing her upset earlier and he took it out on the sheriff.
Sam took a bite of his eggs because he could feel the tension building; normally he would have commented but he had a feeling Cassie was going to handle it better. She didn’t disappoint him.
“Well if you really didn’t like seeing me upset you could have stayed with me instead of running off as soon as it was convenient and leaving Sam to drown in my tears,” she said trying hard to be angry at him.
She hesitated a moment as she bit her lip but then gave in and put her hand on his leg.
Sam cleared his throat.
“Don’t say it,” Dean insisted as he looked at his brother.
It’s okay to care Sam thought.
They went by the local historical society after their meal to see what they could find out about smuggling in the area. Cassie got the call she was dreading while they were there. Dean refused to let her go outside alone, despite her insistence.
“My aunt hated my mother, she never got over my father marrying a Caucasian,” Cassie said.
“That’s too bad for your aunt, so she would blame you for what happened?”
Cassie couldn’t cry anymore there had just been too much sadness. She looked up at Dean as he held her; she was just plain pissed off at this point.
“I know that look, settle down now. We’ll do what we can,” he said kissing her forehead as he pulled her to his chest again.
The sheriff was the one who called so she could only assume her aunt was furious that her son ended up in the middle of their mess. Cassie was too angry to deal with her; but she had to at least let her know how sorry she was. Her Southern manners demanded that she do the right thing, but not right now.
Sam realized they had gone outside but kept on doing the research. The young lady at the desk seemed nice enough about helping him.
“So these records are for the county not just the city?” he asked.
She came around the counter to show him which one was what he needed. She had to be fresh out of high school with long dark hair and hazel eyes, he thought she was cute.
“These are county and those are city,” she said pointing to the stack of unorganized papers.
“Looks like there is a bit of work to do here still,” he said just making conversation.
“Yea, I just started my mother is on maternity leave and I’m taking her place temporarily.”
Sam nodded as Dean and Cassie came in the door.
Back at the hotel they decided to nap a couple of hours before heading back to Cassie’s house later. Sam stretched out on the sofa.
“How long are you setting the alarm for?” Dean asked.
“About two hours.”
Cassie was on the phone with her aunt.
“I’m sorry about what happened to Nick,” she said sadly.
Then she sat holding the phone away from her as her aunt ranted about everything being her fault. Cassie just listened as Dean watched her with a sympathetic look on his face. When her aunt took a break in her diatribe Cassie told her she had to go.
“It’s not your fault,” he said as she took off her jeans.
She nodded because she refused to give in to more tears.
Dean joined Cassie on the bed; he snuggled up behind her and tucked his head in her neck with his arms around her waist. He felt content. She felt safe. They fell asleep right away.
Near the end of their nap, Dean pulled Cassie out of the bed and dragged her into the other room to sit in the chair across from Sam, he was terrified. At first Cassie was confused then she was shocked because she didn’t understand what had happened. Dean sat with her in his lap he was holding her so tight that he was unwittingly hurting her. He kept his eyes on Sam as he lay sleeping. Dean was silent and waiting.
“Dean why are we in here? What are you doing?” she asked in a whisper.
He looked for a moment like he didn’t know her, then he kissed her.
Sam’s alarm went off. He was angry when he saw them kissing across the room with Cassie half dressed.
“What the hell are you doing in here? Can’t you do that in the room?” Sam asked angrily surprising them.
“Sam wait,” Cassie said cutting him off.
She looked at Dean.
“Dean what happened why did you drag me in here?”
Cassie and Sam waited to hear the explanation; but Dean refused to say anything. Cassie ran into the room and shut the door.
“What is going on?” Sam asked more confused than angry now.
“Hold on,” Dean finally said as he disappeared into the room.
Cassie was putting on her jeans and they were stuck. She was so frustrated she couldn’t see straight. He put his arms around her to make her stand still.
“Honesty, it has to be at all times,” she said looking at him trying hard not to cry.
Sam came to the door.
“Dean,” he said.
Cassie put her back to the door to finish getting her jeans up then she sat on the bed with Dean beside her as they let Sam come in the room.
“I had a dream that seemed so real,,,” Dean began holding back tears that threatened to overtake him.
Cassie put her arms around him.
“You were burning up in the ceiling in one room, just like mom,” he said to Sam.
Sam teared up as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
“You were on fire too in the other room,” he said to Cassie who had begun to cry while she held Dean.
He explained that that was why he dragged Cassie out of the room; because he needed a way to keep an eye on them both. He was still dreaming.
Sam apologized for being angry but they understood he had no reason to know what was going on.
“I’m overwhelmed with joy that you have such a desire to protect me,” Cassie said wiping her tears and putting her hands on either side of Dean’s face.
“But I also have to take responsibility for myself; no one is equipped to handle that much stress it can’t be good for your heart,” she added patting his chest.
Sam agreed.
“I know Dad told you to watch out for me, but you can’t take the whole load. We will protect one another, right Cas?”
Cassie nodded as Dean smiled at them; Sam joined in on their hug.
No one said anything for a couple of minutes,each lost in their own thoughts,then Sam sighed.
“Enough chick flick moments. Okay, so how long do we have until we have to leave?” Dean asked grinning at Cassie.
Sam looked at Cassie as she smiled at Dean.
“You’ve got time but don’t try to get in a cigarette,” Sam said laughing as he left the room.
“Funny,” Dean said as they shut the door.
When they finally were ready to leave Sam smiled at their obvious happiness when it was time to go.
“So what’s the secret behind the grins, do I want to know?” Sam asked curious.
“Hot Peach cobbler,” Dean said as they got in the car.
“With ice cream,” Cassie laughed.
Sam shook his head, why did I ask.
Coming Soon the Conclusion of the First Part of my Trilogy of Stories.
