WELCOME

[Cassandra Cole]

It was tempting to clamp her hand down on William's shoulder, pull him behind her where she felt he belonged, where she could keep him safe. There was no way to do that without alarming him, and as much as all of her wanted to strike at Michael so deep it left wounds that would never heal, she wasn't going to do that to William.

She couldn't.

So her hand tightened momentarily on his shoulder, almost unnoticeable before she ruffled his hair, giving William a small nudge. William glanced up at her, almost for confirmation, before he stumbled the few steps forward, shaking Michael's hand, obviously delighted at being treated like a grown up with handshakes and everything.

Cassandra hid her clenched fists behind her back.

[Michael Sharp]

And she let him.

The boy walked over to him, taking the extended hand and shaking it with the easy trust of children. The boy was smiling and Michael realized just how much like his mother's it was—dimples and all.

Not that he'd seen Cassie smile recently.

There was an odd urge to just...hug the boy. The odd urge to hold him close and make a thousand promises. Mike wasn't sure where it all came from, but it was there and it was powerful and he wasn't sure how he was going to stay away now that he'd been here—now that he'd seen this moment and understood.

"Your mother tells me you're doing well in school," he started, letting go of the hand and idly reaching out to run his fingers through the boy's hair. "She's very proud of you."

"She is?"

"Yeah, she tells me all the time. You keep making her proud, alright?"

The boy nodded, his confidence growing with his smile.

And then he pulled the boy into a quick hug—the kind of crushing, needy embrace he realized he needed. The boy tensed for a second but then hugged him back. Letting him go, Mike rose to his full height and scrubbed his fingers through the boy's blond hair. His smile was just a little weak—faltering. "You should go back to bed, buddy." Didn't he have school tomorrow?

William, still somewhat confused by the hug, blinked up at the stranger but nodded. Then he went to hug someone he knew. Someone who he knew loved him. He went to hug his mother goodnight.

[Cassandra Cole]

She was mad because she could so easily see what could have been.

It was the picture Michael presented, the one where he was hugging William and she could see the resemblance in them, she could see where William's nose came from and his chin and that broke something that she'd been keeping to herself for a long time. It was easier to pretend it didn't exist when it wasn't put plainly before you.

Cassandra crouched down to pull William into a hug, kissing his cheek with a smile that she didn't feel. "Go crawl back into bed, bug, and I'll come tuck you in again in a minute, okay?"

William nodded, his hug quick and tight, almost perfunctory because it was routine. With another glance over his shoulder at Michael, he disappeared down the hallway, behind the sound of a door closing a moment later.

Cassandra looked after him, fingers twisting in the ends of her loose hair, like she didn't quite know what to do with them. Or with Michael. Or with anything.

"He's the best thing that ever happened to me." She said, in an oddly flat voice--an answer to a question that nobody had asked.

[Michael Sharp]

He wasn't sure what to say that.

With William gone, it was just the two of them again, and the silence deepened. His hands found their way back into his pockets, the knuckles pushing through the fabric as if trying to fight their way out.

“I didn't come back to ruin your life,” he told her. He'd done it once—and she'd recovered—but he wasn't here to ruin it again. It was true there had been no conscious thought either way, but at least now he knew his purpose. Fix his life and not derail hers. His mess would stay his own.

Sort of.

It would have been a lie to say he didn't want to come back here every night.

[Cassandra Cole]

"Then why did you?" If he hadn't come back to ruin her life, she couldn't fathom why he'd come back at all. His mere presence in her life disrupted it, completely tore apart the routine she'd managed to carve out for herself. It wasn't ideal, but nothing could have been, her ideal life had never included getting pregnant before she even graduated university.

"Why are you back?"

[Michael Sharp]

It wasn't an easy question—but then, none of her questions since he'd gotten back had been.

"Because.."

He looked away, licking his bottom lip. This was harder than he thought it would be. Laying it out, spelling it in a language she would understand. But then, the hard road was becoming a lot more familiar to him lately. It was where he belonged. The easy road couldn't carry him anymore.

He looked back at her. "Because you're the best thing to happen to me—and I didn't see that."

[Cassandra Cole]

"Oh, now you see it." Cassandra said, words steeped in bitterness and exhaustion. Now she was something worth having; now he realized it. Now, when it did her no good at all, now when her life had been shambles for years and she was finally, finally getting her feet back under herself.

"God, fuck you, Michael." Her voice was low, lest it carry down the hall--William had shut the door behind him, but that didn't mean it was soundproof. "You selfish fucking--idiot." She spat.

Because that's what he was doing--being selfish, and stupid, and acting like if he just came back into her life, he could make himself fit. Never mind taking into consideration what she wanted, never mind if she hated him now, if he just tried hard enough, he thought he could carve himself a niche again.

The problem, of course, was that he probably could, and that was the worst thing--because he was Michael Fucking Sharp, and she'd worshiped the ground he'd walked on for years and that was an ingrained reaction almost, it was something she had worked so hard to get rid of--five years wasn't enough.

[Michael Sharp]

He looked down as she rammed her words into him.

It was hard looking up, but when he did, it came with an almost imperceptible smile; the kind that was almost there. A slight pull on his lips.

“You don't have to lie to me Cass.”

She was going to break his face for that. She should.

[Cassandra Cole]

"What part of this is striking you as insincere, Sharp?"

What, pray tell, made him think that any of what she said was less than God's honest truth?

If Cassandra Cole had a tell, she wanted to know--so she could break Michael Sharp's nose, and make sure he never saw it ever again.