Cassidy doesn't want the two people he loves most in the world to be hurt by the hunters that still stalk him… so he leaves. OT3

…..

"I'm back!" Tulip shouldered the stiff motel door open, hands full of shopping bags, "Don' help me or nufin!"

Silence.

"Come on you bastards! Jesse! Cass!"

More silence.

Leaving the bags near the front door, she slowly closed it, hand moving towards the gun that was shoved in the back of her jeans…. A silent Cass wasn't normal. Usually he was like an eager puppy, running over to her when she came home.

This was a bad sign.

Gun drawn and ready, in case anyone was hanging around, she made her way further into the room… only to stop at the sight of Jesse standing near the window, staring out at nothing.

"Dammit Jesse…" she growled, lowering the gun, "… what the fuck are you doin'? Where's Cass?"

"Gone." His voice was flat, and he still didn't look at her.

"Gone?" The sun had set several hours ago, and it wasn't unusual for Cass to head out to a local bar, hustle some money playing pool, before coming back with a victorious grin on his face and the promise that they were going to 'party well tonight', "Whaddaya mean gone? Hustlin'? Boozin'…. Huntin'?"

"Gone." Jesse repeated, with the same cold tone that made Tulip's heart sink to her stomach.

Automatically, she put the gun on the bed, pulled out her phone and dialled an all too familiar number, swearing when it went to voicemail.

"Jesse Custer, what the hell did you do?" Tulip thought she was showing remarkable control, even when Jesse remained silent, "Where did Cass go? What did you do?"

As the silence stretched and Jesse still didn't look at her, her next question was a little quieter. "What did he do?"

"… Nothing." Jesse sighed eventually, now sounding more weary than cold, "I didn't even see him leave, but he's gone." Finally he glanced over at Tulip, which only made her feel worse… his eyes looked a little red around the edges, "I don't think he's planning on coming back."

"But… why?" She hated how her voice wobbled slightly on the question.

Silently, Jesse pointed to the bedside table, where a small scrap of paper sat.

It was definitely Cassidy's handwriting… almost illegible. From what little she could understand, he mentioned something about danger and hunters… and the word sorry definitely showed up a couple of times.

"Fuck him…" She snarled, crumpling the paper up into a little tiny ball and throwing it at the back of Jesse's head, "… I'ma find him, kick his ass, kill the hunters chasin' him and then we'll give him a good reason not to leave ever again."

Easy.

….

Hours later, she realised just how not-easy it was.

She had nothing she could use to trace Cass's phone… if he even still had it. There were no signs of any cars being stolen, so it was likely he'd hopped on a passing train or something, which made life difficult for them.

Cass had no card they could have tracked, and she knew just how many fake IDs he had… he could go almost anywhere in the goddamn country.

"I'm hungry…" she announced into the silence, "… go and get the stew that Cass made."

"… I threw it out."

It wasn't like it was off or anything, and they both knew that… Jesse was just being petty.

"Should we be thrown out to?" Tulip found herself snarling, "He's touched us both plenty!"

Silence.

"Fuck you Jesse Custer…. Fuck you."

…..

They didn't talk for two days after that.

Tulip focused on trying to track Cass down, logging into Vampire-Hunter chat-groups (of which there were far too many) in order to try and see if anyone had mentioned him.

Jesse went about his own business, drinking himself stupid every night and then passing out on the bed.

Tulip refused to join him.

By the end of the two days, she was on her last nerve, exhausted and lost and Jesse still wasn't talking… so she decided to play dirty.

"What are ye doin'?" Jesse leaned against the doorframe, wobbling slightly from the drink as he stumbled forwards, trying to get into between her and the bag she was packing.

"What's it look like… I'm packin'" She threw a shirt at him in demonstration.

"Goin' where?"

"To find Cass. If you don't wanna help, that's fine!" She was lying slightly, "He's in trouble and he needs me… needs us!"

Jesse shrugged, "He don't want our help Tulip… he managed for years wit'out us."

"But he has us now! And if you think I'm just gonna let him be hunted by these… religious… mother-fucking… bastards! Then you've got another think comin'!"

Jesse stared at the floor, silent.

"Cass's a fucked-up idiot, you know t'at!" They all were, in their ways, but Tulip wasn't one for giving up on the two fuck-ups that she loved. Never had and never would. Pulling out her phone, she decided to call in the big guns.

"Dani?"

"…"

"Yeah, I know what time it is, but we need your help."

"…."

"Cass is gone, we need you to track his phone, track social media, whatever it takes okay?"

"…"

"Yeah, I know we'll owe you one, but we're not gonna let him run away like this… Okay, thanks."

Under most circumstance, Tulip would have been embarrassed over how relived she was, knowing that someone was helping.

Jesse however, didn't seem thrilled by the call.

"What?" Tulip snarled, "If Cass thinks he's getting' away wit' this, then he's wrong!"

"… We don' need Dani."

"Yeah Jesse, we really do. I'm not lettin' things end like this! We're family and family sticks together! Hunters or not! Men in white suits or not! We stick together!" She took a deep breath, continuing to glare at the ex-preacher, "I'm doin' this Jesse… you don' have to help if you don' want to."

He thought about this for almost a minute while Tulip waited, barely breathing… and then he shrugged. "I'll help, but I still think we should leave him be!"

"And you're wrong."

As Tulip stormed out to the car, Jesse followed on behind, clambering into the passenger seat.

"Tulip, I- "

"- Don't. Talk. To. Me."

….

They ate at a diner the next morning, barely stomaching the slightly burned toast, slightly underdone eggs, as Tulip scanned through the Hunter Chat Groups again, eyes darting to her phone every few seconds.

"I still don' think we need Dani's help." Jesse muttered petulantly, refusing to look Tulip in the eye.

"I don't care what you think Jesse. I want to find Cass and Dani has the resources to do that."

"… Right."

…

Two days later, there was still no news about Cass… and Tulip was seriously starting to lose her mind.

She'd been on almost every Vampire Hunter chat room that there was (yes… even the creepy ones), and the only thing that she'd discovered, was the disconcerting fact that almost every serious hunter considered Cass to be one of the 'top prizes'

It was an uncomfortable thought.

She was sure Cass hadn't gotten that far…. He'd either travelled halfway across the world, or less than a mile away so that he could keep an eye on them and punish himself, and she would bet on the latter.

However much he felt like they were in danger if her stayed, Tulip was sure Cass cared too much to just leave, probably hanging around and making sure they were still safe.

So, she went shopping and watched the people around her. She sat in coffee shops and in the park closest to the apartment, watching people come and go. She walked through the streets, waiting in bus stops and always, always kept an eye out for figures hanging out in the shadows, covered in clothes to protect vulnerable skin.

This plan of action had the added advantage of getting her out of the motel room, where tensions were mounting. It was hard not to shout at Jesse for his dismissive nature, how he didn't even seem to care about what happened to Cass, and he was clearly starting to miss the vampire as well, becoming sullen and defensive over it.

On the third day of watching, something finally caught her attention.

There was something about the slumped posture… the fact that they had an umbrella.

She'd walked past that corner twice on both previous days, never really registering that there was even a person there, and even when she did, her mind just saw them as your bog-standard beggar.

Once she was sure, Tulip had to resist the urge to just stride up to him and start the tirade or pull him closer…. She had to be careful about this, or he'd bolt again.

The next day, as she casually walked past the corner, she dropped some money into the cup he had in front of him, not looking at him, pretending that she was consumed by whatever was on her phone, acting like she didn't know it was her vampire. She weathered the tension in the motel room, not telling Jesse about the fact that she'd possibly found Cass or her plan…. Jesse would just go out and confront him, and that's not what they needed right now.

By the third day of doing this, she was sure that Cass knew his cover was blown, but the ball was in his court; he could leave, switch corners or just run away… or he could actually try and talk to her. She allowed him the space to choose and braced herself for the chase once again.

On the fourth day, when she reached out her hand to put money in the cup, he grabbed her. For a long moment, they stared at each other.

"You really shouldn' be out in this…" Tulip eventually broke the silence, "… didn' we get you a nicer umbrella than that piece o' shit?"

"Too obvious." He kept his voice low, and Tulip could feel how tense he was through the grip, "What're ye playin' at luv?"

"I could fuckin' ask you the same. How is this hidin' from hunters?"

"It was workin' before ye started this shit!"

She couldn't quite believe that but acknowledged that there was a chance she had blown his shit cover…. From what she'd seen on the chat rooms, hunters weren't the smartest people in the world. "Could we take this somewhere else den? We're drawin' attention."

"Ye mean yer drawin' attention to me!" Cass's lips drew back in a silent snarl, the slight points of his teeth on display.

"C'mon Cass… I just want to talk." She put every bit of sincerity into her voice, "Jesse don't know that I found you, and I won' tell him if you don' want me to."

"I ain't seen him wanderin' around like you…. Lemme guess…. He don' care?"

"Don' be a child Cass, you know he does." People were staring to stare at them, "I'll be near that weird juice shop in an hour if ye do wanna talk."

He didn't reply, but the strong grip on her wrist disappeared and he hunched back in on himself, not even watching as she blended back in with the crowd.

He'd come.

If Cass truly wanted to leave, he could have gone anyway, far far away and they would have been none the wiser. He could have completely disappeared, but he chose to stay.

A little over an hour later, he sidled up next to her, huddled under his umbrella.

She said nothing.

It didn't take long for him to break.

"Ain't cha gonna say anyt'in'?"

"Nope."

There was a brief moment of silence, before he snorted. "So… yer pissed off at me then?"

Silence.

"I had to do it luv, ye have no idea what t'ose hunters are like!"

"But you didn' even give us a chance to help Cassidy!" Tulip practically yelled at him, "What if we could have handled it?!"

"But what if you couldn' luv…." His voice was a dry rasp, "… what if I had to watch dem kill ye? Jus' to make me suffer?!"

There was something about his voice… something that made her think this wasn't a completely hypothetical situation.

"They've done it before?" she asked quietly, her heart sinking when Cass nodded sadly.

"Weren' as close to dem… still hurt t'ough." He didn't go into any more detail, eyes darting around as though a hunter was just going to appear out of nowhere and shoot her in the head.

She allowed him to remain silent for a few seconds, before digging in with the ruthlessness that she was well known for. "You said it yourself, the hunters have been after you for decades…. Why leave now Cass? What did we do wrong!?"

Silence.

"What did we do Cass?!"

He didn't answer, but drew deeper into himself, keeping his head down and his shoulders hunched over, trying to seem smaller than what he actually was.

"Cass… please come back with me. Me and Jesse can help, we- "

"I can't!" He still sounded annoyed, but Tulip wasn't worried about that.

"Jesse ain't mad… I promise, just come home!"

"No, I mean I can't!" He glanced at her, before turning his attention back to the ground, "Leavin' was the hardest t'ing I've ever done… I don't t'ink I can do it again when t'e hunters come back."

All of his anger and annoyance had evaporated out of him, leaving only sadness behind… and she hated it when he was upset.

"Why did you leave then?" she asked, "Did you see them? The hunters?"

Silence.

"You didn' run away 'cause you thought hunters might come at some point…. You saw one didn' you?!"

His mouth opened… closed… open… close.

The silence said it all really.

She gland around, to make sure no-one was within hearing distance. Before asking the next question. "Where Cass?"

"… the diner…. Next to the motel."

They sat in silence for another five minutes. Tulip was getting numb, but she knew that if she just walked away, Cass might bolt for good.

Finally, Cass spoke up again.

"I t'ink dey migh' have been trackin' us for a couple of days now…. I t'ought I could just lead 'em away from ye and… deal wit' 'em, but dey didn' follow me and just hung around ye, so I had to stay and-and-and- "

It was lucky that Cass didn't actually need to breathe…. However, the horror of the situation made Tulip's breath catch.

"- They're… They're still here?"

Cass nodded, eyes still on the ground. "Dey want to hurt ye luv… you and Jesse to get back at me! To make me suffer!" His voice wasn't steady, and when he did breathe, it was shallow and quick.

She desperately wanted to comfort him… a hug, a kiss on the cheek, something!

But it wouldn't be welcome… not yet.

"We can protect ourselves Cass, just- " As expected, when she put a hand on his shoulder, he shook her off.

"No! No, ye don' get it luv! These guys ain't like bar thugs or cops! Dey're dangerous! Well-trained! If dey catch ye off guard, yer toast!"

"Tulip! Tulip!"

Cass froze, "Does… does he know?"

"That I was meetin' you? No…. but- "

"- but it was obvious that she was doin' somethin' suspicious." Jesse finished, having gotten close enough to hear her last words, "I was goin' to give her a couple more days, but we have…" he glanced back in the direction of the motel, "… a situation back at the room."

"… A situation?"

….

"This… is a bit more than a situation." Tulip sighed, staring at the broken and bloody bodies on the bedroom floor, "What happened."

"Apparently, most preachers just give up…" Jesse noted dryly, kicking one of the bodies in the stomach, "… they don't tend to fight back."

Glancing over at Cass, Tulip frowned at how pale he was… and how he was still edging towards the door.

It had taken her forever to convince him to come back, and Jesse's cold expression and silence towards the vampire probably hadn't helped.

"Cass… are these the hunters you saw?"

Cass nodded, his eyes still squeezed shut…. He still looked like the kind of man who felt like he'd lost everything.

Silently, she glared at Jesse, silently gesturing for him to actually talk to Cass, instead of ignoring him.

Reluctantly, Jesse obeyed.

"Cass…. I ain't talking to a kid, open your eyes!"

Cass didn't listen.

"Cass…" Jesse reached out, placing his hands on Cass's shoulder (wincing as the vampire tried to shrink away) before giving him a hard shake, "… open your eyes."

Only when Cass actually listen, did Jesse start saying what he wanted to say.

"You had me worried sick, d'know that? I thought you were gone for good, that you'd gone off and then gotten killed by the hunters! Don't you ever do that to us again, d'ya hear me? Never. Again. You don't get to leave without sayin' goodbye, you understand? I love you, we love you! You don' get to run away because of somethin' stupid like them, you got it?!"

A silent, stunned nod was all the answer Cass gave, but it was enough for Jesse.

"We're not weak Cass…. We can take care of ourselves." Tulip spoke up, "I don' know what they've done to your other friends… but it won' happen to us. You hearin' me?"

Cass's face twisted into something like pain, as one of Tulip's thumbs slid across his cheeks, wiping away the tears that reflected the light from the dull motel bulbs.

"I-I'm sorry…" he eventually stammered, breaking the tense silence, "… I-I can' say anythin' else, but I'm sorry luv, padre. I really am!"

Tulip couldn't help but reach out for him, and Jesse pulled them both closer to him, with Cass's frantic apologising being muffled in the three-way-hug that wasn't going to end anytime soon if Tulip and Jesse had anything to say about it.

The corpses could wait for a few minutes…. they weren't going anywhere.