The Neighbor II

Honey...I'm Home

Cassie stayed leaning back against Tom's door after she had just stormed out. Michael was fussing in her arms, but she just focused on her thoughts. Clearly, her and Ben need to change some things, especially when it comes to Ben acting like he does around her. 

She's afraid she came off a little too suspicious when she just went off on him like that. She'll just have to speak to Ben when he comes home...but completely avoid the fact that she went over to his house for dinner. That could cause some problems. 

With a loud sigh, she pushed herself off the door and walked the few feet to her door. She could tell Michael was getting tired, so she made a plan to give him a bath and get them both to bed. The sooner they go to sleep, the sooner Ben will be home. 

"Okay, baby, how about a bath? Hm? You've had a long day." As soon as she shut the door behind her, a deep voice said, "I've had a long day, too, mummy." Cassie nearly jumped out of her skin and looked over to where Ben was sitting on her desk. 

"B-Ben!" She gasped in surprise. What was he doing home? How long had he been home? He didn't look happy. She knew exactly why and she was not looking forward to this conversation. He got up from her desk and started walking over to her. Cassie took a timid step back once he got up to her. 

Michael was going crazy upon seeing his father and started reaching out for him. Ben smiled at his little boy and took him from Cassie. "Oh, hello beautiful boy," he cooed. He kissed Michael's cheeks, then continued, "Daddy missed you so much. And," he gave a dark look to Cassie, "I missed mummy, too. Hi, Honey...I'm home." 

Cassie let out a shaky breath. "I see that," she said with a weak smile. "I thought you were going out drinking with the guys...in London?" He chuckled and set Michael down, who ran off to Marshall. Ben took one step closer to her, before saying, "The advisor of the meetings got sick last night. I thought I would come home and surprise you...but you weren't here. Where were you?"

He leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, then pulled back enough to say, "Tell me." She couldn't tell him the truth, but if she lies it will be even worse. At least if he doesn't catch the lie right away, it will buy her some time. Time for what? She has no idea. 

"We just went out. Got bored after your call and I decided to take Mike somewhere. When he started getting fussy, we came back." He hummed, then kissed her again. "It's funny you would say that," he said against her lips. "After my call? Darling, I was right outside the door when I made that call. I may have chatted with our neighbor next door for a few minutes, but I was right. Out. Side." 

Oh shit, she thought to herself in complete horror. Suddenly, his hand creeped up over her shirt and his fingers lightly danced across her neck. Her eyes started immediately welling up with tears and he quickly shushed her, saying, "No, no, no, darling. No tears. Not in those gorgeous eyes." 

He swiped his thumb at the corner of her eye and caught a tear. "Don't be upset," he begged. "You know why? Because I am the one who should be upset." His fingers got tighter around her neck and her breath caught in her throat. 

"You lied to me," he growled lowly. "You were with Tom." He gave her neck a slight squeeze, making her let out a high pitched gasp. "Ben," she whined, "please don't. I'm sorry, I just didn't want to upset you." He let out a large sigh against her cheek. 

He tapped a finger against her pulse point, matching her growing beat. "Did you fuck him?" He asked. She rapidly shook her head and told him, "No, no! Of course not! I would never do that to you Ben, never! You and Michael are everything to me, I wouldn't do anything to hurt that." 

He scanned her face with his eyes, and then gave her neck a big sniff. "You smell like you," he said. "No other man's perfume...except for Michael's baby powder. Alright." He let go of her neck and she let out a huge breath of relief. "Don't you dare lie to me again. Understand?"

She nodded and said, "I'm sorry, Ben. But I'm glad your home, I missed you. We all did." He let out a huge sigh and brushed his thumb across her cheek. "I missed you, too, baby. And I'm sorry about getting upset. I see the way he looks at you and it makes me want to..."

He grunted and hit his hand against the wall next to her head, making her jump. He apologized again, then continued, "Only I should look at you like that." Cassie leaned up and kissed him, before saying, "I only notice your eyes, Ben. No one else's. Besides...I cut dinner short because he was kind of an ass." 

Ben quirked an eyebrow at her. "Oh really now?" He asked, his voice dropping a bit. "Why?" She took his hand and started leading him to the living room where Michael was. "Let's talk over bath time," she told him. He gave her a smug look and asked, "Our bath time?" 

Well, she wouldn't object to that, but she needed to get their son a bath and down into bed before that. But Ben waited patiently and helped her give Michael a bath. He was his usual silly self around his boy and put bubbles on their hair and made funny faces, causing Michael to giggle up a storm. 

Ben dried him off and tickled his stomach and blew raspberries, doing anything to hear those giggles. Cassie watched fondly for a few moments, before getting Michael's crib ready. Ben brought him in all worn out from all the excitement of today and set him gently in his crib. 

He and Cassie each gave him a kiss on the head, before going into their room. Ben let out a huge yawn as he started to unbutton his shirt. "Why don't you just go take a shower and we can talk to tomorrow," Cassie suggested. "You look beat." 

He threw his shirt in the laundry basket and told her, "No, we are going to talk. And we're going to do it in a nice, warm bath where I have you completely naked in my arms." He had his back turned to her as he spoke, she admired his strong back muscles, but then he turned to face her. 

"Ben," she gasped. "What is that?" He had a huge gash across his stomach and it didn't look good. "Oh my God, what happened?" She quickly crossed to him and made him sit down in the bed. He winced when his stomach contracted from it. 

"You need a hospital," she told him. He shook his head and told her, "No I don't. I'm fine, Cass." She scoffed, "My ass your fine! How did you expect to keep this from me?" 

"To be honest, dear, I didn't think that far--ow!" She brought her hand back from where she touched it and sighed. "What happened? And please don't lie to me. I know I'm in no position to say that, but please. Did it have anything to do with...you know?"

His lack of an answer gave her all she needed to know. "Oh, Ben," she whined. She stood up and started pacing around the room. "You told me you would call!" She shouted. Ben put his hands up and calmly said, "I know and I'm sorry, but it had to be done." 

"How...how can you be so calm?!" She continued to shout. "You just told me you ki--." Ben quickly stood up and yelled, "WATCH YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! This is not a house, this a goddamn apartment, where people can hear what we are saying!" 

Suddenly, Michael's cries were filling the entire house. Before Cassie could react, Ben pushed past her and into his room. "Mikey, buddy, it's alright," Ben cooed, while picking up Michael. "Mummy and daddy were just having a little argument, it's alright." 

He bounced Michael a little and kissed his cheeks and head. He glanced over to Cassie who was watching them from the doorway. "Ben," she quietly begged, "we need to talk about this. If this comes back to you--."

"It won't," he told her. "It can't. Nobody knew him, I don't think anybody even knew he was alive." Cassie put her hand on her forehead and said, "Wait, wait, wait. What? Who did you go after?" Michael had calmed down by now, but wasn't sleep yet. 

Ben walked over to her with him resting on his shoulder and said, "I didn't go after anyone, okay? He came after me and handled it. I couldn't call the police, I couldn't...I had no choice." Cassie walked up to him ran her hand through his hair. He sighed at the feel of her nails digging into his scalp. He loved that feeling. 

"Who was it?" She asked. He looked to her, then to Michael and placed a soft kiss on his son's shoulder. He glanced back up to Cassie, as he said, "Chuck's brother."