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[closed - Caden]

Over the past month, the list of people April has kept in touch with has been very small. She talks to Caden the most, followed by Coop and then her father, though she's really only texted Robert twice, mostly just to let him know she's still alive. If she decides not to return to Siren Cove, she isn't sure what she's going to do. Keeping in touch with him seems like it's the right thing, but when it comes to family, April has no idea if the right thing is always the best thing. Maybe it would make more sense to just cut her losses and get out of Siren Cove for good.

Caden can travel, clearly. He has money, he has a house in California, he's no more tied to the town than she is. And since he isn't, there's really nothing keeping her there. Nothing except maybe Coop and her father. And maybe Les, even if she hates to admit it even to herself.

That's what she's thinking about when she enters her hotel room that afternoon. She's thinking about family and people she's allowed into her life. She's thinking about packing and about maybe heading to California for a little while before going home. (Is it home? The label scares her a little.) She's thinking about these things and she's distracted, it's the only reason she doesn't immediately notice that there's someone else in her room.

He hits her hard enough to knock her out.

The next two days are a bit of a blur.

They don't hurt her, not at first. They just want their money, same as before, only without Les here, without Lara, she's in a bit of a bind. They're different sirens this time, less prone toward brute force and more likely to find what they're looking for just by being thorough. They go through her belongings, looking for something that indicates where she might be storing the money from her mother's estate, but April doesn't keep anything in her real name. All her assets are held in banks across the world under various identities and the only account under April Ross has sixteen thousand dollars in it. Not bad, but not enough.

They go through her phone, whisper amongst each other, then send someone a text. When she asks who they're trying to communicate with, she's hit again, so hard that her head rocks back against the chair they've tied her to, and she keeps her mouth shut after that. She isn't afraid, not exactly, but she doesn't know how she's going to get out of this. Not this time. The only real solution seems to be to pay them off, but she hates the idea of tipping them off to what she's really worth.

"Maybe her boyfriend will be more interested in paying off her mother's debt if he sees he bruises," one of them says and snaps a picture of April on her phone.

She laughs. "If you're texting Les, you're out of luck."

"Not him. The rich one. The writer."

And something in her chest seizes. She doesn't want Caden involved, not in any of this, but they send the text with the picture of her, bruised and tied to a chair, and she isn't sure there's anything else she can do but wait.

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Caden has never really been this freaked out, and there are many reasons for his current state. April, for one. He's fucking terrified and it's simmering with an undercurrent of anger like he's never felt. He wasn't even this upset when he was kidnapped.

And the other reason? The weather.

"Huh, report said sunny skies," says the pilot as they make their descent. "It's looking a little gray. Guess the weather's freaking out all over the place."

Caden swallows hard. Coincidence. Very weird coincidence.

He keeps telling himself that as it starts to drizzle when he hails a cab. The closer he gets to the hotel, the harder it rains and the darker it gets. It's not quite a storm, but it's getting there.

Once he's in front of the hotel room, he takes a deep breath and reaches up to knock. He's going to be calm. He's not going to beat the shit out of whoever opens the door. He's not.

(He wants to.)

The door opens and Caden radiates steely calm. "I believe we had an appointment."

A surly looking man steps aside to let him in and turns to close the door behind him. And there, bound and gagged is his girlfriend. Wait, no. Okay, fuck it. Right now she's his damn girlfriend, and she's hurt and bleeding and tied up and he knows he can't show emotion in front of these assholes. He just can't, so he bottles it up. Internalizes it. Feels that strange vibration in his chest again.

And then the wind picks up. It's insanely loud and thunder cracks overhead, lightning striking the sea as a strong gust blows heavy rain in through the open balcony door. Caden flinches a little and watches with wide eyes as the guy moves over to shut the door.

"That's fucking weird. It was just nice outside," the guy says, and then turns to face Caden. He puts his hand on April's shoulder and Caden swallows hard as the wind hits the door hard enough to rattle it in its frame. The weather feels angry, and Caden doesn't know how he knows that, but good. He wants it angry. "You got the money?"

"Yes," Caden grits out, and another clap of thunder sounds overhead. "Untie her."

Caden walks into the room bubbling with anger, she can feel it even if the others can't, and she doesn't know if it's because she knows him well enough or because she's a siren, but he's furious and that worries April as much as it comforts her. Angry people make mistakes. She isn't worried for herself, she's worried for him, she's worried he'll do something he shouldn't and these assholes will hurt him, but she has to keep herself under control. Especially when it feels like Caden's anger is more than just an emotion. It's bigger than that and April's gaze flicks briefly toward the balcony doors, but she doesn't move until she's hauled to her feet.

"I'm not taking the tape off her mouth. If you've been fucking her, you know what she's capable of if we let her speak," the guy says, but he unties her feet and lets her stand on her own. Her legs are aching, but she doesn't do anything except stand there. She makes no attempt to move until he starts pushing her toward Caden and then she walks forward carefully, still not letting any of what she's feeling show up on her face. They just need to get these men out of her room.

Then she can start thinking about how to get rid of them for good.

"You take her and stand over by the balcony so you're not blocking our exit," he instructs and April glances at Caden then and nods. There's nothing they can do, not now. Another gust of wind batters the balcony door and she has to resist the urge to flinch, but she looks at Caden and she's beginning to make a connection. The weather had been beautiful until he had arrived. And now outside matches the stormy expression he's wearing and April finds herself wondering if it's a coincidence at all.

The man's comment infuriates him even more and the room lights up with a flash of lightning. He wants to tear him apart but he just nods and wraps his hand around April's arm. Just touching her makes him feel a little calmer, because she's okay. She's safe. They just need to get these men away from them.

"Here," Caden grits out, holding out the briefcase. "This will take care of the debt, and we can go our separate ways."

He swallows hard as the briefcase is snatched from him and he takes a step back, keeping one hand low on April's back as he waits for them to go. His composure is so close to slipping, and all he wants to do is take that goddamn tape off of April's mouth and hold her, make sure she's okay for himself.

They don't bother to check the cash and that, as much as anything that's been said, is April's indication that this isn't over. They aren't going to just stop because Caden has given them money. Now they know they can get more and she's already making plans. She'll call Robert or maybe she'll wait until she's back in town, but she's going to take steps to make sure this doesn't happen again. It's Caden she's worried about, it's the people she's come to call friends, Coop and Spencer and even Les. And it's herself, of course, she doesn't want to spend her life dealing with this.

"Thanks," the man with the briefcase says. He's the one who's been doing all the talking and April has memorized him, his face, his voice, his mannerisms. She'll find him again. Or someone will.

They open the door and he tips them a grin. "Be seeing you."

And then they're gone and April takes three quick steps across the room, throwing the deadbolt. She doesn't think they're going to come back, but she doesn't want to run the risk either. Then she reaches up and rips the tape off her mouth, gritting her teeth against the pain.

Be seeing you.

It's all the confirmation that Caden needed that this isn't over. They're going to extort him over and over because they know they can get away with it, because there's no amount of money Caden wouldn't give to ensure April's safety. He knows it and they know it.

Caden's jaw ticks at the comment and a final clap of thunder sounds overhead as they leave the room. April lurches away from his side and Caden follows like they're connected by a string, wincing in sympathy when she rips the tape off of her mouth.

"God, April, are you okay?" She is okay. She's whole and standing in front of him, looking more pissed off than anything else, but he still has to ask. He reaches up to cup her cheek, taking a deep breath for the first time in a day. "I was so fucking scared."

She doesn't know what to say. There's relief that he's safe, confusion over the change in weather and how closely it matches Caden's mood, fury over the fact that they'd dragged him into it, over the fact that they're clearly not about to stop. Her brain is already working overtime, trying to come up with a solution to this problem that clearly isn't just going to go away on its own. There's so much to do, so many things she could say, and, as always, she doesn't know how to say them.

She's never known how to say the things that matter.

Instead she reaches up and cover his hand with her own. Her face hurts where she's been hit, but she'll be okay. Something will have to be done, they'll have to go back to Siren Cove sooner rather than later, but for the moment she just wants to pay him back, then go somewhere with him and hide for just a little while.

"I'm okay," she says, her voice hoarse. "I'm sorry."

"What in the world are you sorry for?" Caden asks, confusion written all over his face. "The money? God, April. I don't care about the money. I just care that you're okay."

He kisses her forehead and pulls her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her and holding on tightly. "I was so worried, and I'm just happy you're safe. I feel like I can breathe again."

The longer he holds onto her and has her safe and whole in his arms, the calmer he feels. He breathes easier and as he does, the rain lessens. The wind stops howling and the clouds stop growing dark. But Caden doesn't notice because he's too busy concentrating on April.

"That you had to get involved at all," she says, her voice low as she glances toward the balcony. The wind is calming down, the clouds parting, and her eyes narrow slightly. There's something else here, something maybe he isn't telling her about. Something he might not even be aware of. "My mother gave me up when I was a toddler and now you're being dragged into the mess she left behind. That isn't fair. And it isn't over."

But she's going to do her best to make sure someone does end it. Robert will know a way to help her, she's sure of that, although she doesn't say as much to Caden. If it comes down to having someone disappear, she never wants him to be questioned in regards to it. She doesn't want him to know anything.

"I can pay you back," she says. "I have money. It just isn't under my name and I didn't want them knowing about it." And that isn't fair either. It's her fault he's involved as much as anyone else. She could have just handed over one of her identities and let them take the cash, but she had wanted to desperately to protect those hidden sides that she'd let them drag Caden into the mess.

"April, you don't have to pay me back. It's just money." He pulls back and cups her cheek, thumbing lightly under a bruise there. He's curious as to why she didn't just pay them the debt if she had the money, but that's not important.

It's just important that she's okay.

"We'll figure it out, okay? We won't let them get away with this," he assures her, and he means it. He's not going to take this lying down, and he's definitely not going to let them do it again. "Now, there's a jet waiting for me at the airport. How about you come back to San Francisco with me and get some rest, huh?"

She has every intention of getting her father involved in this as soon as she's back in Siren Cove. If this had happened before, she would have just disappeared, assumed one of her other identities, gone back to life in another city, another state as Erin Summers or Allison Hanover or any one of the dozen names she keeps for exactly things like this. But it isn't that easy, not when other people are involved, and the only way she can think to deal with this now is to get Robert Flynn involved. She doesn't particularly like it, the thought of having to rely on him for anything, but she thinks he'll know what to do. More than that, she thinks he'll do it now out of a sense of guilt and obligation.

"Yeah," she says in response to Caden's question. Rising up on her toes, she presses a careful kiss to his mouth. Her lips hurt from the blows she's taken, but she's gentle. "Thank you for coming. I just need to pack and I can check out."

And she's trying to think of a way to ask him about the weather. April has seen enough that she doesn't necessarily believe in coincidences, but Caden also seems genuine enough that he would have told her. There's no denying something was happening, though, and as she grabs her bag and opens it on the bed, she glances down the balcony again. "The weather's calm."

He kisses her back softly and smiles, just a little, following her as she packs and helping where he can. Part of him doesn't want to stop touching April, or let her out of his sight, but the bigger part of him knows better than to even try that. He's just scared, and he doesn't want to see her get hurt again.

Caden frowns when she mentions the weather and looks out of the window. The sky is still dreary and gray, but the storm that had come on so suddenly is over... as soon as April was safe.

"Yeah, uh. The weather was acting strange at home too," Caden says slowly, turning to face her. He's obviously confused and a little scared. "It's almost like... no, never mind. That's insane."

"No, say it," she encourages gently as she packs her belongings into her bag. She'd packed lightly, choosing instead to buy and discard the things she needed for only a short period of time, and so it doesn't take her long to pack at all. She ducks into the bathroom and collects her toiletries, though there isn't much there beyond her toothbrush and some makeup.

"Say it," she says again when she comes back into the room. After everything she's seen today, she already has a fairly good idea of what it is he seems to think is insane, but she wants to hear him say it before she pushes it. If he truly has no idea what he seems to be able to do, she doesn't want to be the one insisting he confront it.

But if he's the one to say it, that's something else entirely.

It's crazy. It's totally crazy. It's the kind of shit he would write about, but only... is it that crazy? He's seen what Les can do. Magic is real; it exists. Caden knows this for a fact.

"The weather is acting like it's, I don't know, reflecting my mood?" He bites his lip and goes over to sit on the edge of the bed, fiddling with the edge of the duvet before looking up at her. "I seem to always have good luck with the weather, but I thought that's all it was. What happened today - "

He trails off and swallows hard, brow furrowed for a moment. "That wasn't luck. It was something different."

April nods, watching as he plays with the edge of the duvet before she comes over to sit down beside him. She still aches all over from spending days in that chair, from being bound, from the blows she's taken, but she reaches out to take his hands. "Try it again," she says softly and she isn't sure if it's that easy, if he can just concentrate and make it happen or if he needs to be upset.

But it's fascinating.

Even in her current state, upset and sore, confused and angry, she's interested by this. It doesn't change things -- or maybe it does -- but she isn't sure what to think. What he knows. What he doesn't know. What it's possible he can do.

Caden swallows hard and looks at her, eyes a bit wide, and then nods. "I don't - I can try."

He turns and looks out at the dreary gray sky. This could be huge. This could change everything. He furrows his brow and thinks about clouds rolling in, about rain coming, but nothing really happens. Then he turns to look at April's face, and the way her expression just barely gives away how much pain she's in. There are bruises on her face and Caden's blood boils. Seeing her hurt makes him boil with rage, and he reaches up to gently cup her cheek. "God, I could kill them."

Rain patters against the windows again and Caden blinks, turning to stare with wide eyes. "Holy shit, it is me. I don't understand. I've never - " He turns to face April, suddenly concerned with what she may think of him now. His voice is quiet when he speaks, full of worry. "I had no idea."

It's not necessarily within his control, she can see that. It seems linked to his emotional state more than anything and she has to wonder just how much something like that can be learned. Maybe with time he can control things on a whim, but right now that isn't the case.

Normally she might have suggested Les for help with that, but that wound is still too raw.

"Do you know Spencer?" she asks. "His husband is a witch, you should talk to him." Because she might be a siren, but she has no idea how to teach someone to control something like this. It's always just been in her, she's always known.

She reaches up, covering his hand. "It's alright," she says and she feels like she should be more surprised, but she isn't. Maybe it's that she's exhausted and sore, numb to the point of nothing surprising her, but she thinks it's more than that. Caden hadn't seemed all that surprised when she had told him what she is and maybe she's suspected something since then. Since witnessing just how open to the idea of the real supernatural he is.

"Joel? Yeah, I know him. He's a witch?" He blinks and swallows hard. "I'm a witch? God, yeah. I need to learn how to control it. I don't want to be dangerous."

He looks out of the window and takes a deep breath, watching as the rain dies back down. After a moment he turns to look at April, cupping her cheek and smiling a little. "But right now I'm concerned with you, okay? Let's get out of here. We can go to my place and relax and figure out what to do next."

April is sure to have some sort of plan, and Caden's prepared to support her in whatever it is. He stands up and grabs her bag, holding out his hand to her and giving her a reassuring smile. It's been a very long day, and there's lots to tackle now, but the most important thing is that April is safe.

"Scary powerful, apparently. He beat the hell out of some guy giving Spencer a hard time at Coop's house once and he did it all without actually touching him," she says with a faint smile. It's information she's been holding onto since then. A good portion of the town had seen the fight, but not everyone, and apparently Caden hadn't known.

This is what she does. This is why she stores information. It always proves useful in the end.

"You're not dangerous," she says, though she thinks he could be. And that's interesting to her, too. She takes his hand and stands, trying not to wince. "You'll be alright. Everything will be alright, you'll see."

"He did, huh? Well, can't say I don't understand why." His gaze hardens just a bit when he focuses on the bruises on April's face. She takes his hand and stands and Caden wraps an arm around her waist, leaning in to kiss her temple just above a bruise. What she says makes him feel better, for now, and he smiles softly.

"Thank you," he says sincerely, and he's relieved that April can take this in stride. "And you're right, it will. Now let's get you onto the jet so you can get some rest."

He carries her bag over to the door and opens it for her, sparing once last glance around the room before shutting the door with a loud click. Then he takes April's hand again, for as much his benefit as hers, and leads her to the elevator. "I have a private plane waiting. I just didn't want to deal with anyone, and I figured you wouldn't either."

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[closed - Caden]

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