3. The Call

" hang .....ah..ha..ah.Will..d-don't tease .." Cassie mewled and moaned, her knuckles white from gripping the headboard. The things Will could do with his tongue, criminal.

"Oh, but honey, you're so cute when you beg." William popped his head out from under the sheet, grinning. " I love those noises you make."

He was far too impressed with himself as he hurried up into the bed beside his girlfriend. As if his ego needed further boosting, turning his lover into a begging mess certainly did the job.

Wrapping his arms around the other, bringing the slender girl back against his chest, William let his hands wander. He felt the quivering anticipation of the blonde's musculature, flexing abdominal and obliques. Each breath, withering and shuddering, pleaded for the satisfaction only he could provide.

"but if you insist," he all but purred against Cassie's ear as he pushed inside agonizingly slow.

'Oh! My ah Will! ..." Cassie couldn't help it. She held onto Will's muscular arm and let the man's hand have her about the neck and waist.

This was a nearly everyday occurrence in the pair's apartment. They both had quite the sex drive, which often caused their neighbors to hear a little more than they honestly wanted to.

Cassie often got dirty looks from Victoria at work and thumbed up from Anthony as the two lived next door. Occasionally, the odd look and blush from Felicia, who would sleep in her sister's apartment between shifts or stop in to feed the cat.

Still, Cassie wouldn't trade it for the world. In a way, she was a little proud. It was a testament to her lover's prowess in the bedroom.

The headboard was slamming against the wall violently. If they ever moved, they would have to re-plaster the holes and repaint where the edges were dug in the drywall, leaving dents and spidery cracks. Not that Cassie was ..really concerned about that at the moment.

"Say my name!" William half groaned half yelled. Sweating and holding the back of the blonde's knees as he nailed her to the mattress.

Cassie's eyes rolled back a little, and she was drooling. Let it never be said that Will lied about his.. endowments..exaggerated, yes...not a complete lie, though ."Ahh.Will.William! "

A few blissful minutes later

"Ugh. I'm gross. I need a shower ." Cassie said, staring up at the ceiling. Next to her, a rather proud historian was slipping back in bed after making a naked beer run to the kitchen."Aww.. look at my little Twinkie!"

"What...are you talking about? How am I a Twinkie?" Cassie glanced sideways at her boyfriend. Why did Will have to come up with random weird pet names?

"cause you are golden and cream filled." He grinned wolfishly and was too proud of himself for the crude pun.

"Oh god, Will! Really? .... that's nasty. " Still, she smiled and laughed at her lover's rather immature humor. "Whatever, I'm taking a shower; you should too. You're all sweaty and stinky."

"What! You know I'm hurt. I do not stink. This is an awesome manly musk! The scent of my claim is in this room!" William said, sprawling, taking up the whole bed after Cassie got up. Will, of course, did not waste the chance to reach out and press the cold glass of the beer bottle against her bare bottom.

"Ahh! That's cold! " Cassie scowled before heading off to the bathroom, followed by laughter.

After Cassie exited the shower, she found William looking somewhat annoyed at his phone. His brow furrowed slightly as he scrolled through whatever news feed he saw.

"What's wrong, don't tell me that you tweeted that we had sex. I told you that's embarrassing, and even if you deleted it, someone could still have seen it ." Cassie had a time calming Conrad down after the ' I deflowered Cass ' tweet last year and finding out the status of your sister's virginity - via Twitter ...not something someone with a gun should see before their morning coffee.

"No, Victoria called. They need you to come in, something about Friday night rush ." poor Will, hated Cassie going into the hospital so late, despite knowing the blonde could handle herself.

He still worried about his girlfriend. William had never been in a relationship this serious or even thought himself capable of it. There were times he was terrified just thinking about it. He vaguely remembered a talk his grandfather had given him about "finding the one." He could, with complete certainty, say that Cassie was his one.

" Oh, okay, well, I had better get dressed then .", she said quickly as a breeze as she turned on her heels and headed to the wardrobe.

" Babe, don't go. Can't you call in sick? " William was pouting. It didn't suit him.

"Hun, you know I have to. They wouldn't call me in tonight unless they were short-handed, and Friday nights are usually busy anyway. " Cassie slipped on her scrubs before leaning over and kissing her boyfriend's lips. " I'll be back before you know it, and I'm off tomorrow so that you will have me all to yourself. "

 

Cassie left and didn't think for one second her promise was a lie.

When Cassie arrived to start her shift, the ER was already alive with action. She steeled her nerve before signing her name on the whiteboard and picking up a few clipboards. She adjusted her silver wireframe as she scanned patient information, only looking up at the elevator doors open at the end of the hall. She spotted Felicia stepping out of the elevator with a small bag over her shoulder.

"hey Felicia, headed home ? " she asked, slightly envious. By the looks of things, she had a long shift ahead of her.

" oh no, I'm just headed to Victoria's apartment to sleep for a bit. I'm picking up the early morning shift for Taylor; he couldn't come in because he had to take his dog to the vet. " Felicia was always rather kind to offer to cover for the other nurses on her floor.

Cassie had to hand it to the other woman and her infinite well of kindness. "That's nice of you; enjoy your rest !" Watching the other nurse leave, Cassie took one more deep breath, freeing an elastic from her wrist and securing her shoulder-length hair. "Alright, let's do this."

It was 3 am, and Cassie was finally getting a break. Friday nights were the worst. Bar fights, car wrecks, or teenagers doing dumb things to kick off their weekend. It was both horrible and exciting; it was what she loved and hated about working in the ER. There had been a few easy things here and there. A little girl with a Lego jammed up her nose; her mother seemed more upset than she was. And a sweet little older man who had cut his hand on the can opener. Cassie excelled at the patient's bedside. She could calm almost anyone down. 

She never thought that she would need the same help.

Leaning up against the wall sipping a soda, praying for the sugar to kick in, the blonde felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. The caller ID read " Nurse Barbie " ...William had renamed her contacts again. Cassie rolled her eyes and answered she'd have to see what other things Will had altered later.

"Hello, Felicia."

"Ca- Cassie ..Thank God!, you answered; oh, Cassie! " The ordinarily cheerful woman sounded panicked.

"Felicia, what's the matter? Are the cats sick ?" She immediately assumed the little redhead was woken by one of Victoria's cats coughing up a hairball and thought it was dying. This wasn't the first time this had happened.

"No... I heard something in your apartment. It sounded like someone fighting, then a loud sound, so I called Will, but he didn't answer. I got scared and called Luke, and he told me to call the police. I called you right after. There are so many cops in the hall I don't know what's going on, and I'm afraid to go see."

Cassie felt a cold stabbing around her heart. She knew ..something was wrong; something was very wrong. " I'm coming ." 

Se hung up and ran right past the check-in. Victoria stood up shouting, asking where she was going, but she didn't stop. Something was very wrong. As soon as she was in the car, she frantically called William's cell. It went straight to voice mail.

"Damn it, pick up!" She shouted, pounding on the steering wheel. After two more tries, the blond disregarded the phone to the passenger seat and raced the few blocks home.  

When she arrived there, there were police everywhere, but that was not what worried her. It was the ambulance that pulled in after she did.  Cassie felt like she couldn't breathe, jumping out of the car and running up the stairs after the EMT.  

"Will!!" She shouted when she hit the floor, their apartment was on. One of the officers stopped her and held her back by the shoulders.

"I live here. Let me go! My boyfriend is there. Please let me go !" Cassie cried out, trying to pry the man's hands off her.

The cop was a tall man with stark grey hair. He looked at the blonde wearily. " I think you should sit down; I need to talk to you, alright, but let's find someplace quiet, okay? Do you have any friends near here?"

"Cassie .." Felicia popped out of the apartment, seeing the officer holding her friend back.

The officer turned back, eyeing the short young woman, "You're the one who called, right? Do you know this girl?"

"Yes, Sir, we work together. We're friends." Felicia opened the door and let the officer guide Cassie inside.  

Cassie's heart was beating a mile a minute. What was going on? What had happened? Worse, the look in the police officer's eyes, so profound, so...grim.

" Miss, this isn't any easy," The officer began. They were standing at the entrance of Victoria's apartment, and it was killing Cassie to be out of eyeshot of her apartment. "It appears there had been a home invasion." He continued. "The assailant looked unaware of your boyfriend's presence when they gained entry. "

Felicia held Cassie's trembling hand as time slowed down with the man's words. It felt like everything inside her was being torn into pieces too small ever to be repaired.

"The suspect shot your boyfriend. I'm sorry, Ms. Baker; he was already gone when my men arrived. " 

Cassie's eyes flitted to the open door. She wanted to bolt. It couldn't be true couldn't be real. She had just talked to Will. They had just been together. This was a good neighborhood. Things like this didn't happen. It just..didn't happen. That's when she saw it; the EMT brought the stretcher laden with the black body bag down the hall. The little blonde couldn't contain herself and ran to the door, a sob ripping from her, screaming unintelligible sounds of loss.

"Cassie, don't," Felicia cried out, falling behind her friend, grabbing the blonde by the shoulders as Cassie hit her knees.

"Please, Felicia, I can't let them take him, please! "

" Okay, we'll go ..we'll follow them ." Felicia was fighting her tears; how would she tell her husband that his big brother was dead?

The ride in Felicia's car following the ambulance was a silent one. The redhead tried her best to keep it together and call her husband. She couldn't tell him over the phone, though, she just told him something had happened, and he needed to go to the hospital immediately. When Luke asked her what the matter was and if she was hurt, and if it was about what she heard in his brother's brother's apartment, Felicia just cried.  

Cassie looked so empty sitting in the passenger seat, which worried her friend deeply. When they pulled up to the hospital's back entrance where they would be taking William's body down to the morgue, they saw Oliver running out; he had been told a body was coming in, and when he saw the address on the report, he was concerned. Even more so when he saw the young woman's hollow gaze as he crossed the parking lot.

The man wouldn't say anything. What could he say? He just reached out and embraced the girl. Holding her to his chest in a rare show of affection, Cassie didn't reciprocate. She just stood there completely numb.

Just one call, one call. The worst call ... Everything had changed in the blink of an eye.