#ahahahahahahaa

Do you like my "bird cage?" 🥹🥹

 At first neither of them said anything. They simply stared at the other, eyes wide as they held their breath. Finally, Zander stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. It didn’t go unnoticed that Cain flinched when he walked past him. He took the seat across from him, he still wasn’t used to doing the actual questioning part of things, and he certainly wasn’t prepared for this, but it had to be done. Cain wouldn’t look him in the eye now, he kept his eyes on the table. He looked like he just wanted to disappear. Despite this, he was the first one of them to speak up.

 “You can go ahead and laugh at me…” He said softly, his voice hoarse. “I know I certainly deserve it…”

 “I’m not going to laugh at you.” A part of him still couldn’t believe he was actually speaking to him after so long with no contact.

 “I understand if you’re angry…” He continued slowly, choosing his words carefully. “You have every right to be.”

 “I’m not angry.” He sighed, and Cain finally looked up, meeting his eye, and Zander saw just how scared he really was. 

 “Why not? You should be, you- you should be furious, you should- you can hurt me, hit me if you’d like, please, I deserve it-“

 “No you don’t.” He told him, and Cain looked almost desperate, like he was ready to just *beg him*. “You didn’t deserve any of this. I’m sorry.” He said softly. 

 “Don’t apologize to me. This- this is what I get, for everything I did. I was… I know I was awful, and I knew it then, and you should be mad at me, for all of it…”

 “You tormented me for seven years.” He said bluntly, and Cain nodded. “You beat me, you starved me, you whipped me more times than I can count.”

 “I know…”

 “You forced me into life threatening fights for your entertainment. You dehumanized me, you took my name, my dignity, my future, you took everything from me.”

 “I know…” He said, softer this time.

 “And you repeatedly, knowing what would happen, handed me over to a rapist.” Cain flinched when he said that, staring down at the table.

 “I know… I’m so sorry…” 

 “But I’m not mad. I forgave you a long time ago.” He told him, and it was the truth. Right now he didn’t feel angry, he was still reeling from the shock of seeing Cain to begin with, but more than anything when he looked at him, he just felt pity. 

 ”Why…?”

 “I was… tired of being angry…” He said slowly, keeping his eyes down. “I’ve been angry for so, so long, I just… wanted to let a little bit of it go… I forgave you for what you did to me, but I can’t forgive you for what you did to Wren… that’s not for me to forgive…” 

 “Wren… is he…?”

 “His name is Elias. He left when he heard you were here. He said he’d hurt you if he saw you.” Eli had actually begged to be let in there, specifically because he wanted to hurt him, and while Zander didn’t exactly blame him, now wasn’t the best time for that. 

 “I’d deserve it…” He muttered, looking somewhat disappointed. “I want to apologize to him too.” He said, and he sounded sincere. 

 “He doesn’t want to hear it. He’s a lo angrier than I am.” He told him, and it was a bit of a warning just in case Elias did get near him. He might not be there to hold him back, actually, he might not even want to hold him back at all. He’d spent more than enough time being angry, he figured it was just Eli’s turn. 

 “That’s fair I guess…” He said, staring down at the table. He went silent, like he didn’t know what to say, but Zander certainly had some questions of his own.

 “What happened?” He asked. “You- You just disappeared, you fucking left us there, why?” 

 “I didn’t mean to, I, it was Nicholas-”

 “Oh of fucking course it was!” He couldn’t help the anger that overtook him, he may have forgiven Cain but he could not, would not ever forgive Nicholas. He wasn’t even surprised, he should’ve expected something like this. “I always knew there was something fucking off about that bastard!” He snapped, Cain flinching as he slammed his hand down on the table. 

 “I’m sorry…” He said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I… I wish I’d never brought him around to you two, at all for that matter, I just…”

 “It doesn’t matter.” He sighed, anxiously running his hand through his hair. “It’s over and done with, you can’t change it. I’m just glad you’re safe.” He said, and he didn’t realize until he’d said it that he really meant it. It felt as if some extra weight had been lifted off his shoulders, one less thing to worry about, one less thing to keep him up at night. Cain was here, and he was alive, and that was really all he’d been hoping for out of this situation. Cain made a sound, like a sniffle, and when he looked him in the face he saw that he was crying. “Fuck, sir-”

 “Don’t- Don’t call me…” He took a shuddering breath, raising his hands to wipe at his eyes. Zander didn’t know what to do, it’s not as though it were the first time he’d seen him cry, but still, it had been so long, and all of this was still so unbelievable. He didn’t know what to do, so he just reached across the table and took Cain’s hand in his. He didn’t let himself break, he was still trying to blink back tears, squeezing Zander’s hand tightly. “Don’t… Don’t call me that- and, why- why are you still wearing that?” He asked, pointing at his collar, his voice cracked but apparently the collar was bothering him more than what Zander had said. Zander jerked his hand away just to grab it, almost as though he thought Cain would try to take it from him.

 “It doesn’t matter.” He told him.

 “Yes it does, have you been wearing that this whole fucking time?” He asked. He didn’t look angry, he was still blinking away tears, but he looked shocked, like he couldn’t believe it. 

 “It doesn’t matter.” He repeated. He noticed Cain was still wearing his collar, which was to be expected, new rescues usually still weren’t ready or weren’t able to take them off. Still, it was weird to see him wearing one, in fact he really, really hated it. The last time he saw him wear a collar it was a shock collar, something he wished he could’ve forgotten. “What about you? Do you need help getting that off?” He asked, gesturing to it. He didn’t let Cain answer, he wouldn’t have done this with any other rescue but he got up and came behind him, already fiddling with the latch on the back. Cain tensed up but he didn’t stop him, and Zander got it off him, only just now catching sight of the gold tag. It didn’t have his name engraved on it, instead all it said was the word Bitch in a pretty font. “Do you want to keep this?” He asked, scowling. 

 “No…” Cain said quietly.

 “Do you want me to get rid of it for you?” He asked, and Cain nodded. He stuffed it into his jacket pocket for now, he’d throw it out later. He went and sat back down across from him. He almost couldn’t even look at him, it was just wrong. Cain wasn’t supposed to be like this, thin and frail in ill fitting clothing, subdued and quiet. He should’ve been loud and obnoxious, an arrogant asshole who talked down to everyone around him, he didn’t know exactly what Nicholas had done to him but he had a few ideas, and it all just made him more and more angry. He tried to keep his expression neutral, Cain kept giving him that wary look that people gave when he was angry. “Do you have any idea what you’re going to do from here?” He asked. Usually they focused on finding anybody to reunite the rescues with, but he already knew that Cain didn’t have anybody. Since his father passed, it had always been him, and Zander, and he sure as hell was not about to let Cain Whitaker into his apartment, no matter how bad he felt for him. 

 “I’d need to make a few calls but I think that I can manage…” He shrugged. “There were always arrangements in place in case I needed to… disappear for a little bit. I think Nicholas wanted to just avoid any extra suspicion but I was able to rely on that when everything first happened. I’ll have somewhere to go in no time.” He told him, and Zander was already pulling his own phone out to hand it to him, but he paused, looking at him warily.

 “Are… are you going back to all that? Back to the dog stuff?” He asked, and Cain looked at him like he was crazy.

 “Of course not! Even if I wanted to… that’s Nicholas’ territory now, he’s the one in charge, there’s nothing I could do short of killing him to take that back.”

 “And how do you know he’s not going to try and take you back?” Zander asked him. “You aren’t even safe, are you?”

 “Well… no.” He said, visibly bothered as he hadn’t even thought about this. “No, not now, but there’s things I can do, better security, hired protection, things like that.” He said, waving his hand dismissively. He was starting to sound like the Cain he remembered again, more sure of himself.

 “Okay, and that’s something you’re able to just, afford? You’ve been gone for so long-” He started, and Cain laughed.

 “What? You think my father didn’t go to great lengths to protect our money? Financially, I’ll be fine, that’s the least of my problems.” He said. Zander had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, he’d forgotten how annoying it could be to be around rich people. He finally gave in and unlocked his phone though, pulling up the keypad and handing it to him.

 “Here, go ahead and make those calls then. I’ll give you some time alone.” He told him, getting up and leaving the room so he could have some privacy. 

 He still wasn’t entirely sure what he was feeling. He was relieved, yes, he no longer had to stay up at night wondering where Cain was, if he was okay, if he intended to drag him back to that awful mansion with that awful cell, but this brought on a whole new wave of feelings. He felt like reasonably, this was supposed to be where they parted ways. Cain was safe and he could return to some semblance of his normal life. Zander would continue what he was doing, there was no reason for them to ever speak again, but… somehow he wasn’t satisfied with that. The idea of spending more time with Cain than he had to wasn’t exactly appealing, but after seven years together, being without him completely just felt wrong. He didn’t quite know how to describe it, and he couldn’t even imagine trying to bring it up to Eli. It made his head hurt to think about, he couldn’t help but hope this would all sort itself out soon.

 ***

 He stayed later than he should have. Once he’d finished talking with Cain there were other’s, some of the higher ups had business with him. Zander could guess what about, but it wasn’t any of his business. Still, he stayed around just in case, he wanted to know how this would end for Cain he supposed. He had his own things to take care of anyway, it wasn’t hard to stay busy, but eventually he was called back to that room. Apparently Cain wanted to see him, and he figured that after this, he could finally go home.

 Cain was looking better than when he’d first seen him earlier that day. He still looked tired, especially after spending the better part of the day in a single room likely being questioned repeatedly, but he didn’t seem as scared. One thing Zander remembered was how good Cain was at appearing as though he were sure of himself and at least semi in control of what was going on, even if he was just acting, and he could see that in him now. 

 “I need a favor…” He said, almost cautiously, and Zander had to resist the urge to tell him no. It wasn’t even that he didn’t want to, he just wanted to know what Cain would do now that he didn’t own him. 

 “What is it?” He asked, leaning against the wall near the door and crossing his arms.

 “Earlier I made arrangements for a place to stay for a few nights. Can you help me get there?” He asked.

 “I… I mean, I guess. What, too cheap to call a taxi?” He snickered, mostly joking, but something about Cain’s face made him shut up, like there was something more to it.

 “No, I’m not, but I can’t actually get anywhere on my own.” He said bluntly. “If I have to lean on somebody I’d rather it not be a stranger.” He said.

 “What do you mean…?” He asked, watching as Cain braced his hands on the table for leverage as he slowly, shakily stood up. It was obvious it hurt him to do so, and Zander was almost immediately at his side, ready to grab him in case he fell. “What happened?” He asked, giving Cain his arm to hold onto. “What did he do?”

 “Don’t… I don’t… let’s not talk about that…” He said, making a face. 

 “S- Cain-”

 “No.” He said sternly, stern enough to shut Zander up. He focused on helping him out of the room, allowing Cain to lean against him, and he realized just how light he really felt. He was shaking badly too, Zander just wanted to get him out of there and into his car already, but they had to go slow, he let Cain set the pace. He couldn’t quite tell what exactly was wrong with his legs, he didn’t know if Cain would ever tell him, but he knew it was Nicholas’ fault, and that was enough to piss him off beyond belief.