Matt levels Josh with a murderous look, and for a long moment, I'm afraid that they'll start a brawl, but eventually, Matt backs down.

Gwen wrings her hands, unable to look any of us in the eye. "I'm sorry," she mumbles. "My dad wants to talk to you guys anyhow. He's in the kitchen."

Quentin levels her with a distrustful look. "How do we know it's not a trap?"

Gwen sighs, stepping down from the ladder and into the main house. "I can't force you to trust me," she says, "but I thought I should let you know at least that the bandits are looking for Cassandra. We didn't tell them you were here, though you may want to leave as soon as you can before they come back."

With that, Gwen disappears into the main house, leaving the attic entrance open for us to go if we want.

"Well," I sigh, "that could have gone worse..."

Josh rolls his eyes and heads towards the ladder. "I'm going to see what the Hell is going on around here," he says, climbing down.

Sparrow and Quentin both exchange careful glances, following Josh down the ladder. Matt wordlessly follows after them, leaving just Dani and me in the attic.

"At least they're just looking for me," I mumble, leaning against Dani.

"The fact that they're looking for any of us is worrying," Dani returns.

"What are we supposed to do, then? We can't leave right now, not with the Widow's just outside."

"And Steele complicates matters," Dani agrees quietly.

I groan, burying my face in the crook of Dani's neck. "Ugh, we should have just stayed with the Valkyrie after we found you..."

Dani hugs me gently, kissing the crown of my head. "We knew how dangerous this was going into it," she soothes.

I part from her just far enough to look her in the face. "You could have said no, you know."

"I know," she says, a soft look in her eyes. "But then I wouldn't be able to do this," she presses a gentle kiss to my lips, and I melt like putty in her arms.

"You raise a good argument," I mutter against her mouth and give her another kiss.

Dani sighs, leaning back to look at me. "We should head downstairs before the boys cause any damage," she says.

I groan, knowing she's right, but not a fan of it. I give her one last kiss before we stand and head towards the attic entrance. Dani goes down first and helps me down the ladder. Almost as soon as we're in the main house, we hear raised voices from the kitchen, and my heart skips a beat.

Dani and I quickly make our way downstairs, where the boys are nearly nose to nose with Hank, Owen, and John, with Gwen in the middle trying to break it up.

"You should have said you were working with the Widow's!" Josh exclaims as Gwen tries to nudge him out of her grandfather's face.

"Then you'd try killin' us!" Hank returns.

Dani steps into the kitchen before I do, raising her voice. "Can everybody just CALM THE FUCK DOWN?!"

The room silences as everyone freezes, staring at Dani as I enter behind her.

"Thank you," Dani grumbles. "Let's back up a bit; John, what the Hell is going on here?"

John looks around at all of us gathered and heaves a sigh. "Well, quite what you'd expect, I reckon; those bandits - the 'Widow's' as you call them - are using us to gather supplies for them."

Dani and Josh exchange knowing glances. "How long has this been going on?" Dani asks.

John scratches his chin in thought before slumping into a chair at the kitchen table. "Oh, about a year now, I believe. They come every week to take a portion of the goods we gather and some of the produce we grow."

Hank sits at the table as well, his arms crossed and his face stern. "And they don't take too kindly to strangers, either."

Sparrow looks over at him, concerned. "Why not?" He asks. "The more people they get to gather supplies, the faster they can get what they want."

Conner scoffs. "You'd think," he growls. "But no. If they find out others are stayin' with us, they'll just increase our workload."

Hank looks thoughtfully over at me, rubbing his scruffy beard. "Well, not all of them."

John slaps Hank in the arm, hard, and Hank recoils. "We won't be havin' none of that, boy! These are good people!"

"Those Widow folk out there don't care!" Hank returns. "You heard them yourself, Dad; if we trade that girl over there - " he jabs a thumb over at me - "the rest of us get to go free!"

Everyone explodes into arguments again; Sparrow leaps to get into Hank's face as Quentin tries pulling him back; John stands and tries to stop Hank from swinging at Sparrow; Gwen makes an attempt to push the two away from one another as Connor simply stands back to watch with Matt; Josh argues loudly with John, jabbing an accusing finger at his chest; Dani puts herself between me and everyone else, trying to back me away from the mess before I get physically involved.

"Come on," Dani mutters back to me as we back away. "Let's get you out of here." She steers me out of the kitchen and into the living room, up the stairs, and into the bedroom I woke up in, carefully closes the door behind us, and heaves a sigh.

I take a careful seat on the bed, my side aching. "All this fuss for little 'ole me, huh?"

"We're not going to trade you," Dani declares, crossing the room to stand in front of me.

"I know that you won't," I sigh. "It's John and the others I'm worried about..."

Dani gently takes hold of my hands and places a kiss on my knuckles, her steely-gray eyes burning with determination. "I won't let them take you."

I pull her in so I can wrap my arms around her, burying my face in her abdomen while I stop myself from shaking.

We have to leave.

There's no other choice.

We can't wait for me to heal up. By the time I'm all healed, the Widow's will be back, and Steele will likely butcher my friends. Dani knows it, too; I can feel it in the way her arms quiver around me.

"Then we'll go," I mutter into her shirt.

Dani stays quiet for a long moment, and I know she hates the idea just as much as I do, but eventually, she sighs, "We'll leave tonight, then."

I nod again, unable to look up at her and see the disappointment I know is on her face. I know she's just as tired of being on the road as I am, but we can't risk being sold out to the Widow's, no matter what the reward would be for anyone else.

We stay like that for a long while, at least until the shouting from downstairs subsides, and eventually, Josh and the boys knock on our door.

"Come in," I answer as Dani steps away, though I keep her in arms reach.

Josh, Sparrow, Matt, and Quentin slump in, looking tired, though no worse for wear.

"So, what's the situation?" Dani asks, her hand on my back.

"Well," Josh sighs. "We managed to convince Hank not to sell out Cass."

"That's good," Dani breathes.

"Yeah," Josh continues, rubbing the back of his neck, sounding unconvinced. "John said that he and his family are going to talk over what to do next, but in the meantime, we're welcome to stay the night and rest up."

Sparrow scoffs. "Yeah, as if that doesn't sound ominous or anything."

"Look," Josh grumbles, "we bought one more night for Cass to recover; that's better than being kicked to the streets."

"Or to the Widow's," Dani remarks.

"Exactly," Josh adds. "So, let's just get some rest for now, maybe see if there's anything around the farm we can do to help out, and hope they come to the right choice in the morning."

Matt rolls his eyes. "Or wake up with a knife in the back..." he mutters.

"Shut up, Matt," we all say at once.

The boys file out of the room to head to what I assume is their own room - or rooms - leaving just Dani and me alone. Dani shuts the door behind them and locks it, groaning with annoyance.

"He really just pisses me off sometimes," Dani grumbles, flopping on the bed beside me.

"Remind me again why we keep him around?"

"It was your idea."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

Dani actually giggles at that.

I glance over at her, an eyebrow raised in question, and I see that she's already staring at me with soft fondness that makes my heart flutter.

I can't help the startled chuckle from escaping as I quickly glance away, my face flushing. "W-what's that look for?"

"Nothing," she muses, taking one of my hands in her own. "I'm just glad you're okay now."

Her smile is so soft, the softest I've ever seen it, and butterflies erupt in my stomach at the realization that I'm the one that smile is for.

God, I can't believe her sometimes. It's like my brain just can't comprehend it.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I finally laugh, giving Dani's arm a playful nudge as her grin only widens.

"What? I can't look at the woman I love with adoration?" She returns, grabbing my arm as I try to nudge her away again.

If she keeps this up, I'm going to swoon to death!

"Oh my God, Dani, shut up!" My face flushes as I look away, my heart racing as she pulls me closer. Why am I getting so flustered all of a sudden? It's just Dani!

You know, the woman you're totally in love with, would kill a man for, and the woman who you happen to be alone in a room with...

Oh, God, I'm so anxious.

Dani playfully pulls me further, though a little rougher than I anticipate, and I all but tumble on top of her, unable to catch myself, and we land flat on the bed. She stares up at me, her face much more flushed than mine, and I can't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Dani asks, her voice cracking nervously.

I lay flush against her, my hands steepled together over her breast as I smugly grin down at her, my body perfectly slotted to hers. "Oh, nothing. It's funny how fast you lose confidence when you're not the one in the lead, though."

Dani's face goes cherry red in an instant, her eyes wide, and mouth agape, opening and closing like a fish out of water as she tries to formulate words.

My, how the tables have turned.

My laughter bubbles up before I can stop it, and I bury my face in her neck to hide my amusement, making Dani stiffen. "I'm sorry, it's just so hard to find some time to spend with just us, and I'm... well, a bit nervous..."

Dani gives a noncommittal hum in acknowledgment, her arms snaking around my waist and pulling me against her.

"You know," she eventually says, quietly, carefully, her voice rumbling in her chest, "we haven't really had any time to ourselves since... well, since you found me again."

I smirk down at her as she avoids my gaze. "No," I purr, "we haven't." My hands wander to her sides, where her muscles stiffen at the contact, and Dani's breath hitches.

"I-it's, er, nice," she squeaks as my hands travel lower, playing with the hem of her shirt as I ghost a kiss against her neck. "Ah," she gasps out softly, her hands suddenly trembling against me.

"Mm-hm," I agree, enjoying the feel of her warm, firm abs under my hands as I skim my fingers over them under her shirt, kissing my way down her jaw, her neck, and to her collar.

I want to show her just how much she means to me. I want to show her how much I love her. I want her to know me, and I want to know her.

I just want her.

Impatient, my hips grind into hers, and she moans as I nip at her neck.

"Cass, wait," Dani goes stiff as a board as my hands slide to the hem of her pants, "wait, no," her hands fly to my waist, and I freeze, quickly sitting up against her, straddling her hips as I stare, wide-eyed and scared I hurt her.

Dani's face is flush, her eyes lidded, her breath ragged.

And she won't look at me.