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Grace Mallory wasn't a saint. She wasn't the sweetest. But she was a strong, fearless woman. She was always straight-forward, maybe a bit harsh, but her one soft spot was for her granddaughters.

"I don't want you involved, period."

"But you started this."

"Which is exactly why I want you to stay out of it."

"All I've ever wanted is to follow in your footsteps, Gran."

"And I want you to be better."

Cassius cracks her knuckles silently from the backseat, a deep frown settling across her lips as she takes in the surroundings outside of the window.

"Butcher." She says calmly.

"Yes, love?" He glances at her cautiously through the rear-view mirror.

She chuckles deeply to herself, shaking her head. "Do you think I'm a fucking idiot?"

"Quite the opposite, actually." Butcher cracks as Hughie's glances confused between the two.

Cass scoffs. "God, you truly are desperate." Venom pours off the tongue and her eyes pierce into the rear-view mirror as they drive down the long, graveled driveway.

"You know where we are?" Hughie asks her cluelessly, obviously being the the middle of nowhere isn't such a popular fucking place that would be familiar to most.

"Don't I?" She bites, clearing her throat. "If you think bringing me here is going to sweeten her up, you're sorely fucking mistaken."

"Eh, everyone has a soft spot, don't they?" Butcher muses lightly, but in all honesty she was right, she always is. Butcher knows damn well Grace isn't going to give him what he wants the easy way, and having her granddaughter with him would hopefully do him some tiny favor.

Cassius on the other hands knows her grandmother is going to have something to say about her coming back. But how can one truly ever step away?

The car comes to a stop and Butcher kills the engine. The door creeks open as Butcher is first to step out before Cassius throws the door open and her boots crunch as she hops out much more abruptly.

She steps towards Butcher, wondering who the hell would ever make two of them. Two black-haired, Australian-accented cunts who get off making everyone's lives around them miserable.

A sinister smile paints across her lips before she speaks. "I hope she tells you to go to hell and that you burn there." She raises a brow before taking a step back and takes in the scenery around her, the mundaneness of it all wrapping itself around her throat, squeezing her from the inside out.

The water tricking, the American flagging blowing in the wind, the birds chirping in the distance. It was all a facade. She couldn't imagine starting over. Distraction? Sure. Working at the hospital wasn't her getaway, it was her distraction. And distractions only work until you come home to an empty apartment. Then you turn to alcohol.

Cass preps herself for her grandmother's disappointment. She could take it from anybody else, not giving an absolute damn if someone was disappointed in her. That would mean she valued their opinion in the first place. But this was Gran.

They walk around the glass house as Hughie glances every direction, trying to figure out where they're at. Butcher stops when he see's her, face drowning in emotion. Cass's eyes land on the elder woman, looking off into the mass of trees and deep woods with binoculars. The small swig she took from her flask in the car aiding nothing to have this conversation.

Butcher starts down the path, Cass staring daggers into the back of his head as she follows, Hughie realizing they're moving towards the person standing idly. Butcher steps up right beside her, Cassius and Hughie both choosing to stay back.

"William." Grace states as she continues to watch through her binoculars.

"What are you looking at out there?" He asks her.

"Eastern meadowlarks." She answers. "It was either bird-watching or alcoholism," Her words pin Cass down as she notices her grandmother's head angle down ever so slightly as her eyes stretch to glance behind her. Grace Mallory's already lost a daughter to alcohol, Cass's mother, and she would be a fucking fool to not know the enticing liquid poison took hold of Cass after Kennedy and Caroline were...

"So..." Grace trails off for a moment before speaking again. "I thought we agreed that you were never going to come out here." She draws the optical instrument down from her face. "And bringing her with you doesn't change that." Her voice clips.

"Yeah, well, you taught me a thing or two about broken promises." Butcher retorts, turning to finally look at her. "Didn't you?" She looks up, meeting his gaze before he turns all the way around, stretching his arm out he pats Hughie on the shoulder as he steps forward, looking at Grace curiously. "This is Hugh Campbell." He introduces and Hughie gives her a quick smile. "We're working with M.M., Bellamy, and Frenchie. I got the Boys back together."

"Grace Mallory." She turns to Hughie. Mallory... Hughie's piecing together. "I'm the founder of your little club." She muses. "And Cass's grandmother."

Hughie brows shoot up as he flashes a quick look between Cassius and Grace before holding his hand out. "You're, uh..."

"So, let me hear it." Grace ignores Hughie's hand which he quickly retracts. Cassius blows out a breath.

"I need your help." Butcher says.

"Sorry, I can't." Grace's eyes squint. "I'm hoping to photograph a snowy owl in the dunes." She lifts her binoculars for a moment, facing forward once again. Hughie's learning where Cassius gets her sense of blunt humor from.

Butcher glimpse over at Cass who gives him a hard stare before he sighs. "Look... I didn't want to come here, and Cassius didn't know we were, but I need your help. And you're going to fucking help." He presses. Hughie's eyes widen.

"Why's that?"

Butcher steps in front of her as Grace keeps her gaze forward. "Because you owe me." This causes her to snap her head up to him, and Cass scoffs at his words. "You fucking owe me, goddamn it." His tone his broken and desperate.

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0вυттєявιѕ¢υιт7 ѕρєαкѕ!

Hello, helloooo... and welcome back to Moronic Morois ;)

Apologies for not updating the past couple weeks... I've been working rlly hard these past couple weeks bc it's a deep one & I wanted to take my time on it!!

CASS & GRACE FINALLY INTERACTTT!! AHHH!! Also Gran just felt right for her haha & y'all got Cass loreeee!!! Also I just love Hughie being confused about the whole situation & Cass & Grace bahaha.

I rlly hope y'all enjoyeddd!! Don't be afraid to comment your thought, questions, & reactions!! And this chap ended up being so long I split it into twooo sooo... until thennn ;)