At dinner that night, Nathan's phone dinged, and the text read,

Charlie Cutter

 See you in a bit :)

Nathan frowned and stared at it for a moment. Elena paused in the middle of lifting her fork and asked,

"Something wrong?"

"Charlie is being cryptic," Nathan said. "But I wouldn't be surprised if we see him soon." He handed the phone across the table to her. Sam and Cassie were listening now. Elena raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. Weird."

"Is Charlie coming?" Cassie asked.

"Possibly," Nathan said.

Not twenty minutes later, they were cleaning up from dinner when someone opened their front door without warning. Charlie's figure loomed in the doorway.

"Am I a' the right 'ouse?" he exclaimed. Nathan burst out laughing.

"What the hell are you doing here, Charlie?" he grinned. Sam approached Charlie first and the two exchanged hello's and shook hands.

"Are ya gonna get your lazy arse up off the couch or not?" Charlie asked, referring back to Nathan. Elena and Cassie watched the men, thoroughly amused.

"If you'd had the week I've had, you wouldn't get up either," Nathan replied, throwing an arm over the back of the couch and reclining further.

"Two days ago, Nathan decided he wanted to fight the floor with his head," Sam said.

"And the floor won," Nathan added dryly.

"Ya always were one to take on a challenge," Charlie said. "I admire the determination."

"This was one fight I wanted to back down from, but the guy with the grenade had other ideas," Nathan said. Charlie looked impressed.

"Sounds rough, mate."

"Yeah, well, can't win them all. Give me a week and I'll be good as new."

"What brings you here, Charlie?" Elena asked, setting down her dish towel. "You must have been at the airport already when we called this morning."

"I was in New York, matter o' fact," Charlie replied. "Wasn't 'ard to hop on a plane to visit, 'specially after I made a few calls and got some news for ya."

"Really? What'd you find out?" Sam asked eagerly. He crossed his arms and leaned forward slightly.

"I was able to go down the grapevine a bit, an' get this- I found a man who's workin' for the Order. He got me a location an' e'rything." Charlie looked smug.

"Oh, I knew I could count on you," Nathan exclaimed. "Tell us everything."

"Well, Charles Marlowe is apparently Katherine's son. He picked up wher' she left off. Built the Order back up from nothin'. Wha' I don't know is how big it's gotten, compared to where it was when our Marlowe died. Just that the fella I talked to seemed to think it was real extensive these days."

"It was pretty crazy before," Nathan said. "She had a private army and moles everywhere."

"See, I'm not sure how much of an army it's got goin' nowadays. It's mor' underground. Buyin' and sellin' information, wi' spies e'rywhere. Not much of an army. They seem to 'ave strayed from the treasure huntin' scene. Spend most of their time workin' intel now."

"So, what put me on their radar?" Sam asked. "If they're not treasure hunting, I'm not their competition."

"Tha' I cannot help you wi', mate," Charlie said.

"Too bad. It's so weird," Nathan said. "You said you got a location?"

"Nate, they're set up in tha' very same underground as we went in, twenty-fookin' years ago."

"You're kidding," Nathan said. "Seriously?"

"Yessirie," Charlie said.

"Awesome. Well," Nathan pushed himself to sit up straighter, "what are we waiting for?"

"Uh, for you to get better?" Elena cut in. "None of you are going anywhere. Especially not off to London in the state you're in." Nathan relaxed.

"Leave it up to Elena to be the voice of reason," he sighed, smiling a bit at his wife. "Suppose we should rest up a little bit more."

"Yeah, Nate, I get how hell-bent you both are on getting to the bottom of this," Elena said, "so, do this the right way. Figure out what you're actually going to do and get a plan to get in and out."

"I'll tell you mates wha'," Charlie said. "I'll catch meself a flight back to London, and scope it out a bit better. When you're ready, I'll get ya ther', in an' out, all smooth like."

"That sounds perfect, Charlie," Sam said, nodding, and Nathan chimed in his agreement.

"You've got to stay for the night, though," Elena said. "Get a plane back tomorrow. As long as you don't mind sleeping on the couch."

"I wouldn't mind a' all, I could definitely use a couple o' winks. One question, though."

"Yeah?" Nathan asked.

"Why didn't you call Sully? He's gotta 'ave more contacts tha' me still." The room grew quiet as everyone realized that Charlie didn't know. "Wha' the 'ell is wrong?" he asked, breaking the silence after a long moment. Sam cleared his throat.

"We, uh, we lost Sully, just over a month ago," he said. "He and I got in a car wreck in Thailand. Landed me in the hospital and he didn't make it out." Charlie opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the right words to say. Eventually all he got out was,

"Bloody 'ell, I'm so sorry. I- I 'adn't heard. That's such a shame."

"I'm sorry you only found out now," Nathan said. "It's just been a rough couple of weeks."

"I can't imagine. He was a bloody fantastic chap. Won't be the same without 'im."

**********

Throughout the whole conversation with Charlie, Cassie had been standing by Elena, fiddling with a pen that had been laying on the counter. The adults had been too engrossed to notice the pen clicking every couple of seconds. Now she spoke up.

"Are you going to London without me?" she asked, trying to play the sympathy card right off the bat, rather than asking if she could go and being told 'No' outright. Nathan looked amused.

"That was the plan," he said. Cassie pouted.

"Kid, do you realize how dangerous it is?" Sam asked her.

"Mom's letting you guys go," she shot back.

"That's a very different situation," Sam said, waving his hand for her to calm down.

"Not really. I'm an adult too, and she could stop you both if she wanted to." Cassie looked at her mom for backup.

"You're both right," Elena sighed. "If Sam's life wasn't on the line, no one would be going. As it is, we're waiting until Nate is well enough."

"Listen, just let me make a case," Cassie said, steadying her voice. She held up her hand and ticked each point off on her fingers as she listed, "Okay, one, I know how to use a gun and I'm a decent shot. Dad made sure of that. Two, neither of you are young anymore and what if you need someone to climb, or get in somewhere small? I can do that. Three, ironically, three's a company and you'll be better off with backup. Even if it's just me. And four... I don't know, I really want to go? And I'll be smart and helpful?"

"This seems like a bad idea," Nathan said. "Listen, honey, I hear you, those are great points, but I think you underestimate how dangerous this is going to be and Sam and I have a lot more experience and a lot less to lose." He took a deep breath. "But I don't have the final say, because I'm going, even after saying how dangerous it is. Elena, hon?"

"I cannot express how much I don't want you to go," Elena said, and Cassie's heart sank. "Charlie, what do you think the situation will be like? How safe do you think it will be?"

"If it's anythin' like last time," Charlie said, "it'll be easy to get in an' hard to get out, once they know we're there. But I can't guarantee anything, darlin'."

"What if..." Cassie began. "What if I'm, like, the getaway driver. Or I just go with you guys, but I don't go in with you at all."

"That could be okay," Nathan said hesitantly. Elena looked apprehensive.

"I could live with that," she finally said. "I better not regret this. You can go to London, but you absolutely do NOT get to be involved. You're just tagging along. No fighting." Cassie almost jumped from excitement.

"Seriously? Oh my God, thanks, Mom."

"Calm down. Don't give me a reason to change my mind," Elena said. "Boys? You don't let anything happen to her." The three of them all nodded solemnly.

"We'll take care of her, hon," Nathan said. "Don't worry."

The house quieted down soon after as everyone started turning in for bed, and Charlie scheduled a flight back around mid-day the next day.

While Elena was getting ready for bed in the bathroom, Cassie said goodnight to Nathan and sat on the bed with him for a minute, cuddled up against his side.

"Thanks for letting me go," she said quietly.

"Yeah, well, don't do anything stupid while we're there, please," he replied.

"Are you going to let me..." she trailed off, knowing he'd pick up on her question.

"Go with us? In the hideout place? After your mom said no?" Nathan said incredulously.

"Yeah." Nathan tilted his head and wrinkled his nose.

"Hmmm...we'll see."

**********