My cheeks flushed even more. Cas was the only one out there. He’d know how much he’d gotten to me. I debated lying and just trying to make do but I decided that was a dumb idea.

I forgot a towel… Can you hand me one?

Sure. I could hear the smile in his voice.

I stood awkwardly behind the shower curtain and pulled one side of it back, trying to hide as much of myself as I could.

“Here you go.” Cas’ eyes were fixed pointedly on my face.

I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around myself as quickly as I could whilst still remaining hidden.

“You know you could have just invited me in rather than ‘forgetting’ your towel.” He teased.

“Shut up, I did forget my towel,” I argued, pulling the curtain back a little to glare at Cas.

“You sure you didn’t just want to tease me?”

I felt my eyebrows come together slightly and tilted my head at him.

He gestured behind me and I turned my head and saw my own confused face staring at me in the mirror behind us. Fuck. He would have seen everything.

“How much did you see?” I said as the blood rushed to my face again.

“Not much, I wasn’t sure if you did it on purpose or not so I didn’t want to look…”

I bit my lip, trying to work out if I had the confidence to say what I wanted to say.

“If I’d remembered it was there I probably would have done it on purpose…” I admitted, teasingly.

Lust darkened his eyes. I realised I could stop now and close the curtain, towel off and put my scrubs on… Or I had another option. I pulled the curtain back slightly, just wide enough for him to slip inside if he wanted to, and stepped back, my eyes never leaving his face. He stepped towards me into the cubicle and pulled the curtain shut behind him. I bit my lip again as he stepped even closer to me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him. My lips soared upwards to reach his as his hands wrapped around my back, pulling me against his body. I gasped into the kiss, my hands stopped holding my towel and came up around his neck. Hunger and desperation raced through me. Suddenly, I didn’t care about the camera, I just wanted to be with Cas. His lips on mine pushed everything else out of my head.

“Fuck.” I moaned, leaning my head back as his lips travelled down my neck.

He stepped forwards, pushing me against the wall and I felt my towel start to come undone but I didn’t care.

A laugh came from behind the curtain and we froze.

“Fuck.” He whispered.

I leant my forehead against his.

“Fuck.” I agreed.

“We should probably…”

“I know.”

I dropped my head back against the shower wall and looked up at him.

“Next time?” He said with a half smile.

“Next time,” I promised.

He stepped away and handed me the towel back, trying to keep his eyes from my body. I smiled and slowly wrapped the towel around myself, enjoying the effect I was having on him. He swallowed audibly before looking around the cubicle.

“You don’t have scrubs… I’ll go get them.”

“Thanks.” I smiled.

He ducked out of the cubicle.

I brought my hands up to my flushed face, thrilled and trying to stop my blush, and listened.

“Cassiopeia! Whatever were you doing in Aries’ shower cubicle?” Gem teased playfully.

He didn’t reply as he quickly escaped back into the cubicle and quickly pulled the curtain closed behind him. He held the scrubs out to me, his face burning. I took them, smiling and waited.

“Are you planning on staying in here whilst I get changed?” I asked finally.

Understanding lit his face.

“Oh! No… I’ll wait out there…”

I smiled as he stepped back towards the curtain.

“You don’t need to.”

He paused and turned, his face flushed and his mouth slightly open as he struggled for composure. Eventually, he looked back at the curtain behind him, regret evident on his face.

“I don’t even want to know what Gem will say if I don’t go out now.” He sighed.

I barely concealed a smirk as I raised an eyebrow.

“As much as I want to stay…” He trailed off his eyes roaming my towel-covered body. “I’ll meet you out there?”

“Okay.”

I smiled, waiting for him to close the curtain again before dropping the towel and changing quickly. They’d given us our usual white scrubs rather than the long-sleeved dark blue ones we’d been wearing earlier. I dragged my fingers through my hair quickly, trying to look more presentable before stepping out of the cubicle and refusing to look Gem (who was grinning widely) in the eye.

“Everyone ready to go?” I asked, glancing at everyone apart from Gem.

“Oh, we’re ready.” She replied for them, her voice suggestive.

I ignored her and turned back to the Guardians who were still waiting by the door.

“We’ll take you back to the storeroom now. A colleague has managed to source a book and has placed it in there.” One of them said, holding the door open for us whilst the other Guardian walked ahead slowly.

“Oh, great! Thank you.” I said as Peggy grinned widely.

I began to follow them and felt Gem step ahead of Cas to walk next to me.

“So… good shower?” She asked casually.

“Mhmm. You?” My cheeks coloured as I felt Cas’ eyes burning into the back of my head.

“Oh, yeah. Real good. Been a while since I had a shower like that.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I burst out laughing, the movement causing pain to flare through my ribs.

I bet the Guardians were not expecting such a… passionate crew. Peggy thought at us.

I stifled a laugh as my face flushed even darker.

I don’t know. We’re all sixteen. What did they expect from taking us to some communal showers? Gem shot back.

I don’t know, probably for us to shower and then go back to jail!

Eh… This was more fun though.

Peggy snorted quietly but didn’t reply.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. It felt longer than the walk there and I tried to commit it to memory, just in case we needed it. I didn’t know how the trial was going to go and after being with my crew again, I couldn’t fathom the idea of going back to solitary. Relief washed through me as I began to recognise the corridor again and when we finally reached the storeroom, I collapsed onto the mattress happily.

“Oh!” I heard Peggy exclaim quietly.

“What?” I asked, not wanting to move my head to look around.

“They did bring me a book! The Full and Complete History of the Council.”

I pushed myself up slightly to gape at the book in her hands. It was bound in red and gold with a picture of the current Councillors staring proudly at us. I had a feeling that no matter where I went in the room, their eyes would continue to watch me.

“They made a book?” Gem asked, her mouth hanging open too.

“Yeah.”

Peggy dropped onto the mattress and sat staring at it before picking it up, savouring the feel of it in her hands.

“Like, a real paper book?”

“Yeah. Well, I think the cover is bioplastic but yeah.”

Gem snorted.

“They’re trying so hard to mimic Earth. I thought harvesting paper was illegal?”

“Not in extenuating circumstances when approved by the Council,” Peggy muttered, unable to take her eyes off it.

“Of course, they’d do this. So fixated on a dead planet.”

Peggy didn’t reply instead, she flicked through the book.

“What’s in it?” Cas asked, his curiosity warring with anger.

“It starts with the history of how the Council was founded… Then it talks about the relevant wars, prominent non-Council members and then… Ah. It talks about each Council member and how they came to be on the Council as well as their achievements.”

Cas’ hands twitched like he wanted to clench them but couldn’t.

“Is my dad in there?”

Peg thumbed through the book until she’d almost reached the end.

“Yeah.”

“What does it say?”

“It talks about his early life… how he married the daughter of Councillor Gibbs, served in the Corps after graduation before retiring and starting a family…” Peggy trailed off.

“What else?” Cas’ voice was haunted.

She looked up at Cas briefly before reading.

“Councillor Harvey produced three children, Adam, Jack and Katie, one of which is currently following in his father’s footsteps and serving in the Space Corps after a brief respite in a Junior Training Facility.”

Cas’ breathing was careful and measured as if it was taking him a lot of control.

“What an asshole. That isn’t what happened at all!” Gem burst out glaring at the book.

Peggy shook her head resolutely.

“It definitely isn’t.”

The Council wrote this. It makes sense they write the truth, they don’t want everyone to know how evil they are. She thought furiously.

I hate them. Gem replied.

It makes you wonder what else they’ve lied about in other books. Peggy thought, her fingers fiddled with the edge of the book.

I reached out and wrapped my hand around Cas’ arm, squeezing gently. He smiled at me grateful but still looked annoyed.

“You all get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.” Peg announced as stood and walked over to the door, sitting facing it so she could see out into the corridor.

Are you sure? Gem asked.

Yeah. I’m just going to read this anyway.

Wake us up when you get tired, okay?

Okay.