What You've Done To Me (Cass)

[Drew Rivers]

Drew Rivers sat in a chair in the living room of his own house reading the newspaper. When the first yeerk war had ended he'd sworn to himself that he was done with the Animorphs and with morphing. He hadn't used the power or any of the DNA floating inside of him since then. He didn't know yet that the war had started again, but he was about to find out.

Kristy gave him a kiss on the cheek as she set a cup of coffee next to him. He hadn't asked for it, but she knew him well enough it often seemed she could read his mind. Admittedly Ilya still resided in Kristy's head, but that was Kristy's choice and Drew would never force her to be rid of the yeerk. They both had their connections to that past, but as far as the Animorphs knew the two had dropped off the map and would be difficult, though not impossible, to find.

There was a knock on the door though, and as Kristy was with him it was their daughter who answered the door. Moments later she called out, "Dad, it's someone for you. She says you knew her when you and mom were teens."

Drew put the paper down on his lap and gave Kristy a look. Both knew that people from their teen years generally meant Animorphs. He stood up and pulled back the curtain, seeing a blond woman he had a guess at the name of. "I think it's Cass Ryonas," he told Kristy, who had come to stand next to him.

"Drew, you know they wouldn't try to find you unless it was important," Kristy said, pleading with him to even just talk to Cass. He sighed as he let the curtain drop back into place. He'd wanted out. What was important enough to find him again and try to drag him back in, endangering his family all over again?

He approached the door, hugging his daughter before turning to face Cass as Brittany left. "Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like what you have to say?"

[Cass Ryonas]

Cass stood there, watching as Drew hugged his daughter, and it pained her to be the one to talk to him. When he spoke, she smiled a little, "Because you have a good sense? I didn't like hearing it either..." She bit her lower lip. "Um, listen...is there some place we can talk? Inside or outside, it doesn't matter to me...I don't want to drag other unnecessary people into this conversation, if you understand what I mean."

[Drew Rivers]

Cass, it seemed, hadn't been fond of hearing this news either. Really, Drew might have figured that. Also, if anyone could drag him back in it would be someone who, like him, had only their family left. That someone was Cass. She asked if there was somewhere they could go that wouldn't end up dragging 'unnecessary people' into the conversation. That phrase could either mean his daughter, or the yeerks who Drew thought were gone.

"We can go around back," he said. "There's a table on the porch. If I'm talking to someone Brittany is usually good about not eavesdropping." He stepped outside and shut the door, leading the way around back despite that he wanted to just not have this conversation at all.

[Cass Ryonas]

Cass murmured a thank you as she followed him, keeping her head low, though that was not necessary. Soon they were around back and she took a breath. "There's no easy way to say this..." she muttered.

She smiled shakily. "Listen, Drew. I know how it feels to not get dragged into things that may harm your family...I have a son, and...well, now a fiancee." She held up a hand, showing him a ring. "I have more people to worry about than I used to. And you do too...which is why I'm here..." She looked at her hands. "I'm here because I at least understand your situation, and I didn't want this to happen either...but it did."

Looking him full in the eye, she said softly, "The Yeerks are back to try again, Drew...I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you this..."

[Drew Rivers]

This was very obviously not easy for Cass. Just like she said, there was no easy way to say this. He'd known about Cass's son, but then again Ty had been born during the first war. He hadn't known about her engagement, but he hadn't wanted to be involved in the lives of the Animorphs. He'd wanted to get out of all of it. The words, the ones she finally managed to say, showed Drew that there was no way out, not if the threat had returned. He could try, but chances were he wouldn't have the choice to sit by and let this go. Either he'd fight or the yeerks would find him and make him one of them.

He sighed, feeling somehow older than thirty-six. Thoughts of the war always made him feel years older than he was. But then again, Cass was two years younger than him and she'd become a mother during that first war. Drew had never asked her much about that. Considering Ty Ryonas McRae shared a name with someone Drew had known to be an Antimorph, the story probably wasn't one she was fond of.

He looked downward at his hands, almost expecting to see them morph into something else once again. These weren't the hands of an eighteen year old who had run from home only to turn back and fight back against the yeerks. They belonged to a man now, and he'd tried to get out of this only to find that it came back and to realize that, just like the first time, he couldn't sit back and let this happen. At first he was almost angry, but Cass had been pulled back in and her situation wasn't that different from his with what she told him.

"Cass....," he paused and looked up at her face. "We can't get away from this, can we?" The question didn't seem to need an answer though. "I don't want my wife and my daughter dragged into this. Kristy was involved the first time and might end up dragged in through the YPM, but Brittany is fourteen and while some of us started fighting younger than that we were crazy to do it." His dark eyes for once held emotions, something Drew had never been good at showing, and the emotion was sadness. "The only way I can see to keep them out is to fight, to protect them. I promised myself I was done, but..... I can't just let it all happen again."

To top of his expression, he realized he even had some tears in his eyes. He was a grown man, two full years older than Cass, and yet he was scared because he knew what he was going back to and it wouldn't be easy.

[Cass Ryonas]

Cass listened quietly as Drew spoke, her heart breaking for him. She watched as he spoke and she sighed softly. "No, we can't get away from this. I wish there were a way, as much as you do, but...there isn't." He continued speaking, and she listened closely, as a friend would. She nodded, understanding his predicament. "Most likely, and I hate to say this, Drew, I honestly do, but Kristy at least will be part of this. Somehow..." She bit her lip, eyes moistened. "Jake and Cassie's daughter, Jackie? She's YPM as well. It'll be difficult for everyone..."

Cass looked into his eyes and saw the sadness within them. Tears came down her own cheeks after he got some in his eyes. She sniffed, nodding her head after he had finished. "I thought Tyler could be left out of all of this, too. But he already knows how to morph..." she choked a second. "But I don't think Brittany can yet, not unless she touched the cube somehow..."

Cass placed a hand on top of his, and looked him in the eye, "I may not have the comfort of that fact because my son can morph and now he will probably be in this war alongside us, but I can help in any way for that not to happen to your daughter. And..." She choked again, wiping away tears with her free hand. "I'm sorry I had to tell you this news..."

[Drew Rivers]

It was kind of sad that Kristy would end up involved, but really she was as old as Drew. She was more than capable of protecting herself. "If Kristy gets dragged in because of Ilya..... well, she's capable of protecting herself." And Jake and Cassie's daughter too, though he didn't say that out loud. He might ask her in private to keep an eye on Jackie for them, being that he did respect Jake despite their bad first meeting and that Cassie was someone he had liked from the beginning. "Besides Jackie and Tyler, who else has been dragged into the fight from our kids?"

Drew continued to listen, but gave something of a rough cough or a snort when Cass commented on Brittany not being able to morph without having touched the cube. "I wanted out of the Animorphs, Cass. There is no way I'd keep one of the escafil devices around my house, and I don't know that Brittany knows any of the other Animorph children well enough to get the power from them. They might not even realize she's the daughter of an Animorph."

What probably touched him the most was what Cass said in the end. "I know you feel bad about this. I realized all along that, neither of us wanted to get dragged in or have our families dragged in...... but..... Well, thanks. I really appreciate that you'll help me keep Brittany out of this, for as long as possible if not keep her out of it all together."

It had been years since Drew had morphed, but he glanced down at his hands again and realized that there was nothing he could do to remove the DNA he had acquired from his system. It's going to end up being like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it.