When Maisie admitted that Iris wasn’t doing well, Cas frowned thoughtfully. He’d had a feeling that something was off with her, since she hadn’t been her usual cheerful self since they’d left the capital, but he’d just assumed she was focusing on getting him back to the capital. Hearing someone who knew her better than he did say that there was something wrong made him wonder if he’d missed something important. [color=#b97703][i]Maybe turning on her father has been harder on her than I thought,[/i][/color] he guessed, drumming his fingers against his knee. Even if Regis wasn’t a good man, he was still her family. It wouldn’t have been shocking to find out that she was feeling guilty about betraying him.

However, he didn’t ponder over it for long before he tuned back into what Maisie was saying about sleeping arrangements. Right away, he shook his head. [color=#b97703]“I appreciate the offer, but you two should take the bedroom,”[/color] he countered with a small smile. [color=#b97703]“There’s only one sofa, so it just makes more sense for me to sleep out here, so you both can share the bed.”[/color] As much as he missed having a bed to sprawl on, he couldn’t claim hers in good conscience, especially when he knew now that Iris was having a hard time with something. Plus, he’d been telling the truth when he’d said it made more sense for them to use the bedroom. He was tired, but he was still observant enough to realize that if they slept in the living room, there was only a comfortable place for one of them to lay down.

When Iris entered the room, Cas looked up at her, quietly studying her face as if it could tell him why she wasn’t fine. He fidgeted uncomfortably as Maisie brought up the pie from yesterday again, but to his relief, Iris covered for him with a white lie. It seemed like even though she might not have been in the best place emotionally, she wasn’t going to take her troubles out on him. He leaned forward on his seat to get up so he could take his turn in the shower and glanced at Maisie when she announced that she would look for some clothes for him to borrow. He wondered where she would get clothes that would fit him. Scratching the surface of six feet tall, there was an obvious size difference between them.

[color=#b97703][i]She might have something here belonging to her father or a partner,[/i][/color] he reasoned, standing up from the sofa. As Iris took a seat, he hesitated, considering whether or not to ask her what was wrong. A week ago, he wouldn’t have wasted a second checking in so that she’d know he cared, but now it felt strange to try. Things were still tense between them, and he didn’t want her to think he was prying at something that wasn’t his business. So instead, he let out his breath in a quiet exhaled and offered tentatively, [color=#b97703]“I don’t know what’s going on inside your head, but if you ever need to talk about it with someone… I’ll listen.”[/color]

Even if they didn’t rekindle anything more than the distant acquaintanceship they had now, he felt like it was the least he could do after she’d saved his life. He didn’t mind being an ear for her to vent to or even a shoulder for her to cry on. His friends had told him before that he was good at being supportive. It came to him more naturally than others. His Achilles’ heel of being innately empathetic wasn’t always a bad thing, and even though it had nearly gotten him killed once, it was too deeply rooted in him to just disappear after one mishap. So, rather than walking off to shower right away, he lingered by the sofa just long enough to wait for Iris’s reply.