The confusion in Iris’s voice brought a frown to Cas’s features. Suddenly, he wasn’t sure what was going on between them. When she hadn’t called him the night before, he’d felt certain that she was giving him the cold shoulder, but now, it sounded like she wasn’t mad at him at all. In the time he’d known her, she’d never come across as a smooth liar, so he doubted she was just putting on a front to keep him from knowing that she was upset. But if it wasn’t that, then he had no idea why she would have avoided him yesterday. Nothing was adding up anymore.

When she told him to come in, he wasted no time heading through the open doorway, eager to settle the rising bewilderment inside of him. [color=#b97703]“Thanks…”[/color] he murmured to her on his way inside, only to falter when he laid eyes on the state of the suite. The sofa was disheveled like an unmade bed, and at least a dozen untouched dishes littered the kitchen. He stopped and stared, even more thoroughly confused by the sight. Over the phone, Iris had told him that she was doing well (or well enough) and that she’d been eating, but she had clearly been neglecting to take care of herself for two whole weeks. Maybe she was a better liar than he’d thought.

For a moment, he labored to catch up while she went on to apologize to him for not calling the night before. Tearing his gaze away from the mess, he forced himself to watch her as she made a weak attempt to clean up the sofa. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he’d made an unannounced trip to see her, but it certainly hadn’t been this. His heart twisted inside his chest, and he stayed quiet as he walked slowly across the room to join her near the couch—her makeshift sleeping space.

At first, he didn’t know what to say. So much of what he’d expected hadn’t been true that he was at a loss with how to approach the real situation. Iris was doing far worse than he’d thought, and he couldn’t help but blame himself for veritably locking her up inside of her glorified prison. Pained by the knowledge, he dropped his gaze to the floor with a wince. Something had to change. He knew that much, but he didn’t know where to start.

[color=#b97703]“You’re not the one who should be apologizing,”[/color] he said softly after a long silence. Taking a seat beside her on the sofa, he swept her into a tight embrace and buried his face against her neck. Another pause followed while he held her, until he finally said in a strained voice, [color=#b97703]“Iris, I’m so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen… I was so busy, I didn’t even think about what it’s been like for you to be stuck in this room all by yourself. Please forgive me.”[/color] The request was punctuated with a short choke as he started to lose control of his composure. He’d always been emotional, and seeing the woman he loved in suffering was too much for him to handle. The sense of guilt was crushing.

Trying his best not to turn into a blubbering mess, Cas took a shuddering breath and pulled back just enough to meet her gaze. [color=#b97703]“I promise I’m going to do something to fix this,”[/color] he vowed, rubbing one eye with the heel of his palm. [color=#b97703]“I have a meeting with the warden this afternoon to discuss war criminals. I’ll see if there’s anything he can do to revoke my dad’s warrant for your arrest… If he can help, we can move you from this place into the palace. I’ll still be busy, but at least we can be together a couple times a day… I don’t want to see you starve yourself like this.”[/color]