For the next five years her life was a whirlwind. She was whisked away all over the world, and for the first two years, Sam often accompanied her.
Cait never admitted it out loud but she liked Sam. The woman was smart and dangerous in a different way that was Tony. Sam made Cait laugh. She taught Cait how to be a girl, how to put on makeup, how to dress, took her shopping and to spa days. She got Cait an apartment in one of the big cities, handed her a credit card and told her to decorate it however she liked. She asked Cait about her hobbies and interests and at first when Cait told her she didn’t know, Sam encouraged her to find out.
It was doing recon for one of her missions, Cait learned she liked taking pictures. Robbing someone at a casino, that she learned she really enjoyed blackjack and card games in general. Cait’s favorite card game was blackjack. Even when she wasn’t cheating she’d had a knack for it. The day she’d finished robbing five high rollers at a casino, Sam asked her what she wanted her “codename” to be. Blackjack was it.
At night clubs, cozing up to a mark, she discovered she liked dancing. Parachuting onto the roof of a building, that she learned she loved sky diving. Sam taught her how to drive, but it was on a job for herself, running out of a museum when an alarm went off that shouldn’t have, when Cait discovered she really loved motorcycles, the fast ones, because it just happened to be the thing she stole to get away.
On her 18th birthday, Sam set her up on a blind date. With not one person, but two. A man and a woman, whom Cait was fairly positive had been picked because they matched her personality. Regardless of that she had a lovely time, and the two made her first time, enjoyable. It was after that, with a blue moon approaching that Sam taught her another way to control herself. There was a room Cait could lock herself in. Or, Sam gave her the dosage of drug and the phone number of a supernatural creature twice Cait’s size that could take it. Cait opted for the later, but discovered she had to double the dosage after almost killin the poor guy. Despite how much better the last years had been with Sam, Cait realized she was still so very, very angry.
But there was nothing to do about that anger, so Cait pushed it down deep and focused on enjoying the hell out of her new life.
On her 20th birthday she pulled off her biggest job yet. Eight months of planning, working a mark, inserting herself into the marks life, and then stealing one of the most beautiful, ancient artifacts Cait had ever seen. Even with all her studying (that Sam had continued) she still hadn’t been able to place it.
Sam looked positively giddy when Cait met up with her to hand over the artifact. Sam gave Cait a big hug, told her what a gift she was, and then pointed at the private jet. “You’re off work for a while. Go live, Cait. Go. Anywhere you want. I’ll call you, but not too soon. If you need anything, you call me. You have money?”
Cait snorted. “Too much of it, Sam.”
Sam just laughed. “There is never too much of it. But you’d be surprised how many of our people squander theirs.”
“On what?”
“Stupid shit. Anyway. Go. Have fun. And thank you Cait.”
So Cait left. She spent six months in Ireland. It felt strange being back there. And it brought up all kinds of mixed emotions. She visited the Covenant only to find it had closed years ago. She wondered if Lily found a family that loved her, a good life. Cait hoped so. She still had the rabbit, Lily gave her.
But despite the mixed emotions she felt, Cait found she loved being in Ireland. She loved wandering woods, and hills, and cliffs, adored how much of it was still untouched. She loved big cities, she really did, but there was something about this place that just felt right with her, despite how hard her memories were.
But she restless, so she didn’t stay. After Ireland, she went to Japan. After a few months there, she went to Russia. It was in Rostov-on-don, she met another Wolf like her that was without a pack. They dated and after a few months the two of them put together a small crew, and spent a year and a half doing random jobs around the world. Cait enjoyed the company, and it was fun enough for a while, but she was still restless. When she was 22, the day after the birthday party they’d thrown for her, she broke up with the wolf and said good-bye the crew. They understood, nothing was forever in this life, and attachments just became baggage after a while.
Sam called her a few days later, and when Cait was done with that job, she realized that thieving wasn’t enough anymore. But she didn’t know what was enough. Cait picked one the safest cities (apparently) got herself a one way, first class ticket, and decided to stay there for a while, to figure out what she wanted to do next.