Forgetting what, Ford had to wonder, but he didn't have time to ask. He probably wouldn't have asked anyway, since he had slipped into crisis control mode; anything he said to Cash at this point had to be calculated and calm, carving out the path of least resistance and ushering his friend down it and doing or saying nothing at all that could make him act unpredictably. But he had to wonder, because this was a weird thing to say and because whatever Cash thought he was forgetting must have been important if it had triggered all of this. They didn't have big things between them these days, though — there was nothing Ford could think of that would even approach triggering a throw yourself into the lake because none of this is real sort of breakdown.

Was it possible he was forgetting something? The thought brought a spike of panic with it, because Ford didn't like to think he couldn't trust his own brain. But before he'd had the chance to consider that or even to properly dismiss it, Cash had wrenched his arm away and Ford was wobbling on his feet, trying to keep his balance as the water from the lake soaked through his socks. Fuck — where the hell was Cash trying to go? He'd moved farther in towards the lake; Ford had hoped that stopping his momentum in that direction would have been enough to deter him, coupled with the shock of the cold water, but apparently not.

"Stop," he pleaded. He'd gotten a grip on his wand just before Cash pulled away, but now he tossed it over towards the muddy shore and put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No apparition, no wand, okay? Just — let me take you somewhere else, Cash, people are going to..." He didn't know how to finish the sentence, but surely he didn't need to; Cash was the one who had pulled him into a private room at Black's once and told him to be careful. He knew what people were capable of.

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