Kasey ended up being unbelievably busy when they got back from the waterfall. She barely even had time to register the fact that she was engaged to Jace- something she'd imagined, certainly, but never counted on. She never knew, and she tried to make sure not to push anything.

The proposal had come as a shock to her, certainly. She told Carleigh about it first, only to find out that Carleigh already knew. 

The Tony nominations were coming out today, but Kasey wasn't able to watch the nominations with the rest of the cast. 

She had to leave again as soon as Jace dropped her off at the theatre- she'd gotten a request to visit a children's hospital and sing to the kids, along with a few other actors. Of course, she didn't turn that offer down.

The kids at the hospital were extremely enthusiastic about seeing 'Anna' in real life, especially the little girls. Kasey found herself mobbed by excited little girls. She sang a few songs in front of the kids, and then she visited rooms where the kids weren't healthy enough to get out of bed. They all seemed happy to see her. 

"You're Kasey Winslow!" one little girl exclaimed. Kasey smiled and nodded. "I saw you in Hamilton once!"

"Really, you did?" Kasey asked, surprised. "When?"

"A long time ago. But it was really cool, I want to be like you when I grow up," the girl said. "You were really good."

"Thank you," Kasey said earnestly. "That means so much to me, coming from a strong little girl like you."

The girl beamed. "Mom says that if I get better, we can see it again."

"Then you should get better, so you can see Hamilton. And I tell you what, you tell your mom to talk to me about it, when you do," Kasey whispered conspiratorially. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was heartwarming to visit the hospital, but it was also sad to see so many children stuck inside. Kasey herself had spent at least a week in the hospital after her family's accident- she'd broken her leg and gotten some bad cuts. She knew what it was like.

She was relieved to get back to the theatre. The nominations were over, but they still had an evening show to do, courtesy of the unsympathetic management.

"How'd we do?" Kasey asked Elizabeth as soon as she got inside the stage door.

Elizabeth shook her head sadly. "We only have two nominations," she said. "Gary, for best direction, and Jacob, for best leading actor."

"What?" 

"I know. Nothing about you, or Jess, Sebastian, Dylan, Reed, no design awards. It's literally the worst. And Spongebob has about fifteen of them. I don't get it," Elizabeth explained. 

Kasey took a deep breath. "It'll be fine. Great shows don't get nominated. We'll be fine. We're still having good business, it's not like we're struggling."

"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed. "It's just strange, you know? I thought we'd be up there in nominations with Spongebob. I guess Frozen just isn't their kind of thing."

"We can't do anything about it, so let's just handle it with grace," Kasey agreed. "There's no point in getting hung up about something that we can't control."

Elizabeth swallowed and nodded. 

Kasey encountered Sebastian next.

"You heard," Sebastian said wearily as soon as he saw Kasey's face. "I know, it sucks."

"Gary was literally just fired for sexual harassment. How did he possibly get a Tony nomination?!" Kasey demanded.

"I don't know, and that's what bothers me. I know a lot of the girl's ensemble is torn up about it. It's awful. It's not right," Sebastian told her. "I feel like we should do something. The press is going to have a field day with this."

Kasey groaned. "This is horrible."

"A lot of the audience favorites aren't even in the nomination pool. Jess, you, me. I don't know what happened. I'm just trying to put this behind me. Plenty of good shows didn't get nominated before," Sebastian continued. Even though he sounded confident, Kasey could tell that he was just trying to convince himself of what he was saying.

"I'm not torn up about not being nominated, but the Gary thing bothers me a lot," Kasey admitted. 

"We'll see how everything works out," Sebastian said.

"I really do have to get ready for the show," Kasey said. She'd worn her costume and wig to the hospital, but she'd changed out of it for the walk back to the theatre. And she wasn't wearing stage makeup. 

"Me, too. See you, Kasey. Keep your head up."

"Same to you."

~~~~~~~~~

The show was rough. Kasey could tell that a lot of people weren't happy with how the nominations had turned out. Jacob was pleased, but that was because he was one of the few that had been nominated. 

Gary's shadow hung over the cast like a dark cloud. It was hard to shake off the strange feeling that came with Gary's Tony nomination. He didn't deserve it, Kasey thought. He'd been an awful, unsympathetic, strict director. He hadn't earned the respect of the cast. What little respect he had gotten, he'd lost when the harassment allegations were filed. 

And now he was nominated? The Tonys were the most prestigious award in theatre. No one who had claims filed against them deserved the title of nominee.

The show probably looked fine from the audience, but behind the scenes, everything was just a little off. Kasey still couldn't shake the negative thoughts that came from the strange, disturbing nominations of that day.