CHAPTER SEVENTY
sympathy for the parents.
season six, episode nineteen.

MARK SLOAN IS A WHORE.

This fact had been established for years, decades, even. It had made it's way into the metaphorical history books of his youth, hundreds of pages filled with the names of his conquests, all tied together with a pretty pink ribbon. Women, men, and a few people somewhere in between, each one of them falling victim to his charms over the span of his adulthood; honestly, he'd lost count ages ago.

He took pride in the harsh title, a faint blush rising to the apples of his cheeks each time it was brought up. In a way, he liked to think it made him a good feminist. Gone were the days of calling a woman a whore for sleeping with one or two guys; with Mark around, anyone with a body count less than fifty looked like the goddamn Virgin Mary. It was progressive of him, if anything.

Sure, Mark spent the majority of his young adulthood sleeping with anyone who was willing, but only once in his life had he ever fallen in love.

Cassie didn't come into his life on whim. It wasn't a meet-cute turned sudden romance, or a budding cliche between a naive girl and her prince charming.

They were friends, best friends, who may or may not have slept with each other on occasion; though, that was just due to their mutual loneliness.

No, his love for Cassie didn't develop overnight, or even over the span of several nights. It took years; years of friendship, years of platonic love, and years of denial for him to finally accept that he had fallen for her, and that she had fallen for him, too.

But as hard as it was to accept that he loved her, it was a million times harder to accept that he had to stop.

What wasn't hard, though, was falling back into old habits. Sure, sleeping with the same nurse who publicly and shamelessly ruined Lexie and Rue's relationship wasn't ideal, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Besides, it's not like he was one to judge.

The nurse — Sophie, he remembered her name after a moment of concentration — tossed him his scrubs which had been discarded onto the floor of the on-call room, dark blue colliding with his skin, though, his focus was elsewhere.

"Stop staring, Dr. Sloan," she teased him, mistaking his spaced-out gaze as a flirtatious one. "Or else we might need to make this a two-time thing."

But Mark wasn't staring because he wanted it to happen again; no, he was staring, because he regretted it happening at all. And despite what he'd been trying to convince himself throughout their twenty minute tryst on the twin sized mattress, Sophie really did look eerily similar to Cassie.

Not necessarily to the naked eye, but to him, the comparison was obvious. It wasn't just that their names were sort of similar, but so was their hair color, and their height, and the shape of their body.

Their facial features were different, sure, but they also moved in the same way, the way that made people stop and stare for a moment each time they passed.

Maybe his subconscious was playing tricks on him, or maybe, he slept with Sophie just so he could feel a remnant of her.

(No, it was definitely the first one... right?)

Mark couldn't vividly recall getting dressed, only snapping his mind back into focus when his pager went off, the consistent beep drawing him back to reality.

"I gotta go," he said dumbly, showing Sophie his pager as if she needed any more proof than she already had. As if he owed her proof. She looked back at him while reapplying her red lipstick, forced naivety in her gaze. "Uh, this was— mfph—"

Now, Mark was rather used to desperate people clinging to him after they hooked up. But being roughly kissed on the mouth with zero warning, long after they'd both already finished, was a rather new development; though, he did suppose the kiss helped his brain differentiate between her and his ex. Cassie had always been a really good kisser.

Not that this girl was bad — because she wasn't, not at all — but the whole thing just felt so different.

As gently as he could without breaking her spirit, Mark put his hands on each of her shoulders, detaching her from his lips almost immediately. The first rule of being a whore, no kissing.

"Well, I have a patient, so," he gestured for her to move out of the way, just enough so that he could squeeze by and get to the door, "This was, uh, fun."

Sophie smiled up at him. "It was."

Mark used to be so damn good at the quick goodbyes, and yet, here he was, feeling like an awkward college kid all over again. Dating Cassie had seriously thrown him off his game.

"I..." he nodded to himself, "Okay, well, I should..."

Hesitating for longer than what was necessary, Mark slipped past her, exiting the on-call room and reentering the land of the people who didn't just have meaningless sex with a lookalike of their ex-girlfriends.

Sophie carefully slipped out behind him, not saying a word of goodbye other than a brief touch on his arm.

But whatever peace he'd felt after she left didn't last for long; of course, the universe wouldn't dare allow him to get a fucking break for five minutes.

Cassie stood at the nurses station near the end of the hallway, alone, going over the details of whatever case she was assigned to that day. Her head was stuck in a chart, and Mark took a brief moment to thank god that she didn't see him with the nurse.

Not that he was cheating, because he wasn't, or that he felt guilty, because he didn't, but, still. The thought of her seeing him with another woman just felt wrong, whether he was mad at her or not.

Once again, his pager sounded out, reminding him that he actually did have a patient he needed to get to. Sparing one last glance at an occupied Cassie, he dusted himself off, ready to spend the entire rest of the day as if nothing had happened at all.

☆

Cassie was honestly, truly, one hundred percent, without a doubt, completely motherfucking fine.

Everything was perfect.

Everything was perfect, as long as she didn't allow herself to think about Derek, or Jackson, or her birth father, or her dead mother, or her dead best friend, or the fact that she just saw her ex-boyfriend leave an on-call room with red stained lips along with a trashy, homewrecking version of herself. She was totally fine, as long as she didn't think too hard about what drove him to do such a thing, how it was pretty much all her fault, and how she was practically the world's biggest hypocrite for actually being mad at him.

Yeah, no, everything was wonderful.

Not that she was slut shaming, or anything, since that would be a pretty unfortunate circumstance of the pot calling the kettle black. If she were completely honest, she was sure that Sophie was a nice girl; after all, how else would she have convinced Rue to dump Lexie without an ounce of fucking guilt?

(No, really, Cassie was all for empowering women and their sexual endeavors, just not when said woman ruined her friend's relationship in the process.)

Cassie didn't realize how harshly she was clutching onto her patient's chart until she heard the snap, the clipboard breaking into two pieces right in her hands.

"Dude," she heard a laugh coming from a few feet away, recognizing it as one belonging to Alex, who had evidently seen the whole thought process she'd just gone through. "You good?"

It wasn't until she looked over at him with an air of annoyance, that she realized it had been a pretty long time since they'd had a proper conversation. Between Alex's Izzie thing and Cassie's, well, everything, she supposed they'd just grown a bit distant over the past year or so, whether it was intentional or not.

With a roll of her eyes, Cassie just held up the two parts of the clipboard as if she were at show-and-tell. "I'm good, but I think this guy might be a goner."

Alex, without hesitation, beckoned her closer, reaching over the counter to steal a roll of scotch tape from the nurses. Amusedly, she watched him take the two parts from her hands and tape them back together, using the same amount of dexterity she would expect from that of a kindergartner.

"There," he handed it back to her after a moment. "Good as new-ish."

Cassie huffed a laugh, sticking the papers back into their designated spot like nothing ever happened. "Thanks-ish."

"So, what's going on with you and Avery?"

Really, Cassie should have known better than to think that Alex was going out of his way to be nice to her for no reason at all. Not that he was ever mean to her, it's just that it was rare for him to be overtly nice without a cause.

With the way he was staring her down, Cassie couldn't find it in herself to fake innocence. Besides, she'd had more than enough lies to last a lifetime. "That, my friend, is none of your business."

Alex chose to ignore her.

"At first, I thought you two were screwing—" Cassie threw up a little bit in her mouth, "—but when I asked him, he got all stutter-y and pale, so I don't think that's it, 'cause most guys wouldn't shut up if they got to nail you. No offense."

Cassie scrunched up her nose. "None taken?"

Alex cocked a brow, his eyes narrowing in an investigative manner. "So what is it, huh? He took your virginity? You took his virginity?" Cassie made a gagging noise, "No? Does he owe you money? Owe you a favor? Crashed your car? Secret siblings? You bailed him out of jail, and now it's weird?"

It was times like these, when Cassie really wished she had a better poker face.

"What? That is—" she laughed at an alarmingly loud volume, "That is just— that's crazy, to even suggest that we'd be related, like, as if, right? Jackson, my sibling? That— that is insane, Alex. Like, seriously, insane!"

With awkward, flailing limbs, Cassie rested an elbow on the edge of the nurses station, her laughs dwindling down into an uncomfortable giggle. Alex just stood there, studying her for longer than she would have liked.

(Yeah, she probably could've handled that better.)

"Dude, I was kidding," he said eventually, dragging the last word out for a few moments. "Wait, holy crap, Avery's your brother?"

Cassie could deny it, but knowing Alex, he'd probably see right through her, or end up figuring it out at some point down the line. That, or she would fuck up just like she had a moment ago; either way, there was no point in lying now.

"Fuck," she cursed herself, closing her eyes for a few seconds, opening them to see Alex staring up at her with some mixture of suspicion and awe. "Please don't tell anyone, we aren't... well, I'm not telling anyone, and I really don't plan to anytime soon."

Alex frowned at her begging, thinking that desperation wasn't a very good look on her. "Relax, I won't snitch that you're Harper Avery's granddaughter."

Cassie sighed. "Thank you."

"It actually makes a lot of sense, though." Alex looked her up and down, and Cassie knew she was going to hate whatever came out of his mouth next. "No offense, but you've always had that whole Avery-rich-person vibe."

She took offense. "That's an awful thing to say."

"Yeah, but it's true," he continued, "Besides, who would I even tell?"

Not sure if he was joking or not, Cassie decided to give him a list. "Meredith, Cristina, Mark, especially Mark, Callie, Arizona, Bailey, Webber, Ethan, the Mercy Westers, Jackson's little redhead friend, all the nurses and lab techs... you could basically tell, like, everyone, Alex. Other than Derek and Lexie, because they already know, but still—"

"Relax," Alex repeated himself, chuckling at the panicked look on her face. "Dude, you seriously need to chill out and get boned or something."

Cassie had been getting boned, actually. Not that there were any actual bones involved, but Lexie had proven herself quite useful in being both a supportive friend and a good lay whenever they were both in the mood.

Which, between Lexie's Rue drama and Cassie's Mark drama, was pretty much every single day, all of the time.

"Shut up," was all she replied, silently agreeing that she really could use some Lexie in her life right about now, especially after seeing Mark with that homewrecker — wait, no, that wasn't very feminist of her — with that woman.

Alex looked her up and down, the tapping of her foot on the tile floor and the wringing of her fingers driving him absolutely fucking crazy. Yeah, sure, he knew she couldn't control her subconscious tendencies, but Jesus Christ, was it annoying.

"Cass, if you don't go screw some nurse and get all this crap out of your system, I'll screw you myself."

Cassie wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea, but—

"Ugh, fine. Ooh, what about her?"

Shamelessly, Cassie pointed a finger at a girl using the standing computer down at the opposite end of the hallway, her face hidden by the cascade of long blonde hair running down her back and the sides of her rosy cheeks. But even from behind, it was obvious how pretty she was.

Alex made a face of approval. "Yeah, I'd tap that. You think she's into girls?"

"She's wearing rainbow socks, so."

Squinting his eyes as if that would help him see clearer, he eventually found the small article of clothing peeking out from above the girl's shoes. "Well, good luck."

Cassie made a move to walk away, her aura exuding the everlasting confidence she was born with (the same confidence that always worked with potential suitors back when she was in her self proclaimed whore era), before she paused in her steps, the slightest bit of doubt creeping in despite having done this kind of thing a million times before.

Turning back to Alex, who was looking at her with a raised brow, she posed the question, "What if she has an ugly face?"

Alex shrugged. "Close your eyes."

After making an expression that read fair enough, Cassie took in a heavy breath, mentally hyping herself up while simultaneously deciding which pickup line she would go with once she got over there.

Before she knew it, she was only a few steps away, feeling Alex's nosey gaze burning into her back. The blonde didn't seem to hear her coming, and so after throwing a casual smirk onto her lips and running a hand through her hair, she blurted out, "Hey, I seem to have lost my phone number, can I have yours?"

"Cass?"

The blonde turned around, only, she wasn't a stranger, at all. In fact, she was someone Cassie knew so well, so intimately, that it made her quite literally jump about a foot in the air.

"Oh what the f—!"

"Wait, were you..." Lexie furrowed her brows, pushing her blonde hair behind her ears, "Were you hitting on me?"

But Cassie didn't hear her, eyes snapped wide open like she'd just seen a ghost. A week before, when she was on Arizona's service, a patient of hers had been watching some show about a worldwide pop sensation who wore a blonde wig and sparkles, but when she took off the blonde wig and sparkles, she was somehow completely unrecognizable; Cassie supposed this was a little bit like that.

"What..." she trailed off, thrown so far off her game to the point where it was getting embarrassing.

"Oh, yeah," Lexie shrugged, playing with the ends of her hair as if it were no biggie, when to Cassie, it was a very big biggie. "I dyed my hair. I just needed a change, you know? After everything that happened with Rue. Oh, did I tell you? Yeah, she called me last night, at like, three in the morning, to apologize, again. God, you know, the audacity of her to—"

Lexie blindly continued on her rant, entirely oblivious to the way Cassie's brain was short circuiting right in front of her.

Look, when it came to women, Cassie may or may not have had a thing for blondes. The affinity wasn't due to any one particular reason, other than that her bisexual awakening was a young Britney Spears in the 'Baby One More Time' music video.

Granted, she wasn't one to turn someone down due to something frivolous like their hair color, but she'd actually counted the amount of blondes she'd slept with compared to non-blondes, and the results were staggering.

"—I actually thought she was sorry, when she's all like, Lex, please give me another chance, as if she didn't go screw that nurse the second she felt lonely!"

"Mhm," Cassie nodded distractedly, eyes glued onto Lexie's scalp, which the other girl quickly noticed, mainly because Cassie wasn't exactly trying to hide it. "Yeah, no, that's..."

(She was pretty sure her vagina had just become sentient after seeing Lexie Grey as a blonde, and wearing eyeliner.)

Lexie, after checking behind her to make sure that Cassie was in fact looking at her, crossed her arms over her chest out of slight insecurity. "Do you... do you like it?"

Fuck yes, fuck yes, fuck yes—

"Yeah, yeah, it's nice."

"Nice?" Lexie repeated, Cassie's impending approval meaning more to her than she thought it would. "I-I mean, I can always change it back—"

"Hey, Lex?"

"Yeah?"

"I really wanna fuck you right now," Cassie admitted, her eyes glazed over with lust. "How do you feel about that?"

This time, it was Lexie's turn to be at a loss for words. Obviously, the answer was yes; when it came to Cassie, it would be hard to catch Lexie at a time when the answer would be no. She appreciated Cassie asking first, sure, but at this point she wished she could wear a giant sign on her forehead that said yes, yes, yes. "Well, I, uh, I feel good about... I mean, yes, that would, I would like to... yes, please."

"So polite," Cassie murmured, taking the liberty to turn off the computer Lexie had been using while simultaneously taking her hand into her own. "Come with me."

Watching the two scurry off to what he assumed would be a different on-call room than the one he just saw Mark exit, Alex scoffed, putting Cassie's patient chart away as she neglected to return back to her belongings.

"Freakin' Avery charm."

☆

Cassie failed to conceal the smile on her cheeks as she stood next to Lexie later that morning, their shoulder's brushing against each other due to the proximity. Though, the majority of their attention was on patient and her husband in front of them, an older couple who they'd been assigned to along with April.

Richard stood to their left, the older man silently praising god for giving him the good residents this day.

"So then, a couple of days ago, Gary and I are at the grocery store," Alison, their patient, explained, sharing a look with her husband. "And the next thing I know, I'm flat on my back in the frozen foods section."

"She fainted," Gary clarified.

"And I've never fainted," she continued, the four doctor's snapping their gazes between the two. "I've never even seen anybody faint. I don't believe in fainting."

Richard nodded in understanding, sparing a quick glance with the residents beside him. "Did you hit your head?"

Alison huffed a laugh of adoration, the action making Cassie smile. "I would've, if this one hadn't caught me."

Lovingly, Alison took ahold of the hand belonging to her husband, the two grinning at each other with some sort of everlasting love in their gazes. For just a moment, it reminded Cassie of Mark; well, how she and Mark used to be. The softness, the stolen glances, the innocence. Out of everything she'd lost recently, Cassie missed the innocence the most. Her innocence.

"Mrs. Clark is anemic and guaiac positive," Lexie informed Richard, reaching behind Cassie to grab the chart. Silently, Cassie held in a snort at the sight of the taped up clipboard, reminding herself to thank Alex again. "So, there's definitely some internal bleeding."

Cassie nodded in agreement, finishing her thought while pulling the computer around so the Clark's could see Alison's scans. "It looks like it's coming from a friable tumor near—"

"Near the ampulla of vater," April interrupted, her words moving at lightning speed before Cassie could finish her sentence. Cocking an irritated brow at the redhead's clear need to prove... something, Cassie sent her what was obviously a bitter grin, her next words coming out with a sharp edge.

"Thank you, Dr. Kepner. For that."

April's face dropped a bit, but bounced back just as quickly. Cassie didn't bother to break their eye contact, really drilling home the fact that she was annoyed.

Speaking directly to Richard rather than the other three doctors, Gary perked up hopefully, "Dr. Swender told us the biopsy showed the cancer was back, but, she said that you might be able to take it out?"

Richard took a look at the scans. "There's a chance I won't be able to go in as deeply as I'll need to, but I promise to do everything I can."

Eyes watering just the slightest bit, Gary looked at his wife with a hint of mournfulness. "Anything you could do."

I promise to do everything I can.

That's what they were trained to say whenever the patient's outcome didn't seem hopeful; I promise to try. It was the best they could do, really, but that doesn't mean that Cassie didn't hate to hear it out loud. That's what the doctors told her when her mom was diagnosed with cancer, and when Denny was diagnosed with his heart condition, but it was also the same thing she had told numerous families right before their loved one died on the table.

More than anything, Cassie hated false hope; but silently, she allowed herself to have blind faith that Richard could save Alison's life.

"We appreciate it, Dr. Webber."

☆

Rue Lennon was many things, and much to Lexie's dismay, a cheater was definitely one of them.

The worst part, is that before she fucked up, they were actually happy. Well, Lexie was happy; Rue was... content. Maybe it was the inherent need to always be searching for something more, or it was simply just that she wasn't a great person, but she'd always found it difficult to stay in one place (or with one person) for too long. It was her fatal flaw, she supposed.

Only, looking back, being with Lexie was different.

The idea of being with her, only with her, didn't sound appealing until it was too late, and she'd already screwed it all up.

Rue sat in the gallery of Alison's surgery, choosing to ditch being on her uncle's service in favor of staring at her ex-girlfriend from afar. Ethan didn't mind her skipping his patient's appendectomy, briefly mentioning that he knew what it felt like to be in love with someone who didn't want you back.

"Dr. Webber, did you consider doing a whipple on Mrs. Clark?" Lexie's voice sounded through the speaker, and Rue allowed herself to savor the sound of Lexie not screaming curses at her again, but rather sounding the way she used to when she wasn't, well, extremely pissed off.

The door to the gallery opened, but Rue didn't bother looking to see who it was. There was a pause, almost like the person in the doorway wasn't sure if they wanted to come in, before she heard footsteps approaching, the person eventually taking a seat in the row behind her.

"You're wallowing too, huh?"

Mark's voice was loud in the silent area, filling the space with some sort of unspoken yet mutual understanding. Making conversation with a second year resident wasn't exactly on his itinerary for the day, but Callie was busy with her own relationship problems — something about wanting or not wanting a kid — and Derek seemed a little off recently, so he didn't exactly have a lot of options.

Now that he though about it, he figured he should probably get some more friends.

"I don't wallow, Dr. Sloan," Rue spit out, though, she knew that's exactly what she was doing. "I'm educating myself on the intricacies of a difficult surgery. You should try it sometime."

"Does that education have anything to do with you staring at little Grey like a kicked puppy?"

(What? If she could be snappy, so could he.)

Rue bit the inside of her cheek, not bothering to look at him when she said, "Fuck off. Don't act like you're not here to spy on your girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend," Mark corrected her, a bitter taste on his tongue as he did so. "We've been broken up for... a while."

"Is that why you slept with Sophie?"

Mark wished he could be surprised that the news traveled so quickly. There was a moment after she spoke that he realized there was a very good chance that Cassie also knew, but he just couldn't find it in himself to care anymore.

"You want me to be honest?"

Rue finally turned around to face him, one foot up on her chair and her knee pressed against her chest. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she'd always been fond of gossiping; whether she was the one doing it, or if she was the one people were gossiping about, it didn't matter. Honestly, she fucking loved drama.

"Sure," she shrugged, faux-aloof.

Mark, just as keen on gossiping as Rue, leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees, his voice lowering to an overly dramatic undertone. "Cassie screwed your ex-girlfriend, so I screwed the woman who broke you two up." Rue just stared at him. "What? I didn't say I was proud of it."

Rue scoffed, not at him, but more at their situation in general. "Yeah, well, at least she waited until you were broken up. Some of us didn't make such good decisions."

"Eh, don't beat yourself up about it," he waved her off, "Happens to the best of us."

"By the best of us, do you mean back when you slept with Chief Shepherd's wife?"

Mark narrowed his eyes. "Okay, who told you that?"

Rue shrugged, as if it were obvious. "Cassie told me, like, a month into my intern year. She told us a lot of stuff, actually."

Just as he was about to question what exactly Cassie had exposed about him, Mark was cut off by the door to the gallery opening with a bang. Derek entered with an air of authority; Mark assumed that the whole Chief thing had gone to his head, again.

"What are you two doing?" Derek questioned them, his suspicious gaze making it clear he didn't know that Rue was, in fact, a lesbian. Though, Mark didn't exactly blame him for assuming the worst. "Lennon, don't you have a surgery in OR three right now?"

"No," Rue replied bluntly, not exactly intimidated by the man wearing a blue tie with fucking clouds on it. "Ethan didn't need me."

Derek had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes, as Rue's attitude reminded him eerily of the way Cassie used to act back before, well, everything.

"I need to talk to Sloan," he told her, not-so-subtly making it clear he wanted her to leave. "Alone."

Rue actually did roll her eyes. "Whatever."

Sparing a short glance to Mark with a face that read fuck that guy, she got to her feet, exiting out the door on the other side of the gallery simply so that she wouldn't have to go near Derek. Sure, Cassie used to keep her up to date on the Mark drama, but the Derek drama was always included, too.

After watching her leave, rather impatiently so, Derek took a few steps closer to the glass, overlooking the four doctors as they continued to perform the surgery. A beat passed, filled with silence, before he turned to face Mark.

"Back to your old ways now that Cass is over you, huh?" Mark smirked at the insinuation, purposely ignoring the pain he felt in his chest at the thought of Cassie being over him. "But seriously, Mark. Lennon? Really?"

"Don't worry," Mark replied flatly, heavy sarcasm lacing his tone, "I don't really think I'm her type."

Derek didn't seem to pick up on the hint that the resident was gay, but he dropped the subject for the time being.

"Speaking of Cass," he started, his eyes trained on the girl in question. "Have you... have you spoken to her recently?"

This time, it was Mark's turn to not get the hint. Really, he should have known that something was wrong, considering that Derek only ever brought Cassie up if there was an unresolvable issue he needed help with.

(He always sort of felt like Derek never got over the whole him and Cassie being in love thing.)

"No," he replied with a bit too much force than what was necessary. "And I don't plan to."

Derek would ask why, if he didn't already know. After all, news travels fast, right? The entire hospital had the third floor lab tech to thank for that interesting piece of drama.

"I think you should."

Derek's voice came out softer than he intended, to the point where Mark began to feel his concern, just a little bit. He sat there, not responding, only looking down at Cassie with so many emotions at once, he felt like he was about to fucking explode.

He didn't want to care. He didn't want to care about her so much that he could hardly hold himself together when he had even a fucking inkling that she wasn't okay. But alas, here he was, rising anxiety at the mere thought.

And as if they were somehow communicating telepathically, Cassie could feel it.

Down in the OR, she didn't need to look up to know that it was Mark who had his gaze burning into her back.

Cassie stood next to Richard, her seniority granting her the opportunity to be the main assist. Lexie and April stood across from them, their mutual distain obvious based on the large gap of air between them. Cassie noticed April glancing up to the gallery on more than one occasion, her wide eyes making Cassie momentarily question if the redhead was in love with her ex.

"Dr. Kepner, are we boring you?"

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"No, sir," April squeaked out nervously under Richard'd scrutinizing gaze. "I just— I wasn't expecting Chief Shepherd to be up in the gallery during a general surgery."

Fuck.

Of fucking course Derek was with Mark. It really was just a matter of time until he told him about Jackson, and how Cassie was an unofficial Avery bastard child, just like her father. Honestly, she was genuinely surprised he'd lasted as long as he did without blurting it out for the whole hospital to hear.

Cassie didn't realize that her curse had been external, the other three doctors sending her questioning glances.

"Dr. Harper," Richard raised a brow, hearing exactly what she said, very, very, clearly, "Did you say something?"

Cassie put on her best innocent face. "Nope."

April, clearly caught up with something about Derek, continued on her train of thought. "I mean, I guess that's the Chief's job, right? Evaluating, observing—"

"Dr. Kepner," Richard turned to her, his voice strict, "You're in my OR. The only one observing and evaluating you right now, is me."

Cassie and Lexie locked eyes, each of them hiding a grin at the mini lecture. Neither of them had ever really been her biggest fan in the first place.

"Yes sir," April rushed out, "I'm sorry, sir."

Cassie, after the doctors had settled back into their original rhythm, risked a glance up at the gallery. It only lasted for a moment, as it was hard to turn a whole one hundred and eighty degrees without being caught, but it was long enough for her to make eye contact with Derek; and much to her pleasure, he understood what her wild glare meant immediately.

Do not fucking tell Mark.

☆

Much to Cassie's relief, Alison's surgery went well.

They hadn't cured her cancer, necessarily, but they'd removed the cancerous tissue for the time being, at least to the point of sending her into remission. The feeling was one she never had the chance to experience with her mother's cancer, so it gave her an unmeasurable amount of joy to see a sweet lady like Alison finally get to.

Cassie offered to be the one who got to tell Gary the good news, only, Lexie wanted to as well; after all, breaking the good news was objectively the best part of their jobs. And so, they were tasked with telling him together, each of them wearing a grin as they approached him in the waiting area.

"Mr. Clark," Cassie waved, gaining his attention.

Gary's anxiety ridden eyes snapped up from the their focus on the floor, making eye contact with her own. "Dr. Harper."

"She did great in there," she grinned at him, watching with a sense of accomplishment as relief flooded his features.

Lexie nodded in agreement, her smile just as wide. "She was a total trouper. The surgery went great."

"We got the tumor," Cassie finished her thought, "All of it, with good margins. It went perfectly, Mr. Clark."

The two doctors shared a triumphant glance with each other when Gary let out a laugh, a hand running over his overly exhausted face. Cassie watched him, repressing the urge to give him a hug (restraining from doing so was always difficult for her).

"Oh, thank god," Gary breathed out, now wearing a kind smile to match their own. "Dr. Grey, Dr. Harper, I-I don't know what to say. Thank you, so much." Heaving yet another sigh, as if to get air back into his lungs, he added, "My wife keeps telling me... I need to be more manly about all this. I mean, after all she's the one with cancer. She's afraid I'm the one who won't make it."

"I think you're doing just fine," Lexie comforted him with an airy laugh. "You both are."

Cassie tilted her head slightly, her knowing gaze meeting his own. "Would you like to see her?"

Gary quickly grew even more hopeful. "Can I?"

"She should be waking up any minute."

Cassie moved out of the way to allow him to pass by while placing a soft hand on his arm, as that was pretty much the only board-approved way to provide physical emotional support. She winked at Lexie, who returned the gesture, both of them more than happy that at least one good thing came out of the day.

☆

It was apparent that Cassie spoke too soon.

Whatever hope she'd gained after the 'successful' surgery had diminished at the sight of Alison hooked up to a breathing machine, a tearful April standing beside her. Richard was there, too, eyes going wide when Cassie, Lexie, and Gary entered the hospital room.

From the moment she walked in, Cassie knew there was something wrong; it wasn't until April nearly began to sob when Gary excitedly rushed over to his wife, that she realized Alison would never wake up.

(A small, practically minuscule part of her was also a little pissed, because if Alison had suffered a stroke, that meant Derek's presence would be just around the corner.)

Her heart broke for Gary while she listened to Richard explain what went wrong, that it wasn't the surgery, but what happened in her brain afterwards. That her and Lexie didn't lie, but that they just didn't know what was about to happen. But Gary didn't seem to understand, not at all, as he still seemed to have some hope.

"She could still wake up, right?"

Cassie couldn't help the silent curse that exited her mouth at the question, the man's denial making this a million times harder for everyone involved.

"Mr. Clark—"

"I mean," he continued on his train of thought, "People wake up from comas all the time, right? She could still wake up."

Richard shook his head, just once, solemnly glancing between the couple. "I'm sorry. Your wife's coma is irreversible. Dr. Harper, would you explain it, please?"

No, Cassie wanted to say, sparing a quick glance with Lexie, and even a brief one with April. No, I can't explain, because even I don't get it. I don't get how someone can be okay one second and dead the next, or how we can do everything right while still letting everything go so fucking wrong, or how—

Cassie breathed out a heavy sigh, ignoring her racing thoughts in favor of allowing herself to feel the guilt of giving Gary hope.

"Mrs. Clark's scans showed a massive hemorrhage in her brain." Her voice shook as she spoke; it had only just now occurred to her that it had been months since she'd lost a patient, let alone had to deliver the news. "And the EEG showed minimal brain activity."

With the way Gary was looking at her, Cassie suddenly started to feel like this was all her fault, for some reason, the guilt worsening while she watched tears build up in his eyes.

"But that means there's hope, right? Because... at least there's activity. And— and her heart is still beating."

Cassie was painfully reminded of the time that she had minimal brain activity, and how lucky she was to have people who fought for her. It only made her feel more guilty for not doing the same for Alison.

For the first time, Cassie actually welcomed April's interruption, as she didn't have a clue how to respond. "Only because the mechanical ventilator is breathing for her. When we turn the machine off... the heart won't get the oxygen it needs, and it will stop."

Something dark flashed in Gary's eyes, something that Cassie really didn't want to think too hard about.

"Why would you turn it off?"

The words left his mouth like bullets, and for just a moment, Cassie was convinced that she'd been shot.

When she spoke, her words were too quiet to not be spoken over. "Mr. Clark, I know that—"

"The advanced directive your wife signed," Richard told him, not unsympathetically, but stern enough to really make him listen, "It specifically requested no mechanical ventilation."

"She filled that form out three years ago, when the cancer was first diagnosed! The doctor told her she had six months to live, and she held on for another three years!" Gary's voice echoed in the otherwise quiet room, glaring at Richard with clear distain. "She'll come back from this, too. You'll see. You... you can't unplug her."

"Legally, we don't have a choice, sir."

"But... she's my wife. It's my choice."

Cassie could feel Lexie gently press her side into her own, searching for some sort of silent comfort. Not that she minded, though, as she also felt the need for a hug right about now.

"It's your wife's choice," Richard told him, and Cassie could swear she saw the light drain from Gary's eyes, "And she made it three years ago."

When Gary looked back to Cassie and Lexie, they both knew how much they really, really would need that hug after this.

"You two said the surgery went fine," he spat at them, venom lacing his tone. "That's what you said."

Cassie didn't think the guilt could get worse, but it did.

"It did, but—"

Gary cut Cassie off before she could so much as get a word out. Lexie subconsciously moved in closer.

"NO! No, you're not a doctor, you're a CHILD!" Neither Cassie or Lexie could stop themselves from flinching when he began yelling, his cheeks reddening with a burning anger. "Both of you! And you're USELESS! I'm done talking with you. I'm done talking with all of you."

"Mr. Clark—"

"Who's in charge here?"

☆

Derek, once again, was unavoidable.

Though, his and Cassie's encounter wasn't all that interesting, really, considering the fact that she avoided him like the Black Plague.

And after being yelled at by her patient's husband and being called a child, which was objectively the most overused insult she'd ever received, Cassie just couldn't find it in herself to care about fucking Derek, of all people.

Only, she did care about what he had to say.

She was there when Derek told Gary that he'd looked at Alison's scans, read over the paperwork, and ultimately decided that they were legally obligated to pull the plug.

She was there when Gary yelled at him, when he accused Derek of killing his wife, and she was there when Derek apologized, but said that there was nothing he could do.

Cassie knew that Derek was right, at least, legally. But that didn't stop her from being viscerally disappointed when Derek didn't seem guilty about any of it, morally. And she could see the way Lexie agreed with her, the obvious signs of distress on her face throughout the meeting making that clear.

Which led Cassie to the current moment, spacing out in one of the twisty chairs behind the nurse's station, patiently waiting for Lexie to come back from the vending machine.

(Apparently, food always made everything better, all the time, no matter what. Lexie's words.)

Cassie didn't notice that Richard was approaching until he spoke her name, but even then, it took her a moment to focus.

"Dr. Harper," he said quietly into the nearly empty corner of the surgical floor, "Alison Clark's room, five minutes. We've waited as long as her directive allowed."

He didn't wait long before he walked off again, and Cassie found it nearly impossible just to nod as a response. The whole day had been exhausting, the good and the bad, and at this point, she was just tired.

When she spun the opposite way in her chair, she saw Mark gazing down at her, seeming more thoughtful than he had in a while.

Oh, of fucking course he was here.

Cassie looked up at him, her face blank, but he didn't look away.

"Are you okay?"

A loaded question, and he knew it.

Was she okay? Cassie couldn't be sure. She didn't exactly feel totally not okay, but then again, that was a pretty low bar when it came to herself. If she were comparing herself now as opposed to a few months before, then sure, she was fucking fantastic. After all, when you're at rock bottom, there's nowhere left to go but up.

"You don't have to do that," was all she said.

Normally, Mark was pretty good at understanding the hidden meanings behind her words, but this time, he was at a loss. "Do what?"

Cassie shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Act like you care."

Her eyes immediately darted towards the floor after she spoke, slowly twisting side to side in the chair she was sat on. A hint of a bitter smile remained on her lips, tugging downwards at the edges and pulling her heavy eyes along with it.

(Fuck, she was really tired.)

Mark just watched her, not responding. At least, not right away. He dubiously let Derek's words get into his head, the I think you should replaying over and over until he couldn't help but try and talk to her. Even if he couldn't get her to open up, even if he didn't necessarily want her to, he had to try.

"You think I don't care?"

The thought hadn't even crossed his mind until now, him not caring. Honestly, Mark was beginning to think that he cared too much.

Cassie avoided his eye, her teeth tugging on her bottom lip for a beat too long. "I don't know, I just... I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't."

Fuck this, Mark clenched his jaw, misplaced anger running through his veins. Fuck this woman for making him so whipped that the mere sight of her upset made his heart break in two, and fuck her for not getting that he would always fucking feel that way.

Maybe it was an unusual form of cuteness aggression, but resisting the urge to grab her by the shoulders, shake her roughly, and scream, 'OF COURSE I FUCKING CARE ABOUT YOU!' was getting harder and harder by the second.

"I care," was what he decided to go with, the words coming out in a much calmer way than he felt on the inside. "Just tell me what's going on, Cass."

Finally, she looked back at him, and from the moment they made eye contact, Mark knew she wasn't planning on telling the whole truth.

"It's just my patient," Cassie told him, like it was no big deal at all. Mark knew it was. "She stroked out, and we have to unplug her, but... but before that, I told her husband she would be fine. That the surgery went perfectly. And I just... I'm finding it really hard to act like I don't care that she's dying."

"There's nothing wrong with caring," he told her, the double meaning behind his words not as subtle as he would have hoped.

Cassie smiled, just a little bit. Not because anything about her current situation was funny, by any means, but because she was amused at how much she wildly disagreed with the statement.

"Caring sucks, and you know it."

A perfect example: them, all of this, right now.

Mark couldn't help but nod in agreement, contradicting his point and proving it all at once. Caring did suck, sure, but it also gave him an excuse to speak to her for the first time after their arguement three weeks prior, so in the long run, caring did him a pretty huge favor.

"True," he conceded with a shrug, making Cassie huff a silent laugh through her nose. "But it's not all bad."

"Caring is what gets people hurt," Cassie said, a bit too casually for the person she was talking to, but she was far too tired to care. "I mean, shit, look at us."

Look at us. The words replayed in his head over and over while he did just that; well, while he looked at her.

It was less than a month ago that he was seething with rage over practically everything involving Cassie, and yet here he was today, standing desperately in front of her like a dog with a bird in his teeth, all because he cared.

(And maybe he was pathetic, or hopeless, or simply in love, but that fact really didn't bother him as much as it should have.)

"Getting hurt is worth it, if it's for you."

For just a single second, Cassie swore the world stopped spinning, but when she blinked, everything was back to normal.

"Mark," she whispered through a heavy breath, but he was just happy to hear her say his name again, "You know I... I really am sorry."

A part of her knew that it was all for the better, in the long run, but that didn't mean that it was better for him.

"Yeah, I know you are."

It wasn't forgiveness, not by any means, but it was a million times better than what she'd expected.

"Good," was all she said, though it was genuine.

Really, she wasn't sure what else she could say to that. Thanks for acknowledging my sorrow was the only thing coming to mind, which even Cassie knew sounded incredibly fucking stupid.

Almost as if he flipped a switch after she spoke, Mark sent her what was clearly a watered down version of his signature asshole grin, the blunt change in mood making her question if he was about to screw with her.

"Besides, we're even now, aren't we?"

Cassie blinked up at him. "We are?"

"C'mon, don't play dumb, Cass." The teasing lift to his voice sent a shiver down her back; whether it was due to nerves or something else, she couldn't be sure. "I'm sure you've heard by now. You slept with little Grey, so I—"

"Slept with the homewrecker," she finished his sentence, not being able to help the smirk that came over her lips when she used Sophie's honorary nickname. "Wow, I almost forgot."

Mark bounced back on his heels, before leaning forwards as if to fake a bow. The action would have been seen as mocking, if Cassie weren't the one on the other end of it.

"And I will always be happy to remind you."

Cassie cocked a brow in the air, her head tilting to the side. No, he wasn't mocking her at all; this was a challenge, and Cassie didn't need to know the rules of the game to play.

"The homewrecker," she repeated, and Mark's smile grew, "Out of all the people lining up at your door for a chance to fuck the one and only Mark Sloan, you picked her."

He tilted his head to the side. "I did."

Cassie mimicked his movements. "I wonder why."

Fuck, Mark missed this part the most. He missed the teasing, and the flirting, and seeing Cassie scoff out of disbelief because of something he said. He missed their games, however juvenile they may have been, and he missed the way he always managed to flip Cassie's mood around with a snap of his fingers. He just missed her.

"What, are you jealous?"

(Obviously.)

Cassie slowly leaned back in her chair, silently thanking whatever higher power was out there that she didn't fall backwards onto the ground as she did so.

"Do you think I have a right to be?"

Mark cocked a brow. "Do you?"

A million dollar question.

It was hidden in the way he emphasized his words, but luckily for Cassie, she knew him well enough to know what he was really asking.

If Cassie was jealous, that meant she wanted him, and if she wanted him, that meant there was still a chance. A chance for them to go back to the way everything used to be; well, with some minor improvements, that is. If Cassie was jealous, that meant Mark hadn't been waiting around for nothing, that she was coming back to him.

And fuck, did he want her to come back.

He waited impatiently with bated breath for her response, oblivious to her own spiraling thoughts.

"Yeah," Cassie eventually murmured, quiet enough so Mark had to strain to hear the words as they left her mouth, "Yeah, I do."

Mark's eyes widened just a fraction of an inch, every alarm in the Cassie portion of his brain sounding out fuck, shit, fuck, fuck, shit—

"Good," he choked out, restraining a grin.

(Cassie had nearly fainted while trying to verbalize her response, not that Mark had noticed.)

Without warning, Cassie broke their eye contact, taking in a much needed breath of air into her lungs. She casually spun around in a circle, briefly appreciating how comfortable the nurse's chairs were, before snorting to herself as a thought crossed her mind.

"I seriously can't believe you slept with her instead of that lab tech who's always giving you the fuck me eyes," she scoffed a laugh, watching as confusion built on Mark's face. "Oh, please don't tell me you haven't noticed the staring."

"You're one to talk," Mark countered, the sight of her laughing instinctively making him laugh, as well. "You've got little Grey following you around like a lost puppy for the whole hospital to see."

Cassie's jaw dropped at the insinuation. "That is so not true."

"It so is," he teased her, only half-joking. "I gotta watch my back with that one, she's my main competition."

There's no competition when it comes to you, was what Cassie wanted to say, what she would've said, if she weren't still internally reeling over the whole jealous thing. It had only just occurred to her that she'd essentially told him that she wanted him back, and she meant it.

"God, to think that after all that time we were together, we're still sluts when we're apart."

Mark cracked yet another smile at Cassie's quip, resisting the urge to say something alluding to the fact that they were pretty slutty together, as well.

"Huh, go figure."

Whatever temporary emotional relief Mark had provided Cassie with disappeared at the beep of her pager, the reminder that her patient was about to fucking die hitting her at full force once again.

Cassie's grin visibly dropped, her lips pressing into a flat line when she read the numbers on her pager, which belonged to Alison's room. Mark had distracted her enough with all of his... Mark-ness... to the point where the whole thing slipped her mind for the briefest of moments. But it was nice while it lasted, she supposed.

Regrettably, she got up from her spot on the comfy twisty chair, pushing her hair behind her ears as she made her way around the desk and back into the hallway.

Pausing in her steps, she turned back around, to see that Mark had yet to look away. "Hey, uh..."

Even after their conversation, it was a difficult question for her to ask. And Mark could tell, his nerves spiking just the smallest amount.

"Yeah?"

Deciding to just go ahead and rip off the bandaid, Cassie rung her fingers together when she asked, "Are we... are we okay?"

Mark should have said no. Not because he wanted to, or because he was still angry, but because she had been in the wrong. He knew that. She told him to wait for her and then went and slept with her friend for fun. He should have been pissed beyond belief, and he was, but he also couldn't help but to at least try and understand it all from her point of view.

(God, being an amazing human being was just so annoying, wasn't it? Mark didn't know how he'd managed to do it all these years.)

He looked down at her through a soft gaze.

"Yeah, we're okay."

Mark wished he had the ability to frame a photo of the way Cassie's eyes lit up after he spoke.

Even though she felt the weight of a patient's life on her shoulders, Cassie still managed to smile at him in return. Savoring the moment for as long as she could without staring, she turned on her heel, starting down the hallway at an unbearably slow pace.

Before she could get very far, a hand grabbed her arm from behind, spinning her around until she landed against the culprit's chest.

It only took half a second for Cassie to relax into Mark's arms, her own gently wrapping around his torso. Her eyes darted around the general vicinity, almost as if she were in shock from the gesture, before she closed them tightly, feeling more at home than she had in months.

"Why are you hugging me?" Cassie questioned, her words muffled against his scrub top. Feeling him shrug, she attempted to pull away, thinking he wanted it to end; he just pulled her in closer, his next words muttered against her scalp.

"You looked like you needed it."

(She did.)

☆

"How long has he been there?"

Cassie's words were quiet, mournful, even. Staring through the glass into Alison's room, she saw Gary knelt at his wife's bedside, the sight making her heart break for more reason than one. Lexie, April, and Richard were already there, evidently waiting for Cassie to arrive before they pulled the plug.

Cassie wished they'd just done it while she was gone. At least that way, she wouldn't have to do it herself.

"A long time," Lexie whispered in response, her face weighed down by the secondhand grief. "Too long."

"It's time," Richard told them. Lexie and April's eyes were drawn to Cassie, along with his own when he said softly, "See it through."

It was both a blessing an a curse to be a year above Lexie and to be liked more than April, because while that may have gotten her the main assist in Alison's surgery, it now tasked her with the duty of practically killing her in front of her husband.

Of course, Cassie was well aware of the logistics behind what she was about to do, that Alison was already dead, but it didn't make removing her breathing tube any easier. Still, she knew she needed to do as told, and just stick it through until the end. Alison deserved that much.

It wasn't until the second before she was about to step into the room, that Cassie realized she couldn't do it.

Perhaps she was a coward. Or maybe, just maybe, she'd finally figured out how to understand her limits; and this, even though it was her job, crossed far too many of them for comfort.

It was almost like Lexie could see into her mind, or she was just really good at reading her body language. Either way, Cassie didn't need to utter a word, only sharing a short glance with the blonde before she backed away from the doorframe, allowing Lexie to take the lead. Silently, she vowed to buy her a drink once the day was over.

Though Cassie, April, and Richard remained on the other side of the glass, they could still hear everything. Every single thing.

Cassie heard Lexie's soft, "Mr. Clark," the way her voice shaked making her feel even more guilty than she already did. It wasn't fair to Lexie, but then again, she knew she couldn't have done it. She wouldn't have been able to handle it.

She heard the way Gary desperately begged Lexie not to do it, not to pull the plug keeping Alison alive. The constant yet muffled, "No, please, no, no, please," rung in her ears, and despite every muscle in her body attempting to hold back her tears, they failed, her reddening cheeks a stark contrast to her glassy eyes.

"I'm sorry," Lexie said to him, and Cassie knew the apology was nowhere near enough.

When Gary started talking about miracles and one percent chances, Cassie had to turn away, her back resting on the wall next to the glass.

She didn't want any of them to see her cry. And from the looks of it, Lexie was already having a hard enough time as it was; she didn't need Cassie to go and make it even worse.

"Please wake up."

She heard the quiet beep of the breathing machine for the last time before it turned off completely.

The hallway went silent, and if Cassie had the balls to look up, she would have seen that there wasn't a dry eye in sight. Her gaze only moved from it's place on the floor when Lexie rushed past her, not a single indication that she was in any way, shape, or form okay with what she just did.

From the brief glance she got of her face, Cassie wasn't even a little bit shocked to see that Lexie was crying harder than herself. With a wildly guilty conscience, she wiped her own tears, following after Lexie without sparing a single glance back to the other two doctors.

Like she said, caring sucks.

☆

It seemed as though getting absolutely shitfaced-drunk was on the itinerary for the night.

When Cassie walked into Joe's, her eyes instinctually found Lexie sitting alone at the bar, nursing some sort of overly fruity cocktail with a surprisingly high alcohol percentage. Really, she wasn't all that surprised, as the blonde had never struck Cassie as someone who did the plain hard stuff.

It only took Cassie a total of two minutes to join Lexie, flag down Joe, and do three shots of the bar's cheapest tequila; ten minutes later, she was somewhat tipsy, but not quite at her goal for the night; by the time Alex joined them over an hour later, Joe had started serving her half-water shots, since Cassie could no longer tell the difference.

"So, let me get this straight," Cassie looked at Alex through half-lidded eyes, pointing a finger at him in accusation. "You have a brother, who was in the hospital, with us, all day, and you just, like, oh, I don't know, didn't mention it?"

Alex took a sip of his beer. "Pretty much, yeah."

"He was really nice!" Lexie chimed in, not quite on Cassie's level but still drunk enough to annoy Alex. "Sorry for telling him about the whole Izzie wedding thing by the way. My bad."

With a shrug, he waved her off, more focused on the way that Cassie looked so offended, it was almost like he'd killed Pumpkin with the way she was looking at him.

"Dude, we could have, like, bonded over the sibling drama," she complained, choosing to focus on that part of the day rather than her dying patient or flirty ex-boyfriend. "Half-sibling. Whatever. You get the point."

"Trust me, you don't want my sibling drama."

"Can't be worse than mine."

Shaking his head out of pure skepticism, Alex shared a quick, knowing glance with Lexie, both of them thinking the exact same thing; that whole secret sibling situation is fucking insane. Cassie, as inebriated as she may have been, noticed the exchange with a roll of her eyes.

(She really didn't have it in her to care.)

"Speaking of your brothers," Lexie leaned in closer, as if they were discussing top secret intel, "Have you talked to Jackson yet?"

"Half-brother," Cassie corrected sharply, mindlessly taking a sip of Alex's beer. He frowned, snatching it from her grasp like he was taking a toy away from a toddler. "And to answer your question, fuck no."

Sighing, Lexie crossed her arms on the counter, slumping down in her seat while she debated turning the conversation serious; after all, they'd all had enough serious to last a lifetime just within the last twelve hours, but she ultimately decided it was worth it.

"Cass, hear me out, okay?" Her vacant gaze eventually finding Lexie's, Cassie nodded halfheartedly, not exactly having any reason not to. "I was Jackson. I mean, not Jackson, Jackson, but— I was Meredith's Jackson. You know, the— the unwanted half-sibling who shows up and ruins your life? That was me."

"Yeah, but thats..."

Cassie didn't finish her sentence, because the more she thought about it, the more she realized just how similar their situations were. It didn't seem that way at first, but as someone who had a keen insight into the way Meredith felt when Lexie showed up and sister-bombed her, it really, really was.

"I was Jackson. And — look, I get that's it's complicated, and it makes no sense, and you think you want nothing to do with him, but — I think you should just, at least try, you know? Just try to give him a chance, because I know how it feels to be him, and it sucks."

Cassie blinked at her.

"Shit."

Lexie sent her a pitying grin, giving her a pat on the back while Cassie groaned into her hands at the realization that shit, she needed to talk to Jackson, didn't she?

Alex flagged down Joe for another beer, before hastily adding with a chuckle, "You're right, your sibling drama is way worse."

Slowly, Cassie turned to glare at him. "Thanks."

"Any time."

author's note ━━━━━━
we're one chapter away from the
shooting and i am literally, like,
pissing my pants LMAO

just for the record, cassie may be
an april anti (at the moment) but
that girl is the love of my life do not
ever speak a WORD on my angel's
name!!! i'm an april kepner truther
until i the day i die, don't play