Blake turns to look at Cassidy and the few seconds that transcribed before Samantha said something stretch out like vicious hours in a cheap airplane seat.
« Cassidy, I was going... » Samantha says embarrassed.
« It's not what it looks like. » Sally comments hurriedly wiping her lips from the kiss they were found in.
Blake bites her lips.
« Sam? What's going on? » The cousin then asks.
« I don't think it looks like anything more than what it is. » Cassidy states.
She needs an explanation but she doesn't want it. What is Samantha playing at?
« I'm leaving. » Sally says and pulls Blake with her.
Cassidy realizes she's still holding the coffee that has spilled on her hands unto her brown Italian leather shoes.
« Should I wait for an explanation or just leave? » She is angry and sad and confused. She refuses to cry though the undeniable knot in the pit of her stomach threatens to shed tears.
« I was going to tell you before the accident, then yesterday you were so worried. I couldn't... »
« And the airport? » She asks rendering to the tarmac in Milan.
« It was after... »
Cassidy sips the coffee.
« I'm sorry... I should have...» Samantha whispers looking away from questioning green eyes.
« Don't... » Cassidy wants to ask, wants to shake the young woman up and down and ask her why. Yet, she swore that if Samantha ever wanted to leave, she would let her. She only wants her happiness.
« I'm... I am going to go find a flight. » she whispers back, rubbing her forehead.
« Cass... »
She doesn't hear whatever else the recovering blond says, she just wants to get out of there as fast as she can. She closes the door of the room and sets the half empty coffee in a shelf nearby. She walks toward the back door of the hospital because she doesn't want to see Sally, but the redhead is waiting for her.
« Cassidy! It's not what it looks like. I don't know what she said... let me explain... »
« Don't. » She says hushing the young redhead. « You could have told me months ago. » She refutes.
« Told you what? » Sally asks.
« You could have spared me the concerned scene to the doctors and those months of forth and comes. » Cassidy explains and she knows she should not have wasted her time explaining something that the ginger already knows.
« I'm sorry, I did all of this because... » Sally tries to say but Cassidy stops her before the elevator closes.
« I just wish you would have told me. » She says as the door of the elevator finally closes on Sally.
Inside, Cassidy lets the tears fall like torrents. Outside Sally is pushing the button frantically before running down the emergency stairs in vain. When she gets to the parking lot Cassidy has left.

« What the fuck Samantha? » Sally marches angrily in the room.
Samantha has explained everything to Blake while they waited for Cassidy in the exit the room.
The reason of their kiss is actually unfair and actually sad, everything that a kiss shouldn't be. It was the diagnosis of the two doctors as they tested her motor skills; that Samantha would not walk normally again. That it will take a lot of recovery to get her out of a wheelchair. How ironic? A runway model who can not walk? And a girlfriend who can not walk? She would just be a burden to Cassidy.
Then a few minutes had elapsed in which Samantha quickly pulled Sally into an unexpected kiss when she heard Cassidy pushing the door open.
« I don't want to talk about it now. » Samantha says to Sally disinterested and closes her eyes.
« You don't want to talk about it? Have you seen how much that woman loves you? She's been coming to see you for months and you... »
« I don't want her to be stuck with an invalid. It would be unfair if I lock her in with me. » She says stubbornly.
« That's why you kissed me? Don't make bad excuses Sam, doesn't suit you. That is the worst excuse I have ever heard. » Sally says angrily. « And those two little girls who have been there for you, reading to you and praying for you. Don't you think they deserve the truth? »
« No. She won't leave if I tell the truth. » Samantha shakes her head.
It's all already planned in her mind.
« Because she wants to be with you. Don't be like your mom Sam. » Sally drops with an insisting tone.
« How dare you? I'm not like her. » Samantha raises her voice. She can't tolerate being talked that way; yet; inside she knows she deserves it.
« You're leaving her. » Sally pushes again and Samantha is silent. « That woman sacrified everything for you, she has done everything to make sure you would be okay, and this is how you treat her. And, now you also used me for it. I'm not your object Sam. I'm so disappointed in you. »
Samantha looks away and purses her lips from guilt.
« Just... Don't tell her. » Samantha states.
« You're torturing her and yourself. I get that you're hurting and sick but that gives you no excuse. »
« Just leave me alone! » Samantha shouts like a hurting teenager in an identity crisis.
« Absolutely no problem. » Sally chuckles sarcastically, giving her a dead stare.
For the second time in a day Blake sees yet another woman scamper off from her cousin's room. She knows why Samantha did what she did. She knows it's wrong.
She knows her cousin is stubborn but she hopes that she'll come around in a day or two.

Blake is wrong. The four days of tests come to an end. Samantha is released with strict orders, pills and a doctor to see in Milan. She is slowly going back to her old habits and is learning to live again, even in a wheelchair. She has seen her name blasted all over the newspapers and articles, all saying that Samantha Gates was alive and well. She has not been paying attention to the press though, she has moved from her house to another one smaller and comfier, away from the medias. She has not gone back to modeling; her days are basically just sticking around the house and cooking or reading a book; catching up on what she has missed while she was in a coma.
Blake visits often, she is the only one that Samantha allows to do so. Blake stays in the spare bedroom of the beautiful turn of the century apartment the young magnate had purchased. Each door is decorated with ornate carvings and Belle Époque paintings in wall stands. Samantha is in the main room, starting at the closed shutters, tears silently drowning her.
« Would you see Cassidy stuck to me? Wheeling me to the Met Gala or some ridiculous events? »
Blake stays quiet opting instead to open the large shutters and window panes.
« You know you can't hide here forever. All of this is great but it is not real life Sam. You'll have to go back in town and settle down again, and face your problems. Hiding has never been the solution. » Blake whispers quietly, she observes the grass through the window.
« But you have no idea how I feel. » the ex-model turns to her cousin. There is something akin to reproach in her eyes and her hands are knotted tightly in a sign of anxiety.
« You're right. I don't. I only know you are lucky enough to have support from both sides of this equation. So many others would want their parents to agree with their partner choice... » She starts but she is cut off by Samantha.
« I should thank my lucky star that my family accepts me as a lesbian? That they agree with basic human rights... Alleluia! » Samantha claims sarcastically.
Blake has stepped out into the balcony and Samantha has moved to the edge of the portico.
« You were given this chance to be happy and you're wasting it. »
« Don't start with me Blake, I'm not in the mood. »
Samantha's words signify the end of the conversation.
« She's not the same you know. » Blake throws out a few seconds later as Samantha is about to reach the other end of the room. She stops the wheelchair.
« I've been seeing her. » Blake speaks.
« You did? » Samantha sounds interested and curious, she doesn't want to but she can't help herself to ask about her.
« Met her a few times in New York to talk friendly. I went to her house once or twice, saw her two daughters whom have grown a lot now. »
Samantha doesn't want to but she asks.
« How are Alexandra and Andrea? And Cassidy? » She asks.
« They are fine. Cassidy does what she can but... You've changed her. »
Samantha hides a smile hearing that they are doing okay. She has not been asking but deep inside she was craving to know.
« That's not what the fucking newspapers say. » Sam then drops as she clicks her tongue.
Blake wants to point out the fact that she's following up on her on the newspapers, which says a lot but she doesn't bring it up.
« Not to the media or in her job, she is unchangeable. » She stops. « But privately she has changed a lot. » She looks sad and her words lack that effectiveness. « She asks regularly about you and Sally. She still cares, she wants to make sure you are happy you know. »
The white-haired woman feels her throat burning. She remembers the promise Blake has made her that she would not tell Cassidy anything about why Samantha kissed Sally in the hospital. Blake still thinks it is better for Cassidy to know, but she also knows Samantha is the one who has to tell her.
« Did you break the promise? » Sam asks urgently.
« Cassidy would have been here already if I had and you know it. »
« No, I doubt it. »
Blake shakes her head sarcastically with eyes full of disappointment.
« You're so selfish and full of yourself since you've woken up. I'm sorry to tell you that but it disgusts me how you make that woman suffer just for your own sake. » Her cousin spits out harshly as a truth of words.
« Why do you care so much about my relationship with Cassidy suddenly? » Samantha questions as she raises her voice.
« Because you're my cousin and I care about you, and I know that you were happier with her. And yes, if that is your question, I care about Cassidy too. She is lovely and she is selfless to the people she loves, unlike you. »
Samantha looks down at her feet as she allows a tear to fall. Blake breathes out for a moment as the room is being quiet.
« My mom is holding a party with the family next Friday at home. » Blake drops casually at the door. « I'll send a mail to the whole family. Don't bother going though, I can't imagine wheeling you to the dinner table. » She bites.
The door of the room closes and Samantha's filled with sadness and anger that she knows she caused herself. Blake doesn't return, for months the two cousins don't speak.
The only time Samantha sees her is at another quick reunion with the family. It's also the only time she sees the rest of her family. Otherwise she is alone, she has trouble watching for herself and she is really depressed. It is hard to eat or to clean her house, it's hard to look at herself in the mirror, especially with that fucking wheelchair that she hates so much. She rarely wears makeup now, and she rarely wears something that's not oversized hoodies and sweatpants. She has stopped dying her hair and they have grown darker brown again. Fashion used to be her passion now it just reminds her of the old Samantha who could walk. She spends every hours alone, or with doctors and physiotherapist. She hates talking about it, she's been going for months now. Every two days she gets to be forced to push herself up on bars, she's forced to try to walk, to hang out stupidly in the pool. Every two days she's forced to have someone move her legs around, massage them and tell her that it's looking better. Every two days she falls and the humiliation has many times made her call off the session. She's glad she's alone, she would hate for her family to be here. She would hate for Cassidy to fuss over her like the invalid she is. She's pondered stopping it. She doesn't see the point of it. Her parents insist that she does it and her doctors say it is necessary. It is a complete torture for her. The only reason why she doesn't quit is because there is a small hope in her that she will be able to walk again. If she can walk again, she can have her life back. She can have Cassidy back. She can have Samantha back too. That is the only thing that is keeping her alive now, the only thing that is containing her from giving up. The nostalgia of her old life and the good old days spent with Cassidy and the girls are the only air she breathes.
So far it hasn't worked, she keeps falling every time she tries to stand up and she still can't use the hand braces yet.
« You need patience, sweetheart! » Her physical therapist tells her all the time.
Patience is a whore, keeping so many flames and never committing to a single one. She hates patience and her optimistic therapist, but they are all she has.