Every Step of the Way

Chapter Twenty-Six

He was glad to see that the nurse was right- she was wide awake.

"Cassie..." he whispered, hurrying over to give her a big hug, "what in the world... what in the world was that all about?"

She sighed- she had known the question was bound to come up, especially from Varian, but... she didn't quite know how to explain it to him.

"Just... I don't know."

He took a seat next to her, taking her hand in his.

"Well, at least you're okay. You're... you're still alive."

He choked up on these words, tears springing into his eyes.

"You- you thought I was dead," Cass said, realization dawning, "you thought I didn't survive that fall."

He nodded. "I was so worried, Cassie... I didn't know what would happen without you around. How I'd be expected to go back to work and life like everything was normal and okay, like nothing happened... when, in fact, nothing is normal or okay. Something did happen. You know? And your dad- how would I have told your dad about what I witnessed there?"

With each word, more tears poured, and Cass shushed him.

"It's okay, Varian. I'm okay. And... so's the baby."

He had completely forgotten about that until now, but now that it was in the open like that, it was his turn to have a sudden realization.

"That's why..."

She just nodded, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Cass. I want to hear you say it."

"Fine. I... I tried killing the baby. I had an entire foolproof plan. That is, until you came and surprised me like that."

"Why, though?"

"It- it just seemed so much more easy than my other options-" she said, also tearing up, "but... I don't know what even got into me, you know? Like, Dad would probably kill me the moment he found out, but... I don't know... I'm just so unsure."

Varian nodded like he understood, even though he really didn't. He knew how good it felt to vent, to rant. To have someone hear what you have to say.

By now, Cass was crying really hard, but she was just glad to have someone there. Even if she was sobbing grossly.

"Dad would kill me. A kid would kill me in a matter of years-"

Varian chuckled- he remembered how it felt to have a little sister, back when she was, for lack of better terms, "little-little."

"But I can't help but feeling that... that we need each other, this unborn baby and I, you know?"

Again, he didn't exactly know. But he nodded anyway.

"You had me scared, Cassie," he finally whispered, "you had me really scared..."

"And I'm sorry about that. Really."

"I love you so so so so so very much. You know that, right?"

"And I love you, too."

~-~

{And there we go. Chapter twenty-six. Completed. I... don't really know what exactly how that came into my head all those days ago, but it did. And I'm pretty proud of what it turned into. I hope you enjoyed this. More later.}