Disclaimer: I don't own the Librarians :( This is my first story on here. Cassandra is a tricky one to get just right, so I hope I did her justice!
Cassandra Cillian was used to hospitals. When she was little she had never had much experience with waiting rooms and stiff plastic chairs. She had always tried to be careful to stay out of trouble and make sure that she never needed so much as a Band-Aid. However, this task had always been easier said than done.
She still vividly remembered the smell of dampness in the air from the New York rain and the phantom stinging of the scrape across her knee when she fell off her first bike.
"It's okay, darling. It's just a little cut", cooed Mrs. Cillian.
Cassandra sniffled, "But it hurts Mommy."
"I know sweetheart, but I'll give it a little kiss and it'll be all better." She leaned down and placed a small kiss near the raw scrape. She then wiped at Cassandra's tears and helped her to her feet.
"There we go, all better."
xoxoxo
The next time Cassandra fell, she wasn't so sure that a kiss from Mom would help her get better. Gym had never been her favourite part of high school, but she enjoyed the feeling of breathlessness after running track. Hopping over each of the hurdles, she started to feel the familiar burning deep in her chest. As she headed towards the final few hurdles she picked up her pace, feet thudding against the track. She felt her foot catch on the last hurdle as she attempted to jump over it and went crashing to the ground.
The next thing she remembered were the eyes staring down at her as she clutched her right arm, hot tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Cassandra! Oh my goodness! Watch out, watch out!" the coach shouted as she ran over from the bleachers.
She was in the ambulance when she passed out from the pain.
"It was a clean break, Mr. Cillian," said Dr. Hammond, "she'll be in a cast for around 6 to 8 weeks. "
Mrs. Cillian shared a look with her husband, "Oh, is there any chance of getting it taken off a little sooner? She has a science project due at the end of the month."
The Doctor stared at the two seemingly unconcerned parents, "Cassandra will need time to rest and heal before taking part in anything particularly stressful."
Unfortunately, he wasn't so sure the Cillians would listen to his advice.
xoxoxo
By the time she was sixteen, Cassandra had become all too familiar with the disapproving looks her parents gave her as she interacted with the hallucinated images that clouded her vision. They didn't understand that she was able to stay at the top of her classes while also studying college level courses from the comfort of her own room because of this gift.
She had learned to ignore the looks from her classmates as she uncontrollably rhymed off the first hundred numbers within pi from the back of the classroom. Getting lost in the numbers helped her block out the fact that she didn't have friends the way her classmates did and that she wasn't someone that anyone wanted to date. Just as she thought she was gaining control of the images dancing across her eye line during her morning physics class, she felt a sharp pain cut across her forehead. Blood spots appeared on her notebook as it dripped from her nose. Grasping for the sides of her head she let out an agonising yelp. She threw her chair back as she fell to her knees on the floor. Students turned to find the cause of all the commotion and saw the strange redhead seizing at the back row. Cassandra could hear the distant shouts of her teacher and classmates as her vision began to darken and eventually she succumbed to the white hot pain behind her eyes.
xoxoxo
Cassandra learned quickly that her future was not as bright has it had once been. Her parents quickly lost the hopes and dreams that they had had for their daughter. They soon stopped accompanying her to her regular appointments. It was too difficult for them to see their only child being doomed to a mundane existence, their own unaccomplished achievements dying with that one word: tumour. They were too wrapped up in their own disappointment that they didn't see Cassandra was losing her future and her family. She couldn't stand to be around the piercing silence and avoided eye contact for much longer and on the day she turned 18, she left. Using the little money she had, she moved into a tiny apartment near St. Francis' Hospital.
The one thing she hated most about her condition, aside from the glaringly obviously option, was the unpredictability of it. She had no indicators of when an episode might take over her senses and she had been plagued by the dull ache in the front of her skull for as long as she could remember. Being alone, without any family or friends had also been a downside. These two things meant that she had to create a contingency plan if she were to die sooner rather than later.
Cassandra was used to hospitals. One hospital in particular. When the job as a janitor became available in the one hospital she knew like the back of hand, she jumped at the chance. In her mind, it made sense she work in a hospital. If she ever got lost within her hallucinations she was already in the one place that could help her best. She couldn't rely on friends or family the way luckier patients might, she had to be there for herself. She wished she had been destined for something greater, however she had let that flicker of hope burn out soon after her diagnosis. The hospital was all she had. Until…
"…let's get a lumbar test."
"Pardon me, but it's not, it's not meningitis…"