A/N: Hi all, I'm bibliophile114, also known as Storm, and here's my first Casson fic! These books are very special to me, you see. I have so many memories with them, and the series basically carried through me some of the toughest times in my life. So I love them dearly, and here is my tribute to the Casson family. The fonts won't show on this website, but I've done my best to format the chapters the way it is done in Caddy Ever After. Please read and review (constructive criticism is always welcome)!

WARNING: Spoiler alert! I would recommend not reading this fic unless you've read or never plan to read Saffy's Angel, Indigo's Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy Ever After, and Forever Rose. I also suggest that you read "Rose's Blog" on Hilary McKay's website, .uk, which is something of a sequel to the series and contains a lot of the content (from Rose's point of view) that I'll be writing about from Sarah's and Indigo's points of view. If you're good on all these terms, please, read on!

DISCLAIMER: The Casson family series and its characters do not belong to me. They are the work of the ineffably lovely Hilary McKay.

Slow Dance

Dedicated to the Casson family, Hilary McKay, and you Casson writers out there.

For Jason, my Indigo, and Waverley, my Saffy.

THE WHEELCHAIR GIRL

by Indigo Casson

At age eleven, I had no idea that the neighbor I knew as simply "the wheelchair girl" would become my sister's best friend, much less my girlfriend.

Saffy was thirteen, and still struggling with being adopted and different. Caddy was eighteen, and failing college and her driving lessons with "Michael darling." Rose was six, and had just begun school. Mum was painting in the shed, and Dad was at his apartment in London, being a real artist.

But Dad has just come home for a visit, and for Granddad's will and funeral. It was when Peter was driving Dad away that "the wheelchair girl" became "Sarah."

Dad had escaped from all of us but Saffron, who had followed him out the door. He hugged Saffron and swung her around, then set her down and hurried to the car. However, in her arms he'd left the sandwiches Mum had made for him. Saffy ran down the road, and threw the sandwiches after him. As she laughed through her tears, the wheelchair girl ran her over.

I saw the entire thing from my windowsill, where I was dealing with the extremes of fear. The particular extreme of fear I was dealing with was heights, and I was complete paralyzed with terror: too frozen with cold and nerves too move or shout. It was getting late, and Caddy still hadn't come to check on me. Sitting up there, I was only half conscious, and I barely watched as Saffy spent ages talking to the wheelchair girl, who was Saffron's age with straight dark hair, which made her face look very pale. Her eyes were the most intriguing: a milky green I'd never seen before. Saffy paced and Sarah rolled up and down the street between their respective houses.

The only reason I realized I'd noticed these things was because Caddy interrogated me after she'd come to the rescue. We listened in shock as the wheelchair girl told Saffy that she just had to find her angel.

Caddy called to both of them to come in, but Saffron looked at us in horror, and dashed Sarah to her house.

Of course, we bombarded her with questions.

This girl was a thing of mystery. I'd always seen her around, but never known her. And anyone who could connect with Saffron that quickly without getting smacked had my instant respect. So I listened to all of Saffy's answers quite carefully. Subconsciously I stowed them away in a special box at the front of my brain named "Sarah."

Saffy stowing away to Italy in Sarah's car and finding her angel (in more ways than one, I like to think) is all a blur in my head, but I know I was thinking about them.

That day, when Saffy and Sarah were back, we were lying in the grass outside the Banana House, I remember vividly.

This fizzy sort of warmth was filling me, and that, the breeze over my face and Sarah's hair tickling my arm, was one of the best feelings I can remember.

We talked about how lovely it was to know Sarah and have her around. I realized that Sarah was something important to everyone, but Saffy and I were always going to be especially jealous whenever the other one had her more.

I accidentally thought out loud. "Sarah's one of my pack now."

Rose and Saffy giggled.

"And what exactly does that mean, Indy? I can call you Indy?" Sarah said, utterly bemused.

I had to be blushing. Way to be cool in front of your older sister's quite lovely new best friend. "It means…" There was no way to get out of this without being honest. "It means that you're important, like a family member. And I'm watching out for you. Yes, you can call me Indy, 'cause you're part of the pack."

This pleased little glow came into Sarah's eyes and I couldn't help but grin as she beamed at me. "I quite like that, Indigo Casson. Thank you. I'm glad you didn't commit autodefenestration."

I looked at her questioningly.

"Autodefenestration," she recited, "is the act of jumping, propelling oneself, or causing oneself to fall, out of a window."

"You saw that?" I mumbled. People were supposed to see these things once I WAS brave, not when I was trying to get there.

"I see things," Sarah said simply. "Let me know if you need help facing the extremes of fear."

Saffy grinned at me. Apparently she talked to Sarah a lot.

But I wasn't thinking about being embarrassed by Saffy. I was thinking that I now knew someone who read and noticed as much as I did. Even about me, I think.