Rory Gilmore sat on her side of the long dinner table in her grandparents' home. She never quite knew how to predict how the weekly Friday Night Dinner would go. Sometimes everything was great; sometimes it was nothing but problems, and sometimes it was somewhere in between. That night was turning out to be nothing but problems. The teenager had no idea what her mother and grandmother were upset about this time; the fight must have preceded dinner, but they had been at the table for nearly twenty minutes, and nobody had said a word. Lorelai and Emily both looked angry, and her grandfather always acted like he didn't even notice something was going on, leaving Rory stuck in the middle and stuck in silence.

"Well, fine," Emily finally said, looking at her daughter. "If you're not going to talk, I'll just pretend you're not here."

"I'm not the only one not talking, Mom," Lorelai said. "Rory's not talking, either."

"Let's leave Rory out of this!" Rory piped in.

"Richard, how was your day?" Emily asked, ignoring the girls who sat in between them.

"It was fine," Richard Gilmore said. "I was actually meaning to tell you that I saw Tom at the club this afternoon."

"Has there been any news?" Emily asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Richard said.

"Have they called the police yet?" Emily asked.

"Oh, Tom says there's no need for that," Richard said.

"What on Earth does that mean?" Emily asked. "She's a child!"

"He said Connie says she just knows she's alright, the same way she just suddenly knew the headaches weren't simply headaches," Richard said. "They just don't know where she is."

"Well, that's ridiculous," Emily said. "They should call the police."

"I agree, but there seems to be no convincing him," Richard said.

"How are they doing otherwise?" Emily asked.

"He said Connie's finally made it back to her office," Richard said. "She's barely been out of the house until now. He seems to be working extra hours to keep his mind off of it."

"That hardly seems possible after he threw himself into work when they found out."

"Who are we talking about?" Lorelai finally asked.

"You know Tom and Connie," Emily said.

"Uh, no, I don't," Lorelai said.

"Yes, you do," Emily insisted. "You've met them many times. They have a daughter Rory's age."

"Mom, I seriously have no idea who you're talking about," Lorelai said.

"None whatsoever?" Emily asked.

"Couldn't pick 'em out of a police lineup if my life depended on it."

Emily sighed. "The Cillians are old friends whose only daughter recently received a rather devastating medical diagnosis," she said. At that, with the added inclusion of the family's last name, Lorelai froze in place at her seat, her eyes remaining firmly on her plate. "And earlier," Emily continued. "At the start of summer, their daughter just up and left, kind of like how you just up and left when Rory was a baby."

"Okay, how long have you been sitting on that one?" Lorelai asked.

"Anyway, they told her she couldn't go back to school because of her condition, the poor thing, and they haven't seen her since that afternoon," Emily finished. Lorelai awkwardly put her fork down and folded her arms on the table in front of her plate. Rory, across the table, noticed her mother's odd behavior and frowned.

"What, um…how old is she?" Lorelai asked.

"Sixteen," Emily said. "Why'd you stop eating? Is something wrong with the food?"

"No, oh…no," Lorelai said. "That's just…that's horrible."

As soon as Lorelai and Rory got in Lorelai's Jeep to return to Stars Hollow, Rory turned to face her mother and said, "What was that?"

"What was what?" Lorelai asked innocently.

"That. At dinner. When Grandma and Grandpa were talking about the missing girl. You flinched," Rory said.

"I did not flinch," Lorelai insisted.

"Well, maybe it wasn't a flinch, but it was definitely something. What happened?"

"Oh, I…just…well…I think that missing girl is my new maid," Lorelai said.

"What?" Rory exclaimed.

"Her last name's Cillian, and the story fits…"

"What do you mean 'the story fits'?"

"Well, I walked into Luke's the other day, and there was this girl in a school uniform – not Chilton, but the school I went to, and Hartford private school girls don't end up in Stars Hollow alone very often, and we got to talking, and she started crying about how it was all screwed up, and what was she going to do because she couldn't go back to school, and now she couldn't go home, either, and I thought she was pregnant…"

"You thought she was pregnant?" Rory asked.

"Consider the circumstances," Lorelai said.

"Okay…fine. How did she end up working at the inn?" Rory asked.

"She told me about her diagnosis and getting pulled out of school. I can't believe she told a complete stranger that, but I think she needed someone to talk to, and I needed a new maid, so I offered her a job!" Lorelai said.

"Mom!" Rory cried. "You have to send her home."

"I do not," Lorelai said.

"Her parents have no idea where she is."

"I didn't know that, but my parents didn't know where we were for a while."

"Mom, she's my age! What would you do if you didn't know where I was?"

"I would be devastated," Lorelai said. "But, look, it's not my place to send her home. What would I have done if Mia had sent me home, huh? You and I would not be where we are today, so I'll tell her to let them know she's okay, but if Cassandra wants to go home, Cassandra will have to make the decision to go home. Until then, I'm going to help her."

"Mom!" Rory said again.

"Rory."

"But…"

"I'm paying it forward, kid. Let it go."


The Jeep pulled into the circular driveway outside of the Cillian house, and Lorelai leaned forward, staring out the window in awe. "Wow," she said. "This place got bigger? Or did we just get smaller?"

Cassandra, typing a text on her phone, chuckled. "It's bigger," she said. She suddenly gasped, clasping her hands into fists near her face.

"What did you do?" Lorelai asked dreadfully.

"Well, Mom just text me asking when I was going to show up, and I could, like, hear the annoyance dripping from the words on the screen, and I kind of…" Cassandra said, cringing. She trailed off and held out her phone to Lorelai.

"You told her I was with you?" Lorelai exclaimed, reading the conversation between Cassandra and her mother. "Now I have to go in there!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Cassandra said.

"Do you remember the last time we were all together?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes," Cassandra groaned.

"Your mother clearing that table made Stanley Kowalski seem tame," Lorelai said.

"I know," Cassandra replied.

"It was World War III in the Gilmore house!" Lorelai continued.

"You don't have to come in," Cassandra said. "I'll tell them you had to go back to work."

"No," Lorelai groaned. "Let's get this over with."

Cassandra, having finally swiped the spare key from her mother's bedroom the day before, let them in through the front door. Their mothers were in the room just off from the foyer, and the women hung back, taking their time hanging their coats, listening.

"See? She's with Lorelai," Connie said, tossing her phone onto the couch.

"They're a lot alike, our girls," Emily said.

"Yeah, well, at least Lorelai finally grew up," Connie said. "I don't know what sort of nonsense she told Tom, or maybe he was the one talking nonsense this morning, I don't know, but apparently Cassandra still thinks magic is real."

In the foyer, Cassandra's eyes widened. Lorelai chuckled and looked over at Cassandra. Seeing her startled reaction, Lorelai's mouth dropped a little again.

"Magic," Connie mumbled. "We didn't even do Santa Claus in this house."

At the mention of Santa Claus, Cassandra folded her arms and rolled her eyes, willing herself to keep her thoughts of 'also totally real' inside of her head. Lorelai leaned into her.

"Magic?" Lorelai asked in a hushed tone.

"It's nothing," Cassandra said, a little too quickly.

"What kind of magic?" Lorelai asked. "Like lame abracadabra magic or spell-casting, Harry Potter magic?"

"Neither," Cassandra said. "Nothing."

"Do you have a wand?" Lorelai asked. "What's it made of?"

"I do not have a wand," Cassandra said.

"Is that why you moved to Portland?" Lorelai asked. "Did you join a coven?"

"Oh my god…" Cassandra muttered.

"Sorry, I'll stop," Lorelai promised. "Oh, wait, wait, one more. That old guy you have a crush on – is he Merlin? He's Merlin, isn't he?"

"No; I am," Cassandra said, calling Lorelai's bluff. "He's a Knight from King Arthur's Round Table."

"What?" Lorelai said, immediately dropping the teasing.

Cassandra grinned. "You done?"

"Yes," Lorelai promised, pouting slightly at being the butt of a joke that, unbeknownst to her, wasn't really a joke at all.

"Look at her," Cassandra said, disgusted. "Her husband just died, and she's sitting in there laughing and drinking wine and criticizing me. How could she do that?"

Lorelai grabbed her arm and said, "Hey, word of advice?" Cassandra nodded and turned to face her. "Mom and I were kind of at odds when my dad died. We had a Rory as a buffer, sometimes, but you don't have that, and it's just not worth it to lash out at each other. Not right now. I know things are awful, but you're all each other has right now."

"That's a depressing thought," Cassandra muttered.

"There you are," Connie called, having finally noticed their daughters' presence in the foyer. Lorelai and Cassandra shared a look and walked into the room. "How was Stars Hollow?"

"It was nice," Cassandra said.

"Nice of Lorelai to bring you back this time," Connie said. Cassandra rolled her eyes again and glanced at Lorelai, who almost imperceptibly shook her head no, telling Cassandra to let it go.

On her eye roll, Cassandra had caught sight of a family photo in the corner of the room – a framed photograph, hanging by the window, of Cassandra and her parents from the summer before everything went south between them. They were posed in one of those typical poses that photographers always put families in, but despite the forced positions, Cassandra thought they still looked happy. It then occurred to her that the photograph had captured one of the last moments that they were that happy little family, and she'd officially lost her chance of having something a small little part of her always hoped she might get back. Her blue eyes finally began to well up with tears – from lost opportunities, from guilt and regret, from the simple realization that she was never going to hear him call her sweetheart again - and she completely missed what her mother said.

"Cassandra, I'm talking to you," Connie said, as if she were already losing patience with her daughter. "Cassandra!"

"What? Um…I'm…" Cassandra stuttered, her voice shaking. "I'm sorry."

With one more glance at the picture on the wall, Cassandra turned around and headed for the stairs, wanting to disappear into the solitude of her childhood bedroom. Lorelai watched with sympathy as she left, and Connie asked Lorelai if she wanted a drink, deciding it best to just let Cassandra be for a little while.

"Oh, no thanks. I can only stay another minute. I've got to get back to work," Lorelai said. "But I'm very sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

Connie took a breath and sat down next to Emily. "No," she said sincerely. "Bringing Cassandra back was help enough. Thank you."

"Where is her friend?" Emily asked.

"At the inn," Lorelai said. "Or somewhere back in Stars Hollow. She told him to do something fun today."

"So she's planning on going back," Connie realized.

"Well, you know, Stars Hollow is kind of your hometown Brigadoon," Lorelai joked. "If someone leaves, we all might just vanish."

It was Emily's turn to roll her eyes; though she was used to Lorelai's jokes, she would never understand why Lorelai always had to employ one at the exact wrong moment. Connie simply blinked at her, wine glass paused halfway to her mouth.

"O-kay," Lorelai said, her joke falling flat. She vaguely pointed out of the room and said, "I'm just gonna…"


Back in Stars Hollow, Stone had made his way back to the town square, and the little antique shop had caught his eye. He'd been there for a little while, browsing the bottom floor of the shop/house. While checking out some of the items towards the back of the house, he heard the shop's owner, Mrs. Kim, raise her voice.

"You touch, you buy!" she called.

A very familiar voice argued back, "Isn't it 'you break, you buy?' I'm not breaking anything!"

"Seriously?" Stone muttered to himself, making his way back to the front. Ezekiel Jones and Mrs. Kim were standing face-to-face, Ezekiel towering over her. Mrs. Kim didn't let that intimate her.

"This is my shop, and I make the rules, and I don't like how you're touching the antiques!" she argued. "They're old. They should be respected."

Ezekiel grinned a mischievous little grin and said, "I respect the integrity of valuable goods. Believe me, we've got no problem there."

"Jones!" Stone finally called, weaving his way through the maze of antiques to reach them. Surprise registered on Ezekiel's face, and Mrs. Kim turned to look at him, too.

"You know him?" Mrs. Kim asked Stone.

"Yeah, I got it," Stone said.

Mrs. Kim turned back to Ezekiel. "I'm watching you," she said sternly. "Both of you." She slowly started making her way out of the room, but rather than turn around, she walked backwards, her eyes never leaving the Librarians.

"Okay, so she's little scary," Ezekiel said in a hushed voice.

"Come on," Stone said. He pushed Ezekiel's shoulder to turn the younger man around. Once they had exited the shop, he asked, "Don't you, of all people, know better than to try stealin' from a Korean woman?"

"I didn't know she was Korean!" Ezekiel replied. "I thought the Kim in Kim's Antiques was a first name!"

"What are you doing here?" Stone asked.

"Baird and Flynn came back from vacation, so I am free to roam as I want," Ezekiel said. "And Baird immediately decided we needed do some sort of weird training exercise, so I definitely want."

As they walked down the street towards the rest of town, Kirk started circling them on a bicycle, a passenger cart dragging behind him.

"Where are you going?" Kirk asked.

"Uh…not really sure," Stone said.

"I could take you," Kirk said. "I'm cheaper than a regular Uber, you know."

"We don't need an Uber," Stone said. "We're just wanderin'."

"Fine. Suit yourself," Kirk said. He wheeled off to solicit some other walkers.

"Who was that?" Ezekiel asked.

"Kirk," Stone said. "Seen him a few times."

"He's a…bicycle Uber?" Ezekiel said.

"I honestly can't figure out what he is," Stone said.

"So this is small town America, huh?" Ezekiel asked, looking around the town square.

"A really strange version of it," Stone replied.

"I can't help but notice that this isn't Hartford," Ezekiel said.

"No, it ain't," Stone said. "Wait, how'd you get here?"

"Tracked the GPS on your phones," Ezekiel shrugged. "Where's Cassandra?"

"Home," Stone said. "Her dad…"

Ezekiel was quiet for a long moment before he delicately asked, "She doing the fast talk caffeine thing…?"

"Yeah," Stone said. "She'll be back tonight."

Ezekiel nodded. "How'd you two end up here?"

"Cass used to live here," Stone said. "Her mama…I don't completely know what happened yesterday, but she was upset."

They walked by the gazebo in the middle of the town square, and two older women dressed in colorful, bold patterns stopped them, stepping in the line of their path.

"Oh, my, my…" Miss Patty said, looking the Librarians up and down. Stone and Ezekiel shared an uncomfortable look. "Who do we have here?"

"Yeah, we haven't seen you around here before!" Babette added.

"No, I'd definitely remember men as scrumptious as you two," Miss Patty said.

"Uh, we're from out of town," Stone offered.

"Oh, right, you're Cassandra's mysterious cowboy," Miss Patty realized.

"Oh yeah, from the diner! The windows kind of distort things sometimes, you know," Babette said. She looked at Miss Patty and said, "He's probably not really Cassandra's, though, remember? If that rumor was really true…"

"Of course it was true," Miss Patty said.

"What…rumor?" Stone asked, sharing a look with Ezekiel. Both found it hard to believe that Cassandra could ever be the subject of town gossip, after maybe her initial arrival, of course.

"Cassandra had this roommate," Babette said. "Cute little college girl that worked with Lorelai. We always thought they were something something, you know, but they were sneaky. God, were they sneaky!"

Stone and Ezekiel shared another look. The prospect of Cassandra being the subject of town gossip was getting a little more believable.

"Times were different then," Miss Patty pointed out.

"Taylor Doose said he saw them kissing once at this very festival, but that's Taylor, you know?" Babette said. "So maybe it was a kiss, or maybe it wasn't. It doesn't take much to rile that one up! We never did find out for sure if it was true."

"And believe me, we tried," Miss Patty said.

"Even Lorelai wouldn't tell us!" Babette said.

"She mention anything to you?" Miss Patty asked.

"She mentioned a girl she lived wi…" Stone started. He realized what he was saying, grimaced, and yelled, "No, man, I'm not getting caught up in this town gossip!"

"Well, we'll hope it was true and she doesn't have any claim on you," Miss Patty said, nearly purring as she stepped closer to Jacob.

Stone, without thinking, replied, "Cassandra don't have any claim on…"

Ezekiel, realizing quickly where this would be headed if Stone completed that thought, yelled, "But I do!" He linked arms with Stone, tilted his head towards the older man's shoulder, and said, "Sorry, ladies, he's taken."

Miss Patty looked vaguely disappointed as Babette's face lit up. "Oh my god, Patty, get a load of that accent!" Babette exclaimed, and Ezekiel immediately regretted opening his mouth.

"And where are you from, darling?" Miss Patty asked, turning her attention to him.

"Far away from here, which is where we're going," Ezekiel declared. Pulling on the arm of Stone's that was linked with his, he started hurriedly traveling away from the townswomen.

"What the hell, man?" Stone asked, pointing to their joined arms.

"I just saved your ass," Ezekiel said. "A little thank you would be nice. Unless you want a piece of that, in which case, by all means, go back and tell them I was lying."

"You just made us the subject of the town gossip, which is gonna be pretty interestin' when you presumably go back home in a few hours!" Stone pointed out.

Ezekiel looked concerned as he realized the truth behind Jacob's assumption. "I…didn't really think about…"

"Yeah, because you never think, do you, Jones? You just do," Stone sighed.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Just let her be the filling in a Librarian sandwich?" Ezekiel asked. Stone shot him a look. "Oh come on, you know that's where that was going. This town is nuts."

"No kiddin'," Stone mumbled, finally unlinking their arms.

"Is there anywhere sane to go to lunch here?" Ezekiel asked.

"There's a diner labeled as a hardware store or a pancake world that apparently serves international food," Stone offered.

"What?" Ezekiel asked.

"I don't know, man," Stone laughed.


A light knocking on her bedroom door drew Cassandra's eyes to the barricaded doorway. "Who is it?" she mumbled.

"It's Lorelai," Lorelai said.

Cassandra told her to come in, and Lorelai found her sitting on the floor, in the small corner formed from her bed and the little bench in front of it. Her legs were outstretched in front on her, and her head was lolled back against her bed, as if holding it up was simply too exhausting. Cassandra's eyes were bleary and wet from the crying that had since ceased, and Lorelai stepped further inside, hesitant and a little leery of what to do. Cassandra crying wasn't a sight she'd seen often, despite their first meeting at Luke's and the tender age at which Cassandra had come into her life.

"I'm heading home. I just wanted to check on you before I left," Lorelai said softly.

"Would you mind taking Jacob his stuff?" Cassandra asked. "I'll bring mine back later."

"Of course," Lorelai said. "No problem."

"And can I ask you a question about dealing with…this?" Cassandra asked.

Lorelai sunk down onto the little bench in front of Cassandra's bed. "Of course," she said again. Cassandra's eyes found her, her head not moving at all.

"How long does it take to stop feeling guilty?" Cassandra asked quietly. "For leaving the way I did…for everything I did to hurt him. I mean…he died thinking he failed me because of what I did. So…how long?"

"Never," Lorelai sighed.

Cassandra turned her head to look at Lorelai as new tears welled up in her eyes. "Never?"

"Well…maybe not never, but if the guilt stops, I'm not there yet, either," Lorelai told her.

Cassandra nodded and sighed, looking away from Lorelai again. She drew her knees up to her chest, making herself as small as possible in that corner of the floor as her face crumbled again. Suddenly feeling like she'd just made everything worse, Lorelai sighed and rested her hand on Cassandra's shoulder as she leaned forward and cried into her knees.

"I thought you had to go," Cassandra said, her voice muffled by her position.

"I can stay a few more minutes," Lorelai promised.


Lorelai returned to Stars Hollow with Stone's bag from the Cillian residence later that afternoon. She walked through the front door of the Dragonfly and headed for the stairs to return the bag to its rightful owner before she found the man in question sitting downstairs, nose in a book. Lorelai walked over, her arms out in a shrug.

"Hey," Lorelai said, drawing Stone's attention. "You're supposed to be out doing something fun."

"Yeah, I tried that," Stone said. Ezekiel had bailed about an hour earlier, declaring Stars Hollow to be much scarier than anything Baird could cook up after witnessing a fight between Luke and the aforementioned Taylor Doose in the diner, leaving Stone to return to the Dragonfly alone. "Kirk kept circling around me on a bicycle with a cart attached to it askin' where I needed to go. What does…what does he actually do?"

Lorelai chuckled. "He kind of does everything."

"That's what Cassie said," Stone said. "Then I ran into…the dance teacher?"

"Miss Patty," Lorelai said.

"Yeah, and her friend…"

"Babette."

Stone briefly recapped the run-in with Miss Patty and Babette for Lorelai, leaving out the magical reappearance and disappearance of Ezekiel from Portland; Lorelai laughed and cringed all at the same time, hearing an all-too-familiar tale of young men caught in Miss Patty's crosshairs. Stone then described the screaming match between her husband and Taylor Doose about window clings Taylor had displayed on the window between Luke's Diner and Taylor's Old-Fashioned Soda Shoppe and said, "And that's when I figured I just might be safer here."

"Oh, I can't believe I missed that!" Lorelai exclaimed with disappointment. "He is so going to have to re-enact that for me later."

"That's a regular thing, the public fights between them?" Stone asked.

"Only on days that end in y," Lorelai teased. Stone got a look on his face that told Lorelai he thought they were crazy, and she said, "We're a little like the Island of Misfit Toys here, but everyone here means well, I promise."

"Yeah, I can see why Cassandra liked it here," he admitted.

"It's not a bad place to run away to," Lorelai said.

"Can I ask you about that?" Stone asked.

"Sure," Lorelai said. "You walked into a very messy situation here."

"I got that," Stone chuckled. "What's the history between Cassandra and your mom? She kinda freaked when she was the one who greeted us the other day."

"Nothing, really," Lorelai shrugged. "Cassandra eventually told her parents where she'd landed but not what she was doing, so when the emancipation proceedings happened, the Cillians saw my name on all the employment verification paperwork, called the Gilmores, and all hell broke loose. My mother was put into the position of both completely agreeing with Mrs. Cillian but also having to defend me against her. It was one of those situations that just kind of is, you know, but Cassandra felt guilty for causing all the upset. That's about it, really."

"What was she like?" Stone asked. "Back then, I mean."

"She was quiet," Lorelai said. "Vivacious, but timid, and brave. God, so brave."

"Sounds about right," Stone chuckled. "How's she doing now?"

"She'll be okay," Lorelai promised.


Cassandra finally emerged from her room that evening. She hadn't eaten since breakfast at the Dragonfly, so she came out seeking food and a good drink. One of the staircases in the spacious home landed just near the kitchen, so Cassandra headed for that one instead of the stairs nearest her room. To get to those stairs, however, she had to pass her parents' bedroom. As she approached, she could hear her mother crying behind the closed door, and her stomach turned into a knot.

Emily was standing in the hallway across from the closed bedroom door, and Cassandra's mouth dropped. Already feeling a little horrified in the way that every child feels horrified when their mother is sobbing, she looked at Emily in a frustrated disbelief.

"Why are you just standing there?" Cassandra asked, gesturing towards the closed door.

"She kicked me out," Emily sighed.

"What, um…what exactly happened?" Cassandra asked. "She didn't really tell me when she…told me."

"Sudden cardiac death," Emily said softly. "There was nothing they could do."

"Were you there when…was she there?" Cassandra asked.

Emily nodded sadly. "One minute, he was fine and talking, and the next…it was awful."

Cassandra let her eyes glaze over, standing in the hallway looking like a lost little girl for a moment as she immediately started imagining what that must have been like to be there, to witness that. She turned towards her mother's door and held out of her hand. She hesitated for just a moment, then curled her hand around the knob.

"She said she didn't want anyone," Emily said.

"I'm not anyone," Cassandra replied.

Emily nodded and pushed herself off the wall. "Come get me if you need me."

Cassandra nodded. "Thank you," she said.

Emily headed for her designated guest room, and Cassandra slowly opened her mother's door, creeping into the darkened room. Her mother was lying on her side under the bed covers, facing away from the middle of the bed and away from the side Cassandra approached. Connie's arms were curled underneath the pillow that was catching her tears. If she noticed Cassandra's entrance, she didn't move to acknowledge her. Cassandra paused at the opposite side of the bed.

"Mom?" Cassandra asked softly, fighting back tears of her own.

Cassandra stood awkwardly at the edge of the mattress, pulling at the edges of her sleeves, unsure of what to do next. When she didn't get an answer, Cassandra carefully lifted the covers on the other side of the bed and crawled in, deciding to just simply be there if her mother decided she didn't want to be alone. Her own heart ached; she couldn't imagine how her mother was feeling. She half expected to be yelled at for invading space that used to belong to her father, but silence prevailed, and her actions spurred no protests, so Cassandra settled onto her side, letting her head sink into the pillows as she watched Connie's back.

After a few minutes, Cassandra caught a movement out of the corner of her eye as she carefully perused her own fingernails. She was channeling her energy into not picking at the nail polish that was starting to flake off of her pointer finger in an effort to pass the time, tune out the gut-wrenching sounds of her mother's sobs, and keep herself from falling apart, too. Her eyes traveled from her fingertip to her mother's back as Connie let one of her arms fall behind her, her hand open and outstretched, seeking Cassandra's. Without hesitation, Cassandra's own arm shot forward, and Connie's fingers tightly curled around her daughter's hand. A small smile teased the edges of Cassandra's lips as she closed her eyes.