Christmas day – Cassy´s home
„You want some more green beans, honey?" Cassy´s mother asked the girl who just stared into nothingness, drowning everything out. "Honey?"
"Huh, what?" Cassy was torn out of her thoughts and quickly nodded when she realized what she was asked.
"You still thinking about school?" her father joked and she gave him a weak smile as a reply.
"Yeah it´s really stressful. Especially since I´m working for Annalise as well." Cassy explained as she chewed on her food.
"Are you sure it´s a good idea to take on so much? Especially after…after Lila?" her mother asked concerned and the girl sighed as she really didn´t want that topic to come up.
"I´d be crazy to let an opportunity like this go to waste." She explained and her parents nodded. "What have you guys been up to these past months?"
"Oh, let´s not talk about us, you have more important things to talk about. Have you met a cute boy?" Cassy´s mother teased her.
"Elaine, I don´t want to hear about that." Her father furrowed his eyebrows making both women giggle. "Have you been trying to find your birthparents?" he asked after a pause and the three of them got quiet.
"No, not yet. I think I just had too much on my mind with school and work and all the cases." Cassy lied as she drank her water.
"Yes, talk about stress. I heard on the news that Annalise´s husband killed poor Lila. Did you know him? That must have been terrible for you when you found out." Elaine said and Cassy´s father cleared her throat.
"No, I didn´t know him well. Just saw him around the house sometimes." Cassy lied again and felt terrible about it.
"Do you want some wine, dear?" her dad asked, holding up a bottle of red wine but Cassy denied it.
"No, I think I´ll drive to Philadelphia tonight." She explained, causing her parents to frown. "Yeah I just got a buttload of work to do and I just know that when I stay here I won´t get much done." She continued to lie and her parents nodded understanding.
"Yeah, of course. We are so proud of you, sweetie." Elaine smile as she stroked her daughter´s arm, making her feel even more guilty.
The new semester started and everyone walked to their seat in Annalise´s class room. Wes, Connor and Laurel were talking by the entrance when Cassy joined them, relieved seeing as they were still there and didn´t drop out.
"Hi guys." She greeted them with a hug which Connor didn´t expect and therefore didn´t reply. "Glad to see you all survived winter break." She smiled when Michaela suddenly walked up to them showing off a fake engagement ring she got to not raise suspicion.
"Did everyone have a nice holiday?" she asked a little too cheerful and immediately started bragging about how great hers were.
"And for a moment there I actually thought I missed you." Cassy mocked her shutting the smart-ass up at once.
"Is there any news about the sister?" Connor asked and everyone looked at him confused. "Did Annalise scare her back to Boston yet or did she just kill her"
"What are you talking about?" Michaela wanted to know and so did the others.
"Sam´s sister. She got here right before the break." Connor enlightened them and Cassy switched her gaze between the rest of the group.
"That bastard has a sister?" she asked and Connor looked to Wes.
"She at least told you, right?" he asked him but Wes said that he had no idea. As if she knew they were talking about her, Annalise entered the classroom, starting the lesson and forcing everyone to go to their seats.
After that day at school the Keating 6 met up at Annalise´s house, Michaela still bragging about her "perfect holidays" while Wes and Annalise talked in her office, when a woman came in saying she needed a lawyer for a D.U.I. Annalise expected it to be press who wanted to talk to her about Sam and completely went off on her.
"Please I don´t have anybody else." The woman begged when Annalise ordered her to leave.
"That´s not my problem." She said as she walked back to her office.
"My husband´s holding two girls captive in our basement." She suddenly admitted and everyone looked at her shocked. Cassy looked to Annalise who stared at her open-mouthed.
Christmas day – later that evening
Cassy sat at a bar sipping the burning liquor that was in her glass. She stared at the wet napkin as she played with the half-full glass and sighed exhausted. Her head felt dizzy from either the cheap drink she just drank or the thoughts of Sam´s murder that wouldn´t leave her head. She looked to the man beside her who was staring at his beer bottle and didn´t seem really attentive.
"Life´s messy right?" she asked but as expected, didn´t get a reply from him. "One day you´re a straight A student who only has to worry about what ivy-league college you´re going to and the next you´re living in your car, your best friend is dead and you have to give statements to the police." She thought out loud, still looking at her glass and still not getting a reply from the man next to her. "Do you have a dark secret?" she asked him, now daring to glance at him but he was very much focused on peeling off the label from his bottle. "Yeah me neither." She continued, downing her drink with a grimace.
"What is a beautiful girl like you doing at a bar alone on Christmas?" a man suddenly came to a halt on her other side and she looked him up and down. He was sporting jeans and a tight long sleeve shirt that showed off his muscles.
"I´m not alone, I´m here with my pal." Cassy joked, pointing at the old man next to her and they both started laughing.
"I´m Brian." The muscular man held out his hand and Cassy shook it with a smirk.
"Regina." She lied and they hit it off immediately. It didn´t take long for them to kiss passionately and enter Frank´s apartment. The lights were out as Cassy expected, because he told her he´d be with his family. They walked over to the couch, leaving the clothes they ripped off each other on the ground on their way there.
"Damn you´re so hot." Brian moaned when she pushed him onto the couch, straddling him in only her underwear.
"Shut up." She ordered, trying to unbuckle his belt when suddenly the front door opened and the lights turned on. "What the hell?!" Cassy quickly took a blanket to cover her body when she realized that Frank was standing in front of them. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Frank repeated her question just as surprised, quickly covering his eyes. "You were supposed to be with your parents!"
"I could say the same thing about you!" Cassy got down from Brian who pulled his shirt over his head.
"Is that your boyfriend?" he wondered confused and Cassy got red from embarrassment.
"No, my brother." She put her hand on her forehead, trying to minimize the shame she just felt.
"You live with your brother?" Brian was still as confused and Cassy pulled the blanket up higher to cover even more of her body.
"Damn right, she does and now get out before I´ll throw you out myself!" Frank threatened and Brian quickly gathered his belongings and went to the front door past Frank.
"Hey Regina, can I get your number-" he asked before leaving but Frank cut him off.
"Out!" the older man pushed him onto the hallway and shut the door close. "Regina? Really?" he looked over to Cassy who didn´t dare to look at him but heard as he walked into his room, not less embarrassed.
The new client told them about how her husband picked her off the streets and said he´d help her and they got married but because she could never get pregnant, he took in the two girls he now held in their basement. She explained that Lynn was pregnant again and last time the baby died, which is why she´s acting now.
"Call the D.A., tell them we wanna make a plea deal." Annalise ordered Bonnie who quickly followed the instructions.
"She´s helping lock girls in a basement, why would we want to protect her?" Asher asked confused as to why Annalise would take on the case.
"Did you hear her?" the attorney wondered, not expecting everyone to be against that. "She is a victim of his abuse too."
"But she´s an adult now." Laurel added to Asher´s argument and Annalise looked around.
"And she´s finally doing the right thing." The law professor explained and Cassy crossed her arms over her chest agreeing with Annalise. "What? Have none of you ever done anything bad that you need a lawyer for?"
The next day the Team met at the courthouse. Cassy stood with the rest of the K6 as they discussed on how they really didn´t want to represent that woman. Laurel and Frank walked towards them talking quietly about something which Cassy suspected had to do with Sam´s murder. Suddenly Asher walked up to them and greeted Frank with the new nickname "Franky D".
"Hey, you wanna hit up the squeaky Z tonight? Been a solid week, since we blew some backs out." Asher patted Frank on the back as they walked away from a confused Laurel.
"When did they become besties?" Michaela wondered out loud as the rest thought the same thing.
"Christmas break." Cassy rolled her eyes as she walked into the courtroom where Annalise and the prosecution were presenting the arranged plea deal. However, the judge didn´t agree to the terms until she heard from the victims themselves, causing their client to stay in custody for longer than expected. The group left the courtroom, Annalise ordering them to work out questions for the girls that would indicate that the client was a victim too. However, no one except for Cassy seemed too bothered to follow her orders.
"She´s a victim, that´s how the cycle of abuse works." Annalise was angry that they undermined her. "Stop judging and do your job." She said before leaving.
"I object to working on this case on moral grounds." Asher stated and Bonnie told him that he could go work at another law firm if he really thought so, leaving him quite speechless.
"Ever heard of Stockholm syndrome?" Cassy huffed to the rest of the group before she walked away as well.
Frank and Cassy sat by the dining table in silence, eating their dinner.
"Just say it." He suddenly spoke up and Cassy put down her fork.
"Are you against taking the case too? Do you think she´s not a victim?" she asked and Frank shrugged.
"I usually don´t care. It´s Annalise´s job, I try to keep emotions out of it. You should too." He mocked her, knowing how quickly she could get emotionally invested.
"Ha ha very funny." Cassy rolled her eyes as she helped him put the plates in the sink. "I just don´t understand why no one sees her as a victim of his abuse."
"That´s because you want to be seen as Sam´s victim so your crime seems less terrible." Frank explained and Cassy stared at him for a moment.
"This has nothing to do with Sam. Besides, I just helped cover it up, I didn´t hurt him." Cassy defended herself and Frank shrugged saying she was still apart of it. Just as she wanted to argue they heard Asher knocking at the door.
"Yo, Franky D. Let´s get going!" they heard his cheerful voice and Cassy rolled her eyes.
"Really? You´re going out again?" she asked annoyed when she watched Frank grab his coat.
"I´m trying to keep him off your radar, make him less suspicious of things." He explained and Cassy sighed staying back so Asher wouldn´t see her when he opened the door.
"Well, it´s not really keeping him off my radar when my brother is going out with him every other night." Cassy pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest and Frank reached the door with a smile.
"I´ll be home by 12." He grinned before walking outside and leaving Cassy behind.
New year´s eve
Frank and Asher sat by the bar in a club, drinking beer and talking about girls when Cassy joined in, looking down on her phone, not realizing that Asher was there.
"That lady didn´t give me a scotch. No ID, no alcohol she- What the hell are you doing here?" she asked annoyed once she saw her classmate sitting on the other side of Frank.
"I could ask you the same. I´m here with my boy." Asher replied patting Frank on the back, who really didn´t like that.
"Don´t call me that." The older man said as he brushed off Asher´s hand and Cassy rolled her eyes with an annoyed sigh.
"Whatever, I´ll go try my luck with a male bartender, maybe flirt a little." She smiled, reminding Frank of the encounter they had on Christmas Eve with her hook up.
"You two hanging out now?" Asher asked Frank once Cassy was out of earshot and the older man didn´t really bother talking much about it.
"Why? You jealous?" he wondered sipping his beer and Asher started scoffing and denying the accusation instantly.
"I got my game cut out for me." He smirked, glancing to a group of women at the other side of the bar.
"Hi, could I get a scotch, please?" Cassy leaned forward on the bar once she spotted a hot bartender and looked at him flirtatious.
"Are you over 21?" he crossed his arms over his chest and replied with a smirk. Cassy leaned in more, revealing more of her cleavage and pouted softly to make her lips appear fuller as she nodded softly. "Show me."
"How´d you want me to show you?" she flirted in a mischievous tone and tilted her head a little. The hot bartender leaned in so he was close enough to whisper in her ear. Cassy grinned, thinking her plan had worked out.
"With your ID." He whispered before pulling away and the girl´s grin disappeared immediately.
"Whatever." She huffed before walking back to Frank. "So, that didn´t work. Could you-"
"Thought you´d never ask." Frank smiled as he ordered two glasses of scotch and gave her one. They both looked over to Asher who was now with a woman from the group he watched earlier.
"He´s such a douche." Cassy mumbled and Frank raised an eyebrow.
"Something going on between you two?" he wondered and Cassy shook her head quickly with a chuckle.
"With him? Never." She lied and proceeded to drink her beverage.
Next day at the courthouse Connor gathered his "study group" and told them that his car was stolen.
"Are you kidding?" Michaela asked serious but unfortunately for them, he wasn´t.
"You didn´t tell the police?" Wes wanted to make sure, earning an annoyed glance from Connor.
"There´s traces of you know who." Connor reminded them and Cassy shut her eyes.
"You sure you didn´t just forget where you parked?" Cassy wanted to know and Connor looked at her wondering if she was being serious. "What? It can happen."
"No, I didn´t forget where I parked I´m not dumb." Connor hissed and Cassy shook her head in disbelief when Laurel suggested that he should talk to Frank.
"Does anyone else think it´s weird that those two are butt buddies?" Connor asked when Frank and Asher walked around the corner, laughing and talking.
"He´s keeping him occupied so he won´t catch up to our lies and crimes." Cassy explained annoyed as the group approached Frank to talk to him about Connor´s car. However, Frank acted clueless as though he didn´t have anything to do with it, which they all suspected he did. The questioning of the two girls that were held captive began and Annalise could establish that her client was a victim as well. Everything went smoothly until one of them revealed that they always got milk which was supposed to help put them to sleep right before their captor came to rape them, making it obvious that Annalise´s client made the girls compliant for him. The judge allowed a recess in which Annalise and Bonnie talked to their client about the new findings and the Keating 6 waited outside, most wanting to boycott the case once and for all.
"Still think she deserves defending?" Michaela asked Cassy cocky and the latter rolled her eyes.
"I´m saying it once more, Stockholm-Syndrome." She answered, making the older woman scoff. "What? You think that´s funny?"
"I think you got no idea what you´re talking about. You didn´t grow up in a crappy household and you don´t know how much you can actually resist bad influences." Michaela explained with a judging look and Cassy tried to keep her composure, especially because they were in a courthouse.
"I think you don´t know anything about me or my childhood, so you don´t have the power to judge me or my opinions." Cassy replied with a sassy side eye when out of sudden the doors to the interrogation room burst open and Annalise and Bonnie stormed out, telling everyone to meet back at the house.
Back at the house Asher started discussing with Bonnie and the rest was quite impressed and shocked that he dared to talk back the way he did. Bonnie didn´t let that bring her down and ordered them to look through the evidence that was found at the house to find something helpful for their case. Laurel went to the kitchen to talk to Frank about Connor´s car and Cassy followed her quietly and eavesdropped on them, where Frank again denied having any part in the disappearance of the vehicle. Even with barely seeing them Cassy could feel that there were some sparks between them, however, she was torn out of her thoughts when she heard Laurel´s footsteps coming closer and quickly hid behind a door. Once she was in the clear she walked to the kitchen where Frank was going through some papers.
"You like her." She spoke up and Frank looked at her surprised but scoffed and denied her claim once he realized what Cassy was talking about. "Oh come on you can´t lie to me." She came closer and hopped onto the kitchen counter to be at Frank´s eye level.
"So what? I blew my chance. Also she´s dating that legal aid guy now." Frank admitted with a light blush and Cassy chuckled taking an apple out of the fruit-bowl next to her.
"Kan? I give those two a month, two at most." She smirked, seeing that those words encouraged him a bit. Suddenly Annalise walked into the kitchen, startling them and Cassy quickly got off the counter, expecting her boss not liking her sitting there at all.
"Don´t you have work to do?" the professor asked Cassy who quickly nodded and rushed back into the living room, where everyone was already working on the evidence and Wes played the recording Bonnie made when the police questioned their client.
"Our little girl was still born…Lynn deserves to keep this one." Wes replayed that part of the recording much to the others´ disgust. When he replayed it another time, Asher interfered saying, that he wasn´t down with that remix.
"What if she kept the baby?" Wes thought out loud. "She says our little girl, like it´s her baby too. And Lynn deserves to keep this one. Maybe the other one was taken from her."
"If so I´m rethinking my opinion on her." Cassy exhaled disgusted and Michaela scoffed but refused to start another discussion. Wes stood up to talk to Annalise and tell her about his suspicion and not soon after the group left for court to meet their client.
New Year´s day
"Rise and shine." Frank shouted through the living room, waking Cassy up, who had a massive hangover.
"Don´t…be so loud." She whispered, massaging her temples, hoping for it to relieve her of some pain.
"You´re very cheap when it comes to drinking you know? You´re wasted after a few drinks." Frank laughed when he took out a pan to make some breakfast, the clattering of dishes making Cassy´s head feel even worse.
"How much do I owe you?" she wanted to know as she reached to her bag, which was lying on the floor together with her clothes from last night.
"Nah, my treat." Frank waved it off and the young girl walked to the kitchen, sitting down by the counter.
"Thanks." Cassy whispered hoarsely as she tucked on the oversized shirt she was wearing. "So, any New Year´s resolutions?"
"I don´t do resolutions. It´s something you don´t keep anyway." Frank snickered, putting some bacon into the hot pan.
"I have one. No more murders. That´s one that we´ll keep, right?" she asked sarcastic, obviously knowing that she won´t let herself be involved in another murder and Frank looked at her with a raised brow.
"Sure. Here, have some bacon." He handed her a crispy strip of bacon which she took and ate with a smile.
Annalise talked to her client while the Keating 6 stood outside of the room, Asher proposing to stage a walk-out, insulting Bonnie again.
"Over here." Bonnie ordered him, having enough with his childish behavior.
"You can´t interfere with my legal right to protest." He replied cocky resulting in Bonnie pulling him away from the group and around a corner.
"I got to leave it to him, he´s got balls for objecting her all the time." Connor admitted as he sat down on the bench next to Cassy.
"Cassy can tell us, can´t she?" Michaela faked a smile and Cassy, who was already annoyed enough, faked a smile back.
"You´re such a bitch sometimes." She simply answered. Michaela just wanted to continue arguing when Annalise left the interrogation room, saying that if she had a gun, she´d kill her client herself. Annalise and Bonnie walked to the D.A. to talk with him about the deal, before returning and sending the students home because she wouldn´t continue representing the woman as soon as they had found the child.
The students returned to the house where the five murderers stood on the porch, talking. Laurel suggested that they´d talk about their holidays and that it couldn´t have been as perfect as everyone said they were and that they can´t go back to being strangers, not after what they´ve been through.
"I got back together with Kan. I am trying to get over Frank. I saw my family over the break, it was the worst thing ever. So, I actually missed you guys." Laurel started and Cassy smiled slightly as she shivered from the cold.
"I spent my time here in Philadelphia." Cassy continued and Laurel smiled at her, thankful for contributing. "I don´t live in my car anymore I-…I live with a roommate now. I hung out a lot with Frank, therefore with Asher, which – as you all know – is not my favorite person in the world right now. And I´ve been drinking. A lot. Trying to forget that night." Cassy admitted and for a moment everyone was silent as they didn´t know what to respond to that.
"I can´t sleep without having nightmares. I´m scared I might be going crazy." Wes suddenly said and it brought the mood even more down than it already was.
"Great. That´s great." Connor scoffed nervously. "Look, you wanted to talk. Let´s talk about how you lied to Michaela and me. Both of you. How you sold us out to Annalise." He came closer, switching his angry gaze between Cassy and Laurel.
"Don´t drag me into this." Michaela told Connor, much to the others´ surprise.
"No, we´re on the same team, Michaela. But these three? I mean what did Annalise call them, the- the- the quiet ones, the dangerous ones? I mean for all we know they´re still playing us." Connor accused Wes, Laurel and Cassy.
"Dude, calm down, you´re too paranoid." Cassy replied offended and Laurel agreed, saying that these accusations proved her point exactly.
"Fine. We talked. I´m going inside." Connor hissed but just when he wanted to walk into the house, Sam´s sister Hannah showed up, asking what was going on. She walked inside the house after everyone briefly introduced themselves. After she dropped of the box she got from Annalise she left again and not long after, Annalise came to the house, sending her students home. Cassy waited for Frank as they carpooled to the house together and after some minutes he left as well.
"Everything alright?" Cassy asked once they sat down in the car and drove off.
"Yeah, don´t worry. Let´s go home." He assured her as they drove to his apartment. Once they arrived Frank went into the bathroom to shower and Cassy planted herself on the couch, turning on the TV and watching a show. After some time of switching through different channels, she stopped at a news show broadcasting.
"Frank?" Cassy called for him as she stared at the screen open-mouthed. "Come in here now!"
"What the hell´s going on?" he asked when he entered the living room only in sweatpants, his hair still wet. Cassy turned up the volume to listen more closely to what the news anchor was saying.
"Human remains were found one week ago at the landfill. And although the police have yet to come forward with a public statement, our sources tell us the body belongs to Middleton University Professor Sam Keating." The woman on the TV said and Cassy gasped as tears filled her eyes. She covered her mouth with her hand as her breathing got irregular and she was on the verge to having a panic attack.
"Calm down, it´s okay, everything will be fine." Frank tried to soothe her but Cassy just started crying.
"We´re screwed. We´re so screwed." She whispered in between shaky breaths and with a deadly-afraid look in her eyes.