February 23rd
At the hospital when Vanessa finally shows up to both Cassandra Lexie in hospital beds
"I know they're not hurt, dads tried this before" says Vanessa almost angry
"then explain how Cassandra's in a coma sister, apparently I have brittle bones" says Lexie
"wait so I ignored the texts and you were really in danger" asks Vanessa in tears
"you're completely missing the fact that the girl you love is in a coma because she tried to kill herself when Ivy's plan to get you here after I dislocated my wrist and arms trying to get candy" says Lexie(Alexandria)
"no no no why did she try and kill herself" cries Vanessa
"we've been here for almost four days, Cassandra was waiting, the only reason Ivy convinced Lexie to even hurt herself was hormones, which she's started now, Ivy promised she'd be allowed to ask the doctor about female hormone replacement therapy, Cassandra dove deep into depression, yesterday she couldn't wait anymore and walked up to the top of the hospital and jumped, we were just lucky there were two people with a pride flag there to catch her or she wouldn't be here right now, she's been in a coma ever since" says Cat
"wait so she's actually in a coma…. The doctors must think I'm evil" bawls Vanessa
"actually they don't know why she's in a coma, the people who saved her said she was glowing and fell like a feather, if I believed in the stuff Ivy does I'd say she is in a holy coma, unfortunately I'm not a die hard mythology buff like Ivy" says Lexie
"am I allowed to cuddle her" asks Vanessa desperately
"they're gonna want to know why and if you say because you've been neglecting her they're gonna ask you to leave" says Jade
"why would they make me leave" asks Vanessa starting to really hurt
"because officially Cassandra has no girlfriend, can't neglect her if you're not with her also there is an age rule here in England, they're very picky about it, it's possible that if you're brutally honest with them you might have a chance to cuddle with her but if her heart doesn't start beating faster she's going go be on life support by the end of the day" says Cat as Vanessa starts crying as the doctor walks in
"any change" asks Doctor Williams
"no, Vanessa here has a request though" says Tori
"I love her, I made a mistake, I'm a rape victim, my brother raped me for two years, she made a move by putting her arm around me when I arrived at her house where I'm supposed to be staying and I had a flashbacks of my brother putting his arm around me before he raped me and I freaked her out, I walked away because she had decided to deprive herself of love so I could feel safe but I feel like that's torture so I tried to walk away, I didn't want her to torture herself for me, I made a mistake, then I got texts saying my little sister was in the hospital and I thought it was a joke because my birthday is soon and my dad who can't seem to lie despite being a cop would have to trick me so he wouldn't tell me he was setting up a surprise party, I thought that's what this was, I shouldn't have waited so long to come here now I might never live happily ever after" cries Vanessa as Cassandra's heart monitor beeps faster for ten seconds
"I believe you and clearly Cassandra does too, that's the first change we've heard since she was admitted, something you maybe didn't know or maybe didn't remember is that while it might not look like it, just because she's in a coma doesn't mean she didn't hear you, hold her hand and say something you wish you'd told her, then if she responds you may cuddle her, no wandering hands though" says Doctor Williams as Vanessa holds Cass's hand and almost immediately the heart monitor beeps faster and doesn't slow down right away
"I've had a crush on you since I first saw you in a magazine, I-I told myself that one day I'd be the person taking that picture, meeting you has been a dream come true and I don't want it to end" says Vanessa as Cass's heartrate rises yet again and stabilizes just short of normal
"that's one hell of a speech there Vanessa, you may cuddle her now, mind the oxygen tubing and remember no wandering hands" says Doctor Williams as Vanessa carefully crawls up into the bed
"that's my little sister Lexie you're giving those hormones to, you really think I'd risk doing something she's not ready to see, I hid the fact that my brother Ryder was raping me for two years, I think I know something about discretion, besides she's mega famous, something like two hundred million fans, as a fan myself I'd never EVER make her do anything she didn't want to do, and she's in a coma right now so the only thing I'm willing to do is cuddle, I have zero intention of violating her rights" says Vanessa as Cass's heart rate and oxygen waver slightly upwards and stabilize in the safe zone
"well then you have immense influence on her, no single medication could get her to the conscious zone, had I known you were the key I'd have sent the police to retrieve you myself" says Doctor Williams
"I don't have power over anyone sir, just empathy for human life" says Vanessa
"sometimes that can be the most powerful medicine, what you just did brought her from the life support zone to the living and breathing on their own zone Vanessa, I've only seen that happen once before, a father was losing his daughter, her crush had fractured several ribs her arms had been broken in several places and she couldn't walk, things were not looking well and she wasn't expected to live, in retaliation for what that boy did to her, her father killed him, he was allowed one day with his daughter in a room just down the hall from here, what he said was caught on camera and the cop that was ordered to keep watch shared it online, asking if anyone believed he should be put in jail, nobody really focused on what he was saying but the drastic change in her heartrate and oxygen levels when he asked her for forgiveness , his words were as follows 'Hailey, I'm asking for forgiveness for killing Mathew, he had no right doing what he did to you, we're black and he was white, I know it was wrong but if you die tonight I want you to know that I did it because you'd just gotten your first job and I was certain the courts would not turn in your favor, they'd see that you're black and assume you had it coming, I couldn't let that stand' almost immediately things changed, she lived, in a wheelchair for the rest of her life but she lived, now that Cassandra is breathing on her own give her time, she will open her eyes soon, you are not to leave her side understood" says Doctor Williams as Cass's heartrate and oxygen saturation continue to rise
40 minutes later
"I love you Cassandra" says Vanessa as Cassandra coughs
"turns out being in a coma sucks, thank you for showing up, did you really mean what you said" says Cassandra weakly
"every word" says Vanessa
"….. even the part about how you started crushing on me and the camera thing" asks Cassandra
"yes, I didn't get to go to Hollywood arts like Catarina did, I was deemed not talented enough and that photography wasn't a 'performing art' therefore I had to be denied going to school with the my oldest friend, Cat's mom homeschooled me until Ryder took control over my life, my dad bought me a six hundred dollar camera to take photos, Ryder threatened to destroy it if I didn't take photos of him raping me, he is that entitled, the sad part is he destroyed it anyway" says Vanessa
"how about this, you ask me out and I'll buy you two cameras, the max I'll pay for each is two grand, you get one to take magazine photos on and one for personal use that you can take pictures of me whenever you want, naked or otherwise, you just can't share the naked ones, my only other rule is they must be two different brands and two different colors" says Cassandra
"w-w-will you go out with me Cassandra Naomi Valentine" asks Vanessa revealing her stutter
"I'd love to" giggles Cassandra as she slowly gains her muscle strength back
"I can't believe this is actually happening, do you know how many of your fans would like to be where I am right now Cass" says Vanessa
"believe me they've well gone and had their chance, I put an offer out to the girls among my fans and most assumed right away I'd been hacked and those that didn't think I was hacked thought it was a prank, any popular guys I attempted to date walked out the moment they saw me at the restaurant, I have a feeling I'll be very happy with you" says Cassandra as she kisses Vanessa on the lips
"why me, you're mega famous, I'm a nobody" asks Vanessa
"one your eyes, they took my breath away when I saw your eyes I was not prepared for dazzling sapphires, for another you can thanks Lexie for that" says Cassandra
"why must I thank her for this, she's only fourteen" asks Vanessa
"the LexieCamera social media account" says Cassandra
"the what now, what is it and why is it important" asks Vanessa
"evil brother didn't destroy your photos sis, I saved them, I thought posting them would help show your talent and raise money for a new camera, it's very popular" says Lexie
"you SHARED my PERSONAL photos without asking me, that's not ok Lexie" says Vanessa angrily as Lexie covers her face feeling ashamed
"calm down Vanie, she was very tasteful, my friend came across the account and was in awe of the quality and showed it to me, I'd never seen photographic artistry like that before, none of the photographers I've worked with could have come up with what you took photos of, the angles, the filters and the sheer perspective, me and my friend had assumed you were a professional LA photographer in your thirties, the kind that charge an arm and a leg for photos, so I got in touch with her, asked her who took the photos and how much you charged, then Lexie informed me that the camera had been destroyed in an argument and that she was sharing the photos to try and raise money to surprise her big sister with a new camera for her birthday, she was very professional about it Vanessa, had people known she was trying to raise money people would have paid BIG money, me included just to meet you, when I informed her of who I was she went nuts, said her sister who'd taken the photos was a big fan, then the account went silent for three weeks" says Cassandra as Lexie sighs
"the account's down sis, I'm sorry I should have asked, i-i-it won't happen again" says Lexie terrified
"what…no no get it back up please" says Vanessa
"I can't I clicked 'delete permanently', you yelled at me, I assumed you wanted it gone, you know what happens when people yell at me" bawls Lexie
"do you at least have a backup, I don't have another copy of those photos" asks Vanessa getting out of Cass's bed to go cuddle her sister to make up for yelling
"no, I got the card while evil brother was yelling at you just before he destroyed it and threw it out, I took it out of the garbage and kept it in my room trying to see how much it cost, a week later dad found it in my room and accused me of destroying it and took both the card and the camera, I got grounded for three weeks, the only back up copy is on my laptop back at home in LA, evil brother took it shortly before he got taken away and his door was locked as usual so I couldn't get it back, I don't know what he did with it" says Lexie
"he had absolutely no reason to touch your laptop, what reason did he give" asks Vanessa cuddling Lexie tight so she feels secure
"he said I was being too girly, it made me feel like being who I feel I am is wrong and that I deserve eternal punishment, I only came out to you guys because you stood up to him, you put him on the defense, you made him not a threat to me, he's never been on the defense before which meant he had no idea how to defend himself, you gave me the opening I needed sis" says Lexie
"truth be told Lexie you never really were my little brother, you were always girly, if actually contemplated calling you sister a few times when you were little, I'll send dad a text once your asleep ok, I don't want you hearing what I'm going to text him" says Vanessa
"wait you still do that" asks Cat
"unfortunately" says Vanessa