The next day in the common room
"ok so you just finished your assessment Vanessa we have a business question, Avery mentioned how smart you are and that you made her some fancy uv safe gloves" says Cameron
"ya they were really pretty, I could only make them last a week" says Vanessa
"that's four days longer than any special made clothes I've ever seen" says Cameron
"can I get some water please" asks Cat
"coming Babe" says Tori
"I'm glad Cat made it through that coma" says Avery
"ya so is her little sister, she is still paralyzed but at least she can talk, breathing is a little hard though" says Cameron
"progress for her will be slow, I hope she doesn't expect to be able to walk any time soon" says Vanessa
"what do you mean, according to the tests she's making good strides to recovery" asks Cameron shocked
"her allergy to blended cloth has done damage to her body, her doctors were ignorant of the facts for too long, I looked up the condition and I can pretty much guarantee her ankles have lost all strength to hold her up" says Vanessa
"how can you possibly know that, her personal doctor visited and said her ankles were fine" says Cameron
"right the same doctor that caused this situation, if I had to guess he didn't tell her that extended use of that medication can cause brittle bone syndrome" says Vanessa
"are you trying to say her doctor is a perv" asks Cameron
"hey the best pervs play the long game, she'd have been too young at eight, but she starts coming to the appointments alone when she turned seventeen, all he'd have had to do was wait till she showed up in a wheelchair, she'd have never been able to get away" says Vanessa
"you have personal experience don't you" asks Cameron
"ya, as well as being a science girl, I love dancing, fractured my left ankle and walked with crutches into my doctors appointment alone because my mom worked and I told her I was fine to go alone, big mistake, before I could say no stop he was choking me and stripping me" says Vanessa
"was he caught" asks Cameron
"yeah about thirty minutes later the receptionist walked in because I'm normally in and out because all I need are renewals on my meds, she pulled me away from him, covered me in a thermal blanket and called the cops" says Vanessa as Avery nuzzles her
"that explains why you insisted Avery be able to be with you and hear your assessment and why you are clearly afraid of doctors" says Cameron
"my girl is strong but even strong people can't protect themselves from everything" says Avery
"wait a minute since when am I your girl" asks Vanessa
"will you go out with me Vanessa Samantha Rodriguez" asks Avery
"who on earth told you my middle name, also yes please" says Vanessa
"I've always known Van Van, hey how's Carly doing" says Avery
"she's doing ok, one of our more unstable patients gave her a good punch but with some pain meds and adjusting her other meds she's doing better" says Cameron
"but Carly isn't a patient here" questions Avery
"actually she is and she isn't, one of the things Cat did when she took over control from the government was come to an agreement with the hospital, we'd take some of their long term patients and in return they'd give us access to their medical suppliers so the quality of the medical equipment was able to be improved here, another part of the agreement was that if say the city had to lockdown due to a political or personal attack hits the city, if we are closer than the hospital for a patient not needing surgery we can take them in, we've had several flu and severe cough patients be transferred here away from the main hospital to reduce their load while LA is still locked down, all taken care of with medications" says Cameron as Tori wheels Cat over
"how long is this lockdown gonna last" asks Avery
"five hundred people who believe I worship the devil came to the city I live in, that cult is out for my head Avery but also anyone willing to support me, the feds take that seriously, it's a serious problem for them, LA won't be open again till they've caught them all, they've maybe caught half, probably less so a few more weeks" says Tori
"I'm just happy I made it out of that coma, I'm kinda afraid to eat lunch though" says Cat
"eating will be fine, I wouldn't suggest walking though" says Vanessa
"what'd you do get my medical records or something" asks Cat
"no but my mom is a rape victim lawyer and since I was on the same medication for my sunflower allergy she gets alerted and cc'd on all patients in California who get switched off the medication" says Vanessa
"why" asks Tori
"my doctor prescribed that medication to me so my ankles would be weak by the time I came of legal age, that medicine when used for an extended time causes brittle bone disease, generally in the ankles, my doctor raped me Cat, just last year when my ankle snapped trying to do a dance move that I could normally do just fine" says Vanessa
"are you saying my doctor wanted to rape me" asks Cat
"that's exactly what I'm saying, nine times out of ten after someone guy or girl claims they were raped by their doctor and is "disproven" in court those same patients are swiftly taken off that medication specifically" says Vanessa
"how many cases do those doctors win" asks Cat realizing she dodged a bullet
"nearly every one, my case was the first one in California that went in favour of the victim in this case me and only because the receptionist knew I was generally in and out in ten minutes, at the thirty minute mark she got concerned and walked in on him raping me and she saved me and testified on my side in court despite my old doctor trying to buy her loyalty, she's thirty-five and told me that she refuses to retire till she's seventy specifically so she can help save people like me" says Vanessa
"Lola is a Saint, your mom is very lucky" says Avery
"wait what" asks Cameron confused
"as a thank you for being a good person my mom took Lola out for a thank you dinner, emotion played no part in the dinner on my moms side when she offered, my mom basically raised me alone, my dad was an ass and refused to raise a child and divorced my mom when she became pregnant with me and my twin brother, she'd dated a few times over the years but it never worked out, either they scared me or they hurt her, Lola is the first one to hold all of us on equal footing, Lola assumes nothing, not our sexuality not our gender, none of that, she believes that when we are ready we will tell her" says Vanessa
"did you tell her" asks Cat
"yeah, my mom was working on a case last week and my brother came out as pan and I came out as gay and she thanked us for telling her, though if you knew my brother you'd know he's pan without even asking him" says Vanessa
"that's assuming and isn't a good thing" says Cameron
"no believe me, if you knew him you'd see what I mean" says Vanessa
"I never knew you had a twin brother or at least I've never met him" says Avery
"no you have, once, remember Tanner" says Vanessa
"oh ya ok he definitely puts off a pan vibe, isn't he dating that trans girl Naomi" asks Avery
"Naomi is trans yes, she goes by Robert now though, she doesn't want surgery though" says Vanessa
"understandable, not only is it expensive but if you were to suddenly realize you aren't trans there is no easy way to go back, being in that community myself being bi it's not an easy thing coming out, society has this notion that it's a choice and its far from a choice, it's a learning experience, for me anyway" says Cat
"you know I know who you are right Catarina, your other life" says Vanessa
"as long as you keep little princess me a secret I'm okay with you knowing" says Cat
"I wouldn't think of telling anyone princess, your fans like Avery and I speculated who you might have been because mystery artists always make fan's minds work hard, however we all understand why you keep your identity a secret, your songs and the words in them mean too much to us true fans to care who you are, your music speaks to us and that's all that matters" says Vanessa
"that means a lot to me Vanessa Rodriguez, do you think I'll be able to walk any time soon?" asks Cat
"not easily, most likely your ankles are shot after that long on the meds, mine were, I had to get special plates in my ankles to even walk at all, while you're on the meds your body is maintaining the state they're in but once you're off them it's just pain city, my mom got asked to run the case to get that medication off the legal medication list" says Vanessa
"why get it banned" asks Cameron
"because the medication keeps a person's body in a fake state of maintenance, it tells your body that basically all your joints are fine but trust me as I myself learned you miss even a single dose and you're screwed, after the rape by my doctor I was two weeks without meds period, trust me when I say that nobody in my house got reasonable sleep for those two weeks because I was screaming so much, at which point I got a bunch of lubrication injections in my joints and the pain was less but not enough to completely allow me to walk, hence the plates in my ankles" says Vanessa as James walks over
"hey sis I got dropped off here with Rob, no idea why" says James
"why were you in the area" asks Vanessa
"Rob has a certain female infection and we were on our way to the hospital because the over-the-counter meds didn't do anything, you know she lives in the area" says James
"what kind of female infection may I ask" asks Vanessa
"you know the one, like what you had last year after that evil doctor did things to you" says James
"forgive my brother, he's shy about talking about the female body, she has a severe yeast infection, you got anything for that" says Vanessa
"do they have insurance" asks Cameron
"can't afford it, Naomi and I both work minimum wage jobs because nobody else will hire us" says James as Naomi walks over in pain
"can you afford a two hundred dollar one time medication purchase, sixty pills and a topical cream, you only need to take the meds for five days with the cream then the cream whenever there is a flare up" asks Cameron
"not easily, wait why sixty pills if I don't need to use it for more than five days" asks Naomi
"they're for the severe infections, if it becomes a trend where you get severe ones often it's better to have more on hand because trust me having a recurring prescription is a lot more expensive, one fifty a month versus two hundred for about what amounts to six months supply, it's thirty pills not sixty my bad, also once we prescribe medication neither of you will be allowed to leave this facility until that infection clears up" says Cameron
"but if we don't show up at work tomorrow we'll lose our jobs and we need that eight dollars an hour to live" says James
"you two seem like the OCD type, what if I offered you sixteen an hour to help keep this facility clean, it comes with health insurance benefits, we don't have quite enough maids here to keep a good schedule for them, not many maids have been able to get days off, we only have six maids to clean two hundred rooms and it's not nearly enough, they're overworked" says Cameron as Cat blinks in agreement as she can't move her head yet
"wait sixteen dollars an hour each AND benefits….., how can you afford that" asks Naomi getting uncomfortably itchy as Cameron hands them employment contracts
"Ashley go get the high dose yeast infection meds and the associated cream" says Cameron as both James and Naomi sign the contracts
"yes ma'am" says Ashley as she goes to get them
"oh by the way Cameron I'm owner again, mom and dad said with your guidance on medical rules that I'm stable enough to run it safely, hell I'd clean every room in this place if it gave my workers even a few hours of peace and allow them to reset" says Cat
"the way you speak sounds like pink princess on her streams" mentions Naomi
"that explains the dress" says James as Naomi tilts her head
"she is Princess but you can't tell anyone, her music isn't about recognition, it's about the words and the message" says Vanessa
"I understand the need for secrecy, I understand the importance of making your music the focus, wait omg is that your little sister sucking her thumb, she's adorable" says Naomi
"ugh why does she have to have my traits, why can't she have gotten mom or dad's traits" exclaims Cat not realizing her mistake
"wait hold up she shouldn't have your traits unless she was your daughter….." realizes Tori
"it wasn't my choice ok Tori, Selena wasn't supposed to happen" says Cat
"you were raped that young…." asks Cameron shocked
"I don't want to talk about it" says Cat angry
"why didn't you tell anyone you were raped" asks Avery
"the cops rarely believe grown women when they come to them saying they were raped, they'd have never believed me, besides he was a big police donor, he was also really good at lying" says Cat
"do you have any memory of it" asks Vanessa
"luckily no, he must have dosed me or something, the last thing I remember is hugging him, then waking up in a lot of pain" says Cat as Cassandra walks in
"hey cuz, ya I know I'm not supposed to be here but we're both survivors of my dads creepo motives and today is the anniversary" says Cassandra
"finally got citizenship huh" asks Cat changing the subject
"yeah, I couldn't live in that house anymore, I heard Tori got approved for that added floor in the complex you live in for all tenants" says Cassandra
"yeah she did" says Cat
"the contractors my lawyer hired are doing it now, they can only work for so long each day, they're a Spanish company my dad checked out for an addition to his house and they're clean, it's federally subsidized housing now so while the rent is the same, they will be getting twice the space to live in, perfect for growing families, Selena will get a second room and Jade and Trina are gonna get their own floor, we still have to share a bathroom and kitchen but it makes it easier" says Tori
"how would one even get furniture up there" asks Cameron
"spiral staircase and at the back above the sliding doors on the main floor will be another sliding door on the second floor with stairs to load furniture" says Tori as she tics
"I assume global music sales are back then if you're paying for all this" asks Cameron
"it has yes, governments world wide have cracked down on the activity, my fans deserve a lot of the credit though, they've been correcting the misrepresentation caused by those fake fan accounts that remix my music into satanic songs that parents have been seeing that reference me as the creator of said music, it's incredibly grounding to see my fans be that loyal while I strengthen my bond with Cat and Ashley" says Tori as Ashley comes back
"I can't afford the meds" says Naomi
"you're an employee now, it's paid for, normally you'd have had to wait six months to pass the probation period but this is an immediate need situation and all my employees have one emergency need situation insurance use claim available, be it something small like a chipped tooth to something big like cancer, I figured since you are of Asian decent and not often are people like you ever treated fairly I'd pay this one for you, you are very pretty Naomi and you deserve to work in a place where you will be respected, as does James" says Cameron
"thank you, Cameron I really appreciate it" says Naomi
"Elaine said that if they were sexually active that he would need cream and meds too" says Ashley
"we are ya" says James
"Elaine was a risky Korean hire because of the hate surrounding all Asians right now but she's proving her worth daily, hand the meds to them so Naomi can get that itch taken care of" says Cameron as Ashley does so
"when do we start" asks James
"you can start tomorrow, Naomi because she has that severe infection needs to be two days in on those meds, Ashley will hand your contracts over to HR and get your assigned room key" says Cameron
"wait we get to live here, how big is the room" asks James
"the city is on lockdown so we transformed fifty offices into bedrooms for my employees, they will remain bedrooms post opening up of the city as an option for all employees" says Cameron
"sweet" says Naomi