Cassy, Connor, Wes, Michaela and Laurel stood outside Annalise´s house while the police looked for evidence on Sam´s disappearance. Wes tried to calm Michaela down who was obviously anxious that they would find something.
"We didn´t leave a trace." Cassy whispered to the group, also trying her best at staying calm.
"How do we know she´s not setting us up, you know? That she knows everything and she´s just using these interviews to get one of us to confess." Connor hissed at Wes.
"No one will confess." Cassy told him and earned an annoyed glance from the man
"And if someone will, then the rest of us will pin everything on that person." Laurel stepped forward with a serious look. "It´s five against one so, don´t even try it."
"Mommy´s home." Connor suddenly changed the topic when he saw Annalise approaching them. Michaela was quick to ask if the Keating 6 were excused from exams because they were involved in all of this which Annalise quickly denied and asked Wes to her office.
"Well, at least she won´t take on another case, right? So we´ve got more time." Cassy explained and Michaela scoffed as she turned away from her with an eye-roll. The four of them entered the house once they saw the prosecutor from Rebecca´s trial come in and listened to her talking to Annalise. Cassy looked at Frank who glanced towards her. They didn´t have a chance to talk about the news of them being related and she still didn´t know how to feel about it.
"Can we talk?" she whispered as she walked over to him.
"You wanna talk now?" he replied hinting at the bad timing. Cassy nodded, knowing she couldn´t go any longer without finding out everything and Frank looked around before walking her outside with a huff. Cassy didn´t care that her fellow students watched them, she only had one thing on her mind – finding out the truth.
"You think she´s gonna tell him?" Michaela asked Connor quietly who looked at Laurel who had a hint of jealousy in her eyes.
"She screwing him too?" he asked her and Laurel shrugged.
"The hell I care?" she replied, turning her focus back on the prosecutor and Annalise.
"So?" Frank asked once he and Cassy stood in the yard where the least police officers walked around. "What you wanna know?"
"Why? Why did they give me away?" Cassy wanted to know without hesitating. Frank sighed as he looked to the ground and kept quiet for a moment. "Frank, please. I´ve been asking myself that question ever since I found out."
"I didn´t know when they did it but I found out later. Apparently, my mother…our mother had an affair and convinced my father that you were his kid when in fact…" Frank started but cut himself off, however, Cassy knew where he was going.
"I was someone else´s." she finished for him with a soft nod.
"You know how proud Italians are, when he found out he…he didn´t want anything to do with you. It didn´t help that you looked nothing like him. You only have features from our mother but apparently you look like your father…I guess that´s why I didn´t recognize you immediately." Frank explained and Cassy bit on her lip as she inhaled sharply.
"So, you´re telling me that I only found half of my biological family?" she asked and Frank didn´t say anything which was answer enough.
"Are you angry?" he asked after a few silent moments and Cassy looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
"Angry, confused, sad…but yes, mostly angry. You kept this a secret for months, you were a jerk to me and all the while you knew." She stated and he sighed reaching out for her but she pulled away. "Don´t. I´m not ready." She said before walking back into the house, leaving Frank to himself. The police ordered each individual student to the station for interrogation and Connor and Michaela were nervous and anxious which again made the other three nervous that they might talk.
"I came here last night, for the trophy." Asher told the five who obviously knew about it but acted clueless. "I mean what if they think that he isn´t missing and that it was foul play and I´m somehow involved?"
"You have an alibi though, right?" Cassy asked, knowing full well they were together for some time the previous night and therefore had an alibi for that time. He looked at her noticing the small smirk but he didn´t reply it. Annalise came out of her office and told them that they had to get Rebecca´s charges dismissed.
"We have to prove that my husband murdered Lila Stangard." She explained in a cold tone and Cassy furrowed her eyebrows. The professor continued by telling them the steps on how to do that, assigning each their tasks. Wes suggested that they could look into Sam´s laptop for data on where he was the night Lila died and Cassy looked to her fellow accomplices, knowing that they were in the house the night before because Rebecca was stealing exactly that data.
An hour went by and Annalise allowed them to go get something for lunch and the students except for Asher met up at Wes´s place. Laurel brought them take out while they sat around discussing why the prosecution would keep Sam´s laptop in custody.
"Am I the only one that just doesn´t have any energy to think right now?" Cassy yawned, clearly still tired from not getting any sleep the previous night.
"We don´t have time to be tired." Michaela hissed as she took the food she ordered. Connor then began a statement which basically said that they were all going crazy which Wes quickly shut down.
"I´m just saying, that we should all get drunk, enjoy our last days of freedom before Annalise gives us up." Connor said and Cassy nodded.
"I´m in." she chuckled as she munched down on her food.
"How would Annalise know anything?" Wes retorted annoyed and Connor shrugged.
"I don´t know maybe Laurel or Cassy told their boyfriend." He mocked them and both girls looked at each other confused.
"Frank?" Laurel asked and Cassy raised her eyebrows.
"Frank´s not my boyfriend!" the younger girl wanted them to know but clearly no one believed her.
"Then why are you two always sneaking away and why did he ask Laurel about you last night?" Michaela inquired and Cassy swallowed nervously.
"Frank-" she cut herself off before revealing too much of their messy situation. "I was adopted…and Frank helped me find my birthparents." She admitted and everyone looked at her surprised. "That´s why we were sneaking around, that´s why I was at the house yesterday and why he was asking about me. He told me- he told me something that upset me and I needed to talk to Annalise."
"So you didn´t tell Frank. But maybe the campus cop…you know the one that saw us, he could have gone to the police." Connor brought the discussion back on the previous topic.
"Everyone needs to calm down. Let´s just focus on this case like we would on any other." Wes asked them politely and Cassy nodded silently, not knowing if it was right to tell them about her background.
"Our case is a wash, we have nothing." Michaela retorted angrily.
"You do know I´m sitting right here, right?" Rebecca asked confused and annoyed but Michaela didn´t care. Connor continued by explaining that only because Lila was pregnant with Sam´s child there was no motive for him to kill unless he knew which they had no proof of.
"Lila asked me at what clinic I get my birth control at." Rebecca suddenly said and Cassy and Connor rolled their eyes.
"She was pregnant, idiot. She clearly wasn´t on birth control." Connor hissed and Cassy remained silent, not wanting to talk much with Rebecca.
"No, but she asked me the week that she died, when she would have already known that she was pregnant." Rebecca explained and Cassy looked up, now connecting the dots.
"Lila would have never gotten an abortion." She realized and Rebecca nodded.
"Maybe Sam wanted her to get one." She finished for her and everyone nodded, seeing as this could be the evidence they needed.
Annalise wasn´t able to persuade the judge to look into the lead her students presented her and they all got nervous for their upcoming interrogations and feared Annalise might find out about their crime. They looked through files and books to find a precedent to convince the judge to give them access to Lila´s clinic files. Cassy watched Connor and Michaela who were whispering about something.
"Do we need to worry about those two?" she asked Wes quietly and he looked over with a sigh.
"I´ll handle it." He replied as he stood up and walked over to them, asking what they were whispering about. Of course the two told him that they were talking about the case, which none of the others believed. Michaela suddenly found something they could use to obtain the security tape from the clinic which Annalise brought to court the next day. The judge agreed and the Keating 6 were sitting in a room in the courthouse to go through the video files while being called in for questioning by the police. Asher was first and they asked Cassy in next.
"So, did you and Mister Keating interact much?" one of the officers asked her and Cassy swallowed nervously.
"Yes. He offered me counseling sessions." She told them and they asked her why she would need counseling. "I wasn´t focusing on our case so Miss Keating advised me to talk to her husband."
"And would you say it helped?" he continued his round of questioning and Cassy shrugged as she inhaled sharply.
"At first…then he got too…too comfortable, I guess. He kissed me and wanted to touch me inappropriately…" she remembered and felt the shame coming over her all over again. Seemingly noticing that she was uncomfortable the female officer changed the subject and asked her where she was the night of the bonfire. "Well, I was with my study group at first and we then went to the bonfire. I met Asher Millstone there and…we returned to his place and…and hooked up. Afterwards we went back to the party where I joined the people from my study group again."
"Did you see Mister Millstone after your encounter again?" the male investigator asked and Cassy shook her head. "Were you and Mister Millstone in a relationship?" they continued and the girl started laughing.
"No, we just hooked up a couple of times. Why? Is something going on with him?" she wondered and the officers looked at each other with a sigh.
"We´ve been at it for hours and nothing happened." Connor sighed as they watched the tape on a screen when suddenly Cassy burst into the room and shut the door with a loud bang. "What the hell?"
"You disgusting, little slut!" she pointed at Asher who looked to the rest in confusion. "You had sex with somebody else, the same night we hooked up?"
"Wow, dude…" he tried to calm her down, not keen on the rest knowing about them.
"Oh please they know we hooked up at the bonfire!" Cassy shouted and Connor, Michaela and Wes cleared their throats and looked around awkwardly.
"You did what?" Laurel, who didn´t know about it, asked shocked, now realizing that´s where Cassy actually was when they thought she was at the police station.
"See, they didn´t know." Asher pointed at Laurel and it didn´t help Cassy´s frustration.
"Yeah, well, Laurel knows about the first time-" Cassy blurted out and Asher tried to shush her when the four spectators got even more awkward and wished to be anywhere else but in that room. "My point being is…Who, did you sleep with?"
"I´m not gonna tell you, are you kidding?" Asher crossed his arms over his chest and Cassy´s cheeks turned bright red from anger.
"You see, that´s a pairing I would have never expected." Connor whispered to the others quietly enough for Cassy and Asher not to hear it.
"Besides, what´s the big deal?" Asher asked and Cassy scoffed before charging at him and pressing the much taller man against the wall. Although he was probably a lot stronger, Asher was so surprised by the attack he couldn´t react when she pressed her arm against his neck.
"Wow, calm down!" the other four students quickly came to Asher´s aid and Connor pulled her away from him. Asher started coughing and Laurel patted him on the shoulder, asking if he was okay. It was only then that Cassy snapped out of her rage and realized how much she´d overreacted.
"Let me go." She freed herself from Connor´s grip, immediately regretting being so violent and fearing that it could result in her getting thrown off the team or worse, Annalise thinking her being involved in Sam´s disappearance. "I need some fresh air." She said quietly before leaving the room and her peers behind in shock.
A few hours later all of the students sat in the courtroom, Cassy purposely far away from Asher, as Annalise presented evidence that Sam knew about the pregnancy and wanted Lila to get an abortion. The judge ordered the prosecution to give up Sam´s laptop to a forensic expert for investigation before adjourning the court. Laurel and Cassy walked around the courthouse together.
"So, you and Asher huh?" Laurel asked Cassy who shook her head.
"Let´s not-" she started but Laurel cut her off with a nod. "So you wanna grab a quick bite?" Cassy asked and Laurel nodded as they headed towards the exit when Frank suddenly stood in front of them.
"Hey, look who it is. The hypocrites." He greeted them and the two women looked at each other confused. "You really gonna play dumb?" he asked them and they continued to give him a confused look as he turned to Laurel. "You got the nerve to treat me like scum for lying about Sasha after what you did?" the man asked the Latina and Cassy looked the pair up and down, not understanding what he meant. "And you…" he turned to the younger girl, not wanting to reveal that they were related just yet. "You are giving me crap about lying to you and not telling you sooner after what you´ve been involved in?" Cassy swallowed, slowly starting to realize that he knew about their crime and looked down and then to Laurel.
"Frank, we have no idea what you´re talking about." The older woman assured Frank and he nodded impressed.
"Wow. Keep lying that good, you might actually get away with this." He told her before passing the pair and heading into another direction.
"He knows." Cassy whispered shocked as they both watched him walk away.
"But how?" Laurel replied with a question and they both started to get anxious.
"Isn´t it obvious? Annalise. She knows." Cassy´s lower lip started shivering as the two women made eye contact. "We need to talk to Wes." She said and Laurel agreed as they headed to the courtroom where they knew he would be.
"Act natural." Laurel advised Cassy whose hands started sweating from fear. They cleared their throats as they walked towards Wes when suddenly Michaela stood in their way, whispering that she and Connor needed to talk to them. However Cassy and Laurel pushed past her but Connor held them back.
"Listen to what we have to say, or we sell you out." He threatened and Cassy looked at Laurel, not wanting to risk it and agreeing to talking to them. They sat down in the same row a bit further in the back, listening to the forensics expert showing and explaining the route Sam took the night of Lila´s murder, proving that he in fact was there around the same time she was killed. This led to the prosecution dropping the charges against Rebecca and Griffin and have them walk free. The Keating team walked out triumphing, reporters asking them about Annalise and her husband. With all the noise about Rebecca and her and Bonnie answering questions, Connor and Michaela pulled aside Cassy and Laurel, telling them that they had to turn themselves in.
"We just proved that Sam´s the murderer. We´re in the clear." Laurel tried to change their minds but Michaela and Connor were convinced they weren´t safe.
"No, that only means that they´re gonna be more hell-bent on finding him." Michaela told her and Connor agreed, saying, that it is more helpful for them that he was the murderer and it could get them off more easily. "We´re gonna pin this on the puppy and Rebecca, say we played no part in the murder and they forced us to help."
"I know I said that I didn´t like Rebecca but she didn´t do anything. We were the ones that covered up the crime." Cassy whispered and Laurel nodded, also not sure about the plan.
"She is the reason he´s dead. If she didn´t break in then we would have never had to do any of this." Michaela explained and the two women looked at each other unsure of how to proceed.
"Okay." Laurel agreed to the plan after a long pause and Cassy opened her eyes widely.
"You´re not seriously agreeing to this?" she asked her and Connor and Michaela looked at the young girl with pleading eyes.
"Think about it Cassy. We would be more screwed if Annalise found out." Laurel said to Cassy who at first was confused as to what she was trying to say but quickly caught onto the secret message and agreed as well.
Later that evening Laurel and Cassy were at Wes´ telling him that Frank approached them and knew about them killing Sam, asking if Wes told Annalise. At first he denied any claims that he did until Laurel told him that Connor and Michaela were going to confess and pin it on him and Rebecca.
"Wes please…did you tell her?" Cassy begged him to finally admit it and he did. He told them the whole story of how he returned to get the trophy and she was there, how she told him everything they needed to do and how the coin actually didn´t land on head and he lied to follow her instructions. "You need to tell her. They won´t back down unless it comes from Annalise."
Thirty minutes later Connor, Michaela, Cassy and Laurel pulled into the parking space in front of the courthouse.
"Are we actually doing this?" Cassy asked and looked over to Laurel who nodded quietly. Suddenly Michaela started laughing, saying that her bridal boutique wanted to confirm a dress fitting. After a few comforting words from Connor they stepped outside the car and walked towards the entrance when they saw Wes and Annalise getting out of a car.
"What?" Connor asked shocked, not expecting to see them here.
"What are they doing here?" Michaela asked loud and Cassy looked to Laurel with a small grin. Connor and Michaela turned around to the two women behind them, realizing that they told Wes and Annalise.
"We had to." Laurel simply said and Cassy swallowed, feeling the hatred and anger from Connor.
"Screw this." Connor sighed and pushed past Annalise, still wanting to confess but Annalise´s voice held him back.
"I can give you a million reasons why this plan won´t go your way, or you can trust me." Annalise promised and went closer to comfort him. "Listen, you´re scared, I know. What you´ve been through, there´s nothing more horrible. But listen, I don´t blame you." Cassy was shaking as she listened to Annalise promising to protect them. "Let me help you. Because if you do, I promise you will get away with this."
The next day they were in class, not nearly as ready for Annalise´s exam as they would have liked to be. Annalise started explaining the exam where everyone had to present a defense.
"The case is as follows. Five individuals walk into a convenience store. One of them, Mr. Green, decides to rob the clerk. The clerk fights back. The others, Mr. White, Miss Blue, Miss Red and Miss Purple come to Mr. Green´s defense." Annalise explained and Cassy looked over to Laurel and then to Wes who all seemed to realize as well that this case was about them. "A physical struggle ensues. The clerk becomes incapacitated. Bang! Mr. White shoots the clerk, killing him. Now, though Mr. White acted alone in killing the clerk, all of the individuals are involved in the disposal of the body." She proceeded to tell them about the case, looking at each of the murderers of her husband. "Now the goal is to get these individuals acquitted of all charges and there is a way. You have 90 minutes."
That evening Cassy knocked on Frank´s door, willing to talk things out. He opened and without saying a word he let her in.
"Didn´t think you´d have the guts to show up here." He said once she sat down on the sofa.
"I´m sorry. You are my brother and I asked you to find my family and you did. And I can´t be mad at you for keeping it from me if I wouldn´t have done it differently." Cassy apologized and Frank exhaled relieved as he sat down next to her. "I want to talk, to get to know you. And I want to meet them."
"Who? My parents? I don´t think that´s a good idea." Frank advised her and Cassy rolled her eyes. "At least not just yet. Let´s just figure this out for us first okay?"
"Okay." Cassy agreed and they looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. "There´s another thing." She started as she looked at her hands and Frank pressed her to say what it was. "Living in my car wasn´t a problem when the semester began but now…it´s really cold and I don´t have enough money to pay for a motel…"
"Are you asking if you can stay with me?" Frank wanted to know and Cassy nodded.
"I´ll cook and clean, I can do the laundry. I just can´t pay any rent at the moment." She explained and he smiled softly. "And if you´re worrying about…about Sam…I didn´t kill him. I was barely involved."
"Don´t talk about it, I get it. Of course you can stay here, we´ll figure something out." Frank smiled and Cassy replied the smile with a relieved sigh.