A/N: This fic contains potentially triggering subject matter including but not limited to: suicidal references, gun violence, sexual trauma, homelessness, drug abuse, depression, homophobia, and cancer. It may contain inaccuracies. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks for reading!

BOOK ONE - PART TWO - CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"Sam?" Cat stood outside the bedroom door and tapped it with her knuckles. She didn't receive a response, so she opened the door and tip-toed inside. Sam was sprawled out on the couch, snoring lightly. Some random news program was playing on the TV in front of her. There were empty beer cans scattered all around her—Cat counted at least eight. She kneeled in front of the couch and gently shook Sam's arm.

"Sam." She shook her again. "Sam, wake up. You should go to the bed if you wanna keep sleeping."

Finally, Sam cracked her eyes open just a tiny bit. Then she closed them again and groaned.

Cat was mystified—it was the mildest reaction she'd ever seen from Sam after waking her up. She figured she must be very drunk. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Sam groaned again. She was clutching her stomach.

"Sam?"

Sam swallowed wetly and rolled onto her side. Her shoulders lurched, and then she projectile-vomited all over the front of Cat's sweater.

Cat scrambled away, gagging, while Sam finished throwing up on the floor. "Ew, ew, ew! Oh, my God, I need a shower! Are you gonna be okay if I go?"

Sam finally stopped vomiting long enough to catch her breath. She was crying again. "I'm sorry, Cat. I'm so fucking pathetic—"

"Sam, no. Stop it. It was an accident. I'm not upset," Cat assured her, though she couldn't breathe through her nose without gagging. "I'm gonna shower, okay?"

Sam curled up into the fetal position and drunkenly sobbed.

Cat sighed. "I'll be right back." She locked herself inside the bathroom.

About half an hour later, Cat was quietly shutting the door of the bedroom. Sam had been in bed when she exited the bathroom, leaving Cat to deal with the mess on the carpet. Finally done cleaning up, she was now headed down the hallway to her room upstairs. She hadn't had any clean clothes in Sam's room to change into, so she was wrapped in nothing more than a small white towel. She crept her way there, hurrying to avoid being seen. Robbie was coming out of their bathroom right as she walked in.

"Oh! Robbie. Jeez, you scared me," Cat sighed, closing their bedroom door. Then she went to her dresser, pulled some clothes out, and dropped her towel.

Robbie did nothing more than glance in her direction. Finally, he said, "So, uh…"

"Yes?" Cat pretended to be disinterested as she dressed herself.

"Are you gonna explain..?"

Cat considered that for several seconds. Then, without looking at him, she replied, "Sam came back."

Robbie scoffed lightly. "Yeah, I saw. And… heard."

"You heard?" Cat whirled around to face him, blushing. There was really no way he couldn't have heard—Sam had made Cat scream with pleasure last night. Repeatedly. She knew that was probably why Sikowitz had been gone all day, too.

"Um, you guys weren't exactly quiet," Robbie remarked. "I mean, I don't think I really heard Sam at all…"

"Oh," Cat replied sheepishly, "Yeah, her mouth was busy most of the time."

"Jeez!" Robbie cringed exaggeratedly and covered his ears. "TMI!"

Cat was sitting at her vanity, fixing her make-up. She just smiled to herself.

"Was it… good?" Robbie paused. "I mean, it definitely sounded like it."

Cat didn't feel shy talking to Robbie about these things. He was her fiancé, her best friend, and they were very comfortable with each other. "It was so good. She was very generous."

"Did you come?"

Jade and Tori had had to pry this information out of her earlier, but Cat truly trusted Robbie. He knew that she had only ever orgasmed twice in her life before last night. "Um, yeah. Four times in a row," she admitted. "That's what all the screaming was for. I'm sorry about that, by the way."

Robbie just chuckled. "Sam probably has lots of experience, huh?"

"Yeah, she told me she's been with at least nineteen girls," Cat replied. "But she's stone, though. According to Jade."

Robbie raised his eyebrows. "Really? So, she didn't let you touch her, like, at all?"

"Nothing below the belt," Cat explained for the second time. "I got her to take all her clothes off, but when I asked if I could see closer, she said no."

"Huh. Any particular reason why?" Robbie wondered curiously.

Cat sighed. She had been dying to spill this information to someone. "Okay, you can't tell her I told you," she said seriously. "But it's because she's scared. She got sexually abused as a kid, and she said she's traumatized from it."

Robbie could tell Cat immediately regretted sharing that. He changed the subject and asked, "You wanted to touch her, though, huh?"

"Well, yeah. I wanna make her feel good too," Cat answered openly. "Or I at least want to see what she looks like."

"You really couldn't see anything?" Robbie asked, confused.

"Um, no. She's really hairy down there. And she was on top of me the whole time, so I didn't get close enough to see," Cat explained.

"Huh. Bet you liked that though," Robbie teased. He knew Cat had a weird thing about body hair. And armpits. And role play.

"She's really sexy," Cat admitted, smiling. Then she added, "She told me she'd let me make out with her armpits. She doesn't shave those, either."

Robbie looked amused. "She didn't laugh when you asked?"

"Well, she did, but not in a mean way," Cat replied. "I asked her if there was anything she was into that she wanted to do with me. But she said she wasn't comfortable talking about it in public. I'm gonna ask her again in private later."

Robbie wondered, "Are there any no-goes?"

Cat shrugged. "I trust her, as long as she doesn't do anything that hurts," she explained. Then she bit her lip. "I mean… my plans got kind of ruined for tonight, but maybe tomorrow."

Robbie was intrigued. "Plans?"

"Yeah. Jade and Tori made me go to the mall to buy some lingerie," Cat told him. "I was gonna come home and surprise her, but… well, that didn't exactly go well."

"What happened?" Robbie wondered, intrigued.

"When I got back, she was drunk. Like, really drunk. And I tried to wake her up so she could move to the bed, but she threw up all over my shirt. And the floor." Cat shuddered again. "I don't blame her, though. It was a rough day."

"Rough day?" Robbie asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah. I took her to my doctor for a check-up 'cause she's never really been to one, and, um…" It pained Cat to say it out loud again. "Basically, they think she has breast cancer. We won't know for sure until tomorrow, but they said it's about a 90% chance."

"Oh, wow. That's horrible; I'm really sorry, Cat," Robbie replied, "Tell her I'm here if she ever needs help with anything. Then he glanced at the clock and once again changed the subject to a lighter topic of conversation. "Hey, are you hungry?"

Cat hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning, but she was too emotional to have much of an appetite. "A little, I guess."

Robbie walked over and took her hand. "C'mon. Let's go heat up some leftovers and watch TV," he suggested.

Cat sighed. She really only wanted to crawl into bed next to Sam right now, but that could wait until a little later. "Okay. Let's go."