Work Text:
Cassandra Goth - Autumn, Year One - Goth Manor
Cassandra Goth laid in bed, awake in the silence and staring at the ceiling of the master suite in the Goth manor. Her childhood home was large, and it grew quieter and quieter the older she and Alex grew. When she was younger, the silence hadn’t seemed so foreboding, so all encompassing. Her mother’s laugh filled most of her memories, and Bella had always had guests over to entertain. Cassie wasn’t the most social of children, a habit she hadn’t quite grown out of, but nonetheless her mother had always made sure to show her off to her friends and associates, had always made sure that Cassandra was included and welcome.
Now, the house held just the three of them. Her father was aging, and much of the last five years had been spent in distant melancholy, mourning the loss of Bella as much as Cassandra herself did. And Alexander wasn’t a child anymore. He hadn’t ever made that much noise to begin with, being a bookish child himself. But now he was thirteen and entering secondary school, and had made a point of telling everyone he knew that he’d “grown up a lot over the summer” to explain his own antisocial behaviour.
Cassandra supposed it was true. He was focusing even more on his studies than he had before, and was already talking about the colleges that he might get into. She’d been surprised the first time she’d heard him talking about it. She certainly hadn’t been that concerned about college at that age, although she’d always known her name would get her wherever she wished to go. Not that she would tell Alex that he had a free pass. He’d probably find it insulting, if he took anything after their father.
Cassie heaved a sigh and rolled over in the bed. Normally the silence of the house was reassuring, but for the last few nights she couldn’t get comfortable in the slightest. She could tell that she was tired; but she couldn’t sleep. She just felt restless. Maybe it was the uncertainty of the future, or maybe that was the only thing she wasn’t unsettled about.
After tossing and turning for a few more minutes, she heard the creak of the stairs in the hallway and knew her father couldn’t sleep either. After a few moments, the sound of their grand piano tinkled quietly up from the sitting room on the lower floor. Her father normally only spent time in that room when he had too much on his mind himself. Cassandra pulled her feet over the side of her bed, and slipped them into the wine colored slippers near her bedside table.
She padded down the stairs silently and snuck through the archway. She hovered by the entrance as her father played a classic on the piano and it filled the quiet hours in the manor. As he finished the song, she knocked politely on the side of the archway to signal her arrival.
“Can I join you?” she asked.
Mortimer turned around and smiled slightly. “Of course darling. Always room for my favourite daughter.”
He patted the piano’s bench lightly as she stepped into the room.
“I’m your only daughter,” she chuckled quietly.
“Well, all the more reason you should be the favourite then.” Mortimer turned slightly towards her as she sat next to him. “So, favoured daughter. Is there a reason you are awake at 4 am along with me?”
Cassie shook her head. She didn’t have an answer for him any more than she had for herself while she was lying alone. Normally, she wasn’t kept up by thoughts of the future or the past, but recently she couldn’t help but let her mind wander instead of allowing herself rest. If she didn’t know better, she’d assume that it wasn’t a mental block but a physical discomfort. She might think she’d caught a cold, or come down with something. Unfortunately, she knew it probably was stress. Instead of answering with any real response, she turned the question around on him.
“I simply could not sleep, my dear. Too much on my mind.” His reply was not much more informative than her own. Cassandra frowned. Her father was almost 70. He shouldn’t have so many worries. Before she could ask though, he continued.
“Dina… I love her, you know.” Cassie nodded. Much to her chagrin, she knew this was true. She wasn’t thrilled about the fact that her father’s lover was only a few years older than her, but she knew the woman enough to know that she wasn’t as evil as the tabloids said she was. The papers, especially in a place like Pleasantview, had always been less than kind. They’d picked apart her mother, and they were no less subtle now. Bella’s own relationship with Mortimer Goth had been talked about for years, and the same papers had no love for Cassandra either. They made sure to note Cassandra’s naivete for wanting to marry the town heartbreaker. They spread the rumors of his liaisons and implied she was stupid for marrying him. And maybe her relationship with Don was less conventional. But she wasn’t a naive, idiotic child either. The same grace needed to be applied to Dina Caliente. While Cassie didn’t love the woman, she didn’t think they were fair to her either.
“I worry…. Your mother… I know… I know she’s….” Her father’s voice caught on the facts that they both knew were probably true. Saying them out loud felt more real though, so it was rare that any of them ever mentioned Bella’s probable whereabouts. In truth, they all knew she was more than likely dead. That there was little likeliness that Bella Goth would ever step foot in Pleasantview again. Rumors of sightings in strange deserts and jokes about aliens only went so far. After a while, it was best to accept that in any case, she wouldn’t be returning.
Cassandra was more willing to accept this than her father was though. While they shared their love of logic, this was the one topic where reason didn’t apply for Mortimer Goth. The idea that Bella was dead, or that she’d left him willingly was unthinkable to her father.
“They never found her. And I still miss her deeply. What if that hurts Dina in the long run?”
Cassandra hummed quietly. Her father valued her opinion, especially when it came to matters of the heart. It was something that he’d admitted he didn’t have much experience in. Not that Cassandra herself did either, but in his mind, she’d always understand it better than he did naturally. Whether that was true or not, Cassandra didn’t mind having her father’s approval. She knew she could sway him whichever way she wished, and for a moment, she thought about taking advantage of that. In the end, she’d seen her father gloom about the manor for the last five years, and she’d seen, in brief moments, how Dina helped lift that dreary haze.
“I think, of all people, Dina knows what it’s like to miss someone, daddy. It wasn’t that long before mom went missing that Michael died. I think she understands.” Cassie also knew this was part of the reason her father and Dina had bonded.
“I suppose that’s true.” Mortimer sighed, looking past Cassie at the famous painting of Bella that still hung in the room. He stared at it in silence for a few heavy minutes. Eventually he asked, “Have you and Don picked a date yet?”
Cassandra sighed. She could see a change of subject when it was that obvious. Unfortunately, the new subject was one she was less than thrilled about. They had not, in fact, picked a date for their wedding yet. She had planned to, before that awkward dinner date they’d had in the late summer. But bringing up their impending wedding hadn’t felt right while Don was still concerned about the whole affair.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon. He’s almost done with his internship at the hospital, right?” Cassie nodded this time. “Well, I’m sure things are getting serious between you two, and once he has more time on his hands, it will be easier to plan.”
It had been a little while since Don had stayed over at the manor, and this was the first comment her father had made about it. She hadn’t wanted to test the limit of her father’s patience. He might have bought her story about Don having had a little too much wine to go home that evening a few weeks ago, but there was only so many times she could lie to her father about Don sleeping on their couch.
Of course, there was the slight chance that Mortimer had decided that she was an adult, capable of making good decisions on her own, but it was doubtful. He was far too traditional for that. In any case, Cassie wasn’t going to press the issue. Her father was an old fashioned man, and she understood it. She wasn’t particularly of the same opinion, but she understood nonetheless. Besides that, as long as everything went well, she and Don would be married soon anyways. So it really wasn’t a big deal. What her father didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.
Hopefully, they’d be able to pick a date soon, and then none of these issues would be important. She’d be married, and her father would be happy to see her off. It would all be much easier after that and she would no longer have to spend nights alone wondering why the manor was so quiet.