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It’d started with a loose scalpel, a patient on the operating table under the influence of some unknown cocktail of drugs, something the group of 4-5 doctors around the gurney were desperate to diagnose. One freak-out and an unexpected spasm later, and Victoria’d found herself sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, a gash on her cheek just under her right eye being what got her there.
Victoria winced as Cassie dabbed at the wound with a wet cotton pad, cleaning the wound from any possible debris. Seeing her face scrunch up, Cassie stopped and found her eyes.
“Baby? You okay?”
“Cass.” Victoria sighed. “Yes, I’m fine. If you keep asking me if I’m okay we’re gonna be in this room forever. It’s really not that bad.”
“Sorry, I just… don’t wanna hurt you.” Cassie mumbled, focused more on being delicate as she took care of Victoria’s wound than on her words. Victoria knew that, of course. And she loved that, how much Cassie just cared. How much she loved. How hard it was for her to hide feelings like that. It made keeping their whole thing under wraps quite difficult, in all honesty. But she didn’t want Cassie to baby her, to act like she was fragile. A prize jewel to be kept… under wraps.
“I’m not a baby.” Victoria spoke clearly, strongly, though still wincing as one of Cassie’s fingers brushed past the edges of her wound. She was trying to make her point clear. “I’m an adult. I can, like, take care of myself.”
“I know.”
“Then stop treating me like I can’t.” There was a surprising sternness present in Victoria’s voice now, enough to stop Cassie mid-movement, finding Victoria’s eyes to gauge if she was actually angry. Victoria herself was taken aback at how forceful she’d come across, pupils wide as she squeezed at her own bicep. “Sorry, I… I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…”
Victoria trailed off, lost in trying to figure out what she felt. What she was trying to express. Cassie, fortunately, picked up the threads of her thought spiral at the same time as she picked for the plaster she’d placed on the side table.
“I get it. You’re right.” Cassie said, peeling off the adhesive strip and framing the plaster over Victoria’s wound. Victoria winced again, feeling Cassie place the strip, running fingers along the edges to ensure good adhesion. With the plaster attached, Cassie pulled her head back and found Victoria’s eyes. “I’m sorry, for treating you like that. I really am. You know I don’t… mean to, right?”
“I know.”
“I don’t want to baby you, but I wanna make sure you’re safe. That you’re okay.” Cassie flashed that reassuring smile, the one that meant something like everything to Victoria. “But, I’m gonna try, okay? Because you are an adult, and you are so smart, so, so damn competent. It’s one of the things I love about you so much. I guess sometimes I just wanna… take some of that burden off your shoulders. Let you share the load with me. Because I don’t wanna see you struggle so hard.”
Victoria couldn’t help her lips from curling into the slightest smile, making it exponentially harder for her to keep that harsh tone she was trying to use. And with that crack, the whole dam collapsed, Victoria falling forward and pulling Cassie into a hug. Cassie didn’t react for a moment, but quickly wrapped Victoria in her arms, quick to reciprocate and take the hug as tacit acceptance of her apology.
They both revelled in that embrace for longer than usual, still hidden behind the closed blinds of the room. They both needed it, before they headed back into the fold. Shoulder each other’s loads equally.
Eventually, Cassie pulled back and looked her in the face. Suddenly, a chuckle escaped her lips and Victoria’s eyebrows raised.
“What’s funny?”
“You kinda look like Nelly, now. With that bandage on your cheek.”
Victoria tilted her head, scrunching her eyes in thought. Eventually, a word like question fell from her tongue. “Who?”
“You don’t know Nelly?” Cassie was taken aback, beginning to hum the melody to Dilemma. Victoria, after a few more more seconds of thinking, shook her head horizontally in confirmation that she didn’t know.
“Nope, not a clue.”
“Oh my god.” Cassie’s head dropped forward, pressing her forehead against Victoria’s own. “Am I really that old?”
“You really are.” Victoria giggled, her lips curling into a light smirk. “It’s kinda hot.”
“You have to shut up about that…”