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Cassie’s bangs clung to her skin as she made her way to the front door. It was raining, and of course, she forgot her umbrella. It had been one of those days where it seemed that everything that could go wrong, went wrong. She slept through her alarms and woke to Harrison shaking her shoulder, whispering, “Mom, we’re late.” Then when she finally made it (late) to the ER, there were already patients waiting to be seen.
Wanting to waste no more time, she went straight to her locker to prepare for her shift, and maybe to avoid Robby for a little while. She of course failed.
“You are late,” Robby told her as she unlocked her locker, “You are never late.”
“I know, I’m sorry I missed my alarm, and then I had to get Harrison to school-”
“Yeah, I know, just don’t let it happen again, you know the value of time when you work in the ER. You need to set an example to the student-doctors.”
She knew he was right. It wasn’t easy to balance patient care and teaching, but it was extremely rewarding. She loved her job, and setting an example was part of it— not only with the medical aspect of the profession but also with the humane side of things.
“It won’t happen again, I promise.”
He left and she followed closely behind him.
“What do we have, Dana?”
“We are waiting for a few car crash victims to arrive.”
“Fuck, its too early for this.”
Dana made a face, “Tough luck, kid.”
The whole shift was so busy, she felt she didn’t even have a moment to breathe. The first few patients were from a car accident, then the usual morning rush from the nursing homes, and then they all merged into a blur.
McKay fell behind on her charting and never caught up. By the time the board finally cleared, she was alone at the nurses’ station, the computer screen too bright, her eyes burning as she typed the same sentence twice.
At least Harrison was with Vic.
Victoria is hanging out— because that was what Harrison insisted on calling it, no babysitting because that is for babies and he made sure they all knew he wasn’t one— with her son, so she at least took comfort in the fact that she knew he was in good hands. Vic wasn’t working that day, which worked perfectly for her because she needed someone to watch Harrison. Her dad had a thing and so he couldn’t watch him the whole day.
She was a bit embarrassed about having to ask Victoria to babysit, but the younger woman always insisted she didn’t mind helping her from time to time, though Cassie had to admit that she had become her go to when her father couldn't help. She trusted her and liked having her around, they had grown really close from working together in the hospital. She got along with all the people she worked with. The ER was full of people she cared about— a loud, dysfunctional, and almost too-close kind of family.
But Victoria?
She was different.
Cassie didn’t notice at first, but it had become increasingly clear that the way she felt about the younger woman went beyond caring for a co-worker and friend.
She caught herself smiling at things no one else noticed— the way Vic apologized to patients even when it wasn’t her fault, the way she carried extra snacks in her bag just in case.
Just the other day they had a case together. A student who got sick but was concerned about missing school. Cassie watched Victoria carefully as she explained to the patient the importance of taking a break and resting as his body needed him to.
“You did great, sweetheart. The way you handled the situation was remarkable.” She later told Victoria.
Cassie found herself praising her without thinking. “Good catch, Javadi.” “Nice work.” “I’m proud of you.”
Working with her was easy. Too easy.
And then there were other little things that invaded the older woman’s mind. The lingering touches, the blush that crept from Javadi’s cheeks when Cassie’s hand lingered a little too long in her lower back as they talked, or when a “sweetheart” or a “doll” slipped past her effort to remain professional.
It started gradually.
They had a rocky start when Cassie thought Javadi was judging her, but after that first shift and pittfest, their relationship grew. It felt natural for them to interact and care so deeply— It also felt a bit scary, but she tried really hard to push that part of her affection away.
Vic had started showing up in the small corners of her life without either of them meaning for it to happen— a spare key on her keychain, her favorite mug in Cassie’s cabinet, Harrison asking if “Vic’s coming over”.
They worked well together. They were friends. That had to be enough— it wasn’t something worth risking, especially with Victoria so young, so eager to prove herself. That was the line Cassie refused to cross. She tried to keep her distance when she could. But when it came to Vadi, she never could.
Victoria was young. Brilliant. Eager in a way that made Cassie careful. She didn’t want to abuse the power she had over Vadi, she refused to do anything that could make her uncomfortable, didn’t want her to feel pressured or cornered. In her past she met people that made herself feel that way, and she would hate herself if she ever inflicted that in Victoria. Whatever warmth Vic looked at her with had explanations Cassie preferred not to question.
Wanting more was a risk she couldn’t afford.
She locked her feelings away and went back to work.
When she arrived at her apartment, the TV was playing some show that Victoria had mentioned she was watching. The room was a bit messy, blankets and pillows on the floor, cushions dragged off the couch— the wreckage of what had definitely been a blanket fort.
Victoria was usually half asleep on the couch or studying, so when she was met by an empty living room, her head went to the worst-case scenario. She quickly checked the door, where she saw there were no signs of forced entry or anything that would indicate that something bad happened, which admittedly gave her some peace of mind but still her mind was racing with possibilities.
She made her way to her son's room to look if they were maybe there, and as she came closer she started to hear a soft voice come from inside the room.
The door was slightly open, and she felt her anxiety and fear simmer away as she realized the soft voice was Victoria’s and that she was reading Harrison a book— one he used to tell Cassie to read when he was little.
God, it seemed like it was forever ago.
The memory felt so far away but she still didn’t know how it all went by so fast. She never would have imagined she’d get to see her precious little boy fall asleep to a story again. He used to always ask Cassie to read for him to fall asleep, to the point that she had memorised the majority of the books they had.
She also never would’ve imagined that she would ever get to see Javadi being the one reading the story. Warmth filled her chest as she took the sight in.
She recognized the story instantly— the one about the little doe who couldn’t figure out where she belonged.
Of course Vic would pick that one.
She paused in the doorway. Vic sat on the edge of the bed, face lit by the warm glow of the lamp, her voice low and steady. Harrison was already half-asleep, curled into his pillow, fists knotted in his blanket.
Cassie lingered in the hallway longer than she meant to, her feet rooted to the hardwood as if moving would break the moment. A warm ache settled low in her chest, heavy and persistent, and she couldn't help but smile.
But she knew she couldn’t let herself want this.
Before she could stop herself, her mind slipped forward. Mornings shared at the kitchen counter. Vic’s name lights up her phone. A life built close enough that reaching out wouldn’t feel dangerous.
Vic noticed her then.
Victoria’s face fell a bit when she saw Cassie— It was only a moment and then her face became unreadable. She carefully removed herself from the bed, careful not to wake Harrison up. She turned the lamp off and tucked him in.
“I know it looks like I let him stay up late,” Vic said quickly as she closed the door behind her, voice soft but tight with worry. “But I promise he fell asleep earlier. We had dinner, and then he had a nightmare and asked if I could read to him and I was just trying to help.”
The younger woman wouldn’t meet her eyes, she probably thought that she was in trouble. That was something Cassie noticed early on, how Vic always seemed to keep her guard up waiting to be questioned or challenged in some way.
“Vic—” she started.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Vic rushed on. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Baby, listen to me.” Victoria’s eyes snapped up to meet Cassie’s.
Baby, baby, baby, baby. Cassie hadn’t meant to say it. The word slipped out the way it sometimes did when she was too tired to stop herself from saying what she really wanted to say.
Vic went still.
“You’re not in trouble,” Cassie said, quieter now. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m glad you were here with him.”
Some of the tension left Vic’s shoulders. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
They were standing closer than Cassie remembered. Close enough that she could make out the faint freckles across Vic’s nose, the crease between her brows, the way she worried her bottom lip when she was nervous.
Without really thinking about it, Cassie reached for her shoulder. Her hand stayed a second too long, then fell to her arm.
“How was the rest of your day with Harrison?” She asked without taking her hand off Vic’s arm, taking a step closer without thinking.
“It was good, I mean he- he’s a great kid.” Victoria said. She looked flustered and Cassie wondered why— then it clicked. She lowered her hand until it reached Victoria’s hand.
The younger woman’s eyes fell to their hands, and looked at them open-mouthed. Cassie’s eyes never left her face, studying her reaction. Victoria’s eyes found hers again and her blush only grew stronger.
Looking back, she didn't know what possessed her into doing that, maybe it was the long day, the way the soft hallway light was illuminating Victoria's face, or maybe the big eyes that were staring at her as if she held tall the answers— either way, she couldn't deny how right it had felt.
Cassie felt it then— that pull in her chest, warm and dangerous, the same one she kept trying to ignore. It would be easy to step closer, to let herself get lost in the moment.
Vic’s breath caught, soft but noticeable in the quiet hallway. For a second, Vic’s gaze dipped to her mouth before snapping back up.
That made Cassie snap out of it and let her hand fall back to her side.
“Thank you,” she said instead, taking a step back, her voice rough with exhaustion. “For taking care of him.”
Vic smiled at that, small and a little embarrassed, like she wasn’t used to being thanked.
“Always,” she said.