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Cass sits on the cot staring off into space. Her mind is fuzzy. Nothing is forming clearly. Why is she here?
Jaya moves in the corner of her eye. Cass lifts her head to get a better look at what she's doing, only to see Tenji frowning behind her. His hand is clenched in a fist loosening and tightening in a repetitive motion. Worry, concern, trying not to show it. His features light up when he notices her looking.
"Sis! You back with us?" he asks. Eager, but still worried.
Cass blinks. Where is she? "Maybe," she croaks. Her throat feels itchy, parched. She should ask if someone could get her water. "Where are we?" she asks instead.
"We're in an abandoned building. A few blocks over from Vic- where we started," Jaya says. Cass swings her head around. She's flipping through a notebook, not looking at Cass. Shoulders held tight, a frown on her lips. Worry? Frustration? Cass thinks it might be both. Jaya shouldn't be worrying over her; there's nothing to worry about.
"Right," Cass says. Some of the fog clears from her brain. She can feel the mattress under her hands, can feel the gash in the side and the mildew scent of the room. A gash in a pink dress flashes in her mind. Cass pushes it away.
"What do you remember?" Jaya asks, turning to her.
What does Cass remember? Her father in costume standing over her bed, holding out a letter. CC: Cassandra Cain. Meeting with Officer Gordon. Warning about the TUCOs. Her breath hitches. The body—a little girl—
A hand on her shoulder. "I need you to stay with us for a bit," Jaya says. Soft, gentle, soothing. "Tenji, go sit with her."
"Okay," he says. The mattress shifts with his weight, collapsing the inch left between it and the bed frame.
Tenji slings his arm around her. The weight is grounding, pulling Cass into her own body. She wrinkles her nose trying not to push him off. Being in the moment is a good thing she tries to remember, Barbara's explanation echoing in her head from the first time she found Cass like this. Falling back into the haze and loosing time won't help her solve anybody's problems.
"Hey, sis," Tenji starts tentatively, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she says. It would sound more convincing if she voice would come out right. Not hoarse like she hasn't talked in hours.
"Are you sure?" he asks. Worried still. Stupid, Cass thinks, she's not suppose to making him worry about her. She turns away, looking at her hands now folded in her lap. "Because, um, you keep going somewhere. In your head, I mean. And I don't really know how to help with that."
"It's nothing."
Tenji makes a face. He doesn't believe her but he's not calling her out yet. "You just keep like zoning out every time someone mentions Victoria, and I know I said it before, but if you want to talk, I'm hear for you."
The last part of his sentence gets lost with the ringing in her ears. Everything plunges into the distance under wave of water. The weight of his arm withdraws. All Cass can focus on is her hands. Staring at the blood staining them crimson as she stares at a pink dress under her.
"Sis?" Tenji asks sounding far off and distant. Like he's underwater. He moves her arm off her shoulders, grabbing her arm. "Cass, can you hear me?"