Tatum's POV:

So here we are.Cassie is okay now, she's resting. The doctor said that she can be released tomorrow morning, because they want to keep her under observation for the rest of the night.

Doctor Thomas said that it's stress that caused her horrendous state.

I still don't understand. What can make a four year old so stressed out? Causing her to faint and have a psychogenic fever?As soon as she wakes up I'm going to ask her.
I need to know the what caused the problem to find a solution. This can't happen again.

The doctor advised a therapist 'Dr Jenkins. We agreed and he gave us her details and set up an appointment with her for next week Wednesday.

I really hope that it helps. I never want to see Cassie like that again, but I'm glad that she's out of the danger zone right now.

As I run my fingers through Cassie's
hair Brandon enters the hospital room.

"Come on let me take you home."Brandon says.

"Brandon."I say frustratedly.

"I already told you that I'm not leaving here without her. I'm going to stay with her."I say and kiss Cassie's forehead.

"Tatum can you stop being so stubborn for once. You can't sleep here on the hospital bed. You need to be at home.Cassie will be fine"He says trying to convince me.

"If you want to go home then go. I'm staying here with Cassie."I say firmly snapping at him.

"Tatum please. It's not about me. You're pregnant you need to be more responsible now.You can't just do things because you think it's right. You have to take care of yourself.You didn't even eat anything yet!"He says.

"Brandon, Cassie is equally important and I'm not hungry."I say and lift myself up on my elbows from where I was lying next to Cassie on the hospital bed to face Brandon.

"Cassie is important, but you are too. And she's okay now. You need to get food and some rest.I'll stay here with Cassie."He says and I shake my head.

"I want to be here when she wakes up and I_"I start but Katherine cuts me off.

"Brandon is right Tatum. You need to worry about yourself more now then ever.Pregnancy is not easy. You'll have to put yourself and baby before anything else.I'll stay here with Cassie. She's my responsibility. You and Brandon could get some rest."Katherine says.

I open my mouth to oppose, but she stops me from saying a word.

"Tatum.I know how much you care about Cassie, but I'll be here with her. Please,if you won't do it for yourself do it for your unborn child."She says and I sigh in defeat.

"Fine."I say and get up from the hospital bed.

"Katherine you sure you wanna stay. I'll stay and then you can go."Brandon offers.

"No no. It's okay I'll stay."She says and he nods.

I grab my things and Brandon and I head towards the door.

"See you tomorrow Katherine."Brandon says.

"Bye and call me if anything happens."I remind Katherine and she nods.

...

On our way home Brandon bought me food but hasn't said a word throughout the whole drive.He is awfully quiet and it's bothering me.

When we got home I took a bath and then went to bed.

"Brandon."I call out,but no answer. I sigh and make my way out of bed. I stand by the bedroom doorway and see Brandon sitting on the couch, slouched to the front with his elbows on the top of his knees and his face in his hands.

"Brandon. Come to bed."I say pulling his attention.

"I'm coming."He says still not facing me keeping his face in his palms.

I make my way to his side and sit next to him. I put my hand on his shoulder and ask:"What's wrong?"

He sighs"Nothing. Come on let's go to bed."

He stands up and so do I.
We head back to the bedroom.I really wish that he'd be more open to me. It's like he's afraid of telling me his thoughts and feelings.

I don't have the slightest bit of energy to have this conversation with him now.It can wait till tomorrow.

....

Next morning.

I'm lying awake just staring at the white ceiling. Brandon was really distant last night. He laid with his back faced towards me. We usually cuddle up in each others arms.It really bothers me. It's not like him to be so distant.

I turn on my side to look at a sleeping Brandon. I wonder what's wrong.What's bothering him?

I play with his hair as I continue to stare at him. How is it possible to look this gorgeous while sleeping?

I get up from bed and head into the bathroom. I do my daily morning routine and then head into the kitchen. Brandon is still sleeping. I know that he is stressed out because of yesterday. That was honestly the first time I've ever seen him so angry and he is not the type of person that gets easily upset.

I decide to make waffles for breakfast. Brandon loves waffles and I was going to make myself blueberry pancakes, but unfortunately we ran out of blueberries.

About an hour later Brandon come out of the bedroom.

"Hey, um Katherine called and said that Cassie's awake and wants to see us."He says.

"We can go after we eat."I say and he nods then sits with me at the kitchen table.

I hand him a plate and he starts eating. Yep something is definitely wrong. No more morning kisses?

I finish my orange juice and when Brandon was done he thanked me for breakfast. We ate in complete silence,not saying a word to each other. How awkward. The tension is so thick that a scissor could cut through it.

I put our empty dishes into the dishwasher and then we went on our way to the hospital.

...

We are almost at the hospital, but the whole way here Brandon hasn't said anything.

I decide to break this nettlesome silence.

"Brandon are you mad at me?"I ask.

"I'm not mad at you Tatum. Why would you think that?"He asks keeping his eyes focused on the road,but I'm not convinced that he's being completely honest with me.

"Well you've been really distant ever since we came home last night."

"No I haven't."He lies.

"Come on Brandon. Really? You barely said a word to me last night and this morning. Then on top of that you didn't let me sleep in your arms last night."I say.

"Well I'm not mad at you. I can never be mad at you."He says and quickly glimpsed at me then focused on the road again.

"Then what is it?"I ask.

"It's nothing."He says.

"Brandon why do I have to beg you to tell me what's wrong?"I ask frustratedly.

"Here we are."He says ignoring my question and parking the car in the hospitals parking lot.

We get out of the car and make our way to Cassie's hospital room.

We walk into the room and a smile is immediately brought to my face once I see Cassie.

"Good morning."I say greeting Katherine and Cassie.Brandon does the same.

I make my way to Cassie's bed and she screeches excitedly:"Tatum...I mean mommy."She says and I pull her into my arms embracing her. I was really worried yesterday, but she's okay now. Brandon hands the breakfast that we bought on our way here to Katherine and she thanks him.

He then comes over to Cassie's side and kisses her against her forehead.

"How are you feeling?"He asks.

"I'm fine,but the food isn't good."She says referring to the hospital food and cutely scrunches up her face.

I laugh and say:"Well I've brought you chocolates.Chocolate is the best medicine right."I say and she nods in agreement, smiling brightly. She looks way better then how she looked yesterday. Happy and healthy.

I hand her the chocolate and she starts munching on it.

I pull Katherine aside.

"Any news from the doctors?"I ask.

"No, they say that she's perfectly fine. But that we'll have to be careful when we ask her about yesterday."She says.

"Yeah. I know. We wouldn't want to trigger another episode like that again."I say and Katherine nods.

"So how are you."She asks.

"I'm... Okay I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well to be honest I'm not okay."

"Well what's wrong?"She asks curiously.

"Honestly I don't know. Since we got home last night Brandon's been awfully quiet and distant and he doesn't want to tell me why."

"Well the only way you're going to find out is by asking him. You should sit down and talk, but don't make him feel pressured."

"Okay I'll try not to,but it's just tiring.He never tells me how he feels and it's a problem I've been dealing with since the beginning of our relationship."I say.

"Well don't you think that maybe he is afraid to tell you. Maybe he's afraid of what your reaction might be."

"But I don't understand, because it's not like I'll go off on him for no reason."I say.

Before Katherine could say anything Brandon walks over to us.

I decide to go back to Cassie.

"Hey pumpkin.You ready to go home?"I ask and nods.

...

Soon after we checked her out of the hospital. We've decided that Cassie should stay with us for the time being.

We dropped Katherine off so that she could get some rest and we went back to the hotel.

Cassie is in our bedroom sleeping and once again,I sit in the deadly quiet living room with Brandon.

"Can we talk?"I ask and he nods without looking at me keeping his eyes focused on the TV.

I grab the remote and switch it off.

"Brandon I'm serious."I say unwaveringly.

"Yes Tatum."He says and finally looks at me.

"Brandon I know that you might be afraid of what my reactions might be if you were to tell me how you feel,but you have to in order for us to make this work."I start.

He scoffs:"That's just the thing."

"What is?"I ask confused.

I am taken back by his next words.
"I don't think this is gonna work."

"What do you mean?"I ask trying to stay calm.

"Forget it."

"Brandon talk to me."

"No. I don't want to stress you out over nothing."

"Well you already are, so you might as well just go on with it. Tell me what you mean. So you just suddenly think that we're not going to work. And can you please tell me why?I put all the effort in. Maybe if you just spoke up and tell me how you feel more often we wouldn't have problems like this."I say out of frustration.

"Tatum we're not having this conversation."He says steadfastly and gets up from the couch then heads to the front door.

"Wait.Where are you going?You can't just leave!"I shout and quickly jump up from my seat on the couch to stop him.

As I hurry after him I trip over something causing me yelp out and fall on the floor. With my body colliding against the floor making an 'oomf' sound.

"Tatum!"Brandon shouts and quickly hurries to my side.

I sit right up and try to stand up with Brandon's help but as I do so an agonising sharp pain stabs into my knee.Causing me to hiss out in pain and almost fall down again.

"Tatum what's wrong?"Brandon asks wide-eyed.He's worried.

"I_I can't stand on my right leg."I say and he nods then picks me up carefully making sure not to hurt me further and places me on the couch lightly.

He kneels in front of me and rolls up my tights' right leg,exposing the bruised spot.It's bleeding a little and doesn't look that bad, but it hurts like a bitch.

Brandon disappears and soon comes back with a med kit.

"Brandon I'm okay I don't need that."I say opposing, but he ignores me and starts cleaning my wound.He tries to work gently knowing that the alcohol will make it sting a bit.

I bite hard on my bottom lip,trying to keep the pain in.

"This is my fault."He says weakly.

"Brandon come on it's not. It's my fault for putting those stupid shoes there in the first place."I say.

After wrapping up my knee.He rolls the leg of the tights back down. He takes my hands and kisses it gently.

He looks up at me and asks:"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

I shake my head. He sighs and stands up then sits next to me.

"I'm sorry."He says.

I open my mouth to say something but he stops me.

"Shh,come here."He says and pulls me into his arms.

I rest my head against his chest listening to his heartbeat.

"I'm really sorry for being an asshole."He says.

"Yeah a major asshole."I say and we both chuckle a bit.

"Yeah but on a serious note. I'm really sorry. You're right I am afraid, but not of your reactions. I'm afraid that I won't be enough. I won't be good enough to take care of you. I'm afraid that I'll fail you and our baby.Tatum I love you so much,but what if that's not enough?"He explains.

"We'll work it through and your love is enough. I know that together we can make it."I say and interlace our fingers together.

He kisses my forehead and continues:"What happened to Cassie really scared me and it made me think of what's yet to come."

"I know. It made me think too, but I know that as long as I have you with me we'll be able to handle it."I say.

"You're right and I'm really sorry.You sure you don't have any other pains?"He asks again.

"Yes Brandon I'm sure. I'm afraid of something too. I don't want you to leave me. You're all I have. I don't want to lose you."I say.

"I'll never leave you Tatum."He says and that's when I realised that I'm terrified of being alone.

Samuel's POV:

"You know I still can't believe that she's with Brandon."I say.

"Yeah bro. That sucks."Joe says.

"Out of all people in the world.She's with your ex's best friend."Ash says.

We're all just chilling at my place.Earlier Reece and Bash tried to make custard and jelly,but that didn't turn out well. Reece almost burnt down my kitchen trying to make the custard and Bash didn't have any patience with the jelly,so that didn't work out either. Well at least they tried.

"So who's coming to the party tomorrow?"Reece asks.

"Basically everyone."Joe answers.

"Everyone? Like everyone from our university?"

"Yep. Everyone."Joe nods.

"I don't think that I'm going."Ash says.

"Why not?"I ask,but he doesn't answer then Bash answers for him.

"Everyone's coming so that means that Madison will be there. Am I right?"Bash asks Ash and he nods in agreement.

"I get it."I say.Madison is Ash's ex. He was madly in love with her and then she cheated on him with his own cousin. That's shitty.

"You should still come."Joe says.

"Yeah you should."Reece agrees.

"Nah. I don't feel like it."Ash disagrees.

"Hey you can't let her spoil your mood."I say and pass the bowl of cheese and onion lays chips to him.

"You should show her that you've moved on.Besides there's a lot of hot chicks in this world."Bash says.

"Fine. I'll go."Ash says.

"Why don't you invite Grace and Brandon."Joe suggests and I almost choke on my Pepsi.

After my coughing fit dies down and I can breath steadily again I answer:"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"Joe goes on.

"Why would you ask why?"

"Because they could come."Joe says.

"No I'm not inviting them."I say firmly.

"Fine then I'll invite them."Joe says and all I can do is give him a 'I don't believe you' look.

I sigh out in frustration:"Fine you invite them and see if they'll come."

"Wanna bet on it?"Joe asks smirking.

Without thinking rationally I agree.
We each bet a 100 bucks on whether they'll come or not. Which rounds up a total of 500 dollars.
Bash, Reece and I bet that they won't come, but Joe and Ash thinks otherwise.

Tatum's POV:

"Cassie I don't want you to get upset and you're a big girl right?"I ask Cassie as she lays between Brandon and I on our bed.

After the incident from earlier,Brandon and I spoke and we decided that it's time to find out more about how and why Cassie got into her previous state.

"Uh huh."She nods.

"But you shouldn't get upset again okay."

"Yes. You know that you're safe with us right?"Brandon asks and she nods.

"And nothing can hurt you when you're with us."I add and she nods.

"Okay so you need to tell us what happened yesterday.What made you so upset?"I ask.

She let's out a breath and then answers:"Old daddy."

I look share a confused look with Brandon, but then the realisation hits me. Oh god.

"Old daddy? Where did you see him Cassie?"Brandon asks with alertness.

"At the park."She says. Oh god she really saw him. It must have been terrifying for her.

Brandon wants to ask more questions, signal him not to by shaking my head. We can ask Katherine about it later.

"It's okay.He can't do anything to you. We won't let him. You're safe okay."I say and pull Cassie into my arms. Brandon moves closer and puts his arms around both of us and kisses Cassie's forehead.

"I know."She says and I give her quick small smile. Honestly I'm really worried.

Cassie's mother died giving birth to her and that left Cassie with her father. He doesn't deserve to be called a dad, he's doesn't even deserve to be called a human being.
He a psychotic maniac. He took all his deranged anger out on Cassie. She was brutally abused. She had several broken bones around her body at the age of 2. It was one of the apartment tenants that called the police because they heard loud screaming from a child. When the police got there Cassie was found in a horrific state. She was malnourished, had bruises all over her body and face. She was tied with barbed wire to a coffee table,barely breathing and he "dad" was no where to be found. He went off the grid.What he did to Cassie was horrible and unforgiving. If I could I'd kill him with my own two hands instead of sending him to jail. He doesn't deserve to live. I just don't understand why he's back and why he's here,but all that doesn't matter right now. He still needs to be punished for what he did. We need to go get Katherine and head to the police station as soon as possible,but I don't wanna scare Cassie. I just want him to suffer the way she did.

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