#pyw au

[heyitsphoenixx]

I Hope You’re Happy, All Parts

Hey, I’m writing an au to the movie promising young woman where Cassie survived and has to deal with the aftermath bc I’ve got brain rot, but I think it’s pretty good, so here’s all of it so far. I don’t have an upload schedule rn but if I update you’ll find it here. Thanks for reading, lmk if u like it and if you want to be tagged in any updates :)

AO3 Link

gif by: @mickeysjones

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

**Part 10 Soon**

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[heyitsphoenixx]

I Hope You’re Happy Pt. 7

All I’m saying is that at some point I switched from listening to running up that hill - kate bush to whispers - halsey while writing this, and I think that says a lot.

TW: brief mentions of drinking, smoking, gambling, assault. Lots of angst.

All Parts AO3

gif by: @/halimuyak

When Cassie developed a bad habit, it wasn’t something trivial like drinking or smoking or gambling. It was always something far more complicated than that, and something much harder to kick.

Since going to the movies with Ryan, Cassie had unintentionally developed a rigorous schedule. For three days a week she was working at the coffee shop, for the other three she was planning out the case with Michael, and then she had every Sunday off. She had told Michael she couldn’t keep staying up with him until three in the morning going over the plan relentlessly, so they had switched to work from 10am to 5pm. After that time, she then spent the rest of the evening with Ryan, doing what they called “second therapy,” fully knowing she still wasn’t going to any official therapist, where they talked about the case as much as she wanted, poking fun at Michael’s obsessiveness and raging about how unfair it all was. They did this until she was tired of talking about it, at which point they would talk about anything and everything, filling the restaurant, or movie theater, or sometimes the grocery store, with obnoxious laughter. Sunday was the only day she had left to herself. Well, the only day she really saw her parents, and she was happy for the limited interaction with them at the moment. 

This had been going on for two more weeks, a full month after the plea hearing, and it was now only a couple days before the trial began. Cassie could recite her testimony by heart at this point as Michael had made sure she memorized it. He had made every phone call, visited everyone who could possibly help her case. He and Jordan Green had strategized in their own time, apart from Cassie, persuading certain people who had the potential to cause problems for her to keep their mouths shut to the press and on the witness stand. He and Green had gotten the tape back from the prosecution with similar methods, as well as every piece of evidence they could get their hands on. Green was in the news for this, for coming out of retirement to take down the very man he had once put on a pedestal. His name was powerful, and to have it in the news next to her own name was definitely beneficial. They were a powerhouse behind Cassie, and she had never felt more ready to take on Al before with them on her side.

But there was one thing that just kept gnawing on her brain. It was getting increasingly difficult to persuade Gail that her suspicions about Cassie and Ryan were wrong, and Cassie could understand why. Seeing him three days a week and texting nearly nonstop between that time, Cassie wasn’t feeling very in control of herself in that area of her life. And the worst part was that she was coming dangerously close to not minding that lack of control. Her entire life, and especially now, she was so meticulous about every other detail of her life, agonizingly organized about her every move, every action, every word, every emotion, that it almost felt nice to not know exactly what was happening with him. That’s not to say that in her head and out loud to Gail she wasn’t explicitly clear that they were in no way together and would never be. She believed that too, but she was simply just also aware that the line was not as clear as it once was. She was trying to accept the idea that they were becoming friends, and it was just strange to think about having that kind of relationship with him when they had initially jumped into dating before that. She had to get used to it was all. 

“I do have to consult him, you know,” Cassie told her at work, “since he’s going to be testifying, and his testimony is going to play a big part in all of this.”

Gail gave her a look that told her not to insult her intelligence.

“Right, like the two of you haven’t gone over that with Michael already? Like he hasn’t memorized his own testimony too? I don’t even know why he’s testifying any more than I am, and I know Michael’s made him ready.”

Cassie shrugged, implying it wasn’t a big deal.

“Hey, we’re talking about the man who couldn’t tell a scalpel from a butterknife as a three year resident. Repetition might not be the worst thing for him, I’m just covering my own ass.”

Gail shook her head and looked away from her.

“I just don’t know why you think you have to pretend with me, Cassie. You can tell me anything, you can always tell me anything. I don’t know why you won’t tell me why you broke up or why you’re so resistant to your own feelings about it, but you can always tell me. After everything we’ve been through, I thought you knew that.”

She almost looked disappointed in her, and it made Cassie feel like she’d been kicked in the chest. She wanted to tell her, she desperately wanted to tell her everything, but she wanted even more to keep Gail as innocent to all of it as possible. 

“You know,” said Michael, “we should probably tell Gail about your escapades with these men. If she’s questioned about it during the cross examination and that’s the first time she’s hearing about it, it’s not going to make you look good.”

“I don’t care,” said Cassie. “I don’t want them implying that she knew about it all along if they know that she knows, and you know that’s what they’ll do. If she knows about it then they will spin it to the jury into this mythos where everyone around me knew what I was doing and it was all one big conspiracy to get to Al in the end, because there’s no way one woman could do all of that by herself. No, I don’t want her implicated in any way, and I don’t care if that hurts my image. I don’t need the jury to like me, I need them to believe with 51% of their hearts that he assaulted me, so that’s what we’re going to do. She can hate me all she wants when she finds out what I’ve done, but I can live with that if I know she’s protected in the long run.”

Michael, sharing the same instinct to protect his sister, considered her words.

“Alright, if that’s what you want.”

“It is.”

“I do know that Gail,” Cassie said, letting compassion take over her inflection, “and I promise, after this is all over I will tell you everything you want to know. But it has to do with the case, parts of it that I legally can’t share with anyone. I do want to tell you, I just can’t right now.”

Gail stood across from her, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. She blew a strand of her long, curly hair out of her face in a huff.

“Fine. But you will tell me, and I swear to god if he hurts you before then or at any point I’m gonna-”

“I’ll tell you, I promise. And I’ll kill him way before you can get to him, believe me.”

“You can try. He can run, but my legs are even longer than his,” she warned her. She grabbed her keys before planting a kiss on the back of Cassie’s head.

“Lock up for me, honey. Be safe.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Cassie as Gail walked out. 

_________________________________

The next night, Cassie was sitting up in bed as usual, trying not to think about the trial tomorrow. She rotated her scrunchie around in a circle with her fingers, running her testimony over and over again in her mind. 

I know it, I know each and every way this could go down, I have the best fucking lawyers in the state. Why the fuck am I nervous?

She thought about Gail, and Ryan, and her parents. They had all been so supportive of her, almost to a fault, and she felt incredibly lucky to have them all behind her. But she couldn’t help the feeling that starting tomorrow, the clock would start counting down how long she had left until she lost each one of them, when they found out what she’d done. 

No, they might not ever know, it might never even come up. That has nothing to do with what happened, nothing to do with him. He’s hired some country club lawyers who are used to being mediators between rich fucks and their wives, they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. They might not have any idea. They’d all be fucking fools if any of them tried coming out of the woodwork now after Green got to them. There’s no reason why it should ever come up.

Cassie looked at her phone to see that an hour had passed while she was obsessing. There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight. She got out of bed and starting getting dressed, having made her decision.

_________________________________

Cassie knocked on the door, bouncing on her heels with nerves. She listened carefully for any movement and heard nothing. She was just starting to consider leaving when the door opened, and she turned around to see Ryan. He was wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants, but she saw his apartment was well lit behind him. 

“Cassie?” he said, bewildered to see her.

“Hi,” she said sheepishly.

“It’s like, 10:30. What are you doing here? You should be in bed before tomorrow.”

“You know on a normal night I don’t sleep well, you think I suddenly can tonight?”

“Fair enough, I couldn’t either. But, why are you here?” he asked again, eyebrows furrowed, but not displeased.

There had been an unspoken rule between them since they started being friendly again that they would always meet in public spaces, so neither had visited the other’s space since before they had broken up. 

She heard something scuttling behind him and a tiny, white-haired mutt of a dog skittered into view, watching her with an excited, wagging tail. Ryan turned around to make sure he wouldn’t run out and looked back at her.

“See? I told you I wasn’t lying.”

“I guess not,” she laughed.

She assessed him before answering his question. He was confused of course, slightly guarded, but there was the smallest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

“Can I come in?”

He blinked at her a few times, assessing her in return. 

“I don’t know, Cassie...”

“I wanted to cash in my coupon for an extra movie night this week, and since neither of us can sleep tonight I figured this might work,” she said innocently. 

“I don’t remember giving any such coupon,” he said, the wry smile slowly growing.

“No, you didn’t, I just made it up. I think I deserve it.”

He was fully grinning at her now.

“I can’t argue with that,” he said, moving aside as he let her in.

She chose another comedy, something that was easy to talk over, since that was all she really wanted was just to talk to him. He sat on the opposite end of the couch from her and watched her pull out all of her nervous ticks, viciously bouncing her leg, running her thumb along all her fingers, and twirling her hair, so he made some popcorn and brought out the twizzlers for her.

“Look,” he initiated, “you don’t have to talk about it, but I know you’ve got this. Michael and Jordan are like, scary good, and so are you, so there’s really nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about,” she parroted, laughing to herself at the thought. “Yeah, it’s just the only thing I’ve ever wanted since he destroyed her, and he has everyone working to help him like he always has, and there’s every possibility of this all being in vain just because he has enough money to bribe as many people as he wants. Yeah, it’s totally in the bag,” she said, dripping with sarcasm.

He bowed his head, knowing she was right but still wanting to comfort her.

“Even if he wins, which he won’t, but even if he does, you’ll still have everyone. You’ll still have Gail and your parents, Nina’s family. You’ll have me. You won’t be alone.”

She suddenly stood up, his eyes following her.

“And why is that? Why are you supporting me?”

Her question hung in the air as she watched him try to search for the right words and came up with nothing.

“I’m serious,” she pushed, “why the fuck are you even talking to me?”

“You came over here, Cassie-”

“I blackmailed you. I threatened you with your entire career. Your role in what happened with Nina might still come out, it’s still hanging over you. How can you be so calm in all of this? How can you even look at me, much less be so fucking nice to me?” she asked, her voice nearly raised to a yell. The dog had run into another room now from her voice. He stood up, doing his best to keep his face steady.

“Hey, remember those self-destructive tendencies you mentioned? You don’t have to do this.”

“I’m just asking you a question, Ryan, don’t fucking patronize me,” she challenged, stepping towards him.

“I’m not trying to-”

“You really should be scared, since you were the one who called it. We might both end up being fucking failures by tomorrow.”

He looked her in the eye as she stared back like she was daring him, and he gave a weak chuckle under her sneer.

“Is that what this is about? Really? How many times do you want me to apologize, Cassie? Give me a number and I’ll do it,” he said, his face hardening.

“But why? I’ve been nothing but terrible to you-”

“No, you haven't,” he interrupted. “And is it not enough that I realized I was a fucking idiot, that I acted like an utter fucking piece of shit, and I want to see him taken down and to see you get what you deserve?” 

“Three days after we broke up, after I blackmailed you, I woke up in the ER to find out that you had been there the whole time. The day after I did that, you were with my fucking parents acting like you worked there. We weren’t together! You could have walked away at any fucking time, and you should have, you would have way less of a mess on your hands if you did! Then I basically tell you to go fuck yourself, and then you find me in a shitty coffee shop-”

“I didn’t find you-”

“And then, what? You’ve realized the error of your ways? Three days later? And all it took was the threat of your medical license being taken away and me almost fucking dying? How fucking convenient is that?”

“What do you want me to say, Cassie?” Both of them were in danger of waking up the whole building now.

“I don’t know, the truth? That you fucking hate me!”

The last word had barely come out of her mouth before Ryan’s mouth was on hers, his hands holding her face to him. He kissed her like he thought he might never see her again, and she was seriously considering it as she kissed him back. One hand fell to wrap around her waist just as tightly as he had when he had pulled her out from the path of the car in the street. Her arms wrapped around his neck to bring him closer and deepened the kiss, neither one catching their breath. She finally felt warm again for the first time since that day, and her skin burned in relief at his touch. The hand on her cheek moved to the back of her head as he pushed deeper, his tongue briefly finding hers before gasping at her nails running along the back of his neck. He pulled back just enough so they could both finally breathe.

“Yes,” he said, in between gasps. “It took me seeing you almost die to make me realize I never wanted to leave you again. Sue me.”

She didn’t know whether she was more furious with him, for kissing her, for being nice to her, for letting Al do what he did, or with herself for kissing him back, for needing his company, for wanting to forgive him.

She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him down to sit on the couch. He could have easily stopped her, but he didn’t. He was letting her do whatever she wanted, whatever she needed to do. 

“I fucking hate you,” she spat, towering over him.

“I know. I’m so sorry,” he pleaded genuinely, just watching her.

“What are you sorry for?” she asked as she put her knees on either side of him, straddling him. He wanted to hold her, but he knew he couldn’t yet, so he was barely keeping his hands on the couch.

“I’m sorry for standing there like an idiot and not stopping him. I’m sorry for never telling anyone. I’m sorry I let it go to the point where I was still friends with him.”

She was running her hand through his hair as he spoke and nodding in encouragement. He could barely get the words out as he was hyperaware of her touch and her thighs resting on his own. He wanted to look away from her, but he knew if he tried she wouldn’t let him.

“Good, what else?”

“I’m sorry for never taking the blame for what I did and what I didn’t do. I’m sorry I called you a fucking failure. I’m sorry I lashed out at you. I’m sorry I never told you.”

He reached up to put a hand on her waist, but she swiftly pinned him back down.

“Tell me what you want.”

He looked in her determined eyes as he was still unsure, asking for more.

“I need you to beg, Ryan.”

He shifted in his seat, swallowing hard, and she could feel him rising beneath her. She wasn’t giving him anything until he said it.

“I want you to forgive me, Cassie. I need you to forgive me. I can lose everything else, I don’t care about all of that anymore, I don’t need it. But please, I can’t live knowing that you don’t forgive me.”

“And why is that?” she demanded, not giving him any room to keep anything from her.

“Because I still love you. I’ve loved you since I first met you at Forrest and you didn’t look at me twice. I loved you when you left me to hook up with that douchebag in a fedora, I loved you when you showed me the video, I loved you when you blackmailed me, and I loved you when I thought you were dead. I was selfish, and stupid, and childish, and stubborn, and I’m a fucking idiot.”

“Say it one more time for me,” she said calmly.

“Cassie, I am so fucking sorry.”

She released his hand from her grasp as she bent down to kiss him, this time immediately opening him up with her tongue as he whined in gratitude. His hands flew to her waist and up her back as she moved into him, her hands moving everywhere from his neck, to his broad shoulders, down to his chest. She tugged at the hem of his shirt and he let her pull it off of him, feeling his skin with greedy palms, wanting to make up for lost time. He reached for the zipper at the back of her dress and pulled away enough to see her nod in response.

“I’m gonna need words, Cassie,” he breathed out.

“For fuck’s sake, yes,” she said as she helped him rip off her dress, throwing it to the floor.

He wrapped his arms around her in a vice grip, pulling her as close as possible to his chest as he kissed her neck, tasting her skin and biting occasionally as he felt low moans of pleasure escape from the back of her throat. She moved her hand down his body to palm at his crotch, his pants fighting to contain him. He paused to look at her.

“Are you sure this is what you want right now, before tomorrow? We don’t have to do this,” he assured her between gasps.

She looked back at him, initially frustrated that he kept stopping, but she searched his face and softened. He fully wanted her, there was no denying that, but she could also tell he would stop the minute she told him to. Since they had started talking again he had been offering that choice to her again and again, assuring her that he would respect her wishes no matter what, and he had. Even now, if she told him to put his shirt back on and she left without a word, he wouldn’t stop her. He said he had been in love with her since Forrest. She didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to completely process that right now, but she definitely felt it in her bones.

“Grab my purse,” she asked. 

He held her against him, never looking away from her as he reached forward to get her purse from the table and gave it to her. She put one hand gently on his cheek.

“Tell me again.”

“I’m so sorry, Cassie,” he whispered.

She kissed him again, softly this time, and she swore she could feel him melt beneath her as he knew what it meant.

“I forgive you,” she whispered back against his lips, pulling out a condom from her purse. 

They both smiled against each other’s lips, and she melted in return. She meant what she said, and she couldn’t have been happier.

_________________________________

TAGS: @mickeysjones @rhapsody-under-pressure @distinguishedfraud @ehweirdo @acedogs

[heyitsphoenixx]

I Hope You’re Happy Pt. 8

Buckle up kids, we’re in for a ride now.

TW: brief mentions of murder.

All Parts AO3

gif by: @/thenwedied

Cassie felt the warmth of sunlight flooding through the window, resting easy on her eyelids as she woke up the next morning, in Ryan’s bed. The curtains were drawn back, and she turned over to see him missing from the bed, but the smell of bacon overwhelmed her as she realized he was making breakfast. She could have happily lived in that moment of peace forever, but then she remembered what the day had in store for her, and her bubble of bliss popped as the anxiety came rushing back.

She checked the clock on the nightstand and saw she still had two hours before she had to be in court. She grudgingly threw the blankets off of her bare skin, picking her underwear up off the floor where they had been hastily removed the night before, and dug through Ryan’s closet to throw on one of his t-shirts that fell to her mid-thighs. She went to the bathroom and was about to brush her teeth with his brush, but saw her own brush that she had left there, having had no time to take it back after they broke up. Her deodorant was there, too. The corner of her mouth lifted as she stared at it. It had been more than a month, he could have thrown them out by now, but he hadn’t.

Following the heady smell of bacon, Cassie made her way to the kitchen. Ryan was mid flip when he heard her feet against the hardwood, and lost the pancake to the floor as he turned to beam at her.

“Good one, Boy Wonder,” she said.

He tilted his head before she glanced pointedly at the floor. He finally saw and sighed dejectedly at himself.

“Bruce! Come here, Brucey!” he called, and not a moment later she heard the dog’s nails sprinting across the wood, nearly falling over himself in excitement before picking up his unexpected treat and dragging it away for himself.

“That can’t be healthy for him,” said Cassie.

“He’ll live,” said Ryan, keeping his gaze on her as he abandoned the food and walked over to her. He locked his hands together behind her back as he softly kissed her. She could swear she felt her every atom buzzing in response to him. She brought her hand to his neck, trailing her thumb along his jaw. He pulled back, eyes closed for a moment before they opened halfway.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” she greeted back in a whisper, unable to control her smile.

His eyelids fluttered and his brows furrowed as he licked his lips in confusion before coming to a realization with a grin.

“You saw the bathroom, then,” he said, almost shy.

“Yeah, I did.” 

Her hand still on his jaw, she pulled him back down to kiss him again, lingering for much longer on his lips. She wanted to soak in every moment of this before having to face the rest of the day. 

“I still used your brush, though,” she said, patting his cheek.

“Oh, god,” he said, laughing as his nose scrunched in mock disgust. He went to grab a mug full of coffee, a cappuccino, in fact.

“Do I have to spit in your coffee now or something? Is that how this works?” he asked, handing her the mug. She took a sip, grateful for the needed energy it would give her.

“I think we’re well past that now, Ryan,” she said smugly.

“Oh, I see, I see,” he whispered, nodding seriously. 

He went back to the stove to re-make the final pancake that would not be given to the dog this time. Cassie jumped up on the counter next to him to watch, coffee in hand. He had his pajamas on from last night again, his non-pancake-flipping hand resting in his pocket. She was remembering the night before in flashes as she watched him, how her name was a beautiful plead coming out of his mouth, how they had held onto each other for dear life as if the other could slip from their grasp at any moment, and how her skin had burned from being able to touch him again. She was warm now just thinking about it, not only thinking about last night, but about him. He was always gentle with her, but he never treated her like a precious glass vase, the way everyone else in her life did. And in the chaos that was her life right now, she wasn’t sure she could ever express how grateful she was to him for that.

As if he could sense her thoughts, she saw his ears had turned pink, keeping his eyes on the batter. She put down her mug and took his hand out of his pocket, tracing the lines of his palm in her lap.

“You didn’t have to do this,” she said. 

He feigned offense as he flipped with his other hand.

“A woman can’t go out into the world to sue a man on an empty stomach,” he said, eyebrows raised like he had just revealed some old wisdom to her.

She shook her head with a grin, her gaze switching back and forth from his face to his hand and back again.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, lifting her hand and kissing it.

“Time for breakfast in bed. Go get cozy again, I’ll be right there.”

She did as she was told, covering her bare legs under the blankets and placing her coffee on the nightstand. She watched him come back with a tray full of food: two sky-high stacks of pancakes covered in honey and syrup, a bowl of sliced strawberries, bananas, and blueberries, and an entire plate of bacon by itself. She couldn’t help giggling at the meticulous display, shaking her head in disbelief as he set it all down on the bed.

“Oh, so you mock the Master Chef now? How dare you,” he accused as he carefully settled in next to her, legs crossed over the covers. 

“No, no, I don’t mock, I promise,” she said, trying to control her laughter. She caught how the sunlight danced in his dirty blond hair, and how it lightened his eyes up to a cool sky blue. 

“It’s perfect,” she said, and she meant it.

Cassie was halfway through her pancakes she had covered in fruit, and was making some headway with the bacon when Ryan suddenly perked up.

“So, I have a question,” he said, and she looked at him suspiciously.

“Yes?”

“Would you still say that I fuck like a teenage girl?” he asked innocently, biting off a few strips of bacon at once.

Cassie burst into laughter, nearly choking on her food before she pulled herself together.

“I don’t know,” she said, tilting her head at him. “Why don’t you ask my neck?” She threw her hair behind her shoulder to reveal multiple bite marks. “No one will notice me wearing a turtleneck in August, right?” 

His face was in a total flush now.

“Ok, fair,” he started, “but you could’ve stopped me at any time.” He pointed his fork at her accusingly before taking a sip of his own coffee.

“I could have,” she agreed.

He gazed at her for a moment, straightening his back. His eyes flicked over to the clock, then back to her.

“We still have an hour, you know,” he said.

“We do,” she said, well aware of the time, holding his gaze. 

“Are... are you-”

“I’m done.”

“Alright, me too,” he said, scrambling to collect all the dishes and throwing them in the sink.

He came back in the doorway and immediately felt the weight of her arms around his neck as she pulled him on top of her on the bed. He smiled at the sweet taste of honey on her lips.

_________________________________

Ryan parked in the lot behind the courthouse, barely making it with five minutes to spare. After their morning escapades, they had rushed to get ready together before heading over to Cassie’s house so she could throw on a turtleneck dress and grab some paperwork. She had texted her parents that she had gone out early to eat before the trial began and would meet them there, so they were already gone by that time.

He turned off the engine and looked over at her. Cassie was staring straight ahead, in statue mode, and he could hardly see her breathing at all. 

“Hey,” he said, reaching over to lace his fingers with hers.

“Take a deep breath.” 

He inhaled and exhaled in long stretches with her, relieved to finally see her  stomach expand and contract.

“Do you want me to go in before you, or-”

“No,” she interrupted, squeezing his hand tight. He smiled to himself.

“Look,” he started, “I know we’re... messy, right now, but I want you to know that...” 

She looked over at him as he searched for the right words.

“You are the strongest, most impressive person I’ve ever met, Cassie. I know you’re going to be great.”

She smiled at him and swallowed hard.

“Thank you,” she said, “for everything.”

She leaned over and kissed him for the last time before the cameras would prevent it inside, memorizing how soft his lips were mixed with the lingering taste of sickly-sweet syrup and bacon. She eventually pulled back reluctantly, and he kept his forehead pressed to hers for a moment, eyes closed.

“Ready?” he whispered, and she nodded.

Hand in hand, they went through the doors together only to be immediately startled from blinding flashes, lenses, and microphones. Ryan hung his arm protectively around her waist, daring any of them to try to get any closer than they already were. The cameras followed them into the courtroom with the sound of a thousand shutters going off as they entered, even trying to get in front of them for pictures before he waved them off to the side. He felt her take a deep breath again as she saw Michael and Jordan had already taken their places at the counsel table. He gave her a reassuring squeeze on her hip and leaned down so only she could hear him.

“Knock ‘em dead,” he said, and took his place beside her parents in the gallery.

_________________________________

Cassie caught Gail sitting on the other side of her parents, her eyebrows raised at Cassie to see her walking in with Ryan. She gave Gail an expression that she hoped read as I don’t fucking know, it just happened, and made her way over to Michael, who only had a single brow raised at her while Jordan was looking over papers and evidence for a final time.

As she took her seat, she felt like she was still wading through syrup, time seeming to move all at once and simultaneously not at all. The journalists were moving in slow motion to her, their flashes going off as if she were watching a video of them slowed down to half speed. Michael leaned over to her.

“You alright?” he asked, close to her ear and hand on her shoulder. She moved her head in his direction, not really looking at him but vaguely aware he was there. 

She was there. She was suing Al Monroe. He was already going to prison because of what he did to Nina, because she made sure to give that video to Jordan Green. She had nothing to lose. It was time for the show to begin.

Cassie straightened her spine, rolled her shoulders back, and folded her manicured hands on top of the table. She was wearing light pink flats to match the color of her dress, knowing that she couldn’t wear heels from this point out in front of the jury and the press. Only bitches wore heels.

“I’m more than alright,” she whispered back. “I’m a ray of fucking sunshine.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” said Jordan, leaning over Michael’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, this’ll be the fastest trial you’ve ever seen,” he said.

At that moment, Al Monroe, his lawyers, and six policemen surrounding them entered the courtroom. They too were moving in slow motion to Cassie, and she relished every moment as he caught her eye. He was back in the orange jumpsuit, hands cuffed in front of him, looking dead tired as he gave her a look that would kill anyone else. She lifted her chin and smirked.

“God, I hope not,” she said.

He and his party took their seats at the defense’s table. Cassie kept her stare fixed straight ahead, her smirk never leaving her as she heard the hushed whispers of his attorneys counseling him. 

“The judge is going to ask for both of your stories today,” said Michael, his hand on the back of her chair. “All you have to do is give your testimony, tell your story, like we practiced. Do you want to go over it one more time?”

She finally looked him in the eye.

“I’ve had these words stuck in my throat for the last five years, Michael. I’ve got this.”

She heard Jordan chuckle. 

“I knew I liked you,” he said.

The door to the judge’s chambers opened and Judge Turner walked up to his podium as everyone was asked to stand. In a line, Gail, Cassie’s parents, and Ryan were ushered into the chambers, as they were witnesses and couldn’t hear her testimony before they spoke. They all smiled at her as they passed in encouragement. Her heart sagged slightly watching them go, but she took comfort in knowing they wouldn’t hear what was about to happen. All but one reporter was allowed to stay as the rest of the throng were corralled out of the room, and she could already breathe easier.

Judge Turner motioned for them all to be seated again, and Jordan scribbled something down on a scrap of paper, passing it to Cassie.

Tone it down. You’re a helpless victim, don’t look too happy. You’re on camera.

Cassie saw his pointed look. She had been watching the news like everyone else for the past month. Every station had painted her as a revenge-driven killer who hated men and wanted to kill Al for simply having some messy sex with her best friend, possible lover, and for moving on to live a generous life. There had been a couple of female reporters here and there who had begun to voice their opinion that this case may not be as cut and dry as that image would have you believe, but they were quickly cut off by both men and women who were determined to make sure the national consensus around what Cassie was and what Al was was crystal clear; she was the villain and he was the hero. 

Let them, Cassie thought. They don’t need to like me. They just need to believe me. 

Cassie looked over at the reporter who quickly raised her camera. She smiled and winked.

Let the show begin.

_________________________________

TAGS: @mickeysjones @rhapsody-under-pressure @distinguishedfraud @ehweirdo @acedogs

[heyitsphoenixx]

I Hope You’re Happy Pt. 6

I don’t like Ryan any more than Cassie does, that’s all I’m saying.

TW: brief mentions of rape, manslaughter, assault

All Parts AO3

gif by: @mickeysjones

“He’s gotta be fucking kidding,” said Gail.

‘Oh no, he’s dead fucking serious,” said Cassie. 

“A fucking plea bargain?”

“We knew this might happen, it was always a possibility,” said Michael.

It had been a week after the initial hearing and the three of them were now watching Al’s sentencing on Gail’s TV in her apartment. Cassie sat back on the couch with her arms crossed, Michael sat on a chair beside her with his elbows on his knees, and Gail stood opposite him, fuming like her favorite football team had lost miserably. 

“We expected this would happen, or at least I did, that’s why I hired you,” Cassie said to Michael. 

“Oh, I had no doubt his lawyers were ready to make a deal with the prosecution since I saw them last week looking already bored as shit, believe me. He just wanted to make a point, and to get his point on television. His attorneys told him he could do that, and get less time in prison if he just switched his plea and paid up. As far as he’s concerned this is a job well done,” he said with a grim laugh. “And that’s why I accepted you as my client, I pretty much figured this would happen. There’s no way any justice was going to come out of that room with all that money and posturing saturating the air. Instead of the possibility of a life sentence staring him in the face he’s dwindled that down to a cool eight years now.”

“Yeah, good for him. It’s not every day you get to pay off your second charge of rape in your life and your first charge of attempted manslaughter. I hope his mommy puts his reduced sentencing on the fridge for him while he’s gone,” Cassie deadpanned. 

“I can’t believe he can just change his mind, and all his problems just go away!” Gail cried, pacing in little circles, hands on her hips, not knowing what to do with herself. 

“This was his plan from the very beginning,” said Michael, “But Cassie, now’s our chance. When Green texted us last week you know he wasn’t talking about preparations for a criminal case, he was talking about starting your civil case. It may not be the life sentence that he deserves, but he’s gonna rot in prison for eight whole years, and on top of that you can get justice for yourself out of him. When you win, yes, you’ll get some money out of him, as you should, but I know it’s not about that for you. We’ll get him for assault and battery so when he’s behind bars he can stew in there knowing that he didn’t get away with it. The world will know that he didn’t get away with it, because those cameras aren't going anywhere if we sue him now. It won’t be easy, but I know we can nail him for this.” He spoke with conviction, and it made Cassie suspicious. 

“You don’t have to sell me on it Michael, I already hired you. Why are you doing this anyway? I know you’re not just doing this because your sister asked you for a favor, this is too big of a risk for you now. Why would a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases lower themselves down for a civil case?” She questioned him with an eyebrow raised, wanting to be sure of his motivations. He licked his lips and she saw his jaw clench.

“I was still a student at Stanford when Gail called me and told me all about the first case with him and Nina, and how torn up you all were from it. It didn’t even get the dignity of a plea hearing last time before it was completely dismissed. It made me want to scream when she told me how the newspaper headlines fawned over him, how they preferred to praise his GPA rather than admit their star student was a monster. And then when she told me Nina had passed... I don’t know. It’s not like people like him don’t get away with this exact thing every day in court, but I think that’s just it. I see it happen every day. I know you’re exhausted seeing it, more than most, but I’m really fucking tired of it too. I just want to bring one of them down myself. I want one of these bastards to know that at the end of the day, it isn’t the entire world conspiring to help him. Most of it, probably, but not all. I want him awake at night knowing that what he did won’t be seamlessly forgotten by throwing money at the problem. He should know in at least some small capacity, that he is wrong, and he is hated.”

Cassie had kept her arms crossed, but as he spoke her face had softened from suspicion into surprise at his passion. His knuckles were white as his hands were locked together, elbows still on knees, and he stared ahead like he was watching something only he could see play out in front of him. Cassie looked over to Gail with a question in her eyes. 

“His girlfriend in college...” Gail trailed off when Michael gave her a sharp look. Cassie understood and reached over to put a hand on his arm.

“Hey,” she said and he turned to look at her.

“I told them we’ll give him a war, right? So that’s what we’re gonna fucking do,” she said with a wry smile. 

He seemed to shake himself out of the scene that had preoccupied him.

“Alright then, let’s start strategizing.”

_________________________________

Every other day for two weeks, Cassie and Michael were coming up with their case against Al. They poured over medical documents from the ER, her fingerprints on the scalpels and the alcohol, his fingerprints on her clothes, the pillow, the sheets, the handcuffs, and anything else they could find. Almost every time they met up they went far into the night and early morning reviewing each piece of evidence, assessing who’s testimonies would cause the most trouble, who they could guarantee would be on their side, and how to best persuade the jury. Because this was a civil case now, there was a lower “civil burden of proof,” so she only had to prove to the jury that there was a greater than 50% chance that he assaulted her, but they knew this still wasn’t going to be that easy. There was no doubt that his attorneys were going to do their best to pack the court with people he knew who liked him or people he didn’t know but were perfectly willing to take a bribe to gain his favor. That’s where Green would come in to help them play as dirty as they needed him to. 

On her off days, she was back to working at the coffee shop with Gail, who insisted she told her everything about what they were planning. Cassie told her as much as she was legally able to, and she was grateful it wasn’t much because she was desperate to keep Gail away from the details. She knew she should tell her about all of her outings in the past that could come up in the case, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Gail’s face if she told her. 

And they might not even come up, Cassie thought, they have nothing to do with what happened that night anyway. There’s no reason they should come up, so there’s no reason to tell her if it’s not even going to be a problem. 

Cassie was wiping down a table in the nearly empty shop when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

Hey, I know we haven’t talked since the courthouse but I saw him switch sides for the plea bargain, wanted to check you're ok

She rolled her eyes at the screen but couldn’t help the smile that crept on her face. 

Wow Ryan, I’m truly overwhelmed with emotion from the urgency with which you texted two weeks after the sentencing to check in on me, I’m falling to the ground, hand on forehead as we speak

She went back to cleaning tables but at a slower pace than before to give him time, bothering to wipe down the chairs for the first time in probably forever. It buzzed again.

I’ll meet you at the er again if you have a concussion. Heard you’re suing him anyway and figured you were busy. I’m happy if anyone is gonna stick up to him in his whole life that it’s you

“I’m sorry, am I paying you to text ex-boyfriends?” Gail accused.

Cassie turned to her, phone in hand, with a poor excuse for a shocked expression on her face.

“And how could you possibly assume that it’s him?”

“In all these years you’ve worked here I’ve never once seen you clean these tables that thoroughly, much less the chairs. And he’s the only person I know who’s been able to put that stupid grin on your face. If I didn’t know better I might say he’s not even an ex,” said Gail, eyebrows raised in judgement. 

“Well you should know better, because he is. Just because someone texts you once every two weeks doesn’t mean you’re dating them Gail, I hate to break it to you,” she chided.

“Yet you still haven’t told me why exactly you broke up with him in the first place.”

“You were right, he was killing children,” Cassie avoided. Gail rolled her eyes but smiled like she knew something Cassie didn’t. 

“Fine then, don’t tell me. But you can’t hide that look on your face from me,” said Gail smugly before she turned to do inventory in the back.

If you’re free later or feel like escaping from paperwork for a couple of hours would you wanna catch a movie?

Cassie blinked, mildly surprised at the question, but another text came through quickly before she could respond.

As friends of course

And then another;

Frenemies even, if that’s better

She bit down the grin threatening to appear again as she considered. He was a distraction, yes, but she was exhausted from all of the planning and preparation with Michael, working every day between that time, and then coming home to her parents who looked at her like she might collapse in their arms any second. Ryan was anything but safe territory for her, but he was outside of it all, and she needed to be around someone who wasn’t fully wrapped up in this. She needed some kind of distraction, and he wasn’t asking to be anything more.

“Hey,” she called to Gail, “is it alright if I head out early? Michael wants to revise my testimony again and he’s being obsessive about it, wants me to meet him.”

“Mhmm, sure Cassie. Send Ryan my love.”

Cassie shook her head and returned to her phone to reply.

Frenemies works for me

_________________________________

Cassie drove into the parking lot of the movie theater to see Ryan already waiting for her, leaning against his car. She parked a few feet away and took a deep breath as he made his way towards her. 

Just a distraction. Nothing more. You don’t even like him.

He opened her door for her and she stepped out, giving him side-eye.

“Do frenemies open doors for each other?” she asked, tilting her head at him like she was really wondering.

“I think so,” he said, “but only half the time, for half of the word, you know.”

She chuckled, keeping her eyes to the ground as he closed the door.

“First dumb joke of the night, check,” he said, pumping his fist in victory.

They made their way through the theater to grab their tickets and to Cassie’s surprise they walked right by the long line to get any food, which she found unusual since they always grabbed something in the past. She was notorious for finishing a whole bag of twizzlers after every movie.

“Are you cheaping out on me Cooper?” she accused, motioning towards the food counter. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the line winding around long enough to reach the bathroom, and slowly turned to her again, shaking his head and making noises of disapproval with his tongue.

“I am deeply offended that you would think I wouldn’t come here fully loaded,” he said, opening his jacket up to reveal inside pockets filled to the brim with candies of every variety she could think of. He held open one side and discretely pulled out a pack of twizzlers, handing them to her as they picked up their pace to not be seen.

She was grateful he had chosen a comedy, seeming to understand that that’s what she probably needed most right now, to not think about the case, or Al, or Nina, or any of it, and just laugh. He was careful to keep his long legs close together to prevent accidentally touching hers, even when he was bent over himself laughing. Occasionally he’d whisper some comment about how if she looked closely she could see the green screen falling behind the actors, or how he could swear he heard the same line come out of a petulant patient of his’ mouth last week, or how that CGI monster was definitely just a rip off of a specific Pokémon. She’d come back with how the woman on screen would never wear a miniskirt in the middle of a jungle, or questioned why the desert looked green at night, or pointed out the visible prosthetic on the main muscled character’s chest to give him fake abs. The two of them were shushed multiple times throughout the entire movie by the people around them as they riled each other up, which just sent them into an even bigger giggling fit like misbehaving toddlers. 

“No, you’re right, there’s no way she would end up with him,” Ryan agreed with her as they were leaving the theater, the sun setting behind them. “He’s too much of an idiot for her and she’d never be fawning over him that much. I know the amount of mosquito bites he must have from being shirtless that long in the jungle would be enough to put me off.” 

“Right? And how was her hair and makeup always kept so flawless? There’s no way she wouldn’t resemble Cousin It after all that humidity-”

“Watch out!” Ryan yelled at her. Cassie hadn’t realized she’d been walking into the street as she spoke and she froze as she saw headlights barreling towards her at full speed. 

She felt his hand grab her wrist at the last moment, pulling her into him with his other arm wrapped tightly around her waist. She held her breath as she watched the car pass them by. Her ear pressed against his chest, Cassie heard Ryan’s heart beating a million miles an hour and realized with a sinking feeling that the arm that wasn’t held by him was wrapped around his back, clutching his jacket.

Ryan realized what he’d done and quickly stepped away, releasing her arm and waist like he’d been burned, and she felt her skin freeze over where his embrace had been. 

“Fuck, sorry, I didn't mean to-I just...” 

Cassie wanted nothing more than to run at full speed, away from him, away from herself. She wanted to cut off the skin he had touched that had left her with frostbite, and she wanted to tie his hands around her so he couldn’t make her feel that empty again. She hated him and she hated her body for being so out of control. Eventually she looked up at him and saw his face, his utterly panicked face, and she caved.

“No, it’s... it’s okay. I’m okay. Thank you,” she said, finally letting out a breath, and managed to put on a weak smile for him. His eyes were still searching for any sign that she wanted him to leave and never see her again. She gave no such sign, but twirled around in a little circle. 

“See? I’m fine. I bounce back quickly.” She smiled in earnest now, and so did he.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, his hands shoved into his pockets. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to-”

“Don’t mention it.” She shook her head, dismissing his apology. He bit his lip, considering her.

“I swear, it’s like you miss the ER or something, you didn’t even look,” he teased, and she gave a small laugh.

“It’s my self-destructive tendencies acting up again. I should pencil in some therapy somehow between watching hilariously awful movies and plotting to destroy a man in court,” she said, half-joking, and she saw Ryan’s shoulders finally drop in relief at her light tone.

“Yeah, you really should. I’m normally impressed by you but that was quite the faux pas, I think my opinion of you has lowered at least twenty percent.”

She smiled as they reached her car and the sky was golden behind him. She was breathless again, but for a different reason she couldn’t bear to think about.

“Here, for your troubles,” he said, and pulled out a pack of skittles, her second favorite. “Tell your self-destructive tendencies not to eat them while you’re driving.”

She took the candy from him with a grin that was far beyond her control now.

“I’ll let them know, but I can’t promise they’ll listen,” she warned. His eyes were half-lidded over and she could swear the tips of his ears were pink.

“Just be careful, Cassie.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“Goodnight,” he said, quickly walking back to his car before she could answer, thankfully.

She got in her car, slamming the door and throwing the bag of skittles behind her in the backseat. She slammed her hands against the wheel before holding onto it in a death grip and letting out a scream. Why was she doing this to herself? I only feel worse after being around him, she thought, but it was a lie and she knew it. She reached to retrieve the skittles, ripping them open as she made her way out of the parking lot, her wrist still frozen.

_________________________________

TAGS: @mickeysjones @rhapsody-under-pressure @distinguishedfraud @ehweirdo @acedogs

[heyitsphoenixx]

I Hope You’re Happy Pt. 9

This is the result of my computer crashing at 4am in the middle of writing and then writing everything down by hand from memory in twenty minutes so it didn’t all escape from my head. I hope you enjoy :)

TW: descriptions of assault, mentions of rape, drugs, non-con drugging

All Parts AO3

gif by: @/mermaides

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

“I do.”

Cassie took her seat at the witness stand and waited for Michael to set her up as she stared down at her folded hands.

On her way to the stand, she had casually taken note of the jury. Michael and Jordan had done their best, half of them looking normal to semi-normal, with as many women as they could get. The other half was loaded, as expected, with men who all looked like they were grown in the same pastel-painted suburb and then shipped off to Forrest, some of them Cassie recognized. Four women, eight men. She knew only one of those men was on her side as well as the women. She needed to turn two of Al’s guys over to her side. Easier said than done.

Michael made his way over to the jury first.

“Good morning everyone, I hope you all slept well,” he said with a warm smile. 

“My name is Michael Wallace, and that’s Jordan Green over there. Over the course of this trial we’re going to share with you the details of how our client, Ms. Cassandra Thomas, was assaulted by the defendant, Mr. Alexander Monroe. The defense will try to have you believe otherwise, and they will hem and haw away at you for as long as they like to try to convince you of their opinion, but Mr. Green and I are going to do our best to make this very simple, by sharing with you the un-doctored truth; my client was assaulted by Mr. Monroe. That is the entire truth of it, and that is the only thing I ask you to keep in mind. Whatever irrelevancies are brought up to the surface will be raised in order to distract you from that fact, but I ask you to keep your logic at the forefront and to not be swayed by your feelings. It’s a very beautiful, human thing, to feel. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you all to be more than that, to be better than that. I’m going to ask you not to give in to the dog and pony show, because there will be plenty for you to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at during this trial. But the fanfare of a spectacle does not make it more worthy of your attention. It makes it pretty to look at, and to distract you from the real thing. You can smell a dead rat in the room when it’s been lying there for days, even if someone sprays some febreeze on it.” There were a few smiles and quiet chuckles from the jury.

“That’s all I’m asking you to do. Smell the rat in the room. I know the febreeze is tempting, it’s a much more pleasant smell. But it won’t get rid of the problem, and the rat will just keep rotting away.”

He had their rapt attention now. Even some of the men on Al’s side had cracked a smile or two, an eyebrow raised here and there. 

“Mr. Green and I are only here to clarify things for you, but my client will tell you what happened to her. She’s the one who was assaulted. Listen to her before either of us first.” 

Michael turned and made his way over to Cassie, hands laced in front of him.

“Good morning, Ms. Thomas.”

“Good morning, Michael,” said Cassie pleasantly.

“Is it true, for the record, that you were assaulted on Saturday, July 22nd, 2019?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“And was it a man who assaulted you?”

“Yes.”

“Is the man who assaulted you here today?” “Yes, he is.” “Can you describe him for the record?” “The man in the orange jumpsuit with the handcuffs on,” she deadpanned. Some of the womens’ lips quickly flashed a smirk, while some of the men crossed their arms and tightened their jaws.

“Would you mind telling the jury what happened to you that night?”

“Not at all.” 

Cassie shifted in her seat to face the jury and took a deep breath, mentally checking to make sure her facial muscles weren’t revealing any emotions she didn’t want to portray. These were the words she knew by heart, now she just had to perform them. There would be no convincing most of these men that she was anything but a she-devil, she wasn’t so deluded to think she could turn them. But she needed two of them on her side, and between herself, Michael, and Jordan, they had all concluded that if they couldn’t get them with facts, they’d get them with guilt. Michael had put the tee in the ground, now Cassie was going to line up the shot.

“For roughly two and a half minutes, Mr. Monroe attempted to suffocate me on a bed with a pillow over my face, and with the weight of his two-hundred and forty pound body pressed onto my chest with his knee. For nearly one of those minutes, I couldn’t breathe as I tried to get him off of me, move the pillow, adjust my ribcage under his leg, do anything at all. I attempted to grab him and kick him off, but he was much stronger than me. With one hand, he pressed so hard into me that I was sure I was going to die. At that point I panicked, and struggled harder for my life, until somehow I managed to turn my head so he was pressing the pillow into my right cheek. It was still extremely difficult to breathe with the amount of force he had over me, but I could manage. As oxygen finally got to my brain again, I could hear what he had been screaming the entire time. ‘Stop moving, just stop moving. Just stop fucking moving.’ I realized he wasn’t going to stop until I did, so I did as he asked. I played dead for him. After two and a half minutes, he stopped.”

“Now,” Michael started, “I know two and a half minutes doesn’t sound like long at all, so I’d like to take a moment to clarify the amount of time for the jury with a moment of silence.” “Objection,” said one of Al’s lawyers, this one looking like he had visited the tanning salon the day before. “I think we all know how long two minutes is, Your Honor. This seems less like a necessity and more like an opportunity to belittle the jury.”

“Oh, but you’ve just proven my point, Mr. Eakard,” said Michael, “It was two and a half minutes, give or take. Roughly two minutes and thirty seconds. I’m merely asking to clarify for the jury just how long Mr. Monroe was supposedly attempting to suffocate Ms. Thomas.” “And what, did Ms. Thomas have the presence of mind to count how long she was purportedly being suffocated?”

“Order,” said Judge Turner, waving his gavel. “You will have your opportunity to question the witness during your cross examination, Mr. Eakard. For the purposes of clarifying for the jury, I will overrule the objection.” “Thank you, Your Honor,” said Michael. 

He took out his phone and set a timer, placing it face up on the jury box so they could all see. He stepped back to stand against the counsel table with his hands clasped in front of him and his head lowered, and Jordan rose from his seat to do the same. Al’s lawyers remained in their seats. The air in the room had immediately become dry, and silent enough to hear a pin drop on the carpeted floor.

Cassie’s head was lowered as well as she glanced around the room beneath her eyelashes. She saw Al’s face contorted in a mix of fear and fury, his nostrils flaring and his arms crossed. Cassie looked over to the jury. Multiple shoulders were raised up to their ears, the women taking it better than the men. Many of their eyes were closed, as if they could make the time go by faster if they weren’t able to look at the timer. This had been Michael’s idea.

Finally, the alarm went off and Michael put his phone away as everyone let out a collective breath. Everyone but Cassie. Cassie’s breathing had remained steady for the entire duration. 

“Thank you everyone, thank you, Your Honor,” said Michael, stepping forward again to Cassie. “What happened after he stopped, Ms. Thomas?”

She raised her head to him again and straightened her spine.

“He hung over me for a moment, panting, trying to catch his breath. Making sure I was really dead. I held what little breath I had. When he was satisfied that I had become a corpse, he climbed off of me, being careful not to touch me as he laid down on the bed beside me. After a few seconds, he started to cry. The pillow he had left over my face was covering most of my vision, but I could hear the muffled sound of him weeping. It was loud enough that I could take a few shallow breaths without him noticing. After a few seconds of that, he slid down to sit on the floor with his back against the bed, and cried some more.”

“And what happened next?” said Michael. Cassie adjusted her face to look ashamed. She lined up the shot. 

“I... I injected him with an anesthetic,” she said, her head bowed.

She heard the jury collectively bristle in their seats.

“Where did you get this anesthetic, Ms. Thomas?” said Michael after giving them a moment to collect themselves.

“I had taken it from my own reserves from my time as a medical student at Forrest University,” she lied.

“So then, why were you in a hospital the day before that night?”

“My boyfriend at the time, Ryan Cooper, he’s a pediatrician. I was visiting him while he was working.”

“Why were you visiting him?”

“Because I had been given a phone that day with a video on it. It was a video taken five years ago that showed Al Monroe raping my best friend, Nina Fisher, at a frat party at Forrest University, and it also showed that Ryan was in the room that night. I visited him in the hospital to confront him with the video and break up with him.” “Objection,” said one of Al’s lawyers, this one bleach-blond, as he stood up. “This is irrelevant information to this case, Your Honor,” he said dismissively.

“Your Honor, I assure you this is important background information that would prevent the jury from being able to assess the verdict of this case in good conscious without it,” said Michael. “I also wish to remind the jury that the defendant did plead guilty to the second degree rape you charged him with, the same crime that my client is describing. So I dare say she isn’t exactly speaking out of turn, but rather bringing up an event that held at the time, and still holds, an extreme amount of emotional trauma that she can’t help just happened to take up a large portion of her life.”

Judge Turner considered him with a raised eyebrow.

“Overruled,” he said, “but stay on track, Mr. Wallace.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” said Michael, turning back to Cassie.

“Can you tell me what happened next after you broke up with Ryan?”

“I knew he was friends with Al on Facebook, so I told him to give me the address to the bachelor party Al was having the next night, or else I would send the video to everyone we knew.”

“And did he give you the address?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you want to go to the bachelor party in the first place?”

“Because... I...” Cassie trailed off, counting the beats in between her words. She wobbled her chin and took a shaky breath.

“Yes, Ms. Thomas?” said Michael, on cue.

“I just wanted to scare him a little,” she said, smiling through stuttered breathing, as if she could barely get the words out. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Al shake his head in his seat.

“Seeing that video... I’d never seen it before. I obviously knew what happened, I’d been friends with Nina since we were children... but I had never seen it. I don’t know, it just... brought everything back, all at once. I couldn’t handle seeing him do that to her. And I guess I just wanted him to feel even a fraction of the fear she must have felt that night.” 

There were tears falling down her face as she spoke, but Cassie couldn’t tell exactly if she was controlling them or not.

“Objection,” Al’s lawyer pressed again, visibly upset this time. “The video in question was already discussed during my client’s criminal trial, there’s no need for this.”

“And that is precisely why,” said Jordan, rising from his seat, “we are compelled to use the video and any mentions of it as collateral estoppel, Your Honor. We bring this up under the basis that if a man is willing to go so far as to rape a woman, as he has already plead guilty to, it isn’t then a wild claim to say he assaulted another, possibly intending to kill her.”

The whole room waited with baited breath. Collateral estoppel was a complex doctrine, and one that not every judge adhered to. Essentially, it would allow the verdict and findings of a past criminal case to be used as evidence now without having to prove anything for a second time in the civil case. Every judge used their own discernment to determine if this was a valid move or not, some outright denying it altogether if they felt that the defendant didn’t get a full chance to defend themselves in court. But this was the judge who watched the tape with his own eyes. 

Judge Turner removed his thick framed glasses and sighed, pinching his nose between his fingers. Every eye in the room was on him.

“Overruled,” he said finally. Al’s lawyer sat back down, whispering sweet nothings to Al to try to calm him down. Michael turned to Jordan and allowed himself to barely smile as Jordan nodded at him to continue, taking his seat again. 

“Thank you, Your Honor,” said Michael. turning back to Cassie. “Please continue, Ms. Thomas.”

She quickly wiped the tears from her face and nodded. 

“I... I wanted to scare him. I wanted to make him feel just as powerless as he made Nina feel that night, as powerless as I felt when I had to drop out with her to take care of her. So, I got the address. I showed up to the bachelor party, pretending to be a stripper, and was happily invited in by the dozen or so men inside. Eventually, Al and I went upstairs away from all of them. I told him that for my own safety I had to restrain him, and he obliged.”

Jordan passed a bag over to Michael, which he showed first to Cassie and then to the jury. 

“Are these the restraints you’re referring to?” he asked, holding up the pink, fluffy handcuffs.

“Yes,” said Cassie.

“And what happened next?”

Cassie had to be careful here. The anesthetic she had used on Al and the rest of the men, propofol, was a heavy one, and it altered your memory. Given a normal dosage, one has no chance of remembering anything afterwards until they wake up, and they will often forget a significant amount of time before the dosage is given as well. But Cassie had used a smaller dose on him for the convenience of being able to keep it on her person, and also to make sure he wouldn’t die if left unattended. She had to choose her words carefully so as not to spark any incriminating memories out of him that he may have forgotten. She remembered her script. 

“He had told me he didn’t want me to do anything just yet, so I sat on a chair next to the bed, and we talked. We talked about the upcoming wedding, what he wanted from me, and then we somehow got onto the topic of Nina.”

“Your friend who had been raped by Mr. Monroe?” asked Michael.

“Yes. And I’ll admit, the subject got me a little upset. I had been holding in everything I had been dying to say to him for the last five years, and I wanted to get it off my chest. So, I talked to him about what he did to her, about how he made her feel, how he made me feel. That’s when he recognized me. We had been classmates together. He was in denial the entire time, saying the equivalent of ‘oh, she was drunk’, and ‘she was into it.’ Then I sat down on the bed beside him. I think my close proximity to him was what really did it, because he broke one of his hands free from the restraints and within seconds had grabbed me by my throat and threw me down onto the bed. By the time I realized what was happening, he had already pinned me beneath his knee and was pushing a pillow over my face.” 

Michael was nodding along with her words, his brows furrowed in a grave expression.

“One last question, please,” he said solemnly.

“Do you think seeing Mr. Monroe and his friends on social media celebrating the wedding, seeing a video of the same man raping your childhood best friend, and seeing the man you loved on that video, was enough pain and grief to drive you, to drive anyone, to act out as you did?”

“Yes, and I would take it all back in a heartbeat,” she lied again.

“No further questions, Your Honor.” 

As Michael returned to his seat, Cassie caught the jury’s reactions. They were all in different levels of shock, shocked by her, by the mess of it all, but most evidently, by Al. One particularly stricken suburbian’s stare was directed unblinkingly at Al, as if he was looking at a ghost. 

Hole in one.  

_________________________________

TAGS: @mickeysjones @rhapsody-under-pressure @distinguishedfraud @ehweirdo @acedogs @moolahassface

[heyitsphoenixx]

If y’all want me to upload I Hope You’re Happy to AO3, like or rb or reply or message me or whatever. If there’s enough of u then I’ll be happy to :)

[heyitsphoenixx]

For everyone who wanted I Hope You’re Happy up on AO3, Merry Crimmis :)

[heyitsphoenixx]

not me talking to myself out loud for an hour until 4am to work out the entire plot ahead for I Hope You’re Happy and having that actually work omg

[heyitsphoenixx]

I Hope You’re Happy Pt. 2

Because my brain only works at ungodly hours of the night apparently. Part 2 to a pyw au.

TW: brief mentions of rape, murder, self harm, suffocation. SFW, just angst mainly.

All Parts AO3

gif by: @/kyloren

“…I’mma have the last laugh… cause the second you forget me is the second that I come right back…”

The radio played while Cassie drove down her familiar neighborhood streets, windows rolled down and hair dancing in the wind. When she left the hospital she had taken some time to briefly wipe the days old makeup off and bandage her bleeding arm with some spare wrappings she kept in the glove compartment. She'd had more than her fair share of bold men in her past outings to have the sense to carry first aid in her car, though it was rare that they ever made it into her car.

She was wearing a grey hoodie, thick sunglasses, plain trousers and plain sneakers, completely unlike her usual wardrobe. Again, thanks to experience, she was always prepared with multiple wardrobe changes in her trunk. And she was especially grateful for that when she was mobbed by cameras and microphones as she left the hospital, each one shouting a different inquiry as to how she possibly escaped, if she cared to comment on Al Monroe's charges, and what would Nina say if she could see her suffering wasn't for nothing?

She'd tell every one of you to go fuck yourselves on wooden spikes, that's what she'd say.

Cassie's phone was on the verge of sounding like one never-ending note with the amount of messages and voicemails it was getting at once. She knew Gail was in there somewhere, and she fully intended on getting back to her later, but right now she had to visit someone else first.

She would recognize the sweet smell of those specific rose bushes at the end of the world. As she pulled up to the Fishers' driveway, Cassie could barely contain her excitement. She was still reeling from seeing the footage of him in handcuffs, and though he wasn't in prison yet he might as well have been from how giddy she felt. She had to share this feeling with the one other person in the world who could know how she felt.

She sprinted towards the front door, feet barely hitting the concrete as if she was running on air, and Cassie could swear she heard Nina's laughter right alongside her. She planted her feet in front of the door, shook her shoulders to try and contain herself, and rang the doorbell. Her hands formed fists and then sprang outwards again and again, willing the energy out of her.

Finally, the door opened and Cassie threw herself on Nina's mother in pure joy.

"I can't believe it, I actually can't believe it! After all this time, after all his parading around and coasting by his entire life and being celebrated for it at every turn, and no one giving a damn about her, no one ever saying her name, he's finally fucking caught. I finally got him!"

Cassie at last released her arms from Mrs. Fisher's neck long enough to see her face, and it was not at all what she was expecting.

Her lower lip was shaking, her face was heavily tear-stained, and she was shaking her head at Cassie. Cassie felt her stomach drop down to the depths of the earth at the sight.

"Do you have... any idea, what you've done?"

Cassie's mouth hung open in shock.

"I-I..."

"No, of course you don't. Because you could never do the one thing I've ever asked of you. You could never let it go. Not for her, not for me, and certainly not for yourself. And now look where we are. Really, go look."

She motioned behind her to the TV in her living room. Cassie warily stepped into the house and sat down on the plastic-covered couch to watch. Across the screen flashed the ten second clip they'd been showing all day of the police putting handcuffs on him at his own wedding. For about two of those seconds she could see in the back the grainy outline of Ryan Cooper on his phone, towering over everyone and looking absolutely terrified. She stifled a grin at that. And then her name was on the screen.

"VICTIM BLAMING: CASSANDRA THOMAS VS. AL MONROE

A FAIR FIGHT AGAINST LEGAL RIGHTS"

Headlines like this scrolled on the bottom of the screen beneath pictures of Cassie's scalpels and various surgical tools she had brought with her to the cabin. Her rental car's license plates she had thrown into the surrounding forest. The bed he had tried to kill her on, complete with fuzzy pink handcuffs attached to the frame. And finally, an old picture of Nina.

The journalist ( if you could call her that, Cassie thought), was spinning the story to imply that there might be more evidence to the possibility of a dual attempted murder than was once thought, and that Cassie's actions may have been the result of a scorned lover's last-ditch attempt at justice, and Al Monroe might actually be the real victim who was simply defending himself from a revenge-driven maniac.

Cassie sat frozen on the couch, her hands hugging her knees and her eyes wide. She knew the news would spin it, she just wasn't sure how. This definitely exceeded her expectations.

"I mean... a scorned lover? Come on, now that's a reach."

"Do you know what this means, Cassie? If he pleads not guilty, then you, me, and everyone else involved in this mess that we've had to live with for years now, that I've had to live with, it's all going to come right back to the surface to be dredged up for the public. My dead daughter is going to be judged for what he did to her! And it's all your fault, Cassie!"

She was sobbing into her hands now and shaking. Cassie stood and gently started to wrap her arms around her, but she was pushed off.

"Get away from me! Get out!"

Cassie's legs were starting to fail her as she shuffled backwards.

"I-I'm so sorry Mrs. Fisher," she mumbled, her voice a trembling whisper.

"Don't call me that! Get out, now!"

Now Cassie could feel her bones collide every time her feet hit the concrete at a run to her car. Tears threatened to fall as she turned the ignition, and she was fully sobbing by the time she got to the end of the street, the road blurring in front of her.

She stopped four blocks later for fear of crashing into something if she kept going. She was glad to have her sunglasses back on as she let herself weep.

————————————————————

Cassie scrolled through the hundreds of notifications on her phone as she did her best to appear as small as possible. She sat at a table in a coffee shop she never went to. It was always too hot and the coffee was always too cold. But she didn't want to be recognized, and she didn't want to give that burden to Gail, who had texted her about thirty times asking where she was and saying how happy and relieved she was to know Cassie was alive. It was all Cassie could do to read through the messages, she certainly couldn't respond to any right now.

The unusually gloomy summer rain that had begun outside matched her mood as she nursed her coffee and made a face at it, taking it's temperature very personally.

"Can't get any fucking worse," she muttered to herself, staring out the window with her sunglasses on indoors.

"Can I get a coffee please? Just black."

Cassie's spine straightened of its own accord for the second time that day. Now I know God is a man, she thought. Only he could pull this level of crap. Maybe he's so stupidly tall that if I look down with my hood up he won't be able to see me.

She tested her theory. It might have worked if not for her ruined manicure.

"Cassie?"

She blew a long breath out of her mouth in defeat.

"We have a winner."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Was everything else today not enough, now you're stalking me too?'

"Yes, Ryan, after all the events of today I have decided to add even more to the growing number of problems in my life by obsessing over you. You got me." She lowered her hood and took off her sunglasses as he stood on the opposite end of her table.

"I mean, no offense," he said sarcastically, "but I specifically go to this place now to not see you. I drink this cold, shitty coffee because I assumed you would never lower your standards this much."

The barista at the counter behind him made a show of being audibly offended, and Ryan turned to her as she walked off in a huff before he could apologize.

"Good going, Boy Wonder," Cassie teased.

"Well, I'm not wrong, am I?" Ryan muttered, shoving the non-coffee-holding hand in his pocket.

"No, you're right, it's absolutely terrible."

He stood in front of her awkwardly, looking like the personification of Uncomfortable.

"Do you want to sit or something?" she guessed, annoyed at having to guess at all.

"Hm? Oh, um, no. I've got a-a dog, now. At home. I need to um, feed him-"

"Just sit."

"Yeah, right, okay."

He clambered onto the relatively small plastic chair across from her, making him look even more like a giant than usual. His short blond hair was tinted almost brown now from being out in the rain, and the sleeves of his sweater that fit in all the right places were rolled up to his elbows now. She hated him for it.

"So? Aren't you going to ask?" she goaded.

"Ask what?" He sounded genuine, and she could feel her temper rising from it.

"What I've been asked all day," she said almost resentfully, waving her phone around. "How did I escape? I was surprised you didn't ask at the hospital the second I woke up." Ryan snorted.

"Should we even be talking about this, before the trial? Before either of us get up there?" he asked in a low voice. She made a face.

"They have everything I ever had on you now. If your reputation's gonna be ruined it's not going to be because we chatted semi-civilly in a shitty coffee shop."

That got a chuckle and half a smile out of him.

"Honestly Cassie, I didn't think to ask because I didn't care, I still don't really. I was just relieved you were alive. And God knows I can't give an explanation for that." He glanced out the window while he sipped his drink. He proceeded to scrunch his face and stick out his tongue.

"Oh, God, yeah, I've gotta stop coming here," he mused, which drew a smile from her. She looked down at her hands in her lap.

"I'm so sorry, Cassie," he admitted after a moment. She looked up in quiet surprise.

"I can't pretend that whatever I'm feeling now can compare to what you've been feeling for, well, years, but seeing that video of Nina again... it fucking tore me up. Cause yeah, I blocked that out of my mind completely after graduation. And... I have to live with the fact that I just... watched. I stood there and watched, and fucking worse, I laughed, and I'll never forgive myself for that. And... you shouldn't either. I would never forgive me if I were you, and I'll never forgive me as me, like I just said, but-"

"Ryan-"

"Hold on, I just, I have to say this." She could see him so clearly trying to grasp for the right words and feeling like he was failing.

"I am so, so sorry, Cassie. And I know that'll never be enough, and it shouldn't be, but I'm sorry for all of it. For standing there, for denying it, for blaming it on me being a kid when I should've known better-"

"Ryan." She let him take a breath for the first time in a few minutes. She had been listening and watching his face like there was a polygraph test attached to him, assessing the validity of his sincerity like an angel of death. In that moment she heard Nina's mother in her head for the hundredth time that day;

Don't be such a child, Cassie!

You could never do the one thing I've ever asked of you. You could never let it go.

It's all your fault, Cassie!

She exhaled through her nose, considering him.

"It will be... a long time... before I can forgive you. But, I think, that day exists... in the future."

His shoulders dropped ever so slightly from his ears, and he gave a curt nod in thanks. They both sipped their coffees unflinchingly.

"Would you want to possibly get some not-shitty coffee?" he quietly suggested.

"Oh, I can't, I have to go home and feed my imaginary dog," she teased.

"Hey, he is not imaginary."

"We broke up four days ago. You got a dog in four days?"

"He looks like a small homeless man and I would die for him."

"Okay, you buy some quality coffee and then you can go feed your squatter."

"Sounds like a plan."