Stars Above - A Cassunzel Fanfic

Chapter 25: Fixing the Unbreakable

"I-I don't know!" Dallas responded frantically. "I-I just came in here and she was like that... I tried to help b-but she wasn't responding and it was just getting worse so I went to get you. I don't know how it started or-"

"I'm pregnant." Rapunzel's quick, quiet voice echoed throughout the room. The room went quiet. Rapunzel squeezed her eyes shut and pushed away from Cassandra as she pointed her head downwards.

Cassandra slowly looked from Rapunzel to the startled, empathetic girl staring at the distressed Rapunzel, Cassandra's face unreadable. "Dallas, I'm gonna need you to leave." Rapunzel nearly flinched at the harsh sound of Cassandra's tone.

Dallas snapped her eyes back to Cassandra's and her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Y-Yes, of course. I'm... right down the hall if you need anything." With that, she turned around and left, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

The room was eerily quiet for a couple minutes. Rapunzel still refused to meet Cassandra's eye contact. "....You're pregnant?" Cassandra asked after some minutes, her voice lacing with slight poison. Rapunzel wasn't sure if it was directed towards her or not. Rapunzel slowly nodded. "Are you sure, Rapunzel?" She used her full name. Rapunzel nodded a second time as she pulled out the two pregnancy tests and handed them to her without looking at her. Cassandra took them and her mouth grew dry as she swallowed. Cass stood up without a word and started frantically pacing the room, hands tangled in her hair. "...You're pregnant." She repeated, her voice still laced with poison. She continued to pace the room as Rapunzel slowly crawled backwards and laid her back against the bottom of the bed. She hugged her knees close to her body as Cassandra continued pacing the room; mumbling curses and nasty sentences Rapunzel couldn't quite catch. She didn't even know if she wanted to know what they were in the first place.

"...That little mother-"

"Are you gonna leave me?" Rapunzel's quiet voice cut her off as Cassandra stopped to a halt and stared at the distressed girl in disbelief. She sounded so scared... She looked so scared. She was hugging her knees tightly to her body, there was a pained, fearful expression on her face; tears were already running down and most of all, she was still avoiding her eye contact.

"What?" Cassandra asked in disbelief before rushing over to her and sitting on her knees in front of her. She frantically placed her hands softly, but quickly, on Rapunzel's cheeks and gently rubbed her thumbs across her cheekbones in a comforting manner. "No, no, of course not! Why would you think that?"

Rapunzel still couldn't look her in the eye. "It's just..." Rapunzel finally looked up to meet her eyes; but she couldn't even see them because she was blinded by her own tears. "...I'm sorry." She said quietly. Cassandra's heart broke. She sounded so heartbroken.... Rapunzel looked away again, unable to meet her eye contact anymore. Not that she could see them anyway.

Cassandra peered down to try and catch her eye contact but Rapunzel stubbornly refused to meet her eyes and turned away again. "Hey, Raps, come on. Please look at me." Slowly, Rapunzel raised her head to look at Cass, her hair fanning over her face. Cassandra pushed the hair out of her eyes then pushed it behind her ear. "Why are you saying sorry? There's nothing you should be sorry for. None of this is your fault."

"I-It's just.. It was - he - I feel l-like I be-betrayed you an-and.." Rapunzel wrapped her arms around herself as she started rambling, her breathing once more starting to become more labored by the second. "A-And y-you p-probably hate me... or a-are disgusted with me... and you p-probably d-don't w-want anything to do with me a-anymore o-or wa-want to tou-touch me a-and..a-and.." The poor girl was sobbing and was starting to hyperventilate once more.

"Woah, woah, hey Raps, breathe." Casssandra did the same exercise she did with her earlier until she was able to calm herself down. But not all the way. Cassandra tried to catch her eye contact again. "How could you even think that? Hey, Rapunzel, look at me." Rapunzel slowly looked up. "I need you to understand that none of this is your fault, okay? You didn't cheat on me... and I most certainly don't hate you. I could never hate you. And everything else you said would never happen either." To prove her point, she pulled the princess in her lap, facing towards her with Rapunzel's legs on either side of her. "You were... raped, Raps." Both Rapunzel and Cass had been avoiding that word since it happened. Actually, everyone who knew what happened avoided talking about it at all. The word was much too painful to think about, mostly for Rapunzel. And by saying it, it was them admitting it actually happened, which Rapunzel had been avoiding as well. She wanted to just pretend like it never happened. Apparently, fate had different ideas. Cassandra didn't miss the pained, disgusted grimace that crossed her wife's face at the word alone. "I've given you your space and I've given you enough time to come to me when you are ready but you're never gonna be ready. You can't just keep avoiding it like it never happened. Especially not now."