Those Ocean Eyes

Chapter 29

There's a tentative knock on the bathroom door, and Cassie jerks back to reality, stifling a sigh.

"Cassandra? Can I come in?"

Cassie rolls her eyes, not even bothering to preserve her modesty.

"If I say 'no,' are you going to listen?"

Rachel tentatively pops her head around the door, and Cassie gets her answer. Rachel hands her another glass of water and some painkillers, and then she returns with a medley of fruit from Cassie's fridge, topped in strawberry yoghurt.

"I see someone's been making themselves at home," Cassie observes wryly, but she's moved by the gesture, and she can't do a damned thing to hide it.

"You need to eat something," Rachel urges her, almost as if she knows Cassie hasn't touched a morsel of food since she left the hospital.

"I will," Cassie reassures her, feeling another pang of self-reproach when she thinks of Lydia. "Just let me get finished up in here first."

"OK, well... goodnight," Rachel says softly, and Cassie's a little taken aback when she leans over the bath, cupping her cheeks in her hands. Cassie tilts her head upwards, meeting Schwimmer's lips as they brush lightly against her mouth.

"'Night, Schwimmer," she murmurs, and then she catches hold of Rachel's hand, pressing a lingering kiss against her knuckles. "And thank you. For everything."

Cassie finds it difficult to sleep at the best of times, but apparently, she hasn't got a hope in hell of getting some shut-eye when Rachel's around.

"God Almighty, Schwimmer," Cassie curses, blinking into the sliver of light that's emanating from her bedroom door. "What is it now?"

"Do you have a b-blanket I can b-borrow?" Rachel asks, and Cassie can hear her teeth chattering from across the room. She realises that she was so wasted when she got home, she didn't even bother putting the heating on, and the thought of Schwimmer valiantly trying to weather the cold on her couch makes something inside of her ache. Especially when she considers how long Rachel must have spent sitting on her doorstep, freezing her ass off.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, just... get in here," Cassie says, flinging back her comforter, and Rachel doesn't waste any time clambering into bed with her. Her feet are freezing, and Cassie yelps in protest when they make contact with her bare calves.

"You're like a block of ice," she observes, feeling a little guilty as she rubs some warmth into Schwimmer's juddering frame. "Come here."

She opens her arms, and Rachel burrows into her embrace, snuggling against her. Cassie pulls the comforter tightly around them, and continues to gently rub Rachel's back, until her eyelids start to droop and she's too damn tired to care that she's about to let someone sleep over for the first time in a decade. The motion of her hand gradually slows to an intermittent caress, but it doesn't matter, because Schwimmer isn't shivering anymore.

"I'm going to be like a bear with a sore head in the morning," Cassie warns Rachel around a lingering yawn, and she can feel Schwimmer smiling against her shoulder.

"You're like a bear with a sore head all the time," Rachel counters, and Cassie laughs, giving her a gentle squeeze.

She rolls over with the intention of reclaiming her personal space, and raises an eyebrow when Schwimmer promptly curls up against her, nestling against her back. Rachel's arm inches around her waist, and Cassie realises that she's somehow been relegated to the status of little spoon. She's about to voice her protests, but then Rachel breathes a sleepy sigh, nuzzling contentedly against her neck. Cassie squeezes her eyes shut as she absorbs the sensation of Rachel's chest rising and falling against her back, and a lone tear trickles down her cheek when Schwimmer plants a kiss against her shoulder blade. She hesitates, and then threads her fingers through Rachel's, clutching Schwimmer's hand against her chest. And then, for the first time in forty-eight hours, she finally sleeps.