𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 | 𝘙𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴

Thank you for 500k!! (bonus scenes)

A/N: hi my lovelies, it's been too long!! I know I always say this but thank you all so much for the continued support this book has gotten, I love Rick and Cass with my whole heart and am SO grateful that I've had so many readers experience my silly little story. I'm not sure when / how this book got so popular, but please know how grateful I am that so many of you enjoy it <3 

So... as a (very belated I'm sorry) thank-you for hitting 500K on here, I've written two parts of the story I didn't include for pacing or timing reasons :)

First is the highly requested Rick's POV from the Hospital chapter back in season 5 ~8,000 words AND the unpublished (nsfw) Honeymoon from the epilogue ~10,000 words (I didn't include it because it felt like it was in poor taste considering what happens at the end of the chapter AND the epilogue was already way too long)

I hope you enjoy them my lovelies and thank you again <3

___

Demoralized  (chapter 31)

- Rick's POV -

"And Gorman... he's a bit of a creep, but if you show him some respect, he should be fine," Noah says, the teenager's voice tinged with a tangible anxiousness. His fingers fidget as he rattles off descriptions of the officers, their quirks, their tempers—trying to arm me with all the insight he can. His anxiety is palpable, just being near the hospital again seems to unsettle him, but I stay focused, absorbing every word.

Still, my eyes keep drifting toward the grimy hotel window, its surface covered in a fine layer of dust. Through the smudged glass, I can just make out the hulking silhouette of the hospital across the street—its presence looming like a silent threat. A reminder of the danger Cass thinks she can waltz right into alone.

The thought of her, beautiful and maddeningly stubborn, marching headfirst into the lion's den twists something inside me. She's a selfless idiot, too blind to see when it's time to stop—especially when it's herself she's risking to save others.

"Hey, I'm going to see if there's another vending machine to raid," Cass mutters suddenly, breaking through my thoughts. Her unusually casual voice makes me freeze, my focus snapping to her by the door.

Standing with her hand on the hotel door handle, she blinks at me, those green eyes catching the dim light that reflects from the building across the street, her hair falling slightly in her face. For a moment, the sight is so beautiful, so achingly Cass, that it steals my breath.

"Alone?" I ask, my voice coming out rougher than I intended, my brows knit together tightly. I can't help the tightness that coils in my chest, squeezing at the thought of her going anywhere alone and getting hurt. 

Cass cracks a small, amused smile, the kind that usually sets me at ease. "Down the hall? Yes," she replies with light amusement, but I can't bring myself to mirror her smile, too on edge to pretend everything's fine.

As she turns to leave, I cross my arms and turn back to Noah, trying to refocus on his words and our task. But the ticking clock in my head, the one counting down every minute Cass is gone, drowns out his words.

When the count becomes too high, when that gnawing feeling in my gut turns to an undeniable certainty, I snap my gaze back to the hotel room door and a cold weight drops into my stomach.

Cass's rifle is gone.

She wouldn't take it just to raid a vending machine—not when she has her knife.