White Space Season 1

around, maybe slowly, but I’d be surprised if she couldn’t remember anything at all. And I promise, Cassidy,” Houser leaned closer, “once she does, whoever took her, whether it was Whistler or someone else, I’ll find the fucker who did, and make him pay.”
    “Not if I see him first. There won’t be anything left once I’m through with him — whoever it is.”
    Houser smiled at Cass. “You’re a bag of nails, Cassidy Hughes. I like you.”
    She smiled back, then surprised herself by lightly laughing. “So, what now?”
    “I think we wait,” Jon said. “Get some rest and see what Dr. Kinkaid says tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I think you should go be with her. I can’t think of too many things worse than waking up alone in a hospital room.”
    “Thanks, Jon,” she said, the words like medicine in her mouth. “And you, too, Brock.” Cassidy turned and went back into Emma’s room, leaving the two men in quiet discussion behind her.
    As Cassidy entered the room, Emma looked up, caught Cassidy’s eyes, and said, or rather squealed, “Cass!”
    Cassidy knelt by the bedside, and threw her arms around Emma, pulling her close and holding her tight, carefully avoiding the IV drip and the other wires which were monitoring Emma’s vitals.
    “How’re you doing, kiddo?” Cassidy asked.
    Emma thrust out her bottom lip. “I hate the smell of hospitals.”
    “Yeah,” Cassidy nodded, “me, too.” She shivered, trying hard not to remember the torment of detox. “But at least you’re safe.” She punched Emma lightly on the shoulder. “You have no idea how worried you had me.”
    Emma wrinkled her nose. “I can’t remember anything,” she said. “I’ve never forgotten stuff before, at least not like that.” She shook her head. “I don’t like it at all.”
    “I can’t expect that you would.” Cassidy scooped Emma’s hands inside her own, making a hand sandwich between her palms. “The doctor was telling me all about it just a few minutes ago, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Know why?”
    “Why?” Emma widened her eyes and waited for an answer.
    “Because I think you’ll remember everything.”
    “When?”
    “Soon enough. Maybe by this time tomorrow. But you probably have to stop trying. That’s how these things sometimes work. Of course, it might be totally impossible to remember if you were sleepwalking.”
    “Is that what happened? Do you think I was sleepwalking? ”
    Cassidy shrugged. “That’s what makes most sense to me.”
    Cassidy didn’t feel bad for lying, since sometimes the white of a lie proved enough to lighten the darkest of truths.
    “What if I sleepwalk again?”
    Cassidy pursed her lips, trying to determine the best way to answer. “Well, we should probably prepare for the possibility.”
    Emma cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, you’ll probably start sleepwalking a lot now. I’ve heard that once you start, it’s hard to stop. But you won’t have to worry because we have a team of specialists coming over to the house.” Cassidy leaned into Emma and whispered. “We’ve signed you up for sleepwalking lessons.”
    Emma narrowed her eyes, uncertain if she should take aunt Cassidy seriously. “What are sleepwalking lessons?”
    “Well,” Cassidy said, “we figure we’re not going to be able to get you to stop sleepwalking, so we’re going to teach you to do your chores instead. Starting with washing the dishes and cleaning your room. Once you’re trained, you’ll never leave the house again. You’ll be too busy doing chores.”
    Emma laughed. “That’s not true.”
    “Tell that to Sergeant Sleepwalker,” Cassidy said, straight faced. “He’ll be over to the house 7:00 a.m. sharp on Monday.”
    “Not true,” Emma repeated.
    “Sorry,” Cassidy shook her head. “But he’s already booked and paid for. Too late to back out now. Unless you want to pay for his time out of your allowance.”
    Emma laughed again, then let the joke die and said, “Where’s Nana?”
    “She had one of her headaches.” Cassidy resisted the urge to use air quotes while saying ‘headache’ like she would have with an adult.
    “Oh,” Emma said, scratching her arms. “One of the bad ones?”
    “Yeah,” Cassidy nodded. “Super duper bad. Otherwise, there’s no way she would’ve missed coming to see you. She said she can’t wait for you to come home.”
    When the word ‘home’ fell from