Heaven for Everyone (Queen/Roger Taylor)

- Interlude -

Oh, you're back.

Really, darling, how do you manage to keep sneaking into-- well, I'm not sure it's the best idea, but that's all I'm going to say on that matter. I'm not your mum, nor your guardian angel.

Let's just get to the point. The world is in such a grim state. There's a fucking plague stalking the planet, so who needs more heartbreak? Not to say that there won't be more heartbreak in these chapters, because why else are you here, really? But at least I can save you from the nitty-gritty, he-said-she-said level of anguish.

Mitch is an ignorant fuckwad, but he loves his daughter more than anything. The fact that he can blow up his ex's life--just like she destroyed him so many years ago--is just an added bonus. And Rog, well, he's deeply in love with Cassie. So much so. But, let's face it, he hasn't honestly had to fight for what he wants for years, so he's a bit out of practice. And Cassie? Well, if I were her, I'd be bloody exhausted of this all and just want to get back to my life as it used to be.

Look, I told you last time that I don't have all the answers. I can't see and hear everything that goes on down there. So I don't know precisely what will happen, but I do have my suspicions. Like I said, you lot are predictable.

Instead of going straight to the hospital, Roger will order his driver to pull over in the middle of central London. There, amid the horns honking and the idiot Londoners trying to drive in the snow, he'll get his publicist on the line. You have to understand, we've spent years having others get us out of tricky situations. What's the point of all this if you can't buy whatever you want, shag whoever you want, and not have to fix your own problems? "Don't be daft, Roger," she'll say after listening to him rant for a while. "The circus will get much worse before it gets better. No, you two won't be able to sneak around, not now, not after all this. Don't even think about coming up with one of your schemes. Just lay low, Roger. Otherwise, you're toast."

And, with the weight of that conversation and the one just prior, drowning out everything else, he'll head to the hospital. Before he can quite make it to Cassie's room, he'll be sidelined by her brother, full of apologies about how they handled everything initially, and he'll let it slip that Cassie's heart stopped for a few harrowing minutes on the operating table. (This bit is true: Cassie was up here for a few minutes. But then, thanks to modern medicine and sheer luck, she was pulled back to where she belonged). No matter that she's okay now, this bit of information will further damage Roger, who by then is on the verge of a breakdown.

Cassie is still unbearably fragile, so, of course, Roger won't bring up the nonsense with Mitch. He failed to protect her once, so he'll do so her now. He'll figure out a way out of the mess. But she's the most clever of us all, so she'll intuit that something's wrong. Hell, she knows the score, she knows the players, so she may even hazard a guess.

And then they'll talk.

Oh, fuck off, I don't know what they'll say. I'm not a mind reader; I'm not a seer. Besides, even if I did know, I certainly wouldn't tell you. After all that's happened, don't you think they deserve a tiny bit of privacy?

I can tell you that Cassie is a very different person than she was in the hours before the accident. Since she woke up and learned what happened, she's been tormented that she put Olivia in danger. That she couldn't get to her in time. That she almost left her daughter without a mother. She's thought of nothing else, shouldering the entirety of the blame. All of her choices are slowly eating away at her.

And we all know that Roger is riddled with guilt over what's happened. Can he keep her safe in the future? He can spend all the money in the world, but he'll never be able to stop the fans from calling her work, stop the rumors from spreading, stop the goddamn press from butting into everything that they do. And he's a dad, too; quite a protective one. If he's honest with himself, which he may not be at this particular moment, he'd do the same thing as Mitch without thinking twice. So, it could be that they both feel like they're out of options. All good things must come to an end, et cetera et cetera.

How the conversation ends, I don't know. Rog loves to do the honorable thing, so maybe it's he who decides to walk away. Or, perhaps he chooses to stay and fight, only to have Cassie say that all of her remaining fight was left crumpled on the road in Mayfair. Or maybe they do come up with a scheme to get themselves out of this mess unscathed and still intact.

I don't fucking know, alright? I don't know what's said in that room.

But all of Britain will see photographs of Roger leaving the hospital an hour later. Oh, sure, his face may have his usual I-give-no-fucks-I'm-such-a-chilled-bloke expression, but let's be honest: he's looked better. His face is pale, his hands tremble slightly, his sunglasses hiding the devastation in his eyes.

And then, my trespassing friend, I genuinely have no idea what happens next. You'll have to sort that out for yourself. Or not, if they catch you up here uninvited.

So get out, scram, you're gonna get caught.

It's time to go.