Second Chances

Chapter 18

It must have been the dog. Seeing the cockapoo that reminded Casey so much of Princess and listening to all of those old '70's songs Mona played must have sent Casey's brain into a nostalgic tailspin. That was the only reason she could come up with for the way her nightmare started.

Usually, Casey's bad dreams were always the same. They would start with the car trip with Veronica, and end up with either Casey or Carter going over the side of the cliff and into the icy water. But this dream was different. This one was more of a trip down memory lane. And unfortunately, not many of those memories were good ones.

It started innocently enough. Casey could see herself and her father, Harlan Barrett. Harlan was giving her his usual speech about "why can't you be more like your sister, Julia?" Julia was standing somewhere in the same room, a smug smile on her face. The scene shifted to Casey's bedroom, where she could reach down and rub Princess's soft fur to console herself. At least the dog loved her, if nobody else did.

Then time fast-forwarded to Casey's teen years. She and Julia were having one of their horrific arguments. She couldn't make out the particulars – either Julia had discovered that Casey had borrowed one of her Nancy Drew books, or Casey had been jealous and angry that Julia got to go somewhere again and Casey had to stay home. The only thing that was clear was the volume level and mood – extremely LOUD, and ugly.

The dream fast-forwarded again. She was dating Sonny, and they were arguing. This event Casey remembered -- she had gone to the penthouse looking for Sonny, but he wasn't around. When Johnny suggested she leave him a note, Casey had innocently started looking through his desk for some paper and a pen. The ledgers and notebooks had looked harmless enough -- but once she started paging through them, Casey was horrified at the names, amounts, and descriptions of transactions.

She could hear Sonny screaming at her in her dream. She tried to explain that she had only been looking for some paper, but he kept accusing her of spying on him. Later, Sonny had apologized to Casey, explaining that everything he did was completely legal. But he had also made it very clear that she was never to touch any of his papers again without his permission. And he told her never to mention any of the dates or places she had seen in the books, or tell anyone about his connections with somebody named Benny.

Shortly after that, she and Julia had a huge argument -- Casey could see Julia's face as though she was in the same room. Julia was telling her that Casey wouldn't have to worry about competing with her anymore. Julia was leaving for London on a business mission for Harlan. He could trust Julia.

The faces all started to revolve around Casey in her dream. Everyone was pointing at her, saying she couldn't be trusted. Sonny, Harlan, Julia.....Even Carter's face drifted into the mix, accusing her of being unfaithful. Nobody could trust Casey. Carter, Sonny, Harlan, Julia.....Julia......

"Casey?" Casey sat up straight when Carter's gentle voice brought her back to reality. Tears made wet tracks down the side of her face and she felt as though her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. "Casey?" Carter asked again. "Are you OK?"

She gripped his arm tightly. "Carter.......what happened?"

Carter scooted closer to her on the bed. "You had another nightmare, love."

"Oh, no......oh, my God, was I screaming again?" Casey put her hands to her mouth and tears flowed fresh.

"No, no.....I woke you before it went too far this time," Carter replied. He sat back against the headboard and Casey finally noticed that his chest was bare. He had on the same black silk drawstring pajama bottoms she saw before. When he opened his arms to her, Casey let him pull her into his loose embrace. "Do you want to talk about it?"