INVISIBLE | P. PARKER

FIFTY TWO

FIFTY-TWO;
SIBLING BONDING

AFTER A FEW HOURS inside Peter's room, holding each other and talking sweet nothings between each other, Cassie decided it was time to let him rest. No matter how much he insisted he wasn't tired, his condition always gave him away, and with a sweet kiss, the brunette left him alone to sleep.

A smile tugged onto her lips as she walked out of the room and towards the waiting area, where she found most of her companions talking and whispering between each other. She smiled as she walked to her brother and sat next to him with a look of pure joy, Charlie seemed to notice because he hugged his sister tightly.

"Where is she?" A voice echoed inside the waiting area, gaining Cassie's attention. "Cassandra?" Stella stepped into the room looking like a mess, the young woman looked like she threw on some random clothes. Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on Cassie, soon her relief changed to anger. "Why would you do something like that?! Don't you ever do that again, do you hear me?" She scolded the teenager as she held her elbow.

"Stella?" Charlie stood up with a deep frown, his brown eyes studied the young woman. "What are you doing here?"

"C–Charlie," Stella stuttered, slowly letting go of Cassie's elbow. "You're here."

"Yeah." He nodded, his eyes traveled from Stella to his sister, his frown slowly turned into a confused expression. "What are you doing here?"

"Your little girlfriend here has been giving Little Cassie hell for the past months." Pietro angrily muttered. Stella turned to meet his gaze. "Go on, tell him about the shit you've put her through." A sour expression took over Stella's face. "Not so brave now, uh?"

"Stella," Tony tried to step in to stop an upcoming argument. "I appreciate that you're here but Cassie's not stable enough to deal with this right now." The man tried to explain.

"No, no, wait." Charlie interrupted him, his eyes never moving away from Stella's. "What is Pietro talking about?"

"I–I don't," She started, her eyes flickering from the young man to Cassie, who had a troubled expression in her eyes. "I–"

"It's okay, Charlie." Cassie mumbled, too quiet that it took the others a while to understand. "Don't worry about it." Her eyes meet his and the others could notice a conversation happening between them as they shared glances. "Stella only came to check on me."

"Y–Yeah." The young woman was too stunned to articulate a word. "Wait, no. It's not okay." She turned to Charlie and sighed deeply. "After you disappeared, I–I took some stupid decisions. I thought your disappearance was an excuse for me to have the right to make Cassie's life a living hell. I think I was angry at you for leaving me, and I took it all on... your sister." Then, she turned to Cassie. The brunette didn't know what to do, or how to react when Stella kneeled in front of her. "I'm really sorry, Cassie. For everything. All those nights I heard you crying were extremely painful for me." Her hand held the tips of her uneven hair. "I basically let them do this to you. I will never forget myself for doing this to you."

The teenager couldn't bring herself to look at the young woman, or even say something. She let out a sharp sigh leave her lips and nodded shortly, Stella gulped and stood up to meet Charlie's gaze.

"It's time for me to back off." Her eyes traveled to Wanda, who was still holding Charlie's arm to prevent him from balancing himself over the young woman. "I hope you can forgive me." She said, and turned to Cassie again. "The same goes to you, Cassie."