Name: Dream Dangerously, Fassbender Fan, Jimjamz
Title: Changes (part 1)
Disclaimer: characters belong to the writers of Hex and Shine Entertainment with the exception of original characters created for this fic.
Character focus: Cassie/Thelma/Azazeal.
Rating: PG
Summary: Cassie returns to Medenham after the events of Series 1 to discover some shocking changes. This was originally written as a continue the plot fic on the Strange Thoughts board.
Context: Just after series 1, an alternative version of events to series 2.
Keywords: drama,

Cassie sighed as the car neared Medenham..there was a deep sense of dread hanging like a cloud above Cassie's head as the taxi pulled to a halt on the stony driveway. A cloud of dust blocked Cassie view as she looked out the window, as the dust settled the tall building came into view, groups of students were bustling through the large doorway as Cassie stepped out of the car. Paying the driver and clutching her bag to her chest she took a deep breathe and joined the queue's of people returning..

Climbing the stairs Cassie kept her head low and avoided eye contact. Sniggers and whispers caught her attention as she passed fellow students no doubt they'd heard all the rumours but Cassie ignored the temptation to reply and concentrated on reaching her room.

Clutching the cold door handle Cassie felt her skin tingle as she slid her key into the lock. Opening the door she was greeted with the familiar scene, her artwork still scattered on the floor, an un-slept bed and Thelma's..wait..Thelma's bed..

Before Cassie's mind had time to register the changes a figure emerged from the closet.

"Oh hi, you must be Cassie? I'm Rose." she stretched her hand out toward Cassie who bemusingly shook it without speaking..

Withdrawing her hand she tucked them into her back pockets and rising on the balls of her feet she spoke again,

"They didn't tell ya I was moving in did they?" she grinned at Cassie who was still in a case of confusion but spoke for the first time since she had entered the room.

"No. They didn't." she forced a smile and walked over to her bed, dropping her bad beside it she sat gently on the edge of her bed turning to look at the photo of her and Thelma sat on her bedside table..

"Bloody cheek!" a familiar voice reached Cassie's ears as she turned to see Thelma sat cross-legged on the end of her bed chewing a strawberry cable aggressively!

Cassie opened her mouth slightly, ready to say something to Thelma, but she then she remembered they weren't alone any more. She turned to look at Rose, who was staring at the photo.

"Who's that?" She asked, pointing at the image of Thelma. Cassie looked over at the ghost before replying.

"THAT is Thelma" She snapped, earning a grin and thumbs up from her spiky haired friend.

"Oh...they told me about her...I'm sorry" Rose said sympathetically. She sat on the edge of Thelma's bed, who abruptly jumped off, scowling at the red head.

"Your not the one who should be sorry" Cassie replied quickly, glancing at the canary, which still sat on the desk.

"Yeah" Rose said uncomfortably, "Well...I've got to get to class...Are you coming in today?"

"No" Cassie said shortly. The girl was obviously trying to be friendly, but she didn't have any patience with her.

"Okay...I'll see you later then" Rose said. Cassie just nodded, staring past Rose's shoulder at Thelma who had took to silently mimicking the red head. Thelma waited until she heard the door shutting before sitting next to Cassie on her bed.

"Well, the school do things well. Im not even bloody cold in my grave before theyre shipping some goon into our room. No respect. None whatsoever!" She said, glaring across the room as though Rose was still there.

"They could've at least told me" Cassie said heavily.

"It was probably Jo's idea. Tenner bet it was!" Thelma jumped up, and started pacing in front of Cassie, "I can just see her now, sitting in Tyrells office, persuading him. You know, there are plenty of other rooms they could've shoved her in"

"Yep" Cassie sighed.

"You know what this means?"

"What?"

"She's going to be sitting in this room, night after night, and were not even going to be able to talk to each other properly" Thelma said sadly, sitting herself down on the beanbag.

Cassie looked up, a mischievous smile playing across her features "...Didn't you say you did an 'A' grade haunting...?"

A wolfish grin began to spread across Thelma's face.
"Make that an A plus. I've been practicing!"

Cassie felt a twinge of guilt inside. It was true she'd had this room-mate forced upon her, but it wasn't really Rose's fault. Just when it felt like rational thought was going to win the argument, she remembered that this would mean no more late night chats with Thelma, no more laughing at how pathetic her classmates were being and no comfort on those nights when she missed the baby that had spent a short time growing inside her, or worse, when she missed Azazeal.

Cassie shook her head and shuddered as if trying to shake off the bad thoughts and memories.

Themla frowned at her. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Cassie plastered a falsely bright grin on her face "They're not even worth that!"

Thelma folded her arms and gave her best stern look. "No more worrying about mister tall dark and psychotic. He's done and dusted. Now, Back to operation get Miss Perky out of our room!"

That evening Rose swept into Cassie's room and collapsed onto Thelma's bed, Cassie looked up scornfully from a book she'd been reading to pass the time. She still couldn't believe Rose was treating this like her own room already...like she was trying to replace Thelma.
"English is a nightmare", Rose said to Cassie while she pulled off her shoes. Cassie pretended not to notice but Rose continued with her story, "That Miss Watkins said we're going to be partners for the next project.
Since..Thelma's..not..", she broke off and went quiet. Cassie sat up abruptly from her bed, insulted that Rose had even mentioned Thelma's name like that.

"What?", Cassie said trying to control her emotion, "dead. Because my best friend is dead, well I won't be coming back to class until I'm good and ready I'm afraid so she can pair you up with somebody else",

"oh", Rose interjected, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you Cassie, or would you rather I called you Cass?" She said jokingly.

Cassie's eyes widened, as they started to fill up with tears, "no. I don't ever want you to call me that." Cassie answered as she turned with her back to Rose, so her new room mate couldn't see the silent tears that were now streaming down Cassie's face.
***

Suddenly, a scream awoke Cassie with a start. It was Rose. She was sitting bolt upright in her bed, shaking. Cassie checked the clock it was 3am. "are you alright?", she murmured hesitantly, wondering if she should actually be concerned when she knew what had just happened, indeed she should know, for she spent the morning discussing it in-depth with Thelma.

"N..no I'm just a bit", Rose turned to Cassie, "I don't mean to sound out-of-line here but..i think I saw your friend Thelma in my dream".

Cassie tried to look surprised, "Really? well I'm not sure about that Rose, because the Thelma i knew never gave me nightmares...not like the one it looks like you just had anyway", Cassie replied.

"Urm, yeh. You're probably right, hehe just my imagination, well...I better be getting some rest, lots of work to do tomorrow, Goodnight". Rose muttered before slipping back into her covers with no obvious intention to sleep. "Yep", Cassie yawned as she turned her back to Rose again, this time with a satisfied smirk on her face....

***

Cassie slept late the next morning. She had been given the opportunity to take at least a week from her studies, and she fully intended to take full advantage of it.
It was 12.30, and she was sitting crossed legged on her bed, sketching. Thelma was sitting on the beanbag, staring at Cassie as she worked and eating her way through a bag of Haribo.

"You know, that Rose is quite a good kisser" Thelma said, smiling slightly. Cassie looked up, raising her eyebrows at the ghost.
"She's not as good as you!" Thelma said indignantly.

"And that's what I like to hear" Cassie said flirtatiously, going back to her sketches.

"So..." Thelma murmured, glancing at the canare, "Still nothing from Azazeal?"

"No...Thelma...you know when you told me about the baby and you disappearing?" Cassie asked.

"Mm" Thelma said quietly, staring into her lap. They hadn't talked about the subject since Thelma had told Cassie in the hospital, and she didn't particularly want to either.

"How did you know?"

Thelma looked up. She hadn't bothered telling Cassie about Peggy, and for some reason she didn't want to.

"Peggy told me" Thelma said slowly, "She's an Egyptologist or something, she translated the prophesy from hieroglyphs or something"

"Who's Peggy?"

Thelma swallowed her sweet loudly and looked Cassie in the eye, she felt like she was explaining some sordid affair but she had nothing to be ashamed about.

"She's a ghost. Like me." Thelma paused wondering if this was enough to satisfy Cassie's curiosity but secretly knowing it wasn't.

"A Gh-" Cassie was interrupted by the door opening, Rose walked through grinning at Cassie as she dropped her bag and threw herself onto Thelma's bed it was still Thelma's bed as far as Cassie was concerned

Rolling over onto her back, Rose put her hands behind her head and studied Cassie.

Cassie looked back, fighting back the temptation to shout..

"Who were you talking to?" Rose asked glancing at the mobile switched off by Cassie's feet.

"Talking to?" Cassie asked innocently, moving her phone nervously out of view.

"Yeah, I heard you talking"

"Hmm, well you must have been hearing things" Cassie said, getting off her bed, "Aren't you meant to be in class?"

"I've got a free period, so I thought I'd come back and talk to you. You know, get to know each other. I don't want to feel like my room mate is a stranger" Rose smiled at Cassie, who reluctantly returned it. Thelma tutted loudly.

"I was chatting to a few people today" Rose said eagerly. She could obviously sense that Cassie's interest in the conversation was already dwindling.

"Yeah?" Cassie asked, wandering over to the window, so she didn't have to look at Thelma. She'd decided she ought to at least talk to Rose, not an easy task when the ghost was standing behind the girl mimicking shooting her.

"Yeah, I was talking to that Troy. He was asking me loads of questions about you"

"He's an ex-boyfriend" Cassie said, staring out into the grounds. Her eyes wandered over to the graveyard, where she would usually see....Azazeal!?
"Oh god" Cassie muttered. She pressed herself up against the window, so as to get a better look. It wasn't him....was it?
"I have to go" She said, grabbing her jacket off the back of the chair. Rose gave her a quizzical look, which she ignored as she ran out of the room.

***

Weaving through the crowds of students arranged aimlessly across the lawns Cassie ran. Her heart pounded in her throat as she kept her head close to her chest running as fast as her legs could carry her. As she felt the ground beneath her feet change to hard concrete she paused and eyed up the doorway she found herself in front of. Here she was. No going back now. Catching her breath she pushed the heavy metal ring and the door creaked open. Cobwebs breaking in the corners and dust leaking from the cracks as it slowly revealed the room behind.

Wrapping her arms around herself Cassie looked around the room, dark and dank it was not a comforting site but a familiar one. Cassie had seen this room before.

"Hello" the lilting accent hung in the air as Azazeal strolled towards her. Resting his hands on her shoulders he kissed Cassie's cheeks.

"I'm not here for that." she said turning her head from his lips as she replied.

Backing away Azazeal smiled and gestured towards an old armchair in the centre of the room. Reluctantly Cassie sat down, the dusty fabric a warm contrast to the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Kneeling before her he cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, gently lifting her face, he spoke gently..

"I have something to show you, something I think you'll find very interesting indeed."

Cassie frowned as Azazeal disappeared behind a torn curtain separating the room into two. Rolling her eyes she looked down at her lap, her feet tapping the ground nervously what was he up to now-why had she come back-idiot!

Hearing his return from behind the curtain Cassie did not raise her eyes at once. When she did she was shocked to see that there were now three people in the room. Her eyes widening, Cassie scanned the small figure now beside Azazeal..

"Cassie, I'd like you to meet Michael." Azazeal's hand was resting on the child's shoulder as he spoke. The boy, who could have been no older than five, did not speak. Instead his piercing blue eyes rested upon Cassie's bewildered face...

"Michael...say hello to your Mother."