Four months later.

It was now October, and Nick and Cass’ wedding was getting closer. The months since the accident had been hard for Cass. She was seeing a therapist three times a week to work on her legs, and twice a week, Nick would take spend two hours with her in the pool and do different exercises with her to strengthen her muscles. But still, despite all the hard work, Cass could not feel any changes in her condition. Nick was extremely patient with her, always telling her not to give up and keeping her hopes up and Cass was certain that if Nick hadn’t been there, she would have given up a long time ago.

Cass was now on her way to therapy together with Holly. The guys had gone off to New York for a week to do a charity concert and an appearance on TRL. Nick had almost refused to go, not wanting to leave Cass alone, but she had convinced him that she would be just fine and that Holly would be staying with her to make sure that she got to her appointments. Eventually, he had given in.

The girls walked into the building where Cass was meeting for her appointment. Holly followed Cass over to a door at the end of the hall and they walked in.

“Hey Lauren.” Cass said to her therapist, a woman in her mid thirties as she and Holly entered the room. The room was a like a gym, filled with different equipments that trained different parts of the body. A few other people were in the room, working on a treadmill and lifting weights.

“Hello Cassidy.” She approached the girls.

“This is my friend Holly.” Cass said.

“Hi, how are you?” Holly smiled and shook her hand.

“I’m good, thanks.” Lauren turned to Cass again. “So, Nick got tired of coming here, huh?”

Cass laughed a little. “Nah… he’s in New York this week, doing a charity concert with the group. He’ll be back again next week. You won’t get rid of him that easy.”

“Well, shall we then?” Lauren said, changing the subject and walking over to the machine that Cass was using. It looked like a stretched treadmill, with a lot of different functions so that it could be adjusted to fit Cass’ situation. There was a bar on each side, so that she could support her weight and have something to hold on to.

Before Cass went on the machine, Lauren spent thirty minutes, stretching Cass’ legs and doing different exercises with them.

“Ok, Cassidy. I think you’re ready to get on the machine now.”

Cass nodded and waited for Lauren to get the machine ready for her. She would be wearing a suite that had straps attached to the ceiling so that she could stand up straight. The suite would also support her weight if she wasn’t able to stand on her own.  

Once the suite was on, Lauren stepped back so that Cass could grab the bars and stand up from the wheelchair. This was the easy part. Her arms had gotten very strong after lifting her own weight so many times, so getting up from the chair was done in a few seconds.

“Good.” Lauren said, once Cass was on her feet, struggling not to fall back down.

“Now, remember what we’ve been taking about. Slowly adjust your body weight so that you’re resting it on your legs. Find the balance.”

Cass released the pressure on her arms and tried to shift it on to her legs.

“Come on Cass. You can do it!” Holly said next to her, watching Cass intensely.

Cass felt her legs disappear beneath her, as she fell back and let the suit carry her weight.

“Damn it!” She swore as she realized that she had failed, again.

“That’s ok Cass. Try again.” Lauren said, helping her back to the wheelchair. “Now, focus.”

Cass took a deep breath, as she once again, lifted her body up from the chair. She took a few seconds to find her balance but before she could continue, a sound across the room made her lose focus and she fell back down again.

“Argh…!!!! I almost had it.” She said frustrated, turning her head to see who had made the sound.

“He just dropped on of the manuals on the floor.” Holly said, pointing towards the guy that was lifting weights across at the other end of the room.

“I was so close this time. My balance was perfect. Damn!”

“Try one more time Cass. And this time, if you feel confident that you can do it, try moving your legs. Take a small step. I know you haven’t done it before, just try.”

Cass nodded and took a few moments to focus and catch her breath. She put her hands on the bars again, and lifted herself up. She found her balance almost right away and little by little, she could feel her legs taking over and supporting her body.

“Good Cassidy.” Lauren said, as she saw that Cass was standing straight up without much support from her arms. 

“Come on Cass!” Holly didn’t exactly know what Cass was supposed to be doing, or what it was supposed to look like, but as long as Cass didn’t fall, she guessed it was a good thing.

Cass suddenly felt very confident in what she was doing, and as if someone was telling her exactly how to do it, she shifted her weight on to her left leg, and pushed her right one forwards.

“YES!” Lauren shouted excitedly as Cass pushed her other leg forward, shifting her weight over to her right leg.

“ONE MORE TIME CASS!”

With all the strength she had left, she took one small step before she fell back and let the suite support the weight of her body.

“YES!” Lauren rushed over to her and gave Cass a hug.

“Oh my god, Cass! You walked!” Holly was nearly on the verge of tears as she too gave her a hug.

“I did it!” Cass said, not knowing if she wanted to laugh or cry.

“Let me help you back to you chair.” Lauren grabbed Cass’ arm and helped her sit down.

“I can’t believe you walked.” Holly was even more excited than Cass.

Cass wasn’t even sure if she realized what had just happened. 

“I think that’s enough for today Cassidy.” Lauren smiled. “You should go home and get some rest now.”
Cass shook her head. “Rest? We’re going out shopping for a wedding gown. I can’t rest now anyways. I’m way too excited. I gotta call Nick! Thanks Lauren.”

Holly laughed and followed Cass out of the room. Cass immediately pulled out her phone and dialled Nick’s number.

“Hey baby.” He answered cheerfully.

“Nick, I did it!!!”

“Did what?”

“I WALKED!”

There was a few seconds of silence.

“Are you serious?”

She could picture him smiling at the other end of the line “YES!”

“Oh my god, Cass. That is great!”

Cass laughed. “I know! I mean, it was only like a few feet, but I did it all by myself. No help from Holly or Lauren or anyone. I just lifted myself up from the chair, held on to the bars and moved my feet. It was as if someone just told me how to do it.”

“I’m so proud of you Cass! I wish I could’ve been there with you to see it…” He sounded almost sad that he wasn’t able to be there.

“It’s ok Nick. I’ll show you once you get home in a few days.”

“I can’t wait!”

“Me neither. Listen, I gotta go. We’re going shopping for a wedding gown.”

“Ok. Have fun. Find something nice for me.”

“I will.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

The girls made their way out to the car and drove away to go and do some serious shopping.

Three hours and four bridal shops later, they still hadn’t found anything that they liked.

“How about that one?” Holly pointed towards a shop on a street corner as they were driving past. Cass turned her head to look at it.

“Vera Wang? No way!”

“Why not?”

“Do you know how much those dresses cost?”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Didn’t Nick tell you not to worry about the cost of the wedding? I thought he gave you his credit card.”

Cass sighed. “Well… he did. But I’m not gonna spend that much money on a wedding gown.”

“Cass…” Holly pulled over and parked the car, turning her head to face Cass. “Honestly. Do you think Nick would care how much you spend on the dress? Because I think that all he wants is for you to be happy, and look your best. It’s the most important day of your life Cass. You’re supposed to sweep him off his feet. Make him speechless. Drool… or whatever.”

Cass looked at Holly for a few sec before she answered.

“Ok.” She simply said.

“Ok? You’re not gonna argue with me? Come on… you’re no fun.”

Cass laughed. “No, you’re right. It is the most important day of my life. And I really wanna make him speechless, or as you so nicely said it… drool.”

Holly laughed. “Alright! Let’s go!”

She helped Cass out of the car and together, they crossed the street and entered the bridal shop.

One hour later they had found the perfect dress. The sales lady in the shop had been extremely helpful and patient. It was hard for Cass to try on the dresses, and she needed support and a lot of time to get it right. The dress she found was only a basis gown, but that way, Cass was able to get it customized and personalized to make it just the way she wanted it. They took her measures, and draw a sketch of what it was going to look like once it was done. It was an elegant strapless A-Line satin gown. It had a floor length skirt with semi cathedral train with built in crinoline and hand beaded bodice and skirt inset with sequin, clear and pearl beads.

Holly was almost even more excited than Cass when she what the gown would look like.

“Oh my god, Cass. Not only is Nick going to drool once he sees you in that gown, he’ll need a bucket to collect the water dripping out of his mouth so that he won’t be standing in a pond once you reach him.”

Cass laughed. “It is kinda nice…”

“Kinda nice? It’s gorgeous.”

“I just hope I’ll be able to walk down the aisle. That would make him even more speechless.”

“You will Cass.” Holly said, placing a hand on Cass’ shoulder.

Cass sighed. “God, I hope so…”