"Yeah… miss Serna said I should because the dating site people keep asking me to send them nudes or something." Nix sighed softly. "What exactly should we talk about?"
"You're doing great, love." Cas crooned, gently running his fingers through Zachary's hair. "So great."
"Well… we should talk about whatever you want to. Anything that comes to mind." Gloria folded her legs, pulling over a notebook and pen.
"As…" currently, he as trying to say Cas's name.
"Sass." Zachary blinked a bit, then laughed at himself lightly.
"W-Well, I dunno… um… I generally do better with prompting." Nix laughed weakly. "Um… one thing I've noticed is that seeing Cas and Zachary being so happy makes me feel really lonely…"
Cas giggled a bit and kissed Zachary's cheeks. "You know what? We can go with that for now if that's the easiest for you, darling."
Zachary nodded, smiling brightly.
"Mhm, Sass." He grinned, kissing Cas back. He was probably going to keep the nickname.
Cas giggled again and buried his face in Zachary's shoulder. "Okay, okay. Let's work on simple stuff now. What about… 'I'm hungry', or something like that?"
Zachary nodded, focusing again with a faint smile.
"I… I'm…" Zachary started. "I-I'm hungy." He blushed deeply, hiding his face in embarrassment.
"That's really good, Zachary." Cas smiled softly and kissed Zachary again. "I just wanna make sure you're able to tell us when you need things."
"S-So… um… what exactly am I supposed to do about that?" Nix asked nervously. "I know we set up the thing with the website and all, but… you know…"
Zachary nodded, face still hidden in Cas's shoulder. This as embarrassing…
"Well, you can always come to me," Gloria assured. "The best thing we can do now is be patient. We'll find someone."
"Don't be embarrassed, love. You're doing fantastic, okay?" Cas smiled gently. "It's important that we're able to help you."
"B-But I miss Halm…" Nix whispered shakily. "I wish he hadn't ruined what we had…"
Zachary nodded, pulling away a bit. He kissed Cas gently.
"I love you," he said quietly.
"I know," Gloria said gently. "I… I do have a question for you."
"I love you too, Zachary. So much." Cas purred, huddling closer to Zachary.
Nix looked up at Gloria curiously. "Oh, um… s-sure… what is it?" He asked.
Zachary smiled, wrapping his arms around Cas again. He kissed Cas's forehead, humming softly.
"So mush," Zachary agreed. Damn his lisp.
Gloria took a deep breath.
"Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive him?"
Nix paled a bit and looked away. "I-I… um… I'm not sure…" He whispered shakily. "I'd… I'd like to, obviously… what we had was so great… but it's just too soon. I need time."
Gloria nodded.
"No one is going to ask you to forgive him before you're ready," she assured.
Nix nodded and looked down at the floor, clearly a bit nervous. "Should I forgive him? I-I mean… I haven't heard his side of the story… what if he didn't mean to rape me?"
Gloria was quiet a moment.
"Eventually I will have to go over and talk to Halm," she said quietly. "I'll be able to tell you his side of the story without you having to be around him. It is your decision if you forgive him or not."
"Okay… regardless of whatever his story is, I-I still need time, you know? This isn't something I can just forget about overnight, after all…"
Gloria nodded.
"And we'll all make sure you have plenty of time to process. He's not going to come anywhere near you."
Nix nodded a bit and closed his eyes, leaning against the back of the couch with a soft sigh. "This is a mess… I'm not normally the one who needs therapy."
Gloria took a moment to write in her notebook.
"Yes, I've heard. How do you feel about that? Going from a therapy cat to this?"
"It's… it's really strange… I feel like I've failed Cas, almost. I-I mean, I'm supposed to stay strong for him… to help him get through his own problems. I'm not supposed to get problems of my own…"
Gloria was silent as Nix spoke.
"You have helped Cas," she started. "And now you feel bad that it's your turn to be helped. You haven't failed anyone, Nix. Someone hurt you, and now you need to heal."
Nix sighed and looked away, curling his tail around himself. "I-I just… sometimes I feel like it would have been better if Halm hadn't turned me into a person at all…"
Gloria looked up at Nix, sighing softly.
"Oh?" She said. She'd never really had to deal with something like this.
"Uhm… I like being able to do things by myself, b-but I… none of this would've happened if I were still a cat, you know? Halm and I wouldn't have killed Cas's ex, he wouldn't have done this to me, Halm wouldn't have shattered Zachary because we wouldn't have killed Cas's ex… I-I would just… I would still just be Cas's therapy cat and none of this… none of this would have happened…"