Chapter 215: Interlude 51 – Familiar Faces

=::= Cass's PoV =::=

"Hello Cass," Theresa greeted me with a smile. Then as she led me in from the waiting room she added, "It's good to see you again. It's been a while."

Once we were in her office I moved to sit down on the end of the sofa again like usual. I couldn't help noticing the place hadn't really changed since the last time I was there. On the other hand she seemed different. I was positive she'd gotten a bit taller since the last time we saw her.

This was our first time back at therapy since the end of August, and the first time I'd seen Tess since that double-date where things got awkward. Now it was the ninth of November and more than two months had passed by. And on top of all that, I wasn't even really here to see her.

We'd talked on the phone last week, and she suggested it might be more suitable for me and Cassandra to start seeing her coworker Emma Carter after all. Partially because Ms. Carter had more training and experience dealing with plural systems, but also because Cassandra and Amethyst were still planning on working together. Which meant we'd probably be seeing Tess again in social settings and stuff like that.

"Sorry it took us so long to come back," I finally responded. "Things have been kind of busy lately, and both me and Cassandra were really focused on other stuff."

Tess got seated in her chair by the desk then asked, "I take it your first couple months at college have been hectic?"

That made me grimace, "Not really? It's um, the busy stuff hasn't been at school. I guess college is a little busy, but we've had a lot of other things going on too."

"I see," she nodded.

It looked like she was going to ask or comment on something else, but she caught herself. Which made me think she was probably going to ask if we'd been busy doing goddess stuff, or maybe she was going to ask about Club Luna stuff.

Instead she asked, "Is there anything you'd like to speak with me about, before I invite Emma to join us?"

I hesitated as I thought for a bit, but neither Cassandra or I could really come up with anything. My goddess half made a comment though, which I passed on to Theresa.

"Cassandra said she and Amethyst have been talking lately" I told her. "To try and arrange another get-together? I think she wants to tell Amy about some of that stuff we've been busy with."

Then I added, "I guess that's why you suggested we should see Emma? It's awkward trying to keep goddess stuff separate from therapy stuff."

Tess gave us a sympathetic look and asked, "Shall I go and get Emma then?"

"Like I said when we talked on the phone last week, Emma has some experience with the supernatural. And after we talked I gave her a bit of a briefing, plus she's reviewed all my case notes, so she knows what to expect," the tall redhead added.

I nodded, "Ok then. Thank you."

She gave us another smile as she excused herself, then stepped back out of her office. She was only gone a half minute or so before returning with another woman, and we ended up sort of staring at each other while Tess did the introductions.

"Cass, this is Emma Carter. And Emma, this is Cass Underwood."

Emma was about average height, and looked a couple years older than my mom and mum. She was dressed in some loose faded blue jeans and a sweater, and she had sneakers on her feet. Her brown hair was done in a simple short style that looked easy to maintain, and she was wearing some subtle make-up.

Overall she looked like a mom. Like I was sure she had kids of her own, but beyond that she just looked like the sort of person who'd offer to be a mom to anyone who needed some mom energy. Basically she reminded me a lot of my own parents, which I hoped would be a good thing.

"Hello Cass," she greeted me with a very mom smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

I responded politely, "Hello Ms. Carter. It's nice to meet you too."

That only made her smile wider as she replied, "You can call me Emma if you like. Would you be more comfortable if we stayed here with Theresa? Or would you like to come with my to my office instead?"

I hesitated as I worried that Tess might feel like we were abandoning her if we left immediately, but on the other hand maybe she'd prefer to get us out of her office so she could do other things.

Cassandra and I ended up having a brief internal debate on the subject before I answered, "I guess we can go to your office?"

"All right then," Emma said as she gestured for us to follow.

I got up and as I headed for the door I looked back at Tess and said, "Thanks for all your help Theresa. We appreciate it. And we'll probably see you again soon, Cassandra's hoping to meet with Amethyst before the end of the month."

"You're very welcome Cass," Tess replied. "And Cassandra too, I'm glad I was able to help you both take the first steps."

I nodded awkwardly then hurried out after Emma. Her office was just down the hall, and I ended up standing in her office doorway as I looked around and took it all in.

The older woman's office was actually a lot smaller than Theresa's. It was probably half the size, and it was decorated very differently. Where Tess had open space, modern-looking furniture, a big desk and big bookcases loaded with books, Emma had more of a comfy little nook. There was a sofa which took up one complete wall, then a comfy chair angled to the side of that. Her desk was more like a hall table with a laptop on it, and she had a small stool with wheels instead of an office chair. There was a small bookcase that was only half-full, but a lot of the wall space was taken up by pictures.

The larger ones were like generic inoffensive artsy black and white photo prints, like landscapes and buildings and old cars. But there were also a number of smaller pictures around her desk that were obviously her family.

There were a few pictures of another woman about the same age as Emma, including one wedding photo of the two of them together in bridal dresses. That made both Cassandra and I happy, knowing we were going from one queer therapist to another queer therapist.

There were also a few pictures of twin girls who looked about my age, like nineteen or so. I figured they had to be Emma's daughters, although they didn't actually look like either her or her wife. Then again I knew all about being adopted, so it wasn't a big deal if her kids looked like her or not.

The two teens were identical, with dusky skin and long straight black hair. They both had dark green eyes, and were even wearing the same outfits in all the photos. About the only difference between the two was one of the twins had a slightly mischievous smile, while the other just looked happy.

"Those are all my family photos," Ms. Carter commented as we looked at the pictures. "My wife's name is Carol. And my daughters are Mara and Mira."

I nodded slowly, "They're pretty. All of them, I mean. Carol, and your daughters."

"Thank you," she smiled.

There was one more photo that caught our eye, it had the twins in the middle surrounded by four other young women. The first looked to be in her mid-twenties, she was a completely average looking girl-next-door type, with shoulder length sandy blonde hair. Then there was a younger girl who looked to be about my age. She was small and cute and looked shy in a big oversized hoodie, and actually kind of reminded me of myself in a way.

The twins were in the middle, then on the other side of them was another young woman in her mid-twenties. She was tall and looked sort of strict, with short red hair. And the last one was about the same age again, mid-twenties and tall. She stood out though, like some kind of model or something. Her bright blonde hair was done up in tight ringlets, her make-up was perfect, and her clothes were really fashionable.

That last blonde seemed familiar to me but I couldn't quite place her. Cassandra seemed to know her though, she spoke up in my mind and asked, "Would you mind if I took over for a bit Cass? I need to talk with Ms. Carter about something."

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I hesitated as I responded internally, "Is it important? I don't want to do anything too weird at our first session with a new therapist."

She pointed out, "Emma's supposed to be the expert on plurality, remember? I don't think she's going to be too put off if she sees us swap. And I want to ask her a question about this picture."

"What sort of question though?" I asked her. "The two in the middle are her twins, the rest are probably their friends or something."

Cassandra replied, "That's what I'm curious about. We've met one of them, she's a succubus."

"Oh," I said as I realized why that last girl looked familiar. Then I pulled back while my other self moved forward.

As we were doing all that Emma commented, "You seem curious about that picture? Three of those girls are my daughters' girlfriends, the fourth is another of their closest friends."

Cassandra asked, "The tall fashionable blonde at the end, that's Grace Sutton isn't it?"

"That's right," Ms. Carter responded in a surprised tone. "Do you know her?"

"I met her at the end of August," my goddess half replied. Then she turned to face Emma as she continued, "Theresa said you were familiar with the supernatural, I assume that means you know Miss Sutton is a succubus?"

Emma's eyes widened slightly as she seemed surprised again that we knew that. She nodded, "I'm aware of that, yes. Is that going to be a problem?"

We shook our head, then Cassandra turned and looked at the pictures again. "You said your daughters' names are Mara and Mira?"

"That's right," Emma nodded. Then she added, "I'm sorry to pry but can I ask, am I still speaking with Cass?"

We looked back at her once again and shook our head as my other half replied, "Not at the moment. My name is Cassandra. Sorry for swapping places unannounced, but I was surprised to see Miss Sutton's picture on your wall."

After a slight hesitation Cassandra asked, "This is perhaps a long-shot, but do you know a demon named Lily?"

Once again Ms. Carter's eyes widened, and she even looked a little uneasy. There was a slight pause before she slowly nodded, "I do. I take it you learned about Lily from Grace?"

"I actually met Lily in person a few days ago," my goddess half responded. "My sister Nina and I went down to the city to see her."

By that point I was feeling as surprised as Emma looked. I had no idea my other self and my sister had gone to meet some demon, and I couldn't help wondering why. Especially considering Nina always talked about avoiding other demons, ever since her horn was broken when she was young.

Meanwhile our new therapist was staring at us warily as she asked, "Just Lily? Or did you meet m- her daughters as well? Or any of her other succubi?"

We shook our head, "It was just Lily. I got the impression she has a thing for secrecy, she was very eager that Mara and Mira not know about our meeting."

"I see," Emma nodded slowly. "I hope the fact that I'm familiar with some demons and succubi isn't going to pose any sort of problem?"

Cassandra smiled and shook our head as we finally moved to sit down at one end of the sofa, "Not at all. Neither Cass or I have any problem with demons. Our sister is a demon, so is our girlfriend."

"As for Lily," she added, "Our meeting with her ended on good terms. Perhaps someday we might even become friends with her."

Ms. Carter seemed relieved as she sat down on her little stool. She smiled at us, "I'm glad to hear that. And apart from some surprises this has turned out to be a good way for us to get to know each other. Do you have any other questions for me? Or may I ask some of you?"

My goddess half nodded, "Ask away. I won't promise to answer everything, but I don't mind you asking."

"I can also turn things back over to Cass again if you'd like to resume the session with her," she added.

Emma shook her head, "Whatever the two of you are most comfortable with is fine with me. Although that does lead to my first questions. I take it you and Cass can communicate fairly easily? Do you both get along well with each other?"

Cassandra seemed to consider that for a moment before answering, "Yes, I like to think Cass and I have become much better at communicating with each other over the past couple months. And I feel as though we get along well together too. I think it's important that she answer for herself though, so I'll step back now so she can talk with you again."

Ms. Carter was watching closely this time when my goddess half and I traded places. And that made me feel kind of self-conscious about it, since I was positive she was looking for any clues or tells about which of us was present. And my increased uneasiness probably made any little tells or hints even more easy to see as soon as I was back in the driver's seat.

I grimaced slightly, "Hello again. It's Cass here now."

"Welcome back Cass," Emma replied with a friendly smile. "Were you aware of my conversation with Cassandra? Did you know she was going to switch with you and take the front?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "She asked permission first? She's been doing that for a couple months now. Other than emergencies I guess? She always asks or lets me know first. And yes I saw and heard everything, I wasn't asleep or anything like that."

She smiled again, "Both of those things are really good to hear. It sounds like you have a lot of cooperation in your system, and you both respect each other."

I shrugged, "I guess so?"

"She does keep some things secret from me," I added. "Sometimes she does stuff without telling me. But I know she's not always watching every single thing I do either, so I guess it balances out."

Emma nodded slightly then asked, "How do you feel about the questions I asked Cassandra? Do you think you're both communicating well? And how well do you get along with her?"

"I guess I feel the same as her?" I replied with another shrug. "It was a lot harder at first, like back in the summer when I first found out about her I was really uncomfortable. Or scared of her, and what was happening to me? But Tess helped me understand, and Cassandra was pretty patient with me too I guess. So yeah, we're doing pretty good now, working as a team and stuff?"

Emma gave us another smile, "That sounds wonderful Cass. Hearing about that kind of progress really makes me happy."

We ended up spending the rest of the session getting to know each other better, and talking a bit more about some of the stuff Cassandra and I had done together over the past couple months. We didn't tell her any sensitive stuff though, like about things we'd done with Club Luna. And we definitely didn't say anything about the council or Carlos Nahuel or anything like that.

In fact by the time our session was over I actually felt pretty comfortable with Emma. Like I figured from the start, talking with her was like talking with a mom. She was nice and kind and friendly and compassionate, but also really smart and observant.

Cassandra seemed happy with her as well, although I had a feeling my goddess half was still really curious about Ms. Carter's connection to those other demons and succubi.