On his way back to the hospital for the last time, Cas felt a mixture of eagerness and apprehension. He was glad that he was going to be bringing Iris good news, that she wouldn’t end up homeless just because of one unfortunate accident. After everything she’d been through, she deserved to have something go positively for her for once. Plus, he had to admit he liked the idea of being the one to help her get her memories back. He’d enjoyed their last two talks, so he looked forward to spending more time with her. She was definitely the kind of person he could see himself becoming friends with in the long term. The only problem was that he didn’t know if things would stay the same between them as they had been.

He still had to tell her the truth about himself. As hard as he had tried to put it off, she needed to know that he was the crown prince of Aspiria. He wanted her to hear it from his own mouth rather than realizing it when they showed up at the Maydestone mansion. Now that she was coming to stay with him, he couldn’t hide it any longer. He just hoped it wouldn’t change how well they had been getting on since they’d met two days ago.

Pulling up to the hospital, he was about to bring his car around to the valet drop-off, but slowed down instead when he caught sight of a figure leaning on crutches outside the front of the building. [color=#b97703][i]Iris?[/i][/color] His eyes widened as he recognized her. If she was outside, they must have released her already. He glanced at the digital clock on his dashboard. It looked like his guess about the hospital not keeping her past noon had been right, because it was barely half-past eleven. He’d arrived just in time.

Quickly, he changed direction to circle into the pick-up spot by the front doors. Like the rest of the royal family’s vehicles, his white sports car had privacy tinted windows, so he wasn’t sure if she could spot who the driver was from outside. It didn’t matter though, because as soon as he put the vehicle in park, he climbed out to stop her before she could leave.

[color=#b97703]“Iris!”[/color] he called to get her attention as he trotted over to where she was standing. [color=#b97703]“Hey, it’s good to see you on your feet. I don’t think I ever have before.”[/color] He smiled, hoping to cheer her up since she was probably upset that her family hadn’t come to get her by now. Part of him was disappointed in them too. It had been three days since he’d found her, so he was surprised no one seemed to have realized she’d been in an accident. Whenever he was even late for curfew, his father always got worried that something bad had happened to him. He had thought all parents were like that.

Putting the thought aside for now, he went on to deliver the happy news. [color=#b97703]“Looks like I caught you at the perfect time,”[/color] he propped his hands on his hips. [color=#b97703]“I was just on my way to tell you that my dad gave you his stamp of approval. You can stay at our place until you get your memories back! Or until your family calls looking for you. Whichever comes first.”[/color]