According to Fiona Dourif, shedding that physical constraint allows Cassie to start thinking about herself for the first time in a while. "She's a little bit more settled, and maybe thinking about how she wants her life outside the hospital to look, and maybe what's missing." What's missing, Dourif says, is precisely what Cassie blurted out during the first hour of her shift — a need rooted in intimacy. "I think it's been a long time since she's been held or touched, and she's thinking about those big questions." "The concept of rejection is scary," Dourif says, "even if you think that it's not going to happen in that particular circumstance."