#browneyesparker

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”Ezekiel said just before he turned and left the room, closing thedoor behind him.“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep and Ijust…got a little scared I guess.”Jake laughed a little, “Haven’t youever seen this before?”“No,” Cassandra replied, “Myparents weren’t very big on movies.”“Well, alright….try to keep it downok?” Jake said as he turned to leave.“Jake,” Cassie reached out for hishand, “Could you stay? Please? Just until the movie is over?”He only paused for a moment beforegiving her a slight nod, “Move over.”Soon they were both settled, Jake ontop of the covers and Cassie below them, and he couldn’t help thathis focus was more on the lack of space between them than on themovie itself. And each time something new scared her, Cassandra wouldmove just a little closer until she was turning her face into Jake’schest to avoid looking at the screen. In those moments, Jake was sureshe could feel his racing heart as he wrapped his arm around her.“Ok, that’s ridiculous.” Cassiesaid when Glen, aka Johnny Depp, was swallowed by his bed, “There’snot even that much blood in the human body.”“A crazy dude is killin’ teenagers intheir dreams and the thing that bothers you the most is the amount ofblood that shots out of this kid’s bed?” Jake replied with a laugh,ignoring how his arm tightened around her, “Hell, he was swallowedby a bed.”“His mother can see this though, soit’s really happening.” she said as she turned to him with a laugh,“How is that even possible?”“I don’t know, how is magic real?”Cassandra’s eye roll was so animated that it only made Jake laughharder. “It’s a movie Cassie. It doesn’t have to be possible.”“I know…it’s just gonna bug me.”They both fell silent after that as shewas once again sucked into the action on screen and he was distractedby her hair, which smelled like strawberries, as it tickled his arm.By the time the credits began to roll,Jake was sure his arm had fallen asleep and it didn’t take him longto realize that so had Cassandra. “Cassie,” he whispered whichonly caused her to wrap herself even more tightly around him, “Cass,I’m gonna go to bed.”“Stay,” she said quietly as hetried to move out from under her. When her blue eyes opened slowly tolook up at him, he almost didn’t have the heart to tell her no.“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”he replied while the rest of him protested.“Just tonight,” she continued, “Ifeel safer with you here.”With a sigh, Jake pulled up the coversand laid down beside her.Sci Fi:Her hands were full, like extremelyfull. The type of full that made you wonder why you didn’t take thatsecond trip because when, not if, you drop everything the time youthought you were saving would pretty much be wasted. But somehow,she was able to carefully balance not only two styrofoam containersfilled with eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns, but everything elseshe’d brought with her, while knocking on Jake’s door at the sametime. Once the task was complete and nothing dropped, Cassandra wasmore than pleased with herself.“Who is it?” Jake’s voice calledthrough the door.“It’s me.” she yelled back onlyadding her name once she realized that, it’s me, wasn’t exactlyclear.“The key is under the mat.”The key is under the mat…becauseof course it is.It took her a moment, but she was soonable to walk into his apartment with everything in hand. Jake satstaring at her from his couch with a look that was somewhere betweenannoyance and amusement while she set everything on his dining roomtable. Once everything was out of her hands, Cassie rested them onher hips and stared back, blowing a piece of hair out of her face inthe process.“I brought you breakfast.” she saidmatter-of-factly before heading into the kitchen.“All that’s breakfast?” he calledto her the moment she’s out of sight.“All that is breakfast and snacks andsomething for lunch and dinner,” she replied reappearing withknives and forks in hand, “And some books from the library-”“Cassie darlin’, I broke my leg isall. I’m not entirely useless.”She ignored him, placing the utensilsand the breakfast containers on his end table, before turning toclear off his recliner. “And I brought Star Wars.”“Star Wars? All of them?”“Ew, no.” she wrinkled her nose indisgust, “The original trilogy only. The prequels do not exist asfar as I’m concerned….”Something in her tone made Jake pausefor a moment, eyeing her wearily, “You still brought them didn’tya.”Cassandra stopped cleaning, “I know Ishouldn’t like them…but they’re still Star Wars, Jake. StarWars.”“And what made you think I’d want towatch Star Wars?”“Because it’s Star Wars. Everyonelikes Star Wars.”“True that is.” he replied causingCassandra to grin at him, a gesture that he returned.“And you sounded absolutely miserableon the phone yesterday and I know these movies always cheer me up, soI figured they’d do the same thing for you.” She disappeared for amoment only to return with drinks.“I figured you for more of aTrekkie.” Jake said, deciding to go along with this impromptu moviemarathon thing she had planned. He literally had nothing but layingon the couch and wallowing in his own misery planned anyway.“While it’s true that they are morescientifically accurate, I mean I don’t recall Star Trek everreferring to a parsec as a unit of time instead of distance, I justfind Star Wars more appealing overall. I mean, Princess Leia, HanSolo, Obi Wan…they’re amazing.”Jake smiled because only Cassandra,“And your parents were fans too?”“Yes,” she replied with a smile ofher own, finally sitting down before handing him his breakfast. Asecond later, she realized she’d forgotten the movies and quickly gotup to get them. “It was one of the few things they actually let mewatch as a kid.”“Alright, it’s what? 10 am? Yourealize this is gonna be over 12 hours of movie watchin’ that youhave planned?”“794 minutes to be exact. Just over13 hours.” she smiled to herself, “Smells like popcorn.”“Then lets get started.”Fantasy:She felt like death…though she didn’tactually feel like she was dying, she knew what that felt like. No,she simply felt like soon she’d be so unable to breathe that she’djust become some sort of harbinger of death that occasionally ferriedpeople between worlds.That didn’t make sense.Cassandra suddenly realized that shewas spending far too much time with Jake and his mythology texts.Speaking of:Sick.She quickly typed the four letter replybefore rolling over on her bed, covering her head with blankets andwishing that she could time travel to some point in the future wherethe flu didn’t exist. Suddenly, her phone rang. Cassandra groaned asa form of greeting.“Hey kid, you ok?” Jake started andthe worry in his voice made her realize how incredibly vague her texthad been.“Flu.” she replied, apparently shewas not only typing in monosyllables, she was speaking in them too,wonderful. Jake let out a tension breaking laughand Cassandra couldn’t help her grin, “D’you need anything?”“Sleep.” she mumbled already halfway there.“Alright, see you later.”Later was sometime after her noonbreakfast of a piece of dry toast and apple juice and her two o’clocklunch that was simply a bottle of water and Tylenol. Wrapped in arobe and her quilt, bunny slippers on her feet, she answered when heknocked on her door.“I brought soup, it’s my ma’srecipe.” Jake said as he stepped around her without invitation.Cassandra was ok with it, the smell of chicken soup seemed to makeher feel better almost instantly anyway. She followed the smell andJake into her kitchen.“You didn’t have to, Jake.” shesaid, knowing that it must’ve taken him a few hours to make the soup,“What about work?”“Once Jenkins found out that both youand Ezekiel were sick, he pretty much kicked me out of the Annex so Iwouldn’t ‘contaminate’ anything.” he replied as he pulled bowls outof her cabinet. She didn’t quite register when it happened, butapparently they both knew their way around the other’s kitchen. Thetotally domesticity of it made her face warm…or warmer, at leastshe thought it did, it could’ve just been her fever.“How come you’re not sick?”“Strong immune system I guess….Goback to bed, I got this.”“Thank you,” she sighed as she didwhat she was told. It wasn’t long before Jake came into her bedroomwith a tray, that she didn’t even know she had, laden with soup and aglass of ginger-ale. She thanked him again as she began to eat saidsoup. “Jake, this is amazing.”“Yeah, the recipe is about 80 yearsold. It always made all us Stone kids feel better and I reckon youcould use it.”“Thank you…again. I think this isprobably the best chicken noodle soup that I’ve ever had and I’ve hada lot of chicken noodle soup.”They both fell silent as sheconcentrated on eating the now famous soup and soon Jake was standingin the middle of her bedroom awkwardly scratching the back of hisneck.In the middle of her bedroom…oh god,“Ummm, so-”“What are you watching?” Jake said,cutting off what was bound to be an extremely awkward statement fromher.“The Lord of the Rings extendededitions. I’ve had them for forever, but I’ve never had time to watchthem so I figured, why not?” she said in a rush, her voice growingincreasingly rougher as she paused to have a coughing fit.When she looked up, Jake’s crystal blueeyes were wide with excitement. It was odd until she remember whatshe was talking about. “I’ve never seen the extended editionseither. There was never a good time….”“Do you want to stay and watch themwith me?” Cassie croaked, “I mean, I wouldn’t want you to catchthis, but it’s up to you.”Jake left the room for a moment only toreturn with one of the chairs from her living room and it wasn’texactly a light chair so she knew he was way more excited for thisthan she initially thought. It was adorable.Once they were settled, she played themovie, thankful that she was mostly at the beginning anyway.Of course, Cassandra ended up dozingoff every now and then, being sick and all, and yet each time sheopened her eyes she’d see Jake just as absorbed as ever in the actionon screen. She smiled to herself at the image of a young Jake readingTolkein and not just marveling at the story, but at all of the detailthe author had put into Middle Earth itself. With maps and languagesand myths, Jake must’ve loved it.There was enough soup to last her therest of the day, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way, whileJake raided her fridge for whatever she had left in there that wasedible and he made sure to keep her medicated and hydrated as themarathon continued.Cassandra fell asleep again sometimenear the end of Return of the King, which meant she was going to missthe end of the marathon, but frankly she didn’t care. It was onlywhen she felt Jake’s lips against her forehead that she awoke.“Hey,” she said with a sleepysmile, the credits theme playing in the background. She’d have towatch it again tomorrow.“Sorry,” he replied, “I didn’tmean to wake you.”“Don’t…it’s sweet.”Jake smiled down at her, “I thinkyour fever’s breakin’, but you should probably stay here tomorrowtoo.”“Yes, Dr. Stone.” Cassandra saidsnuggling into her pillow even more, not exactly coherent enough tothink of a better reply. She was also a bit too distracted by thememory of how his lips felt against her forehead.“I’m gonna head out.” he whispered,but she was already sleeping, “Goodnight Cassandra.”Period Drama:Jake had absolutely no idea how thishad happened, he did not agree to this. Keira Knightley and whoeverit was that played Darcy were dancing on screen and the only thingrunning through his mind was how much crap he was gonna get ifEzekiel ever found out about this.(The kid already wouldn’t stop with thecomments about how he didn’t get any chicken noodle soup.)It also reminded him too much of themission they’d been on earlier that day and how he held her in hisarms while they danced, his heart beating so hard he’d been so sureshe could feel it.“Cassie-” Jake started only for herto shush him and shove popcorn in his mouth in an effort to silencehim. She was sitting on the edge of her seat and he could tell thatshe was too absorbed in what was happening to pay him any attention.So, he chewed his popcorn quietly and waited until Elizabeth andDarcy were done dancing before he tried again, “Cassie, I think I’mgonna head out.”“What?” she turned to him, eyeswide, “I thought…isn’t this a thing now?”“What?” he replied, not quiteknowing what she meant. She was sitting too close and he was havingtrouble forming his thoughts…she still smelled like strawberries.“Watching movies together, it’s athing we do now, right?”He sighed, how the hell had he gottenhimself into this? “Well, yeah, but not ones like this.”“What do you mean ‘like this’?”Cassandra replied, not entirely sure where this was coming from. “Isthis because it’s a girly movie?”“Yeah it’s because it’s a girlymovie.” Jake said, his arms flailing around slightly.“Really? Are you embarrassed?”Jake couldn’t be sure how she meant thequestion, was she curious? Was she offended? This was new anddangerous territory. “No, I just…” He didn’t know how toelaborate either because he wasn’t sure entirely sure why this wasbothering him so much.“I really didn’t think you were thisshallow, Jake.” she snapped and clearly offended was the rightchoice. They’d both gotten to their feet and were standing muchcloser than he’d like, which meant he’s was clearly crazy for takinganother step towards her.“I’m not-I didn’t mean it like that.”“So, you just don’t want to watch itwith me.”“Yes!” he shouted back only toregret it once he saw the look on her face, “I mean no. Why are wefightin’ about this?”“I don’t know Jake, why are wefighting about this?” she asked quietly with a look that was alltoo knowing. They were so close now that he only needed to leanin….Jake hesitated, if only for a second,but it was enough. A moment later she was on the other side of herbedroom door and he was left standing alone in her living roomwondering what the hell just happened.Action:“Dude, you should’ve kissed her.”Ezekiel said, he couldn’t help how annoyed he was about this entirething that Jake and Cassie had going on. It was more than a littlebit frustrating when he had to witness them making eyes at each otherwhile they were all on a case.“We don’t make eyes at each other.”Jake said grumpily as he watched Rocky punch his opponent.Ezekiel was clearly unfazed afterhaving said that last bit out loud. “Oh yes you do. I had to throwa bloody rock at your head the last time just to get your attention.”“She was hallucinating.”“No she wasn’t, she was wearing askirt.”“She’s always wearin’ a skirt.”“And you’re always staring.”“Why am I even here right now?”Jake sighed as he rubbed a hand down his face.“Because you need guy advice and I,Ezekiel Jones ladies’ man and thief extraordinaire, am telling youyou should’ve kissed her.” Ezekiel took a drink of his beer andsmiled toothily at Jake, reveling in his pain.*****

“You should’ve kissed him.” Evesaid. Jake had come up to her complaining about how Ezekiel threw arock at him while they were on a mission and when Ezekiel told herwhy he’d done it, she honestly couldn’t blame him. “The sexualtension between you two is starting to have an affect on your abilityto handle cases.”

Cassie’s eyes were intent on TheAvengers and Thor’s arms (Jake’s arms weren’t much smaller shethought) when she nearly choked on her pretzel, “Sexual tension?! Ihave no idea-”

“Don’t give me that bull. Youtotally, 100% know what I’m talking about.”The red head sighed, “I do. I reallydo.” she groaned loudly and slumped over so she was laying Eve’scouch, “I don’t know how to handle this.”

“You grab him by the shirt and layone on him, that’s how you handle it and preferably before we all goinsane.”

“Let me guess, that’s how you handledit with Flynn?”

“Well, yeah.” Eve replied with anod. “Look, even the library is frustrated by you two or did youforget how it locked you both in a broom closet?”

“I thought…really?” Cassandracouldn’t help the unusually high pitch of her voice at the end of thequestion. They’d been stuck in that closet for hours and both she andJake had blamed it on everyone else at some point or other.

“Yeah.”

“…Damn.”

*****

“Hey,”