About Cassie and Nick, just because they went together so freakin' much better than him and Kira.
Disclaimer: I don't own this. Duh. The movie would have been waaaaaaaay different.
When she was thirteen, she met Nick.
She Watched him, followed him, got to him, lied to him. She thought that he could help her find her mother, if he could be convinced to follow. It didn't take as much persuasion as she though it would, but he did go along. They got away from Division together, and even then she realized that she had just made the closest friend she had ever had in her entire life.
When she was fourteen, her mother died in her arms.
She had tried to get her out. She had tried so hard. But in the end, even with Nick taking and blocking bullet after bullet her mother just couldn't get away, and there was nothing that could be done when a Pusher got to her. She felt lost, alone. Never in her life had she been without her mother, never. And suddenly she didn't know if she wanted to go on. But she had Nick, and so she did.
When she was fifteen, Nick killed Kira.
In the end, nothing could be done. When one Pushes and Pushes real power can be seen, and eventually nothing can come but misery out of that. Nick tried and tried, and because he wanted to so badly she helped him try. In the end, though, nothing mattered in the effort to justify Kira, and Nick was forced to pull the trigger on the woman he had once loved. It was his turn to feel alone, agonized. But he had her. And she hoped she was enough.
When she was sixteen, she realized she loved him.
It was frightening, tempting, disillusioning. Such a thing was something she wasn't quite sure she actually wanted. But to her mind love was never something you wanted. It was just there. And over the months they never went apart, always stayed side-by-side. She Watched for things they didn't see coming, and he protected her from the evils around them. They were a team. Unbreakable. Inseparable. But sometimes, she wished they were more.
When she was seventeen, she began to think maybe there was a chance he loved her back.
She had just done a bit of innocent flirting with a waiter in Italy. Just because she was bored. She didn't expect anything to come of it, and she hadn't given up on Nick yet; she just wanted a change. But no sooner had the waiter laughed back than did Nick practically drag her from the restaurant. She wondered if it was jealousy, or if it was just a fatherly protectiveness. She didn't know which, and she tried not to get her spirits up. The chances of it actually being reciprocated feelings astronomical, and besides, there were a long ten years between them.
When she was eighteen, he came to get her.
They had been running from Division for too long, and the organization had finally caught up to them in Canada. Just south of the Arctic Circle they took her and left Nick to die. She didn't expect to be kept alive long. Didn't want to live without him. But just when all seemed too dark for her to escape he came back from the dead and ripped his way into the complex to her. He got her out, and they ran away again, and then she knew that there was something more between them. Something a lot more.
When she was nineteen, he told her how he felt.
She was happy. Probably truly happy for the first time since her mother had died. Ten years was a long time, granted, but she knew now that she would never love any man the way she loved Nick. And now that the feelings ran both ways they might actually have a chance. They were still on the run. They were still hiding from Division. But they were together. Actually together. They had each other, now in a more literal sense. And neither were letting go that easily.
When she was twenty, she almost lost him forever.
It had been an accident. They were walking on a rooftop in Beijing, having almost gone full circle in their world's travels. It had been raining the night before, but she hadn't Watched anything dangerous in the day, and so they thought it safe enough to go out. But once, laughing and dazed, she had stumbled too close to the edge, and he had to lunge after her as she almost fell over the side. Both of them were inches from death, but Nick had saved them again. They clung to each other for a long time, before they were finally able to move up and away.
When she was twenty-one, he left her for the first, last, and only time.
It didn't last long. To kick it off they'd had an arguing match about some stupid topic that neither of them really cared about. Somehow he turned the indecision into blaming her for never going his way. It ended in a shouting row that left him on the street for the night; he never came back in the morning. She was heartbroken, and he couldn't stand to be away from her. It lasted two weeks before he went back, and they both promised each other through their welcome embrace that they would never do it to each other again.
When she was twenty-two, she gave birth to Amy.
It took only one look at Nick holding the baby girl to tell her that they would never be apart again. They would be eternally bonded by their love in the form of this previous treasure, their blessed child. Never had she felt happier than that day, when the three of them were together. She knew that day that they would last forever, until death did they part or, on a lesser topic, until Division found them. She worried what powers the baby would develop, but for a moment she didn't care. Because it was just them, with their love, alone in the world. Apart from everything else. Something she hadn't had in so long. A family.
When she was twenty-three, Division almost caught them.
In the event, though, it cost itself great resources, putting itself on the edge to bring in both the greatest Watcher and the greatest Mover of their times, even despite their late use of their talents. Somehow, Nick knew in his heart that Division would never again find his family. She didn't though. She knew it was pointless, and that Amy was safe with them and their love. But still she was cautious.
When she was twenty-four, it was a perfect year.
Division left them alone. Amy started to speak coherently, usually spraying Nick in spit and sending her into laughing fits it was hard to break her out of. The baby girl also began to show development skills of both her parents' talents, something she adored but Nick groaned about in anticipation of future annoyances. A lot of the time they just stayed in their home in Venice, where somehow they had managed to escape any unusual notice. She and Nick were content with just their daughter's company and their own. The only time they left was if Amy wanted air, and then they were perfectly fine with that, too.
When she was twenty-five, Nick asked her to stop worrying.
And she did.