A/N - What started out as a cute little Fourth of July story turned into this mega thing. This is a sequel to Cassandra's First Carnival but can also be read as a stand alone story. It takes place roughly a couple weeks after the carnival and although Jake and Cassandra have been casually seeing each other, they haven't made their relationship public yet.
I feel like I should add a disclaimer that I am Canadian and have never celebrated the Fourth of July, but I figure it can't differ too much from Canada Day. Also, I spent a great deal of time researching activities in and around Portland and everything they do in this fic is an actual event that took place this year.
Keep your eyes open for the Leverage references. =)
Jake sighed when he felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. He didn't have to check to see who was calling him, it was the same person he had been avoiding all week. Knowing he couldn't put this off any longer, he excused himself from the workspace he shared with his fellow Librarians and headed upstairs where he could have some privacy.
Cassandra had watched him walk away, a slight look of concern on her face when she saw how upset he looked. Though when she heard him answer the phone and greet his mom on the other end, she understood. Cassandra knew Jacob's relationship with his family was a little strained. No where near as bad as her own relationship with her parents, but he still wasn't as close to his them as he would have liked.
"No mom, you know I'd love to come, I just…" Jake hesitated. "I just can't get away… yeah I miss you guys, too… Okay… Love you too, mom," he hung up and made his way back down the stairs.
"Everything okay?" Cassandra asked when he took his seat across from her.
"That was my mama," Jake answered, sounding a little ashamed. He hated lying to his mom. "She wanted to see if I'd be able to make it up for the holiday weekend this year, but I told her I couldn't get away from work."
"That's too bad," Cassandra empathised. "I didn't know you had a case. Maybe I can help you with it and you'll be able to go home after all."
Jake smiled and shook his head. "Thanks darlin', but I don't have a case. I just...you know things are complicated with my folks."
Cassandra nodded.
"And after all this time, seeing what we've seen, living this life that I've been living," Jake looked down, a little ashamed of himself. "I just can't bring myself to go back to how things use'ta be, even if it's just for the weekend."
"I get it, Jake," Cassandra said softly. "You don't have to explain."
"It's really too bad, too. Because my family throws the best 4th of July barbeque in all of Oklahoma. The whole neighbourhood shows up," Jake smiled, remembering the good times he had always had at those barbecues. "My mama spends days in the kitchen, baking every kind of pie you can imagine. And my daddy grills up the best burgers. I mean, eventually he ends up too drunk to know what he's doin', but by the time that happens we're usually pretty stuffed, anyways."
"You're lucky, my family never did anything for the holiday," Cassandra said wistfully.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Jake said. "considering everything else they didn't let you enjoy as a kid."
"I've never even seen fireworks," she added.
Jones, who had been silently trying to ignore his fellow coworkers, suddenly snapped to attention. "You've never seen fireworks?"
"Nope. They were always after my bedtime," Cassandra stated matter of factly. "And my parents were very strict when it came to making sure I got the proper amount of sleep every night."
Jones rolled his eyes. "And what about when you were a teenager? Please don't tell me they were after your bedtime as a teenager."
"Of course not," the redhead retorted. "When I was a teenager the fireworks were past my curfew."
"Seriously?" Jones shook his head. "How is it that I've had more 4th of July experiences than you?"
"Why don't we have our own celebration?" Cassandra suggested, mostly ignoring Jones and focusing her attention on Jake. "You can show me what all the fuss is about, and maybe it'll help take your mind off missing your family?"
"That's a great idea!" Ezekiel piped in, not at all oblivious to the fact that Jake and Cassandra hadn't actually included him. He couldn't help but notice the doe eyed stares the two were making at each other, and was determined to figure out what exactly was going on.
"What?" Cassandra looked over at Ezekiel. "Oh yeah, of course. You too, Jones." She then flashed Jake a helpless look, wordlessly letting him know that she was sorry. She knew that the thief wasn't Jake's favourite person in the world, but she also wasn't comfortable not including him when they were discussing their plans right in front of him.
"I suppose there's got to be somethin' going on around Portland this weekend," Jake agreed, grabbing the newspaper that had been sitting on the table. "Im sure we can find something to do."
Jones, however, had already brought up Portland's website and had found the information much faster than Stone. Cassandra leaned in over the thief's shoulder as they read over the various events.
"Boring...boring...boring…" Jones didn't bother reading out loud what events were being held, he just publicly announced when he found one borning. "Oh, now we're talking. There's a craft beer festival! Do you think they'll have samosas?"
"Craft beer festival might be fun," Cassandra agreed. "Oh, and look! They're putting on Macbeth in the cemetery! That might be a bit spooky, but I'd love to see it."
"Macbeth? Boring." Jones rolled his eyes.
"Well then don't go to that," Jake said, strolling over to the other side of the table so that he could read the event list as well. "Cassandra and I can see it without you."
"Both those things are on Friday. We could go to the beer festival and then Jake and I can go off to Macbeth when we're done there," Cassandra suggested.
"Well, I mean if you get a few beers in me first…" Ezekiel pondered. "Nah, still boring."
"The fireworks are on Saturday. And, oh look!" Jake exclaimed excitedly when he read something interesting. "There's a rodeo in St. Paul all weekend! We could spend Saturday there before coming back up for the fireworks. It's only about a 40 minute drive from here."
"It's only like a 4 second walk if you use the back door," Jones suggested.
"It's 40 minutes, Jones. Why would we use the door to go somewhere 40 minutes away?" Stone asked.
"Because it's there, obviously!"
Jake sighed. "You know, you don't have to come if you don't want to."
"To the rodeo? Of course I want to go to that!" Ezekiel exclaimed excitedly.
"I didn't know you liked horses, Jones." Cassandra said.
"I don't. Not really big on anything that will get my hands dirty," the thief held up his hands briefly and smiled. "But I do love anything with a distracted crowd. Makes pickpocketing that much easier."
Cassandra rolled her eyes at that, and Jake just ignored him completely as he figured out their itinerary.
"Okay, so Friday we hit the beer festival and then Cassandra and I will head down the the cemetery for Macbeth," Stone turned and smiled sweetly at the redhead beside him, knowing full well that Ezekiel wouldn't be able to see since he had his back to the couple. "Then Saturday we drive down to the rodeo, and head back up here in time for the fireworks. We could come back up a bit early and have a little barbecue for supper. Won't be quite the same as back home, but it'll still be nice."
"That sounds perfect," Cassandra agreed, reaching out to squeeze Jake's hand, taking advantage of the fact that Jones still had his back to them. She released it quickly when the thief suddenly turned around.
"It's a date!" He looked up at them from his chair and flashed them both his trademark, cheeky grin.
…
On Friday the three Librarians arrived at the craft beer festival just as it opened late in the afternoon. A small crowd had already built up and they got in line to purchase their beer tickets.
"Who knew there even were over a hundred different kinds of beers," Jones said, reading the sign by the entrance. Jake opened his mouth to say something but Cassandra placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and shook her head. Sometimes it was easier just to ignore Ezekiel.
When it was their turn to pay, Cassandra reached for her purse but Jake stopped her.
"Don't even think about it, darlin'," he smiled at her. "This is on me."
"That's mighty generous of you, mate," Jones chimed it, accepting the souvenir mug and ten beer tickets from the cashier and then heading into the festival.
Cassandra smirked. Jones' attitude combined with the stunned look on Jake's face was pretty hilarious. "You did kind of walk into that one," she said sheepishly.
"I guess I did, didn't I?" Jacob shook his head and then paid the cashier, accepting his and Cassandra's mugs and tickets in return. He handed her a set and she thanked him, then they joined Ezekiel in the festival.
"Where would I find the samosas?" Jones asked as soon as Jake and Cassandra had rejoined him.
"Would you quit with the samosas already? You won't find any here."
"You don't know that for sure," Jones said. "There's lots of different food vendors around."
"Pairing food and drink is hard enough with wine, but you're not dealing with wine, you're dealing with beer. It's got a stronger palette. There ain't gonna be any samosas here," Jake insisted.
"Maybe not, but look!" Jones pointed at a vendor not too far off. "Wood fired pizza! If you need me, I'll be over there," he said as he ran off in the direction of the pizza stand.
"Sorry, this really isn't how I hoped we'd be spending our day together," Jake apologized.
"You know he's only tagging along because he suspects there's something between us, right?" Cassandra pointed out.
Jake thought for a moment, realization sinking in. "Still, I really don't like the idea of giving him the satisfaction of being right."
"He's going to find out eventually," Cassandra added, reaching out to grab Jake's hand. "But if you insist on being stubborn, we still have tonight to be alone." She smiled, releasing his hand incase Jones came back.
The rest of the afternoon passed without incident. Jones, for the most part left the couple alone as he was more interested in the food and people's wallets than he was the fancy kinds of beer that were available. Though he would occasionally appear out of nowhere to say hello and check up on the other two. Jake and Cassandra spent the next couple hours wandering around, occasionally stopping to try out a new beer. Jake really liked the Long Ball Ale that the Bridgeport Brewery had to offer, and would have bought a case if he and Cassandra weren't planning on walking directly to the cemetery afterward.
"We'll have to have dinner there sometime," Cassandra suggested. "Then you can pick up a case while we're there."
"Now there's an idea. Just don't say anything to Jones, or he'll invite himself along to that as well." Jake said. "Speaking of which, we should probably find him and let him know we're leaving."
They found him at the Portland Creamery booth, munching on some free samples of goat cheese.
"We're gonna head out now," Jake said, taking one of the samples out of Jones' hands and popping it into his own mouth.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Cassandra added. She didn't need to look over to know that Stone was shooting her a look.
"Nah, Macbeth really isn't my style," Ezekiel shook his head. "You kids have fun."
Jake let out a small sigh of relief and he and Cassandra headed down towards the cemetery. When they were finally out of sight of the festival, he reached over and took Cassandra's hand in his own.
"Finally," he smiled at her. "I've been waiting all day to be alone with you."
"Jones left us alone," Cassandra pointed out. "For the most part, at least."
Jake shrugged. "I suppose he wasn't quite as annoying as I was expectin'."
They walked the rest of the way in silence, enjoying each other's company. The play was free to watch, but a donation bucket was set up at the cemetery entrance and Jake dug into his pocket for a few bills before he and Cassandra took their seats.
Jake had always loved Shakespeare, and Macbeth had always been one of his favourite plays. Back in high school English he had been required to memorize a couple of stanzas from the play and then recite them in front of the class. He had indeed memorized his chosen stanzas, memorized them so well that he still knew them to this day, but he had made sure that he was home sick the day he was supposed to recite them to the class.
As much as Jake loved Macbeth, he had more fun watching Cassandra's reactions to it. She seemed to really lose herself in the play. About halfway through she leaned in to rest her head on Jake's shoulder and he responded by wrapping an arm around hers. The two had only been casually dating for a couple weeks since they went to the carnival together, but it was little moments like this that Jake could really picture a life (however short) with this girl.
"Did you enjoy that?" Jake asked after the play was over and they were walking, hand in hand, back to their apartments.
"I did," Cassandra said softly. "It's been so long since I've been to a play. My parents used to take me to Shakespeare in the Park when I was growing up, I always loved it."
Jake chuckled. "So Shakespeare they exposed you to. Fireworks and carnivals, they didn't."
"Seems silly, I know. Their priorities weren't typical," Cassandra said. "But they had good intentions, and I did enjoy it."
"Well it's good to know they still let you have some form of entertainment growing up," Jake said as they reached her building. "We're still meeting bright and early at the annex tomorrow, right?"
"Yes. We should take my car, since Jones is coming. We don't want to all have to crowd into your truck," Cassandra pointed out.
"Maybe you could just pick me up and we could accidentally forget we invited him," Jake said with just the hint of a smile. He was joking, of course, but only sort of.
"If we do that he'll definitely suspect there's something going on between us," Cassandra pointed out. "He would never let us live it down."
"Good point," Jake said, reaching out to cup Cassandra's head in his hands. He leaned in and kissed her goodnight. Though their lips lingered for a bit, the kiss was soft and sweet. "Night, Cassie," he whispered when they finally pulled away.
"Goodnight, Jake."
…
The next morning was off to a rough start by Jake's standards. Cassandra had been the last one to arrive at the annex on Saturday, so Jake found himself waiting outside with Jones. The thief would not stop raving about how good the beer he had bought at the festival the day before had tasted with the samosas he had made. Jake did his best to ignore Ezekiel, but it was getting increasingly difficult.
To make matters worse, as soon as Cassandra pulled up beside them, Jones had shouted 'shotgun' and hopped into the passenger seat next to the redhead. Stone currently found himself in the backseat of Cassandra's car, which wouldn't be so bad if Cassie was back there with him. Instead, she was driving, and beside her Ezekiel was once again going on about his samosas.
The 40 minute drive felt more like 40 hours and Jake was beginning to think that using the back door wouldn't have been so bad after all. But fortunately for his sanity, Cassandra eventually pulled into the parking lot and as soon as he stepped out of the car and smelled the country air surrounding him, all of Jake's tension melted away.
They had already bought their tickets online so it was only a matter of minutes before they were through the front gates and onto the grounds. To Jake's relief, Jones' incessant need to irritate him seemed to disappear once they were there, and the thief ran off to do things Jake figured he was better off not knowing about. Finally alone, he relaxed and reached out for Cassandra's hand, the two of them strolling through the grounds and taking in all the sights.
As they came up to the retail side of the rodeo, a particular booth caught Jake's eye. With a slight tug of her hand, he led Cassandra to the tack store that had set up a mobile shop on the grounds. There was an assortment of various clothing items, as well as a few saddles and bridles, but it was the cowboy hats that had caught his attention. He picked up a familiar looking black one in particular.
"This is just like the hat I used to have," he exclaimed excitedly. "The one I lost back at Duke's when I first met Baird and those ninjas attacked us." He tried it on and it fit him as perfectly as the one he had lost.
"You should get it," Cassandra said with a smile. She couldn't help but think it suited him.
"I do miss that hat," Jake took it off and gave it another look over. "I think I will buy it."
He took the hat over to the cashier and paid for it. As they walked away from the store Jack was about to put the hat back on his head but after a quick glance over at Cassie a different idea came to mind. With a sly smile he stopped and turned her to face him. Once he had her attention he affectionately placed the hat on her head, tipping it back on just enough of an angle that he could lean in kiss her nose.
"Lookin' good, little lady," he smiled his eye crinkling smile, and his voice was full of enough sweetness that Cassandra didn't feel the need to call him out on calling her 'little lady.' Instead she smiled back and adjusted the hat so that it sat more comfortably on her head.
They continued their walk around the grounds, Cassie still wearing Jake's new hat, and eventually made their way up to the main ring. The mutton busting was in full swing and Cassandra was instantly enthralled. Jacob lead her through the stands to an empty spot on the bleachers about halfway up so that they could easily see over the arena fence.
"They are so cute!" Cassandra exclaimed giddily as they watched a young kid ride in on a wooly sheep.
"You know, I think I have a picture of me doin' this when I was just a boy," Jacob said. The kid in the ring slowly started to fall off his sheep, and when he finally hit the ground everyone in the stands clapped as hard as they could, as if he had just ridden a bull for seven seconds.
"I'm going to need a copy of that picture," Cassandra elbowed him playfully in the side.
They stayed for several more events. Cassandra didn't seem to enjoy the steer wrestling or calf roping as much as the mutton busting, but she did like the barrel racing. She cheered particularly hard for the girl on the palomino for no reason other than she thought the horse was pretty. When she told this to Jake he simply smiled at her dreamily, pushed her hat back again, and captured her lips in a kiss.
"Just like you," he said when he pulled back. Cassandra blushed and readjusted the hat. She was about to lean in and cuddle against him when Jones appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"So how's your day been so far?" he asked as he munched on the french fries he had bought. "Nice hat, Cassandra."
"Oh, uh," she blushed again, taking the hat off and handing it back to Jake, who put it on his own head. "It's Stone's."
Ezekiel gave them a weird look but silently went back to eating his fries.
Jake and Cassandra spent the next several minutes with their eyes straight ahead, watching the rest of the barrel racers before they decided it was time to head back.
"Flynn and Baird agreed to start the food, so we better head back if we want to eat while it's hot," Jake said as he looked at the time on his phone. Jones was eagerly chewing on a mouthful of fries and Stone decided to take advantage of the situation. "Shotgun!" he shouted as he stood up, taking pleasure in the disappointed look he was getting from the thief. The ride back to the annex was going to be much more enjoyable.
…
Flynn had just started grilling by the time the three Librarians returned to the annex. Cassandra headed over to help Baird, who was in the process of setting up a portable table with place settings for everyone, and Jake went over to help Flynn. Ezekiel, on the other hand, sat himself down in the shade under a nearby tree.
"You know, you could help, too," Baird called out to him over her shoulder.
"I am helping," Jones smiled at her. "I'm supervising."
Jenkins emerged from the annex just as the burgers were ready and people were starting to fill their plates with the various salads. Baird had bought some potato and macaroni salads from the local deli and Cassandra had made a delicious looking garden salad. Jake made sure to take an extra big helping of that.
"Nice hat, Mr. Stone," Jenkins commented as he took the seat across from him. Jake smiled and tipped his hat in response.
Though it wasn't quite like his family's barbecues back home, Jake had to admit that it was a pretty good substitute. The food was just as good as home, and the company was even better (even including Jones). Once everyone's plates were cleared Jake excused himself and ran into the annex where he had stashed an apple pie he had made using his mama's recipe.
"This is the best pie I ever tasted, Jake," Cassandra gushed as she took the last bite of her piece. Though everyone agreed with her, it was Cassie's opinion that mattered the most to him.
"I still don't think it tastes as good as my mama's, but it's her recipe that I used."
"Things always taste better when they're made by someone special to you," Ezekiel piped in with an obvious wink aimed in Cassandra's direction. The redhead quickly looked away and stood up gathering up everyone's plates.
"I, uh," Jacob cleared his throat. "We should probably get going if we want to get a good spot at the fireworks. It'll probably be pretty crowded down there."
Fortunately, everyone agreed and Jones' comment was soon forgotten. Jenkins was staying back at the annex (oddly enough, he explained that the fireworks always occurred after he was in bed, which earned a giggle from Cassandra and a smirk from both Jake and Ezekiel). The other five decided it best to head down in two vehicles. Baird and Flynn were obviously riding together, and to Jake's relief, Baird grabbed Jones by the arm and practically forced him into the back seat of her car. Jake and Cassandra then climbed into Jake's truck and followed the others to the waterfront.
As expected, it was crowded when they arrived to the show, but Jake managed to find a parking spot without too much hassle and the two of them found their way to the rest of their group.
"I didn't realize just how many people would show up for this," Cassandra said as she looked around. "Are fireworks really that big of a deal?" This earned a simultaneous 'yes' from her fellow Librarians and Guardian.
The sun was beginning to set so the five of them worked their way through the crowd until they found a bare patch of grass to sit on. Flynn had come prepared and spread out a couple of blankets so they didn't have to worry about the ground being wet. As much as Jake wanted to wrap his arms around Cassandra, he could feel Ezekiel's gaze on him so instead he settled for stretching out beside her.
When the first sizzle went off, Jake wasn't watching the sky. His eyes were on the beautiful redhead seated next to him. Her eyes were lit up just as much, if not moreso than the sky, and her smile was even wider than when she met Santa Claus.
But when the second and third crack happened, Stone noticed Cassandra's smile falter just slightly. With the fourth loud crack, one of her hands shot up to her head.
"Oh, Cassie," Jake whispered, reaching over to gently touch her shoulder. "I never even thought about your head. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Jake," she assured him. "I should have seen this coming, I knew they'd be loud."
By now the remaining three were starting to look concerned as well. Flynn suggested that they pack up and head back, but Cassandra didn't want to ruin everyone's fun.
"You guys stay here," Jake said, standing up and holding out a hand for Cassandra. "I have an idea."
He led Cassandra back through the way they came, far away from the crowd. She held his hand in one of her own, her other hand resting on her forehead. Together they walked farther and farther away from the fireworks, until they were back at Jake's truck. He held the door open for Cassie and helped her in before walking around to the driver's side and getting in himself.
"You don't have to take me back, Jake," Cassandra insisted. "I'll be fine, I don't want you to miss the show."
"We're not going anywhere, darlin'," he insisted. Instead, he flipped up the center console so that the middle seat in his truck was free and gestured for her to slide over. She obliged, and Jake wrapped an arm around her as she cuddled into his side.
"When I was just a young boy the fireworks our town put on used to scare me," he admitted. "They were just too loud for me to handle. So, while the rest of my family would be out enjoying the show, my mama would sit in the truck with me and we would watch from there."
As if on cue, another firework burst into the sky, only from inside the truck the two Librarians could barely hear it. They could see just fine, but the noise was nowhere near as loud.
Cassandra sighed happily and snuggled in even closer as Jake placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"How are you feelin' now, Cass?" he asked quietly.
"Much better," she twisted her head up to smile at him and Jake took advantage of the opportunity to lean in and kiss her. With the near silent fireworks now forgotten, the two soon lost themselves in each other. Jake had one hand around Cassandra's shoulders and brought the other up to her face, while she had one hand resting against Jake's chest and another wrapped up behind his head and in his hair. They spent several minutes exploring each other with their lips and tongue, completely wrapped up in each other. Very little could snap them out of this moment.
Suddenly there was another flash of light, much closer than the other ones. And this flash wasn't accompanied by the typical crack or bang of a firework. Instead, Jake could hear laughing. Suddenly tensing, he and Cassandra finally pulled away and looked out in front of the truck. There, camera in hand, stood Ezekiel Jones, with the widest, most self-righteous grin on his face.
"I knew it!" the thief shouted between laughs. "I totally knew it!"
"Dammit Jones!" Jake shouted loud enough for Ezekiel to hear loud and clear. "I'm gonna kill him." Jones could see from his spot in front of the truck that Jake meant business and instantly took off.
A gentle hand on his arm stopped Jake from getting out of the truck.
"Don't let him get to you," Cassandra said. "So he knows, so what?"
"So he's not gonna shut up about us now," Jake insisted. "He's going to spend weeks teasing us."
"So what," Cassandra shrugged. "Ignore him."
"He ain't exactly easy to ignore, Cass."
"I can think of one way to get your attention off of him," she raised an eyebrow at Stone.
"Mmmm?" Jake mumbled, giving her the same look she was giving him. "And what's that?"
And with that, Cassandra leaned back in, the two picking up where they left off, the interruption soon forgotten. They spent the rest of the evening getting lost in each other's lips until the last car had left the parking area and they finally realized that the fireworks were long over. Cassandra had been right, Jake had forgotten all about Jones and their secret getting out.
That is, until he got home and noticed the new picture that Ezekiel had tagged him in on Facebook.
A/N - I took some creative licensing here. I have no idea how long it would take to walk from the craft beer festival to the cemetery. Let's pretend it won't be long. Same goes for the walk back. The beer Jake has his eye on at the festival is the one that the Bridgeport Brew Pub is offering at the festival this year. I'm not much for beer, so I have no idea if it's up his ally, but just go with it. Also, they very well could serve samosas at the beer festival. I don't know, I've never even eaten a samosa. Maybe they go great with beer. But that was just too perfect a line not to squeeze in.