Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! This one took a little longer, hope you enjoy it, it does pick up from the end of Dreams, so if you haven't read that one go check it out! :)
Jenkins:
Cassandra had been acting particularly odd all day, more odd than usual that is. I couldn't put my finger on what it was that was going on, but she seemed miffed at me over something. I thought and thought all day about what I could have possibly done to make her upset with me, but I couldn't think of anything. Maybe it's not what I did, maybe it's something I didn't do. Oh no, please tell me today isn't her birthday, I checked the calendar and looked at the date. No, it wasn't her birthday. Today's date did look familiar though, as if something about it were important. Being immortal, I'm not very good with dates, I never had any reason to be. As I stared at the date on the calendar for several long minutes, my eyes widened in realization. Today is our one-year anniversary. How could I have possibly forgotten THAT?
I turned quickly from the kitchen and made my way back to my room to start making plans for the evening. It was only 2:35. I can make this work, play it off like I never forgot, was only trying to surprise her. That's not deceitful, right? I mean, sure, I had forgotten, but I remembered now, so that should count for something. I also had several things in mind for our anniversary already, the date just snuck up on me. I sent Colonel Baird a text to get Cassandra out of the annex for a few hours and began to make a few calls…
Cassandra:
How could he have forgotten our anniversary? I mean, who does that? And he had no clue. I had been trying to send him signals all morning, but he didn't pick up on any of them, so now I was just doing my best not to talk to him. I didn't want to get upset in front of the others, so I had been short with him several times. He eventually figured out I was mad, but decided not to say anything to me, just stalked out of the annex, confused, he seriously had no idea. As I was lost in my own thoughts, I had missed Eve trying to get my attention. "Cassandra?" she asked for the third time. "Hmm, what?" I said distractedly. "I'm exhausted and in desperate need of some coffee, wanna go with me down the street to Benny's to get some?" I needed to clear my head, and maybe talking to Eve about it would help so I nodded and grabbed for my coat.
We walked out of the annex in silence and as soon as we hit the pavement she said, "I would like some coffee, but I really just wanted to know why you've been so out of it today." I thought she had an ulterior motive. "Today is mine and Jenkins' one-year anniversary and he hasn't said a thing all day. I'm starting to think he forgot," I confessed to her immediately, glad to get it off my chest that I was upset about it. "Wow, a whole year! I had no idea Cassandra, that's great! You're sure he forgot something like that?" I nodded slightly, "Yeah, this morning I thought maybe he was just planning something and was pretending that he didn't know what today was, but as I dropped hints, he didn't seem to respond at all. And then when I became upset, he looked confused as to why I was upset. I really think he forgot." Eve looked at me for a minute, like she was trying to decide what to say, then said, "Give him until the end of the day, maybe he'll surprise you." I knew that look, she was going to meddle. "Don't say a word to him! He needs to figure it out on his own and get it together by himself, that's what grown up relationships are about" I told her, emphasizing the last part. "Agreed," was all she said.
Jenkins:
I stumbled through the doors of the annex, arms full of boxes, praying that the Colonel still had her out. The annex was empty, thank God. I made my way to my room and began putting everything together. I laid out the long navy evening gown on our bed and put the silver heels in her size beside it. Then I laid the box with her favorite brand of lingerie in it on the dress. It had a tag that said "Wear me" on it. I quickly scribbled a note and left it on the dress. I grabbed my suit from the closet and changed quickly, picking out a bowtie and pocket square to match the navy and silver of her dress. I left the room and went back to the annex where I had her dozen red roses laying on the table. I called to confirm our reservation one last time and then left through the back door to get her present. That was the only thing about today that I had been remotely prepared for, I have had it for her for a while now. I wasn't a rich man by any stretch, but I could afford pretty much whatever it was that she wanted within reason. The Library did pay a nice salary after all, and mine went much unused over the years, leaving it to pile up. I had been using it on Cassandra more and more lately.
As I emerged onto 5th Avenue in New York City, I walked right around the corner to Tiffany and Co. From my understanding, there were very few things that all women wanted, and anything in this store fit the bill. I had been deciding for a while now about a good time to give Cassandra a lover's gift like this and I think now is a good a time as any. I went to the counter and asked for my friend Chandler. He came out and asked me if it was time, to which I nodded, and he went wordlessly to the back to retrieve my gift- a simple silver necklace with a 1 karat solitaire diamond hanging on it. It was elegant and understated but glamorous. It reminded me a lot of Cassandra the first time I saw it. I took the necklace and chatted with Chandler briefly before I left the store. Making my way to the back door and coming back through the annex, I pocketed the little blue box. I had kept this special gift safe in the store because I wanted it to surprise her and I didn't want her coming across it in my things. Colonel Baird was standing there, but Cassandra was nowhere to be seen. "There you are," she said, "I sent Cassandra to your room to look for you a little while ago, I assumed she had found you and that's why she had not returned—" I smiled as I cut her off, "Perfect, thank you Colonel. That'll be all I need."
She looked puzzled, but then I heard the familiar sound of heeled feet walking down the hall and I picked up the roses off the table. Cassandra entered the annex in the navy blue strapless dress I picked out for her. It was tight and jersey material, with a low-cut sweetheart neckline, the train on the back pooling behind her. The dress had a silver stone belt and as she entered the room, I could see the slit in the left side of the dress hit the middle of her thigh and the heels were even higher than I thought, but she was still considerably shorter than I. Her hair was done up but curled and she had on darker makeup that her normal look. She was a vision. I beamed at her and she smiled back at me, her anger from hours before forgotten, thank God. She walked to my side and I handed her the roses. Colonel Baird smiled as she spoke, "Well, I'll let you two kids get to it then, have fun." She winked at Cassandra as she left, causing the redhead to giggle. Cassandra looked up at me and kissed my cheek.
"So, where to Papa Bear?" I chuckled at the use of the old pet name. "We are going to the opera my dear," I said as I placed a kiss on her forehead, "as long as that's alright with you." She beamed at me, "It sounds perfect." She put the roses in a vase and laced her arm through mine. She made a move toward the back door, but I stopped her. I pulled the little blue box from my pocket and placed it in her hand. "Happy Anniversary my dear," I said as I kissed her cheek. She was staring at the box and after what seemed like a considerable amount of time to have a present in your hand unopened, I said, "Aren't you going to open it?" She seemed to be in some kind of trance as she pulled the bow off carefully and took the top off of the box. She gasped when she saw the necklace, "Jenkins! It's beautiful! Oh my god! This must've cost a fortune! Are you sure this isn't too much? I mean I—" I smiled at her genuine concern but cut her off anyway. "Oh, nonsense, just another opportunity to spoil you, my love, and I'm seizing it" I said and pulled the necklace out of the box, "May I?" She nodded and pulled her hair up off of her neck. I clasped the necklace from behind and she put her hair down. I turned her to face me and gave the necklace a look. It was pretty, but it had nothing on Cassandra. "Perfect," I said and tilted her chin up to look me in the eyes, "If I could give you the world, I would. You know that right?" Her smile reached her eyes, "I know you would, you're amazing." She got up on her tiptoes to kiss me, a passionate deep kiss that made me a little dizzy.
Once we finally pulled apart, we went through the back door and stepped out onto the streets of London. We arrived at the Royal Opera House about a half hour in advance, so we took our seats and chatted about nothing for a while, though I was having trouble focusing on what she was saying in that dress. "Jenkins?" she waved her hands in front of my face, "Are you listening to what I'm saying?" I blinked a few times and realized that I was staring blankly at her as I was thinking about not only her in that dress but getting her out of that dress… "Of course!" I said and smiled at her. She gave me a questioning look and I sighed, leaning into her ear to whisper, "If I'm honest my dear, I'm a little bit… distracted." I pulled back just enough to skate my eyes up and down her body as I said the word 'distracted' and began to run my hand through her hair. She smirked at me and pulled my other hand from where it was on the arm of my seat to the middle of her bare thigh through the slit in her dress. I sucked in a breath, this was certainly not helping the tightness of my trousers right now.
"Well, I guess we're just going to have to get rid of what's distracting you the first chance we get then," she planted a kiss on my cheek, "That seems like our only option, now doesn't it?" She was speaking in a mischievously innocent tone, surely meant to send me over the edge. "Good God woman, don't tease me so," I breathed just barely audible as I slid my hand up her leg even further. She giggled and just as I was about to kiss her, the lights dimmed, and the curtains came up to start the show. "Oh! Jenkins, it's starting!" She turned her head, instantly mesmerized and I watched her watch the opera almost the entire time. I enjoy things like this but have been to many in my long life. There are so many things that she hasn't done, it amazes me, I forget how much of the world she hasn't seen. I found her bucket list a while back and secretly took a picture with my cellular phone so sometimes if I see an opportunity, I use the items on the list on our dates. Other times, the dates are spontaneous, it depends. Tonight, I wanted to do something I knew she wanted to do and the opera was on the list.
As the show ended, I was still watching her and her hints of expressions memorizing every inch of her face as though I wouldn't ever see it again. I find myself doing this a lot, though I have only admitted it to her once. Now that her tumor is gone, I know she has plenty of life left, but just being a Librarian cuts even that down and an average human lifespan is but a blink in my eyes. She'll be gone before I know it and I don't ever want to not be able to see her face clearly or feel her hand in mine as if it were actually there after she's gone. What she said that day so long ago when she asked me on a date was true then and it's still true now- I was afraid of losing her and that did make me a coward. Her voice snapped me back to the present. "Jenkins?" She caught me staring and saw the pain in my eyes. "I'm sorry, my dear, the opera gets to me sometimes," I lied. She smiled and nodded as she laced her arm through mine.
"Shall we embark for dinner?" I asked as we were exiting the dimly lit opera house. "Actually, I was thinking, maybe we could skip dinner," she said as ran her hand down my back and gave my butt a squeeze, "and go straight to dessert…" she finished and looked up at me through batted lashes. "I like that plan," I said smiling at her. I moved my hands from her arm to her waist as we walked to where the back door would be opened. As we came through the door, we were kissing in an instant. I scooped her up bridal style and began to undo her hair idly with my fingers as we kissed, and I walked us down the hall to my room.
Cassandra:
We got back to his room, even though it really feels more like our room at this point, but that's beside the point. He was still carrying me and when he kicked the door shut with his foot, he threw me down on the bed. He kicked his shoes into the corner and took off his bowtie and pocket square and laid them on the side table. He draped his coat over the chair and had his undershirt and button down off before I had even removed both of my heels. As he undressed I admired his tattooed chest and arms, he had a few randomly placed on his chest and left arm, but his right arm was almost completely covered in tattoos. All of his tattoos were black, not a bit of color, which was incredibly sexy to me. He was on me in an instant, taking me out of my thoughts and unzipping the back of my dress with ease. I flipped us and pushed him back against the bed as I threw my heels next to his shoes in the corner. I stood up in front of him and let the now unzipped dress slide off my body, revealing the new lingerie he bought- an ivory lace corset with a thong to match. His mouth fell open slightly and his eyes wandered up and down my body. It amazed me how even after a year of frequently seeing me in the nude, he had the same reaction every time, as if it were the first time he was seeing me. I loved it.
"You have good taste, honey," I said as I stepped over the dress and walked towards him, slowly, sensually. He grabbed me roughly by the waist when I was within his reach he threw me down on the bed. "Mmm, I'd say my taste in women is significantly more important than my taste in lingerie my dear," he rumbled in a low voice, "that's just a bonus." As he kissed his way down my neck, I undid his pants and left him in just his shorts by the time he got back up to my jaw. He carefully unbuttoned the corset down the front and threw it across the room. As he kissed his way back down my neck, a thought occurred to me. "Jenkins?" He never missed a beat, I don't know that his lips even left my neck. "Yes, my love?" "When did you first know you loved me?" I asked, genuinely concerned by the fact that I didn't know his answer. He stopped kissing my neck immediately and pulled his head back to look at me, surprised by my sudden question. "What?" was all he said. "I mean, I know the first time you said it was when we were talking about school and it just kind of slipped out but when did you first feel it? Was it after we got together that night or before? I just realized in the moment that I knew the exact moment I fell in love with you but not the moment you fell in love with me." I saw his brows furrow and thought maybe now wasn't the best time to be asking weighted questions.
"Oh, never mind, baby, it was silly of me to ask you that—" He cut me off, "May 11th, 2015." I looked up at him in shock, "What?" His expression softened, and he repeated, "May 11th, 2015." Seeing the confused look on my face, he said, "Nothing significant happened that day, there wasn't a mission or anything, but you were helping me with a project dealing with a potion in the lab. You came up to me as I was getting ready to try a new formula and said, 'That's not going to work.' I remember looking at you and arguing that of course it was going to work, and you warned me yet again that I was wrong. I again argued, and you paused briefly before saying, 'Okay, go ahead then.' You backed up about five feet and watched the potion blow up in my face." I laughed as I remembered the story he was telling. I had done the math and knew he was making a mistake, but he wouldn't be told. "You were stubborn as a mule," I said to him and he nodded. "But I still don't understand, what was so important about that day?" The story was funny, but it didn't seem significant to me.
He smiled at me and responded, "It's what happened after that, my dear. You looked at me with a blank face and said, 'I'll go make us some tea.' You didn't say I told you so or even give a condescending look. When you came back with tea, there was a sheet of paper on the tray that you had written the correct formula for the potion on. You didn't acknowledge it, just left it for me and left the room. It was then that I realized that you are even more brilliant than you let on and that you were extremely humble. I happen to find both very attractive. After that, it was foolish to think I wouldn't fall for you. I remember the exact date because I kept the sheet of paper you wrote the formula on, it was the back of a daily motivational quote page of the Colonel's from the kitchen. It had the date on it next to the quote." At this point, I had tears in my eyes. I leaned forward and kissed him lightly and then realized something. "Wait, that was long before I asked you for a date that day, why didn't you say yes if you already loved me?" I think he knew the question was coming but he still wasn't quick to answer. After a long pause, he said, "I was afraid." "Of what? Me?" I asked, even more confused. I always thought he was just not interested then. "Of myself. I was afraid once you knew more about my past or saw me in a… different setting, you wouldn't still be interested." Different setting? Did he mean bed? Like if I saw him naked I wouldn't be interested? I can't imagine why, he was… well endowed.
"Seriously?" I asked incredulously. He nodded. I stroked my hands up and down his chest. "Well you were wrong about that, weren't you?" He nodded again, smiling, "And thank God for that." I laughed a little and began to kiss my way down his neck and chest, picking up where we left off. He stopped me, "Hold on, now I have a question." I stopped my work and looked up at him, "Okay, shoot." "When did you know you were in love with me? You said a few minutes ago you knew the exact moment." I smiled, he didn't miss a beat. "Well, surprisingly enough, mine was after yours, but not long after. I always thought I had feelings for you first, but I have to admit I'm surprised that it was actually you." He raised his eyebrows at me and smirked, his trademark face when I'm rambling. I took the hint. "Anyways, it was in August of 2015. I don't actually know the date, but there was a specific moment. It was right after the Library gave us bedrooms here and we were all getting moved out of our apartments. It hadn't taken me as long as the others, so you were in the annex working alone when I came in bored out of my mind. I sat at the end of the long table and just watched you work for a while until you noticed me. 'Oh- Miss Cillian, you startled me. How long have you been sitting there?' you asked me, and I lied, 'Not long.' I remember you closed the book you were reading and focused completely on me. 'What can I do for you, my dear?' you asked. I told you I was beyond bored and you asked me if I wanted to explore the Library with you for a while." I paused and smiled a little, remembering that day. I saw his wheels turning as he was trying to remember.
"Anyway, we ended up taking a trip around what felt like the whole library and didn't return to the annex for hours. It was almost 11 when we finally got back, and you bid me goodnight to go make some tea before bed. I remember being on my way to my room when the thought struck me- had I interrupted something important when I came to you bored? I went back to the annex and looked at the things on your desk. They were books to research an artifact planned for retrieval the next day, meaning you were in the middle of something that had to be done by morning and you stopped everything to spend time with me. I had liked you before, but I knew then I was a goner. Nobody had ever valued me that way before, put me above their schedule. Just as I slipped out of the room, I heard you return and set down the tray of tea to start back on your work. I went to bed, but the next day you had a fully prepared board and rundown for us. You must have been up all night." By the end of the story, my voice was tight with emotion and I stopped talking to look at him. He was grinning shyly at me, pleased by the story.
How long did you stay up that night anyway?" I asked him. He hesitated as he thought back to that day. "I believe until around 4 or so, not all night, I got enough sleep to brief you and then took a nap after you and the others left." He smirked at me, "I wasn't about to let an opportunity to spend time with you alone just slip away, I quite enjoy you, you know? Even unromantically." I smiled at him and put my fingers in his thick white mane. "I enjoy you too, Jenkins. I'll have to admit though, I enjoy you just a little bit more romantically." I said drawing out the word and moving to straddle his lap. He smiled slyly at me and put his hands on my waist. "Ah, well, I was thinking I could show you how I do so enjoy you romantically my dear, would that be alright?" He bent to kiss and nip at the sweet spot behind my ear. "Mmm, actions DO speak louder than words," I giggled, and he was on me in an instant.