A/N: Jesus Christ, this took forever to write and upload. I'm hoping this doesn't suck and I'll get back into the swing of writing Altair and Keira. Thank you to everyone who stuck with this even after I stopped updating!
Chapter 1
One year later.
I walked down the street, weaving in between the other humans making their way to work. Every day was just another mundane activity for me, but now I was on my way to a publisher's company, hoping they would publish my book.
It was a long shot, but I had to at least try. It was better than wasting away at my waitressing job to wonder what could have been.
I stood at the entrance of the building, staring at the glass doors for a minute before smoothing my dress and placing a hand on the handle.
Something white flashed in the corner of my eye and I turned, gazing at it.
The whole world stopped and my breath caught in my throat. I couldn't believe what was in front of my eyes.
Altaïr was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, wearing modern clothes, and looking up at the buildings before his golden eyes met mine.
My hand slipped off of the handle and I turned to fully face him. This had to be a dream and I would wake up in my bed back at the house.
He took a step forward and the spell broke. The world continued and my breath escaped as I walked toward him, trying not to run. We met halfway and I touched his chest, making sure he was real.
"Altaïr." I breathed his name.
He put his arms around me and squeezed me tight. A few tears escaped from my eyes as memories of what happened last year flashed vividly behind my eyelids.
"I thought I wouldn't see you ever again," he spoke quietly into my ear.
I pulled back to stare at his perfect face. "How are you here?"
"Eclipse found a way." He smiled.
My mouth stretched into a smile and I bit my lip. "Come on," I pulled his hand, "let's go catch up."
We walked down the streets together, our fingers entwined; the book I wanted to publish was long forgotten in my bag. We spoke about what had changed since I had been sent to the present. He spoke about taking over for Al Mualim, but that a few Assassins were unhappy with this change.
I frowned. "But they realize that Al Mualim was evil, right?"
He shrugged. "I cannot presume to know what they are thinking or what they know. Al Mualim was very persuasive and corruptive. Who knows what they think about him?"
"Still." I sighed.
I hailed a taxi and told him the address of my grandmother's house. I had moved out of the apartment my parents shared when they had gotten divorced. David and Chase were off doing their own tour of the U.S and left me to fend for myself.
Luckily, Grandma Joel had taken me in, knowing that her son- my father- was off his rockers. She didn't want to believe that he had turned into a monster, but she was quick to understand the living situation I was in.
When we got to the house, I paid the taxi driver and grabbed Altaïr's arm, pulling him toward the cute little house. No car was in the driveway so I knew that Grandma Joel was not home, probably off to play cribbage with her friends.
I opened the front door and greeted the sight in front of me. My kitten, Claude, was sitting on the couch, waiting for me to get home. When he saw me, he meowed and jumped off the couch, running over towards me.
"Hello, Claude," I cooed to my baby. "How were you?"
"I do not believe the cat can speak back," Altaïr spoke with a slight chuckle in his voice.
Claude, curious of the man standing next to me, approached Altaïr cautiously. Claude was soon deciding that Altaïr was alright, and quickly ran to the kitchen so he could eat.
I shut the door behind us and sat down on the couch, pulling Altaïr with me. We sat there, speaking about whatever came to mind, catching up on more things that we would not speak about in front of other people.
Day turned to night and I pet Claude while he slept on my lap. Altaïr and I watched the movie playing on the television in front of us when the door opened.
Grandma Joel stepped inside, smiling. "Hello, dear. Who's this?" She looked Altaïr up and down.
"Grandma, this is Altaïr." I played with the ends of my hair.
I had told her about him- not saying anything about him being from the past or anything like that- and she had turned into a little fangirl, never once allowing me to forget that he had kissed me.
"Oh, Altaïr. I have heard much about you." She winked 'subtly' at me and smiled widely at the man sitting next to me.
"Altaïr, this is Grandma Joel." I avoided her intense gaze.
"It is nice to meet you, ma'am." He greeted her.
She sat down next to us and proceeded to demand answers. When he got here, where was he from, how come I didn't tell her he was coming over, those kinds of things. In the end, when her nose was finished being in my business, she smiled.
"You passed my test, kiddo. You can stay the night and catch up with my granddaughter here." Grandma Joel smiled.
"Thank you, Grandma. I'll go set up the guest bedroom for you, Altaïr." I stood up.
"There ain't no guest bedroom anymore. While you were gone, I got it turned into an office. Guess he'll just have to stay with you." Grandma Joel nearly giggled these words.
I forced my face into a neutral expression and nodded, internally screaming at her because I knew that it wasn't true. "Fine. Altaïr, you can follow me."
He stood up and we walked down the hallway until we got to a wooden door with several kid drawings plastered on them from when I used to visit Grandma Joel every other Sunday. I opened the door to reveal my bedroom.
The lilac colored sheets were slightly disheveled from Claude always messing up my bed whenever I was gone; the small lamp on the nightstand was illuminating the room, casting shadows on the black carpet.
"This is my room," I announced, gesturing to the piles of books on the bookshelves and the small walk-in closet with all the clothes on the ground. A few articles of clothing were on the floor by my bed, but I wasn't embarrassed.
I shut the door behind us and sat on my bed. "You can sleep up here with me because there is no way in hell that I will let you sleep on the floor."
He looked down at the ground and then back up at me, nodding.
He slipped into the bed next to me and we fell into our old routine. He stayed still as I placed my back against his chest, but eventually he threw his arm around my waist.
With this being so familiar, my mind went wild on having me remember every little thing that happened last year. Every touch he gave me sending lightning through my veins (this hasn't changed), every look he gave me sending shivers down my spine. It was so familiar and it felt like I was home.
All that was annoying me was the memory of the kiss. So far, we hadn't brought it up, but I knew that we couldn't avoid it forever. I was dying to know if that meant he liked me too, but I know that he needs time to adjust to the different years and all the modern, or in his case- futuristic, things that were sure to be strange to him.
But I would wait, because I had waited a whole year to see him again.
"I missed you," I whispered after a little while, not sure if he was sleeping or not.
"I missed you too."
