admiration Title: Admiration
Author: Lily
E-mail: lilith_chan@xoommail.com
Rating: PG maybe.
Distribution: Sure. Just tell me where it's going.
Summary: Marco thinks about his strange friendship with Cassie and her
relationship with Jake. Marco's POV.
Feedback: Please?
Author's Notes: This is my reaction to all that Marco/Cassie banter
that's been in recent books. J/C, slight T/R with M/C overtones. If you
guys like this, I'll write you a real J/C fic one of these days.

It's a cold Saturday night and we're having a meeting in Cassie's barn.
Jake is leaning up against the doors, his arms folded, looking to all
the world like a young general. Ax is in human morph, munching on some
unnaturally colored snack food. Rachel's looking at her hair, picking
through the strands. Bird-Boy is perched overhead in the rafters. His
eyes focus on Rachel from time to time. Doesn't he realize there's no
hope there? Rachel can't deal with him wanting to stay a hawk, and
that's the end of that.

And then there's Cassie. Hair held together by a few decorated bobbie
pins, clothes covered in animal hair and dirt as she desperately tries
to get a crow to take it's pill. She's been working in the barn almost
all day and her skin shines with the slight gleam of sweat. She's
absolutely beautiful.

I love her. Not quite in that sappy-mushy way that Jake loves her, what
I feel for her is admiration. I remember the way her hands felt, warm
against my face as she brought me out of bug morph that one time.
Nothing terrifies me more then ending up like Tobias, trapped in a body
not my own. I was so scared; what if I had been stuck that way? But I
listened to her voice and in moments I was me again. Marco the human. I
hugged her and cried like a baby, my fear and panic giving way to joy
and relief.

Without her I would have stayed like that forever.

When my dad was talking about getting remarried and I was having all
that trouble morphing, Cassie came over to see how I was doing. She knew
that I had screwed up another morph, that I was barely holding it
together. Cassie noticed when no one else did. Not even Jake, my best
friend. She kept that secret for me. Defended me later when Jake
yelled at me...

This isn't Camelot. Cassie's no Guenevere, Jake's no King Arthur, and
I'm certainly no Lancelot. I'm not going to try to steal her away from
him. Cassie and I laugh. We flirt. We fight. But we're just friends. And
that's all we'll ever be.

Meeting adjourned. Tobias and Ax head out into the forest behind the
barn. Rachel heads out through the barn doors. I go to follow her, but
stop and turn just outside the doorway. Jake and Cassie are standing
close to each other, whispering quietly and smiling. Jake threads his
hands into her hair, bends down and kisses her, softly, sweetly. In that
moment the world stands still for them.

He loves her, worships her, and would die if anything happened to her.

I know how you feel Jake. I know how you feel.