Disclaimer: I don't own the Secret Circle (or "Family Tree"). If I did Cassie and Jake would be together by now, and so would Adam and Diana.
A/N: So this got stuck in my head after I listened to "Family Tree" by Matthew West and the new promo. Cassie and Jake kissing? SO HOT! I can't wait for the next episode. Anyway, just my version of that, plus some rambling. I read the wiki for the next episode, "Medallion", and it says that Cassie finds out something about witch hunters—going to disregard that in this oneshot—and realized her true feeling
You didn't ask for this
Nobody ever would
Caught in the middle of this dysfunction
It's your sad reality
It's your messed up family tree
And all you're left with are all these questions
I walked slowly to the abandoned house, clutching the metal disk in my hand. It was my father's medallion. He was alive, and he hadn't come back for me. I wondered what it all meant, especially what the medallion was.
After we dug up my father's grave, I had stood silently as Jake filled it back in. I didn't dare say anything, and he respected that. We had walked in silence all the way back to my house, and then I had gone in and gone to bed. I had gone to the window a few times and seen him there, staring up at me, but he didn't come to the door.
I hoped he wouldn't be there as I walked to the edge of the woods and entered the clearing around the abandoned house. Jake was so complicated, and though he knew about dark magic I wasn't sure if I could be around him and be able to listen to what he said. I still had so much to figure out about Jake and Adam.
I ducked into the doorway and listened for any noise. "Hello?" Nothing. "Anyone here?"
I grabbed the few books on black magic I could find, along with Adam's computer, and settled on a couch. The books came up dry, and I was surfing through the most ridiculous sites I had ever seen when I finally couldn't concentrate any more. Adam and Jake were the only things left in my head.
Adam. He had been there since the first day, rescuing me from the burning car when I had been so sure I would die like my Mom had. I had been sure they would be saying to my Grandma what they said to me: "She didn't get out, she didn't get out, she was trapped in the fire." All the sympathy that I knew was contrived because the firemen had seen too much for one death to be a big thing. She didn't get out. Four crippling words that had threatened to break my glass bubble, my safe place. They did, too, but I built it back up in a month.
Adam was also the one that always showed up to save me. He pulled me away from crazed revenge-givers and made sure that I wasn't afraid of my dark magic. He didn't laugh at my fear of needles.
Jake was another story. I knew he was wild and uncontrolled and unreliable, but I could see in his eyes how much he cared. Besides, Adam had Diana. I knew they needed to be together. I saw how much he was hurting without her and it hurt me because I was his friend. Jake was more dangerous than my usual type, and that made him interesting. The way he had pulled me in close after he Fred me from the room in his memory… I knew he cared.
And then I had woken up to find Adam rubbing my back in soothing circles, finding out later that he was the one that had helped me breathe when I was choking. It was too hard to see who I should be with.
I heard someone's footsteps outside and froze. Normally I would call out to see who it was, but paranoia was getting the best of me. I stayed where I was, assured that I could protects myself. When I saw Jake's blond head emerge below—I was up near the ceiling, on the balcony-like floor—I relaxed and went back to my internet surfing.
"Looking for information on your father?" Jake asked from behind me, and I felt the couch shift as he sat next to me. "You won't find it there."
"I can't find it here either." I said, gesturing at the various spellbooks. 'If you know anything, please enlighten me."
He smiled at my frustration. "I'm sure your Dad's not going anywhere anytime soon, Cassie. Why don't you focus on you dark magic first?"
I sighed. "I don't want to. Maybe I don't want any dark magic… ever." He just kept looking at me, like he was sizing me up. "You know? I want normal magic. I don't want evil magic."
"This isn't about your magic." He stated.
I shook my head and put Adam's computer aside so I could face Jake. "No, it's not. I don't want dark magic like my dad had because i don't think I want to be him. He… he killed people. I saw it, he burned at least three people just by holding out this medallion." I tugged at the chain around my neck. "I've killed people. I killed the witch hunter that was going to kill me."
"That was self-defense, Cassie, you didn't mean to—"
"I don't care!" I said. I jumped up when Jake put a hand on my knee. "I don't care what it was or whether I meant to do it, I did it and nothing can change that. I killed someone, Jake, and if I take after my dad it means I could do worse."
Are you gonna be like your father was, or his father was?
Do you have to carry what they've handed down?
Jake stood too, and took one of my hands. "No, you won't. You care too much.
"You don't understand!" I yelled, suddenly furious at him. "You don't know what it felt like, what the power was like. I don't want to be evil! I don't want to be my dad."
I felt like a horrible daughter when I said it, but it was true. I had only known my mom, and I loved her. I wanted to be like her; kind, gentle, good. I didn't want to end up like my dad, not caring about some child I had loved before… if he had ever loved me.
"Cassie—"
"Just stop!" I wrenched my hand from his grasp and ran down the stairs, into the main room. I had no idea where I was going. I stopped in a less cluttered place, by a window, and stood there hugging my sides.
Jake followed, as always. "You're shaking."
"I'm fine." I snapped.
"Cassie, just because your dad might have had dark magic and done some things that weren't right doesn't mean you'll be like him. You're different." Said Jake.
I gulped. "Why didn't he save my mom? Where was he when the house was burning down, huh? Where was he when she needed him?"
Jake looked like he would cry any minute. "I don't know, Cassie, maybe he didn't know. Maybe he still doesn't know."
I started to cry. "He doesn't love me or mom. He doesn't love anyone. He's a soulless witch and if I'm not careful the magic will get to me and I'll be as bad as he is! I don't want to be like that, Jake, I don't want it!"
He closed the space between us and brought me into his arms. "Hey, Cassie, it's okay, you can be anyone you want… I promise. You can be whoever you want. I won't let you become evil, I promise." He was like a little child making impossible promises, and I loved him for it.
No, this is not you legacy
This is not your destiny
Yesterday does not define you
This is not your legacy
This is not your meant to be
I can break the chains that bind you
I finally got control over the sobs wracking my body and pulled away to look at his face. Jake was so earnest. He looked ready for anything, and I trusted him to keep his word. "Thanks you."
"Yeah… no problem."
I knew what was about to happen; we would stare, it would get awkward, and he would back away. Back into the friends-but-maybe-something-more zone with Adam.
The problem was I didn't want him there.
"I should go." He began to say, but I cut him off with a kiss.
His lips were soft like I remembered from the lake house, but the lack of alcohol made it so much better. I kept my lips closed for all of five seconds before I reluctantly opened it, but I didn't regret it. Jake was passionate, gentle, and he was amazing. Better than the few guys I had been with in high school.
He leaned forward just slightest, and I carefully dropped to a sitting position on the floor. He was lazier now, taking his time to make me crazy. I slowly made my way on top of him and was starting to get things serious again when I heard footsteps and pulled away.
Adam was standing in the doorway, face blazing with fury. "What the hell is going on?"
And as much as I still cared for him, I felt my heart get lighter. There wasn't even a speck of guilt on my conscience.
I loved Jake.
A/N: Liked my take on the next episode's scene? Huh? HUH? Then you should review!
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