He woke up a few hours later. It was quite dark in Cassandra's bedroom and he squinted over at the clock on her nightstand. Seven o'clock. He was also alone. That wasn't all that pleasant, really, he'd have liked to have woken up with her still in his arms. He sighed, rolling over on to his back and stretching his arms over his head. He could hear noises from outside the bedroom door and could smell what he thought was spaghetti sauce.

He rolled over to the edge of the bed trying to find his shoes in the dark. He wasn't exactly sure where the light switch was and Cassie didn't seem to have a bedside lamp. A stray thought about getting a book light for when he stayed over crossed his mind.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," He muttered. "Why are they not here?"

He gave up with a sigh. He had socks on and Cassie's apartment was fairly warm. He got up and shuffled toward the bedroom door. He didn't remember them shutting it when they went to sleep, so Cassie must have closed it when she got up. It muffled noises fairly well because he opened the door and heard music coming from her kitchen.

Cassandra had the radio on softly singing slightly off key to some pop song. She was barefoot, still in her pajamas, chopping vegetables and adding them to a pan.

She was so focused that she didn't notice him. He stood quietly just watching her.

I could come home to this. Come home to this for the rest of my life. Gladly.

Except

We could spend the rest of her life together. But not mine. Not ours.

It hung over them. Hung over them as much as his own issues with trust and self did. She kept telling him they had time, she'd already lived for over 15 years with it. She could have 15 more or 20 or . . . .

Or they could get killed next week saving the world. What they did was dangerous. They had more of an advantage then a lot of the Librarians. They had Baird and they had each other. But still, it wasn't as if it was a job that you retired from at 65 with a pension. You were lucky to be burnt out and had enough.

Stop it Jacob Stone, look at her. She looks at her death in the mirror every day. And what does she do? She puts a smile on and she goes and lives. Why are you holding back on that woman for?

The off key singing was picking up in volume, she must really like the song. She'd finished chopping and gave the pot a stir. She put the spoon down and did a twirl around the kitchen.

That's when she saw him standing there, softly smiling at her. She blushed.

"Oh you're awake! I was hungry but I didn't want to wake you."

"It's okay. Kinda missed you, but this is a very pretty picture to walk into."

She danced over to him and kissed him. "Pasta okay?"

"It sounds perfect Cass." He laughed. "I'm sorry you are so damn cute."

"Well um thank you?"

"Do you need help?"

"Depends how hungry are you?"

"Strangely starvin'."

"I know! Saving the world. We don't properly eat for it. Garlic bread?"

"I'm on it."

As they worked to finish dinner, the thought occurred to Jake that the same reason his head was holding back was for the same reason his heart wanted to move forward.

There was no walkin' away from Cassandra Cillian. This is for keeps.

No matter how long or short that was.