Author's note: I don't own Uncharted, Cassie Drake, Nathan Drake, or any of the characters. I just have an admiration for them, and love to write stories about them.

Post UC4 epilogue. Cassie is now eighteen.

Cassie Drake pressed her back to the wall and closed her eyes, breathing deeply but quietly. Opening her eyes, she looked at her wristwatch. 5:35. On the dot. She peered furtively around the door frame. No one. She turned and impatiently pulled the slide back on her gun. Her target should be there any time. A moment later she heard footsteps and a soft clink. Ah, there he is. Cassie waited a moment, then crept out into the room so stealthily she was able to get within a few feet of her quarry before her better judgment told her to take the shot before she blew her cover. Decidedly, Cassie squeezed the trigger.

Her father froze in his place on the sofa as the foam dart bounced off his coffee cup and landed in his lap. "What the-," he glanced over his shoulder.

"Gotcha again!" Cassie smiled. She blew away an imaginary wisp of smoke from the muzzle of the toy gun, then twirled it on the end of her finger and stuffed it into her pocket. "How many is that now?"

Her father, Nathan Drake, smiled ruefully. "More than I'd like to count."

Cassie smiled as she settled into the couch next to him. She crossed one leg over the other and leaned back against the arm rest. "You'd be dead before you ever made it to Borneo."

"Now, now," her dad said defensively.

"What?" Cassie asked, her eyes twinkling. "You got to keep up on your skills, you know?"

"'My skills'?"

"Yeah," she said idly. "You never know when you'll need to go on some swash-buckling adventure again."

Her dad took a swig of his coffee, then placed it on the end table. "That," he said, lifting a finger, "is not likely."

Cassie smiled and gazed at her father. Despite being in excellent shape for someone in his mid fifties- heck, even for someone in their mid forties- his graying hair and his weathered face belied his rigorous and adventurous lifestyle of days gone by. His eyes had crow's feet under them, and his skin showed a bit of crinkling when he smiled or furrowed his brow. "I know." She sighed. "But hey, it could happen. You know I never got to go on any of those."

Her father chuckled. "So did you come for anything but to harass me about the 'good old days'?"

Cassie looked thoughtful. She did actually have more to say, but decided to save it for dinner when her mom was there too. "No," she said casually. "Not really."

Her dad shook his head. "Of course." He stretched his arms. "Well, I think your mother almost has dinner ready. Maybe I should go check on it."

A short time later the Drake family was gathered around the coffee table with bowls of pasta in hand. The living room couch was their usual place to eat. They had stopped eating at a formal dining room table about as soon as Cassie was old enough to not make a mess without it. Somehow the casual setting of coffee table meals suited their fast moving family better.

Elena plopped down beside Nate on the couch. "How was your day?" he asked her.

"Oh, you know," Elena said with a smile. "Sent some mail- paid those bills- watered the flowers." She shrugged. "Cooked dinner."

"Mmph, it's delicious by the way," Nate said through a mouthful of food.

"You?" Elena asked him.

"Typical day at the office," Nate said. "Facing the ever-present dangers of typos, papercuts," he trailed off, then lit up and pointed at his daughter. "And then she shot me, again."

"Hey," Cassie objected.

Elena scoffed. "You two."

"Just keeping him in prime condition," Cassie said.

"How 'bout you, Cass? How was your day?" Elena asked.

Cassie looked at her parents and cleared her throat. "Well, now that you mention it..."

"Oh boy," Nate joked.

"Our school is organizing a trip to Europe for the seniors this year." She spoke slowly, watching for reactions on her parent's faces. "I was hoping you would be all right with me going."

"Alone?" Elena asked.

"I would need help covering my expenses," Cassie added.

Both Nate and Elena had their eyes fixed on their daughter. Then they glanced at each other, and spoke over top of each other as Nate answered "Of course!" and Elena answered "No!". The couple looked at each other questioningly and again spoke simultaneously as Nate asked "No?" and Elena "Of course?"

Elena turned to her daughter and asked, "How long is the trip?"

"Two weeks," Cassie said, doing her best to suppress her growing fear of her parents decision.

Elena looked back at Nate, and Nate looked at Elena. "Honey," Nate said softly, "She's eighteen. She's an adult now."

Elena sighed. "You're right." She drummed her fingers on the edge of her bowl. "I'm just not used to thinking of little Cass all grown up." She looked at her daughter poutily. "Are you sure you won't miss us?"

"Mom," Cassie complained.

"We'll make it work," Nate said cheerily. "D and F Fortunes has certainly been sitting pretty recently. Of course, I'll miss my top foreman, but..." He let the thought hang as he gave his daughter a fatherly smile.

Cassie shrugged. "Maybe I'll find something interesting while I'm over there."

Elena's eyes went wide, and she shook a finger at her daughter. "Oh no," she said. "No no. Don't even think about it!"

"Hey, she's good!" Nate said defensively.

"No, you two..."

"No, she's a good shot. Really..."