Cassandra awoke with a scream, one of many that she had expressed in only a
few seconds. She bolted straight up in her bed and shook from the
aftermath. It wasn't like her to utter such sounds.
But, she had dreamt of Saki. He was alive! Or, in her dream he was. More like a nightmare as far as she was concerned. He had laughed at her reaction, too.
Before she was able to shake free from her vision, the Saki in her dream had explained to her why he could still be alive. He told her how he had collected his own DNA and had it frozen long before he was killed. It was a precautionary measure on his part that, if he should die prematurely, he could be cloned sometime in the future. Then, as dreams often allow, he declared that he had also managed to 'upload' his knowledge on to a disc.
As he had explained to her in her dream, after he had died and when the time was right, he was cloned. Then, over the past thirty years, he was educated with the pre-collected information.
In her dream Saki hadn't aged one day from the last time she had seen him. That, too, didn't make any sense. If he had been cloned, he should have looked much younger. Dreams were weird like that, she mused as she tried to reacquaint herself with reality.
Now that she was gradually returning to the real world, she knew it was an impossible scenario. Saki was dead and gone. There wasn't any way for him to be reborn with the exact same agenda implanted into him. Though cloning was already old news as far as animals were concerned, cloning a human was prohibited and, for those scientists who tried anyway, had proven to be disastrous.
But the entire dream had seemed all too real. It was very convincing, which made it difficult for her to shake off the effects of it.
Still not fully awake but attempting to reason with herself, Cassie suddenly heard someone charging up her stairs.
She jumped out of her bed and instinctively crouched in a defensive posture. Her one good hand was raised in front of her as she held her still tender cast-free arm away from the door opening. Her mind snapped to attention as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
With all the dojos shutting down that fronted for the revived Foot clan, she had been on her own personal high alert. Cassie wasn't taking any chances.
As soon as a form appeared in her open doorway, she didn't wait to see who it was. Acting on instinct alone, she spun furiously around and slammed a well delivered tornado kick with her left foot into the intruder's chest.
She felt the person crumble as the force of her defense sent him flying backwards and into her secondary bedroom. Cassie heard him hit the floor with a resounding thud.
However, in that next instant she heard a familiar voice yell to her, "CASSIE, IT'S JUST ME - DON!"
Cassie's eyes shot wide open with complete realization and shock of what she had just done. Wearing just her nightgown she ran into the other bedroom to help the turtle up.
Don was already on his way to righting himself. She took his arm to assist him to a complete stand. Fortunately, the cast on his leg had been off for a while, so he had full mobility again.
"I'm so sorry, Don. I didn't know it was you. Are – are you all right?" she stammered.
He looked at her and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, but I guess I deserved it, all things considered." He nodded towards her, "Excellent delivery, though, I must say!" He seemed mildly pleased. He stretched to rid himself of the soreness his midsection was now experiencing.
"Huh?" Cassandra was somewhat confused. Then, it finally hit her, "Ah – yeah, now that I think about it, maybe you did deserve it." She looked at him with her hands now on her hips, demanding, "Why ARE you in my home?"
Don suddenly looked uncomfortable as he stood before her. It was almost like he had forgotten what he had done wrong and in the next instant, was reminded of it.
Cassie could tell he was quite embarrassed.
"Well, I'm waiting!" she demanded, clearly unhappy with him.
Don saw an opportunity to save himself. Quickly he whipped out from one of his coat pockets a small wrapped box. He smiled hesitantly as he slowly handed it to her.
"Here, ah – Happy Valentine's Day?" Don offered meekly.
Cassandra saw the pink papered gift and looked at him cautiously, asking, "Ah, Don - what's this?"
She was just a little concerned. His recent rash of phone calls to her in his attempt to get her to accept a dinner date was all too fresh on her mind. Now Don wanted to give her something. Cassie refrained from accepting it at first.
"Well, I thought it only fitting. With as much harassing that I've given you lately, I owed you an apology - of – sorts." Don worked the inside of his cheek as he pushed the gift into her hands. It was a nice save, he thought triumphantly.
Cassie reluctantly took the gift.
She studied the small package in her hand.
"Whatever is inside, is it green?" she asked as she looked at him apprehensively.
Don's eyes widened a little and he sort of shifted a bit on his feet.
He replied, "Ah, no, it's – not green. Why?" He seemed puzzled by her comment.
"Oh, something I dreamt about last night. Just wanted to make sure that whatever is in here isn't green, s'all." She remarked.
"Well, it's not. So are you going to open it?" he encouraged her as he tried to smile a little more.
He noticed then that she was still in her nightgown. It wasn't revealing in anyway, but it did pique his interest. However, he shoved back the thought and resumed his dignified stance. He did his best to concentrate on her lovely face.
Resigned to accepting Don's peace-offering, Cassandra slowly peeled away the tape on the wrapping. There wasn't any bow or ribbon to hinder her so in no time at all she had the paper off. A white box was revealed and as soon as Cassie lifted the lid she knew what lay inside.
As she suspected, it was a jewelry box. Lifting the hinged top back she smiled. Inside was a single caret diamond pendant necklace strung on a gold box-chain with a pair of matching studded earrings. The diamonds weren't green, as she had feared, but were pink. She was delighted.
"Don, this is – beautiful. You really shouldn't have, you know." she gushed, smiling.
She forced herself not to giggle. It was something she abhorred but recently she was finding herself doing it more and more. Maybe it was part of growing older? Or maybe it was because someone was taking notice of her – and she rather liked it. Although he was going to have to work pretty hard to get her to respond back, that was certain.
Right now, she had to admit he was doing an admirable job of it.
Looking over at him she saw how pleased he was. She also realized right about then that she was still in her night clothes!
"Oh my, I need to get a robe on!" she exclaimed as she rushed back into her room.
Don smiled at her quickly retreating form, chuckling a little over her sudden embarrassment.
Cassandra returned shortly with her robe wrapped tightly around her and with some slippers snug on her feet.
"Let me make us some tea. Maybe I'll whip up some scones as well. You like scones, Don?" she asked him.
"Yeah, love 'em, in fact!" he replied cheerily. This was working out better than he had planned. Don felt quite smug with himself as he followed his friend down the stairs.
Cassie was about half-way down to the first level of her shop when she remembered something. She paused a moment on the steps, forcing Don to stop his own descent.
Slowly turning around to face Don she asked, "Okay, please refresh my memory. Is there a reason why you broke into my house, or is this a behavior that only runs in turtle clans?" She looked up at him with a very quizzical expression.
Don gulped and then smiled, "I – ah - wanted to surprise you. The necklace was supposed to be the secondary gift." Don paused as he carefully formed his next comment, "It was supposed to be sitting on your dining table - I wasn't going to be here. I had wanted to have everything in place before you woke up. But then I heard you scream and I thought something was wrong and...." Don's momentum tanked about then as he saw Cassie's face narrow. Was she mad?
She then noticed a fragrance as she stood on the stairs. It piqued a recent memory and was all too familiar with her.
With her eyes growing wider and with less enthusiasm than he expected, she asked nervously, "What – did – you- do – Don?"
"Ah – nothing bad, really. " He replied sheepishly. He cringed as he noticed her expression become even more intense.
In the next instant Cassie flew down the stairs and into her shop.
All he could hear was a shout of frustration and then she exclaimed, "Don! ONE would have been just fine. But – for cry'n out loud - TWENTY?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Yes, I did it! A brief read. It's a little open-ended, but I hope I've satisfied some of you who wanted a little more between Don and Cassie. There is, obviously, an opportunity here to expound on this relationship. Maybe later? Hopefully, you'll call off the hit squad and grant me immunity from any angry rebuttals. Tynan can go home, now. I'm sure Firebird would love to have him back. He was a good boy, Fire. Sweet doggie! Happy Valentines Day to everyone!
But, she had dreamt of Saki. He was alive! Or, in her dream he was. More like a nightmare as far as she was concerned. He had laughed at her reaction, too.
Before she was able to shake free from her vision, the Saki in her dream had explained to her why he could still be alive. He told her how he had collected his own DNA and had it frozen long before he was killed. It was a precautionary measure on his part that, if he should die prematurely, he could be cloned sometime in the future. Then, as dreams often allow, he declared that he had also managed to 'upload' his knowledge on to a disc.
As he had explained to her in her dream, after he had died and when the time was right, he was cloned. Then, over the past thirty years, he was educated with the pre-collected information.
In her dream Saki hadn't aged one day from the last time she had seen him. That, too, didn't make any sense. If he had been cloned, he should have looked much younger. Dreams were weird like that, she mused as she tried to reacquaint herself with reality.
Now that she was gradually returning to the real world, she knew it was an impossible scenario. Saki was dead and gone. There wasn't any way for him to be reborn with the exact same agenda implanted into him. Though cloning was already old news as far as animals were concerned, cloning a human was prohibited and, for those scientists who tried anyway, had proven to be disastrous.
But the entire dream had seemed all too real. It was very convincing, which made it difficult for her to shake off the effects of it.
Still not fully awake but attempting to reason with herself, Cassie suddenly heard someone charging up her stairs.
She jumped out of her bed and instinctively crouched in a defensive posture. Her one good hand was raised in front of her as she held her still tender cast-free arm away from the door opening. Her mind snapped to attention as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
With all the dojos shutting down that fronted for the revived Foot clan, she had been on her own personal high alert. Cassie wasn't taking any chances.
As soon as a form appeared in her open doorway, she didn't wait to see who it was. Acting on instinct alone, she spun furiously around and slammed a well delivered tornado kick with her left foot into the intruder's chest.
She felt the person crumble as the force of her defense sent him flying backwards and into her secondary bedroom. Cassie heard him hit the floor with a resounding thud.
However, in that next instant she heard a familiar voice yell to her, "CASSIE, IT'S JUST ME - DON!"
Cassie's eyes shot wide open with complete realization and shock of what she had just done. Wearing just her nightgown she ran into the other bedroom to help the turtle up.
Don was already on his way to righting himself. She took his arm to assist him to a complete stand. Fortunately, the cast on his leg had been off for a while, so he had full mobility again.
"I'm so sorry, Don. I didn't know it was you. Are – are you all right?" she stammered.
He looked at her and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, but I guess I deserved it, all things considered." He nodded towards her, "Excellent delivery, though, I must say!" He seemed mildly pleased. He stretched to rid himself of the soreness his midsection was now experiencing.
"Huh?" Cassandra was somewhat confused. Then, it finally hit her, "Ah – yeah, now that I think about it, maybe you did deserve it." She looked at him with her hands now on her hips, demanding, "Why ARE you in my home?"
Don suddenly looked uncomfortable as he stood before her. It was almost like he had forgotten what he had done wrong and in the next instant, was reminded of it.
Cassie could tell he was quite embarrassed.
"Well, I'm waiting!" she demanded, clearly unhappy with him.
Don saw an opportunity to save himself. Quickly he whipped out from one of his coat pockets a small wrapped box. He smiled hesitantly as he slowly handed it to her.
"Here, ah – Happy Valentine's Day?" Don offered meekly.
Cassandra saw the pink papered gift and looked at him cautiously, asking, "Ah, Don - what's this?"
She was just a little concerned. His recent rash of phone calls to her in his attempt to get her to accept a dinner date was all too fresh on her mind. Now Don wanted to give her something. Cassie refrained from accepting it at first.
"Well, I thought it only fitting. With as much harassing that I've given you lately, I owed you an apology - of – sorts." Don worked the inside of his cheek as he pushed the gift into her hands. It was a nice save, he thought triumphantly.
Cassie reluctantly took the gift.
She studied the small package in her hand.
"Whatever is inside, is it green?" she asked as she looked at him apprehensively.
Don's eyes widened a little and he sort of shifted a bit on his feet.
He replied, "Ah, no, it's – not green. Why?" He seemed puzzled by her comment.
"Oh, something I dreamt about last night. Just wanted to make sure that whatever is in here isn't green, s'all." She remarked.
"Well, it's not. So are you going to open it?" he encouraged her as he tried to smile a little more.
He noticed then that she was still in her nightgown. It wasn't revealing in anyway, but it did pique his interest. However, he shoved back the thought and resumed his dignified stance. He did his best to concentrate on her lovely face.
Resigned to accepting Don's peace-offering, Cassandra slowly peeled away the tape on the wrapping. There wasn't any bow or ribbon to hinder her so in no time at all she had the paper off. A white box was revealed and as soon as Cassie lifted the lid she knew what lay inside.
As she suspected, it was a jewelry box. Lifting the hinged top back she smiled. Inside was a single caret diamond pendant necklace strung on a gold box-chain with a pair of matching studded earrings. The diamonds weren't green, as she had feared, but were pink. She was delighted.
"Don, this is – beautiful. You really shouldn't have, you know." she gushed, smiling.
She forced herself not to giggle. It was something she abhorred but recently she was finding herself doing it more and more. Maybe it was part of growing older? Or maybe it was because someone was taking notice of her – and she rather liked it. Although he was going to have to work pretty hard to get her to respond back, that was certain.
Right now, she had to admit he was doing an admirable job of it.
Looking over at him she saw how pleased he was. She also realized right about then that she was still in her night clothes!
"Oh my, I need to get a robe on!" she exclaimed as she rushed back into her room.
Don smiled at her quickly retreating form, chuckling a little over her sudden embarrassment.
Cassandra returned shortly with her robe wrapped tightly around her and with some slippers snug on her feet.
"Let me make us some tea. Maybe I'll whip up some scones as well. You like scones, Don?" she asked him.
"Yeah, love 'em, in fact!" he replied cheerily. This was working out better than he had planned. Don felt quite smug with himself as he followed his friend down the stairs.
Cassie was about half-way down to the first level of her shop when she remembered something. She paused a moment on the steps, forcing Don to stop his own descent.
Slowly turning around to face Don she asked, "Okay, please refresh my memory. Is there a reason why you broke into my house, or is this a behavior that only runs in turtle clans?" She looked up at him with a very quizzical expression.
Don gulped and then smiled, "I – ah - wanted to surprise you. The necklace was supposed to be the secondary gift." Don paused as he carefully formed his next comment, "It was supposed to be sitting on your dining table - I wasn't going to be here. I had wanted to have everything in place before you woke up. But then I heard you scream and I thought something was wrong and...." Don's momentum tanked about then as he saw Cassie's face narrow. Was she mad?
She then noticed a fragrance as she stood on the stairs. It piqued a recent memory and was all too familiar with her.
With her eyes growing wider and with less enthusiasm than he expected, she asked nervously, "What – did – you- do – Don?"
"Ah – nothing bad, really. " He replied sheepishly. He cringed as he noticed her expression become even more intense.
In the next instant Cassie flew down the stairs and into her shop.
All he could hear was a shout of frustration and then she exclaimed, "Don! ONE would have been just fine. But – for cry'n out loud - TWENTY?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Yes, I did it! A brief read. It's a little open-ended, but I hope I've satisfied some of you who wanted a little more between Don and Cassie. There is, obviously, an opportunity here to expound on this relationship. Maybe later? Hopefully, you'll call off the hit squad and grant me immunity from any angry rebuttals. Tynan can go home, now. I'm sure Firebird would love to have him back. He was a good boy, Fire. Sweet doggie! Happy Valentines Day to everyone!
