Ch 25
Same disclaimer applies. This chapter is dedicated to Natalie. :)
Three Weeks Later…
"Jake! Could you get the veggie burgers off the grill? I think we're ready for lunch!" Cassie yelled over to him.
It was a beautiful and unusually warm day by the bay, so Cassie decided to make the most of it by having a barbecue.So, she invited Marco, Tobias, and Ax to her house.
And of course Jake.
They had grown closer ever since the incident with Ronnie. Almost every day, he was over , playing with Rae and spending time with the both of them. The way he laughed, the way he held her close to him while they were together, and his beautiful smile.
She was truly happy that he was in her life so much.
She knew how the opposite felt like.
"Sure, honey, one second. Hey Dom, Malik, do you think you can help me out a bit with this?"
"Yeah, no problem."
Cassie also took the liberty to invite Dom, Malik, and Amanda over to her house for the barbecue. They were good kids, and she always wanted to relax and hang out with them. Despite the fact that there was an alien in the backyard with them, they didn't seem to mind. In fact, Marco, Jake, Dom, Tobias and Malik were having fun playing Frisbee with Rae.
Modified Frisbee, of course.
Jake didn't like to talk about his injuries. Or open up about his feelings, being the typical male that he was.
Cassie ached for him to do so, because it was obvious that he was still upset about things. Some days, she had to go over to his apartment and drag him out of bed, he was so depressed.
But things were getting better. Slowly, but surely, Jake was getting back to normal.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Hopefully, he can stay this way.
"Okay Cass, the burgers are ready." Malik, Dom and Jake even went so far as to put all of the burgers on buns while she was musing.
"Great! Well, I guess we're ready to eat. Rae! Don't put the Frisbee in your mouth!" Cassie ran over to her daughter and snatched the Frisbee out of Rae's hands.
"Marco, Ax, Tobias! I thought you guys were going to watch her!"
"Uh, Sorry Cassie, we kind of got caught up in trying to stop Ax from drinking the pool water." Marco admitted.
"Chlorine. Ene. It freshens up the taste of the water. Er." Ax mentioned with a smile.
Cassie rolled her eyes and chuckled. She missed these guys so much!
"Are we ready to eat?" Jake asked everyone in his best leader voice.
"Yes, we're ready honey." Cassie took Rae by the arm and led her to the picnic table where everyone else was now waiting.
"Rae, do you want to help Mommy say grace?"
"Yah!"
They said their grace, and everyone dug into the burgers. While Jake was slightly disappointed with the food, (He wanted REAL meat now that he was back on Earth) he had no complaints about being with his family.
He watched Ronnie move his stuff out of Cassie's house two weeks ago.
No one said a word.
Apparently, Ronnie put in transfer papers to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His next stop was Oklahoma City.
I wish it were San Quentin, with the way he treated Cassie and Rae. No REAL man would even think about touching a woman or a little child.
But that was the past, and all anyone wanted to do was move on.
Though Rae did have the occasional nightmare about Mr. Ronnie.
"Da-ddy! Cut burga!" Rae touched his arm.
"All right, Daddy will cut up your burger in a second." He held Rae's hand.
"Daddy has to do something special for Mommy. Do you remember when you went downtown with Uncle Marco and me?"
Rae nodded her head.
"Well, we're going to give Mommy her special gift." He whispered so that Cassie couldn't hear him.
Jake and Marco went downtown the other day and visited almost all of the jewelry stores in San Francisco. It had to be beautiful. No. It had to be perfect for Cassie. He knew that she didn't like to dress up or wear fancy things, but he hoped his gift would change her mind a little.
"Cassie, there's something that I um, want to ask of you. I hope you won't kill me for asking you now, but, I, uh…you know that I'm bad with words…"
He pulled a small box out of the pocket of his shorts.
"Cassie, your voice, your face…when I was on The Rachel, you were all I could think about. Especially when the ship hit-"he choked up.
"During those lonely days and nights, all I could think about was you. When I came back to life, you were the only reason I had for living…and then I found out about Rae. Our little princess."
He kissed Rae's little hand.
"You are the mother of my child, one of my best friends, and my first and only true love. I've lived without you, and I hated it. I don't think I could go on… I guess what I'm trying to say is…"
He opened the box, and a HUGE diamond ring was sparking in the sunshine.
"Will you marry me, Cassandra Branch?"
Cassie was in shock. That ring was GIGANTIC. She thought that the diamond was going to fall off!
"Jake…I…oh…" She knew that tears were streaming down her face. Her hand was shaking as she picked the ring up out of the box.
THIS is what I have been waiting for…
"Yes, Jake. Yes. I WILL marry you!"
Jake put the ring on her hand and leaned in for a kiss.
"Ewww! Gross! Guys get a room!" Marco joked.
Cassie and Jake looked around. Dom, Amanda, and Malik were clapping and whooping. Tobias was trying to restrain Ax from eating the rest of the veggie burgers, while Rae was beaming with pride.
They smiled again and kissed.
Rae turned and looked at the sky. A lady with brilliant blond hair and ice blue eyes floated down from the clouds.
(Good job, little one.)
Rae waved at Rachel.
All would be well now.
THE END
Aww! Wasn't that sweet! They're together again! I have to give a big shout-out to Jinako-Chan, who was brave enough to host the original story on her website. (A Texas Two-Step to you!)
Another shout-out goes to Rasberry Girl, who motivated me to write, and then re-write this story. (It's a mid-west swang, ya'll!!!)
To all of my loyal readers and reviewers, thank you so much for your input! I truly feel that all of you wrote this story, not just me!
Okay guys, the sequel, Love in Life, IS coming very, very soon. (As soon as Rasberry Girl will co-write it with me!). And the third story, Issues, is also in the works.
(It's from Rae's perspective as a 12 year old! Three cheers for adolescent angst!)
It truly has been a pleasure writing this story, for all of you Animorph lovers out there. And don't think I've forgotten about you T/R lovers either. The sequel promises to be twice as great as the original! Peace!
-Pharrell's Girl