A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it's been awhile, I honestly meant to post this sooner, but then I had to get a hold of my beta because I forgot how far into this she read…(I typed up the majority of what I had wrote the other day). I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 16
Cassie
I watched Rachel storm off, wondering if Jake were the one trapped, how I would react. Would I rage and do everything reckless to get him back, or would I listen to reason? I hoped I would listen to reason, but reason is hard to come by when you are upset or scared. You never know what your reaction is going to be in any given situation until you have lived it. Jake and I knew Rachel would react like this. We had caught a glimpse at the lengths she would go when David went bad, and it scared me.
Jake's sigh broke me out of my thoughts. He stared for a moment at Rachel's retreating form. I stepped closer to him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned to me, a smile of reassurance on his face, before he stepped away from me so he could look at both Marco and I, a serious expression on his face.
"Here's what we're going to do"
"Whoa, we're planning without Rachel?" I asked, feeling unsure we should be doing things behind her back. Rachel was already mad enough, let alone if she found out we were planning when she wasn't around. She would want to know what the plan was to save Tobias. She would want to be in that planning.
"Yes, Rachel's not thinking clearly. I need us to be more reasonable than ever." Jake said, looking more pointedly at Marco than me. "Marco, I want you to contact the Erek and the Chee. Have him meet us later at the barn, and have him find out where they are taking Tobias and Ax. We need any information they can give us." Marco nodded and morphed to Osprey before flying away.
Jake and I stood alone in silence.
"Jake?" I asked. He didn't acknowledge me. It was then that I realized how loosing both Tobias and Ax was getting to him. His eyes had a look of sadness and determination. His shoulders were sagged slightly in defeat and I truly felt scared for our situation. If Jake fell apart, there was no way we could save Tobias and Ax. We would all get captured ourselves or killed. I laid my hand back on his shoulders and he turned to me and wrapped his arms around me, dropping his head to my shoulder. I ran my hand through his hair I a comforting way and wrapped my other arm around him, murmuring encouraging words.
"What have I done Cassie?" I heard him say shakily.
"It's not your fault Jake." I said.
"It's my job to get everyone out. I failed." Jake said and I forced him to look me in they eyes.
"No Jake. You haven't failed. You still have me, Marco, Rachel, and most importantly, you. Together, we're going to save them."
"What if we're too late?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We can't be thinking the worst Jake. We have to believe they'll hold on for us."
He was silent and then bent his head down to capture my lips with his. It was a short kiss, but it made me feel weak in the knees all the same. He pulled back and gave me a small smile His arms gave me one last squeeze before denying my body their warmth and taking a step back.
"Thanks." He said.
I smiled. "That's what I'm here for."
"I don't know what I'd do without you Cassie." He said and I felt my heart melt.
"I feel the same way." I said and he was silent again. "Is there anything I can do?" He shook his head.
"You already did it." He said, and I felt pride wash over me. It was good to know I could still find the right things to say. "But if anything, you can try to reason with my cousin. We're going to need her to be level headed if we're going to accomplish anything. Worst comes to worst we'll have to leave her behind. We can't afford anyone to mess this up."
I nodded in understanding. Jake sighed.
"We'll get them back." I said again.
"When you say it, I can believe that it's possible." Jake said. I smiled and felt my insides melt.
"Go home Jake. Go home and rest. You need it." I said and he nodded wearily.
"If Marco gets any information"
"Then we'll deal with it then. Go home and rest Jake."
"You do the same." He said to me. He took my hand and we walked together in silence until we had to part ways. When I got home, I tried calling Rachel. I hoped she'd want to get together and talk things through. Rachel answered on the third ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey Rach!" I greeted, trying to sound normal.
"Hey." She said, her voice sounding low and defeated.
"Want to come over and talk?" I asked, hoping she would. She needed to talk to someone. I heard her groan on the other end.
"The last time someone wanted to talk, I found out my mother thought I was having sex with Jake."
I paused for a moment before answering. Jake! As in, My Jake! I wondered what would posses her mother to think that…but I pushed those thoughts away. I had other things to deal with at the moment.
"It's a long story." Rachel added. No kidding. I thought.
"Obviously. Seriously, you want to get together and we can talk about stuff?"
"No, it's ok." Rachel responded almost immediately.
"Are you sure?" I asked, hoping she'd change her mind.
"Yeah. Hey, I'll see ya later." She said and hung up the phone. I sighed and followed suite, wondering if my best friend was going to get herself killed.
Thanks to: Quillian(glad to know I'm not the only one…but kinda strange we both had the same thought), rockergurl13, animorph19 (I'm not sure if he is or not…but I know I am!), GenesisDragon (oops, thanks for pointing out my mistake…but I feel it works for the story so I'm not going to bother going back and changing, Ax is hard enough to write…), LucreziaNorin86, CASSIE101 (that's right! Update soon!), RasberryGirl(though you won't read this for awhile, thanks for the review!)
Hopefully the next update will be in a day or so! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, still more to come (though this is getting pretty close to where I'm writing…I'm currently in the middle of writing up Chapter 26…so I gatta get moving again! I like to stay well a head of my posted parts so I know what I can reveal in answering questions!