Chapter 6

It took almost half an hour to reach Isaac's house, and he found it to be a long and uncomfortable half hour. He tried to focus on the road and ignore the slender arms wrapped snuggly around his waist. Under other circumstances he probably would've taken the long route home. He parked the bike outside the garage and quickly jumped off. Cassandra pulled off her helmet and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the ride, as she had a broad grin on her face.

"Well, that was fun," she said and climbed off the bike. "I haven't ridden a bike in a while. It's refreshing." She walked out into the small, green front yard and leaned her back against one of the large oaks to get a better view of the house.

The red brick house sat down a nice and quiet street and though it was small it was new with two large bay windows on the front looking onto the well-maintained yard and its two tall oak trees that cast some cool shade over the house.

She looked over the house and the other nice homes nearby. "This is nice. Yours?"

Isaac was speechless for a moment, watching her stand there, her hands resting lightly on her hips, biting the tip of her tongue as she studied her surroundings. Snap out of it! It's Cassandra. "Just renting," he replied faintly and headed for the front door. He pulled a small circular controller from his pocket and punched the three buttons on it in the proper order to deactivate the alarm.

Cassandra followed him to the door. He opened the door and stood aside for her to enter. She walked in, and he came in behind her. The living room was large, with a small kitchen off to the left separated from the living room by a waist-high bar. The rooms had polished wood floors and vaulted ceilings. The living room was mostly void of furniture except for a large entertainment center and a long black leather couch in the center of the room with a glass coffee table in front of it. Seated on the couch was a black and grey Siberian Husky intently watching a basketball game on the big screen television.

Isaac whistled and the dog perked up and glanced at him and then Cassandra.

Cassandra gave Isaac an amused glance. "You left the television on for your dog?"

Isaac relaxed a little and smiled. "We like basketball. He's a Bulls fan. I'm Lakers myself." He locked eyes with the attentive dog and laid a hand on Cassandra's shoulder, the fabric of her blouse soft and warm against his fingers. "Friend, Thor."

The dog hopped off the couch and ran over and rolled onto his back at Cassandra's feet. She laughed.

"If you don't rub his belly he'll think you're a bad friend," Isaac said, removing his hand from her shoulder.

She knelt down and rubbed the dog's stomach affectionately. "Thor?"

Isaac smiled to himself. "Yeah, he's my buddy." Thor was in fact the closest thing he had to a best friend.

"You're such a sweetie, Thor," Cassandra cooed as the dog stared at her contentedly. She glanced around the room again as she made friends with Thor. The walls were covered with posters of the solar system, a large number of posters of Saturn, then several posters of Saturn's moons. "You like astronomy? You're just like Jack."

"No, I'm not," he replied coldly as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh ok," she said quietly. "So what are you exactly? Nephew? Cousin? Jack's never mentioned you to me. Though I've overheard him mention your name."

That made him stop for a moment and glance back at her. What exactly had she heard Jack say about him? He grabbed a bottle of water and leaned against the bar, watching her with Thor. It was nice to have a visitor, even an awkward one. He sighed, well this was it. "Jack and I don't keep in touch."

Cassandra stood up and turned to him. She frowned. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

He reached a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck as he considered her question, and what to tell her. This wasn't as easy as he thought. "I'm a clone, Cassandra. I'm a damn copy."