-5 years after high school graduation, animorphs are 22-23-
-Cassie-
I was at a high school reunion. Outside, just staring at the school. How weird to think of being that old! Oh well, time to go in. I was wearing a dress that Rachel had made me buy. She came a day early so she could hang out with me and go shopping and stuff – it was just like old times, except for the bodyguards and the fame and stuff. I had read Rachel's book – it was really good. I had a feeling a lot of people would be hoping to get her signature tonight. I hoped she could handle it.
According to the TV ads, everyone thought Rachel and Marco would make a good couple and most people saw them like that. Obviously those people hadn't read Rachel's book. She had gone to her hotel to get ready. She said she could get a cab or Marco's limo would take her to the school. He really loves to show off his money, I guess, taking the limo everywhere. They showed up together, teasing each other, just like they always had. It almost looked like something else, though. I couldn't quite place it . . . it was almost like they were closer than just friends. Probably just my imagination. Rachel would have said something during our shopping expedition, I was sure.
I walked up and gave them each a hug. Rachel told me I looked great in the new dress. Of course. She'd picked it out. I smiled. We walked in, together. Jake came over to us. He was basically staring at me. He gave me a hug and told me I looked great. I smiled, blushed and looked at the ground. Rachel rolled her eyes as if to say we were still acting like teenagers. Jake asked how Ronnie was. I had begun dating Ronnie shortly after I started vet school, but we'd broken up a long time ago. Ronnie was cheating on me. You don't stay with someone when you find that out. I was surprised Jake didn't know, so I told him.
The reunion was fun. They were playing music that was popular while we were in high school. Everyone asked us questions about being animorphs and for our autographs and stuff. Jake pretty much stayed with me the whole night. Rachel danced with pretty much everyone there – even Marco – and kept shooting Jake and I approving glances. When it was over, Jake asked if he could see me again soon. I said yes and went home with this kind of fuzzy feeling all over. I was surprised there was anything there, after all that time.
Rachel took Marco's limo back to their hotel – apparently they were staying in the same hotel. The limo returned for Marco who was still surrounded by girls and signing autographs. "Oh, brother," was all I could think, but he seemed to eat up the attention. I drove home quietly, alone. About 3 seconds after I walked in the door, the phone rang. Rachel was bombarding me with questions about Jake, just like old times. I didn't tell her anything – this was just between Jake and I – for now. She seemed disappointed.
-Rachel-
Well, the reunion was over. I thought about it as I changed my clothes in my hotel room. My hand was tired from all the autographs, but what could I do? Everyone had my book! At least I managed to get away from all the crazy fans. Marco looked like he was stuck. He was still smiling, but I could tell he was miserable when I left – all those dumb girls! He'd gotten tired of them in Hollywood, and now he was surrounded again. Hah! Glad I wasn't one of them!
Pretty soon we'd have to go back to New York and await new missions. For now, though, I was determined to get Jake and Cassie back together. Cassie wouldn't tell me anything, so I called Jake. He wouldn't tell me anything either. I paced in my room trying to decide what to do. I had far too much energy to go to bed and the pool and exercise rooms were closed – of course, it was past midnight! What could I do?
As I was considering going flying, there was a knock at the door. I peeked through the hole. Marco was standing there. At least it wasn't another one of those annoying guys who wanted to marry me. You'd think they would get the message after the one that I made sure was recorded and played on TV – I morphed grizzly and scared the crap out of him! It is hilarious to see a grown man so scared he wants to pee his pants! The thought made me grin. But Marco wasn't going to do that – he could have a long time ago and he knew how I would react. We'd laughed about the grizzly bear incident for a long time. I let him in and closed the door – don't want any weirdoes who might have gotten past security to bother us.
"What are you doing here? There were tons of girls at the reunion. I was sure at least one of them would have followed you home." I smirked at him, knowing the answer already.
He sat down on one of the double beds and raised his hands in the air. "I just got them to leave me alone! I had to call the body guards to let me get in the limo and escape!" he said. He hung his head and grinned. "There are drawbacks to being so famous. . ." he winked at me "And cute and funny and ..."
I cut him off before he could continue praising himself. "Why are you here?"
"I was bored and tired of answering dumb questions." He replied. "And you didn't look too excited about going back to your room alone."
"Yeah." I agreed. "I need to do something! I can't just stay here! I'm far too awake to go to sleep."
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, I can think of a few things we could do..." He stood up grinning and seductively walked toward me.
I backed up. "You and your delusions." I said rolling my eyes.
"Well, we are alone together in a hotel room..." he said pointedly, trying to put an arm over my shoulder.
"Forget it!" I said throwing his arm aside. I made a quick decision. "I'm going flying. Go find some girl from the reunion to bother. There were certainly enough of them! They're probably in the lobby downstairs waiting for you."
He kind of shuddered at that thought.
I walked over and opened the window. Then I pulled off my extra clothing (down to my morphing suit) and started morphing to owl as fast as I could.
Marco watched. "Can I join you?" he asked.
-I just want to be alone.- I said, now more owl than human. Then I flew out the window.
-Marco-
She was gone – flying, supposedly. I knew where she was going. Where else? We were back where we grew up. She was going to Tobias' meadow, to mourn some more. She always did when we were here. I thought about all the girls downstairs waiting to swarm me and shuddered again. Yeah, flying would be a much better option.
I pulled off my outer clothing and morphed owl. I flew toward the front of the hotel and looked through the vaulted glass ceiling. The hotel lobby was full of people – the bodyguards were keeping them at bay, though. I knew if I followed Rachel she'd get ticked at me, so I flew to Jake's house. It was weird that both he and Cassie still lived here in California – what with all the publicity and such. Even weirder that they barely saw each other – everyone had thought they'd get married. Jake was still awake, reading a magazine or something. I fluttered a wing at his upstairs window and he let me in. I quickly demorphed.
"What's up, man?" he asked.
"Not much" I answered. "Do you want to play a video game? I bet you can't beat me."
He raised an eyebrow at me. "How much?"
"Uh, $50." I said, thinking quickly.
"Deal." he said instantly, "But I get to pick the game."
"K" I said. We set it up and started playing the game he picked. I started trying to get information about Cassie, but he kept changing the subject – to Rachel and me.
"You read the book, right?" I asked him. "She's never going to even date another guy again. She's going to be mourning Tobias until the day she dies. I have to just be happy being her friend."
"You're constantly flirting with her!" Jake said. "You think she doesn't notice?"
"Yeah...Got ya!" We were playing a shooting game and I had managed to get in a really good shot, severely wounding his player. "But I've always done that. She'd probably think something was up if I stopped flirting with her."
"Ouch...Probably, but still... Oh man!" Jake sat down the controller and looked at me.
I grinned at him. "I win!"
"Best of three?" he asked.
"OK, but I get to pick the next game cuz I won . . ." I said
"What, you don't think you can still beat me if I pick the game?" Jake taunted me. Boy, it was good to be normal – no Yeerks or war or anything like that.
"Fine, fine, FINE! Pick the game!" I said trying to sound angry. "I'll still kick your sorry butt."
We started a new game. We must have played until 4AM and discussed every topic under the sun. We even restarted the debates we'd had going since we were kids – Batman vs. Spiderman, if cheese can taste yellow...
I started to morph owl to go back to the hotel when I realized the window in my hotel room wasn't open. How was I going to get back in? I decided to just sleep at Jake's house. I called my limo driver and told him to pick me up at noon and then went to sleep in the guest room at Jake's house.
-Rachel-
After I left, I flew out to Tobias' meadow, where the memorial was. I talked to him. I didn't know if he could hear me or not, and a lot of people probably would have thought I was nuts if they knew, but I didn't care. I loved Tobias. The life I had now wasn't the life I'd been looking for the day before the final battle in the war. I had thought Tobias would morph human permanently and we would get married, have kids – be a normal family. I would go to his meadow and reminisce, wonder about what might have been.
I demorphed, remorphed, and flew back to my hotel to go to bed. I didn't know what Marco would be doing, so I left the window open in case he came back, put on my pajamas, and then went to bed.
The next morning, Marco still wasn't back – his clothes were in a crumpled heap on the floor. He was so messy! You'd think he could at least keep his mess in his own room! We had a flight back to New York at 3. He'd be there, but knowing him, he'd probably forget he even left clothes here, so I stuffed them into my already bulging suitcase. He'd probably be late, but he'd be there. He was always late. It bugged me and he knew it. He was probably intentionally late, just to bug me.
We met up at the airport. I asked if he'd gotten any info out of Jake and he said he hadn't. We basically flew in silence back to New York and went our separate ways from there.
Several months later, I got a wedding invitation in the mail – Jake and Cassie were getting married!
It was a lovely wedding, and they were just so right for each other! I cried during the ceremony. Marco teased me about it, of course. But we all had a good time.
They left on their honeymoon and Marco and I went back to work. We kept up the missions and stuff. It was really fulfilling to be doing spy missions all the time, and we were getting really good at solving cases!