A/N: Guys, school will be the death of me. Sorry this chapter has taken so long. I've written when I get the chance.

What'd you think of that finale? I was pleased - nice twist. Plus, we may have not got the Jassandra I would have liked, but I think we got more than I honestly expected. That always makes it better.

This journey has gone longer than I had expected. Not sure if that's bad or good! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Cassandra was staring at the menu, but quite honestly she has no idea what it says. She's not even fully sure what type of food this restaurant serves. Now that's not because the menu is in a different language, or because the meals are so fancy she can't pronounce them – no it's because her head is buzzing. Buzzing full of thoughts of the person sitting across from her at the two seated table in a low, romantic lit restaurant.

Did he look as awkward and uncomfortable as she did? She looked up, they made a long, inept moment of eye contact before she looked back down at her menu. Yes, yes he did.

Jacob cleared his throat, the uneasy tension between them a little too extreme for two people who were supposedly just friends. If they were just friends this shouldn't be so weird, right? They wouldn't even think anything of it … right? It was nothing – just food! In fact, it wasn't weird when they ate at a place fairly similar to this in Utah. Granted, it wasn't near as romantic – and there was no violin playing in the background. But no matter what, it was just a lunch and they thought nothing of it; yet here they were. Was the time of day the reason for the discomfort?

He glanced up again, seeing Cassandra scan through the same page on the menu at least five times over. It was cute, trying to act like she was actually reading the page. No, no this had nothing to do with the time of day. It was awkward because of Ezekiel. It was weird because it clearly was strategized with the intension of it being a date. Now they were sitting here, more distracted than they've ever been and pretending to be only distracted with food – he was probably so proud of himself right now. Rewarding himself with pizza or something. When he gets a hold of him…

"What're you thinking about getting?" Cassandra wondered, looking dazed at the menu.

Jacob looked down, realizing he hadn't actually read it. "Oh, um, I dunno. Maybe a burger."

Cassandra furrowed her brow. "Is that an option?"

Jake chuckled and laid the menu down on the table top, looking at Cassandra in the eyes. "Probably not. What're you gettin'?"

Her eyes got big at that question, and she looked back at the menu. "I have no idea."

Before Jacob could reply, the waiter came to the side of the table with a little notebook in his right hand – pencil in his left. "What can I get you two love birds tonight?"

Cassandra and Jacob looked at each other with wide eyes. Cassandra stuttered, "Oh- we – you- he – we're not- I just – I'm just hungry."

The waiter stared at her like she had lost all her marbles in that ten seconds it took to speak, and then he nodded. "Right. So water then?"

Cassandra nodded. "Thank you."

"And you, cowboy?"

Jacob looked at the waiter confused for a moment. He hadn't spoken since the waiter arrived, and he wasn't wearing anything to indicate he was from Oklahoma – how on earth did he know? He chose not to ask. "Just a water is fine."

"Allrighty. Are you two ready to order some food?"

"I'm…" Cassandra stared down at the menu again. "No."

Jacob smiled a smile that reached his eyes, causing wrinkles around them. He ducked his head down, trying to hide it, and then looked back up at the waiter. "We'll take a few more minutes, thanks."

"Okey dokey," the waiter said with a smile, tucking his notebook in his apron pocket. "I'll get you two your waters then."

The waiter walked off, leaving them by themselves. They looked at each other, making eye contact again. Cassandra gave him a sheepish beam and started fidgeting with her fingers. Jacob looked back down at the menu.

Lord help them.

"Where are they?" Baird watched the door, a menu in her hands. "They should be here by now."

It was actually sweet, how much she cared for their safety. I should probably try to ease her nerves. "Relax, Baird. They'll be here in no time."

"Yes, you said that thirty minutes ago, Ezekiel." She let out a sharp exhale and looked down at her menu again.

"Maybe we could try calling them again?" Flynn offered, trying to help with the nervous Baird. "We tried calling Stone – perhaps we should try Cassandra."

Baird shook her head. "I tried both of them. They're both going straight to voicemail."

It's a really good thing I turned their phones off after I swiped them. I took their cells off of them when I told them to meet us at that fancy restaurant. They're now sitting in my jacket pocket, thankfully completely soundless.

"Perhaps we should go back, go out and look for them." Flynn considered. That's not good – but thankfully I made a plan for this. Guess I'm the one that's that good.

"We're Librarians – anything could've happened." Baird looked back me, clearly suspicious. Honestly I would be too, if I was her. "You did tell them the right place to meet, right Jones?"

"Baird, we've been over this." I smirked. "I told them exactly where they needed to be."

She was about to scold me about being cryptic, I could just see it. So, instead of listening (because who needs that, right?) I started my plan to get us out of becoming a panicked search party.

A ring of a cell phone started. The sound emanating from my jacket pocket. "Oh, hold that thought for just a minute, Baird." I pulled out my phone, pretending to look at the screen confused. "That's weird." I stood up from the table and walked out of ear shot, where I then pretended to be on the phone with someone. Of course I wasn't – no, I just pressed a button on my phone while it was in my pocket – causing it to start its ringer. And yes, I already know – I'm brilliant.

I walked back after a few minutes, giving Baird and Flynn a comforting smile. "That was Stone."

"What?" Baird practically jumped out of her seat. "Where are they?"

"Seems Red started feeling under the weather again – they decided to stay at the hotel."

Her face melted into relief, but then her mind started turning. "Why weren't they answering my calls?"

"Apparently their phones died," I looked at Flynn with a face of judgment. "They didn't have their chargers, thanks to the hasty mass exit we had this morning."

"So how did he call you?"

"Oh, hotel phone." I shrugged. "It probably didn't dawn on him to call 'till just now. Cass has been throwing up again."

Baird placed a hand over her mouth. "She must have some sort of bug. I just assumed it was motion sickness."

"Yes, well, we all did, didn't we?" I folded my hands in front of me and sighed. "I suppose we can only learn from our mistakes."

Flynn eyed me, but Baird wasn't paying me any attention. Probably for the best.

"So, then, shall we eat?" Flynn asked Baird.

She looked up and considered it, before nodding. "I'm sure Jacob can take care of Cassandra just fine."

And that was that.

I bet Stone wants to hug me he's so grateful right now.

Jacob wanted to punch Ezekiel right about now.

They finally ordered, though Jacob wasn't paying much attention to what he ordered, and now they were sitting at the table in silence waiting on their food. All they seemed to have in common this very moment was their glasses of water.

Cassandra sipped on her glass, jingling around the ice. Great, now they didn't even have water. He had to lighten the mood.

"So, um," Jacob cleared his throat and leaned in on the table. "Ever been to Canada before?"

Cassandra glanced up at him from her water glass, her lips still on the straw. A smile creeped up on her face as she said, "Aside from now, you mean?"

Jacob laughed, ducking his head. "Yeah," he looked back up with a smile, "aside from now."

She put her glass to the side and situated herself so she could look at him fully. With her mouth slanted to the side she shrugged and said, "I believe this is my sixth time visiting, actually."

Jacob raised his brows. "Really?"

"Yes. Why is that surprising?"

Jacob shrugged. "I dunno – guess I just didn't peg ya for the adventurous kind."

Cassandra chuckled. "Jake, we're Librarians. We travel to new and exotic places every day – sometimes twice a day."

Okay, she got him there. "You make a good point."

"Besides, some of those really were more mandatory trips. I had a brain surgeon in Quebec I visited a few times – before I decided against the surgery."

"Five separate meetings? That's a lot of traveling. Must've been expensive."

She shook her head. "I only visited him twice."

"Oh," He fixed his arms on the table and asked, "What were the other three?"

Cassandra couldn't help but snicker a little. "Let's see, once with the French Canadians trying to make their language the only language throughout the whole world. Then when episodes of that show about the school started becoming reality in a high school, then with the maple syrup being turned into –"

"All right, all right," Jake smiled, wagging his head. "I get it. We're Librarians."

"Did you forget those missions happened, or were you just trying to start conversation?" She smirked.

"If I'm being honest," he let out a rough sigh, "I think I blocked them out of my memory just so I could start-up conversation."

Cassandra nodded. "Well, then I guess I'm glad you did. We probably could use an icebreaker."

Jake snorted a laugh. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I just wish Ezekiel would stop with all his mind games for once." Cassandra sighed, picking up her glass again for a sip.

"Couldn't agree more. He's been up to something since Utah – I've 'bout had it."

Cassandra couldn't help but think what he was up to. She knew fully what he was scheming – thankfully though, it seemed Stone was still in the dark as to what that was. "He'll get bored soon enough."

"That's what I figured. But Jones has the attention span of a fly, and yet he still ain't given up yet."

Cassandra didn't want to talk about this topic – she felt it would only lead to her revealing his plans. Something she knew about Ezekiel was when he devoted himself to something, he planned on seeing it through. But Jake didn't want to hear that. "Ezekiel only wants entertainment. I'm sure once he no longer finds enjoyment in our whining, he'll let it go."

"Yeah…" He was thinking – his brow furrowed. Then he shook his head. "No, that's what he wants us to think. I just … I just can't shake this feelin' that he's not gonna give up on this one."

Cassandra felt like they were practically saying what he was up to but just avoiding the exact words by now. Did he know? "But what exactly is it that he won't give up on?"

Jacob looked at her in the eyes at that, almost as if he was trying to see if Cassandra was as oblivious as she was acting. He then picked up his glass of water and shrugged. "That's what I'm tryin' to figure out."

He knew, didn't he? Cassandra almost wanted to say something. Thank goodness the waiter came when he did, because if not she probably would have regretted whatever she was going to say.

The waiter set down their food, asked if they needed anything else, left their table, and they started eating. It was a much needed meal, especially for Cassandra who couldn't keep food down today. She finally got a meal that settled in her stomach gracefully. She really thought it was odd how sensitive her stomach was this time around to traveling – it was really a new thing. She almost wanted to somehow pin it on Ezekiel, but knowing Ezekiel would never do that to her, she decided it must've had to do with her visions lately. Brain grape trouble.

Cassandra decided to speak this time around. Small talk was crucial in times like this. You know, times when Ezekiel tricks you into a blind date – only you know your date, you just don't know you're on a date with them. He could've at least warned her to wear nicer clothes. "So," She dragged out, giving Jacob a teasing look. "Ever been to Canada before?"

Jacob looked up at her, cracking a grin. He let out a chuckle as he said, "If I can remember right, this would be my fourth time visiting."

Cassandra returned the beam. "Really? That just seems strange." Her beam quickly transformed into a smirk. "You don't really seem like the adventurous sort."

Jacob released a short scoff. "Well I ain't exactly known for it."

"Well? What were the other three times you came? Was it for money? A job? Family?" Cassandra almost hesitated saying this last one. "A girl?"

Jake's eyes flew to hers. He almost wanted to say, 'Only the fourth time was it for a girl'. In all honesty, he only agreed to come because Cassandra asked him if he would. But he couldn't say that – it would make things too weird. It was already weird enough. "Let's see, there was a French Canadian tryin' to dominate all dialects of the world, then some dang high school student tried to make some Canadian drama reality…"

Cassandra's eyes sparkled in the light of the restaurant, her hand bracing her chin, her expression seeming so enthralled in his words. He completely forgot what he was saying.

"And? I do believe that's only two, Stone."

Jake gave an embarrassed smile. "Ha, so it is." He hawked slightly, then said, "Reckon it had to do with maple syrup of some sort."

Cassandra nodded, seemingly pleased. "It was being used as a diet plan." She furrowed her brows a little as she said, "And it was working."

Jacob looked almost surprised. "Can't believe I forgot that one."

"After a while, they all seem to meld together. All becoming a big, smooshed cookie of memories – all mashed into one big overwhelming batch of magic, wonder, and … well, weird."

Jacob tinged a smile. "Yeah, somethin' like that."

Jake clearly felt weird just staring at her, so he looked down at his plate. He wasn't eating it, just staring. Cassandra watched him before saying, "Can we somehow put this on Ezekiel's bill?"

He emitted a laugh. "You wouldn't happen to be a master thief, would ya? Swipe his card off of him when he wasn't lookin'?"

"Sadly, no." She respired out. "That's assuming Ezekiel even owns his own credit card."

Jacob scoffed, wagging his head. "You gotta point." Changing the subject before it got awkwardly silent again, he said, "How's your," he looked over the table, seeing her half eaten lasagna. "Your lasagna?"

Cassandra looked down at her plate. "Oh, it's good. Nice and cheesy."

Jacob smiled. "Good."

"How's your burger?" Cassandra said with an almost simper. They came to an expensive, elegant restaurant and he got a burger. He could be such a cowboy sometimes.

Jake looked back down at his own plate, seeing the little few bites left. He crossed his arms on the table and nodded. "Nice and cheesy."

The sides of Cassandra's mouth turned into a grin, sharing the same look with Jake. "Oh!" Cassandra chirped, practically jumping in her seat. "Did I tell you about Ezekiel and my trip to Wisconsin a few days ago?"

"No, I don't think ya did."

"Well," she settled herself in her seat and raised her brows. "It was a very cheesy situation."

Jacob couldn't help but find himself grinning once again.

They finished dinner and came back to the hotel; happily laughing and joking around with each other as they made their way to their room. Jacob was surprised, however pleasant that may be, on how smooth this night actually went. After they broke through the awkward tension, they couldn't stop talking to each other. Cassandra told him stories about radioactive cheese, he told her stories about days in Oklahoma, on his ranch. Cassandra then raved on about horses and how much she loved them as a child, telling him little bits about her childhood. Tonight was nice. No, it was more than nice … it was outstanding.

They walked onto the elevator and silence over took them for the first time in a while that night. They had been one-on-one all night, but never alone – not until now. The silence between them wasn't awkward however; but more of a content, blissful silence between two friends. Just like it should be.

Cassandra looked over at Jacob, her eyes reaching his. It wasn't friends anymore, was it? It was, because nothing had happened to advance the relationship out of the dreadful friend zone, but there was something there now. Something that seemingly brought that easy feeling of 'just friends' to a close. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She had always wanted to be more, but would it ever reach past just this feeling of constant tension?

Jacob was repaying the stare Cassandra was giving him, their eyes not really tearing away from each other. Normally they would find it uncomfortable and look away, but they were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to notice the time passing. Cassandra suddenly noticed Jake's hand slowly raising, his fingers coming closer and closer to her cheek. She was completely unaware of his intentions, her heart pounding a millions beats per minute, when at last his thumbs landed on the side of her face. It swept across her cheek bone and then was gone.

"You got an eye lash." He mumbled, holding up his thumb. A short, thin little hair sat on the tip of his finger. "Got any wishes?"

Cassandra looked dazed. She sharply blinked to snap herself out of this trance she was in and looked down at his thumb. "Depends, do you really think wishing would help anyone?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice in a rough hush. "May not seem like the type, but I always believed that wishin' was just a way of gettin' you there."

"Really?" She was genuinely curious. "How is that?"

"Well," he shrugged. "Gotta have some sort of self-motivation, don't ya? Wishin' is just like hopin' – it's a crutch. When everything feels like its ending, all you have is hope, and faith. Faith for all that hopin' and wishin' to actually bring you outta that mess one day."

"So, you're saying wishing is a way of escaping reality?"

"Of sorts. Everyone's gotta escape reality in some way or another. But," he gave her a small smile, "it's also a small part of truth. After every storm, there comes –"

"A rainbow?" She raised a brow, a smug look on her face.

He gave her a playful look in return. "I was gonna say blue skies and sunshine, but that works, too."

"Well," Cassandra looked back at the single eye lash. She shut her eyes tight, scrunched up her mouth, and then blew. The eye lash went airborne, never to be seen again. Cassandra looked at him and beamed. "Let's hope you're right."

"Ain't I always?"

Cassandra gave a doubtful expression. "I think that's Ezekiel's line."

Jake chuckled. "Try stayin' consciously cooped up with him in a car for eight hours. You'd be sounding like him, too."

The elevator doors closed, making them look up in alarm. It seemed they had arrived at their floor a while back – the elevator assuming they had exited and gone far away by now. Jake cleared his throat, both standing there for a minute, realizing what had just happened. He then reached for the button for the doors to open and gestured Cassandra to take the lead. Tonight had already been an eventful night, but Cassandra had just come to remember … they were sharing a room.

I walked through the lobby of the hotel, whistling to myself as I went. I waited for Cassandra and Stone to make it back – of course making sure to dodge them seeing me. Believe it or not, I waited for them just to make sure they made it back all right. Might sound something a thoughtful person would do, I know. I can assure you that's not the case in the least. No, it's simply a way of self-protection. If they did get in trouble, no way of contacting us – who would they blame? Me, of course. Even though it was me who brought joy into their lives. So, I had to make sure I wouldn't be killed by Baird in the morning. It already took a dozen lies and a bribe to make her let me check their room when we got back, see if Cassandra was all right. That's when I found that they hadn't arrived back at all.

Have to say, my plan went as smoothly as I had foreseen. What else did I expect? They stayed longer than they had to, then they came in giggling and flirting. It was disgustingly adorable. Baird would be proud.

I got to the elevator and pressed the little up arrow, waiting for the doors to open. As they unbolted and sank into the walls, an old man was standing in the elevator with a scowl on his face. His hair had past gray, and now it was just plain out white. His clothes hardly fit him, falling off his shoulders, and his left shoe had a toe sticking out of the end.

I gave the guy polite smile as I entered. "Evenin', mate."

He was of course getting off, so instead of saying any words to me, he just stared and then stepped out into the lobby. I couldn't help but shake the feeling that he looked familiar … where had I seen him before?

My stomach ached from the previous consumed omelet still murdering my digestive system.

That was it! Suddenly, it was like a lit light bulb had popped over my head. "Hey! You're that old geyser –" the elevator doors closed, ascending up to my room.

That had to be my imagination … right? There's no way he could be at the same hotel as us in the same country and the same town.

Nah, that was someone else. No doubt.

"Jake, this is serious," Cassandra sat on the foot of his bed, both now in their PJ's for the night.

Jacob looked at her, swallowed, and nodded. "I know. Guess it was gonna happen sometime. Might as well be now."

Cassandra's hair was pulled back into a pony tail, the pony tail bouncing as she dipped her head down to look at her hands. "You've Got Mail, or Kate and Leopold?"

Jacob hissed, as if he had been burned across the hand. "All right. I got it."

Cassandra looked up, hopeful.

"Neither."

She whined. "Jake, these movies are iconic classics."

Jacob chuckled, a brow raised. "They're romances, Cass. I'm not much for lots of drama that all leads to two people kissing in the end."

"It's Meg Ryan!"

"You want iconic movies? Why don't we watch somethin' like Ghost Busters, or Sixth Sense, or – oh! I got it. Bonanza."

Cassandra tweaked a brow. "Bonanza was a show."

He shrugged, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "Still iconic."

"Jacob,"

He resisted looking at her. He knew the look on her face would make him give in in a heartbeat. She was quiet for a moment, so he made the mistake of glancing her way. She was making a pouty face.

He winced. "All right, fine. You've Got Mail. I ain't about to watch some arrogant duke of whatever sell butter again."

Cassandra giggled. "You've seen Kate and Leopold?"

"Yeah." He gave her a warning look. "If Jones asks, then never."

Cassandra grinned and gave him a wink. "Right." She then turned around from her position, cheerfully aiming the remote to the TV and selecting You've Got Mail to play.

Jake may hate this movie, but he had to admit, he didn't hate seeing Cassandra this happy. The movie started and she gave a small squeal before scooting her way up the bed, making herself a spot beside Jake. He admittedly found her choice of seating out of character, but he wasn't going to complain.

If Jake was honest, he'd watch You've Got Mail a hundred times, if it meant spending anymore time with Cassandra.

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