A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the wait! This chapter gave me some trouble. But its here now. Hope you guys enjoy!

Cassandra and Jake entered the Library laughing, his arm around her waist. Not paying attention to where they were going, they were approached by Colonel Baird. She bore a concerned look on her face.

"Cassandra" she said "Your parents are here"

Jake felt Cassandra tense up in his arms. He looked past Colonel Baird to see a couple standing together, confused looks on their faces. The woman had her hair in a tight bun. The man wore glasses. They both seemed strict. Cassandra slipped away from Jake and approached her parents.

"Hi Mom" she muttered shyly. "Hi Dad"

"Cassandra" the woman said, sounding almost annoyed. "This woman told us that you were dying."

"Well yes, but uh…it was a false alarm. I'm all better now see!" Casandra smiled, trying her best to make the situation less awkward. Her mother stared at her, unamused. Cassandra looked down at the floor.

"She told us the doctor said that it was over. That this was it" her father said. Cassandra didn't know what to do. Of course Colonel Baird had contacted her parents when she was dying, but now there was no way to explain to them why she wasn't.

"Listen" she began.

"Cassandra" her mother shouted. "We want an explanation for all of this. We left our vacation to get here. You seem fine"

"Look, if I told you the truth you wouldn't believe me"

"Try us"

"Can we talk in private for a bit?" Jake watched as Cassandra and her parents walked into another room. Seeing her relationship with her family, he wanted to be there for her more than ever.


It hadn't taken long before Jake could hear the entire conversation coming from the other room. He cringed, thinking about what Cassandra was going through in there. He didn't have the best relationship with his parents, but he knew that if he were in Cassandra's situation, they would simply be grateful, because he was alive. He remembered when Colonel Baird had first gotten off of the phone with them, and how she had relayed that they would try to get to the Library. They hardly seemed to care about Cassandra at all.

"I'm telling you the truth!" Cassandra shouted.

"Don't be ridiculous Cassandra." her mother snapped. "I never approved of your fantasies"

"Well that was obvious because you made sure that I grew up with none! And this is not a fantasy!"

"Cassandra, if you're going to keep fooling around…" her father began. Cassandra cut him off.

"I'm not fooling around!" she snapped. "Look, I know it's hard to believe, but the point is it happened, and it cured my cancer. I get to live now, in a sense that I haven't since I was 15!"

"Let's say I believe you" her mother said. "That the cancer is gone. Are you still a syne…syne…"

"Synesthete Mom. And yes. The tumor didn't cause that, it just amplified it"

"I think we should go"

Just then, the door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Cillian came storming out, stern looks on their faces. Cassandra stood still in the room.

"Where is the exit?" Cassandra's mother asked Colonel Baird sternly. Suddenly, Cassandra raced towards them.

"Hey!" she shouted. "You're not leaving until you listen to me. You may not believe what I told you today, but I would think you be happy that I'm alive. I was on death's doorstep and now I'm not. But that doesn't matter to you does it? All that ever mattered was your pride, and your reputation.

You used to be so proud of me when I was a kid. When I was 12 years old, balancing the checkbook at the breakfast table, you were proud of me. Because that made me special, right? Then the whole world would know that your daughter was special, and smart, and that made you special. Then the doctors told us about the tumor, and synesthesia and I wasn't special; I was different. And you couldn't take different. Because I was sick, and I had these unusual abilities, and that meant I was a freak, and you were gonna be known as the people with the sick daughter, with the freak daughter.

God I grew up being ashamed of who I was, of what I could do! I was a janitor in a hospital, when I could've had so much more, because I was afraid of what I could do. All I saw was the tumor. All I saw was that I was dying, and I was different, and that I had to hide because of it, that I didn't matter.

But you know what? These people here, they met me and they accepted me for who I was. I wasn't the cancer, or the synesthete: I was Cassandra. And for the first time in forever, I saw myself that way. I liked what I could do, and these people liked it too. And they liked me for me. They're my friends. You should know that word, it was what you wouldn't let me have when I was a teenager.

The point is, in the past year that I've known these people, that I've been working with them, they have made me feel more loved and accepted than you ever did. You know I'm so glad that you still have your "pride" and your "reputation", because they must be awfully special for you to care about them more than you do your own daughter. So go ahead, leave. I don't need you."

Cassandra's parents, looking only offended, not hurt, turned away and stormed out of the library. Cassandra, having stayed strong for the entire speech, broke down crying. Jake rushed to her and held her in his arms.

Cassandra cried for facing the admission of her feelings. Yelling at her parents like that, she had realized, for the first time, that everything she said was true. She cried because it was hard, but not because she was upset. She was okay. Here, in Jake's arms, with Colonel Baird, Flynn, Ezekiel, and Jenkins, she didn't need her parents. This was her family now, and she felt right at home.

Jake hesitated, still holding onto Cassandra, rubbing her back. He knew he shouldn't do what he was about to, but he couldn't help it. What he had heard was too horrifying. After making sure Cassandra was okay, he let go of her and chased after her parents.

"Hey" he called out. The couple turned around, looking shocked and annoyed.

"I just wanna tell y'all that your daughter…she is special, she's incredibly special, and the fact that you can't see that…god you really just don't deserve her" Cassandra came running out, her tears dried now. She froze when she saw Jake with her parents. She had heard everything, but seeing them together made it real.

"Cassandra" her mother snapped "Who's this?"

Cassandra was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say. She wasn't even sure what she and Jake were, so how could she tell her parents? What she did know was that she couldn't introduce him as a co-worker, or even a friend. She walked over to Jake and grabbed his hand. After that, the words seemed to come on their own.

"This is Jake" she said. "He's someone who cares about me, who I care about too. He's someone who's risked everything, just for me. And he accepts me for who I am. So who is this? This is someone who is everything that you two aren't."

The Cillians seemed flabbergasted. Jake was trying to process everything he had just heard. Cassandra, she was done. She had said everything she needed to, and she was filled with more realization than she ever had been before. The Librarians were her family. Having said everything she needed to her parents, she turned and walked back into the Library, taking Jake with her.

When they were back inside, he stared at her.

"What?" she asked, still trying to recover from her encounter.

"Did you really mean everything you said about me back there?"

"Yes. Jake you have….no idea what you mean to me."

"For once Cassadra Cillian you're wrong. I know just how you feel. Cause you mean the world to me darlin'"

Cassandra smiled, almost crying. Without hesitation, the couple leaned in and joined in a kiss again. For the first time in either of their lives, Cassandra and Jake finally knew what it meant to have a home, and it wasn't until they had it that they ever knew it had been missing.

A/N: Hope you guys liked the chapter! The story with Cassandra's parents is my theory about their relationship, as in the first episode when she says that they're "so proud of me" for balancing the checkbook, it seems to have a nostalgic tone behind it. Anyway, Im publishing the epilogue now, so keep reading. Bye!