To wake up with a face-full of hair sounds a lot more unpleasant than waking up with a heart full of hope. When Evan woke up to both, he smiled to himself, appreciating the shadow in his mind letting him rest, even if it was only for an hour. But the shadow was restless, eager to hunt and work and prepare the earth. Evan felt that his constellation was keeping him grounded and attached to his human mind and his shadow allowed it. humanity is complex yet simple and controlled yet freeing. To have a body to complete a spirit was refreshing and so surreal to the shadow. Evan and his Other worked in tandem, learning that to fight each other made existing harder for them both. Evan slid out of Val's twin bed and proceeded to prepare for the day. He and Cassie had to leave soon. He recalled his own love for Val and had started to feel his own sense of protection over Sam.
As Evan walked to the door, Cassie murmured in her sleep and shook as she recognized the cold absence of Evan's body next to hers. "Sammy misses you" she had said. Her face scrunched up slightly and a small stream of tears began to run from her eyes. She turned over and breathed a big sleepy sigh. Evan wanted to hold her and remind her that everything would be okay. He instead turned and left the room, knowing she would be up soon anyways.
Evan made french toast for breakfast, utilizing eggs from chickens outside. He thought about Cassie's healing process and whether she was healing slower than usual or if time was just dragging on and blurring so it seemed she had always been injured. With her life on evan's shoulders and Sammy's on hers, the tension in the house was rigid, taking a toll on Cassie's ability to recover. Evan decided to take the day to suppress the shadow from "saving" anyone except for Cassie. Living on a farm had its benefits, with lots of things to do and being able to have enough strength to carry a teenage girl around all day.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead. I brought breakfast." Cassie rolled over to face Evan and rubbed the sleep from her eyes unknowing of the sadness that hung over her dreams.
"Hey.. When did you wake up? Did you even sleep? And I know I keep questioning the food but how the hell did you make this?" Evan just smiled and brought the tray over to her. He sat on the edge of the bed stroking her unharmed leg and staring at his hands as Cassie ate. "What's wrong?"
"I figured you could use a day out." Evan's ears turned red," So, Cassiopeia Marie Sullivan, would you do me the honor of joining me on a date this afternoon?"
Cassie stumbled over balancing her words, chewing, and choking at the same time. "Uh- Yeah, yeah that'd be great, I'd love to, that sounds great. Absolutely great." Her eyes widened and her pulse quickened. "How much time do I have?" Evan's grin was stretched across his face that he could feel his skin being stretched.
"A few hours- You can finish your breakfast I wasn't sure what you'd say so I still need to set up everything but you're going to love it and I'm so glad you said yes and I'll come back in a bit!" Evan bolted out of the room with all of his ideas banging around in his head. Nothing could come in the way of tonight being perfect.
Nothing.