A/N:This idea came to me sort of randomly one day when I was listening to the Nutcracker doing homework. Just a bit of goofy fun. Hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 22: Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy
"You're going to love what my sister got me for Christmas" Cassandra said as she entered the Library that day. Jake was the only one in the room.
"Good morning to you too" he teased. She rolled her eyes, sat down next to him, and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"As I was saying, I've been talking to my sister a lot lately. What with my life changing and all, I'm trying to take more chances and fix things…"
"Cassie" Jake interrupted. "Slow down. I didn't even know you had a sister"
"Oh, yeah! She's your age. And she works as an agent for the New York City Ballet, and she gets free tickets to the Nutcracker every year. So, I was telling her about everything, and she brought over tickets this morning for tonight's show! That is, if you're up for going"
"Of course I wanna go!" Jake shouted. "The Nutcracker Ballet in New York City is one of the most time honored pieces of art in history!"
"Good! One more thing" Cassandra added skeptically.
"What's that?"
"Well, when she asked me how many tickets I needed, I told her five. I figured we could make it a double date with Flynn and Baird, since you know, this is really a thing now. Of course, I'm sort of embarrassed to ask them outright to go on said double date, so I got a ticket for Jones, knowing he won't want to come. Then it'll be just the four of us!"
"Sounds perfect Cassie" Jake smiled. "Albeit a bit complicated."
"So after work we'll get ready, and if there's time, maybe head out for some dinner before the show?"
"Whatever you want darlin'. It's your Christmas present"
They shared another quick kiss, on the lips this time, before heading off to complete their various duties for the day.
Later that night, Cassandra, Jake, Eve and Flynn all sat in the theatre, waiting for the show to begin. As expected, Jones had stayed home, laughing when Cassandra had offered him the ticket.
Jake was more excited than anyone. His hands were clasped in his lap, and his leg bounced up and down.
"You a little excited there honey?" Cassandra joked.
"Be quiet" Jake argued. "Living in Oklahoma all my life, I've never actually gotten to go to a ballet"
"It's wonderful" Cassandra assured him. "You're going to love it."
"Colonel Baird!" A voice called from up the aisle. Cassandra turned and saw who was rushing to greet them.
"Oh no" she whispered.
Jenkins was walking up the aisle, holding a program and clad in a fancy suit. He scooched past the couples to his seat next to Cassandra.
"Well isn't this exciting" he chimed.
"What are you doing here Jenkins?" Jake asked
"Oh, well came to me, said he wasn't using his ticket. He wanted to know if I wanted it, and I did"
A look of anger crossed Jake's face. Jones had figured out their plan, and he planned this whole thing. He was going to kill that kid.
"Okay so it's not optimal" Cassandra whispered, leaning into her boyfriend so as to make sure that the caretaker would not hear a word. "But what's so bad about him being here?"
"I thought I was gonna get to spend time cuddlin' ya tonight, but now it feels wrong. I can't do all that with Jenkins here, it'd be like kissing in front of my Grandpa. Besides, does the old guy even know we're dating?"
Cassandra frowned then, realizing Jake was right. Seeing them pressed up next to each other in a dark theatre may not be the best way for Jenkins to find out about their relationship.
Next to them, Flynn experienced similar troubles. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he had been planning on spending a good amount of show time kissing Eve.
"Hey" she whispered. "You wanna get out of here now? Make up some excuse, head back to my place?"
"No" Flynn said. He placed his arm around Eve, who rubbed her thumb up and down his palm "I can tell this means a lot to Cassandra. Besides, I suppose we could wait a few hours. How bad could it be?"
It was bad. Every time any of them would try to even whisper to each other, Jenkins would quiet them immediately. However, that did not seem to stop him from loudly humming along to the waltz of the flowers.
They managed to make the most of it though. Jake and Cassandra held hands in-between their seats for the entire night. Eve and Flynn managed to convey their personal messages through eye contact. Besides, they did have a nice dinner beforehand, and it really was a beautiful show.
A/N: Not that I don't totally agree with Jenkins on the theatre etiquette thing, but Eve and Flynn would totally be in that place the whole time. Also, regarding the "She's your age" line: Because we don't have canon ages for the characters, I just assume them to be about the actors ages. There's a five year gap between Lindy Booth and Christian Kane, so I usually assume Jake to be 3-5 years older than Cassie. That's all. Hope you liked it! Can't believe there's only 3 stories left. See you tomorrow with "Believe". Bye LITs!