The Clippings books, the main one as well as the individual ones, had been mostly quiet for a few weeks after Flynn had left. There were small missions here and there, Cassandra was on one of hers at the moment, but for the most part it had been quiet. They'd all taken advantage of the quiet to attend to their own projects as well as things that needed to be done around the Library.
Stone knew that when Cassandra was not on missions or helping with inventory that she'd been practicing magic. Out of all of them, aside from possibly Flynn, she seemed the most adept at actually getting a spell to work. They all wondered if it was the result of her being briefly turned into Merlin and that little blue spark that she kept in a pretty jar on the desk she'd claimed as her own. She'd gone into things cautiously, following all instructions to the letter and starting very very small. He'd tried with her one day and had actually managed to get a ball to float like she could. But while she could spin and juggle them, he'd only managed the one trick. So he'd left that mostly to her though they'd had many interesting conversations about the subject, she'd gotten interested in occultism and actually found an article he'd written (under another name) about early colonial occult symbolism. He missed some of the more intimate conversations they'd had pre-Peru, but he knew that this was how it had to be, at least for now. Besides, he'd never had anyone in his life like her. Actually having a conversation with someone his intellectual equal in person was frankly amazing. And one of the many reasons why he loved her.
Jacob himself was working on a paper. He'd been so busy with the Library and Max that he'd fallen behind on his publishing. His favorite alter ego Oliver Thompson had been urged to submit for an upcoming issue of a journal he'd been frequently published in, so he'd been busy writing. In between child care, taking inventory of the Library and the occasional mission, of course. He got up and stretched, his stomach was rumbling and he had a couple of hours before he needed to pick up Max from preschool. Might as well get food. He grabbed the books he'd been gathering from the Library and headed back toward the Annex door.
He passed Jones who was muttering at a mass of wires. The security system was in desperate need of an overhaul, especially after Prospero had invaded. Ezekiel had been attempting to upgrade it, but the Library seemed to not be having it. They weren't sure why, but the Library just hadn't been itself since it's return. Which seemed to be part of the problem Jones was having, along with all of the antique wiring. Stone didn't like to admit this out loud, but if anyone could get the security system to work properly, it would be Jones.
Baird was sitting at her desk, looking lost in thought. She'd been quieter ever since Flynn had left, though she was pretty busy with Jenkins most of the time. He lay his books on the desk he'd claimed and looked over at her.
"Hey Baird?"
She looked up. "Stone?"
"Want to go out to lunch?"
She smiled at him, a touch of affection in that smile. "Sounds good. Cassandra texted and said everything was finished. She decided to do a little sightseeing before she came home."
He grinned. "Good for her. We all need to do that when we can. Might as well take advantage of magic door."
Baird looked at him, a question in her eyes, but then she shrugged. He had a feeling that she'd be asking him the question over lunch instead.
Settling in at the brewpub down the road, Baird took a sip of her beer then asked how Max was doing.
"He's doin' good. The therapist said there wasn't any need to make any more appointments for him. And he did real good spendin' time with his mama and his cousins. Loves his preschool too. Been trying to decide if I want to send him to public kindergarten or put him in a private school, but that'll be over a year away, thank God. I'm tellin' ya Baird, just yesterday he was learning to walk, now he's in school."
Baird grinned. "They do grow up fast. I don't see my brother's kids much anymore, they live in Japan but Flynn and I . . . ." She swallowed another gulp of her beer and continued. "Happened to be in Japan a month ago and we dropped in on them. They were so big! I remember the little one was crawling last I saw them."
Stone took his own sip of beer. "If you want to talk about it . . . ."
Baird shook her head. "Not right now, but thank you. If I do, I know exactly who I can count on."
"You can, you know. You helped me when I needed it. I'd like to return the favor."
Baird nodded. "About that . . . ." But before she could ask or Stone could answer, the waitress was bringing their food.
A few minutes later, after condiments were applied and food was arranged just so, Baird returned to their conversation. "Things with Cassandra seem cordial. I was expecting a great deal more of you two avoiding each other and giving each other longing looks than I have. Though the two of you and Jones . . . ."
"That's a totally different set of issues, Baird. We'll get that worked out eventually."
"Avoiding the subject, Stone."
Stone chuckled. "Things with Cassandra are good. We talked soon after you and I did."
"I don't wanna pry but I do have to know about dynamics in the team," Baird said, taking a bite of her burger. When she was finished, she added. "You don't have to tell me details if you don't want to."
Stone shook his head. "The dynamics haven't changed yet."
"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. But you two seem so friendly . . . ." Baird looked confused. "And by the way, this is a damn good burger. How's yours?"
Stone laughed at the sudden change in topic. "It's pretty good, yes. But we're . . . ." He started eating his burger but Baird understood he was collecting his thoughts not ignoring her question.
She let him collect his thoughts and went back to enjoying her burger.
Stone finished about half his burger and then after washing it down with beer, he started talking. "We did talk. We both have things standing in our way before we can be together."
Baird nodded, she and Stone had touched on those issues before. "But?"
"It's all good. We're both on the same page. I know how she feels about me, she knows how I feel about her. Well, I mean we haven't said the words out loud, but we know. It's just . . . ."
"I get it," Baird's expression was wistful. "You need to work out your own personal issues first. It's smart."
"Wish you'd done that with Flynn?"
"Stone . . . ."
"Sorry, sorry. But anyway, we're good. Max is thrilled, we've been back to spending time with him together. It's not the same, we're trying not to get too close, muddle things too much. But it'll be okay."
"Good. And the stuff with Jones?"
Stone chuckled, taking another sip of beer and a bite of burger. "Now that's a 2-way street, Baird. But I promised Cassandra I'd try. That's all I can do."
"She didn't have much success being in the middle huh?"
Stone shook his head, "no and I feel real bad about putting her there. But she's my best friend and she denies it but she did side with me more than Jones would like." Stone tried but failed to hide the pleased grin.
"Well, I don't have any qualms about being monkey in the middle."
"Nope, but I kinda feel like we need our big sis to keep us in line."
"Hey! Watch it with the big sis thing," though it was true that she was older than the three of them, even if it was only by a couple of years in his case. She smirked though, suddenly feeling better. "I am, however, taller than you."
Stone looked mock offended despite the very real fact that she was much taller than him. "Hey! And I was gonna buy you lunch. Keep that up and you're paying for both of us."
"Ha, what we should have done was lifted Jones' credit card."
"Plan for next time. We should get back though. I have to get home. I don't have a sitter this afternoon and I'm needing to pick up Max."
"It's still so weird thinking of you as a dad."
Jacob snorted. "Trust me, I still have trouble wrapping my head around that myself. But he's still the best thing I've ever done."
"Still can't get his mother to come out here?"
He shook his head. "It's beatin' a dead horse really. Max needs his mother and I think she needs him. But she's proud and she's still blamin' herself for hookin' up with that ass. It weren't her fault, any of it. But all I can do is what I promised her and give him a good life here."
"It'll work out," she squeezed his arm, suddenly serious. "All of it. You and Cassandra, Josie, the team it'll work out."
"Same with you," he said softly. "It'll work out."
"Yeah," she smiled softly and released his arm.
"I missed ya, Eve." Calling her by her first name and the phrase brought flashbacks of another Jacob Stone, a heartbroken man in a terrible situation. But the look on this Stone's face was brotherly affection, the same way she felt for him. The love of this Stone's life was their math girl, not their Guardian and she kinda always wished that world's Cassandra had been there for that world's Stone.
She smiled. "I missed ya too, little bro."
"Never thought I'd have two female best friends. Guess I never really thought I'd have a real best friend at all, to be honest."
"Back at ya on the best friend part. Hey, does that mean I can be best person at your wedding to wife number two?"
Jacob had the grace to blush. "Baird . . .man . . .we haven't even started . . . ."
"Wow, you are too, too easy."
"That's it. You are paying for lunch."
Baird and Stone were still good naturally bickering and laughing in the Annex. Stone was gathering up his laptop and notes to take home, when the Back Door rumbled. No one paid that much attention to it any more, not like in the early days. Since the Librarians sometimes still went on solo missions and the Door was the connection to the Library, it was in almost constant use.
So it's rumbling generally only caused people in the Annex to look up briefly. This time the Door was discharging Cassandra, who was carrying a shopping bag from a French department store.
"Hey, how was Marseilles?" Jacob asked, grinning at her across the room.
"Great. Got things wrapped up without a hitch and did some shopping. Couldn't resist." She smiled and took a small statue out of the shopping bag. "Funny that could cause so much damage but luckily no one actually realized it. It was just sitting on a shelf in a second hand store. I got a couple of postcards for Max's mural too."
Max's mural was actually large sheets of paper tacked to the walls of his bedroom. Max had a bad habit of drawing on walls. Jacob hadn't wanted to discourage his artistic habits but obviously he didn't want damage on their apartment's walls or on the walls of his various sitters. So after seeing some big sheets of paper at Max's preschool, Jacob had hit upon the idea of lining the boy's room with it. Cassandra had helped him hang it up one weekend. Max had wanted more than just his drawings, so Cassandra had taken to bringing the boy postcards, photos and little trinkets to hang up as well.
"Great, he'll love that. I'm about to head on out for the day, I don't have an afternoon sitter."
Cassandra bit her lip. "I have some stuff to do here, but do you mind if I come over later and see him? It's been a while and I need a Max fix."
"You're always welcome, you know that. He'll be happy to see you, you can tell him all about the pictures on your postcards."
A few hours later, Jacob was at his desk in the living room working on his paper. Cassandra and Max were in Max's bedroom drawing on the walls. Jacob thought sometimes that Cassandra had as much fun as the boy drawing. She actually wasn't that great at it, but it was an outlet for her. Something she definitely wouldn't have been able to do as a child. She was pretty good at coloring which was something she could do with Max for hours.
He'd stretched and looked at the clock. It was getting close to dinner and he figured he'd better remind Cassandra of that. She usually didn't stay for dinner any more, part of their pact to not get too close. But occasionally if she and Max were having a good time she'd stay and then leave not long after.
"Andra?" he heard Max asking as he approached the boy's room.
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"Are you gonna marry my Daddy?"
Jacob froze in the hallway even though he really wanted to see Cassandra's face. He imagined it though, especially when he heard her stammer.
"What? I mean, um, what gave you that idea Max?"
"Daddy looks at you the way Uncle Danny looks at Auntie Jessie. Mama and Daddy never looked like that. But Sarah," Max mentioned his older cousin, one of Jessie's children. "She says that Mama and Daddy only liked each other, but her mama and daddy love each other. And I want both my mama and daddy to be happy."
Cassandra coughed. "And not together?"
Jacob couldn't see either, but Max paused and his father wondered if he was shaking his head. "Nope, Daddy says they're better off. And he keeps saying he really hopes Mama finds someone who loves her. Says she's really great but not for him."
"Yeah, he told me that too," Cassandra's tone was a little absent like she was lost in thought.
"But Andra, Daddy makes you happy right? Cuz you look at him like Auntie Jessie looks at Uncle Danny. And you should be my . . .well I have Mama but I can call you Mommy right? That would be cool."
"Um well Max um . . . ."
Jacob decided that he needed to rescue Cassandra from this now. He knocked on the door frame as he entered. Max beamed at his father, Cassandra was nearly as red as her hair.
"Hey, it's almost dinner time. I was wondering if you both would like to go out for a pizza? I've been lazy today about food."
"Yay! Pizza!" and with that Max completely forgot about what he'd been asking Cassandra about.
"Cassie?"
"Yeah, yeah, sounds good."
"Max, go wash up, okay? We'll put up the art supplies."
"Okay, Daddy."
"I assume you heard that?" Cassandra asked as Max bounced off and her color started to return to normal as she helped Jacob put the crayons and pens away.
"Yeah. If it makes you feel better, Baird asked if she could be my best person today."
Cassandra giggled. "Are we that obvious?"
"Apparently we always have been. Cassie, in all seriousness though, I ain't gonna make assumptions. We haven't even started datin'. I don't even know how you feel about it. 'Sides after gettin' divorced once . . . I'm not even sure where I stand on it."
Cassandra shook her head. "After everything, I've never let myself dream. I had relationships but . . . well you know. I don't know where I stand either. But one thing at a time right?"
"Yes. I'll have a talk with Max if you want."
"Nah, if he brings it up again, we'll talk to him together. He's forgotten already. He's sweet though, just wanting you and Josie to be happy."
"He's a great kid. You okay?"
Cassandra rounded up the last of the crayons, looking lost in thought. Then she looked over at him and playfully pouted. "Except now that you've claimed Baird, I'm gonna have to put Ezekiel in a dress and make him my maid of honor."
And Max had no idea why when he came back, his father was sitting on the floor, still laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes.
