Jacob Stone couldn't sleep. This in itself wasn't new to him, he often had restless nights where his brain just refused to turn off. Tonight, however, Jake lay back and welcomed the thoughts that came to him. Unlike other nights where his restlessness was caused by anxiety from a particularly rough case, nights where he would close his eyes and relive the more frightening aspects of his job, tonight the things keeping him awake were happy memories.
Cassandra slept soundly beside him. Jake couldn't help but smile when he looked over at her. They had been through so much together in such a short amount of time, and they still had the rest of their long lives ahead of them.
Jake supposed it all started three years ago. Well, it really all started the first time he laid eyes on the beautiful red head, back when they first found out about the Library and that magic was real. It had been love at first sight, though Jake had been too stubborn to admit it at the time. But it had been three years ago that he finally got his head out of his ass and confessed his true feelings for Cassandra. It was the fear of losing her too soon that caused him to wait so long, but he finally realized that if he was going to lose her anyways, he would rather have her as his for a short amount of time as opposed to not at all.
And then it turned out that Jake needn't worry at all. Not even a year after he and Cassandra became a couple, they discovered a cure. Actually, it had been Ezekiel who discovered the artifact that cured Cassandra, a fact that the young thief still liked to bring up, but it didn't matter. Jake would happily listen to the kid brag about how awesome he was if it meant that Cassandra would be around for a long time. It was a small price to pay.
He had meant to wait, to bask in the glory of one milestone before moving on to the next. Jake figured six months, maybe even a year would be plenty of time. However, a mere month after Cassandra had been brain grape free he decided it had been long enough and he asked her to marry him. Of course she said yes.
Although Jake had always envisioned himself having a large wedding in a church, his parents, sisters, and every other Stone relative present, he was more than happy to trade that fantasy in for the small ceremony Cassandra wanted. Jenkins officiated, Flynn walked her down the aisle, and Baird and Jones were the only others in attendance. They were married in the Library, and they spent their honeymoon locked up in their own apartment. When you have instant access to anywhere in the world, a foreign getaway just didn't hold the same appeal as their apartment did at the time.
That had been a year ago, exactly one year. Today had been their first anniversary and unlike their honeymoon, they did decide to take full advantage of the portal door. Jake took Cassie to Rome, a place they hadn't been since they went looking for the Apple. This time they had the entire day to explore and didn't have to worry about falling victim to a magical artifact.
They stayed off the Vatican this time, but as they enjoyed lunch at a small cafe nearby, Cassandra delivered the next piece of life changing news. She was pregnant.
Jake didn't think it was possible for him to ever be as happy as he was when they found a cure for Cassandra. His wedding day was a close second, but he never imagined anything else ever coming close to making him feel the way he had those two days. Boy, was he wrong. Finding out that he and Cassandra were going to be parents, that in a few months there was going to be a baby that was a piece of him and a piece of Cassie, that easily matched how happy he had been when he learned that Cassandra was going to be around to long enough to actually live her life.
Sighing contentedly, Jake rolled onto his side and gently draped his arm around Cassandra's waist. She instinctively leaned into him, but didn't wake fully. Smiling, Jake closed his eyes and before too long he had drifted off into a deep sleep, dreaming of the child that he had yet to meet.