The weeks following that night showed a different side of the pair. Whenever he was at the estate, Tavington and Cassandra were inseparable. This meant of course, that whenever he was out with his men, Cassandra worried. Logically, she knew how the war went; she had studied it enough in school. She knew they still had time together, but still she worried. She worried that by her coming back in time, she had somehow changed the course of events. She worried that she had doomed him to an early death. Whenever these thoughts crept up on her, she tried her best to block them from her mind, but it wasn't always easy. So whenever they were together, she tried to make the best of it.

It was a warm summer day, and Cassandra was enjoying it. She had taken a beautiful chestnut horse out to ride, oblivious to the looks she was receiving from some of the other men as she galloped the horse around the large back pasture. On her third pass around the pasture, Cassandra glanced up, and was both pleased and surprised to see that William was leaning against the gate watching her with a curious, although pleased, expression. Cassandra pulled the reigns slightly changing direction so that the horse trotted over to where William waited.

"Hello there Colonel" she said with a smile, placing a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.

"Good afternoon Cassandra" William replied with a smile. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Immensely" she said, laughing a little as the horse snorted and stamped its foot.

"Do you have plans for later?" William inquired tilting his head slightly as he watched her.

"No"

"Would you like to take a walk with me? When you're done here?"

"I'd love to Colonel" Cassandra said, shifting so that she could swing her leg over and dismount from her horse, calling over to one of his soldiers to take the horse back to the barn as she did so.

"I didn't mean for you to end your riding right now Cassandra" William sputtered as she jumped from the horse and made her way over to him, laughter in her eyes. William's heart began to accelerate slightly as she opened the gate and reached her hand out to grab his.

"We can walk anytime….."

"Oh come on Colonel" Cassandra said tugging on his hand playfully, "let's go for that walk!"

William shook his head and laughed as she tugged on his hand, allowing her to pull him through the gate before he turn and latched it behind them.

"You are a most unusual creature Cassandra Davies" William said squeezing her hand gently.

Cassandra snickered "I could stay the same about you, you know"

William laughed, and brought their joined hands to his lips, kissing the back of her hand as they made their way through the pasture, and out the back gate into the surrounding woods. The pair wandered for quite some time, with no real destination in mind.

Soon, they came upon a small, but deep lake, nestled in the woods. Cassandra looked at the lake, then back to William, a small, sly smile playing on her lips.

"Want to go for a swim Colonel?" she asked teasingly

"Hardly Miss Davies" Tavington sniffed. "Neither of us have swimwear"

Cassandra raised an eyebrow "So?"

"So?" William repeated, a faint blush creeping across his face as he realized her meaning. "Surely, you're not suggesting that we….." Tavington trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Relax Colonel" Cassandra said, tossing back her head and laughing. "I was kidding!"

Cassandra continued to chuckle as she sat down on a large rock and began removing her shoes. "I am however, going to take a walk down the waters edge" she said with a grin.

"Be careful love" Tavington said shaking his head. "That is deeper than it looks"

Cassandra waved her hand dismissively as she began strolling down the water's edge, slipping occasionally on the wet stone, her shoes swinging lightly from one hand, her skirt held up in the other.

"I don't know why you won't come in with me" she teased, glancing over her shoulder to where William stood, watching her with a bemused expression. "The water is cold, but it feels -" The rest of Cassandra's sentence was cut off as she lost her footing and toppled over into the water. Cassandra sat for a moment, dazed, when the sound of William's laughter brought her attention back to him.

"Something funny Colonel?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Indeed" William replied striding over to where she sat. "You're all wet Miss Davies" he said chuckling as he held his hand down to help her up.

"Indeed I am" Cassandra replied taking his hand and starting to pull herself up. "But then again Colonel?" she said with a mischievous wink as she yanked his hand the same moment she swept her foot under his causing him to lose his balance and tumble down next to her. "So are you"

William's eyes widened as she swept her foot under his the same time she pulled his hand causing him to fall into the water beside her. He cast an annoyed scowl at her as she snickered at him.

"You are impossible!" he said with a shake of his head. What would his men think if they saw their fearless leader sitting in full uniform in a lake?

Cassandra grinned and playfully splashed more water at him while he watched her in disbelief. "You know Miss Davies, you are behaving quite inappropriately" he said slowly, watching her with unreadable eyes. "I think I'm going to have to do something about this"

Cassandra snickered as she got to her feet and began backing up farther into the water, not taking her eyes off of his as he copied her movements. "Going to punish me Colonel?" she all but purred at him.

"I believe I will" William said, a slow, devious smile on his face.

"Well, you'll have to catch me first" Cassandra said with a laugh as she turned and stuck out farther into the lake.

The icy water felt good on her skin, it had been so hot as of late, and she wished desperately for some rain to cool things off. Cassandra risked a glance over her shoulder, stopping for a moment as she realized how close William already was to her. With a shriek of laughter, Cassandra kicked out, laughing as she felt William's hand grab hold of her ankle. William stood triumphantly, the water lapping at his chest, as he held tightly to her ankle, pulling it gently upwards so that she was forced to almost float on the water to keep her head from going under.

"I've got you now" he said in a serious tone, raising one eyebrow as he watched her sputter. "Now I'm going to let you go, but first you have to promise to come to me. Do not make me chase you again Miss Davies"

Cassandra nodded; worried for a moment that she had actually offended him. It hadn't been a good idea, she thought now, to drag him into the murky water in his uniform. But at the time, she hadn't been able to resist. '

Cassandra swam towards him; the water was a bit higher on her, so she placed her arms around his neck, and wrapped her legs around his waist to help keep her up.

"Well you've got me Colonel" she said quietly as she looked into his eyes.

"Indeed I do" he whispered, as he wrapped one of his arms around her, bringing his other hand up to fist in her wet hair. "And now I intend to teach you what happens to insolent women that force me to chase them through a lake"

William watched Cassandra for a moment before he brought his mouth forcefully down on hers. Cassandra sighed against his lips, deepening the kiss as she ran her hand up, her nails scraping his neck lightly. William broke the kiss before she did, causing her to watch him for a moment as she struggled to regain her composure.

"Is that all Colonel?" she teased playfully, leaning forward and nipping him lightly on the ear. "I think in that case, I'll have to annoy you more often"

William laughed once, before grabbing Cassandra suddenly and tossing her back away from him, causing her to become completely submerged underwater.

Cassandra came up sputtering and coughing. "You are HORRIBLE" she screeched through her laughter. "And one day, when you least expect it, I WILL get even with you"

William laughed as Cassandra stood there glaring at him. Once again struck by the emotion she caused him to feel. Never before had there been anyone like her in his life, and William knew in that moment there never would be again.

"Cassandra" he said, noticing for the first time how dark the sky had gotten above them.

"Yes William?" Cassandra said, following his gaze before swimming back over to him, wrapping herself around him once more.

"I think we had better get back to dry land and back to the house quickly. It looks like we're in for a storm"

Cassandra pouted slightly. "But I like being here with you …. Like this"

"Soaking wet?"

"No" Cassandra laughed "Although that has its benefits as well. More, I was thinking… alone……" Cassandra trailed off and blushed again, knowing full well that William would never take advantage of her, even if she wanted him to.

William chuckled softly as he brushed a lock of hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. "You know its not proper love"

Cassandra huffed out a breath. "Yes, I know"

William wrapped his arms around Cassandra as he began walking them back towards the shore, laughing softly as a clap of thunder sounded causing Cassandra to jump in his arms and tighten her grip around his neck.

Cassandra buried her head against his neck as the thunder struck again, closer this time. What if this storm was like the last one? What if this was the storm that took her back? Once they reached the shore, William set Cassandra gently on her feet, where she walked a few steps before sitting down on the ground to put her shoes back on. Cassandra looked up as William came over to her, surprised when instead of offering her his hand, he sat down beside her.

"Cassandra" he said again, more seriously this time. "There is something that I want to tell you. Something that I need to get off my mind before we take whatever this is between us any farther"

Cassandra nodded, trying to keep the worry out of her eyes as she felt the first rain drops land on her.

"Cassandra…. I….." William took her hands in his. "I am in love you"

Cassandra smiled her heart beating so loud she was certain he would be able to hear it.

"Well that is good to know William" she replied softly. "Because I am in love with you too"

With that, Cassandra leaned back slowly pulling him down with her, her lips crushing his as the rain poured down around them.