by ID Johnson
"I was waiting for you, sweetheart," Liz replied, stating what should have been obvious.
"I know that, Mom. But why? You never waited up for me when I was with Jack," Cadence questioned.
Liz took a deep sigh. "Well, this is different," she said, looking down at her lap for a second. Then, she looked up at her daughter and smiled. "I worry about you, darling. That's what mothers do."
"Oh, Mom," Cadence said, waving her left hand down sharply. "You don't need to worry about me."
"Tell me, darling," Liz said matter-of-factly, "Are you still on the pill?"
Cadence gasped. "Mother!" she exclaimed, feeling the red rise up in her face.
"Oh, now, Cadence, let's be adults," Liz said, her tone still even. "I just want to make sure you're being safe," she continued.
"Yes, Mom. Yes!" Cadence said, hiding her face with her hands.
"Well, honey, you know you can get pregnant from a Guardian just as well as you can a human or another Hunter," Liz explained.
"I know, Mom! I know that's how Dad got here. And that's gross enough to think about without this...inquisition."
Liz laughed. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't meant to embarrass you."
"I mean, when you said you were worried, I thought you meant about the Vampires who try to kill me almost nightly, not about... that!" Cadence exclaimed.
"Of course I worry about that," Liz said, her eyes wondering off. "But there's not much I can do about that. " She took a long pause again before continuing. "I'm very proud of you, Cadence. I could never do what you do."
Cadence said nothing, but she looked at her mom inquisitively, her embarrassment temporarily gone.
"I thought I would, at one time," she explained. "I was all set to. But then, I started thinking, 'What if I can't do it?' You know? It must be difficult, especially the first time, to take another life, even if it is an awful creature."
The room was silent again for a moment before Cadence spoke up. "I didn't think about it the first time. I just did it. I guess it's gotten easier."
"I'm sure some kills are harder than others," Liz stated. Cadence nodded at her. "Anyway, I didn't think I could do it. So I didn't. But I am very proud of you, darling. Very proud."
"Thank you," Cadence said quietly. Some kills must be harder than others. The possibility of having to face Jack in such a situation temporarily entered her mind, but she brushed it away. "I'm really tired. It's been a long day," she yawned.
"Okay, honey. Just...be careful. Try not to put yourself in a position where you might get hurt," Liz cautioned.
"I am being careful," Cadence said, a slight tone of defensiveness in her voice. "You just don't like him, do you?" she asked, not angry but a bit surprised.
Again, Liz hesitated. "There's just something about that boy--"
"Mom, he's 150 years old," Cadence interrupted.
"Okay, that MAN," she replied. "I just don't trust him, honey. I'm sorry. Just be careful. I know you are quite smitten with him..."
"I love him," Cadence said quietly.
"What's that, dear?" Liz asked, a puzzled and concerned expression on her face. "Did you say you love him?"
"Yes," Cadence whispered, not looking up at her mother.
Liz took a moment to ponder what her daughter had admitted to her. Finally, she advised, "Well, whatever you do, don't tell him that."
Cadence looked up. "Why not?" she asked, the defensive tone back in her voice.
Liz inhaled sharply. "Because no good can come of it, that's why."
"Didn't you tell Dad you loved him?" Cadence countered.
"Not first," Liz replied. "You never say it first. If you do, well, they'll find a reason to run."
Cadence shook her head. "Aaron would never..."
"Oh, not intentionally, darling. I don't think he would do that. But he'll find a reason. Subconsciously. Even if he loves you, too. They always ddo."
Cadence considered her mother's words but said nothing more about it. Of course, she thought her mother was wrong; she had to be wrong. After a few moments she said, "Mom, how long have you known him?"
"Since before you were born," she replied, her lips pursed.
Cadence nodded her head. "Do you know about Aislyn?"
"Oh, Aislyn," she repeated. "I had forgotten. Even when your sister said she was surprised he wasn't married, I didn't remember. I don't know everything, darling. That was a very long time ago. But anyone with that type of history is bound to have some hang ups when it comes to love, sweetheart, no matter how long ago it was."
Again, Cadence considered her mother's words. "Do you know about Jack?" she asked.
It was her mother's turn to nod.
"Who told you?" she asked quietly.
"Does it matter?" Liz could see on her daughter's face that it did. "Elliott," she admitted.
"Then, you knew before I did?" she asked.
"Yes. Elliott explained that Aaron felt he should tell you himself. So, we didn't say anything."
"Okay," Cadence said, though she wasn't sure it was. "It must be hard to keep all of these things from me, all the time, for all of these years."
Liz considered the statement. "No harder than it is for us to keep things from Cass."
"That's super hard!" Cadence exclaimed. "I hate keeping things from Cassidy."
"Well, you won't have to much longer," Liz reminded her oldest daughter.
Cadence knew that was true. "Okay," she stated again. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Mom," she said. She stood, crossed the few steps to Liz's chair, and kissed her mom on the cheek.
"Good night, darling," she replied, kissing her back. As Cadence made her way up the stairs, she decided to clarify one more thing. "Cadence," she called.
Cadence paused, one foot on the stairs. "Yes, Mom?"
"That's not Jack."
Chapter 9
Cadence wasn't shocked when it was Elliott who knocked on her door the next morning, ready to pick her up to drive her to the airport. The goodbye to her parents and sister had been brief; they had no idea she wouldn't be back in a few days for Christmas Eve. At this point, she wasn't even sure if she'd be back for Christmas Day, but they didn't need to know that yet. Cassidy was ecstatic that she got to tell Elliott goodbye, however, so in that respect Cadence was glad he had stopped by. "Where's Aaron?" she asked, following Elliott out to the Lamborghini.
"Trying to round up the troops, I guess," he said, pulling the door open for her. "Seems nobody could get their shit in one sock," he added, slamming down the door.
Cadence couldn't help but chuckle at that. As Elliott climbed behind the steering wheel, squeezing himself in the best he could, she said, "Are we meeting them at the airport then?"
"That's the plan," he agreed, pulling onto the street. "Assuming Eliza has quit throwing her baby fit and got her bags packed."
"What's wrong with her?" Cadence asked. She's assumed the problem was probably with Laura, since she had made it pretty clear that she didn't want to go with them back to LIGHTS.
Elliott sighed. "I don't know. She wants to go with him wherever the hell he's going tonight, and he kept telling her it isn't necessary, and she's being a whiney ass bitch."
"Tell me how you really feel," Cadence said sarcastically.
"Sorry, just gets old," Elliott muttered. The little airport outside of town wasn't too far from Cadence's house, when one was traveling twice the legal speed limit, and they arrived to see the Enclave pulled up near the G5, some teenage baggage handlers unloading the contents from the trunk.
A quick headcount revealed a few members of the team missing. She saw Aaron, Christian, and Jamie boarding the plane, and Hannah was helping Laura up the stairs as Elliott pulled the car into a parking spot. "Where are Eliza and Laney?" Cadence asked as she got out of the car.
"Don't know, don't care," Elliott replied, throwing the keys in the general direction of one of the pimple-faced young men loading the plane. The look on his face showed his disbelief that he would
be allowed to drive the car, even if it was just to park it. Cadence had figured out by now that the team had plenty of places to store vehicles across the country, and Shenandoah was no different.
Cadence made her way aboard the plane and was faced with a dilemma--where should she sit? She knew Elliott would sit by Aaron, as he always did. Hannah was sitting with Laura in the very front row. The coloring on the new additions face showed that she was not feeling well enough to protest being taken back to LIGHTS against her will. She could sit by Christian, but she was quite certain he would think that meant something that she was trying to avoid. Instead, she decided to ask Jamie if she could sit by him. He was sitting in the second row on the opposite side of the plane as Hannah and Laney. She knew that Eliza almost always sat with him, but since she was nowhere to be found, why not? "Hey, Jamie!" she said giving him a genuine smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Good," he replied smiling. "How are you?"
"I'm hanging in there," she said, nodding. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
"Not at all," he said, scooting towards the window, though it wasn't really necessary as he certainly wasn't taking up any of the empty seat.
"Thanks! I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages," she added, sliding her handbag under the seat in front of her."
Jamie nodded. "I know, I feel the same way. It seems like every time I have the opportunity to talk to you, somebody gets shot," he snickered.
Cadence laughed, despite the seriousness of the topic. "Well, hopefully we can avoid that in the near future. Or, hey, maybe I'll get shot. Then, we can chitchat while you heal me."
"No, let's not do that," Jamie said, aware that she was joking.
Just then, a red car pulled into the parking lot, and Eliza and Laney climbed out, tossing the keys to one of the baggage guys, who popped the trunk and sighed at all of the fresh bags he would have to load into the plane. Cadence could tell by their expressions that they were having an adamant discussion about something.
"But if Louis Vuitton wants to make a bigger bag, I would buy it," Eliza was saying, leading the way up the stairs.
"Whatever," Laney replied. "It's already big enough."
Eliza stopped short when she realized Cadence was sitting in her regular seat, causing Laney to bump into her. "Well, shit," she mumbled.
"Oh, sorry," Cadence said. "Did you want to sit here?"
"No, it's fine," Eliza replied. As she slid down the aisle, she muttered, "It's not like you don't take whatever you want from me anyway."
Cadence wasn't sure she heard her correctly. She looked at Jamie who shrugged, a small smile on his face. "Should I move? Or say something?" she asked.
"Nah, she'll get over it," he replied, still smiling smugly.
Eliza sat down next to Christian, still huffing, and Laney sat directly in front of Cadence, so that she was near her sister.
Cadence turned back to Jamie, clearly bothered by Eliza's reaction but not sure what to do about it.
"So, what happened with Cadence last night?" Elliott asked Aaron, once he could see that his boss was done with the conversations he was clearly having in his head.
"What?" Aaron asked, a questioning expression on his face. "Nothing, why?"
"I just thought it was a little weird that you actually came in and went to sleep last night. You never sleep. And then, I went to pick her up, and she seemed surprised that it wasn't you. She did a good job of hiding it, but I could tell."
"No, nothing. I was tired," Aaron said shrugging. "I'm taking her out Wednesday."
"What?" Elliott said, surprise and happiness on his face. "You? On a date? Does she understand the rarity of this venture?"
"Oh, stop," Aaron replied. "It's not a big deal." The plane was in the air now, and they would arrive in Kansas City in less than two hours.
"I'd say it is," Elliott disagreed. "You know, you should probably have went and said hello to her before the plane took off. She's probably starting to realize you're a jerk."
"She already knows I'm a jerk," he replied, a little more honesty coming through than he intended. "I couldn't. I was talking to Crystal in Phoenix, making sure everything was lined up for tonight. And letting her know to expect one more Guardian." This last part he said with a deep sigh.
Elliott shook his head. "You shitting me?" he asked. "You gave in?"
"I'm just tired of arguing," Aaron said, turning his attention out the window.
"Wuss," Elliott muttered. "She's doing everything she can to wiggle her way back in, you know," he added.
"It's not happening," Aaron assured him. "Trust me. I'm seeing Cadence now. I'd much rather be with her. I'll never get back together with Eliza."
Elliott said nothing, just shook his head. Finally he said, "Well, you probably ought to go say hello to your betrothed."
Eliza had her phone out and was flipping trains around erratically, cursing when the ghost trains got past her well-trained finger. When she saw Aaron walk past her to go talk to Cadence, she felt like she might need the air sickness bag. She closed Train Conductor Two and put her phone down.
"You all right?" Christian asked.
"No," she admitted. "I'm going to throw up."
"Well, that's what these little white bags are for," Christian explained, pointing at the one sticking out of the seatback in front of her.
"Figuratively," she said looking at him. She could tell he knew that. "God, Christian!" she said, throwing her head against his shoulder. "I'm pretty! I'm fun! What the hell is wrong with me?"
Rather than broaching that topic, Christian said simply, "I'm sorry, Eliza. I know it's hard. I know how you feel. It sucks."
She glanced up at him. "You know how I feel? You have the hots for Aaron, too?"
"Please tell me you're joking," he replied dryly. "For Cadence."
"Oh," Eliza said, nodding her head. "That makes more sense. I didn't think you were.... Anyway, since when have you been interested in Miss Bossy Pants?"
Christian raised his eyebrows. "The kettle is calling. You're black."
"All right, all right, this isn't about me though. She's bossy. And demanding. And she doesn't take direction. And I hate her! Except for that I don't."
Christian just shook his head.
"She's too damn nice to hate, but I want to hate her so bad," Eliza continued. Then, she remembered her originally question. "So like since the first time you laid eyes on her or something?"
"Something like that," Christian admitted. "I thought she liked me, too, at first," he continued.
"Yeah, I think Jamie thought that, too, at first. Until he showed up at her apartment and Aaron was already there."
"Wow," Christian exclaimed. "That would only happen to Jamie," he added.
"I know, right?" Eliza agreed, shaking out her burgundy curls. "So, what made you think she might like you?"
"Well, the make-out session for starters," Christian admitted. "But after that, she seemed... off. Of course, that was right before she found out about Jack being sick."
"You made out with Cadence?" Eliza asked, her voice a bit louder than Christian would have liked. He hushed her. "When did this happen?" she asked in a sharp whisper.
"I told you, the night before Jack called her to Lincoln. After she killed Henry. I went to her apartment, hoping to comfort her, and we made out. I really thought she liked me, even when she asked me to stop. I felt like we were headed somewhere. But then, she's hardly talked to me since."
"Hmmm," Eliza said, considering this brand new information and what it might be able to do for her. "That's strange. And I bet you're a good kisser, too," she added.
"I am a good kisser," Christian agreed. "I guess I just can't compete with Aaron."
"Oh, don't be silly," Eliza said slyly. "Of course you can. You're just as good looking as he is." Christian looked at her skeptically. He seemed to know she couldn't possibly mean that. After all, she'd been pursing Aaron for quite some time. But Eliza continued. "She's just...power hungry, I thin
k. I don't know. What's your technique like?" she probed.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
"Everything!" Eliza exclaimed. "If you're sloppy or too handsy, you could totally turn her off."
"No, it's nothing like that, I'm sure," Christian said, reflecting on the interaction. "No, I think she just felt like she didn't know me well enough yet. But I don't think it was an issue of technique."
"You never know," Eliza continued. She had heard rumors that Christian liked to record his interactions of this nature, and so she decided to advance her intrigue to determine if there might be some footage. If there was, it could be invaluable to her cause. "If only there was a way to know for sure."
Christian looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He opened his mouth but closed it sharply. Eliza felt that she was on to something. "You know, if I could hear a play by play or something, maybe I could determine what you did wrong. I'm sure there had to be something. Maybe you pulled her hair..."
"I didn't pull her hair."
"Or grabbed her boob too hard..."
"No," Christian said sharply.
"Hmmm..." Eliza said, resting her finger against her chin. "Well, I guess I can't help you," she finally said, sighing in defeat. "Sorry, buddy. That's one of my areas of expertise, you know."
Christian seemed to consider her words before finally admitting, "Well, I did record it."
"What?" Eliza said, once again barely able to contain her excitement. "You did?"
"Yes," Christian confirmed. "Not on purpose, of course."
"No, of course not," Eliza replied, shaking her head. "But it's so great that you did. Let me see it, and I'll let you know what you did wrong. Then, we can figure out a way to get you a second chance with her. And when you do, you'll be ready."
Christian was hesitant. "I don't know. It's kind of private."
"Please," Eliza chided. "I'll only be able to see her anyway, right? I mean, it's from your perspective."
"Yes, but still, that doesn't seem quite right," Christian said, crossing his arms.
Eliza could tell by his expression that he was considering the option. "Well, I can't help you if I can't see it. Hey, if you don't want my expert advice, that's fine. No sweat off my back."