That night when the cook out was over and everyone was going to bed, Brian, Mercedes with Charity, Coreene, Kevin and Emalia decided to go to the girls' house and Howie, Angel and Cassandra were going to go to the guys' house and Nicole was going to stay with Jonathan at his house. There was suddenly a loud crash of thunder and rain began to whip at the windows.
"Cool, storm," Angel commented.
"You guys," Cassandra said, "I'm going to go right to bed."
"Okay," Howie said. "Tired huh?"
"Yeah."
"Good night," Angel said.
"Good night," Cassandra said and ran upstairs to Nick's room. When she shut the door, she leaned against it and looked into the pitch black room. Lightning lit up the room and reflected off of something. "Hello?" she called. "Nick? Are you here?" She turned on the lights and noticed that the lightning was reflecting off of her wedding rings. She picked up the rings and looked at them as she sat down on the bed. She reached up to her neck and noticed that her heart necklace wasn't there. "It must still be in my room." She slipped her rings back onto her finger and rolled underneath the covers. She turned the lights off and stared up at the ceiling for a while. "Please, just let me see you." After what seemed like five minutes she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.
When Cassandra rolled over and looked at the clock, she realized that she had been tossing and turning for over two hours. God, I have to fall asleep, she thought. I'm so tired. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again.
The next time that she opened her eyes, it seemed like seconds later but it was really an hour later. She shivered. There was a slight breeze coming through the window and she didn't have enough strength to climb out of bed and close the window. Being as tired and as cold as she was, she rolled away from the window and without knowing it, she said out loud, "Nick, I'm cold." Without her even noticing it, the breeze stopped and she felt warm again, and she fell asleep.
She woke up one more time, an hour later and looked over at the window. It was closed. "I could have sworn that the window was open..." She stopped and something caught her attention. Sitting at the end of the bed, was a dark figure. For some reason it didn't scare her. They seemed hunched over like they were waiting for something or thinking about something, or it could just be a shadow. "Kevin?" she called.
No response.
"Brian? Is that you?"
No response.
Maybe it is a shadow afterall, she thought. But when she reached over and turned on the light, it was a person and they were there. The person turned around as soon as the light hit them. "Nick?"
"We need to talk."
Isabella woke up, rolled over and poked A.J. in the back. "A.J., I had a scary dream!"
A.J. rolled over and stared at her, then rolled back over. "That's nice dear, go back to sleep."
"No, really A.J.! It was scary!"
"That's nice, Honey."
"Damn it, A.J.! Roll over!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling on it.
"Isabella, dear, stop it! Can't you see that I'm trying to sleep?"
"And can't you see that I've had a bad dream and I need you? Oh, of course you wouldn't! You're facing the other way!"
"Very good, Honey."
She smacked him in the head. "If you don't roll over in two seconds, you won't have anything to roll over to, or on for that matter!"
"You present a good argument," he said and slowly rolled over. "What is it? What happened?"
"I think that Lucy's getting in my dreams! She tried to kill me, again!" As Isabella began to explain her dream, she stopped and noticed that A.J. was asleep. She hit him again.
"Huh? What? Kevin, I don't wanna go to school!"
Isabella was about to say something, but she decided to let him talk, knowing that she could use it against him later.
"...Nick, get out of the middle of the road! She's gonna beat you up! Oh my God, if Isabella finds out, I am so dead! Kevin, make him stop it! Kevin! Oh, Kevin!"
Oh my God, Isabella thought.
"...Kevin, why are you looking at me like that? Kevin, wait, put that away! You can't do this! Nick, don't touch it! Don't you start too! You guys, I've already taken care of this situation. No, no...wait, don't! Eew, you guys, it's cold, and wet!"
Cold and wet? she thought. Uh oh.
"You guys, stop it, don't waste it! You're gonna make it all yellow! Don't write your name with it. No!" A.J. shot up from the bed.
"Whoa, A.J., what the hell was that?"
"A freaky dream! I was-"
"Honey, can't you see that I'm trying to sleep?"
"Nick was there and Kevin was there, and they were using Nick's hair dye to write their names in the snow, and I had just called the snow plow and Kevin was shovelling the driveway, and then there was this snowball fight-"
"That's nice dear."
"You're not listening to me!"
"Very good, Honey."
"Listen to me!"
Isabella started to make believe that she was snoring and tried hard not to laugh.
"I know that you're not snoring! You never snore! I do! That's my job in this relationship! You're supposed to listen to me complain! God damn it! Isabella!"
"Oh stop whining. No wait, that's your job to whine."
"That's not funny!"
Isabella started to laugh. "Oh, but I'm laughing!"
"Well, fine, laugh!" A.J. said rolling over. Two minutes later, A.J. rolled back over to face Isabella. "Okay, you can stop laughing now."
"Nick, is that you?" Cassandra asked.
He turned away from her. "Why are you mad at me?"
"Excuse me?"
He turned back to face her. "I need to know why you hate me."
Cassandra gasped. "I-I don't hate you."
"Is it because I did something?"
"Well you kinda slept with Kim on my bed."
"No I didn't!"
"She showed me you two!"
"Did she show you all of it?"
"I told her to stop because I didn't want to see the rest of it."
Nick shook his head and smiled. "That's why you're mad at me."
"What are you talking about?"
"So you didn't watch the whole thing?"
"Do you think that I really wanted to?"
"I'm going to show you it again. Tell me where you stopped. Okay?"
"Nick, I don't-"
"Please. It will clear up a lot of stuff."
"Well, all right." And once again, it was like Cassandra was watching a movie and she didn't know where the images were coming from.
"Nick," Kimberly breathed. "I want you so bad," she managed to gasp in. Nick didn't respond. He only kissed her back. Nick leaned Kimberly back on the bed and she reached up and yanked his shirt off. She kissed him and kissed him and he continued to kiss her back. He looked down at Kimberly. Her eyes were closed and she was still kissing him. Her hands reached down to his pants and started to unbutton them. Kimberly looked up at Nick and he was smiling at her.
"I want you, too," Nick whispered back.
Kimberly smiled back and kissed him again as he began to lift up her shirt.
"Stop," Cassandra said.
"What?"
"That's where I made her stop."
"Oh God, Cassie. No wonder why you're mad at me."
"I don't understand."
"Watch this. This is what happened after."
Nick lifted up Kimberly's shirt, just a little, and began to kiss her stomach.
"Nick," Kimberly whispered.
"Oh, Cassandra," Nick gasped and kissed her again.
"What did you call me?"
Nick sat up quickly, shook his head and threw his shirt back on. "I said Cassandra. Oh God, Cassandra!" He jumped out of the bed and headed towards the door. "What am I doing? Cassandra! I can't be doing this! This isn't me. I-I love Cassandra. I-I have to go." With that, Nick walked right out of Cassandra's room.
"Oh my God," Cassandra whispered and covered her mouth. "I didn't-"
"I know. I know. You don't have to say it." He stood up, walked over to her, and sat down next to her. He brushed his hand across her face and it felt so real. "I could never hurt you like that."
"Nick, why do you come to my dreams?"
"Because I can't go on without being with you."
"Why are you doing this now?"
Nick pressed his fingers to her lips. "Shh, I'm not in your dreams," he told her. He bent down and gently brushed his lips across hers. "I need you," he whimpered as he laid his head down on her shoulder. She moved over and helped him underneath the covers. They laid down as held him close to her and kissed the top of his head.
"Nick, I-"
"Shh," he said again. He sat up and moved his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face. "Don't say anything." He leaned closer to her and kissed her desirously. They opened their mouths and their tongues played together like little school children. Everything tasted so real to her that she swallowed every chance that she got. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as his kisses now felt more real than any dream she could ever have. The intensity that he had, and the emotion that he was feeling, seeped into Cassandra and it was almost too much for the both of them. As he moved his body over hers, she felt herself being pushed down into the bed and she could feel his fingers running up through her hair and down her leg.
As his lips roamed down her neck, giving her little bites with every kiss, she dug her nails deep into her hand and winced at the pain. I can't be dreaming, she thought. She stopped him and when he looked down at her, she brushed his hair away from his face and smiled. "Is this real? It feels like it, but how can it be?"
"Cassia, our love was built on a foundation so strong that not even the cruel weathers of death can separate us from reuniting once again."
"Nick, you would say something like that," she said and smiled.
But he was serious. "But it's true. I love you, my Cassia."
"And I love you."
"We can work through our problems," he said.
"But how-"
"We can."
"I trust you."
"That's good. The beginning to a happy relationship starts with trust. I also think that we need to work out our individual problems."
"Why?"
"Because everything effects us. You are me, and I am you." His hands went underneath her shirt and began to roam and she pulled his shirt up over his head. "I will prove to you that this is real," he said quietly.
"But how?"
"When you wake up tomorrow, your heart will be back with you once again."
"I don't underst-"
"Trust me. You will in the morning."
She didn't say anything else about it.
Slowly, he pulled her shirt up over the top of her head. He dropped it on the ground and began to slip her pants off. His mouth fell down upon hers and she wrapped her arms around him and felt the smooth skin of his back. She played with the button of his pants and eventually, got them off. She noticed that he was being so gentle with her, like she was glass. He softly ran his hands down both sides of her. He smiled and leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled away, he looked down upon his wife and she looked back at him. His eyes were very real and so were the emotions that were running between them.
"You're shaking," he said softly.
She smiled. "You are, too."
"It's just that it's been so long since I've been able to touch you and kiss you and have you see me and feel me and kiss me back. I plan on taking advantage of every moment." He placed his hands on her stomach and gently began to kiss her bare shoulder, up her neck, and back to her mouth.
She pressed her hand to his chest. "Your heart," she whispered, her voice shaking. "I can feel your heart beating."
"You should," he whispered back, his voice shaking also. "It belongs to you."
"Please, Nick" she gasped in between kisses. "Love me like you used to."
He lowered his body down over hers once again, and kissed her again, harder this time.