I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,

your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,

yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,

in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,

but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,

your eyes are soft with sorrow,

Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

(Leonard Cohen – Hey, that's no way to say goodbye)

Jacob didn't tell her. He couldn't. From the moment she didn't respond to his kiss he knew this wasn't his Eve and you don't just tell something like this to a total stranger. Not when this was his most guarded secret. Who knows what would the Serpent Brotherhood do if they knew...

„And who exactly are you?"

„Eve Baird. I'm here to keep you alive, Jacob Stone. Now jump!"

Heroes usually don't get a happily ever after. Jacob had read enough of the classical stories to understand that. That was the reason why he had always kept his distance from his beautiful Guardian. He knew he would fall for her if he let himself.

He also wildly overestimated his control over his feelings.

He denied them for months, years even, but they were bound to come up eventually. So one day, after they escaped the bad guys by jumping down a waterfall and emerged spluttering in a pool almost a hundred feet below, he swam to her and kissed her. He still could taste the figs they ate an hour earlier and everything in the world fell into place when their lips touched.

"Finally," she laughed. (This Eve laughed a lot more than Flynn's Eve.)

"What?"

"I have been waiting for this for months now, Librarian. For someone with an IQ 190, you can be pretty thick sometimes," she said as she started to swim to the shore.

"I was waiting for the right moment," he muttered. He didn't say that he was too afraid to let himself get too close.

"And the right moment was when we are in the middle of a chase through a rain forest in Congo?"

"Well, there aren't many ancient demon masks hidden in fancy restaurants, are they?"

"You could've at least waited until we're not chased by a bloodthirsty commando of an African warlord!"

They bickered all the way back to the Library, where they stored the demon mask safely away before they decided there were better things to do with their mouths than arguing.

"I'm a Librarian, Eve, we don't have much of a life expectancy!"

"And I am your Guardian, which means that if I do my job right, I die before you do. Which means we probably don't have much time together and you're wasting it on whining? Come here."

His Eve wasn't bitter, she was neither hard nor cynical. She still had hope and laughter and generally more optimistic outlook on life than Flynn's Eve had. Once Jacob let himself love her, he was head over heels.

They were no blushing school kids, so it didn't take long before Eve had most of her stuff in Jacob's room. Three months after the kiss under the waterfall she moved into his room. Waking up cuddled to her became Jacob's second favorite thing in the world, even though she always complained about the heat.

They were no blushing school kids, so there has never been any official declaration of their relationship. They never felt any need to label it, not even after he took her to Oklahoma for Christmas one year (and the next and the next). But one day Charlene was making a fuss about receipts and she muttered something along the lines of I thought at least your wife would show some common sense. And that's how Jacob thought about the two of them, if he thought about it at all – husband and wife.

"I thought we could get your sister this kitchen robot for Christmas, she's been complaining about the old one since last year."

"I couldn't pick a better present, darlin'."

After some time he started to notice the little changes in her behaviour. She seemed more careful, less willing to throw herself in the line of fire. Also, for some reason, she started to develop a real passion for lollipops.

But what really scared him was, after one mission where it was quite a close call. They finally walked out of the Notre Damme, surprisingly uscathed, but Eve sat down on the stairs and burst into tears.

"Eve, what's going on?" he asked. "Are you ok?"

"Yes," she sobbed. "But I can't do this any more. This must be my last time out. At least for now."

Jacob's heart shattered. "Are you leaving me?" he whispered.

Eve looked up so fast she forgot to cry. "What are you talking about? I thought you figured it out! You are so protective of me lately..."

"Figured what out? I am always protective of you."

Eve buried her face in her hands and started laughing softly. "I thought you had an IQ 190, you genius!"

"Would you please tell me what's going on? You're freaking me out!" Jacob pleaded.

"I am not leaving you, silly. I am pregnant."

Jacob opened his mouth. Then he closed it. Then he opened it again. Then he closed it again and frowned. Pregnant? As in a baby? With him?

"What? How?" he managed to choke out.

"What - a baby. And concerning the how, when we were making it, it looked like you have a pretty good idea," she teased him and kissed him. "You are going to be a father, Jacob."

"Nope," he sprang to his feet. "No, no, no, no, no," he repeated over and over, walking away. Eve watched him with an amused expression. He circled the nearest street lamp and turned back to her. There he paused for a second before a huge grin spread across his face. He punched the air. "Yes!"

"What about Hector for a boy and Andromache for a girl?"

"Jacob, we are not giving our daughter a name she can't pronounce before she's ten."

"Hippolyta?"

"No."

"Semiramis?"

"Hell no!"

"Okay, so how about this – Aurora. Rory for short."

"That's better."

He wasn't in the delivery room because he had to hunt down a magical astrolabe made by Tycho de Brahe. Thanks to that stupid piece of junk he didn't get to see his daughter until she was two days old. (He made a promise to himself that if he ever gets to see Tycho de Brahe in any form, he'll kick his ass.)

When he saw Eve with little Aurora he realized that his beloved art is still lacking. No Madonna, no matter how beautifully painted, could ever surpass his wife. And no Madonna has ever held a baby more perfect than his little Rory.

For one perfect year they were a small Librarian family. Jacob usually handled missions alone and when he couldn't, Charlene was more than willing to babysit. Eve was glowing, motherhood obviously suited her. When Jacob watched her, he decided that he wanted a second kid.

Of course, Aurora never left the Library and was as secret as they could keep her. Jacob hadn't even told his family about her. If their enemies found out about her, they would have found their biggest weakness. So, as far as the world was concerned, Aurora didn't exist. But the Library was huge and for now, it was the only world Rory needed.

They found out someone was hunting down potential Librarians. They saved this little redhead and she seemed really sweet and everything, she helped them find the Crown, until she betrayed them.

When the alarm went off, Eve grabbed Excalibur. "Jacob, find Charlene, she has Rory. I'll get the Crown."

"Eve..."

"Now!"

He hadn't run faster in his entire life. He raced to save his daughter and sighed with relief when he took her from Charlene's arms. Then, with Rory in his arms, he raced to save his wife.

He heard her scream before he saw her. Rory started to cry. He reached Eve soon enough to see Cassandra and the Brotherhood leave. Eve was on the floor, gasping.

"The Library... Charlene will cut it off... The quarter of doors..."

"Wait, I'll get the Batsheba's Oil of Healing..."

"It was Excalibur," Eve whispered.

Jacob felt tears welling in his eyes. He bit his lip, determined not to cry, not now, when Eve needed him strong... But he was going to lose her. Forever.

He helped her up and together they went through the door before the Library could crush them. They ended up in an abandoned barn. Eve almost collapsed the moment they went through, so he set her down gently, trying to rock Aurora to calm her down.

"I'm sorry, Jacob. I wasn't fast enough..."

"You were, Eve," he stroke her hair. "But you can't outrun destiny." There was no point in telling her it's gonna be okay, they both knew it wasn't. In the Library they might have had a slim chance of saving her, but out here, they had none.

"Remember that time in Paris?" she whispered.

"Which one? The one where we were trying to stop one of da Vinci's inventions from wreaking havoc, the one where we battled a freaking chimaera, or the one where you told me you were pregnant?"

"After the da Vinci incident. We went to see Musée d'Orsay and when we got out, it was raining..."

"And I told you that no impressionist could ever capture the beauty of you, rain and lamplight..."

Eve grabbed her wound and sobbed with pain. Then she looked at Rory, who wasn't screaming any more, but watched her parents with a frightened expression.

"Be a brave girl, my little northern light. Daddy will take good care of you," she whispered, growing weaker every second.

Jacob softly kissed her.

"I can taste figs," she whispered, remembering their first kiss.

Not Jacob. He could taste only blood and death.

Eve sighed before her body relaxed and her eyes closed. Jacob laid her down on the floor, picked Rory up and walked out of the barn. He looked around in the afternoon sun.

"I'll be damned," he muttered under his breath.

The Library dropped them two miles from his hometown.

"How did I die?"

His parents were surprised when he showed up on their doorstep all bloodied with Aurora on his hip. He told them that Eve died and where to find her body and how to make funeral arrangemets. Then he passed Rory to his mother.

"Her name is Aurora," he told them. "She's an orphan. Would you please take care of her?"

His mother knew with one look. "She has your nose."

"She's not mine. She can't be. I have to go away now and you won't hear from me for some time. Don't worry. I'll be fine."

They didn't argue. He grabbed a clean change of clothes and walked away. Aurora and Eve were in the best hands, so he didn't look back and didn't stop.

He didn't stop for the next year, until he stood face to face with Eve Baird again.

"Jacob, please."

He saw the accusation in her eyes, why were you late? And he couldn't tell her that it was because he had to make sure their daughter is as safe as she could be these days. He hadn't seen Aurora since and had no intention of seeing her again. It was the best he could do for her.

Because heroes don't get a happily ever after.

But he did get a chance to see Eve one last time, even if it wasn't his Eve. He kissed her again, heard her voice, heard her say his name. And most importantly, he saved her.

That's why he was so calm in the card catalogue, where he met the other Librarians. He almost didn't recognise the redhead, but when he did, he wasn't even angry. This was a different woman than the one that betrayed him. Just like the Eve that jumped through the magical door wasn't the one who bled out in his arms.

He saved the world one last time, even though it cost him his life. And what was worth dying for, if not Eve Baird?

He accepted his fate with his head held high, thinking of his daughter, safe and sound in his old nursery. Just before the door closed and everything went dark, he licked his lips, knowing what he'd taste.

Figs.

"It's been an interesting life."