"So guys, movie?" Ezekiel asked after Baird and Jenkins had left.

"Zombies again?" Cassandra asked rolling her eyes.

"Nah, after that, I'm thinking Hitchcock. Who's in?"

Stone rolled his neck. "No, thanks. I think I'm gonna go get cleaned up and get back to my project."

Cassandra cast a glance his way and then back at Ezekiel. "I think I'm going to find out if Mr. Jenkins has any tea and then curl up with the latest issue of Eureka, I feel like some recreational mathematics."

"Uh, sure," Ezekiel said with that tone of his that indicated he thought they were both sticks in the mud. "Well, your loss."

He wandered off muttering about Grace Kelly and Cary Grant leaving his fellow Librarians alone.

Stone gave her a smile and started to walk off toward the locker room. That was a holdover from the Annex that they all made use of, their jobs sometimes making it difficult for them to get home for a shower and change.

"Are you okay?" Cassandra asked, stopping him in his tracks.

He rubbed his neck, "well I just got beat up by myself. . . ." He shook his head, "anyway, I'll be sore, but I'm okay, nothing a few aspirin can't take care of."

"Jacob . . . ."

"C'mon Cassandra . . . ." He turned and met her eyes. She straightened up and stared him down. After a few beats, he said softly, "I'm sure you don't want to talk about your truths either."

She shook her head but didn't back down. "No, I don't. But that's not what I'm worried about. Jacob . . .I thought we were past this. You've been opening up. I thought we've been . . . ." She gestured between them, acknowledging the unspoken change in their relationship. Then she crossed her arms and returned to staring him down.

They continued to stare at each other for some minutes and then he surprised her by moving forward and gently putting his hands on her crossed arms.

"You're right, we have been." And he took a deep breath. "It's just . . .well you know."

"How painful it is? Yes. But Jacob, the way he treated you . . ." And Cassandra suddenly blinked hot tears out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Don't you dare apologize for him! He had no right treating you like that. I didn't win the prize in the parental sweepstakes either, but my parents would never belittle me like that. Ever. But especially not in front of others."

"Hey," he said gently. "You're getting yourself worked up. And I appreciate it, I do. And I appreciate what you're tryin' to do."

"I just want to be there for you. You've caught me so many times, Jacob, I want to return the favor."

Stone raised up one hand from her still crossed arms to gently caress her cheek. "Right now, what I really want is a shower."

She sighed. But he cut off anything she would have said, "but when I come back, actually I wouldn't mind sittin' with you a bit. I'm not sure I can talk about it. But I wouldn't mind the company."

"I found a great place to do that just the other day," Cassandra bit her lip. "Provided it hasn't moved."

"Well, the locker room hasn't yet, so hopefully we can find it. Half an hour?"

"I'll be here."

Stone stood letting the hot water of the shower soothe his aching muscles. He wasn't sure if he was really that heavy or if it was just Hokolonote but he made a mental note to stop eating out so much. Though out of everything that had happened today, having a fist fight with himself was the least difficult thing.

He sighed, noting how tired he was. Physically tired, of course, but mentally exhausted. Tired of it all. Tired of the lies. Tired of the shame. Tired of the anger. Tired of the fear.

And most of all, tired of holding it all in.

Cassandra.

He'd opened up to her today, in ways that nine months ago he'd never imagined letting anyone in. Most of all her. But things had changed. Today he'd found something in her blue eyes that made him want to confide in her. And that was long before Hokolonote and binding truths.

For twenty years he'd carried this burden in his mind and in his heart. And maybe it was time, finally, to share that burden with someone else.

At the very least, he could really really use a friend. Someone who wouldn't judge him. And the comfort of her smile and her big blue eyes.

He shut off the water and grabbed for his towel. He didn't want her to wait too long.

He'd thrown on jeans and a tee shirt and headed back out to the Annex area.

Cassandra was sitting at the table, two cups in front of her.

"I made chai, I know you sometimes drink it." She said with a small smile. "I figure it might be a bit more soothing than coffee right now."

"Thanks, Cassie." And Jacob's smile was full of gratitude. He didn't really want coffee and he only drank regular tea when he was sick. But he'd developed a taste for chai over the course of the months he'd worked at the Library. Particularly the way Cassandra made it. "So where are we goin'?"

"I found the coziest reading nook near the antique map collection. Or at least it was there last time I was there."

"Sounds good, lead on."

The nook was indeed still there when they arrived a few minutes later. Tucked into a corner was a low bench stuffed with cushions, a spot on either side that they could set their mugs on. Cassandra stopped to remove her boots before settling in on the bench, tucking her feet underneath her. Jake followed her example stopping to toe off his boots before settling in on the bench next to her.

Cassandra looked over at him, but only sipped her chai, choosing not to push. And he was happy for it. Because he wasn't sure what to say. Or if he wanted to say anything at all. Right now the silence was comfortable. Almost comforting in her closeness on the bench. So he drank his chai and let the peace settle over him.

When they'd both finished their drinks and Cassandra looked a bit like she might just leave him to his thoughts, he finally spoke.

"I don't need to talk about it."

"No?" she asked, looking over at him with concern.

"No. Because I am through with it. Through with the fear, through with the lies, through with it all. I spent . . . "Jake's voice broke. "I spent my whole life being afraid of disappointing that man. And nothing I did was good enough for him. And I am through with it. I am no longer afraid of who I am. And the truth is exactly what I told him. I don't care if he finds out who I am. If anyone finds out who I am. I'm just ..." And he brought a fist up to his mouth trying to hide the sob that was threatening to come out. "Tired. I'm tired."

Cassandra nodded. Her eyes shining with kindness and compassion but not pity. She looked like she was going to say something but instead reached out and took one of his hands and squeezed it.

And that meant more than anything she could have said to him.

" Hokolonote took the shape of my father," Stone kept talking, even though he no longer needed to, he felt like this was something she should know. "When I came across it."

She looked sad, maybe a little horrified.

"I wasn't sure at first if it was my father. I blurted it all out. How I'm a genius, how I speak all those languages, how respected I am in the art world. And then he-it hugged me and told me he loved me."

Cassandra gasped.

"And that's how I . . .how I knew that he wasn't my father. Because my father would never . . . ."

He didn't get the words out, the tears came instead and Cassandra was across the bench even before the first sob escaped his throat. She threw her arms around him and cradled him against her, while he wept like a child in her arms. Twenty years of anger, fear, resentment and frustration poured out into the arms of the only woman who ever really knew the real him.

They didn't talk after that, she just held him and let him cry. There was a time when he would have been ashamed. But not here, here he was safe. She would keep him safe. Like he always tried to keep her safe. And when the tears dried, he let the exhaustion overtake him and he fell asleep in her arms.

He woke up a couple hours later to find her gone. A throw blanket was draped over him and the cups of chai were gone. He smiled when he realized the throw was one he'd seen her curled up with when he'd come across her in the Annex before. And it smelled like her perfume: jasmine and honeysuckle. He stretched and realized he felt better than he had in . . . .well years.

He folded up the throw and left it on the bench for the next time she came in and headed for his computer. He had a couple of new ideas for the end of his paper.

Dr. Jacob Stone.

He grinned. Yes, it would take time to grow that reputation. But this time it was his to embrace. Jacob Stone, Librarian.

He could smell her before he could see her and he looked up. She was smiling at him, a little shyly a first but more confidently as he looked up at her with a welcoming expression.

"Feel better?"

He smiled. "Better than I have in ages." He tapped his laptop, "here, I wanna show you something."

"Okay," she looked excited and he realized he lo- liked that most about her.

He turned his laptop around and waited. It didn't take her very long to see it.

"Oh, Jacob. "

"It was time. It's time for me to be me. You were right."

They shared a grin across the desk and then Cassandra jumped up and threw her arms around his neck for a hug. But he surprised her by grabbing her by the waist and putting her on his lap.

She laughed, but suddenly they were looking into each other's eyes.

"Thank you, Cassandra," he said softly. "For everything."

"I just wanted to catch you, like you do me."

"Once I told you the old way's best. But it's not. I like the new way better."

She smiled, touched by his words, and then he couldn't help himself. She was already so close, sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck. He leaned forward and kissed her.

She responded, shifting even closer, kissing him back with enthusiasm. One kiss led to another and another until during a pause to catch their breaths they could hear Ezekiel in the distance complaining to Jenkins about the popcorn maker in the kitchen.

"What do you say we get out of here?" Jake whispered.

She nodded sliding off his lap. As soon as they'd passed through the arch to the street door and thus were out of sight of Jones or Jenkins, Stone took her hand.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"How about dinner? I'm really hungry."

"Sounds great. Just anything but pasta."

"Okay, there a reason for that?"

"Oh, it's a long story."

[The End]