Unsaid

Anyone who walked by the front of the building Cassie lived in could think that Tate was an exhibit in a wax museum-he stood there like a statue and seldom even moved. He got a few strange looks, and even an old lady asked if he was okay.

He wasn't.

Impatience seemed to consume him...slowly and painfully. Without a watch or a cell to check the time, if he felt Cassie was late getting home, restlessness would eat him inside out. There he stood, frozen with concern as the sun was setting and the dark blue color of dusk began to take over the sky.

He started playing with the shoelace of his left black Converse, but even making knots over and over again wasn't enough to distract him from his incessant panic. Was Cassie alright? What if they had discovered her? Would she get home alive?

Tate bit his lip...how could he have let Cassie go alone into a potentially dangerous situation. About to slip into an agonizing despair, he looked up to see Cassie running from the other street and his heart started beating again.

"Cassie!" he yelled, while jumping up and down like a kid on a playground.

Cassie wasn't about to slow down and ran right into Tate's arms. Tate, surpised, hugged her but feeling her irregular breathing and heart racing, was suddenly flooded with a feeling he had to protect her.

"What happened, why were you running so fast?"

"Let's go inside," she said in a quiet voice, grabbing Tate by his wrist and leading him into her apartment.

Everything was clean and organized like the last time he was there. The walls were white and without posters or pictures. Tate thought that the bleak walls had no personality and promised himself to buy a her a painting or something to decorate them the next time he visited.

He sat on the cold floor. Cassie looked at him and decided to sit on the couch. He turned around to be in front of her.

"All I have in my mind right now is a big blank question mark," he said trying to cheer Cassie up, but she showed no emotion.

She sighed, "I couldn't..." Tate raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything as he wanted to let her speak. "I was about to do it when someone opened the door and I had to hide."

"I can tell just by looking at you that it wasn't the only thing that happened..."

She shook her head in agreement.

"The Aesterdis made a loud noise and everything looked red as if you were inside the sun looking out...I felt like I was drowning in some kind of energy plasma and I-I don't know what exactly happened next but I know someone was there he or she changed something-"

Before she got the last word out, tears began to flow as she sobbed and sobbed.

"Cassie," he placed his warm hands on her blushed tear-soaked cheeks, looked into her eyes, and said quietly, "shhhh...just relax now..."

Tate rocked her in his arms like a baby until she stopped sobbing.

"You telling me to relax won't make me actually relax."

Tate dropped his hands and glared at her. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"How rude," Tate replied, pretending to be offended, but after a few seconds he added, "we are not as different as you might think."

"There's a reason why we feel so connected, right?"

"You know, I didn't get on well with all of my...my past lovers."

Cassie frowned. "You didn't?"

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No...we're not there yet...that you should know everything about my past."

Cassie was hurt by his remark, but instead, probably because she was so tired and still in mild shock, she began laughing and threw a throw pillow from the couch at him.

"Sometimes I wonder just how pretentious a person can be...then, I look at you," Cassie teased.

"Okay...now the kettle is calling the pot black...you're just as bad but you won't admit it!" Tate replied, hugging the throw pillow while resting his chin on it.

Cassie swooned at how extremely adorable he looked before saying, "Come on, don't tell me you don't feel superior to all humans and even me?"

"I do...not to brag but because I am...anyway, most of the time."

"See? there it is- I'd love to have a longer discussion about who is more pretentious here but we've got a major problem to solve. A ginger, blue eyed problem that goes with the name of Mac."

Cassie's smile quickly faded away as sadness conquered every inch of her once proud, strong, and determined face.

"I tried...I really did...I almost was able to, but..."

Tate stared at Cassie and it bothered him just how upset she was with herself.

"Hey," he said, placing his hand on her cheek again, "don't worry, I'll handle it."

"What...you can't...there's nothing you can do."

"Yes I can...Mac is my friend or at least we were close, really tight...I'll talk to him."

"Oh yeah, why didn't you tell me that earlier, before I took that terrible risk? Who knows what will happen now if the Aesterdis had been changed in any way?"

"You were too busy pretending to be the Wonder Woman heroine who would save the day."

"My apologies."

"We'll get through this, but next time please don't be so stubborn."

Cassie bristled.

"Don't tell me what to do."

After a few seconds of silence Cassie added, "Who do you think changed the Aesterdis... and why?"

"Honestly, I have no idea."

"Should I talk to Piero?"

"Then he'll know you went there."

"So...we'll just...not say anything about it?"

"For now...no, we won't." He stood up. "You need some sleep...we'll talk about it more tomorrow."

Tate started walking towards the door, thinking Cassie would open it, wanting him to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" she said.

That question took him by surprise. He shrugged and put his hands on his pockets.

"Home?"

"But it's late, and it's dark...and cold outside."

Tate narrowed his eyes at her. Cassie was the most fascinating and extraordinary person he'd ever met, and yet she looked lonely. He remembered she'd been trained by a Guardian her whole life, didn't go to school, and probably wasn't allowed to have friends growing up.

Still, he couldn't believe she might actually need him. In reality, though, it was just that she needed him as much he needed her. There she was, sitting on a little white couch, holding a pillow, expecting his answer. The blond waves of her long hair waterfalled down her shoulders, her eyes glaring back at him with a mixture of distress and desire.

"Really, we can talk...about-"

"Say no more. If you want me stay," he smirked, "just ask."

She laughed and shook her head. Tate ruffled his hair and crossed his arms, leaning on the wall, he waited until Cassie came up with a comeback, but she didn't.

"Maybe we can order something," she suggested.

"Or..." He started walking towards the small kitchen and pointed out the fridge. "I can cook."

Cassie raised both eyebrows, surprised at his offer, "Go ahead, master chef."

"Let's see what you have here." He opened the fridge. "Whoa."

"What?"

"You have a quite a collection of frozen yogurt in all shapes and sizes and flavors."

Cassie grinned like a little girl, "Thanks," she said as if it was something to be proud of.

Tate smiled, "Don't you have anything else to eat?"

"Mmmm, I think there is pasta in the pantry."

"Great."

Cassie thought of turning the tube on, but she enjoyed talking with Tate and the TV would be an excuse for him to keep quiet. Instead, she walked into kitchen and with a small jump in her step, sat on the countertop and started playing with her hair. Tate glimpsed at her while grabbing a pot and filling it with water.

After he did, Tate turned around and caught Cassie looking at him.

"I would recite some poetry for you, but the way you're looking at me, I can't think of single word."

Cassie bit her lip and smiled, she shook her head to have her hair fall seductively over her face.

"Like what, Tate?" she batted her eyelashes and Tate narrowed his eyes and pointed at her with a wooden spoon.

"Like..." he signaled her from head to toe, "that."

She laughed and felt the rushing blood making her blush. She looked away and changed the conversation's topic. "Remember earlier today you asked me why I chose you before the mission?"

Tate nodded, then frowned, as he wasn't sure where she was going with her remark.

"I thought about it and...I can't give you an exact reason, but--" she took a deep breath to have a few seconds to choose her words carefully, "I guess...you know, I've been trained as a human guardian to protect mortals from accidents that might happen to them...and even though I've been assigned to your mission I was taught to put others before myself."

Tate stared in silence, frozen, the only evidence he was still alive, his slow breathing.

"But I had to put my survival first and I failed because it's in my nature, I have to protect you. Maybe that's why I hated you...your mission means going against Guardians' beliefs, maybe that's why after all these years no one could convince you to... to..."

"You don't have to say it."

Cassie looked at him for a second and then back down to her hands, her eyes were glassy but she refused to cry even though deep emotions were welling up inside of her.

"So there...I don't know if what I just said makes any sense, but I just wanted you to know."

"Cassie." Tate whispered her name and walked towards her.

"I know you're sorry for all the things that perhaps must happen, you don't need to say anything more."

"But I have a lot to add, Cassie."

Tate took her chin gently and raised her face so she could look directly into his eyes, wide and strikingly hypnotic. In that moment she asked herself why chestnut brown eyes were considered boring. They looked mysterious, just like him; and the amber rays melting into the darkness inside them made it seem like dawn was rising in his eyes.

They were so close to each other she felt his warm breath on her face. The touch of his thumb caressing her lips made her it feel like her heart was going to jackhammer through her chest. Her lips were soft and slightly curved, his hand moved to her jaw and then tangled into her hair. And there they both stood in silence, a chaotic kind of peace in which their thoughts and senses were the protagonists making such a mess of the dramatic stage play going on inside their minds.

"I hope what I'm about to do says all that I can't describe adequately enough in mere words."

He whispered into her ear, making her whole body shudder.

Tate took a deep breath a planted a tender kiss on the freckled skin of her cheek. It lasted enough to make him want more...to sink into her life force and drown in her essence. He looked into her eyes expecting an answer, but just as he did, Cassie decided to reply without words.

She pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around him, placing her head on his shoulder, breathing onto his neck. He hugged her intensely as their hearts began beating as one. Suddenly, guilt and confusion spreading like wildfire, replacing the longing in his heart with the safety of the indifference he once felt

For the first time in years he considered saving someone else's life...sacrificing his.

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WHY DON'T THEY KISS ALREADY MY GODDDDD, I actually have something really good planned *evil laugh* Anyway, tell me what you think in the comments!