Cassandra
You asked for a sequel, you got one.
This is ship. Oh so much ship in such a small handful of words. If you don't like m/f romance, this isn't your fic. If you do, then good luck, because there are only 700-odd words and I might have sprained a writing muscle cos these words are...well, I'll let you form your own opinion.
Virgil Tracy/Cass McCready
I hope you enjoy.
-o-o-o-
Soft lips on his forehead.
Fingers brushing gently through his hair.
A whisper. “Thank god for you, Tracy.”
Virgil pushed his heavy eyelids open and the white fuzz of the world bit into his retinas.
The fingers paused in his hair. Fingertips touched his cheek. “Tracy? You with me?”
His throat clogged with barbed tumbleweeds, but he managed to blink his eyes and force them to focus.
Cassandra.
She smiled at him and it lit up her eyes. “Hey.”
He loved her smile.
Her fingers brushed through his hair again as his brain finally booted and updated him on the fact he was in hospital.
And Jeremy had fallen through a window.
“Jer-“ The tumbleweeds clawed at his windpipe and he coughed, shaking what was apparently a body in pain underneath whatever he was high on.
She cupped his cheek. “Jeremy is fine. Thanks to you.”
“But-“
Another smile. “Scott did warn me.” She straightened and walked around the edge of the bed and disappeared beyond a blue curtain.
Scott? What?
The soft hiss of hoverjets and both Jeremy and Russell hurried into the room. “Virgil!”
Jeremy may not have had Gordon’s blond curls, but the five-year-old had more in common with his fish brother than Virgil did. The little rapscallion darted over and for a moment Virgil thought he was going to leap onto the bed.
“Gentle now, Jer, Virgil is injured.”
For a moment that energy in his eyes dulled. “He’s going to get better, though, isn’t he? Not like Russell?”
Cassandra stepped up between her two sons, a hand dropping to each shoulder, squeezing Jeremy’s. “Virgil will get better.” She leant over and kissed Russell’s tight curls. “And your brother is getting better at walking. He just needed the ‘chair today.”
Virgil blinked again, cursing the fog in his head.
The eight-year-old looked up at his mother. “It’s fine, Mum.”
Virgil swallowed. Russell was the eldest of the two boys, but he had suffered an injury in the fire that had taken the children’s father several years ago. Russell reminded him of John. All the smarts and the determination. Not so much for space, though. Russell wanted to build things.
“Thank you for saving me, Virgil.” Jeremy’s wide, dark eyes stared up at him from beside the bed.
He looked so much like his mother.
Virgil hacked through the bramble in his throat. “Y-You’re welcome.”
Little fingers intertwined with his.
Cassandra was smiling at him again.
“Okay, boys, go back to Gordon. I need to speak with Virgil.”
He loved it when she said his first name.
“Yes! Thunderbird Four rooooooocks!” Triumphant arm in the air, Jeremy dashed off, obviously none the worse for falling off a skyscraper.
Russell rolled his eyes and turned to follow his little brother. Hoverjets hissed out of the room.
Virgil found himself grinning.
“You know, I have my suspicions that you only asked me out because of my kids.”
His eyes widened and her smile became a laugh.
She leant in and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Don’t worry. I got a great deal.”
“Cass-!”
But then she was kissing him ever so softly and the fog became a pleasant haze.
He could have just existed there forever.
“Thank you for saving my son.”
He stared up into her dark, dark eyes. “Thank you.”
She smiled at him as if seeing something he was completely unaware of and loving it.
Loving…
“I need to let your brothers in before they break down the door.” She straightened up, still smiling softly.
A slow blink and she turned, disappearing beyond the curtain again.
“Cass…”
A clatter at the door and Alan burst in, almost as exuberant as Jeremy. John followed quietly with Grandma and Dad, questions about his health firing from all directions.
Virgil took the gentle hugs and the queries, but he was distracted by Cassandra stopping to speak to Scott at the door a moment before leaving.
He couldn’t see her face, but he could see his brother’s. Blue eyes flashed and he touched her shoulder briefly as she followed her boys out the door.
Virgil had all the questions, but as Scott turned towards him, his big brother only smiled.
Ever so proud.
-o-o-o-