Cassandra's Challenge (65 page)

“This is what will be playing tonight?”
Cassandra puts her arms around his neck as he pulls her closer,
rubbing his hands up her back.

“Or something similar, it will be very formal
music.”

“And this is formal dancing?” She strokes his
neck.

“No, this is me wanting to hold you.” Leaning
down he captures her lips. He needs to hold her, just for awhile.
Running through all the possibilities with Quinn and Marat brought
home just how vulnerable she is going to be tonight. Even with
extra security. Here in his arms she’s safe.

Giggles have him lifting his head to find
Victoria and Lucas in the doorway. Victoria smiling Lucas looking
faintly embarrassed.

“Hi Admiral, whatcha doing?” Victoria plops down
on the couch.

“Teaching your Aunt how to dance.” William hears
Lucas’ snicker.

“Good luck.” Tori giggles again.

“Hey! I’m not
that
bad.” Cassandra
complains.

“Yes you are.”

“Then we’d better get serious here.” He smiles
at Cassandra as he moves her arm distance away. “One hand here.” He
puts one on his shoulder. “The other in my hand. My hand goes right
here.” He puts it on her waist. “Now follow me.”

Watching his feet Cassandra follows, frowning in
concentration.

“There’s no frowning while dancing.” William
tips her chin up. “Look at me.” With the hand at her waist he
guides her around the room, moving around furniture to circle
back.

“It’s a waltz!” Cassandra suddenly realizes.

“It’s called a valsa.” William corrects her.

“Valsa.” She commits it to memory.

“I think you were teasing me Tori. Your Aunt
dances just fine.”

“Well yeah,
this
kind of dancing, but she
looks silly when she dances for
real
.”

“I’d say it was the partner.” Cassandra smiles
at him. As the music stops he pulls her in for a kiss.

“This is just with me too.” He says against her
lips.

“Good to know.” Her eyes smile at him.

“Now me Admiral.” Victoria jumps up off the
couch.

“You?” They both look down at her. “I thought
this wasn’t
real
dancing.”

“I’ll have to learn it sometime won’t I?”

“Yes. Yes you will, so…” William looks at
Cassandra a little at a loss at how to start.

“Have her stand on your feet.” Cassandra backs
away, enjoying watching them.

“So Cassie shall we?” Lucas holds out his hand.
Sliding hers into his he waltzes her around the room. While Lucas
isn’t as smooth as his father, he is good.

“So who taught you to dance?” Cassandra
asks.

“Mom, she really liked to dance. When dad was
away Kyle and I filled in.” Lucas looks at her suddenly worried
he’d said too much. But Cassandra’s eyes remain clear.

“She did a good job. It’s a good memory.”

“Yeah it is.”

“My turn to dance with Lucas.” Victoria
demands.

Lucas steps back from Cassandra, gives her a
slight bow then turns to Tori. Smiling Cassandra walks into
William’s arms.

“I told Hutu to send up third meal at 1730.
That’ll give you time to eat before you need to change.”

“Will there be any fudge torta?” Cassandra can’t
stop herself from asking.

“I’ll see what he can do.” He smiles at her.
“You need to rest until then.”

“I will but first I …” She’s interrupted by his
portable comm.

“Zafar.”

“Admiral, I have King Jotham on the comm for
you.”

“I’ll be right down.” Gently he touches
Cassandra’s cheek. “Lucas, you’re with me.” Together the two Zafar
men leave.

“Well Victoria what do you want to do?”

“Can I go to Amina’s? I want to tell her I
learned to valsa.”

“I’ll walk you over.” She holds out her
hand.

Returning to an empty suite Cassandra pauses.
She doesn’t feel like resting, not without William. She hasn’t told
him about their child. Hoping he’ll be back soon she goes to the
comm and puts in Quinn’s memory foil.

“Princess?”

Cassandra looks up to find Hutu has entered the
suite.

“Hutu? What is it?”

“I’ve brought up third meal.”

“What?” She looks at the clock time has slipped
away from her. Looking back to Hutu she sees he’s carrying only one
plate. “The Admiral’s been detained.”

“Yes Princess. He said to eat without him.”

“Of course.” She’d arranged for Victoria to eat
with the Michelakakis’ so she and William could talk. Trying to
hide her disappointment she smiles at Hutu. “Is there any fudge
torta left?” Hutu lifts the cover to show her the slice of
cake.

“Thank you Hutu. Is there enough for the
Michelakakis’?”

“Yes Princess.”

“Would you make sure they get some with third
meal.”

“Yes Princess.”

“Thank you Hutu.” As he leaves she walks over to
look at the meal Hutu has prepared. It smells and looks delicious
sitting down Cassandra finds she has no appetite. She wanted to
share this meal with William, to tell him he is going to be a
father again. Knowing she needs to eat, not just for her but for
the baby she picks up the forc. After several bites her stomach
begins to revolt. Taking slow deep breaths she tries to calm her
stomach.

“No, that’s not going to work.” On a dead run
she hits the bathroom. After several minutes she’s able to stand.
Looking in the mirror she sees she’s still slightly green.

“Crap.” Still shaky she takes a sip of water,
waiting to see what happens. When it’s not immediately heaved back
up she forces herself to move. Walking through the bedroom her
stomach starts to settle, until the smell of food hits her. Quickly
crossing the room she covers the plate and carries it to the formal
living area.

“No more of that.” Returning to the private area
she looks at the clock. 1815. She needs to start getting ready,
especially if she has to move slowly.

William checks the time. 1845. He needs to get
upstairs and change.

“You understand the changes Jotham made?” He
looks at Lucas.

“Yes. I’ll handle it. You need to go.”

Giving Lucas one last look he heads upstairs. In
the bedroom he finds Cassandra in a black robe brushing damp hair.
Seeing him she gives him a gentle smile.

“Hi.” Leaning down he kisses her.

“Hi yourself.”

“I need to get cleaned up.”

“It’s all yours.” After another quick kiss he
heads for the shower.

“Cassandra?” Turning to the sound of Javiera’s
voice Cassandra walks out to the private area.

“Javiera, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Victoria.”

“What? What’s happened?”

“I don’t know, one minute we’re all talking and
the next she wants to come home. She’s near tears. She’s in her
room.” Javiera gestures towards her suite.

“Okay, I’ll handle it.”

“Cassandra, you need to be gone in less than an
hour.” But Javiera’s talking to an empty room.

“Tori?” Finding the bed empty she quickly scans
the room. Victoria is sitting in the window seat, hugging her knees
to her chest.

“Tori? What’s wrong?” Cassandra sits across from
her. Sad green eyes look at her.

“Tell me. Maybe I can make it better.”

“You can’t.” Her sad voice tells her.

“Tell me anyway.” She takes her hands in
hers.

“Do you know what today is?”

“Today?”

“Yeah, on Earth, do you know what today is?”

Mind racing Cassandra thinks, it’s been
fifty-one days since the Earth was destroyed. That had been early
March.

“It’s Mother’s Day.” Victoria whispers. “I only
remembered because Amina was talking about all the different
holidays they have here on Carina. How could I forget about mom?”
Huge tears run silently down her cheeks.

“Oh sweetie.” Cassandra pulls her into her arms.
“I’m sorry…I didn’t think…..” She’s at a loss. She hadn’t
celebrated Mother’s Day since her own had died. It always made her
sad, thinking about what she no longer had. But for Victoria it was
different.

“They were going to tell me the big secret
today.” Victoria burrows into Cassandra.

“Big secret?” Cassandra’s stomach sinks, could
Victoria have known.

“Yeah, I was going to have a baby brother.”
Cassandra closes her eyes pulling the trembling little body closer
to her.

“I know.” Tears seep out as she bows her head to
Victoria’s.

William is surprised to walk into an empty
bedroom. He hadn’t been that long, Cassandra shouldn’t be ready
yet. Walking into the closet he pulls on pants and a shirt before
realizing the dress bag hanging open still has the dress in it.
Something is wrong.

In the private living quarters he finds
Javiera.

“Where’s Cassandra?”

“In Victoria’s room.” She points to the
partially closed door William’s stomach clenches.

Entering the room he finds them wrapped together
in the window seat. Walking over he hears Victoria say something
about a big secret. But what she says next freezes him in his
tracks.

“I was going to have a baby brother.”

“I know.” William sees the tears running down
Cassandra’s cheeks as she comforts her niece for the brother she’d
never know.

It is easy to forget all these two have lost.
They stood so well, adapting to all the changes. They make it easy
on everyone else, to not to think about what they no longer had.
Closing the distance between them he kneels down wrapping his arms
around them both, pulling them close. Cassandra looks at him with
sad eyes.

“Snuck up on you?”

“Yeah, both of us, you heard?”

“Yeah.” Watery green eyes turn to him.

“Hi Admiral.” The voice has none of the life in
it from earlier in the day.

“Hi Tori, tough one huh?” She only nods. “I’m
sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Did you know I was
supposed to have a baby brother?”

“No, I didn’t.” William lets her talk.

“I was. It was a secret. Mommy and daddy were
going to tell me today. It’s Mother’s Day on Earth. I wasn’t
supposed to know but I
accidently
heard them talking.”

“Accidently?” Cassandra questions.

“It wasn’t my fault they didn’t know I wasn’t in
bed.” Victoria’s voice loses some sadness.

“Of course not, they should have realized you
were up.”

“Yeah.” She’s quiet for a moment. “Anyway mom
told dad it was a boy and that I would be a great big sister.”

“You would have been.” William tells her.

“I would have liked that.” The three are
silent.

“Aunt Cassie?”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?”

“It can wait.” Cassandra looks at William and
sees he’s in agreement.

“But you’ll be late.”

“So?”

“So you
hate
to be late.” Shocked green
eyes look into hers.

“Some things are more important than being on
time.”

“Like me?”

“Like you. I love you Victoria Lynn.”

“I love you too.” Green eyes turn to William. “I
love you too Admiral.” Tori wraps her arms around his neck.

“I love you Victoria.” William hugs her
tightly.

“Aunt Cassie?”

“Yeah?” She has to swallow the lump in her
throat.”

“I left my fudge torta over at Amina’s.”

“Oh really?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Do you think I could go back over and eat
it?”

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe we should just throw it
away.”

“NO!!! Admiral, don’t let her!” Things were back
to normal.

“I think you Aunt’s teasing you.” William
realizes it too.

“So can I go back?” Her eyes plead.

“Let’s go.” Rising up William helps them both
stand. Walking out of the bedroom they find Javiera waiting.

“Victoria’s hoping to go back with you and eat
her dessert.” Cassandra tells Javiera.

“Then we’d better hurry before Leander gets to
it. He has a terrible sweet tooth.” Javiera looks at Cassandra then
taking Victoria’s hand leaves.

“What time is it?” Cassandra asks as she hustles
back to the bedroom.

“1930.” William informs her.

“Shit! How bad is it going to be, showing up
late?”

“It couldn’t be helped. I’ll contact Jotham, let
him know. After that it’s his call.” He watches as Cassandra sheds
her robe on the way to the closet. She’s wearing black eadai with
black leggings.

“His call?” She hasn’t noticed William’s
distraction.

“On whether to start without you or wait.” He
follows her into the closet.

“Start what?”

“The Ball. You and he will have the first
dance.”

“What?” She turns into his arms.

“First dance. You. Jotham.”

“Oh crap!”

“It’ll be fine.” Pulling out his portable comm
he contacts the King.

“Jotham.”

“We’re going to be late.” William tells his
friend and King.

“Excuse me?”

“There was a situation here that had to be
resolved. We should be there by 2030.” William runs his fingers
over Cassandra’s collar bone.

“I hope it was important.”

“It was.” William disconnects as his mouth
swoops down to capture hers.

“William.” She gasps as he lets her up for air.
“We have to get ready.”

“We will, in a minute.” Lifting her, her legs
wrap around him. Trusting him to support her, Cassandra’s hands
release him taking him in. Pressing her against the wall William
drives into her.

“Yes!” Cassandra exclaims as he fills her.
Already trembling she pulls his mouth to hers, losing herself in
his taste. Moments later the world explodes.

Holding her close, William rests his forehead
against hers. She is his world. Holding her in his arms he holds
everything.

“William.” Raising his head he looks into
beautiful sapphire blue eyes. Eyes full of love, for him. “We’re
going to be late…er.” Those eyes smile into his.