Cassandra woke up and rubbed her eyes. She had the worst sense of deja vu as she looked around. She noticed that she was lying in a hospital bed and she had a smoky taste in her mouth, but it was worse than the last time she was there. She slowly stood up and looked around and noticed that Nick wasn't there. She took a blanket, wrapped it around her shoulders and walked out of her room.
Walking down the hall, she almost ran into someone, it seemed like they didn't even know that she was there. She shrugged it off and noticed a man standing at the end of the hall. He looked familiar and he seemed to be looking for something. "Nick?" she called out to the man. He slowly turned around and looked at her. It sure wasn't Nick.
Cassandra bit her lip and turned around. All of a sudden, she felt a hand cover her eyes and a pair of soft lips press against her lips. She moved the hand away from her eyes and gazed into a pair of the most beautiful blue eyes. "Nick!" she screamed and hugged him.
"I thought that I wasn't going to find you," he said wrapping his arms around her waist. He never wanted to let go.
"Nick, it happened again," she whispered into his ear.
"I know. I am sorry that I put you through that again-"
"No," she interrupted, "don't blame yourself for anything! I went with you, remember? Nothing is to blame except for that damn house. But Nick! We survived! I knew that you'd get me out of there alive."
He smiled. "Let's go home," he said and they headed towards the front desk.
"Excuse me?" Cassandra said to the lady behind the desk. "Can we leave now?" No one acknowledged her question. "Hello?" Still no response. "Let's just go, Nick." He grabbed her hand and they walked out of the hospital. Realising that they didn't have a car to drive home with, they started walking home. Still hand in hand, they walked silently for about ten minutes.
When they reached their street, they stopped in front of A.J. and Isabella's old house. It was practically burnt to the ground. Cassandra let go of Nick's hand and bent over to pick up a rock. With tears streaming down her face, she heaved the rock as hard as she could towards the house. It crashed through one of the remaining front windows. She turned to Nick, and collapsed in his arms. They both were scared and tired.
"Nick, I have the strangest feeling. I don't know what it is, but I get it every time I look at or think about that damned house. I know it sounds strange, but I feel like I have this bad connection to that house."
"No, it doesn't sound strange," Nick said. "I feel that exact same way. I don't like the feeling either."
"Please, let's go home." She grabbed his hand and quickly started walking towards her house. They noticed that the door was open. They didn't really think much of it, and walked in. They stopped when they heard voices and their names being said. They hid so they wouldn't be seen.
"Remember when Nick wrote that romantic love letter to Cassandra?" they heard Kevin say.
"Or the time when we first met all of the guys?" Nicole said. "And Isabella somehow knew that she was in love?" They all laughed.
"Remember Cassandra and Nick's wedding?" Emalia said. They all nodded.
"Yeah it was so perfect," Nicole said.
"I agree," Kevin said. "It was the perfect symbol for their love for each other."
"They used to be so in love," Emalia said and started to whimper. Kevin put his arms around her.
"My other sister-" Coreene started.
Cassandra had heard enough. "Come on," Cassandra said to Nick. "Let's go see why they're talking about us!" Cassandra grabbed Nick's hand and walked into the living room.
"Hey guys!" Nick said. "We're back and we're fine!" No one said anything to them.
Just then, Cassandra gasped, and when Nick looked to see what she was looking at he gasped, too. They saw A.J. and Isabella standing behind the couch looking over Emalia and Kevin's shoulders. Isabella was holding a baby and Adrian-James holding A.J.'s leg. They seemed to be looking at the photo albums with Kevin and Emalia.
"Oh my God! Isabella!" Cassandra screamed. Isabella slowly turned around and glared at her sister.
"No! It can't be!" Isabella cried. A.J. only stared at them.
"A.J.? Isabella?" Nick asked. "How-"
"You guys," started Isabella, "we have something to tell you-" She was interrupted by two police officers walking in. Emalia, Kevin, and Coreene stood up and walked over to them.
"Yes?" Emalia asked. The police officer handed Emalia the leash to a dog.
"We found this dog around that house-"
"Oh, it's Isabella's!"
"I take it you know who's it is?"
"Yes."
"And, one more thing." The officer handed her three rings. "This was all we could find-"
"Oh my God!" Emalia screamed, tears streaming down her face as she looked at what the officer had given her.
"We're very sorry," they said and slowly walked out of the door, still leaving it open. Emalia handed the leash to Kevin as Nicole and Jonathan walked up to them.
"Emalia?" Nicole asked. "What is it? What did they give you?"
"Well," started Emalia, "this is Isabella's dog, and look-" She slowly unfolded her hand and held up three rings, one by one. "This is the opal ring that Nick gave Cassie when they were going out. It bonded them so close, u-until, they got these. T-their-" She couldn't finish her sentence.
"Their wedding rings," Nicole finished.
"Nick, what is she talking about?" Cassandra asked him confused. "How did she-"
"I'm going to take these upstairs," Emalia said and headed for the stairs.
"Come on Nick." Cassandra grabbed his hand and they followed Emalia upstairs as she walked into Cassandra's room. She silently set the rings down on Cassandra's nightstand and let her tears flow from her eyes.
"Oh you guys," Emalia said. "I wonder if you're together."
"Emalia!" Cassandra yelled. "Of course we're together! Why wouldn't we be?" Emalia turned and walked out of the room. "Nick, what's going on?"
"I don't know," he said. "Let's go back downstairs. Maybe one of us is dreaming." The two of them ran down the stairs.
"Okay Isabella," Cassandra demanded, "I don't know how I can see you or hear you, but what's going on?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Isabella said. "But first I want you to meet my little baby girl."
"You're what?" Cassandra asked in disbelief. "Nick? Nick, listen!" But his attention was focused elsewhere. "Nick, what are you looking at?"
"Look-" he whispered, and pointed to the television that everyone was now watching.
"In local news, a house recently goes up in flames. Casualties, were a young, newlywed couple. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas and Cassandra Carter were presumed dead this morning, when the only things recovered from the fire were an opal ring, and a pair of wedding rings belonging to the couple-" Kevin turned off the television. Emalia buried her head in his chest and cried loudly. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
"Oh Cassandra," Coreene said softly with tears in her eyes.
"No-" said Cassandra.
"Cassie, it's true," said Isabella. "That's how you can see us."
"No! I won't believe it!" yelled Nick.
"Neither will I!" Cassandra yelled.
"It's true-" Nick grabbed Cassandra's hand and they ran outside.
"Give them time," A.J. said to Isabella. "What else do they have?" Isabella nodded and A.J. picked up Adrian-James in his arms.
"There's just one more thing that we need to discuss with you guys," one of the officers said.
"What?" Emalia said coldly, looking up from the couch.
"The little matter that Nick and Cassandra could have commited suicide."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Emalia said angrily stading up and facing the police officer.
"Nick and Cassandra could have paid Austin to kill them during the first fire, seeing as how Austin confessed to setting the fire, he could have been afraid of getting caught and then hanged himself because he was afraid of what Nick and Cassandra would do to him. We also found the neighbor next to the house, dead. He may have died of natural causes, but he had stab wounds on his body. He was probably the one that called the fire department the first time, and Nick and Cassandra didn't want him getting in the way again. And doesn't it seem kind of convenient that they had the stairs going down to the basement rebuilt so they could finish what they started?"
"Just stop right there!" Emalia screamed. "Just listen to what you're saying! Nick and Cassandra would never do that! Get the fuck out of my house!" The two police officers turned around and left out of the house.
"Nick, we really did-" started Cassandra.
"I know....." he said. He grabbed her, and they both cried in each other's arms. "Hey, can you hear the music?"
"Of course I can. I always will."
"Then may I have this dance?" They wrapped their arms around each other as tightly as they could, and began to slowly dance.
"This is where we had our first kiss," she whispered to him.
"I know," he said and began to sing softly. She closed her eyes and listened to his soft, beautiful voice. "What did I do, to deserve you? Only God's hands could have made you, and brought this dream to life-" He stopped. "God Cassandra, even though we, you know, I still love you so much."
"Oh Nick, I love you too, so much-" She stopped, pulled away from Nick, and brought her fingertips up to her neck. She felt a chain and pulled a necklace out from underneath her shirt. It was her diamond heart.
"You still have my heart," he said definitely. "Do you realize that not even death can pull us apart?"
"I do," she said. "You're still the one that I belong to, the only one that I will ever love, and the only one that I will ever want." She looked at him, then slowly pressed her lips to his. His lips tasted like tears of pain and fear. She kissed him deeper and deeper, to reassure him and herself, that they would be all right. She had always wondered if they would truthfully be together forever, and now she knew. Nick pulled away and looked at her. He brushed the tears gently away from her face with his fingertips. He still had the softest touch, and the softest gaze as his face lingered near hers.
He pressed his forehead to hers, and gently rested his hands on her shoulders as her arms slowly crept around his waist. Nick pointed up to the sky and spoke softly to her. "I hope that the man upstairs isn't mad at me, because I have one of his angels. I'm never letting go. My dreams came true when I found you. I thank God that he blessed me with my angel, and I love her so. I'll tell the world that heaven is missing an angel." She smiled broadly at him with tears in her eyes. "We're still together. We can handle anything that is thrown at us. If I could right everything that made you cry, you know that I would. If I could go back to that night and do it all over again, we wouldn't-" He stopped.
"Damn it Nick!" she said. "Don't blame yourself! I don't blame you, but I also don't forgive you because you didn't do anything wrong! And you're right to say that we can handle anything."
"I know but, still. I'm sorry, and I always will be-" He stopped when he was interrupted. Adrian-James came running out of the house and to Nick.
"Uncle Nick!" he said in a high pitched child's voice.
Nick picked him up and blankly stared at Cassandra. "I don't believe this," Nick said.
"Aunt Cassie!" Adrian-James said reaching for Cassandra. Nick handed the child to Cassandra, and began to pace around.
"Hey Sweetie!" Cassandra said to him.
"You know what?" Adrian-James said to her.
"What?"
"I d-don't like the w-water anymore," the child studdered.
"Oh God," Cassandra whispered.
"Adrian-James!" Isabella said coming out of the house. She walked up to Cassandra and took the child from her. "I'm sorry Cassie."
"N-no, it's okay. I think."
"Cassie, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true."
"Isabella, what happened to you?"
"Lucy shot me, but only after I stabbed her. Straight through the heart."
"Oh," Cassandra said looking down. "I guess you know what happened to me, to us."
"Yeah-"
"He told me we had to face our fears, so I trusted him and went along with him to your house to face our fears. And we did, because we'll never have to fear it, again."
Nick walked over to her, hearing her words, just as A.J. walked out of the house carrying his baby girl. "Cassie, I knew that you hadn't forgave me!" Nick said to her.
"No, I have. Remember? We forgave each other yesterday for everything. Believe me."
"I do."
"Isabella," Cassandra asked her sister, "what's with the baby?"
"Oh, when I was, um, murdered, I was pregnant, but I didn't know it. A.J. found out after."
"Oh."
"We'll leave you guys alone for a while," A.J. said. "You know where we'll be." Cassandra and Nick nodded their heads and A.J. and Isabella left, taking their two children with them.
"Please don't blame yourself because you're all that I have left. There is nothing left-"
"Except our love," Nick interrupted. "It's still as strong as ever. And remember, you made a promise. To be mine, now and forever."
"I know," Cassandra said, "but besides that. Everything had fallen down around us, and there is nothing left. There is nothing else that could possibly happen to us."
Nick wrapped his arms around Cassandra, and tightly pulled her to him, and whispered to her: "Or so we think."