Chapter Text
Jacob shuffled into the kitchen wearing sweatpants and an old Oklahoma tee-shirt. Cassandra was sitting at the kitchen table, in pink pajama pants covered with red hearts and teddy bears and a pink camisole. She was furiously scribbling on a piece of paper with a pencil and Stone smiled affectionately at her.
She looked up from her scribbles, “going to bed, honey?”
“Thinkin’ about it. Are you comin’?”
“Just one more equation, I’ve almost got it.”
He chuckled, leaning over to kiss her cheek, “perfect. Because I want to read one more chapter. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Not more than a half hour later, Cassandra was triumphantly finishing her work. So she may have fibbed a little, she’d actually done three more equations and had a small snack. She took one last sip out of her water bottle and put a sticker on it labeling it as hers before sticking in back in the fridge and heading to their bedroom.
She figured Jacob would still be awake, his one more chapter turning into two or more. But what greeted her upon entering the bedroom were soft snores. Jacob was asleep on his back, his mouth slightly open, the book still open across his chest, both hands still holding on. Cassandra had to bite her lip to keep from laughing and force herself not to snap a photo. He was adorable.
She almost did take the photo anyway because she would have loved to look at it. But it was impossible to keep Ezekiel away from her phone and so she didn’t dare risk it. This was a personal moment between her and Jacob.
She wondered how many times he’d fallen asleep with books as he studied late at night while his family slept. He wondered how scared he’d been that his mother might come in and see. Or worse yet, if his father had come in. Poor Jacob. He was safe here with her. She loved him for everything he was, the country boy, the oil rigger, the genius, the Librarian.
She checked the nightstand for a bookmark then slowly and carefully attempted to take the book out of his hands. In his sleep he frowned and one hand tightened on the book.
“It’s okay, it’s just me, honey.” Cassandra whispered and although he didn’t wake, his grip loosened.
She made sure that the page he had open hadn’t been lost and slipped the bookmark in. Then she set the book on the nightstand. She leaned over and brushed a kiss over his forehead, stopping to pull the blanket up over him.
He’d left her light on for her when he’d gone to bed, so she clicked off his light and walked around to her own side. With a contented smile, she snuggled up under the covers next to him and turned off the light.
Next to her, Jacob rolled over to face her, his arm loosely going around her, and he murmured her name. She was sure he was still asleep, judging from his breathing, but she settled her head against his chest.
“Love you too, Jacob.”