I'm sorry if you don't like me doing shorter stories, than what I have been doing for Push, i.e. with my ongoing story, The Care Knot. I just don't have as much time as I used to, what with school starting back up and me working almost 40 hours a week nowadays.

So for now, I'll stick with these short one-shots. Hope you like 'em!!!

All was quiet in Nick's apartment, for once. Cassie and Nick were snuggled up in Nick's bed, taking a mid-afternoon nap, and Pinky was out doing some grocery shopping. The sun streamed in through an open window, lending a warm- but far from hot- air to the room.

Though they couldn't hear it, some kids were playing basketball a few yards from the apartment, and their girlfriends had formed a cheerleading squad of sorts, encouraging their respective mates to play better and harder.

Nick had just rolled over and wrapped his free arm around Cassie's waist, when a young man flew past the apartment on his bike; seeing the open window and not being able to resist a good prank, he tossed in a few lit firecrackers and raced away from the scene.

In a moment, the fireworks went off, startling the serenity of the apartment into discord and disharmony. Reacting in shock, Nick used his Mover powers to grab the two pistols he had on the table on the other side of the room and pointed them at the window, letting off two or three shots before pausing for a moment. The firecrackers finished their noise-making, and all was quiet again.

Nick turned to see if Cassie had woken up; of course, she had, and was sitting bolt upright in the bed, a scared look on her face.

"What the hell was that?" Cassie asked, turning to look at Nick.

Nick got up from the bed, and looked around the corner at the floor by Cassie. "Just some fireworks." He picked them up and flung them out the window, sending them down to the concrete driveway below them.

"A wake-up call?" asked Cassie, flopping back down onto the bed. Nick climbed back in and rolled Cassie over, so that his stomach was facing her back; he snuggled up close to her, and Cassie pulled his arm over her, trapping him behind her.

"Probably not," Nick replied. "Just a prank, is what I'm guessing." He lightly kissed the back of Cassie's neck, sending a jolting shiver down her spine.

"That's good," Cassie said, breathing in sharply; she had no idea why she reacted so strongly to Nick's touch- she just did. Not that she really wanted her pleasures to stop; it was one of the only things that really kept her happy these days, was Nick's presence, his love for her.

It was a love that she happily reciprocated.

"What were those two big bangs at the end?" Cassie asked, rolling over so that she and Nick were facing each other, their chests pressed tightly together.

"Oh, those…" Nick said sheepishly. "I Moved my guns and fired off a few shots out the window, before I realized what was really going on."

Cassie laughed. "A bit jumpy, are we?"

Nick growled playfully. "Watch it, lady. I can Move a whole lot more things than guns, you know."

In response, Cassie leaned in and planted a kiss on Nick's lips. "I know," she said as she got up off the bed. "That's one of the reasons why I love you so much."

She had said those three words so many times since the battle at the tower, but Nick never got tired of hearing them. "I love you, too, Cassie."

Cassie giggled. "I know." She went over to the closet and began rummaging through them. "Hey, Nick," she called over her shoulder, "have you decided whether you want to go to the fireworks display tonight?"

"Why?" Nick asked in response. "We can just watch them from the bedroom. That way, we won't even have to leave the apartment."

Cassie turned to look at Nick, a sharp look on her face. "Don't tell me you 're in trouble with those gambling guys again…"

"No," Nick said quickly, "it's not that. I just want to spend the Fourth here with you, tonight."

Laughing, Cassie pulled a T-shirt off a hanger and pulled her old one off. "Oh, so you're hoping you'll get lucky tonight, is that what it is?" She was wearing a bra underneath her shirt, but it was a low-cut one, affording Nick a very generous view.

"That wasn't even on my mind," Nick blustered, as Cassie finally slipped into the other shirt.

"Right…" Cassie said, winking playfully at Nick. "Besides, I wasn't talking about the ones at the park."

Confused, Nick said, "There are other ones?"

"Duh," Cassie said, sitting down next to Nick on the bed. "There are the ones in the park, then there are some other ones just outside the Hong Kong city limits. Those are the really good ones."

"I didn't even know those were going on."

"That's 'cause you weren't living here at this time last year," Cassie replied. "I was, and I went to them. That's where all the real action goes on. Occasionally, you'll even find a Mover doing his own little show, or something along those lines. Last year, things almost got nasty when a Bleeder set off a bunch of the fireworks prematurely. Luckily, no one got hurt."

"That's good," Nick said.

Cassie smiled at him. "So, do you want to go?"

Nick thought for a moment. "How far outside the city limits is this going on at?"

"About five miles," Cassie replied. "Not too far, at all. In fact, we could walk there, if you want." She glanced over at Nick, a pleading look in her eyes, just to make sure she got across that that was what she really wanted.

Nick laughed; he got the message loud and clear. "Okay, okay," he said, "we'll go. Just stop looking at me like that."

Cassie laughed and playfully shoved him down onto the bed. "Whatever you want, babe."

Smiling, Nick said, "When are we going to leave?"

Gazing downward into his eyes, Cassie said, "Not for another couple of hours, my friend. And don't worry- I'll make sure we have time to take a shower before we leave."

---

As the night began to get darker and darker, a cool breeze blew across the road, kicking up dust and loose dirt from the side of the road. Nick and Cassie walked along the roadside, talking animatedly to each other; they held tightly to each other's hands, neither willing to let go for anything.

"How much farther?" asked Nick.

Cassie smiled. "Not too much further. About a half a mile, if I remember correctly-"

Nick stopped suddenly. "If you remember correctly? So, we might not even be going in the right direction?"

Cassie tugged Nick along, and they began moving again. "I meant I don't remember how much further it is, in comparison to here. I know exactly where we're going. And don't stop again- that'll just slow us down even more."

They began to walk again, a spritely bounce in their step. In less than a half hour, they were there.

Finding a spot to sit down at, Nick took off his backpack and pulled out a large blanket; he laid it on the ground, putting his backpack at the head of it, in order to keep it from blowing away. He lay down on it and beckoned for Cassie to come to him; she did so, and he took her into his arms, squeezing her tightly to him.

"This is amazing…" she whispered to him.

"What, the night or just being here with me?"

Cassie smiled. "Both." She softly lay her head against Nick's cheek. "Last year when I came here, I wanted so badly for someone to be here with me. Not just a boyfriend, but anybody. I was so alone here…"

Nick was a bit surprised. "I would have thought you would want your mom to be here with you."

Immediately, he wished he could take back his words, but Cassie didn't show any signs of sorrow, over the mentioning of her mother. "I did," she replied, "but in a way, I've gotten used to living without her. Sure, I miss her- who wouldn't? But, I don't cry myself to sleep as often over her, not nearly as much as I used to do…"

Nick brushed his lips against her forehead. "I know how you feel. Sometimes, all I want is for my dad to come back and be with me, too."

Cassie turned to look at Nick. "You never talk much about your dad. What was he like?"

"Well," Nick began, "for starters, he was a much more powerful Mover than I will ever be. More than that, though, he had an insatiable sense of justice. All he wanted was for things to be right for the world, or at the very least, for our family."

Cassie looked past Nick, to the distance beyond him. "Yeah, that's how my mom was, too. They say she was the most powerful Watcher to ever be found."

"So I've heard," Nick replied. "But you're getting to be a great Watcher in your own right, though, don't you think?"

"I guess so," said Cassie, "but I'm still making some very amateur mistakes-"

"Wait," Nick said, looking her straight in the eye. "You were the one who said that the future is always changing, right? So if something changes and you can't see it, that's really not your fault, right?"

Cassie tried to avoid Nick's piercing eyes. "You're right, I know. But that's one thing that I definitely inherited from my mom- we're both way too hard on ourselves."

Nick laughed and looked in another direction, having realized what Cassie was trying to do. "You could say I'm like my dad, too, in that we don't take ourselves seriously enough. We just try to go on with our lives and not worry about what we're going to be doing later on, or in the next moment. And when things come, we deal with them."

"That's not a bad way to live, though."

Nick smiled. "Sometimes, it is."

Cassie was about to respond, when a blaze of light flashed in the sky, showering the night with tiny fires up above them. Nick lay back, so he could watch the whole scene unfold in front of him. Cassie did the same, and Nick pulled her tightly to him, so that their bodies were completely pressed against each other.

High above them, the fireworks continued to go off, lighting up the sky with such intensity that one might think there were mini-bombs exploding all around them. Blue, green, red, white- the colors ran from one end of the spectrum to another.

Cassie was absolutely mesmerized by the display going on before her very eyes- so much so, that she almost didn't notice Nick pulling her closer to him and turning her head so that their faces were almost pressed up against each other.

What she did notice, was Nick leaning over to her, and pressing his lips against her own. Cassie closed her eyes and parted her lips, allowing Nick's tongue to explore every bit of her mouth. Soon, she was doing the same to him.

Neither of them were exactly sure of how they stayed like that- maybe a few moments, maybe a few hours, maybe a hundred lifetimes. What both of them did know, though, was that when they broke apart, it was far too soon.

Nick smiled at Cassie. "Did your wish come true?"

Cassie sat stunned at Nick's words; how the hell could he have known about the wish that she had made just moments before?

She quickly gathered her thoughts. "Almost."

"Just almost?"

Cassie smiled. "Well, this is positively the best night that I have ever had, but…"

Now, Nick was confused. "But what?"

In response, Cassie leaned into him and kissed him passionately, though not before whispering one last thing into Nick's ear.

"It's not over yet. Not by a long shot."

It's funny, as I was finishing this particular story, I had the song by Skillet called "Whispers in the Dark" playing on my iPod, and I'm thinking, "Wow, this song could really describe Nick and Cassie perfectly." Because it can. So I would definitely recommend you listen to that particular song, for the aforementioned reason, and also just 'cause it's an awesome song.

So… did you like my story? I really liked writing it. Especially the end part, if you couldn't tell.

Hope you all stick around for my next story!!!