SNAP: Chapter 1
Title: SNAP
Author: isisizabel
Fandom: Push
Pairing: Nick/Cassie; Nick/Kira
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,180
Author's Note: Set six years after Push. Cassie is living in New York while Nick and Kira are living in Australia, but a series of events force their worlds to collide. Eventually Nick/Cassie. For glitterisblue who convinced me to post this.
SNAP
Chapter 1
-New York City, New York-
The vision came without warning, slicing through her mind with blinding fury, making her cry out in pain and surprise. The image came hard and fast, and she staggered back, her feet sliding on the slick floor of the shower. She dropped the bottle of generic shampoo she held, barely noticing when it glanced off her foot before thumping hard against the tiles. She blindly flung her arms out, her hands pressing against the wet walls of the shower stall, groping for balance.
Cassie dropped her head, let her wet hair fall over her face, and relaxed as best as she could into the vision. Years of practice had taught her not to fight back against the barrage of mental images that would assail her without warning and without provocation.
Sometimes they slid in, barely noticeable at all. The floated through like daydreams, amusing and odd, but not unpleasant. And other times-like this-the desperate edge to them was enough to drive her to her knees, gritting her teeth against the violent onslaught that ripped into her mind.
Cassie gasped, coughing when the water from the shower was sucked into her lungs. She leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor, finally pressing the heels of her hands against her forehead.
They were too late.
Her vision clearing, she blinked through the water and tried to steady her breathing.
It was the fourth vision she’d had like this in as many weeks. They were always too late.
She leaned her head back, letting her eyes stay shut as the water rained down from above. Each drop hit her sensitive skin like a tiny razor, but she was too exhausted to lean forward and turn it off. She couldn’t differentiate between the pounding between her ears from the pounding on the door. It wasn’t until the shower curtain was flung back and the cold air clawed across her body that she realized she wasn’t alone any longer.
“Shit!” the deep voice cursed, frustration and anger tinged in his tone. The water was turned off, the old pipes groaning in protest.
Cassie kept her eyes shut, and leaned into the familiar embrace that lifted her from the floor. He held her body, dripping and limp, against himself as he carried her from the communal bathroom to the bedroom down the hall.
“Is she OK?”
“Aw, hell. Another one?”
The questioning voices rang out from all sides, and Cassie knew word would spread throughout the group within minutes.
“Give her space,” the sharp voice of her savior snapped, kicking her bedroom door shut with his foot before depositing her on her own bed. He tossed a well worn blanket over her naked body and sank onto the edge of her bed, smoothing his hands over her head and face, pushing away the wet clumps of hair that stuck to her cheeks.
“Cass? Cassie.”
She blinked, her blue eyes clearing as she refocused.
His own pale blue eyes looked down at her and he gave a ragged sigh of relief, bowing his head. “Fuck, I thought you might’ve blacked out again.”
She forced a weak smile on her thin lips. “Thanks, Kane.”
William Kane-Kane to his friends-looked more worried than usual. Not that Cassie could really blame him. In the three years she had known him, Kane had seen his fair share of her mind-splitting visions and their aftermaths. Everything from blacking out for hours on end to bloody noses to the one time a vein popped in her left eye. He was a good friend and her closest confidant in the house.
It was Kane who had recruited her for the Helping Hands Foundation in San Francisco. He and several others had taken to setting up safe houses in different cities across the country. Sanctuaries for people with abilities that had left Division following the years the government sanctioned project had collapsed. They had found themselves instantly homeless, jobless, and friendless. In those three years, Cassie had helped set up houses in Olympia, Des Moines, Detroit, and now New York. She used her visions to find people in need for them to help.
But it seemed the older she got, the harder the visions got and the more of a toll they took on her body. In more recent weeks, her visions had taken a bitter, sharp turn and she was given rare glimpses of people-usually teenagers, sometimes younger-being taken. She knew from the visions they had abilities, but she didn’t know where or why they were being taken.
The only thing she knew for certain was that it wasn’t Division and she always got the visions too late for her to be able to stop them.
Cassie struggled to push herself up on her elbows, frowning in protest when his hands gently shoved her back onto the bed.
“Take it easy,” he admonished, his tone somewhere between playful and pleading.
Cassie nodded and sank against her pillow, letting the roiling images in her mind settle, find their place. She rubbed her temples.
Kane stood up and crossed the room to her dresser. He plucked a bottle off the top and shook several pills into his hand. He started back for her, grabbing the half empty glass of water on the bedside table. He sank onto the bed beside her, pressing the pills and glass into her waiting hands.
She swallowed the aspirin in on gulp and set the glass back on the nightstand. She flashed him a weak, but grateful smile. “Thanks.”
He gave a short nod, his eyes sweeping over her to assess for any damage. “You sure you’re OK?”
She sighed and leaned back against the pillow, thankful for the comfort of her own bed. She reached for the coverlet and pulled it around her shivering body. “Yeah. It just … This one happened really fast. Kind of knocked me off my feet.” She draped an arm across her eyes, shielding herself from the light in the room.
He hesitated for a second before asking, “What was it this time?” He moved to her window and pulled the thin curtains closed.
She lowered her arm, staring up at the peeling paint of the white ceiling. If they could get the money together for supplies, they really needed to spend a weekend repainting the donated house that currently served as headquarters for their New York City location.
“A boy. Thirteen, maybe fourteen,” she finally managed. “It was someplace local this time-in the city. An alley behind a diner, near a dumpster. He had a red backpack and brown hair. I only saw him for a second. Like the shadows … swallowed him, or something.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down,” Kane pointed out. He raked a hand through his disheveled dark hair, making it stick up even more than usual. “This city’s full of diners and dumpsters, and teenagers that loiter around them.”
She reigned in a growl of frustration. She knew that. She knew New York was filled to capacity with millions, and finding one lone boy-one missing lone boy-was a virtual impossibility.
“Somewhere uptown,” she went on. “Doesn’t matter; he’s gone now.”
He swore softly. “What the hell, Cass? What’s the point of these visions if you don’t get enough time to stop things?”
She flinched, taking his words as an insult. She sat up, ignoring the wave of nausea, and tossing her blond hair over her bare shoulders. “It’s not like I asked for-”
He held up his hands, surrendering. “I didn’t mean that. I just don’t get why you keep getting visions of people being taken when it’s too late to help them.”
“Yeah? That makes two of us,” she snapped.
Kane took a deep breath. “Look, it’s not your fault, OK?”
“Yeah, OK,” she muttered, wrapping the blanket tighter around her thin frame.
He touched her chin with his index finger, tilting her face up to look at him. “Hey. I mean it. You’re too hard on yourself.”
Cassie blinked once and looked away, focusing her attention on the window three feet away. There was hardly a view worth looking at-just the bricked side of their neighboring building, but it gave her something else to focus on.
Kane dropped his hand, sighing. “Do you think it’s Division?”
Her head snapped around to look at him, and she instantly regretted the action. Her head throbbed in protest. “No. No, not Division. Division doesn’t operate that way. At least, not anymore they don’t. This is … this is something else.”
He frowned, his lips pressing together. He moved back to the bed, perching on the edge. “Who else would be rounding up people with abilities?”
“I don’t know,” Cassie said, swallowing hard. She shrugged, helpless. “I don’t understand any of this.” She blinked back the sudden tears that stung her eyes.
Kane covered the hand with his, his eyes soft and concerned. “Cass…” He leaned towards her, his gaze drifting unconsciously to her lips.
Cassie stiffened, reading the intent in his eyes. She leaned away, trying to be discreet and knowing she failed miserably.
He chuckled off the effort and stood up, heading to her dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of lose sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. He tossed them onto her bed before starting for the door.
Kane had never made his attraction to her a secret. He also never pressed the issue every time she refused him. He simply smiled and changed the subject.
“I’ll tell everyone you’re OK.” Kane hesitated, his hand on her doorknob. His back arched as his shoulders slumped. “Call him.”
Cassie paused, her hand freezing mid-grab for the shirt. “What?”
He didn’t turn as he forced the words out. “You always feel better after you call him. So call him.”
Her eyes slid shut. “Kane-” Sometimes he was too good to be true.
He turned them, giving her a sad smile. “It’s OK, Cass. Really.” Then he was gone, her door closing quietly behind her.
She yanked the shirt over her head quickly before sliding her legs out of the bed and tugging on the sweatpants. She tied the cotton drawstring in a double knot and eyed the cell phone on the corner of her dresser.
Cassie swallowed and crossed the room, palming the small phone. She scrolled through the contact list until she came on the right number.
NICK
She shuffled back to the bed, tucking her legs under her body and staring at the phone. She closed her eyes and pressed the ‘SEND’ button.
***
-Bells Beach, Australia-
The shrill ring of the phone was startling in the quiet room.
Kira stood up fluidly from her seat at the table in the small kitchen and she went to the counter. It wasn’t her phone ringing, it was Nick’s. He must have left it when he went out earlier.
She was about to let it go when she saw the caller ID flashing: CASSIE
Grimacing, she reached for the phone and opened it. “Hello?”
“Hello?” the small voice on the other end repeated. “Kira?”
Kira tried not to clench her teeth. “Oh, hey, Cassie.”
“Hey,” Cassie repeated, her tone just as guarded. “Is, um, Nick around?”
“He went out this morning. Wanted to get in a few hours of surfing before we headed into Melbourne for the week,” Kira explained, moving back to her seat.
“Oh. Well, OK. Would you … can you tell him I called?”
“Sure,” Kira said breezily, picking up the bottle of Cherry Berry nail polish she had set aside.
“Great. Thanks.” Cassie sighed, her breathing shaky.
Kira sat up straighter. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. It was just … a vision.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Cassie snorted bitterly. “Not really. It’s just … I’ll figure it out.”
“Well, hey, if you need any help…” Kira let the offer hang. She tucked the cell phone between her shoulder and ear, craning her neck. “How’s Detroit?”
“Actually, I’m in New York now,” Cassie replied softly.
“Oh.” Kira frowned. “Nick didn’t say-”
“He doesn’t … I mean, I didn’t tell him. I’ve only been here a few weeks.”
Kira stayed silent, not sure what else to say. Small talk had never been her strong suit, and she and Cassie had never truly gotten along. Not even after Kira had taken care of Carver and found Nick and Cassie back in Hong Kong. Cassie had split from them a few months later, but had kept in fairly regular contact with Nick for the past six years. At least until the last year when their phone calls had become more and more sporadic.
“So, just tell him I called, OK? And maybe we’ll catch up later.”
“Sure thing,” Kira said, smiling into the phone. “Take care, Cassie.”
“You, too.”
Kira hung up first, tossing the phone across the table without a second thought. She unscrewed the cap of her nail polish and started applying a second coat.
Author: isisizabel
Fandom: Push
Pairing: Nick/Cassie; Nick/Kira
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,180
Author's Note: Set six years after Push. Cassie is living in New York while Nick and Kira are living in Australia, but a series of events force their worlds to collide. Eventually Nick/Cassie. For glitterisblue who convinced me to post this.
SNAP
Chapter 1
-New York City, New York-
The vision came without warning, slicing through her mind with blinding fury, making her cry out in pain and surprise. The image came hard and fast, and she staggered back, her feet sliding on the slick floor of the shower. She dropped the bottle of generic shampoo she held, barely noticing when it glanced off her foot before thumping hard against the tiles. She blindly flung her arms out, her hands pressing against the wet walls of the shower stall, groping for balance.
Cassie dropped her head, let her wet hair fall over her face, and relaxed as best as she could into the vision. Years of practice had taught her not to fight back against the barrage of mental images that would assail her without warning and without provocation.
Sometimes they slid in, barely noticeable at all. The floated through like daydreams, amusing and odd, but not unpleasant. And other times-like this-the desperate edge to them was enough to drive her to her knees, gritting her teeth against the violent onslaught that ripped into her mind.
Cassie gasped, coughing when the water from the shower was sucked into her lungs. She leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor, finally pressing the heels of her hands against her forehead.
They were too late.
Her vision clearing, she blinked through the water and tried to steady her breathing.
It was the fourth vision she’d had like this in as many weeks. They were always too late.
She leaned her head back, letting her eyes stay shut as the water rained down from above. Each drop hit her sensitive skin like a tiny razor, but she was too exhausted to lean forward and turn it off. She couldn’t differentiate between the pounding between her ears from the pounding on the door. It wasn’t until the shower curtain was flung back and the cold air clawed across her body that she realized she wasn’t alone any longer.
“Shit!” the deep voice cursed, frustration and anger tinged in his tone. The water was turned off, the old pipes groaning in protest.
Cassie kept her eyes shut, and leaned into the familiar embrace that lifted her from the floor. He held her body, dripping and limp, against himself as he carried her from the communal bathroom to the bedroom down the hall.
“Is she OK?”
“Aw, hell. Another one?”
The questioning voices rang out from all sides, and Cassie knew word would spread throughout the group within minutes.
“Give her space,” the sharp voice of her savior snapped, kicking her bedroom door shut with his foot before depositing her on her own bed. He tossed a well worn blanket over her naked body and sank onto the edge of her bed, smoothing his hands over her head and face, pushing away the wet clumps of hair that stuck to her cheeks.
“Cass? Cassie.”
She blinked, her blue eyes clearing as she refocused.
His own pale blue eyes looked down at her and he gave a ragged sigh of relief, bowing his head. “Fuck, I thought you might’ve blacked out again.”
She forced a weak smile on her thin lips. “Thanks, Kane.”
William Kane-Kane to his friends-looked more worried than usual. Not that Cassie could really blame him. In the three years she had known him, Kane had seen his fair share of her mind-splitting visions and their aftermaths. Everything from blacking out for hours on end to bloody noses to the one time a vein popped in her left eye. He was a good friend and her closest confidant in the house.
It was Kane who had recruited her for the Helping Hands Foundation in San Francisco. He and several others had taken to setting up safe houses in different cities across the country. Sanctuaries for people with abilities that had left Division following the years the government sanctioned project had collapsed. They had found themselves instantly homeless, jobless, and friendless. In those three years, Cassie had helped set up houses in Olympia, Des Moines, Detroit, and now New York. She used her visions to find people in need for them to help.
But it seemed the older she got, the harder the visions got and the more of a toll they took on her body. In more recent weeks, her visions had taken a bitter, sharp turn and she was given rare glimpses of people-usually teenagers, sometimes younger-being taken. She knew from the visions they had abilities, but she didn’t know where or why they were being taken.
The only thing she knew for certain was that it wasn’t Division and she always got the visions too late for her to be able to stop them.
Cassie struggled to push herself up on her elbows, frowning in protest when his hands gently shoved her back onto the bed.
“Take it easy,” he admonished, his tone somewhere between playful and pleading.
Cassie nodded and sank against her pillow, letting the roiling images in her mind settle, find their place. She rubbed her temples.
Kane stood up and crossed the room to her dresser. He plucked a bottle off the top and shook several pills into his hand. He started back for her, grabbing the half empty glass of water on the bedside table. He sank onto the bed beside her, pressing the pills and glass into her waiting hands.
She swallowed the aspirin in on gulp and set the glass back on the nightstand. She flashed him a weak, but grateful smile. “Thanks.”
He gave a short nod, his eyes sweeping over her to assess for any damage. “You sure you’re OK?”
She sighed and leaned back against the pillow, thankful for the comfort of her own bed. She reached for the coverlet and pulled it around her shivering body. “Yeah. It just … This one happened really fast. Kind of knocked me off my feet.” She draped an arm across her eyes, shielding herself from the light in the room.
He hesitated for a second before asking, “What was it this time?” He moved to her window and pulled the thin curtains closed.
She lowered her arm, staring up at the peeling paint of the white ceiling. If they could get the money together for supplies, they really needed to spend a weekend repainting the donated house that currently served as headquarters for their New York City location.
“A boy. Thirteen, maybe fourteen,” she finally managed. “It was someplace local this time-in the city. An alley behind a diner, near a dumpster. He had a red backpack and brown hair. I only saw him for a second. Like the shadows … swallowed him, or something.”
“That doesn’t really narrow it down,” Kane pointed out. He raked a hand through his disheveled dark hair, making it stick up even more than usual. “This city’s full of diners and dumpsters, and teenagers that loiter around them.”
She reigned in a growl of frustration. She knew that. She knew New York was filled to capacity with millions, and finding one lone boy-one missing lone boy-was a virtual impossibility.
“Somewhere uptown,” she went on. “Doesn’t matter; he’s gone now.”
He swore softly. “What the hell, Cass? What’s the point of these visions if you don’t get enough time to stop things?”
She flinched, taking his words as an insult. She sat up, ignoring the wave of nausea, and tossing her blond hair over her bare shoulders. “It’s not like I asked for-”
He held up his hands, surrendering. “I didn’t mean that. I just don’t get why you keep getting visions of people being taken when it’s too late to help them.”
“Yeah? That makes two of us,” she snapped.
Kane took a deep breath. “Look, it’s not your fault, OK?”
“Yeah, OK,” she muttered, wrapping the blanket tighter around her thin frame.
He touched her chin with his index finger, tilting her face up to look at him. “Hey. I mean it. You’re too hard on yourself.”
Cassie blinked once and looked away, focusing her attention on the window three feet away. There was hardly a view worth looking at-just the bricked side of their neighboring building, but it gave her something else to focus on.
Kane dropped his hand, sighing. “Do you think it’s Division?”
Her head snapped around to look at him, and she instantly regretted the action. Her head throbbed in protest. “No. No, not Division. Division doesn’t operate that way. At least, not anymore they don’t. This is … this is something else.”
He frowned, his lips pressing together. He moved back to the bed, perching on the edge. “Who else would be rounding up people with abilities?”
“I don’t know,” Cassie said, swallowing hard. She shrugged, helpless. “I don’t understand any of this.” She blinked back the sudden tears that stung her eyes.
Kane covered the hand with his, his eyes soft and concerned. “Cass…” He leaned towards her, his gaze drifting unconsciously to her lips.
Cassie stiffened, reading the intent in his eyes. She leaned away, trying to be discreet and knowing she failed miserably.
He chuckled off the effort and stood up, heading to her dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of lose sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. He tossed them onto her bed before starting for the door.
Kane had never made his attraction to her a secret. He also never pressed the issue every time she refused him. He simply smiled and changed the subject.
“I’ll tell everyone you’re OK.” Kane hesitated, his hand on her doorknob. His back arched as his shoulders slumped. “Call him.”
Cassie paused, her hand freezing mid-grab for the shirt. “What?”
He didn’t turn as he forced the words out. “You always feel better after you call him. So call him.”
Her eyes slid shut. “Kane-” Sometimes he was too good to be true.
He turned them, giving her a sad smile. “It’s OK, Cass. Really.” Then he was gone, her door closing quietly behind her.
She yanked the shirt over her head quickly before sliding her legs out of the bed and tugging on the sweatpants. She tied the cotton drawstring in a double knot and eyed the cell phone on the corner of her dresser.
Cassie swallowed and crossed the room, palming the small phone. She scrolled through the contact list until she came on the right number.
NICK
She shuffled back to the bed, tucking her legs under her body and staring at the phone. She closed her eyes and pressed the ‘SEND’ button.
***
-Bells Beach, Australia-
The shrill ring of the phone was startling in the quiet room.
Kira stood up fluidly from her seat at the table in the small kitchen and she went to the counter. It wasn’t her phone ringing, it was Nick’s. He must have left it when he went out earlier.
She was about to let it go when she saw the caller ID flashing: CASSIE
Grimacing, she reached for the phone and opened it. “Hello?”
“Hello?” the small voice on the other end repeated. “Kira?”
Kira tried not to clench her teeth. “Oh, hey, Cassie.”
“Hey,” Cassie repeated, her tone just as guarded. “Is, um, Nick around?”
“He went out this morning. Wanted to get in a few hours of surfing before we headed into Melbourne for the week,” Kira explained, moving back to her seat.
“Oh. Well, OK. Would you … can you tell him I called?”
“Sure,” Kira said breezily, picking up the bottle of Cherry Berry nail polish she had set aside.
“Great. Thanks.” Cassie sighed, her breathing shaky.
Kira sat up straighter. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. It was just … a vision.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Cassie snorted bitterly. “Not really. It’s just … I’ll figure it out.”
“Well, hey, if you need any help…” Kira let the offer hang. She tucked the cell phone between her shoulder and ear, craning her neck. “How’s Detroit?”
“Actually, I’m in New York now,” Cassie replied softly.
“Oh.” Kira frowned. “Nick didn’t say-”
“He doesn’t … I mean, I didn’t tell him. I’ve only been here a few weeks.”
Kira stayed silent, not sure what else to say. Small talk had never been her strong suit, and she and Cassie had never truly gotten along. Not even after Kira had taken care of Carver and found Nick and Cassie back in Hong Kong. Cassie had split from them a few months later, but had kept in fairly regular contact with Nick for the past six years. At least until the last year when their phone calls had become more and more sporadic.
“So, just tell him I called, OK? And maybe we’ll catch up later.”
“Sure thing,” Kira said, smiling into the phone. “Take care, Cassie.”
“You, too.”
Kira hung up first, tossing the phone across the table without a second thought. She unscrewed the cap of her nail polish and started applying a second coat.