Our Home and Native Land

When Cassie started crying too, Talia couldn't help herself either. She shifted her body to hug Cassie back in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry..." she repeated. All the time she had spent the last couple days with the Elliot family had cemented in her head how bad of a person she had been. Or maybe still was. She couldn't believe that she had managed to drive Cassie, the sweetest girl in the world, to be violent. She really had been a monster. Of all the people she tried to hurt, how did she pick Cassie? And at the same time, she was lucky to have picked on Cassie. Any lesser person could have hurt Talia so much more and would certainly have not tried to bring her back. The redhead buried her head into Cassie's shoulder and squeezed even harder.

Other mall goers walked around the two in slight confusion. Talia didn't care what they thought or may had said. All she knew was that she was in good hands. For once in what felt like forever, she could let her guard down. "I never meant to let things get that far...I don't...I don't know what I was ever thinking...or why..." All felt like a confession that Cassie probably already knew. But Talia still had to say it. She needed to get it all it out. "I didn't want people to hurt me...I couldn't take being hurt anymore..."

"Me neither."

Cassie took a deep breath and let is out slowly, smoothing out the sob-wrinkles in her lungs. She patted Talia's back and gave her a squeeze before letting go and wiping the tears off her face with a finger. "Sorry," she said with a smile. Soh-ree. "I'm such a dork." She put her hands on Talia's shoulders and looked into her eyes, and said firmly "No one's going to hurt you anymore."

She turned to keep walking down the hall, side by side with Talia, headed nowhere in particular. There was lunch to worry about at some point, but for now she was content to just walk the mall with her friend.

Talia held Cassie in the hug a little longer than she probably should have. When they finally did separate, she looked back into Cassie's eyes and smiled. And believed her. "Thank you." She wasn't entirely sure why those words came out. But they did and Talia had to just smile and nod. "Did you want to get lunch?" she followed up with as if nothing had happened. A moment ago she didn't care what the people around them thought. Now, though, she kinda had to look at them. And she wanted to get away as quick as possible.


Later that afternoon, the two got back to the gym. Talia was carrying 1 hot chocolates for each of the Elliot boys. Jacob had been sarcastic but that didn't stop her from buying him one too. "Do you know what you're going to do next?" she asked over to Cassie while sitting down on one of the benches upfront. "Like...I'd like to think they'll think of you as a big shot now in Friction." She tried to force a grin. "I mean...you did beat me. On a pay per view no less."

Cassie watched the last class of the afternoon wrap up with some free grappling, absently captivated with a dreamy smile stuck to her slightly open mouth. It had been so long since she was in this environment. She had grown up in jiujitsu classes, and no other place felt as much like home. Except, of course, for her home.

She didn't realize that Talia was speaking to her at first, and had to tear herself away from the class, first turning her head, and then her eyes, in order to give Talia her attention.

"Huh?" It took a second for her to process what she'd already heard. "Oh..." A modest laugh. "I don't really know... I'm not really thinking about that right now. I really don't think I'm a big shot, though. I don't think I'll ever really be a big shot. Other girls can try to be the champ, I just like to compete. I guess that can be my next step," she said as she drew a deep breath and stretched her arms up. "Getting back to having fun competing."

Nick cordially thanked Talia for the hot chocolate, and Jacob reluctantly took his with only a brief, slightly shy glance in Talia's direction. Cassie noticed.

"Buckyyyyy!" She exclaimed, and unleashed a flurry of belly-poking on him with her index fingers. Jacob waited until she was done, and then sipped his hot chocolate. Cassie blinked.

"Buckyyyy!" She exclaimed, and the process repeated. The two exchanged blank looks. Cassie blinked.

"Buckyy-"

"Okay! Knock it off!" He batted her hands away and Cassie furrowed her brow.

"Whatsa matter, Buck-Buck? Why you such a grump?" She pouted adorably.

"Nothing. Just quit it. My belly can only take so much poking."

"Aww," She leaned in and patted his midsection. "Does belly sad now? Would it cheer you up to see my bestest bud do her special dance?!"

"What? What are you-"

"BEHOLD!" With a flourish, Cassie dramatically waved her arms at Talia, presenting her to Jacob like a carnival magician's assistant. She froze in place and waited for the special dance to commence.

Talia had always assumed Cassie's ambition was to be champion of the AFW. But it wasn't. "Oh..." It made her rethink her own inspiration for competing in the AFW. She really didn't know what she wanted to accomplish anymore. So much of her life had gone into fighting Cassie. Now that the conflict was over, Talia had to rethink her goals. She had gotten caught up in her thoughts that she didn't really pay much attention to Jacob and Cassie. Right up until she heard the words Special Dance. She assumed Cassie was referring to herself or maybe Bucky.

Not her.

"C-Cassie!" Talia complained as her face blushed up. There were so many things wrong with the thought of dancing in public...when she couldn't dance...and in front of Bucky of all people. She inadvertently pouted and crossed her arms in discomfort.

"Awwwwwwwwwwww, don't be a lump! Dance!" Cassie sprung on Talia and grabbed her wrists, and began to move her like a marionette. She hummed a silly little dance tune while she pumped Talia's arms back and forth, twice left, twice right, and then she switched to put her hands on her hips. She shook them back an forth in time with her imaginary soundtrack. "Bah, bah, bah..."

Jacob felt like he should've looked away by then, but he couldn't. As he watched, his expression became carbonated with suppressed laughter and proxy embarrassment. His perpetual Talia-induced scowl gave way, and in spite of himself, he smiled.

Cassie didn't notice, she was too busy puppeting Talia around and trying to make her dance.

"So you really can't dance, huh?" Jacob spoke up, which mercifully got Cassie's attention away from Talia.

"What are you talking about? Did you not see what I just saw?"

Talia was already embarrassed by Cassie's words. The actions made it exponentially worse. "Cassie-S-stop..." she whined as the redhead moved her around. Her face was nearly as red as her hair. As bad as it was, though, the fact that it was happening really clicked as being positive in Talia's head. The two had come a long way. Cassie was comfortable goofing off with her in such a way. And Talia was comfortable enough letting her do it. "Stop it..." she said one last time just as Cassie turned away.

Talia seized the opportunity and stepped off to the side and away from Cassie. She looked to her brother when he finally said something that had the chance of not being condescending towards her. Perhaps seeing Cassie and Talia interact so positively was finally bringing him around. "No...I can...Just you know..." She wasn't entirely sure how to talk her way out of that one. "Why don't you dance, Cassie?" she asked looking back to her. For some reason, she felt like Cassie didn't know how to dance either.

Cassie gasped super dramatically and put a hand to her chest. "Me? Well, that's just... That wasn't part of the deal Wilson!" She narrowed her eyes and darted away to the parking lot.

"You'll never catch me!"

With Cassie gone, Jacob was left standing alone with Talia, and the playful atmosphere was became crushingly awkward. He shifted uncomfortably, and his easy smile faded. "Hey, so..." He began, while looking off to the side. He saw his brother approaching and distanced himself from Talia. "Later."

"Dad's going to stay. He told me to bring you guys home," Nick said, in his typically businesslike tone. He always sounded like he was in charge.

"Yeah, okay." Jacob walked out the backdoor without so much as a glance in Talia's direction.

Talia couldn't help but laugh as Cassie ran off into the parking lot. She didn't plan on chasing her but the thought was tempting. At least then she'd escape from the awkwardness with Jacob. She tried to keep the smile across her face when she turned to look at him. Maybe Cassie's mood had cheered him up enough to consider saying something. But it didn't. He didn't even look her way. Talia rubbed the back of her neck and looked down as if she hadn't tried looking at him at all. She didn't want him thinking she wanted something he clearly didn't.


When they got back to the Elliot home, Talia retreated to the bedroom and buried herself in her phone. There were so many things she wanted to say to some people but phone calls would've costed her a fortune. She settled on texting them but it wasn't as fulfilling. There was Aurora...her mother and father. For the first time in a long time, she wanted to go out of her way to visit her family. If there was one thing she could take away from this trip, it was just how important family was. Cassie seemed to have such a good life thanks to her family's support. And Talia wanted that too.

The house was quiet. Everyone else was somewhere else. Cassie always loved the still moments when she could sit in the living room and listen to just the ticking of the clock on the wall. It was so soothing.

She crept down the broad-planked hallway floor and almost silently appeared in the doorway to her room. "Psst..." She waved to get Talia's attention, not that anyone would overhear her. "Hey, come here."

She led her across to Jacob's room with an impish little smile, and inched the door open. Visible through the crack was his desk, somewhat small but very neatly laid out. Books standing up on the right side of the shelf in the back, personal grooming things on the left like a comb, small brush, cologne, and nail clippers. His writing utensils and notebooks were stacked away, and there was even an area deliberately left empty where he obviously put his water glass or coffee cup.

"This is Bucky's room," she whispered. "Look at his little desk! Isn't it adorable?" She inched the door open a little farther, and pointed off at the far wall. The poster there was unmistakeable even from that distance. It was Taylor Parker, head cocked to the side with a punky, provocative smile, dark eye makeup around her sapphire eyes, hands in black leather fingerless gloves. One hand clasped the inside of her elbow while the other held up her middle finger in front of her.

Cassie looked at Talia, bright eyed with anticipation. It felt like she was giving away a secret, and she almost giggled with mischief.