A year has passed and within the blink of an eye, Nick and Riley found themselves cuddled in each other’s arms underneath a big Christmas tree. The only lights that provided radiance in the room was the blinking Christmas lights on the tree and the big, bright moon from the dark sky outside.

“Nick?” Riley whispered gently as she stroked Nick’s arms.

“Yeah?” he replied

“Do you miss your mom?” she said. She knew what Nick’s answer would be, but somehow, she knew that despite the past, he missed his own mother.

“I have you,” Nick retorted. “As long as I have you in my arms, I don’t need anything else.”

“You miss her,” she sighed while pulling away from Nick’s grip on her

“Where is this suddenly coming from?” Nick curled his eyebrows, wishing that Riley would just drop the subject. The topic of his relationship, or lack thereof, with his mother, had always been a sensitive subject for him, a subject he preferred to avoid and forgotten about.

“Tomorrow’s Christmas. I know you miss your mom, and your family. You should be with them. You should work things out with your mom,” Riley reasoned

“She tried to tear us apart, Riley,” Nick said while pulling Riley closer to his. “She lied to me. She told me that you were dead and I believed her. She’s not my mother anymore!”

“I didn’t come back so that I could ruin your relationship with your family. I came back because I…I want to help! I love you so much, and I want to see you happy,” she said while stroking the side of Nick’s face with her finger.

Nick jerked out for her touch and pulled away, “just mind your own business Riley,” then standing up, facing the window and looked outside.

Riley walked behind Nick and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t be mad. I know what it’s like to spend the holidays without your family surrounding you. I know that despite it all, despite everything that your mom did, I know that you miss her. If you let me, I’ll try my best to help reconcile everything and give you your true mother back!”

“I’m not going to have this discussion with you Riley, now just drop it!”

“What are you so scared of Nick? Are you scared of finally leading a life where you’ll be satisfied with who you are?” Riley said bluntly.

Nick faced her huffily with both his brows meeting in the middle, “What the hell is that suppose to mean?”

“You’ve always been so caught up with having this tough-guy image, pretending to be indestructible and being perfect…that’s not who you are, Nick. Nobody is like that…nobody!”

“Suddenly you know me so well?” Nick screamed, irked at the words that escaped Riley’s mouth.

“Just show your true self and you’ll find true happiness”

“I’m happy with you, why can’t that be enough?”

“Because you need your family…you need your mom!”

“No…okay, so just…let it go! It’s over…I don’t have a mother anymore. I lost her long before I even knew about the kind of person she really is!”

“I know she did do everything because she loved you so much. It was her way of knowing how to protect you. It may have been cruel but she did it with the intention of protecting her son, she…”

Without allowing Riley to finish, Nick interrupted her by holding his fore finger against her lips to cease it from moving and releasing the sound of outspoken words. “That’s enough…I’m not having this conversation with you anymore…not now, not ever!” and with that, Nick retreated himself away from Riley and headed up the stairs into his bedroom.

He was so angry with Riley and he didn’t want to be around her. “Who the hell does she think she is? She thinks she can just barge back into my life and dictate to me how to run it? Screw her! Screw everyone!” he said to himself, but deep inside, he felt the truthfulness in Riley’s words.

She was right, he hated to admit it, but he knew he had to. He did missed being around his own mother. He missed the way she would always seem to know the right words to take away his pain, and his sadness. There were bad moments, but it seemed that the good would always overtake the bad. Sudden visions of his childhood memories with his mother played in a flashback in Nick’s mind. He flopped his entire body on the floor and allowed his weight to be supported by the edge of the foot of his bed. Closing his eyes, the images became clearer and it seemed as if the sound of his happy laughters and his mother’s gentle and loving voice became more vivid in sounds. “Mom.”