"Where's my daughter, Carter?" Maria, Rachel's mom hissed at Nick.
"She's inside...God, why do you always have to be like that"
"I never liked your relationship with my daughter anyway"
"Well, she's happy okay?" Nick replied, getting annoyed by her presence.
Maria pushed past him and went upstairs to find Rachel. She was coming out of Colin's room when she saw her mom.
"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, puzzled.
"I came to look for you... tomorrow's your birthday so I thought we might celebrate it together, as a family" she replied, throwing Nick a dirty look.
"Does that include Nick and Colin?"
"I said as a family... I don't think they fall on that category"
"Then, I'm afraid to tell you that I'm going to stay here with them"
"Since when did you become so opinionated? You were the sweetest most loving girl"
"Mom, don't you understand? I really love you guys but Nick is my husband and Colin and Alyssa are my children... I couldn't possibly do that to them"
"So you think you could do that to us then? We were the one who took care of you for those two years that YOUR husband wasn't there"
Nick had had enough. "You NEVER told me anything about Rachel... I HAD to find out for myself. You can't imagine how I suffered and now you begin telling me that I didn't take care of her?!? Bullshit!"
"I'm sorry mom, but you were not honest to me enough to tell me that I had one child and a husband... I'm sorry" Rachel finished.
"Fine... you will not get away with this, young lady"
"Maria, get out of OUR house right now" Nick hissed.
"I will, but now for long Carter... this relationship has GOT to end!"
With that, Maria headed out the house. Rachel took a deep breath and hugged Nick, who kissed her forehead lightly.
"Don't worry about it, sweetie... everything is going to be just fine"
"You say that cause you are not who has to live with people that don't get along"
Nick chuckled. "It's been always like this... it's not anything new" he shrugged.
"Why can't you guys just get along?"
"Cause your mom wanted another type of guy for you... she didn't want the pop-star, heartthrob kind of guy" he finished simply, pulling her to his lap.
Rachel sighed loudly and decided to shrug everything off for now. Everything was so confusing to her but she wasn't going to ruin her day for that. Nick and her spent the remaining of that afternoon just talking to each other and playing with their kids. Then they went into a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, Rachel woke up to find out that Nick was not sleeping next to her. She yawned and sat up in the bed. When she finally got up, she searched the bathroom and downstairs but he was nowhere to be found. She also saw that the kids were gone.
"He should have taken them somewhere" she thought to herself.
When she went back upstairs, she went to their room and noticed something that she didn't notice before. A single red rose was placed on her night table and it had a little note attached to it. She smiled to herself as she picked up the note and began reading it.
"Okay" she said out loud with a big grin. She definitely wanted to see what he was up to. She went and took a quick shower and dressed herself, not knowing what to expect. She looked at the single rose once again and smiled to herself. Then, she went downstairs, took her keys and went straight to her car. When she opened the door she was confused at what she saw. Another red rose was lying on the dashboard and there was another note attached to it.
She smiled to herself once again and did as the note said. When she arrived there, she didn't see anyone she recognized. She was more puzzled than ever. She started looking around until a waiter from the restaurant approached her.
"Somebody told me to give you this" the waiter said, handing her three red roses and a note attached to them.
She grinned. "Thank you"
She opened the little note and read it.
She sighed and folded the little paper. "What is up with this guy's mind?" she thought and smiled.
She hoped that she remembered the way towards the Carter household. With some directions, she finally got there and knocked on the door.
"Hey!" Aaron answered.
"Hey Aaron, Is Nick there?" Rachel smiled.
"Nope, he only told me to give you this" he said, handing her a rose with another note.
"This is getting annoying" she mumbled. She opened the infamous note.
Rachel sighed loudly. "He told me he was going to be waiting here" she whined.
Aaron smiled widely. "Don't worry"
She chuckled lightly. "You're just like your brother"
"That's me" he replied with a grin.
She shook her head and smiled. "See ya later"
"Bye bye!" Aaron shouted as he waved her goodbye.
Rachel drove to her next destination. The beach. "I wonder why he's doing this" she thought.
She pulled over at the beach and started walking through the shore when she felt somebody tap her on the shoulder.
"This is for you" an unknown guy said to her, handing her three more roses. "Nick told me to tell you that you should go to the pier"
"O-kay" Rachel agreed with a smile. "Thanks"
"No prob" he smiled as he walked away. Rachel did as the guy told her and went to the pier where she found a blanket laid down with a couple of things on top. There were some pictures of their 2nd anniversary and some "memories" about them. There was a poem too. Also, there was also a little note with four roses on the center.
Tears welled up around Rachel's eyes and she just couldn't hold them back anymore. Nick was thoughtful enough to try and get her to remember every happy moment they spent together. She read the poem and it made her cry more. She wanted so bad to remember everything. She wanted to go to him and tell him that everything was well worth it because she now remembered anything but she couldn't. That made her feel more frustrated than before. She started seeing the pictures of their anniversary. They sure looked happy. After she finished seeing them, she smiled to herself, clutching them close to her heart. She stood a few minutes like that until she felt another tap on her shoulder, making her jump and look back.
"Someone told me to give you this" the little girl giggled as she handed Rachel a red rose with a note.
"Oh God" Rachel whispered, wiping the tears away from her eyes. She took a deep breath and opened the little folded note.
"????" was going through Rachel's head. "I don't know where the church is, silly" she started answering back to the little note. She continued reading.
"Great" Rachel mumbled to herself.
A couple of minutes later, she felt someone behind her and turned around. It was Brian.
"Thank God its you"
"Happy Birthday" he grinned.
"Thanks" she grinned back, still not getting her eyes away from his.
"I'm here to pick you up" Brian simply answered, trying not to say a single word that would screw up the plan.
"It figures" Rachel laughed. Brian helped her up from where she was sitting and she gathered her things before they went away.
"Brian, what is it with this Nick-clue thing?"
"I can't tell you, my lips are sealed" he answered.
"Aw, come on Bri"
"Nope" he replied.
The remaining ride to the church was silent. When they got there, Brian was the first one to talk.
"Well, here we are"
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"Enter" was all Brian answered. When Rachel got out of the car, Brian sped away.
"Great, now I don't have any car and I'm stuck in this church" Rachel mumbled, walking inside. When she got in, nothing was particularly settled for her, which made Rachel a little nervous, thinking that it was not the right church. Suddenly, a priest came over and asked her to sit down.
"Your husband told me to bring you here. I want to show you something"
"Okay" was all Rachel could really answer. She followed the priest into a little room with a TV.
"He told me to give you this" he said as he handed a note and another 4 roses. Underneath them, there was a tape.
"You can watch it here" prompted the priest as he left the room.
"What the hell is this?" she whispered, popping the tape into the VCR. She didn't care about the note for now. She was extremely surprised at what she saw. It was their wedding video. He never showed it to her.
"Sneaky" she said to herself, as tears started running down her eyes again. She saw herself pretty cuddly with Nick during the whole video. Her dress was gorgeous and he was too. He always seemed to protect her and always was with her throughout the whole thing. She smiled as she hit the rewind button and saw the beginning. There she was, her arm linked to her father's walking down the aisle looking at Nick, who was waiting at the end. He seemed to be just as happy as she was. When she finished the video, she opened the little note.
Center>I hope you are not mad at me for doing this.
You got 18 roses right now. You have to get to 23.
Go outside. There's your car waiting for you.
Love,
Nick
Rachel was going to be 23 that day. Nick had prepared 23 roses for her. She was determined to find them all. When she went outside, her car was there indeed. She had her car keys with her and got in, noticing another red rose on her dashboard with a note that said "Drive to the house".
"Finally" she chuckled to herself. When she got into the house, she dropped her keys on the counter and got another note with a rose.
Rachel smiled to herself and went upstairs to their bedroom. When she got in she gasped. She saw that everything was lighted in candles. When she approached the bed, the first thing she saw was that the bed had a heart neatly formed in rose petals and a little box with three roses on the side. There was no note attached. She went ahead and opened the rectangular box. It had a gold bracelet with a little angel charm. Inside the box, there was something written. "You've always loved angels. Thank you for being mine. I love you, Nick" Rachel smiled to herself but then she realized that Nick had told her to look for 23 roses. She only had 22. Suddenly, she felt someone grabbing her from behind, giving her a kiss on the neck and handing her the last red rose. It was Nick.
"I think you were looking for this" he motioned at the rose.
She turned around with a big grin and kissed him lightly on the lips. "You shouldn't have done this"
"Oh, but I wanted to. Happy birthday, baby"
"Thank you... thank you for everything" was all she could say. She was so awed by everything she didn't know what else to say to him.
"This is the way our room was when we got here on our wedding night. I tried to put it exactly as it was" Nick gushed nervously.
"It's beautiful" she whispered. She was enjoying being in his arms. She thanked God once again for letting her come into his life again.
"Nick?" Rachel asked.
"Hm?" he said, hugging her and smelling her hair.
"Show me how you loved me" she simply said.
Nick looked at her with wide eyes. Did he really hear that?
"W-what?" he stammered.
"Show me how you loved me" she repeated, looking deep into his eyes.
"A-are you sure?"
"As sure as I can be"
Then he knew. He kissed her lightly on the lips but then the kisses grew more passionate. He put his hand on her neck, bringing her closer to him while Rachel had her arms around him. Nick's hands moved from her neck to her back, sliding her shirt off.
"I love you" Rachel whispered.
"I love you too, baby" Nick answered in between kisses.