Nick looked up and down the hospital hallway as he listened to the phone ring in his ear. He leaned against the wall and waited as he heard Lis' machine pick up. "AC, its Nick, ya there? Look we're gonna be here at the hospital all night. I'll try your cell I guess. But if I can't get a hold of you, they're gonna hold Michael for observation tonight and we can bring him home tomorrow. So I'll see you then."
Lis stood over the crib watching Michael sleep, they had just given him his second dose of medicine after Nick left. She rested her arms on the railing and sighed. "How come you're the only thing that makes sense huh?" she whispered, feeling the stinging of tears behind her eyes. "Its strange, Nick's back and I still feel everything I ever felt for him... and I'd give anything for everything to be the way it was...but its just what if something happens? I know its all my fault he left us but if he left again there's no way I could go through it." she looked down to see Michael looking up at her with sad eyes. "You should have your daddy around you..." she trailed off, not seeing BJ standing in the doorway.
Lis sat on the rocking chair with Michael in her arms when Nick walked in. He gave her a questioning look but she shushed him. Quietly he walked over and sat on the floor, looking at the sleeping infant. "He okay?"
"He woke up for about five minutes, he just fell back asleep. I think he was looking for you."
Nick smiled. "Well his daddy missed him too." he noticed Lis was about to move. "No just stay there, you'll wake him."
"Okay." she shifted in the chair, realizing it was close to one of the dreams she'd had when she was pregnant with Michael. Her eyes went wide in surprise as Nick started to sing softly to Michael. "Nick...what made you sing?" she asked as he ended the lullaby.
"I uh, well I always dreamt of the three of us while I was away and that's what I would sing to him. Why?"
Lis let out a deep sigh. "Did you have any other dreams?" she asked softly, slightly afraid of his answer.
Nick smiled to himself, "Lots...my favorite one was the three of us in our room...I had that one all the time..." Nick studied the wall for a minute, "I'd always end up waking up and reaching out for you but you...you were never there." he said sadly.
"I did too."
Nick stared at her. "What?"
"It was crazy, it felt so real when I'd wake up I smelled you there. But when I opened my eyes it was just me in bed." she sighed, remembering the nights she'd wake up calling out to him.
"Maybe our connection's deeper then we thought."
"Or maybe..." she started but was interrupted by Nick kissing her softly. She watched him pull away, "Maybe you're right."
Shan watched as Brian made them a late night snack in her kitchen. "Is it wrong to feel very guilty over this whole situation?" she asked, putting her feet up on a chair.
"No, I'm feeling the same way. But we all deserve to be happy right?" He watched as she nodded, "And we're happy and once they clue in that they should be together, they'll be happy too."
"You might just have to explain that to Lis because she's still deluding herself that you're the one for her."
Brian sighed. "Well I've known Nick for more than ten years and I know how convincing he can be when he wants to be...and right now he wants to be."
"But he never had to be this convincing before." Shan let out a small sigh as she watched B sit down across from her.
"It'll work, trust me..." he gave her his sweetest smile.
Out of the corner of his eye Nick saw someone waving at him from outside the door's window. He looked over to see BJ standing there. Quietly he got out of the chair he was sitting in and left the room. "Beej, what are you doing here?"
"Nice greeting big bro! Aaron called me and I came to check on you three. Everything okay?"
He nodded. "Just an infection, they'll release him in a few hours."
"Good, glad to hear he's okay. Uhm..."
"What?"
"How's things going with Lis?"
"I don't know, sometimes she's there and sometimes it's her in auto pilot." he sighed sadly.
BJ nodded and contemplated telling him what she overheard. Finally she decided to just go for it. "Awhile ago I came by to see you guys but you weren't in the room just Lis and she was talking to Michael and I kinda overheard her." she glanced over at Nick who was looking at her.
"And?"
"She said why she's acting like this, Nick she's afraid she'll end up losing you again."
Nick sighed. "It's all my fault."
"Well her opinion is it's hers." She saw her brother's confused stare. "To quote her, if she hadn't lied about everything you two would still be together."
"If it wasn't for me leaving and staying away so damn long we'd still be together."
BJ nodded, trying to think of a way to change the subject.
Nick studied his sister, recognizing her 'I'm up to something' look right away. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing I swear!" she smiled at him. "Remember that place down in the keys you rented that one time?"
"Uh huh and we never went because of the hurricane."
"Well Aaron and I booked it for the rest of this week. You and Lis can take Michael down there. Just the three of you no interruptions."
Nick smiled. "Sounds nice, but Lis isn't going to go for that."
BJ smiled slowly. "What if she had no choice?"
"What are you getting at?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
~ Hours later ~
Lis strapped Michael into the car seat and shut the door on the Durango. Nick was right behind her. "You can just drop us off at home." she said, avoiding looking at him. She couldn't take the conflict that was going on within herself, she knew what should happen but she was so afraid of losing him again she wasn't going to risk it.
Nick unlocked the driver's door and got in. "Actually uhm small change of plans...since we didn't get to finish our date last night BJ and AC came up with an idea and if we didn't go along with it I think they'd be really hurt."
She rested her head against the cool glass and looked at him. "What is it?"
"We're uh we're going down to the keys for a few days." he said as he backed the Durango out of the parking stall.
"Wait a damn minute Nick, there's no way I'm going away with you."
Nick sighed, all ready knowing that would have been her reaction. "Why not Lis? What are you so afraid of?"
She sat there in silence looking out the window, doing her best to avoid the question.
"Lisa Marie answer me! What are you so afraid of...is it me?" he asked as he pulled over to the side of the road.
"Look can we not have this discussion now." she said as her head started to pound.
"Fine, soon as we get there we will okay?" he looked at her and saw her nod. "Want to grab a quick breakfast somewhere and then drive or drive and eat there?"
"Whatever." she closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat, dreading the next few hours.
Brian walked into the house, startled to see Aaron and BJ there. "Hey guys." he greeted them.
BJ looked over. "Hey B. How's it going?"
"Pretty good. I just had to drop off some stuff for Lis, she back from the hospital yet?"
AC and BJ exchanged looks, "Uh actually Nick took her down to the keys." AC said, watching Bri's reaction.
B smiled. "Really? That's great."
BJ raised an eyebrow. "You mean you're okay with that?"
He nodded. "I'm not stupid BJ, I know they belong together...me and Lis were only together for Michael, so he'd have a father and she wouldn't have to be alone. I made a promise to Nick I'd look after her for him and that's all I was ever doing."
AC fell back on the couch. "You mean basically you're whole relationship was a farce?"
B sighed. "It was what it was, like I told Shan I think we were using each other to keep Nick alive to us while he was gone."
BJ nodded. "That actually makes sense."
Nick checked the address on the slip of paper and pulled into the driveway of the small house. He killed the engine and looked beside him at a sleeping Lis. He almost hated to wake her but inside he knew if he just picked her up and went to carry her inside she'd scream. "Lis?"
She moved in her seat but her eyes stayed closed. "Lis we're here."
"Nick go away." she mumbled.
"Nope. Come on wake up." he whispered in her ear. "I want you to see this place."
Lis yawned as she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the house in front of her. "Where are we?"
Nick smiled. "A nice little retreat. Come on." he said as he got out of the Durango. Lis undid her seat belt and got out, taking Michael out of his car seat as Nick grabbed their bags from the back.
