Chapter Seventeen - it's begining to look a lot like Christmas
Victoria woke up in the morning to the sound of Cole typing on his keyboard, he smiled as he saw his wife sitting in bed “Good morning beautiful”
A tired Victoria rubbed her eyes “Morning..."
She looked out the window and fell back on the bed with a groan “It’s Christmas...”
She looked at Cole “Christmas is here and nothing is planned, I don’t even know if they are having any sort of holiday, there is no tree, the house is not decorated... and Nick’s in jail, and Mom and Dad are still upset...”
She looked at Cole who set next to her “Oh Cole, what are we going to do?!”
Cole put his arms around his wife, he didn't’ know what to say to her. Vicki rested her head on his shoulder, upset.
Victor knocked on the ranch’s door and Miguel opened it, he seemed worried and was obviously glad to see Victor “Mr Newman!” he called out.
Victor said “You look worried, is anything the matter?”
Miguel said “It’s just that, it’s Christmas, and I haven’t gotten any instructions about the holiday dinner, the number of people attending... and the house...”
Victor looked around and realized that it was not decorated, he sighed deeply and said “I know Miguel, I’m sorry..hmmm... we should have told you that Christmas might not happen this year, hmm... we feel that it might be too difficult to celebrate the holiday without Nicholas being here”
Miguel nodded “I understand perfectly Mr Newman”.
Victor asked “Is the lady down yet?” Miguel shook his head, “No, I don’t think so...“
He looked worried and Victor asked him “Miguel, you seemed worried”
Miguel said, “I’m very concerned about Mrs. Abbott, Mr Newman, she is not eating well, and she is not sleeping well either”
Victor asked “How do you know?”
Miguel said “Because I hear her pacing at nights, and I think she's also having nightmares.. I wouldn’t
be saying anything if I wasn’t deeply concerned about her”Victor said “I know you do, so am I...I am trying to talk her into having the holiday together but, I am not sure if she would go for it... you know how she is when she insist on something”
He added “Well, I think I’m going to stay here until she come down, I don’t want to disturb her if she’s asleep”
He sat down and grabbed the paper, waiting for Nikki.
At her room, Nikki was asleep, a heavy sleep after she got into bed around 4, she couldn't sleep, she was exhausted but anytime she tried to fall asleep all the problems in her life came up to bother her...from Nicholas, to Victor...
She didn’t know what was worse... the pain over Nicholas, the confusion over Victor, or the waves of passion that floated in her body when she thought back to their night in the shower...
That was the thought she ended up falling asleep with... so her sleep was rather calm and peaceful... until that moment...
***She saw herself running through the long halls of the prison, looking in every cell...
She called out her son name “Nicholas.... Nicholas....”
All she heard around her were laughs and rude calls, she ran from place to place, her son’s voice echoing in her ears “Mom!, MOM!!!”
“Where are you!” She called, “I can’t find you”
Nicholas cried out “Mom, help me!”
Nikki ran into a cell to find Nicholas lying on the floor, bruised and battered, hardly breathing,.
She ran to her son in tears and put his head in her lap caressing his cheeks and whispered “Nicholas...oh baby..” she stroked his hair to find blood on her fingers... and looked at it in horror. Nicholas opened his eyes and smiled “Mom...you’re here”
Nikki cried “Of course I’m here! I’m going to help you, we’re gonna get you out of here”
And she started calling for help “Help!!! Help can anyone hear me? help!”
A white faced Nicholas whispered “It’s too late Mom, it’s too late, I was here for too long... it’s too late... I love you...” and his head fell back, as Nikki started to sob as she cuddled her son in her arms....”***Downstairs Victor heard the heartwrecnching cries from the bedroom, he panicked and raced upstairs in a hurry...
He heard Nikki sobbing from inside the room and opened the door, finding her tossing and turning in her bed, upset and tearful, obviously caught in a nightmare she couldn’t quite wake up from.Victor set on her bed, turned on the night lamp and put his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down “Nikki, Nikki, wake up”
She kept crying out “Nicholas, Nicholas... no, noooo”
Victor couldn’t see her in so much pain, he grabbed her in his arms and pulled her to him ”Sweetheart, come on, it’s a nightmare, wake up.....”
Nikki woke up suddenly, drenched in cold sweat and didn’t realize where she was, she stared at Victor with eyes opened wide in shock, filled with terror, her entire body shook and she looked at Victor with a complete lack of understanding of where she was or what happened.
Her fingers were white-knuckled where they gripped the blanket.
She was breathing heavily and looked totally disoriented.Victor closed his eye in relief she was awake...and wraped his arms around her, holding her.
Nikki slowly started to realize what had happened as she started to cry “Victor... it’s you....oh god”
Victor tried to calm her down “Shhhh... it was a dream, okay? Only a dream”
Nikki couldn't stop from shaking as she held onto him “I saw Nicholas, and he was... he was dead, he.. .he died in my arms, and.. and... there was nothing I could do.. there was nothing..”
Her voice choked on the last words as she found it hard to shake the dream entirely.
Victor rocked her back and forth in his arms and said “He’s not, okay? He’s not dead, Nicholas is fine”
Nikki shook her head in disbelief “No, no.. it... it seemed so real” Victor tried to calm her down “It wasn’t, it wasn’t real”
He captured her chin and made her look into his eyes “Nikki, it wasn’t real”.
Finally what he was saying sunk in “He’s okay?” Victor nodded “Yes, yes he is” and hugged her again.
Nikki cried “Oh, when would it end? When would this nightmare end and our son would be back home?!”
Victor said “You’ve got to believe it would be soon, you can’t lose hope”
Nikki said tearfully “But I can’t help it, every day that goes by while he is in this place put him in more danger....”
Victor said “Ever since the last incident I’ve warned the warden to keep an eye on Nicholas, if he knows what’s good for him he would do it, nothing would happen to him, you’ve got to believe that”
Nikki cried “I’m trying...it's so hard...”
She buried her face against in his shoulder with no real desire to ever pull back and sent her arms to hold on tight...there was silence as they held each other for a few moments.
Suddenly they became aware of their closeness, Victor looked at Nikki in surprise, she was wearing an over sized white GCU sweat Shirt, hardly what he would have expected...
Nikki noticed his look and said “It’s Nicholas’s... It just came out of the dryer.. and I went to put it in his room and....”
She said, swallowing the lump in her throat, “...He wasn’t there to wear it...It just.. it makes me feel like he’s home...”
Victor asked her in concern “Is this happening often?”
Nikki tried to change the subject “What, me sleeping at Nicholas’s shirt?”
Victor frowned at her “You know I mean the nightmares”
Nikki admits reluctantly “A couple of times... but.. nothing like that last one”
She shivered as she remembered her dream.
Victor asked her “Why didn’t you say anything, why do I have to hear about it from Miguel?”
Nikki said in annoyance as she got out of the bed “I'm mad at him, he shouldn’t have worried you”.
Victor disagreed “Of course he should have”.
Victor couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over her bosy as she got out of bed, the sweat shirt reached her mid thighs and was more sexy on her than any lingeree could have, Nikki caught his look and looked away in slight embarrassment, she let out a smile as their eyes met and set on the bed next to him, crossing her legs together.
Suddenly she looked up him in confusing “What time is it anyway? What... what are you doing back here?”
Victor smiles at her “Sweetheart, it’s already morning”
Nikki set back on the bed next to him the bed and tiredly moves her hand through her tousled hair in confusion “It is?.. it feels like I just went to sleep..”
Realization hits Nikki as she said in a small voice “ It's....It’s Christmas”.
Victor nodded “This why I’m here, I wanted to know if you reached any decision”
Nikki’s eyes said everything as she nodded silently “Yea... yea.. it’s... I think we should, especially because that’s what Nicholas asked us to do, I don’t want to let him down”
Victor said “There are couple of things I need to talk to you about, get organized and I’ll wait for you downstairs, okay?”
Nikki looked around the room in obvious discomfort, she dreaded the thought of staying alone there right now Victor asked her tenderly “Unless you want me to wait here?”
Nikki brushed her fear away “No, no, that’s okay... go downstairs, eat breakfast or something, I’ll be fine”
She got up and Victor looked at her and said “I think I’m going to wait with breakfast for you”
Nikki said “No, have one without me, I’m just not very hungry”
Victor commented “Miguel said you were not eating well, now that I think of it, I can tell”
He put his hands on the sides of her body and slide them down to her waist “You’re losing too much weight”.
Nikki laughed, for the first time that morning “And that’s a bad thing?”
Victor said “On you it is, and I don’t want you to get sick, the fact you’re not sleeping is bad enough”Nikki eyed him “You want to tell me you sleep any better? You just hide it better than I do”
Victor was silent, he had problems falling asleep as well, in fact, he slept less than two hours the night before.
He and Nikki looked at each other for a few moments before Nikki smiled, trying to lighten up the mood “Victor I’m fine, well, at least I am now, I am just not hungry, ... I’ve never been a big breakfast eater, you know that”
Victor said “Well, I insist that you eat with me, I believe Miguel when he tells me you’re not eating enough”
Nikki put her hands over his, that were still around her waist but didn’t brushed them away, she smiled and tried to say casually “Well, If Miguel had his way I would have eaten all day long...”
She paused and said “Well... hmm...fine, I’ll eat with you, but I want to take a shower first...”
Victor, who was still sited on the bed looked up at her as electricity charged up between them, he slide his hands to her back, pulling her a little closer and said “I’m glad we’re doing it”
Nikki grinned and asked quietly “Doing what?”
Victor smiled “Having Christmas together”
Nikki said “Oh, that”
Victor smiled up at her, got up and said quietly “I’ll wait for you downstairs, okay?”
Nikki nodded, as she pulled away from his arms very slowly and walked toward the bathroom.
She looked after him as he was about to head downstairs and called out “Victor..”
He turned back to her, she smiled “Thanks..”
Victor just smiled at her as she headed to the bathroom.
