With a great big sigh Jack walked into his office, rubbing his forehead tiredly, he muttered to himself “I hate it when people’s word doesn’t count anymore...”

He slumped into his chair and his eyes touched a message from his wife, he picked it up and looked at it

“My love, I was here to our lunch and Nikki told me you had a business crisis to attend to, don’t worry, I am not mad, I will be Gina’s if you want to meet me there later”

All my love, Luan”

Jack pondered the thought of Luan and Nikki meeting, he honestly didn’t know what to think of that, both women had to deal with a lot recently, he actually thought they will get along well.

For a second he wondered if Luan might have told Nikki about her illness, he had hoped she had, he hoped Nikki would tell him if Luan told her, he knew Luan needed to talk about that with someone, and he needed to talk about that with someone as well...

He wondered if he should tell Luan he knows at times, he couldn’t find the answer.
He shook bad thoughts out of his head and went to join his wife at Gina’s.
 

Victoria was sitting at the main-house waiting for her mother for the past 15 minutes, she hoped she could talk to her on her lunch break.

She needed a friendly ear, she had a horrible day at the office, Cole was glued to the laptop, and she herself wasn’t feeling too hot, her head hurt and was pounding like someone just knocked something into it...

And she wanted to check up on her, and to see if she talked to her father, Actually, she was quite concerned about her father, she sighed and thought “At least mom lets out her feelings and let people help her deal with it.... Dad... he almost never does... and that makes it harder”

Suddenly there was a ring in the door, she went to open it and faced a twenty something delivery guy there with flowers...

“Nikki Abbot?”

Victoria smiled... “No, that would be my mother...”

The delivery guy smiled “Could you sign here please?”

Victoria signed the note and looked at the note from the floweriest

“To my most favorite lady, in hope it would brighten her mood, I will hold you up on that rain check... Always, Brad”

Victoria wrinkled her nose with disgust “Does the man never learns?” she muttered and called after the delivery guy “Excuse me...”

The delivery man turned with a smile “Yes miss?”

Vicki smiled and winked at him “What’s your name?”

He answered “That would be Rob”

Vicki flashed a grin “Rob, can you do me a favor, and deliver these flowers to memorial hospital and give them to some patiant there, without the card, of course..”

Rob frowened “Excuse me?”

Vicki said “I just don’t want it here, okay.. here’s a twenty, just get rid of it”

Rub said “I might get into troubles for that”

Vicki reassured him “Hey, I signed for the delivery, right? My troubles, just get ride of it”

And stuffed the twenty into his pocket, Rob smiled at her “Okay, no problems... and... can I ask you on a date, sometime?”

Vicki grinned and flashed her wedding ring to him “Only if you are prapered to take my husband with you”

The smile disappeared from his face as he mumbled “I’m sorry... I will do as you asked” and left hurriedly, Vicki checked out his butt as he left, glanced at her wedding ring and sighed deeply, going into the house.
 

At Gina, Luan and Nikki have been enjoying a lovely talk and lunch, happy to distract themselves from the problems in their lives.

Nikki asked Luan “So, how old is your daughter?”

Luan smiled “She’s going to be 17 this summer... “

Nikki smiled “I remember when my daughter was that age, but mine was the exception... she was already a first time bride...”

Luan told her “Oh, May has a boyfriend...but I don’t think it’s even close to anything like that”

Nikki smiled “Oh, you should consider yourself lucky...”

Luan said “Let me see if I remember what Jack told me... your oldest daughter, Victoria is 21 and Nicholas is 18...”

Nikki’s smile vanished “Nicholas will be 19 tomorrow, he was born on New Years eve”

Luan said sympathetically “I’m sorry...”

Nikki said, wiping the tears away “Forget it, lets just... not talk about me, I just try... to avoid thinking about it, if I can...that my son would not be home for his birthday...”

She looked at Luan and asked “Lets talk about your life, Keemo should be what? 23?.... it still amazes me...”

Luan asked her “What does?”

Nikki answered “That Jack has a grown son”

Luan laughed “I think my husband is still amazed by it, sometimes”

Nikki said slowly “I know there is nothing in the world Jack wanted more than a child of his own, and a family...”

Luan told her “I know you and he almost shared a child once..”

Nikki said sadly “I wondered if he ever mentioned it, I guess some things just aren’t meant to be...”

She looked at Luan and said “I have to admit something, when Jack first came to tell me that he is marrying you, his great love from Vietnam, and that you two share a child... I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, I wasn’t being very noble...but...I’m glad he has it now, no one in the world deserve more happiness than Jack does, I’m glad he found that with you”

Luan’s smile turned into a sad expression, as it hit her that she might not have much longer to spend with Jack in this world.

Nikki noticed that and asked her “Are you okay?”

Luan snapped back “Yes, thank you, I’m fine...”

Nikki wasn’t convinced “Are you sure?”

Luan smiled and nodded “Yes, I just... drifted away for a few seconds, what you said bring back a lot of memories...and a lot of regrets, Jack and I missed a long time together...so much time... that we could never have back...”

Nikki smiled at her, missing the sad tone in her voice “I know what you mean... people make mistakes and lose each other on the way... You and Jack lost each other by any sense of the word because of the war and a lot of misunderstandings... other just lose each other....when they really had to hold on to what they had....because they were too blind to see what was there when it they had it...and then made too many mistakes to count and missed each other again, and again...” She added dreamily...

Luan looked at Nikki with interest “Why do I get the feeling it is not of me and Jack you talk about?...”

Nikki smiled “Am I *that* obvious?”

Luan said with a smile “I think I know a woman in love when I see one”

Nikki laughed with embarrassment...and said “Oh boy... does it show that much?”

Luan nodded “Hmmm...Quite clearly...it’s the look in the eyes, but I get the feelings there are problems, too”

Nikki smiled sadly “So many history, some wonderful, passionate and amazing, some not so wonderful...sometimes I have to wonder if I am letting myself getting carried away into something that could never last because it’s so intense when we’re together and....”

Her voice faltered and she stopped and said “I’m sorry, I’m saying too much and I don’t want to bore you with my problems”

Luan smiled “Actually, it sound quite intriguing....”

Nikki said “It is, a little bit too much, maybe...”

Luan said with a smile “But if it’s true love, it just may well worth the risk...”

Nikki said slowly, letting her thoughts drift far away, to wherever Victor is right now “It is....I know it is...”

She shook her head and went back to real life...and asked Luan, trying to channel the conversation elsewhere “So, how do you like your spaghetti?”

Luan smiled “I love it, I don’t normally eat it in the Italian fashion”

Nikki laughed and Luan asked her “How long have you known Jack?”

Nikki said “Oh gosh, over a decade now, we were friends long before we ever married, actually, if 10 years ago, someone would have told me I’d marry him some day I would have told them they were nuts”

Luan asked with a smile “Oh really? How come”

Nikki exclaimed, putting her coffee down “Because he was such a playboy! not quite the marrying type...”

Luan looked at her, surprised and Nikki put her hand over her mouth to cover on a giggle “Oh my... looks like I should have kept my mouth shut... Jack is going to kill me now...”

Luan said “Oh, tell me more, sometimes I forget life went on for both of us while we were away, but I must say I’m surprised by that, because you just said all he wanted was a family”

Nikki smiled “Yes, but that came much later...Jack had changed a lot during the time I’ve known him, a good change, I might add, when he and I met he was, well... how should I put it - rather frivolous, he wouldn’t commit to anything or anyone...Quite different from the hard-working extremely-committed-to-any-cause-he-takes-on-man we know now”

Luan said with a smile “It makes sense I never knew about, when Jack and I first met it was in the middle of the war so I never saw that side of him”

At that moment, Jack walked into the door and was surprised to see his wife and ex sitting at the most remote table, laughing about something, he approached “Would you look at that, what are you so giggly about?”

He said as he kisses his wife hello. “Hello my love” Said Luan with a smile as she saw him.

“Jack!” Nikki called out, choking on her coffee and nearly spitting it all on the table.

Jack sat down and eyed his ex suspiciously “What are we looking so guilty about?”

Nikki wiped her mouth with napkin and tried to hide her smile “Nothing, what could I look guilty about?”

Jack looked at Luan “You didn’t say in your note you two were having lunch together”

Luan said “Well, I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to leave it out...”

Nikki interfered “Your wife and I decided that we should... get to know each other better”

Luan smiled at Nikki “And we found out we have more in common than we thought”

Jack asked “So what were you talking about when I walked in?”

Nikki was about to blurt some story when Luan said “About all the skeletons in your closet.. it appears to be that there are some things I never knew about my husband, Nikki was sweet enough to fill me in”

Nikki bit her lip hard so she wouldn’t laugh at Jack’s priceless expression.

Jack sent a hard glare into Nikki who said quickly “Now Jack, don’t look at me that way, I just filled your wife about the days of ol’ smiling Jack”

Jack’s horrified look turned even more horrified and Nikki , trying to keep herself from laughing said “I just told her that you have changed a lot from the person you were when I first got to know you, that’s all!”

Luan interfered “If there’s more to know I would gladly listen”

Jack turned to his wife and said with a smile “No matter what she’s telling you, you can only believe half, I have always been the nice, loving man, upstanding man you know today”

Nikki said “Loving and nice - sure... upstanding??? deny it all you want to Jack, but there was a time when you were quite wild”

Jack decided to pay her back “Now look whose talking...”

The smiled disappeared from Nikki’s face “Now... Jack...”

Jack turned to his wife and said with a grin “She sits here and talk about *my* wild times, when you should really ask her about hers, since the two of you had apparently gotten close enough to gossip about me ”

Nikki pleaded “No, Jack.. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to blab... you really shouldn’t...” as Luan looked at her with a curious smile “Sound like a fascinating story all by itself...”

Nikki protested “Not that interesting!”

Luan said “You can not leave me like that and not tell me”

Nikki sighed and said “Fine, Fine... what Jack means is that I used to be.... an... exotic dancer...”

Luan opened her mouth and Jack added “Which is her way of saying a stripper”

Nikki elbowed him “There’s a vast difference!”

Jack said, teasing her “And for all the years that I have known you, I could never figure out what that difference was”

Nikki shook her head, dismayed and said crossly “You are horrible, Jack Abbott, this really makes me wonder why I bothered staying friends with you!”

She looked at Luan and said “I hope that doesn’t completely change your mind about me”

Luan said “I am a little surprised, I must admit”

Nikki said “You mean shocked and horrified... it was decades ago, I was very young, and very wild and lets just leave it at that...”

She looked at her watch “Oh Gosh, look at the time I have to get going...”

She looked at Luan “Luan, it was a pleasure meeting you, we should do it again, I had a lovely time...it seems such a long time since I laughed about anything...”

She lowered her eyes “and I really shouldn’t”

Jack said “Hey, Nik, the last thing Nicholas would have wanted is to see you so miserable because he is in jail... you need to laugh sometimes...”

Nikki smiled sadly and Luan said “We really should continue our discussion, without Jack being here, of course...”

Jack said “Hey, Hey, I am sitting right here..”

Nikki said “You be quiet... and be nice to her Jack... don’t mess it up when you got it made”

Jack smiled at his wife and kissed her lightly on the lips “Oh, trust me, I know it...”

Nikki rolled her eyes “I would leave you two love birds alone and get back home... Oh, BTW, Jack - did you hear from Victor?”

Jack looked at her “Sorry, Not a peep... “

Nikki’s face fallen and Jack said “Hey Nik...”

Nikki said pointedly “Jack... don’t...”

She got up and said “Have a lovely day, you two”

Luan said “You too”

Nikki smiled and left, leaving Jack to stare after her thoughtfully, Luan asked “Any problems?”

Jack sighed and said “For her sake, I sure hope not...”
 
 

Nikki got back home around six after taking a long drive home, she checked her answering machine from the road, there were on messages, she called Connie and nothing, she didn’t know if she should be getting worried or mad, where could he be and what was stopping him from calling her?

She got home to find the place empty, Miguel had left a note he was going to run an errand, Victoria left a brief note

“Looked for you, weren’t there, went back to the office , nothing to do here, my husband is having the attack of his muse, which means, Victoria who?”

Nikki shook her head tiredly, she was hoping Victoria and Cole would stop having problems regarding his work, and hers...

She made a mental note to talk to them... but later, all she wanted now was a shower....

She stepped into the shower after throwing her clothes in total mess on the bed, finally getting ride of those heels, the new shoes has been bugging her all day long, she turned the tap and let the warn water wash her thoughts away, she just enjoyed how good it felt for a while...

She finished washing her hair and opened her eyes, only to get a flashback of Victor and her standing in the very shower....kissing each other, caressing each other bodies, making sweet, passionate love to each other, his hot lips against her skin and....

The ring of the phone snapped her back to reality, she stepped out of the shower and hurriedly approached the phone, wrapping a towel against herself, breathless she answered

“Hello?”

“Hey sweetheart, it’s me...” Victor’s voice was on the other line, enveloping her soul in a warm, caresseing tingling feeling....