When Nicholas woke the next morning after he'd found Lena gone he found too that his mind was made up about things he hadn't even taken the time to think about the night before. He'd gotten dressed, had him some breakfast which he sorely needed, then went into his office to look for any clues that would help him figure out where Lena had run off to. He prayed that he reached her in time or he was damn sure that he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.
While in his office looking through the paperwork she'd left on his desk, he'd taken out his cell phone with the thought in mind to call Stacy, just in case Lena had called her. He saw that he had a missed call from Stacy and that she had left a message. He hit the voicemail button on his phone. Surprise lit up his chest when he heard Stacy asking him to call her back, then Rusconi got on the phone asking him to do the same. He couldn't lie; the message shook him to his core. He started to call back immediately but realized that finding Stacy was much more important so he'd pocketed his phone.
Stacy had left the plans for the anniversary party on the desk along with the note she'd written him and her wedding rings. He looked through those but found nothing that would indicate where she had gone unless, unless he thought she had decided to get a room at the very inn where she had booked the anniversary party. It was worth a shot to check. It was an expensive enough place, he saw from the brochure he picked up. He also saw the figures for the entire party, he would be angry about those at a later date, he promised himself.
He dialed the number on the brochure and when an operator picked up he asked if his wife had arrived at the hotel yet. He assumed that this was not the same as being given information about a guest to a stranger. When the operator told him after checking that she had no guest by that name he hung up the phone and sat down in his chair wondering where in the hell he should look next.
***
It was the third day in a row that Nicholas had been searching for Lena. He found her after first driving around for several hours; making calls hadn't gotten him anywhere. He had to bribe a few front desk receptionists to give him information and then a key to her room.
He used the key card to enter the room to find Lena asleep in the bed. The rage that had been building up in him softened as his eyes laid on her. It had to be that he knew that she carried his child inside her that made him feel this way.
He sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook her awake.
***
When Lena opened her eyes to see Nicholas sitting next to her on the bed, without caring how he got in or what he was doing there she asked him to leave.
"I'm not going anywhere." Nicholas declared to her.
"God!" she exclaimed throwing back the covers and getting out of the bed, "What do you want?"
Lena went into the bathroom where she washed her face and brushed her teeth. Nicholas was standing by the bed when she came back out.
"I heard your message on the answering machine."
"What message?" she snapped. She was already in a bad mood after being woken by him and now he was making up stuff.
"The one from your doctor." He told her heatedly.
She froze at hearing this.
"You picked up after the beep. I also heard her ask you if you wanted to come in for an initial appointment and you told her no. Please do not tell me you did something stupid." He snarled.
"What does it matter to you what I do with my body?" she walked away from him.
He grabbed her wrists and jerked her back towards him, "It matters." He said through clenched teeth.
Lena had never seen him look so fierce before not even when he was pulling his Incredible Hulk routine the past weeks.
His hands were clamped rigidly around her wrists. The look in his eyes told her something that she could hardly believe something that she scoffed at.
"So now you care? Really?" she asked caustically then, "Let me go" she demanded glaring at him.
After he released her she went to sit on the bed. "What is this about? Because I know it isn't about me. Did it finally get through to you that you can't have Stacy?"
Tears filled her eyes and she wanted to make them go away. She didn't want this fucker to see her crying. She had been crying for the past few days straight, any little thing set her off. She realized that this had been going on for a while, before she had even known that she was pregnant. Pregnancy had made a cry-baby out of her and as far as she was concerned it was not a good look.
She broke off the nasty taunt she had been serving up to Nicholas because she knew it didn't have the same effect while she had tears running down her face.
She held her face in her hands trying to get a grip on her emotions.
Nicholas kneeled down next to her on the floor and when she felt his hand on her she cried harder, then his arms were around her and she sobbed against his chest.
As Nicholas held her he felt like utter shit. The only thought on his mind was getting her home where they could just work out—FUCK—everything. He didn't care how long it would take or how hard it would be, it was the right thing to do. It was what he wanted to do. He'd known that coming to the room.
***
Once Lena stopped crying Nicholas and she had a long talk. They talked about things that they should have spoken about a long time ago including how they each felt about their motivations for getting married and Stacy. At the end Lena decided to go back home with Nicholas to see where things would go for them.
They were inside the house when she turned to him with one final thing to settle.
"If you are sure that you want to try to see where this thing with us can go I won't do it if you're still going to pine for my sister like you have been."
"What are you saying?" Nicholas asked her.
"I think you know and I don't need details, either go to her and stay or come back here and we can try." She shrugged. She turned to go up the stairs then almost like it was an afterthought turned to him and said, "And until you do you can sleep in the guest room."
***
I was home alone when my phone rang. I hadn't spoken to Gavin in days or rather he hadn't spoken to me. He made it crystal clear that if we were going to be together that it wouldn't be with the thought of Nicholas hanging over our relationship. But Nicholas hadn't called me back. A small part of me hoped he wouldn't.
So when my phone finally rang I hoped it was Gavin calling me, but instead it was Nicholas. He wanted to meet me.
