Chapter Fourty-Nine:
Olive Branches

Nikolas stared out at the water from his vantage point at Bannister's Wharf. He was holding his suit jacket over his arm, the weather having suddenly turned into summer, seemingly overnight. He could see the launch approaching, and turned back to his companion, knowing they'd have to wrap up this conversation.

"If I contact you --"

"There'd be paperwork involved, but... If your wife is interested and if Gail Baldwin agrees... It might be for the best."

Nikolas nodded, looking down at the wood planks beneath his feet.

"In the meantime, if you need to talk to someone --"

Nikolas shook his head firmly. "This isn't about me."

"Hmm," Kevin Collins rocked back on his heels. "Yes, you've made that abundantly clear."

He had. He'd cut Dr. Collins off at the pass, just as the man was leaving the hospital in anticipation of a short weekend to recover from a long week. Kevin had sussed out immediately that the visit was not business-related.

"You're aware," Nikolas had told him, " that there are certain things Cassadines don't do. They do not -- for instance -- wear plaid."

Kevin had smiled. "Or submit to psychoanalysis."

"Not historically. We're considered beyond repair."

"Well," Kevin had sighed, "I do like a challenge."

"This would fall closer to a consultation."

"Ah." The psychiatrist hadn't sounded particularly surprised. "Shall we take a ride then?"

He'd give Kevin this much: the man knew what he was talking about. His manner was calm, and unthreatening -- which was exactly the sort of demeanor that always set Nikolas on edge -- and he'd talked at length about the subjects Nikolas had raised with him -- hypothetically, of course. Nikolas had drank in all the information Kevin could afford him. The details, the clinical approaches, just what clinical depression was and how it manifested. What the hell people who were living next to it were supposed to do.

It wasn't much surprise that there wasn't a hard and fast rule. Kevin's primary solution was unchanging, however. The afflicted had to get help.

"What if the help isn't working?" Nikolas had pressed.

"Then they need to get different help. Not every therapist is matched perfectly to every patient. Some people need a different touch. They need someone who sets off their issues -- or someone who doesn't. Maybe they need to be pushed more. Maybe they just need someone who's got a different perspective."

"And if that was the case?"

Kevin shrugged. "You have to do what's best for the patient. In cases like this, you hope everyone agrees about what that is."

Sounded deceivingly simple.

He felt tired now, and uncomfortable with Kevin's presence. He never liked people knowing things about him -- anything close and personal. It didn't get more personal than this.

"I'll need a few days," he said dully, not making eye contact.

Kevin nodded. "I'm not any time line."

Nikolas glanced up, checking on the launch, which was approaching the dock.

"I am."

Carly's mind had gone utterly blank. The sheer volume of information that had rushed at her must have short-circuited her brain, because staring at the slight woman in front of her, she couldn't register a single thought. She just watched her features attempt to assemble themselves into a friendly smile.

"Hello, Carly."

Carly shook her head, trying to jump start her cerebral cortex. "Nikolas isn't here," she murmured, finally.

"I know," Robin shifted her weight. "I just saw him at the hospital."

Carly's brain -- which had rallied momentarily at the idea that Robin was here to see her husband -- sunk down into disbelief. It moved like wheels trying to turn in the mud. She did not want Robin to be here to see her. It would make it so much more difficult to get her to go away.

"Can I..." as if on cue, Robin nodded towards the door. "Come in?"

A quick laugh bubbled up out of Carly's stomach. She tossed her arms, turning away from the door. "Sure! Why not?" She started down the stairs into the main room. "Everyone else does."

She kept moving across the length of the room because she sensed it was the right thing to do. No particular reason - apart from the fact that she was doing it right then, and nothing bad had happened yet.

If you discounted the part where Robin was in her house.

"So," Robin said, conversationally, "This is where you're living now?"

Carly nodded, glancing around the place again and thanked God that she'd finally moved those stupid boxes.

"It has a lot of light," she mumbled, then shook her head. "What are you doing here?"

Robin twisted the strap of her purse around her wrist, and looked everywhere but at Carly.

"There was, uh..." she cleared her throat. "Something I thought I should say to you."

"Oh," Carly nodded, sinking her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Face-to-face? Or should I summon an audience of half the town for you?"

At that, Robin met her eyes. She stared at Carly's impassive face a moment, before jerking her head away. She wasn't really clear on what she was doing here. She just knew she couldn't go home -- Her uncle's, or the penthouse -- and she hadn't been able to get the look on Nikolas's face out of her head. She took a deep breath, and started to push out the speech she'd prepared while waiting for the launch.

"I know... Things haven't always been..." Damn it, she'd had a word! It had been a good one, too, but looking at Carly -- at the blank face that way so easy to project a dozen emotions on -- and she had no idea what to say to her. It was easier to feel guilty and ashamed of herself when she wasn't staring the source of her agony in the face. "We haven't always been --"

"We don't like each other."

It was blunt, but hey -- points for honestly. Carly crossed her arms over her chest defensively. She could feel her heart picking up speed in her chest, she could hear the blood rushing around in her head. She wasn't going to be able to do this. Not the way everyone would want her to. If Robin tried to explain herself -- if she tried to placate her, or -- Jesus -- ask her to be associated in THIS outing, Carly wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to let the girl leave with her head still attached to her shoulders.

"We haven't," Robin's voice was strained. She wasn't going to fight with her. She couldn't fight with her. She just had to get this over with and get out of this incredibly bad idea. "But I know --"

"We're not friends," Carly pushed. Robin pulled in a deep breath.

"I'm trying to say --"

"I don't think I care about what you're trying to say," Carly's voice shook with emotion that had come up on her with the ferocity of a tsunami. "I don't think I'm interested in helping you feel better about what you did."

Robin's faced flushed, and she took a step towards Carly, then stopped short. Carly watched her try to say something, then stop. Robin angry. Well. This was always a laugh riot.

"I'm not here to try and make myself feel better!"

"Bullshit."

"Do we have to do this?"

Carly let out a short laugh. "Looks that way. Of course, you could just try staying the hell away from me --"

"Right," It was Robin's turn to scoff now. "Because you've always paid me that respect, right?"

Carly gritted her teeth. She was going to do something stupid. She knew it. She could feel it brewing in her stomach, pushing up and trying to fight it's way out of her. She didn't know how to fight it. She knew it would win. So she surrendered to it. Smiled malevolently and murmured, "I give what I get, baby."

"Perfect," Robin's mouth twisted bitterly. Vintage Carly. Just what she'd been hoping to avoid. "Perfect. I should know by now -- there's no point in trying to talk to you."

"Why not?" Carly cocked her head to one side. "Because I'm done playing nice with you?"

"Look," Robin took a careful breath. "I didn't come here to fight with you."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"You know, I'm really beginning to wonder that myself."

"Well," Carly turned, waving a dismissive hand in Robin's direction. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

"Fine," Robin glared at Carly's back. "I can't believe I was actually feeling sorry for you."

"Don't," Carly spun around before the thought was entirely out of Robin's mouth. "Don't pull that one me. You don't give a damn about me and you never have."

Robin shook her head firmly. "You don't know anything about who I really am, Carly."

"You think so?" Carly wore a look of surprise. "Sometimes I think I'm the only person in this town who does know anything about you. I'm the only person who's noticed how hateful and vicious you really are!"

Robin gave her a 'you are so sad' look. "I've never set out to get you."

Carly threw back her head and let out a full on cackle. "RIGHT!" She straightened up, staring at Robin with wild eyes. "When was that, again? When you told Jason to let me twist in the wind? When you snatched Michael's father away from him?"

"Jason isn't Michael's --"

"JASON WAS MICHAEL'S FATHER IN EVERY WAY THAT COUNTED!" Carly screeched from her gut. Tears sprung to her eyes with the effort. "You'll see -- when your little bundle of irony arrives. You'll see -- when that child starts to grow up --" Shaking now. Voice wavering violently. "And you'll see how much he loves him -- You try to tell me then who that baby's father is!"

Robin was shaking her head firmly. She couldn't listen to this. She wouldn't listen to it.

"Funny, the courts seem pretty clear on who they think Michael's father is."

Carly rushed forward at that, so quickly that Robin barely had time to throw herself backwards, grabbing onto the banister and pulling herself up the stairs just as Carly reached her.

"You never could stand that, could you?" Carly hissed. "That Jason and I shared something like that! Is that why you helped get Tony off for kidnapping Michael? Did you hope he'd get another chance?"

"You're insane!"

"No -- you know what I am? I'm free!" Her eyes widened with the realization that this was true. "I've moved on from being the Jason and Robin sideshow. I don't have to pretend like you don't turn my stomach anymore."

Robin was also shaking now, absolutely enraged. HOW could she have thought this was a good idea?

"I thought you'd changed," she said in a burst. "I really thought you were getting some kind of grip -- but you're just as crazy as you ever were."

That stopped Carly a moment. She stared at her nemesis a moment, then a slow, devilish smile crossed her face.

"Watch out, Robin," she lowered her voice, inflecting it with a singsong lilt. "You're all alone in this big house with me. You never know what could happen." Robin paled, and Carly laughed, clapping her hands together. "God," she sneered. "You're so gullible."

"I'm getting out of here --" she started to back up the stairs. "This is crazy, I can't believe I thought you'd listen to what I had to say."

"You're not here because of me," Carly rolled her eyes. "You saw Nikolas, right? This isn't about me, little Robin. This is about you not being able to STAND the fact that he's not in your fan club anymore. You can't stomach the idea of him taking my side in this."

"No, I can't!" Robin spat. "I feel sorry for Nikolas! He's a good man, and he deserves so much better than you!"

Her words ripped at Carly, and she took a step back. "Hey, at least I acknowledge that he is a man," she managed. "I don't treat him like some kind of neutered puppy dog."

Robin paled visibly. "My," her breathing was coming very fast, all of the sudden. "My relationship with Nikolas --"

"Relationship?" Carly forced a laugh. Hey -- you rip the scabs off my wounds, I'm not going to turn down the chance to return the favor. "Is that what you called it? It sounded more like a prolonged cock-tease to me."

"You're disgusting."

There was a quake in Robin's voice that just begged Carly to keep going.

"What? Are you going try to say you guys shared some kind of deep spiritual bond that went beyond the physical?" She shook her head. "The only way you could think something like that is if you never actually got physical with Nikolas. There IS no deeper bond for him." She winced, feigning confusion. "You've got to explain that one to me... I don't get it. I mean, how's your eyesight? How do you kiss that and not just melt at his feet?"

Robin raised her brow. "I don't know -- I'm not a complete slut?" Carly's expression hardened, and Robin knew she'd hit the mark true. "It always comes down to the same thing with you. You never get what you want any other way."

Carly wanted to hit her, but she was glued to the spot. Staring at this woman -- this woman who had systematically destroyed her entire life. Who had dismantled every plan she'd made, and taken away the only things she'd been living for. Somehow she couldn't move.

"Nikolas cares about me," Carly said shakily. He does, she tried to reassure herself. Somehow, though, it felt like she was lying. And she felt incredibly weak, saying something like that in front of this woman.

"Yeah?" Robin tossed back, having gotten her footing again. "What about you? Do you give a damn about him? Or is he just another means to an end?"

"You can't come up with another reason why someone would want to be with him?"

"Someone?" Robin pursed her lips. "Yes. Absolutely. But you? You never do anything without an ulterior motive."

"It's safer to think that, isn't it? Think I somehow clouded up Jason's judgment, and seduced him into my life."

She shook her head. "Jason didn't understand what was going on --"

"Yeah? How do you think he'd feel about you saying that, Robin?" Her words were undercut by the quiver she couldn't seem to keep out of her voice. "See, that's the one thing I could always give him. I understand him. That's what drives you nuts, isn't it? I understand him, and I accept him. I don't try to change him or force him into some weird idea I have about what he's supposed to be --"

"You really don't know the first thing about Jason and I," Robin leaned forward in an attack of bravery -- or stupidity. It was hard for her to tell. "And believe me -- I have no interest in enlightening you."

"I know this much," Carly hugged her herself, arms over her stomach. "He's gotta be furious with you right now. Am I right?" Robin's eyes darted away from her, and she said nothing. "I'm right. You see? Jason doesn't like anyone fucking with me. Not even you."

"You hold onto that one tight, Carly," Robin said in a low, angry voice. "You can file it away with all your other delusions about Jason's feelings for you." She pushed out her breath. "God, I can't believe I came here to apologize to you!"

"You try it, I will pull your tongue out of your mouth, I swear to God."

"Fine," she shrugged. "That's fine, because listening to you -- listening to the REAL Carly -- I've remembered something. I can't stand you."

"Yeah, well -- you don't have to be concerned with me anymore. I've moved on."

"Really?" Robin's voice cracked in the middle of the word. "Then tell me one thing, Carly. Are you still in love with my husband?"

"I can't believe this!"

"Uh huh."

"Look at this! Under birth date, he's put a check mark! What does that mean? That he has one?"

Bobbie sighed, and kept shuffling through her papers. Someone had misplaced Mrs. Lyndley's insurance papers, and somehow it had fallen to her to ensure they hadn't gotten mixed up with the admittance files.

"I really couldn't tell you," she murmured to Amy without interest.

"I swear to God," Amy continued, unabated. "Some of these interns can't even read!"

"Not can't, don't," Bobbie dropped the pile of carbon copies and put a hand to her head. "Are you having any luck over there?"

Amy snorted, but her answer was interrupted by a voice wafting across the nurse's desk.

"I'm sorry, Bobbie, could I speak with you for just a moment?"

Bobbie's stomach lurched. She nodded, and turned to Amy.

"Can you hold down the fort?"

Amy rolled her eyes, and started flipping through her papers again. "I'll manage somehow," she waved a hand. "Go, go. Attend to your important business. I'll be fine."

Always the martyr, Bobbie thought to herself, as she rounded the counter. She and Gail walked away from Amy's prying ears in silence, neither saying a word until they'd reached the far side of the eighth floor waiting area.

"Is everything all right?" she asked Gail warily. She couldn't ask direct question. Not even as direct as 'have you seen my daughter?'. Gail was a closed book on anything that smacked, even distantly, of a breech of doctor/patient confidentiality.

"Well," Gail opened a black book she was carrying, eyes scanning the contents. "I'm having some trouble contacting your daughter, I was hoping I could send a message for her with you."

She couldn't help it. Bobbie spit out her gut response. "You didn't see her today?"

Gail's expression changed from one of mild concern to vexation. "I really do need to speak with her personally. But she hasn't changed her personal information, and her number's been disconnected. So could you just have her call me?"

Bobbie nodded, rapidly . "Yeah. Yes -- of course. I'll... I'll tell her right away," she fumbled a moment. "I know she... She hadn't been feeling well. Stomach bug --"

Gail raised her brow at the clumsy lie, then gave a determined smile. "I'll put that in my notes."

Bobbie nodded, knowing what Gail meant. Knowing that it was something that pushed the envelope, if it didn't obliterate it completely. She let out a sigh that deflated her whole body. "Thank you," she shot a quick look at the clock. "I'll try to get ahold of her right away."

Carly's body went rigid at Robin's question. She stared back at the small, fiercely angry and dangerously upset woman in front of her. Robin's eyes were narrowed, her hands were clenched into fists -- and she was trembling ever-so-slighty. Carly let out a quick laugh, and looked away.

"Go home, Robin."

"God, I'd love to," Robin's voice was breathy. "I'd love to walk out of here and think you aren't going to just keep popping up in my marriage -- I'd love to believe you actually give a damn about Nikolas. But I know how your mind works --"

"You don't know a damn thing."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Robin muttered, leaning against the bannister. "You wanna know the truth?" Her voice cracked again, and when she spoke she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "I'm not sorry. I'm really not sorry that I let you find out about the baby like that. You know why I did it? Deep down, you wanna know why I let that come out of my mouth against all my better judgment?"

Carly's eyes turned back to her almost of their own volition. She felt herself go cold.

"There's..." she pressed her lips together to stop the rest of the sentence from coming out of her. There was no way. There was just no way.

"You're the one person who knows the answer to that question," Robin's voice was beginning to border on hysterical. "You and Jason. Because you know what happened the last time Jason had to break bad news to you."

Carly nearly doubled over. She hadn't been prepared for that. No part of her had ever thought -- for a minute -- that Robin knew. Jason had been so angry that night -- the night he'd told her that he was marrying Robin. She'd pushed every button she knew he had, relentlessly. She'd been so upset she could barely breath. The only way she could be sure she was still alive -- still functioning, on any level -- was to toss out the most painful, gut wrenching, awful things she could. And when he'd gotten angry, when they'd started to fight, she's hung onto it like it was everything. As long as she could still make him angry, she knew they still had a connection. At that point, she'd take anything he'd throw her way.

Robin would never believe she hadn't meant for it to go as far as it did. But then -- it wasn't like Carly had objected to the outcome. He'd taken her back to the penthouse, afterward, because she insisted she had to get her purse. Which was true -- she'd left it behind, because they were going out on his bike. Robin had been waiting for them, and it was that night she'd agreed to be Robin's bridesmaid -- standing in the living room of the place she used to live, wearing Jason's leather jacket, and shivering (from the cold, ostensibly. It had been February). She'd felt lightheaded, and nearly giddy. She'd wanted to laugh in Robin's face -- Bridesmaid? BRIDESMAID? Do you have any idea what your fiance just did to me?

So she'd said yes, because it had seemed incredibly ridiculous to her. It had taken hours for it all to sink in. She'd gone home and taken a shower -- and it had hit her, halfway through. That night hadn't been about Jason starting anything up with her again. It hadn't been about him coming back to her. It had been his way of leaving her -- once and for all. He was trying to say good-bye. She'd sat on the end of her bed for hours, that night, staring at the wall. Then she'd gone to bed. For a week.

It was one last insult to everything they'd been and shared, that he'd told Robin. She'd had that ace up her sleeve through the entire wedding fiasco, and she'd never used it. Because as long as she held it, it was hers. Jason hadn't been able to just turn and walk away. He'd submitted to her. Hell, he'd flat out taken her. Somewhere inside him, he still wanted her. And she'd held out hope that her good behavior would be rewarded. That he'd come to his senses. When he hadn't, maybe, she'd been in some kind of shock. She wasn't sure. But the next thing she knew, she was in bed with Nikolas, and she'd let the cloud that he brought with him keep the reality of Jason away from her. Even when she'd seen him, she hadn't had to acknowledge what had really happened between them. It had all felt incredibly far away. Like it had happened to other people. Like the real Jason and Carly never would have put each other through all of this.

But here Robin was, shaking with the fury of a woman scorned. She knew. She knew, and she'd married Jason anyway. She'd married Jason and she'd had Carly at her side through the whole damn thing.

"You vindictive --" her throat closed up. She wasn't going to share this with Robin. She just wasn't.

Robin held onto the bannister for dear life. So it was true. She'd known -- On some level, she'd always known. When she'd told Jason she didn't want to know what had happened between the two of them that night, she'd still known. She'd just tried to will herself not to. He wouldn't do that to her, she'd told herself. He wouldn't sleep with Carly when he was with her. It had always been the line that he wouldn't cross -- not once he'd ended that very first affair. But she'd seen them both that night, and something in her had just known. He'd been with her. He'd put a ring on Robin's finger, and they'd he'd been with Carly one last time.

God, please, let it have been one last time.

"You make me sick," Robin choked out. "Do you think I wanted to give you another chance to manipulate him? To let you use his guilt against him?" She took an unsteady step down onto the bottom step, so that she and Carly were nearly eye-to-eye. "That's all it is, Carly. That's the only hold you have over him, and I hate that I gave it to you. He doesn't love you. He doesn't want to be with you. He just feels guilty because you can't take care of yourself --"

Neither of them saw it coming. Even after Carly's hand collided with the side of Robin's face -- after she felt the sting, and heard the sharp slap, saw Robin's own hand fly up to hold her cheek -- she didn't feel like she'd actually done it. There was no feeling of release, no feeling of triumph. They just stared at each other, with a sense of inevitability. The ruse was over and something in both of them was relieved.

When Robin had entered, she'd left the door open, allowing the afternoon sunlight and warm late June air into the house. So it was more than a bit of a shock when Carly raised her eyes to see Nikolas standing at the screen. She jumped, and backed away from Robin, who immediately turned just as Nikolas pushed the door open and entered. He looked between the two woman, looking closer to tired, than anything else.

"I'm interrupting something," he said, quietly.

Carly shook her head and started up the stairs. Nikolas tried to catch her arm on the way past, but she shook him off, and turned, running up to the second floor. Seconds later, Robin jumped at the sound of the bedroom door slamming. Nikolas's eyes had followed Carly up the stairs, and stayed there a few seconds after her dramatic departure. Then he turned them back to Robin.

"Are you all right?"

Robin shook her head. Tears were in her eyes again. "I shouldn't have come here."

"No," Nikolas said flatly. "I could have told you that." He bent his head, putting his hand under her chin, and turning her head slightly so that he could see the mark his wife had left on her. It didn't look bad -- red, and irritated, but nothing serious. "Do you need some ice for that? We have some in the kitchen."

"No," Robin said shakily. "No, I-I-I'm ok." She bit her lip and looked up at Nikolas warily. "I --"

"If you're ok, I need to go see my wife," Nikolas said softly. Robin turned away from him, nodding her head rapidly.

"I know. I'm sorry," she pulled in a breath. "I am. I am sorry, I"m sorry I came." She looked up at him, at the unreadable, but not unkind expression on his face. She knew she had to leave. He wasn't going to afford her any comfort. There wasn't really any reason he should, but it cut at her, all the same. "Tell Carly..." she saw something flicker through his eyes. "Tell her I won't be back."

Nikolas paused, with his hand on the doorknob to the closed bedroom door. She'd run to their room. Something of a good sign. Though, truth be told, he wasn't looking for signs anymore. It was Friday night. Tomorrow Carly had to be at the mansion. There just wasn't any point in trying to wait this out anymore. Somehow, something had to change by the following afternoon. She had to know that as well as he did.

He pushed open the door and heard Carly before he saw her. She was pacing -- walking rapidly, in circles at the foot of their bed. She stopped and looked at him, then shook her head hard.

"I don't want to hear it."

Nikolas pulled the door closed. "What's that?"

"The lecture. Or whatever it is you want to say to me now." Her voice was shaking -- vibrating, coming out on short breaths. Her face was flushed, eyes wide and shinning. She looked desperate. She looked... alive. "I don't want to hear it!" She spit again. "She came into this house -- Where WE live. Both of us. I don't have to put up with her crap when it's where I live, do I?" She didn't give him a chance to answer before sputtering out her next question. "What did she tell you?"

Nikolas stayed still at the door, watching her.

"Nothing. It wouldn't matter if she did."

"Oh yeah?" Carly let out a laugh -- dangerously close to the one he'd earned the day before when he'd confronted her about Edward. "Really? That so." Her bottom lip started to quiver, and she turned away from him -- Tears. It hit him, then, that she hadn't -- once -- since all of this had started, cried. Not once.

"Carly, if you need to cry --"

"I DO NOT NEED TO CRY!" She shot back. She sunk her hands into her hair, holding the sides of her head. "I don't need anything! Not from her, not from you -- not from that creepy housekeeper of yours. You can all just leave me the hell alone!" She stopped dead, staring down at the floor for several moments, before turning her attention back to him. When she spoke, her tone was soft. "You know, Nikolas? You really want to hear this?" she glanced up at him. He gave a slight nod, but didn't speak. "I have tried to hang onto Jason from pretty much the first day we met. I have schemed, and lied, and even let him go -- but I always had to fight for it. Every time. To just keep some part of him in my life. But Robin..." The name twisted in her mouth. "ROBIN I can't get rid of. And now, as some sort of cosmic JOKE.... I finally say -- TO HELL with Jason Morgan, and look where I end up!" She let out a choking sob, holding her hands over her stomach again, shoulders hunched. "Living and eating and sleeping next to a man who's in love with the woman who destroyed my life."

Nikolas stared at her, at the hurt, devastated look in her eyes, and felt something in him snap. Just break off, and move away from him. "I'm not in love with Robin."

"Oh, go to hell."

"I'm not."

Carly let out a low laugh, and started pacing across the room again. "Does it mean anything to you?" Her words were agonized. "To know what she's put me through? Does it make a damn bit of difference if she hurts me? To anyone?"

"Carly --" He started towards her. Carly spun around, taking several steps back from him, her hands out, ready to push him away if he got too close.

"NO --" She blinked, and tears escaped her eyes, falling rapidly. She ignored them. "It's always Poor Little Robin and Big Bad Carly. I can't take hearing that right now, and I sure as hell can't take hearing it from you."

"I'm not IN LOVE with ROBIN!" Nikolas insisted. He moved forward again, and this time Carly held her ground. She raised her eyes to his, and they searched him. He could see the anger in them. The disbelief and mistrust.

"Yeah?" She taunted, lifting her chin definitely. "And what happened? When did that change?"

He took a quick breath, followed by another. The room was silent, apart from the sound of both of them struggling to breath. Standing, stuck together, their eyes on each other, unable to turn away.

You're not going to do this, Nikolas... You're not going to do this. It will ruin everything.

"It changed," he said slowly, "It changed when I fell in love with you."