It started out like any ordinary day. Michael, Joey, and Nicole were getting ready for work, school, and anything else they had on their schedule. It was only upon retrieving the paper that everything came to a screeching halt:
"Oh, no," Joey whispered, and Michael could just see the tears welling in his eyes.
"What is it?" Michael approached and read over Joey's shoulder. "What—what's wrong?" It was only upon looking at the paper himself that it hit him. "Oh…" The paper fell from Joey's hands as Michael wrapped his arms around him. "We—we have to tell Nicole."
Just at that moment, Nicole came down the stairs. Joey and Michael were there in a heartbeat, Joey having retrieved the dropped paper. "Honey," Joey said, taking her in his arms, "I'm afraid there's been some bad news."
"If—if you don't want to go to school today, it's quite all right," Michael reassured her.
Nicole just looked at them as if it were some kind of joke. "Why—why wouldn't I?" she wondered.
Joey just silently handed her the paper and stroked her hair. "He's gone."
"Who—who's—" Nicole shook it out and started reading, only to start shaking herself. "Oh—oh no—!" Her eyes filled with tears, and she sobbed bitterly. "Of all the people it could have been—why—why him?"
All Joey and Michael could do was sit with her, holding her, comforting her. There were no sarcastic remarks about the music—only soft, reassuring words. "He loved you so much," Joey whispered, as she cried on his shoulder. "If—if I didn't know better, I'd say the two of you were just as close as he and I ever were."
"Oh, Joey," Nicole sobbed, looking into his eyes. "I—I'm sorry."
Chuckling for the first time that day, Joey gave her a hug. "Oh, Nicole," he laughed, "don't be. He was so fond of you."
Hearing Joey comfort Nicole, Michael got up with a start, looking all around the room. "Where—where is it?" he said to himself more than anyone else.
"Wha—what are you looking for?" Joey started to get up as if to help him look.
"You know," Michael said, still looking—under papers, in drawers, but without any luck, "our song—her song."
"Didn't—didn't Mr. Bernard say they were going to record it?" Joey remembered the scene well.
"Oh, that's right," Michael suddenly remembered. "He must have taken it with him."
Just at that moment, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Joey offered.
When he opened the door, who should he see but—Dennis Bernard.
"I—I heard the news," Dennis said, as he took him in his arms and held him close. "Have—have you told her yet?"
"Yeah," Joey whispered, looking back at Nicole, who was sitting there, her face in her hands as if to conceal more tears. "She—she didn't take it very well, I'm afraid."
"Dennis!" Michael rushed over. "Have—have you seen—"
Dennis just smiled and slipped something out of his coat pocket. "You mean this?" he smiled. Michael and Joey couldn't believe it. There in his hand was a compact disc—which just happened to have Nicole's song on it!
"Dennis, you're a lifesaver," Joey said, giving him a big hug.
"He—he wanted her to have that," Dennis whispered, as tears welled in his own eyes. "Never in my life have I seen any two people closer than they were. Where—where is she?"
Joey and Michael cleared a path to where Nicole was still sitting, her head on her knees. Dennis could barely make out soft sobs.
"Hi, sweetheart," Dennis said, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Why?" Nicole's face was stained with tears. "Why did he have to die?"
"I've been asking myself that over and over on the way here," Dennis whispered, as she leaned into his embrace. "I—I have something for you," he added.
"Wha—what is it?"
Dennis gave her the CD, closing her hand around it. "Malcolm—he wanted me to make sure you got that," he whispered.
At first Nicole just stared at it, as if wondering what it was. But as memories came flooding back, her eyes widened. "Is—is this—"
"Yes," Michael laughed, "that's the song he—or should I say, we—did for you."
Suddenly, a small smile crossed Nicole's face. That was such a cute song, and she loved every gesture he had made—the flowers, holding her from behind, dancing—even when he pushed her across the floor! "He was so crazy," she chuckled.
"Not half as crazy as he was about you," Dennis laughed. Looking into her eyes, he added, "Promise me you won't ever forget him."
How could she? Even with everything that had started all that, she knew she couldn't stay mad at him too long! Looking into Dennis's eyes, she put her hands in his own and whispered, "I promise."
By special request, Nicole appeared at Malcom's funeral service. She looked over the crowd—a full house, packed to the gills with fans, friends, and others who wanted to pay their last respects.
When it was all over, they stood as if to leave. One by one, the mourners passed by the coffin—the open coffin.
Joey, Michael, and Nicole were among the last to approach, and when Nicole saw his face, so peaceful, so serene, she stroked it with the back of her hand and whispered, "Good—good-bye, Malcom. I won't ever forget you." Leaning over him, she kissed his cheek, not even realizing a tear had fallen there as well.
That night, Nicole, still full of grief, couldn't sleep. She'd placed the CD in her bedside player, and she sleepily turned over and hit "Play." She was almost lulled to sleep when it started. Suddenly, her eyes opened, for before the song, she could almost swear she heard Malcolm talking:
"This song," he was saying, "is lovingly dedicated to my best friend, Nicole Bradford. Nicole, if you get this after I'm gone—for I've instructed Dennis to give it to you upon my death—I understand if you're grieving right now, because frankly, it saddens me to leave you. I hope you never forget how much I loved you, and I hope you'll keep me—and this song—close to your heart."
Then she heard the opening riffs, and a tear slid down her face:
"I can remember the first time I gazed into your eyes.
You looked at me and smiled; child, I went wild, I was hypnotized.
Well, I'm still here at your command, but I need you to understand:
Oh, Nicole, oh Nicole
Girl, you know I didn't mean to hurt you so.
Oh, Nicole, oh Nicole
Give me one more chance, baby please don't go Nicole
With the faces of strangers my only companions I was so alone.
How could I sing about love when I had no friend to call my own?
Well I hope you can find your way free to please be that friend to me.
Oh, Nicole, oh Nicole
Girl, you know I didn't mean to hurt you so.
Oh, Nicole, oh Nicole
Give me one more chance, baby please don't go Nicole
Oh Nicole (X3)
When the CD stopped, the smile almost seemed plastered on Nicole's f ace. They'd had their ups and downs, but all in all, Nicole wouldn't trade any of it for the world. There'd always been a special place for him in her heart, and she knew he'd felt the same way. She loved him—and always would—until they met again!