p class="MsoBodyText"It had been a slow week at the Legacy House. Rachel and Kat had taken their annual trip to Ireland to visit Patrick and Connor. Derek was at the London house on official legacy business. Nick went to visit an old navy buddy who was sick in the hospital, which left Alex in the house alone. She knew that this was a rare occasion, and she meant to take full advantage of it. It had taken great effort for her to get Nick to leave, although she truly wanted him to stay, she could tell he was concerned for his friend, but more concerned with her. After a car accident that Alex had been involved in, which put her in the hospital for two weeks, Nick had become her shadow. He had even taken up residency in her bedroom, but all they did was hold each other and sleep, which Alex felt she was becoming too accustomed to. In the past couple of weeks, she and Nick had both become aware of an attraction for one another that had seemed to have come out of no where. They had agreed that they wanted to see where it would lead but that they would take this new aspect of their relationship slow.
After she had assured Nick she would be fine, and that they would only be an hour apart, Nick pack his duffel bag, kissed her soundly,
and headed out. Alex stood in the doorway, waving and making sure he actually left. Then she went in and gave the staff the rest of the week off, it was Wednesday, and everyone would be returning Monday.
She figured she could survive without a cook and housekeeper for that long. She went outside to the Guard's station, wanting to give them the same offer, but the response was, "Miss Alex, Nick left explicit orders, that if anything happened to you, he would put a bullet between our eyes". Alex had to smiled at that. "Nick"
she thought. "My white knight." Alex reentered the empty house,
and stood against the door, listening. She heard nothing but silence,
with a sharp yelp she ran to the entertainment room, which had been installed mainly for Kat's benefit. Alex moved to the stereo,
pulled out her 'Alex's love songs' CD, and popped it in the player. The first track played her favorite song, 'Love and Happiness'. She closed her eyes and slowly danced around the room to the music, rocking and swaying. She moved to the nearby fireplace,
and started a fire. She swirled around, singing the lyrics. With the fire starting to brew, Alex decided to run upstairs and change into something more comfortable./p