The Mask and the Gun
Nick: What would you say if I asked you to rob a bank for me?
Chelsea: I'd say give me the mask and the gun, because I'm there for you.
Nick: You know that's not true.
Chelsea: Yes it is. Because when it comes down to it, I would do anything for you.
-Days of Our Lives, March 29, 2007
Disclaimer: All characters are property of NBC, Sony, and Corday productions. No profit is being made from this fic.
Note: I put off starting this fic for months in the hopes that I would lose interest. I haven't. In my decade in Days internet fandom (okay, it's closer to two decades… leave me alone), I've met perhaps three people I would expect to enjoy this fic. Two of them are no longer active in the Days community. So, yeah. But anyway. Give it a try and back out if it's not your style.
Part 1: Bribes and Favors
Julie had spent the entirety of her life making some rather serious mistakes.
The mistake she had made that evening was a particularly glorious one. She'd left Nick alone in the park rather than frog marching him to a restaurant for dinner and Horton family secrets. It was not a mistake her grandmother would have made; of that, Julie was sure.
Luckily, Julie had learned in her life that mistakes themselves were not usually the cause of anyone's downfall. The cause of a fall was worrying about what was already done instead of taking action to change course.
Few people took action the way Julie Olson Banning Anderson Williams Williams Williams took action.
It wasn't hard for Julie to convince the paramedics to let her ride in the ambulance with Nick. It was important for her to be there to let Nick know that he wasn't alone, of course. But it was more important for her to get a jump on whoever it was who had shot Nick.
Julie had looked around the town square when Nick had collapsed bleeding in her arms, pointing at the person who had shot him. She had expected to see horror and fear on every face. Instead, she had seen boredom and relief. Nick wasn't safe. Half of Salem wanted Nick dead, and whether Nick deserved it or not was not Julie's concern. Half of Salem had probably wanted her dead once, too.
"We're taking him straight up to surgery. Skipping the ER," one of the paramedics told her.
She texted her young family members who had stood stone-faced in the Square short moments before: We're arriving at the ER now.
That would buy her two or three minutes.
Time enough to call Bill's grandson Jeremy and request a plane equipped to transfer a critically wounded patient halfway across the country.
Time enough to call her old friend Senator Levin and ask him to arrange a place at the Smith Center in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Time enough to lay down the law that Nick's doctors were to speak only to her rather than making grand announcements to the family at large that was sure to assemble soon.
Time enough to offer an egregious amount of money to convince a young nurse's assistant to take on a little acting job on the side. Julie hated bribes, in general, and this might well blow up in her face. But if it didn't blow up in her face until Nick's life was saved, she didn't much care.
Soon enough, the waiting room filled with people.
Will and Sonny came in first. "Julie? Are you okay?" asked Will.
It was a perfunctory question, but a troubling one to Julie's newly suspicious mind. "Ask about Nick!" she reprimanded sharply.
"That was my next question," said Will, warm, compassionate, not taking offense where he didn't have to. "What- Is-"
"They just took him into surgery," she obliged, because there was really no way to lie.
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
It was another perfunctory question, and Julie couldn't help but be irritated no matter how good Will's intentions. "I'd like the last two hours back, please. I was going to take him to dinner, and if I had this wouldn't have happened."
"I'm sorry," said Will, and he sounded like he meant it. But Will was the child of one of the biggest liars Salem had ever seen. Will couldn't really be all sweetness and light, as he presented himself, could he?
"I know you two disagreed with him. I know he made mistakes. But he didn't deserve this."
And she walked away before she had to listen to the usual explanation that Will was the good grandson of Bill Horton and Nick was the bad grandson of Marie Horton and obviously good had to defeat evil.
Will resolutely followed her. "Julie? Is there someone you need me to call?"
If only Will knew what calls Julie had made before he'd gotten in her way. But it was time for Julie to start playing the grieving matriarch. She couldn't have Will as suspicious of her as she suddenly was of Will (and Sonny, and Abigail, and the mouth-breather panting over Abigail, and Lucas, and Kate, and Sami, and that snake EJ DiMera). "Jessica. His mother. I don't even know what to say to her."
She glanced at the mouth-breather, finding him a better target than her little cousin Will. "Who are you?" she demanded.
"Abigail's friend. Ben," he introduced himself.
"Did you even know Nick?"
"I met him once or twice."
"And you hated him, too." Julie narrowed her eyes. "Every last one of you hated him. He told me, but I didn't believe him."
Just in time, Julie's newest employee appeared in turquoise scrubs. "Ma'am. We have some forms that need signing."
Julie followed her deep into the bowels of the hospital, where Nick's doctor met her outside a recovery room. "How is he?" Julie demanded.
"His wounds were very severe. A major artery was struck. He coded twice. We revived him."
"And?"
"He survived the surgery and that is a very important first step. His odds only go up from here."
"Is he stable enough to be transferred to another hospital?"
"I would not recommend it."
"He was shot. As long as he remains here, the chance that someone will finish the job is too high."
"We have excellent security," the surgeon pressed.
"You have EJ DiMera on the hospital board. My grandfather built this hospital, and I know he would have been proud of you. You would have been welcome here in any era. But other things have changed. I'll arrange for the transfer. And I will pass the news along to my family."
She turned on her heel and headed back to the waiting room. The nursing assistant followed her like a shadow. "Count to 45 in your head. Then you come out. Just as we arranged." The young woman nodded. "You aren't having second thoughts?" Julie prompted.
"I have four children. One of them has asthma. Every time I miss a shift to sit in the emergency room with him, I get another warning for bad attendance. As if they have people lining up to work the overnight shift." She scoffed. "This one lie could change our lives. It's a risk I'm willing to take."
Julie looked her in the eye. "It's not a risk, darling. It's a sure thing."
Julie sighed inwardly when she saw that Hope had arrived. Lying to her sister- to Doug's daughter- was not a task that she relished. Hope would take Nick's "death" hard; Julie knew that she would.
Julie took Hope's hand in hers. "There hasn't been a word or a bulletin since he went into the operating room," she lied.
"Maybe you could ask, Hope!" Maggie suggested brightly.
Hope looked inclined to do just that, and Julie wondered if her actress had the brains to come out before Hope used her badge to bypass the red tape Julie had tried to create around Nick.
"I'm looking for Mrs. Williams?" a voice piped up.
Julie rushed to her side. "Are you his doctor? Nick's doctor?" The young woman nodded gravely in a fair imitation of the real surgeon. "Well, how is he? How did the surgery go?"
"Mr. Fallon's wounds were very severe. A major artery collapsed. He coded twice. We revived him. But the last time…" The woman trailed off and hung her head.
Privately, Julie had to give her credit for keeping her story close to the truth. She had even avoided the outright lie of saying Nick had died.
"No!" shouted Julie. It worked to keep her family from questioning the pretended doctor more closely. But it also felt good to shout. "No, God, no!" She spun in aimless circles until Maggie grabbed her.
"He was pronounced dead ten minutes ago."
Something inside Julie shivered when the woman finally went all in on the lie. Or perhaps it was the truth? Perhaps Nick really had coded a third time?
"I'm so sorry for your loss," she completed, and would have left had Hope not asked for a minute alone with the body.
Julie kept her head buried in Maggie's shoulder. This would be the greatest test. Unhooking Nick from the machines and praying that his breathing was shallow enough that a seasoned police officer would mistake him for a corpse would not have been Julie's first choice. The room would be dark, and Hope would be grieving, and the power of suggestion was no small thing. Hope had been told that Nick was dead; she was hardly going to take his pulse.
But Julie still held her breath until Hope emerged and said that Julie, Maggie, and Gabi could say goodbye.
The room was so dark that Julie could hardly see. That was right; that meant that Hope would not have been able to see either. A sheet covered most of Nick's body. He lay with his eyes closed and his lips parted. He lay so still that he might have been dead.
If Julie had killed Nick with her plan to save him, she would never forgive herself.
Julie stroked Nick's hair, comforted to find that his skin was warm. "I should have stuck with you tonight, darling," she apologized for what she hoped would be the first of many times. "I asked him to go out to dinner tonight, but he said he wanted to be alone," she explained to Maggie. Maggie was crying; her vision must have been blurring, and Gabi looked half-crazed with fear. Neither one of them would trust herself if she thought she saw Nick breathing. "I should have been there more. Maybe he wouldn't have been in that terrible place. I should have been around…"
"I tried," whimpered Maggie. "Not enough. But I did try."
"No, we all failed him," Julie corrected. But if she got another chance, she wasn't going to fail her little cousin again.
"He didn't want help," whimpered Maggie, already making excuses for herself. Maggie hadn't really cared about anyone but her long-lost son Dan, and Dan's daughter Melanie, in years. Dan didn't like Nick, and Melanie didn't like Nick, so Maggie didn't care about Nick any longer.
"He didn't know how to ask for it, Maggie, and there's a difference!" Julie was struck with a vicious realization that she wasn't going to mind lying to Maggie. Hope, yes. Maggie, no.
"Sleep well, my angel," Maggie told Nick in a final sort of way.
In turn, Julie leaned down to brush her lips against Nick's face. "God give you peace, and glory."
And if He doesn't, I certainly will.
Hope walked home from the hospital in the early hours of the morning. She would take a shower, give her children the bad news about Nick, and then get to work solving the crime.
Rafe had told her that she had no business investigating her own cousin's death. He was right and she knew it, but she didn't care. As long as the crime got solved, a voice in her head suggested, what did it matter if she breached protocol?
Her jaw tightened. The voice in her head sounded like Bo. Bo would never have recused himself from a case involving a family member, and Bo would never have let a little thing like best practices get in the way of what he, himself, thought was best.
Why Bo thought it best to leave her alone with their daughter for nearly two years was beyond her.
But now wasn't the time to worry about Bo. Instead, she had to take care of their children.
She called Shawn-D first. He and Belle had sailed to Australia earlier in the year and had liked it so much that they had put their daughter Claire in school there. Early morning in Salem was late evening in Australia; soon, it would be too late to call.
Besides, Shawn-D was both the oldest and the easiest. Telling Ciara, when she had already suffered more loss than any little girl should, was going to be an ordeal. And Chelsea…
Tears pricked Hope's eyes. Chelsea might just take it worse than Ciara.
Shawn-D answered his phone on the first ring. "Mom!" he said, his voice warm and happy. "Claire just went to bed, but I'll wake her up. I know she won't want to miss talking to you."
Hope swallowed hard. "No. No, Shawn, don't do that."
His tone changed abruptly. "What's wrong? Oh my God, is it Dad?"
"Your father's fine. As far as I know. I haven't heard anything new."
"Then what?"
"It's your cousin Nick. He… well, there's no easy way to say it. He was shot last night and the doctors did their best, but he didn't pull through."
Halfway around the world, Shawn-D exhaled heavily. "He was shot? Who would want to shoot Nick?"
It struck Hope with a fresh wave of sadness that Shawn-D had been away from Salem for a very long time. He still thought of Nick as the awkward, sweet young men who had come to town eight years before. Indeed, no one would have wanted to shoot that Nick. But the Nick who had smirked and threatened and tormented Will for being gay…
"Half of Salem wanted Nick dead. He wasn't the same boy you remember. Prison changed him."
"That's really hard to believe," Shawn-D mused. "Not that prison changed him. I mean, I do believe you. But when I think of Nick, I think of the guy who flew to Canada to give Belle and me the money we needed to get out of town before Philip could find us. Did I ever even tell you? I got arrested and he had to use the money you gave him to bail me out. He promised he would get enough to get us on a boat and he wouldn't let me ask how. It wasn't until a year later that Chelsea told me he got it by pawning the watch his parents bought him when he graduated at the top of his class at that Polytech place. Oh, God, Chelsea. Does she know?"
"She's my next call."
"Want me to do it?"
"That's sweet," said Hope, and it was. But she hadn't done enough to stop Nick's downward spiral. She couldn't change that now, but she could find his killer, and she could break the news to the girl who had once loved him with all of her heart. "Don't worry. I'll do it."
"I'll let you go, then," said Shawn-D. "Thanks for calling."
"I didn't want you to find out from Facebook."
"Call Chelsea right away. She's always online first thing in the morning."
"Right," Hope agreed, and they said their goodbyes.
For the past two years, her step-daughter had been working at a private hospital near Washington DC. Hope got the idea that most of the patients were politicians who did not want word of exactly what they'd done to land in the hospital to get out. Chelsea had never said for sure. She had only said that she'd taken the first job offered, and if it was far away from everyone she knew, so much the better.
Hope thought Chelsea seemed lonely enough without hearing what Hope had to tell her.
It was early in Washington, but not egregiously so. Chelsea would be getting ready for work. Numbly, Hope watched as her phone dialed Chelsea's number.
"Hope?" Chelsea's voice was full of fear. "What's wrong? Is it Dad?"
Damn it, Brady, Hope scowled inwardly. Bo had no business vanishing and leaving his children to worry like this. "Your father's fine, Sweetie. But I think you should sit down. I do have bad news."
"Don't try to soften it. That never works. Just tell me," ordered Chelsea.
Hope obeyed. "Nick Fallon died this morning."
"What?" Outraged explosions usually came first with Chelsea. Grief came later, often wrapped up in a self-destructive bundle.
"He was murdered. But I am going to find whoever did it, and I am going to make sure they're punished."
"You do that, Hope. You send them to prison for the rest of their lives. And you tell them from me that-" Chelsea's voice broke off so suddenly that Hope wondered if they had lost their connection.
"Chelsea? Are you there?"
"Yeah." She was silent again.
"What are you thinking?"
"Just that I don't really have a right to be upset, you know? I haven't seen Nick for, what, five years? I can't carry on like I'm the grieving widow when all he was was my college sweetheart."
"You have a right to whatever feelings you want to have. You loved Nick very much and he loved you very much. Even if he wasn't with you, of course you wanted to think that he was out there, somewhere, safe and happy."
"I guess." Chelsea's voice cracked. "I wouldn't be the person I am if it hadn't been for Nick. He saw through all my brattiness and lashing out. He saw that I could be smart, and good, and lovable and- he just saw me. I don't think you and I would even have ever gotten to be on speaking terms if it hadn't been for Nick."
"Yes, we would have," Hope promised. "You're Bo's daughter and you are a part of this family. We would have found a way." She shook her head to clear the memories of anger, pain, and Zack. "But Nick did make it a lot easier."
"I miss him so much. I hadn't seen him in years but now I miss him so much. People like him shouldn't die. Young people. Brilliant people. Of everyone I ever met in my life, the two was sure were going to change the world were Nick and-" She stopped just short of saying Zack's name, but Hope felt it. "I have to get ready for work. Thank you for calling."
"Are you sure you should go to work? You could take time off. You could come visit. Ciara would love to see you."
"I need to go to work," Chelsea repeated.
"I'll keep you up to date on the investigation. If that's what you want?"
"Yes. Please," said Chelsea, and she hung up without a proper goodbye.
Hope stared at the phone. "Do not do anything dangerous," she told Chelsea, even though there was no way for Chelsea to hear.
But there was one more call to make.
Unlike Shawn-D and Chelsea, Ciara let her phone ring and ring. Just before it went to voicemail, the little girl casually answered. "Hi, Mommy. Are you finally calling to tell me that someone murdered my favorite cousin?"
"I wanted to tell you, Ciara. I didn't want to wake you up."
"Allie did that," said Ciara matter-of-factly. "She's staying at Grandma's, too. She woke up screaming."
"Poor Allie," Hope sighed.
"Allie said that there was blood everywhere. She said Nick walked into the Horton Square pumped full of bullets."
"That's true," Hope admitted. She didn't care for Ciara's word choice, but it wouldn't do any good to lie to her daughter.
"Of course it's true. Allie doesn't lie. She's useless that way."
"Don't call your cousin useless," said Hope automatically.
"Whatever," said Ciara.
"I'll come see you before you go to school, all right?"
"Whatever," Ciara repeated.
It was going to be a long day.
TBC
Auxiliary Disclaimer: Some dialog in this chapter was taken directly from the May 12, 2014 episode of Days of Our Lives.