Disclaimer: Don't anything except a few small OC's mentioned. Big ownage on Nikki, though.

A/N: Not much to say except thanks for the reviews, you guys. This chapter is pretty long, and pretty Nikki-fied, so hopefully you guys can hang in there. Not sure if I've ever had a problem in Nikki's life so in detail as this one, but I figure the girl has to show some vulnerability in a subject of her life. Anyway, love the reviews, keep em' coming because feedbacks and those reviews keep me going. Tell me what you think, please.

rage-ember: Thanks for the review. Glad you like it so far, I'm always so sketchy about sequels because I try to make them just as good and liked as the first story, so thanks for the feedback.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Those two are your friends from high school, right?" Angel asked, as the three brothers passed around boxes of Chinese food, and slapped the insides onto their plate acting as if they haven't eaten in days. "The girl's cute. Well, since you two only hung out with one girl anyway."

"Nikki couldn't fucking stand many other females," Bobby added, laughing a little.

Jack shot Angel a look of awkwardness, and nodded, "Yeah. Frankie and Cali. Me and Nikki are gonna hang out with them when I come back."

"You all set for tomorrow?" Bobby asked, peaking up at Jack.

Jack shrugged, "I guess? I'm just getting our stuff and fixing all that needs to be fixed. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Where is that girl anyway?" Bobby asked, and Jack shrugged again. "So much for you two being a couple. You don't even know what she's doing." Jack looked up at Bobby, as Bobby sat there, awaiting an answer. Jack shrugged once more after the pause, and Bobby clenched his jaw.

"Well, where's Sofi?" Jack asked, trying to make a point that couples didn't always have to know where the other one was.

"Upstairs, watching TV, because it's soap opera time," Angel said, quickly, not even looking up.

"See, fairy," Bobby pointed. "Now that is a couple. Fucking dysfunctional as they are, but still a real couple."

- - - - - - - -

Creaking up the stairs, with a plate full of Chinese food that Nikki favored, Jack walked slowly, and grabbed the door knob, hearing the sound of people talking from Nikki's laptop. Opening it, and peaking in, he saw her as she lay curled in fetal position, not taking her eyes off the movie. Closing the door behind him, he put the plate down, and sat behind her, putting his hand on her head.

"You all right?" He asked, his fingers traveling through her hair.

"Yeah, I'm good," Nikki responded, no emotion evident in her voice.

Leaning forward, Jack looked down at her, and waited for her to finally look up at him. "You know I hate it when you lie to me," He said, and she turned to lie down on her other side, facing up at him.

"I know," She said, and shrugged a little. "I'm not sure what's wrong exactly."

Jack's eyebrows furrowed, and she sat up, sitting against the wall. "So, something is wrong, but you're not sure what it is?" She nodded, "You're not sure what it is, or you're kinda sure what it is, and you just don't wanna admit that this thing is bothering you?"

Nikki thought, staring up at the ceiling, "Definitely the second one."

Jack sat against the wall, next to her, crossing his arms, just waiting for whatever she needed to say. Waiting for her to admit it to herself, before she could say it aloud to him.

"It's my mom," Nikki whispered after ten minutes of silence between them, other than the background music of the movie playing. "Especially after finding out that Hannah's mom bailed on her."

Jack looked at her, and shifted awkwardly. She never talked about her mom before. She didn't even think about her mom before. Jack figured that it would be all right, and didn't think that if the guys' were pressuring her to pick up dancing and singing again, that it would bring up questions that she had about her mom. She left that part of her life behind. Or so he thought. Now that she was thrust into the talents of her mother, the questions started to gnaw at her daily.

"Fuck Jackie. And I don't even know what I'm wondering about her. I don't know if I'm mad, or I'm sad about it. I don't know if I should be angry or just forget about it all, just like I used to. I have a fucking shit load of questions, but when I try to think about it or list them out in my head, I can't think of a damn one," Nikki mumbled, shaking her head, as if she was still trying to deny the words she was saying.

"Damn it," Nikki yelled, fists clenching. "I don't know. It's just," Nikki looked up at Jack, whose concerned eyes focused on her, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do. "I don't know. And I hate thinking about it." She sighed, "Because there's nothing I can do anyway."

Putting his arm around her, and pulling her towards his side, he sighed as well, "I don't know what-"

"I know," She replied knowing he didn't have a clue on what to say about this subject, seeing they never talked about it before, and Jack had never felt the need to find out about his parents. "It's okay."

Kissing the top of her head, and leaning his chin on her head afterwards, Jack blinked at the laptop screen, seeing how the characters would interact and fight, but the sound of it blurred out. "We're not gonna see each other for three days," He said, and eyes got wide. "I don't think we've done that before. Even when you ignore me, or we fight, we at least see each other." He paused, "You know, me getting you to try and talk to me from the window or something."

Nikki laughed, "We're not that pathetic that we won't last three days without seeing each other. We can try that thing where people talk on the phone instead of constantly being by each other, which is pretty damn sad if you think about it."

"Yeah, I guess," Jack said, taking his head off of hers, and leaning against the wall again. "Unless something bad happens. Then I'd need you there."

"You think something bad will happen when you leave? To you or to me?" Nikki asked, and Jack stared at her, eyebrow slightly raised. "To both of us, eh?" He nodded, "It is expected." She sighed, the two sitting there, looking forward.

"You know what I completely forget sometimes?" Jack asked, and Nikki looked over at him.

"What?"

He chuckled a little, "That we go out. Other than those times when we actually do couple stuff, but most of the time it's just normal stuff we do. Bobby made me realize that."

Nikki shrugged a little, and faced the wall in front of them, again, "Fuck conventional couples."

- - - - - -

"You did a great job today, Nikki," Jaymi, head dance instructor, said, throwing Nikki a bottle of water.

Nikki smiled, regaining her breath, and catching the bottle with one hand, "Thanks. They're pretty cool, the kids." Nikki shrugged, "Sometimes when teaching kids, I wanna rip my head off."

Jaymi laughed, "No, they're cool. Nicely whipped into behavioral shape before you came."

"Owens?" Nikki heard the voice, and slowly turned around. She'd never been called Owens in her life; it was always Mercer, never Owens. "Thea?" She spoke again, confusing Nikki beyond belief. Thea. Why would she call her Thea?

"What?" Nikki asked, unable to say anything else.

"Oh, you're not Thea," She said, coming closer towards Nikki. "God, you look just like her. You're her daughter, aren't you?"

"Daughter," Nikki repeated, as she lady smiled.

"I'm your mom's friend, Sara. She was my best friend a while back. You're her daughter, right? What's your name?" She held out a hand, and Nikki slowly shook it.

"Nikki," She answered, trying to gain her composure. "I'm Nikki."

"You look just like your mom, anyone tell you that? I'm sure you hear that all the time," She said, still smiling. She was obviously out of the loop with the whole 'mom fleeing as fast as her first daughter was born' thing.

"Uh, no, never heard that actually," Nikki said, looking down, only glancing up at his lady bringing all the emotions Nikki had about her mom to the surface.

"Well, you really do. The two of you are just so pretty. But we've gotta go," She said, holding her daughter's hand. "Tell your mom I said hi."

Nikki nodded, and tried to smile politely as Sara turned around, waving, opening the door letting the cold air slap Nikki in the face, as Nikki simply blinked feeling more vulnerable and emotionally stripped down than she ever did before.