Nick walked up to Hannah's front door and knocked. It took a moment for Sam to get to the door.
"Hey, Nick, what goes on?" Sam asked with a smile as he answered the door.
"Not much. Just taking a break from installing windows," Nick smiled, and scanning the inside of the house asked, "Your mom around?"
"That's a tricky question, Nick. There's someone in the kitchen that looks like my mom, but this person in the kitchen? She's baking about a gazillion cupcakes for the PTA bake sale... so….I'm not quite sure." Sam stated, and then leaned in closer to Nick, whispering, "Janet bakes cupcakes. Mrs. Rowan bakes cupcakes. My mom? She never bakes cupcakes. Especially not in bulk."
Nick face showed mild surprise.
"Hence, the confusion. Gotcha. How about I do some recon and let you know what I find out?" Nick offered with a wink.
Sam opened the door wider and threw out his arm in the direction of the kitchen, "Be my guest. If you see my mom, tell her I went over Doody's house which, last time I checked, was a cupcake free zone."
"Okay, Sam. See ya." Nick said laughing, rubbing the top of Sam's head as he walked past him and headed towards the kitchen.
Nick walked through the kitchen door and was shocked by what he saw. Hannah was standing in the middle of her kitchen, surrounded by tray, upon tray, of cupcakes. Some chocolate, some vanilla. Some frosted, some not. She had frosting, and flour, on various parts of her clothing, with a trace of frosting on her face, near her mouth, betraying any chance she had to hide the fact that she'd helped herself to some of the tasty frosting.
Hannah looked a bit surprised, and definitely uncomfortable, with Nick's arrival.
"What, in the name of the Cupcake Kid, is going on here, Hannah? This is… um… wow. Is this all for the PTA bake-sale or are you planning on single handedly knocking out hunger in third world countries by air dropping in cupcakes?" Nick teased.
"Ha, ha, Nick," Hannah replied, "Just trying to be a good mom. Make up for lost time."
"Make up for lost time by baking cupcakes… in your kitchen … alone?" Nick probed, prompting a sarcastic smile with squinted eyes from Hannah.
"What do you want, Nick? This? This is none of your business," Hannah said with a touch of annoyance in her voice.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to offend, Hannah. Just wanted to find out what goes on with you and see how you're doing. You know, with the whole Ray thing and all." Nick began to lose his nerve, and question why he even showed up at Hannah's at all.
Hannah looked at Nick, and then around at her cupcake filled kitchen, and then back at Nick again feeling a little guilty for being impatient with him.
"Sorry," Hannah said to Nick, with a shrug of her shoulders, "How about peace offering? ...Cupcake?" Hannah smiled, picking up and displaying a perfect cupcake on the palm of her hand and holding it to the side of her face as if she were a model showing off a million dollar prize.
"Think you can spare one?" Nick teased, and got another squinting glare from Hannah for his trouble.
Nick crossed behind Hannah to get to her kitchen table. His hand briefly touched Hannah's arm, and that slight touch affected Nick more than he'd care to admit. He pushed the feeling out of his mind as much as he possibly could.
Hannah felt it too. She couldn't hide the flush that crossed her face. She did her best to ignore it as she grabbed them each a cup of coffee, and a cupcake, and joined Nick at the table.
"My best friend's out of town. Baking works for her, so, I thought I'd try it and see if it helped." Hannah admitted.
"Did it?" Nick asked.
"Not so much." Hannah stated as she stuffed a bite of cupcake into her mouth.
"I know I'm not Janet, but… do you want to talk?" Nick asked, hopeful that Hannah would open up to him. Hannah just looked at Nick thoughtfully, trying to decide if she was ready to talk, and if Nick was the person she wanted to be talking to. After a slight silence, she decided.
"Not much to talk about, Nick. I messed up. I knew who Ray Cataldo was. And, yet, somehow? I fell for the charm and the whole 'white knight' mask her wore for me. Damn it. "
"Oh, you mean like in the Caltaldo Builders commercial? The guy on the white horse riding to the rescue?" Nick said sarcastically, tried to make Hannah smile -- and it worked.
"Yep, just like that," Hannah laughed, but the she paused, becoming more serious. She briefly glanced down at her hand, where her engagement ring once was, "I really thought he had become this ... good guy. This 'pillar of the community', right? I let him into my life, into Sam's life, ... and then I put my foot down on the gas pedal and I never looked back. I ignored all of the warning signs. The fire alarms. The sirens. The ticking time bomb. All of it. I was ... a fool."
"You're no fool, Hannah Jane. Love is blind. You know that. It's not your fault." Nick tried to sooth Hannah. He reached over and placed his hand on hers. Again, the feeling from that touch was powerful. He slowly pulled back his hand. Hannah didn't seem to notice this time.
"Maybe. Maybe not." Hannah looked indecisive about whether to continue, but she did, "I really did love Ray … as crazy as that sounds. I still miss him, Nick. But, I hate him too. I hate him for what he did to Eddie… and Janet. For hurting Sam… For hurting me…"
Nick didn't reply right away, as Hannah grabbed a napkin and wiped the tears that she just couldn't stop from forming in the corners of her eyes. He just watched her, trying to decide what the right thing to say would be.
"For what it's worth, I do think Ray is paying a pretty steep price… Losing you…" Nick spoke the last two words softly, and thoughtfully. After all, he knew all about that from experience.
"I don't know about that Nick," Hannah looked up at Nick and found herself a little lost in his eyes, "But, thank you for saying that."
Nick just smiled, finding himself a little lost in Hannah's eyes too.
xoxoxoxoxoxox
Eddie followed Janet into her house, dragging in both his suitcase and hers. He walked right into the bedroom for the first time in months. He put the suitcases on the bed, and walked back out to the living room where Janet was standing at her desk, beginning to sort through her mail and listen to her messages at the same time. Eddie walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, and rested his head comfortably against hers. Janet couldn't help but smile at how easy, and comfortable, things were between her and Eddie.
"I'm going to go home, get a few things and see how Phyz is doing. What do you want to do for dinner later?" Eddie asked Janet, kissing the side of her face.
Eddie released Janet from his arms and headed to the kitchen to get a bottle of water.
"I know this is going to sound a little crazy – but how about Sully's? I want to catch up on the books tomorrow morning, so I need to go there and get them." Janet replied, still focused on going through her mail. She came across a package, wrapped in brown paper.
"Works for me. I could go for a burger and a draft." Eddie replied from the kitchen.
"What the hell is this?" She asked aloud, ignoring Eddie's last comment. Eddie came back out to the living room and offered Janet a bottle of water. She was too focused on what she found in her pile of mail to take the water bottle from him so he put it down on the desk.
"What's what?" Eddie asked.
"A present from Ray." Janet said with disdain in her voice as she thumbed through a book of some type. A cross between a photo album and a memory book. Baby pictures, Cataldo family photos, a documented family history. Ancestors, blood types…
It was too much to even think about. Janet stared at it for a moment before angrily throwing the book in the trash can.
"Say the word and I'll go talk to him and tell him to back off." Eddie offered, perhaps a little too eagerly.
"No, thank you. I just got you back, dude. I can't have you locked up for assault, or worse yet, murder." Janet replied with a smirk as she turned back towards Eddie.
"Okay. Your call. Let me know if you change your mind," Eddie said with just a hint of disappointment in his voice. He leaned down and lightly kissed Janet.
Janet wasn't quite satisfied with that, as she pulled him back towards her for a deeper, lingering kiss. When the kiss ended, Eddie smiled broadly, and lightly touched the side of Janet's face, before breaking their eye lock, turning, and reluctantly walking out the door.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Hannah and Nick drank coffee and talked for the better part of an hour. At one point, Hannah shook her head from side to side, as if she were shaking off a dream.
"You know what? I am SO done talking about me. What goes on with you, Nick? How's the Commander doing?" Hannah changed the topic and the mood.
"The Commander is… doing better. He's been a horrible patient, but Leslie keeps him in line. Did you know they're getting married?" Nick asked.
"No, I didn't know that. That's great news!" Hannah stated, before cautiously asking, "How are you doing with the whole Ronnie/Aubrey thing?"
"Surprisingly? I'm doing okay with it. I was little hurt at first -- but I had to admit to myself that Aubrey and I didn't have… 'it'. And, we weren't going to. So… I'm happy for them." Nick admitted with a shrug.
"You sure about that?" Hannah inquired.
"Yeah. Trust me, I've had some time to think about it. I'm ready to move on from Aubrey, and figure out what comes next, you know? Who knows, maybe I'll finish my second novel." Nick honestly replied.
"Finish? That means you started writing again?" Hannah asked.
"Started. Not much more than that. And, trust me, you and Eddie will have right of first refusal before it ever gets published. I want to use this novel to make things right. I want to at least try." Nick admitted.
"Good for you, Nick Garrett." Hannah said, raising her cup of coffee to toast his. Nick smiled as he met her half way, clinking his coffee mug against hers.
"Thank you, Hannah Jane Daniels. Listen, I've got to get back to work. Thanks for the coffee… and the cupcake... " Nick said as he got up from the table. Nick smiled at Hannah as he turned to leave.
But he stopped suddenly.
"Um, Hannah. Sam left for Doody's when I got here. He seemed pretty baffled by your sudden need to be Betty Crocker… He's got to be confused about what went on with Ray too... "
Hannah looked at Nick cautiously, and listened, but the light mood was subsiding, and the darkness was returning.
"I just want you to know that I want to be here for him too. More than I have been, if that's okay." Nick stated carefully. He still couldn't help but wonder if Sam was his kid, "I want to be a father figure… a role model, for Sam. "
He noticed Hannah's defenses rising, as she crossed her arms across her chest and gave Nick a steely look with her eyes.
"I'm not asking for anything more than that…" Nick didn't want to go too far. He was getting closer to demanding the truth, but now was not the time.
"And, it's not just me, Hannah. Eddie and Phil both feel the same way." Nick stumbled over his words just a bit -- trying to assure Hannah of his intentions.
Hannah relaxed. The paternity thing wasn't something she was ready to address. Yet. She dropped her arms to her sides, and at the same time, dropped her defenses.
"Oh… Yeah… I'm okay with that, Nick. And, Sam will be too. Thanks." Hannah kept looking at Nick like he was a puzzle she couldn't quite figure out.
"Okay, I'm really gonna go now. Later, Hannah." Nick said, giving Hannah a slight wave goodbye, as he disappeared out the kitchen door.
Hannah watched him leave, and tried to sort through the emotions she was feeling. There was something about hanging out with Nick that clicked and felt right. And, he was good with Sam. Still, she pushed all of that out of her mind. For now.
And, then, Hannah took a moment to look around her kitchen. She just shook her head at the sheer volume of cupcakes. She sighed deeply and went back to work frosting and boxing the cupcakes.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
After Eddie left, Janet went back to reading through her mail. She picked up the bottle of water, opened it and took a sip. After a few moments she walked over to the trash can and looked down. She turned away for a second, and then turned back, obviously conflicted in her feelings about the information that Ray was trying to share with her.
After a moment of indecision, Janet knelt down and took the book out of trash can. She looked at it for a second, and then walked back over to her desk. She wasn't ready to read it just now, but at the same time she couldn't just discard it that lightly. She opened a desk drawer and carefully placed the book inside.
Then Janet went to her bedroom and opened her suitcase. She found her journal and then went back out to her couch where she began to document the events of the last few wonderful days, and she admitted to herself, and her journal, that she had indeed decided what her answer to Eddie's question would be.