Disclaimer: I don't own Rent. I think that's obvious to everyone.

Nick

I love my sister with all my heart. I would kill for her, I would put my life on the line to save hers. I watched as Ellie's death shattered her whole world. Also watched what Roger did to her. I wanted to hurt him as bad as he hurt her the night that I went to the loft. But when I saw how pathetic he looked and decided that nothing I could do would be worse than what he was doing to himself. I was fully prepared to hate Roger until my last breath. But I ran into him about two years after Kelly had left.

Flashback

Nick walked was walking into a bar when he crashed into someone.

"Fuck." Nick said getting up. "Sorry about that." He said reaching down to help the other person up. He froze when he saw it was Roger.

"Hi Nick." Roger said standing up. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough." Nick said turning around to walk out.

"Nick wait." Roger called out. Nick stopped but didn't turn around. "Listen I made a lot of mistakes that I'm sorry for. And I'm paying for them now."

"What do you mean?" Nick asked turning around.

"Can we maybe sit and talk? Have a beer maybe?" Roger asked.

"Fine." Nick said as they walked to the back booth. "So?"

"Um I know that you know about the drugs." Roger said looking at the table.

"Yeah." Nick said. He wasn't going to make this easy on him.

"I'm positive." Roger said bluntly.

"You mean?" Nick asked. Now it was his turn to look down.

"Yeah HIV." Roger said. "Like I said, I'm paying for my mistakes."

"I'm sorry Roger." Nick said. And he truly meant it. Up until Roger started with the drugs, Nick had truly liked the guy.

"Thanks. But I'm still healthy and my T cells are pretty good." Roger said. "How is she?" He asked quietly.

"Better. She went through a really bad time right after she left. Made some not so great decisions but she's doing great now." Nick said.

"Good." Roger said. "I wish she knew how sorry I am."

"She still needs a little more time Roger." Nick said. "She has to be ready."

"I know." Roger said. "When you talk to her will you tell her that we all miss her?"

"Yeah." Nick said.

"Thanks. And tell her that the loft still has the same number if she wants to call." Roger said hopefully.

"Roger I can't promise anything." Nick said starting to feel bad for him.

"I know. I just want her to know that." Roger said standing up. "I'll see you around." Roger said shaking his hand.

"Ok." Nick said as he watched him walk away.

END OF FLASHBACK

I could see in his eyes how sorry he was. I remember when Kelly snuck back into town and we got in a fight about her going to see everyone.

Flashback

"Kelly you have to see them one day." Nick yelled.

"I'm not ready yet Nick." Kelly yelled right back. "I just need some time."

"Well you know that not all of them have that much time." Nick yelled. He realized what he said. He didn't want to be the one to tell her about Roger, Roger was the only one that could do that. "You know that Collins is sick."

"Have you heard anything?" Kelly asked as tears started to form.

"No. I haven't. But he won't be around forever Kelly." Nick said.

"I know." Kelly said sitting down on his couch. "But I don't know if I can just yet." Nick came and sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Kelly I think you are ready." Nick said. "Your just scared that they are going to be mad at you."

"They probably hate me Nicky." Kelly said crying.

"No they don't." Nick said. "They all understand that you needed to get away. They just want to hear from you."

"I don't know Nicky." Kelly said.

"Just call them." Nick said.

"I'll think about it." Kelly said wiping her eyes. "I'm going to go lay down for a little bit."

"Ok." Nick said kissing the top of her head before she got up and went into his room.

END OF FLASHBACK

She didn't call. She was still too scared. I couldn't blame her, she got her and now she was protecting herself. She's been through more than anyone can imagine. First her mom dying, her father was never around, and then she lost her child and the love of her life. It set her up to fall right in with that bastard. So help me god if I ever see him again I'll kill him. What Roger did was wrong on so many levels, but he would never even think to lay a finger on Kelly. Or any girl he was dating. Because he's a good guy deep down. That guy is so lucky that Jimmy was there when I first saw her or I'd be in jail for murder right now.

Flashback

Nick walked into Kelly's hospital room and nearly got sick. Kelly was all bruised with all these wires coming out of her.

"What's the son of a bitch's name." Nick asked angrily.

"Nick calm down." Kelly said weakly.

"That bastard is going to pay." Nick said. The guy sitting next to her got up and walked over to him.

"Listen, you have every right to be angry but that's not going to help her right now." The guy said.

"Who the hell are you?" Nick asked.

"I'm Jimmy. Kelly's boss." Jimmy said. "I found her."

"Listen thanks for helping her but I'm going to find that bastard whether you like it or not." Nick said.

"Nicky please don't do this right now." Kelly said on the verge of tears. Nick walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.

"Kelly he needs to pay for what he did to you." Nick said trying to remain calm and taking her hand.

"He's going to jail Nick. Jimmy already made me press charges." Kelly said.

"I know." Nick said wipping the hair out of his face. "I just can't stand the fact that your in here because of some bastard like that."

"Yeah well I guess I don't have the best of luck when it comes to men." Kelly said.

"Kelly you can't compare Roger to this guy." Nick said. "It's not the same thing." Nick couldn't believe that he was defending Roger.

"Are you defending Roger?" Kelly asked getting angry.

"You can't compare what he did to what this guy did." Nick said. "Roger would never lay a hand on you and you know that. I'm not saying that what he did is excusable but Kelly it's two different things."

"He cheated on me. He picked drugs and that whore over me." Kelly said crying.

"Kelly I'm not saying what he did was right." Nick said getting up. "I'm just saying that he wouldn't have ever done this to you." He said pointing at her.

"I don't want to talk about this." She said rolling over on her side. Nick sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm sorry Kelly." Nick said. "But you don't know how much it kills me to see you in here knowing that it's all because of that guy."

"I know." Kelly said softly.

"Why don't you try to get some rest. I'm going to go call mom and see when she can come out here." Nick said bending down and kissing her cheek. "Kelly you are the best. I hope you know that. You deserve so much, I hope you always remember that." Kelly didn't say anything. And Nick went to find a payphone to call his mother.

END FLASHBACK

We didn't know about Kelly's habit. She was released from the hospital a few weeks later and after me and mom settled her in at home we went to pack up my mom's hotel room. Thank god Jimmy happened to go over there or she'd be dead right now. Jimmy was able to get her into a really good rehab and she's been clean ever since. I felt like such an idiot for not knowing that she was into that shit.

Flashback

"Hey Kel, you look good." Nick said as he entered the visitors room of the rehab.

"Hi Nicky. I am so happy to see you." Kelly said hugging him tightly.

"You look good sis. I'm glad you're doing so well." he said as they sat down in their chairs.

"Yeah, I've had a lot of time to think about things in here." she said looking down at her feet as Nick leaned in to her.

"What sort of things? Roger things?" he asked as she looked up at him.

"Yeah Nick, Roger things. I've been thinking about what happened in New York." she said quietly holding back tears.

"Kel, no one blames you for leaving. You guys were having a really hard time and you just needed to get away." he said reaching out for her hand.

"It's not that Nick. I punished Roger for a long time for turning to the drugs and April, but I ran out on him long before I actually did. I mean, he's the love of my life Nick and I turned my back on him after we lost our..." she started as tears fell from her eyes.

"Kelly, you had just lost your daughter, there's no rule on how to handle something like that. You guys always loved each other, but you just got lost." he whispered as he moved to her side to hold her.

"But I punished him for turning to drugs and I go and do the same thing. I am such a hypocrite." she cried into his shoulder as he held her tight.

"Kel, everything's gonna be OK. He still loves you, you know."he said as she looked up at him.

"I know. I just can't face him. Not yet." she said as he wiped her tears from her face.

"That's OK. He'll be there when you're ready." he whispered before kissing her head

END FLASHBACK

I love my sister, but seeing her like that made me want to defy her wishes and call Roger to come to her. She needed him more than she realized, and little did she know he couldn't wait for her to be ready. He could be gone and then her chance would be lost. But there was nothing I could do. All I could do was hope she came to her senses and returned to him before it was too late. But she had to do it in her own time and in her own way.

A/N: Ok there's Nick's chapter. I hope it gave you a little more insight to what happened in LA. And I have to say thanks to the wonderful Renthead621 for helping me with this chapter. She actually wrote that last part so she deserves some of the credit too. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far. You guys rock. I love hearing what you think so remember to review. Mark is up next, I don't know when that will be up though. I'm hoping for sometime this weekend.

Until Next Time, Lot's of Love

BohemianGirl06