John and Sam skipped dinner, although Sam did come down and let them know that John was finally comfortable and they were calling it a night early. Nicole followed her back upstairs and asked Sam how things went.
"Really well. Once you sprayed his back it was like he could finally think about being comfortable, so I massaged his legs and his feet until he really relaxed. He was almost asleep when I came down here."
"Legs and feet only? Come on, Sam."
"I was saving the best for last. That cute little tushie is going to get massaged, don't you worry."
"Well somehow I don't think he would appreciate you and I discussing his tushie."
"He wouldn't care, Nicole. He trusts you. He loves you, honey, and all he wants is for you to be happy and a part of our lives."
Nicole was up before the sun the next morning, slipping on her clothes and trying to move quietly through the house so she didn't wake anyone up. Of course there were agents on guard 24 hours a day but she wasn't going to count them. No, she was going to do this alone just to prove to herself that she could.
Jake Carter woke up as soon as Nicole's door shut. He had always been a light sleeper and now the slightest sound put his whole system on alert. Nicole hadn't been an early riser since he had been on this duty, so for her to be up and moving around at this hour just set off more alarms. Throwing on a robe, he found his slippers and crept out of his room, gun in hand. Whoever had come out of Nicole's room was far enough ahead that he couldn't see who it was, so he moved cautiously down the stairs, relaxing only when he saw Nicole, alone, going into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator.
He wanted to ask her if everything was all right, but it most likely would only have scared her so he kept his distance and just watched as she started a pot of coffee, then got a yogurt out of the refrigerator and ate it while the coffee brewed.
Nicole felt like she was being watched, and she glanced around. Her eyes finally landed on Jake, yawning as he stood at the bottom of the stairs in his bathrobe. Geez, I didn't mean to wake him up. Poor guy needs his sleep. She walked over to him, noting the look of surprise on his face that she was aware of him.
"I heard you leave your room and I was afraid that something might be wrong," he said softly, trying to justify following her through the house.
"It's okay. I know that I don't usually get up so early. Why don't you go back to bed? It's early and you look tired. I'll be fine; there are plenty of agents outside to be sure that no one comes in. Go on, get back into bed."
He looked around and then reluctantly agreed to go back to sleep. "But be careful, please," he said before heading back upstairs. He had no intentions of going back to bed, though. Instead he was going to simply find a way to keep an eye on her from a distance so that she wouldn't be aware of him. Someone was watching them, someone that shouldn't be, he was certain of it.
Nicole was quite proud of herself for having told Jake to go back to bed when in reality she wanted him to stay. This old farm house was rather creepy in the wee hours of the morning, but she decided to be brave and go back into the kitchen, throwing out her empty yogurt container before pouring a cup of coffee. Occasionally she would glance out the window over the sink, half expecting someone else to be looking back at her, but there was no one else there.
Jack was watching everything from his link to the satellite, and he almost felt bad that Nicole was a pawn in this game. He was beginning to like her, but there was just no way that he could carry out his plan without involving her. No, Bailey needed to learn a lesson and Jack was not going to regret what he did...he hoped...
After eating a bowl of Corn Flakes, Nicole put her dishes in the sink and wandered over to the door that led to the porch. Surely no one would get upset if she went outside for a bit...
Silently she undid the deadbolt that was on the door, moving the slide bolt carefully so that it wouldn't make any noise, and opening the door so very slowly, she finally crept outside. It was colder than she had expected, but the cold felt good; it made her feel alive. Taking a deep breath she ventured out a few more steps onto the porch, enjoying the view of the morning stars just beginning to fade and the birds in their quiet flight.
After a few more minutes of just observing the peaceful world around her, Nicole sat on the porch swing. Unfortunately it squeaked as the swing moved ever so slightly on its old chains, and Nicole flinched. Nothing happened, though, and after a few minutes she breathed a sigh of relief, feeling much like a teenager who managed to not wake up daddy when she came home late. If Bailey or John knew that she had done this there would be hell to pay.
"I don't care," she whispered with a small smile. "I'm an adult and I can decide for myself if I want to go outside."
Jake had raced back downstairs from the camera room when he realized what Nicole was going to do. "Oh bloody hell!" he said under his breath as he hoped against hope he was wrong, and that she wasn't going outside. "Nicole is heading out to the porch," he said quietly into his radio, hoping not to wake up anyone inside the house.
He reached the porch just in time to see Nicole close her eyes and lean back on the old porch swing, no longer worrying about the creaking chains. Quietly he went back inside through the door that Nicole had left open, not wanting to disturb this peaceful moment. Something told him peaceful moments were about to become hard to find.
The peace ended much differently than Jake had imagined it would. Bailey woke up and noticed that the door leading to the porch was open. Not seeing Jake sitting at the breakfast bar just five feet away , Bailey drew his weapon and headed for the open door.
"Bailey, no--" Jake said, trying to warn him before he went outside and scared Nicole. At the sound of Jake's voice inside Nicole turned, seeing only the gun and not Bailey. She screamed, which brought the rest of the house and the agents running to see what had happened.
The remainder of the morning consisted of Nicole chewing Bailey out for pointing a gun at her when all she had done was to go out on the porch, and how dare he tell her that she shouldn't go out there alone when she was a grown woman and would damn well go out there if she wanted to.
Things were calming down when Bailey told Jake, "I'll talk to you later. You were supposed to keep an eye on her."
That just got Nicole started all over again, only this time the rest of the group rather enjoyed it. "Don't you DARE chew Jake...I mean Agent Carter out for this. He has done his job, Bailey. He heard me leave my room and he came down here. He watched me while I was outside on the porch to be sure that I was okay. For god's sake, he was sitting less than five feet from the door when you came down here all macho, with guns drawn like this was the O-K Corral. Well you ain't Billy the Kid. Get over it."
When she was done speaking Grace started to clap. Soon all of them were clapping, which made even Bailey laugh. "Okay, I over-reacted. I get the point."
Nicole came over and kissed his cheek. "It's okay. I think I may have over-reacted a bit too. But god, it felt good to yell at you and forget about being afraid."
"Well if it makes you feel better, Princess, then I suppose you can yell at me."
"Nah, I'll yell at someone else next time." She yawned and rubbed her eyes. "I think I got up much too early, so I'm going back to bed. Goodnight."
Once she was up the stairs and they heard her door shut, Bailey shook his head. "What in the hell was that?"
"It's perfectly normal, Bailey. She's on an emotional roller coaster, unexpected outbursts and behavior is...well, to be expected. If she's going to act out, at least she's doing it here and not trying to run away from us," Sam said.
"Why don't we all go back to bed?" Grace suggested. "I know I could use a few more hours of sleep."
"Grace is right, all of you should get back to bed."
"You aren't mad at Nicole are you?" John asked.
"No, I'm not mad at her. Everyone handles things differently, and everyone behaves differently after the kind of trauma that she's been through. I just wish that she would tell us when she's going to do things like sneak out onto the porch in the wee hours of the morning."
"Actually, I think the point of her actions was that she wanted to feel independent. With all due respect, I've been watching her since we got here and she reminded me of a little kid who decided that she was grown up and was going to prove it, at least to herself."
"Jake is right. She's asserting her independence, and much as it may drive us crazy, it's what she needs to do to heal. She has to prove to herself that she can still do things on her own without being afraid."
"This is going to be like raising teenagers, isn't it?"
"Look on the bright side," George chimed in. "I'm pretty sure she won't ask to borrow the car."
Nicole sat on her bed, trembling, the curtains drawn tightly shut. The reality of what she had done hit her, and she couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to go outside by herself. The feeling of being watched hadn't gone away, either, even after she was safely in her room. Bailey was right to be upset with me...but not with Agent Carter. It isn't his fault that I'm stupid.
The adrenaline rush wore off and she crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over her, hoping that daylight would take away the fear that she felt in the pit of her stomach.
