Chapter 6

"Nancy …" Neil tried to interject as she flitted about her office, pulling book after book about dreams off the shelves.

"Nancy, stop!" Neil said as he stepped into her path and caught her by the shoulders.

Nancy's shoulders sagged as she blew out a weary sigh as she met his worry stricken gaze, the look that materialized on his face told him she looked as exhausted as she felt.

"That bastard is using our baby, to hurt people, Neil!" she said as hot angry tears stung her eyes.

"I know … I just … " he trailed off, at a loss for words.

"This isn't even about me being the Dream Master anymore; Freddy is hurting my baby … our baby! He's scared and alone, and he thinks his mother doesn't care enough about him to help him!" She said as tears of anguish streamed down her face.

"I never told you, but I keep having this dream about a boy, he's always scared and alone, and he keeps saying that he doesn't think his mother cared much about him. That's our child, Neil; and he thinks we don't care about him!"

"Okay, Nancy. It's okay. But there's no way you're doing this alone." He said as he cupped her face in his hands and forced her to meet his eyes.

"But …" She began

"My mind's made up. Besides, every superhero needs a sidekick, right?" He quipped as he grinned at her, and she laughed in spite of herself.

"Well … let's get started." She said as she checked her office door to make sure it was locked, then she reached under her desk and brought out the pendulum.

"Wait … what about the kids?" He asked.

"I'm not bringing the kids in this time." She said.

"What? Why?" He replied.

"Because it's too dangerous. Look how many we lost last time, if he uses our baby to pull them in, we'll deal with it. Remember, Freddy gets his power from fear, if no one fears him, he'll have no power over us." She said.

"Yeah … but how do you tell our kid that?" Neil quipped.

Nancy blew out a sigh. "That's going to be the hard part, but at least he won't be able to draw power from us or the kids anymore." She replied as she closed the curtains and started the pendulum.

"Ready?" she asked as she took his hand.

"As much as I'll ever be." He replied.

"Alright, then." She said as she made sure the door was locked and turned off the lights.

"Nancy, wait … I want you to know that I love you … and if we see the other side of this … I want you to marry me." He said, speaking quickly, lest he lose his nerve.

Nancy stopped and turned to him.

"Wha … what did you say?" She said, she wanted to make sure that he did, in fact just propose to her.

"I said … when this is all over … will you marry me?" He asked again, this time with more confidence in his voice.

For a split second, her heart leapt with joy, but her joy was quickly quelled by realization and reason.

"I can't marry you … but not because I don't love you … it's because I do … more than you'll ever know." She explained quickly as his face melted into a look of despair and pain.

She took hold of his hands. "You might think you were hiding it, but I've seen the stress, and the pressure this whole ordeal has put on you. There is no way I would let you sign your life away to … this." She said as she gestured to the pendulum.

"I thought we already had this discussion! I told you that I was in it for the long haul." He said, his feelings of hurt and anger took demonic possession over his tongue and it caused his words to take on a venom that he didn't intend.

Tears welled up in Nancy's eyes as she averted her gaze to the floor, and he felt like someone stabbed him through his very soul with an icicle.

"I'm sorry I'm … I'm just trying to protect you … from this." She said as she gestured around her. "I know it'll hurt at first … for both of us, but in the grand scheme of things, it's the best choice." She said, the words were so painful to say that she almost choked on them.

"Hell no … you're not getting rid of me that easily, I know that's not what you really want, it's just your fear talking. Do you think that you're the only one who's scared? I used to think like Carver and Sims, that all that was going on with these kids was caused by some kind of psychosis, that there was something wrong with the minds of these kids. Then in you came, and showed me how wrong we all were." Neil said as he stepped close and put his arms around Nancy.

"I have always believed that people come into our lives for a reason. I never told you this, but when I first met you, I was smitten. It didn't take long before I was falling in love, I tried to fight it, but I quickly realized that resistance was futile; whether you meant to or not, you had me very well snared." He said with a grin, Nancy laughed in spite of herself as she wiped away her tears.

"I didn't realize I was that much of a Femme Fatale." She replied, still laughing.

"When it comes to me, you might as well have been, and when I realized that you felt the same way I did … I felt like the luckiest bastard on the planet, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming the whole thing." He said.

"I felt something when I first met you, too. I can't really explain it … it was almost like flicking a lighter inside my soul. I just … felt this powerful attraction to you that I had never felt with anyone else, and it was impossible to resist. Hence why this happened, it's not like me to be that irresponsible." she said as she put her hand on her stomach.

They fell into a comfortable silence before Nancy spoke again.

"Yes … yes I will marry you when this is all over." She said suddenly.

Neil's eyes snapped up to meet hers, and his heart swelled so much that he was afraid it would bust out of his chest.

"Seriously?!" he exclaimed.

"Seriously." She echoed with a laugh at his hilarious expression, he replied by pulling her against him and kissing her passionately.

Their feelings for one another were like static electricity; it sparked and crackled between them whenever they were in the same space together. Most of the time, they were able to fend it off in the name of professionalism, but whenever they so much as kissed or touched each other, all bets were off.

He kissed her again, desire took full possession of both of them and before they knew what was happening, he was pushing Nancy up against her desk as he shrugged out of his jacket.

"Neil … we can't here … what if someone catches us!" She said, not really meaning it as he caressed her neck.

"Would you think any less of me if I said that at this point, I really didn't care?" He whispered heatedly into her ear.

With everything that had been happening, both in their personal lives, and with the kids, that hadn't had any alone time in almost three weeks, and the spring that was their sexual tension had been coiled far too tightly for far too long. Something had to give sometime, and it looked like that time was going to be now.

'Freddy's just going to have to wait.' She thought to herself as he claimed her mouth with his once more.


"We can't make a habit of this; if we get caught Carver will have our jobs, we'll lose everything we've both worked our whole lives for." Nancy said as they dressed.

"Maybe it would be a blessing in disguise? We've talked about opening our own practice, and if we did, we wouldn't have to sneak around." He said with a suggestive wink as he finished buttoning his shirt.

She considered his idea; it would be nice not to have to hide their relationship, and while she loved her position at the Westin Hills, she knew they couldn't stay forever, because it offered no potential for advancement for either of them and soon they would have a baby to consider.

"It's going to take money …" She began.

"I have money … I have savings I've been paying into a little at a time since college, I had plans to open my own practice I just … never did it because I never had the push I needed … until now." He said as smiled pointedly at her.

She smiled. "Then it's settled, once we deal with Freddy, we'll do it." she replied.

"But Freddy's first, and we'll do it together." He said as he held out his hand.

"Together." She echoed him as she placed her hand in his as she pulled the pendulum back and let it go.


"No matter what happens, we have to stick together; we can't let him separate us." Nancy said as they walked forward, arm in arm; it was so dark that they couldn't even see where they were, the darkness had a thickness to it, almost like it was alive as they pushed through it.

Suddenly, a light appeared in the distance.

"Should we go? It's probably a trap." Neil said.

"Oh I am sure it is, but we've got no other choice, just stay alert and be ready." Nancy replied in a hushed voice.

Sure enough, the light at the end of the tunnel led to her old house.

"What is it about this house?" Neil asked.

"This house is where he lived growing up, so it holds some kind of importance to him." Nancy replied.

"But you mentioned he was abused by his foster father growing up." Neil replied with a pensive expression the psychologist side of his mind was working.

"I know, it's puzzling because this place represents what I'm sure was a very unpleasant and painful time in his life. The only way I can make sense of it is from a psychology perspective; that maybe he sees this as kind of the birthplace of what he became, and that's why it holds significance for him." Nancy explained as they walked up the crumbling steps to the front door, it swung open as she reached for it with a terrible groaning sound that made their blood run cold like ice in their veins.

They stepped across the threshold and stood in the foyer, waiting for their eyes to adjust, it was quiet … too quiet. Nancy jumped and spun around as the front door slammed shut with a mighty crash that shook the whole house.

"He's close … take my hand and don't let go, no matter what!" Nancy hissed.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand in a crushing, painful grip.

"You know how long I've waited for you to say that to me, Nancy?" Freddy's voice growled into her ear from out of the darkness.

Nancy let out a reflexive scream and struggled against him, but his strong, painful grip was unrelenting.

"You've got a lot of nerve facing me on my home turf, bitch." Freddy said as Nancy's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and his form slowly came into view. Dread suddenly filled her as she realized Neil was nowhere to be found.

"Neil! What have you done to him?! If you hurt him, I swear to god I'll make you regret it." Nancy said venomously.

Freddy's maniacal laughter filled the entire house and echoed off the walls.

"You talk a big game, but you're still that scared little girl waiting for daddy to come and save you." Freddy said, his lips peeling back into a sinister smile. Nancy threw him back through the wall into the next room with a blast of white hot energy.

"That's where you're wrong, Kruger, I've been honing my game for a long time too, bitch." She said as he staggered to his feet.

"True … but I've been honing mine longer." He replied with a menacing grin as he advanced on her.


Neil came to, his head splitting with pain, he touched his hand gingerly to his forehead and came back with blood as he scrambled to his feet and tried to get his bearings on where he was.

"You cowardice son of a bitch! If anything happens to her, somehow, some way, I'll make you regret it!" Be bellowed into the seemingly empty space as he frantically began to look for a way out.

A small boy suddenly appeared in front of him, causing him to jump back with a startled shout.

"W … who the hell are you?!" Neil said breathlessly as he clutched his chest.

"Come on, we don't have much time!" The boy said, ignoring his question as he grabbed Neil's hand and pulled him forward.

"Wait … where are we going?" Neil said.

"We have to help her, she can't beat him alone!"

Instinctively, Neil knew the boy was talking about Nancy.

"Lead the way." He said.


Freddy backhanded Nancy viciously across the face, knocking her off her feet.

"You won't kill me … you can't … because I have something you need." She said breathlessly as she wiped her bleeding mouth.

Suddenly, Neil appeared, accompanied by a boy Nancy recognized as the one from her dreams. They rushed to her side and helped her to her feet.

Freddy's leering grin faltered a little as the three of them stood side by side.

"When you get to hell Freddy, tell them the Gordon family sent you." Nancy said as they hit him with a combined blast of energy, Freddy's scream reverberated through the entire dream world as he was vaporized and the poor souls of the kids he had killed were released.

As the light from the blast slowly dissipated, Nancy turned to the boy, who suddenly threw his arms around her waist.

"I don't want you to leave!" He sobbed, his voice muffled against her.

"Hey … this isn't goodbye; we'll be together again before you know it." Nancy said as she stroked his curly brown hair.

The boy pulled back to look at her as he wiped his face on the sleeve of his gown.

"You promise?" He said in a small voice, Nancy smiled as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"With all of my heart." She replied.


Notes: I know that's kind of an abrupt ending, but if I did not end it there, it would have been insanely long.