"And so... I ... had no other choice," Nat told LaCroix, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Tell me, ma petite, how do you feel now that you have done this thing?" LaCroix asked her, taking her hand gently in his own. The concern in his eyes was touching.
Natalie did not know what to tell him. "I don't know... I didn't *want* to... to hurt--"
"No, no, Natalie. I don't want to hear about Nicholas," said LaCroix as he interrupted her. "Tell me how *you* felt about yourself... inside your heart. What did your heart feel?"
"It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders," she confessed. "I didn't want to do it, Lucien, but once I did, I felt so much better knowing I didn't have to worry about what mood Nick would be in when I got to work."
"That is all that matters, Natalie," LaCroix told her. He knew that she felt guilty for switching to days, for leaving Nicholas in the lurch. Still, she had to look out for her own best interest.
"Then why do I feel so bad about it?"
"My poor Natalie," LaCroix crooned softly as he reached out to her.
Natalie allowed herself to be gathered into his arms. All she wanted was to be held... to feel his strong masculine arms protecting her. She looked up at him to find him gazing down at her with love in his eyes. At that moment, she felt compelled to kiss him.
His lips met hers halfway in a mutual display of love and desire. But as Natalie sought to further the moment, she felt LaCroix pulling away from her. Her arms reached out, trying to hold him close by entwining around his neck. He caught her, however, clasping her hands between his own.
"I must go now," he said to her, his voice husky with emotion. "The sun will soon be up, and I must be safely home before then."
"You could stay," Nat suggested. She was getting tired of sleeping alone.
LaCroix shook his head. "Soon, mon amour, soon," he whispered as his lips sought hers one last time.
The kiss was so powerful that it took Natalie's breath away. All she could feel was his arms around her, his body pressing against her own, his lips caressing hers hungrily. It was all-enveloping, that kiss. It gathered her inside itself and held her enthralled. Her eyes closed in ecstasy as a myriad of passionate feelings washed over her.
It was only when her eyes fluttered open that Natalie realized LaCroix no longer held her in his arms. He was gone, and she was no longer in her living room, but lying in her own bed, propped against her pillows. She hadn't felt him release her, nor had she realized that kiss had ended. It still haunted her like a dream.
Looking around for LaCroix, she found instead a small note on her night stand, asking her to join him at the Raven just after sun down. "Sweet dreams," he'd scrawled on the bottom of the page. Smiling, Nat settled back into bed.
"Where's Nat?" Nick asked suspiciously when he saw Tracy talking to a total stranger who *should* have been Natalie Lambert.
"Nick, this is Dr. Ellen Landry," Tracy said, introducing them. "Ellen's going to be working the night shift for a while."
"Where's Nat?" Nick repeated, sounding angry.
"Nat.." Tracy gulped, hating to tell him, "transferred to days."
"WHAT!?!?" Nick erupted at the news. For a moment, both women thought he would become violent, but he surprised them by calming down. "I'm sorry," he said when his fit passed.
Ellen Landry tried to smile reassuringly at him. "It's ok," she said. "It must come as a surprise to you. I heard you two were close."
This comment elicited a dark look from Nick. Tracy jumped in before he could go off again.
"Look, Nick, nobody wants to pry or anything, but maybe you'd feel better if you *told* someone about it." Nick glared at her, but Tracy forged ahead with her advice. "I mean... what happened to split you two up, anyway?"
Nick looked from one woman to the other, and seeing concern on both faces, decided that he *could* let a little bit of it off his chest. So he told them about the ring, and her refusal. He concluded by saying, "I guess when I heard you and her talking about another man last night, I got jealous, Trace. I never thought of her with any one but me. I went crazy and now she's left me for good. She's not coming back to the night shift. I know that without asking, and it's all my fault... because of the way I've been acting." He hung his head in shame, hiding his eyes from them. He didn't want them to see the pain in his eyes or the tears that threatened to fall. "When I came in here tonight, I had wanted to apologize to her. Now I can't."
"Oh, Nick!" Tracy exclaimed sympathetically.
"You could apologize after your shift ends tonight," Ellen suggested, encouraging him to take heart.
Her words echoed in Nick's mind the remainder of the night and he decided to follow her advice.