Always…

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Insert usual one…I own nothing ^_^

Nick balanced his packages in his hands as he hastily reached into his pocket for the house keys, the muffled insistent ringing of the telephone urging him on.

He swore softly under his breath, as the key ring eluded his grasp.

                "Any normal person would own an answering machine!"

                He let out a cry of triumph as his fingers closed around the desired items and pulled them from his pocket. When they promptly fell from his grasp and onto the porch, Nick sighed and turned his eyes heavenward.

                "What did I ever do to you?"

                Shaking his head, he bent over and reached for the elusive set of keys. Just then his foot slipped, kicking the keys in between the slats of the weathered wood. They hit the ground with a soft thud and Nick swore once again.

                To say this had been one of the worst days of his life would have been an understatement. After forgetting to plug his alarm clock back in he had overslept yet again, making him late for a breakfast date with his sister. Arriving at the restaurant thirty minutes late he had had to sit through one of her famous lectures about time management. To make matters worse she had invited their older brother to join them without asking him and it went as badly as he would have expected, with Rick spending the whole hour and a half lecturing him about how he should get off his lazy ass and get a 'real job'. He had finally extracted himself from the situation with a hasty excuse, a tight smile and a promise to call his brother later.

                Stopping by the post office, he discovered his ex-girlfriend had sent him a letter, claiming he had caused her undue emotional distress by not telling her that he was gay and that her attorney would be contacting him. Laughing wildly, he had torn up the letter and tossed it into the nearest trashcan with the conviction that women were nothing but trouble. The thought had stopped him momentarily, a sense of déjà vu trickling down his spine. He had known someone who lived by that statement, never letting himself care for any woman at all, but for the life of him, he could not remember who it was. His inability to recall the person caused a small ache of sadness to fill his heart.

                Next was the flower shop where he discovered they were out of the usual generic get-well bouquets. He browsed the store for almost an hour before deciding on roses, hoping his choice was not too forward. The icing on the cake had been when he had gotten to the register at the grocery store to discover he didn't have enough money. While quickly looking over what items he could put back, the one bright spot of his day happened when he remembered the credit card he kept in his wallet for emergencies.

And now…now he couldn't even do the simple task of opening his front door. Completely frustrated, he lifted his foot and kicked the door causing it to swing back violently on its hinges. It hit the wall behind it with a loud bang and he smirked in satisfaction before rushing to the kitchen. Throwing his packages on the counter, he hurriedly reached for the phone.
                "Yeah?"

                The person on the other end hesitated slightly before answering. "Nick, is that you?"

                "Miaka?"

                "Are you all right? You sound out of breath."

                Glancing at the broken doorframe he shook his head. "Yeah everything's fine. What's up?"

                "I just wanted to thank you for the beautiful flowers."

                "No problem. They were out of get well bouquets, I didn't know if you liked roses but I took a chance."

                "They're lovely, thank you." He could hear the warm smile in her voice and couldn't help but smile in return.

                "No problem…so are we all set for tomorrow?" He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes against the pleasure of hearing her voice in his ear.

                "Yes, are you nervous?"

                "Are you kidding? What's to be nervous about? If my cover is blown I risk losing my entire career, humiliating myself horribly in public and guaranteeing that I will never be able to find a date for the rest of my life. So no, I'm not nervous in the least." He grumbled.

                Melodic laughter came over the line. "Don't worry, as long as you remember not to use the men's room everything should be fine." Miaka assured him.

                "So you say."

                "I do- so trust me! I'd never do anything to jeopardize your career." She paused a moment, before continuing. "There is another reason I called. I was wondering if you were free for another dinner meeting tonight? We need to go over your schedule for tomorrow and the week ahead. It will be a lot easier to do that face to face."

                "Sure, what time do you want me to meet you?"

                "Be here at seven. I know a small out of the way restaurant that slows down around eight if you can believe it."

                "Okay, sounds good. See you then!"

                Miaka's smile remained as she gently sat down the receiver, but then slowly faded as she realized what she had just done. For all intents and purposes she had just asked Nick out on a date. He already knew tomorrow's schedule since she had gone over it with him at least ten times. She was even more nervous than he and was almost compulsive about making sure everything went smoothly.

                 The truth was that asking Nick to have dinner with her felt natural. Being with him felt natural. It seemed that lately any time she and Tamahome were together they were either fighting or sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Talking to him on the phone was torture because of the overwhelming guilt she felt over leaving him in Japan.

                But talking and spending time with Nick was different. She almost felt like her old self again when she was around him.

                Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on her open office door. Blinking she looked up to see Kat standing in the doorway looking at her expectantly.

                "Am I interrupting something? I can come back later."

                "No, not at all. Come, sit down." Miaka smiled as the young woman took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "What brings you all the way over here?"

                "Well, I was hoping we could have a talk." Kat paused and directed a searching gaze at the older woman. "About Nicky."

                The auburn-haired woman couldn't help the small blush that crept into her cheeks at the mention of the subject of her thoughts. "Of course."

                "Those are beautiful flowers." Kat commented raising an eyebrow. "Did Tamahome send those to you?"

                Miaka cleared her throat, suddenly uncomfortable under the younger woman's intense gaze. "Actually….they're from your brother."

                The delicate eyebrow rose a fraction higher. "Really?" She drawled, a slow grin spreading across her face. "I've never known my brother to send a woman flowers. I know he writes romance novels but I never thought of him as romantic himself."

                "It's not like that." Miaka was quick to reply. "They're a get well gesture. You know, because of my ankle and all." Her voice trailed off as she motioned towards the huge bouquet sitting on her desk.

                "I see." Biting the inside of her lip, Kat crossed her legs and began to swing one foot lazily. "I came here to ask you what you think of my brother."

                "I don't think I understand what you mean."

                "Let me put it this way. If you tell me you have no romantic interest in my brother, I'm going to ask you to stay away from him as much as possible."

                A stunned silence grew between the two and Miaka shook her head, a small burst of laughter coming from her lips. "Excuse me?"

                "That came out the wrong way." Kat sighed. "I'm not trying to be rude, really I'm not! I'm only trying to look out for Nicky. You see, he likes you…a lot. In fact, I've never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at you- not even Audra, his fiancée. I'm not even sure if he realizes how much he cares for you but it's pretty damn obvious to me, and I don't want to see him hurt. He's been hurt too much in his life." Her words ended quietly, barely above a whisper.

                "Kat….I would never do anything to hurt your brother. I hope you believe me because I mean it."

                "Are you interested in him?"

                "I…" Miaka stopped before saying no. Was she interested in Nick? The truth was that she just didn't know. No matter how wrong it was she couldn't tell the distinction between Nick and Nuriko. They were the same person in so many ways. "I don't know what I am." She finally said honestly.

                "I know I'm a major pain in the ass but could you explain that please?"

                 Miaka sighed, and sadness filled her eyes, as she spoke. "I can't lie and say I'm not attracted to Nick …and I can't deny that I could fall in love with Nick very easily…if I let myself. But I'm also engaged, and there are also other reasons why I can't be with your brother that I can't fully explain to you.  All I can do is promise that I will make sure I don't give Nick any reason to think I'm interested in him."

                Kat stared intently at the furiously blushing woman before her, and then finally nodded. "Fair enough. I think I've stuck my nose in my brother's business more than enough for one day. I hope you don't think I'm horrible for coming to you like this."

                Miaka's smile was warm. "Of course not, Kat! I understand why you did it and that makes me like you even more. You'll be at the signing tomorrow, right?"

                "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

*******************

                "I can't believe they're closed!" Miaka wailed, stomping her foot in frustration.

                Nick chuckled softly at her outburst. "I guess we should have come earlier."

                "But they're supposed to be open until ten. Look, it says so right there!"

                He shrugged and grasped her arm gently. "Come on, let's go get a hotdog. I don't like Italian food that much anyway."

                Miaka turned her glare away from the huge closed sign gracing the front door of the restaurant and smiled. "Okay!"

                After buying their food they found a bench to sit on and ate in silence, casting glances at one another every once in a while.

                Nick looked at the woman beside him from the corner of his eye and couldn't help the rush of desire that filled him. Shit Nick, why don't you just jump her? You're acting like a horny teenager for God's sake.

                "Are you okay?" Miaka's soft question startled him slightly causing him to drop the half eaten hotdog in his hand. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She cried.

                "It's all right, I was full anyway." Balling up his napkin he threw it into a nearby trashcan. "To answer your question, I'm fine."

                "Oh…okay."

                Leaning back Nick put one arm on the back of the bench, turning his body slightly towards her. "So tell me about this fiancé of yours."

                "What do you want to know?"

                "Well, how did you two meet?"

                "That's a long story and one I don't really want to get into right now." She replied uncomfortably.

                "Sorry." He mumbled.
                "No, it's not that I don't want you to know!" She was quick to reassure him. "It's only that…well, it is a really long story and most of it you probably wouldn't believe. Let's talk about you."

                "What's to talk about? I'm twenty-eight, never married, my parents died years ago, I have one brother, one sister and no friends to speak of."

                "There's more to you than that." Miaka said with conviction. Their gazes met and locked, each feeling the same thing but unwilling to admit it. Miaka's heart sped up as she searched Nick's gaze, every nerve in her body screaming to reach out and touch him. She finally gave into her impulses and lifted a hand, bringing it to his cheek. "You are so much more than you think you are. You always have been."

                Her strange comment caused a rush of emotion to fill his body. Her simple words should not have made any sense to him but deep down they did. They etched themselves on his heart and he brought a hand up to cover hers. Turning his face he pressed his lips first against her wrist then her palm.

                At the soft touch of his lips against her skin, Miaka's eyes closed, her body leaning towards him slightly. She had not meant to say what she did but could not help it. Nuriko had never realized just how very special he was. Especially to her.

                Nick's hand released hers and cupped her face gently. His thumb rubbed against her slightly parted lips. "Miaka…" He breathed, leaning slightly closer to her.

                A pair of bright headlights broke the spell they were under, bathing them in a bright fluorescent light.

                They jumped apart as if burned, looking anywhere but at each other.

                "It…it's getting kind of late." She mumbled, dusting imaginary crumbs from her pants.

                "Yeah, we have an early day tomorrow. I'll walk you back to your car."

                "You don't want me to take you home?"

                "Nah, I need the fresh air. I can always take a cab if I need to." Shoving his hands in his pockets, he gave her a weak smile.

                "O…okay, if you're sure."

                They walked in silence back to her green Pathfinder, Nick watching her as she fumbled in her purse for her car keys. Finally he could stand it no longer and stayed her hand with his. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened back there."

                "What are you talking about?"

                "Let's be adults here, Miaka- don't pretend you didn't feel it too." His eyes bored into hers, demanding that she acknowledge the connection between them.

                She could feel tears gathering as she slowly nodded. "You're right. But I…I'm engaged Nick. This…" She opened her arms, gesturing widely. "It can't happen. Do…do you believe in destiny?"

                "Yes." He answered without thinking.

                She smiled sadly. "Well, Tamahome is my destiny. I can't change that and we've been through a lot just to be together. I…I can't just forget about all that's happened between us."

                Nick nodded, unable to speak over the lump in his throat. Taking her hand in his once again he placed a chaste kiss on the back of it before turning and walking away.