Chapter Three
It was one year later. Natalie hadn't been able to sell the loft. It wasn't that people hadn't wanted to buy it - she hadn't even been able to put it on the market. She just couldn't part with this reminder of Nick. She had continued on with her life, silently suffering through Schanke's attempts to hook her up with someone. Everybody had searched for Nick Knight, the Knightmare, for months, but eventually, everyone gave up. Natalie hadn't showed anyone the note, and only Schanke knew that she now owned the loft. He was suspicious, to say the least, but tactfully remained quiet, for once.
Natalie knew, deep inside of her, that the reason she couldn't bear to get rid of the loft was that she still hoped and prayed that Nick would come back. Nick wasn't someone whom she could just get over. No way, no how.
Schanke got a new partner - a woman named Tracy. They were a good team - not as good as Schanke and Nick were, of course. Nobody, yet, had broken Nick's record of arrests; none had even come close. Everybody thought Nick was gone for good, just another missing person, with no chance of return.
~~~~@
Nick had to come back. He had realized that he couldn't just leave, just stay away. The clearest indication of this was that Lacroix approved of Nick's decision to just leave. So, back to Toronto he went.
And, of course, he timed it wrong. He only had a couple of minutes before sunset, and he didn't want to be sleeping in the trunk again. He couldn't go to the loft, not knowing if Nat had sold it or not. Couldn't go to The Raven, either, it not being close enough. In fact, he was only a block from Nat's house. Probably not the brightest idea, he knew, but it was better than the trunk. Much better than the tiny trunk.
The need to find shelter, that tingling feeling throughout his entire body, was getting urgent as he knocked on Natalie's apartment door, praying this was her night off, and she would be home. Luckily for him, she was.
"Hold on a sec!" She yelled from somewhere within her apartment.
Nick seriously considered forgetting it, and trying to fly to The Raven before sunrise, basically chickening out, but didn't get a chance. The door opened, still secured by the chain.
Natalie stood there in total shock when she saw who had just knocked on her door. There was no way this could be real. No way.
"Um, Nat? Think I might be able to come in?"
She numbly unlatched the chain and opened the door, stepping to the side to let him past her. He just stood there uncomfortably, shifting his weight from side to side, as Natalie automatically went around closing the blinds. This gave her time to regain her composure - and to get royally pissed.
Nick saw this immediately. "Just how mad are you?" he asked warily.
She just glared at him, not trusting her voice.
"I'm sorry?" he tried, making it more of a question.
Natalie took a deep breath, trying to control her anger, and let it out slowly. "You stupid fucking inconsiderate bastard."
Then she punched him. Hard. Hard enough so that it hurt. He did not know that she could hit that hard. It didn't help that he had been caught off-guard, either. He clutched his now-aching ribs, waiting for them to stop hurting, as he knew they would in a couple of seconds.
"Did I mean that little to you? That you could just disappear?"
"No!" he immediately said. "But-"
"Forget it." Natalie was now deep in her righteous anger. "I don't even want to hear it. There's the couch. You can get back to your stupid loft tonight. Goodnight."
Natalie quickly retreated to her bedroom, not caring what Nick did. The vampire lay down on the couch, and cringed when he heard Natalie's muffled sobs coming from her room. Fighting the urge to go to her (knowing it was quite possible that she would kill him), he tried to sleep. But he couldn't, not listening to her.
He quietly moved to outside her bedroom door. "Nat?"
"Go away!" was the muffled, furious reply.
"Nat, I need to talk to you." No answer. "Please."
"Fine," was the grudging reply.
He opened the door and entered the darkened room, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "I'm sorry. Really, I am. I just…I couldn't handle any more goodbyes. But I thought it was time to move on, so…" He could not figure out how to put this apology into words. "It took me a year, but I realized what a stupid mistake I had made. Please don't be mad at me?"
He thought for a moment that she wasn't going to forgive him, that that hadn't worked. But then she was hugging him, saying, "God, I missed you so much." The shoulder of his silk shirt was wet with the tears that had been on her face.
"So, am I forgiven?"
"I guess so." Nat sniffled a little. "But, I swear, if you leave like that again, I will kill you. So will Schanke."
"Speaking of Schanke, how's he doing?"
"Fine, of course." Natalie stifled a yawn. "Can Schanke ever be anything less?"
Nick smiled at that. "Well, goodnight, Nat. And once more, I really am sorry."
Nick shut her door behind him, and was finally able to get some much-needed rest.
(A/N: I need somebody, ANYbody, to tell me how Tracy figured out vamps were real, and how she met Vachon. Seeing as how I can't watch the TV show regularly because it's a 'freak show' (my sis' words, not mine) I need to be filled in on stuff like that. Thanks to anyone who helps! Oh yeah, I'm dead serious about this, but what's wrong with holding stories hostage for reviews? Seriously, I mean, that'd just make me review more. Seeing as how I'm apparently one of the minority, my apologies. No more hostage situations.)