Chapter 13

The heat still seared between the two as Nichole pulled back slightly. The kiss she had given him was one of yearning, love, no uncertainty about her actions. If Race couldn't understand how she felt then she didn't know what to do. However, the look on his face told her he understood everything. She pushed him away not knowing what to do, or what to say. She had just put her feelings out in the open and that scared her more then anything.

Taking a few breaths to regain her composure, she glanced up at him. He too seemed to be greatly affected by the kiss they just shared, and she pondered on whether this was a good thing, or a bad thing.

Folding her hands across her chest, she looked at the wall, the bed, the floor, anywhere except Race's probing eyes. He saw this and led her over to the bed, pushing her back gently onto the mattress. He sighed when she directed her eyes downwards. Raising a hand to her cheek, he lifted her head and when she didn't protest he began to caress her skin soothingly.

"What's the matter, Nick?" He lifted her eyes to his as she dropped her head again. "You don't have to be shy. It's just you and me, nobody else."

She laughed lightly at his statement, and shook her head. Pushing his hand away, she fell back on the bed, still avoiding his eyes. "I'm not shy. It's just…" She paused and folded her hands over her stomach. She began to say something, but instead she turned her head to the wall. "I don't even know what it is…"

Race began to open his mouth, but Nichole cut him off as she sat up and continued. "You've been so wonderful to me, and I guess--I guess I'm just scared that if I get too close I'm going to lose you and that is the last thing I want." She giggled and turned to look at him. "You have no idea how crazy I've been going without you. I never really noticed how much I cared for you until we fought."

Race tightened the grip on her hand and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Actually I do know. I've been the same way since I said what I did in the alley. I sat up on the roof all night thinking about it, an…and I realized that I need you. I need you to always be by my side, I need to know that you feel the same way I do." He confessed quietly.

Nichole's heart skipped a beat and her mouth became dry, restricting the use of her voice. Everything she wanted in her intricate life was happening now, and it was all happening at an unimaginable speed. Wetting her lips, she opened her mouth to speak. She repeated this three times before her voice finally returned.

"Race, I need you too, and I--" She paused, her mind at a loss of words. Her eyes involuntary shifted to his lips. Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his, then slowly leaned back to study his face. Placing her arms around his waist she rested her head against his chest and whispered. "Please, just hold me."

He complied to her plea, and wrapped his arms around her drawing her closer to his body. Both sat in the comfortable silence that enveloped the room. Occasionally, Race would raise a hand and let his fingers sweep through her curls.

"Nick, how are we going to get out of here?"

She shrugged indifferently. "I don't care. I comfortable where I am." She sighed and snuggled deeper into his shirt.

Race chuckled and lazily fell back on the bed pulling Nichole with him. "That's fine by me. I'm too tired to move anyway."

"Haven't been sleeping well?"

He yawned and shook his head. "Sleeping on the roof isn't the most comfortable thing to do."

"Yea, well either is sleeping up in a tree." Nichole reached behind her and slapped Race when he began to laugh.

"I'm sorry." Race apologized trying to control his laughter. "You slept in a tree? What were you doing up a tree?"

She shrugged and rolled onto her back. "Nothing, just trying to get away from the world. I just needed to get away from everyone and everything for a while to think."

Race pulled a curl and smirked as it bounced back in place. "And did you get any thinking done, while you were up there?"

"Yea…"

"And?"

Nichole eyed him, a confused look starting on her face. "And what?"

"What were you thinking while you were up in the tree?" Race quizzed an eyebrow raising playfully. "How much you hated me and wanted to rip my head off?"

Nichole's relaxed face turned into a smirk, and then into a full fledge grin. She nodded up and down slowly. "Yup, basically. I had this whole thing planned out in my head how I could cause you enormous amounts of pain."

" Don't I feel loved." Race rolled his eyes, and poked her in the stomach. Nichole giggled quietly and rolled to her side as Race wrapped his arms around her waist again. She exhaled loudly. "You know, Mary was right."

Race stopped fiddling with their entwined hands. "Right about what?"

"About us getting to together. She said we be happily together by the end of the week and she was right. As scary as that sounds."

"Yea, well she and Blink had this whole thing planned out." Race laughed. "You should have seen the looks on their faces when they came to Tibby's to get me. It was so obvious they were up to something."

Nichole covered her mouth, fighting back a yawn. "I'm glad that her and Blink have such twisted minds." A yawn finally escaped her lips and she snuggled deeper into the pillow. "Night Race."

"Goodnight Nick."

HR

Nichole's eyes fluttered opened. She glanced around the dark room unsure of her whereabouts then she felt the steady breathing on her neck. The events of last night flashed through her mind and her lips twisted into a smile. Carefully she untangled his arms from around her waist and eased off the bed. Tiptoeing across the room, she checked the door.

The door squeaked and Nichole jumped in surprise not expecting the knob to turn. Peeking her head out the crack, she looked down the hallway, only to be met with darkness and the sounds of light snoring.

Good everyone's still asleep. Now we can get out of here.

Walking back over to the bed, she smirked at Race's peaceful sleeping face before jumping onto the bed and on top of him. Race moaned and glanced up at her with drowsy eyes. "What are you doing?"

She smiled down at him and lifted her weight, allowing him to roll to his back. "Just getting you back for doing the same thing to me the first day I was here. You're lucky I don't drag you out of the bed and across the floor."

Race stretched beneath her and glanced at his pocket watch. "And why are you waking me up so early? The guys are probably not even up yet. I don't even think Kloppman is up this early."

Nichole tapped his nose. "That's the point, everyone's asleep so we can get out of here." She rolled off Race, and bounded over to the door and opened it. "They forgot to block the door somehow."

"Or maybe they looked in here while we were sleeping and saw that we didn't kill eachother and thought it was safe to unlock the door."

Nichole waved off his logic and shook her head. "You are just like Mary, you know that? Always looking at the obvious answers to things." Grabbing his hand, she dragged him out of the room and to the bunkroom.

"Whoa, whoa, where are you going." He wrapped his free hand around her waist stopping her movements. "You aren't planning on killing Mary and Blink in their sleep are you?"

She placed a finger to her lips and lowered her voice to a whisper. "No, but that ain't a bad idea. I just needed to get out of that room." She grabbed the hand around her waist and headed towards the window. "Come on, were're going up on the roof."

With many attempts they succeed in opening the window without much noise. Slipping out into the cool air they both climbed the fire escape to the roof.

"So, what are we going to tell everyone now that we're together?" Nichole asked sitting down next to Race and glancing up at the sky.

He shrugged and tried to figure out what Nichole found so interesting about the sky. "What do you mean what are we going to tell them? They 're kinda gonna see that we're together by that way we act around each other." He grabbed her and kissed her neck softly.

Laughing, she pushed him away. "But what if we didn't act this way around the others? What if we make them believe that we are just friends?"

Race raised his eyebrows and a questionably look started on his face. "What are you talking about? What is going on in that twisted mind of yours?"

She grinned and placed a hand around his shoulder. "Race, how would you like to play with everyone's mind alittle bit?"