Austin Reed stood in his New York apartment looking out his window towards the moon. He wore only his boxer shorts and felt as if weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. True he had moved here to take on a job, but the hours had been long. Longer than at Titan Co., not that he would've minded. It's just he did not enjoy this higher paying job as much as he did his lower paying one. Victor had said he would always have a place there at Titan Co. all he had to do was say the word. And Austin had. Earlier in the evening he had picked up the phone and made his choice. He was moving back to Salem. He was looking forward to seeing Nicole. He wasn't too surprised to find out she had went through with it and married Victor. He knew they were "going out" when he had gotten her to open up to him. Going out sounded funny because Victor was in his late sixties and Nicole in her twenties, but who was he to judge? At first he hadn't liked Nicole that much was true. The Ice Queen, and she played the part well. Played being the main word. She was a woman, more woman than most. She had feelings and he knew just how deep they ran. Yes, he knew Nicole better than most. Austin looked up at the moon. Maybe he could revive their friendship. Maybe he could forget that one staggering kiss…? Yeah right, he though deprecatingly… he'd remember that until the day he died, and maybe even longer.

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"Basic Black, how can I assist you?" "Kate? Mom? It's Austin." He said into the receiver of his mobile phone. "Austin? Honey, what do you need?" Kate Roberts asked he could already hear the concern lining her voice. "Calm down mom. I'm calling from the airport, Victors airport actually. I was going to call you last night but I decided to surprise you. I'm coming back to Salem, and I'm going back to my old job at Titan. In fact his company jet should be here any minute." Austin held the phone away from his ear as his mom let out an uncharacteristic squeal of joy. "Oh Austin! That's great!! I can't wait to see you again!" Another bonus of coming home he thought, he had missed his family a lot. "So do you have any plans for tonight? I'd love to take the prettiest lady in Salem out for dinner." He said charmingly. "Oh well, what kind of lady could argue with that? I'd love to go to dinner! How about the Blue Note?" Kate suggested. "That's great. I'll pick you up around 9?" "That'd be wonderful darling." He hung up and waited for the jet to land.

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Austin could barely keep up with his mom's excited chatter as he drove to the Blue Note. From Kate's apartment the Blue Note was only ten minutes, the whole time she filled him in on what had been happening on Salem, and every third or fourth sentence saying how much she'd missed having him around. They reached the jazzy café and Austin parked the car and they sat at their table. Austin immediately recognized Victor, even though it was the back of his head. He figured he must be there with Nicole. From some reason Austins heartbeat went faster. "Mom do you mind if I go say hi to my boss?" "Sure. Go ahead, I'll just order." "Thanks." He walked over to Victors table and saw him and Nicole sitting there. "Hello Victor, Nicole." He smiled in her direction that at Victor. "Hello Austin!" Victor said. Nicole just nodded at him; strangely quiet keeping her gaze on her plate. "For God's sake Nicole, that's no way to greet a man." Nicole's gaze shot up and she plastered on a fake smile. "Welcome back Austin," Then went quiet once more. She started to poke at some sort of cold food with her fork. "How was your flight?" They engaged in polite chatter for a few minutes and then started to talk about the new account he'd be working on for Titan. He brought up a new idea he had, had and looked at the still silent Nicole. "What do you think Nicole?" He watched a surprised look cross her face and she opened her mouth to speak but Victor cut her off. "She might not be the best person to ask. She quit about a year ago and is quite out of the loop with the business world now." Austin watched a hurt expression come over her face and she opened her mouth once more to say something but thought better at it when Victor shot her a warning glare. Then Austin decided to head back to his table, he knew something wasn't right. Where was his old Nikki? The one full of humour and life? And the old Nikki would never have quit her job. Austin prayed that he could figure out what was going on.