Ok, here you go, it's a quick update coz I've got a seminar but have at it…cheers K
Thanks for all the reviews, I think this is the one a few people were after!!
Ch47
"Hey, where've you been?" Nick asked with a smile, perking up significantly at the sight of Abby as he nudged her shoulder subtly, looking away from the group he was with.
"I've been here." She noted still smiling.
"This is Tom." He said indicating the guy who was looking at her. "He's you're new brother in law ish, I'm not sure if that's how this whole thing works." He smiled shrugging.
"Hi, I'm Jas's brother." He smiled extending his hand for Abby to shake.
"Hi Abby." She smiled.
"Amelia's your sister." He nodded at her, knowing he was right.
"Yeah, she is yeah." Abby nodded smiling at him.
"Well I guess that makes us some how, kind of distantly related then, it's nice to meet you." He smiled Jasper's smile, nodding once shaking her hand.
"You too." She nodded smiling at him.
"Dr Lockhart let me take you for a spin." Jasper grinned grabbing her hand as he passed by.
"What has Amelia given up on you already?" Tom said smiling as Jasper attempted to pull her away, stopping as his brother spoke.
"No, actually she's very graciously dancing with your boyfriend." Jasper said pausing as all of them looked over. "And actually dancing with him really quite well." He frowned, standing up fully loosing momentum somewhat as he looked at them.
"Oh, get off your high horse." Tom said with a smile on his face as he looked back at Jasper.
"What do you say, can we rival my brother's lover and my wife?" Jasper asked smiling at her.
"I think we'll maybe fall flat on our faces if we try, but we can give it a shot." Abby smiled at him, glancing at Nick's smiling face as Jasper dragged her up onto the deck.
"Keep him on his toes." Jasper grinned as they headed up the steps.
"You're a married man." Abby told him laughing as he spun her into a dance.
"Tom, give me just a second, I'll be back." Nick smiled as he noticed Maggie standing alone; Tom nodded as Nick headed over to Maggie. Arriving beside her he smiled.
"Hi." He smiled at her as she stood watching both of her daughters' and her new son in law all laughing and cavorting on the deck with a smile on her face. Jasper and Tom's boyfriend had both moved on, they were now dancing with Kerry, Sam and Chuni as Gallant, Pratt, Luka and Jasper's father danced with Abby, Amelia, Elizabeth and Neela, Birdie taking centre stage as ever, taking a slightly bemused, but willing Jerry on, as Randi tackled Eddie who was a willing compliant, more than used to women like Randi having been married to Birdie for pushing forty years.
"Hi." Maggie smiled back diverting her gaze.
"I have a favour to ask you." He said looking down at Maggie as the smile faded slightly from her face and she looked back up at Nick, a slight concern in her eyes.
"Sure, what?" She asked frowning up at him.
"I wanted to ask you if you would mind taking charge of Imogen." He asked, his face expressing the knowledge that he knew it was a big favour given the circumstances.
"Why?" Maggie frowned at him slightly, "I mean yes I will, but why?" Maggie asked shaking her head slightly.
"I want to take Abby somewhere, I want to show her something and I want to show her tonight." He explained cryptically as he looked pleadingly at Maggie. "Don't go before you want to because they'll stay asleep." He said assuring Maggie that he wasn't actually asking her to leave now with his kid.
"Ok." Maggie nodded.
"I'll explain." He smiled at Maggie, indicating towards the house, making for her to head in that direction, through the dancing throng and towards where his sleeping daughter lay, and a slightly more private sanctuary where he could explain things to her, not in their entirety but to a point at least. Amelia caught his arm as he headed past.
"Have you spoken to her yet?" She asked quietly as he paused.
"I'm on it, don't worry I'm putting plans into place." He smiled at her as he carried on with Maggie into the house.
"Hey." Nick smiled as Abby sat down beside him on a second deck chair on Amelia and Jasper's deck as the dancing continued in front of them. .
"Hi." She smiled back as she eased herself into the chair.
"You having fun?" He asked picking up her hand, playing with her fingers, as she paused for a second.
"I actually am, I think we did a good job with this." She smiled looking over at him as he shifted to get more comfortable in his chair.
"No, we did more than a good job with this." He smiled back.
"I enjoyed your speech by the way." She grinned.
"I'm sure you did." He smiled nodding at her.
"Why are you not dancing?" She frowned slightly over at him.
"Oh, come on, there has to be a quip coming about this not being my type of music." He grinned back.
"Well, y'know I could just grab my phone and ring you, then you could dance." She smiled laughing at him.
"Sound's like a plan." He nodded his eyes twinkling back at her as they looked at each other.
"Where's Imogen?" She asked, "I just went to check on her and they've both gone from the couch, Ella and a couple of other kids are the only ones left." Abby frowned as she looked over at him.
"Your Mom actually took them with her." Nick said raising his eyebrows slightly, looking over at her, a resigned expression on his face.
"Took them where with her? She doesn't have any keys to my apartment." Abby frowned at him looking over still obviously unaware that Maggie had even left
"She said she was going to see if they wanted her to take Lo, to give them some space, y'know." He raised his eyebrows and she nodded appreciating the inference. "But she couldn't find you and so I gave her my keys so she could take her there, and then I figured that if she took my keys then I couldn't get in to my apartment and she offered, well I asked if she could take Imm as well, d'you mind?" He asked frowning looking at her; if this was all okay then he could proceed. "Jas's Dad drove them over and he's back now so they're all obviously safely installed in the apartment." He noted, looking at Jasper's father doing the chicken dance with Emma as he spoke, if she was good with this then the rest of his plans, as far as they were made could continue, if she did mind, if she had a problem with this then he was fucked.
"No." Abby pouted slightly shaking her head. "So we have a whole empty apartment for the rest of the night?" She said a small smile playing on her lips.
"Yep, you want to leave here though?" He asked frowning at her, in all fairness they were at one hell of a great party aimed at celebrating her sister's nuptials and two of his best friends nuptials.
"Yeah, well I can't see either of them, and I have no doubt that they'd understand the value of an empty apartment." She grinned at him.
"Yep." He nodded his agreement instantly. "We're acting like a pair of horny teenagers y'know that?" he muttered as she led him to the front door.
"Well I think that our age it's something to be proud of." She said as she shot a smile in his direction.
They stood on the street for a couple of seconds, in front of his car. "I probably shouldn't drive." He admitted with a resigned look on his face.
"Yeah, me either." She nodded at him pouting slightly, neither one of them were drunk 'per say', but neither of them was entirely sober either.
"We could walk." Nick suggested shrugging. Abby frowned up at him.
"It's a nice night but it's a hell of a long way." Abby said looking dubious.
"Well I know another place." He half smiled grabbing her hand.
"What other place?" She asked frowning, looking up at him as she allowed herself to be led.
"Just a place." He shrugged, his smile growing wider as they began to walk.
"Ok so where is this place, what is this place?" She smiled up at him, her face giving away the fact that she knew he wasn't about to tell her as they headed away from the city and further into the suburbs, having walked for a few minutes in silence.
"It's just a place." He shrugged, as he ran his hands through his hair, letting them drift to his hips. Abby looked up at him frowning slightly as they walked side by side along the sidewalk. They remained silent for a while before Abby spoke again looking back up and over at him.
"This isn't just some ploy to get me to have sex with you in a public place is it? Because, I would have done that without all the secrecy." She smiled shuffling her arms across her chest as she looked back over at him, a smile playing on her lips.
"No, it's not, but that's good to know." He smiled, nodding, looking straight ahead. "I might take you up on that." He smirked looking over at her.
"Ok so where are we going?" She half smiled at him questioning again, her tone inquisitive, her arms still crossed after a few more minutes of silence.
"You can't handle just accepting something can you?" Nick laughed, smiling, looking down at her. She shot him a look.
"No I can, but it's…" She started shuffling her watch round her wrist. "Ok, it's almost three am, we've been walking around the suburbs for almost an hour, you want to show me something and you won't tell me what it is, and it's really not warm any more." She said, good humour still evident as she moved to hold some more body heat towards herself, hugging her arms closer to her body still.
"Well were here." Nick said raising his eyebrows as they stood at the top of a street, his hands on his hips as he looked from Abby to the street stretching out in front of him into the gloom, she had her back to it, oblivious as she smiled at him shaking her head a 'what' expression on her face. He turned her body, taking hold of her shoulders, motioning for her to look over the view stretching out behind her, raising his arm to indicate it.
"Jesus that's the Lake, I didn't realise it was this close." She said quietly as she surveyed the expanse of water and the nothingness of the stars shining out above it. Huge tower blocks twinkling slightly to the left; almost right next to them.
"Ok, so there's an even better view from the beach." He smiled offering his hand, which she took instantly still looking out across the water. This wasn't where Carter and she had come; they were sneaking down onto a private beech now. Nick lifted her easily over the barrier, it seemed like it was almost on the other side of the lake from where she and Carter had been, it was far more secluded, far more private, far more beautiful, with the city's light's twinkling beside them and the expanse of the still water stretching out in front as they made their way up the beach.
"This is it, this is the place." Nick whispered sighing, talking to himself mostly as he sighed and Abby looked out over the water, her back to the towering fortresses of the Chicago skyline. "Actually that's not entirely true." He admitted to himself with a sigh as she stared out into the twinkling blackness that was the stars over the black water, lapping soothingly against the shore. She stared out over it for a second before looking back to him, frowning, her concentration having been focused on the scene in front of her. There weren't many places in the city that provided this kind of tranquillity and as two people that knew a tranquil scene could mean pretty much nothing if your life was full of turmoil this place was the place to be right now, it was calm, it was satisfying it was noting, it was the epitome of nothing besides what nature could throw at them and even then it wasn't going to be as bad as life, it was the place to be.
"So we've sneaked onto a private beach to have sex, there are far better public places than this." She chuckled, smiling slightly.
"Where did this obsession with the fact I want to have sex in public places come from?" He queried with a smile on his face.
"Nick it's three am, it's cold, and we obviously didn't come here to admire the view so why are here?" She asked in a no nonsense manor.
"Well I came here to admire the view." He shrugged, putting his hands on his hips looking out over the lake, his lips twitching.
"Oh come on." She laughed as he turned his back, trying to pull him back around.
"No look I'm trying to admire the view here." He argued with a twinkle in his eye and laughter in his voice, as his arm waved in the direction he'd been looking.
"Nick." She said looking warningly at him, her mouth twitching towards a smile.
"Ok." He sighed, as he turned fully wrapping his arms around her as he did, holding her hands at the base of her back under his. "You want to know why we're here." He said looking down as her chin rested on his chest and she looked up expectantly. "Why are we here, why are we here?" He said looking away and up almost as if searching the sky, as if he was trying to remember.
"Ok, right that's it." She said pulling away, laughing slightly as he toyed with her. "I'm going." She said mock serious.
"No, ok, ok, wait the reason we're here." He paused, still holding one of her hands as she headed away from him, she stopped and turned back looking at him expectantly; he paused chuckling slightly, shaking his head. "Ok." He sighed a smile on his face, he needed to stop being so nervous, stop trying to do things the way he thought she wanted him to do them, there was one way he needed to do this and that was his way, the way he knew, the way he planed, if it worked it worked if it didn't well, then that was something he was willing to work on but right now this was the way to figure it out. "Ok come with me." He said pulling her hand not in a request or an instruction but more in an attempt to get her to want to do it, again she complied following him, semi intrigued as to what he was up to as he led her up a path, blocking the door in front of them, wrestling with it for a second before heaving it open with his shoulder, gaining their access.
"You didn't break into a house to have sex again did you?" Abby said wearily, rolling her eyes, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at Nick shaking her head mockingly.
"Well I'm actually not all that into this public place idea of yours, so I figured we could at least use someone else's privacy." He said with a derisory shrug as he looked at her, she looked back at him she was fairly sure he wasn't serious but not completely sure.
"So what are we doing here?" She asked shaking her head at him, her eyes twinkling as she looked at him smiling at her.
"I told you I knew a place." He replied still looking at her as they stood now in the middle of the open plan kitchen and living room.
"And…" She raised her eyebrows, an expectant look on her face, her arms crossed, her bag hanging off her shoulder.
"This is it." He said spreading his arms, indicating the surrounding area.
"Why are you showing me an empty house?" She asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"It's not just an empty house, it's my empty house." He said looking around the empty expanse surrounding them.
"You bought a house." She noted nodding at him, her face indicating that she thought he'd lost his mind.
"I bought it almost a year ago." He swallowed hard, as she started to move looking around.
"How did you afford this place? How did Imogen not let on about this place?" She asked taking in her surroundings and frowning at the notion that Imogen would have been able to keep her house a secret.
"It was a wreck when I bought it, it's taken this long to get it looking like this." He smiled, looking around. "And Imm doesn't know about it." He half smiled.
"You haven't told her?" Abby frowned questioningly as she looked up at him.
"No, I bought the place a year ago, I figured that it'd be unfair to tell her that she had a house and then move her into a different apartment for nine months, so I figured that it was better to wait and tell her when it wasn't a building site anymore." He smiled slightly, she nodded understandingly.
"It's a nice house." She said pouting slightly looking back at him, nodding a little.
"Yeah, it is…" He paused, as a smile began to cross his face. "I had this whole thing planned, and now it seems really stupid and cheesy." He laughed rubbing his face.
"What whole thing?" She said eyeing him suspiciously, her eyes baring a worried hint.
"You can stop looking like that, I'm not about to propose." He laughed slightly shaking his head as she relaxed a little and smiled back at him, letting out a slow breath, she wasn't sure if she'd actually wanted him to, she felt her stomach drop a little which indicated that she was maybe a little disappointed. "Although having said that I probably would if you want me to." He said shaking his head slightly, rubbing his eyes as she remained silent watching him. "Ok, what I wanted to ask was…" He said bringing his head up again, "I wanted to see if maybe you wanted to, maybe move in here with us, on a semi permanent basis, or a permanent basis, or a little bit basis or…" He trailed off. "See the thing is this place has been sitting empty and finished for a month, and I didn't want to move out of the apartment, and I still don't really, but I thought that maybe you might want to maybe, I don't know, maybe…" He trailed off.
"You're really nervous about this aren't you." She said, her eyes smiling as he bumbled his way through and looked at her apology in his face as a slight grin crept onto his lips.
"I am, well I'm nervous about you telling me 'no' actually." He smiled at her, his brow furrowed.
"Do you think I'm going to say no?" She asked looking at him, pushing herself off the island counter as he rubbed his hands through his hair.
"I don't know, are you going to say no?" He asked smiling slightly at her.
"What would you do if I said no?" She asked smiling slightly back at him.
"Probably agree to very public beach sex by way of persuasion." He smiled at her approaching form.
"You're good Johnson." She smiled at him as she arrived beside him, laughing nodding slightly.
"This isn't doing anything for my nervousness y'know." He smiled down at her again.
Do I get to look around before I say yes?" She asked looking around the room.
"Are you going to say yes?" He asked as he moved his hand from his hip to hers.
"I think I might yeah." She nodded pouting, her lips twitching as she watched him smile. "Only because it means I won't have to pay rent anymore you understand." She said with a derisory shrug as she moved closer to him.
"Obviously," He smiled. "I'll just charge you in sexual favours." He smiled as he met her lips.
"I think I can live with that." She mumbled as her hands laced around his neck, and he bent her backwards slightly.
As ever let me know – it's fairly cheesy I know but you gotta love the cheese!