"Who's cooking tonight?" Riley said, coming into the kitchen. "And when are they going to start? I'm starving."
"Nick" Shannon said. "And he's not here so I think we're on our own."
"Figures," Riley sighed. "Some things never change."
"Like the fact that I never get the benefit of the doubt from you?" Nick said, in the doorway. He handed over the bags of takeout from the diner. "I've got foot ball practice. That's pretty important."
"Pretty long practice" Julie said.
"Yeah well... I got a lot of work to do to catch up." Nick lied. He looked at Riley. "I bought it, you can serve it." He started back outside.
Shannon waited a minute before following Nick outside. He was standing in the front, tossing the football up in the air. He looked so vulnerable to her and she thought back to her SDD task. Now could be a perfect time to start the process.
"You OK?" Shannon said softly, shuffling her feet down closer to him.
"Fine," Nick said, still tossing the ball up in the air, not even completely listening to her.
"Looks like there's something on your mind," Shannon stretched her hand out to rest it on his chest. "Nicky..."
Nick snapped his hand out, grabbing her wrist. "Do not call me that," he said
"Nick..." she said "You're hurting me. Nick... please... please stop. You're hurting me."
"Get your hands off of her," Ron said coming up to the cottage, pushing Nick away from her.
"Ron..." Shannon was holding her wrist. "I'm OK, don't... it's OK."
"You better walk away, Messina." Ron said. "You better get out of here."
Nick had a blank look on his face, backing away from them, just heading down the road. Ron looked over at Shannon, who was shaken, seemed terrified.
"Shannon?" Ron said. "Are you OK?"
"I'm fine," she said, pulling back from him. "I'm fine OK, I'm alright. It's... kinda cold out here, don't ya think?"
"Shannon, why don't you talk to me?"
"Because it's no big deal," Shannon jumped everytime Ron got closer. "Please. Please, just... just leave it alone, Ronnie, please." She wiped her eyes. "Leave it alone."
>>>>>>
Nick made his way into the hospital slowly, walking down to Mark's room and entering. It still looked as though Mark was still sleeping, but the multiple machines told Nick differently.
"Hey," Nick said, sitting down beside Mark's bed. He brushed the hair back off his forehead. "I told you I'd be back, right?" He was gentle. "Your parents were here, they came to see you." Nick took a deep breath, letting it out through his partly pursed lips. "I met your mom... she's really nice." He paused. "You gotta get back to life here. You've got to tell me who did this to you. I want to help you so much... after everything you did for me, I want to find out what really happened. God, Mark, I owe you that much."
Nick let his fingers now trail down Mark's cheek, tracing his jaw line. "I um... I really just lost it today," he said. "I think I really hurt Shannon. I didn't mean to, I just... my mind is all over the place and I snapped. Having you in here like this is.... I just keep thinking that I could have done something to prevent this. That if I stayed in that locker room a little longer, or if I hadn't come in at all to distract you... then maybe this would all be different. You wouldn't be in here. I wish you could tell me that it wasn't my fault. Mark... you saved my life and I couldn't even do the same for you. You saved me from death you saved me from... from myself and you got me to admit something to myself that I would have never been able to admit otherwise. I just wish I could have told you before all this happened. I wish I could have told you how much you mean... how much I love you." He paused. "Hell, I don't even know if you can hear me. But if you can... I want you to know it. I want that to be a reason that you fight to get back here. Because I love you, Mark." Nick paused, kissing his forehead softly. He sighed, getting up from his seat and starting for the door.
"Nick..." the voice was soft, weak, but Nick turned around, staring at Mark who was wide awake. "I... love you too."