I went back to sleep, but the nightmare continued, but this time it was more gruesome. For me the nightmare felt more like a vision and that's where I had changed my decision from staying, to leaving. I decided to tell Sophia and Carl sometime today, when it's just the three of us. While I was sleeping I felt tears falling from my face and apparently I had awoken Sophia, because I felt someone shaking me and I knew for a fact it was Sophia.
"Nick, baby, are you all right?" Sophia asked.
I didn't answer Sophia, I just pulled her in for a hug and continued to let it all out.
"Come on baby, answer me." Sophia said. "I want to know what's wrong so I can help you."
"Get Carl and I will tell you both." I replied. "Both of you should hear this."
"Where can I find him?" Sophia wondered.
"With Hershel." I answered. "In the infirmary."
Sophia immediately left, even though she had no idea where to go. As she was trying to work out which way to go, she came across Rick and Lori's cell.
"How could Nick do this to our son after all they've been through?!" Lori asked, angrily.
"Sophia cheated on Nick because she thought that was a goodbye forever note he had left her and they kept it a secret. When Nick found out he just went haywire, but I know Nick didn't mean to do it, he just let his anger take over. I could see it in Nick's eyes when he looked at me and told me that it was all true and the way he hugged Carl after. I could tell he was sincerely sorry and that he regretted it. After hearing Carl's story the last words he said were 'I don't think he forgives himself." Rick replied.
"Well he didn't have to go and beat Carl to death!" Lori yelled.
"You're right, he didn't." Rick said.
"We should keep Carl away from Nick, for his own safety, I don't want the same thing to happen again." Lori stated.
Sophia immediately stepped into sight and asked, "Can I come in?"
"Of course." Rick said.
Rick walked over to the cell door and opened it for Sophia. Sophia stepped inside and sat down on a nearby chair and said, "Don't keep Carl away from Nick, right now Nick is a complete mess, he just started crying while he was sleeping and because of what he did he wants to leave the group and never return. But right now Nick wants to talk wants to talk to me and Carl. Please Lori, don't keep Carl away from Nick, Nick needs him, if you were to go to my cell right now you would agree, please Lori, please?"
"I'm with Sophia on this one Lori." Rick announced.
"All right, I won't keep Carl away from Nick." Lori stated.
"I really wish that Nick would forgive himself, he told me he did a little, but not enough." Sophia uttered. "I don't think he'll ever forgive himself."
"Let me go get Carl for you, Sophia." Rick said.
Back at Sophia's cell...
I was writing a note to both Carl and Sophia, to say my last goodbyes and in my note I wrote about my nightmare and what I was going to inform them and I also put, "Please don't revive me." I took out my hunting knife, took off my shirt and opened up the scare that Ed had caused. I then stabbed myself where Maggie had shot me (in the leg) and finally right in the shoulder, and just like that I fell to the ground with the note in hand.
Back at Rick's cell...
Rick had just returned with Carl, when suddenly both Carl and Sophia felt a sharp pain run through their bodies.
"We need to get to Nick and fast!" Carl said to Sophia.
"Are you in any condition to run?" Sophia asked.
"Of course I am." Carl replied.
With that being said both of them took off running, surprisingly Carl was the first one to arrive. Once Carl had laid his eyes on the unconscious Nick he fell to his knees in tears. Carl placed my head on his legs and placed his forehead on mine and continued to cry. About thirty seconds later Sophia finally arrived and noticed all of the blood on the floor and was just listening to Carl bawl out his eyes. Sophia noticed that I had something in my hand, she approached me, knelt down and took it. Sophia opened it and started to read the note to herself.
With each passing second more and more tears dripped down Sophia's face, once Sophia was done she gave the note to Carl, and when Carl read it, it made him cry even harder. Sophia went into Nick's backpack and pulled out a new roll of bandages, a needle and thread, some rubbing alcohol, and a cloth.
Sophia opened up the rubbing alcohol and applied some to the cloth. Soon after she cleaned the reopened cut her dad had once caused, and the bullet wound from Maggie. Sophia got to work on stitching up the reopened bullet wound and was also thinking to herself, "Why would you do this to yourself Nick? I thought you said you wanted to meet Carter." Once Sophia was done she immediately got to work on stitching up the "Big one".
5 minutes later...
Sophia was now finally done with the stitching and had just finished covering up the cuts and wounds with the bandages. Sophia went back into Nick's bag and pulled out an IV line she had once used, she cleaned the area of where she was going to insert the one end and did the same thing to Nick. Once both ends were in Sophia turned to face Carl.
"DO IT!" Sophia demanded.
"But he doesn't want to be revived." Carl responded.
Sophia never thought she would have to threaten anyone in her entire life, that is until today.
"DO IT RIGHT NOW CARL OR I'LL BLOW YOUR FUCKING BRAINS OUT!" Sophia barked, holding her gun right in Carl's face.
Carl immediately started CPR, Carl was practically praying to God that he hopes that this works and that he could do it once again. After half an hour of giving Nick CPR Carl stopped and said, "I think we were too late, I think Nick's dead. I'm sorry Sophia, I did what I could."
"I-I know y-you did C-Carl." Sophia replied. "Let's signal the others."
Carl fired his gun and within seconds everyone arrived at Sophia's cell. Everyone gasped at the sight, Sophia was still inside her cell, she was hugging her boyfriend and said, "Please don't go."
"Come on Nick, wake up, I don't want to lose you, I need you, Carl needs you, and most importantly Carter needs you!" Sophia added.
The words, "Carter needs me," echoed through my head, my heart began beating again, and finally I could move again. I opened my eyes and saw a blurry Sophia hugging me, I smiled at her and weakly said, "Hey sugarplum."
Sophia started crying tears of joy and stated, "Welcome back baby."
After awhile I went faint in Sophia's arms, Sophia thought that I had officially died, but instead I went into a coma. Hershel came into the cell to confirm my status and uttered, "Nick is in a coma, he'll be out for a few days."
"Was it from all the blood he lost?" Sophia asked.
"Yes it was." Hershel answered. "Now let's get him onto the bed."
Sophia wrapped her arms around mine and Hershel grabbed my legs.
"On three." Hershel announced.
Sophia nodded her head and got ready to lift.
"Three!" Hershel said.
Both of them picked up Nick at the same time, luckily every cell had two beds, and so that's where they placed me until I came to. Once everyone left Carl walked back into Sophia's cell and up to Sophia and asked, "Were you really going to blow my brains out?"
"No. I would do that, especially to a great, one of a kind friend. You and Nick are my only friends, my only TRUE friends who are brave, loyal, trustworthy, honest, respectful, forgiving, and best of all loving. I'm sorry for threatening you carl and I promise never to do it again. Can you ever forgive me?" Sophia replied.
"Of course I forgive you Sophia." Carl stated. "Need a hug?"
Sophia nodded her head, both Carl and Sophia hugged, Sophia slowly moved her arms towards Carl's neck. After two minutes of hugging Carl let go of Sophia, but Sophia didn't let go of Carl. Instead Sophia pulled carl in for a kiss, Carl tried to pull away but kept on getting pulled back in. Eventually Carl gave up fighting and kissed back. Pretty soon they were making out, then they got on the other bed and began to have "fun". Their "fun" lasted for an hour and a half, Carl then got dressed, left Sophia's cell and returned to his. Sophia also got dressed and then walked up to Nick's bed. Sophia knelt down and asked, "Why would you do this to yourself? Why Nick? Why would you want to hurt me, Carl, and more importantly yourself?"
By now Sophia was crying, but she kept on talking to Nick, "I-I don't want t-to l-l-lose you Nick, I almost lost you once, I don't want that to happen again. I need you Nick, I need you here standing by my side, you're my guardian angel, my one true love, and Carl he is nothing to me but a friend, that's all. The day you wake up is the day we get to meet Carter for the very first time. I just hope you wake up in time to see him be born and I can't thank you enough for this opportunity. I love you Nick. I love you with all my heart. I love you so much that I would die for you. I love you for what you do to protect me, Carl, and the rest of the group. I love you for who you are."
Sophia got up and kissed me on the lips and then she left her cell. Sophia was walking with her head down, she didn't realize where she was going and bumped into Carl. Both of them fell backwards. Carl got up to his feet, helped you Sophia and uttered, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine Carl and so is Carter." Sophia replied. "Sorry about that, it's my fault, I should've been watching where I was going."
"No problem." Carl said. "Want to go back to my cell and talk about Nick?"
"Yeah, we really need to have a conversation about him." Sophia stated.
So both of them returned to Carl's cell to have their talk. Carl closed the door behind him and then sat down next to Sophia on his bed.
"Sophia, I don't think Nick is going to wake up. Hershel told me that he may have lost too much blood. I really hate to admit it but I have to agree with Hershel and I know Nick is my brother and all but...I'm, I'm on Hershel's side and he is right Nick did lose a lot of blood. I'm sorry Sophia, I really am, I really want Nick to wake up but I just don't think he has the strength anymore." Carl stated.
"You're wrong both of you! Nick will wake up, even if it means I have to take my own life to save Nick's I will! Think about it Carl, if it wasn't for Nick the light inside me wouldn't be shinning this bright, we wouldn't of gained a new friend except maybe each other, we wouldn't have a strong bond like we do know, and both of us would've probably be dead a long time ago." Sophia replied, while crying.
"I guess you're right Sophia." Carl announced.
"Damn straight I'm right!" Sophia yelled.
"Sophia calm down, all right I'm sorry for what I said before, I just figured that I had to let you know and I still have faith in my brother that he'll wake up, and I want him to and I'm praying that he will." Carl stated.
Sophia took a few deep breathes and calmed herself down and then said, "You're forgiven and I believe you."
"Carl?" Sophia added.
"Yes Sophia?" Carl asked.
"Do you think Nick is a menace to the group?" Sophia wondered.
"No, no I don't, we count on him, and right now he's counting on us, I can feel it." Carl replied.
"Let's go and visit Nick." Sophia uttered.
"Ok." Carl said.
They had just left Carl's cell when *BANG* a shot had been fired. Sophia had tears cascading down her face yet again, *BANG* another shot had been fired, which made Sophia almost fall to her knees.
Sophia rushed down to her cell and noticed that Nick was back on the ground and once again in the puddle of blood, but she also noticed a trail of blood leaving her cell and it looked like walker blood. Sophia just lost it right then and there, Sophia entered her cell, approached me, fell to her knees, and cried into my shoulder just like she did way back when. After two minutes Sophia lifted her head, dried her tears and checked me for any bites or scratches, luckily I had none.
"How did you end up on the floor?" Sophia asked herself.
Carl approached Sophia and said, "What do you think happened in here?"
"I don't know. I just hope Nick is all right." Sophia stated.
"Me too." Carl announced. "I'm just wondering, how did he end up on the floor?"
"Maybe Daryl had something to do with this and maybe, just maybe he's the reason Nick beat you up." Sophia uttered.
"You're probably right Sophia, and Nick did promise us that he would die before he hurt us and that's what a true and loyal friend would do." Carl voiced.
"That is true." Sophia spoke.
Carl helped Nick back into the bed and then returned to Sophia. Carl told Sophia to sit down and that he wanted to tell her about the day Nick beat him up.
Sophia nodded, walked to her bed, and sat down, Carl did the same.
"It all started when Nick entered my cell, I looked at him and asked, "what's up?" He replied, "YOURE A DEADMAN CARL, A DEADMAN!" He then tackled me to the ground, kneed me in the stomach at least three times and then punched my face three times left and right. Then it was time for the second assault and again he kneed me in the stomach three times, but then he got up and stomped on it twice and then he punched my face five times left and right. For some reason they were weaker, but they were still strong enough to bust me open. That's where I thought I was dead, the next thing I knew was that I had been revived, and Nick did apologize. He also said that he would understand if we weren't friends anymore. I told him that it was all right and that I forgive you. He then stated that he was going to stay in my cell for the night and would fix me up until I looked like my handsome old self. I smiled slightly and said thank you. Nick gave the usual you're welcome reply, but then asked, "are we still friends?" I replied by saying, 'we're not just friends, we're brothers." Carl said. "I'll tell you more later."
Sophia was speechless, tears glistened in her eyes. Sophia hugged Carl and her tears slowly ran down her face.
Just from telling Sophia what Nick did to him got Carl thirsty for revenge. Carl released himself from Sophia's grasp and walked towards Nick with his hand in his pocket. Carl took out his pocket knife and once Carl was at the edge of Nick's bed he knelt down and said something kind if harsh, "I do not, will not, ever forgive you for what you did to me! I was just acting nice to you! You are not my brother! He'll you aren't even my friend! To me you're just a pile of dust just waiting to be swept up! I hate you, I wish we never spoke to each other! I also regret inviting you over and acing your life when you tried to drown yourself. I should've let you drown you SON OF A BITCH!"
Carl took his pocket knife and stabbed Nick between the second and third rib. Carl turned to Sophia, placed the knife in his mouth and swallowed Nick's blood, Carl then left the cell where he was confronted by his parents and man were they mad.
"CARL GRIMES! I can't believe you! How the HELL could you say that to Nick?! Then you go and FUCKING stab him and drink his blood. We raised you better than this!" Lori barked. "I want answers NOW!"
"You know why I FUCKING did this!" Carl yelled.
"Don't talk to your mom like that." Rick said, sharply.
"Carl apologize to your mother!" Sophia shouted.
"Sorry mom, I know I could've stopped myself, and I guess I let my anger towards Nick take over. it will never happen again, cross my heart." Carl said.
"I accept your apology." Lori stated.
"Now, are you ready to give us a real response this time, Carl?" Rick asked.
"Yes." Carl replied. "When I was telling Sophia about that day it felt like I was reliving it again, but I only told her the half of the story until you entered, and when I was done, I lost it and wanted to get my revenge. I know Nick apologized a lot of times but how could I not accept them his face was soaked with tears, and he even hugged me. I just couldn't say, 'I can't forgive you.' I know I didn't have to do what I did and could've just left and what I said was just way out of line. Right now I'm regretting all of it. I should go apologize to Sophia and Nick."
"All right, go and apologize, and then it's straight up to your cell for the rest of the day." Rick uttered.
Carl walked back into Sophia's cell and the first person he walked up to was Sophia and said, "Sophia, I'm sorry for my harsh actions today, I went way out of line."
"You should be apologizing to Nick, not me." Sophia voiced.
So Carl walked towards Nick's bed, he looked at his parents as he walked by the door. When Carl got to the edge of the bed he examined all the pain Nick went through, knelt down and spoke, "Nick, I'm sorry for all the harsh things I said to you earlier. I didn't mean any of it, and I want you to know that we will always be brothers no matter what I say. I hope you will forgive me when you wake up, if not well then I deserve it, but you know, Sophia knows, and I know that I would never say anything like that."
Carl got up hugged Nick and then Sophia. He then returned to his cell.
2 days later...
I was slowly waking up, my vision was totally blurry, and for some reason I felt a little angry, but why? It took at least twenty five minutes for my vision to clear up, I slowly got out of bed and made my way to Sophia. I climbed onto her bed, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her on the cheek. I then started to tickle Sophia, causing her to wake up and laugh.
"Stop it, I can't take any more." Sophia stated.
So I stopped and then came face to face with Sophia. I kissed her on the lips and then said, "Morning Sugarplum."
Sophia pulled me in for a hug and was crying tears of joy and replied with, "Morning sweetheart."
We got out of bed and that's when Sophia announced that her water broke. I helped Sophia lie down, had her bend her knees, and made sure that she was comfortable. I removed the essentials and told Sophia to breathe and push. Sometimes I told her to take a few deep breathes and then push. I told her how great she was doing, even though she was screaming in pain. Sophia only had a few more pushes to go and I said, "Come on Sophia, you're doing great, and you're almost there." I took off my sweater and took out the baby.
I wrapped Carter in my sweater to keep him warm and then handed him to Sophia, so she could have a look. Sophia smiled when she saw Carter, she kissed him on the forehead and then looked at me and uttered, "He looks just like you."
"Yeah, but he has your beautiful eyes." I announced.
Sophia looked back a Carter and asked, "What do you think of the name Carter Gray Lamerante?" Baby Carter just started cooing as if he was saying, "I like it." This made both me and Sophia smile and giggle a little.
"When he grows up he'll be a heartbreaker just like me." I stated.