Chapter 5

Victor groaned as he rolled over and hit his alarm thinking that it was responsible for waking him up… but the noised continued alerting him to the fact that it hadn't been the alarm clock that had woken him up, but the pounding on the front door with peals of the door bell in between.

"Good lord, what time is it?" He muttered as he glanced at the clock, which showed that it was only 4 o'clock in the morning.

"Honey?" Nikki mumbled as she placed a hand lightly on his back.

"Go back to sleep darling… I'll go find out what in the hell is going on… haven't people heard of the telephone?" He growled as he climbed out of his warm bed.

As he neared the top of the stairs he could hear the housekeeper or one of the other maids unlocking the door. Because he was tying his robe he failed to see the man standing in the doorway as the maid opened the door.

A shriek alerted him to the fact that something was wrong and began to hurry down the stairs as the maid crumble in a dead heap.

Victor thought his heart would explode as he finally realized who his visitor was… there in the pale glow cast by the porch light stood his son back from the dead.

"Nick?" He choked as he walked forward in a trance.

"Yeah, dad it's me… uh, this maid seems to have fainted on me…" He joked as he gently laid the stirring body on the floor.

Tears were streaming down Victor's face as he knelt beside Nick. He couldn't breath, couldn't think… maybe he was hallucinating.

"I'm real…" Nick reassured his father. Victor was so overwhelmed with emotion that he clasped his son tightly to his chest, then held him back to inspect him… no words could express the joy he was feeling.

Pulling away from his father, Nick helped the fallen woman to her feet. "There you go young lady… I didn't mean to give you a heart attack…" Nick smiled at the young maid who was staring back at him as if he had grown two heads. Victor rose with them and dismissing the maid he considered grabbing his son again, but a voice from upstairs interrupted him.

"Victor? What on earth is going… Nicholas…" Nikki whispered the name reverently as she grasped the banister tightly.

"It's me mom… I'm ok…" Nick smiled at his mother and slowly walked to the foot of the stairs. Nikki had moved slowly, fearing in her state of shock that her legs wouldn't carry her, and by the time Nick was standing in front of her she felt as though a lifetime had passed.

"My baby… Oh Nick! How is this possible? They said you were dead…" Nikki sobbed as she studied her son's handsome face.

"Well except for a few major bruises and some cuts here and there, the only injury that kept me from coming home sooner is this gash on my forehead. I was pretty out of it for a while, but I assure you I'm ok… I didn't want to call. All I could think about was getting home to my wife and family…"

Nikki didn't want the moment to be ruined so she quickly interrupted by throwing her arms around Nick and crying harder.

"I promise I'm ok… I just am a little concerned… You see, I thought to go and let Phyllis know that there had been a horrible mistake… But, imagine my surprise to see the house dark and empty… Could someone please tell me where exactly my wife has gone off to?" Nick tried to joke, but his parents could see the anxiety in his eyes.

Catching a speaking glance between his parents he tried to keep his mind from making up crazy scenarios…

"Darling… let's go sit in the living room. I could use a drink… I'm afraid you've given us quite a shock." Nikki pleaded, drying her eyes with a tissue that she had miraculously recovered from her robe pocket.

"What aren't you telling me? Where are my wife and daughter?" Nick pulled against his parents maneuvers to get him to go into the living room.

"Nicholas, a lot has happened since we found out that… about the accident… Please come sit down with us…" His father requested softly.

A picture of Phyllis locked in a small room, similar to that of a jail cell, flashed through his mind and he began to shake. Had he missed the trial? After he had promised to stand by her side had he ended up letting her down?

"Please… please don't tell me that they have gone ahead with the trial…" Nick could barely contain his worry and the panic in his voice.

"No, son… Phyllis isn't in jail. I'm afraid it's much, much worse." Victor ached for his son but he knew it would be better to just come out with the truth.

"I am going to tell you everything and all I ask is that you give us a chance to explain before you react… This has been a bad time for everyone…" He tried to get the words right but even in his head he knew Nick wouldn't take any of it well.

" What has happened? What have you done? Mother?" Nick shot Nikki a searching glance and knew he was right when she looked away guiltily.

"Nick, please… just here us out…" Nikki pleaded with a trembling lip.

"After we found out you were dead we both… were so full of grief and guilt and self-loathing that neither of were thinking straight." Victor wanted to tell him everything, but Nikki silenced him with a sharp glance.

"Phyllis quit her job… then she decided to move… We were genuinely concerned for Summer's welfare. Phyllis just seemed to not be making any rational decisions. So we had Summer placed in Victoria's and Brad's custody… temporarily of course." Nikki finished her version and prayed that Victor went a long with it. Phyllis couldn't deny anything in her condition and she couldn't stand to lose her son now because of her stupidity…

"You took Summer away from her mother? I don't care if Phyllis quit her job and moved to Alaska… she would NEVER hurt our child… or let her suffer in any way…"Nick began to grow angry. There was more to this than they were letting on and he knew he wouldn't like any of it.

Taking a deep breath he continued, "So where is Phyllis now? If Summer is with Vikki, then where is my wife?"

"Nick, I'm afraid none of us could predict what she would do… we had no idea that she had gone so far… Phyllis is in a psychiatric facility… three hours from here…"

Nick stood in a rage, "My wife is in a nuthouse? She loses her husband, career, home, and child all in a three week period and you don't know how she's going to react… How in the hell would you react?"

Watching Nick as he began head back for the front door Nikki began to panic, "Nick, please… don't leave… I know you are angry, but the reason we asked you to listen to us first is because we have realized our mistakes and we've been trying to make things right…"

"Make things right? I tell you what… I'm going to get my daughter… and then I am going to bring my wife home… whatever it takes."

"Darling, you don't understand. Phyllis isn't well… she's tried twice to harm herself… we wanted to bring her home, but the doctor argued against it." Nikki started to cry.

Seeing the incredulous look on Nick's face Victor confirmed Nikki's statement, "It's true. Sadly, Phyllis isn't aware of anything… I couldn't reach her…" he tried to explain it gently, but no loving husband would take this well.

"Let me get this straight… My wife tried to… to kill herself… No… it's not possible… My Phyllis is a fighter… No way… I'm going to find out just what the hell happened and I swear that if anyone… and I mean anyone… has harmed her… there will be hell to pay…"

"Look, I understand that you want to see your daughter… But, you are obviously still recovering from a bad head injury… Taking care of Phyllis is going to take everything you have emotional and physically… Why don't you let us get dressed and then I'll take you to her… ok" Victor hoped his son would agree, but he knew he didn't deserve Nick's trust at this point.

"Fine… Alright… Mother, where have you stored our things?"

Nikki gulped, "Well, your things are packed up in the green guest room."

The emphasis on the "your" didn't go unnoticed and Nick felt his anger returning.

"And Phyllis' clothes, pictures… What have you done with her things? Thrown it out… perhaps burned it all…" He snapped, glad when she flinched in reaction.

"No… I let Michael take them to his and Lauren's place… They have been taking care of her since everything happened."

Nick smiled a cold smile, "At least someone was since my family decided to alienate my widow… Oh, you may not have said it in so many words, but I know you… Victor, if you don't mind… I'm just going to take the ranch truck and visit with Michael… then we are going to rescue my wife and daughter… and pretend like none of this ever happened…"

Nick stormed out of the house and Nikki collapsed into Victor's chest, tears streaming down her face.

"I hope he can rescue her… and they can be happy and put this behind them…" Victor commented more to himself than Nikki.

"Go after him… talk to him… or did you not notice that he didn't call you dad? Please… I can't lose him again…" Nikki sobbed.

"Sweetheart, give him time… we'll make things right, but he has to get his life back… and since we made it so much harder than it should have been he has a right to be angry…"

On the way to the garage Nick tried not to cry at the thought of his brave wife breaking down… Please god, you let me survive that crash… please don't take my heart away from me in return…

When he got his family home he planned to have Sharon bring Noah over… He knew by then that Nikki would have told the world of his return… God, he had missed them… his family… Phyllis, Noah and Summer… he promised to do whatever it took to never leave them vulnerable like this again… he just hoped that his love could fix whatever had been broken inside of the woman he loved.