"Daddy, Daddy, come look at this!" an excited little boy called into the late afternoon air, his voice echoing throughout the plush grove of elm trees. Spencer slowed his new pony as he neared the pocket of apple trees in the corner of the Cassadine's private forest. He held onto the reigns tightly as he jumped down from his horse and inspected the blossoms that were just beginning to open. "We're going to get to pick apples soon. Do you think Mrs. Landsbury would bake us a pie if we asked nicely?"

Nikolas didn't want to tell his little boy that the matronly older woman would do pretty much anything for him. Growing up, Nikolas had understood that he had the entire world at his fingertips. His uncle had taught him early on that the staff worked for him and were there to cater to his every need. He had almost come to expect things to be done for him at a certain age and when his fierce of streak of independence hit in his teenaged years, he had quickly realized that he was almost incapable of taking care of himself. He never wanted Spencer to be like that. He wanted his son to be able to do laundry and ask people for help when he needed and even cook a few things on his own. Spencer would have a much different upbringing than his.

"I suspect that if you ask nice, she will probably make you a pie or two. We'll have to wait a few more weeks until it's officially fall before we start to pick the apples. If we pick them too early, they won't be ripe," he explained to his son patiently. "If you have patience and wait, we'll get to pick perfect ones that are just right. I bet Mrs. Landsbury will even let you help in the kitchen."

The little boy's face lit up as he danced happily in a circle. Nikolas jumped down from his horse and gathered the giggling toddler into his arms. Growing up in the Cassadine family, he had never been given too much affection. Now that he had a son of his own, he could never imagine how a parent couldn't shower a child with love. He told Spencer he loved him all the time. There was no greater joy than the sound of his giggle, the smile on his face, the feeling of his hand in his, the comfort of a warm hug. They were two peas in a pod, as much alike as father and son could possibly be. Of all the things he had done, Spencer was truly his greatest achievement. Even if he failed at everything else, he knew that he could look back and know that he had done one thing right.

Nadine watched them from atop her charcoal grey mare, a thoroughly happy smile radiating on her face. Nikolas had recently added the horse to the stable, an addition that she knew was because of her. She had spoke of the horse she had loved when she was a young girl growing up with her aunt. Maybe she had never had formal riding classes or knew how to properly saddle according to English custom, Nadine could ride with the best of them. She had beat Nikolas in a race more than once. However, this afternoon's ride wasn't filled with the same competitive exhilaration. It was a peaceful excursion between three people that could someday end up being a family.

"I'm hungry," Spencer commented decidedly, not an ounce of whining in his voice. He toddled over to his father's horse and tugged on the cuff of Nikolas' pants. "I think we should eat the picnic now. I know that Alfred put some carrots in there for the horses. Jack is getting hungry, too."

"Go ahead to the clearing and we'll be right behind you," Nikolas allowed as Spencer climbed back onto his Arabian pony. Digging his heels into the horse's side, he urged him forward without bothering to wait for his father or Nadine to join him. Nikolas held back for a moment as Nadine gaited toward him. Her hair was pulled back loosely into a topknot, her eyes covered by a pair of discount sunglasses she had picked up at a gas station on a whim. There was no pretense about her appearance. She just haphazardly looked beautiful. As she stopped next to him, Nikolas leaned over to press a quick kiss to her lips. "Are you hungry?"

"Famished," she answered, patting her flat stomach for emphasis. Nikolas laughed at her childlike mannerisms, a habit she had picked up after her years in pediatrics. "I think Starlight here could use some of those carrots that I heard Spencer talking about. What do you say I race you there?"

Before he could even answer, Nadine took off ahead of him. Her hair fell from the crown of her head and flowed freely behind her as she easily jumped over a fallen tree and disappeared around the corner from his sight. A minute later, he could hear her laugh joining Spencers, a clear indication that she had arrived to their allocated picnic spot. By the time he had reached them, Nadine was already playing tag, Spencer's new favorite game. Spencer dodged her, chuckling as he tried to run and watch her over his shoulder. He was running full speed, not watching where he was going, and Nikolas knew that he was going to fall before he did.

Nadine was at his side immediately, scooping a crying little boy into her arms effortlessly. She checked him over quickly for cuts and bruises, finding only a small trickle of blood from an abrasion on his knee. Cradling him to her, she carried him over to where she had thrown her ridiculously huge bag on the ground by a tree. "Look what we got here," she attempted, pulling out her ducky wristband. The little boy looked at her suspiciously as he wiped away the tears with the back of his hand. She started to sing a song in her "duck" voice, distracting him while she cleaned his wound. When she was finished, she pulled out a box of bandages and spread them out on the grass. Spencer looked curiously at the cartoon band aids as she told him to pick out one. "Batman, a very good choice! I always thought he was much cooler than Spiderman or Superman."

"Yeah, Daddy and me like him because he has the best car and he lives in New York like we do," the little boy confided as Nikolas finally came over to join them. He had kept his distance for the time being, wanting to see his bond with a woman that was coming to mean more to him by the minute. "If you stay here again tonight, maybe we can watch it. We have all the movies and the cartoon ones. Daddy makes me close my eyes or plug my ears during certain parts though."

"I have to do that sometimes too when I get scared," she told him with a bright smile. "Why don't you get those carrots out of the picnic basket and feed the horses? I think Starlight and Jack could both use a little snack. When you get finished, I'll make you one of my favorite foods in the entire world."

Spencer scampered off to feed the horses after Nikolas reminded him to make sure that Sheeba got a few of the apple slices Alfred had included in their basket. Nadine was busy spreading out the blanket and unpacking the wicker pack full of food – cold fried chicken, fresh mozzarella cheese, vine ripened tomatoes, bright red strawberries dipped in dark chocolate, sea salt potato chips, fresh baguettes and various condiments. Then, she went over to her purse and pulled out a few packages of sugar that she always kept with her. Nikolas watched her with the same childlike curiosity Spencer had reserved earlier for picking apples and selecting a bandage.

"What in the world are you making? You are not feeding my son that," he laughed as he watched her spread a thin layer of butter over the baguette. She shrugged at him coyly as she dumped another packet over the butter and evened it out. Nikolas' snacks growing up had consisted of beluga caviar on homemade crackers. Hers had come prepackaged from the delightful kitchen of Little Debby. "That cannot possibly taste good."

"And how would you know?" she questioned him, her eyebrow raised defiantly. She folded the sandwich in half and then started to make another. "There are a lot of things that you haven't wanted to try in your life that turned out pretty great." Nikolas knew that she wasn't just talking about food anymore. She had challenged him to let her in his life, and that friendship had ended up being one of the best things in his life. He probably still wouldn't like the sandwich but he knew that he would like the smile that eating it would bring to her face. "It might not be the fanciest thing in the world, but I still think it's pretty amazing."

Settling down on the flannel blanket beside Nadine, he reached tentatively for the sandwich and inspected it carefully. Closing his eyes, he felt like a little kid preparing himself to eat a heaping spoonful of peas. It was just a sugar sandwich, a snack kids all across the country probably ate every day. Taking a bite, Nikolas chewed slowly as she watched him expectedly. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be," he conceded before taking another bite. In fact, she was right. It was actually pretty good, its own kind of amazing.

Over the next half-hour, they ate a long lunch and Spencer convinced his father to play tag with him while Nadine read a book she had tucked inside her oversized bag just in case. The reading didn't last too long, however, because before long, both Cassadine men were pulling her to her feet and chasing her around the clearing. Finally, as Spencer began to yawn, they collapsed back on the blanket. The little boy curled up on a corner of the blanket, pulling the edge over himself as he fell easily into a nap. Nadine sat beside him, rubbing his back as she watched him sleep. A part of her would really like to curl up like the kid had, but the bigger part of her valued the alone time with Nikolas. Once she was fully satisfied that he was asleep, she crawled back across the blanket and sat beside Nikolas.

"When I was a kid, Jolene and I used to ride our bikes all day long in the summer. We would get on them as soon as the sun was up with the entire neighborhood as our playground. That was one of the benefits of growing up in a small town, you know," she remembered. "We had this usual route that we would take. We'd stop by the bakery first for a doughnut and then we would go to the park to play on the swings for awhile. Around lunch time, we would head over to this little café that served deli sandwiches for 2. We would split one of those and a bottle of Coke. They still came in the glass bottles then. It was so great. When it got really hot, we would go swim in the fishing pond or get an ice cream cone from this little shop a few blocks from my aunt's house. We'd never get home until just before dark, in that dusky magic hour where the light is just perfect."

"When I was a kid, my days were filled with a million different kinds of lessons, even in the summer. My days started with language class and then musical lessons. Afternoons were dedicated to fitness, culture and etiquette. Sometimes I got to see other children when I was taking a ballroom class or something, but most of the time it was just me and the parade of adults sent to tutor me," he told her. "My uncle gave me a bicycle, but I was only allowed to ride it in our driveway. I never got to swim in natural water, only our private swimming pool. I was awake at 8 a.m. sharp every morning and in bed by 9 p.m. even on special occasions."

Nadine turned to him, a stunned expression on her face. "We really are from different worlds, aren't we? I can't imagine missing out on the normal kid things that make growing up so fun. Swinging on the rope swing into the lake, eating popsicles on an overturned bucket in the garage, playing baseball in the empty lot next door… I've always loved summer."

It was hard to miss something you never had, but hearing about Nadine's childhood made him miss the same things she reminisced about. He hoped that she would be around long enough to make sure Spencer experienced all that and so much more. He hoped that he would allow himself to let her stay around that long. They were moving along in their relationship, but they had never really had a first date. Maybe it was time to slow down a little and build a foundation on top of the friendship that had already become so vital to both of them. "Are you busy tomorrow night?"

Thinking for a moment, Nadine tried to remember her schedule for work. Other than her shifts at the hospital and clinic, she didn't have much of a social life. There was the occasional evening with the girls at Jake's, but they didn't have one of those planned until next week. "I have to work until the afternoon, but I think I'm free after that. Do you want me to go with you to see Lulu or something?"

Shaking his head, Nikolas had to laugh at her innocent question. Only she would mistake his subtle proposal for a plea to accompany him to a depressing hospital. "No, actually, I was hoping that you would want to go with me to dinner. I'd like to take you out for the night. I think it's time that we have our first date."

"Date," she repeated, looking slightly awestruck. Her hesitation soon turned to overwhelming joy as she beamed gladly at him. "Nikolas, I would love to go out with you."

"Good," he returned, reaching forward to tug the end of her blonde hair playfully. "I would hate it if you turned me down for a first date after you have already kissed me, watched me have a total breakdown, had to keep me from killing someone at Shadybrook and slept with me."

"Well, technically, I slept with both you and Spencer," she taunted cheekily as she leaned against him. "Besides, what girl turns down a prince?"

He relaxed as she leaned her head on his shoulder. She was completely at ease around him and for the first time in months, he felt completely at peace in his own skin. He wasn't waiting for something bad to happen. He knew what life awaited him outside the safe confines of the clearing with Nadine and his son. He wasn't scared to find out what was going to happen. He awaited the future eagerly. He had come very far from the frantic man who wanted to die last winter. He owed all of that to her. "A girl who deserves a king," he answered finally, wrapping his arm around her back.

She smiled up at him for a moment, unadulterated joy dancing in her eyes. "I don't want a king," she whispered as he pressed his forehead to hers. "I just want my prince."