Standing in the midst of the spacious gourmet kitchen at Wyndamere, Nadine meticulously stirred a tall stainless steel pot, praying that her signature marinara sauce would turn out as she had imagined. Tonight was a very important night to Nikolas, and after hours of begging, he had trusted her enough to let her loose in his kitchen. She was determined to put a homemade meal on the table for Nikolas, Spencer, Alexis and her daughters. She had spent all day dicing tomatoes, rolling out homemade pasta noodles, roasting cloves of freshly pressed garlic, baking Italian bread made from scratch and tossing the perfect garden salad. No one was allowed in to help her, not even Alfred. This dinner was a way for her to get to know the rest of the Cassadine family, and Nadine wanted to make sure that everything went exactly to plan.

"Are you sure that there isn't anything I can do to help you?" Nikolas asked from his place at the small table in the breakfast nook. He had been watching her over the edge of his newspaper, far more interested in Nadine's dinner preparations than the stock pages of the Port Charles Herald. "I mean, I don't really know how to make anything, but I can have Alfred or Mrs. Landsbury come in to assist you."

Shaking her head, Nadine reached across the counter and turned the page of her cookbook. It was the same one that had been handed down in her family for generations. Each page was filled with handwritten recipes that had kept the Crowells satisfied and happy for years. Her Aunt Raylene had given it to her shortly before she died, and Nadine counted it among her most prized possessions. "I got it, Nikolas, really. You don't have to keep asking me," she answered frustrated. Her sauce was starting to bubble, so she dumped in the caramelized onions and chopped baby portabella mushrooms. "Now, did you say that Spencer was allergic to basil or oregano? I thought I wrote it down somewhere, but I can't find my notes."

"Oregano," Nikolas retorted as he folded the newspaper in half and set it on the table. He leaned back in his chair and watched in amusement as she tried to balance a large mixing bowl under one arm and a loaf of freshly baked bread in the other. She managed to almost make it to the counter when her right arm gave out and the silver bowl went crashing to the floor. A white cloud of flour exploded into the air, covering her entire body from head to toe. By the time he had rushed over to help her, she was almost in tears as she shook the powder from her hair. "Hey, now we'll have none of those. It's just a little flour."

Nadine allowed Nikolas to dust her legs off while she discarded her shirt. There was flour everywhere, and the entire kitchen was a mess. Dropping the dry contents of her dough had set her back at least fifteen minutes given how long it had taken her to sift all the ingredients together. "This is going to be a disaster," she sobbed as Nikolas gently brushed the tears away from her baby blue eyes. He smiled in commiseration and pulled her close in a tight hug, not caring if the flour rubbed off onto his black wool sweater. "I just wanted to do this for you."

Pressing his forehead to hers, Nikolas captured her mouth in a brief kiss, hoping that his affection was enough to swallow her sadness. When he saw that it wasn't, he decided to try a different approach. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you go upstairs and put on another shirt while I clean up the flour," he offered. "When you get back downstairs, you and I can work on making dinner together. You can be the head chef and I'll assist you. We still have plenty of time to get this right as long as you are fully dressed. I can't have you distracting me."

The stubborn part of Nadine wanted to assert that she could do this on her own, but the tears of just a few moments ago clearly showed that she couldn't. She was always trying to do things on her own, and it had never really worked very well for her. In fact, she always seemed to do a lot better when she would let Nikolas help her. Why should dinner for his family be any better? "Okay, I'd like that," she relented, kissing the tip of his nose. "I'll be right back down."

While Nadine headed upstairs to exchange her flour-soaked shirt for a fresh one, Nikolas sat to work sweeping the white powder off the flour. It was only like the third time he had ever used a broom, but he managed to capture most of it by the time she was back downstairs. He'd also rinsed out the bowl, wiped down the counters and laid out most of the ingredients he'd need to mix up another batch of bread dough. "Look who I found!" Nadine announced as she came back into the kitchen. Nikolas looked up and grinned when he found her with Spencer on his hip. "I thought that we could use a little extra help. Since this is a family dinner, why not make the preparation a family affair too?"

"Nadine said that I could help you guys cook, Daddy," Spencer declared proudly as he squirmed free from Nadine's arms and raced around to climb up on the tall stool next to his father. Nikolas helped him onto the counter, reminding him to be careful as he sat on the edge. "What can I do, Nadine? Daddy doesn't let me cut anything or cook anything because he says that I can get hurt. But Mrs. Landsbury lets me mix things up sometimes and Alfred helps me crack eggs."

Pushing the cookbook across the table, Nadine came around to the other side to stand between Nikolas and Spencer. "I'll tell you what, kiddo. Why doesn't your daddy tell you what to measure, and you can pour it into this bowl," she instructed them. "When you get everything in there, you can put into the sifter and turn the handle. Once you finish all of that, I'll show you how to put it in the baking pan and we'll put into the oven."

"Sounds easy enough," Nikolas commented as he scanned over the recipe. Nadine returned to the stovetop to attend to her meatballs while the father and son pair set to work on mixing together everything. She couldn't help but watch them in silent adoration as they worked side by side. Spencer looked so genuinely happy to be doing something so normal, and Nikolas seemed to enjoy doing anything with his son. He peered up at his girlfriend across the kitchen and returned her smile. "What do you think, Nadine? Maybe the three of us should open up a bakery."

"Slow down, Cassadine, you've got a long way to go," she teased. Over the next several minutes, she managed to roll out two-dozen meatballs while the boys finished the dough. Nikolas was able to navigate the process of putting into the oven. Spencer yawned as he jumped down from the counter, wiping his eyes tiredly as he folded himself into a chair at the table. The next time she looked over at him, he was asleep. Nikolas excused himself with a whisper and promised to return once he had put the little boy down for his afternoon nap.

"I love watching you cook," Nikolas complimented her as he came back into the kitchen. He had also changed while he was upstairs, trading out the sweater for a freshly laundered white tee. It was rare that he ever wore anything so casual, but the form-fitting shirt really suited his exemplary physique. His dark wash jeans hung low on his narrow hips, causing Nadine's breath to catch a little. She still hadn't gotten use to how genuinely beautiful a man he was. "But, to be fair, I love watching you do pretty much anything – playing with Spencer, riding our horses, working at the hospital, wrinkling your nose over charts at the clinic. It's kind of this problem I have."

She giggled girlishly as she bent over to put the meatballs into the oven to make. Looking around the kitchen, she realized that everything was on schedule, and now, she only had to wait for things to bake, boil and simmer. Nadine wiped her hands off on a towel and jumped up on the counter facing Nikolas. "Well, I guess I should probably admit that I like you watching me then," she confessed. She always loved the feeling she got when she knew his eyes were on her. "This was nice today, cooking with you. I know it's a little domesticated for you, but it is something that I like to do. I used to help my aunt cook all the time when I was a kid. I used to look forward to Saturday afternoons. She had this old wooden stepladder she kept folded beside the fridge. I would stand on the top step and help her mix up all sorts of things in her tiny little kitchen. Some of my favorite childhood memories were in that kitchen."

"I always wanted to help the staff make breakfast or dust all the sculptures we had in the library or even pull weeds out in the garden," he admitted. Nikolas slipped off his stool and came around to her side of the counter. Moving between her slightly parted thighs, he wrapped his hands around her waist while she threaded her hands behind his neck. "My uncle always told me that I needed to remember my place. I was the prince, and they were the help. He insisted that such 'menial' tasks were below me, but I still wanted to help. I wanted to do something that was so everyday, so normal."

"That's why I think it's so great that you do these kinds of things with Spencer. You know what you missed out on growing up, and you're determined not to let him do the same," she praised him. "You know that there is more to life than the confines of these four walls and this beautiful estate. You've made sure that Spencer has been all over the world to see what it's like for people from all walks of life. You're not your uncle, Nikolas. I didn't know him, so I'm not saying that he wasn't a good father to you. You're just your own man, a man that I happen to be crazy in love with."

He loved the way that she saw him. She was one of the few people in Port Charles capable of separating him from the insanity that had preceded him. She didn't compare him to Stefan, Stavros, Helena or any of the other Cassadines that had made it so hard for people to see him as human. When Nadine looked at him, she only saw him. "The feeling is mutual." Nadine tightened her grip on his neck and pulled him closer to her. Nikolas moved further into her thighs, pressing his torso against her body as they joined together in an intense kiss. Heat radiated through his jeans and straight to her skin, nearly burning her from the sparks flying between them. His hands slid around her waist and to the hem of her shirt. He lifted it slightly to allow his fingers to traverse the silky path of her bare skin. She moaned against his mouth and fisted his shirt hungrily. "I sent the staff out for the rest of the day," he managed between gasps of air. "Spencer is down for his nap, we're all alone."

Nadine reached down and peeled off her thermal shirt to reveal her black lacy bra. Nikolas barely had any time to appreciate the view before she lunged at him hungrily. Her fingers reached down for his belt and unbuckled it without breaking the kiss. "Now," she insisted, pressing down on the hem of his jeans. Nikolas licked his lips in anticipation as he stepped out of his jeans and tore off his shirt. Nadine grinned at him devilishly as he repeated the routine of removing her own faded jeans. He moved back between her legs and captured her lips in a lustful kiss while his fingers expertly worked over the fastener of her bra.

Wanting to tempt him for a second longer, Nadine allowed him to slide the straps down over her toned arms before crossing her hands over her chest in feigned shyness. Nikolas' eyes danced wildly, enjoying her coy little act. He reached up and slowly pried her fingers away, only to replace them with his own. He worked his hands over her supple skin, murmuring his plans for her softly in his ear as he teased her. Nadine bit her bottom lip as she threw her head back, arching her body further into his palms. "Oh, do you like that?" he asked innocently, his voice low and rough. She frantically nodded her head and begged him softly for more. He willingly obliged her with one hand while moving the other over her body and beneath the top of her panties. "What about this?"

"Yes," she choked out, her word stunted by her building desire. Brown eyes crashed with blue as he inched his hand along her body, pressing her panties down her legs and over her ankles. She eyed his boxers, indicating that they too needed to go. When they lay on the Spanish tile floor with the rest of their clothing, she pulled him back into her arms and wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. Nikolas lifted her up slightly so that their bodies connected. Her ankle pressed into the small of his back as they began to move as one. "Nikolas…"

He smiled into the crook of her neck as he pressed into her, reveling in the way she said his name. He knew what she was asking, what she wanted from him, but he wasn't quite ready to give it to her yet. "What do you want, Nadine?" he taunted into her ear. She moaned an incoherent answer as she bucked against his hips. "You have to tell me. Say it."

"Dammit," she cursed, the words slipping from the corner of her wet lips as she raked her fingers through his hair. He slowed his pace, teasing her because he knew that she was at the brink. "Please, Nikolas." Her plea was answered with a shake of the head and slightly faster movement. The back of her calves slammed against the strong muscles of his lower back as they came crashing together over and over again. "Nik, I need you."

Nikolas knew that he had her exactly where he wanted her, begging for their mutual release. "All you have to do is say the words," he informed her evenly. By this point, he wanted it just as much as she did, but he was determined to win this round. He wasn't going to give in until she said the words.

With mounting frustration and an overwhelming need to crash over the edge coursing through her body, she grabbed both sides of his face and looked straight into his eyes. "Come with me," she insisted, her voice emanating with need and desire. He brushed a quick kiss over her lips before picking the pace up again. Her eyes fell shut as he moved against her, their bodies never losing contact. Everything became warm and hazy as he drew her toward the brink, and then, with one last thrust and a deep groan, they both went crashing over the edge.

He held onto her tightly as she shuddered against him, their limbs entwined as they slowly came down from their mutual high. A sleepy smile played across her lips before she rewarded him with a sweet kiss. They were both slick with sweat, but neither of them made a move to disconnect their bodies. "You know we're going to have to disinfect this counter before we do anymore cooking," he joked as he tried to catch his breath. She laughed into his shoulder, dropping a kiss on his salty shoulder.

"I have to tell you that I just don't care," she muttered as he covered her collarbone with a shower of tiny kisses. His mouth worked expertly over her throat until he found his way to her lips again. "I've never done that before."

"Well, now I know that can't be true," he teased. "In fact, I remember doing something very much like that upstairs in my room a few days ago…and in your apartment the other night…and in the back of the limo after Patrick gave you clearance…and then again that same day in my bed when we got home… Actually, as I recall, we've done that quite a lot this week."

Nadine shoved him playfully. "You know what I mean," she chuckled. "I've never done that before in a kitchen. I think it worked out pretty well. I'd have to say that we did ourselves pretty proud there."

Nikolas nodded in agreement before brushing another kiss over her mouth. He was always like this after they made love. He loved being this close to her and relished the aftermath kisses when they were both completely satisfied and still connected. "Me neither, actually," he confessed, "but it's definitely something I've thought about."

"Oh, really?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow. Nadine had long made peace with the fact that Nikolas had very likely made love to Emily in nearly every inch of Wyndamere. That was what she liked about her – their – apartment. It was a place that was all their own, somewhere completely free of memories of lovers past. It made her smile to know that there was a place here that could be just theirs. Maybe it was silly to feel like that, but it made her feel even more special. "Well, I'm glad that I could help make that little fantasy come true."

"Oh, me too," he agreed before moving out of her embrace and retrieving his boxers and jeans from the floor. He handed over her panties and his tee shirt, a routine that they had quickly settled into since they'd begun sleeping together. Since their first time together, he loved seeing her in his shirt afterwards. "We better get dressed. Alexis and the girls will be here in less than two hours."

Nadine slid off the counter and stepped into her jeans before ambling over to the oven to check on the food. Everything looked perfect and still had more than a half-hour to cook. "It looks like everything is set here," she announced as she walked backward toward the staircase. "Why don't you come upstairs and help me shower? It'd help save me some time if you wash my back." Grabbing her hand, Nikolas laughed as they raced up the stairs, knowing full well that there was a good chance their dinner just might turn out burnt.