Back to You

Waiting at the bottom of the stairs holding a small suitcase, Nick yelled up the stairs with annoyance.

"COME ONNNN, BABE!" he groaned sounding pissed off.

Jillian Stokes walked into the living room.

"Oh, Nicholas, please! Do you have to yell like that? I mean really!" she frowned.

"Ma, we gotta go, and she is taking forever! We have to..." Nick started to complain but his sentence was cut short when he looked up and saw his wife walk down stairs in a beautiful blue dress that he could see fit her perfectly.

"I'm ready, I'm ready, relax!" she said walking down the stairs, only stopping for a brief second to look over at Nick's baby picture hanging on the wall.

"Wow, Honey, you look...you are absolutely stunning," he stuttered scanning her up and down.

"Ohhh, you look beautiful, Jules! I love your dress!" Nick's mother complimented.

"Really?" Jules paused on the steps, "You don't think it puffs up right over..."

"OH PLEASE! Don't start, Jules!" Nick said loudly getting annoyed again.

"No, no, it is gorgeous!" Jillian replied ignoring her son.

Bill Stokes walked in with his granddaughter in his arms.

"What is all the yelling going on in here?" he asked.

"What all yellin' goin' on here?" Emma repeated her grandfather.

"Gimme a kiss, Munchkin, we have to go," Nick said leaning in, and pulling Emma's head to his lips he kissed his daughter hard on the forehead. "I love you, Princess, you know that, right?" he told her.

Emma stared at him.

Jules leaned in and held her daughter's face with both hands.

"You be a good girl for Gramma and Grampa, okay? Daddy and I will see you soon," she explained and kissed her on both of her cheeks.

Jules was about to turn when she spotted the lip.

Emma's bottom lip began to turn down and quiver.

Jules rolled her head back and looking up at the ceiling she groaned.

"Niiiiiicckkk," she said letting him know a flood gate was about to open.

As the two of them drove to the church, Jules could feel the headache creeping in and she began to rub her temples.

Nick looks over at her and then back at the road ahead of him.

"Headache?"

"Yeah, little bit," she said quietly.

"Because of Emma? She's fine now, Honey," he said glancing back at her.

"Yeah, I know. I know."

There was silence before Nick suddenly spoke.

"You know where to meet me after the church, right?" he asked, "Once we get to the church I'm going with the wedding party and after the ceremony I am going in the limo with them. You're okay with that?" he tilted his head unsure.

"Yes, Nicky, of course. And yes, I know how to get there. You told me five hundred time," she smirked.

"Okay, okay, I just don't want you getting lost, Sunshine," he confessed.

"Don't worry, Handsome, don't you know I will always find my way back to you?" she smiled.

"I'm counting on that, Baby," he said and gave her a sweet wink. "...always."

The church was fluttering with people but she didn't know anyone. Nick gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance.

As everyone walked through the church doors, Jules smirked a bit at how thick everyone's accents were. She wondered if Nick's was once that heavy.

"Oh my Gawd! Well look who's here! Nicky Stokes!" a loud, obnoxious, screech came from a tall blond with big breasts. Jules was sure they were fake.

Nick turned around and was greeted boisterously by one of the bridesmaids.

"When I heard you were gonna be in the wedding party, I insisted we walk together. Kinda like old times, huh, Nicky?" she gushed before looking over at Jules, giving her a quick scan and then a fake smile.

Jules wondered if this girl had just taken note that her blue dress didn't fit right, and made her look like she had a beer gut. "Damn, I knew I should have worn a different dress," she sighed to herself.

"Hey, Brooke! How are ya, Darlin'?" Nick said smiling wide and giving her a kiss on the cheek and a big hug.

Jules held back the look of surprise when he called her "Darlin'". She was wasn't used to Nick calling anyone "Darlin'" except her and sometimes their daughter.

"Brooke, this is my wife, Jules," he introduced her as he put his arm around Jules' waist.

"Jules, this is Brooke Latham, we went to school together," he explained.

Jules noticed she gave Nick a slight glare that he didn't seem to notice. Brooke obviously wanted to be referred to as more than someone he went to school with. Nick may not have picked up on it, but Jules did.

"Hi ya, Honey" she said overly sweetly in her heavy southern drawl. "Ohhhh Nicky and I go way back, ain't that right, Nicky?" she smirked at him mysteriously.

"Who else is here?" Nick asked completely oblivious to Brooke's question.

"Just about everyone but Rob and Sherri," she answered, "We are all in the back room, you can follow me," she told him grabbing his hand.

Nick looked at Jules.

Jules looked back at Nick and gave him a reassuring smile.

She didn't want him to feel like a babysitter. She wanted him to have fun with his old friends…even this little bimbo who was dripping all over him. She just wished, at that moment, that she had brought Trista or Brett along with her.

"I will go sit down and I'll meet you later, don't worry," she smiled.

Nick looked at her. He wished, at that moment, that she could come with him. He wanted her there. He knew his friends would like her too. It just felt weird leaving her behind but he knew he was being ridiculous. Jules could handle herself just fine.

"Come on, come on, let's go, Nicky, time's ticking!" Brooke pulled Nick's hand as she spoke unnecessarily loud.

Nick leaned over, gave Jules a quick peck on the lips and allowed himself to be yanked away hurriedly.

Jules clutched her purse and looked around the church and spotted an empty pew. She shuffled inside and sat down alone. She took out her cell phone, made sure it was on vibrate so that it wouldn't dare ring while the service was going on. That was all she needed; she would be so embarrassed.

She was about to put it back in her purse when she decided to text Trista. She was just typing in that she was at the church and bored when she felt someone slide in next to her.

"Hi there, you're Nicky's wife Jules, right?" a pretty, brown-haired, girl asked.

"Yes, hi," Jules smiled brightly.

This girl looked familiar and certainly wasn't as loud and overbearing as Brooke.

"I'm Amber, do you remember me?" she introduced herself. "I'm Ship's wife," she explained.

"Oh, right, yes! Hello!" she hadn't recognized her at first. Mike Shipatelli and Amber Martin were close college friends of Nick's. She remembered meeting them at her's and Nick's wedding reception but that night was so crazy she never got to spend much time with them.

"How have you and Nick been?" she asked.

"Oh, good! We're good. We have a daughter now, you know, right?" Jules smiled.

"Yes! Ship told me; she must be getting so big. Did you bring her?" she asked.

"Not to the wedding, but she's with Nick's parents now," Jules answered.

Amber put her hand on her pregnant belly and smiled.

"I guess Nick told you we're expecting one too!" Amber beamed.

"Yes! That is so wonderful! Congratulations!" Jules replied.

"Thank you," she smiled back at Jules.

"You're due soon, right?" Jules asked.

"Yep, next month. That's actually why I'm not in this wedding. We weren't sure about the timing and let's face it, I didn't want to ruin the pictures!"

"Oh stop! You look beautiful!" Jules assured her.

"Well, if it weren't for being so pregnant, I would have been right up there with the old crew," she smiled slightly, looking disappointed. "Well, at least Ship will be partnered with Anna's sister…so it will be even anyway."

Jules gave her a sympathetic closed mouth smile.

"It's funny how we all married each other…well, almost," she quickly corrected her statement.

"What do you mean?" Jules inquired.

"Oh, just that the old crew…you know, we were all couples," she told her. "It was always me and Ship, Josh and Anna, Rob and Sherri, and Brooke and well…," she stuttered the names of the last couple, "…and Nick."

"It's really amazing that you all stayed together…that's not too common. That's really nice," Jules smiled completely unfazed that Brooke and Nick were once part of that "couple crew".

"Yeah, you're right," Amber smiled.

Jules could see Amber was definitely in love with her "Ship" and Jules understood that feeling completely.

"Josh and Anna are the last to tie the knot, actually," Amber said.

"Oh yeah?" Jules nodded.

"Yeah, well, except for Brooke…we don't think she ever did get over…," Amber paused shocked at the words that nearly left her lips.

Jules looked at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence. When she realized that Amber was stumbling her words, she finished the sentence for her.

"Nick?" Jules asked unsure.

"Um, well, Brooke is Brooke, ya know, she is…well, she is…well, Brooke is Brooke," Amber was a stuttering mess.

Jules could feel how badly Amber wanted to shrink into oblivion.

Jules leaned over and touched Amber's hand.

"It's okay, Amber, really, it's your history together. I get it," Jules smiled at her trying to ease her nervousness.

Amber looked relieved. She didn't want to say the wrong thing to Nick's wife but everything that seemed to come out of her mouth sounded wrong. She was grateful that Jules let her know she wasn't jealous or insecure with Nick's past.

"I'm sorry, I just can't seem to get my brain to work well with my mouth lately," Amber smiled and rubbed her belly again.

"It's fine, Amber, really. I actually feel a little bad for Brooke if she can't move on from the past," Jules said sincerely.

"Well, Brooke is used to getting what Brooke wants and when Nicky made it clear she wasn't what he wanted, she dug her heels in for the fight," Amber paused, "She lost."

"Well, I can understand wanting to fight for Nick, actually," Jules smirked, "I can't blame her there! He's an amazing guy."

"Yeah, but, when it's over it's over and ya gotta know when to walk away," Amber turned toward Jules, "We all knew Nicky wasn't gonna stay in Texas, he had bigger plans, he always said it."

Jules listened.

"And when we all graduated and Nick was offered the job in Las Vegas we were all so happy for him because it was exactly what he wanted," she explained, "But Brooke, whew, Brooke was furious. She even followed him there!" Amber shook her head with disgust at how pathetic she thought Brooke looked. "She said it wasn't because of Nicky. She said it was because she got an offer as a lead showgirl but…I don't know. Ship says she just lost her marbles."

"Brooke was a showgirl in Vegas?" Jules said surprised.

Amber nodded and wondered if she should be telling Nick's wife any of this.

"Yeah, but she finally came back after things didn't work out for her... in every area of her life," she paused, "But, she pretends that she came back because she didn't want to be a dancer anymore and she was tired of Las Vegas," Amber told Jules. "Ship and Josh are convinced she didn't make it as a dancer and when Nicky didn't want anything to do with her, it sent her into a tailspin. I don't know if that is true or not but she is back and she is doing fine, I guess. She seems to be fine," Amber nodded.

Jules found her story very interesting. Nick never even mentioned Brooke being his girlfriend before. She had heard about the bunch of them, and even heard Brooke's name when he talked about them, but Jules had no idea that Brooke was in love with him. Not that Jules cared much, she simply just found the story interesting and it made the time go faster.

Amber and Jules' conversation was cut short when the music began to bellow out from the church organ.

Amber and Jules stood up at the same time...and the church doors opened.