A/N: I'm so evil. I had to break the chapters up. This chapter and chapter 19 were originally one chapter but combined, they were thirty pages long which was way too long so I broke it up into these two chapters. Enjoy! And review please.

Chapter 20 – Caledonia

I couldn't explain the feeling that I felt when Anna said my name. She had said my name a thousand times in the past, but for some reason, it caught me in a different way when she said it this time. "Yeah. It's me."

I could tell Anna had been crying just like her sister said. As it started to sink in that I was really here and not a figment of her imagination, Anna looked surprised to see me. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see you one last time. Bryan even let me have Cathy's 4Runner to come see you. I needed to talk to you."

"You drove all the way from Las Vegas? To here? In Cathy's truck?" Anna dropped the flower she was holding, "To talk to me? One last time?"

"Yeah, I did." Anna started to walk away, but I stopped her when I put my hand out and caught her. I felt her body tense up under my hand. "Anna, please." She had her head down but looked up at me eventually. "Look, I know what happened in Vegas at my apartment with Nigel was hard. Hell, Anna, I'm still dealing with it." I put my hand on her cheek, trying any way I could to connect with the woman I loved.

"Nicky, I…" Anna reached for my hand and rather than pulling it away from her face like I thought she'd do, she left her hand on top of mine and closed her eyes and sighed, "I am…"

I interrupted her, "Anna, I should have never let you go back to the apartment that day. I should have fought harder against Nigel. I should have done a better job protecting you from Renee. I'm so sorry for both. You got shot. I understand that. You killed a man. I understand that, too. Anna, you saved my life. Without you, I'd be dead. He had me on my knees getting ready to put a bullet in my head then he was probably going back to do God only knows what to you. He was going to kill me. I thought you were already dead and I didn't know how I could go on without you. You saved my life and I can't lose you. Not after all that we've already been through. If you and I aren't meant to be, then I don't know anything." With my hand still on her cheek, I watched as her facial expressions softened and her rigid posture relaxed even more.

"Ah, fantastique."

I looked up to see what caught Anna's eye and saw that the two kids that were in the front yard came running down the trail and ran by us. I dropped my hand from Anna's face and turned to watch them as they attempted to not appear as obvious as they were, "Your sister's doing?"

Anna took my hand in hers, "She sent her kids down to act as spies. She's about as subtle as a flying brick. It's got to be that nosy French side of her."

"Walk with me then." I took her up the gravel path towards Cathy's truck as I spoke, still holding on tightly to her hand. "Anna, I love you. I always have and no matter what, I always will. If there was a way I could take back what happened to you that night in my apartment, I'd do it. I'd do it a thousand times over to show you how much I love you." I stopped when Anna reached up with her other hand to wipe a tear out of my eye. I caught her hand as she took it away from me and I interlaced her fingers with mine before I kissed the top of her hand. "When I read that letter you left me almost two months ago, my heart broke. I did what I had to do to get by, but nothing else. I was miserable. I went to a really dark spot and was on the verge of falling in before I got pulled out." I looked down at my hand as I felt her fingers tighten around mine. "I begged your sister to tell me where you were after I spoke to Bryan yesterday. She swore you weren't here but as you can tell, she eventually told me the truth. I just had to see you once more." I looked at Anna's face, trying to get a read on what she was thinking. "I need to know what's going on and you know as well as I do that you can't say we aren't right for each other. The way I see it is we aren't right for anyone else. I hope you know how much I love you. You don't have to love me back, but I already gave you my heart a long time ago." Still holding her hands in mine, I let go of her left hand so I could put my right arm around her waist and put my hand on the small of her back. "I need to know, Anna. Please. My heart wants me to ask you, but my mind is too scared of the answer. What do I do now? Do I go home alone? Do I take you home with me?"

Anna didn't say anything. She just looked up at me before closing the short distance between us as she put her arms around my waist and leaned her head against my chest, burying her face in my shirt as she sighed, "Not a second went by that you weren't on my mind. It was you and me, over and over again."

I started to say something, but Anna pulled away and looked up at me before she made a face and turned around. "Anna? What?"

"Not you. It's my warden." Anna groaned as she looked over her shoulder. Her sister was still watching us from the same place I left her when I went down to the pond. After casting a nasty look at her sister, Anna started towards the passenger side of Cathy's SUV as she shot her sister another look. "Get in." Casting one last glance at her sister, she yelled something in French. Anna shot her sister a nasty look, "Nous serons de retour."

"She hates me?"

"That's an understatement. She wanted to know where we were going. I told her we'd be back. She yells in French trying to be an ass about it."

Anna got in the passenger's side of the car and threw some stuff in the back seat as I got in and started the car, "Where to?" I put the truck in reverse and waited on Anna, who was still glaring at her sister though the glass.

"I don't care, just go. I can't do this with my sister watching us. She's already on the war path because you're here. I can see that and I haven't even talked to her since you got here. Just go out the street you came in on and go that way." Anna pointed east and I did as she said. As we were about to turn off the gravel road and onto the pavement of the cross street, Anna saw the picture I had put on the dashboard and pulled it off and held it in her hands. "I remember this." I glanced over as she had her head down as she looked at the photo and I started to see her smile. It was the first time Anna had smiled since I had gotten here.

We rode in silence for about a mile before Anna saw a park. "Pull in. This is fine, but go all the way to the back. It'll be out of the way and we'll be hidden in case my sister comes to find me."

The park was relatively empty. As I followed the path in the park I noticed only a couple of cars in the parking lot. I started to pull in but Anna told me to keep going. I found a grassy area at the back of the park, away from everyone else. It was under a grove of trees off to the side where we were hidden from view. The only way anyone would see us was if they came back this way deliberately and judging by the vegetation around, people rarely came back this far for anything.

Since it was so hot, we stayed in the truck in the air conditioning. Anna pushed the center console up, sending an avalanche of coins into the back seat and scooted as close as she could towards me without physically sitting in my lap. "Nick, I don't know where to begin." Anna looked down at the photo in her hands as her fingers traced the image of the two of us. She put it back on the dashboard and looked up at me, "I let go of someone so special to me, it was someone I never knew I needed until I didn't have you anymore. It's my fault. It's my fault I made you cry, and it's my fault you are dealing with pain and misery." She angled her body to where she faced me and crossed her legs. As her knee came to rest on my right thigh, she reached over for my hand and took it in hers as she rested her forehead on my shoulder and cried. I put my arms around her and held her tightly.

Anna stayed like that for a few minutes before she sat up and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. I reached forward to brush the tears from her eyes as she slowly leaned towards me. I put my arms around her shoulders again and held her tightly as her lips finally found mine for the first time in almost two months. Anna wrapped both of her arms around my neck and held me tight, never once breaking the kiss. Everything around us disappeared as she held me as tightly as I was holding her. I tightened my hold on her even more as the kiss we were in became more passionate. Anna climbed over into my seat and sat in my lap as we kissed each other harder. I leaned the seat we were in back far enough to get us both in the back seat with me on top of her. She reached up and pulled my shirt off of me as I hit the button on the seat to move it back up to give us more room. Not caring about anything, I tore her shirt off of her, sending buttons flying everywhere as I ripped it off. Still with my lips firmly locked with hers, I undid the belt on my pants and the zipper and slid them off as I helped her take off her shorts. Anna finally broke the kiss as she looked up at me, "Make love to me, Nicky." She didn't give me a chance to answer and instead kissed me harder again.

As she pulled away from me, her eyes were telling me what I knew all along. Saying what she was trying to convey to me with her eyes, Anna's voice was barely above a whisper as I kissed her cheek and made my way down the side of her neck and her shoulder. "I've missed you so much and I'm sorry." She pulled me closer to her and kissed me harder before breaking the kiss again. "I'm so sorry." I put my hand back around her neck and brought my lips up to meet hers and the passion that had been building up inside of both of us was finally about to be let loose. After waiting so long, we finally came together in the back seat of the truck as we made love. Anna rarely pulled her lips away from mine and I didn't let her go until we were both finished and she was breathing short, heavy pants, just like me.

I tried to move over on my side as much as I could in the cramped quarters of the back seat but wasn't having much luck. After I got situated to where I wasn't crushing Anna, I noticed the scar on her right shoulder from where she was shot. I reached over her body and kissed it. I pulled myself back and kissed her lips again. "Anna, I'm so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am for all of this. It's my fault…" Before I could finish my statement, Anna brought her lips to meet mine again kissing me as passionately as she did earlier.

"Ssshhhh…" She brought her fingers up and pressed them against my lips before she kissed me again, "We probably need to get our clothes on before someone sees us."

I got up off of her and put my clothes back on again as Anna pulled on her shorts and held up the remains of her torn shirt. "Oops." After kissing her again, I took the shirt from her and held it up to see the damage I did. "Looks like I owe you a shirt." Anna tossed the shirt in the cargo area and found a bright pink scrub top of Cathy's in the floorboards of the SUV and slipped it on.

"Nick, I'm the one that needs to apologize to you. I bolted out of Vegas after all this happened to me and I hurt you and I'm sorry. I wish I could take that back but I can't d..."

I interrupted her once again, "Anna, you don't have to say any of this."

She started to lean back against me as I adjusted myself and leaned against the door so Anna could lean into me. I put my arms around her and I felt her absentmindedly use her fingernails to lightly trace imaginary patterns on my arms. "I know I don't have to, but I need to. I owe you an explanation as to why I left and the only way I can do that is start at the beginning." She let out a heavy sigh, "When Nigel shot me, I was on the floor. I don't remember a lot of what happened, but I kept thinking to myself, 'God, I don't want to die. Please, don't let me die until I know Nick is safe.' That bastard raised the gun to shoot me a second time and it jammed. Then you came in the room and took his attention away from me as he got the jam fixed and then I got shot the second time. I remember him leaving the room and I remember you calling someone on my phone and holding me, but after that I was slipping in and out of consciousness. It was only after I heard him shouting at you about your manners that I knew he was getting ready to kill you. I said a silent prayer and asked for the strength in my body long enough to save your life. I don't know what happened. I can't explain it, but I felt this jolt of energy hit me and I reached up to the mattress and pulled myself up and then reached for the gun and pulled myself out into the hall. I heard him screaming at you again, and I closed my eyes and begged my body to work with me as I stood up. I leaned against the wall and staggered out to where I saw what he was doing to you." Anna started to cry again as I held her tighter and she continued, "I, um, saw him holding the gun on you. I don't remember the first shot I fired. My head was spinning. I couldn't focus on anything but him and what he was doing to you. I remember he fell over and you were there, on your knees and you hit the table and I knew I had to shoot him again. I don't remember how many shots I fired off but I shot him again and again as he laid on top of that other man, bleeding to death." She stopped to wipe tears out of her eyes, "I don't remember you coming to me. I don't remember dropping the gun. I just kept thinking he wasn't dead and he was about to get up and kill you. After you caught me, I remember thinking 'Thank you, God. I can die now. You can take me Home. Nick's safe.' I felt myself start to lose consciousness for good after that and that's when I started reciting 'The Windhover' to stay awake. I kept reciting, even as I slipped in and out until you carried me outside and I screamed at the medics who said you couldn't come with me." She got up from my arms and turned to face me, "I don't remember much until I woke up after my surgery and you were gone. Catherine was there with me and Greg was there and when I saw the two of them after I woke up and not you, I began to panic thinking something had happened to you. I think they tried to explain what was going on, but Cathy came in and gave me a shot of something to make me relax, then you came in."

I knew I couldn't do anything about protecting her from the past, but I could protect her from having to relive it. "Anna, I …"

Anna leaned forward and kissed me again, "Please. Let me finish. I have a point, I promise." She took one of my hands in hers and continued, "I owe you an apology, but I'm not sure if words are enough. I know you know how bad I was screwed up after getting shot. I mean, you were there during the nightmares and the crying and me just being a blithering fool, going on and on about everything. The time after I got released from the hospital until Renee found me at Wal-Mart, I just kept trying to think of anyone to blame. I couldn't understand why that deranged lunatic attacked me then tried to kill you, but I believed that if I could put the blame on someone, it would make sense and I could move on and had started to until his sister found us that day. It didn't bother me that much then, but when she found me again, I had it. I called my sister and she told me that if I never met you, this wouldn't have happened, so that's when I left Las Vegas. I requested a leave of absence from work and I rented a car from the airport and just drove. I stayed in Colorado with a cousin for a bit and then left. I was driving east with no real destination until I heard a song on the radio that reminded me of my sister. I decided then to head here. So I called her again and told her I was on my way, and for the past few weeks, I've been here. I learned that getting mad was a lot easier than being upset. When I was mad, I realized I could control the anger. I could control who I was angry with. I could settle into the anger and realize I had someone to blame for all of this. I could focus the anger on something else rather than focusing on the pain in my heart." Anna looked up at me, "But I never stopped loving you. It was miserable and maddening and it seemed right at the time, but I was wrong. I was an idiot."

I smiled, "Bryan said you were an airhead, but he had some fancy term for it. Until he explained what it was, I was terrified you had some deadly disease and not only were you gone, but you were gonna die alone."

Anna laughed, "He said I was suffering from Acute Pneumoencephalopathy?"

"Yep. That was it. He said that and made it sound so convincing that I thought he was being serious and you had some deadly disease or something."

"That's a Bryan Brooks original term. In any event, I tried living without you and I can't. I can't live without you in my life. I knew in my heart I couldn't blame you for what happened but I let outside forces weigh in on my decision and I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault and I guess that was what I was having a hard time with. I wanted someone to blame for all of this, but I couldn't blame anyone but Nigel and I guess I needed to blame someone else but couldn't. He was the only one to blame. You didn't know he was a space cadet psychotic lunatic with an Oedipus complex mixed in with homicidal tendencies when you got the cable hooked up." Anna kissed me again, "Can you forgive me? I know I hurt you and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for that and I'm so sorry. I'm so very, very sorry I hurt you. I've known it since the moment you kissed me that I loved you, and maybe even before that, and as scary as it is, I don't want to deny it anymore and I don't want to run from it, and I don't want to let it run from me."

I leaned down to kiss her, "Anna, I love you. You know that. Seeing you in that hospital bed, barely hanging on to life and not knowing if you'd live or not, I still have nightmares about that. I didn't know what I'd do if I lost you and like you not being able to live without me, I can't live without you in my life, either. I wish I could have done a better job of protecting you from that space cadet psychotic lunatic in your words, but that's in the past and I can't do anything about that now. When you left Vegas, I didn't know what to think or do. I wanted to come after you. I wanted to call you or hear from you, but I respected your wishes until now. I just kept hearing that song you sang to me in the hospital after I got hurt over and over in my head…"

Anna interrupted me, "You heard Caledonia?"

I kissed her gently, "All the time and I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know if you were trying to tell me to come get you or that you'd always love me and you were letting me go, but I knew I had to try. I knew when I came out here, I was taking a huge risk of driving you away forever, but I had to know what was going on between us. I got tired of not knowing. I just needed to know one way or another where we stand. I guess that's the question I still need answered. Where do we stand?"

"I wanted to call you or come home, but I didn't. I was scared." Anna looked up at me, "I've missed you and…" I watched her as she got quiet a minute as she stared at me, "I need you more than I've ever needed anyone ever before. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anybody. Take me home, Nicky. I belong in Vegas." Anna kissed me and leaned her body against mine as she put her arms around me and buried her face in my neck as she whispered the words I've wanted to hear for the past six weeks, "I belong in Vegas with you. I'm not complete if you're not with me and you have no idea how sorry I am for what I've done. I'm an idiot and a moron."

I held her just as tightly and said a silent prayer of thanks that Anna wanted to go back home with me, "I will under one condition."

Anna pulled back and wiped tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand, "Anything. Just name it."

"Meri-Anna Gabrielle Gigandet." I took her left hand in my right hand and interlaced my fingers with hers and did the same thing with her right hand in my left hand as I held her hands tightly in mine, "Marry me."

Anna caught her breath, "Oh, Nicky."

"Marry me. I want to marry you because I have never loved anyone the way I love you. When I sleep, I dream of you and when I wake, I long to hold you in my arms. If I've learned anything since you left, our time apart has only made me more certain that I want to spend my nights by your side and my days with your heart. I don't have a ring or anything and this isn't how I imagined it happening, but marry me, Anna." I kissed her and held her close to me as I whispered what I wanted to tell her while she was so close to me, "I can't live without you. Do you know how hard it is for me to let you go every time I had you in my arms? I can't go through that again. I don't want to have to let you go again. I love you and have since the first day I met you. I can't live without you and I won't let you live without me."

"I don't want to live without you, either." Anna started to cry again, then in the middle of her tears spoke the one word that made me the happiest man on earth, "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes." She hugged me tightly as her tears soaked the top of my shirt. "Yes. Yes. Yes a thousand times, yes." She used the edge of the scrub top she was wearing and wiped the tears from her face then used it to wipe the tears from mine. "I can't live without you, either. I tried. Epic fail." She kissed me again, "Take me home, Nick."

We left the park and headed back to her sister's place nearly three hours after we left. Samantha stormed down the steps and towards Cathy's truck as we got out, screaming at Anna in French, "Où avez-vous été?"

"She wants to know where we've been." Anna shut the truck door, ignoring her sister, "I have to go get my stuff. Wait here." She kissed me as she left and ignored her sister and kept walking with Samantha still shouting at her.

From what French Anna had taught me, I knew Samantha wasn't happy about my presence and demanded I leave here alone and not to come back. Anna disappeared inside and came back out a moment later. Still ignoring her sister's rants, she opened the back door to the truck and tossed a dark purple backpack and a small suitcase in the cargo area as Samantha continued to yell at Anna. Anna slammed the door and turned to face her sister. I caught part of it and the part I did catch was something about Samantha being upset Anna was leaving with me. The hateful glance Samantha threw my way didn't help either.

"Shut up! Damn it, Sam. Shut the hell up!" Anna walked back up the steps and disappeared back into the house with Samantha still yelling at her.

Following up the same path they took, I opened the door and I could hear Anna yelling back in French at her sister. She made her way down the steps and stopped at my side with Samantha still speaking French in front of me. Anna shook her head and looked at me, "Let's go." She took my hand in hers and we started outside. Samantha said something in French that caused Anna to turn around. "I can't believe you just said that." Samantha said something else in French which angered Anna even more. "Sam, shut up. I am not gonna stand here in front of Nicky and argue in French so he can't understand how much you hate his breathing guts."

"You're making a mistake, Meri-Anna. Damn it, he got you shot."

"Would you stop calling me Meri-Anna!" Anna dropped her bag on the floor and turned to face her sister once again. "Don't even go there. Nick didn't shoot me, damn it. That deranged lunatic did. Nick had nothing to do with this."

"It's your name, MERI-Anna." Samantha didn't back down after she over pronounced Anna's name, "You think you know him, huh? Do you? He slept with a prostitute. How's that?"

I started to defend myself, but Anna didn't give me a chance, "And you slept with your biology professor to get a passing grade in college. So what?"

"Meri-Anna!"

"Samantha Celine!" Anna exaggerated her sister's name to drag it out to make a point. "You are using my full name for a reason?"

"It is your given name whether you use it or not." Her sister took a step back and reached for the stair railings, "How did you know about the college incident?"

"Doesn't matter and it was also in the past. If you thought you'd shock me into staying by telling me that about Nick, you're wrong." Anna reached for my hand, "I've known that for a while."

" Quoi que." Samantha scoffed, "And if you would have stayed here like our parents wanted, none of this would have happened." She let out a laugh as she let go of the railings, "But you are always the rebel wild child. You're the one that pranced off to San Francisco with Bryan and away from everything even after our parents begged you not to go. Now look at what it's done to you. Bryan ruined your relationship with Andrew and he's going to ruin this one. I don't see why Cathleen trusts you as much as she does. She's a fool and you're insane."

I started to say something, but Anna stopped me once again. She dropped my hand and took a step towards her sister. "I don't expect you to understand nor do I care what you think or what our parents think of me and how I opted to live my life. Bryan is my best friend and always has been. You're just jealous I've always been closer to Bryan and his siblings and parents than you and our own parents. Damn it, you're my sister and you've always been a frigid bitch to me when I did something you didn't like which was basically everything I ever said or did. Bryan's been more of a family member to me the past thirty two years of my life than you've ever been. There has never been anything between Bryan and me other than friendship. His wife trusts me knowing there is nothing going on there and there never will be. I have to hear it every time I talk to our parents how disappointed they are in me that I'm doing some demeaning job in their words rather than live like you and mooch off my husband. They don't say it but I hear it in their voice. I didn't turn out like you. I didn't go to college for four years and work on my MRS degree like you did. I got a real degree and I bolted away from here with my best friend, but you know what? I'm happy. I left SanFran and followed Bryan to Vegas where I met Nick." Anna stopped ranting at Sam long enough to look at me and smile. "He saved me. Damn it, I love Nick with everything I have and he just asked me to marry him and I said yes. I'm going back home with him. I'm going back to my home and my life that's waiting on me in Vegas. I don't belong here. If you can't accept that, then that's fine, but I don't care anymore. You're not stopping me from going home with Nick." Anna picked her bag up, "Au revoir ma soeur." After casting one last glance at Samantha, we left the house, got in the 4Runner and headed back west in the direction of Las Vegas.

We got about ten minutes away from her sister's when Anna started to apologize for her sister. "She's still mad I left home. I didn't want to stay here. I didn't belong here. I was bored."

I yawned, "What was she yelling in French? I know she's pissed I showed up. That much I understood from the tone of her voice, but the part about her bringing something up, what was all that about?"

"Samantha reminded me of why my relationship didn't work out with my ex, Andy. Andy blamed Bryan for just about everything and Samantha says it was Bryan's fault that Andy and I didn't work out. Bryan has always been my best friend and is a better family member than Sam is and that's a terrible thing to say about my own sister. I've always been closer to his parents than my own. My sister was born in Canada and when she was about eight, my parents, grandmother and sister came here when my dad got offered a job, then about four years later, I came along."

"Anna, I know that Bryan is your best friend and I respect that. I know that you love him, but like a brother and not like how you love me…right?" I feigned a worried face, "Or is your sister right?"

"Smart ass." Anna could tell I was joking with her, "Well, he never has asked me to marry him. Well, at least not when he wasn't slobbering drunk and throwing up in my toilet and swearing he was gonna die after his bachelor's party. He said he was gonna marry me for knowing how to take care of him."

I laughed, "That doesn't count and I think Cathy would have had something to say about that but getting back to your sister, is the age difference the reason why you're not close or is it something else?"

"Sort of. Samantha was twelve years old when I was born and she had her own life and didn't have time for her baby sister. That's why Bryan and I grew so close. He was my best friend ever since we were born. Sam reminded me of that fact and how happy I was with Andy and yeah, I was at one point in time, but I'm not going to put on a façade and pretend everything's okay as my world crumbled down around me because Andy was an ass casserole. So I left and I wound up in Vegas." She leaned over the center console and kissed me again. "And with a man I love with every fiber of my being."

I couldn't take my eyes off the road, so I just held her hand a bit tighter as I drove. "It took guts to stand up to your sister like that." I tried not to yawn, but I did again. "I have an idea."

"What's that? Stop somewhere and sleep?"

"That too and I'll need to find a Wal-Mart or something and get some clean socks and a few other things. I didn't exactly plan this little trip to come see you. I only grabbed my bag I take to work and that only had a clean undershirt and extra shoes in it." I eyed a road sign that we drove past as we continued west and crossed over the Oklahoma border from Arkansas. "We're sort of close to Texas and I was just thinking it might be a good idea to introduce my family to my fiancée and all. I wouldn't want them to get shocked when we announce our wedding plans later on down the road. I want them to meet you first and seeing as how we're not that far away from Dallas, might as well."

"Fiancée. I like the sound of that." Anna smiled, "I'd love to meet your family. Hope they're not as dysfunctional as mine is. How far of a drive is it?"

"Not that far out of our way. My parents moved from Dallas to a suburb right outside of Dallas. We'll be there in no time if you're up to it. Plus my mother would disown me if she found out I was this close to Texas and didn't stop and see her. I need to call them though." I yawned again as I glanced at the clock on the radio.

"Then let's head to Dallas after we get you some socks." Anna watched me yawn again, "Nicky, how long have you been up?"

"To Dallas we go then. As for how long I have been up, it's what, late afternoon now?"

"Yep. More specifically, it's 3:30 local time."

"Since Saturday night when I went in to work. Catherine and I got assigned to a robbery case. I left Vegas on Sunday morning around ten after she told me to go home. I heard Caledonia again as I was getting ready to leave and I stopped by the fire station and talked to Bryan."

"That's when you decided to come see me?"

"Yes. I didn't know where you were then, but Bryan said you told him that morning?"

"Yeah. I did."

"I'm so glad you did. I missed you, Anna. After Bryan told me where you were, I knew I had to come get you. I was gonna go to Warrick's and swap cars and get my Truck, but Bryan told me to take Cathy's truck and go. I got here earlier today and came straight to your sister's house. I'm fine though." I got my phone out of the cup holder in the console and handed it to Anna. "Could you dial my parents' phone number? I don't really feel like wrecking Cathy's truck." Anna took the phone from me and dialed the number and handed it back to me.

"Nicky! Nicky! Nicky!"

I smiled when I heard my sister answer the phone. "Jillian, Jillian, Jillian. Gotta love caller ID."

"Mom! It's Nicky!" I could hear voices in the background as my sister continued to yell to whoever was in the room that I was on the phone. "Little brother! God, it's been weeks since we talked. How are you? You sound okay on the phone. How's work? Everything alright?"

"It's been two weeks at the most since I talked to you and I'm fine. Work is fine and I have a surprise. That's why I'm calling."

"Mom! Nicky's got a surprise." I heard the same indistinct sounds in the background. "No, he hasn't said what it is yet."

"Jilly?" She didn't hear me. "Jillian?" I shook my head and looked at Anna, "Are you sure you want to meet my family?"

Anna laughed, "Of course I do."

"Was that a woman? Nick? Mom, he's got a woman with him."

I rolled my eyes and yawned again, "Jillian!"

"Mom wants to know what your surprise is. Did you get married? Nick, if you got married..."

I interrupted my sister, "No, I didn't get married. Jilly, put mom or dad on the phone, please?"

"Mom! Nick wants to talk to you." I heard her put the phone down, "I think he got married. He's got a woman with him."

"He better not have! I'll tan his hide." My mother picked the phone up, "Nicholas Parker Stokes, you better have not gotten married. You know how much that'd disappoint me and your father so you better not have."

"Mom!"

"Nicholas, I mean it. Did you get married? Is that why you're calling? I understand you're a grown man and you're living on your own now but you know how your father and I feel about that. Your lady friend isn't in a family way is she?"

"No! Mom, no." I shook my head and exhaled sharply, "I didn't get married and Anna is not pregnant." I glanced over at Anna as she put her hand across her face to hide her laughs. "I can see Jilly hasn't changed much. I told her I had a surprise and she heard Anna and well, you know how her imagination is. That's not the surprise. The surprise is I have Anna with me and we're in Oklahoma headed south. I thought we'd stop by before we went back to Vegas. I want you to meet Anna. She's special to me." I looked over at Anna, "Very special."

"Jillian, he didn't get married. I told you Nick would never do that to me." Jillian had a reply back to my mother, but I didn't hear it. "What are you doing in Oklahoma?"

"Mom, it's a long story. A really long story."

"Oh, it'll be so good to see you and I would love to meet your special lady friend since you talk about her a lot. Are you coming tonight?"

"No, no. We're going to stop in a little bit and get a couple of hotel rooms or something. I'm exhausted from being up so long and we'll be there tomorrow if that's okay with you and dad. I wanted to call first before we just showed up."

"I'm so excited, Nicholas. Your father isn't inside. He's out with Ryan dealing with the horses. I'll tell him when I see him and I'll make sure I tell Allison so she can be here with her husband and the kids tomorrow when you get here and I'm sure Tyler and Marissa as well as Jillian and Ryan will be here, too. Tyler's working tonight so he'll be off tomorrow. Do you have an idea when you'll be here? Should we make extra for breakfast or what?"

"Uh, no. Not that early for sure. I've been up almost thirty five hours straight. I've got to get some sleep. We'll probably be there sometime after lunch. How about I call when we leave tomorrow morning? That work?"

"Great. I'll tell Ryan and your father when they get done with the horses then I'll call Allison and Tyler. Tell Anna I'm looking forward to meeting her and are you sure you're not married?"

I groaned, "Mom, I am not married. I promise. I'll see you and everyone else tomorrow."

"See you then and be careful driving. I love you, Nicholas."

"Love you too, Mom."

I shut the phone and dropped it in the cup holder again as Anna took my hand. "So your parents bother you like mine do about being the baby and not being married?"

"God, yes." I yawned again. "My sister Jillian got married to her husband, Ryan, right before I left Texas. My oldest sister Allison is married to her high school sweetheart, Chris, and they have two kids. Jason is the oldest and he's eight and his sister is Riley and she's four. My brother Tyler is next and his wife is Marissa and she's pregnant with their first and is due after Christmas, then Jilly then me."

"Nice to know your family bothers you as much as mine and what's this I heard about two hotel rooms?"

"You caught that, huh? My mother would get upset if she found out we slept together in the same room. I know she knows but she's of the 'don't ask, don't tell' mindset but no, we'll get one room. I want you with me in bed tonight. I don't like sleeping alone."

"That can be arranged. You sure you're okay to drive? Do we need to find that hotel room? Want me to drive?"

"We'll stop in the next town. I still need to find a store. Just talk to me. You said you heard a song on the radio that reminded you of your sister? What was it?" I reached over and picked up a bottle of water and took a drink.

Anna smiled, "The song was 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks."

I snotted water all over the dashboard, "Next time, warn me so I don't flood Cathy's truck on dry land."

"Sorry about that." Anna found a napkin and handed it to me. "Probably shouldn't have said that then but it is true."

We talked for about another half an hour, catching up on what happened while we were apart. Anna apologized a dozen more times. Finally after driving a total of about two hours south and getting about four hours away from Dallas, I couldn't do it anymore. I had to stop.

After passing a Wal-Mart and decided against going tonight, Anna and I found a hotel not too far away from the store and checked in. Anna and I got in the shower together as soon as we got in the room and stayed in the hot water together far too long. We got out and I realized I didn't have anything to sleep in. I didn't pack anything before I left Vegas. I had a clean button shirt in my Tahoe, but that was in Vegas. "Anna, do you have a spare t-shirt or something? I don't have anything to sleep in. Cathy had a dry cleaning bag in the cargo hold with some shirts of Bryan's so I can wear one of those tomorrow and we can stop by Wal-Mart for some other stuff I need, but I have nothing else to sleep in."

She came out and put her bag on the bed, "I should but..."

"But what?"

Anna pulled a shirt out, "How do you feel about Hello Kitty?" She held out a grey shirt with the cartoon character on it. "It's all I have that'll fit you. It was Sam's."

I mentally debated about the shirt and decided that the Hello Kitty shirt was better than nothing. "Just remember one thing."

"What's that?"

"You just bear in mind what I do for a living. This gets out and I can make it look like an accident." The shirt was about a size smaller than the t-shirts I normally slept in but it was better than sleeping in the undershirt I had on for nearly two days.

Anna laughed and tossed me the shirt. I put it on and turned around. She had picked up my phone and snapped a picture of me wearing her Hello Kitty shirt. "Gotcha even though I know you're gonna delete that."

I playfully swatted at her as she tossed the phone back to me while she went back to the bathroom. I stretched out on the bed while she used the hotel blow dryer to dry her hair. I closed my eyes while she was doing that and was about half asleep when she came out, still wrapped in a towel. "Sleeping yet?" She finished getting dressed and got in bed beside me. "Now that is sexy. My man in my Hello Kitty shirt. You are totally rocking that one, too."

"Very funny." I yawned again, "And no, not yet." Anna scooted in close to me and I put my arms around her and kissed the back of her shoulder. "I don't want to go to sleep. What if I wake up tomorrow and you're gone? I don't want to close my eyes because what if you leave me again? I'm afraid to keep them open because I can't stand to watch you walk away from me. I couldn't do it a second time."

Anna turned over to face me and brought her hand to my cheek. "I'm not going anywhere again. Ever. Anywhere I go, you're coming with me." She reached over and turned on the table light so I could see her face. "You're stuck with me. I'll be here tomorrow when you wake up and every day after that until you get tired of me and tell me to get bent." She kissed me softly before she went to lie back down.

I moved in closer and kissed her. Anna put her arms around me and pulled me on top of her. I sat up and pulled her up with me, pulling the t-shirt off of her as she pulled my Hello Kitty shirt off of me as we made love again.

Anna stayed in my arms after we finished. She adjusted herself in bed to make herself more comfortable and the pendant from her necklace fell on my arm. I picked it up and put it in the center of her neck. She looked up at me. "Just promise me one thing?"

"Anything."

"Don't ever leave me either."

"Remember tonight for it is the beginning of always." I kissed Anna again. "I won't leave you. You and I were meant to be. Period. The End. Cue happy ending music." I reached over her and turned the light off, kissing her again as I went to lie back down next to her and we both fell into a deep sleep.

A/N: So Nicky and Anna are back together again. What I wouldn't give to be Anna right now. Not necessarily the getting shot part, but well, you read it. I'm sure you can figure out what part I mean. bg

Random story related factoid - this was the first chapter I wrote of this story. The paragraph that starts with, "Yeah, I did." Anna started to walk away, but I stopped her…" was the first paragraph I wrote of this story. I was on a really, really boring conference call and started daydreaming and next thing you know, there's my first paragraph. I built it all from there.

Insert obligatory begging for reviews line here. You can leave reviews for me about this chapter while I wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

I also have no intentions on ending this story any time soon. Nick's family will be making an appearance in the next chapter as well as a few more ideas I have in store.

I got summonsed for jury duty and I may be in sequester for a MONTH so if I wind up getting sequestered, I won't be able to update. Bummer.