Chapter 2

Nick headed down the long stretch of loose gravel that lead to the house. The crunching noise beneath his feet was strangely calming. He was still on edge from last night. The nightmares came few and far between, but it was as if the Dark Lord was still in his head, tormenting him. Picking away at him and playing his worst dreams over and over again. The worst was when the Dark Lord made Nick believe Sabrina was there, freeing him of his prison and the Dark Lord. Then she would fade away and his heart would shatter. Even when she finally came, he thought it was a dream.

He remembered the pain when they tended to his wounds. The sounds of Sabrina's cries when Hilda told him the extent of his physical wounds and her uncertainty that she could tend to them all. There was even specific conversation going on around him while he was recovering he remembered vividly. He was still in a haze. Not awake, but slightly aware of what was happening and being said.

Sabrina was sitting on the edge of his bed, her body turned in so she could face him. She was stroking his hair softly then would bring the back of her hand down the side of his face and across his jaw.

"I can't believe he's alive," she said, fatigue lingering in her voice. "I don't know how he did it. Look at him. He looks so…." She stopped and bit her lip as tears began to flow from her eyes. She pressed her hand against his cheek. "I can't imagine what they did to him. And he had to go through it on his own?"

She shook her head, unable to stop the tears now. "This was all my fault."

Suddenly there was someone else there. They put their arm around Sabrina to comfort her. "Hey, 'Brina, this isn't your fault," Harvey said. "He knew what might happen, but he still did it."

"I know, Harvey. Ugh. I was so mad at him though. He wanted to do something….anything to get me to forgive him."

"You do, don't you?" Sabrina looked up at Harvey in confusion as if he was speaking another language. "Sabrina, you do forgive him don't you?"

"I….I don't know, Harv…."

Harvey laughed in disbelief and pulled his arm back. "You gotta be kidding me. Sabrina, the man trapped the devil inside of himself to stop the apocalypse and keep him from killing you. And you don't forgive him?!"

"It isn't that simple, Harvey."

"But it is," he laughed.

"Don't forget he lied and tricked me."

"Yea and you did the same to me, remember?"

There was a heavy tension in the air suddenly as Sabrina's body stiffened. "That's not fair. I was trying to help you."

"I didn't need it. And what he did to you sucked. I'll admit that, but from what I'm understanding, you didn't say not to the devil when he called on you. I don't like the guy, Sabrina. Let's get that clear. He is an arrogant, pompous ass. He wanted you even when we were together so it's man code to hate the guy. But he had to have gone through some real fucked up shit in Hell and did it for you. You, Sabrina. Not the world because he seems like the kinda guy that wouldn't give a shit about anyone else. He did it for you. If you can't forgive him after that…." Harvey shrugged. "I don't know Brina. Maybe we should have left him there." The silence that followed was deafening. "If you truly love him Sabrina….you should forgive him."

Nick couldn't remember much after that. He woke fully days later with Sabrina at his side holding his hand. If his personal recovery wasn't hard enough, he also had to deal with mending his relationship with Sabrina. But it had been worth it. They never talked about his time in Hell. He didn't know who it was harder on - him or her; but they did not bring it up. No matter how close they got, it would always be something that was between them.

"Hey, on the walk of shame?" Nick heard someone shout from the porch.

He shook his head. "Nope, just a walk," he said as he made his way up the steps. "I thought you were working in the mines today, Farm Boy."

Harvey shook his head as Nick walked past him and into the house. "Nope. They brought in some new guys, so I got the day off."

"Woopie for me," Nick said sarcastically.

"What's up your ass today?" Harvey laughed as he followed Nick inside.

"Nothing. Just tired. I'm gonna go lay down." Nick headed down the hall to the spare room.

"Roz is coming by later. She's probably going to bring Sabrina. Try to stop being a dick by then if you can."

Nick lifted his hand in the air and flipped his middle finger up at Harvey without turning around. He disappeared into the room and slammed the door behind him.

"I really need people to remind me why I helped him," he said to himself as he shook his head.


10 months ago

Sabrina sighed as she slid into the booth with her friends. She looked exhausted, both physically and emotionally. After nearly a month and a half of healing spells and potions, Hilda was finally letting Nick leave the infirmary. The only problem was he had nowhere to go. Upon his return, several students of the Academy of Unseen Arts expressed their concerns with Nicholas Scratch's presence in the dorms. Zelda could not ignore or deny that it was a safety risk to allow him to stay at the academy until they were positive the Dark Lord had no presence within or command over the young warlock.

"Hey Brina," Roz greeted with a sympathetic smile. "How's Nick today?"

"Better. My Aunt Hilda said he can finally go home, but….he has none right now," Sabrina sighed. "My Aunt Zelda decided it isn't safe for the Academy for him to be there."

"Shit. What about your house?" Theo asked.

Sabrina just laughed. "Yea, my aunts will let my boyfriend who we just rescued from Hell after trapping Satan inside of him stay at my house. Yea. That's not happening. I don't even know if I should be calling him my boyfriend."

She heard Harvey scoff lightly, but no one else seemed to catch it. In the corner of her eye, she could see him staring at his hands as he shook his head. She started to feel irritated at his reaction. He said himself he didn't like Nick, so what was her forgiving him or not bothering him so much?

"It's definitely something we have to think about after what he did," Sabrina continued. "He tricked me so it's not something you just forg…."

"He can stay with me," Harvey said suddenly. All eyes were on him now. His eyes were still fixated on his hards, but his brows furrowed.

"Um….what?" Roz asked in pure shock

"Nick can stay with me and my dad," he repeated. "We have the guest room that's never used since my grandpa doesn't come by anymore. My dad won't care. He's always at the mines anyway."

"Harvey, Nick can't stay with you," Sabrina said, almost laughing at the idea.

He looked up at her. It was his turn to be irritated. "Why not, Sabrina?"

"Because it's crazy."

"No, it's not." Harvey stood suddenly sliding out of the booth. "He needs a place to stay and I'm offering him one. It's not like he has a lot of options. I gotta go."

He didn't wait for anyone to try to stop him. He just turned and walked out of Dr. Cerberus's shop. Sabrina groaned and got up to follow him, leaving Roz and Theo wondering what just happened.

"Harvey!" Sabrina called after him as she jogged to catch up with him.

"What, Sabrina?" he asked in an irritated tone.

"What's your problem? And what the heaven was that saying Nick can stay with you?"

"I don't have a problem. I offered to put your boyfriend up because no one else will. Someone's gotta look out for him."

She glared at him. "That isn't fair, Harvey Kinkle."

"No, it's not. Because Nick….he loves you. He's all alone and the one person he needs isn't there for him."

"I don't know if I can trust him again," she confessed as she held back tears. "I felt so betrayed."

"I know the feeling."

She winced at his words. "I told you I was sorry…."

"And so is he. Let's be honest, Brina. I shouldn't have forgiven you. I didn't want to. You lied to me about who and what you were. You brought Tommy back, but it wasn't Tommy. And I had to put him down like a dog. What did Nick do? Fall for you? Want you to go to his school and be his girlfriend? The Dark Lord may have told him to do it, but he would have even if the devil didn't tell him to."

Sabrina felt the tears escaping her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She wanted desperately to forgive Nick, but she was scared. "I don't know what to do Harvey."

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Just talk to him. It's a start. My offer stands. He can stay with me." He turned around again and headed back to his house.

Sabrina stood there for a moment, contemplating her ex's words. It was odd Nick's biggest supporter would be Harvey. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and turned to head back into shop. She froze in her tracks when she saw Nick standing just five feet in front of her.

"We need to talk," was all he said.


Harvey swung his front door open and smiled at his friends. "You guys are a sight for sore eyes," he laughed.

"Why? What's going on?" Roz asked with a laugh as she, Sabrina, and Theo stepped into the house.

"Someone came home in a bad mood. Again."

Sabrina sighed. "I'm sorry, Harvey," she apologized. "He had a rough night."

"Oh yea?" Theo asked with a suggestive grin. The other three stared at him awkwardly. "Wait. He's in a bad mood. Right. Not a good thing. My bad guys."

"The Dark Lord may not be inside of him anymore, just it's like he cursed him to dream about these horrifying things happening to people he cares about."

"You know what will help?" Roz asked. "Sex. Sex will help him get his mind off of the Dark Lord."

"I've been trying. But he just keeps pulling away. It's starting to offend me."

"Maybe you just need to…." Roz suddenly gasped, her eyes open as wide as they could go. "Oh. My. God."

Everyone turned to look at what had caught Roz's attention. Nick stood at the end of the hall, his hair tousled and shirtless with nothing but a pair of black boxers.

"Whoa," was all Theo could say.

"Wow," Roz said.

Harvey looked at Roz. "Are you ok?" He asked. Roz just nodded, not taking her eyes off of Nick. "I'm over here."

Sabrina hurried down the hall as she asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I just got up," Nick yawned. He stretched, inadvertently flexing.

"Oh look at that," Roz giggled.

"Seriously, I'm right here," Harvey said.

Sabrina turned Nick around and hurried him back into his room. "Let's just go back in here," she said.

"But I was gonna take a shower," Nick said.

"We can shower later." She pushed him back into his room and closed the door behind them.

"We?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Don't start, Scratch." She crossed the room and sat on the edge of his bed. "We need to talk."


***Authors Note: I know people are wondering about the rescue and Nick's time in Hell. I promise there is going to be a chapter (or 2) dedicated to those subjects.