Chapter 10

Sabrina watched Nick as he slept. One of his arms was bent, tucked comfortably under his head as the other draped over her waist. He always looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. For months, he feared sleep. The demons of his past came to haunt him in his dreams. Slowly the nightmares subsided. Mostly when she lay beside him.

She put her hand on his chest, feeling as it rose and fell with each breath he took. She could feel his heart beating steadily. She spent countless nights doing this same motion, only several months ago it was to be sure his heart did not suddenly stop. It had a few times. She would scream in horror realizing her boyfriend may have died in her bed. But Hilda and Ambrose always brought him back to her.

She placed a soft kiss on his lips before trying to slip out of the bed. The moment she did, she felt his arm tighten around her.

"Where are you going?" Nick mumbled in his sleep, his eyes still shut.

"Shh. Go back to sleep," she said quietly as she slipped out from his grasp. "I'll see you in the morning."

His eyes opened slowly, still heavy with sleep. "Stay the night," he pleaded.

"My aunts might look for me in the morning."

He grabbed her hand and looked up at her. "Please?"

She found it extremely difficult to say no to him. She didn't want to leave in the first place. She gave in, settling back into the bed and wrapped herself in his embrace. He pulled her close, kissing her hair as he drifted back to sleep. She tried to get comfortable, but something kept her from doing so.

"What is in this bed?" Sabrina asked aloud. "Is it the remote?"

She reached behind her, grabbing whatever it was pressed into her back. Nick's eyes flew open.

"Whoa Spellman!" he gasped.

Sabrina pulled her hand back immediately. "Oh my….was that your….oh Lilith."

"Not Lilith, that was all me."

Sabrina covered her face, knowing it had to be at least 5 shades of red. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to….why were you…."

"It's three in the morning. I was having a good dream. Need I go on?" Nick rolled onto his back and chuckled. "Well, I'm up. Pun very much intended."

"I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"Actually, you have a very gentle grasp. It was very nice," he teased. She laughed and swatted at his chest. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before swinging his feet over the side of the bed.

"Where are you going?"

"To take a cold shower."

Sabrina covered her face, embarrassed by what she had done. She wasn't sure why she was so embarrassed. She had purposely tried to excite him before. She had seduced him to the point he needed to talk a walk or cold shower to calm himself. Perhaps because it was unintentional this time. Or the fact they decided to wait. She could hear the water running across the hall. After a few minutes, Nick returned with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

"I'll go grab...I mean get something to drink while you get dressed," she stuttered.

She hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her. On her way to the kitchen, she ran into Roz who was coming down the stairs.

"Oh, Brina," Roz said, a little surprised to see her friend. "I didn't know you were here."

"Hey Roz. Nick and I were watching a movie earlier and we fell asleep."

"And where is the handsome Mr. Scratch now?"

"In the room. He had to take a shower after I accidentally grabbed….him."

Roz's jaw dropped with a hint of a smile behind it. "You did not!" Sabrina laughed and nodded. "How do you 'accidentally' grab….that?"

"Something was pressing into my back and I thought it was the remote."

"Oh, Sabrina. You are something else." The pair headed to the kitchen. Sabrina sat at the table as Roz grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and poured them some water. "So you two are doing ok?"

"We are. He's been opening up about a lot of stuff. Not just about being in Hell, but more about his life and family. Apparently, his dad taught at the Academy with my dad."

"Really? Were they friends?"

Sabrina nodded. "They were friends. With Father Blackwood too. Supposedly, Blackwood was really mad when Nick's father supported my dad's bid for High Priest. They stayed friends, but something was different."

"He must have taken your parents' death hard."

"He did. Nick said his dad became really paranoid, swearing my parents dying was no accident. The Weird Sisters told Nick his dad would lock himself in his office and never let his mom leave Nick's side."

"How'd they die?"

"Car crash. They were hit by a drunk driver. If Nick hadn't been in a carseat, he would have died too. Nick says that's why he prefers to teleport over driving a car. I don't think he even knows how to drive a car."

"Can't blame him there. It must have been hard to lose his parents and not have anyone growing up. At least he has you now though."

"Yea, he does," Sabrina smiled. "How are things with you and Harvey?"

"They're good. He's waiting to hear back from the Pratt Institute."

"That's awesome!"

"Yea, yea it is," Roz said a little less enthusiastically.

"Everything ok?"

Roz sighed. "We're graduating soon. If he gets into the Pratt Institute, he'll have to move to New York. Everywhere I applied to….is not in New York. We haven't talked about what's going to happen after we graduate."

"What do you want?"

Roz shrugged. "I don't want to break up, but a long distance relationship isn't something I ever thought I would have."

"And how does he feel about it?"

"I don't know. Anytime I bring it up, he changes the subject. I know we need to talk about it, but how do you get him to talk about something he obviously doesn't want to?"

"Lay it out for him, Roz. Let him know you know it's hard to talk about, but it needs to be."

"Sabrina?" Nick called as he walked into the kitchen. "Are you coming back to bed?"

"Of course," Sabrina smailed. She stood and gave Roz's hand a squeeze. "We'll talk more later. About this and why there's an open door rule now."

Roz looked over at Nick quickly, "You told her?!"


Nick walked into Dr. Cerberus's shop and glanced at his watch. He was supposed to meet Sabrina 10 minutes ago at the movie theater, but she called and told him to meet her at the shop. Still, she hadn't arrived. He looked around hoping he hadn't missed Sabrina and spotted Theo instead.

"Hey Theo," he greeted as he walked up to the booth Theo was in. For some reason, it took Theo by surprise and made him jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You ok?"

"Oh, no. I mean, yea," Theo stuttered. "I'm….I'm ok I mean. You didn't scare me."

"I was meeting Sabrina, but she's running late. Mind if I join you?"

Theo shook his head. "Not at all. Take a seat."

Nick slipped into the booth across from Theo. He always liked Theo. He was a bold and brave mortal, not caring what the world thought of him. In a town like Greendale, to declare you were a man trapped in a woman's body wasn't easy. Nick imagined it wasn't an easy thing to do anywhere. But he understood what it was to be trapped in a body foreign to you, even if the body was your own. He understood the importance of being who you really were despite all obstacles.

"You looked deep in thought. Got something on your mind?" Nick asked.

"Sorta," Theo replied. He let out a sigh. "We're graduating soon and, naturally, I've been thinking a lot about my future. If I leave after we graduate, I'd be the first Putnam to go to college. I'll be the only Putnam that will ever have gone...and the last."

"I'm assuming you don't have any cousins."

Theo shook his head. "My dad and Uncle Jesse were the last of the Putnam men. If I had died when we were rescuing you, he would be alone and eventually the Putnam name would die out. Then it hit me….there can't be anymore Putnams. Not….not since I decided I was going to be Theo."

"Oh," was all Nick could say, realizing what Theo was getting at.

"I don't regret my decision," Theo said immediately. "I feel like me as Theo. But once I transition, I won't be able to have kids. That means the name dies with me. All anyone will remember the Putnam name for is for being farmers."

Nick stared at Theo for a moment. "I'm not going to pretend to have the right answer for you, Theo. There really isn't one. We have to make really difficult decisions in life and we're left to wonder what could have been in their wake. You can't dwell in it. This, who you are, who you know yourself to be, that's more important than some name. I understand your need to carry on your family name. I'm the last of the Scratches and I'm fucking that name up pretty bad. Just know it's just a name. Leave your legacy by changing the world. Making a difference. Like your Aunt Dorthera. That's what matters."

"What difference have I made though?"

"Well, you helped save me for one."

Theo laughed. "I didn't help much. I carried a gun and fired when something came close."

"I'm here aren't I? Remember when that horde almost caught up with us and you shot that gargoyle dead in the eye? You slowed him down. I promise you, if you hadn't, we wouldn't have escaped."

"That was cool wasn't it?"

Nick laughed. "Hey, that shit was awesome. You're a good guy, Theo. I'm sure you'll find a way to be sure the Putnam name lives on. I'll definitely remember it."

Theo smiled. "Thanks, Nick. That means a lot."

"Anytime. So, what colleges have you applied to?"

Theo was saying something, but Nick couldn't hear him. It was like he was listening from underwater. His vision was beginning to blur. He tried blinking a few times, but it didn't help. Don't panic, he told himself. A pain slowly started to creep up his chest, the pain stemming from his scar.

"Nick?" Theo's muffled voice called. "Hey, Nick, you ok? You don't look so good."

Nick opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He tried to inhale, but realized he couldn't. Ok, now you can panic. He tried to get to his feet, but his body wasn't responding. He finally managed to get out of the booth, but then the world spun and he was face down on the ground.


Sabrina did her best to stay calm, but it was extremely difficult when her boyfriend was dying. She was on her way to meet Nick when Theo called her. He told her they were talking and Nick started to struggle then just collapsed. Dr. Cee closed the shop and rushed him to the Spellman mortuary where Hilda worked her magic. But this time, she couldn't get the fever down. She couldn't get him stable.

His body was hot from the fever. His breath coming out is forceful huffs. The infection from the wound was only getting worse. Each time it struck, Nick's body struggled to recover. Pretty soon, he wouldn't. Sabrina squeezed Nick's hand, willing him to heal.

"Cousin," Ambrose called as he placed a hand on Sabrina's shoulder. "How is he?"

"I really wish I knew" Sabrina sighed. "His body finally stopped seizing, but his fever hasn't gone down at all. I don't know how much more he can take."

"I know he and I fought not long ago, but Nick….he is a good man. He's proven that to you and to us all. Myself included. He's strong, Sabrina. He fights on courageously."

"But for how much longer, Ambrose? I know I told him that if….when his time came, I would be by his side. But I can't accept that this is it. I just can't. We didn't go through all we did just for him to be taken away again."

Ambrose sighed. She wasn't looking at him, but he knew Sabrina was crying and it killed him. He had come up with an idea a while back, but was very hesitant to bring it to light. It was risky and if he was wrong, it could cost Nick his life. He once berated Sabrina for trying to manipulate the order of things, bending the rules to fit her will. Yet here he was, doing the same. For her of course. Ambrose knew from the moment he met his cousin he would do anything for her.

"Sabrina, I think I may have found a way to save Nicholas," Ambrose said.

She looked up at him quickly, wiping the tears from his eyes. "You did? How? What do we need to do?"

Ambrose pulled a chair up next to Sabrina. "Slow down a moment. Before we go on, you need to know that what we are going to attempt to do is risky. It will either heal Nick or…."

"Or what?"

"Or it will kill him. The thing about wounds from cursed blades, especially ones long standing as Nick's, are very fickle to cure. If you do not do things exactly right, it will not end well. I fear we have postponed this particular curse as long as we can. Nicholas is in the endgame now. By day's end tomorrow, if this does not work or if we do nothing, Nick will die."