Chapter 23

12th September

11 am

"Oh, you're mad. I know that face" Alex called out her best friend. She had called to check in with her and was surprised to find Nikita in such a bad mood. It was rare these days.

"Yeah, well I slept terribly, my yoga class got cancelled because of this damn storm and my husband is behaving like a child. So much to be happy about on this fine morning" Nikita didn't mean to dump everything on Alex like that but she was too pissed off to care right now.

"Okaay…want to start from somewhere?" Now Alex definitely had to stay longer to hear what had happened. She put her laptop on the bed and settled back into the covers. She didn't have to get up for a while.

Nikita let out a big sigh. "Michael and I had an argument last night. I wouldn't call it a fight but it was something. We usually resolve those on the same day but I was exhausted, and he was too. I didn't want to hear him out, he didn't want to hear me out so we just went to bed. No good night. No kiss. Didn't touch each other the whole night" That had caused the terrible night's sleep. It was unlike the couple to sleep in the same bed and not touch in some way whether that was holding each other or just tangling their legs. Nikita hated it but she was too stubborn to say something about it.

"Oh, I'd hate that. I made Sean promise me that we would never go to bed upset with each other. It's the worst and never has the effect that so many people claim. I would be more mad in the morning if we also had a night like that after an argument." Alex understood why that had affected Nikita. It sucked.

"Ever since we got married that has never been a problem because we resolve the issue instantly but I don't know what happened last night. I was supposed to drop him off at the office this morning on my way to yoga so I thought we would just talk it through in the morning." Once they were well rested and with clear heads they could fix whatever had happened.

Alex nodded along. It made perfect sense. What was the problem?

"I woke up alone this morning to a note on my nightstand. I guess Macy had texted me early this morning about the class and he saw it so he decided not to wake me up and take a cab to work" That annoyed her too. Even though she didn't really need to be up that early she still wanted to see him before he went to work and talk. Didn't he want that too?

"Yeah…no" Alex would have been irritated by it too. Nikita was right here.

"Right! What do you mean you are going to go a whole day without talking to me?"

"Wait is he not talking to you at all?" Alex had missed that part. Yeah, the note was not the move but surely Michael wasn't completely avoiding Nikita. He would rather die.

"Well, I woke up at 8, It's now 11 and I have called him 4 times, sent text messages and nothing. I could fucking die over here and the man wouldn't know" Okay that was a bit dramatic but Nikita was mad. That was so unlike him. She even got worried that something might have happened to him. "I started thinking something happened so I checked his location. He is in fact at work. He's just ignoring me"

"Okay, no" There was no way. Nikita was just too upset to think logically. "We are talking about Michael here. The man worships the ground you walk on. He constantly wants to talk to you and check-in. There is absolutely no way he is ignoring you on purpose" Something must have happened.

"Yeah, but he is" Nikita wasn't hearing any of it.

"Nikita, you broke off your engagement by leaving him with the ring and saying nothing and the man still went after your ass to make sure you were going to be okay" Alex wanted to laugh at this point at how ridiculous Nikita was being

"Call Birkhoff or someone else to get a hold of him or better just go over there. Don't put this shit in your head" Alex had to shake her off of this mood.

Nikita rolled her eyes. Yes, Michael loved her so much but that didn't mean he still couldn't be upset with her. "That's different. I'm not saying he doesn't care about me"

"Yes, that is exactly what you are saying. Nikita, you are also pregnant and were in a hospital a week ago. Do, you seriously think Michael would see you calling and ignore it because of a petty argument? What was it even about?" Alex had to fight Nikita's stubbornness on this. The argument had probably been about something stupid too.

Nikita hesitated to share. She didn't want to argue with Alex as well. Her best friend also disapproved of her hosting Sam. She didn't want to hear the same points over and over about how he had put her life in danger.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but please just go see him. Again we're talking about Michael. You know how much he loves you and cares for you. Do you actually think he'll do something like that? If he does I'll fly in to beat his ass" That got Nikita to laugh. Maybe she was being ridiculous and there was a reasonable explanation why Michael wasn't returning any of her calls or texts.

"So is that yes?" Alex needed confirmation before hanging up.

"Sure, yeah I'll go" Her best friend was right. If Michael knew that even for a second she thought he ignored her on purpose he would go insane. The lack of sleep really must have clouded her head to let such thoughts in.

"Okay, good. Let me know when you find out I was right" Alex smirked. She knew it was probably a big misunderstanding. The couple was perfectly fine.

"Shut up and get out of bed already" Nikita rolled her eyes and quipped.

"It is perfectly acceptable for me to be still in bed. It's so early here. You're the one in pyjamas still and hating life" Alex was going to tease her friend back and hang out with her a little more until she actually really needed to get up. Nikita seemed to be cheering up.

1:00 pm

Nikita called and texted Michael a couple of more times before leaving but there was still silence from him. Nikita definitely knew by then that something was up that had nothing to do with last night.

As soon as she walked into the office building she could tell something was happening. It was unusually loud in the main lobby and phones were going off constantly, staff was everywhere. She decided not to go to the reception desk and find Michael another way. She first went to his office although she doubted he would be there in this chaos.

Fortunately, in the hallway, she met Michael and Birkhoff's assistant. They shared one since there was no need for another. Anthony did a fantastic job at handling things.

"Mrs Bishop? Did they call you in as well? During this storm?" Anthony stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening.

The weather was getting worse and worse outside but she had managed to get to the office without too much trouble. "Call me in? For what? What's happening?"

"We have everything mostly under control now but this morning…"

That explained Michael's lack of response then but still, he would have sent a text. "What happened?"

"It's about the new security system. We are preparing for the launch and a few companies started reaching out and wanting to collaborate. Someone sent more than just the project pitch to one of the companies. Details that should have never gotten out and now someone from the said company has leaked it all and is trying to sell it as their thing"

"Oh, shit" That was bad. Birkhoff must be livid right now.

"Yeah…we took it down and got the legal department involved. Now it's just cleaning up the internet from any traces of the leak."

"Who sent more than the pitch?" They had had no problems with employees leaking things before.

"Still investigating that, but I assume we'll know by the end of the day. Anything I can help you with?"

"Ugh, yeah" Anthony surely knows where her husband was. "I was looking for Michael"

"They are downstairs in the Business Hall. They have been there since this morning. I'm not sure when they'll wrap up. I can call and-"

"No, no thank you. I'll head down"

She quickly hopped on the elevator and in a few minutes, she was approaching the big conference room. As fate would have it Michael was just getting out. He spotted her instantly. "Nik? What are you doing out here? It's crazy outside"

"Well after the 10th missed call and the dozens and dozens of unanswered texts, I figured something was up so here I am" She decided to shoot straight. She needed him to destroy all the thoughts inside her head telling her she was being ignored all day.

"What? I didn't get anything?" Michael's eyes widened and he started frantically looking for his phone. He checked his pockets, his bag and nothing. Only his work phone was on him. He tried to retrace his steps to see when he lost it but he couldn't remember even when the last time he had it was. How could he have missed this and why had Nikita called him so many times?

"Wait, are you okay?" The thought of Nikita needing him and not being able to reach him was terrifying. How could he have been so careless?

Michael's panic and sheer horror in his eyes erased all her doubts. He genuinely had no idea what was happening and what she was talking about. "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. I just got worried when you never responded"

"I'm so sorry. I have no idea where my phone is" He pulled her in his arms and tried to breathe. She was okay. She was right here with him. "Why didn't you call my work phone or someone else here?"

"Well.." The real reason was because she thought he was ignoring her on purpose but she wasn't going to get into that in the middle of this hallway. "It wasn't an emergency so I just didn't need to" That was an answer she could settle on for now.

"Okay" He nodded and laid a kiss on her crown. "Do you need anything? Why did you drive all the way here in this storm?" That was so dangerous even for a skilled driver.

"I…I just wanted to see you" That was that. Alex had been right. Now standing in front of him, in his arms she regretted every doubting thought she had.

"Okay, but I could have come to you. Please if you ever need me but can't reach me try something else. Birkhoff has been on his phone the whole day. He could have gotten me for you" He swore to never lose sight of his phone ever again.

"I know, I know. Everything is okay. Let's just go upstairs if you are finished here" They could talk more in his office in private.

"We can go home. There's not much I can do anymore. The legal department has taken over and wait I haven't even told you what happened"

"Anthony told me. How's Nerd?" Her friend must have taken the news badly.

"Well…he wasn't doing so great. Sonya had to step in since he couldn't stop yelling" It had been a day and it was only lunchtime. Michael was looking forward to going home with his wife. "Anyway, let's go home"

"Yeah, I would like to stay here for a bit. I want to talk to you" Nikita didn't know if Sam had gotten back to the house so she wanted to use the opportunity to be completely alone with Michael.

"Okay" Michael agreed and let her lead the way. While they were heading to his office he had a minute to wonder what she wanted to talk about. Their argument was the first thing that came to mind. They had left it unsettled which wasn't like them. Michael had slept on it so he didn't feel so strongly about it now. It was stupid. They could have handled it better.

Michael closed the door and locked it so no one could interrupt them. Nikita settled on the little couch by the window and he followed. He let her start.

"About last night…I want us to reach some kind of middle ground. I don't want to be fighting with you about it. I understand your frustrations. I knew what they would be the day I asked you permission about Sam. I still went along and asked you which wasn't fair and I'm not just saying that for the sake of making up. I mean it." She reached for his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back and didn't interrupt.

"I see myself in Sam in a way. Lost, a bit broken in certain parts, stubborn, not wanting help. One thing that is different between me and him is that I have you. You stood and continue to stand by me through everything that is thrown our way. You love me through all of it despite everything I have done. Having something like that truly transforms a person. He doesn't have that. He doesn't even rely on us as his family. That's why he keeps on making the same mistakes time and time again. It was never about me or anyone else. He's battling with himself most of the time" She wanted Michael to see Sam the way she saw him.

Michael nodded slowly and listened intently. He felt shitty about not figuring this out earlier. It was right in front of him the whole time. It explained a lot like why Nikita was so defensive about him.

"I…I understand and I'm sorry that I didn't before. I…I just can't help myself to be quite honest. You know how much I love you. Nik, you're literally everything to me and it's hard forgiving someone who has hurt you so many times. It might be childish to hold that grudge after so many years but I still do. However, I don't want to fight about it with you either. I think what heated things for me last night is that I felt…like…I don't know crazy for thinking anything might be going on with him. Like you didn't trust me to know if something was wrong"

That was not at all what she wanted him to think. "Wait, you actually think that? Michael, there is no one in this world that I trust more than you. I still hear all of your concerns and I get where you are coming from. I just…I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do. Everything has been happening all at once and I just need time. Maybe you're right or maybe I am or maybe no one is I don't know but I need time to see what's going on. That's what I'm asking for. I don't want to just keep assuming things."

"Okay. Let's settle on this. I'm leaving you to it. For real this time. I'm not going to say anything or get involved. I just ask that you be careful. Don't trust so blindly. That's all I need" Michael was going to try his best to stay true to that promise. Nikita knew how to protect herself. She had a strong intuition and Michael needed to believe in that.

"Okay" Nikita nodded "I promise I'll be careful and everything will be okay and if you feel like something is not right you can still come to me. We talk about everything so this is not an exception and I promise not to shut you down immediately and actually listen"

Michael nodded, pulled his wife closer and laid a kiss on her temple. He was happy with that agreement. Nikita snuggled into him and sighed. "Also don't you dare ever leave the house if we haven't resolved an argument."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have done that. I barely slept too so I wanted you to rest at least. I'm sorry." He had found himself in a big dilemma this morning if he should wake her up or not. In the moment it felt wrong. She was probably going to be tired and not in the mood to talk yet so he left a note.

"Also don't look at your text messages. I need to delete them" That was going to be embarrassing. Nikita hadn't written anything mean in them but she did text about him ignoring her on purpose. Nikita wasn't going to let her husband read that.

"Why?" Michael frowned. What was in those messages?

Nikita pulled back from him and shook her head "It doesn't matter anymore. Don't think about it" She pulled out her phone but Michael reached for her hand and made her put it down.

"I won't look at them if you don't want me to but I would like some context at least" He can respect her wish but he wasn't just going to drop that.

"It's really nothing" Nikita didn't know what was going to be worse - showing them to him or telling him.

"If it was nothing you wouldn't have to delete them" Michael didn't think there was going to be anything hurtful in them. They weren't that kind of couple.

"I will tell you but I don't want you to take it seriously. I don't actually think that" There was no way out of it so she had to tell him.

"Okay"

"The reason why I didn't try calling your work phone or Birkhoff was because I thought that the reason you weren't responding to me was because you were still upset from last night" Even saying it out loud now sounded so wrong.

"What?" Michael was shocked. He had never done something like that he wasn't going to start now. It was stupid and childish. "You thought I wasn't responding out of spite? Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. I was tired and not in a good mood. I don't actually believe that" She had to stress that. She knew Michael would never do something like that.

"Well good because I would never do that to you. I would rather die the most torturous death than do that" He pulled her close again. What was in the air today? He knew how Nikita's brain worked when her anxiety was high. He wasn't surprised that such thoughts had come to her mind. He was going to get rid of them.

"I'm sorry I overreacted" Nikita felt bad. Today shouldn't have gone the way it did.

"Baby, you have nothing to apologize for. If I had my phone on me everything would have been fine which by the way I need to find the damn thing" Michael was so angry with himself for not paying attention. If something had happened he wouldn't have been able to help her.

Nikita laughed "Is it on silent?" She reached for her phone to call him. Of course, he would lose his phone at work too.

"It's on silent but the vibration is still on" Michael circled his office hoping to hear it. Soon the buzzing sound could be heard from his desk chair. Michael went over it and pulled his phone out of his coat's pocket. He hadn't even gotten it out when he came in this morning. That's why he must have forgotten it.

"You must have really had a morning"

"Yeah" Michael sighed "Let's go home please"

Nikita smiled softly and helped him get his things and they were out the door.

Sam was still not back home so the couple could continue to talk freely and enjoy time just the two of them for longer. Michael lit the fireplace in the conservatory and cuddled up on the couch with his little family. The storm was still in full swing so they listened to the rain, played some relaxing music, talked, laughed, and played with Archie.

Sam walked into the living room a few hours later, drenched from the rain.

"Where were you?" Nikita could only gasp. He was soaked and was tracking water everywhere.

"Okay, stop in one place before someone slips and falls. Go to the bathroom right there and I will bring you some towels and clothes" Michael got to work while Nikita just followed Sam.

"Nik, watch your steps the floor is slippery" Michael had to warn. The last thing they needed today was for her to fall and hurt herself.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get something to dry it. There's no way you got so wet just from walking to the front door" Nikita grabbed a mop from the closet while still trying to talk to Sam. Nikita and Michael had gotten rained on from the car to the front door but that was nothing compared to Sam. It looked like he had been in the rain all day.

"I didn't know there was going to be a storm today so I didn't plan my day for it"

"Here" Michael returned with towels and a pair of clothes.

"Take a shower and warm up"

"Thank guys. I'll be right with you"

The couple left him to shower and get changed and returned to the conservatory. Michael put some more wood in the fire while Nikita cuddled up with Archie again. After he made sure the fire was going strong he returned to his wife.

"I should start preparing dinner soon. What would you like for tonight?"

"In this weather mac and cheese sounds like heaven with some garlic bread too"

Michael chuckled "Okay then. I'll get it going" He earned himself a kiss and moved to the kitchen.

While Michael was cooking away Nikita moved to the living room since it was going to get way too hot on that side of the house. She grabbed her laptop hoping to get some work done since she hadn't been able to earlier today. Her mood had done a complete 180. Having her and Michael spend a quiet afternoon together always made her feel so much better.

She didn't have much time alone in the living room though. Sam emerged from the bathroom and joined her. "Hey"

"Hey, feeling warmer?"

"Yeah, it's actually pretty hot in here" He took a seat next to her, much happier to be dry now.

Nikita chuckled "Yeah I hate being cold so when it hits the colder months our house turns into a sauna" Michael made sure she was always warm and happy.

"What you doing over there?" Sam leaned over to take a peek at her laptop.

"Sorting out my tasks for the week which reminds me. Do you want to do something in the next few days? I mean we have to do something. You never visit for this long" Whenever her family visited they always had a full itinerary going. They couldn't just sit around at home.

"Sure, yeah. What do you want to do?"

"Well, I should be asking you that. Where have you gone so far?" Nikita had tried to leave him to do his thing but she was getting curious about where he was spending his time so much the last two days.

"I've been around the area here. The office for this new job I've been telling you about is on the other side of town so I've been there"

"You actually haven't told me much about the job" He had mentioned it briefly the first time he told her about it. It was after all the reason for his stay but that was all she knew.

"I'm still testing it out. It's a security company. They deal with small and big clients. Seems nice enough" Sam explained.

"Is that where you were today?" He was still not giving her that much information.

"Yeah they called me so I'll be there a few times this week"

"And you like it?"

"Too early to tell"

"I think it would be nice for you to be here whether that's in Brighton or London. More family around" One of the best decisions she and Michael had made was to move close to family. Nikita couldn't imagine ever moving away and giving up working with her best friends or having spontaneous dinners together. It comforted her to know that she could just go see Sonya and Birkhoff whenever she wanted to. She was secretly working on Alex to move here as well since she and Sean haven't settled somewhere for real yet.

"That's something you would thrive on. I'm good on my own"

"No one is good on their own" She had thought the same thing once but it wasn't true.

"Well, I have you, don't I?"

"Yeah and everybody else as well. And actually, you have barely talked to me these past few months" They were close, yes but he had been keeping his distance for some time now.

"You know me. I'm not the type to call just to check in" That was true but he had missed many family dinners as well and quite a few of her calls.

"I know but I would like it from time to time" All of them had busy schedules so it was completely normal and understandable to not talk so frequently.

"I'll try my best but I don't think you'll have time to deal with me. You are going to have a child now"

"Yeah, but I only hope that it would change things for the better. I would like for you to be in my child's life. You're family" Just because the couple was expecting their first child that didn't mean they were going to isolate everyone else. Quite the opposite. She was sure everyone was eager to help out and be as close as possible.

"How did you guys decide to have a baby anyway? I thought you didn't want kids" Nikita wasn't sure when she had shared that with Sam. Not that it mattered. It was a long time ago for sure. Nikita and Michael had been discussing starting a family for well over a year now.

"Well, a lot has changed since then. There are a lot of things to it but to put it simply I started thinking differently about it. My life has completely changed. I'm happy and excited to start a family with Michael now" That was the simple version. She didn't feel like sharing more. That could stay between her and her husband.

"That's good"

"Yeah, and I'm sure you'd be just as fun of an uncle as the other guys" She tried to lighten the mood but still show him that she imagined him in her future a lot more than he did.

"Nah, I'll be the bad influence most likely"

Nikita laughed but shook her head. "No, you won't and who knows maybe you'd be settled down in a few years too" She suggested hoping to open another one of his locked-up doors.

"You are way too optimistic about the future"

"Why would I not be?" That was an odd thing to say. She had moments where she was afraid of the future but that was mostly because the unknown was causing her anxiety. With Michael by her side, she knew she had a bright future though whatever it might be.

"I don't know…I just don't like thinking that far ahead"

"Yeah, but I'm sure it's something you have thought about at some point" There was no more danger, no more running. He could allow himself to think about his future.

"No, not really. I'm not that type of guy"

"I don't believe that" Even though Sam was closed off almost all the time Nikita knew that there was a softie somewhere buried in there. Someone just had to get it out.

"You don't need to believe it. It's a fact. My only serious relationship was with Emily."

That was the first time he mentioned her in a conversation in years. That must be something. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, there is nothing to talk about. It's just something I'm not looking for"

"Okay. Then tell me how you've been then? Were you in New York the last couple of months?" Nikita decided that it was best to change the subject. Emily was not something she was going to bring up if he wasn't ready.

"Yeah. I felt like going back"

"I don't think I ever will. Too much shit went down in that city" When the couple discussed where they might want to settle down Nikita had crossed out the US as a whole immediately. That was not a place where she wanted to build her new life.

"You don't miss your loft?"

Nikita hadn't thought about her loft in years. It wasn't even something she thought about when someone would mention New York. "Not really. The only thing I miss about it is the memories I guess. It's where I trained Alex and formed a close bond with her. It's where my relationship started. I actually haven't thought about it much to be honest. The last time was probably when Michael and I were looking for apartments in the city back when we took over"

"It is a sick loft. Did you know they renovated the building after it blew up?"

"No, I haven't passed the building since."

"It's really cool"

"I like the area where Alex and Sean are better." That was a way more peaceful place to be. " Have you visited them?"

"Aren't they in some bouje area in New Jersey?"

Nikita rolled her eyes."They are in a private neighbourhood, yes but that's for security reasons. The house is just a little bit bigger than ours and they are on the coast so they have a beach practically in their backyard" Nikita loved visiting Alex and it was always the best.

"Sounds like you should get a house there too" Sam teased.

"It's fun to visit but I like it here more. Also, you didn't answer my question"

"What question?"

"For how long have you been in New York?" Nikita had been intrigued by that information. He hadn't said anything about it to her or the others.

"I don't know a year maybe"

"And you didn't think to text or call Alex or even me? We were there in February and in June" Nikita liked to visit Alex every few months. They just couldn't go without seeing each other for too long. Had Nikita known Sam was so close she would have dragged him with them.

"I didn't know"

"That's why you should have said something" Nikita wanted to believe that it wasn't on purpose but…

"Do you guys actually visit each other that often"

"Yeah. It's Michael and I mostly making the trips since our schedules are more flexible but whenever Alex or Ryan have business here they always call. We've also had quite a few family dinners there. You declined those" Nikita was going to go hard on him about that. A lot of planning went into those family dinners and all they asked of him was to just show up.

"I'm a busy guy what can I say"

"Don't be like that" She glared.

"I still come to them"

"Yeah, when I make you" She glared some more and crossed her arms. When he would skip a few in a row she would always track him down and scold him over the phone until he promised to make the next one.

"It still counts"

"No it doesn't and now that I know you're in New York the next family dinner will be there" He couldn't find an excuse to skip that one. Nikita was going to make sure of that.

Sam rolled his eyes "Sure. Speaking of families. Do you want to tell me what's going on with yours?"

"Mine? I thought we already talked about me being pregnant"

"What?"

"You asked about my family. Which family? Michael and I or ours?" Nikita was confused.

"Neither. I meant your parents" Sam clarified.

Nikita froze for a few moments. She hadn't thought about the Carters today and that whole situation. It was actually nice to feel like it didn't exist. Sam bringing it up was like a bucket of ice being dumped on her. After she shook from it she felt defensive. "I don't have parents"

"I mean…yeah okay I guess you don't know but…you haven't said much about what happened"

"Yes, I did. There was a family phone call where we talked about it. You just didn't join. Michael said he told you what it was about" Nikita knew that her husband had informed him so Sam couldn't pretend that he didn't know. She didn't want to talk about the Carters with him or with anyone.

"Yeah I received his message but I wanted to talk to you about it. I'm sure it was a shock and something hard to process"

"There was nothing to process. I don't have parents. My family is Michael, our child, our pup and the rest of our friends. That's it. I want to move on so please just forget it as well" Nikita was about to get off the couch and end the conversation before Sam said anything but her husband was the one that ended up saving her.

"Dinner is ready" Michael called out from the kitchen. He could hear Nikita and Sam's voices from the living room. He couldn't exactly make out what they were saying and he tried his best not to eavesdrop. He could trust his girl on this.

"See another family dinner I am about to attend" Sam joked to break the tension.

Nikita threw a cushion at him and they made their way to the kitchen to help Michael set up the table. Hopefully, he understood her and wasn't going to be bringing it up later.

"Jesus the temperature dropped so much from this storm" Michael had gone outside to take Archie out before they went to bed. It was only for a few minutes but had underestimated how cold it was outside.

He quickly took off his hoodie and got under the covers. Nikita was too busy paying attention to whatever was on her phone so he decided to tease her a little bit. His hands and feet were ice cold so he reached to cuddle with her which resulted in her shrinking. She was wearing just an oversized T-shirt "Oh my god, Michael"

"What" he laughed "I'm cold" He had to warm up somehow.

Nikita pulled the cover over his head and pushed him off her. "Cullde the blanket to warm up then"

"No, I think I like this better." He shoved the blanket aside and went after her this time successfully settling into her arms. She just shook her head and continued reading. It wasn't like her to not tease him back with the same energy. Whatever was on her phone must have been quite interesting.

"Hey, isn't that the building where your loft was?" Michael took a glimpse and saw an article with a picture of the historic building.

"Yeah. Did you know they rebuilt and renovated the building after it blew up" After Sam had mentioned it she couldn't get it out of her head for some reason.

"No, but it makes sense. I doubt they would have left it in pieces since it is in a prominent part of the city" Michael hadn't passed through that part of town since they had escaped the burning building.

"Yeah, I guess. They kept the original owners. Nothing was sold. Whitfield is still listed as one of the owners." She had really dug up all the information there was.

"So the loft sits empty again?" Michael was surprised. The city could have made some good money from those lofts.

"Yeah, guess so"

"Well, if we ever need a place to stay in New York we know where to go" Michael joked. He hadn't thought about her loft in a long time. It held some good memories of them so he wouldn't mind popping in to see it.

"Yeah" If we ever needed a place to stay in New York we knew where to go.

Thank you so much for reading! xx

Hope you enjoyed the longer chapter. I promise things will be truly kicking off in the next one hehe.

Hope you're having an amazing holiday season!