These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

50.

"Step," Nick mumbled, keeping his hands over my eyes, "Another one, don't worry, I got you."

"Nick," I giggled, gripping his forearms tightly as he led me to wherever it was he was taking me, "Where are we going?" 

"We're almost there," he promised, "Just another step up and then I'll let you see." 

I timidly stuck my foot out, looking for the edge of the step and he murmured an encouraging that's it once I found it. 

"Okay," he whispered and I felt his lips against the back of my head, "You can open your eyes now." 

Once I did, my mouth fell open. A couple of feet away, there was a picnic set up - blanket and everything. 

"Oh my god," I breathed, turning to look at Nick, who had a small smile on his face, "How did you do this?" 

"That's not important," he said quietly, leading me over to the blanket, where I sat down, "What is important, is that we have sandwiches." 

He sat down beside me and pulled a towel off of a plate, revealing the sandwiches that he was so excited about and held one out to me. 

I took a small bite and looked around, noticing that wherever we are, didn't have a roof, "Where are we?" 

"Russel's house," he answered through a mouthful of food, which he hastily apologised for once he saw my glare, "Jeremiah said I could fix it up." 

"That's great," I smiled, happy to see that it seemed that he was finally giving this place a chance, "You're going to do it all yourself?" 

He shook his head, "No. He said he'd come and give me a hand. Then when it's done, he said we can have it." 

"We can?" 

"That's what he said." he nodded, "So, what do you say? Are we ready for that step? Are we ready to live together?" 

"Hmm," I pressed my finger to my chin and pretended to think, "I don't know. You're kind of a slob."

"Rude," he muttered but a smile crossed his lips, "Oh, check this out." 

I finished my small sandwich while he turned away from me, reaching for something which he gave me once he'd turned back around, "Jeremiah found it in the grass outside, he says it was Martha's." 

I looked down at the pretty ring that he was talking about, running my fingers over the jewels encrusted on it, "They were together a long time, huh?" 

He nodded, "They had met when Russel was injured during the Korean War. Martha was a nurse at the army hospital in Tokyo." 

I lay down, resting my head on my arm as I looked up at him, silently admiring the way the light from the candles he had brought danced across his face as he continued telling me the story. 

"She nursed him back to health. And the day he was discharged, he said to her, he said I'm gonna marry you. And she said I know. That was it." 

"How do you know this?" I whispered in awe as he lay down beside me. 

"Otto. Just think, Tay. With the right work, enough time put into it, this place could be great." 

"Then that's what we'll do," I said, leaning on my elbow to look down at him, "Me and you, yeah? We'll rebuild this place, make it our own." 

"You're beautiful," he suddenly whispered suddenly, making me blush and move to cover my face with my hands but he caught hold of them, "Haven't told you that in a while." 

"I hate you some..." I trailed off when he picked the ring up again, taking my left hand and he silently slipped the ring onto my ring finger, my mouth going dry when he kissed it afterwards, "Nick..." 

"Suits you," he murmured, giving me a proper kiss, "Let's just keep it there, shall we?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah," he hummed, sitting up to take another sandwich, "Always said that we were gonna get married, didn't I?" 

Letting out a ridiculously girlish giggle, I sat up too and took the sandwich from his hand; placing it back down on the plate before climbing onto his lap, "I take it back." 

"Take what back?" he grinned, hands resting on my waist. 

"I don't hate you," I whispered, nudging his nose with mine, "Could never hate you." 

"Don't listen to you when you say that anyway," he shrugged, giving me a quick peck, "'cause I know you're lying." 

My fingers tangled in his hair and kissed his cheek, slowly making my way up to his ear, where I nibbled on the skin, "Nick?"

"Yeah?" 

"Make love to me." I whispered, making him pull back.

"Here?" he asked, eyebrows raised. 

I nodded, toying with the collar of his shirt, "You always said you wanted to do it outside, didn't you? Well, we're not really outside but no roof counts, right?" 

I let out a shriek when he suddenly flipped us, putting me back on the blanket and he stared down at me with a smirk on his face, "Oh it counts."

**

The next morning, I woke up with Nick wrapped tightly around me and I pulled the blanket that we had up over my exposed shoulders and I smiled when I felt him kiss my forehead.

"Morning," he hummed, arm tightening around my waist, "Sleep okay?" 

"Like a baby," I admitted, stretching my tight muscles, "You tired me out." 

"Good," he grinned, rolling us over as he leant down to kiss me, "At least I've done my job right." 

I shrieked when he started tickling me, desperate to try and get my hands free so I could attempt to push him away when I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. 

It was a folded up piece of paper and I quickly tapped his chest, "Nick." 

Sensing the tone of my voice, he stopped his tickle assault, looking in the same direction I was and he glanced at me before reaching to pick it up. 

I sat up too, wrapping the blanket around my almost bare shoulders as he read it, letting out a sighed a couple of seconds later. 

"What?" I asked, taking the paper when he held it out to me, "What is it" 

"Luciana's gone." he mumbled, "She's heading for the border." 

"What?" I repeated, scanning the words on the paper, "Should we go after her?" 

"And do what? She doesn't want to stay here, Tay. Can't exactly force her to come back with us, can we?" 

I let out a sigh, knowing that he was right and nodded. I just hoped that she would be okay.