#18 in TeenFic
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❝Don't,❞ he pleaded softly, offering her a tiny smile, ❝please don't make me a promise you will never be able to keep.❞ He released a quiet but deep breath, leaning forward even more, tilting his body towards her, until thei...
Bree found Nick perched on the front steps of the Quake's back entrance on Saturday morning, when she stepped out to bring in whatever must have been left for her mother in the mailbox.
"Nick?" She stopped still in front of the door as it swung close, blinking at him.
"Something's wrong," Nick told her, his entire posture tensed. He didn't turn his head around, but his rigid body made it look like he was getting ready to step into a boxing ring.
Everything about him right then alarmed Bree.
"What do you mean?" She hurried forward and crouched in front of him on the steps. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"I..." Nick trailed off, the features of his face pinched together, the anxiety oozing off him. "Something's really wrong, Bree." His eyes darted all over the area surrounding them, wild and frantic. "I feel it in my gut. It's so stupid -- I can't even explain -- but something went wrong. Something definitely went wrong. I can feel it."
He met Bree's eyes for the first time then and she felt her stomach drop. "I can feel it, Bree."
"Nick, I need you to be a little more clear with me," Bree spoke slowly, as if approaching a trapped bear. "Did something happen before you came here?"
Nick released a huge sigh, and Bree could detect the frustration in there. He bent forward and placed his head between his knees. And when he spoke, the words sounded somewhat mufled;
"Mike showed up yesterday, around late evening," Nick explained. "He said..."
Bree stopped crouching, and instead seated herself properly on the step -- making sure to take the one below his so that she could keep her eyes on his face.
"He said he didn't want me to be on the run forever, so he was going to finally put an end to it."
Bree's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her mouth dropped open. "Michael... Your brother... He came through?"
This was... This was more than a lucky break -- this was a miracle. Period.
"He was going to go about it in a really reckless way though," Nick went on, not hearing Bree's words. "It's stupid, borderline suicidal -- but it's also the most practical way to end all this without risking any more lives. Law enforcement couldn't get their hands on evidence, so Mike was taking it to them. Or, rather, taking them to it."
"That's... That's..." Bree didn't know what to say. On one hand, she was more than relieved and grateful that Nick might finally break away from the chains and shackles of his past.
