No Good Nick (Part 3)

Part 2

"Do you think she's alright?" Liz asked. She had made quiche for breakfast this morning. It had become one of Nick's favorites while living with the Thompsons. Molly supposed that she was trying to help comfort Nick and make things seem normal amidst all of the chaos.

Ed shrugged and a strangled noise escaped his mouth before he cleared his throat and tried talking again. "I don't know. How is someone just 'okay' after everything that happened last night?"

Liz set down a plate and wiped her hands on a dishtowel. "I-I don't know. But I'm sure some quiche will help."

So Molly was right.

The whole family heard soft footsteps coming down the spiral staircase in the kitchen, and turned to see a slightly worried, but still happy Nick. She smiled at all of them, though Molly noticed Nick grasping the handrail with added tension.

Gosh, Nick was worried.

She was worried she was going to screw it all up again. What would she even say? "Hey, sorry about all the crappy things I did while I lived here and you trusted me, and I thought you should know that I-"

Luckily, Jeremy stepped in and saved her. He cleared his throat, "Nick, mom made quiche. I think you'll find it extra delicious today."

Nick gave him a weary, but grateful smile. "Wow, thanks! That sounds great actually. I didn't realize how hungry I was... I normally never sleep in."

"You looked super tired. I didn't want to wake you up," Molly explained as Nick sat down and Liz handed her a plate and fork.

Nick shoved some of the delicious food into her mouth, before quickly chewing and spitting out a quick "thank you" before tearing into the rest of her meal.

Liz and Ed joined the kids sitting at the table and ate. Molly kept chatting about how the volunteer squad was finally 'okay' again, and now they'd be doing all sorts of great projects to help people.

Nick figured Molly talking was supposed to help her feel better, but she could still feel the tension rolling off of everyone. She ate her food quickly, and would every so often eye the back door just in case she had to bolt again. Not that she would... but her anxiety was so loud she felt that she had to run out of that kitchen.

"Hey... uh Nick? Did you hear us?" That was Jeremy speaking.

Nick turned her head to him and blinked a couple of times as if trying to blink away her foggy thoughts. "Uh... yeah. Maybe? I'm sorry... I... I didn't hear. What did you say?"

She resisted the urge to lie and spit something sarcastic out. She wasn't sure if it would be well-received at the moment.

"Are you alright Nick, can we... Can we do anything for you?" Liz this time.

"Oh... no I'll be fine, really. "

"Are you... are you sure? We don't know the whole story Nick but we do know that you were put into a hard place... and I suppose some of that was our fault.  But we want to help you move on Nick, it's going to be okay, you know that right?"

Nick swallowed a lump forming in her throat. "I know it's just..."She hesitated and took a deep breath. "I am so, so sorry. You'll never know how sorry I am. Maybe at first, I did want to hurt you, but then I grew to love you and I hated to do that. But... there were things outside of my control..." she thought of Sam and Dorthy, and her dad, and pushed them out of her thoughts with a shake of her head. "I had people... people making me do that... and I didn't want to but I did anyway and I shouldn't have.... I'm just so, so sorry..."

The Thompsons looked slightly shocked at her sudden apology but it was Molly who chuckled and wrapped her arms around Nick.

"Don't you know, silly? We already forgave you. We want you back here, with us. No matter what happened, no matter who did what, we want you here and it's going to be okay now. You're safe, we're safe and we're gonna move on and figure it out... okay?"

Nick laughed and sniffed away her tears as she hugged her best friend. Soon, everyone joined the hug full of laughter and some soft sniffles.

"And we're sorry too. All those things we did to you... you and your father. I wish we could take it back. I can't imagine the pain it's put you through." Ed said. Liz and their children nodded their heads in agreement.

"I played the game unfairly, and I hurt you guys in the process. We all did Nick, and we're sorry too." Liz said, and with that, there were tighter hugs and more laughs.

And that was the first step of Nick beginning to heal. 

                                                                                    ***

Hey y'all :)

Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it!

I'm planning on updating abt once a week? I'm so busy with school rn lol but with winter break coming up I'll have more time to work on this and some of my other stories :)

Leave some love and lmk what you think! Take care <3