Storm's adoption backstory
Post Chapter 4 - New Beginnings
Los Angeles - ~1991
There was a knock at the door early one evening. Tommy was reading the papers, standing in the kitchen as Nikki worked on the books for his club.
"Who could that be?" Nikki asked, pushing his glasses down his nose as though he could see through to the front door. Whoever it was, they were persistent with the doorbell being rung at the same time as the pounding.
"Dunno...but I'll get it," Tommy said. "You need to get those books sorted for the accountant," he reminded Nikki on his way past, ruffling his hair.
"I know, I know...," he grumbled, his bad mood only assuaged by the sight of his lover in the tightest pair of pants he owned, accentuating his slim hips and ass, not to mention his sizable dick clearly outlined in the soft denim.
"Tommy!" Nikki heard Athena's anguished cry from the front of the house.
"Athena! What are you doing here?" Tommy asked. "What's wrong? Why are you crying? Is it mom and dad?" Nikki could hear the panic in Tommy's voice so he went to investigate.
He found brother and sister holding each other in an embrace as Athena sobbed, with the door wide open. Nikki shivered slightly at the cool breeze and closed the door.
"Tommy?" Nikki queried but only received a shrug in response.
"Bring her inside, babe," Nikki said. "I'll make some coffee."
Nikki walked back into the living room a short while later with a cup of coffee, heavily laced with some Jack Daniels. "Did you drive here, kiddo?" he asked Tommy's sister as he thrust the cup into her hands.
Athena nodded and took a sip, wrinkling her nose at the taste. She was sitting on the sofa beside Tommy, who was rubbing his hand soothingly across her back.
"You'll be staying here tonight, after drinking that," Nikki said, watching her take a healthy swallow of the hot liquid.
"'Thena...tell us what's happened," Tommy coaxed his sister. "Maybe we can help."
Athena took another gulp of her coffee before looking up at her brother.
"Nobody can," she forced out. "It's Kimberley...she's..." her voice faltered again.
~*~
Kimberley was Athena's best friend. The two girls met when they attended the same middle school and, despite being almost total opposites, struck up an unlikely friendship. Whereas Athena was bubbly and outgoing Kim was rather shy and reserved, but somehow their different personalities complement each other. They had graduated from high school together and although they took different career routes they had remained lifelong friends and confidants.
While they were at different universities and post-study, without Athena's constant companionship, Kim had retreated into her shell. She had her own tiny apartment and was comfortable and safe, but rather lonely.
Then, two years previously, Kim's life had seemingly changed for the better when she met Dan. He worked in the banking sector and owned a house in the next suburb over from West Covina. The two had quickly become friends and lovers before Dan had proposed on Christmas day. A few months later Kim gave up her apartment and moved in with Dan.
Kim had thought her world was perfect...until things simply fell apart one day.
Dan started coming home late from work and at first, Kim had believed his excuses, but as time went on she found it harder and harder. When she finally confronted him, Dan lost his temper and threw Kim across the room, leaving her in shock and pain before storming from the house, slamming the door behind him. In a panic, Kim phoned the only person she knew would help her.
Athena drove to Kimberley's place, finding her still in the corner, shaking from shock. Bundling her friend up, Athena took Kimberley back to her own home that night and held her friend while Kimberley told her sorry tale.
The next day Dan had appeared, after bombarding Kim with multiple phone calls to talk to her, wanting to know where she was. Eventually, she crumbled under the onslaught and told Dan where she was. It wasn't long before he showed up at the door, full of remorse. He begged Kim to return home with him and promised that he would never hit her again. Kimberley had agreed but told him that if there ever was another time, it would be the last.
For the next few weeks, things went back to normal, but the worst was yet to come.
The first instance came when Kimberley was at the store buying groceries and was forced to return the items when she found that her grocery allowance was missing and she only had enough smaller notes and change for a few basic items. When she got home, Dan yelled at her for being so stupid as to have spent all the money he gave her. When she argued that she hadn't spent it, he grabbed her by the hair and forced her into the kitchen to cook his dinner. He reduced her food allowance after that and forced her to beg or worse, suck him off for more money.
Then, when Kim was gathering the laundry to do one Saturday, she found a small square of tinfoil in Dan's work clothes. She looked at it curiously but slipped it into her own pocket, needing to get the laundry started before he got home from the gym, expecting lunch to be on the table.
He came home, earlier than Kim was expecting and went straight into their bedroom, rifling around for his pants.
"Where are my pants, Kimberley?!" he yelled.
"They're in the wash," she explained, only to have him backhand her across the face.
"What the fuck did you do that for?" he yelled, pushing past her roughly and sprinted for the washer, yanking the lid open and pulling out his sodden trousers. "Fuck!" he yelled and fished into the wet pockets. "C'mon...c'mon...where is it?"
He stalked back to her after being unable to locate the item and yanked her to her feet. "Where is it?"
"What? What are you looking for?" she cried, holding her face.
"There was a package in my pocket," he spat out. "Where is it?"
"No package, Danny," she snivelled, reaching into her pocket, "only this." She held the square of tinfoil in her trembling hand.
Dan snatched it away and left the apartment as quickly as he'd arrived. She didn't see him for the rest of the weekend and when someone asked her about her swollen face at work that week, she brushed it off with an excuse about her own clumsiness and running into the door frame while carrying something large enough that she couldn't see.
There were times when Dan was normal and loving, showering Kimberley with gifts and praise, making love to her every night. But they were becoming fewer and far more infrequent as his descent into drugs became even more evident.
She started feeling ill in the mornings soon after, only just racing to the bathroom in time to throw up into the toilet bowl. She brushed it off as just the stomach flu and thought nothing about it until Kim realised that she had skipped her period for two months.
After taking a pregnancy test, Kim excitedly broke the news to Dan that night, thinking that a baby would make things right again, only for him to accuse Kimberley of having an affair and demanding to know who the father was. He shook her until her teeth rattled and dragged her through the apartment to the bedroom. He pulled her clothes from the hangers and threw them at her, dumping all the contents of her drawers onto the bed.
"Bitch, you've got five minutes to get out of my sight," he screamed in her face before slapping her hard. "And don't even think about naming me on that bastard's birth certificate. Do you hear me? Get the fuck outta my sight, fucking cheating whore."
"But my-," Kim started to protest, shaking like a leaf but wrapping her arms around her belly, protecting the new life within her.
He gripped her by the hair and dragged her back through the apartment to the front door and tossed her outside. "You took too long, bitch!", the door slamming behind her, the sounds of the locks being thrown echoed against the small foyer.
Kim, in a state of shock, sat weeping on the steps as she tried to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Their neighbour's door cracked open, held firm by the chain behind it, before it closed enough to release the chain and her elderly neighbour, having seen Kim sitting on the step, came out and stood in front of her.
"Come inside, dear," the older woman said, kindly. "You'll be safe with me until you can sort something out."
The neighbour took Kim into her apartment and made a sugary tea to counteract the shock, and tended to her injuries as Kim recounted her whole sorry tale. The neighbour tutted and shook her head, having heard all the commotion coming from across the hall for quite some time now.
She informed Kim that she would be making a complaint to the building supervisor first thing in the morning. Kim pleaded to leave it for one more day so that she could come back tomorrow while Dan was at work, to get her belongings.
"Do you have someone to call, dear?" the neighbour asked.
"It's too late for my Mom," Kimberley said. "I- I don't have a lot of friends. Only...Athena. I'll ring her and see if she can come for me."
Athena came and rescued Kimberley, whisking her away to her apartment and to safety. After Athena had settled Kim in her guest room and waited beside her until she was asleep, Athena snuck out to the other room and called her brother.
"Tommy, I need a favour," she asked and filled him in on what had happened.
"No fucker hits a woman!" Tommy growled and agreed to meet at Athena's tomorrow to make a list of Kimberley's belongings.
The next morning, Tommy arrived with Nikki and two of their clubs' largest bouncers.
"Going a trifle overboard there, big brother?" Athena queried.
"They were my idea," Nikki said. "If that fucker is using, which it sounds like he is, then we don't know what he's capable of."
"I- I don't want to put you to any trouble," Kimberley said, wringing her hands nervously.
"No trouble at all, babe," Nikki smiled. "You're as good as family. We look after family."
"Nikki's gonna stay here with you, while we go get your stuff," Tommy said.
"I'll go with you, Tommy," Athena said.
"No! I don't want you getting hurt if anything goes wrong," he replied. "You stay here with Nikki and Kim." After a few more moments of bickering between the siblings, Tommy left with the bouncers.
While they were gone, Nikki and Athena helped Kimberley make a plan of action for the future in regards to accommodation and doctor's visits. Athena offered Kim the option to stay with her for as long as she wanted to until she got back on her feet.
When Athena had graduated from business school she joined the family business and, as her father grew older, she had taken on much of the travelling involved in maintaining their success. It meant that more often than not her rather large apartment was empty and she was happy for the company of her dear friend.
~*~
For the last couple of months, the two friends had been busy preparing for the arrival of Kim's baby, but now it seemed that their peaceful existence had been rudely interrupted.
"Kim," Tommy jumped up almost without being aware he'd moved. "What happened? Did Dan come back? Did he hurt her again? What's that cock-sucking fucker done now?" Tommy paced back and forth as the unpleasant memories resurfaced. Tommy had a soft spot for Kimberley, having known her for so long, considering her equal to Athena.
"Tommy, please calm down," Athena held out her hands to her brother. "Let me explain."
Nikki strode over, stopped Tommy pacing and pushed him back into the seat he had recently vacated, before perching on the armrest next to him and gently rubbing his back to soothe him.
"It's not Dan. Not this time." Athena sighed. "It's worse than that."
"What can be worse than that asshole?" Nikki asked.
Athena took another gulp of her now-cooling coffee before explaining.
"I've just dropped Kim off at her mother's place. She needs her Mom tonight more than ever," she said.
"You know how I've been going to her doctor's appointments when I can? Well...last week the ultrasound showed up an abnormality. They took blood and everything, right there and then, just to be on the safe side the doctor said."
Athena swiped at the tears that had started again as she continued. "She got called back sooner than anticipated. They found the abnormality to be ovarian cancer. She has to make the decision whether to start treatment with the probability of losing the baby, in other words, have an abortion, or wait for treatment...and possibly lose her life."
"Surely they can start treatment without harming the baby?" Tommy asked.
"Normally, yes. If it had been caught in time," Athena replied. "But it's too far gone. Stage 3. It also runs in her family. Her grandmother died of it, too."
"Fuck!" Tommy groaned, leaning heavily against Nikki. Both men had grown fond of Athena's friend in the ensuing months of her being kicked out by her ex.
"What's she going to do, Theeny?" Nikki asked, his hand still rubbing Tommy's back and shoulder.
"I don't know, Nik," she replied, looking at him with tear-filled eyes. "She was very quiet on the ride home. But I know she loves that baby and would do anything for it. She found out the sex too, did I mention that little piece of good news? It's a little girl." Saying those words made Athena cry a little harder while her brother and Nikki processed all the information she'd given them tonight.
"Goddamn it!" Nikki swore. "Why does all the shit happen to the innocent ones?"
"Knowing Kimberley," Athena said, "I think she will choose to fight for the baby's life...and if she can fight for her own after that.... Well, let's hope that she'll have enough time for the treatment to work."
Over the next weeks and the countless doctor and specialist visits, Kimberley had let it be known, and against all medical advice, that she was forgoing treatment to save the life of her daughter. She even chose a name for her; Storm Kimberley. She wanted to give little Storm something to always remember her by, in case things didn't work out for the better.
Athena, Tommy and Nikki had become Kim's support system along with her mother, making sure she always made the medical appointments, ate regularly as well as having the emotional support she needed.
Then one day Athena was asked to travel for work. She tried to get out of it, not wanting to leave Kimberley alone in the apartment with too much time on her hands to think. It was Nikki that suggested that Kimberley move in with them while Athena was away.
"We've got the spare room," he said, "so it makes perfect sense. Also, one of us can be home at all hours of the day or night, if we work our schedules right."
"I agree with Nikki, Theeny," Tommy said. "We've been talking, too. She can stay here until the baby comes and while she's having treatment afterwards."
"Why don't you both come for dinner tonight," Nikki offered. "That way we can talk everything out."
That night as planned, Athena and Kimberley came for dinner. Kim still looked healthy, her skin was a little sallow and the dark circles gave it away that something was going on, but her rounded belly made up for those.
The four talked well into the evening with Kimberley dropping some news of her own after dessert.
"I've made a decision and I've spoken with Mom about it too," Kim said. "Athena, you're like my sister and I love you so very much for being there for me these past few months. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't rescued me that night. Probably walked right back in that door and got another beating. You, Tommy and Nikki," she smiled over at the men, "have become my family."
"Which is why I've chosen you," Kim shifted to face Athena and took her hands in her own. "I want you to adopt Storm when she comes along...if I don't make it through."
"Kim! But...oh my god...," Athena gasped in shock. "But your Mom? Shouldn't she have Storm?"
"Mom is a high risk from this fucking disease, too," Kimberley said, starting to choke up. "She doesn't want to die and leave Storm as well. It was her that made the suggestion of adoption in the first place. She would still like full access to Storm, however."
"Oh, Kimberley," Athena said, rising from the table and walking to the window to look out into the darkness. She turned back to her friend, kneeling in front of her and said, "Firstly, I love you too. You're the sister I always wished I had...and that Tommy could never be. And I am so very honoured that you chose me to take care of your daughter, but..." Athena swiped away tears that threatened to fall, "I don't think I can. My work...my work is just going to become more and more involved and I'll be travelling so much. I- I couldn't do that to her...or to you."
"We'll take her," Tommy said after watching his sister's heartbreaking decision.
"Wait! Babe..what?!" Nikki yelped in surprise. "W- We...no...we can't! I-I'm sure we can talk your Mom into taking Storm, Kim. I mean...fuck, Tommy...we're two guys! What do we know about babies...it's not like we can have them."
"Nikki, baby," Tommy turned to his dark-haired lover, "if Richie and Jon can do it...we can, too! If this is our chance to make a real difference to someone's life, then let it be Storm's."
"Tommy...," Nikki sighed, his heart lurching at the hope in Tommy's eyes. "Can...can we have a few days t-to at least talk it over?"
His heart was racing unbelievably fast and his head spinning. It was one thing to offer Kim a place to stay...but to adopt her baby was a completely different ball-game. It was so typical of his tender-hearted lover to jump in blindly with the offer.
On the other hand...maybe Tommy was right. If his little Street Rat and his Loverboy could do it...why couldn't they?! No, it was ludicrous...wasn't it?! It might help mend a few broken fences with his family, back East, too.
God! Why was he thinking like this? The authorities were never going to give a same-sex couple that owned nightclubs...fuck! There was that comparison to Richie and Jon again. He groaned out loud as he sat heavily on Tommy's lap. "I-I dunno, Tommy..." Nikki said softly, scanning his lover's face.
"Athena, take me home so these two can talk?" Kimberley asked her friend, who was crying silently. "Tommy...it's a generous offer and I thank you from the bottom of my heart...but if Nikki isn't ready then I don't want to be responsible for causing something catastrophic to your relationship."
"I'm sure a good adoption agency can find my baby the perfect family," Kim continued, rising from the table with help from Athena, "Maybe they'll let me be in the interviews...you know, to meet who Storm will end up with."
Nikki groaned to himself as flashes of Jon's story passed through his thoughts. He was suddenly cast from his spot on Tommy's lap as Tommy stood suddenly to hold Kimberley steady whilst Athena gathered their things together before taking their leave.
Kimberley hugged Tommy goodbye then did the same to Nikki, whispering into his hair. "Don't feel obliged to take Storm, Nikki...but I think you'd both be wonderful dads. I'll be in touch." She kissed his cheek and left with Athena, Nikki touched his cheek as he watched the women in his life walk toward the car and pull away into the night.
In typical style, Nikki and Tommy started talking about Tommy's impetuousness, which turned into heated arguing about the pros and cons of parenthood mixing with their lifestyles and jobs. The discussions lasted well into the night until Tommy led Nikki to bed, hoping to bring Nikki out of his bad mood and to repair any hurt their argument may have caused.
They lay together in the aftermath of their make up session, with Tommy's long limbs wrapped around Nikki as though his life depended on it. Nikki sifted his fingers through Tommy's long dark hair in silence, both of them floating in a satiated delirium.
As Nikki's mind drifted in and out of focus, he stilled when a flash of himself and Tommy crossed his mind's eye.
They were eating breakfast, laughing and smiling, with a little girl in a highchair between them. A sudden sense of warmth flooded over him; warmth and peace. He suddenly knew, with every fibre of his being, that he wanted that! He wanted that sense of peace and family.
He wanted that with Tommy...and with Storm.
Sure, they had both had their fun with the drug scene within the clubs, but it had started to lose its appeal recently. This could be the catalyst for the change in his life that he had been unknowingly looking for.
Nikki entwined his fingers with those that were idly tracing his tattoos on his stomach and kissed the top of Tommy's hair. "Do you know how much I love you, Tom-Tom?" Nikki murmured.
Nikki felt Tommy huff out a warm breath against his skin. "I got a fair idea, just now," Tommy replied and took Nikki's nipple piercing between his teeth, pulling on the silver ring gently. "I love you, too, Nikki. You know I hate it when we fight."
Nikki hummed in agreeance as their fingers danced together. Then, "Tommy?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"I'm not gonna fight with you anymore," Nikki said.
Tommy scoffed, "Until next time."
"No...babe, I'm not gonna fight with you anymore...about Storm," Nikki said. He felt Tommy's confusion roll off him in waves before he froze when realisation kicked in. Nikki smiled down at his lover when Tommy turned his hopeful face up to his.
"You mean...?" Tommy asked.
"Uh-huh," Nikki nodded, which caused Tommy to whoop with joy and smother Nikki with excited kisses, leading to another round of vigorous, playful sex.
The next morning, they both drove around to Athena's apartment to break the good news to an overjoyed and relieved Kimberley and Athena before stopping in at the Bass household to break the news to Tommy and Athena's parents.
His father was hesitant at first but his mother was overcome with the thought of her boy becoming a father. It didn't take long for Tommy to break down his father's concerns and defences before Mrs Bass was digging out the number of a lawyer that specialised in private adoption cases and making an appointment for them.
For the next few months their lives were ruled by appointments; doctors, lawyers, psych evaluations, staffing at their clubs and all the while they were slowly watching Kimberley lose her life as she was selflessly giving life to the child growing within her. Kimberley had moved in with Nikki and Tommy while Athena travelled and, between them all, had made the decision that she should stay there for as long as she was able to.
The meeting between Kimberley's mom and her hosts was fraught with worry on both sides but Kim made the solid argument that if her mom wanted to be a part of her granddaughter's life then they all had to get along. It also helped that the senior Bass' were there also.
It also forced Nikki to think of his own parents back East. He hadn't spoken to them in years but having all this family-time happening around him was making him itch uncomfortably. He and his mom had never had the best of relationships as he was growing up.
Deanna was always too busy finding her next boyfriend to worry about what her son was up to. His father...well, Nikki knew his father by name only and would probably pass him in the street without knowing. Nikki thought hard about contacting Deanna and had even mentioned it to the psychologist one day. The shrink had recommended ringing his mom to at least let her know that she was about to become a grandmother.
It all became too much. He felt as though he wanted to bust out of this skin that was almost being forced upon him. He was tired of having to behave responsibly, so one evening Nikki took himself off to the club and had a night of freedom where he answered to no one. He scrawled a brief note to Tommy and Kim before slipping out of the house and into his car.
Nikki drove himself into the nightclub district and pulled his car into his space at Sixxty9. Instead of going in through the back entrance, he walked around to the front and was greeted like a conquering hero returning from battle.
He'd been away too long these past few months and it felt good to be stroked, physically and egotistically, by the customers waiting outside not to mention the hot and sweaty bodies inside the club. The heady aromas of sweat, pheromones and alcohol soothed his frazzled mind as the thump thump thump of the music buffeted his body. Scantily dressed women, all well known at the club, slithered over him as he moved through the crowd, equally forward men openly groping him through his skin-tight leathers. He let himself be lost in the moving sea of humanity.
He staggered back into his home the next morning just as Kimberley was coming from her room. It was the look of disappointment in her eyes that brought his euphoria crashing down around him. He mumbled a hasty apology, dropping his keys into the bowl by the door and attempting to hang his jacket up several times before just leaving it lying on the floor beneath the rack.
"Nikki," Kim sighed. "Where have you been all night? Tommy was worried about you...I was worried about you."
"I leff a note," he slurred with a shrug, stumbling toward the kitchen. He opened the cabinet and dragged out the opened bottle of whiskey and took a hefty slug of it. "I don' need to answer to any- hic anyone."
"Not at the moment," Kimberley said, "but you will very soon."
"Don' hafta remind me," Nikki mumbled. "Juss wanted a lil fun!"
"And what are you going to do next time you want a little fun, Nikki?" Kimberley asked, sadly. "Leave Storm with Tommy and run off to fuck, drink and snort your way through the night again?"
"I didn't fuck anyone!" Nikki spat back, rounding on Kimberley, feeling completely ashamed of himself when he saw the flare of terror flash through her eyes. Fuck! he thought to himself. He didn't mean to scare her. "Kim-," he started to say, reaching for her but the way she shrank in on herself just made him angrier with himself.
"Nikki!" Tommy yelled from the doorway. "Back the fuck off!"
Nikki dragged his eyes from the scared woman to his lover and saw that Tommy's anger had reached critical mass. Growling in frustration and anger at himself, he stepped back from Kimberley and pushed past Tommy in a rush, just making it to the bathroom in time to hunch over the toilet bowl, purging himself of the night's activities and, hopefully, the guilt at what he'd done. He showered, scrubbing himself raw before crawling into the bed he shared with Tommy and fell into a fitful sleep.
He woke late that night, having slept over twelve hours, thirsty and hungry and feeling extremely contrite about his behaviour. He lay in the dark for a long while, listening to the television playing in the living room and soft conversation between his partner and Kimberley.
With a heavy sigh, he rose from the bed and emptied his painful bladder before pulling on a pair of shorts and made his way out to face the music. He grabbed a bottle of water and a coke from the fridge and shuffled into the lounge room.
Kim was propped up in the corner of their couch with a blanket over her despite the warm evening. She and Tommy were watching some nonsense on the television and didn't see him walk in until he touched Tommy's shoulder. "Hey...can you shut that off for a moment, babe? I want to speak with you both," Nikki said, aware of Kimberley's eyes on him now.
Tommy hit the button on the remote as Nikki walked around the sofa and sat on the coffee table in front of them. He dragged his fingers through his mane of hair and sighed.
"I've been an asshole. I was starting to feel hemmed in and the responsibility was hanging around my neck like a noose. I needed to bust out a little."
Nikki slowly raised his eyes to his lover. "Babe, I promise you I didn't fuck around on you. There is no one on this earth that I want more than you. Yes, I did some blow and a molly that was left in the office but that was it. I promise you."
Tommy was silent; the worst kind of Tommy in Nikki's mind. It meant that he was truly pissed off at Nikki.
"So where the fuck were you all goddamn fucking night, Nikki?" Tommy asked, shooting Nikki a baleful look.
Nikki hung his head, shoulders drooping. "I-I didn't want to come home until I'd come down so I got drunk to counter the drugs."
"The question should be...did you enjoy yourself, Nikki?" Kim asked softly, still curled in the corner of the sofa as though she was still trying to get away from him like earlier, in the kitchen.
Nikki sighed, still staring at the floor, chewing on his bottom lip for a moment before answering. "I-I wanted to! I wanted to be the badass that I used to be. To have that small cosmos at my fingertips to do with whatever I wanted, in my power, to do."
He slowly drew his eyes up and looked firstly at Tommy, then Kimberley and continued, "But...I didn't. After a while, I just felt...numb...and ashamed. I wanted to come back home. Fuck me if I didn't want to come home in the middle of my fucking high and just curl up with you both as we have been...but I knew I couldn't."
"I couldn't because of the reputation I have there...," Nikki heard Tommy scoff to himself, "which I don't give a shit about anymore." He slowly shifted from where he sat and knelt on the floor in front of Kim, as though pleading for her understanding. "But mainly because I didn't want to see the terror in your eyes, Kim, if I came home high. I fucked that up anyway. I didn't mean to scare you, Kim. Can you please forgive this stupid fuck?"
Tommy spoke up first. "We've been talking while you've been drunk-ass sleeping. Kim wants to add a clause to the adoption papers...and I've agreed to it."
Nikki swivelled his eyes back to Kim as she spoke. "I want to make it a legal requirement that you don't use or deal drugs while you're parents to my daughter. If you're found to be using or dealing, then she will be taken from you and placed into another adoptive family. After what you've just told us, Nikki, I don't think this will be a major hurdle anymore. Do you?"
"Whatever you want, sweetheart, if it means that you'll forgive me," Nikki said.
"We'll talk in the morning. I'm very tired now," Kimberley said, her energy flagging considerably in the past few minutes while they'd been talking. "Will you help me to my bed, Nikki?"
"Of course," he said, standing as Tommy pulled the blanket out of the way. Nikki stood and scooped Kimberley up into his arms way too easily for his liking, despite only being weeks away from giving birth. He carried her to her room and made sure she was comfortable. She was asleep before he'd even reached the bedroom door.
Turning, after closing Kimberley's door, Nikki saw Tommy standing, waiting for him. The television had been switched off as well as the lights.
"Tommy, baby, I-," Nikki started.
"Shut it, Sixx," he growled. "Get back into the bedroom. Kim's given you her terms and conditions. Now it's my turn. I'm not so easily swayed."
**Six Months Later**
Storm was crying, looking for her mother, as she crawled over to the door that used to lead to Kimberley.
"What do we do?" Tommy asked as he shucked out of his suit jacket, throwing it over the back of the sofa.
"Try to distract her, I guess," Nikki replied sadly.
It was the evening after Kimberley's funeral and he and Tommy were feeling the loss keenly tonight. They'd grown extremely fond of Kimberley while she had lived with them. She was a beautiful and funny soul that had hung on to life for as long as she could after she'd brought Storm into the world. She'd passed peacefully in her sleep with her mother, her five-month-old daughter, Athena, Nikki and Tommy at her side.
Kim's wake had been at her mother's place with just a few family friends, Tommy's parents, Athena and themselves and Storm, who was the brightest spot on an otherwise dark and sombre day. While Kim had been staying with Tommy and Nikki, her mother, Susan, had been a regular visitor and had helped care for her daughter during those long days.
Kim's oncologist had run all new tests in conjunction with her obstetrician throughout her pregnancy but, sadly, found that the cancer had spread significantly in the last few weeks before Storm was due. It had been too late to offer any treatment and they could now only provide pain relief.
When Storm had come along, Susan had been a godsend teaching Tommy and Nikki all the things they needed to know about caring for a newborn as Kimberley was now too weak to leave her bed.
Tommy had fallen into fatherhood with ease and had no problem holding such a tiny little baby. Nikki, however, had backed off initially but once Tommy had sat him down next to Kim's bed at the hospital and placed Storm in his arms, he was lost. He had never felt this way before about anybody, probably even Tommy, but Nikki knew that he would do anything and everything to protect his little girl.
HIS daughter, his and Tommy's daughter.
That was the part that had blown his fucking mind. He finally understood why his Street Rat was so fucking goofy and protective around his little boy when they'd seen them last.
To relieve the boredom of her room at home, Tommy or Nikki would scoop Kim from her bed and settle her on the couch in a nest of pillows and blankets so that she could watch Storm as she had her tummy time on the floor with the boys or sleeping peacefully in her bassinet. More often than not, the boys would look up and see that Kim had fallen asleep also.
Right here and now though, Storm was confused and tired from the day's activities which were making her cranky and tearful. Storm had been trying to pull herself up using the bed as support but kept falling, landing on her padded bottom and crying pitifully with each failed attempt.
"Why don't you go distract her while I make her a bottle?" Tommy suggested to Nikki as he kissed Nikki's temple.
"Okay," he sighed, leaning tiredly into Tommy's arms briefly before kicking off his shoes, loosening his tie and removing it, letting it fall from his hand to the floor.
He leant up against the doorframe and called softly to Storm. "Bubba?" he said, squatting down to her level. "Stormy, sweetheart, come here to Daddy."
Her tearful dark-hazel eyes turned his way, her bottom lip quivering as she crawled over to him. He scooped her up, holding her close as she hiccupped through her sobs against his neck. "Shhh, Stormy...it's okay, sweetheart," he crooned to her. "Daddy's gotcha." Her little hand snaked inside his shirt, clutching at his skin.
"Let's lie down, huh?" he said, placing her on her mother's bed. Storm immediately crawled up to Kim's pillows and threw herself on them.
Nikki shrugged out of the confining button-down shirt and lay down, hoping that Storm would follow suit. He started humming and singing to her softly, she eventually settled and laid her head on his chest, right over his heart, her little fingers brushing over the tattoos and playing with the silver hoop through his nipple.
Nikki softly caressed her head as he continued to sing softly to her, her hiccups finally receding. He tucked his free arm under his head and closed his eyes, feeling weary himself, as the past months, weeks and days finally caught up with him.
Tommy, having finished preparing a bottle of formula for Storm, walked into the bedroom only to find his lover and his daughter fast asleep. He smiled at them both, tucking the now useless bottle into his pants pocket as he drew the comforter over them both. He kissed the top of Storm's head and Nikki's lips before leaving them to sleep.
**THE END**