Nicole

I lick the edges of the plain white envelope with my wet tongue before pressing my fingers against them as I closed its lid, and pack it inside my shoulder bag. 

I adjust my ponytail before picking up my coffee to go and make my way out of Magic Beans, but not without asking for a honey muffin to go to eat once I get to my destination - Gems of the Heath.

"Hey Henry!" I said as I walked inside the store that had become so familiar to me by now. It was literally my second home here in London.

"Hi Nicky." Henry replied while he kept his eyes on the paper where he was scribbling down something. 

"Is Lucas not here yet?" I frowned as I saw his office door closed. 

"He's had a rough morning. I think Lexi got sick and he had to take her to the doctor." 

My heart instantly sank to my stomach, clenching and breaking all at once. "Oh no! What happened?"

"He was in a rush on the phone with me this morning but I'm pretty sure it's the chickenpox."

"Aw, poor little thing! I'll call him and meet him at the doctor's office or back at his place."

"Need any help to get there?"

"Nah, I'm a pro walking around London by now." I stuck my tongue out jokingly and he chuckled, nodding in agreement. 

"Oh, by the way, before I forget, will you please tell him that there's a buyer interested in the lost ring?"

I shrugged before waving him goodbye. "Sure, no problem." 

After two rings Lucas answered the phone and told me that he went indeed to the doctor with a sick Lexi, after apologizing me for not letting me know sooner. I told him it was no biggie and that I would meet him back at his place once he arrived from the pharmacy, from where he was answering the call now. 

I thought about the envelope I had in my bag with the plane ticket to LAX for the last Wednesday of November, and weather or not it was a good idea to use my miles to buy it. Lexi needs him, his sister needs him... what if something like this were to happen when he was in America with me?

With that train of thought, other thoughts and contemplation flooded my mind like a tidal wave. Not that I haven't thought about our future before or talked to Diane about it, but I never fully came to a conclusion and now that I thought about it all again, I still had zero conclusions which made me even more mad.

Would I be willing to stay here in London forever for him? 

And would he be able to leave it all behind for me? 

The more I thought about it, the more it scared me that all the happiness we've lived would come to an end soon. The only thing we had holding us back was our families - I had my parents and he had Melanie and Lexi. 

This was definitely something that we needed to talk about. But for now, pushing the concerns aside bought me some time and once I handed him the ticket, I would see how he'd react and then... take it from there.

I bought some chicken soup for the sick kid on the way, and in less than thirty minutes I was at his place, greeting him with a loving, lingering kiss on the lips.

"Hey. What did the doctor say?"

"There was nothing much the he could do. He just told her not to scratch if she felt itchy, which she does. She's asleep in my bed, she's was up the whole night."

"I'm so sorry, poor little thing. I had it when I was six, it was terrible." I pouted and casually went around the kitchen table to put the chicken soup in the fridge for her to eat when she wakes up. "Is Melanie at work?"

"Yeah."

I said nothing and made my way to the couch. He followed me and sat down next to me, putting his hand on my thigh after I let my legs rest on top of his, half laying half sitting on the brown cushions. 

"I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner."

"No, that's fine, really." I reassured him as I pursed my lips in a thin line. That didn't stop him from leaning in and kissing them, getting a smile out of me. 

"Is there something wrong?" Lucas asked, his way of reading me like a book never failing to make my heart soar. I was pretty sure not even I knew myself that well. 

"No, everything's alright."

He wrapped his fingers around the tip of nose and squeezed it, causing me to giggle loudly at his actions.

"I don't believe you." 

I took a deep breath as I grabbed his hand, gently stroking his palm. 

"I just... I was thinking, you act like Lexi's father all the time."

The moment the words came out of my mouth, I knew I should have stayed quiet. 

"Is there something wrong with that?" 

God, the look in his eyes and the tone he used to speak to me made me feel a strange feeling at the pit of my stomach. 

"No, no! There's absolutely nothing wrong with that."

"Then, what's this all about?"

"Look, this is who you are. You always help everyone who needs you, and that's great, but... I think you forget about yourself and your own life. I mean you're ditching work to be with Lexi."

"Nic, she's sick!"

"I know!"

I don't know how this happened but by this point we were shouting in whispers, giving each other dirty looks and and pulling away from the other's touch, almost as if we were two strangers.

The angry expression in his face broke me inside, and I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before gathering all the courage I could muster to speak up again. 

"Lucas, I'm not condemning you for sticking up for your sister and your niece, I'm just saying you do that blindly, on a daily basis. What about you? Your life? Your dreams? You choose Melanie and Lexi over you and your needs beyond question."

"That's what you do for the people you love, they're family!" 

"I'm not arguing with that! I'm just saying there's a fine line between stepping into Lexi's father's shoes and being her uncle."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not say- okay, you know what? I am saying something. I am saying you should think about yourself for once in your life."

"Think about myself? Or think about you?"

"Oh, you did not just say that to me." I turned in my seat and once my feet hit the ground, I got up and put on my large navy blue coat. 

"Where are you going?" He got up too, following every little step I took. 

"I'm going to my apartment, I think we need to take a moment and breathe."

"I agree. Let's do that here." He said immediately, reaching his hand out.

I felt his fingers wrap around my arm gently, but I shrugged him off. 

"No." I put my bag on my shoulder and turned around in my heels, making my way to the door before I stopped to fumble through the insanely huge amount of stuff I carried around and picked out the envelope. "Here."

"What's this?"

"The plane tickets to LA, for Thanksgiving. They're yours." I explained while I saw him open the envelope and taking the tickets out, starring at them in amazement. 

"Nic, you didn't have-"

"Consider it an early Christmas gift, I'll see you soon." I bit by bottom lip while I looked at him, not knowing weather I should  or shouldn't kiss him goodbye. I chose to kiss him and leaned in for a quick peck. "Call me if you need anything. Oh and by the way, Henry said someone's interested in the lost ring."

I turned around again and opened the front door, letting the cold air of the autumn day to hug my bones, causing me to shiver. I adjusted the white wool scarf around my neck and step after step, I went back to my rented apartment where loneliness, my laptop and a cup of tea were going to keep me company for the rest of the day. 

 * * *

I gave up on trying to get any writing done after the thoughts of this morning's altercation made their constant come back on my mind, stopping me from thinking about anything else.

Thirty minutes of searching through Netflix for a good movie to watch, I finally settled on Pretty Woman, the movie I've watched at least a hundred times before, and with a blanket on my lap and a pack of cookies I was stuffing my face with, I was at my happy place. At least as happy as I could get after the conversation I had with Lucas this morning. 

An hour later I went to the kitchen to prepare a hot chocolate for myself and when I came back, as I was approaching the couch, I saw light flashing through the cushions and heard a buzz. 

My phone. 

I inserted my hand in between the tight cushions and fished it out, only to find out this was Lucas' third missing call. 

Not caring weather or not this conversation was going or if we'd end up screaming at each other through the device's speakers, I called him back immediately, sitting on the couch and placing the hot drink on the table in front of me. 

"Hello?"

"Nic, I'm so sorry, I need you, I don't know who else to call." The urgency and the fear in his voice sent my brain into overdrive, my heart beating ten times faster than its normal rate. 

"Hey, hey, hold on, what happened?"

"It's Lexi, she couldn't breathe and I called an ambulance-"

"Where are you?" Was all I managed to ask, not caring about cutting him off. 

"The Royal Free Hospital, Children's emergency room."

"I'll be right there." 

In less than five minutes I turned off the TV, grabbed my coat, my scarf, my purse, let my drink to get cold on the round coffee table and made my way out the door.

I have never been the biggest fan of hospitals, and visiting one in London was far from what I had in mind when I moved here, but here I was. 

My phone buzzed in my back pocket and wrapped my fingers around it, bringing it close to my face to read Lucas' message: "Room 106."

After looking at the signs on the walls and getting lost on the biggest hospital that I've ever been in, I asked a nurse for some help and she warned me I was in the wrong ward and indicated me the way to the elevator, where I'd take a ride to the third floor. 

Once the doors opened I was greeted with bright colors that filled the walls and I knew I was in the right place. I followed the orange colored signs with the room numbers and made my way through a hallway full of iconic cartoons characters such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, a bunch of princesses, Nemo and Dory, all characterized for Halloween with spiders and pumpkins surrounding them.  

I reached the room the girl was in and knocked on the door before taking a small step inside, a bit hesitant to walk inside the room. 

The sound my knuckles gently knocking the door caught his attention and I was met with the pair of baby blues I couldn't get enough of. 

"Hey." I said in a whisper after my eyes scanned the room and I noticed a sick Lexi sleeping in the bed that was too big for her petite body. 

"Hi. Thank you so much for coming." He said as he got up and engulfed me in a tight hug. 

"Sure. How is she?"

"She's... better now."

I let the silence fill the room as I observed his eyes. He'd been crying, I could tell, and knowing that broke me inside.

"What happened?"

"She's got pneumonia. The infection spread or something, I-I... didn't understand half the words the doctor said. But he did say she was probably getting sick with this before and the chickenpox was just an addition."

"Poor baby." I said as I starred back at the girl laying on the bed, her face looking like a giant red bubble, yet she looked so peaceful now. "Have you called Melanie?"

He nodded and responded before hesitating a little. "She's on her way. I'm sorry I called you, I-"

"It's okay, you did the right thing." I rubbed my hand on his arm.

"I was so scared, Nic. She... couldn't breathe. She woke up at lunch time, coughing like crazy then started sounding like she was... suffocating, I-"

"Hey, hey... She's okay, that's all that matters right now."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him, feeling his arms snatch my waist quickly after and appreciating his breath on my neck. 

I closed my eyes and sighed, taking in his scent, and taking my sweet time to appreciate this moment. The look in his eyes this morning and the way he was hurt was unbearable and I left his house confused about where we two stood after our emotions got the best of us. 

With me and Lucas, actions speak louder than words and although I knew we'd have a long conversation ahead of us, plus a lot of apologizes on the set list, in the back of my mind I knew that we'd be more than fine, we'd work out whatever it was we needed to work out and we'd be okay.

My favorite place on Earth to be in, is in his arms. It's become my home, and I couldn't wish to be anywhere else right now. 

  * * *

Author's Note: 

Wow... this one was roller coaster, wasn't it? What do you think is gonna happen? 💕

I am so thankful for all the love you've been showing for this story! As always, votes and feedback  is always appreciated and don't forget to add this book to your reading list or follow me so you won't miss out on any updates! ❄

Great news - this story you're reading won second place at The Ace Awards (HUGE THANK YOU TO THEM) ! I am so thrilled I won, I was not expecting it at all but I am so so thankful nonetheless ✨🙏 Check out the winner index at AceSociety if you want to see it for yourself 💖

I hope you had a Merry Christmas, loves!! 🎄 And I wish you all a great new year! 🎆🥂🎉

Xoxo, Mars