Episode 233...

“You’re kiddin’ me?!” AJ stares at Nick.
“I’m not,” Nick grins as AJ jumps on him to give him a monster hug.
“Wicked!” he yells and the two guys dance around each other with big grins.
“You are seriously marrying Ali?” asks Kevin seriously and Nick looks defensive.
“Yes.”
“Well… THAT’S GREAT!” he suddenly yells and pulls the younger man close for a hug.
“Thanks!” Nick grins as Howie also hugs him. “It means a lot that you guys are happy too.”
“Of course we are!” Howie exclaims. “I’ve been waitin’ for you guys to get married all YEAR!”
“You’re marrying my cousin dude!” AJ grins.
“Does that mean we’ll be family?” Nick asks.
“We already are,” grins AJ. “It means you got good taste.”
“I already knew that,” Nick chuckles.
“Ok, we gotta celebrate tonight for sure,” Kevin says. “But right now – there’s an interview with our names on it.”
“Yay,” AJ says dryly and walks into the studio. Kevin and Howie follow him.
“Hey,” Nick stops Brian just as he’s about to go with them. “When are you and Jade gonna work things out?”
“I don’t know,” Brian shrugs. “Maybe we’re just not meant to.”
“What?!” Nick stares at him.
“Maybe it’s time to let go of her.”
“But you CAN’T!”
“Why not? Too much has happened Nick. We can’t go back to how we were. I wish we could. I wish that so bad… But we can’t and it’s not fair to carry on,” Brian sighs heavily.
“You can’t give up now!” Nick exclaims. “She’s PREGNANT man.”
“What?” Brian stares at his friend in shock.
“It’s true. She told me this morning.”
“Oh.”
“So you see? It’s not over!”
“It is Nick,” Brian says. “It’s not my baby. I haven’t been with Jade since her accident and I think all those doctors might’ve noticed she was pregnant then.”
“Huh?” Nick looks confused.
“It’s AJ’s baby,” Brian says, quietly angry. “Or some other guy’s. Not mine,” he turns and walks into the studio, leaving Nick to stare after him.
“Shit.”

I finish up washing my glass out when I hear the door open and close. After spending the morning with Jade, I came back to Nick’s place to wait for him to get back from a studio session.
“Well hello there Mrs Carter,” a pair of arms wrap round my waist and Nick kisses my neck.
“I’m not married to you yet,” I giggle and turn round to face him, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Almost Mrs Carter then,” he grins and kisses me. “I told the guys. They all real happy for us.”
“Jade is too.”
“I can’t wait to marry you,” he murmurs and I pull him closer for a deep kiss.
“Let’s just get used to bein’ engaged first.”
“Okies,” he says. “Ok, I’m used already!”
“You don’t say,” I roll my eyes and smack his chest lightly.
“I have the BEST idea,” he declares. “Pool party!”
“A party?”
“Uh huh. To celebrate. It might help Brian too…” his voice trails off and I give him a look. “Don’t ask,” he mutters.
“I’m askin’,” I say. “You already hinted at it so you gotta tell me. What’s up with Brian?”
“Ok, ok,” Nick shrugs. “Jade is pregnant.”
“What?!” I stare at him. “No way. I saw her today! She would’ve told me.”
“She told me,” he states, folding his arms. “I caught her bein’ sick and I just asked her. She admitted it.”
“Whoa…”
“AND it’s not Brian’s baby,” he says with a hint of shock.
“It’s AJ’s,” I mutter and Nick stares at me.
“You knew?!”
“It’s not hard to guess Nick,” I roll my eyes. “Jade hasn’t been with Brian for MONTHS.”
“Well I didn’t figure that out,” he mutters.
“You told BRIAN?!” I widen my eyes in horror as he blushes. “Nick!”
“Well I thought it was his!”
“Man, I bet he’s devastated.”
“Uh huh. He seemed ok today though – just a little quiet.”
“Does Jade know that he knows?” I ask and Nick shrugs. “I guess I should warn her. AJ doesn’t know?”
“Should I call him?”
“NO!”
“But he…”
“Stay out of it,” I warn and he sighs heavily. “Just concentrate on organising this party ok?”
“Ok,” he shrugs unhappily.

Nick sighs quietly and checks the clock. It’s just gone 3am. It seems like hours since he had last checked it but it had only been five minutes. But five minutes to lie awake in the dark seems like a lifetime. He can’t sleep. He’s scared to sleep. When he sleeps, he relives the night Jay died. Every time he hopes that maybe it’ll turn out differently. Maybe Jay won’t get shot, maybe he’ll get shot instead… Or the police officers don’t come bustin’ in, or the gun turns into a banana… Anything crazy as long as Jay doesn’t die. But he does. He did. He ALWAYS dies. And Nick wakes up with the impact of Jay’s body barrelling backwards into his. He doesn’t know how he’s managed to not disturb Ali yet, but she’s sleeping peacefully. He looks over at her and climbs out of bed as quietly as he can. He’s given up on sleep. Man, all those times he had just fallen asleep and thought nothing of it. He sighs and pads barefoot out to the verandah where he sits on a swing seat and stares out at the ocean. It looks so calm. He feels an overwhelming urge to just walk down into it, let it wash everything away, be swallowed up in it’s deep calmness. But he knows if he did it, he would never come back. And he’s not ready for that. Not just yet.