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The modest downtown apartment was small, but by the time Ned found it, he had figured it out—he didn't spend a lot of time in the bedroom, but Nick spent a lot of time in his bedroom playing, and so he gave his son the larger one. His small bed was in the corner, and the sunlight was streaming through the blinds and racecar curtains Ned's mother had sewn for her grandson. Ned had found a small LED flashlight a few weeks before and given it to his son, and when he came into the toy-strewn bedroom that Saturday morning, Nick was sleeping hard, as he almost always did, with the flashlight clutched in his hand like a security blanket. His face was flushed slightly, his expression open and blank in sleep, and his lips were parted. His dark hair was rumpled, and his left hand was in a loose fist on the pillow.
As it always did every time he saw his son, Ned's heart rose a little. He loved him so much. God, he loved him.
"Morning, tiger."
As hard as Nick slept, as soon as his eyes were open he was wide awake. Ned had come home late the night before and hadn't wanted to wake him, and Nick bounded out of bed to give his father a hug. Ned chuckled and reached down to swing him up into his arms. Ned's mother had dressed Nick in his space invader pajamas; Ned was still in his own pajamas, a pair of rumpled pinstripe boxers, and he knew his cheeks were lined with stubble. "Dad!" Nick said with a grin. "Go see Mommy today?"
"Yep. And you can see her for a little while, but you'll be hanging out with Grandpa Drew and Aunt Hannah today."
Nick hadn't seen them nearly as much as he had seen Ned's parents, but Hannah had totally won him over by putting him to closely supervised work with her in the kitchen or the garden, and then rewarding him with cookies or other treats. Today she had asked Ned to pack his son's swim trunks; the day was supposed to be cloudless and hot, and Ned supposed that was better than the alternative, for his plans.
Beside his bed for as long as he had been alive, Nick had seen a picture of his parents together, and as soon as he was able to grasp the concept, Ned had explained that the grinning woman with the reddish-gold hair in the engagement photo was Nick's mommy. He had met her when he was very small and every one of the rare times she returned to Illinois after that, and while there had been times Ned had been incredibly angry at her, he had never denied her the chance to see their son.
He had been angry for a while. And then his mother had pointed out that, since he wasn't Nancy's husband, adoption hadn't been the worst option. At least Nancy had recognized that she wasn't ready to raise a child, but she loved them both enough to give their child to Ned instead of rushing into something she couldn't handle, or making another choice.
Ned had thought they would be able to handle anything together. After their graduation from Emerson, Ned had planned to go on to graduate school for his MBA, and Nancy had always planned on going to law school. If everything had gone as they had planned, they would have been married at the time. They had never planned on having children until after they were set and stable in their careers.
Even though Ned had been scared out of his mind when Nancy had told him she was pregnant, he had adjusted to the idea of being a father quickly. When he had looked down into his son's tiny face for the first time, his world had shifted.
And he was expert at it, at swiftly getting both of them ready, feeding Nick and packing up his toys and snacks. Nick was full of energy and he laughed all the time, except when he was sleeping, and everyone at the hotels Ned managed adored him. Women who saw the two of them together and no wedding ring on Ned's finger assumed he was a single father in need of some companionship, and Nick was a chick magnet. Ned had told him that once, and had been at a loss when Nick had asked what that meant. Ned hoped he forgot about it before he saw baby chickens and asked some other adult.
Hannah was waiting for them at the front door when they arrived, and Nick took his exaggerated steps up to the porch while gripping the rail tightly, then flung himself at Hannah's legs. She laughed with delight as she patted his dark hair. "Your mommy's still asleep," she told him. "Want to go upstairs and surprise her? First door on the left."
"Ooooh!" Nick raced for the stairs, then began to climb them with the same determination. Ned watched him as he greeted Hannah, passing over Nick's backpack.
"She's still asleep?"
"I went upstairs to wake her, but..." Hannah shrugged. "Want some coffee?"
Nick had finally made it to the top of the stairs, and Ned shook his head. "I better make sure he stays out of trouble."
"I'll have some hot and ready for you when you get downstairs," Hannah promised.
They heard a crash, and Ned began to climb the steps by twos, afraid of what he was going to find. He heard another quieter crash and pushed Nancy's bedroom door open.
God. He couldn't remember the last time he had come to Carson's house and found Nancy in her bedroom; it had to have been before their engagement was broken.
Nancy had taken a job with Stern & Bishop, a firm in Chicago, and had been studying for the bar every possible second she could, both at work and after work. She had made time to have dinner with Ned and their son, to at least call them every day, but he could sense her anxiety. She had to do well on the bar exam. She just had to.
She had apparently fallen asleep studying. A large law book and notebook had crashed to the floor, but she was still surrounded by other books, and she had even fallen asleep with her head at the foot of the bed. She had pulled Nick into bed with her, though, and she was tickling him when Ned walked in.
"I leave you alone for two seconds..." Ned pretended to chastise his son.
"Have to get up!" Nick insisted, but he was shrieking with laughter. He squirmed away from Nancy, sending another cascade of books and papers to the floor, and Nancy sat up, pulling down the hem of her shirt. He knew she was trying to make sure the scar was covered.
"Sorry. Did you not sleep?"
"I don't remember when... I'm so sorry, Ned. I fell asleep studying. Can you give me twenty minutes?"
"Sure. I think Hannah said something about coffee..."
Ned swept up his son and carried him downstairs, and Hannah had just asked if Ned had remembered Nick's swim trunks when Ned's cell phone rang. His stomach tightened as he nodded to Hannah, then checked it. If his work was calling him in—
But they weren't. The inebriated grinning face of Mike O'Shea flashed on the screen, a camera-phone shot Ned had taken at the last blowout party, and Ned's heart rate had settled down a little when he answered it.
"Hey, man."
"Hey. We're about to take off; sure you don't want to come? We could cram a few more in the car..."
"I'm sure, but thanks. And let me know if you have any problems with the rooms, all right?"
Ned would have been pissed if his work called. He had asked off for this weekend a long time ago, and arranged for the rooms, too; a huge two-day music festival was being held near Emersonville, and Ned and Mike and a bunch of their friends had bought tickets and decided to go. Ned had hoped a little even back then that maybe Nancy would agree to go along with him as a kind of graduation present, if she was back in Chicago, but he had planned it even before he had known she was thinking about settling in Chicago permanently.
But they needed to talk. He had put it off long enough, and he wanted some time alone with her. A music festival wasn't the right place for it.
He told Mike to have fun and take a lot of pictures. While Ned would have taken Nancy to the festival under other circumstances, he hadn't spent any time with both Nancy and his friends in a very long time. Mike hadn't taken Nancy's decision to give sole custody of their child to Ned very well; the few people outside family members who knew about the circumstances of Nick's birth hadn't understood how she could do what she did.
It had taken Ned a while to come to terms with it, but he had. His friends had learned not to talk about it if they wanted to talk shit, and all of them loved Nick. Maybe the circumstances of his birth hadn't been perfect, but they were doing okay, both of them.
When Nancy came downstairs a few minutes later, at just the sight of her, Ned felt that familiar, peculiar weightlessness that he always had when he saw her. Her hair was cut shorter than it had been in a while and just brushed her shoulders, but her eyes were the same, and he could see her swimsuit top tied behind her neck. She wore an old heather-grey Emerson t-shirt and cutoff jean shorts that showed off her lean legs, and flip-flops. A worn duffel bag was slung over her shoulder. "I'm really sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to make you wait."
Nick scrambled off the couch and came over to her, gazing up at her with his dark eyes. He held his arms up in supplication and Nancy put down her bag before she swept him up, closing her eyes as she held him close. "I missed you," she told him softly.
"Miss you too. Stay here?"
He gave her a kiss on the cheek and Nancy looked over at Ned, her eyes a little wider. "No," Ned said, his voice quiet but firm. "But we'll be back tomorrow and we'll see you then, okay? You be good for your grandparents."
Nick stuck his lower lip out in a pout, but he nodded. "Okay," he mumbled.
"And we'll call you tonight," Nancy said, peering into her son's eyes. "Before we go to sleep. Okay? I love you, baby."
"Love you, Mommy."
She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and he hugged her, and then Ned came over and took Nick. For just a moment the three of them were connected, and Ned could remember when Nancy had been pregnant with their son and they had been trying to see how it could be between them, when she had still been tentatively hopeful.
Maybe she had meant it, when she had asked him to marry her. But it wasn't just the two of them anymore, and Ned couldn't take that decision as lightly as he once had, now. And he had never taken the idea of marrying her lightly.
And he had had a few one-night stands, while she had been busy at school and he had gone months without hearing from her. He had spent days convinced that it would be better to just cut her out of his life; she had signed away her rights to their son, and if she loved him, if she loved them, he had told himself that she would never have made that choice.
But fear had been behind it, not the absence of love. And the woman he loved, so rarely had he ever seen her afraid.
He had slept with other people but he had never brought anyone home to meet his son; he had never had a steady girlfriend or anyone else he would have brought into Nick's life. Nick knew who his mother was, and Ned had hated telling him that he was sure she would call or come by to see him soon when he had no idea if that was true.
But if she promised Nick she would see him in a month, she did. She remembered to call on his birthday, even if she couldn't see him. And Ned hadn't asked, didn't want to know, if she had had her own one-night stands; he had known her, and she had been on her own, and there had been no connection between them anymore. None save the dark-haired boy in Ned's arms.
Ned had settled on the short trip partially so Nancy could take a break from studying so furiously for her upcoming test, and partially so they could just be themselves around each other, to reconnect and talk without work or other intrusions. While Ned loved Nick and disliked having to leave him behind, he was fully aware that their son would want to spend all of his time with his parents, playing with them and talking to them, and they would spend all their time watching and interacting with him instead of each other.
They stopped to pick up lunch on the way, and Ned waited until they were at the edge of the lake after they had dropped off their bags. They spread out a blanket and Ned pulled his shirt off, smiling as Nancy tossed the sunscreen in the middle of the blanket and reached for her shirt. He was expecting her to be wearing a tank suit, but he was still a little disappointed to find that he was right. He could vividly remember the sight of her in a bikini, and how beautiful she had been, how beautiful she still was. He knew she was self-conscious about the scar, but when he saw her in a swimsuit, he couldn't wait to peel it off her.
Ned began to smooth the sunscreen down his arms. "Mind getting my back?"
Nancy shook her head, dropping to her knees behind him, and soon she was smoothing the lotion into his back, in firm smooth strokes that felt more massaging than anything else. Ned leaned forward, his arms wrapped around his knees, gazing out into the water as she rubbed the lotion into his skin.
"Want me to touch you up?"
"Sure," Nancy murmured. He had watched her put on the lotion in the car, but she hadn't been able to get it everywhere.
He started with her back, then had her roll over so he could smooth the lotion over her cleavage, her collarbones. On the way they had talked about their work, and she had reiterated that she was going to be in Chicago; she had accepted the job offer in the city, she was sitting for the bar in Illinois in just under two weeks, and she was going to stay. And Ned had told her about the offer he had been given: a large, state-of-the-art convention center in downtown Chicago was in the early stages of construction, and was slated to be completed by the end of the year, the beginning of the next at the latest. Ned had been asked to come run it. It would mean more money and a lot of coordination and detail work, but it would also mean that, for the most part, Ned would be home at night. He would be able to have dinner with his son on a regular basis.
Ned let his hands rest on her even after he was finished. "Can I ask you to be honest with me?"
Nancy blinked up at him. "Sure," she murmured, pushing herself up so she could sit up. Many other couples and families and groups of friends were also taking advantage of the beautiful weather, and down the lakeshore he could hear laughter, shouting, the distant hum of motorboat engines and the indistinguishable growl of music. The odor of chargrilled meat drifted down toward them too. But none of the other vacationers were near the cabin where they were, not close enough to hear them or intrude on their privacy.
"I know, when you said... what you said, that maybe it was the heat of the moment and you didn't really mean it..."
Nancy swallowed. "When I asked you to marry me?" she murmured, her arms wrapped around her bent knees and her chin resting on top.
"Yeah."
She sighed. "I didn't intend on saying that when I met you for dinner that night," she admitted. "Not even when we went to bed. And a big part of me... we were engaged and I know you're the one who broke it officially, but I know that I'm the reason you did.
"And I would deserve it if you told me that you can't do it. I'm going to be in Chicago and I want to see you and Nick, even if you... even if you meet someone else."
"Nan," he murmured, shaking his head, a small smile on his face.
"Ned, I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry. He's beautiful and perfect and he's yours, he's always been yours. And I feel awful about what happened, especially when I look at him. I wasn't ready. And maybe it's too late... but I want to be with both of you."
"That's not what you said," he pointed out quietly. "You didn't say 'I want to be a part of our son's life.' You asked me to marry you."
She nodded. "I love you," she whispered. "I always have. I just wasn't ready... and I know that if I had given him up to anyone else, you would have hated me..."
Ned gave her a brief, humorless smile. "For a while I hated you anyway," he said. "I would have sworn that we could have made it, Nan. I know it would have been hard, and I know it wasn't what we planned, but... I would have done everything I could have. And I did. I did everything I could. And you weren't there. You weren't there to see him take his first steps or say his first words, for his birthdays... and that hurt me. I wanted to share it with you. And you didn't even stay around here for school. It's like you got as far away from us as you could."
She opened her mouth, but closed it again without saying anything. Then she closed her eyes and bowed her head.
"But I love you too," he said, and touched her ankle. "I thought that you didn't love me or him enough, that that's why you did what you did—but you could have had an abortion and never told me about him at all. I've always wanted kids with you. I was never sure if you wanted kids with me."
She gave him a weak smile. "When we were ready," she whispered.
"But we weren't."
"Yeah." Her blue eyes were red-rimmed and wet, and when she brought her hand up, she remembered that she still had sunscreen on her skin and just blinked the tears down her cheeks. "I wasn't. And I would never have aborted your child. I couldn't have. I didn't."
"And whenever I was angry, I would remind myself that you didn't do this because you hated me, or him, or because you didn't love us."
Nancy shook her head. "Never," she whispered, and sniffled. "Baby... There have been times in the past few years that I have been hurt, that I could have been killed. And maybe Nick would have been sad for a while, but you are the person who's here for him. He would have been okay. And I'm not saying that's why I did it... But I loved him. I loved him from the first time I felt him move in my belly. And I was terrified that I would get him hurt. I wanted the best I could for him. And you were the best for him, Ned, you always have been."
"And you're ready, now."
She nodded. "I'm giving up the detective work," she said. "I haven't done much in the past few months, with the end of school and applying for jobs. I know working at the firm is going to eat my life, for the most part. But I've spent all the time we're apart missing you, and him, and thinking that I've... well, the choice I made, it wasn't a mistake. I believe that. I don't know who we would be now if I had gone ahead with our wedding then. But I'm ready now—and I can't help but think that... that there's too much water under the bridge for you to want to be with me again. Like you said, I missed everything. I missed seeing our son grow up, and I can't go back. I can't make a different choice now.
"But I want... I want to be a part of his life now. If you'll let me."
Ned smiled again. "You'll always be a part of his life," he said. "For as long as you want to be. I've never stopped you from talking to him or seeing him, Nan. You're his mother, and he's known you were his mommy since he was old enough to understand it. You always will be.
"It's just that... you keep saying it like you're expecting me to tell you that I can't be with you now."
"I saw the way you looked at me after I asked you," she said softly. "I know I love you, and I think you love me too... but that wasn't enough, then. And it may not be enough now. I can't let myself start hoping this is a real possibility and then be disappointed..."
"You mean like the way I felt when the love of my life told me she wasn't ready to help me raise our child?"
Nancy nodded without speaking. Her eyes were downcast.
"I don't want to lie to you. There's only one way this is going to work, Nan. One way. And if you aren't okay with that, if you aren't ready, then I don't want to do this. Okay?"
She nodded, looking up at him, her gaze locked to him now.
Ned took a deep breath. "The only way I'll be with you is if this is forever," he told her. "If you want to be here for him, if you want to be a bigger part of his life... then I need you to tell me that you will be, for good. He's adjusted to seeing you only every now and then, and he does love you, but I would love you to be around him more."
"And you?" she whispered, so softly he could barely hear her.
"I want all of you," he told her. "I always have. You, forever. I know that's a lot for you to promise, but I also know that, once upon a time, you did. When you made me choose, when it was either stay with you and give our son up, or keep him and lose you... Nan, I had to choose him. But I wish with all my heart that I had never had to choose."
She gave him a weak smile. "And as much as I hate to admit it, if you had chosen me over him... I don't think we would be together now. Because you would have felt the loss the way I did—but I knew he was safe with you, Ned, that he was with the one person in this world who might love him even a little more than I did. And you wouldn't even have had that."
He gave her a small smile. "I love him so much," he murmured. "I see more of you in him every day."
"Even though he looks like your spitting image."
"But he's so smart, so curious, and he's always so full of energy..."
"Like you," Nancy said with a smile.
"And like you."
She reached for his hand. "I know I've missed a lot," she whispered. "But I want to be around for the rest of it. If you want me to be."
He laced his fingers between hers. "Then yes," he said. "Yes, Nancy, I will marry you. If you give me forever, I will."
Another pair of tears slipped down her cheeks. "You will?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I love you, sweetheart. And I want to be with you."
She laughed, squeezing his hand. "Oh, Ned..."
"So is that a yes?"
She nodded, pushing herself up on her knees so she could move close to him, to look directly into his face. "Yes," she murmured. "Yes. Ned Nickerson, God knows I don't deserve you, that I probably never will, but I offer you all that I am, all that I ever will be, for the rest of our lives. I never want to leave your side again; I never want to leave our son again. I will cherish the chance you're giving me, to be there for you, to be the wife and mother and woman you always wanted me to be. Will you make me the happiest woman on this earth and be my husband?"
He nodded. "Yes. I want you to be my wife, Nancy Drew. I never want to be apart from you again. And I will cherish every second I have with you because I know now how precious they are, and how much I miss you when you're gone."
She gave him a long, lingering kiss, but when she pulled back, she wrinkled her nose at him. "Okay, we both smell way too much like sunscreen," she laughed.
"There's a shower inside," Ned pointed out. "We could fix that pretty quickly."
"Later," she said, and brought herself up to her feet. "What's the point of coming to the lake if we aren't going to enjoy it?"
Nancy and Ned had only been in the water for a few minutes, splashing each other and laughing, when a young family came down from the next cabin and began to play near them. The two older children were seven and five, and the youngest was still toddling around, wearing a sunhat, his nose white with sunscreen. The seven-year-old tossed his sister a ball, and it ended up falling a few feet away from Ned.
Ned had hardly let himself imagine it, but now... maybe before the summer was over, he and Nancy could bring Nick here and they could play together. So few pictures existed of the three of them, or even of Nick with his mother; he wanted them to get to know each other. He wanted Nick to forget his mother's absence from his life, the way Nancy had never been able to forget. Then again, Nick had always known his mother was alive, just away from him. And Ned had done everything he could to make sure his son never wanted for anything he could possibly give him, not love or affection or attention.
After the second time the ball landed near him, the father apologized, and Ned told him it was okay; his own son was about their daughter's age. They talked for a few minutes, and when Nancy looked up at him after, her blue eyes were sad.
"Shh," he told her, before she had even said anything. "Shh. It's okay."
She shook her head. "But it will be," she said softly. "It will be better. I've never told you... but I was so afraid that you would meet someone else and... and Nick would call her his mother."
The two of them were out a little further, treading water, and Ned took her hand. "No," he told her softly. "No. Never."
"And I would've deserved it."
He shook his head. "As mad as I was, sometimes... I would never have done that, Nan. Never."
She came close to him and gave him a brief kiss. "I'm so glad it was you," she murmured. "I'm so glad that our son has such an amazing father."
Ned gave her a small smile. "And I can't wait for you to get to know him, to really get to know him. It's... it's breathtaking, Nan. It's scary as hell and exhilarating and exhausting, and God, I love it. And I want you to love it, too. It's a lot easier, now that he's talking—and now that you can actually understand what he's saying."
Nancy laughed, slipping her arms around his neck. "That's true," she murmured.
The family staying near them only played in the water for a little over an hour, and once they packed up their towels and beach chairs and sunscreen and headed back inside, Ned was more than impatient to take his new fiancée back inside too—but he was hungry, and he also didn't want to interrupt his plans with dinner. He asked if she was okay with ordering a few burgers from the grill in town, and she agreed readily enough. The burgers were good, but the hand-cut french fries were fantastic.
After the last bite had been devoured and the last few grains of french fry salt licked off a dampened index finger, Ned gazed at Nancy across the small kitchen table. Her hair had been lightened by the sun and her skin was faintly gleaming from sweat and sunscreen, and she looked tired, but happy. Her lips were turned up in a satisfied smile after their dinner.
"Nan?"
"Hmm?"
"I really think you need to hit the shower. You're covered in sunscreen."
Nancy raised an eyebrow. Considering how much they had splashed around in the lake, most of their sunscreen was undoubtedly gone. "So are you, honey."
"Hmm. Well, it might be hard for me to find it all..."
"Think you might need some help?"
Ned nodded. "Definitely."
In the shower he made a show of lathering his hands and scrubbing every bit of sunscreen off her, both real and imagined, and then his hands strayed to places that he was sure sunscreen had never touched, but she definitely didn't seem to mind, although she did flinch when his fingertips grazed the pale mark of her scar. She returned the favor, running her hands up and down his back in smooth strokes, then over his ass, his thighs, his abs. She planted a kiss between his shoulder blades, then turned him around and sank to her knees.
He couldn't remember the last time she had given him a blow job, but she was still amazing at it. He threaded his fingers through her wet hair and closed his eyes, his lips parting as she bobbed her head up and down, taking him down her throat. He wanted to caution her when he was about to come, but he could only manage a desperate groan. She seemed to sense it anyway, and when she gently caressed his balls Ned lost control and groaned as he came, his fingers tightening against her scalp.
She rose when he was still panting his breath back, and he watched her duck back under the spray, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, closing her eyes as she rinsed off again. She turned off the water and Ned lightly smacked her pert ass as she stepped out of the shower, and she giggled in response. He saw her spit a mouthful of mint mouthwash into the sink as he stepped out of the shower, and she gave him another smile as she took the towel he offered.
They went to bed naked, their hair still damp. Before he joined her between the sheets, he found the box of condoms he had brought along, and tossed them and his wallet onto the bedside table. Nancy smiled at him as he joined her.
"Thought we were supposed to be getting clean in there."
She gave him a grin. "Minty-fresh, I promise."
"Mmm. That was pretty damn amazing, though."
She smiled again. "Glad I could do something nice for you," she murmured.
"That was a lot more than nice," he pointed out.
"Nice enough that..."
"That I might want to return the favor?"
"If you want," Nancy murmured, moving closer to him.
Ned pulled her on top of him as he rolled onto his back. She just brushed her lips against his, softly, then moved back to look into his eyes. "I love you," she whispered. "I love you so much."
Ned brushed a damp lock of hair off her cheek. "And I love you," he murmured. "God, I couldn't believe how much I missed you..."
She kissed him again, then again, her lips sweet, her tongue stroking against his. She straddled him and her firm-tipped nipples brushed against his chest, and Ned ran his fingertips down her spine, grabbing her ass and pressing her down against him. He knew that she wanted him to go down on her, but as she ground against him, Ned rolled onto his side and she kissed him more intently, her arms up around his neck.
They both groaned when Ned's phone began to ring. "Shit," Nancy mumbled, rolling onto her back.
"It might be about Nick," Ned apologized, moving over the bed to grab his phone. "Shit. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Nancy murmured with a faint smile, brushing her hair out of her face.
Ned was still panting a little as he checked his phone. When he saw Mike's face on the screen, he considered not answering, but he didn't know if they were getting to the hotel late and having trouble checking in.
With a sigh he swiped the screen and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Ned!" Mike's voice was loud but the background noise was almost louder. "Man, listen to this!"
It took Ned a minute to realize why Mike had called him, but the headlining band at the festival was one of his favorites, and he and Nancy had gone to one of their shows a long time ago, along with a big group of guys from Omega Chi and girls from Theta Pi. The song they were playing was one of their most popular, and when Ned heard it, it made him remember the summer when it had been on the radio every ten minutes, that summer when he and Nancy had been tangled around each other, their lips fused together and her legs wrapped around him, every second they could. They had made out and made love to the song more times than Ned could count.
"Do you hear it?" Mike called.
"Yeah," Ned called back, laughing, and put his phone on speaker. It took a second for Nancy to realize what she was hearing, but when she did, she laughed, her eyes finding his.
"It's been a while."
Ned nodded, kneeling between her open legs. "It has," he murmured with a grin, giving her another soft sweet kiss before he began to work his way down her body.
And he lavished kisses over her, taking it slowly. She wasn't shy or protesting the way she had been at first, the first few times they had made love. Instead she spread her legs wide, moaning and gasping as he lashed his tongue over her clit, kissing it and rubbing the stubbled point of his chin over it, and she took a handful of his hair in her fist and arched under him, sighing in pleasure. He worked her up, soothing and nuzzling between strokes of his chin and nipping at her with his teeth, and when the song reached a long solo Ned brought his head up and looked into her eyes, and they were hazed, the gleaming track of a tear going down from the corner of her eye over her cheek.
"Now?"
"Yes," Nancy whispered, and when Ned reached for a condom and rolled it on, the solo began to rise to a more intense crescendo. He kissed her, the taste of her arousal still lingering on his lips, and she wrapped herself around him as he slipped between her thighs. Her lips parted, her brow creasing as he pressed fully inside her, and her nails dragged over his back.
"Good?" he whispered. He was sure that Mike couldn't hear them, not with all that noise at the concert, but he didn't want to take the chance.
"Yes," she whispered again, opening her eyes, and for the first time he caught himself wondering if she hadn't found anyone else while they had been apart, if she had been celibate after their breakup. But the wonder on her face... maybe she had just missed him as much as he missed her; maybe she had just missed this the way he had.
And they made love, finding their rhythm and then losing themselves in it, his hips moving in steady thrusts as he stroked inside her, her body arching and shivering as she met his movements. They rolled onto their sides, he rolled onto his back, and then they moved back again, and over the pleading moans she was making, her whimpered pleasure and the wet sound of their joining, he could still hear the song roaring back as the lead singer began to pour his heart out all over again.
"I love you," Ned gasped directly into her ear. "I love you, I love you..."
"And I love you," she whimpered, her fingers dragging through his hair as she dug her nails into his shoulder blades. "I love you so much..."
He caught her lips in another passionate kiss, his hips moving more urgently against hers as the song ended with a roar from the crowd. "Man, did you hear that?" Mike crowed, over the cheers and shouts. "God, I wish you were here..."
Ned kissed Nancy one more time, and she rocked her hips as he moved inside her. Then he rolled onto his back to grab his phone, and Nancy gazed down at him, her blue eyes alight.
"Thanks, man. That was amazing."
"It was even better in person," Mike promised. "Holy shit. Tonight has been awesome."
"It has," Ned agreed, looking up at Nancy. "It really has. Thanks, man."
Nancy raised her eyebrows, and Ned gave her a little nod. "Thanks, Mike," she called, and giggled as Ned hit the end-call button, then rolled over onto her again.
As soon as she knew they couldn't be overheard anymore, she let out a loud moan. "Oh God, this feels so good," she gasped. "Mmm..."
"God, you're so sexy when you're loud..."
She took the hint and gave him a few loud, theatrical moans, but as they rolled over and wrapped around each other, she began to tremble with her climax. "Ned," she whimpered, bucking against him.
"Yes," he mumbled. "Oh God, please say you're close..."
Her brow was knit, her sob quivering on the edge of something like pain, and when he thrust into her again, he rubbed his thumb hard against her clit and she sucked in a sharp cry, jerking against him. He closed his eyes for a long moment, propping himself up and rubbing against her clit more firmly, and she thrashed under him, her cries incoherent pleading. When he couldn't hold out anymore, he buried his full length in her and let himself come with a hoarse cry, her hips still weakly bucking as she moved to rub her clit against his thumb, and slowly they relaxed, and he collapsed on top of her.
"Oh," she whispered, panting as she tried to catch her breath. "Oh shit..."
"Mmm," Ned agreed. He wanted her, he had always wanted her, under almost any circumstance, but making love to her when they were engaged had felt like an entirely different experience. When they were happy, when she had been his and his alone...
And he had tried so hard to forget it. He had tried to forget how happy they had been together, and how her pregnancy had changed everything. He hadn't wanted to dwell on it when he hadn't been sure he would ever have it again.
His heart was beating faster when he pushed himself up just enough to reach for his wallet, and he was still inside her as he opened his wallet and found the small bag he was looking for. He let out a soft sigh as he opened the bag, and the engagement ring she had given him back while she was still in the hospital recovering from the knife wound fell into his palm.
Nancy swept her hair out of her face, her lips parting, her skin still glowing with the exertion of their lovemaking. She gazed up at him, a questioning look on her face.
He took the ring and placed it gently on her breastbone, then kissed it. She sighed as he moved out of her, stripping off the condom and disposing of it, and she picked up the ring.
"Can I ask you something?" he murmured.
She nodded, the ring still resting between her fingertips.
"I know we were planning a big wedding before, and that's fine with me, whatever you want is fine with me... but I don't want to wait to be with you. I'll find a bigger place... and I want you to move in with us. I don't want to waste any more time."
Her eyes began to gleam, and she nodded. "Okay," she murmured.
"So you will?"
She nodded, sliding the ring back onto her finger. Then she reached up and cupped his cheek. "I don't want a big wedding," she whispered. "We can get a license and go to the courthouse, Ned. I don't want to wait either."
He gave her a small smile. "I remember how excited you were when you were looking at dresses..."
"I didn't say I wanted to give that up," she pointed out with a grin. "And I definitely want you in a tux, handsome."
He leaned down and gave her a slow, sweet kiss. "Deal," he murmured.
They slept in each other's arms, waking spooned up together with Ned's arms around her, and they were lazily grinding against each other when Ned reached over and grabbed another condom. She turned and he pressed a close-mouthed kiss against her lips, and she reached behind her and ran her fingers through his hair as he cupped her bare breast.
"Nan," he whispered. "Oh, God... tell me this hasn't been a dream."
"No," she whispered, and arched when he began to slowly fondle her clit. "Not a dream... oh yes, so good..."
He kissed her shoulder, listening to her moan in pleasure. She was gripping his wrist as he stroked her clit, and when her fingers tightened he smiled, grinding his hips against hers a little faster. He couldn't penetrate her very deeply, but she still shuddered and sobbed in pleasure, and the angle made her tight around his cock, slippery and sweetly hot.
He kissed the side of her neck. "I can't wait to be with you all the time," he murmured against her skin. "I love you. I love you, baby."
"I love you," she moaned, writhing against his thrusts. "I love you so much..."
When she came, whimpering, he caught her around the waist and rolled onto his knees still joined to her, and she cried out when he pressed his full length into the slick press of her sex, still fondling her clit. He brought her to another orgasm and she shuddered as he drove deep, pressing another kiss against her shoulder, her body moving in counterpoint to his thrusts.
With a shudder Ned came too, closing his eyes as he did, and Nancy moaned under him. With a sigh they rolled back onto their sides, cuddling close together, flushed and panting.
"Mmm," Ned murmured, kissing the crown of her head. "Oh God. Best morning workout ever."
Nancy chuckled, turning her face into the pillow. "Think we can get back in time to have lunch with Nick?"
"Mmm. If we hurry. And shower at the same time."
"Yeah, I doubt that's gonna save much time," she chuckled. "Mister can't-keep-his-hands-to-himself."
"Speak for yourself," Ned murmured, kissing her shoulder. "But can you blame me?"
She shook her head. "I've missed you, too," she whispered. "And I can't believe this isn't a dream, either."
They returned to River Heights to pick up their son, Ned in cargo shorts and a t-shirt, Nancy in a navy and orange-print sleeveless sundress, her hair up, sandals on her feet. She looked much more relaxed than she had in a very long time, and when they walked up to the front porch of her father's house, Ned reached over and took her hand. His heart jumped a little when he felt the engagement ring there again.
Nick was already standing near the front door when they opened it. He cried out in happiness when he saw them, and Ned swept him up into his arms, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Were you good for Aunt Hannah and Grandpa Carson?"
Nick nodded at his father, then looked over at his mother. "Mommy," he said, and reached out for her.
"Hey baby," she said, and took him when Ned passed him over. Hannah was standing in the kitchen doorway wearing her apron, and Carson had just opened the door of his study as Nick gently patted his mother's cheek. "Your daddy and I have been talking, and we decided that I'm going to come live with you and him."
Nick's eyes widened. "Live?"
Ned nodded. "We'll find a big house and she'll come be with us."
Nick looked from his father back to Nancy. "We can play?"
Nancy nodded. "We can play and I can read you stories and make you chicken nuggets..."
Nick glanced back and forth again. "And Daddy?"
"I'll be there too. We'll all be there."
"And go away again?"
Nancy took a deep breath and shook her head. "No," she told him. "I won't go away again."
"Ever?"
She shook her head. "Never," she said softly, and kissed his forehead, then brushed his hair back. "I'll never leave you again, baby."
Carson walked over to them. "So did you two have a good trip?"
Nancy nodded, smiling. "Yeah. And I won't be in your hair too much longer."
"You know I don't mind, Nancy."
"I know. But..." She shifted Nick's weight to her other arm, then held up her left hand, displaying the ring. "I think it's about time."
"And I do too," Hannah said, coming over to them, and Ned saw delighted tears in her eyes. "Nick, you think they deserve some cookies?"
"Cookies!" He squirmed and Nancy put him down, and he immediately ran toward the kitchen. "Cookies, Mommy! C'mon, Dad!"
Carson reached for Ned's hand. "Congratulations," he said, a smile on his face as he shook it. "I'm very glad for you two. So when will the happy day be?"
"As soon as it can be," Nancy called, standing in the kitchen doorway as Nick tried to tug her toward the table. "How quick do you think we can get a license, Dad?"
"Let me get on the phone," Carson said with a wink, but Ned had a feeling he wasn't really joking. "Ned... thanks for letting my grandson stay here with us. I know how hard it can be to raise a child by yourself, and you've done an amazing job with him."
"It means a lot to me to hear that, sir."
"The first few years, starting out at a firm..."
Ned nodded. "I know. I know it's hard and stressful and consuming. But she'll be there. And that's all I've wanted."
Carson nodded. "Then you might make it," he said quietly.
Nick came barreling back into the room, and grabbed his father's hand, then his grandfather's. "Come onnnnn," he moaned, and began trying to drag them.
Ned chuckled as he followed. Nancy was already sitting at the table with a plate in front of her, and as soon as Ned and Carson sat down too, Nick climbed back onto her lap, and she chuckled as she wrapped him in a hug. She looked happier than she had in a long time.
"We will," Ned said softly. "I know we will."