PREVIOUSLY

A bolt of lightning lit up the sky and her face as her eyes looked fully into his. Leaning toward him, she smiled coyly and spoke in a soft, husky manner - the effect of which caused Sam's arms to swallow her up in a crushing embrace -- finally realizing that she had given him the answer he wanted.

"What took you so long?"

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Slider lay in his bed unable to let sleep overtake his exhausted mind and body. Where do I go from here? All the resources of his bank of knowledge on disorders seem to pale with what he would soon face. Not only would he have to confront Nick and pry out the reasons for his existence, but he would have to go back to his own history with Todd. Lifting the curtain of that period would not be pleasant for him, but there was no other choice. Todd had called him and maybe subconsciously known that he was the last shred of hope left. The distortions of those days were magnified again in his mind, and he fought against his impulse to get as far away as possible from any of it. He had made a pact with the devil, but had also thought the devil was finished and wouldn't come back to plague him anymore. He's back like a recurring nightmare and lying asleep in my living room.
Even then Nick had taunted him mercilessly because of his intimacy with Todd. It was as if he wanted to tear down the connection, but at the same time, he respected and needed it. Damn you Nick! You are the side of Todd that would never have seen the light of day except for what happened…
Slider's eyelids drooped and his mind spiraled into haziness. No more…not tonight…

As she felt the strong arms gather her up and press her into him, Viki felt a release of the rigidity that had held her heart captive for a long time. Everything was right for once. That she should soak in so much happiness was too much for her to comprehend - especially since a side of her was happy. The brother she had developed a bond with was now dead, and this time he wouldn't be reappearing as he had before. He was the only one who could have driven that car, and it was now a blackened ruin at the foot of a cliff. You were entitled to the same kind of happiness that I have now. I always believed that. You just never did. You punished yourself over and over for your crimes, but it also hurt the people who loved you to see you torture yourself.
Her ears heard the beating heart of another man and once more she immersed herself in the total comfort of his presence. Todd, if you could see me…me with the man who stood by your side so many times. I like him, Todd. I…love him.
"Viki," Sam whispered with pure elation as he held her so tightly against him. He still didn't quite believe it was all happening, and he wanted a final confirmation. Whatever you say, that's it.
Looking up into his face, she saw the evidence of his joy lit up in his eyes, but behind it was a more important question that had been left unanswered. She knew that he wanted her to say it outloud, and this time she had the answer without any confusion or the barrage of warnings that had hit her the first time. A touch of her hand on his face made him draw closer to her, his lips inches away, and waiting with a forced patience for her to tell him what was in her heart.
Sam…Sam…you'll be my last love and you may be the only love that will see me as one whole woman - not tormented any longer by my cycle of misery or the floods of imaginations brought on by that misery.
"In answer to your question…", she paused for effect with a slight look of mischief as his eyes bore into hers almost fearfully. "…Yes!" she finished breathlessly but with finality.
"Yes?" Sam tightened his grip on her and again searched her eyes - not quite sure if he was just hearing what he wanted to hear.
"You heard me," her face shone with a golden radiance and her eyes were luminous and daunting.
"Yes to all of it Sam…unless you've changed your mind," she said teasingly.
"Changed my mind?" he rolled his eyes heavenward and then brought his hands up to gently surround her face. "This is the first time in a long time that I've known exactly what I wanted…and that's you."
Unexpectantly she trembled as she felt the feather-like touch of his soft lips in the hollow of her neck and his warm breath settling over her skin. Will I wake up and this be all some dream? No…it's real…every part of it and there's no turning back now.

Sherry knocked on the door with the number 38 on it and waited for it to open. It had been exactly one week since the day she had been summoned in the middle of the night to treat a man who still remained very much a stranger to her. Every evening after work she had gone in to check on his progress, but she was no closer to understanding his connection to Slider than before. Each successive meeting seemed stranger than the previous one and made her determined to check not only her patient's physical well being but also check that he wasn't up to anything. At this point, she could see that he was recovering well and amazingly, quite rapidly.
The door opened and she blinked in astonishment at the person who let her in.
"Nick! You shouldn't be up. Where is Slider?"
He looked at her with a cool, rakish charm and slowly opened the door wider. "He's still at the university. He called and said he had a late appointment."
Sherry passed through the doorway and breezed by him.
Closing the door softly, Nick took careful, measured steps behind her. "So….I guess it's just you and me tonight, Dr. Sherry."
Sherry turned and looked at him severely as a parent would to a disobedient child. "You can cut out the "Dr. Sherry" now, Nick. I think we're past that, don't you? How's your arm feeling?"
Nick looked down at the cast now covering his broken arm. "Same as yesterday…just itches a lot…but my legs hurt like a.son of…" he stopped and retracted his last statement with ease, "they ache and throb all the time."
"They will," Sherry said eyeing him with new interest. Well, he's definitely classier than I thought at first…he has a few manners.
Nick was also making his own observations as she walked ahead of him. She worked in a hospital emergency room, but she looked as if she could have worked behind the counter of an exclusive women's store. Her makeup was flawless but not overdone, and the creamy texture of her skin was delicately balanced with the faintest shade of violet rose. Against the rich black of her hair, her skin was a startling contrast that made you want to examine it for any surface flaws. Her figure was bordering on the petite side, but the way she carried herself, one would think she was taller. Everything about her seemed graceful and feminine, yet when she spoke, the clipped, commanding tone she used took over and diffused the idea that she had ever been helpless. Added to all this, Nick had noticed right away the slim, but still curvaceous lines of her body.
Sherry felt prickles on her skin as she became aware of him studying her. What was it about him that made her so jumpy? She'd had run-ins with a number of patients who had wanted to know more about her than she cared to disclose, but Nick got under her skin in a way that riled her, and she didn't like this invasive emotion.
As he hobbled slowly past her to the sofa, she looked him over as objectively as she could. Slider had given him some of his clothes, and he wore a loose fitting short-sleeved shirt and some khaki shorts. Most women she knew would have found him attractive, but he was certainly not without imperfections. Physically he was tall and well proportioned with a lean, toned body and a face reminiscent of a character in some old 1930's classic movie. The scar across his cheek and his rather long, pointed nose and slanted brows gave him a villain-like appearance, but it was his eyes more than any other feature that made you stare. She had already seen first-hand how he used his eyes to intimidate and to challenge, but beyond that, they were deeply mysterious - drawing you in with some kind of gripping power. She conceded to herself that she did find him attractive, but she didn't trust him, and trust was something she valued more than any vague attraction. With Slider, she had known immediately that his words were honest, and that he was completely trustworthy.
Lying back on the sofa, his body relaxed again. The pain was still there, but he knew he was healing well, and before long, he could be powerful physically as well as mentally. He had always basked in the knowledge of his mental power and he knew that nothing had been lost or had weakened that. Nothing ever will.
"You haven't asked me any questions, Sherry," he said as she looked carefully at each wound for signs of infection.
"I don't need to know everything about you, Nick."
"…and you never got an answer about the scar, did you?" he said, smoothly ignoring her comment, as she applied a clean bandage to the large gash.
"Only if you want to tell me," she said pretending to be absorbed in her treatment of him.
"How very diplomatic of you! Well, your respect for my privacy has been very professional. I think you deserve at least one explanation."
Her ears strained to hear what he would say, even though she acted as if she could care less what he told her and continued to treat his wounds.
"This little signature was given to me by someone who wanted to make me suffer as much as I had made someone else suffer," he said calmly but with a detached coldness.
Only Sherry noticed the imperceptible shake of her hand as she heard him speak as if he were totally removed from what had happened to him. She didn't dare look into his eyes because she didn't want him to see how his words had affected her. You could be a just another braggart full of yourself, but I don't really think so.
Nick watched her carefully as she continued to reapply bandages. Strands of her glossy black hair fell against her neck and for some reason, he wanted to touch it and feel the smooth texture against his hands.
"Would you like to know who did it?" he said with a self-satisfied air as if he knew that she was intrigued.
Touching his scar almost lovingly, his eyes caught hers and held them in a gaze that lasted longer than she would ever have allowed with someone she didn't know that well.
"A woman did this to me…yeah, that's right…a woman… not even as strong as you, but who was somehow able to slice into me as if I were jelly."

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~