Nick lay on the ground, stunned by everything that had just happened. As he lay there, he heard screams around him and felt a weight on his chest that wasn’t moving. Through closed eyes, he saw flashing light and tried to comprehend what was happening.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw a lifeless Lucky lying on top of him. He tried to shake her away, but she remained still on him. He said her name a few times and when he tried to lightly push her off, he felt something wet. He pulled his hand away and saw that it was covered in blood.
Nick started screaming, not quite sure what for. He didn’t know if he was bleeding, or if it was Lucky. He could feel himself go into shock and again, everything went black.
Around 1:00 the next afternoon, Nick woke up and his entire body was sore. He looked around him and found he was lying in a hospital bed. He tried to sit up, but his head screamed in agony and his back felt as if it were on fire.
A nurse was in the room checking his monitor when he woke up and she smiled at him. “Well hello there sleepy-head. You’ve been out for quite some time.”
“What … what happened to me? Why am I here?” Nick asked as he settled back into the hard mattress and limp pillows.
“Well Mr. Carter, you were shot at last night on 41st street. You are a very lucky man to be alive. If it weren’t for that brave woman, you might not be here.” The nurse supplied vaguely.
“I’m sorry, what? What happened?” Nick asked again.
“Well, from what I’ve gathered from bystanders and the entertainment news, you were with a lady friend having an argument and a shot rang out from the gathering crowd. She jumped in front of you and now you are here.” The nurse stated as if it was something that happened every day.
“Lucky?! Where is she? Is she ok? What happened to her?” Nick asked frantically as he tried to sit up again.
“She is in surgery. It’s taken a little longer than expected because of where the bullet it her. It entered at a 45 degree angle into her back and they’re not sure if it hit her uterus or not.” The nurse began checking Nick’s morphine drip and looked at his monitor again.
“The bullet hit her? She was shot? When can I see her?” Nick asked. The tears sprang to his eyes and began to fall before he had a chance to stop them. He frantically wiped at them, but they began to fall faster. “We fought. She probably thinks I hate her. How can this be happening?”
As his tears fell faster and his shoulders shrugged harder, he fell into his pillow and cried himself back to sleep.
“Nick?” He heard Lucky’s voice and opened his eyes.
She was standing in front of him in a flowing white dress.
“Lucky? Oh thank God you’re still alive.” Nick said and reached for her.
Standing over him, she placed her hands on his bed, next to his pillows. “It’s me Nick, but I came here to tell you something.”
“Lucky, please don’t. I love you and I’m so sorry and I don’t care if your name is Renée, Shannon, Katharine, or Lucky. I love YOU. I forgive you for lying.” Nick said.
Lucky smiled appreciatively and said, “Thank you for that. I want you to know that I love you too. And I will always love you. I will always, always be with you. Right here.” Lucky touched his heart and smiled again.
Nick reached for her again and she moved away. She glided gracefully away from Nick and practically melted through the doorway. Before she was completely gone from sight, Nick heard her voice. “Goodbye Nick. I will always love you.”
“LUCKY!!!” Nick woke up in a cold sweat, screaming. “NO!!!” He began to cry violently again and jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Yo, man, you gotta chill.” He opened his eyes and saw AJ through his tears.
“Oh, AJ. Lucky’s dead.” Nick said and pulled his friend close so he could cry on his shoulder.
“What are you talking about?” AJ asked.
“I know it. We had a fight, she got shot and now she’s dead. She died thinking I hated her.” Nick said. He pulled away from AJ and ran his hand under his nose.
“Oh gross dude. That’s what tissues are for.” AJ said and handed him one from the table next to Nick’s bed.
“And Lucky’s not dead.”
As the information absorbed into his brain, Nick began to cry again. This time, tears of relief and joy. He again reached for AJ and hugged him close.
“Man, I wish the other guys would get here.” AJ mumbled to himself while Nick still gripped at him and cried onto his shoulder. “Dude, what is wrong with you? Why are you crying so much?”
Nick laid back onto his bed and his tear-stained face looked blankly up at the ceiling. In a non-expressive voice, he said, “She and I had a really big fight. And then she was shot. And I just woke up from a dream about her dying. The dream was so real, J. It was so real.”
“I understand. At least I can try to understand. But really, Lucky’s ok. She’s in recovery from her surgery. She’s not dead.” AJ said. He decided to keep the surgeon’s difficulties during her surgery to himself. Just as he finished his sentence, Brian and Leighanne walked into the door, Baylee on Leighanne’s hip.
“Nick we came as soon as we could.” Leighanne said as she put Baylee on the floor and walked over to where AJ was sitting. AJ stood up to greet all three of them and offered his chair to Leighanne.
“I went by Lucky’s room first to see how she was doing, but she was passed out. She had a couple of IVs stuck in her arms and an oxygen tube in her mouth. The nurses said that she would be ok, but she would probably have to stay in the hospital for a few days.” Leighanne supplied.
“I can’t see her like that. I’ll die.” Nick said and tears started to form in his eyes again.
“The dude has been seriously emotional since he woke up.” AJ stated to Brian. “I don’t really know what to do with a crying Nick. I mean, I can handle a whiny Nick or a sad Nick or even an annoying Nick, but I’ve never seen him cry so much.”
“AJ, he just got shot at and the love of his life is in critical condition. What would you be doing right now? Leighanne asked as she looked over Nick.
“How are you doing? I mean, how much physical pain are you in?” Brian asked.
“I’m really sore, but other than that, I’m doing ok.” Nick admitted and sat up in his bed. “I’m really worried about Lucky. I’m worried about our relationship.”
“Why would you be worried about your relationship? She risked her life to save you. I’m pretty sure you guys will be ok.” Brian said and laughed uneasily.
“But we had a huge fight. She lied to me and I didn’t even want to listen to her. I just shut her out as soon as I found out she lied.” Nick said and tears sprang to his eyes again.
“Well Nicky, we’ve always tried to tell you to give people the benefit of the doubt. You really do have to start doing that. Do you know why Lucky lied to you? What did she lie about?” AJ asked as he handed Nick another tissue.
“Her name. Her identity. Her real name is Renée St. James.” Nick said.
“The girl who practically scarred you for life against women?” Brian asked. “Wow.”
“Yeah, that’s really ironic. The same girl broke your heart and then slowly pieced it back together. She deserves some serious credit. No matter what her name is.” Leighanne commented.
“She’s really been the only woman in my life for so long. It’s because of her that I could never really love a woman, and then I met a different version of her and fell in love all over again. I don’t even know where to begin.” Nick said. He smiled at the idea that Lucky was still alive, and knew that he was going to have a second … no third chance with the woman of his dreams.
Later that night, Nick was lying in his bed flipping through the channels on the television planted on the opposite wall from his bed, he came across Entertainment Tonight and saw a clip of his face and then the show went to commercial. Nick sat back on his pillows and turned the volume up just in time to see Mary Hart come back on with a split screen of his and Lucky’s pictures on a board behind her. She went on to show a sloppy video and multiple clearer still shots of Nick and Lucky fighting.
“The following video may be disturbing to some videos, so please watch with caution.” Mary said. “It is cell phone footage of the following events.”
As much as Nick wanted to change the channel, he couldn’t tear his gaze away. He watched as he yelled at Lucky and then saw a slight change in her face that he hadn’t noticed when we was standing in front of her. Then, out of the corner of the screen he saw someone who looked familiar, but couldn’t quite place it, and then he saw the slight silver and then Lucky jumped on top of him. The screen went back to black and then returned to Mary Hart’s face.
“Here is a picture of the alleged gun man drawn up by a sketch artist from a compilation of witnesses at the scene.” Mary introduced a picture and Nick almost threw up as he saw Kevin’s face flash across the screen. “If you know anything about this man, please call 911 with details.” The show again turned to a commercial and Nick let out a deep breath.
He jumped slightly as his hospital room phone rang. “Hello?” Nick asked cautiously.
“Nick, do you care to explain why Kevin’s face was just up on the screen being related to your shooting?” AJ’s voice asked, a little too nervously. “It wasn’t him was it?”
“AJ. Do you really think that Kevin would do something like that? Besides, I don’t think it’s Kevin. I think it’s Jesse.” Nick said, relaying a conversation he and Lucky had had about Jesse earlier in the year. “Look at the guy’s hair. It’s shaggier than Kevin’s and he has that freckle on the corner of his mouth. That’s not Kevin.”
“Well, a hell of a lot of people are going to think it’s him when they see it. We’d better let him know what’s going on.” AJ said and before he could hang up, Nick’s cell phone began ringing on the stand next to the phone he was holding. He looked at the number and saw Kevin calling.
“J, let me call you back. Kevin’s calling my cell.” Nick said into one phone and then, “Hey Kev. I know it wasn’t you,” into the other.
Nick put the phone back onto it’s cradle and turned all of his attention to Kevin. “Of course it wasn’t me. I wasn’t even in New York yesterday, last night, whatever. I was in Kentucky with Kristin.”
“I think it is Jesse Black. Listen Kev, there’s some serious stuff going on that I can’t really talk about right now until I talk to Lucky. Thanks for calling man.” Before Kevin could ask anymore questions, Nick hid the End key on his phone and then pushed the “Call Nurse” button beside his bed.
As soon as a nurse walked into his room, he turned on his Carter charm. He flashed his smile and watched as she became putty in his hand. “Hi Kendra, can you please tell me if Ms. Lucky Sullivan has woken up yet?”
“Let me check for you Mr. Carter.” Kendra said and Nick winked at her before she left the room, causing her to run into the door frame. She came back about three minutes later and tried to find her words. “Yes. She is, um, awake. I mean, she’s not awake right now, but she’s been awake.”
“Oh. I wonder why she didn’t try to get in touch with me.” Nick said to himself.
“She did ask about you. I remember because I was told to come in and check on you. But you had the other boys in here at the time. Do you want me to keep a watch on her for when she wakes up?” Kendra offered sweetly for Nick.
“No. It’s ok. Do you know when I’ll be able to get up from the bed?” Nick asked.
“I think if you feel like you can walk, then you’ll be ok. As long as you take the IV with you; because we just need to keep your vitals monitored. You took a pretty hard hit to your head and back you know.”
“Yeah. But if it weren’t for Lucky, I could be dead. Can you help me get up so I can go sit in her room?” Nick asked as he started moving himself off of his bed. Kendra walked quickly to his assistance and helped him get situated when he was ready to start moving. She gave him Lucky’s room number and helped him get started in the right direction. Once he was half way down the hall, he told her to go back to her station and thanked her for her help.
He slowly made it to Lucky’s room and carefully turned the corner into her room, hoping not to wake her up. He smiled as he saw her chest rising and falling as a sign that she was in a deep sleep. He made his way to the chair next to her bed and easily fell into it. He grabbed her right hand and held it in his own and immediately felt comfortable enough and fell asleep.
The next morning, Nick woke up stiff from sitting in a chair for most of the night and saw that Lucky was awake in her bed and she was curiously staring at him.
“Oh Lucky.” Nick said and got up so quickly, he felt all of the blood rushing to his head. He closed his eyes but continued to stand up anyway. He held her hand again and then fell to his knees next to her bed. He put his head on her mattress and just began to sob again. Lucky removed her hand from his and started smoothing his hair.
“Shh, Nick. It’s ok. Nick, I’m ok.” She said.
“Lucky, you have no idea. I had this awful dream. This REALLY real dream that you were dying. I woke up and AJ was in my room and he told me you were ok, but I was just so unsettled by this dream.” Nick said and finally looked up at her through wet eyelashes.
“Shhh, it’s ok. I promise. But you should probably know that I did almost die…”
