Chapter Nineteen
After a week of endless hours spent talking- confessions, fears, hopes for the future anything they could think of, and cuddling, Kerry felt like she was ready to have Miah home, calm enough to get back into her routine. After being gone from work for three weeks, and realizing she rather enjoyed it, she'd decided not to return, and Deidre was going to take her place as assistant manager. Kerry liked the idea of being able to stay at home, take care of Miah and be domestic.
Nick and Kerry went to her parents to get Miah, without announcing their plans, to surprise them. Kerry's parents were glad to see that she was doing well, healing emotionally much quicker this time than she had from previous incidents. Her father pulled Nick aside while Kerry and Marie were talking, thanking him for being so good to his daughter, and dropped hints that if his intentions towards Kerry were inclined towards marriage someday, he was fully supportive. Nick had said there was no need to thank him, he loved Kerry and wanted to be good to her, and thanked her father for his support of their relationship, it meant alot to him to know that others were as happy about he and Kerry as they were.
After talking with her parents a while, and complaining Haley wasn't home yet, Kerry wanted to get Miah, who was out back with Cole. Nick and Kerry went to get her, Nick walked into the yard from the deck and yelled, "MUNCHKIN!" while Kerry waited in the doorway for Miah to see her.
Miah hopped off the swingset as soon as she heard Nick and ran towards him squealing, "DAADDDYYY!"
Kerry's heart melted as she watched Nick pick Miah up and hug her tightly, she'd never heard her call him daddy before.
"I gotta surprise, Munchkin, look up on the deck..." Nick whispered to Miah.
Miah peered over his shoulder and saw her mom, looking just fine, standing in the doorway. As soon as Nick put her down she took off towards Kerry, who was waiting at the top of the steps for her with open arms. "Momma! You're okay!"
Kerry hugged her tight, "Yes, I am, sweetie. I missed you very much."
"Do I get to come home with you?" Miah asked, still clinging to Kerry.
"Yup. Are grandma and grandpa driving you crazy?" Kerry laughed.
Miah nodded. "I like it better when Aunt Hayhay's home."
"Speaking of which... I'M HERE!" Haley shrieked from behind Kerry.
Kerry let go of Miah, who ran back to Nick, to hug her sister. "Hey Comet." Kerry giggled.
"Oh my god, you haven't called me that in ... forever... you must be feeling better." Haley replied, squeezing Kerry again. She let go and said, "You just let me hug you." She remembered after Kerry and Josh had broken up and he'd almost killed her, Kerry didn't let anyone touch her for months.
"I do feel pretty good now.. the first two weeks were hellish, but this past week has been really good.. we've been talking about everything... and he's been holding me... which makes me feel safe... I've just had to realize that I know some people aren't going to hurt me." Kerry said.
"Talking about..." Haley tried to get Kerry to be more specific.
Kerry shrugged, "Everything... us.. Miah.. I quit at the lab, I'm just going to stay at home with her now... do the supportive girlfriend thing." She looked out over the railing of the deck, watching Nick and Miah play tag with Cole chasing them around. "You know she calls him daddy?"
Haley nodded, 'Yeah, it's cute. She needs that... so do you..."
"I know...", she paused for a second remembering something, "You remember what I said, after I had Miah, about kids?"
"That you'd never have any more?"
"Yeah..." Kerry was still watching them, how good he was with her, the way she responded to him.
"Changed your mind?", Haley smiled.
Kerry slowly turned back to Haley, nodding, a slight smile on her lips. "Everything's changed. It's like, everything I thought before, has been totally turned inside out and upside down. Even just.. dealing with.. what happened, it's been so much easier with him... even when we weren't talking.. just having him there helped.. but talking about it and all... it's just... it's him. I don't want anything else, or even feel like I need it... I love him so much..."
"I'm glad you have him, sissy.", Haley grinned, "Your kids will be adorable."
Kerry laughed, "Hopefully we'll see someday."
Later that night while tucking Miah in, Kerry heard her say, "I love you, daddy" when Nick kissed her goodnight. When she and Nick were lying in bed she started to say, "She calls you..." but couldn't get all the words out.
"Daddy...yeah, I love it." Nick said. "Is that... okay with you?"
Kerry hugged him tight, "It's perfect."
******
Three days later, in the midst of preparation for a tea party, Nick grabbed the phone to hear, "Tampa Bay Police Department, is a Kerry Collins there?" He told them to hang on while he got Kerry, and then stayed on the line when she picked up to hear what they were going to tell her.
"Yes, Ms. Collins, we have Josh Johnson in custody, we need you to come to the station to identify him and finish the case report. We can only hold him for 24 hours without warrant for arrest to keep him in jail, so the sooner you can come down, the better."
Kerry said, yes, she'd be there this afternoon and hung up the phone, immediately running to Nick for a hug of comfort. "I don't want to see him again."
"It's alright, I'm going with you, everything will be fine." Nick assured her, and kissed the top of her head.
They took Miah back to Kerry's parents house, with a promise to have their tea party as soon as they got back and headed off to the station. Kerry sat rigid in the passenger's seat, terrified at the thought of having to see him- even if it was to identify him to get him put in jail until they could go to trial to keep him in prison for as long as possible.
Kerry held Nick's hand in a death grip as they walked into the station, praying this would be over quick. She didn't look up from the floor, just followed Nick's lead into the reception area.
Nick slipped his arm around her waist, and then tilted her chin up to look at him. "Kerry, it's okay. I've got you and nothing is going to happen. Let's just go do whatever we have to do, and get this over with. We have a tea party to get home to."
Kerry nodded and let the officer standing near the desk know who she was. He told her to have a seat and he'd let someone know she was here. She shakily walked over to the row of tan vinyl-covered chairs by the window.
Nick knew she was scared, her expression made it clear, so did the way she was clutching the arm rest so tight her knuckles were white. He sat beside her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. He kissed her cheek, and began whispering in her ear, "Known it from the moment that we met, no doubt in my mind where you belong... I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue, I'd go crawling down the avenue, there's nothing that I wouldn't do, to make you feel my love... go to the ends of this earth for you, make you happy, make your dreams come true, to make you feel my love." ("To Make You Feel My Love", Garth Brooks)
Kerry couldn't help but smile. "Thank you. I love you."
"Kerry Collins?" the officer at the desk yelled. "C'mon back." he said as Kerry and Nick stood up. "Officer Lorella," he introduced himself, and began leading them back to the booth that would separate them from Josh so that Kerry could identify him.
"Just can't get enough can you?!? Can't stay away from me- gotta keep coming back for more!"
Kerry spun around to see Josh being hauled down the corridor in handcuffs, to be lead into the room she was about to be looking in.
"Yeah, baby, it's me. Ready for me again??" Josh yelled, cackling.
Nick tightened his grip on Kerry's hand. "Ignore him, Kerry." Everything Nick had ever said about being a peaceful person meant nothing to him right then. If there was anyway he could have gotten away with it, he wanted to rip the bastard's heart out and show it to him. "C'mon" He pushed Kerry gently towards the door of the booth, but she wouldn't budge.
"I can't do this. I want to leave. Now." She moved in front of Nick, blocking her view of Josh, hiding herself from his vision.
Nick pulled Kerry against him, holding her tightly. "Angel, listen to me.. you go in there, say 'yes, that's him' and we walk out and it's over. You can't let him scare you now. I'm right here and I'm not going to let him get anywhere near you, alright?"
She grabbed Nick's hand again and walked quickly into the booth, where she could see Josh, still yelling something, but couldn't hear him.
Officer Lorella, looked at her, noticing how shaken up she was, and wanted to make this as quick as possible for her. "Ms. Collins, can you positively identify that that is the man that attacked you?"
"Yes. That's him." Kerry said softly.
"Okay, that's that. You'll get your hearing date probably tomorrow, the hearing will most likely be within two weeks, and the result of the hearing determines whether or not he goes to trial. The Hillsborough County Court judge that will most likely be handling this case, Judge Marks, sexual assault is a major issue for her, you'll be in and out of there in no time, and then you'll need to find a lawyer for the case, if you don't already have one, and then the trial will procede, you'll testify, and hopefully that punk will go to jail for a very long time." Officer Lorella said. "That's all we needed, you're free to go now."
Kerry jumped for the door, anxious to get out of the station and away from Josh.
Nick followed her into the reception area, and then handed her the keys to the Durango. "I'll be right out, okay? I just gotta do something."
Kerry grabbed the keys and nodded, she didn't care what he had to do, she just wanted to get away, get outside, make the noise in her head- Josh's laughter- stop.
Nick walked back into the corridor and stood by the door the other officer had taken Josh into, he could still hear him yelling inside the small room. He watched the door open and looked at him as he came out of the room, mouthing off about something. It was almost freaky how much Miah resembled him- they had the same color of reddish blonde hair, and the exact same light lime green eyes. He wondered how Kerry felt looking into Miah's eyes all the time.
"Shut up Johnson" the officer commanded as he lead Josh back out of the room. He saw Nick standing there, intense hatred clearly displayed on his features, and hoped he was going to do him a favor and just knock Josh out. He grabbed Josh's cuffs halting him in front of Nick.
Josh stopped ranting long enough to look at Nick. "You're her new idiot, huh?"
Nick didn't care what Josh said about him, as long as he didn't say anything about Kerry. "Little something for you to think about, since you'll have plenty of time for that here pretty soon... it's my hands on her body- undoing everything you did to hurt her, it's my voice, my words that she remembers, that she knows are true, and it's ME that YOUR daughter calls Daddy."
The cop holding Josh back laughed as Josh tried to lunge for Nick as he walked away. "I'm just sorry he didn't hit you."
Nick walked quickly back out to the parking lot, and found Kerry sitting in the Durango, door open, crying. He hugged her tightly, "It's okay, Kerry.. it's over."
"It's never over! I'm gonna have to see him again at a hearing, again at a trial... I can't deal with this!" she cried against him.
Nick pulled away from her slightly so that he could look in her eyes. "Kerry, you can deal with this. You have dealt with this... we've done it together.. just like we're going to deal with anything else that might happen. We're going to get through it together." He brushed his fingertips across her cheeks, wiping away her tears.
She grabbed his hand and kissed the tips of his fingers. "I'm sorry... he just scares me."
"I know, and I'm sorry, but he's not worth it. Forget about him until we have to deal with him again, okay?" He hugged her again, his hands rubbing lightly over her back.
Kerry nodded. "Yeah, i've got better things to think about. Like you." She kissed his cheek and sighed. "I feel like such a fruit loop sometimes."
"Kerry, you are not a fruit loop. But I do enjoy eating them." Nick replied, tangling his fingers in her hair.
Kerry sniffled a little, and looked up at him. "If I was a fruit loop, would you eat me?"
Nick laughed lightly and kissed her nose. "From the inside out.", he smiled.
Kerry giggled, "You realize I'm going to hold you to that ... eventually."
"I hope you do." He pulled her into another hug. "Don't worry about that either. Whenever you're ready- when you want to, alright?"
"Thank you. Guess you'll have to stick with the boxed kind for now." she grinned.
"I can wait... it's like, when you buy the cheap stuff, and then you get it and it's not what you really want and you wish you just woulda gotten the real thing... so I'll just wait 'til I can have the good stuff." He kissed her and closed the door, and walked around the front of the truck, and hopped in the drivers seat.
"We're philosophizing about breakfast cereal...." Kerry laughed.
"Makes sense though, doesn't it? Don't settle for less than the best if it's not what you really want. I got what I want right here, and I KNOW it's worth waiting for." He replied.
Kerry leaned over to kiss his cheek, "I love you so much."
"I love you, too, angel. Think we can still make it for tea time?" he asked, reaching over to grab her hand.
"I think we can do anything, as long as we're together." she replied.
He squeezed her hand, "I know we can."