Battle Of The Blondes

© Sweet Kisses™

~*~

Nick had fallen asleep in Britney's room, holding onto her hand tightly as they both slept. He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave her side in the event of anything happened to her.  Even if she didn't move an inch, he wanted to be there. He had left her before, and because of it she had ended up beaten, abused, raped, and in the hospital fighting for her life. Well, that was never going to happen again as long as he was around. He was going to protect her, that's what he was going to do. He was going to protect her and keep her safe with him, and then she'd never have to deal with this kind of pain again. All that she'd have to deal with was love, his love, and that alone would keep her safe. He knew that.

But now she had a baby, and that was nothing to brush aside. He had seriously given it a lot of thought and he'd come to the conclusion that whatever Britney wanted to do, he would do. He'd be behind her one hundred percent with anything she wanted to do. If she didn't want to keep the child, it was her choice, her body, so she called the shots. If she wanted to keep the child, more power to her. But what if she didn't know about it? He had also thought of that possibility, too. If she didn't know about it, how would she react? Would she be happy? Glad? Angry? He couldn't tell, but if she didn't know Nick knew that the last thing she would feel was joy. She'd be shocked, he knew that much. Knowing her as well as he did, he knew that shocked would be an understatement.

Nick loved Britney, with all his heart. There was nothing more that he wanted to do than to love her and take care of her until she got better. He was going to ask her to live with him, and from then on he'd care for her, show her love, show her kindness, show her compassion, show her everything that he felt for her. There was nothing more in the world that he wanted than her love.

If he could only have one wish, it would be for her to love him like he loved her. And certainly, she had to. Though they had both only said that in words, not feelings, it was still apparent. He knew that the love was there. After all, that's why she had gone to Justin's that night, to tell him that it was over between them and that she was in love with Nick. Surely that said enough. There was no way in hell that she could still love Justin.

Justin.

Nick hadn't seen Justin, nor had he tried to see Britney in the hospital. And it was a damn good thing, too, because if Nick had seen Justin, well, there would be no way that Nick would be able to hold back or control his feelings and anger towards Justin. He'd just as soon deck Justin and hoped that he got the message and stayed away from her. Stayed away from them both.

Justin was the enemy. He knew that. Justin was an abuser. An abuser that deserved to be thrown in jail with all the other criminals, for that's exactly what he was. Him being famous made no bit of difference to Nick. Just because he was famous didn't mean he could get away with what he had done. He committed a crime and on more than one occasion and for that he should be punished accordingly. It was nothing hard to fathom. It was merely justice serving its purpose.

He had raped and beaten an innocent young woman.

"Nick?"

Nick's eyes fluttered open and became aware of Britney awake in the hospital bed, her pretty features marred from the bruises and cuts on her face. Her cheeks were bruised purple and black and a dark ring circled the bottom of her left eye and a thin cut that had dried over with blood was just below her lip. His heart ached for her, imagining the pain she had gone through.

"Britney," he said and kissed her forehead. "God, it's so good to see you awake."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her pale face tired and sad. "I'm sorry for putting you through this. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have interfered. He hates it when I do that. It’s all my fault, I - "

"No!" Nick exclaimed, holding onto her hand again. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Britney, blaming herself? Why would she do that for? She was not responsible for this. It was all Justin's fault and he made a vow to see Justin suffer as much as she was right then. "Baby, it's not your fault. You did nothing but try to protect yourself. Don't blame anyone else but Justin. Justin did this to you. It's not your fault."

Tears were shining in her eyes. Her whole body felt violated, used, abused, tortured and hurt. She wanted to die, feeling the way she was. She wanted to fade into nothing and never return. There was just something that made her feel repulsed, and nothing could take away that feeling. Not even love could take away that feeling, or make her forget what happened, even for an instant.

"It is my fault because I interfered!" she cried softly, her voice hardly above a whisper. "He doesn't like it when I interfere and I was just putting myself in harm's way by doing that."

"Baby," Nick said, placing a gentle kiss on her hand. "Don't blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. You were just trying to protect yourself from him, and he was...just too strong for you. But you know what?"

"What?"

It was like he could feel her pain, her hurt, her anger, her sorrow and her broken heart. It was then that he made a pact with himself to mend her broken heart, and whatever it took to mend it, he'd do, he knew that for sure. "I love you, and I'm going to be here to make sure this doesn't happen to you again."

A tear trickled down her cheek. "Who lets themselves go through this? Who lives like this? Who lets themselves get beaten, raped and abused, and even go back for more? Who allows themselves to go through this? God, I'm so stupid!"

"You're not stupid," Nick said softly, his eyes meeting hers for the first time, and he saw so much sadness and hurt in her eyes. He wanted to cry, and beat the hell out of Justin simultaneously. There would be no way that he would get away with this. No way in hell. "You were just trying to protect yourself, and there's nothing wrong with that." He paused and leaned over to kiss her forehead again. "I love you."

Britney gave him a weak smile, all that she could muster. She wasn't used to this sort of kindness, love, and to anyone else it might seem intoxicating or suffocating, but Nick's love to her felt like sunshine after a storm. It felt like it was a Godsend. Something that made her think that life was worth living, for anything she had to live for had been ruined by Justin, and maybe even her ability to love again.

"Thank you, Nick," she said quietly, her voice thickening with emotion. "Thank you for loving me so much. I don't know why you’re trying to help me, to love me when I cause nothing but trouble, but thank you."

Nick only had two important questions for her. "Do you love me?"

Britney was silent for several moments, taking her time to decide. But really, deep within her heart, she had known all along who she loved. She knew it when she had gone to tell Justin it was over, and she knew it now. "Yes, I do."

"Do you know that you're pregnant?"

Britney's mouth fell open in horror. Her, pregnant? At such a young age? That couldn't be right, could it? But when she really thought about, it could so easily be right. A little baby. A little tiny human growing inside her. That was hard to fathom. And fathered by an alcoholic abuser, no less. Sure, once she'd loved him, she'd loved him a lot. But that was before he'd stared beating her and abusing her, like she was nothing but an animal, like a little toy he could use and throw away when he was done.

She didn't deserve to be treated that way. She deserved better than that. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. She deserved so much better than Justin and how he was treating her. She deserved someone like Nick, and Nick's love. Someone who treated her right, treated her kindly, treated her how she would treat them. That was all she asked. And as for a child, well...

Britney buried her face in her hands. "God, I knew this was going to happen," she whispered.

"What?"

Britney sighed, knowing that now her worst fear had become reality. "Justin..."

"Justin what?" Nick demanded.

Britney stared down at her hands, linking them together tightly. "Justin never let me, well, you know..."

"Shit," Nick whispered. "Are you telling me he wanted to get you pregnant?"

Britney shrugged. "Maybe."

Nick closed his eyes momentarily, not believing exactly what he was hearing. He tried to make it clear in his mind. Justin had wanted to get her pregnant, for some bizarre reason. But why? So Britney would never leave him? So Britney would be tied to him for her whole life? For eternity? Why would anyone want that for themselves at such a young age? And all the while he never knew that this was happening to her, and he never even asked. God, he felt so responsible.

He wondered for the millionth time if this, raping a girl, abusing a girl, refusing contraception to get a girl pregnant, was enough reason for homicide, murder. He wanted to kill Justin with a passion and he knew that the moment he laid his eyes on Justin, nothing would stop him, not even Britney. Nothing would stop him from taking matters into his own hands, making sure that justice was done, that he paid for what he had done to an innocent girl like Britney.

"Why did you let him do this to you for so long?" Nick asked, completely dumbfounded. .

"It was only when he drank," Britney explained softly. "Whenever he drank, he got abusive, he'd threaten me, he'd try and hurt me. I wanted to make him happy. I wanted him to make me happy, and he did for a little while. He was nice for a little while, very sweet and loving to me. But then he started going out drinking with friends and he'd come home drunk and I'd get angry at him and he'd try and hurt me for interfering the way I did."

She paused, taking a small breath, giving him a small but shy smile. "Then I met you and I liked you from the moment I met you. There was just something about you..."

"Well, I liked you long before I met you," Nick replied, returning the shy smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You showed me what real love is, how you're supposed to love someone," Britney continued softly, the small smile disappearing and a sad expression forming in its place. "And Justin's never loved me the way you have. He's never even said half the things to me that you have. He's never proved to me how much he loves me, not like you. I don't think he even loves me, I'm just merely there to look good. He couldn't love anyone."

"I'm just sorry I never got the chance to prove it to you," Nick said and kissed her hand. "But I will."

Britney frowned. "What do you mean?"

Nick stared into her eyes. "Come on, do I need to spell it out for you?"

Britney sat back, confusion filling her. "Maybe you might have to."

Nick chuckled at her confusion and then immediately covered his mouth with his hand when he saw her hurt expression. "Sorry, sorry, it's just that I thought that it's pretty obvious, but since it's not..."

He pulled the chair closer to her bed and moved closer to her, so close that their noses were almost touching and stared deeply into her eyes, almost as though he was staring into her soul. And wasn't that the saying? The eyes were the windows to the soul? "I'm talking about love, babe. Real love. You know, more than words, more than feelings. I'm talking about expressing those feelings. Physically. Like, you and me. Together. Got it?"

Britney sat back, her eyes widening. She suddenly realised what he meant. He was talking about...oh, right. She understood. Oh, she understood plenty. "I see. I understand now."

Nick smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. "Good, glad you did."

Britney place her head back on the mountain of pillows and sighed despondently. Her life had suddenly taken the turn for the worst. Well, part of it had taken a turn for the better, and that was Nick loving her. But the worst part of it was that she was pregnant, and she was suddenly filled with anxiety and fear. Could she be a mother? What kind of a mother was she? Did career women like her have children? What kind of mothers did they make?

And should she keep the child, knowing full well the reasons why it was made? How could she explain that to a child, bring a child into the world because of that? She didn't have the heart to do that, did she? No, she most certainly didn't. And she wouldn't be able to lie to her child, not forever. And because of the child, Justin would forever be in her life, just like he had intended. Bastard. She wanted nothing more to do with him, and now he'd done this to her.

"God, a child, a baby..." she whispered.

Nick squeezed her hand. "Whatever you decide, I'm here. You know that, right? If you want to have an abortion, I'll be here. If you want to keep it, I'll be here, too. So whatever you decide, I'll stick by you. Just like glue."

"But, it's a baby, a child, a human," she whispered helplessly, not knowing what to do. "I mean, I can't have a child. I've got my career. The reasons why this child was made was for all the wrong reasons. That's not right. " She stared at the wall in front of her. "Justin never loved me, not even in the slightest. How can I explain that he hated me and because of his hate, this baby was made?" 

"Hey," Nick said and held her hand tightly. "Why can't you have a child? You're a normal person just like anyone else, so it's possible. As for your career, look at Madonna. She's got two kids and she's married and her career is just as hectic as yours or mine, and she handles it perfectly well. As for everything else, well...that's where you have to make the decision. Can you love the child, knowing the history between you and Justin? Could you explain to the child what happened with Justin and why you decided to keep it?"

This brought Britney to the brink of sobbing. "I don't know."

"Don't worry," Nick said softly, rubbing her arm. "I'm here and I'll help you through everything. I mean, everything."

"Even a baby?" she asked, unshed tears in her eyes.

"Even a baby," he answered with a smile. "And you're going to get out of here and get better and if you decide, I just know that you'd make a very good mother. I also think I'd be a pretty good father, too."

Britney narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Britney smiled. "Thank you."

Nick smiled back. "Anything, for you."

~**~