Nic
"Yeah.... we should..." he mumbles but all he does is pulling her closer and kissing her with passion and love. He won't stop. He will not be the voice of reason in this situation. He can't be, because this feels way too good.

Nic
And then the moment ends. Because she is married. And because she knows how wrong this is, even if it feels so incredibly right. He has to take a few deep breaths, before he is able to do anything other than staring at her walking away. She still has feelings for him. That is obvious now. And that is enough to make him happy for the moment. Even if she is still married. Even if there is the fact that he left her. But by some miracle she still loves him, just as much as how he loves her. Then he takes his bottle and drinks a huge amount of bourbon and gets up. He has to get home. Chris, Rebecca and Jerry want to make a fancy dinner at home and invite close friends. He has to be there. Not for him, but for his sister and brother.

Nic
When he finally comes home, he finds his sister in the garden, sitting on the old swing. Her back is all he can see, so he can't see how she is crying. "Rebecca!" he says. "What are you doing here?" she winces and after wiping her face, turns around. "Hey." she says, but he notices her puffy eyes and her ruined mascara at once. He frowns, then walks up to her and asks in a concerned voice: "What is going on?" she shots him an angry look before getting up. "Not your concern. You have lost the right to be worried about me, Nic." "What do you want me to do, Becks?" he asks now angry as well. "You are clearly having problems. I know, that there is nothing I could say to make up for leaving you, when you needed me the most. I hate myself for it every day. I should have been there for you. I was the big brother. But I couldn't, because I was young and dumb and I was selfish. And I had problems of my own. But I really need to know what is going on, Becca! You scare the hell out of me. You... you walk around here looking like hell. How do the others not notice how broken you are? I mean, do you really convince them with your tough girl act?" She looks surprised and a little thrown out of her way. "How... what? Broken?" she laughs like this is a joke, but Nic can see through that. "I'm not broken, Nic. You leaving me was the best thing that ever happened to me. It made me realize, that you can't rely on anyone ever. It made me strong...." "You may think you are, but you are not, Becks. Suppressing your problems, doesn't make them go away. It makes them grow and someday they will bite you in the ass.. I just want to help you..." "You LEFT me Nic!" now she's crying again, but they seem to be tears of anger. She's also screaming now. "You left me with HIM! With dad. You don't know...." she stops herself from saying something, but then she shakes her head. "You know what? Why do I even bother? You pretending to care about me now doesn't even begin to make up for what you did!" "I KNOW!" he yells which shuts her up for a moment. "I know that, Becks. Okay? I know, that nothing I could do could ever make up for leaving you. But... but let me try. Please let me help you!" he's really desperate now. "Please, Becks. I can't let you down again." She looks at him for a while, her anger leaving her with every breath as she realizes that he really means it. "Okay.." she finally gives in and wipes away her tears once more. "Okay... I don't even know why I am doing this... But okay... If you promise to not tell ANYONE ANYTHING and if you promise not to do anything about the things I am going to tell you, I will let you help me..." Nic looks surprised, but then he smiles slightly. "Thank you.." he says and takes another step towards her. He wants to console her. But she shakes her head. "No. I don't forgive you. Nothing has changed. And now we have to get back inside. Jerry's about to get the cake. You don't want to miss that, do you?" with that, she walks back into the house. NIc just stands there for a moment, breathing in the fresh night air and sorting his thoughts. So much has happened today. The kiss.. and now this.

Nic
After dinner, he and Chris wash the dishes. They talk about football and his work and how it was during his time in war and after finishing their dishes, they sit down with a bottle of whiskey and talk for hours until they realize how very late it is already and they go to bed. But Nic smiles, as he falls asleep. This day has been great. The kiss with Hannah, the thing with Becca and now his brother and him talking.
As he falls asleep his mind is with Hannah. He really needs to talk with her. He knows, that she'll probably feel terrible after the kiss, but he can't focus on that now. Not when he is so happy himself.

Nic
As he wakes up the next morning his head aches, but he feels happier than ever, because all he can think of is the kiss. He get's up, goes into the bathroom and takes a long shower, before making himself ready for another day in hell. Even though hell became way less horrible in the last few days.
He walks down the stairs and into the living room, where he meets Jerry and Chris who are eating breakfast. "Morning." he smiles at them and they - even though they seem a little surprised by his high spirits - smile back. "Why so happy?" Jerry asks, as he takes another sip from his steaming coffee. "I don't know." he shrugs and sits down at the table. "I guess it's just a good day."

Nic
After eating breakfast with his family, he takes Mephisto into the car and drives to the hospital. He needs to get his injuries checked and after that, he wants to take Mephisto to a vet outside of town. Because after what happened yesterday, he can't be in the same room as Markus. The sun is shining and he turns up the radio because his spirits are high. He even sings along to the songs and for the first time in forever he can forget all his sorrows and just concentrate on the good things.

Nic
As he arrives at the hospital, he decides to take Mephisto with him. For once he hates leaving him in the car and also, Mephisto is unnaturally silent. He seems to be in deep shock and he can't bear the thought of leaving him alone for just a second. "Come on, Buddy." he says and strokes him for a while, before leashing him and walking into the hospital, where he is told to take a seat in the waiting room.

Nic
He waits for a about half an hour when suddenly all hell breaks loose. There are doctors running up and down the hall, yelling something about an accident and how they have to prepare the emergency room. Nic frowns slightly and gets up to see what is going on, when Hannah enters the hospital. She looks totally panicked. "Hannah!" he walks towards her. "What is wrong? What happened?" he asks, because she looks like she is about to collapse.

Nic
"What?" all of a sudden everything turns into chaos. As he tries to comfort her, he strokes her back gently and tells her, that they are going to be okay, when eventually they arrive. The little girl looks way worse than Markus. It breaks his heart to see Hannah this upset.
And then there are the doctors asking all these questions. It takes a few seconds for him to realize what Hannah just said.
All he can think of is how much he wants Claire to get better. Because she reminds him of himself even though he can't explain why. But then Hannahs words start to make sense. "Not her.... biological father...?" he mumbles and pulls away from Hannah to look her in the eyes. "He... What... what are you saying..?" he asks, as his mind automatically does the math. She was born 2007.... 2007........ But if Markus isn't.... Then that.... "I... I am her father? Claire..... is my daughter?" he asks, totally bewildered and in utter disbelieve, as he looks at Hannah. "She.... she is MY DAUGHTER?"

Nic
Betrayal. That is all he can think of. He feels betrayed. How could she not tell him? How could she... she keep her from him? Her... his own daughter.... As the world crashes around him, all he can see is Hannah and him talking about having kids some day and he remembers Hannah saying: "If we ever have a daughter we should name her Claire!"
He stands there in the middle of the hospital and it seems like his life is turned up side down. He is a father. He has a daughter...
Claire... CLAIRE! "Where did they take her?" he asks, as he realizes, that now is not the time to sort this stuff out, even though in his mind there is nothing but chaos. "I can give her my blood, Hannah! WHERE IS SHE?" he repeats. But all of the love and happiness he felt towards her is now gone. Because she betrayed him. She hurt him deeply by not telling him about Claire.