Ray of Hope

Christmas Eve

Raidyn struggled to walk with the blind fold on, she held on to Nick's arm tightly as he led her to the plane. She knew they were taking a plane ride, but had no idea where. Nick had said it was part of her Christmas present, she was so nervous about flying that her stomach was somersaulting and her palms were sweating. "Nick I can't see..."

Nick chuckled, "Babe, that is the point of the blind fold." he wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze. "You'll be alright, and if you do get sick, there are bags. Ok" He ran his hand from her shoulder down to her back to comfort her. They entered the private jet and took a seat, she was fiddling with her fingers and he placed a hand over hers. "It's alright"

A couple of hours later they had landed, he helped her put on a coat. Right away she felt the difference in temperature. After putting on his own coat they hopped into a rental, Nick didn't say a word as he made a pit stop and ran into the flower shop to get a huge bouquet of flowers. "Now listen I don't want you to go all crazy on me. I'm giving you this gift because I think it will put you at ease and you'll really like it once you get over the shock. Then we will head back home, just in time to spend Christmas eve with Ernie and Mia. Ok?" he let out a sigh and turned to look at her.

She shook her head, with a serious expression, it looked like she was struggling to guess what the heck he was talking about. "You're seriously freaking me out Nick, you're not going to try and kill me and sell my body parts to some third world country as food. They'd definitely have a feast, but..."

He chuckled, "Definitely not, all that is mine." she felt them drive off again, she had been trying so hard to imagine what the heck he was doing.

Maybe we are on a romantic getaway? He's driving me to Hawaii? I have no idea of what's going on. Ever since the night he confronted her about her eating habits, she hadn't been the nicest to him. They had constantly argued about it, but it seemed like he had given up on bringing up the subject for the holidays.

They came to a halt, he helped her out of the car, her eyes securely covered. Wherever they were was quiet, but the birds chirping and the breeze rustling the loose leaves in the trees. Nick helped her walk, he couldn't remember exactly where he had been told it was. Then he spotted it, it made his stomach summersault. He still didn't know how she would react, but it was a chance he was willing to take.

Raidyn's anticipation had turned to worry, she was thinking maybe he was surprising her by dropping her off at a clinic. She fought the urge to yank off the blind fold, just to make sure of it. Then again, she trusted Nick wholeheartedly and supposed he would never do that to her, so she tried to seize the thoughts running through her mind and continued to walk.

Nick pulled her to a stop and took in a deep breath, "Alright we are here and I'm going to be right behind you. Then I'll leave you alone for a second." she gripped his hand at the last sentence, he smiled "It's ok I promise. Here" he handed her the flowers, which she reached up to touch.

"Flowers!" Then it hit her, her stomach cramped and she felt she might be sick. Her first thought was to run away, she didn't want to see it. She felt Nick's hands over her face and then the brightness of the day filled her eyes. A gasp escaped her as she looked ahead, her free hand flew to her mouth and the tears instantly flooded her eyes. "Oh my god!" she turned to look at a worried Nick.

He didn't know what to expect, would she beat him with the flowers, run off in a random direction, or pass out. The distress on her face confused him, so he came up from behind and hugged her, putting his cheek to hers "Please don't be mad, I thought you might want to visit her...get all those things off your chest. You'll feel so much better babe."

"I can't..." she closed her eyes as she felt him squeeze her tighter.

Kissing her cheek softly he whispered in her ear "Yes you can..." slowly he let her go "I'll be in the car" he walked off, she could only hear the crushing of the leaves as he walked away.