Bad Blood

Part Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Riker had a new spring in his step after the bathroom incident. He didn't miss the quick glances that Nancy gave him when she thought he wasn't looking. Since he'd thrown it all back at her, that the tension between then wasn't one way, she was like a different person. He was an insatiable mess of hormones and desire, that was obvious, but he could tell that she felt the same way. Because as much as he still resented her, there was a desire to get her into compromising positions again, to push her and see what she did. And it thrilled him.

He'd never felt so, enthralled with life.

That didn't mean he wasn't casting eye rolls in her direction on an hourly basis. She annoyed him, he resented her presence, but he was dealing with it, and it made for productive days in the church. There was less than three weeks till they went on tour, and rehearsals had increased from six hours a day to more than twelve. They repeated song after song, modifying each, repeating a dozen times.

The only thing they hadn't sung, were the two songs that were related to Nancy, and more specifically Damon. One written about her, both included her vocals. And it was the white elephant in the room.

At the end of each day, Chris would look at him meaningfully, knowing that choosing that song had to come from him. And each day, he shook his head discreetly, he wasn't ready for it.

But time was running out, they were coming to the end of the day, ten days before they started to tour. They needed to try it out, they hadn't played it together, time was literally running out.

Chris sat down on a stool, his eyes flitting from Riker to Nancy. Finally he sighed, then turned to Riker, "we have to do this."

Riker could feel everyone's eyes on him, he couldn't reveal how he felt, after all, they'd played it at their recent comeback concert. But they hadn't played it with her, the woman it was written about.

He turned to her, "you wanna sit this one out, Princess?"

She looked pale, concerned, but much to his admiration, she held her head high and shrugged, "no."

The men all glanced at each other, before Riker nodded. "OK. I Take It All Back."

The opening bars were so familiar to Riker, but for the first time, he found the words hard to sing. Instead of them flowing, they felt laboured. Until she harmonised with him. And suddenly it was like the original, but he being Damon to her contrast.

The chorus was the killer, Damon's confession to almost losing her, they'd dated a few months when he slept with someone else. Nancy found out, but forgave him. Riker hadn't thought she would, and hadn't thought that Damon would change, both had surprised him. But neither as much as her, at that moment, singing with him to those painful memories. He wasn't one to credit her, but she was so much stronger than he ever gave her credit for.

"But there was one thing that made me think, made me know what I had lost, the one thing that showed me regret. And if I live for a thousand years, I wish I could take it all back"

One more time, she told herself as she sang along to Riker's lead in the way that her and Damon had intended. And it was breaking her into tiny pieces.

Damon had intrigued her from across a crowded room, even before she realised he was a singer with the band playing that night. She'd been almost sixteen, and sneaked into a college band night at a local pub with her school mate, using their fake id.