Part VI/End

Late the following afternoon, Friday, Sherry called Nahla inviting her to come over and watch a movie. Her reasoning being that she knew Nahla still wasn’t speaking to Jace and she needed a night to take her mind off of it. Nahla agreed.

Seeing no reason to dress up for the occasion, Nahla went wearing her most comfortable pair of jeans with an oversized flannel button down, leaving it untucked. She also opted for no make-up in case the movie was a crier and her hair up in a jawclip.

Precisely at 8 p.m. Nahla knocked on Sherry’s door. It was a kind of a shock when Michael opened the door decked out in a tux.

"Michael, what are..."

"Welcome to Chez Sherry, please come in." he interrupted as he took her hand and pulled her into the apartment, closing the door behind them.

Sherry had several candles lit around the room producing a soft glow. Soft music played in the background. Michael tried to steer her towards the dining room, but Nahla dug her heels in when she smelled a set up.

Her efforts didn’t thwart Michael, he simply picked her up and physically put her where he wanted her to go. Nahla shot him a nasty look after he had set her down in the chair situated at one end of the dining room table. He simply smiled and told her to enjoy her meal before leaving the room.

Nahla was ready to bang her head on the table when Sherry emerged from the kitchen with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Sherry, what are you up to?"

"Your dinner guest will be joining you shortly," Sherry said, ignoring the question entirely as she poured Nahla a glass. Nahla blanched as she looked at the alcohol, and opted for the water glass instead.

It was then that she noticed what appeared to be a menu lying on the table. Picking it up, she became confused as she saw two copies of the invitation she had sent to Jace. Below there was note card. "Notice anything different between these two?"

She looked back and forth for a minute before she became aware that there were two separate dates written. But how could that be, both were written in her handwriting. Thinking that these had to be some kind of game she was all but ready to stand up and walk out.

With her back to the living room, she didn’t see her "dinner guess" walk up behind her. The first thing she saw was the dozen red roses in a beautiful crystal vase placed in front of her. "Happy Valentine’s Day." Jace said, brushing her cheek with a kiss.

Confused by the duplicate invitation and still not ready to deal with him, Nahla immediately stood and headed for the front door. Jace followed behind, snagging her rest and turning her around to catch her in an embrace.

"So you want to dance a little before dinner?" he asked, placing her hands on his shoulders before settling his about her waist.

"Let me go. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I want to leave." she said pushing against his shoulders.

His grip only tightened on her waist. "Did you look at the invitations?" he asked.

She stilled for a moment. "Yes. Why are there two with my handwriting with different dates when I know I only wrote one version."

Jace spent the next few minutes telling her about Jillian and the woman’s plan to break them up. "And I’m supposed to believe that?" Nahla asked.

"Nahla, quit being so damn stubborn!" Sherry piped in from the other said of the room.

Nahla turned to see that Sherry had changed into a formal gown and Michael was in the process of settling her wrap about her shoulders. "It’s all true. And if you think he’s lying, they you might as well call all three of us liars. Besides, I think Jace has a little video to show you"

"Thanks Sherry, I think I can take it from here. You two have a nice time, I’ll clean up before we leave."

After watching Michael and Sherry leave Nahla turned back to Jace. "Where are they going?"

"Well, from what I understand, Sherry spent so much time worrying about you Wednesday night that it kind of spoiled their evening out." Jace explained. "Speaking of Wednesday night, I’d prefer if you’d quit slamming doors in my face."

Nahla’s brows furrowed in confusion. "When did I slam a door in your face Wednesday??"

"I stopped by your apartment that night. At the time thinking dinner was the day after, I felt bad for not having given you anything *on* Valentine’s Day, so I was stopping by with a little something."

Still confused, Nahla moved to sit down on the couch. "Oh this is all making my head spin, I don’t know what to make of it."

"Here, I think this will clear things up." Jace said, shutting off the cd player and popping a tape in the VCR. Michael had used his authority to confiscate a copy of the surveillance from Jace’s office.

Over the next ten minutes Nahla watched as Sherry tried to explain to Jace what Jillian was doing, Jace’s denial, and then that horrible incident when Jillian pulled the knife on Sherry.

After turning the television back off, Jace moved to stand in front of Nahla, his hands in his pockets to keep himself from ringing them, and waited for her reaction.

A moment later she stood and passed Jace to search through Sherry’s collection of cd’s. Finding the one she wanted, she placed it in the cd player and hit play.

As the first strains began to play, she turned and held a hand out to Jace. "Dance with me?"

More than willing, he wrapped his arms around her waist as she raised her arms to wrap them around his neck. "Are we okay again?"

"Shhhh… just listen to the song, and tell me if you think we're okay." she whispered before resting her head on his shoulder.

Resting his cheek against her hair, he slowly moved them to the music and did as she asked.

As the song concluded and the room stilled to silence, the couple in the room continued to sway back and forth for a moment before coming to stop.

Jace pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, and they both released a chuckle at seeing the sheen of tears in the others’ eyes.

"You know how much I love you right?" she asked.

He smiled, leaning down to kiss her softly before leaning his forehead against hers. "Yes, because I love you just as much."

Nahla smiled and captured his mouth in a long, slow melding of lips. Several kisses later, she finally leaned back with an impish gleam to her eye. "So," she said, "was it my imagination or did I hear something about a gift for me?"

Jace raised his eyebrows and chuckled, "And what makes you think I still want to give it to you?" The dimple in his cheek taking the seriousness out of the question.

"Yea, I guess I haven't been deserving of it the past couple of days," she said running a fingertip along the dimple. "I got just the thing!

Jace had no idea what she was up to as she pulled him towards the front door. Opening the door, she walked over the threshold and turned around to look at him.

"Now," she said with a grin," slam it."

He could only laugh. "You're serious??"

"Yup!"

"Okay", he said before slamming the door as hard as he could. A couple seconds later he reopened the door.

"Feel better?" Nahla asked.

"Nope!" he replied, yet again slamming the door and turning the lock with a click.

'Ok,' Nahla thought to herself. ' I deserved that.' She expected him to reopen the door within a few seconds, but of course he kept surprising her by doing things that she didn't expect.

Nahla grinned as an idea of what he was up to crossed her mind. Jace stood on the other side of the door, determined to wait until she knocked and asked him to open it before doing so. Given her impulsive nature and lack of patience, he figured it wouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, so he went into the kitchen to check on dinner while waiting.

Five minutes later, she still hadn't knocked on the door. Curious, he went back to the front door and looked through the peephole. It was with a frown that he didn't see Nahla there. And it was with a groan that he wondered if he had somehow managed to piss her off again.

It was with a disgruntled moan that he opened the door to find Nahla sitting on the floor Indian style, her elbows propped on her knees, her chin propped on her hands, with a grin a mile wide. Immediately hopping up, she pecked him on the mouth as she passed by him to re-enter the apartment.

He grabbed her back, grinding his mouth against hers before releasing her and called her a brat.

Nahla just laughed. "Yep! And you love me for it!"

Jace grabbed something out of his coat pocked where it was hanging on the hall tree before following Nahla back into the living room. He sat down first, pulling her down to sit on his lap. Wrapping his arms about her waist, he held out the small box in front of her.

"My gift?" she asked.

"No, it's for someone else, I just wanted to get your opinion on it." He replied, rolling his eyes.

"Talk about brats," she muttered, feeling more than hearing the laughter Jace tried to suppress. She then turned back to take the box from Jace's hands and gasped in surprise when she opened it. "It's beautiful," she exclaimed, removing the diamond and sapphire tennis bracelet from its’ box.

"I'm glad you approve," Jace said, taking it from her hands to put it on her. "Perfect."

********

"Care to come in for a nightcap?" Sherry asked as she opened her apartment door. Had she taken the time to blink she would've missed the quick look of surprise that crossed his features. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Well you know Michael, you really shouldn't start assuming certain things now should you?" she asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Who says I'm assuming?" he replied as he pulled her close for a deep kiss and started to walk them over the threshold into the apartment.

Sherry broke the kiss and disengaged from his embrace. "Think you know me pretty well. Think I'm that easy, hmmm? Well, thanks for the lovely evening. I'll see you tomorrow."

Michael placed a hand against the door to prevent her from closing it. "Sherry..."

"Michael," Sherry sighed as she opened the door to allow him entry. "We have got to work on you being so serious all the time." She said, and unable to help herself, tweaked his behind as he passed her.

He stopped and turned to look at her, his raised eyebrow the only indication that he'd felt the pinch. Framing her face with his hands, he traced a delicate eyebrow with his thumb. "When it comes to loving you, I'm always serious."

Sherry's eyes closed as her insides melted. How did he always manage to pull the rug out from under her like that? He always seemed to find the right thing to say. Reopening her eyes, she smiled.

"Michael, you always seem to say the right thing at the right time, and I love you for it," she said as she grasped his chin to give him a smack on the lips before proceeding towards the kitchen. "But don't always count your chickens before they hatch, you might find yourself with an empty egg."

"I thought Jace said he was going to clean up before leaving?" Michael asked as the couple entered the kitchen.

"He did." Sherry replied, a little disgruntled. Well, it can wait until morning."

"Of course," Michael replied before sweeping Sherry up into his arms. As they passed through the living room, Michael nearly dropped Sherry as he stumbled over a pair of shoes carelessly left in the middle of the floor.

"What the…?"

Sherry placed a hand over his mouth before he woke the couple asleep in the recliner. "Should we wake them?" she asked in a whisper as Michael put her feet back on the floor

"No, let them be. We’ll stay at my place tonight."

Sherry took one last glimpse at the sleeping couple before turning to follow Michael through the door that connected their apartments. "They’ve been through so much in the short time they’ve been together, do you think they’ll last?" she asked once the door was closed.

"You know as well as I do that there are no certainties when it comes to living in Section," he replied as he folded her in his embrace. "But if they’re lucky enough to have found what we have, anything is possible."

Sherry smiled, bringing him close for a kiss, "I knew there was a reason I loved you so much."

The End

This story ©copyright Nahla, February 2001

*Lyrics are from "These are the Moments" by Edwin McCain