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Nick reached up to grab a bottle of Advil and a tall glass out of the cabinet. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as he got a pitcher full of water out of the fridge and filled the glass, taking a long sip out of it before topping it up again.

They were supposed to have gone to the beach house that morning, as per the usual tradition but judging from the condition Holly had been in when he’d tucked her into bed just a few hours earlier, he doubted that would be happening.

“Good morning,” Gina greeted, already dressed for the day and heading straight for the coffee pot.

“Hey,” Nick grunted and watched her for a moment while she made her coffee, “I don’t think we’re going to the beach today.”

Gina chuckled and nodded her head while bringing the cup to her lips, “I assumed as much, especially after I woke up to the sound of my sister hurling down the hall at four in the morning.”

“Sorry,” he grimaced, knowing firsthand how terrible it was to listen to someone throw up, “she may have gotten a little drunk last night.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me for that,” Gina waved him off, “You look like shit by the way. You get hammered too?”

For a second Nick had thought she was going to be somewhat civil to him, but her comments quickly assured him otherwise, “No, I didn’t. I’ve been up all night rubbing Holly’s back and cleaning up puke when she missed the bowl so excuse me if I don’t happen to look my best right now.”

Gina cocked her head to one side, taking him in for a moment. He had a five o’clock shadow, no shirt, he smelled like a combination of vomit and sweat, and his hair was matted down against his head.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said, putting the mug down on the counter, “I’ll get Olivia’s things all packed up and the two of us will go to the beach house for the weekend.”

“There’s no need, she’s not going to be too much to take care of today,” Nick waved her off but the woman interjected.

“Not because she’d be too much,” she assured him, “I just think that you and Holly both need a day off. Get some sleep and keep my sister away from the liquor cabinet.”

He was going to fight her on it only because he didn’t want her to win. Although he would miss Olivia for the weekend, it really was only two days and he rarely had an opportunity to be away from her. The last time he did he’d come running back early. It was finally a chance for him and Holly to just lie in bed, sleep, and in Holly’s case be hung over.

He didn’t plan on ever being quite so agreeable again but for the sake of getting a day off from being a Dad, Nick nodded, “Alright. I think that we could really use the time to catch up on sleep.”

“And maybe when you’re done that you can talk about what happened last night?” Gina suggested, going back for her mug.

“What happened last night?” Nick asked, playing dumb.

She rolled her eyes at him over the top of the cup, “Give me a break. Holly rarely drinks, that’s why she’s such a lightweight. She was so nervous about having those two over; I can’t see her getting that drunk for no reason.”

“You need to stay out of it,” he told her sternly, taking a step in her direction, “You’re making things worse here, not better. You’re filling her with doubt and with insecurities and it’s not fair to Holly to always have you whispering in her ear that she settled, that I’m not good enough for her.”

“You aren’t.”

Nick bit back his anger, running a hand quickly through his hair, “She chose me,” he told Gina, locking eyes with her, “she chose me,” he repeated, “and you need to get over your own jealousy issues.”

“Jealousy?” Gina laughed, looking up at Nick wide eyed, “What on earth do I have to be jealous of? You?!”

“That your younger sister is the one with the husband, and the child, and the stability while you sit at home in your condo with your cats?” he suggested with a shrug of his shoulders, “Could that have something to do with it?”

Gina gave him a sad look, the same pitiful smile that Alaina had given him the night before on her way out the door, “You’re no prize Nick, sorry. I would rather be alone with my cats than in this situation because I can afford to go on vacation when I want to, and I can afford the luxuries I want, and I don’t have some deadbeat leeching the life out of me. Would I love to have a little girl as sweet as Olivia? Sure. Am I happy enough to have her as my niece? Absolutely, but as for you...I’m not jealous of my sister having you. Garbage men contribute more to society than you.”

She had won; there was no doubt about it. There was no way he could come back from those comments because although they were incredibly hurtful they were also very true.

“Have fun at the beach, the keys are hanging in the hallway,” he muttered, keeping his eyes away from Gina’s as he brushed past her and headed for the stairs.

~*~

Carefully he set the glass and the bottle of Advil down on the bedside table, taking a cautious peek over the top of the blankets to see if Holly was still breathing.

He pulled back the blankets slowly, not wanting to jar her awake, but he knew that she needed to get some water into her or she would feel a whole lot worse when she had finally slept.

The t-shirt that he had given Holly in the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning had joined his dress shirt in the hamper after they’d assumed too quickly that the alcohol was out of her system. He was definitely going to have to throw that trash bin out, after everything it had been through.

She was back to wearing just her panties, lying on her stomach on the bed gripping a pillow to the side of her face. Nick rubbed his hand up and down her back, feeling the rise and fall of her breathes.

“Holly?” he whispered, hating that he had to wake her up but knowing it was for the best.

She groaned in response and stretched slightly, her toes reaching towards the end of the bed.

“You have to drink some water and take something so you don’t get a headache,” he explained, one hand still rubbing her shoulder.

“No,” Holly whined, sounding amazingly like Olivia during her tantrums.

“Yes,” Nick countered and watched as his wife reluctantly rolled over and reached her hand out for the glass, “You need to sit up,” he told her and she complied, her eyes heavy and skin pale as she sat waiting for the glass.

“You drank out of this,” Holly accused, turning the glass so that the mark his lips had left on the rim were facing away from her.

“You puked on me last night... twice,” Nick countered, picking at the pilling on the comforter.

Holly took the pain killers and polished off the glass of water, resting it back down on the bedside table, “I’m really sorry about that. I don’t think I’ve ever been that sick after drinking before. I didn’t think I’d had that much.”

“Oh you had more than enough,” Nick assured her with a chuckle, “but you’re right, I’ve never seen you get that sick. I thought for a while you had alcohol poisoning, I was getting ready to take you to the hospital at one point.”

“Well I’m glad it didn’t come to that,” Holly let out a big rush of air then took in her surroundings, “Why am I naked?”

“You were either throwing your clothes off or throwing up on them so it seemed safer to just settle on naked,” he explained then got up to grab a nightshirt for her from the dresser.

“Can you get me some more water?” Holly asked and Nick exchanged the shirt for the glass. He headed down to the bathroom to refill her water and wondered what the first thing they would talk about would be. Would she want to know about how big of an ass she made out of herself in front of their company, or would she want to know about her accusations of infidelity?

~*~

“Thanks again, for last night,” Holly said, her head resting against his shoulder as they lounged in bed.

“I’m surprised that you let me help you... after how mad you were,” Nick hesitantly brought the subject up, knowing that they were eventually going to have to talk about it.

“About that...” Holly sighed, picking up Nick’s hands to play with his fingers, “I’m still really upset, to be honest, but I’m sorry that I went about things like that. I never meant to attack you. I wanted to sit down and talk to you about it. I didn’t want to look like a crazy person though.”

“You wouldn’t have looked crazy,” Nick assured her, “I want you to feel like you can talk to me about anything but Hol... you went after me last night like nothing I have ever seen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that upset. You were being so irrational. Last night you really did look crazy.”

“I just went about it the wrong way,” she reiterated, taking a moment took take a deep breath before she spoke again, “but I need for you to tell me the truth Nick because all signs are pointing to something shifty going on here. Why were you so secretive about Alaina?”

“It wasn’t intentional,” he lied, “I’ve met other people at the park that I didn’t tell you about because I didn’t think you would be interested. I know you don’t tell me about every single person you work with and why would you? It doesn’t affect me.”

“Do you have a crush on her? Is that why you’re so weird about her?” Holly asked point blank, turning in his arms so she could see his eyes when he replied.

Nick had to fight back a blush, and he felt especially awkward with Holly peering into his eyes as if she would be able to tell if he was lying, “I won’t deny that she is an attractive woman, but she’s married and I’m married. I don’t have a crush on her, she’s not my girlfriend, and I haven’t been sneaking around behind your back or trying to hide anything. Don’t you think Olivia would have mentioned if something weird was going on?”

Holly continued the uncomfortable eye contact, but she didn’t see anything that told her Nick wasn’t being honest. Letting out a heavy sigh she dropped her forehead to his shoulder, “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe what a jerk I am for acting this way. I’ve never been jealous before! I should have known when I saw her with her husband that they’re clearly very happy together.”

It seemed to Nick that he, Alaina, and Brian were all much better actors that Holly was. He felt incredibly bad for the fact that she was apologizing for being right while he lied to her face over and over again but he was in too deep now to turn back. He had to keep up the facade lest he lose everything.

“I get jealous too sometimes,” Nick told her, “Maybe not of people but of your job. I sometimes worry that you love it more than you love me. And if for some reason some attractive guy moved into your department I would probably worry that he would try and hit on you. Those are normal feelings though.”

Holly rolled her eyes as she pulled back to face him again, “No one would hit on me.”

“Sure they would,” Nick assured her with a smile, brushing her hair back with his fingers, “I did. You’re beautiful.”

“You were drunk,” she reminded him, unable to hold back her smile from his compliment.

“You’re right, I was,” he laughed, pulling her back down to rest against his chest, “You weren’t though... did you take advantage of me that night? I was younger than you and drunk and you took me home.”

“You were so sloppy drunk it’s not like you were going to get anybody else,” she teased.

Nick kissed the top of her head then rested his cheek against her hair, “I was waiting for you.”