And Again

Chapter four

Nicky and Allie spend the next few months getting used to their new routines. They both started their jobs, Nicky met his new oncologist and continued treatment, and by the time October rolled around, they'd both fully adjusted to their routines.

One Friday night they drove to Hartford to have dinner with Rory, Logan, and Kate.

"Remind me where my siblings are" Nicky said.

"Sammy's at school, working on a group project, and Grace has a date" Rory said.

"And I'm going to Nicky's and Allie's house!" Kate said excitedly. Rory's 50th birthday was the following week and Logan wanted to take her away for a few days. Sammy was 17 and could stay home by himself but Rory and Logan didn't feel comfortable with him taking care of Kate and they also just didn't want to ask him to. Nicky heard them talking about it and offered to watch Kate for the week. Rory and Logan were leaving on Saturday morning, so Kate was gonna go home with Nicky and Allie on Friday night.

"That's right" Logan said and ruffled Kate's hair.

"And I get to go to work with Nicky and I get to miss school" Kate said.

"You love school" Rory said.

"But going to Nicky's work is more fun" Kate said as she climbed onto Nicky's lap.

"Yeah, it's gonna be great"

After dinner Nicky and Allie headed home with Kate.

"She's asleep" Allie said quietly as Nicky drove.

Nicky glanced at Kate through the rear view mirror and smiled. "How bad is it that I think she's the cutest thing in the world?"

"It's really great" Allie smiled. "But here's the real question. Who do you love more? Me or her?" She teased.

"That's so not fair" Nicky said.

"Answer the question, Huntzberger"

"It's different, ok?" Nicky said. "You're my whole world, Al, you know that. I love you, so much. But she's my baby sister. It's a different kind of relationship"

"Fine" Allie said. "I'll take it"

Nicky smiled and reached over to put his hand on Allie's thigh.

Kate woke up as soon as Nicky parked, which was good considering that even though he was feeling ok that day, he probably didn't have the strength to carry her.

"Can we watch a movie?" Kate asked as they took the elevator up to the fifth floor of the apartment building.

"You need to go to sleep, but we can have a movie night tomorrow, ok?" Nicky said.

"Can we watch tangled?" Kate asked

"We can watch whatever you want"  Nicky said. Once they got to the apartment, Nicky got Kate to sleep before he and Allie went to bed themselves.

On Monday morning, Nicky woke up an hour before his alarm and couldn't fall back asleep so he got up and brushed his teeth before going into the kitchen to make some coffee and take his meds. He was about to take the first of his pills when Kate walked into the kitchen. "Good morning"

"I get to go to your work today" Kate said with a huge smile on her face.

"That's right" Nicky said. "You want some breakfast?"

"Not yet" Kate said. "Why do you have so much medicine?"

"Well, you remember how we talked about me being sick, right?"

Kate nodded. "That's why you're bald now"

"Right. So the medicine that made my hair fall out is called chemo and it also does some other things that aren't so fun, so a lot of these pills are just to help me not feel so bad while I get the chemo"