Mercy

"Why cant people just leave us be." Duane Lee says as the knocking on their bedroom door grew louder. "Don't move..." he says with a wink. He had slid her nightgown over her head and threw it across the room, just moments ago. He throws on a shirt, and steps into the dimly lit hall to talk to his father. A few minutes later he comes back into the room, closing the door softly behind him. He looks at Nikki, then down to the floor.

"What's wrong baby?" Nikki asks concerned, as she sits up in bed, the white sheet pulled across her bare chest.

"Leland's memory is returning." He tells her, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "He went in for his test yesterday and the doctor said that he could recall some details of the accident."

"That's wonderful!" she says, letting the sheet drop and she moves closer to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind and propping her chin on his shoulder. He peeks over his shoulder at her smiling face.

"Yeah....its great." He says, almost sad to hear the news.

"Whats wrong, you seem sad?"

He sighs, and lays back in the bed, leaving her sitting there staring down at him. "Its not that I'm sad, I love my brother I want him to be himself again..."

"You're afraid that it'll change things between us."

He looks into her eyes and she knows the answer.

"I've always loved your brother, you know that-" She starts to says, but is interrupted by him.

"But what?" he asks, irritated.

"Leland was like a school girl crush...if that makes sense? He was sweet and kind. A great friend, but I think that's all he would have ever been; a friend. But you, you're funny and sexy. You're passionate, you get me. You've always known exactly what I wanted and how to give it to me."

He thinks for a minute and says, "I am a great guy."

"Yes you are." Nikki agrees, with a huge smile. "And that's why I love you." She says, leaning over him, giving him a quick kiss before walking over to her suitcase to find something to wear.

Duane Lee watches as she slides a sweater over her head and stares at herself in the mirror, shaking her head. She picks up a black, long sleeved shirt, that looks like it might have been his at one point in time and puts it on, smiling as she looks at her body.

He catches her eye in the mirror and winks at her.

"Do you remember the first time we had sex and you bent me over this dresser?" she asks, still looking at his reflection.

A wicked grin spreads across his face as he recalls that night. "I might have forgotten...care to refresh my memory?"