Cops and Robbers (Nick)

[Iliana Beaudean]

Something wasn't right. That's what was running through her mind right then. Her blue eyes fluttered open, her ears suddenly listening for anything odd on the baby monitor. So far she heard nothing, which was a godsend because it took Iliana forever to calm Lily down and sooth her aching gums that were teething. Something just wasn't right though. She slowly sat up, looking around. She thought she heard a faint scratching noise. She looked over to Flopsy cage and saw that the floppy-eared bunny was curled up again. Then she heard it again. She looked to her door nervously and closed the shirt she was wearing. It was Will's shirt, so it was a button up. He had a thing for button up shirts.

She closed it a little, buttoning a few of the buttons into the holes and then went to the gun locker that sat in the hall way. She stopped when she heard that scratching noise again. She waited for it quiet before she unlocked the locker and pulled out one of Will's hunting guns. She loaded it and quietly walked down the hall. She peaked around the living room and glanced to the kitchen when she heard it again. She quietly and stealthily made her way to the kitchen and peeked around some cabinetry to look at the back door. Sure enough, someone was trying to break in. It looked like a teen, but she couldn't get a good enough look to tell for sure. She was just about to jump out and scare them off with the gun when the door flew open and the security alarm started to wail. She watched the kid go running before she ran out into the back yard to try and stop it, but they sailed over her fence to quickly and they were off in a shot into the woods.

She ran back in the house to disarm the alarm quickly. She knew the company would be alarmed, and sure enough the phone rang. She could hear Lily crying though. The commotion of the alarm woke up the baby up. She grabbed the phone answering in as steady a voice she could muster as she rushed to get Lily to try and sooth and quiet the baby. She explained what happened and the woman on the other line explained that she would notify the local police and have someone come and check on her. Iliana gave a tired thank you and hung up the phone, resetting the security system. Quick and easy.

Lily on the other hand was not something that could so easily be dealt with. Iliana let out an exasperated sigh as she got out a teething ring from the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table, rocking the baby slowly to try and sooth her, but the whole teething process just made her flat out cranky. Iliana cooed and murmured tot he baby as she offered a teething ring to the baby. It didn't do much, but it did quiet the little baby a little, and it did help to sooth her gums even if a tiny bit. It was not a pleasant experience for mother or daughter.

[Nicholas Brandon]

Nick was woken up by his phone ringing and the faint sound of some alarm going off. Picking up his phone the police officer on duty notified Nick of what happened at Iliana's and figured because Nick was close he might go and check on her. He jumped up rather quickly he didn't even bother putting clothes on, all he had on were the flannel plain pajama pants he wore to bed, he was shirtless. Rex jumped up as Nick headed towards the door and jogged alongside Nick as he himself jogged over to Iliana's who wasn't far down the road.

As he reached the door he saw the door was half open, knocking on the door he pushed it open gently, "Iliana?" he called out too her. He knew that robber was supposed to have left so he didn't feel the need to rush into the house, plus he didn't want to scare her even more. So instead he stood just in the entrance with Rex sitting just outside the doorway. His body was nicely toned; he had a nice solid chest, strong shoulder muscles and best of a nice 8 pack.

Picking up his cell phone he phoned the station to let them knew he was here and had everything under control. As he waited for Iliana to respond to him he checked the door to see what the damage was like. The handle would definitely need to be replaced as whoever tried to pick the lock clearly had messed around too much and broke the handle. Rex knew this wasn't just a visit and the dog was clearly guarding the outside. Nick flipped on the hall light to give so more light and make sure Iliana would know it was him rather than scaring the daylights out of her. "Iliana? It's Nick. " he called out again, so she could hear his voice.

[Iliana Beaudean]

Lily had calmed down for the moment, and Iliana slumped in the kitchen chair, tired and thankful for the calming of the cranky storm Lily could start up. She was just about to get up and put Lily back down for the night when she heard someone at the door. That's when she realized she left it wide open. She frowned and looked to the gun she dropped. She set the baby in the carrier she had left in one of her kitchen chairs. Then she stooped down and picked up the gun nervous that someone might have tried to break in and was pulling off the whole concerned neighbor trick. She just had someone break into her, she didn't want to take a chance.

She stopped when the hall light went on. She waited a minute to see if anyone would come in. Then she heard a name she had never thought she would be so thankful to hear. "We're okay." She stepped into the hallway, gun still in hand, but not pointed at anyone. She stopped when she realized he was shirtless. And my did he have a very gorgeous male physique. It made her realize just how long she had gone without sex. nearly over a year. That was certainly a miserable thing. After staring for a few minutes she finally realized that she was not really all that dressed either. A pair of panties and one of Will's button up shirts (that was barely buttoned up) was not exactly proper attire for company.

She glanced to her door, remember what exactly happened. She was going to have to replace something. She was sure of it. Hopefully all that would need replacing was her door knob or something that was easily replaceable. If she had to replace the entire door she was going to have a serious problem. She made sure the safety was off on the gun and set it in the umbrella stand before she looked to Nick tiredly. "What do I need to replace and how much is it going to cost me?" She asked weakly, in an attempt to lighten up the mood a little. She was all hyped up and tense now, and as much as she would have liked to go to bed right now, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be sleeping for a while.

[Nicholas Brandon]

Nick closed the door the best he could, which was closed it just wasn't really possibel to lock it. "Don't worry about that now, I'll get it replaced tomorrow" he half smiled. Looking at her she definitely looked attractive, many girls didn't realize how good they look in just their pajamas, but he quickly pushed that thought of his head. Moving towards her he put his hands gently on her shoulders "I doubt they will be coming back tonight" he said reassuringly as he dropped his hands. Rex was still outside on the porched, Nick hard him move and lay down somewhere, that dog was so well behaved.

"How about we get you some coffee or something to unwind" He knew it must be stressful having someone break into your house and it would take a little while for her to feel comfortable enough to go back to bed. Nick felt the need to check the rest of the house just to be make sure everything was left untouch. Moving towards the kitchen he checked the back door before turning around to face Iliana.

"It's good you have a security system" He smiled a little bit. This was true, especially because it was just her and her daughter home most of the time since her husband was off overseas serving his country. He looked at Iliana concerned, ready for an kind of reaction she was going to have to someone trying to break into her house.

[Iliana Beaudean]

Blue orbs watched as he closed the door. She watched while he studied it. Her head just gently bobbed when he told her not to worry about the door and that he'd take care of it. She would have objected if she wasn't so dead tired and had the fright of her life tonight. She just wanted the night to be over already. She led him to the kitchen to fix some coffee. She stopped in the middle of the room, looking to Lily. She didn't know what would have happened if she hadn't had that alarm system. Would they have stolen all her things? Hurt her or the baby? Totally trash her home? She didn't know, and she didn't like that.

She took a deep breath and moved to her coffee maker, putting in a fresh filter and heaping the coffee grounds into the filter. She closed the top, and plugged it into the outlet that sat in front of it. She looked to Lily, who had calmed for the moment while she soothed her gums by gnawing on the frozen teething toy. Iliana licked her lips softly and turned on the coffee pot once it was set up.

She didn't hear him at first. She just stared at the back door. When she finally realized that he was saying something, she looked up to him and nodded her head weakly. "Will wanted it." She said softly, staring at the key pad by the kitchen door. "He didn't want me here alone without it whenever he had to go up to the military base in Bozeman." She only got out one cup though. For Nick. Coffee was the last thing that Iliana needed right now. "Took me forever to remember the code." She was reminiscing about that for her own self, to try and make her feel better.

She sighed and sat down, picking Lily up. The baby gave a soft little fuss before settling back down in Iliana's arms. She felt so tired and dead. She only got an hour maybe an hour and a half. If her mom didn't lay into Jared Martin first, then Iliana just might. She knew it was one of the Willow Brooke kids. "It was a teenager... probably someone from Willow Brooke. Those kids tend to lash out at Brooke Haven when something happens at the camp." She said as Lily starte to get fussy again. Iliana gave an exasperated sigh, softly petting Lily's head gently. The soothing feeling from the frozen teething toy had worn off and she was starting to get a little more fussy.

[Nicholas Brandon]

Sitting down at the table he felt bad making her make him coffee, but at the very least it would give her something to do at the moment to calm her down. If she was just to sit down and do nothing she could easily get herself worked up. He was glad to see she wasn't having some major break down on him, he had never been good with the crying thing. He himself wasn't an emotional guy by any means. And to have to try and soothe someone who was upset was a very difficult task for him. Being in the military he had learned how to push his emotions aside and think more rationally. Some may say it was a terrible thing, but he appreciated it now more than ever after the death of his brother.

Nick nodded a little bit, "Well he was smart to want it" he half smiled. He agreed with Will to a mother and daughter who spent most of the time alone most definitely need a security system. Heck he was sure if Will could have he would have sent the whole military over to their house to protect them. Letting her reminisce about taking forever to remember the code he simply nodded with a smile on his face. "But you remembered it eventually." The sound of an alarm system going off wasn't exactly the prettiest sound and tended to cause a fear reaction to run through your veins, which was great for the criminals.

"Better that it was a teenager; they tend to be the most harmless..." He paused for a moment, he was about to correct himself and say that maybe he was wrong because these kids that came to Willow Brooke weren't exactly kids who had the easiest of lives. "Tell you what I'll go over there tomorrow and see if I can find the kid to who did it." He would do just that, he had been meaning to get more acquainted with the facility it had been an intriguing idea and he was very curious to see how it all worked over there.

Looking to Lily he saw her starting to make a fuss and he see Iliana's exhaustion. Standing up he moved over to Iliana, "Here." He said simply taking the baby from her arms. He held her out in front of him for a moment "Now you don't be causing your momma any trouble." He said with a smile before pulling Lily in close to him. His broad arms easily enclosed around the baby and he very gently moved the baby up and down in a rocking type motion. "I bet that alarm was loud wasn't it?" He looked down at the baby. Walking over to the front door he opened the door and let Rex in just to the front door. Bending down he reached out and pet Rex's head. "Look who's here to protect you though" He smiled as Rex moved towards the baby wagging his tail he sat down in front of her close enough for Lily to reach out and touch him.

[Iliana Beaudean]

She gave a weak smile and nodded her head softly. "Yeah... after having the alarm go off on me about a bazillion times." She said gently as she looked to Lily, stroking a hand along her cheek softly as she started to get a little more fussy. She was just glad she learned and remembered the code before Lily came along. That would have been a night mare if the alarms went off after Lily came along.

She would have agreed with that She frowned and shook her head. "No, that's not really necessary. The Martins have enough on their hands at the moment as it is. " She said gently, looking over him thoughtfully. She really didn't want to cause any trouble for the Martins. She knew that the Martins had an inspection coming up. And on top of that Jared was supposed to be on bed rest, although she wasn't sure how much bed rest Jared was actually getting. She knew as well as anyone else around that he was a stubborn. The Martins men were known for their stubborn personalities.

She looked to him for a moment, hesitant to hand her over to him. She did though, with a soft grin on her lips. The baby seemed to calm down a little as she was transferred to those big, warm arms. Iliana watched and and laughed weakly, shaking her head. "That's not fair." She said gently, staring at him and the baby. She watched him go back to the front door. She smiled when he let the dog in. Lily liked animals, and Rex seemed to quiet the baby down. She watched the three of them tiredly, jumping slightly when she felt whiskers brush against her bare ankle. She looked down to find that the floppy eared, black and white bunny escaped her cage. "Guess all the ruckus scared you, huh, Flopsy?" She asked as she bent over and picked the rabbit up, setting her in Iliana's lap. She gently pet the rabbit's head for a few minutes before she got up and went to the fridge. She pulled out some baby carrots and some chopped up celery she liked to mix in with the bunny's feed or just give it to her as a little treat. She sat back down, setting the rabbit on the table she let Flopsy nibble on some carrots and celery slices while she laid her head back and closed her eyes tiredly, listening to Nick and Lily with Rex.

[Nicholas Brandon]

Nick smiled a little bit, "That's the problem with alarms though, they scare you as much as they scare the person breaking in." It was hard to react sometimes when the alarm scared you and then having to think rationally. It took a lot of practise of hearing the alarm go off and getting your brain to focus. But once you could it became so automatic you didn't even need to focus anymore.

Nick looked at her for a moment with a slight smile on his face, "Well even better then. I'll go see if I can help out a little bit. Not like I get much excitement around here...with the exception of tonight." He was not sure why he got sent here. Actually he was pretty sure he knew why, first off there was a facility that helped people, which he wasn't sure why that was important but he knew it was. Then there was the fact that not a lot happened so he would have a lot of time to think and mourn or whatever. He thought it was ridiculous; he wanted a place with action to get his mind off it. But the military psychologist said he needed to think about it and deal with it. So here he was in Willow Brooke, where there wasn't really much crime except for the odd student running amuck. "I should probably get acquainted with the school a little more anyways. I heard Mr. Martins is on strict rest, so I'll see if I can lend a hand." At least it would give him and Rex something to do.

Looking down at the baby he smiled up at Iliana, "I just have the touch." He winked playfully as he looked down at her making googoo eyes at her. Rex seemed to be all to impressed with the baby and Nick allowed himself to sit on the floor, holding the baby up so her feet where touching the ground for a moment. He let her play with the dog for a few minutes before looking up at Iliana as she spoke. "Flopsy. Original." He commented with a bit of a smile. Standing up he swooped Lily up into his arms holding her in a cradle, looking down at her he spoke as he let her wrap her hand around his finger. "Time to sleep baby girl." He smiled at her, it was clear Nick was good with kids. A fact that if you pointed out he would be surprised to hear, as he would never label himself a guy good with kids. He was a military man and he always thought himself to rough and tough for babies. But here he was mesmerized but a little girl, you know what they say about tough men and babies...

He turned to Iliana, "I would attempt to sing her a lullaby but I feel like that would have the reverse effect." He joked a little. Yawning a bit he realized how late it actually was. "You should probably get back to bed, you look exhausted." At any other time of day it probably would have been an inappropriate comment, but he figured at this time in the morning it was completely appropriate assumption.

[Iliana Beaudean]

She looked to the coffee pot when the little alarm went off for a second. She got up slowly and went to it, pulling the creamer and sugar down for him and set them on the kitchen table. She glanced up to him as she poured up some coffee for him. "They probably scare the home owner more than the intruder." She commented, knowing she felt her heart in her throat when she heard that alarm go off.

She studied him thoughtfully for a moment. She gave a gentle nod, as she set the coffee down on the table for him. "Yeah. Markus has got quite a bit on his hand. Not just the camp either. Mister Martins isn't exactly the type to lay back and do as the doctor orders." She said gently as she eased herself back into her chair, stroking a hand along Flopsy gently as the rabbit nibbled on a carrot contently. "It wouldn't surprise me if some sort of incident at the camp slipped past Mark. Usually Mister Martins catches that sort of stuff, but the students still tend to take out their frustrations on the civilians and town." She watched him with Lily as she thought about the camp. She was only a year or two behind Mark when he was growing up, but when his mother died and he started acting up, Jared had decided to enroll him in the camp. He ended up being a very nice young man. She couldn't imagine what his reaction was when he had to take over the camp for the time being. She knew if something happened to her mother and she had to take over as mayor she would have a heart attack. "I'm sure Mark would be happy to take any help if it was offered." She commented calmly.

She rolled those blue eyes of her at him. "More like the gift itself." She commented, watching him in amusement as he distracted the baby from the pains of teething. "It took me half the night to get her asleep..." She studied the baby for a moment, hoping that the tiny baby would go down much easier. Iliana knew that there were nights where Lily wanted her daddy. She would just go on and on for hours for no reason until she either wore herself out or a man held her. Unfortunately, having a man around the house for that particular reason wasn't exactly obtainable. She was thankful for the presence of a male now though. She didn't know what it was about babies and the presence of a man, but Nick definitely had a knack with babies. She grinned and shrugged her shoulders softly. "It was either that or Mopsy or Cottontail." She said playfully as she looked to Lily, who was distracted enough at the moment to forget about the pain of her gums.

She sighed tiredly and ran a hand through her sleep rumpled hair. She looked to him for a moment thoughtfully then the baby. "No worse than the teething would." She said calmly as she studied him thoughtfully. "She'll go to sleep easier if she's being fed... I can fix a bottle for you since she seems to be calmer with you right now than me." She suggested softly. She usually kept a few bottles of in the fridge for any visitors who would want to feed the baby, but generally, when it was just her and Lily she breastfed. And by throwing the suggestion out it gave him an excuse to stay longer. She wasn't sure how comfortable she would be trying to sleep when her front door was broken. "I'll be fine. I've decided I'll call in tomorrow." She said gently, shaking her head lightly. It was a valid excuse. She was too wired right now- as tired as she felt- to go back to bed right now.

[Nicholas Brandon]

Nicholas couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, "They probably do." Nicholas longed to feel fear; it was a reaction that let you knew you were human. Now Nicholas wasn't a guy who never felt fear, it was just it was hard to feel fear here when you were over there. Even over there now he didn't find himself feel fear, it was more on edge worried he would turn his back for a few seconds and someone would be ambushing him. It wasn't fun to be constantly worrying about such things, and it often made coming back here hard because it was hard to switch off that mode. Even Nick now hadn't switched the mode off completely, if someone came up behind him and he hadn't heard them he very likely would turn around with a negative reaction.

Moving over to the table with baby in one arm he poured some cream and opened up the sugar pouring it in. Carrying both baby and coffee over to the table he sat down at a chair from across the table. Too and insider looking in, excluding the fact it was the middle of the night, they probably would have looked like a perfect little family. When in fact the truth was they were nothing of the such, it was often interesting how things could appear one way when in reality they were completely different.

Nick smiled a little bit at the fact that Mr. Martins wasn't exactly the type of follow doctor's orders. In many ways Nick could relate to him, he didn't want to follow many of the militaries orders to lay off work, and he was sure like him Mr. Martins knew he probably should. Just because you know something thought, it doesn't make it any easier to follow the orders. "They won't know what hit them when they run into me." He winked, it was clear he was joking. Nick wasn't exactly the bullying type like many police officers where, even many military men were. Not at all, he led by example, he led with respect, but he demanded order. You could sum him up as firm, but in many ways kind. Nick had no intentions of going in there and giving the kids a tongue lashing, that was their parent's job, and even Willow Brookes job. However, if they went around terrorizing the town then they would definitely get a bit of a talking too from Nick.

Looking down at Lily he smiled, "The gift eh?" He smirked a little bit; well that was a slightly satisfying feeling. Although in his mind he didn't know how hard it could be to get a baby to fall asleep. By the sounds of things it was a lot harder than he thought. Although looking at Lily down she seemed to be slowly dozing off, he found himself praying that nothing would wake her more. Looking over at the rabbit, "I guess Flospy was the best option." He offered her a friendly smile. By now Rex had noticed the rabbit although he appeared to be keeping his distance. He eyed it for a moment but quickly came to the conclusion it wasn't a threat to him and just seemed to leave it alone. Rex walked over to where Nick and Lily were sitting and laid down at Nick's feet. Words could not explain how attacked Nick was to that dog, it was the only thing in his life that didn't give him sympathy or try to make him talk about his problems, he didn't care about all that, all he cared about was being with Nick and working. That was the nice things about animals, they didn't ask questions or judge, they just were there.

Nodding a little bit he looked at Iliana, "Sure" He said in response to the bottle. Looking down at Lily he saw her bright eyes staring straight at him. It appeared she wasn't ready to go to sleep just yet, Nick just figured she was calmer with him at the moment because Iliana was probably still a little worked up about the break in, and rightfully so. "You guys could stay the night at me house, Flopsy too." It seemed like the appropriate suggestion, he was sure she didn't want to be here alone. He didn't want her here alone tonight without a lock on the door. The kid might try to come back later.

[Iliana Beaudean]

A soft chuckle escaped her lips. She knew he probably wouldn't gang up on any of the students, but she was sure it wouldn't cause much more trouble. As a matter of fact, it would probably get their attention a lot better. "I'm sure they would scare you just as much as you would scare them." She commented playfully as she watched Flopsy nibble on a chunk of celery. her nose and whiskers twitching about whenever she looked up from the tasty treats.

She looked to the fluffy bunny and stroked a dainty finger along a long, flopped over ear. "Naturally." She said with a teasing grin before she looked to Rex who had seemed to be checking the rabbit out at as far a distance as possible. She carefully held the bunny out to the dog so that he could check her out. Flopsy herself was curious, craning her neck as her twitch nose sniffed at the new comer. Iliana grinned and carefully set the rabbit in her lap before she reached her hand out to Rex and gave him a friendly scratch behind the ears.

She looked to Lily, smiling faintly before she looked back up to Nick. She smiled softly and gave a slight nod before she eased herself up and went to the fridge. She opened the door and scanned the door of the fridge before she bent over a little and found a bottle. She close the fridge and poured up some water in a small pot. She set the bottle in the pot of water to heat it up. She glanced to him for a moment when he offered for them to stay with him for the rest of the night. She studied him, debating with herself. "That would be very nice...We wouldn't be putting you out, would we?" She asked softly, studying him thoughtfully for a few minutes before she turned to the stove and pulled the bottle out of the bubbling water. She put the nipple on it and tested the bottle on her arm for a moment before she walked over to the table and held the bottle out to him with a soft smile on her lips.

[Nicholas Brandon]

He smirked a bit rolling his eyes, "Oh yes they'd be so scary." He laughed shaking his head a bit. In all honesty he may not know how to handle them. Then again his military training may come into play and he may find it easier to control them. It's hard to say, although the military would probably be good for many of those kids as it gives them structure, responsibility along with expectations of a certain type of behaviour. The military hadn't changed Nick too much. But he also grew up on a military household so that structure was already there. It was probably a fact that helped him climb the ranks and get into the special ops. He had disarmed so many explosive in his tour of duty, and as dangerous as it was he almost enjoyed it. Living on the edge you could say...

As she held out the bunny to Rex the dog stuck his nose out too sniffing the bunny still not getting to close. Nick smirked a little bit, "I don't think he's ever seen a bunny before." He commented. After Rex took a good whiff of the bunny he seemed interested it for the moment. Maybe he might be more interested in it if it was actually hopping around on the ground. For now though it was safe within Iliana's arms. Although Rex wouldn't likely ever attack the bunny more want to play than anything. Nick didn't think there was a mean bone in that dogs body, except when chasing criminals. Even then it was simply a game to him, not something he was doing to be evil.

Looking up at Iliana answered him, "Not at all, I have a spare room and everything." Iliana really wouldn't be imposing on him at all, it's not like he had someone at home waiting for him to come back. He smiled, "And locks on my doors, and a personal security guard." He motioned to Rex with a bit of a smile. Dogs were nice in that sense compared to a security alarm, they actually had the ability to do some damage to the individual breaking into the house. Taking the bottle from Iliana her move it towards Lily and let her begin to drink. She seemed to settle down even more with that bottle in her mouth.

[Iliana Beaudean]

"Well he has now. " She smiled at the rabbit and dog for a moment. Once Rex was done checking Flopsy out, she set the bunny down on the floor, her little tail twitching too and fro for a moment before she hopped past the dog to find a place to snuggle up for a power nap. She liked to tuck herself into Iliana's slippers. Didn't matter where they were. As long as she could snuggle into those faux sheepskin lined slippers she was happy. She didn't know what it was about those slippers, but she loved them. Iliana usually had to make sure that the rabbit wasn't in her shoes whenever she was putting them on.

She looked to Nick and picked up the uneaten carrots and celery and put them in their respective bags before she put them away in the fridge. She chuckled, shaking her head at him. "You say that like it's my fault my lock is broken." She commented playfully as she looked to him, smiling gently in thanks. "I'll go get some of our things together." And put on some pants. She hadn't paid attention to that fact up until now. She generally just slept in one of Will's button up shirts. They all still smelled like him. She didn't know how after he's been gone for nearly a year, but they still smelled like them and they helped her to sleep. Especially when she was feeling lonely.

She went down the hall, leaving Nick to feed Lily, who was starting to calm. Iliana thought she may very well be out for the night by the time they made their way over to Nick's. She walked into her room and pulled out some pajama pants and slipped into them before she gathered up some clothes for tomorrow and packed them into Lily's baby bag before she carried it into the nursery and packed up some diapers and all the things she would need for changing diapers. She wasn't going to worry about bottles or milk. If Lily got hungry while they were at his place she would just cover herself and Lily up and breastfeed the baby.

She looked over the contents of the bag for a moment before she zipped it shut and walked out of the bedroom. She set it down by the front door and made her way back into the kitchen, leaning against the door jam. She watched him as he fed the droopy eyed baby, a soft smile on her lips. "You ever thought about having kids? While you were with your fiance?" She asked softly, looking at him curiously as she set the baby blanket and one of Lily's stuffed animals in her baby carrier for a moment.

[Nicholas Brandon]

Rex watched the rabbit as he hoped around on the ground, his tail wagged, but he didn't really move from his place. Rex probably would have loved to go and play with the rabbit, but right before he wanted to leave Nick ordered him to lay down and that's what the dog did. In fact all Nick had to say was "Down." No names or acknowledgement that it was directed towards Rex, the dog just knew. Although the chances of the dog listening that well to anyone else but Nick were low, but that's how the dog was trained, it was Nick's voice that mattered, and him listening to another voice could actually interfere with a serious situation. Of course people could probably get him to do the basic dog tricks if they got him paying attention to them but that's about as far as they would get.

Nick smiled a little bit, "Clearly." He returned before chuckling. Then he nodded, "Perfect...I'll probably be right here..." He said matter of factly while looking down at Lily with a bit of a smile. It was clear he wasn't going to be able to move too much Lily seemed to be enjoying her bottle too much, and he wasn't going to mess that up by moving just yet. That would have to wait until she was either done her bottle, or asleep whichever came first. Nick couldn't help but taken in Iliana, although he wasn't obviously checking her out, more subtly in a way she wouldn't notice. Her husband was a lucky guy that was for sure, Iliana was absolutely stunning, especially standing there with just a shirt on. He didn't allow himself to look to long as it would be far too obvious. Instead he turned his attention to Lily as Iliana left the room, smiling at her lightly.

Babies? Nick look up at Iliana at her question. Shrugging a little bit, he actually had to stop to think about that. Turning and looking at her he started to respond and then stopped. Such a man he still hadn't had all his thoughts collected. Finally he spoke, "While, I guess I just assumed one day, but the thought never really crossed my mind." Nick looked down at Lily then up at Iliana, "I'm a career military guy, it's my life. Bringing kids into is hard." You definitely could bring kids into that situation it just was hard, "My father was gone for months at a time, never seeing him, tore my mother up. Then her 3 boys enlisted, and now one is dead." He said simply although it was a fact that clearly killed him. "I don't want that for my kids or the woman I marry. I lost a brother, but my mother lost a son..." He trailed off looking at Lily for a moment. Then quietly he spoke again, "And it's all my fault." He sighed a little bit.

[Iliana Beaudean]

She watched him with Lily for a few more minutes as he answered her question. He had a way with children. There was no denying that. Lily really liked him. She thought perhaps a part of it was just a male presence. Iliana had been reading things about how sometimes babies would start crying for no apparent reason. The answer to stop these wails was to put baby in a man's arms. Sometimes baby required the presence of a fatherly figure, and Iliana was very thankful for Nick's arrival, even if the pretenses were kind of crappy.

She studied him thoughtfully when he started talking about his family. It made her heartsick to even think about it. And it made her feel good about the fact that Will had promised her he would not sign another two year contract. She stood up straight from the spot against the door jam and slowly walked over to Nick. She wanted to say something, but what could she possibly say? She didn't think he really was responsible for his brother's death, but she knew how it could be. He seemed to be okay, but that didn't mean he didn't suffer from some form of post traumatic stress.

She studied him thoughtfully for a moment, wanting to comfort and reassure him that it was not his fault. She didn't know how to though. She just looked down to Lily for a moment, who was slowly dozing off as her suction on the rubber nipple began to lessen. Iliana turned away and stood on her top toes to reach the top of the fridge. She pulled the rabbit food down from the top of the appliance and pulled out a little bowl that Flopsy would be able to get into easily. Iliana usually left some food out in the kitchen for the rabbit because she had a pesky habit of getting out of her cage, and Iliana had no clue what to do about it. She tried all sorts of things and nothing seemed to work. So she just gave up and left some food and water in the kitchen for the fluffy bunny when she and Lily were out of the house.

She turned back to Nick after setting some water down beside the bowl of rabbit food and picked up Lily's baby sling, holding out to Nick. "You can put her in this for the walk to your place." She said calmly as she looked to a sleepy eyed Lily.