Under orders not show his affection, Nico behaves himself, listening quietly as Matt discusses his apprehensions about leaving Stacey behind while his band is on tour. "She insists she'll be okay...but I kind of want to be around & watch her belly blow up," Matt laughs. "I mean, gigging is gigging, but this my kid.." Nico can empathize very well, but he isn't allowed to talk about it. Jackie suggests they bring Stacey out on the road with them, but Matt has already thought of that himself. "Nah, I already asked her, but she won't give up her freaking band," Matt laughs, "I bet you wouldn't, either, Jax. You'd get out on stage with your huge belly poking out & everything, just like she wants to do." If she'll even keep our baby, Nico can't help but thinking. Though he doesn't actually like the thought of her touring while she's pregnant, at this point, he'd be grateful for it.

As Jackie gets up, Nico can tell she's going to be sick. He wants to get up & hold her, help her in any way he can, but she forbid him to treat her like his girl. It's driving him mad: he doesn't think he can do it for much longer, every cell in his body cries out to touch her, be near her. She runs off to the bathroom, leaving Nico to chat about the band with Matt.

Jackie is gone for too long, and Stacey is in there with her. Nico holds out a hope that maybe she'll talk to Stacey & some of Stacey's hapiness will rub off on her. As for himself, Nico, though distracted by his worries about Jackie, is getting along very well with Matt. They share a lot of musical influences, listen to the same bands. They both play fast & loud. "Hey, I remember you now," Matt says suddenly, "You used to always be breaking up fights between your singer & bass player." Nico rolls his eyes & nods, "Yeah, they made it impossible to play sometimes.." Matt looks at him solemnly, "Look, I'll be straight with you: I've considered quitting this band at least a thousand times. Jax is a great player & we write some pretty bad ass songs, but she tends to need a lot of hand holding or she falls apart...I'm looking to play music, not be a full time nurse for her. But now that I got a kid coming, I can't just up & quit: all of sudden money is important & I can't be screwing around in crappy nightclubs anymore, so I have to at least try & stick with it. But I gotta know, can you handle it? If you tour with us, and she starts pulling some crying jag or throwing a tantrum, can you ride through it?" Nicolas is suprised by Matt's frankness, and he'd like to tell him exactly how much he's already handled, but, keeping his promise to Jackie, he just says, "I can handle her okay, man. Not a problem." Matt folds his arms over his chest, "You've already been handling, her haven't you?" he asks, and then laughs his characteristic maniacal laugh. Nico kind of fumbles for words, and Matt just claps his hand on his shoulder and says, "It's okay, man, if you guys want to keep it quiet. As long as it's you she wants to cry on, & you want to handle it, I'm happy. You are one of the best guitarists I've played with, and I've seen how you handle the bullshit, so as far as I'm concerned, you're in. It's like, win/win for all of us."

When the girls finally come out from hiding, Matt gets to kiss Stacey the way Nico would like to kiss Jackie. He doesn't dare, but she puts her arms around him, trembling as she holds him. He feels so much for he & understands her confusion & fear, how his own lifestyle contributed to her doubts, he can't hold it against her, he can only hold onto her, and hope he can convince her he's changed, convice her that he's the man for her, come what may.

The four of them chat until the sun goes down, then Nico & Jackie head back to her limo. Nico keeps his guitar in it's case on the trip back: Jackie drapes herself onto his lap, his left arm supporting her head. He places his right hand over her stomach, though there is nothing there yet he can feel, no discernable evidence of the child she carries, Nico wants to make some connection with it, his baby. He'd like a daughter, he thinks, as beautiful as the mother, a little girl to admire & sing to...."Will you sing me a song, Nicolas?" Jackie asks him, suprising him. "Sing you a song? All right, Jackie," he says, wondering for a moment what to sing...and it comes to him suddenly, a song his grandmother used to sing, when he was a boy. She used to sing all the time while she worked in the kitchen, she'd sing & sigh, saying that things had changed too much, that the women didn't sing anymore like they used to. He hears her voice now as he sings words he's suprised he remembers, after so long, and so far away, "O Pinota, bella Pinota / namurà-me mi sun di vui; Namurà-me sun l'áutra séira / mentre ch'j era davzin a vui.O Pinota, bella Pinota / na licensa voria da vui;La licensa che mi voria / l'è na nöit a dürmi cun vui...."* As a boy, Nico idolized his Nonna, her passing was the only real tragedy of his life. His father told him then that Nonna would still watch over him, like a guardian angel, and it was a thought that comforted him throughout his early years. But it was a thought he laid aside as he became a man, in part because these things often pass with childhood, and in part too because he had not done much since moving to L.A. that he'd actually want his Nonna to be watching. But singing her song, hearing her voice again in his memory, has stirred up thoughts from his past, and as he looks down at Jackie, fallen asleep on his chest, he feels a deep need to seek his Nonna's aid. "I need your help, Nonna," he whispers, in Italian of course, because she spoke no English in life, "I don't want to lose my baby." Undeserving as he is of her aid now, Nico thinks, if his Nonna is an angel, she will surely want to help the baby. She loved babies. Jackie stirs a little in her sleep, making little moans. Nico watches her as he holds her, wondering what she is dreaming, wondering what she intends to do. Still sleeping, she speaks, saying "I love you, Nicolas, I love you so much.." It touches his heart so that he almost cries: she's dreaming of him perhaps, and he is happy to hear her say these words out loud, the words she speaks to him in her dream.

She wakes up then, looking kind of confused, expecting to find herself somewhere else. Nico smiles down at her, "Are you awake now?" he asks her. "Do you know you talk in your sleep?" Jackie blushes, and it tells Nico she remembers what she said to him in her dream. He leans down to kiss her, a sweet gentle kiss, one that wouldn't embarass his Nonna. "I love you, Jacklyn," he whispers. She looks up at him, into his eyes, which she has been avoiding all day. "Nicolas," she says, very quiet & grave, "We're going to have a baby." Nico sighs heavily, feeling a great weight lifted from his heart. "Grazie," he whispers, to his Nonna, to who or whatever helped make Jackie come to this decision. For the first time all day, he is truly & inexpressably happy. So happy he'd like to turn the limo around & go back to Matt & Stacey, and celebrate with them. He smiles down at Jackie, hoping she is as happy as he is. "You'll be a great father, Nicolas," she says to him, smiling. Nico kisses her forehead, "I'll do my best, Jacklyn. I promise."

* "Convegno Notturno" (Night Meeting) a traditional northern Italian ballad, transcripted by Constantino Nigra, in 'Canti Popolari del Piemonte'