Nico has played 'Since I've Been Lovin' You' in every possible venue & made promotional appearances on every TV show & radio station, he's posed for countless photos and done too many interviews. Bill pushed Nico & that song out there & got the money he wanted from it. He's not entirely done milking it, but he's freed up a good part of Nico's schedule to start work on new material, Bill's next cash cow. Nico is anxious to play anything except that song again, something original. The songs he's been working on have all become 'infected' with it, almost like he can't play anything else now. But the style fits with this song Jackie has got going, a very blues inspired song about her fear of getting married. Not that the lyrics say it directly, but he knows her & she's describing the scenes from her own nightmares. It's hard not to take her in his arms & reassure her, the emotions she's expressing seem so immediate & desperate. But that of course, just shows how great of a singer she is, and he works the song up with her just like it were not about them.

It's a relief, actually, that she's able to release her fears in her music, it means she's come to terms with it. Nico's own overriding fear at the moment is that Jackie will learn the truth about him & Mary and leave him. There's a song in there, he's sure, but he can no more play it than speak the truth.

She told him she was happy, and she actually does seem happy in a way he's never seen before. He wasn't lying to Andrea when he told his brother that Jackie was sensitive & would blame herself if she found out about Mary, and that is what Nico is kicking himself the most for now: if she finds out, not only will he lose her, but she will lose herself, her confidence, her spirit. To see that happen to her & know that he was the cause of it...Nicolas can't let that happen, and spends most of his time reassuring & loving her now, in case it does.

The next day, Matt comes over to jam with them. The band is interrupted briefly when the phone rings: Nico goes out to the hall to answer it, leaving Jackie & Matt chatting in the studio. Nicos heart jumps to his throat & then crash lands into his stomach when he hears Mary's voice on the line. How dare she call here? He keeps his voice low & steady, staying alert to the voices in the studio. "What do you want?" he growls, and she laughs with a purr, "Why, you, of course, darling," she says & Nico's stomach churns. She tells him to meet her at the Bellagio Hotel spa tomorrow. The voices in the studio grow quiet, and Nico barely whispers 'okay' into the phone before hanging up. Tomorrow will be the day, then, that he truly breaks it off with Mary. He's grateful she chose a public setting to meet in, it will make it much easier for him to just tell her they're done & go about his business.

He tells Jackie Bill is sending him on a photo shoot tomorrow & the band resumes their jam. Nicolas promises himself it's the last lie he'll tell Jackie.

NEXT