Toni

The next morning, they woke up to Heather barging into their kitchen, helping herself to coffee and a blueberry muffin Nico made for breakfast. "You do know your yard is crawling with reporters, right?" Heather questioned. Nico shot her a look like she had completely lost her mind and she giggled. "And no, I'm not hallucinating, doing drugs, have a fever, or been drinking." Heather crossed her heart and held up her hand as if making a pledge.

Toni laughed at the whole scene that passed between the two of them, deciding she liked Nico's assistant. "Why would you have reporters on your front lawn?" Toni questioned. Nico shot Heather a look and Toni didn't miss the warning in his eyes. "Am I missing something?" she asked, standing to look out the kitchen window at the masses that had gathered there. Hell, she counted at least thirty people out there and they all seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

Toni turned back to find Heather giving her the once over and she realized she wasn't wearing much in the way of clothing. She had thrown on one of Nico's t-shirts and her panties, but that was about it.

"So, I take it I'm also missing something, here," Heather said. "Wanna tell me the good news?" She slid Nico a sideways glance and he shrugged. "You got your memory back, right?" Nico sighed and sipped his coffee. A part of Toni wanted to march over to him and kiss the knowing smirk right off his handsome face, but she couldn't hide her smile, thinking about the night they spent in bed together.

"No," she admitted. "I didn't get my memory back, Heather. But I did spend the night with Nico." Heather looked a little confused, and Toni felt bad for admitting something that might be too personal. She worried she and Heather didn't have that kind of relationship and it couldn't be easy for Nico's assistant to hear about her boss's sex life.

"Sorry, that might have been too much information," Toni said. "I didn't mean to cross a line if we aren't friends like that." Heather stood and pulled Toni in for a hug, and she instantly felt at ease.

"We are most certainly friends like that, Toni. I just can't believe you fell back into bed with Nico without regaining your memory. His game must be more on point than I give him credit for," Heather teased, winking over at Nico. Toni liked the way the whole conversation seemed to make him squirm with discomfort.

"If you two are finished discussing my love life—and my game, whatever that is, I'd like to try to figure out why the hell reporters are trampling my flower beds." Nico crossed the kitchen and pulled Toni from Heather's embrace, wrapping her in his arms. "I want you to stay here and get dressed, baby. I have a feeling it was leaked that you were found alive after being believed dead all this time. They'll try to make a story out of this, maybe even try to find a connection between your reappearance and your dad's death."

Toni didn't try to hide her gasp. She was a straight shooter and would never want him to sugarcoat the truth for her to save her feelings. If his hunch was correct, the army of reporters taking up residency on their front lawn were there to see her. She knew he would do everything in his power not to let that happen.

He turned to Heather. "Radio Jace and Oliver and tell them to get their asses over here. Give them a heads up that we might need a little extra help," he ordered. Heather gave him a mock salute and smiled. "Don't worry, baby," he whispered to Toni. "Those reporters aren't getting anywhere near you." Toni nodded, knowing full well that Nico meant every word he said.

"Who would know I'm alive and want to leak the news to the press?" Nico shot her a knowing look and she could tell they were on the same page.

"Zac," they said in unison.

"I'm going to kill that fucker for this," Nico growled.

"Get in line," she said. "I want first jab at him." Nico smiled down at her and for just a second, her entire world stopped spinning out of control. How did he do that to her? One minute, she was filled with so much panic and dread that she wasn't sure if she would be able to find the path forward. The next, Nico was looking at her, smiling down at her, and she felt completely reassured everything was going to work out.

"I'm going to get dressed." He kissed her lips and swatted her ass, walking past her and down the hallway to their bedroom. Heather stood, smiling at her like a loon, and Toni felt her cheeks heat.

Heather rolled her eyes. "Oh stop! I've seen so much worse between the two of you." She choked back her giggle. "You and Nico are my future relationship goals," Heather admitted.

"Oh?" Toni asked, busying herself with tidying up their breakfast dishes. "How so?"

"Well, I don't have a man in my life right now. But when I do, I want him to look at me the way Nico looks at you." Toni noticed Heather's cheeks turned pink and she wondered just how Nico looked at her. If it was anything like the intense ways he watched her last night, then she could completely understand where Heather was coming from.

"So, no special guy then?" Heather fidgeted with her t-shirt and Toni almost regretted her question, worrying she overstepped again. "Sorry, don't answer that," she said, swiping her hands through the air as if trying to erase her question.

"No," Heather almost whispered. "It's all right, Toni. Like I said, we're friends. It's just that we've already talked about all of this and, strangely, you don't remember it." Toni wished she could remember this past year, but she couldn't, and that seemed to be hurting everyone in her life who cared for her.

"I don't remember, and I'm so sorry, Heather. But I'm here now and ready to listen if you need an ear," Toni said, taking Heather's hand into hers.

"It's Jace," Heather admitted.

"What's me?" Jace asked, turning the corner of the staircase and walking into the small kitchen, Oliver hot on his heels. They both pulled Toni in for a quick hug, doing the same with Heather. Toni saw the way Heather's face lit up when Jace squeezed her in his arms, lifting her from the ground.

"Um, nothing about you. I was just helping Toni remember which one of you is which. You two are easy to confuse with each other," Heather covered. Suddenly, Toni realized just what Heather was trying to tell her—Jace was the guy she wanted looking at her during the night while he made love to her. Heather wanted Jace and Toni knew she needed to hear the rest of the story—she would do just about anything to help Heather in her quest to find love.

First, she needed to get her memory back and the life she built with Nico. He was quickly becoming important to her, and she knew if she could just get her memory back, they could pick up where they had left off. For reasons she couldn't explain, that thought felt right to her and she knew one way or another, she wanted to make sure Nico knew just how important he was becoming to her.