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3 months…
It has been three months since Nancy had told Ace that she didn’t have feelings for him. Ace had held onto his belief that something was wrong for a while but as the months dragged on, he was starting to be less and less sure.
The crew had grown apart a little bit which also hurt. After everything that had happened in the months leading up to facing Temperance, Bess was positive that the friend group would sustain.
It didn’t. Ace was feeling that loss too. He loved finally being able to say he had a crew, friends. While they are all still friends, they aren’t as close as they used to be.
Bess was busy with being Keeper at the Historical Society, George was busy taking poli-sci classes and studying law all while running The Claw, Nick was still running the youth center which was really building up and helping with The Claw when George was in class, Nancy was busy running her agency while Ace was really coming into his own working at the morgue.
He missed how close they all were even if they are all still friends. He sees Nick the most, being in the same building. They had started having guy’s night on Fridays after a long week to catch up and wallow over losing their loves. Nick would give him small updates on Nancy, which he was thankful for. As long as he heard she was ok, he vowed to give her some space.
Although to Ace, Nancy seems to be actively avoiding him. If he was at the morgue, he would hear from Connor that Nancy stopped by for something. He wouldn’t even realize she was there until she left. He would head to The Claw to pick up lunch and say hi to George and the girls. One day, he happened to notice that Nancy’s sunbeam was in the parking lot before he headed inside. The minute he stepped through the door, Nancy who was at the bar spotted him and made a hasty exit before he could even say hi.
Clearly she didn’t want anything to do with him, and it hurt. A LOT. He could feel himself become a little more bitter because of it.
Ace was doing chores around his apartment waiting for Nick to show up so he didn’t lock the door. He was elbow deep in the sink cleaning some new dishes he bought when he heard the door open.
“Nick man, you’re early!” He called. “I wasn’t expecting for another hour at least. Make yourself at home…”
“Hey, you!”
His head snapped up at Bess’ voice. He hadn’t seen her in a while and he wasn’t really happy to see her now.
“What can I do for you?” He asked with an edge to his voice.
Bess was visibly taken aback by his tone. “Nothing…. Just came to say hi to my Plantanchor. I miss you and it’s been a while.”
“Question still stands….”
“What’s up with you?”
Ace just huffs in response. “Do you really need me to answer that?”
“Ace, what’s wrong? I know it’s been a bit but I was busy at the historical society. What did I do?”
Ace puts down the plate he was cleaning and faces her. “It has nothing to do with you being busy. I don’t really want to talk to you right now…”
“What? Why?!”
He ignores her and goes back to washing the dishes.
“HEY! Why won’t you talk to me?!”
“Because of everything that’s happened Bess!” He yells, throwing the sponge back in the sink.
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“Are you serious? EVERYTHING Bess!”
Bess literally took a step back. She doesn’t think she has ever heard him yell before.
“YOU were the one who meddled with me and Nancy. YOU were the one who made me send that text to her. YOU were the one who told me to tell her how I felt…..”
“Because you deserved that shot, Ace!”
“But I never got it!” He practically screamed. He took a deep breath and his voice got quiet. “I could’ve handled loving her from the sidelines. At least I would have still been her friend, someone she turned to. I was fine with that. Now I don’t even have that. It’s lonely as hell…..”
“Have you tried reaching out to her?”
“Every day. Sometimes up to three times a day. I’ve had to call at least 15 times and texted at least 50 in the last 3 months. Everytime I’m met with radio silence it hurts a little more. I lost her. I can’t do it anymore, Bess…..”
Her heart was breaking for her friend. “Ace…..”
“Leave, Bess…… please.”
Nick showed up 20 minutes later to find Ace sitting on the couch crying….
—
Nancy hasn’t been sleeping well since that night at the vale. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was the night spent with Ace and then the car accident that she thought took him away from her. She still questions if she made the right choice.
She had moved out into Icarus Hall since opening the agency. It was weird being there all alone but once Nancy had cleaned a couple of rooms and made it her own, the ghost of Temperance wasn’t there as much.
She decided that maybe tonight she would go back home to her dads to see if maybe she could get a decent night's sleep knowing she was in a safe space. She packed a bag and headed out.
When Nancy arrived at the house, she noticed an extra car in the driveway. She pulled the sunbeam behind it and went inside.
Nancy was greeted with warm hugs and the smell of delicious dinner the minute she opened the door. It was a welcome sight after a rough few months. She turned to look in the living room and saw Bess sitting on the couch looking at her phone looking really sad.
“Hey, you” Nancy said with a sad smile.
“Hey! Good to see you” Bess said as she got up and hugged Nancy tight.
“What’s up? You look really sad. Everything ok with you and Addy?”
“Addy and I are fine. I got into a massive fight with Ace earlier…”
That wasn’t what Nancy expected to hear. Ace and Bess were always helping each other out and supporting each other. It’s not like him to fight at all, let alone with Bess of all people.
“What about?”
Bess hesitated. “Nothing important. Come on, let’s go eat.”
—
After dinner, Nancy headed up to take a long hot shower and curl up in bed. The familiar feeling of being home crept in and she fell asleep almost immediately.
That was until a few hours later, she woke up with a scream dying on her lips and Bess came running into her room to see if she was ok.
“Nancy, hey, it’s ok….. I’m here… you’re ok…” Bess kept repeating as she held Nancy tight.
Nancy held on to Bess so tightly she was probably cutting off circulation somewhere as she cried into her shoulder. She finally calmed down enough to breathe and loosened her grip on Bess.
“Nancy, what’s wrong? That sounded like a really bad dream.”
Nancy couldn’t do anything but nod. She didn’t know what speaking of this would cause. She had to protect Ace, no matter what.
“Talk to me, Nancy. How long has this been going on?”
“Since the night at the vale….”Nancy says, voice raspy from crying. “I can’t stop having this dream.”
“How badly does Ace get hurt?”
Nancy freezes in her arms at Bess’ question. How did she know?
As if Bess read her mind…”When you woke up screaming, you screamed Ace’s name….”
Ah.
Well.
‘I guess there is no hiding this anymore’ Nancy thought.
“He dies…..” she tried. No sounds of broken glass came at that which was a good sign.
“Oh, Nancy…. What happened that night?”
“I don’t know how much I can say…”
“Temperance did something to you two didn’t she?”
Nancy nodded into her shoulder. “I can try to explain and see what happens…. But the minute either of us hear glass breaking the conversation stops. Promise me Bess.”
“I promise. I promise I won’t push.”
“Ok, here we go..”. Nancy pulls out of Bess’s hug and takes a deep breath. “The point where I was about to kill Temperance, and I hesitated….. I didn’t actually hesitate. I wasn’t there”.
“What do you mean?”
“Temperance used this, I don’t know, mind-melding spell on me. I hadn’t realized she had even done it. In a split second of real time, I lived an entire month in a hallucinated projection of what would happen if I killed her.”
“What? Why? What was she looking for?”
“My blind spot…. Something that… I felt so strongly about, she would be able to use it against me to stop me.”
“Did she find it?”
When Nancy didn’t say anything for a few seconds, the answer hit Bess like a ton of bricks. “Oh my god….. Ace….”
Nancy nodded. When Nancy didn’t hear any breaking glass, she pushed on. “We were all at the Claw, happy it was finally over. Ace and I were getting ready to leave when…..
Oh my god it all happened so fast. The piece of shrapnel in Ryan’s neck from the ax activated and it wound up killing him. I couldn’t get it out in time….”
“That’s why you grabbed him when he came in…”
Nancy nodded again. “It was painful. I shut myself off from everything, everyone. You all gave me space but Ace kept trying. He would bring me sorbet everyday, to the point that we didn’t have any more room in the freezer.” Nancy smiled at the memory. “I finally managed to leave the house and I came to The Claw to see you all. I was talking to him about….if all I can see in the mirror is someone who can take a life, isn’t that what everyone sees….
He pulled me out of The Claw and we went for a walk in town. He was telling me about everyone and how they see me. He said……”
Nancy closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek. Bess grabbed her hand for support.
“He said…. If you want to know how everyone sees you, they love you. I’m with them…”
“Nancy…….”
“We got together that night….it was amazing. For the first time in a long time I was actually happy. Waking up with him… I can’t remember the last time I smiled like that.
We spent days together. I went to get bagels one morning and wound up getting sucked into something. I met him later at the youth center. We were throwing Nick a going away party, he was actually leaving. We left together and were driving to investigate something when ....”
“Nancy, it’s ok..”
“When this car came out of nowhere and hit us.” Bess’s hand flew to her lips to cover a gasp. “We went spinning out of control and when the car finally stopped, I noticed Ace wasn’t in the car with me anymore. I saw his body on the side of the road and went running.
I held his dead body in my arms, Bess. It was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. I really thought I lost him…”. Nancy broke down sobbing.
Bess didn’t know what to do. This was far worse than she thought. As bad as this dream was though, it still didn’t explain why Nancy was avoiding Ace, or what breaking glass had to do with anything. “May I ask something?”
“Go ahead,” Nancy said.
“What does breaking glass have to do with anything?”
“In the hallucination, when I was with Ace, his barometer cracked. We didn’t really pay attention to it at the time….. It’s become a sort of…warning.”
“A warning for, what, exactly?”
“I wasn’t finished….. After the car accident, when I was holding Ace on the side of the road, I was screaming for someone to help me. That’s when Temperance got out of the car. When I asked her what was happening, she told me that none of it was real, what she had done.
At first I was relieved. That meant that I still had Ace and Ryan and that I could breathe for a second….but then it hit me ....”
“That even though it was a relief that none of it was actually happening, none of it was real…..” Bess trailed off.
Nancy nodded, tears still falling down her face. “I said that if this hallucination was supposed to stop me from killing her, it was only making me more determined. She said no and told me that this particular part she controlled. That Ace dying wasn’t in the original forecast.”
“Then why?”
“When I asked her that, she said to show that I had a choice…”
“A…choice?....”
“She said that in a moment we would be back at the vale with me holding that hatchet against her neck. If I removed the blade, and let her finish what she started, she would leave us alone….”
“And if you killed her?”
“Then this hallucination was her promise to me. On her lips was a curse that she released the moment she died. If Ace and I ever act on our feelings for each other, Ace will die…..and I won’t see it coming…”
Bess just sat there with a wide-eyed look on her face. She knew Temperance was cruel, but she didn’t think she was that cruel. ‘Well, that explains why she’s been avoiding Ace” Bess thought.
“It’s been so hard, Bess. I know he told you about that night in his loft. I hated hurting him….”
“He was really confused about that night. He told me you two were about to kiss, when you did a complete one-eighty and told him you didn’t have feelings for him. It really hurt him…”
“I KNOW, Bess. I thought….I don’t know….that maybe it wasn’t real. That, maybe, Temperance tricked me. When we were about to kiss, Ace’s barometer cracked like it did in the dream. It was the only thing I could think of at the time to let me leave. I really hate what I did to him, Bess.”
Bess didn’t have any words. She just pulled Nancy into another hug and let her cry it out.
“I’m going to fix this. I promise I will not give up until I figure out how to get rid of the curse.”
–
1 Week Later
Nancy and Bess have been digging through every book they could find in the historical society and Icarus Hall that could even remotely be about fixed curses, hexes, or any other supernatural thing. It had been a very long week to say the least.
“What if this doesn’t work?” Nancy asked.
“I promised I wouldn’t give up and I meant it. If I have to reach out to other keepers, I will do that too. We haven’t gone through every book yet, you never know.”
“I know, Bess. I appreciate the help, really. It’s just hard to stay positive at this point. I’m also pretty positive that Ace is seriously going to hate me after all this anyway.”
“He isn’t! Nancy when he finds out how you actually feel about him he’ll be thrilled.”
Nancy raised an eyebrow in a ‘really?’ sort of gesture.
“Ok, ok….He might not be immediately thrilled but he will come around! You know how he feels about you. That doesn’t immediately go away.”
Nancy and Bess went back to work digging through books. Bess had come across a really old spell book from one of the other Women in White. She was actively reading through it, trying to find anything for Temperance’s curse but she wound up finding something else.
“Hey, Nancy? I think I found something…”
“What? A cure?”
“Not a cure per say. But more of a band-aid? It’s a spell that will put you in a ‘safe space’ for 24 hours where you can’t be hurt by anything.”
“Anything?”
“Anything….Ghosts, ghouls, witches, hexes, spells….and curses…
If anything, it will let you at least talk to Ace. Give you a chance to get everything out in the open.”
“Only if Ace will actually talk to me. I’m sure you’re aware I’ve been avoiding him for the last 3 months.”
“I’m sure he will. Believe me when I tell you that it’s killing him too. Let me maybe try and break the ice? Maybe it’ll help.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Thanks, Bess.”
–
Bess went to Ace’s apartment the next day to try and talk to him about speaking with Nancy. She was hoping he would hear her out, given what happened last time. She got up to his door and knocked. Bess definitely didn’t want to barge in again.
“Hey, Bess…” Ace said, opening the door.
“Hey, Ace. Is it ok if I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Come in?” Ace stepped to the side to let her through.
“Bess, before you start..” ….. “ Ace, please don’t..” They started at the same time.
“Sorry, go ahead,” Bess said.
“Bess, I wanted to say that I’m sorry for a week ago. I didn’t mean to explode like that. It wasn’t your fault and it wasn’t fair to make it out like it was. Can you forgive me?”
“Of course,” Bess smiled. “I’m also sorry for what happened. I’m sorry I pushed, too.”
“It’s ok. What did you want to ask?”
“Um…. not to open old wounds or anything….”
“Bess, just ask.”
“I was wondering if you still have feelings for Nancy. Even after everything that has happened.”
“Yes, even though it hurts. I still think that Nancy has something going on, but she won’t talk to me so…”
“About that,” Bess interrupted. “That’s why I’m here. There is something going on with Nancy, you aren’t wrong. She wants to try to talk to you, but only if you are willing.”
“Of course I’ll talk to her. I’ve been wanting to since that night. Does she want me to meet her somewhere?”
“Hmm…about that…”
–
Ace was straightening up his apartment while he was waiting for Nancy to come over. He didn’t know what was going on but the urgency in which Bess had spoken to him about it made him nervous. Bess had also given him a ritual to do and explained that this had to be done while the two of them were in his apartment. She didn’t explain what it was, but he trusts her.
It was nearing eight o’clock when Nancy finally knocked on his door. The air felt like it had been kicked out of his lungs when he opened the door. It had been so long since he was this close to her.
“Hi, Ace,” Nancy said with a small smile.
“Hi, yourself. It’s been a while.” Ace steps back from the door. “Come in?”
“Are you asking me?” Nancy giggled. Ace just stepped back farther and motioned with his arm for her to come inside.
Once inside, Ace went to work setting up the ritual that Bess had taught him to do earlier. He placed several little trays, one in each room of the apartment, with different ingredients inside. “I see Bess has filled you in,” Nancy said watching him.
“She has. One sec…”
He finished placing the bowls around and placed the last one on the dresser by the front door after he closed it. He took out his lighter and lit the bowl by the door. Within a couple of seconds, each little bowl lit one by one and a purple hue emitted from them. The warding was now in place.
“So, what did you…..”
Before Ace even had a chance to finish his sentence, Nancy had jumped into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a crushing hug, Ace wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Hey, what’s wrong Nancy? Talk to me.”
Nancy pulled away but stayed close. When she looked up at Ace, she had tears silently falling down her face. He pulled his hands up and brushed the tears away with his thumbs. “Please talk to me?”
“You’re going to hate me… and I won’t be able to handle it when you do…”
“I’m not going to hate you, Nance. I promise. Let’s sit and take as much time as you need.”
-
Nancy took her time, hours in fact, explaining everything to Ace.
She told him all about the dreamscape, what Temperance did, the curse; all of it. To his credit, Ace sat and listened and let Nancy get it out. It wasn’t easy telling him everything and by the time she was done, the silence that followed scared her.
“Ace?” Nancy had asked.
Nancy couldn’t read him. His face was neutral, like it normally was, but she could sense the anger, disappointment, relief that simmered behind it. She couldn’t lose him, not completely.
“Ace…say something. Anything. Please..”
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what you…want…me to say.”
“Anything? Everything? I can’t read you right now……I know it was a lot and I am somewhat prepared for you to never talk to me again so,”
“That won’t happen,” Ace interrupted her. “On one hand I’m relieved that you feel the same way, that it wasn’t only me. But I’m angry at Temperance for what she did and everything she put you through. I’m upset more than anything that you kept it from me.”
“I know, Ace. I’m sorry, I really am. I wanted to protect you and I figured if I told you that I didn’t have feelings for you that you would move on. As much as that would kill me. At least I knew you would be safe from the curse. I didn’t expect it to hurt this much though…”
“I know. I knew something was wrong but I didn’t want to push. That day you came here hurt enough. With more time that passed though, it became unbearable….
I miss you.”
“I miss you. So much, Ace. Please forgive me.”
He didn’t say anything at first which made Nancy nervous but then she felt him reach out and pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, hugging him as tightly as she could to show how much she needed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her just as tightly.
The two of them just breathed each other in. Nancy knew, wrapped tightly in Ace’s arms that she didn’t want to be anywhere else. This was her home, and she would stop at nothing to have this back.
“So, are there some good things… about this hallucination… that you can tell me?” Ace asked a little smugly.
“What do you want to know?” Nancy asked, pulling back.
“Well, everything!”
“Well…..”
“Oh don’t hold out on me now..”
“It’s not that! It’s just…Bess promised that as long as we have this warding for 24 hours that nothing can get to us.”
“Right….so?”
“So, smarty pants, I would rather show you…”
Ace froze, eyes wide on the couch.
“If you would be up for that, that is.”
“Are…are you sure?”
Nancy could only nod. The enormity of this moment was not lost on them. Even after everything that Nancy experienced in that dreamscape, she would really be kissing Ace for the first time. Ace would finally know what it’s like to hold her for real, and mean it.
Ace tentatively reached out and cupped Nancy’s face. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath before she felt Ace’s lips touch hers. It was a soft kiss, a gentle brush of the lips because neither of them were sure what was about to happen. Ace pulled back slightly and Nancy slowly opened her eyes. They were mere inches from each other and Nancy found it hard to look away.
“I seem to still be ok,” Ace whispered. He was afraid to break the moment.
“You do,” Nancy whispers back. “Now what?”
Ace surged forward, capturing her lips in a searing kiss. Kissing Ace was like nothing Nancy ever could imagine. The dreamscape didn’t do this moment justice at all. His lips were softer than she could ever imagine and the feeling was leaving her breathless. She brought her hands up to his and pulled them down to her waist. She reached up and finally plunged her hands into his hair. That damn hair she’s been dying to feel again since the whole lust dress incident.
Ace almost lost what was left of his self control the minute he felt her hands in his hair. That feeling haunted him since she was hyped up on the butterflies from the lust dress. As she ran her fingers through, she had tugged a little which sent a bolt of desire through him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he moaned into the kiss. That seemed to spur Nancy on and Ace felt her open her mouth up under his.
He couldn’t take it anymore. He needed her closer. Nancy felt Ace remove one hand from her waist and was about to protest when she felt that arm slip under her legs on the couch and the next thing she knew, Ace picked her up and placed her in his lap. Her whole body was against his and Nancy couldn’t get enough.
The heat of that kiss died down a little and Nancy pulled back panting as she rested her forehead against his. She realized Ace was panting too.
“Wow” Nancy breaethed.
“Wow, indeed. Did it live up to your expectation?”
“Better. Ace, so much better” Nancy said as she closed the gap and kissed him again.
Ace eagerly responded to the kiss making her melt into him. She felt his tongue on her bottom lip, begging for entrance. She granted it, and feeling Ace’s tongue against hers sent desire shooting through every nerve in her body.
She stood from Ace’s lap, almost collapsing immediately at the sight of his lips chasing hers. He was staring up at her, a question in his eyes that she was more than willing to answer. She turned to face him and pushed him back into the couch cushions as she straddled his lap. Nancy could have sworn that Ace stopped breathing.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
“You have no idea how attractive you are, do you?” Nancy giggled as she cupped his face.
A wide smile broke out on Ace’s face and Nancy doesn’t think she has ever seen him that happy. Nancy bent down to kiss it and she felt Ace’s hands resting on her thighs, pulling her closer still.
Nancy felt Ace’s hands come up to the bottom of her sweater and sneak their way underneath. The minute Nancy felt Ace’s hands make contact with her skin, she gasped out of the kiss. Ace trailed his lips down her neck and Nancy felt like she couldn’t breathe. She arched against him at the contact and a satisfied hum escaped his lips.
“What do you want Nancy” Ace whispered against her neck.
“You, Ace. Just you.”
“Then I’m yours, baby. I promise.”
-
Nancy woke up to the sunlight streaming through the windows hours later. She was in Ace’s bed, in his arms, sheets tangled around them.
A sense of deja vu hit Nancy and she peaked up at him from where her head was resting on his chest. She felt a small smile forming when she realized that he had a smile on his face.
‘Oh my God. He does smile in his sleep,’ Nancy thought.
She watched him for a little bit before slowly getting up, careful not to wake him. She picked up the first shirt that she saw and grabbed it as she made her way to the bathroom. She threw the shirt over her head and decided that she should probably make some coffee.
When she came back into the main room, her eyes caught Ace and she had to stop and stare a minute. He was still on his back, his strong arms stretched out, hair fanned out on the pillow with the sheet at his hips. Nancy fought the urge to take a picture to remember how perfect he looked.
Coffee, right. Nancy bit her lip and forced herself to turn away.
She stepped into the kitchen area and started the coffee as quietly as she could. While she was waiting for the coffee to brew, she placed her hand around her neck to stretch. The memory of Ace leaning over her after they had rushed to remove clothing and open the bed for more room, smugly smiling down at her as he pulled her leg over his hip entered her mind. He leaned in, kissed her quickly, before leaning over to suck on her neck which she is fairly certain left a mark.
She was smiling to herself. After last night, there was no going back. She was Ace’s and she knew it.
-
Ace had woken up with a smile on his face after finally getting the woman of his dreams last night. He went to reach for her, only to realize the bed was empty.
He opened his eyes and looked over in a panic. When he went to reach for the sheets next to him he spotted her in the kitchen. He sat up and smiled at the sight. She was standing in his kitchen with one ankle crossed over the other, hair up in a messy bun, wearing nothing but his lucky blue pullover. She was looking down, waiting for coffee to brew with a big smile on her face.
Ace was happy knowing he was the one that had put it there.
He climbed out of bed as quietly as he could, put on his boxers and snuck over to where she was standing. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear him come over.
“Oh my God!” Nancy yelped as Ace wrapped his arms around her.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I really thought you would have heard me.”
“I’m still a little out of it, so not really.” Nancy leaned back into his chest and dropped her head back. She smiled up at him as she placed her arms over his.
Ace couldn’t resist. He slowly moved his hands down to her hips, fingers never leaving her which made her shiver, and spun her around in his arms. Once she was facing him, he bent down a little and before Nancy knew it, he had brought his hands down and lifted her up and placed her on the counter.
He moved to be between her legs, hands resting on the counter behind her as her arms came up and wrapped around his neck. She pulled him down into a breathless kiss.
“Now that is a way to wake up,” Ace said with a smile. “Although I wish you were still in bed with me.”
“Sorry, I had to use the bathroom and I didn’t want to wake you.”
“No worries.”
“Ace last night was…..”
“Incredible? Amazing? Too good to be true?....Take your pick.”
“All of the above? It was better than I ever hoped it could be.”
“I’m glad.” Ace bent down and kissed her. His hands rested on her hips again as he pulled out of the kiss and Nancy thinks she could never get enough.
“Nancy….. Last night, it changed everything. I might have been able to move on eventually but, now? I’m not going back, Nance. You’re still it for me. Now more than ever.”
“You’re it for me too, Ace. I have never felt so safe, so HOME, with anyone like I do with you. Last night proved that for me.”
A big smile spread across Ace’s face.
“That’s why,” Nancy said, “Bess and I have been researching how to break the curse like crazy. She happened to come across this while we were researching…”
“I’m happy she did,” Ace said. “At least we had a chance to get everything out in the open. Last night was just a…. Bonus….”
“It’s going to be hell to try to leave you later, you know.”
“Oh, believe me, I do.”
-
Nancy and Ace spent the rest of the day in a tangle of sheets and limbs and Nancy knew that she should pull herself away before she was really in trouble.
When it was close to the 24 hour mark, Nancy finally managed to pull herself off of Ace and dress.
Ace walked her to the door and they hesitated to part.
“I promise I won’t stop until I find a cure, Ace. I am not living my life without you.”
“I’m not living without you, Nance. I’ll help Bess out too while it’s slow at the morgue. See if we can find an artifact or something.”
Nancy threw her arms around Ace’s neck and kissed him one last time. Nancy put as much hope, promise, and love into that kiss as she could so Ace wouldn’t doubt her. She knew she was cutting it close but she really didn’t want to go.
Nancy felt herself moving backwards and realized Ace was pushing her to the door.
“I love you, Nancy. With all my heart. Please know that” Ace says as he pushes her out the door and closes it.
Nancy was stunned but when she took a step forward she saw the warding come down.
The 24 hours were up.
With tears in her eyes, Nancy turned and walked down the hallway away from Ace, more determined than she had ever been in her life.