Don't Fear the Reaper [Nick Groff fanfic]

Chapter 14-Don't Fear the Reaper

The next few days were very busy between Nick working hard to train for American Ninja Warrior and researching locations for his new show idea, Paranormal Lockdown. Aurora was exhausting her mind with final exams, thesis essays, and turning in the last of her video projects for school.

In their downtime, Nick and Aurora would go bowling again, do more sightseeing in the city, or just stay home and watch some good movies. They especially enjoyed the TV movie and even though the channel was geared toward women, the suspenseful thrillers were still entertaining to stick with the stories. Other nights, they would branch off and just do their own thing to decompress from the stresses of their busy schedules.

On one particular night, Aurora was in her own bathroom and had her supplies together to clean the grayish glob that she pulled from Nick's bathroom drain. Ripping the glob apart to find the object, it fell to the tile floor with a metallic clink. Curious, she picked it off the floor and could feel it was circular and hollow.

What the...

Very slowly pulling the dirty hairs and grayish debris from the object, the dulled luster of gold gleamed through with bumpy surface of tiny gemstones. Grabbing a rag, she wrapped the object with some cleaning agent and after an intense few minutes of meticulous rubbing, the object was clear of debris and clean like new.

Instantly, it hit Aurora what it was...

Oh my God...it... it's Nick's wedding ring!!

She thought to herself as she lifted from her seat and hurried to the hall where Nick was sitting.

"Hey, Nick. Look what I found."

Nick quickly turned as she held in her hand to show him, his mouth dropped in surprise.

"Where-where did you find it?"

"Remember that grayish glob from your drain, somehow it was mixed in that mess."

Nick grasped it and gazed in amazement.

"Wow, great job cleaning it."

She smiled then contorted to concern,

"Did it slip off in the shower or something?"

Nick gazed it in his hand and as he tried to recall, flashbacks of the day that he nearly lost his life came flooding back. He stammered over his words, trying to get upset again over the events of that day.

"I...threw it...down the drain. I was so distraught from everything that happened..."

He paused as Aurora listened intently.

"You know, from losing my family, fighting that entity, and then I hurt you in my anger. I broke down, I pulled it off, and threw it ring down my bathroom drain. But before I could do more harm, you came to my rescue."

He closed his hand with his ring, looking up and holding Aurora in a strong hug.

"I still can't apologize enough and I also can't thank you enough. You've been here when it seemed no one else was."

Aurora held in slight sadness, moving her head a bit before speaking in a soft tone.

"But I didn't help bring you back to your family..."

Confused, Nick parted a bit to look at her.

"What, what you do mean?"

She sighed.

"When you were sedated in the hospital, Veronique came in to see you. But when she saw you were missing your ring, she thought you moved on. After she gave me the photo of Annabelle and Chloe, she said that she had arrangements to make back home."