If no one cheers, well I can keep on waiting

The tension in the air was palpable back in the Banquet Hall, as everyone sat restlessly in their seats, not sure what they should do. Breakfasts went half-eaten, as nobody had an appetite after Nick’s revelation and Rose’s confrontation.

…Well, almost nobody. Ella continued to surreptitiously devour food on the sly, while Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had no qualms about getting up and grabbing a big bowl of ice cream to polish off. She really didn’t see the point of all this drama, and frankly? She thought Rose was making a pretty big deal out of nothing.

What even was a marriage, anyway? That word was completely foreign to the assassin, and she had no idea why everyone seemed to tense up when the term was used.

It was something that she would have asked for clarification on, if she were capable of verbalizing her questions. Or if she cared. But, since she didn’t, ice cream became her priority, since it was clear that Nick had other things on his mind right now, and wasn’t coming back. Under normal circumstances, she may have chased right after him, but her instincts were telling her that wasn’t a good idea.

So she would let Morgana have him, for now. It was her day. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin may not have been educated, but that didn’t mean she was stupid. She could connect the dots. The audience didn’t like when she was overbearing and asserted herself on Nick during other people’s time with him. So she would avoid doing that. For now, anyway. Not because popularity mattered to her, but because she didn’t want Nick to feel like she was a lost cause.

With that in mind, she was far more preoccupied with her own concerns than the concerns of the other women in the Banquet Hall.

“That was… wow,” Dawn mumbled, shaking her head. She took off her glasses to wipe the faint tears in her eyes. “Who would have thought Morgana would just go and grab Nick like that?”

“You think she had an idea about how she could help Rose?” Carly asked, looking towards the door. She chewed on her lip. “I mean… some of the stuff Rose was saying… like… I get it, you know? How she feels and all that.”

“Really?” Mary asked dubiously. She looked up at Carly. “You understand how Rose is feeling? I thought you didn’t care about marriage or anything like that?”

Mary and Carly had never really been that close. Carly was one of Nick’s friends, and didn’t always play nice with the other girls. That wasn’t to say that Mary had a problem with her or anything, they just weren’t really best friends. Partly because Mary just couldn’t wrap her brain around how someone could enjoy having sex with multiple people. For her, she was a one-man kind of woman. She didn’t think Carly was immoral for having her own opinions about commitment, it just didn’t make sense to her.

Carly understood that about Mary, which was why she respected the other woman’s opinion and chose to agree to disagree. But this was one of the exceptions to that decision.

“Just because I don’t see myself getting married, that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the urge,” Carly said, putting her hands on her hips. “Everyone is different, Mary.”

“I know that!” Mary protested. “I didn’t mean… it’s just… well…”

She’d just been trying to say that she thought Carly’s perspective made her question whether or not she could really understand the yearning feeling Rose was going through.

“Carly, um, I don’t think Mary was trying to talk down to you or anything,” Marley said uneasily. Tensions were rising, and if things came to a head, she wasn’t sure what she would do. The worst situation would be if Dani got involved on Carly’s side, things could only decline from there.

“Both of you, stop, now,” Amelia snapped. She looked sharply at both women as they stared uneasily at each other.

That wasn’t how she’d meant to put her foot down. She had been trying to get everybody to take a breath and try to look at things from each other’s perspective, and then this had happened.

Holly bit her lip. She looked warily at Mary and wished that she could say something to calm down the mood. But she was worried about Nick, too. This whole morning had been one big, troubling affair, and it was obvious that people were still carrying some of the stress from the night before and everything that happened with Echo and Nick. Nobody had gotten a chance to breathe and calm down and process things, and it was showing.

“Hey, I know! What do you say we plan a party?”

The statement was so abrupt and the idea was so out of the ballpark that the whole table had to pause to process it. Everyone turned in the direction of the soft accented voice that proposed it.

Vivian stood up at the end of the table with her chest pushed out and a winning smile on her lips.

“I think it would be just the best thing!” She gushed. “Something to celebrate Rose and show her how much we care about her! It’s clear that she’s having a tough time of things, what, with her new yuko transformation-”

“Youko,” Kim quietly corrected her.

“…Right, that, yes, the fox one,” Vivian nodded, continuing, “and she’s probably feeling a little tense and awkward after that whole business with Nick. You know what always helps me when I’m feeling down and alone and underappreciated?”

“Buying out a clothing store?” Kim asked sarcastically.

Vivian chuckled. “Aw, Kim! I luv ya! But no, I’m serious here, a party! All of us can get together and throw a nice party for her, to show her how much we care! Wouldn’t that be just the thing? Right on, it’d be an excellent bit of fun, and maybe bring down the tension a little, what do you ladies say? Gina? Your party transformation takes effect tomorrow, now doesn’t it?” She asked, turning to the punk girl, who looked surprised.

“Oh, uh…” Gina played with her hair. “I mean, yeah, I guess so, but, um… I was actually thinking that this round, maybe I don’t have a party? I… I’d really like to spend the night with Nick, if I’m being honest here,” she admitted. Her cheeks turned red, and she felt pretty damn embarrassed saying that out loud.

But, having said it, she felt satisfied, and she allowed herself to relax.

Vivian nodded, a little surprised herself. “Well… maybe that’s for the best then!” She said, not letting Gina’s statement daunt her. “We’ll hold the party tonight, then!”

“Are you serious?” Dawn asked incredulously. “A party?”

Vivian looked at her. “Sure! Why wouldn’t we? We all care about Rose here, don’t we?” She asked, looking around the table.

Even if anyone DID have a problem with Rose, no way could they have said something with the atmosphere in the room right now. A sea of hesitant nods slowly went around the table, and while not everybody was sold on the party, everyone there did feel bad for what Rose had gone through, and wanted to do something to cheer her up.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Carly nodded. “A party!”

“Of course you’re on board,” Marley said, rolling her eyes. She couldn’t help but smile in relief. “As if you needed a reason to party!”

Carly elbowed her sister playfully in the side.

“I’m with you, Vivian!” Dani nodded, giving her friend a thumbs-up. “A party is the perfect thing to bring Rose’s spirits up!”

“Yay! A party!” Sylvia cheered. “I can’t wait!”

Mary was astonished. Everything had been so tense and awkward, and she’d almost started a fight with Carly even though that hadn’t been her intention. And Vivian had just cleared all of that away with a chipper smile and an engaging suggestion, and now everyone was looking forward to throwing a party for Rose!

I’ve gotta admit, Vivian, that’s pretty impressive, she thought, looking at the beaming heiress. You managed to ease the awkwardness in the room.

It didn’t solve the main problem, Mary knew, and it wouldn’t address the actual issue Rose was facing right now. It might not even make her feel better. But even though the party was ostensibly for Rose’s benefit, Mary could see other factors at play here.

They all needed some sense of normalcy. Something to ease the anxious feeling that had been hanging in the air for a while.

If that was Vivian’s goal in proposing this idea, then I’ve really gotta give her props for that, Mary thought, giving the heiress a nod of approval.

As for Vivian, she was just happy that she’d gotten Carly and Mary to stop arguing. In her eyes, everyone should be getting along, even when they were having disagreements.

I wasn’t able to do anything for Rose or Nick before… even when Rose went and left, I wasn’t able to say anything to make him feel better, I was completely paralyzed, the heiress thought, glancing over at the door. Morgana was able to, though. She made the move I couldn’t.

That was what compelled Vivian to move here. Her fear and doubt and uncertainty had left her paralyzed, and she wasn’t going to let the day end on that failure. So she’d pushed past her doubts and asserted herself, coming up with a plan that, she hoped, everyone would be able to get behind!

It looked like it worked.

Vivian took a deep breath and exhaled. Now I just have to hope that Nick and Morgana can help out Rose, she thought. The last thing I want is for them to have an issue! Hopefully we can all just get along and repair the situation!

If they could do that, then maybe they could salvage today, and the round could start off on a positive note!

“What are you thinking?” Rose asked warily as the elevator came to a stop and opened up into the common area at the top of the hotel, where their rooms were located. She had thought, when Nick insisted she come into the elevator, that he was going to take her to the Master’s Suite or something, maybe for pity sex.

What? That was a reasonable assumption given the tone of the show, and Nick’s insistence that he was going to “Show her how he really felt” so what was the problem?

…Even if Morgana was coming along. That still didn’t take it off the table.

But when they stepped out into the common area, Rose was just confused.

She looked uneasily at Nick. Her heart was in turmoil right now. As much as she may have loved him, his face was the last thing she wanted to see at the moment. She felt twisted and nauseous, frankly, and his presence was only exacerbating that.

Rose didn’t want to be around Nick, and be reminded that his feelings for her weren’t as strong as her feelings were for him.

What she wanted to do was go up to her room, or some distant part of the hotel, curl up into a little ball, and cry.

But it didn’t look like Nick had any intention of letting that happen, unfortunately, which just put her in a tense situation.

She bit her lip and looked warily at him as Nick looked back at her.

“Come with me,” he pleaded, taking her by the hand. “Please.”

“Trust him, Rose!” Morgana encouraged from the sidelines, squeezing her pale little fists together tightly. “Nick was so sad after what you said… I thought his heart was going to snap in two!”

“It should have,” Rose bitterly snapped. “Mine already did.”

What was she doing? How could she have said something so cruel? She didn’t really want Nick to suffer at all!

But…

Her own heart was in turmoil.

And right now… she honestly didn’t know how she should feel, about any of this.

Things were too tumultuous for her to do any proper thinking.

Aw, no… I’m gonna cry again. Rose could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. The longer Nick held her wrist, the more she felt him, and the harder it was for her to not think about all the things that she’d said, and all the painful emotions roiling in her heart.

She gave her arm a half-hearted tug, not really trying to break free. It was more an act of token resistance than anything.

And when Nick tightened his grip, her heart skipped a beat.

“Eh…” Rose’s ears twitched as she felt her cheeks warm up. She didn’t know what she was supposed to feel, but her present feelings overwhelmed her. For a moment, the insistent tug on her arm from Nick’s hand served as a crystallization of his feelings- like he didn’t want to let her go.

Or maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see.

Again.

Maybe it didn’t mean anything.

Rose tried to fight the cynicism, she really did. But everything that had gone down that morning made it so difficult for her to do.

Finally, she had enough. Her desperation ached in her voice and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“Nick…” her voice was barely above a whisper. “Please… just… can’t you please just tell me what’s going on?” She begged him, clutching her chest. “I… I care about you, Nick… please… but… I need my space right now.”

She loved him. And at this point, it was hard to imagine that ever changing, no matter how much of a “girl boss” she tried to be.

Rose… she needed love. She needed it desperately. And she needed it from Nick. But if Nick couldn’t love her the way she needed him to… and she couldn’t give up on him…

What was she supposed to do, then?

Just be miserable and unfulfilled for the rest of her life?

She really wished the answer wasn’t yes. But she was having a harder and harder time seeing an alternative here.

Finally, with tears in her eyes, she looked up at the man she loved and gave him a look of pleading desperation and grief.

“What am I supposed to do?” She whispered. “I get it, okay? I just… have to keep waiting. Right? Eventually, someday, if I’m lucky… you’ll marry me. And I’ll be okay with that. So you don’t need to do some grand gesture here to try and make me feel better.”

Rose didn’t need to be pitied or mollified.

She could handle things just fine on her own.

After all- she’d gotten this far, hadn’t she?

Nick looked at Rose, and his heart looked broken. That just made her feel even worse, even if she wasn’t the one in the wrong. How pathetic was that?

“Rose… that isn’t what I want.”

For a moment, her heart broke all over again. So he wasn’t even going to give her a wedding out of pity, then…

But then she saw the look in his eyes, and all those clinging, negative feelings were blown away by a maelstrom of confusion.

Nick looked… determined.

But about what?

“I want to show you what I want,” he said, giving her wrist another squeeze before bringing his hand down and wrapping his fingers around hers. “Please, Rose?”

What did he mean by that?

She still didn’t know.

But she nodded slowly all the same.

Honestly?

She’d just given up struggling at this point, and was content to let him just do whatever he wanted. As long as she could rest afterwards…

To her utter shock, she found Nick leading her to the Garden Suite.

“Eh!?” She sputtered, giving another half-hearted tug back on her arm to try and resist him. “What are you doing, Nick? Why are we going back to my room?” She demanded.

Nick looked back at her. His expression was firm.

“There’s something in there that I’m looking for,” he said cryptically.

“Is he going to grow huge breasts with the cactus?” Morgana wondered, imagining what that would look like.

Nick and Rose both looked at her, horrified.

“Why are you even following, anyway?” Rose snapped at her. “This is between me and Nick!”

“Because this is my day with Nick,” Morgana said, putting her hands on her hips. After her transformation kicked in and made her more willing to speak her mind, she wasn’t about to be cowed by Rose- especially not after seeing the blonde cry. “I can go wherever I want with him!”

Nick wasn’t going to argue with her. He had more important things to focus on. “Just ignore her for now, Rose,” he said gently, giving her hand a squeeze. “Just focus on me.”

Rose’s heart skipped a beat again. Even though it SO wasn’t like her she nodded timidly and let him lead her into her room.

“So… what, then?” She asked. “What are you looking for in my room?”

Nick had let go of her hand and walked over to her dresser. It was specially- made so that the top was covered in soil, letting bushes grow out of it.

Luckily, he didn’t have to go rifling through her things. She had left what he was looking for hanging over the side.

Rose gasped. Her eyes widened in realization as the color drained from her cheeks. “Ah-! That… that’s… my scarf!”

“You remember the description that Mr. S gave us about this, right?” Nick held the scarf out to her. “If we’re both wearing it at the same time…”

“I know!” Rose cut him off. She struggled to keep the tears from falling out of her eyes. “I know, okay? You don’t need to say it, I get it. Alright?”

Her lip quivered and she trembled like a leaf. “Nick… it’s just… I… I just…”

Rose’s heart was in turmoil. It was pounding a mile a minute in her chest, telling her that she should do it. Telling him that she should take her end from him.

“I want you to know how I really feel about you, Rose,” Nick said, pushing the scarf towards her. His eyes burned with determination. “I know that whatever words I say, you wouldn’t believe them. And that’s my fault, because I let myself get comfortable. I took our love for granted, and I’m sorry for that. So please, let me show you exactly how I feel about you, Rose.”

She wouldn’t be able to dismiss the feelings in his heart as a lie, or something done out of pity or obligation. Nick knew how he felt about Rose. And even if she wouldn’t trust his words, she would have to trust this.

Couples’ Scarf: A scarf big enough for two. If two people have the scarf wrapped around their necks, their hearts will become linked. Both parties will get a sense of the feelings the other has for them.

Rose swallowed, and, with trembling hands, took one end of the scarf and wrapped it around her neck before she could stop herself. She turned her big, blue eyes towards Nick, and showed him that she was ready.

“Okay,” she whispered, preparing herself. “I did it.”

Nick nodded. He didn’t say a word, because in a few moments he wouldn’t need to. He took the other end of the scarf and wrapped it around his own neck. Because of the length of the garment, it was a tight fit. He had to get close enough to Rose so that their noses were practically touching in order to tie it on.

They gazed into each other’s eyes, and their hearts became linked. In an instant, Nick knew exactly how Rose felt about him. Basically none of it was a surprise- she wasn’t the type of person to hide her feelings, even from herself. Of course, he had to dig through the surface layer of pain and anguish and sense of abandonment, but once he pushed past those emotions and found the core of Rose’s heart, he found himself connecting with the real, pure her, the part of her that loved him deeply. And even though he had already been aware of those feelings, the scope of them did shock him momentarily.

And in turn, Rose discovered exactly how Nick felt about her.

She started trembling. Her eyes opened so wide Morgana was afraid they were going to roll right out of her face. Then tears almost as big began to fill them.

“Oh…” her cheeks flushed and her lip began to quiver. She let out a choked sob. “Oh, Nick-!”

Before Morgana could fully process what just happened Rose threw her arms around Nick and started kissing him furiously. Even Nick seemed shocked by the sudden attack, which was notable, as he was able to sense Rose’s feelings for him through the scarf, so he should have seen it coming!

Morgana smiled as she watched Rose express exactly how she felt about Nick’s revelation with all the passion she could muster.