IS IT REALLY WORTH IT?

WORTH 12

Niki's eyes fluttered open when her phone's alarm went off. She groaned and reached over to the bedside table to silence the noise and then flopped down onto her back. She rubbed her hands over her face and yawned so hard her jaw cracked in several places.

It was really early. Thanks to the thick blinds it was as dark as night. Niki sat up groggily and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Louise, are you awake?"

She climbed out of bed and fumbled for the light switch. Even though she hadn't been sleeping here for a while, she still remembered the layout of the room like the back of her hand. She found the switch and turned the light on, but Louise was gone. Her side of the bed was empty. Niki's heart dropped.

"Louise?" she called out loudly. She started rushing through the house. Checking the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the study. Tell me she didn't, Niki thought desperately. Please tell me she didn't.

Niki even checked the front and back yard. She could feel anger rising hard in her gut, so it took her a while to realize that she should have checked the garage first. When she did, she found it empty. Lou's car was gone.

"God f*****g damnit!" Niki yelled, throwing a hard punch at the wall. Pain flared up her arm but it felt good, drowned in her endless pit of anger. "She f*****g did it," Niki fumed. She dropped her arm, ignoring the blood dripping from her ripped skin.

Louise had gone to work.

***

Lou's head still hurt, but it was more of a constant ache instead of the agonizing throb it had been. Though, with her stress levels so high she wouldn't be surprised if it just got worse. She had some pain meds in her office, ones that wouldn't put her to sleep. They weren't as powerful as she needed, but they would do for the day. She needed to catch up on all of the work she had missed.

Currently she was in a meeting with the board. They were all bickering about their newest acquisition, on how to best change the business assets to align with Aguirre Corp. Louise sat silently at the head of the table, her elbow pressed to the table and her cheek in her palm. They'd hardly really communicated with her, preferring instead to argue with each other like children. Louise hated them.

"We should do a complete revamp of the brand," one of them was saying.

"I think the brand is fine as is."

"We can make it better!"

"And what about the employees?" a third interjected. "We'll need to get a whole new set of people in. People from Aguirre Corp."

Louise started rubbing her temples. "We fire absolutely no one, Kennedy," she spoke up suddenly. The men stopped talking to stare at her.

"But we-"

She shut him up with the force of her glare. "Should I repeat myself?"

Kennedy shut his mouth quickly. Frank, the guy sitting beside him, frowned. "What would your father do in this situation?" he asked.

Louise clasped her hands together and squeezed hard. "My father is in the Bahamas, swimming with dolphins and mermaids," she snapped. "I am in charge here."

"Mrs. Donovan, if you would just call him and-"

The door to the conference room suddenly burst open, slamming hard against the wall and rattling. Louise jerked in surprise. Her heart flipped in nervousness when furious brown eyes levelled her with a scary glare.

"Louise," Niki growled. One of her fists was covered in a bandage and the other was clenched tightly. "May I please speak with you privately? Now."

Lou's temper rose. What the absolute f**k? Niki couldn't just storm in here and make demands like this, especially not in front of the board. But she couldn't say as much, and she knew Niki would just make a scene to get her to comply. Clenching her jaw hard to settle her growing anger, she nodded. "Excuse me, gentlemen," she told them stiffly. "This will only take a moment."

They all seemed relieved as she left the room. Louise closed the door a little too loudly. As soon as they were clear, she looked up at Niki and let all of her anger show.

"What the f**k, Nikita?"

Niki folded her arms across her chest. "What the f**k too, Louise. You were supposed to rest for the next three days. I told you not to come back to work."

The headache was growing into a steady throb. Lou's heart was starting to pound. She glanced at Kiara's office, saw her staring at them intently. Clearly she hadn't made a huge effort to prevent Niki from storming up here. Louise would have to deal with her later. "You are not my caretaker," Louise hissed. "I appreciate you helping me, but I've recovered enough. Just that one day set me back a week."

Niki seemed to grow angrier. "This isn't even about that!" she shouted.

"Then what the f**k is it about, Niki? If you didn't notice, I was in a professional, important meeting. I'll be lucky if those men take me seriously again after this. If they ever even did."

Niki's face was turning red. "You're so f*****g unbelievable. I can't believe I wasted a whole day of my life taking care of your stubborn ass. You prioritized wrong, Louise. What matters to you most is your job. It always has been." She looked away, doe eyes burning. "Why am I even trying to save this marriage?" When she looked back, there was pain in her eyes. "It's not like you'll ever choose me first, huh?"

Louise opened her mouth to shoot back a response, but Niki lifted her hand to stop her.

"Save it," Niki snarled. "I'm tired of you." And then she stormed off.

Louise stood there, staring. Her stomach was tight with anxiety and anger, but what hurt the most was her heart. Was Niki finally giving up? Was she going to sign those papers? Louise didn't have time to dwell on it.

Kiara was giving her a look, telling her to go after Niki.

Louise simply went back into the conference room.

***

There was absolutely no f*****g point to this anymore. Days later and Niki was still absolutely pissed off. She hadn't even been able to deal with customers. Melina had banished her to her office, as if she had the f*****g authority. But Niki listened to her, because out of everyone Melina cared about her the most. Sometimes it felt like she was the only one that did.

"Niki, I think you've had enough."

Mel grabbed the bottle of wine from her hands and set it down on the table, frowning.

"I'm not even drunk," Niki said darkly, staring at the dark red liquid inside.

"You've almost drank the whole bottle."

"Still, not drunk." She lifted her hand, pointing, and grinned. "But definitely tipsy."

Mel sighed. "Niki, I'm very worried about you. You don't usually drink like this."

"Yeah well I need to have some liquid courage to sign these." She tossed papers down onto the coffee table, unable to even look at them. Her stomach was churning with emotions and if she wasn't careful, she'd puke. Mel gathered the papers up and looked at them. Her eyes widened.

"I thought you were going to try to complete this program. Aren't you giving up too soon?"

Niki laughed loudly. "You should know!" she snorted. "I went out of my way to help her, because for some reason I actually still care. And what did she do? Ignored my advice and went back to work. It was just... I can't believe she..." She shut her mouth and glared darkly at the floor. She hated that her chest ached this way.

Mel sighed and scooted closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and drawing her in. Niki couldn't resist pressing her face into Mel's shoulder. She smelled so good. "You're hurt," Mel said softly. "You feel betrayed. Louise chose her job instead of you, and that stings."

Niki opened her mouth to say something sarcastic or mean, but her words got stuck in her throat. Emotions welled up inside of her, and then she was sobbing. The alcohol was probably to blame, amplifying what she already felt all the time. Mel completely held her then and rocked her gently, and Niki cried into the front of her shirt.

"She never chose me," Niki sobbed. "Never me, Mel."

Melina rubbed a hand along her back. "Just cry it all out Niki. Let it out."

And she did. She cried until she had not one tear left and Mel's shirt was absolutely soaked. But Mel didn't seem to care. Niki flushed in embarrassment when she pulled away. "f**k, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. I'm just relieved to see that your tear ducts still work."

Niki snorted on a laugh and lightly punched Mel's shoulder. "You're an ass."

"Only the best."

She rubbed her hands over her wet face. She felt like she'd just unloaded a lot, though she still felt deeply hurt. She wasn't sure if the hurt would ever go away. It had been buried so deep. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, Niki. You know that I love you."

Niki smiled. "Guess I lost out, huh? That Kiara got you first."

Melina laughed outright. "Nuh-uh, no rebounding on me. You need to fix your marriage."

Niki soured instantly. "Can't fix it on my own, you know."

"I know. But you're both so damn stubborn. The only one that can get through to Louise is you, Niki. By the amount that you just cried, I think you still love her." Mel's face was serious, almost sad. Her brown eyes were clear. "Ponder on that."

She left Niki in the lounge to join Kiara in bed. Niki watched her go until her bedroom door clicked shut. She was tempted to finish the wine, but knew that wasn't the smartest decision. Instead she went to her own room and threw her clothes off before getting under her blanket. She stared up at the dark ceiling, pain in her chest.

***

In the morning, when Rachel knocked on the door and Niki answered it, she'd already made up her mind. Rachel stared at her, smiling expectantly. Niki glared.

"Take us to step 4," Niki grumbled. "Let's get this over with."

Rachel's smile stretched wide.