Let Me Help You, Good Doctor Ch. 08

Finale

"I can't believe this shit." Nik said downing his beer in one gulp.

James and Scott just stared at Nik as he ordered his fourth beer, "You think you want to slow down a little?" James asked.

"No, I'm good, just hanging out with my boys and enjoying some beer." Nik said patting their backs.

"And we are enjoying you too and you have 30 more minutes to enjoy us before I have to go home." Scott reminded.

"I can't believe this man. You guys are just going to leave me in my time of need?"

"One, we are here for you through anything, but lately we have been spending every night here after you admitted to Dominique how you felt." James said ordering himself a beer.

"I just can't believe she turned me down. I'm Nik, the Italian Stallion and she turned me down?"

"Look Nik, I understand that it..." Scott started.

"No you don't man. I thought everything that I was feeling for her she felt too. All that time and everything that we did together meant nothing to her? I know she's the one and I can't imagine being with anyone else, but she just rejected me for someone that can't even appreciate her like I can. Now I'm sitting her sounding all pussy whipped."

"You are, but sometimes that happens when you are in love." James shrugged, "Even though I'm the hard ass that I'm always am, I know Jade has me wrapped around her pretty little fingers. You laid your cards on the table Nik. That's what you are suppose to do. The rest is up to Dominique, she will come around."

Nik shook his head wanting to believe what James said, but every time he went home, he felt a twinge of pain looking at her door. He wished he could just walk in like normal and they have their playful banter or they would cuddle up with a good scary movie. But he couldn't now. He still had her scent in his sheets and then knowing what they did everywhere in his apartment was the hardest part of going home. He shook his head as he thought back to what James said. The rest was up to Dominique. He just hoped she makes the right decision and fast.

Dominique had to keep herself busy so she wouldn't think about him. She has done a pretty good job of it this past week. She registered for school, helped some clients find other therapists, finished planning Katrina's shower, and finalized everything for Jason's wedding. She was a little tired but she couldn't run into or think about Nik. Sometimes it worked, other times she found herself crying randomly. At that moment, her body shivered thinking about him.

"No, I have to prepare the vegetables for the tray. Right!" she smiled moving to the refrigerator.

She grabbed a couple of celery stalks and carrots trying to keep it together. Jade was already in the restaurant. They hadn't talked much since; she figured she was mad at her too. Well it didn't matter, she was angrier at herself, but she couldn't harbor on that. Not when there was so much to do.

She began slicing the celery trying to get a hold of her racing heart that was intensifying so much that she could hear it. Why was she reacting this way? It's been over two weeks. Two weeks to get over it. Two weeks to move on. Two weeks to miss his calloused fingers running up and down her body.

"Damn it!" Dominique screamed not able to hold the flood gates any more.

She looked down at her handy work and realized instead of slicing the celery, she was dicing it. She tried so hard to pull it together, but she couldn't hold it in. Jade came in and immediately noticed Dominique's red puffy eyes.

"I messed up the celery." Dominique sobbed.

"Well sweetie, that's certainly something we can replace, but I get the feeling that's not why you are crying." Dominique could only shake her head as Jade pulled her to a chair, "What's up?"

"I have been crying almost everyday at home, sometimes at work. There are some days where I can hold it together but I can't anymore." Dominique paused as Jade placed her hand on top of Dominique's, "Why did he have to fall in love with me?"

"You're asking why he fell in love with you?" Jade questioned with her eyebrows raised.

"I mean everything was so much better before. I can't have him fall for me."

"Why not? What's so scary about him loving you?"

"Because..." Dominique took a deep breath, "I think I'm in love with him too."

Jade smiled and patted her hand, "I already knew that; my question is why you waited so long to admit it."

"I don't know. I think I'm a little scared, plus how can I start this with him and it was built on so many lies."

"It wasn't built on too many lies. It's just that through everything that was going on, you two fell in love with each other."

"What if I'm not enough or ready for this? What if I end up messing this up or he just leaves me?"

Jade paused for a moment as she noticed that

Dominique couldn't look into her eyes, "Dominique, the same thing that happened to your mother is not going to happen to you. You are not your mother. No matter how much you think you are, you are not her. You will not end up like her because Nik isn't like that."

Dominique bit down on her bottom lip and swallowed hard, "I'm scared." She finally admitted taking a deep breath, "I'm scared of these feelings that I have and where this is going to go. I mean I'm scared because I don't know. Besides you guys, Nik is the only person that allows me to be myself and make me feel instead of over think it." Her voice quivered.

"Sometimes that's the fun part. If you would have asked me three years ago if I would fall for a guy like James, I would tell you hell no, but I can't imagine my life without him. You know how you feel about Nik and you shouldn't try to hide it. If you don't give him a chance you are going to always wonder what could have happened. Nik loves you for you and you never had to do anything extra for him to fall. I do think there are a couple of doors you need to close in order to have a happy relationship with him though." Dominique nodded.

Dominique nodded and took a deep breath. She knew what Jade was telling her was right. She needed to stop denying her feelings for him. She wanted to give it a try with Nik. She was entering a new stage and she wanted nothing better than to start everything with Nik. Dominique was going to thank Jade when she saw something glimmering on her finger.

"Is that what I think it is?" Dominique asked pointing to it.

Jade looked down, "Oh this little thing. It's nothing but a little ring that James gave me."

"Congratulations! When did he proposed?" she said hugging her.

"Yesterday, James came over for lunch and we were eating in my office. We were just talking normal, nothing special. He passed me this envelope and he asked me if I could check what's in there and see if everything looks okay. When I opened it, there was this little beauty here. I looked up at him and he was just casually looking at me. He didn't say anything for awhile and I was scared he was just going to say something like 'hey you want to marry me', but he surprised me. He leaned in close to me and told me that he never thought that he would be right here again, but he knew that right now it was right and he knew that he had to go through what he did to be the man that was right for me. Then he popped the question, of course I said yes." Jade said beaming from ear to ear.

"Did you ever think that he wouldn't?"

"I thought for awhile he wouldn't just because of everything that he went through with that evil woman, but I knew in my heart he was waiting for when he was ready."

"I guess sometimes there can be happy endings, huh?" Dominique smiled.

"You bet and I'm pretty sure you can find yours and stop comparing it to everyone else." Dominique nodded as she looked off to the side thinking about what Jade just said, "Now, let's get past this baby shower."

Dominique was more than ready; all the planning that she has been doing for Katrina and she couldn't wait to see her face. She kept thinking about what Jade said and what she has been fighting for so long. She did want to break free and be herself. That's all her friends ever want her to be. That's all Nik wanted her to be. So why has she been pretending to be someone else?

The party went by in a blur so far as Dominique was concerned. She knew what she had to do to get what she wanted. She had to let go.

After cleaning up the party, Dominique headed to Jason's place. That's the first place she wanted to start. It was going to be easier than her next two stops; at least that's what she thought. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She stepped back slightly once Candy swung the door open.

"Dominique, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to talk to Jason a little bit."

"Oh, is everything okay?" Candy said with a look of concern.

"Yea, just want to talk to him about some stuff." Candy let Dominique in and sighed as she saw Jason playing his video games.

"Yea, I know what you are thinking. He still hasn't grown out of that." Candy whispered.

"I'm in the room, so I heard you." He said still keeping his eyes glued to the television.

Candy smiled shaking her head, "Anyway, we were getting ready to pick up some of my family from the airport."

"Oh, if this is a bad time then I can come back." Dominique said.

"No, you look like you have something important to say. I'll go pick them up. Baby, I'll call you on where to meet us for dinner." She said walking over to him and giving him a kiss, "Love you."

"I'll see you in a bit baby." He called out.

Dominique waited till they were alone to sit next to him. He glanced her way and saw the seriousness in her eyes. He immediately turned off the game and sat back giving her his full attention.

"So, what's up? You look kind of down." He said.

"Not down, just thinking of some heavy stuff. Actually there is something I have to tell you."

"Does it concern Nik?" he asked and her head immediately snapped up to him.

"Why would you think that?"

"I don't know something about the rehearsal dinner, it kind of felt funny. Is everything alright between you two?"

She looked down at her hands. She couldn't figure out where to start. She determined it was best to start off at the beginning. She pushed off the couch and looked down at him, gathering up all the courage in her.

"You know I thought I was in love with you, for so long. When we were growing up, you were like my knight in shining armor. I thought that when you called me, you were going to finally tell me that you felt the same way for me. When you told me that you engaged, it crushed me." She ended with a light chuckle.

Jason shook his head as if trying to shake off what she just said, "Dominique, I didn't know that you felt that deep for me, but what about Nik?"

"Yeah about that; Nik agreed to pretend to be my boyfriend only to make you jealous and make you realize that you love me after all. I felt real bad about it, but I thought this was the way to get you and I'm so sorry for lying to you. You didn't deserve that." She tried to read his face but it was just blank, so she continued, "I know I planned the wedding even though I had these feelings for you, but I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"Besides my face, who else got hurt?" he said with a little venom in his voice.

She swallowed hard, she deserved that, "Nik." His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, "The night of the rehearsal dinner, he admitted that he was in love with me and that he wanted to be with me. I couldn't say it at the time."

"It wasn't because of me, was it?" Jason said pushing off the couch.

"No, maybe a little but it was more because I was scared. I don't know if I'm capable of loving him like that." She ended in a sob, "I'm sorry. I don't even know why I'm crying, but I've been like this for the past couple of weeks."

"Because your heart is hurting." He said softly, "You hurt someone that you really love.

Trust me, I know that feeling all too well." Now it was Dominique's turn to look confused, "That day that I kissed you, I went back to Candy and told her that I wasn't sure about rushing into getting married. She tried to get out of me what the problem was and for a moment, I thought I was in love with you." Jason stuffed his hands in his pocket, "She said she was going to go back home until I figure out what I wanted. The moment those words came out of her mouth, it was like something came over me and I didn't want to imagine my life without her. I begged her to take me back and her forgiveness."

Dominique nodded, "I see that now. I see how much you love her and she does fit you perfectly. I was so stupid to make you have any doubts."

"Those doubts I had Dominique didn't come from you, but from my own insecurities. You know just like I do that we both didn't come from a cookie cutter family. I never had a father to show me how to treat a woman and to be man. I have been a very successful lawyer, but I never had anyone that challenged me to take on responsibilities."

"Yea, I had a client like you a couple years ago." She nodded and Jason couldn't help but chuckle.

"I love Candy, just as much as I know you love Nik. He makes you different and I see it. He makes you laugh and you have fun with him. Not to mention I see how he looks at you. He was probably in love with you before he knew it."

"Wow, I didn't think of it that way." She said wiping the tears from her face.

"So why are two people who are as smart as us, messing up good things in our lives?"

"I don't know, I'm wondering that myself now."

She looked down before she continued on with what she really wanted to know, "So, are we cool?"

He laughed, "I could never stay mad at you for long." He grabbed her hand and pull her close into a nice bear hug, "You are my mini." He said calling her the nickname he gave her as a child, "I'm always going to be your best friend."

"And I'm always going to be yours. I'm so sorry." She said wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Actually, I'm kind of flattered. I didn't think you held me in such high regards." He smirked and she punched his chest.

"Don't push your luck." She said and they both started laughing as his phone went off.

"Well, that's my future wife, I better go meet up for dinner."

"Yea and I have some things I have to do too. I guess I'll see you on the big day." Dominique smiled.

"Yep and I better see Nik there with you." He smiled and she nodded.

If only he will take her back after everything that happened between them. As she headed to her apartments, she paused at his door. What was he doing right now? Was he thinking of her or was he on a date with another girl? The thought of him with another girl made her want to kick the door down and inspect the place, but she thought the better of that. She shook her head and sighed. She just had to see. She walked to the door and knocked on it. She waited for him to swing the door open so she could fall into his arms and kiss him all over. She wanted to take back everything she said and release her heart to him. She knocked again as a smile crossed her lips as she thought about how he would probably take her in front of the fireplace just like he did the other day. She gave another impatient knock but nothing. He was probably gone or worse saw it was her and didn't want to open the door. No, that wasn't in his nature.

She sighed in defeat and went to her own apartment. Tomorrow, she will try again tomorrow. She would just have to wait till he wants to listen, she thought as she made her way into her own apartment.

Nik swung open the door looking around outside. He could have sworn he heard someone knocking on the door. He shook his head as he closed the door. He sighed to himself as he leaned his head against the door. He thought for a moment it was Dominique.

The next day, Dominique got an early start and put on her yellow sundress with gladiator sandals. She had to mentally get herself ready for her last stop. She drove all the way to her mom's house and pulled up in front. She was bound and determine for this one. She had so much that she wanted to get off her chest.

"Dominique, how are you doing darling?" Sun said enveloping her in a big hug.

"I'm good. I'm finally thinking clear." He looked at her not able to hide his confusion, "Is my mom here?"

"Yea, she is upstairs in her sewing room."

"I'll go see her." She was about to head upstairs when she turned back to him, "Thank you so much, Sun for being that father figure that I needed. I will never forget how you would always take time out of your schedule to be at anything that I was participating in and I love you for that."

After saying that a huge grin spread over his face and he nodded.

"It was my pleasure, Dominique. You were my daughter as well, no matter what." She gave him a kiss on his cheek and set her sights upstairs.

She moved in a daze as a million thoughts of how this was going to play out repeated in her head.

She didn't want to attack her, but she needed for her to know everything. She needed her to acknowledge her. Dominique found herself in front of the door with her thoughts still running wild. Well, it was now or never. She opened the door and saw her sitting in front of the sewing machine holding up a light blue fabric. She turned towards Dominique and quickly turned her attention to the fabric. With that little dismissal she gave her, Dominique was ready now.

"Hello mom. I came to talk to you." She sat her purse down at the closest table, "You know for years the only thing I wanted was for you to accept me and love me. You don't know how it feels to be a child and know her mother doesn't love her." She walked over to the window in front of her, "I tried everything to be the daughter that you wanted. I went into a career that I thought would make you happy, especially after the big fuss you made when Eiji became a therapist. I based my life around you, wanting you to notice me. I realize now I put everything on hold just to please you. I stopped doing what I love to make you happy; well you know what I'm tired of it. I'm tired of pleasing everyone else and not doing anything for myself. I can't even really blame you for that because I allowed you to do it. I was afraid to love." Dominique stared straight at her, but her mother didn't waver, "I can see that it hurts to look at me because I look like him. I actually met him and he denied me to my face, no matter how much his wife tried to convince him otherwise. You know I can forget him, but I gave you a chance because you were here. Now I see you were here in body but I wanted a mother. I wanted you!" She nearly shouted as she felt the tears stinging her eyes, "You know that's okay. As of this moment, I'm not doing that anymore and I'm not going to be scared anymore. I almost missed out on a chance to have someone love me because of his race. I thought the same thing that happened to you would happen to me. I'm not going to live in fear anymore." The deafening silence filled the room and for the first time Dominique felt the anger boiling over as her mother sat there with her face blank, "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she shouted and the shrill volume in Dominique's voice finally had their eyes meeting, "I'm going to do what I want for myself. I'm going to love hard and allow myself to be loved. I'm not going to try to get your acceptance anymore. It's not fair to me. I'm going to be happy with him, if he takes me back." She chuckled as she wiped face, "You can continue hating me if you want because I'm done."

Dominique said and was heading to the door.

She grabbed her purse and put her hand on the door, vowing to make this the last time she would ever come here, but then something stopped her cold.

"I never said I hated you." A strained heavy accent voice filled the room and Dominique's breath caught in her throat.