~November 2025 Vaight Manor~

Darien merely gave him a look.

"Are you feeling alright?" Nicolas asked. Not that he was concerned or anything...

"Of course I'm not bloody alright." The words lacked anger, filled only tiredness and almost boredom.

He stood up and walked over to a window, covered by a thin layer of grime. He rested both hands on the sill and sighed.

"But that doesn't matter. None of it matters. I know you don't understand, but this way she'll be safe. She knows that...She has to know that. And you're risking that by coming here. It's quite annoying actually."

He turned to face Nick again, his face tired and oddly lined in the dim light. "Besides, there's no point. She's not mine...Not mine to care for, not mine to protect any more. Now, that's your job. You have to protect her and your kid. They need you. No one needs me, not even Ana. So it doesn't matter. I don't matter."

Nicolas sighed. "The baby is yours."

Darien would've sworn the earth shook...or his feet did.

"What?" Darien's aloof and depressing outlook was warping before his eyes. And the room was now definitely shaking...Or was it?

...No...it wasn't true...Nick was lying...he hated him, he said so...he was messing with his mind... "That's not true."

"Isn't it?" Nicolas said. "Well it definitely isn't mine. We haven't..."

Nicolas said seriously. "She's seven months pregnant, do the math, you two were still together."

"But you said...You said..." Darien couldn't form coherent words, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the windowsill.

"In the hospital. Years ago. When she said...and I thought...but you said it was yours!"

"It's really quite disconcerting that you'd believe me over what she says." Nicolas said arrogantly.

"As I said, I thought I could do it. But I realised... I can't."

Darien didn't bother responding with a glare.

"Do you really expect me to believe that? You hate me, remember!" Darien's voice recovered some level of emotion. "Why the hell would you give up, after you've won? Can't you just accept that you've won? I gave up years ago, why do you have to come back and try to start it all up again?! You'll ruin everything!"

"If you don't believe me, we'll that's your problem isn't it?" Nicolas turned to leave. "As you said, I hate you. But I'm gaining nothing from telling you this. In fact, I'm losing more than I stand to gain."

"I'll be seeing you."

Darien paused. Now he thought about it...What had Nick to gain?

"Nick..." he paused. "If...if...if you're right...Why didn't she tell me?"

Nicolas stopped in his tracks.

"She tried. You just wouldn't listen."

"...But..." Darien's mind was stunned.

He stumbled back to the chair and collapsed in it.

He'd screwed up. Badly.

"...Sh!t." He whispered.

"I'll be seeing you then." Nicolas said straightening himself, and turning to leave.

"Wait!" Darien's head snapped up.

"...What should I do?" He asked, desperate for someone, anyone, to tell him how to fix everything.

"Hell if I know." Nicolas snapped. What did he have to spell that out too? He planned to leave him there. But then Nicolas stopped. He went here already. He might as well go the whole way.

"But I do know that she still loves you. If I were you, I'd go from there."

Darien covered his face with his hands, as though hiding from the world would make this knowledge go away.

He'd just got used to being tragic...but now...

Darien was clueless.

"La puta madre!" Nicolas swore. "Do I really have to... Gah!"

He stroded towards Darien, so that he was within touching distances of him. A second later, Nicolas grabbed Darien's shoulders. "Do you know what I would do to be in your position right now? If Amy was still..." Nicolas trailed off but words still alive lingered in the air.

He brushed it off. "If she was... and I had a second chance I would bloody well take it! I mean, you've been a complete a$$ and you don't bloody deserve this, but that kid needs to know who his real father is and I'm going to bloody well give that to him!"

Darien stared at Nick in shock for a moment.

"But...I...He'd be in danger too! I can't kill my own son!" He sighed. "You're right, I don't deserve another chance. I...I love her..." Ashamed, he felt tears at the back of his eye.

"I can't do that to them!"

"It's not for you! I didn't tell you all of this so you can have a second chance, so you can meet your son, so you can have her back! It's about them! They fuccking need you!"

Nicolas moved away from Darien. "Do you know what a Fidelius Charm is?

"They fuccking need you!"

Darien blinked furiously as Diana's face appeared before his eyes, and viciously rubbed at his eyes.

...His...son...?!

But...Even if...there was a chance he was his son...even then...he had to try...didn't he?

He glanced up at the question. "Uh...Heard of it? I wasn't listening in bloody history of magic."

Nicolas rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

Well if Nicolas was to be completely honest, he hadn't been listening in History of Magic as well. But really that information was irrelevant. He knew what a Fidelius Charm was now.

"It's a spell, that will enable a location to be hidden from anyone uninvited least of all the Purgers." He explained.

"I can have it all arranged." Nicolas said emotionlessly.

Darien was shocked. He thought he could probably understand victims of shellshock now.

Shocked. Stunned.

"But...What...What does that involve?"

"A Secret Keeper." Nicolas replied. "Someone to keep the information of the location safe. Someone you unconditionally trust."

He faced Darien to watch his reaction.

Darien paused. "You mean...you...right?"

He almost laughed. "No offence Nick, but I'm not sure our...mutual hatred can be described as um...trust."