Joey was coming out of his stepmother’s office when the front door opened and Mick Sinatra walked in.  Nikki noticed how Joey seemed shocked to see him suddenly there, and he stopped nervously in his tracks.  “Hey, Pop,” he said in a voice devoid of that arrogance she noticed earlier.

She also noticed how Mick Sinatra responded with a dry “Hey” to his son with about as much affection as a cactus.  This man was the real shit!  Then he started heading their way.

If Teddy and Gloria rose to their feet swiftly when their stepmother walked into the room, they flew to their feet when their father walked in.  The only family member who didn’t rise was Roz.  Nikki, taking Roz’s cue, remained seated too.  Maybe it was a stubborn thing.  Maybe it was a too-nervous-to-move thing.  But whatever it was, Nikki remained seated.  But she kept her eyes on Mick Sinatra.

When she told Teddy that his father’s photo on the internet had terrified her, she really wasn’t exaggerating.  Seeing the man in person only confirmed why for her.  Although he was a very handsome man, a man Teddy greatly favored, he looked so big and intense and menacing that his meanness overpowered his attractiveness and created a picture that was overall very negative.  More negative than her own father came across to her.  She wondered why any of his children bothered to have anything to do with him!

She felt that way even more when the man entered the living room and, without saying a word even to his wife, walked straight up to Teddy.  And with a fist bigger than both of Nikki’s hands, Mick Sinatra leaned back and knocked the shit out of Teddy.  Nikki jumped to her feet then, in shock, as Teddy’s big body flipped over the side table from the impact of the punch and landed, on his back, behind the table.

Get your ass up, Nikki thought angrily, and Teddy, to his credit, got up quickly and hurried back around the table to get in his father’s face.  He wasn’t backing down, Nikki noticed, but he wasn’t fighting back either.  Not with this man.

Joey had entered the living room and looked terrified.  Gloria looked beyond terrified.  But Nikki also noticed how neither one of them said a word against their father’s action or came to Teddy’s defense.  Roz remained where she sat, staring at her man with a hard look that made it clear she would intervene if he took it too far.  To Nikki, who looked from Teddy to Mick, he already had.

Mick’s anger had unleashed, and it was still there as he pointed a finger at his son.  “Don’t you ever take my plane without my permission ever again.  Don’t you lie to my crew ever again.  You understand me?”

Nikki’s heart dropped.  Was that what this was about?

“Do you understand me?” Mick asked Teddy again in that same way, Joey noticed, Teddy had asked him when it came to disrespecting his woman.

But Teddy knew he had to own up to what he’d done.  He took his father’s plane without asking permission, and he did lie to the crew that Mick knew he was taking it.  Because of his reputation for integrity, and the position he held as his father’s number two, the crew believed him without question.  “Yes, sir,” he said.

But Nikki couldn’t just stand there quietly and let Teddy take all of the blame.  “He did it for me,” she said to Mick.

Everybody was startled.  “Oh, my Gawd,” Gloria verbalized, feeling afraid for Nikki, and Joey shook his head as if he knew what was coming next.

And when Mick looked at Nikki with a look that everybody knew meant trouble, and then made a move toward her, Teddy’s heart dropped.  He moved to Nikki and stood almost in front of her, shielding her.  Even Roz, understanding how quickly this could get way out of hand, rose to her feet.

And when her husband continued to move toward Nikki, despite Teddy’s positioning, Roz moved in front of Teddy and attempted to grab Mick by the arm to stop his progression.  “Mick,” she said in an attempt to deescalate the tension.

But Mick removed his arm from her grasp.  “What did you say?” he asked Nikki.

Nikki’s heart was hammering, but she moved from behind Teddy and Roz and stood her ground.  “I said he did it for me,” she said.  “I was in a situation where I needed help.  I called him and asked him to help me.  He took your plane because it was the fastest way he could come and help me.”

Mick stopped his progression, but he didn’t ease his stare.  “And that is supposed to excuse it?” he asked.

“Excuse it, no,” Nikki said.  “Explain it, yes.  So, if you want to be angry with somebody, be angry with me.”

Mick continued to stare at Nikki.  One thing a man like him could recognize and respect was strength.  And this girl was strong.  She stood up to him: she had to be.  She was a lightning bolt of strength.  But she was more than that to Mick.

“Move,” he said to Teddy, who had moved back in front of Nikki.

But Teddy stood his ground.  “No, sir,” he said to his father.  “I take the blame for not getting your permission.  That’s all on me.  She had nothing to do with that.”

Joey and Gloria looked at each other.  They knew Teddy was the only one of them who could stand up to their father, and sometimes did.  But that risky game had its limits too.

But Mick, instead, looked around Teddy at Nikki.  “You’re Nikki,” he said, surprising everybody in the room that he knew her name.  Including Nikki.

Nikki moved from behind Teddy again.  “That’s right,” she said.

Mick stared at her again, and then let out words he rarely repeated.  “Thank you,” he said to her.

Everybody was baffled, but none more so than Nikki.  “You’re thanking me for what?” she asked.

“You are the young lady who assisted my nephew Tommy Gabrini, and my son, when my wife was taken to that hospital in Beverly Hills, are you not?”

Everybody exhaled for the first time since Mick’s arrival.  Teddy even smiled his relief.  “Yes, sir,” Teddy said.  “She’s the one.”

“What did she do?” Gloria asked.

“That hospital staff wouldn’t let us see Roz or give us any real information,” Teddy said.  “Nikki followed one of the nurses into the bathroom and got her to help us out.  We were able to see Roz for the first time then, and we gave a report to Dad, who was flying back from Europe.”

“Thank you,” Mick said to Nikki again, when he was able to see her in full.

Nikki smiled.  Talk about a turn of events!  “’You’re welcome,” she said.

Mick gave the slightest of smiles, but then he was serious again.  “If you ever speak out of turn to me again, however,” he said to Nikki, “I’ll kick your ass.”

Nikki swallowed hard.  She believed him.  “Yes, sir,” she said to him.

Then Mick looked at his wife with the first affectionate look Nikki saw in the man, and then he began to walk away.  “Ted!  Joey!” he yelled as he walked with his back to all of them.  “And you too, Gloria!”

Joey and Gloria hurried behind him.  Teddy looked at Nikki.  “It’s some family business, that’s all,” he said to her.  “You okay?”

She nodded and said that she was fine, although Teddy could see she was a little shaken too.  And he hated that her first impression of his father was such a negative one.  But at least he thanked her, and at least she now knew what kind of head of family she was dealing with.

He squeezed her arm, and then followed his siblings toward his father’s office.

Roz looked at Nikki.  “I should thank you as well,” she said.  “I had no idea you assisted them that way.”

“It was really nothing.  Ted and that other man, Tommy Gabrini, were so distressed and worried about you.  It seemed so unfair to me that that hospital staff wouldn’t at least give them a real status report.”

“They don’t care.  It’s all about the money with those places.  Anyway, how about a drink?”

“Oh, that sounds great,” Nikki said with a smile.  “I feel as if I just got out of a Cat-5 hurricane that suddenly turned into a Tsunami.”

Roz laughed.  “Welcome to Sinatra World!” she hailed.  Then she placed her arm in Nikki’s.  “Come on,” she said as she began escorting her to their full-sized bar.  “Let’s get drunk together!”

Nikki smiled, and gladly went along.