Morning after Nickolas and Claudia slept together when their kiss went further than either one of them expected.

Claudia walks into the living room to find Nickolas pouring himself a cup of tea and then pouring her a cup and joining her on the couch.

Nickolas: "so…about last night…I'm sorry…." Claudia is thinking, wow I don't think I've ever gotten I'm sorry for last night speech. "Nickolas, you don't have to…I mean we… I know your not

over Emily."

Nickolas: "yeah, so last night was like a moment of weakness for me. We both just let it go further than anticipated. I'm just not ready for…" Claudia gets up to put her cup on the tray

and then turns back to face him with a smile on her face, "well I don't think I've ever been turned down by any man let alone a prince, hmmm who would of thought." Nickolas immediately

bolts up to Claudia's side to offer comforting words because she's not smiling any more and thinks he offended her, "I didn't mean…" Claudia holds out her hand, "whoa there Batman, it's

okay." He doesn't look convinced, so she rubs his left arm to now offer comfort to him, "really, I'm fine. I was like you said, it was just us at a moment of weakness." As Claudia pecks him

on the cheek Lulu walks into the room.

Lulu: "what the hell! Get away from my brother you slut!"

Nickolas and Claudia did look pretty cozy; his arms were stretched on both sides of Claudia while she was leaning over slightly after just grazing his cheek with her hands still holding on

to him to help stabilize her. But once the deer caught in the headlights stairs were over Nickolas seemed to find his voice, "Hey! I don't really care how you feel about each other, but

Claudia is my guess just the same as you, so you will treat her with the same respect I expect her to show you." Now Lulu and Claudia starred at each other dumbfounded, until Nickolas

cleared his throat and Claudia found her voice, "you know what, I have to find Johnny anyway." Nickolas walks Claudia to the door and then goes back into the living room to Lulu who still

looks dumbfounded but slightly more pissed off, "You still haven't answered me. What the hell are you doing with that…" Nickolas gives her a look before sitting behind his desk, "With

Claudia Zacarrah?" Nickolas looks up from his papers, "lulu, it's not any of your business what's going on with me and Ms. Zacarrah, and if there is anything going on, that's up to us to

disclose such information." Lulu flops down on the couch and then stars up at Nickolas like he's lost his mind, "Are you sure your ok, I mean maybe something went wrong with the

surgery. Something had to go wrong because this is Claudia, as in Anthony Zacarrah's daughter!" Nickolas doesn't even know why he's defending him and Claudia like they are in a

relationship, he doesn't even know if their friends, well after last night they have to be at least that. Nickolas: "look Lulu like I just said, what we do is our business and if I want your

opinion on my personal life then I'll ask." Lulu wants to say something but she's speechless because she can't fathom why anyone let alone her own brother would give Claudia Zacarrah

the time of day. They were both now waiting for the other to respond that they didn't even notice when Elizabeth came into the room, "I um…I can come back later. Nadine just said that

you needed a nurse, but you know what you look fine, and busy." Elizabeth turns to leave but Nickolas stops her, "No wait, I could use your help." That got Elizabeth to stop and Lulu to

turn her anger into worry, "What? What do you mean, you said you were fine just a few minutes ago?" Nickolas turns back to face Lulu, "I am, I just need to talk with Elizabeth…alone."

Elizabeth turns to avoid the evil eye Lulu was now giving her. Nickolas walks her out to the door, "Lulu, I'm sorry I snapped at you, but I really do mean what I've said; My personal life is

just that, mine." Lulu shakes her head and walks out the door. When Nickolas comes back into the living room he notices Elizabeth is trying to inspect him, "I'm serious Liz, I'm fine. I just

needed a friend to talk to." Elizabeth looks him over once more before sitting down on the couch, "okay well if you don't need medical assistance and Lulu's angry at you it's either

Tuesday, or your harboring some fugitive." Elizabeth was laughing a little but then she turned serious once she noticed that Nickolas wasn't laughing, "ok why aren't you laughing?"

Nickolas offers her a cup of tea but she turns it down so he joins her on the couch but doesn't start just yet, he doesn't exactly know how to start. Elizabeth wonders if he's going to tell

her what he obviously needs to talk about or if he's changed his mind, "okay Nickolas your going to have to actually speak because I'm not a mind reader and your starting to worry me a

bit." Nickolas sighs and then starts, "ok, but no interruptions, or judgment. I mean I don't even know what it means yet, and I don't know if I even want it to mean anything…" Elizabeth

holds up her hands to stop Nickolas, "whoa, wait Nickolas. You have to tell me what this is about before I can even think about judging." She offers him a small smile which is enough

encouragement for Nickolas to continue, "ok, I don't even know where to start." He sighs again, "okay, I'll start with Lulu walking in on me and Claudia…I don't mean she walked in on us

last night…I mean not that we did anything last night…We did, but…" This is far from what Elizabeth had in mind, "wait, you slept with Claudia? As in Claudia Zacarrah!" Nickolas thinks

she's still pretty calm so he answers her, "yes I did, but that's not what I mean. I mean yeah we did, but lulu just walked in on a kiss…Well it wasn't even really a kiss, it was more like a

peck, yeah a peck on the cheek…That's it, so I don't see why she's so upset?" Elizabeth is speechless. Nickolas wasn't expecting her to go silent on him, "Liz? Elizabeth say something.

Say anything, I'll even take back the rules. You can judge, just say something?" Elizabeth finally realizes it's her turn to speak, "I um…Nick I don't really have anything to say except: how

do you feel about this? Or how do you want to feel about this?" Nickolas gets up and paces a little, "I don't know. I mean I…Everyone knows I'm not really over Emily, and I'm not saying

I'm ready to be over Emily, but besides you, and family; Claudia's the only one I can really talk to. I know that probably sounds like a tedious excuse but it's true, it's how I feel. And I feel

like I'm that person for her too." Elizabeth gets up smiling at him and gives him a hug. "then how could I be upset or angry? I'm happy for you, you seem happy and you deserve it."

Before Elizabeth leaves she turns around and lightly punches Nickolas on the shoulder and winks at him, "even if it is Claudia Zacarrah." Nickolas heads upstairs to check on Spencer

thinking about the conversation he just had with Liz, that went better than expected, but it was only Liz. I can only imagine when the rest of PC finds out.