AN: Just to clarify, Maxie is one of my favorite characters...And 'Maxie' is Robyn Richards. She is the recipient of her cousin's heart and the legacy of Felicia and Frisco, not this nasty ho-beast going around calling herself Maxie that we see on our screen. Ahem. Anyways.

Word Count: 2668

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

History shows there's not a chance in hell

He didn't say a single word the entire car ride back to the Quartermaines. In comparison to his usual teasing and fighting about the radio station, the silence was a wall between them. Finally at the Quartermaines' driveway, Lulu turned to Cruz, to see if she'd get his usual crooked smile, his low, "See you later, Little Spencer."

But instead he just pulled the car in park and muttered, "I'm going to be busy with this case. I'll call you." He wouldn't even look at her.

Don't cry, Lesley Lu, she warned herself, stiffening her upper lip. Instead she got out of the car, slamming the door behind her.

She stomped up the driveway, the tears welling in her eyes quickly dried by hot anger. "I'll call you? I'll call you? What the hell is that?" Lulu said to no one in particular. Cruz Rodriguez was pure whiplash. One moment, he was calling her 'Little Spencer' and treating her like a child, the next minute he was kissing her like...Oh God, that kiss. Would she ever be able to erase the memory of that kiss? That was definitely not the way someone kisses someone's little sister. It wasn't a kiss to make her feel better for crying like a baby over something that had happened ages ago. It certainly wasn't the way Dillon kissed her in the boathouse. That kiss was...From the bottom of a man's soul. And if she let herself, she could still feel her lips, her head, her entire body humming from the aftershocks of it.

Shaking those ridiculously romantic thoughts out of her head, Lulu reached around in her bag for her keys and eased open the front door of the Quartermaines mansion. It was almost 2 am, and she didn't want to wake anybody up. She needn't have worried. The house was pitch dark when she slipped in the front door, not a sound could be heard. Which made sense, Alice and the rest of the staff didn't need to be on duty until 5 so they were getting their rest.

But as for the rest of the family, everyone was sleeping in preparation for their busy days tomorrow at the hospital and ELQ. Dillon was surely resting up for finals. Lulu could remember a time when she and Dillon would stay up all night, watching old movies and talking about anything and nothing. Last summer, she had confused friendship for love- it had been so long since she had a friend her own age, outside of her family, and she had just latched onto the first boy who glanced her way. It was almost laughable now the way she had thrown herself at him. She had been close with Georgie and Maxie when they were younger- but different cliques in high school (or no clique in Lulu's case) had split them apart, and of course the affair between her father and Georgie's mother didn't help. But when...When she had become pregnant this summer, her old friend stood by her, in a way that no one else had. And they had tentatively buried the hatchet, especially since neither one really had any interest in Dillon any more.

Lulu headed up the winding staircase to her bedroom, careful to avoid the spots in the floor that she knew creaked. She didn't know why she was being so careful. It was clear that no one had been waiting up for her, no one cared where she had been all night. Every day was like this. Lulu was beginning to feel like she was invisible in the house she lived in. And maybe that was a feeling that was just too familiar to her. She had been invisible for years- her father ignored her, God she couldn't reach her mother, and her brothers, as much as she knew they loved her, had been involved in one disaster after another since they were teenagers. Disasters much graver than just a silly old teenage pregnancy, and she had always been hovering somewhere around second or lower on everyone else's priority lists.

With a dejected sigh as she entered her spacious, impersonal bedroom in the home of a family not her own, Lulu decided that all that was going to change. From now on, Lulu Spencer was her own top priority.

There was no sight more beautiful than the sight of the young Spencer family, all peering down into the face of their new day-old member, all nestled snugly in the loving arms of her mother. Lulu knocked quietly on Elizabeth's hospital room door, and the Spencers looked up.

"Auntie Lu!" Cameron said, running over and grabbing Lulu by the hand. "Look at her, isn't she awesome!" Lulu laughed as she allowed her nephew to pull her.

She looked down at little AJ. "Is she sleeping?"

"I think she's pondering the meaning of life," Elizabeth said with a smile. "AJ, look it's your auntie," she said, pulling back the blanket to show her baby's face.

Lulu's heart genuinely stopped. "Elizabeth...Lucky...Oh my God, she's beautiful." Little AJ was the tiniest baby she had ever seen, but absolutely pink and perfect, with one little blond curlicue sticking out in the center of her forehead.

"Yeah, we're ninety per cent sure we're going to keep her," Lucky said, with a wide grin. "All right, Cam. We're going to have to get you some lunch now, say goodbye to your sister." Lucky lifted Cameron so he could place a kiss on AJ's head, and then one on his mama's cheek. "We'll be back in about a half hour, ladies. Have a nice visit with your niece, little sis."

Cameron waved over Lucky's shoulder as they left the room, and Lulu took the seat next to Elizabeth. "Do you want to hold her?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sure," Lulu said, taking her into her hands. She was so tiny. She fit from head to rump lying right across Lulu's palms. "Hi AJ. I'm your Auntie Lulu. When you get big enough I'll teach you the entire Spencer bag of tricks."

"That will be never," Elizabeth cooed winking at Lulu, and she laughed.

"And I brought you a present," Lulu said, nodding over to the little giftbag she had left next to Elizabeth. Elizabeth opened it up to see a frilly, lacey little dress with pink flowers on it and a matching hat and booties.

Elizabeth laughed. "This has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Lulu grinned. "Hopefully, it will really embarrass her in about fifteen years." Lulu took a deep breath, ready to reveal her selfish reasons for coming to the hospital today. "Elizabeth, I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure, Lulu," Elizabeth said. "But just know I can't be doing any heavy lifting or bank robberies for a while."

Lulu laughed. "Nothing like that. Um, Elizabeth...Do you have any plans for using your old studio any time soon?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to have much time for painting any time in the near future. Why do you ask?"

Lulu bit her lip. "Well...I'm asking because...Living at the Quartermaines is...Well, it's not working out..."

"You want to live there?" Elizabeth asked, surprised. "Well, sure, no problem."

Lulu had expected to have to give more of a reasoning. "Really? Just like that?"

"Of course just like that," Elizabeth smiled. "You're family. If you need it, it's yours."

"Oh my God, thank you Elizabeth!" Lulu grinned. "I...I don't have a job now, but I'll get one, and I can pay you rent-"

"You don't have to pay me rent," Elizabeth shook her head. "Like I said, Lulu, you're family. But...you will have to figure out a way to pay the electric bill on your own."

"Of course, I can do that," Lulu said. She was going to have to take Mrs. Santini up on that job she had been offering for months after all.

So Lulu passed her finals, and moved into Elizabeth's old art studio without the Quartermaines so much as looking up as she left their house. She started working the night-shift at Carmen's and spent her days visiting Elizabeth and AJ.

Besides it being the only place that would hire her other than Kelley's, Lulu had it in the back of her mind that even though he was avoiding her like the plague, she would see Cruz often enough at Carmen's, but she was wrong. In a month's time, he only came in once for a quick cup of coffee and did a double-take when he saw her. So it seemed he wasn't there to check up on her.

"Lula! The detective! Go take his order," Mrs. Santini said to her, nodding in his direction.

Lulu hesitated. She was a crafty old lady, that Mrs. Santini. She took a deep breath and slowly walked over to his table. "Hi, Cruz."

"So, you're, uh...really working here now?" he said, fidgeting with the sugar bowl, and doing his best to make a big show of not actually looking at her.

"Yeah, I moved out of the Quartermaines, so..." Lulu let her voice trail off. "So, I'm living in Elizabeth's old art studio now."

"Oh, that's...That's good. How do you like it?"

"It's nice. I have some privacy," Lulu answered, trying not to be disappointed that he wasn't seeking her out. He had kissed her like he would die without her, and now he seemed intent on ignoring her. Well, that was just fine. "Can I get you anything?"

"Um, yeah, the usual, to go," Cruz said, still looking away from her.

Rolling her eyes, Lulu walked away, taking her time putting his cappuccino on. When she finally brought it back over to his table, she practically dropped the cup in front of him. "Mrs. Santini says it's on the house," she muttered, and tried to turn away as quickly as she had come, but he reached a hand out and gripped her wrist.

"Lulu, wait," she stopped but didn't look at him. Lulu was holding her breath. "Sorry I haven't called lately. I've got this case, it's taking almost all of my...Never mind. Anyway, I'm glad I saw you here."

At that, Lulu turned to him. "Really?"

"Yeah, I found something out...about Rick Webber," he whispered the last part, and Lulu tried not to feel a twinge of disappointment. One step closer to proving her mother's innocence was a good thing.

"What did you find?"

"Well, not exactly about Webber," Cruz said, finally looking her in the eye. This- investigating- was safe territory for them. Comfortable, easy. "I've come across some findings on the Cassadines...Their activities in 2002, it's...It's a little...suspicious."

"Well, that's no news," Lulu slid into the table across from him. "What happened?"

"Look, this could mean nothing, but there's been reports of seeing Mikkos Cassadine, the grandfather, in 2002, long after he was supposed to be dead," Cruz said. "Four sightings to be exact."

"Well, my dad always said that the Cassadines were vampires," Lulu shrugged. "Maybe he wasn't too far off. Mikkos, really, you sure?"

"Well," Cruz shook his head. "That's the thing, I'm not sure. No photographs and no witnesses to seeing him, just some fishy checks and word of mouth."

"Well, that's a starting point though. We need to look into this more," Lulu said, hopefully. "I...I get out of work at ten, maybe after-"

"Oh no, Lulu, I can't," he said. Too quickly. "I...I got this other case I'm working on, I really need to go right back to work."

"Oh," Lulu said, rising from the table. "Um, sure you do, sorry. Okay, um, thanks for telling me, I'll try to figure something out."

"Lulu, I'm..." Cruz looked back down to the table and stood. He looked back up to her. "Good luck, I'll...I'll call you."

And Lulu knew better than to believe him this time, but she tried for a weak smile as he left. "I won't hold my breath," she whispered to his retreating back.

The rest of her shifts were fairly uneventful, until about a week after Cruz came in, Lulu saw a face she had never expected (or wanted) to see again. Frank Boudreauz.

She was working behind the counter when he came in, but there was no mistaking that he saw her across the room. He didn't even have to speak to her to her for chills to run up her spine, he just merely tipped his hat to her and leered and she was back at New Year's Eve. Which, once again, made her think of Cruz.

And she wasn't going there again.

Soon it was nearly summer and AJ was six weeks old. Lulu was watching the baby while Elizabeth got supper ready, when Cameron and Lucky came home, with Cam holding a red boogie board over his head. "Auntie Lu! Look what I got!"

"Cool, buddy!" Lulu grinned at him and he smiled back. He had recently lost his two front teeth and was proud after she told him how tough it made him look.

"I'm bringing it to the beach party!"

"Cool, buddy, is it with your friends from school," Lulu asked, placing AJ in her chair.

"Oh, it's uh, it's not a kid party," Lucky said, smiling and waving as he passed his baby girl.

"Yeah, it's so cool," Cameron said, hopping up on one of the dining table chairs. "Hi AJ!"

"What's so cool?" Lulu asked. "Cam, go wash up for dinner before you play with your sister."

He ran off, leaving his boogie board leaning against the table, passing Lucky who was drying off his hands and reaching for AJ. "Memorial Day, the PCPD has an annual barbecue up in Montauk. With the way the heat has been, it's definitely going to be an all day beach affair," Lucky said cradling his daughter against his chest.

"Oh," Lulu said, trying for casual. "The, uh, whole department goes?"

"Yeah, pretty much, it's a great time," Lucky answered. "And all their families too. They really do it up right, Mac rents a big house right on the beach, and anyone who wants to can stay there, and he's got a buddy up there who gives him a deal on jet-skis and a boat, and...And well, Cam had so much fun last year we almost had to leave him up there." Cameron laughed, and climbed up onto Lucky's lap leaning over and staring at his baby sister. He did that a lot. Elizabeth said he was planning different ways to use her as a football.

Lulu raised an eyebrow. "Elizabeth, are you going too?"

"Oh yeah!" She answered, entering from the kitchen carrying the chicken platter. "Trust me, Lulu, I am about starved to get out of this house. There's a couple of other young moms with babies, we'll hang out on the deck together under plenty of shade. And Robin Scorpio and Patrick Drake are going to be there, and they have been just begging to see little AJ here. I'm thinking that they're...you know..." Elizabeth winked conspiratorially at Lulu.

Lulu took a deep breath. "Sounds fun. Maybe, I'll go." She had no shame.

"Really?" Lucky looked up from AJ for a second, still holding out his finger for her to grip. "You never wanted to go before."

"I never knew about it before!" Lulu protested. "And it sounds like fun, a boat and hanging out on the beach, the café is closed that weekend...Maxie and Georgie will be there. It sounds fun," she said. Again.

"Well, of course, you're always welcome," Lucky said.

"Great, then it's settled," Lulu said, sitting down at the dinner table, and helping Cam cut up his meat. She repeated over and over in her head that this beach party business had everything to do with wanting to just have a relaxing day in the sun and nothing with flaunting herself in a bikini in front of Cruz Rodriguez. Nothing at all.

music used in this section: Pavlov's Bell (Aimee Mann)