A/N: I hope you all approve of the way I'm handling the Juliette situation here. I'm sure you'll let me know either way, in fact, I'd appreciate it if you did :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7

Dani was a therapist, and that meant she usually knew what to say to people, even in the most awkward and emotional situations. On this particular night she was at a complete loss. Juliette Pittman was not her patient or her friend. She was the daughter of her boss and her boyfriend's ex, and she was very upset. Dani hardly knew where to begin, but she did wish Nico would get back here very fast.

"Here," said Ray Jay as he handed Juliette the glass of water his mom had sent him to fetch.

Juliette looked vaguely amused by the gesture, raising the glass as if to inspect it and then to toast the guy who brought it to her.

"Cheers," she joked, taking a long drink and wincing at the fresh clean taste.

Dani was willing to bet Juliette was far more used to a stronger liquid in her glass and had got through rather a lot of it recently. So much for rehab and doing so much better. Still, when couples went through a divorce it was usually the kids that suffered most. Dani knew that from her patients as well as from first hand experience. Glancing back she realised her son was still stood there, staring rather too intently at Juliette.

"Ray Jay?" she prompted, tapping on his arm. "Hey, could you go finish up in the kitchen please?"

He looked set to argue until Dani fixed him with a look that told him it wouldn't do him any good right now. Not wanting to be made to look dumb in front of the hottie, Ray Jay took himself back to his cleaning up from dinner. Alone again, Dani looked to Juliette just as she wiped the back of her hand across her face.

"So, times are tough right now, huh?" said Dani as kindly as could be. "I guess you're feeling a little caught in the middle of what's going on with your parents..."

"Don't Psych 101 me," Juliette snapped, standing up sharply from her seat and turning away. "I didn't come here to get my head shrunk, I came to see Nico," she said crossly.

"Well, then you came to the right place," said a familiar a voice.

Dani had never been so relieved to see Nico in her life. Honestly, Juliette looked almost as pleased he was here. Well, Dani thought she was pleased, until the Pittman heiress walked right up to Nico, drew back her hand, and slapped him hard across the face.

"Hey!" Dani was on her feet in a second ready to intervene, but Nico put up a hand, signalling for her to stop.

"It's fine, Dani," he promised her, though his eyes remained locked on Juliette's own. "I guess I deserved that, since I'm assuming you know about me and Gabrielle."

"About you screwing Mommy Dearest behind my father's back?" Juliette spat. "Oh, yeah, I heard all about it. How could you?"

Dani watched the two getting in each other's face, not liking it at all, but knowing she had no place in this mess. She loved Nico, but she knew he loved both Gabrielle and Juliette in very different ways. This was something he needed to deal with, and all she could do was stand by and watch. That was not something Dani was used to doing.

"How could I?" Nico echoed Juliette's words back at her, catching her by the wrist when her arm came up again. "How could I love your mother? Protect her from Marshall when he fell apart? How could I play the role of your father all these years when your real Dad just didn't have the time?"

"Don't act like you're some great hero," said Juliette with a painful laugh. "Nico Careles, saviour of the Pittman women," she rolled her eyes dramatically. "We would've coped just fine without you. Maybe my parents wouldn't need to be getting a divorce if you'd kept your hands to yourself!"

"Hey, that is enough!" Dani yelled then, knowing it was wrong before she ever received twin incredulous looks from the arguing pair. "Now I know this is none of my business, but this is my house and I am not going to stand here and watch you tear pieces out of a good man over circumstances that you do not understand!" she told Juliette firmly, arms folded over her chest.

To her credit, the girl did look stunned and a little shame faced at causing a fuss in someone else's home. There was just a flicker of pain and regret, and then she came out swinging, as Dani might've known she would.

"Your house?" she smirked, backing up a step from the fixer. "You hear that Nico? So much for a loving and equal relationship," she laughed painfully, then muttered to herself, pushing past Dani towards the kitchen.

Nico ran a hand over his face and looked towards his girlfriend.

"I'm so sorry about this, Dani," he told her seriously. "I've been calling her, trying to find her, but I never thought she'd show up here like this..."

"It's not your fault," she assured him. "I mean, yeah, kinda stunned, and not happy about the slapping," she frowned as she moved closer and examined the red mark shining brightly on his cheek.

"That part at least I understand," he sighed. "Dani, she's looking for someone to blame. Her parents are divorcing, her life is in turmoil..."

"That's not your fault," she shook her head, putting her arms around him. "Nico, I think Juliette is drinking again," she said softly. "I think maybe she needs help that you won't be able to give her, no matter how much you want to."

Nico looked away, towards the door through which Juliette had passed, then down at her purse on the table. He shouldn't do it, and yet in a moment he had crossed the room and was rifling through the contents of Juliette's bag. An empty half-bottle of vodka sat at the bottom and in a side pocket, a bottle of pills, thankfully still mostly full.

"Can't you talk to her?" he said, looking as desperate as Dani ever saw him when he glanced back at her.

Dani took the pill bottle from his hand and read the label. Anti-depressants. Maybe somebody was already trying to help Juliette but she doubted it. These things got prescribed for good reasons, but also much more often than they should by doctors who didn't care to get to the root of a problem, just wishing to get rid of the patient as fast as possible, especially people like Juliette with all her money and issues.

"I don't know," she sighed. "I'm not sure I'm a person that Juliette would much wanna talk to, and with her father being my boss, and you..." she wavered a little on that connection that made a knot form in her stomach all too easily. "I don't know."

Nico was at a loss. He had spent weeks trying to check on Juliette, all to no avail. He ought to have known nobody would be able to find her until she decided she wanted to be found. Now here she was, his surrogate daughter as it were, and all she wanted to do was take her anger out on him and get drunk. To think he almost had her on track once, in rehab, doing so much better. He hated himself for the part he had played in her falling apart again. At the same time, Nico really, really wanted to punch Marshall in the face for not being the father he should've been to their girl.

In the kitchen, Juliette had searched all the cupboards for something she could drink. There wasn't much, until she ran across what had to be Nico's special occasion scotch. He wasn't much of a drinker, but much like her Dad, he liked the good things in life. When he did want or need a shot of something, it had to be the best. Dani didn't come off as the Johnnie Walker Black type anyway.

Juliette poured a healthy measure into a clean tumbler from the drainer. She parked herself by the counter as if she were at a bar and took a long drink. The alcohol burned, even now, even after all these years of abusing her body with too much booze. It was a comforting pain, even if that made no sense to anyone, including herself. Juliette didn't even flinch when the back door opened and closed. She looked up to see the young guy from before stood staring at her.

"Hey," she smiled in a way that didn't reach her eyes. "Ray Jay, right?" she checked, pointed one manicured finger at him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "And you're Juliette Pittman"

The smile that came to his own lips was one she had seen before. Juliet understood that guys liked her, especially younger guys. She was hot and rich, what wasn't to like, right? Of course, she really wasn't in the mood for being hit on right now. It might've been fun, if only to make Nico's head explode. As far as Juliette was concerned he deserved it, him and his little girlfriend.

"Think of the devil," she muttered as Dani put in an appearance with Nico on her heels.

Ray Jay looked almost disappointed but his mother chose not to notice. She had always been glad that he was out the only other time Juliette had come visiting, so many weeks ago during Nico's recuperation. Now there was this look in his eye that all teenage boys, and even some men got, whenever a hot blonde was within the vicinity.

"Juliette," said Dani, as kindly but firmly as she could. "I appreciate that you're upset, but this is not your house and there are rules here about the way people are required to behave."

"Really? She always like this, Nico? Is the authoritative thing what you like about her?" she leered into her drink.

Nico reacted sharply, whipping the glass from Juliette's hand before it ever reached her mouth. If he'd gone about it just an inch wrong he could've smashed the glass into her face, but Nico was just better than that. His face was all thunder and darkness as he glared at her.

"I don't care whose daughter you are, or how much you're going through," he said in a low, low voice. "You do not come into this house and speak to Dani like that."

Ray Jay felt like backing up the stairs was a solid plan right now. This was going to get ugly, he could feel it. As hot as Juliette was, there was no way in hell he was getting mixed up in her fight with Nico, no frickin' way.

"Nico, it's okay," said Dani, pulling on her fixer's good arm. "Come on," she urged him, not liking how he was getting so far into Juliette's face.

Her behaviour was inappropriate, no doubt, but this wasn't going to help. Emotions were running way too high here tonight. Better that they all sleep on it and have a reasonable and calm conversation in the morning, she figured. This she said to both Nico and Juliette, though neither looked her way or even acknowledged she had spoken for a full minute.

"I really don't think we need much of a conversation, do we, Nico?" said Juliette at last, a nasty smirk coming to her lips. "You don't like my attitude, and I don't like you breaking up my parents marriage. So we're done."

"Are you so naive, Juliette?" he asked with a laugh that held no humour in it. "You really think I would wash my hands of you so easily? And do you honestly believe that the only problem in Marshall and Gabrielle's marriage was my loving your mom?"

Dani felt like she just wanted to leave the room and fast. This was none of her business, and talk of her boyfriend's ex just made her squirm. Gabrielle was model-type beautiful and apparently a big love in Nico's life. It would be foolish and ridiculous for Dani to be jealous of that, but even therapists who understood these things in others had trouble convincing themselves to let things go occasionally.

"Honestly?" Juliette shrugged, tears coming to her eyes. "I don't know what I think or believe anymore."

Dani looked over and saw not the brassy blonde with an attitude who had slapped Nico in the living room minutes before. She saw a scared little girl who needed a hug from someone who cared. Sure that it was the right thing to do, even if she couldn't say why, Dani squeezed by Nico and offered an arm around Juliette's shoulders. It was a surprise to even the therapist when suddenly the young woman seemed to collapse into her embrace, sobbing her heart out.

"Oh, wow. Okay," she said, holding her as she cried. "Um, could you make up the guest room, maybe?" she asked Nico in a whisper over Juliette's shoulder.

The fixer hardly knew what to make of all this, but it was nice to know that Dani was prepared to help Juliette any way she could. She was just a mixed up kid when all was said and done, and as close to a daughter as Nico ever had. Her staying here could be complicated, but it was better than having her out on the street or God knows where else, getting herself into trouble. Nico was grateful for small mercies right now, even as the hand print on his face continued to sting.

To Be Continued...