A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. I've just finished it off this evening. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

'Small words,' Max snapped as he stormed up towards Ruby. When his daughter stayed resolutely silent, Max took a deep breath and said, his voice shaking, 'Explain now.'

Behind Ruby's eyes, something clicked into place and a slightly vacant smile appeared upon her face.
'Hey, Daddy!' Ruby was quite obviously drunk. 'How's life treating you?'

'Compared to what you're going to get from me, it is paradise,' Max assured her in a growl. 'What the hell were you doing with my BMW?' He dragged Ruby up into a standing position.

She swayed precariously but managed to keep herself upright.
'Driving. Well, I was driving but then this car – or was it two cars? – jumped out of nowhere at me and…' Ruby clapped her hands together. She was apparently amazed by this simple gesture as she stared at her hands for a very long time afterwards.

Max turned around to look at Will, who shrugged.

'It's a good excuse,' Will told his father, amused by the situation, 'I wish I'd thought of it a few years ago.' When his father glared at him, he merely rolled his eyes, reminding him, 'I am what I am, Dad.'

Max snorted, muttering darkly,
'I've heard that one before.' He turned his glare to Ruby, informing her, 'I intend to press charges and have you pay for all the damage you've caused.'

'That's a bit harsh, Dad,' Will said, stepping forward. 'It's only a car –'

'I don't care, William! I've had it with my children disgracing the family name! My name!' Max cried, attracting the attentions of several nearby police officers. 'First Nicki –'

'No,' William was quick to argue, 'first it was me and thenit was Jasmine.'

Max span around to glare venomously at his son.
'Jasmine never did anything to disgrace the family name, unlike yourself.'

Will rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he muttered,
'Whatever you say, Dad.'

'First it was you, then it was Nicki and now it's Ruby!' Max was quiet for a moment. 'I'm quite sure that it's Nicki's influence.'

'You give me too much credit,' Nicki told her father sharply as she swept past him, instantly at her sister's side, slowly easing her into a sitting position. 'Hey, Ruby – you okay?'

'I don't feel too great,' Ruby admitted in a weak voice.

'You don't look too great either,' Will told her, crouching down next to her. He now looked over at Nicki, taking in what she was wearing, frowning. 'Please don't wear that dress again,' he requested.

'Don't worry, I'm going to get out of this atrocity as soon as I can,' Nicki promised her brother, bemused when her brother looked relieved. 'Why are you so bothered?'

'Because a lot of cops are admiring your "figure",' Will told Nicki in an almost possessive manner. He couldn't help it – she was his little sister and favourite sibling.

Nicki grinned.
'I suppose I'll just have to deal with it until this is over.' She rubbed Ruby's back in a soothing manner and looked over at the mangled body of what she assumed to be her father's BMW. She whistled lowly, asking, 'How did you manage to do that?'

'No idea –'

'Two cars "jumped" out at her,' Max said scornfully.

Nicki pondered this for a moment before nodding.
'Creative.' She looked at her sister, who was leaning her head against Nicki, and murmured, 'You're going to be fine - but you're never going near my Audi.'

Will smirked.
'Yeah, how many times have I heard that one? Anyway, the kid does good work.' He motioned towards the car, chuckling. As Nicki stood up, a deep frown on her face, he now allowed Ruby to rest her head against him and looked up at Nicki with a wary look upon his face. 'What's up, Nix? I don't like that look on your face.'

'Neither do I, Will.' Having taken the car keys from the floor next to Ruby's feet, Nicki unlocked the trunk of the car, sincerely hoping the red liquid slowly dripping from the back of the car wasn't what she thought it was. Nicki opened the trunk and grimaced. 'Will, get Mac on the phone –'

'Why would you want Mac here?' Max asked as scornfully as he could, though he wasn't able to hide how uncomfortable he felt at the mention of Mac's name.

Nicki just ignored her father. As Will looked inquisitively at her, Nicki explained.
'This just became of homicide case.'

'One more time,' Mac said, raising his eyebrows in a way that told Nicki that he wanted no lies.

Nicki sighed in a frustrated way, shaking her head.
'I'm being a maid of honour, I didn't come out dressed like this in the middle of November because I felt like it!' Nicki explained for the fifth time. 'And I'm not ever wearing this ever again. Ever.'

Mac nodded, now looking down into the trunk and the body that lay inside it.
'Any idea who she is?'

Nicki shook her head.
'No.' She glanced over at her father, who was being interviewed by Flack. She laughed. 'I bet that is an awkward conversation – I may have to go and rescue him in a moment.'

'Which one?' Mac asked, watching his goddaughter closely as she answered.

'Don – Detective Flack,' Nicki corrected herself hastily.

'First name terms?' Mac raised his eyebrows, still watching Nicki and how eager she now seemed to be to escape. 'Are you blushing?'

'What?' Nicki cried, wishing that her compact mirror wasn't in her bag – in her car. 'I don't blush,' she proclaimed. 'Anyway, it's less awkward that way – you can't go around life calling everybody by their job title, can you?'

Mac grinned at Nicki, holding up his hands in a mock show of innocence.
'Okay, okay, you can stop with the third degree now, Nicki. So, when did you get here?'

'Look who's giving me the third degree now,' Nicki muttered darkly. She was thoughtful before saying at her normal tone, 'About forty minutes ago – I rushed here from the dress fitting, just managing to beat rush hour traffic by about a minute. I've probably picked up a few speeding tickets but oh well. Will sent me a text, saying Ruby had gotten into a car crash and being the excellent sister I am, I came. I would've come in something different but the dress is stubborn and won't come off.'

'Stubborn – much like the woman who's wearing it,' Mac remarked.

'Oh, very funny, Mac!' Nicki rolled her eyes, glancing back over to the two men she was keeping a very close eye on. 'He looks about ready to commit,' Nicki murmured. 'I'll be right back.' With great care, she picked her way through the crime scene and walked over towards her father. When she caught Flack's eye and he rolled his eyes, Nicki called over to him, 'Tanchumay!'

Flack frowned, not bothering to respond. The frown only deepened when Max, upon seeing Nicki walking towards them, excused himself.

'You know, I'm not sure people are actually allowed to excuse themselves from giving statements,' Nicki remarked lightly, though she was obviously amused by this turn of events.

Flack shrugged.
'It doesn't matter, he'd just finished anyway. Well, he finished his statements about five minutes ago –'

It was now Nicki's turn to frown as she asked,
'Why did he stick around then? I'd have thought that he would've wanted to get out of here as soon as possible – you know, prize BMW trashed, dead body in the trunk,' Nicki explained. She was silent for a moment before she said, 'And he accuses us of dragging the family name through the mud.'

Flack chuckled.
'Yeah.' He now scratched the back of his neck, attempting to explain what Max had been talking to him about. 'Actually, he was talking to me about you,' he told Nicki.

'Oh, really?' Nicki raised her eyebrows, glancing over at where her sister was sat in the back of an ambulance. 'Was it a lecture?'

'Yeah… On how you're a terrible person and how lucky I am. I'm sure you've heard it before,' Flack said quickly.

'Believe me, I have. He hasn't forgiven me for Jasmine's death yet.' Nicki muttered, 'so yeah, I've heard the original, all three remixes and a digital re-release. I hear he's going to put it on vinyl by next week.'

Flack shook his head, murmuring,
'You're his daughter, he shouldn't be treating you like that.'

Nicki shrugged.
'I don't know – after everything, I probably deserve it in some way. But I never thought it'd be like this.'

'Questions with answers I won't like?' Flack guessed. When Nicki nodded mutely, he looked at her, asking quietly, 'Got any further on that Lopez case?'

'You know everything I do,' Nicki told him, looking up at him. When she caught him staring down at her, Nicki raised her eyebrows. 'Have I got something on my face?'

'What?' Flack blinked, shaking his head. 'No, it's just that you're wearing a dress in the middle of November.'

'Long story,' Nicki said swiftly, really not wanting to get into it. She ran a hand through her hair. 'I'm worried, Don – she's my baby sister.'

'Hey, it's okay,' Flack reassured her, unsure whether to accompany this with a physical gesture to show he was there for Nicki – like putting a hand on her shoulder – or whether to leave it. He decided upon the latter. 'She's family – that's their job, to scare the hell out of you.' He smiled at Nicki when she laughed. 'You're still there,' he muttered quietly.

'Pardon?' Nicki asked, not sure whether she'd just been listening to the traffic.

'Nothing,' Flack said quickly. He looked back down at Nicki and her dress, now saying, 'Please don't wear that dress again.'

Nicki raised a single eyebrow, almost defiantly, as she looked up at Flack and asked,
'And why is that?'

'Because the pink doesn't go with the colour of your eyes.'

Nicki smiled at this observation, nodding.
'Yeah, you're right. I'm glad somebody else noticed that and didn't say that other cops are admiring my "figure" or that the shoes don't go with the dress.' She motioned towards the trainers she was wearing. 'I may have to cry if I can't get this dress off. You don't understand how deeply I hate it –'

'Well, if it's anything like how you feel about your dad, I can hazard a guess.'

'Touché. So, no furious one-sided discussion on how families from "different classes" shouldn't even be friends, let alone date?'

'Oh, I got that one all right – except he was talking about it as if I'm the snob, not you.' When Nicki's jaw dropped and she stared up at him, Flack laughed at the pure indignation upon her face. 'You know it's true, Nix,' he told her with a mock sadness in his voice.

'I am not a snob,' Nicki snapped as they walked over to Mac.

'You're walking around in the middle of November in a short, pink dress.'

'It doesn't mean I'm a snob.' Nicki spoke with a razor-sharp tone.

'You live in a penthouse apartment that cost more than either of us can probably count up to,' Flack now commented.

'That doesn't mean I'm a snob, Don!' Nicki argued. She put a hand on Don's arm to stop him walking and looked up at him, saying, 'The word "snob" implies a certain sense of elitism, like you're better than everybody else and that you won't spend any time with anybody outside of your "tier". If I'm a snob then why did I spend four years with you? Anyway,' Nicki muttered as they now carried on walking towards Mac, 'it sounds so British.'

'So Ruby's the chief suspect in a murder case?' Samantha asked Nicki as they sat in the front room, watching the television.

'Yes.'

'And she smashed up your dad's BMW whilst being completely blitzed?'

Nicki nodded curtly.
'Yes.'

'And now she's –'

'Now she's in hospital for the night, possible the next couple of days because she threw up so violently she hit her head on the metal edge of a door and managed to knock herself out. Remember that, Sam – drinking, throwing up and passing out don't go well together.'

Samantha nodded, giving her flatmate a strained smile. Nicki had no idea what she was saying applied to Samantha but she knew that one day, with the way things were going, it might be her, trashing a car – probably Don's – and passing out. Maybe she wouldn't be in hospital, though. Maybe she wouldn't wake up.
'I hope she gets well soon.'

'Getting well isn't what she needs, Sam – getting out of this mess is what she needs,' Nicki said, not really watching the film on the screen. She sighed wearily when her home phone rang in the hallway; standing up, she slowly walked over to where it was, answering just before it went to her answering machine.
'Hello?'

'Hey, Nix – it's Ed.'

'Oh, hey.'

'Listen, I can't get to Ruby right now – seriously, all of this paperwork that seems to be flooding in is killing me.'

'You called to tell me that?' Nicki asked, irritated. 'Can't you get Stuart to do it or something? I mean, prosecution could argue that you've got a conflict of interest –'

'Please don't tell me how to do my job, Nicki – I'll take care of this for you and for her. It wouldn't seem right if I handed the case over to somebody else; she's practically family, after all.'

'How'd you work that one out?' Nick asked rather sharply, instantly wishing that she hadn't said it at all. Still, his constant persistence, especially after promising not to bother Nicki about it until after his brother's wedding, was beginning to get on Nicki's already frayed nerves. 'Never mind, I don't want to get into that – just find a way to get my sister out of all of this. Despite what we all know, she's a good kid and completely incapable of murder. It was my dad's car and although nothing can be certain until the DNA results and fingerprints come back, it's possible that my dad knew her –'

'You can't be serious! He's your father –'

Nicki stood up a little straighter as she said,
'Please don't tell me how to do my job, Ed. He'll still be a suspect in this case, no matter you're your opinion is – I'm just glad I'm going to be of the same opinion as the NYPD. Got to go now – I'm tired from all of the stress, not to mention this ordeal with my sister.'

Edward laughed on the other end of the line.
'The dress fitting was that bad?'

'It's a long story, I'll tell you when I next see you,' Nicki promised. 'Have a good time with your paperwork – is Louisa staying behind with you?' she now asked, grinning when she heard Edward groan.

'She always stays late – she's not even got any paperwork either!' Edward sighed. 'I suppose it won't go away by talking about it – I'll just sign off on these last few pieces of paper. Bye, Nicki – I love you.'

Nicki smiled, nodding.
'You too.' She hung up, putting the phone back down on the receiver, and walked back over towards the front room.

Samantha looked up at Nicki over the back of the sofa.
'Boyfriend?'

Nicki nodded, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

'My brother?'

If Nicki had been drinking anything, it would now be all over her floor and the back of the sofa. Instead she stared down at Samantha, spluttering,
'What? Why would you even say something like that?'

Samantha shrugged.
'Because he was talking to me about you a couple of days ago, saying how he's really glad that you're in New York and how you're trying to salvage something. Then Jess got in from the precinct and we had to change the subject. '

'I think he meant friends, Sam – we're trying to salvage a friendship. Still a bit of work left to do on my side, I think, but that's all – friends,' Nicki insisted.

Samantha shrugged, turning her gaze back to the second-rate film upon the television.
'If that's what you say –'

'Yes, Sam, it is and I'm sure that's what Don would say too. He has Detective Angell, after all – we're both perfectly happy with other people.'

Samantha shrugged again.
'Bet you don't go together like –'

'Samantha!' Nicki snapped, grabbing the remote off the arm of the sofa. 'Just stop.'

Samantha held up her hands.
'Fine, it was just my opinion – I thought you were supposed to uphold the right to free speech and everything?' Samantha asked, muttering darkly beneath her breath.

In an equally dark tone, Nicki merely replied,
'That's the UN and sometimes, just because you can say something doesn't mean that you should.'

'So the human race is allowed to say whatever they want to a certain extent?' Samantha shook her head, glaring up at Nicki when she began to flick through the different channels. 'I was watching that!' she protested.

Nicki replied by shrugging and sitting down on the chair she had previously been sat on.
'You are sadly mistaken if you think that I am spending my night watching something about mutant alligators fighting dinosaurs with the head of a shark, Samantha – there's got to be something worth watching on.'

'You think I haven't checked?'

Nicki looked at Samantha, her eyebrows raised as she told Samantha her answer.
'No, I don't think that you've already checked.' When Nicki found that there was nothing else on, apart from the disastrous action movie, she threw the remote back to Samantha, saying, 'I'm going into my study.'

'Okay, Miss Million Dollars.' Samantha raised a hand to wave at Nicki before settling back into watching the film.

Nicki rolled her eyes, unsure being called by a fraction of her bank account balance was meant to be an insult or not. If it was, at least it was more subtly done that just outright calling Nicki a snob. Nicki smirked, finding the recollection of that part of the evening made her rather happier than it had done at the time.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter - by the way, tanchumay means "my condolences" in Hebrew. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you all have a good week.
Grace x