All Kinds of Love
Written by Dueler312
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from OLTL
Chapter 10
Nothing really changed with Laura at all, even at the end of the school semester. Everyone was excited for the Christmas holidays. Laura though was a little down, but was still happy for it.
Unfortunately, Nick and Hope were a little sad. Nick had said to Hope that he and his dad were going to his aunts and wouldn't be around most of the holidays. Hope was sad, but understood, as the holidays was a time were family mostly spent time together, and she knew that she had a big family that was wanting to see her.
Everything was a little hectic as they were getting their things together. They had a little Christmas party, and the kids were trying to squeeze as much as they could in the bags. Nick and Hope were talking about their plans while they were getting their things together.
"I so can't wait for Christmas," said Hope. "It's going to be awesome!"
"I can't wait either," said Nick. "I'm hoping to have a lot of Christmas cake, if my dad lets me. " Hope just giggled, knowing that Nick would have to sneak around to try to get that much cake.
"Hey, before I forget," Hoe said suddenly, and she looked into her bag and then gave Nick a small wrapped present. "Wait until Christmas though," she warned her friend.
"You better as well," said Nick, as he also gave Hope a present as well, though unlike Hope's which was wrapped neat, Nick was a little badly wrapped. He said to Hope that he wanted to wrap it himself to his dad. Hope just smiled.
"Hey, how's our little girl doing?" Cole and Starr had both arrived to pick Hope up.
"I'm okay," said Hope. "Nick and I were giving each other presents."
"Now that's sweet," said Starr. She smiled at Cole, and then said, "Well we do have to get going Hope. We got to pick up your brother from your great grandma and then head home."
"Why is he there?" asked Nick.
"Because both of us had to work this morning," said Cole
"Oh," said Nick. Starr, Cole and Hope laughed a little.
"Well. We'll see you in the new year," said Starr.
"You certainly will," said Andrew, who just arrived to pick up Nick. "Got your things together son?"
"Yes, sir," Nick said, patting his bag, and also adding Hope's present in it.
"How about we all walk together?" Cole suggested. Everyone was in for that, so Hope and Nick said good-bye to Mrs. Ambers and they headed out.
However something caught their eye when they were heading up to the parking lot. Maureen seemed to be having a serious conversation with Lauren, her daughter, and Lauren really seemed to be not in agreement, though she didn't seem to be in disagreement either.
"What is the matter with you? I didn't raise you to be like this, young girl," said Maureen.
"Mom I-." Lauren said, but she got interrupted by her mother.
"I don't want to hear any excuses," said Maureen. "You knock this stupid behavior off now, because that is not we act. We are superior people and we do not let things like this put us down. You need to forget what that guy did to you, and start acting the way I brought you up to be. Now get in the car." Lauren did what she was told and Maureen followed in, and they drove off.
"What is the matter with that woman?" Starr said, disgusted. Cole also looked like he was ready to chew that mother out. Andrew though was starting to shake a little, and Nick started to noticed it.
"You okay, dad?" asked Nick.
"Huh?" said Andrew, forgetting for a sec until he came back into focus. "Oh yeah, I'm okay. I'm just shocked about what we just saw."
Hope was also feeling shocked, but instead of feeling mad, she was feeling sad, for Lauren at least. She may have been messing with her and Nick at the start of the year, but she seem to be changing now. Hope could see that Lauren had really changed after that incident, and it looked like she needed help. She knew that she needed someone to talk to, and Hope thought that she should do it. Her mom taught her to always try to help people that really need it, and it looked like Lauren really wanted it.
Once they had picked up Patrick and were home. Starr, Cole, and Hope went into the kitchen. They put Patrick in a high chair and they gave him and Hope a little snack, but they also wanted to talk to Hope about that situation that they witnessed.
"Hey, sweetie, about what we just saw, we just want you to be careful around that, okay," said Cole. "It could lead to something real bad."
"Lauren needs help," said Hope.
"I agree, Hope," said Starr. "She needs help. But I think you need to let us adults handle her mother, okay?"
"I know," said Hope. "But I just want to help Lauren and let you punish her mom."
Cole and Starr smirked a little, thinking where does their daughter come up with this stuff, but then got serious again. "And how exactly do you want to help her?" asked Starr, "Remember that she and her two friends have been picking on you because of what has happened to us in the past."
"By being a real friend to her," said Hope. "You told me to help people when they really need it, and Lauren is looking like she wanting help, Mommy."
Starr and Cole looked at each other, wondering how she remembered all that they teaching her, and decided on a mental note to figure that out later.
"Well, I can see that you are wanting to help her, Hope. Just be careful and patient though, because she may not accept it at first, you understand?" said Starr.
"Yes, Mommy," said Hope.
"All right," said Starr. She and Cole couldn't admit it, but she was definitely a good combination of them, and Starr wished in her thoughts that that part of her little girl would never change.
The next few days passed without incident, though the feeling of Christmas was coming around. Hope had took Nick's present to her and put it under the tree She couldn't wait to open it.
Over at his aunt's, Nick had done the same thing with his present Hope had given to him. He couldn't wait to open it. He had to admit that Hope was becoming a real great friend, and he didn't want to lose that. He though decided that he wanted to play in the snow in his aunt's backyard, and went to go find his dad to ask if he could when he overheard his father talking with his aunt.
"You know you have to tell them real soon. You can't keep this to yourself, Andrew," came a woman's voice that Nick knew was his aunt.
"I know I have to Linds," said Andrew. "But I'm not sure how to tell my son this.
Nick was wondering what his dad was talking about, but he got distracted when father spoke up again.
"Lauren needs to be with someone that can treat her like a regular child, but that will mean I will have to tell Nick about his twin sister, and I don't know how to do that."
Nick thought he was hearing things. Did he just call Lauren his twin sister? Surely he must have been mistaken, he thought. But then his aunt's voice came again, and it didn't sound like he heard that mistakenly.
"You're going to have to tell him if you want to fight for her, otherwise he may resent you real bad, and I know you don't want to do that."
"I know," said Andrew. "I feel like the worse father in the world though, keeping this from him. Unfortunately Maureen didn't give me a choice, since she didn't want a boy at all. She just wanted girls and said that if I impregnated her with a boy, that it was over. I have been trying to keep up with her and see how Lauren has been, but it looks like Maureen has done a bit on her, at least until that incident at that place. It seems to have really shook her up. And then what I saw outside near her car, It seems to me that Maureen doesn't know anything about raising a child."
Nick had decided he heard enough and quietly snuck out of there and didn't say anything 'til he got to the room where he was staying. So many things were going through his head, like hearing his dad that Lauren was his sister, his twin sister, and that they both shared mothers as well. All of this was filling his head so much that he didn't know how to take it. The only he wished he had right now was his best friend, but Hope was still back in town, and he knew that his dad was going to talk to him about it soon.
Back in Llanview, Hope was getting ready for the Cramer women party that was held every Christmas. Hope still didn't it very much, but it was a good time and she loved celebrating Christmas with her family. The only bad part is that her dad wouldn't be able to come, since it was an all-female party, but Cole said it was okay, and that he can use the time to enjoy with little Patrick, who wouldn't be able to come as well.
Hope was just slipping her little Christmas dress on when Starr walked in. "You having a little trouble there?" she asked with a little giggle. She was already dressed in long black pants and a Christmas sweater that Cole had bought her a couple Christmases ago.
"Yes, I am," came Hope's muffled voice, which was perfectly true. She was trying to put a red dress on that had long sleeves, but Hope couldn't see what Starr was seeing, and it was giving Starr the giggles.
"Sweetie, you trying to put your head in where your arms go," she informed her daughter, unable to suppress her laughter.
Hope then stopped strangling and then said with her voice still muffled "Oops." She then got her head out where it wasn't supposed to go and into the right place. She then giggled with her mom as she put the right body parts into the sleeves.
"There we go," Starr said after she managed to overcome her laughter. She then did Hope's hair for her, putting it into a ponytail but with a little curl at the end. They then got their coats and headed off, after saying goodbye to Cole and Patrick, and then headed to La Boulaie..
"Well, well. Looks who here," said Dorian, when Starr and Hope arrived. "And you look cute as a button."
"I'm not a button," said Hope. Starr just giggled as she help Hope take her coat off.
"She definitely got your inner strength, Starr," said Dorian.
"I know," said Starr. All three of them went in where they saw, Addie, Blair, and Langston. They were all drinking eggnog except for Langston, who was drinking some tea.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Dorian. They all gotten into the holiday spirit with helping setting up the tree. Hope even got to put the star on the top of the tree, though she got a little help from Blair.
Then they got to open their presents. Hope wanted to open the present she got from Nick first. And so she did, and she loved it. It was a photo album, with some pics that they took of each other. Starr thought was sweet and promised that they would fill it with a bunch more pics. All in all, Hope was enjoying this Christmas so much, she didn't even think about what was going on with Lauren.
Nick however was a little down, after hearing all of that from his father, even though his father didn't know that he knew. He felt a little mad at his dad but he couldn't fell too bad if his mother didn't want him at all, and just wanted a girl, or more like a clone of herself. He couldn't understand why his mother was like that.
Just then, there was a knock on his door, and his father entered. Andrew was feeling down but knew he had to tell him, but when he looked at him, Nick nodded, and Andrew figured that out real quickly. "You know?"
"I overheard you talking with Aunt Lindsay," said Nick.
Andrew just smiled and then started talking. "Well, we'll talk about the listening into other people's conversations later. But I will say that I'm sorry you had to find out like that. Are you mad at me?"
"Yes," said Nick, but then added, "but not as much as I am to my mother."
"Well I can understand that one," said Andrew. "And I'm sure you heard about what I'm trying to do."
Nick nodded. But then he asked, "Does she know?"
"Laura? I not sure, buddy. If she doesn't, then she's going to get quite a shock, and I know she's got a lot of other things going on right now. I heard she has been acting different when that guy tried to kidnap her."
"She has," said Nick. "Me and Hope actually overheard her two friends saying that if she doesn't stop this, that they would stop being her friends."
"Wow. It seems to me that you do care about her," said Andrew .
"Well I didn't like when they started picking on Hope," Nick admitted, "but I don't want her to be a victim as well."
"Well, maybe once you get back to school, you can help her," said Andrew. "Just do me a favor though. Don't mention to her that your her brother, okay. Leave that to me. I'm the one who needs to tell her."
"Okay, Dad," said Nick, and then he actually hugged his dad. He then added, "You know, though it would be pretty cool to have a sister."
"Oh really, why do you say that?" Andrew asked, pondering.
"Because I can have a sibling I can talk to, and plus maybe she and Hope can be great friends as well," said Nick.
"Well, you never know," said Andrew. "You know, I think you definitely deserve to open one present tonight, how about it?"
"Okay, but can I pick it?" asked Nick.
"Sure," he said, and they went to the tree. Needless to say, Nick picked the present that Hope had gave to him before they left the classroom. Andrew figured that his son wanted to open his best friend's present. Nick undid the wrapping and found a small thin box. Nick opened it and saw a note, and also a picture. He smiled when he saw it. The picture was of Nick, and Hope had drawn him as a prince. Nick then looked at the note, which his father read for him.
"Since you drew me as princess, I thought I would draw you as a prince. I hope you like it. Hope. Wow, that was real sweet of her," Andrew said.
Nick didn't have any words, to say, but he didn't have to say anything. He really liked the picture, and he sure couldn't wait to see Hope again, to say thanks for the picture, and to tell her everything that he had found out. But for now, the only thing he wanted to do was celebrate his holiday as he sure his best friend was doing with her family.
A/N: Looks like the secret is now out, but how will Starr, Cole, and Hope take it, and will this change anything between Nick and Hope? And will it change Lauren as well once she finds out? Stay tuned.