Part Cinquante-deux

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Friday was spent sleeping in and then the boys came across the street, Reggie helping Ray make a big brunch for everyone. They had talked about it, Julie and Carlos electing to stay home from school. Ray wasn't surprised, he was having trouble concentrating all week, and he had delegated a lot of his workload.

After brunch they gathered in the living room, and Ray started sharing some stories about Rose, Julie and Carlos joining in. The boys eagerly asked questions and the day passed in a much more pleasant way than had been expected. They shifted to watching movies by later afternoon, Reggie only getting up to throw his taco casserole in the oven so it would be ready for dinner.

It was a day for family, and just being together. When it came time for bed, Luke sent Fender in to sleep with Carlos, knowing the puppy would be happy to cuddle.

"Wait, really? But he always sleeps with you," Carlos was kneeling to pet the dog, but looked up at Luke with excited and hopeful eyes.

Luke knelt down next to him and rested a hand on Carlos's shoulder, "I think he'd rather sleep with you tonight, is that okay?"

A silent message passed between them, eye contact all they needed.

"Yeah, he can sleep with me," Carlos threw his arms around Luke's neck for a hug, "Thanks, Luke."

"Anytime, little buddy," he patted him on the back before pulling away with a smile and heading into Julie's room with her.

As the door closed she turned to him, a soft expression on her face, "You didn't have to do that."

"What?"

"Don't pretend you don't know, I'm the one that woke you two up for dinner yesterday. You love my little brother, and it's incredibly sweet."

"Well, um, he's a cool little dude, okay?" his hand was up rubbing his neck again, and his cheeks had flushed a light red.

"I love it. I love you," Julie caught his wrist and tugged his hand from his neck, sliding hers down and entangling their fingers. She led him over and slid into bed, him following her easily and with no protest.

"I love you too, Jules."

"Good," she kissed the tip of his nose and snuggled into him, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder, her hand pressed to his chest over his heart.

"Are you- is there- um, what can I do, uh tomorrow?"

She giggled, but it was tinged with sadness, "I think I understood that. Just be there, okay mi alma?"

"Anything for you, Julie, you know that."

At that Julie lifted her head and met his lips for a gentle, but meaningful kiss. They finally separated to breathe and she laid back down, "Good night Luke."

"Bonne nuit, mon coeur."

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Saturday was gray and overcast, as if the weather was mourning with them. The day started slowly, Reggie sneaking over to the Molina's to put together homemade caramel and cinnamon rolls, his contribution to try to keep everyone's spirits up as much as he could. Alex and Willie had their own mission, picking up a few previously ordered bouquets of purple dahlias from a nearby flower shop. They had decided that those, meaning royalty and dignity, were the best symbolism for placing at Rose's grave, a showing of reverence for the woman and mother who was deeply missed by the people they now considered family.

Ray had also ordered a bouquet that they were picking up for him, a mix of pink, purple, and red dahlias, with one dark red rose. Alex had looked it up and found that dark red roses are for grief and sorrow, and a single rose in a bouquet is a symbol of enduring love for the recently deceased. He debated adding a rose to their bouquets, but decided it would be too presumptuous, considering that as much as the boys had heard about Rose, even having met her for a moment, they didn't really know her.

The scent of the flowers wafted through the car, causing Alex to give a quiet sniffle as the weight of the day settled over him and Willie.

"You okay Hotdog?"

"Yeah, I just hope we can be there for them, you know?"

Willie glanced over at him quickly before returning his eyes to the road, "I get it. I think we just have to go with the flow, be there and be sensitive, and stand beside them for support."

Alex nods, "Sounds like a good plan, I just hate that they had to lose her at all."

Willie made a sad noise of agreement and reached over to squeeze Alex's hand, keeping it in his for the rest of the drive home.

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It was mid-morning by the time everyone had gathered at the Molina table and they were ready to head to the cemetery. Julie was glued to Luke's side, the two of them always keeping some kind of contact, an arm around her shoulders, her hugging his arm to her chest, or their hands laced together. Carlos was sticking close to Ray, but he drifted to each of the boys in turn, soaking up their gentle hugs and shoulder squeezes. When they walked to the SUVs, he burrowed into Reggie's side, only stepping away when they had to get in the car.

Willie was driving himself, Alex, and Reggie in the boys' SUV, with the flowers. Ray was taking Luke, Julie, and Carlos in his, and Tia Victoria would be meeting them at the cemetery. While Carlos would normally be excited to take the front seat, today he crawled in the back and cuddled into Luke's free side. The guitarist wouldn't usually want to be in the middle, but he would sit there a million times over in order to comfort Julie and Carlos on this day.

The puppies were at home in their crates, Reggie had taken care of that after his extra sugary brunch had been eaten. He and the others had made a plan to do as many little things they could so the day would go smoothly and the Molinas wouldn't need to think about any distractions. Pulling into the cemetery parking, everyone just sat for a prolonged moment.

Heaving a sigh, Ray opened his door and stepped out, the others following his lead. Alex and Willie grabbed the bouquets, soberly pleased to be helpful in carrying them to the gravesite. There was a large one for them, loosely put together, since they liked the idea of each being able to lay a flower out. Two small bouquets were for Julie and Carlos, and then the specially requested one for Ray.

They met Tia Victoria at a bench along the path on the way to the grave. She wore dark sunglasses and carried a small bouquet of her own, her normally effusive personality dampened by the somber occasion.

"Ray..." she opened her arms and gave her brother-in-law a tight hug and Reggie stepped up to take her flowers, so they wouldn't be in the way.

She then hugged Julie and Carlos, and the rest of them, paying no mind that their arms were full. The boys quickly juggled the flowers around between them, allowing a moment for each with their arms free to hug her back. Reggie ended up with her arm looped around his, and he patted her hand in sympathy as the group walked slowly towards the headstone the read:

"Rose Molina
Beloved Wife and Mother
Gone Too Soon"

Below the words there were a few lines of music, Luke played the notes in his head and gasped softly. It was from 'Summer of '69' by Bryan Adams and was part of his inspiration for 'Now or Never'.

Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life

Julie glanced up at him, curiosity warring with the grief etched over her face. He just shook his head, whispering softly before pressing a kiss to her temple, "It's okay, I'll tell you later."

They all spent a few minutes placing the flowers at the foot of the headstone, and then everyone stepped back to let Tia Victoria and each of the Molinas have some time alone, rotating until Julie was the last standing. Luke hovered just out of earshot of her quiet words, surging forward when she wavered a bit on her feet and wrapping her up into a close embrace. She clutched at his sweatshirt, tears silently slipping down her cheeks.

The ride home was a blur, but when they arrived, they found Bobby, along with Carrie and Flynn, laying out deli trays and boxes of doughnuts, obviously subscribing to the Reggie wisdom that sugar made everything better. They gave out gentle hugs and pushed plates into hands, encouraging the Molinas and Tia Victoria to eat.

The rest of the day was muted but managed to have moments of light, soft giggles at Rose stories from Tia Victoria, and even Bobby. The remembering didn't slice quite as deep as Julie was expecting, and a bittersweet smile crossed her lips at the thought of how she felt at the Destiny Records office, the feeling of her mom in the air. The missing would never stop, but at least the pain and grief might be the tiniest bit less sharp as time went on.

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Sunday was a lazy day and then life went mostly back to routine. It was Tuesday the first week of February and Julie was at school, so Luke was in the studio by himself, strumming his guitar and reworking lyrics on one of the songs in his 'Julie' notebook.

"Hey, how's it going?" Bobby walked in, he had been having lunch with Ray.

"Uh, hey! Bobby! I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about, or well, ask you, really," Luke grinned at him and waved him over to sit down across from him, in one of the chairs near the couch.

Bobby sat and raised an eyebrow, "Okay, what is it?"

"I want to make a CD for Julie for Valentine's Day. I was hoping you might let me use the recording studio at your house and help me?"

"You know you don't need to use the puppy eyes on me? I've know you too long, and besides I still owe you for-"

Luke face went serious and he shook his head, setting his guitar to the side, "No. We've gone over this, it's fine."

They stared each other down for a minute, until Bobby broke the silence, "Well, I think I need to say this. All my fame, money, all my awards, all the crowds. They were because of you Luke. And I don't think I've properly said 'thank you' for that, even if I have apologized. All of it should have been yours."

A jagged piece of Luke's heart slotted back into place and mended, one he hadn't even realized had still been broken, and a small gasp escaped his mouth.

"I think you needed to hear that, too," Bobby gave him a knowing look.

"I- I-" Luke coughed and cleared his throat to try and get rid of the sudden lump that had formed, "I guess, yeah. I- yeah, um, I think I actually really did. So, um, thanks for saying it Bobby."

There was a short weighted moment, then Bobby cleared his own throat and gestured at Luke's guitar to change the subject, "So, was that the song you want to record for Julie? The guys have mentioned you already wrote and sang one to her, this is a second one?"

A peculiar expression crossed Luke's face and then he threw his head back and laughed, although it was a little hysterical.

"Luke? What?" Bobby was baffled by the reaction.

Shaking his head and still chuckling, Luke picked up the notebook in front of him and showed Bobby the first page.

"'Songs for Julie'. Okay? So what, you got a few in here? Like 4 or 5, enough for a EP type of CD?"

Luke started laughing harder again and just held out the notebook for Bobby to take and look at.

Bobby opened it at the beginning and started to flip through it, his eyes growing comically wider and wider at each page. He was over halfway through before he hit a blank page, and he turned his gaze to Luke with awe.

"How many?"

The guitarist shrugged helplessly and spread his hands, as if to say he didn't know.

"Luke," Bobby breathed out his name in amazement, "This is more than one CD. Are none of them for the band, like could they be turned into duets for you and Julie, and add in the boys?"

"I- maybe? But, at the same time, no?" Luke's hand went up to rub his neck in a familiar gesture of discomfort and nerves, "They're different. Some are straight acoustic and don't even really have bass or drums. They're just..."

"In your head?"

"Yeah."

Bobby sighed, he had known this about Luke, was even pretty sure there were some other notebooks of his squirreled away somewhere in this studio or at his parent's house that probably had at least a few good songs in them. But Luke also hadn't had as much free time back then, not really. Now, he had pretty much all day when Julie was at school during the week, and he'd had all night back as a ghost before he started needing sleep again. The point was, writing songs was what he did. Lyrics and melodies occupied his mind pretty much 24/7, and obviously being as happy and settled as he was now, with the boys and Julie, and Ray and Carlos, the music was just flowing out of him.

"How much have you written for the actual band?"

"Um, well, I usually try to wait for Julie, and then we tweak and rework and everything with Alex and Reggie, you know, like before, but... I at least have the start of, hmm, 7ish more songs for the band?"

His hand going up to scrub across his face, Bobby is once again awed by Luke's passion and his sheer talent, "I would say you need a hobby, but that would honestly be robbing the world. I do have another idea, but I have to look into a few things first. Either way, yeah, you can come use my studio to record the CD for Julie, no problem."

Luke bounced in his seat and beamed, "Thanks, Bobby! It's gonna be great!"

Bobby left the studio shaking his head and pulling out his phone, those songs shouldn't be left to sit in Luke's notebook, or even just on a single CD for Julie. Even if he hadn't really read any of them, he knew they were amazing.

"Hey, Andi? Do you have time to meet with me this afternoon?"

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A/N: Rose flower meaning found here: funeral-flowers-and-their-symbolic-meaning

Hi. Still alive! Real life was stressing me out and I was having trouble finding the urge to write, but I was/am slowly getting some more typed up. I have the next couple chapters almost ready, we are skipping to Valentine's Day for those and they are mostly all Juke.

I'm not abandoning this story if I can help it, it's just taking longer, I promise!