09-05-04

Takes place 6 years after A Step

A Trial

by LeoniaKat

Natalie frowned at Lacroix as he told her what he was giving Diana for her sixteenth birthday. "And I still say you are spoiling that girl rotten. She's too young to have her own car."

"No, she's not. I did tell you that it is provisional on her passing her driving test."

Nat sighed, "I think this is a bad idea. You know as well as I that she's been sneaking out of the house at night for the last six years. I know we decided to look the other way after you'd followed her periodically and found that she was just out for the solitude. Now you want to give her a car?"

"We have to trust her eventually," he said. "I won't follow her around her whole life," he said. "As it is, I'm going to have to leave soon before she notices that I don't seem to age."

This was news to Natalie who had simply assumed he would be around a lot longer. She found herself… disappointed? She shook her head to dislodge that thought, "Right. I hadn't thought about that."

"It was your decision not to tell her about my true nature," he reminded her. Personally, he wished he could tell Diana, but he had promised Natalie that he wouldn't. He could understand Natalie's reasons. He too feared that Diana would bring attention to herself. On the other hand, he saw many of the same qualities in the girl as he had seen in her father.

"And I still stick by that decision," she said firmly. "There is no reason for her to ever know. Back to the car… I still feel uneasy about this."

"I promise you it will not be a sports car. Nor will it be new. I was thinking perhaps… a Cadillac… maybe teal green," he said with a small smile.

Natalie laughed, "I hear they have lots of trunk space." Her smile turned sad suddenly. "I still miss him, Lucien."

"As do I Natalie, as do I."

Their talk was interrupted by a long-haired, tall girl who breezed into the kitchen. "Hey mom, uncle Lucien." She moved to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of soda before moving to the table. She pulled out a chair and gracefully folded a leg under herself. Putting on her most innocent look, she turned to her mother, "Mom, I was wondering if I could go to Kylie's house tonight. She's having a small party…"

Natalie and Lucien exchanged looks before Nat turned back to her daughter. "Ok, who's going to be there? Will her parents be there? When will it end? How do you think you're going to get home?"

Diana sighed. Every time she wanted to go somewhere she had to face the inquisition. "Just a couple of people from our class. I don't know if her parents will be there or not, I think her mom will be. It's going to end at midnight." She gave her mom a pair of puppy dog eyes, "I was kinda hoping you could pick me up…"

"First things first," Nat began sternly, "Saying 'just a couple of people from class' tells me nothing. You don't know if her parents will be there? You know the rule – no parents no party. Midnight is an hour after your curfew and you have school tomorrow morning. As for me picking you up, think again. I have to be at work early tomorrow morning."

Diana pouted, "But mom," she whined.

"I think what your mother was trying to say was 'no'," Lacroix said quietly.

She grabbed her soda and stormed from the room.

Natalie sighed. This scene was becoming more and more common. The 'rules' were enacted after Lacroix had picked her up from a party when she was thirteen and had smelled alcohol on her breath. At fourteen, she'd come home from a party smelling of marijuana. Natalie had screamed at her daughter and Lacroix had lectured her for two hours each time.

"You still want to give her a car?" she asked Lacroix.

"At least if she gets it now while I'm still here, I can watch her. I will have to leave within the year I think."

Natalie nodded, "Was Nick really this bad?"

"Worse," he said before leaving the room.

Two weeks later…

Diana opened the small box from her uncle and pulled out a set of keys. She looked at them curiously, "What do these go to?"

He moved to the window overlooking the driveway and gestured outside, "That."

She looked out and her eyes widened. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen a stranger looking car. "That whale of a car?" she asked, keeping her voice neutral. She really was grateful, but it was the last thing she'd expect her fashionable uncle to buy.

"That," he said quietly, "was your father's old car."

She took a deep breath. For years, the subject of her father had been something of a taboo subject. She didn't ask and neither of the adults in her life offered. She'd never even seen a picture of him. She knew his first name and knew that she had his last name. She also knew that he was dead. Beyond that, the others would clam up when he was mentioned.

"Tell me about him?" she asked quietly.

Lacroix turned away, "Why don't you take your mother and go for a drive?"

Again she'd been turned away. "Damn it!" she yelled. "Why won't anyone tell me anything about him!"

Her uncle began to silently walk away, and she reached out and grabbed his arm. Her turned his head and fixed her with a withering stare, "Release my arm."

She did so but she didn't back off, "Why are there no pictures of him here? Why won't you tell me who he was? You won't even tell me where he's buried!" She went to leave the room when her mother came and stood in the doorway.

"What's going on here?" Nat asked, having heard her daughter yelling.

Diana stared at her mother, "Why won't you tell me anything about my father?"

Nat turned her gaze to Lacroix who simply shrugged.

"Right, I got it, you don't want to talk about him. Fine!" Diana stormed past her mother and ran upstairs.

Nat and Lacroix flinched when they heard the door to her room slam shut.

Lacroix turned to face the mortal woman, "You'll eventually have to tell her something."

"Yes, but not today," Natalie responded, turning away.

Three weeks later…

Nat had been sleeping when the phone rang. She heard it ring twice before stopping and she assumed Lacroix had picked it up. She was about to fall back asleep when she heard her bedroom door open. She glanced up, "Lucien?"

"That phone call was from the police station down on the corner of Main and Post. Diana's okay," he said quickly, seeing the panic cross Natalie's face. "They brought her and three other kids in when they caught them using fake IDs in a club. I'll go down there now and pick her up."

"Damn it! I didn't even know she was out. Did she drive there?"

"No, her car is still in the driveway."

Nat stood up, "Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll come with you."

"I'll wait downstairs." He turned and left the room, his ears easily picking up the swearing coming from Natalie's room.

Diana paced the holding cell she shared with her friends. They were the only ones in the station's small basement. "Damn, my mom's going to kill me for this."

"The IDs almost worked," Beth moaned. "If only the cops hadn't decided to do a random ID check…"

Steve glanced over from his perch on the cell's only bench, "Oh quit whining. We got in, didn't we? Next time we'll go to a different club. It was just bad luck."

Beth glanced over at him and shot him a withering look, "You think there'll be a next time? I'll be lucky if my parents don't ground me for life."

"Ditto," John said, pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against. "My folks will probably take my keys from me." He moved over to Beth and draped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"You may as well have a seat, Di," Steve said, gesturing to the bench.

Diana glanced at her boyfriend of two months, "Thanks, Steve, but I'd rather pace." She had too much nervous energy to possibly sit. She only prayed that her mother came alone to get her.

Ten minutes later she was saying goodbye to Beth and Steve whose parents had arrived almost simultaneously. Five minutes after that, John's mom came to take him home. She was alone for another five minutes before she heard the sound of people coming down into the holding area. She held her breath and let it out in a long sigh as her mother and uncle came into view. They both looked positively livid.

Dropping her head, she waited for the officer to unlock the cell door. She silently followed them up into the main area of the station.

"She's all yours," the officer said as he released her into her family's custody.

Diana wanted nothing more than to go back to lock-up at that moment. If the look on her uncle's face was anything to go by, she was in such a heap of trouble that she didn't know when, if ever, she'd be out of it. She followed them from the station, neither of them saying anything. The minute they got to her mother's car was another matter.

"Of all the stupid, foolish, irresponsible things you have ever done, this one beats them all!" Lacroix said quietly. When her uncle was quiet, it was more frightening then when he raised his voice. "I thought you more intelligent than that, Diana. What were you thinking? Or were you thinking at all?"

"You know you have to go to court for this, don't you?" her mother asked. "If you're lucky, they'll strike it from your record since it's your first offense." She sighed, "If your father were here to see this…" She shook her head. "Get in the car. We'll discuss this more at home."

Diana hung her head and moved to do as her mother said. They hadn't really been thinking of the consequences when they'd decided to do it. Steve had been the one who had found someone to make the IDs. All they had wanted was to see if they could pull off getting into a club.

The drive home was made in silence. Once there, she had to hand over her car keys and she was grounded for a month. No more jaunts outside at night, they'd told her, forcing her to promise that she wouldn't for the whole month. That had hurt more than the six hits she'd gotten from her uncle's belt. They told her that the court date was in two weeks before sending her to bed.

Her month grounded was painfully long. Her record had been cleared by the judge who warned her that another offense of any sort would bring a heavy punishment. When they said she was grounded, they meant it. Her mother drove her to school and picked her up. The minute she was home, she would do her homework. Then, once she'd retired to her room, a bolt on the outside of her door was locked and she was trapped. Her window was too small to crawl through, even if there had been a ledge or something below it to stand on.

On her final day of being grounded, her uncle asked her to come down to the kitchen to talk. He told her he was leaving, that his 'job' was transferring him to Canada.

"When?" she'd asked, surprised.

"In two nights," he'd told her.

Now she was watching him load a handful of large bags into a waiting limo. True, her uncle was incredibly strict with her, but she'd grown used to having him around. "Will you come visit us?" she asked as he came up to her to say goodbye.

"Perhaps," he replied, knowing that he'd never see his niece again. Oh, he would stay in contact with her and her mother, but he couldn't take the risk that she would start questioning his lack of aging.

"I'll miss you," she said sincerely, moving to hug him.

He carefully returned her hug, still unaccustomed to physical displays. "And I you," he responded. He had already said goodbye to Natalie so he turned away now and entered the limo.

Diana watched the limo as it rolled down the driveway and out of sight. She dashed at the tears on her cheeks and went inside.

To be continued…