CHAPTER 20

Lily hung up the phone. She had just finished calling Jack Slokum's parents to tell them their youngest son had been murdered in an under investigation double homicide. She didn't give away any details because there weren't any. Slokum's family lived in New York, so they wouldn't be there right away… now she just had to tell Slokum.

"I wonder what is so serious and important that Lily has to tell us tonight." Bug wondered aloud… after much pondering inside his head, he wondered if his two friends could provide him with any insight.

"No clue Bug." Jordan told him, "Afraid it's going to interfere with your date?" She laughed.

"No, no. I don't mind… as long as I'm near her, everything's perfect." He said with a faraway look on his face. Nigel pretended to throw up as Jordan just continued to chuckle.

"So what is the plan for tonight and learning this important news anyway?" Jordan asked.

"Not sure at all, love." Nigel told her. "Why don't you make one?" He suggested, knowing that would probably be the best idea because she would do what she wanted in the end anyway.

"Fine." Jordan agreed with a smile and a nod. "After work, we'll go grab some takeout food and head to the hospital to eat supper with Woody. Then we'll visit for a while, and we'll head back to Lily's. She'll tell us what's so important… we'll discuss it and then Nigel and I will leave so Bug and Lily can have some form of a date."

"Sounds peachy." Nigel said with a smile and a nod. Bug nodded absentmindedly. It sounded great to him! Time alone with Lily at her apartment… not that it hadn't happened a million times before. It seemed he was always over there for a dinner, or just to talk and watch TV. It was just different now… everything was. She actually knew he loved her if she somehow hadn't noticed before, and she loved him back. Nothing would ever be the same again for Bug. At least, that's what he thought until he heard his cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" He asked into the receiver. "Oh! Hi Mom." Nigel tried to contain his laughter. From what he had heard, Bug's mother was quite hard on Bug, which didn't make him happy since Bug was his best friend and all, but it was the way Bug handled it that made it funny. He would talk about her, and say how tough he was going to be next time he talked to her and that he was going to stand up for himself… but here he was yet again, talking like he was a six year old in trouble. "Sorry Mom… okay. Ah, tomorrow? Tonight? I'll be there… bye Mom. Yes, love you too Mom. See you later." He snapped the phone shut with a little more anger than he had in him before the conversation.

"What's new with Mom?" Nigel asked in a bit of a mocking tone.

"She's on her way to Boston with my Dad."

"Really?" Jordan asked eagerly.

"This is going to be a hell of a week!" Nigel laughed. "Slokum's parents AND your parents here. It'll be great."

"Not for me!" Bug protested. "It's the worst possible thing that could happen. I mean, Lily and I just admitted our feelings towards each other in 'that' way and things are going amazingly well for us, and now my Mom's coming."

"So?" Jordan asked, "You'll get to introduce them before things get too serious… does it really matter?"

"Jordan… you don't know my Mom. It matters. She's almost as impossible as you!"

"Almost?" Nigel questioned.

"Come on Nige!" Jordan laughed, "Could anyone be as impossible as I am?"

"No, love. I will have to agree with you there." Nigel laughed, but knew it was true.

"Well… my Mom comes pretty close… but you'll see for yourselves tomorrow." Nigel and Jordan just both smiled and nodded at Bug. "Shit! My date with Lily! If my Mom comes… we won't be able to have a nice date… she'll want to spend every second with me. She'll be here, at my house, where ever I am. I'll have no life until she leaves. Seriously! Whatever this important news is that Lily has to tell us and all the stuff Nigel found about Jake… I'll have to hear it all next week, when she leaves, unless you want to tell her too… and if it's anything bad at all… no doubt she'll be at the police before you can say anything."

"Bug, it's okay. Last time your mother came to Boston you weren't friends with us, were you?" Nigel said with a sly grin.

"Nigel? What are you going to do to my mother?" Bug asked in a mock intimidated voice.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all, it's just I have a talent for preoccupying people for large periods of time with my computer…" Nigel started.

"And being the good friends we are," Jordan added, "We may just have to alter our plans for the night and your mother, Nigel and I will go visit Woody in the hospital while you and Lily have your little date… and during your date at some point, she'll fill you in on all this mysterious, serious stuff, and then she can tell Nigel and I later while you entertain your mother." Jordan told him, a serious look on her face.

"Are you sure you want to get into this?" He asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Yes… haven't you ever had friends before Bug?" Nigel laughed.

"None of my other friends would ever have put up with my Mom for more than five minutes… and my Dad's coming too, but he is considerably passive, especially compared to my Mom."

"Really Bug, is there anyone I cannot handle?" Jordan questioned him, a half serious, and half joking look on her face.

"No Jordan, you're right. You can handle anyone." Bug said with an uneasy smile. He was afraid Jordan may have met her match in his mother… but he wasn't getting into that argument yet. They would find out for themselves later.

"Great, everything's settled then." Nigel ended the conversation.

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"Dr. Slokum?" Lily asked in a softer tone than she usually used while talking to him. He immediately knew something was up… she would be angry, or scared if she knew the truth. Not here confronting him as if he was one of her clients.

"Ms. Lebowski?" He greeted her with a nod.

"I have some unfortunate news…" She started.

"Don't worry… I can handle it." He assured her.

"If you're sure." She shrugged. "It's just… there's no easy way to say it." He hadn't the slightest clue what she was talking about.

"Are you going to tell me, or not?"

"Okay. It's… you're little brother… he's, he's dead Dr. Slokum." Lily almost whispered. Slokum didn't seem too surprised at first, which supported Garrett's theories about him and his involvement… but killing your own little brother? It was such a cold hearted thing to do… Lily wondered why she was even surprised with the things she'd encountered thus far in her odd career.

"He… he is? Are you sure it's him? He was always such a good kid…" Slokum stammered, just a tad unconvincingly… but Lily figured it was only since she had talked to Garrett about it.

"I'm really sorry…" Lily attempted to console him. Normally, she really did feel sorry for her clients… but with Slokum and his suspected and she figured probable involvement in the case it made her less sorry for him. She hardly was sorry at all. It was probably his fault his little brother was dead… how could he pretend to be sad?

"Jimmy was always a good kid…" Slokum added, shaking his head.

"Jimmy?" Lily asked, surprised.

"Yes… my brother Jimmy." Slokum clarified, questioning how thoroughly she could read reports.

"Dr. Slokum, the dead man, your brother, he's named Robert. Not Jimmy…" Lily told him, a confused look on her face. She was sure he had something to do with it now. How could you have two brothers and automatically assume it was one of them that had been murdered. She knew the first question she would have asked was which brother it was… unless she had planned it herself.

"Robert?" Slokum asked, surprised… "Robert… he died years ago. 16 to be exact." Slokum told her.

"No… he did have a legal name change 16 years ago though." Lily told him. She let go the thoughts she'd had before about him making his assumptions. He thought his brother was already dead… now he has to grieve him all over again.

"Oh, god. He didn't." Slokum shook his head, trying to fight back tears. They weren't as much grieving for his brother, he'd done that for years… he was just getting to the point where he was getting better, but he really meant how could things have backfired this badly? Jimmy wasn't dead… and Robert was, now because of him, when they could have been together on this, against Jimmy, like it always was. "Robert was the baby of the family… I was the oldest. Jimmy always felt this overwhelming need to be mean to Robert, where I felt since I was the oldest it was my job to referee them." Slokum told Lily as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Things were getting less and less awkward as Lily continued to console Slokum, she got more and more convinced that he didn't do this. He couldn't have, not the way he was crying, unless he was a very, very good actor which Lily presumed he wasn't.

"It's okay." She told him. Then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jake Fredrick peering in the glass and watching them in disbelief. Lily pretended not to see him, because even though she was assuming allegations against Slokum were false, that didn't mean Jake Fredrick wasn't involved.

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"Jordan you've been watching the clock for the past half hour." Nigel informed her with a grin.

"Yeah, I know." She told him with a half smile.

"Can't wait to go see Woody?" He asked, reading her mind perfectly.

"How'd you ever guess?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well, I've been watching the clock too… but wishing it was moving in the other direction." Bug muttered under his breath.

"Oh Buggles, we'll deal with your Mom okay?" Nigel reassured him. Bug just shook his head again, and continued working.

"Let's go change and meet in the lobby to tell Lily the plan, okay?" Jordan suggested, noticing they had five minutes until release time, and were getting no work done anyway… Bug and Nigel may have been, but she wasn't. The only thing she could think of was Woody, she'd been distracted by this case earlier… but as seeing him again neared, she had only him on her mind.

"Sounds good to me." Nigel said with a nod, leaving the room, practically dragging Bug with him. Jordan shook her head at her two friends and practically skipped out of the room to change and go to Lily's office.

"Lily!" Jordan called a few minutes later. She was changed and ready to go in record time… now she just needed to find her friend. She found her office empty, and as she headed down the hall to look for her, she saw her in the most unlikely of places… the one place they all tried to avoid… Jack Slokum's office. She wasn't being reprimanded either, it looked as if she was consoling him… what the hell? She was so blinded by confusion, and a slight pang of anger that she nearly took out Jake Fredrick who was standing around the corner.

"Uh, hey Jordan!" Jake greeted her with a steadying arm as she almost fell after ramming into him. Jordan wondered how the man could be so enthusiastic all the time…even after she had nearly ploughed him over. He was sort of like Woody in more than one way… she quickly dismissed the thought though.

"Hey Jake, whatcha doing?" She asked, realizing that he really had no reason to be standing at the corner outside Slokum's office.

"Oh… I don't know, I was just…" His face turned a bit red. He didn't know what he was doing, he had been going to get some papers for Santana, and then he had seen Lily and Slokum, he just got naturally curious.

"Watching your fiancée?" Jordan asked with a laugh. She had been in the position he was in too many times to bother to count. She didn't care he was spying on Slokum and Lily… he was probably as confused as she was.

"Ah, news travels fast I see." Jake said with a half embarrassed half relieved smile.

"Yep. Can't keep anything a secret here." Jordan told him, emphasizing the word anything, because if he was hiding something, maybe he'd come clean sometime soon, before she was forced to call it on him. Then maybe they could at least be friends, or something. He did seem like an okay guy.

"So I'm learning." He said with a laugh. He didn't seem like he was hiding anything important… but would people think she was if they just met her? She had a bit of a shady past herself… but that didn't mean she was a bad person. She would have to keep her judgment open. Inside, Lily got up and Slokum gave her a nod, before straightening out his suit and wiping his eyes. Slokum was crying? Jordan wondered in her head before she made the connection. His brother. But if he was crying, could he have something to do with it still? She didn't doubt it. If he was in this high of position and had a secret life of crime, he'd have to be a good actor.

"Lily, can I talk to you for a sec?" Jordan pounced on her as soon as she shut Slokum's door.

"Sure Jordan." Lily said with a nod, "Hey Jake." She smiled, looking at the ground. The realization hit Jordan that it would be awkward between the two… indirectly working in the same office, dating someone here too, pretending to be his fiancée…She couldn't help but smiling. Things were crazy around here, and she loved it. On their way to Lily's office, Jordan filled her in on all the changes in plan. Lily looked puzzled as to why Bug's mom coming here was such a big deal for Bug, but Jordan told her that Nigel and her felt the same way. They had no clue what was up with Bug's mom… but they'd find out soon enough anyways.

"Sounds like a great plan Jordan." Lily told her, a smile playing on her lips, "A little sane for you though, isn't it?" She added with a laugh. Jordan shoved her playfully as they headed to the lobby to meet Bug and Nigel.

"Ready to meet my Mom?" Bug called out as they entered the elevator.

"You know I am." Jordan told him with a playful punch to the arm. Bug pretended it hurt a lot bending over and grabbing his arm.

"Ah, stop it you two." Nigel told them with a laugh. He didn't know what kind of news Lily had… but the news he had would set a bit of a more serious tone for the night… In her head, Lily was thinking the exact same thing.