Chapter Six

Lulu asked Dillon to meet her in her hotel room the next afternoon. He knocked on the door and she opened it.

The image she had in her mind of the young man he once was saying "Want to catch a double feature?"

was replaced by the nearly middle aged man he was now who said, " You called. I came. What?"

She motioned for him to step inside.

"You don't look happy." he said slowly "Does that mean they decided...?"

"I don't know yet."

He nodded.

She moved nervously around the room. We were friends once. Why is it so hard to have a civil conversation now? she wondered

"Can I get you a drink?" Lulu asked "There's a mini bar in here."

"Water would be fine."

She smiled at him. "Come on. On a day like this I think something stronger is called for, don't you?"

"I haven't had a drop of alcohol in two years."

Two years, Lulu thought, Georgie's been gone three. He must have suffered so bad after losing her.

Her heart went out for him in that moment. She turned away so he wouldn't see the pity on her face.

"Water it is then."She poured them both a glass fromthe crystal decanter and added ice cubes from the bucket.

She passed it to him.

At the same time, their eyes noticed the rattling of the ice caused by both of their hands shaking.

He let out a breath. "Tell me it's all going to be okay."

" I was going to ask you to tell me that."

He titled his head and said, "It's all going to be okay."

"He's going to survive." Lulu said " He's going to love us."

"Yes, he will."

Lulu wanted to hug him, to feel his strength, the steady goodness that she always saw in him, wrapped around her. But instead she turned and crossed the room to her overnight bag.

She sat her glass on the table and reached inside the bag. She pulled out an album. "I thought you might like to see this. The Olsens sent me pictures those first few years."

Dillon took the album, sat down on the bed and opened it. There was Clark as a newborn. The sight took his breath away.

"He was beautiful." Dillon said

"He still is." Lulu replied

Softly he asked, while still looking at the picture, "No regrets?"

"I can't afford them. I wouldn't be able to get through each day if I let myself go there."

He nodded and flipped the page.

She said, "Will you come with me to Lucky's for dinner tonight?"

"They're going to tell us if Katie will do it?"

Lulu nodded.

Dillon said, "I hate to ask her."

"Me too."

"It seems like too much. If it was you or me or even Ned, Lucky, Nikolas... well, we're all adults. We've lived. We know the score. Katie's young still. How do we ask a kid to do this?"

"She's older than we were when Clark was born."

"Yeah, but.. I wish we didn't have to ask this."

"We don't have a choice, Dillon We can't not ask her."

"I didn't say I wouldn't do it. I'll beg, borrow or steal to get my son the kidney he needs."

"So you'll come with me? I'd feel better if you were there."

"Then I'll be there."

Lulu smiled at him. He calmed her by his presence alone. Some considered him manic back in the day but to her he was stability. He was there if her Dad left town and she needed to cry on his shoulder. He was there is she felt rejected by the high school boys who never saw the beauty hidden in her sad eyes. Dillon had been a rock for her. Then and now.

She had grown up in the years since she last saw him. She could survive on her own. Her job in advertising was fast paced and well paying. Her house was small but cost a fortune in the over priced California real estate market. It was cute, compact and near the beach. What more could she ask for?

But, right now, she could care less if she ever saw the inside of her home again. Her life was on the east coast for the foreseeable future. Her son needed her. And she, though she wouldn't admit it aloud, felt like she needed Dillon to get through this.

Even if he never forgave her, she still found a sense of peace whenever he smiled at her.

"Thanks, Dil."

"He's just as much mine as yours. We're in this together, till the end."

She came and sat next to him on the bed.

"And then?"

"What?"

"When this crisis is over, do you want to be part of Clark's life? Do you think it is far to tell him who we are?

"Is it fair? I don't know. What in life ever is? But I want to know my son. Don't you?"

Lulu smiled, "More than anything else in the world."

Dillon smiled, "Then show me some of that Spencer fire. We have the fight of our lives ahead of us. You up for it?"

Her eyes were teary as she said, "For Clark, for you, for the chance to know him, I can do anything. I will do anything I have to."

"I had you pegged wrong all those years ago. I thought you didn't want him."

Lulu sniffled. She said," I just wanted the best for him. I still do."