A/N: And…another! Please review, especially all you fabulous people that favorite and alert my story! I like to hear from you, too, you know! So don't be shy. ^_^

Oh, and I'd like to apologize for not replying individually to all of your reviews. When I got them, the website wouldn't let me log in, so I decided I'd give you one big thank you on here! Thanks to each and every one of your for all of your great reviews and I hope this chapter isn't a disappointment!

Chapter Two: Unwanted Reminder

Nikko returned just in time for dinner, hand in hand with Courtney; for Stavros, the 4 hours that had passed since his strange encounter with his mother had seemed like forever. He wanted to tell Nikko, but for the life of him, he didn't know how he was supposed to go about doing that, especially with Courtney staying for a while. He had thought that Nikko would return immediately after his breakfast with Courtney and that he would have time to talk to him before dinner, but that hadn't been the case.

"Hey, bro," Stavros greeted, nodding in Nikko's direction, "And you, too, Court. The Spanakopita is almost done."

"Thanks, Stavros!" Courtney said. Stavros really liked Nikko's girlfriend; she was polite and bubbly, and he figured that she was just what his troubled brother needed in his life to calm him down some.

"Any time. Um…Nikko, do you have a minute? I…uh, need to talk to you." Stavros said, glancing at Courtney. Getting the hint, Courtney glanced between them and offered a smile. "I'll just go up to the roof and relax for a while," she said, quickly retreating.

Nikko knew it was serious if Stavros wanted to talk to him in private. "What is it?" he said. Fear was making Nikko's heart pound; he didn't even know what he was afraid of, just that the look on Stavros's face meant bad news.

"There's no really easy way to say this but, Nikko…I…mom, I saw her today," Stavros said, figuring that the best way to say what he needed to say was just outright saying it.

It felt to Nikko as if all the air in his lungs was being punched out of him. Mom? Stavros had seen her? He looked around, as if he expected her to pop out from behind the couch. "I…are you serious?" he said. He wasn't afraid now; just angry. Who did she think she was, popping back into their lives all of a sudden? She had no place with them any more.

"Yeah, Nikko. She's…she's really badly off; the nurse, Quinn, said that she was addicted to drugs, and that she lost her mind because of them and she's now stuck in some hospital where they're doing God-only-knows-what to her. We have to get her out of there, bro. We owe her that," Stavros said, his voice and eyes pleading with his little brother to understand exactly what he was trying to say.

Nikko felt his jaw drop. "What the hell do we owe her for, Stavros!? Abandoning us to that drunken bastard? Don't you remember what he did to us? Let me remind you; he nearly killed us on a near-daily basis! Stavros, that bitch is not our mother. Leave her to the nurses and her damn drugs; she deserves nothing from us!" The outburst startled even Nikko; he hadn't known just how much anger he had bottled up about her.

"Nikko, do you have any idea what you're saying? Dad beat her, too! Don't you remember how often we heard her screams and they kept us up at night? Dad never even touched us when she was there because she protected us---"

"Exactly. She knew she was protecting us, and abandoned us anyways! Why couldn't she have just taken us away with her? What happened to our 'happily ever after!?' She lied to us, and she apparently brain-washed you; I don't know how you can pretend that she loved us. I'm sorry, Stavros, but that woman is dead to me. If you bring her here, I swear to god, I'm leaving," Nikko said, his jaw set and his eyes a fierce glare.

Stavros hated how much Nikko took after their father without even knowing it; every time Nikko glared like that, Stavros remembered the glares of their father as he beat them. "You won't leave, Nikko. You need me. You'd be lost on your own," Stavros said, trying to remain the voice of reason, as he was so often forced to do.

"I won't leave? Stavros, you know me too well to think that I'd go back on my word," Nikko said.

Stavros rubbed his temples; Nikko was right. He wouldn't go back on his word. "So, you'd rather I abandon someone knowingly? Just let her waste away in some hospital? Sometimes, it scares me how uncaring you are---almost as bad as dad was," Stavros said without thinking.

Nikko moved faster than Stavros would have ever thought possible, and before he knew it, Nikko had him by the shirt, breathing heavily; his face was a dark shade of red. "I. Am. Nothing. Like. Him." Nikko let go and shoved his brother back onto the couch and turned away, running his hand through is hair; it was one of the few ways he knew of calming himself down. As he turned, however, he saw Courtney staring down at him from the stairs that lead to the roof.

"Is…something wrong?" she asked uncertainly, looking between the two brothers.

Stavros coughed awkwardly and stood, placing an arm stiffly around his brother's shoulders. "Of course. We're fine," Stavros said, patting Nikko who just gave him a sidelong glare, then turned back to his girlfriend.

"Come on, Court. Let's go to my room and listen to that demo I told you about earlier," he said, taking her by the arm. He shot one more glare at his brother before leading a very confused Courtney into his room and closing the door soundly behind them.

Stavros stared at the door for a minute, took a deep breath, and tried to figure out where his loyalties should lie; with his ailing mother, or his troubled and needy brother.

~*****~

"Nikko," Courtney began when they were alone, "You know you can talk to me, right?"

Nikko glanced at her from where he sat on his bed. "Of course. And you can talk to me, too."

"No, I mean, right now. It's clear something big is going on and you don't know how to deal with it, so just…just talk to me. Tell me what you feel, what the situation is. I can't pretend that I'll know exactly what to do about it, but I've always felt that it's always best to get something off of your chest when you're under pressure, you know?" Courtney said, taking a seat beside him and grabbing one of his hands, pulling it to her and nuzzling it with her cheek.

Nikko wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her everything; just break down and give in. But he couldn't. His family life was too complicated to explain to someone like Courtney, who had a really loving mother and had once had a loving father; she probably thought that all parents took their children bowling, or comforted them when they were sad. He couldn't ruin her innocence with all the crazy stuff he'd witnessed, the horrors a parent could inflict on their wife and children without even blinking.

So, instead of telling her what was wrong, he pulled her face closer to his and kissed her tenderly. She melted into his arms and Nikko felt a hole he hadn't known existed fill with love for her. He didn't have to remember any of those things. He could just revel in what he had now, what he was lucky to have found at such a young age; true love.

When they parted, he rested his forehead against hers. "There's nothing to tell, Court. It's just some things that Stavros and I have to deal with. Everything will be okay."

Courtney shook her head against his. "I don't believe you, Nikko, but I'm going to pretend that I do, just for this moment," she replied.

Nikko kissed her one more time, then stood, flashing a diversionary smile in her direction and reaching into his closet to grab a shoe box that was filled with CD's. "Now, you still haven't heard this hella awesome demo that Nels and Flux came up with, back in the old days. I think it would make a great show-song and I thought I'd get your opinion on it," he said and took his seat again, rifling through the box.

As he did this, Courtney let herself laugh. "Hella?" she asked.

"Hey, a member of one of my favorite bands uses that phrase and it's rubbed off on me!" Nikko defended before continuing his search.

Finally, he pulled out an unmarked CD that he placed in the CD player. Moments later, the music began blaring and Nikko sat back. Courtney joined him and cuddled into his side to settle in for the wait until dinner.

~*****~

Stavros still hadn't figured out what he was going to do about his situation, so he decided to busy himself with dinner preparations. He was just checking the Spanakopita when the phone began ringing.

He quickly put the Spanakopita back in the oven and then rushed over to the side-table on which the phone rested. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Stavros? Stavros Alexander?" came a feminine voice that Stavros wasn't familiar with.

"Um…Yes?" he replied.

"Hey, this is Quinn….Um…is this a bad time?"

"I'm about to have dinner with my family, but I have a while before the meal is ready. Is something wrong? Did something happen to my mom?" Stavros asked, worry making his heart pound thickly in his chest.

"No, no! Zoë is fine. It's just…well…I was wondering if, Gosh, this is awkward, but maybe….we could have lunch tomorrow? Just me and you?"

Stavros was confused. "Um…I guess so, but…how did you get my number?" he asked.

"Heh…well, I looked it up in the phonebook. I know, I seem kind of like a stalker, but I just…I saw how gentle you were with your mother, even though you hadn't seen her in God only knows how long, and it sort of struck me and I decided…what did I have to lose, you know? So, are we on for lunch?" Quinn's voice said.

"I…uh…sure, yeah. What time and where?"

"Maybe we could go to the Pacific Grill? It's one of my favorite places. About…1 o'clock?"

"Alright…okay…Yeah, I'll see you there." They hung up then and Stavros leaned back against the table. Had he just been asked out on a date? By an almost complete stranger? Stavros decided that the day couldn't get any stranger or more complicated and shook his head. It was about time to eat.

~*****~

A/N: Alright, there's the next chapter! I discovered, ironically, that Lincoln High School (which is where Nikko and Courtney go to school) in Washington is in Tacoma, WA, which was exactly where I randomly decided to put the hospital, so I thought that was kind of cool. Hehe…anyways, please review and tell me what you think! ^_^