Dan and Laurie only got closer from there, though he hadn't been sure at first. He had been afraid that her dislike for Eddie would mean that she would not want to spend time with him anymore either, but she had been so willing to set that aside for his sake that first night. The next week, Walter was able to go with him again, but, surprisingly, Laurie called him to ask if she could come along as well.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean, I know you don't like Eddie, so..."

"Maybe not, but I like spending time with you," she replied. He offered to hang out with her other places, on different nights, doing different things, and she took him up on every single one of those offers, yet still wanted to go with him to the comedy club. He was confused, but not willing to let the opportunity pass him by.

So he agreed to have her come along and hoped that she and Walter got along well enough, but he couldn't help but question why she would want to go back. She had been so upset before, he had figured she would never want to go back, and he wondered if she was honestly so lonely that she would put up with being around somewhere she hated just for the sake of their friendship.

Whatever her reasoning, she went with him often- though not every week he went- and always seemed eager to make plans with him. They had been awkward around each other at first, but soon found that they always had something to talk about. Every now and then, she would slip up and talk about her relationship, and then apologize for bringing up the unfortunate situation, but Dan was always willing to listen to her, even though all he really wanted to do was tell her to leave her boyfriend for someone who really cared about her.

But he had promised himself that he would not let himself slip up in that regard; he was her friend first and foremost, and his attraction to her was not as important to him as that. He listened to her and offered support whenever she accidentally mentioned it, and when she was drunk enough to go on and on about it, he tried his best then too. She put up with him being friends with someone she could not stand; what kind of friend would he be if he didn't listen to her complain about her relationship without letting his personal feelings get in the way?

~X~

Nearly two months into their friendship, and she still went with him every chance she had, and hung out with him otherwise as well. He wasn't exactly clear on how Walter felt about her; other friend was quiet about a lot of things and managed to keep his opinion hidden, but he couldn't have disliked her too much, because he kept coming along. Or maybe he just enjoyed going to the club so much that he didn't let that bother him.

Her home life only continued to deteriorate, and even though she tried to keep her brave face, she continued to let more and more slip to Dan. She wasn't happy, and he didn't know how to fix it other than spending whatever free time he had with her, which she at least seemed to appreciate. It didn't help much, but it was helping, and that made him feel a little bit useful.

One night, things were worse than usual. From the moment he saw her outside of the club, he could see that she was miserable, and she was not making her usual effort to conceal it. Her smile when she saw him was painfully fake and there were still tears in her eyes that she hadn't yet managed to blink back.

"Laurie, are you alright?" he asked, rather than greeting her. Normally, he would let her talk when she was ready, but he was worried about her.

"I'm fine," she replied, but her voice broke and she shook her head. "No, I'm not. I'm sorry, I don't want to ruin the night, but..."

"Did you guys have a fight?"

"I wish," she said. "I know that sounds bad, but...I wish we had, because at least then he'd be saying something. At least then I would know he was putting in an effort too, but whenever I talk to him, he just...doesn't care."

He tried to think of something, anything to say that would make her feel better, but his patience with her boyfriend was growing thin and he couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't encouraging her to dump him. Before he could come up with something else, they saw Walter approaching, and Laurie wanted to drop the topic.

She was distant from that point on, not even bothering to greet Eddie with her usual ice and sarcasm, and set to drinking as soon as they were seated. The only glimpse she gave of her usual personality what when Eddie got up to get ready for his routine. Dan told him to break a leg, to which Laurie responded, "If only."

She was drinking at a rate that concerned him a bit, but he didn't think that it was his place to tell her to slow down. However, he knew she had to be pretty trashed to laugh at any of Eddie's jokes, and towards the end, he caught her doing just that. He was worried about her, but there wasn't much he could do other than keep an eye on her and try to look for an excuse to ask her if she was ready to go home.

Even when Eddie came to sit and talk with him, she did not follow her typical routine of glaring at him and making snide remarks about things he said and instead came up with a new routine for the night: throwing her arm around Dan and laying her head on his shoulder, mumbling nearly incoherently about anything and everything. He sat stiff, not sure how to react to her doing this, enjoying her closeness but knowing that it meant nothing and that she was not in her right mind.

Eddie excused himself and walked away, and Dan began to plan how to ask Laurie to leave. He didn't even know where she lived, but he had to get her home somehow, and hoped he'd be able to get a straight answer out of her when he managed to get her out of here, but before he could even ask, she excused herself as well, barely managing to stand up and stumble off toward the bathrooms.

"She's a mess tonight," observed Walter rather frankly.

"She and her boyfriend have been having problems," replied Dan. He could appreciate that Walter, despite not having a high opinion of Laurie's actions, kept it to himself until she was out of earshot.

"As always."

"I think it's different this time," he said. "I think she's really being pushed farther than she can handle. Try to bear with her while things are tough. For me, alright?"

Walter shrugged. "Wasn't planning on saying anything and you know I'm going to keep coming here anyway."

"What's up with that?" asked Dan. "You always seem pretty enthusiastic about coming here and sometimes I think you enjoy it more than me. Ever thought about coming on other nights? I probably can't come with you a lot for those nights, but I would try to if I could. We haven't ever seen any of the other comedians here."

His friend only shook his head, and did not meet Dan's eye as he said, "Not really interested in...any of the other ones."

He wanted to ask what Walter meant by that, but before he could, he noticed his friend looking at something, and followed his gaze. Eddie was coming back to the table, practically dragging Laurie behind him. Dan felt himself grow defensive, wondering what had gone down between them. Despite Laurie's story about the man, he had never been able to picture him doing something like that, but with her so drunk and helpless, it made him wonder.

He didn't have to wonder, or worry much, though. As soon as he rose to say something, Laurie began to stumble toward him and Eddie let go of her. Just before she reached him, she started to fall, and he caught her to steady her, but she had no intention of letting go.

"She's in bad shape," said Eddie. "I think ya need to get her on home." His intentions were pure, and that was a relief, and he was right. That had been the plan all along, and with Laurie clinging to him like this, now it did not seem like it would be as hard of a goal to achieve.

"I...yeah, I agree," he replied. He turned to his friend and asked, "Walter, will you be alright here?"

"Yeah. Get her home."

Not needing any further encouragement, Dan said his goodbyes and helped Laurie to the door. She seemed to have an entirely different idea about where this night was going, judging by some of the remarks she made, and he tried to keep his mind from wandering to dangerous places. No matter how many times he asked her where she lived, she refused to talk, only giggling, and eventually, he realized that if he did not take her to his own home, he wouldn't know what to do with her.

So he brought her home, where she again attempted to come on to him, and he continued to manage to resist her advances. Just before she passed out, she began to tear up, and started to apologize, mumbled, "I didn't mean to be so lonely..."

Dan laid her on the couch, waiting to make sure that she was out for good. Of course, that was what it was all about and he knew it. Her advances were brought on by the volatile combination of alcohol and the horrible loneliness she had been subjected to for so long. It was good that he had managed to stay strong; she hadn't really meant any of what had been said, and both would have regretted it in the morning.

He only hoped that instead, she would feel better in the morning, at the very least.