Dillon buttoned the top button his striped shirt and checked his reflection one last time in the mirror above his bureau. He could see Lulu behind him, her head bent over in concentration as she struggled to fasten her bracelet around her slender wrist. "Need some help?" he asked smoothly as he sauntered over. Gazing at her with his best bedroom eyes, he smiled as he knelt next to her.
"Do you think they've noticed that we're missing yet?" she asked lightly, not in any kind of hurry to find the rest of the Quartermaine clan. She had heard her father's voice earlier in the hallway, speaking distantly to Tracey about nothing in particular. No one had bothered to seek them out, so she hadn't either. While they were still in the confines of Dillon's bedroom, nothing else could touch them.
He shook his head and smiled widely. "You know that my mother would have been in here first thing if she did," he pointed out. "Either way, we should probably get downstairs. I'm sure there is a lot going on, and I would really like to check on Em. I'm sure she is tired of running interference between the rest of the family."
"Yeah, she could probably use a break. Lucky, too," she agreed. "He's used to the Spencer drama but not the Quartermaine fights. I'm not sure that he can really deal with everything consider all that has happened."
"You're one to talk," Dillon murmured as he stood up, dropping a tender caress on her hair. "Lucky is a strong man, he knows that he needs to take care of Emily right now. Just like I know that I need to take care of you."
"You're dealing with your own stuff. You shouldn't have to look after me. I hate that I am such a burden on you, even if you don't think I am."
"I don't have to do anything, I am choosing to take care of you. I know that someday, I will need you to do the same thing for me, and when I do, I'll count on you to be there. In the mean time, just let me do this."
She nodded as she stood up in front of him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned up and kissed him briefly. "Let's get out of here."
Taking her small hand in his, Dillon led her toward the staircase and into the foyer. Monica was standing stoically at a window, her eyes glued to the distant horizon. He could see the slight shiver of his aunt's shoulders as she tried to stifle the sobs that would inevitably come. There was a quiet, respectable sadness about her grief. It was as authentic as he had ever seen. "Why don't you go find Em and Lucky? I'll catch up with you."
Lulu indicated that she understood, leaving him silently in the entryway. Once he was alone with Monica, he came the rest of the way down the staircase and stood next to her. "I don't think I've told you this before, but I want you to know how sorry I am. I have done things in the last few months that I never thought I would do, and I wish I could take all that back. I should have never put Alan through all that."
"Don't apologize," Monica assured him. "You were doing what you thought was best. You were fighting for the woman you love, trying to make this world right for her. Alan and I could have never been angry long term, anyhow. We would have done exactly the same thing for each other. God knows, we probably have somewhere along the lines. Besides, we were just trying to protect each other. I guess that's what you were doing for Lulu. You just wanted to protect her from becoming broken like Laura."
Dillon looked at her and smiled a crooked, slightly broken smile. Uncharacteristically, he felt the need to comfort her. Coming from the family that they both shared, he understood that no one else would understand where they were coming from. Turning to her, he wordlessly wrapped his arms around her back and hugged her tightly. "Thank you for sharing your husband with this family," he murmured before letting go and disappearing to find Emily and the others.
"Hey, kids," Lulu greeted Emily and Lucky brightly as she sashayed into the sitting room, trying to muster what little happiness she could. They were both sitting on the couch next to each other, Lucky's arm across her back and Emily's head on his shoulder. With swollen eyes and a tear-stained face, Emily was the picture of despair. Lucky's face mirrored her overwhelming sadness, the usual sparkle gone from his blue eyes. Moving over slightly, he made room for his little sister. She sat down next to him, wrapping herself in the other half of his embrace. Holding the two most important women in the world to him, Lucky tried to let the moment be enough to make him feel whole.
"I should go upstairs and get dressed," Emily announced, not making any movement to get up. "People are going to start arriving any minute. I haven't changed clothes in two days. I hardly think Grandfather would think I'm presentable."
"I doubt the old man will notice," Lulu offered, smiling around her brother's body at the kind brunette. "Besides, you're allowed to be lazy. If ever there was a time to do exactly what you want, this is it. No one is going to hold you accountable for anything you do right now. It's like a free pass."
"Lulu should know," Lucky taunted. "She milks my mom's catatonia for all it is worth. She used it to explain away her drunken Halloween night or the 'accidental pregnancy' or just about anything else that has ever gone wrong."
"What's the point of having a vegetable for a mom if you can't use it to your advantage?" she shot back, laughing heartily for the first time in a long time. It had been awhile since she had made light of her life, finding the humor in an otherwise dark situation. With Dillon, she could feel every ounce of her relationship with her mother. With her father, she could fight about everything that had ever gone wrong. With Lucky, the one person who understood above all else, she could fight the silver lining in a very black sky.
"You guys are horrible," Emily laughed in spite herself. "Only a Spencer could make a joke out of something like this on a day like today."
"Just imagine what you get with two Spencers," Lulu shot back, her entire body wracked with laughter. Lucky soon joined in the infectious giggling, passing it on to Emily. They were doubled over by the time Dillon joined the room, a very confused look on his face.
"What in the world could be so funny?" he asked, scratching his head absently.
"Nothing," Lulu and Lucky insisted in unison, earning another round of chuckles from Emily. She clutched her stomach, struggling for air. Lulu finally managed calm herself down enough to assure him that nothing was wrong, that they were genuinely laughing about life.
"Liar," Dillon mused before looking down at his cousin. "Hey, Em, do you think I could talk to you outside for a minute?"
She looked up at him and nodded. "I'll be right back," she told Lucky, pressing a quick kiss on his cheek. Walking past her, Dillon grabbed Lulu's hand on the way by and squeezed it.
"I see everything is going really well between you and the Young Spielberg," Lucky observed, winking teasingly at his little sister. He enjoyed seeing her turn a bright shade of crimson and squirm next to him on the couch. "Lu, I'm really happy for you. I know that Dillon truly loves you, and I don't think I could find anyone better in the world for you. Whatever, I just want you to be happy."
"I think I might be," she admitted. "I don't really know what it feels like, other than the brief moment when Mom came back or earlier this summer when I felt like Dillon and I were connecting for the first time. But I think that this is happiness, and I know that this is love. I love him, Lucky. Nothing else really seems to matter."
Lucky admired the uninhibited love she seemed to share with Dillon. Once upon a time, he had thought that there was something similar between him and Elizabeth. Maybe there had been, he wasn't sure. The only thing he knew was whatever they had had, it had faded away. Instead of leaving him empty, however, it had made him realize that he was in love with Emily.
"Lu, there is something else I need to talk to you about," he said. "I know that you're upset about what's happened between Liz and me, but I want you to know that has nothing to do with you. I don't expect you to be happy about, but I don't want you to hate her either. For Cameron's sake, we need to find a way for us to all get along. And not just for his sake but also yours and Spencer's."
"I love both my nephews. I would never do anything that would keep me away from them, but I can't just forget what she did. I can't forget that Nikolas didn't tell you."
"I'm not saying you have to forget it, but it's not yours to forgive. It's mine, and eventually, it will be Jason's. I wish that baby was mine, I can't deny that. But there is a reason that it's not. I think Em just might be that reason. Maybe I'm supposed to wait until she and I can be parents together. Otherwise, how can you explain the fact that neither of us have children with the supposed loves of our lives? How do you explain the fact that both of them already have kids with someone else?"
"You are the strongest person know," she mused aloud, truly in awe of how selfless her brother was being. "I will forgive Nikolas when you do. I know that you're saying why this is important for me, but it's crucial for you, too. We have spent so much wasted time hating the Cassadines, but you two broke that pattern. Don't revert back to those old ways, Lucky."
"When did you get so brilliant?" he asked, truly amazed at how grown up Lulu suddenly seemed.
She shrugged wryly. "I've always been brilliant, it just took you this long to figure it out."
Out on the terrace, Emily leaned over the wrought iron railing and looked back at the rose garden she had been in hours before. A gentle breeze passed by her like a whisper, a slight signal to let her know that she wasn't alone. Her eyes drifted to Dillon, who just grinned knowingly in response. "I felt it, too."
"I've felt her all day," Emily said. "I can't help but be grateful that she isn't here. This would have torn her heart apart. Instead, she is up there with my father, probably having afternoon tea with Justus while they watch over us laughing. They already know the hell we are both going to be in when they read his will. I can't even imagine how fun that is going to be."
Dillon couldn't help but laugh for a minute before turning serious again. "I'm going to miss Alan."
"Yeah? What are you going to miss most?"
He cocked his head in contemplation. "I will miss the way his voice could fill a room. I've never heard anyone bellow like Alan could. He'd come in and instantly command attention. There was nothing like it."
"He knew how to fight with the best of them," she agreed. "I guess he had to in order to survive in this house. Between Grandfather and Tracey, he wouldn't have stood a chance otherwise. He taught me everything I know about dealing with the family."
"What are you going to miss most?"
"There's this look he had," Emily explained. "He'd sort of half smile and get this sparkle in his eye, and I knew exactly what that look meant. It meant that he was my father and that he loved me. It was something that only I could ever understand, totally unique to our relationship. I have never really been sure about many things other than the fact I wanted to be a doctor. But I knew how proud my father was of me the day he died. That is a gift that means more to me than anything else ever could."