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Chapter 13 is on. I never imagined this story to go that far and I still have ideas how this story will go on.
Enjoy this chapter and please R+R.

Thanks: Thank you, Isi. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't read this chapter and the chapters before beta.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

13. What's Up?

They still sat around the table. All were eating and all but Alex were chatting.
Nick and Tess talked about organic farming. Tess had forgotten to worry about Claire who hadn't shown up yet because she was deep into her conversation with Nick.
Becky and Meg talked about apricot-chicken. Becky tried to cook it herself but it didn't taste like Meg's so she asked Meg once more for advice.
Alex ate his food silently. He watched the others but he didn't take part in their conversations. Whenever one of them looked at Alex he was smiling. So they thought he smiled at them as a sign that it was ok for him to be left outside.But Alex smiled out of another reason. He waited for Claire to pass the door to the dining room any minute. He wanted to show her how happy he was with everything.

Nobody heard the car arriving at the farm. Claire entered the house. She already knew from the utes in the driveway that Nick and Alex were there. "What am I gonna do?" She asked herself a last time before she walked towards the dining room. She heard Alex laughing. Once more she thought about the stupid home-brewed. She should never have had a sip of it in the first place. She remembered how much they laughed that night. Alex mentioned something about his chopper. She couldn't get together what he had actually said, she just remembered his beloved chopper.

Claire stepped into the dining room. Tess saw her sister and the look on her face.
"What's up, Claire?" She asked directly.
"Nothing, just a headache. I will go to bed. Night." Claire answered and was already on her way out when she heard Alex speaking.
"What did the doc say?" He asked.
"Tomorrow, Alex. I'm tired." Claire answered vaguely without even turning around and passed the door. A few seconds later they heard her going upstairs.

Tess got up from her chair. "Sorry, I have to go upstairs. Eat some more of Meg's great apricot-chicken." Tess said and stepped out of the room. She went upstairs too and knocked at Claire's door. Claire didn't answer so Tess tried to open the door but it was locked.
"Claire? Please open the door." Tess said through the door.
"I'm nearly asleep!" Claire shouted through the closed door back.
"Talk to me, please." Tess said begging.
"Door is locked for a reason. Leave me alone." Claire shouted in an angrier way than before. Tess left her alone for now. It seemed like Claire needed some time for herself. "What went wrong?" Tess asked herself while she went down again. She worried that someting was wrong with the baby, one of Claire's biggest fears.

The dining room was completely silent when Tess entered the room. They all shot a look at her. They wanted to know what had happened upstairs. They just heard Claire shouting something but they didn't understand a word. Tess avoided their looks, got back to her chair and tried to eat. She thought about Claire, the baby and what had gone wrong today.
"Uhm Becky, don't forget take the right kind of apricots for the-chicken. Don't use the small ones." Meg told Becky to break the akward silence.
"Sure Meg. And then I ..." Becky started to ask Meg another question to keep up the talking.
"Sorry, but I've finished. Do you need something to drink?" Alex asked while he stood up. "I will help myself to another beer if you don't mind." Alex excused himself and was already leaving the room. He hadn't given anybody a chance to announce their wishes to him. He just wanted to get upstairs and talk to Claire. Maybe she got bad news from the doc. "I hope the baby is alright." Alex thought.

He went upstairs to Claire's room and knocked at the door.
"Tess, don't you understand that I want to sleep?" Claire shouted angrily through the door.
"It's me, Alex." Alex said in a soft tone back through the door. "Please, open the door, Claire."
"Alex go away. Leave me alone." Claire shouted back angry.
"Claire, I won't. We're a team now. You, me and the baby." Alex said. Words out of love. He could hear that Claire got up from her bed. The key turned around and Claire opened the door. Alex looked into her eyes. She had a sad and anger look on her face. Claire did the same as Alex and looked into his eyes.
"Never ever again talk about us as a team. You're out of it all. I don't want to have anything to do with you ever again. We're done." Claire shouted directly into his face.
Alex couldn't believe what she just had said. This wasn't Claire. "What's up, Claire? There's no need to treat me like this. What's up?" Alex asked confused and sad about Claire's reaction but still looked at her. Claire couldn't stand that look and turned around. She went back into her room and locked the door again without another word.
Alex still stood startled at the same spot as before but now he looked at a door instead of Claire's face.

Alex went downstairs again. He needed another beer. No sound came out of the dining room. He didn't want to go back in there. He was scared of their questions and of their looks. "What went wrong?" He asked himself. Instead of the dining room he entered the kitchen, got the beer, he had talked about before, out of the fridge and sat down at the table. He opened the bottle of beer and emptied it fast. Then he just took another one out of the fridge and a big sip of it when Nick entered the kitchen.
"Thought I heard something going on in here." Nick said.
"Leave me alone." Alex answered harsh.
"Alex, I won't." Nick told Alex and took the bottle out of Alex' hand.
"Give it back." Alex said pissed off. He didn't want anybody around him, especially not his brother. He wanted to get drunk and to forget the trouble with Claire from before.
"No, Alex. Come with me and sleep at Wilgul." Nick told him and still kept the bottle in his hand.
Alex just looked sternly at Nick. This was his home and he wanted to sleep here tonight. He did everything to make it nice and comfy for himself as well as for Claire. He even gave her Mr Spock, the one thing he combined to good childhood memories.
"Nick, go away. I will stay here, I live here and I will sleep here." Alex said calmer than before.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Alex replied, raised up from the chair and left the room. Nick heard Alex' steps on the staircase and assumed that Alex would head to bed.

Nick got back into the dining room. Tess was the only one left. Meg and Becky had already gone over to their places with their food. They didn't want to be part of this family crisis.
Tess looked sad at her half full plate. She hadn't managed to eat after her talk with Claire. Actually she hadn't said a word at all since she came back down. Nick went over to her, pulled her up, hugged her and put a peck on her head. He did this as a friend not an upcomeing boyfriend because Tess needed a friend right now. "The rest will hopefully come soon enough." Nick thought.
Tess let him do this. She needed to be kept grounded. It felt so good but she still worried about Claire. Usually Claire didn't act like she did this evening. Tess needed to clear her mind so she slightly pushed Nick away although she wanted to keep the feeling between them. Nick didn't mind at all. They stood face to face and looked into each other eyes.
"Sorry Nick, but this isn't right. I don't know what to do. Claire is pissed off by whatever reason. Alex didn't come back in here. Everything is falling apart." Tess told Nick her worries which kept her thoughts caught.
Nick silently nodded and kept the look up. "I understand you Tess. It's the same here too. Alex is my brother. I don't know what's going on but I think Alex wants to do it. He likes his new part." Nick answered as honest as possible without breaking his promise towards Alex. "Uhm, by the way I think Alex has gone to bed, at least he went upstairs a few minutes ago."
"Well if you think so, we will find out what bothers Claire first thing tomorrow morning. We should get some sleep now too." Tess replied. "You can stay here if you like and crush on the couch."
"That would be nice. I'm tired as hell. Too much trouble for one day."
"Wait a sec, I'll hand you a pillow and a blanket." Tess said and went out of the room to get the things. Nick followed her. She handed him the things and looked into his eyes once more for today. "Thanks for everything. Sleep well." Tess said.
"You too." Nick said and touched her arm slightly. "You can count on me." Nick thought while he did that.
Tess didn't move herself. She liked the touch. Nick slowly took his hand from her arm and let her go.
Tess went upstairs. She was confused because Nick was with Moira but gave her more than one signal tonight. She put her pyjamas on and got to bed.

To be continued ...