Chapter 36

Curled up together on the couch in front of the fire, both Nathalie and Nikolas looked up in surprise as Lulu came flying through the door. Her face was red and splotchy and her eyes swollen.

"Lu?" Nikolas asked as she walked past them in to the kitchen.

"Don't want to talk about it" she fired back.

"Lu, what happened?"

"Did you miss the part where I said I don't want to talk about it?"

Extricating himself from Nathalie, Nikolas walked to the kitchen and stood in the doorway as Lulu pulled cookies from the pantry and ice cream from the freezer. Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up defiantly. "What?"

"You're upset – what happened?"

"Nothing" she said flatly.

"Did Ethan do something? 'Cause I'll go set him straight…."

She shook her head as she dug in to the ice cream. "Leave him alone – he's a good guy."

"Then what's wrong?" Nikolas was puzzled by his little sister's behaviour and her reticence in letting him help.

"I DON'T want to talk about it," she said firmly.

Nikolas felt Nathalie's hand on his shoulder. "I think Spencer needs you" she said quietly. He nodded and winked at her before retreating from the kitchen. Nathalie smiled as she walked over to the table. "Hmmm – ice cream AND cookies – this is indeed a bad sign."
Lulu sighed. "You have no idea."

"I know you don't want to talk about it" she said gently "but it's not as bad as you think?" Nathalie reached for an Oreo.

Lulu slumped at the table, propping her head up on her elbow. "I ran out on Ethan."

Careful not to react too quickly, Nathalie concentrated on pulling her cookie apart and licking the centre. "Why?"

"I'm not sure" she answered truthfully.

Nathalie nodded. "Were you guys….you know…"

"God no – nothing that interesting. I was cooking him dinner."

"And you decided you didn't like what you made?"

Lulu giggled in spite of herself. "I cut myself" she said shyly, brandishing her bandaged finger.
"And?"

"And he tried to help me and I was afraid of getting blood on him and then my head exploded and I ran away."

"I see" she said, taking the spoon from Lulu's hand and scooping out a large spoonful of ice cream. "Mmm. Mint chocolate chip is my favourite" she said licking the ice cream from the spoon.

"Don't you want your own spoon…" Lulu stopped and smiled. "You're really sneaky you know that?"

She grinned. "Lawyer."

"Why did I run – he wanted to talk about it and I couldn't get out of there fast enough?" Taking the spoon back from Nathalie, she dug another large helping with it.

"I'm not an expert Lulu but I would imagine that it was a bit scary and maybe you felt a little embarrassed?"

She nodded. "Is it ever going to get easy?" she asked in frustration.

"You know, I don't think ice cream and cookies are going to cut it." Nathalie stood up and walked to the phone, dialing the familiar number.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused.

Nathalie held up her finger. "Hey Robin, it's Nathalie…."

Lulu shook her head good naturedly. One of the good things that had come from her diagnosis was that she was surrounded by people who wouldn't let her hide and who reminded her on a regular basis that she mattered to them, no matter what. It was an affirmation she had been searching for with her father and grandmother and even her catatonic mother but she had not found it until recently.

Nathalie smiled as she hung up the phone. "Okay, get changed – we're going to Jake's."

"But…"

"Yeah, yeah – you're not 21 but I know Coleman lets you drink there on occasion. Clearly the drinking age in this country is antiquated and puritanical. Besides, it's obvious you are in need of some girl time, which I can provide and some perspective, which Robin can provide and some drinks, which Coleman can provide. So get up and get changed."

For the first time since her accident at Ethan's she felt relief. "Okay – give me 10 minutes."

"Going somewhere?" Nikolas asked as Nathalie opened the door to their bedroom.

She jumped as she felt his arms snake around her waist. "Lulu, Robin and I are going to have a girls' night at Jake's."

Nikolas spun her around in his arms. "You're taking my underage sister drinking?" he questioned teasingly.

"Yup. Your underage sister needs some girl time that doesn't involve mocha lattes at Starbucks and quite frankly, Robin and I could use some release as well."

He pressed his lips into her neck. "I could think of a few ways to give you release."
She shivered as his warm breath made contact with her skin and she pushed herself further against him. "If you play your cards right, we might both get release tonight."

Closing his eyes, he nuzzled her neck, lost in the feeling of being wrapped up with her. "I think my offer is a better one."

She smiled against his shoulder. "If you don't stop, I'm never going to get out of here."

"My evil plan is working" he smirked. Pulling back slightly, he looked at her seriously. "Is Lulu okay?"

Nathalie nodded. "She cut herself making supper at Ethan's and had a bit of a freak out. I just think some time with Robin and I might help her over that."

Not for the first time, Nikolas was moved by the way she took on his family as her own. His sister missed their mother more than anyone and Nathalie and Robin both filled that void being part mother/part friend. He was grateful to both of them for taking her under their wings. Nathalie bussed his lips and left his arms to change.

Ten minutes later, she met Lulu in the sitting room and promised Nikolas that they would mostly behave.

"Don't call me if you get thrown in jail" he teased.

"Jail?" Lulu questioned. "Please. We're with the Police Commissioner's niece and we have a lawyer – we'll be fine." Nikolas rolled his eyes and waved them off, secretly pleased about their outing.

He had just settled down to review quarterly statements from his holding company when Alfred escorted Ethan in to his study.

"Mr. Ethan Young for Miss Lulu" he announced in his crisp accent.
"Thank you Alfred" Nikolas said. "Ethan – this is a surprise."

He looked nervously around the room. The house was much grander than he had expected and suddenly felt overwhelmed. "Um…yeah. Is Lulu here? I'd really like to speak with her."

Nikolas leaned back and studied his face. He was certainly nervous but there was a look that came over him when he mentioned his sister's name that impressed him. "I'm sorry Lulu has gone out with some friends."

"Is she…is she okay?" he asked, jamming his hands into his pockets. He felt woefully underdressed in his battered jeans and black CBGB t-shirt over his white, long sleeve t-shirt.

Nikolas nodded slowly. "I think so – care to tell me why my sister was so upset?" He wanted to hear Ethan's take on what happened. While pleased his sister had found someone who had accepted her, he knew from his friendship with Robin that having HIV could be a series of trials and he didn't want this guy bailing on his sister after she had become so attached. Ethan shifted from one leg to the other. "Please sit" Nikolas offered.

Grateful for the seat, Ethan's legs bounced up and down nervously. "She uh….we were making dinner – or she was making dinner for me" he rambled nervously. "And she cut herself as she was dicing tomatoes. I tried to help her but she was worried about me touching her and then kind of freaked out and left. I tried to get her to stay and talk to me but she just wanted to come home."

"I see. And how did you feel about her cutting herself?"

Ethan furrowed his brow. "I'm not sure what you mean – I felt badly that she cut herself and then felt really badly that it freaked her out."

"Why did you come after her?"

He blinked several times as if Nikolas' question was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. "Well…she's my girlfriend…..and I care about her……and I want to make sure she's okay."

Nikolas leaned forward and looked intently at Ethan. "Ethan you seem like a good guy and I think you make my sister happy but are you sure – are you really sure that her having HIV doesn't bother you?"

He let out a long slow breath. "Bother is a peculiar word. Of course it bothers me" he started "in the way that I wish she didn't have this and that she didn't have to go through this. But your sister is amazing and with or without HIV, I'd want to date her. Life is too short and can end too quickly to let something like HIV stand in the way of a good thing."

Impressed by his answer, he also noticed the sadness around the edges of his voice. "Sounds like you have some experience with life being short"

"I do." Ethan was unwilling to reveal any more on that subject. He was happy to prove himself worthy of Lulu and even tell her brother in detail how much he cared for her but his mother's murder and the circumstances around it were not for public consumption.

"Okay then. Well we should probably go rescue our women."

"Pardon?" Ethan did a double take.

"My sister and my girlfriend and Patrick's wife are all at Jake's having a girls' night out which inevitably will result in tequila shots and sore heads." Nikolas smiled and picking up the phone, dialed Patrick's number. "Patrick, it's Nikolas. I have Ethan with me…….Bring Rian here and I'll have Mary watch him – we're going to go supervise our women."