"You're impossible!" Lulu's voice rose to a near screech level. "You're my brother not my father."
"You got kicked out by our father. Which I might add, is pretty damn impossible to do." Lucky pointed out calmly, leaning his full weight on the door. He should know. If getting your girlfriend pregnant your senior year of college didn't do it, not much else could.
"I told you he's being unreasonable."
She had a point. Reason and Luke Spencer hadn't ever gotten along but no point in letting Lulu know she had actually made a valid argument. "I told you if you stayed here you would have to follow the rules."
Lulu pointed her finger in his face. "You're being ridiculous. I'm 19. I am an adult you know."
"Then go find your own apartment and live there. Be an adult. Quit mooching off me."
"You can't nail someone's window shut! It's illegal!"
"It's my house." Lucky shrugged. "Don't break curfew."
"I told you there was a reason for that."
"Then tell me what happened." Lucky offered. She had come crashing in through the window at three in the morning, scaring him to death. After a quick glance revealed nothing physically wrong with her, he noticed the tears in her eyes. But she refused to talk, stating only that something had happened and telling him it was none of his business. When whatever that "something" was, when it lead to him worrying half the night about where Lulu was, then not telling him got her grounded.
"I told you, that's none of your business." Lulu twisted away, folding her arms over her chest as she stormed toward the couch.
Living in his house. Eating his food. Making him stay up all hours of the night waiting for her to get home. That made it his business in Lucky's book. "Then I guess you're going nowhere."
Lulu glared up at him. "I could just walk out the door after you go to sleep you know."
"Yeah I thought you would try that. I changed the alarm code this morning."
Lulu snorted and rolled her eyes. "Like that will be real hard to figure out. I'll just ask Elizabeth when her birthday is again."
"November first. But that's not it." Elizabeth chimed in as she came down the stairs. Walking cautiously toward the siblings, she took a deep breath. They had been arguing from the second she came over. No, she corrected herself, from the second Lulu moved in. Elizabeth had the feeling Lulu had thought her brother was going to be a pushover where she was concerned. And although she agreed in theory with the rules Lucky laid down for his younger sister, a part of her couldn't help but wonder if some of them was his way of expressing his anger at her over Cameron's accident. Blowing out the breath, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Cease fire for two minutes?"
Taking the uneasy silence as an acceptance of her offer, Elizabeth gently tapped Lucky on the shoulder. "Cameron needs you."
Lucky nodded tersely and started up the stairs. Pausing he turned and looked at his sister. "You're still grounded."
"You're still an unfeeling dictator." Lulu threw back.
"I aim to please." Lucky resumed his journey up the stairs, trying to switch from his discipline mode to his doctoring the sick child mode. Cameron already wasn't feeling well and this wasn't going to help him. Could he find one relative he could invite in his house that wouldn't lead to a screaming fight, at least for Cameron's sake?
Elizabeth sat down in the chair opposite the sill fuming Lulu. Deal with a three-year-old sick with the flu? No problem. Try to calm down a temper tantrum having teenager? Terror city. She couldn't start with a direct lead into what was bothering the other girl. If Elizabeth had to hazard a guess, she would think the boyfriend neither Luke or Lucky wanted to admit existed was involved. She should start with something indirect, something not related to Lucky. Of course she had no idea what that was.
Thankfully Lulu decided to start the conversation. "He's being impossible. You have to talk to him for me." She pleaded.
"Me?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.
"Yes. He will totally lighten up if you talk to him about this. He's just power-tripping or bored or something. I wasn't that late."
"Lulu it was three in the morning."
"It was Friday night. And I had something that I had to do."
"I was wondering when we would get to Bradley." Elizabeth sighed and sank back into the chair. "How does he fit in?"
Lulu looked over at her in shock. "How did you know..."
"Lulu please. It wasn't that long ago I was 19." Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow. "You got kicked out of the house because of him. In my experience when girls come home at three in the morning with no explanation and red eyes, a boy is usually behind it." She motioned for Lulu to lean closer to her. "Come on. You've already confirmed I'm right and if you really want me to help with your brother, I need the full story. So spill."
Lulu sighed. "Bradley's been distant since...well since I got kicked out of the house."
"Can't imagine why." Elizabeth muttered under her breath. Laura had told her the story based on what she had pieced together from Luke's mutterings and cryptic comments. She couldn't say she blamed the boy. Being near the Spencers was bad for his health.
:Lulu continued talking as if she hadn't heard Elizabeth's comment. "So when he told me he was going to spend all night in the library I was suspicious. Who actually goes to the library right? So I went and tried to find him, which I couldn't so I knew he lied to me. This is when I decided to go looking for him."
Elizabeth closed her eyes as she could imagine the rest of the story. Holding up her hand for Lulu to stop, she glanced out of one eye. "Let me guess. You found him with another girl."
"A member of the gymnastics team." Lulu's blue eyes widened as she spoke. "A flipping gymnast."
"So you see I couldn't come back here right away. He knew I saw him and this would be the first place he'd look. This is why I can't be here right now. I don't want it to look like I'm waiting for him."
Looking into Lulu's pleading eyes, Elizabeth felt her heart break just a little. She understood perfectly the girl's need to run, hell she had moved across the country when she walked in on a similar situation. But the truth was Bradley hadn't called here or even driven down the street. He hadn't called the night before. Bradley may knew he had been caught but it was just as possible Bradley wanted to be caught.
Should she tell her? Should she break the girl's heart further or allow her to live on in delusion? Which would be the crueler break? "Lulu..."
"So you'll talk to Lucky? You'll get him to lighten up?" Lulu asked eagerly, clutching Elizabeth's outstretched hands.
She couldn't do this. With a defeated sigh, Elizabeth met Lulu's bright eyes. "I'll talk to him. I promise nothing but I'll talk to him."
Robin supposed she should be crying, but she was far too angry to focus on the degradation that it would take to compel her to cry. She paced the small cabin, back and forth. Back and forth. Not getting anywhere. Not wanting to go anywhere else. She had ruined Georgie's party in a way Maxie couldn't even dream of and now she was down here sulking like a loser. There was no getting off the boat. At least not right now. Unless she planned on swimming back to shore, and that wasn't exactly a possibility.
Was it the feeling of uselessness that had her so upset, or the embarrassment she would be facing if she left the safety of the cabin? She wasn't scared to be alone, actually preferred it, but the sight of a familiar redhead made her feel a little better. At least someone cared enough to come and check on her...or they were out of booze and had come to get more from the mini fridge.
Bobbie sat down next to the young woman. While she knew Patrick and Robin had their share of fights, nothing she had witnessed before had this feeling behind it. This was about something more serious than Patrick's pride or Robin's stubbornness. "Georgie is worried about you."
"That poor girl. She didn't need this today." Robin berated herself, dropping her head in her hands.
Bobbie rubbed the back of Robin's shoulder. "It's ok. I think she expected something to happen between her sister and Lucas."
"How do I explain to Patrick that I'm okay, that I don't need him hovering over me every five seconds?" Robin wondered, meeting Bobbie's sharp eyes.
Bobbie couldn't hold back the bitter laugh that escaped. She had just run Cruz off from her by proclaiming her ability to survive on her own. "I'm not the one to ask about that."
"But you're the smartest woman I know." Robin countered with a tiny nod. "And you know us both so well. Who else would I be able to ask that presents both qualities?"
"Lucky?"
It was Robin's turn to laugh. "I already tried that."
Damn her nephew for being smart enough to get out of this trap. Bobbie sighed. "Well knowing nothing of the situation, I would say that there is nothing you could say to Patrick." She held her hand up to stop the comment she saw forming on Robin's lip. "Normally I would say showing Patrick something works better than telling him. But I'm guessing you already tried this."
"Yes." Robin replied.
"You're not going to like this answer."
Robin scrunched up her face at the tone of Bobbie's voice. "What am I not going to like about it?"
"Because it requires patience."
"Patience is why people lived in caves for so long. Patience is unnecessary. I'm suffocating here. And you tell me to have patience?" Robin asked in shock.
"Did the situation I'm assuming you forced to show Patrick you're fine work so well?" Bobbie retorted with an arch of her eyebrow.
"You saw how it worked." Robin answered wryly.
"Then you are going to have to wait and let him get comfortable with the idea. Similar to introducing him to the concept of monogamy."
"We're talking a quarter of a year here." Robin whined, rubbing her forehead and looking to her shoes.
"But was it worth it?"
"Yes." Robin replied begrudgingly. "More than worth it; I wonder how I ever survived without Patrick loving me."
"Then listen to what I am telling you. Be patient. He'll figure out in time when you really are fine."
"How did you become so wise?" Robin wanted to know.
Bobbie shook her head sadly. "By spectacularly screwing up my own life so often."
"What do you mean?" Robin squinted in speculation.
Bobbie bit her lip and looked away. She hadn't come looking for Robin to discuss her own issues. She had barely begun to try to figure out what the hell had just happened let alone what she wanted to do about it. "Cruz and I are..." her voice caught. What were they? "We're having some problems."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Robin treaded forward nervously.
"Thank you." Bobbie smiled through watery eyes. "But I really hope you have no personal experience to draw from on this issue."
"You never did tell me how you got in. I locked that door." Robin realized as she and Bobbie left the lower deck once and for all. The party was silent when they reached it and this didn't settle well with either of them. Least of all Robin. But their focus wasn't on her. They were all looking at Mac and Alexis. Georgie was crying--Robin recognized the sobbing--but her cousin had her back to her so there was no way to know what type of tears they were.
"Picking locks is a Spencer family trait." Bobbie remarked lightly. "What do you think happened while we were gone?"
"If you think you're going to wedge in-between my daughters and me, you are sadly mistaken!" Felicia's piercing voice made Robin cringe. What was she so upset about? She had known that Mac and Alexis were important to each other; they hadn't just dropped the bomb on her.
"What's going on?" Robin nudged Lucas with her right elbow.
Lucas shook his head. "Your uncle and Alexis just announced they are getting married. And now we get fireworks."
"Married?" Robin whispered, her eyes widening as she stared straight ahead. It was obvious in the way they spoke to each other, the way Mac touched Alexis' back to direct her from place to place. Why hadn't she picked up on it before? She remembered the tiff they had had about Alexis refusing to move into the Scorpio house and the way her uncle had handled the situation after Kristina got into a fistfight at the carnival. His approach had been stern but loving. It had been fatherly. Robin didn't notice the tears in her eyes until she reached up to push her hair out of her face.
"Congratulations!" Robin heard herself say, making her way over to hug them. Felicia, put off at being ignored, pouted and stalked off to the vacant part of the deck.
"Thank you!" Alexis beamed, pulling Robin into a big hug, the act almost completely out of character. She had never seen her so happy.
"We planned to break it to you girls a few weeks back, but life got in the way." Mac explained, wrapping his arms around Robin and a still whimpering Georgie. "Don't cry Buttercup."
"Daddy..." Georgie managed, her head immediately resting against his shoulder. "I'm so happy for you! This is the best news ever! How did you keep it a secret for so long?"
"I hid the ring in my purse." Alexis explained. "Your uncle would have surely broken and told, but things got crazy and there wasn't really a good time. I hope you don't mind sharing the thunder today. I know this is supposed to be about you."
"This is about me. This is about Maxie. This is about all of us. Welcome to the family. We'll be sure to keep it interesting." Georgie promised, hugging Alexis hard.
"She's right." Maxie spoke up, edging toward them. It had taken a lot of effort to weave through the crowd, but she had made it this far. Her mother's insinuation was absolutely preposterous. For Alexis to steal her and Georgie away implied that Felicia had ever wanted them. "You're family now. Let me apologize in advance."
The five of them shared a hearty laugh. This was exactly what Georgie had wanted, she realized. Her family.
"What about me?" Kristina asked, quite earnestly, from her spot behind Mac. "Do I still have a family?"
Mac bent down and picked her up. "Are you kidding? You went from having two smelly brothers to having two great older sisters and a dad that'll love you and never leave you." He promised, tucking her wavy brown hair behind her ears.
"My daddy won't be coming back, will he?" Kristina was unaware of the tears that collected in her mother's eyes.
"Can I be a good pretend dad until he does?" Mac offered, knowing that Corinthos would never get out of prison, not if he had anything to do with it. Right now Kristina just needed a little stability. Just as Robin had needed. Just as Maxie and Georgie had needed. Another little girl to love and take care of. He was one lucky man.
"I guess that'll be okay." Kristina agreed.