Every Thursday that the trio came to the club was much the same, except for the week that it wasn't. Eddie wasn't exactly clear on what was going on at first; all he could really tell was that Laurie was more distant than usual, and it wasn't just with him. Something had to be bothering her, and though he would have bet money that that something was her boyfriend, he didn't know how that was different than any other day, considering how he heard her talk about the guy.

But he didn't have much time to try to glean information on the problem at hand, or to try to work up the nerve to give advice that would be ignored and met with, most likely, her yelling at him. He had to ready himself for his routine, and so he said goodbye to the group, and received a simple goodbye from Walter, a 'break a leg ' from Dan, and a muttered 'if only' from Laurie. At least she had retained her sharp attitude, even when she was so obviously feeling down.

He took to the stage, diving into his planned routine for the night, rolling from one joke to the next nearly seamlessly, watching as, one by one, all of the patrons succumbed to laughter at some remark or another. All except Laurie, of course, but that was typical. What wasn't typical was how heavily she was drinking, and though he couldn't thoroughly watch her and perform at the same time, he continually found his gaze wandering back to her.

He felt those fatherly instincts he'd never really had the chance to use flaring up, and he wanted to tell her to slow down, to be more careful, but it wasn't his place and she wouldn't listen, and he couldn't exactly call her out in the middle of a show like that anyway. All he could really do was keep as much of an eye on her as he could, and trust Dan to be the responsible one and make sure she was alright. Eddie would never like the way Dan looked at his daughter, but he had to admit that if he had to pick anyone for her, he would be one of the better choices.

He wondered, of course, how them hooking up would affect Dan's friendship with Walter and how he would take something like that. Hell, if the kid needs a friend after that, he thought, I'll be feeling pretty shitty about it myself.

~X~

When the routine was done and he went by their table, Laurie was still drinking pretty heavily. She had gotten so trashed by this point, in fact, that she had actually laughed at a few of his jokes towards the end of the show, and he knew that that meant she must be in pretty bad shape. He hoped that Dan would have the good sense to try and take her home soon.

But as the night wore on, she only got worse, slurring her every word and draping herself over Dan, who looked almost as uncomfortable as Walter had this whole time. Eddie, to his credit, just kept acting like everything was the same, drinking and cracking jokes, but even he was not immune to just how awkward the entire situation was, and how much worse it was becoming.

Eventually, he excused himself to the bathroom, both because the need had arose and because he needed the excuse to get away from all of that for a moment. Not only was all of their discomfort contagious, but that was still his daughter making a fool of herself out there, and he came dangerously close to saying something a few times.

When he came out of the bathroom, he was surprised to find Laurie standing there, swaying slightly. She was glaring at him, and it was clear that she had been waiting for him, for whatever reason. For a fraction of a second, he remembered that time with Sally, for it had been in a dark hallway not unlike this one, but then Laurie's finger was in his face and he was brought back to the present.

"I can't believe how you act," she slurred. "You're so damn easygoing all the time, ya know? But I know all about you and you're a real bad guy."

He sighed, knowing that, even if he could really talk things over with her right now, it wouldn't matter. She was too shitfaced to really know what he was saying, so all he did was say, "Yeah, I am. Done some fucked up things, but that doesn't mean I'm proud of 'em."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" She was swaying so dangerously now that he was sure she would lose her balance at any moment. "Tryna be the good guy now, like that makes it better or something?" Laurie shook her head.

"Kid, I could never be the good guy." Just as he finished saying this, his prediction came true and she stumbled. He quickly grabbed her arm to steady her and she looked at his hand with disgust but did not move to get out of his grip.

"What are you tryna pull?" she asked, squinting up at him. "You think I'm gonna fall for your tricks? Not after what I know about you." Still, she did not even attempt to move away from him.

But he dropped her arm immediately, shaking his head. "No, no, s'not like that. I would never-"

"Why not?" she interrupted, and something in her face shifted, giving him a look that was not something he would have ever wanted from his daughter. "C'mon, you don't think I'm just a little bit pretty?" She laid her hand on his chest and he flinched.

"Laurie, you've got no idea what you're doin'," he said, stepping back. "You're drunk, an' there's just some stuff ya don't..."

As he stepped back, she stepped forward and stumbled again, this time falling into his arms. She looked up at him, with something almost like irritation. "Whatsa matter? I thought you'd at least be into this..."

It dawned on him that she was not just drunk, she was desperate, and if he could find this Jon fellow, he would certainly teach him a lesson about how to treat a lady. The fact that Laurie felt neglected enough to get drunk enough to hit on Eddie of all people spoke volumes for how bad her relationship must be, and he didn't know if there was anything he could do to help her out.

He certainly couldn't help her out the way she wanted, but she would never understand why he had to reject her like he did. It was understandable to turn her down simply because of how drunk she was or because of the age difference, of course, but if she remembered the disgust in his eyes the next morning, she would never know that it was not him finding fault in her, but him having some morality for once.

"Come on," he said at last, pushing her off of him and grabbing her arm tightly. "Let's walk, alright?" She stumbled after him, rambling incoherently, perhaps thinking that she had gotten her way and that he was taking her home. Instead, he took her back to their table, where Dan and Walter seemed surprised to see her being drug along like that.

"She's in bad shape," said Eddie. "I think ya need to get her on home." When Dan stood, he let go of Laurie and she stumbled over to him. She soon fell into his arms, much as she had with Eddie, and seemed to forget her anger with him entirely as her focus shifted to Dan.

"I...yeah, I agree," he said, looking more than a little flustered to have her hanging all over him like that. "Walter, will you be alright here?"

"Yeah. Get her home," his friend replied, not looking up from the table. Eddie could tell that he wasn't exactly eager to be left alone, but Dan didn't notice as he helped Laurie to the door.

When the two of them were gone, Eddie sat in silence. Walter was never particularly chatty, but tonight, he did not so much as lift his head to look around the club. He was hurt, even if he wouldn't admit it, and Eddie wondered if he should try to say anything to make the situation better.

"Laurie sure was a wreck," he finally said, after a while. He didn't want to talk bad about her, even if it was true, but he hoped that a good laugh might raise Walter's spirits a little bit.

"She was upset about something," he replied. "Don't see why she wouldn't just talk to Dan about it from the start. It was obvious that he wanted to help her. Guess he finally got his wish, at least."

It was more than Eddie was used to hearing the younger man say, which must have been proof that he was hurting pretty badly over this, and that Eddie's statement hadn't helped at all. He tried a different approach. "Well, from the looks of her, she'll be down for the count just as soon as she gets in her door."

"If she doesn't convince him to take advantage of her intoxication first."

"Hey, now, Dan's not that sorta guy," he said quickly, more because he wanted to believe it. Truth be told, he really didn't know the man's habits all that well, and though he seemed spineless enough, there was no telling how he might act once he had her alone like that.

"People change, especially where sex is concerned," said Walter matter-of-factly. "He seems better than that, but there's no telling."

"Well, I guess we just gotta have faith in our good buddy," Eddie said, because that was all he really could say. He hoped that he had done the right thing in handing Laurie over to Dan like that; there hadn't really seemed to be much choice otherwise. It wasn't as if he could spend any more time with her in her state.

The best he could do now was drink a bit more himself, in hopes that it would erase Dan and Laurie from his mind and make conversation with Walter a little bit easier.