Doubts

Author: Sarah Grauvogl
 
Email: grauvose@muohio.edu
 
Rating: G
 
Summary: Nick finally confronts Lulu

Context: Follow-up to "Conversations", Part of the Holidaze
*Scratched Coffee Table* Fan Fiction Series

Author's Note: The closest yet that I've come to 500 words. :)
 
--+--

Early the next morning, as Nick walked into LSOP found Lulu in her
usual place -- it was that time of day, coffee and case distribution.

Nick walked over to her, his mind flashing quickly back to the table
at The Incline the night before, he had to know what she wanted ---
"that place, they're good?"

Setting the coffee pot down, Lulu looked at him and smiled, a bit
confused, "what?"

"The place you gave me the card for, to fix the scratched coffee
table?" Nick explained, as he pulled the card out of his pocket to
show her.

"Oh yeah, they're actually working on a" Lulu stopped herself there,
Nick had no reason to know and probably no interest, " ... they're
fine."

Nick could sense her hesitation, which was odd because she normally
told him everything -- except when it was really important, like
about Brian. He looked at her intently, "working on what?"

Lulu grabbed her coffee cup and started heading back toward her
office, with Nick not far behind, " its just a headboard, I found
this sleigh bed that needed to be refinished, and...''

"For your apartment?" Nick asked, reaffirming what she had told him
the night before at The Incline.

"Right," Lulu turned to face Nick, "my apartment."

With his curiosity eating away at him, Nick just had to ask, "How
long have you been there?"

"After Thanksgiving, I..." Lulu paused, not sure how much he really
wanted to hear. She was pretty certain that Nick was well aware that
Brian's case had been the proverbial nail in the coffin, but then
again, they had problems long before -- but Nick knew that too. Lulu
swallowed hard, "it just wasn't working anymore and I moved out..."

The wound from the night before reopened as he heard Lulu say it
again, Nick cut her off, "Why didn't you tell me?" He followed her
inside her office, and shut the door behind them. Nick's heart was
heavy, as was his head, this wasn't the moment at all he had been
hoping for with Lulu, the moment she was finally free.

Lulu stood against her desk, defenseless against his
interrogation, "What? That I moved?"

"C'mon, Lulu," Nick rubbed nervously at his nape, flustered beyond
belief as his heart pounded madly in his throat, "your divorce. You
are getting one, right?"

"I guess I didn't think it would matter at this point," Lulu answered
weakly, after the sight at The Incline the night before had confirmed
her suspicions that Nick's feelings had apparently changed. It just
wasn't the same, he got tired of waiting and moved on. Kim made that
perfectly clear. But if that was true, Nick sure as hell wouldn't be
looking at her the way he was now.

Nick stood there quietly, his sad eyes occasionally glancing at her,
this wasn't the moment at all. He had envisioned it differently,
where Lulu would tell him she left Brian, and they'd go out and ...
no ... it wasn't like that. He could only assume that seeing his
being with Kim the night before was part of the reason Lulu felt the
way she did. Maybe she didn't know to think better of him, to know
that Kim didn't matter the way she did -- no one did. If he felt that
way, why the hell couldn't he tell her that...

**
 
THE END