Whiter than White Author: Limonize Email: spiral@spinfinder.com PG rated. Adult situations. Summray: Season 3 What-If: Lulu and Nick are now on friendly terms after an incident after James' funeral – Lulu has not left for California --+-- It was Friday, and as usual, way too busy at LSP. Nick spotted Lulu across the bullpen. Her every movement seemed to touch some part of him, as if not a centimeter separated them. Get a grip, muttered Nick to himself. You're due in court in forty-five minutes and you've barely notated your case references… ~ ~ ~ Emerging from Courtroom "C", two relatives of the child whose case he had just pleaded in court, the Pennymans, quickly accosted Nick in the hallway. "Mr. Fallin! Ashley needs to be in an institution, where she can get proper care. Her mother isn't capable of meeting her special needs. If we weren't there to help, Ashley would have already been hospitalized many more times than she has! Please!" "Mrs. Farnsworth has produced expert witnesses who have provided testimony which says differently. The judge will likely rule in her favor, unless you have something to add that would be HIGHLY persuasive." explained Nick, not altogether unsympathetically. He tended to agree with the Pennyman's view, but his case was going down in flames, so far. "Well, we didn't want to have to dip into the muckraking, but we are very concerned about that little girl. So we're telling you now – Mrs. Farnsworth is an unfit mother!" "How so?" replied Nick. "Well.." Mrs. Pennyman spoke up carefully, "She's…she prefers women. And she prefers them a lot!" "That won't disqualify her as a parent who can meet Ashley's needs." countered Nick. "But her latest woman "friend" has AIDS!" "Hm" said Nick, softly stroking the edge of his lip. He wanted to bite down hard on his nails very badly - but he did this only in private where absolutely no one could see him. The rest of the time, he would bring his fingers close to his mouth when he was nervous and touch himself just to appease and reassure himself, that he COULD bite into one if he absolutely had to. He also did it to gauge how much nail there was available, to bite off, for the next time he was alone. It was a longtime habit born of tension he had difficulty coping with at times like these. It was a harder habit for him to give up, than cocaine. "Do you have reason to believe that Mrs. Farnsworth may have exposed herself to body fluids?" asked Nick after some initial hesitation. "We seen them kiss once!" exclaimed Mr. Pennyman. "You know.." "I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, I'll try and get a continuance. I am going to be putting you both on the stand." Realising he had yet to arrange a prepping, he continued: "We'll conference at my office tomorrow morning, at Legal Services." They both nodded agreement to Nick. Nick was thankful when they finally began to walk away. Nick pulled out his phone. "Lulu – you tied up for lunch?" asked Nick. "Late lunch is a possibility, if I can wrap up the next scheduled interview in decent time." "I'll pick you up at one-thirty, okay?" "Are we going to keep it under half an hour?" she asked coyly, trying to guess at his agenda. "Not likely." With that, Nick hung up. He's a man of few words, that was for sure, reflected Lulu, having no idea what Nick had on his mind, as she put the telephone receiver gently back into its cradle. Nick sat outside the Frick Building waiting.for Lulu, having arrived about ten minutes early. It was a bitterly cold, wintery day, with wet slowflakes beginning to pile up on the sidewalk, but with his car heater on, he felt uncomfortably warm in his topcoat. One-forty and no Lulu - Nick began to accept that she was too caught up in a long interview to do lunch – or anything else. With his decision firmly in place to return to the parkade, he twisted the keys in the ignition to start the car up, listening for its familiar rev. The sound of brisk rapping on his car window startled him, catching him off guard. As he turned to look in the direction of the sound, he saw a large blue mitt waving at him – belonging to Lulu's toqued, and smiling face. She scampered around the car and waited for him to unlock the door, all the while stamping on the ground as she waited for the click. The wind howled. It was one of Pittsburgh's coldest days of the year, and thick, moist flakes were falling harder every minute from the darkening gray skies. "There's a weather warning, you know!" reported Lulu. "They're telling everyone not to plan on any travelling this evening -- they're even cancelling flights." Seeing the look of indecision on Nick's face – she presumed he wondered about whether to return to LSP - she added, "Alvin said we better pack up "ASAP" and head home - they're rescheduling at the courts." "Where's you car?' asked Nick. "In the parkade" "Why don't we go back to my place" Nick suggested. "We'll get out of this treacherous weather faster that way". I'll drive you back to your car in the morning. "Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you, Fallin!" I think maybe I'll go get MY car, and later we can meet at your place." "Look at this logically, Lulu." Nick argued pragmatically. " If you drive your car to my place, it'll get snowed in. And then you won't be able to drive it away in the morning." "Geez, you must think I was born YESTERDAY!" she looked at him with her dimple flashing prominently in her mildly, peeved expression. "Obviously, the same thing could happen to yours - if it gets that bad!" "But do the math" replied Nick without missing a beat. "Maybe I'll get stuck, maybe I won't. But at least it'll only be ONE stuck car". He now grinned slyly at her. "Is this how you win your cases in court?" raising her eyebrows challengingly. Her expression said she wasn't buying any of it. "It's how I get my women into bed faster..." he responded unhesitatingly. Nick regretted the remark immediately, and wondered if he had talked himself out of a grand evening with his quipping. "Usually." he added to mitigate the possible damage done. "I'm going!.." she replied in mock outrage, making a motion toward unbuckling her seatbelt. "Lulu..Lulu! – please? Please don't go!". He was taking no chances. Nick would now beg her forgiveness - if he really had to. She settled back into her seat and turned to face him. "So you think you're really hot, huh?" she asked mischievously, her eyes twinkling. She grasped his hand and slipped it into the top of her pants, pushing it down to where her lower belly crease was – where it was very warm. "Wow!" expleted Nick, almost wordlessly. "But how am I going to drive us anywhere with my hand trapped in..um..a very hot place?" She removed his hand, unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the car door in one swift motion, scooped up some snow, swung back, and pulled the front of his trousers away from him. "LULU! – DON'T!!!!" he yelled in alarm, realising with horror, what she intended to do. His expression was so panicked, that when she shoved the small wad of snow down his pants, his gasp of shock was almost anticlimactic. "Ag-h-h!" he exclaimed loudly, grimacing. He jumped out of the car unceremoniously, and began hopping, and swatting at his crotch area, trying to shake the granules of snow out of his trousers, at the same time looking to see if anyone was watching him. "There you go! You're cooled down enough to drive now, I'm sure." she giggled, and then began to laugh uproariously. Nick couldn't even remain annoyed. ~ ~ ~ Nick had been driving about ten minutes, when Lulu noticed for the first time, that Nick had turned and started headed in a direction east from where he lived. "Where are we going?" asked Lulu asked him with a look of concern, puzzled by the unexpected change. "Just stopping in on a friend." Lulu was mystified. The weather was getting worse. "It won't take long." he added to appease her and remove the wrinkle of concern. There he goes again, Lulu thought. Mr. Man-of-few-words. What next? He put his hand on her shoulder and briefly drew her closer to him, and lightly kissed her hair. Affectionate. She loved that part of him so intensely. Like a honeybee drinking up nectar, she smelled his coat and turned her face into his shirt, feeling his warm chest beneath the pinpoint cloth. All the while, she clung to his lapel with her left hand. He was a good driver, and she never doubted his ability to keep his cool while she did this. But Nick did not share her confidence. He glanced down at her briefly, and then up again at the traffic. He was determined to try to forget his warm bundle of joy next to him, so they could arrive in safety. Whatever discipline he may have lacked in applying to some of his excesses, maintaining his vigil for certain things, like driving, was not one of them. The snow continued to float down and quietly alight onto the increasingly white roads. ~ ~ ~ The car had now stopped for much longer than a traffic light. Unwilling to let go of their quiet reverie so soon, she nevertheless reluctantly drew herself away from his chest and tried to orient herself. She did not immediately open her eyes however. "Lulu?" he said softly. She eventually opened her eyes, and turned to gaze at him, noticing how his eyes looked tired. But she also noticed how his laugh line wrinkles seemed to have a so much kinder, gentler look than she could ever remember seeing them. And his lashes made him look more sweetly innocence than ever. She was hypnotised by the boyish and at the same time manly look of him – was it possible that he was even more important to her than the day before – that he could take up even more space in her heart and thoughts? She had been thinking about him all morning. Did he think about her a lot, too? "We're here. It's a bit of a detour…a little surprise…" he said to her quietly. Rather cryptically, she noted.. She looked out, and spotted a sign flapping ferociously from the cold wind, making sighing noises as if almost on the verge of breaking. But it was also old and sturdy and looked like it had survived a lot of winters. "Melanie's Bed & Breakfast", she read. She looked around at the gray skies and all the snow swirling around them, landing on slender pine trees at the side of the property. She noted with amazement that, that entire house was lit up and glowing, reminding her a lof of her favorite cottagey Thomas Kincaid painting. There was something about their entire surroundings that seemed to span a wide expansive space and at the same time, time seemed to stand still for them. Nick watched her closely, to monitor her reaction to the unexpected detour. Lulu began to unselfconsciously smile a deep, beautiful smile. It lit up Nick's insides like a hall filled with hundreds of candles. "I think they serve an early supper here" announced Nick, now breathing deeply and tranquilly. He took her smallish hand in his and kissed it longingly, lovingly, meditatively, eventually gazing up into her eyes again. The adoring look in Lulu's eyes made his heart soar. He began to feel as if he was quietly overflowing with the white light in her... ~ ~ ~