Die or hope Author: Lambertoise Email: jmlsi@sympatico.ca Summary: It is my alternative ending to All the rage, beginning right after Nick told Lulu he loves her. Author's Note: This is my (pre)contribution to the Summer challenge during which I won't be home. ************************ Nick is sitting at the bar. The place, unknown to him until tonight is depressing, glum. It goes well with his mood. He had just called Burton to cancel the concert. He didn't feel at all like going somewhere fancy with his father. Instead, he took his car and drove down the streets until he stopped in front of the Moody bar. "Yeah, why not," he thought, parking along the sidewalk. When he came in, he made sure nobody he knew was there. "No," he told himself, scanning the room, "these people have nothing to do with my crowd." He is now sipping his third tequila, thinking and re thinking about Lulu's answer: "I guess I don't know how to respond." "And how do you respond to that?" he asks himself. He gets up and goes to the restrooms. Back there, he hears someone in the ladies' room, sobbing. He stays there a moment then decides to mind his own business and enters the gentlemen's room. When he gets out, he still hears the noise then a big thump, like someone falling on the floor. He knocks at the door, calls: "Hey, anybody in there?" No answer. He opens the door and sees a young girl, 16 or 17 years old, lying on the floor. Her left arm is still strapped with a red plastic ribbon and Nick recognizes at once the junkie's paraphernalia around her. He doesn't know her but she looks familiar. Behind the door, he sees her purse and a few bags with white powder. "Heroine," he asks? "Yeah. Don't steal it, please, it's mine," replies the young girl. Her clothes look worn and dirty but they were good clothes. The young girl has probably been on the streets for a while. "What's your name?" Nick asks. "Wendy," she says. Stunned, Nick looks at her and now recognizes the young girl about whom he has informed Social services and the court, when he had learned her father was sexually abusing her. "Wendy, it's me, Nick. Do you want to go to the hospital? They'll help you," he urges her. "No, I want to die." She starts crying. "No, you can't die. You must not die. You have your whole life in front of you!" Nick exclaims. "I don't have a life! My past was a mess and my present is a nightmare. I don't want a future like that," she adds, sobbing. "Come on, think about something you dreamed of…" pleads Nick, alarmed by her pale face, her feeble voice. "You, do you have any hope for the future, Nick? " she asks. At that moment, Nick knows exactly what he has to do. He takes her in his arms, brings her to his car, walking through the bar without anyone asking anything and drives her to the ER. After making sure she is in good hands, after calling Laurie Solt to tell her about Wendy, he goes to his car and takes his phone. "Lulu, please, I want to talk to you."