One Wild Night

"Hey, guys! Sorry to interrupt, but something came up, so Janet and I have to leave at once," Andrew said with an easy smile, not wanting to ruin Desmond's party.

Desmond and Evelyn stood up and went to him, "You don't have to butter it up nicely, Tom told us about it already, and I'm sorry to see you leave," Desmond said, with worry lines between his brow.

"Yeah, me too. I was looking forward to letting you win a game tonight as my birthday gift to you," Andrew said with a grin, and Desmond laughed despite himself.

"I'm going to really miss you. Hopefully, we'll see more of each other when we get back," Desmond said since they live in the same city.

"Yeah, we definitely will. Happy birthday," Andrew said before moving his gaze to Evelyn.

"How is Janet?" Evelyn asked with a concerned frown, understanding that Andrew was handling the situation like a man, but Janet would definitely be taking it differently. Mothers were worriers, and no mother would be okay after hearing something like that. Especially considering how she had been so worried about Lucas.

"They're behaving like in-laws already," Jade said in amusement as she watched her parents interact with Andrew.

"Yeah. Tom is a married man," Bryan joked.

"Try not to make jokes like that around Lucy," Tom warned as he stood up to join their parents while Bryan and Jade exchanged a look.

Andrew met Tom's gaze, not seeing any reason to keep it from them since they were now more like family to each other, "She's pretty upset. Upset enough to have upset Lucy too," Andrew said with a sigh.

"That doesn't sound good," Evelyn said, feeling sorry.

"Yeah. They had a misunderstanding, and Janet said stuff she didn't mean, so she has to apologize to Lucy," he said, and Tom excused himself and went in search of Lucy to see how she was doing.

He headed straight for the bedroom, and when he didn't find her there, he tried reaching her on the phone, but she wasn't receiving her call either, so he dialed Sonia's line instead as he walked out of the bedroom.

Away from there, Lucy sat on the balcony, looking straight ahead of her. Even though she understood her mother's concern for Lucas, she couldn't say that she didn't feel hurt by her mother's words. She was hurt and angry that her mother had spoken to her in that manner, whether or not she meant it.

Insensitive? She had not just called her insensitive but had said that she had ALWAYS been insensitive. When had she ever been insensitive? Fine, some days ago, she had told those mean stuff to Lucas when he only just broke up with Rachel and was hurt, but was that enough reason for her mother to say that to her? Was that one occasion the reason her mother had said she had always been insensitive?

"Lu, we both know that she didn't mean any of that. Please don't dwell on it," Sonia said as she looked at Lucy with a concerned frown. Knowing her, Lucy was going to overanalyze all that her mother had said and get even more worked up.

"We don't know that. She didn't just call me insensitive. She said I've ALWAYS been insensitive. Do you know what that means? That it's not the first time she is thinking this way about me," Lucy said with a shake of her head, telling herself that she wasn't going to cry over this.

"You don't know that either. People generally say hurtful words when they are upset. I'm not saying she was right. She lashed out at you unfairly, but please let it go. You need to stand together now, not fight each other," Sonia pleaded.

"I'm not fighting with her. I don't care. She should go and be with Lucas. He needs her more than I do anyway," Lucy said, and to her shame, her voice trembled.

Sonia stood up and went to embrace her, "Lu, don't say that."

"I don't care! I've never needed any of them! When it mattered most, they were not there. Never for once in all these years have I ever blamed them for what happened to me. I never blamed them for not noticing that I wasn't fine. I never blamed them for not being the kind of parents I could run to when I found out I was being stalked. I could have put the blame on them, you know? But I never did. I made excuses for them instead," Lucy said as she swiped at her angry tears and moved away from Sonia, unable to stay still while expressing her anger.

Lucy continued, her gray eyes sparkling with angry tears, "It wasn't their life that was ruined by that one incident. Yes, Lucas is hurt, but I'm hurt too. His girlfriend may have aided in what happened to me, but I am the one who suffered from it, not Lucas. I am the one who had to take alcohol and sleeping pills just to keep away the nightmares! I'm the one who can't stand seeing anyone in the shadows without thinking of Jamie! I'm the one who can't even stand random strangers staring at me without wondering if I'm being stalked again. I'm the one who now has to face the fact that my twin brother's girlfriend hated me enough to get involved in something like that. All Lucas has to deal with is guilt, but I'm the one stuck with those awful memories in my head. Do you think I won't gladly swap that memory for guilt? Yet, here I am trying to be strong for myself and Lucas, and she dares to call me insensitive! Insensitive!" Her voice hitched, and she broke into a sob.

Sonia sniffled as she embraced Lucy, "Please calm down, Lu. I know you're hurt but please calm down," Sonia pleaded, wondering if she should just give Tom a call.

Thankfully her phone started ringing, and she dipped her hand into her pocket to take it out while still patting Lucy's back with her other hand, "It's Tom," Sonia informed Lucy as she received the call.

Immediately Lucy pulled away from her and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"Yeah, I'm with her," Sonia said before offering the phone to Lucy.

"I'm fine," Lucy assured him before he could say a word knowing that he was worried about her.

"You weren't taking your call," Tom pointed out, not bothering to argue her claim. From her voice, he could tell that she had been crying.

"I think I left the phone in the Den," she said apologetically.

"Where are you?"

"At the main balcony."

"Okay, I'm coming over," Tom said, and as he hung up the call, he came face to face with Janet, who had just stepped out of the bedroom where she had gone to wash her face.

She had gone to Tom's bedroom to find Lucy, but when she didn't see her, she decided to splash some water on her face before going to the patio to see if she had returned to join the others.

"Have you seen Lucy?" Janet asked Tom hopefully.

From the look on her face, Tom could tell that she had been crying, "She is on the balcony. Are you okay?" Tom asked in concern.

"I don't know. My emotions are all over the place. I feel like I'm messing up everything. I'm not handling this the right way, and I don't even know what to do. Both my babies are hurting, and I don't know how to help them," Janet said as her eyes filled up again, and Tom embraced her without thinking. He just held her and let her cry.

Janet pulled away as she tried to pull herself together, "Thank you, Tom. I'm sorry I soaked your shirt," Janet said as she brushed away her tears, and Tom reached into his pocket and offered her his handkerchief.

"You don't have to be sorry. I'm sorry about the scandal. You all had to face all of this because of me," Tom said apologetically, knowing that she must have told them about Anita now.

"It's not your fault. That girl and her family are crazy. Besides, Lucas would have married that psychopath if all of this hadn't happened. I'm not happy that this happened or that my babies are hurt, but I'm just..." Janet broke into a sob again and stopped as abruptly as she had started, and used his handkerchief to dry her tears.

"Just promise me I'll get a chance to hit her before you are done dealing with her and her family. I just want to hit her really hard," Janet said, and Tom gave her a nod.

"If you promise to stop crying, I can even promise to hold her in place for you to hit her," Tom said, and Janet smiled.

"I'm so glad that Lucy has a man like you in her life. I'm glad that of all the men she could have had, it is someone like you she settled to be with. It is because you are here for her that we can go and be with Lucas. I feel terrible leaving her alone. I still can't believe I said those awful things to her," Janet confessed, tearing up again.

"Then you should talk to her. The sooner you clear the air with her, the faster you can leave here and go be with Lucas. And you don't have to worry. I'll make sure she's fine while you focus on Lucas," Tom promised.

"I wish it was so easy not to worry. But I'm a mother. Worrying about our kids is what we do for a living. Please take me to Lucy," Janet pleaded, and Tom led her down the hallway.

Once Tom opened the balcony door and Lucy saw that her mother was with him, she turned away from them. Janet's eyes teared up, knowing that she had hurt her daughter.

Tom moved over to where she sat and kissed her forehead, "How are you, sunshine?" He asked as he crouched down in front of her and took both her hands in his.

"I'm fine."

"Your parents will be leaving soon. You should hear her out. Please," Tom added as he kissed the back of her hands.

Although Lucy still didn't want to talk to her mother or look at her, she nodded. She would listen to her without saying a word to her. She had nothing to say to her.

"I'll be outside with the others," Tom said as he leaned in to kiss her lips before moving away.

Taking that as her cue, Sonia stood up too and walked away with Tom, leaving the mother and daughter alone.

"I'm sorry, darling. I didn't mean anything I said," Janet apologized as she went to stand in front of Lucy.

Lucy cleared her throat, "I'm okay. You should leave now so you can get there in time," Lucy said as she stood up.

Janet held Lucy's hand, "I can't leave without resolving this with you. I know I hurt you, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that. I was just very worried about Lucas..."

"It's fine. I understand. You can go be with Lucas. I'm fine," Lucy said, struggling with the tears pooling in her eyes.

"No, you're not."

"I said I'm fine, mom! Can you please leave me alone?" Lucy snapped at her mother as she snatched her hand away, "What else do you want me to say to you? Lucas needs you more than I do. So go to him and let me be! I'm trying to be more sensitive..."

"Sweetie, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean that," Janet pleaded as tears dropped from her eyes.

"It doesn't matter whether you meant it or not. You said it, and that is all that matters. I don't hold it against you," Lucy took a deep breath as she tried to keep her emotions in check. She hadn't planned to say anything, so why was she speaking so much? It wasn't necessary.

"I'm okay, mom. I'm fine. You don't have to feel sorry anymore," Lucy said and walked away before her tears could fall.