Part 51:
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Kevin peeked through the kitchen door towards Brian and Nick and shook his
head. "What the hell happened?" he asked turning back to the group
assembled in the kitchen. 

"From what I can figure out he slept with someone." Shan replied, "I wanna
know how he could do that."

"Guess it's a bad day for me to have shown up." Cassie said, taking a seat
at the table.

"No not really. This is what things have been like for awhile now." Shan
stated, sitting down. "Just substitute every other couple in place of Nick
and Lis."

Cassie shook her head, "You guys have all gone through hell huh?"

Kevin nodded, pulling out a couple beer from the fridge. "Oh yeah. And
there's nothing we can do right now but sit back and wait for something
else to explode in our faces."


Alec stopped the car at the stop light, thankfully Lis had stopped shaking
when they reached the city limits. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. Where won't he find me?"

"You could stay at our place..." she offered.

"No! There's pictures of Nick there...and memories..."

Alec pulled into traffic, "Okay so the houses are out, what about a hotel?
If you checked in under a different name, you used to use a couple aliases
years ago didn't you?"

"Yeah when we first started going out."

"Use one of those. I doubt Nick would remember that..."


Brian hugged Nick as he mumbled and sobbed, "Its okay Nick...it'll be
okay..."

"How can you say that?? She LEFT me!! Gone, left went bye bye...threw her
wedding ring at me and told me not to come after her. How is that gonna be
okay?"

"Once things settle down..."

"Right." he stood up shakily, "If you don't mind I'm going upstairs."

"Are you sure you want to be alone?"

"I want to be with my wife but since that won't be happening I'm better
off alone."


Alec hung around waiting to make sure Lis was okay, when she walked out of
her bathroom in her pajamas Alec smiled. "Feeling any better?" Alec asked
concerned.

"I feel very numb."

"What happened??"

Lis sat down on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest, "The model said
she slept with him...and she wasn't lying...he introduced me as his
assistant. Why would he do that? Why??"

A confused look crossed Alec's face, "I don't know, maybe he had a
reason."

"Or maybe he just wanted an end to us." Lis sniffled and closed her eyes.
"I'll be okay Alec, I think I'm old enough to be without a babysitter."
				
"I know you are honey I just want to make sure your okay..."

"I will be...in awhile." she opened her eyes and looked around the room.
"I just need time by myself."


Brian wandered into the kitchen looking visibly drained. He sat at the
table and put his head in his hands. "I'm in shock."

Shan put her hand on his back, "I think we all are."

"What did he say?" Kevin asked.

"Lis left him...permanently apparently. He kept mumbling something but I
couldn't understand it."


Cassie followed Brian up the stairs, "Are you sure its okay I still stay
here?? I could go to a hotel you know..."

"Cassie its fine trust me." He said as he opened the guest room door.

"I don't know...." she looked back down the hall. "It seems like this isn't
a time for an outsider."

"You are not an outsider."

"I'm not sure I agree with you. We'll talk about whatever you wanted to
discuss tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure I'm up to explaining everything
tonight."

"Don't expect you to be. Your worried about Nick...I'm not leaving for
another few days so there's no rush."

Brian smiled, "Good. I'll let you settle in, Night Cass."

"Night B." she kissed his cheek and walked him to the door.


Nick stood on the little balcony, his eyes unseeing as the sunset and
night began to fall. He could hear faint voices coming through the open
patio door below but he paid it no attention, all he could think of was
this was the end...the end of everything. Maybe the last six years had
been a lie... he twirled her wedding ring around in his fingers and
sighed.


Lis turned the television off and grabbed her purse, she felt sick of just
sitting there. Alec had finally left almost an hour before and now she was
alone. Completely alone. Grabbing her jacket and her wallet she hurriedly
left her room, unsure of where she was heading.


Lou picked up the ringing phone, "What?" he answered, it was his private
private line and less than ten people had the number.

"Lou...good news."

"Finally. What happened??"

"I did what I was supposed to. Think it worked quite well."

"Good so we should hear of it soon??"

"Most definitely. I'd say the news should hit any day now."


Sitting at the bar, AJ stared at the drink in his hands. After seeing Jenn
in McDonald's that afternoon he had retreated to the hotel, trying to find
a way to make her believe it wasn't true. After three hours of sitting in
his dark hotel room he decided to come down to the bar and at least be
surrounded by people. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar
face sit down at the end of the bar. Grabbing his drink he moved down.
"Lis?"

She turned her head and stared at him blankly, "J what are you doing
here?"

"Thinking. What are you doing here? You and Nick having a late dinner?"

"There isn't a me and Nick anymore. Hasn't been for hours now."

He looked at her worriedly, "What did Lou do??"

"Lou...Lou actually helped this time so I probably should thank him."

"Your not making sense."

"That woman in the pictures...she's pretty damn sure they slept together."

"Lis Lou's probably paying her big money to say that."

"Maybe I'd believe that if Nick hadn't called me his assistant."

"He what??"

"Introduced me as his assistant."

AJ put his arms around her in a hug. "And that didn't help any did it?"

"That should of been the tip off something was up..."


Alec knocked on Nick's bedroom door and waited for it to open. After five
minutes of silence she opened it slowly and walked in. "Nick??" She saw
him out on the balcony, sitting on the chair. "Nick..." she stopped seeing
the bottles around his feet. "How much have you drank?"

He leaned back in the chair, "Enough to make me numb...you know how good
it is to feel like this Alec?? I've never felt like this, its great."

"And its gonna be hell when it wears off."

"Who said its gonna!!" he looked her up and down. "What did you want?"

"I wanted to let you know Lis is okay. Thought maybe you wouldn't worry so
much if you knew that."

"Worry? Why would I worry? I'm a free man again. Hey what do you think of
me getting back with E maybe??"

"I think you need some rest...and this needs to wear off. And then you
need to start making things right."

He shook his head, "Nah don't think so. Time to celebrate my freedom. My
new conclusion is marriage is highly overrated."