Subject: ~~~~ Cassadines Don't Divorce Chapter 4 (Bobbie/Luke)~~~~
From: Rebel
I really didn't think I'd get to post this tonight, the scene was a quite a mess there for a while! It's a bit short for a chapter, but the next scene really doesn't work well with this one. But this means the story will have 6 chapters.
Hope the scene works now.
(back chapters are on this board further down.)
Chapter 4
The soulful strains of the blues are the antithesis of how Bobbie feels when she enters Luke's club. Prepared for battle, She strides grimly towards the bar where Luke and Claude are bantering with the customers. Luke catches sight of her, starts to grin, but the smile dies at the sight of her glower. ''Woah, Baby. What happened to you? Is Stiff prowling around Kitty Kat Bell again?''
Bobbie stops a few feet from the bar and lifts her chin defiantly. ''In your office, Luke. Unless you want me to air your dirty laundry in public.''
Claude gives a low whistle. ''I think she's ticked at you, Luke.''
Luke tosses the bar towel down. ''You got my attention. You want office, Doll, office it is.'' Leading Bobbie to the back of the club, he calls back to Claude, ''Mind the fort, will ya? No interruptions, even if the club's on fire, ya got it?''
Luke waves Bobbie into his office and closes the door, locking it from the inside to guarantee their privacy. ''Ok, spit it out. What's got your underwear in a twist, Darlin'?'' Rounding the desk, He leans back in the chair and studies his sister. She is royally pissed at him, no doubt about it.
''My underwear is in a knot about this.'' Bobbie slams the manila file down on his desk. She presses her palms into the desk and leans over so she's eye to eye with Luke. ''This was one of the presents my husband gave me tonight when he caught me trying to drug him.''
''Damn.'' Luke's heart drops into his stomach. Leaning forward he flips open the file, takes one look at Carly's face, and winces. ''Sh**.''
''Well, if I ever had any doubt whether it was the truth, I have my answer now. DAMN YOU, Luke. DAMN YOU.''
''Listen, Honey,'' Luke tries to explain. ''You gotta remember what was going on at the time. I came to tell you who she was the same night you found her in the sack with Tony...''
''I had a right to know!'' Bobbie shoots back.
Slouching over his desk, Luke rubs his hand over his head. ''It was ugly, Barbara Jean. Am I so bad for wanting to protect you from it?!''
''Just shut up, Luke,'' She blasts back. ''I don't want to hear it. It's too damn late for excuses. Maybe,'' Bobbie straightens to her full height and draws in a calming breath. ''Maybe if you'd come to me yourself and told me I would have been open to listening. Hell, if Stefan hadn't dumped this in my lap too,'' She pauses to drop the video tape on top of the file. ''I probably would have tried to understand. Maybe even forgiven you eventually.''
''What the hell is that?''
''It's definitive proof that Laura didn't kill Damian Smith,'' Bobbie pronounces. ''In fact, it shows the identity of the murderer in all his cowardly glory, running out the back door of a burning Ward House.''
Luke turns white. ''Stefan was having me followed?''
''Do I even CARE?'' Bobbie snaps. ''You left your wife and daughter in a burning building, you jerk! They could have died!''
''I didn't know they were there!'' Luke's voice cracks. The whole nightmare of the night and the ensuing months of agony come back with a rush. The surge of fury at finding Damian torching the place, killing Damian, running outside to the horror of finding out from Justus that Laura and Lulu were trapped inside. ''When Justus told me they were inside I almost died on the spot. I wanted to die! I ran in to save them. I swear I didn't set the fire, Barbara Jean. Damian did that.''
''No, you didn't set the fire, you just used it as a cover for bashing his head in.''
Luke leans back morosely, his voice turning steely and cold, remembering all the man had done to mess with his family, Bobbie included. ''Damian needed to die and I did what needed to be done. I'm not sorry he's dead.''
''Yeah, and you did such a bang up job that Laura ended up in jail, ended up standing trial for a murder YOU committed!'' Bobbie steps back from Luke. ''I don't even know who you are anymore.''
''Is this what your husband has been feeding you? He's been whispering in your ear about big bad Luke? Don't you see he's playing you?''
Bobbie paces in front of the desk. ''I know exactly what Stefan is and what he is capable of. I have no illusions about him. I'm also smart enough to see the facts and draw my own conclusions.'' She stops and turns towards Luke, pointing a finger at him. ''You're the one who specializes in whispering in my ear!''
''So now you sit in judgment, Baby Sister?'' Luke retorts, the bitterness and guilt etched in his face suddenly revealing his age. ''Must be nice to sit high and mighty over the rest of us.''
''Damn you, Luke. You're the one I've always counted on! Through it all, when I was turning tricks in the gutter, when I was pregnant, when I gave my baby up for adoption, through all my failed marriages, it's always been YOU. I could always count on you.'' Bobbie feels the tears threaten and blinks them back. ''I could call on you for solid advice or to get me out of a jam when I needed it. The brother I know and love wouldn't let his wife stand trial for a murder he committed! He wouldn't let her rot in jail, away from her babies! He wouldn't lie about his sister's daughter being dead either! What happened to you, Luke?''
Luke slumps a little, the fight going out of him. His voice is tired as he answers.''I'm still the same man, Barbara. I had good reasons for what I did.''
Bobbie crosses her arms in front of her chest. ''You always seem to have good reasons. What are they this time?''
''My confessing to Damian's murder wouldn't have helped my family,'' Luke begins, snagging the fifth of bourbon from his bottom drawer along with the shot glass, pouring it and downing it in one long gulp. The explanation comes out in a harsh rasp. ''Laura made it clear she didn't want the truth and telling you wouldn't have helped one damn bit. It just would have made you an accessory after the fact and cause you needless worry. The best thing for everyone was for me to keep quiet. Laura would never have been convicted of Damian's murder. I wouldn't have allowed it.''
Bobbie doesn't even hear that Laura might have known, only that Luke made the decisions for everyone. ''You are completely out of your mind! You've convinced yourself what you did is right?! Who are you to play God with everyone's lives?!''
Luke sees red. Doesn't she get how difficult this is for him? That it's eating him alive? That the nightmare of Laura behind bars will eat at him until the day he dies? He doesn't need her condemnation too. ''You may have a right to be angry at me for lying to you about Carly, but you have no right to judge me for anything else, you got that, Baby Sister? It's my family and my life!''
Not for the first time tonight, Bobbie feels his brutal words as a physical blow, knocking the wind out of her. But the fighter in her recovers quickly, shoving the hurt deep down. She is suddenly calm, her voice reasonable, rational. ''You're absolutely right, it's your family and your life. And I'm not a part of your family anymore. As of this moment, I cease to be your sister. Do not talk to me, do not call me, do not write. Just consider yourself an only child, because Luke, I'm done.''
Luke pours himself another shot and downs it. He'd gone too far, but he wasn't going to apologize. ''I won't hold you to that, Darlin'. You'll calm down and understand why I did what I did.''
''Look at me, Luke.'' Bobbie shows him her most determined look. She's DEAD serious. ''I'm as serious as a heart attack. I'm through. You have your family, I have mine.''
Luke's gut twists, Bobbie has never looked more serious in her life. He swallows the lump of dread in his voice. Things had definitely gotten out of control. ''Hell. What do you want me to do, Barbara Jean? Say I'm sorry? Tell you you're right, I screwed up?''
Bobbie picks up the manila file, leaving the tape on the desk. ''Nothing. I don't want anything more from you. Take your dopey pet names for me and stuff them. Keep the tape as a souvenir. You're dead to me, Luke.'' She strolls to the door. With her hand on the knob she turns back one last time to Luke who sits in his chair blinking, struck silent. ''I'll give you this last bit of advice, though frankly, I'm giving it more for your wife and children's sake because they still love you and they would be destroyed if you ended up in jail for Damian's murder. Run. Gather your family and run as far and as fast as you can and don't come back. No doubt Stefan has copies of the tape. He is furious enough to relish using it to get rid of you for good. And honestly, I can't blame him.'' With that, Bobbie unlocks the door and slams out.
Defeated, Luke sags over the desk, his head in his hands. For several minutes he sits in silence, going over and over the argument with Bobbie. Picking up the phone, he makes a call. ''Darlin, it's me. I need you to start packing.... Just the carpet bag and the kids...'' His voice gets sharp when he hears an argument over the phone. ''Laura, just do it please....'' His voice softens at her sudden empathetic understanding. He swipes at his damp eyes. ''Yeah, it's that bad. I wouldn't ask this otherwise....''