Count On Me

Part Twenty Five

A/N Sorry, internet playing up, so I'm being a little delayed in posting. Hope you are all ok. Mz xxx

Chapter Twenty Five

Oscar now knew that he hated being away from Lizzie and Nate in equal measure. Two nights in the Big Apple without them had been torture. He'd landed mid afternoon and was now whizzing across town in a rush to see them. He had three months leeway, it wasn't anywhere near enough time, and he had to work out a plan, a solution that served them all. That wasn't easy. But he knew that it was worth it, they were worth it.

He had barely been to his own apartment on hits trip, and as with his previous days, he drove straight to the warehouse to see his family.

Pulling onto the driveway, he leapt out of the car with more vigour than he'd had in days, then almost shoulder barged the front door open, only to bounce off it, the door locked in resistance. That surprised him, they knew he was coming, and they rarely locked the door. After banging a few times to no answer, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his key. He rarely used it these days, but he still carried them.

But the whole place was empty, he knew, he'd checked every door, and even checked the annex over the garage. That flummoxed him, they knew he was coming. Finally he reached for his phone and called Lizzie, but there was no answer, so he tried Coop. In a feat of brotherly love, his friend answered.

"Yup?"

He sighed with relief, unsure why it all seemed a little surreal or why he felt anxious, "hey Coop where are you all?"

Coop laughed, "hate being on your own?"

Oscar sighed, "just looking forward to seeing everyone, been a long few days."

Coop's knowing voice came along the line, "we're at the play place, your son is currently climbing above my head and squealing. You going to join us for dinner?"

Oscar smiled, "I'll be five minutes."

He knew where the play place was, not that he'd been there before, and it took him about fifteen minutes to get there and park up. Next door to the huge building filled with every pleasure imaginable for children, was a fast food place. Burgers and hotdogs were obviously the order of the day...and in the company he was about to have, that was better than champagne and caviar.

Lizzie had dreaded this moment, seeing Oscar. It had been a whirlwind, their time together, from amazing, happy, perfect, to arguing an heartbreak, and whenever she forgot the power he had over her, the hold he had on her life, something happened to remind him. The latest being Krystal, his recent girlfriend.

She'd had a great time with Freya, despite opening up more than she ever imagined, wine really was a lip loosener in her world. That was something she'd have to remember. The vision of that woman deserting her friends and cutting across the bar towards them was so vivid in her memory. If you could create a perfect image of a woman, she was it. Tall, leggy with large pert breasts, and slim waist and hips, she looked amazing in a tiny skirt and top; every man's eyes followed her across the room, her waist length immaculate blond hair wafting in her wake.

No wonder he wouldn't leave her for Janis, that had been her first...and probably longest lasting thought. Then the woman had greeted Freya like a lost relative, hugging her and gushing at how wonderful she looked.

Freya smiled nervously before glancing at Lizzie awkwardly, as she was about to make some form of introduction, Krystal lowered herself to the bench beside Lizzie, pushing her farther into the booth so that it was she who sat opposite Freya not her. Pushed into the corner, she turned to study the woman, who talked at Freya, it wasn't a conversation, it was a diatribe, a verbal assault at the fact that Oscar 'barely contacted her', was 'okaying his games again', and a million other ways of explaining that Krystal wasn't taking no for an answer. Freya awkwardly tried to response appropriately, but she wasn't about to start anything that she wasn't happy with, after all, this was her brother's battle not hers.