Now You See Me For Real (A now you see me 2 fanfic)

Lula and Jack

All four of the horsemen are sitting around in a 'family' room together. Danny and Jack are playing with cards, dribbling them back and forth, and occasionally throwing them at Merritt and Lula. Merritt just sits, looking out the window at the city, and Lula is watching Jack tinker with a new trick.

After another ten minutes or so, Jack announces, "I'm bored, got any interesting stories, anyone?", they'd been sitting there for a couple hours, just like every day, waiting for Dylan to tell them to go do something.

They sit in silence for a moment before Lula speaks up. "Did I ever tell you about the time my dad stabbed my mom?", she asks. She bites her lip. "A dinner knife, like you would use to cut steak, or something, and just stabbed her, right near her collarbone," Lula tells them. She licks her lips, and they all stare at her, like, 'why are tou telling us this?'. Jack looks like he just found a puppy that somebody had thrown into the trash. 

Merritt looks up from his spot at the window. "You know you don't have to tell us this. I think Jack meant funny stories, not gruesome ones."

Lula shakes her head, "No. I've never talked about it with anybody before, except my therapist. I need to get it off my chest, still, after all these years," her chin trembles for just a split second, and she looks at them all one by one, as if daring them to make a joke, or something.

Jack continues to throw cards at the wall, trying to stick them, but asks, "How old were you?"

Lula looks down at her lap, "Eight. I was just eight," and her eyes pool with tears. Nobody but Merritt sees, because he's the only one looking.  He makes a face, because he's not the sensitive type,  and reaches out his hand to pat her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay," he tells her. She looks up at him with such a fierceness she could have cut him without a knife. His hand jumps away. Jack and Danny both look over at his sudden movement. 

Merritt gives Jack a look, stands up, grabs Danny, and leaves, saying quietly, "He'll handle it better than us."

Jack doesn't know what to do, regardless of what Merritt thinks, so he just keeps dribbling and throwing his cards, more awkwardly this time. "Do you think it makes me a bad person because I ran?" Lula asks, "I mean, he started yelling, and I was already afraid of him, so I just ran to my room and hid under my bed." Her eyes are puffy now, definitely not Lula-like. 

"No, of course not," Jack tells her, because what else is he going to say? Even though you were eight you should have done something? Called the police? Ran out into the street and screamed? No.

"After he killed her, he came into my room. I think he was drunk cuz I could smell it on his breath when he leaned down to grab me." Lula looks up towards the ceiling, tears falling down her cheeks now. "I screamed, but nobody came. He pulled me out from under my bed and threw me onto it. All I heard was his belt, and then my legs were bare." She looks back at Jack, "He raped me. I was only eight. The people who were supposed to protect me, my parents, both failed."

"I'm sorry," Jack tells her, as he walks over, sits down, and puts his arm around her shoulders. She flinches, and her eyes open wide for a minute. Her breathing quickens. Lula buries her face in her hands, and leans into Jack. "I've never let anybody get close to me since then. I've never had sex since then, if you can even call it that."

"You have us, Lula, " Jack tells her. 

She shakes her head, "I'm too afraid that if I trust somebody I'll be betrayed. I trust all of you, and I hate myself for it, because if one of you does something wrong, then I'll feel like an idiot."

Lula leans her head onto his shoulder, and Jack lets his head fall on top of hers. "Can I tell you a secret, Lula?" He asks. She nods. "I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm falling in love with you."

This just makes Lula shake her head again, "Don't. Because if you do, that means that I might fall in love with you, too."

Jack smiles, "That'd be alright with me." He kisses the top of her head and puts his other arm around her, too. 

In a second, she has stood up and thrown him off of her. She looks at him with her chin trembling, and her eyes wide, and hurt. "Don't touch me!" She says it almost as a question, and sounds breathless.

Jack's eyes go to the floor, and then back up to meet her's. He lets a small grin show on his face, just the edge of his lip curling up. "But I love you, Lula," he tells her. 

"Stop it," she insists, and turns away from him.

"I can't,  I love you Lula," Jack stand up and walks infront of her. "Do you love me?" He asks.

She can't meet his eyes, so looks at his neck. "I think I do," she tells him. That's all he needs. He steps in closer and uncrosses her arms, "Is this okay?" He wants to know.

Lula nods. He puts her arms around his neck, and his around her waist. "What about this?" She nods again.

Lastly, he leans in so his lips are about an inch from hers. "And this?" She closes that last inch and kisses him lightly on the lips. 20 years old an never been kissed. She's glad she waited, even though she had nobody to kiss otherwise. 

They break apart after about fifteen seconds. She smiles. "It was okay," she teases him. They stand like that for a few more seconds before Merritt comes down the stairs, purposely being as loud as an elephant. 

He knocks on the wall outside the doorless room, "Everybody got their clothes on?" He jokes. Jacka and Lula quickly break apart, and Jack blushes bright red. "See you got them on just in the knick of time," Merritt teases when he sees Jack's red face. Lula just smiles at him. No one else will ever know her secret.