"Mom knows," she whined. "Somehow the harpy found out and hired some private dick to follow me and Lily around. She’s got pictures and everything else. She confronted me about it after a bender and it got physical. Then she threw me out. I couldn’t go to Lily’s so I came here. I’m sorry."

"It’s OK, Nic," Brooke assured her while hugging the upset girl. Meanwhile Sam seethed. As much as she didn’t like Nicole, no one deserved to be treated like that. Nic noticed both girls’ state of undress and blushed.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked with a slight grin. Both girls tightened their robes.

"We were asleep, Nic. It IS three in the morning," Sam said defensively. Nicole laughed.

"I wished I glowed like that when I first woke up," she joked. Sam groaned and stood up.

"I’m gonna go get an ice pack for your face. Be right back," she muttered as she walked to the kitchen. Nicole turned to Brooke.

"You and Sam have taken the next step, huh?" she asked to take attention off herself. Brooke blushed.

"Uh, yeah," she admitted. Nicole looked at her intently.

"What’s it like?" she asked. Brooke blinked at her in shock.

"Huh?"

"I’m sorry, WAY out of line. Forget I asked," Nicole withdrew the question and looked away in embarrassment for even asking. Brooke smiled at Nicole’s sudden discomfort.

"It’s special, Nic. You and I have both slept with guys. I have to tell you, it’s different. But if you truly love Lily, it’ll be absolutely amazing," she said softly as Sam came back into the room, ice pack in hand.

"Here, Nic, this should keep the swelling down," she said as she handed it to Nicole.

"Thanks," Nic said as she placed the pack on her eye.

"What happened exactly?" Sam asked. Nic sighed.

"Mom came home, drunk, woke me up and started flinging accusations at me. She showed me pictures of Lily and I, and a few of the two of you and asked me if I was gay. Since she had the proof in live Kodak color, I said yes, and she flipped. She hit me and threw me out," Nic said giving them the abrieviated version. The real one actually involved a lot of screaming, cursing and took two hours. It wasn’t pretty.