Louise

Nathan was the first to move catching Louise before she hit the floor. Patrick was next and then Kevyn all of them seeming to forget about Barb for the moment. Nathan sat in a chair with an unconscious Louise in his lap and began to talk to her.

"Come on sweetheart, wake up.," he said as Kevyn wiped her face with a napkin that she had moistened with cold water. Nathan took the napkin and continued trying to rouse Louise while Kevyn went to find Jonesy to get a cloth.

"What's wrong with her?" Barb asked drawing attention herself and trying to ignore the massive headache that had suddenly appeared right behind her eyes.

Patrick stared at her with flashing blue eyes but said nothing; she was for Nathan to deal with. Nathan stopped talking to Louise and gave Barb a look that made her blood run cold. She had the feeling that if it were not for the fact that he was holding Louise in his lap that he would have been her face.

"Is she alright?" she asked.

"Shut up!" Kevyn said in response to the question as she applied a bag of ice wrapped in a towel to Louise's forehead.

"Lou honey wake up." Nathan said again as he readjusted her in his lap.

"I have a right...."

"Shut the hell up!" Nathan snarled at her.

Barb's headache seemed to increase and the room began to spin. She lay her head down on the table and wondered if anyone would notice that she wasn't doing so well. To her disgust, no one seemed to notice and continued fawning over Louise.

Ten minutes later, Louise was awake and embarrassed not only because she fainted but also because she was sitting in Nathan's lap.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry, I'm alright now, you can let me up" she said as she tried to get out of Nathan's lap.

All of them with the exception of Barb noticed how pale she looked and how shaky and thin her voice sounded when she spoke.

"Are you thirsty?" Nathan asked as he held her in place.

"Yes... very." Louise replied.

Nathan handed her his glass of iced tea and asked Kevyn to get several large glasses of soda. By the time Kevyn got back, Louise had downed her glass of iced tea as well as Nathan's and most of a pitcher of water.

"Here, drink this." Nathan said as he put a glass of cola to her lips.

Three glasses of soda later, Louise looked much better and her voice was stronger.

"What happened?" she asked as she climbed out of Nathan's lap.

"You fainted." Nathan replied as he helped her from his lap to her chair.

Barb moved without being told to even though her head pounded and she felt nauseated. Louise had asked a good question, what in the hell had happened? She was talking to Nathan and then wham! Louise was yelling at her and the next thing she knew, Nathan had Louise in his lap.

"I think its time to call this evening over." Patrick said dryly as she looked at Barb.

"Why? She said that she's alright." Barb said.

"Are you ready to go?" Patrick asked Kevyn completely ignoring Barb.

"Yes, let's go, I think that Lou needs her bed. Nathan, we'll meet you at the house after we drop Barb off." Kevyn said.

"Come on! It's only nine and she's fine! She only fainted. Ask her if she wants to go." Barb said her headache still there but she still wasn't ready for the night to end.

"What about it sweetheart?" Nathan asked, "Would you like to stay?

"No, I'm really tired." Louise replied, "I'm sorry Barb but I need to go home"

"Are you serious?" Barb asked.

"So we'll meet you at home then." Kevyn said.

"That sounds like a plan." Nathan said not replying to Barb.

"Hey! I'm still here!" Barb said loud enough that everyone looked at her.

"I see that and I wish that you weren't." Nathan said softly as he stood up and held out his hand to Louise, "come on sweetheart let's go."

Barb watched as Louise took Nathan's hand and allowed herself to be led away. Patrick left to pay the bill and to get the car leaving Kevyn and Barb alone for a few minutes.

"So is she sick or something?" Barb asked.

"No."

"Then why did she faint like that?"

"What in the hell is wrong with you?" Kevyn asked.

"What are you talking about?" Barb asked, "I was just having fun."

"At Lou's expense." Kevyn snapped. "And don't sit there and tell me that you were just having fun! I've seen you at work remember? I'm going to say this once, stay away from Nathan Sinclaire."

Barb was momentarily taken aback but quickly recovered.

"Tell me something," she said. "Do you really think that someone like him is seriously interested in someone like her? I mean she's my sister and I love her but come on Kev, really?"

It was Kevyn's turn to be shocked. She had always known that Barb was shallow and self-absorbed but to say what she just said was unbelievable.

"I have to admit that you caught me off guard with your feelings about Louise." Kevyn said. "But in answer to your question, my reply is yes. It is very possible that someone like Nathan Sinclaire could be interested in Louise. Because she's special, always has been, and contrary to what you believe, she's beautiful and she's strong. I made the mistake of thinking that she needed protection but as Nathan pointed out to me, she didn't. I'm also realizing just how petty and miserable you must be in order to do what you did tonight. Enjoy the rest of your stay and if I were you, I'd start begging for my job back and I'd call Gene to ask if you can stay at the house with him."

"What? You can't be serious!"

"I am and you know what? I should have left your ass at the airport and bought you a one way ticket back home but I didn't because you are my sister for better or worse and I love you but I don't have to like you."

"All of this because I played footsie with a single man?"

"Who you knew was and is interested in our sister!" Kevyn snapped. "This isn't fucking grade school or high school! This is Lou's life that we're talking about and I won't have you or anyone else screwing with it and that includes me."

Kevyn's eyes never left Barb's face as she heard Patrick speak to her.

"I'm out front with the car."

She stood up and walked away not caring if Barb was following her or not. Jonesy nodded and smiled at her as she passed him and she realized that he wasn't human but he wasn't vampire either. She heard him speak to Barb but didn't hear the reply that she imagined would have been a sarcastic one if she answered at all.

Patrick was leaning against the car waiting for them to come out. Kevyn walked into his arms and laid her head on his chest. She was worried about Louise and Nathan had nothing to do with it. Barb came out a minute later, stopped at a trashcan and threw something in it.

Neither Patrick nor Kevyn spoke as she opened the car door and got in. The drive back to the hotel was quiet, when they arrived; Patrick got out of the car and helped Barb out without speaking to her. When she tried to say something, he silenced her with a look and walked away.

**********

Louise laid her head against the headrest of the car and closed her eyes. She had never fainted before in her life. Her face burned when she remembered coming to sitting in Nathan's lap and in a public place no less.

"I'm sorry that I ruined the evening." she said.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Nathan assured her, "You fainted, it could have happened to anyone."

"But I've never fainted before! I felt fine and then...."

"Louise, what happened before you fainted?" Nathan asked.

"I don't remember." Louise replied.

"It's alright." Nathan said as he reached over and held her hand. "Close your eyes and rest, we'll talk later."

Suddenly, she was so tired and the idea of sleep sounded good. When she woke up, Nathan was parking the car in front of the house. She waited until Nathan came to help her out of the car, she was feeling a little woozy and all she wanted to do was lie down.

Nathan scooped her up in his arms shushing her when she started to object. He carried her up to her suite, laid her on the bed and took off her shoes.

Louise stared at him not sure of what to think. The only males that had ever been in her room were her brothers or her dad. She watched him disappear into the bathroom and heard the tub running. Surely, he didn't think that she was going to take a bath with him in the room with her!

"I ran a bath for you." Nathan said when he came out of the bathroom. "Take your time and if you feel up to it, we'll talk. I'll be downstairs."

He bent down, kissed her temple, and left the room.

Louise lay on the bed for another few minutes before getting up and heading to the bathroom undressing once she got there. She got into the tub amazed that it was at the perfect temperature and that the right amount of oil had been put in. She slid down, let the hot water cover her shoulders and turned on the jets. She closed her eyes and replayed the evening in her head trying to pinpoint what happened that she fainted. She remembered getting irate... no angry when Barb kept after Nathan about taking her on a tour of the city. She blushed when she recalled the tone that she had used with her, it was just so unlike her and there was what happened after the bathroom... seeing Barb trying to snuggle up against Nathan was simply too much.

She remembered thinking but not saying "Get away from him." but she must have said it if the way they all looked at her was anything to go by and then she woke up in Nathan's lap and he was very angry but not at her.

She turned off the jets, climbed out of the tub and lotioned her skin before putting on clean underclothes and a sweat suit; she was not going to talk to Nathan in her pajamas. She opened her bedroom door and sniffed the air. Someone was cooking.

While he waited for Louise, Nathan whipped eggs for an omelet and lined the ingredients on the counter. He revamped his plan a bit; he wanted to know all about her before he told her the unpleasant truth about his family.

As soon as he heard the tub shut off, he waited ten minutes and began to prepare the omelets. He was just adding the bacon, cooked onions and cheese when she walked in.

"It smells good but how can you be hungry again?" she asked.

"All of us eat a lot." Nathan replied, "I took the liberty of slicing some of the bread you made, I hope that you don't mind it's delicious."

"Nope, it's what it's there for... how do you guys not get fat?"

Nathan shrugged and changed the subject.

"Tell me about your life."

***********

Barb stomped around the room furious at how the evening had turned out. Not only did Kevyn have a rich man eating out of her hand, so did Louise and she didn't understand that any more than she understood why Kevyn was so pissed off. However, Kevyn wasn't the only one, Patrick and Nathan were just as angry at her and she hadn't done anything wrong.

Her headache had gone down to a dull throb that would be gone by morning. She never had headaches although her mother, Juliette and Louise were sometimes plagued with them. It was the suddenness and the intensity of the headache and the words that Louise shouted at her that alarmed her "Get away from him!" flashed across Barb's mind. She had never heard Louise speak with such force, it surprised but hadn't frightened her, after all, it was only Louise.

What did frighten her was the look in Nathan's eyes when Louise fainted, he was holding her responsible but from her point of view, it wasn't her fault. Lou needed to learn that there were women in the world that could snatch Nathan from her without batting an eye and the fact that she was her sister wouldn't stop her from doing exactly that.

She really did love shy, sweet Louise but she loved money more. Barb undressed, hung up her clothes and ran the bathtub already making the decision not to take Kevyn's advice. She wasn't going back to Pittsburgh with its cold winters. There was nothing left for her there other than family and she still had three weeks to land either Nathan Sinclaire or another man who would be capable of supporting her in the lifestyle in which she craved and felt that she deserved.

When the tub was ready, Barb poured in a capful of baby oil and got in. She thought about her next move and knew that it would be in her best interest to leave Kevyn and Louise alone for a day or two, which meant that she couldn't work on Nathan but there was no help for it.

She stayed in the tub until the water was luke warm and oiled her skin that was a few shades lighter than Kevyn's taking time to examine it for flaws. She mentally compared her looks with Louise and her other sisters and came to the same conclusion that she always did, she-Barb was the best looking of all of the sisters everyone said so. What she conveniently omitted that following that statement came the words "stuck up bitch".

As she got ready to settle in for the night, she remembered the bread in the trunk of Patrick's car and cursed. She could almost taste the slice of bread warmed in the microwave and wished that she had some way to get it. Then she remembered Hans who was supposed to be at her disposal at night. He could go get the bread for her while she called down to the kitchen for a container of real butter and not the cheap stuff that they had grown up with. She picked up the phone and called Hans.

"Yes Madame?" he asked answering on the first ring.

"I need you to do something for me." Barb said.

"I am at your disposal."

"I want you to go to Mr. Sinclaire's house and get me a loaf of bread."

There was a second of surprised silence.

"Excuse me?" Hans asked not sure if he had heard her correctly.

"You heard me!" Barb snapped feeling that it was well within her rights to talk to him however she wished.

"Yes I heard you." Hans confirmed, "But we have bread here, what kind would you like?"

"I want the bread that my sister made and it's at Patrick's house now go get it!" Barb screamed into the phone.

There was a moment of silence and then a soft but angry growl. Barb pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it for a few seconds. When she put it back to her ear, Hans was talking.

"I understand what you want but I cannot comply."

"Why not? You just said that you were at my disposal!" Barb snapped.

"That is true for anything except for that." Hans replied rapidly losing patience.

"I demand that you do it now and as a matter of fact, take me over there. I want to see where he lives."

Hans rolled his eyes, took a deep breath and continued speaking to Barb in what he hoped was a patient tone.

"I can't do that, Mr. Sinclaire is very private and does not like uninvited guests just appearing on his doorstep."

"Uninvited... I am not an uninvited guest! He's going to marry my sister!"

"Has he invited you to his home?" Hans asked.

"No...."

"Then you would be an uninvited guest. Is there anything else that I can help you with?" he asked.

"NO!" Barb screamed and slammed the phone into the cradle.

Hans looked at the calendar and crossed off another day as he murmured, "two days down, and nineteen to go." After he did that, he called everyone in the hotel and alerted him or her not to take Barb to Patrick's house for any reason unless otherwise instructed.

"And for god's sake don't even hint about where they live." he added as an after thought.

********

Kevyn and Patrick saw Nathan's car parked in the front of the house and slipped in through the back. Kevyn had the feeling that they were probably in the kitchen and didn't want to disturb them. The other thing was she was so angry that there was no way that she could have kept it from Louise.

She still couldn't get over the way Barb had acted and the blatant show of disrespect that she showed not just Louise but all of them. Part of her wanted to go back to the hotel and beat some sense into Barb. However, a part of her felt sorry for her as well.

"Are you alright?" Patrick asked.

"I will be." Kevyn replied. "What was that thing that Louise did and was that why she fainted?"

Patrick told Kevyn about what happened at the movie theater, which only made her angry all over again.

"It's one thing to tell me that that I can't interfere with her and Nathan; I understand and agree that whatever happens between them should remain between them but this you should have told me about! It has absolutely nothing to do with their relationship! Why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure until tonight. I thought that maybe it was a fluke of some kind and now I know that it isn't. You're right, I should have said something and I'm sorry."

Kevyn took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

"Tell me what you're thinking and I mean everything." she said as she sat down on the bed.

She noticed the glitter in Patrick's eyes as he moved toward her.

"Stop right there." she said firmly, "You don't get off that easy so talk."

Patrick grinned at her, sat next to her on the bed and explained his theory.

"We know that Louise is an empath, a strong one at that but I think that there's more to it. I think that she can make people feel whatever she's thinking and some of us can hear her. The men at the theater and what happened tonight supports that theory." Patrick said. "Let's start with the movie. There was no way that Louise could physically move those men so in a panic she did something to make the man move. What it was I don't know but it was painful. At first, I thought that Nathan had done something but the man was already in pain when we go there. You were on the phone and didn't realize that there was a problem not long before we did so that left Louise who by the way seemed oblivious to the fact that she had done anything to the man.

Now let's look at tonight, Barb kept insisting that Nathan take her for a tour even though he repeatedly and in any number of ways told her no. Barb openly flirted with Nathan and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what she wanted. Then we have Louise who is feeling the pull toward Nathan but doesn't understand it...."

"She felt threatened." Kevyn said not objecting as Patrick stroked a breast through her shirt.

"Exactly but to be more exact, she thought that Nathan was being threatened but not in a physical sense." Patrick replied. "She tried to warn Barb away by snapping at her but then felt contrite, goes to the bathroom comes back and see her sister all but in the lap of her mate. She did the same thing she did at the movie theater; she reacted and pushed back. We all heard her including Barb who thinks that Louise actually spoke the words."

Kevyn was beginning to understand.

"She fainted because she expended a lot of psychic energy, that's why she needed the sugar from the soda."

"Louise is always using psychic energy even if she doesn't know it which explains why she doesn't see what she does as anything unusual; it's a natural extension of who she is as a person." Patrick said, "she is so used to it that it doesn't bother her but to do what she did the in the past two days used more energy than she has ever used before. I think that she was always able to do what she did but has never been in a situation where she or someone she cared about was threatened."

"What does this mean for her and will Barb have any long term effects from what happened?" Kevyn asked.

"Now that we're sure of what's happening, Nathan will teach her how to manage it. The older she gets the stronger the gift will become but her endurance will grow along with it. As far as Barb goes, she probably has one hell of a headache. That was quite a psychic slap upside the head that Lou gave her. The question that I have is why Barb was able to hear her. Is your family psychically sensitive? Patrick asked, as his hand made its way under Kevyn's shirt and skimmed across the bare skin of her stomach.