He had woken up disoriented.

The doctor had said he'd come around, which he did. But she'd been quietly staring at him.

Even when he tried starting a conversation this morning, she'd stared then she'd asked the question that shut him up.

'Why?',

One question that Julie had been trying to figure out. Was this what Love was running from? Was this her reason for being distant?

And it was making lesser sense as she thought about it.p

He couldn't give her a reason, and she didn't know how she felt about that.

Quietly she'd excused herself from the room and took a walk in the hospital parking lot.

The evening breeze was a bit chilly but she'd survive. She saw Love making her way towards the entrance and decided to give the couple a few minutes to themselves.

She sat in the lobby and waited for Love to step out. Which she did after a while with a look of determination.

Jules didn't know what to make of it. It could be a determination to help him or a determination to have nothing to do with him, ever.

Love walked up to her and sat next to her.

'I know you might feel like I'm the worst wife to walk the planet. And yes I don't blame you, because I haven't given you much to work with', she smiled at Jules who gave a small smile back.

'But Louis has made all my efforts in reaching him about his drinking futile. Like he knows what I want to hear and most times see for peace to reign he says them. I told him that the next time he finds himself in a fix like this he'd need to hire a caregiver cause I wouldn't do it. But instead here you are, which is why I'm asking you to let the nurses and doctors do their jobs. Then go on and live your life, and I mean that in the best way possible.

You can only take a horse to the river, but you can't force it to drink from it', with that she took her bag and left Jules thinking.

Eventually she went back to his room and found him sitting up for the first time since his admission, head buried in his hands and his shoulder shaking. Like he was crying.

Shutting the door he raised his head on instinct and she saw his red rimmed eyes.

She saw the sorrow and she was moved. No one deserved this she thought as she sat on his bed, looking him in the eye.

'Are you willing to do whatever it takes to ensure no one else walks out on you that way', she asked while staring into his eyes.

She was willing to help, but within reason. The last thing she was going to be was an enabler.

He nodded his head in affirmation.

PShe chose to believe him, not wanting to factor what Love said of him knowing exactly what you wanted to hear and telling it to you.

'Good, then I promise to do all that I can to help. Within reason of course', she quickly added.

'Apparently you've been talking to Love. It's my fault though, I've made promises and broken each one of them every time',

'Well let's start by making you better first, then we can go on to getting you the help required for the addictions. Sound good?',

'Oui, merci de ne pas m'abandonner,

(Yes, thanks for not giving up on me)

'de rien',

(You're welcome)

####

Few months later..

'This covers groceries and this is Sarah's pay for the week and I assure you that if you use it to go catch some movie in the theaters because you ran out of cash I'll kill you!',

'You really should have some faith in my non existent sense of responsibility, like here she is and here she gets it',

Sarah walked in and Gabe dropped the cash in Sarah's open hand and rattled off the instructions.

'I know its your turn to do grocery shopping but since I'm in a good mood I'll do it. Thanks Miss Juliet', she went ahead to see to chores left undone by Gabe.

They had moved into Jules apartment after seeing that they spent 99% of their time there.

'I really need to ship you off to my mum, she'll have you straightened out in no time', she said as she gathered her things to leave the house.

'Yea, she'll fall under my charms and I'll gloat all about it when I return', he yelled as she closed the door.

He got a text from Juliet almost immediately. When he opened it it was the picture of some guy to be considered as hot, on a beach. The text said, if she could set that straight, then your charms are definitely underrated.

The nerve of that girl!

But, he really should go fix Lola's room before she came in from her all night in the library. He wasn't meant to be there in the first place but Jules changed the locks on her room door  leaving Lola's as the only option to wreck havoc in.

Hearing the door open he ran to the said room to at least straighten the bed sheet. It's not his fault that their rooms had a stronger connection to the WiFi!

********

She slid into the back of the hall as she watched the session progress. The rehabilitation progress was doing wonders for Louis, and it brought a sense of empathy for her. People really did struggle with alcohol addiction.

One of the participants had lost every single he owned due to alcohol addiction.

His family, his job, even his friends.

But he was here keeping a record of six months without a drop of alcohol.

The court gave him probation to stay six months off the drink and he'd be allowed calls to his wife, a year and he could talk to his children and properly apologize for the harm he caused.

With time, he'd hopefully be allowed back to his family, but based on what he was saying he wasn't going to push it.

She listened till it was Louis's turn. After narrating his ordeal with alcohol, Jules felt really horrible for him. Especially when he talked about how he'd hurt Love over and over. Telling her exactly what she needed to hear to get her to cool whatever feelings she was having.

She was able to correlate was he was saying with what Love told her that day at the hospital. She'd kept in touch, but in a way that showed she was not going to give in easily like times past.

Over the weekend she'd moved her things out of the house, she honestly didn't know how Louis was taking it. He hadn't said anything about it and she wasn't going ask. It wasn't her place nor was it her business.

Her little journey down memory was enough time for the meeting to come to an end and the counsellor asked if anyone wanted to join him in prayers causing some to rise with him as he prayed.

After the prayers she smiled in greeting to Louis as she led them to the car. She'd volunteered to drive him to most of his meetings, this way she could ensure he actually attended them.

'How are feeling?', she asked as she backed into the road.

'Not good, but better than yesterday', he replied while tightly shutting his eyes. She noticed he was shaking.

He'd said he wasn't doing drugs, but the shakes told a different story.

'That's okay, remember its one day at a time. No one expects a miraculous recovery, and neither should you',

'Thank you Julie, you don't have to but you're helping. For that I'm grateful, merci beaucoup!'

(Thank you very much)

'I'll always help where I can, good night Louis', as soon as he closed the door to his house she drove off to hers and was back in time to serve as a human shield for Gabe.

'I promise those stains were already there when I got there!',

'You are going to re-wash my bedsheets and vacuum my room in the next ten minutes or I'm calling your mum and then breaking up with you!', seeing a little lax in Gabe's hold she quickly snuck to her room and let the lovebirds have at it.

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