Leave her alone

Dom looked at Lulu in surprise. He had not expected her to snap at him the way she did. Instead of making him angry, he became even more worried. His little sister was certainly not doing alright.

There was no way that he would leave her alone. She needed him now more than ever. She needed as much support and understanding as they could give.

"I'm sorry you feel like that Lulu, but I'm not suffocating you. I'm only worried about you. We all are." Dom said, his tone soft, and his expression gentle. However, Lulu did not seem to care at all. She didn't care one bit. She hated it when Dom got like this.

"Well you are, just leave me alone Dom, leave me alone, I want to be alone!" said Lulu as she walked past Dom who had been hovering around her.

"Lulu, you should relax, we are only worried about you." said Natasha as Lulu frowned.

"I don't care, leave me alone, I'm going to my room, and don't you dare follow me Dom, I'm warning you!" she said flatly as she turned to warn Dom before turning around and walking up the stairs hurriedly.

"Lulu" called Dom as he was about to follow after her.

"Don't you dare go after her." said Natasha sternly as Dom turned to look at her.

"And why not? Can't you see that she's not okay? It would be crazy to leave her alone when she's like this." said Dom, his tone hopeless.

"Yes she's not okay, but she already told you to leave her alone, following her will do nothing but anger her even more." said Natasha.

"Now, unless you want her to pack her bags and leave, you better stay put." she said.

"I don't want her to leave, at least not when she's still like that." said Dom in worry.

"Then go sit down and don't bother her. Leave her alone for now, you can try talking to her tomorrow, but for now, she says that she wants to be alone, so we have to respect her wishes." said Natasha as Dom sighed.

...

Benjamin took a deep breath as he walked into his apartment. Today had been a very long day. He had not in any way anticipated what had happened.

He was just relieved and grateful that he and Lulu were okay. Although he was still very worried about Lulu.

He could tell that what happened had taken a very negative toll on her and he could not help but worry.

Benjamin sat down on the couch as he was deep in thought. He really wanted to make Lulu happy, he really wanted to cheer her up, because, let's face it. If it was him that was feeling the way she was.

Regardless of whether he wanted to be cheered up or not. She would go out of her way to see a smile on his face. That was what motivated him to want to make her feel better. 

Lulu was such a kind person, she was loud, but overall, she was kind. He wished that she would feel better soon.

Benjamin groaned as he suddenly remembered that all the supplies they had brought to show Dom had unfortunately perished in the elevator.

Talk about a huge disappointment. Lulu had spent two weeks working on all those preparations and she would be even more sad when she remembered that all her hard work had been destroyed.

Benjamin's eyes fell on Lulu's laptop that was on the coffee table. She must have left forgotten it the last time she was here.

Benjamin made mental note to return it to her as soon as he could. Then his eyes flashed in realization, he had an idea of how he could possibly cheer Lulu up.

If he somehow managed to regain all the lists and supplies that were lost in the elevator crash, then at least she would have one less thing to worry about.

Benjamin got to work quickly, he took Lulu's laptop, opened it and began to work on hos exactly he could pull this off. It was going to be a long night.

...

Lulu got into her room as she closed the door and collapsed on her bed. All her exhaustion displaying itself fully.

She didn't mean to speak to her brother that way, but she couldn't take it, she just felt so sad, so helpless and she hated that she felt this way.

What made her feel worse was that she doubted she would stop feeling like this in the morning as Benjamin said, she was just so overwhelmed.

In the midst of her thoughts she suddenly heard a knock on her bedroom door. She had planned not to answer it regardless of whoever was out there, but she had no choice when she heard the voice of whoever was behind the door.

"Aunt Lulu." called Joy as Lulu looked up and groaned.

"Yes Joy?" she answered, it would be wrong for her to be mean to her little niece just because she did not feel well.

"Can I come in Aunt Lulu?" asked Joy as Lulu sighed.

"Yes come in." she replied as she sat upright in bed and the door opened as Joy walked into the room.

She had been outside in the garden playing with Meggie when she went into the kitchen to drink water, then she heard some arguing and she decided to see if Lulu was okay.

"What's up sweetie?" asked Lulu as she forced a smile.

"Nothing Aunt Lulu, I wanted to check on you, are you okay?" asked Joy softly as she walked to Lulu's bed.

Lulu initially wanted to lie and say that she was perfectly okay, but she knew that Joy was not stupid, she must have probably heard her shouting at Dom.

"No... no I'm not okay Joy." she said as she felt like crying again.

"Why? What happened?" asked Joy in worry.

"Don't worry Joy, it's just some adult things." said Lulu as she wiped some tears that had managed to escape from her eyes, she did not want to scare Joy with her near death experience earlier today.

"But you're crying Aunt." said Joy as she climbed into Lulu's bed and sat down beside her.

"Don't worry, the tears will go away soon." said Lulu as she faked a smile, but Joy didn't seem to believe her at all.

Joy did not bother asking Lulu what was wrong anymore. Instead, she gave Lulu a warm hug as Lulu was surprised and felt herself crying even more than she thought she would.

"There, there, everything will be fine Aunt Lulu." said Joy as she gave her light taps on the back as Lulu cried.

"Everything is fine." said Joy as Lulu started to laugh in the midst of her crying.

"Look at me, I'm a crying mess and you're comforting me, I wonder who's the aunt and who's the niece here?" asked Lulu as she laughed with tears falling from her eyes.

"It doesn't matter aunt Lulu, you feel bad now, but hugs fix everything." said Joy assuredly as Lulu broke their hug and sniffed.

"I am sure they do." she replied with a light chuckle while wiping her eyes.

"Do you want me to do what my mommy does when I feel bad?" asked Joy.

"What's that?" asked Lulu her eyes red already.

"She hugs me, and then she pats me on the back and gives me a kiss on the forehead and tells me that everything will be okay when I wake up in the morning." said Joy as she stood up on the bed and she gave Lulu a kiss on the forehead.

"Everything will be okay in the morning Aunt Lulu." she Joy as she hugged her and Lulu hugged her tighter.

"Thank you my dear, your words mean a lot to me." said Lulu as she smiled and Joy smiled at her.

"Do you feel better now?" asked Joy brightly as Lulu nodded with a smile.

"Much better." she replied.

"Yayyy, now go to sleep so the magic can work and you will feel even better in the morning." said Joy as Lulu laughed at her confidence.

"Oh alright, but I don't want to sleep alone, would you stay with me?" asked Lulu with a sniff as Joy nodded happily.

"Of course, here, let me tuck you in." said Joy as Lulu took off her heels and got into bed as Joy was beside her and she tucked them both in.

"Goodnight Aunt Lulu, sleep tight, and have sweet dreams." said Joy as she hugged Lulu who closed her eyes almost instantly.

"Goodnight Joy, you are the best niece I could ever ask for." said Lulu as she smiled and Joy smiled.

Before they knew it, the both of them had drifted off into slumber.

...

"Here is the tea you asked for Madam." said Alfred with a smile.

"Thank you Alfred." said Natasha as she took the mug from him and walked out the kitchen into the living room.

"Here, this should calm you down." she said as she handed the mug over to Dom who reluctantly accepted it.