"Oh Goodness." Lulu said to herself again. She shook her head. Joy was just really something else. She was so smart and attentive and she was intelligent yes, and quick to the point, those were all good things, but at the same time.
It made Lulu worried that she had underestimated Joy so much. She was no longer a little baby that could barely walk anywhere. She was a big girl, doing big things which would cause her to get in big trouble.
"Oh Joy, bleach is dangerous, very, very dangerous." Lulu sighed, she walked into Joy's room, she had to speak with her face to face to show how serious she was.
"I know Aunt Lulu." Joy responded in her small, cute voice.
"And you shouldn't have used bleach all on your own. You could have got it on your skin and it could have reacted negatively, or worse, you could have accidentally got it in your eye and instead of being here cleaning up, we would have rushed you to the hospital." Lulu said.
"I'm sorry Aunt Lulu." Joy said sincerely.
"I know you are my dear, but never do this again, it is way too dangerous." Lulu sighed and Joy nodded.
"I will never Aunt Lulu, never." Joy said.
"Good, but where did you get bleach anyway? There's no bleach in your bathroom." Lulu asked.
"I went to mommy's room to get it." Joy said sheepishly.
"Oh my, Joy, you have really surprised me today." Lulu said, Joy was so inquisitive, once again, that was not a bad thing, but it definitely made her more of a handful than ever.
"I'm sorry Aunt Lulu, very sorry, I didn't mean to cause trouble." Joy said.
"I know you didn't." Lulu said.
"Aunt Lulu, can you please not tell my mommy... She will be very upset and I don't want her to be upset with me." Joy pleaded. Lulu looked around avoiding Joy's gaze. Of course she did not want to tell Natasha what happened.
For one, she would be the one in big trouble, not Joy, secondly, she didn't want to let Natasha down. Natasha and Dom had trusted her with looking after Joy so much, she did not want to destroy that trust with this one time she messed up severely.
"I know it's wrong for us not to tell your mommy." Lulu said as Joy looked at her with wide, pleading eyes. "But, I also don't want her to get upset so fine... I won't tell her." Joy jumped for Joy when she heard Lulu say that.
"Yayyyy, thank you Aunt Lulu, I don't want mommy to get upset with me or you." Joy said while Benjamin shook his head, he wanted to say something, but he decided that he would do so when Joy was not in the room. He could tell that it irritated Lulu when he spoke harshly in front of her niece.
"Why does this room smell like apple conditioner?" Benjamin asked.
"Ohhh... well Uncle Benjamin, I couldn't find any soap to use to clean the mud, so I used my apple conditioner in the mopping water." Joy admitted.
Benjamin and Lulu looked at each other, at this point there was nothing else they could say. Lulu simply laughed and walked back into the bathroom to continue cleaning up.
It took Lulu and Benjamin about twenty minutes to finish cleaning up Joy's room.
After they did, Lulu sent Joy downstairs to take Maggie back to her pen and feed her, leaving she and Benjamin alone.
"You shouldn't have left Joy alone all by herself." Benjamin began while Lulu was busy in the kitchen making lunch.
"Geee, thanks Benjamin, thank you so much for telling me something I already know." She replied.
"You don't seem to know it the way you should, it should have crossed your mind that she's a little girl who is way too curious and she was bound to get into some trouble." He continued.
"Thank you for scolding me, thank you so much, because that is just what I need." Lulu sighed, she did not want to shout at him solely because at any time Joy could walk through the door and hear them arguing, and she did not want that.
"You should have asked someone to watch her for you quickly, or better yet, taken her with you." He said.
"There's no one else in the house, I don't know any of the other neighbours well enough, and had she gone with me, she would have definitely heard some bad words she shouldn't have!" Lulu raised her voice cautiously.
"I keep on hearing, 'you should have, you should have, you should have' as if you would have done better than me, if you have nothing else to say other than criticize me, then just be quiet." She said.
"That seems to be the only thing you're good at doing, criticizing me, when I don't deserve it. I already know I messed up, I don't need you reminding me and repeating the same thing over and over again, especially when you just got back and that's been the very first thing on your mind."
Benjamin could hear the pain in her voice. He felt bad, he did not mean to be so criticizing, it was just that she rarely took things seriously in his opinion, but he should have known that Joy cared about her niece so much, of course she took this seriously.
"I'm sorry Louise, I really am." He said.
"Are you now? Are you really?" she replied turning away from him, she wiped away the tears threatening to drop from her eyes.
"I really am, I didn't mean to be mean, it just happened. I am just someone who is very harsh when I speak, I don't really mean it in a bad way, it's just my tone, you know." He said.
"Yeah, I know, but I also know that you can be soft and considerate when you want to be, I've felt it before, so for you to just choose to be mean in this situation isn't helping. Sometimes, I just need you to say I understand, and nothing else." She said.
"I understand." He responded, she turned to look at him and glared. How annoying could he be.
"I'm being serious, I understand, and I'm sorry, you've had a bad day today with that stupid delivery guy and now this, so I know you are stressed, I am sorry." He said sincerely, Lulu could feel the softness and sincereity in his tone.
"That's better, I forgive you." She said with a smile.
"Do you really?" he asked.
"Yes I do, unlike you, I forgive easily, as long as it is a genuine apology, which in this case, I can tell it is." She smiled at him.
"Okay, thank you." He smiled, he sighed in relief, lucky for him Lulu was well... Lulu.
"So, are you staying for lunch? The answer better be yes, we need to talk and you need to tell me what happened on your little trip." She said.
Benjamin was truly about to say no, but then he smiled and decided why not. "Sure."
"Not sure, you are staying for lunch and it's final." Lulu responded.
"So... are you really serious about not telling Natasha this?" he asked, he knew that his question would upset Lulu, but he could not let her not tell Natasha something this important.
"Well yes... she doesn't need to know." Lulu said.
"Louise." Benjamin called.
"Hey, what do you expect me to say? Hey, Natasha, I broke your trust and left your daughter, my niece all alone and she almost got herself hurt making a mess." Lulu said. "How does that sound to you? She'll be furious." She frowned, she was scared to be honest.
"Of course she will be, but it is only right you tell her, what is more trust breaking is the fact that you won't tell her. What if she finds out from another person what happened?" Benjamin asked.
As soon as he said that Lulu glared at him, she hoped he would not be the other person to tell her.
"It won't be me of course, but she will find out somehow, and it's best that however she finds out, it should be from you first." Benjamin said.
Lulu sighed, once again she felt so annoyed that Benjamin was right.
"But I don't want her to be upset with me, we've been so good, our relationship has bonded really well and I don't want to ruin that." Lulu said sadly.
"It's only natural for you to feel that way, but don't you think that because the two of you have such a great relationship, you should value that respect and trust and tell her." Benjamin said, Lulu looked at him as if he was asking the impossible from her.
Benjamin knew she was scared, she had every right to be, but he had a feeling that if she did not tell Natasha, she would be making a very big mistake.