Just for reference, Laurelai's sort of a much older, sterner, mature version of Lila.  She doesn't have a perfect memory, and her parents were ordinary people.  She took Duke on as her responsibility until he was able to prove himself trustworthy, so they've been friends a long time.  This was just a section of an idea I had a while back, I never put the whole thing on paper.  Basically the foundation was that Laurelai's old flame and his wife got zapped through a portal and ended up on Earth somehow.  He's still angry at her and he tells the other ducks that she can't be trusted because of a drinking problem.

***

"Is it true?" Duke asked hollowly.

"Yes." She didn't move, remaining sitting on her couch, her hands wrapped tight around the mug of herbal tea to keep them from shaking. She stared into its depths as if it held answers to whatever questions assailed the heart he thought he knew.

'Why didn't you tell me,' he wanted to demand, but all he could get out was "Tell me."

"I met Jonathan while I was still in med school. We got engaged not long after I graduated."

Duke was speechless.

"We weren't in a hurry to get married; I wanted to wait until I had a position at the hospital, and he was still finishing his advanced degree. I got my place, and Jonathan got his Ph.D. But, my mother was sick, and I didn't want to try and balance planning a wedding with getting my mother the treatment she needed.

"The treatment didn't work. She got worse and worse. My father was gone, she was all I had left. It was--more than I could take. I start drinking, just a little at first, then more and more as her condition deteriorated. By the time she died," Laurelai closed her eyes, willing the words to come. "I was a full blown alcoholic. I was too drunk to even go to her funeral. Jonathan tried to help me, but I was to busy drowning my grief to listen to him. I--I don't even remember the day he broke off our engagement, I got so wasted afterwards. I lost my license to practice. My life was in ruins.

"Then, one night, I collapsed in my kitchen after downing a couple of bottles of hard liquor. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I just stared up through the window above me, and I realized that I couldn't recognize the stars anymore. My grandmother had always taught me that no matter how lost I was, I could use the stars to find my way back. When I came to enough to drag myself to a phone, I called the hospital and asked to be put in the detox unit." She opened her eyes again, staring back into the tea. "All of the things I lost, and that's what brought me back. Stars." She sighed. "I went to Jonathan, and asked him to help me. I didn't think I could do it alone." For the first time, her voice broke. "He wouldn't have anything to do with me. It'd broken his heart to see me destroy myself like that, and he's never forgiven me for hurting him that way."

She set the mug down and folded her hands in her lap, still staring down at it. "I've been sober for almost four years now, and I haven't touched a drink in all that time. I moved to another town and got my practice started again. I didn't tell anyone about it unless they directly asked, and by that time most of them new me well enough to trust me. I'm sorry if you feel I've deceived you, Duke."

He'd expected her to point out that he hadn't told her everything about his time with the Brotherhood, all the bad things he'd done. But he didn't have to go into detail for him to know that he'd made a mess of his life, and he was hurt that in all the time they'd known each other she hadn't been able to admit her weakness to him.

'Does it matter? She trusted you, knowing who you were, she trusted you when no one else would. She took you in and she gave you another chance, *knowing* that you were a crook. So she messed up. She's changed, just like you have. And you've had time to see that she's changed. You *know* her...who she was then shouldn't matter any more to you than it did to her.' Duke sighed. 'But she didn't tell me...' 'You didn't ask. And neither did she, if you'll recall. She never asked to know what you did back then, and you didn't want to tell her.'

She still hadn't turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, Duke. I'd never do anything to harm anyone on this team."

"I know," he said softly. Her shoulders shook as she sighed.

"I should tell the others. But I can't, Duke, I just don't have the courage."

"I'll tell them."

"Thank you."

***

Wildwing sighed. "Duke--look, I know you how you feel about her--"

"No. You don't." Duke glared. "Wildwing, when I joined the resistance, they talked about a summary execution because they thought I couldn't be trusted! Doc Jo was the only one who said *anything* against it. She didn't have any reason to trust me and she did! We don't have any reason *not* to trust her--"

"She lied to us," Mallory broke in angrily. "We can't trust someone who's been hiding something like this! What if she starts drinking again? She could jeapordize our whole mission! She's a danger to the team."

"You know something Mallory, you got a short memory," Duke said heatedly, glaring at her. "Seems to me it wasn't that long ago you were pointing fingers at another teammate without all the facts."

Mallory flushed and was about to respond when Tanya stepped between them. "If you're gonna get mad at Doc Jo then you're gonna have to get mad at me too. I knew she'd had problems with alcoholism, and I didn't say anything either." Her teammates looked at her, surprised. "Doc Jo's been my family's doctor since she moved to my hometown. I trust her and I think you don't have a whole lot of choice in any case. She's the only doctor we've got, and she's never even had a glass of wine since I've known her."

"I'm with them, man, she's never let us down before. If she still had a problem, don't you think we'd know about it by now?" Nosedive put in.

Wildwing looked at Grin. He shrugged his massive shoulders and said impassively, "We have seen that the leapord can change his spots. Why should we not believe that his mate can do the same?"

Duke glanced sharply at him, uncertain if that cryptic reply was implying anything about his relationship with Laurelai, but decided to let it pass since the comment had been in his favor. "Look, Laurelai knows she messed up and she's already been abandoned once by someone that she thought cared about her. If she *does* have a problem again later we should be there to help her through it, not through her out on the street! If we did that she'd for sure start up again, because she wouldn't have anything else to live for. Her duty's her life. Just like it is for you, Mallory."

The redhead blinked, taken aback. She seemed to teeter on the edge of a decision, then sighed. "Well, she *is* the only doctor we have," she finally mumbled. Wildwing looked relieved; he really hadn't wanted to punish Laurelai for something that was years in the past.