Viva Las Vegas
Sequel to: The New Jersey Connection
Summary: With revenge set in the Soprano's minds, can our CSI guys get out alive this time?
Pairing(s): Jim/Catherine, Nick/Andrea & Paulie/Nicole
Feedback: Please. It's always welcomed and much appreciated.
Author's Note: It is recommended that you read The New Jersey Connection first. Otherwise, you'll be completely lost with this story.
/Newark, New Jersey/
Over the last eight months things have changed for Nicole. Instead of just moving in with Paulie she decided that she would get her own apartment for a while. But, that just started to change again for her. Her apartment was full of half filled boxes, since she was moving out and getting things moved into Paulie's house.
Since, Tony wanted Christopher, Paulie and her to head out to Las Vegas, she had to make a change of plans. Instead of moving everything on her own, she got a hold of Carmela to see if she could help. Which, Carmela was glad to and found a mover that would do it for her.
Nicole, was just getting out of the shower when a thought hit her. What if she got Uncle Junior to help them by setting them up with a couple of connections down in Las Vegas? She would have to talk to Tony about it, but it just might help make their situation a little better.
She was just in the middle of getting her bra and panties on when she heard the door open. Not knowing who it was she pulled her gun out of her jacket which was laying on the bathroom counter. She turned around and pointed it at the person who just walked up to the bathroom door. "Peter? What the fuck are you doing back here?" Nicole yelled.
"To finish things off!" Peter answered pointing a gun at Nicole.
Nicole was pissed off now. "Like fucking hell you are!" Nicole yelled and instead of shooting her gun she grabbed her coat and threw her towel over Peter's head and shoved him to the ground and took off running.
"Fucking cunt!" Peter yelled, as he ripped off the towel. He fired a couple shots at Nicole as she ran towards the door.
Nicole ducked as two zipped by her head, and the second connected with her right shoulder. She screamed in pain and knew she had no choice but to continue running. She made her way down the hall and towards the stairwell. She bolted down the stairs and to the parkade.
Peter stood at the door swearing.
Nicole got in her car thanking her lucky stars. She drove to Paulie's hoping he could be home. She pulled up to Paulie's house and got out of the car. The bleeding has slowed down, and was almost clotted. She walked up to Paulie's door and knocked.
Paulie came to the door, "Nic! What happened? Your bleeding." He said as he brought her inside.
"Take a wild guess." She said pissed off taking her jacket off.
"Got hurt taking a shower?" Paulie asked sarcastically.
She turned around, "Yeah the shower shot me."
"Holy fuck, you're not even safe taking a shower." Paulie replied as they went into the living room. "Okay, sit down and I'll have a look at it."
Nicole sighed and then rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, I forgot you had a medical degree. Dr. Paulie."
"Well, if you're gonna snipe like a little bitch, you can take care of yourself." Paulie snapped.
"Like a little bitch? Paulie, it was Peter! He's fucking back." Nicole replied.
Paulie stopped for a second and looked at her, "Peter? The fucking cocksucker? How the hell did he know where you lived?"
"How the hell do I know? That fucker shot me again in the same fucking shoulder!"
"Fucking prick. I can't believe he had the balls to come back here." Paulie stated, pacing the the living room.
"You can't believe he had the balls to come back here?" Nicole repeated stunned. "I can't believe he had the fucking balls to shoot me... again!"
Paulie stopped pacing and stared at Nicole. "Okay, calm down. We gotta figure out what the fuck we're gonna do."
"Well I don't wanna be stuck in the hospital... again," Nicole said sitting up, "This time he is fucking mine. All I want, Paulie is this thing bandaged up and I'm going after this fucker."
"You can't just bandage up a bullet hole, sweetheart, we gotta take care of it." Paulie said.
Nicole looked at the bullet hole, "It's not a hole its a good deep scratch. Bandage it, please."
"Nic, a scratch does not go through your shoulder and can't be fixed with a band-aid. You need to get stitches."
"Fuck the stitches, Paulie. Just clean me up the best you can so I can take care of Peter."
Paulie sighed and walked in to his bathroom. As he opened the medicine cabinet to get the gauze and ointment he caught his reflection in the mirror and looked at himself for a moment. "She's gonna be the death of me one day." he mumbled and then returned to the living room.
Nicole took a deep breath while Paulie cleaned the wound. "Thanks Paulie." She smiled when he was done. "Sorry, I'm a bitch right now."
"You were just shot, Nic."
"Well, yeah. But still, Peter went to Vegas or where ever and came back, to finish what he started. Which I don't understand." Nicole replied puzzled. She got up and started down the hallway. "Please tell me I left some clothes here."
Tony, Sil and Christopher were sitting in the back room of the Bing, "Where the fuck are Nic and Paulie?" Tony asked, as he set the cigar down in the ashtray.
Just than, Nicole and Paulie walked into the back room. "T. we got a situation here."
Tony sighed, "Now what?"
"Peter's back. He showed up in my apartment, and tried to kill me... again." Nicole said sitting down.
Tony looked at Nicole, "You okay?"
"Just peachy." Nicole frowned.
"How the fuck did he get into your apartment?" Christopher asked, almost yelling.
Nicole glared at Christopher and then rolled her eyes. "I'm assuming through the door, genius."
"Okay, it doesn't fucking matter how the hell he got in." Tony stated. "The important thing now, is where the fuck is he?"
"How the hell do we know. He disappeared off the fucking planet for eight months, and appears today and shoots me?" Nicole asked.
"Hey, she's got a point there, Ton." Sil replied. "This prick's like fucking Houdini."
"Yeah but also with him disappearing for eight months could work to our advantage. I mean there can't be too many places here that he can hide out anymore." Christopher stated.
"Wait! Nic, he shot you again?" Tony asked, frowning. "You okay?"
Nicole sighed. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's nothing that won't heal."
"You should go to the hospital and have it checked out to make sure."
"No, Tony, it's okay. Really. I just want to deal with Peter."
Tony looked around the room at everyone. "Anyone got any ideas on where to start looking?"
"Well I could look in the phone book, a new one just came out. It's a shot in the dark but why not?" Nicole asked getting up to grab the phone book off the shelf.
"Are you out of your fucking mind? He won't be in the fucking phone book." Christopher replied.
"How do you know? Stranger things have happened."
"Alright, be fucking realistic here." Tony snapped. "We gotta cap this fucker before anymore of us get fucking hurt or worse."
Paulie looked at Tony. "We could take a long shot here and go check out his old house."
"No way, I doubt he'd be fucking stupid enough to go back there." Sil replied. "Besides there's probably new people living in it."
"New people living where?" Ralphie asked walking in.
"Peter's house. Where the fuck have you been?" Christopher asked.
Ralphie sat down on the couch, "None of your fucking buisness. Why the hell are you looking for Peter?"
"Because he tried to kill me again, Ralph." Nicole answered, frowning.
"Tried to kill you? You okay?" Ralph asked concerned. Part of him still loved her.
Nicole took off her jacket which she had a tank top on. The bandage was very apparent. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Ralphie shook his head. "I can't believe he came back here. Do you know why?" he asked, looking at Nicole.
Nicole shook her head. "All he said was 'to finish things off'."
"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?"
"I think what it means is he wants to fucking off us, Ralphie." Paulie replied. "You got any idea where he could be hiding out?"
"Why would I?"
"Well, the fucker's your best friend..." Christopher said.
"Was my best friend, Chrissy. Was. He's not somebody I consider a friend anymore." Ralphie corrected Christopher but looked at Nicole when he answered.
"Anyway, you gotta know some of his hiding places around here." Paulie said.
"He's been gone eight fucking months and being back now, I doubt he's gonna hide in any of the places I know about."
"Yeah, but it's a place to start." Tony pointed out.
"Where are they, Ralph?" Nicole asked.
"I'll write them down." Ralphie answered and grabbed a pen and paper.
Tony looked at Nicole. The bandage was bloodstained. "Nic, you should get that checked out." He said pointing at the bandage.
"Later, Ton." Nicole answered, as she grabbed the paper. "Holy fuck. Enough places?"
"Yeah, well, the man knows how to hide if he really needs to." Ralphie explained.
"No shit. Considering he vanished for eight fucking months without a trace." Nicole replied sarcastically.
"Split up and start looking." Tony ordered.
"Hey, Ton, you think splitting up's a good idea?" Christopher asked.
"We'll cover more ground that way."
"Yeah, but I don't exactly wanna be alone if I find him."
"You want me to come with you and hold your fucking hand." Tony snapped. "Get going."
Ralphie and Nicole went looking for Peter at the abandoned cottage in the Pine Barrens. Nicole was driving her pick-up truck and Ralphie was in the passenger's seat. "Nic, what happened between us?" Ralphie asked.
"It just wasn't meant to be, Ralph. Were two totally different people."
Sil and Paulie went looking for Peter at a run down hotel by the river. "Why are we even bothering. This jerk most likely has new hide outs." Sil complained.
"It's a fucking start. Who knows maybe we'll get lucky and cap the fucker." Paulie replied.
"Why the fuck would he be stupid enough to come back."
"Cause he's a fucking twat."
Tony and Christopher headed to Peter's old house. Once they got there they noticed that it was boarded up and abandoned. "See, T. I told you he didn't come here."
"Let's check it out." Tony said getting out and headed up to the house. Once they got there they looked into the living room through the window. They noticed that there was not any dust.
"Okay, that's just messed." Christopher added and headed to the back.
Tony followed and as they rounded the corner they saw Peter in a truck pulling away. Peter looked at them and sped up.
"Fuck!" Tony yelled and ran back to the SUV.
Nicole and Ralphie showed up at the cottage in Pine Barrens. "When was the last time Peter used this fucking dump?" Nicole asked Ralphie as they started to get out of the truck.
"About a year ago." Ralphie answered.
"Great, so what are the odds that he'll be here now?" Nicole asked as she walked up to the front door.
"About a million to one." Ralphie replied as he followed her up the three steps and onto the porch.
Nicole reached for the doorknob and as she turned the handle, there was a loud clicking sound followed a huge explosion that sent Nicole and Ralphie flying through air and landing hard on the ground thirty feet from the cabin.
"Owww..." Nicole said as she rolled over to look for Ralphie, than passed out.
Two hours later, everyone was sitting at the Bing but Ralphie and Nicole. "Where the hell are they?" Christopher asked, sitting down in a chair.
"They aren't answering their cells." Tony answered hanging up the phone.
"Hey the only place on the list that we didn't check is the fucking Pine Barrens." Sil said looking at the list.
"The Pine Barrens?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, says on the list here that Peter has a cabin out there." Sil replied.
"A cabin? Shit! That's where he could have been all this time." Paulie stated.
"Let's get out there and check it out." Tony ordered.
Ralphie was just coming to when he noticed the flames all around him. He managed to lift himself up. "Nic? Nic, where are you?" he yelled.
He listened but heard nothing except the crackling of the flames and felt the severe heat on his face.
He stumbled around trying to locate Nicole when he thought he heard footsteps. He whirled around and came face to face with Peter. "What the fuck?"
"I see you found the booby trap, Ralphie." Peter said. He raised his gun and pointed it at Ralphie's face.
"You stupid fuck! You're a dead man, you know that?" Ralphie yelled. "Tony's gonna fucking kill you!"
Peter laughed at Ralphie. "You really don't know me do you, Ralphie? I'm not the scared, whiny little bitch everyone seems to think I am. And I'm not afraid of Tony fucking Soprano."
"Right. If you weren't afraid then why'd you fucking run?"
Peter smiled. "I had to make sure my family was safe. Once I knew they'd be okay, I started making my plans. Of course I didn't think it would take me this long but it doesn't matter because I'm gonna finish this once and for all. You've all hurt enough people and I'm putting an end to it."
"You want to end this by hurting us. Isn't that a little hypocritical there, Pete?"
"Not in the least. You assholes are hurting innocent people. Me, I'm just taking out the trash."
At this point Ralphie made a move toward Peter to try and grab the gun but Peter was too quick for Ralphie and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Ralphie in the forehead and dropped him to the ground.
"One down. Half a dozen to go." Peter said and made his way over to a still unconscious Nicole.
Paulie pulled the SUV into the Pine Barrens. "Holy shit! Look at all the smoke." Christopher pointed out.
"Fuck, it looks like a fire." Tony added.
"You don't think..." But Paulie didn't have time to finish his sentence before they were all out of the truck and heading toward the blaze.
Peter picked Nicole up and carried her to his truck. He placed her in the back. He tied her hands, feet and then placed a gag around her mouth.
He then climbed into the truck, started the engine and drove off. Leaving the blaze and a dead Ralphie behind.
Paulie, Tony, Sil and Christopher made it to the cabin and stopped when they realized what they were looking at.
"Shit! Well, chances are Pete's not fucking here." Sil stated.
"Yeah, well, we better hope that Ralphie and Nicole aren't here either." Tony replied.
They made their way through the flames as carefully as they could, when Christopher tripped.
"Aww, for fuck's sake, Chrissy." Paulie said and then looked down at what Christopher had tripped over. "Oh, shit."
"What is it?" Tony asked.
"It's fucking Ralphie. With a bullet in his head."
"Fuck!" Tony yelled. "Where the fuck is Nicole?"
They searched the area and found no sign of her anywhere. Then they heard sirens. "Shit, someone must have seen the smoke and called 911." Sil said.
"Okay, let's get the fuck out of here." Tony replied.
"T. what about Nic?" Paulie asked, concern apparent in his voice.
Tony placed a hand on Paulie's shoulder. "Don't worry, Paulie, we'll find her."
"She better be okay or Pete's a fucking dead man."
"Paulie, Pete's already a fucking dead man." Tony stated and didn't know how true his words actually were. Considering he had no idea what had gone down eight months ago in Las Vegas.
TBC...