SECOND CHANCES:
Thankgiving Is More Than A Holiday

A Simon & Simon/Six Million Dollar Man/Dark Shadows Crossover Tale

When one of the Simons goes missing before Thanksgiving, it takes a
story from the past to reunite a family for the holiday. (This is a work of fiction. No money is being made on it, and the characters are owned by Universal and are only being borrowed for a little while. .)

Chapter 1

"Rick, if it's snowing too hard, please stay in town with A.J., promise?" He heard the worry in her voice, so Rick Simon hastened to reassure his wife. "I will, sweetheart. I'm not crazy about wrecking my truck on that icy road. I'll call you before I leave work."

"Thank you, darling, I'm staying put myself, we postponed the writing class until tomorrow, I wouldn't want any of the students out in this weather either." Laurie told him. "I'm glad, Laurie, I don't want you riding in this weather, you're just getting over your cold as it is!"

"Silly, it was just the sniffles, but I'll wear my heavy coat to feed the horses, then close up. Robin's going to stay in town at Tasha's tonight, so it'll just be Oscar and Rudy if you don't come." she explained.

All right, darlin', you take care and I'll call you later.", he said, then lowered his voice. "I love you, angel, you mind your uncles now, hear?"

"Yes, my love, be good yourself!" she returned laughing. Looking at the heavy snow outside, she said goodbye, wishing Rick was safe at home with her.

Suddenly she had the feeling that she wasn't alone, then looking out through the kitchen window,
she saw her Grandmother standing near the barn. A cold sensation went through her, and putting her coat on, she went out the kitchen door and came within a few feet of her ancestor.

"Grandmother Casey, I'm glad to see you, I had a feeling...." Laurie started, then saw a concerned expression on her face.

"Laurie, you must listen to Richard, don't let anything come between you. Being right isn't worth
losing what's important.," the spirit told her. Worried, Laurie said, "I do listen to Rick, Grandmother, and I never want to lose him. Is something going to happen to him?"

'Just listen to him, my child. All will be right in the end. Remember the wild turkeys? I learned,
and so will you." A smile crossed her Grandmother's face, then she faded away.

Laurie stood shivering, now what, she wondered. Turning, she made her way through the snowdrifts to the barn, where she adjusted the heat and filled the feed bins. All the while she kept thinking about her Grandmother's words; what did she mean, don't let anything come between them?

As she went back to the house, she heard a honk, then looking thru the front window, saw Robbie's patrol car. Hitting the remote control, she waited for him to drive in, then opened the front door as he ran from the car to the porch, stopping to stomp the snow from his boots.

"Robbie! I thought you were going to stay in town, darling!" she hugged him, then helped him shake the snow off his jacket. "I was, but I had to take a parolee in, so I dropped him off and Pop told me you were by yourself until Uncle Oscar and Uncle Rudy come home." he replied.

"I'm glad you came, but what about Ramona, is Angelina with her?" she said, bringing him a cup
of coffee as he sat at the kitchen table. "Yes, she's going to stay overnight since I'm covering for
Rob. I'm glad Pop's going to stay in town, the hairpin by Rock Ridge is covered with black ice!" he added. Noticing his mother was slightly shivering, he picked her sweater off the chair back and put it over her shoulders. "Thank you Robbie, I was fine until I went out to the barn, your Grandmother Casey appeared and I guess it was colder then I thought!" she smiled gratefully at her son.

"Grandmother came? It's been a long time since you've seen her, what did she say?" he asked,
concerned that his mother was by herself when it happened.

"It worries me, Rob. She said I was to listen to your father, not to let anything come between us and that being right wasn't worth losing what's important. She said all would be right in the end, but, son, I'd never let anything separate us. I wish I knew what she was talking about." Laurie wondered out loud, then seeing the worried look on her son's face, tried to downplay her fears.

"Of course she could just be giving me some advice for the future, she also told me to remember the wild turkey story. Funny thing is, your father got a kick out of that story when he was in the hospital!" she grinned.

"Yeah, from the Johnson case, isn't that the one from Grandmother's second year with Grandpa Gene? The story where she had words with him, then went in bad weather to Lost Valley to get a Thanksgiving Turkey?" Robbie replied. "Yes, Kasey jumped off Lightning to avoid him falling and ended up falling all the way down to the valley floor. She spent the night and part of the next day holed up in her father's cabin, until Gene managed to get through the drifts and rescue her. She never again went against his advice, at least until they were married!" Laurie smiled.

"Well, speaking of married, do you think Ian's going to pop the question with Robin at Christmas; they've been going together almost two years now, Mom. I think he's serious, and now that he's helping with the training for the Round Table shows, he seems set on settling down." Startled at her son's calm take on his sister's boyfriend, Laurie caught his eye, then laughed as he said, "I'm teasing, Mom. Robin told me that she wants to wait until they're both settled in their careers before making that big a commitment."

"You rascal, you had me going!" she smirked, getting up from the table and whacking him
on the shoulder. "Honestly, you're as bad as your father, he had me thinking he and A.J. were
going to San Diego the day before Thanksgiving to pick up an old security deposit. He kept
saying, "$20 is $20, darlin'." I was about to just give him the twenty dollars until he pulled
that "gotcha" look on me!"

"That's good, Mom, I'll have to remember that one for Ramona!" he snickered, then said,
"Bless you!" as she sneezed a couple of times.

"Thank you, son, looks like I'd better take a cold pill. I don't want to go out in this weather
tomorrow with the sniffles!" she said, blowing her nose.

Later, watching her son drive away, Laurie felt better having had him visit for a few hours.
Only when he was assured that Oscar and Rudy were coming in from Ojai, did he go back to
Silver Rock to take his shift at the sheriff station. As she put the finishing touches on a
tri-tip roast and casserole, she heard the honking of a horn again. Turning off the oven,
she went toward the front door anticipating seeing her uncle's jeep, only to watch a town
car drive up to the front gate.

Again feeling a cold sensation, she pressed the intercom button, and firmly said, "This
is a private residence, who are you?"

"Mrs. Simon, it's Marcus Thomas with Linden House, may we speak with you please?"
a deep voice requested.

Not able to see inside the tinted windows of the snow-covered car, she hesitated, then
remembered Rick and Oscar's admonishment not to admit strangers.

"No, Mr. Thomas. I have no further business with Linden House. Please make your
u-turn and leave, please." she replied. "Mrs. Simon, I understand your concerns regarding
some of our management's actions. I'm here hoping to open a dialogue between us;
maybe we can come to an understanding regarding publishing your new book?" he
answered, a hopeful note in his voice.

Angered, Laurie pushed the intercom button again. "Mr. Thomas, my new book will
be published by an independent publishing firm that not only benefits our community,
but that will never take advantage of or put me in danger! I will never again allow
your company to handle my books again! Please leave now."

Turning off the intercom, she watched as the car slowly backed up, then exited the
drive, stopping only for a hand to appear out of a window and place an envelope in
the mailbox. Watching the car drive away, Laurie unconsciously let out a deep
breath, then found that she was shaking. Suddenly needing to hear her husband's
voice, she went to the phone and punched in his number, only to hear the office
recorder come on.

Disappointed, she hung up, then heard the sound of a car's tires crunching
over the icy snow. Fearful it was the same car, she glanced through the front
window to see Oscar's jeep, then sighed with relief. Opening the door, she
came out onto the porch after hitting the remote and watched her two mentors
exit the car. Seeing a similar look of relief on her uncle's face, she realized
he had seen the expensive car leaving. Curious about the envelope slipped
into her mailbox, she went and pulled it out, then met them at the steps.

"Guys, am I glad to see you!" she said, then welcomed Oscar's embrace.

"Not as much as we are to see you, honey!" he told her, then released her
to greet Rudy, who hugged her, then frowned and put a hand to her forehead.
"Laurie, you're awfully warm, do you still have a cold?" he asked.

"Just a case of the sniffles, I'm ok!" she replied. "I did get a little worked up
just now, did you see the town car on the road a few minutes ago?"

"Yes, honey, who was it?" Oscar answered, a note of concern in his voice as
he put an arm around her as they went into the house.

Telling them about the representatives of her former publishers, she was touched
when her uncle smiled at her and said "Thank God you knew not to let them in,
baby. I don't like anyone just showing up like that. If they contact you again,
you call that attorney of yours."

"Oh, I don't think they'll come again, but I'm going to call George anyway.
Besides, I know to listen to what you and Rick tell me!", she grinned back
at him. After letting Oscar examine the envelope, Laurie opened it to find
a letter basically stating that Linden House wanted to re-sign her to a
multi-book contract, with a $100,000 advance against her first book.

"They think waving money at me will cure anything, huh?", she
told her uncles, letting them glance at the letter and contract.

"Somebody doesn't know you very well!" Rudy chuckled, taking the
papers and with an approving nod from Laurie, ripping them into pieces..

As Rudy helped her put dinner on the table, Oscar called Linda to see if
A.J. and Rick had come in yet, only to find that A.J. had been dropped off
an hour before by his brother. "Oscar, my car wouldn't start, so Rick
took me home, then decided to drive straight to the ranch." A.J. told him,
concerned.

"Was the road bad, A.J., maybe I ought to call Robbie...."? Oscar
started, only for the younger Simon to interrupt him. "Rick's
just come in, Oscar, let me find out."
"Oscar, is Laurie all right?" Rick asked, picking up the extension.
"Yes, son, now what happened; Laurie said you were going to call
before you left the office?" Oscar reminded him.

"We had a power outage, I should called her on my transmitter,
but I thought I'd be able to make it home by now.", Rick told him.
"After I dropped A.J. off, I started for the ranch, only some car
nearly ran me off the road and it took me about 30 minutes to dig
out. If Robbie hadn't come, I might still have been there."

"Just as long as you're ok, Rick. Here's Laurie." Oscar squeezed
her shoulder as he handed her the phone, she smiled with relief
back at him.

"Rick, darling, are you all right, I was worried when you didn't call
and the answering machine was already on at the office!" she said.
"I'm fine, sweetheart. I'm sorry, I should have called you on the
transmitter, but I honestly didn't think I wouldn't be able to come
home. If that town car hadn't nearly driven into me...." Laurie
interrupted him. "Rick, did you say town car, was it a dark blue
one with tinted windows?" Her uncle tensed next to her.

"Yeah, I couldn't see the driver, but it was still light out, he
had to have seen me on the curve. Wait a minute, how did you
know what it looked like?" she heard an uneasy tone in his voice.

"Rick, some guy from Linden House showed up at the gate this
afternoon, just before Oscar and Rudy came home. He supposedly
was trying to make peace or something, so they could release my
next book. I told this Mr. Thomas that I'd never let them handle
another book of mine again, and to please leave. Darling, he
came in a dark blue town car, I think they must have tried to
drive you off the road on purpose!" she exclaimed.