LIKE CLOCKWORK
a Ric/Alexis future fic
by MKT
Tuesday, June 16, 2020, 7:00 p.m.
Ric stood at the podium in the ballroom of the MetroCourt Hotel, his daughters – 18 year old Kristina and 14 year old Molly – at his side. The applause was deafening. He flashed his brilliant smile and the photographers took note.
Ric Lansing had just been nominated by his party to run as the junior Senator from the state of New York.
Waving to the crowd, Ric and the girls made their way off stage.
"Kristina, honey," Ric whispered in her ear, "why don't you and Molly go over to Kelly's and help hand out flyers and bumper stickers while I go talk to the reporters. I'll call you two in a little bit."
"Sure thing, Dad," Kristina said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Then, grabbing her not so little sister's arm, Kristina said, "Let's go do some campaigning, Squirt."
Ric watched the girls fade into the crowd, then bounded down the last two steps to face the throng of reporters.
"Mr. Lansing, what issues are you going to focus on in this campaign?" asked the reporter from the Port Charles Herald.
"First and foremost, of course, is education," Ric replied. "We've got to make sure our federal mandates for schools are fully funded, especially the new at-risk youth programs. Also transportation needs have to be looked at – not just building new roads, but better roads. Then, of course, jobs, bringing in new high tech…"
That's when he saw her, standing off to the side, nearly hidden by a pillar. For a split second their eyes made contact. But the cameraman from the 13 NewsTeam chose that moment to shift angles, shining a light in Ric's eyes.
He blinked, and she was gone. Damn, she's running away…again.
"Uh, Mr. Lansing?" The NPR reporter tried to bring Ric back to the matter at hand. "You were saying something about high tech jobs?"
"Yes, uh, high tech jobs," Ric continued quickly, eyes still glued to the spot where she had stood. "We need to recruit more manufacturers into the state to replace jobs lost in the global economy. Uh, thanks everyone, now if you'll excuse me…"
"But Mr. Lansing," the reporter for the National Inquisitor called out as Ric brushed past the confused throng of reporters, "any comments about being named the country's most eligible bachelor?"
He hurried to the pillar, helplessly looking around for her. Then came a voice from behind.
"Looking for something? Or someone?" she asked.
Ric slowly turned to face the most beautiful woman in the world, the woman he still thought about every day, the woman he still loved with all his heart – his ex-wife.
"Alexis," Ric whispered.
"Congratulations," she said, reaching up to give him a peck on the cheek.
"What…what…are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you. It's been…"
"Quite awhile, I know," she said with a smile, that captivating smile.
Ric, who had just given an impassioned speech on welfare reform and new anti-crime initiatives in front of hundreds of people, now could not form a single word in front of one person.
"I loved your speech," Alexis continued, "especially your stand on crime. Glad you're against it...now."
She knew just how to push his buttons.
"Alexis…" he said with a familiar tinge of exasperation.
"I know, I know, sorry." Alexis began to recite the litany. " 'All of Sonny's business dealings are now perfectly legal, legitimate and above reproach.' "
She's not going to make this easy, is she? Ric thought.
"Actually," Alexis continued, in a more soothing tone, "I came to see the girls up on stage with their proud dad. And, of course, I'm here for Kristina's graduation on Friday."
Ric's shoulders lost their tension. "Well, Kristina and Molly will be very happy to see you."
He paused for a moment, wanting to say a million things all at once, yet not knowing where to start. "So how's Greece?"
"Same as always, hot and ancient," she laughed.
God, that laugh, he thought. Oh how he missed that laugh.
"You know what? I just sent the girls to Kelly's to pass out campaign literature. Here, let me call Kristina to get them to come back…"
Alexis put her hand on Ric's arm to stop him from taking his cellphone out of his inside coat pocket.
"No, that's okay. I'll catch up with them later."
"I tell you what," Ric said, looking at his watch. "I've got to meet my advisors in about an hour to go over some campaign strategies. How 'bout we go get a drink or some coffee."
"Sounds great." Alexis took a step in her tan suede pumps and winced.
"What's wrong?" Ric asked, furrowing his brow and instinctively grabbing her elbow to steady her balance.
"Nothing, nothing. It's these darn shoes. Let me just run up to my suite and change them, if you don't mind."
"No, of course, not."
They made their way out to the lobby. Waiting in front of the elevator bank, Ric pushed the "up" button.
"I'll just be a minute," Alexis said a tad nervously while looking up to see what floor the elevator was currently on.
"Sure, I'll just wait here," Ric said with an equal air of unease.
Just then the confused throng of reporters came bustling around the corner.
"On second thought, I'll ride up with you."
At that moment the elevator doors opened. Ric guided Alexis inside and, with a sigh of relief, quickly hit the "close door" button.
"Which floor?" Ric asked, his hand poised over the panel of buttons.
"Fourteen," Alexis answered with a knowing smile.
Ric returned the grin. "Isn't that the floor where we…"
"Yes, indeed," Alexis cut in, remembering the last time they were at the MetroCourt together. Jax had offered the couple free use of the Honeymoon Suite for a few nights when Molly was about two months old. That was about two months before Alexis filed for divorce.
The doors opened to the 14th floor foyer. Alexis led the way down the corridor to Suite 1410, rifling through her purse for the key card.
She started handing the contents to Ric: receipts…coin purse...after dinner mint...dry cleaning stub…a tube of lipstick.
"Oh, I love this shade," Ric quipped examining the tube. "To this day I still write out all my contracts on white tablecloths using lipstick."
Alexis laughed and shook her head. She had always loved the way he made her laugh.
"Aha! Found it!" Alexis proclaimed as she held the white piece of plastic victoriously up in the air. Ric playfully grabbed the card from her hand and inserted it into the lock. The little light turned green as the lock clicked and Ric pushed open the door for Alexis.
They took a few steps into the room and Alexis flicked a light switch, illuminating a small lamp on a corner table.
Alexis bent over slightly to take off the three-inch spike heels, steadying herself with her free hand on Ric's shoulder.
"Ahhh…" Alexis groaned in relief. She held up one of the pointy-toed shoes for closer inspection. "They seemed so pretty sitting there all nice and cute on the shelf in the shoe store shouting 'buy me, buy me!' Little did I know the interior was lined in razor blades."
Now it was Ric's turn to wince. "Ow! What you women go through in the name of fashion."
They each let out a little chuckle. They each looked into the other's soulful brown eyes. And it all came flooding back.
Alexis dropped the misbehaving shoe and slid her hand from Ric's shoulder to behind his neck, giving him the go ahead signal.
His lips came crashing down on hers. She pushed him up against the wall. He pulled her cream silk blouse out from her camel skirt. She pushed his navy blue blazer off his shoulders. He unbuttoned her blouse, exploring her neck and shoulders with his lips. She pulled loose his hideous red striped tie – Damn, his taste in ties has not improved in fourteen years! – and began unbuttoning his starched white shirt.
Ric slowly moved them through the living area back to the bedroom, leaving a trail of garments in their wake. His lips never lost contact with hers.
Alexis pulled back the garish green and brown paisley duvet from the king-size bed, and made a mental note to speak to Jax about the décor.
Ric laid Alexis down on the crisp white sheets, crawled on top of her and promptly remembered why she was the best sex he had ever had.
At their climactic moment, their true feelings came out.
"God, I love you," Ric rasped into the crook of her neck.
"I love you, too," Alexis whispered into his left ear.
Moments later, spent, Ric rolled to the side, enveloping her in his arms.
"Remember the last time we did this? What was it, five, six years ago?"
"Seven," she corrected him. "At the International Trade Law conference in San Francisco."
"We ran into each other in the bar that first afternoon…" Ric recalled.
"And then spent the next two days in bed…"
"Totally missed the conference. And I wasted six hundred dollars on a hotel room I never used," Ric chuckled. "Seven years…"
"Yep, every seven years…like clockwork," Alexis mused.
Ric propped himself up on his elbow and asked casually, "So, what have you been up to for the past seven years?"
"The usual – taking care of the Cassadine legal matters, business contracts, import-export things." Alexis was having a hard time staying on point as Ric was lightly stroking the underside of her forearm.
"Ever meet anyone?" Ric ventured coyly.
"Oh, I meet a lot of people," Alexis responded, pretending not to catch the real meaning behind his question. "The tourists have been flocking to the island lately. There was a lovely elderly couple from Ireland recently…"
"I meant, anyone special?"
"Oh, Mrs. O'Callaghan was very special. She showed me how to do a jig…"
"I meant, a man," Ric teased. Alexis started to speak, but Ric put a finger to her lips. "And I don't mean Mr. O'Callaghan."
"Okay, there've been some…" Alexis started.
"Some?"
"Several?"
"Several?"
"A few? A couple, a bunch, many…"
Ric raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, I admit that 'many' is probably too many." Focusing on an imaginary spot on the ceiling, Alexis began to mentally tally her lovers. "Let's see…there was the pool boy, the gardener, the housekeeper's son…oh, and the stable hand."
"Oh really? Going through the hired help, I see? One of the perks of being employed at the Cassidine estate, evidently." Ric wasn't buying any of it.
Alexis glared at Ric for a moment. "Well, there was Jean-Paul, the gallery owner."
"A French guy?"
"Uh-huh."
"In Greece?"
"The French get around," Alexis insisted. "He and I, uh, spent some time together."
"Funny, the girls never mentioned a 'Jean-Paul.' "
"Well, it was last fall, after they had gone back to live with you for the school year."
"Oh, okay. No witnesses. How convenient."
"Fine," Alexis said with mock indignation. "What about you? I've never heard our daughters mention any of your 'lady friends.' Could that be because…there aren't any?"
"Ha! You wish!" Ric shot back. "I've had my share of 'lady friends,' as you put it."
"Oh, yeah, who?"
"A gentleman never kisses and tells."
"Right. You just can't make up any names right now, can you?"
"I don't have to make up names."
"Okay, then name one of your 'lady friends.' "
"Sydney Vincent."
"A woman with two men's names?" Alexis laughed for a moment, but then she realized something.
"Wait, Sydney Vincent? I went to Yale Law with a Sydney Vincent."
"Yes, that would be her. She mentioned she went to, um, that school, and I seem to remember her saying she graduated the same year you did. Hmm, isn't that funny?"
"Hysterical," Alexis said, not amused in the least. Sydney had challenged Alexis for everything while they were in school: class president, valedictorian, debate team captain, even moot court.
"I think she even mentioned going up against you in moot court," Ric hastened to add.
"You talked about me?"
"Actually, we never did much talking…" Alexis smacked Ric with her pillow. "No, no, we just went out to dinner a few times. Believe or not, Ned set us up. Sydney came to town as head counsel for ELQ for a while. But I think she was only here for about six months before Tracy drove her nuts."
"Well, that would do it." Alexis paused for a moment. "So," she began with a faux air of non-chalance, "are you seeing anyone currently?"
"No," Ric replied, noting her faux air of non-chalance and putting on a show of his own. "Not right now. How 'bout you and…what was his name? Juan-Pablo?"
Alexis scoffed at Ric's obviously weak attempt at humor.
"Jean-Paul," she corrected.
"Ah, yes, Jean-Paul, the French guy in Greece." Ric furrowed his brow. "Or was he a Greek guy in France?"
Ric anticipated Alexis' move for the pillow and intercepted her actions. Thwarted, Alexis continued.
"The gallery owner, in Greece."
"Gallery owner, right."
"Right."
"So?" Ric prompted.
"So…he went back to France," Alexis admitted.
"Oh, how devastating," Ric said, stifling a chuckle.
Alexis sighed loudly in mock irritation.
"But look on the bright side," Ric continued. "Maybe you can go to Italy and meet a Spaniard, or maybe you can go to Switzerland and meet a Swede. Better yet, go to Scotland and meet a…" Ric got so caught up in his mixed up geography game that he let his guard down and promptly received a face full of the finest goose down available commercially.
"Oh, you are so going to pay for that!" Ric said with a mischievous grin. He grabbed Alexis' wrists and brought her hands above her head. He looked deep into her brown eyes sparked with fury – or was it passion – and launched into a deep, soul-wrenching kiss.
After several minutes of making sure she was suitably chastised, Ric broke the embrace and rolled back over to his side of the bed.
Alexis tried to regain her composure following her delightful punishment.
"So, what have you been up to lately?" she said, bringing the sheet back up in a sudden fit of modesty.
"I've been so busy with the campaign, you know, and, of course, our daughters, especially with Kristina's graduation from St. Aloysius coming up in three days. I know she'll be thrilled to have you there."
"Well, of course. I wouldn't miss my daughter's big day. Has she previewed her valedictory speech for you?"
"Actually, no. She wants it to be a surprise."
"I'm sure she'll mention you and what a great influence you've been in her life. And speaking of influence…"
Uh oh. Ric knew she was going to blame him.
"Hey, hey, I assure you, I had nothing to do with it," Ric said defensively.
"Yeah, right," Alexis hrumphed, crossing her arms in front of her.
"Really!" Ric sat up in protest. "The choice to go to Harvard was all Kristina's. I swear I had nothing to do with it." Ric crossed his heart and held up three fingers.
"Hey," Alexis objected, grabbing his hand. "That's the Boy Scout Pledge! That's not admissible!"
"Oh, I love it when you talk all lawyerly." Ric moved his face closer to hers, hoping to steal another kiss, but she turned her head abruptly and all he got was a mouth full of ear and hair.
"Fine," Alexis relented. "I suppose Harvard is acceptable for an undergraduate degree, but it'll definitely have to be Yale Law."
"Oh, I don't know," Ric said, laying back down and pulling Alexis close. "Kristina may have other ideas. There's always Princeton, you know."
Ric leaned over for another kiss. This time, he got it.
"You've been so good to Kristina." Alexis relaxed back in his arms. "I want to thank you for loving her as much as you do Molly."
Ric hugged Alexis a bit tighter.
"You don't have to thank me for loving her. She's just as much my daughter as Molly is. I'm Kristina's Dad, too."
Their conversation had wound down and Alexis cuddled closer to Ric, laying her head on his right shoulder. She closed her eyes, willing her mind to imprint this moment in her memory, unaware that Ric was doing the same.
"So, how does it feel to be the country's most eligible bachelor?" Alexis chided.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"The National Inquisitor."
"Oh, don't tell me you've lost a couple of brain cells and started reading that rag?"
"No, I just I saw the headline at the newsstand at the airport when I was buying a New Yorker." Ric frowned at Alexis. "Okay, it was a Cosmo, but still, there you were on the cover."
"Well, that's just stupid. I'm not a 'bachelor.' I've got kids and a house and a dog."
"Yeah, but you don't have a wife, so that technically makes you free and on the open market."
"I'm not free."
"Oh, no?"
"No. My heart is definitely taken."
"Oh really? By whom…" Alexis didn't even get a chance to finish her question before Ric swept her up in another passionate embrace. It took quite a few minutes to provide Alexis with her answer.
Afterwards, Ric nudged Alexis. "You falling asleep?"
"No, just enjoying the moment."
"Yeah, me too." Ric snuggled her closer. "You know, Kristina tells me that Molly's got a bit of a crush on Cameron Spencer."
" 'Spencer'? Oh, good, Lucky adopted him! How are Liz and Lucky, anyway?"
"Well, Mac just retired, so Lucky's been named the new police commissioner…"
"And how are their four boys?"
"Oh, fine. And it's five boys now. Elizabeth just had another one last month."
"Wow, she must be keeping busy! What else have I missed?"
"Well, Michael's out in California doing well. Got his first real acting job as 'Cop #2' on a soap opera."
"He always was a melodramatic child." Alexis' voice trailed off.
A few awkward moments passed before Ric broke the silence.
"So, here we are."
"Yep, here we are."
Silence again. So much for the scintillating conversation.
Ric drew a deep breath.
"Uh, maybe I should go…" he started, sliding his arm out from under her head.
"Oh, well, if you think…" Alexis said, sitting up in the bed.
"Unless you want me to stay, or…"
"Well, no, I don't want to keep you from…"
Ric reached over to give her one last kiss. But halfway through, he pulled back abruptly.
"Damn it, Alexis," he whispered.
Eyes widened, Alexis looked at Ric in puzzlement.
"What the hell happened to us?" Ric fell back on the down pillows.
"Ric, we've gone through this before…"
"I know, I know, seven years ago in San Francisco. But we never resolved anything."
"That's because there's nothing to resolve. We divorced, fairly amicably, I would add. We worked out our rather novel custody agreement where I get the girls with me in Greece during the summer, you get them during the school year here in Port Charles and Sonny gets them occasionally on weekends."
"But what about us? You and me."
"There is no 'us.' "
"Oh, there definitely was an 'us' a few minutes ago…"
"Ric!"
"What? Didn't being with me tonight mean anything to you?"
"Of course it did."
"Well?"
"It doesn't change anything. The sex was never our problem. That part of our relationship always worked. It was everything outside the bedroom that was a failure. First you lied to me, then I lied to you, and then you lied to me...again. We just couldn't seem to break the cycle. When I wanted in the marriage, you wanted out and when you wanted in, I wanted out. We were just never on the same page, Ric. We never seemed to want the same things at the same time."
Ric paused to think for a moment. "Well, I wouldn't say our marriage was a complete failure. We were happy once…"
"Yeah, for about two weeks…"
"Yeah, and that's when we made Molly."
"True, the one good thing to come of us."
"She was conceived in love, Alexis. I loved you then..."
"I know."
"And I love you now."
"I know," Alexis sighed. "I love you, too. I've never stopped loving you. But love isn't enough, or, at least it wasn't enough. It was the trust. I could never trust you. You said you would stop working for Sonny, but you didn't."
"My brother needed me…" Ric stated defensively.
"And you don't think I needed you? That your children needed you?"
Alexis was near tears remembering the spring of 2006 when she made the heartbreaking decision to file for divorce.
"Actually, no, Alexis. I didn't think you needed me."
Alexis was stunned.
"What? How can you say that? I was your wife. I loved you. I was the mother of your children."
"Well, you just said it – you couldn't trust me. I felt as if you didn't need me anymore. You were perfectly capable of running your life without me."
"That's because I had to – you weren't there. You were always over at Sonny's dealing with some mob crisis, one right after the other."
"And that's because I was doing what I thought was best for all of us – helping protect my brother in order to help protect you and our children, and his children."
"Yeah, great, and look how that turned out. Greystone got bombed, Michael and Carly got injured. Thank God Morgan and Kristina were out at the park that day or else…"
"I know, I know. It was the one time I couldn't protect everyone. And I paid for it. I paid for it dearly, by losing you. The next day you took the girls to Greece and a messenger handed me the divorce papers. It was like one minute we were together as a family and the next...nothing. You never even gave me a chance!"
"I gave you plenty of chances!"
They sat there in silence. Alexis fidgeted with the sheets, bringing them up closer to her chest. Ric looked the other way.
"All right, sorry," Ric said in a quieter tone. "I shouldn't have dredged all this up. I thought I had gotten past it, put it all behind me. But tonight, seeing you, making love to you – damn it, just forget it. I just better go."
Ric started to get out of the bed, but Alexis grabbed his arm.
"No, wait. Please don't go. Don't be mad. I didn't mean…"
"No, no, that's okay." Ric jumped out of the bed and grabbed his boxers off the floor. "Tell you what, let's just make plans to pick this conversation up again in, what, another seven years or so? Gives me something to look forward to."
Ric stood with his back to Alexis. She rose from the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I did it for you, you know," Ric sighed.
"Did what?"
"Legitimizing Sonny's businesses, getting him – and me – out of the mob. We expanded his casino and real estate holdings, we expanded the coffee imports, especially once Castro died and Cuba became open to the free market. Sonny bought into sugar cane production, developed some new resorts. We helped a lot of people in Cuba, put a lot of people to work. We even…" Ric's voice trailed off, momentarily overcome with emotion.
"I know," Alexis interrupted. She turned Ric around to face her. "You and Sonny opened a hospital and a school in your mother's home village."
Alexis held Ric as his tears began to flow. For minutes, they just stood there holding each other. Then Alexis helped Ric back to the bed.
"You've done a wonderful job, taking care of Sonny and the girls, and to an extent Michael and Morgan, too. You went back to being D.A., and now you're running for U.S. Senator. You've done great. You've made a wonderful life for yourself and our daughters."
Ric looked into Alexis' own tear-filled eyes. "Yeah, but there's still one thing missing...you."
Their eyes locked for a moment, then Alexis drew his face closer to hers for a kiss that instantly gained fervor as their passion ignited once more.
A while later, as Alexis lay enveloped in Ric's arms once again, the silence spoke volumes.
"You know," Alexis began, "Kristina's going off to college in a few months, and if all goes well, you and Molly will be moving to Washington, and I guess Sonny's going to need someone with some import-export knowledge."
"Or," Ric countered, "your expertise could be useful in Washington because, you know, there's not nearly enough lawyers there already."
The pair shared a quiet laugh. But Ric's plan for another kiss was immediately derailed by the sound of his cellphone.
"Damn, my meeting." Ric slid out the bed, groping around for his pants in the dark. He located them just outside the bedroom door and fished the still warbling phone out of the pocket.
"Hey, Brad. Yeah, sorry. I know, I was supposed to meet you guys forty-five minutes ago." Ric turned to give Alexis an evil grin. "I had a little something, uh, come up."
Alexis quickly buried her face in a pillow to drown out her fit of hysterical laughter.
Quelling his own chuckle, Ric continued talking to his campaign manager.
"Just go ahead without me. We'll meet for breakfast tomorrow."
Ric took another glance at the woman in the king-size bed.
"Uh, on second thought, let's make that lunch. Yeah, one o'clock at the MetroCourt. Thanks."
Ric flipped the cellphone closed and tossed it on the tawny upholstered chair in the corner. He carefully crawled back onto the bed and pulled the pillow away from Alexis' face.
"What's so funny?" he teased.
"Well," Alexis chortled, "I wouldn't exactly call it 'a little something.' "
Ric launched himself at Alexis and pinned her to the bed. After a few ardent moments, he reluctantly disengaged himself from their embrace.
"Tell you what, why don't we go find the girls and have dinner – together – as a family?" Ric suggested.
"Sounds great," Alexis agreed. "I know I've worked up quite an appetite. But first, how about a shower?"
Alexis rose from the bed swathed in the sheet. Ric was greatly admiring the view when she abruptly dropped the sheet and ran to the bathroom, hurling a playful taunt over her shoulder.
"Last one in's an ambulance chaser!"
Meanwhile, a few blocks away at Kelly's, Kristina and Molly were just finishing handing out campaign literature and bumper stickers.
Kristina fetched her younger sister from across the dining room where she was speaking animatedly with Cameron Spencer.
"Hey, Squirt," Kristina said while tugging on her sister's arm. "We're done here. Let's go back and get Mom and take her to dinner."
Kristina and Molly soon arrived at the door of Suite 1410 at the MetroCourt Hotel.
"You know, that was kinda weird how Mom and Dad didn't answer their cellphones," Molly observed as Kristina knocked on the door.
"Well, I know Dad's in a meeting, but Mom should be here," Kristina added as she knocked a bit louder.
"Mom?" Kristina called through the door, but received no answer.
"Huh, I guess Mom's downstairs in Uncle Jax's office or something. Glad she gave me the other key card when we were here this afternoon helping her unpack."
Kristina rifled through her purse looking for the key card, handing the contents to Molly: receipts…coin purse...after dinner mint...dry cleaning stub…a tube of lipstick.
"Aha! Found it!" Kristina proclaimed as she held the white piece of plastic victoriously up in the air.
After inserting the card, the two sisters slowly cracked open the door.
"Mom? Are you here?" both called out as they took a few tentative steps into the darkened hotel room, illuminated only by a small lamp on a corner table.
Still receiving no answer, the pair ventured further into the room.
"What in the world...?" Kristina asked puzzled as the toe of her shoe kicked something soft piled on the floor. She held the item up in the dim light and determined that it was the cream silk blouse her mother had been wearing earlier that day.
"You know, Mom always gets on my case for leaving my clothes on the floor and here she is doing it herself," an exasperated Kristina said.
Kristina then reached down to pick up another garment, the camel skirt, while Molly retrieved a starched white shirt and hideous red striped tie.
"Hey, that's funny," Molly said, taking a closer look at the pattern. "Dad was wearing a tie just like..."
Kristina and Molly looked at each other, aghast.
"No. It couldn't be," Kristina blurted out incredulously. "They wouldn't...I mean...they're not...Mom?!"
Kristina crossed over to the bedroom door and gently knocked, but still got no answer. She lightly pushed open the slightly ajar door.
"Oh, wait!" Molly said in a stage whisper. "I hear the shower running."
They took a step into the bedroom, and with the dim light coming in from the other room they could see that the bedding was in disarray, the paisley duvet in a heap on the floor.
The two sisters stood there for a few seconds, visibly stunned by the implication of the disheveled linens. Just then, a hearty squeal erupted from behind the closed bathroom door.
"Mom?!" exclaimed Kristina.
That sudden squeal was immediately followed by some decidedly masculine laughter.
"Dad?!" exclaimed Molly.
Kristina and Molly exchanged one more horrified glance.
"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!"
The two girls hurried not only out of the suite, but the entire MetroCourt Hotel, because, face it, teenagers don't want to think about their parents "doing it."
-fin-