A/N I still don't own Hairspray nor its characters. This chapter is longer than the last but I think it would have been too short if I broke it up into two. I apologize again if any of the characters are OOC. I try my best to keep them in character. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and put this story on story alerts. I really appreciate it. Well here's the next installment of the story..please R/R...

3.

Two hours after the search got underway everyone gathered at the record store. Neither Tracy nor Inez had been found during the search and people needed a rest before they started out again. Edna, being the mother that she was suggested that everyone try to get some sleep so that they could start fresh when daylight broke in a few hours. Link, Seaweed and Penny sat on the couch along with a bunch of the other searchers. Even though neither of the three wanted to stop looking for Tracy and Inez they all agreed that they needed a small rest. Penny laid her head on Seaweed's shoulder. She was looking exhausted and upset.

"I thought by sure that we'd have found them by now" she told them.

Seaweed looked equally exhausted and vexed. He clung to her hand. "We will baby, we will" he said trying to sound confident.

Link just sat there silently nodding his head in agreement with Seaweed. He had to think positively or he would break down forever shattering his image. Though, truthfully image meant nothing to him at the moment. All he wanted was to have them back safe. He didn't want to think about what may or may not be happening to his baby doll. He didn't want Inez to be hurt either but Tracy was the main person on his mind.

Link leaned his head back and closed his eyes thinking of their last date and her smiling face. He soon drifted off to sleep. Seaweed looked at his friend sleeping. He could only imagine what Link had to be going through. If anything like this happened to Penny he would have gone crazy. He looked down at her to find that she had drifted off to sleep. Though her face showed that she was not pleasantly at peace he still thought that she looked like an angel.

At that same moment Tracy was trying to wiggle out of the rope that held her hands together. She felt a wire poking at her feet which were dangling off the edge of the mattress. She inched over slightly so she wouldn't cut her leg and scooted off of the mattress. With her hands Tracy grabbed the wire and pulled at it until it came loose. She walked over to Inez.

Tracy tried contorting her body so that the wire would hit the rope cutting it. She managed to break apart enough strands of the rope so her right hand was freed. Tracy slid the rope off her other hand and sat down by Inez. She untied her feet and turned to help free Inez from her ropes.

"Thanks, that feels better" Inez said rubbing her sore wrists.

"No problem. I'm going to see if I can get us out of here" Tracy said picking up the wire.

"How are you going to do that" Inez inquired.

"By trying to pick the lock. I've seen it in movies before" she answered.

Tracy walked over to the door and inserted the wire into the lock. She twisted the wire around but to no avail. She took the wire out and was about to reinsert it when she was knocked back a little. The door opened and two burly men walked into the room, one grabbing Inez and the other picking Tracy off the floor. The guy who held Inez had sandy blonde hair and looked as if his nose had been broken several times. The other guy had brown hair and biceps the size of a tree trunk.

"I see we have two escape artists" the sandy blonde stated.

"So what are we gonna do with them" the other asked.

"Put them in the closet and block the door. I'm sure the boss lady would understand" the blonde replied.

The two men took Tracy and Inez and walked them over to the closet which was on the other side of the room. On the way there Tracy noticed that they were in some kind of warehouse since the room was cavernous. There were props that looked similar to ones used at the station lying around by one of the walls. Tracy didn't get to see much more because she and Inez were shoved into the closet after having their hands tied again and the door was closed, locked and barricaded for extra security.

Tracy and Inez found themselves pure darkness yet again.

"Think they believe we can get out" Inez asked.

Tracy laughed slightly. "At least they didn't tie our feet again"

"Yeah, that's a relief" Inez stated.

The closet was a little smaller than the other room and there were no mattresses or chairs to sit on. Tracy leaned on one of the walls. Inez stood next to her.

"Any ideas on how we can escape" Inez asked.

"One. Try to break down the door with our feet. The muscles in our legs are strong from dancing" Tracy answered.

"But wouldn't those two brutes hear us if we did that" Inez inquired.

"Not if we stagger the kicks to the door" she replied. Inez just nodded.

Tracy kicked the door a couple times using her right leg. The door stayed intact with dust particles flying around. Inez waited two minutes and she kicked the door with her right leg yielding the same result. They took turns every two minutes for the next fifteen minutes before they both leaned back on the wall opposite the door breathing heavily.

"I thought that would have been easier" Tracy said in between breaths.

Inez nodded "But all we got was a bunch of dust in our face"

"At least those two guys haven't heard us" Tracy responded.

"At least" Inez added nodding her head. Both girls leaned their heads against the wall waiting for their breathing to regulate.

Back at Maybelle's Link stretched. He was having a pleasant dream involving Tracy. One look around at his surroundings brought him back to the sobering reality. He noticed that the sun was peaking through the window and looked at the clock. It read 6:30. He had slept for a little over three hours. Seaweed and Penny were sleeping next to him. They started to wake up along with some of the others who had fallen asleep.

Link sat up and scanned the room for Mr. and Mrs. Turnblad. He found them sitting at a table not far away with Corny and Maybelle. They all looked like they hadn't slept. Corny and Wilbur's shirts were all wrinkled and Edna and Maybelle had dark circles under their eyes. Cups of coffee sat in front of each person. They were whispering amongst themselves. Edna glanced over at the couch and noticed that Link, Seaweed, Penny and some of the others were awake. The whispering ceased as the others saw them too.

"Good morning kids. There are coffee, tea and breakfast in the kitchen" she told them.

Link, Seaweed, Penny and the others walked into the kitchen and found a huge plate of pancakes and another full of bacon. Apparently when Edna Turnblad was nervous she cooked. That didn't surprise Link though because she was always cooking something when there was company, even in a situation like this.

Link and Seaweed helped themselves to the coffee. They figured a jolt of caffeine was needed after only having a few hours sleep. Penny poured some tea into a mug. They each grabbed a plate and put some pancakes and bacon on them. They were a little hungry but still anxious about Tracy and Inez. Still they didn't want to insult Mrs. Turnblad so they took their plates to the other table that was set up in the store and ate what they could. The others did the same thing, some sitting on the couch instead of the table.

After they had eaten Maybelle stood in the center of the group.

"Now listen up. I know that you are all tired but Corny here has thought of another place that we haven't searched yet" she said.

"Where? We searched all over Baltimore" Seaweed asked.

Corny stood up. "There's a warehouse 35 minutes outside of town that the station uses to store its props. It's not well known except for a few at WYZT so I'm not surprised that Maybelle here didn't know about it"

"Corny is going to head up there in his car. He is going to stop at the station first and grab the key" Maybelle added.

"May we come along" Link, Seaweed and Penny all asked in unison.

Corny nodded because he knew that they would just follow him if he said "no" anyway. Plus having another person there would be helpful if they ran into any trouble.

"Well what are we waiting for lets go" Link said trying not to sound too impatient.

Corny grinned at Link. He could tell that he wanted Tracy back.

The foursome got into Corny's black Chevy. Seaweed and Penny were in the back and Link sat up front next to Corny. Corny drove to the station and using his key to the back door let himself in. Shortly thereafter he returned with the key to the warehouse. He turned the ignition on and headed north outside Baltimore.

"How come we never heard of this place before" Link inquired.

"We didn't want the warehouse's location to be known by a lot of people. We were worried that the other stations would steal our props if they ever found out about it" Corny told him.

Link started to feel the adrenaline pumping as they got closer to the warehouse. It was a little after 7:30 when they pulled up to WYZT's warehouse. Corny parked the car and they all got out of the car. Corny walked up to the door with Link, Seaweed and Penny close behind. He inserted the key into the lock and turned the knob. He gently opened the door not wanting to make a lot of sound. He looked at the others and put his finger up to his lip signaling that they not make a sound.

They quietly made their way into the main room. Along the far wall one big guy with huge muscles and brown hair sat at a desk. His eyes were closed as he was taking a nap. They noticed that a closed door with a smaller desk barricading it. The door was a foot away from where he sat. Corny found the light switch and turned it off so they wouldn't be seen. Corny, Link, Seaweed and Penny crept along the edge of the wall with their left hands touching it for guidance. They were able to see using the few windows that surrounded the room. Making their way to the door Link silently prayed that Tracy and Inez were there and unhurt. Link and Seaweed pushed the desk off to the side while Penny watched the guy who was supposed to be on guard. They managed to push the desk away from the door but the guy awoke from the scratching sound from the desk legs on the floor.

He lunged at Link and Seaweed but Corny stepped in front of him and kicked him in the crotch. The brute fell to the ground moaning. A moment later the sandy blonde guy walked into the warehouse turning the lights back on. He was about to say something when he saw the foursome standing at the desk and his partner lying on the ground. He ran over to them and punched Corny in the stomach. Link went after him and received a punch in the stomach as well. Before Seaweed could lunge at him Penny stepped up to him ducking his punch and kneed him in the crotch. The guy went down next to his partner.

Seaweed watched Penny with amazement and admiration and was just about to grab her and kiss her when he heard banging.

On the other side of the door Tracy and Inez had heard the scuffling of feet. She began to bang on the door. Tracy then shouted

"Help we are locked in here!"

Link heard Tracy's voice and relief filled him. "Trace are u ok? Is Inez in there with you" he asked through the door.

"I'm fine and Inez is next to me" she replied.

"Move away from the door. I'm gonna break down it down" Link told them. They moved to the wall opposite the door.

Adrenaline was still pumping in his veins. He kicked the door several times until it swung open. Tracy ran out and smiled at Link. He looked her up and down to make sure that she wasn't hurt. Her hair was all messy and her face was slightly dirty. Her dress was also wrinkled. Link thought she looked beautiful and all he wanted was to kiss her deeply but now wasn't the proper time. He walked around to her back and untied her hands. Tracy turned around and hugged him tightly. Link enclosed his arms around her holding her close.

"Oh Link, I thought that we were ever going to get out" she almost whispered, her head resting on his chest.

"I'm here now, you're safe" he told her kissing the top of her head. She could hear the relief in his voice and feel his muscles relax under her touch.

Inez walked out of the closet a minute after Tracy and went over to her brother. Seaweed untied her hands. She hugged him glad to be rescued. When she stepped back Seaweed looked her over to make sure that there were no injuries. Satisfied he grinned at her and looked at Tracy

"I see Cracker Boy is happy to have you back Tracy, as am I" Link looked up at him

"Definitely"

Inez looked at her brother "I'm happy to see you too sis" he told her. She grinned at him and gave him another hug.

"I'm glad to see you too Inez" Link said

"Thanks Link I'm happy to be free of those ropes" she said rubbing her wrists.

"Let's all get out of here before these two guys get up" Corny told them motioning to the guys who laid in the fetal position on the floor.

Tracy looked at Corny, Seaweed and Penny for the first time.

"Hi" she told them "What happened to these guys" she inquired.

"Well Corny kicked the one guy in the crotch and Penny kneed the other guy" Seaweed responded.

"Penny you did that" Tracy looked at her friend incredulously.

"Yep, it was easy" she answered. She walked over to Tracy and half hugged her since Link was determined to keep hold of her. Penny then gave Inez a hug.

Link grabbed Tracy's hand while Seaweed grabbed Penny's with his left and Inez's hand with his right. Corny took the lead with Link, Tracy, Penny, Seaweed and Inez following close behind. They silently walked to the door and outside. Link, Tracy, Penny and Seaweed crammed into the backseat with Corny and Inez up front. Link and Tracy had their arms wrapped securely around each other. Her head lay on his shoulder as his cheek rested on top of her head. Seaweed held Penny's right hand with his left but kept gazing at Inez from time to time to make sure she was still there. He looked over at Tracy and smiled. He was glad that his sister and best friend were safe and unhurt. With all of its occupants safe and happy the car sped towards the record store.

TBC...Up next... more joyful reunions, where is Velma and will they catch her? And what was her evil plan? Tune in for the next chapter to find out!...