Finally! I'm done with Paris! Well... not quite, I still have to get them home. Now I'd like to thank all of my reviews and readers, you know who you are. If you read my last story then you know that me and AmyQueen95 mentioned each others current stories. I'd figure that I'd do the same now, you know, 'cause she's so awesome. She's writing a wonderful story called The Cutoff Chronicles: An Icy Blaze. So far so good, it's well worth your time. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the romance, it will continue, it's part of the title for crying out loud! But, I suppose it's time to get back to the story.

Oh, sorry for the lateness of the update, but I took the weekend off, I had a rough week and needed some down time to collect my thoughts.

I own nothing!

Chapter 10: Time For The Hunt

Needless to say, the two of us had a smile on our faces for the rest of the night. As the party ended, the fleet of limos reappeared to whisk us back to the hotel. During the ride back Phoenix fell asleep, her head finding it's way to my shoulder, and my arm found its way around her waist, pulling her closer to me. She was so tired that she didn't wake up when we arrived. So what was I supposed to do, carry her bridal style up the stairs because the elevator was to crammed? Why not?

Despite the raised eyebrows and strange looks that I received, I still carried her all the way to our room. The problem was that the door had a knob instead of a handle, but somehow I managed. I lay her down on the bed fit for one as carefully as I could. She looked so peaceful, so innocent. I took off my jacket and put it on her as a blanket, and I, sat on the edge of the bed while rubbing her back. I shifted my gaze between her and the Paris skyline outside the window. What a stunning view, the whole city was lit up. Not like the glaring neon lights of Vegas of New York, but a more calming and tranquil glow that vaguely resembled twilight.

As the night drifted on my mind began to reflect on the events of the day. We had arrived in Paris, I met a multitude of people, most notably Ari, Isaac, and Dylan. Each one of them was a mystery to me. Isaac was The Chairman's son, and had knowledge that was astounding for his age. Dylan was an avian, same as Isaac, and he was created in a lab, he was as eccentric as Isaac was. Each one of the two were truly an enigma. And then there was Ari, I hardly had any contact with the child, which is a shame considering that he's Jeb's son. Why hadn't Jeb told me that he had a son? The way that Isaac talked to me, it was as if Itex doesn't value the Erasers as much as they say they do. My mind was racked with so many conflicting ideas of what I've believed to be true, and what I've just learned, my mind was unable to find peace during the night.

How do you know it's a lie when it's all you know?

Phoenix woke up as the crest of the sun broke the barrier of the horizon. During the night I had moved over to the arm chair in the side of the room. My head was hung, resting in my arms. I was still in my tuxedo, minus the jacket. She had slept peacefully, were as I hadn't had a wink of sleep. She sat up, and looked at me concerned.

"Felix? Did you get any sleep last night?" She yawned. I lifted my head, and grinned at her weakly, I was exhausted. She smiled at me. "I'll take that as a no." I stood up and walked over to the bed.

"You on the other hand, you slept like a baby." I sat on the bed next to her. " How did you get to the party so late? All of the limos were gone."

"When I was done, I was getting in the elevator to go to the lobby and I ran into Isaac. He had a limo waiting for him, and he offered to give me a ride. When I got there I looked for you, and Isaac pointed you out... I guess I fell asleep on the way back. How did I get up hear?"

"I carried you." Her face turned a little red a the thought of me carrying her up the stairs. "Anyway, I'll let you change." We got off the bed and she went into the washroom. I stayed in the room and changed back into my Eraser suit. When she came out, she was in her suit, and her hair was in a long straight pony tail. I gave my suit jacket a slight tug to straighten it out.

"Let's go get some breakfast." She ran over to the door and grabbed my hand, then she began pulling me down the hall, just like at the School. We made our way downstairs to find the lobby full of Erasers and executives. Jeb was talking to a group of business men with The Chairman, Isaac was next to his father and he caught sight of us. He grinned slightly and made his way over to us.

"May I ask how your night was?"

"Enjoyable, thanks for asking." I glanced at Jeb. "What's going on there?"

"Oh the usual, just business talk about more funding and the progress of the current experiments." He stopped and sniffed the air. "Ah good, breakfast is ready. I take it that you two are hungry? Let me take you to the buffet." He motioned for us to head in the direction of the conference room. Tables were lined up and covered in a vast array of food. Everything from eggs benedict, to strawberry crepes, and let's not forget the mountain of bacon on a silver charter. The room smelled of maple syrup. I heard a faint rumble from Phoenix, that's right, she hadn't had anything to eat last night. We made our way through the buffet, taking on copious amounts of whatever it was that we were in the mood for. When we were all ready to eat we found a table to sit at in the corner of the room. Ari was a little ways off playing with some of the executive's children, when he caught sight of us, he walked over to us and hugged each of our legs. Phoenix grinned, she must have made an impression on the child last night. When we were situated I picked Ari up and let him sit on my lap.

Needless to say the food was as exquisite as it was last night. Ari was gnawing away at an endless supply of bacon, Isaac was eating belgian waffles, Phoenix was helping herself to some of the strawberry crepes, and I was sitting in front of a Tower of Babel constructed out of flapjacks. Although as time passed it began to resemble The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Every morsel of food was gone in a matter of minutes, what I couldn't stomach, Ari finished off. The little tyke was bottomless.

"Well I must say, that was enjoyable." Isaac said wiping his mouth with a napkin. I saw his eyes glance at something behind us. I turned around to see Jeb and The Chairman walking over to us. A huge smile grew on Ari's face, and he stretched out his arms in anticipation for his father's embrace. Jeb picked Ari up and gave him a bear hug, that was the most fatherly that I'd ever seen Jeb, it was almost haunting, considering how he acted under any other circumstance. He wasn't even the same person, his smile seemed lighter, as if it was a happiness that I was unfamiliar with. A father's love for his son, it could turn any man into a softy. I smiled on the inside.

"Did the two of you have an enjoyable time?" Jeb asked as he set Ari down on the ground. Ari still clung to his father's legs as if he was going away.

"Yes we did. Thank you for bringing us." The Chairman chuckled.

"It was nothing, I needed an escort on the way here and back anyway, and the two of you were off duty. Speaking of going home, we leave in an hour, so pack your bags and say your goodbyes." He crouched down and looked Ari in the eyes. He gave his son another long embrace, and judging from his expression reluctantly let go. He got up and walked out of the room with The Chairman in tow. Isaac let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. Ari let out a small sniffle and walked over to Phoenix who scooped him up, and put him on her lap.

"I miss Daddy." I heard him mumble. He hid his face in Phoenix's jacket and hugged her for comfort.

"The child doesn't see his father often enough."

"How often does he see Jeb?" Phoenix asked.

"As often as I do, and that isn't very often. He lives with me and my father most of the time. It's a crime that he hardly sees him, Jeb works so many hours, he's almost always on the clock. Just like my father." He paused, and stared off into space. He blinked breaking the self induced trance. "Well it's been a pleasure to meet the both of you. I do hope that we'll meet again in the future. Oh and don't worry, I'll take good care of Ari." We got up from the table and I shook his hand. Phoenix gave Ari a hug, and when she was done, he walked over to me and hugged my legs before I could pick him up. I stood there looking down on him, puzzled. Phoenix laughed because I didn't know what to do. When Ari was done he made his way over to Isaac, and gripped his pants.

"Take care, and tell Dylan that we look forward to seeing him again." Isaac nodded, and gave us a flick of his hand, waving us off on our way.

"I will." We made our way back to our room, and started packing. It was easy enough for me, I only had one suitcase. She had emptied out at least three of hers, not to mention the pile of used dresses that were at the foot of the bed. I helped her fold up the multitude of dresses, and she was in the bathroom packing everything back up. This time, I had room service bring up a luggage cart so I wouldn't have to carry everything to the limo. The poor bellhop did not expect to see that many suitcases from one room. We waited in the lobby for Jeb, while the limo was being loaded. As we sat on one of the couches, we saw a few of our kind, acquaintances from the other packs, as they escorted their respective executives and scientists out to the fleet of limos.

Sure enough not a second late, Jeb showed up, carrying a suitcase in each hand. Even he had more luggage then me. At last we got in the limo and were on our way to the air port. Jeb sat in the front again, leaving the two of us in the back. This time though we looked out the windows at the stunning beauty that is Paris. The city was a mix of the old and the new. Notre Dame loomed over us at one point, and we could see the gargoyles and the grotesques jutting out of the ancient and hallowed walls. I was going to miss Paris, it was different from every other place that I had been assigned to. All to soon though we arrived at the airport, and were hurried through the custom. Yet again, I had to pass through security, I still hated it, but every time it seemed less and less dreadful.

We road first class as always, and had the pleasure of a television at our disposal. I hardly ever watched the news, usually I just read it in the paper. The bias was still there, but it was nice to listen to it for a change. This time, I actually got a bag of complementary peanuts. I shook it to get Phoenix's attention, when she noticed what I had she laughed. I wasn't much for salted peanuts, it was more of the tradition of simply getting them that satisfied me. Jeb had isolated himself in the front of the first class section and was reading and endless supply of documents about the progress of the other Itex facilities around the world. He didn't have the time to go visit each and every one, so he had them send weekly reports to him. This time he got the pleasure of receiving them in person.

Later during the day we arrived back in the United States. It felt good to be home, there truly was no place like it. It took us awhile to actually leave the airport though. One of Jeb's suit cases got lost in luggage claim, all of Phoenix's were found, and so was mine. Just not one of his, and so we waited until it was found. By the time that we had found the lost case, had every thing packed up in the same car that had driven us to the airport, and got back to the School, it was well past sunset. The cloudless desert sky was shining with stars and the cold of the night had not quite set in yet.

We took our cases back to our rooms and went back to the break room. Odin was there and welcomed both of us back with open arms. When he hugged Phoenix he looked me in the eyes to see if there was any guilt, he found none.

"It's good to have the two of you back. It's been unbearably quiet, not that you make much noise anyway Felix." There was an exchange of laughs and I shook his hand. The welcome was short lived though because no sooner had I shook his hand did the alarm go off. Moments later Jeb stormed into the break room. His eyes were wide and were darting around the room.

"He's escaped again! He's actually outside the facility, I need everyone out there to hunt him down and bring him back, alive if you can! We can't afford to have him out and about, he could ruin everything! Go! Now!" In a flash the three of us had turned into Erasers and were out the door, running down the hall as fast as our legs could carry us. Locke had actually escaped this time, it would be a miracle if we could find him. This wasn't like the times when the experiments would break lose and we could hunt them down in a matter of minutes, no, this was going to be a hunt in every sense of the word.

Gentlemen, time for the hunt! Locke's on the lose, will they be able to catch him, or is he going to finally get away? At least they're home now. But I'm so excited because of the big hunt! I've been waiting for this for a long time, this will most certainly be fun. Please continue to read and review, it matters a lot. TBC, so all in due time.

P.S. BACON!