(A/N): Hello, lovely readers! How are you all? I'm really happy with the repsonse that chapters 8 and 9 brought, and I'm happy that you're enjoying the story developements! Today we're taking a step back to check up on our favorite Candian. Tbh, I'm a bit dissasified with how the chapter came out, but I couldn't come up with anything better, so I hope you like it. Thank you to Interested Anon, browsofglory, Nr. 707, Strawberry r Kitty, and The Silent Anon for reviewing chapters 8 and 9! Your reactions were everything I had hoped for and more! I do have to say, though, that I wasn't really trying to rush along my story, but I'll try to consider my pacing more and space out story events more from now one, so thanks for pointing out my pacing. Oh, and guess what guys? We've hit 31 reviews and over 850 views and we're only at chapter ten! So happy here! Hehe, I hope you continue to read and review my story. Hope you guys like this chapter!

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

"I woke up at five this morning to make all these god damn pancakes, Alec. And I expect you to eat every last one them," Mathew threatened his new living buddy with his plastic spatula and yellow apron, glaring. Alec gulped, intimidated. This is what he gets for continuously bothering the soft-spoken Canadian every day for the fluffy treats, and now he cowered under the sheer mountain of pancakes his original had created.

"Can I…can I at least get syrup?"

Mathew glowered at him and Alec gulped.

"I risked being taken again to get myself maple syrup. Fuck no you can't have any."

Mathew took his own healthy stack of pancakes and drowned them in maple while Alec morosely resigned himself to eating stack upon stack of pancakes dry. Looking out the cottage window, Mathew's mood soured further.

"How long am I stuck with you again?"

"Well, chickadee – "

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry, babe," Alec ducked as Mathew threw the spatula at him, "But to answer your question, we're pretty much stuck together in hiding indefinitely."

"What a load of bull," Mathew muttered as he grabbed himself another stack of pancakes.

"At least you have me for company," Alec winked.

"Oh, woe is me," Mathew rolled his eyes. Alec pouted.

"The next time we need food, you go out. People don't really know you that well. Plus, if you need to, you can at least beat up the officers."

"How many times do I keep having to say sorry about making you sneak out to get pancake mix?"

"Until you're groveling at my feet."

Alec winced and sighed. His original was gorgeous, but so passive aggressive. He hoped one day Mathew would come around to him one day. Perhaps he should try new pickup lines.

"I'm going to shower. Don't spy on me again."

Mathew left the room and Alec sulked, staring at all the pancakes he still had left to finish. They were like this every day, Mathew glowering at him during each meal, Alec keeping watch over their surroundings, and one of the two of them occasionally sneaking out to stock up on food. Their routine was starting to get boring, and just when they thought they could relax, that the company didn't care about them anymore, some officers tried to arrest Mathew while he was getting pancake mix and syrup.

Frowning at the number of pancakes he still had left to eat, Alec reached out slowly for the syrup, but was hit in the head by Mathew's sneaker. Sighing, he continued eating his pancakes dry. His thoughts for a moment went back to the company, and he wondered how the guys he had left behind were doing. He could have at least saved –

"Alec! Alec, get over here! There's a roach in the tub! Gross, gross, gross! Hurry up and kill it!"

Laughing, Alec hurried over and killed the roach for his Mattie, about to tease him for his half-naked state, when they heard knocking at the front door. They both froze in place and went deathly quiet, exchanging eye contact. This cottage was obviously abandoned, and there were no neighbors for miles. The knocking was not a coincidence.

Picking up a hockey stick Alec and Mathew had found days earlier in one of the cottage's dusty rooms, Alec cautiously approached the door and peered through the peep hole. The person standing there didn't look like any officer he had seen before, and they weren't wearing the company uniform or emblem. Frowning, he quietly motioned to the door, and Mathew snuck over and had a look for himself. His expression was momentarily one of relief when he saw who was on the other side of the door, then one of confusion.

"Do you know that is?" Alec whispered.

"Yea, I do," Mathew whispered back, "It's my classmate, Lovino, but I don't understand why he…"

Losing himself in thought, Mathew looked back through the peep hole, wondering if he should trust the person who looked to be Lovino on the other side of the door. Lovino seemed to be arguing with someone.

"Alec, how can you tell a 2P from the original?"

Alec hummed, rubbing his chin, "There's always some sort of psychical difference in appearance. It's hard for the prez to get us to look like our original. Like, I'm buff, but you're not? It'd be something like the eye color, or the complexion, or hair."

Mathew scrutinized the Lovino in front of him, but could not trust himself to determine if this Lovino was a 2P or not. It had been too long since he had seen his friend. The Lovino outside the door seemed to have finished the argument he was having and pushed the person in front of the door; Mathew's breath caught in his throat and he threw open the door without hesitation, startling both Alec and Lovino as he jumped onto Arthur in a big hug.

"Artie!"

Arthur looked like he was going to cry as he caught his younger cousin, holding him close,

"Oh, Mathew! You're alright, you're alright! You're alright…"

The two of them looked up at each other and burst into tears, Alec and Lovino awkwardly shuffling their feet. Lovino cleared his throat, looking at their surroundings warily.

"Kirkland, I know you just found your cousin and all, but we're kinda in the open…I think it'd be best if we hurried to the safe house."

Arthur smiled limply, wiping his eyes, "Yes, yes, of course. Come along Mattie, we'll take you someplace safe. They won't get us there."

"What about me?" Alec piped up, frowning at the whole situation.

"Oh, you must be Mathew's 2P…"

"Dios mio, I know that scientist friend of yours said we could trust him, but he looks like he can bash in our skulls and make it look like an accident."

"Alec has been helping me all this time, Artie! He helped me escape the lab," Mathew inserted, smiling for the first time at Alec.

"Psh, was nothing," Alec kicked a rock, cheeks pink.

"…let's just get to the car, the good feelings in the air is gonna make me puke," Lovino grumbled, rushing them along to the car. A police squad stormed the cottage soon after the car sped through the country side.

"How did you find us, Arthur? You just seemed to show up out of nowhere…"

"Well, I had some help from an old friend."

He left it at that and they were silent for the rest of the ride.

They arrived at the Vargas Resort and Spa and Mathew was flabbergasted at how nice their 'safe house' was. Following Arthur and Lovino inside, he observed his surroundings, frowning. There were armed men in suits everywhere, and suspicious looking homeless crooks, and even high-profile celebrities, all mixing together in the lobby. Mathew noticed someone moving through the second-floor walkway and thought that must be Feliciano coming to greet them. Alec kept close to Mathew, nervous around strangers but trying to keep up a tough façade by scowling at everyone.

Some of the armed men conversed with Lovino and Arthur, and Lovino handed Mathew a pair of keys.

"This is the key to the room you'll be staying in. You will be staying here with my family until Arthur thinks it's safe for you to go back home to your own family. That 2P of yours will be staying here too, since that scientist guy says he's okay."

"Uh, thanks, Lovino…um…can I ask, what your connection to Arthur is? I didn't know you knew my cousin. You always said you didn't know him when I asked people."

Lovino sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "That's a conversation for another time. I'll have to tell you later. Go up to your room already, someone might see you through the windows. Also, you might wanna put some clothes on."

Mathew watched Lovino walk off to return to talking with Arthur and the men in suits, and frowned. He wished someone would explain his situation to him. He was already involved.

"Let's go to our new room, chickadee," Alec nudged him, to which Mathew remembered how much he found his 2P annoying, and how he was still in just his boxers, and stomped on his foot, walking off to find his new room without him, red-faced.

Finally, in new, clean clothes, Mathew explored this 'safe house' of a resort he was in, making sure he was in the halls that were windowless so that he wouldn't get his friend in trouble for harboring a criminal if anyone were to see him through a window. Most of the people seemed to be concentrated in the lobby, the only people he saw on the second and third floors were family members he didn't know Lovino had, or maids. Making his way to the fourth floor, he saw a face he hadn't seen in just as long as Lovino's.

"Feliciano! How are you?"
The Italian flinched, dropping his pasta, "Oh, Mathew, you scared me! Look, I dropped my pasta all over the floor…"

"Sorry, Feli, I didn't mean to! Here, let me help you…," he rushed over, but Feliciano hid his face from him, hunched over.

"No, no, it's fine, don't worry," he stuttered and Mathew frowned, kneeling to look at his friend's face. Feliciano gasped and looked away in shame, hiding his face behind his hands.

"I didn't want you to see my face," Feli muttered, eyes hidden behind protective sun glasses, and cheeks covered in band aids.

"I'm sorry, Feli…I…sorry," Mathew finished lamely, looking away from his friend, feeling guilty. "What…happened to you?"

"The same thing that happened to you. Except…my 2P didn't like me as much as yours did. I don't know why, but…the company decided to keep me alive even though the 2P is supposed kill their original. I can't see very well now…"

Mathew couldn't help but hug his friend close, and Feliciano hesitated before returning the hug. It seemed like the experiment really traumatized him. Mathew wondered if Feliciano would ever be able to be his cheery self ever again…

After helping Feliciano reach his room, Mathew decided to head back to his own room, having had enough exploring for today. He could see the other five floors of the Vargas Resort and Spa another day. Turning the corner to his room, he overheard arguing down the hall nearby. Hiding, Mathew peeked around the corner to see that it was Lovino arguing with Arthur.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew Mathew?"

"It wasn't relevant to your rescuing him. Besides, I wasn't sure the Mattie you know and the Mattie I know was the same person. Why does it matter? He's safe now. My knowing him isn't important."

"You're right, it doesn't really matter. But did he know that his friend was a mafia boss?"

Lovino scowled and grabbed Arthur by the collar and managed to be very intimidating for someone who barely over five feet tall.

"Listen here, you two-bit crook, the people me and my family interact with is none of your business. You're on a strictly need to know business. I have no friends, he's only a classmate. I helped you, you helped me, and I'm only doing Mathew the favor of harboring him here because I owe him, nothing less. I could care less about you and your drama."

Mathew decided to quickly head back to his room before he heard anything else he didn't like.

Lukas was conducting his experiments as usual in his lab, checking up on the various 2Ps in his facility, getting sadder as he walked on. They were all healthy, as expected, his genius was too good for them to result in failure. Sighing, Lukas decided to have his lunch break early lest he give himself an anxiety attack again. Opening his takeout container, he was about to eat his noodles when Magnus popped up beside him in that manner that always made Lukas wonder how long the 2P had been spying on him.

Straining up his voice, he looked away from Magnus, "What do you want now?"

Magnus's smile seemed eerily frigid with barely contained anger.

"Oh, I think you know what I want, my little Luke. You snuck out again to talk to that criminal again, didn't you?"

Uh oh, is poor Lukas going to be okay? Hope you liked the chapter! Please let me know what you thought by reviewing. Until next time, lovely readers!