A/N: Sorry this took so long. Thanks for your patience and enjoy!

X

Jerry and his posse were gathered in an almost empty bar, all thoughts of their dinner forgotten. They had come there after leaving the restaurant. They needed a nice and (kinda) quiet place to plan their next move.

"I-I can't believe it," Amy stuttered. She stared down at her hands that were laid flat on the questionably clean table. "It was him! He was right there!"

"I know," Jerry grumbled. "Did anyone get a really good look? Who was that guy with him?"

"I don't know," Adam said. "I didn't see much of his face. He looked old, though. Kinda like you, Jerry."

"Gee, thanks, kid," the man grumbled.

"Why would Charley be hanging out an older guy?" Amy asked. "Maybe he made a friend?"

"A better question would be: why is an older guy hanging out with Charley?" Ed chimed in. "I think I saw them holding hands. Maybe Charley found himself a rich boyfriend or something."

"What?" Amy gasped. "Charley wouldn't do that! Do you really think he'd just drop everything to start dating some random guy?"

"Hey, we don't know what he's been up to." Ed shrugged his shoulders, but the concern in his eyes was clear. "Maybe he found a sugar daddy to look after him."

Amy made a move to stand from her chair (presumably to throttle her bespectacled companion) but was stopped by Jerry. "Calm down! You know we have to consider every option. But right now we really just need to focus on finding Charley again."

"I know," Amy murmured. She ran her hands through her hair and sighed. "It's just a really bad thing to think about. That doesn't seem like Charley at all."

"Wait!" Adam suddenly gasped. "I think that was Peter Vincent!"

"Who?" Jerry and Amy asked in unison.

"Peter Vincent," Adam repeated. "He's the guy we all came to see when Charley disappeared."

"But why would Charley be with him?" Ed asked. "I'm pretty sure Charley didn't go to get autographs with us."

Adam looked as confused as they were all feeling. "I don't know, man. Maybe thy met up after we left."

"Nevermind that now," Jerry insisted. "We need to go to this guy's place and see if we can find Charley there. If you're sure you knew that that guy was this Vincent character."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was," Adam said.

"It's not like we have any other ideas. So where does this guy live?" Amy demanded.

"The Hard Rock Hotel, I think it was," Ed answered.

"Think or know?" she demanded.

"I know," Ed snapped. "But how the hell are we going to get up to his place? There's gonna be a bunch of security. And I don't think we can waltz in and ask if we can go exploring."

Jerry tapped his fingers on the table as he tried to think of a plan. "I guess the best place to start is to ask around the place and see if anyone has any information to give us. See if they know if the guy leaves at a certain time each day or if they've seen Charley hanging around."

"Should we go now?" Amy asked.

"No," Jerry answered "We should wait until at least tomorrow. I'm sure after what happened at the restaurant they might be a little weary."

"I guess," Amy sighed. She slumped back in her chair. "It's just...Charley looked happy to see us. I know he did. I think that Peter Vincent guy is up to something bad."

"Maybe," Adam said hesitantly. Ed slowly nodded at that. They didn't want to think one of their favorite vampire experts was some weirdo pervert. But they cared about Charley and thy wanted him back safe. Even if he was a dick.

"We'll find out tomorrow," Jerry said, looking solemn.

X

It was as dark as always in Peter's bedroom and that made it hard to tell what time it was, but Charley was pretty sure it was daytime. He had been awake for awhile now. He had been tired after the events of the previous night and had gone to sleep earlier than usual.

Peter was sound asleep next to him. When Charley first woke up, the vampire's arm had been loosely draped around him. For the past hour, the teen had been very slowly scooting backwards and pushing away Peter's arm. He had finally gotten to where his captor was no longer touching him. He knew what he was going to do next was extremely risky, but he still had to try.

Ever so slowly, he sat up and felt around for his pants (he had discarded them by the bed). Peter had sent Ginger to get him a pizza the previous night. Well, it was supposed to be for him, but Ginger decided to stay and share. Peter only allowed it because Charley did. Really, he couldn't eat an extra large all by himself.

Anyway, a great opportunity came to him during that time. Ginger and Peter had gotten into a heated discussion about some soap opera they both watched. Charley had looked on in amusement while he ate. They usually provided a great show with dinner.

At one point, Peter stormed off to his bar to get a glass of Midori. As he walked away, Charley looked down on the couch and saw that one of Ginger's hair pins had fallen out. Before he even knew what he was doing, he snatched the pin up and pocketed it. A plan was beginning to form in his head. Seeing his friends earlier did something to him, something that made it possible to break through the haze Peter put in his mind. If it was the last thing he did, he was going to talk to them again.

Charley quietly managed to locate his pants and took the pin out. He then turned to make sure that Peter was still sleeping. Slowly, he reached for his crutches and stood. He started a pattern of taking a step or two then stopping to make sure Peter wasn't waking up. God, his heart was racing a mile a minute. This was the most stressful thing he'd ever done. Even more stressful than asking Amy out or having to give that speech about Stalin.

He felt a bit more relaxed when he reached the drawer he had been walking toward. The teen knew that this was where the vampire had hidden his phone. Where else would it be? This was the only one that was locked. He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder every other second as he put the pin into the lock on the drawer and began to work it around. He was thankful of the days when he hung out with Adam and Ed, since they were the ones who decided to learn how to pick locks one summer day. Charley just hoped he remembered how to do this.

After a few moments of pain-staking, stress-inducing jiggling, Charley heard a soft click. He grinned and almost let out a relieved laugh. But his sudden good mood vanished when he heard Peter stir behind him. Lightning fast, he turned his head and began to think of a million excuses about what he was doing. Uh, gee Peter, I'm just, umm, going for a walk...

The teen did breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that his captor was still asleep. Fuck, he was going to have a heart attack at this rate. He waited a few moments before very slowly inching the drawer open. His victorious grin returned when he spotted his phone. He quickly snatched it up before shutting the drawer. He then made his way to the bathroom, only moving a bit faster than before.

Charley locked the door behind him and sat heavily on the toilet. He couldn't believe he had just done that. Trying and succeeding to sneak around Peter was both scary and awesome.

The teen slowly turned his phone around in his hands. Wait, what if it didn't work anymore? No, no, he was sure he had turned it off before seeing Peter's show that night. It was bound to have some power left. But he really didn't have the guts to try it out now. NO, he was going to have to wait for when peter was gone.

He couldn't risk getting caught.

X

Sorry this was short. I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing.