Disclaimer: I don't own O-town's all or nothing. That belongs to them and their managers. I also do not own digimon.
"Okay Laura, what's up?" asked Chelsea.
"Well I was thinking about Jenson's. Scott, how close are you to deleting the virus?"
"A couple of weeks maybe."
"I thought as much. Now, would it help you if all of our computers were shut down?"
"It couldn't hurt. But they are already infected, so it doesn't really matter."
"What are you thinking, Laura?" asked Tyler.
"Well, we are losing money by having all of employees here. I was thinking that maybe would finish fill the orders we have and the close down for awhile, saying that we are updating our computer system."
"Okay, but why?"
"The press called, wanting to know if it was true about the virus. I figured that it would be better to do this, give our employees a paid vacation, and then only have the four of us work on the virus problem."
"That could work. But what if the press finds out the truth?"
"Then we're screwed. But if we wait around, then we are screwed too. I think this may buy us some time."
"Good point. Okay how about this, we take a three week winter vacation. That puts us to the New Year. said Tyler."
"No, Christmas is our busiest time." countered Chelsea.
"I already though of that. But I think what Tyler suggested is our best course of action. If we don't do this, then in the end we will lose more business because we'll be closed."
"Are you sure about this Lucky?"
"Yeah Chelsea, I am. Tyler?"
"I say go for it."
"Chelsea, can you inform everyone?"
"Sure. Break start tomorrow?"
"Yes and add that everyone can pick up their paychecks tomorrow, with an added bonus."
With that, everyone left. 'God, please let this work. I am technically closing the business, since we re not taking anymore orders. However, we re not officially closed. Please let this satisfy my stalker. He got his wish, but I think I managed to find a loop hole. Please let this work and no one else get hurt. That is all I ask.'
************************************************************************
Laura got home around 10:30. It was a busy day after the meeting. The press had gotten wind of the shutdown and Tyler set up a press conference. He handle it of course, but she still wanted to be there.
"Busy day?"
"To put it mildly Genni."
"You don t deserve this Laura."
"Yeah I do. Consider this my punishment for all the trouble I gave you when I was younger. Plus it is my sentence for what happened to Matt."
"A. you were just acting out your frustrations as a kid. You lost your whole family, learned your mom was a digimon, I was your uncle, and you too were a digimon. Trust me, I understand. Besides, you could have done a lot worse than what you did. B. you shouldn't blame yourself for Matt's attack. You had no real control over it."
"But."
"No buts."
"Okay."
"Matt's called a few times looking for you."
"Oh goody. I guess he wants to yell at me some more."
"His latest message is on the answering machine. I suggest that you listen to it."
Laura nodded and hit the play button.
"Hey Laura. First off, I m sorry about our fight. You didn't deserve that. I have so much that I want to say to you, and yet I can t find the words. So instead, I'll let this song I heard do it for me.
I know when he's been on your mind
That distant look is in your eyes
I thought with time you d realize that it s over, over
It's not the way I chose to live
And something some where's gotta give
A share in this relationship gets older, older
You know I'd fight for you but how could I fight someone who isn't even there
I've had the rest of you now I want the best of you I don't even care if that's not fair.
Cuz I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
When you've reached the bottom, it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all
There are times it seems to me
I'm sharing you with memories
I feel it in my heart but I don't know how to show it, show it
Then there are times you look at me
As though I'm all that you can see
Those times I don't believe it's right I know it, know it
Don't make me promises baby you never did know how to keep them well
I had the rest of you now I want the best of you its time to show and tell
Cuz I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
When you've reached the bottom, it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all
Cuz you and I
Could lose it all if you've got no more room
Nowhere inside for me in your life
Cuz I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
It's now or never
Is it all
Or Nothing at all
When you've reach the bottom it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me with nothing at all
Laura, this song sums up my feelings. I know that I love you and you love me, but your secrets and your memories are preventing us from us having a relationship. It's your choice Laura: me or your lies. Like the song says, is this how it ends? With a simple telephone call? Please call me so we can work everything out. But if you don't call, I'll know where will stand with one another."
The message ended there.
"What are you going to do?" asked Genni.
"Call Matt of course."
Genni smiled. "Going to tell the truth?"
"No." Laura took a deep breath. "To tell him I can't tell him the truth. I have to protect my friends. And if that means I can't date Matt, well so be it. At least then they all will be safe."
"Are you sure about that?"
"No, but it is a risk I have to take."
"So then, it's over?"
Lucky couldn't answer. She was sobbing. Genni moved to sit next to his niece. He wrapped her up in his embrace. 'And here I thought all your problems were over when you defeated Lady Myotismon. You don t deserve any of this. I know that the decisions you are making are extremely difficult and painful, but deep down, I have a feeling that your choices are correct. Why is this happening to you? You don t deserve this. Your life has always been hard and you never could live a normal teenage life. You were forced to grow up and make tough decisions. But I thought that when you met the other DigiDestineds, all of this would change. Granted, you would still have to be an adult, but the others would remind you to be a kid. Instead, it has forced you to grow up even more.'
************************************************************************
TK sat down at an open table in the cafeteria. Soon, the rest of the DigiDestineds had joined him.
"So TB, when does Matt get out of the hospital?"
"On Saturday, I guess that means tomorrow. The doctors just want to make sure Matt is totally over his concussion."
"That is good to here. What about Lucky? Has he heard from her yet?" Kari asked.
"No, but he just got a hold of her yesterday. He kept getting the answering machine. Finally he just left a message."
"I wonder where she's at. I mean, is Laura not answering the phone, or is she not at home?" said Ken.
"That would mean she hadn't been home for three days. Where would she go?"
"Maybe to Chelsea's?" thought Yolei.
"Possibly. But wouldn't she at least check her messages to see if Genni called?"
"She probably told Genni where she was." said Cody. "That way he wouldn't worry about her."
"I don't understand why I am so worried about her. My brain keeps telling me that she hurt Matt, but my heart keeps arguing that she had a good reason and is afraid to tell us the truth."
Kari nodded. "We all of have that feeling. Including Mimi. She emailed me last night. She said that she had an uneasy feeling, like something big is going to happen. I don't know how she managed it, but she convinced her parents to let her come in to visit. Sora is picking her up after the high school lets out."
"Team is all together again."
"Not quite TK, we re still missing a member and a friend."
"Laura. I know. But I have to wonder something, do you think she'll still want to be part of this group?"
"She has too. She is DigiDestined." exclaimed Davis, shocked at TK s comment.
"That s not what I meant. I mean, after what Matt and I said to her, do you think she'll ever forgive us? I don t think she'll ever stop being friends with all of you, but I know that as long as Matt and I are around you, she won't be."
"Laura's not the type to hold a grudge over some little fight. Now, I can understand her wanting revenge on Lady Myotismon for killing her family, but over your fight, no, she'll forgive you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Yolei. But still, I have to wonder. If she wanted to forgive us, why wouldn't she call Matt back or any of us for that matter?"
"She is probably still confused TK. I mean, first she is hiding this secret from us. Then, she decides to tell us this secret, but she gets a weird phone call. Which makes her not tell us anything. Finally Matt is attacked. Now, why was he? Was it from her lack of telling the truth, like you and Matt accused her of, or was it from the idea of her telling all of us the truth. She's probably trying to answer the same questions that we are." Cody explained.
"Yeah, makes sense to me. But unfortunately, we don't have time for this. This virus is still attacking Jenson's and someone attacked Matt, who may be stalking Lucky."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"We should be working together to answer these questions not working on them separately."
"Sometimes though, that may be the best way."
"What do you mean Ken?"
"Sometimes, in order to solve a problem, we have to look at all the different angles. Now, we have exhausted every possibility from our side, but Lucky may be having better luck, since she appears to have more information."
"So, you're saying that if we could work together, then we find the solution a lot quicker because we would have more ideas."
"Correct Yolei. And for questions we couldn't answer, we could bounce ideas around."
" So in other words, we need Lucky."
"And she needs us. I just hope she realizes this and soon."
************************************************************************
"Hey Alex!"
"Laura, what are you doing here? It isn't time for you to be here yet. You're, hold on a second, six hours early. Alex Caulfield said. Alex was the owner of the Rose Café.'
"I came for lunch. Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all. Especially for my best customer. But I have to ask you something. It s a Friday right? Shouldn't you be in school?"
Laura laughed. "My uncle is a teacher, so he home schools me."
"Oh. Hey Mia told me that Sora, Kari, and Yolei came by the other day looking for you. Did they ever find you?"
"Nope. I haven t seen them in three days."
"Not even Matt? Isn't he still in the hospital? Aren't you two dating?"
"No. Yes. No."
"Wow. Mia didn't tell me this. Have you talk to her?" He handed her a hot chocolate.
"No, I've been really busy lately. Thanks."
"Well, I should let her tell you, but I can t wait. You know the Winter Festival Dance next weekend?"
Lucky eyes went huge. She totally forgot about it. "Yeah, did she find a date?"
"That she did, and I think you know him."
"Oh yeah? Who?"
"Joe Kido."
"Joe! Oh wow. They make a cute couple."
"She's really excited."
"I bet."
" So are you going to go?"
It was a trick question. Before this week had happened, she would have said without a doubt. Even though she really didn't like dresses, she would have went to be with everyone and Matt. But now, well she wasn't too sure. "I don t know."
"Understandable. Hold on a sec, Lucky. More customers."
'I can't believe that Christmas in only two weeks. This is supposed to be a happy time. But instead, I find myself depressed and all alone. Just like every other year. I guess I should be used to it by now. But I found so many true friends, and then I went and screwed it up. I feel like such a scrooge. I bring every one down. I was right when I told Tai that Matt was going to do better now that I would out of his life. In actually, I bet all of them are doing better. They don't need me.'
***********************************************************************
Tai was becoming all to familiar with the hallways of the hospital. He never was big on the place and he bet Matt was just as ready to get out.
"Hey Matt."
"Hey Tai."
"Any news?"
"Depends on what you want to know. My health, the virus, the stalker, or Lucky?"
"How about all of the above?"
"Okay. I get out tomorrow afternoon. And no change for the rest."
"Figures. What are we going to do man?"
"I don ' know. How about talking to Genni?"
"Izzy tried contacting him, but nothing."
"That s strange."
"Not really. Izzy thinks Genni is just trying to protect Laura or he doesn't know anything."
"My bet is on the first one."
"Mine too. So how is the food here?"
"Changing the conversation?"
"It was too depressing."
"Well, compared to my cooking, at least it's editable."
Tai laughed. "Compared to my mom's?"
"It's a delicacy."
"I think anything would be compared to my mom's. Sometimes I can't believe that I am still alive and well."
"Are we sure about that?"
"Nope. And it is a good way to be." Tai said. He waited for Matt's comeback, but he never received one. "Matt, you okay?"
"Tai, the TV. It s Jenson's."
"Turn it up then."
"Jenson Electronics is giving their employees an early Christmas present, a three week paid vacation while the company up grades their computer system. Tyler Barnaby, Senior Vice President of the company, said quote 'we wanted to reward our employees with a vacation for all the hard work they have put into the company. We felt this was the best time to do so, since Christmas break was coming up. We decided to give the employees an extra week while we replaced all of computers.'
Mr. Barnaby also said that the rumors about a virus infecting Jenson's were faux. The company wants to assure their customers that everything is running smoothly and after the new year, will be accepting new orders. Live from Jenson Electronics, I m Ana Jenkins. "
Matt hit the mute button. "Well, that was interesting."
"Yeah, they just lied to the media."
"Not really Tai. They did give their employees a break, they will have to up grade their systems, and I bet the employees have worked hard."
"So they stretched the truth."
"Basically. They had to buy some time."
"I feel so bad for them. They have no idea why they are being targeted."
"Neither do we Tai."
"No, but at least we know where the virus came from."
"True. But are we absolutely sure?"
" No, Izzy said he would have to get a look at that virus before he could determine that."
"Figures. Why can be things be simple?"
"Didn't you read the fine print in your contract?"
"What contract?"
"When we became DigiDestined."
"No, I must have been fixing my hair at that moment. Remind me."
"I think it was paragraph three. No DigiDestined can ever again have an easy life. Simple problems and answers no longer exist. Welcome to the real world."
"Strange, I must have missed that part. I knew I shouldn't have signed without my agent present."
"Isn't that the first rule of singing? Always have your agent present?"
"Yeah, unless you don't like him. Which is why we fired him."
"You're cruel you know that."
"Well aware of. So where is everyone?"
"Kari is at home catching up on some sleep. Davis and TK are in detention. Not really their fault. Hit a kid that was picking on my sis. Don t be mad. Um, Izzy and Ken were searching the internet for information on that Simon Li and Angela. Sora is at the airport picking up Mimi, who is coming to visit. Yolei and Cody are somewhere. And Joe is taking an exam."
"Everyone taking a day off? Good, we all need it."
"Except for Izzy and Ken. But you know those two, once a problem is presented to them, they will sit there and work on it till the figure it out."
"In other words, we won t see them till.. ?"
"The break of dawn?"
"Works for me."
"So what are you going to do about Laura?"
"Honestly I don't know yet. We need her and she needs us, but we can't force her to help."
"We may have too."
"I know and it scares me to death."
************************************************************************
Laura toyed with the phone in her hand. 'It has never been so hard to call Matt before. Of course, I wasn't calling to say that there was no hope for our relationship. Why does it hurt so bad though? Probably because I know this is wrong, and yet I know I am doing the right thing. Aren't I?'
Laura hung back up the phone. She couldn't call him, not yet. She wasn't ready. She jumped when the phone rang.
"Hello, Laura speaking."
"Hello Laura Li. I saw the wonderful broadcast this afternoon. A paid vacation? A fake name for fire?"
"Sure, call it what you want. I did what you said. I closed Jenson's."
"Not permanently."
"Not yet. It would look strange if I suddenly did. So I am gradually closing. Okay with you?"
"I like it. Excellent."
"Are my friends okay?"
"Such loyalty. They are fine. And they will stay in good health as long you cooperate with me."
"Do I really have a choice?"
"Are you surrendering to my demands?"
The comment made Laura freeze. She was. But she had too right? She had to protect everyone.
"I guess so."
"Tremendous. I'll be in touch soon."
Lucky slammed down the phone. She was definitely trapped now. What else could this madman make her do? Selling all her belongings? Probably. She would do it too, if it would protect the others. When had she lost total control of her life?
"Okay Laura, what's up?" asked Chelsea.
"Well I was thinking about Jenson's. Scott, how close are you to deleting the virus?"
"A couple of weeks maybe."
"I thought as much. Now, would it help you if all of our computers were shut down?"
"It couldn't hurt. But they are already infected, so it doesn't really matter."
"What are you thinking, Laura?" asked Tyler.
"Well, we are losing money by having all of employees here. I was thinking that maybe would finish fill the orders we have and the close down for awhile, saying that we are updating our computer system."
"Okay, but why?"
"The press called, wanting to know if it was true about the virus. I figured that it would be better to do this, give our employees a paid vacation, and then only have the four of us work on the virus problem."
"That could work. But what if the press finds out the truth?"
"Then we're screwed. But if we wait around, then we are screwed too. I think this may buy us some time."
"Good point. Okay how about this, we take a three week winter vacation. That puts us to the New Year. said Tyler."
"No, Christmas is our busiest time." countered Chelsea.
"I already though of that. But I think what Tyler suggested is our best course of action. If we don't do this, then in the end we will lose more business because we'll be closed."
"Are you sure about this Lucky?"
"Yeah Chelsea, I am. Tyler?"
"I say go for it."
"Chelsea, can you inform everyone?"
"Sure. Break start tomorrow?"
"Yes and add that everyone can pick up their paychecks tomorrow, with an added bonus."
With that, everyone left. 'God, please let this work. I am technically closing the business, since we re not taking anymore orders. However, we re not officially closed. Please let this satisfy my stalker. He got his wish, but I think I managed to find a loop hole. Please let this work and no one else get hurt. That is all I ask.'
************************************************************************
Laura got home around 10:30. It was a busy day after the meeting. The press had gotten wind of the shutdown and Tyler set up a press conference. He handle it of course, but she still wanted to be there.
"Busy day?"
"To put it mildly Genni."
"You don t deserve this Laura."
"Yeah I do. Consider this my punishment for all the trouble I gave you when I was younger. Plus it is my sentence for what happened to Matt."
"A. you were just acting out your frustrations as a kid. You lost your whole family, learned your mom was a digimon, I was your uncle, and you too were a digimon. Trust me, I understand. Besides, you could have done a lot worse than what you did. B. you shouldn't blame yourself for Matt's attack. You had no real control over it."
"But."
"No buts."
"Okay."
"Matt's called a few times looking for you."
"Oh goody. I guess he wants to yell at me some more."
"His latest message is on the answering machine. I suggest that you listen to it."
Laura nodded and hit the play button.
"Hey Laura. First off, I m sorry about our fight. You didn't deserve that. I have so much that I want to say to you, and yet I can t find the words. So instead, I'll let this song I heard do it for me.
I know when he's been on your mind
That distant look is in your eyes
I thought with time you d realize that it s over, over
It's not the way I chose to live
And something some where's gotta give
A share in this relationship gets older, older
You know I'd fight for you but how could I fight someone who isn't even there
I've had the rest of you now I want the best of you I don't even care if that's not fair.
Cuz I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
When you've reached the bottom, it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all
There are times it seems to me
I'm sharing you with memories
I feel it in my heart but I don't know how to show it, show it
Then there are times you look at me
As though I'm all that you can see
Those times I don't believe it's right I know it, know it
Don't make me promises baby you never did know how to keep them well
I had the rest of you now I want the best of you its time to show and tell
Cuz I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
When you've reached the bottom, it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all
Cuz you and I
Could lose it all if you've got no more room
Nowhere inside for me in your life
Cuz I want it all
Or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
It's now or never
Is it all
Or Nothing at all
When you've reach the bottom it's now or never
Is it all
Or are we just friends
Is this how it ends
With a simple telephone call
You leave me with nothing at all
Laura, this song sums up my feelings. I know that I love you and you love me, but your secrets and your memories are preventing us from us having a relationship. It's your choice Laura: me or your lies. Like the song says, is this how it ends? With a simple telephone call? Please call me so we can work everything out. But if you don't call, I'll know where will stand with one another."
The message ended there.
"What are you going to do?" asked Genni.
"Call Matt of course."
Genni smiled. "Going to tell the truth?"
"No." Laura took a deep breath. "To tell him I can't tell him the truth. I have to protect my friends. And if that means I can't date Matt, well so be it. At least then they all will be safe."
"Are you sure about that?"
"No, but it is a risk I have to take."
"So then, it's over?"
Lucky couldn't answer. She was sobbing. Genni moved to sit next to his niece. He wrapped her up in his embrace. 'And here I thought all your problems were over when you defeated Lady Myotismon. You don t deserve any of this. I know that the decisions you are making are extremely difficult and painful, but deep down, I have a feeling that your choices are correct. Why is this happening to you? You don t deserve this. Your life has always been hard and you never could live a normal teenage life. You were forced to grow up and make tough decisions. But I thought that when you met the other DigiDestineds, all of this would change. Granted, you would still have to be an adult, but the others would remind you to be a kid. Instead, it has forced you to grow up even more.'
************************************************************************
TK sat down at an open table in the cafeteria. Soon, the rest of the DigiDestineds had joined him.
"So TB, when does Matt get out of the hospital?"
"On Saturday, I guess that means tomorrow. The doctors just want to make sure Matt is totally over his concussion."
"That is good to here. What about Lucky? Has he heard from her yet?" Kari asked.
"No, but he just got a hold of her yesterday. He kept getting the answering machine. Finally he just left a message."
"I wonder where she's at. I mean, is Laura not answering the phone, or is she not at home?" said Ken.
"That would mean she hadn't been home for three days. Where would she go?"
"Maybe to Chelsea's?" thought Yolei.
"Possibly. But wouldn't she at least check her messages to see if Genni called?"
"She probably told Genni where she was." said Cody. "That way he wouldn't worry about her."
"I don't understand why I am so worried about her. My brain keeps telling me that she hurt Matt, but my heart keeps arguing that she had a good reason and is afraid to tell us the truth."
Kari nodded. "We all of have that feeling. Including Mimi. She emailed me last night. She said that she had an uneasy feeling, like something big is going to happen. I don't know how she managed it, but she convinced her parents to let her come in to visit. Sora is picking her up after the high school lets out."
"Team is all together again."
"Not quite TK, we re still missing a member and a friend."
"Laura. I know. But I have to wonder something, do you think she'll still want to be part of this group?"
"She has too. She is DigiDestined." exclaimed Davis, shocked at TK s comment.
"That s not what I meant. I mean, after what Matt and I said to her, do you think she'll ever forgive us? I don t think she'll ever stop being friends with all of you, but I know that as long as Matt and I are around you, she won't be."
"Laura's not the type to hold a grudge over some little fight. Now, I can understand her wanting revenge on Lady Myotismon for killing her family, but over your fight, no, she'll forgive you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Yolei. But still, I have to wonder. If she wanted to forgive us, why wouldn't she call Matt back or any of us for that matter?"
"She is probably still confused TK. I mean, first she is hiding this secret from us. Then, she decides to tell us this secret, but she gets a weird phone call. Which makes her not tell us anything. Finally Matt is attacked. Now, why was he? Was it from her lack of telling the truth, like you and Matt accused her of, or was it from the idea of her telling all of us the truth. She's probably trying to answer the same questions that we are." Cody explained.
"Yeah, makes sense to me. But unfortunately, we don't have time for this. This virus is still attacking Jenson's and someone attacked Matt, who may be stalking Lucky."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"We should be working together to answer these questions not working on them separately."
"Sometimes though, that may be the best way."
"What do you mean Ken?"
"Sometimes, in order to solve a problem, we have to look at all the different angles. Now, we have exhausted every possibility from our side, but Lucky may be having better luck, since she appears to have more information."
"So, you're saying that if we could work together, then we find the solution a lot quicker because we would have more ideas."
"Correct Yolei. And for questions we couldn't answer, we could bounce ideas around."
" So in other words, we need Lucky."
"And she needs us. I just hope she realizes this and soon."
************************************************************************
"Hey Alex!"
"Laura, what are you doing here? It isn't time for you to be here yet. You're, hold on a second, six hours early. Alex Caulfield said. Alex was the owner of the Rose Café.'
"I came for lunch. Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all. Especially for my best customer. But I have to ask you something. It s a Friday right? Shouldn't you be in school?"
Laura laughed. "My uncle is a teacher, so he home schools me."
"Oh. Hey Mia told me that Sora, Kari, and Yolei came by the other day looking for you. Did they ever find you?"
"Nope. I haven t seen them in three days."
"Not even Matt? Isn't he still in the hospital? Aren't you two dating?"
"No. Yes. No."
"Wow. Mia didn't tell me this. Have you talk to her?" He handed her a hot chocolate.
"No, I've been really busy lately. Thanks."
"Well, I should let her tell you, but I can t wait. You know the Winter Festival Dance next weekend?"
Lucky eyes went huge. She totally forgot about it. "Yeah, did she find a date?"
"That she did, and I think you know him."
"Oh yeah? Who?"
"Joe Kido."
"Joe! Oh wow. They make a cute couple."
"She's really excited."
"I bet."
" So are you going to go?"
It was a trick question. Before this week had happened, she would have said without a doubt. Even though she really didn't like dresses, she would have went to be with everyone and Matt. But now, well she wasn't too sure. "I don t know."
"Understandable. Hold on a sec, Lucky. More customers."
'I can't believe that Christmas in only two weeks. This is supposed to be a happy time. But instead, I find myself depressed and all alone. Just like every other year. I guess I should be used to it by now. But I found so many true friends, and then I went and screwed it up. I feel like such a scrooge. I bring every one down. I was right when I told Tai that Matt was going to do better now that I would out of his life. In actually, I bet all of them are doing better. They don't need me.'
***********************************************************************
Tai was becoming all to familiar with the hallways of the hospital. He never was big on the place and he bet Matt was just as ready to get out.
"Hey Matt."
"Hey Tai."
"Any news?"
"Depends on what you want to know. My health, the virus, the stalker, or Lucky?"
"How about all of the above?"
"Okay. I get out tomorrow afternoon. And no change for the rest."
"Figures. What are we going to do man?"
"I don ' know. How about talking to Genni?"
"Izzy tried contacting him, but nothing."
"That s strange."
"Not really. Izzy thinks Genni is just trying to protect Laura or he doesn't know anything."
"My bet is on the first one."
"Mine too. So how is the food here?"
"Changing the conversation?"
"It was too depressing."
"Well, compared to my cooking, at least it's editable."
Tai laughed. "Compared to my mom's?"
"It's a delicacy."
"I think anything would be compared to my mom's. Sometimes I can't believe that I am still alive and well."
"Are we sure about that?"
"Nope. And it is a good way to be." Tai said. He waited for Matt's comeback, but he never received one. "Matt, you okay?"
"Tai, the TV. It s Jenson's."
"Turn it up then."
"Jenson Electronics is giving their employees an early Christmas present, a three week paid vacation while the company up grades their computer system. Tyler Barnaby, Senior Vice President of the company, said quote 'we wanted to reward our employees with a vacation for all the hard work they have put into the company. We felt this was the best time to do so, since Christmas break was coming up. We decided to give the employees an extra week while we replaced all of computers.'
Mr. Barnaby also said that the rumors about a virus infecting Jenson's were faux. The company wants to assure their customers that everything is running smoothly and after the new year, will be accepting new orders. Live from Jenson Electronics, I m Ana Jenkins. "
Matt hit the mute button. "Well, that was interesting."
"Yeah, they just lied to the media."
"Not really Tai. They did give their employees a break, they will have to up grade their systems, and I bet the employees have worked hard."
"So they stretched the truth."
"Basically. They had to buy some time."
"I feel so bad for them. They have no idea why they are being targeted."
"Neither do we Tai."
"No, but at least we know where the virus came from."
"True. But are we absolutely sure?"
" No, Izzy said he would have to get a look at that virus before he could determine that."
"Figures. Why can be things be simple?"
"Didn't you read the fine print in your contract?"
"What contract?"
"When we became DigiDestined."
"No, I must have been fixing my hair at that moment. Remind me."
"I think it was paragraph three. No DigiDestined can ever again have an easy life. Simple problems and answers no longer exist. Welcome to the real world."
"Strange, I must have missed that part. I knew I shouldn't have signed without my agent present."
"Isn't that the first rule of singing? Always have your agent present?"
"Yeah, unless you don't like him. Which is why we fired him."
"You're cruel you know that."
"Well aware of. So where is everyone?"
"Kari is at home catching up on some sleep. Davis and TK are in detention. Not really their fault. Hit a kid that was picking on my sis. Don t be mad. Um, Izzy and Ken were searching the internet for information on that Simon Li and Angela. Sora is at the airport picking up Mimi, who is coming to visit. Yolei and Cody are somewhere. And Joe is taking an exam."
"Everyone taking a day off? Good, we all need it."
"Except for Izzy and Ken. But you know those two, once a problem is presented to them, they will sit there and work on it till the figure it out."
"In other words, we won t see them till.. ?"
"The break of dawn?"
"Works for me."
"So what are you going to do about Laura?"
"Honestly I don't know yet. We need her and she needs us, but we can't force her to help."
"We may have too."
"I know and it scares me to death."
************************************************************************
Laura toyed with the phone in her hand. 'It has never been so hard to call Matt before. Of course, I wasn't calling to say that there was no hope for our relationship. Why does it hurt so bad though? Probably because I know this is wrong, and yet I know I am doing the right thing. Aren't I?'
Laura hung back up the phone. She couldn't call him, not yet. She wasn't ready. She jumped when the phone rang.
"Hello, Laura speaking."
"Hello Laura Li. I saw the wonderful broadcast this afternoon. A paid vacation? A fake name for fire?"
"Sure, call it what you want. I did what you said. I closed Jenson's."
"Not permanently."
"Not yet. It would look strange if I suddenly did. So I am gradually closing. Okay with you?"
"I like it. Excellent."
"Are my friends okay?"
"Such loyalty. They are fine. And they will stay in good health as long you cooperate with me."
"Do I really have a choice?"
"Are you surrendering to my demands?"
The comment made Laura freeze. She was. But she had too right? She had to protect everyone.
"I guess so."
"Tremendous. I'll be in touch soon."
Lucky slammed down the phone. She was definitely trapped now. What else could this madman make her do? Selling all her belongings? Probably. She would do it too, if it would protect the others. When had she lost total control of her life?