by Joy
NOTE: My next fic is probably going to be some kind of crossover. ^_^ I can't choose yet, but here are my favorite ideas. . .
1) Lilo & Stitch/Monsters Inc (ooh, aloha!)
2) Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series/Monsters Inc (yup, hockey-playin', crime-fightin' anthro-ducks from another dimension)
3) Jurassic Park III/Monsters Inc (brachios, raptors, and spinosaurs, oh my!)
4) Treasure Planet/Monsters Inc (as soon as I see it, I might get some ideas. It looks like an awesome movie.)
*****************************************************************
Chapter Four - Too Many Questions
"Man, I can't believe we didn't find ANYTHING. . ." Caylin grumbled.
He walked into Sulley and Mike's new apartment slowly, Midnight at his heels as he came through the door. Their new place was about twice as large as their old one. Since Sulley had become the company CEO, he had gotten a large enough paycheck to get a place that was big enough for him, Mike, Ceila, and even Mitchell.
Surprisingly, it was pretty tidy. Some evidence was that Mike's CDs were stacked neatly on a shelf by his stereo and all of Mitchell's toys were packed neatly in his toybox by the television set. Having Ceila around made everything easier. She was always more than happy to organize and keep things in order, after all, didn't she do it everyday anyways?
Sulley patted his friend's shoulder as he set his large jacket on a coat rack. "We tried our best, Caylin," he said.
Mike nodded, taking off his mittens. "Yeah," he agreed. "We even used Midnight, so that's gotta count as extra credit, buddy. Even though I still think ya need to teach him a thing or two on tracking scent. . ."
"Well, so what if he found two alley cats and a smelly old shoe? I never thought I'd need to use him for things like this. . .especially not so soon," Caylin replied with a sigh, hanging up his red coat and ski cap.
Midnight rubbed his head against Caylin's leg sympathetically and padded over to a colorful, oval rug in the middle of the living room and sat on it in front of the fireplace. Mike grinned and took a few steps before announcing his arrival.
"Oh, Mitchell, Ceilaa, I'm ho-ome!" he called.
Immediately, Mitchell ran out the kitchen with a candy bar and jumped up into his daddy's arms, his mouth covered in chocolate. "Daddy!" he squealed, snakes hissing excitedly. "Mommy reordanised your CDs 'n I helpted!" He looked proud of himself.
Mike chuckled, taking a glance over at his stacks of music CDs. Yup, they were organized alright. He smiled at Mitchell. "Very good, thanks for helping me out," he said. "You can play charades with me, Sulley and Uncle Caylin pretty soon. How 'bout it?"
"Yay!" Mitchell cheered, jumping down and running to the kitchen again to wipe all the chocolate off.
Ceila stepped out of the kitchen and stepped out of the way as Mitchell ran past, a smile on her face. "Hello Googley Bear! Sulley-Wulley, Caylee-Waylee," she cooed. "What took you so long? I was starting to worry, you know."
"Oh, well, Schmoopsy Poo. .We -"
". . .Went to look for Randall," Sulley continued. "He's been kidnapped."
"Oh, that's terrible," Ceila said. "Any luck?"
"Nope," Caylin said flatly. "Not even a single color-changing scale."
Ceila shook her head slowly and Mike walked over to her. She smiled brightly and leaned down, kissing his forehead. "Should I bring you boys some food? It's already past seven," she offered.
Mike smiled back and shook his head. "Naw," he replied. "Me and the 'search party' got hungry and stopped by Pat's Pizza. Thanks though, Schmoopsy Poo."
"You're very welcome, Googley Bear," she answered, straightening up and heading back into the kitchen.
Mitchell stood in the doorway and stuck out his tongue. "Yichh!" he said openly. "Mommy and daddy kissed! And dey're saying those funny names again. . ."
Sulley chuckled. "At least they don't have 'cooties'," he replied.
"Dats what you tink," Mitchell answered. "Mommy's gots lots of dem."
Ceila laughed and took his hand, leading him back into the kitchen. He still had alot of chocolate around his mouth. "Let's get you properly cleaned up shall we?" she suggested. "Michael, could you help me a minute?"
"Sure Ceila," he replied, following her though the doorway.
Caylin plopped down onto the large, furry blue couch and sat back, Midnight jumping up and laying down on his lap. He stroked the fluppy's head, thinking of something else they could possibly do to get his buddy back. He and Randall had been best friends ever since high school and, though both were virtual opposites, they unexpectedly became best friends. He cared deeply about Randall as if they had been brothers. So, he wasn't about to forget about him just because their little search ended on a sour note.
Sulley hung up his hat and turned around, heading for his new, purple easy chair. He spotted Caylin, stroking his pet with a sorrowful look on his face and, immediately, he could tell what his friend was thinking about. Sulley took pity on him and went over to him.
"Hey, Caylin," Sulley said softly.
Caylin snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at him, forcing a half-grin. "Hi."
"You're worried about Randall aren't you?" Sulley asked.
Caylin simply nodded. "I sure hope he's okay."
Sulley putting a hand on Caylin's shoulder. "I understand. I'm starting to worry too, but we tried our best," he said. "The next best thing we can do is report it to the CDA and let them investigate."
Caylin nodded again in understanding, his sadness starting to float away like a balloon. "Okay, I guess we're gonna have to."
Sulley grinned. "Yeah, we'll get him back, don't worry," he reassured him.
Just then, Mike walked back into the room, Mitchell at his heels. "So, who's up for charades?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.
Everyone - Sulley, Mitchell, and Caylin included - raised their hands eagerly. Mike grinned and brought a hat full of papers in it over to the group, holding it up high. He urged everyone to take a paper and, once each had a strip, he set the hat back on the table. Mike explained the rules and assigned Caylin to go first.
Caylin nodded. "Okay, try and get this one. . ." he said.
Caylin held up two fingers and Mike spoke up. "Okay, two words."
Caylin cranked his fist in a circle by his head and Mike again guessed correctly. "A movie! Okay."
The gecko-monster nodded and ran over to Mitchell's toybox, opening it and pointing to the stuff inside. Mike and Sulley blinked cluelessly. Caylin closed the top again and pretended to start digging with a shovel.
"Uh, digging?" Mike suggested. Caylin shook his head and pointed to the chest full of toys again, then started digging some more.
"Uh, the Underground Toys?" Mike tried again. "Journey to the Center of the Earth? Digging Holes in Five Easy Steps?"
Caylin sighed and shook his head again, crawling over to the rug in the middle of the room and drawing an imaginary 'X' with his finger, pointing to it.
"Oh! I know, I know! When Rugs Attack!" Mike exclaimed. Caylin sighed and hung his head.
Sulley rubbed his chin. "No, actually Mikey, I think he's doing the word 'treasure'. Right?"
Caylin immediately looked up and nodded enthusiastically, moving on to the next word. He dug through Mitchell's toybox and picked out a little broken mobile of the solar system. He pointed to Jupiter.
"Digging for Treasure on Jupiter?" Mike asked. He got a 'no'.
Caylin frowned and pointed to Jupiter again. "Rocks Are Treasures on Jupiter?" he tried again.
Caylin sighed in frustration and Sulley leaned forward in his chair, seemingly in thought. "Treasure Planet!" he concluded.
Caylin nodded with a big grin. "Finally!" he said, glancing at Mike. "Er, by the way, it might be useful for you to know that there aren't any rocks on Jupiter."
"I. . .knew that. . ." Mike began, then looked at Sulley. "Okay, your turn Big Guy!"
Sulley was just about to start when a knock came from the door. "Can you get that?" Ceila called from the kitchen.
"I can mommy!" Mitchell offered eagerly, jumping up from his little chair and running at full speed towards the door.
Mike wasn't able to catch the fast little boy and Mitchell reached the door before anyone could stop him. He turned the knob and opened the door. Outside stood Randall and Leia, looking miserable and shivering. Both were clearly so cold that they had faded in color. Mitchell turned around.
"Daddy, Uncuu Wandall and a strange lady are here," he announced.
Caylin suddenly perked up and jumped off the couch, running for the door. Sulley and Mike followed behind him. Caylin looked them up and down and noticed their pale colors. "What happened to you guys??"
"C-c-can't w-we j-j-ust c-come i-inside?" Randall asked.
Sulley ushered Mitchell out of the way and both lizard-monsters walked inside. Leia wrapped her arms around herself and looked around. Recognising the faces of her friends again, she attempted to smile, even though she was feeling extremely tired and cold.
"Thanks g-g-guys," she said.
"Leia? Whaddya know," Caylin said. "Where'd Randall pick you up from?"
"I-it's kind of a-a l-long st-story," she replied.
After Sulley sat Mitchell back down in his chair, he turned to Mike. "Mike, please bring some warm blankets in for them," he directed.
Mike nodded and ran into his and Ceila's bedroom. Sulley placed a hand on Randall and Leia's backs gently and ushered them to sit by the fireplace. He could feel the coldness of their shivering bodies, it felt like touching ice. How long had they been out there? Where had they been? He knew his questions wouldn't get answered now. Since they were cold-blooded, he knew they had to get to the warmth as soon as possible.
Randall and Leia sat on the rug in front of the crackling fireplace and both seemed to relax at the warmth radiating from it. Mike then came over and handed them each a blanket. Leia wrapped it around herself and pulled it over her shoulders, closing her eyes with contentment to finally be feeling warmth again. Randall did the same.
"So, who was it?" Ceila asked, sticking her head out the kitchen door and spotting their two guests. "Oh, I see. Goodness, they look exhausted! Should I bring them some hot chocolate?"
Leia looked over her shoulder and nodded. "That would be nice, thank you," she replied.
"Yeah, I'd like some too, if ya don't mind," Randall added.
Ceila gave them a quick nod and went into the kitchen again. Mitchell skipped into the kitchen too. "I wanna help Wandall and the strange lady too," he said, just before disappearing into the kitchen.
Leia laughed and glanced into the dancing flames in front of her. "Maybe I should have introduced myself?" she suggested, glancing over at Sulley. "But gosh, I haven't seen you guys for so long. . ."
"Hey, I tried calling ya more than once but it never got answered," Randall said with slight aggitation in his voice.
Leia glanced a him. "When?"
"Earlier this year."
"Oh, I see. . .You have to understand, the reason I never got back to you was my father," Leia explained. "He's working for that guy that kidnapped you. You see, I was right in the middle of my tour late last year when he came to see me. He insisted what I was doing was nonsense and forced me to participate in a 'real job'. That meant working there for a year. I virtually had no choice, the whole organization was on his side, which was bad for me. So, without letting me take anything or even announce anything, I was enrolled into his job. He had me training and all of that stuff. But, believe me, I never even knew you had called. I did want to contact you guys, though. It was just kind of. . .difficult."
"Hey, wait a second, you seem to be getting way ahead of us here. Either that or I keep missing something," Mike said, once she had finished. "What job? Who's the kidnapper? And who in Monstropolis is your father?"
Leia quirked a brow. "That's alot of questions," she said, finally chuckling. "But I suppose now that I've spilled the beans, I might as well keep going."
"Yeah, well, I'm not the only one who wants to know this stuff, I'm sure," he added. "We've been searching for that guy all evening." He jerked a thumb in Randall's direction as he spoke.
So, Leia and Randall bounced opinions back and forth, explaining to them the whole story of what had happened. Just as they had finished, their conversation was interrupted when Mitchell came out of the kitchen. He was walking slowly and methodically as he held a mug filled with steaming hot chocolate. He had his eye on the mug, trying his best not to spill a drop. Ceila came in behind him with the other mug.
Mitchell finally reached Leia and held out the mug a tad too quickly. It sloshed onto his hand and he dropped it in her lap and all over the front of her. "Owww!" he squeaked.
Leia jerked back in surprise, the hot liquid staining her shirt and pants. "Ah! Hot!" she exclaimed.
Mitchell blinked bashfully. "Oops."
"Mitchell," Ceila began to scold, handing her mug to Randall. "You should be more careful. ."
Leia held up a hand to stop her. "No, it's okay," she interrupted. "It was only an accident, after all."
Ceila nodded. "Should I get you another cup?" she offered.
"No, that's fine. I think the hot chocolate warmed me up enough," she smiled.
Randall laughed. "Looks like ya might need a change of clothes though," he suggested. "Unless you girls consider brown stains 'in' this season."
Leia laughed and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Very funny."
"Yeah, it must be. You're laughing aren't ya?" Randall cleverly replied, a teasing smirk on his face.
He got her there. She smiled at him and stood up, taking the stained blanket off from around her. She handed it to Ceila and took a glance down at her brown-stained clothes.
"You wouldn't happen to have anything I could wear would you?" she asked her. "You know, just for the night."
Ceila nodded. "I think so. Follow me," she replied, looking back to Mike. "Googley Bear, why don't you get Mitchell to bed while I help. .uh. . ."
"Leia," she finished for her.
"Yes, Leia," Ceila corrected, leading her into their bedroom.
"Sure thing Schmoopsy Poo," Mike replied, hopping up from his seat and beginning to usher Mitchell to his bedroom.
"Aw, but I dun wanna go to bed," Mitchell complained, yawning. "I'm not tired."
Mike chuckled. "Okay, I'll help ya," he said, picking up the monster child and carrying him into his room.
"Noooooo!" Mitchell complained with a bit of a giggle as he was carried into his bedroom.
Sulley watched them and chuckled, glancing at Randall, who was now his regular color again. "You, Caylin, and Leia get the couch and the chairs - unless you consider the rug more comfortable. I'll leave you three to squabble over who gets what," he said, chuckling.
Randall smirked. "Yeah, thanks," he replied, laying on his stomach on the soft, shaggy rug.
"I get first dibs on Sulley's chair!" Caylin said, curling up on it with his fluppy. Midnight panted happily in his owner's grip, glad to be allowed to sleep on the furnature.
"Night," Sulley said. He shut off the living room light and disappearing into his room, the fireplace still crackling and radiating it's warmth.
"Yeah, you can have Furball's chair," Randall replied to Caylin. "But the rug's mine."
"Fine by me, dude," Caylin said, closing his eyes and lounging in the oversized chair. "It works for Midnight, so why not you, eh?"
"Hey, the dog's got a point," Randall answered. "It's rather comfortable."
Caylin chuckled, inwardly he was very glad to know his buddy was safe. He subconsciously stroked his fluppy from his white-spotted head down to his back, now content that he could do some brotherly teasing again. It made him feel like everything was going back to normal again.
Leia then came into the room, now with a fresh change of clothes. She walked into the living room, the fire casting a soft glow that danced across everything that was near it. "So, I suppose the couch is mine, huh?" she asked.
Randall nodded. It seemed that Caylin was already fast asleep, so he didn't give his input.
"Works for me," she replied, plopping down onto the couch and adjusting one of the pillows under her head.
Randall stared into the fireplace. Thoughts and questions were still flying through his head. Leia might be the only one who could answer them. He glanced at her.
"Hey, Leia?" he began.
"Mm hm?" she replied, turning over to look at him.
"I know this sounds idiotic, but what in the heck does BGB stand for?" he asked.
She grinned. "Naw, it's not idiotic. BGB stands for 'Bad Guy Bureau'," she explained willingly. "That guy who wanted to kidnap you founded it and put it together."
"Interesting. . .I've never heard of it. So, your dad works there?" he continued.
She nodded sadly. "Yeah. His name's Striker. He's head of the weapons department there. He's always been wanting me to join but. . .you know. I always got away with doing my own thing until now. Don't ask me why he chose the time he did to make me join."
Randall pursed his lips and nodded, thinking. "So, do you have any idea why they wanted me?"
Leia slipped her arm under her pillow and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid I don't know any more than you do," she answered.
He propped his head on his hands and suddenly a thought occured to him. He quickly looked back to Leia. "Do you know who Rayford is?"
Leia broke away from his eye contact for a moment, trying to recall something, but she just looked back at him and shook her head. "Why?"
"I heard that monster. . Bruton. . say something about using me for revenge against this guy," he explained. "And the wierd thing is that this guy's name seems, y'know, familiar somehow. It's driving me crazy. . .I can't figure it out."
"It does?" she asked with interest. "All I've heard about Rayford is that Bruton hates him beyond reason. Nobody's ever bothered to tell me why. In fact, it seems that they never bother to tell me anything. So, I suppose I wouldn't be very helpful in that case."
Randall nodded and sighed, laying down on the rug. "Yeah, thanks anyways."
Leia sighed too, looking at how disappointed he was at not getting any answers. She knew she didn't have any useful information for him, but she felt like she needed to something more. She watched the light of the flames dance across his frustrated expression and cleared her throat.
"Randall?" she said softly.
Randall didn't look away from the fireplace. "Yeah?"
"I might be able to find out what you want to know," she offered.
That seemed to grab his attention, because he looked at her again with interest. "You can?"
"Yes, if you still work at Monsters Inc, I can hack into the BGB database from one of the computers there," she explained. "Then we can find all the classified information you could ever want to know."
A smile formed on his face. "Yeah, I'm sure I can arrange that. . ."
"Great, we'll look into it tomorrow, then," Leia agreed. "Good night."
"Sure," Randall replied, pulling the blanket over his shoulder and closing his eyes. "Night."
Soon both drifted off into a deep, exhausted sleep as the events of the day began to take its toll.