***
"How can you watch this?" Alex asked Smoke and Bryce. The two were curled up together on the couch in the music room watching a DVD of the Black Adder series. He was sitting in the recliner bewildered at the pair.
"What are you talking about, Alex?" Bryce asked. "This is one of the best shows there is."
"The first time I saw the entire series. I thought it was good. The second time, I thought it was a good laugh. The twenty-third time, I wanted to bash my head against a wall." Alex said.
"You'd better be careful, or all the children are going to dance under your window singing 'sour puss and grumpy face'." Bryce said, mimicking Percy from the show.
"That's it. I'm going to find Electra. Maybe have a more intelligent conversation." Alex said as he left the room. Smoke and Bryce shook their heads at him before returning their attention to the television.
Alex wandered into the nursery and found Hillary with Electra in his arms reading to her.
"Hey, Hilly." Alex greeted.
Hillary glanced up.
"Ah, Alex, you can take over now." Hillary said, getting up and handing Electra to her father. "She was starting to doze off around the Greeks." Hillary said, motioning to the novel he was holding, which was a history book of ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean.
"Electra, you should pay attention the Greeks." Alex laughed. "Your mother spends her free time raiding their tombs." Alex cradled his daughter, smiling at her.
"Is Lara taking a nap?" Alex asked, glancing at Hillary.
"She told me that she was taking a very long bath." He said.
"Hmm, I'll take care of the little one till she's done." Alex said. "How about a book more on your reading level?" He asked Electra. Alex walked over to the bookcase in the nursery and picked out The Cat In The Hat. "Ah, Dr. Seuss. Best doctor there is." He said, kissing Electra's forehead.
***
Lara tied the white terry cloth bathrobe around her and padded into the hallway. She walked into the nursery and stopped at the door, a smile coming to her lips. Alex was asleep in the rocking chair with Electra dozing in his arms. A stack of Dr. Seuss books sat by the rocking chair.
Smiling, Lara walked into the nursery and gently shook Alex. He stirred and opened his eyes.
"Hi, sweetie." Alex looked around. "What time is it?" He asked.
"Late. Come on, let's put Electra to bed." She murmured, her lips brushing his.
"That was one long bath." He said, yawning as Lara took Electra from him. Lara kissed her forehead and walked over to her daughter's crib. She pulled the soft blankets back and gently placed Electra onto the crib, pulling the blankets over her. Alex wrapped his arm around Lara, peering into the crib.
"She's beautiful." He murmured. "Just like her mother." Alex drew Lara into his arms, kissing her and pressing her against his chest.
"You are turning into a walking Hallmark card." Lara said, playfully poking Alex's stomach, which was rapidly losing it's battle in a comparison to a washboard.
"What can I say?" Alex asked. "Family life is easy to get used to."
"Yes, I'm getting quite adjusted to it as well." Lara admitted.
"Well, let's get to bed so Electra can get us up again." Alex smirked. He pulled Lara into the hall.
"What? Here?" Alex and Lara glanced at the living room, trying to locate the voice. "Bryce, you are so impulsive." Bryce pulled Smoke into the computer area. He smiled at her and kissed her. "Don't tease me." Smoke smiled, kissing him harder.
"Children?" Lara asked, leaning over the balcony. Bryce and Smoke immediately separated, a guilty look coming over their faces. "What are you doing?" Lara asked.
"I was going to show Smoke the new features I built onto Simon." Bryce said innocently, pointing to a limp Simon.
Alex shook his head. "Computer nerds."
"Good night, children." Lara smiled. "And remember to use the surge protector." She said, before pulling Alex into the master bedroom.
Alex laughed. "That was very dirty, Lady West."
"Hmm, kinky computer speak. Dead sexy, huh?" Lara smiled, kissing his nose.
"You have no idea." Alex murmured, pulling Lara down onto the master bedroom.
***
"Alex?" Lara sat up in bed as soon as her eyes opened. She looked around, then shook her husband awake.
"Huh?" Alex lifted his head from the pillows. "What's wrong?"
"Did you hear Electra cry at all last night? I didn't wake up a single time." Lara said. She pulled her robe on over her nightgown and picked up the baby monitor that was sitting on the small end table by the bed. Lara had replaced the batteries the night before and the red light in the corner of the device was still lit.
"Maybe she's started sleeping through the entire night." Alex suggested, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"Maybe she's been sneaking out to join a secret society of playwrights." Lara snapped.
"Alright, fine. Let's go and check on her." Alex said. He reluctantly pulled the warm blankets away from him and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. He was pulling his slippers on when Lara left the room, headed for the nursery.
"It's okay, don't wait for me. I'll be there in a second." Alex called after her.
Alex was tying his blue robe around himself when he heard Lara scream.
"Shit!" Alex forgot about the robe and ran down the hall, bursting into the nursery. "Lara!" He shouted. "Lara, what's wrong?!"
Lara pointed to the crib, couldn't speak as she felt like her stomach was lodged in her throat. Alex glanced into crib. It was bare.
"Lara, Alex, is something wrong?" Hillary asked, looking into the room.
"Do you have Electra?" Alex asked.
"Why no, I haven't seen her since last night." Hillary said.
"Bryce and Smoke." Lara murmured. She raced downstairs and burst into Smoke's room without knocking. Smoke and Bryce were nestled together under several quilts. Lara shook Smoke back into consciousness.
"Smoke, wake up. Electra is missing." Lara said.
"Wha, huh?" Smoke blinked, sitting up slowly. "What is going on?" Smoke asked.
"Electra is gone. Do you know where she is?" Lara asked frantically.
"No." Smoke pulled the blankets against herself. "What about Hillary?"
"He doesn't have her either." Lara ran from the room. "Alex! Call Scotland Yard!"
***
"Lara!" Hillary called as he entered the house.
"Do you have news!?" Lara demanded, darting from the kitchen with Alex on her heels.
"Yes, I do." Hillary showed Lara the newspaper that he had found.
ELECTRA WEST KIDNAPPED!
The headline screamed.
"Bloody tabloids." Lara muttered.
"Oh perfect." Alex grumbled.
"What is it now?" Smoke asked, emerging from the kitchen.
"The press has found out about Electra's disappearance." Alex said, holding up the newspaper.
"Just what we need." Smoke said. "Then again, maybe someone saw something or knows something about the kidnapping. It might actually help."
The phone rang. Everyone looked up. Lara stamped over to the phone and picked up the receiver. "What the bloody hell do you want?!" Lara shouted.
"I have your daughter." A raspy voice said.
"What?!" Lara demanded.
"Honey, who is it?" Alex asked, worried that perhaps the threats from their mystery caller had finally been taken out.
"They say that have Electra." Lara said.
"Put Alex on the phone." The voice rasped.
"Listen, you bloody psychopath, if you are going to talk to anyone, then you are going to talk to me!" She shouted.
"Put Alex on the phone if you ever want to see your daughter alive again." The voice said, flatly.
Lara shoved the phone at Alex, then ran into the kitchen and picked up the portable.
"Who is this?" Alex asked in a low voice.
"I have your daughter." Said the voice. "If you want to see her again then you and Lara will attend Lord and Lady Potter's annual charity ball. I will contact you there."
"And just why should we trust you?" Alex demanded. "How do we even know that you have Electra?"
"You're just going to have to trust me." The voice said, innocently. "Besides, she has Lara's pretty eyes. It would be a shame if no one was to ever see them again. . ."
"If you hurt her so help me God I'll-" Alex suddenly realized that he was screaming at the dial tone.
"So, our mystery caller wasn't all talk." Hillary muttered.
Lara set the portable phone down. "What do you mean, Hillary?"
Hillary glanced at Alex, then back at Lara. "Uh, well, I meant. . . ."
"I asked you a question, Hillary." Lara said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Lara, a couple months ago we got some threatening phone calls." Alex sighed. "But you were already very pregnant by then and the doctor told me not to stress you out, so we didn't tell you. Besides, we just thought it was a prank or something."
"You thought it was just a prank?!" Lara shouted. "Well, now our daughter is gone and I hope you have enjoyed this 'prank'!" Lara turned and left without another word. She stormed upstairs and slammed the door to the master bedroom.
"Great. . ." Alex muttered.
"What did the mystery caller say?" Bryce asked.
"He said that Lara and I have to attend Lord and Lady Potter's charity thing then he'll contact us." Alex said. He rubbed his temples.
"I'll go with you." Smoke said. "I can knock off who ever has Electra if you want me too." Alex glanced at the girl. She looked surprisingly wide eyed. After all, she was supposed to be protecting Electra and she had instead spent the night with Bryce. She obviously felt very responsible.
"Let's worry about that when it gets here." Alex said. "Hillary, I want you to find out everything about this charity ball as you can. Bryce, I need you to get all the helpful little gadgets together that you can. Smoke, you work on finding a gun you can hide under an evening gown."
"What are you going to do?" Hillary asked.
"I'm going to talk to Lara." He muttered. His task, however, was no doubt going to be the most difficult. He slowly walked up the stairs and went into the master bedroom. He walked in slowly. He heard soft sobbing as he entered the room. Alex walked in and sat down on the side of the bed where Lara was sobbing into her pillow.
"Baby?" He murmured, laying down beside her and pulling her into his arms. Lara wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing uncontrollably. "It's alright, Lara." He whispered to her. "We'll get Electra back. I promise." He murmured to her. "I promise."