Chapter Twelve



Rex had no idea what he was supposed to do. On one side, there was Cassie, his twin sister, the only person who had been there for him his entire life. And on the other side there was Mimi. He knew how deep his feelings for Mimi went and that there would never be another woman like her in his life. He sighed and ran one hand through his hair.

"I don't know." he said finally, "I don't want you to leave again, Cassie. But I can't leave Mimi, not after all the things she's helped me through. I have no idea what I'm going to do."

Cassie let out a small shriek of frustration, "Mimi always ruins everything. Just leave her behind, she can go screw up Shawn or Phillip's life."

"Excuse me?" Mimi glared at Cassie and grabbed Rex's hand protectively, "Why should Rex go anywhere with you? Now that you've finally managed to get a guy, you probably wouldn't pay any attention to Rex."

"No, I'm not you." Cassie shot back, "Because ever since you came into Rex's life, you've stolen all his attention and he hardly ever paid attention to me. You are not going to steal him from me again."

"I am still in the room, you know." Rex commented, "And it's my decision, not yours, Mimi, and not yours, Cassie."

Cassie and Mimi immediately looked like they regretted fighting, "Rex, I'm sorry. But you can't stay in Salem with her, it would ruin everything." Cassie cried, giving Mimi another dirty look.

"Mimi, what if you...... came with us?" Richard cut in, wondering why Rex or Cassie hadn't thought of it sooner. It would make everything a lot easier, although the idea of Mimi and Cassie having a catfight was a very interesting one. Maybe he should have waited it out a little longer but it was too late now.

"Me?" Mimi hands flew up to her face, "You want me to join your motorcycle gang? I-I- I don't know if I could do that, I mean-"

"What she means is, she's too much of a wimp." Cassie finished for her, smiling knowingly at Mimi, "You don't have the guts to come with us. You wouldn't even do it for Rex, no matter how much you say you love him."

Mimi felt her head beginning to pound. Cassie had a way of getting her so irritated, it gave her a migraine. She hated the idea of Cassie becoming her sister in law and she hoped that they would be able to start getting along better in case she and Rex ever decided to get married. And Mimi hated how Cassie thought she knew Mimi so well. Mimi was not a wimp, she was just as brave and as adventurous as Cassie. She would prove it.

"I'm all for it." Mimi told Richard, smiling at Rex, "Now you don't have to pick between Cassie and me. Although, it's really obvious who you would have picked in the end." Mimi smirked at Cassie, who stared at her in disbelief.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cassie said hotly, "My brother would never have picked you over me. He would have wanted to have an adventure and leave you behind. Because you're boring."

Mimi ignored Cassie and turned back to Richard, "When do we have to leave?"

"As soon as possible." Richard answered, "You guys should pack up your stuff and get everything together right away. Cassie and I have to go talk to Lucas right now though. You can hurry and pack and then come with us."

"Okay." Mimi stood up and was about to head over to the loft she shared with Belle but Rex stopped her.

"You aren't going anywhere until you and Cassie make a truce." Rex said firmly, "I am sick of seeing the two most important people in my life fight all the time. And if we're going to be spending so much time around each other, I don't want it to be a war-zone."

Richard crossed his arms over his chest and waited to see what Cassie's reaction would be. He knew how Cassie felt about Mimi. He knew that Cassie didn't hate Mimi or anything like that, she just resented how much of her brother's time Mimi took up. Cassie seemed to think about it for a few minutes before sighing reluctantly.

"Fine." she extended her hand to Mimi, "Truce."

"Truce." Mimi repeated and Rex broke into a smile.

"Aw, look, they're best friends now." Richard snickered, receiving glares from Cassie and Mimi, "Cassie, you go help Mimi pack and I'll help Rex."

Rex and Mimi finished packing in under twenty minutes and they joined Cassie and Richard to go over and see Lucas. He was at Sami's apartment, just as Richard had suspected. Richard opened the door and went inside without knocking. Brady and Nicole were still over and they looked up at Richard and Cassie in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Sami demanded, "You can't just walk into my apartment without knocking."

Richard pretended Sami wasn't there as he turned to Lucas, "He's dead, Lucas. But we sort of got caught by this policewoman and we have to get out of here now."

"Isn't that convenient?" Nicole spoke up, "Brady and I were just telling Sami and Lucas how we wanted to come with you guys when you left Salem. We bought the bikes and our stuff is packed and everything."

Brady's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Who's dead?"

Rex, Cassie and Mimi shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to be the ones to break the news, especially to Sami and Nicole. Richard didn't seem to have a problem with telling them though.

"The Salem Serial Killer was Brandon Walker." he began, "He would have killed Lucas if we hadn't killed him. We had to do it."

"We think he was covering for you, Nicole." Lucas added, the look on his face slightly accusing. Nicole's face crumpled and she began to cry.

"My brother was a killer. My brother is dead." she repeated the words over and over as Brady held onto her, rocking her back and forth. Sami, on the other hand, had gotten over Brandon and didn't feel that much pain. Instead she just felt anger.

"I hate him." Sami seethed, "I'm glad he's dead. He deserves to rot in hell after what he did to my daddy and my grandmother."

Nicole sniffled and tried to stop crying. She couldn't believe that her father and her brother had both turned out to be such awful people. She knew she wasn't the most wonderful person either but she had never stooped to their level. She had killed one man because she had panicked, feeling an uncontrollable need to get Colin Murphy out her life forever. But she hadn't brutally murdered seven people or raped anyone. She knew it was going to be hard to get over the fact her brother had been a serial killer but she was glad she would be leaving Salem soon. She wanted to put everything that had happened to her in Salem behind her.

Finally, Richard spoke again, "Does this mean that you're all coming? Because we really need to get out of here before turbo-bitch Mayweather comes after us again."

Lucas looked over at Sami, "I want to go with them. And I want you to come with me."

Sami looked uncertain, "Lucas, are you sure want me with you?"

"Yes." he answered without hesitation, lowering his voice so only she could hear it, "I love you so much. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter what happens. Once we get out of Salem, we can elope. There's still months to go before Will gets out of school."

"I love you too. And I do want to go. I wanted to go with you before and I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. I am coming with you, Lucas."

Lucas grinned at her and looked up at Richard's impatient face, "We're going."

Lucas had never unpacked from the last trip so everyone was ready to leave except for Sami. Rex said he was going to go buy a motorcycle while Sami packed. Before Rex could leave, Richard stopped him.

"Before we go any further, I think we should all start over. I know some of us don't get along very well." his eyes flicked over to Sami when he said that, "And we're going to be stuck with each other for a long time."

Everyone murmured in agreement and Sami called a truce with Rex and Cassie. Richard and Sami decided to forget the conditions they had first met under. Rex and Lucas and Sami and Brady decided to try and get along better. Brady forgave Lucas for setting Nicole up with Jason, something he had been pretty mad about. That only left two people.

"That just leaves you and Nicole, Lucas." Richard prompted his friend, "I've heard all about the horrible history the two of you have but I think you can both get over it."

Nicole looked over at Lucas and realized only then how horrible it must have been to find out he had been married to someone who had never loved or respected him. For the first time, she felt actual remorse about what she had put him through.

"Lucas, I'm sorry." Nicole stared at the ground, "I was wrong and I hope you can forgive me for what I did someday."

Lucas was silent for a few minutes and Nicole was afraid he wasn't going to accept her apology, "I forgive you." he said finally, not entirely meaning it. He just wanted to start talking about something else before people started asking exactly what Nicole was apologizing for.

Rex left and Sami went into her bedroom to pack. As she was packing, Nicole turned on her television. She stared in shock at the news anchorwoman.

"Richard, I think we're in trouble. They're already offering a cash reward for someone to turn you in. They've blocked off all the exits to Salem. I don't know how the hell we're supposed to get out of here without you getting arrested."

Richard's mind was racing. He had come too far to end up in jail now. He couldn't let Officer Mayweather put him in prison, he couldn't. He had to think of some way to get out of Salem without getting caught. But no matter how hard he tried, there wasn't a single plan he could come up with that would actually work.