Chapter 18: A Long Night

Fox was sitting in his seat in the Crane jet remembering why he actually left Harmony. He had led everyone to believe that it was because of his grandmother's passing, but little did they know . . .

** Flashback of two months prior during the funeral **

Fox watched as his grandmother's casket was laid in the ground. He was crying and Teresa was holding one arm and Ally was on the other. People started to walk away but Fox remained there. He wanted to be alone for a while.
Rachel walked up to him and kissed his cheek. She linked arms with him and told him, "You'll get through this, I promise." He looked at her and kissed her forehead. Arm in arm they walked away to Fox's car.
He dropped her off at the motel where she staying and watched her go in safely. He went and sat down in the car staring back and forth between his dashboard and Rachel's door. He opened the dashboard, took something out, took his suit off and changed into some sweats from the other day. He walked out of his car and directly into Rachel's room.

** END OF FLASHBACK**

*~*~*~*~*

Fox hung his cell phone up and threw it on the couch. He wasn't getting a reply from Rachel's apartment in Milan. He laid down and faced the window. He heard Teresa walk into the room and pretended to sleep when she went to check if he was awake.
Teresa decided to read a magazine and wait for Fox to wake up. She placed the magazine on the lamp stand when she couldn't wait any longer and crawled up against Fox. She wrapped her arm around him and he rolled over to face her.

"Hey babe."

"Hey looney tune."

He kissed her forehead and she laid her head in his outstretched arm.

"You're so quiet."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"That's ok." She cuddled some more with him.

Silence.

"So, sweetie, are you in the mood to talk?"

"About what?" he asked.

"Us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. Us."

"I guess so. What do you want say?"

"I don't know. That I love you."

"I love you too." She raised her head and they kissed.

"I missed you Fox."

"I missed you too." He traced his finger from her bra to the button on her pants.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Depends. What are you thinking?"

She smiled and raised her face to kiss him. He held her and eventually laid on top of her. Within minutes, they were together again.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"I want 1 million dollars for her."

"1 million! That's crazy. Where do you expect us to get that money?"

"Get the money or you'll never see her again. Put it at the foot of Harmony Cliff at the gate by tomorrow night at midnight."

The phone clicked. Luis looked at Hank, "He wasn't on the phone long enough to trace the call."

"Damn it."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Fox was kissing Teresa's bare stomach when Luis started to bang on the bedroom door. Teresa yelled at the door, "What Luis?"

"I need to speak with Fox."

"He's kind of busy right now."

"Gross Teresa. FOX! Get off my sister and get dressed and get out here. NOW!"

Fox looked down at Teresa and kissed her lips. He "pulled out" and they got dressed and walked into the living room where Luis was on the couch.

"What do you need Luis?"

"Sit down Fox." Fox took a seat and Teresa sat next to him and held his hand with her fingers laced tightly into his. Luis pulled out a picture of a young woman, "Do you know this woman?"

"Yeah. That's my best friend in Milan. Her name is Rachel."

"Fox, she's missing and being held for ransom."

"WHAT? For how much? For how long?"

"Calm down. One million and she has been gone about two months."

"Two months? One million dollars? Poor Rachel."
Teresa held out her hand and Luis handed her the picture. She recognized the girl from the club in Milan.

"Why was she in the United States in the first place?" Teresa asked.

"Katherine Crane's funeral. She was there with Fox. Remember?"

"Yeah. Now I do." Teresa replied without recollection of seeing Rachel at the funeral. She handed Fox the picture and said, "Have her family draw up 50 grand. I'll do the rest."

He rose from his seat next to Teresa and immediately went to make some calls on his cell phone. He was going to get his best friend back, no matter what the cost.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Fox placed the money at the gate at exactly midnight. He started to walk backwards towards his car when he felt the tip of a gun directly on his back.

"Move carefully and slowly Crane."

"Where's Rachel?"

"She's dead."

"No she isn't."

"How would you know?"

"I just have a feeling I guess."

"Keep walking Crane."

The gunman poked Fox through a hiking path on the route up to the cliff. He finally stopped telling Fox to move on when they reached the half waypoint.

"You have the money. Just let me go."

In the shadows Fox saw someone coming towards him. It was a gagged Rachel with someone holding her at gunpoint. The man gagged Fox and tied him and Rachel together. Together they sat on the dirt, waiting while the men counted their money. One man looked at Fox and said, "You would really pay one thousand dollars for that tramp?" Fox nodded. The other man came at Rachel with a knife and told her, "You know what to do right?" He unzipped his pants and un-gagged her. He stuck his pelvis towards her face when a gunshot went off.

The gunshot hit the man harassing Rachel and he fell off the cliff. The shooter was the other man who was packing up the counted money. He looked at Fox and Rachel and said, "I wanted it all for myself."

He started to walk away when Rachel screamed, "What about us?"

The man laughed as he walked away a million dollars richer. Rachel said to Fox, "Thank you so much. You don't know the torture I went through these past months."

Fox tried to reply but he couldn't. A couple of seconds later another gunshot went off and they heard someone running up the path towards them. It was Luis and Hank and some other cops. They untied Fox and Rachel and they had quite a reunion moment together.

"Fox, thank you so much." Rachel said while in Fox's hugging arms.

"You know I love you girl. I'd never let anything happen to you."

"Thank you so much." She kissed Fox on the lips the same moment Teresa walked up the hill to see Fox. Teresa cleared her throat loudly and when they stopped kissing she stared at them.

Fox looked at Rachel who was still in his arms, "This is going to be a long night."

:::::::::::::::::: A/N :::::::::::::::::::

Was this a good twist? Trust me, this Rachel thing goes deeper.

Note to readers: Refer back to chapter 16 for something in the beginning of this chapter.

I didn't really classify Katherine's funeral as a twist so, this counts as the first for this story. Don't worry, if you read "From Beginning to End" you know that I pull out all the stops. Lol. R&R please. Thanx.

I've extended the poll for the Miguel/Charity/Kay triangle. I am really mad at Charity and feel bad for Kay now b/c she had his baby (not in my story) and Charity is nagging and pulling for Miguel even if she sacrificed him, she makes me mad still. That poll ends Tuesday, August 12th, 2003 by 9am.