"You see, Brady obviously enjoys it when people play hard to get with him. Even if Brady did like kissing Lucas, what really got to him was Lucas punching him for it. He saw that as Lucas playing hard to get with him." Jan explained.
"What, so this is my fault?" Lucas demanded, looking insulted.
"Not totally." Jan answered evasively, "Brady is a very messed-up guy. Chloe was a challenge and for a while, I think Nicole was too. Once Nicole stopped being unattainable, I think Brady lost interest. And now that she's giving him the cold shoulder again, he likes her again."
"And Brady told you all this?" Shawn asked doubtfully.
"No, I just know it's true." Jan told him in an arrogant voice, "I am a very perceptive person."
"I'm sure you are. Hey, since my mother is missing in action, why don't you use your awesome perceptiveness to shrink her clients?" Sami suggested, shaking her head in disgust, "Because you're certainly not helping us get Brady to stop lusting after Lucas with your perceptiveness."
"I was getting to that." Jan shot back, "My plan was to get Lucas to stop playing hard to get and get to him to do the exact opposite instead."
"I really don't see what good that's going to do." Lucas sounded horrified.
"Don't freak out, Lucas." Jan scolded him, "Give me a chance to explain." when Lucas, Sami and Shawn all fell silent, Jan cleared her throat dramatically, basking in the their attention, "All you have to do is act like you're in love with him." Lucas opened his mouth to protest but Jan quickly held up her hand for silence, "And not just in love; you have to act over-the-top obsessed with him. I can give you a lot of pointers on that."
"And how the hell does that work?" Sami interjected sharply, "If Brady thinks that Lucas returns his feelings, won't that just make him happy?"
"No, Sami, you must not have been listening." Jan addressed her as if she was a child, "If Lucas goes completely overboard, it will not only turn Brady off but it will scare him as well. Chances are, after Lucas gets through with him, Brady will want to stay as far away from Lucas as possible."
"And thank God for that." Lucas muttered.
Shawn rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully, "That's actually a pretty good plan. I can see it working." he gave Jan a quick look of admiration, "How can you be so smart and still come off as a psychotic bimbo for so much of the time?"
Jan blushed, "It's all part of the plan. I like to take people by surprise. So, Lucas," Jan returned to the main topic, "Are you ready to go scare the shit out of Brady?"
Lucas still didn't looked totally convinced, "I won't have to kiss him or anything, will I?"
"Of course not." Jan assured him, "Just make yourself sound like an obsessed stalker. That should be good enough."
"But what if it has the opposite effect?" Sami jumped in, "What if Brady is so glad that Lucas 'feels the same way' that he throws himself at Lucas and starts doing things to him?"
Jan looked stumped for a moment, then smiled confidently, "If all else fails, which it won't, Lucas can 'confess' to Brady that he can never be with him because he has been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. If an STD doesn't turn Brady off, I don't know what will." Jan rocked on the balls of her feet excitedly, "I think Brady is still beating the crap out of some defenseless, unconscious guy. Go get him, Lucas."
"All right." Lucas sighed reluctantly and got off the couch, "He left the apartment and after beginning to walk down the hallway, he realized that Sami, Shawn and Jan were all following him. He stopped walking and gave them a questioning glance.
"Don't you have anything better to do than follow me?" he asked, not wanting to put on a show for all of them. Jan shook her head and smirked at him.
"See, that's one of the perks of this plan." Jan told him, "We get to hide and watch you pretend to be a gay stalker. It will definitely make my day and I'm sure Shawn and Sami agree."
Shawn nodded eagerly and even Sami admitted that it would be kind of funny to watch. Lucas shook his head in disbelief at the three of them but continued down the hall. He went out into the parking lot and quickly found Brady near Brandon, who was still unconscious. Brady grinned when he saw Lucas and hurried over to him. Sami, Shawn and Jan had already ducked behind a car so Brady couldn't see them.
"I finished beating him up." Brady informed Lucas; "I beat him up real good. Can I have a reward now?"
"Sure, you can." Lucas replied, doing his best to sound enthusiastic, "But first, there's some things I need to tell you."
"Okay." Brady waited expectantly for Lucas to speak again.
"I- I'm in love with you." Lucas managed to say in a strangled voice. Jan winced, wishing Lucas sounded more emphatic. Maybe this would get easier for Lucas as he went along. Brady started at Lucas' words and stared at him in shock.
"Really?" Brady checked, sure he had heard Lucas wrong.
"Really. Lucas' voice sounded more neutral now, "I've been in love with you for the longest time. But I've been so afraid, because my feelings have been so intense but I can fight you anymore. I want to be with you forever and never let you go."
He definitely didn't need any lessons from me, Jan thought to herself, He's doing a great job with this. He sounds like a total idiot. Shawn was snickering into his hand and Sami was shaking with silent laughter.
"Oh, God. This is so unexpected." Brady stammered, looking around the parking lot nervously, "But not totally unwanted either."
"It better not be." Lucas had lowered his voice so it actually sounded slightly wild, "I can't stand the idea of you not wanting me. You're everything to me, Brady, and I have to have you at all costs."
"Um..." Brady stepped back, eyeing Lucas warily.
"Don't run from me!" Lucas roared, filling the space between himself and Brady again, "You know you want this as badly as I do. If you back down now, I won't be able to take it. We're going to be together forever. We're soul mates and nothing can keep us apart." Lucas grinned maniacally at Brady, "I have so many plans for our future."
"Like what?" Brady inquired, clearly unsure of how to deal with this drastic change in Lucas.
"For starters, we're going to get married."
"M-m-married?" Brady stuttered in disbelief, his topaz coloured eyes wide.
"That's right, married." Lucas confirmed, "Now, I know gay marriages aren't legal in Salem, so we're going to elope. Just you, me, and our little baby are all running away from Salem to get married in a place where we'll finally be accepted." Lucas wiped away an imaginary tear, "I know you'll look beautiful in a wedding dress."
Brady looked utterly shell-shocked, "What about Sami?" he croaked.
Lucas pretended not to understand the meaning behind Brady's words, "Don't worry about Sami. She's not going to come between us. I'd rather die than lose you."
"Uh... I'm not really pregnant though." Brady's eyes flickered around the parking lot, frantically searching for an escape, "Nicole made that up, remember?"
"No, it isn't true." Lucas stated flatly, "You are pregnant, I know you are. You are having my child and I don't know why you're trying to write off such a wonderful thing as fake."
"Lucas, what are you talking about? Nicole was lying about the whole thing. She told my dad that-"
"Nicole." Lucas spat out the word in a caustic voice, "That's what this is about, isn't it? She's trying to tear us apart. That stupid bitch. I won't let her get away with it."
"Lucas what are you-" Brady started but was cut off again.
"I'll kill her." Lucas said fiercely, startling Brady into silence, "She can't destroy what we have. I'll do anything to keep you in my life and nothing will ever come between us."
"Are you okay?" Brady asked, worried, "Have you been taking drugs or something?"
"I have invested too much in being with you to give up now." Lucas went on, ignoring Brady's question, "Every night I spent watching you sleep, every day I spent following you, it's too much. I can't let you go."
"That is enough." Brady said firmly, despite the fact that his hands were shaking with fear, "There is nothing between us, okay? I thought you were normal but obviously you were far from it. You're completely insane and I'm never going to marry you or do anything else with you. Just leave me alone." as soon as he finished speaking, Brady rushed by Lucas, muttering under his breath.
"I'll never let you go." Lucas called after him, "You'll be sorry." As soon as Brady was gone, Lucas chuckled to himself. Sami, Shawn and Jan got to their feet and went over to Lucas.
"Congratulations." Jan patted Lucas on the back, "I couldn't have done it better myself. You did an excellent job of pulling that off."
"I thought so." Lucas grimaced, "Although a lot of that was hard to say. I don't know how I got through that without laughing."
"So, now all we have to do is get Brady and Nicole together." Jan said, suddenly turning serious, "I heard Brady mention something about going to the Brady Pub when he walked by us. All I have to do is get Nicole over there and hope for the best." Jan whipped out her cell phone and began dialing quickly, preparing to send Nicole right into Brady's arms.
Mimi looked up to see Brady enter the restaurant and called him over. As he neared the table she was sharing with Rex, Mimi realized that Brady looked very upset. He sat down next to Mimi and mumbled a quick hello, still looking distracted.
"What happened to you?" Mimi asked softly. Brady groaned and banged his head against the table.
"I don't know. Lucas just turned out to be the biggest weirdo in all of Salem, and that's definitely saying something. Then I was walking over here and I realized that my crush on him was completely ridiculous before it was like a complete obsession and now I realize that what I felt for him is nothing compared to what I feel for Nicole. I just kept thinking of how I felt about Nicole and how she looks at me, then I thought about Lucas and Sami and how much they seemed to care about each other and I realized that I had totally screwed up because now Nicole thinks she's my second choice when I just figured out that she was never my second choice." Brady took a deep breath after finishing.
"Wow." Rex deadpanned, "That's really deep."
Brady banged his head against the table even harder, "This isn't funny. It's a real crisis, Rex. I think I love Nicole but I just now realized it because Lucas threatened to kill her but I won't let him-"
"Brady, there's no need to talk so fast." Mimi intervened gently, "We're not going anywhere."
"Speak for yourself. This guy is like a soap opera." Rex spoke up.
"I just don't know how I'm going to make Nicole see how much I care about her. I think it might already be too late because I've screwed up much." Brady spoke slower, rubbing his now throbbing forehead.
"It looks like you'll have your chance now." Mimi commented, "She just came in."
Before Brady could turn around to look at her, Rex leaned in to whisper something to Brady, "Sing to her?"
"Huh?"
"Sing to her." Rex repeated impatiently, "Girls love it when you do that for them. It helped me get things back on track with Mimi before. Just start singing to her right in the middle of the restaurant, she'll totally go for it."
Brady looked around to see if there was anyone else in the pub he knew besides Rex, Mimi and Nicole. When he didn't see anyone else, he decided it couldn't hurt anything to start singing to her. And it did sound like it might work, even if it embarrassed the hell out of him. Nicole came over to their table to sit down between Brady and Rex, saying hello to Mimi and Rex but purposely ignoring Brady.
"What are you doing here?" Mimi asked Nicole, looking at Brady questioningly.
"I was supposed to be meeting Jan here." Nicole answered, looking around the pub, "But she isn't here yet."
"Hi, Nicole." Brady spoke up. Nicole gave him a blank look, then turned back to Mimi. Brady winced at the coldness he could almost feel emanating from Nicole but tried again. He touched her arm and turned her around gently with his free hand.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Brady said, "I'm sorry for everything. I was wrong of me to mess up your publicity campaign and the whole thing with Lucas... I apologize for that too. I shouldn't have even tried to make you mad, even if you were doing the same thing to me with Jan. But can you please forgive me? I can't stand you being so angry at me." Brady pleaded with her, not caring that he was losing all of his pride.
Nicole softened the tiniest bit, "I'll think about it." was all she said before turning back to Mimi. But before Mimi or Nicole could speak, Brady broke in once more.
"L," Brady drawled in a wobbly, off-key voice. Mimi, Rex and Nicole are turned to stare at him.
"What are you doing?" Nicole asked.
"Is for the way you look at me." Brady sang, smiling broadly at Nicole, "O is for the only one I see."
"Aw, Nicole, I think you're being serenaded." Mimi said, beaming at Brady, who continued to sing, ignoring everyone in the pub who was staring at him.
"Is that what's going on?" Nicole raised an eyebrow and hid a huge smile behind her hand. Brady was rocking back and forth in his chair slightly and was bobbing his head in time to the words. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around Nicole so she was swaying with him.
"V is very, very extraordinary and E is," Brady frowned and hummed the rest of the line, obviously forgetting what E stood for, "And love is all that I can give to you. Love is more than just a game for two. Two in love can make it, take my heart but please don't break it, love was made for me and you."
Nicole was smiling openly now and turned to grin at Brady, "I think I get it."
Brady gave Nicole his most charming smile, "Have I won you over yet?"
"You won me over a long time ago." Nicole murmured, giving him a fleeting kiss on the lips. Before Nicole could pull away from the brief kiss, Brady tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss while everyone in the pub applauded. Brady could hear the hushes whispers about Lyric Wilson and her fiancé as he continued to kiss Nicole. He smiled inwardly, Well that was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
They broke the kiss and Nicole looked up him with mild uncertainty, "What about Lucas?" she asked in a small voice. Brady just smiled again and traced her lower lip with his thumb.
"Lucas who?" was his only response before leaning over to kiss her again.