Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. And, wow, I thought I knew where I was going with this but it turns out, I don't. I know the general direction this fic is going but other than that, I'm making it up as I go along. So, if you have any ideas or requests for what you want to see happen in this fic (the weirder the better- I mean it is Jan here, lol), send me a review and I'll see what I can do.
Two days after Jan had lured Phillip and Lucas into her country home, she skipped into Lucas' room with the key to his handcuffs in her hand. He heard her approaching him and looked up from the bedspread. His eyes lit up hopefully when he noticed that she was carrying the keys.
"Are you going to let me leave now?" Lucas asked, grinning at her, "This means a lot to me, thanks."
Jan stared at him like he had just grown another head, "Are you nuts? I can't let you leave. It's time for you to have a shower, that's all. You're not going to leave here. Ever."
Lucas' smile faded and once Jan had unlocked the handcuffs and freed his hands, he sat up and grabbed her arms roughly, "Why the hell are you doing this? You know, at first it was creepy and for a while it was kind of funny but now it is nothing more than really annoying and boring. Why can't you just let us all go?"
Jan winced as his hands tightened around her arms and she had to use her fingernails to pry his hands off of her, "Because I just can't. You belong to me and Crystal now, you're our property and it's going to stay that way forever. Now that we have you, we are going to keep you. And any means of escape you might have will be nothing less than death." Jan's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Do I make myself clear?"
"You need help. You're totally crazy." Lucas shot back, almost intimidated by the way her eyes blackened with surprising intensity and narrowed into tiny slits. But as quickly as the expression had appeared, it faded and Jan now looked hurt.
"I'm not crazy, just horny." Jan responded bluntly, "It's not my fault. You should see the stuff other people do to fulfill their needs." Jan looked down at his feet, "There, now you can go take a shower. And while you're in there, do you want me to help you clean yourself off? I'm really good at giving people shower massages."
Lucas stared at her, "Okay, like two seconds ago, you were practically threatening to murder me and now you're asking me if I want you to join me in the shower? Um, no thank you, I think I'll pass. Sorry to disappoint you but I'm having flashbacks from the movie Psycho here. Go rape some olives or something."
Jan's jaw dropped with indignation, "Well, obviously you're not that scared of me if you're not showing any respect towards me. Did I hear you wrong or did you really just tell me to go rape some olives?"
"That's what I said." Lucas assured her, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking at her, "Because you're not getting any from me. You can keep me here as long as you want and that won't change."
Jan made a strangled noise in the back of her throat and fled from Lucas' room, "Crystal! You lied! You said I would get some if I chained all these guys up but nooooo, none of them are giving in! They just say, 'No, Jan, I'm not going to sleep with you.'. They're telling me to rape olives here and I am getting desperate. Do something!"
"Jan, stop freaking out over nothing. We're just getting started. There's still lots more guys we have to drag over here and Brady will be joining us in a matter of hours. He'll break fast, I mean, he's already got a thing for his own grandmother so he won't resist you. Besides, it's only been two days for the first two guys. We'll wear them all down eventually." Crystal soothed her accomplice.
Lucas tuned out their conversation and made his way into the bathroom attached to the room he was being held in, the chains bound around his ankles clanking behind him. The sounds the chains made when they hit the hard wood floor made him feel like he was in prison. The bars Jan and Crystal had recently surrounded the bed with didn't do anything to help him deviate from this feeling either. At least in the small bathroom, he could escape from the bars and the bed he had already grown to hate. Looking at it, lying on it practically every minute of the day was driving him crazy. He stripped out of his jeans and boxers, briefly wondering what Jan and Crystal had done with his shirt. He wanted it back. He knew that should have been the last thing on his mind but dammit, he had liked that shirt. Sighing, he turned on the water and stepped under the steady stream, relieved that the water was drowning out Crystal and Jan's voices.
He couldn't understand how Shawn had lasted as long as he had here already. Lucas felt like all of his composure was slowly but steadily draining out of him. He knew he wouldn't be able to take being trapped in a cage with nothing to do all day for much longer. And worse than that, he missed Sami. After Sami had walked away from him and left him standing him in the Blue Note parking lot alone, he had sworn to himself that it was over and that he wouldn't let himself miss her. And that had lasted, what, about three hours? But missing her here was worse than missing her while living in the apartment across the hall from her. The separation was more solid, more hopeless. And from the looks of things, he would be missing her from a distance for a very long time.
Kate and Belle were both frantic now. Sami watched the Belle sob uncontrollably into a couch cushion while Kate hurried around the kitchen in Belle's loft, preparing tea for Belle. Because Belle was suffering so much, she just had to have both Kate and Sami over to comfort her. Sami listened to Belle cry and Kate continue to try and calm Belle down while making Belle's tea. Sami felt resentment burn in her stomach, which was directed at both Kate and Belle. Both of them had fallen apart after Lucas and Phillip had disappeared. All they did was cry and talk about how upset they were over 'losing' Lucas and Phillip. God, it had only been two days and they were acting like the two men were already pronounced dead. Of course, both Belle and Kate did have a tendency to be way too dramatic about things, Sami told herself.
Sami didn't believe that Lucas was dead and she didn't even think he was in trouble yet. It had only been two days since she had seen him and there were plenty of logical, harmless reasons he explaining why he was gone. She couldn't name very many right off the bat but she knew there had to be plenty. Rolling her eyes, Sami squeezed Belle's shoulder comfortingly, causing Belle to look up from the pillow, her face swollen and tear-stained.
"I'm sure Phillip is fine, Belle. He and Lucas both are. Lucas probably just ran off to get back at me by making me worry. And I swear to God, when he comes back with some lame-ass excuse about why he was gone after all this, I am going to hurt him."
Kate glared at Sami, "He wouldn't go through all this trouble for you. And even if he did, he would give his own mother a warning before disappearing like this."
"And what about Phillip?" Belle added in a small voice, "He wouldn't go along with Lucas. He wouldn't leave me. He's not like Shawn. Unless he just got sick of me and left because he wanted to get away from me." Belle broke into another round of sobs that wracked her entire body.
"Oh, sweetie, don't even think that." Kate rushed over to Belle's side, holding the cup of tea in her hands, "Phillip cares about you too much to abandon you. He would never want you out of his life."
Belle sniffled and took the tea from Kate, "I hope you're right. Because if I'm the reason that Phillip and Shawn are both gone, if I've driven them out of Salem, then that means I'm no better than Sa-" Belle stopped abruptly when she realized what she had been about to say. She looked over at Sami warily, waiting for Sami's reaction.
"Wow, thanks, Belle. Knowing your true opinion about me makes me feel so warm and fuzzy."
"Sami, I wasn't going to say you," Belle protested weakly, "I was going to say... I was going to say..."
Sami scowled at her sister, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Hey, I just remembered I have things to do. I'll see you later, Belle." not bothering to say good-bye to Kate, Sami left the loft, Belle's words still resounding in her head. And she couldn't stop wondering if Belle was right. Was she really the reason Lucas was gone without a word to anyone? That explanation put a lot of her other fears to rest, like the idea that Lucas was in danger. But she was so confused that she didn't know what she wanted to believe anymore.
Brady pulled himself out of the swimming pool and immediately reached for the towel he had left lying on a nearby lawn chair. After running the towel through his hair vigorously, he wrapped it around his waist and began walking towards the mansion. He had almost reached the sliding door when the bushes began rustling loudly and someone whispered his name. Brady's back went stiff and he turned around slowly, only to see Crystal creeping towards him. She kept looking from side to side nervously, as if she was afraid to be seen by anyone other than Brady.
"Crystal? What are you doing here?" Brady asked. Crystal put up her hand to silence him and without warning, pulled him into the bushes. The sharp leaves pricked Brady's bare skin in different places and he flinched slightly.
"What is it, Crystal? I thought Nicole said you left town."
Crystal made sure to keep her eyes wide as she spoke, "Oh, believe me, that bitch wanted me out of town badly. But I couldn't leave, not when I know so much about Nicole and about all the terrible things she's done. Nicole thinks I'm gone but she's wrong. I had to tell you the truth about her so she won't end up hurting you."
Crystal could tell Brady was totally captivated by the story she was unraveling, "Hurt me? Are you serious?"
"Oh, very." Crystal responded soberly, "I hate to be the one to break this to you but she's a very bad woman that's done a lot of bad things. She's not even ashamed of them, she told me about every single crime she's committed without shame. And she made me swear not to tell anyone or she'd- she'd- Brady, I don't want to die. She can't ever know I came to you but she has to be stopped." Crystal choked out, clutching Brady's arm with dramatic flair.
Brady stared at Crystal in horror, "I can't believe it. You know, I wanted to believe the best about her, I really did. Is this for real? Is she really a bad person?"
"Yes, Brady. She threatened to kill me if I ever let her secrets out and I'm so scared of her, that's why I need to stop her. I can't blame you for not believing me, I can only guess how deep your feelings go for her but I've got like, tons of evidence back at the place I'm hiding out in. You have to come with me and I'll show you everything."
"Okay." Brady got to his feet abruptly, "Just let me get changed and we can go right over."
"No!" Crystal intervened sharply, then calmed down when she saw the perplexed look on Brady's face, "I mean, uh, we should just get over there right away. I'm afraid Nicole will see me. If she knows I'm still here..." Crystal let her voice trail off and made her lower lip tremble. Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked up at Brady helplessly, who quickly relented.
"Fine. Let's go over there right now. Do you want to take my jeep?" Crystal hooked her arm through Brady's as the two of them slunk away through the bushes, making sure Nicole didn't see them.
"Whatever works." Crystal said, making sure she kept the edge of anticipation out of her voice. A few minutes later, she was seated in the passenger seat of Brady's jeep and was giving Brady directions to Jan's country home. Crystal turned away from Brady and smiled to herself. Her plan had worked like a charm and she knew that the same tactic would be fool-proof on John when she used it on him next.