Jan brought a tray holding Shawn's dinner into his room and set it down so she could unlock his cage. Shawn had been surprisingly quiet when Jan and Crystal had returned to the country home, it had been at least three or four hours since he had yelled at them or whined about Belle- a real record for him. Jan had a feeling his silence had something to do with the way he was reacting to what had happened between them earlier that day. Not that she blamed him. If it had felt anywhere near as amazing to him as it had to her, then his shocked muteness was completely justified.
"Here's your dinner," Jan said cheerfully, setting the tray down on the table next to him and unlocking his chains. Shawn just smiled weakly and turned his head away from the food.
"Thanks but I'm not really that hungry right now," Shawn muttered, raising his eyes to meet Jan's, "I've sort of been thinking about things, Jan. About what happened with us earlier. And about Belle."
Jan felt her heart sink when she heard the dreaded 'B' word leave Shawn's mouth, "You're thinking about her again? Great, I knew it was too good to be true. You'll never stop, will you?"
"Wait a second, Jan. It's not what you're thinking," Shawn replied, still looking a little uncertain, "I was just thinking that, well, after what we did last night, I don't think she'd take me back if she found out. And frankly, I don't think I'd want her to."
Jan felt the first stirrings of hope welling up inside her, "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that spending time here in this cage with you has made me realize that I don't miss Belle as much as I should. And it makes me realize that I don't love her anymore. I tried to keep telling myself I did love her because I didn't want to give you some sort of satisfaction by telling the truth but I've never been a good liar. I can't keep pretending to feel things for Belle that I don't." Shawn explained.
"Shaaaawwwwnnn," Jan's voice rang out in a sing-song tone, "Are you trying to say what I think you're trying to say?"
Shawn stared at her hope-filled face for a moment before shrugging one shoulder, "Probably not, knowing you,"
The hopeful look diminished slightly, "You mean you're not going to confess that you've finally fallen madly in love with me just like I knew you would all along and then ask for my hand in marriage?"
"Ahahahahahahaha!" Phillip's mocking laughter floated into the room and Jan scowled and left the cage to go shut the door. Once she did, she returned to go sit back down on the bed next to Shawn.
"Not exactly," Shawn answered, shooting her an odd look, "No matter what you think, only a completely crazy person would fall in love with you while you have them locked in a cage against their free will. I guess that only makes me a little out of my mind, since I just kind of... like you." he finished in a flat voice.
"Really?" Jan seemed content with that remark and smiled gleefully at him.
"Fine, I'll be honest, I more than kind of like you," Shawn mumbled, looking down at the bed, "And as for what happened earlier today... I refuse to take full responsibility for my actions, since it wouldn't have happened if Crystal hadn't given me those pills. But that doesn't mean I wish it didn't happen. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be."
"That's because you did it with me and not Belle," Jan added knowingly, "I know lots of tricks that she doesn't. And I'd be more than happy to show you all of them."
"I'm sure you would," Shawn shifted positions on the bed so he was in a more upright sitting position, "Anyways, I have a proposition for you."
"A proposition?" Jan reiterated mischievously, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Shawnie? Because I can go upstairs right now and get my nipple clamps and we can experiment with them."
"That's not exactly what I meant," Shawn told her quickly, not wanting to be subjected to the horrible nipple clamp treatment, "Look, I know I'll never fall in love with you if you keep me in this cage. But I don't want to write off the chance for us to be together completely. You're so different from Belle," No shit, Sherlock, Jan thought with a roll of her eyes, wishing he would stop saying Belle's name, "And I know we could have something but not while I'm in this cage. And the only reason I got trapped here in the first place is because I tried to leave Salem. I still want to leave Salem for a while, though. I think everything that happened there over the past six months or so messed me up."
Salem didn't mess you up, Shawn, Jan thought maliciously, Belle messed you up. But I think you're making a recovery, all thanks to me.
"I think both of us should leave Salem together." Shawn lowered his voice, "You can leave all the guys with Crystal and we'll just take off. Then when we get far enough away, we'll just call the police and tell them where the guys are. I think it's the best way to do things."
Jan's eyes shown with unconcealed happiness, "You want us to run away together. That's so sweet," Jan suddenly narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "This isn't some kind of trick, is it? Are you just trying to escape this place and go back to Belle?"
"No," Shawn replied without pausing, "I wouldn't do that to you after all this. You might be a little insane at times but I still want to figure out exactly what I'm feeling for you, I really do. I'm not trying to trick you."
Jan looked into his eyes, searching for signs of insincerity but found none. She realized that he couldn't be lying. That was just one more way she and Shawn were opposites. The guy couldn't lie without looking guilty as hell, while she could lie with complete ease and without a twinge of regret. But she didn't mind being so different from Shawn. As far as she was concerned, all their differences just made them even hotter together in the end. And she was finally going to have him all to herself.
"I love the idea," Jan squealed leaping up from her position on the bed so she could throw her arms around Shawn and kiss him. Shawn tensed with surprise for a moment, then relaxed and kissed her back, "I can't wait to run away together. But we should stay here until tomorrow, okay? Crystal and I did a lot of work tonight and I'm a little tired. And before we leave, I'm going to have to keep you in this cage. I don't want Crystal knowing we're leaving."
"I guess that works," Shawn returned, his heart racing with excitement at the idea of being freed from this cage after so long of being trapped.
It had been a good hour and a half but one by one, the harassing women outside Nicole's cell had left. The only ones were remaining were Sami and Kate and to Nicole's horror, they showed no signs of relenting any time soon.
"We're going to get them back, Nicole. Don't think you can keep them locked away forever." Kate threatened her. Sami was right beside Kate, shaking the bars angrily and screaming threats almost identical to Kate's, only more obscene. It's about damn time those two found something to agree on, Nicole thought, in some weird way amused. She took a deep breath and steeled herself against more of their comments, having to literally bite her tongue to keep from sending them barbed retorts.
The sound of doors crashing open and cries of protests momentarily distracted Sami and Kate into silence and all three women to turned to see what was causing the noises. Bo was dragging a blonde woman that bore a shocking resemblance to Marlena through the doors and a flustered looking man followed them.
"You see, officer, it could have all just been a big misunderstanding," the man was saying, "Maybe Hattie here wasn't really shoplifting like the man thought. Maybe she just forgot to pay for it or something. You know how absentminded people can be sometimes, heh, heh,"
The Marlena look-alike stuck her tongue out at him over Bo's shoulder, "Hush. Bart, you're just making things more ridiculous than they already are," she then turned her attention to Bo, "You're not putting me in jail! I refuse to be subjected to such humiliation."
"Maybe you should have thought about that before you tried to rip off that store," Bo shot back, unlocking the cell next to Nicole's and throwing Hattie inside. Hattie stumbled a little bit and yelped angrily.
Sami turned to smirk at the woman, "Were you lifting again, Hattie?"
"Shut up, tramp," Hattie grumbled, kicking the bars with one foot. She then noticed Nicole and groaned loudly, "Oh, for christ's sake, if this isn't bad enough already, I'm stuck in the cell next to the infamous man raper-slash kidnapper slash killer slash god knows what else."
"I did not 'rape slash kidnap slash kill' anyone," Nicole said, mimicking Hattie's blunt tone, "I was set up. By who, I don't know but once the retards on this police force figure it out, you'll all be sorry you ever thought it was me."
Bo sneered at her before leaving to go back upstairs to his office. Bart stayed downstairs and walked over to the spot in front of Nicole's jail cell next to Kate and peeked at Nicole through the openings.
"I'll have you know I was really offended, lady," Bart informed her in an injured tone, "Why didn't you kidnap me? Don't you find me attractive? I walked out in the streets of Salem up until four in the morning, waiting for the Salem Man Snatcher to come and get me but she never did. You never captured me. And obviously you only kidnapped guys you thought were good-looking so I officially despise you now."
"Ew, who in their right mind would find John Black sexy?" Sami wondered out loud, wrinkling her nose.
"I already told you that I didn't-" Nicole cut herself on in mid-sentence, sudden revelations sending her mind into overload.
"For an old guy, he is hot! I mean, did you see his pecs? They were rock hard."
"I'd love to tickle his trigger."
"I can't believe you had the nerve to tie up some guy for your own personal pleasure. I would so love to do that to John. He's the only reason I'm staying in Salem, you know. Nicky wanted me to leave but I said I wouldn't because I still want a shot at that gorgeous hunk."
Then Nicole remembered the look on Jan's face after Nicole had casually mentioned something about capturing every guy in Salem and holding them hostage. Then there was that look Crystal had given her when she had overheard Nicole say that she was going to get Brady back. It certainly wasn't just by chance that Bo had came after her, accusing of being the kidnapper right after the incident. Those bitches had framed her. Dammit. Nicole suddenly sprang to her feet and went over to the bars.
"Sami, I know who set me up," Nicole hissed.
Sami just looked at her like she was crazy, "Get real. You already tried to make a fool out of me once and I'm not going to fall for that again. Why don't you just spit it out and tell us where you're hiding all of them?"
"They put the underwear under my bed to make it look like I did it," Nicole told her, "Honestly, do you think I'd be stupid enough to leave evidence in my room. If I had kidnapped those guys, I would have been smarter about hiding the evidence. And you should know that I don't find John Black the least bit attractive."
Surprisingly, Kate looked more willing to believe all this then Sami did, "Who framed you?" Kate demanded.
"My friend who is now my ex-friend, Crystal," Nicole answered and Kate gasped.
"You mean that skank that was all over John at the Blue Note? The one that dumped that glass of water on me?" Kate asked.
"That would be her," Nicole turned back to Sami, "Look, I know where she is and I can help you guys free all the guys. It will be two against three if I go with you guys, I can distract Crystal and this other girl she's working with while you guys unchain all the guys. But we can't tell the cops until we save all the guys because they wouldn't believe me, you just need to get me out of here somehow."
"Fine, I believe you," Sami confessed, "But how are we supposed to get you out of there?"
Nicole only had to think for a few seconds before coming up with a plan, "Okay, Kate is going to go upstairs and go into femme fatale mode with Bo and try and seduce him-"
"Hey!" Kate interrupted sharply, "I don't want to do that."
"And distract him, so you can take the keys to my prison cell out of his pocket. Then you'll come back down here, unlock me and unlock Hattie. Hattie can go upstairs and distract the remainder of the policemen still here while we sneak out."
"Who said I'm going to help?" Hattie spoke up, then recoiled when she saw the looks Sami, Nicole and Kate gave her, "Okay but only if I can slap that evil old Bo Brady silly. And only it Bart helps me distract them."
"I can do that, I guess," Bart tugged at his tie nervously, "You know, I've made a career out of staying in the shadows but I suppose I could do a good job of making my presence known if I wanted to."
Nicole gave him a smile to humour him, "That's lovely. Can you guys go put the plan into action right away, please? I'm a little anxious to get out of here and confront Crystal and Jan." Nicole told them, violent, unpleasant images of what she would do to Jan and Crystal upon confronting them already surfacing in her mind.
"I don't want to seduce Bo, though. It's going to be so embarrassing." Kate wailed as Sami led her up her up the stairs until both of them were gone from view.