--Just a note- I have some British lingo/slang in this and some upcoming chapters, so if you have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, if the word has a dash (--) by it, look down at the bottom of the chapter to see--

Jay can hear arguing coming from inside the mall. He actually didn't know why he was there. The Mall rats wouldn't know anything about where Leigha was. He was glad Ebony wasn't living at the mall anymore; he didn't want to take the chance of running into her. Every time they spoke, she got angry with him for something.

"Jay!"

It's Salene, she sees him before he sees her. He sighs and walks into the living room. Lex looks comfortable on the couch, but Pride looks unsure.

"Jay, do you know if..."

Pride can't finish. Jay would know what he was talking about if he knew anything at all about the situation.

"I was making sure you got out safe and sound," Jay says, no one is expecting him to say that. Dee laugh/coughs, turning away.

"Alright, Dee?" Lex asks, his eyebrows raised and his mood uncaring.

Dee nods, hiding her smirk. Jay sighs and looks around.

"Do know anything about what happened to Leigha?" Salene asks, trying to get back on topic. For someone she really doesn't care for that much, she was mighty prying.

Jay opens his mouth to reply but Lex has another comment toward the others about the events that day.

"He should, considering how they were all 'snugly-wugly' "

He rolls his eyes for effect and sits back in the couch, throwing his arm over the top of the couch.

"Lex, as my deputy Sheriff, I order you to SHUT UP!" Dee says calmy but harshing.

Lex winces, ever since Salene became city leader, he had been Deputy Sheriff. He hated that. He wasn't in charge anymore and people on the street didn't fear him when he walked past.

"Hey! It isn't my fault that I was demoted by the --backseat mothering-- swimbo--!"

"What?!" Patch asks laughing, not understanding what Lex is talking about. When he sees that only he and Dee are laughing, he stops.

Les ix still morose and angry. He stands up and points a finger at Salene.

"That SWIMBO is a 'She Who Must Be Obeyed'! It was true even before she became city leader!You all practically worship the ground she walks on for siting around and doing nothing to help the city"

Pride has had it with Lex today. He stands up off the chair he had been sitting on.

"Hey, that's enough! If you aren't going to respect your city leader and surrogate mother here to the kids, you can just leave now!!"

Lex stands up. He's calm now, or at least, he seems to be.

"Well, if you'll all excuse me, I have elsewhere to be"

He leaves. Jay coughs to remind all that he is still there.

"Something's bugging him," Salene says, still on the Lex subject.

"I agree," Jay says, sitting down on the couch where Lex had been, "I'd say he is definitly --away with the mixer--"

Pride shrugs and sits down. "I think he's disturbed that we didn't find Tai-San today"

"You should be happy you even got out today," Jay says.

Patch takes one deep breath, he is intimidated by the pressure building in the room.

"Well," he says, clapping his hands in front of him, "I am off to the hospital and/or to bake some cookies"

They all nod at him but he is not finished.

"Cookies!" he says, grinning exitedly and wildly, wiggling his fingers and shaking his hands in Jazz Hands as if he were in some Broadway Musical like his grandmother used to make him watch before the virus.

He leaves. Dee laughs after him. "There is something seriously wrong with that boy..."

Salene clears her throat and speaks. "Okay so all we know for sure right now is that Pride, Lex, and Leigha went into the Techno headquarters, but only Lex and Pride came out. Pride says that Leigha made a diversion so he and Lex could get away...and that's when she was taken? When she made the diversion?"

They all look at Jay. "Actually I didn't even know it was Lex. All I knew was that it was Pride, Leigha, and someone else"

Salene sighs. "Does anyone know what happened to her after the diversion was made?"

Again, they all look at Jay. "All right, I ran into her in the hallway after she got the Techno's attention. I told them I would take care of things down on that end, so that she could get away. I sent her up to my room to be safe while I made sure that everyone who was with her got out of the building safely.

"I didn't see them so I either thought they were taken or they got away, that's what I originally came here to find out. Anyways, after a while I went back up to my room and we talked for a bit. Well, someone must've seen her go up into my room because, low and behold, Ram found out and paid me a little visit. And for the second time in my life, she has taken the blame for me"

'Bloody Hell!' Jay thought. He hadn't meant to say that last part. He didn't want to describe his past again. 'Maybe they just won't notice, wishful thinking'

"Why would she take the blame for you?" Pride asks. He doesn't get why she would help him, she only met him, as far as he knew.

Jay shrugs. "'Don't know. I don't think anyone's really ever figured out how that girl thinks. But she always did everything for a reason"

Pride and Salene glance at each other. Jay was unintentionally hinting at something. Salene shook her head of it.

"Did you ask any of the Technos where they took her?"

Jay breathes deep. "Java took her away, she is the last person I will ever ask about this considering that she won't tell me anyways. And I talked to my brother, the Master of Mucking around, and he doesn't know a thing"

Salene frown. "Cloe went to go ask him, I think"

Jay cocks his head, "Well, maybe she'll get something out of him. They both do have a lot in common"

Salene frowns again. "Like what?"

Jay laughs nervuously. "Well, they're both --hormones on parade-- and, I'm not sure about Cloe, but Ved tends to --get on one's wick-- most of the time"

Salene laughs, easing tension away. Pride sighs.

"You guys, this isn't helping us find out about Leigha!"

They all look guilty.

"Pride's right," Dee says.

There is a crash in the kitchen, followed by a muffled "sorry!" from Patch, making his cookies.

Pride sighs again. 'This is going to take a while'

--Words--

Backseat mothering-- Unsolicited advice from non-parent

Away with the mixer-- Not quite in touch with reality, in a dreamy state.

Hormones on parade--Teenagers obsessed with kissing & groping

Get on one's wick --To annoy