"Barnabas and Quentin are coming today?" Rick could hear the anticipation in his wife's voice as he looked around the airport terminal."
Smiling in spite of the reason behind her cousins' visit, he replied, "Yes, darlin', they should be landing any moment now. Barnabas is worried that something might happen, and your cousin Quentin was worried about you."
"Oh, Rick, I'm sorry he's coming because of all these weird things, but I'm glad you finally get to meet Quentin. He's been very supportive of David since he was a boy." Laurie added seriously.
Just then the arrival of the flight from Bangor sounded, and Rick told Laurie, "That's their flight now, sweetheart. I'll signal you when I'm almost home. Don't let any strangers in, promise?"
"I promise, love." She answered gently.
Ending the call, Rick went to the gate and saw Barnabas and a slightly younger man come through the door. "Barnabas!" he called, then met the two men halfway.
A half-smile was on the older man's face as he greeted him. "Rick, I'm glad to see you. Permit me to introduce my cousin Quentin. Quentin, this is Richard Simon, Laurie's husband."
"Well, well, so this is the man who my cousin pined for all those years." Quentin remarked with a wolfish grin. Rick felt a twinge of dislike, how well did this "cousin" know his wife?"
Shaking hands briefly, Rick strove to be polite. "Yes, we've known each other a long time. Laurie's very glad you came to visit, even if it's because, well, I didn't tell her the exact reason over the phone."
"Good idea, Rick. I'm worried about Blair's motives. The fact that he chose to attack first with gossip and innuendo, this leads me to believe he's going after more then my cousin." Barnabas explained, a knowing look on his face as if he read what Rick was thinking.
Insisting on taking the two men's bags, Rick led them out to his truck, then suffered through Quentin's veiled jabs at the "rustic" vehicle.
"What is it about this guy? Yeesh!" Rick thought, infuriated. As they neared the ranch, Rick "called" to Laurie "Sweetheart?"
At first there was no response, and Rick got a panicky feeling.
"Barnabas, I'm not "hearing" Laurie." Almost as he said those words he picked up Laurie's upset "voice".
"Rick? Where are you?"
"Sweetheart, I'm almost home, why didn't you answer?" he sounded back, not able to restrain his angry relief at her answering him.
As he turned into the driveway, he almost forgot to hit the gate buzzer as she "told" him "I'm sorry, Rick, I wasfrightened. I got a phone call just now, I think, I think it was Nicholas Blair!"
"I'm here now, darlin'. I'm in the drive now, Laurie, come to the door." he replied, then told both men what his wife had related. As he came to a stop, Barnabas shook his head somberly.
"Blair's laying the groundwork for something, Rick, by making his presence known, he's playing games with us. I'm not going to let him terrify this family like that."
Quentin looked at Barnabas's face, then nodded. Looking Rick directly in the eye, he said, "Now I know why Blair tried to get you off balance with his spreading of rumors. He knows you're a threat to his plans."
"Well, he's not going to get away with hurting my family." Rick returned, thrown by the older man's directness.
"Rick?" Laurie's voice carried from the porch, and as Rick looked up he saw her look of happiness as she spotted her cousins.
"Barnabas, Quentin? Oh!" she cried, hugging both men.
"I'm so glad to see you, Barnabas! And Quentin, when'd you get back?" she exclaimed, bringing a grin to his face.
"A couple of days ago, couldn't put off wanting to see you anymore, Laurie." Quentin remarked, embracing her. "Or in meeting this guy you married, God, you look good, you haven't aged a day!" he added effusively.
Rick felt a twinge of jealousy , then immediately felt ashamed as Laurie squeezed his arm and blushing, returned "Thank you, Quentin, but Rick's why I look good, he makes me happy, and he's always there to keep me safe!"
"Always, darlin'." He took her hand and kissed it. As he went to get the luggage, Rick suddenly felt the flooring give under his feet, then managed to regain his balance. "Rick, are you all right?" Laurie gasped, turning and grabbing his arm.
"Robbie and I just replaced this porch a few months ago, how could it have…" he stopped, then went white with anger.
"Laurie, would you call the Chief then Oscar? I need them to know what's going on."
Without argument she stepped inside as Barnabas and Quentin looked over Rick's shoulder. Quentin was quietly furious as he said "You could have broken your ankle, or worse. It's sawed almost all the way thru. But the way it's cut…this wasn't meant for you, but for anyone coming out of the house."
"You're right, this is another of Blair's little "accidents". Let's get your bags in, then I'll put a piece of flooring over this until it can be repaired." Rick answered, grateful for the extra set of eyes.
Within minutes the men were settled around the fireplace as Laurie fetched coffee then told Rick about the strange phone call. "When the phone rang, I was in the bedroom, so by the time I got to the extension the machine was picking up. When I said "hello", this man said, "Mrs. Simon, it's a pleasure to hear your voice." I thought it sounded familiar, so I asked him who he was. He laughed and said if I wanted to play games, that he'd already made the first moves. When he added I'd make a nice prize, it made me so angry that I hung up. " Rick saw her pause to take a breath and he squeezed her hand. "Thank you." She murmured, then continued. "I forgot to turn off the machine though, so I think it's on tape, darling."
"You did right to hang up, my dear." Barnabas told her gently, and Rick saw Laurie perceptibly relax.
"I know, but I hate giving him the satisfaction of getting upset." She sighed, then got up from the sofa.
"I know where the leftover boards are, Rick, let me bring one in."
"Uh huh, sweetheart. You stay put and visit with your cousins. I'll get it." He rose from his chair then put his arms around her as she turned to protest "Darling, I'll be just a ….."
"Please?" he asked quietly, then smiled as she sighed. "Yes, darling. Just be careful."
Giving her a kiss, Rick went outside as Laurie turned back to the living room, then saw the grin on Quentin's face.
"Barnabas told me you two had been married for what, seventeen years. I'd have never known it, you still blush like crazy." he teased.
Laurie felt herself getting red as she smilingly replied "You're incorrigible, Quentin. Barnabas, how do you keep them in line when he gets together with David?"
"Simple, I just let Carolyn have a word with them." Barnabas permitted himself a slight smirk.
As the cousins laughed, Rick came back into the house, then stopped and grinned at the sight of his wife so happy with her family. "God, please let me keep her safe." He thought, then proceeded to carry in the wood and put it gingerly next to the door.
Just then a car beeped, and Rick looked to see Oscar Goldman' car pulling up at the gate with Rudy Wells and Chief Joseph. Buzzing them in, Rick opened the door then caught the puzzled look the older men gave the foot-long gap in the porch flooring.
"I nearly fell, it was cut through." he said succinctly, then saw Oscar turn red with anger.
"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, then smiled and patted his arm as he spotted Laurie behind her husband.
In a moment the three men were hugging Laurie, then the tribal elder was introduced to the younger Collins. Oscar hung back a moment, saying, "Quentin came with Barnabas?"
"Yes, he seems to know something about Blair, he was concerned about Laurie." Rick explained, then chuckled at the wry face his friend made.
"He would be, the only saving grace he had as far as I was concerned. Tell you later." Oscar promised, then embraced Laurie.
"Dad, I'm glad you came. You remember Quentin."
"Yes, I do. It's been a long time." The former OSI chief shook hands as Quentin asked after Steve Austin.
"He's in Ojai with his wife and daughter, they're both teachers." Oscar explained, then laughed as Quentin remarked, "Never thought I'd see the day you would retire, still.." he lowered his voice as Laurie went to get some tea, "I'm glad you're here for my cousin, at least you and Dr. Wells were her family when we weren't."
"And I'm grateful you came. Too many frightening things happening; Laurie told Rick that Blair called before you got here?" Oscar inquired. Rick made sure his wife was still out of the room before playing the message tape. The naked anger on the former OSI Chief's face matched what Rick felt inside, as he quickly shut the sound off before Laurie came in from the kitchen.
As she sat down, Rick saw Chief Joseph put an old book on the coffee table.
"Light, I want you to look at this. It's one of your Great-Grandmother's diaries. I'm hoping it may provide us the answer to dealing with Nicholas Blair."
Laurie carefully opened the volume. Instantly she looked up at the elder. "Chief, this is one of the diaries that I've not used in any of Kasey's stories. This has the story of how Barnabas fought Blair."
Barnabas immediately looked at his cousin, then at Laurie.
"It was so long ago, may I see it, Laurie. Perhaps it will help us defend ourselves from him."
As he read through the faded pages, Rick noticed the older man's expression lighten, then realized he was reliving a part of his past when he was under the vampire curse.
Finally Barnabas looked up from the notes, then a glimmer of a smile crossed his face.
"I know whereabouts Blair is getting his power. We can now be prepared to fight him once and for all. Chief, you told Laurie a construction crew found the old silver cross we used against Blair in back of the Cultural Center. Do you have a map of the tunnels that used to lead out of Lost Valley?"
"Yes, Barnabas, I have them at my office. We could go now to retrieve them." Chief Joseph offered.
As her cousin got up from his chair, Laurie told them, "While you're getting the map, I'll get dinner started, then I'd like to look at Kasey's story again, something about tomorrow's date keeps bothering me."
"All right, my dear, we'll be right back." Barnabas hugged her, then followed the Chief out the door.
Later, Rick sat back with his coffee, laughing at his wife's antics with their dog. Surprisingly, Mike had taken to Quentin, who now was holding his sides at the counting game Laurie had taught the rambunctious dog.
"Rick, tell him to stop, that hurts." Rick just grinned. "Your own fault, Quentin, you would feed him scraps, now you're his friend for life!"
"All right, Mike, you are the greatest!" the younger Collins told Mike, then ended up with him in his lap.
"Good dog!" Rick praised Mike, then let out a chuckle when Mike bounded from Quentin to him.
"You're a fair-weather dog, Mike!" Laurie giggled, then heard the phone ring, and the smile left her face.
"I'll get that, darlin'." Rick told her, angry that his wife's peace of mind was gone. As he picked up the phone, he was relieved to hear his brother's voice.
"Rick, I'm going to have to have a rain check on dinner tonight, Linda's car's been stolen!"
He groaned, "No, A.J., this is too much, Blair's behind this!"
"I figured as much. Ian's picking her and the kids up, I'm not taking any chances with him terrorizing them." A.J.'s anger was apparent in his tone, and Rick hastened to try to calm him down.
"A.J., we'll get him. I want you to be careful. Can you go to Ian and Robin's too, just for tonight? I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon."
There was a sigh on the other end. "Okay, Rick, thanks. I guess I didn't think I'd make an easy target for Blair to use against you and Laurie. I'll call Robin right now."
Relieved, Rick said goodbye, then rang off, only to hear another call come in from Robbie. "Hey, son."
"Hi, Pop. I just spoke to Ron, the D.A.'s office is releasing a statement refuting the rumors about you and Uncle A.J.. Chief Branson also investigated the vandalism on Uncle A.J.'s car, and he says a local hood did it, was paid $1000 for the job from a man who had a funny accent. "
"Robbie, that's not all that's happened" Rick answered, then filled his son in on his aunt's stolen car and the worrying phone call his mother received.
"I should be there, Pop. Just when you guys could use my help, I get stuck on extra court duty." Robbie grumbled.
"Son, it's all right. You're doing your job. We'll be okay. How are my grandchildren?" Rick asked, trying to lift his son's spirits.
As he chatted, Laurie re-read an entry in her grandmother's diary, then had a flash of understanding of what she said about the final battle between Nicholas Blair and Barnabas.
Just as she was about to tell Oscar about it, she overheard Rick say "You're kidding, Angelina's got a boyfriend?"
Laurie tried not to laugh, her daughter-in-law's mother was a very forthright person who spoke her mind whether it was nice or not. Rick and she tried to be polite to her, but it was a hard thing to do.
As Rick ended the call, Oscar looked up at him and smirked. "Angelina has a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact she's having dinner with him tonight, Ramona doesn't care for him, and neither does Robbie, but, you know Angelina." Rick was hard put not to laugh at the mental picture of a flirtatious mother-in-law.
"Rick, don't. I won't be able to be polite if they come by, that what she did the last time she had a guy over." Laurie shook her head.
The sound of a car interrupted their conversation, and as Laurie peeked through the curtains, she saw a familiar car. "Rick, you're not going to believe it."
"What, well, speak of the…." Rick left the warm living room to come out on the porch, then curiosity drove the others out of the house to see Angelina Flores drive up, a man in the passenger seat.
As she got out of the car, unable to pull into the driveway because of no space, Laurie went forward to meet her. "Angelina, I'm glad to see you, how are you?
"I'm fine Laurie, I have someone I 'd like you to meet." The older woman hugged her, then beckoned the gentleman with her to get out of the car.
As Laurie glanced up, she let out a gasp. "Rick!"
As he came to her side, the suave looking man approached the gate, saying, "Hello, Mrs. Simon, Mr. Simon, it's interesting seeing you again."
Rick gritted his teeth. "You're not welcome here, Blair, your little game won't win!"
"Ah, but since Angelina invited me to come over, you can't disinvite me now, can you?" he bragged, only to suddenly scowl at the sound of Chief Joseph's voice.
Rick realized that the elder was speaking in the Navajo language, and the warlock was actually shrinking from his words.
"I'll have go now, but I will be back to continue my game and this time, I'll win!" Blair snarled, then added with a glint in his eye, "but here's a little taste of my power!"
A bolt of light shot from his fingertips, and it came at Rick, only for Oscar to push him out of the way, holding up a metal cross that deflected the energy. Unfortunately it ricocheted off the older man's chest, and he fell to the ground.