Lucas entered the crowded bar of the Jetway Inn uncertainly, this was not where he wanted to be. If anything, the only place he wanted to be was lying in bed with Sami. Stupid wedding superstitions.

Instead he was at a bar he'd never been to before because his mother was lonely. He really needed to find some new companions. He spent too much time with his mother for it to be healthy. Not that he didn't love her, but there was only so much a man could take.

Finally, he spotted her sitting at a table, looking completely out of place. She was overly composed and business-like in a bar that could only be described as a dive- at best. He made his way through the crowd and sat across from her noting that she seemed a little too relieved that he was there. That was weird.

"Are you feeling better, Mom?"

"Oh, honey, I'm so glad you came. I was almost afraid you wouldn't."

"It is the night before my wedding. I wasn't exactly planning on going out, but you sounded really upset on the phone."

"I didn't mean to scare you; baby, but I couldn't help it. I thought seeing my son might make me feel better."

"Look, if you're even thinking of trying to talk me out of marrying Sami, then…"

"I'm not going to interfere, I already promised you that. I just… with the wedding coming up, it reminds me of how much I miss Roman," Kate kept her face turned in the perfect light for the strategic tear that coursed down her face to shine tragically.

"I know you miss him, Mom." He placed a hand over hers on the table in an effort to comfort her, and Kate struggled to keep up her devastated appearance. This was going better than she could have imagined.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to loose it like that. I wanted you here to cheer me up, and instead I'm bringing you down with me. How about I get our drinks while I compose myself? What would you like?"

"A club soda would be great, I guess," Lucas watched her walk away in confusion; that was a strangely abrupt end to the conversation, she seemed more out of sorts than normal.

Kate moved quickly to her designated spot at the bar and ordered from the bartender, while discreetly signaling to the petite redhead over in the corner that it was almost time.

Her name was Lea, or something like that, and she would be the lucky girl to break up Sami and Lucas. The girl had no scruples and therefore had no problem accepting a large amount of cash in exchange for her help. Eugenia had offered herself up for the role when Kate had told her of the plan, but that would have been too obvious. Besides, she had another job to do that would be just as important. Hopefully the dolt wouldn't screw it up.

The bartender placed the two cups in front of her and carefully she checked to make sure that no one was watching her. The couple to her right was too wrapped up in each other- literally- to notice her actions and the rest of the bar were slightly away from her corner.

With movements stealth enough to make any cat burglar proud, Kate slipped a white powder into Lucas's club soda and mixed it thoroughly. She allowed herself a moment to glory in her impending triumph, and then made her way back to the table.

"Here you go," she set his drink down carefully, there was no way they could afford to loose a single precious drop, and looked at her son expectantly, "Drink up."

"Thanks for the directions, Mom," he let out sarcastically. She always treated him like a child.

"I just want to make sure you're well hydrated for your big day. It would be horrible if you were to find yourself unable to say 'I do' because of your parched throat."

"Always looking out for me, huh. I don't think my hydration will be a problem, not that you'd be disappointed if something kept me from marrying Sami."

"Honey, you know I want you to be happy. I may not like Sami, but I am not going to interfere. I thought we'd already been over this."

"I know you've promised…"

Kate nodded her head and pretended to pay attention to Lucas's ramblings, watching gleefully as his cup came closer and closer to being empty. Now was the perfect time. As inconspicuously as possible, she moved to signal Lea, again, behind her head, covering it up by fixing her hair.

Seconds later the shriek she was waiting for came, "Kate Roberts, is that you?" Lea came to the table confidently, "And who is this handsome man by your side?"

Lucas shifted uncomfortably at this annoying woman's admiring gaze. His head felt fuzzy and he was having trouble focusing his eyes. In fact, if he didn't know better he would have sworn that he'd had something stronger than club soda tonight, but that was impossible.

"Lucas, this is Lea. She worked with me a few years ago. Lea, this is my son, Lucas. I'm sure I've told you about him. He's the one getting married tomorrow."

"Such a pity. Seem all the good ones are taken," he took the hand she offered and shook it quickly. The smile she was throwing at him reminded him of a piranha.

"It's nice to meet you, anyway, Lea was it?"

Things were going perfectly. Kate sat back as Lucas tried to keep up with the small talk that the girl was making, but he was having difficulties. The drug seemed to be working fast and that fit nicely into her plan. Now it was time for her to disappear. She excused herself to go to the bathroom, and then quickly made her way to find Eugenia.

Lucas looked at the woman across from him and felt like his head was spinning. It was time for him to go home, no question about it.

"I think it's time I got going. If you don't mind, do you think you could tell my mother that I left? It was nice meeting you."

As politely as he could, Lucas got up and prepared to walk away, but as soon as he stood he lost his balance. He stumbled for a second, and then Lea caught his arm.

"Why don't you let me drive you home? You look like you've had too much to drink."

His mumbled protest of how that was impossible fell on deaf ears as the young woman he barely knew led him from the table.

……………………………………………..

Eugenia paced the hallways nervously as she waited for her final assignment to be over. Mentally she went over her checklist. Set up the hotel room to look like it was used for a quick, unplanned affair? Check. Left the door unlocked? Check. Made sure that the man who rented her the room would be taking a long vacation on Kate's payroll? Check.

Got someone that Sami trusted to the motel? Almost.

Yes, she had done all she could do. If only Kate would stop making her plans so much more difficult than they had to be. Really, why couldn't they leave an anonymous phone message for Sami about Lucas's indiscretions? No, they had to lure her little sister to the Jetway, just so that it wouldn't look suspicious. How was she supposed to get Belle Black-Kiriakis to come there, anyway?

After an hour or so of contemplation, she'd finally come up with a plan. Not the best plan in the world, obviously, but a plan all the same. Belle would show up in minutes because she had been convinced that one of her friends from college was in trouble.

Eugenia had called Belle sobbing hysterically claiming that she was an old friend who happened to be at the Jetway where a guy had tried to force her into going to his hotel room. She conveniently forgot to mention her name, but asked her to come right away. It was her best performance to date; luckily she'd gotten the answering machine.

She almost let out a squeal of delight when the she finally caught sight of the blonde she'd been looking for. Finally, revenge on Sami Brady, it was too good to be true.

……………………………………………………

Belle looked around the lobby of the dank motel distastefully. No wonder her friend had gotten into trouble in a place like this. It was weird that this girl had called her considering that she hadn't talked to many of her college friends in awhile, but maybe she was desperate.

Even if it was a little weird, she wasn't going to turn her back on anyone. It was a distraction and that's what she needed. Resolutely she went to the entrance to the bar and looked for any sign of a familiar face.

No one, that was strange, she didn't see anyone she recognized. She turned back to the front desk, but there was no one around. She couldn't even ask if they'd seen an upset young woman leave. Now what was she going to do?

Belle went back to searching the bar's faces, but stopped in shock as she came to one person she'd hadn't expected. What in the world was Lucas doing here?

She watched him stagger as he stood up and a pretty redhead caught his arm as her heart sank to her stomach. There was no way he would do this to Sami, would he? If he was drunk her sister would be so disappointed in him, but she could only hope that was all that was going on here.

The redhead kept his arm to guide him through the bar and Belle silently prayed that she was just taking him to his car, she could find a way to prevent drunk driving as long as he went to his car, but that hope died away as they continued on towards the hallway that probably led to the motel rooms. How could she tell Sami about this? It would break her heart. But, how could she not?

She had thought that her older sister had found true love, but it seemed that all men really were slime. Knowing there was no other way; Belle took out her cell phone to place the call that would cause turmoil in a burgeoning family.

I know everyone will probably want to shoot the messenger, but I'm trying not to make Belle a cartoon character in this. She thinks she's doing right by her sister, that's all there is to it.