Thanks for sticking in guys, I promise it will be more Lumi-esqe soon. This whole mess is necessary for the plot, but I had to throw in a little snippet of Lucas in this chapter. I kind of missed him, that's why I'm updating so soon. There's not really much back story to give. Sami and Eric had a happy normal childhood, the parents don't actually come into the fic. Lucas never moved to Salem, so if he is Bill Horton's son, then he doesn't know it. This also means he doesn't know Austin or Billie or Jen. That's also not really an issue. Let's place both of them in their mid to late twenties.

Sami's heart pounded as she ran through the airport without stopping, only two more gates to go. She wasn't sure what she was going to say or how she was going to act, but it had to be done. She had to know, that's all there was to it. She almost made it, too.

The stupid ticket checker, or whatever he was, just had to go and stop her. Men were pigs! Taking a deep breath she stalled for time, "Alright, I'm sure I've got it here somewhere," she checked her pockets, thinking that if she distracted him enough she could get on the plane, but his knowing look stopped her, "Okay, so I don't have a ticket. But, I've really gotta see someone on that plane."

"I can't let you on board without a ticket, miss. It's too late anyway."

Letting out a mournful sigh, Sami turned to watch the plane take flight. Now, she might never know.

…………………………………….

It was a surprisingly easy decision. When Sami called from the airport to ask her to bring a bag full of clothes for her trip, it took barely any thought to offer to go along. Eric was just going to have to fend for himself. It would teach him a lesson.

She left a message on the home answering machine and that was all there was to it. A care-free vacation in Versailles with an unknown end date was just what she needed. Jerk could die in a ditch for all she cared.

Nicole found herself on a plane to France with her sister-in-law slash best friend with minimal pangs of remorse. It was actually very simple, if only Sami wasn't so crazy.

"How do we know where to find him again?"

"I called all of the hotels in the area. He's registered in the Hotel Residence du Berry. I've got it all figured out, don't worry."

She barely held back her sigh, it seemed this was only the beginning, "Of course you do."

……………………………….

Sami looked around the beautiful hotel in amazement. It was something out of a storybook, "Wow."

"Sami, I don't think we can stay here." It was a loud whisper and she could tell that people were staring at them.

"We've already come this far, we have to see if he's here."

She grabbed her sister's arm and together they made it to the front desk, "Parlez-vous anglais?"

She sure hoped so, because her French was more than a little rusty, in fact, it was practically non-existent.

"Yes, yes, how may I help you ladies?"

"Reservation for two under the name Samantha Brady, and could tell us which a Mr. Austin Reed is straying in?"

"One moment please," the man gave them a pleasant smile and typed into his computer, "Mr. Reed has already checked out."

The cruelest words in the history of the world. It wasn't possible, it wasn't right, "What do you mean checked out?"

"I mean he is no longer in this hotel, mademoiselle," he lifted the set of keys to room 376 and jangled them gently; "He returned his keys."

Sami looked about ready to rip the guy's head off and Nicole knew what that meant, they were in for trouble. With a gentle hand, she led her friend away from the desk, "Let's sit down for a minute."

Sami took a deep breath before letting her thoughts form into words. She had come too far to turn back. "We probably missed him by a few seconds."

Nicole patted her hand kindly, "I know, honey. It sucks."

"No, you don't understand. They probably haven't cleaned out his room yet."

"Oh, no."

……………………………………….

Sneaking into room 376 had been much easier than she had expected. Sure Nicole kept looking at her like she was crazy, but it was a small price to pay. It was something she needed to do for her own peace of mind.

"Where should we look first?"

"I don't know, Sami. What would Colombo do?"

From her position on the floor, looking under the bed, Sami shot back, "Was Colombo even a detective? Geez, how old are you anyway?"

"This coming from a woman who went across the Atlantic to find guy she's never seen before. You're acting like you're six."

"Just, help me look. It's not like you'd understand this anyway. You've already got Eric."

Dumping out the wastebasket, Nicole huffed sarcastically, "Yeah, I've got Eric. I've got Eric who spends too much time working and then ignores me when he's home. I've got Eric who expects me to be a happy little housewife," her voice dropped sadly, "I've got Eric who's probably having an affair."

That got Sami's attention, and quickly, "What! Oh my God, did you see him?"

She continued to rift through the trash to keep her hands from shaking, "No."

Sami's brow crinkled slightly, "Did you hear him say something?"

"No," she wiped some sticky something off her hand in irritation, this was not how she'd planned on telling Sami.

"So how do you know?"

She took a deep breath and looked at her friend, "I just know."

"Oh," Sami finally let it drop, but, really, the thought was never far from Nicole's mind.

With a new determination to shut the depressing thoughts out, she looked at the trash again. The only thing that might have been worthwhile was a note on a crumpled piece of paper, "Hey, can you read French?"

Dropping her hold on one of the bureau drawers, Sami rushed over, "It says… uhh… wait, it's an address. 'Trouve' I know that word, it's… umm, find. Okay so he's finding someone named Michele at a café on the Champs-Elysees. That's in Paris, right? 'Vingt heure' that's eight. They use military time, right?"

Somehow she knew she wasn't actually looking for an answer, and then she was being dragged out of the door. She was half way convinced her friend was crazy, "So, we're going to Paris?"

"Yes! Don't worry, it'll work," Sami continued on enthusiastically, but there was one more thing she had to say, "Nicole? Do you remember that Thanksgiving in ninth grade when we all played football?"

"Umm, yeah, I guess."

"Well, you remember how you were being all prissy and refusing to play, until Eric convinced you to. Then after that, you hurt your ankle and had to sit out."

Why did it have to be about Eric? "Yeah, what about it?"

"It's just, well, he sat out with you. I know my brother and he's insanely competitive. That was the day I knew that he had really fallen for you. I can't believe he would have an affair."

That day had made her feel so special, changes sucked, "A few years ago, I wouldn't have believed it either."

……………………………………………………

Lucas was bored. That's all there was to it. Maybe Paris wasn't as big a deal as everyone made it out to be. He certainly wasn't having much fun. The whole conference was almost over, and then he could go back home to New York. But, really, there wasn't much waiting for him at home either.

It sucked to have nothing to look forward to. He was in a beautiful city and he was all alone. It was a crying shame. From his position lying back on the bed he turned to look at the clock. It was only one o'clock. Thank God he had gone to Military school, or else he'd still be getting used to the change around here.

Maybe later he'd go to a movie or something, right now he was just going to stay on his back wishing for something interesting to happen.

Tomorrow I'll have the third chapter up and that will bring Lucas right into everything. Here's a hint, he meets Sami. Once he's in the middle of everything, I'll slow down with the updates. I'm just impatient to get into some lumi action.