"Okay, Rick. You can come out, she's gone."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rick came out of the barn, then grinned at his brother's discomfiture.

"What, you have lots of experience in dealing with Mom. When I heard that "What" out of her, I knew it was time to feed the horses."

In spite of himself, the younger Simon chuckled. "It's not Mom you should be worrying about. When she heard about Marchetti, she went off on Laurie. I mean, not off, but still she wanted to know when someone was going to tell her she almost lost you guys."

Rick's humor faded as he got the point. "Oh geez, Laurie's not upset, is she?"

Now it was A.J.'s turn to smirk. "Not much. I did my best to calm her down, but I think you'd better give her a wide birth for a few minutes. I'm going to pick up Linda and the kids from the Center, now, so you've got sometime before we come back. Mom's with Chief Pete this afternoon so it's just going to be us for dinner." And Rick….." he started for his car then turned around. "I'd make sure she knows you won't do that again, okay?"

Rick met his now serious look with a chastened nod. "I won't, little brother. I can't run from talking about what we went through again, not with this hearing Dad has to go to with the Secretary."

A.J. shook his head in frustration. "I understand, Rick. Just let her know that. I'll see you later." He retraced his steps and gave his brother a heartfelt hug, then pulled his hat down and went to his car as Rick pretended to grumble about him "not being too big to whipper".

"Just when I think I've grown up…." He mused dejectedly, then entering the house through the backdoor, called "Laurie?"

Fearing she would be too upset with him to answer, he was glad to hear her reply

"In here, Rick."

Going toward their room, he instead heard, "I'm in the living room.", her tone very calm.

"Oh, oh."

Squaring himself, he continued down the hall then found Laurie in her rocking chair, watching for him.

Instead of sitting next to her in his chair, Rick instead knelt down in front of her, and reached for her hands, lacing his fingers with hers. "Laurie, I'm sorry."

He saw the hurt in her eyes fade to confusion, "Rick?"

"I shouldn't have done that to you, Sweetheart, I let you get the worst of Mom's being unhappy, and that wasn't right. I'm not …I didn't want to rehash our kidnapping, or what almost happened to us, but I had no right to put you in that position.. Please …."

"No, oh, darling, no…" Laurie interrupted him, drawing him to her and kissing him. "You break my heart when you hurt like this…. It's going to be all right," She whispered, leaning her face against his.

"I promise, Laurie, I won't let you face Mom or anyone alone, not like that." Rick kissed her hands, then her lips and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you so….I need you to help me be strong tomorrow…help me not lose my temper."

"I love you always, always. I won't let go of your hand once, I'll be brave too, I promise." Laurie buried her face in his neck as he stroked her hair.

The phone rang at that moment, and reluctantly Rick reached over and snagged it off the coffee table. "Simon Residence."

"Hey, Rick. It's Steve, how are you guys doing?"

Relieved to hear their friend's voice, Rick spoke to him a few minutes, then handed the phone to Laurie. "Your buddy wants to say hi."

"Hey Steve." Laurie was smiling now, then giggled as Steve needled, "I hope I didn't interrupt anything….somebody was grumpy answering the phone."

She blushed as she returned, "That's because it's just the two of us until dinnertime….besides, aren't you and Jaime enjoying being "empty nesters"?"

Steve cleared his throat noisily, "Uh, well, yeah….I guess I'll leave you lovebirds alone. We'll see you tomorrow. And," he added, hearing the drawn breath from Laurie as she was reminded of the unpleasant nature of their meeting. "We'll have lunch afterwards with Chrystal, she's going to meet us all at the Heritage."

"Thank you, Steve….That will be something to look forward to, give Jaime a hug for us." She smiled then said goodbye.

As she put the phone to one side, Rick scooped her up in his arms and settled into her chair, placing her on his lap. "Now, why don't we forget about tomorrow, and enjoy today before dinnertime." He said, gazing in her eyes.

"I'd like nothing better…." She replied, kissing him.

In spite of their good spirits of the day before, it was a somber group of family and friends who met at the local OSI Office the next day. Oscar was tightlipped as he waited for Rick to pull up in front of the building.

"There's my girl." he smiled as he helped Laurie out of the truck, then hugged Robbie as he climbed out after her. Rick's stomach was uneasy as he saw how weighed down the older man looked. "I'll be right in, Dad, let me park the car."

"We'll wait." Oscar said dryly. As soon as Rick came back from the parking structure, they met up with A.J., Steve, and Rudy and went into the private hearing room on the 1st floor.

As they waited to go in, Oscar reminded them, "The Secretary just wants to hear from us exactly what happened, and why and how the manbot and Marchetti died. If he or any of the cabinet have a problem with any of us, just tell the truth and walk away. This is entirely voluntary."

With Oscar's warning in his ear, Rick scowled as they went in and took their seats at a Senate-style hearing room, complete with microphones. In front of them sat 6 men, plus the Secretary. Rick held on to Laurie's hand the entire time as they listened to Oscar's successor, Michael O'Callahan, read an account of their abduction and rescue.

When he had finished, a beefy man on the OSI board spoke up. "I need to hear exactly why the manbot could not be saved, why was it allowed to be blown up by Michael Marchetti?"

Oscar quirked an eyebrow at him. "And you are?"

"Vice Director Melrose. We've read your report, Mr. Goldman. Can you answer this?"

Oscar calmly recited the events leading up to the manbot taking his daughter and son-in-law hostage, then the demand note and how the rescue was made. Then Rick spoke, his brusqueness seeming to make the vice director squirm in his chair.

As he finished telling of the brutality of their treatment by the late Dr. Marchetti, Rick couldn't help but level one more statement at the governing body.

"Since you and your office are more worked up then I thought over that Marchetti dying at the manbot's hand, I'm going to say this once and once only…My wife and I were almost killed by this …..manbot, if you're going to think I would let her die at the expense of "Wells" blowing up, you've got another thing coming."

As he sat down, Laurie's fingers gave his hand a squeeze. For a moment the men spoke, then the Vice Director turned his gaze to her.

"Well, Mrs. Simon, having dealt with both "robots', I realize you were frightened by the threat of this one, but is there no way you or your husband would have been rescued without killing this valuable link …."

"Wait a minute." Laurie stood straight up, then fixed her gaze on the panel. "This link, is by no stretch of the imagination "valuable!" You…have no right to put our lives and safety on the same value as that of a robot! If it weren't for my husband and friends, I would have been the prisoner of this robot or worse."

Laurie swallowed hard, then she continued, "And what you seem to have missed, is that the manbot took Marchetti out at the same time he exploded. I don't know how it did it, but there is no way any of us could have stopped the robot from exploding. I certainly hope our lives are worth the same consideration you seem to have for this criminal."

She sat down, and Rick squeezed her hand. "I'm so proud of you." he "told her. He stared at the panel members as they conferred with each other, then summoned Oscar to speak with them.

"Come on, darlin', let's make tracks." Rick nodded at the others, then helping Laurie up, led their group out of the room.

By the buzz going on as they left, he surmised his wife had given them something to think about. As the door closed behind them, she leaned against Rick.

"Thank God that's over…..I was so proud of you, Rick..You helped me stay calm."

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Not as proud as I was of you, and Dad. Steve, " Rick said, then waited until the big man turned around. "Now that …."

Just then Rick was interrupted by Oscar exiting the conference room, his face inscrutable.

"Well, pal?" Steve faced the former OSI Chief.

"Well, aside from being ashamed of themselves…." Oscar began, then grinned. "You all have the thanks of a grateful nation, and Rick and Steve have been put in for medals of honor."

A small cheer went up, then was quickly shushed by security. "Okay, party time at the Heritage." Steve told them.

Once they were gathered in a small dining room, Rick raised his voice.

"As I was saying, now that this is over, we can also celebrate our new neighbors the Austins." At that, Jaime giggled, realizing her husband was going to be surprised.

Steve stared blankly, then remembered the vacation home offer. "Rick, are you and Laurie sure?"

About to make a joke, Rick instead put a hand on the former Colonel's arm. "As sure as anything, my friend." He said quietly. "You and Jaime are a big part of our lives, I want to make sure we have the chance to make better memories."

Steve's eyes were bright as he replied, "I can't think of a better way to start!" Jaime raised her glass as she wiped her eyes. "To our family and new neighbors."

Fin