A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed, I really appreciate them :) There's only one more chapter after this one, surprisingly, so hold on to something and away we go!

Straightening the Curves

Chapter Nineteen: Confrontation

Luke and Ali went and hid in the small closet that was next to Eli's door as they heard the group starting to walk towards the door. One by one they heard the three of them leaving. Luke peeked out the closet and down the stairs to see if they were all gone before motioning to Ali to follow him. He quietly opened up Eli's apartment door and glanced around to make sure no one was there, then let himself and Ali in.

"What are we lookin' for?" Ali asked once they were inside with the door shut.

"Anything," he answered. "Anything to prove that this guy exists."

Nick and Yulch headed out in their own private cars. Eli slipped his shades back on along with his hat. He stuck a hand in his pocket to get his lighter so he could have another lit cigarette when he remembered he had left it on the coffee table upstairs.

Damn, he thought, turning around to head back to his apartment.

Eli got to his door and sensed that something wasn't right. He pulled out his gun slowly and clicked the safety off in case he had to use it quickly. He quietly opened the door so it wouldn't creak. He then swung open the door, got a cocky grin on his face and said, "Lookin' for me?"

Rosco had only left about three minutes ago to head home back to Hazzard. He seemed reluctant in leaving Eve alone with nobody around to call for help to in case she needed it, but she had insisted that she would be all right. Now that she was alone though, she wished that she'd made him stay until Luke got back. Where was he anyways? It had been a while since he called with an update.

She went outside down the hallway to check up on the clothes that were washing in the laundromat. They still had about fifteen minutes to go, so she went ahead back to her room. She had just closed the door to the room when she felt a hand around her mouth to silence her.

"Don't move," she heard a voice threaten her—Nick. "Don't scream."

Eli had Luke and Ali cornered near the front door. He had a chair pulled up to sit in so he could keep his eye on them, the gun in his hand pointed at them. He pulled out a fresh cigarette and lit it with the lighter he had retrieved a few moments ago. He inhaled, leaned his head back and exhaled the smoke through his nose.

He jerked his head back up and said, "Anyone up for a smoke?"

Luke shook his head, but he was sure that Ali wouldn't mind one. Much to his surprise, she said, "Nah, I quit."

"Really?" Luke asked. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks."

"All right, knock it off!" Eli snapped, twisting his neck to pop it. "Start talkin'. Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of Cooter Davenport's," Luke told him. "She's his cousin."

Eli gave her a sarcastic little smile. "How cute. Come to the rescue no doubt. Won't do much good, seein's how you're both gonna be dead in a few minutes."

"Why are you doin' this?" Ali asked suddenly, a glare fixated on him.

"'Cause I'm a bad lil' boy, that's why," he responded, a blank look on his face. "Those little sluts deserved what they got after playin' around with me. Nicky-boy decided to help out by pinnin' it on some sap that was cursed with my face. Then he paid that Detective Yulch off to arrest Davenport an' make it look like he was the killer. It would've worked better if if your moron cousin had been left-handed. That photo from the security cameras . . . too bad they ain't in color, or else you could see my pretty baby blues, then this wouldn't have happened." He took another puff of his cigarette and shook his head. "Poor guy. Liable to get the needle over all this. Glad it ain't me."

Nick had Eve pinned to the wall, hand over her mouth, and looking into her eyes with a knife up under her chin. "I'm real sorry about this, Evie," he said in a quiet voice. "I know you want to help your poor cousin, but I'm afraid you've gotten in too deep. I can't let you screw this up for me."

Eve had tears pouring out of her eyes, her whole body shaking with fear. Nick was about to plunge the knife deep into her head when there was a knock on the door.

"Honey, I left my keys, can ya let me in for a minute?" Rosco.

Nick had turned his head towards the door when he heard the knock, and Eve took the opportunity to kick him inbetween his legs and push him out of her way. "ROSCO!" she yelled, Nick already up on his feet and trying to get after her with the knife.

The door burst open and Nick found himself being grabbed from behind and slammed into the adjacent wall, the knife falling out of his hands.

"Get your paws off my wife!" Rosco growled, kicking the knife out of Nick's reach.

Nick wasn't about to give up though---he tried to ram Rosco with his head into his stomach but that didn't work because the sheriff threw a punch right towards his face and sent him tumbling back into the wall. Eve gave her husband a look of surprise. "Honey. . . ," she smiled.

"Oooh, that hurt!" he replied, shaking the tingly feeling out of his hand.

"You rotten bastard!" Eve hissed at Nick,the girl attaching herself to her husband's side for safety."You better explain yourself this instant!"

Nick groaned, putting a hand to his head. It looked as if he had no choice but to spill the beans.

"Okay, I'll talk," he winced as he touched his head.

"Hold on, I'm calling the judge first," Eve fumed. "He'll want to hear this."

Eli was whistling the tune "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" as he sat there and played with his gun, unloading it and loading it over and over. Every once and a while he'd point at something and say, "Bang!", pretend as if he'd shot something and laugh about it. Then he'd go back to whistling. Ali thought she'd go insane.

Luke sighed and looked down at the floor. "Ali, if anything happens to us—I just want you to know that I like you—a lot. You're an interesting, very unique person."

She smiled a little bit. "Thanks, Luke. I like you too."

"All right, enough jabber," Eli griped, putting the bullets in his gun for the last time. "I've had enough of this babysittin' gig, so now it's time to sing a lullaby and let ya sleep with the fishes."

Ali grabbed Luke's hand and squeezed her eyes shut, wondering which one of them was going to go first. All of a sudden, she heard the door being kicked down and a horde of armed police officers came in, guns pointed and shooting. The gun was knocked out of Eli's hand and a bullet got him in the shoulder. The officers quickly dog-piled him, getting the cuffs on him.

"You have the right to remain silent—"