Chapter two, la de da, has arrived, la de da--

Amelia: hile that is a most beautiful song, my dear...Perhaps you should move on. -.;-

...Fine. Geez. Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Oh well. 'Fore Mimi kills me, let's go.

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He had to be quiet. He didn't want to alert her, and thus spark her infamous temper. He knew she was unhappy with his continued tardiness, knew it all too well. Shaking his head, Doctor Delbert Doppler pushed open the door cautiously, lest she be sitting right there, in the armchair, scowling at him. But she wasn't.

What he did see, however, made him jump. The room...was a mess. Things overturned, a vase shattered into a thousand pieces lying on the floor. "...Amelia?" he asked, blinking. The lamp, which would have been the only light in the room had it been on itself, was also broken.

His first instinct was to check upstairs, on the children. Dashing up, he checked each crib, almost completely relieved when a study proved them all to be safe and sound. But that still left something wrong. Amelia was nowhere to be found.

Delbert checked the bedroom, the kitchen - every room in the house, but nothing turned up expect a smudge of blood that he would have bet anything was Amelia's. He stared at the disaster of a living-room in horror. Where was she? What had happened, who had been here?

"Sarah! Jim!" he yelped, bursting into the Benbow in something just short of panic.Yes, he was aware that most normal people were asleep at this hour. But Amelia was gone. Sleep didn't matter. "Sarah!" he repeated.

"Delbert!" she hissed, appearing out of the kitchen. "What on earth are you doing here? You can't just barge in and start yelling - people are asleep!"

"Sarah." Delbert moved forward to take her by the shoulders, just stopping himself from shaking her where she stood. "Amelia."

"What about 'er?" Jim had come down the stairs, yawning and scratching his head tiredly. "Did she hit you for being so late? I wouldn't put it past her, she was--" he yawned again, "mad."

"No, she didn't hit me," he said, somewhat irritably. "She wasn't there."

"Wow...I knew she was barking mad - no pun intended there - but I didn't think she'd leave you." Jim was smirking. He didn't understand the seriousness of this situation...

"Something's happened to her!" he said. "The house is a mess, she was gone. There was blood, Jim!"

"Woah. Delbert...Delbert, slow down. Tell us exactly what happened," commanded Sarah, in a such a tone as made the Astronomer stare at her, rendered speechless for a moment before he found his voice.

Well, obviously he wasn't going to tell them what had happened to make him late in the first place--Delbert blinked. Her had opened his mouth to say something, but now closed it. Of course...that was it. That was what had happened to Amelia.

"...Delbert?" prodded Sarah, promptly.

"Ah, yes. O-of course." He cleared his throat, not wanting to arouose suspicion. "Well, I came home late as I have been for the past week or so. When I arrived, the living room was absolutely demolished. Things were broken, overturned, out of place. It was a mess. So, naturally, I checked on the children. Thank goodness, they were fine. But upon further inspection of the house, I could find no trace of Amelia, save for this." He brought out a book he'd found sprawled on the floor, the red stain visible in the dull candle light of the Benbow.

"Is that...blood?" asked Jim, taking the book and inspecting it.

"Indeed it is, Jim. And I suspect it is hers."

"Delbert, ah...You mentioned the children. Would it be a strange thing to ask what you did with them?" asked Sarah, uneasily.

"Oh my goodness!" He'd completely forgotten about the sleeping infants..."The children!" he yipped, turning on heel to dash back out the door. With a sigh, Sarah and Jim ran after him.

They arrived back at his home, and he went straight on through to see the babies while the other two took in the horrific scene of the disastrous living room. Thankfully, all four infants were still safe. But how could he have been stupid enough to leave them alone like that.

Sighing, he sunk into the chair Amelia liked, head falling into his hands. This was his fault...Because of him, Amelia had been dragged into all of this. And she didn't even know what was going on. He hadn't told her the truth...He had all but lied to her. And that alone bothered him more than most other factors.

Sarah came over to pat him on the shoulder nervously, as Jim poked around, and Delbert continued to sit there, remorsefully wishing she knew. At least she'd have some idea of why whoever had done this, had done it.

"Well, I'll say one thing for her," commented Jim after a few minutes. "She put up one heck of a fight before they took off with her. I doubt she let them get away with it unscathed."

"I have no doubt," agreed the Doctor. "But they did manage to overpower her."

"Then we just have to find her, and beat the guys who did this to a pulp, right?" Jim pnched his left fist into his right palm. "That's all there is to it."

"...Of course." He only wished that Jim were correct - he wished that really was all was to it. But it seemed more complicated than that...

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Amelia: ... o.O

Sooo? You like?

Amelia: Ah...-Cough- -Ahem-

-.- Watch it, Mimi. I can and will make you misrable.

Amelia: I thought you were already going to do that.

...Probably. Whatever. You're mean to me like Raine. Kenshin likes me! Stay tuned. -Pouts-