Chapter Twenty-Two: Do Anything for Love

Blair rose out of bed that morning. She stretched and yawned, gazing around the room for any sight of Cody. She heard the distant sound of water running from the bathroom.

She got up and knocked on the door of the bathroom. "Cody? You wanna go and get something to eat?" Blair asked through the door.

"Nah. You go on without me. I'm not quite done showering and all. I'll catch up with you later, scout's honor."

Blair's face fell a little, disappointed. "Well, OK," she replied. "Hope to see you then."

She then quickly got herself dressed and made up and left her room. She then went to room 117 to find Rick and Jo, hoping they'd want to join her for breakfast.

She knocked on their door. No answer. She knocked a few more times but there was still no response.

She spotted Jo's car not far away so she knew Jo didn't leave the motel. A few feet in front of her was a small restaurant attached to the motel so she left the front door of Rick and Jo's room and made her way to the restaurant.

Walking inside, she spotted Jo sitting by herself with a cold cup of coffee.

"Hey, Jo," Blair said to her cheerily.

Jo raised her eyebrows as she got a first glimpse of Blair that morning. Her clothes were wrinkled and disheveled, her blonde hair almost unkempt and she seemed…

She looks like she got laid, She thought in sheer disgust and disappointment.

"Hi, Blair. Ya seem rather…uh…chipper this morning. What happened to your hair? Normally ya so dolled up," Jo pointed out, trying to hide the disdain and disgust in her voice.

"This? Eh…I dunno…guess I didn't feel like doing my hair. The unkempt look is in anyways."

She then sighed blissfully, staring off into space.

"Are ya OK? Ya look like ya crazy or on drugs or both," Jo said, giving Blair a funny look.

"I do? Really?"

"Yeah. Ya do? What's wrong with ya? Does Cody have anything to do with it?"

Blair shrugged, trying her best to act nonchalant. But she had a small smirk creeping at the end of her lips.

"Oh, screw it!" Blair exclaimed. "OK, so Cody came over last night. We didn't exactly go all the way but he's still such a gentleman. He's sweet and thoughtful and kind and a good kisser and…he's amazing! We're not actually together but…he's just so…wonderful!"

Jo's eyes widened as she listened to Blair gush on about Cody, feeling relieved he hadn't actually slept with Blair but still jealous and bitter they had kissed. Her face suddenly fell at that admittance.

"Jo…are you even listening to me?" Blair asked.

"Sorry, Blair. I was. I mean…I am listenin' to ya," Jo told her, giving Blair a fake smile. "So…where's Cody now?" She wondered.

"Oh, he's in my room, taking a shower," Blair informed her, smiling.

Jo's smile faded from her face, a feeling of dread running through her body, her palms starting to sweat with panic. She finally noticed that Blair had come to the table empty handed.

"Blair…did ya leave that man alone in ya room?" Jo asked in a small voice.

"Uh…" Blair stammered, not quite sure what Jo was inferring.

"The money, Blair, the money?! Where's the money?" Jo exclaimed in a panic.

Blair's face of sheer confoundedness was all Jo needed to know that Blair had forgotten the money.

Jo got up from the table and rushed outside to get to Blair's room.

"Jo, it's fine! It's on the bed table!" Blair yelled, running behind her. Cody wouldn't do such a thing! He wouldn't! He cares about me! Jo's wrong! Blair thought as she ran after Jo.

"Jo, it's on the nightstand!" Blair continued to reassure Jo as the two women ran as fast as they could to the room.

Jo burst her way through the door, immediately rummaging through the night table where'd she last left the money. The envelope and the money were gone. Rick had left and all her life savings were down the drain. Jo was penniless yet again.

Jo felt as though someone had reached in and pulled her heart out. All her efforts had been wasted. This can't be happening. This can't be happening, she thought. She ran her hands through her hair in despair, sliding onto the floor in a fetal position.

The room was empty and all of Blair's belongings had been ransacked. Cody was nowhere to be found. Blair only stared on in disbelief.

"Goddamnit! That son of a bitch burgled me! I don't believe it! I have never been lucky! Not one time!" Blair exclaimed in disbelief. She sighed and shook her head, hurt and betrayed. I can never just find somebody I can trust. Never. How could he do such a thing?

"I don't believe it," she said angrily to herself, putting her hands on her hips. She then turned to look at Jo, her eyes widening in complete and udder sadness. Blair had seen Jo upset before but never quite the way she was at that very moment. Jo had her face buried in her knees and her arms wrapped around them, not making a sound.

Blair's heart broke. She suddenly was at a loss for words. This is all my fault. Why did I have to have him in our car? Why did I have to let him in my room? Why was I so nice to him?

Blair gulped, her tongue suddenly sticking to the roof of her mouth.

"Jo? Are you OK?" Blair asked tentatively, kneeling down next to her.

Jo shook her head no.

Blair felt her heart sink even lower. "Jo…I'm really sorry. I mean it," she said softly.

Jo didn't answer or move.

Blair didn't know what else to say that would make the situation any better. "Jo, it's OK," she soothed. "It's OK."

She doesn't get it! Of course she doesn't get it! Blair's never wanted for anything in her life; even when she doesn't have money now! Jo thought angrily. Doesn't she understand it's over for us?!

Jo's head rose up, her green eyes widening and her mouth agape. "No, Blair…it's not OK. It's not OK. It's definitely not OK," she said, fighting back tears. "I mean…none of this shit is OK."

She threw her hands up in resignation and shrugged. "I mean…What are we gonna do for money, Blair, huh? What about gas? What? Trade on our good looks?"

Jo then laughed bitterly, tears running down her face. "I mean…goddamnit, Blair! It's not OK!" She dropped her head back into her lap, weeping hopelessly, the tears wetting her jeans.

As Blair watched Jo, an idea crossed her mind. An idea so crazy, she couldn't believe it.

Jo's not going to go along with what I'm planning to do but I'm going to do it. I'm going to make it up to her, Blair thought determinedly. She never wanted to see Jo in that state again. Cody may have been a betraying, backstabbing son of a bitch, but he may be useful for something.

"Jo, c'mon. Stand up," Blair said to her sternly. "Don't you worry about it, OK? You hear me?"

Jo didn't respond. She only looked up at Blair, her eyes red and her face blotchy. What's she gonna do? Rob a bank? Jo thought sarcastically.

But Blair refused to continue to watch Jo wallow any longer. "C'mon! Get your stuff! Let's get out of here!" Blair then began grabbing all of her belongings, stuffing everything into a suitcase.

Jo sat still as a stone, watching Blair.

Blair groaned at Jo's stubbornness. "Move!" She ordered sternly.

When Jo didn't budge, Blair grabbed ahold of Jo's hands and pulled her up off the floor. "C'mon," she said. "Jesus Christ, Jo," Blair complained as she dragged Jo outside the room. "Take your damn time, will you?" Blair groused.

"You want anything?" Blair asked Jo thirty minutes later as Blair parked the car outside a convenience store. Jo had found herself too distraught to drive so Blair had ended up driving. Which suited Blair fine.

Jo turned her head morosely at Blair, shaking her head. "How much money do we have left?" She asked curiously.

"About eighty-eight dollars," Blair told her.

Eighty-eight ain't gonna make a dent, Jo thought depressedly.

Blair tucked the gun she had hidden behind her back in the waist of her jeans, out of Jo's viewpoint. She then touched up her lipstick.

"Well, I'll be back! This won't take long!" She then handed Jo her lipstick and quickly slid out of the car, running into the store.

After Blair had left, Jo rose from her seat to apply the lipstick Blair had handed her.

What am I doin'? I look like shit and I'mmiserable. She then took out a cigarette, lit it and started puffing away to help ease her stress.

The more she thought about her financial problems and the rut she was in, the more depressed it made her. She tossed her unfinished cigarette out of the car along with the lipstick and buried her face in her hands.

Suddenly, she could hear Blair yelling, breaking her out of her miserable thoughts.

"DRIVE! Drive, Jo, drive the car!" Blair shrieked, running as fast as she could in her high-heeled shoes. She jumped into the car.

Without questioning, Jo obeyed. She started the ignition and slammed on the gas, speeding out of the parking lot.

"Go! Go, go, go!" Blair yelled breathlessly.

"What happened?!" Jo asked in alarm, her heart racing.

What Jo was not prepared to see were wads of bills in a paper bag Blair held up proudly.

Jo's mouth dropped and her eyes bugged out. Did she just do what I think she did? Blair Warner robbed a store?

"Ya robbed a store?" Jo asked in disbelief. "Ya just robbed a goddamn store?"

Blair let out an excited, triumphant shriek. Jo looked on, completely stunned. "You?!"

"It's not like I killed anybody, for crying out loud," Blair said. "We needed the money!"

Jo gave Blair a look. "Oh, shit, Blair! Ya done a lot of crazy shit in ya life but this is the craziest! I can't believe ya just did that!"

"Well, I'm sorry but we needed the money and now we have it," Blair replied nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.

She's lost her mind. She's gone completely insane. Blair Warner has completely lost it. We're already on the run for murder. Now it's also fuckin' armed robbery!

"Shit, shit, shit!" Jo exclaimed in a panic.

"Jo, get a damn grip. Drive us to goddamn Mexico, will you?" Blair demanded, rolling her eyes.

How can she just be OK with this? She just robbed a store and she's acting like it's no big deal, Jo wondered in complete shock.

Jo realized she was suddenly seeing a side to Blair she didn't know she had and she knew she'd only be lying to herself if she didn't find it hot as hell. She wondered what other facets there were Blair was hiding.

I'm so fucking badass. I can't believe I just did that! Me! Blair thought, the adrenaline rushing through her. I could do that again!

"How…why…" Jo spluttered, at a loss for words. "I mean…what'd ya say?"

Blair only shrugged. "Well, it was pretty easy," she boasted. "I just moseyed on in and I…"

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for being here today," Rollins informed Casey, Beverly Ann, Natalie, Tootie, Andy, Pippa and Blair and Jo's parents.

"You're probably all wondering why I called you all here."

Everyone sat around a round table inside an office building of the New York State Police Department. They all nodded unanimously.

"Well, we have a tape recording that was sent to us exactly three hours ago of Ms. Blair Warner in Oklahoma and I don't think you're going to like it," he told everybody.

"Is she alright?" Monica Warner, Blair's mother, asked concernedly.

"She's unharmed, ma'am. But the contents of what she's doing are of concern."

"Then show us the damn tape!" David Warner, Blair's father, demanded impatiently.

Rollins nodded. He inserted the tape inside a VCR and hit the play button. Everyone's eyes stayed glued to the screen as they watched Blair, wearing red high heels, tight denim jeans, a red tank top, denim jean jacket and sunglasses, walk confidently into the store. To everyone's surprise and shock, she suddenly then pulled out a gun out of the back of her jeans.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," she greeted the clerk and customers politely. "This is a robbery. Now, let's see who's gonna win a prize for keeping their cool. Everybody lie down on the floor, please. Right away. Thank you."

The customers all whimpered in fear as Blair brandished her weapon at them. They all immediately did as they were told, lying down on the floor.

Blair turned her attention on the store clerk. "You," She ordered, pointing her gun at him. "Put all the money in a paper bag! If you don't, you'll have a tag on your toe. You decide."

The clerk obeyed. "Yes, ma'am," he said obediently.

"Don't anybody play hero. Just lie down and get real comfortable." She spotted some bottles of Southern Comfort near the register. "Throw in some bottles of Comfort in there, too, will you?" She told the man.

"Yes, ma'am," the clerk said nervously. The customers all continued whimpering.

The clerk stuffed every single bill he had in the register and dumped all the Southern Comfort in the bag, handing it to Blair.

Blair smiled confidently, aiming her gun as she made her way out of the store, backing away. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, I wanna thank you all for your cooperation today. Thank you all and have a good day."

The tape suddenly ended.

Afterwards, everyone glanced at each other, their mouths dropped open and shock evident on all of their faces.

"Jesus Christ," Casey replied, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Good God…was that our Blair?" Tootie asked, tears filling her eyes.

"My Lord, I don't think I've seen anything as appalling as this since the Patty Hearst robbery!" David exclaimed in horror.

"Where's Jo? Where is she?" Charlie Polniaczek demanded, rising out of his seat.

"She would have to be with Blair which makes her just as guilty. She's the getaway driver," Natalie said, shaking her head, stunned.

"I can't believe this. I can't," Charlie replied, clenching his fists. "How did this even happen? I'm so confused."

"We don't know. They won't even call us. Rick told us they were fine and then this happens," Beverly Ann said. "Then he ends up missing."

"Well, when I see him, he's gonna wish he had never been born!" Charlie exclaimed while his ex-wife, Rose, sat stoic and motionless.

"And to think we said we couldn't see them harming anybody," Tootie said ruefully.

"So now what happens?" Andy asked curiously.

"Well, we're going to have to have all of your phones tapped in the case Ms. Warner or Mrs. Bonner calls any of you. If they do…well…we'll see what happens from there," Bradley McNeal informed them.

Everyone nodded, still shaking their heads in disbelief.

As everyone departed the office, Natalie pulled Tootie away to a corner of the room to talk quietly.

"Did you notice how quiet Mrs. Polniaczek was when they told us Jo was involved in that robbery?" Natalie asked.

Tootie nodded. "Yeah…she didn't even look like she even remotely bothered or anything."

"What's up with that?" Natalie wondered.

"I don't know. I'm just so disappointed in Jo and Blair. I don't understand how they could do such a thing. Boy, are they in trouble."

"Yeah…nothing's making any sense. The world's gone completely mad. Now we'd better find Beverly Ann so we can get back to Peekskill," Natalie said.

Tootie nodded sadly. "I hope I get to see my friends again," she replied. "I don't know what they did to decide to rob a store but I hope they come out of this somehow."

Natalie rested a hand on Tootie's shoulder. "Me, too, Toot," she agreed. "Me, too."