"Ready to go, Cecelia?" Oscar stood at the door, his silver hair lit by the winter moon.

"Now, Dad, you need to have Mom in by a decent hour..okay?" Rick teased, as his mother pretended to be annoyed. "Rick….."

"Don't worry, son. Tell my daughter not to wait up." Oscar smirked, extending his arm as Cecilia took it, her red and silver dress sparkling in the entry light. Secretly Rick thought his mother looked elegant next to his father-in-law. From behind him A.J. took a couple of pictures, happy that the scout campout he was scheduled to be on was cancelled due to a late snowstorm.

"You heard the man, boys. See you later." She added, then smiled up at the big man. A.J. poked Rick from behind and the two brothers snickered and closed the front door.

"I've wanted to do that since I was 15." A.J. laughed, heading back to the game table. Rick followed, saying "You've been waiting, remember when that cheerleader wanted to neck on the steps? Mom kept turning the light on, then made an excuse that she was "hot". What a killjoy!"

"Guys…..did you want some popcorn?" Laurie appeared in the doorway, popping a kernel in her mouth teasingly.

"Uh, sure, do you want to play?" Rick grinned as his wife saundered into the room, holding a couple of beers in her hand.

"Only if you two promise to behave, no fighting." She giggled, then let Rick seat her at the Monopoly board.

As the evening passed, the three Simons emptied the snack bowls and groaned as Laurie built empires out of Boardwalk and Baltic Avenue.

"I just don't get it; I never land on the purple ones." A.J. moaned, handing over his last $100 bill. Laurie just smiled.

"That's because you shake the dice too much, you'd think you were playing Craps…whoops, Melly, what are you doing up?"

"I had a bad dream, Auntie….where's Grandma?" The littlest Simon asked, rubbing her eyes. Rick glanced at the clock, and grinned, "It's almost midnight, somebody's having a good time."

"She's out with Uncle Oscar, remember? Come here honey….you can sit up for a moment." Laurie reached out and lifted her niece onto her lap. At once she frowned, then touched Melly's forehead. "A.J., she's really warm."

"Let me see, come here, baby." At once Melly lifted her arms and A.J. picked her up, then winced at the touch of her hot skin.

"Poor Melly, you're a little warm, that's why you had a bad dream. Let me get you a drink of water and get you back to bed." He calmly told her, the worried look in his eyes belaying his words.

"Can I stay with you, I don't want to go back to bed." Melly whimpered, then subsided when Laurie said "Honey, why don't I come back to your room with you, and tell you a story, okay?"

The child shook her head. "I want daddy, he can scare the bad man away."

At once Rick got an eerie feeling as his brother cleared his throat. "What bad man, honey?"

"The man who took Granma away….I saw a man grab her arm, then hit Uncle Oscar and run away."

A.J. managed a smile. "Well, Mommy can help me scare the man away, right, Melly? And you can have some of Dr. Rudy's special medicine."

"Okay." Melly put her head down on his shoulder as he got up and gently carried her to her room.

As soon as the door closed, Rick looked at his wife, and noticed she seemed to be staring into space. "Darlin', what's up?"

Suddenly she put a hand to her forehead and winced. "Sorry, love, I have a bad feeling all of a sudden. I don't want to spoil their evening, but can you call Mom and Dad and see if they're on their way back?"

"Sure, Laurie…I think all you've got is a case of the "frights". Rick put a reassuring arm around her as he turned on his transmitter watch and pressed the send button.

"Dad, it's Rick, can you hear me?"

Static sounded, then a low chuckle made his stomach turn. "I'm afraid he's not available, Rick. Neither is your mother."

"Who is this?" Rick glanced at his wife, who frantically got up to find A.J..

"Don't worry, they'll be in good hands. I'll be in touch."

"Wait a minute…." Rick called out, then the red light went off.

"What happened?" A.J. rushed into the room, followed by Laurie.

"Someone's got Dad and Mom….we have to get a hold of Robbie and Ron….."

Minutes later the phone rang, and A.J. vaulted up to pick it up. "Ron?"

"I'm on my way….tell me what happened."

Filling him in on the meager details, Rick was suddenly interrupted by Laurie, who gasped, "What about Rudy and Linda?"

"What about us?"

The Simons turned around to see Rudy and Linda in the doorway, and A.J. immediately jumped up and embraced first his wife, then their friend.

"Thank God you're all right…..Rudy, Oscar and Mom are missing, and someone answered Oscar's transmitter then turned off the locator."

"No…. we just left them not an hour ago….he was going to take Cecilia out for a cup of coffee." Rudy protested, then Linda shook her head dazedly.

"No….this has to be a mistake….Oscar's so careful…he wouldn't let himself or Mom to be taken like this."

"Not if he had a chance." Laurie said through numb lips and Rick winced, remembering he had waived off her worries. A faint voice from the telephone reminded them Ron was still on the line, and A.J. sheepishly picked up the receiver. "Sorry, Ron. Rudy and Linda just came in, and they saw Oscar and Mom about an hour ago. They were on their way to get a cup of coffee."

"Everyone sit tight, I'll be there in 20 minutes. I'll start an APB on Oscar's car, and if I hear anything or …well, call me." The Chief of Detectives replied. When he hung up, Rick cleared his throat.

"I'm going to call Robbie and Rob….we're going to need all the help we can get." He told the others, then Laurie looked at Rudy.

"We're going to have to alert the Secretary….not that Dad is under their protection anymore, but just in case…"

"No…Missy, we'll have to hold up on that…." Rudy interrupted her, then her face went white with fear.

"They wouldn't, …God no…."

At once Rick knew what they were talking about, and he put his arm around his wife.

"Sweetheart, we won't let anyone hurt them, either the kidnappers, or the Government."