Chapter 6

As soon as Alicia could no longer see Hope in the backyard, she ducked out the door and ran off in the opposite direction. 'How could he even think I'm a Dimera?' She was so angry with the situation. All they wanted were answers and all she ever wanted was her family. Alicia kept running, looking back over her shoulder every now and again to see if anyone was following. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew she needed to get away for awhile to think. She soon found herself in the park and ran straight into Doug and Julie.

"Whoa. Watch out. You should be more careful with where you are going." Doug told her trying to keep her from falling after colliding with him.

"Alicia is it?" Julie asked her.

"Yeah."

"Are you alright darling? You look as though you're running from something. Was anyone following you? I can call Hope or Bo if you want?" She said reaching for her cell phone.

"No! No one was following me. I was just trying to get some air." She said.

"Uh huh. And you were running through the park. Trying to get some exercise as well?" Doug asked her.

"I got into a fight with …with…um." She didn't know what she should call her parents. She couldn't very well come out with my mom and dad.

"With Bo and Hope?" Julie finished for her.

"Yes." She said. "I just needed to get some air to think."

"Do they know where you are?" Julie asked her.

"No. Not exactly. I ran out when they weren't looking." Alicia wanted desperately to talk to someone about everything. Here were her grandparents and they seemed really nice and understanding to her. It just seemed so easy to talk to them.

"I'll tell you what. I'm going to call Hope and let her know you're here with us."

"No. Don't do that." She said cutting Julie off.

"If you'll let me finish. I'm going to call Hope so she doesn't worry about you and you can stay with us for awhile. How's that?" Julie asked her already knowing she'd won with her.

"Okay." She said. "That sounds good. I don't want her to worry about me, but I don't want to go back there just yet."

"I had a feeling you didn't." Julie dialed Hope on her cell and explained to her that Alicia was with her and she was going to spend some time with Julie and Doug to give everyone a break. She also told Hope while Alicia wasn't in ear shot, she would try to talk to her and see if she could find out anything from the girl.

"Okay. It's all set. I talked to Hope and you're coming with us. We were just on our way to look at plans to reopen Doug's Place. You probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about; not being from here and all. But just as well, it will give you a break from all the tension and maybe you'll even come to understand Hope's point of view." She told her. The three of them left and went to Doug's Place. Unbeknownst to them, Vito lurked not too far behind them.

……

"Bo I was just about to call you." Hope pulled him into a hug as he walked in the door. "I just got off the phone with Julie and Alicia is with her and my father. She said she'll keep an eye on her and try to pump her for some information. I know my sister and she can really get you to talk even when you don't want to. I should've thought of that when they were here earlier this morning.""I'm glad that she's okay, but I'm beginning to have a funny feeling about her." He told Hope.

"What do you mean? Exactly?" Hope eyed him a little perplexed at the thought.

"I just don't think we should trust her right now."

"What? Bo! She's not some hardened criminal. She's a young girl who's lost. She has no one to depend on, so of course her attitude would come across as someone who was untrustworthy. She's just a kid." Hope looked at him wondering what he was thinking. "Wait. You don't really think she's a Dimera do you? You can't be serious about that." She said.

"I don't know what to think, Hope. One minute she's being all defensive, the next she's vulnerable, then she's lying and running out on us. What am I supposed to think?" Another vision stopped him. This time he saw more. …Doug, Julie, and Alicia. A loud crash. Dust, smoke and flames. A girls voice screaming. The ceiling crashing down. "Hope!" Bo's face had suddenly paled to a deathly white. "Where did you say your parents were going with Alicia?"

"Bo, what is it?" Hope asked looking worriedly at his whitening face.

"A vision. I need to know where they are now!" He became anguished. Something bad was about to happen and he needed to get there before it did. "Where Hope?"

"Doug's Place. They were going to Doug's Place. What is it Bo?" She asked him more frightened by the moment.

"No time to explain. Come on. We got to go."

……

Doug, Julie, and Alicia went into Doug's Place. Vito hung back and watched them enter.

"Would you look at this place." Doug said.

"I think we have a lot of work to do if we want to reopen." Julie said.

"If we want?" Doug questioned. "Julie this was all your idea."

"Darling, of course I want to reopen. I miss the fun times we had here. I'm just saying it's going to take a little more work than we first expected."

"What was that?" Alicia asked looking around startled.

"What?" Both Doug and Julie said at once.

"That noise." She said looking annoyed.

"I didn't hear…" Crash! "That sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. Stay here. I'm going to go check it out." Doug went to the kitchen when an explosion erupted sending him reeling back to the ground.

"Oh my love!." Julie screamed racing to help him.

"Fire!" Alicia yelled pointing at the kitchen door. Smoke and flames were moving quickly into the main lobby beginning to surround them.

"Go get help!" Julie screamed at Alicia. She tried pulling Doug away from the flames. Alicia stood frozen watching Julie struggle to move Doug to the front door. "Alicia help me." Julie yelled back to her. Before Alicia could move away from the kitchen door, another explosion went off louder than the first. Alicia screamed as the ceiling came crashing down on her. Julie had managed to drag Doug to the door. When she looked back to where Alicia was, beams and debris blocked her view of the girl. Alicia lay trapped under the debris, the force of the explosion had knocked her unconscious.

"Alicia?" Julie called to her, but no response came back. The dust from the debris falling and the smoke was making it hard to breathe. Julie had to pull Doug outside and try to get some help for Alicia. "Alicia!" She yelled again in between coughs. "If you can hear me, I'm going to try to get help. Stay where you are and don't move."

Bo and Hope arrived just minutes after the second explosion.

"Daddy!" Hope screamed seeing Julie struggling to pull him outside. Bo ran over to help her. "Oh God, please let him be alright." She pulled out her cell and started calling for help.

"Hope call the paramedics and get back up!" Bo hollered over his shoulder.

Hope was just hanging up the phone when movement to her right caught her attention. She looked around and noticed a black SUV driving away from the scene. She pulled out a notebook and quickly jotted the license plate number down.

"Alicia." She hadn't thought about her when they first arrived and she saw her father. But now that the shock of everything was dimming and her wits had returned, she remembered Alicia was with her parents. She raced over to Julie and asked her, "Julie, where's Alicia? I thought she was with you. Where is she?" Hope was becoming frantic.

"She's in there." Julie said pointing at the wreckage. "The ceiling caved in on her. I couldn't get a response from her. She's trapped under some beams."

"Hope, you stay here with your dad and Julie. I'm going to check on Alicia. Let the rescue team and paramedics know where we are when they get here." Bo said running into the smoke infested building. "Alicia!" He called. The flames were all around. He couldn't see anything as he made his way further inside. "Alicia? Can you hear me?" He yelled to her. The smoke was making him cough. "Alicia?" He yelled again. Bo noticed her hand sticking out from under the pile of debris. He went to her and tried lifting the ceiling beams off her.

"Commissioner, you in here?" An officer yelled to him.

"Back here! I need some help!" Bo yelled back. "How'd you get here so fast?" He asked.

"I was driving by the area when I heard some explosions going off. I called in for help, they should be here any minute." He said reaching Bo.

"Give me a hand with this beam." Bo told him. They both struggled with the beam lifting it up and off Alicia. Bo picked her up and carried her out of the building. No sooner than they had all gotten out, when the roof caved in.

"That's what I call close." Bo said. Hope ran to him and helped him get Alicia to the waiting paramedics.

…At the hospital…

"Hope your dad is in recovery if you'd like to go see him. He has a slight concussion, but he'll be just fine." Kayla told a relieved Hope.

"Thank god. What about Alicia?" She asked.

"She has a broken arm, but I'm afraid the trauma to her head has caused her to slip into a coma."

"What? Can I see her?" She asked.

"Of course. She's in ICU." She told her and Hope raced off to check on Alicia.

"Um what's up with that? I thought Hope would want to check on her dad. Who is this girl exactly?" She asked Bo looking puzzled.

"That's the million dollar question." He told her. "Hey Kay, I need you to do something for me that might compromise your position as chief of staff."

"Bo?" Her curiosity roused.

"Can you run a DNA test on Alicia and maybe run it through the database for a possible match to anyone here in Salem?" He asked her.

"I can't do that! I'd be breaking too many rules."

"Kay, I wouldn't be asking if it weren't important. Look I need to make sure she isn't related to the Dimeras."

"What? You think she's a Dimera?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure. That's where you come in if you're willing to help. The little I know of her makes me question her relationship to Stefano. She says her family is here in Salem. I'm hoping if you run the DNA test, we'll find out who they are and put an end to this. Please Kay. I really need your help." He pleaded with her.

Kayla rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, alright. You know I'm only doing this because you're my brother and I love you."

"Thanks Kay." Bo said hugging her.

"What's going on?" Hope asked having returned from seeing Alicia. "Kayla?"

"I've got to run." Kayla said not answering her sister-in-law.

"Kayla wait." Kayla didn't hear her. Hope turned to Bo. "Bo? What's going on?" She asked him.

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that Brady. I know when you're up to something."

"She's just going to run some more tests on Alicia. I know how worried you are and soon we'll have some answers." He told Hope.

"What kind of tests?" She asked doubting what he was saying was true.

"I don't know. I'm not the doctor." He said looking as innocently as he could.

"Okay. I'll let it go for now. I'm going to see my dad. You coming?"

"Right behind you."