Thirteen MIC- KEY Mouse

Jason and Carly found Lulu standing on a chair in the corner of her hotel room.

Jason had his gun out, and Carly stood behind him.

"What is it?" Carly asked.

Jason eyes darted around, seeing no danger.

"Gross! Gross! Yuck!" Lulu cried

"What? A spider?" asked Carly

Lulu rolled her eyes. "I don't care about spiders. It's a rat!"

Carly yelped, pushed Jason aside, and jumped on the bed. "Where is it?"

"Under the bed," Lulu said

They shrieked in unison. "Kill it, Jason!"

He holstered his gun, letting out a long breath. "Kill what?" he asked Carly "She

probably imagined it."

Right then they all heard a rustling sound, like some animal was chewing plastic.

"EWWWWW!" Lulu and Carly cried.

Pound. Pound. Pound.

"Lulu!" Milo called out from the hallway "Are you okay?"

He tried to kick in the door but the table blocked the way.

Jason shook his head at this scene. The mouse, a tiny baby one, darted out from under the bed causing Carly and Lulu to scream loudly.

POUND. POUND. POUND. "LULU!" Milo yelled

Jason walked into the next room and toward the door to open it and tell Milo to calm down. But before he could, just as his hand reached out to twist the handle, the door was kicked open by Milo. It slammed into Jason's head, sending him straight to the ground.

Milo stood over him, his gun out. He stepped over Jason and ran to the adjoining room.

Spinelli peeked inside, "Is Alky back, Stone Cold?" He was shivering in fear.

Jason stood up again. "No. There is nothing to fear around here except that teen terror."

Jason walked into the hall to check and see if any neighbors were disturbed by the yelling.

An elderly couple stood in front of a room down the hall. "You okay, dear?" asked the woman

"Fine. Sorry for the noise." Jason said "My...kid... just had a bad dream."

"Oh, completely understandable," the old man said

"Sure. Sure," his wife agreed "How old is your child?"

Jason shook his head, wearily. "She says she is eighteen but I have my doubts."

The couple looked at him with confused stares.

Finally the woman asked, "Do you know you are bleeding?"

Jason felt his forehead with his hand, there was a cut. "That would figure. You know?"

They nodded.

"Yeah, with my current luck.. it would figure." he grumbled, thinking about the moment that was interrupted with Carly " I think this kid is going to be the death of me."

He walked back into the room, leaving the old couple muttering "Poor thing" to each other.

Jason found Lulu still on the chair, Carly and Spinelli standing on the bed, and Milo chasing a mouse around.

"What kind of roach motel do you have me in, Morgan?" Lulu complained

His voice was incredulous. "Do I have you in? You snowed me in, Spencer."

"I wasn't driving. No one ever lets me drive. I am eighteen years old, you know."

"I would like to see that birth certificate."

Carly butted into the bickering, "You're bleeding, Jase."

"Yeah."

They shared a look, both of their minds on lovemaking that had started before this Mouse Debacle.

Milo tripped over Lulu's shoes and tumbled to the ground, the mouse ran over his hand.

Spinelli said, "You're supposed to be my bodyguard. Can't you do your job?"

Milo reached up and yanked Spinelli's foot, making him fall off the bed into a heap on the floor.

The mouse ran toward Lulu, who shrieked like she was in a haunted house.

"AHHHHH!"

The phone rang. Carly scooted across the bed and answered it.

"Hello?... Yes, there sure as hell is a problem. Your hotel is infested with rodents... yes it is. It is! I am looking at a mouse and it ain't named Mickey... what? Don't talk to me that way! Do you know who I am?"

Jason said, "Carly."

She caught his eye, and passed him the phone.

He listened and answered, "I understand." He hung up.

Milo and Spinelli were wrestling.

"You like touching me." Spinelli taunted him as they rolled around. He said this just to piss off Milo, even though Spinelli thought they could be friends if Milo would lighten up.
"Very brokeback, bodyguard."

Milo pinned him down, the mouse ran right up to Spinelli neck, then darted away. "AHHHH! Sorry, Milo, just joking. Let me up."

Milo glared at him.

"Enough!" Jason announced. "Pack it up. We have just been kicked out of the I No Tell Motel."

"Where?" asked Lulu

Jason gave her an annoyed look. "Here!"

Lulu said, " This place is called Sid Northwell's Motel."

"Pack it up!" Jason barked at her

"I am not getting off this chair with that creature on the floor," Lulu said "This whole disgusting place is infested with rodents!"

They glared at each other.

Milo stood up and asked, "I could carry you?"

Lulu smiled, "You are so nice!"

Jason rolled his eyes.

Lulu saw him and asked snottily, "May we break the five feet rule, oppressor?"

Jason told Milo, "Deliver Princess Spencer to the car. Could you? NOW!"

Milo scooped Lulu into his arms, grabbed a blanket to wrap her in, and they left.

"You have five seconds to get your crap together Spinelli," Jason said "Five , four.."

"I hate when you do that counting thing." Spinelli said as he ran from the room.

Jason started shoving Lulu's clothes in her bag.

"Man, what a shame, huh, Jase?" Carly asked

He grunted, miserably.

She said, "Well, there is always another night, another No Tell motel. Let me know if you want me to find one."

Carly jumped off the bed and ran into the other room, closing the door to keep the mouse out. She started packing, with only one last glance at the bed.

IN THE CAR, Milo sat Lulu in the backseat.

Before he could let go of her, she cupped his cheeks and kissed him, letting all the desire she had to love someone, love like a wildfire, show.

She eased away first, her fear overtaking her need. "Was that okay?"

His eyes stayed on hers but he didn't answer. His heart beat so fast he could not find any words.

She looked down, "I don't know what I am doing sometimes. I just want to...connect...oh, you must think I am pathetic."

"No."

Lulu looked up. After a second she smiled. "How did I go so long without noticing you, Milo?"

"Because of Dillon, I guess," Milo answered.

He stepped back and then added, " I should go get dressed. You can put on some jeans when I bring your clothes down."

"Okay."

He went to close the door and she said, in a rush of words, "Will you promise me something? When we get back home, me and you, we stay... friends, we stay in each other lives, we keep our Soul Mate Pact. Promise, Milo?"

In a soft voice, one that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life, he said "I promise."

Milo went back into the hotel, leaving her locked in the car.

Lulu's skin felt warm, from the kiss and the look he gave her. She thought, I will never forget this road trip.

(I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to lose

Clinging to a past, that doesn't lend me to choose

Once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night

You gave me everything you had,

oh you gave me light

And I will remember you

Will you remember me?

Don't let your life pass you by

Weep not for the memories ) ( Sarah Maclachlan)

IN THE HOTEL ROOM, Carly was dressed and packed. Jason slid on his leather jacket.

"Ready to go?" he asked

"I hate to leave this room," she told him.

He studied her. Everything in him was a jumble. He wanted to be in that bed with her, yet he wished he didn't want that. It was the most dangerous thing he could imagine.

Jason wished he could commit to the future Sam kept offering- the baby, the marriage. She kept bringing it up and he kept putting her off.

Not because he was waiting on Carly, he would not put it that way. Yet, he was. He was.

He knew he was.

"Carly, I can't..."

She raised a hand and stopped his words.

"I know all about what you can't do." Her words held no anger "You think about endgame. You think that is what we boil down to. What will happen on the day we hurt each other again some how."

She smiled at him sadly and continued, "But what you never think about is the time between now and then. All that middle. The middle is our life, Jase. And one way or the other I will spend mine with you. You run away, I will find you. I have to. You make my heart beat."

"I will never leave you. Don't fear that."

Carly moved close to him, "I don't. And I don't fear you not coming back to me. Because one of these days you will see how cruel it is to not give me what I deserve. And I do deserve it, Jase. I deserve your love."

She held his eyes for a long moment. Then moved past him and grabbed her shopping bag of clothes and bathroom supplies. She left the room with her head held high.

Jason said softly, when she was gone, "But we don't usually get what we deserve. Not people like us."

SPINELLI snuck out of the room while Milo was in the bathroom dressing. He found Lulu in the car, in a pink night shirt, with a blanket over her.

"Oh Blonde One."

"Hey."

"You know you have options beyond Crazy eyes and Richie Rich."

"Oh yeah?"

Spinelli raised his eyebrows up and down. "We could be like Bradagelina. Or the TomKat of the East Coast. We could be so smokin hot that Holly wood would be begging us to star in our own reality show. They could call it Jackal Loving."

Lulu pushed down her laughter, not wanting to hurt his feelings, "I don't see that happening."

"Oh, come on. I'm more than just a genius. I know I look intimidating. It scares the chicks off. Like Dreamy Dolly and The Goddess. They think I am too much man for them."

Lulu smiled.

Spinelli asked her, in a voice he hoped sounded like a player but actually sounded like a used car salesman, "Up to taming the tiger?"

Lulu bit her lip, trying hard not to crack up. "I wouldn't want to get between you and Sam."

"What? Do you know something? She wants me?" he asked excitedly. He started to primp his hair "Of course she does. I suspected as much. Damn, that will be hot. Oh man. Sorry, Lulu, I will have to rescind my offer to you."

"That's okay. I understand."

"Oh Blonde One, you have to help me plan how to get around the Stone Cold Factor. I can't get pumped full of holes for stealing his woman."

"I wouldn't worry about it. You know karate."

Spinelli nodded. "I better brush up on my skills."