A/N: 'ello my fellow droogies. Sorry I'm late, had a pain in the gulliver. What say you on a bit of the ultra-violence? Maybe a bit of the ol' in-out-in-out?
I have the update right here! Last week's episode kinda stunted my story growth because of all of the new info, and I'm waiting on next week's ep for more info and inspiration. I'm taking a turn from the usual copying now that I'm wrapping things up. But the latest ep was very revealing in terms of info, nothing I need for this fanfic however. The warning, because we need another one: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED HIGH TEEN FOR MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND HUMOROUS SEXUAL IMPLICATIONS. READER DISCRETION (not really needed this time in comparison to the other times, but it's your call) IS ADVISED. Okay, so are we ready? Are we set? Review, disclaimer is in the first chapter...then let's GO!
PS: What am I referring to in the first line of my A/N? See if you can find out.
Chow Soo-Hyun went over a few plans in his mind. He was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, a hotel that had somehow managed to stay alive during the Eco-Recession. He had made the journey from China to Los Angeles a few days ago for a very important reason. Chris had just about exhausted every lead in LA he could find, and now it was time for Chow to put in one final tumbler to lock everything in his plan into place. How did Chow know that it was time to put the final tumbler into place? A simple phone call from two days ago.
"Yes Christopher, what is it?" Chow rolled his eyes at hearing Chris's voice, not at all pleased that Chris had interrupted a very relaxing massage—and his admiration of the blonde haired masseuse.
"I saw Dana on the news today. She's in Arizona."Chow contemplated this. He knew damn well she was there from a very special informant of his.
"And I'm guessing you're surprised?"
"You're not?!"
"An informant of mine told me. She will not be there long."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Go to Las Vegas."
"Vegas? What for?"
"An instinct of mine. I have a feeling she will be there soon." Chow already knew that Courtney would be in Vegas, again from his very special informant.
"So why did I come to LA again?"
"Do you dare QUESTION me?" Chow's voice slightly rose in anger to make sure Chris would not pursue the subject.
"All right, all right, I'll go to Vegas." Chow smiled at Chris's compliance.
"Good." And Chow hung up and eased back into his relaxing massage.
Chow's cell phone rang, and he picked it up without fail, not even bothering to look at the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Is he almost to us?" A woman's voice asked him over the phone.
"Ah, my informant."
"Don't give me that crap; I am NOT your informant. So let me ask again: is he almost to us?"
"Yes. But remember, you still have your part of the bargain to be fulfilled: I bring him to you, and I get the girl. No tricks or I will go to…well; you know what I mean, yes?" The woman's lips became thin, wanting to lash out at Chow so much, but couldn't.
"I understand. But if he isn't with us in 24 hours, you know what will happen…right?" Chow was cocky and confident that his plan wouldn't fail; it was practically foolproof.
"Of course."
"Goodbye then." The woman ended the call, and Chow hung up his cell phone and smirked. My plan is almost complete…
The next morning, Courtney and Nick were having breakfast together. It had been one night since Courtney had come back from her latest Outing, but Bridgette was late to breakfast. Then Nick spotted her walking to the eating area, but she sat at a different table by herself.
"Bridgette is alone." Nick commented to Courtney. Courtney glanced at Bridgette, who was now just sitting, seemingly blissful, but at the same time, it seemed fake.
"I like to be alone sometimes." Courtney simply responded, looking back at Nick.
"It's peaceful." Nick sympathized, but only temporarily. "Bridgette sits with us most days. Am I wrong?"
"When we go to sleep, I hear her—"
"Maybe she didn't see us." Nick got up from his chair and made his way to Bridgette, who seemed to be staring into space. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she let out a blood curdling scream. She fell out of her chair and backed away from Nick as though he were a monster. Courtney looked at Nick, then switched her glance to the still screaming Bridgette, then back to Nick. Tawny, who was dressed in tight grey pants hiding her blue skinny jeans very well and a white Egyptian cotton button down shirt hiding her red tank top just as well and black flats came to Bridgette and dragged her away from the eating area. Chase had heard the screams and immediately ran to his girlfriend; he had been watching from the second floor and decided to help her.
"Why do you think she's screaming?"
"I-I don't know, she's just—and—I'm bringing her to Beth."
"I'll get Russell. He'll want to know about this."
"Do you feel uncomfortable at all?" Beth asked Bridgette after Beth gave a thorough examination of EVERYWHERE in her body. Beth was wearing a black A-line scoop neck dress with a gold ribbon under the bust and a small teardrop jade necklace. Bridgette had been changed out of her blue camisole and brown gaucho pants into a red and black robe.
"No…should I?"
"No. Did Nick upset you, do you remember?"
"Nick wants to pretend." This took Beth aback slightly because about a thousand different dirty thoughts came to mind. She briefly chided herself before asking Bridgette about what she really meant.
"Pretend?" Beth kept a smile on her face, as though she were talking to a small child.
"He pretends we're married." Bridgette smiled, but Beth's smile fell severely. Oh crap.
"I see. You may go." Bridgette got up off of the examination chair and left the office to go back to her normal schedule of meditating. At this time, Chase and Russell walked in, knowing that the examination was done.
"Something's up?" Russell asked Beth, who was going back to her desk.
"Yes. Bridgette's had sex." It made Beth shudder on the inside, but she managed to keep her voice level nevertheless. This surprised both men greatly.
"No, ma'am."
"You know for sure?" Chase asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"Her last Outing was with the governor's niece, tutoring her."
"I examined her post-Outing. This happened while she's been here." Beth coldly explained to both men.
"What did she say about Nick?" Chase asked in suspicion yet again.
"That he liked…to play."
"Wait, the Mankins don't have sex drives." Russell added his few words of wisdom, or what he thought was wisdom. "Isn't that part of the deal?" Beth and Chase looked down, both thinking about Nick's attraction to her. "Wait, what do you two know?" Tawny had told Chase, and Tawny had been told by Cody two days ago while he was still recovering from the shock of this startling anomaly. Chase was first to speak though, voicing his suspicion.
"Since when do you care what happens to her?"
"Since I was hired to. Just because I'm not Andy Griffith with these guys doesn't mean I want to see them abusing each other. If Nick's off-program, he could be Jekyll and Hyde-ing just like Tyler did."
"We can't jump to any conclusions—" Beth was cut off by Russell again.
"No, but we can go to the videotapes."
"How long has she been—?" Chase was cut off by Russell, and this aroused great suspicion in Chase.
"Three days." A truthful person wouldn't answer my question so quickly, Chase thought to himself. "If Nick was alone with her, it won't take too long to find."
"Mr. Benton, when you figure out what happens—" Beth was cut off—again.
"Then I go to Greer! If Nick is playing doctor when not Imprinted with an MD, then he goes to the Attic." Russell left the two, slamming the back door behind him. Beth looked at Chase, worry in her eyes.
"Nick wouldn't…" Chase decided not to let on his suspicion.
"She did scream when she saw him, and we both know he's been…focused on her lately."
"There's a difference between being attracted to someone and hurting them." I would know.
"Has she shown any other sign; anything you can remember?" He fired the question at Beth to see if she had any suspicions about Russell.
"When we go to sleep…in the pods, Bridgette cries." Courtney was standing at the main entrance, having been drawn to the room due to hearing Russell slam the door.
"Your flirting skills are starting to pay off! I have taught you well young grasshopper." Tawny grinned to Cody. She had ditched her grey pants, black flats, and white shirt, and she was now in her lab coat and black stiletto boots. Cody, wearing an ocean blue button down shirt over a white tee shirt and blue jeans and white Vans, smirked slightly.
"You didn't teach him anything." Blaire calmly explained to Tawny as she ate some dried banana chips she got from the kitchen downstairs. Her hair was up in her classic Odango hairstyle and she was wearing her white lab coat over her fuchsia tee shirt, dark wash jean miniskirt, fishnet stockings and black pumps.
"Oh, like you did?" Tawny fired back, a fierce glare on her face.
"Ladies, ladies, you both taught me well." Cody went up to the two bickering girls and tried to stop an argument from starting, a sly smirk on his face. Both girls looked at him, then at each other, and burst into laughter.
"Good one Blaire!" They high-fived each other in glee.
"What's going on here?" Cody nervously chuckled, not sure what to make of their sudden mood swing.
"Oh, that was just payback for all of those miserable times you've verbally tortured us!" Blaire explained, a grin just like Tawny's now on her face.
"Yeah, you're now a ton more closer to getting her, feeling her warm embrace, tasting—"
"Don't get TOO descriptive there; he might faint from shock just like the last time you did that to him!" Both girls laughed at that memory.
"Hey, not cool ladies. But…the Codemeister understands and thanks you for the compliment." Cody popped the collar of his ocean blue button down shirt. Both girls laughed again at his miserable attempts to act cool, and Cody didn't even bother trying to stop them from laughing. He waited until they stopped laughing, which took a good minute or so, but it seemed to drag on for eternity.
"Okay, we're done." Tawny wiped a tear forming at her eye.
"We really mean it Cody; we're proud of you. I think you should—" The desk phone rang, interrupting Blaire's suggestion. Cody picked up the phone, and on the other line was a very panicked Beth.
"Cody!"
"Beth! So good of you to annoy me!" Tawny and Blaire looked at each other and immediately hovered over Cody, wanting to hear what Beth was saying.
"Cody, this isn't the time for one of your wisecracks; this is important."
"Asking me out for dinner?" Cody grinned, and both girls' mouths dropped wide open. Now they were very proud that he was being very bold.
"Wh-what? No—"
"But you want to, don't you?"
"Wait…are you asking me? Wait, what am I doing, no, no, no, that's not what I called you about."
"Then what?"
"Bridgette's had sex."
"Holy…crap." Blaire muttered to herself.
"So that's why Bridgette was screaming…" Tawny realized.
"How, who, WHAT?!" Cody practically screamed into the phone.
"Russell has already told Heather, and she wants us both to interrogate Nick. You know, after we told her about his…attraction to her. I'll be up there soon; you know what to get out, right?" Cody remembered the silver suitcase and gear he had just for such an occasion—not the exact occasion, but something along the lines.
"Yeah, yeah, but…that's not—they can't—are you sure this isn't from one of her Outings?"
"Cody, we both know that her last Outing didn't involve any sex, and I examined her post-Outing. It happened here, sometime in the three days she's been here." Beth sighed over the phone. "I don't think it's him though. I just…it CAN'T be. He just likes her, and it's been for a long time too."
"Maybe all of that tension just…built up or something."
"No, if he wanted to do this, he would've done it a long time ago…I think. Heather wants it to be done as soon as possible."
"Will she be with us?"
"No. Just hurry Cody, and wrap up whatever flirting attempt you're executing with Tawny and Blaire." Blaire's eyebrows raised in shock and Tawny's eyebrows furrowed in anger and added in a snarl at Beth's comment. Is she THAT FUCKING BLIND?!
"All right, all right, I'll have everything ready. Are we still having dinner together?"
"Fine Cody, just get Tawny and Blaire out of the room."
"You're the doctor." Cody grinned and hung up his desk phone and reclined in his swivel chair. "So how'd that go ladies?"
"GENIUS! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GOT HER TO AGREE—it was kinda forced though—BUT WHO'S KEEPING TRACK?!" Tawny grinned.
"I still can't believe she hasn't realized all of these come-ons mean that you like her. And even with all of those hints you dropped…that one from the other day should've been a dead giveaway." Blaire reminded Cody about his talk with her after they had been given orders to go ahead with Courtney's surgery. He, in fact, had told the two girls all of the come-ons he had made in the past few days, including the talk he had with her at night.
"She's probably denying it or something. Can I get some of those banana chips by the way?"
"Get your own bag Tawny. And no, I'm not getting it for you. Besides, you need to change back into your worker clothes and get Nick up here." Tawny grumbled and walked out of the office to get her own bag of banana chips, after she changed back into her worker clothes and found Nick obviously. "Personally, I don't think she's denying it. She's probably just unsure or something. I mean, you remember what happened between her and Justin."
"I'm not like that though!"
"Hey, she probably knows that, but it's also probably become some sort of defense mechanism against men and their "evil ways" or some other crap like that."
"Some men ARE crap."
"Not you though, and not every man on the planet either. But you should get…ready or something. She'll probably blush when she sees you all prepared." Blaire chuckled softly, imagining the scene in her head.
"Blaire, get the silver suitcase and the eye analyzer. You know where they are. And…another swivel chair. Oh, and you'll have to leave the room when Nick comes in, but…" Cody moved a spare table and set it down so he could have somewhere to put all of the equipment for Nick's interrogation. "Just for all of the compliments and help I've gotten from you; you can hide in the Imprint room and eavesdrop, just be quiet and don't come out unless I give the okay to do so. Besides, I might have some more moves planned after the interrogation." Blaire smiled; glad he was finally becoming quite the cunning planner.
"Quiet as a mouse Codemeister." She set down the silver suitcase and eye analyzer and left to the Imprint room to listen in to the interrogation, banana chips in hand. This is going to be boring…or awesome, depending on what I find out.
"So you want me to watch over the interrogation?" Chase asked Tawny as she kept looking for Nick.
"Yeah, I would try to eavesdrop myself, but I'm on the clock right now. I know I should be grateful for having Heather give me breaks at all, but it would be nice if I could do what Blaire does. She does practically nothing up there, except help Cody with the Imprints."
"Well, she has a lot of education in neuroscience, and you don't."
"But I've been learning from them. When I'm on break and I watch them prep a Mankin, they give me lectures and stuff, and Cody gives them from time to time to Blaire, but honestly, who's keeping track?"
"Heather is. Look, I'll keep an eye out with Ramirez's replacement."
"Nick's Clerk?"
"Off on a little vacation with his family—if the guy had one. He used it as an excuse to get a "well deserved" break. It's crap. Hey, isn't that Nick right there?" The two spotted Nick on a couch reading a picture book.
"Yeah. Go and get the Ramirez replacement and watch from outside Cody's office. I'll see you soon." Tawny gave Chase a quick peck on the cheek before they parted ways, Chase going to find Ramirez's replacement and Tawny briskly walked to the couch. "Nick, I need you to come with me please." Nick looked up from his book, closed it, set it down on the grey suede couch and got up. Tawny started walking, normal protocol for all workers who interacted with the Mankins, and Nick followed unquestioningly. They made their way up the stairs all the way to Cody's office, where Beth and Cody were already waiting—but talking away.
Cody and Beth's talk, although short, started almost immediately after she walked into Cody's office with her clipboard of questions in hand. Cody was seemingly waiting for her, leaning against the table, and he was smirking, which made Beth turn a slight shade of red, which in turn made Cody even prouder of himself. Blaire, who was watching from the Imprint room, could already see the tension unfolding.
"Cody." She tried not to make eye contact with him as she walked over to the table and set down her clipboard, looking over the questions.
"Beth." He didn't say much after that, and Blaire was soundlessly sucking on a sweet banana chip. Come on, make a move already! Cody seemed to almost hear Blaire's thought. "So, excited about our dinner tonight?"
"What?" Beth remembered clearly, and was also a little bit excited, but at the same time, she was also scared.
"Come on, you don't remember? You…agreed…to dinner…with me." And with each pause, he inched closer and closer to her until their hands were almost touching. She looked at their hands, then into Cody's eyes, and was just about to succumb to her inner desires and kiss Cody when…
"Hey guys?" Tawny took a peek into the office, and when she saw Cody and Beth so close to each other, she knew something was up. Her eyebrows raised in shock and a smile started forming on her face because she was very proud of Cody. "Whoa, was I interrupting something? Because, you know, I could always send Nick on his way—"
"Bring him in." The moment was immediately dissolved as Beth started to get back into her work mode. Cody sighed and plastered a grin on his face. Blaire was face palming herself in the Imprint room. Crap Tawny, you just ruined the greatest moment so far! "Nick, please, have a seat." Nick willingly took a seat, and with that, Tawny left to get some banana chips from the kitchen downstairs. "Cody, are you ready?"
"Uh…yeah, totally." Cody powered up the machine and held back a joke he was about a few seconds from making just for the sake of not upsetting her in front of Nick. The eye monitor was set up in front of Nick's left eye, and everything was ready. "So Beth, fire away." Cody grinned and watched Nick's reaction to Beth's questions.
"Nick, can you tell me about Bridgette?"
"Bridgette is beautiful." Nick serenely answered.
"There are a lot of beautiful girls here dude; it's pretty much the idea…" Cody looked to Beth, as though looking for an agreement. She just stared at him, trying to muster up a glare, but couldn't. "Beauty." Beth turned her head back to Nick at his response.
"Bridgette is different." This compelled Beth to ask Nick a question not on her paper.
"How is she different?"
"I'm sorry." He couldn't answer the question, and it registered on the machine with a soft ping.
"Nick, do you remember being in the showers with Bridgette? You were watching her? How does Bridgette make you feel?"
"Better."
"I can't believe this. I'm filling in for Ramirez for a week, and my Mankin invents rape!" Joel Quinn, Ramirez's replacement, whispered to Chase as the two watched Cody and Beth interrogate Nick.
"We don't know what happened yet. Nick might have just triggered a memory."
"Well, didn't you hear? Benton's out for blood."
"Russell hasn't found anything on the tapes; no one has." Chase had heard about how Russell was searching for evidence that Nick was indeed the culprit in Bridgette's rape.
"How is that even possible? Every square INCH of this place is monitored. If two Mankins are going at it…what do you think Greer will do? You think she'll come down hard? It was probably just a mistake. These Mankins, they're smiling all day, and then Bridgette's crying in bed? Why always then? Maybe she's broken. You figure she's broken?" Chase then had an idea to prove that Russell was the one who raped Bridgette.
"They're all broken." And he left Joel and started running down the stairs to the sleeping chambers of Bridgette, which just so happened to be Courtney's. He looked around, saw the plants perched on the walls for aesthetic purposes, the sunken beds, the few seats around the chambers for the Mankins to sit on, and then he left because there was no evidence there.
Beth and Cody found no real evidence to tie Nick to Bridgette's rape, so they sent him on his way. Blaire, who was still eavesdropping, stayed in the Imprint room because she hadn't been dismissed by Cody. She was waiting to see if Cody would pull any moves on Beth.
"So I never got an answer to my question: are you excited about our dinner tonight?" Cody put away the silver suitcase and the rest of the equipment and folded up the table to store away. He would normally have Blaire help, but he couldn't risk blowing off a perfect opportunity to be alone with Beth—in a sense.
"Sure."
"Hey, come on, it's a yes or no question." Beth sharply sighed and rolled her eyes, not at all pleased by Cody's persistence.
"I'll entertain your question: I'm mildly—MILDLY—excited."
"Now that's a lie; how do I know that? I learned that when someone reasserts something, it means they're convincing themselves and the people around them that they're feeling or doing or saying the opposite or a different form of what they really mean. So that means—"
"That I'm dreading it?"
"Au contraire, you're dying of anticipation for it."
"That's one way of looking at it."
"So you're excited?"
"Sure. You must have something planned for me."
"Oh yes I do." Cody grinned.
"I don't get it. Why flirt with me, much less ask me out for dinner, when you have Blaire and Tawny and other women around here? And what DO you have planned?"
"Tawny has a boyfriend; Blaire would never want to have dinner with me if her life depended on it (she's told me so once or twice), I don't know the other women around here well enough, excluding the Mankins and Heather, who I would never have dinner with (she's still a snake), so that leaves you. And it's a surprise what I have planned."
"Does it have anything to do with revealing why you're flirting with me, because you haven't answered my question at all?"
"If you have dinner with me, I'll tell you why." Beth considered this for a moment. She was having an argument with herself as to whether or not to go along with this, and she decided it wouldn't hurt to find out why he was suddenly so interested in her. Besides, she reasoned, I might even find out who his "special someone" is.
"Fine." Beth started to leave the office.
"Kitchen, 9 PM!" Cody raised a hand and called after her. Beth didn't respond, but he assumed that she had heard him, which she had. "Blaire, you can come out now!" Blaire opened the door and walked back into the office. "How'd THAT go?"
"Great once again. I have to admit, the interrogation was boring as hell, but this after-the-interrogation was like watching a TV drama! That liar stuff, was that true, because I know that thing about me not having dinner with you was a lie?"
"No, that was true, I remember it from a TV show I used to watch called Corps de Lies."
"Hey, I took French in high school. Corps de Lies means Body of Lies. That was a movie from almost a decade ago."
"That's why they used the French name; the setting was in France and other French-speaking nations around the world. The creators didn't want to confuse the two to detract American viewers since the movie Body of Lies didn't fare too well in the box office back then."
"All right, all right, whatever you say."
Chase ended up walking around the entire complex's first floor, and then he got to the hallways. They were complex and winding, but Chase knew his way through. After all, he had to because he technically worked there.
"Chase! Baby!" Tawny, who was in her worker clothes, ran up to Chase and looped her arm around his. "Whatcha doin' around here?"
"Hey babe. Shouldn't you be watching over the Mankins?"
"I am." Tawny pointed to a Mankin who just walked by the couple. "See, I just watched one." Chase rolled his eyes, but smiled and started wandering the halls, Tawny right next to him. "So whatcha doing?"
"I don't think Nick did anything to Bridgette."
"Yeah, Beth doesn't think so either."
"Really?"
"Yeah, she told Cody over the phone that she can't believe it's him because he only admires her and wouldn't try anything on her. So what are you looking for?"
"If Nick did indeed do something to Bridgette, it would've been caught on the cameras, and Russell hasn't found anything yet."
"Okay…I think I can see where you're going…"
"Well, all of the Mankins in this mind-wiped state. Do you think they'd be smart enough to conceal their actions?" Tawny contemplated this for a second, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.
"Maybe Courtney, but she doesn't have anything to do with this, so my answer would be that they aren't smart enough to conceal their actions. So that means…someone has to be smart enough to stay out of the camera's view!"
"Yeah." Chase stopped at a division in the hallway. To the right was the exit, and straight ahead became a huge loop around the first floor. "Look, there's the exit. And there's a camera up there on the ceiling to the left of us." Tawny noticed the camera and nodded rapidly. "There's another camera in the middle of the hallway, left side of the ceiling. Do you see it?"
"We're being watched back and front." Chase and Tawny walked up to the plate glass window exit and stopped in the line of sight of another camera perched on the left side of the ceiling.
"That camera all the way across the hall can only see so far, so the only eyes are right here." Chase pointed to the camera they were right beside. "And if we step back to the exit…" The couple stepped back. "We're now in a blind spot."
"So someone is raping Bridgette outside! And there's only one person we know with enough motive and knowledge of the Mall to commit such an act." Tawny quirked an eyebrow, and Chase understood. His suspicions were correct.
"I know how to catch our perp." Chase immediately got out his cell phone and called Harold. "This is Chase Orson for Mr. Diamante. Yes; you need to take Nick off the floor. I'm sure. Isolate him…and his Clerk." Chase ended the call. "Tawny, I need you to go and get Nick. There will be someone with you to make sure Nick gets sent to the right place and that Nick doesn't try to escape."
"Baby, why are you taking Nick and his Clerk off the floor?"
"It's the only way the two will be in the clear. My plan…is practically foolproof." Tawny sighed, gave Chase a quick peck on the cheek, and left to go fetch Nick. I hope so Chase. I sure hope so.
"I DIDN'T DO THIS!!!!!" Joel kept yelling as Harold and another Clerk took Joel away into isolation. At the same time, Tawny and another bodyguard were taking Nick to his separate isolation chambers, and Cody and Blaire noticed this.
"What do you think is going on between Chase, Courtney, and Russell downstairs?" Blaire pointed to Chase, Courtney, and Russell talking about something.
"More like what's going on in general. I said that we couldn't prove Nick did it, and when did Ramirez's replacement come into the picture?" Cody wondered out loud to Blaire.
Downstairs, Russell observed Nick being escorted to his isolation chambers. Tawny had interrupted a talk she was having with Nick before he was taken away, and Courtney, intrigued, followed the group, and Chase had stopped her, along with Russell.
"Where are they taking Nick?" Courtney asked Chase.
"Why don't you go paint something? Nice work man." Russell spat at Courtney without making eye contact with her, but congratulated Chase before walking off, a sly smirk on his face. Chase noticed this and wanted to punch the guy's lights out, but held himself down.
"Where are they taking Nick?" Courtney asked again after Russell left them.
"Courtney," Chase put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm trying to protect Bridgette."
"Bridgette cries." Courtney looked into Chase's brown eyes, looking for some sort of spark. She found none.
"Not anymore."
Beth had heard Joel's screams, and it prompted her to step out of her office for a second to see what was going on. By this point, Chase and Courtney had finished their talk, so she didn't see them anywhere. For some reason, she felt Cody had something to do with this, so she left to Cody's office to ask what was going on.
"Cody?" She peeked into the office to see him and Blaire looking outside the window, as though they were looking for something.
"I think I found Tawny! I'll be right back." Blaire rushed out of the office, proud her lie slid by Beth. Blaire would still go looking for Tawny, but she had to leave for the sake of giving Beth and Cody some alone time.
"Blaire! Blaire!" Tawny came running down the stairs to the second floor to Blaire, who was looking for Tawny on the ground floor. Tawny, of course, was still in her worker clothes.
"Tawny?" Blaire, hearing her name called, turned around to see a panting Tawny.
"We…need…to talk. Now…!" Tawny grabbed Blaire's hand and the two started walking around the first floor.
"What's going on? Do you know why Nick was taken away?"
"Yeah, yeah. Chase has this plan to catch who really did it." Tawny whispered to Blaire.
"Wait." Blaire stopped in her steps. "Nick didn't rape Bridgette?"
"Not so loud!" Tawny whispered and looked around nervously. "It's a surprise, and Russell could be watching right now, or worse, Heather. But yeah, Nick didn't rape her."
"Who did?" Blaire whispered back.
"Let's keep walking." Tawny took Blaire's hand—again—and the two picked up their brisk walking pace again. "So we both know that the Mankins wouldn't be smart enough to conceal their actions, right, because Russell hasn't found anything on the footage according to Chase?"
"So that rules out Mankins?"
"Yup. And who knows where cameras would be like the back of their hand AND who has motive to rape Bridgette?" Blaire stopped in her tracks again, and as it turns out, they were right in front of Cody's office.
"No fucking way. No FUCKING way."
"Yes fucking way! Chase is going to catch him in the act now that the "rapist" is off the floor. The REAL rapist will be so proud that he'll try again, and Chase will be there to catch him."
"That's—" Blaire then heard a woman's voice from inside Cody's office.
"I'm so sure of that. SO sure." It was Beth, and she was in the middle of a slowly escalating argument with Cody about why she had heard Joel screaming. Blaire and Tawny made sure to stay out of sight as they eavesdropped on the conversation.
"Well, I didn't do it. Nick was sent off somewhere, and the same goes for that guy." Cody walked up to Beth, a smirk on his face. Blaire and Tawny were watching this, and Tawny got a sudden craving for popcorn and a slurpee. "But you shouldn't worry about that. What you SHOULD be worrying about is what you're going to have for dinner with me." Cody lightly nudged Beth, which caused her to take a step away from him.
"Don't be an idiot. Aren't you even worried about what they'll do to Nick? Russell wants him sent to the Attic."
"Well, it won't happen. Heather won't take action without hard evidence. Look, I don't know what's happening, but I'll get Tawny and Blaire to ask around; someone around here is bound to know something." Tawny and Blaire looked at each other.
"We're not telling him anything are we?" Blaire asked with worried eyes.
"Correct." Tawny grinned and turned her attention back to the conversation.
"You'd do that?" Beth asked Cody after a long moment of silence.
"Mostly because I want to find out, but for you, yes."
"How sweet…" Beth turned her head away from Cody and started to leave.
"So nine PM? Kitchen?" Beth stopped at the threshold of the door, not even turning around to Cody or looking to her left to see Tawny and Blaire, who were both praying that they wouldn't get discovered.
"I heard you the first time." Beth, thankfully, left to the stairs to her right, not to her left, otherwise Tawny and Blaire would have been spotted. Once they saw Beth walking down the stairs, the two girls went to talk to Cody.
"Nicely played." Tawny grinned again.
"Huh?" Cody asked them, looking away from his desktop.
"Don't play dumb with us. We saw you with Beth."
"That—how did you know that?"
"We were right outside." Blaire explained. "And we weren't caught, which we are VERY thankful for."
"And we don't know who "that guy" is. And isn't Nick the one who raped Bridgette?" Tawny asked, disguising what she truly knew perfectly.
"Yeah. Yeah. But can you ask Chase anyway?"
"I don't think he knows anything. He's just a Clerk. Harold probably put out the order to get Nick and "that guy" taken away."
"No. Harold's not that smart." Blaire quirked an eyebrow.
"Did you just insult Harold?"
"And completely intentional too." Cody grinned.
"Yeah right. But Tawny has a point; Chase won't know anything. You'd have to go to Harold or Heather." Cody winced in response.
"Not planning on losing my life here! Why don't you two go and ask Heather?"
"What?" Both girls asked, shocked. They didn't think Cody would go this far to find information for Beth.
"You're on good terms with her." Cody pointed to Tawny. "And you can support Tawny if she fucks up." Cody pointed at Blaire, and Blaire's eyebrows rose in incredulity.
"I don't think that's going to happen." Blaire calmly stated.
"You think I'd FUCK UP in front of Heather?!" Tawny's temper rose faster than a rubber ball in a low-gravity chamber.
"Tawny, control your temper." Blaire placed her hands on Tawny's shoulders, and Tawny calmed down considerably. "Well, we won't do it either way. Looks like you're stuck." Blaire was sorry for Cody, but she wasn't about to sacrifice herself for him.
"All right." Cody hung his head.
"You know what would be even COOLER than dinner?" Tawny asked the two, a new light in her eyes and an idea in her head.
"What?" Blaire asked, having no clue where Tawny was going with her idea.
"A talk…poolside."
"Poolside?" Cody asked with intrigue.
"Poolside—you're joking, right?" Blaire gave a nervous chuckle.
"No joke. I can clear the Mankins out of the pool area easily, and it'll be all yours—and Beth's. For any kinky stuff, like—" Tawny got a slap to the back of her head, courtesy of Blaire.
"Don't give him any ideas!"
"That hurt! And it can be done very easily. It's all a matter of how our protégé utilizes the moment." Tawny walked to Cody, stood behind him, and put a hand on his shoulder. "And Blaire, my good friend, I have the PERFECT plan." Blaire rolled her eyes and walked to Tawny and Cody. "So Cody, here's what you have to do…"
A/N: Can you feel the passion and tension ready to explode? Your call, not mine! No trivia, no songs, no new couples, same Company, all that jazz. So the rundown is back!
Chow is back in the game! What does he have planned? Who is his mysterious informant? Who raped Bridgette and why? What does Chase have planned for the rapist? Is Courtney going to work her way in at all? What about everyone else? What does Tawny have planned for Cody? What kinky stuff was Tawny thinking of? What goes on in Tawny's head anyway? All of that (minus the last two questions) and more, NEXT!!!
Review, and did you get what I typed in the starting A/N for the chapter? Review please!