A/N: Another chapter, you know what to do!
Max had given Lex a tour of Chicago, or as she liked to call it, the Big Apple's distant cousin. She showed the coffee shop, the book store, and her old house. Lex paid close attention to everything she said as she really loved to hear her talk and spend some nice time with her.
"Almost lunch time, did you enjoy your tour of Chicago?" Max asked Lex after driving around for a while.
Lex smiled softly at Max. "It was great, Max."
"Glad you enjoyed it," Max smiled back. "Oh, do you think they'll want fries with their burgers?" she suddenly asked, remembering lunch.
"They might do." Lex said with a shrug.
"I always wanted to try cheese fries, do you know if they're any good?" Max wondered. "Mom could never afford them, even when we'd be out having casual time."
"They're nice," Lex grinned. "I'll get you some if want, Max."
"Okay, wouldn't hurt to try." Max smiled, a little sheepishly and excited.
Lex smiled and drove to a place where they could get what they needed, unknowing that Mrs. Stone was making her plan. Max and Lex smiled as they got lunch for themselves and their friends.
"You want me to go in and get the food or would you like to?" Max offered once they ended up in a burger joint.
Lex looked at her. "I'll go in if you want."
"Okay, make sure you have a lot of money just in case." Max told him with good advice.
Lex nodded and headed into the burger place, after smiling at Max. Mrs. Stone went into the burger place and looked out for Lex. Max smiled and kept herself busy by listening to some music in the radio. The girl hummed about, enjoying the music. She had such a way with words that she often helped Lex with lyrics here and there. She was completely unaware of what was going on around her or inside the restaurant as she waited.
Lex got the things, quite happily. He then was waylaid by Mrs. Stone and had to listen to what she said. She told him many different lies about Maxine, one of which saying that when she stayed at the Plaza hotel Maxine had stolen money and jewelry. Her hair was down so she wasn't very recognizable. She didn't realize Lex could see through her lies.
Lex set a calm, but angry gaze on Mrs. Stone. "I know Max would have never done that, she is a good and hard worker..." he said before walking off, dismissing the woman.
Mrs. Stone looked blank a moment, and followed, trying to convince him.
"Can I take your order?" the teenage boy asked behind the counter as he got money from the person before him.
Lex gave his order for his friends and girlfriend as well as his own. Mrs. Stone scowled as Lex was now completely ignoring her, so she walked away angrily. A little boy was playing with a toy balloon as Mrs. Stone was leaving and it bumped into her, nearly knocking her down. Mrs Stone let out a startled but angry yell and then got up and stormed out of the restaurant. Mrs. Stone walked past where Harry and Hector were.
Lex got his food and paid the guy.
"That'll be all?" the boy gently asked Lex.
"Yes, thanks." Lex nodded. He then turned to leave.
"Have a nice day!" the boy called out, waiting for the next person in line.
Lex came out of the shop, and headed to the car.
Max looked in the rear view mirror and smiled a little to see her nice clean teeth. She then felt a little panicked as she saw a familiar face from the Plaza Hotel looking back at her. She then quickly rolled up the window and tried to ignore him and still wait for Lex.
Hector's eyes narrowed as he looked at Maxine, before a freaky smile appeared on his face.
Max felt frozen and she tried to keep calm once Lex would come back. She stroked her hair nervously, hoping he wouldn't come to her. She knew that face anywhere. Hector was enjoying freaking Maxine out. Maybe if he seemed to 'disappear' when Lex came out it would make her think she was seeing things.
Max covered her eyes. "Please... Go away, sir..." she mumbled to herself.
Taking that as his cue Hector went away so Maxine wouldn't see him at all.
Max kept an eye out, then looked back at Lex with a smile. "Oh, good, you got the food. I think I'm hungrier than I thought, I could've sworn I saw my old boss."
Lex looked at her, confused. "I don't see anyone, Max." He said, however shrugging and then started to car and drove them to the McCallister's place.
"I could've sworn i saw him..." Max shrugged as well and looked out the window as they went back with lunch.
Lex hummed a soothing tune as he drove. Max sniffed the food in the bag it was collected in and tried her best to resist sneaking some until she and the others would all sit down for lunch. Lex drove pretty quickly but never once breaking the speed limits. Max felt so safe and calm with Lex now. Lex soon had them back to the McCallistair house as soon as Chelsea allowed Kevin to stay down with her and Marv and a video before he would go back to get some rest.
Kevin looked at an old video collection. "What's good...? What's good...?"
Chelsea reached the higher ones too to show Kevin as Marv watched from the doorway.
"This seems like a good one." Kevin's eyes lit up as he took out a video with the picture of a shark on the cover.
Chelsea looked at it and scrunched her face up in thought. "Jaws? It's kind of scary, Kev..." she warned, gently.
"How scary can it be?" Kevin asked, looking brave.
Chelsea looked at him. "'Angels in' series are less scary than that..." she said, not wanting him to end up with nightmares.
Kevin shrugged and took out a video copy of ET.
Chelsea smiled.
Max helped carry the food in. "Lunch!" he called out.
Hearing Lex and Max return made Chelsea giggle. "Come on then, Kev."
Kevin nodded and followed her to get a nice lunch.
Marv smiled at the couple cheerfully. "I've set the places!"
Max came to the kitchen to set the bag down and get some extra stuff like ketchup or anything for their fries. "Thanks Marv."
Lex came into the kitchen with a smile to the taller man. Chelsea smiled and rubbed her warm ears, they suddenly went warmer. She and Kevin were soon downstairs. Marv held out the chairs for the siblings.
"Remember, no pickles and onions." Kevin reminded his sister's friend and her boyfriend.
"Don't worry, we took care of that." Max assured him with a smile.
Lex held out Max's seat for her.
"Oh, Lex, such a gent." Max smiled, using a false Southern accent to sound like a belle and sat down with a smile.
"It was mah pleasure, ma'am." Lex grinned, saying in a similiar accent.
Max giggled gently.
Marv held out the chairs for the siblings. Chelsea smiled lovingly at Marv and took her seat. She didn't comment, trusting Max and Lex to have got the lunch requests right. Marv smiled sweetly back as he pushed in her chair as she sat in it. Kevin helped himself into a seat and found the burger for him and was ready to eat.
Chelsea smiled as Marv helped to tuck in Kevin too, before the man sat down himself. Marv was happy and felt the warmth of having a proper family, well soon to be official family. Lex then took his own seat and started to sort out who's lunch was who's.
Kevin looked at everyone before he had to get back to bed for further resting. "Thank you all for being here... You're a great family. Especially you, Marv." he smiled brightly at the former bandit.
Chelsea found her eyes welling up happily. What Kevin said was so sweet.
Marv smiled nicely and ruffled Kevin's hair. "You're okay too, little buddy."
Kevin laughed a little. "Okay, get off." he teased a little.
Lex chuckled, amused by Kevin's teasing. Max smiled fondly. She loved the chemistry everyone had with each other like a real family. Kevin's turn of phrase made it even sweeter. Chelsea wiped her eyes a little and giggled softly. Marv grinned and put his hand back on the table. Max and Kevin shared a thumbs up before they would get settled. Chelsea, Lex and Marv started to eat at the same time with the others.
Hector, still hidden, smirked and only came back out once the car was gone. He then looked for that imbecile Harry. The sticky/wet bandit was thinking of what he could do with Chelsea once he would get her. She would pay indeed for stealing his partner without a fair fight. Their toy store heist would've gone just fine if she hadn't made him feel guilty and more like a gentleman.
Hector came over to find him. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, seeing a look of deep thought on Harry's face.
"How rich we're gonna be, plus I need to get that girl out of the picture, then Marv will know how it feels to lose someone he can trust." Harry grinned, wickedly.
Hector looked at Harry and then smirked. "I do owe her a few...Injuries."
"What'd she do to you?" Harry wondered.
Hector motioned to the only slightly red hand print on his face. "Well today she slapped me, and she punched me the night she ran from the hotel..." he said, with a slight growl.
Harry laughed a little that Hector let himself get beat up by a 'little girl'.
Hector glared at Harry. "Says the man who was beaten by a kid..." he retorted.
Harry deeply growled at him, wanting to knock him unconscious or something.
Hector gave a small smirk. "Well then, don't mock," he said, his tone mocking Harry. He then straightened up. "Maybe we should wait until the girl leaves the house, she has to come out sometime." he suggested.
Harry grunted, rolling his eyes. "The kid's sister, right?"
"Who else you dolt?" Hector asked, smirking. "We could get a lot of valuables, money, whatever else you want... Plus, I freak Maxine out."
Mrs. Stone came up to them looking very unhappy, and a little bit messy, especially her hair.
Harry grunted, then turned to Mrs. Stone. "What happened to you?"
Hector looked at Mrs. Stone an eyebrow raised.
Mrs. Stone shot an embarrassing, but angry look. "I don't want to talk about it..." she mumbled, moodily.
"Women, huh?" Harry joked, pointing to Mrs, Stone, looking at Hector with a taunting smile.
Hector snorted and nodded agreeing.
Mrs. Stone whipped around and hissed at them, before going somewhere to sort herself out. She stalked off.
"We should leave her to sort herself out, grab the brat girl, and then bring her somewhere where we could hold her..." Hector said, quietly.
Harry laughed a little, knocking Mrs. Stone down lower than she already was. "How about my place?' he offered to the bargain.
"Sounds okay." Hector shrugged, not giving any higher praise than that.
"These burgers are great," Kevin told Lex, knowing he wasn't originally from Chicago. "Especially on a winter afternoon or day at the fair."
Max went to try a cheese fry and looked closely at it, like she were expecting something weird to happen. It was her first try eating one.
Suddenly, the telephone rang.
Lex looked at Kevin and then the phone.
Chelsea stood up. "Excuse me a moment..." she said and went to answer the phone.
"Okay, Chelsea." Kevin said, sipping some more cold juice for his throat.
Marv had a bite of his burger and after swallowing, grinned.
"Should I use a fork or my hands?" Max pondered her cheese fries just sitting there in its sealed container.
Lex grinned. "You eat with your fingers."
Marv nodded. He was really enjoying his burger.
"Oh, okay, seems messy, but I think I can manage." Max smiled, then went to dig in with her cheese fries.
"I never knew anyone who hadn't had cheese fries before." Kevin observed Max's habits.
Lex smiled, watching Max eat.
"Not bad." Max said as she munched another fry.
Lex gave Max a smile as did Marv. "Glad you like them."
Kevin smiled as he finished his lunch and yawned a little bit.
"It's like nachos... with fries." Max smirked, then went to bite into her burger.
Lex nodded toward Max's statement.
Chelsea went to answer the phone and answered it. "Hello?" she asked, holding the phone up to her ear.
"Sweetie, I just wanted to let you know I'll be home really late tonight, but your mother should be home in time for dinner." Peter said on the other line to his eldest daughter.
"Oh, okay, Daddy," Chelsea said, smiling. "Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, dear, make sure Kevin doesn't go outside, it could make him very sick." Peter added a little quickly and worriedly.
"I know, Dad," Chelsea told him, sounding slightly amused. "Bye, Dad." she said softly before hanging up.
"That's a good girl, see you at home." Peter smiled and hung up.
Chelsea came in and smiled. "That was Dad, he told me he won't be home til late, and not let you outside." she told everyone, the last bit only towards Kevin.
Marv nodded to the boy. "Wouldn't want you any sicker, little buddy."
"I'll feel better in no time." Kevin refused to seem weak among his disease.
"Do you need any groceries?" Max asked as she ate.
Chelsea smiled softly at her brother. She then looked at Max and clicked her fingers in acknowledgement. "Yeah, I'll go in a minute..." she said, she finished her burger, having started that first, then looked at her fries. "I'll eat them when I get back." she told her friends, and family.
Marv smiled at her.
"Not unless they're gone before you get back." Kevin teased, reaching for some fries with an eager smile.
Chelsea giggled and hugged Kevin.
"Okay, nap time, little dude." Max told him with a joking smile and laugh.
"Okay, squirt, go watch the alien that wants to go home." Chelsea said. She stood up to put her coat on.
"That's better." Kevin smiled.
Marv grinned and took Chelsea's fries. "I will protect your food, mi'lady!" he announced.
"Be careful, Chelsea, there might be slippery roads." Max advised as she finished her lunch.
Chelsea winked at Kevin, and then smiled at Marv and Max. "I'll be careful, and thank you, my knight." she said, before she grabbed her purse and headed out.
Marv smiled and put the fries safe.
Kevin smiled and looked back at his friends. He looked at Lex, feeling the glimpse on him. "Hey."
"Hey." Lex returned with a grin.
Harry and Hector had organized their plan to defeat Chelsea. Hector waited until she came out and shut the door, heading down the path, and then snuck up and grabbed her purse before running, knowing she'd chase him. Harry watched in the distance before finding a way to the local store now that he knew where she was going. One of the neighbor men was taking out the trash as Hector snatched Chelsea's purse.
Chelsea blinked for a second and then gave chase. "Hey, give me back my purse!" she yelled. She was quite a fast runner, even though her leg still ached a little from earlier. She didn't notice that Hector was leading her into a trap near the local store.
Harry took another way to the local store and got in before Chelsea could see him. He found a hiding spot and was ready to take care of Chelsea once and for all like in a bad hostage situation drama movie. Soon Hector dropped the purse outside the store as she came close. He had made sure she didn't properly see him.
Chelsea picked up her purse and went into the store. "Stupid homeless person..." she muttered.
"Are you okay, miss?" a young teenage girl asked, looking up as she noticed Chelsea walked inside.
Harry was hidden and he had his gun ready for the perfect hostage situation.
Chelsea looked at the girl and smiled. "I'm okay," she said, panting a little. "Some stupid person tried to steal my purse." she added, once again smiling and then looked around for the things she needed.
The girl smiled and went back to business.
Harry was ready to jump in on Chelsea and give her the surprise of a lifetime.
Hector peeked in, watching.
Chelsea picked up the honey and then headed to the fridges for the milk. She hummed to calm her breathing. She looked which kind of milk she should get. "This one..." she told herself under her breath. She reached out to open the fridge.
Harry was hit by the door, nearly knocked back and he tried to resist the pain.
Chelsea smiled and put the milk in her basket. She turned around to look for the candy aisle.
Harry came closer behind her and was ready to take her down. He made sure no one else was there and suddenly grabbed her by her neck and put the gun to her head. "Hello, little girl!"
Chelsea dropped the basket her eyes widening. "What..?" she gasped, her entire body stiffening.
Harry laughed darkly and put a gun to her head, causing a panic to the other store people. "You follow us, she dies!" he growled, pulling her to a hidden part of the store.
Chelsea looked at the people with wide eyes. She didn't think that dying would be good, so she didn't struggle much. Hector smirked outside of the store and went to meet Harry and Chelsea. Harry grunted and dragged her outside to meet with Hector.
Hector grinned at Harry and Chelsea, looking scary. "I see you've picked up a stray..." he told Harry, taunting Chelsea.
Chelsea narrowed her eyes. "You were the one who grabbed my purse..." she said in slow realization. She couldn't even use SINGing to escape with the gun held to her head.
"You're ours now." Harry grinned darkly.
Hector used the scarf he had to cover Chelsea's eyes and led back to Harry's place. "I even have their phone number..." he told the other man, smugly.
Chelsea whimpered slightly, the darkness that now covered her eyes heightened her other senses and she could feel the cold steel of the gun, in the shape of the bit pressed to her head.
"Phone's in the back." Harry told his new partner as they got Chelsea back to his place. "Aw, quit your squirmin'!"
Hector nodded and went to call the McCallisters'.
"L-Let me go a-and I'll c-consider it..." Chelsea said, trying to appear braver than what the stutter showed her as really feeling.
"How about no?" Harry scoffed in her ear, and squeezed her tighter. He then smirked and forced her in a chair, allowing Mrs. Stone to tie her up.
Mrs. Stone, who looked like herself again, had found some Stone tied her up quickly and in a way that she couldn't break out of. Chelsea, who still couldn't see quite yet, had squeaked uncomfortably as Harry had squeezed her and tried to tug the ropes, but found she could barely move in the restraints.
Harry darkly chuckled as he had Chelsea in his clutches. Hector nodded and went to call the McCallisters'. He dialed the number and walked in, as it were a really old-fashioned, big, cordless phone.