Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

This chapter is mostly centered around Lui and his and Gilbo's dad ^_^

Oh, by the way, Lui's 16 and Gilbo's 20.

Chapter 16: The Driving Misadventure of Claus and Lui!

One day, after school, Ludwig walked through the door of the Beilschmidt house, went to the living room, and plopped down on the couch, not even taking his shoes off.

Gilbert, who had come home from college to visit, walked into the room with a soda and saw his little brother lying on the couch, clearly bothered by something.

"West?" he said, sitting on one of the arms of the couch. "What's wrong, baby bro?"

"I need a car…badly," Ludwig mumbled.

"…" Gilbert, who could usually make Ludwig feel at least a little better, didn't know what to say to that. "The awesome me can teach ya," he finally said proudly.

Ludwig sat up, stiff as a board, when Gilbert said this. "Uh…no thanks, bro," he said rather quickly and waved his hands back and forth.

"Suit yourself," said Gilbert. He then got up and left the room.

Later that day, when Claus and Elise were home, Ludwig ran up to them.

"Mom, Dad," the teen said desperately, "one of you has to teach me how to drive! I need a car soon!"

"Well, I'm busy tomorrow," said Elise. "Maybe your father can teach you."

"Dad, please," Ludwig pleaded and got down on his hands and knees. "I'll never get a girl if I can't drive a car, and then I'll end up alone for the rest of my life!"

"Lui, stand up," said Claus. "Who told you that, son?"

"Jet Solo told me," Ludwig said. "He made fun of me during lunch, and all these girls were hanging on him and following him around. You've gotta teach me to drive, please, please!"

"Okay, okay, Lui, calm down," said Claus. "I'll teach you this weekend, okay?"

"Thanks, Dad!" Ludwig said excitedly and then ran to his room.

That Saturday, Ludwig waited anxiously for his father to get home from work.

"Ludwig," said Roderich, Hannah by his side, "why are you sitting on the ground?"

"Dad's gonna teach me how to drive so I can get girls to like me better than Jet Solo," Ludwig replied.

"I wanna drive, Daddy!" Hannah said out of the blue and looked up at Roderich.

"Uh…" Roderich said. "Hannah, honey, you're too little to drive."

"I'll teach her!" Gilbert said excitedly.

"Hell no," said Roderich. "You, of all people, aren't giving my daughter driving lessons, Gilbert."

"Stick in the mud," Gilbert mumbled as he walked away.

When Claus pulled up in the driveway, Ludwig jumped up with excitement.

"Dad, Dad, today's the day!" said Ludwig.

"Okay, get behind the wheel, Lui," said Claus.

"'Kay," said Ludwig. He got behind the wheel, closed the door and put his seatbelt on as he impatiently waited for Claus to get in the car.

"See you guys later," Claus called. He then got in the front passenger seat and instructed Ludwig on what to do when starting the car, backing out, and driving somewhere.

Later on, it was getting dark. Claus and Ludwig had driven pretty far by this point, and they saw how late it was.

"Okay, Lui, let's call it a night," Claus said to his youngest son. "Why don't we head back home? The rest of the family's waiting."

"Okay," Ludwig said, and turned around. He then drove in a different direction.

Hours later, Claus and Lui realized that the direction they took wasn't the way home!

"Dad…" Ludwig said worriedly. "I think we're lost."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Claus said as he looked out the window at the scenery.

"Well, what do we do?" asked a scared Ludwig.

"Don't worry, son. We'll think of something," Claus reassured the teen. "Let's just pull up over here and call your mother. She'll know what to do."

"Okay," said Ludwig as he pulled the car up to the side of the road.

"Stay in the car while I call the house, okay?" said Claus.

"Sure," Ludwig said and looked out both the driver and passenger windows. 'Geez, it's kind of scary here,' he thought nervously. 'Dad, hurry up, please.'

Minutes later, Claus got done talking with Elise on the phone. He then walked over to the driver side of the car and tapped on the window.

"Hey, Lui," he said. "Why don't you let me drive us home? Your mother gave us directions from here to the house."

"Okay," Ludwig said. He then got into the back seat of the car, while Claus got behind the wheel.

Just as Claus started the car, a man dressed in black opened the back door, got in, and slammed the door shut. He then pulled out a gun.

"Start driving," the man commanded.

"Get out of my car," said an angry (and nervous) Claus.

"I said, 'Start driving'," the man said again. "Or else." He then cocked the gun and pointed it at poor Ludwig.

"Dad…" Ludwig said.

"Leave my son alone!" Claus shouted.

"Start driving right now," the man said. He still had the gun to Ludwig's head.

"Okay," said Claus and then started driving. "Where?"

"Mexico," said the dark clad man. "And don't try calling the police," he added, seeing Claus reach for his phone. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to the boy, would you?"

(Well, when you're a Beilschmidt, things like this are bound to happen sooner or later, right?)

"Dad, don't!" Ludwig yelled as Claus continued on the route to the Mexican border. He was now shaking with fear, his fists clenched as he felt the gun pressed against the side of his head.

Claus' cell then rang.

"Pick it up," the man sneered as he grabbed Ludwig's right arm. "Now!"

"Let go," Ludwig said.

"You shut your mouth, brat," the man said, and hit Ludwig on the head with the butt of his gun.

"Don't you hit my son," Claus said angrily as he stopped the car. "Hello?" he said to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Claus?" said Elise. "It's getting late. Where are you guys?"

"Can't talk right now, Ellie," Claus said in a scared voice.

"Keep driving!" the man shouted. "Or else your son dies!"

"Dad, help me," Ludwig said as the man put his hand on the door, ready to bolt and take the poor boy with him.

"Claus, who's with you and Lui?" Elise asked in a worried voice. She didn't like the sound of what was going on.

"Ellie, listen," Claus whispered urgently.

"I haven't got all night!" the man yelled at Claus.

"Dad!" Ludwig said.

"I need you to call the police right now," Claus continued.

"That's it, I'm out of here," the man said angrily, opening the door. He was now in the process of trying to drag poor Ludwig out of the car.

"Dad, make him let me go!" Ludwig cried.

"Oh my God, what's going on?" Elise said.

"Ellie, just call the cops," Claus said, still whispering so the man wouldn't hear him. "We're in Kentucky now!"

"Okay," a still worried Elise replied.

After hanging up, Claus saw the man still trying to drag his screaming son out of the car…probably to kill him!

"Let me go!" Ludwig shouted, and then bit the guy.

"You insolent little—" the man said, still angry as he grabbed the teen by his hair and successfully dragged him out of the car.

"Leave my son alone!" Claus shouted. "I'll drive you wherever you want!"

"Good, then get back in the car," the man said as he forced Ludwig back in the back seat and climbed back in himself. He put the gun to Ludwig's head as Claus started to drive.

Just as they were almost at the Kentucky state limit, several police cars showed up.

"This is the police," one of the officers said into a megaphone. "Come out with your hands up."

"You called the cops?" the man yelled. "I told you what would happen if you did that!"

"You better not hurt—!" Claus started to say.

"GAH!" Ludwig cried out in pain as he was shot in the arm. "Dad…it hurts…" he said.

"Lui!" Claus said.

"That was nothing compared to what I'll do next," the man said, but he never got the chance.

Just then, several officers went to the back of the car, got Claus and Ludwig out, and then arrested the man; turned out he was an escaped killer who was on the run.

After Claus and Ludwig were taken to the hospital, they headed home to New York, where they were happy to see Germania, Elise, Gilbert, Roderich, Elizabeta and Hannah.

Gilbert, upon seeing Ludwig's arm in a sling, went up to his brother and gave him a noogie.

"Gilbert, stop it!" Ludwig said, but he really didn't mind this time.

"Hey, you should tell lame Roddykins to stop playing his lame Choppin' music," Gilbert said. Looking at Ludwig's cast, he continued, "Hey, maybe you can get girls to like you with that cast, eh?"

"Shut up," Ludwig mumbled, embarrassed that his big brother would even say that.

"See? I should've taught you how to drive," Gilbert said again.

"Gil…bert," a now irritated Ludwig said. "Shut up before I murder you."

"Okay, okay, West," Gilbert said nervously. Ludwig could be scary sometimes, seriously.

Author's Note: *Whew!* I had this idea in my head for a while, and I'm glad I got it down on paper.

Um…if anyone has any ideas for a new chapter, let me know, 'kay? ^_^

Read and Review ^_^