-8-

"….tell her?" A familiar-sounding voice asked.

"I've got no choice. This is going to kill her; after last year, I had to tell her a thousand times nothing like this was ever going to happen again, and now this."

Kate woke up slowly, looking around and saw the concerned faces of Leslie, Frank, and Peter looking down at her, right behind them she saw Linnie and Jeff; Linnie's eyes were red-rimmed, and Kate remembered what had happened.

She'd fainted.

Oh god!

Kevin. Kevin was not here, it had happened again! Oh God.

She focused on her husband. "Peter, please tell me Kevin is here," she begged him desperately, hoping that Linnie had cried after she'd fainted, that they'd found Kevin, that he was here, just in a different part of the airport…

But her hopes were in vain, and Peter just stared at her grimly. "Oh god," she whispered, flopping down weakly. "Not again. How did this happen, where is he?" She whispered.

"We dunno," Peter ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I've got Buzz, Rod, Sondra, and Tracey out there now, trying to find him, but its a big airport and besides, even Kevin is not stupid enough to just leave us for long without coming back. But that's not the worst of it."

Kate looked up at him in uncomprehending surprise. "Peter, what can be worse?" She asked slowly, now really scared.

Peter had been dreading this moment. "Megan's not here either."

"What?" Kate thought for a moment she was going to faint again. "What do you mean, she's not here?"

"Nobody's seen her, Kate. She hasn't picked up her bags, and nobody's seen her since Chicago," Peter replied.

Kate felt she was falling into a ravine, or down into a deep hole; whatever, she thought the ground was going to swallow her up. She could not understand what was happening. "Megan's….Megan's not here, Kevin's not here," she whispered, shaking her head as she tried to comprehend what could have happened. "But they were inside the van, they were there. Megan was in the terminal. Kevin was in the terminal."

"I dunno," Peter shook his head, angry at what was happening. By that point, Buzz and Sondra came back. Judging from their faces, Peter didn't bother asking them how they'd gotten on. It was obvious they hadn't found either Kevin or Megan.

"We couldn't find them; I showed them a picture we'd taken of Megan and Kevin, but nobody has seen them," Sondra said quickly.

"We covered a large area in the airport as well, and we couldn't see them ourselves," Buzz added.

"Thanks," Peter said. He turned to his shell-shocked wife. "We need to speak to the Airport police, Kate. It's possible Kevin and Megan missed the flight."

Kate shook her head. Neither of her children would do something so irredeemably stupid, and Peter knew it, but she knew it was a strong possibility. Still, she knew he had raised a good point. They needed to tell the authorities, who'd have the resources to help them find Megan and Kevin. Once she felt strong enough, Peter and Kate headed for the Airport Police. As they did, their minds raced.

-8-

For Kate, this was an even worse nightmare than last year; at least last year, she'd known where Kevin actually was, but right now she was too busy fretting over two children, one of whom was her eldest daughter. How had Megan done this? Megan was not stupid any more than Kevin was, and so she was confused about why Megan was missing at all. There were three possibilities that she could see.

The first was Kevin was in Miami, they just hadn't seen him yet, but Kevin had been travelling on planes since he was a toddler; he knew better than to just wander off all by himself, and besides Kevin would just not do that even on his worst days.

The second was something had happened back in Chicago, like maybe one of them had dropped something and fell back to pick it up and the other had waited around for them. That was possible; thanks to how pressed for time they were, because they were late and had arrived within moments of the plane taking off from the airport, the McCallisters had been forced to run for the gate. In that case, Megan and Kevin would have told someone and they would soon receive word.

The third, and this was the one she hoped was not the true reason, Kevin and Megan had accidentally gotten on the wrong plane. It had happened, but never to them, and since the airport had been so crowded, so busy, it was plausible something happened and Kevin and Megan had simply gone a different way.

But whichever one it was, Kate just wanted her children back.

But….her mind went back over her last argument with Kevin, and what he'd said in the van. That damn clock! When she saw it next she would likely break the stupid thing in half…actually, she would do that, and buy one with batteries so it was independent from the main power supply. She should have learnt her lesson last year, but she hadn't.

Anyway, Kate had more important things to worry about now. She needed to find her son and daughter. She wanted to make it up to Kevin like she had planned to do; she knew even if he hated fake Christmas trees (ah, his Christmas tree love, she thought fondly), he would have gotten over it, and they'd have had fun.

Kate had worked it out, and she had spoken about it at length with her husband; she had planned to spend quality time with her youngest (and help him get rid of that stupid inflatable clown), and hopefully mend the latest dent in their relationship. Kate was the first person to admit she had her flaws when it came to motherhood, but she was devoted to all of her children, she loved all of them, and she hated seeing them hurt - emotionally and physically. But Kate was only one woman, and she was often run off her feet and sometimes didn't have time for her children, but she was not blind to the fact all of them fought for their positions in the family, and she hated it when she had to take sides. The argument with Kevin had hurt her greatly, but now she just wanted him safe.

-8-

Peter's thoughts were a mirror for his wife, but he was sure neither Kevin nor Megan had missed the flight, and he doubted they had just….stayed in Chicago. Neither of them was stupid enough to do that, and he cursed; why was it, that each time Frank and his family turned up, travel just became more chaotic? Sure, there was something mildly fun about rushing through the airport, but it just became a confused pandemonium that wore them down. What made it worse was they had been right there in the terminal, Kevin and Megan.

They'd been right there.

Idly, Peter remembered how Kevin had been going through his bag, looking for batteries. Was that the reason why Kevin had vanished? If they got through this, Peter was not sure if he would throw the Walkman away….actually no, he didn't care about the Walkman, so long as his youngest son was happy, and destroying it would hurt his son.

Peter knew he and Kevin had a great relationship…when they had the time; like his wife, Peter was sometimes forced to choose sides, and while he hated it, he sometimes sided with Buzz or Megan, or even Jeff against Kevin, so was it any wonder the younger boy sometimes lashed out? But despite that, Peter and Kate did side with Kevin…more than once, and it usually happened when they saw it happening, one of the reasons why Kevin was so taken by that walkman recorder was he often recorded Buzz and the others bothering him, giving them evidence.

But even without the recorder, Peter was not afraid to make his children see when they had crossed the line; in fact, last year, after Buzz ate Kevin's pizza, he had berated his eldest and made it clear he would never accept that happening again. Never.

Peter was not sure what to think, but he was sure taping something without consent was a crime, but he let it slide.

Peter had hoped, especially after last night, that he could spend quality time with his youngest son with his wife. The McCallisters had never been to Florida, and he was hopeful Kevin would relax and things would go back to normal.

-8-

The Airport police officer looked up, "What're the children's names?"

"Kevin," Kate and Peter replied together. "K-E-V-l-N," Kate added, spelling Kevin's name sheepishly, knowing the cop would know how to spell it, but making sure, "M-E-G-A-N."

Fortunately, the Airport cop was polite and kind enough to nod in thanks, "When did you see them last?" He asked. "Curbside check-in?"

"No, I saw Kevin at the door. He was with us in the terminal," Peter said with absolute certainty, "And I saw Megan running close by me. My guess is Megan saw Kevin lagging behind, and she dropped back, and helped but got caught up in the crowd."

The cop nodded and made a note. "Most people get separated at security checkpoints. Did everyone get through security?"

Kate shook her head, cursing her lack of knowledge of airport security and once more she cursed the fact they'd slept in because of that stupid alarm. "I don't know," she said regretfully. "Peter…?" She turned to her husband.

"We were in a hurry," Peter was just as regretful. "We were in a hurry. We had to run all the way to the gate."

The cop turned to his next question, "When did you notice they were missing?"

Kate blushed in shame and embarrassment, remembering how several people had reacted when they'd heard the news of what happened with Kevin the year before.

She had thought of herself as the world's worst mother. How could she have made such an unholy mess, and forgotten her youngest child like that?

But now things were just as bad.

"When we picked up our baggage here," she said timidly.

"Mrs McCallister, this sort of thing happens more often than you suppose, it was not your fault," the cop said understandingly before he asked the next question. "Have either the boy or the girl ever run away from home?"

"No."

"Have they ever been in a situation on their own?"

"No…," Kate's response was automatic, but she caught her husband's incredulous and pointed eye, and made a couple of pointed noises, and she sagged.

"As a matter of fact, this has happened before," Kate began. "It's becoming a McCallister family travel tradition."

"Funnily enough, we never lose our luggage," Peter said, and they laughed to try to offset the tension, and they knocked on the desk, but the airport cop stared at them, distinctly unimpressed.

When the McCallisters realised that, they sobered very quickly. "Kevin was left at home, by accident, last year," Kate explained, "There was an electrical fault, our alarm clock just didn't work, and we overslept on the night before we had to leave for Paris. We had to rush to the airport, and we left him behind. During the flight to Paris, I realised Kevin was not there, that we'd forgotten him," Kate's voice drifted off and she looked down for a moment, "I spent the next couple of days desperately trying to get a return flight to Chicago; I only got there on Christmas Day, and I found him alive and healthy. I swore never to let it happen again, and now it's happened. Not just to Kevin, but to my eldest daughter."

"That's what my wife meant by calling it a McCallister family travel tradition," Peter said.

"We'll call Chicago and... ...notify them of the situation," the cop said. The odds are that's where they both are."

"Thanks."

"Very unlikely they'd be anywhere else."

Peter bit his lip. "Megan is our eldest daughter, if they'd missed the flight they would alert the authorities they'd missed the flight, but flights would be thin on the ground. They might have gone back home, even if it sounds unlikely. Is it okay if I ring our house in Chicago?"

"Sure, be my guest," the cop said. "I'll look for a free phone for you."

-8-

The McCallister House was empty; even though the two branches of the family had left already, there were still some signs of the hasty departure. A phone began to ring.

-8-

Harry Lyme was starting to hate fish, but that was perhaps the reason why the stench of the fish in this stinking van was getting to him. But, sadly, it was the only getaway vehicle they could get. Next to him, trying desperately to keep comfortable in this cold, stinking truck, was his friend and partner, Marv Munchens. Marv was taller than Harry, and he was having trouble getting his tall, lean frame comfortable in this enclosed space, and Harry hadn't bothered telling him to stop fidgeting; the truck wasn't exactly comfortable, but since it meant their freedom, he would keep biting his tongue.

But it was worth it; he and Marv had learnt this fish truck was entering New York. The further away they were from Chicago, the better.

Chicago.

Harry ground his teeth angrily as he thought about the last year. Ever since that damn kid had gotten them arrested, he and Marv had thought their luck which had made them top burglars in Chicago had gone down the drain. It was simply too hot for them to remain in Chicago after they'd escaped during that riot, even Marv wasn't stupid enough to think they could get away with staying. And besides, they had never been to New York before and here they were in a city that didn't know them, and they didn't know anyone in turn.

It was perfect in turn.

Finally, the truck stopped, sending them both flying.

"Harry-," Marv hissed.

"Shut up, I can hear voices," Harry snapped.

The door opened, a groaning a little bit, Harry shifted himself and lifted his head, and Marv did the same thing. Harry, tense, at first, relaxed when he saw where they were; just because they'd never been to New York before didn't mean he didn't recognise some of it.

"Well, here we are, Marv. New York City, the Land of Opportunity," Harry chuckled to himself, thinking to himself there were dozens of opportunities in this city. Harry took a deep breath, instantly ignoring the stench of the fish, and smelling beyond that. "Smell that?"

Marv took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"Know what that is?"

"Fish."

Harry felt his bubble burst, and he growled in frustration. Typical Marv. He was just so clueless, he could not even see the metaphor for what it was. Didn't he realise they had a chance here? "It's freedom," he corrected.

"No, it's fish."

"It's freedom," Harry had had more than enough of this attempt to be philosophical, "and it's money."

Marv had been with Harry long enough to know when he was crossing the limits. "Okay, okay," he held up his hands placatingly to calm Harry down, "it's freedom."

"Come on, let's get out of here before someone sees us," Harry clambered out slowly.

Just as he was out of earshot and checking to see if anyone had noticed him, Marv whispered, "And it's fish."

-8-

A little while later, the two burglars were leaving a subway station.

"Yes, one quick score," Harry said, working it all out in his head; he had been thinking of little else since their escape from prison, and he'd refined his ideas and plans during the journey to keep himself sane. He had no intention of going back to their regular business of house burglary anymore, at least for a long time. All he wanted them to do was to lay low for a long time, and then start again when the heat was off, but they needed cash, and they needed it badly.

"We get ourselves some phoney passports…," Harry went on, watching irritably as Marv taped his hand, and he wondered what the moron was doing now, "…and we hightail it to some foreign country."

"Arizona?" Marv asked hopefully.

Harry huffed in annoyance. Didn't this guy know anything about geography?

Harry had another annoyance; they were passing by a Santa Claus collecting donations, and Marv shoved his hand into the bucket. Harry groaned; why, of all the partners he had, did he have to get someone so simple? That kind of trick was pathetic, so simple. It was not what they needed right now. "That's very smart, Marv. You bust out of jail to rob 14 cents from a Santy Claus?" Harry demanded.

Marv counted the meagre change he'd just picked up, "Every bit helps," he said, oblivious to Harry's sour mood. "Besides, now we got our new nickname," he went on.

Harry groaned.

Oh no.

Not again.

Why was Marv so stupid? Why did he have to come up with nicknames? The problem with Marv was he was so simple, and he loved comics and movies so much, that he tried to emulate them. What was it going to take before he realised no self-respecting burglar who had any common sense, and was stupid enough to leave calling cards, and leaving nicknames of themselves? The cops and newspapers did that, not the thieves. Why couldn't he see that?

"We're the Sticky Bandits!" Marv cheered, holding up his 'glove' with the coins stuck to it for emphasis.

Harry shook his head, disgusted but not mentally prepared to argue. It was too pathetic and he just didn't know if he would break down into a psychotic episode or not over this. "Real cute," he muttered and walked off. "Very cute," he said.