Hi! I'm so happy to be back here after three weeks of absence. I'm so sorry this chapter took me so long. Since right after Christmas I've been having some health issues and because of that it seemed that writing took me twice as much time as usual. Plus the end of the semester required a lot of paperwork from me. But I managed to create another chapter which I've just finished writing. Have a nice reading and we'll meet at the bottom of this page.

Chapter 28

The moment the door opened, both Thomas and Juliet experienced a feeling of déjà vu, it was the same situation back in the place they had been held previously. And this time it was also Nick who came inside, greeting them.

"Hi, I can see you're finally up. Sorry for drugging you again."

Magnum snorted and added with sarcasm. "Yeah, it was really necessary."

"Actually, it was. We needed you to be off in order to transport you to this place." Nick replied truthfully.

The PI instantly picked it up. "We?"

"Ah, yes. I forgot about your great detective skills. The boss you were so dying to meet is here and invites you two as his special guests to a dinner at 8." The man's words came as a huge surprise to the pair.

Juliet was the first one to speak. "Nick, tell us what this place is. Where are we?"

Nick shook his head sadly. "I don't think the boss would like me to reveal his secrets. You must be patient. Soon you'll learn everything. He'll tell you himself. Meanwhile, I've brought you some clothes he wants you to wear. The bathroom with the shower is there," He said, pointing to the door in the back of the room. "in case you wanted to freshen up a bit."

Magnum snorted at that again. They were held in the bunker for a couple of days and had to use that filthy old bathroom, of course they wanted to freshen up, especially in such fine conditions. Juliet looked at him, she must have been thinking the same thing.

"All right now, I'll come for you in one hour. Be ready by then." Having said that, Nick went out, locking the door behind him.

"Wow. Now what do you say about that? Special guests and a dinner. Someone really must want to see you and he really chose a peculiar way of achieving that."

"Magnum, let's not go over this again." Juliet murmured.

"I'm just saying it must be some crazy psychofan or a stalker." He said but seeing her face, he decided to change the subject. "All right. I won't mention him again, besides we'll know something more about him in one hour and maybe then we'll get a much clearer picture. Did you get nice clothes?"

"I'll see in a moment. Now, I'd like to use that shower. Is it okay with you?" She asked.

"Yes, of course. Go on." Magnum replied.

She smiled, gathered the clothes and headed for the bathroom.

"Thanks, I won't be long." She said over her shoulder and vanished behind the door.

Magnum decided to spend the time on planning how to get out of this place. After their short tour of the room, he knew that the chance for that was next to nothing. He just hoped that maybe the opportunity will arrive during the dinner with the boss or on their way there. Anyway, Thomas still believed that they would escape somehow and get back home.

"Ahem."

The PI was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear that Higgins was back in the room.

"Magnum?"

Still no response which caused her anxiety.

"Thomas, are you all right? Can you hear me?"

"What?" He answered absentmindedly and then looked at his partner.

The sight that greeted him, made him speechless. For a few seconds he just stood there, admiring her. She was wearing a floor-length black A-line dress with a side leg slit. It fit her slender body perfectly.

Magnum finally recovered and murmured. "Wow, Higgy. You look gorgeous."

"Well, thank you, Magnum. That's very nice of you to say." The woman gave him a shy smile.

When she had put it on, she felt a bit like Cinderella going to the ball. It was such a strange feeling, especially in their situation where for the last couple of days they were being held in a filthy, moist, old bunker and now they were staying in a nice and comfortable place, dressed up and all. It seemed like a dream to her.

"I've told you the truth. You look amazing." He added. He could swear she started blushing. "I have no idea who this boss is but there's one thing for sure that we know about him." He stated.

"What is it?" Juliet asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"He definitely has a great taste in evening gowns. I wonder what I got."

"Who knows? Maybe you'll have even more beautiful dress than mine ?" She replied and giggled, her face radiant.

"Very funny." Magnum murmured but soon he joined her. It was so good to see her like that. After being kidnapped, they didn't have many opportunities to laugh so freely.

"Well, as beautiful as this dress is, it's not very practical, you know? Can you help me with this?" Juliet asked and turned, showing her back to him.

Thomas noticed that a part of the material there was hanging loose.

"Oh, sure." He replied and approached her quickly. He got the zipper all the way to the top and then tried to pull a tiny button through a not so much bigger loop. It took him quite a while, especially since his hands were shaking a bit. "Phew, that was quite a tough job. Here you are."

"Thanks, partner." Juliet said and turned, facing him again and meeting his gaze.

Magnum didn't reply and they stood there, not taking their eyes off each other. They would probably keep doing that if the woman didn't break the haze by speaking.

"The bathroom's free."

There was no reaction so it was obvious that he didn't hear her words.

"Magnum, you can use the bathroom now." She said, rising her voice a bit and touching his arm.

Until that moment, the man registered that she was saying something to him, probably something important like always, but seeing her in that dress and her closeness made him so… Well, he couldn't find the words that would best describe everything that was happening to him at that moment. However, when he felt her touch, he knew he should respond.

"Magnum?"

"Yeah, I should put on whatever clothes this madman had prepared for me to wear." He told her, not really moving away from her.

"You're right. There's not much time left." He heard her say and very reluctantly left his spot, then grabbed the cloth cover and went to the bathroom. All this time he did everything he could not to look at her partner again.

Higgins easily noticed that this time he avoided her gaze and quickly closed the door behind him. Now it was her turn to come up with any escape plan. She tried to do her best but no matter how hard she thought, she realized that there weren't many options. She sighed, feeling so helpless and turned towards one of the windows.

"There's our home somewhere out there." She murmured and the corners of her lips instantly lifted up in a tiny smile at the mention of 'our'.

This whole situation, as awful as it may be, made her and Magnum closer than ever. She was really happy about that. However, on the other hand, a small voice in her head was making her wonder what would happen when they got back to Robin's Nest. Would Thomas want to continue their partnership? How would their relationship look then? Luckily, Juliet didn't have time to worry about that because soon she heard that the door opened and Magnum emerged from the bathroom. She spun around and froze at once.

"How do I look?" Thomas asked.

Beside his charming smile, he was wearing an elegant black tuxedo, together with a white shirt and a black bow tie.

He's lucky he didn't get a tie so he didn't have to tie it again. She thought and smiled inwardly at the memory of the time when she had to do that properly when they were getting ready to attend the reception in the Taipei consulate in order to get the information about Viper.

"I must say you look… fine." She told him but he was sure that her eyes said something else.

"Only fine?" He asked, pretending to be disappointed.

Higgins knew it was all a game, he was just toying with her so she continued. "Well, you look… very fine."

In those clothes her partner looked like a fashion model but of course she wouldn't tell him that right away. If she did so, his ego would go through the roof.

Let's make him worry for a moment. She thought to herself and tried very hard not to smile.

"Oh, come on, Higgy. I told you that you looked gorgeous."

She sighed. He wouldn't give up as always. "I'm sorry but I can't tell you the same." She replied.

"Am I not gorgeous?"

Juliet shook her head and moved a bit closer which didn't go unnoticed by Thomas. He gladly joined her in this little game and moved toward her too.

"No, you look… very handsome." Her voice was quiet.

"See, it wasn't so hard, was it?" He said at the same moment he finally approached her.

She grinned at his response and he suddenly felt an irresistible urge to kiss her. His head started to move closer but Juliet was faster, she grabbed the lapels of his tuxedo and pulling them, she closed the distance between them in a second, locking her lips with his. Although her action came as a surprise, Magnum definitely wasn't complaining and gladly accepted it. Soon they became so engrossed in each other that they easily forgot where they were and what was going to happen.

Just as it started to become hotter, Thomas and Juliet heard some steps and the key being turned in the lock. They immediately broke the kiss and jumped away from each other. However, the woman noticed that her partner was holding her hand. She glanced at him for a brief moment and gave him a grateful smile before she looked at the door and waited with bated breath for what would happen next.

Finally, the door opened and they saw that the visitor was no other than Nick. He looked at them and the first thing he noticed was that they both seemed a little fluttered and their cheeks were red. Another thing was that they were holding hands. He smiled inwardly, he really cheered for those two.

"You both look good. Are you ready for the dinner?" Nick asked.

"Yes, we are." Juliet spoke.

"All right then. I'll take you to the boss. He's waiting for you." Nick replied and used his gun to show them the way out of the room.

"I can't wait to meet this guy." Magnum said under his breath.

Juliet kept quiet the whole way, wondering about the identity of the mysterious man.

They were led through a long hallway with walls full of enormous old paintings in decorative gold frames. Of course Magnum didn't pay much attention to those interior decorations. He focused on a potential way out. They passed by two doors which probably led to other bedrooms. Unfortunately, there weren't any windows in the hall, the only ones were those really high in a big staircase. Then they went down the wide marble stairs, passed through the entrance hall where they saw two tall heavily armed men guarding the main door. They turned right and stopped in front of the enormous oak door with a gold handle.

Nick knocked and when they heard a voice coming from inside, he nodded at Magnum and Higgins, and pushed the door open, letting them through.

"Come on, the boss is inside." Nick said.

It didn't surprise them that now that the boss was here, Nick had to act coldly towards them and couldn't show his emotions even though they knew after their conversations with him that deep inside he wasn't like that.

Just as they were about to enter the room, Juliet stopped. She didn't know what was happening to her, for those many years while working as an MI6 agent, she went through a lot but she didn't feel anything like that and now she was experiencing such strong fear that it was paralyzing her. Fear not for herself but for her partner. Would the boss hurt Thomas again? Or what's even worse would he want to kill him? Those questions kept going round and round in her head.

Magnum, who was standing next to her, saw her freeze and instantly knew something wasn't right. He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear. "It'll be okay. I'm with you."

His voice was soothing and had a calming effect on her. He knew her so well. When she felt him squeeze her hand reassuringly, she nodded her head and finally looked at him. When their eyes met in silent connection, they both smiled.

"Come on. Let's go." Nick interrupted them.

One last look at each other and they both knew they were ready for whatever was about to happen. They went inside and found themselves in an enormous room with fancy looking decorations, similar to those they saw in their room and their way there. What caught their attention was an antique long table, placed right in the middle of the room and full of various sophisticated dishes, obviously set for three.

Magnum and Higgins were looking for the boss and expected him to be sitting by the table however he wasn't there. Instead of that they were greeted by another two big men in black suits who didn't care to hide their guns. The whole room was lit only by a few candles placed in golden candle holders placed on the table so they couldn't see much of the rest of the place, plus the view was also partly blocked by those two bodyguards.

When they thought that they'd have to wait for the boss to arrive, suddenly someone moved and came out of the shadows. For a second there, before he came closer, Juliet couldn't fight the feeling that she had already known this man. And she was right.

"Hello, Juliet. It's so nice to see you again."

Hi again. There are so many things I'd like to tell you here. First of all, the thing I was unsure about was the ending - I know you're all waiting for the big reveal of the mysterious boss and here you're getting another 'To be continued' (btw. I hated this sign whenever it appeared at the end of any of my favourite TV series). I hope you won't hate me for this:) I promise you that next time you'll finally get the answers. At least some of them;)

Secondly, thank you so much for reading my story - now that the story stats are working again after a couple of months, I can see that you are really there. A special thank you goes to Dsnygal for the review - you're right, the team didn't quite connect the tourist situation with Magnum being so suddenly indisposed. They thought someone may have been in La Mariana to observe them.

Thirdly, I still can't believe Magnum PI ended. It seems so weird to me that I'm not waiting for another new episode like I used to for so many weeks. What do you think about the ending? Was it how you had imagined it would be? Feel free to tell me.

See you next time!