Kate McCallister was not in a good mood.

For the past few days, Kate had been a nervous wreck, jumping at the slightest sounds of the telephone, hoping for news of Kevin and Megan, worrying herself sick. She had pictured them dead, barely alive. Last year was different because she'd known, well they'd all known where Kevin was, but now she was even more worried.

Still, she had done her best to remain calm, collected, and strong, even though she wanted to do nothing more than march to the airport, go to Chicago airport, and press-gang the police into letting her see the footage to give her some clues as to which plane Megan and Kevin had boarded and go there herself.

Kate didn't give a fuck about her bank balance, or the amount of cash she and her husband were being forced to dish out; if it got her back to Megan and Kevin, who cared?

Well, Frank would, but Kate didn't give a damn about what went through his mind.

She had been alternating between anger and terror for hours since they had returned to Miami International Airport - privately, if she never, ever saw the place again as long as she lived, then she could live with that although she was tempted to take her family back, but mentally noted to herself if they ever did go back, it would be during the summer months - and her emotions had bubbled and churned away within her stomach until she was nearly sick.

Peter had sensed her mood swings, and he had tried to make her get some rest, but Kate hadn't cared about her health. She was feeling a primal desire to just get to her children and hugging them to death, vowing never to let them go. But that wasn't all she was promising to do; after a couple of days of living in a place Frank deemed 'luxury,' Kate had been tempted to find a harrowing but ultimately clean way of murdering Frank, Leslie, and their children.

She had a feeling her family wouldn't have cared; they'd been cooped up in the same room for the last few days. Could you blame them?

Kate promised that when they found Kevin and Megan again, she would make sure they never went on another holiday like this again. In fact, she never wanted to leave home. To hell with the cooking stresses. She would rather take that than deal with the emotions bubbling away inside of her. She would rather be stressed cooking a turkey and Christmas meal with all the trimmings if it meant her children could never be separated like this.

When they'd gotten the call from the police, telling them where Megan and Kevin were, Kate's fears and worries for them both shot up; of all the places to be, New York was the last. But she was also relieved. She knew finally where her son and daughter were, and she was going to get them. But at the same time, Kate had been feeling a growing incandescence of rage within her. All of it was centered on the Plaza Hotel.

Why had the stupid staff caused her children to run away?

The police's story was fairly comprehensive, but while she could understand the need for security, Kate didn't like the implications the concierge hadn't even given Megan a chance to actually speak! Why hadn't the stupid fool actually taken the trouble to just listen? While she couldn't deny her children had made a terrible mistake, and one that she and her husband would make sure they answered for, Kate wasn't in the frame of mind to be unbiased.

She wanted to get answers from the hotel, woe betides them if they didn't give her really good answers.

She also wanted to know why the hotel staff had targeted them in the first place; yes, she had just admitted she could

Kate had been torturing herself for the last few days, terrifying herself with horrifying visions of the possibilities of where Megan and Kevin had gone.

But the moment she had arrived in New York, catching sight of the metropolis's legendary landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in the distance, Kate had felt her terror become a pure fury.

Even worse, that same fury had been boiling and bubbling away within her when they had come to the Plaza Hotel. While the rest of the two sides of the McCallister clan were awed by the sheer luxury of the place, even Frank was impressed despite his usual fears of expenses, that Kate hadn't seen any of it. All she saw was the place where her kids had stayed, who had driven them out, who had forced them to run away.

Marching inside, and after a tense introduction of who they were, instantly the hotel staff were falling backwards over themselves, trying in vain to please her. Kate wondered what had caused this change of mood. She didn't care, she eventually decided.

"We'd like to offer you a complimentary suite while you're here," the concierge was saying, "It's a penthouse with a view of the park. I think you'll find it satisfactory. It was recently vacated by a countess of Worcestershire," he finished with a delighted chuckle as if the thought amused him.

But Kate didn't care.

She didn't care about the hotel's prestige. She didn't care if kings and queens turned up and spent even a minute in this place.

All she wanted was answers before she went out there, and did her bit in finding Megan and Kevin.

In an icy, withering voice that would have frozen a polar bear, Kate bit out, "What happened? Why did you harass my children? If my son arrived on his own, I can understand…but my elder daughter shouldn't have raised so many eyebrows?"

"They did have a convincing story and it did sound plausible. Personally, I didn't see anything wrong with it," Miss Stone said.

At least someone seemed to respect Kevin and Megan and their other guests' privacy.

"And they seemed nice enough," Cedric added.

"I understand that, but how did it go wrong? What kind of idiots work here?!" Kate snapped.

"The finest in New York."

Peter stepped in as he wanted some answers himself. "When you learned the credit card…," he began.

Mr Hector stepped in, patting and puffing out his chest pompously with a delighted self-congratulatory smile that put the McCallisters on edge, "I made the discovery," he said.

Kate and Peter exchanged a look of real worry before they turned back to the concierge. They did not like this man. They didn't like how he seemed to think what he had just done made him feel like he deserved praise. He didn't seem to realise, let alone care, that his actions had led to Kevin and Megan being lost in New York. Even now, he didn't seem bothered, almost like he just wanted them to die. No, she wouldn't think of that! If he honestly thought for a second, one second, that was worthy of praise, like a dog demanding scraps, Kate would make sure he understood the depths of his mistake.

"We heard you confronted them, and someone overhearing admitted that they were planning on revealing the truth, but you didn't listen; what happened?" Peter demanded.

Kate nodded in approval of her husband's question, "Why did you let them leave?" She demanded.

Hector's smug smile vanished as he seemed to recognise he was in the wrong, but Kate had the feeling he didn't regret his stupidity. "When we confronted them, your son grabbed his sister, and they ran!"

Kate looked down.

She knew it.

While Megan would likely not have run away, as she was old enough to recognise when it was time to run or not, she would have stayed. She would have explained.

But Kevin was still a child. He would still have that same fight or flight impulse. From the sounds of it when he discovered he and Megan were both in a lot of trouble, Kevin panicked and he just ran. As she saw the mountain of a mess her children were in, Kate wanted nothing more than to just lose it completely.

"Okay, so what did you do? What happened? You threatened them, with the police. Is it any wonder why Kevin ran, dragging Megan along with him? You scared him off! Do you realise that it's Christmas Eve, and because of you, our children are both lost in one of the biggest cities in the world?" Kate demanded, angrily. "Did you even listen to Megan, to begin with? Really, what was it about them that you decided to just harass them? Surely, you know it's normal for young adults to wander into hotels for a short stay? Why would it be a problem? Why were you suspicious?"

By the time Kate was finished panting breathlessly, she came down from her anger to notice Cedric and Miss Stone glancing at their colleague questioningly. It was evident these two hadn't had the same suspicion of Kevin and Megan that Hector had. Was Hector just the naturally suspicious type? Some people were. While she could appreciate and even admire the man for his vigilance against dangerous characters, she wished he wouldn't be looking at her kids.

Maybe he was just nosy and he had seen the two kids coming into his hotel, and he just became suspicious because of it?

Maybe Kate would never discover his reasons, but all she saw was the man who had driven Kevin away and taken Megan with him!

"Could you take our family and luggage up to the room, please?" Peter asked to break the tense silence, looking towards Cedric.

"Yes, sir!" Cedric's voice was a bit too chipper.

"Run along, Cedric," Hector sounded put out as his moment of glory had just been snatched out of his fingers. But the McCallisters didn't care about that, as Peter turned to look at his wife.

"I'll go to the police station to make sure they're looking for Kevin. I want you to stay here-," Peter was saying, but Kate instantly argued.

"No, Peter," Kate interrupted him, "I'm going to look for them."

Peter thought he must be hearing things, but as he looked into Kate's serious face he knew this wasn't a joke. "What?"

Hector couldn't resist poking his nose into their business, "With all due respect, your son ands your daughter is lost in one of the world's biggest cities in the world!"

Kate waved a hand angrily at the man, unable to believe he had just said that as if it wasn't his own fault this was going on. They wouldn't even be in this mess if it wasn't for him.

Peter shared her thoughts, "Could you stay out of this, please?" He said without hiding his contempt.

"As you wish."

"Thank you," Peter bit out before turning to Kate in the hopes of getting through to her. He wanted to look for Kevin and Megan, too, but he wouldn't even know where to begin, one option would be to go to Rob's but according to Rob when they'd called him earlier, the Brownstone in New York had just been left there, and they'd abandoned the renovation work ages ago, and their kids had become settled in Paris and seeing the different opportunities New York simply couldn't provide had made Rob and his family look into applying for French citizenship, or a dual citizenship. But it was still hopeful Kevin and Megan would have gone there. "It's not a good idea to run around New York City alone."

"If Kevin and Megan can, so can I."

Peter sighed, "Kate…," he began, but he wouldn't get that far.

"Peter, I'll be fine," Kate snapped, finally tired of this. Why couldn't they see every minute wasted meant Kevin and Megan could be anywhere now? "The way I feel, no mugger or murderer would mess with me."

Peter stepped back, seeing for himself the spark of rage that was building up in his wife. Kate had never been afraid of losing her temper, and their children had inherited that same fiery temper, and he knew that nothing he did or said was enough to convince her to stay. And besides, she might be able to get further into the search than the police.

Unfortunately, Hector, unlike his staff, was too obtuse to know when to leave well alone and he opened his mouth again to deliver his unwelcome opinion. "Madam," Hector began, not noticing Peter, Linnie, Jeff, and Buzz stiffen, "There are hundreds of armed parasites out there! Armed to the teeth-!"

SMACK!

Everyone flinched at the sound of the slap.

Lip wobbling as if he were about to cry, Hector tried to smile, "Do bundle up. It's awfully cold outside."