Chapter 11

Chandler Mansion

The Chandler living room was covered with the files, boxes, and stakes of papers that Tad had collected over the year since Madden's death. They consisted of the relatively unorganized bits and pieces of clues about the doctor's child adoption ring that Tad had been lucky enough to find. It was mostly incomplete records, unnamed profiles, and hundreds upon hundreds of pictures. These photos were the products of Madden's labor. The grateful parents he had provided children for had sent him yearly shots of their children because he had asked them to keep him updated on the progress of his "creations."

Among this hot mess of secrets and drama stood JR and Babe facing each other in a heated argument. Amanda and Jamie uncomfortably sat on the floor pretending not to notice.

"C'mon! It's not like I'm cheating." JR desperately tried to keep his already worn temper in check as he argued with his wife. Somehow Babe didn't understand the reason he spent so much of time sifting through the towers of information for any clues he might find on Kate's whereabouts. "This is about my sister. You'd do this and a hell of a lot more for Krystal."

"Look, JR, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here but I don't think you'll get anywhere looking through pieces of paper," she said. "If Tad didn't find anything the first time around then there's nothing to find."

"Yeah, that's what you said when you bailed on us the second day in."

"I can't believe this!" Babe scoffed. "So what, because I won't waste my time with you guys, you're holding that against me?"

"No!" He had to stop himself from adding that he help had done more harm than good. With her not participating in the sifting process the work went much faster since they didn't have to stop every few minutes to take a break and there were no more of her false alarms of the "I found her! Oh, never mind that says Kathy not Kate."

She tossed her hands in the air and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Whatever. I'm going to work."

"Babe, seriously," Jamie said. "This isn't about you." Babe's jaw clenched and she glared at him as he went on. "It's about a four year old little girl who needs us."

"Who could be anywhere and with anyone," Amanda added, sitting Indian style on the floor with an open file under her gaze.

Slowly Babe shifted her gaze from Jamie to her red headed friend. "Why exactly are you so into this? What does this have to do with you? Kate's not your sister."

Amanda's eyes shot up and widened in confusion. "Yeah, she's not, but JR and Jamie are my friends and she's their sister. That's what it has to do with me."

"Oh, please, you guys were never this close."

"Excuse me?" Amanda's temper had been wearing thin from the time Babe started her mini-temper tantrum about this so she wasn't above getting snippy. "I predate you, Babe. How can you say we were never this close? You weren't there. We were friends back when we were kids."

Babe looked taken aback, but quickly breezed on, airily. "Maybe that's true, I dunno. But ever since I've known you, you and JR hated each other."

"And now that's changed," JR said, throwing down papers he was surveying. "Amanda's done more than anybody to find Kate. Way more than yo- anybody."

That slip up gave the blond the opening she needed. "So I was right. You're mad at me for not throwing myself into this little project like you guys. That's why you're all buddy-buddy with Amanda right now." Planting her hands on her hips, Babe glowered at them each individually. "If I'm going to be condemned for not throwing myself into danger or wasting time looking through a bunch of junk, then I'm out of here."

"No ones condemning you," JR yelled after her.

But she wasn't listening. She was too busy slinging her purse over her shoulder and stomping out in the most dramatic exit possible.

"Babe!" JR started following until the he got to the front door slammed. He let out a growl of frustration and returned tot he living room. "Great! Now this Madden crap is screwing with my marriage!"

"Don't worry," Amanda said reassuringly. "Babe's probably just having a bad day. Maybe Winifred ran out of peanut butter for her pancakes and she's taking it out on us. Whatever. We have to get back to work."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Work? This is busy work and we all know it. Babe was right. If there was anything here, Aidan and Tad would have found it."

"He could've-"

"Missed something? Yeah, sure. And maybe Erica forgot to put on make-up this morning. There's no way. Not going to happen." He paced around the living room, careful not to disrupt any of their carefully piled stacks. "All we've been doing is keeping ourselves busy so we can pretend we're helping. That we're getting somewhere, but we're not."

Jamie put down the box of pictures he'd been looking through. "Look, if you can think of something else we can do, I'm in."

"I think I'm coming up with something.

Wildwind Hunting Lodge

Once they were out of their wet cloths and into the spares he kept at the lodge, Dimitri went to work silently starting a fire since the power was out and they'd be needing heat if they had to be there long. For a long time neither spoke. There was no point in arguing and he was sure that's all they'd do if one word passed between them. So he concentrated on the fireplace while Erica paced around the lodge, occasionally glancing out the window in hopes of the rain stopping. A steady blaze was soon established and he had nothing else to himself with.

There was nothing else to do and no other choice.

Dimitri let his eye's roam to Erica, who stood next to the window. Still damp, her black hair clung to the sides of her face, flattened to her head and her arms criss crossed over her chest, holding herself tightly. She was practically drowning in the over sized shirt he provided. Despite this, she stood statuesque and beautiful as ever. He found it particularly enthralling how on her tiny body the gray glow from the stormy outdoors mingled with the golden hue cast by the fireplace to create a striking picture.

Turning away from her, he took a seat on the floor facing the fireplace. To his surprise, Erica soon joined him, plopping down despondently. Out of the corner of his eye, Dimitri noticed how fixated she seemed on the flames.

"Thank you," she said suddenly. "For starting this. And for the shirt."

"You're welcome."

"Do you-" She sucked in a sharp breath as a particularly loud thunder clap hit. "That still gets to me sometimes."

He was confused, then it dawned on him. The rape. "You have handled the storm surprisingly well. So well, I-" He was ashamed to admit it. "I forgot for a moment."

"Yes, so well I fell from my horse and brought you with me. But at least I'm not curled up in a ball crying." She tried to laugh but it came out as halfhearted and artificial. "I like to think I've gro-" Another rumble forced her to stiffen and close her eyes. Then she went on. "-I've grown a little. A very little."

Dimitri felt the urge to say that she had grown a lot, but then realized that might not be exactly accurate. Erica was once again defending a criminally insane doctor who made Jonathan Kinder look like Gandhi. He decided to stay quiet and brood over this frustrating problem that showed no signs of going away.

"I'm starving," Erica announced.

"I'm famished." Dimitri got up with a groan. He was still hurting from being thrown earlier.and moved towards the kitchen. "Why don't I put something together for us."

Erica raced ahead of him and beat him to the kitchen door. "I don't think so. You made the fire. How on earth can I force you to cook too?"

"You aren't forcing me."

"No, I will make us something to eat," she said.

His mouth dropped open. Quickly, he hid his shock- and fear. Laughing in a good-natured way, Dimitri insisted on pretending she was joking. When she assured him she was not, he truly became scared.

"Don't worry. I won't burn your lodge down. " Erica laughed at his expression. "You're lucky. This is a once in a lifetime event. I don't cook for just anyone."

He followed closely behind her into the kitchen, dreading the mess that would soon materialize. "I'm honored."

Hunting Lodge

Dimitri backed away slowly.

"Just take one bite." Erica held the fried egg sandwich she made, up to his mouth despite his protestations. "Just one."

"I have a better idea," he said. "I'll make something for us both."

She should have been insulted at his unwillingness to eat something she cooked but she could only laugh. "Absolutely not! Since you started the fire, I cooked. It was only fair."

"Fair! I'll never start another fire again. At least not with you around to make me pay for it."

The Count kept backing away and she advanced on him.

"I made these for you once before when we were married. Remember? We got home from a party where the food was horrendous."

He nodded smiling reminiscently as he continued walking backwards. "And you decided to whip something up yourself instead of waking the servants."

"And you loved the egg sandwich I made then- even if you did smother it with ketchup."

"A whole dozen eggs were broken to make it."

"I only sacrificed half that amount this time. That proves I'm getting better."

"Just one bite," she said.

Not seeing where he was going, Dimitri collided with a footstool. In a last ditch effort to stop himself from falling her grabbed hold of her Erica. He fell anyway, but it was with her on top of him.

"Well, that was graceful." Erica laughed.

He couldn't help but laugh too. She was more free spirited than he'd seen her recently. Best of all, not once had she mention Madden.

The lodge's door slammed open and the couple jumped.

Soaked and peeved from the storm outside, Jack, Bianca, and Josh entered the building bringing the cold air with them. There was no shocked pause or moment of silence. All at once, Josh and Bianca expressed their hostile feelings and indignation for his father and her uncle, respectively, while Jack said nothing.

Erica barely had time to acknowledge that they were there before she was forced to defend herself despite the compromising position she found herself in. Mirade of embarrassment engulfed her as she practically had to dismount her ex-husband and face her children. She stood awkwardly in Dimitri's shirt with as much nonchalance as she could summon.

"I was- we were just-" she started.

Josh cut her off. "Yeah, sure. You were 'just.'" He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Explain that to my dad after I tell him you chose screwing around with Dimitri over visiting him."

"She has no obligation to Greg Madden," said Bianca. Erica was thankful for the defense until her daughter came back to chastising her. "But she does have an obligation to her husband. Mom, I can't believe you!" Then she rounded on Dimitri. "Or you! You know she's not in her right-" At her mother's glare she didn't finish the statement, but instead moved to a different course. "I mean, I can't believe you slept with her at a time like this! You took advantage of her!"

The full realization of what they thought dawned on Erica. Quickly, she worked to clear the whole thing up. "Oh, Bianca, Josh, no, it's not like that. We didn't."

Bianca and Josh rolled their eyes in unison. For the first time, Erica saw the family resemblance. Their similarity never stuck her very strongly until that moment when they were reacting to the same indignation with the same feelings and body gestures. It was incredible.

Jackson laughed shacking his head, breaking her train of thought. There was no anger in his eyes, just an exceptional amount of amusement. "Oh, come on. Do you really expect us to believe that? Just think about what we walked in on. We come up to your secluded hideaway and see you straddling him and wearing nothing but his shirt. How can you deny what's going on here? You probably came up here for that very purpose."

Without bothering to reply to her husband, Erica continued defending herself to her two children by explaining the situation. The muddy cloths she wore when the horse threw her were produced as an excuse for their scanty attire. And the fiasco with the horses was related repeatedly as well as her experience cooking and Dimitri's refusal to eat what she made which lead to the position they found them in.

"So, Josh, really you don't have to tell your father about this." The young man looked at her, his coal eyebrows scrunched together, unsure. "It was silly and it would only upset him needlessly. And really we don't need that. He has enough to worry about without-"

"Erica?" Josh said.

"Yes, sweetheart."

Dimitri started at the endearment, as did Jackson. The others seemed to think nothing of it.

"You..." The young man paused. "You...cooked?"