"Oh Ikey-poos, I can't believe we're really getting married tomorrow!"  Cindy Crawford said dreamily as she looked over the table at her fiancé, Isaac.  The truck they were sitting in went over a speed bump and the table bounced a few inches.  Ike thought that was a little weird, but Hey, he thought, I'm engaged to Cindy Crawford, who cares?

"Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself.  I've been wishing and waiting for so long and now its really going to happen," he replied.  He took her hand and leaned in for a kiss, but then, was that the clock crying?  Isaac tried to turn around to switch off the alarm but something kept him strapped him down in his chair and started to choke him. 

Nearly braining the sleeping Avery with his arm, Isaac was pulled from his little happy place by Zoë's crying.  As he shifted his body around, untangled the seat belt from around his neck, and stretched, he watched as his mother had Zac pull out a bottle of formula for her from the baby bag in the back of the van.  It was just after dawn so most of the large van's passengers were either semi-asleep or on caffeine buzzes, with Isaac, Jessie, Diana, Avery, and Mackenzie of the former and Zac, Taylor, and Walker of the latter.  The Mercury caravan of vans and buses left the highway and neared Heathrow Airport to catch a Concorde flight to New York.  From New York, they would transfer onto a small jet that would take them to Montréal.  Lara had called them in Paris to tell them she would be in Montréal for the week of the 20th of June and to remind them to bring home lots of good souvenirs.  She and her cousins would be going to see them play at Molson Centre.  After Montréal they would go to Toronto, and then three days later, they would begin the US leg of the Albertane Tour in Boston.  The European leg had been a major success, or as Zac had said, Europe was now Albertane-style brainwashed and ready for the man from Milwaukee to take over.  The last couple weeks had been a blast.  Oh sure, they ran into a few problems in Cologne and Paris, but they got out alive and had a good time doing so.  Now Isaac just hoped the same trend would continue.

"Hey Ike," Taylor said, looking up from the window.  "Do you think Katarine is really going to follow us around all summer until you marry her?" he asked.

"I doubt it, at least not in Canada.  The British restraining order on her is still good there, I think.  If I see her in Boston, I guess we'll just file another one," Isaac replied.

"That girl needs to be put in an insane asylum," Jessie turned around and yawned.  "I mean, she broke into our bus at the Cologne concert!  I think that constitutes her as a psychopathic stalker.”

"I think Jessie's right.  And when she got into our hotel room in Paris?  She called to tell you but you didn’t think she’d actually do it then either.  Plus, how'd she get our hotel room and phone number?"  Zac asked.  "All the Mercury employees are under oath not to reveal things like that.  I can think of a total of seven non-Mercury employees who have that information and I don’t think Katarine couldn't possibly know them, they're all in Tulsa.  That girl's a psychopathic stalker all right, but even worse, she's a psychopathic stalker with connections."  He looked at Ike as if to make his point clear.  Ike simply shuddered. 

The van pulled up to a back entrance of Heathrow Airport.  They had arrived at about 6:00 AM to catch an 8:56 AM flight, nearly three hours ahead of time.  Chris Sabec, their manager, had insisted on it, to avoid a riot and make sure everyone's passports, papers, luggage, and tickets were processed in time.  Half a dozen porters and several extra security guards began sorting out the many people, pieces of luggage, and other various things.  Slinging his backpack over his shoulder and grabbing his acoustic guitar case, Ike headed inside the airport.  Following one of the head guards, he walked a bit ahead of the rest of the family and entered a corridor that would take the party nearly all the way to the terminal gate. 

"Ike!  Get your arse over here!"  Taylor hissed in his ear a moment later. 

"Arse?  Have you been listening to Australian internet radio again?"  Isaac asked.

"So what if I have?  It's pretty good music, like TaxiRi-," he started to babble but then caught himself.  "Never mind, come here!  Listen!"  Tay said, pulling Ike over to a door labeled 'Michael Ozorne, Heathrow Executive Officer'.  The pair leaned in to listen, and as Zac passed by, Tay reached out his arm and dragged him over as well.

"You don't understand, Uncle Michael, I HAVE TO GET ON FLIGHT 1670!" a semi-familiar English voice was talking very loudly, even through the door.  Isaac froze.  Wasn't that their flight?  He checked his ticket as the conversation continued. 

"I'm sorry Kat, but I can't get you on that flight!  Not only is it booked solid, but there's also a restraining order against you from one of the flight's passengers!  Do your parents even know where you are?!" a male voice replied.  Yup, they were on flight 1670.

"Boys!  Hurry up, and haven't I taught you not to eavesdrop on other people's conversations?  Come on, we need to be at the gate soon, before a riot starts.  It seems word's gotten out that you're at the airport," Diana scolded her three eldest sons as she bustled by, her arms filled with bags, packages, tickets, and children.

"Yes Mom, we'll be right there," Isaac softly called, looking up.  Zac and Taylor didn't even notice their mother; her words had completely bypassed their brains.  Ike turned his ear back to the door.

"Yeah sure, I called them from the plane from Paris.  Please, Uncle Mich-!"

>"Katarine Elise Jessamyn Alicia DeBanc-Stephenson, listen to me!  I cannot put you on that flight!  But I AM putting you on a commuter to Cambridge first thing tomorrow morning!  You are supposed to be on the manor grounds this time of year!  How did you even get out of there?"  The two voices loudly arguing were still coming from the other side of the door as the boys crept away and caught up with the rear of the large group.

"Oh man, I really really really hope she doesn't somehow sneak onto the plane.  We better let Mom and Dad and Jay know, they can make sure she doesn't get on," Isaac said, starting to worry.

"Wait, lemme try something first.  I bet I can get her to go to Gatwick Airport instead," said Taylor. 

"Five bucks says you can't, you on?"  Zac asked. 

"Sure, wanna make it ten?," Taylor replied.  He pulled out his cell phone and pressed 0, hoping that 0 was internationally recognized as Operator. 

"Hello, operator, how may I help you?" a proper sounding English voice answered him.

"Yes, please, could you find me the telephone number of Michael Ozorne's office at Heathrow?  And could you please make it quick?  It's really quite important," Tay answered the operator in an impeccable British accent.  "011 4824 65 34, yes, I've got that, thank you very much."

"Where'd you learn that accent?"  Zac asked as Taylor ended the conversation and pulled out his black baseball cap.  He motioned for his brothers to do the same as he dialed *69, AKA Anonymous Calling.

"Um, I just picked it up here and there," was the only reply he received, as Taylor waited for Mr. Ozorne to answer his phone. 

“Hello, is this Michael Ozorne?  Yes, I’m Justin Rordake of Polygram UK, a tour co-ordinator for the musical group Hanson's summer tour.  I am calling to inform you that there is a very good chance that Hanson's flight to the States will be changed, and they will not be leaving from Heathrow.  It seems that word has got out to the press and the family fears staring a riot of sorts.  It is almost definite that they will be leaving from Gatwick instead.  My superiors were to call you a half an hour before their intended arrival but I felt that was too short notice.  You should receive official word at approximately 8:15 later this morning.  Yes of course, yes its no problem at all, no, I don’t think so, that should be all, of course, good day.”  Taylor snapped the phone shut and grinned as he put on his hat. 

"Whoa, he actually bought it?"  Zac asked.

"Yes, but hurry up and put on your things, just in case," Taylor whispered.

"Just in case what?"  Ike asked.

"Just in case Katarine decides to come charging down this aisle in her frenzied rush to get out of Heathrow and on her way to Gatwick."  He listened as they walked and heard Michel Ozorne's voice amplify and then a door slamming loudly behind them.  Lucky for them, the footsteps were headed in the other direction.

"Good, she's leaving the way we came in," Taylor allowed himself a smug grin as they entered the airport terminal.  "You owe me ten dollars, Zac.  Pay up!"

"Gosh, do you think we're attracting enough attention?  Thirty people, one huge group, all going to the same gate," Ike said as Zac grudgingly handed a ten-dollar bill to Taylor. 

"Pipe down, keep near the center of the group and hurry up!"  Jason instructed them from behind.  He and a few other crew members had discreetly slowed down until they were behind the boys and provided a barrier between them and the teenybopper-filled world.  The group quickly crossed the fifteen meters between the maintenance door and the relative safety of the Concorde jet.

"Hey, how long do we have until the plane takes off?"  Zac turned around in his seat and asked his dad.

"We're going to be sitting here for at least an hour and a half," Walker answered.

"OK, so can I use the cell phone to go online?" 

"Yeah, sure, but try to keep it short.  Yes, Mercury's paying for it, but remember how Chris went into fits when he saw the last cell phone bill?" his father reminded him.

Laughing, Zac said, "Yeah, that was hilarious!  I'll have to make sure the bill's huge so he does that again."  He pulled out the laptop and hooked it to the tiny phone.  Opening up Netscape Navigator, he logged on and took a look at his mailbox.

Zac started muttering under his breath.  "Let's see, a letter from Manda, save that, forward, delete that, forward, delete that.  How on earth do I get so much junk mail?  This is supposed to be an anonymous address!  Advertisement, delete, note from Rosa, delete, forward, delete, wait, a note from Rosa?"  He quickly fished the email out of his trashcan and opened it. 
(A.N.  All of the following email addresses are FAKE, I repeat, FAKE, as in phony, bogus, false, not real!  Rosa San Gabriel and Lara Prévost don't exist so you can't email them and Zac Hanson will NOT get your email if you send it to handisnax@yahoo.com!  Likewise and etcetera for Taylor and everyone else!)

From: "Rosa San Gabriel" <rosasangaby@hotmail.com>
To: "Zac Hanson" <handisnax@yahoo.com>
Subject: I'm going to Boston!
Date: Tues, 16 June 1998 20:46:35 CST

Dear Zac,
Is your offer for concert tickets still good?  This time it's my dad who's going on the business trip and we'll be in Boston while you are.  Could I possibly get tickets for me, my mom, Juan and David, and my mom's friend's daughter Kate?  Write back when you find out.  We arrive on Tuesday the 24th.  I don't know the number of the house we're staying at yet.  Will you be in Boston by the 24th?  Let me know and I'll page you sometime then so you can get the phone number and we can talk. 
Write back soon,
Rosa
------------------------------
"Be as thou wast wont to be; see as thou wast wont to see."

All right!  Zac thought. 
"Hey, hurry up there, will you?  Other people have accounts to check as well!"  Taylor told Zac.  Quickly, Zac typed out a reply:

From: "ZAC" <handisnax@yahoo.com>
To: "Rosa" <rosasangaby@hotmail.com> 
Subject: Re: I'm going to Boston!
Date: Thurs, 18 Jun 1998 07:13:49 GST

Hi Rosa:
Of course you can get tickets!  Yes, we get into Boston the evening of the 23rd.  You still have my pager number, right?  Page me when you get to your hotel or friend's house or whatever.  Speaking of, is that Kate girl a teenybopper type?  Coz if she isn't, then you could all come backstage after the show.  How old is she?  NEhow, tell me more about her so maybe we can fix her up with Ike:) 

"If you don't hurry up, I'll tell Sleeping Beauty here what you just wrote."

I g/g now.  Tay's getting his panties all in a knot coz I'm taking too long and he wants to check his own mail.  Maybe we could do something together while we're in Boston after the concert or something.  TTYL,
ZAC

He clicked the "Send" button, printed out the note from Manda, logged out of Yahoo!  He closed Netscape and disconnected everything from the laptop.  "Here you go, happy?" he asked as he passed the laptop case over Ike's sprawled-out form to Taylor.

"No, I'm not!  Why'd you disconnect from the Internet?  You knew I wanted to go online!"  Taylor whined.

"Oh shut up, Tay," Zac said, reaching into the overhead bin and pulling out a pillow.  "That's what you get for rushing me," he told Taylor as he settled himself to go to sleep.  Taylor scowled as he reconnected everything and logged into his own email account.  His frown turned into a grin when he saw the messages waiting in his mailbox.  Two were from Leigh-Ann; there was one from Scott and one from Lara.  He opened the ones from Leigh-Ann in another window and printed them out.  Then he opened the message from Scott and scanned it.  It didn't contain anything vital, just friendly chatter and news from Tulsa.  Tay spun out a quick reply with a general update of the Hansons' lives.  Then he opened Lara's email.
 

From: "Lara the Magnifique" <tresmagnifique@yahoo.com>
To: "La belle Taylor" <pianoman74132@yahoo.com>
Subject: See you in Montréal!
Date: Tues, 16 Jun 1998 22:13:49 GMT

Upon seeing the header, Taylor sighed.  She still hadn't changed his entry in her address book.  He'd asked what it meant the first time he saw what she put his name as, and she'd said 'la belle Taylor' meant 'the good looking Taylor'.  It was four months later when the ever-informative Isaac had informed him that the 'e' at the end of 'belle' and the 'la' denoted 'Taylor' as a feminine noun.  It was just Lara's type of humor and she made no secret of it.  He had asked, pleaded, threatened her to change it without prevail and it had become a running joke among them and their friends.

Hi Taylor & Co.!
 I'm already in Québec, when do you arrive?  We are staying with family in a small town about an hour away from Montréal.  My female cousins are absolutely crazy with excitement about the concert, Canadiens are very big Hanson fans.  They seem to think that after the concert [since we're going backstage], they'll instantly charm and eventually go steady with you three.  My cousins are great people, when they’ve not transformed into teenyboppers.  They've already decided who gets to go out with whom.  Zac gets my 13-year old cousin Genevieve, who also wants to date Nick Carter and Justin Timberlake.  Isaac has been paired with Celiné, who is 17, also plays guitar, and would be probably not a bad match for him if she loses the teenybopper-ness.  And of you, Tay, my cousins haven't decided yet because there are two of us who are about 15, Anne-Marie and myself.  I didn't think it would be wise to tell them that that I'm not interested [no offense, you know what I mean] and that you and Leigh-Ann are "not going out".  Word would have spread faster than a rash.  Besides, it was so hilariously pathetic, it seems that the entire town is going to your concert.  Celiné and Genevieve are sitting there with their friends [who are so jealous of my "connections"] planning triple dates!  Anyhow, I'm telling you all this in case you all want to "suddenly develop a headache" after the show, plus I thought you'd find it funny and I haven't anything better to do at the moment than write you.  Either way, we're gonna have a huge party after the Tulsa show so that'll be enough to last the rest of the summer:) Do you know how late can we stay before Mabee officials kick us out?  Bring anything interesting from Europe?  C-ya in a few days,
------------------------------
O Jewel of T-Town,
Exalted One Of Québec,
Envy of the North American Continent, 
the wondrous, fabulous, absolutely stunning 
Lara the Magnifique.
tresmagnifique@yahoo.com

Lara's ever-changing signature and her messages never failed to make Taylor smile.  He pressed the "Reply" button and started typing.

From: "Taylor" <pianoman74132@yahoo.com>
To: "Lara" <tresmagnifique@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: See you in Montréal!
Date: Thurs, 18 Jun 1998 08:32:13 GST

Salut Lara! Look!  I learned a [very] little French in France!  You're a moron, you know that?  How many times have I asked you to change my entry in your address book?  Never mind, for all I know, you've probably kept track.  We got everyone stuff from Europe, but you don't get it until we all meet up in Tulsa with everyone else [mainly coz its already been shipped home and we don't have it with us].  I think we can deal with your cousins without hurting anyone's feelings or causing teenybopper riots.  Chris dragged us to the London airport three hours early so I'm writing this while we're on the Concorde [We’re flying on the CONCORDE!] waiting for it to take off.  We're gonna be at Mabee til at least midnight after the show.  I think that instead of trying to beat the crowd out, we're going to wait it out and party backstage instead.  If they kick us out, we could probably take the whole group back to our house on the tour bus or something.  Speaking of tour bus, that reminds me, someone broke into our tour bus in Germany!  I’ll tell you all about it when we see you.  I g/g now, coz the plane's about to fly.  I sure hope we don't get hijacked by Serbian terrorists!  [Remember that story:)?]
A bientôt,
Le trés bon Taylor!

He logged out of Yahoo!  Mail, but kept the computer on and started playing around with some songs he had saved in Cakewalk.  A few other passengers filed into the airplane, but most of the seats were taken up by the Hanson family and their entourage.  Fortunately, there were only a couple people besides the Hansons that were younger than 25.  Forty-five minutes later, Taylor switched off the laptop and sat back.  “Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high over the clouds,” Taylor started humming as the plane began to rise.

“Shut up Tay, I’m trying to sleep!”  Isaac tried to conk Taylor on the head but was so sleepy he missed.

The rush of adrenaline, the sound of the crowd, his guitar in his hands, this was the life.  This was what he was made for.  As they launched into Gimme Some Lovin'/Shake Your Tailfeather, the Québecois fans went wild.  Isaac could see Lara and her cousins dancing around a couple rows back.  So sad that the cute one his age, what was her name, Celiné? was either A) a total ditz or B) acting like a total ditz.  Maybe she’d improve after the show.

Lara and her cousins Celiné, Anne-Marie, Genevieve, and Emilie entered the large room backstage.  Most of the Hanson family was already lounging in the room.  Lara’s cousins stood nervously in a little bunch near the door while Mackie ran over to Lara and jumped up and down, a signal for Lara to pick him up and swing him around which she did, slightly amazing her cousins.  If their little Lara was this open with the family of Hanson, imagine what could happen when Hanson themselves actually showed up!  They might even get hugs and autographs!

“Hi Lara, girls!  How has your summer been?  The boys will be just a few minutes; they’ve got a couple greet-n-meets before they’re free.  Make yourselves comfortable,” Diana told them. 

“Hi Mrs. Hanson, it’s been great so far.  I’ve spent the past couple weeks at the Prévost complex Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts!”  Lara replied grinning.  “Ouch, hey!  And of course, let me introduce my cousins,” who had been jabbing her back for her to do so for the past minute.  “This is my cousin Celiné Prévost,” she said, pulling forward her oldest cousin, who had short dark hair and brown eyes.  She shook hands with Walker and Diana and waved to the rest of the kids, nearly fainting in the process.  “And meet Genevieve Soler, Emilie, who is Celiné’s sister and I think is about the same age as Avery, and Anne-Marie, who is also Celiné’s sister,” she finished, pulling each one forward by turn.  When she was finished, the older girls sat down on a couple couches while Avery invited Emilie to share her Barbies.

“Any of you want some food?”  Jessie offered from her post by the refrigerator.  “The Molson people keep this place nice and full of junk food and soda and unhealthy stuff.”

“Sure!  Toss over a bag of chips, thanks!  You guys want anything?"

Celiné, who was under normal circumstances the boldest of the Québec quartet, had managed to find some self-control.  “Do you have diet Coke?” she asked Jessie.

“Sure, here,” and a can of diet Coke was passed down the couch.  There was a brief silence so Anne-Marie tried to make some conversation.

“So, um…how was Europe?” she asked Mrs. Hanson.

“It was fantastic!” panted a voice from the door.  Isaac entered the room with Taylor and Zac at his heels.  “It’s a jungle out there!” gasped Taylor.

“Sorry we took so long, the girls wouldn’t leave and we had to have Jason pry them out of the room,” Zac explained.

Lara, still holding Mackenzie, walked over and gave a general hug to the mass of blond hair standing by the door panting.  "You really should have a teenybopper screening test that the audience has to pass before they can enter the venue.  We were in the fourth row and we could barely see you half the time because some ditz had a 'Marry Me Taylor!' sign a row in front of us.  Anyhow, you shouldn't have to worry about that now, I swore to my cousins that I would get Jason to throw them out if they started getting pathetic.  Speaking of," she said, "meet my cousins."  She waved her cousins, who were nearing hyperventilation, over and introduced each of them to Isaac, Taylor, and Zac.  The group heard a loud ‘thump’ and Genevieve Prévost was on the floor in a faint.

“Hey everyone, Lara, Dad, she’s waking up!  How many fingers am I holding up?”  A slightly familiar male voice was talking to Genevieve.  She struggled to stop the room from spinning and concentrated on counting fingers for a moment.

“Um, three?” she answered.  “Who are you?  Where am I?  Why did I fain - oh boy, I think I’m gonna pass out again.  Am I hallucinating or are you Zac Hanson?”

“Nope, you’re not hallucinating, I’m Zac Hanson, but if you start screaming, I’ll knock you out myself.  Hey!”  Zac cried out, as Walker clapped his hand over Zac’s mouth and drew him off to one side.  Zac got up and sat down.

“Do you feel alright?  Do you want something to drink?  Come on, get up and sit down over here,” Walker told her. 

“Here, have a soda.”  Taylor passed a can of Sprite to Genevieve.  She took a better look around.  Celiné had calmed down and was working with Ike over a pair of guitars in a corner of the room.  Zac and Taylor were sitting on the next couch over and had settled into conversation with Lara and Anne-Marie. 

Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I fainted at Zachary Hanson!  He must think I’m such an idiot!  I can’t ever show my face to the world again!  she lamented in her mind.  Her sentiments showed on her face.

Hehe, I bet she’s thinking what a moron she is for fainting.  Maybe she is, but maybe she isn’t.  I guess there’s one way to find out, Zac thought, as he watched Lara’s cousin from the corner of his eye.  “Hey, um, Genevieve, isn’t it?  Why don’tcha sit over here?” he turned and asked her.

“Um, oh boy, uh, OK.”  She nervously went over and sat down.  “You know, um, I don’t usually faint when I meet new people.  It’s just that, well-“

“Don’t worry, I totally understand.  Besides, fainting is not a big thing,” said Zac.

“Oh yeah, trust me, one time this girl who lives near us just walked up while a bunch of us were out eating and tried to make out with me…” said Taylor as he related the story of Krissa Storney, with some parts exaggerated, to make Genevieve feel better.

Ok, maybe they don’t think I’m a total loser.  Maybe I still have the slightest chance with Zac! Genevieve thought as she inched just the slightest bit closer to Zac

OK, she’s moving closer, thought Zac.  “I’m getting a soda, anyone want anything?” he asked.

Phooey, not interested, huh? she shot a look at Zac as he got up.

Sorry, nope, his face told her as he pulled a Dr. Pepper from the mini-fridge.

Wow, that was weird, she thought as she scooted over to make more room on the couch.

“So she broke into the tour bus and managed to hide in one of the bunks for two hours before you found out?  That’s amazing!”  Anne-Marie exclaimed.  The two groups had converged into one and were discussing the Katarine situation.

“No kidding, we’re driving in the German countryside and we’re all sitting in the living quarters part of the bus.  Ike gets up to get some food, and suddenly this freaky girl with black hair sticks her head out from a bottom bunk and grabs him.  He screamed so loud Brendan, you know, the driver, hit the brakes and everything went flying.  They took over an hour to search both buses and most of the vans and cars.  We ended up shifting people so that she rode in a car with Chris S. and Brendan all the way to the Berlin police station,” Taylor said.  “You know, I’m not sure who I felt more sorry for, Brendan and Chris, or Katarine!”

“Oh man, the next part was pretty cool, except for the puking bit.  See, to make up for the lost time, Jay drove and we changed the route to go onto the Autobahn!  He put us going Mach 5!  We nearly lost the other bus twice.  Mom and Jessie both puked.  It wasn’t a pretty thing.”

“Was she pretty?”  Genevieve asked.

“Oh yeah, she was drop dead gorgeous.  Long black hair, almost as tall as Ike, and big green eyes, pretty face,” Zac told her.  Genevieve thought of her short blonde hair, brown eyes and sighed to herself.  If that was Zac’s idea of gorgeous, she’d never have a chance!

“So what did you do with her?”  Celiné asked.

“Well, so far, we’ve filed a German restraining order, a French restraining order and a British restraining order on her.  I think the British one is still good here, since we’re still in the British Commonwealth.  I guess we’ll file another one if she tries to bother us in Boston.  I don’t think there’s much else we can do,” Ike explained.  Just then, Diana and a man Taylor recognized as Lara’s dad walked up to the sofas where the group was sitting. 

“Girls, its time to go.  It’s late and you need to be up early tomorrow too, remember?  We’re all going to your Aunt Christine’s house and it’s a three-hour drive from Uncle Greg’s.  Is ten minutes enough for you to say goodbye?” asked Christophe Prévost.

Yawning, Celiné replied, “Fifteen please, Uncle Christophe.”  He nodded and she turned back to the circle of new friends.  “Shall we exchange contact information?"

“Yeah, of course, lemme get some paper and a pen,” Isaac said, rummaging in a bag.  He pulled out a small notepad and continued to search for a pen until Anne-Marie shoved a handful of brightly colored Gelly Roll pens in his face.  “Oh, great!  Thanks.”  The group spent a full five minutes scribbling down each other’s postal addresses, pager numbers, private email addresses, phone numbers, and etc. 

“Want any food for the road?  It’s a couple hours to get to your home from Montréal, isn’t it?”  Taylor offered.  He piled a couple bags of chips and other snacks and two six-packs of soda in Lara’s arms. 

“Come on, time to go!  Surely you can talk to them online later?” Christophe urged.

“Yes, yes, Papa, we’re going!  Bye guys, see you back in Tulsa!” said Lara.  “Hugs all around!”  As the girls and Lara’s father left the room, Celiné remembered something she promised herself she’d do if she ever met Isaac Hanson.  

"Wait a moment, guys!" she said.  Turning around for one quick moment, she planted a big kiss full on Ike’s lips, then said “Talk to you sometime!” and left. 

“Ikey’s got a girlfriend!  Ikey’s got a girlfriend!”  The entire family had watched and now Avery was teaching Mackenzie the fine art of humiliating older brothers.

Half an hour later, the Hansons left the room.  Exactly two minutes later, a tall girl with black hair slipped out of the room and down the hallway.  Had anyone been present, they would have heard her softly repeating, “Celiné Prévost will pay.  Isaac is mine!”

Anne-Marie put down her book and answered the phone that was ringing on her nightstand, “Hello?”

“Listen now and listen carefully.  I have Celiné,” the voice on the other end said.  It was a girl’s voice and had a slight British accent to it.  Anne-Marie woke up immediately.

“What?!  Who are you?  What do you mean?” exclaimed Anne-Marie.  She immediately jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to Celiné’s room to check.  The window was open and Celiné was nowhere in sight.  Anne-Marie ran downstairs to the family room where her parents were watching television and turned on the speakerphone.  She motioned for them to stay quiet.

“Haha, you heard me, I have Celiné.”  At this, Mrs. Prévost let out a loud gasp.  Anne-Marie quickly put her hand over her mother’s mouth.  “I am Katarine and I am meant for Isaac, not your pathetic sister.  I won’t hurt her too badly,” the girl said,  “since she’s my key to Ike, but she will pay.  Isaac is mine!  Call your cousin and have her tell my Isaac to send his phone number to lavendarhanson@juno.com.  That’s ‘lavendar’ spelled L-A-V-E-N-D-A-R, better write that down.  And I might mention that you can’t trace that email address.  I will call him, and Isaac and myself will work something out for your sister,” the voice said.  “That is all, good-“

“Wait!  How do I know you have Celiné?  For all I know, you could be bluff-” 

“Anne-Marie, she is NOT bluffing!”  Celiné’s voice drifted through the phone handset.

“Celiné!!  Are you OK?  Did she hurt you?”  Her mother could not keep quiet any longer.  “If she even bruises your toe I’ll kill her!”  The sounds of Celiné grew softer and Katarine’s voice continued.

“I haven’t touched a hair on her head, yet.  Whether that will change depends on Isaac.  He is mine, but I am his, as well,” she said.

“Tay!  I need to talk to Ike!”  A semi-familiar voice blared in Taylor’s ear.  He glanced at the nightstand clock.  It read 1:14 AM.  “Get Ike on the phone now!”

“Lara?  Is that you?  Lara, why are you calling at one o’clock in the freaking morning?”

“I just got home fifteen minutes ago, and I need to talk to Ike!”

“Ok, OK!  I surrender, hang on!  Don’t blame me if he bites your head off for waking him up though,” Tay informed her.  He got out of bed and padded across the Boston hotel suite into Ike’s room.  He picked up the phone next to Ike’s bed and told Lara, “Count slowly to three and then yell him name.”  He placed the phone next to Ike’s ear.

“AHHH!”  Ike sat up straight in bed and glared first at the offending telephone, then at Taylor.

“Here, take the phone, it’s Lara and apparently its really really really important,” Taylor said, thrusting the phone into Ike’s hands.  “See ya!”

“But what?”  Ike sputtered at Taylor’s back.  “Lara?  Why are you calling at this hour?  I'm practically hyperventilati- what!?”

“You heard me right.  Katarine’s kidnapped Celiné.”