Bad Girl, Bad Boy...Could Only Mean Trouble

He claimed to have found her in a house on the outskirts of town. Evan told how Laurie had called him and told him how they had been jumped outside Toni's house, how she had been knocked out and when she came to, Toni was gone. Everyone was amazed to hear how he had saved Toni from the drug dealers who had been holding her captive.

Aparrently there was some connection to Clark. The story was that he owed them money and when he didn't pay, they went after someone they thought was important to him. The story was all over the news, Evan and Laurie at the front with Toni in between them, not saying a word. Charlie watched the television almost religiously to see if anything else was revealed.

Andrue had nothing to say after getting Toni home, but Nathan questioned his brother's story thoroughly. They both asked Toni what happened while she was gone, but she wouldn't say a word to anyone. As soon as they walked in the door, she walked away from them all, going up to her room and locking the door behind her.

Evan stayed at the invitation of Charlie while Andrue thought about his sister, trying to figure what must have happened.

~*~*~flashback~*~*~

"Where...you mean... you're shop?" Toni asked surprised.

"Very good. Too bad you won't be here long." Clark laughed.

Toni looked at him shocked, not quiet understanding his meaning. She watched as Laurie grinned and walked up to Clark, kissing him. She gagged at the sight and turned away so she wouldn't have to watch. Evan scoffed and walked over to her, hauling her up off the bed. He walked past the odd couple and up the stairs, all the while dragging Toni behind him.

When they walked into the bright lights of the back room, Toni saw the same three men from ealier standing around. Evan threw her at them, muttering something she couldn't catch, and then turned to walk back down into the basement. Toni fell against one of the muscle heads who had held her when the leader had been examining her the last time they were here.

He grabbed her and caught her hands behind her before binding them with a piece of rope. She tried to struggle but the grip he had one her arms was enough to make her eyes tear up. Once her arms were bond together, they walked her out to a car and blindfolded her before shoving her in the car and driving off.

The next thing Toni remebered was a sharp sting in her arm before everything went darker than it had been before. She had brief glimpses of the men and the area around them, and was concious for some of the things they had done to her, but had blocked those from her mind. The next clearest memory she had was Evan bursting into the room with the police following him. Then had come the T.V. crews, her bother, the interviews. It had all gone by in a blur, and next thing she knew Andrue was helping her out of the car.

~*~*~end flashback~*~*~

She heard a knock on her door and looked up from the spot on the floor that she had been staring at. She didn't say anything, but the knocker opened the door anyways, and Evan walked in. Toni stared at him as he walked across the room, slowly backing up as he got closer to her. She remebered the time under his shop well enough and knew that anything he had to say to her was probably not anything good.

He sat on the foot of the bed and watched her as she glared at him. She made no move to get nearer to him and he didn't move towards her. Finally, he spoke to her.

"I don't know how much you remember, but you say anything to anyone, and what those men did to you will be child's play." He told her quietly.

"I remember enough of it. And I don't think you'd do anything, not with the prospect of losing your shop, of losing everything." She growled.

"The only person who at risk of losing anything is Andrue." Evan told her, eyeing her meaningfully.

"What-" Toni stop talking as her mind processed what he had said.

Her eyes widened at the realization of what he was saying and she quickly called for her brother. She could hear him running up the stairs as Evan stared at her. When he stood in her doorway, she asked him to kick Evan out and make sure he never came back to the house. He stared at her before walking up to Evan and telling that it would be better if he left.

Evan didn't say anything, just stood and walked out of the room. Andrue watched him leave before turning and looking at Toni questioningly. She shook her head but Andrue was continued to stare at her. Sighing, she gave up on trying to getting him to leave and lay back on her bed. She felt the bed shift as he sat beside her, but neither of them said anything.

She knew that he was wondering about what had happened to her, but she also knew that he wouldn't push her for details she wouldn't readily give. She didn't know whether she wanted him to know any of it, especially with Evan's warning. Toni didn't know how much to trust Evan, but she really didn't want to push anything.

She turned and looked at her brother, who had layed down beside her. Andrue had been staring up at the ceiling, but turned to look at her when he felt her turn over. She didn't say anything, just watched him. He was worried about her, especially that the first words she had said had been the ones sending Evan out of her room. He didn't know what to make of the new Toni.

He could see the same fiery spark in her eyes from the beggining of the year, but could also see something behind it that in any other person he would have taken for fear. Finally he reached over and pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. They were still laying like that when Charlie walked in with Nathan a few minutes later.

"Well, I expected some hugging, but not between you two. My turn!" She exclaimed, pulling Andrue away from Toni and unceremoniously shoving him off of the bed.

"Now, wait a minute..." Andrue started to protest, but thought better of it after Charlie looked at him.

He stood and went to stand by Nathan while Charlie engulfed his sister in a bone-crunching hug. He could hear Toni giggling at the way Charlie had pulled him away and smiled to himself. He turned and looked at Nathan, who was watching the two girls with a weird look on his face. Finally the two let go of eachother, and Toni sat up to look at the guys.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, shocked when she saw Nathan.

"I was helping your brother look for you. But now that you're found, I guess I'll leave." Nathan said with a shrug.

"Wait. Your brother...how could is he on keeping promises?" Toni asked hesitantly.

"He never fails to follow through. Why?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Toni was quiet for a minute before answering. "Andrue, Charlie. Why don't you two go find something to eat...please? I need to talk to Nathan about something."

She knew that her brother and Charlie would be suspicious, but she needed to tell him to see if he could gauge how well Evan might keep this promise. She shook her head at Andrue's questioning gaze, and let out a sigh of relief when they finally left. She didn't say anything to Nathan, just motioned for him to shut the door while she tried to compose her thoughts.

She didn't notice when he walked farther into the room and sat at her computer desk. When he cleared his throat, she looked up at him startled.

"Right...your brother threatened me. Or actually he threatened Andrue through me." Toni stated.

"Wha-why?" Nathan asked, furrowing his brow.

Toni sighed and tried to think how much she might regret this later before telling Nathan everything that had happened in the past couple of days.