Author's Notes: Guess who discovered he had several more chapters of this unfinished story he never posted?

2 Days Earlier- Hotel

"Sir, are you sure this is wise?" Carson, head of housekeeping, asked Mr. Whitherby. "I mean… don't you think it is a little confusing to remove all the room numbers from the doors?"

"Except we aren't," Mr. Whitherby with a dismissive sniff. "The tacky golden plates and black numbers nailed onto doors are the practice of road side motels where the roaches outnumber the clients and washing sheets entails beating them on rocks next to some muddy creek. We at the Holiday Inn-"

"Express," Carson muttered.

"-Holiday Inn are a higher breed of hotel. I want people to mention us in the same breath as the Ritz of Paris or London. We will be the envy of the southwest hotel business and to do that we must present the most dignified of experiences. Thus, rather than having our room numbers placed on the doors like makeup slathered on a whore, I have had them carefully etched onto each door lock."

"…where?" Carson said.

"Why, right there!" Whitherby pointed to a tiny little number, barely the size of a baby's fingernail, that was right under the doorknob, visible only if one got on their hands and knees and looked up. "It is perfect! A true mastery of elegancy and class!"

"It sure is," Carson said before whispering under his breath, "ya friggin' idiot."

Present day, Nightime- Hotel

"Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!"

Tommy groaned, slowly rising up out of bed. It had been a fool's hope that Louie would be able to sleep through the night; whenever they checked into a hotel it always took him a day to settle in. "I'll get him."

"I'm already up, I'll get him," Kimi said, already sliding out from under the sheet and moving towards Louie's crib. "Jet lag is screwing me up bad, I need to walk around anyway. I'll go mad if I just lie here."

Tommy let out a yawn. "You…sure?"

Kimi nodded, checking Louie over. "He's not wet, so I think he just wants a bottle. I'll walk around the lobby for a few and then come back. You know how he likes that." While some babies fell asleep riding in cars or in rocky chairs Louie drifted to sleep when he was taken for a walk. Kimi figured it had to do with her and Tommy's lifestyle; up until the last month of her pregnancy Kimi had remained rather active. She didn't go on as many adventures as Tommy or Dil did but she refused to just sit in a hotel room or on a plane or their boat bloating up like a cow. She'd gotten into walking routines and toured any place she could find that would let her safely walk around. Thus when Louie had been born she and Tommy had quickly discovered that the fastest way to lull him back to sleep was to take a short jog, even if it was in a hotel's lobby. The lights never bothered him and one time Tommy had ended up chatting with some rowdy Korean businessmen and Louie had slept through it all, waking only when his diaper needed changing.

"Mmm… I could come with," Tommy said, struggling to get up.

Kimi let out a love-filled sigh and just walked up, patting his head. "Go back to sleep." She reached down and grabbed one of Louie's Reptar dolls, putting it in Tommy's arms. Her husband let out a baby-like coo and promptly fell back to sleep, leaving Kimi to rock the still fussing Louie as she snagged a bottle from their minifridge and then Louie's diaper bag. "Come on, sweetheart, let's walk." Grabbing her room key, Kimi stepped out into the hall, shifting to balance the bottle and Louie before heading towards the stairs, not noticing she'd left the door open a crack. She entered the stairwell just as the elevator pinged.

"Daddy, I am concerned," Melinda said with a yawn, rubbing her little head against his shoulder as he made his way out of the elevator and unlocked the door of their hotel room. "As you and mommy's personal psycho-ologist, I feel I musts inform you that mommy has a mental pwoblem that is turning her back into a baby. She dwank too much from her bottle, she spit up in the car, fogoted how to talks, and I walk bedder than her! The only solution is to-yawn- give me all her cookies, as cookies are for babies." Melinda smacked her little lips together, little fingers grabbing onto her daddy's shirt, eyes fluttering shut. "Katrina will w'ite up the pourskipon."

"Shhh, go back to sleep sweetie," Chuck said, rocking his daughter gently as he walked over to her crib. They hadn't planned to stay up so late but Charlotte and Drew had gotten so excited seeing them that they'd ending up staying at the pizza parlor until closing time, with the adults taking turns gently rocking the tuckered out one year old while the others chatted. Melinda, for her part, had been very well behaved, only getting fussy once when she needed a diaper change but otherwise falling to sleep right in the middle of supper, allowing Chuck and Angelica to chat with Charlotte and Drew as long as they wanted. They'd promised to get with them the next day to figure out a more concrete schedule and the happy grandparents had left discussing what they wanted to do with their grandbaby. "You were a perfect angel, sweetheart." Chuck decided to just leave Melinda in her little shirt and diaper, only removing her booties as he knew she'd kick them off in the middle of the night. While not as bad as Tommy from what Didi said, Melinda didn't like anything on her feet when she slept and would always manage to remove any garments; Chuck had more often found her socks in her mouth than on her feet. "Well, she's out for the night, so I think… Angelica?" Chuck turned and, seeing that his wife was not behind him, sighed and walked back out the door, making sure to prop it open so he didn't get locked out. "Angelica?"

"Hey Chuck!" Angelica slurred, a dopey grin on her face. She was sitting half in the elevator, her shoes already kicked off as she looked about through half-lidded eyes. "Remind… remind me to complain to Susie… this hotel room is really small."

"That's the elevator," Chuck said, helping her up. "The only thing that is small is your tolerance to alcohol."

"Whaaaaaa?" Angelica said in confusion as Chuck helped her inside, flipping on the doorway light so not to wake Melinda but also give him enough light to see what he was doing. "I can drink anyone under the –hic-table."

"And you and your mom proved that," Chuck said, shaking his head. He'd never been much of a drinker; he'd share a bottle of wine with Angelica after work occasionally but that was it. That was how they first began their relationship, sharing friendly drinks in Angelica's office, then each other's apartment, and finally one night in bed after they'd let go and finally made love after months of dancing around the subject. His father and him would share a beer and he had even done a keg stand back in college (he hadn't liked it if only because it made the blood rush to his head and made him even more redfaced). But he didn't like pounding them down and while Angelica usually controlled herself when Charlotte and her got talking they would forget themselves and one small drink became a couple of bottles each.

"Mmhmm," Angelica said as Chuck set her on the bed before going back to shut the door, placing her purse on the table and muting both their phones. "Tonight was nice."

"Very nice," Chuck said, unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it in the mesh landry bag he'd unpacked before they left. He went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, making a mental note to find out where the nearest Laundromat was. He knew his mom and dad would have no problem letting him use their washing machine but that didn't feel right; he was a grown man with a family, not a college kid coming home for the weekend. "Hopefully tomorrow we can find Tommy and his clan and get our schedules in order. Your dad wants to take us guys and Stu golfing and I know your mom would love a spa trip…" He trailed off, hearing Angelica moving about the room, and figured she was getting under the covers and going to sleep. She'd be annoyed that she'd slept in her clothes but he didn't want to try and change her into her pajamas if both her and Melinda were out for the night. Instead he finished brushing his teeth and slipped off his jeans, grabbing his silk sleeping pants and sliding them on before walking back into the main part of the room.

He stopped, staring at the bed. Angelica hadn't gone to sleep.

Chuck had never talked to his friends about what his wife was like when she got really drunk. He knew that Tommy, Phil, Lil, and the rest of his friends assumed she was a mean drunk, the alcohol reverting her back to how she'd been when she was a 3 year old. He didn't do anything to dissuade this idea, though he regretted that as he knew how much Angelica disliked being seen in the same light as her younger, more selfish self. But his only other option was telling the truth and there was simply no way he could do that. How would that play over with his friends, especially Tommy and Dil?

"Hey guys, Angelica gets super frisky when she's drunk!"

Case in point: Angelica had stripped off her jeans and shirt, leaving her in her black bra and blue little panties. She was reclining on the bed, one leg hitched up, the other slowly running up and down his leg as she stared at him with smoky eyes.

"Heeeeey," she cooed.

"Angelica… Melinda is here," Chuck whispered.

"She's on the other side of the room," Angelica said with a saucy grin. Her big toe rose up and up, circling around just what she was after. "She won't even know. She's been sleeping through the entire night…a freight train could go by and she'd sleep through it." Her tongue poked out of her mouth, ever so carefully wetting her lips. Chuck swallowed, remembering just what that tongue could do. "Even if she does wake up, she's too little to understand… you know that."

"Ang…." Chuck grit his teeth, pulling away from her. His wife pouted as he walked over to Melinda's crib… and pushed it to the farthest corner of the room, making sure the tv blocked her view before he walked back to bed, casually allowing his sleep pants to pool down to his feet. "Damn you, woman."

"Heeheehee," Angelica giggled in victory as Chuck climbed on top of her.

~MC~MC~MC~

"…so was the guy at least attractive?" Phil asked.

"Shut up," Langdon grunted, nursing his beer. He and the guy he hoped would one day be his brother-in-law had both come down to the hotel bar on their own, finding themselves unable to sleep. Working for the FBI meant weird hours and sadly criminals tended to work outside the standard 9 to 5. On the plus side they didn't mind their schedules and were naturally nightowls anyway. On the negative when they were on vacation and expected to meet up with friends and family for breakfast that meant getting onto a sleep schedule… even if they were too wound up to do so. Thus the two friends had gone down for a nightcap, hoping a bit of Jack's medicine would help them drift to sleep.

The ribbing by Phil had not been planned on Langdon's part.

"I'm imagining someone tall and strong who'd cradle you in his big strong arms and with bigger boobs than Lil."

"Did you just talk about your sister's boobs?" Langdon asked, face screwed up in disgust.

Phil sipped his beer, shrugging. "What? Not like I said I wanted to shove my face in'em."

"Geez!" Langdon said with a groan.

"So… bigger than Lil's?"

"No, you pervert," Langdon snapped. "He was a bit thinner than me with red haired."

"Oooo… Langdon got a fire crotch!"

The Prosecutor just glared at him from the corning of his eyes. "What are you, three?"

"No, I think I'm drunk," Phil said, giving Langdon a mock toast. "What I don't get is why you panicked. You're not homophobic, are ya?"

"You do remember meeting my dads, right?"

"Maybe you are self-hating? Is that right? Doesn't sound right. This is good beer."

"My problem isn't he was gay, it was he was trying to sleep with me in the middle of the arcade."

"So? Be flattered!" Phil said. "A hot gay guy wanted to get with you. Take it as a compliment."

"Would you?" Langdon snorted.

"Well, I did with Marco," Phil said.

"…what?"

Phil stared at Langdon. "You never experimented in college?"

"No!"

"Oh… your loss. Luckily Lil is man enough for you."

"Phil, I know the court system… I could kill you now and no jury would convict me."

"Would test my theory that I'm immortal," Phil said, tossing a few bucks onto the counter. The bartender had left about 10 minutes ago to take a leak seeing as no one else was drinking at the moment, the two of them assuring him they'd be alright. Satisfied with the tip Phil grabbed Langdon's arm, hauling him to his feet. "Come on, grumpy, I think the ol' Nite Nite Medicine is kicking in." He and Langdon shuffled to the elevator, hitting the down button and waiting… and waiting… and waiting. "What the hell?"

"Stuck on our floor," Langdon said, nodding at the level light. "Want to take the stairs?"

"Nah, there is another one down the here a bit. Come on."

The two of them turned, just missing Kimi as she exited the stairwell, Louie gurgling as he sucked on his bottle.

"That's my guy," Kimi cooed, walking aimlessly through the lobby. While some would have felt subconscious stumbling about in the middle of the night in their pajames and slippers those people had never had children; babies quite quickly ripped away one's sense of public embarrassment. One time walking through the water gardens at Claude Monet's house with spit up on your shirt and a lollypop stuck in your hair ensured that the stares of others never phased you. Kimi walked into the bar, figuring she could catch the news on CNN, but found the place deserted. "Huh… I thought they were always open…" Shrugging, she walked over to the counter and spotted a few crumbled fives. She glanced about before, with a shrug, she pocketed the change. "They say money found is a message from God that you are doing something right, Louie."

"Blublublu," Louie murmured around the nipple of his bottle. His eyelids were beginning to get heavy and Kimi knew in a few minutes he'd be fast asleep. Ambling out of the bar, missing the bartender who returned to find everyone gone and grumbling about cheapskates, she walked down another hallway, past the darkened pool, and into the neon glow of the arcade. "Oooh. Is tis Los Babyus?"he cooed. "Put it on b'ack!"

Kimi's eyes caught one particular game and she smirked as she walked over, a chuckle bubbling up as she sat down on the red spinning stool that was attached to the game. "Reptar's Spin-n-Win", she read, running her hand along the game's casing, a smile not-unlike one would have when meeting a long lost friend gracing her lips. When she'd been interning in New York at Pout, before they'd made her their traveling fashion columnist/buyer, she'd gone out every Friday night with the other interns and some of the staff to an Adults-Only fun center. It was like Chuck E. Cheese but with booze and rock music, filled with games for one to blow their paycheck on. Kimi had become VERY good at the prize games, like the Crane Game, Train Stop, and Block Tower; she'd managed one month to pay her rent purely from pawning all the Ipods she'd won from a Wire Cut game. Traveling with Tommy and Dil and their crew hadn't caused her to get rusty at all, as the boys loved those kinds of arcades as much as Kimi did and they'd always managed to find one to goof around in after a long week of shooting. It was a good thing they always waited until the end of their visits before hitting the arcades and fun centers, as Kimi usually ended up banned after she cleaned them out (or after Tommy broke their skeeball games… the man was a nightmare when it came to those things!).

The Reptar Spin-N-Win was a variation on the standard spinning light game. There was a large circle inside the glass box lined with little Christmas-like lightbulbs. The player had to time the spinning just right so that the light (which was on a pesky delay) would stop on one of five 'prize spots'. The two farthest ones were the biggest spots and gave the lamest prizes, the middle two gave okay prizes… and the middle one was the jackpot.

This game had its own variations. The prize spots were Reptar's foes, like Dactar and Cybereptar, with Queen Sodama as the jackpot spot. The cheap prizes were stickers and bouncy balls but the grand prizes were a collection of Beanie Baby-like Reptar dolls that would be awarded at random.

Kimi grinned when she realized the game was stocked with last year's Reptar Show merchandise… namely the Reptar and Friends show. It had been geared for little ones and had Reptar living in the jungle with his family, having 'playful disagreements' with his 'enemies' who were now his neighbors. Stuff for babies.

Tommy, of course, had watched the entire series with Brian and then her while she was pregnant with Louie (claiming that whenever the baby kicked he was imitating Reptar's Dino Strike Kick) and had enjoyed the show save for one aspect…

Reptar Sr.

The show claimed that whenever Reptar had been shown being bad and hurting people that was really Reptar Sr., the oldest of the Reptar family. Reptar Jr. was the heroic Reptar and he had a son Lil Reptar, who would one day take on his duties of protecting the world. Tommy had loathed Reptar Sr., seeing him as a stereotypical old man there only for comic relief; he had a silly looking white moustache and thick glasses and a cane and would complain about 'you dang kids not knowin' what it was like back in my day!' only to fall asleep midrant. Tommy had groused that no Reptar would act like that and had actually begun heckling the show, acting like the characters could hear him.

And there, sitting in the Jackpot Prize tube, was a Reptar Sr. beanie, complete with cane.

Kimi had to win it. And then wave it in her husband's face.

Pulling out one of the crumpled fives she'd found she fed it to the machine, grinning as Reptar's roar bellowed about her and lights flashed. Louie, who had been around Reptar toys since he was a newborn, merely yawned and closed his eyes, drifting to sleep in his mommy's arms as Kimi watched the lights spin.

It took only 3 rounds for her to figure out the pattern and on her fourth she slammed the STOP button, Queen Sodoma bellowing.

"Grrr! Reptar crush all!" the game stated as the jackpot tube spun…

…and spat out a Reptar Jr. beanie.

Kimi chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment before stuffing the toy in Louie's diaper bag. She hit the GO button, waited for the light to spin around three times before slapping the button, the roar filling the air once more before another beanie dropped…

"Reptaretta," Kimi said flatly, looking at the blue Reptar with a blonde wig on her head. "Alright machine, you want to play… let's play!"