"You honestly have no idea, do you?" Shah-Ku's tone became more agitated, and he began to pace back and forth behind Cady. "You completely ruined my life, and you have no idea why!"

"Why don't you fill me in, then," Micky quietly said.

"I worked at the Club Cassandra a year and a half ago-I displayed my feats of strength to the dinner patrons and made a very nice living doing so, until the owner decided he wanted to change the format from a dinner theatre to a god awful discotheque. He started bringing in rock and roll bands and fired me with no notice and no severance pay." Shah-Ku's pacing grew more frantic as he told the story.

"So what do the Monkees have to do with this?"

"You were the first band the owner hired before firing me!" Shah-Ku yelled. "I had twenty minutes to clean out my dressing room, and as I was leaving I walked past you and your group. You looked at me and said, 'Hey, man, nice dress!', and then you and your friends stood there laughing at me! At me, the great Shah-Ku, Strongest Man on the West Coast! You completely humiliated me, you stole my job from me, and you were oblivious to anyone other than yourself! And that's when I began plotting my revenge."

Micky stared at Shah-Ku. He remembered the incident in question, but Shah-Ku had attempted to rudely shove past them, commenting "Excuse me, ladies." The Monkees had taken offense to his slight, and Micky had retorted with the first comeback that entered his head. He knew, though, that engaging in a debate over who had slighted whom first was not going to do any good at this point, and it certainly wasn't going to free Cady, who was gazing at him out of huge, frightened green eyes.

"I enlisted the aid of Bulk and Brenda to see to your humiliation-Brenda would encourage you to see me in order to build up your strength, and Bulk would be around to constantly remind you of what you were not. Once I could persuade you to hock your drums, it would mean the end of your band, since you wouldn't have enough money to purchase a new set-and your band members would be angry with you for being selfish enough to throw your drums away for a girl. And then after your friends had turned against you, Brenda would 'ditch' you for Bulk, completely destroying your self-esteem, leaving you a broken man, as I was." Shah-Ku's face was lit with glee as he relayed his plan.

Micky felt physically ill in the face of such hatred. How Shah-Ku had managed to twist an innocent misunderstanding into something much more sinister was beyond him. He just prayed that DeLeon was listening and getting the entire thing on tape. "So how does Cady fit into all this?"

"She was on the verge of ruining my plan!" Shah-Ku exclaimed. "She started exercising with you; she convinced you not to fall for Brenda; she was rebuilding your confidence in yourself. I saw it when I visited your home and you ordered me to get out. I knew I had to get her out of the picture, so I sent Bulk and Brenda to kidnap her."

Micky sucked in a deep breath. Brenda had been involved in the kidnapping? His eyes darted to her, and she gave him a slow, seductive smile. It was hard to believe that just days ago he'd been willing to risk everything to win her heart, and now just the sight of her disgusted him.

"You've won, Shah-Ku," Micky said. "I've got the money and the pawn shop receipt showing that I hocked my drums. So now what?"

"So now," Shah-Ku replied, "we carry out my new, revised plan." He grabbed a handful of Cady's long hair and pulled, forcing her head back and exposing her throat. He removed a knife from the sleeve of his robe and held it against Cady's neck.

She blinked back tears as she kept her gaze on Micky, trying not to think about how cold the steel was against her skin, trying not to lose control at the combination of fear, helplessness, and pure, undiluted rage showing itself on Micky's face. Her mind raced, trying to come up with something, anything to free her from Shah-Ku's grip.

"I'm going to slit your little girlfriend's throat," Shah-Ku said, digging the knife into the first layer of Cady's skin. She cried out as a thin line of blood appeared on her neck. "Maybe then you'll understand the amount of suffering I've lived through the last year."

Micky clenched his hands into fists, and his fingernails dug into his palms. "You and your Atlas Club friends don't know the first thing about suffering," he shot back, hoping that Snyder and DeLeon had picked up on the code word.

That was when all hell broke loose.

Cady surprised everyone in the room-including herself-by screaming "NO!!" at the top of her lungs. She planted the soles of her feet firmly on the floor and jerked her head backwards, putting all of her weight into the motion, the chair rocking on two legs. She butted Shah-Ku in the chin, causing him to bite through his lower lip; he let out a wail of pain and stumbled backwards, dropping the knife to the floor in order to clutch his wounded mouth.

Upon hearing Shah-Ku's cry, Bulk hobbled as quickly as he could into the room, the crutches making him appear more cumbersome and clumsy than usual. His eyebrows drew together at the confusing tableau of events before him: Cady trying to rock her weight forward in the chair so that she could stand; Shah-Ku leaning against the wall, his hand to his mouth, blood dripping between his fingers; Micky frozen with shock where he stood; and Brenda, crawling on the floor, trying to reach the knife Shah-Ku had dropped.

"Master, what happened?" Bulk asked.

"Get her," was all Shah-Ku could get out, and he gestured at Cady.

Bulk immediately lumbered over towards Cady, raising one of his crutches towards her threateningly.

Micky's shock dissipated like a wisp of smoke, and he stormed over, jerking the crutch from Bulk's hand and tossing it across the room. "Leave her alone," he said in a low, dangerous tone of voice, one that Cady had never heard from him before. His eyes had darkened and narrowed into angry slits of obsidian, and his jaw was set determinedly as he stared the other man down.

Bulk snickered, leaning precariously on his other crutch. "Oh, yeah? And what are you gonna do about it, you 99-pound weakling?"

Without a word, Micky drew his arm back and punched Bulk in the stomach.

The bigger man looked surprised, doubling over as the breath was knocked out of him. He tried to straighten up in order to fight back, but Micky quickly followed suit with a strong punch to the jaw, knocking Bulk off-balance. Bulk wobbled crazily for a moment, looking like a drunken ballerina, then fell to the floor, his head cracking with a sickening sound.

"That's for kidnapping Cady and chloroforming her," Micky growled, glaring at the unconscious man with uncommon venom.

"Very nice, Micky. But you've got it all wrong."

Micky looked up to find Brenda standing with the knife held to Cady's throat. His eyes widened at the hardened expression on Brenda's pretty face. "Brenda?"

"I'm the one who chloroformed Cady and got her out of the apartment." Brenda laughed, gesturing at Bulk. "That idiot couldn't find his way out of a paper bag. He trashed the living room trying to find her, and then when he tried to grab her, she whacked him with her baseball bat. That's when I snuck up behind her and drugged her-I even had to carry her out, because that moron kept wailing and crying that she'd broken his kneecap."

"He deserved it," Cady muttered.

"I won't argue with you on that point," Brenda agreed. "But unfortunately, I still need to dispose of you for what you've done to Shah-Ku." She cast a fond look back at the injured guru. "He's promised to take care of me, you see."

Micky stared at the blonde, unable to believe what he was seeing or hearing. Beneath her pretty exterior lay an ugly human being, and he found it hard to believe he'd been fooled so completely by her-he, who was normally an excellent judge of character!

"There's only one problem with your plan, Brenda," he calmly said.

"What's that?"

"How you're going to escape once you've killed Cady. You'll have to get past me, and that won't happen."

For a moment, Brenda hesitated, her blue eyes flickering with indecision, and that was all Micky needed. He ran to her and grabbed her wrist, squeezing it so hard that she dropped the knife with a yelp. She stared up at him, a tear dangling from her eyelashes, her lower lip trembling. "Micky…you wouldn't…."

He laughed harshly. "Oh, yes, I would. You made a mistake messing with Cady and an even bigger one messing with me."

Sensing defeat, Brenda jerked her arm from Micky's grasp and made a run for the door-only to be blocked by Snyder and DeLeon.

"What the hell happened in here?" Snyder asked, surveying the room and noticing Shah-Ku leaning against the wall, moaning, and Bulk unconscious on the floor. DeLeon handcuffed Brenda, who was sobbing and claiming innocence.

Micky circled around and dropped to his knees in front of Cady, placing his hand to the side of her face, stroking her cheek, his fingers in her hair. "Are you okay, babe?"

She nodded, unable to speak around the lump rapidly forming in her throat.

"Micky, what happened?" Snyder asked again.

Micky turned to face him momentarily before beginning to untie Cady's ankles. "Let's just say that Cady and I make a hell of a team."

Later, after they'd gone to the station to give their statements and stopped by the beach house to reassure Davy and Peter that they were all right, Cady and Micky were alone at her apartment.

They'd barely gotten into the entryway before Cady closed the door, then shoved Micky up against it, pressing her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Surprised by her boldness, he stared at her for a moment before his hormones kicked in, and he returned the kiss, his hands moving to her waist and pulling her against him.

"I was so scared," he whispered.

"Me too," she whispered back. "I didn't think I was ever going to get to hold you like this again."

"I'm sorry I didn't protect you, babe," he said, tears shining in his eyes.

"You can't help it that you sleep like the dead," she said with a chuckle, running her fingertip along his strong jaw line. "Besides, I broke one of Bulk's kneecaps and caused Shah-Ku to bite right through his lip. I think I did pretty well for myself."

He managed to laugh as well, but it was forced. "I think you did, too. Better than I did."

"Micky." She fixed him with a stern glare. "You stood up to Brenda, and you knocked Bulk's lights out-considering he's got about four inches and about fifty pounds of muscle on you, you did pretty damn good. Plus Snyder told me that you came up with the whole plan to rescue me."

He blushed, not knowing what to say. "I had to do something."

She batted her eyelashes playfully at him. "My hero."

This time his laugh was real, and he stroked her hair. "God, I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you."

"Well, thank goodness you don't have to find out." She took his face in her hands and drew him closer. "I love you, Micky," she solemnly said, dropping the facetious tone she'd adopted to keep from breaking down. The truth was that she'd been terrified that she'd never see Micky again, never get to hold or kiss him, never have the chance to let him discover just how deeply she felt about him. As soon as they'd left Shah-Ku's gym, she'd vowed that she wasn't going to let that chance slip past her again.

His eyes gazed into hers, so warm with love that she would have felt his embrace even if his arms hadn't already been around her. "I love you too, Cady," he said in a husky voice, and then no more words were said as his lips possessed hers once again.

He yanked her t-shirt up, breaking off the kiss momentarily so that he could pull the shirt over her head. She hadn't been wearing a bra, and his hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs slowly stroking her nipples until they were hard and aching. She let out a slight moan against his mouth, and he let his hands move down her torso to the waistband of her shorts.

"Take them off," he murmured.

She quickly slipped the shorts from her hips and stepped out of them, kicking them aside, then doing the same with her panties.

Micky thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful or seductive in his life. Her hair tumbled wildly over her shoulders, and she was staring at him with nothing less than unbridled lust in her smoky eyes.

"Now it's my turn," she softly purred.

She moved in for another kiss, even more potent than the last one, and her hands slipped up beneath his t-shirt, caressing his abdomen. She laughed naughtily when she felt his erection pressing against her, twitching at the contact. Very slowly she removed his shirt, the material lightly grazing his skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake, and she dropped it to the floor. The denim material of his shorts felt rough against her bare skin as she wrapped her arms around him, her body fitting with his like two matching pieces of a puzzle. She nibbled on his earlobe, smiling at the soft sigh he gave, and made her way down his neck to the curve of his shoulder. Her hands slid across the muscles of his back, rubbing, massaging, then moved around his waist to make short work of the rest of his clothing, until he was completely naked too.

"You know what?" she breathed.

"What?"

"I think we could both use a bath."

Fifteen minutes later Cady had filled her tub with warm water and bubble bath while Micky lit her candles and drew the curtains closed, creating their own protective cocoon. He climbed into the tub first, leaning his head against the back of the tub and stretching his legs out with a contented sigh.

"Feel good?" she asked with a giggle.

"Mm-hmm," he said, eyes closed in bliss. "I'll feel even better when you get in here with me." A lecherous grin spread across his face as he held his arms out to her.

Still giggling, she got in and settled herself in front of him, leaning back against his chest with a contented sigh of her own, her hands resting on his thighs. He wrapped his arms around her, and the two of them stayed that way for some time before Micky leaned forward slightly and whispered in her ear, "Want me to wash you?"

A shiver ran up her spine, and she nodded.

He reached out towards the towel rack and grabbed a washcloth, swirling it in the water in front of her before bringing it to her shoulders. He ran the cloth down her arms, stopping to take her wrists in his hands. Her skin there was reddened and chapped from the ropes that had held her prisoner, and he brushed them lightly with his lips, wishing he could erase the marks those fiends had left on her.

She tilted her head back against his shoulder, seeing the sadness in his dark eyes, and pulled his face closer to hers. "We're okay, Mick. Got it?"

He nodded. "Got it," he said before his mouth met hers in another searing kiss.

He dipped the washcloth into the water again and reached his arm around the front of her, trailing the material languidly across her chest. Her pulse increased as he began washing her breasts, cupping and squeezing them. "Mick," she whispered, her hands tightening on his thighs.

"What?" He ran the washcloth down her torso to her stomach with one hand while the other hand caressed her inner thigh, and he marveled at how soft and slick her skin felt in the water.

"Don't….stop……please…" Her breath hitched when his hand rose higher, and he slid two fingers inside of her. Her head fell back against his shoulder, and her body went limp against his as he thrust his fingers in and out of her. His other arm wrapped around her, holding her as steady as he could, though she was slippery in his grasp. Her heartbeat was racing beneath the palm of his hand, and it was then that Micky realized just how fragile life was, how close they had both come to being separated forever. He'd been scared, yes, but focusing on getting Cady back had helped him prevent being frozen by that fear-and not once, until now, had he entertained the notion that he would NOT get her back.

"You're mine," Micky murmured, removing his fingers and moving his hands to her hips.

"Yes," she whispered as he raised her slightly, then lowered her onto him. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective embrace and bent his head to kiss her shoulder as he slowly began to move, the bath water sloshing precariously around them, some of it splashing over the edge.

Neither of them cared. They were too wrapped up in the moment, in each other, in making sure their feelings were fully expressed, so that there was no doubt in each other's minds as to the depth of their love.

Some time later, once their pulses had slowed and the tingling of their bodies had faded to a pleasurable memory, Cady turned so that she could face Micky.

"Stay here with me?"

A smile spread across his face, and he wrapped his arms around her again, kissing her forehead gently. "Always," he murmured.