Chapter One Hundred and Twenty One: The Attempt

 “What is going on at
the hospital?!” Belle whined under her breath as she filled out the
forms that Judith should have been filling out. “I wish they'd tell
me something other than 'WE DON'T KNOW WILL YOU STOP TEXTING'
already!”

You see, in order to
stop Demon from putting a asterisk next to Judith Jofrey's
counsellorship, Belle was doing her best to do both her own job and
Judiths. This meant that she couldn't be at the hospital with her
friends, which (along with being extremely overworked) meant she was
rather testy.

“I see your friend is
trying to get a Chamber of Commerce together.” She heard a slimy
voice behind her.

“You might be my boss
but if you don't sod off and let me not only do my job but everyone
elses job I will end you right here and now!” Belle snapped. Demon
Jones wisely backed off. Angry Belle was not a pretty sight!

She carefully finished
off the form she was filling out, stamped it with Judiths seal, and
put it in the official envelope. She then put it carefully in the
correct tray (all trays were stacked sky high) so that it would be
ready to be picked up with the mail run the next morning. Suddenly
her phone buzzed.

She bolted from Judiths
office, leapt over Merediths desk, slid under Theodores desk, rolled
past Hamish, pushed Undines chair out of the way and just got to her
phone as the message notification sound finished playing.

“Having casserole for
dinner tonight, Bill is bringing this weeks girlfriend over.” Was
the text from her father.

The wail of agony could
be heard several blocks away.

—

Sammy lifted up his
head as Daniel walked out of the hospital room. As much as he wanted
to swarm his hero and find out if Judith was okay, he didn't.
Something had changed since Sir Lionheart had rejoined the Knights of
the Last Order.

And it didn't escape
his notice that Charlie didn't swarm Daniel either.

“What's going on? Is
Judith okay? Is the baby okay?” Tammy asked.

“Judith and the baby
are fine for now. They think it was a false labour or something like
that. 'Tuney is looking after her now.” Daniel sat down next to
Sammy. The pair shared a grin. Maybe things hadn't changed as much as
he thought…

“Petunia's got this.
She's the best nurse in this city. Judith will be fine with her.”
TJ grinned.

“I wouldn't trust
anyone else with my baby.” Daniel grinned back.

“I hope Belle is
okay, she's trying to do Judiths job for her so Demon can't cause too
much grief.” Charlie told them as he checked his phone.

“We're grateful.
Really.” Daniel said. “Judiths job means a lot to her.”

Suddenly Mobster Marion
burst in.

“Is my sister okay?!”
She barked at the group, who were stunned. “I heard the baby was in
danger!”

“Uh…yeah…sure…everything
is stable for now….she's being well looked after…she'll want to
see you…” Daniel got up. “I'll take you in.”

“You're the father,
aren't you?” Marion glared at him.

“Yeah…” Daniel
swallowed. Oh boy…

“Thank you. For
caring for my sister.” Marions face softened just slightly. “Now
I want to see Judith!”

“Right this way!”
Daniel took Marion in to see Judith.

“Imagine having THAT
for a sister-in-law.” Tammy said after the pair had headed back
into Judiths room.

—

Belle carefully put the
last of the forms into its spot on Judiths desk. Everything was
FINALLY done, and Belle could head the hospital for a bit before
crashing into bed. It had been a hard, frantic sort of day and poor
Belle-Belle was exhausted.

“So, are you still
busy Miss Masters?”

“Please don't
Arnold.” Belle groaned as Demon approached. “I am exhausted, my
arms are sore, I want to see my friend and make sure she's okay. Just
let me go home.”

“Oh, of course. You
can go. After you've sat in my office and had a chat about your
friend, Mr. Begly.” Demon tried to coral Belle into the office.

“No. I'm going home.”
Belle tried to walk past him, but she was blocked. “Please, I'm
exhausted. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“Why put off 'til
tomorrow what can be done today?” Demon smiled. “My office, Miss
Masters.”

“Fine, what about
Charlie?” Belle groaned, trying not to yawn.

“About his little
plan for a Chamber of Commerce. I do hope he knows he has the full
support of the Council on this matter.” Demon ushered her into his
office.

“Oh he does, does
he?” Belle wasn't too tired to be suspicious of this declaration.

“Why wouldn't we want
to tighten control over the businesses of Pleasantville?” Demon
asked.

“Should've guessed.”
Belle grumbled.

Suddenly they heard
something smash outside.

“What was that?”
Demon and Belle shared a look before rushing out to find what looked
to be a masked March Hill Crusader heading straight for Judiths
office!

“NO!” Belle
screamed. “Don't knock over my…WORK!”

The masked Crusader
kicked open the office door and began firing their shotgun,
destroying all the work Belle had done that day. Once he'd finished
firing, he looked around. He shook his head, then made his escape
through the shot-out window.

“Well then. I guess
you have some cleaning up to do.” Demon grinned as Belle sank to
her knees in defeat.

—

“Wait, a Crusader
broke into Judiths office and shot it up?” Charlie asked into the
phone. “Yes, I GOT the bit about your work being ruined and how you
can't be here because you had to spend an extra three hours fixing
everything back up again, you can stop whinging about that now…I AM
sympathetic! I just think we need to look a little more into why the
Crusaders want Judith dead.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone
in the waiting room cried.

“Yeah, everyone says
hi and to not overwork yourself…look, just go to bed Belle, you're
exhausted and you know you can't think straight when you're tired.”
Charlie sighed. “Yeah, I'll pass on the message. Take care of
yourself mate, okay? I worry about you.”

He got up to finish the
conversation outside the waiting room, which IMMEDIATELY got the
Gossips of the Last Order talking!

“I wish I could hear
what they're saying!” Tammy groaned.

“Why don't you use
your introversion to find out?” Sunny asked.

“Doesn't work on you
guys for some reason.” Tammy told her.

“It's because we love
ya!” TJ hugged his friend tightly and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks Teej.”
Tammy smiled.

“So, Belle witnessed
a masked Crusader breaking into City Hall and shooting up Judiths
office. A Crusader who didn't want to be identified.” Charlie
walked back in. “I think there might be some problems in the March
Hill Crusaders.”

“Because the Crusader
wore a mask?” Sammy asked.

“Exactly. They didn't
want anyone knowing who they were, which doesn't make sense because
we already know they're a Crusader and where to find them. No, if
they're wearing a mask, it's because they don't want Roger finding
out what they're up to.” Charlie told them. “Which means Judith
could be in danger.”

“Do we tell Dan?”
TJ asked.

“Got no choice. He'll
be able to manage it from here.” Charlie told them.

“What are we telling
Daniel?”

The group froze as
Marion walked back out of Judiths hospital room