Bethany had spent her lunch hour creating this quick list of things that she wanted to do when they arrived in Chicago on Friday. Her lists were always easy going and never meant to be accomplished completely. She wanted to see the Blue Man Group, mostly because she'd always wanted to and never gotten around to doing it. When she found out that they were back in Chicago, how could she leave them off the list? There were completely free things that she felt more compelled to do...There were talking statues! She wanted to find them all! They fit right into the uniqueness of this visit.. But, Beckett was the one that did more of the laid down plans for this trip. He had booked the hotel, and made the arrangements for the special dinner. He hadn't given away a lot of the details of where they were staying, but none of the others had expressed any concerns on that front.

So, it would be talking statues, maybe perusing Architectural Artifacts, and eating! She was so excited, it was hard to contain. They were meeting the girls at their apartment at around lunch time. Beckett had to drop Dougal back off at his mom's in a little bit. She had to go and take another shower because of the nice jog she had this morning, and then the flour explosion she had in the kitchen while making pancakes. Her fingers were stained blue, and her mouth probably was too. That must make a really attractive picture. She cringed inwardly.

"O.G." she said. He looked up from the dishes in the sink that were almost finished. "I am going to rinse off and make quick work of some packing. Is there anything that you want me to pack for you?" He thought for a moment. The whole marriage thing was still so new that even the idea of someone else packing for him felt odd.

"Nah, I don't think it's going to be that hard for me to pull together an outfit, " he laughed. She forgot that she was talking to the world traveler of the year. With that said, she turned with a wave and headed back into the bedroom. She didn't have his skills. It would take a bit more time for her to look the part. Her friends expected a lot more out of her attire than they did Beckett's.

Finally after an hour of heavy contemplation, she felt secure in her choices and placed them into the suitcase. She was going to have to hurry and take her shower or she wouldn't be able to take one. Beckett came into the bedroom to make sure that she was alright, and to tell her that he was headed to his mom's with Dougal.

She got up off of the floor and came to meet him at the door and reached up on tiptoes to kiss him. The dog's tail lapped at the back of her kneecaps wanting to make sure that he got a send-off kiss too. Bethany leaned over and petted the big red puppy with love. "I'm going to miss you too, big boy," she knelt to his level and let Dougal get closer to her face. She gently head butted him and he returned the nudge with affection. "Be good for Grandma," she whispered.

Beckett said, "Leash," and Dougal headed toward the front door. "I'll be back!" He called as he and Dougal walked out together. She went into the bathroom and quickly turned on the shower, then stripped off her flour dusted clothing in a pile and grabbed a large towel from the linen closet in the hallway. Just as her foot hit the bathroom tile, she heard a jiggling of a handle. At first she didn't think that she had heard correctly. Something told her that it was better to check. Bethany stepped out into the hallway so that the water from the shower wouldn't deafen any other noises outside of the bedroom. She heard it once again.

A streak of fear flickered up and down her arms and into her chest. "HELLO!" she called out in a loud voice. The jiggling stopped. Bethany didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. She couldn't remember where her phone was to call anyone. Backtracking through the events of the morning, she finally remembered. The kitchen. It was in the kitchen. That was a particularly devastating realization, as was the fact that she didn't have any clothing on. This was actually worse than being caught in bed without any clothes on and finding out that the house was on fire!

She was going to have to run for her phone. It did mean giving the creeper an eyeful, but it was worse than the person breaking in and something much more terrible taking place. Logically, she thought that maybe she had scared whoever it was away. If they really wanted to get in, it would have happened already. She was pretty sure. But was she though???

The boost of courage sent her racing into the kitchen. She heard the banging of the door when she got to her phone. Bethany practically jumped out of her skin. That was all that was left to jump out of, if she were being brutally honest.

Bethany looked down at her phone. Beckett had called her four times. When she peered around the corner she saw a big red head peering through the bottom half of the frosted glass... She called Beckett.

"Would you be so kind as to open the door? I forgot my keys." Bets was so thankful that he hadn't seen the last ten minutes from her side of the glass. What an utterly embarrassing predicament.

"I'll be right there," she replied. She grabbed one of his jackets from the coat rack by the door and put it on, quickly letting them back into the house. His eyes took in everything. She saw so many questions in those blue globes of his, but saint that he was, not one did he ask. Bethany was silently thanking him. Thirty seconds later, he and the dog were making their way back out to the car.

"See ya," she waved with one hand, and with the other, held the coat together. He waved and hopped into the car after tucking Dougal into the back. Just her luck, Desiree and Paul were walking again. Were they training for a 5k?? They turned one way to see Beckett and Dougal, and waved, and turned to the left to see bare-legged Bets, and the look on Desiree's face as she covered Paul's eyes would have been laughable had she not wanted to completely disappear. Desiree's scowl would leave a mark that hopefully rinsed away with the blueberry stains and the flour, if she ever made it back to the bathroom.

Bethany hurriedly closed the door and leaned against it in despair. She wasn't used to creating such lasting bad impressions with people! What is happening?!?

Taking a deep breath, she knew that the only way to push forward was by taking a step...and so she did her best to forget about the neighbors, the look on Beckett's face, and the fact that she thought he was a thief about to break in.

Mai and Re'em called and said that they were ready and waiting. Bethany didn't know that they had called because she was finally taking the shower she said that she was taking an hour before. For once, the shower was spent in some heavy meditation. She felt so much better when she got out and dried off.

Bets threw her comfy car riding clothes on and pushed and plucked her fingers through her wet hair to let her dark waves scoop around her face as they dried. She gathered the toiletries on and around the sink and made sure that they were together in her toiletry bag. After putting the bag in her small suitcase, she zipped it up and carried it to the door. When she saw the jacket hanging there like a suspect in a crime drama, she couldn't help but laugh. She would never wear that jacket again without that memory being tossed into her face.

Beckett came hoofing into the house like a track star. Bethany couldn't help but laugh. "Hi," she said.

"Hey," he picked up her bag and his, which had been ready and waiting since he had gotten up in the morning. "Ready??" he asked. He leaned down and snuck a kiss. "You can bring the jacket if you want." he laughed as they started to head out to put the stuff in the car and go.

"Shut up, " she replied as she walked at a faster clip to catch up to him down the walkway. " You didn't see the look that woman gave me! I thought her eyes were going to fall out of her head!" she exclaimed. " And...And she actually covered her husband's eyes!" Beckett hooted with laughter. "The experience would have been too much for him to handle," he snorted. "It quite possibly would have killed him. I didn't marry you for your looks, that doesn't mean you don't have them," he said with stone seriousness. The drawl that everybody loved so much was coming out like the sun on a rainy day.

Bets still felt that Beckett had a biased opinion for one, and that the neighbor was going to be her cross to bear for however long they lived in that townhouse. She stared out the window watching the scenes pass her by before they pulled into the familiar scene of her prior apartment parking lot.

In a surprise move, both Re'em and Mai were waiting outside in an open parking spot. They weren't kidding with their message from forty-five minutes ago telling her that they were ready! She felt almost bad if they had been waiting out here for that amount of time. It didn't feel like they could beat the torture that she had experienced, so she put on her best smile and made sure they knew how sorry she was for making them wait. 

Beckett pulled up into the spot after the two queens got out of the way and scoped out the number of bags they each had packed. He was breathing a sigh of relief that they both had thoughtfully taken into consideration the size of his vehicle and the length of their stay.

"Where are we staying??" Re'em asked. Both Mai and Bethany were curious too. Becks pulled out of the spot and back out onto the road.

"EMC2. I've stayed a few times before, and I think that you're in for a treat," he smiled. "There are two concierge robots that take care of all of your needs. Their names are Leo and Cleo. You should look it up," Reem was already searching on her phone. She and Mai pushed their heads together to look through the pictures that were provided. They raised their eyes at the cost and were getting even more excited about what the night would bring.

They felt lucky that they knew someone like Beckett. He had done so many interesting things, met so many fascinating people, and been to so many unique places. Most of the time, it didn't mean anything to them. He was always their friend first. But in moments like these, for special trips and experiences, it was really cool that he knew about all of this stuff.

" Do we have a game plan once we get there, Bets? I saw that the Blue Man Group is back in town. " Mai hinted. Ever since those bald men with blue painted faces first came out, they had always hinted at wanting to go to see a show, but never booked the tickets. Bethany looked over at Beckett. He was completely open to the idea.

"I wanted to search out the talking statues. I thought we could go to Architectural Artifacts to sift through all of the antiques," Those things sounded like solid choices, and also more cost effective. None of them were hurting financially, but there wasn't any reason to spend when you knew that you weren't going to get the most out of an experience.

Re'em put on the travel playlist, and the hours flew by with ease. It was right around the four hour mark that traffic started slowing and then eventually they were caught in classic Chicago style congestion on I-94 West.