Chapter 14: You've got Blackmail!

Maggie Simpson was walking down Main Street, noticing, as she was walking, the various potholes that had yet to be filled by the city.

As she was walking to the Prancing Phony dance supplies store, a strange man approached her.

"Hey, you the lawyer's sister?" He asked.

Maggie stopped and studied this guy. Seeing he was short, a slight build, a little scrawny, and didn't have a weapon, she decided that he wasn't a threat to her.

"Yeah. What about it?" Maggie replied back.

He then reached into his pocket and brought out several photos and gave them to Maggie.

"Those are copies. We'll be in touch." He then turned and left.

Looking at the photos Maggie looked up to yell at the guy, only to find he had disappeared from sight.

Alex Whitney walked over to her building to meet with the renovator, to talk about the floor plans, when Maggie who was waiting for her outside of the building met her.

"Maggie? What brings you here?"

Maggie handed her the photos in her hands, and when she looked at them, Alex turned completely white.

"W-Where did you get these?" She asked as she slowly looked at the photos. She soon sat her self down on the curbside.

Maggie sat down next to her.

"Are these real? Did you really do these sort of things?"

Alex took a deep breath and nodded.

"Surviving in L.A. is hard. Sometimes…well, you gotta do what you need to, to survive."

Alex looked approachfully at Maggie. "Who gave these to you?"

Maggie described the physical description of the man.

Alex the buried her face in her hands and shook her head.

"Jeremy." She whispered.

Maggie sat down next to her and patted her on the back, not sure, in what way, as to comfort her.

Knowing Alex through a shred of vague memories, Maggie still, at this moment, didn't really have an opinion about her.

Bart was in love with her that was certain, still she couldn't find a way to identify with this person.

Maggie then noticed a ring that was on Alex's left hand.

"I won't tell Bart, unless you want me to." Maggie said.

Alex looked up. Her eyes swollen with the emotions of fear and confusion were replaced with a sudden, temporary, smile.

"Thank you, Maggie."

Bart, sitting at his desk, was the happiest he had ever been. Not only did the terror that was Jessica was no longer in his life, but he finally found a new secretary who turned out to be fully qualified.

Her name was Susan, and she had a wedding ring, so that put aside all the nightmares Bart has had lately.

Thinking more on that ring brought Bart back to what had happened earlier this morning.

Alex had awoken and with utter joy found the box Bart had left in her hand and told Bart three words that stuck in his mind.

"I'm all yours."

Bart smiled. To him those words meant everything, especially that they had come from the person he was so madly in love with.

Bart had replied to her with three other words.

"So am I."

Getting up from his desk, Bart turned to face his window, over looking Springfield. The Nuclear power plant clearly visible with its smoke stacks sending out gray clouds to meet their white ones. On the street the strange but vibrant people selling and hocking God knows what to the gullible and weak minded.

Susan knocked on the open door to Bart's office, relieving him of his thoughts.

"You've gotten a letter, Mr. Simpson." She said, and laid the letter on his desk and went back to hers.

Bart walked over to his desk and opened the letter and read the contents of it and then sat back down in his chair.

The letter was a goodbye from Gina.

Homer woke up on a particularly warm, nice, Saturday.

After taking a power nap, he was ready to meet Barney for fishing, and then planned on heading to Moe's for a little TLC with Duff.

Getting up and putting on his pants, Homer walked out of the house and then stopped.

Homer sniffed the air. "What's wrong with the air? It smells so queer."

Homer then looked to the lawn and shrieked.

Burnt into their lawn, in large capitalized letters, were the words "YOU HAVE WHAT'S MINE, SIMPSON".

Homer looked around and then quickly ran back inside the house.

Panting loudly, Homer walked, quickly, over and took down, off the mantle, a black falcon statue, which was signed, "To Warner Brothers Studio, Best Wishes, Humphrey Bogart" and Homer quickly put it into a box and rushed out the door.

Moment's later, Homer came back inside, leaning against the door, wiping his brow, and exhaling loudly.

Marge came out, from the kitchen, wiping a dish and looked at her husband, curiously.

"Homer? What's wrong?"

Homer started scratching the back of his neck, while trying to come up with a good excuse.

"Ya see, Marge…I…Uh, forgot to put gas in the car for later this week, so I, uh, got some."

Marge looked at him curiously, then smiled.

"Well, good for you, Homer. I'm happy that you're preparing for the next week." She then planted a kiss on his cheek.

Homer exhaled a deep breath after Marge had left. He then went to the garage and got some grass seeds and opened the garage door. Going outside, he started laughing as he put them down on the words on the lawn.

"Homer Simpson, you're a genius." He said self-appreciatively.

Once the words were all filled up, Homer went to get a hose, only to turn back and see a flock of birds swoop down and eat all the seeds.

"What the…?" He asked and then went to the bag, only to find out it was birdseed that he had planted.

"D'oh!" He emitted out loud.

Marge came out of the house.

"Homer, what's the mat…Oh, my lord!" She said as she then saw the words on their lawn.

"Homer what is this?" She asked as she walked over to the portion of the lawn.

Homer started crying, "I don't know."

Marge thought long and hard.

"Well…we know it's probably not about the trial, since it's over, I wonder what it could mean?"

Homer shrugged.

Just then, Alison Taylor pulled up in her car and met Lisa's parents by the lawn.

"Who did this?" She asked.

Both Homer and Marge looked at each other, each shrugging and giving looks of despair.

Alison sat down and used her finger to trace over the lettering.

"Hmm…It's looks as though the person was left handed, and stumbled when he was making the "I"."

Marge looked at Alison, impressed. "Wow. Alison, that is very cleaver. How'd you come up with that?"

Alison shrugged, "Oh, all those CSI episodes, that I used to watch when I was little, I knew would, one day, come in handy."

Homer nodded, "Cop shows. Is there anything they can't do?"

"Why are you here, Alison?" Marge asked.

"I was going to see if Lisa was still here and if maybe she and Alex would like to have a girls night out in Capital City. I guess she isn't here though, right?"

Marge nodded.

"Well, tell her I stopped by and to maybe give me a call." Alison then looked at the lawn, again. "Man, this town gets weirder and weirder by the minute. I hope this isn't anything serious."

Marge sadly nodded, "I'm hoping so, too."

Maggie sat across Alex, inside Java The Hut's coffee shop, as Alex wearily drank her coffee.

"Thank you for the coffee, Maggie. It's helping." Alex said as she took a sip.

The two of them sat while Alex tried to bring herself back to normal. Since seeing those pictures, she has become a nervous wreck. Always looking over her shoulder and jumping whenever someone talked to her behind her back.

Maggie had stayed and finally took Alex to the Java's.

"So, do you want to talk about it? Talk about him?" Maggie asked.

Alex sighed as she took another sip.

"He was a guy I met when I first arrived in Los Angeles. I was struggling the first two weeks and he offered to help me out, help me get my big break with the fashion industry, there. Jeremy Hawthorne knew a lot of people, unfortunately for me, getting in contact with those people meant doing… favors."

Maggie nodded and ordered another cup, as Alex seemed to be on the verge of another breakdown.

Then Alex put her face to her hands and cried long and hard.

"How. How could that miserable, s.o.b, decide to do this to me?"

Maggie sighed, "Alex…I think you should let Bart know. I mean he's going to find out eventually and I think he could help you."

Alex shook her head as she sobbed.

"I…Can't. I don't want him to know…that part of my past."

To the surprise of Maggie, the very least people she would have suspected to walk in right now, she watched Lisa and Nelson walk in and spot them.

"Maggie? Alex? What are you guys doing here?" Lisa asked.

Alex looked up, her eyes' extremely puffy from crying.

"Alex? What's wrong?" Lisa asked as she removed herself from Nelson and walked over and sat down next to her friend.

Nelson, unsure on what to do, walked away to order him and Lisa some coffee.

Lisa put her hand on her friend's shoulder as Alex wiped her eyes.

"Wow, you and Nelson, huh? Never would have imagined it if I hadn't seen it." Alex said, trying to make a laugh.

Lisa shook her head; "We'll talk about that later, why were you crying Alex?"

Alex sighed, "Show her, Maggie."

Maggie went into her bag and brought out the photos and quickly explained how they came into her possession.

Lisa held a hand to her mouth, in shock, while she thumbed through the photos.

"Oh, my! Alex, are these really you?"

Alex nodded.

Setting them down, Lisa turned to Maggie.

"What does Jeremy want? Money?"

Maggie shrugged, "He didn't say. He only said, "We'll be in touch". I think he's going to come to me again with directions."

Alex sighed, "If even that. Jeremy's never been good at being straight-forward."

"What does Bart have to say about this?" Asked Lisa.

"He doesn't know." Maggie replied as Alex was taking another sip of her coffee.

Nelson joined them as Lisa looked at Alex.

"Alex, you have to tell him. Bart could help you with putting a restraining order against Jeremy."

"You got a guy that's bothering you?" Nelson asked.

Alex nodded.

"Me and my boys could make him disappear, if you want."

"Let's call that option "B", for now. Alex, you need to talk to Bart. I can call him, if you want." Lisa said as she took out her cell.

Just then, her phone rang and Lisa dropped it out of surprise. Nelson retrieved it and handed it back to her.

"Hello?" Lisa answered.

"Lisa? It's Mom." Marge said. "I've been trying to reach your brother but he's in a meeting right now, so I thought I'd give you a call. Are you busy?"

Lisa sighed, "No Mom, not incredibly, what's going on?"

"Your father found that someone vandalized our lawn, last night. Burned the words "You have what's mine, Simpson" in big letters. Lisa, do you know if Bart's in trouble with anyone else?"

Lisa shook her head as she sighed, "No, Mom, I don't think this has to do with Bart, this time."

"Then who could they be referring to? You? Maggie? It's certainly not me or your father." Marge said.

Lisa sighed, "Look, Mom, I'll tell you more about it when I see you two tonight. I can't' talk about it right now."

Marge sighed in acceptance. "Ok. By the way, Alison came by and she wants you to call her when you have the chance."

Lisa nodded, "I'll do that. Bye, Mom." She then hung up her phone and looked to Alex.

"I guessing Jeremy wants you, Alex. He burned a message into Mom and Dad's lawn saying so."

Alex groaned and put her head back into her hands.

"Why don't you want Bart to help?" Nelson asked.

Alex held up her left hand, "Bart proposed to me earlier this morning. After dealing with Jessica he's really content on being trying to be happy for a change, I don't want to change that for him."

Lisa's jaw fell as she looked at he diamond ring on Alex's finger.

"Bart proposed?"

Alex nodded.

Nobody spoke at the table for awhile. Then Maggie suddenly stepped out of the booth.

"Alex, I'm sorry. But if you really want my brother to be happy, you've got to be happy as well, otherwise he'll catch on and wonder why you didn't tell him. And since you're going to be our sister-in-law, then, you've got to know how to step up for yourself. Listen, why don't you let me, Nelson, and a few others find out what Jeremy really wants and we'll see if we can take care of him and get him out of Springfield, so you and Bart have nothing else to be worried by. In the meantime, I agree with Lisa. You need to tell Bart."

After talking several long hours with Jimbo Jones about franchising rights, and going over the details of the contract that Foodo Corps had drawn out for him to make his business global, Bart was ready to unwind and have a nice peaceful late afternoon.

Jimbo did what he always did, after saying goodbye, which was delivering a jab to Bart's gut. Bart was just thankful that the idiot was paying him, which meant that these were just torments of the job.

Going back to his office, Susan, who was at the water cooler outside his office, turned as she saw Bart coming.

"Mr. Simpson, you've got someone waiting for you in your office."

"An appointment?" Bart asked.

Susan shook her head, "No, sir. Just a walk-in."

Bart nodded and proceeded inside the office, only to stop short when he saw who it was.

Dolph got up when he saw Bart.

"Hey, Simpson." He said.

Bart, personally, wanted to beat this man with his briefcase or try to come up with an excuse to why he needed to leave, suddenly. But the professionalism inside of him told him to enter and talk with Dolph.

Stupid code of honor. Bart thought, irritably.

Sitting down behind the desk, Bart watched Dolph, carefully and it seemed Dolph was doing the same.

"Simpson, I know you probably would like no better than to see me behind bars for what I did to you."

Bart nodded.

"I gotta tell ya, between you and me, it wasn't my choice. My job, in this stinking town, doesn't pay that well, so I need to do some side work to put food on the table."

"I was thought me bailing you out on that invading a private residence charge, public drunkenness, and indecent exposure; would have put me in better terms with you, Dolph." Bart said, scowling at him.

Dolph shrugged, "I told ya. I gotta do what I need to. You'll be happy to hear, however that I voted for you instead of Jessica, at the trial."

That DID make Bart, feel, a little better about Dolph. But why was he here?

"So, why are you here now? Hopefully you're not out to get me for someone else, this time?"

Dolph shook his head, "Nah, I'm not going to play "errand-boy" for a long time. Jessica's money has seen to that. The reason why I'm here, Simpson, is about your girlfriend."

Bart eyes went wide, "About Alex? Is she okay?"

Dolph shrugged, "Well, she' alive and okay. I'll bet, she's probably got a lot on her mind, though, considering."

Bart leaned forward on his desk. "Considering, what?"

Dolph looked at Bart in surprise. "What? You don't know?"

Bart shook his head.

Dolph went to a backpack that was sitting next to his chair and he brought out several photos, he laid them on Bart's desk.

"The guy you're looking at is Jeremy Hawthorne. This idiot is going around Springfield trying to find dirt on you and has been asking a lot about Alex."

Bart scowled at the picture, then looked up to Dolph. "What do you know about him?"

Dolph shrugged, "Not much. I made a call to a buddy of mine in LA, where this guy's from, and he couldn't come up with much. Other than countless jail time for soliciting with prostitutes, his record doesn't show anything else."

Bart sighed as he lay back in his chair, shaking his head. Looking at the pictures, again, Bart reached out for one and soon found himself staring at it.

"Is this Maggie?"

Dolph nodded, "I've been following him around town for awhile. That picture was taken today. He gave your sister something and then he went back to his motel."

Bart put a hand to his face, groaning. "Aye Carumba. If it isn't one thing, it's another."

He looked up at Dolph. "I don't suppose I could ask you to keep tabs on this guy? I'll gladly pay you."

Dolph shrugged, "Sure, why not. After all, business is slow since the trial ended. A lot of people were trying to get me to find out who was guiltier at the time. When do you want info, Simpson?"

"You know where I live. Best time would be at night."

Dolph nodded, "What about your girlfriend?"

Bart shook his head, "I need to talk to her about this and see how bad the situation is, till then, please don't talk to her."

Dolph nodded and got up, then left.

Lisa agreed to be there with Alex when she would talk to Bart about Jeremy, which made Alex feel a little better.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Alex. It's not like that part of your life is still going on, right?" Lisa said as the two of them parked in front of the Simpson's driveway.

Alex nodded and sighed as they walked out and she spotted the burned lettering on the lawn.

"I'm sorry your parent's had to be in this too."

Lisa laughed, "Believe it or not, I think deep down, our family loves getting attention. So don't worry, about it."

Alex still wasn't sure and what worried her most was how Bart was going to react when she told him.

Dinner was about to start and Homer was getting anise. They were all waiting for Bart, who was late.

"But, Marge, you know the rule of "Pork chop night"! If you're late, I don't care."

Marge sighed, "Homer, when we had the kids, I told you we would always eat as a family. Now, we're just going to have to wait a little more and I'm sure Bart will be here."

Just then, Bart's car pulled up into the driveway.

Alex clutched the tablecloth and started to breathe hard.

Lisa patted her friend on the back, "Relax, it'll be fine. I'm here for you."

Marge walked to the door as it opened and hugged Bart.

Soon, the whole family were sitting down and eating. Homer and Bart went into their classic fights over the last pork chop, which got Alex laughing, again.

After dinner, sitting in the living room, enjoying wine, Alex took a deep breath and looked to Bart, who was sitting next to her.

"Bart?"

Bart turned away from his conversation with Homer and looked at her.

"Yeah?"

Alex took another breath and said slowly. "I…need to tell you something. Can we go somewhere private?"

Bart nodded and he told the rest of the family to please excuse them and the two then went to the dining room.

"There's something I haven't told you, about my past." Alex was looking away which made this slightly easier.

Bart was listening and didn't say anything.

"When I was in LA I was struggling. Of course anyone could say that to make it in LA you've got struggle, but I did big time. It got to the point to where I was homeless and sleeping at the bus station."

"Alex, why didn't you call us? Mom's crazy about you, she could have sent you some money." Bart said.

Alex laughed, "You know me. I was so damn determined to turn anything into something that looked good, that I refused to ask help." She sighed, "But then it became worse as I was soon out of money for food. Then one day at the bus station, I met somebody."

Alex then looked into Bart's eyes' as she shut her's. "That's where I met Jeremy. Jeremy Hawthorne. He offered to help me out."

"How?" Bart asked.

Alex turned away from Bart and shuddered. "He…he had me in…pictures. Having…se…sex with married men and then he would blackmail them for money later."

Bart sat down at the table and put a hand to his head, trying to fully absorb what he was hearing.

"Is that why Jeremy's here? Does he want you to continue doing this kind of work for him?" Bart asked.

Alex looked at Bart in surprise. "You know?"

Bart nodded, "Dolph came to my office today, because Jeremy's been going around town asking about the two of us. One of the pictures of this guy showed him and Maggie. I need to talk with her and find out what it was that he gave her."

Alex sighed, "You don't have to. What he gave her were copies of the "pictures" he took to blackmail those married men. He told your sister that he would contact her later."

Bart eyes narrowed and he was starting to growl, "He's involving Maggie in this? I'll murder the S.O.B if he does anything to her!"

Alex, then, broke down and cried. "I'm so sorry, Bart."

Bart exhaled a deep breath and walked over to Alex and hugged her, reassuringly.

"Hey, hey, stop that. It's going to be okay, Alex. After all, we got through Jessica, we can get through this as well." Bart said, stroking her hair.

Alex laughed as she wiped her eyes, "Why are you so great, Bart Simpson?"

Bart gave her a devilish smile, "It come with being so Bad, you can't have one without the other."

Alex kissed him. "I wouldn't have any other way." She said.

Their moment was interrupted, however, when Marge came in and hugged Bart.

"Bart! You're getting married! I'm so proud!"

Maggie has always loved the Springfield YMCA for many reasons, one of which was that they let her use their GYM after closing, provided that she wiped down the equipment after using it.

After several hours, she was going to quit and she walked to the shower room but stopped when something caught her eye over by the entrance.

Lying on the floor, near the twin doors was an envelope.

Walking over, Maggie could read what was on the front, "Simpson's little sister".

Maggie first looked out the doors, to see if it's carrier was anywhere nearby. She then picked up the letter and went behind the receptionist's desk and took out a letter opener and opened the letter.

She then read it aloud.

"Miss Simpson, If you wish that the contents of those pictures to remain unseen please do the following: 1. Go to your brother's office and make out a business check made out to "cash" for the amount of $700,000, if you tell your brother any of this, I'll be forced to go to the news with those pictures. 2. Find some way to have your brother sign it. 3. Take the check to the Springfield Super 8 Motel and slide it under the door of room 26. Again, if anything doesn't feel right with me on how you're doing this or if I feel you're going to either back out or try and bust me, those pictures will go the press and your brother will be humiliated and Alex will be outcaste. By the way, incidentally, if you could buy me some stamps that'd help too.

Signed, Jeremy."

Maggie glared at the letter and gritted her teeth.

That jerk! He's not giving us any option!

Maggie grabbed the phone and dialed.

"Nelson? It's Mags'. I'm starting to feel that option "B" is sounding good, right about now. Let's get the "Gang" together and see what we can do about this "problem"."

Later, that evening, at Moe's, Bart, Alex, Lisa, Maggie, Nelson, Homer, Jimbo, Kearney, Dolph, and Grandpa Simpson, were all sitting at a slew of tables; Moe and Barney were there as well as Ralph.

After Maggie had read aloud the list of instructions, the floor then was opened for suggestions.

Alex still wasn't sure why all these people were here.

"They're here for you and Bart." Lisa said.

"But why?" Asked Alex.

Lisa smiled, "Bart has bailed them out so many times that they'll do anything for him. Since you're involved with him that goes for you as well."

Alex shook her head in amazement, as Homer was the first one to speak.

"Can't we just break in and steal those pictures when he's not there?"

Maggie shook her head; "I don't think so, Dad. He may have those on him wherever he goes. It'd be too risky if they weren't in there and he finds out what we did."

Nelson punched a fist into his open palm, "I still say we just beat this wuss into submission."

Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney agreed with this.

Maggie sighed, "Again, this is the problem. If we don't know where those pictures are, we can't prevent him from having them sent to the press. If he has someone else holding them he could let them know to send them."

Bart sighed, "Then what should we do, Mags'?"

Maggie sighed, "I don't know. He's making it sound like if anything makes him paranoid he's going to spill to the news. I know we can't attack him because he may not have the pictures and he'll send someone to do it for him. Our best bet is to maybe just watch what he does and compare information. See if he's always carrying something each time. With any luck, it'll be the pictures. Meanwhile, a few others can carefully search his motel room when he's not there."

Everyone seemed to agree with this being the best course of action, with the exception of Nelson and the others, who still felt beating the man was the better way.

Alex still felt that these people were doing way too much just to help protect both her and Bart. Though, knowing the kind of "Mob mentality" that the denizens of Springfield create, Alex knew there was no chance to avert their minds away.

Bart too felt this maybe was going a little too far for their favor. The plan was simple yet still dangerous. From what he understood from that letter, Jeremy had others in town with him, giving him reports', and that made Jeremy dangerous. This plan of Maggie's was risky, but there really wasn't anything Bart could do. Well, except, move away, but that really wasn't an option Bart felt comfortable with.

While Maggie talked with the others about who should do what, Lisa and Alex discussed other things in quite.

"Did you and Bart set a date?" Lisa asked.

"What date?" Alex asked, confused.

Lisa smiled, "Your wedding, stupid."

Alex laughed, "No, we haven't. Though, I'm thinking, maybe, around April."

Lisa nodded, "That's a good time."

The two were diverted from their conversation, when Maggie called the meeting closed and everyone noisily walked out of the bar.

Bart and Alex walked to the Springfield Waterfront to the exact place where they had their moment. Sitting down in the exact place, Bart and Alex watched as the moon's light shimmered off the water.

"Alex, when do you want to do it?"

Alex looked at him in surprise, since Bart hadn't spoken since the meeting had ended.

"Do what?"

Bart smiled at her, "The wedding. What day would you like?"

Alex smiled back, "How does April 25th sound?"

Bart kissed her, "Perfect."

The two then resumed watching the moon and both started humming their song, not in know that behind them about thirty feet away, they were being watched.

Jeremy smiled as he thought to himself.

Enjoy your moment while you can, Alex Whitney. I'll be rich and have you back working for me soon enough.

To be continued…