Lindsay looked down at the slip of paper in her hand and could hardly believe her eyes.  She was elated to note that the numbers all match up with Canada's largest lottery win to date.  Sixty-four Million dollars!  The things she and Mel could do with that money or even a portion of it.  Her hands shook as she dialed the number and she went into shock when she found out her ticket was the sole winning ticket.

Lindsay Peterson was born to a life of privilege.  She was the youngest of two girls and daddy's little darling.  At least until college.  It was there that she met and fell in love with Brian Kinney.  At first she thought the attraction was mutual.  She soon realized that she didn't have a prerequisite item - namely a dick. 

Then she met Melanie Marcus.  Melanie was ambitious and driven and Lindsay admired that since it reminded her of Brian.  Plus Melanie knew of ways of touching Lindsay that made Lindsay go wild.  Soon after graduation the two girls bought a house together.  It was not big, not near the size that Lindsay is use to,  but it's theirs and Lindsay got to decorate it.  Her parents think they are roommates and are happy to help with the  house note, until they drop into to visit and find the two girls having sex on the dining room table.

Lindsay was about to turn thirty and her biological clock was ticking.  She and Mel had talked about adding a baby into the family.  Melanie, unfortunately has a medical condition that won't allow her to have children.  Lindsay was adamant that Brian would be the father and Melanie was just as adamant that he wasn't.  If that wasn't bad enough Brian's 'best friend' Michael kept encouraging him not to do it.  The little twerp.  Lindsay used all her wasp persuasion powers and finally managed to talk both Melanie and Brian into it.

Nine month later Gus made his appearance and Lindsay's not sure why she wanted to name him Gus.  She only knows she didn't want him named Abraham.  Having a baby is harder work than she counted on.  They count on you for everything.  When they are awake, you can't wait for them to sleep so you can get a little rest.  But once they're asleep you wish they were awake.  It's a vicious cycle.  Melanie expected her to go back to work, but frankly that's the last thing she wanted to do.  Her mother had been a stay-at-home mom, still was for that matter.   Lindsay couldn't picture herself working full time and then coming home to take care of Gus.

Their lives changed, first with Melanie cheating and later with Lindsay cheating.  They would break up and make up. Later when Melanie had an operation that meant she could bear children it seemed like having another child was a good idea at the time.  Lindsay was all for Brian being the father, however Melanie threw a fit against it.  Eventually  Michael was asked and he agreed to be their sperm donor.  Lindsay didn't care one way or the other since she'd already planned to use Brian's sperm regardless.  

When Justin Taylor came into their lives, Lindsay was certain he was no threat.  He was just a kid.  She found it hard to see Brian being with someone so much younger than himself, but it was better than the alternative.  She just didn't see him ever being serious about the young blue-eyed boy.  But for some reason he had.  She'd breathed easier when they called off the wedding and Justin left for New York to make himself something in the art world.

On September 11, 2001  Justin went missing in New York and after seven years was presumed dead.  She and Melanie had been in Toronto for years.  They'd gotten complacent.  And now they had all this money.  Or did they.

Melanie was working late again and that pissed Lindsay off.  Melanie had turned into a regular shrew.  Lindsay had thought giving in to Melanie and moving away was the right thing to do.  Instead without any of the family around to blame when things went wrong, Melanie became increasingly bitchy.  She knew that once Melanie found out about the money she would tie it up tight and Lindsay  would not see a penny of it. 

As much as she loved her kids, Gus and Jenny Rebecca were old enough to look after themselves.  They had been pulling away for some time now.

The money was in her name.  She could do all the things she ever dreamed of being able to do.

But first she needed a plan.  As she sat at the dining room table making a list of places she wanted to go, she decided she would need to know what would be happening with the family while she was away.   She made a list of family and friends and went through it crossing off names.  Michael and Debbie were quickly crossed off.  They had a vested interest in keeping on Melanie's good side.  Ted was more Mel's friend than hers, so his name was crossed off.  Still knowing what was going on with the Novotney crew might come in handy.  That left Emmett and Kiki.  Kiki because she worked with Deb she could be a source of information. 

Reluctantly she crossed Brian off her list, knowing he'd make Gus his first priority.  It was a sad state of commentary that most of their friends were in Pittsburgh.

As luck would have it Lindsay was in Melanie's home office making arrangements for her get-a-way.  Melanie had decided to keep tight rein on her kids and refused to let them have computers, though Lindsay was fairly certain that Gus had a laptop from his dad hidden somewhere in his room.  Lindsay wasn't what you could call tech savvy, but she knew enough to go into history and delete the sites she'd used.  It was there that she spotted the perfect information network.  Facebook.  It seemed that Jenny Rebecca had somehow created an account on Facebook. 

It disturbed her that someone of her daughter tender years could register on Facebook.  She accessed her daughter's page  and noted the games she played, the TV shows she liked, the music she liked and that she seemed to be using it as a diary.  Then she created her own account under the name mysticalmaiden  and friended JR.  She also changed the child's privacy setting so no one else could read her posts.  Little did she know how handy this would come in.

She'd been so busy with getting things together that she never noticed that Gus had gone missing.  When Brian called, she was suitably distressed, but when Melanie started putting all the blame on her, she snapped. 

The very next day she packed a bag and left on her world tour.  She planned to buy all new things once she reached her first destination - Paris.  She slept off her jet lag, did a little shopping then met up with Sam Auerbach and he introduced her to his many jet-set friends. 

The days were a whirlwind.  She was free to sleep as long as she wanted, have her hair and nails done, and party the nights away.  It amused her to find that most people thought her a heiress. 

When she woke up one morning with both a man and a woman in her bed, she decided it was time to move on.  After throwing them both out ala Brian Kinney, she made arrangements to take a train to Italy, then went out to buy some new luggage.  She slept while the train made its way to Venice.  She'd booked a compartment to herself, so she could study the brochures she'd collected.

She planned to go next to Milan, Rome, and possibly Naples.  The problems began almost at once.  She found that to get to her hotel, which was rated 5 stars she had to go by boat, which left her seasick.  Then to get to the hotel there were stairs she needed to climb in high heels no less.  It was a good thing that she had planned to buy clothing in Italy since dragging several suitcases would have been impossible.   Why is it they never to seemed to have those problems when she watched ANTM?

Venice was a beautiful city, however it wasn't for the faint of hearts.   She slumped into a chair in front of a computer station and slipped off her heels.  Going online she worked her way to her facebook page.  There she learned that Gus was in a New York hospital and Melanie was out of control. 

She didn't have time to do more because she'd met the loveliest couple earlier and they were all going to a fabulous party.  It took her a couple of days to recover from that, then she was off to Milan.

Milan was a whirlwind.  She made friends, went shopping, and partied.  JR's latest postings where about Mel going back to Pittsburgh to get Gus. 

She followed some friends to Greece and learned that Justin was back.  This couldn't be right.  Justin was dead.  Dead, dead, dead.  She hurriedly tried all their friends name to see if anyone else she knew was on Facebook.   She did manage to find Emmett's Facebook page, but there was no mention of Justin.

Surely something like that would be in the news.  She checked all the news coming out of Pittsburgh and zilch.  The next time she checked, she'd just gotten to Greece.  JR was once again going on about Justin and a little boy named Dani.  According to JR, Danni was fairly young with dark skin and curly hair.  He didn't sound like he resembled Justin at all.  He didn't seem to be able to speak and JR had learned by listening in on other peoples conversation that the umbilical card had been wrapped around the baby's neck when he was born.  None of her other sources mentioned anything, except for a malicious lawsuit that Melanie had served Brian with.  Now that was funny. 

Lindsay followed her friends to Morocco and from there to Monte Carlo.  There was shopping, swimming and spending time in the spa.  Her and her new friends would go to the casinos and that was where things started to fall apart. 

She had been having fun, laughing and drinking.  She'd laid her stack of chip on the table not paying attention.  The next minute they were gone.  Two hundred thousand.  She tried to explain that she hadn't meant to bet, but it fell on deaf ears.  When she started screaming, the friends that were with her disappeared.  A doctor had been called and he gave her some pills that would calm her down. 

There was no way she would be able to pay her debts since the monthly payout had just been made, that meant for waiting for the next payout which was not due for another three weeks. 

Panic was just starting to set in when she got, what she thought, was a brilliant idea. 

She called Michael at his comic book story and let him in on the secret that he was not JR's father.  She told him that unless he could come up with two hundred thousand within twenty-four hours she would let everyone, especially Brian, know.  He whined how was he to get that much money.  Lindsay didn't care how he did it, he could get it from his mother for all she cared and she hung up. 

Lindsay didn't really expect to get anything and was surprised when Michael wired her two thousand dollars.  It wasn't nearly enough, but it helped.  Over time he sent her money ranging from five thousand to ten thousand a pop.

She stayed in her room, not willing to go out and spend any more then she could help.  Just when her next payout arrived, she learned via JR that Brian was selling his country home.   She'd never had the chance to see the place, but knowing Brian it had to be fabulous.   She looked up the listing and was surprised at just how big the place was.  

She started dreaming of living in that house with Brian.  She ordered a bottle of champagne, fixed a hot bubble bath, and made her plans.

Contacting the people in charge of her money, she found that she could draw on her winnings for large purchases.  It might take a few days to go through but she could do it.  She had to laugh at all the trouble she'd made for Mikey when, as it turned out, she hadn't needed to. 

That was salt under the bridge.  She set into motion the purchase of the house and booked a flight to New York.  She smiled when after contacting the sperm bank, she learned that Brian's sperm was available and immediately went in for insemination.

She wasn't sure why, maybe it was the pills she'd been taking, but she ended up at the new home she'd bought.  Gus had answered the door with what must of been the little boy JR had mentioned.  She was so happy to see her son. not so happy to see Justin.  At least Brian was there.  Lindsay couldn't believe that he had the nerve to question her reasons for going off. 

Then she spotted little JR.  Poor thing, she was looking rather drab.  Lindsay started planning on taking her to a hairdresser to have something done with her hair, then to one of the boutiques to get her something gorgeous to wear.  Brian Kinney's daughter would not look dowdy.

She was entertaining everyone with tales of her adventures when Melanie showed up.  Talk about talk to the hand!  Mel was on a roll and Lindsay did not want to listen to it.  Before  things turned into a screaming match Ted and Blake showed up.  Ted took Lindsay into the kitchen and fixed some tea while Blake enticed Melanie to another part of the house.   Eventually they both ended up in the kitchen, where Lindsay was informed of the hardships that Melanie claimed her leaving caused and what was Lindsay going to do about it.

One thing Lindsay was not going to do was play unhappy housewife.  She didn't plan on giving up her globetrotting ways.  She was also beginning to develop a headache.   Finally she decided to sign over this house to Melanie with the proviso that she have a suite to come back to. 

When she learned that Brian and Justin was having an open house, it never occurred to her that she might not be welcomed.  She followed the family unable to get over the fact that the finishes were not the top-of-the-line that she would have expected of Brian.  After hearing everyone oww and ahh, and not really paying her any attention,  she felt it was time to shake things up.

Lindsay announced that she was the buyer of Brian and Justin's manor house. She also let slip that she had deeded the house to Melanie, thereby spiking any criticism.  Meanwhile Emmett had done a wonderful job of catering and Lindsay let herself enjoy it a bit too much.  Otherwise she would have not mentioned the fact that she was carrying Brian's baby.  In a way it was funny watching how everyone was accusing Brian of impropriety and watching him get all flustered. 

Still there was no excuse for what she said next.  That Brian Kinney was not only Gus' father and the father of her unborn child, but he was Jenny Rebecca's as well.  Thanks to the donation of sperm he made.  With a giggle she left the party, leaving behind an uproar. 

The next day she wasn't feeling well.  She couldn't seem to keep anything down so the hotel contacted a doctor for her.  In trying to find out what the problem was, he asked what medications she was on and she showed him the pills the doctor in Morocco had given her and asked for more. 

The next thing she knew, the men in blue had shown up and she was tossed into the pokey for possession of an illegal substance.  If that were not bad enough, she felt awful, her head hurt, she couldn't keep anything down and she ended up spending weeks in the infirmary with delirium tremors.  When she finally regained her senses, she got herself a lawyer, not Melanie,  and was soon released.

The first thing Lindsay did was to send the clothes she wore to be burned, took a hot bath, and got an appointment to have her hair and nails done.    That was where she was when the cops came to arrest her for blackmail. 

Not wanting a repeat of her last time in jail, Lindsay immediately contacted her lawyer who arranged a personal interview with the DA for her.  Dressed demurely on the advice of her lawyer, she sat across and listened while he read the charges and offered a plea.  Lindsay, who in spite of being blonde, was not stupid.  She admitted talking with Michael and sharing the sad state of her problems with him.  It wasn't as if she was destitute, which the DA could easily check.  She categorically denied blackmailing him.  She claimed to have been surprised when the money arrived and not wanting to hurt Michael's feelings she'd kept it.  She crossed her legs and batted her blue eyes.

Since there was no actual proof otherwise, Lindsay was set free with an apology.  She supposed she could have given the $200,000 back since she did have the money, but she thought it very malicious of Michael to have pressed charges.  She packed her bags and winged her way to Acapulco. 

She lay back in her cabana on the beach and shipped a pina coloda while checking her daughter's facebook page.  Her recent brush with the law had been a wake-up call and she'd taken on a healthier lifestyle.  She set aside money for the children, regretful of the child she would not bare.  Sadly she had started bleeding and her pregnancy had slipped away while she was in the infirmary and there was no more sperm available to try again. 

The latest news from Pittsburgh had included pictures of Gus and Jenny Rebecca with their new brother taking martial arts classes.  There was also mention that Mikey had to sell his collection of toys to pay Grandma Deb back which caused Lindsay to laugh out loud.  She promptly went online to send Ben a one-way ticket to Tibet.

THE END