The rain was still coming down in a light sprinkle as the four of them got back from the ice cream parlor and it was getting dark. Rachel parked her car and they dashed up the drive through the rain to the front door. "Okay…" Rachel said, herding the two boys inside. "I think it's about time for two certain boys to get ready for bed…"

This elicited the expected cries of protest from Hank and Jimmy, who loudly asserted that it wasn't that late, that they never went to bed this early, and besides which they weren't tired at all anyway. "Alright, alright!" Rachel said, throwing up her hands. "We can play one more game, but then the two of you need to head straight up to bed. Not buts! Promise?"

Grinning, the two boys nodded, before turning to quickly discuss what they wanted to do. After a brief moment, they turned back to the two girls. "How about this," Jimmy said, "The two of you go and hide somewhere, and Hank and I will try and find you?"

"Hide and seek?" Rachel replied.

Jimmy nodded. "But!" He added, "When we find you, we get to tie you up!" Beside him Hank grinned.

"Alright!" Rachel agreed, "But, if you only manage to find one of us, the other can try and rescue her."

The two boys eagerly agreed to that. They settled on the living room couch as the safe zone, and sat down, covering their eyes and began counting. "One…two…three…"

Giggling, the two babysitters ran out of the room, in opposite directions. Nicole saw Rachel heading for the kitchen. She hurried to the stairs herself. Downstairs, she could still hear Hank and Jimmy counting, stumbling over some of the higher numbers as they rapidly approached 100.

Thinking quickly, Nicole went to the boy's room and went into the bathroom. Keeping the lights turned off, she lay down in the bottom of the bathtub, pulling the shower curtains closed. From downstairs, she heard a faint cry of "Ready or Not, Here We Come!" She closed her eyes and breathed gently, trying to stay quiet.

For a little while, all was still as the two boys ransacked the house downstairs, looking for the two girls. Then, Nicole heard them hurrying upstairs. A moment later, they were in their room, just on the other side of the door. Nicole felt her heart quicken in excitement, as she listened to her pursuers moving around, mere feet away from her hiding place.

Suddenly, she heard the bathroom door open and light suddenly flooded the room as one of the boys flipped the switch. "Gotcha!" Jimmy cried, suddenly pulling the curtains back. Nicole stifled a yelp of surprise.

She grinned, sitting up. "ok," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "You got me!"

Stepping out of the tub, Nicole knelt to let the two boys bind her hands and gag her. Hank tied a bandana over her eyes, blindfolding the young woman. Grabbing her arm, the two boys carefully led their helpless prisoner out of the bathroom and slowly down the stairs to the living room, where they made Nicole sit down on the couch.

"You stay here and guard Nicole." Jimmy told Hank, "In case Rachel tries to rescue her. I'll keep looking upstairs."

"Right!" Hank said, nodding.   Nicole felt him sit down on the couch beside her. For a few minutes, the two of them sat, silently. Off on the other side of the house, Nicole could hear Jimmy still searching for Rachel. Beside her, Hank hummed an off-key tune as he waited.

Just then, Nicole heard a soft cough from the next room. Beside her, Hank sat up. "Hey!" he said, jumping off the couch. 'Got you!" He cried, running out of the room. Nicole heard him moving through the next room, whooping loudly.

"Hey!" Nicole jumped, yelling into her gag as a hand was suddenly placed on her shoulder. Her blindfold was pulled away and Rachel grinned down at her. "You owe me one!" She said as she hurriedly untied Nicole.

They two girls sat down on the bed and waited for Hank and Jimmy to come back. They groaned in disappointment as they entered, one at a time, and saw the two babysitters sitting at the couch. "Aww man!" Jimmy said, disappointedly. "One more round! We'll get you this time!"

"ok." Rachel said, shrugging. "Start counting!" With that, she turned and ran out of the room, as the two boys closed their eyes and began counting. Nicole turned and ran to, in the opposite direction. Grinning, she ran to the front hall. Opening the closet, she opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

Feeling around in the dark, the young woman worked her way to the back of the closet and crouched down, behind boxes and hanging coats. Settling down in her hiding place, she waited, listening as Hank and Jimmy finished counting. She heard them moving around past the door. Nicole tensed, expecting the door to open at any moment and the two boys to find her. To her relief, the sounds of footsteps faded, as the two went to search another part of the house.

Slowly, the minutes passed by, as the young woman waited in the darkness. She was just considering whether or not to try and make a break for the safe zone, when she suddenly heard footsteps coming back again. Holding her breath, Nicole scrunched down, as far as she could into her hiding spot, but luckily, the footsteps faded once more.

Nicole decided she couldn't risk hiding any longer. Sooner or later, the boys were bound to search the closet, best to make a run for it, she thought to herself. Silently, she counted to fifty, waiting for whichever of the two boys was outside the door to move on.

Quietly as possible, Nicole crept out of her hiding place and opened the door a crack.
Peering through the gap, Nicole glanced around the hallway and didn't see anyone. Trying to move as silently as she could, the young woman crept out into the hall and headed towards the living room. Almost there…only a short distance to go now and she'd be home free…

"There you are!" Nicole whirled around, just in time to see Jimmy coming around the corner. She turned and tried to run, but the young boy was quicker than her. Before she'd taken more than a few steps, she suddenly felt his hand briefly touch her. "Got you!" He cried, triumphantly.

Nicole turned, smiling. "Alright! Fairs fair, you got me…" She turned, presenting her wrists to be tied. Jimmy, of course, went to it eagerly, quickly looping rope around Nicole's wrists and knotting it snug against her skin. Kneeling, he did the same with her feet. Nicole bent over to let Jimmy gag her with a rolled up bandana.

"Ok! You're my prisoner now! Start hopping!" Jimmy ordered, gleefully. Grunting into her gag, Nicole turned and began shuffling towards the living room, while the young boy danced around her, encouraging her along.  

"mmmppphhh!!!" Nicole hopped around the corner, into the living room. Sitting on the couch, beside Hank, was Rachel. The young woman was tightly trussed up and gagged. She groaned, shrugging sheepishly, as Nicole shuffled over and, after come effort, managed to sit down beside her.

"Well, looks like we've got both of you two!" Jimmy said. He turned, and shared a grin with his brother. With a huge, fake yawn, Jimmy turned, stretching. "Well, good night…" The two babysitters grunted in confusion, wondering what he was doing.

Grinning as well, Hank stood up. He yawned as well. "Yeah, I guess we'd better get ready for bed now."

"EEEEh…" Rachel grunted into her gag. "uunnnnnniiiiih uuuuusssss…"

"huh?" Jimmy asked, pulling a bandana from his pocket. "Well...Goodnight to you to!" He teased, tying a blindfold over Rachel's eyes. Hank did the same thing to Nicole, plunging her into darkness once again.

Rachel kept grunting angrily into her gag, telling the boys to free them. "Sorry Rachel…" Jimmy teased. "But you said, soon as we were done, we needed to go to bed, no buts!"

"Yeah!" Hank added. Ignoring the two captive girl's protests, they left the room.

Nicole felt Rachel slump back on the couch, with a groan of resignation. Nicole sighed softly into her gag. Off somewhere in the house, a clock chimed the hour, nine o'clock. The boy's parents would be back in an hour or so. Groaning quietly to themselves, the two girls went to work trying to free themselves…