A Familiar Heart

Chapter 1

Four months. Four months, six days. It had been four months, six days and ten hours since Chad DiMera had received that fateful phone call that his wife had been reported being aboard an aircraft that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. It had been five months, seven days and three hours since he'd last seen his wife alive. His Abby.

Chad sat in his study at his lavish DiMera mansion staring at the picture of her he had sitting on his desk. This room was flooded with pictures of her; of them. Mostly from their wedding day. The day that was etched into his heart and his mind as the happiest day of his life.

Chad had been trying to get some work done. His idea to completely revitalize his father's company was no small task. He'd sent Belle Brady over to Hong Kong to help with negotiations and go over the accounting system with a fine toothed comb. Thomas lay sleeping in his crib off to the side of his desk. Chad had given Lucas and Adrienne the night off.

They were good people. He had known Lucas since he was just a teenager, playing video games with Will at both his and Sami's apartment. Adrienne he hadn't known as long but Sonny was his best friend and his business partner and respected both Adrienne and Justin's business sense. He liked seeing them together as a couple. They needed someone in their life after everything they had gone through. Lucas especially. Since losing Will, Chad had noticed a deep sorrow in Lucas' behavior. He didn't laugh or smile as much as he used to.

Chad had never known Grace as his daughter, but he still felt a huge part of him was missing knowing that he never would get to know her. That she would never get to grow up and know her little brother Thomas. He could only imagine how more intense that feeling was for Lucas who did get to see Will grow up and have a family and ultimately lose his life to a deranged psychopath.

"Hey baby," He whispered her to her as he picked the picture frame up in his hand. That same deranged madman tortured and pushed his wife over her own mental edge. His fingers traced her face as he imagined what it was like to feel her skin against his. His heart ached to feel her again, to see her; to smell her; to know that the other half of his soul was in front of him.

"God I miss you." He spoke to her picture as he sat back in his chair and held her to his chest. "I miss you so damn much."

Thomas started to gurgle which caused Chad to jump up and set Abby's picture back on the desk.

"Hey buddy," Chad calmly soothed his son as he picked him up to cradle him. "Daddy's here. It's okay." Thomas cooed as he felt the familiarity of his father against him. "That's right. Are you hungry?" Chad asked, knowing that his son was always hungry. Abby used to say that she should've known that Thomas was Chad's because no one else eats like Chad did. Thomas had the same appetite.

"Let's go get you a bottle, get you back to sleep, little man."

Thomas started to wiggle and it took a moment for Chad to get a good hold on him. "Okay, okay. We'll go for a walk. I don't know where we'll go at this hour, but, we'll go somewhere nice."

Chad gathered up Thomas' diaper bag and grabbed the stroller on the way downstairs. He passed by Harold, whom he let know he would be out of the house for a little bit and told to take the rest of the night off. Covering his bases, he texted Lucas and Adrienne and let them know he would be out with Thomas when they returned home, so not to worry.

Chad grabbed Thomas' favorite toy dog Mr. Fluffy and before he could set him in the stroller, Thomas practically snatched him out of his Dad's hand with a sneaky smile on his face.

"Somebody is already showing their DiMera ways, huh? When we want something, we don't let anything get in our way, do we?" Thomas clutched his toy dog with both hands as he snuzzled into it, relishing in its calming ability.

As they left the mansion, Chad took a deep breath and let the cool air wash over his face and his skin. He hadn't been out of the house much in the past few weeks. "Months." He corrected himself. The sky was bright and the stars were shining and the memory of how he and Abby had created Thomas came rushing back to him. They had been in the garden on a night just like this and the most beautiful thing came out of it. For some reason, Chad had a similar feeling at that moment. He didn't know what, but, something was going to come out of taking Thomas out for a walk.

They walked down to the Horton Town Square and just as hungry as Thomas had been, Chad felt the same demonic rumblings in his own belly. "Guess I'm hungry too," he whispered to Thomas. "Should we go to the Pub? Should we go to TBD? Where should we go?" Chad scratched his son's belly and made his son smile and giggle.

Chad smiled at his son's face. Every time he smiled he thought of Abby. He clearly had his mother's smile. Thomas had inherited Chad's blue eyes, but everything else was all Abby. It was a good thing. It warmed Chad's heart to know that he would always see a part of Abby in their son. '

"Excuse me," Chad heard a woman's voice come from behind him.

Chad turned around to see the lady in question. When he looked at her, his heart stopped beating for a second. His mouth turned dry and he almost forgot how to blink. The woman was stunning. She had strawberry blonde hair and these eyes that looked so familiar to Chad. He couldn't place it but he felt like he'd seen them before.

"Yes?" He asked, regaining his voice.

She smiled at him. "Is that your son?" She inquired her smile bright and her face was kind.

Chad turned back to Thomas and smiled proudly. "Yes, he is."

"He's beautiful." She remarked. Chad couldn't take his eyes off of her. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him that he knew her but he'd never seen her before in his life.

"Thank you." Instinctually Chad started to play with his wedding ring.

"What's his name?" She asked, sitting down next to Chad.

"Thomas."

"That's a lovely name." She admired as she made faces at Thomas.

"Thank you, my wife picked it out. It was a family name."

She held out her hand. "I'm AJ."

"Chad." Chad extended his hand back to hers. They shook and Chad couldn't stop staring at the woman in front of him. He felt this surge go through him as their hands connected.

"What are you doing out here on a night like this, Chad? And where is Mrs. Chad?" She smiled as she sat back next to him, crossing her legs to make herself comfortable.

"Thomas and I were just out for a late night walk and Mrs. Chad ah…" He paused before he could finish that sentence and tried to fight back the tears that were welling up inside him. He hated strangers see him weak. While he would never partake in their sadistic mind games and manipulations to the people of Salem, he was still a DiMera and DiMera's weren't weak in the public's eye.

"It's okay, if you don't want to talk about it." She assured him as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks." Chad quickly wiped away the start of the tear in his left eye before she could notice it.

"Hey, I've seen you before, haven't I? In the newspapers, right? You're Chad DiMera! You're making all of these big business moves to turn DiMera Enterprises around. Making waves out there."

"Ah, yeah. I am. I don't know if you're familiar with my family's reputation around Salem-"

"Everyone is familiar with your family's reputation around Salem." She cut him off.

Chad chuckled. He had that one coming. "Well, I'm not like them and I wanted to build something good for my son. For his future."

She smiled at him. A sad smile as she replied, "That's wonderful."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get all personal on you. We just met."

"No, it's okay." She assured him. She gathered her purse and as she got up, she said, "I should get going. Good night Chad DiMera. And Good night to you Thomas DiMera…"

"Actually, it's Thomas Jack… Deveraux." Chad corrected her.

"Sounds like a Supreme Court Justice." She laughed as she bid her goodbye's and trailed on through the square.

Chad could only whip his head around at that mention. He'd said the same thing to Abby at the Inn, the night after they'd found Thomas and Ben was officially put behind bars. The night that changed everything for them. Something about the way AJ had said it made Chad think that it couldn't be a coincidence. But it had to be. Right?