Jealousy
By: SaneJane
Summary: Edited repost. Fox finally has Whitney, the woman of his dreams. Or is she really the woman of his dreams? What happens when his old friend Dylan comes into town, and shows an interest in Theresa? Sparks of jealousy fly everywhere, ricocheting off all the residents of Harmony and proving just how closely entwined they are.
A/N: I began this way back in the days when I still watched "Passions," as opposed to now and I only keep up with it online. I quit watching regularly after Kay and Fox got together, and quit once and for all when Justin Hartley left the cast. I hate the New Fox, so in this fic, keep Justin in mind, please.
This takes place around the time Theresa was Ethan and Gwen's surrogate and Whitney and Fox got together, though with my own twists. The comings and goings of the plot:
Chad and Whitney are still believed to be brother and sister, and she's pregnant with, well, Miles, I suppose. They found out they were brother and sister in time right after he knocked her up, but she's keeping the pregnancy a secret in hopes of passing the baby of as Fox's.
Theresa never did that whole surrogate scandal thing. She's still hung up on Ethan, and Ethan and Gwen are still trying to have a biological baby of their own.
Gwen and Rebecca never took Little Ethan away from Theresa, though he mostly lives at the Crane mansion.
Fox and Whitney are together.
Fox is still instated at Crane Industries, but Chad is not. Alistair wouldn't let him be a part of the Crane family business, as he's an illegitimate child.
Happy reading.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter One: The Unexpected Phone Call
A huge sigh was elicited from the lips of Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, which were currently set down into a frown. Ripping off her huge Chanel sunglasses, she craned her neck up, peering over herself down at the glittering, crystal clear water of the Crane swimming pool, where her two best friends in the world, Whitney Russell and Fox Crane, were supposed to be swimming. But instead of swimming, they were about waist-deep in the water, kissing quite loudly and obviously.
All the love they shared was really getting on the Hispanic beauty's nerves. Love hadn't been shining too brightly on her as of late. So seeing the two people she was closest to be all over each other on a daily basis was enough to make her feel depressed. When she was alone with Whitney, all the girl talked about was how in love she was with Fox. And when she was alone with Fox, all he talked about was how in love he was with Whitney. As for Theresa…Theresa had no one to love. All she had ever wanted in life was to find that special someone to love, marry him, and have lots of children. But so far, she hadn't been able to accomplish that.
Ever since she had been a little girl, she had thought she knew who that man was. Ethan Crane, who since then had turned out to be Ethan Winthrop, but he had other plans. After bouncing back and forth between Theresa and another woman by the name of Gwen Hotchkiss, who was just about as different from Theresa as possible, he had eventually chosen Gwen, who was pregnant with his child at the time. After their daughter Sarah had died, however, Theresa had expected Ethan to come back to her. But so far, that had not happened.
So the fates hadn't smiled upon her when it came to love. That was all going to change though, right? Yes, it had to. At least that's what she constantly told herself. Things were going to change. Ethan was going to come back to her. It was only a matter of time.
But at the moment, she really couldn't handle anymore of the little PDA show Whitney and Fox were putting on. "Excuse me," she said loudly, clutching a hand over her bikini top. She had untied the strings that went around the next so she could tan without the fear of tan lines, but she was now in danger of having it fall down when she sat up. Finally, Fox and Whitney broke apart. "Could we tone it down a bit? It's kind of strange to see you two all over each other. Couldn't you ease me into it a bit? Not just start making out all over the place?" After all, it had only been a couple of weeks since the two of them had become more then just friends. And it had only been about that long since Whitney had found out that Chad, her boyfriend of many years, also doubled as her half brother. Though Theresa knew Fox had loved Whitney for a long time, she still got a little shocked when she saw them kiss. It was just WEIRD.
"Sorry," Fox replied with his patented smirk. He ran a hand over his glistening, wet blond locks. "I have a problem with keeping my hands to myself when I get around this gorgeous woman."
Whitney giggled as he slid an arm smoothly around her bare waist. She sobered though, as she whispered to her boyfriend, "C'mon, you know how Theresa has been feeling lately, with Ethan and everything…I don't think she's in the mood to see us be so in love."
Reluctantly, Fox nodded. "Okay. Fine."
Pecking him on the cheek, Whitney pulled her thick mass of curly hair away from her face and secured it back with a hair band from around her wrist. "Thank you."
Theresa, having overheard all this, wordlessly thanked God that Whitney had enough common sense to know all this and be sympathetic to her feelings. Relaxing again, she resituated her sunglasses back on her nose, and then stretched her arms down at her sides, deciding to focus on getting the perfect tan. Maybe once she had perfectly tan skin she'd be more desirable to Ethan.
Just after that thought occurred to her, a loud ring sounded in the air, that of a shrill cell phone. It wasn't coming from her things, which were gathered in a pile next to her chair, which meant that it had to be either Fox's or Whitney's. "Who's is that?" she asked, not opening her eyes.
"Mine," came Fox's voice as a reply. There was a loud splashing as Fox hoisted himself up out of the pool, and headed over towards where he had placed his towel, his cell phone sitting on top of it. Flipping it open, he placed it up to his wet ear, answering, "Fox Crane."
"Foxy old buddy!" a loud, jovial voice exclaimed in return. It was a voice Fox never forgot, and never would forget, though he hadn't heard from him in months. Dylan Banning, his best friend from his adolescent years at boarding school. "How are you?"
Settling down onto the white, perfectly clean lawn chair, Fox picked up a towel and roughly rubbed his hair. "Great. And you?"
"Funny you should ask about me…because you'll never guess where I am."
"Probably not," Fox agreed. Dylan's family was almost as wealthy as the Crane's, and therefore, Dylan had a lot of money at his disposal. He used it to travel to exotic, expensive places; places Fox would never go in a million years. He had no reason to go. Why leave when he finally had the woman of his dreams? But he had to admit, hearing about Dylan's out of this world adventures were always amusing.
"I'm in Harmony."
Whatever Fox was expecting, it wasn't that. "Repeated that," he requested after a long, silent pause.
"I'm in Harmony," Dylan said again dutifully. His voice held a note of laughter as he continued, "Where in Harmony you may ask? Well, for the answer to that…just turn ever so slightly to your left."
Unable to comprehend all this information and still shocked that his best friend was in the actual same town as him, Fox turned, not expecting the obvious. The obvious being that sure enough, there sat Dylan's red Porsche, with none other then Dylan leaning against it's gleaming hood, a cell phone drawn up to his ear. Upon seeing Fox spot him, he raised an arm, waving, while saying into the phone, "Long time no see."
"No way in hell…" Fox muttered, a slow smile spreading over his face at the prospect of seeing his old friend again. "Why are you here?"
"Came to check up on you, of course. Scope out what's so great about sleepy ol' Harmony that has kept you here." He continued to stand, immobile, next to his car. "So far, I just don't get it. Why are you still in this hellhole?"
"The company," Fox retorted, grinning like crazy. "Come out to the pool and see." With that, he closed his cell phone, and set it down onto the towel, resisting the urge to jump into the air and whoop. Quite calmly, he turned back to a curious Whitney, and a curious, though not showing it as much, Theresa, explaining, "My friend Dylan is in town. Actually, he's on the grounds, and he's coming out here."
"Dylan who?" Whitney questioned, a confused frown wrinkling her otherwise smooth forehead. "I've never heard you talk about any Dylan."
"It's his friend from boarding school," Theresa supplied from over on her chair. Raising her sunglasses up, she looked at Fox with a questioning note in her big doe eyes. "Why is he here?"
Fox shrugged. "Said he wanted to check up on me."
"And that I did," came a male voice from behind Fox, as Dylan Banning slipped into the pool area, closing the gate behind him.
Dylan was, no matter who you were talking to, undeniably gorgeous. His thick, wavy black hair and smoky gray eyes were a family trademark, and he had the smile of a heartbreaker that could melt even the iciest of hearts. He was charming and funny, plus well traveled and educated. The kind of man any woman would want. But Dylan didn't want just any woman. He had the unfortunate habit of going through woman after woman after woman, breaking hearts in the blink of an eye. Just like Fox used to do. But while Fox had given up that way of life, Dylan was still at it.
"How's it going, Fox?" he greeted easily, clapping Fox on a bare, wet shoulder. His eyes flitted over Whitney, lingering on her for a moment, before flicking over to Theresa and settling there. He quite clearly liked what he saw.
Fox noticed this, but decided to let it go. For now. "It's going great." Turning back towards the pool, where Whitney still resided, he introduced, "This is Whitney—"
"Ah, the famous Whitney," Dylan interrupted with a knowing grin. "The one who captured playboy Fox Crane's heart. It's great to finally meet you."
Whitney, amused with this, smiled in return. "You too. I had never heard of you before today…but well, it's great."
"Fox talked Dylan all the time when he first moved here," Theresa informed her friend, still lounging in her chair. While Dylan had taken the moment to give Whitney the once-over, she in return had done the say to him. Now she appeared that she really didn't care, and kept her eyes closed, drinking in the sun. "Then he just kind of…stopped."
"I should be offended, but I'm not. I'd probably want to forget me too," Dylan cracked, still eyeing Theresa with an interest. "Fox, do tell, who's your other lovely friend?"
"That's Theresa," Fox answered after a brief pause. He knew that look in Dylan's eye, and he really didn't like it. He could care less how many hearts Dylan had broken in the past, but he was not going to let him mess around with Theresa. She was too special for that.
"Theresa…as in Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, your ex-stepmother?" Dylan asked, slow realization dawning over him. He extracted his hands from his pockets in an unhurried, thoughtful manner as he chewed on this piece of information. "Your GORGEOUS ex-stepmother?"
"For the record, I was never married to Julian," Theresa corrected. She lifted her head slightly and removed her sunglasses, offering Dylan a bit of a smile. "But I'll accept the compliment."
Dylan grinned in return. "You know, Foxy here as sent me pictures of you, but you're a lot more beautiful in person."
"Funny, Fox used that same line on me, except he saw me in the tabloids," was Theresa answer, unmoved by the obvious showering of compliments he was giving her, and probably would have continued giving her, if Fox hadn't given him a swift elbow in the ribs, his meaning clear: lay off.
Slipping back down into the cool water of the pool, Fox asked, "So, how long you staying here?"
Dylan's eyes were still trained on Theresa, who was by then sitting up and retying the ties on her bikini top. "I think I might stick around for a while, Foxy. You're right. The company here is VERY nice."
