Chapter Two

Belle tentatively stepped out of the gate and into the terminal. She looked around for signs of life and saw the excited faces of Chloe and Mimi waving her over. Belle ran over and dropped her overnight bag on the ground to hug them both tightly.

"Oh, it's so good to see the both of you."

Chloe smiled widely, "Welcome home, Belle. We've missed you so much."

Mimi nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I just wish you'd come back home forever."

Belle frowned slightly. "I know... I'm sorry... But, now that I'm out of school forever, I can stick around much longer."

Chloe nodded. "Good, because Salem just isn't the same without Belle Black around."

Mimi had been staring at the gate number and curiously muttered, "Hey isn't this the same gate where..."

Chloe's eyes widened and she practically shot lasers from them in Mimi's direction. She nervously stammered, finishing Mimi's sentence for her, "...absolutely nothing that we want to talk about happened."

Mimi nodded, getting the picture. "Right... so... anyway."

Chloe continued, "Brady really wanted to come to the airport, but their tuxedo fitting got rescheduled for one o'clock."

Belle picked up her overnight bag and shrugged it off. "That's alright... I've got my favorite girls right here, and plenty of time to see my big brother."

The group began walking towards the baggage claim, and Chloe asked, "So where do you want to go first? You and Meems have a fitting at 3:30, so we've got plenty of time to do whatever you want."

Belle pouted slightly. "Home. I miss my daddy."

Mimi chuckled at her. "You always were daddy's little girl."

Belle nodded happily. "And proud of it."
***

Belle ran excitedly into the Black penthouse with Mimi and Chloe in tow. She paused in the empty living room and shouted loudly, "IS ANYBODY HOME?"

John Black emerged from the kitchen and swept his daughter into his arms, kissing her on the forehead. "Oh, Izzy B... welcome home, princess."

Belle smiled and squeezed her dad tightly. "It's good to be home, Dad. I've missed you so much. Is Mom home too?"

"No, she's at the hospital... but she'd dying to see you. I do, however, have someone else here you'd like to see."

Belle looked at him in surprise. "You do?"

John nodded and then shouted towards the kitchen, "Hey kiddo... get out here. She's home."

The kitchen door flew open and JT came bounding into the living room. "BELLE! You're home!"

Belle smiled widely and bundled her half-brother into her arms, kissing him all over his face and running a hand through his brown curls. "Hey J-man... whatcha doing here?"

"Mommy and Daddy had to work today, so I'm spending the day with Daddy John. You look very pretty today, Belle."

Belle grinned and sat on the couch with JT in her lap. "Thank you... you must have learned how to compliment pretty girls from BOTH of your daddy's."

Mimi and Chloe took seats in the living room, and Mimi grinned at Belle. "Or from his big brother Brady."

Chloe nodded and rolled her eyes, "Ain't that the truth..."

Belle winked at her friends and then turned back to JT. "So, you didn't have to go get your suit fitted with the boys today?"

JT shook his head. "Nope, mine fit on the first try."

"Cool... Are you nervous about walking down the aisle with Ali?"

"Nope, she's a nice girl. But, don't give her lots of sugar or she acts like Jack. At least that's what my mommy says."

The group laughed at the accuracy of JT's statements, and Belle cuddled him closer, kissing him on the top of the head. The five of them spent the next hour getting caught up on the latest events, but Belle's attention kept getting diverted from the conversation to the doors that led out to the balcony.

*****FLASHBACK*****

(Morning of the Last Blast, 2002)

Belle quietly crept back into her house a little later than she had planned. She had hoped to be home before anyone in the house woke up, but when she arrived at the building, her mom's car was already gone, probably to a morning meeting at the hospital. When she walked into the penthouse, she didn't see any signs of life so she ran upstairs to take a quick shower and change out of her Last Blast attire.

She came back downstairs with her hair still wet to make a sandwich when she saw something strange out on the balcony. Belle tiptoed over to the closed doors and saw her father talking to Hope Brady. Part of her wondered why Hope would be here at noon on a Saturday morning to talk to her father. Her nosiness got the best of her when she leaned against the glass to listen in, staying out of view. Their voices came through the glass muffled, but still understandable.

"John, it's time... we have to tell them. Bo has known it for a while... and he and I agree. it's time."

John sighed and shook his head, "No, we can't do it, Hope. Marlena and I have tried to shield our children from all the damage that DiMera has caused to our family, and this... this is too much."

Hope placed a hand on his arm. "I know, and we've tried to do the same for Shawn. But, they're not babies anymore. They're all grown up, and they deserve to know the truth. They are no longer as innocent as they used to be, especially not since what happened in Puerto Rico... They can handle this."

"I'm not so sure. This is different..."

Hope sighed sadly. "I know... But, look at them. Shawn and Belle, their relationship is getting more serious every day. I'm not naive, and neither are you... we both know why they stayed out all night last night. They have to know the truth before it destroys what they have together."

"And if they find out the truth? You don't think that will ruin their relationship too? After all they've been through... If they found out that I'm JT's father... it would ruin everything."

Belle nearly fell backwards. She put her hand on her chest with a gasp, and felt her body go numb. Stumbling, she found her way to the couch and sat down. Tears begin to fall from her eyes as she mumbled quietly, "It can't be... It can't."

Belle was in shock, trying to understand how this could have happened. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear the balcony doors open and close behind her. John and Hope walked in and looked at her with fear.

John looked at her strangely and asked, "Belle... When did you get home?"

Belle lifted her head to look at him, her eyes filled with tears and confusion. "It's true. It's true, isn't it?"

Hope looked at her with eyebrows raised, "What? What's true?"

"JT... he's... my brother..."

Hope and John looked at each other with a shared expression, their worst nightmare revealed. John sat next to Belle and clasped her hand. "Izzy... I'm so sorry..."

Belle jerked her hand away from his and inched down the couch. "Just explain it... Tell me how. How this could happen..."

John looked at Hope who nodded in understanding. She picked up the phone off the table and looked at Belle, "I'm going to call Shawn, Bo and Marlena... they need to be here for this too."

*****END FLASHBACK*****

"So, you know Kevin's coming to the wedding, right?"

Mimi looked at Chloe in surprise. "Really? I haven't heard from Kevin in a few years. How did you get in touch with him?"

"I ran into him when I was in New York last month. I guess I forgot to tell you. He invented some new thing for the computer that stores like a thousand times more information than anything we've had before, and takes up about an eighth of the usual space. I don't know, it was all Greek to me because I know nothing about computers."

Mimi looked impressed. "Wow... cool."

Belle shook the memories away and rejoined the conversation with a quiet, "Huh?"

Chloe looked at her strangely. "Hi Belle... welcome back to the conversation."

"Oh, sorry. Got distracted..."

John gave his daughter a worried look. "Are you alright, sweetie?"

Belle nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I promise. Just glad to be home with my family."

Mimi checked her watch and grinned at Belle. "Speaking of... if you want to stop by the hospital to say hi to your mom, we better get going. Our dress fitting is at 3:30."

Belle nodded and kissed JT on the forehead, and he scooted out of her lap. "Alright... see you later J-man."

JT smiled happily as Belle and the other girls stood from the couches. Belle hugged her father and spoke to him quietly. "Did I mentioned already how good it is to be home?"

"Yes, you have... but I don't mind. Now get going... your mother will be so happy to see you."

Belle smiled at her father and headed towards the door. Mimi and Chloe said goodbye to John and JT and followed her out.
***