Disclaimer: Still own nothing.
Chapter 5- Manipulate Her
Mimi's cab pulled up to the mansion and she paid him before walking into her house. She was walking up the stairs when she heard her father's voice coming from the living room.
"Miriam," David said, "can you come here for a second?"
"I'm really tired Daddy," she said from the stairs, "I just want to go to sleep."
"It will take just a minute," he said.
Mimi walked down the stairs and into the living room, "Yes Daddy?" she asked.
David took note of the men's jacket resting on her shoulders, "Did you have a good time with Philip?"
"He just dropped me off Daddy," Mimi said, "I asked him to just drive around so I could collect my thoughts before going home. That's all."
"That better be all," he said, "I know he's not a Brady, but he's still Bo Brady's half brother."
"Believe me Daddy," Mimi assured him, "I would never in a million years associate myself with a Brady or anyone with Brady blood. They're beneath us." Her voice was full of conviction that even she believed her façade.
David smiled at his daughter's words. Her dedication to this family was something he would never forget. He remembered how much it broke her heart to disconnect herself from the new friends Belle, Shawn, and Philip she made when he first brought her home from boarding school when she was ten years old. Without questioning his motivates, she disassociated herself with them because he asked her to. With no questions asked she obeyed her father. But he knew how much it hurt her to loose her friendships since it seemed to be hard for her to make friends. I guess that was the price she had to pay to be the mob princess. But it was easier to let them go after her mother died in that plane crash and her so called friends had turned their backs on her blaming him for it. Like he would kill his own wife, does family loyalty not mean anything to the Brady's as it does to the Lockhart's? "Theyarebeneath us," he conformed, "have a good night princess."
"Good night Daddy," she said giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek. Mimi was at the door when he stopped her again.
"And Mimi," David said.
"Yes?" she said turning around.
"Do you want one of the maids to return Philip's jacket to him?" he gestured to the jacket she was wearing.
Mimi's eyes widen, she forget to give Shawn back his jacket before she ran off, "That will not be necessary," she said, knowing the trouble it will cause, "He was kind enough to give it to me when I was cold, it would only be right to return it to him in person."
"I guess you're right," David said, "besides I hear it is supposed to be a nice day out tomorrow. Maybe you could enjoy the day after returning the jacket."
"Yeah," Mimi said with a smile as she thought about seeing Shawn again, "things seem to be looking up huh?"
David looked confused, he had no idea what he was talking about, "Goodnight princess," he said again.
"Night," she said walking up the stairs. She unconsciously pulled the jacket closer to her body and breathed in Shawn's scent that was in the jacket. She reached her room before she realized what she was doing. She quickly took off the jacket and threw it on her bed as if it burned her skin, "Do not go there Mimi," she said to herself, "He's a Brady. He's dangerous."
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Shawn mumbled as he continued to climb up at tree, "I feel like an idiot." He reached his destination in time to see Mimi smelling his jacket before taking it off in a hurry and throwing it onto the bed, "Looks like someone is falling for my charms," he said smugly. He reached for her balcony and grabbed a hold of it before falling out of the tree. He hit the edge of the balcony hard with his body, "OWE!" he said a little too loudly.
Mimi jumped when she heard his voice; she looked out the door to her balcony to see Shawn Brady trying to climb over the edge. She ran to the door and opened it, "What are you doing?" she whispered as she walked over to him. When she reached him he fell over and landed on the balcony with a loud thud. "Answer me!" she said in a stern whisper, "What are you doing here? You do not belong here!"
"What light through window….owe!" he yelled as he smacked in the arm, "That hurt woman!" he yelled, "Is that any way…" he was cut off by her hand covering his mouth."
"My brother is right next door," she whispered, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"What are you doing here?" she asked again as her patience began to wear thin.
"That looks so much easier in the movies," he said as he pointed at the leg, "I almost broke my neck trying to get up here to see you…" he was interrupted by her again, this time by her laughter, "Are you laughing at my romantic gesture?" He couldn't believe he was laughing at him. He was pissed beyond measure, he nearly killed himself for her and she stands there mocking him with her laughter.
"I'm sorry Shawn," she said through her laughter, "But how is almost killing yourself a romantic gesture?" She used finger quotes around 'romantic gesture.'
"I don't know," he said, "I risked my life to see you again. I figured that would be worth something to you. Apparently I was wrong, when did your heart turn to stone?" Mimi's smile immediately left her face when he said that. "I'm such an idiot," he said standing up and hugging her before he could even think about what he was doing, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I don't think your heart is made of stone," he said. "I don't think you have a heart," he thought to himself. He pushed down the feelings of regret he had for making her cry. "Please don't cry my beautiful Mimi," he thought to himself, "Where the hell did that come from? I don't like her. She's the enemy. I crush her and then I control her. That's all. She's not a person, she's the enemy."
She pulled herself out of his arms, she couldn't stay in there it felt so right to be in his arms, but her mind was screaming no. "I'm sorry," she said, "Everything with Ross is finally catching up to me."
"You deserve better than him," Shawn said, "I meant every word I said to you at Tuscany's tonight."
"Please go," she said, having him this close to her was causing butterflies in her stomach, her heart was doing flip flops and her mind was telling her to run, runaway fast. She took a few steps behind her as her back met the glass window by the door.
"Do you want me to go?" Shawn challenged her, he wanted to her hear her say the words. He took a few more steps closer to her. He didn't understand his movements, he felt like something was drawing him to her.
"My family will kill you if they find you in my room," Mimi stated.
"That's not what I asked," Shawn said, "I asked if you wanted me to go."
"It doesn't matter," she said trying to brush it off.
"Of course it matters," Shawn said, "I told you that I would risk my life to be with you. I meant those words too. In fact just to clear the air, I meant every word I said to you tonight." He saw her smile and he immediately thought, "And the Oscar goes too…"
"You need to go," She said pushing him back towards the edge of her balcony, "if my father or brother came in right now they would kill you."
"I can't," Shawn said.
"Why not?" Mimi asked.
"Because you never said you wanted me to leave," Shawn said stating the obvious.
"Would you just go already!" she was getting frustrated with him, but yet she couldn't tell him that she wanted him to leave.
"I can't," he said again.
"Why not?" she said, "This is me," pointing herself, "telling you," pointing to him, "to leave."
"When you left tonight I felt really cold," Shawn said, "and when I'm with you I feel warm again."
Mimi smiled and took a step closer to him, now there was no space between their bodies, "I think I can help you with that problem."
Shawn took in a deep breath when he felt her body against his own; "Really?" he said seductively, his voice betraying his mind by following his heart.
"Uh huh," she said, her face was really close to his.
Shawn closed his eyes and waited for the kiss to come but it never came. He opened his eyes when he felt her body leaving his. He saw her going inside and grabbing his jacket. He released the breath he didn't know he was holding. He tried to ignore the feeling of disappointment that she didn't kiss him. He followed her into her room.
"I think this will help you with the cold," she said giving him back his jacket, "I'm sorry I ran off with it. I didn't even remember I was wearing it. I just had to get out of there."
"No worries," Shawn said, "it gave me a reason to see you again."
"Why are you being so nice to me Shawn?" Mimi asked, finally voicing her suspicions.
"What do you mean?" Shawn said, getting defensive. Mimi was just supposed to fall into this trap and so far all she's done was resist him every step of the way.
"You haven't spoken to me since my mother died six years and all of a sudden out of the blue you are here with me," she said, "telling me that you'd risk your life to talk to me. I'm sorry but this is all too hard to swallow."
"I know it all seems unbelievable," Shawn said, "but I couldn't stop thinking about you for six years. But because of my family I forced myself to stay away. That was until…"
"Until what?" Mimi said.
"I walked into Tuscany's and saw you dancing with Philip," Shawn said as he placed the jacket back on her bed, "You looked so beautiful and so lost. And I was happy."
"You were happy that I was lost and miserable!" she yelled louder than she meant to. Shawn immediately covered her mouth with his hand and she covered his hand with hers. His hand was faster than her to silence her.
"That's not what I meant by being happy," he said, when she removed her hand, he removed his from her mouth, "I saw on your face what I have been feeling since I let you walk out of my life and I was happy because I had hope that maybe we could rebuild what our families destroyed."
"You mean what we destroyed," Mimi said.
"Mimi we both know we destroyed our friendship out of family loyalty," Shawn said.
"What would make this time any different than before?" she asked.
"What?" Shawn asked.
Before Mimi could respond there was a knock on her door.
"Mimi?" David said, "Are you okay?"
"Yes Daddy," she said.
Shawn rolled his eyes"Oh course she's a 'Daddy' girl," he thought to himself.
"Can I come in?" he asked turning the doorknob.
"NO!" Mimi screamed running to the door closing it as he was opening it.
"What's going on in there?" David asked when he heard her lock the door, "Let me in."
"I'm naked Daddy," she blurted out, her cheeks turned red instantly when she saw Shawn's goofy smile when she said that, "I'm changing out of my dress and I'm…give me a minute to finish getting ready and I'll open the door."
"Okay," David said laughing at his daughter.
"Help me with the zipper," she whispered to Shawn.
He gulped as he unzipped her zipper.
When she turned around she saw that his eyes were close, she couldn't help but to smile at him being a gentleman. "Closet now," she said pushing him into the closet. She quickly changed into pajamas and laid her dress on her chair for the maid to deal with tomorrow. She went to the door and opened it, "What's wrong?" she asked, "I was just about to go to bed."
"I heard you yelling," David said, "is someone in here?" He walked past her and starting looking around the room.
"I was on the phone with Ross," she said, "I got angry at him and I yelled. I'm sorry that I made you worry."
"Is that everything?" David asked.
"Of course that's everything," she said, "why do you ask?"
"I feel like you're hiding something from me," David said as he opened his closet door.
"Yes Daddy," she said brining his attention back to her. She tried really hard not to let her inner freak out come to the surface because she could see Shawn trying to hide among her clothes, "There is no one here but us." She tried to justify to herself that it wasn't a total lie because Shawn was apart of the us, her father just didn't know that.
"Okay," David said closing the door before looking inside, both Shawn and Mimi let out a sigh of relief, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said, "it will just take time. Remember I'm a Lockhart and we don't cry over spilt milk."
"Give me a break," Shawn mumbled in the closet.
"I know princess," he said hugging her, but not believing a word he said, "Goodnight."
He left Mimi's room after he closed the door she went over and locked the door again. She went to the closet and opened the door, "That was too close," she said, "You need to leave."
"We're not done talking Mimi," he said.
"My father almost caught you in my room Shawn," she said, "that has to be a sign that we are not meant to be anything to each other."
"I don't care about your family or mine family anymore," he said, "I want to do something for me. And that means having you back in my life. Even if we have to be secret friends, hiding in the shadows. I can't live another minute of my life without you. I've done it for too long, I can't do it anymore."
"Shawn…"
"Please Mimi," he said, "Give us a chance before you say no."
"I'm afraid," she said.
"Of what?" Shawn asked her as he put his hands on her waist.
"Of what would happen if our families out found," she said, "I'm afraid my family would kill you."
"That's not going to happen," he said hugging her, "I'm never going to leave you."
"You can't make that promise," she said trying to pull away from him but his hands remained firmly on her waist keeping her there, "so don't say those words."
"Meet me tomorrow at the diner on the other side of the tracks," Shawn said, "No one ever eats there, well at least people who would care about the Brady/Lockhart mess."
"Shawn, we can't…"
"If you don't give us a chance before you say no then I'm going to come back here every night until you say yes," he said, "and we both know I will."
"Fine," she said giving up, "I'll meet you. What time?"
"Noon," he said with a smile, "We'll have lunch."
"I can't wait," she said with a smile of her own, "now you have to leave. Good night Shawn."
"Good night Meems," he said hugging her one last time before going to the balcony. He knew he left his jacket on her bed, but he needed to make sure she would show up tomorrow. She couldn't change her mind if she had to return his jacket. He knew she would never ask a servant to return his jacket. He found going back down a lot easier than going up. Once he was to the ground he looked up at Mimi with a smile and waved to her before going off into the night. "You'll be mine soon," he said victoriously, "and then I will use you to destroy you're entire family."
Mimi watched him until he was out of sight, "What am I getting myself into?" she asked herself. She walked about into her room and smiled when she saw his jacket still on his bed. She smiled when she picked it up; she knew he left it here on purpose to make sure that she would meet him tomorrow. She found herself smelling the jacket again, she looked at it again and frowned, "Can I even trust a single word that comes out of his mouth?"