The rattle of china and the smell of food and flowers woke Philip. Bleary eyed he sat up in bed to discover Chloe at the door hugging a grinning Caroline. He glanced around the room, scrubbing his hands across his face in disbelief when his gaze fell on a beautiful table laden with flowers and an array of plates. Slightly befuddled he watched in silence as Chloe closed the door gently and pivoted on one leg only to recoil exclaiming "Philip! I thought you were still sleeping."

"I kept hearing noises, and I could smell...is that steak?" His stomach rumbled loudly, "How did you get all of this in here? And how did you get all the way over there?"

"In order of questions...yes that is steak. A porterhouse to be exact cooked just the way you like it. With a loaded baked potato and fresh corn. Caroline and Henderson helped me arrange everything and I got over here by doing this..." Chloe hopped closer to the table as she spoke, "It's probably not the best method, but I can make it around the room."

Philip opened his mouth to tell her to stop, but catching sight of the smile on her face settled for climbing out of bed and moving closer to her saying, "How about we see if Lexie will let you use some crutches Hop-along?"

"That would be easier wouldn't it?" She crinkled her nose slightly, "I do feel a bit silly, but at least I'm moving under my own steam again."

He pulled out her chair, dropping a kiss on her forehead before moving to sit across from her, "As long as you don't try to hop down the stairs. That would give Henderson's heart a workout it does not need."

She snickered softly, "You mean like the one it got that time he caught us in the pool house in high school?"

Philip cut into his steak with a laugh, "Oh my god. I almost forgot about that...how did we talk our way out of that one?"

"I think you said something about me losing my contact, though I don't think he believed that I'd lost it down my shirt..."

"No, he did let me know later that he wasn't the least bit fooled." He shook head in amusement; popping a bite of steak into his mouth he glanced around the room again, noticing for the first time that there were tea light sized candles scattered on several pieces of furniture. He , "So...uh, what prompted all of this?"

"I wanted us to start getting back to normal. Well, as close to it as we can right now. So..." she gestured at the room with her fork, "We're going to have dinner, and we're going to watch a movie and we're not going to talk about anything depressing for at least 3 hours."

"Sounds good to me." Philip leaned back in his chair, watching Chloe nibble delicately at her dinner before saying mildly, "I have some news that I think is good, but I'm not sure if you want to hear it tonight."

"What kind of news?" She took a small sip of wine, "If you think its good, I probably will too."

"It's about the Trent Robbins case, I think we've worked out a way to keep Melanie out of jail and to keep the police from harassing Nicole about it either."

Chloe's left eyebrow rose inquisitively, "I didn't know Nicole was a suspect."

"It's just bluster, but EJ doesn't want them upsetting her what with the baby and all, and you didn't want Melanie to go to jail so we came up with a plan." He took another bite of his food before saying, "It's a little convoluted, but to make a long story short we've arranged for the 'real' killer to fall into their laps."

"What does that mean?" Feeling her hand shaking, she slowly and deliberately set down her glass of wine.

"Trent had a lot of enemies. Some of them had enemies. We're making sure it looks like he was killed by someone that died in suspicious circumstances a few days ago." Philip eyed Chloe's face cautiously, "We can stop talking about this if you'd rather not know."

"No. I want to know. How did you manage to tie the crime to this person so that the police would believe it?"

"It really wasn't hard, he was one of a few people that actually had the resources to put a hit out on Trent so we're making sure the cops find out that information." Philip shrugged, "They'll probably still suspect pretty much everyone in Salem, but the DA won't risk pressing charges with an evidence trail pointing so clearly to someone else."

"How did he die?" Seeing his expression shift to confusion she clarified, "You said suspicious circumstances, what does that mean?"

"I don't really know, EJ had to translate the news story for me, but I believe he was found in a canal." He frowned, "This probably violated the whole thing about nothing depressing, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It is nice to know they won't keep bothering Nicole and that Melanie isn't going to jail." Chloe smiled wryly, "I think it does count as good news given everything that's been going on."

"True. So, what movie do you want to watch?"

"Something funny. You pick it."

The conversation turned to Chloe's idea of a funny movie while they finished their meal, and after she'd shot down several suggestions Philip announced, "I know the perfect movie."

"Really? What is it this time? Something about belching?"

"No. But I'm not telling you. You just have to trust me."

"I always do." Chloe laced her fingers through Philip's, "Always."

He kissed each of her fingertips gently before letting go of her hand and getting to his feet. When she moved to stand too, he said mildly "We're going to watch this downstairs in the family room."

Chloe shrugged and raised her arms, laughing delightedly when Philip spun her in a circle before heading for the door. He fumbled trying to reach the knob until she slapped his arm, and opened the door for the both of them. The clumsiness of the whole process struck Philip as funny and his laughter rang through the house as he strode down the stairs. He deposited Chloe on a plush sofa, covering her legs with a light blanket before kneeling down to rummage through a box of DVD's. He kept his body between her and the box, swiftly moving to put the movie on before she could see what was in his hands.

"No fair. I should at least be able to see the box!"

"Nope, you just have to wait. And you have to promise to watch for at least ten, no make that fifteen minutes."

"Fine." Chloe grumbled quietly to herself until the opening credits started and she exclaimed "Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein?!"

"I know it's old, but please give it a chance. It's really funny."

"I've never seen this one, but I saw the one with the Mummy. They're hilarious."

"You actually sat and watched Abbot & Costello? Why?"

"One of the Swiss networks would air old American shows and movies with subtitles late at night. Abbot & Costello was in the rotation."

Philip chuckled, "I'm trying to picture you staying up late to watch slapstick, you're usually exhausted after a day of rehearsal."

Chloe's eyes dimmed slightly as she said, "I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep."

"Too wired from all the adrenaline and caffeine? I know the feeling, I get that way too." Taking in the sad look on her face he said softly, "Or were you waiting up for Brady?"

"I...uh...I don't want to talk about it. I want to watch the movie." She shook herself briskly, "Happy thoughts remember?"

"Yes ma'am." Putting his arm around her shoulders, he leaned in and whispered "But if you ever want to talk about it I'm here."

She didn't say anything in response, but a few minutes of the movie had them both laughing. By the time the final credits started to roll she was in a playful mood. Trying to wrestle the remote away from him she lunged and nearly fell off the couch. Philip reached to catch her and found himself flat on his back with a giggly Chloe flopped across him. Their eyes met as she leaned in to kiss him and for a moment Philip felt all of his worries slip away.