Place: Paris
Time: Same Day
Shane waited until he heard Anna's car roar out of the drive. By then, Jeanne was beyond even pretending there was someone else in the room as she plied Patrick with questions about the exciting world of espionage and Shane decided this was as good an opportunity as he was going to get to determine the damage done before climbing onto an airplane full of people, only to find Kim not speaking to him at all.
"I'll be back," he said, dropping a light kiss on top of his daughter's head. She actually looked up and nodded but only because Patrick was being a allowed a rare opportunity to express himself, so that Jeannie could gaze at him with that dreamy expression she'd worn since entering the house.
"Teenagers," he muttered, shaking his head. Course, he would have preferred those sorts of problems to the one he was facing now.
The door to the study was open and Kim stood over in front of the mantle, with a picture in her hand, one taken about five years earlier on Christmas when he'd come out to visit them in Los Angeles. He couldn't see her face but the stillness in her manner made him pause. The picture was cradled in one hand and she was tracing and outlines with her finger with such gentleness. It was as though in her mind, she was touching real hair and flesh instead of glass.
He wasn't sure how long they remained that way before she became aware of his presence and her hand stopped moving. Without saying a word to him, she set the picture back in its place.
"You want to know what she was doing here," he observed as she stood with her back to him.
"And you're not going to tell me."
She didn't even make it a question and he tried to detect the accusation in her tone that normally would have accompanied any comment pertaining to how he allowed his job to interfere but it wasn't there this time. Instead, it came across as a simple fact she'd grown accustomed to and he stared. Perhaps he'd not heard correctly.
"Kim?"
Another moment of silence took over the room and then she turned, wearing a smile. "Where's Jeannie?"
"In the kitchen…" he began, unable to discard his natural skepticism.
"With Patrick?"
"Oh yeah…glued to his every word and well…" he shrugged. "I wager she'll suggest he ride along with us to the airport."
"A wager, eh?"
This time he did hear the slightest hint of a purpose buried in the levity. Kim had always been one to tackle a problem head on to begin with unlike Anna who adored games, but Kim's encounter with Tony's wife appeared to have her rethinking the tactics she'd been using so far. He just wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not quite yet but he had to admit it was a bloody sight easier than the tension between them lately. Whether it would last was another question.
"And what," she asked, leaning back against the smoothness of the mahogany mantle, "shall be the prize?"
"You sound pretty confident."
For the first time since her arrival, Kim's smile beamed in a way that sent his heart hammering in his chest. "Knock it off Donavan," he told himself sternly but he couldn't seem to wipe away the silly grin he felt plastered across his face.
"Jeannie's attention span doesn't last all that long. She'll have lost interest before we finish lunch, depending on what you're serving."
"Oh?"
"Well, if Patrick is more entertaining than the food, you could just have a shot at winning though we still haven't determined what the lucky recipient will receive."
Shane eyed his ex-wife who still stood across the room from him, having not moved even one step closer and decided it was time to see just how serious she was. "Then I will let you name it."
And he was rewarded with a look of surprised delight.
"Anything?"
"Short of a visit to the queen…"
"Don't sell yourself so short. I don't think you'd have any trouble pulling that off."
"Or questions about Tony DiMera."
Her face froze, literally.
The silence between them ballooned until it was deafening, and though she'd done her best to hide the frustrations simmering below the surface, within seconds that all changed and marred the beauty of her expression as her suspicions came boiling to the surface.
"I don't understand why you're doing this Shane," she said, flinging the words at him to cover the pain she was feeling. "Can't you just give me a reason? Anything?"
"What reason could there be that you'd accept?"
"The truth would work just fine."
It was a piercing indictment and it echoed in the room, resonating even as it blasted away at the veneer he'd both consciously and unconsciously built up to deal with her questions.
Damn Tony and damn this stupid unending feud and the ugly snatches of the past it was beginning to reveal.
She wasn't going to like the answers that came eventually.
Shit, he didn't like any of the evidence they'd unearthed so far and the more time they wasted stumbling through this labyrinth Stefano and Andre were busy constructing, hoping, at least for his part that there would be some kind of redeeming explanation at the end of all of it to perhaps save her family's honor, the more damning the facts they turned up. What little hope he'd started out with had vanished after Colin's wake.
Not to mention how ironic the situation was becoming amongst the four of them. At this point, he'd give anything to be able to confide in her, even though he could admit to himself the utter selfishness of such a desire. As awful as this was for his partner, at least Tony had a confidant in his wife…an ocean away to be sure but her support was frankly the only thing holding Tony back from unleashing his emotions.
What the hell was he going to use to save himself, Shane wondered.
The question made him painfully aware once more of her standing there, watching him, her dark eyes haunted with memories of the mistakes he'd made in the past but still displaying her faith in his character…expecting him to do the right thing.
How could he explain to her that was exactly what he was doing?
Shane could feel his jaw clench, trying to hold back his own need to lash out at her assumptions, and worse, her contention that this would all go away if he'd only confide in her.
How positive she was at this moment that anything was better than not knowing. Maybe he ought to suggest she go talk to Tony so she could realize what a mistake that was but anywhere in the vicinity of Tony DiMera was the last place Shane wanted Kimberly. He had to find a way to keep her out of this, at least far enough away that she'd not end up in range of Stefano or Andre, though with someone this stubborn, that was a quandary he still had no answers to.
"The truth…" he did his best to swallow his bitterness before it got out of control, "right now is nothing more than few clues and lots of supposition which is as much as your brothers have already because the people with the answers are either dead or missing or too afraid to speak up and I realize that asking you to trust me about this is like asking you to accept that the world might be flat but there isn't anything else…"
"Trust you." Her eyes skewered him with ferocity at the mere suggestion and Shane had the good grace turn away in embarrassment. "You do recall where that has landed me in the past," she said, her voice strained to the point that he barely stand to hear the pain in it without wincing.
"This is different…"
"Oh? Well, it doesn't feel that way to me," she snapped at him. "And were you the one forced to explain to Colin's mother a few months ago that her son is dead because he got involved with someone you can't even touch?"
Shane didn't bother answering that, mostly because he didn't trust himself to do so without giving away the fact it would be an outright lie and Kimberly would pick up on that pretty easily. She'd had plenty of experience with that aspect of his job over the years, and his methods of dealing with it, though he certainly recognized her allusion to their past with Victor as well, a thorn in their relationship that he'd been responsible for and no matter how many years seemed to pass, it was a mistake that simply wouldn't die thanks to his own stupidity. Anyway, this was a conversation that was quickly going to degenerate if he didn't put a stop to it now. He didn't like the idea of it following them through the rest of the trip but that was preferable to the alternative.
Lifting his head to face her, the truth of what was coming made him ache for her. God, how he wanted to soften the blow somehow but she was more than liable to point the finger at him when it finally played out and he could hardly blame her. Still the thought twisted his gut into knots. Why had he left things this way until it was too late?
He could already see the sense of betrayal lurking in the back of her gaze.
"I don't even recognize you anymore Shane, You've changed into the kind of person you used to despise…"
Her accusation, uttered in an incredulous, anguished tone cut deep, worse than he would have imagined.
"God, I didn't want to believe it before but it's…" she had to stop and swallow back her tears before she continued. "…true. You really have sold out your principles. And for what? So that they'll appoint you to run the ISA?" Her breathing was growing faster now as her imagination and suspicions took over. "You know, Anna just questioned me…or perhaps on your cue made sure to point out that you'd never do anything to put me or your children in danger but you can't imagine that I'd accept you kowtowing to the DiMeras as evidence that you care about their safety."
"I'm NOT selling out my children, or my principles for the DiMeras."
"Then prove it."
Shane shook his head in despair.
"You have information about Tony that you're keeping from Roman and Bo. The fact that you're blocking John's access at the ISA and now I find Anna here only proves…."
"I'm doing what? Kim, I'm the one who sent someone to help John."
Her eyes burned even brighter now as it seemed the odd decisions he'd making over the last year began to fit a pattern. "Help him or is the man you sent been given another purpose entirely, is he there to keep John from asking too many of the wrong questions? Tell me," she demanded before he could argue with her contention, "just how was it that Tony so conveniently showed up at the compound last November when you were the only one privy to the fact that John had access to the location of the island?"
Shane had to keep himself from rolling his eyes in disgust. "Let me get this straight. You think that Tony DiMera needs my help to keep tabs on anyone?"
"John isn't anyone…and he's convinced that Tony was tipped off and that he arrived first so that he could make sure Marlena found that letter, the one Daphne supposedly wrote about them being brothers."
"I can't help John's paranoia when it comes to the DiMeras. I tried pointing that out to him when I was there…that he and Bo could be wrong as Tony wasn't implicated in the information I'd dug up on Welsh, but neither of them would listen to me. At the time, I could sympathize with Bo's inability to be rational as Hope was missing but John hasn't even tried being rational about Tony or his old man for years."
"Considering those twins turned out to be Marlena and Tony's children, what, in God's name is he supposed to think?"
"Kim, I…" Shane's voice trailed away. This was pointless and getting them nowhere except further apart.
"You can't say it, can you?"
"There is nothing to say."
"Really," she shot back, the derision in her tone obvious. "And all those questions you kept asking Pop when you were in Salem, about Colin and that damn boat Stefano left him in the will."
Shane swore silently to himself. Knowing Kimberly as he did, he should expected that after their conversation and his refusal to investigate Tony following Shawn's heart attack…that she would start asking questions of her own….well, that and listening to John and her brothers, all of whom were beyond obsessed with their witch hunt as tensions worsened in Salem. Though Tony wasn't exactly his favorite person lately, Shane had to admit this was getting out of hand, and Tony wasn't exactly the forgiving type. If John or anyone else pushed, Tony was going to push back. Problem was, Shane had no idea of how to stop it from happening, of if he should.
"I questioned your father because both Roman and Bo came to me and asked if I would help them out as he refused to answer any of their questions, or did they leave out that little detail when they spoke to you?"
Kim searched his face and he could tell that she understood this was exactly the kind of thing her brothers would confide. "They did?"
He nodded and then, "The only reason I was able to assist them when Hope disappeared was a lucky coincidence…"
"There are no coincidences when it comes to the DiMeras."
"But that's just it," he explained with as much patience as he could muster. "Welsh is hardly in the same league and he's made himself the wrong enemies over the years, ones who were only to happy to rat him out to gain immunity for themselves." It wasn't entirely a lie, he reminded himself as he watched her take in this information thoughtfully. He could tell, as suspicious as she was, she really did want to believe him and though it made him feel a complete heel, he'd take whatever he could get for now.
"That still doesn't explain you total unwillingness to help work with the Salem PD or John, or share whatever you learn about Tony."
Shane threw his hands up in frustration. "And what has he done that is against the law exactly? Announce in a public place that he and John are related or attend a wake for the man that he believes saved his life once, thereby upsetting your father, who I'll remind you once again is the one refusing to tell any of us the reason for this grudge. If he is not willing to help us at this point Kimberly, my hands are tied. Tony hasn't done anything that is against the law in Salem, let alone any international statutes that I could use as a basis for an investigation. I have to be able to give the department a reasonable case before they gamble the kind of funding that such scrutiny would require."
"I know that but surely his family's business dealings aren't legal."
"Kim…" he said her name softly, mostly in an effort to stifle his own frustration. "Tossing the man in jail for smuggling, or anything else I might be able to come up with isn't going to solve the problem for more than a month at the outside. He and his family have been doing business for decades and know all the tricks. There is no way we'd be able to access the information we need to find, not to mention it would tip him off that we suspect him of something much more dangerous."
"But if you're not doing anything…"
"I didn't say that."
"Yes you did when I called you in January, you refused to begin an investigation."
"A formal one, yes."
"Come on Shane, you wouldn't even discuss the subject with me at all."
"That's because I can't Kimberly and you already know that for heaven's sake."
The confusion and pain in her eyes at these words was like getting a knife in his gut but he kept himself from turning away. If he did, she'd know he was lying. She might read it in his expression anyway but he could tell how upset she was, how conflicted. As suspicious as she was that he just might be doing something that would benefit Tony, the fact was that she didn't truly believe that was possible, not intentionally at least. She could yell at him, throw it in his face that his job meant more to him than she did, but deep down, she couldn't fathom the idea of him selling out his principles.
"And if I could talk my father into opening up and confiding in you?"
"Then you'd be a miracle worker because believe me, everyone else I can think of has tried and run headlong into the block wall that is Shawn's stubbornness and given his condition, I honestly don't see your mother allowing it."
"And is that a reason or an excuse?" she asked, though with less conviction that only a few moments before and recognizing this was as much of an opening as he was going to squeeze out of the situation for now, Shane conceded.
"If you are able to persuade him to speak to me, I'll listen."
"And if…"
But he shook his head to stop her before she could box him into a promise that at this point would be impossible for him to keep. "First you get Shawn willing to talk, and then we'll go from there."
Kim nodded. She reached over and thanked him by clasping his hand and then left the room, the sound of her shoes on the hardwood floor receding as she make her way down the hall to find Jeanie, and finally Shane let out a sigh of intense relief.
Christ, she'd only been here an hour. How on earth was he going to make it through the rest of the week without digging himself in even deeper?
