Chloe drove straight home after her confrontation with Phillip at Dot.Com. Her back and neck had begun to ache severely and she managed to drag herself up the stairs without any interference from Benjamin or the other servants. She threw herself on the bed in her room and took one of her prescription pain pills. It may still have been light outside, but she knew her medication would send her straight to sleep. A small price to pay for pain relief, she thought to herself.

Chloe sighed heavily and muttered, "My doctor is going to kill me for running like that... I just know it."

A male voice rang out from the corner, "Not going to happen. You're already dead."

Chloe jumped straight up and saw Keyes sitting in Jan's desk chair.

Chloe gasped in shock, "KEYES!?! You scared the crap out of me. What are you doing here?"

"Sorry kiddo, didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to check up on you, that's all. So, is it as bad as you thought it would be?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, not really."

Keyes smiled satisfactorily and asked, "So, it's good then?"

"No, definitely not."

His expression dropped and he sighed softly. "Well, which one is it? Good or bad?"

Chloe shrugged in confusion. "It's a little bit of both. I mean, not everybody hates me like I thought. In fact, there may be hope for me yet to actually have friends. But, the person who counts the most won't even look me in the eye, unless it's to yell at me."

Keyes nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Chloe. I know this is tough for you, but you're handling it a lot better than most people would."

"Yeah, well... I live in Salem, I've gotten used to dealing with even the most unbelievable situations."

Keyes half smiled at her and winked. "Well, I'm proud of you. You're doing pretty well."

Chloe smiled back at him, but hesitated for a moment. "Keyes... can I ask you something? Something a little bit weird sounding?"

Keyes raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Weird? Chloe, I've been around thousands of years, I've seen just about everything there is to see... You can ask me ANYTHING."

"Okay then... Is it possible for people to know that I'm Chloe and not Jan? I don't mean because I tell them or something, I mean... is it possible for them to just know? When someone who knew me really well looks in my eyes... can they see the real me?"

Keyes sighed thoughtfully and replied, "Honestly... yes. It's extremely rare, but it is possible. Granted, we haven't had much field-testing on this theory because we don't make mistakes like this very often. But, it is possible. If it was someone who knew the true Chloe before you passed away, then it's possible for them to see your soul even in another body."

"The TRUE Chloe?" She wrinkled her brow in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's like this... In life, you meet a lot of people and you think you know them, but sometimes you don't really. You might only see what you want to see, and maybe you don't pay attention to what's really going on inside. Like how you might have felt about Jan, you saw the way she acted and the way she presented herself, but you didn't really know what was going on inside of her or why she acted that way. But then there are people... friends, family, lovers, whoever that see the TRUE you, even if you don't tell them. These are the people who can see through whatever you put out on the exterior and see what you're REALLY about."

Chloe paused to take in his words. She mulled over them in her head for a moment before letting out a depressed sigh. "So... Shawn and Belle... they knew the real me. But, Phillip didn't? Because, when they look at me it's like they see through Jan and they see Chloe. But, Phillip... he just sees Jan. I thought he loved me, why wouldn't he see me?"

Keyes frowned and laid a reassuring hand on Chloe's. "I don't know. But, it's also possible that he'll eventually be able to clear the haze from his brain and see you in there. I couldn't say if that's the case though. But, I'm sure he does love you..."

"He just might not love the real me. He only loves what he's made me up to be in his head," She continued.

"Not necessarily... only time will tell."

Chloe groaned in frustration. "This is so irritating. Everything I thought I knew about him, I guess I don't... I'm not sure if I even know anything about ME anymore."

"You'll figure it out. I can promise you that. And don't second guess me, I do work for the man upstairs, you know."

Chloe chuckled softly. "Well, I feel reassured now. I think."

"So, how's the new body holding up?"

Chloe winced as she was reminded of the pains that sometimes shot through her. "Well, besides being shorter than I used to be... it hurts. I made the dumb mistake of trying to run something akin to a marathon today. Thank God for prescription pain medication."

"I'll send him your regards."

Chloe paused for a moment to figure out his reply. "Huh? Oh yeah, I get it... I said, Thank God... very funny. But seriously, I'm less than great, but better than terrible. Does that sound acceptable?"

Keyes nodded and grinned. "Yes, but only because I know you'll get better."

Chloe smiled widely and impulsively hugged him. "Thank you... I'm glad you stopped by."

"Hey, I'm always here if you need me. I helped get you into this stupid mess, and I want to make sure that you get your fair shake. Besides, I have an eternity ahead of me... I can waste 10 minutes here and there in Salem."

Chloe leaned out of the embraced and smiled again. "Good... I'm glad."

"I'm glad you're glad. Now, I'm gonna go because I have a feeling that pain pill you took is going to work it's magic and send you into dreamland any second now."

Chloe grinned slyly and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I have a low drug tolerance."

"Catch ya later, then." Keyes winked slyly at her and disappeared in a quick flash of light.

Chloe nodded and looked around the room. "Wow... impressive."

Chloe laid back down on the bed and nuzzled her head into the pillow. She could feel the effects of the pills beginning already, and although she tried to fill her head with thoughts of Phillip, she could only hear Keyes' words echoing in her head. Chloe yawned and mumbled quietly as she drifted off to sleep, "He doesn't see the real Chloe..."
***