Prologue

Summer 2008 -Salem

Kiriakis Mansion

Chloe Kiriakis was coming down the stairs, heading to the dining room. As she approached the doorway, she heard her husband talking to someone about her and she entered the room; immediately she knew to whom he was talking to.

"Yeah, well, Chloe and I wouldn't mind at all. She would never have any problem with that. Besides, it's not like we have kids or anything. And we won't have any for a while, not until I think that we can handle that responsibility." Philip said as he spoke to his mother. "Mom, I'm sure that she won't have a problem with me going away for a while. I mean I know my wife and she definitely won't have any problem."

"Well, if you're sure that Chloe won't mind. Then, I will really appreciate you doing this favor for me. I mean I wouldn't want to cause any problems between the two of you. She's such a dear girl for you." Kate said as she patted his cheek and left.

"Chloe won't mind at all. I mean it will only be two weeks." He said and watched his mother walk out of the dining room.

"I won't mind? Mind what? It's not like your leaving me or anything like that. Because, I know that my husband would never make a decision to leave me even for a little while without consulting me first." Chloe said walking into the room and coming to stand in front of her husband with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh Chloe," he paused. "Honey, don't I even get a hello? What no good afternoon kiss to say 'Hi'." He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist to propel her body to his.

"I don't think that you need a good afternoon kiss today, Philip Kiriakis. And you know now that I think about it I don't think that there will be a good afternoon kiss in your future for a while." She said as she pushed away from him. "You know something else, Philip, I don't even think that you considered me when you made this decision." She said as she was pulled back into his arms again.

"Come on, Chloe, you know that I wouldn't leave you unless I have to. I need you to be there for me. Babe, it'll only be for two weeks. You won't even notice that I'm gone." Pulling her soft body into his harder body and he pushed her hair back from her face to look into her startlingly, vibrate blue eyes. He knew that he almost had but he needed a little more time to work on his sweet, yet feisty, delectable wife.

As Chloe's hands moved to play with the tie around her husband's throat, she brought her eyes down. "Well, what if you did have a reason not to go? What if there was something I needed to help me with. You would be there for me, right?" her eyes peering back up at his.

"Of course, honey. Whatever you have to do, I'll do it after my trip. Because it can wait until I get back." He said before he put a finger under her chin so that he could kiss her. Then, he lowered his lips onto hers. When she didn't pull back from him. He knew that he had her. His mouth became more forceful as he pushed her tongue into her mouth. i Oh, yeah, I have her /i . That was what he thought right before he felt sharp teeth bite into her tongue. He pulled his mouth away for hers in a hurry. " Ow, thwat, hurt. Woo Wite We."

"Yes, I bite your tongue and I'd do it again. How dare you try to make stop being mad at you. I can't believe you actually tried to seduce me. Damnit, Philip, you can't have your way all the time. What did you think, by kissing me I'd forget about the fact that you didn't even consult me before you made the decision to go away and do something for your mother?" She said as she watched Philip search for a piece of ice to put on his tongue. As soon as he found one he sighed in relief. "Philip, you can't just kiss me and think that I will forget things. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way," she turned and attempted to walk out of the dining room but couldn't because Philip grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Well, you didn't have to bite me to tell me that."

"I just thought you needed something to get your attention. I would have consulted you about that but apparently we don't have a partnership. Or even a real marriage where we consult each other before we act."

"Chloe, it's just a little business trip for my mother. It's nothing for you to worry about."

"My dear husband, it's not the trip that bothers me. It's the fact that you didn't consult me before you agreed to go. Philip, if you don't feel the need to consult me on small things like this, now, then what's going to happen when we have children? Will you let them go and do things without telling me or asking for my input?"

"Chloe, I think that maybe you need to calm down for a moment. We don't have any children yet. So lets stop overreacting. And when we do have children I will consult you on every single decision that I make. But, I don't see the need for me to bother consulting you on little decisions now," he said as he grasped her upper arms. "And I'm sure that once you think about it, you'll see that I am right." Chloe yanked herself away from him.

"And I am sure that you won't mind sleeping on the couch while I'm thinking about it. So I won't be keeping you up all night doing anything too strenuous, " she eyed him quizzically. "Because, I know that you need to keep up your strength to get up tomorrow and go to work. Besides, I'm absolutely sure that once you think about it you'll realize that having you in my bed won't give me much peace to think." With that she turned and left the dining room with her long hair flowing behind her.

Philip stood in the same place and knew that this was going to be a long night.


As soon as Chloe got upstairs she leaned against the closed door. She normally wouldn't be so mad at Philip but this was an entirely new situation. It wasn't the fact that he was leaving for two weeks. She was a corporate wife, she was used to his leaving on business. The fact was that she needed him to be there for her now. She was three months pregnant with their child and it was a something that scared her. Although, she had suspected that she was pregnant for a while. It was now official, her doctor told her just this morning. As she pushed away from the door, she went to the full-length mirror behind her closet doors. She pulled up her shirt to look at her slightly rounded stomach.

She touched the small swell of her child. "I hope that you're okay, my sweet child. I was going to tell your father about you today. But, it seems that he will be leaving us for a while. But, I want you to know that I love you baby. I will never allow you to feel any doubts about that or even to feel unwanted. And I will never give you up for anything in the world. When I finally tell your daddy I'm sure that he'll feel that same way." She said as she placed her blouse over her stomach and went to lie down.

Lying down on the bed she unconsciously placed her hand over her stomach and thought about her future with Philip and their child; knowing in the back of her mind that she needed to tell him, eventually. But, not now while the shock of being pregnant was still new to her. And certainly not while she was a little angry with him. But she will tell him soon. Those few somber thoughts lulled her body into a peaceful sleep thinking about her husband and child.


Later…

Philip was still downstairs having a drink. Chloe was acting weird. He didn't know what was wrong with her but at the same time he was worried about her. Normally, she didn't bat an eyelash about his going away for business. Hell, sometimes she encourages him to go when he didn't particularly want to. He had done it so many times before that he didn't understand what was so different about now.

As he pondered that question, his eyes fell upon a picture of their wedding day, almost two years ago. He looked at Chloe with her long beautiful hair all pinned up, wearing her elegant white designer wedding gown, a perfect fit, snug in all the right places, holding on to his arms as they held her for the picture. Yes, he remembered the day he made Chloe his wife, like yesterday. But, the day when they were so happy was a fond memory now. He knew what he needed to do. Maybe, the problem was that that he wasn't spending enough time with her. She probably just wanted to have some of his time for herself. So as soon as he got back from this trip he would take Chloe on a second honeymoon. He smiled as he thought about his first honeymoon and how much fun they had, had on it. Well, he would make this one even better.

He sighed as he walked up the staircase to his bedroom. As he slowly opened door, careful as to not wake Chloe up, he walked inside and closed the door. Then, through the darkness he approached to bed but, the closer he got to it realized that there was something weird about it. Walking directly to his side of the bed he flipped on the light and there laying in the middle of the bed was an envelope with his name written on it. He reached down, picked it up, and began to read:

My Darling Husband,

If you are reading this letter than obviously you aren't downstairs as you should be. But, you and I both know that there wasn't a chance in hell that you would stay down there the whole night.

Anyway, I have decided that since you think that it's perfectly acceptable to leave me without a moment's notice, regardless of how I feel or what I need to tell you, I can do the same. So I shall be gone for the next two weeks and I will see you when I get home.

If it's okay for you to leave than it's okay for me to leave. If you need to contact for any reason I have my cell phone. So don't worry about me.

Love always,

Your wife Chloe

P.S. Oh and Philip, neither Belle nor my mother know where I am so contacting them would be pointless

"Damnit, Chloe I can't believe you did this," he thought as he threw the letter down and searched for the cordless telephone. As he found it he punched in the numbers of the phone and listened to the sound of endless ringing. As he listened to the ringing he went to his closet and begin to throw clothes into an open suitcase.

"Who the hell is this, don't you know that it's two o'clock in the morning." A tiredly annoyed voice said.

"Shawn, put your wife on the phone, NOW. Or better yet put my wife on the phone."

"Philip," Shawn responded.

"Yes, its Philip would you please put my wife on the phone."

"Your wife?" he asked still a little dazed.

"Yeah, you know, Chloe, tall, long brown hair, piercing blue eyes, voice of an angel, you know my wife. One of your wife's best friends."

"I know who Chloe is. But, why are you calling my house," Shawn paused to look at the clock beside his bed without disturbing his sleeping wife. "At 2:15 in the morning to speak with your wife, who correct if I'm wrong lives with you."

"Of course, my wife lives with me. But, she got mad at something I did earlier tonight and hasn't spoken to me since then. Man, she even kicked me out of my bed. Normally, when she is that mad, I just give her a couple of hours to herself and then, she's all right. But, today when I came up to go to bed she left me a letter and told me she was going a way for two weeks, while I'm on a business trip for my mother. But, she didn't tell me where she was going to be."

"Oh, I see then, you called here to see if she came here. Well, I'm sorry to tell you this Kiriakis, but your wife isn't here and she hasn't come by or called. So I suggest you try elsewhere. Oh, and next time might I suggest that you at least try to call at a reasonable hour." Shawn said as he attempted to hang up the phone.

"Wait a minute, Brady. You didn't ask your wife. Ask Belle where she is."

"I'm not going to ask my wife anything. The baby has been keeping her up all night so I'm not going to wake her up. If you want to talk to my wife call at a reasonable hour, Kiriakis. Good night!" Shawn said and hung up on Philip yelling through the phone. As he snuggled back into the backside of his seven-month pregnant wife., she moved around so that she was in closer contact with his hard body.

"So what did Philip want?" she asked sleepily

"It seems that my uncle's wife has flown the coop for the next two weeks."

"Oh I guess that means that she hasn't told him about the baby," Belle said as she repositioned herself again so that she was lying on his chest.

"Whoa, wait a minute, Chloe's pregnant?" He asked Belle but got no response so he looked down at his wife and saw that she was sound asleep. He gently kissed the top of Belle's golden head . i That explains why she left Philip. Pregnant women are known to be a little zany at times. /i He smiled to himself; Philip had no idea what he was in for. The next couple of months were going to be interesting to say the least. Shawn pulled his wife tighter to him and fell back into a peaceful sleep.


After getting off the phone with Shawn, Philip knew that it would be better if he waited till morning to make any more calls. Closing the suitcase and stripping down to his boxers, he did the only thing he could think of, he laid down on his bed. As he lay there on his pillow he realized that it smelled of Chloe. He breathed it in and thought about his wife, he missed her already. "Chloe, wherever you are I hope you know I'm sorry. I never meant to make you mad. But, my dear wife when I find you again I am going to make sure you never do this again," he vowed as he tiredly went to sleep, thinking about how he was going to find her.