Chapter Nineteen

(After a good night's sleep.)

Chloe awoke in her own bed for the first time in far too long. She rolled over, pulling her blankets close to her, her mind and heart still reeling from what had happened the night before. Chloe opened her eyes and saw the sun peeking through her curtains. She yawned loudly and sat up, pushing her blankets aside.

Chloe slid out of bed and slowly trudged towards her bedroom door. She opened it to find Nancy standing directly on the other side. Both women jumped in shock, and Chloe yelped loudly.

"Geez, Nancy... Have you been standing outside my door all morning or something?"

"No, Chloe. I was just about to peek in and check on you, to see if you were awake yet."

Chloe nodded and stifled another yawn. "Well, I'm awake... What time is it anyway?"

Nancy checked her watch and looked back at Chloe. "It's almost noon."

"Noon? Already?"

"We didn't want to wake you too early, you need your rest, sweetheart."

Chloe nodded in understanding. "I know, but..."

Nancy continued her sentence for her. "But, you want to go back and be with Brady. Craig told me what happened last night. You love him..."

"Nancy, please... I know that you've never really approved of me spending time with Brady, but this isn't like with Phillip. Everything is different. Brady is good for me..."

"Chloe, you're right. I haven't always approved of your friendship with Brady Black. But, I know that he's been there for you on every occasion that you have needed him. And, I also know that my daughter is strong, intelligent and very perceptive. If you think this is the right choice, then so do I."

Chloe smiled happily and hugged Nancy closely. "Thank you, Nancy. I know without a doubt that Brady is the one for me. And, I know that you'll feel the same way too eventually."

Nancy let go of her and smiled proudly at her daughter. "I'm sure I will. Now, why don't you go take a bath and pamper yourself for a little while, and I will fix you a big healthy breakfast... or lunch... or something. And, then I'll drive you over to the hospital."

"Thanks Nancy... A little pampering and some home cooked food sounds perfect right about now."

"Good, I'll go get started on that breakfast."

Chloe sighed softly as Nancy turned and walked away. She shut the door behind her and smiled happily. Chloe went to her closet, picking out some clean clothes to wear today and was about to head towards the bathroom when the phone on her nightstand began ringing. She laid the clothes on the bed and quickly grabbed the phone.

"Hello..."

"Good morning, Diva... Actually, good afternoon."

"Brady..." Chloe smiled as she always did when she heard his voice.

"So tell me that there's a reason why you're not here with me right now... Please."

Chloe laughed softly. "Because, I just woke up. I plan on coming over as soon as I take a bath and get some breakfast."

"Oh good, because the hospital staff was getting worried about you. The nurses, the orderlies, the doctors... They all keep asking what happened to that dark haired, blue eyed, extremely beautiful diva that's been roaming around here for days."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Ha... Very nice. I hope you told them, that the diva went home for a little pampering. Finally. I can't even tell you how nice it was to sleep in my own bed again."

"Hmmm. Well, I should be able to know that feeling in about three days, so we'll compare notes then."

"Three days? Really?"

"Yup. Craig just stopped by, said all my tests were perfect, and I should be able to leave the hospital in a few days. I just need to be able to get up and walk around some before they'll unleash me on the world again."

Chloe smiled happily. "Oh, that is great news, Brady. So, have you tried to walk yet?"

"Uh-huh. It wasn't easy at first, but with crutches I think I'll be able to get around pretty well. And after many many weeks of physical therapy, I should be... well, almost back to normal."

"Brady... There was never anything normal about you to begin with."

Brady laughed and retorted, "Then I don't have far to travel to get to almost normal, so that's good news."

"By the way, how exactly are you feeling today?"

"Mmmm.... I'm starting to feel the pain. Last night was such a blur... all the excitement and everything, I didn't really notice it... Now, I feel all the bumps and bruises and breaks."

Chloe sighed heavily and looked at her floor. When Brady hurt, so did she, and even more so in this case, because she was the reason he was hurting this time. "Brady... I am so sorry."

Brady groaned in frustration. "Chloe, I wish you would stop saying that because this is NOT your fault. Phillip's actions have nothing to do with you."

"Yeah, except that they have everything to do with me."

"I don't want you to feel this way, Chloe. It's not right, and it's not justified. You can't blame yourself for what happened to me."

Chloe stopped her tears before they began to fall and closed the subject off. "Okay, okay... We'll... we'll talk about it later, okay? I'm going to go take my bath, and eat and I'll be right over. Okay?"

There was a silence on Brady's end and Chloe could tell he was disappointed with the way she decided to change subjects. "Alright, Chloe... I love you, I'll see you soon."

"Love you too..." Chloe sighed and hit the off button on her phone, cradling it back into it's charger.

She really hated ending their conversation on a negative note, but it was no surprise to her that she had already begun to screw things up. Chloe had a tendency to commit self-sabotage sometimes, but normally she was sharp enough to catch herself before things went completely askew. She wanted so badly to be absolved for her part in Phillip's actions, but for a reason unbeknownst to her, she just could not let go of her guilt.

And more than anything, she hated that even though he was locked up in jail, Phillip Kiriakis still had a hold on her. But not with his love as it used to be long ago, but with his jealousy and hatred. Perhaps this was a final victory for him, filling Chloe with guilt so that no matter how happy she was, she would always have a piece of darkness left inside her... a piece of him.

Chloe groaned in disgust, disgust with herself mostly. She planned on trying as hard as she could to not think about Phillip, but every bruise, every bump and every scar that Brady had was a painful reminder of what had passed.

She shook the dark thoughts away for the time being and picked her clothes up off the bed. Chloe went into the bathroom and started running the hot water, hoping that a nice hot bath would miraculously wash way her guilt.

"Right... Only one miracle per lifetime, Chloe Lane. And, you already got yours last night."

***

(Later... At the Hospital)

Chloe walked happily into Brady's room, where Shawn and Belle were already hanging out talking with Brady. Brady was sitting up, wearing a pair of pajamas instead of a hospital gown. He looked pretty good to her, for a person who had been through hell in the past two weeks. But, he still looked pale and tired from his ordeal, which was completely expected considering his situation.

Belle greeted her with a smile and pointed. "Hey, Chloe... You look really really great."

Chloe did a mock curtsy and grinned at her. "Thank you very much. After twelve days of taking showers in empty hospital rooms and wearing sweatpants or jeans, I figured a little pampering was in order."

And that's what she had done. She picked out a pink flowered sun dress, washed and styled her hair, painted her nails, and put makeup on for the first time in twelve days. "Plus, Belle... you always told me that part of feeling good is looking good. And, I feel pretty good..."

Brady smiled at her and waved her closer. "And you look pretty good. You look beautiful, Chloe."

Chloe smiled and walked towards him, leaning in for a quick kiss. When she backed away from him she sneaked a glance in Belle and Shawn's direction. They were grinning happily at her, Brady had no doubt told his sister all about last night. Chloe took a seat next to him and looked him in the eyes.

"You look pretty good yourself."

Brady shrugged and patted the place on his head where he had been shaved for surgery. It was already growing back pretty well, it just looked like a medium sized patch of short hair among a growth of thicker hair. "I'm... I'm worried about my hair."

Chloe laughed and shook her head. "Don't be so vain. It's hardly noticeable. Just wear a hat until it grows back all the way."

"Hmm... You do think it will grow back right, don't you? I'm just worried about the scar and everything."

"The scar is so tiny you can't even tell it's there. The surgeons here are quite good at patching up people like you. Everything will grow back the way it used to be. I promise."

Brady smiled and nodded in understanding. "Well, if you say so, Diva."

Chloe grinned and sat up proudly. "That's right. The Diva has spoken. Do not defy the Diva."

Shawn interrupted and motioned towards the door. "Alright, you two. We have to go meet Mimi at the Java Cafe, so we'll leave you two alone."

Brady nodded and interjected. "Hey, tell Mimi I said hi, please."

"Tell her yourself. We're coming back later on, and she'll be with us then."

"Great. We'll see you guys later then."

They waved Shawn and Belle off, and Chloe quickly turned to Brady with a look of concern. "So, how are you feeling, REALLY? Because I know how you like to put on a brave face in front of people."

"Honestly, I feel... fine. Not great, but not really bad. Somewhere in the middle. It will take a while for everything to heal... physically."

Chloe nodded in understanding, but raised an eyebrow curiously. "What about... mentally? How are you feeling?"

Brady exhaled slowly before answering. "I'm angry, and confused... And worried. Worried about you."

"Brady... We're NOT talking about me."

"But we should be. I know you feel guilty for what happened to me. But, you shouldn't. You can't control the mental illness of somebody else. And, you're not the cause of his illness either. It's something inside his head that went wrong, and it has nothing to do with you."

Chloe waved her hands, begging him to stop. "Brady, please. I don't want to talk about this right now. So please, don't push me. I know that he is sick, but I also know that he targeted you because of me. And yes, I feel guilty about that, and nothing anyone can say will ever change that. But, other than that... I feel great, Brady. Better than I have in a long time. And life is too short for us to sit here and talk about all of the negative things, so please let's not."

Brady frowned and reached out his hand to her, laying it on her arm. "I know, and I don't want to focus on the negative. But, if we want a happy future together, we need to get past this... both of us. Because, I know you. And, I know that every time you look at me, and every time I have a pain in my knee, or some other side effect of my injuries, you're going to be hurt by that. And, I can't bear to watch you go through that, especially when you are not to blame for this. I can't watch you, and our relationship being eaten away every day by guilt. Not after everything we've been through already."

"I know, Brady. I know you're right, and we do have to work on it. And, we WILL. But, not now. Please. I just want to focus on you getting out of here, and getting better. I will be fine, so please don't worry about me."

"Chloe... I'm always going to worry about you. That's what people do for the ones they love."

Chloe smiled at him and grabbed his hand with both of hers. "I know, Brady, and thank you for always looking out for me. And, I swear that we will work on all of this soon. But, I just want to talk about happier things. Things have been less than happy lately, so I want to enjoy these moments with you as much as I can. I've been waiting too long to be with you, to let other things get in the way right now."

Brady nodded and wracked his brain for a subject to change to. Chloe knew she shouldn't be putting him off, but she just couldn't bear to have another day in Salem filled with misery right now. "Alright... happier things to talk about... like... uhm..."

Chloe grinned, and she figured that Brady could probably see the light bulb go off over her head. "Like parties."

"Parties?"

"Well, yeah. Now that you're getting out of the hospital soon, your family will probably want to have a party to celebrate."

Brady rolled his eyes and cringed. "Oh God no. Please don't. I mean, really... Craig said I shouldn't have a lot of excitement in my condition, and I think a party with a bunch of noisy people who I barely know congratulating me on being alive qualifies as too much excitement."

Chloe shook her head adamantly. "Oh shush. We haven't had anything to celebrate around here in a long while. And you returning from... wherever it is you went... is definitely something that deserves a celebration. Now, why are you complaining? I thought you liked every possible chance to party."

"Hey, I'm all for a party. A GOOD party though. Not a pity party, which this would so obviously turn out to be. Besides, I don't think I know enough people who would want to come to a party in my honor."

"Brady Black, that is not at all true. Have you noticed all of the flowers in this room? And these are just the ones that are still fresh. We've already had to get rid of a whole bunch that died. The people in this town came out of the woodwork to support you. Not to mention all of the cards and letters from some of your former classmates."

Brady's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? I guess bad news travels fast."

Chloe nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah. Your name has been splashed across every newspaper from here to the next three states. It's a story that has everything those media jackals are hungry for. Wealthy families, attempted murder, love triangle, mental illness, a young man in his prime fighting for his life. It's all pretty intriguing to the newspaper purchasing public."

"You think I'll get on Dateline?"

"I'm surprised they haven't called already. Dateline, 20/20, The Today Show, Oprah, uhm, uhh... Jenny Jones... All of those people."

Brady laughed and shrugged nonchalantly. "I think Jenny Jones would only call me if I was somebody's teenage daughter who was dressing too sexy. And I am neither of those things."

Chloe giggled and nodded in agreement. "That's true, but I'm sure the more respected news outfits will be calling you any day now. So, what do you say? Can we have a party?"

"Chloe..."

"Pleeeeeease? Please? Please? Please?" Chloe pouted sadly and batted her full eyelashes pleadingly. "Come on, I know Marlena and Belle want to do this for you. And, so do I. Pleeeeeeeeeease, Brady, please."

Brady sighed in frustration and rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, alright. Have your party, just stop pouting at me like that... You know I'm unable to resist the puppy dog routine when it comes to the women in my life. Just promise me one thing..."

"Okay... What?"

"That I'll have plenty of time to spend alone with YOU."

Chloe smiled sweetly and crossed her heart with her index finger. "I promise. Besides, that's the one thing I've been looking forward to the most. A little alone time outside of this hospital with you."

Brady grinned slightly and Chloe leaned over to give him another kiss. When she broke away from him, he was still grinning. "We've got a lot of time to make up for. You know, we should have done this whole 'I love you' thing a long time ago."

"I know... Why didn't you tell me before this?"

"Why didn't YOU tell ME?"

Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Uhm, I asked you first."

Brady smirked at her and retorted. "Yes, but this isn't the first grade. So don't get into the 'I asked you first' routine with me."

"Well, I think my reasons are pretty obvious, Brady. There was Phillip... and everything was ALWAYS confusing and ALWAYS overly dramatic with him. I knew that I had feelings for you a long time ago, but I didn't really understand how deep they were. And, I think that was part of it too. I couldn't tell you how I was feeling, because I didn't really understand it myself. The way I feel for you is something I had never experienced before, so it took me a while to understand it."

"I get it, because I was going through the exact same things myself. I didn't know it was possible to feel this strongly for another person, and it scared me at first. Something that powerful can be a little hard to handle."

Chloe nodded in understanding and squeezed his hand gently. "Are you still scared?"

Brady paused to consider her question, breathing in deeply first "Maybe a little. What you and I have, this path in life that we're about to take together... I just want everything to be right, to be perfect."

"Nothing is ever perfect, no matter how hard you try to make it that way. Even if everything that you and I do is right, life tends to throw a wrench in the gears and screw everything up."

"I know, I know. And, if that happens we'll deal with it. We'll get through it. I just don't want our downfall in life to be... ourselves."

Chloe looked downward for a moment, her face dropping with worry. But, she shook it away and looked back at him with a painted on smile. "Then it won't be. I have flaws, and so do you..."

Brady shook his head slightly and interrupted you. "No, no, I don't."

Chloe laughed and playfully swatted him on the arm. "Oh yes, you do. What I'm trying to say is, that I can't promise every day will be perfect. And, I can't promise you that my own emotional issues that I've carried with me for the past 18 years won't get in the way sometimes... But, I can swear to you one thing. That I will love you no matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, I will always love you. If you can rely on one thing, please rely on that."

"I will. And, you do the same. I want to make you happy, Chloe... That's all I have wanted to do for a long time. But, as I generally have a tendency to do, whether I want to or not... I will most likely piss you off on many many occasions. So, when that happens, just remember how much I love you, and how good everything feels when I'm not pissing you off."

Chloe nodded and chuckled softly. She moved her chair closer to the bed so she could lay her head on his chest. "At least you can recognize that you have a tendency to piss off people. That's the first step to getting help, you know."

Brady snickered and rested his hand on her arm. "But, sometimes pissing people off is good for them. You know, makes them yearn to prove me wrong... to do everything better."

"That's true. That's what it did for me and my singing."

"You got it, Diva. It's a little bit of therapy called tough love."

Chloe smiled slightly and snuggled him closer. "As long as you promise to keep throwing in a lot of extra love with your tough love, you can keep it up."

Brady sighed softly and kissed the top of her head. "I promise. One order of 'extra love' coming right up."

They sat there in silence for quite a while, with Brady gently stroking her hair, as Chloe just enjoyed the nearness of him. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of his skin near hers, and his gentle touch. He always made her feel safe and content, and Chloe silently prayed that the dark thoughts that were looming in the back of her head wouldn't ruin what they had only just begun.

She quietly thought to herself, "Please, don't let Phillip Kiriakis ruin another day of your life. He's just not worth it."

She thought it, but wasn't sure if she believed it. Chloe knew that she had to enjoy ever happy moment she could, before the inevitability of another sad moment engulfed her completely. She had never been the most optimistic person in life. And, no matter how full of love and happiness she felt, there was always some new fresh hell looming behind her, waiting to be discovered.

***

(Come on. Don't be too depressed. You know I can't possibly have Broe be perfectly blissful for too long. This is definitely one of my less happy stories, but I'll try to feed you enough happy Broe moments as we go along to keep you satisfied. And me too. I hate hurting my two favorite characters the way that I often do. But it makes for much more interesting writing than if I did chapters and chapters of, 'I love you, 'I love you', 'I love you more', 'Well, you can't possibly love me more because I love you to infinity' and all of that.

So, basically: Guilt sucks. But, it's a very real and unfortunate emotion, especially unfortunate when it's not justifiable guilt.

Just remember, it ain't over until I say "THE END". Now I shall laugh evilly again ---- MUAHAHAHA!)