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Chapter Two
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(A few days later.)
Chloe slid the door to the loft closed behind her and laid the stack of mail down on their kitchen counter. She pulled up a barstool and began opening the mail, piece by piece, absentmindedly tucking her hair behind her ears as she looked over the bills that had arrived.
Brady's footsteps came gently down the stairs and Chloe turned her head slightly to look at him. He was dressed in a black suit, with a crisp white shirt and black tie, holding a still groggy Wesley in his arms.
"Did the mailman bring us anything good today?"
Chloe shook her head and tossed the envelopes aside. "Just bills... The usual."
She stood from the barstool and walked towards Brady holding out her arms for Wesley. Wesley reached for her and she took him from his father with a smile. "Hey little guy... You're up early from your nap."
Brady nodded and smoothed down the material of his black jacket. "He woke up while I was changing. He's in a pretty good mood too."
Wesley looked at his father and began happily chattering away. "Da-da, da-da, da-da..."
Chloe frowned at Brady and sighed. "Why is it always with the 'da-da', and no 'mama' yet? That's not fair..."
Brady chuckled and gave Chloe a brief kiss on the lips. "That's just because da-da is easier to say for a baby. I'm sure he'll be saying mama very soon."
"I hope so. Because, I'm starting to get impatient."
Brady leaned down and tickled Wesley's sides, sending the toddler into a fit of laughter as Brady spoke to him in a voice that Chloe had only heard him use for their son. "You'll be saying mama soon, won't you, Mini-Me? Huh?"
Chloe laughed at both of them as Brady continued tickling Wesley until he couldn't take it any more. She twirled him away from his father and set him down to walk around the living room towards his toy box. She watched him scuttle away happily and then looked back up at Brady with an uneasy smile.
"You... You look very handsome."
Brady straightened his tie and winked playfully at her. "Thank you, Mrs. Black..."
Chloe swallowed loudly and made an attempt to keep a smile on her face. "So... How long do you think you'll be gone? Should I cook dinner? Or should we just go out? Or order in?"
Brady grabbed her hand and held it gently. He knew she was avoiding the subject of the funeral like the plague, trying to find something else to talk about before he left. "I don't think I'll be gone long. I want to spend a little time with my grandfather, but I'll be back early. So, whatever you want to do, Diva. In fact, if you want, we can even call the babysitter and we'll do something wonderful together."
"Okay, okay... Sounds good. You should go. I don't want you to be late."
Chloe tried to look away from him, but Brady wouldn't let her, he directed her face back towards him with the tip of his finger. "Chloe... If you want, I can call Greta. She can come over and hang out with you while I'm gone."
Chloe sighed in frustration and shook her head. "Brady, I am perfectly capable of being home alone with Wesley. Today is no different from any other day. So, just go, and don't worry about me."
"But... Today *IS* different. Believe me, I don't want to go. I don't want to mourn the death of a man who nearly destroyed both of our lives. But, I have to be there. I love my grandfather, and I swore to always be by his side when he needed me. It's what my mother would have wanted me to do."
"I know, Brady. And, I understand all of the reasons why you're going. But, I told you before that this doesn't affect me. I feel nothing. NOTHING. It is just another day to me."
Brady looked at her with a look of doubt. "Chloe..."
She began shaking her head and dragging him towards the door, interrupting him before he could say anything else. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. Now get going, and I'll see you afterwards."
Chloe slid the door opened and waved him out. He stood on the other side of the threshold, his face creased with concern for her. She sighed softly and gave him a brief kiss on the lips before putting his hands on his chest to push him further into the hallway.
"Go, Brady... Get out of here."
Chloe smiled at him, this time with ease and even though he was still unsure of her mood, he smiled back at her. "Okay, okay... I love you."
Chloe nodded and slid the door closed, pausing to peek out before she shut it all the way. "I love you too... Now GO."
She heard Brady chuckle softly as he headed towards the elevator and she shut the door completely. Chloe turned around with a sigh and looked at Wesley playing on the floor with the toy car that his Aunt Belle had bought just a few days ago. It had quickly become his favorite toy, as did every new toy that came into their house.
Chloe sat on the floor across from him and watched him closely as he played. She reached over and smoothed down the blonde hair that covered his head. It seemed as each day passed he was beginning to look more and more like his father. He had a tenacious personality just like his father did, and that's why Brady had begun calling him "Mini-Me". Even John and Marlena both had remarked on how much Wesley was like his father as a toddler.
"You better start saying 'mama' soon, Wes... I'm the one that carried you and gave birth to you, by the way."
Wesley looked up at her with a bright smile, even though he was completely oblivious to the meaning of her words. He was a beautiful child, happy, full of life and well behaved. Chloe imagined that if he was anything like his parents, the well-behaved part might only last until he reached his teenage years. All she wanted was to be able to give her son the kind of life she had never had as a child. A happy life with two parents who love him.
Chloe sighed loudly, a sudden blanket of sadness falling over her, as she thought about all of the pain that had been a regular part of her past. She didn't know what suddenly possessed her, but she scooped Wesley off the floor and grabbed her car keys off the hook near the door, quickly heading into the hallway outside the loft.
She locked the door behind her and smiled at her son, trying to fight back the tears that were just brimming at the surface. "Come on, Wes. Let's go see Mrs. Malone..."
Chloe went down a floor to her neighbor's apartment, a kind middle-aged woman who had watched Wesley on the rare occasions that their regular babysitter was unavailable. She knocked firmly on the door, silently praying that Anita Malone was home.
The petite redhead opened the door with her usual smile. But, her smile faded as she saw Chloe's frantic expression. "Chloe... Are you okay?"
"I'm -- I'm fine. I hate to ask on such short notice, but would you mind taking Wes for an hour? I have something I need to go do. It's really important."
Anita nodded and pulled Wesley into her arms immediately. "Of course, Chloe. It's not a problem at all. But, are you sure everything is okay?"
Chloe nodded reassuringly and smiled at her. "Everything is fine. He just got up from a nap, so he should be in a good mood for then next hour. If you need me, I'll have my cell phone. Thank you SO much. Thank you."
Chloe said a hurried goodbye and gave Wesley a quick kiss before dashing off towards the elevator. She didn't know why she was doing this, and nearly changed her mind in mid-step, but something kept pushing her forward. The elevator took her downstairs and she hurried out to her silver SUV, not even noticing the light spray of rain that had just started to fall upon Salem.
She sped off towards the cemetery, her windshield wipers beating a steady rhythm in front of her that clashed with the unsteadiness of her thoughts. Chloe glanced at her reflection in the rear view mirror as she pulled into a parking space at the cemetery. She looked pale and drawn, as if she had seen a ghost, or like she was about to.
Chloe slipped out of her car and jogged through the rain towards the gravesite. She saw the group of people, all in black, assembled around a large black coffin. Chloe kept her distance, remaining out of sight of all those that were there to watch Phillip Kiriakis' last goodbye. The rain had begun to fall even heavier, practically drenching her in a matter of minutes, while all the mourners had umbrellas to protect them.
She saw Brady standing at his grandfather's side as promised, as Victor's wife Nicole stood on his other side. Kate, along with Phillip's siblings were there, as well as Shawn and Belle. She knew that Belle didn't want to go, but Shawn went for the same reasons as Brady, to support their grandfather, so Belle went with him. Chloe tried to read the mood of the attendees to the small, intimate service, but it was hard to tell. It was as if none of them knew whether to be sad or to be confused.
As expected, Victor and Kate seemed to be the most saddened by Phillip's death, but even with them there was an underlying feeling of guilt in their eyes. Both of them had felt that Phillip's problems stemmed from their own problems and their lack of good parenting. To a point, they were right, but Chloe firmly believed that no amount of good parenting could have saved Phillip from his own insanity.
The strangest thing that she noticed was that nobody seemed to cry. Chloe had made a promise to herself a long time ago not to shed any more tears over Phillip Kiriakis, and she was certainly not going to break that promise now. Her words to Brady had been correct; she felt nothing, unable to bring to surface any feelings at all for him. Not even anger or hatred. She didn't know whether to be glad that he was dead or angry because he wasn't going to spend a lifetime in prison suffering. All she wanted was closure, a sense of finality, once and for all.
She stayed in one spot, letting the rain wash over her, soaking her from head to toe. His coffin was lowered into the ground in front of her eyes, and that was her cue to leave. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her back to her car and headed back home. The rain had chilled her from head to toe, causing her to shiver the entire way back to the loft.
Before she went to Anita's apartment to pick up Wesley she ran upstairs and dried herself off. She blow dried her hair as quickly as possible and changed into a dry skirt and blouse. Chloe ran downstairs, gave a hearty thanks to Anita and brought Wesley back upstairs. She had him in his highchair with an afternoon snack by the time Brady returned from the funeral.
Chloe smiled at him as he walked through the door, loosening his tie immediately. "Hey Diva..."
"Hey... You're home a little sooner than I thought."
Brady slid the door shut and shrugged slightly. "I went to the mansion with my grandfather for a little bit. But, there wasn't really much more I could say or do... So, where did you go?"
Chloe handed Wesley a cookie and looked at Brady in surprise. "Go? Where did I go? What do you mean?"
"I saw Mrs. Malone when I was coming in to the building. She said you went on an errand and left Wes with her."
"Oh, it was no big deal really... I just needed to run out for something, and I didn't want to take Wes out in the rain."
Brady looked at her in confusion, trying to monitor her facial expression as she responded to his question. He knew she was lying, but he wasn't going to call her on it just yet. Shawn had seen her at the cemetery, watched as her car made it's way out of the parking lot, and told Brady about it when they met up again at the Kiriakis mansion. So, when Anita Malone told him that Wes had been with her, it had confirmed everything he had already suspected.
Part of him wanted to confront her with the truth, but he knew there must be a reason why she would hide it from him. And, in time, she would tell him. Chloe had never been able to keep secrets from him, and she wouldn't be able to keep this one for long.
He responded by giving her a kiss on the cheek and a slight smile. "Okay, did you decide what you wanted to do for dinner tonight? I'm leaving it up to you, Diva."
Chloe nodded and smiled back at him. "Yeah, I was just getting ready to go call the babysitter now. If she's too busy, then I'm sure my mother would love to have Wes for a few hours. I think we need to go out and have some fun..."
Brady nodded in agreement and watched as Chloe walked across the living room to pick up the phone and dial their regular babysitter. It had been a strange and difficult day, for both of them. Even though Chloe would not admit it, Brady knew that she felt it too, a strange mixture of sadness, anger and confusion.
He sat down in front of Wesley's high chair and spoke to his son. "Hey Mini-Me... You're sure taking your time with that cookie."
Wesley had slowly got more of his cookie on his face than in his mouth, but smiled happily anyway. Brady ruffled Wesley's hair with his fingers and sighed softly. He tried to put his mind on other things, but he kept returning to Chloe. She had said today meant nothing to her, and he understood why, but still she had come to the cemetery anyway. More than anything, he wanted to know why she wouldn't tell him the truth, why she thought that hiding it from him was a good idea.
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Chapter Two
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(A few days later.)
Chloe slid the door to the loft closed behind her and laid the stack of mail down on their kitchen counter. She pulled up a barstool and began opening the mail, piece by piece, absentmindedly tucking her hair behind her ears as she looked over the bills that had arrived.
Brady's footsteps came gently down the stairs and Chloe turned her head slightly to look at him. He was dressed in a black suit, with a crisp white shirt and black tie, holding a still groggy Wesley in his arms.
"Did the mailman bring us anything good today?"
Chloe shook her head and tossed the envelopes aside. "Just bills... The usual."
She stood from the barstool and walked towards Brady holding out her arms for Wesley. Wesley reached for her and she took him from his father with a smile. "Hey little guy... You're up early from your nap."
Brady nodded and smoothed down the material of his black jacket. "He woke up while I was changing. He's in a pretty good mood too."
Wesley looked at his father and began happily chattering away. "Da-da, da-da, da-da..."
Chloe frowned at Brady and sighed. "Why is it always with the 'da-da', and no 'mama' yet? That's not fair..."
Brady chuckled and gave Chloe a brief kiss on the lips. "That's just because da-da is easier to say for a baby. I'm sure he'll be saying mama very soon."
"I hope so. Because, I'm starting to get impatient."
Brady leaned down and tickled Wesley's sides, sending the toddler into a fit of laughter as Brady spoke to him in a voice that Chloe had only heard him use for their son. "You'll be saying mama soon, won't you, Mini-Me? Huh?"
Chloe laughed at both of them as Brady continued tickling Wesley until he couldn't take it any more. She twirled him away from his father and set him down to walk around the living room towards his toy box. She watched him scuttle away happily and then looked back up at Brady with an uneasy smile.
"You... You look very handsome."
Brady straightened his tie and winked playfully at her. "Thank you, Mrs. Black..."
Chloe swallowed loudly and made an attempt to keep a smile on her face. "So... How long do you think you'll be gone? Should I cook dinner? Or should we just go out? Or order in?"
Brady grabbed her hand and held it gently. He knew she was avoiding the subject of the funeral like the plague, trying to find something else to talk about before he left. "I don't think I'll be gone long. I want to spend a little time with my grandfather, but I'll be back early. So, whatever you want to do, Diva. In fact, if you want, we can even call the babysitter and we'll do something wonderful together."
"Okay, okay... Sounds good. You should go. I don't want you to be late."
Chloe tried to look away from him, but Brady wouldn't let her, he directed her face back towards him with the tip of his finger. "Chloe... If you want, I can call Greta. She can come over and hang out with you while I'm gone."
Chloe sighed in frustration and shook her head. "Brady, I am perfectly capable of being home alone with Wesley. Today is no different from any other day. So, just go, and don't worry about me."
"But... Today *IS* different. Believe me, I don't want to go. I don't want to mourn the death of a man who nearly destroyed both of our lives. But, I have to be there. I love my grandfather, and I swore to always be by his side when he needed me. It's what my mother would have wanted me to do."
"I know, Brady. And, I understand all of the reasons why you're going. But, I told you before that this doesn't affect me. I feel nothing. NOTHING. It is just another day to me."
Brady looked at her with a look of doubt. "Chloe..."
She began shaking her head and dragging him towards the door, interrupting him before he could say anything else. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. Now get going, and I'll see you afterwards."
Chloe slid the door opened and waved him out. He stood on the other side of the threshold, his face creased with concern for her. She sighed softly and gave him a brief kiss on the lips before putting his hands on his chest to push him further into the hallway.
"Go, Brady... Get out of here."
Chloe smiled at him, this time with ease and even though he was still unsure of her mood, he smiled back at her. "Okay, okay... I love you."
Chloe nodded and slid the door closed, pausing to peek out before she shut it all the way. "I love you too... Now GO."
She heard Brady chuckle softly as he headed towards the elevator and she shut the door completely. Chloe turned around with a sigh and looked at Wesley playing on the floor with the toy car that his Aunt Belle had bought just a few days ago. It had quickly become his favorite toy, as did every new toy that came into their house.
Chloe sat on the floor across from him and watched him closely as he played. She reached over and smoothed down the blonde hair that covered his head. It seemed as each day passed he was beginning to look more and more like his father. He had a tenacious personality just like his father did, and that's why Brady had begun calling him "Mini-Me". Even John and Marlena both had remarked on how much Wesley was like his father as a toddler.
"You better start saying 'mama' soon, Wes... I'm the one that carried you and gave birth to you, by the way."
Wesley looked up at her with a bright smile, even though he was completely oblivious to the meaning of her words. He was a beautiful child, happy, full of life and well behaved. Chloe imagined that if he was anything like his parents, the well-behaved part might only last until he reached his teenage years. All she wanted was to be able to give her son the kind of life she had never had as a child. A happy life with two parents who love him.
Chloe sighed loudly, a sudden blanket of sadness falling over her, as she thought about all of the pain that had been a regular part of her past. She didn't know what suddenly possessed her, but she scooped Wesley off the floor and grabbed her car keys off the hook near the door, quickly heading into the hallway outside the loft.
She locked the door behind her and smiled at her son, trying to fight back the tears that were just brimming at the surface. "Come on, Wes. Let's go see Mrs. Malone..."
Chloe went down a floor to her neighbor's apartment, a kind middle-aged woman who had watched Wesley on the rare occasions that their regular babysitter was unavailable. She knocked firmly on the door, silently praying that Anita Malone was home.
The petite redhead opened the door with her usual smile. But, her smile faded as she saw Chloe's frantic expression. "Chloe... Are you okay?"
"I'm -- I'm fine. I hate to ask on such short notice, but would you mind taking Wes for an hour? I have something I need to go do. It's really important."
Anita nodded and pulled Wesley into her arms immediately. "Of course, Chloe. It's not a problem at all. But, are you sure everything is okay?"
Chloe nodded reassuringly and smiled at her. "Everything is fine. He just got up from a nap, so he should be in a good mood for then next hour. If you need me, I'll have my cell phone. Thank you SO much. Thank you."
Chloe said a hurried goodbye and gave Wesley a quick kiss before dashing off towards the elevator. She didn't know why she was doing this, and nearly changed her mind in mid-step, but something kept pushing her forward. The elevator took her downstairs and she hurried out to her silver SUV, not even noticing the light spray of rain that had just started to fall upon Salem.
She sped off towards the cemetery, her windshield wipers beating a steady rhythm in front of her that clashed with the unsteadiness of her thoughts. Chloe glanced at her reflection in the rear view mirror as she pulled into a parking space at the cemetery. She looked pale and drawn, as if she had seen a ghost, or like she was about to.
Chloe slipped out of her car and jogged through the rain towards the gravesite. She saw the group of people, all in black, assembled around a large black coffin. Chloe kept her distance, remaining out of sight of all those that were there to watch Phillip Kiriakis' last goodbye. The rain had begun to fall even heavier, practically drenching her in a matter of minutes, while all the mourners had umbrellas to protect them.
She saw Brady standing at his grandfather's side as promised, as Victor's wife Nicole stood on his other side. Kate, along with Phillip's siblings were there, as well as Shawn and Belle. She knew that Belle didn't want to go, but Shawn went for the same reasons as Brady, to support their grandfather, so Belle went with him. Chloe tried to read the mood of the attendees to the small, intimate service, but it was hard to tell. It was as if none of them knew whether to be sad or to be confused.
As expected, Victor and Kate seemed to be the most saddened by Phillip's death, but even with them there was an underlying feeling of guilt in their eyes. Both of them had felt that Phillip's problems stemmed from their own problems and their lack of good parenting. To a point, they were right, but Chloe firmly believed that no amount of good parenting could have saved Phillip from his own insanity.
The strangest thing that she noticed was that nobody seemed to cry. Chloe had made a promise to herself a long time ago not to shed any more tears over Phillip Kiriakis, and she was certainly not going to break that promise now. Her words to Brady had been correct; she felt nothing, unable to bring to surface any feelings at all for him. Not even anger or hatred. She didn't know whether to be glad that he was dead or angry because he wasn't going to spend a lifetime in prison suffering. All she wanted was closure, a sense of finality, once and for all.
She stayed in one spot, letting the rain wash over her, soaking her from head to toe. His coffin was lowered into the ground in front of her eyes, and that was her cue to leave. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her back to her car and headed back home. The rain had chilled her from head to toe, causing her to shiver the entire way back to the loft.
Before she went to Anita's apartment to pick up Wesley she ran upstairs and dried herself off. She blow dried her hair as quickly as possible and changed into a dry skirt and blouse. Chloe ran downstairs, gave a hearty thanks to Anita and brought Wesley back upstairs. She had him in his highchair with an afternoon snack by the time Brady returned from the funeral.
Chloe smiled at him as he walked through the door, loosening his tie immediately. "Hey Diva..."
"Hey... You're home a little sooner than I thought."
Brady slid the door shut and shrugged slightly. "I went to the mansion with my grandfather for a little bit. But, there wasn't really much more I could say or do... So, where did you go?"
Chloe handed Wesley a cookie and looked at Brady in surprise. "Go? Where did I go? What do you mean?"
"I saw Mrs. Malone when I was coming in to the building. She said you went on an errand and left Wes with her."
"Oh, it was no big deal really... I just needed to run out for something, and I didn't want to take Wes out in the rain."
Brady looked at her in confusion, trying to monitor her facial expression as she responded to his question. He knew she was lying, but he wasn't going to call her on it just yet. Shawn had seen her at the cemetery, watched as her car made it's way out of the parking lot, and told Brady about it when they met up again at the Kiriakis mansion. So, when Anita Malone told him that Wes had been with her, it had confirmed everything he had already suspected.
Part of him wanted to confront her with the truth, but he knew there must be a reason why she would hide it from him. And, in time, she would tell him. Chloe had never been able to keep secrets from him, and she wouldn't be able to keep this one for long.
He responded by giving her a kiss on the cheek and a slight smile. "Okay, did you decide what you wanted to do for dinner tonight? I'm leaving it up to you, Diva."
Chloe nodded and smiled back at him. "Yeah, I was just getting ready to go call the babysitter now. If she's too busy, then I'm sure my mother would love to have Wes for a few hours. I think we need to go out and have some fun..."
Brady nodded in agreement and watched as Chloe walked across the living room to pick up the phone and dial their regular babysitter. It had been a strange and difficult day, for both of them. Even though Chloe would not admit it, Brady knew that she felt it too, a strange mixture of sadness, anger and confusion.
He sat down in front of Wesley's high chair and spoke to his son. "Hey Mini-Me... You're sure taking your time with that cookie."
Wesley had slowly got more of his cookie on his face than in his mouth, but smiled happily anyway. Brady ruffled Wesley's hair with his fingers and sighed softly. He tried to put his mind on other things, but he kept returning to Chloe. She had said today meant nothing to her, and he understood why, but still she had come to the cemetery anyway. More than anything, he wanted to know why she wouldn't tell him the truth, why she thought that hiding it from him was a good idea.
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