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Chapter Nine
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Brady stared at him in disbelief. "Excuse me? You're here breaking into the home of a close friend of mine, and you want an explanation from *me*."
The man beneath him spoke with a slight Southern accent, not too thick, but just enough to be noticeable. "You did try to shoot me. I think I deserve an explanation."
"I didn't mean to fire the gun. If you hadn't tackled me it wouldn't have gone off..."
Chloe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, taking an opportunity to step in. "Whoa... Both of you need to shut up and explain this to me right now. No arguing..."
She pointed at the dark-haired man, who she would have guessed to be in his late 20's and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to intimidate him. "You. What's your name? Where did you come from? And why are you here?"
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't. But, at this point, YOU are the one that's breaking and entering. And, *we* are the ones who can call the police. This apartment belongs to a friend of ours and we don't think she'd mind if we were here... You, on the other hand, might be a problem. And that's why I'm doing all the asking and you're going to do the answering."
He groaned in frustration and begrudgingly began to answer her earlier questions. "The name is Noah. Noah Maguire. I'm from Louisiana and I'm here in Venice looking for my brother. Can you please tell he-man over here to let me go now? I'm not here to hurt anyone, especially not friends of the Princess... If that is what you are..."
Chloe took a moment to assess how truthful and sincere he sounded. His blue eyes were pleading with her, but she remained suspicious, as did Brady. "Let him go... We need to have a talk with him, and I think it'd be for the best if we did it in a less belligerent way."
Brady let go of him and stood up, as did Noah. Noah took a seat on the edge of the bed as Brady moved across the floor to pick up his gun. He didn't put it away, keeping it at the ready in case this man wasn't exactly what he seemed.
Brady eyed him suspiciously and stood next to Chloe so they could both face him. "Alright, Mr. Maguire -- What does the Princess have to do with finding your brother?"
"My brother is an agent in the ISA..."
"Then why aren't you talking to them instead of breaking into people's apartments?"
Chloe nudged Brady with her elbow and gave him a stern look. "Let him finish..."
Noah smiled at Chloe in appreciation and continued. "He's also missing, or at least *I* think he's missing. His superiors at the ISA say that he's on special undercover assignment, that he's not able to contact family. But, if that's true, then he was breaking the rules up until about a month ago. I talked to him all the time, e-mails and phone calls... And, then it just stopped all of a sudden... And nobody will tell me where he is. I'm beginning to think that even the ISA doesn't know."
Chloe frowned at him and leaned against the dresser behind her. "Okay... And not to sound repetitive -- But, why are you HERE in Greta's apartment?"
"Because, I followed my brother's trail and found the last place he stayed at. A hotel room in Salem, Illinois."
Chloe and Brady shared a glance of surprise and looked at each other briefly. Brady turned back to Noah and motioned for him to continue. "Go on..."
"I went to Salem, the rent on the room was paid up for the next four months... But, the guy at the front desk said he hadn't seen my brother since about the last time I heard from him. I got in the room, I found files and his computer, all kinds of things regarding his work with the ISA. He was undercover working in Stefano DiMera's organization..."
Brady made a sound of understanding, almost a snicker and began nodding. He looked at Chloe and gave her a reminder. "The mole... The one they were going to rely on to find the antidote..."
Noah looked at them in confusion but continued his story. "The strangest part is, I took what I could with me and came back the next day for the rest of his stuff. But, it was all gone. The ISA claims that he's still been communicating with them and not to worry. But, I know my brother... He wouldn't go a month without calling me or my mother."
"And it led you here... to Venice... to the Princess..."
"Apparently part of his duties as a DiMera employee was surveillance. He was responsible for watching Princess Von Amberg for at least part of the time that he was on this assignment. I ended up following Lexie DiMera here when she flew here from Salem a few days ago, hoping she would lead me to her father. And, then today, I heard that the Princess was kidnapped and that it was connected to the DiMeras, so I came here... But, I haven't found anything. Not yet."
Chloe sighed softly and spoke to him. "And, I don't think you're going to. Greta hasn't been here in a few months..."
Noah raised his eyebrows doubtfully as he replied. "Then why are you two here?"
"Because, we're friends of the Princess and we're trying to bring her home to Salem. That's all you need to know right now."
"Wait a minute... I spill my guts for you and that's all you give me. Nice fair trade there ma'am."
Chloe looked at Brady and shrugged indecisively. His words seemed sincere, but neither of them knew how much they could tell him without putting themselves in more danger. Brady frowned at her and then turned to Noah to give him some solid advice.
"Listen, Mr. Maguire, and listen good. You're playing with fire when you play with the DiMera family. Whatever your brother is involved in is a very dangerous situation. You don't know what you're getting yourself in to, so I suggest that you fly yourself back to Louisiana and wait for your brother to call you."
Noah stood up from the bed, glaring angrily at Brady as he feverishly replied. "No way. And there is no way I'm going to let YOU tell me what to do. This is my brother, and if I gave up on him when I could be out there helping him, I'd never forgive myself. I promised our mother that I would find him and that's what I'm here to do. I'm not going home until I know where he is."
Brady rolled his eyes and glowered with anger. This was not what they needed right now. A fly in the ointment coming along to screw everything up. "Go home. You have NO experience with someone like DiMera, and you're only going to get yourself killed. How will your mom feel when she has TWO sons that are missing?"
"I'm not going anywhere. And tell me, what kind of experience do *you* have?"
Brady was at a loss for words and Chloe smiled slightly at him. "He's got a point, Brady. We're not exactly experienced with this kind of stuff either."
Brady turned to her and stared in surprise. "Chloe... You're supposed to be backing me up here."
"I -- I would, but he's right. We're just as inexperienced as he is, but we're here anyway... And we're doing this because of people we care about -- Greta and your father... The same reason that he's here -- to find his brother."
Noah's eyes were wide with surprise as he interrupted them. "Excuse me. You just called him Brady, and then he called you Chloe..."
Brady raised his eyebrows and looked at him suspiciously. "Yes, we did. What's your point, Maguire?"
"You're Brady Black, and his wife Chloe. You're John Black's son. I should have recognized you from your pictures..."
"From our pictures? What pictures?"
Noah sighed softly and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Your pictures were amongst the things I recovered from my brother's hotel room. He wasn't only keeping an eye on the Princess, he was watching you two as well, for a few months."
Chloe looked at Brady and muttered quietly. "The game has many players. Right?"
Brady nodded in understanding and turned back to Noah. "There's no way I can convince you to go home where it's safe, is there?"
Noah shook his head vehemently. "I read in the newspaper about your father, he's sick from what I hear, and it's because of Stefano DiMera... So the day you convince me to give up on my brother is the day that you give up on saving your father. That's why I propose that we work together..."
"Work together? You have GOT to be kidding me..."
Chloe laid her hand on Brady's arm and gave him a scolding glance. "Just hear him out, Brady..."
Noah nodded in appreciation and continued his proposal. "I'm a police officer, therefore I have some training when it comes to investigation and self-defense. I can take care of myself without a problem, and maybe I can help you out too. We have a common goal here, Mr. Black. I'm looking for my brother, you're looking for the Princess and a way to help your father. It might HELP if we work together instead of stepping on each other's toes."
"I think he's right, Brady. Maybe we *should* work together."
Brady looked at his wife with skepticism. "We don't know that we can trust this guy at all... Just because he has some story about his missing brother means we should trust him? How do we know he's telling the truth?"
Chloe rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration. Her husband could be so pigheaded sometimes, not seeing something that could be beneficial to them when it was right in front of their eyes. "Do you want to call his mommy? Run a background check? Call the ISA and ask about his brother? I don't think he's playing us, Brady... I think he's just as desperate as we are right now. We need each other, and I think it would be mutually beneficial to work together. Besides, he has no reason to trust us either, but he is putting himself on the line anyway."
Brady took a moment to go over the situation in his head. He looked at Noah, and had to begrudgingly admit to himself that the man seemed sincere. But, still, Brady hated to give in and trust someone so easily. He sighed loudly and decided that maybe Chloe did know best this time.
"Fine, Maguire... We work together. But, one false move, one shifty-eyed glance from you and that's it. We're through."
Noah nodded in understanding and reached out to shake Brady's hand firmly. "Thank you... And please, call me Noah, Mr. Black."
Brady shook his hand and nodded. "And call me Brady, please... Anything but Mr. Black."
The men let go of each other's hands and Chloe looked at them both with a satisfied smile. "Good, now that we've got that settled... What next? What exactly were you hoping to find here, Noah?"
"That's a good question. I'm not sure... Besides knowing that Stefano DiMera is here in Venice, I'm kind of at a dead end. What about you?"
"Just looking around... I found some interesting things in Greta's house back in Salem. I thought I might find the same here."
Brady looked around at his wife and their new partner. "Well, let's get back to searching then... Chloe, you take the bedroom. Noah and I will get the other rooms."
Chloe nodded and waited until both men were out of the room before she began searching through the drawers and closets. She didn't know what to think of their new third wheel, but something about him made her want to trust him. He seemed completely sincere, and was in a situation quite similar to theirs. And, at this point, they needed all the help they could get.
She was coming up with nothing, finding a mostly empty closet and drawers to match. Chloe kneeled on the floor and slid out the empty bottom drawer of Greta's large dresser. It looked shallow, too shallow for a drawer of that size, and as her eyes ran over it, she decided there was definitely something different about it. She knocked on the bottom and heard something rattling underneath, hollow space and something else.
Chloe grabbed the drawer and pulled it out all the way to lay it on the bed. She ran her fingers around the edge of the bottom until she found a small tab that stuck out of one side. Her fingers tugged at it until she pulled the false bottom out with a loud grunt. She tossed the panel aside and looked at the contents of the drawer. Several leather-bound books were tied together with a red ribbon. She slipped one book out of the stack and opened it up to look at it.
"Wow..."
Chloe sighed softly and grabbed the entire stack, carrying them into the other room where the two men were. She laid them down on the couch and smiled at them. "Look, what I found..."
Brady turned from his position at Greta's desk and looked at her curiously. "What is it?"
"Diaries... Princess Gina's diaries. I don't know if they'll be any help, but there might be things in there about Stefano. Things we can use."
Noah was standing in the archway between the living room and kitchen looking at her with a smile. "Where did you find those?"
"In a drawer. A drawer that had a false bottom. What about you two? Have you found anything?"
"Utensils, pots, pans, dishes... The kitchen isn't exactly a haven for all of somebody's deep dark secrets. What about you, Brady?"
Brady stood from the desk and laid a small pile of envelopes on the couch next to Gina's diaries. "It looks like Greta was getting these little notes before she moved back to Salem. I think it's safe to assume there's a stack of these at her home in Paris too. You didn't know about these too, did you Chloe?"
Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and replied defensively. "Brady, don't you dare accuse me of knowing about this. I didn't know... As far as I knew this just started when she came back to Salem. And, that's what I told you before."
Noah interjected from the doorway, hoping to stop a married couple from arguing. "What are these notes? If you don't mind me asking..."
Chloe looked at Noah and then back to Brady with a pause of hesitation between them. "I think we should tell him what the notes are about, Brady. Don't you?"
Brady sighed and nodded, although it was against his better judgement. Noah was willing to share his information with them, they might as well give back in return. "Alright, let's fill him in... On the way to our hotel... I need to call Salem, talk to my dad and Bo."
Chloe nodded slightly and smiled at him in appreciation. She gathered up the diaries and the notes and the three of the headed out of Greta's apartment, back towards their current base of operations.
~*~
Brady unlocked the door to their hotel suite and led Chloe and Noah into the room. He motioned towards the bedroom as he spoke to both of them.
"I'm going to go make some phone calls in the other room... I'll be just a minute."
Chloe nodded and watched as Brady went through the double doors to the bedroom. She turned to Noah with a smile and motioned towards the hotel refrigeration. "Can I offer you something from the mini-bar? Nine dollar peanuts? A seven dollar Pepsi? Splurge if you want, we can afford it."
Noah chuckled softly and took a seat on the couch. "Just water is fine..."
Chloe grabbed a couple of bottles of water out of the small fridge and handed one to Noah. She sat in the chair across from him and opened her own bottle to sip the cool water. "So... Noah... Tell me about your brother. He must be pretty special if you're doing all this for him."
"He is... He's momma's miracle child, really. My parents tried for a long time to have a baby, but never could. So, they adopted me... and then about three months after I came to live with them, they got pregnant with Jake."
Chloe smiled at him and asked. "So, I guess you two are pretty close?"
Noah nodded, a hint of concern for his brother flashing over his eyes. "We always have been. We're so close in age that we've always been more than brother, more like best friends. He and I went to the police academy together, but Jake wanted something bigger. He went to the FBI and then the ISA."
"And you? You were just content to be a regular ol' cop?"
"Suits me just fine. I kind of like the feel of a small or mid-sized town... But, Jake... Jake wanted to save the world."
Chloe sighed softly and gave him a reassuring smile. "Listen, Brady may come off kind of harsh at times, but he does understand what you're going through. He's here to protect his family, and so am I. His father's life is at stake, and so is the life of a friend who is as close to us as our family is. We're all in the same boat here..."
Chloe grabbed her purse off the floor next to her and dug inside for her wallet. She opened it up and handed it over to Noah, the first picture inside being one of Brady holding Wesley, both of them smiling brightly. "That's our son, Wes."
"He's beautiful..."
"I know. He's the light of my life, and so is my husband. Those other people in the wallet... My sister, my brothers, my niece, nephew, my parents, my friends... Those are the reasons why I'm here."
Noah looked at all of the pictures and then handed her wallet back to her with a smile. "You're very lucky... to have all of those people... But, why are you showing them to me?"
Chloe slid her wallet back into her purse and sighed softly. "Because, I trust you. I don't know why, I can't explain it... But, there's something about you that makes me trust you. Even if Brady doesn't act like it, he trusts you too... Mostly because he trusts *me* to make a good judgement of character. And right now, trust is the most important thing to get us through all of this."
"Thank you, Chloe. I -- I feel the same way. Here, while we're playing show and tell..."
Noah dug in his pocket and pulled out his black leather wallet. He opened it up and passed it over to Chloe, pointing at one of the pictures. "That's me, Jake and our momma last year... Our dad passed away a few years back."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's alright... He went peacefully."
Chloe took the wallet from his hand to study the picture, and as soon as her eyes fixated on it, her heart froze in her chest. She felt a cold chill run up her spine and her hands began trembling as she gripped on to the black leather in her hand.
Her mouth opened but no sound came out. She heard Brady step into the area between the living room and bedroom and speak to Noah.
"Hey Maguire... Your brother's name is Jake, right?"
Chloe was still staring at the picture when she heard Noah's reply filter through the haze in her brain. "Yeah, but that's just a nickname... His full name is Kenneth Jacob Maguire."
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What's in the picture? WHAT'S IN THE PICTURE???
See, I just took the words right out of your mouth. Ain't I sweet? ;)
I always get scared about writing Original Characters in fanfics. It's like, I know you guys like Brady and Chloe, otherwise you wouldn't be here... But, I don't know if people are going to like Noah. Oh well, he's mine, I made him... Hate him or love him if you will.
On another note... You ever notice how most soap operas have their token "Hot Guy with an Accent"? The strange thing is they are almost always guys with *Australian* accents. (Or British sometimes.) That's why Noah is a Southerner, because I wanted to break the accent cliche! Also, a little Southern accent can be VERY sexy.
Chapter Nine
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Brady stared at him in disbelief. "Excuse me? You're here breaking into the home of a close friend of mine, and you want an explanation from *me*."
The man beneath him spoke with a slight Southern accent, not too thick, but just enough to be noticeable. "You did try to shoot me. I think I deserve an explanation."
"I didn't mean to fire the gun. If you hadn't tackled me it wouldn't have gone off..."
Chloe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, taking an opportunity to step in. "Whoa... Both of you need to shut up and explain this to me right now. No arguing..."
She pointed at the dark-haired man, who she would have guessed to be in his late 20's and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to intimidate him. "You. What's your name? Where did you come from? And why are you here?"
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't. But, at this point, YOU are the one that's breaking and entering. And, *we* are the ones who can call the police. This apartment belongs to a friend of ours and we don't think she'd mind if we were here... You, on the other hand, might be a problem. And that's why I'm doing all the asking and you're going to do the answering."
He groaned in frustration and begrudgingly began to answer her earlier questions. "The name is Noah. Noah Maguire. I'm from Louisiana and I'm here in Venice looking for my brother. Can you please tell he-man over here to let me go now? I'm not here to hurt anyone, especially not friends of the Princess... If that is what you are..."
Chloe took a moment to assess how truthful and sincere he sounded. His blue eyes were pleading with her, but she remained suspicious, as did Brady. "Let him go... We need to have a talk with him, and I think it'd be for the best if we did it in a less belligerent way."
Brady let go of him and stood up, as did Noah. Noah took a seat on the edge of the bed as Brady moved across the floor to pick up his gun. He didn't put it away, keeping it at the ready in case this man wasn't exactly what he seemed.
Brady eyed him suspiciously and stood next to Chloe so they could both face him. "Alright, Mr. Maguire -- What does the Princess have to do with finding your brother?"
"My brother is an agent in the ISA..."
"Then why aren't you talking to them instead of breaking into people's apartments?"
Chloe nudged Brady with her elbow and gave him a stern look. "Let him finish..."
Noah smiled at Chloe in appreciation and continued. "He's also missing, or at least *I* think he's missing. His superiors at the ISA say that he's on special undercover assignment, that he's not able to contact family. But, if that's true, then he was breaking the rules up until about a month ago. I talked to him all the time, e-mails and phone calls... And, then it just stopped all of a sudden... And nobody will tell me where he is. I'm beginning to think that even the ISA doesn't know."
Chloe frowned at him and leaned against the dresser behind her. "Okay... And not to sound repetitive -- But, why are you HERE in Greta's apartment?"
"Because, I followed my brother's trail and found the last place he stayed at. A hotel room in Salem, Illinois."
Chloe and Brady shared a glance of surprise and looked at each other briefly. Brady turned back to Noah and motioned for him to continue. "Go on..."
"I went to Salem, the rent on the room was paid up for the next four months... But, the guy at the front desk said he hadn't seen my brother since about the last time I heard from him. I got in the room, I found files and his computer, all kinds of things regarding his work with the ISA. He was undercover working in Stefano DiMera's organization..."
Brady made a sound of understanding, almost a snicker and began nodding. He looked at Chloe and gave her a reminder. "The mole... The one they were going to rely on to find the antidote..."
Noah looked at them in confusion but continued his story. "The strangest part is, I took what I could with me and came back the next day for the rest of his stuff. But, it was all gone. The ISA claims that he's still been communicating with them and not to worry. But, I know my brother... He wouldn't go a month without calling me or my mother."
"And it led you here... to Venice... to the Princess..."
"Apparently part of his duties as a DiMera employee was surveillance. He was responsible for watching Princess Von Amberg for at least part of the time that he was on this assignment. I ended up following Lexie DiMera here when she flew here from Salem a few days ago, hoping she would lead me to her father. And, then today, I heard that the Princess was kidnapped and that it was connected to the DiMeras, so I came here... But, I haven't found anything. Not yet."
Chloe sighed softly and spoke to him. "And, I don't think you're going to. Greta hasn't been here in a few months..."
Noah raised his eyebrows doubtfully as he replied. "Then why are you two here?"
"Because, we're friends of the Princess and we're trying to bring her home to Salem. That's all you need to know right now."
"Wait a minute... I spill my guts for you and that's all you give me. Nice fair trade there ma'am."
Chloe looked at Brady and shrugged indecisively. His words seemed sincere, but neither of them knew how much they could tell him without putting themselves in more danger. Brady frowned at her and then turned to Noah to give him some solid advice.
"Listen, Mr. Maguire, and listen good. You're playing with fire when you play with the DiMera family. Whatever your brother is involved in is a very dangerous situation. You don't know what you're getting yourself in to, so I suggest that you fly yourself back to Louisiana and wait for your brother to call you."
Noah stood up from the bed, glaring angrily at Brady as he feverishly replied. "No way. And there is no way I'm going to let YOU tell me what to do. This is my brother, and if I gave up on him when I could be out there helping him, I'd never forgive myself. I promised our mother that I would find him and that's what I'm here to do. I'm not going home until I know where he is."
Brady rolled his eyes and glowered with anger. This was not what they needed right now. A fly in the ointment coming along to screw everything up. "Go home. You have NO experience with someone like DiMera, and you're only going to get yourself killed. How will your mom feel when she has TWO sons that are missing?"
"I'm not going anywhere. And tell me, what kind of experience do *you* have?"
Brady was at a loss for words and Chloe smiled slightly at him. "He's got a point, Brady. We're not exactly experienced with this kind of stuff either."
Brady turned to her and stared in surprise. "Chloe... You're supposed to be backing me up here."
"I -- I would, but he's right. We're just as inexperienced as he is, but we're here anyway... And we're doing this because of people we care about -- Greta and your father... The same reason that he's here -- to find his brother."
Noah's eyes were wide with surprise as he interrupted them. "Excuse me. You just called him Brady, and then he called you Chloe..."
Brady raised his eyebrows and looked at him suspiciously. "Yes, we did. What's your point, Maguire?"
"You're Brady Black, and his wife Chloe. You're John Black's son. I should have recognized you from your pictures..."
"From our pictures? What pictures?"
Noah sighed softly and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Your pictures were amongst the things I recovered from my brother's hotel room. He wasn't only keeping an eye on the Princess, he was watching you two as well, for a few months."
Chloe looked at Brady and muttered quietly. "The game has many players. Right?"
Brady nodded in understanding and turned back to Noah. "There's no way I can convince you to go home where it's safe, is there?"
Noah shook his head vehemently. "I read in the newspaper about your father, he's sick from what I hear, and it's because of Stefano DiMera... So the day you convince me to give up on my brother is the day that you give up on saving your father. That's why I propose that we work together..."
"Work together? You have GOT to be kidding me..."
Chloe laid her hand on Brady's arm and gave him a scolding glance. "Just hear him out, Brady..."
Noah nodded in appreciation and continued his proposal. "I'm a police officer, therefore I have some training when it comes to investigation and self-defense. I can take care of myself without a problem, and maybe I can help you out too. We have a common goal here, Mr. Black. I'm looking for my brother, you're looking for the Princess and a way to help your father. It might HELP if we work together instead of stepping on each other's toes."
"I think he's right, Brady. Maybe we *should* work together."
Brady looked at his wife with skepticism. "We don't know that we can trust this guy at all... Just because he has some story about his missing brother means we should trust him? How do we know he's telling the truth?"
Chloe rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration. Her husband could be so pigheaded sometimes, not seeing something that could be beneficial to them when it was right in front of their eyes. "Do you want to call his mommy? Run a background check? Call the ISA and ask about his brother? I don't think he's playing us, Brady... I think he's just as desperate as we are right now. We need each other, and I think it would be mutually beneficial to work together. Besides, he has no reason to trust us either, but he is putting himself on the line anyway."
Brady took a moment to go over the situation in his head. He looked at Noah, and had to begrudgingly admit to himself that the man seemed sincere. But, still, Brady hated to give in and trust someone so easily. He sighed loudly and decided that maybe Chloe did know best this time.
"Fine, Maguire... We work together. But, one false move, one shifty-eyed glance from you and that's it. We're through."
Noah nodded in understanding and reached out to shake Brady's hand firmly. "Thank you... And please, call me Noah, Mr. Black."
Brady shook his hand and nodded. "And call me Brady, please... Anything but Mr. Black."
The men let go of each other's hands and Chloe looked at them both with a satisfied smile. "Good, now that we've got that settled... What next? What exactly were you hoping to find here, Noah?"
"That's a good question. I'm not sure... Besides knowing that Stefano DiMera is here in Venice, I'm kind of at a dead end. What about you?"
"Just looking around... I found some interesting things in Greta's house back in Salem. I thought I might find the same here."
Brady looked around at his wife and their new partner. "Well, let's get back to searching then... Chloe, you take the bedroom. Noah and I will get the other rooms."
Chloe nodded and waited until both men were out of the room before she began searching through the drawers and closets. She didn't know what to think of their new third wheel, but something about him made her want to trust him. He seemed completely sincere, and was in a situation quite similar to theirs. And, at this point, they needed all the help they could get.
She was coming up with nothing, finding a mostly empty closet and drawers to match. Chloe kneeled on the floor and slid out the empty bottom drawer of Greta's large dresser. It looked shallow, too shallow for a drawer of that size, and as her eyes ran over it, she decided there was definitely something different about it. She knocked on the bottom and heard something rattling underneath, hollow space and something else.
Chloe grabbed the drawer and pulled it out all the way to lay it on the bed. She ran her fingers around the edge of the bottom until she found a small tab that stuck out of one side. Her fingers tugged at it until she pulled the false bottom out with a loud grunt. She tossed the panel aside and looked at the contents of the drawer. Several leather-bound books were tied together with a red ribbon. She slipped one book out of the stack and opened it up to look at it.
"Wow..."
Chloe sighed softly and grabbed the entire stack, carrying them into the other room where the two men were. She laid them down on the couch and smiled at them. "Look, what I found..."
Brady turned from his position at Greta's desk and looked at her curiously. "What is it?"
"Diaries... Princess Gina's diaries. I don't know if they'll be any help, but there might be things in there about Stefano. Things we can use."
Noah was standing in the archway between the living room and kitchen looking at her with a smile. "Where did you find those?"
"In a drawer. A drawer that had a false bottom. What about you two? Have you found anything?"
"Utensils, pots, pans, dishes... The kitchen isn't exactly a haven for all of somebody's deep dark secrets. What about you, Brady?"
Brady stood from the desk and laid a small pile of envelopes on the couch next to Gina's diaries. "It looks like Greta was getting these little notes before she moved back to Salem. I think it's safe to assume there's a stack of these at her home in Paris too. You didn't know about these too, did you Chloe?"
Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and replied defensively. "Brady, don't you dare accuse me of knowing about this. I didn't know... As far as I knew this just started when she came back to Salem. And, that's what I told you before."
Noah interjected from the doorway, hoping to stop a married couple from arguing. "What are these notes? If you don't mind me asking..."
Chloe looked at Noah and then back to Brady with a pause of hesitation between them. "I think we should tell him what the notes are about, Brady. Don't you?"
Brady sighed and nodded, although it was against his better judgement. Noah was willing to share his information with them, they might as well give back in return. "Alright, let's fill him in... On the way to our hotel... I need to call Salem, talk to my dad and Bo."
Chloe nodded slightly and smiled at him in appreciation. She gathered up the diaries and the notes and the three of the headed out of Greta's apartment, back towards their current base of operations.
~*~
Brady unlocked the door to their hotel suite and led Chloe and Noah into the room. He motioned towards the bedroom as he spoke to both of them.
"I'm going to go make some phone calls in the other room... I'll be just a minute."
Chloe nodded and watched as Brady went through the double doors to the bedroom. She turned to Noah with a smile and motioned towards the hotel refrigeration. "Can I offer you something from the mini-bar? Nine dollar peanuts? A seven dollar Pepsi? Splurge if you want, we can afford it."
Noah chuckled softly and took a seat on the couch. "Just water is fine..."
Chloe grabbed a couple of bottles of water out of the small fridge and handed one to Noah. She sat in the chair across from him and opened her own bottle to sip the cool water. "So... Noah... Tell me about your brother. He must be pretty special if you're doing all this for him."
"He is... He's momma's miracle child, really. My parents tried for a long time to have a baby, but never could. So, they adopted me... and then about three months after I came to live with them, they got pregnant with Jake."
Chloe smiled at him and asked. "So, I guess you two are pretty close?"
Noah nodded, a hint of concern for his brother flashing over his eyes. "We always have been. We're so close in age that we've always been more than brother, more like best friends. He and I went to the police academy together, but Jake wanted something bigger. He went to the FBI and then the ISA."
"And you? You were just content to be a regular ol' cop?"
"Suits me just fine. I kind of like the feel of a small or mid-sized town... But, Jake... Jake wanted to save the world."
Chloe sighed softly and gave him a reassuring smile. "Listen, Brady may come off kind of harsh at times, but he does understand what you're going through. He's here to protect his family, and so am I. His father's life is at stake, and so is the life of a friend who is as close to us as our family is. We're all in the same boat here..."
Chloe grabbed her purse off the floor next to her and dug inside for her wallet. She opened it up and handed it over to Noah, the first picture inside being one of Brady holding Wesley, both of them smiling brightly. "That's our son, Wes."
"He's beautiful..."
"I know. He's the light of my life, and so is my husband. Those other people in the wallet... My sister, my brothers, my niece, nephew, my parents, my friends... Those are the reasons why I'm here."
Noah looked at all of the pictures and then handed her wallet back to her with a smile. "You're very lucky... to have all of those people... But, why are you showing them to me?"
Chloe slid her wallet back into her purse and sighed softly. "Because, I trust you. I don't know why, I can't explain it... But, there's something about you that makes me trust you. Even if Brady doesn't act like it, he trusts you too... Mostly because he trusts *me* to make a good judgement of character. And right now, trust is the most important thing to get us through all of this."
"Thank you, Chloe. I -- I feel the same way. Here, while we're playing show and tell..."
Noah dug in his pocket and pulled out his black leather wallet. He opened it up and passed it over to Chloe, pointing at one of the pictures. "That's me, Jake and our momma last year... Our dad passed away a few years back."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's alright... He went peacefully."
Chloe took the wallet from his hand to study the picture, and as soon as her eyes fixated on it, her heart froze in her chest. She felt a cold chill run up her spine and her hands began trembling as she gripped on to the black leather in her hand.
Her mouth opened but no sound came out. She heard Brady step into the area between the living room and bedroom and speak to Noah.
"Hey Maguire... Your brother's name is Jake, right?"
Chloe was still staring at the picture when she heard Noah's reply filter through the haze in her brain. "Yeah, but that's just a nickname... His full name is Kenneth Jacob Maguire."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What's in the picture? WHAT'S IN THE PICTURE???
See, I just took the words right out of your mouth. Ain't I sweet? ;)
I always get scared about writing Original Characters in fanfics. It's like, I know you guys like Brady and Chloe, otherwise you wouldn't be here... But, I don't know if people are going to like Noah. Oh well, he's mine, I made him... Hate him or love him if you will.
On another note... You ever notice how most soap operas have their token "Hot Guy with an Accent"? The strange thing is they are almost always guys with *Australian* accents. (Or British sometimes.) That's why Noah is a Southerner, because I wanted to break the accent cliche! Also, a little Southern accent can be VERY sexy.