I still disclaim throughout. Short, sweet, and sneaky.
Chapter 7 'Cause When It Comes To Being Lucky She's Cursed
The plane ride home had been easy on Salem's 'We Go Anywhere Anytime' Airlines, and the wait for the luggage on the carousel had been a short one. She could see Brady's blond head across the reception area, and pulled harder on the luggage strap.
"Welcome home," a deep, masculine voice said and she was embraced by a pair of warm arms that gave her comfort as well as love. "How was you trip?"
She grimaced, blinking her blue eyes and looking up at him almost coyly. "Not too great."
"I'm sorry," he let her go, and ruffled her hair a little. "Ready to go home?"
She smiled, showing white teeth between rose pink lips. "Definitely."
"Shawn?" Mark thumped his bunk mate's bed. "Wakey wakey boy!"
Shawn shot straight up in bed, moving from sleep to full consciousness almost instantly. "What?"
"Your turn for the watch," Mark rolled into the bed and started snoring immediately.
"Thanks," Shawn murmured, groping for the edge of the bed, then swinging himself out to dress. It was going to be a long night in the middle of the Atlantic, one where thoughts of Belle would not be kept far from his mind. Shrugging on his clothes, Shawn went in search of coffee, trying to think of Chris's smile rather than Belle's lips, and knowing he would never succeed.
"So are you back for long?" Brown eyes met blue. She smiled, showing white teeth.
"Not long, I'm going to New York soon," he smiled back. She ducked her head a little, "How have you been doing? I was worried after I heard from Hope about Penny's engagement."
He shrugged. "I'm OK. I mean, it's not like we were still together. We agreed to be just friends."
The unthinking words sent the smile shivering off her face, to be replaced by a fake grin.
He grimaced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories for you."
"It's OK," she sighed, "high school is over, I just have to keep reminding myself of that."
"Have you seen him recently?" He smiled as her eyes sparkled.
The white teeth flashed again. "No, but his mother said something about his coming home at Christmas."
"So how do you feel about that?" She shrugged. She missed her high school boyfriend. It would be good to see him again. Anymore than that was in the lap of the Gods.
"You sound like a psychiatrist, Brady," Chloe meowed from behind them. "Although, you always did need a therapist, Mimi."
"Look what the cat dragged in," Mimi tossed bouncy brown curls over one shoulder and stared up at Chloe, her eyes narrowing as her enemy moved closer to Brady.
"Lockhart," Chloe acknowledged.
"Lane," Mimi looked her up and down slowly, making sure that neither of her hands touched Brady. "It's been a while." "Not long enough," Brady put on a fake smile to greet his ex- girlfriend.
Chloe leaned forwards a little, anger flashing in her eyes and hurt in her tone. "Brady, is that anyway to talk to an old friend?"
"No," Brady's smile changed to a wicked grin. "But it's a great way to talk to a slut like you."
Mimi didn't even try to suppress her laugh. Chloe's face turned red, then paled.
She flounced away, back to Craig who stood watching them, fury burning within her. "I'll get you yet," she swore under her breath, "and your little sister too!"
"Hey, Brady," Mimi murmured, "you OK?"
She laid a reassuring hand on his larger one.
"Fine, Mimi," Brady's smile became real and warm. "I was a little worried that when I saw her again, I'd feel sadness, or regret, or something equally inappropriate, but all I can think of now is how pleased I am to be away from her."
"That a boy," Mimi grinned, happy that Brady didn't still want Chloe. "So how's Belle?"
The smile on his face wavered a little. "Not so great. The whole mess between our dad and Shawn's Mom, JT, and then losing Shawn, it really screwed her up. She's still in love with him."
Mimi nodded slowly. "It would be stranger if she wasn't."
The night was cold, colder than Shawn had expected, and he shivered as he moved along the deck of the ship. Coffee, that's what he need, coffee, and lots of it.
He moved towards the machine, and with a mental thrust pushed back Belle's image.
"The receipt's in the bag, thank you," the shop assistant in Ballistix handed over Belle's bag, and smiled. The small blonde in front of her was one of their best customers, and the daughter of John Black who's company designed an entire line for them.
"Thank you," Belle smiled back, and turned to leave the shop, but before she could, she came face to face with someone she hadn't ever wanted to see again.
"Stefano," the word came out curtly, but Stefano in his turn was the soul of politeness.
"My dear Miss Black," he practically purred, "it's so good to see you."
"I'd say 'likewise'," she shot back, "but I'd be lying. What do you want, Dimera? I can't believe you're here for the clothes."
"No, Isabella, I'm not." He smiled at her sickeningly sweetly.
"Then what?" She almost pushed past him, but he put out a hand to stop her.
"I've come to tell you the truth," his smile faded into a serious expression. "I lied."
"There's a surprise!" Belle muttered.
"John is not JT's father," the bombshell hit Belle with such a force that every sassy remark she could think of was wiped from her mind.
"Pardon?" Belle's ladylike demeanour held up under incredible strain.
"I said, Isabella, that your father is not the father of JT." Stefano fixed a pleasant expression onto his face. "It has been lovely seeing you, but I must rush. Goodbye."
He left Belle reeling from the shock.
In which state Chloe found her having been dropped off at Salem Place to do a little shopping by Craig.
"If it isn't Little Miss Too Perfect to be True, Belle Black," the brunette drawled as she stalked from the doorway of Dot Com towards Belle.
"And if it isn't Miss 'Screw Me, I'm Salem's Biggest Ho', Chloe Lane," Belle retorted quickly, incensed by her meeting with the Stef.
Chloe's jaw dropped. "How dare you?"
"How dare I? How about how dare you, you opera singing, self centred, breast baring, boyfriend screwing, cheap perfume wearing whore?" Belle was fairly aloof, spitting the words rather than yelling them, and her effect on Chloe was spectacular.
She turned first pale, then pink, then scarlet. "At least my ex- boyfriend didn't leave me for foreign parts and foreign bitches!"
"No, he dumped you because he couldn't stand the sight of you after you went after practically every other boy in Salem High," Belle spat back.
"I." Chloe tried to find an argument against that, and found it to be too true to refute. Knowing that the best defence was offence, she changed tack. She dropped her voice and leaned forwards. "I saw Shawn the other day."
Belle stiffened, her jaw went out and her blue eyes narrowed.
Shawn felt his blood begin to run hotter in his veins, but put it down to the caffeine in his hand.
"Where?" The word came out with more longing in it than Belle had intended. "Wrapped up in the arms of some gorgeous young Spanish senorita," Chloe told her, an expression of mockery on her face, "and looking very happy about it." She didn't mention that Shawn had leapt to the defence of his ex- fiancée, that he had been landed in jail for the fight that had ensued, or that he had broken Eddie's jaw. "Very cosy, in fact." Chloe gave her that feline smile again. "That's just like a sailor, though, wouldn't you say? I mean, I suppose you'd know all about him having a girl in every port." "As opposed to going after every guy in town?" she snorted back. The remembrance of Brady and Philip's pain when she was in high school was still strong. "He told me he loved her," Chloe's smile became real then. Belle looked devastated. Belle's heart was confused. How could he come back to her if he was in love with someone else? This was all wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.
Shawn clutched a hand to his chest suddenly. The sudden, strange pain was back. He knew what it was. It was Belle. She was hurt. He didn't want to push her image away anymore, he didn't want to cry, he didn't want to forget her, he just wanted her. "I love you, Belle," he whispered to himself, and the pain eased.
Belle's heart did a little jump as her brain became logical once more. "You're lying." "What?" Chloe was taken aback. She hadn't expected this. Belle had believed her a moment before, what had happened? Her wonderful plot of revenge had gone wrong. "It's the truth. I'm not lying." "Oh give it up, Chloe! I'm not a boy that you can pout and flutter your eyelashes at, and I know what you just said isn't true. He doesn't love her, he loves me!" Belle took one step forwards, and smiled cruelly, "And do you know what, Diva? I am loved in a way by him even when we're apart and alone that you will never be by anyone, no matter how close you get. And do you know why, Chlo?"
Chloe was suddenly afraid. Everything was turning to dust and ashes around her. What she had seen as her perfect life was crumbling. First she and Eddie had lost their concert tour in Cadiz because of the brawl in the bar, then Eddie had been landed in the hospital by Shawn's steel right fist and her bed had been emptied, then Brady had thrown her approaches back in her face, and Mimi, Mimi the girl she had lorded it over in high school, had taunted her, and now Belle Black, who ought to be as the sand beneath her chariot wheels, wasn't afraid of her or her bullying ways. Where had she gone wrong? "Why?" she asked at last, afraid of an answer that might be all too true.
"Because, Chloe, you've made yourself unlovable. Sure, you'll have poor saps trailing after you for a few years, but when your looks fade, and you grow old, haggard and thin, you're going to be alone. I'm not. I'm going to have Shawn. That's the difference between us. I'm going to have my happy ever after life, and you," Belle looked her up and down as if she was a piece of rotting meat, "You, my dear, are going to find out what loneliness really means."
With that, Belle turned on her heel and stalked away through Salem Place, leaving a devastated Chloe in her wake.
In the middle of the Atlantic ocean, as the dawn began behind him, Shawn Douglas smiled. Things were going to be all right, maybe.
Chapter 7 'Cause When It Comes To Being Lucky She's Cursed
The plane ride home had been easy on Salem's 'We Go Anywhere Anytime' Airlines, and the wait for the luggage on the carousel had been a short one. She could see Brady's blond head across the reception area, and pulled harder on the luggage strap.
"Welcome home," a deep, masculine voice said and she was embraced by a pair of warm arms that gave her comfort as well as love. "How was you trip?"
She grimaced, blinking her blue eyes and looking up at him almost coyly. "Not too great."
"I'm sorry," he let her go, and ruffled her hair a little. "Ready to go home?"
She smiled, showing white teeth between rose pink lips. "Definitely."
"Shawn?" Mark thumped his bunk mate's bed. "Wakey wakey boy!"
Shawn shot straight up in bed, moving from sleep to full consciousness almost instantly. "What?"
"Your turn for the watch," Mark rolled into the bed and started snoring immediately.
"Thanks," Shawn murmured, groping for the edge of the bed, then swinging himself out to dress. It was going to be a long night in the middle of the Atlantic, one where thoughts of Belle would not be kept far from his mind. Shrugging on his clothes, Shawn went in search of coffee, trying to think of Chris's smile rather than Belle's lips, and knowing he would never succeed.
"So are you back for long?" Brown eyes met blue. She smiled, showing white teeth.
"Not long, I'm going to New York soon," he smiled back. She ducked her head a little, "How have you been doing? I was worried after I heard from Hope about Penny's engagement."
He shrugged. "I'm OK. I mean, it's not like we were still together. We agreed to be just friends."
The unthinking words sent the smile shivering off her face, to be replaced by a fake grin.
He grimaced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories for you."
"It's OK," she sighed, "high school is over, I just have to keep reminding myself of that."
"Have you seen him recently?" He smiled as her eyes sparkled.
The white teeth flashed again. "No, but his mother said something about his coming home at Christmas."
"So how do you feel about that?" She shrugged. She missed her high school boyfriend. It would be good to see him again. Anymore than that was in the lap of the Gods.
"You sound like a psychiatrist, Brady," Chloe meowed from behind them. "Although, you always did need a therapist, Mimi."
"Look what the cat dragged in," Mimi tossed bouncy brown curls over one shoulder and stared up at Chloe, her eyes narrowing as her enemy moved closer to Brady.
"Lockhart," Chloe acknowledged.
"Lane," Mimi looked her up and down slowly, making sure that neither of her hands touched Brady. "It's been a while." "Not long enough," Brady put on a fake smile to greet his ex- girlfriend.
Chloe leaned forwards a little, anger flashing in her eyes and hurt in her tone. "Brady, is that anyway to talk to an old friend?"
"No," Brady's smile changed to a wicked grin. "But it's a great way to talk to a slut like you."
Mimi didn't even try to suppress her laugh. Chloe's face turned red, then paled.
She flounced away, back to Craig who stood watching them, fury burning within her. "I'll get you yet," she swore under her breath, "and your little sister too!"
"Hey, Brady," Mimi murmured, "you OK?"
She laid a reassuring hand on his larger one.
"Fine, Mimi," Brady's smile became real and warm. "I was a little worried that when I saw her again, I'd feel sadness, or regret, or something equally inappropriate, but all I can think of now is how pleased I am to be away from her."
"That a boy," Mimi grinned, happy that Brady didn't still want Chloe. "So how's Belle?"
The smile on his face wavered a little. "Not so great. The whole mess between our dad and Shawn's Mom, JT, and then losing Shawn, it really screwed her up. She's still in love with him."
Mimi nodded slowly. "It would be stranger if she wasn't."
The night was cold, colder than Shawn had expected, and he shivered as he moved along the deck of the ship. Coffee, that's what he need, coffee, and lots of it.
He moved towards the machine, and with a mental thrust pushed back Belle's image.
"The receipt's in the bag, thank you," the shop assistant in Ballistix handed over Belle's bag, and smiled. The small blonde in front of her was one of their best customers, and the daughter of John Black who's company designed an entire line for them.
"Thank you," Belle smiled back, and turned to leave the shop, but before she could, she came face to face with someone she hadn't ever wanted to see again.
"Stefano," the word came out curtly, but Stefano in his turn was the soul of politeness.
"My dear Miss Black," he practically purred, "it's so good to see you."
"I'd say 'likewise'," she shot back, "but I'd be lying. What do you want, Dimera? I can't believe you're here for the clothes."
"No, Isabella, I'm not." He smiled at her sickeningly sweetly.
"Then what?" She almost pushed past him, but he put out a hand to stop her.
"I've come to tell you the truth," his smile faded into a serious expression. "I lied."
"There's a surprise!" Belle muttered.
"John is not JT's father," the bombshell hit Belle with such a force that every sassy remark she could think of was wiped from her mind.
"Pardon?" Belle's ladylike demeanour held up under incredible strain.
"I said, Isabella, that your father is not the father of JT." Stefano fixed a pleasant expression onto his face. "It has been lovely seeing you, but I must rush. Goodbye."
He left Belle reeling from the shock.
In which state Chloe found her having been dropped off at Salem Place to do a little shopping by Craig.
"If it isn't Little Miss Too Perfect to be True, Belle Black," the brunette drawled as she stalked from the doorway of Dot Com towards Belle.
"And if it isn't Miss 'Screw Me, I'm Salem's Biggest Ho', Chloe Lane," Belle retorted quickly, incensed by her meeting with the Stef.
Chloe's jaw dropped. "How dare you?"
"How dare I? How about how dare you, you opera singing, self centred, breast baring, boyfriend screwing, cheap perfume wearing whore?" Belle was fairly aloof, spitting the words rather than yelling them, and her effect on Chloe was spectacular.
She turned first pale, then pink, then scarlet. "At least my ex- boyfriend didn't leave me for foreign parts and foreign bitches!"
"No, he dumped you because he couldn't stand the sight of you after you went after practically every other boy in Salem High," Belle spat back.
"I." Chloe tried to find an argument against that, and found it to be too true to refute. Knowing that the best defence was offence, she changed tack. She dropped her voice and leaned forwards. "I saw Shawn the other day."
Belle stiffened, her jaw went out and her blue eyes narrowed.
Shawn felt his blood begin to run hotter in his veins, but put it down to the caffeine in his hand.
"Where?" The word came out with more longing in it than Belle had intended. "Wrapped up in the arms of some gorgeous young Spanish senorita," Chloe told her, an expression of mockery on her face, "and looking very happy about it." She didn't mention that Shawn had leapt to the defence of his ex- fiancée, that he had been landed in jail for the fight that had ensued, or that he had broken Eddie's jaw. "Very cosy, in fact." Chloe gave her that feline smile again. "That's just like a sailor, though, wouldn't you say? I mean, I suppose you'd know all about him having a girl in every port." "As opposed to going after every guy in town?" she snorted back. The remembrance of Brady and Philip's pain when she was in high school was still strong. "He told me he loved her," Chloe's smile became real then. Belle looked devastated. Belle's heart was confused. How could he come back to her if he was in love with someone else? This was all wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.
Shawn clutched a hand to his chest suddenly. The sudden, strange pain was back. He knew what it was. It was Belle. She was hurt. He didn't want to push her image away anymore, he didn't want to cry, he didn't want to forget her, he just wanted her. "I love you, Belle," he whispered to himself, and the pain eased.
Belle's heart did a little jump as her brain became logical once more. "You're lying." "What?" Chloe was taken aback. She hadn't expected this. Belle had believed her a moment before, what had happened? Her wonderful plot of revenge had gone wrong. "It's the truth. I'm not lying." "Oh give it up, Chloe! I'm not a boy that you can pout and flutter your eyelashes at, and I know what you just said isn't true. He doesn't love her, he loves me!" Belle took one step forwards, and smiled cruelly, "And do you know what, Diva? I am loved in a way by him even when we're apart and alone that you will never be by anyone, no matter how close you get. And do you know why, Chlo?"
Chloe was suddenly afraid. Everything was turning to dust and ashes around her. What she had seen as her perfect life was crumbling. First she and Eddie had lost their concert tour in Cadiz because of the brawl in the bar, then Eddie had been landed in the hospital by Shawn's steel right fist and her bed had been emptied, then Brady had thrown her approaches back in her face, and Mimi, Mimi the girl she had lorded it over in high school, had taunted her, and now Belle Black, who ought to be as the sand beneath her chariot wheels, wasn't afraid of her or her bullying ways. Where had she gone wrong? "Why?" she asked at last, afraid of an answer that might be all too true.
"Because, Chloe, you've made yourself unlovable. Sure, you'll have poor saps trailing after you for a few years, but when your looks fade, and you grow old, haggard and thin, you're going to be alone. I'm not. I'm going to have Shawn. That's the difference between us. I'm going to have my happy ever after life, and you," Belle looked her up and down as if she was a piece of rotting meat, "You, my dear, are going to find out what loneliness really means."
With that, Belle turned on her heel and stalked away through Salem Place, leaving a devastated Chloe in her wake.
In the middle of the Atlantic ocean, as the dawn began behind him, Shawn Douglas smiled. Things were going to be all right, maybe.