Mimi slammed the front door of her house, yelled to whoever that she was home, and went straight up the stairs to her bedroom. Throwing her purse down on the floor, she collapsed onto her bed, once again tears making their way down her face. She really shouldn't have went off on Brady like that, but it was like she couldn't hold it in any longer. In that instant, all her emotions had bubbled to the top and forced their way out.

'No, I'm not going to think about it anymore. I'll only feel worse and cry even more. No, I need to calm down.' Mimi thought to herself. She rolled herself off her bed onto the floor before crawling over to her stereo, sitting in the corner of the room. She went directly to Disc No. 3 and the familiar strings of Evanescence started. She figured God knew what a bad day she was having, because her favorite song "My Immortal" was the first song to start playing. She shuffled along the carpet back to her bed, sitting against it, legs bent up to her chest, head leaned back against the mattress. She felt her body begin to relax and felt the drowsiness start to set in, so she stretched out onto the floor, grabbing the throw off the end of the bed. She started to drift off, seeing Brady's face as she went.

Belle came storming into the penthouse, her face red with anger. She saw her mother sitting on the couch, reading a book.

"Where's Brady?" Belle asked, looking around for any sign of him.

"Well, this is a shot in the dark, but honey, I think he's at his apartment." Marlena said.

"Oh, sorry, he was here earlier, thought he'd still be here. I'll go over there then." Belle said, before heading back toward the door.
"Wait, honey, what's going on? Is something happening that I should know about?" Marlena asked. Belle sighed and walked back over to the couch, sitting beside her mother.

"Nothing really. Just something happened between Brady and Mimi and I wanted to yell at him about it."

"What happened?"

"Well, mom, you know how they are around each other. Couldn't be nice if their lives depended on it. But mom…Mimi really was trying. She's been really trying these past few weeks. He's either not interested in being nice to her, or he's not picking up on it. So she finally went off on him tonight. She called me, bawling her eyes out. She's afraid she went too far." Belle said, putting her chin in one hand.

"Do you think she did?"

"I don't know, I wasn't here. I got Mimi's side of the story. It sounded pretty intense. Mimi doesn't cry, but she was when she called. Hard, too. Is it too much to ask to want my brother and my best friend to get along?" Belle said, sighing.

"Well, sweetie, I've watched those two. Growing up, I could see even then that they were so alike. I didn't realize it would cause so many problems later on, though. I just always thought they'd end up dating instead." Marlena said, chuckling. Belle groaned.

"Ugh, what's up with everybody thinking they should date? Shawn said the same thing to me tonight. Said there's too much tension between them to be friends."

"Well, honey, have you considered that? I mean, have you ever really paid attention to how they act around each other?" Marlena asked, hand reaching over to stroke her baby girl's blonde hair.

"Yeah, mom, they insult, degrade, and humiliate each other any chance they get. Doesn't take a genius to figure out they don't get that warm and fuzzy feeling from each other." Belle said, sighing, lowering her head into her mother's lap where she could continue to play with her hair.

"No, really pay attention to it. Usually, when people try that hard to make the other one miserable, there's usually an ulterior motive for it, whether they know it or not." Marlena explained.

"Well, mom, you're the psychiatrist, I'll take your word for it. Between you and Shawn both telling me to pay more attention to those two, it won't be long before I go nuts trying to see what you see. But anyway," Belle said, making her way off her mother's lap, "I'm gonna go over to the loft, talk to Brady, get his side of the story. May rip him a new one, never know." Marlena groaned.

"You kids and your way with words. Go on, honey. Have fun. Be back before midnight." Marlena said, waving to her daughter as she walked out the door.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Brady groaned, the last thing he wanted was company. All he wanted was for someone to take these damn tickets off his hands, and the guilt off his heart. He gathered himself off his black leather sofa and opened the door. He groaned once again.

"Should've figured on you showing up. Don't bother, I already feel guilty enough, but go ahead, I know you're dying to ream me out." Brady said, turning his back on his sister, his silent invitation to come in, and plopping back onto the sofa. She followed, sitting on the arm of the sofa and stared at her brother. Her eyes showed none of the anger he was expecting. How could she when she saw how we taking this.

"Okay, you're a little too quiet for my liking. Say something." Brady said, nervously. It wasn't any day Belle Black had nothing to say.

"I'm sorry." She said, quietly.

"You're sorry? For what? You didn't do anything." Brady said, examining her body language. Was she about to pounce on him, or kill him with silence?

Belle got up off the arm, lowered herself onto the cushion beside Brady, and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this. It hurts me to know that my best friend is hurting, and it hurts me to know that my brother, while being the reason for it, is also feeling just as much pain." She said, laying her head on her brother's shoulder. That's how they remained for the next few minutes. Brady was the first to break the silence.

"Will she ever forgive me, Tink?" Brady asked, his head lowering. Belle sighed.

"I know Mimi and you haven't always seen eye to eye. Hell, thinking about it, I can't remember a time you *have* seen eye to eye. But that's not entirely your fault. Mimi's quite a handful herself. Sometimes she's too spunky for her own good. But she has a good heart, Brady. She was really trying to show that to you. I don't know what happened, but for some reason, she just got tired of being rude to you, and figured she'd try being your friend. I know you weren't expecting it, and you probably didn't even notice it until it was too late. Will she ever forgive you? That's up to her. But I'll let you in on a little secret…" Belle said, grinning, and leaning toward his ear.

"Her favorite flowers are crimson and white roses." She whispered.