Entering his living room, Jason casually hit the play button on the answering machine so he could check the messages while he leafed through the day's mail. He paid relatively little attention to the messages as he found himself lured in by the promise that his mother was actually a million-dollar winner. Yeah, and he was Philip Kiriakis. Well, maybe in his dreams. After all, Chloe may be a ghoul, but there was no doubt she was a hot one.

Jason's attention was suddenly captured when a voice he only wished he could forget came through loud and clear, "Jason, hey, son, it's your dad. I know that you probably don't want to talk to me, so I guess it's better that I did get the machine. Anyway, I just wanted to call and tell you that I'm doing all right here in San Francisco and hope that you and your sister are doing okay. I miss you, son. I love you."

Hitting the erase button, Jason angrily muttered, "Yeah, and I hate you."

Heading to the stairs, Jason was stopped by a knocking at the door. His first instinct was to just ignore it, go on up to his bedroom, turn the music up full blast, and forget that the rest of the world even existed - especially his father. However, Jason took a second to think it over and realized that it might be important. He quickly decided to see who it was, and if it was just some lame salesman, Jason would just to tell him to get lost in the most rude and heartless manner he could conjure up on such short notice. Then again, Jason had become quite accustomed to being mean to those around him, so it wouldn't be too big of a challenge.

Jason found himself quite surprised when he opened the door and found the one and only Belle Black staring back at him with what had to be the brightest smile he had ever seen. Just seeing her sunshine face was enough to make part of the anger fade away, but definitely not all of it or anywhere close.

"Uh, Belle, hi. What are you doing here?"

Belle's smile dropped just a little at Jason's bluntness. She knew that he wouldn't exactly be doing cartwheels at her mere appearance, but she hadn't expected him to be quite so distant. Forcing that bright smile back on her face, Belle said, "I just dropped by to talk. Is it a bad time?"

Though his brain was telling him to tell her it was and just shut the door in her face, Jason's mouth did not get the message and said, "No, not really. Come on in."

Stepping into the house, Belle said, "Thanks, I'm sorry I just stopped by without calling. I guess that was kinda rude. For all I knew, you could have been in the middle of some really important stuff or whatever and not need to be bothered."

"Nah, it's not a problem. In fact, you're probably the least rude person I know. You'd have to be to put up with Ghoul Girl as a friend."

Belle fought the urge to defend Chloe because she knew that it was a fight for another day. She had something else that she needed to discuss with Jason today. Changing the subject, Belle said as she glanced wistfully around the living room, "Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've been over to your house."

Shrugging Jason nonchalantly responded, "Yeah, I guess it's been a while."

"A while? Jason, the last time I was here was about two years before Shawn went to boarding school. I remember because it was spring break and you and Shawn and Philip spent nearly the entire day playing some kind of video game while me and Mimi helped your mom bake cookies. We finally dragged you guys away from your game long enough for us to all go swimming in the pool."

Jason laughed at the memory, "I remember that day. You're right about me and the guys. We had to have spent three or four hours straight playing video games."

"Yeah, well, it's nice to know some things haven't changed," laughed Belle, as she recalled Mimi's anger at Jason playing video games with Connor during her party.

After few seconds of odd silence, Belle's chipper voice broke through, "Jason, I need a favor. And, yes, I know that you really don't have any reason to help me, but I would really appreciate it. So, will you do this one little favor for me?"

Giving Belle a skeptical look, Jason replied, "It depends. What exactly is the favor?"

Belle knew this would be the hard part. Even when they had been in elementary school, Jason had loved to tease everyone around him, especially Mimi. Of course, that childish, light teasing was a far cry from the cruel jokes he had begun to make when he got older. Belle wasn't quite sure when things had changed, but somewhere along the way, they had. Flashing her smile one more time, Belle said, "I know that you saw what happened to Mimi yesterday afternoon at Salem Place."

"Oh, yeah. Now, THAT was funny. If I were that guy, I would have tried pressing assault charges against her. Not to mention attempted murder for the near drowning."

Frowning, Belle continued, "Jason, Mimi was really upset by what happened. She gets embarrassed really easy, so you can imagine how that made her feel. I just want you to swear to me that you won't tell anyone. Please?"

"Belle, I wasn't the only one who saw. Come on, there was an entire crowd gathered around laughing at her. Anyway, it couldn't have been much more embarrassing than that mud fight we were all in."

"First, the mud fight was totally different because we were all there together. She wasn't singled out in front of a crowd of shoppers. Also, the guy she ran into was a complete stranger. Can you imagine how she must feel knowing that's his first impression of her? As for no one else in the crowd saying anything, you were the only one there that she recognized. There's a good chance that no one else there even knew who she was. That means if you don't tell anyone from school, they may not ever find out. Please? This is so important to Mimi. Don't forget about her birthday party."

"How could I? You guys remind me every ten minutes. Excuse me for not knowing that missing Mimi's stupid little party with her kiddy games was going to make me into some immoral jerk that didn't even deserve the air he breathes!"

Belle was caught off guard by Jason's sudden outburst. It wasn't even what he said as much as how he said it. There was definitely something off with him, and Belle wasn't sure she wanted to find out what it was. In fact, she was beginning to wish that she had brought Shawn along with her. He always seemed to know how to handle Jason better than she did. Actually, Belle thought that Shawn knew how to handle nearly everyone better than she could.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Please, Chloe?" Begged Shawn for the umpteenth time since they had arrived at the Brady Pub.

Joining in, Philip, too, begged, "Yeah, Chloe - please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top? Pretty please with sugar on top and a cherry? Pretty ple . . ."

"Enough!" Yelled Chloe in a manner that was strangely similar to Craig's way of silencing Nancy when she went off on one of her ridiculous rants. "I've already told you guys that my answer was NO!" For what seemed like hours, Chloe had been turning the guys down every single time they so much as bothered to open their mouths. And, she kept saying no when the begging started, but when Philip flashed those dimples, she was a goner.

"Chloe, can't you do this for me?" Asked Philip with his legendary killer smile.

Chloe glared at the two guys sitting at the table with her. They were probably the two guys she loved most under the sun. After all, they were her boyfriend and one of her very best friends. Rolling her eyes, Chloe conceded, "All right, I'll do it. Just remember that you two owe me big time, especially you, Shawn."

"Chloe, you are a lifesaver. I promise you won't regret this."

"Shawn, I hope you're right," returned Chloe with the only smile she could manage.

Seeing Chloe's obvious hesitation about the situation, Philip vowed, "Chloe, nothing will go wrong. I promise. You'll probably even have fun."

"Somehow, I doubt that. Just remember, Shawn, you are going to spend the rest of your natural life returning this favor."

"What favor?" Asked Mimi, as she suddenly appeared at the table from seemingly nowhere.

The trio looked at each other nervously before Philip stammered, "Uh, nothing, Meems. No favor. No favor at all."

Storming to the door, Mimi angrily responded, "Fine! If you guys don't want to tell me then don't. It's obvious you two would much rather keep secrets with HER, so I'm leaving." Mimi harshly slammed the door behind her, leaving an almost eery silence filling the pub.

"Shawn, man, this had better work because if it doesn't I having a feeling Mimi might come after all of us in our sleep," quietly declared Philip as he gave his nephew a slight grin.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Belle arrived home to the penthouse, she felt no less defeated than when she had left Jason's house. Some part of her had actually been expecting him to happily go along with her plan and not say a word to anyone about Mimi's little swim in Salem Place's fountain. Belle released a deep sigh as she realized that maybe she was just a little bit too hopeful, too naive. She always wanted to believe in the good a person possessed. She should have known that Jason wouldn't immediately agree to keep Mimi's accident a secret. On the other hand, he hadn't said he wouldn't keep it a secret. Belle was willing to take that as a good sign.

Absently throwing her purse down on the couch, Belle walked over to the phone and dialed Shawn's number. After they had left Mimi's house the day before, Shawn had mentioned wanting to find a way to make Mimi feel better. Belle felt certain that he would be glad to know that she had tried talking to Jason.

Shawn's mother answered the phone on the fourth ring, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Brady? Hi, it's Belle."

"Oh, hi, Belle," distractedly returned Hope as she tried to find a way to get J.T. to actually place his food in his mouth instead of trying to rub it all over his high chair.

Coming in the back door with an armful of groceries, Bo questioned, "Who's on the phone?"

Placing one hand over the mouthpiece, Hope answered with a slightly wicked grin, "It's Belle."

"Oh, I see. I bet Shawn's going to be sorry he went out with Philip this time."

Nodding her agreement, Hope turned her attention back to Belle, "Listen, Shawn's actually not home. He left with Philip an hour or two ago. I'm not quite sure were they went, Shawn just said they were going to get something to eat before working on some project."

"Oh," replied Belle, the disappointment evident in her voice.

"Would you like me to take a message?"

"No, that's okay. I'm sure I'll see him around. Bye," Belle said before hanging up the phone.

Giving her husband a smile, Hope asked mischievously, "So, Brady, do you think our son will ever get a clue?"

"About Miss Belle? I sure hope so. I hate seeing the kid live in denial."

"Yeah, he and Belle are going to make a beautiful couple - someday."

Knowing just what Hope was thinking, Bo added, "but you're going to hate to let your oldest son go?"

"Oh, Bo, I know that Shawn's not a baby anymore, but I still have a really hard time accepting that he's practically an adult, ready to make his own decisions. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to just let him go off with Philip today and not know exactly where they were going to be? Let's face it, Philip may be your half-brother, but that doesn't mean that he was raised with the same moral standards as Shawn. I'm not saying Victor has raised him to be a serial killer, because that's far from the truth. Whenever I've been around Philip, he's been very polite and well mannered. But, I can't forget all that trouble he got into placing bets. I just don't want Shawn to be influenced into making the wrong decisions."

Chuckling just slightly, Bo assured Hope, "He's a smart young man with a good head on his shoulders. You know that. Now, it looks to me like J.T. is being just a little bit of a rebel himself with all that applesauce. Need my help?"

"Always."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As Brady came down the stairs, Belle was hanging up the phone with quite a frown on her face. Stepping closer to his younger sister, Brady teased, "Let me guess, you just got through talking to Shawnny-poo."

Giving her brother her most defiant glare, Belle replied, "First of all, stop calling Shawn that. Secondly, I wasn't talking to him." Lowering her voice to a near whisper, Belle reluctantly added, "He wasn't home."

"I knew it! Come on, Belle, why are you wasting your time on a guy like Shawn?"

"What are you talking about? Have you finally gone insane like we all knew that you would?"

Throwing himself down on the couch, Brady remarked as he pulled Belle's pink purse out from under him, "I'm pretty sure this isn't mine. It's not even my color."

Seeing that he had gotten his sister to smile, Brady placed the purse on the coffee table and continued, "You want to know what I'm talking about? You, my dear sister, have had a crush on SHAWNNY-POO since you were a little kid. You, and me, and probably half of Salem knows it."

Lying quite badly, Belle countered, "You are so wrong. I do NOT have a crush on Shawn Brady. I mean, come on, we are just friends. Friends. Nothing more. Nothing. Sure, he's a really nice guy, but that doesn't necessarily mean I want him to ask me out. Just because he's cute and sweet doesn't mean that I'm going to throw myself at him like some of the girls at school do. Please, I so have better things to do than moon over Shawn Douglas Brady. I mean . . ."

Cutting his sister off, Brady analyzed with a triumphant smirk, "Belle, you're babbling. And, we both know what that means. I am right. You do have a thing for Shawn."

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"What on earth are the two of you arguing about?" John asked as he came in the front door with a hint of a smile appearing on his face.

"Nothing, Daddy," Belle quickly answered.

"Okay," John drawled out the word before giving a short laugh and turning his attention to his son. "So, Brady, what are the two of you arguing about?"

"Just how Belle likes . . ." Brady's sentence was cut short as Belle clamped her hand over his mouth and silently begged him with her eyes to not say anything to their father about her supposed crush on Shawn.

Pushing his sister's hand away from his face, Brady answered his father, "We were just arguing about how Belle likes . . . to eat all the ice cream before I get a chance to get to it."

"Sure," replied John, knowing full and well that his children were arguing over anything but ice cream. Unable to keep from teasing his daughter just a little, John added as he walked up the stairs, "If you don't want to tell your old man the truth, that's okay. After all, it's not as though you were talking about a certain young man named Shawn, now were you?"

As John disappeared upstairs, Brady erupted in laughter, "I TOLD you that half of Salem knew you had a crush on Shawn. Even Dad knows. Man, this is too funny."

"Oh, shut-up, Brady."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Watching Shawn walk away from the table and approach his grandfather at the counter, Philip asked, "So, what do you want to do this week-end?"

"Actually," began Chloe without looking at her boyfriend. "Belle and I are planning a major shopping trip for back-to-school clothes, so I'll be staying over at her house for one night."

All cheerfulness was erased from Philip's face as he practically glared at Chloe. He knew that snapping at her would not help their relationship problems, but at that moment he wasn't sure he cared. "So in other words, you'll be spending the night at Brady's?"

"No, I'll be staying at Belle's. Brady just happens to live there too," angrily responded Chloe. She quickly glanced past Philip to see if Shawn was looking, he wasn't. The last thing she needed was for her good friend to be worrying over her relationship with Philip.

Throwing his hands in the air, Philip raised his voice as he asked, "Come on, Chloe, don't you think you have enough clothes? I thought you had to save money for music school. At least, that's what you said when you told me that your summer job was working here, as a waitress for Shawn's grandparents." Sighing, Philip added, "Thank god, school is about to start so you're no longer waitressing."

Chloe wondered if Philip ever really listened to the things that spilled out of his mouth. Probably not. After spending a great deal of the summer arguing over Chloe's job as a waitress, she had thought that it was finally something, maybe the only thing, that they wouldn't be fighting about. Apparently, she was wrong. It obviously wasn't enough that she had quit her job since she would soon be busy with school. Locking eyes with Philip, Chloe snidely remarked, "Philip, we were actually having a nice time together. It's too bad you had to ruin it - like everything else."

"Me? How can you blame me for this?" Philip indignantly asked.

"YOU are the one that's trying to provoke me into yet another argument. I swear, you never quit. If you're not demanding that we spend more time together, then you're getting all jealous."

"And, you don't think I have any reason to be jealous? Even if no one else has, I've seen the way Brady looks at you sometimes. You and I both know that he wants you."

Philip's assumption was returned by a laugh from Chloe. Giving a smile that Philip knew indicated anything but happiness, Chloe said, "I can't believe you think Brady wants me. That's insane. Why would he even bother with someone like me when he could have Nicole Walker?"

Despite his reputation as being nothing but the rich yet slightly dense jock, Philip was actually quite insightful. In Chloe's response, he heard what even she did not hear. She didn't think Brady would want her. Philip knew that was more than an indication that she had been thinking about Brady. Philip's anger only rose when the "what if's" starting filling up his mind. He couldn't help but wonder what excuse Chloe would have used if Nicole and Brady had never met or attended the Last Blast together.

However, before Philip's anger could boil, Chloe's calm voice reassured him, "Philip, you've known me longer and better than Brady ever could. I just don't want to fight with you about this. I thought that after what happened that night in the stable that you would realize that I really do care about you."

Philip payed special attention to the words Chloe used. She said she cared about him, not that she loved him. Still, Philip took her words as a good sign. Trying to lighten the mood, Philip joked, "Yeah, and it's not like Brady's ever seen you in your underwear."

Chloe froze and her mind was suddenly attacked with a vivid flashback of being in the Black living room and having Brady walk in the room as she stood there in nothing but that tiny little slip. Worse than having that memory present, was the anything but reassuring fact that Chloe was not really bothered by it. She mentally admonished herself for not being upset about the incident. She knew that she should feel anything but what she was feeling.

"Chloe," Philip said, his voice returning to a more serious tone. "I said that it wasn't like Brady's ever seen you in your underwear."

Paying no attention to Shawn as he began to return to the table but then opted to stand a few feet away, Chloe reluctantly gave Philip a reply. "Not exactly."

"Not exactly? I want to know what happened between you and Brady, and I want to know NOW!"

Chloe was too absorbed in the memory and how she would explain it to even take notice of the fact that Philip was yet again demanding something of her. Slowly, she answered, "There's nothing going on between me and Brady. It's just that he once accidently saw me in my slip while I was over at Belle's. It wasn't a big deal."

Standing a safe distance from the always explosive couple, Shawn grimaced at Chloe's quick summary. He knew that it was definitely going to be a big deal to Philip. Shawn wasn't even dating Belle, and the thought of any other guy seeing her in so little clothing truly disturbed him.

"How can you say that it's not a big deal? The guy saw you in next to nothing! How did that happen anyway?"

"I told you, it was an accident. Honestly, Philip, it wasn't Brady's fault. It's not like he stood there worshiping me or anything," declared Chloe as a reluctant part of her wondered if maybe she was just a little upset that Brady's eyes weren't popping out of his head. Shaking the thought completely out of her head, Chloe continued, "Philip, before we met, did you or did you not have co-ed pool parties?"

Giving Chloe a look that told her just how stupid he thought the question was, Philip answered, "Yeah, so what?"

"So, how many girls have seen you in nothing but those tiny little swimming trunks of yours?"

Rolling his eyes, Philip responded, "That's different, I'm . . ."

"A guy?" Chloe finished.

Deciding that it would be best if they all ran the necessary errands now that Chloe and Philip were almost not ready to kill each other, Shawn intervened, "Hey, I talked to my Grandpa and cleared everything with him, and I made a list for each of us that has everything that has to be done before tonight. What do guys say? Can you please make up so we can all work together?"

In an almost childish manner, Chloe begrudgingly remarked, "I wasn't the one that started."

Shawn had the sudden urge to find the nearest wall and bang his head against it - repeatedly. Over the past few months, he had slowly watched Philip and Chloe's relationship deteriorate. The occasional disagreements had turned into constant fighting. Sometimes, like now, Shawn nearly thought that Chloe was trying to turn Philip against her. It was almost as if she wanted free of him, but was too afraid to let go, so she was trying to force Philip to push her away.

"I'm sorry, all right? I overreacted," apologized Philip even though he felt very little guilt for the argument. The truth was he was now feeling a little calmer and knew that it would be better if he didn't provoke Chloe. The last thing their relationship needed was his jealousy.

"I'm sorry, too," admitted Chloe. However, she didn't admit what exactly it was that she was sorry for doing. The only thing she felt sorry for was hurting Philip. She wasn't sorry for being who she was or for the actions she took when Philip was not hovering over her.

Smiling, Shawn clapped his hands together, and exclaimed, "Good, now, let's all get to work."