Chapter 8

Fusion office.

Greenlee sorted through the latest work orders for Fusion. Kendall looked through their expense reports. Both women looking for something that could help them out of the financial bind their company was in.

Even with Michael Cambias on another continent, he was still causing problems for all the major companies in Pine Valley. Erica Kane, Adam Chandler and Palmer Courtland all taking hits to their bottom line due to the shady tactics Cambias was using on them.

After taking a break to get some coffee, Greenlee noticed the time and remembered her meeting with Ryan, but with Kendall in the office she realized it was very unwise to have scheduled the meeting there in the first place.

Trying not to act nervous, Greenlee slipped into the back room and called Ryan on her cell phone.
"Lavery here."

"Ryan, I need to reschedule the meeting somewhere else. Kendall is here and I don't want her to know we are talking."

"It's a little late for that. I'm on the elevator and I'm on my way up. You do what you have to do with Kendall, but I'm not going anywhere." Ryan said with a smirk, "Oh and one little bit of advice, secrets have a way of ruining relationships, so you might want to rethink keeping Kendall out of this, especially since what I have to say will affect her as well."

"Oh stop with the Dr. Phil routine. As I recall, you haven't been able to keep a woman in how long?" Greenlee snapped, "But you're right this time, I think it is best that Kendall be here when we talk. So come on up."

"Almost there. This is going to be fun." Ryan put his cell phone back into his jacket pocket, stepped off the elevator and walked into the main office just as Greenlee walked back in, "Hello there Greenlee. Kendall. You both look lovely as always."

"What are you doing here?" Kendall asked as she stood up, walked right over to Greenlee and put her arm around her waist.

"That's sweet." Ryan smiled, "It's nice to see how close you two have become. I'd love to sit and chat about your new found love life, but I'm here on business."

"Just tell us why you're here." Greenlee said as she clutched Kendall's hand tightly.

Ryan sat down, put his feet up on one the desks and pulled out a large envelope, "Well okay then, let me put my cards on the table. Inside this envelope are four separate envelopes, with four separate proposals; individually created for each of the lovely women of Fusion. Oh and one other thing, you must be alone when you open your envelope. To ensure you don't peek at each other's proposal's, I have a bonded legal aid assigned to each of you. If one of you breaks this rule, all four proposals will become null & void. Okay, I guess that's it. You have 24 hours to contact me about your proposals, after that, they will be off the table forever. Have a nice day."

Greenlee and Kendall both grabbed their envelopes and were about to open them when they looked up at Ryan waving his finger at them, "No, no, no. You really need to learn patience ladies. I'll expect to hear from all of you in 24 hours."

Both women put their envelopes down just as two women in suits walked into the room.
"Oh, let me guess, you are here to make sure we don't sneak a peek at the envelopes?"

"That's correct." the taller of two women said.

"Well, I guess we have to follow his stupid rules." Kendall sighed, her eyes boring a hole through the envelope in her hand.

"Why don't we just get this out of the way." Greenlee suggested with a grin, "Let's go into separate rooms and find out what's inside these things. At least we won't be distracted all day wondering about it."

Kendall took a couple steps towards the back and promptly turned around and yelled over at Greenlee, "What about Mia and Simone?"

With an angry foot stomp and then a disappointed sigh, Greenlee stopped and nodded back at Kendall, "Damn it, you're right, we should wait for them and do this together."

"I have a feeling we might be waiting a while." Kendall said as she put her arm around Greenlee, "Simone is probably still trying to make up with Mia and I think that's going to take a very long time."

Greenlee leaned up against Kendall, "Oh right, the husband she forgot to mention. When will we learn that secrets always come back and bite ya in the ass. I just hope this doesn't ruin what those two have together."

"I told Simone she better do whatever it takes to make it up to Simone, I wonder how that's going." Kendall asked as she looked down at her envelope and began imagining what was inside.

Mia & Simone's apartment.

Simone crawled up from under the covers with a big smile on her face, kissed a very worn out, but happy Mia and snuggled up beside her, "Wow, that was amazing. Are you any closer to forgiving me?"

"I'm still not happy you kept this from me, but I can't seem to stay mad at you." Mia said as she kissed Simone again, "You are just so irresistible."

"I really am sorry though. I just...well, I never thought this would ever happen. You do understand that I was young and wild and I thought getting married would piss my dad off and oh boy did it, but I really did think we got it annulled."

"Okay, I believe you." Mia said with a smile that soon turned to a frown, "Still, the way you refused to tell him you and I were together, that's what hurt the most. I just never expected that from you. I think you better tell me now, are you ashamed of me or us?"

"Oh god no." Simone said as she got up and took Mia's hand, "What I did was horrible. I can't excuse it and I'm really so upset that I hurt you like that. I froze. I did. I wanted to tell him I was with some rich guy, just to piss him off, but I couldn't. I just feel so awful about this. You do know that I love you right? I will say it as much as I need to. I just don't want to lose you because of this."

"You're not going to lose me. I'm not going anywhere. I was hurt, but I do know you love me and I love you so that's what I am holding onto right now. But, I do need to know if there are any other secrets that you are keeping from me? Now's the time. I don't want to be blindsided again."

Simone tried to smile, but couldn't help think back to what she asked Tad to do for her.

Flashback begins.

Tad sat down at a park bench beside Simone, handed her an envelope and took one from her in return, "Tell me again why we had to meet here?"

"I told you, this has to be discreet and Mia can't know. I want this to be a surprise and I knew you could get me the information I needed. Now, be quiet, I'm trying to read."

"By all means Simone, I'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs. Oh and did you forget how to say thank you? Cause it really does do wonders when someone spends a week on a case for you. Just a thought."

Simone looked up at Tad with a look of annoyance, "What?"

"Nothing, just enjoy your reading material. I'm going to feed the pigeons, they always liked me." Tad said and then got up and walked towards a group of pigeons in the corner of the park, but as soon as he took a couple steps, they flew off, "Just great. Go ahead, fly away, no food for you. Stupid birds."

Continuing her reading, Simone's eyes lit up as she pulled out a picture from the envelope, "Tad, get over here now!"

"Yes my queen." Tad said as he rolled his eyes and strolled back over to the park bench, "What can I do for you?"

"Where did you find this picture? Is it real? It can't be. Can it?" Simone asked repeatedly.

Tad took the picture from Simone and held it up in front of him, "I thought you'd be interested in that one. I believe it was taken in 1999. Obviously Mia had no idea that Maureen was Maria. I gather she hasn't mentioned this to you?"

"No she hasn't and I want to know why." Simone said as got to her feet, "Could you save me some reading and tell me what else you think I need to know about this folder?"

"Well, you asked to find out about her friends and family. You wanted to invite them to Pine Valley and help celebrate her birthday. Aside from Liza, she doesn't have a lot of family. I found a couple friends of hers from high school and college, but no immediate family. This picture of Mia with Maria or Maureen I should say, was given to me by a friend of Mia's. Apparently the two of them had a hot and heavy romance, but it ended badly and Maureen moved away. I'm sorry to be telling you all this, I can this is all a surprise to you."

"I haven't had much contact with Maria, but Mia sure has. She spent a lot of time with Edmund just before Maria returned, but not once did she mention knowing her." Simone said, her voice a mixture of shock and confusion as she stared at the picture of the two women kissing at a beach side diner, with a banner above them saying, "Happy One Year Anniversary."

"I can't answer that, but Mia can. Just ask her about it. I'm sure there's a reason she didn't tell you, but you have to give her a chance to explain this before you get all worked up about it."
Simone couldn't take her eyes off the picture, "It's funny, when Mia was with Edmund and Maria came back, there was some serious tension between those two and I just assumed it was over Edmund, but it wasn't, they still have some kind of hate going on and that's just not like Mia. She's so sweet and caring, I can't imagine her in a bad breakup. God, this is so hard to understand. Anyway, thanks for helping me out. Sorry if I yelled at you or ignored you before.""That's okay, I'm used to it." Tad laughed, but could see Simone wasn't in the mood for that, "Did you need a ride back to Fusion?"

"No, I brought my own car. I was shopping for a gift for Mia, that's why I wanted to meet way up here. I knew I wouldn't be running into her in this area. Thanks again Tad." Simone said with a slight smile.

"Well, I hope everything works out for you and Mia." Tad said softly, patted Simone on the shoulder and walked her to her car.

Flashback ends.


"Simone? Where are you? You look like you're dreaming." Mia said as she finally got Simone's attention.

"Sorry, I was just thinking and must've got lost." Simone said, wondering if she should mention Maria to Mia.

"Okay, were you thinking about another secret or..." Mia asked, curious about what Simone was thinking about.

"Actually, it wasn't my secret I was thinking about. It was..." Simone was about to continue, but the phone rang.

Mia leaned back over on her side of the bed and picked up the phone, "Hello."

"Mia, it's Greenlee. Is Simone with you?"

"Yes, she's right here beside me, why, is something wrong?" Mia asked, always prepared for the worst.

"I don't know really, but it's possible we are all in for a big surprise. Ryan is back playing games again. He left all four of us an envelope with some kind of proposals in them. We have to look at them alone, we have to respond to his proposals alone and we have until tomorrow to give him our answers. We need you and Simone to get back to Fusion so we can all read these and decide what to do next."

"Okay, we'll be there in about 30 minutes." Mia replied and then rolled over and then turned to Simone, "We have to get the office."

"Wait, we were having a nice talk here. You know, about secrets."

"Oh, do you have more secrets you want to tell me about?" Mia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, but I thought it would be a good time for both of us to come clean." Simone said, actually thinking she'd been tactful.

Mia slipped out of the bed, but spun around in a flash as Simone finished her sentence, "Come clean? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Simone said just a little too loud, "I just meant I was telling you my secrets, so if you had any you could tell me all about them."

"Well I don't have any secrets so I guess we're done here. I'm going to have a shower, I'll see you when I get out."

"Mia, don't be mad." Simone pleaded as she chased Mia into the bathroom, sticking her foot in the door just as Mia was slamming it shut.

Blood curdling screams could be heard all through Pine Valley as Simone fell to the ground and grabbed her foot.

Mia turned and fell to her knees, mortified by what she'd done, "OMG, what did I do? Are you okay? Where are you hurt?"

"Everywhere!" Simone yelled, grabbing her ankle as she screamed out again.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were behind me. I swear, I would never do this. Let me go get some ice, just stay here."

"Stay here?" Simone asked with a stunned look, "Are you kidding me? I can't move."

Mia chuckled at Simone's angry sarcasm, "Oops, bad choice of words. I'll be back with some ice. I'm sorry okay; I can't believe this is happening."

Simone felt a strange sense of calm at how frantic Mia was about her injury, "Ice is good. Thank you."

Mia ran into the kitchen, grabbed some ice from the freezer and rushed back into the bedroom, knelt back down beside Simone, grabbed a towel to put the ice in and quickly applied it to Simone's ankle.

"Well I hope this stops the swelling, but we are going to have to get you to the hospital and make sure nothing is broke down there." Simone said. Wanting so much to touch Simone's ankle and make it all better, but she knew she couldn't.

"That does feel good." Simone said, putting her hand down to hold the towel in place and rubbing up against Mia's hand as she did, "I hope you know you're going to be my little slave until I can walk again."

"Oh, you make it sound like a fun thing. I'm at your beck and call, mistress." Mia said with a salute.

"A mistress is not in the army silly." Simone laughed, "As my first official order, I think you should take me to the hospital because this is really starting to hurt."

"Oh no." Mia moaned, "Let me call Greenlee and have her meet us at the hospital. Maybe we can look at those silly proposals Ryan has for us while we wait."

"Not until I can do it with you." Simone pleaded, "Besides, I'll want you with me the whole time I'm in that place. You know I hate hospitals."

"You're such a baby." Mia teased, "Okay, I'll still call her because both her and Kendall will want to be with you to."

"Good, I just hope I don't need a cast. I had one when I was in 7th grade and it itched like crazy and it was horrible. I kept bumping into things and that hurt even worse. I'm too much of klutz for a cast."

"Let's wait and see what the doctor has to say." Mia said as she helped Simone to her feet.

Simone limped her way to the apartment door, then stopped when a lightbulb went off in her head, "I sure hope Maria's there, she's certainly the prettiest doctor I've ever seen."

Mia turned to Simone but didn't say anything, but she did seem nervous and uncomfortable at the mention of her name.

"Is something wrong?" Simone asked.

Mia smiled, "No, why do you ask?""No reason." Simone replied while trying to hide her disappointment.

"Ready?" Mia asked. When Simone nodded yes, they slowly made their way down to their car and off they went to the hospital.

Enchantment

Erika walked into her boardroom, slammed down her purse and kicked the first chair she could find. Of course the chair won the battle and Erica quickly sat on it so she could rest her aching foot.

"Don't we have a temper little darling?" said a voice across the room.

Looking around, Erica saw a shadowy figure immerge from the back of the room and shook her head as she saw who it was, "What do you want Krystal?"

Krystal sauntered towards Erica, sashaying her hips from side to side, thrusting her ample breasts forward as she sat down inches from Erica, "Just a little bit of your precious time and I'll be on my way."

"Well get to it then, I'm a very busy woman." Erica demanded.

"Of course you are, what with trying to run Bianca's life, keep Enchantment out of Ryan, Kendall or Michael Cambias' hands and oh right, constantly avoiding marriage to that tall handsome man you claim to love. You really look stressed." Krystal said and then walked up behind Erica and put her hands on her shoulders.

"What do you think you're doing?" Erica asked, her head twisting around and up as she did.

Krystal didn't respond, she just smiled down at Erica and proceeded to give her shoulders a much needed massage.

Doing her best to hold in her moans of appreciation, Erica finally let loose with an uncontrollable, "oh yes", much to the delight of Krystal.

"Oh, is this helping?" Krystal asked with a big grin.

"Okay, I'll admit it feels good and my neck and shoulders have never felt so good, but don't think this changes anything between us." Erica added emphatically.

"Oh honey, who said it would? It's just a friendly massage. You really need to relax a bit, because it only gets better from here on out." Krystal said in her sexy southern accent.

Erica didn't know what to say, so she did something rare and held her tongue as she felt Krystal's soft, yet expert hands working their magic down her shoulders and lower back. Instinctively Erica leaned forward, putting her head in her hands on the desk, so Krystal could get to her lower back, which had really been bothering her lately.

Krystal was slow and meticulous the way she moved over every inch of Erica's back. When Krystal's hands slid back up her back and back up and over her shoulders, she quickly spun Erica around in the chair and stepped between her legs.

"Excuse me? What are you doing now?" Erica questioned as Krystal moved her hands back over the front of her shoulders.

"Sweetie, stop your worrying, I ain't gonna bite, well unless ya ask me to." Krystal teased.

"Very funny." Erica said with a very fake mock laugh, "Just hurry up, I have a company to run."

Leaning forward, Krystal slid her hands around Erica's tiny neck, squeezing gently, then releasing her grip as she moved down over her shoulders and then to the front of her chest.

As Krystal was leaning forward, her breasts also moved forward and were a few inches from Erica's face, making it very hard for Erica to look anywhere without seeing a serious helping of cleavage. Then with Krystal's hands sliding perilously close to her breasts, Erica became very uncomfortable and yet felt very boxed in at the same time.

Krystal carefully navigated her hands around the front of Erica's chest, massaging every inch of her shoulders, before moving down to her stomach. Once there, she began massaging her more vigorously, almost in a tickling motion, before ending her routine by sliding back up the front of Erica's chest, this time making sure to let her fingers rub up against the side of her breasts, which was the last straw for Erica as she stood up, "I think we're finished here Miss Carey."

Erica watched as Krystal also got back to her feet, still only inches away, her breasts coming right up to Erica's eye level as she came to a stop, "Oh, I was just getting warmed up."

"I just bet you were. Now, if you will move your breasts, I'd like to get back to my office."

"Did you say move my breasts?"

"What, no I did not." Erica denied instantly, her eyes still focused on Krystal's breasts, "I just asked you to move, I think your ego is playing tricks on you."

"I'm sure that's what it was." Krystal smiled and stepped to the side, "I know you are meeting Babe here today. I was hoping you'd reconsider trying to pressure her to date your lovely daughter."

"I beg your pardon?" Erica questioned in her usual over the top manner, "I have no intention of pressuring anyone to do anything, I simply want to have a talk with Babe and see where she stands where Bianca is concerned. From everything I've seen, the two of them have become very close and I'm just curious as to how Babe sees her relationship with Bianca. Now, thank you for the massage, it was, interesting, but effective. I am sure we'll meet again.""Yes, I'm sure we will." Krystal nodded as she walked with Erica out the doors of the large boardroom.

End of Chapter 8