Author's Note: Hey guys here is the latest chapter after this I'm going to go back to writing SOTH for a while just to get me back on target. Once I do I plan to go back to alternating between the two stories. So this will be the last chapter for a while, unless you'd like to see chapter 10 and then I go back to SOTH. So just let me know what you prefer.

Chapter Nine

A slim woman walked the length of the room before her in black knee length boots that made her eye level with the two men dressed in all black suits waiting for her to speak. Shaking her head, she stopped, her toffee-colored eyes shrewdly examining the men built like linebackers.

"I gave you one job to pick up Philip Kiriakis' son and take care of the nanny. I practically handed his son to you on a silver platter, and what did you do?"

"But Boss, the nanny brought two kids instead of one." The brawnier of the two interrupted but stopped when the Boss Lady motioned for him to stop.

"I don't want to hear your excuses about why you couldn't get the job done. I not only gave you a picture of the boy but for goodness sake he is a blonde. The child you brought me is a brunette. It shouldn't have mattered if that nanny brought ten different children — you know what your job was," she hissed. "I wanted Tristan Nikos Kiriakis, a blonde, blue-eyed five year old. What I have is Alexander Dimera a black green-eyed moppet. Kidnapping doesn't require much intelligence which is why it was the perfect job for the two of you."

She sighed, "Against my better judgment I'm going to give you another chance because your previous jobs – getting the Tigress' child and the Cabrea baby – were done without error."

Both men breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to leave as they made it to the doorway they were called back. "Oh and gentlemen, screw up again and I'll kill you myself." She hissed eyes flaring as she dismissed them. "Good day." Without another word both men left.

"Darling, I do believe you've handled that with a rather smashing enthusiasm and the death threat was a nice touch." The tall well-muscled blonde said as he rose to his full 6 foot 5" length.

"Well I do try." Clasping her hands together the woman headed out of the room with the man in back of her. "Come along we have to pay a visit to our little guest. It seems he's been sneaking out of his room to see his niece."

"What are you planning to do dearest?"

"You'll see my love." She stopped outside of a guarded room. "Let me see the boy. And go get Alex while I'm here." The guard nodded, moving out of the way to allow the Boss Lady to enter and then taking off to do her biding. Upon entering the room, she crossed her arms and patiently waiting to be acknowledged by the child on the bed. After a few minutes she spoke, "I do hope I'm not bothering you."

The fair blonde head of the child glanced up once before going back to read his book, turning another page as if totally not affected by her presence at all. "No, you aren't. Is there something I can do for you?"

"You could not sneak out of this room again."

He put his book to the side and sat up. "But, what's the fun in that? I'd think you'd be thanking me for giving your bumbling guards something to do … a daily workout if you will. They don't exercise much."

"While that may be true, Charlie, may I call you Charlie?" He nodded. "We can't have a guest running all over this lovely compound. So I'll see to that all of your vents are boarded."

"Okay, board the vents." The woman smiled glad to have that cleared up mentally patting herself on the back for handling the child. She started to leave the room. "Of course, the only problem is that I haven't been getting out through the vents."

She paused at the doorway, turning around. "What!"

"I. Haven't. Been. Getting. Out. Through. The. Vents." Charlie pronounced slowly.

Raising her hands into a fist aggressively she demanded, "Then how have you been getting out?"

Charlie grinned mischievously, his blue-grey eyes twinkling. "That's for me to know and you to figure out. I'm not about to make it easy for you … given that you've kidnapped me and all."

"Miss Dona— I mean Boss Lady I got the child." The guard said carrying a sleeping Alex.

"Put him on the bed." Boss Lady directed, moving out of the way. After Alex was placed on the twin bed parallel to Charlie's the guard went to stand outside the room again at his post. "Let me introduce you to your roommate Charlie, this is Alexander or Xander as I was told he likes to be called. He'll be keeping you company until my last guest arrives. Now play nicely my dear little poppet." She ruffled Charlie's hair and left swiftly walking to the doorway.

"When my mom and Dad get here you'll be sorry." Charlie declared combing through his ruffled curls with his fingers.

"Somehow, I doubt that little lion. If you don't sneak out tomorrow I may let you see your niece so keep that in mind Charles." Then the clicking of her shoes could be heard as the boss lady walked down the hallway closing the door. Leaving Charlie sitting on the bed, book in hand watching Alex sleep.

"I'll find a way to get home if it's the last thing I do." He vowed before going about making plans for himself to sneak out yet again that night to see his niece.

Mimi and Brady were currently headed to the island only an hour away. They were expected to arrive earlier but due to some bad weather in London they were delayed several hours and unable to leave any earlier. With an exception of a few words exchanged between them on their long flights, not a word had of anything of substance had been shared between the two of them. It would seem that they were both caught up in their own thoughts.

Brady glanced out of the window of the plane to gaze at the bright sunless sky, with a subdued sense of expectation. He honestly didn't know how to feel about seeing Philip and Chloe again after seven long years. Their last get together hadn't been at all pleasant. But, even more nerve racking than that was the fact he was going to finally meet the man who had been raising his son, Mimi's husband. It was going to be a very interesting day, to say the least.

"Brady," Mimi called upon reentering the cabin.

He moved his gaze over to her.

"The Captain said we should be arriving within the hour."

He nodded, "Okay."

Instead of taking the seat across where she had sat the entire trip before, she moved next to him, her hands clasped together tightly in her lap. "Brady," she started unconsciously twisting her wedding ring around on her finger. "About yesterday,"

"It was a moment of weakness on both our parts. You were hurting and I … I comforted you. If you're concerned about me saying anything to Rex, don't be. As far as I'm concerned it didn't happen." Not waiting to see her response he went back to looking out of the window.

"Oh, thank you for that. But, I wasn't actually thinking along those lines. I mean I was but I wasn't thinking straight and I'm sure you weren't either. What happened between was totally unexpected, but I can't ignore and pretend it didn't happen."

"Spit it out, Mimi," Brady directed as he could that she was skirting around the issue.

"We didn't use any protection."

Brady snapped around to stare at her. "Aren't you on the pill or something?"

"No, I'm not. Rex and I were going to try to have another baby so I haven't been on the pill in weeks."

"So wait a minute are you telling me there's a chance you could have gotten pregnant last night."

"I-well a very small chance, yes. If I do get pregnant the child could either be yours or Rex's."

His eyes went wide in surprise by her pronouncement, as he snorted and then erupted into a caustic laugh rising from his seat to walk away from Mimi. As swiftly as he got up he returned to lean over Mimi as he barricaded her in the plush leather seat with a barely contained anger. "Tell me something Mimi, did you plan this? Did you plan to sleep with me knowing that you might get pregnant with another child of mine? Thinking that I would allow you to take him from me again?"

She gasped. "No, that is not true, Brady and you know it." She pushed him away and rose out of the chair to confront him. "You said it yourself that what last night was an accident. When I came to see you, the only thing on my mind was telling you that Alex had been kidnapped." She shoved her hand through her auburn locks, pushing them off of her face. "Things got out of hand but I was not trying to get pregnant, it was the furthest thing from my mind."

"Okay, I'll give you that, so maybe you weren't trying to get pregnant, and that doesn't change the fact that you may now be pregnant with my child, again."

"Look I'm sure that I'm not pregnant Brady. After all it was only once."

"Famous last words of a teen parent." He scoffed crossing his arms.

She glared at him. "You know what, if it happens and that's a big if. Why don't we just talk about then? We should be focusing on getting our son back, agreed?"

"Agreed." He replied. "I should warn you Mimi, that once we find Alex, I intend to claim him as my own."

"What? You can't do that." She protested finding this entire discussion coming out of nowhere.

"Since I never signed by rights away to Alex, legally and I'm listed as his father on his birth certificate — I can." He said as he returned to his seat.

"What about Rex? Did you just forget that Alex believes Rex is his daddy?"

"No, I didn't forget. It's never too late for him to learn who his real father is. In fact, I'd say all things considered this is probably the best for him."

"All things considered, Rex is the only father Alex knows, he has been there for him from day one. And while he may not biologically be his father he is the only one Alex knows—,"

"And whose fault is that?" Brady interrupted. "You came to me and asked me to let Rex be his father."

"Only after you decided that you wanted nothing to do with us from the day I told I was pregnant."

"That's not true, I've always loved y-my son. I've always wanted him."

"Then, why did you push us away? Why did you let me pursue my relationship with Rex, huh tell me why did you let me marry him? If you loved him so much why did you let another man raise him?"

"Because, my son deserved to have a father that he could be proud of. And you deserved someone who could be with you freely … someone who could love you freely." Brady added quietly staring in Mimi's green eyes intently.

"If we deserved that then what's changed now? You've never seen our son Brady, not since the day he was born. Not once in the last three years have you even asked to see him, you send me a check every month to care for him but you won't see him. I've given you a lot of opportunities to be his father and not once have you taken it. So why now?"

"You wanted Rex to be his father—,"

"No, Brady I wanted Alex to have a father, I wanted you to be his father, you're the one who chose not to. Only after you'd made your decision did I ask you to let Rex be his father. You walked away from me; I didn't walk away from you Brady."

"Ms. Lockhart, Mr. Black we're experiencing a bit of turbulence so please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts." The mellow voice of the Captain interrupted.

Neither Brady nor Mimi said another word as she quietly took her seat across the isle from him, leaving him to think about what she had said.

On Eixel …

Angel stood looking of the window from the bedroom she shared with Patrick. She gazed at the landscape of the island with her gold locket in the palm of her hand thinking about her daughter, little Eva. It had been two weeks, fourteen days since Genevieve, Eva, had been taken from her. It was on days just like this one that she missed her daughter most. She missed seeing Eva smile at with those large grey eyes that twinkled just when she saw her mother. She missed holding her baby girl, talking to her, telling her all of the things she had planned to do that day. She missed cuddling with her and Patrick, inhaling her daughter's sweet scent. She missed her daughter plainly she missed her Eva.

A pair of arms snaked around Angel's waist pulling her firmly against her husband's chest. She let the locket fall to hang around her neck as placed her hands over his, leaning back against him.

"You were thinking about Eva again weren't you?" He asked as peering down at his wife from within the frame of his arms.

"I miss her Patrick. I miss everything about her; I miss hearing her babble at me in the morning to the way she sounds when she's sleeping at night. I miss her so much."

He kissed her head. "I know you do and so do I. I want her back with us as soon as possible. But, we just have to be patient for a little while longer. Unless you're thinking about telling your father the entire truth now."

Angel turned within the frame of her arms, hesitantly biting her lip. "Would that be so bad, to tell my father the truth?" She watched his eyes closely to see how he really felt they flickered lightly. Propping her hands on his chest she pushing him away, "I wasn't suggesting we tell him yet Patrick. I just want to know how you would feel about me telling him."

He dropped his arms from around her. "You want to know how I feel."

"Yes, the truth."

"Okay, the truth, I want to know why it would be okay to tell your father the truth when my own father has to be kept in the dark." Seeing Angel's attempt at being nonchalant made a light bulb go on his head. "Wait a minute; this isn't about just telling your father is it? You just want to tell him so that you can tell my father and Elena, too." When she said nothing to disprove what he said he knew he'd been on the right track, as he backed away from her. "No, absolutely not."

"Patrick, Patrick please, I thinking about what would be the best way to find Eva. I know that we agreed not you tell your father and my aunt about Eva – at my request. And I know that we agreed not to involve them in this mess unless it was completely necessary. But, don't you think we've waited long enough. My father, I know is doing everything in his power to help us find Eva, but he doesn't have the connections that they do."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're the one who wanted to keep Eva a secret in the first place. I told you holding a grudge for so long against your aunt was going to eventually come back to haunt you."

"That's not fair Patrick. You know why I didn't want to tell her and you agreed with me. For goodness sake she wouldn't even come to our wedding, she's the only family I had besides my father, and she wouldn't come even if she didn't agree with our decision. She's the one who couldn't put aside her issues to be there for me. And that hurt Patrick, it hurt so much." Angel said her voice falling to a whisper.

Patrick walked back to her lightly grasping her shoulders. "I know it did Angel. And I know how much you wanted her to be there for our wedding. But, not telling her or my father about Eva was wrong. They deserved to know because they are her grandparents and they would love her so much."

"I know and that's why I want to fix that mistake now, so that they can get a chance to meet her while she's still young. I'll make them understand that the choice to keep her a secret was mine, not yours."

He stared down at his wife for a moment before sighing and sliding her hands from her shoulders to rest on the small of her back as he hugged her within the frame of his arms. "They won't buy that for a minute you know. They know I'm just as stubborn as you are. When we decided to keep it from them it was a joint decision so we'll take the heat together. She's our daughter, yours and mine, and it's just as much my fault for keeping her a secret as it is yours." He pulled back slightly tilting her head up, "The last email I got from Charlie said that Dad and Elena were going to judge a dance event in L.A. But, they were supposed to return yesterday so we can call them now."

"I want to tell Dad first though. I need to come clean with him, first." Angel replied cupping Patrick's jaw between her palms.

Sighing he pulled her hands away and hugged her against him again. "Fine we'll tell him before we call Elena and my Dad." He pulled back, this time releasing her from the frame of his arms. "But, first we need to shower and change."

Scrunching her nose, she added, "Especially since we fell asleep in the clothes we arrived in." She moved around the room to pick up the suitcase with their clothes in it. Putting the case on the bed she unzipped it. "You go ahead and shower first; I need to go ask Lily where my father is. Last night, she mentioned something about him and Chloe going to get Mimi and that guy Brady, today." Patrick moved to sit down on the bed next to the case of clothes watching as Angel sorted through the clothing they'd packed.

"Do you like her? You never said before?"

"Chloe, you mean?" Patrick nodded as she took a shirt and blue jeans out of the case, pausing in her wake. "She seems nice enough. From what I know of her, in the past two days, I guess you could say I like her."

"But …" he prodded.

"But, she's not exactly what I expected. Which, all things considered is actually a good thing …" She sat down on the bed next to Patrick, leaning against his chest and he held himself upright by his hands positioned in back of him. "What did you think of her and my father?"

"Honestly, I liked her. She seems like the kind of person who could handle herself very well in any situation. And given her history being related to Stefano Dimera and going against Victor Kiriakis back in the day, she's clearly no pushover. Plus, she's not too bad on the eyes for an older woman." Angel swatted his shoulder playfully.

"What about my father? What's your feeling on him?"

"Your Dad is a tough one to read. But, I have to say I'm glad that you weren't living with him before we got married."

"Why?" She asked frowning.

"Because he never would have let me anywhere near you, let alone marry you at 18. Ouch hey," he exclaimed as she pinched him.

"I'm serious, Patrick. What did you think of him?"

Sliding down so that he was lying on the bed with Angel sitting above him to the side. "He seems to run kind of hot and cold. With Lily, Nicky, Chloe and even you he's hot, warm I'd even say friendly. But, when he talks to me or about the kidnapper he was completely cold."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She sung her leg over his prone body so that she was resting on his thighs.

"I don't know yet. Your father seems very protective and I think that's kind of a good thing. But, since we just met I don't know if I could give a more thorough analysis of the situation."

Angel as she moved to lay down on him, maneuvering her position so that she lied on top of him with one leg still propped over his. "I got the same sort of feeling. I was wondering if it was just me, glad to know its not." She moved her hands and laid her head down his chest listening to the calming sound of his beating heart in an uninterrupted silence as his hands traced small circles on her back.

Or at least that's what she'd been attempting before there was a knock on the door. Before either Angel or Patrick could respond the door opened with Lily popping through.

"Hey Daddy and Momma are — oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude." Lily said surprised as she stared down at her sister and Patrick on the bed together rather intimately. At least they were clothed.

"Its okay, Lily you're not interrupting anything. What's this about Dad?" Angel said moving into a sitting position but not away from Patrick.

"Uh, Daddy wanted me to let you know that he and Momma left to go pick up Aunt Mimi and Uncle Brady. They should be back in a bit and he wants to introduce you to Brady."

"I thought your father didn't get along well with your Uncle Brady."

Lily shrugged, "I don't know about that, he just wanted me to give you the message. Oh and my grandpa Stefano wants to meet you too, he's downstairs with Nicky."

Angel nodded taking everything in as she moved away from Patrick and off of the bed. "Right, so we'll be down just as soon as we shower and change. But, before you go you should know that we've decided to go ahead and tell Dad the truth about Eva. We're going to tell him everything when he gets back."

"Why?"

"We want to call my father have him get involved in the investigations, he has connections that are shall we say somewhat less than legal and he could probably access to information that Philip can't. But, before we do that Philip has to be told the truth." Patrick offered as he too, rose from the bed. "So just tell your grandfather that we'll be down soon, Lily."

"Okay we'll be in the breakfast room; you remember where that is right?"

"We remember. See you later." Angel replied as she shut the door behind her sister and headed to the in suite bathroom.

Rex came down the stairs intending to grab himself a cup of coffee as he awaited the arrival of his wife and Brady, when he heard a noise in the Stefano's library/office. Figuring that it was probably his grandfather, he walked into the barely lit room, he didn't see any books or anything or the floor. But, there was a figure of a man sitting behind the desk, partially darken so he could make out who it was exactly.

"Grandfather what are you doing sitting in the dark?" He turned to flick the switch of the overhead light. He turned back around to face Stefano, he was surprised to see that the man sitting behind the desk was not his grandfather it was someone more dangerous. "Lion." Rex started to back out of the room.

"Well, I'm certainly not Stefano Dimera but I am pleased to see that you remembered me." The man stood, stalking from behind the desk after Rex.

"I told you he would come." As Rex turned to run he was stopped by the menacing figure of a tall woman with a sliver gun cocked at him. "Now, now Rex, where do you think you're running off to?"

Rex swore. "Don't you ever leave your bitch at home,"he hissed.

The woman grinned slyly before backhanding Rex across the face leaving a red mark and a bloody lip. "Rex, a bitch is a female dog. I am a Tigress," Taking her free hand she roughly gave his reddening cheek a stinging slap. "You'd do well to remember that." With her gun she gestured back for him to move back into the library. Having no choice but to do as she asked he moved back into the room followed closely by the woman as she shut the door. "Have a seat Rex." She kicked the back of his calf causing the fall forward onto a chair.

He righted himself, touching his lip to find that it was bleeding from her earlier smack. "Are you going to call off your wife?"

Leaning back against the edge of the desk, the man called Lion calmly pulled a dangerous looking knife from his boot. "I don't know I'm kind of enjoying this. It's been a while since I've seen her torture anyone."

"Tor-torture — me? What for?"

"For messing with the Tigress' domain."

Rex was dumbfounded he didn't know what they were talking about. "What?"

Using the knife as if it were a file, Lion raked the sharp against his manicured nails. "You know in the jungle, the lion is the king and he protects his land and his den. If anyone tried to claim that land or the den, the king fights back to the death. If you mess with the king, you will be punished."

"And?"

"Well, the lion isn't the only one who protects his own, the lioness does as well. Or in this case the tigress protects her young. And when someone tries to harm her young or heaven forbid take her cub … she gets angry…"

"And goes for blood." Tigress snarled as she grasped Rex's hair roughly jerking his head back.

The hair on the back of Rex's neck stood up as his head was painfully jerked back. "Wait a minute you're saying that someone took your son."

"Give the man a prize, X. He got in one shot. Now, the next question will get you the grand prize. Where, is my son?" She asked slowly punctuating each word with a blow across Rex's face, drawing blood from his lip again as it was raked against his teeth.

"I don't know."

"That was the wrong answer." Lion said softly as he repositioned himself on the desk so that he was directly across from Rex, the knife still in his hand.

"Yes, it was." Tigress said releasing her grip on his hair as she struck him again on this time it was with the butt of her gun. "I'm going to give you one more chance to tell the truth and then we'll play a little game of salt and filter."

Blood gushed openly from Rex's nose where the gun had hit him. He clutched it tilting his head upward to stop the blood flow. "I think you broke my nose."

"Oh, now you're exaggerating, I didn't break your nose. The bone didn't even crack, but if you want a broken nose far be it for me—" she raised her hand to strike him again.

"NO!"

"Now, Rex, there's no reason to yell, yet." She smiled down at him benevolently.

Suddenly, the door opened, "Uncle Rex, Momma and Dad are back." Lily started as the last of the words sided on her lips her gaze shot from each occupant of the room before going back to her uncle on a chair with a bloody face. She turned and ran out of the room. "Grandpa, Patrick, the kidnappers are here and they've got Uncle Rex."

Lion stood frowning as the teenaged girl ran from the room. "Did she say Patrick?"

"X, I think the more important question was would be who she was. Stefano only has one granddaughter and she's got to be around Patrick's age now. That girl was sixteen maybe seventeen years old." Tigress moved from Rex's bloodied figure putting her gun in the back of her pants. "Should we abort?"

"No, I want to see who this Patrick is."

"You don't think it's him do you?"

"I don't know but nothing he does now surprises me, but siding with the enemy is new even for him." Lion said as he moved to stand next to the Tigress, sliding his knife back into his boot.

Back in the hallway …

Everyone had heard Lily's scream and headed the down the corridor that it came from. Stefano was in the lead with his motorized wheelchair cutting the distance in half, closely followed by Patrick and Angel who carried a scared Nicky in her arms. Although, the child was still weary of her, hearing his older sister scream had scared him just enough to seek comfort from his other sister. They met in the wide corridor, Lily colliding with Patrick; he grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

"Liliana, my child what is going on?" Stefano asked concerned as he grasped his great-granddaughter's hand to give her a comforting squeeze.

"Oh, Grandpa, they were hurting Uncle Rex … he was bleeding … he looked hurt … I-I think he's dead." Lily recounted hysterically.

"Lily, Lily, I need you to calm down and tell me where were they were and what they looked like." Patrick suggested gently as he soothingly rubbed the girls' back.

"It was a man and woman dressed in all black. They were in the library and the woman had a gun in her hand, I think."

"Okay, I'm going to go check it out, I want you to stay here with your grandfather and wait for your father." Lily nodded shakily as she started to calm down. Then, Patrick turned and left going the same the direction she had come from.

"Patrick, Patrick wait." Angel said as she gave Nicky to his grandfather and took off after her husband down the corridor.

"Angel, don't go," Lily called out.

"Liliana, don't. We will wait for your father on the helio-pad entrance. Come with me my child."

"But,"

"No, Lily, Nikos is already scared enough. Your brother-in-law is capable of handling any of the trouble that comes. You will follow me." With that Stefano turned his wheelchair around, mindful of Nicky in his lap and headed in an alternate direction with Lily following closely behind.

Angel caught up with her husband as he approached the closed door to the library. She grabbed a hold of his shirt from behind him and he stopped turning to her.

"Angel why aren't you with your sister? I wanted you to wait with her."

"Why so you can get yourself hurt? I don't think so. We're in this together remember."

Rather then wasting time fighting with her, he sighed holding out his hand. "Okay but you stay behind me." Taking her hand with his, he led the way to the library door where he opened the door. Angel walked behind him into the room ready for any dangers that would present themselves.

Philip helped Chloe and Mimi out of the car, thereby to avoid having an argument with Brady. The last thing he needed was to get into an altercation either physical or violent with his nephew after only twenty minutes of being in the same breathing space. Holding open the door to the main house, expecting no one to be waiting for him, he was surprised to see his children and Stefano awaiting him.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh Daddy, it was awful. The kidnappers they got Uncle Rex and they were beating him." The teenaged girl said as she practically flew into her father's arms.

"What's she talking about Stefano?"

"The kidnappers, Daddy, they're in Grandpa's library and Patrick went to get Uncle Rex and then Angel went after him."

"The kidnappers are here?" Brady asked as he observed his uncle comforting his daughter. Lily had grown to be a very beautiful young woman, she reminded him of Chloe nearly twenty years earlier.

"Yes, apparently they have Rex in the library and your son-in-law Patrick wanted to check things out so your Angelica followed him. You and Brady should go help him out while Chloe, Mimi and I see to the children." Stefano suggested not wanting to be in the presence of Brady Black for one moment longer as he willed his chair over to Chloe who had already taken to calming her daughter.

"You stay here, Brady drop your bag." Philip ordered releasing his daughter to Chloe but not before he kissed her cheek. "Everything will be alright, I promise." His eyes met Chloe's over Lily's head, she gave him a nod of reassurance before he and Brady headed down the hallway to the library.

"Be careful," Mimi said softly as she watched the two men disappear down the hall.

When Patrick and Angel entered the library they saw the two people they'd least expected to be there.

"Dad,"

"Aunt Elena, what are you doing here?" The young couple asked simultaneously.

"Ugh, related to the Tigress and Lion, I should have known." Rex groused.

"Shut up."

"What are we doing here; I think the more pertinent question is what are you doing here? In Stefano Dimera's home no less."

"Dad I'm a grown man, I don't have to explain myself to you. I owe you no explanations what so ever or did you forget that you disowned me." Patrick bit out vehemently.

"Oh please you know I never disowned you."

Patrick snorted. "Yeah well that's what you told me four years ago."

Xavier raised his hand in a stop motion. "You know what let's not do this." Smirking he stocked toward his adult son. "What you can do is tell me what you were thinking bring Angel into this hostile environment where her life could be placed in danger."

"Xavier, don't. Patrick didn't bring me here, I brought him." Angel interrupted stepping between her husband and his father, laying a hand on Patrick's chest to keep him back. "And we aren't in any danger. Stefano knows we're here and he's been the perfect host."

Elena watched the interaction between all the parties in the room. Upon seeing Xavier in the room, Patrick was immediately defensive and defiant and Angel became the peacemaker between the both of them. Some things never changed, and yet some did as she sensed there was something going on with Angel and Patrick but she couldn't tell what just yet.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing; Stefano Dimera isn't some old grandfather living his life in seclusion. He's a cold-blooded, murdering, psychopathic killer, and kidnapper. What the hell were the two of you thinking sneaking in here—,"

"Wait a minute, we haven't snuck in anywhere, and we're guest of …"

"Of who?" Elena probed.

"Of me. Who the hell are the two of you and what are you doing on my island?" Philip said from the doorway of the library as he walked in with Brady at his side. "Angel, do you know who these people are?" His blue eyes piercing his daughter with a questioning gaze.

"This is my Aunt Elena and Xavier, Patrick's father. Aunt Elena this is my … my father." Angel directed her gaze to her aunt seeing a flicker of hurt pass through her grey eyes.

"So you found your father, I guess you got what you wanted after all."

"Hey, that's not fair – you denied her the chance. She had every right to find her father."

"Patrick, please."

"No, Angel someone has to say it. All she ever wanted was a chance to meet him but you wouldn't know that because you never bothered to ask."

"I was trying to protect you, Angel." Elena protested.

"Protect me from what? He doesn't have legal rights to me. What harm would it have done to let me meet him for myself?" Moving her hand from Patrick's chest she took a formidable stance against her aunt, her green eyes flaring.

"You ask that standing in the home of Stefano Dimera? After everything that man has done. I warned you that you would be setting yourself up to get into trouble."

"That's not true. But, I don't expect you to understand, you never did, that's why you kicked me out."

"I never kicked you out. I gave you a choice."

"No, you gave me an ultimatum, either I ended my relationship with Patrick or you wouldn't give me the information to find my father. I made the only decision you left me with. I left and I don't regret my decision for one minute." She linked hands with Patrick.

"Is he okay?" Brady asked as he stared at the bloody Rex.

"Of course, he's fine. I didn't even break his nose, it just a little blood." Elena scoffed. "Aren't you Recando?"

"You know Rex." Philip questioned still trying to put all the details in perspective.

"Oh yes, Rex and I go way back don't we poppet?" Rex simply grunted. "Now why are you here Angel?"

"My daughter and her husband don't —,"

"Husband, you're married?" Xavier demanded.

Glancing at their linked hands, Elena finally saw the gold bands on their hands. "How long?"

"Almost three years."

Elena shook her head in disappointment. "You were too young."

"I am not too young to know my own mind and my heart. I love Patrick, I always have."

"Why were you beating Rex?"

"For the same reason Angel and Patrick are here." Xavier answered.

"You know, how could you know?"

"Patrick, there is very little that I don't know."

"But how could you we only told Charlie and Grandpa about Eva?"

"Who's Eva?" Elena asked frowning.

"Our daughter." Patrick and Angel confessed.

To be continued …

So what do you think post chapter 10 now (when I finish it) or wait and come back after I've got caught up with SOTH? You decide.