Chapter Ten
Chloe sat in the living room in a chair as Nancy paced around the room. She'd been pacing the floor every since her arrival thirty minutes ago when she heard the news. Neither Craig nor Chloe could calm her down. Well, Craig wasn't really trying to calm her down if anything he infuriated her more since he was just as angry. So Chloe gave up and decided to let them have their tirade.
"Mother, would you please relax. It's not like I've been fired or anything. It's just a leave of absence." Chloe said to Nancy as she paced the floor,
Nancy paused and turned to look at her daughter and husband. "Chloe, a leave of absence amounts to the same thing. You won't be working and you'll be at home. Besides, that's not the point. The point is, that she, that Dr. Brice, who I told Craig was too uppity ---" Nancy said once again beginning her long tirade.
"Nancy, honey, I know how you feel and believe me I wished I would have taken your advice. She obviously wasn't right to fill my shoes for the job. I mean, to put our daughter on a leave of absence? How absolutely ridiculous is that? Not too mention completely unprofessional." Craig said as he walked next to Nancy and added to her tirade.
Chloe sat on the sidelines and watched as her parents started their own tirade together, even finishing each other's sentences about the whole situation. Once you got the Wesley's fired up they certainly were a sight to be seen. Even at their advanced ages people still talked about how striking they were as a couple. Craig looked very distinguished with his sparse streaks of gray in his hair. Today, he looked very much the doctor even with his closely shaven goatee also sparsely streaked gray. Nancy on the other hand still retained her titan-colored hair with only one solitary gray streak in the front. But, other than their outward appearances they hadn't changed at all, still ready to fight whenever they were challenged.
"Craig," he didn't hear her over his and Nancy's ranting so Chloe stood up and walked toward them. She attempted to call them again but they did not hear her. She sighed; it was pointless when they were both angry. "Mom, Dad would you guys please relax. It's not like it's the end out the world. Besides," Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "If you were in her position you know you would have done the same exact thing." She said as she arched an eyebrow as her parents stopped talking to look at her.
"That is besides the point, Chloe. I can't believe she would have the nerve to do this. But believe me when I tell you she'll be receiving a phone call from me first thing tomorrow morning--" Craig said as his cell phone rang and he stopped to answer it. "Alright, yes I'm on my way." He clicked off the cell phone. "That was the hospital, I need to go in."
"I'll stay with Chloe, we were supposed to go out for dinner anyway."
"Mom I wish you wouldn't. Really, you don't need to stay I don't even feel up to going out for dinner anymore. We can do this another time, when Philip is here."
"Chloe you really shouldn't be alone right now. Especially since Philip isn't here."
"Mom, I assure you that I am perfectly capable of staying home for a few hours. The kids will be home soon and I have some things I still need to do. Besides its not as if I'm completely alone. Henderson and Nicoletta are here."
"Well, sweetie I just don't think––,"
"Mom I will be fine. You can go, I'm sure there are plenty of things you need to do."
"Well, if you're sure?"
"I'm positive." Chloe answered as she walked Nancy and Craig to the door.
"Alright, then sweetie. You call us if you need anything." Craig said kissing her on her cheek and walking out of the house.
"Yes, and kiss the children goodnight for us." Nancy said kissing Chloe's cheek. "Call me." Then she walked out of the house.
"I will." Chloe closed the door. Then pushing away from it she went to her room.
*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*
Chloe had just changed out of her work clothes and into a causal pant suit when the doorbell rang. She went down to get it, as she approached the door she waved Henderson away from it. "I got it, it's probably the children." Henderson nodded and left as Chloe opened the door. Seconds later the children tumbled into the house.
"Hi Mom, we had a great time at the play." Dominic said taking off his jacket. Ariana, Jarod, and Jessica followed him.
"I'm glad you guys had such a great time. And I'm sure you thanked Mrs. Lambert for taking you out. " She said kissing each of her children hello.
"Yes, Mom. Of course we did." Jarod responded before helping Jessica take off her jacket.
"Well good. Since you guys went to the see the play I'm going to assume that all of your homework is finished. So I want you to get ready for your baths." Chloe said gently smoothing Ariana's hair. The children all "Awwed" at the same time. "Hey now none of that. Just go take your baths." She pushed her children toward the staircase and watched as they went up. Once they were out of sight she turned to Susan and laughed. "So how were my darling children? They weren't any trouble were they?"
"Of course not, they were complete angels." Susan said with a surprisingly straight face.
"Susan they are my children. I know them so seriously how were they?" Chloe asked smiling again.
"They were just fine. No trouble. You know Becca and Alex were happy to have them with them at the play. Well, Alex, anyway," Rebecca was only a year old so she really didn't have a say. "And besides that Kevin and I really enjoy having them with us. Look I better get back before Kevin calls out a search party or something. But, are you okay? I meant to ask you earlier but you seemed okay before." Susan asked, the impression on her face a serious one.
Chloe knew then that there could be only one thing she was talking about. "So how did you find out? Don't tell me it's all over town?"
"No not that I know of. Kevin told me. He said he found out while doing his rounds today. Since you didn't say anything about it, I decided not to either." She pushed her long hair behind her shoulders.
"I'm fine, really. Look you don't need to worry about me. I'm only on a leave of absence and I will go back to work soon. I'm not worried about it at all."
"Well good. I'll just be on my way. Call me later this week and we'll do lunch." Susan suggested as she headed for the door. Chloe followed behind her.
"Sure, I'll call you later and we'll set it up." Chloe waved at Susan as she got into her car. When she turned around she saw Ariana coming to her with the phone. "Ana, I thought I told you to take a bath. You can talk to Serena tomorrow."
"But, Mom," Ariana started smiling impulsively.
"No buts Ariana. I told you to go take your bath. Now say goodnight to Serena and scoot."
"Mom, it's Daddy." Ariana said giggling. "He wants to talk to you."
"Oh well give me the phone and then you go upstairs and get ready for bed." Chloe held her hand out for the phone.
"Alright, bye Daddy. I love you too," she said then handed the phone to her mother and left.
"So where are you at stranger?" Chloe asked.
"I'm still on a plane. I miss you."
Chloe smiled as she went to sit down. "I know I miss you too. Why are you still on a plane? I thought that you would already be," she paused. "You know with all that was going on this morning, I never asked you where you were going?"
"I'm going to some meetings in our London branch. Our flight was delayed so Shawn and I had to wait a couple of hours." Even though, Philip knew what he said wasn't completely true it was close enough to the true for him. There was a slight delay only it was a layover in London in route elsewhere.
"Oh well. Did you talk to the children already?"
"Yes, while I was waiting for you. They told me they went to a play with Susan tonight."
"That's right. Remember we arranged for them to go with her and Kevin while we were out with my parents tonight."
On the other side of the line Philip grimaced. He had forgotten about their plans for dinner when he decided to go on his trek. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Were your parents mad that I wasn't there?'"
"Actually no they completely forgot about that because they were more concerned about me. Anyway, I told them we'd do it when you got back. So when can I expect home?" Chloe questioned not realizing what she had inadvertently revealed.
"What's wrong? Why were Nancy and Craig worried about you? Did something happen?" Philip wondered what could get Nancy and Craig worried about Chloe. Whatever it was it had to be big.
"It's nothing really." Chloe had no intention of telling Philip about her job problems. He would find out soon enough when he got home. "Now tell me, why didn't you tell me that Shawn was going away with you?"
Philip noticed Chloe's swift change of subject. He was going figure out what happened sooner or later. "It was last minute. I didn't know myself until this morning. I guess you've heard about JT?" Philip asked.
"How could I not hear about it? I found out from Belle---,"Chloe was interrupted with a voice coming over the phone.
"Excuse me sir you need to hang up the phone now. We're experiencing some turbulence and you may be disrupted." The stewardess said as a precaution telling passengers to turn off all electrical appliances and to fasten their seatbelts.
"Alright, Chloe baby I'll call you when I get there. Okay? Tell the kids I love them and give them a kiss for me."
"You know I will. I love you."
"I love you too. Goodnight baby." Philip said before clicking off. Chloe turned off the phone and held it in her hands as she stared at it.
"Did you lose your job today because of me?" Jarod asked from the doorway of the living room. "You did, didn't you? That's why you didn't tell Philip isn't?" Jarod's eyes brimmed with tears as he awaited his answer.
Chloe who was still caught on the fact that Jarod was there and didn't answer fast enough for him. So he took off running out of the room and up the stairs. It was then that she found her tongue. "Jarod, no please don't leave. Sweetie, it's not your fault. Believe me." He paused on the stairs but did not turn around. "Look let me explain it to you. Give me a chance to explain to you what happened. Please let me explain it to you, the twins, and Jessica all at once." All this time Chloe began to walk up the stairs until she was only a few steps behind him. He nodded silently and then slowly walked up the stairs. As he walked up the stairs somewhat dejected Chloe thought to herself, ~Whoever said being a parent was easy, lied. ~
*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*
Chloe walked into her room and saw all of her pajama-clad children, excluding Jessica whom she was carrying, on her bed. She sat down on the bed with Jess curled in her lap.
"Okay guys I have something that I want to tell you---," She was interrupted by Dominic.
"Are you pregnant, again?" Chloe shot her son a shocked look.
"No I'm not pregnant. Where on earth would you get an idea like that?"
"The last time you got us all together like this to tell us something you were pregnant." Ariana answered for her mother.
"Oh, well I'm not pregnant. But what I have to tell you is important and it's not a bad thing at all."
"Is Daddy okay?" Dominic asked.
Chloe frowned a little but answered him. "Sweetie you just got thru talking to your Dad and he sounded fine to you didn't he." Dominic nodded. "You're Dad is fine. What I have to tell you isn't about him. It's about me." She took a deep breath. "I've been placed on a leave of absence from the hospital--,"
"You've been fired." Ariana gasped, Chloe reached over and grasped her hand.
"No, Ana I have not been fired. Sweetie a leave of absence isn't being fired. It's kind of like having an extended vacation." Chloe eyed all of her children making sure they were all still with her including Jessica. But Jarod was the only one who didn't meet her eyes. The twins, however seemed to be the most understanding.
"It's kind of like when you were pregnant with Katherine, right?" Dominic asked his face somewhat confused.
"Yes exactly. That's exactly what it's like only a temporary thing. Do you understand that?" Chloe asked as she glanced down at Jessica and then her other children.
"Is it my fault?" Jarod asked so softly that Chloe wasn't even sure she heard him correctly.
Chloe looked up from Jessica to fix her gaze on him. "No," She shook her head. "Honey, its nobody's fault really. It's simply hospital politics more than anything else. It is absolutely not your fault. As a matter of fact it has nothing to do with you and it is nothing for you, any of you to worry about. Okay?"
"But what are you going to do now if you don't have your job even temporarily. I mean how are you going to deal without your dream job?"
"Ana you know that isn't Momma's dream job. That was being an opera singer. DUH! And Momma already gave that up." Dominic answered not believing his sister's stupidity.
Chloe knew she had to intervene before this turned into another one of the twins famous disagreements. "Actually Dominic your sister's right," Ariana stuck out her tongue at her brother. "But so are you." Dominic smiled. "Your both right. Being a child psychologist and an opera singer were my dream jobs."
"I don't understand how can you have two different dream jobs?" Jarod questioned.
"I guess because when they became my dreams I wanted different things out of life. When I wanted to be an opera singer that was before I met your father and fell in love with him. At that time all I had was my singing, it was the only thing that made me happy. When I was with your Daddy I didn't want so much anymore because I had him. But, after we broke up I needed my singing so I worked hard at pursuing my dream and going to Julliard. My hard work paid off because I got into Julliard and for a while I was happy. It wasn't until I began helping out at a local hospital in the children's ward, to earn some extra money that I realized I wasn't all that happy. Somewhere in between working there and studying I found that I really enjoyed helping children more. Not that singing didn't make me happy because it did and still does; it's just that helping children gives me so much joy that I can't explain it. My dream changed and it was for the better."
"But why did it change? I want to be a dancer when I get bigger. But when I get older that mean I won't?" Ariana asked.
"No sweetie, that doesn't mean you won't be a dancer if you still want to be when you are older. But sometimes you find you want different things as you get older and things change. It's the way you look at the things in your life and want you want out of it. I love singing opera and when I was your age that was what I wanted to do. After I met you Dad I didn't it as much anymore. But, then even I went to pursue it didn't satisfy me enough. Working with children did and it became my new dream so I wanted so badly to do it everyday. That's why my dream changed because I wanted something different. But guys don't make a big deal out of this being Dr. Chloe Kiriakis is not all I am. I have a lot of jobs I do everyday that I love."
"Like what Mommy?" Jessica asked quietly.
"Well I'm a friend, a daughter, a wife, and most importantly I'm a Mommy. And to me that is the most important job in the world. Being a mother to you."
"Even me?" Jessica asked her gray-green eyes wide.
"Yes you. You guys are the greatest reward in the world to me because not everyone is blessed with children. " She kissed Jessica's forehead and looked at Jarod, making eye contact with him. "I know this is a lot for you to grasp and you may not understand it completely. But, I truly don't want any of you to feel as if this is your fault because it's not. And for the record I am not upset about not going to work tomorrow and you shouldn't be either. Everything is going to be fine. Now, I think I've kept you up long enough. It's time for bed you don't want to be late for school tomorrow."
"We have to go to school, shouldn't we stay home with you tomorrow? You know to keep you company." Dominic asked.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to feel alone tomorrow Mom. " Jarod added trying to act as if the situation didn't bother him that much.
"Nice try but you still have to go to school tomorrow. You guys are just like your father you know that. Now off to bed with you." Chloe stood up with Jessica in her arms. "And when you talk to your Dad don't mention my job to him. I want to wait to tell him when he gets back okay?" She questioned adjusting Jessica into a more comfortable position on her hip.
"Okay Mom." They all chorused.
"Good, now let's get you into bed." Chloe said as she walked all of her children to their rooms for bed and gave them a goodnight kiss.
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