Part III - The End of His World:

Fists pounding on the door, Shawn bit back the irate tears that threatened to fall down his face. Fury coursed through him, as did resentment, loathing and a bit of misery. The fact that he was disturbing the other people who lived on this floor didn't matter to him. He wasn't sure what he was going to say when Philip or Belle opened the door to their loft, but that didn't matter at all. The only thing that mattered was filling the void that had been ripped into his heart. Filling the emptiness that Mimi created when she walked out on him. Filling the emptiness that only Claire, his daughter, could fill. Everything else would fall into place after he saw the child. Saw what he had been too blind to see before.

"Belle!" - he yelled. "Philip! Open the door!" - he pounded again, this time harder. He heard someone on the other side yelling for him to stop.

Swinging the door open, he was met with Belle's confused gaze. "Shawn, what is it? What's wrong?" - Philip was coming down the stairs with Claire in his arms and Shawn fought the urge to rip the child from his uncle. He stared at her. At the way her blonde locks were turning darker now. The blue in her eyes giving way to chocolate. Though she predominantly resembled Belle, Shawn could clearly see distinctive features that were his own.

"Shawn, what is this, man?" - Philip demanded to know. "Claire was just down for her nap."

"I'm sorry." - he muttered shortly, his gaze never leaving the child's face. She yawned sleepily and leaned her head against Philip's chest and Shawn clenched the letter in his hand tighter. "Mimi's gone."

"What?" - came from both Philip and Belle. "Did something happen? What happened?" - asked Belle, frantic for information. She reached out and touched Shawn's arm and he recoiled from her like she were diseased.

"Don't touch me." - he told her. He looked at her with such hatred in his eyes that fear crept into her own. "You want to know what happened? You happened. You, me, our lies…and…" - he looked back at Claire. "…our daughter." - Shawn raised his eyes just in time to see Philip's cloud over with shock. He hated to reveal it that way, but he was just as stunned when he found out all of ten minutes ago that the child was his. Holding up the letter in his hand, "Mimi's left me. She said she could no longer live with the lies and the secrets. That I deserved to know the truth about my daughter." - he turned to Belle. "The truth about everything."

"Shawn." - his name came out as a shallow breath. Belle's eyes diverted widely to Philip's shocked gaze. When her husband's eyes landed on her face, searching her eyes, pleading with her to dispute what Shawn had said, she knew she would never have been able to give him what he so desperately needed.

"Belle." - Philip's voice was barely as whisper when he spoke his wife's name. "Tell me what he said isn't true." - he searched her eyes again before she dropped her eyes to the floor. Philip turned his gaze, now full of betrayal, to Shawn. "Tell me you guys…"

"Philip, Belle and I never meant to hurt you." - Shawn began softly.

He noticed the way Philip held on to Claire tighter than before. He could see in his eyes that he was barely holding on by a thread. The only reason he had not gone off on a tangent was because the child was in his arms. That and the initial shock had yet to wear off. Still, Shawn couldn't deny the want, the ache, to hold his daughter. He had held the child in his arms so many times before. Played with her, gotten her to smile at him, and rocked her to sleep. Each time he felt and incredible love for her. Not simply because she was his goddaughter or because a part of his little brother lived on inside of her. No, he loved her because she was an extension of the girl he once loved and his uncle…his best friend. Somehow, to him, the birth of Belle and 'Philip's' daughter made what happened between him and Belle okay…not that he believed it was. He knew it was wrong for him and Belle to be together while she was married to Philip and he was off in hostile territory. But the birth of 'their' daughter signified that God himself had deemed Belle and Philip to be together.

That knowledge was gone now. Claire was his daughter. By some sick, twisted design the Fates had deemed that he not only lose the wife he had come to love, hurt his best friend with the information, and realize that the girl he held in such high esteem would lie to him.

He heard Philip scoff and Claire whined against him, obviously picking up on the tension between the adults in the room. The anger in his system subsided to a dull aching of regret. Sighing, "Why don't you take the baby upstairs and we can all talk about this?" - Shawn offered. "She shouldn't witness this. She doesn't deserve it."

Philip, who had been too shocked to even think clearly, respected Shawn's position. No matter the circumstances in which this situation became known, he put Claire's best interest first. Philip had no choice but to respect that. It was what a true father did.

That was when he noticed the look in Shawn's eyes.

The aching in the other man to hold the baby. Philip couldn't imagine what Shawn was going through. Finding out the way he had was probably the hardest thing Shawn ever had to face. And he had to face it alone. Mimi had left him…after revealing such delicate information. Philip couldn't imagine what this was doing to either of them. Still, he knew what he felt. His hurt may not be greater, but it couldn't be lessened either.

Turning slowly, casting an unreadable gaze at his wife, Philip carried Claire up the stairs.

Shawn began to pace. Claire was out of the room and he was free to let his anger flow. He could feel Belle's intensely sad gaze at his back and couldn't even bring himself to face her. He was afraid that he would yell at her, curse her, hurt her out of spite and he was bigger than that. He wouldn't hurt her simply because he hurt.

"Shawn." - Belle breathed his name again. He wouldn't look at her. Simply kept pacing in his spot by the door, but she noticed him tense when she said his name. "Shawn, look at me, please." - she pleaded.

Tears formed in her eyes at his demeanor but she was sure that if he could look her in the face now, he would be able to later. As far as she was concerned, Shawn finding out Claire was his daughter was a good thing. She was tired of living in denial about it. Tired of not being able to tell the world and show them just how happy she was that she was the mother of Shawn Brady's child. That had been her dream all of her life. To have a family with Shawn. She was sorry for the way Philip was hurting. Even a small part of her was sorry for the hurt Mimi was feeling…but this was her dream. Besides, Mimi knew what would happen when she told Shawn the truth. That's why she left him. She knew the pull between them would be too great for her to withstand. Shawn may have loved her, but it was no match for the dreams he and Belle shared.

"No." - came from Shawn. "I can't stand the sight of you right now, Belle." - he told her.

Though she knew he meant it and the words hurt her more than she could bear, she begged him again. "Please, look at me. Talk to me."

Taking ten calming breaths, Shawn felt he had his anger under control enough to face her. The coldness in his eyes would never fade though. The pain was still too near. "How could you do that to me, Belle?" - he asked her, his voice no higher than a whisper, but chilling nonetheless. "How could you hurt me like that? How could you hurt Philip and Mimi like that?" - he scoffed lightly. "How could I hurt them like that?"

"Shawn, this isn't your fault. Mimi…" - Belle began.

"Mimi told me the truth." - he cut her off. "Yeah, she should have told me before. Yeah, I'm angrier with her than I ever thought I would be and I'm hurt by her. But at least she told me the truth. You never did." - he started to move closer to her when he saw anger flash in her eyes. She had no right whatsoever to be angry. He stopped himself, not sure of the actions he would carry out if he got any closer to her. "And it looks like you never planned to. You were just as content to let another man raise my child."

"That's not fair." - Belle cried. "I told you I loved you. I told you I wanted you. I couldn't let you go. I would have left Philip for you. We could have raised Claire together. We could have been a family like we've always planned. But you married Mimi."

"That's right." - Shawn countered. "I married Mimi. I loved her. I still love her." - he noticed how the words brought tears cascading down her cheeks. "I will always love her. But that doesn't mean you couldn't have told me the truth about Claire. Thought I don't know why I should have expected that. You never told Philip about us."

"I was afraid to hurt him, Shawn." - Belle defended.

"You didn't want to hurt him, but you would leave him for his best friend?" - Shawn countered bitterly. "Sorry. That argument doesn't fly, Belle. Truth is, you kept our affair from him to protect yourself. Just like you kept Claire from me to protect yourself."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Think about it. You didn't want all of Salem to know you cheated on your war-hero husband to keep your 'oh-so-pristine' reputation. You didn't want anyone to think that Belle Black would stoop so low. You said nothing about Claire because you couldn't stand the thought that I just might not break it off with Mimi. That she and I would be a part of my daughter's life."

"I made Mimi godmother." - Belle countered, though deep inside she knew what he said to her was the truth. A green haze of jealousy filled her eyes at the mere thought of Mimi raising her daughter with Shawn. "She's my best friend. Of course she's a part of my daughter's life."

"Yes, but not as her stepmother. Mimi would have a hand in raising our daughter. You couldn't stand the thought of me sharing precious moments of Claire's development with anyone but you." - noting the green haze in her eyes, "You still can't. Look at you. You're so jealous you can hardly stand it. Everyone in high school used to accuse Mimi of being so jealous of you, but look at you; you can't stand the thought that she could be happy…with me. That I could be happy with her. What the hell kind of person are you?"

"I'm sorry." - was all Belle's rampantly racing mind could conjure to say. She swiped at the tears that poured down her cheek violently. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone. I just…I loved you. I still love you. I will always love you."

Shaking his head, Shawn was full of disbelief. How could he have ever thought she was the girl of his dreams? Did she change somewhere along the way and he missed it? He had placed her so high on the pedestal without realizing she truly didn't belong there.

"Shawn," - Belle moved closer to him, braced when he moved back and Philip came back down the stairs. "I'm sorry."

"You being sorry and still loving me doesn't make this okay, Belle. It doesn't make what we did while Philip was gone any less wrong. It doesn't make you not telling me, or Philip, the truth about Claire any less wrong. And it's not going to make it right, either." - he walked over to the counter. "Philip, I'm so sorry for what she and I have done. I know that doesn't even begin to help but…" - he slammed down the letter Mimi had written him on the counter. "…maybe reading this will."

"What is it?" - Philip asked.

Turning back from the door, Shawn let the tears in his eyes fall. "It's the end of my world."