Friends and Lovers
By Misha

Chapter Twelve

Author's Notes- This chapter is kind of sappy. It's really a Phloe chapter, but it involves some of the other characters as well. The song I use is "On My Own" from Les Miserables. Oh, and the part Brady will play in the story becomes obvious in this chapter. Enjoy.

Saturday, November 18th 2000

During the meal Brady studied the foursome trying to read into the tension. By the time they got to dessert, he thought he had figured it out.

There was a serious love rectangle mess going on. Belle was in love with Shawn, Shawn was in love with Chloe, Chloe was in Phillip, and surprisingly Phillip was in love with Chloe.

There was one thing that Brady didn't understand in the whole mess, and that was what Chloe and Phillip saw in one another. They were obviously very different, too different in Brady's opinion.

Still, it was obvious they were very devoted, but Brady wondered how strong their bond was or if he had a chance with the lovely and mysterious Ms. Wesley. He figured that he would suit her more than either the tough rebel Shawn or the preppy rich boy jock Phillip.

Now I just have to show her. He thought.

At that moment, Mrs. Wesley made her way to the front of the room. "We have a special treat for you tonight," she said with a smile, "my daughter Chloe is going to sing to us."

Everyone at Chloe's table turned to her in surprise as she stood up.

"You sing?" Belle asked.

Chloe smiled shyly. "Yeah. Mom convinced me it was for a good cause."

"Wow." Phillip said. "I can't wait."

She smiled again and kissed him briefly, before walking to the front of the room.

Brady watched her with interest, wondering if her voice was anywhere near as beautiful as she was.

The music to "On My Own" From Les Miserables began.

"And now I'm all alone again
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to
Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to
And now the night is near,
Now I can make believe he's here."

Phillip watched in girlfriend in wonder.

He had heard her sing in private a few times, but never like this. She put her entire soul into it and it blew him away.

He met her eyes and smiled, knowing that she sang for him and him only.

I love you Chloe Wesley. He thought as he watched her. More than I ever knew you could love someone.

He saw Shawn and Brady watching her with as much interest as him, but it didn't matter.

Phillip smiled, he knew he had no reason to be jealous. Chloe loved him and she sang only for him.

What they had... It was special, no one could come between them.

"Sometimes I walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping I think of him and then I'm happy with the company I'm keeping The city goes to bed, and I can live inside my head"

Belle watched her friend sing and realized that there was all whole other side to Chloe that she had yet to see.

Belle began to understand why Shawn had fallen in love with Chloe. As amazing as she was normally, when she sang... She opened up a whole different side of herself.

Belle realized that she could never compete with that, but then she caught her friend's gaze and smiled.

Chloe was looking at Phillip, she was singing to him and only him.

Belle realized that as special and beautiful as this side of Chloe was, it belonged only to Phillip.

Still, Belle thought, I wish I could sing like that. Maybe if I could Shawn would look at me the way he looks at Chloe.

"On my own, pretending he's beside me
All alone I walk with him 'til morning
Without him I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes and he has found me"

Shawn watched Chloe sing, remembering all the times she had sung to just him.

But it was never to me, he realized sadly. She sang to me, yes, but in her heart she was always singing to someone else. Someone she had yet to meet.

Shawn followed Chloe's gaze and realized that she had met the person she had always sung to in her heart.

Phillip. It had always been him she had sung to when they were growing up, she just didn't know it. But now she did. And now she sang to him and him alone, as if no one else in the room existed. Only the two of them.

I would give anything for it to be me, Shawn thought sadly, But maybe I have to realize it'll never be. It never was before and now it never will be. It's Phillip, it was always Phillip.

"In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever"

As Chloe sang she kept her eyes locked on Phillip.

From the first time she had sung to him, she had realized that it had been him she sung to all her life. He was the boy she dreamed of, whose face she never saw. All she had known about him was the way he made her feel and the fact that one day he would find her. And he had.

And now, like always, she sung to him, only him. This time, however, she knew he heard her and he felt it too.

"And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind,
Still I say there's a way for us"

Nancy watched her daughter with pride and a little sadness.

She had always dreaded this, Chloe was in love. Her little girl, wasn't just hers anymore.

She watched as Chloe sang to the entire room and just one boy at the same time.

She remembered the first time Chloe had sung along with a TV program so long ago and how she had used to sing for her parents. Now she sang for him. Nancy looked from her daughter to Phillip Kiriakis and smiled slightly.

Phillip might not have been her choice for her little girl, but he loved her and Chloe loved him. Nancy had the feeling that their love would last and Phillip would be the man who would one day take her daughter away good.

But that was still far in the future.

Nancy looked at one of the other boys at Phillip and Chloe's table.

Shawn. She had always thought that he would be the one to win her daughter's heart, but maybe it wasn't meant to be. She turned her attention back to her daughter and wondered again when she had grown up.

"I love him,
But when the night is over,
He is gone,
The river's just a river
Without him
The world around me changes,
The trees are bare
And ev'rywhere the streets are full of strangers"

Brady watched as Chloe sang and felt even more sure that this was the girl he had been searching for. She sang with so much passion and longing, she put her entire being into the song.

The only problem is, she sings for him. He thought, watching as Chloe's gaze never left Phillip's face. All of her emotions were for him and no one else.

Brady bit his lip, wondering how he could change that and get her to sing to him instead.

"I love him but ev'ry day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world will go on turning
The world is full of happiness that I have never known"

Kate Roberts watched the young lady on stage with a smile.

Phillip had chosen well.

Kate watched as Chloe gazed at Phillip the entire time she sang, and then she turned her gaze to her youngest son who was staring right back at the vision on the stage.

I wish them all the happiness in the world, Kate thought, I really hope Phillip is truly happy. It's all I ever wanted for him.

She felt sure that Chloe was the one who could bring that to him, but she still felt a little saddened by the act that Phillip was growing up.

Soon he won't need me at all. She thought sadly.

"I love him,
I love him,
I love him, but only on my own."

Chloe finished the song and was greeted by tons of applause.

She smiled shyly and slowly walked off the stage and right into Phillip's arms.

"I love you." He whispered, kissing her softly before they each sat down.

She just smiled, her blue eyes projecting everything she felt as she gazed at him.
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