Friends and Lovers
By Misha

Chapter Nineteen

Author's Notes- Hello, okay this chapter has almost all of the teens in it (all except Brady), but it focuses on their home lives. I figured seeing what their families were like and their relationships with their parents would give insights into the characters, so that's what this chapter's about. Oh, and J.T is in this story, but he's Bo's son and the whole Princess Gina thing never happened, okay? Enjoy.

Monday, December 4th 2000

Bo Brady stopped in surprise when he saw got home from work and saw Chloe sitting on the couch playing with J.T. while talking to Shawn.

What's Chloe doing here? He wondered. I thought things were still rocky between her and Shawn.

He knew a little bit about what had happened between them and knew that it had put a big strain on their friendship, so he was surprised to see the two of them sitting there talking like nothing had changed.

Just then Shawn looked up and saw him. "Hey Dad." He greeted. "How was work?"

"It was good." Bo answered. "School?"

"Same old, same old." Shawn answered.

Bo turned from his son to address Chloe. "Hi, Chloe, how have you been?"

"Good." She answered with a slight smile. "Well, I've had better days, but..."

It was then that Bo noticed the strain on her face and the guilty concern on Shawn's and wondered again what was going on.

Hope chose that moment to come out of the kitchen. "Hey, you're just on time." She greeted with a smile. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

Chloe stood up and handed J.T. to Bo. "I guess that means I should go."

"You don't have to." Hope told her. "In fact I was kind of counting on you joining us for dinner."

"Come on, it would be fun." Shawn told her with a smile.

Chloe thought about it for a second and then smiled. "Sure, I don't even thing my parents are going to be home anyway. I'm pretty sure Mom mentioned some business dinner-thingy."

Bo felt a surge of anger towards Nancy Wesley as Hope smiled and reentered the kitchen and Chloe took J.T. back. It wasn't the fist time, either, for years he had wondered how Nancy could treat her daughter the way that she did, like a doll that she played with when she felt like and pushed aside when she got bored. It wasn't fair to Chloe, she was a great girl, and he and Hope had come to consider her an honorary daughter.

They had even entertained the idea of Shawn and Chloe getting together, which would have pleased them both, but they had accepted that wasn't going to happen when Chloe began dating Phillip Kiriakis and things became strained between her and Shawn.

Suddenly thinking of Phillip, Bo wondered if he knew where Chloe was. Then he took another look at her and suddenly realized that Phillip had something to do with her suddenly changed relationship with Shawn.

Maybe Hope will know what's going on. He thought as he entered the kitchen, figuring that Chloe might have come over to confide in Hope, which was a normal occurrence given Chloe's relationship with Nancy.

Still, whatever was going on, it was nice to have Chloe hanging around the house again and having Shawn look so happy.
* * * * *

Mimi set the dinner table with a sigh, her mind elsewhere. "Why do I have to do this, it's Connor's turn?" She protested.

Her mother sighed. "Miriam, you know that he has hockey practice tonight and that he'll set the table tomorrow."

"It's still not fair." Mimi muttered.

"What's really wrong?" Her mother asked after a moment.

"What?" Mimi asked in surprise, turning to stair at her mother.

Maureen Lockhart sighed. "Honey, I know you. Something's bothering you besides having to set the table when it's Conner's turn. What is it?"

"Jason and I broke up." Mimi admitted after silently debating whether or not she should tell her mother.

Maureen stared at her. "Really? When did that happen?"

"Friday. It was my idea."

"Why?" Her mother questioned, coming to stand beside Mimi.

"I just needed a break." Mimi said with a small smile, knowing that she couldn't tell her mother what was going on, she'd never understand.

Maureen didn't look convinced, but she just leaned over and gave Mimi a hug. "It'll be okay, Baby." She comforted.

Mimi hugged her mother back, wishing she could tell her the whole story, but knowing that she couldn't.

She'd just freak out. Mimi thought sadly. She wouldn't realize how complicated things truly are, that's why I can't tell her.
* * * * *

Jason hung up the phone and sighed.

Damn it, he thought as he ran his hands through her hair, everything is getting messed up now. First Miriam and I break up, now I find out that Phillip and Chloe have too.

He thought about Phillip's words, about how it had been a conversation about Jason and Mimi that had led to fight and he wondered had been said.

It was obviously something pretty harsh if it had caused Salem High's most solid couple to split. After all he had thought that Chloe and Phillip were unbreakable. That nothing could ever come between them, but it looked like they had been wrong.

Still, like he had reassured Phil, it was probably just temporary. Chloe would cool off and forgive him and tomorrow they'd be back on track.

Or at least he hoped so, because as miserable as he was without Mimi, he didn't want his best friend to be going through the same thing. If he couldn't be happy, he at least wanted Phillip to be.

"What's wrong?" His mother asked as she came up behind him. "You look as if you just heard some bad news."

Jason turned to face his mom. "Nah, it's just everything that's been going on, you know with Mimi."

Amy Welles looked concerned. "About Mimi, what happen Jason? You two seemed so happy."

Jason was a silent for a minute, wondering whether or not he should tell his mother the whole story, finally he decided that he should. It would be good to get it off his chest.

"Can we sit down?" He asked his mom.

Amy nodded. "Of course."

She and Jason walked into the living room and both sat down on the couch.

"Now, what happened with you and Mimi?"

Jason sighed. "I don't know for sure, she won't talk to me, but I think it's because I have a tendency to get a little too possessive."

Amy was silent for a long moment before finally shaking her head and burying her head in her hands. "I was afraid of that."

Jason stared at her. "You were, but... How did you know?"

"Jason, I know what the men in this family are like. After all I've only been married to one for twenty-five years and are mother to four of them."

"Dad's like that?" Jason asked in surprise.

His mother nodded. "Oh, yes. Especially when we first started dating, he would freak out if I even talked to another guy. And then there was his habit of treating me like I was perfect and placing be above every other woman. It was flattering, but..."

"It was scary because he kept waiting for you to leave him?" Jason supplied with a groan. "I did the same to Mimi."

Amy was silent for a long moment. "I don't know what to tell you, but I can say this. Just the fact that you're able to admit it means that you're above your father and brothers. Even after all these years, your father still can't admit that he behaved like that and that he still does. And your brothers... Ryan's too young for me to be sure about yet, but you've seen Ben and Tom."

Jason thought about it for a second and realized that his mother was right, his brothers did behave in the same way he did. So it was obviously a family thing.

"What causes it?" He asked quietly.

Amy sighed. "I don't know, habit I guess. You grew up watching my relationship with your father and it impacted the way you conducted your own. Your sisters aren't like that, but then again Tracy is always concerned about being perfect and Maura's only eleven. So maybe it isn't strictly a male trait and it affected all six of my children."

Jason heard anguish in his mother's voice and patted her hand, hoping to make her feel better. "It's not your fault."

Amy smiled sadly. "I know, but I guess I feel responsible for the fact that I let you guys learn those habits."

They were both silent for a moment, and then finally Amy spoke again. "What are you going to do about Mimi?"

"Talk to her, tell her I've finally realized the way I was acting, ask her for another chance. But, even if she doesn't give me one, I'm going to try and change my behaviour. I don't want to be like that."

Amy gave him a quick hug. "I'm proud of you, I just wish that your father and brothers would do the same thing."
* * * * *

Belle put the phone down, wondering where Chloe was. She had called three times in the last hour and kept on getting the answering machine.

She's probably just at Phillip's. She thought as she got up and went downstairs.

She had been hoping to talk to Chloe about Shawn and ask her friend if she had any idea on how Belle was going to attract his attention. After all she'd known forever. She had been going to ask her today at school, but she had seemed really distracted, so Belle had decided to call her later.

"Hi, honey." Her mother commented when she got downstairs. "You look upset."

"No," Belle denied, "just a little bored. I was kind of hoping to hang out with Chloe, but she'd not home."

Marlena smiled. "Ah. Well, I know I'm not Chloe, but how about hanging out with your mother? I have stuff I need to get at Salem Place, want to come with me?"

"Sure!" Belle answered with a smile, shopping with her mom was always the best. They had a lot of fun together. "But what about Daddy?"

"He's working late." Marlena answered. "I thought I'd call him and ask him to meet us somewhere for dinner, what about the Tuscany?"

Belle made a face. "How 'bout the pub?" She countered.

Marlena smiled as she grabbed her coat. "Alright. I'll call him from my cell phone on the way there."

Belle smiled and she grabbed her own coat as she followed her mother out the door. She still wondered where Chloe was, but she could talk to her later, right now she'd spend time bonding with her mother.
* * * * * Phillip stared at his ceiling, trying to block out the sounds of his family fighting downstairs.

It sounded as if Kate and Nicole were going at it, over God only knew what, and so were Lucas and Austin, probably over Sami. Just a normal day at the Kiriakis mansion.

Just then there was a knock on his bedroom door and he sighed as he got up to open it.

Who could it be? His father was at work and everyone else was downstairs fighting. He was surprised to see Sami on the other side.

"You looked miserable when you came in." She explained after his startled look. "And I figured that I would come up and check on you. No one will miss me for a little while."

"It's a war zone, isn't it?" Phillip asked, moving aside so Sami could enter.

Like Chloe, Phillip actually liked Sami. Yeah, she used to be a manipulative bitch, but she had changed, besides he was used to manipulative people.

"So what's wrong?" She asked quietly as she closed the door behind her.

Phillip sighed. "Chloe broke up with me. Or at least I think she did. We had a big fight."

"Let me guess, over my favourite cousin?"

Phillip stared at her. "How did you know?"

Sami smiled. "It's kind of obvious. I've known for a while that Shawn was in love with her."

Phillip sighed. "Everyone knew, except Chloe, and when she found out... It got ugly and now it's a sore spot with her, one I threw in her face after an argument. I accused her of secretly having feelings for him."

Sami took a deep breath. "Oh boy."

Phillip sighed. "Yeah, hopefully she'll cool down by tomorrow and forgive me after I go begging on my knees."

Sami smiled. "I'm sure she will, she's crazy about you." She sighed. "Well I guess I should head back downstairs, 'cause sooner or later someone is going to notice I'm missing."

"Bye Sami." Phillip said with a smile. "Thanks for listening. I'm not sure anyone else knows I'm home, let alone noticed that I was upset."

"They rarely ever notice anything besides themselves." Sami commented before leaving.

Phillip watched her go and realized that she was right. His family was incredibly self-absorbed and rarely noticed anything besides their never-ending squabbles.

Phillip sighed, wondering what it would be like to grow up in a normal home. After a moment he pushed the thought away and resumed thinking about Chloe.
* * * * *