Finally have something to share...two somethings...well really three...but here's the first. Finally the last "catfight" I'll ever have to write for these two...almost...a little bickering next chapter but then I'll be able to turn the corner with these ladies. Rambling...I'm sure you guys are like what is she talking about?
This for all that are still interested, and thanks so much for reading and your support. Life makes things tricky lately, but writing is my outlet, so I'm not done yet. This is for
Minako98 ...very belated.
Note: I've changed the PHLOE one night stand in this story. I never liked how the show made Chloe think Daniel was cheating with Carly. I much prefer a more human/realistic issue of her hysterical pregnancy, a new stepdaughter, and potential fertility issues eroding the bond and closeness Daniel/Chloe shared rather than another woman.
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Chapter 
Chloe banged her head against the cold metal bars. How did this become her life? There was a time when she was traveling, seeing the world on tour living her dreams and now she was stuck. Perpetually stuck, locked away, again, by Salem's finest. Her long brown hair covered her face shielding her eyes from the abysmal view of her jail cell at the Salem PD. Not that she needed to see it with her eyes. The look of the place was permanently etched in her brain after her last stint in this very cell. But at least behind the cloak of her hair she could pretend she was somewhere else, use that ability she honed since childhood to transport herself from any physical location her mind found too hard to bear. She closed her eyes and imagined a warm sunny beach, with Parker in her lap and Philip by her side. She could feel the breeze on her skin, it was almost peaceful, except for the screeching.
"Chloe I know you hear me. Don't even try to go all catatonic over there. No traipsing off to lala land when all of this is your fault."
Chloe cut her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. Damn that girl and her nonstop chatter. Maybe if she focused harder she could block out the sound. Chloe closed her eyes once again.
"I will reach through those bars and yank the hair from your scalp. I'm stuck in here when I should be home with my…"
"He's my son. Mine!" Chloe responded sharply, unable to take anymore of Melanie's voice. "I'm so freaking tired of your sainted mother act. You have no claim over Parker, so stop acting like you do."
"I think a court would disagree."
"It's over Melanie. Philip is awake and he can take care of his baby. Your assistance is no longer needed."
"You weren't saying that a little while ago when I was trying to help you get out of jail."
"Help me?" She let out a disgusted laugh as she shook her head. "I wasn't even locked up! You came barging in demanding I leave with you all while ignoring my repeated questions about where Philip was."
Melanie had appeared at the door in a deep blue trench coat and shades, talking fast and looking nervous. She'd dragged Chloe out of the room and down the hall to a stairwell that led to the back of the police station. Handing Chloe an envelope with money and car keys, Melanie had instructed her to go to a motel in the next town. Chloe assumed Philip would be there waiting but when she asked Melanie about it, she never offered a clear answer, so Chloe's internal alarms started sounding as she watched Melanie run back in the direction they had come. She could have taken the money and run, she had been prepared to do just that the night before with Quinn, but something wouldn't let her, so she headed back into the station to find Melanie.
Cold air hit Chloe in the face as she peered around the concrete wall to take in the action of the main area of the police station. All eyes were on the doors, every cop silent as they listened to the tearful words of one woman. Her family had been violated she had said. The security they had painstakingly worked to maintain for her stepson was threatened the previous night when an unstable woman broke into her father-in-law's home. And the fact that it was a close family friend, her stepson's own mother caused her immense pain, Melanie had added, with three loud sniffles for effect.
Chloe had been shocked, not only had Melanie willingly stepped into the spotlight when for the past year she had shunned it, but she had done so to dispel lies. If Hope hadn't spotted her in the corner, Chloe wasn't sure what she would have done, but the urge to physically shut up Melanie was strong, as it still was now.
"Philip is with his father for breakfast."
"Okay but I needed his help." Melanie stared blankly back at Chloe. "Oh my god you never gave him the message."
"I guess you do have some brain cells left."
"Why the hell would you do this?"
"You called my home at an ungodly hour demanding to speak to my husband. Hell no."
"No I mean why would you come here and help me? I get why you wouldn't tell Philip, you're a bitch, but why are you helping now?"
"Maybe I didn't want Parker to have to spend his childhood visiting you in prison," Melanie replied trying to sound indifferent, but her voice had a slight waver and Chloe could tell something was up.
"You're lying."
Melanie shrugged as she leaned one shoulder against the bars to face toward Chloe. "Believe what you want, but I'm just looking out for Parker and my husband."
"Oh lord, here you go with the my husband crap again. No matter how many times you say it, still doesn't make it sound any less false. You don't really want Philip."
"I think all of my actions this past year have proved otherwise."
"Let's not forget the year started with you plotting to leave him on your wedding day and hooking up with another man behind his back. Taking care of him while he was injured from an accident you caused doesn't erase that."
"Philip has forgiven me for my mistakes, then and now."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Philip is carrying around some pretty deep seated anger about you. He's told me all about it in vivid detail during those nights we spent together, then and now."
"If Philip is so angry with me why did he stay with me last night?"
"Parker lives there. He came to see his son. As long as you have Parker he will come around you. Is that why you're holding on so tight Mel?"
"I don't use children, unlike you."
Oh god she hated this bitch. No matter how hard she tried to keep her thoughts objective to be appreciative of all Melanie had done for her and her baby, she just couldn't, not anymore. Every part of Melanie was irritating.
"I did not use my child," seethed Chloe through clenched teeth and blurring vision. "I had a psychotic break and I did a horrible thing but I never meant to hurt her."
"Did you memorize that from your hearing? Reciting back to me all the B.S. tales your lawyer weaved on your behalf doesn't change the truth. You left your baby to die."
"No," Chloe shook her head words clogging her throat, all the denials she wanted to voice unable to break free.
"That's all you got Chloe? Where's all the excuses now? Turning on the tears won't work with me. Unlike all the men in this town, I don't find you that cute."
Straightening up and pushing past the ugly images in her head of that tree in the woods where she left her baby, Chloe grabbed hold of the bars that connected her cell to Melanie's and leaned in close. "You're a disgusting, hateful person. You may have everyone fooled but not me, never me. I always knew you were no good. Philip deserved so much better."
"I feel the same way about you. I almost pity him for having to spend the rest of his life tied to you because of Parker, but that's what he gets for sticking his d**k down dark holes."
"You think Parker is the only reason Philip has me in his life? He has loved me since high school nothing will ever change that. He can have a parade of wives march through his life, but I'm the one that will always be here after all of you leave."
"Come on now Chloe you don't really believe that," said Melanie moving closer to Chloe and lowering her voice. An eerie calm settled over the conversation as if these were words were too important to be screeched to the entire police station. This was just between them, the two women closest to Philip. "If you did you wouldn't be working so hard to desperately try to hold on to a mentally impaired man."
"If forgetting you counts as a mental impairment, then I think he's come out on top." Melanie looked a little ill with that but she tried to act unfazed, but as always her emotions were written across her face.
"Even without his memory he wants me," stated Melanie, clearly faking bravado.
"Are you forgetting the deal he made with his father to use you to save me? Philip will pretend to want anyone to keep his family together."
"I'm his family." Melanie used a tone much softer than Chloe had heard from her lately.
The cracks in her confidence were showing, and while Chloe wanted to feel some satisfaction with this development, she just couldn't. Philip was her best friend, and so many nights before the accident when they stayed together at the Towers he had confided in her. Countless hours spent talking about his love for Melanie and his unending desire to save his marriage. Like a ghostly echo Chloe heard those words in her head now, prodding her to say something to reassure Melanie of Philip's true feelings for her. If she were a better friend she'd speak up and tell Melanie all that Philip had told her before the crash. Once Melanie heard the depths of Philip's love for her back then she certainly would be rid of any lingering doubts. This brave face Melanie wore like dented armor could finally be discarded and the girl would truly realize that there was reason to hope for a future with Philip. If things were different she might have taken that path, but things weren't. She was being pushed even further away from her child, on the verge of being buried and forgotten. Chloe couldn't let that happen, she had to save herself. All she could do was pray that Philip would understand her actions if his memory were ever to return.
"Sure you are. That's why you came down here behind his back with an envelope full of cash and a getaway car because you're family. You are threatened by me and you wanted me gone."
Melanie angrily brushed down the hairs that escaped her messy red ponytail with her hand. "Damn right I do. You're preying on him while he's weak and vulnerable and I'm not going to sit back and watch it happen. I love him too much."
"If you loved him you wouldn't have lied to his face and let him believe you were going to help him keep up his father's deal. You were playing him like you do everyone else, still running cons even after your supposed rehabilitation."
Sometimes Chloe wondered if Melanie was even capable of love. How could she be with an upbringing like hers? It was a question that plagued her since the day Philip had told her about his engagement. Chloe couldn't shake the feeling that Philip was making a mistake.
"I can't believe I ever came down here to help you." Melanie huffed. "I should have let you rot."
"Or you could have just given Philip the message and stayed out of it. This has nothing to do with you. It is pathetic how you're trying to stay relevant by controlling Philip's life. He's only spending time with you because Victor is forcing him to and he feels sorry because you're always following him around like a sad puppy. You're not Parker's mother, he can't remember you. You're pretty much nothing to him. The only reason Philip's dealing with you at all is because of Victor."
Pangs of guilt hit her again. Philip before the accident would hate this if he were here. Melanie had meant everything to Philip and here she was trying to convince the girl otherwise. Melanie is a user, Chloe reminded herself. Philip deserves better.
Things hadn't been perfect. Chloe had abused his love and taken him for granted so many times in the past. Philip was steady and loyal, a safe place to land whenever her world spun off course, and she'd come to expect him to just be there and he always had been, until Melanie. Chloe could have been okay with her change in status with Philip, accepted her diminished place in his life with grace, because he had found love and was finally happy, if only it had been with a different girl, a better one, one without a shady past and a track record of an inconstant heart. Maybe she shouldn't have been the one to judge, since she too had a troubled past and a penchant toward inconsistency in love, but it was Philip, her best friend and confidante and she wasn't going to stand by and watch him be used.
Though in the end that's exactly what she had allowed to happen. Choosing to be silent in her doubts about Melanie and support Philip in his decision to marry the girl. Now Melanie was trying to claw her way back into Philip's life through the wake of all the pain and destruction she had helped create, looking for a second chance. Even despite Philip's amnesia and his declared desire to get out of his marriage, it looked like Melanie was going to get her shot at his heart once again. Why should Melanie have him after she had so callously tossed him aside the first time? This should be their time, Chloe and Philip together again, and no gold digging con should be allowed to ruin it.
"Right Victor and his sick plots, last night I told him what I thought of his little deal with Philip, how disgusted I was."
"You told Victor you know about the deal? You can't do that it's against the rules. He'll send me back upstate, he told Philip he'd lock me up. Oh my God." Her stomach dropped as she turned and ran her hands through her hair frantically. "Victor did this. I suspected but Hope said CPS was involved, but I knew deep down it was Victor."
"Don't be so hard on Papa Vic. He was going to give you guys a pass, let this one slide, until I persuaded him otherwise."
Chloe snapped around to face her. "What are you talking about?"
"Little ole pathetic, irrelevant me, got the great Victor Kiriakis to take care of my problem, namely you." Melanie pointed a finger through the bars. It took every bit of strength for Chloe to fight the urge to go over there and break it. "So here you are, locked away from my husband, just as I wanted."
"How could you do this to Parker? All your sanctimonious speeches about wanting to do what was best for the baby, you didn't mean a word. You just want me away from Philip." Tears filled her eyes, hot and heavy. "I just wanted a chance to get back my life and my son and you're setting me up? You freaking bitch!"
"Would a good mother use that kind of language?" Melanie cracked a smile. "You better dial it down if you ever have any hopes of getting back Parker."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" asked Chloe rushing toward the bars that separated their cells and grabbing Melanie by the neck, forcing her head against the iron bars. "No one speaks to me like that."
"Get off me!" Melanie was screaming for her life, arms flailing in Chloe's direction but nowhere near her target. Chloe continued to hold Melanie head tight against the iron bars, the pressure leaving a slight dent in Melanie's forehead. "Help! Help! This crazy bitch is trying to kill me!"
A tight smile spread on Chloe's face as she relished this small bit of power she managed to steal. "Keep screaming Melanie nobody's coming. In jail no one cares."
"You forget, I've been locked up too," said Melanie, the strain from her current position evident in her voice.
"Another reason I want Parker away from you. My baby can't be raised by a felon." Chloe screamed releasing her hold on Melanie to massage her sore hand. "You bit me? I'm going to knock your teeth out."
"Please do it Chloe," she said rubbing her neck. "So they can lock you up for years. I'll even step closer so you can get your shot off."
"And people say I'm crazy, look at you willing to get beat down just to get rid of me."
"Pain doesn't scare me. I've faced worse than you. I will do anything for my family. So hit me Chloe." Without thinking Chloe slammed her fist into Melanie face through the narrow space between the bars. Her knuckles cracked, thin trails of blood sprung on her pale fist. "Thank you," said Melanie stepping back rubbing her cheek, a bruise already starting to form. "In a little while my lawyer will get me out of here and you'll be staying right where you are, since you're dangerous after all."
"You think Philip will let that happen? Philip will never leave me in here. You got that lump on your face for nothing."
"I think Philip can be persuaded to see things my way."
"Really? Because the way I see it Philip has already got me out of the hospital, brought me back to Salem, and told me he'd leave you for me."
"Maybe he said all that, but things have changed."
"Agreeing to help him with his dad is not going to make Philip choose you over me. He values you're loyalty and thinks you're a good friend." Chloe fought back the urge to gag. "But I'm the one he wants to be with."
"Maybe you're right, I'm probably being a fool. I know Philip would never want me over you. You're his oldest friend, his first love, Parker's mother, and I'm just an obligation he doesn't even remember. I guess I should ignore all the things he said to me this morning. Ignore how he begged me to take him back and let him move into the house with me and Parker."
Chloe swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. "That's for his father. He's doing what Victor wanted."
"Could be, but somehow I doubt Philip was thinking much about Victor when he was making love to me."
Audibly gasping, she held on to the bars for support. "You're lying Philip would never."
"Now you and I both know that Philip absolutely would."
Yes she did know Philip would.
He had come to her door that night swaying on his feet smelling like whiskey, damp from the steady rain that had been falling all day, his usually bright blue eyes dulled by unshed tears. He was saying he needed to see Brady but Chloe barely heard him, transfixed by the sight before her. Philip had been this way before, she had been the one to do it, and here he was now the same desolation marring his face but this time she wasn't to blame. Melanie. Always Melanie now.
Settled on the couch, whiskey replaced by wine, he talked while she stroked his dirty blonde hair that looked so dark when wet, and listened.
"How could she do this to me Chloe? Doesn't she know how much I love her? I'd do anything for her. She's my whole world, and she's leaving me for him?" A sob caught in his throat causing him to sputter and cough. Chloe rubbed his back soothingly while a rage built inside her.
"Philip, she doesn't deserve your love if she can throw it away like this. No one in their right mind would choose another man over you."
He turned to look at her, almost through her. "You did," he said steady and unwavering, never looking away.
It was the truth, she had chosen someone else. "I was young and stupid then," she said quickly, eyes averting to her lap.
"She's young too, almost the same age as you were. I knew I shouldn't have pushed her into marrying me. I should have given her more time to get over Nathan."
Chloe let out an annoyed sigh. Ever since finding out that Melanie had planned to leave Philip at the altar her patience with the girl was shattered. What kind of person would want to do something so cruel?
"If she wanted Nathan she should never have married you."
"So you think she wanted Nathan this whole time?" asked Philip, his voice small like a timid child.
"I think Melanie wants it all. Your money, your name, a doctor falling at her feet."
Philip shook his head as he poured another glass of wine. "No I'm not buying it. She loves me. What we have is like you and Daniel. We're real."
"Then why is she leaving you for Nathan?"
Philip flopped back on the couch, the red wine sloshing dangerously in his glass. "What do I do Chloe? I can't get the image of them together out of my head."
Taking the glass from his hand and placing it on the coffee table in front of them she said, "Close your eyes." Philip raised an eyebrow in question but compiled, closing his eyes, dark lashes on his pale skin. "Think about something good."
His face scrunched, distress clouding his features. "She was the only good thing."
"No she wasn't. You have so much in your life."
"All I see is him touching her. I should have killed him. Why didn't I bust through the door and put my fist down his throat?"
"Because fighting over a woman is unbecoming for a Kiriakis."
"I'm always fighting for a girl. You, Belle, even Stephanie, but Melanie was supposed to be mine. She said I had her whole heart but now she's with Nathan and I can't…" He covered his face with his hands not completing his sentence.
Chloe rubbed slow circles along his thigh unable to come up with the right words to comfort him. "I'm sorry," she managed.
Tears glistened on his face when he finally removed his hands and looked at her. "I just want to forget. You got anything stronger?"
"No, not anymore. Daniel doesn’t want to keep the hard stuff in the house with his crazy fiancée. Ever since my imaginary pregnancy he’s treated me like a mental patient. And it’s not like I can call him out on it because I’m the one that refuses to go to therapy."
"Right. Right I get it," he picked up his glass of wine and finished it in one swallow before pouring himself another one. "But I thought Daniel was handling all of that pretty well and you guys were helping each other through it."
Chloe took a sip from her long neglected glass. "I don't know how he's handling it. Daniel has basically shut down on me. He doesn't talk to me, barely looks at me. We're practically roommates at this point."
Philip hugged her around the shoulders, pulling her closer against his side. "Chloe why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to pile my problems on you. You've got enough of your own."
"Not for long," he said under his breath. "You know what? I'm the one that shouldn't be unloading on you. My wife is leaving me for another man, there's nothing left for me to do there, but you and Daniel…" He paused midsentence and sighed, patting her knee reassuringly. "I'll just take this and go." He rose to his feet bottle in one hand, patting himself down for his keys with the other.
"Go where?" she asked standing too. Philip shrugged. "I'm not letting you drive," she said taking the bottle from him and placing it back on the coffee table.
"Chloe," he pleaded his shoulders falling as if a weight were on them. "I need to get out of here." He ran his fingers through his damp hair. "To escape," he added looking away.
"Escape with me." Her fingers intertwined with his tightening her hold when she felt him pulling away.
Hazy blue eyes met hers, red and glassy, but still so beautiful. "Where are we going?" he asked somewhere between a whisper and a rasp.
His other hand found its way to her hair, tangling in its length. Chloe closed her eyes memories of being with Philip rushing through her. She had forgotten what it was like to be touched this way by him.
"Anywhere you want."
He'd kissed her after that, his tears wetting her cheeks, and then he pulled back, hair falling into his face. And he gave her this look, like it was high school again and she was struggling to keep her virginity intact with each touch in the back of his car. It all fell away and in that moment it was just them, Philip and Chloe the way it used to be, the way she sometimes wished it were now, before all the loss.
"You're disgusting, using sex to keep Philip trapped."
"I can take that." Melanie lifted her shoulders nonchalantly. "Since you would know all about it, when you screwed my husband on my father’s living room floor. You trapped Philip nice and good."
"Is that your plan? Get yourself pregnant and force him to stay with you?" asked Chloe not even bothering to control her anger.
"You're not hearing me Chloe. Philip doesn't need to be forced. He could barely tear himself away."
Shaking her head, she backed away. "I don't believe you. Philip had planned to spend the night with me after the party. He was going to meet me at the Towers. We were going to celebrate his birthday together."
"Plans change." Melanie shrugged. "Philip was more than happy to spend his birthday with me and Parker. Finding out you left his baby to freeze must not have been much of a turn on as you hoped."
Melanie watched Chloe, a smug smile on her face. Any sympathy Chloe had felt for the girl had vanished, Melanie was enjoying this a little too much. "Philip was hurt and you took advantage. Right now Philip thinks you're all wonderful and amazing, the perfect wife that saved him with Victor. Not for long though, I'm telling him everything."
Maybe Melanie had slept with Philip, maybe she hadn't. It didn't matter either way. Whatever bond Philip and Melanie had suddenly formed would be destroyed once he found out all that Melanie had been up to behind his back. Philip might have lost his memory, but Chloe was pretty sure one thing remained true - betrayal would not be tolerated. Melanie would be cut out of his life head spinning fast once he learned the truth.
