"Brady," Mimi moaned, the pain evident in her voice. She clutched at the sheets on his bed and grabbed large fistfuls.

"Ssshhh, just hold still for a second," Brady instructed in a low voice.

"It really hurts," she whimpered.

"I know it does. Just stop being a baby about it and stop wriggling around. You're making it worse," Brady reprimanded.

Mimi looked down for a second. "It's huge and it's totally stuck!" she said shrilly.

Brady sighed impatiently. "If you would hold still it wouldn't hurt so much. I'm trying to get it out."

Mimi bit on her lower lip and looked up at the ceiling, trying to distract herself. She would just try to not think about the pain.

"There, I got it," Brady said. With a pair of tweezers he held up the offending splinter for Mimi to view.

"Why the hell do you have a baseball bat on the floor next to your bed?" she asked while flexing her foot. The rather large splinter had embedded itself deeply into her big toe when she had accidentally kicked the bat.

"Lucky baseball bat," Brady corrected her. "And it's a long story."

Brady put the tweezers back into the First-Aid kit and pulled out a Band-Aid. He carefully wrapped it around the entry site on Mimi's toe. He held her foot in his hands and on impulse kissed her big toe. "There, all better."

Mimi's breathing suddenly stopped. She had a completely irrational desire for him to continue kissing her foot. Mimi's pajama leg had hiked up to her knee as Brady held her foot up. Brady couldn't help but admire Mimi's shapely leg. Without thinking he lightly ran his fingers up and down her calf. She was so sleek and so soft. He noticed how quiet the room had suddenly turned. Mimi looked frozen. She wasn't even blinking. Brady laid her leg back down on the bed.

"What's the matter, Mimi? Cat got your tongue?" he asked softly. He crawled back up the bed until he was hovering over her. He leaned his head down and began to kiss her deeply. His tongue demanded immediate entry and Mimi happily complied. His mouth slanted against hers in a fevered embrace, their tongues sparring.

"No wait, it's me that's got your tongue," Brady teased as he pulled back to look at her. Did she even know how unbelievably attractive she was? Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her hair was attractively mussed. Her lips were swollen from his kisses, and were begging for him to continue.

"You are so beautiful," Brady breathed, the words out of his mouth before he even realized that he'd said them. The words stunned Mimi, and she averted her face from his. Brady rolled onto his side and propped himself on his elbow. "Mimi?"

Mimi kept her face turned from him. Brady reached over and forced her to look at him. There was one tear on her cheek, and then another. Mimi tried desperately to contain the tears, but to no avail. When she saw what seemed to be concern in Brady's eyes, her composure was shattered. Before she could stop the stupid things, her tears were flowing in a torrent down her cheeks.

Brady was confused. "Was it something I said?" He started wiping the tears from her face, which made Mimi cry harder.

"Stop, Brady," she whispered. "I know I'm not beautiful, that you're here with me because I'm convenient or willing or whatever. You don't have to lie to me to be with me. I'm already here, aren't I?"

"Is that what you think?" Brady asked, shocked. He thought for a moment. "Mimi, who told you that you weren't beautiful?"

"Does it matter?" she asked wearily. Brady was surprised by how much it did matter. His feelings of concern were both strange and at the same time, welcome. "Well, I'm going to need his name if I'm going to kill him for lying to you."

Part of Mimi wanted to laugh, but she was too upset. "I was in seventh grade. This boy had a crush on Belle, and would always hang around us to try to be close to her. I thought he liked me too. I tried flirting with him like Belle was, and he pulled me aside to tell me that I was 'straight ugly' and that no guy would ever think I was pretty."

That settled it. Brady was definitely going to have to find him and kill him.

Mimi continued, "Looks like he was right. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be Belle Black's best friend? The most beautiful girl in Salem? All the boys chased after her. I was her quirky sidekick. None of them ever gave me a second glance."

"Well, I think the solution here is obvious. I think we should compare me with this idiot from seventh grade, and see whose opinion matters more," Brady stated matter-of-factly.

Mimi blinked her eyes at him, not understanding what he meant.

"Now, you think I'm handsome, don't you?"

Mimi scoffed, "Well, you certainly seem to think so."

"I'll take that as a 'devastatingly so'. And I'm charming, right?"

"Like a snake," Mimi replied.

"I'll take that as a 'yes, completely'. And am I not extremely talented?" he asked.

"And so very humble," Mimi mocked.

"And we all know how brilliant I am," Brady continued as Mimi laughed out loud, her mood temporarily bettered. "Hey, don't make fun. I worked long and hard to get this pompous," Brady smiled, entwining his fingers into her hair.

"So we've decided that I am good-looking, charming, talented and intelligent," Brady went on. He looked into Mimi's eyes, making sure that he had her full attention. "And I am telling you, Miriam Lockhart, that you are beautiful. And very desirable…" he bent down to capture her lips in a quick kiss, "and when I'm with you all I can think about is being close to you."

Mimi's tears began anew. No one had ever said anything like that to her in her entire life. It was like something out of a story. This kind of thing didn't happen to her.

Brady softly nuzzled Mimi's cheek. "Now who are you going to believe - the incomparable Brady Black or someone destined to be a gas-station attendant?"

Mimi felt completely overwhelmed. She didn't know how to respond. Brady studied her for a moment, and then sighed and flopped onto his back. He dragged Mimi next to him. "What are you doing?" she asked, distraught.

"I'm holding you," Brady admonished. "Now be quiet and go to sleep." Mimi nestled into Brady's shoulder, amazed by how right it felt. She wiped the remaining tears from her face and placed a hand on his chest. She wantonly wriggled closer to him until she was pressed completely against his side. Brady reached down and pulled the covers up over them both. He began stroking Mimi's hair, and covered her hand with his free one.

Mimi seemed to drift off quickly. Brady couldn't believe his actions. He felt a little embarrassed and confused by the tender feelings that seemed to come from the general vicinity of his heart. He didn't know why he felt so attached or protective of her - but he did. It was sheer torture to have her here in his bed and to take the moral high ground because her feelings actually mattered to him.

What has gotten into you, Brady Black? he chided himself. He listened to Mimi's easy and calm breathing. He supposed this would be his penance for the havoc he had wreaked that night. He closed his own eyes and tried to sleep.

******

Chloe blinked her eyes in confusion. This was not her bed. She quickly realized that this wasn't her room either. She sat up and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. She placed a hand to her forehead - she had an unbearable headache. She glanced down to her right and saw a bottle of aspirin and water on the nightstand. She gratefully placed the medicine in her mouth and greedily drank the water. Her tongue felt like it had fur on it, and she hoped drinking the water would make the feeling go away. She started to feel more awake, and looked at the end of the bed and almost screamed.

Philip was sitting propped up in an armchair. He had placed his feet on the foot of the bed she was sleeping in. A blanket was draped across him. Chloe wondered what he was doing there until memories from last night came rushing back to her. The party, Mike, Philip beating Mike up, carrying her, holding her hair while she threw up. She placed a hand to her mouth. She had obviously been drunk, but from what? The Jell-O? Chloe felt totally humiliated. She had lost complete control last night, and that thought terrified her. Being in control was important to her. It was something she and Dr. Evans had been working on, but she wasn't over it yet.

And Philip had seen her acting that way…she looked at him again, studying him. The sunlight fell over his blonde locks, highlighting them to a golden shade. A shock of hair fell across his forehead, and she resisted the urge to push it back. A faint hint of a beard was appearing on Philip's rugged jawline, making him appear irresistibly masculine. She almost wished he was awake so that she could see his brilliant blue eyes. He looked so content, until suddenly one of his dimples furrowed.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," he teased.

Oh my…he was awake. Chloe had to get out of the room. Not only had she been totally drunk last night, but now he had caught her staring at him. Would the humiliation never cease? She looked around the room, trying to figure the best way to get past him.

"You could say good morning, Chloe," he yawned.

"Good morning, Chloe," she whispered back.

Philip laughed good-naturedly, a sound that emanated from deep within his chest. "I see you have your sense of humor back."

"And I see your arrogance didn't go anywhere," she retorted.

Philip lifted his arms above his head and stretched. Chloe couldn't help but watch as he flexed various muscles. Philip was sore from sleeping in the chair and several parts of his body felt cramped up. He stood up to continue stretching.

"When did you wake up?" she asked.

"When you did. The room was suddenly quiet, and my ears were unaccustomed to it. Do you know that you snore like a Mack truck?" he asked while looking down at her, a bright sparkle in his eyes.

She wondered if he even realized what an intimate remark that was. Philip knew that she snored while she slept. The thought made her uneasy. It made her feel like he had one up on her.

"You…you protected me. You took care of me," she remembered, averting her eyes down towards the bed, afraid to look at him.

Philip nodded. "Yep."

"I…I don't know what to say," she murmured.

"You could say we're even. You saved my life, I saved yours," he smiled at her. "Or you could just say whatever you're thinking."

"I think…I think I say thank you," she said quietly, still keeping her gaze downcast.

"And nothing says thank you like crazy naked sex in the morning."

Chloe's eyes flew up in surprise to Philip's face. "Kidding," he smiled. "Just wanted to get your attention." He sat on the edge of the bed so that he was eye-level with her. "I wanted another chance to look into those exquisite blue eyes of yours."

Chloe thought Philip must have been a snake-charmer in another life. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. She felt completely mesmerized when he looked at her. It was a scary feeling.

"Well, I should probably gather the tattered shreds of my dignity and head home," she said, and pulled the covers off of her.

Philip's eyebrows furrowed. "I was hoping that we could talk for a second, Chloe."

"Talk?" Chloe asked as she stood. She began looking for her shoes. "Talk about what?"

Philip also got up and walked over to where he had deposited her socks and shoes. Chloe felt embarrassed all over again at the thought of Philip removing them while she slept.

He handed them back to her. "I wanted to talk about what you said to me last night," he said in a husky tone of voice that literally sent shivers down Chloe's spine.

Chloe quickly sat down and began putting her shoes on, trying not to look at him. "I was drunk," she whispered.

"No, by that point you'd pretty much puked most of the alcohol out," Philip reminded her as he sat down next to her. She continued trying to ignore him. "You know, I think what you said would stand up in any court of law as a confession. You wouldn't want to perjure yourself now, would you?" With that Philip reached over and took her hand in his, and a jolt of electricity flowed through Chloe like it always did whenever Philip touched her. She couldn't look at him. If she looked at him all her resolve would be gone.

Philip could tell how nervous Chloe was. He didn't really understand why she was so upset. He wished he knew what to do to make it better. He was amazed at how beautiful she still looked given last night's ordeal.

"I was hoping that we could hang out today," Philip said as he pulled Chloe's hand to his mouth. He gently brushed his lips against the back of her hand. Chloe had a flashback of him doing that the night before and she quickly pulled her hand from his.

"I have to go," she whispered and she fled from the room.