Philip got in close proximity to Chloe. "Hit the floor."

Chloe looked up at Philip. Was he actually threatening her?

"I will do nothing of the sort!" spat Chloe.

Philip gave her a puzzled look. He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the elevator’s keypad and hit the button marked "Penthouse". Chloe realized that Philip had meant she should hit the key with the floor that they were going to. She suddenly felt very stupid and decided that the best course of action would be to avoid eye contact with him. She stared ahead studiously, trying to ignore Philip’s gaze boring into her. Chloe nervously straightened her glasses.

As the elevator continued its ascension upwards, Philip looked around. "Huh," he remarked, "looks like someone’s moving into the building."

Chloe snuck a glance over her shoulder and noticed that apparently all of someone’s belongings were on this elevator. It made her feel guilty – the poor person was probably getting more of their stuff to load onto the service elevator and she was taking it all the way to the top. They were not going to be pleased when they came in from this storm to find the elevator gone.

Philip sighed and shuffled his feet. "Look, Chloe," he began.

The elevator suddenly screeched to a halt and the lights went out.

Chloe put a hand forward so that she was touching the door. "Philip Kiriakis! What did you do? Stop fooling around and push the right button!"

Chloe could hear the confusion in Philip’s voice. "Chloe, I didn’t touch anything, I swear."

Philip worked his way over to the wall and felt for the keypad. He began pushing buttons. Nothing. Nothing was happening.

"This isn’t funny Philip."

"Its no joke, Chloe. I think the power’s gone out."

"What?" Chloe asked. "The power’s gone out?"

"Is there an echo in here? Yes, I think the power’s gone out," replied Philip. "You saw that storm out there."

Chloe started to tremble. The dark, she’d always been so afraid of the dark…

"Chloe?" Philip’s voice broke the silence. "Are you okay?"

Chloe cleared her throat. "Yes, Philip, I’m just fine."

"You’re not like claustrophobic or anything, are you?" Philip asked. He could hear that her voice trembled when she tried to assure him that she was okay.

"No, I’m not claustrophobic, just a little, um, afraid of the dark," Chloe admitted. Philip was glad she couldn’t see him grinning or she probably would have decked him. "Chloe Lane is afraid of something?" Philip smiled. "I find that hard to believe."

"Oh, right. Because I’m supposed to be a creature of the night. How could I possibly be afraid of the dark?" Chloe sarcastically replied.

"Well, you’ve got me here to protect you."

"That just makes me feel so much better," Chloe said, her voice dripping with animosity.

Philip started touching underneath the keypad to find the phone box. He opened it and put the receiver to his ear. Dead. There was nothing there. "Hello? Hello?" he said.

"Philip? What are you doing now?" Chloe asked.

Philip sighed. "Communicating with the dead. What do you think I’m doing? I was trying to see if I could use the phone to let someone know we were trapped in here."

"Don’t you have your cell phone with you?"

"No," grimaced Philip. "I left it down in the car."

"Fortunately," continued Philip, "I think we only went about four or five flights up. If the elevator fell for some reason, I don’t think we’d die."

"Oh, now there’s a comforting thought," Chloe said sarcastically. "Thank you so much for making me feel better."

Philip looked around, barely able to make out the outline of the objects behind them. "I think there’s a couch over there. We should probably go sit down and just wait." Philip took off his wristwatch and put it in his left hand and held it.

Philip reached out with his right hand in the darkness for Chloe. He had to take a couple of steps forward and his hand brushed her hair. It felt like silk. For a moment Philip imagined what it would be like to run his fingers through it. Chloe jerked away from him. "Just what do you think you’re doing?" she hissed.

"I’m going to help you over to the couch. Just stop complaining for one minute so that we can get over there."

Philip found her shoulder and slid his hand down her arm to find her hand. Chloe trembled. No boy had ever touched her like that before. Least of all a boy like Philip. She felt an ache in the pit of her stomach. It was a sensation she’d never had before. She didn’t know quite what to make of it and momentarily held her breath.

Philip could hear Chloe’s sharp intake of breath, and realized that he was not unaffected by the touch either. He felt dumb thinking it, but it was like electricity had passed between them. Her skin was so soft. He itched to run his hand back up her arm but settled on grabbing her small hand. Concentrate, Kiriakis, he thought. He pressed the button on his watch that had the Indiglo feature with his left hand and a small green light made it so that they could see immediately in front of them. Philip started to walk over to the couch pulling Chloe behind him.

Chloe hesitated. Philip looked back in her direction. "You can trust me, Chloe. I won’t let anything happen to you." He resumed walking to the couch.

Something in his voice convinced Chloe to let him pull her along. Chloe couldn’t believe it. For the first time in her life a boy was holding her hand, and it was Philip Kiriakis. What was the world coming to?

******

"Do you think they’re okay, Brady?" Belle asked, genuinely concerned for her friends. She had known Philip her entire life and considered him one of her closest friends. Along with Mimi, Shawn and now Chloe.

"Yes, they’re probably just fine, Belle. You worry too much," her brother answered.

Shawn paced the floor nervously alongside Belle. He had come over after waiting for Brady and Philip for half an hour to see what was going on. He had called to find out what the hold-up was and came over when he heard the panic in Belle’s voice. Shawn rode his motorcycle over and when he’d finally reached the apartment building was unable to take the elevator due to the power outage. The emergency stairs door’s electronic lock unsealed when the power had gone out and Shawn had taken the stairs to the penthouse. An extremely out-of-breath Shawn had told the Black siblings that the power was out everywhere this side of town. It looked almost like a citywide blackout.

Shawn and Brady had already tried to force the elevator doors to see if their friends were in the elevator car. They had no luck with it. They tried to yell through the doors, but got no response. Brady had astutely assessed the situation. "Even if we get the doors open, what are you, Spiderman? You plan on swinging down there with your Spidey web and rescuing them? We’re just going to have to wait until the power comes back on. I’m sure they’re fine."

They had tried Philip’s cell phone, and had called the mansion to see if perhaps he was still there. No luck on either count. Chloe wasn't answering her personal line. Belle refrained from calling the Wesley household mainly because none of them wanted to deal with Nancy Wesley having a panic attack.

Belle had also insisted that Shawn call his father Bo, who was part of the Salem Police Department. Bo told Shawn that they were having some major problems all over the city due to the blackout and he couldn’t come over, but that if Chloe and Philip didn’t show up after the power came back on, he was to call and they would start searching for them.

Brady went over to the closet and pulled out a deck of cards and threw them on the dining room table. "We’re going to have to do something to pass the time."

Shawn smiled. "We could always play strip poker."

Belle leaned over and smacked him on the shoulder. "Shawn Douglas Brady! How could you even suggest something like that? And huge yuck factor – my brother would be playing too."

"Just a thought," grinned Shawn.

When it came to Belle, Shawn seemed to be having all sorts of thoughts. Belle had been his friend his entire life. There was no one in the world that he felt closer to than her. She knew everything about him. The good, the bad, and the ugly. He had never thought of her as more than a friend until a little while ago at school. He had been checking out the backside of this knockout blonde cheerleader and was stunned beyond belief when she turned around and was Belle. It made him see her in an all-new light. Belle was so achingly beautiful that at times Shawn couldn’t stand to even be in the same room with her for fear that he’d just start kissing her. He wondered how he could have neglected to notice before. He loved her bubbly personality, her concern and care for others. Come to think of it, there wasn’t anything he didn’t adore about Belle. She was simply perfect. But he didn’t know how to tell her how much he cared, especially when he was sure that she didn’t feel the same. She treated him just like she did everyone else. He was nothing more than a good friend to her.

Belle looked at Shawn from beneath her lashes while Brady dealt the cards so that they could play gin rummy. Shawn Douglas Brady was too handsome for his own good, she thought. She had been madly in love with Shawn since she was little. He was her knight in shining armor. In every fairy tale she ever read, in her mind the prince always looked just like Shawn. Dark brown hair, soft brown eyes, and a killer smile. And he thought of her as some kid sister. Belle had tried desperately to make Shawn notice her, but to no avail. He stayed a polite distance from her, and never responded when she tried to flirt with him. The only person that even suspected that Belle had feelings for Shawn was Brady, and he teased her endlessly about him.

Brady noticed the longing glances from Shawn to Belle, and from Belle to Shawn. What a bunch of lovesick idiots, Brady thought disgustedly. If there were any more rampant hormones in this room they could open up their own science lab.

******

Philip found the couch and gently guided Chloe over so that she could sit down. Her foot hit the base of the couch and she bent over to ascertain where the couch was and plopped herself down. That shuffle across the elevator from the door to the couch seemed like it took forever. Her hand tingled where Philip had been holding it. Chloe closed her eyes and could feel again what it was like when Philip had been holding her hand.

"Chloe?" Philip’s voice broke the eerie silence.

Chloe sighed. "What?"

"You hungry?"

Chloe’s stomach grumbled at the mere prospect of food. Philip laughed appreciatively. "I guess that would be a yes?"

"I didn’t have time to eat breakfast. Belle and I were planning on grabbing something to eat at the mall when we went shopping," Chloe explained.

Chloe heard movement of fabric and then the rustling of paper. She could see the outline of Philip and saw him extend something rectangular in her direction.

"Henderson must have put these into my coat pockets. Knowing him, he was concerned that I didn’t finish eating my lunch," said Philip.

"Who’s Henderson?" Chloe asked. "Is that your stepfather or something?"

Philip laughed out loud. His laughter was the infectious kind and Chloe suppressed the desire to laugh herself.

"No, Henderson is my family’s butler. But he’s taken care of me my whole life. My parents have always been pretty busy, and I guess he thinks it’s his responsibility to look out for me. I went to leave today and he was standing next to the garage door with my coat. Looks like he loaded me up with these granola bars."

Chloe took the bar from Philip and said, "Thank you, Philip."

Philip sat there stunned. Chloe had actually thanked him for something. He mumbled, "Uh, you’re welcome."

Chloe unwrapped the bar and bit into it. Fortunately, she was a vegetarian and was accustomed to eating granola and oats, so it didn’t taste too bad.

They ate in silence for a few minutes. Philip’s mind raced. Who knew how long the power was going to be out? They could be here for ten minutes, or three hours. Would they really sit here in silence that whole time? He ran his fingers through his hair and he tried to think of what to say next.

"Chloe, I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I was way out of line, and I apologize," Philip finally said.

Chloe sat there quietly and said nothing.

"Hey, you know that I don’t usually say I’m sorry to people, right?" Philip asked. "That’s a big deal for me to admit that I was wrong, Chloe."

Chloe sighed. "Yes, I’m sure that Prince Philip is accustomed to people falling at his feet whenever you flash those dimples."

Philip smiled. "You can’t even see my dimples, Chloe."

"You know what I mean," scowled Chloe. "Sometimes just saying you’re sorry isn’t enough Philip. Besides – apologizing for something? If you were truly sorry you wouldn’t do it again."

"Fair enough. I’ll never do it again."

"Never do what again?" asked Chloe. "Never hurt me again?"

Philip thought for a second. "I can’t promise that I won’t ever say anything hurtful, but I do promise that I’ll never say anything intentionally hurtful again."

Chloe looked over in Philip’s direction. "Are you a pod person? Have you been possessed?" she asked in disbelief.