~ Only Time ~ Ch. 13
by rockstar
 
 

Roxy and Jax walked into through the door of their rental house to find Nelly walking up to Roxy with clothes in her hand.
"Here. Wear this." Nelly said, handing Roxy some clothes.

"You really are serious? You WANT me to be you?"

"Just for tonight."

"This is so cool. Okay, details." Roxy said.

"All right, you're going on a date with this guy Mom and Dad set me up with and you're meeting him at the Book Cafe. It's a coffee slash bookstore in town."

"Whoa, Nelly." Roxy put a hand up to her, "The 'rents set you up? Oh, you poor thing," she said, giving her a hug.

"Thanks, you're going to change your hair back."

"That's cool. Who is this sap anyway?"

"I don't know his name, but he's Julian Crane's son."

"Julian Crane? Isn't his son a tad bit young for you?"

"Actually, he has 2 sons."

Jax sat up from the couch, "Two son's? I thought Ethan turned out not being his."

"He's not. There's another." Nelly sighed, " See, Julian apparently had an affair with an African-American jazz singer turned doctor about 25, 26 years ago." Roxy and Jax looked at her in shock.

"Illegitimate children. That family's probably full of them." Jax said.

"Doctor, huh?" Mom and Pop would be impressed." Roxy said, walking behind a curtain to change.

"They weren't."

"Say, how am I supposed to recognize this guy?" Roxy yelled over the open top of the curtain.

"You are going to be meting Julian's sister, Sheridan, outside the coffee place." Nelly said.

"All right, all right, time?"

"8pm tonight."

"Okay," Roxy walked out in a black and white dress. "Let the show begin!"
 

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"So Mom, why did we come here to eat?" Simone asked as they sat down at a table at the Seascape restaurant.

"The other night, when you came by to see me for the first time, I was on my way out to see my lawyer." Eve said.

"For the divorce."

Eve nodded her head, "He won't forgive me, honey. I wish he would, but he won't or can't, I don't know."

"He won't. He could if he really wanted to. Just like if he really wanted me."

"He does want you. You're, you're his Sugarbear."

"I don't even remember the last time he called me that. The truth is, even after all of that stuff Whitney got herself into, pregnancy, marriage, and what she's gotten herself out of, namely tennis, she's still perfect to him."

"Listen to me, Simone. Your father has incredibly high expectations. I've always known that. If I had told him about my past with Julian when we first met, well, chances are you and Whitney wouldn't be here. TC and I would've never married.

Simone opened her mouth to speak when a dark haired woman arrived at their table.

"Hello, Eve." Alexis said.

"Ms. Davis-"

"Alexis."

"Alexis. Please sit down." Eve said.

"You must be Simone."

"Yeah, you are?"

"Alexis Davis. You mothers lawyer."

"Oh, nice to meet you. Are you any good?"

"I'm better than good, I'm the best."

"Well, that's good. For a second there I thought you were going to try and pump me for information about my dad and his divorce plans. If you'd try and get through to someone, it should be Whitney."

"Why her?" Alexis asked.

"Well, her husband is my dad's lawyer."
 

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Kay jumped on the bus heading back to Harmony after her afternoon classes. Taking a seat, she stuck her nose into one of her books.

"Is this seat taken?" Kay smiled, recognizing the voice. She looked up to see her senses had not deceived her.

"Nik."

"Are you going to let me sit down?"

"Only if you explain to me why an offspring of one the richest family in the world is riding the bus, when he probably owns 7 different cars for everyday of the week."

"Hey," Nikolas said, sitting down, "I'm trying to keep a low profile and besides, I only have 4 out of those 7 cars since my parents took 3 away for getting expelled."

"Expelled? So that's why you didn't go back to New York."

"That's what they think."

"Did you do something real bad?"

"Honey, I'm a Crane, everything we do is bad in one way, shape, or form."

Kay laughed, "So how have you enjoyed your time at Castleton College so far?"

"Oh it's great. No one realizes I am who I am because they don't think that high class Julian Crane's son would be going to a school like this. Sorry."

"Don't be, you're entertaining." Kay said.

"Really? Well, then if you'd like more entertaining, why don't you come with me tomorrow night. On a date."

"A date, really? Well, I'm going to have to check my date book, but from what I can think of, I'm free." Kay joked.

"Oh lucky me."

"So where are you planning on taking me?"

"To my newly found half-brother's club opening."

"You've talked to Chad?"

"Not really, you know him?" Nikolas asked in surprise.

"My best friend, Simone - the one that's having the family trouble - well, she's Chad's youngest half sister on his mom's side."

"Wow. I let it sneak by me how small this town really is."

"Oh you're going to think it's a lot smaller. My brother, Noah's wife is Simone's older sister and Chad's other half-sister."
 

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Chad sat on the sat on a bench on the wharf and let the crisp cool air hit him. Hearing footsteps, he looked towards the sound to see and short brunette girl in a brown pants, creme colored sweater, and a scarf and gloves. She looked oddly familiar, but Chad couldn't think of where he had seen her before. She walked over and sat down next to him and sighed.

"First off, let me just give you my condolences."

"Condolences?"

"For finding out you're a member of this family. I'm sure you've realized already it's hell on earth."

Suddenly Chad realized who was sitting next to him, "Livvie, right?"

"Yeah, younger sis. And you're the older bro."

"Yeah, I guess so." Why was she here? He'd never even spoke to her before.

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here. With you." Livvie said after looking at the expression on Chad's face. "I was walking down the wharf and I saw you sitting here. And I really wanted to tell you that your performance the other night: busting in, trying to grab Julian by the throat, and just- just-" Livvie held up her hands as if Julian were right in front of her.

"You know the feeling?" Chad asked.

Livvie sighed, and put her hands, "Chad, I have been a Crane for 21 years, believe me, I KNOW the feeling by heart. That feeling is like my anthem."

Chad chuckled at her comment. He couldn't believe it. Someone else in that family didn't want to be there anymore than he did.

"So what are you doing out here all by yourself? Don't you have a club opening soon?" Livvie asked.

"Yeah, tomorrow. What are you doing out here?"

"I was just walking around. Wondering why I came back here."

"To Harmony?"

"And this family. These people who obviously wouldn't care if a giant boulder just dropped from nowhere onto my head."

"You have men trouble." Chad said.

"How'd you know?" Livvie asked, noticing the look on Chad's face, "Women," she realized.

"Yeah."

"Maybe we should start a club."

"I should get back to the club, get things up and running for tomorrow night." Chad said, standing up.

"Well, good luck. Don't let them hold you back."

"Who?"

"Alistair. Oh, and Felicity."

"And Julian."

"Yeah, just to be safe."

"What do you mean?"

"Last week, when Nikolas and I came home and had our 'family dinner', well, there was a big blowout."

"My fault."

"No, actually it started before you got there. Anyway, I told Julian and Ivy that the children that they DIDN'T have with each other were the only one's that mattered to them. Now, my mother would never treat me or Felicity and Nikolas the way she treats Nikolas. Julian never has either, but we all kind of expected him to be the last to show any emotion, but since I've gotten back, he's been actually caring and sympathetic. In his own way of course. I think he really- well, he's your father and you're his son, and he loves you. Strange concept, huh?"

Chad listened to what Livvie said. Julian loves him? Chad shook his head, he couldn't and didn't want to think about that right now. "Listen, it was nice talking, but I need to get back to my club." Chad started to walk away, but stopped and turned back around, "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Well, it's Saturday night, I'm single, and Delilah only runs through weekdays, so probably popcorn and the movie telling my life story: Me, Myself and I."

"How about coming to my club opening?"

"You're inviting me to you're club opening?"

"Yeah, if you want to go. It's not a real fancy thing, like you're probably use to. It's just- a club."

"You know, I think I could use getting out of that big ole mansion of a few hours, so yeah, I'll come."

"Great. I'll see you then." Chad turned around and started to leave again, when he heard his name being called. He turned back around to face Livvie.

"It was real nice talking to you, Chad." Livvie smiled.

"Yeah, you too."
 

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Roxy walked up to the Book Cafe and saw and a pregnant blonde woman sitting on the bench.

"Hi, you must be Nelly." Sheridan said.

"Yep, that's me. Nelly."

"Great, Chad got here earlier than usual and I couldn't track down Julian to get hold of him, so Chad could be leaving soon." Sheridan said, urging Roxy toward to door.

Roxy walked to the door thinking to herself, 'Wow, this town has a lot of Chad's.'

Sheridan opened the door as Nelly walked in and stood in the doorway for a moment, "He's sitting right there." Sheridan pointed at the man sitting with his back to then.

"And he doesn't know I'm coming?"

"No, just walk up to him and start up a conversation."

"About what? What does he do that would interest him?"

"His club. Tell him, you heard he was opening a club and you want to know more about it."

"Club?" Roxy looked at the back of the man's head, "No way-"

"Oh, he's getting ready to leave. I'll be sitting right on the other side of the banister here, okay?" Sheridan said quickly, then stuck by, as Chad didn't get the chance to see her, turning around in to opposite direction.

He turned around and was shocked to see 'Nelly' in front of him, but not nearly as shocked as Roxy.

"Nelly."

"Chad." Roxy chuckled, "Small world, huh?"