*Only Time* Chapter 6
 by rockstar
 

"2 months. That's how long I'm betting your law firm will stay up after I sue you. Spilling coffee on a woman could be considered a weapon. Hot. Steamy. And since I'm a Crane and you're Bennett, well, it won't be too hard to convince the jury that you were just acting out your rage on the Cranes."

"I didn't even you were a Crane then."

"How do I know that? But more importantly, how will the jury?"

"How did you learn to be like this? What, do they teach you at your family reunions?"

"Actually we take turns seeing who can poison the most hated family member first."

"Maybe this year it'll be you. Anyway, no jury in this town will ever believe a person from your family over my family."

"Why? Just because your daddy's topnotch Chief of Police Sam "Frisky Sambino" Bennett?"

"No, because your daddy's Julian Crane."

"Don't remind me. All I want is my money for my clothes and I will leave a happy woman. Unless you want to represent yourself in court."

"This is ridiculous! Well, fine if we're going to court, you're going to have to leave until the court dates been arranged." Noah walked over and starting pushing Livvie toward the door.

"Whoa, wait."

"What you going to stop this?"

"Just give me my money. Or maybe you have some clothes I'd like to have," she said, cocking her head back and checked out Noah's *ahem* clothing merchandise.

Noah quickly crossed his arms, covering his chest, "I'm not giving you anything."

"You only have two choices: money for clothes or your clothes."

"What is with clothes? Don't you have enough?"

"This has nothing to do with some stupid outfit. It's the principle of it. Besides, didn't you tell me yesterday that you would pay for my dry-cleaning bill?"

"Yes, but-"

"So what? You're discriminating against me for being a Crane?"

"No, I-"

"Not only will I be suing you for trying to kill me with you attack of liquid coffee beans..."

"Attack of liquid coffee beans?"

"...I'm also suing you for discrimination against my family's name. Hell, you're probably just treating me like this cause I'm a Crane WOMAN!"

"I-"

"I know! You must have something in common with my grandfather!"

"I resent that!"

"And I'll see you in court!" Livvie said as she opened the door and walked out, her head held high, just like any other Crane.
 

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Sheridan paced around Julian's desk in the library as he sat in his chair wishing he had a brandy in his hand. "What were you thinking, Julian? Did you really believe Chad would take money from you? Did you think it would help?"

"You seemed a lot less angry about this last night?"

"New flash, Julian. I'm pregnant," she pointed to her curved belly, "my emotions are going to change really fast around here so keep up."

"Okay. Listen, I don't know why I gave Chad that money."

"Yes, you do. Now, you've got to make this right." Sheridan said, quickly turning into sweet, sensitive Sheridan again.

"How?"

"Go to him. Talk to him. Find out what he likes. What he wants. Let him know you're there for him."

"That's just it! He wants me far, far, away from there. There is too close to him."

"Help him in some way. Without skyrocketing his banking account. Try helping someone he cares about, like Eve."

"No, he hates her almost as much as me."

"That's what he wants everyone to think, even himself. But deep down, he cares about her. She's his mother. He cares about her just as much as he does his father."

"You were doing a good job in convincing me until you brought me up."

Sheridan flew her hands up into the air, "That's it, Julian! You're on your own!" she yelled going out the door as Julian stood up and went to his liquor cart.

"Good-bye, Evil Sheridan. Hello, brandy."
 

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Chad and Nelly walked into the nearly empty Book Cafe and took a seat at one of the tables just as Beth appeared before them.

"Hey Beth. You the only one working today?" Chad asked her.

"This morning. There's no reason to have anyone else here. No one comes here at this time. Except you. And your friend."

"Nelly," she introduced herself.

"Beth. What can I get for you two?"

"Those muffins look really good." Nelly spoke up.

"What kind?" Beth asked.

"What kind do you have?"

"Basically every kind imaginable."

"Why don't you just bring over a little variety. And a cup of coffee." Chad said.

"Two." Nelly smiled.

"Sure thing." Beth walked over and brought the entire plate of muffins and coffee over to Nelly and Chad.

"I don't think I've ever seen you around here before." Beth said looking a Nelly who was busy checking out the different muffins in front of her.

"I'm from out of town." Nelly told her picking out a blueberry muffins from the top.

"So how'd you two meet?" Beth asked, showing her curiosity of Chad's new gal pal. In fact, she was the first gal pal Chad had made since Whitney. Everyone knew that it was over between those two, but most didn't know the reason why, including Beth.

"Umm," Chad said trying to think fast, but Nelly was way ahead of him.

"Chad here changed my flat tire this morning. It's very silly. I bought a one of those things, you know, to change a tire, but I never really learned how to use it. That's a woman for you, I guess."

"Well, that sounds like the Chad I know. Always saving ladies in distress. Let me know if you guys need anything else." Beth said, before going into the back room.

"Good cover." Chad said as he took a drink of his coffee.

"Well, I wouldn't want one of your friends to think less of you just because of one night."

"Oh, well, thanks. Listen, about last night, I don't really remember that much. Could you clue me maybe?"

"We had sex." Nelly said bluntly.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't remember. I mean, even through I was a little drunk, I should have some memories of it by now shouldn't I?"

"I wasn't drunk so I wouldn't know."

Chad sighed as Nelly looked up from her muffin, "So what do you do?" she asked, surprising him.

"What?"

"What do you do? You said back at the hotel you had to get to work today. So what's your job?"

"Why do you need to know that?" Chad asked her suspiciously.

"Just making conversation. What are you a drug smuggler?"

"Hardly. I own a club."

"A club, really? What kind? Like a country club?" Nelly looked at the looked on Chad's face, "no, didn't think so."

"The kind with music, drinks, you know, an actually fun one."

"Oh, not a big fan of country clubs, huh?"

"Never been in one. So, Nelly, I told you my job, why don't you tell me yours. Your not from Harmony."

"No, just here for a little bit."

"So what's your story? What brought you to this town? And why were you in the Jazz Club last night?"

Nelly sat there taking in all of Chad's questions. She could tell he didn't complete trust her, but she could she trust him with the truth? "All right, you've got me." Nelly suspiciously looked to her right and then her left, while Chad followed her movements even when Nelly moved just a few inches from his face, "My real name Helga Von Trout. I was sent from the German embassy to investigate all US jazz clubs. Jazz clubs are getting big in Germany. We have to check out our competition."

"I hope they're paying you good."

"Okay, how about this. I'm a reporter who was doing a documentary on a royal family in Asia, but while I was there, the prince and I fell in love while he was set to marry some Austria princess. And, well, that did not go over well with his mother, the Head Honcho. So she sent her little minions to chop off my head, well, I was like, "Whoa, hold it, Queenie, maybe we could work out some sort of deal," so the prince ended up marrying the Austria chick and I had to flee to America, fearing for my life."

"Yeah, I knew I should've lied. Listen, here," Chad reached in his wallet and pulled out some cash, "give Beth this. It should cover all this."

"Where are you going?" Nelly asked, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Work. You should probably get going too. You know, so you can check out what the Jazz Club looks like before it opens." Chad said, heading for the door.

"Thanks," Nelly turned around and saw Chad go out the door. "bye," she said and went back to eating her muffins.
 

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Another tear fell as Eve starred deep into the picture. Her family. They had been slowly slipping away from her over the years as Eve kept her dark past a secret from them. And now, finally revealed, they were all gone; Her husband, her daughters.

TC obviously wanted nothing to do with her. He could barely stand the sight of her. The documents he'd given her at the hospital were exactly what she'd feared. Divorce papers. She knew it was coming, she just wasn't prepared for it. Eve had only looked briefly through the papers, since that's all she could handle before losing herself in her tears. Eve would have to let her attorney look through them and help her with the rest of it. Eve knew she just couldn't do it on her own.

Not only was TC keeping himself away from Eve, but he made sure Simone was no where around her either. Not just with the restraining order, but also with the divorce papers. TC wanted custody of Simone until she was 18, which was only about 3 months away. But Eve couldn't wait that long her see her daughter. TC wouldn't even tell Eve how she was doing or anything about her life in the past 3 months. 'She's fine. She's got everything she needs from me and Whitney.' That was all he would ever tell her.

And Whitney, she had made it clear she didn't want to even know Eve had existed. Eve was taking all the blame of the pain Whitney was feeling, her heart being broken. It was all her fault and she knew it.

Eve got up from her couch and walked across the living room of her penthouse. Sheridan had gladly helped Eve find it after TC and her daughters turned their backs on her. Eve opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out a photo of Chad working in the Book Cafe. Eve had kept it all this time. It was the only photo she had of her son.

'It was taken in the park by some man my father hired.'

Sheridan's voice boomed into Eve's head. All her sadness turned to anger as she thought about Alistair. She had hated him before, but now, she could kill him.
Eve put her photos down and walked into the kitchen where she got a glass of water and her recently prescribed depression pills. Dr. Marrick had prescribed them to her just yesterday and questioned what Eve was so depressed about. What could she tell her? Her family had abandoned her when they found out she's had a son out of wedlock with Julian Crane and that her oldest daughter and her son had fallen in love.

Eve swallowed the pills and took a drink of the water. She walked back into her living room, picking up her photos on the way to her couch where she layed down and once again let her tears fall.
 

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"He's not in yet." Rick, one of the bartenders at Chad's club, said.

"Do you know when he will be?" Kay asked as Simone looked around the room.

"I'm surprised he's not now. With the opening just a few days away, he's been staying here late and getting her early. But he'll probably be here soon. If you two want to, just hand out."

"Okay, thanks." Kay turned around and saw Simone looking around and joined her. "I told you he was a strong guy. Look how far he's come. He may have fell down, but he got back up.

"He's done real good. I hope I do this good."

"You will." Kay said, smiling up a storm and Simone noticing.

"What has been up with you today? You're glowing."

"You know that guy from the Book Cafe yesterday? I saw him again."

"Did you get his name?"

"Yes, It's Nikolas. Nikolas Bird."

"You know, I still can't think of a Bird family here in Harmony."

"Yeah, me neither." Kay agreed, looking back behind her, "Hey-"

"Rick," the bartender said, walking up to the girls.

"Rick, do you know of any Birds' in this town?" Kay asked him.

"Only seagulls," he joked.

"Any other?" Kay asked.

"I guess you could count the Cranes."

"The Cranes?" Simone chimed in.

"Yeah, a crane's a type of bird." Rick said, just as the phone began to ring, "Excuse me."

Kay and Simone, both stood in silence, pondering what Rick had just said. 'A crane's a type of bird.' They looked at each other with a shocked and surprised look and uttered the same word.

"Cranes."
 

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Nikolas walked along the wharf, after coming from the mansion changed into a pair of dark khakis and blue T-shirt. He flipped through a traveler's guide of Harmony he'd gotten from a local store on the docks with each step he took. 'I guess I could learn how to fish' he thought to himself, letting out a slight laugh, picturing a Crane doing such a "lower class" thing as fishing.

He turned the page and saw an advertisement near the bottom about a new club along the docks that would be opening soon. Nikolas remember back to the horror show his and Livvie's coming home party turned into when he got to see his half-brother for the first time and heard his voice. 'You paid for that shipment to my club.'

"His club." Nikolas thought out loud. Why he was suddenly so interested in his half-brother so soon after he just got use to not having a brother at all. Curiosity was one of the few family traits the Nikolas had inherited that could be bad or good. But since they came from the Cranes, they were mostly always bad, but that never stopped Nikolas before. He looked up from the guide and saw a cop in front of him. Though he wasn't very fond of any P. D. since a very ugly situation in New Orleans during Spring Break last year, he was too interested in seeing Chad's club. Who knows? Maybe he'd even take Kay there.

Kay.

Thinking about her name. Kay Bennett. Nikolas knew that name Bennett. It was right on the tip of his tongue. Nikolas was drug out of his thoughts, when he saw the officer was getting ready to leave.

"Excuse me." Nikolas said, stopping the officer. As he turned around, Nikolas was shocked to see a face he never even thought about seeing. "You."

"Can I help you?" Chief Sam Bennett asked.

"You. You're Sam Bennett. Chief of Police."

"Yeah. Is something wrong?"

"No. I, umm," so many thought were going through Nikolas's head. Kay Bennett, related to Sam Bennett. The man who had the affair with his mother on her wedding night to his father. Ethan real father. Nikolas knew that Sam had 3 other children with his wife. Two girls and a boy. One of the girls has to be Kay.

"Did you need something?"

"Yeah," Nikolas looked down at the tour guide in his hand, "I was wondering if you could tell me where this is?" he asked, holding up the ad.

"Yeah, it's just right down there." Sam said, pointing further down the docks.

"Okay, thanks." Nikolas said, backing away just as an officer arrived.

"Hey, Chief."

"James, How's it going?"

"As good as expected. Did you hear the rumors? All the Crane offspring are back in town."

"Oh great. Just what Harmony needs. More Cranes."

Nikolas scoffed at Sam's comment.

"Hopefully they won't cause any trouble or be anything like that oldest daughter or Alistair or Julian."

"They are all alike."

"Except for Sheridan. She's real nice. Luis sure got lucky with her."

"Yeah, She's the one exception. These kids of Julian and Ivy's are probably all the same. They just lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Just like Julian, Felicity, and Alistair. All good for nothing son of a-"

"Hey! You better watch what you say!" Nikolas yelled standing in front of Sam and the other officer. "You shouldn't disrespect people you don't even know."

"I know more about the Cranes than you do. And they don't deserve respect."

The sound of the officer's pager stopped Nikolas from saying another word.

"I gotta take this Chief," he said walking back to his patrol car.

"You're a cop. Aren't you supposed to be an upstanding citizen?"

"Who do you think you are to tell me I should respect people who step on others to get to where they are?" Sam asked, his voice loud and angered by Nikolas defending the Cranes.

"Sam." Ivy's voice came from behind him as Sam turned around and saw her standing there, "why are you  yelling at my son?"

"You're son?" Sam looked back at Nikolas who had the same look on his face that he did in New Orleans. Busted.
 

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