Past and Present Danger, Chapter 8
by blueeaglex
 

"Eve?" Grace had stepped closer to Eve. Tabitha could feel her own heartbeat quicken its pace as she looked from Eve, to Grace, and back again. Tabitha silently motioned to Eve--confused about what was going on--to stay quiet.

"I'm sorry, Grace, this isn't Eve," Tabitha said, moving between Grace and Eve. She practically shoved Grace out of the walk-in closet. "This is my good friend, Lilith," Tabitha improvised, as she directed her nosy neighbor towards the exit.

"She looked so much like Eve from behind," Grace pointed out. "Only her clothes were awfully dated."

"Yes, yes, Lilith likes to live in the past," Tabitha said. She took the tomato soup cake from Grace's hands. "Thank you so much for the cake, dear, I'm sure it's delicious." Then, she sent Grace out the front door, closing it on her before Grace could utter a word. With a sigh of relief, Tabitha put her hand to her head. "That was close," she whispered.

"What would you have done if Grace had seen Eve's face?" Timmy asked, walking up to Tabitha with a Martimmy in hand.

"I suppose I would have shown Grace what I have in the basement," Tabitha suggested, laughing wickedly. "But no, Grace disappearing now would only complicate things. Maybe another day..."

"Would someone mind explaining what's going on?" Eve stepped into the room, perplexed. "Who was that woman? Did she know me? Why did you introduce me as Lilith?"

"Those are very good questions," Tabitha said. "And maybe later I'll get around to answering them..." Tabitha directed Eve back into another room, then wondered to herself, "How am I going to pull this off?"

**************

"Chad? Whitney?"

Chad and Whitney separated, looking away from each other and to Whitney's sister as Simone entered the room. "I knew it!" Simone screamed at her sister, directing her rage at Whitney and not Chad. "You were after him!"

"Simone..."

"All those months you swore you had no interest in Chad," Simone spat, recalling the many incidents. "You PROMISED. How long has this been going on?"

"We've been together for about six weeks--"

"Six weeks?" The pain on Simone's face only grew as the truth sunk in. "But how long have you been lying to me, Whitney? How long have you been after Chad, trying to seduce him?"

"Hey, it wasn't like that at all," Chad broke in. "If anything, I was the one to go after..." His sentence trailed off, realizing he wasn't quite making his point.

"All these months I thought I had a shot with you, Chad," Simone burst out, now directing her anger at him. "I thought maybe you would start looking at me the same way I look at you...but I never had a shot, did I? Not when Whitney was sinking her hooks into you."

"I knew you had a crush on Chad," Whitney broke in, her voice breaking. Could today get any worse? Whitney didn't think so. Her fondest dreams about the revelation of the secret were being shattered one by one--only to be replaced by her worst nightmares. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"A crush? A crush? Is that what you think I have?" Tears rolled down Simone's cheeks. She was angry at herself for not seeing the truth; angry with Chad and Whitney for their relationship; and sad that she'd lost the only boy she'd ever cared about.

"Simone," Chad said, reaching out to her. "I'm sorry it had to come out this way. We wanted to, you know, sit you down and tell you the truth. Not like this."

Yet Simone was still hung up on what Whitney had said moments before. "I didn't have a crush on you, Chad," Simone whispered, her heart breaking.

"You didn't?" Whitney smiled weakly. "Then what..."

"What I feel for you is more than a teenage crush," Simone said, staring into Chad's eyes. "I love you, Chad."

Chad and Whitney stared at Simone, both shocked by the intensity of her feelings, neither sure as to what they should say next.

**********

"Where could things have gone wrong?" Still standing outside the hospital, Eve was talking to herself as she thought about everything which had happened in the past several hours. Was her daughter's admission of love actually capable of tearing the Russell family apart? Eve had the sinking feeling that it could do just that.

If there was anything good about today, Eve thought to herself, it was the feeling that she was free from her past. Though she had to worry about the danger's threatening her family's future, she had no worries about her past. For the first time in a long time, Eve felt as though she were a new woman, disconnected from the person she had once been.

Yet a familiar voice from behind was not about to just let Eve forget her past. "Trouble in paradise, Eve?"

Not wishing to deal with Ivy, Eve whirled around to face her nemesis. "Do you have so little to do with your day that you go around spying on other people, Ivy?"

"I don't appreciate being talked to like that," Ivy said, reaching for her purse. She pulled out the photos of Julian and Eve, waving them in front of Eve's face. "Lest we forget, I have the power to destroy you."

Eve didn't even blink at the pictures. "You want to show my husband the photos? Go ahead, Ivy!" Disconnected from her past thanks to Tabitha's potion, Eve cared very little about her secrets being revealed.

Ivy opened her mouth in surprise. Blackmail wasn't much fun--not to mention very effective--if the person being blackmailed didn't care about her secrets being exposed, Ivy thought to herself. Turning the subject away from the pictures, which she returned to her purse, Ivy added, "So what is going on at Casa Russell?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Eve said, moving away from Ivy and heading back towards the hospital.

"Please, Eve, from one mother to another, I just want to know what's going on," Ivy said, using her most caring voice. She couldn't let Eve away, not until she figured out a way to get a sample of Eve's blood.

"If you must know, Whitney's just told us that she's fallen in love with someone."

"Oooh, a secret romance," Ivy said, her eyes widening. "Those can be such fun--"

"Or they can end in heartache, like yours and Sam's," Eve said.

Hurt by this comment, Ivy moved on. "So who's the lucky guy who's stolen your daughter's heart?"

"It's Chad."

"No!!" Visions of possible incest running through her mind, Ivy screamed out, dropping her purse to the ground.

Eve stared at Ivy, not understanding her reaction. "Just what do you have against Chad Harris, Ivy?" Eve demanded to know, curious about Ivy's outburst.

***************

"You love me?" Chad wasn't quite sure he had heard Simone correctly.

"I love you," Simone repeated, her eyes filled with tears.

"Simone, I didn't know you felt this way," Chad whispered, going to her. Whitney felt hurt, also not having understood the apparent depth of her sister's feelings. "I mean, I knew you had a thing for me, but..."

"From the first time I saw you, I knew you were the man of my dreams," Simone said, her voice breaking. She backed away from Chad, unable to let him so much as touch her. "But what would a guy like you see in a girl like me, when you can have her?" Simone jabbed her finger in Whitney's direction; Whitney crossed her hands over her chest, clearly uncomfortable.

"It's not about one or the other, Simone," Chad said, in a soothing tone. "It was never about choosing Whitney over you. I mean, I never even..."

"You never even noticed me," Simone said, finishing Chad's sentence. "That's right, isn't it? You never noticed me in that way." Chad's silence was all the answer Simone needed. "I've been such a fool.."

"Simone, if we could just sit down and talk this out." Whitney was at her sister's side, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"No!" Simone turned around, facing her sister. Without thought, Simone rose up her hand, drew it back, and slapped Whitney hard across the face. Whitney stepped backwards, putting her hand to her cheek. "I hate you, Whitney!"

"Simone..."

"I'll never forgive you as long as I live, Whitney. Never!" Stepping backwards to the door, Simone wiped the tears dripping down her face, then turned and rushed out the door. Chad and Whitney stood in silence, both overwhelmed by the outburst.

***************

"Everybody's got insanities...I've got a split personality..."

Ending her song with a flourish, Eve waved to her imaginary audience. The club owner clapped, then whistled at Eve, as she sauntered up towards the bar. "You're gonna kill tonight," he said, grinning. "It's gonna be packed in here for sure."

"I'm glad you're so confident in me." The owner handed Eve a drink, which she downed in one gulp.

"What's with the get-up?" The owner pointed to her clothing. "I mean, I know the seventies are hip again, but you still manage to look retro."

"Retro?" Eve paused, puzzled by the question. "When did they ever go out of style?"

"This is one weird gal," the club owner thought to himself.

The door to the club opened, and Julian sauntered in. He rubbed his arm, unsure about the prickmark on it. Just what had he and Ivy done in bed that would draw blood? Woozy, and blaming his lack of memory on alcohol, Julian had no way of answering the question now, as he'd woken alone in bed.

And something had drawn him here, to the jazz club. He'd woken from a dream about a past encounter with Eve, and that had started him thinking about his first encounters with her...how her singing had intrigued him, her looks had captivated him, and everything else about her had drawn him in. Alas, there was no going back...

Or was there? Julian squinted at the woman at the bar, wondering if the alcohol had addled his brain. A woman looking oddly similar to the Eve from his past was sitting at the bar. Dressed in the gaudy clothes Julian recalled her wearing when he'd first met Eve, with her hairstyle also a throwback to the earlier era, Julian stared at the woman, who looked like an older version of the woman he'd fallen for. "Eve?"

Recognizing the voice, Eve turned towards Julian. Finally, a familiar face! "Julian!" she exclaimed, her eyes brightening.