Written May 13th - June 8th '08 Part One

At the Campus House!!

Chloe sat on the couch in the living room. A bottle of wine sitting on the table, almost empty. She picked up her favorite pair of Manolos and almost sobbed at the sight of there soggy ruins. Chloe then picked up the original Restless Style magazine with Lily on the cover and did indeed sob, which turned into a hiccup in her inebriated state.

Things were going so great for her. What did she do to deserve this down fall? "I am a fashionista extrodinaire." Chloe said as she saluted the empty room with her glass of wine. "I'm the best there is," she mumbled.

Chloe turned blurry eyes towards the door as there was a knock then Cane entered the campus house...

Cane looked uncomfortable as he entered the house finding only Chloe in the living room. "Uh, hey Chloe. Is Lily here?"

Chloe tried to focus on Cane but he kept waving in front of her. "Could you stand still? Lily's not here sssshhhee wanted to be alone - hiccup -" Chloe put her fingers over her mouth and giggled.

"Oh, ok. Will you tell her I came by and that I will see her later?" Cane said turning back towards the door.

"Cane, Cane. Come over here," Chloe said waving her hand. She patted the spot beside her on the couch rather emphatically. "Sit with me for a minute. Talk to Chloe."
Cane's hand was on the door knob when he sighed and thought what the hell. What's the worst that could happen...

"Sure, Chloe." Cane came over and sat on the couch putting as much space between them as he could. Mindful of her current condition Cane asked, "So what do you want to talk about?"
Chloe held up her index finger then proceeded to poke him sharply in the chest. "You! Don't like me very much." Chloe exclaimed once again with her finger in the air which she then swung past her nose hitting the tip. "I can tell."

Cane held up a hand to ward off any more sudden pokes at his chest. "Now Chloe it's not that I don't like you, exactly. It's just that we have a working relationship and I would like to keep it that way."

"Right, right," she said nodding her head in a sloppy fashion. "You already have the perfect girl anyway so why would you notice anyone else."

Cane gave her a look. "That's right Chloe. Lily is it for me. I have no reason to look anywhere else."

"I could give you a reason to look else where." Chloe mumbled under her breath.

"What?"

Chloe gazed at him through squinted lids. "Oh, ummm... you know you're really hot, right?"

Cane was becoming more uncomfortable by the moment. Moving slightly further away he said, "Just relax and I'll get you some coffee." Cane started to rise when Chloe's vice like grip snagged him around the neck, catching him completely off guard. The next thing he knew, Chloe was pressing a slobbery kiss against his lips. He immediately tried to push her away but she had caught him off balance. He tried to get his leg under him but it was to no avail as Chloe pulled Cane felt himself falling on top of her...

What the...?!!

Cane fell on top of Chloe. She moaned. He nearly gagged as he continued to struggle to free himself from her surprisingly strong grasp. Finally he managed to reach his hands around the back of his head and pry her fingers from around his neck.

Cane shot off of Chloe like he had been burned. "What the hell was that?" Cane demanded as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth to trying to remove the taste of her.

Chloe cracked open an eye, finally realizing that Cane's lips were no longer pressed to hers. "What?" She struggled to her knees on the couch. "Cane, Cane." Chloe reached for him, which this time Cane easily avoided. Chloe waved the hand in front of her as if brushing off the obvious rejection. "Listen I know that your heart and soul belong to Lily - I get that. But your body - that oh, so fine body needs some attention. Cause I know Lily ain't been givin' it to you."

Cane looked at her like she was crazy. "Lady - and I use that term loosely, you have got some nerve. Don't you? You say you're her friend? What kind of person throws themselves at their friends boyfriend? What kind of friend toasts to that friendship one moment and makes me gag by kissing me in the next? Can you answer me that, Chloe?"

"Yes Chloe. Can you answer any of those questions because I would like to know those answers as well." Lily said with ice in her tone.

Both Chloe and Cane turned to find Lily standing in the doorway...

Cane moved away from the couch and immediately approached Lily. "Lily, I -"

Lily held up her hand stopping him from saying anything further. "Cane you and I are just fine. I trust you. I love you. It's Chloe who needs to answer for her actions right now. So Chloe care to explain?" Lily walked slowly towards the couch. "Because last I checked I was the one who gave you a place to stay. Helped you out. Saved your butt. And this," Lily gestured towards Cane with her hand, "is how you repay my kindness? By throwing your sorry self at my boyfriend?"

Remarkably Chloe had sobered up rather quickly upon Lily's arrival. "Lily, I - I -"

"You, you what?"

"Lily, it was the alcohol. I was drunk, I still am drunk. It just happened -"

"Seriously. Your going to use 'the alcohol made me do it' excuse." Lily put her hands on her hips to bring her point home. "Chloe everyone and their mother knows that you have had the hot's for Cane since you first arrived in town. Do you think I am silly and naive? Did you think I didn't know? I just thought that you would never stoop so low. I guess I was wrong."

Lily marched over to the shelf that was currently housing Chloe's collection of 'psycho clowns' and started gathering them up into her arms.

Chloe finally got off the couch and stood there looking dumb founded. "What - what are you doing with my clowns?"

Lily turned and went to Chloe shoving the clowns at her. "I am giving your 'friends' the send off they deserve." She turned Chloe towards the door and proceeded to shove her across the living room and out the door which Cane politely held open.

A stunned Chloe turned back to face them. "Lily, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. Where am I going to go? I don't have anywhere to stay?"

"I guess you should have thought of that before you stuck your tired face to my boyfriends. Maybe if you're lucky Devon will show up sometime tonight and he will let your sorry butt back in." With that Lily closed the door on Chloe's dumb founded expression.

Lily and Cane looked at one another.

"Lily, I am so sorry. Can you forgive me?"

"I have nothing to forgive you for," she said touching his cheek.

Cane smiled at her tenderly. "Will you come and stay with me tonight?"

"Yes. I think Chloe needs some much needed time by herself. Whether that time will be in here or sitting outside in the dark remains to be seen."

"Yeah," Cane said. "I am in real need of using my toothbrush and mouth wash right now. I have this bad taste in my mouth that I need to get rid of. Let's go."

Cane and Lily left the campus house and Lily locked the door behind her. Neither one spared Chloe a glance as she stood there looking sad and pathetic, clutching her clown collection.
Chloe watched Cane and Lily drive away when the alcohol decided to turn on her and she barfed all over her precious clowns...

What a Lovely Shade of Green!!

Chloe had remained outside of the campus house in the dark and covered in her own mess for two hours before Devon showed up and let her back inside. After she had thrown out her ruined, precious clown collection and gotten herself cleaned up she came down stairs to find that Devon had made some strong black coffee...

"So are you going to tell me how you found yourself outside in the dark with your clowns?" Devon was kind enough not to mention and covered in puke...

Chloe poured herself a big steaming mug of coffee and sat down beside Devon on the couch. Her mind flashed back to a blurry scene of her throwing herself at Cane and being brutally rejected. Chloe didn't want to tell Devon about that humiliating incident so she chose to go with, "well I had to much to drink and I totally forgot that I didn't have a key and I accidentally locked myself out."

Devon knew there was more to it then that. "Didn't Cane and Lily drop you off? And that doesn't explain how you ended up outside with your arms full of crazy clowns."

"Yeah, well you see the thing about that is... Well they did drop me off and then Cane and Lily went to Cane's place for the night - I think and I was waltzing around in here and started looking at all my clowns and the next thing I remember I was locked outside with them in my arms and no way back in." Chloe said looking rather sheepish.

"O - kay..." Devon said disbelief still in his voice. "Well you better get some sleep because I have a funny feeling you are going to be hurting something fierce tomorrow." With that Devon got up from the couch and headed off to bed himself.

Left alone, Chloe said to herself, "nothing that I don't deserve." And headed upstairs herself where she immediately passed out...

Lily and Cane arrived at Jabot together the next morning. Lily had spent the night at the mansion with Cane. It had made each of them so happy to wake up together in each others arms that they vowed that they would do so more often. They had enjoyed a nice breakfast with Kay and Jill. They did not discuss Chloe, she in fact did not cross their minds until they entered the board room and found her sitting there wearing a pair of huge dark glasses and nursing the largest cup of coffee that you could get from Crimson Lights.

Cane slammed the files he was carrying onto the table making Chloe cringe and her complexion turn an even more ghastly shade of green.

"HEY CHLOE!" Lily said in a loud voice. "What a lovely shade of green you are. It's very becoming."

Chloe replied in a hoarse whisper, "please, please don't yell. I get it, you hate me. I did a horrible thing and I deserved being locked out of the house."

Lily looked at Chloe, at how pathetic she was and said, "I don't hate you. In fact I don't think one way or the other about you. Not anymore. From now on it is strictly business between us."
Chloe cringed some more and rubbed the side of her head as she nodded slightly. "I get it. Whatever it was it's over."

"Also, for the time being anyway I won't be staying at the campus house. I will be staying at my Dad's or with Cane. I suggest you find other accommodations quickly."

Cane's cell phone rang and he stepped away to take the call...

Coming back he had an odd look on his face.

"Is everything ok?" Lily asked with concern.

"Um...yeah. That was Phyllis."

"Phyllis?"

"Yeah, she wants to do this big editorial spread in the next issue of Restless Style and she wants to do it on the three generations of the Chancellors. She wants to start the interviews in the next couple of days..."

Cane Learns About the Past!!

Cane had just shown Phyllis out of the mansion and had returned to the living room to find his mother and grandmother watching him closely...

"What?" Cane asked trying to control his feelings.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jill asked.

"Now, Jill let the boy be. When he is ready he will ask." Katherine interjected.

"Mother, don't you think he has a right to know the truth?"

"Of course Jill and when he is ready we will tell him."

"What if I am ready now? Cause you know it's funny when a person who runs a magazine knows more about my history then I do. It was rather humiliating actually. I mean why bother to ask me anything?" Cane demanded, his control slipping further.

Jill and Katherine looked at one another. Silently they agreed to tell Cane whatever he wanted to know. No matter how painful or embarrassing.

"What do you want to know?" Jill asked her son.

"Everything." And Cane sat down on the chair opposite the couch the two women occupied to listen to how he came to be and to find out who his father really was...

Jill opened her mouth to speak but Katherine's hand on her arm stopped her. "Let me start this tale Jill. Cane needs to know this from the beginning. I only hope that he can forgive me when I am finished."

Katherine looked at her grandson. She saw so many traits of her late husband in him. Cane truly was his father's son...

"Your father and I were friends for a long time then one night we were both at this ball. I was in a beautiful gown and he never looked more handsome in his tux. He eyed me from across the room and beckoned to me. Neither one of us really wanted to be there so I didn't hesitate when he asked me to go for a walk with him. He took me out to the lake where he had set up this beautiful picnic with wine and cheese. And that was it from that day on we were together."

"Well if you were so in love how did he end up with Mum?"

Katherine looked at Jill again before she continued, "Cane you know a bit about my struggles with alcohol and well I made a lot of foolish mistakes. I cheated on Phillip and I was drunk all of the time and finally I think he just couldn't take it anymore. Jill was a live in stylist at the time and he turned to her and they fell in love. He wanted out of the marriage to marry your mother and he did but our divorce wasn't final when he did that. She was pregnant with you."

The silence in the room was uncomfortable but Katherine knew once they had started this tale there was no stopping it.

"One night after I had been drinking I decided to try and win Phillip back. So instead of Jill or the driver picking him up from work. I did. I begged him to take me back but he didn't want any part of that. He asked me to let him out of the car but I was so angry. I wouldn't listen and instead I sped up. I lost control of the car and there was an accident. When I came to it was to find that Phillip was dead."

Cane didn't know what to say. His own grandmother was behind the accidental death of his father. He would have to think about all of this later, for now he said, "so how do you explain Mum? And the fact that you didn't know she was yours?"

Katherine sighed. She could only pray that Cane would forgive her in time. "Well as I have said I have struggled with alcohol for a very long time. Over ten years ago an old drinking buddy of mine came back to town and she started jogging my memory about how I had gotten myself pregnant but, well I didn't know who the father was and since I couldn't explain that to society I gave the baby away." Katherine gestured with her hands. "Now, now you must understand I suffered from severe blackouts. There are large parts of my life that I don't even remember - that I had to be told about. At first I didn't even believe my friend but then I started having flashes of memory and I realized it was true. I figured out it was Jill and the woman that she knew as her mother admitted that she had adopted her. DNA later confirmed it."

"Do you realize Katherine, that because of what you did Mum and I had very similar experiences?"

"Yes, yes I do."

Jill gave Katherine's knee a gentle squeeze in support. Even though it was hard and they still had their issues, Jill had forgiven Katherine a long time ago. Jill got up and approached her son. She sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of him and clasped his hands in hers.

"Cane you need to understand something. Your grandmother and I loved your father very much. Do you know, you are just like him in so many ways. Phillip was a gentleman, gallant, charming, witty and smart. He was quiet yet out spoken. He was so handsome and distinguished. He was a great business man." Jill made Cane look her in the eyes before she continued. "Cane you did the best with what you had in the circumstances that you were given but you are so much like your father. And I truly believe that if he were here today that he would be so proud of the man you turned out to be."

This was so much for Cane to absorb. He needed sometime alone to think. He looked at the two women before him, his family and said, "thank you for telling me all of that. I am sure it was very difficult for you to do so but I am glad that you did. If you'll excuse me I need sometime alone to think about everything." With that Cane got up and left the mansion.

Jill and Katherine looked at one another. Katherine was the first to speak. "No matter what he says he shouldn't be alone. I think you should call Lily. He needs her now."

"Mother I actually agree." And Jill picked up the phone and dialed Lily's number...

Lean on Me...!!

"Ok, Jill. Thank you for calling me. Yes...I believe I know where Cane is. I will have him call you later. Ok. Bye." Lily hung up the phone and left Crimson Lights with a destination in mind...
Lily found Cane exactly where she thought he would be. He was in the secluded area of the park by the stream watching the water flow by obviously lost in thought...

Cane started the moment he felt to small hands slide around his waist but he relaxed instantly when he realized it was Lily. She pressed the front of her small body against his strong back as closely as she could. She breathed in his scent and tried to absorb some of the emotions she felt churning within him. Cane placed his hands over hers and finally let himself feel at peace for the first time that day...

"I knew I would find you here. When your mother phoned me, I knew this is where you would go. She and your grandmother are very worried about you."

"Oh and did she tell you why they are worried about me?"

Lily slid around his body to stand before him, so she could see his face. She did not let go of him...
"Your mother only told me that she and your grandmother explained a great deal of your past to you today and that it was perhaps very overwhelming to you."

Cane grunted. "Yeah overwhelming being the understatement of the year."

Lily slid her arms from around Cane's waist and slipped her hand into his. She gently tugged him over to the nearby bench where she urged him to sit. Seating herself beside him she asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Yeah, yeah I do. But I am not sure you'll believe me when I do."

Lily listened in silence as Cane went on to explain all that he had learned from his mother and grandmother today. She did not interrupt nor did she comment until he had finished telling her everything. Lily just held tightly to his hand and listened...

When Cane was finished, Lily sat for a moment, thinking... She turned on the bench to face Cane fully she reached up and touched his face gently with her fingertips. Then she leaned over and touched her lips to his...

"This must have been very hard to hear. This must have been very hard for Jill and Katherine to tell you. But you know this changes nothing about you. You are the wonderful, kind and caring man that you are because of all of this. Everyone has family secrets and things from their pasts that they aren't proud of - even me."

"Even you?" Cane asked with some surprise.

"Yeah, there is something that I have never told you. Something that was very hard for me to deal with, something that deeply affected me and my family."

Cane grew more concerned. Thoughts of his own pain momentarily forgotten at the haunted look in Lily's eyes. "Sweetheart, what is it?"

Lily had come to terms with this sometime ago but it still hurt to think about the way she found out...

"My Dad is not my biological father - his brother is." And Lily went on to tell Cane the story of how that came to be...

Cane stroked Lily's cheek and tucked her wind blown hair behind her ear. "Sweetheart, I am so sorry. I am sure that that was so hard for you to hear and to deal with."

"It was but I dealt with it. Cane we all have things in our past, in our families pasts that we have to deal with and accept or not accept. Have you decided what you are going to do with the information that you received today?"

Cane looked at the beautiful woman before him and thought about all that she had said. He wondered at what he had done in his life to deserve such a wonderful gift. "Thank you Lily, I will be ok. My family and I will be ok. I love you so much."

Lily blushed. "You don't have to thank me. We're in this together for the long haul, right? Through tears and cheers."

Cane cupped Lily's face in his hands. He leaned down and tasted her lips like he was tasting a fine wine. He didn't think he could ever get enough of this beautiful, enchanting woman.

Lily leaned into his embrace and enjoyed the loving moment between them. They still needed to talk more. Lily still needed to tell Cane that she was being courted by a modeling agency in New York. She still had to tell him that Chloe was the reason she was...