Wesley home, later that afternoon.

Unlocking the front door, Chloe stepped through, making sure to lock it behind her. Taking off her signiture black jacket, she hung it up on the coat hanger by the door. Picking up her bag from the floor, she started upstairs. Halfway to the top, she heard Nancy's giggle, followed by that of her brother.

Dropping her bag, she went down the stairs in search of the voices.

"And then, you roll the dough flat, making sure its smooth," Nancy spoke to Nigel.

Chloe watched from the doorway, not wanting to spoil the moment.

Nigel repeated the motion, moving his own miniture rolling pin in the same fashion Nancy was, but his on the tray to his high chair.

"Yes, just like that Nigel. Now, I have to cut out the cookies so I can bake them." Looking to her bowl of cookie cutters, Nancy brought out two of Nigel's favorites, "Which one Nigel, Barney or Baby Bop," she asked him.

"Bop! Bop! Bop!"

"Okay then, Baby Bop it is."

"I think he just chose the one he could pronounce," Chloe said, finally wanting to make her presence known.

The little boy dropped the pin and started clapping his hands, a big smile on his face. He was always excited to see his sister.

"Hey Nigel, how are you," she asked, moving over to take him out of the chair and hold him.

"Chloe dear, you shouldn't scare us like that," Nancy told her, her hand still to her beating chest.

"I have a key to the door, Nancy."

"I know that, but you scared us nonetheless."

"I think I scared you not Nigel. He seems pretty excited to see me," Chloe said as she hugged the little boy to her chest. It hadn't take long for the little bald baby to worm his way into all of thier lives, especially Chloe.

"When is he not? You're his favorite sister," Nancy said brightly. Finally finishing cutting all the cookies, she opened the oven door and placed the sheet within, making sure to turn the timer for ten minutes.

"I'm his only sister Nancy," Chloe said. She was more busy making play faces with Nigel though.

"True. But you're still his favorite." Turning, Nancy saw her daughter and her son enjoying each other. The warmth that filled her at the sight was the greatest feeling she could have ever wished for. Trying to hold back her emotions, she asked Chloe to take a seat at the kitchen table so they could have a talk.

"I don't know Nancy," Chloe began, recognizing the tone in her mother's voice. She wanted something and she was pretty sure she knew what it was. "I have to change and then set up for a meeting."

"A meeting? What kind of meeting Chloe," Nancy asked as she came to take Nigel out of Chloe's arms to put him back in his chair. Taking a hold of the tray once her son was strapped within, she rolled it over to the table beside her chair, then took a seat herself.

Realizing she had lost without even beginning the fight, Chloe took the seat across from Nancy. "It's just that my Calculus teacher, Mr. Farris, asked me to tutor someone. And we can't do it at his house, so--"

"His house dear? A boy," Nancy half asked, half exclaimed. "Who is it Chloe, don't leave me hanging in suspense here," she chatted excitedly.

"Phillip Kiriakis," Chloe muttered in a soft voice, hoping Nancy would just let the conversation drop.

"Did you say Phillip Kiriakis," Nancy asked, perturbed. The same exact topic she was going to sit down and have a conversation about with Chloe.

"Geez, you sure do have good hearing," Chloe told her in an aggrivated tone.

"Look Chloe, maybe it's none of my business, but I've noticed how you react to Phillip."

"React," she question. As if! "Nancy, the only way I react to Phillip is no reaction. Basically, we can't stand each other."

"And why should you, the way him and his friends treat you. I would think by now that you would have fit in more Chloe. You don't know how much it disturbs me to see you not blending in with your classmates."

"I don't want to blend it with them Nancy. Then, I'd just be another face with no personality. I like who I am, the way I dress, the music I listen to, the fact that--"

"I know you do," Nancy, holding up a palm. "And I love that to. I love you Chloe, for everything that you are. But would it kill you so much to even give it a try?"

"Isn't this enough," Chloe asked, pointing to the new clothes Nancy had picked out, with her approval of course, for the beginning of the new school year. Though she still favored the color black, there was a little more variety to her wardrobe with grays, some dark blues and purples, and just a hint of white. Though if left up to her, she would still be wearing the comfortable clothes that she loved. Of course, she would have to actually have those clothes to wear them.

Looking to her daughter, she was a bit pleased with what she wore, but only just a bit. The dark gray slacks coupled with a top of the same color, just a lighter shade, fit Chloe's body better than her long skirts and baggy sweaters. Though she felt certain that Chloe covered up with her customary black jacket while at school.

"Chloe, what  you're wearing is a great start. I just wish you'd let me pick out more color for you."

"Next time I lose a game of chess to Craig, then we can talk," Chloe told her, spouting the reason for having to get the new wardrobe in the first place. The Wesley's had decided to stage a Chess Tournament over the summer, just another family activity. It had come down to the finals, just her and Craig. She had thought that she'd beat Craig easily in the game, her reward of a weekend in New York enough to make her even concentrate on the game she knew so well. What she handn't been told was that Craig had been Co-Captain of his college Chess Club, thus the parents reward of a new wardrobe for Chloe and a week of babysitting.

Before Nancy could respond, the telephone rang.

"I'll get it," Chloe said, jumping up to answer the phone, thanking God for the interruption. She didn't need any more tips on fashion for the next ten years. "Wesley residence," Chloe answered, hoping it was Phillip cancelling the study meeting.

"Hey Chloe, it's Craig. You're home early today," he said perplexed.

"It's Tuesday. Belle doesn't have practice on Tuesday's so there's not need not meet and unwind together."

"That's right. Just adjusting to the new school year schedule I guess. Everything all right there," he asked.

"Yeah, except for Nancy trying to get me to wear more color," she told him, saying the last word as if disgusted by it.

"Well, I won't get into that one. I was just calling to say I'd be late for dinner tonight. The ER is backed-up with victims from an Interstate pile-up, so I'm going to help."

Chloe nodded, looking to Nancy's mouthing of Is it Craig? "I think Nancy wants to talk to you, so I'll give her the phone. Good luck in the ER, Craig," Chloe told him.

"Thanks Chloe," Craig said before the phone was handed over to his wife.

Walking over, Chloe raised the tray to Nigel's high chair, taking him out. "I hate it when they put you in here," she told him as she walked them out the back door onto the deck. "Those chairs are like prisons and I know you can't possibly like it." Scanning the yard, she saw the swing set Nancy had forced Craig to put up the week after Nigel had been brought home from the hospital.

"Nancy, I think he's a little too young to actually play with this," Craig told his wife. The UPS man had just dropped the Deluxe Gym V off and he was still trying to figure out why.

"Craig, honey, Nigel will be needing that sooner than you think. He's a growing boy."

"He's a week old, Nancy," Craig shouted.

A second later, they heard the crying of their week old little boy.

"See what you did Craig," Nancy whispered as she began her way up the stairs. Pausing, she turned, "I want that fixed and I want it done today Craig."

Watching his wife ascend the stairs, Craig shakes his head.

"You have to admit, she does have a certain knack for getting what she wants done, when sh wants it done," Chloe puts in, having watched the whole scene from the doorway.

"You ain't seen nothing yet," Craig tells her.

And he'd been right, Chloe thought as she pushed Nigel in the toddler swing, loving his gleeful giggles. She only hoped that Nancy would forget the conversation she had wanted to have with her.

"Chloe," Nancy questioned as she came out onto the deck, looking for her two quickly disappearing children. "There you are," she said relived, taking the deck stairs to go join Nigel and Chloe at the swing. "Don't disappear on me like that. Craig will be home late tonight, so I guess we'll just order in a pizza for dinner tonight.

"But Phillip," Chloe grumbled. "He'll be here around five-thirty." A gleam came into Nancy's eyes, one that Chloe did not like. "Whatever it is, the answer is NO!"

"You do know that Craig and I were thinking of taking a weekend off soon," Nancy said in a conspiratory tone.

"So," Chloe shrugged.

"So, you would have to watch Nigel, the whole weekend, by yourself."

Chloe looked to her little brother. Though he was cute and she adored him, a whole weekend in his presence might be too much for her. "Can't you just get a babysitter," Chloe asked, already thinking of the whining, crying, and dirty diapers she would have to endure over a period of fourty-eight hours.

"Of course we could, Chloe! That is, if you're willing to do something for me to switch in the four days of babysitting you still owe us."

"But I thought you were only going for a weekend," she asks, horrified. She definitely couldn't handle Nigel over four consecutive days.

"It is only a weekend, probably from a Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. That way, you'd be rid of two babysitting days."

"Sounds good I guess," she said, returning to the task of pushing her baby brother. Then she remembered Nancy had asked her to do something for her. "What exactly did you want me to do," she asked, but Nancy was already on her way into the house. "What have I gotten myself into now," Chloe asked herself.