Uncommon Bonds – By Sandra B

The Impossible

The expression of all encompassing sadness on her face when they took her away was something John knew he would never forget for the rest of his life. Tears rolled down her cheeks in a steady stream as she valiantly battled to contain the fear, the confusion, and lastly the pain of knowing that for whatever reason he did not do what he had done for his young son several weeks earlier. Instead of rising powerfully to her defense, he only stood there silent and impotent, looking at her woefully, and secretly wishing he were the one being hauled away.

Standing as he was now, in Abe’s office, his mind just wouldn’t let him accept it as reality. How could he accept this? It was too bizarre, and absolutely the LAST thing he or anyone in the entire city would ever have believed. He shut his eyes, took a gulp of air and tried to make the nightmare go away, ‘This can’t be happening, it’s just a bad dream… this can NOT be happening!’

A voice snapped him out of his reverie, and he remembered that he was supposed to be in the middle of a conversation. “I’m afraid you don’t understand, Sir… “

He whirled around to face the little twerp he could probably throw across the room with his left hand alone, his face full of barely controlled protective fury, “No, YOU don’t understand, pal! My…. wife…” He hesitated as the thought occurred to him. Was she still his wife or had the papers been filed already? “..is the last person in the world who would do something like this. It *has* to be a mistake! ” he said through tightly clenched teeth, wishing there were something he could break, other than this little man’s neck.

“I’m sorry Mr. Black…. but the evidence is clear and convincing. The woman participated in a scheme to take over her life and your wife was angry. There are at least a half dozen witnesses confirming the fact that she confronted the woman and things got out of hand. I know this is very difficult for you, but it appears that your wife is responsible for Hattie Adam’s death.”

He got in the man’s face and bellowed at him, “The evidence be damned! I’m telling you it can’t be Marlena. She would never kill someone. NEVER!”

Another voice filled the air, a quieter softer voice, ” John…. we’re going to do everything we can to help her, but you have to calm down.”

“Mickey…. I *know* she didn’t do it. I know it in my soul…” he said, whirling to face his long time friend, suddenly finding himself on the verge of tears at the mere idea of her being locked up. It was unthinkable that she should have to suffer that indignity, even for an hour or two while bail was set and paperwork was signed. ‘Oh, God Doc.. I wish it was me… you can’t know how much I WISH it was me!’

“John, you said yourself that she was having some sort of a breakdown….After what happened with the kidnapping, maybe she…”

John was shaking his head, the power of his emotion swelling inside him. He could feel his hands trembling again… ‘Dammit, John… not now!’

Just about the time that Mickey was going to say something else to fill the vacuum, John argued with the suggestion that she had lost it and killed someone during some kind of emotional meltdown. “No… not, Marlena… NO! Look… we may have had our problems… some pretty serious problems… She was having a really hard time, sad to say…. mostly because of me….. and she was angry about what happened to her… but I just won’t… believe… that she… killed this woman. I’d stake my life on it, Mickey!”

Commander Abe Carver looked on, but wisely did not enter his office while John spoke with Mickey Horton, attorney at law. The man could only be expected to take so much and might become enraged at the mere sight of the cop who had gunned down his son. Abe sighed with the weight of the world upon his shoulders. He’d shot a teenaged boy, whom it turned out was innocent of the crime of which he’d been so wrongly accused. It was a tragic error, but what was worse was that the boy was his best friend’s son. And now the man’s wife stood accused of murder. It was unreal, beyond anyone’s worst nightmare.

Strangely enough, when Abe reviewed the events of the past several months, it was plausible that John himself could have done it. If something violent were to happen to the woman who participated in the kidnapping of his wife, it would have been John Black, a man everyone had seen lose control several times in recent months, who might be thought responsible. *Something* was happening to him, that much was clear, causing his normally more amiable personality to change, resulting in episodes of drinking and rude behavior, angry outbursts, even fits of nearly uncontrolled rage, like that night at Tuscany. However, thus far no one had made it a point to force the issue with him. Those who cared for the couple seemed content to let Marlena make all the decisions where John was concerned. Abe hoped they hadn’t made a serious mistake in doing so.

No matter how one looked upon the situation, the very last person who would ever be suspected of taking a human life was Dr. Marlena Evans-Black. She was a good and caring friend to so many people, and a well respected psychiatrist to countless patients and radio listeners. It couldn’t be her, never her. It simply wasn’t in her to kill.

Or did she suffer, as others concluded, from some sort of a mental breakdown, and then in a fit of irrationality during a confrontation, murder the woman who had literally taken over her life? Had she finally reached the limits of her ability to cope with adverse circumstances and snapped?

There were so many questions for which there were no answers at the moment, one of which was how John would deal with the situation. Abe knew the couple was on the verge of a divorce following her rescue. John had assisted in saving her from Stefano’s clutches once again, but the strain on their marriage because of the incident with Brady, among other things, was telling. She had left the scene in an ambulance, accompanied instead by her ex-husband and good friend Roman Brady.

Honoring her choice, John did nothing to interfere at the time, acting with remarkable restraint given the circumstances. Still, Abe Carver knew that as long as he lived he would never forget the dark expression on John’s face as he watched the vehicle move away. It was an unadulterated look of smoldering black rage born of bitter jealousy toward the man whose name he once called his own.

Looking through the window at his friend, Abe could see the tell tale signs of stress. The muscles of John’s face were taut with tension, he was breathing hard, and his right hand was clenched into a tight fist, which was shaking noticeably at his side. It appeared as if it were all the man could do not to go on a rampage and destroy the office in which he currently stood.
Abe could only pray that things wouldn’t go from bad to worse. The truth
about the baby had been revealed, Brady was still paralyzed and working hard to recover, his father spending hours each day with him as part of his therapy. And now… if Marlena were convicted. After talking with Roman and several others about the night at Tuscany, and witnessing first hand the bodily harm done to Stefano’s henchmen during the rescue efforts, he shuddered to think what John would do if Marlena were placed behind bars for any length of time. He felt a chill run down his spine as he involuntarily envisioned John’s reaction to a guilty verdict.

Not wanting to think about it as a real possibility, Abe shut the vision down and began to pray, ‘Dear God, please help us all!’

Page 2 of 3
Face Off

Waiting was the worst part. John was alternately pacing up and down the hallway and stopping to check in with the uniform who would be the one to let him into the holding area. A least a dozen questions swirled around inside his head as he absent mindedly slugged down a third cup of bitter Cop Shop coffee. Was she frightened? Did she believe he still cared? Did she know he was doing everything he could to get her out of that cell she was in or that he’d change places with her, if he could, without even thinking about it? Did she want his help or had she completely given up on him and their marriage? And lastly, the one that caused him the most pain of all, because he feared the answer was no. Would she agree to see him?

About the time he thought he couldn’t take it anymore, Mickey, Abe and Roman came striding toward him. There was a look in their eyes that told him his fears were on target. And then Mickey let out a sigh, followed by the words John didn’t want to hear, “I’m sorry, John, but she said she didn’t want to see you. “

“What? She won’t even talk to me? No, I don’t believe it!” John was beside himself with an all-encompassing feeling of helplessness. “Please… whatever happened between us, you all know she needs me right now! You have to let me go down there. I can’t let her face this alone.”

“She’s not alone, John.” Roman Brady had that smug self satisfied expression on his face again, the one he ached to wipe off with a fist.

John closed the distance between them and hissed a reply, “You son of a…..”

Abe and Mickey immediately stepped between them. “John, this won’t help matters,” Mickey said, ever the voice of reason.

“You don’t understand, Mickey, Abe… I *have* to see her. She’s still my wife and I have a right….” he said, staring back and forth between the two of them. He was almost desperate.

Roman brushed the others aside and got in his rival’s face, gloating about his favored status with the lady in question, “No, you don’t, you don’t have any rights where’s Doc’s concerned. Face it, John…. you’re history. *I* will be the one to support her and stand by her through whatever lies ahead, not you. You let her down when she needed you the most and now she doesn’t want you, John. Not anymore.”

Undaunted, John argued vehemently, his finger poking at the man’s chest, “You think that I’m just going to stand back and let you steal her away from me? Well, Captain Roman Brady, you’ve got another thing coming. I *will* see her. Maybe not tonight… but you can’t keep me away from her.”

Roman smiled with delight as he informed the man just how quickly things were changing, “Well, she’ll be staying with me at the house, and I’m warning you… if I so much as hear that you’ve been within a mile of my property, I’ll have you hauled off to jail. I’ve already got the restraining order in the works. Seems the judge considering the request was at Tuscany the night you busted up the joint.”

Instinctively, Mickey and Abe stepped in between the two men again, realizing that John was at his breaking point, “You Bastard! I should have known you would take advantage of the situation somehow. Damn you, Brady… but you know what.. you go ahead… make all the grandstand plays you want. Doc may be scared and confused about a few things right now. But the fact is, she’s still my wife. Face it, Marlena loves ME… and she always will!”

“Yea… well, we’ll see about that. I was the one who realized what was happening to her, that she was in trouble. And she knows it, John. She knows that you were so preoccupied with your son and whatever else is going on inside that messed up head of yours, that you didn’t notice something was terribly wrong. So much for that special *bond* you used to talk so much about.”

He was shaking his head, refusing to take the bait this time, “Look, I’ll admit, I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes where Marlena is concerned, but we’re working through it… or we *were* until you started to interfere again. I wouldn’t be surprised if you set this whole situation up, just so you could play the knight in shining armor. So, what were you planning to do, Brady…. wait until she was back in your bed and then suddenly find the evidence to clear her?”

That set Roman off and it was obvious he was ready to take a swing at John. Abe stood between them, his hand on his partner’s arm. “Struck a nerve did I?” John said to taunt the man further, his body ready and wanting for a fight.

“You selfish Bastard! You’re not thinking about her… you just don’t want to lose her to me!”

“No way that’s happening! I’m her husband and I *know* she still loves me… and I will be the one to stand by her side, whatever comes.”

“Yea… right… I’ll believe that when I see it. In the mean time *I* will be there for her.”

“Go to hell, Brady…. you do whatever you have to do, but you can’t keep me from seeing her, from talking to her, or from taking her home if that’s what she wants.”

“What *she* wants…. now there’s a novel idea… you’re actually talking about what Marlena wants….”

That was it. He’d taken all that he could and his control faltered. At the exact same time John took a swing at him, Roman dove at John’s abdomen and succeeded in tackling him. They rolled over each other and traded a handful of forceful punches before Abe, Mickey and a couple of uniforms separated them.

Wiping his blood from his split lip, Roman confronted his rival and issued a challenge, “I’ve got your number, John. This isn’t about how much you love Marlena or how much she loves you. It’s about winning and losing. You just can’t stand to lose, can you? Well, this time you *are* going to lose, and when you do, you’ll have nobody but yourself to blame.”

John walked away without another word about it, swiping at the blood around the corners of his mouth and underneath his nose with the back of his right hand. Somehow he would find a way to see her, before Brady wanted him to, before the jerk could make her believe that her husband had abandoned her. “I know that you still love me, Marlena… and God knows how much I love you. I’m sorry that I let you down before, but it won’t happen again. I’m going to be with you every step of the way through this thing. I know you didn’t do it and I’m going to find the evidence to prove it.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey’s words echoed inside her mind, chilling her heart with fear, “I’m sorry, Marlena… I tried, but it’s just too late to get a judge to set bail.”

Three concrete walls and metal bars in front of her, no window and no bathroom, and nothing more than a flimsy, filthy looking cot for a bed. ‘Oh, Dear God…’ She was going to spend the night in this dreadful lonely place. John was upstairs now, and they were telling him she didn’t want to see him. It was a lie. Letting out a weary sigh, she spoke to him in her mind, ‘Oh, John… I can’t face you…. not yet.. You’ve had so much to deal with and now…. your wife is accused of murder.’

Another voice, one created from the pain, also chimed in. ‘And what about you, Marlena, haven’t you been hurt, haven’t you been driven to the breaking point and well past it? Don’t you deserve to have his support, even if there are still problems to be resolved between you? Regardless of what you’ve said to him lately, John loves you and he’ll put all of that aside to be there for you… you *know* he will. And whether you want to admit it or not, you still love him too.’

It was all true. So why had she agreed to stay with Roman when she was released the next morning? What on earth were you thinking, Marlena? She breathed out a long sigh, cognizant the she wasn’t thinking at all when she made the decision. It was purely an emotional reaction, born of a secret desire to get back at John for not realizing what was happening to her, for not trusting in their love, and for lying to her all those months. For so many things she wanted to punish him, and this was one very effective way of doing so. He would be livid about it, his jealousy raging out of control.

Maybe she should just let him stew over it for awhile. “Serves him right… let him think we’re getting back together… even if it isn’t true…. it’ll do John some good to be reminded of what it’s like to want someone he can’t have.”

“They say absence does make the heart grow fonder, do they not?”

Flabbergasted, she stood up quickly, and then almost immediately lost her balance and fell backward onto the cot. She spoke in fits and spurts, “John…. oh my gosh… how long have you been… did you just…”

“I heard you. I heard it all, Doc. From you and from Roman. You go ahead, do what you have to do… but I’m not going anywhere. And, I’ll tell you this… if Roman wants you back, he’s in for the fight of his life. I know we’ve had our problems, but I *love* you, lady and I’m not going to let you walk away.”

“John, I… I didn’t.. mean… “

Stepping closer, he let her know he understood, as best he could, how she felt, speaking quite passionately about her plight and how she’d been there for him under eerily similar circumstances. “Yes you did, Marlena. You’re hurting, you’re angry, and you’re afraid, I understand that. I’ve been where you are, or pretty damn close anyway. When I was in Aremid, accused of Tony’s murder, you came to me and you never left. You believed in me and you loved me unconditionally, even though I was with Kristen. You stood by my side when all of the evidence pointed to me, when almost everyone else thought I could have done it. I’m telling you right now, I believe in you the same way… and there’s nothing you can say or do that’s going to make me leave you, so you just better get used to seeing my ugly face.”

As terrified as she was about what was to come, all she could do was smile at him. She loved the expression on his face when he was all fired up about something, and it was a pleasing sight, knowing that it was because she was in trouble. Despite all the angry words they’d exchanged, and all the sleepless nights spent apart and wondering if they would ever find their way back to each other, he was there now, when she truly needed him. Just as she had been for him when he was in the same position, falsely accused of taking a human life. “There’s no point in arguing when you get this way, so I guess I’ll have to take you up on your offer.”

“Good, that’s my girl,” he said, tenderly, reaching his hands between the metal bars to take hers. “It’s gonna be okay, Doc… we’ll figure this out. I swear it to you. We’ll find out who did this and you’ll be free.”

“I know we will. We make a great team, remember?” She smiled wistfully, glad in some strange way that it wasn’t John who, out of a misguided desire to protect her, killed the woman to eliminate the threat she posed.

“Always, when we finally realize we’re on the same side. And we are this time, Doc. All that other stuff, the fighting about Brady and Roman, and about the baby… we have to forget about that right now and concentrate on proving your innocence. Can you do that?”

She nodded, but said nothing. There was so much pain, so much anger left unresolved between them, she wondered if that were possible at this point.

It was evident she was uncertain about it. “What, you don’t think we can do it, you don’t think we can put that out of our minds and focus on what’s most important here?”

“I don’t know, John. so much has happened between us…”

He stood back to look her in the eye so that he could be certain, his gaze narrowing. “Yea, I know.. I’m so sorry, you’ll never know how much, but can you deny that you need my support? Can you honestly stand there and tell me that you don’t want me in your life right now?”

The tears of pain and confusion began to flow. It was so difficult to keep a clear head when he was around, his mere physical presence and his powers of persuasion evoking a strong response. Her reply was barely audible, “No…no I can’t.. I can’t do that.”

Letting out a breath he never realized he was holding, John replied firmly, telling her of his plans, “Alright then, I’m going to find a judge and get you out of here, tonight!”

“No, John… Mickey said that…” she offered in protest. It seemed futile.

At the same time as he was shaking his head in vehemence, John argued the point vigorously, “I don’t give a *damn* what Mickey said. I’m getting you out of here tonight, Marlena, and I don’t care if I have to bribe someone to do it!”

“John!” she said, shocked, but secretly touched by the level of passion she was seeing and hearing in him. John was clearly in no mood to take no for an answer. Heaven help the judge who tried to turn him down.

“You’re *not* spending the night in this cage, Doc. No way, no how! You are innocent and you don’t belong here!” He left her shaking her head as he stormed off to make it happen.

Page 3 of 3
Friendly Persuasion

Abe Carver winced when he heard the now familiar sound of a pair cowboy boots stomping down the hallway and nearing his office door. It was John Black and he was definitely in a foul mood, something that seemed to happen a lot lately, often inappropriate to the circumstances. If he didn’t know better, he’d say it was a hormonal thing. Nonetheless, Abe realized that he had a long night ahead of him if John’s bid to spring his almost ex-wife was unsuccessful.

“Abe, I want to speak to Judge Patterson, and I want to speak to him now!”

“John, I know that you’re upset, but it’s after midnight… I can’t just…”

“Then give me the damn, phone, Abe and I’ll call him myself!” he bellowed.

Realizing that fighting with John when he was like this was a losing battle, Abe dialed the number and handed the phone to him.

After the man answered, John said, “Judge, I know it’s late and I’m sorry, but I need your help. My wife has been wrongfully accused and I need to get her out of jail tonight. She can’t handle being imprisoned. She’s never done anything wrong in her entire life, Judge, she’s a well known psychiatrist and respected member of this community. She’s not a flight risk, please… let me post bail for her.”

“John, are you trying to take advantage of our personal relationship?”

“You bet I am.. and here’s why. You know me, Judge and you know Marlena. When I was in the same position Marlena is in now, I had a chance to run, but I didn’t take it. And because I believed so strongly in the criminal justice system, I almost died for something I didn’t do. Marlena won’t run either, Judge. Now, please, let me take her home tonight.”

The man sighed. John did have a point and the judge always had a nagging feeling the state should somehow make up for the undue suffering the man had endured when Anthony Dimera framed him for a supposed murder that was actually a planned suicide by a dying man. “Alright… I’m trusting that you’ll both do what’s right, John, just like you did before. I’ll take care of the paperwork. Now, please put Commander Carver on the phone.”

“Thank you, Judge, thank you very much. I promise you won’t regret this decision.”

“I hope not, John, I sincerely hope not.”

He turned to face his friend, holding the phone out. “Uh, he wants to talk to you.”

Abe was shaking his head, marveling at John’s persuasive abilities. “Yes, Sir, I’ll take care of it right away.” When the call was over, he jotted down a few notes before rising.

John was standing in the frame of the door, waiting anxiously. “Can we go get her now?”

“John, you can’t take her until the paperwork is at least initiated. Give me a few minutes and I’ll take you down there.”

“Alright, I’m sorry, I’m just… “

“Worried about the woman you love, I understand, John, really I do, but please, try to settle down a little bit, you won’t be much help to Marlena if you don’t.”

He pushed out a breath, and said more calmly, “Yea, you’re right, I’ll just go for a quick walk around the block and maybe you’ll be ready for me by then.”

“That sounds like a great idea, John…. the fresh air will do you good.”

He smiled and nodded and then headed for the front entrance of the precinct. Abe was right, he was bent way out of shape and he needed to settle himself down, for Marlena’s sake. And if he wanted things to go well for her in the long run, he needed to get a handle on the righteous anger he felt on her behalf. Otherwise, he was likely to alienate the very people he needed to have on his side.

He walked awhile and felt his heart rate slowing down, the adrenaline rush abating, and his breathing settling into a normal pattern. “Abe was right, the fresh air is just what I needed,’ he was thinking as he neared a familiar looking alleyway. Suddenly, as he peered down into the darkened corridor, he was hit with bright flashes of memory, fragments really, of some encounter he’d had. When the assault of images was over, a matter of seconds, his head was on fire and he couldn’t remember a thing he’d seen. His hands went to his temples in a vain attempt to massage the pain away. ‘Man, what a monster headache, this is one of the worst ones I’ve had yet,’ he was saying to himself, finding that he needed to hang on to the wall in order to remain standing. His right hand stretched out to the side, John staggered and almost fell, but made it the wall, leaning against it until the worst of it had passed. He lurched and again almost went down as he pushed off and headed back toward the precinct, realizing that he needed to sit for a minute, but in his current location, that wasn’t a good idea.

When he reached the building he’d affectionately dubbed the ‘Cop Shop’ a long many years ago, in a different lifetime, John sat down on the steps until he regained his equilibrium. Glancing at his watch and noticing that almost 30 minutes had passed, John pushed aside all thoughts of the strange episode and headed back toward Abe Carver’s office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marlena was trying to rest, but found the bench style bed attached to the concrete wall very uncomfortable at best. This was fast becoming a nightmare, being falsely accused of murder. She could never kill someone, no matter how angry she was, she would never take a human life. It went against every belief and every ounce of training and instinct she possessed to attempt to solve a problem through the use of violence.

Lying there in the silence of the night, she found her thoughts turning to the man who had left her cell a short time earlier, vowing that he would get her out of there, even if he had to bribe somebody to do it. It made her smile in a way that felt like pride. John was so gallant when it came what he perceived as injustice, especially when it concerned a woman he loved. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer and she absently wondered how long it would be before he and Abe came in with some news regarding her accommodations for the night.

Her mind drifted back to her time as Stefano’s captive, which was only one month ago. The man has some kind of outlandish plan which she had never quit managed to figure out, but it involved that woman who looked so much like her sister.

She’d been rescued by Abe, Bo, Roman, and John. But it was Roman who was there for her when she needed him. John had been fooled initially, because their relationship was on shaky ground when Marlena had been snatched. At the point the other woman, Hattie Adams, attempted to take over her life, John was staying at the Salem Inn and didn’t have frequent contact. But Roman, angling for a way back into her life, had spent a lot of time around the woman. It took him a few weeks to figure it out, and he’d gone to John with concerns about her strange behavior, after previously gloating about how close he and Marlena were becoming. At that point, John didn’t want any part of talking to Roman and basically ignored his concerns, saying that Marlena had kicked him out of her life and what she did, if admittedly a little odd, was none of his business.

Looking back, she understood his hesitance. He was smarting from her rejection and believed it when the other woman said that she wanted nothing more to do with him. However, Roman was determined and began to investigate. Sure enough, Marlena had been kidnapped, and he made sure John knew just how wrong he’d been, citing it as an example of how far apart John and Marlena had grown in recent months. It left John more committed than ever to win her back, once she’d been rescued.

When they found the compound where Stefano was holding her, there was of course, no sign of Dimera himself. Marlena remembered watching John essentially ‘clock out’ and beat at least a half dozen of Stefano’s henchmen into a bloody pulp before the bulk of the local police force arrived at the scene, putting a halt to his vengeful rampage. She remembered the look on his face when she rode away in the shelter of Roman’s arms. It was frightening, that expression of raging jealousy, and she still hadn’t had a chance to discuss it with him. Marlena made a mental note to bring it up next time they were alone and in a good frame of mind to talk.

In the end, they captured several of Dimera’s underlings, the woman and Rolf, both of whom were jailed briefly and then were allowed to make bail. Rolf tried to run and was captured, while the Adams woman was killed shortly after being released, the evidence at the scene implicating Marlena in a crime she did not commit. Unfortunately, she had no good alibi for the night in question. She was home alone at the Penthouse, a fact whoever framed her must have known.

She wracked her brain, trying to figure out how she’d been framed and by whom, other than the obvious, Stefano Dimera. Unable to come up with anything that made sense, she closed her eyes and tried once again to get some sleep. She realized that it might take awhile for John to have success in getting a hold of a judge and in persuading that judge to allow them to post bail for her. Just about the time she felt herself drifting off to slumber, she heard a noise. It was the clanking of the metal doors; someone was coming. Her heart leaped, filling with hope at the thought of John coming to take her home.

Nearly leaping to her feet, she was rewarded with the sight of Abe and John with papers in hand. “Hey, Doc… I’m back, told you I’d get you out of here tonight, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you sure did, John and I have to admit I’m not surprised.”

With a welcome grin on his face, Abe agreed, “Tell me about it, the guy can be very persuasive when he wants something.”

“Yes, he can… thank you, Abe, for… being so supportive.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll have your things ready when you come up, and then you can go. Mickey will keep you posted about the arraignment.”

She nodded and the couple waited for him to step away. When he was out of earshot, she nearly threw herself into John’s arms, weeping, and he held her tight to his chest, willing their love to sustain her. “Take me home, John, please take me home,” she cried softly.

“That’s why I’m here, Doc…”

“I know.. thank you, John… thank you so much, for just… being here, for standing by me, despite what’s happened between us. That means a lot to me, John.”

“You’d do the same for me, I have no doubt of that, even now. There’s no place I’d rather be than at your side through this thing, Doc… I’m in it for the long haul.”

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Tears leaked out around the edges of her eyes as she saw the love that shined in his. It was unconditional love if she’d ever known it, and she felt the same way about him.

A few minutes later, they were all in Abe’s office and she was putting on her watch and her rings. They stood awkwardly, the couple preparing to exit the police station, when Abe finally said something.

“Look, I’m sorry for what happened, for the way the arrest was handled. If I had known about it at the time, I would have… well, I would have… done things differently.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Abe. We understand, don’t we, John?” she said, looking at him and willing him to agree. There had been more than enough tension between these two men, who had been like the closest of brothers.

Cognizant that harboring resentment over what happened to his son was not going to help Marlena’s case, John let out a sigh and nodded his head. “Yea, we do, it’s alright. Now, let’s go home, Doc.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ride across town was made in relative silence, neither of them knowing quite what to say. Marlena, worn out from the ordeal of her arrest and brief incarceration, leaned against John and closed her eyes. He put his free arm around her and smiled, wishing the circumstances were different, but at the same time thinking how good it felt to be close to her.

By the time they arrived at the Penthouse, she was asleep. John didn’t have the heart to wake her and therefore, gently extricated her from the vehicle, carrying her into the building and riding in the elevator up to their home. After stepping inside, he laid her on the couch and covered her with an afghan, carefully tucking it up around her neck. Stroking her hair, he spoke to her in reassuring tones, “I love you, Doc…and we’re going to get through this, together we’re going to prove your innocence. And I swear to you, Marlena, you’ll never spend another second in a jail cell.”

She muttered a response he couldn’t hear, “Love you too..”

What he thought he heard had to be wrong. “What did you just say, Doc?”

“Love you so…”

He leaned over her and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Then he sat back and watched her for awhile, content to stay by her side and hold her hand. Maybe, if the fates allowed, when it was all over, he would have another chance to get it right. All he could do now was love and support her, and do everything in his power to find out who was the real killer.