My Heart Remembers You – By Ms. Goldie

Chapter 1

The door to the dungeon at Maison Blanche clanked, and clattered loudly as Stefano opened it, and stepped inside. His eyes raked over John and Marlena with distaste. Wiping his hands off briskly, he said,  “Well, I’ve come to give you some good news.”

John, even battered and bruised, exhausted from malnutrition, says sarcastically, “He’s releasing us. Oh, that’s wonderful news.”

Stefano laughs at the futility of Johns statement, and tells them, “No. I am going to allow you both to bath, and change your clothes. You will look a little more presentable. After all, I cannot take you on my plane, and allow my pilot and steward to see you looking like this. It would be unseemly…but, we must hurry, because we are leaving tonight.”

“Tonight?” John said.

“Why so soon?” Marlena asked him. 

“Circumstances have forced me to move up my plans, but, don’t worry. Nothing has changed. Your friends will still be told that you were killed in tragic accident.”

“No ones going to buy that,” John mumbled, stepping closer to Marlena, and placing his palm on her hip in quiet reassurance. 

“Oh, yes, they will, because while your friends are mourning you, we will be far, far, away. Getting on with our lives. John, you, with a new memory, and you, Marlena, with a new life…with me. Now,” Stefano said, pulling a gun from his pocket, “let’s go down the hall.”

Marlena thought that now would be the perfect time to escape. Bo and Roman were just upstairs. She’d seen them on the monitor, but she knew…and Stefano knew…that she wouldn’t leave John. He was too weak to fight back, and Marlena loved him too much to ever leave him behind. They exited the room, and went down the hall to another door. Stefano unlocked it, ushering them inside a large room. Marlena looked around, trying to see if there was any possible way out, but she knew there wasn’t. The room was empty except for a sink, a toilet, an open shower in the far corner, a bench, and a table with clothing, food, water, and toiletries piled on top.

Stefano watched Marlena with avid interest. Her intelligence fascinated him to no end, and her beauty had no equal. “Don’t even try to escape, Marlena. If you do, I won’t hesitate to kill John, but I think you already know that. Don’t you?”

“I hate you,” she hissed at him, but he only laughed.

“Someday, Marlena, you will love me,” Stefano told her. “I will be patient…for now. I will be back after the preparations are made. You might as well get comfortable.”

John watched as Stefano left the room. Once the door closed behind him, and he heard the lock click into place, he began to wander the room, looking for a possible way out. He discovered almost immediately that there was no escape. Looking to Marlena, he said, “Doc, we’ve got to come up with a plan. A way out of this mess.”

“I’m so scared, John. The way he’s looking at me…” she says softly, her voice trailing off. “He wants me. I see it in his eyes…oh, G-d, John! I can’t…”

“Hey, Doc, honey, I swear…I will die before I let him touch you. The thought of him with you…no. I’ll kill him with my bare hands before that happens,” he said with a low growl. “No one will touch you,” he said fiercely.

Marlena stopped forward, placing her forehead on his chest, “I believe you. As long as I’ve got you…I can breath. I can hope.” She looked up at him, and said softly, “There’s food…you’ve got to eat. Come on.” Taking his hand in hers, she leads him towards the table where everything was piled. John eyes the food warily, afraid to touch it, afraid it was drugged. “John, please. For me?” she begged him, touching his face lightly. “I need you, and you have to eat.”

He stared at her for a moment. In her eyes he saw her fear, her concern, and her love for him. Stepping closer to the table, he reached for a sandwich. “Okay, Doc,” he said with a gentle smile. “I’m eating.”

“Thank you. I can’t be without you, you know,” she said, reaching for a sandwich, and sliding to the floor to sit beside him. “Belle needs you. Brady needs you. So, as much as you distrust Stefano…you have to eat.”

“I wonder where he’s taking us.”

“It could be anywhere, but I think he’s taking us to his island…the one in the Caribbean.”

John was quiet for a moment, before he said, “He’s going to do it. He’s going to make me his mercenary again. I know that’s the plan. That’s what he meant when he said he’d give me a new memory.”

“We don’t know that, John.”

“I do,” he whispered. “I know him. I don’t know how, but I do.” He looked at her with desperation on his face, “Doc, I don’t want to forget you.”

“You won’t. I love you too much to let you forget me,” she said. “I’ll fight to keep you with me.”

“I still love you. I want you to know that. I will always love you, and I think, even if I forget everything…my heart would still remember you,” he told her, reaching out, and running the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.

“I still love you…I will always love you,” she said, kissing his fingers. Getting to her feet, she took stock of what was on the table. Clean clothes for both of them, as well as shoes. She gathered up the toiletries, washrags, and towels, walking them over to the bench near the shower in the corner. 

John watched her, thinking about how much she meant to him. As much as he wished she weren’t here with him at Maison Blanche, John also knew that her presence, thus far, had saved him. Needing to be close to her, he walked up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her. He knew he was filthy, but none of that matter. Burying his face in her neck, and breathing deeply in her hair, he murmured, “You mean so much to me. You’re my best friend. You’re my everything. I need you to know that, because if he succeeds…and I forget. I want you to remember that.”

“We’re in this together. The only person I can depend on is you, and I want you to depend on me, okay? Promise me, John. We’re a team,” she told him, resting her head on his chest, and allowing his body heat to surround her.

“I promise, Doc. I do need you,” he said softly, kissing the top of her head.

Turning in his arms, she said, “Lets shower, and get cleaned up, before Stefano comes back.” She stepped back from him, and began to remove her shirt.

“Doc?” John said watching her fingers move over the buttons of her shirt. He wasn’t sure what was going on in her mind, but as she revealed her creamy skin one button at a time, he felt his body reacting. He was so lost, so lonely…and he needed something. He needed love, comfort, connection. He needed her.

“John, get undressed, so we can shower,” she told him, slipping her shirt from her shoulders, and laying it on the end of the bench. 

He watched her as she sifted through things, and located a toothbrush. John grinned at her as she brushed her teeth, and smiled at him in the mirror. He wanted to touch her. Watching her lean over the sink, and rinse her mouth out…felt so domestic. He remembered when they were married, and she would try to talk to him with a mouth full of foam while brushing her teeth. Or he would make her laugh while she was brushing her teeth, and she’d end up spitting all over the sink. Forcing himself to keep his hands off of her, John reached for another toothbrush, and snatched up the toothpaste.

Marlena knew he needed her. She could feel it. So while he brushed his teeth, and looked at her in the mirror, she stepped behind him, and wrapped her arms around his waist, placing her cheek on his bruised and battered back. Linking her fingers together on his abdomen, she felt his muscles tremble under her touch. They stayed like that for a few minutes, even after he’d finished. John leaning on the sink with both hands, and allowing Marlena to rest on his back.

She finally released him, and began undressing. John turned and watched her. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t stop himself, and she didn’t seem to mind. Looking up at him, she finally said with a grin, as she turned on the shower, “Are you just going to watch me, or are you going to shower too?”

John began to disrobe, and, after placing his clothing in a pile on the bench, he stepped under the water with her, pulling her into his arms, and holding her tightly, “We’re going to figure this out, Doc. I don’t know how…at least not yet, but we’re going to get out of this together.”

She looked up at him, “I know. I’ve always known I can count on you.” Soaping up a washrag, she told him gently, “Turn around so I can wash your back.”

The feeling of her fingers running over his back, and the soapy life of the cloth, caused a moan to escape him, “That feels so good, Doc. I don’t think I’ve bathed in over a month.”

“I know,” she said with a laugh.

“Are you saying I stink?”

“Did I say that?”

“You insinuated it,” he said, smacking her ass, before he realized he shouldn’t. It was so easy to fall back into what they had. It was so natural. John felt like since their affair he had been forcing himself to hold back. Forcing himself to maintain boundaries that were too easily blurred. This was a perfect example. They should be uncomfortable, because showering together was so intimate…and yet they weren’t.

She ran the cloth over his shoulder, and walked around to face him, handing him the rag, “I think you’ve got it from here.”

“What about your back?”

“You finish up, while I wash my hair,” she told him.

John started to wash his body, but then he froze, watching her shampoo her hair. He skin glistened as the water flowed over her, and her breasts pulled high, when her arms lifted. Hazel eyes met his, and she said softly, “Wash your body, John”

“Doc…” he whispered. He could feel his cock rising, and the growing need in him was becoming uncomfortable, but he listened to her, and began to wash up. 

With her hair washed and rinsed, she caught John staring at her again. She took the washrag from his hands, and said softly, “Wash your hair.” He began to move, but continued to watch her as she washed her own body. Marlena knew he wanted her. He couldn’t hide that from her, and a part of her thrilled with the knowledge. She liked knowing that he still desired her.

His hand ran softly down her back, stopping at the base of her spine. Marlena shivered, and turned to look at him. Without saying anything she linked his fingers through his and walked over to the bench. John sat on the bench, and looked up at her, his hands settling on her hips and pulling her closer, “I’m so lost without you, Doc. I need you…”

Stepping closer she leaned on his shoulders, and straddled his hips. Her hot swollen center settled over his cock. “I need you,” she whispered, slowly rolling her hips over him, and allowing her wetness to cover his length. Her arms looped around his neck, and she laid her forehead on his shoulder. She continued to slide her pussy over his cock, bumping her clit over and over again. “I need you so bad,” she moaned. 

“That feels so fucking good, baby…are you sure? Please say you’re sure…” he moaned.

“I’m sure.”

John lifted her up, and slid her body down the length of his dick, moaning loudly, and leaning his head back onto the wall behind him, “Fuck!” Slipping his arms around her waist tightly, he pulled her hips closer, seating himself as deeply as he could. When he lifted his head he found her staring in to his eyes, her lips parted in desire, and her eyes sleepy with arousal. 

She leaned forward, licking across his lips, and said, “Kiss me. I need you to kiss me.”

His mouth devoured hers. John forgot where they were in time and space, his sole focus on the woman in front of him. Her lips, her breasts, her taste, her skin. “Doc, Doc…fuck, Doc…” he groaned, biting down on her shoulder. Using the pad of his thumb, he reached down, and began to rub over her clit roughly, just the way she liked at, and as he started to come, Marlena followed closely behind him.

They stayed together on the bench for long moments after. John didn’t want to let her go. He didn’t think he could do it again. He’d spent weeks talking about Kristen, but he knew…after this time with Marlena, he would never be able to give Kristen what she needed, because he would always be pining for someone else. He realized Marlena was thinking the same thing when she lifted her head up, and told him, “I could never reconcile with Roman, because I’m always going to want you. You were right.”

“I was right?”

“You told me it was inevitable. Do you remember?”

“In Carrie’s apartment…yeah, I remember,” he answered her, kissing the side of her neck softly.

Stefano returned an hour later, seemingly pleased with their clean state, and completely oblivious to what had gone on in his absence. Looking John over, he said, “John, I’m surprised you were able to stand long enough to shower. You’ve barely eaten in the last month, because you keep refusing my food.”

“I’m not as far gone as you’d like to think,” John told him.

Stefano tossed two large rain parkas at them, and said, “It’s time to go. Everyone has left the house because of the storm, so we need to leave now.”

Chapter 2

Bo sat beside the hospital bed, staring at the unconscious woman who had Hope’s face. He’d been in shock for the better part of two hours, ever since Billie had told him about the woman bleeding from the head on the beach. He touched her hand softly, scared to believe that she might actually be Hope. His mind had bombarded him with memories of her last moments. Her telling him she loved him. Her begging for someone to save her. The guilt nearly suffocated him, as he watched this woman lie there, with Hope’s face. He was too scared to wish, afraid the disappointment would kill him if she wasn’t Hope. 

Bo looked up when Roman entered the room, Abe trailing in behind him. “He got away,” Roman said angrily. “He took them in a boat, out to a helicopter, and they were gone before we could get to them. I saw them from the shore. I don’t know why they both went with him. No struggle at all! He’s just one person, if one of them had jumped over, and swam away…I mean, he can’t control both of them!” He ran his fingers through his hair in a frustrated manner.

Bo looked at his brother, and realized that he had absolutely no understanding of the bond between John and Marlena. Stefano would use each of them to control the other, and neither of them would fight back for fear of him hurting the other. Bo sighed and said, “He can control both of them. Roman, if Stefano threatened John, Marlena would do whatever he told her to do. The same is true for John. They weren’t being complacent, but they would never do anything that couldn’t potentially lead to suffering for the other.”

“She should have run,” Roman said. “John can handle himself well enough. I’ve seem it before. She should have run. Now she’s gone, and her children have lost their mother. If she stayed for John, I’m done.”

“Roman, I love you, but sometimes you’re an idiot. You already filed for a divorce. You already said you were done,” Bo told him. He couldn’t believe how obtuse his brother could be at times. Bo thought about Brady losing Isabella, and said, “You know, Brady will be missing his father, too. He’s already lost his mother.”

“I don’t give two flying fucks about John Black,” Roman said. “But I do care about Doc. If she stayed for John, without thinking about her children…that’s just selfish.”

Abe watched the interaction between Bo and Roman and said, “I think you’re right Bo. She wouldn’t fight Stefano if she thought he would hurt John, and if John had been well enough, he would have fought to get them free. I think he’s injured. Something’s not right. That’s for sure. If he’s injured, she absolutely wouldn’t leave John,” Abe said. Turning to Roman he continued, “I know you don’t want to hear that, given the situation, but she won’t. John won’t leave her either. So in that respect, Bo’s right.”

Bo turned back to the woman laying in bed, watching her sleep, and murmured, “She looks just like Hope, but how is that even possible?”

“Bo, Hope died,” Roman told him, matter of factly. “This is another one of Stefano’s tricks. He made the whole family believe John was me for seven years.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Bo said softly, brushing the hair back from the woman’s face. “Mike did some scans, and bloodwork. He should be back soon. She was bleeding when Billie found her. She’d hit her head on a rock near the shore.”

“Do you think Stefano was trying to take her too?” Abe asked him.

“I don’t know for sure, but I feel like he was. There was so much rain, and the storm was raging all around. I think she slipped, and hit her head. Stefano cut his losses and ran, taking Marlena and John with him,” Bo said.

“I think you’re right, partner,” Abe said, walking over to the bed, and looking down at the woman lying there. “How is Billie doing?”

“She’s a fucking mess, Abe. She’s convinced this is Hope, and I can understand that. She looks exactly like Hope. But I won’t know anything until Mike comes back. I can’t assume she is. I can’t get my hope’s up and then lose her all over again.”

“Do you need anything? A coffee, or some food maybe?”

“I could go for a coffee too. I’ll run, and get some. I’ll grab a few sandwiches, too,” Roman said.

Abe watched Roman leave the room, and he said to Bo, “He doesn’t understand the bond between John and Marlena. I’m not sure he ever will. Has anyone ever told him about what happened in West Virginia? Or Stockholm…Orpheus? Any of it?”

“I don’t think so. Roman came home, and he just pushed it all away. Said he didn’t want to hear about it, and he wanted to focus on moving forward. You’re right Abe, he doesn’t understand,” Bo replied, looking at the small hand he had gripped in his. “Those two would die for each other. As upset as I was about their affair, I wasn’t surprised by it. When Marlena came home, John was with Isabella, but we all knew…he would chose Marlena. It was only a matter of time. Then Roman came back. They made the socially expected choices. John went with Isabella, and Marlena went with Roman, but if circumstances had been different, if Isabella weren’t pregnant, or Roman never returned…where would we all be right now?”

“John still loves her, you know.”

“I know, but where does that leave Kristen?” Bo asked him.

“I tried to talk to him about it once. He’s forcing himself to move on, because of the fallout over his, and Marlena’s affair, the guilt, but I watch him when he’s around her. It’s not over,” Abe said quietly.

“And Marlena?”

“She’s built walls so high around herself recently, but now…everything with Stefano. I don’t know. Her and John tend to grow closer in times of crisis, and right now all they have is each other…”

The door to the room opened, and Mike Horton came in, “Bo we need to talk.”

“You can talk with Abe here, Mike. It’s fine,” Bo told him.

Walking over to the bedside, pulling up another stool, Mike sat down, and began going through the test results, “Her blood type matches Hope’s, but we would still need to do a DNA comparison with Doug, or maybe Shawn D, if you’re willing.”

“She’s O negative Mike. Shawn D is O negative, too. That’s not exactly a common blood type,” Bo told him.

“It’s not common, but it’s not something that can definitively determine who she is either. A DNA test is the only way to do that. We have another issue though, since she’s a Jane Doe right now, I don’t need your permission for surgery, but I did want to let you know, her brain scan came back abnormal.”

“Is she bleeding in her brain?”

“No…but there is a small mass in there. A foreign mass, something small…we can’t tell very much from the images, but Bo, I swear to G-d it looks like a microchip.”

“A computer chip? In her head?”

“We don’t know for sure, but it’s small, and square. There is something in there that shouldn’t be.”

“Take it out!” Bo said loudly, standing up, and causing the woman in the bed beside him to moan in her sleep. “Take the fucking thing out. If this is Hope, then she’s my wife. My wife! If this is Hope, then she’s been alive for the past four years. Stefano could have done anything to her. He could have put something in her head.” Bo saw movement out of the corner of his eye. By the time he looked towards the door, he saw it closing on Billie’s back, as she exited the room. “Fuck!” he said in frustration. Turning back to Mike, he said, “When is the surgery?”

“Within the hour,” Mike told him.

“Okay, I’ll be back,” he said. Turning to look at the woman in the bed, he whispered, “Please take care of her.”

Mike could barely imagine the emotional turmoil Bo must be going through right now, so he replied, “I will”, as he watched Bo leave the room to go after Billie.

He found her on the hospital terrace, on the fourth floor, near the cafeteria. Approaching her quietly, he said, “Billie?” He watched her wipe her eyes, and continue to stare out over the railing into the city below. He stood there in silence for a moment longer, looking out over the city as it sparkled in the night.

“You called her your wife,” she whispered.

“If she’s Hope, Billie, then she is my wife.”

“But we don’t know that!” she cried. “And you’re already sitting vigil at her bedside. You’re already speaking to her doctors!”

“Billie, if she’s Hope, then Mike’s not just her doctor. He’d be her cousin!” Bo said emphatically. “G-d! This is so complicated, but until I know, until we know…we’re stuck.”

“Are you breaking the engagement?” she whispered.

“No, I’m not breaking the engagement, but you have to understand Billie. She could be Shawn D’s mother. If she’s Hope, she has a family. Family that has mourned her for the last four years…and if she’s Hope. Then she would be my wife,” he said gently.

“And if she’s your wife, Bo?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think about that right now,” he said, stepping closer, and touching her face gently. “I know, I love you.”

“Bo, I love you, too, but if she’s your wife…I know you. You took vows before G-d when you married her. If she’s Hope, you’re going to honor your vows, and that will break my heart,” she whispered looking up at him. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Stefano watched Marlena as she slept curled up next to John on the sofa across the cabin of the plane. Something had changed between them. Their dynamic was different. He’s realized it within moments after they boarded the plane, and he silently cursed his own stupidity for leaving them alone together back at Maison Blanche. He’d thought the fall out from their affair, combined with John’s weakened state, would prevent them from reconnecting. He’d obviously been wrong. Just the sight of John’s hand softly stroking her hair, and his arm wrapped around her body, made him furious, but it also made him more determined to separate them once they reached his island. He would have Rolf reprogram John. He’d get his mercenary back, and Marlena would be confronted with the fact that the man she loved was gone forever.

John saw Stefano watching him, with a growing sense of doom in the pit of his stomach. Stefano was going to separate them, as soon as he could. John knew that, and he feared in the deepest part of his soul that Stefano might succeed in making him forget who he was. He might end up Stefano’s mercenary again. He spent the entirety of the plane ride going over memories of times he had spent with Marlena, committing every nuance to memory. Every touch. Every smell. Every emotion. He would force himself to remember her, even if it was buried deep in his subconscious. He would find his way back to her. He had too. John closed his eyes, and thought about their time together along the bank of the river in West Virginia, his time married to Marlena, the time he made love to her on Victor’s plane, and the conference room table at Titan. All of it. Nothing was off limits, because he had to remember. Even if it came to him in dreams, or flashes of memory. He would not forget her. As Marlena, snuggled into his body more deeply, he looked at Stefano watching them, and he thought to himself, “She’s mine.”

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

Three hours after Jane Doe was taken into surgery, Mike came out, and told Bo they had successfully removed what looked to be a computer ship from her head. Abe was already contacting the ISA to have the chip looked at by a forensics team, since this type of situation was not something the Salem PD was equipped to deal with. Bo watched her in peaceful silence until she started to rouse after she was brought out from recovery. He couldn’t get over how much she looked like Hope, and as much as he loved Billie, he wanted this woman to be Hope. For Alice, who’s just lost Tom. For Shawn D, who needed his mother so much…and if he was being honest, for himself, because he had never been able to recover from her death, or the guilt that came with it. 

He must have fallen asleep, because he woke to a hand stroking over his head, and the voice of an angel, “Bo?”

His head flew up rapidly, and he found himself looking into the greenest eyes he had ever known, “Hey.”

“Where am I?” she asked him.

“You’re in the hospital. You just had surgery.”

“How did you get to me?”

He was confused about what she was asking about, so he said, “What do you mean?”

“I was in the cage…with Ernesto. How did you get me out?”

Bo’s heart started beating at an inhuman pace, thumping so hard in his chest that he felt the pressure in his throat, “I didn’t. I couldn’t get you out.” He didn’t know what else to say, as the guilt from her death overwhelmed him. “We thought you’d died…” he found himself saying, realizing that tears were falling from his eyes. He wanted so badly for this woman to be Hope. 

She saw him crying, and reached out for him, “Bo, I’m here. You may have thought I died but I’m here. Don’t cry, please.”

“Oh my G-d. Fancy Face…” he said gasping for air, and touching her cheek softly. “I thought I’d lost you.”

Chapter 3

When their plane started its descent, John felt the feeling of helplessness in the pit of his stomach begin to grow. He knew that Stefano was going to separate them immediately, that scared the hell out of him. He also felt like he needed to be strong for Marlena. He couldn’t let her feel his fear. He couldn’t let her see his heartbreak. Gently rousing her from her sleep, John smoothed his hand over her hair, and whispered, “Doc. Baby…hey we’re getting ready to land. I need you to wake up.”

Marlena’s eyes fluttered, and slowly opened to focus on his dark blue ones. “Are we there?” she asked groggily.

“Almost,” was his only response.

He watched her face as the fear of their separation slowly registered, “He’s going to take you…”

“He is, but, Doc, I promise…with my heart and my soul, I won’t forget you. Not completely,” he said, so softly that Stefano would not hear them. “Every chance you get. Every opportunity…remind me. Please. If you see me, remind me. Talk about special times we spent together, the times with really strong emotion. Talk about West Virginia, the affair, Belle…anything. It will reach me. I promise, baby…it will reach me. And whatever you do, please, please, don’t give up on me.”

“I won’t, John. I swear, I won’t,” she whispered, touching his bearded face lightly. “I love you. I never fell out of love, even when I knew I should have. I love you.”

“I love you too, Doc. I love you so fucking much. Don’t forget…don’t forget,” John whispered back, burying his face in her neck.

Stefano watched with derision as Marlena’s arms looped around John’s neck, as she whispered her goodbyes. He couldn’t hear them, but it was evident that a sense of profound sadness, and desperation had washed over them. He sat there with a sadistic smile, pleased with himself. Soon John would forget Marlena, and he would have his best mercenary back. Marlena would be lost without John. She’d be hurt by the cold indifference John will treat her with, and then…she will turn to him for comfort, for love. Yes, Stefano was very pleased with himself.

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

Bo and Mike watched as the woman they now thought was Hope slept in her hospital bed. Looking at Mike, Bo said, “What do we do? Do we tell her?”

“I’m not sure why she doesn’t remember. The ISA has the microchip now, but it’s going to take a few days to get any type of report back. I don’t know if she has amnesia from the head injury, or if the chip in her neck was blocking something.”

“What do doctors normally do?”

“Every case is different, Bo. It depends. What are you really asking me?”

“Is she strong enough to be told the truth? Or will that destroy her?” Bo asked. “Because if Stefano had her for the last four years, and she starts to remember that…we don’t know what he put her through.”

“I think when she wakes, we need to tell her…you and I need to tell her what year it is, and who had her,” Mike said. “The rest of it, only if she asks.”

“Can we limit visitors?” Bo asked him.

“I think we should. Limit it to only people she knows from before she disappeared. Faces she’s familiar with, at least until we know more. Maybe until the DNA comes back, and the fingerprints.”

“Abe got her fingerprints earlier, when she was sleeping before surgery. He’s going to have them compared to the ones on file at Salem PD, since they’re in her records when she was a police officer. Those should be ready later, because he put a rush on it.”

A soft knock sounded on the door, and Billie poked her head in looking for Bo, “Hey, could I speak to you?”

“Sure. I actually need to talk to you, too,” Bo said walking towards the door. Glancing back at Mike he said, “I’ll be right back. If she wakes up, I’ll be right outside the door.”

The look on Bo’s face told Billie something was wrong. She was scared to ask. Scared to find out that the woman inside that room, lying in that bed, was Hope, and her happily ever after was now nonexistent. She waited, watching Bo, for him to speak.

“She remembers things, Billie. She asked me how I got her away from Ernesto. How would she know that?” Bo said softly.

“So that’s it? You think she’s Hope, and we’re over?” Billie said caustically. 

“We’re not for sure yet, but Mike and I think she might be. Nothing is definite until the fingerprints, the DNA, and the forensics report on the microchip come back,” Bo told her, trying to hold her back from the inevitable emotional fall she would end up taking.

“But you think she’s Hope. Right, Bo?”

“We do,” he said slowly.

“I’ve gotta go. Now,” she said turning abruptly.

“Billie, wait!” Bo called after her, but she kept going until she’d disappeared around the corner. He knew he should go after her, say something to comfort her, but he couldn’t leave the woman lying in the next room. He couldn’t leave Hope…his wife.

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

Marlena gripped John’s hand tightly as they disembarked the plane. She couldn’t lose him. She felt like she had to do something to stop Stefano from the separation he was determined would happen. Holding onto his hand, in a grip that defied her own strength, was her way of telling herself she could somehow keep him by her side, even though she knew she couldn’t. Halfway down the staircase John gasped, grabbing at his neck, and fell forward onto the tarmac. Marlena’s scream filled the air, as she ran down after him. Once at the bottom, she cradled his head in her lap, checking for a pulse. She felt the wetness of blood, seeping through her pants, and, looking at Stefano, screamed, “I hate you! I fucking hate you! If he dies…I swear to G-d, if he dies, I will kill you!”

Stefano was in a rage. The person who fired the tranquilizer was supposed to wait until John was on the tarmac. Turning to him, as the man came out from hiding, Stefano roared, “You idiot! I told you to wait until he was on the ground!”

Marlena sobbed over John, and screamed up at Stefano, “Help him! Please, get him inside, so I can check him. Now!”

Stefano was awed and bewildered by her show of strength. Looking to his other minions, he bellowed, “Take them inside!”

“Do you want us to separate them?” one of the men asked.

Looking towards John, Stefano said roughly, “What can he do now? Nothing. No, leave them together for now.” He was angry. Furious. If he’d had a gun on him in that moment, he’d have shot the man for screwing up so badly. As it was, he would be dealt with later. If he separated Marlena from John now, she would make his life a living hell. He would have to wait until John was healthy, or at least not on death’s doorstep, and separating them later would be much harder. 

Marlena refused to let go of John’s hand as they moved him inside the compound on a stretcher. Looking at Stefano, she said, with tears still in her voice, “I need medical supplies as soon as we get inside.”

“I have a doctor on staff who can look at him,” Stefano told her as graciously as he could, given the circumstances.

“Absolutely not,” she said, her voice seething with hatred. “I will take care of him. I don’t trust you, or anyone who works for you.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Hope’s eyes opened, and she immediately began to look around for Bo. She saw Mike sitting beside her, “Where’s Bo?”

“He had to take care of something. He’s coming right back.”

“Something isn’t right. I can feel it, Mike. He’s not telling me something,” she said softly.

“We’re going to talk to you, but we don’t want to alarm you,” Mike told her.

The sound of the door opening caused them both to turn. She sighed heavily in relief, not fully understanding why she was feeling so much anxiety, but she felt it all over. As if she should know something, but there were blanks. She couldn’t explain, so she needed for them to explain it to her. “I know something is wrong. It doesn’t feel right, but I can’t understand why,” she said looking at Bo.

Bo pulled another stool up on the opposite side of her bed, and he reached for her hand. “Hey, Fancy Face,” he said smiling at her. She couldn’t help but smile back. She felt like everything about him was new again, but why? “I’m going to tell you some things, but I don’t want to upset you too much. You just had surgery, so we need you to stay calm.”

She was right. Something was off, so she said slowly, “Okay.”

“You have amnesia. We’re not sure of the cause right now. It could be from the head injury, we’re not sure, but because of that…you’ve lost some time,” Bo said carefully.

She looked to Mike, asking him, “How much?”

“About four years,” he said as gently as he could.

“Four years? Shawn D is seven?” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Yeah, he’s seven,” Bo said with the smile of a proud father.

“Where…where have I been for the last four years? Why don’t I remember?”

“That’s where things start to get complicated,” Mike said softly.

“We found you in New Orleans, at an old plantation house…it was owned by Stefano DiMera,” Bo said. “He was leaving during a storm. He had you, John, and Marlena. You must have fallen, and hit your head, so he left you behind.”

“I’m confused. Marlena? Bo, she’s dead. And who’s John?”

“Oh, G-d! Mike, what do I say?” Bo said helplessly. “I said too much.”

Mike watched Bo flounder for how to proceed, and the confusion on the Hope’s face, so he took over the conversation. “What you need to know is, Marlena is alive. Stefano had her, the same way he had you. Roman is alive too.”

“I know Roman is alive, Mike. Who is John?”

“John is…John Black. He wasn’t Roman. He isn’t Roman, because Roman…the one you remember from when you were young, he came back.” Mike struggled to tell her all of this, because saying it our loud sounded so far fetched, and yet it was the truth. 

“So John…he’s the one we went to Stockholm with?” she asked.

“Yes,” Bo said softly, afraid to say more.

“And Stefano has him, and Marlena right now? He had me?”

“Yes,” he said again.

“I’ve lost four years. Will I…will I get it back? Will I eventually remember?”

Mike saw the apprehension on her face, as he told her, “We don’t know. We hope so.”

“I know there’s more, Bo. I know there is,” she said, watching his face carefully.

“I don’t want to overwhelm you, Fancy Face,” he told her gently, stroking over her hand. “You don’t need to know everything right now.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Bo?”

Mike sighed deeply, and told her, “We found a mass in your skull, when we ran tests because of your head injury. They stabilized you in New Orleans, and then we had you transported here. The surgery was to remove the mass.”

“What was it?”

“We don’t know for sure, but…it, well, it looked like a computer chip,” Bo said.

“Where is it?”

“The ISA has it now. Their forensics department is looking it over.”

“So I’ve been gone for four years, Stefano had me, Marlena is alive, Roman is John again, and I had a G-ddamned computer chip in my head? Does that about sum it up?” she said sarcastically.

Bo smirked at her with a half grin, and said, “Yeah.”

“But there’s more?”

“It’s not important right now,” Mike said, standing up. “You need your rest.”

Bo watched him leave the room quietly, but his eyes went back to Hope, when she said, “Now you’re going to tell me the rest. Don’t lie to me Bo Brady. I want all of it…all of it.

Chapter 4

The room was silent, and dark when John regained consciousness. His head was pounding, and his mouth felt exceedingly dry, but he knew that Marlena was with him. He could smell her, and feel her heat against him. He tried to move slowly, to disengage without waking her, but a sharp pain in his head caused him to moan.

“John?” Marlena asked him with a sleep roughened voice. “Honey are you awake?”

“Yeah, Doc, I’m awake,” he mumbled. “Is there any water?”

“Hold on. Hold on. Let me get it,” she whispered, sliding off the side of the bed, and coming around to him with a glass of water.

After drinking down the whole glass, John looked around the room, watching the moonlight reflect off of surfaces in the dark. Finally he asked her, “What happened?”

“He had someone tranquilize you, but they didn’t wait until you were on the tarmac, so you fell. I gave you 15 stitches on the back of your head, so please be careful.”

John felt his bandaged head, and said wryly, “Were all of these bandages really necessary, Doc?”

“Yes, they were necessary, John. You were bleeding a lot,” she said sheepishly. “I wanted to be sure…”

Reaching out to lightly touch her arm, John whispered, “I know…I understand. That was probably very scary for you, but if Stefano was trying to separate us, why am I still with you?” 

“I threatened to kill him if you died. I guess he didn’t want to risk it.”

“Doc, your wrath could move mountains. Get over here, and lay with me,” he said, reaching for her, and scooting to the other side of the bed.

Marlena curled herself into John’s warmth, and whispered, “I miss our baby.”

“I miss her too, Doc. We’re going to get back to her. I swear it,” he murmured into her hair. “I just want to hold you, and spend time with you while I can.”

“I’ll stay with you, John, but you need your rest. Go back to sleep, honey.”

“I don’t want to sleep when I don’t know how much time we have left together. Just spend this time with me, and talk.”

Marlena was silent for awhile, before she said what was on her mind. “No one looked for us,” she whispered against his chest. “Roman believes I ran away with you, so no one is going to look for us.”

“Doc, Roman is a fool. If he knew you, really knew you, he’d know that’s not true. You would never leave your children willingly. Abe knows that. Bo knows that. So even if Roman doesn’t, they do,” John said, smoothing his hand along her back. “They will look for us.”

“Do you think they found her? The woman who looks like Hope?”

“I’m almost certain of it, and even though she had no memory of us at all…Doc, I think that she was Hope.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Stefano was able to put me in Salem, convince me, and everyone in my life that I was Roman Brady. I think he could most definitely take someone, and convince them they were someone else.”

“That’s going to be so hard for Bo…oh, and Shawn D!”

“It’s going to be hard. Bo’s about to go through something similar to what we went through,” John told her.

“When I came home?”

“I was definitely conflicted when you came home, but then you also struggled when Roman came back.”

Marlena said nothing for a long while, thinking about the struggles she went through emotionally that first year after Roman’s return. She finally whispered, “I wish you had chosen me.”

He knew what she was referring to immediately, and responded, “I’m sorry, Doc. I’m so sorry. I lost you twice, you know. Did I ever tell you that? Once when Orpheus put the bomb in the house, and again later…”

“What?”
“A few months later he showed me a video, of you with his children, to taunt me…to torture me. I tracked you down. I saw your plane take off, and then they said there was an accident. I was so sure I would find you. That I would get to you, but I failed, and I lost you a second time.” Marlena heard the roughness in his voice, and she reached up to touch his face. She felt the wetness on her fingers, and knew he was crying. “When you came back, and I saw you on the pier, my heart stopped. I was so scared it was a figment of my imagination at first.”

“I think I understand,” she said, smoothing her hand over his chest.

“Do you, Doc? Because I don’t. I let my fear get in the way. My love for you almost broke me. Literally. But I had Carrie, and the twins, and I was forced to go on. Having you back in my life was more than I could have ever hoped for, but my real fear…my real fear was loving anyone as much as I had loved you,” John told her, hoping she could understand what he was trying to say. “I loved Isabella, I did, and when she died it hurt, I won’t lie. But loving someone as much as I had loved you? I wasn’t going to ever let that happen again…and then you were there, on the pier, calling my name…breaking my heart all over again.”

“I wanted you to want me…”

“Fuck, Doc, when you came home you were all I wanted, and that scared the hell out of me. Do you remember your first night home? It took everything in me to keep my hands off you. You’d found that pink robe, and when I looked at you…it was as if those five years of separation had never happened. I forced myself to walk away, and I kept that distance out of fear, but know this…please know this, Doc, it was always you. I decided in Miami, on the beach that night…I decided that without you, my life would never be whole…and I was too fucking late.”

“Because Roman came back?”

“Roman was there, Isabella was pregnant…and you, you seemed so torn. I didn’t want to make it harder on you. I would do anything to spare you necessary pain. So, I gave up, and walked away, but I dreamed of you constantly. When you entered a room, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. I could smell you, before I even laid eyes on you,” he said, rolling over, and looking at her gently. “For awhile, Isabella wanted to leave, and move to Europe, but I refused. You weren’t mine anymore. The kids weren’t mine anymore, but I wouldn’t leave my family. Eventually she accepted it, and by the time she died, she was actually grateful for it.”

“She was?”

“I think she knew, honestly. She knew we would find our way back to each other,” John whispered, running his fingertips gently over her cheeks.

“I would dream of you, you know, and wake up beside Roman feeling so guilty.”

“I dreamed of you too. Once I dreamt that Orpheus had shot you in Stockholm, and I called out for you in my sleep. When I woke up in a cold sweat thinking I’d lost you again, Isabella, she-she just held me. The fact that she knew I loved you, and she accepted that I loved you…I think that made my guilt worse sometimes.”

“Roman was so jealous. He couldn’t handle that I still cared for you. He was angry that Carrie was raised by you. That she had expectations for her life, that he had never agreed to. He was angry that the twins mourned losing you. I was so depressed, I just disappeared inside myself for awhile. You allowed me to be strong, and make my own choices. We were a team. Roman…he wants me to be biddable. Maybe I was once, but I changed. I thought to myself that you had loved my fire, and Roman simply wanted to put it out…I was unhappy. I felt ignored, unappreciated…I didn’t feel valued.”

John leaned forward, kissing her softly, and whispered against her mouth, “You’re fucking amazing.” His hand smoothed over her hip, squeezing her thigh as his hand moved lower.

“You made me feel amazing…every time we were were together. I’d beat myself up emotionally afterwards, but I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to be with you. You make me feel amazing…you make me feel like you can’t live without me.”

“I can’t. No matter what happens…I need you in my life, Doc.”

“I need you too, John. Always,” she whispered, snuggling closer to him, while his hands roamed over her in soft caresses.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he muttered, reaching for the button on her jeans. “Why are you wearing jeans in bed anyway?”

“I fell asleep in them,” she said, batting his hand away. “John stop. You have a concussion.”

“I want you,” he groaned, struggling to get her zipper down.

“John, we can’t,” she said, barely above a whisper. “We can’t. You need to sleep, and no physical exertion.”

“I need you. You can ride me, Doc. Please,” he said, as he pushed her jeans down over her hips. “I need you so bad.”

Marlena wanted him. She couldn’t deny that, and she had been adamant that they wouldn’t make love, until John told her to ride him, and, in the past, when John talked dirty…Marlena generally did what he said. He knew that. Rising up over him, Marlena saw his eyes riveted on her, as she lifted the hem of her shirt up, and over her head. “You have to lie there,” she said softly.

“I will. Fuck. I will. I promise,” he said, his voice sounding as if the wait was excruciating. His abdomen rippled, and his body shivered when her fingers moved under the waistband of his pants pulling them down. The cool air on his cock, and Marlena licking her lips, caused his dick to bob hard against his stomach, making Marlena smile wickedly.

She ran her finger down the center of his chest, and swirled it around his navel, saying, “John, when you get worked up, your promises are worthless.”

He was about to respond, when her small hand wrapped around the length of him, sliding up, and down a few times, and then wiping the fluid dripping from his tip along his shaft. John’s body arched up, and he gasped, “G-d! Doc, please!”

Leaning forward, she licked along his length once, pulling back, and saying in a deep, arousal filled voice, “I haven’t tasted you in so long.”

“I love you,” he moaned, reaching for her naked form, wanting to pull her closer.

“I love you,” she said softly, climbing his body, and settling her weight onto his rock hard cock. 

The heat of her swollen, and wet pussy settling onto him caused John’s head to fall back, “Inside. I need to be inside you.”

Marlena rolled her hips slowly, allowing her wetness to cover him. “Are you rushing me, John?”

“Yes, fuck yes. I’m rushing you!” he said breathlessly, trying to sit up.

She pushed him back onto the bed, leaning over him, and allowing her nipple to graze across his lips. When his tongue darted out, and his lips pulled her flesh into his mouth, sucking deeply, Marlena began to feel her own sense of urgency. Rolling her hips one more time, she lifted herself off of him, and looked into his eyes, “You want me to ride you, John?”

“Yes. Hard.”

Reaching for the headboard behind his head, Marlena lowered herself onto his length. She was halfway down, when John grabbed her hips, and pushed up suddenly, moaning out loud. Pleasure shot through her, rendering her temporarily mute. Staring into his deep blue eyes, she said, “Someone’s impatient.” Before John could answer, Marlena rolled her hips, seating him deeper inside her. 

Using the headboard to brace herself, she began to slowly lift herself along his length, but John couldn’t stand it. Reaching for her, he pulled her down, wanting the weight of her on his body. He needed to feel her on him, because he knew they were going to be separated unless they found away out. He needed this memory to hold onto. Pumping his hips into her, and wrapping his arms tightly around her, they moved as one, while John licked along her neck, and bit at the skin on her shoulder.

Linking her arms behind his neck, she whispered, “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“I love you, Doc. I love you, too.”

Chapter 5

Abe found Bo in the hospital cafeteria. He looked exhausted, and like he hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before. Just as Bo was stirring the cream and sugar into his coffee, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and heard Abe say, “How you doing, buddy?”

With a deep sigh, Bo said, “I never understood what Marlena, John, and Roman went through. I mean, I did…but not really. I need those results Abe, because everything is hanging on that.”

“I have the fingerprint report right here, although I haven’t read it. I figured you’d want to do that yourself. The DNA was rushed, so it should be ready later today.”

“Oh, G-d, okay. Let’s sit down, and look it over,” Bo shakily, turning to scan the room for a quiet, secluded table. Settling at a small corner table, Abe slid the sealed report over the surface towards Bo. Bo scanned it quickly, and released another sign. He was relieved. He was happy. He hadn’t been sure how he would feel about it, but he was pleased. Looking at Abe with a small smile, Bo whispered, “It’s a match, Abe. According to the finger print report, she’s Hope.” He was quiet for a moment, and then he continued, “I know that complicates things, but it fills a hole I’ve had inside me for the last four years. She’s here, Abe, and she’s alive.”

“Bo, we’ve still got to wait on the DNA to know for sure—”

“Abe! It’s fingerprints! Even identical twins don’t have the same fingerprints,” Bo whispered loudly, leaning forward with excitement. “It’s Hope laying down there in that bed. You know it.” Abe smirked, but didn’t reply. “I’ll wait for the DNA report, man, but that’s Hope down there…my Hope.”

Billie listened around the corner. She heard the emotion in Bo’s voice, and she knew it was over. She had been offered a job in Paris with Wilhemina. She was going to take the position, because staying in Salem, and watching Bo build his life with Hope and Shawn D, would be too painful for her heart to bear. 

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

Sami was looking for her father. She needed to know what was going on, and she had overheard her grandparents at the pub discussing Marlena and John. She didn’t understand why her father hadn’t told her anything about what had happened. He had stayed silent, while she continued to think her mother had run off with John, and she couldn’t understand why he hadn’t corrected her. Just as she started to push the door open, she heard his voice, “Listen Pop, I honestly don’t understand. Bo acted like I was wrong here, but I don’t think I am. She chose to go with him. That’s the bottom line!”

“Roman…Marlena and John…son, they’ve been through a lot together. They are not going to abandon each other to Stefano, that’s not the same as ye saying she chose to go with him. Marlena would never willingly leave her family. She loves them too much, and Belle? She’s just a baby,” Shawn said emphatically.

“I saw them, Pop. Both of them. Neither one tried to fight it. They both went with him willingly.”

“Then one of ‘em was hurt, or one of ‘em was threatened. John and Marlena, they ain’t going to abandon each other. Not for anything. That’s not the same as running off together, Roman,” Shawn replied.

“Well she’s not here is she, Pop? She’s with John, and her children are here. Belle and Brady are here, too. I’d have fought, but they didn’t. They just gave up and went…”

Sami stepped away from the door. She’d been so angry for so long, that she wanted to believe what her dad was saying, but she knew it was wrong. Her grandpa was right. It was much more complicated than her father was making it out to be. Her mom and John would never leave each other. She thought back to the brief time they had been a family and she knew…her mother and John had a connection that she would never understand. She had seen them communicate with their eyes, and their bodies. She had seen them, each, on separate occasions, stiffen up when the other walked into the room, sight unseen. As angry as she was with them, they wouldn’t willingly leave her, Carrie, Eric, Belle, and Brady behind…unless it was to protect the other. 

As Sami started to go up the stairs, her father and her grandfather exited the kitchen. Roman asked her, “Sami, what time did you get home?”

“I just got here. I didn’t realize you were here,” she lied.

“You okay grabbing dinner at the pub tonight? I’ve got to work late.”

“Are you looking for mom and John?” Sami asked her father hopefully. “I know they’re missing.”

“I’m not on that case. That’s Abe and Bo,” Roman replied carelessly.

Sami looked at her father for a long moment, and asked him, “Why aren’t you looking for them?”

“I’m already loaded down with cases, Sami. Don’t worry they have everything under control.”

“You don’t want to,” Sami said bluntly. “You think she left us, and now you don’t want to.”

“Sami, that’s not whats happening here at all, ” Roman said defensively.

“I know she messed up, Dad, but I still love her. She’s still my mom, and it’s like you’ve just given up on her.”

“I haven’t given up on her, Sami. I’m very busy, and Bo and Abe have it handled. Don’t worry, okay? They’ll find your mom.”

“And John? They’re going to find John too?”

“Sure, honey. Yeah. Listen, I’ve gotta get going,” Roman said, kissing her quickly on the forehead and leaving.

Shawn watched his granddaughter as she stared at the closed door, “Your Uncle Bo, and Abe, they’re going to find yer mom. They’re going to find them both.”

“He thinks she chose to stay with John and leave us, doesn’t he?”

“He’s just confused and hurt right now…”

“So because he’s hurt, he’s just going to leave them with Stefano? Grandpa! As angry as I have been with them, I don’t want them to die!” she cried. As she followed her grandpa out of the house to the car, Sami was overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness. The father she wanted, and the father she needed, were not to be found in the once great man known as Roman Brady. One thing she knew with everything in her heart was that John would never leave her mother and Roman to the fate that her father was leaving John and Marlena.

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

Marlena was separated from John suddenly, and violently, as they slept soundly with the rising sun. She woke to his muffled yell, and as she sat up abruptly, she realized that there were several people in the room, and John had already been injected with a sedative. She screamed, scrambling to keep hold of his body, trying to keep him with her, but he was gone…ripped from her arms with one last, “I love you, Doc” before he faded from consciousness. She spent the next few hours scared, and sobbing.

The door to her room opened, and Stefano entered. Looking up at him with a profound sense of hatred, Marlena said, “Don’t you have any respect for my space? I expect you to knock next time.”

“Marlena, this is my home. I go where I please,” he replied.

“Where is John? What have you done with him?”

“John is alive, and well. He is not hurt. He will not be hurt. You see, I have need of him for a special project, and as soon as I get Gina back, all will be well.”

“I hate you,” she hissed at him.

“Ah, yes, so you have told me before, but that will change Marlena. Someday you will come to love me, and depend on me,” Stefano said.

“Your overinflated sense of self importance astounds me,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone with such an obvious diagnosis.”

“What are you going on about?”

“You have a narcissistic personality disorder. Your constant bravado, thinking that you are more successful, powerful, smart, and loved than anyone else. Your feelings of superiority. Your obvious need for excessive admiration, and entitlement…I should have known, but honestly,” she said. “I never gave it much thought.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Marlena. I came to speak with you about what will be available for you while you are my guest, and also to tell you that I expect you for dinner tonight. Someone will come to bring you something to wear,” he said with growing frustration.

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Marlena said with venom. “I am not your guest, I’m your prisoner. You think I’m going to make this easy for you, don’t you?” Rising from the bed, and walking closer to him, she whispered, “Well, I won’t. I will find my way out of here, and I will take John with me.”

“You will change your mind, with time,” Stefano said. “In time, you will realize that my love for you is all consuming, and you will return my love.”

“I will find John, and then…I will burn this house to the ground with you in it!” she screamed at him.

Stefano marveled at her rage, and how it somehow accentuated her beauty. He wanted her even more. He wanted to possess her, to own her…he wanted to conquer her. It was an overwhelming feeling, that caused a rush of adrenaline to surge through his body. Pushing it back, he forced himself to calm down. “I can see this isn’t the time for a rational conversation. Perhaps later today,” he said, turning to leave.

She felt so helpless, and lost, but she couldn’t show him any weakness, so she looked at him with all of the hatred she possessed, and she channeled that fire that John loved about her. “John Black is a hundred times the man you would ever hope to be, and I would die before I ever gave myself to you!” she raged.

“By the end of the week, John Black won’t even recognize you, Marlena,” Stefano said before he walked out, leaving her alone.

Her body crumpled to the floor in a heap, as she cried over the helplessness of her situation. As she sobbed into her arms, curled up on the floor, John’s voice came to her on a memory, “Every chance you get. Every opportunity…remind me. Please. If you see me, remind me. Talk about special times we spent together, the times with really strong emotion. Talk about West Virginia, the affair, Belle…anything. It will reach me. I promise, baby…it will reach me. And whatever you do, please, please, don’t give up on me.” 

She sat up, wiping her face, and took a deep breath, whispering to herself, “Don’t give up. Don’t give up.”

Chapter 6

Bo stared at the DNA report that Abe had given him. She was Hope. His wife. Shawn D’s mother, and Alice’s granddaughter…and she was alive. Bo slowly opened the door to Hope’s hospital room, and looked in to see if she was awake. She was. 

She glanced up, and upon seeing Bo, she smiled at him broadly, “Hey Brady, long time no see.”

“Mike’s talking about releasing you in a couple days,” Bo said coming into the room. 

“I’m so ready to get out of here. I wanted to ask you, why hasn’t anyone been by to see me? I mean besides Roman, and Abe…well, and Mike, but he doesn’t count since he’s my doctor,” Hope said with a laugh. “You told me a lot last week, but I’m guessing you didn’t tell me everything.”

Sighing, he reached for her hand, realizing again, how soft her skin always felt to him, “With everything that Stefano has put the Brady’s through over the years, and everything that happened with John, Marlena, and Roman…we had to be sure. Sure that you were Hope.”

“I see…and?”

“The print report came back as a match for you…and this afternoon, the DNA came back as a match as well,” he said. “You’ll get visitors by the end of the day. I was going to go tell Alice after I spoke with you, and you know she’ll call everyone in the family.”

“And Shawn D?” 

“I’ll bring him here, myself,” Bo said. “But there are a couple things I didn’t tell you. Now that you’re stronger, you need to know.” Hope watched him, knowing from his facial expression that she wasn’t going to like what she heard. “I was…I was engaged when we found you. To a woman named Billie. This has all been very hard on her, and she’s decided to take a job in Europe.”

“You said ‘was’, does that mean you aren’t engaged anymore?” Hope said quietly.

“No. She left me a letter, and she was gone. I found it last night.”

Hope touched his arm, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Bo. I am. I was thinking about it the other night…that you had thought I was dead for four years, and there must have been, well, there must have been other women. If you were engaged, you must love her.”

Bo doesn’t say anything for a moment. Finally he tells her, “I do, Fancy Face, but I don’t think I could ever love anyone as much as I loved you.”

“Loved?”

“I’m still getting used to the idea of you being back…but we’ll get back to what we had, I can feel it when I look at you. Before you woke up, after your surgery, just looking at your face had my stomach doing flutters, and I couldn’t stop touching you…I still love you, but my heart is scared. So scared,” he whispered. “Losing you the way I did…I wanted to die. I still have nightmares where you beg me to save you, and then the explosion happens, and you’re just gone.”

“There’s something else, isn’t there? I can tell.”

“There is. Mike and I decided to wait until you were out of the woods and a littler stronger. G-d, I don’t know how to tell you this…”

“Just tell me, Bo,” she whispered. “If you’re with me, I can handle it.”

“Your Grandpa Horton passed away, the day before we found you,” Bo told her gently. She started crying immediately, and Bo’s first reaction was to climb on the bed beside her, and pull her into his arms. Holding her tightly, he told her, “He passed in his sleep. Alice said, he looked like he was sleeping.”

“I can’t believe he’s gone, but then I remember that I’ve been gone for four years…”

“Mrs. H is going to be so happy to have you back, Fancy Face. Tom’s only been gone about two weeks, and having you back will help her soul so much.”

Pulling back, and looking up at Bo with a tear stained face, she asked him, “Can you call her? Tell her to come to the hospital because you have a surprise for her?”

Bo’s eyes scanned over her face, and his thumbs wiped the tears from her cheek, “I can do that…” He softly kissed her forehead, pushing the hair away from her face, and staring into her green eyes, he whispered a second time, “I can do that.”

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

John watched Stefano enter his room. Stefano was his employer, and his mentor. Stefano was the father figure he had always needed in his life, but something was off. Years ago he had felt a kinship with the man, as if they were friends, and while Stefano continued to behave as if nothing had changed…John felt that something was different. He couldn’t pinpoint it, but it left him wary of the man. “Good afternoon, John. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” was his only response.

“That’s good. Very good. Have you completed your daily exercises?”

“Yes, you ask me that every day,” John said blandly.

“Exercise is important, John. Especially for you. I need you to be in excellent shape for what I have planned.”

“And what might that be?” John asked him.

“I’ll let you know when the time is right. I came to tell you that I wanted you to join me for dinner tomorrow night. I wanted you to meet my house guest,” Stefano told him.

“Since when do you have a house guest?” John asked him. He had woken up over a week ago in Rolf’s lab with no memory of the last ten years. In the week he’d been awake, he hadn’t seen anyone else on the compound besides regular staff, Stefano, and Rolf.

“She’s a reluctant houseguest, but a guest none the less. Please be in the dining room at 7:30.”

John watched Stefano leave the room. He hated dinners with Stefano. The food was excellent, but the rest wasn’t anything he missed. Plus, he was exhausted. He hadn’t been sleeping well at all. His dreams were filled with people he didn’t recognize, and emotions that made him uncomfortable. He’d thought about mentioning it to Stefano or Rolf, but again, he felt wary. He wasn’t sure why. Stefano was his friend, and would never hurt him…but then why did he feel like he couldn’t trust him at all? Why did he feel as if Stefano was the most dangerous person in his life?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Watching Marlena sleep, Stefano was at a loss, as to how to reach her. She had completely stopped speaking to him, or anyone else, and unless food was brought to her room, she did not eat at all. She went through the day to day motions; eating, sleeping, bathing, and she sometimes walked the grounds, but she had completely stopped speaking. The doctor had called it selective mutism. Marlena was traumatized by what had happened at Maison Blanche, John’s injury on the tarmac, and then, of course, the way she was separated from John more than a week ago. Stefano understood it, but had little empathy over it. 

She rolled over, and opened her eyes, to find Stefano standing beside her bed in the moonlight. Unable to scream, she scooted back quickly, falling to the floor in her haste to get away from him. He came around the bed quickly offering her his hand to rise, but Marlena shook her head fiercely, refusing his help. 

He sighed, and said, “I will not hurt you, Marlena. I love you. I will always love you.”

The only response he received was her fiercely shaking her head in the negative. She hated him. Marlena was smart, she knew what was wrong with her. She knew that her mind was so overwhelmed with everything this man had inflicted on her, that she was no longer able to speak. She was working that out on her own.

“I want you to dine with me tomorrow…for dinner,” Stefano told her.

She shook her head again, indicating the answer was no.

“Pity. John will be joining me for dinner,” he told her. Marlena’s eyes darted to his face to see if he was lying. “I see you’re interested. He won’t remember you, of course, but you would be able to see for yourself that he is alive, and well. If you change your mind, dinner is at 7:30.”

She watched him leave her room, and shut the door behind himself. It was only then, that she realized she had tears streaming down her face, and she was gasping for breath, on the verge of a panic attack.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“What do you know about zen?” John asked her.

She turned to face him quickly, her blond curls, swirling about her shoulders, “About what?”

“About…zen,” he said softly, walking towards her. “As in Buddhism? It’s very complicated, and yet it’s very simple at the same time. Like, the story of the man who wanted to know who Buddha was. So he asked him, are you a G-d? Buddha said, no. So he asked him, are you an angel? And, once again, Buddha said, no. So he said, you must be a saint. For the third time, Buddha replied, no,” John said, barely above a whisper, and stepping closer. “So the man said, what are you? And Buddha looked at him, and said, I am awake. Well, that’s what the word Buddha means. Awake. That’s how the whole thing started. With one man, who woke up…”

She started at him, her lips slightly parted in awe, and she finally said, softly, “Why are you telling me that story?”

“Because, that’s how I feel when I am with you, Doc. Awake. Alive. And nobody on this earth makes me feel that way,” he said, stepping closer.

“Don’t do this to me,” she whispered, staring at him with wide eyes.

“Now, I know you want to go, and I’m not going to stop you, but please, there is one thing I need to say, alright?” John paused, waiting to see if she would say anything, and when she didn’t, he continued, “You know what I was going through when Isabella died. How I was walking around like a zombie. I was dead inside…until, that night on the plane, when you and I made love. You gave me life again, Doc, and, if nothing more comes out of this, I just want to say thank you.” John watches as she turns away from him, breathing harshly, and unable to keep eye contact with him any longer. He steps closer, drawn in by her scent, and his own longing. “If you want me to leave, I will,” he tells her. Unable to resist touching her any longer, he reaches for her chin, bringing her head around to face him again, and stepping closer. So close that they can each feel the heat and desire rolling off of the other. 

When she slowly brings her hazel eyes up to meet his, he whispers, “Is that what you want?” He continues to softly caress her face, while she stares at him with longing, refusing to answer his question, but not denying him, either. “I mean it, Doc. If you want me to leave, I’ll walk out that door right now, and as hard as it may be, I’ll stay out of your life…if that’s what you want.” He watched her, and his heart was pumping so fast in his chest, he could physically feel it. The touch of her skin under his fingertips was driving him mad, and the scent of lilacs surrounded her, making him ache for wanting her. One final time he whispered, “Do you want me to go?”

She stared at him with a mixture of want, and sadness, slowly moving her head back and forth to indicate, no. That was all he needed. He moved closer so slowly. He was afraid to startle her, as if she might run from him at any moment, and he couldn’t bear to lose her. Leaning forward, his lips slowly caressed hers, nipping at them lightly. At first, she simply allowed him to kiss her, while her breath wafted over him, driving him mad with want, but when she opened her mouth to him, and he felt the soft touch of her tongue sweeping across his, his heart nearly burst. He had never loved anyone as much as he loved this woman. He didn’t think he could ever love anyone as much as he loved her. 

Pain and intense desire ripped through him, when she moaned softly into his mouth, and threaded her fingers tightly in his hair, pulling his mouth closer to her. She wanted him. She could continue to deny it, but when they were together, like this, there was no denying it. “Fuck, Doc, I love you so much,” he said, before he started biting along her jaw. He wanted to claim her, to mark her body, but he couldn’t because she wasn’t his.

“Oh, G-d! I love you, John! I love you too…”

John woke with a start, sitting up abruptly in bed, and gasping so hard for breath that it was painful. These dreams were so vivid, they felt real, and he questioned again, where he had been over the last ten years. Was this woman a part of his life, or a figment of his overactive mind? Rising from the bed, he made his way into the bathroom, and gulped down several glasses of water, before looking at his own haggard face in the mirror, and whispering to himself, with a small smile, “Doc.”

Chapter 7

Marlena was sick to her stomach with anxiety. She’d missed her period. It should have come a few days earlier. Obviously, as a doctor, she knew that trauma and stress could be a factor, and it was really too soon to tell for sure, but in her heart, she felt that she was pregnant. A pregnancy right now complicated an already complicated situation, but the thought of John’s child growing within her body, gave her a renewed sense of purpose. This was, possibly, no longer about her and John getting free, and back home to the children. There could be another person involved in this story, and she was determined to keep herself healthy. She would break through whatever brainwashing Stefano had done to John, and they would get out of here safe, and all in one piece. Running her palm over her abdomen softly, she smiled to herself. There was nothing she could do about it right now, if she was pregnant, except try and reduce her stress, and devise a plan to break through to John.

She had decided as soon as Stefano mentioned John the night before, that she would go to his dinner. Stefano had obviously invited John to terrorize her, even though he’d said it was so she could see that John was well. Nothing with Stefano DiMera was ever that simple. Stefano wanted to see her reaction, in the hope that she would finally accept that she’d lost John…but Stefano also wanted to see if his brainwashing of John was truly successful. He would watch them both to see how they reacted to each other. She could play this game of his, and if John recognized her, or felt anything at all, she would know…but John was smart. Certainly smarter than Stefano had ever acknowledged. If John felt anything, he’d hide it. He might not know why, but he would.

Stefano’s arrogance, and his compulsion to be right all of the time, had led to his own failure again, and again. He’d stocked her bathroom with all of the same toiletries she usually used. Marlena didn’t want to contemplate how he knew. It scared her to think that he’d been in her home, or that someone who worked for him had been in her home. While he considered himself intellectually superior, thinking that he’d make her feel ‘at home’ while she was his captive, what he’d actually done was the one thing he never should have…he’d given her a way to trigger John’s memories. 

As she got ready for the evening she washed her hair throughly using the same brand of shampoo she’d used for years, used the same body wash that John would be familiar with, the same lotion, and the same perfume. Marlena knew that a person’s sense of smell was directly connected to their limbic system, and the memories triggered by smell were much older, and therefore more vivid when recollection did occur. Marlena was preparing for battle, and Stefano was ignorant of it all, because, as usual, his arrogance left him short sighted, and he would fail. She smiled into the bathroom mirror, at her reflection, and she said, “I promised not to give up on you, John, and tonight is just the beginning.”

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

Hope woke up from her nap to find Bo asleep beside her bed, with his head lying on her thigh, and his hand gripping hers. She smiled softly, still amazed that four years of her life was gone, and she couldn’t remember any of it. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She’d had a dream, but it was foggy, unclear, and something so out of the realm of any reality she knew, she thought it had to be false. Reaching her other hand out, she stroked over Bo’s hair, feeling its silky, brown, softness as it sifted through her fingers. He moaned her name in his sleep, making Hope’s heart soar. She murmured softly to herself, “I love you, Bo Brady.”

Bo continued to rouse as she played with his hair, and stroked her fingers lightly along his ear. With a sleep roughened voice, she heard him mumble, “Are you trying to drive me crazy, Fancy Face? That tickles.”

“Wake up, and hang out with me, Brady,” she laughed at his little boy frown, as he lifted his head to look at her.

“I’m awake. I’m awake,” he said, stretching his arms up, and cracking his back. “That is not a great position for sleeping.”

“No, but I like waking up to you beside me,” she said.

Bo smiled at her softly. “So, what’s on your mind?”

“I had a weird dream. I was in an art museum at night. I was able to disengage the security system, replace a painting with a fake, pass the original off to my partner, re-engage the security system, and escape without being caught…Bo it didn’t feel like a dream. It felt very real.”

“Do you think it could be real?” he asked her, suddenly very curious about what she had been up to for the last four years.

“My partner…Bo, my partner was John,” she whispered.

“It couldn’t have been,” Bo said softly.

“It felt so real, and I know things…I think I can paint. I dream about painting, but I’m painting counterfeits. I know that’s what they are,” she said.

“Abe said that Shane was coming to Salem in the next few days, with the forensics report from the ISA. The report on the micro chip they removed from your neck. Maybe, just maybe, that is the key to your past,” he said.

“When I’m released, can I get some art supplies? I need to see if I can paint, because, Bo…I really think I can.”

“Sure, but the last I knew, you couldn’t even draw a straight line,” Bo said with laughter. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

John had been nervous all day, without understanding why. He had met with Stefano earlier, and agreed to come to his dinner. He’d agreed to meet Stefano’s ‘house guest’, even though, in John’s experience, Stefano’s house guests were usually kidnap victims, but John had never really considered that his business. Stefano was his boss, and he paid him well to mind his own business. 

“Would you like a brandy, John, while we wait for Marlena?” Stefano said casually, watching for John’s reaction. John already knew there had to be some reason behind this ‘meeting’, although the name Marlena was in no way familiar to him.

“Sure. Did you tell her 7:30? Because she’s late,” John said impatiently.

“She’ll be here. She was excited to meet you,” Stefano responded, as he placed ice in two crystal glasses.

“Excited to meet me? I don’t even know who she is,” John said, taking the Brandy that Stefano handed him.

“I speak of you often. She just wants to put a face to the name.”

John grunted in response, unhappy that this dinner was going exactly the way he had thought it would. He’d be bored out of his mind in less than fifteen minutes. He walked over to the mantle, glancing over the random items scattered over it, when the scent of lilacs hit him so hard, he nearly fell over. Instantly, his mind took over, Don’t react. Don’t fucking react. His memory filled with light laughter, blonde hair, hazel eyes…breathing deeply he got himself under control. What the fuck is happening to me? Stefano was watching him, as he continued to idly fidget with something on the mantle. He wouldn’t even be able to say what it was, but the driving need to maintain normalcy was taking over, as if reacting to whomever had just entered the room might mean certain death for him…and for her.

She’d seen it. That split second where he stiffened up, and then instantly relaxed. It was fleeting. Come and gone so fast that Stefano missed it, as he turned to face her. She continued to stare at John’s back, as Stefano smiled at her smugly, gleeful that John hadn’t reacted. In Stefano’s mind, John not reacting meant that his brainwashing had worked. Turning back to John, Stefano said, “John, my guest has arrived. I’d like you to meet Marlena Evans.”

She watched as he turned to look at her with a bland expression. He stepped forward, holding his hand out for her to shake, but didn’t make eye contact. Instead he looked at Stefano, and asked, “When will the food be ready. You know I hate these things.”

“Soon. Soon,” Stefano told him. Turning to Marlena, Stefano said, “You look beautiful tonight. That dress is very lovely on you.”

“This dress is too tight, and scratchy. So enjoy it on me tonight, Stefano, because I won’t be wearing it again,” she said.

“Ah, I see we are speaking again. That’s lovely. Now you can continue to aim your vitriol at me,” Stefano said with sarcasm. “But remember, my darling Marlena, someday you will love me, just as I love you,” he said.

Turning away from him, she looked to John, and said, “So, John, what is it exactly that you do for Stefano?”

John was taken aback by the question, and Stefano immediately interrupted, and said, “You know exactly what he does.”

“Actually, I don’t,” she said glaring at him. Again she looked to John, “What exactly does the job of ‘mercenary’ entail?”

John started laughing, as Stefano glared at her, but he decided to answer her without familiarity. “Whatever he needs done, I do it,” he answered casually, walking away to get some space from her. She smelled like heaven, and triggered so many images in his mind, none of which seemed to have any foundation, except for feelings of love, devotion, commitment, desire, and arousal. Flashes of kissing by a river, Marlena holding a baby out to him, a young girl with long blonde hair…all of it coming in flashes with no sense of organization.

Dinner was absolute torture for John, because as much as he hated formal dinners with Stefano, formal dinners with Stefano and a woman named Marlena, were more torturous. Twice she had run her foot along his calf, while carrying on mundane conversation with Stefano. He recoiled automatically, pulling away from her, while forcing himself to maintain a facial expression of absolute boredom. Over an hour and a half of sitting near her, surrounded by the smell of her, while she secretly did things to entice him, had him so aroused. He didn’t know who she was, or what she meant to him, but all he could think about was shoving her against a wall, and fucking her.

She knew she was getting to him, every time she ran her foot along his leg, he would scratch his head, or his pinky would twitch. He had left the table to go to the restroom once, and as he had risen, he had faced her, away from Stefano. The bulge in his slacks had been unmistakeable. He may not remember her exactly, but he wanted her. John wasn’t as far gone from her as Stefano would have liked, and that pleased her to no end. 

The butler entered the room, approaching Stefano warily, “Sir you have a telephone call.”

“Find out who it is, and I will call them back. As you can see, we are still having dinner,” Stefano said, obviously irritated at the interruption.

“I’m sorry sir, it’s your daughter,” the butler said.

“Kristen?” John asked. “How old is she now Stefano? The last time I saw her I believe she was about barely twenty. G-d she used to give me a headache, always following me around.”

Stefano seemed even more irritated, if that were possible. Looking at Marlena, and then to John, he said, “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he had left the room, Marlena and John both spoke at the same time,

“John, are you okay?”

“Who the fuck are you, lady?”

They stared at each other for a moment, before Marlena said softly, “You really don’t remember me?”

“I have no idea who you are,” he lied. He did know she meant something to him. She was important, but he couldn’t say that to her, because that was all he knew. He didn’t know who to trust, and he had always trusted Stefano. Now he was simply confused.

“You told me not to give up on you…you, you made me promise,” she whispered. “I don’t take my promises lightly, John Black.”

“Why would I do that? What does that even mean?” He said, so frustrated he could scream.

“I promised you, on the plane, before we got here…that I wouldn’t give up on our love. That I would somehow find a way to make you remember, because we knew that Stefano was going to separate us. We knew—” Marlena stopped speaking as soon as she heard Stefano’s voice, instead staring down at her hand, gripping her water glass tightly. Watching Stefano enter the dining room, she went back to glowering at him.

“Sorry about that. Kristen is upset because her old boyfriend has left town,” Stefano told them. “I’ve spoken to Tony, and he will take care of her.”

“Tony?” John asked. “What’s he going to do?”

“Ah, yes, John…good news! Kristen and Tony are married,” Stefano said brightly.

“Really? Maybe he can control her,” John laughed. “I know she’s your daughter Stefano, but she was always so conniving.”

“Her old boyfriend is missing? I wonder where he could be?” Marlena said sarcastically. John looked at her quizzically. 

Stefano was pleased to note that John had no reaction to Marlena, other than a vague disinterest. Even after giving them time alone, John seemed unbothered, and Marlena seemed flustered. She had done exactly what he expected her to do when he left the room, she had attempted to reach him. Dr. Rolf had done an excellent job with John. Marlena would continue to try to reach him, and she would continue to be unsuccessful, he thought smugly. 

“Thank you both for a lovely evening,” Stefano said rising. “I have some other business to attend to, so John, if you don’t mind, can you make sure that Marlena gets back to her room safely? You know the procedure,” Stefano said, handing him the key to her door.

John eyes the key with frustration, “Which room is she in?”

“The room that Rachel used to be in,” Stefano said, waiting to see what John might say. When he had no response, other than to rise from the table, Stefano turned to Marlena, “Goodnight, my darling. Perhaps you’ll join me for breakfast?”

Standing and looking at him with absolute hatred, Marlena said, “Perhaps I won’t.”

John watched her turn, and leave the room, following behind her. Up the stairs they went, her scent wafting behind her, and surrounding him. He wanted to grab her. He wanted to devour her, and all he could do was wonder who she was. What was she to him? Why was he reacting so strongly to her? When they finally reached her room, she went in, and he followed closely behind her. After entering the room, he pushed the door shut, and grabbed her arms, flipping her around, and pushed her against the wall. “Who are you?” he asked her, breathing heavily.

Her own breathing was coming at a rapid pace, while her heart beat a staccato rhythm in her chest. “Marlena,” she whispered softly. The sound of her voice turning him on even more.

“Maybe I should have phrased that different..what are you to me?”

“You love me, and I love you.”

“I don’t fucking know you!” he yelled, gripping her arms tighter, and shaking her once.

“You know that’s not true. I saw you when I walked in the dining room, you smelled me before you saw me, and that meant something to you,” she whispered, staring up at his face, which was a mixture of fear, confusion, and arousal.

“I don’t know you,” he repeated, but with less conviction.

“We have a daughter together, John. Her name is Belle. You delivered her on a stormy night in a cabin last year in October! You love me! I love you! You have to remember me…please, John,” she said, reaching up to stroke his jaw. “Please, remember me. When you smelled me, I know something happened. I know it.”

“All I know is that a gorgeous woman was throwing herself at me all night.”

“If that’s what you want me to believe, but I know you’re lying.”

“I’m lying? Listen, all I want from you is sex, and I can’t even remember the last time I had sex—”

“Two weeks ago,” she whispered. “In the bed behind you…with me.”

His heart stuttered, as he processed what she was saying to him, and then stared into her hazel eyes. “No, Stefano wouldn’t have allowed that,” he said, shaking his head in denial.

“Stefano didn’t know. You were supposed to be unconscious,” she said, bucking her body against his in an effort to get free. She felt his cock against her hip, and heard his low groan, as her hips pushed against him.

He wanted her so badly, and to keep himself from acting on that, he slammed her wrists against the wall, and growled at her, “Don’t fucking move, Doc!”

Marlena gasped in joy, and stared at him with tears in her eyes, “You are lying. You’re lying to me!” He’d called her Doc. Stefano had never said she was a doctor, so she knew that John remembered more than he’d let on. He was scared, because he didn’t remember her, but he was having memories of her. His trust in Stefano was wavering. 

She knew John had been gone too long, and Stefano would come looking for him, so she said, “You need to leave. He’s going to look for you. He’s going to be suspicious.”

John felt like he was losing his mind, and he didn’t know who to trust, but the draw to this woman was so strong, it was getting harder to deny. He looked at her for a moment, and said, “What do you know about zen? I asked you that once didn’t I?”

“You did,” she said softly. She wanted to push him, see whether she could have a breakthrough with him, so she pushed her hips against him once more, and she said, “And then you fucked me on the conference room table.”

“Fuck,” he moaned, feeling his cock throbbing in his pants. “I dreamt…”

“You have to leave, John,” she whispered. “But before you go, you need to kiss me. Taste my lips, and you’ll know…I’m not lying to—”

Before she finished her sentence, his mouth was on her with a fierceness she had never felt from him. He tasted the same, and she knew, even while he had no real recollection of her, the taste of her mouth would trigger memories. John bit at her lips, sliding his tongue into the warm recesses of her mouth, and moaned like a man starved. His lips moved down her neck, and his tongue licked over her skin. Pulling back he said to her, “I can’t remember…but yet I remember.”

“I’ll help you remember, John. All of it. I promised. But now, you need to leave. You’ve been in here too long,” she whispered. “Stefano will get suspicious.”

At her mention of Stefano’s name, John released her quickly, stepping back, and looking at her in shock. “I shouldn’t have— I have to go,” he said, and walked out of the room. Marlena heard the key in the door as he locked her in her room, and she smiled to herself. 

Chapter 8

The following morning John came down for breakfast, and as she had predicted the evening before, Marlena was not present. Stefano glanced up from his morning newspaper as John entered, and said, “I hope you slept well, John?”

“I did,” he lied, pouring himself a large glass of orange juice. He had, in fact, slept horribly, his sleep inundated with scattered pictures, moments in time, and Marlena. “I see your houseguest is not coming to breakfast,” John said.

“She is stubborn, certainly, but nothing I can’t handle,” Stefano told him. “I have a job for you. One last art heist.”

“Without Gina?” John asked, wondering exactly how he was going to manage that.

“It will have to be without Gina. She is no use to me, and her replacement has been compromised.”

“Compromised?”

Stefano had heard from a contact at the hospital in Salem that the micro chip in Hope’s neck had been removed. It was now in the custody of the ISA. There was nothing he could do about it now, and certainly no way that he would be able to get her back. Not with Bo Brady guarding her night and day. “It’s not your concern, but a final painting was completed, so the job will go forward,” Stefano stated. “You will be compensated generously, John. Just as you have been in the past. The money will be sent to the off shore account you have. It’s a small museum, in Munich. You can be there and back within a few days.”

“When do I go?”

“Later today. The flight arrangements have already been taken care of.”

John watched him for a moment, and said, “Your dinner guest, Marlena…she was telling me some interesting things last night.”

“Be wary of her, John. She is desperate to get out of here, and she will lie to get what she wants,” Stefano said, folding his newspaper, and rising from the table. He was pleased that John was behaving as if whatever Marlena had told him, had no effect on his view of her. He seemed bored, and that reinforced Stefano’s perception that John had no memory of her whatsoever. “She’s an excellent psychiatrist, and she will manipulate your mind if you allow her to.”

“I can’t be manipulated,” John said, even as he thought that Stefano might be the one manipulating him.

“With beauty such as hers, I wouldn’t be so sure. Stay away from her for now. By the time you return I will have her firmly under my control.”

“The same way you had Rachel Blake under your control?” John questioned him.

Stefano turned to John, a mixture of rage and remorse in his eyes, “We don’t speak of what happened with Rachel! That was a horrible tragedy. I miscalculated with Rachel. My love for her was too much for her, and she was too weak emotionally to understand it. Marlena is not weak. She has never been weak.”

“But the situations are similar,” John told him. “You’ve taken Marlena away from her children. She told me as much.”

“If she wants children, I can give them to her. She will forget her old life soon enough. I can give her everything she needs,” Stefano waved his hand indicating that the conversation was over. Before he left the room, he turned to John, and said, “I won’t discuss this with you again. We are close, but you overstep. Tell the cook that if Marlena does not dine with me…she does not eat.”

Watching Stefano’s retreating back, John felt uncomfortable. He had watched Stefano time and again as his schemes succeeded or failed, never judging…never caring how the outcomes effected those involved. Until Rachel. What happened with Rachel was a tragedy, and what Stefano did to cover it up was even worse. Kristen and her brother Peter lost their father when Stefano had him murdered. They lost their mother to suicide, and then Stefano, in his own sadistic mind, raised Rachel’s children. He raised them as if he wasn’t the cause of their suffering. Stefano knew, even without John voicing it, that his treatment of Rachel was something that John had never agreed with. You can’t force someone to love you.

Grabbing a table napkin, John placed a banana and a blueberry muffin inside, wrapping it carefully. After informing the cook of Stefano’s newest request regarding Marlena’s meals, John climbed the stairs to her room. He didn’t know why he cared to tell her, but he felt that no harm could come from providing her with breakfast, and telling her that all future meals must be taken with her host. 

John assumed that Marlena was only locked in her room at night, as Rachel was. He knocked softly on the door, but got no response, so turning the knob slowly he entered her room. He saw her small frame curled up in the center of the large bed, and was immediately hit with an impression of him lying in that bed, moonlight streaming in through the window onto Marlena’s naked body as she rode his cock. What the fuck? He stared at her again. Who was lying to him? 

Marlena moaned in her sleep, rolling onto her back, drawing him nearer to the bed. She was a beautiful woman, that couldn’t be denied. He wanted to know what she meant to him, and he didn’t know who he could trust. In the past, it had always been Stefano to guide him, and help him understand things. Especially when he had no real understanding of the world. John had never spent much time thinking about why his earliest memories started at the age of twenty. Normally Stefano would help him, at least that would typically be the case now, too…if he wasn’t having these flashes of memory. If he didn’t look into those hazel eyes, and trust everything she said to him. Marlena’s eyes fluttered open, looking up at him, and she smiled, reaching for him, “John.” She was obviously still in that hazy space between awake and asleep.

John suddenly found himself tongue-tied. “Hey, I, um, I just wanted to bring you some food. It’s not much, but Stefano says no more food unless you eat with him,” he said quickly. He didn’t even know why he was bothering to explain his presence. He should have just left the food on the table and left, instead he stepped closer.

Looking around the room, the smile fell from Marlena’s face, and she sat up, “I forgot where I was for a moment…I forgot who you were.” Staring up into his face, she whispered, “G-d, I wish you were you.”

“I don’t understand,” he said, still looking down at her, confused by what she was implying. “I am me.”

“Don’t trust him, John. I know you don’t remember me, or the children, exactly, but please don’t trust him. He’s not what he may have been to you ten years ago,” she said. “He’s spent the last three years playing sick psychological games with you, although I’m sure he’s already told you to be wary of me.”

“He has…” he said watching her, looking for the tell-tell signs of lying, but he couldn’t see any. She seemed to be telling the truth.

“When did I meet you?” he asked her suddenly.

“You had amnesia, and we became friends…I started to fall in love with you, although I never told you at the time,” she said with a small smile on her face as she remembered. “Eventually we came to believe that you were Roman Brady.”

“I remember…I remember, before, when I was still with Stefano and Gina…” he said, as his mind wandered. He started to pace the room, running his hands through his hair. “Stefano saying he had a job for me. That I needed to go to a place…I can’t remember the name, some random town…and pretend to be a cop, marry some head shrink with three kids…fuck,” he said, stopping in his tracks, and turning to look at her. “He did it then? That’s you, right? And those kids I keep dreaming about? Gina and I had a plan to escape…to get away from him, but…fuck! I don’t remember anything!” he yelled in frustration.

“He sent you to Salem, and for seven years, everyone believed that you were Roman,” she whispered. “Stefano took me from you, and you raised the children on your own for almost five years.”

“I don’t even like children,” he muttered, as a flash of roller skating in the park, with a young girl came to mind.

“You just remembered something didn’t you, John?” Marlena was excited. He seemed to be getting flashes of events, snippets of memory, but nothing concrete to put him in a time or place.

“Roller skating…in a park.”

“Carrie. She always loved roller skating when she was younger. She tried to teach you, but you were horrible at it. Now she’s taken up roller blading.”

“Roller blading?” he asked her, confused.

“Similar to roller skating but the wheels are thinner and in a row, similar to ice skates,” she said softly.

John smirked, “I’d break my leg.”

“Have you remembered…have you remembered anything else?” She asked him tentatively. She didn’t want him to bolt, like he did last night after they’d kissed, but she needed to know…she needed to hope.

The memory of them together on the bed came to his mind again, but John responded, “No. Nothing.”

Marlena knew he was lying, but she wouldn’t call him on it right now. His quick glance to the headboard of the bed, and then back to her, told her everything she needed to know. He remembered something about their last night together, the night before Stefano separated them. She also knew that he was probably having dreams, which were likely disrupting his sleep. That was his normal pattern. She watched him as he continued to stand there, awkwardly, not sure what to do with himself.

John finally said, “I’m leaving for a few days, for a job.”

Marlena realized she would be here, alone, with Stefano, and fear, unlike any she had ever experienced, hit her like a train wreck, “No! John, no! You can’t leave me here with him. You can’t! Ever since Maison Blanche…” she started breathing erratically, reaching for him frantically, grabbing hold of his fingers, and pulling him closer. She was unable to catch her breath, as pain ripped through her chest. She was remembering what Kellam did to her, and what happened with Jake, and she found herself being sucked into a void of nothingness.

“Woah! Lady! What are you doing,” John said, unsure of what to do. She was obviously panicking, but he had no experience with this. Then he remembered her, in a soft, creamy, lace-edged silk nightgown…a nightmare. He’d rushed in, and somehow talked her through it. “Breath,” he said sternly, gripping her shoulders, and shaking her once. “Breath, Doc!”

But she was struggling, she looked up at him with tears streaking down her face, and she said, “I can’t…”

“You can, look! Look at me! Breath in,” he said, starting to panic himself. “Now out…and in…”

Marlena continued to cry, but she somehow managed to breath. She gasped, “Oh, G-d!”, as she leaned onto him for support, wrapping her arms around his waist, and laying her face on his abdomen. She felt the ripple of his muscles under her cheek, and took deep breaths, breathing in the scent of him. While she held him, she continued to try and take slow, steady breaths. It was difficult, because she feared, deep in her chest, that Stefano had the potential to assault her. If he became frustrated with her unwillingness, he had the potential to force her, and then, she very well might be lost forever. “I…I…I can’t be left alone with him. I can’t…he might…oh, G-d!”

She was scared. Petrified really, of being alone with Stefano. John could tell, she was having a very physical reaction to just the idea of being alone at the compound with him, but he had to do this job. It was the last one. The last art heist, since they no longer had Gina to paint the counterfeits. He didn’t understand what was causing such a visceral reaction in her. It had to be something more than Stefano. 

“What happened to you?” he asked her quietly, touching the ends of her hair, and watching it play about his fingers.

She tipped her face up to his, afraid to tell him. She was unsure of where he stood with Stefano, afraid of what he might share with Stefano, so she said, “I was raped.”

“You think that Stefano might rape you?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know! I see the way he watches me, and after what happened at Maison Blanche…I know what he wants. I shouldn’t have done that, but it was for you…I had to do it for you.”

“You were at Maison Blanche?” John asked her. John knew that nothing good ever came from being held at Maison Blanche.

“We were at Maison Blanche,” she replied softly.

Suddenly his arms were tied above his head, as Stefano breathed in his face, hot breath, saying, “You are mine, John. You have always been mine. I may have let you go rogue all these years, because I had no need for you, but you have always belonged to me…”

“You fucking lousy bastard! What have you done with Doc?” John screamed in Stefano’s face.

“Dr. Evans is no longer your concern. Soon, you won’t even remember her.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, old man. No matter what you do, my heart…my heart will always remember Doc.”

Now it was John’s turn to struggle for air. He sat heavily on the bed beside Marlena, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. Roughly his hands threaded through his hair, gripping it tightly, the pain grounding him to this moment. This was the first solid memory he’d had. A memory with a time, and a place. A recent memory. He’d noticed the marks on his body in his bathroom mirror, but he’d never mentioned them to Stefano. Now he knew, he knew where they came from, and he knew who had given them to him. John now understood why his subconscious had been so wary. 

“John?” Marlena said hesitantly, touching his arm softly. “Did you remember something?”

He felt so weak. He should be stronger than this, but the one person he counted on. The one person he had considered his friend and mentor for years, had hurt him, hurt him badly. He should be stronger than this. He was trained to be stronger, to lack emotion, to be able to take anything…but this? This felt like the worst form of betrayal, and it was painful. He knew he had tears in his eyes, and he refused to look at Marlena, until he felt her soft fingers on his face, pulling his head around to look at her. John glanced down, to avoid looking into her eyes. He felt so ashamed for this, so ignorant, and naive. Emotions were weakness.

Marlena saw that he was struggling, and that he needed comfort. This new John, he would never ask for it, so she crawled into John’s lap, linking her arms behind his neck, and whispered, “It’s okay. It’s okay to feel things.”

He sat there, motionless, refusing to touch her, but at the same time absorbing her strength, and her warmth. His body shivered with want, when he felt her nose run up the length of his neck, and her face settle in the crook of his shoulder. They sat like that for what felt like ages, while he forced himself not to respond, until finally, unable to resist any longer, John slowly wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her closer, and held onto her like she was a lifeline, a tether to a reality he didn’t know…but maybe he used to.

Chapter 9

Bo watched as Hope concentrated on her brush strokes across the canvas. She hadn’t lied. She could paint, although how she had gone from no talent at all, to re-creating masterpieces, he had no idea. Abe had called him earlier that morning to say that Shane Donovan had arrived from ISA headquarters with the final forensics report on the micro chip that had been retrieved from Hope’s neck. 

Hope was just as fascinated with her newfound talent as Bo was. She’d been having dreams, but she was scared to talk about them. She was afraid of the impact they might have on Bo. Dreams of John, dreams of loving him, and they made her incredibly uncomfortable. She’d wake up with a sick feeling in her stomach, disgusted by her dream persona, Gina. She didn’t know who Gina was, but she had a feeling that she had loved John almost obsessively. How could she explain that to Bo? It didn’t even make sense. The four years she was gone were all accounted for in the case of John Black. So these dreams and these memories pervading her mind, were they even hers? 

Hope looked up when Abe and Shane stepped into Alice Horton’s back yard, her paint brush pausing mid-stroke. Shane stared at the art with more than mere curiosity. Abe seemed surprised to see her painting at all, and was even more surprised to see recreations of famous paintings drying on the picnic table. “When did this happen?” he asked her.

“I have no idea, but I think I’m pretty good at it,” she said smugly, with her trademark sarcasm.

“Good? I think you’re more than good, Fancy Face,” Bo said to her before turning to Abe. “She’s done four since yesterday. This is the fifth. All recreations of priceless art…done from memory. So what I need to know, Abe, is what is in that report from the ISA?”

Shane stepped forward, saying, “Honestly, Bo, it’s incredible. The technology is so advanced that the ISA is still in its infancy with this.”

“With what? Come on, Shane. Just spit it out.”

“Mind mapping, Bo. What was done to Hope was mind mapping, but at such an advanced level we don’t understand it all,” Shane said. “The micro chip retrieved from Hope was wired into her nervous system. On it are the memories of someone else, but when activated, Hope would believe she was this person—”

“Gina…” Hope whispered, causing Abe, Bo, and Shane to turn and look at her.

“Yes,” Shane said slowly. “Gina Von Amberg. Do you remember any of that, Hope?”

She looked at Bo sheepishly, “I’ve been having dreams.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Bo asked her.

“Because a lot of them involve John, Bo, and they’re confusing,” she said defensively. Looking to Shane, she said, “Gina loved John. She loved him a lot…and my dreams are about that love. I didn’t—I didn’t want to talk about them because John is like a brother to me. I wake up, and I feel disgusted.”

Shane was quiet for a moment before he said, “That’s what we thought might happen. The forensics team was able to read the chip, and you’re right. She was profoundly in love with John Black, and when John was sent to Salem in 1985, she spiraled into a deep depression. Stefano must have had her mind mapped, and transferred those memories to you. When activated, you would behave as Gina. You would believe that you were Gina. Now that the chip is gone, you’re having residual thoughts and feelings that were hers, but those should fade with time. You should also know, Hope, that you look exactly like her.” 

“I know,” she whispered. “I remember.”

Shane then turned to Abe and Bo, telling them, “We need to assume that John also has a micro chip wired into his nervous system making it possible, on Stefano’s whim, to make him forget, or remember, whatever Stefano wants him to. We have been able to determine that Gina and John worked for Stefano before 1984. During that time there were a string of art thefts that are only now coming to light. The originals were taken and replaced with—”

Hope gasped, holding her throat, barely able to take her next breath, before she said, “—counterfeits…and I can paint…” She sat back down heavily, “Shane what was I doing for the last four years?” He looked at her, obviously holding back information, because he feared upsetting her. Hope found herself getting angry, and demanded, “What was I doing, Shane?”

He sighed deeply, “We believe that you were painting counterfeits for Stefano. We also believe that you had graduated to completing art heists alone…without a partner, since John was no longer part of the equation.”

“Oh my G-d,” she whispered. Blindly she reached for Bo, again whispering, “Oh my G-d.”

“What does this mean, Shane?” Abe wanted to know. “International art heists, I mean is Hope going to be charged for those crimes?”

“Now wait! No! She can’t be charged for something she didn’t willingly do! Shane? She can’t, right?” Bo asked him.

“We’re working with Interpol now, and the person they really want is Stefano DiMera,” Shane said. “The problem is finding him. We know some of his properties, but not all of them.”

“I know some,” Hope said excitedly. “I’ve been remembering more and more—”

“Hope!” Bo said with frustration. He was angry and upset that she seemed to be full of information for Shane, while he and Abe had been struggling for leads as to the whereabouts of John and Marlena. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “The dreams were upsetting to me, and I didn’t know what was real, or if I was crazy. I wanted to wait for the ISA report. I had all of these memories of John, but you kept telling me it couldn’t have been John…but it was, just not with me. It was Gina’s memories.”

“You didn’t trust me?”

“Don’t get attitude with me, Bo Brady. It’s my brain that got hacked!” 

Abe stood by watching them, and noting that the byplay between them hadn’t changed in their four years apart. Bo still thought he knew best, and Hope still put him in his place. “She’s got you there partner,” Abe told Bo with a smirk.

“We were hoping to bring Hope into the ISA investigation, because we need her intel. She possibly knows things about Stefano DiMera that no one else knows. She spent four years with him,” Shane said.

“No. No, Shane. Absolutely not!” Bo said harshly.

Hope was furious. She rose from her chair, and looked Bo in the eyes, and turned to Shane, saying, “I’ll help you in whatever capacity you need me to.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Instead of four days, John had completed the job and returned in two. He rushed, and he had refused to acknowledge the real reason. He told himself repeatedly that he rushed because he wanted to be done with it. He was sick of those types of job, but as he took the stairs to Marlena’s room in the early dawn hours, two and three at a time, and picked the lock to her room…he couldn’t deny the truth any more. He was worried about her. Closing the door softly behind him, he saw her asleep in the bed. 

The sun was just coming over the horizon, giving her skin a soft pink hue. John crouched beside the bed, swiping the hair from her forehead, causing her to moan in her sleep, and roll towards him. She sighed softly, her lips parting slightly, causing John to reach out a lightly trace a fingertip across her bottom lip. He had so many questions, and he knew she was the only one with the answers. If Stefano knew he was remembering, he would wake up a week from now knowing less than he currently did. He watched emotions play over her face as she was obviously caught up in a dream.

“I’m lying? Listen, all I want from you is sex, and I can’t even remember the last time I had sex—”

“Two weeks ago,” she whispered. “In the bed behind you…with me.”

He stared at her with arousal filled eyes, and said, “I could do it again…I could fuck you against this wall.”

She knew he didn’t remember her, not the way she wanted him to, but she wanted him so badly. Her body cried out for his, and maybe, just maybe he might remember her if… “Kiss me,”she said, licking across his mouth. “Taste me…”

“Fuck yes,” John said, threading his fingers through her hair, and pulling her head towards him. “You smell so good,” he moaned into her mouth, while his other hand moved to unfasten the button on her slacks.

Her legs almost buckled underneath her when he roughly pushed his hand into her panties, running his finger over he swollen folds. “Marlena,” he panted, “you are so wet. Are you usually this wet for me?”

“I’m always wet for you. Always. Always,” she moaned against his lips. He pulled away from her quickly, hastily pushing her pants to the floor, and snapping the buttons of her blouse in his hurry to get it off of her. Marlena leaned against the wall, taking heaving breaths, clad only in her bra, with her shirt hanging from her shoulders.

“You are a fucking sight,” he said to her, running the tip of his finger down her sternum, and swirling it around her navel. “I bet I couldn’t get enough of you. If you were mine…you wouldn’t get a break.”

Her hands started fumbling with the button on his jeans. She was shaking with anticipation, pushing them down over his hips as he stripped his shirt over his head, and then pressed the length of his body against hers. Marlena grabbed his face, pulling his mouth to hers, and whispered across his mouth, “Fuck me.”

“I’m about to,” he said, sliding his hands under her ass, and lifting her high against the wall.

She could feel the tip of his cock throbbing against her entrance. She wanted him. She needed him. “John, please! I need you,” she cried.

“Oh, baby, you’re going to get me,” he said, pushing inside her so quickly she gasped.

Marlena’s eyes flew open, as she screamed, “Fuck!” into the silence of the room. Her whole body was on fire, right on the edge of coming. She needed release. She saw John staring at her, his own pupils blown, and his breathing erratic. She was confused about where he’d come from, or maybe she was still dreaming…she wasn’t sure, but she needed to come. Looking into his eyes, she whispered, “Please…”

He knew what she wanted. John’s hand made its way under her blanket, and slowly up her leg, pushing her thighs apart. “You’re not wearing panties, Marlena…that’s so fucking hot,” he said roughly, sliding two fingers into her pussy, and using his thumb to rub over her clit. “That was some dream you were having.”

“Oh, G-d!” she moaned, rolling her head to side.

Leaning close to her, John whispered gruffly in her ear, “You need to come. I can see it in your face. I’m going to do that for you. I’m going to finger fuck you so hard you see stars.” His fingers hooked inside of her, rubbing against her g-spot, and he started rubbing his thumb over her clit hard and fast. The combination of his roughness, and his filthy words pushed Marlena over the edge in under a minute.

John rested his forehead on her shoulder, attempting to get his raging arousal under control. He wanted to pull her body to the edge of the bed, and push himself inside her, but something stopped him. He wasn’t sure what it was. Instead, he leaned towards her licking over her lips, and said, “I’ll see you at breakfast, Doc.”

Chapter 10

During the two days John had been gone, Marlena had existed on one meal per day, skipping breakfast and dinner on both days. Lunch with Stefano on those days had been pure hell for her. He spent the duration of those twenty minutes explaining to her how beautiful she was, how much he loved her, and the inevitability of her eventually loving him. She found herself wanting to heave her food up almost immediately. Instead she forced herself to consume large portions as quickly as possible, and had immediately retreated to her room, or the garden. 

She still hadn’t managed to get herself to move from the bed after John had left her lying there, a mass quivering flesh. Her blankets were still twisted around her hips, and her legs were askew. She felt the cool air of the room breezing over her skin, and knew that her nightgown was still pushed up. She could only imagine what she looked like. She could still feel his lips on her, and a  dull aching throb in her center from her mind blowing orgasm. Thinking about what she asked him to do, and realizing that, in his mind, he barely knew her, Marlena began to blush deeply. 

She knew that he had completed whatever job Stefano had sent him to do much faster than originally anticipated, and opening her eyes to see his face, after the most sexually arousing dream she could ever remember having, had pushed her into a realm she was unfamiliar with. This version of John was a stranger to her, she didn’t know him the way she actually knew John, but the attraction and the love was still there. That complicated things beyond measure. If he was John, her John, what had happened between them this morning would have been less complicated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

John approached Stefano’s study intending to tell him that he had completed the job early, but, just as he was about to knock on the door, he heard Tony’s voice, “Father! You can’t do this! Keeping John and Marlena here against their will is unacceptable.”

“Tony. Tony,” Stefano said in his normal deep voice. “I have everything under control. I suggest you go home to Kristen and keep this information to yourself.”

“I don’t think I can do that,” Tony told him.

“If you want to keep Kristen and your marriage, Tony, you will do that. Kristen is already actively searching for John. What do you think she’s going to do when she finds him?”

“Kristen would never leave me. She loves me,” Tony said.

“Does she?” Stefano asked him, trying to intentionally create doubt in his son. “Besides, Dr. Rolf has reset the micro chip in John’s neck already. He wouldn’t remember anything of Kristen besides the fact that when she was younger she annoyed him endlessly.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Of course I’m sure!”

“I’m not so sure, Father. He tried to stop my wedding, do you remember that?” Tony asked.

“I do, but as I said…his micro chip has been reset back to 1984, before he went to Salem.”

“If he ever combines the memories he currently possesses, with what he knew over the last ten years…” Tony said. “He will realize that Kristen lied to him.”

Stefano was confused, “Lied to him?”

“When she first met him in Salem, and she hated him? That was because she had pulled that stunt where he found her naked in his bed, do you remember? He rejected her, and she hated him for it.”

“That was nothing,” Stefano said with an absent wave of his hand.

“She was young, and naive, but Father, she was so angry after that. When John fell in love with her in Salem, she never told him that she already knew him. That she had grown up following him around like a love sick puppy! You don’t think he would be hurt by that?”

“Tony, this conversation tires me. None of that matters, because John will never remember any of it.”

John stepped away from the door slowly, and treaded back up the stairs to his room, but he quickly changed his mind and headed back to Marlena. He had questions, and she had answers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hope was deep under hypnosis, as Bo watched from the corner of the room. She had already outlined Gina’s time with “Steffy” and her love for John. The ISA had details of every counterfeit Gina had ever painted, and every art heist the duo had ever pulled off, as well as some that need to be checked out, because thefts had never been reported. They knew of “Rodolfo”, Stefano’s alter ego. They had been at this for days, and it was exhausting for everyone involved. His attention was suddenly drawn back to Hope when he heard her say, “Stefano was planning to send John away. Gina knew what he was going to do, although John didn’t know the full extent of it. John has a micro chip wired into his nervous system. She knew what Stefano was going to do…” Hope starts breathing erratically. “He was going to wipe his mind, and take him away from her. John would forget her completely!”

It was obvious to everyone in the room, that while Hope was herself, she was still effected by Gina’s emotions. “Can you tell me about Stefano’s plan, Hope?” the doctor asked her.

“He wanted John to go to Salem. He was going to have him replace Roman, but John, John didn’t want any of that…” Hope gets quiet for a moment, and then says, “They had a plan, John and Gina. They were going to run away together…but Stefano took John early. Gina woke up one day and John had vanished. He was gone.”

The doctor was hoping for more clarification, “After John was taken…how did Gina react?”

“She didn’t react. She died inside. She just curled up, and died, but then, one day, she woke up,” she said.

“Can you explain that? How did she wake up?”

“I’m not sure. It was her, but she knew, it wasn’t her,” she whispered. “Sometimes she felt me pushing, from inside my mind. Pushing her away, trying to come out. She couldn’t handle it anymore, and finally told Stefano. We were on the way to see Dr. Rolf when he lost me in the storm. Gina was ecstatic when she saw John. She started rushing towards him, and must have tripped and fallen on the beach.”

“Is that when you were found?” the doctor asked her.

“I believe so. I woke up in the hospital,” Hope said with a gentle smile. “Bo was there.”

Shane spoke from the corner, looking at the doctor, “Can you ask her where they were being taken?”

“Hope, I have one final question,” the doctor said.

“I’m so tired,” she whispered.

“This is the last question for today. I promise. Do you know where Stefano was taking the three of you?”

“He was going to have John and Gina commit another art heist, in Munich. So he needed Rolf to reset John’s microchip, and fix the glitch in mine. We were going to Stefano’s island in the Caribbean,” she whispered. “I had just finished another painting, a Cézanne…”

Shane leaned towards Bo, and looked at him with alarm, “A museum in Munich was just broken into, but they reported that nothing was stolen…but maybe—”

“—maybe a Cézanne was stolen,” Bo finished. “Stefano must have already gotten to John. Marlena must be frantic, Shane.”

“We have a general location to work with now, Bo. That narrows our search down a lot.”

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

Sami was sitting at the dining table in her grandparents house with Brady in a booster seat, and Belle in a high chair while she attempted to feed them lunch. John and Marlena’s absence was negatively affecting all three of them, and Sami found herself spending more and more time with Brady and Belle as time went on. Brady looked to Sami, and said, “I miss my daddy…and mama.”

“Mama? You mean Isabella?” Sami was confused for a moment, as Brady shook his head no, and then she saw the small boy pull a crumpled photograph from his pocket, and hand it to her. She looked upon the most faded, and care worn photo of her mother that she’d ever seen. “Where’d you get this Brady?’”

“My daddy’s room,” he said whispering. “Shhh…don’t tell him,” Brady added with a smile.

“You’re daddy had this in his room?”

“In his drawer. I’s not supposed to go there, but he has pictures of mama,” Brady said sadly.

Sami spent the rest of their lunch thinking back on all the times she had spent with John and her mother. It had always been obvious that they cared for one another, and Sami missed John more than she would ever willingly admit. As she put Belle and Brady down for their naps, and she watched Brady sleep with a crumpled photo of her mother in his hand, Sami felt hot tears roll down the contours of her face. Belle and Brady needed their father…and their mother.

She softly closed the door to the bedroom where they slept, and with the baby monitor in her hand, she made her way back downstairs to the kitchen to clean up. She found her father there, making another mess. He looked up at her, “Hey Sami. I haven’t seen you for a few days.”

“I been helping Grandma and Grandpa take care of Belle and Brady,” she said, as she started wiping down the table.

“You know, someone else should be watching John and Doc’s kids,” Roman said. “They aren’t family. It’s too much on Ma and Pop.”

Sami stared at her father in shock, “Belle is my sister. She is family.”

“That’s not what I mean’t. It’s just they aren’t grandkids, so Ma and Pop shouldn’t be taking care of them. They could stay at Victor’s house,” Roman said, taking a large bite of his sandwich.

“They are family,” Sami told him with force. “They’re my family, and they’re babies. They miss their parents.”

“Well, Belle is anyway,” he muttered.

“They are both my family. Brady calls mom…he calls her mama. He carries a photo of her, and he sleeps with it! Belle cries all the time, and she’s too little to even say why! It’s like you don’t even care! Yeah, Mom screwed up…but I want her back. I want John back!”

“Hey. Hey, Sami, I didn’t want to upset you,” Roman said to her. “I just think it’s a lot to put on Ma and Pop, that’s all.”

Caroline had overheard Sami’s conversation with Roman, and she could sense from Sami’s tone that she was getting more and more frustrated with her father. Entering the kitchen, Caroline said loudly to Roman, “Your father and I consider Belle and Brady as our very own, Roman. Blood doesn’t make family, it never has with the Brady’s, and I better never hear you speak like this with Belle or Brady in the house again.”

When Roman made a hasty retreat, Sami approached her grandmother, letting her hold her tight. Caroline whispered in her ear, “It’s okay to love them, and it’s okay to miss them. You don’t need to hold onto that anger. Look at your father, he holds tight to his anger and it’s destroying him, and his relationships. Sami you have a light in you, and you have love in you. You won’t run out. It’s okay to love them both.” Caroline ran her hands softly over Sami’s back, saying, “Because, they both love you.”

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

John found Marlena in the garden, near a pond scattered with decorative rocks. She was sitting on the grass, leaning back on her arms, letting the sun shine on her face, and the breeze blow through her flaxen hair. He stopped breathing for a moment, and his heart skipped a beat, as he took in the sight of her. John found himself suddenly lost in a memory. Not a flash of memory, but a solid memory, complete with all of the feelings and emotions tied into the moment.

He held Marlena in his arms, sighing, “Oh, boy. Nothing like dining out under the stars, huh?”

Marlena started giggling, tucked against his chest, “There aren’t any stars out here.”

“No? Then tell me Mrs. Brady, what do you consider the sun?” he responded.

Marlena paused for a moment, and replied, “Sneaky. That’s sneaky. You dog.”

He laughed, holding her body tighter in his arms. He’d never been so happy in his life, at least the life he could remember. Thinking about the huge lunch they’d just eaten, he said, “I’m so stuffed. That was wonderful.”

“You’re stuffed? No more room for maybe some strawberries and whipped cream?” She asked him, running the tip of her nose along his neck. 

He smiled, “Sorry, no more room.”

“Oh, no,” she whined. 

“We don’t really need strawberries. Do we?”

“No. All we need…is each other. That’s all we need,” she said. Sitting up and looking at him, she said, “Oh my gosh, I love you so much!”

His face close to her, and their lips almost touching, John asked her, “Hmmm, how much?”

“I love you,” she whispered, nuzzling the side of his face, “…all over. I love your ears.” She kissed his ear softly with a warm open-mouthed kiss. “And I love your eyes,” she said, kissing over his eyes. “And I love your nose.”

“My nose?”

“Your nose,” she moaned, leaning into him, and kissing the bridge of his nose. “And I love your…” she paused, her mouth so close to his he could feel her warmth. Her breath wafted over him, causing a shiver to run through him, as she whispered, “…your mouth. Oh, I love your mouth.”

The heat of her lips sliding across his was pure heaven. John’s tongue swept over hers, as the taste of her mouth engulfed his mind. He moaned deeply. “That much, huh?” he said, smiling over her lips.

“Yeah,” she said breathlessly. “I love it more than that. I…I’ve got an idea.”

“I’ve got a feeling I know what that idea might be—” John said, stroking his fingers over her collarbone softly.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you what, in case you’re wrong, I’ll just tell you what it is. I think, after a full meal…I think you might need some exercise.”

“Hmmm, exercise,” he whispered.

“Yeah, yeah, those are…in fact, those are doctors orders,” she said, her voice heavily clouded with arousal.

“Well, I…I’ve never been one to buck doctors orders….”

She smiled at him suggestively, stroking her fingers softly over his face, “Yeah, don’t ever buck doctors orders.” He kissed her once deeply, before getting to his feet. Marlena watched him in confusion, “Roman? What are you doing?” He placed his hands under her arms and lifted her, as she looped her them around his neck, and said, “Standing up? Oh my goodness, you’re brave!” John kissed her again, as she giggled into his mouth, but she immediately became confused as John started stretching his legs by pulling them up behind him. She pulled back watching him, “Honey? What is it? What are you doing?”

“Well, I’m getting ready for a little exercise,” he told her grabbing her hand. “C’mon! Once around the pond!” As he began to run, pulling her behind him, he heard her shriek, “Oh no! That’s not what I had in mind!” 

John came back to himself, when he felt Marlena’s warm hand on his arm, “John?”

Looking around them, he knew they were too exposed to talk there. He pulled away from her, saying, “I need to speak to you, but it can’t be here.” He scrambled in his mind for a place where they could meet without fear of being caught, and said, “The attic. Can you meet me in the attic? In fifteen minutes?”

“Yes, but—”

“The entrance stairs are at the end of your hallway, where your room is,” he whispered, glancing around again quickly. Looking at her for a moment, so conflicted with these flashes of memory, and what he had overheard with Tony and Stefano, John simply said, “Please?”

She couldn’t tell him no. He seemed so dejected, so confused. She wanted to hold him, but she knew this wasn’t the place. She also knew why he had shaken her hand off, realizing that she shouldn’t be too familiar with him where they might be seen. Without touching him, she simply said, “Yes,” and walked away.

Chapter 11

Marlena waited for John in the attic. It was warm up there, but not excessively so. Fine dust particles swirled through beams of light that shone through the window near the eaves. Marlena watched from where she entered for John to arrive, only to be surprised when he came from behind her. “John!” she said, turning around. “Where did you come from?”

He just gave her a lopsided smirk, and told her, “I used to meet Gina up here, when we didn’t want Stefano to know.”

Marlena felt sadness settle into her at the thought, but quickly pushed it aside. John would have had another life before her. He would have been with other women, and, while she had spent years helping him search for his past, the other women part had always upset her. She remembered Danielle Tremaine, and almost immediately felt ill. “Oh, okay…yeah.”

John’s head tilted to the side as he watched her momentarily. Finally, he said, “Gina’s gone, you know. I loved her once, but she’s gone.”

“I know,” she whispered, looking at her hands as they lay in her lap.

Stepping up to where she sat, John loomed over her. He reached out, and swept a piece of her hair behind her ear, and tipping her face up to his, he said, “I think about you a lot, lady.”

“Do you?” she asked him with barely restrained hope in her voice.

“I do…its…confusing. I have all of these very strong emotions related to you, but I feel like you’re a stranger…you are a stranger,” he told her. He had the strongest impulse to kiss her, softly, and run his fingers over her face. It was odd. He didn’t remember a time in his life when his love making wasn’t rough, even aggressive. Marlena brought out impulses in him that he didn’t understand. He wanted to take care of her, but yet she seemed so capable. She was strong and fragile at the same time, and he wondered if maybe the man he was before might have been her perfect compliment.

Marlena didn’t know what to say, or how to respond, so she changed the subject. Still glancing up his body, and breathing in the scent of him, she asked, “Does Stefano know that you’re back early?”

John turned and collapsed onto the crate beside her. “No. I went to tell him, but Tony was here.”

“Tony! John, he could save us. He could get us out of here!”

John looked at Marlena incredulously, “Why would I want that? I don’t even know where I belong.”

“With me, John. You have always belonged with me,” she whispered.

“There is so much I don’t fucking understand!” he said loudly, rising to his feet quickly. “Listening to Tony speak with Stefano left me with so many more questions. I don’t even know where to start.”

John felt nausea and bile roll in his belly, when he finally asked her, “Was I in a relationship with Kristen?”

Studying his face for a moment, Marlena replied, “You were.”

“She knew me. She knew me when we met in Salem. I don’t remember any of it, but I overheard Tony telling Stefano that if the man I was, when I was with Kristen, reconciled his memories with the man I am now…I would be upset.”

“She knew you? That’s odd, she behaved as if she despised you at first.”

“She did, because of something stupid she did. I found her naked, in my bed, at seventeen years old. I reacted poorly, I can admit that. From that point on, she hated me,” he said.

“Her dislike of you was obvious when she first ‘met’ you, once you started dating it became…” Marlena’s voice trailed off.

“It became what?”

“I’m not the best judge for your relationship with Kristen, honestly. I was incredibly jealous, while at the same time pushing you away.”

“Why?”

“You have to understand, John, you were Roman Brady for seven years. For five of those years, I was presumed dead. In reality, I was with Stefano. When I found my way home, you were engaged…to a woman named Isabella. It was complicated, and emotionally very painful, for both of us. You were conflicted, and then…then Roman came home. You and I…we…we made choices. Isabella was pregnant, and I was married to Roman officially, but the draw between us never wavered. The love was still there, and we both knew it. We maintained our distance. I don’t know how many times I would spend my day trying to convince myself that I was happy with Roman, only to wake up in the middle of the night, gasping for air, and desperate for you. Isabella died within months of giving birth to Brady. You hadn’t even been married a full year, and she was gone,” Marlena said. 

She watched as a familiar vacant look came over John’s face, and then he said, “Was he born at a wedding?”

She was overjoyed to see that the memories were coming to him more often, and hopeful that if she helped him connect those memories on a timeline, maybe John wouldn’t be as lost to her as Stefano seemed to believe he was, “He was. You and Isabella were getting married, and she went into labor. She gave birth in the rectory, and then insisted that the ceremony be finished before she would go to the hospital.”

“I have a son?” he asked her.

“Yes, he’s two,” Marlena told him gently. “His name is Brady, and he has his mother’s eyes. When Isabella died you were…you were broken, John. You did love her. I tried to support you as best I could. Roman was inflamed with jealousy, but at the same time, he worked constantly. Everything I did was wrong, and while he said he wanted me to help you though the grieving process, he hated that I was spending time with you. He and I got into an argument, the night I left for a conference in Washington. I was supposed to be gone for a month. That was the night everything changed.”

John was hit with a memory so strong, he almost fell forward. As it was, he caught himself, with his hands on his knees, and allowed the fear, and then immediately the relief, to wash over him. A slew of memories, scattered, random, but so strong it seemed to have happened only moments before, rocked him.

“You always did want to have things your way.”

“Doc. Doc. Come back to me. C’mon, Doc. Come back to me.”

“Did you know G-d was a baseball fan, Doc? He was. What’s the first line of the Bible?”

“As much as I loved Isabella, there was always a part of me that loved you too, Doc.”

“You were kidnapped?” he asked her.

“Yes, and you found me,” Marlena whispered, stroking her fingers over his face. “I don’t know how, but you found me. After that I had nightmares for weeks, you had dreams too…you told me.”

“What happened?”

“When I was kidnapped, or afterwards?”

“Afterwards,” he said. He was almost afraid to know, but, at the same time, he needed to know.

“We were closer after that. When you entered a room, I watched you the whole time. Our eyes would meet, and without words, we could know what the other was thinking. Roman continued to act as if nothing was wrong with our marriage, and was so often critical of my choices. He hated that you and I had grown closer. He hated that you had found me in the warehouse first. You were still mourning Isabella, but we…we admitted one night on the pier that we still loved each other,” she told him.

“And the truth is…I still love you…”

“You’re still wearing the charm bracelet I gave you.”

“It was just you…and me…together once again.”

John shivered as memories rolled over him. For a moment, a split second in time, John felt that love. He turned to her, touching her face gently, “I don’t know you, but G-d, I feel like I used to…I wish I remembered. I don’t love you…but sometimes…” His voice trailed off, as he looked into her hazel eyes. Finally he said, “I worry about you, and I can’t explain why. I barely know you. The scent when you walk into a room, it fills my senses with something, feelings just out of reach. I find my mind grasping for them, only to have them slip away from me. It’s so frustrating!”

“Smell is an intense trigger for memory,” she tells him, scooting closer, and wrapping her fingers around the nape of his neck. Pulling his face towards her neck, she whispers, “Smell me, John.” She is desperate for him to remember her, to remember their love. “Please,” she whispers. 

Shivers wrack her body when his hands reach for her waist, pulling her closer, and his nose runs up the length of her neck, inhaling deeply of lilacs, and the scent of her skin that is innately hers. His hands tighten on her hips, digging into her flesh. John moans, “It’s just out of reach…something…” He can’t remember. Why can’t he remember?

Marlena is desperate. She threads her fingers into John’s hair, gripping it tightly, holds his face to her neck, and whispers, “Taste me. Lick me.” 

“Fuck, woman,” he moans, before licking a line along her neck, and up to her ear. In his mind he knows there’s something…something just out of reach. He’s reaching out for it, his frustration growing. He continues to lick her skin, placing open mouthes kisses and licks along her flesh. “Help me remember,” he begs her, finally nipping at her mouth. “Please, Doc, help me remember.”

“I would do any, John. Anything. What do you need from me?” she asked him, kissing his lips feverishly. “What do you need?”
“I don’t know!” he said, before biting her jaw in frustration. Suddenly, he saw himself on an airplane, with Marlena pinned underneath him, as he bit her jaw. 

“What are we doing?”

“What we’ve been wanting to do for weeks…”

He paused in his movements, whispering against her neck, “An airplane…”. Marlena held her breath in anticipation, waiting for what he might say next. John looked at her in awe, and said, “We had an affair?”

“We did,” she said softly, hoping he remembered something more. 

“You were scared…because I was leaving…and I was leaving because…” John shook his head in frustration. “I was leaving because I…couldn’t have you. But I took you anyway…”

She smiled at him softly, touching his lips, “You did. We had an affair, and then I had Belle…your daughter, John.”

His breathing still haggard, John stared at her, “What happened?”

“My marriage to Roman eventually ended, although I tried to save it, even though I loved you beyond measure. You moved on, with Kristen…”

“Kristen is a child. I remember her as a child. The thought that I was…that I was ever with her in that manner disgusts me,” he said, rising to his feet, and stepping towards the window.

Marlena followed him, gently placing her hand on his back, “If she knew you, she never let on. She never said anything…but then she also failed to mention that she was engaged to Tony.”

“What?” he said turning to face her.

“She was in a relationship with you, when Stefano returned. I saw him, and collapsed at the hospital. You were furious to learn that Stefano was her father, since you despised him, and she had failed to mention that. Later you found out that while she had been proclaiming her love for you, she was engaged to Tony. Tony came to Salem, and she broke things off with you.”

“Tony mentioned that I tried to stop their wedding?”

“You did try. Stefano’s car exploded…everyone in Salem think’s he’s dead,” she said, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder, and breathing him in. He may not remember her, but she still found comfort in him. 

“She was always sneaky, and manipulative. Of course, the little witch would try something if I had no memory of her,” he said in anger. “She had been trying to get into my bed for years.” He turned to face Marlena, saying, “I’m sorry if that hurt you.”

“I probably never would have told you, outside of this situation.”

“Why?”
“We had decided that we’d hurt too many people. You were my best friend, John. I couldn’t lose you…but Stefano lured you to Maison Blanche, and tricked me into following you,” she said.

Stefano had brought her there to control him. John knew that’s what happened. He didn’t need a memory to know that. Stefano had used Rachel’s children to control her, of course he would bring Marlena to Maison Blanche and use threats of violence against her to control him. John stepped around Marlena, not wanting her to see him as he lost control. “Fuck!” he shouted, startling Marlena. “He’s lied to me. He’s used me. He’s pretended to be my friend. A mentor…a father figure…but it’s all been a lie. A mother fucking lie!” He felt lost. Who did he have if he didn’t have the one person he’d trusted for as long as he could remember? 

But then, Marlena stepped into his line of vision, approaching him warily, touching his face softly, trailing her fingers along his jaw. Turning his face away from her, she grabbed his face, turning it back to her, and, as if she knew he was on a coward emotional spiral, she whispered to him, “You have me. You will always have me. I promised you, I would never give up. I promised you that we were a team.”

Suddenly, in his minds eyes, John saw her face, fear etched across it as he desperately whispered his last directive to her, “Every chance you get. Every opportunity…remind me. Please. If you see me, remind me. Talk about special times we spent together, the times with really strong emotion. Talk about West Virginia, the affair, Belle…anything. It will reach me. I promise, baby…it will reach me. And whatever you do, please, please, don’t give up on me.” 

He was so overwhelmed with emotion, his knees buckled and he fell to the floor, looking up at Marlena standing in the sunlight as it streamed in through the window, he saw her as an angel, possibly his saving grace, and he whispered, “I begged you. I begged you to make me remember…”

Marlena collapsed before him, sobbing with joy, touch his face gently, and finally throwing her arms around his neck, “You did. You did…and I promised you I would. I won’t give up on you, honey. I won’t.”

Chapter 12

Three days later, John found Marlena backed up against the bookshelves in the library, with Stefano leaning against her, and touching her hair. Marlena had turned her face away from him, and had a tightness to her jaw, like she was trying to keep herself from screaming. A flash of memory hit him quickly, “I will die before I let him touch you. The thought of him with you…no. I’ll kill him with my bare hands before that happens. No one will touch you!” He was enraged, flexing his fingers rapidly, and planning to kill the old man with his bare hands, when Marlena’s eyes met his over Stefano’s shoulder. The slightest shake of her head stopped him, then he heard her say, “Um, Stefano, I think we have company.”

John immediately schooled his face to reflect an air of boredom, but his heart still beat at a rapid staccato pace. Stefano turned to face him, stepping back from Marlena, “Ah, John. Good to see you.”

John watched Marlena scramble back, grab the book she had dropped, and scurry from the room. “What was that about?”

“Oh, nothing. We were just having a conversation,” Stefano said nonchalantly. 

John knew what he’d seen, and it certainly didn’t look like a conversation. She’d looked frightened out of her mind. Passively he said, “She didn’t seem to be much in the talking mood.”

Stefano eyed John for a moment, gauging if there was any hidden meaning behind his comment. Certain that there wasn’t any, Stefano laughed, and replied, “Sometimes women need some persuasion to know what they want, John.”

“Persuasion could sometimes be considered sexual assault,” John replied blandly, walking away, and scanning a nearby bookshelf. 

Stefano chuckled again before leaving the room, saying, “Perhaps in some instances.” 

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

Sami was having a hard time hearing the conversation through the kitchen door. Why were they practically whispering? No one would tell her anything, and now she found herself eavesdropping on conversations in the hope that she might gets snippets of information she could piece together to somehow learn the whole story. She shifted her feet to try and get her ear more firmly against the wood, lost her balance, and instead fell into her grandparents dining room. She stood there sheepishly for a moment, while everyone at the table stared at her in shock. Finally she said loudly, “I deserve to know what’s going on, too!”

Hope started laughing, and looked at Bo. “That is your niece, Bo!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked her in outrage.

Shane just smiled, while Abe said, “I’m surprised you have to even ask that, partner.”

“Tell me what’s going on!” Sami demanded. Her grandparents looked to each other, and finally after a long pause, Caroline waved Sami over to the table, and pulled out a chair. She sat down in relief, and said, “Daddy won’t tell me anything! It’s not fair!”

“Sami, your Dad doesn’t know anything,” Bo said in frustration.

“Why?”

Sighing heavily, Bo muttered, “Because he doesn’t want to. I tried to tell what was going on and he said he’s…” Bo hesitated for a moment, not sure he wanted to tell her that her father didn’t give a damn about anything relating to the search for her mother..

“Don’t lie to me, Uncle Bo. I’m not a baby. I’m nearly eighteen, and it’s my Mom and Da—John,” she corrected quickly.

“You’re right, Sami, and we don’ want ye thinkin’ ye don’ matter. So, go on Shane. Tell what ye know so far,” Shawn said. “Sami’s been snooping around long enough, she likely knows most of it already.”

“We know where he’s holding them. We have intel from a recent trip Tony DiMera took to see his father. He was willing to go, and wear a wire to record the conversation. That’s means we have confirmation of the kidnapping, as well as the fact that Stefano DiMera is, in fact, alive,” Shane said smiling.

“Are they okay?” Sami asked excitedly.

“That we aren’t sure of. Tony wasn’t able to see either of them, although he did confirm that according to his father, John’s micro chip has already been reset. Stefano led him to believe that John has no memory of his life between 1984 and this year,” Shane replied.

Caroline gasped, holding her hand to her chest, “What about Marlena?”

“Stefano is convinced that with enough effort…she will fall in love with him. The ISA is aware that Stefano has a history of fixating on women, believing himself to be in love with them…we are trying to come up with a plan to get them out, with as little risk as possible to either of them.”

“Shane, the ISA has to…they have to…” Sami was stuck trying to speak between sobs. “I have to tell them I love them! I have to say I’m sorry!”

“Sami, honey,” Bo said, leaning towards her. “We’re going to get them out. I promise you, or I’ll die trying.”

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

John found Marlena in the attic an hour later. He had waited to go in search of her, because he was concerned that Stefano might be watching him. She seemed so small, curled up by the window, sobbing into her arms as they wrapped around her knees. Approaching her slowly, John said, “Doc…are you okay?”

Peering up at him with swollen, tear filled, eyes, she held her hand out to him, and said, “John…”

He found himself taking her small hand in his, and folding his body to the floor, pulling her close to him. “I couldn’t come right away,” he whispered, close to her ear. “I had to wait. I’m sorry—”

“I know. I know…we have to be careful. Especially since you’re beginning to remember things.”

“Are you okay? You seemed so scared,” he said, rubbing his hand over his shoulder, and tucking her head under his chin.

“I keep remembering what happened with…” Marlena paused, realizing that John wouldn’t know what she was talking about. Finally she says, “I was raped once, and then soon after, I was almost murdered, by a man who had stalked me for months. Stefano…he…he doesn’t respect my space. He won’t respect my boundaries, and I feel so caged around him. It’s a trigger for those memories, and now—oh, G-d, now…”

John was not sure how to comfort her, this was all so foreign to him. He knew he wanted to help her, and he could tell from the way she’d paused that there was something else. Something she was leaving out. With a questioning look on his face, he tipped her chin up until her hazel eyes, met his deep blue one, “Doc?”

The simple act of saying her name on a question, emotionally broke her. Marlena rubbed her cheek on his chest, sobbing as if she might be the loneliest person in the world. “You can’t tell him, John. If I tell you, you can’t tell him,” she cried. “You have to promise.”

“I won’t,” John responded without hesitation. “Whatever it is, I won’t.”

Marlena whispered softly, still crying, “I think I may be pregnant.”

John’s heart stuttered in his chest, and he stopped breathing for a moment, finally saying, “Is it—is it mine?”

“Yes, John, it would be yours,” she told him.

“How do you know if you are?”

“I don’t—not for sure, but there are other signs,” she told him.

“What signs?” he asked her. “I’ve never known anyone who was pregnant,” he said, but then Marlena looked at him incredulously. He clarified, “Not that I can remember.”

“I have increased appetite, my period is very late, my breasts are swollen, and sore, plus almost everything smells bad. I thought at first maybe it might be stress, but with the other symptoms…”

A baby complicated things, and yet, John felt himself feeling inexplicable joy, and another feeling – pride. His hand slid over her abdomen, settling on the soft curve of her belly, when he asked her, “How could you know for sure?”

“Honestly? I can’t. Not without a pregnancy test,” she said with a small smile. “But I feel so strongly that I am. It’s too soon after Belle. She’s barely eight months old, and we’re, well, we’re stuck in this situation.”

Contacting someone outside of the compound would be dangerous, but John was willing to risk it for her. “Is there someone—someone we could contact?”

“You’d do that?”

“I don’t remember most our life together, I won’t lie, but I remember some of it. Bits and pieces, and sometimes those little shards of memory bowl me over with the power of the emotions that come with them. I don’t remember the little details, lady, but we were something…something powerful,” he said softly, softly rubbing over he belly.

“Abe Carver,” she whispered. “We have to get ahold of him or Bo…Bo Brady, at the Salem Police Department. We can’t trust anyone else, John.” Looking at him seriously, she said again, for emphasis, “No one else.”

“I can—I can call them. I just need a number,” he said. John felt an odd sense of betrayal over what he was about to do, but then he was hit with another memory.

“We’re in this together. The only person I can depend on is you, and I want you to depend on me, okay? Promise me, John. We’re a team,” she told him, with her head resting on his chest.

“I promise, Doc. I do need you,” he said softly, kissing the top of her head.

Marlena recognized that John had just had another memory come to him, and she waited for him to say something. Her heart soared when she heard him say, “We’re a team. Right, Doc?

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

Abe was exhausted. It was after ten o’clock at night, and Lexie had already called him three times in an attempt to get him to come home. Finally deciding to call it night, he gathered his things to leave. Just as he was closing the door to his office the telephone began to ring. Sighing heavily, he walked back to his desk snatching up the receiver, and said, “Salem PD.”

“I’d like to speak with Abe Carver.”

Abe immediately recognized the voice, “John? John is that you?”

There was silence on the line, before the voice said, “Marlena said I could trust you.”

His memory was already wiped, Abe could tell from the tension and wariness in John’s voice, “Yes. Yes,we know you’re on an island near Thatch Cay. We’ve already had Tony come in undercover to gather evidence that Stefano is alive, and the two of you have been kidnapped. We’re working on a plan.”

“Tony is working with you?” John asked, confused over why Tony might do that. “Why would he?”

“Stefano’s activities have never sat well with Tony. He wanted to help. He considers Marlena a friend,” Abe told him.

“Who else?” John said, fear rising in him. He was afraid he didn’t know these people. Who could he trust? Marlena had told him only Abe Carver and Bo Brady. 

“Who else? I’m confused what you’re asking, John.”

“Who else is aware of what’s going on?”

“Bo, Caroline, Shawn, Sami, and Shane,” Abe said.

“You’ve got to tell me who the fuck these people are! I don’ know them,” John said with frustration.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, man. So, um, Caroline and Shawn are Roman and Bo’s parents. When everyone thought you were Roman, they were your parents. They’re worried about you. Bo is like a brother to you. Shane Donovan works for the ISA.”

“Who is Sami?” he asked, losing his patience at a rapidly growing rate.

“Sami is Marlena’s daughter, you raised her for seven years. She’s seventeen.”

“Why is a seventeen year old involved in this?” John asked him.

Abe started laughing, “If you had your memory you wouldn’t be asking that. Sami is quite the firecracker…she reminds me a lot of you.”

“Sami you can’t organize protests at school,” John said, kneeling down to get on her level.

“Is it because I’m still little? Because that’s dumb, Daddy. The whole project was dumb! It was a poster contest for ‘Save the Trees’ and wanted us to use PAPER!” She said with outrage.

John thought for a moment, fighting to stave off the grin that threatened to overtake his face, “You’re right. That doesn’t make much sense, I’ll admit that, but Sami, you’ve got to understand second graders don’t usually organize sit-ins.”

“They worked for Ghandi!” she shouted in outrage.

“Ghandi wasn’t eight!” John said, trying to get her to understand.

Abe was concerned when the line went silent for a long moment, “John?”

“Yeah, I’m still here. I think I just remembered something. That happens sometimes,” he said. “So, Marlena said to call you and tell you where we are, but you already know?”

“Yes, the ISA is working with Bo and Hope to come up with a plan. Hope is familiar with the layout of the compound from the time that Stefano had her.”

“Who is Hope?”

“Bo’s wife,” Abe said. Abe considered telling this new version of John about what Stefano had done to Hope, but decided it was best not to. “Listen, partner, we’re going to get you guys out of there.”

“It needs to be soon. Marlena thinks she’s pregnant. If she is, Stefano can’t find out,” John told him.

Abe was taken aback for a moment. The last he had heard Marlena had been trying to fix things with Roman, but then he remembered what he had said to Bo just a couple weeks ago. Marlena and John always grew close during these times. “Pregnant?”

“If she is, she says it’s my baby. I believe her. I don’t think she’d lie to me, anyway.”

“If Marlena says the baby is yours, it is, John. You once told me that she’s the most honest person you know.”

“I feel like that’s true. When I look in her eyes…I don’t feel like she’s lying to me,” John said. “I can’t stay on this line. I’ve got to go. I’ve been on here too long as it is. I just need to be able to tell her…is someone coming?”

“Yes. I’ll try and see if we can move up the timeline. A baby complicates things for sure, and you’re right, Stefano will not be happy with that at all. Does she know how far along she is?”

“It’s still early.”

“Can you call me back in two days? Same time?” Abe asked him, hoping that by then he would have more concrete information.

“I can,” John said, and then hung up the phone.

Abe stared at the disconnected line still dangling from his hand. Scrubbing his free hand over his face, he muttered, “Fuck…” He dialed Shane quickly. As soon as Shane answered the phone, Abe said, “Shane we’ve got a problem.”

Chapter 13

Caroline awoke around 3:00 in the morning, and was unable to go back to sleep. After checking on Belle and Brady, she headed down to the kitchen to make some tea, and read for awhile, hoping that maybe the sleep that eluded her might decide to make a return. Probably not. Sleep had been a problem ever since Abe and Shane had first briefed them all about the precarious situation that John and Marlena currently found themselves in. After the seconds briefing, Caroline now knew that John’s memory had been wiped, and he only seemed to trust Marlena, and the people she told him he could trust. In this case Bo and Abe. Remembering Abe’s conversation with them the previous morning, Caroline sighed.

“He’s scared. I could hear it in his voice, and he’s worried. It was obvious that Stefano had already reset the microchip, but it was also evident that it wasn’t completely successful. Stefano has no idea, based on the intel we received from Tony…and based on the level of frustration I noted in his voice when I mentioned people he wasn’t familiar with. I believe he was only able to recall one of you,” Abe said turning to Sami. “He remembered you.”

“Me?” she asked softly.

“Yes, he asked me who you were, and when I mentioned what a firecracker you are…he got very quiet for a moment, and then he said ‘I remembered something, that happens sometimes.’ It was you.”

Caroline recalled the fleeting joy that had crossed over her granddaughters face when Abe said John remembered her. She knew then, that Sami’s relationship with John and Marlena was not as far gone as she had feared a few months ago. Sami had been uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the morning, and throughout the day after the next bit of information.

Abe glanced around the table, obviously unsure if he should proceed. Glancing at Sami quickly, he finally decided to simply say what he needed to, “We need to come up with a plan…and quickly. John said Marlena is pregnant. Marlena told him it’s his baby, and he believes her. It was obvious from his tone that he cares about her, even if his memories aren’t very clear.”

“My Mom’s having another baby?” Sami asked Abe, softly. 

“According to John, yes. Stefano doesn’t know, and it’s still early, but they’re afraid of Stefano learning about the pregnancy. We’ve got to come up with a plan, fast. He’s calling me back tomorrow night.”

Caroline pushed the door to the kitchen open, and was surprised to find Sami sitting on the floor by the fireplace, surrounded by old photo albums. Sami looked up, and Caroline saw that she’d been crying. “Sami, honey, what are you doing down here at this time of the morning?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Sami replied absently, looking back to the album in front of her. “You know, John was a good Dad.”

“John was an excellent father, Sami,” Caroline said, approaching her granddaughter slowly.

“I haven’t allowed myself to think about it since Daddy came home. It’s like I shut it down, and didn’t allow myself to miss him,” Sami whispered, looking at a photo of her and John before one of her softball games. “When they came back from Mexico, and John said he wasn’t my Daddy…I’ve never felt pain like that before. Never. So I just shut it down. I wouldn’t think about it. I wouldn’t let myself miss him. I wouldn’t let myself love him anymore…all because it hurt too much.”

“Sami, you were allowed to love them both,” Caroline said, lowering herself to the floor beside her.

“But Mom wasn’t, and that’s how we ended up here isn’t it?”

“Your Mom and John never really resolved their feelings. Their love is a deep love. The kind you won’t fully understand until you’re an adult. Roman, your father, well, he has never been the same either. The man who returned to us, is not the same man who left us. Seven years of isolation and abuse can change a person,” Caroline murmured.

“John was always there for us, you know? He coached our sports teams, he explained why I couldn’t do crazy impulsive things, he had dinner with us…we were a family…” Sami’s voice trailed off. 

Caroline knew that Sami didn’t want to say anything bad about Roman, but Caroline also knew that her son, as much as she loved him, was a mostly absent father. His job was his main excuse. She also knew that he was overly critical of the children, and Marlena, when he was married to her. He had become hardened, and angry from his experiences with Stefano, but also because the life he’d returned to didn’t meet the idealistic expectations he’d created in his mind while he was imprisoned. Caroline reached for Sami’s chin, turning her face to look at her, “You can love them both. Sami you have enough love in you. You don’t have to pick sides, and I hope that Roman hasn’t made you feel like you need to. Your mother is going to need you when she gets home. Belle and Brady need you…and John. John misses you and Eric so much. As much as you lost, you have to remember, John lost more. You’re old enough to face this now, honey. John lost his identity, his job, and his wife…but losing you, Eric, and Carrie? That almost destroyed him.”

“It did?” Sami asked.

“It did,” Caroline said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Marlena’s skin was so soft under his hands. Stefano marveled at silkiness of her hair as the strands fell through his fingers. Slowly, he began to push the blankets down her body, exposing her skin to the full moonlight streaming in through the window. He felt his cock growing hard, as he took in the sight of her curves, the satin of her nightgown hugging her hips, and her lips open slightly in sleep. Marlena rolled over, sighing in her sleep, “John…John, I need you.”

He wanted to rage. He wanted to break things. He wanted to show Marlena who she really wanted. Stefano felt his own fists clench in anger, as he continued watching her sleep…and dream of John. He muttered to himself, “John is lost to you, Marlena. I’ve made sure of that, and you are mine now.”

“John,” she murmured. “I love you…I love you…”

He felt his hands fist into the soft yellow fabric of her nightgown, dragging it up her long legs, exposing her skin to him an inch at a time. She needed to know. He had to show her that she was his. He jerked the fabric violently, the force of it waking Marlena with a sharp cry. She was confused, disoriented, until her eyes landed on Stefano standing beside her bed. She scrambled for something to cover her body, but Stefano wrestled the blankets away from her.

“Stop! Stop it!” she screamed in abject fear.

“You sleep in my house, under my hospitality, and you dream of a man who is gone!” Stefano raged. “The John Black you knew is dead! Dead!” He roared, pulling at the thin straps to her nightgown, and ripping them from her shoulders.

Her hands kept the fabric up, covering her breasts. Struggling to keep her wits about her, Marlena hissed, “I fucking hate you! I hate you! I will never want you, and as long as I still breath, I will never give up on John!”

He reached forward, tearing the fabric of her bodice out of her hands, and baring her breasts to him. She had beautiful breasts, with full, rosy peaks, and his mouth watered at the thought of biting them. Marlena saw the look in his eyes, and screamed, rolling away from him, and hurrying off of the bed, “Get away from me! Get away!”

“I don’t rape women, Marlena, although I admit, the thought of it with you intrigues me,” Stefano drawled. “But you, my dear Dr. Evans, you will come to me willingly,” Stefano said, watching her scramble into a nearby corner. “When we make love, you will finally know the depth of my love for you.”

“Never. Never!” she shrieked at him, warily watching him from across the room. “I’d rather die.”

“You’ll change your mind, Marlena. Once you realize that John is truly lost to you, and all you have in this world is me. You will come to me willingly, and I will make love to your sweet body for hours,” Stefano murmured, looking over her nearly naked skin as she huddled in the corner. “Besides, John won’t get involved in my love affairs. He’s very well trained.” He turned, and left the room, the door closing with a soft snick behind him.

Stefano had just exited her room, and he was surprised when John came casually around the corner. “John, it’s rather early for you to up,” Stefano said, watching him, and wondering if it was merely a coincidence that John was there right then.

“You know, I sometimes don’t sleep well,” John said blandly, as if he was bored. In actually, Marlena’s scream had traveled down the long hallway, waking John from his sleep. His heart was racing, and he needed to see her. He needed to know that she was unhurt.

“Since you’re here,” Stefano said, tossing the key to Marlena’s room at him. “Lock her door, and instruct the staff to leave it locked. I want all of her meals delivered. She will see no one but me, do you understand?”

“I do,” John said, catching the key. He struggled to stay calm, to maintain the bored affect of his face. Stefano could not know about John’s growing affection for the woman on the other side of that door. 

He watched Stefano stalk down the hall, and waited several minutes before he entered the room, going quickly to where Marlena huddled in the corner. John kneeled down before her. His hand carefully tipped her chin up, so she was looking at him. Her clothing was torn, and her eyes were swollen from crying, “Doc, honey, I have to lock your door…I’ll be back though. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

John watched her face for a long moment, her hazel, tear filled eyes, gazing at him with all of the love and trust she possessed. He was rocked to his core by a sense of love so strong, it nearly bowled him over. He barely knew her, but he would die for this woman. John leaned forward, and kissed her forehead, whispering, “I’ll be right back.”

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

Several minutes later, Marlena wasn’t sure exactly how long it was, she found herself being gathered into John’s arm, and taken through a panel in the wall. She didn’t have the energy to question it, she simply slipped her arms around his neck, and absorbed the strength of the man holding her. Once John had her in the attic he laid her on a set of soft blankets and several pillows, gently running his fingers over her face. Reaching for the water he had brought for her, John cradled her body against his, and whispered, “Drink, Marlena. I can’t have you going into shock.” He watched her drink greedily, and settle her head against his chest. 

John started talking softly in her ear, “I’m calling your friend Abe back tonight. Hopefully, they’ll have a plan in place for getting us out of here. I told him…I told him about the baby.”

Finally, Marlena spoke, “You did?”

“I did. I wanted them to know that your safety, and the safety of this child, should be a priority.”

Marlena threaded her fingers through John’s, and splayed his palm over her abdomen. “Our last day at Maison Blanche…we knew that Stefano was going to bring us here, and separate us. We’d been together in the dungeon for weeks. You talking of your love for Kristen. Me talking of trying to fix my marriage to Roman, but the whole time leaning on each other for support. I never stopped loving you after our affair. I realized that the longer Stefano held us. He would take you away for hours, and return you to me covered in bruises, and cuts,” she said. “You’d be delirious from the drugs, and…one time you looked at me…you said, ‘I love you…I’ve always love you. I will die loving you’. It broke my heart, John. I remember thinking, what did it all mean, if we were both still wanting each other? When did we get to make each other happy, and stop living our lives to make everyone else happy?” Marlena was silent for a moment, before she started speaking again, “Stefano locked us in a room together, telling us to make ourselves presentable before our flight here, and I decided, I was done fighting for something I didn’t want anymore. I was done fighting for Roman, when that love died back in 1984. I wanted you…this baby, John, this baby was conceived that day, and I don’t regret it. I don’t regret loving you…and even though you don’t truly remember me, I will never give up on you…or our love.”

“I feel things for you, all the time. I worry about your safety, especially here. I heard you scream, and it woke me up. I wanted to kill Stefano, but I have to pretend. I have to keep pretending that I don’t care about you. I can’t show concern for you. He can’t know, because while he’s dangerous now…knowing that would make him lethal,” John told her. “I promised you he wouldn’t touch you…but here you are with your clothing torn, and I know…I know he tried to do something.”

Marlena sat up, turning to face him, the fabric of her nightgown falling slightly to reveal the curve to her breasts. “I was dreaming about you…and he was watching me, I guess. I must have said your name. I woke up to him standing over me in rage. He had pulled the blankets off of me, and was pulling at my nightgown…tearing it.”

John touched her cheek softly, catching her tears on his thumbs as they swept over her face, “I’m sorry he did that. I’m sorry he was able to do that.”

“Kiss me,” she whispered, leaning closer to him.

John’s large palm swept over her bare shoulder, as he looked into her eyes, “Are you sure?”

“Yes…kiss me,” she said.

John’s mouth leaned in, lightly grazing her lips. His tongue swept over her mouth, and his soft lips sucked on hers. “You taste so good, Marlena,” he rasped against her, as his fingers swept over the soft skin of her shoulders. “When I kiss you…it’s like I can almost remember…almost. You taste like memories.”

“I want you to remember me…us, our life together. I want that so much,” she said, licking along his neck, and threading her fingers in his hair. She pulled herself up, straddling his body, while their mouths nipped, and sucked at each other. After long moments, Marlena leaned back, almost breathless, and told him, “I want to forget Stefano, this place, Maison Blanche. I’m so tired of fighting him, John. So tired…”

“I brought you some clothes,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers, trying to ground himself, when all he wanted to go was make love to her in the soft nest of blankets he had created here in the attic. When he looked down he saw her breasts, uncovered, heaving against him, and remembered another time.

The glow from the fireplace danced across Marlena’s skin, as she slowly rode his cock. John thought he might be overcome from the intense emotion and love he felt for her. His memory was limited, less than a year, but he loved her. He loved her with everything in him. Finding out he was Roman, that he was not Stefano, had opened up a new world for him. Marlena, the children, his job…he’d never been so happy. Sitting up, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, rolling his hips with hers, slowly. “I love you, Doc,” he moaned against her skin. “I love you…”

“I remembered something.”

Her hazel eyes sucked him in, while her fingers lightly traced his face. “What?” she whispered.

“Us. In front of a fireplace…you were…you were…” John’s voice caught in his throat, tight with arousal, and his hands gripped her hips tightly, pulling her hips hard against his burgeoning cock. Catching his fingers up in the satin fabric around her waist, his face dipped into her neck, sucking lightly at the skin there. 

Marlena’s center throbbed with the beat of her heart, and her head rolled back giving him greater access to her neck, until she felt his mouth on her breast. Laving his tongue over her nipple and pulling it into his mouth, John groaned into her. Marlena moaned loudly, “John…”

“G-d, woman, I want you so bad. I dream about you constantly. I don’t know what’s real…or what’s imagined, but I want it,” he said looking into her eyes. “I want all of it. I want weekend vacations where I teach you to pick locks, I want pancakes with the children, and Christmas morning’s with you. I want it all.”

“How much have you remembered?”

“I don’t know…it’s all jumbled. There’s no order to it. The emotions are chaotic, the memories are chaotic, but one thing is steady through it all…you.”

“Have you remembered anything that doesn’t involve me?”

“Carrie…skating, softball games, helping her get ready for a date…Sami, a dance class, a protest…beating up a boy…”

Marlena started laughing, “Sami was involved in a protest?”

John smiled, “Sami organized a protest.”

“Do you remember Eric?”

“The boy? Yeah, helping him with his homework, and baseball. But I also think I remember Brady…”

“What about Belle? Do you remember Belle?” Marlena asked him.

“I remember wishing she was mine…” he whispered. “When she was born, and you held her in your arms. I ran my finger over her soft hair, and I ached with wanting her to be mine.

“She is yours…we found out later, she’s yours,” Marlena said. “I didn’t know that you’d recalled so much.”

“Only things about you, and the children, but not really anything else. Enough to know, I was happy. I was so happy…”

“We’re going to figure this out, John. We’re a team, remember? You and me.”

“A team,” John said smiling. “Yeah, I remember…”

“I love you…I’m never giving up on you. We’re going to make it out of here, and raise this baby…together, John.”

“You’re beautiful, Doc. Everything about you is beautiful.” He leaned forward, cupping her face in his hands, and whispered, “So fucking beautiful” as he leaned in to kiss her again, licking across the seam of her lips.

Marlena was quiet for a long while, before she sighed, and said, “I have to go back. I heard what he said to you about locking me in. If he checks, or if he has the staff check…I have to be there.”

“I know. I know, but, fuck, I don’t want to leave you in there. Let me show you the secret panel and how it works. If there’s an emergency, you can use it to get out.”

“I should have known there was a secret passageway,” she murmured, taking John’s hand and rising to her feet.

“I’m calling Abe Carver back tonight,” he said. “They have enough brains working on a plan. They’ll figure this out.”

“Enough brains? Who exactly is involved in this, John?”

“Bo, and Abe, and then some other people…um, Shawn, Caroline, Shane—”

“Shane Donovan?”

“I don’t know. Abe said he’s with the ISA.”

“Then it’s Shane Donovan. Was there someone else?” she asked him, as she followed him to a secret passageway at the back of the attic.

John turned and smiled at her, “Yeah…Sami.”

“Sami! Who allowed her to get involved in this?”

“If she’s anything like I remember when she was younger…they didn’t have much choice,” John said with a smirk.

Chapter 14

Abe sat at his desk with Shane and Bo waiting for the telephone call from John. He was getting nervous because it was almost a half an hour past the scheduled time. When the phone finally rang, his heart was in in his throat. Lunging for the telephone, he snatched it up, saying,“Salem Police Department, Abe Carver.”

“Abe, it’s John.”

“I was getting worried partner,” Abe said, sighing in relief.

“I had to make sure that Stefano was out of the area,” he replied. “Is there a plan? Marlena started having morning sickness this morning. She told Stefano it was stress. I would like to get her out of here.”

“Just her? Or you too?” Abe asked him.

“I’m not sure. Stefano needs to be handled.”

“Handled? John, that’s what we’re doing on this end. That’s why the ISA is involved,” Abe said. “We don’t need you to handle anything. You can’t do anything brash. Marlena needs you. That’s got to be where your focus is. She can’t be left alone. It’s simply too dangerous for her to be left by herself at that juncture.”

“She’s tired Abraham. She’s so fucking tired of running from him. She can’t keep looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life. If I handled things on this end, she wouldn’t have to,” John told him.

Abe smiled at John calling him Abraham. The man was more like his old self than he realized. “Please, John, let the ISA handle this. Please. They’ve already had two operatives on the premises for the past two days.”

“What?” John asked, while at the same time remembering the new steward he saw on the service stairs just that morning.

“The raid starts at sundown tomorrow. I need you to focus on Marlena, and nothing else. You need to get her to a safe neutral location. Can you think of a place?”

“Yes.”

Abe waited, and realized John wasn’t going to tell him where it was, “John, I’m going to need to know where you are when everything is said and done.” John remained silent, causing Abe to say, “Look, partner, I know you don’t know me. Hell, you have no reason to trust me, but Marlena had you contact me for a reason, and you have to trust that.”

“The attic,” John said. 

“Okay, that’s good. Does the compound have secret passageways throughout?”

“All of Stefano’s properties do. He also has video cameras in all of the common areas, and certain living quarters.”

“Do Marlena’s quarters have cameras?” Abe asked.

“No.”

“Okay, Shane is here from the ISA, and he needs to brief you on what we’ve learned about you and Gina.”

“Fine, but make it quick. I can’t stay on the line.”

“John, it’s Shane. I’m going to say this as fast as possible. Hope Brady was with Stefano for four years. Stefano was controlling her using a mind mapping technology. While she was with him she believed she was Gina Von Amberg—”

“Gina’s gone,” John said.

“I understand that, but Hope looks identical to Gina. She was carrying out art heists, as well as painting counterfeits the majority of the time she was with Stefano. She was also posing as Gina in Europe during that time.”

“The Cézanne?” John asked. He had wondered who had painted it, because while it was identical to a Cézanne, he could tell it wasn’t one of Gina’s.

“Exactly,” Shane said. “We know that you carried out the last heist. Interpol does not want you John. They understand the situation. They want Stefano. They want the stolen paintings back.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Does she still believe she’s Gina?”

“No, the chip was removed. I need you to know, John, that you also have a microchip wired into your nervous system. It’s in your neck,” Shane said.

“That’s how he does it? That’s why I have huge chunks of memory missing? Why I can’t remember anything before the age of twenty…why I can’t remember Marlena?”

“Yes. We removed Hope’s, and she remembers everything. All of her memories, and all of Gina’s memories,” Shane said.

“Will that happen for me?”

“Possibly. We don’t know for sure. We hope so, because Hope’s testimony was vital. Her cooperation with the ISA and Interpol are why she’s still free.”

“I’ve got to go. Tomorrow at sundown, you know where we’ll be,” John said.

Shane stared at the telephone, “He hung up.”

Abe started laughing, “He’s not one for the finer points of socialization, is he?”

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

Sami was woken early the next morning to find Brady tugging on her braid, saying, “Sissy. Sissy.”

Groaning she rolled to face him, “Brady, it’s Sami. My name is Sami.”

He climbed onto the bed beside her, touching his hand on her cheek, and said, “You tell me a story?”

She reached for him, pulling him towards her, and wrapped the small boy in her arms, saying, “What kind of story?”

“I don’ care,” Brady said with a small lisp, followed immediately by a huge yawn. 

“You know, Brady, Mama used to tell me stories when I was small.”

“She did. What kine? You tell me?”

Sami remembered cuddling into her mother with Eric, shortly after Marlena’s return, and her telling them a story to distract them from a summer thunderstorm. “Okay, let me see if I remember it…Once upon a time, there was a damsel in distress, that’s a lady who’s in trouble, and she was being held far away, against her will. She was very unhappy, because she missed her knight in shining armor, and her two beautiful children. One day, she escaped, and she made her way home to the people that she loved. Then her knight in shining armor went after the evil man that held her captive, and then the knight…and the lady, and their two beautiful children lived happily ever after…”

“Mama said that story to Sissy?”

“She did.”

“ Mama come home to us soon? Mama and Daddy come home to Brady, Belle, and Sissy. Right?” Brady asked her.

“Yes, Brady. Mama’s going to come home,” Sami whispered against his head. “Now snuggle in with me, and go back to sleep. It’s not even 6:00 in the morning.”

“O’tay.”

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

John had just finished hiding two handguns in the attic, when he heard Marlena’s soft footsteps behind him, “It’s late, Doc. You should be asleep.”

“I should be, but I’m not,” she said to him. “What are you doing?”

“I hid a couple handguns. One behind that crate,” he said pointing to the corner. “And the other under the pillows. After talking to Abe and Shane…I just felt like I should,” he said.

“Guns? Are they necessary?”

“They don’t want me involved at all. My sole job is to be up here, with you, and keep you safe. So, yes, Marlena, the guns are necessary. I’ll kill anyone who tries to get to you,” he said. 

Marlena saw something in his eyes that she’d never seen before, a glint of determination. He was serious. He would kill for her. He would likely die for her if he had to. Stepping closer, she laid her palm on his chest, and whispered, “Okay. Are you going to tell me the plan?”

“I don’t know the plan. Abraham told me that at sundown I need to bring you here, and wait. That’s what I’m going to do.”

“That all he said?”

“Shane said some things,” he said vaguely. 

“What kind of things?” she asked. She knew he was being intentionally vague. 

John sighed, knowing, somehow, that she wouldn’t stop asking until he told her. “Hope apparently thought she was Gina for the four years she was with Stefano. She painted counterfeits for Stefano, and committed art heists alone,” John said.

“Hope? Hope can’t even drawn a straight line,” Marlena said.

“Well, now she can paint counterfeit masterpieces.”

“How?”

“Stefano had a computer chip implanted into her nervous system. He used it to control her. Apparently, I do too. It’s why I’m missing blocks of time. It’s why my earliest memory is at the age of twenty, with a ten-year-old Kristen following me around like an annoying leech,” John said with derision. 

Marlena started laughing, “I guess I could see why the idea of a relationship with her might turn your stomach.”

“Tomorrow, Doc, I need you to be up here at sundown. I’ll try to be here too. I’ll do everything in my power to meet you here. If I don’t. If, G-d forbid, something happens…do you know how to use a gun?”

Marlena remembered being in the eaves of the opera house, and shooting Stefano. “I do. I…I shot Stefano once.”

“You did? When?”

“Early 1985…”

John stared at her in awe. He’d treated Stefano for that gunshot wound. He’d been in Chicago, with Gina. They had just finished another job. John couldn’t believe that someone had gotten close enough to shoot Stefano, and when he’d asked him what had happened, Stefano had responded with, “I underestimated someone.”

“I treated his wound…in Chicago,” John whispered. 

“You did? We thought he was dead…for years. I went on trial for his murder,” she said.

“Why? Why did you shoot him?”

“I wanted to stop him…from hurting other people. From destroying other families. I wanted him die, because he’d taken Roman from me. He’d killed Roman,” she said softly.

A flash of a man in a hospital bed, hooked up to monitors, came to him quickly. “I saw Roman once,” he told her, sitting down heavily near the wall.

“What?”

“He was in a coma. Completely unconscious. I didn’t know his name, but I remember the face. I can match it with memories I have now. Rolf had him hooked up to life support machines. He had a cap on his head with sensors that plugged into a computer,” John paused for a moment, and then the realization hit him. “That’s when they did it. That’s when they were mapping his memories…to use them on me.”

“When I met you, you knew very little. Even once we all assumed you were Roman, you still only ever remembered a small amount of information.”

“That was 1985. Hope’s procedure was done almost ten years later,” he said.

“I’m sure that Stefano had almost perfected the system by then…”

“Maybe…maybe not. It’s just, I thought, I thought that man died,” John told her.

“Died? That can’t be. He returned in 1991. Stefano had kept him captive in San Cristobal for seven years.”

“That doesn’t fit, though, Doc. Stefano doesn’t do that type of thing. I know him, and keeping someone for seven years…never doing anything with them. That would be a waste of resources, and Stefano doesn’t waste resources…are you sure that the man who came back in 1991 is Roman?”

Marlena gasped, looking up at John. She thought of all the times Roman had been rough with her when he was angry. The anger, the verbal rants, the criticism that came from him on a near constant basis. The way he pushed his family away. All of it completely out of character. All of it was behavior that the Roman of 1984 would never have done, but given his experiences with Stefano…his family assumed that the Roman who returned in 1991 would do those things. They thought it was all a trauma response, but what if it wasn’t?

John leaned towards her, and asked her again, “Are you sure that the man in Salem is Roman?”

“No. No, I’m not,” she whispered.

Chapter 15

The ISA assault on the compound had started before sundown. John was far from the house, when he heard the first shots ring out from the beach. He’d been doing his scheduled rounds to check the compounds security system. All he knew was that she was alone, and scared, and that broke his heart. He never wanted her to feel like she couldn’t depend on him. Getting back to the house took longer than it should have because he had to dodge around skirmishes along the way. “How many people did they bring?” He muttered, backtracking again, and deciding to take the tunnels under the house.

Halfway down the tunnel John came face to face with four armed individuals. He waited as they stared at him. If he was going to die, this wasn’t the way he imagined going. Finally looking up, his eyes landed on a familiar face. “Gina?” he whispered.

“Fuck! Shane, didn’t you tell him?” one of the men shouted.

“Of course, I told him, Bo!” Shane replied. “You were there!”

“He’s just surprised. That’s all,” Hope said.

John continued to stare at the women he now knew was Hope. “You look just like her…” he said. Shaking his head quickly, he said, “I have to go. Now.” He started to go around, when one of them grabbed his arm.

“Where is Stefano?”

John looked at the man for a moment, and realized it was Abe. He knew him. “I don’t know, partner. You guys started early. You started to fucking early!” He said with frustration. “I have to go!”

Abe watched John sprint down the tunnel, which he knew headed to the house. He smiled to himself, happy to note that recognition had flashed across John’s face.

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

Stefano unlocked the door to Marlena’s room and found it empty. He was enraged, and frantic to find her. He was determined that he wouldn’t leave the compound without her, yet he knew that there were a million places to hide in this house. He’d made sure of that. Forcing himself to calm down and think, he stood in the middle of the room, and wracked his brain trying to think of where she could be. Where would she hide? Where was the closest place for her to hide? Then he realized that the stairs to the attic were at the end of the hall. With a smile that was anything but friendly, Stefano exited Marlena’s room, and made his way down the hall. 

Marlena was petrified. Her body was shaking as she huddled in the corner of the attic, the gun grasped tightly in her small hand. “John should have been here by now,” she whispered to herself. The sun had already gone down, and she didn’t think she’d be able to protect herself in the dark. “Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?” she whispered, mostly to calm herself. The sounds of shouting and gunfire had made their way closer and closer to the house, making her already frayed nerves ready to break. “I need him. Oh, G-d, I need him,” she prayed softly. “Please.”

She heard the door to the attic creak open, and knew immediately that it wasn’t John. John had already told her that he wouldn’t enter that way. He was supposed to come in through the secret panel in the wall, directly beside her. She cowered closer into the corner, thinking to herself, “Fuck, fuck, fuck…”, followed by, “I can do this. For me. For John. For this baby…I can fucking do this…”

Heavy footsteps moved closer, towards the center of the attic. It wasn’t John, she knew that. It wasn’t until she heard his voice that she knew who it was. “Marlena, you cannot hide from me forever.” She stayed silent, barely breathing for fear that he might hear her. “You might as well come out, my darling. There is no one here to help you. We are leaving,” Stefano said, stepping closer to where she was hiding. “It’s only a matter of time before I find you.”

Stefano stepped closer to the corner, where he knew she was hiding. He heard a faint sound, a shuffle, as if she was trying to make herself smaller, and push herself deeper into the corner. He felt a thrill roll through his body at the idea of her fear. He enjoyed it, especially knowing that her attempt to hide from him was futile. “We are alone, Marlena. There is no one here to help you. No one, and I can promise you…if you don’t cooperate, I won’t hesitate to kill John. I know you think you love him, but I will kill him while you watch…and enjoy it,” he said, slowly stepping closer to where he knew she was.

Marlena’s heart was breaking. Her soul was shattering. She couldn’t take it anymore. The running from Stefano. The constant threat that at any moment John, or someone she loved would fall victim to him, it was all taking a toll, and she was no longer willing to pay the price. She rose slowly from where she was hiding, stepping forward with the gun aimed at his chest. “I’m done, Stefano. I’m done with your games. Even if I die right now…I’ll die knowing that I faced you,” she said, barely above a whisper.

Stefano was surprised to see her with a gun. Knowing that he was unarmed made the situation much more dangerous than he had anticipated. “Where did you get the gun, Marlena?”

“Maybe, you shouldn’t give guests with lock picking skills the freedom to roam your house,” she said sarcastically, lying easily about how she had the gun in her possession, and never wavering with the gun aimed at his chest. She knew that Stefano had, again, underestimated her. 

“Ah, yes. And where, pray tell, did you learn these skills?” He asked her

“As if you need to ask me that,” she said, stepping closer to him. “I’m a better shot than I used to be too,” she said, cocking the gun. “I’m a very good shot.”

John heard the conversation between Marlena and Stefano. She hadn’t given him up. She’d lied about where she’d gotten the gun. John could make this scenario work to his advantage. He could end it all right here. Slowly, he started to slide the panel open.

Stefano was becoming more fearful that his life might actually end, when he and Marlena heard the soft scraping of the wall panel behind Marlena. Stefano actually sighed in relief. What he didn’t know was that Marlena sighed in relief as well. John stepped through the opening in the wall, watching Stefano and Marlena carefully.

“John, get the gun from her before she kills me,” Stefano ordered. He watched with satisfaction when John turned, quickly disarming Marlena. She fell to the floor with a cry of defeat, as Stefano continued to stand there, smugly. “We need to go, John. We need to go quickly. Grab her.” Looking to Marlena, he told her, “I will deal with you later.”

“You deserve to die, you know,” John said in a low and lethal tone.

Stefano turned back to John, “John, what are you rambling on about? We need to leave…now.”

“But I won’t let your life be in Doc’s hands. I won’t let your blood be on her,” John said.

A dawning realization came over Stefano, as he whispered, “Doc?”

“Nickname’s are a funny thing aren’t they?” John said with a sly smirk. “Highly personal things.”

Marlena reached for John’s leg, afraid of what was about to happen, “John don’t.”

“You see, I’m a mixture of three men,” John continued. “There’s the man you trained me to be…a mercenary, a cold blooded killer, and then there’s the man I became, a father, a husband…and cop, and then there’s the man I was until a month ago.”

“You belong to me!” Stefano said loudly.

“I belong to myself!” John roared back at him. “No one owns me! No one controls me!”

Again Marlena reached for John from her place on the floor. She was scared to take her eyes off of Stefano, for fear of what he might do, but she also knew that John…the John she loved…wasn’t fully himself right now. “John, don’t do this…”

“For years you dictated what I was. Who I was. I killed on your orders. I stole on your orders, and when I fell in love…you ripped me from her arms. You gave me a new life, and a new family, and when I loved them…when I loved them so much I couldn’t imagine my life without them…you took that away too!” John said.

“You are given what I choose to give you! I created you! This is your punishment,” Stefano told him, his eyes dilated with barely suppressed rage. 

“Punishment for what?”

“Punishment for going against me! Punishment for getting involved in affairs that were never yours to meddle in!” Stefano was stalling for time. John knew he was stalling for time. He was hoping that one of his men might still come to find him, and somehow end this standoff with John, but John knew…no one was coming. “You were young. A priest in training who couldn’t mind his own business. One of the tenants of priesthood is that the confessional is sacred!”

A memory came to him, a memory of Rachel crying over his hands, on her knees…she was sobbing, and begging him for help. John looked to Stefano and said very softly, almost deadly, “The confessional isn’t sacred if you’re not a priest.”

Stefano’s eyes widened in shock, with the realization that John wasn’t just remembering his time with Marlena, but also his time before Marlena.

John stepped just out of Marlena’s reach, looking Stefano in the eyes, and he said, “I am not a priest. I never made it that far, did I? I am not Roman Brady. I’m not even John Black…that’s just a moniker I took off the wall of a soup kitchen. I won’t kill you, but I’ll make damned sure, you won’t be hurting the people I love again.” John tipped the gun downwards, shooting twice in quick succession, and watching without emotion as Stefano DiMira crumpled to the floor shrieking in agony.

Marlena watched in slow motion as John shot Stefano once in each of his knees, shattering the bone, and crippling him for life. She didn’t feel anything in her, except relief. She felt immense relief. She started sobbing, and gasping for air, as John lifted her into his arms, intending to take her from the attic, and leave Stefano behind. Just as he lifted her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, Bo, Abe, Shane, and Hope came bounding through the door to the attic.

John looked at the four of them calmly, and said, “He won’t be walking again. I should have killed him.”

Bo said quietly, “Why didn’t you?”

John was silent for a moment, then finally he whispered, “I don’t want Doc to think of me like that.”

Chapter 16

Marlena’s eyes fluttered open the following morning. She scanned the room, taking in the dark furnishings and the wine colored decor. The room was unfamiliar, but it smelled of John. Spicy musk filled her senses. She rolled over, burying her face in a pillow, and inhaling the scent, with a smile. The sound of a shower running let her know that John was nearby, and she found herself thinking over the chaos of the night before. John shooting Stefano, and his cries of agony. The shock on their friends faces as they stumbled upon the scene. Marlena had been exhausted, physically and emotionally. She was certainly too exhausted to speak to them, or even process what had happened. She remembered burying her face in John’s neck, and crying softly. Taking her strength from him, and being so grateful to have him in her life, in whatever capacity she could have him. John had simply nodded at the group, and taken her from the attic without another word. She recalled him carrying her slowly down the stairs, and she must have fallen asleep almost immediately. She had only the vaguest recollection of his whispered words, telling her to sleep, and him placing soft kisses across her brow.

John leaned, with his hands against the shower wall, breathing deeply and allowing the stream of hot water to beat upon his neck. His feelings for the woman in his bed were becoming more and more complicated. He felt like he was falling in love with her, but his memories of their life before were complicating things. He wasn’t sure whether his feelings for her were how he currently felt, or how he used to feel. Rolling his head back and forth, attempting to release some of the tension he held there, he saw in his mind a pier…and fog.

“Roman!” A soft, feminine voice called out. He froze in place for a moment, convinced he hadn’t heard it. Turning slowly toward the voice…her voice, he stared into the dense fog, trying to make out who it was. But how? He stood still, afraid to move, afraid to hope it was her, because he knew it couldn’t be, but yet his heart might break again if it wasn’t. She stepped out of the haze, like a vision. An improbable vision. John stepped closer. The light from the streetlamp glimmered off of her blonde hair, and the tears streaming down her face shimmered on her cheeks, and still he stood there, frozen in shock…and fear that he was imagining everything. 

Then he heard her again. Her voice, as clear as day. “It’s Marlena,” she said, with the sound of a sob in her voice, indicating that she was as overwhelmed as he was.

He studied her from across the pier. Fear and longing racing through his body. He wanted to run to her, grab her, and hold her body against him. He stepped closer, saying on a whisper, “No…”

She approached him, while he stood there awe struck, unable to do anything but hope, and pray, that this was not a figment of his imagination. Hope that the women standing in front of him was the same woman he had mourned for years. When she finally stood in front of him, she gazed into his eyes, and whispered, “Yes…”

He tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come to him. Tremors wracked his body, while he slowly raised his fingers to touch her, because touching her was the only way he could ensure himself that she was real. That he wasn’t imagining this. When his skin brushed over hers, she gasped out another sob, and John cried out, “Doc! It’s you! Oh, my G-d! Doc, it’s you!”

Marlena rushed into his arms, weeping profusely. The feel of her slight frame, the scent of her hair, and her skin, all enveloped him, creating sensory overload. He could barely breath, as he gripped her so tightly for fear that if he let her go, all of this would be gone. This moment with her would disappear. John realized he was gasping for air, as he said, “Oh, my G-d! Oh, my G-d!” He stared at the stands of her blonde hair as he threaded his fingers through it, praying that this was real. Praying with everything he had that this moment was real.

Staring into her hazel eyes, his lips found hers on their own. Licking and biting his way across her mouth, the taste of her bringing him home to something he had lost so long ago, and had craved with every part of himself for years. In between soft kisses, he moaned, “Doc. Doc. My, Doc…”

John shuddered in the shower as the water began to turn cold, pulling him from the deepest recesses of his memory. Just as John stepped out of the shower, and finished wrapping a towel around his hips, he heard a soft knock on the bathroom door.

The bathroom door opened, steam and moist heat rolling out across Marlena’s skin. She looked into John’s deep indigo eyes for a moment, before she said, “Hi.”

He smirked at her, “Hi.”

“I, um, I-I need to use the restroom,” she said shyly. 

He waited for her. He couldn’t say why, but he found himself standing outside of the bathroom door, waiting for her to exit. He needed her near him. When she opened the door, John attempted to step out of her way, but Marlena still managed to trip over him, and fall into his chest. Looking up at him, she got lost for a moment, before saying, “I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know what made him do it. Maybe it was the memory of their pier reunion that he’d had in the shower. Maybe it was his mixed up, convoluted emotions, causing him to reach for her. Whatever it was, it was out of John’s control, as his arm wound its way around her hips, and pulled her closer, while his hand swept a piece of hair back off of her face. “You’re a beautiful woman, Marlena,” he whispered in a husky voice.

“Thank you,” she whispered in response.

Without further thought, he was kissing her. Kissing her like it was their first kiss, their last kiss, every kiss they’d ever had, in one perfect moment. He couldn’t get enough of her perfect mouth. His tongue swept over her in a desperate attempt to memorize the taste of her. Every time he had kissed her, or immersed himself in her scent, he felt a memory…one that would change everything, just out of reach. He wanted so badly to grasp onto that, but as he kissed her, his mind continued to chase it. Roughly, he rolled her body, her back hitting the wall beside the bathroom with a thump. “I can’t figure it out. You drive me crazy…so fucking crazy…” he said desperately. Leaning his forehead on hers, and breathing roughly, he whispered, “But why, Doc? Why?”

“Because you love me. You know you do, John. Your mind is reaching for me…because you love me, and a love like ours…that’s forever, baby,” she said softly. “It’s forever.”

He groaned, leaning into her, and falling into her eyes, “I think I do…”

Marlena smiled, “Because you promised me, John. You promised me, and your heart remembered…we can work on the rest.”

John’s hand moved up along the curve of her hip. She had slept in one of his old shirts, and his fingers caught the hem, as they traveled up over her body. Making its way up under the shirt, his hands gripped her hips, while his finger slowly moved under the waistband of her panties. “I want you so bad,” he whispered.

Marlena debated whether she should do this. He didn’t fully remember their life together, or their love, but she wanted him. She needed him. She needed that connection with him on a spiritual level. He wanted her, and their love was undeniable. She moved her hands to remove the bath towel from John’s waist, letting it fall to the floor, and she said to him, “I want you too, Sailor.”

“Sailor? I feel like you’ve called me that a thousand times before.”

“Maybe,” she said with a smirk as her hands threaded themselves though the hair on his chest, pulling at it, and causing a thrill of arousal filled pain to shoot up his spine.

John felt the towel around his feet, and his cock lengthening against her abdomen. He needed to feel her skin against him. John kissed her mouth softly, licking across her pillowy soft lips, moaning, “I need you, Doc. I need you so bad.”

“Take me. I’m yours, John. I have always been yours,” she whispered.

John got very quiet for a moment. Marlena recognized the look on his face. He was remembering something.

“It’s just…you’re so much a part of my life,” she said through her tears. “I don’t know what I…I don’t know what I would do…if you weren’t.”

John watched as she struggled to hold herself together, taking gasping breaths and running her fingers over her face. “Doc,” he said softly. “Hey, come on…don’t be unhappy. It’s the last thing I want—”

“—this doesn’t make you unhappy at all?” she yelled in a panic.

He couldn’t take it anymore. The idea of losing her, potentially forever…how was he going to cope with that? He couldn’t allow her to continue to think that he was okay, because he wasn’t. He was anything but okay. “I’m past that, Doc!” he roared helplessly. “I’m free falling! With just the idea that I am never going to see you again. I’m never going to hear you laugh, I’m never going to smell your perfume, and I’m never going to touch you,” he said fiercely, reaching for her hand, and squeezing her fingers tightly.

“Oh, G-d!” Marlena cried out, and it broke him. Without thought, without consideration for the fall out, he pulled her into him. His lips found hers, tasting of salty tears, and desperation, and he knew there was no going back. She was his. She would always be his, no matter what.

He came back to himself slowly, and found Marlena’s incredible hazel eyes looking at him with concern. His hands still gripped her hips, and her hands still rested on his chest. John whispered to her, “I love you.”

“I know,” she whispered back.

“I remembered…on the plane. I was so fucking scared to lose you…the pain was incredible. It was consuming, Doc.”

“I remember. We had moments, John. Amazing moments, but now I want more than that. I want more than mere moments with you, I want a lifetime,” she murmured, resting her cheek on his chest.

John gently lifted her in his arms, and walked her towards the bed. “I want a lifetime with you…I need you…”

“Make love to me…please,” Marlena whispered.

His lips found her neck sucking gently along the slope towards her shoulder where he bit at her skin softly. His hands pushed the shirt up over her hips, and pulled it over her head. “You’re fucking gorgeous, lady,” he told her before his head dipped to take her nipple into his mouth. “You’re amazing…” he murmured biting at her sensitive skin.

“John, oh, G-d! John,” she cried out, bucking her hips against his. “I need you…”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked her, pulling back slightly. “I don’t want you to regret it.”

“I won’t, John. I won’t. Never with you,” she said, her voice filled with arousal. “Never with you.”

Slipping between her legs, he slid the length of his cock along her center, making them both moan deeply. “You feel so good. So hot, and wet for me…I could just slide right into you, baby.”

“Do it, John. Please, make love to me,” she whispered, pulling his mouth back to hers.

John entered her body at an excruciatingly slow pace, enjoying the torture he was putting them both through. He wasn’t going to rush this. As soon as he was as deep within her body, as he could possibly go, John rolled his hips, roughly bumping her clit, and causing her to cry out, “Please, John! Please.”

“You want it hard, Marlena? Because my body is screaming for it.”

“Yes. Yes…please,” she nearly whined in frustration.

Pinning her arms over her head, John sucked on her neck roughly, and began to pound into her. “I’m not going to last long. I can’t…you feel so fucking amazing, Doc.” Marlena’s fingers found their way to her clit, rubbing over the nub roughly, while John’s cock continued to move within her in a rhythm as old as time. “Pinch your clit, Doc. Pinch it hard. I’m so close and I want you with me.”

Marlena pinched her clit, rubbing over it, and then pinching it again. She was close, so close she thought the bliss of it all might overtake her. John suddenly sat back on his haunches, pulling her body on top of him, and as he held her hips, driving into her, he bit at the skin of her breasts, driving her over the edge. “I love you,” she cried. “I love you.”

Chapter 17

Roman sat on the edge of his bed as another headache took hold of him. He’d been getting migraines pretty regularly, along with flashes of memory that made no sense to him. Playing on a beach with two small children with root beer colored eyes, while a woman with dark curly hair, and a beautiful smile looked on. Throwing a tennis ball for a dog that was entirely too excitable. Sitting down to eat dinner with a huge table full of people and the largest lasagna he’d ever seen. He had no idea what was happening to him, but he felt as if he was losing his hold on reality. He head began to pound even more if he tried to push away the visions as they washed over him. 

He’d been losing his patience more frequently with his family, and the people at work. At first he’d thought that he wasn’t getting enough sleep, and he was stressed over everything that had happened with Marlena, but now he was getting worried. He was losing control, and having control was the only thing that kept him sane. 

“Dad?” Sami called through the door.

“What do you want, Sami?” he snapped at her through the door.

She paused for a moment, and Roman instantly felt guilty for responding so harshly. “I was, um, I was wondering if you wanted me to grab dinner at the pub?” she asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, can you do that? I’m not feeling well,” he said, laying down, and throwing an arm over his face.

“Is is another headache? Do you need me to get you anything?”

“No, honey. I’m just going to lay here for a little bit,” he told her.

“Okay…I’ll probably sleep over then…if you’re okay with that.”

“I’m fine with that,” he mumbled, already drifting off to sleep.

“Okay, Daddy. I love you,” she said, but she got no response at all. Sami turned slowly and tread down the  stairs, leaving her house and her father behind. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Shane leaned in, staring Wilhelm Rolf in the face, and told him seriously, “You will answer the questions I ask you, or I’ll turn you over to Interpol.”

Rolf had been evasive with Shane and Abe’s questions all morning, giving them half truths, and partial answers. That’s when they decided to inform him of Stefano’s status medically and the criminal charges pending against him. Rolf was less than pleased to find out that he also had several charges pending against him, including practicing medicine without a license, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Finally he looked at them and said, “What can you give me?”

“Are you really in a position to be bargaining right now?” Abe said with frustration. “What makes you think we owe you anything?”

“I want less than ten years, or I’ll risk Interpol,” Rolf told them. “I won’t settle for less.”

“Talk first,” Shane told him. “Then we’ll decide if what you have to say is worth ten years.”

“What?” Rolf shouted. “You expect that I should tell you everything, and risk it? Why would I do that?”

“That’s the only option you have…unless you want to be turned over to Interpol right now?” Shane told him.

“No. No!” Rolf said in frantic desperation. Stefano was in no position to help him out of this situation. 

Abe leaned forward, and said in a low voice, “Tell us about Roman Brady.”

Rolf stared at Abe for a moment. He knew then that he had better tell the truth, because Abraham Carver already suspected. That much was obvious from the pointed nature of the question. “Roman Brady…” Rolf started to say, but his voice drifted off.

Abe was silent, before he said, “John says Roman died in 1984.”

Rolf sighed deeply. John was giving them information. Information that he would know since he had been reset to 1984. There was not going to be any way for him to lie his way out of this, so he told them, “He did. His injuries were too great to survive. I tried everything, but by the Stefano Brough him to me, he’d already coded three times. I was able to keep him alive long enough to map his mind, and then Stefano had me take him off of the life support.”

“Is the man in Salem another of Stefano’s mercenaries? Or someone else?” Shane asked him.

“No. He was a British soldier. Stefano selected him because his features were similar to Roman’s and with facial reconstruction he could be made to look like Roman,” Rolf said. “I have to say, I did an amazing job.”

Shane ignored Rolf’s last smug comment, and asked him, “If he was a British soldier, when did Stefano take him?”

“It was very early in 1991, during a training exercise in Thailand. Stefano needed time for me to complete the surgery, and then implant the micro chip, and program the memories.”

“What is his name?” Shane asked.

“Why does it matter? He won’t ever get his memories back,” Rolf told them carelessly.

“Are you sure of that? Because Hope Brady might beg to differ,” Abe said.

“What are you talking about? Unless the chip is removed—” Rolf stopped speaking when he saw the smirks on Abe and Shane’s faces. “You removed her microchip?” Rolf asked excitedly. “What happened?”

“The name,” Shane said.

“Daniel Stern,” Rolf said. “Now tell me, what does she remember? I have always wondered how the brain might react once the chip was removed, but Stefano never allowed me…”

“She remembers everything. Before the chip, and during her time with Stefano…she remembers all of her own memories, and all of Gina’s. She was remembering bits and pieces when she was at Maison Blanche. That’s why Stefano was bringing her to you. Now John is an interesting case…he’s remembering with the chip still implanted,” Abe told him.

“That is impossible! I reset John almost two months ago!”

“You reset him, yes…but was it successful?” Abe said with a sly grin. Turning to Shane Abe said, “How do we find out of the British military is missing soldier named Daniel Stern?”

Rolf sat there with an astounded look on his face. He had reset John. Everything was perfect, so how was John remembering, when all of his research said it was impossible? Shane watched Rolf sit in his chair quietly. The man was obviously confused by the fact that John was remembering things while the chip was still implanted and he shouldn’t have any memories after 1984. Shane leaned closer, and said to him quietly, “Your boss left him alone for long periods of time with a world renowned psychiatrist. Did you really believe your work was fool proof? Stefano arrogance was, once again, his downfall.”

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

Marlena had called ahead to make an appointment for John with Mike Horton. She trusted Mike, and he’d successfully removed the micro chip in Hope’s neck, so she was optimistic that he’d be able to do the same for John. John, however, had refused to go see Mike until Marlena had also made an appointment with Dr. Bader, to check on the baby, since Marlena was fairly certain she was pregnant. She hadn’t informed anyone that she was returning to Salem, assuming that Bo, Hope, or Abe had already made the call to Shawn or Caroline. As she stepped off of the elevator, holding John’s hand tightly, she was shocked and surprised to see Sami standing at the nurse’s station staring at her and John in wide eyes awe. 

“Mom! Oh, my G-d! Mom,” Sami screamed running to her mother, and holding her tightly.

Marlena was instantly worried. Sami had been so angry and so distant for years, and her sudden concern was confusing. “Sami, baby, is everything okay?” Marlena asked her.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she said pulling back, and looking at her mother and John. “I was so worried, and scared that I wouldn’t see you again. Afraid that I wouldn’t get the chance to tell you that I love you, and I’m…I’m sorry. G-d, Mom, I’m so sorry.” Marlena continued to stare at her daughter as if she didn’t recognize her. A few months ago Sami was so angry she would barely speak to her. “I’ve been doing a lot of thing, and taking care of Belle and Brady with grandma, and I’m sorry Mom…I’m so sorry,” she said. “Brady misses you, and Belle cries for both of you, and she doesn’t have the words to express it. Brady has a crumpled photograph of you, that he sleeps with.”

Marlena smiled softly, and whispered, “He does?”

Sami shakes her head in the affirmative, “He calls you Mama…he misses you too, Da—John.”

John looks to Marlena feeling slightly lost and overwhelmed. Marlena squeezes his hand in calm reassurance, and asks him, “Do you remember Sami, John?”

“I remember a poster contest, and a-a protest, a sit-in…” he murmured.

Marlena was confused, “A sit-in?” 

“Oh, G-d!” Sami said, looking down at the floor in shame. “Of all the things you have to remember, you remember that?”

John smiled at her, “I told you that you couldn’t organize protests at school. You were so adamant about it, and you said—”

“—it worked for Ghandi,” Sami finished. “Then you told me, ‘Ghandi wasn’t eight years old’.”

Marlena watched the byplay between Sami and John tentatively. She wasn’t sure if Sami was aware that she might be pregnant again, and she feared a return of the angry Sami. Sami saw the apprehension on her mother’s face, and she decided to say something, “Are you here to see Dr. Bader?”

“Yes,” her mother said softly. “I don’t want to upset you. I don’t want—”

“—can I, can I come?”

John wasn’t sure what was happening between Marlena and Sami, and he felt that there were a lot of gaps that needed to be filled in. He watched as Marlena’s eyes teared up, and she reached for Sami’s hand. Finally she said, “I’d like that.”

Chapter 18

Roman stumbled down the stairs to answer the door. Whoever was knocking, was being quite persistent. Jerking the door open, Roman was about to loudly inform whoever was there that they could leave, but stopped short when he came face to face with Shane and Abe. He had made it abundantly clear that he wanted nothing to do with the search for Marlena and John, so he was unsure why they were currently standing at his front door. Roman said nothing, staring at them blankly, and waiting for one of them to speak.

Finally Abe said, “Roman, we needed to talk with you about something.”

Roman was not in the mood for conversation, “Listen, I’ve got a raging headache that I can’t seem to kick, and I was resting upstairs, so if this can wait—”

“—it can’t,” Shane interjected, placing his hand on the edge of the door so that Roman couldn’t close it on them. “We need to discuss it now. It’s incredibly urgent.”

Sighing deeply, Roman reluctantly opened the door wider allowing the two men to enter the house. He was exhausted. His sleep was erratic, his mind was plagued by dreams or visions of a family he didn’t know, but he felt like he should. He was confused, and withdrawn. Abe and Shane showing up unannounced made him feel even more overwhelmed, “Can you make it fast? I’m trying to kick this headache before I work tonight, and I haven’t been sleeping very well at all.”

Abe had no idea how to even start this conversation. He just hoped that Shane knew how to approach it. Shane looked at Roman, and got straight to the point, “Stefano was using microchips imbedded into Hope and John’s nervous systems to control them. He was able to have Hope believing that she was Gina Von Amberg for nearly three years. She was painting counterfeits of priceless art, and committing art heists. He used John as a mercenary for at least ten years, before he sent him to impersonate Roman Brady for seven years. Most recently Stefano had John’s micro chip reset to 1984.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?” Roman asked gruffly.

“We think that you might also have a chip implanted into your nervous system,” Abe said.

“Why would Stefano do that? I know who I am,” Roman told them, even while a nagging thought at the back of his mind asked him, Do you?

“Hope’s chip was removed by Mike a while ago. John’s is being removed within the next few days. The ISA was hoping that you’d be willing to go get some scans done,” Shane told Roman. “We have Stefano and Wilhelm Rolf in custody, but neither one of them is providing much assistance.”

“Sure. Sure. Normally, I’d say no, but these headaches are getting pretty bad, so a few tests wouldn’t hurt I guess,” Roman told them, rubbing his forehead. “So, Doc and John are back, huh?”

“Yes, but Roman,” Abe said, “you should keep in mind that John’s chip was reset to 1984. He has a few memories of Marlena, and the children, but that’s all.”

“But he’s remembering things? Even with the chip?” Roman asked curiously, thinking about his own recent odd dreams, and flashes of memory triggered by certain scents.

“Yes, he’s having flashes of memories that come with a lot of really strong emotion,” Abe said. 

Roman wasn’t ready to say anything, even though Abe was his dearest friend. If he went through with the tests, and there was a micro chip, he would deal with it all then. “When do you want to run the scans?”

Abe smiled at his friend, “Mike can meet with you this afternoon, partner.”

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

Bo watched Hope’s hands as they folded napkins into precise rectangles, and he asked her, “So, I was wondering…because you have Gina’s memories, as well as your own…do you have any, um, do you still think about John?”

Hope looked at Bo for a moment, surprised that he seemed worried. It hadn’t occurred to her that he might feel insecure, or self conscious about her retaining Gina’s memories. “I remember Gina’s feelings for John…but I don’t feel that way. John has always been a like a brother to me. When I first woke up, after the surgery, I would have these very vivid dreams where I loved him so much, but Bo, those weren’t my feelings. I would wake up and feel so confused, and sick to my stomach. As time goes on I still have Gina’s memories, but the emotions that came with them a few weeks ago are lessening. I don’t think about John in a romantic way at all…I think about you that way,” she said smiling at him.

Bo had been taking his relationship with Hope very slowly. He had been focusing on rebuilding their trust, and a solid friendship. Recently there had been more lingering looks between them, and soft touches, but he had yet to kiss her. Bo understood why Billie had left Salem so abruptly, but Hope’s return didn’t immediately negate his feelings for Billie, and Hope’s return didn’t make him instantly enamored with her; however, Hope’s answer to his question settled his soul. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately,” Bo told her.

“Have you? I’ve been thinking a lot about you too, Brady,” she said with a laugh.

Bo leaned closer to her, “Have you? What kind of things have you been thinking?”

“The kind of stuff we shouldn’t talk about in your parents pub with Shawn D twenty feet away,” she whispered in his ear.

“That sounds like the kind of stuff I think I’d like to hear more about.”

“Maybe later,” she said dismissively.

“Maybe tonight?”

“Are you asking me on a date, Bo Brady?”

“I think I am,” he said with a smile.

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

Marlena, John, and Sami stared at the monitor displaying her confirmed pregnancy. John was in awe, looking at the small life on the screen, and slightly overwhelmed at the idea of becoming a father, even though he knew he was already a father. This felt different. This felt like the first time. Marlena studied John’s face, and squeezed his hand in gentle reassurance, “I thought I was pregnant, but I’m still processing that fact that I actually am.”

Sami head turned sideways, still staring at the screen, and she said, “Why does it look like a peanut with t-rex arms?”

Marlena started laughing, “We’re still early in the pregnancy. Things will even out soon enough.”

“We’re looking at a due date around the beginning of March. Does that sound about right?” Dr. Bader asked them.

Marlena blushed slightly, and murmured, “Yes.”

“You two are going to have your hands full,” Sami said. “Belle’s not even a year old, and she’s a wild child. Brady is pretty chill though, and at least you’ve got me to help out, plus Carrie…and, Oh! Maybe Eric will come home.”

“John, are you okay, honey?” Marlena asked him.

“I’m fine. I’m happy…I want this chip out of my neck. I want to remember…everything. All of it,” John told her.

“Are you sure, John?” Sami asked him. “Some of it’s not so much fun.”

“I want to remember all of it,” he whispered, looking again to the baby on the monitor. “Doc said I delivered Belle. I want to remember that. She said I raised you and Eric, with Carrie, by myself for almost seven years…I want to remember that too. If bad things come with it, I’ll handle it, but I want my family, and my memory back.”

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

Shane and Abe stood outside of the examining room, while Mike met with Roman to discuss his test results. Abe looked at Shane, and said, “How do we break the news to him…that he might not be Roman?”

“We could tell him before the surgery, or risk waiting until after,” Shane said.

“Why would we wait?”

“What if we tell him before the surgery and he runs, or he decides not to do the removal? That’s a potential outcome we wouldn’t want to deal with.”

“I don’t know, Shane. I got a feeling this morning…Roman was holding back. He agreed to the tests entirely too quickly. Roman hates doctors. If he didn’t have a reason to come here today, he would have refused,” Abe said.

“Do you think the headaches…do you think he’s remembering something? Maybe something he doesn’t want to talk about?”

“I think it’s a pretty good bet,” Abe replied. 

Both of them turned towards the door to the exam room, when they heard Roman shout, “Get the fucking thing out of me!”

Shane quickly entered the room, followed by Abe to see Mike standing there next to an enraged looking Roman. Looking at Abe and then Shane, Roman said, “There’s a G-d damned computer chip in my head, and I want it out!”

Mike stayed calm, and told him, “I can get you prepped and into surgery within the hour. Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ve got all kinds of shit going on in my head. I’ve been thinking for months that I was losing my mind,” Roman turned to Shane, and asked him, “Am I even Roman Brady?” 

Shane and Abe were silent for a long while, neither one expecting Roman to come to that conclusion on his own. Shane said quietly, “We don’t know.”

Roman watched them both, unsure what to say next, until he finally said, “I don’t either.”

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

Sami walked with Marlena and John to his appointment with Mike. She had so much she needed to say to John, but she knew none of it would really matter in his current state. She wanted him to know she still loved him, and that she was sorry for everything she’d done before Belle was born, and after Belle was born. Telling him now, when he had no memory of any of it, took away the impact of the apology. She wanted it to mean something, because she needed it to mean something. 

As they rounded the corner, Marlena fingers threaded through John’s, they ran into Roman leaving Mike’s office, closely followed by Abe and Shane. Roman stopped, glancing down to see Marlena’s hand gripping John’s, and then looked over to Sami. Sami immediately looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say, and feeling her emotions get all tangled up again. “Abe said you two were back,” Roman said.

“We got back this morning,” Marlena said quietly. “John has an appointment with Mike.”

“Yeah, Shane said something about the three of us having micro chips in our heads,” Roman muttered, refusing to even look at John. “I gotta call work, apparently I have to get a micro chip taken out of my neck.”

Sami watched as her father left without saying a word to her, and then looked up at Marlena. “He barely even speaks to me lately. I try, but he…he’s always got a headache or he has to go to work. I’ve been—I’ve just been saying at the pub, and helping out with Brady and Belle.”

“Sami, honey, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you,” Marlena told her, running her fingers softly over her daughters face. “I’m so proud of you, and grateful that you were here for Brady and Belle.”

“I think I needed this to happen. I needed to spend time with them. I needed to fall in love with them. Dad didn’t want anything to do with the search for you. He’s been so angry, and I’ve been angry with him for that,” Sami said. “I spent all of my free time with Brady, and with Belle. Brady loves trains and Ninja Turtles. Belle hates green peas, and loves carrots. I didn’t know any of that before…I didn’t let myself…” Sami started crying, unable to finish her sentence.

John felt this odd impulse to comfort her. Stepping forward he said, “Hey, Peanut, don’t cry. Don’t cry.”

Sami cried even harder, knowing that he could barely remember her, and still wanted to comfort her. She had treated them both so badly, and they still loved her. They had always loved her. She threw herself towards John, slipping her arms around his waist and laying her face on his chest, whispering, “I love you, Daddy.”

Chapter 19

Marlena awoke to the feel of John’s fingers running through her hair. He’d come out of surgery late in the night, and she couldn’t bear to leave him. Instead, she’d fallen asleep with her head on his thigh, hunched over in a chair, and his hand clutched in hers. She looked up at him with sleepy eyes, and saw his beautiful smile, as he said, “I’m back, baby.”

“You remember?” She asked him excitedly.

“I remember,” he said softly, touching the soft skin of her cheek with a brush of his fingers. “I remember everything from the time I was with Stefano…and with you and the children. I remember all of it. I think, maybe with time, I might remember some of childhood.”

“John, really?”

“I had a dream about Vivian. She was much younger. I have her a crane, an origami crane,” he said, trying to recall more details. “She said she would keep it forever, although Vivian doesn’t seem the sentimental type, so I’m pretty sure she tossed it out later.”

“How old were you?”

“Maybe six? It would have been very near the time I supposedly died in the drowning accident,” John told her.

“But you remembered something. Something from before…John that’s fabulous.”

“C’mere lady, climb up here with me.”

“John, you’ve just had surgery…”

“I feel fine, Doc. Get up here. I want to hold my woman in my arms, and sleep a little longer.”

She climbed into the bed, sliding under the blanket John help up for her. Marlena was so relieved that he was awake, and that he remembered. She found herself rubbing her face in his neck, and breathing deeply, “I love you, John.”

“You’re amazing, you know that, Doc?” he told her, while slowly running his hand up and down her arm. “You never gave up on me, and I was kind of an asshole that first night.”

“But you were my asshole, and I was determined to make you remember that,” she said.

“G-d, I love you so much, Doc,” John murmured, turning to face her in the bed. He felt a twinge in his neck where the incision was, and must have winced.

“John, honey, stop moving around.”

“I want to see your face. I want to memorize every line, every angle, every fleck of gold in your eyes…I want to memorize it all,” he whispered.

“We have time for that. I promise.” Her fingers, swept over his lips in a gentle caress, as she said, “Get this, you’re stuck with me.”

“I vaguely remember you telling me that once in the mountains of West Virginia,” he whispered over her mouth. “I guess you were serious.”

“I decided that final day at Maison Blanche that I was done trying to fit myself into a life I didn’t want…because what I wanted was you. John, I’ve always wanted you. You are my heart, and my soul.”

“Ditto, lady…now kiss me,” he said leaning closer.

“John Black! Stop it, or I will get out of this bed. You are supposed to be resting.”

With a low chuckle in his throat, John said, “Fine. Fine. No kissing. Just snuggles.”

“That’s right. Just snuggles,” she whispered, kissing his neck softly. 

“If it’s just snuggles, Doc, you’d better stop kissing on my neck.”

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

The man that the people of Salem knew as Roman Brady for the last three years, woke in a hospital bed, disoriented…until he remembered why he was there. He was alive, so the surgery had been successful. The memories started coming to him one after another, in a rush, and he welcomed all of them. His wife, his children, his extended family, his dog…all of it was back. He had to get to them. He had to let someone know where he was. Just as he was about to hit the nurse call button, Shane Donovan entered his room. The man looked at Shane. “I’m not Roman Brady,” he practically shouted. “I don’t belong here. I’ve got a job, a family…and fucking Stefano DiMera decided to what? Use me as a guinea pig? A stand-in for his hatred of the Brady family? None of this involved me!”

“I understand you’re upset. Rightfully so. Do you remember your name?” Shane asked him.

“Daniel Stern. My name is Daniel Stern. My wife is Louisa, her family is Italian. She has a huge family…lots of food. My daughter is Clara and my son is Giovanni, after Louisa’s father. My dog…my dog’s name is Bean…oh my G-d…” Daniel started to gasp for air. “I can’t breath…”

“Slow down. Slow down your breathing,” Shane instructed him. “This is a lot to take in all at once. I understand that, but you’ve got to control your breathing.”

“This is so fucked up. So completely fucked up,” Daniel said.

“When we questioned Dr. Rolf, he told us your name was Daniel Stern. The Royal Air Force has been notified since you disappeared during a training exercise in Thailand, but I wanted to speak with you before I contacted your family. You tell me what you would like to do, and I can make sure it happens,” Shane told him.

“I want to go home, but I’ve been gone…nothing will be the same. G-d! Clara would be almost fourteen now, and Giovanni will be eight. What if…what if she…”

“Your wife never remarried, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“She didn’t? Wow…wow, okay…yeah, can you contact her? Tell her I’m coming home, as soon as I get out of here. I’m going home,” he said.

“I can do that. How do you want to break the news to the Brady’s?”

“Can you call Bo? Get Bo here, and we can figure this out.”

“I can do that,” Shane said. “It’s still early. Try to get some rest, and I’ll be back later.”

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

Sami smiled to herself when she opened the door to John’s room and found her mother curled up in bed with him. She’d been so young when she was told that John wasn’t her father. The hurt, and the sadness were still new and raw, even though it had been so long. She’d never had the chance to process that pain, instead shoving it down, and refusing to acknowledge what she’d lost. 

When she’d seen her mother with John in the Titan Conference room, it wasn’t simply the idea that her mother was cheating on her father that drove Sami insane with rage. It was jealousy. She couldn’t have John. Eric, and Carrie couldn’t have John…but in that moment, Sami saw her mother with John, and in her mind, none of them were allowed to love him any more. As ridiculous and convoluted as that sounded, if none of them could have John, if none of them could love him, her mothers affair with him became the ultimate betrayal. She understood that now. She was sad that it had taken her so long to realize where her anger was really coming from.

Deciding to leave the room, and check back later, Sami started to back out of the door, but John opened his eyes, and said sleepily, “Hey, Peanut. Don’t go.”

“I was going to let you sleep some more,” she said quietly.

“I’m fine. I was hoping we could talk.”

Sami approached the bed, sitting in the chair that had been previously vacated by her mother. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry. I’m sorry about a lot of things. If it comes to mind, just know…I probably wish I’d done things differently.”

“Peanut, people make mistakes. What you did was wrong, there’s no denying that, but I also understand that what your mother and I did hurt a lot of people.”

“I was so angry, and I kept saying it was because you’d hurt Dad…but maybe that wasn’t entirely it,” she said softly. “When I saw you…that night…I was so jealous. Jealous that you were taken away from me, and Eric, and Carrie. We weren’t allowed to have you in our lives anymore, but, but…I know this sounds insane, but I felt like she stole you. We couldn’t have you in our lives, but she was sneaking around with you. It was unfair. I said it was about Dad…but-but, I’m not sure it was entirely. G-d! I must sound crazy.”

“Not as crazy as you’d think. I can understand it.”

“When I found out you weren’t my dad…it tore me up, so I pushed it away. I stomped down the memories. I refused to acknowledge the loss, and-and it grew into something I didn’t recognize anymore. I turned it all inward, hurting myself, because I didn’t know what to do with all the pain. I’m-I’m sorry, John. I’m so sorry,” Sami said crying softly. “Brady is amazing. Belle is amazing, and I didn’t even know how amazing they were, until I thought I’d lost you both again. How dumb is that?”

“Sometimes even the horrible things in life have a way of giving us something that might not be so bad,” John told her. “You’ve always been full of love Sami. You have to share that with the people around you.”

“That’s funny,” she said. “Grandma told me the same thing.”

“Caroline’s a smart woman. You should listen to her,” John said with a smile.

Marlena started to stir on his chest, waking up to the soft sound of voices. She pushed her hair out of her face, and smiled at her daughter. “When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago. I wanted to check on John,” she said. Then with a smirk she added, “He seems like he’s doing fine.”

“It’s not often you get a doctor who stays for overnight check-ups,” John said with a small laugh.

“Yeah, right,” Sami snorted. “I’ve got to go check in at the nurses station for my shift. I love you…both of you.”

“We love you too, Peanut,” John said.

Sami smiled at them one last time before she quietly left the room. John looked down at Marlena, “Did you hear all of that?”

“I did, but I wanted to let her speak to you freely. She’s been holding onto that for awhile. I never quite thought of it that way though,” Marlena said.

“How do you mean?”

“I always felt that her anger, and her hurt was because we’d hurt Roman. It was so much more than that. She was still grieving you. She was missing you, and wanted you in her life,” Marlena said softly. “Do you remember when she first came back to Salem? She hurt her ankle falling from the window?”

“I do.”

“You came by the house to check on her the next morning. John, she was so happy to see you. Her eyes lit up, and she practically begged you to drive us to the hospital for her check-up.”

“It felt like we were family for one brief, shining moment. I remember thinking how amazing it felt.”

“And I understand that. Losing you almost killed me, I can’t imagine what she must have felt at eight years old. When she saw us together, in the conference room at Titan, she was still grappling with the guilt of missing you, while trying to navigate a new relationship with Roman. Seeing me with you, yes, it was upsetting because it would hurt Roman, an affair is very damaging to the family structure…but she was also upset because she felt like she had been forced to give you up, and I hadn’t. It explains why her rage was so deep, and why she couldn’t fully understand it herself at the time.”

“Losing the kids…that nearly did break me. If I hadn’t had Isabella, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“If you hadn’t had Isabella…I don’t know what I would have done.”

John was momentarily confused, until he realized that had Isabella not been pregnant, or had Isabella not been present in his life, Marlena might not have chosen Roman. “I thought you chose Roman…because…”

“No. Things were so complicated. I couldn’t watch you struggle to make a near impossible decision, so I made it for you,” she whispered.

“I wish you hadn’t.”

“What would you have done, John? You loved her, you cared for her…she was having your baby,” Marlena said. “In the end, you had so little time with her.”

“I just wished—I wish I’d known.”

“What would that have done?”

“I don’t know. Watching you live your life with Roman was so painful, maybe knowing that it was…if I knew that it was just as painful for you, maybe it would have hurt less?”

“I doubt that, because when two souls are drawn together, the way we are, there was no way for it to hurt less.”

“There were times, though. Times when I suspected, when the tension in the room was so thick, and we were alone. Do you remember when I came by the house to ask you about—”

“—when I told you about the pub? Yeah. Yeah, I remember. I had to step away from you, because staring into your eyes was…I wanted you so bad,” she whispered, placing her palm on his jaw.

“I wanted to push you against that wall of pictures you’d made, and devour you,” he said against her lips. “You weren’t mine, and yet every time I saw you, I was half hard in my pants and imagining all the dirty things I used to do to you.”

“Kiss me,” John whispered, licking lightly across her bottom lip, and threading his fingers into her blonde tresses.

“You need to rest, so only kisses,” she whispered back. “Only kisses…”

Chapter 20

The Brady family mourned the death of Roman Brady for the second time. As Marlena, and John expected, it seemed to hit Sami the hardest. At first she had tried to handle it the way she handled all things that hurt. She refused to face it, and pushed those hard, complicated emotions down. The day Daniel left, he asked to see her. Sami refused. She simply couldn’t handle it. It took almost two months before Marlena could coax her daughter back into therapy. It took another month before Sami was ready to read the letter than Daniel had written her before he left.

Snuggled into her mother’s side on the long sofa in her penthouse, Sami sighed deeply holding the letter tightly clenched in her hand. Another long, complicated, and overwhelming therapy session had finished with Dr. Taylor, and Sami was exhausted. She was having a hard time finding the motivation to open the letter, afraid of what it might contain. 

Marlena was softly trailing her fingers through Sami’s hair, when she felt the baby kick hard and fast. Sami yelped, and said, “I’m going, I’m going.” Tearing open the envelope, her eyes scanned the letter quickly. The tears welling up made it impossible to read. Handing the letter to her mother, Sami said softly, “Can you read it to me?”

“I can,” Marlena told her, taking the letter from her shaking hand. “My Dearest Samantha Gene, Stefano made pawns of us all. He came into our lives, and for varying reasons, he tried to destroy us. But you, you had nothing to do with any of it. You, Carrie, and Eric were collateral damage to a madman who had one goal…to destroy the Brady family. Don’t let him succeed. Don’t let your sadness and your anger shape and mold you into someone with lifelong bitterness. I may not be your father, but his memories are still within me. His emotions are still here, too. He loved your mother with everything in his soul. Her beauty, her strength, and her vulnerability. He loved it all. The day you and Eric were born was the best day of his life. He honestly didn’t believe that there could be anything greater. Please don’t forget that. He spent less than a month with you, but his love for you was all encompassing. I love you, too. Please don’t shut out your mother…or John. They both love you more than you could ever know. Love, Daniel.”

Sami buried her face in her mother’s shoulder and sobbed. She cried for her father. She cried for John. She cried for her mother. Every loss in her life had taken such a heavy toll on her, and she was struggling to keep it from pulling her down. After several long minutes of tears, Sami said, “I feel so bad, that I refused to see him before he left.”

“He understands that. He did. John and I…we saw him before he left. He did love you, Sami. The last few months were rough for him, because he was having headaches, and memories that made no sense. He felt like he might be going insane. At least that’s what he told us,” Marlena said softly. “He didn’t understand what was happening. He was very regretful for how he treated you.”

“I was so angry when he wouldn’t look for you and John.”

“I don’t think he could, honey. There was a lot of chaos in his mind at that point.”

Sami was silent for awhile, soaking in the warmth of her mother, and realizing how good it felt to be content. She knew she was stubborn, and she knew her family had been correct. The anger and rage that she used to ground herself to reality, that was not her natural state. She’d figured that out when she was taking care of Belle and Brady. She had so much love in her, and her fear of losing love, kept her from finding joy. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, Samantha.”

“Did you find out the sex of the baby yet?”

“We found out yesterday,” her mother said softly, running her fingers over her swollen abdomen.

Sitting up quickly in excitement, Sami said, “You did? Well?”

“Another girl.”

“Oh! Yes! John, Brady, and Eric are completely outnumbered now! Have you thought about names?”

Marlena laughed at Sami’s teenage antics, before responding, “We haven’t…well, we briefly discussed it, but we didn’t feel strongly about any of them. We’ve got time.”

“Time for what?” John asked as he descended the stairs with Belle and Brady in each arm.

“Time to name the baby,” Sami told him, smiling at Brady.

“Sassy!” Brady screamed with joy.

“I thought it was Sissy?” she said with confusion. “And I keep telling you it’s Sami.”

“Sassy?” John said with a smirk. “That sounds accurate. Hey Brady, you want to hang out with Sassy while Mom and I go see a friend?”

The small boys eyes lit up with joy, as he wiggled free of John’s arm. He hit the ground running, with his arms outstretched. “Sassy!”

“Oh, my G-d!” Sami said in exasperation, scooping Brady into her arms. “It’s Sami, Brady…Sami.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

John and Marlena met with Abe and Shane at the Salem PD. Just as they were settled, Bo and Hope strolled in. Abe looked at them with frustration, “Can you two ever be on time for anything?”

Bo looked at Abe with irritation, and Hope blushed deeply. Marlena knew immediately why they were late, and she looked at John, who just winked at her. John cleared his throat, and said, “So you called us all here, what’s going on?”

“I received an update on Stefano, from the ISA this morning. As you know he survived the surgery to reconstruct his knees, but he’s been largely immobile since the shooting. As a result of this, he’s been in physical therapy, but not making much progress,” Shane told them.

“Good,” John said without any sympathy. “The fucking bastard deserved it.” Marlena looked at John softly, laying her hand on his arm, and stroking him gently. His true personality had been coming out over the last few months, and she was fascinated to see it. He was a mix of who he could have been as a priest, who he was when he was a mercenary, he had traits that were obviously Roman’s, and then there was the John Black she’d known since 1991. All of them coming together to create a John Black who had little patience for nonsense, but loved with his whole heart. 

“He contracted a cold, which quickly turned to pneumonia. As of yesterday, he was on life support, and the doctor’s don’t believe that he will survive,” Shane said. 

Marlena found that she had been holding her breath, and released a large sigh, “He’s dying?”

“Yes.”

“I want proof,” John said, standing up, and running his fingers through his hair roughly. “I want fucking proof, because that man has faked his death too many times for me to take the word of the ISA. I want to see his cold, dead, body on a fucking slab in the morgue before I’ll believe he’s dead.”

Shane understood John’s anger, “That can be arranged.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Ivan went to answer the door. Whoever was there was obnoxious with their knocking, which he didn’t understand since they had a perfectly functional doorbell. Opening the door, he came face to face with John Black. “Mr. Black,” Ivan said.

“Hello, Ivan,” John replied pushing by him, and entering the house. “I need to speak with my dear Aunt Vivian.” He continued through the foyer and into the living room to find her sitting on the couch with an art magazine in her hand. She seemed surprised to see him, and took a moment to say something.

“John, what a surprise. Have you come to harass me about something, or can it wait until the next board meeting?” she said with a wave of her hand.

“I have some questions, and I need answers,” he said. “It’s about my past.”

Placing her magazine down on the table beside her, Vivian got to her feet, and walked over to pour herself a brandy. “I don’t know how I could help you. I barely knew you as a child,” she said.

“You’re lying.”

Vivian looked at him closely, before saying, “I don’t know what you think you remember, but honestly it was all so long ago.”

“I gave you an origami crane, right before I died,” John said softly. “You used to make me hot chocolate late at night, and we would drink it outside on the veranda. You would talk to me about art, and sculpture. You took me to museums…”

Vivian wasn’t ready for this. She had blocked off her emotions as soon as she’d learned he was Forrest Alamain. John Black couldn’t remember her, and so she’d shut it all down, allowing herself to be relieved that he was alive, but never holding out any hope that he might remember her. She nearly dropped the glass in her hand, instead placing it down with a solid plop onto the cart. Turning to face him, she whispered, “How much do you remember?”

“Most of it…all of it,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me? When you and Lawrence did the DNA test, why didn’t you tell me? I don’t understand.”

“What good would it have done, John? You didn’t remember anything. I was just grateful to find out you were alive.”

“That’s why she faked my death, why she hid me…to get me away from you, but why?” John asked her, already knowing the answer, but needing so badly for Vivian to admit it. “I remember an argument, between you and my mother. She said you were getting too close to me. That you needed to remember who my mother was.”

“Philomena was paranoid. She thought you had grown too close to me, so she faked your death, and took you away. That’s all,” Vivian said quickly, as if it mattered very little.

“Is that all, Vivian? Because I don’t think it is.”

“I don’t know what else there could be,” she replied.

“The interesting thing about my memory returning is, that when the memories came back, they came back in full detail…as if they had just happened. All of the detail, all of the emotion…it was there. I remember loving you so much, even at six years old. I remember wishing that you were my mother,” John said. “You were such a part of my life, and then I was taken to a Catholic school in New York, given a new name, and you were gone.”

Vivian started crying, swiping at the tears on her cheeks in frustration, upset that she was showing him how vulnerable she felt in the moment, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what my sister did to you. Had I known—”

“—what? Would have come, and taken your son?”

A small gasp escaped her lips, as she stared into his deep blue eyes. The eyes of a child she had given birth to at the age of fourteen. A son she was never allowed to keep, but she had loved with her whole being.

“I loved you, and I lost you. I was young, stupid…getting pregnant at fourteen. My father took me out of boarding school, and hid me away…I was never able to grieve you, as a mother should, because I was only your Aunt. My father and my sister made sure that I didn’t get to keep you, or love you as my own,” she whispered.

“But you did anyway, and out of jealousy and selfishness, Philomena Alamain took me away,” John said. “I was so scared when she left me in New York. I cried for you at night…I never cried for her, because she was never the one who wiped my tears. She was never the one who played with me, or colored with me. She didn’t teach me to swim, or how to hold chop sticks. That was all you, because even while I was told that you were my aunt…you felt like my mother.”

“I am your mother,” she whispered. “I still have the crane, you know. It was the last gift you gave me…I still have it.”

Chapter 21

Stefano DiMera died from complications of pneumonia three days later, and as promised, John was allowed to view the body to give himself, and the rest of the Brady family, peace of mind. Peace in their hearts and their souls that Stefano was gone forever this time. Leaving the morgue with Marlena by his side, he was not surprised to see Kristen and Tony coming to claim the body of their father. 

Tony eyed John warily, afraid of what he might say, and unaware that John’s memories had returned to him. Kristen stepped forward, touching John’s arm gently. “John,” she said. “Why are you here?”

He stared at the spot where her hand touched his arm, and she awkwardly removed it. Marlena watched them both. She knew that Kristen had lied to John when she’d first met him. Kristen had known some of his past, and continued to perpetuate the lie her father started, for her own selfish impulses. Marlena had no empathy for her in this situation. John stared at Kristen and then Tony, before he finally said, “I came to make sure that the old man is really dead. He is. I can go now.”

“That’s my father—” Tony started.

“John, that’s horrible—” Kristen said in shock.

John didn’t care what they thought. Stefano DiMera was dead, and the world was better off for it. He couldn’t believe that he had ever believed himself in love with her. She was raised with lies, and she would continue to lie. Looking at Kristen, he said, “I don’t owe you anything, since you lied to me for years, but that man lying in there…he was never a father to you.”

“He raised me and Peter, when we had no one else,” Kristen said.

“You had no one else, because of him,” John said shortly. “Maybe you should ask your husband about that,” he told her, while looking at Tony. Glancing back to Kristen, he told her, “If he won’t tell you, then you can find your answers in a town called Aremid, about 300 miles from here. Other than that, I’m done with the DiMera family, and you, Kristen. I’m done with your lies.”

“I don’t know what you mean—” she started to say, but John cut her off with a wave of his hand.

He looked at her, without an ounce of warmth, “Yes, you do.” He leaned closer to her, almost whispering in her ear, “I remember everything, Kristen. Everything.”

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

Later that evening, Marlena was comfortable in John’s arms, when she asked him, “Are you okay?”

“With what?” he asked her, softly kissing the top of her head. She rolled to face him, propping herself up on her elbow.

“With everything, all of it…your memory, Stefano being dead…Vivian…”

“I’m working on it. Stefano’s death is a relief. I wanted to kill him in the attic…but I didn’t. I couldn’t stand the idea of what you might think of me if you saw me do something like that, but I guess I ended up killing him anyway, didn’t I?”

“I don’t look at it like that. I don’t believe that you killed him.”

“I do, but I have no guilt over it. Does that…does that make you look at me differently?”

“No. Never. John I love you completely. Unconditionally. Stefano put you through so much…I wouldn’t have judged you if had killed him right then. I think a part of me wished you had, at the time,” she said, kissing his lips softly. “Have you had any more memories of Vivian?”

“She was a good mother, for the short time she was in my life. She was young. Some of the things she did with me were so childlike, but then, she was still a child. She grew up too fast. Sometimes she would call me ‘my boy’, and I once saw anger on Philomena’s face when she heard Vivian say that to me. I understand it now. I didn’t then.”

“It’s hard for me sometimes to think of Vivian in the way you remember her. She so hard now, rough around the edges. She’s a cutthroat business woman, but you remember her as so affectionate.”

John smiled sadly, “She said when I was in the pool accident, and she believed that I was dead, she simply shut down emotionally. She pushed everyone away, and refused to face the pain.”

“Sounds like someone we know,” Marlena whispered, thinking of Sami. 

“Do I let Vivian in? Do I bring her into our lives, Doc?”

“Yes.”

“Even after everything we know about her?” he asked.

“Yes, John, because somewhere inside of her is that young girl who loved you with all of her heart. That same girl that made you feel more loved than the woman who was supposed to be your mother. Your childhood self wouldn’t have loved her as much as you did, if there wasn’t something there worth loving,” Marlena whispered.

“Granny Viv,” John said with a smirk. “She’s gonna love that.”

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

Three Months Later…

Sami watched her mother, barely able to move with her advanced pregnancy, as she hobbled down the stairs of the penthouse. “You know, Mom, this place is getting a little crowded. With the new baby, that’s an extra person,” Sami said.

Marlena was grumpy, and exhausted, “Thank you for pointing that out, Samantha.”

Sami started laughing, and said, “Someone’s grumpy.”

“I was due three days ago. This girl needs to come on out, and join the family,” Marlena said, as she sat heavily on the couch, with her hands holding her massive belly in place. “My back is killing me. It hurt all night, and I can’t seem to find any comfortable position.”

“Ooooh! Maybe you’re in labor.”

“I’ve been through this before. It never felt like this,” Marlena muttered.

“I was reading. There’s this thing called back labor—” Sami said.

“—I’m a doctor. I know what back labor is, and that’s not what’s happening—” Suddenly Marlena felt a slight pop, and a rush of fluid. “Oh, G-d! The couch!” she shouted trying to get back up.

Sami jumped to her feet, assisting her mother with getting up, and said, “I was right, Mom! Back labor!”

Marlena stared at Sami with a look that told her to be quiet. “Can you call John? Please?” she said with frustration, wondering how she was going to climb the stairs again for a clean change of clothes. Her frustration only mounted when the doorbell rang. “Really?”

Sami ran to the penthouse door, and found Vivian standing there, “Granny Viv!”

“Oh, my G-d child! Stop calling me that,” she said. “Is your mother home?”

“She is, but she’s not in a position to—”

“Sami! Call John, now!” Marlena said, as a contraction hit her hard and fast. “Oh, G-d! I’ve been in labor for two days! I don’t know if I’m going to make it to the hospital!”

Vivian had stepped into chaos. It was obvious that Marlena was in labor, Sami was yelling into the telephone at John, and now Brady was on his way down the stairs yelling, “Belle made poop! Belle made POOP!” 

Sami hung up the phone, and said, “Dad’s about a half hour away. What do you want me to do?”

Vivian said, “I’ll take care of Belle.” Marlena stared at her in momentary shock, watching as Vivian took Brady’s hand in hers, and said to him, “Let’s go check on your sister.”

“Mama?” he asked.

“Mama seems to be having a baby. Now, I’ve done that once, and it was no fun, so let’s go upstairs, my boy,” Vivian said.

“O’tay, Gwanny Bib,” Brady said, toddling after her.

She looked over her shoulder at Sami, “Him, too? Did you tell him to call me that?”

Sami smiled, “Dad did.”

“Why is that not surprising?” she said, walking up the stairs.

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

With one last final scream, and a push, Marlena delivered a very loud baby girl. John looked at his daughter in awe, suctioning her mouth, and rubbing her skin vigorously with a towel. Her eyes were a dark blue, and her hair was an auburn shade. “That’s right, baby. Scream. Scream loud, and clear out those lungs,” he murmured, surprised that his daughter had red hair.

“John,” Marlena whispered, holding her arms out. “Can I hold her?”

“She’s beautiful, Doc. So beautiful,” he said softly. “Sami, honey, grab me one of those soft flannel blankets, so I can wrap her up.”

Rushing back with a blanket, Sami took in the mess on the bed, “That was amazing, but you’re gonna need a new bed.”

“Sami,” John said looking at her sternly, while he handed his daughter over to Marlena.

“What? I’m just sayin’” she muttered. She leaned over her mothers shoulder, and said, “Did you guys decide on a name?”

John smiled at Marlena holding their daughter, “We did Peanut. This past year has been difficult, and somehow this little one decided that she wanted to be with us. We were looking at baby names, and we found one that means ‘life’. Say hello to Vivian.”

“You’re naming her after Granny Viv?” Sami said in momentary shock.

“That we are,” John said.

Sami looked at her sister, still squawking in frustration loudly. She was the most lively, opinionated baby she had ever encountered. Touching her baby fingers softly, Sami told her mother, “It’s perfect. She’s perfect.” 

“She is, she is,” Marlena said softly, touching her daughters soft cheek and counting her fingers. “She’s amazing…she’s absolutely amazing. Oh, and her hair…”

“Looks like we got a redhead in the family, and I must say, I’m getting pretty good at delivering babies,” John said. “Sami run downstairs, and call 911 again. I can’t figure out why they aren’t here—” The pounding on the door downstairs cut him off, and John looked at Marlena, “You ready to go, Doc?”

Her smile could light up a room, as she looked at him and said, “Yes.”

“This place is going to be crowded,” Marlena said looking around. “Sami’s right.”

“We’ll get to it, baby, one day at a time,” he said kissing her softly.