In The Name of Love – By Cindy

“LISANNE” he roared. In what seemed slow-motion the images of the horrific event that happened in front of him were painfully branded in his memory for ever. He screamed with all his might to warn her, but he was too late. He saw his daughter flick her blonde hair while she turned her head towards the nearing danger. In a split second he saw her eyes, those hazel eyes, that she had so obviously inherited from her mother. Before she could even react and anticipate, she was hit by the car that came so fast around the corner that it had been impossible for her to see it in time. He felt how his wife, who had been standing next to him talking about a long overdue quiet and cozy evening at home, lost her balance for a second when she gasped in horror at the sight of their daughter being hit by the dark green sedan. Lisa was thrown onto the hood of the car and then landed so rough on the asphalt in front of her parked car that they could hear the bones in her body snap. The car continued its way in the same speed as if nothing had happened and took the next turn with screeching tires.

 

The silence that followed was so in contradiction with what had just happened that John Black had to blink twice in pure disbelieve before the sound of his wife, calling out in panic at the sight of their daughter lying motionless on the road, brought him to his senses again. He had to grab Marlena’s sleeve to prevent her from running onto the street in blind panic and because he was afraid of how she would find Lisa. She struggled and he had to let her go. Oh my dear… GOD, don’t let her be dead. Please God, don’t let her be dead. He prayed in silence while he ran after his wife.

 

Marlena fell onto her knees by her daughter who was lying next to her car on the street bleeding heavily from a deep cut right above her right temple. This was what she had feared the most since she had lost her very young son D.J. to SIDS and had given birth to her other children. To lose another child, it couldn’t be, she couldn’t lose her daughter. The moment she felt the extreme feelings of panic come up however there was a sudden change in her. It was not too late; she was here to help her child! She felt her mind go blank and the doctor in her took over. She had to help her baby girl. She placed two fingers in Lisa’s neck to check her pulse. She then bent forward to check her breathing.

 

“Her pulse is weak, her breathing shallow…John call an ambulance!!” she sounded hoarse. All the emotion had locked itself in her chest. Her fingers quickly loosened her daughter’s scarf to make sure it wasn’t bothering her breathing. She started to examine Lisa’s body in search of possible injuries, very careful not to move her.

By then John had reached 911.

 

“I need an ambulance, now. My daughter was the victim of a hit and run and is severely injured. Her pulse is weak, shallow breathing…” he listened for a moment. “Riverview Drive in front of the Victoria Building. Ok, please…please hurry.” He hung up. He shivered. It was freezing cold. He looked down at his daughter laying at his feet and knew they had to keep her warm. He took off his coat to cover her up.

 

“Can I help you, Doc? What can I do…” he asked feeling more helpless than he had ever felt in his entire life. One moment they looked at each other in despair. John saw a lonely tear that was running down Marlena’s face. At this hour there wasn’t a soul on the street. The night was very cold, pitch black and apparently no one of the neighbors living in their building had heard or noticed what had happened outside. The only light came from a distant lantern. It seemed their little family was all alone in the world in their most trying time. Marlena who had been occupied by monitoring Lisa’s vitals finally answered.

 

“Make sure she doesn’t move her head, and keep checking her breathing. Her pulse is still very weak. She has a fractured arm that’s what I am sure of…but who knows what else is damaged inside. Every movement can be fatal.” She said while she stroked her daughter’s blond hair that was slowly coloring red because of the nasty cut above her temple. What was taking the ambulance so long…

“This is Lisanne Black, involved in a hit and run. Blood pressure 80/60, pulse 120. Multiple fractures on the right; shoulder, upper arm and ribs. Blood loss. Inflicted wound to the right side of the head. Breathing is labored. Patient hasn’t been conscious since the accident happened. I got only one IV in.” The paramedic quickly gave the trauma physician the facts about his patient’s condition.

 

“Damn!! I know her, she’s a doctor here…” Dr. Michael Horton said when he looked at the wounded face of the woman on the gurney, to check if he maybe hadn’t heard her name right. But he came to the conclusion that it was her, it really was Lisa Black. Dammit, this didn’t look good at all…

 

“Start a second line, and put her on a monitor.” Dr. Mike Horton quickly gave his orders.

 

“Page Carver and Wesley, NOW! I want only the best in here!!” he yelled at no one in particular, the nurses in the trauma room all understood. They were all extremely worried, they all knew and loved Lisanne Black. She was a young but very intelligent and caring physician. She had captured the hearts of everyone in the hospital in the short time she worked in Salem University Hospital.

 

“Was her family notified?” Dr. Horton asked the paramedics, while the team gathered round the gurney and then carefully lifted Lisanne on the backboard to the examination table on the count of three.

 

“Her parents are right behind us; they were there when it happened.” One of them replied while they took the ambulance gurney back.

 

“Ok, thank you very much.” He said to the paramedics who left then turned to his team again.

 

“I want complete blood works, full body X-rays and call them upstairs, tell them we need to bring her up for a CT scan immediately.”

 

John and Marlena hurried into the hospital. Dr. Lexie Carver saw them arriving, she had just heard what had happened to her best friend’s daughter. She rushed over to John and Marlena.

 

“Lisanne was brought in, Lexie…where is she?” Marlena asked panting, her eyes wide with fear, clinging to Lexie desperate for information.

 

“I know; I know…I just heard. They are working on her in trauma 3, Mike Horton and Craig Wesley are taking care of her. It’s too soon to say anything yet…they are assessing her injuries and they are trying to stabilize her.” Lexie knew that this wasn’t something she wanted to hear right now. All she wanted to hear was that her daughter was going to be all right again. She took Marlena in a warm embrace, she felt so bad for her. Suddenly she felt Marlena tense up.

 

“Lexie, I have to know, I have to be there…” said Marlena strongly. No one was keeping her away from Lisa. She freed herself from Lexie’s arms and tried to get passed her to go to the trauma rooms. But John stopped her grabbing her lower arm pulling her back. She looked furiously at him for just a moment, violently trying to escape his grip. The sudden explosion of tense fury in her body scared her to death. She immediately realized she had turned it towards John. Her expression softened and all the physical strength she had been able to find just seconds earlier left her body the moment she realized that she had pushed John away and she was instantly sorry. In her head she knew he was right, she didn’t understand why she had just done what she did. Right now she couldn’t be with Lisa, she would be in the way. Why can’t I do a thing to make a difference, I am her mother. She was torn between rationality and her emotions.

 

“Let them do their work, Doc. We have to wait here…” he said, noticing her emotional struggle. It was written all over her face. He couldn’t bare to see her in so much pain, he didn’t know what to do to comfort her. But he couldn’t let her go in there.

 

“No, I can’t just sit here and wait while my baby…my baby is…I am sorry, John.” she finally broke down. Crying she fell into his arms. John supported her and led her to a seat in the waiting area. Lexie followed them to make sure Marlena was ok.

 

“She’s strong…she is so strong, Doc. She will be fine…” John tried to console her, pulling her to his chest with his strong arms, stroking her hair, while she cried. He was painfully aware that this time he couldn’t offer her the support and assurance she so desperately needed. He was afraid as much as she was, what was he going to do with himself if he lost the apple of his eye. Lexie squatted down next to Marlena’s seat and laid a hand on her back.

 

“Honey, listen to me. I am going in to take a look. I’ll make sure that Mike will talk to you as soon as he can, ok?” Marlena looked up for a moment and just nodded, wiping the tears from her swollen and tear-stained face. Marlena felt drained, she had no idea where to get the strength physically and mentally to handle this. But she knew she had to. Instinctively she turned to him. She looked into his sad eyes and she felt his love for her and the children so strongly that it covered her up as a warm blanket. She cradled herself in John’s safe arms. She was holding onto him with all the strength she had left, she had never needed him more. He felt it so strongly while they communicated without saying a word…

It seemed to take forever before they finally saw Mike Horton approaching them. Marlena and John stood up, getting ready for the news.

 

“She is stable for now…” He immediately said taking Marlena’s hand. Marlena let her tears go again, she was so relieved. John was able to produce a weak smile. He put an arm around Marlena’s shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She responded by laying her head on his shoulder for just a moment. This was at least some good news…a start. She had made it this far.

 

“But…she is still very seriously injured.” he went on. “She hasn’t gain consciousness yet. We are going to do a CT scan…that is our first priority to make sure she has no head injury. If she’s still stable enough and there’s no injury in the brain, we will take her up to surgery. Her arm and shoulder need immediate attention. We have to make sure we fix that as soon as possible.” John and Marlena knew what he meant. Lisa was a doctor, the longer they waited the bigger the chance was she wouldn’t be able to use it properly. She needed that right arm.

 

“If the CT scan is ok we will take her to the OR right away. I will do the surgery. I need your consent.” Mike said. Marlena nodded.

 

“You have our permission, I will sign. Mike…but can we see her, please.” Marlena couldn’t stand the waiting any longer, she had to see her for herself, she had to be there with her girl.

 

“Of course, come with me.” He answered.

 

When they entered trauma 3 the nurses were just making everything ready to bring Lisa upstairs to the CT scan. Marlena felt as if an invisible hand around her throat pressed her airway tightly shut the moment she saw her daughter laying there so still and fragile. John who was standing right behind her had to hold her, because for a moment he thought her knees were going to give away. Lisa was so pale. The nurses had tried to clean her face a little bit, but there was still dried blood in her blonde hair everywhere. A big bandage was covering the side of her head, an oxygen mask was covering her mouth and nose and she was still wearing the neck collar that the paramedics had applied to immobilize her neck.

 

“Oh sweet baby girl…” she whispered softly, while she took in every single detail. She immediately knew Lisa was not breathing right. Her breathing seemed labored, she was wheezing.

 

“She seems to have trouble breathing, Mike?” Marlena said worried to Mike who stood on Lisa’s other side. Mike looked at his young injured colleague and nodded.

 

“The broken ribs are bothering her very much, one of them might have punctured a lung. I’ll get the X-rays back shortly. If that is the case, we will start to help her breath after she had the CT scan.” Mike explained. As a doctor she knew what it all meant, but she didn’t really want to hear it. She knew all the risks, all the possible complications, the worst possible outcomes. Her daughter had to be ok. She just had to be. Marlena just stood there holding her daughters hand staring at Lisa’s face, that miraculously was free from bruising. She carefully kissed her daughter on the tiny part of her face that wasn’t covered up.

 

Mike felt so sorry for Marlena, she looked so lost. It was usually her who helped people through the hardest times of their lives. She had helped, healed and supported so many people. She was the best psychiatrist he had ever encountered and on top of that the best friend anyone could wish for. And now there was nothing he could say to her, to take her pain away. He couldn’t even start to imagine how he’d would feel if something like this happened to his son Jeremy.

 

The nurses were now ready to take Lisa upstairs. He saw how she bend over her daughter one more time and whispered something inaudible, not meant for him to hear.

 

Then, without any previous warning all the alarms of the machines that were monitoring Lisa’s condition went ballistic. Mike immediately reacted when he saw that Lisa’s blood pressure was dropping rapidly and her heartbeat went up to 120 beats a minute.

 

“She’s going into shock, she’s bleeding internally, get the crash cart!!!” Mike’s trauma team that had been getting ready to leave, to get Lisa’s upstairs was back in position the same second he gave his order. He put Lisa’s IV’s wide open to get more circulating volume in her system. Marlena was who still standing next to Mike stared at the monitors in shock. She started shaking…she was losing her girl, she was dying…

 

“Noooooooooooooo, Lisaaaaaaa.” Her heartbreaking cry, touched the very core of every soul present in the room. John, who had been standing a bit back because he wanted to give Marlena some room without being in Mike’s way, stood nailed to the ground not able to grasp what was happening right in front of him, like he was paralyzed.

 

“Get the parents from this room, now!!” Mike ordered in the chaos of alarms, Marlena’s heartbreaking sobs and the muttering voices of the trauma team.

 

“We have to intubate now. She’s flat lining!!!!!!! Start CPR.” The team started compressions, while Mike intubated. They were fighting. Fighting for the life of Lisa Black…

John was standing right behind his wife and saw how an orderly got her and gently, slowly pulled her away from their daughter. She started fighting him with all she had left, in panic, despair and overwhelming grief, when she saw how the nurses started CPR on her daughter. “Lisaaaaaaaaa, stay with meeee.” She tried to call out but her voice had lost all its strength. Then the meaning of Marlena’s desperate request to her daughter, finally hit him. He was going to lose his baby girl…she wouldn’t make it.

 

“Nooo” he whispered in extreme anxiety, trembling over his entire body. The next moment another orderly grabbed him too and led him away from the trauma room.

 

“Mr. Black, we will do everything we can for your daughter.” He said. John just nodded staring blankly at the trauma room entry doors where the other orderly had finally been able to convince Marlena to step outside.

 

“Please God, nooooo…” she was hysterical, and the orderly had to endure her fists slamming into his chest over and over again. He had to use all his strength holding her back, while he tried to calm her down.

 

“Let me go back, theeereeee!!” She screamed again and again. John started crying at the sight of her knowing she would not survive it if they lost her. He needed to help Marlena. God, give me the strength to get through this. He tried to pull her away from the orderly in his own arms, but she resisted. She had totally lost it.

 

Lexie who had been upstairs to arrange Lisa’s CT scan immediately knew that something was terribly, terribly wrong when she stepped out of the elevator. She heard Marlena cry hysterically. She ran through the hallway and the moment she reached them, she saw how Marlena collapsed in John’s arms.

 

“Doc, please…” John cried, while his knees gave away under the weight of Marlena’s limp body. Lexie and the orderly immediately took over and helped John to lay Marlena flat on her back on the floor.

 

“Get me a gurney, Dave.” Lexie asked the orderly, who immediately ran away to get it.

 

“John, what happened…” Lexie asked still out of breath from running, placing her hand on his cheek. He was a wreck.

 

“Lisa’s heart stopped…They are trying to bring her back…” he said it in a deep sigh, as if he didn’t dare to speak about it. Lexie looked at him in shock. Then let her eyes rest at Marlena’s still figure in front of her. No wonder the state she was in. She took Marlena’s wrist to check her pulse. It was very fast.

 

“What’s wrong with her, Lexie.” John asked numb while he held Marlena’s hand. She looked at him.

 

“She’ll be alright in a little while. It’s a natural defense mechanism of the human body. When people get extremely stressed and are panicking sometimes the body shuts down to protect itself and the person loses consciousness.” She explained.

 

The next moment Mike came out of the trauma room. He immediately saw Marlena on the floor and sadly observed that it had been too much for Marlena, who was just lifted onto a gurney. He saw Lexie was taking care of her. He quickly walked over to John. John, who had had been helping the orderly, immediately walked up to him his eyes begging him for news.

 

“She’s alive.” He said instantly. John thanked God the moment he spoke those words. He was so relieved that a sob escaped from deep within. Mike put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“She is bleeding somewhere in her belly and we have to take her to the operating room right now, to stop the bleeding. That is our first priority.” He said.

 

John nodded and urged Mike go back in. Lisa was alive that was all what mattered, now he had to make sure Marlena was fine and knew that their daughter had a chance…

When Marlena came to she found herself in a hospital bed. John was right there next to her bed on a chair holding her hand when she opened her eyes. The moment she saw his worried face she remembered everything what had happened. John quickly rose to reassure her.

 

“Doc, she is alive…our girl is alive” His words sounded more beautiful than anything she had ever heard. She covered her mouth with her hand in disbelieve and her teardrops fell down on John’s hands. They looked in the depth of each other’s eyes when Marlena suddenly turned away. John knew something was bothering her.

 

“Doc…?”

 

“I was not ready to let her go, John. I couldn’t…” Marlena said when she remembered her behavior in the trauma room.

 

“Marlena, please don’t. Mike took her up to the OR. She’s bleeding in her belly and he is going to stop the bleeding. She will make it through. I know so.” He said to her. He kissed her tenderly on the lips tasting the salt of her tears. She closed her eyes and nodded.

 

“Thank God…” she whispered thankfully.

 

When Lexie came to check on Marlena, she was sitting up in bed.

 

“Hey, I am so glad you feel a little bit better.” She said, she walked up to her and took her wrist to count her pulse again.

 

“I am all right, now. Can I leave this bed?” Marlena asked. Lexie looked at her trying to find some clue of how she was really feeling.

 

“Yes, but I want you to take it very, very easy. And I want you to eat something and drink some juice, ok?” she knew it was impossible to keep Marlena in bed right now.

 

“Ok, I can do that…Thank you, Lexie.” she said softly, still feeling a little bit embarrassed

 

“Do you want me to give you something, to help you calm down?” Lexie asked Marlena.

 

“No, that is not necessary. Now I know that Lisa’s alive I am fine…Oh God I thought I’d lost her…” She had hardly any voice left. John immediately hushed her up, placing his thumb on her lips.

 

“Shh, we need to stay positive…” He said. “Come on, Doc let’s go out of here.”

 

“If she feels faint or dizzy…call me ok?” Lexie said to John taking one more worried glance at the woman she considered the best friend she’d ever had. Even after all the mistakes she had made, Marlena hadn’t given up on her. And right now she would not give up on her and John either, she would be there for them all the way.

 

“I will, Lexie.” John helped Marlena from the bed and together they left the room to return to the waiting area…

 

After an almost unbearable time of waiting, Mike finally showed his face in the waiting room that would forever breathe bad memories for the Black family.

 

John held Marlena. “Tell us, Mike.” He said.

 

“I came down for a minute, to tell you we were able to stop the bleeding. It was caused by a ruptured spleen and we took it out. Immediately following the operation, we did the CT scan which showed no damage except a mild concussion.” Mike paused a moment to make sure that he would not give too much information at once but it was obvious John and Marlena were still following him and wanted him to continue.

 

“In 20 minutes we will operate her again. We are giving her fluids and blood now and she is getting stronger for a second surgery. Her blood pressure is up.” Mike told Marlena and John.

 

“One of the broken ribs punctured her lung, and caused the right lung to collapse partially. I will tend to that too during the second surgery. I’ve looked at the X-rays and I will put in pens, plates and screws to fixate the fractures. Luckily they are clean breaks, they will heal well. She is over the worst, she will pull through, I promise that.” he concluded.

 

She was seriously injured, but she would definitely make it. Marlena closed her eyes for a second to thank God again and then hugged John out of relieve, then she turned to Mike and hugged him. Mike heartily returned her hug then let her go.

 

“I want you two to go and get some rest, this is going to take at least five hours…and it’s the middle of the night. I promise I will call you immediately when she is in recovery.” Mike said to Marlena in particular, she really needed to rest. She looked completely and utterly exhausted.

 

“I’ll make sure she lays down.” John nodded and together they watched Mike leave for the operating room. Then they stood there holding each other both dealing with their own thoughts until John was the one to finally let go. He carefully brushed away a tear in the corner of her eye and took her hand.

 

“Come on Doc, I want you to lay down in your office for a while.” He said. Her face showed protest and she shook her head. “How can I possibly sleep John…” she sighed looking at the clock, not even two minutes had passed since Mike had left. John put both of his hands on her shoulders and looked into her tired eyes.

 

“Even if you don’t sleep, you will rest. Lisa’s going to need you most when she wakes up. You’re no use to her if you exhaust yourself.” He told her. “You heard Mike. She won’t be out until at least five hours.”

 

She looked at him and she knew he was right. There was no use at all sitting up in this hallway all night long, going crazy watching at the clock. Together they slowly walked to her office, where they snug up on her divan. He took her in his arms and slowly rocked her. It took a long time, but finally she could let her worries go…and her weary mind finally came to rest in the arms of the man she loved more than anything else in this world. She fell asleep…

 

Marlena awoke when she heard a soft murmur. She heard men’s voices outside her office door. One of them John’s the other sounding like Roman. She sat up and saw that John had covered her with a blanket. She listened carefully.

 

“…Doc, is having some rest, we expect Lisa to be in surgery for another hour or two…did you find anything on that sedan?” She heard John saying.

 

Outside Marlena’s office John was talking to his best friend and Marlena’s ex-husband Roman Brady, who was captain for the Salem Police Department.

 

“Bo is on that. It’s good you remembered part of the license plate, that will help a lot…it will take some time, but I have good hope. Can you tell me one more time how it happened?” Roman asked while he pulled out his notebook to write down John’s statement.

 

“Well this bastard comes racing around the corner, Lisa was just crossing the street to get something out of her car. She forgot her purse. She was hit before she could react at all, and this driver just drove off. If I ever get him in my hands…” John was so angry. Roman put his hand on his shoulder.

 

“Whatever the cost, we will get him bro’. You can count on me.” Roman said.

 

“I know, Roman. Thank you. I really appreciate this.” Then he suddenly remembered something. It was almost 7 a.m. He had to call his other children. They needed to know about what happened to their sister. But before he could dial the first number he saw Mike entering the hallway from the elevator. “Oh there’s Mike…” He said to Roman.

 

“I’ve good news.” He immediately said.

 

“I have to wake Marlena, she wants to hear this. Hold on.” John said. He carefully opened the door of her office and saw she was awake.

 

“John…?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Mike is here, baby. Can I let him and Roman in?” he asked. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair.

 

“Yes, yes…of course.” She said, while John turned on the lights and let Marlena adjust her eyes for a bit. John then let Roman and Mike in. Mike sat down next to Marlena on the sofa.

 

“I’ve good news, Marlena, John. The operation was very successful. We were able to put the bones in her upper arm together without using pens, we will let it heal by immobilizing the arm for a week or three. The fracture in her shoulder blade was mended with a few screws and plates. Her lung will heal by itself, we will monitor that closely. She has had a stable blood pressure throughout the surgery. Right now she is on a ventilator in recovery and we will bring her to the ICU shortly. Right now she needs some help breathing until the anesthetics wear off and she comes to, after that we have to make sure we control the pain. I’ll will call down here, when we have her in the ICU and then you can stay with her until she wakes up.” He filled them in as detailed as he could. Marlena had started to cry.

 

“Thank God…” she thought…” Thank you, God. For saving my girl.” She then hugged Mike. “Thank you so much for taking such good care of her. I can never thank you enough!” John said.

 

“You know, Lisanne is one of the strongest people I know. And I am sure she will heal fast. I am going to change and the I’ll make sure Lisa is safe and well in ICU in the care of Craig. I will call you when she’s there.” He finished. John nodded.

 

“Thank you, Mike. Thank you for everything.” Mike Horton left and Roman decided to do the same. His two best friends in this world, now needed their time together, and all the rest they could get. Marlena looked so pale and he had rarely seen John’s face this worried. Roman took Marlena in a tight embrace and stroke her blonde hair. He then took her face in his hands.

 

“Don’t worry about this driver, I am going to do everything I can to get this person. I promise that to you, Doc.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I am going to the station again. If you need anything…anything at all, call me, ok?” She looked at him thankfully. He let go of the mother of his twins, Eric and Sami, gave John one more supportive hand on his shoulder and left.

Marlena thought she was going to faint again when she saw Lisa lying so still hooked up to so many machines. John who was standing right behind Marlena and had to hold her. Her heart broke for her daughter. She tried to swallow the pain away but she couldn’t. Oh how pale was she, how fragile…

 

“Doc, are you all right??” he asked softly while he was fighting his own tears. Of course she was not all right! It was unbelievable that someone was capable of causing an accident and leaving the victim behind. Just like that. His daughter, how could anybody be so cruel. He tried to support Marlena in the best way he could. He was so worried about her, her kids were her life. She was so vulnerable right now. He had to make sure to keep them both save. I will protect them whatever it is I need to do.

 

“Yes, yes…it’s just…it’s so hard…it hurts so, so much to see her like this…” Tears ran down her cheeks again. John led her to a chair next to Lisa’s bed and helped her to sit down. Marlena took Lisa’s left hand and held it to her cheek and cried without making a sound. Keeping all her despair inside her. I have to be strong for you baby, I know I have to, but it’s so hard .

 

Her heart ached so badly and she was so incredibly overwhelmed by her feelings that she wasn’t sure what she was feeling at all.

 

“I am here sweetie, and I won’t leave you…” She whispered. John caressed his daughter’s face. He then suddenly remembered that besides Roman, Bo and Hope the family still didn’t know anything yet. He had to go and call them…

 

“I am going to call the kids and the family, Doc. They need to know. I’ll be right back.” He whispered. She nodded sadly without taking her eyes of her daughter…

 

“So how is she now…” Belle asked John the minute she encountered him in the hall with tears in her eyes. John took her to a more silent spot. The hospital which had been so deserted during the night had started to come alive again even the ICU was buzzing with activity.

 

“She is stable, Izzy, but she is severely injured. They removed her spleen because she was bleeding internally. She has a broken shoulder, a broken upper arm, cracked ribs and a concussion.” Belle gasped when he summed up all her injuries.

 

“Oh my God, dad…” she cried. John took his eldest daughter in his arms, then let her go to see her face. He got his handkerchief and dried her tears.

 

“We are waiting for her to regain consciousness. Your mom is with her, she has been up most of the night.” John said while he walked Belle to her sister’s room. Belle saw how her heart-broken mother sat next to the bed of her younger sister through the window of the ICU. Together they went in. Belle immediately walked towards Marlena and hugged her.

 

“Is she going to be ok, mom?” she asked. She was so afraid, Lisa looked so ill. Marlena took her daughter’s hands.

 

“Belle, she will be all right, I know she will. Shall we pray and ask God to give her strength for her recovery?” She asked. Belle nodded. John joined them at Lisa’s bedside and together they prayed in silence. Dr. Lexie Carver who had seen the Blacks had been praying and who had been waiting outside to give them a bit of privacy entered Lisa’s room a few minutes later. They all looked hopeful at her arrival, she was glad she had some good news for them.

 

“It’s good, you are all with her. I want to do a small test to see if we can take her off the ventilator. Her vitals are stronger and the anaesthetics are wearing off.” She said taking in one more time of what she read on the monitor. She then turned to Marlena.

 

“Marlena, I want you to take her hand and to talk to her while I am doing this, she needs stimulation.” She said. Marlena agreed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took her daughter’s hand. Softly she started speaking to her. Belle and John standing next to her.

 

“Sweetie girl, listen to me…” Marlena started, while Lexie did her preparations.

 

“We are all here. Me, dad and Belle… Lexie came to let you breathe on your own again. She’s going to remove the tube. You need to fight and come back to us…do you hear me? You have to fight now, little one…come back to us.” She said to her unconscious girl. At that moment she felt pressure in her hand. Lisanne had squeezed her hand!

 

“Lexie! She squeezed my hand!” She said. Lexie gave her a hopeful nod. This was a very good sign. Then continued talking to her. “Lisa…wake up sweetheart. Come back to us…” She continued. Then happened what Lexie had hoped and waited for. Lisa moved and took a breath on her own. In a quick movement she removed the tube from Lisa’s throat. She coughed softly and then her face showed pain.

 

“Come on girl, you can do it…breathe…” She held an oxygen mask above her mouth and nose. Then she did it, with a gasp she started breathing on her own. Lexie placed the oxygen mask on Lisa’s face, while she kept looking closely at the monitor.

 

“Oh my god, John look!” Marlena whispered when she saw’s Lisa’s eyelashes move. She was waking up. She quickly removed her tears, she had to be strong.

 

“Lisa…I am here. Your mommy’s here.” She whispered while she stroked her daughter’s hair and then she opened her eyes. John moved closer so that she could see them both.

 

Lisa saw vague shapes, she didn’t know where she was, she felt so strange. Everything was so white…was it snowing…? They had called her. To come back. She remembered now; her mother had asked her to come back to her. She tried to focus and then recognized her mom…and then her dad. Bending over her with worried faces.

 

“Hey baby girl, there you are…” John said gently stroking her cheek.

 

“Mom…” Lisa’s voice sounded very weak and hoarse. Marlena now knew that she was really all right. That she would be ok.

 

“Yes…sweetheart. I am here. Your dad is here too.” She said while Lexie started giving Lisa pain medication through her IV.

 

“Am…I…in…” Lisa started. She tried to pull the oxygen mask away with her left hand. Marlena stopped her.

 

“Baby, you better leave that on…” She said. Gently placing the mask back. John knew she should not talk and knew they had to reassure her, she was still groggy and very weak.

“Shhhh, don’t talk. You had an accident, baby. You are in the hospital. Don’t you worry about a thing; we will take care of you. Just rest.” She needed a moment to let it sink in, but then she slowly nodded. An accident? She was so tired, she would think about that later.

 

“Are you in pain, sweetheart?” Lexie asked. Lisa shook her head, hardly noticeable.

 

“Ok, good. Listen to me, honey. If you have pain. Just push this button.” Lexie said while she put a small device in Lisa’s hand which she could push for pain medication. Lisa was exhausted and she closed her eyes again. Lexie saw how it scared John and Belle. Marlena saw it too.

 

“Don’t worry she’s just sleeping this time.” She smiled and saw her husband and daughter take a deep breath. Lexie was very satisfied about her vitals.

 

“She’s a fighter, she will be fine. Her vitals are almost back to normal. We will just continue to give her some oxygen to keep her more comfortable. We might be even be able to move her to a ward tomorrow or the day after that.” Lexie smiled she was very positive, Lisa was over the worst.

 

“I want Lisa to get her rest now. And I want the same for you Marlena, and you too John. You go home to get some rest. Lisa will be in good hands.” Lexie said, she had never seen her best friends so tired. John knew she was right. By now it was way past noon. They were exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster they had been on throughout the night. Marlena had had only two hours of sleep and he didn’t get any sleep at all. Marlena didn’t want to know anything about it though.

 

“I’m staying. She needs me.” She said. Lexie shook her head.

 

“Marlena, I want you to go home. You won’t be any support to Lisanne, if you collapse next to her bed.” Lexie said and she meant it.

 

“You go home with John and you get at least eight hours of sleep. I PROMISE I will call you if anything changes but she is doing good. She is doing really well.” Lexie looked into Marlena’s tired hazel eyes. Marlena had no energy left to go against it and of course Lexie was right. She couldn’t do anything else but give in to her exhaustion.

 

“Come on Doc.” He put an arm around her waist. “Belle do you want to go home with us?”. Belle shook her head.

 

“I am going to stay a bit longer, just to sit with her and wait for Carrie, Sami, Eric and Brady and then I’ll go home to Philip and Claire. You go home to rest, mom.” She said.

 

“Ok, sweetie.” Marlena finally agreed and let John take her home….

Roman looked at the road in front of Marlena’s building. After the accident they had blocked off the part of Riverview Drive where Lisa was hit to do an investigation. Abe was giving orders to some of the men. Roman walked up to him.

 

“No tire tracks nothing…did this guy hit his breaks at all?” Abe said. Roman seemed in thought for a minute.

 

“I have no explanation, bro. It’s impossible for the driver not to have seen her, even if this person didn’t see her before he hit her. You can hardly not see someone going over the hood of your car with the kind force he hit her. It’s a fact this person was driving like mad.” Roman said. Abe shook his head. He really couldn’t believe someone would hit another human being and just drive off, for no reason at all.

 

“I think he must have been drunk, or he was followed by someone…or…” Roman stopped in mid-sentence. Abe looked at him.

 

“Or what, Roman?”

 

“Or someone hit Lisanne on purpose.”

 

“What?! Are you saying that someone wished Lisa dead? Everybody adores Lisanne Black. She has no enemies. Oh come on we don’t have any proof in that direction.” Abe said in disbelieve.

 

“Well she is John’s daughter…he worked for the ISA. You know from your own

experience how many ‘friends’ we made. Does the name Stefano DiMera ring any bells?”

 

“Don’t you think that’s a bit far off, Roman?” Abe said.

 

“Well…now I am thinking about it. It might be a long shot. But if I am right, she is still in danger!!” He realized it with a shock. Abe immediately got his cell phone and started to make a phone call.

 

“Hope, it’s Abe. Roman and I have reason to believe Lisa Black might be in serious danger. I want you and Bo to go to University Hospital to guard her in ICU, immediately. I am going to get some men to take over. But right now I need you and Bo there to check everything out. Ok thanks.” He hung up. And then saw John’s car pulling up Riverview Drive.

 

“Doc and John…” Roman said he had noticed too.

 

“They are still working on the investigation.” John said to Marlena when they drove up Riverview Drive. “I can see Roman and Abe. Doc I’ll talk to Roman and Abe for a minute. You go on ahead I’ll be there in a little bit.” He said while he parked the car. She just nodded. She was so tired that her bed now seemed like heaven waiting, she just needed to be alone with John right now to let everything sink in. She hadn’t the energy to talk to even Roman and Abe.

 

“I am going to lay down. Please, don’t leave me alone too long. I don’t want to be alone.” She whispered. John kissed her tenderly. She then got out of the car and entered their apartment building. John locked the car and then walked up to Roman and Abe.

 

“Is there any news?” John asked his two best friends. Abe paused a minute. He wasn’t sure how to say this.

 

“I have just taken some precautions, John. I’ve send Bo and Hope to guard Lisa.” Abe said, he wasn’t happy to tell him this.

 

“Why? What’s going on?” John asked suspiciously.

 

“It’s a hunch but we think there’s a possibility Lisa was run over on purpose.” Abe explained. John looked at him in terror.

 

“Nooo, Abe what are you saying..” He was shocked. Abe quickly explained him their findings. John realized they could be right. His heart was pounding, how the hell was he going to bring this to Marlena. He needed some time to recover from the news.

 

“Please, don’t tell Marlena about this yet. She really needs her rest. I will tell her later when we get back to Lisa.” John said. Roman and Abe nodded.

 

When John entered the bedroom, Marlena was laying down but still wide awake.

 

“I just can’t stop thinking about…” She started. But John hushed her up. He took her in his arms and kissed her, caressing her face gently with his strong hands. Marlena laid her head on his chest.

 

“She will be ok, Doc. She looks like you…” he said.

 

“Oh I make a fine example; I am a wreck.” She replied sarcastically.

 

“Doc, close your eyes. And try to clear your mind. You need rest.” He said firmly. He pulled up the sheets and blankets to cover them up. She moved closer to him and curled up to him. After a while he could tell from her steady and regular breathing that she had finally fallen asleep. John himself however couldn’t get his rest. He could only think about what Roman and Abe had just told him. Carefully he let go of his wife and placed her head on her pillow instead of his chest. He then made sure she was covered and got out of bed, as silent as he could, not to wake her. He went downstairs and got the phone to call Bo. He trusted Bo Brady, Roman’s brother, and his wife Hope more then anything but if one of the ISA enemies from his past really was behind this his daughter was in very great danger. Even protection by two of the best cops in Salem didn’t stop those guys from reaching their target. He tried to go back to the awful time that he was still a man without identity and tried to remember, tried to picture his enemies. One of them, Stefano DiMera, had made his family’s life one living hell for too many years. They hadn’t heard anything about him for over a year, but he still was a very serious threat to his family and to Roman’s. Thanks to Stefano their lives had intertwined as much as they did, though the positive things that had come out of it wasn’t something he had expected. His thoughts were interrupted when Bo answered.

 

“Hey Bo, it’s John…How’s Lisa?” He listened carefully for a bit.

 

“Ok, ok. Thanks. Yes of course Tek and Roman can take the next shift. I’ll be back in the hospital as soon Marlena wakes up. Is Belle still with her?” he asked.

 

“Ok, I assume she went home? Ok, yes I will. See you later, buddy.” He hung up and returned upstairs…

John waited anxiously for her reaction. She did react the moment they entered the hallway to the ICU.

 

“John…why are Hope and Bo in front of Lisa’s room?” he took her hand and stopped her. She looked at him and she knew something was wrong.

 

“John??? What is going on, tell me!” She said starting to feel very angry because he obviously hadn’t told her something. He felt it.

 

“Doc,…” he paused, too long. Her eyes where now spitting fire…demanding him to better hurry up. He took a deep breath. There we go.

 

“Roman and Abe seriously consider that somebody hit Lisa on purpose, Doc.” He said it and his heart ached when he saw how hard the news hit his wife.

 

“What do you mean…?!” she gasped.

 

“Somebody might have deliberately caused her injuries, or maybe even…” he couldn’t say it. But she knew enough.

 

“Oh my God, John…and you let me leave her!!!? How could you do that!!” She yelled at him thumping his chest. John hadn’t expected this, but he understood.

 

“Doc…Doc, listen to me.” He grabbed her arms, she was hurting him.

 

“They just took every precaution; we aren’t sure yet.” He tried to explain but he realized he only made it worse, she was now furious.

 

“John Black, if there’s only the slightest change that my daughter is in danger, I want to know about that!” She yelled at him. John knew he deserved it, but he just had wanted to protect her. She tried to walk away from him, but he wouldn’t let her. He wanted her to understand him too, he cornered her against a wall and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking straight in her eyes. He finally had her attention.

 

“Marlena, listen to me. Please…I just wanted the best for both of you. You were exhausted I had to make sure you got some rest. I knew she was in the best of hands. I even called Bo to make sure everything was all right when you were asleep…You know me; I would do anything for our children. If I could I would be laying there in that bed.” He told her. She looked at him realizing what he just had said and then she fell apart. Crying she fell into his arms.

 

“How can that be…” she sobbed. “How can it be that someone wishes our girl dead. Who would do that?”

He held her close and kissed and caressed her blonde hair, trying to console her grief. He didn’t want to think it but he couldn’t help it. There was only one man who would hurt their family on purpose. She felt him tense up and then she knew. She freed him from his arms to look him in the face. His face said it all.

 

“Oh my God, John…You don’t think it’s Stefano DiMera, do you??” she started trembling and he had to grab her around the waste because suddenly her knees gave away. He immediately rushed her over to a chair, where he pushed her head between her knees. The shock was too big for her too handle. She let him tend to her. She hid her face in her hands and cried inconsolably. Every time they finally had their lives back on track and had recovered from all the pain he had caused he was back to hurt everybody she loved all over again. She was fed up, she couldn’t go through this another time.

 

“Doc, I won’t let happen anything to our children, I promise you.” He took her in his arms rocking her, trying her to calm down…God, how he hated DiMera.

 

“She is so strong for Lisa…” John said to Hope, while they looked through the window of Lisa’s room, where Marlena was holding the hand of her sleeping daughter. Hope put her hand on his shoulder while he continued. He had to tell someone get it all of his chest.

 

“But now Marlena knows, that there’s a possibility someone hurt her on purpose, that it might be DiMera, I won’t get her to get her own rest.” While he said it Hope thought of her own son Shawn and realized she would have done exactly the same for him.

 

“That is what moms do, John. If they need to they can carry the whole world.” She answered. She decided to hug him. He needed one.

 

“How am I going to protect her, Hope?” He asked while she held him.

 

“You are not alone in that, John. We will all look out for her. She’s lucky to have so many excellent cops in her family.” Hope answered. John stepped back, looked at her and knew she was right. Hope, Bo, Roman…she couldn’t be much saver, while they were in charge of her security. He had to believe in them and in the meantime he had to keep his eyes wide open…

 

Lisa was sleeping a restless sleep. Flashes of memories and images she thought she had forgotten a long time ago grouped together into the most horrific nightmare she had ever had. It was dark and cold and she was all alone. She was stuck in this awful place and there was no way out. She felt claustrophobic when she realized there wasn’t a single window just this door of steel. There was no way to get out… They would leave her there to die, she would never see her family again…

 

She screamed at the top of her lungs

 

“Stefano, let me out!!!” and then she heard him laugh. His mean, heartless laugh echoed in her head.

 

“Please…let me go…” she fell down and cried…

 

Marlena was alarmed when she saw how her daughter started tossing and turning, breathing faster. She stood up from her chair. Lisa was talking in her sleep, begging to someone in her dream…she was having a horrible nightmare. Small drops of sweat formed on her forehead.

 

“Please…let me go…” Lisa murmured. Marlena saw a tear going down her face.

 

She placed a hand on Lisa’s cheek, trying to wake her up as gently as she could.

 

“Lisa…it’s just a dream. Wake up sweetheart.” She said softly.

 

Lisa woke up with a start, panting. It took her a moment to recover and realize that it really had been just a dream. It had been so incredibly real though. She looked up at her mom’s worried face…

 

“It was only a dream, baby…are you ok?” she asked. Lisa closed her eyes took a deep breath and nodded.

 

“I want to go home, mom…” she said visibly upset.

 

“Soon baby, very soon…try to rest. I am right here with you.” Marlena adjusted Lisa’s pillow and her blanket and tried to reassure her daughter. But she knew what was bothering her. Even if they didn’t tell her yet that Stefano DiMera might be responsible for her accident, she was having nightmares about him. Stefano, you will never hurt MY children again, even if I have to die stopping you…

In a mansion not far from Salem he was staring at her in disbelieve.

 

“You did what?” he asked her again.

 

“I ran her over…” she said it again without visible emotion. She obviously didn’t care.

 

“Are you out of your mind?!!!!!” He slammed his fist on his desk, he was furious. Did she have any idea how she had just messed up his plans. She looked in his furious eyes that were almost black with anger. Impatiently she bent over his desk to tell him exactly what was on her mind. She looked right back at him.

 

“Do you have any…ANY idea what I have gone through thanks to Dr. Marlena Evans?” She said sarcastically emphasizing ‘Dr. Marlena Evans’. She knew she would hit a soft spot. He shook his head, disapproving.

 

“Careful…” It was the only thing he said while he kept looking straight into her eyes letting her know that this was the first, last and only warning she would get. She knew he meant it but she had been waiting for revenge for so long. And this…this was only the beginning. She couldn’t care less about his plans. She had her own.

 

###

 

“Oh how glad I am to be home…” Lisa walked very carefully over the threshold of their penthouse, while Marlena supported her on the left side and led her to the couch. Her right arm was strapped tightly to her body in a sling.

 

“Slowly…” Marlena said when Lisa started to sit down and was obviously in a lot of pain.

 

“Ouch those ribs…” Lisa said, her face twisted in a painful expression, she felt them with every single breath. She tried to find a position in which everything hurt the least. Marlena adjusted the pillows and helped her daughter get comfortable. Then got a blanket. She sat on the edge of the couch and stroke her daughter’s hair. Looking in her daughter’s eyes, in which she saw so much of herself, she thanked God again for keeping her safe. Lisa looked at her mother, reading her thoughts. Everything that had happened in the past week must have been so hard on her. Now she got older she understood why her mom had been always so protective of her. Lisa moved closer and hugged her mom.

 

“I’ll be fine, mom. I promise.” She said softly, trying to make her feel better. Marlena’s heart melted when she said that. Even under those circumstances she was thinking about everybody else. It had been like that since she was a very little girl and it hadn’t been a surprise the day she had let her and John know she would go to medical school. She remembered the day of Lisa’s graduation and how proud John had been. If she closed her eyes she could still see the water in John’s eyes when they were listening to Lisa taking the oath. And now she was all grown up, but she would forever be her baby girl.

 

“I know…I know you will.” Marlena let Lisa go, trying to remove a tear on her cheek before Lisa saw it. But she couldn’t fool anyone, especially not her youngest, they were so alike. Lisa stroke the back of her hand gently over her mother’s face.

 

“I was so afraid, I’d lost you…I love you so, so much.” She said and then Lisa couldn’t hold her tears either.

 

“I see that car every time I close my eyes…I am so lucky to be alive…” she cried. Marlena held her face in her hands.

“Listen to me, sweetie girl. You are home now and you are safe. And your dad and I are going to take care of you and spoil you until run away screaming…” A smile appeared through Lisa’s tears when her mother said that.

 

“Never…” There was again a weak smile. Marlena was so happy to see her daughter smile again. She got a blanket and made sure Lisa was comfortable and warm. Marlena could see that she was very, very tired.

 

“Now I want you to close your eyes and rest for a bit, I’ll be right here with you.” She said while she started to caress her daughter’s hair. Lisa let her mother’s love carry her, she closed her eyes and tried to make her head empty. After a while she had fallen asleep, but she was restless. Marlena knew that Lisa would need all the tender loving care she could get to get over the traumatic experience she had gone through.

 

She was still looking at Lisa sleeping and caressing her hair when John came home much later after a very busy day at Basic Black. As silent as he could he approached his wife and daughter. He lay a hand on Marlena’s shoulder and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

 

“How is she?” he asked softly not to wake Lisa.

 

“Restless, but at least she fell asleep.” She whispered back. “The trip home has been draining her from energy. She is still very weak.” Marlena said while she stood up and sheltered in John’s warm and safe embrace. In the hospital Lisa had had a lot of trouble sleeping. She had been lying awake a lot when she should have gotten her rest. If she finally fell asleep she’d be woken up again after a short time by horrific nightmares. It was one of the important reasons why Mike had decided to let her go home so soon though under strict resting conditions and agreed regular house calls from Lexie Carver. Holding each other they watched their daughter sleeping both asking themselves if they could love any of their children more, they were their happiness, their joy of life.

 

She awoke with such a start that John was next to her within a second. She was breathing fast. She closed her eyes for a second to realize it had been just a dream.

 

“Are you ok…?” he asked worriedly. He took her face in his large hands.

 

“It was…just a dream…” she said still panting trying to erase the images of her nightmare out of her mind. They had scared her so much that her heart was still pounding, but she didn’t want to worry her father even more. He was worried enough as it was with the still ongoing police investigation of her accident. Now she was more or less on her feet again they had lifted the heaviest security measures, but there was still an officer downstairs in the building and she wasn’t to go anywhere without that agent. She moved her legs and sat up very carefully. She then tried to get up.

 

“Hey…should you do this?” John asked while he supported her.

 

“I need to move for a bit, dad.” She said, determined to set her mind on something else. If she was the target, was the rest of the family in danger too? John placed his arm around her waist, slowly he helped Lisa to get up. Marlena who had been in the kitchen to make tea saw that her daughter was awake…and up. She wasn’t sure this was such a good idea. She had just used up a lot of energy going home from the hospital, she had been so tired.

 

“Don’t worry mom…I just need to move my muscles for a bit, I am all tensed up.” She said when she noticed her mother’s look. I have to make sure nobody gets hurt. She slowly walked around the room supported by her father but the moment she had spoken to reassure her mother she started feeling extremely light-headed. Marlena saw all the color withdraw from Lisa’s face.

 

“John get her back to the couch, now. It’s too much” Marlena rushed over to her husband to help him, anticipating. Lisa was about to faint. John immediately lifted Lisa of her feet and carried her to the couch carefully placing her head on the pillow. Marlena grabbed another pillow and lifted Lisa’s legs up. For a moment black dots where swimming in front of Lisa’s eyes and she had to grab her head, she felt so strange. Marlena saw her daughter was trying to focus, then her eyes rolled away and she was out. Her head fell to the side. Marlena quickly placed her hand against Lisa’s cheek to support it.

 

“John get me a wet cloth and call Lexie for me, please.” She sat down next to Lisa and began patting her cheeks softly, carefully. John came back quickly with a cold wet cloth. The moment Marlena cooled Lisa’s forehead, cheeks and neckline she came to again. She moaned, then a deep sigh. Marlena kept watching her.

 

“Wake up Lisa, open your eyes…” she said. John was calling Lexie with his cell phone and he saw to his relieve how Lisa woke up, while he was waiting for Lexie to pick up.

 

“Hey sweetness, there you are, again. How do you feel?” Marlena asked, looking more worried than ever. Lisa gazed at her mom, her face disappeared in and out of focus and she wondered what had just happened, she was so confused. Slowly she puzzled it together, she also remembered every single detail of her nightmare. Stefano had had her dad and had been torturing him. If he was after her alone this time, she had to get away from her family as far as she could as soon as she could. Lisa was so upset. She looked at her mom, she had to let them believe she was ok. They had had their share of pain, it was enough.

 

“I felt light-headed…” Lisa answered, trying to avoid looking into her mother’s eyes, while Marlena counted her pulse. She knew she was an open book, she had to get herself together. She tried to take a few deep breaths, there was such a strange cloud in her head. Suddenly she realized her father was calling a doctor. No, I am fine, please just let me be. She tried to push her mother’s caring hands away and tried to sit up, but Marlena stopped her, thinking she was still groggy.

 

“No, no not yet, sweetheart. You have to keep laying for a little bit.” Lisa was too weak to go against it, but she had to fight it. She had to be on her feet again as soon as possible. Why did it take so long.? The longer she was here the bigger the chance that something could happen. And this time maybe not to her alone.

 

“Dad, no…I already feel better. Please, don’t call.” She begged softly, she felt so upset. The last thing she needed was another doctor to tell her to stay in bed even longer. Why didn’t they believe she was fine.

 

“Sweetheart, I want you to be checked, you don’t faint for no reason.” Marlena said while she turned the cloth on her forehead, to keep her cool.

 

“Mom, we are both physicians…I am ok, really” Again trying to push her mother’s hands away. Marlena however wasn’t to change her mind. She wondered what had just happened for Lisa to be so distant, it worried her tremendously.

 

“Lisa, I am a psychiatrist and you are the patient. Let Lexie make sure you are ok.” Marlena said while John was talking to Lexie.

 

“Thanks Lex, I see you in a bit.” John hang up.

 

“She’ll be right over…” he said to Marlena “…and has asked me to put this young lady in bed.” John looked at his daughter, it was as if she had seen a ghost. Something was not right, there was something really bothering her. Lisa tried to look away, what was she going to do? They meant so well, she felt extremely guilty for putting her parents through this. She wasn’t even home a few hours and they had to get a doctor over because she couldn’t stick to some simple rules. She felt a gigantic headache coming up and was suddenly exhausted. She was so silent that John and Marlena exchanged a look of mutual understanding.

 

“Come on, girl.” John again lifted her in his arms and brought her upstairs to her room where he let Marlena take care of her…

“Hey there’s my patient.” Lexie said when she entered Lisa’s room with her medical bag and saw Lisa laying in the large queen bed. Marlena wanted to give her daughter some privacy while Lexie gave her a checkup. Lisa still didn’t speak.

 

“I am going to make us some tea, be right back” she said winking to Lexie who got the hint.

 

“Tell me what happened…How are you holding up.” Lexie sat down on Lisa’s bedside and tried to read Lisa’s face. She seemed to be lost in thought. Lexie let her take her time.

 

Lisa was washed over by feelings that she didn’t want to feel. Here she was confined to her bed while maybe someone wanted her dead, maybe even Stefano DiMera. And if it was Stefano, she was a threat to her whole family. She was scared and felt so helpless. And the last person she could tell anything was Lexie Carver. After all she was still his daughter. Lisa knew she had to say something…

 

“I woke up from a nightmare and felt really restless…my body was aching. I wanted to move around a bit, because I felt so locked up…and I fainted.” Lisa explained leaving the Stefano part out. She was pretty sure that her dad, Abe and Roman hadn’t told anybody about their suspicions about Stefano. But maybe Lexie knew anyway, she was Abe’s wife.

 

Lexie looked at her young colleague. She could understand what Lisa was going through. She tried to show everybody that she was all right which obviously wasn’t the case. She knew Lisa had had a hard time trusting her and after all she had done it wasn’t something she could blame her for. But she really cared about her and then and there she decided to do everything she could to win back her trust by beginning to listen.

 

“I think you just got up a bit too fast, your body is still healing and working very hard. Let’s check out your blood pressure and your blood sugar, just to be on the safe side ok?” Lexie said.

 

“Sure, go ahead.” Lisa nodded and Lexie started to do a checkup.

 

“Your blood pressure and your blood sugar are both a tiny bit low.” She concluded. “Listen to me Lisanne, I know you are a doctor, but please take my advice.” Lexie started. Lisa nodded again she knew Lexie was right, she was still very weak. She knew it all and decided then and there to be their model patient, whatever it was they wanted her to do.

 

“Plenty of rest…I mean plenty. You have nightmares which deprive you from much needed sleep and rest that is crucial to heal your concussion. I am going to prescribe you something that will both relax you mentally and will ease up the achy feeling. Listen to soft music, let them read to you…try to really relax, and use this time to get pampered. I am sure Marlena will have some techniques to help you relax too. You need to heal physically and mentally and it will take time. I know it’s hard but take that time.” Lexie said. At that moment Marlena came back with the tea.

 

“Everything all right, here?” she asked while she poured Lisa a mug hot steaming tea with honey.

 

“I just promised Lexie I am going to take my rest.” Lisa said, she seemed down. Lexie and Marlena exchanged looks and came to a silent understanding.

 

“We will leave you for a little bit, Lisa. Try to get some sleep, ok?” Lexie said while she collected her stuff.

 

“Thanks for coming, Lexie.” Lisa replied, while Lexie and Marlena went to the hall and closed the door behind them.

 

“Is she ok?” Marlena asked.

 

“Physically yeah, her blood pressure and blood sugar where both a little bit low, but not worrying so. She has to subject herself to a regimen which is really not in her nature.” Lexie explained. Marlena knew how active Lisa was, it was in normal conditions hardly impossible to stop her to get some rest. She worked a lot. Medicine was her life. But she wasn’t sure that it was that what was bothering her so much.

 

“Yeah, it’s tough on her. I rather had her in the hospital a bit longer, but she has those horrible recurring nightmares. Mike and Craig urged me to take her home.” Marlena told Lexie.

 

“Yeah I agree; she is better off at home. I prescribed something to help her relax when she’s resting and I also recommended her to do some relaxation exercises with you.” She gave Marlena the prescription.

 

“If she will let me…” Marlena said, somehow she doubted it. Lisa had so pushed her away just now.

 

“She’s afraid and she trusts you more than anyone. Just don’t give up too easily.” Lexie said while they walked downstairs. Marlena walked her to the door.

 

“Thank you for coming, John and I really appreciate it.” She said. Lexie winked.

 

“Anytime, Marlena. Call me when you need me, ok?”

 

“I will…thanks again..”

 

After Lexie had left, Marlena went back upstairs with a large glass of fresh orange juice. She found Lisa staring to the view from her bedside window. Marlena could see how sad she was. Lisa finally looked up, she hadn’t even heard her mother come in. She had made her decision.

 

“Hey mom,” she said softly. Marlena saw that Lisa hadn’t even finished her tea. She gave her daughter the glass of juice and waited until she had drunk it all.

 

“Sweetheart…Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?” Marlena asked. Lisa knew that her mom tried to be there for her and she felt awful about shutting her out. If only she knew how she really felt… It’s the only way…

 

“I don’t want to talk, but will you please just hold me?” she asked with big eyes she so wanted to confide in her mother, but she couldn’t.

 

“I will hold you as long as you need me to hold you…” she said while she cuddled up to her daughter in the large bed and took Lisa in her arms careful not to hurt her.

 

“I love you, mom…” she said. She closed her eyes. It was the right thing.

 

“Doc, what’s wrong…” John felt his wife tossing and turning next to him, now and then releasing deep sighs. He knew her so well; she was worrying about something. He rolled over to face her.

 

“Doc, talk to me…”

 

“She is keeping something from us, John…” Marlena sighed. A silence followed.

 

“She’s shutting us out…that’s for sure.” John moved closer to his wife and caressed her silhouette in the darkness of their bedroom.

“I know she is afraid of…Stefano” A chill went down her spine when she said his name.

 

“The thing is that we can’t prove a damn thing.” John said and another long silence followed, both trying to figure out what would bother their daughter so much. After a while John finally spoke.

 

“She wouldn’t be trying to shut us out because she wants to get away to keep US safe wouldn’t she?”

Marlena sat up immediately…John sat up too.

 

“ John, I think that’s it…she is trying to protect us. She wants to be up and moving instead of confined to bed in our home. Because she thinks she is a threat to us.”

 

John moaned, that was typically Lisa Black. Always putting others before herself. He swung his legs over his side of the bed and turned on the light.

 

“John??” Marlena had to shield her eyes to the light. “Where are you going?”

 

“I am going to have a talk with our daughter right now.” He said.

 

“ John it’s the middle of the night, let her sleep, she needs her rest.” Marlena put a hand on his shoulder while he put on a shirt and trousers.

 

“If I am correct and she looks as much like you as I think she does she’ll be wide awake this very minute, worrying herself sick.” John said, he jumped out of bed. Marlena did the same. She grabbed her robe and put it on while she followed him.

 

When she reached Lisa’s room, John almost bumped into her. She instantly knew something was terribly wrong. Then he turned on the light, her bed was empty…

 

“ Doc, she is gone…”

Lisa had a hard time driving, she knew she was out of line driving with a broken arm, cracked ribs and under pain medication, but this this was an emergency. She kept checking her mirrors for signs that she was followed. She took a turn and another, but everything was as it should be. Nobody was following her. She relaxed a little bit and remembered her ‘escape’.

 

It had taken all her strength to get her stuff together and to dress. She had to take the stairwell because her guard was still downstairs in the hall. It had taken ages before he finally had moved from the hall and had taken the elevator up to check everything out upstairs. Apparently this guy had been taking his job very seriously because when she finally reached the front door of their building everything was locked. Dammit! Frantically she had searched for the keys in her purse, it was taking her too long!! He could be back any minute now. It took only a minute or two to go up, check the hallway to the penthouse, and come back down. She finally managed to open the door and knew she was filmed by the surveillance camera. She consciously looked up at it and stared in the lens for a moment. Her father and Roman would certainly watch the tape when they discovered she was gone. And they had to know she had left by her own free will. She didn’t want them to think something awful had happened to her. The moment she had locked the door she saw that the elevator was back down. She immediately moved away from the door and hurried to her car that was still parked outside. She threw her purse and belongings on the back seat, sat down and carefully removed her broken arm from the sling, then she drove off.

 

“I am so sorry, mom and dad. But I’ve to do this.” She whispered.

 

“Lisa!!” John hurried downstairs checking every space in the house. But he found them all empty. His daughter was not in the penthouse. When he returned in the living room Marlena just came down the stairs.

 

“I checked all the rooms, all the balconies…she is not upstairs…” she said. Her heart was beating so fast. Where could she be.

 

“She is not here either, Doc. Call Roman immediately, tell him Lisa’s missing and let him put out an APB. I am going to check the building!” John opened the front door and ran downstairs using the stairwell. The guard immediately jumped up when John entered the hall.

 

“Where have you been!!” John yelled at him grabbing his collar.

 

“I’ve been right here, Mr. Black!!” He said with big not understanding eyes.

 

“My daughter is gone! There’s only one way out, she must have passed you and if that’s not the case you weren’t here!!”

 

“Mr. Black, I have been here the whole time…” The guard said looking straight into John’s eyes. John knew he was out of line and let him go.

 

“Are you sure?! Are you completely sure. You didn’t leave??” He asked it again.

 

“I went up with the elevator one time to check the hallway upstairs in front of the penthouse and I locked all the doors! It took me two minutes’ tops! Nobody could have entered without me seeing them…” He explained. He knew he had followed his orders.

 

“The surveillance camera…Let’s check the footage.” John said. The guard rewound the tape and after a while they saw a figure in the blurry images.

 

“Stop, right there!” John said. The guard pressed play. They watched in horror when they saw that Lisa came from the stairwell just after the guard had entered the elevator, opened the exit doors, looked into the camera and left. She had left voluntarily. John looked at the guard in shock. Why, in God’s name, had she left?

 

Marlena, who had called Roman and was waiting nervously for John to return, was dealing with her own thoughts. She was extremely worried about her daughter and about DiMera. What if he had kidnapped her again.

 

Lisa had been kidnapped by Stefano several years ago because Stefano had had the sick twisted idea that he could trade her daughter to get close to HER, to win her love. Stefano had had an obsession for her from the moment he had laid eyes her. And that John, the man he hated with everything he had, was now her lover and husband was something he was never going to accept. Lisa had been held in her prison for weeks until she had been able to escape when her guard wasn’t paying attention. Lisa had been treated badly, she had only been fifteen. Days would pass without her seeing anyone. She had been so scared and so lonely, that she would be haunted by it for the rest of her life. She hadn’t eaten because she had been afraid her food was poisoned with drugs, like had happened with her and John too in the past. All she had taken was some of the water Stefano’s henchmen had given her. Only just enough to survive. When she finally reached help after her escape she and John had found her barely conscious in a deserted holiday cabin, with a very high fever, dehydrated and malnourished, far away from the civilized world on a Galapagos island called Santa Cruz in South America. She let out a deep sigh when she thought about that. She remembered it so vividly…the images came back to her as if everything had happened only yesterday.

 

“Here is some cold water, Doc.” John handed her a bowl. “It’s not much…I can get more when you need me too.” he said feeling sorry that he could not do more. They were lucky they had found cool fresh water at all, he realized that.

 

“Thank you, John.” Marlena said while she carefully pressed a wet towel on Lisa’s forehead. She was laying on a dusty couch in the old cabin.

 

“I am going to see if we have enough wood to keep the fire going. We need to sit through this tropical storm.” John said. Marlena nodded while John went out again. She soaked a piece of fabric in the bowl and let the water drip on Lisa’s lips.

 

“Lisa?…Can you hear me?” she tried to get through to her.

 

“This water should bring the temperature down.” She murmured to herself. Then Lisa moved a little bit.

 

“Lisa! Can you hear me?” She said it louder now.

 

“Can you hear me?” Her mother’s voice finally got through to her. Lisa moaned and opened her eyes for a moment without really focusing.

 

“Oh!…Yes, there you are. Listen, It’s me mom. I am right here with you. I need you to drink some water for me.” She said while she frantically tried to keep her daughter awake.

 

“Water?” Lisa’s lips murmured the word.

 

“Yes, yes…I’ll help you. “ She reached for the glass of water on the table and carefully lifted her daughters head putting the glass to her lips.

 

“Ok, take it VERY slowly.” Marlena said.

 

“It’s just water, baby, it’s water.” She said over and over because she knew Lisa had consciously avoided drinking water for so long. Lisa took a sip but it gulped down her throat and she had trouble swallowing it. She coughed.

 

“Slow…slow down, honey.” While Lisa took another sip. She was breathing fast, even this was exhausting her.

 

“Easy, easy. That’s it. That’s good.” Marlena looked at her daughter and saw her head loll to the side. She was unconscious again. John came in with wood, he found Marlena looking desperate.

 

“What’s wrong, Doc?” He dropped the wood and rushed over to her side.

 

“I can’t do much good for her here, John. She needs a hospital.”

 

The words she spoke so many years ago echoed in her memory…

 

###

 

“Sir, I came to let you know that Dr. Black left the building on Riverview Drive a few minutes ago. At least her car is moving.” The servant had entered his office after three polite knocks on his door and found his boss in his chair of which the back was facing him. Slowly his boss turned the chair to face him.

 

“Is that so? Interesting…” He said in a low voice. “Where is our lovely lady?”

 

“She has gone to sleep sir, in her room.”

 

“Good, make sure you don’t tell her anything about this or anything else that concerns the Blacks. Keep tracking that car. I want to know exactly where it’s going.” He said while he rested his head in his hands and wondered. Where was Lisa Black going in the middle of the night, in the state she was in…

“Doc?”

 

With a shock she returned to the present. She found John next to her on the couch with an arm around her.

 

“Doc are you all right?” John was looking worriedly at his wife, she had been miles and miles away not hearing him call her for three, even four times. She looked extremely troubled and pale.

 

“Are you ok? Doc!” She was still staring at him as if she’d seen a ghost.

 

Marlena looked at her husband getting back to reality now.

 

“Has Stefano taken her, John?” she asked. He immediately shook his head. “She left on her own, Doc.” Marlena looked at him in disbelieve.

 

“Why would she leave??” But the moment she said it she remembered the conclusion they had both reached before they had found out she was gone. It made perfect sense. John looked at her and she knew from the expression on his face that they had to find her as soon as possible before her attacker did and to convince her that she was the safest at home.

 

“She has taken her car, Doc, and some personal stuff. I miss her medical bag, her purse, her coat…” John said.

 

“Oh my God, is she driving? Doesn’t she know how dangerous that is?” Marlena felt sick when she pictured her daughter driving in her condition and worst of all driving towards unknown danger.

 

“I keep thinking about Santa Cruz…” she said.

 

“Please, don’t. Remember what Roman said yesterday.” John said. Marlena tried to remember Roman’s words. He had come by the previous night to tell them personally that the police investigation hadn’t brought up anything new but the good news was that intelligence about Stefano DiMera said that he wasn’t even in the States right now. But still, it wasn’t the first time he had made an unexpected appearance and usually when he entered their lives again it meant pain and suffering. She knew by her own awful experience, that this man’s twisted brain, his evil nature, was the cause of basically all their family’s misery.

 

“Marlena, we will find her.” He said lifting her chin to look into her eyes.

 

“I wish she hadn’t chosen to do this on her own…oh that must be Roman.” She looked up when the doorbell rang. John stood up to open the door.

 

###

 

“How smart of you to put tracking devices in their cars!!…” She laughed out loud while her eyes fixated for a moment on the screen of her GPS system. A small green dot was moving westward. She chuckled when she put her index finger on the dot.

 

“I am sooo glad to see you are feeling better, Lisa! Let everybody believe we are sound asleep…we are going to have some fun together!”

 

###

 

Lisa stopped when she was on the other side of town. She parked the car on a parking lot of a 24-hour convenience store and pharmacy. She got her purse and quickly scribbled some prescriptions, by now she was in so much pain that even holding the pen in her right hand was too much. Even without moving her upper arm and shoulder. She was going to need some medication. She placed her arm back in the sling and left the car to enter the store to fulfil her prescriptions. Right after she entered the store a dark green sedan pulled up onto the parking lot. A woman dressed in a black overcoat with a hood left the car. She looked around and was satisfied when she noticed that the parking lot was deserted. This was going to be a piece of cake. She tried to peek through a window of the store.

 

Lisa was collecting some supplies in the store, when she walked passed a mirror. She stopped for a minute to look at herself. She looked as awful as she felt. Exhausted she put her supplies in her basket, then when she moved up again something or rather someone in the reflection of the mirror caught her attention. A woman was looking through a small window inside the store. Lisa blinked…this woman. She looked amazingly like…she blinked again. Oh my God, it is her. Her heart started pounding and she started to feel sick. Her stomach twisted painfully. Come on pull yourself together, think! She looked one more time, but the woman was gone. It couldn’t be her! In shock she stumbled to the counter to get her prescriptions filled. She had forgotten all about her basket with supplies.

 

“Ma’am, are you alright?” The older woman behind the counter carefully examined the pale face of her young female costumer. She was sweaty and shaking.

 

“Yes…I am fine. I just need some painkillers for my arm…” Lisa said while she gave her the prescriptions with a trembling hand. How could this be, was she delirious? The woman collected some boxes and put them into a plastic bag. “Thank you…keep the change. It’s for you.” She said while her mind was racing. Was she running a fever? This couldn’t be real. She was seeing things. Slowly she walked to the exit, opened the door and stepped into the cold the of night. She dragged herself to her car as fast as she could and with trembling hand she pressed the button on her car key to open her locks. She had to get away from here now…

 

She got the scare of her life when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She was startled so much that she dropped everything the woman in the pharmacy had just given her…in shock she turned around…

She turned around, holding her breath to face whoever was standing behind her.

 

“Miss Black…come with us please.” A voice said.

 

Her heart was thumping wildly in her throat and with a sob that came from deep within she released all the fear that had been building up inside her. She had to catch her breath when she saw that in front of her were two police officers. Oh! She started feeling weak and she had to lean to the side to fetch her car for support. A deep sigh escaped when she finally fully realized she was safe. It wasn’t her.

 

“I am officer Thompson, Salem Police Department and this is my colleague Answorth.” Thompson said, showing her his badge.

 

“Miss Black are you alright?” Answorth knew that the lady in front of him had been severely injured in a hit and run hardly a week before and she didn’t look very well. He could tell that even in the dark surroundings of the parking lot. Carefully stepped forward to support her. He knew he had to handle this gently. The captain and the commander were personally involved in this search. Thompson was picking up her belongings that were scattered over the asphalt.

 

“Yes…I…think so..” she said with a trembling voice still trying to control the panic reaction in her body. She nervously looked around over the parking lot, but besides the two officers there was nobody. She seriously started to doubt herself. This had been real, had it?

 

“Ma’am we have orders to bring you home. Will you come with us, please?” Answorth, who was still holding her asked her again. She just nodded giving Thompson her car keys. She was so occupied by what had just happened that she didn’t even worry about facing her parents. What the hell did this mean?

 

He helped her to walk slowly over to the patrol car that was standing a bit further away where he helped her onto the passenger’s seat. She saw Thompson stepping onto her own car. She was no longer in any state to drive, actually she hadn’t been at all. How stupid had she been. Answorth now entered the car, sat down next to her behind the wheel of the patrol car and took the radio.

 

“This is unit 349, we have found the captains package, over.” He said. Lisa was so exhausted that she barely realized he was speaking in code. He waited a moment then got his response.

 

“Unit 349, can you confirm you found the captains package, over?” the radio cracked.

 

“Positive, we are bringing the package home.”

 

“Hold on…” Roman said. He had been talking to John and Marlena when his cell phone went off. He picked it up.

 

“Captain Brady.” He listened while Marlena and John anxiously looked at him hoping that it would be good news.

 

“Hold on, Bo…” he put the phone away from his ear to talk to John and Marlena.

 

“They found her, she’s all right. Answorth is bringing her back.” He said. John was so relieved that he pulled Marlena over into a hug to share his relieve with her.

 

“Oh, this is wonderful, honey.” Marlena sighed. John turned to Roman.

 

“It’s not that I don’t trust her, but this time the guard will be in front of our door.” He said resolutely. Marlena looked at him she understood he was very worried but they had to talk to their daughter first. It wasn’t a matter of simply locking her up in the house, she was no longer their little girl, she had a say in this. If she had taken off for the reason they thought, she had taken off it was more important that they now talked. She had to know that whatever happened they HAD to stick together.

 

“Oh I am so glad to have you back home, you have no idea.” Marlena called out to her daughter when she entered the penthouse with the officer that had found her. She hurried to her and hugged her, then let her go to see how she was doing. She didn’t look good at all. John thanked officer Answorth for bringing Lisa home and closed the door behind him.

 

“Come on, baby…upstairs. You need to lay down.” Marlena said. John walked over to his daughter and ran his hand through her hair.

 

“Oh…how glad I am to see you, honey.” He whispered, then stroking the cheek of her pale face.

 

“You go up with your mother, I’ll be right there. We need to talk ok?” He said. Lisa looked at him and could only nod. Then let her mother’s hands gently lead her upstairs.

 

Ten minutes later Lisa was in bed and John, Roman and Marlena had gathered around her to listen to what she had to say. Lisa looked at each of them in turn not knowing where to start. How was she going to explain them what she saw, or what she thought she had seen. Would they believe her?

 

John finally said something breaking the awful silence.

 

“Honey, will you never ever do something like this to your old man again?” He said taking her hand. Lisa looked at him, feeling so sorry for him and her mother.

 

“Dad…” she whispered on the verge of tears. “I am so sorry, I put you and mom through this… I was so afraid I was a threat to all of us and…”

 

“Oh Lisanne…” Marlena put a hand in front of her mouth and shook her head in disbelieve, they had been right, she and John.

 

“And then you just drove off in your condition, no matter where to…to make sure that at least your mom and dad were safe.” Marlena said finished her sentence. Lisa looked at her in awe. How did she know all this?

 

“Basically…yeah.” Lisa answered. “Mom, how…?” She asked in pure amazement.

 

“You have to give us some credit, Lisa…” John chuckled, he was so relieved she was back safely. He planted a kiss on her forehead and then pulled her to his chest.

 

Lisa was so glad to back home, to be with her family again…then suddenly she remembered what she had seen. Should she tell them? John felt his daughter tense up.

 

“Lisa?” he carefully let her go and then looked in her troubled face. Marlena and Roman moved closer.

 

“Lisa did something happen? Tell us.” Roman asked her.

 

Lisa took a deep breath, she had to tell them, it could be the key to everything that had happened to her.

 

“Just tell us, honey…we’ll deal with it, whatever it is.” Marlena could see it was something that had affected her daughter deeply because her hands were trembling and she was pressing her lips together, something she did when she was extremely tense. Lisa tried to replay the events of the past few hours in her head.

 

“I was at the 24-hour pharmacy, to get some painkillers…just before the officers found me…” Lisa started. “And while I was there, I passed a mirror in the shop…” she saw the face, HER face looking at her from the small window so clearly again. “…well I looked into that mirror and then I saw…her.” Lisa stopped abruptly. John, Roman and Marlena looked at her in suspense, waiting for her to continue. Lisa was struggling to find the words to describe what she had seen, something that was supposed to be impossible…

 

“Lisa?…” John encouraged her to continue.

 

“Who did you see, baby?”

“Oooh I cannot believe this!! Damn I was so close!!” She hit the wheel of her car so hard she almost swerved off the road. She was furious. She had been ready to chloroform Lisa Black the moment she would leave the store when a police car had pulled up onto the parking lot. Lisa’s car obviously had drawn their attention. She had only just gotten away without being seen.

 

“Dammit John, you watch like a hawk over your kids, aren’t you…it’s not healthy!!!!” She violently pulled the hood of her coat backwards and ran a hand through her long blonde hair to remodel it. After 15 minutes she pulled up the driveway and drove the car into the garage.

 

“WHERE have you been.”

 

His loud voice scared the living daylights out of her the moment she tried to sneak back into the mansion.

 

“Geez! You scare me half to death!” She yelled back at him.

 

“I will ask one more time, where have you been.” He violently grabbed her arm.

 

“Ouch you are hurting me! I’ve been out!” Her temper had even worsened. This day was becoming worse by the minute.

 

“I thought we agreed you would keep a low profile, that means staying inside! Instead you are driving around in the car that you almost committed a murder with. Are you crazy?!” He said forcing her to look him in the eye.

 

“I don’t owe you an explanation.” She was still angry but her tone had softened. She knew exactly how far she could go.

 

“Not if you are not messing up my plans, but you are.” He said looking in her furious eyes.

 

“I haven’t been messing up your plans…” she replied very certain of herself.

 

“Don’t lie to me. I know you have been following Lisa Black. One of my men saw you and your car on that parking lot.” She looked at him and realized he had send out one of his men to follow Lisa Black too. Why hadn’t she realized that! Lying was pointless, he knew everything.

 

“You have been extremely careless!! It’s a miracle the police didn’t see your car!” He said, she was now looking at the floor. She had been so stupid, but still he couldn’t stay mad at her for long.

 

“I am going to get rid of that car, it’s a hazard to us, I’ve already waited too long.” He said. She nodded. Deep inside she knew he was right. He was always right. She was still staring at her feet.

 

“You’ll get your revenge, but you have to wait for the right time. Let’s work together.” He lifted her head with his hand to look into her eyes.

 

“Ok, ok whatever you want…” she sighed.

 

###

 

“Lisa, are you all right…?” Marlena had no idea what it was that was bothering her but clearly something had happened while she had been gone, apparently she had seen someone, and that encounter had been extremely shocking.

 

“Yeah, yeah I am fine…you will think I am delusional though.” Lisa said she looked at her father then at her mother, this was like dropping a bombshell.

 

“Lisa come on, you can tell us…” Roman tried to persuade her to open up.

 

“Remember how we all thought Roman was dead and then turned out to be alive, mom?” Lisa asked her mother. Marlena nodded slowly, remembering the awful time when they all thought they had lost Roman. She turned her head to look at the man she had been so happy with for so many years and who suddenly had gone awfully silent. Several years ago Roman had gone through a terrible ordeal and the memories of it still pained him terribly. He had almost died after he had come into contact with lethal chemicals that were used in chemical warfare during an ISA mission. John and Hope had risked their lives to safe him by releasing Stefano from jail and following him into a jungle to find a very rare orchid that was the main ingredient to cure him and they had returned just in time with his antidote. He had been barely alive. Why was she bringing this up?

 

“I saw someone in that store who is supposed to be dead…and we all know her.” Lisa finally blurred it out. They all looked at her in shock, eyes and mouth wide open, all speechless trying to figure out who in the world she was talking about. Lisa’s brain was working overtime. She tried to remember everything that happened leading up to her death, she tried to figure out how she could be still alive. It was just impossible. It had been a chaotic time but she had seen the body, she had been at the funeral. She had been young but she had seen with her own eyes that she was dead! She wished then and there she could deny it, that she could forget all about it because if this was true…if this was really true she could see the hard times coming up once again. Was it ever going to end…

“ Lisa, don’t worry. Just say it who did you see!” John was going crazy even though he could see that Lisa had a real hard time dealing with this. What was keeping her!

 

“You all must think I am going crazy, that I hit my head a bit too hard…” Lisa was covering her face with her hands. Her head was now throbbing painfully.

 

“ Come on, say it…” John moved her hands away to force her to look at him and to get her to say it.

 

“ Come on, Lisa!”

 

“I saw…It was Kristen Blake!” she called out in despair.

John looked at her as if he was struck by lightning, Marlena who had been standing next to the bed had to slid herself into a sitting position on the bed and Roman was staring at her in pure and utter disbelieve.

 

“See you think I am crazy…Mom check me. I must have a fever.” She moved her mother’s hand to her forehead. Marlena was still too shocked to realize what her daughter was doing. John was still staring at his daughter.

 

“Pleaseee, say something!!!” Lisa now yelled at them. She couldn’t bear their silence for another second.

John finally was able to speak.

 

“You…saw Kkkristen??” he could hardly speak out her name. His world had just turned upside down.

 

“Yes, I don’t know how…but I think she’s alive. Unless I am delirious. Am I mom?” Lisa was still holding her mother’s hand on her forehead. Marlena moved her hand away from her daughter’s head. She felt perfectly normal.

 

“I don’t think so, honey…but you have been going through a lot lately.”

 

“So you do think my mind is playing tricks on me.” Lisa said softly. Marlena shook her head.

 

“I think you are exhausted and need your rest, especially after everything you went through tonight. We’ll talk about this tomorrow. I am going to get your medication and you are going to rest now.” She said. “We all need to let this sink in for a moment, ok? Roman, John I want you to leave Lisa’s room now, she needs to rest.” She said taking over. John kissed Lisa on her cheek.

 

“You sleep; we’ll try to figure this out tomorrow. Ok Pumpkin?” he said to his daughter softly.

She was so tired that she just agreed. Roman and John left the room and went downstairs.

 

“This must be a bad, bad dream.” John sat down on the couch holding his head in his hands.

“What do you think, Roman. Is this even possible??” he asked his best friend.

 

“I am breaking my head over that one too, John.” Roman crashed next to him on the couch. Together they sat there trying to process what they had just heard.

 

“She was absolutely, positively dead.” John said trying to remember how he and Marlena had found her floating face down in the pool of the DiMera mansion, which was now the home of Abe and Lexie Carver. He had jumped in and had tried to revive her, but it had been too late.

 

“Jesus John. I am trying to make sense of this…” Roman tried to puzzle it all together. He tried to remember everything that had happened back then. It had been years ago! Susan Banks had been impersonating Kristen, but Susan was safely in England with her husband Edmund and her son Elvis. She had learned her lesson and had been a victim of Kristen and Stefano as much as John and Marlena had been. There had to be an explanation, they had to find a way to contact Susan Banks. Maybe she could shed some light on the matter.

 

Marlena came down and dropped herself on the couch in between Roman and John.

 

“She was out like a light…” she sighed. Leaning her head backwards, closing her eyes for a short moment. They just sat there on the couch, in the middle of the night trying to make sense of it all. But they couldn’t.

 

“What do you think, Doc. I don’t want to jump to conclusions and say Lisa is wrong. We don’t know what she saw and we all know how we thought a number of times that Stefano was dead too. After all she is HIS daughter.” John knew that with the DiMera’s nothing ever was for certain. Marlena opened her eyes again.

 

“She has been going through a lot but I think that we seriously need to consider that she is alive. Kristen Blake DiMera would certainly have a motive to run over our daughter wouldn’t she?” Marlena didn’t even want to think about everything that Kristen had done to keep her and John apart. She had failed though. Their love had overcome everything, all her schemes, and had come out even stronger.

 

“I am sure it would be the ultimate revenge in her point of view.” John said bitterly. Roman sat up.

 

“I am not taking any risks. I am going to arrange security for Belle and Brady too, and then I am going home. Kate hasn’t seen me in days.” Roman said.

 

John and Marlena both nodded, they were exhausted too. Tomorrow was another day…

“Ok, let’s take this one more time, from the beginning.” Roman said taking out his notebook. “Lisa, tell me everything exactly as it happened.”

 

Lisa told Roman and her father everything that happened the previous night all over again.

 

“Where you followed?” John asked.

 

“No, I wasn’t…”

 

“Are you absolutely sure?”

 

“Yes, I grew up in a family of cops, I am sure dad! I made turns and checked my mirrors.” Lisa said. John could tell Lisa was starting to feel stronger again because she was actually talking back at him. He still was in shock over everything that had happened. He was going back in time to think it over again and again. He had checked, double checked and triple checked Kristen’s body to make sure Stefano hadn’t pulled another trick on them. At the funeral he had made sure for the last time that it really was Kristen in the coffin and not some masked body. It sounded like madness but Stefano had let them believe his son Peter, Kristen’s brother, was dead by placing a mask on the face of the body of another guy while Peter was actually alive. Stefano had pulled off one hell of a performance on his daughter’s funeral if he had known back then she was alive. Had he even faked his own heart-attack? If it had been one big lie John couldn’t believe how stupid, he had been not to see it through. He had been feeling so guilty over Kristen’s suicide!!

 

With a shock he returned back to the present. If Lisa hadn’t been followed how could Kristen have known where she was. It suddenly became crystal clear to him.

 

“Roman…” he started but Roman had been thinking exactly the same.

 

“I am on it, John.” He said and he dug up his phone once again to call the police station.

 

“This is captain Brady, I want you to send some men over to Riverview Drive. I want them to check out some cars in the Lisa Black case. Tracking devices, modifications in wiring, brakes, check out the whole package deal. Yes, right away. Thanks.” Roman hang up again. If they would find something they could confirm that what Lisa thought, she had seen was true. He believed what Lisa had seen, but he knew Abe would be more skeptical. Roman knew he was going to need proof to be able to do something. If Kristen was alive and kicking, it probably meant that her father, Stefano DiMera, was near as well and not as informants had claimed ‘somewhere in the Caribbean’. It worried him tremendously. How was he going to keep everybody safe.

 

Marlena had tried to get her daughters mind of everything by bringing home a special lunch from the Brady Pub. It was food made with a lot of love by Shawn and Caroline Brady who had gone to lengths to make it really special. But Lisa was still occupied, she had hardly touched the food on her plate.

 

“Aren’t you hungry?” Marlena asked. Lisa lifted her head and looked at the food. In normal circumstances they could wake her in the middle in the night for the famous Brady dishes, but now there was a tight nut in her stomach. She shook her head and felt sorry for Caroline and Shawn who had gone through so much trouble. Marlena saw her daughter was deep in thought and she decided to make not a big deal about it.

 

“We’ll save it for later. I am sure your dad will love some of this stuff too when he comes home.” Marlena said while she started to wrap the food all up again.

 

“Mom, do you still think about Santa Cruz sometimes?” she asked it out of the blue. Marlena who hadn’t expect a question like this at all looked up at her daughter in surprise. Lisa was waiting for her to answer and Marlena knew she had to be honest with her daughter. She sat down next to her on the couch and took her hand. Pausing for a moment to find the right words.

 

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot since your accident. I have been very worried about you, and I still am.” Marlena said softly. “Why are you asking me that, honey?”

 

Lisa stood up and walked over to the French doors to look outside the window. Marlena followed her, she knew she had to support Lisa in this because she obviously was reminiscing about one of the most awful times in her life. She saw how Lisa took a deep breath obviously looking for words, for a place to start. Staring in the far distance, occupied with memories, Lisa knew the time had come. She knew she had to face this sooner or later.

 

“I’ve been thinking about it too, mom. Every time I try to sleep, it’s there.” She said softly. Marlena looked aside where Lisa had now closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Finally…finally she started to open up to her. She had finally found an entrance by openly admitting her own fears.

 

“Is that what your nightmares are about?” She asked carefully. Lisa looked to the carpet.

 

“Yes…” she said so softly that Marlena could only just hear her. “…every single time…I hear the door of that dungeon slam shut and I hear him laugh because I am screaming at him to let me go…And then I see him torturing dad”. She turned to face her mother and knew that she understood. She had gone through the very same, several times, and each time Stefano had held her much longer than the seven weeks she had been his captive. Marlena hurried to take Lisa in her arms, tears in her eyes, gently stroking her back.

 

“Honey, you have to believe me when I say that everything will be all right again. We’ll stick together and watch out for each other, ok?” Lisa heard her mother say it and she let her head rest on her mother’s shoulder. She really had no idea how her mother could stay so positive.

 

“Mom, how did you and dad get passed all this? …I have such a hard time.” Lisa sighed. She knew she had to follow her mother’s example. She was so strong and had picked up the pieces of her life every time. This couldn’t control the rest of her life. She had to deal with this and put it far behind her forever.

Marlena realized she didn’t know all the answers but she knew the answer to this one.

 

“There is one little thing that Stefano never ever will be able to destroy, Lisanne. Whatever happens there’s still the love I have for your dad and for you and for Carrie, Sami, Eric, Belle and Brady. The love that we have for each other is the only thing that matters. Whatever happens we are a family and he will never be able to break that bond. Remember that.” She whispered.

John was at the police station to get the latest news concerning Lisa’s case. When he entered Abe’s office he found Roman, Bo and Hope there too. They all fell silent instantly the moment he came in.

 

“Hey, how’s everything going here. Anything new?” He asked immediately now he had the whole team that was involved in Lisa’s case together anyway.

 

“We looked at the films from the surveillance cameras from the pharmacy. The only thing we can see is how Lisa walks up to the counter to give the clerk her prescriptions. The cameras on the parking lot where out of order, so nothing there.” Bo said, feeling bad because he didn’t have better news. John couldn’t believe their bad luck. Hope gave him a file. John opened it and found pictures of a burned car wreck.

 

“The lab is still investigating it but this could be the car that hit Lisa, it’s a dark green sedan. Hopefully it will bring up something new.” Hope said but John could tell from the expression on her face that if it had been the car, that there wouldn’t be much evidence left. Abe stood up and walked around his desk.

 

“The lab is also still working on your cars. They have started with Lisa’s car to look for things that shouldn’t be there.” Abe said. John started to become suspicious and raised his brow. There were all avoiding the topic that was the most important for him. What where they not telling him.

 

“What about Kristen Blake, Abraham.” He asked him directly. Abe took a deep breath knowing he was the bearer of more bad news.

 

“I am sorry, John, but without any hard evidence or at least reasonable doubt I can’t do a thing. We can still prosecute her for being an accomplice to Stefano in Marlena’s kidnapping but for the law she’s dead. I cannot send out half the force to find a dead woman, I can’t justify that to my superiors, John.” John looked at him, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing! He knew they only had Lisa’s word for it but even though she had been through a rough time, she was still a trustworthy and respected person and had no reason to lie. They had to do something before it was too late! Bo read John’s thoughts, he hated it that they couldn’t do more. He wanted to explain to John what they had talked about before he came in, but it didn’t come out as tactful as it should have been.

 

“John, it’s been eight years, Lisa was so much younger. Maybe she mistook someone else for Kristen…” he said trying to bring it easy. “…and we also tracked down Susan Banks, she is still in England and she didn’t leave England ever since she left here.” John couldn’t believe what Bo was saying. Were they saying she all made it up? He was starting to lose his temper.

 

“Don’t you think my daughter recognizes the woman that made our lives one living hell by lying and scheming about everything humanly possible?? Kristen had almost succeeded in making us believe Marlena was dead! She was ready to raise Brady, Belle and Lisa with me, even though everything was based on lies!” John was now furious. Roman placed his hand on John’s shoulder to try and calm him down. He didn’t agree with Abe at all and had defended the same opinion before John had entered, but he would tell John and Marlena later. Right now he had to follow his orders. John threw the file back on Abe’s desk.

 

“I don’t care what you do, Abraham. For all I care you go to the judge to get a court order to exhume Kristen’s body, or whoever it belongs to. I know my daughter, and I believe her. Mark my words! Someday sooner or later DiMera and his daughter Kristen Blake will be back into our lives to cause more pain and misery. And I won’t be the one to say I told you so!” John had had enough, he left and slammed the door shut behind him, leaving the others speechless.

 

“He didn’t take that too well…” Abe said. Roman shrugged. “Well you know what I think, I can’t blame him.” He said and he left the office in the uncomfortable silence that followed.

 

Marlena knew something was wrong the moment John came in and slammed the front door behind him. She immediately knew he was upset, quickly she stood up.

 

“John?” she hurried over to him while he violently threw away his jacket.

 

“John, what happened?” She asked looking worriedly at him.

 

“They are not going to look for Kristen.” He said with clenched fists.

 

“What?” she asked him with big eyes. “Why not?”

 

“Because Abe cannot put any men out there to look for someone who’s dead unless there’s hard evidence, and there isn’t any.”

 

“But they have Lisa’s testimony!” She called out. This couldn’t be true. Marlena was waiting for him to answer. How could this be. They had to do something based on Lisa’s testimony.

 

“They think she was too young when Kristen died to be able to recognize her today. And I think that they also doubt her credibility because she was in a lot of pain at the moment she saw her and because of her concussion. That she is a respected physician in Salem University Hospital and OUR daughter obviously doesn’t matter.” John slowly started to calm down, but it didn’t change the fact that he was extremely disappointed in Abe and the justice system. Marlena kissed him trying to take his pain away. She couldn’t believe this…did they expect them to just sit down and wait for something to happen? She didn’t even want to think about what could be the consequences for the Black and Brady family. She was painfully aware that they eventually would get their proof and when they did, it would be too late…

After a few days Lisa finally started to feel a bit like her old self again. She could move around again and she was lucky because the spring sun had finally started to shine. She could take in some fresh air on one of the balconies now and then and she had made a short walk with Belle and Sami to the park. Of course under strict supervision of her guard. His name was Thomas Andrews, she wasn’t even sure where Abe had find him, but his records must have been excellent though because she knew that her father would only accept the best to do this job. And even though he was doing his best not to interfere too much and was always a few steps behind he was really starting to get on her nerves. She had tried to talk to her father about it who of course didn’t want to hear anything about it. She had to accept that he was going to stay for quite a while longer.

 

After her dad had told her the police department wasn’t going to look for Kristen actively because there was no lead or proof, she understood why Andrews had to stay. They all had done her best to cheer her up and to take her mind of things but Lisa still didn’t feel comfortable alone. So far however, she didn’t have to worry about that much. She still hadn’t been able to convince her mom to go back to work. She had been feeling a bit guilty to absorb all her parents time. Marlena had even taken an indefinite leave of absence and had found someone to take over her practice temporarily. But, if she was completely honest she was glad to have her mother around. And her dad was trying very hard too. Despite his extremely demanding position as CEO at Basic Black he was at home as long and often as he could during the day.

 

Now her friends and family knew she was a bit better they were all coming by the penthouse to see her. The doorbell had been ringing non-stop yesterday until Marlena had finally put an end to it, because Lisa didn’t get any rest because of all the visitors. Lisa smiled when she thought of Brady who had pulled his electric guitar from under the dust and had played the Beatles classic ‘Blackbird’, one of her favorite songs, for her, slightly changing the lyrics and bouncing around the living room like a rock star to make her laugh.

 

Black bird singing in the dead of night

Heal this broken arm and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

 

She laughed out loud when she remembered the ‘broken arm’ part. He was so cute.

 

“Hey, what are you laughing about?” Marlena said. She had come downstairs just in time to catch her laughter; she had been in her office upstairs to work on some psychological profiles for the police department. Lisa looked up still smiling.

 

“Oh…I just remembered Brady singing for me.” She said with a big grin. Marlena laughed too, they all had witnessed Brady’s deafening serenade to his sister and he had succeeded to make them all crack up with laughter. It had been a wonderful evening.

 

“Do you feel like going for a stroll with me? The weather is perfect.” Marlena asked.

 

“Definitely!!” Lisa said happy. She stood up and let her mother help her into her coat. They opened the door and found, as expected, Andrews sitting on a chair in the hallway. He stood up. “Good morning, Dr. Black, Dr. Evans. Can I escort you somewhere?” He asked polite.

 

“Good morning Mr. Andrews…” Marlena said. “Erhm…we are just going for a walk. Just follow us…” she said, looking at Lisa who clearly detested the fact that they couldn’t go anywhere without him. Marlena couldn’t help but laugh about her face. “Oh come on…put back on the happy face. Let’s have some fun.” She said and winked to Andrews who took it well and shrugged it off.

 

“I am so glad we finally really talked again, sweetheart.” Marlena and Lisa sat together on a couch in Salem Place. Marlena recalled the conversation they had had a few days before about Santa Cruz and her nightmares. They had just called John and he was going to join them for lunch in the Brady pub. They expected him any minute now.

 

“Me too, mom. I want to leave it all behind me and make a fresh start…” that moment John’s head suddenly popped up from behind in between them.

 

“What do I hear about ‘fresh starts’?” He said while he bent over and kissed Marlena.

 

“Hey Doc…mmm” his words got lost when she answered his kiss and pulled him closer. Lisa couldn’t help but laugh, she couldn’t believe how in love her parents still were after all those years together.

 

“I…mmm….happen to have…mmm…something perfect for ….mmm…a fresh start.” John continued while he was obviously enjoying making out very much. Marlena immediately stopped kissing and pushed him a bit backwards to see his face. He was trying to look as innocent as he could, but she knew something was going on. John looked at his daughter who had the same curious look as her mother. He laughed they both hated it when he teased them.

 

“Come on John, tell us, what have you been doing.” Marlena said trying to tickle him and to make him confess.

 

“Dad?” Lisa played along and showed him she had still one hand left to help her mother if she needed to. Marlena laughed.

 

“Oh this isn’t fair, ladies…ok, ok I confess…” John gave up. He pulled out an envelope from the back pocket of his pants and gave it to Lisa. She had some trouble opening it with just one hand but she managed. She spread the content of the envelope on her lap and looked at her dad in full and utterly amazement…

 

“Dad! Are you kidding me?” she still couldn’t believe it. Marlena, so curious about the reason of her daughters beaming face, leaned forward and tried to see what Lisa was holding, but in vain.

 

“Come on, tell me, Lisa!” She said laughing about her daughter’s enthusiasm. Oh, what a treat it was to see her so happy, whatever the reason was.

 

“Oh of course…You won’t believe it, mom…. Dad booked us a luxurious ten-day holiday!!!! All of us…” Marlena looked at her husband taken aback by this extremely wonderful surprise. This was so exactly what their family needed.

 

“So that’s what you have been up to all morning, John Black.” Marlena laughed at her grinning husband. She had wondered why he hadn’t called. He always did at the end of the morning. John was looking at them with great pride. He loved it to see his ladies smile.

 

“I had to bribe some people to make sure we all got time off from work, but it’s done. We can all go!” He said then saw Marlena was thinking of something. He knew what it was and immediately put her mind at ease.

 

“I will keep the destination top secret until we are in the plane, only Roman will know where we are going.” He immediately said

 

“I also asked the hotel to hire the best security officers and the very best nurse they know to take care of Lisa’s physical therapy and who is also an expert in giving the best massages you can think of. And we won’t be leaving until next week. It gives her the time to regain some more of her strength.”

 

“Oh!” There were tears streaming down Marlena’s face but this time she cried happy tears.

 

“Thank you so, so much dad. I love you.” Lisa kissed him on the cheek. He took her in her arms and suddenly he couldn’t believe how fast she had grown up. It seemed only yesterday that he had rocked her asleep as a baby. It seemed it was only yesterday that he and Marlena couldn’t get enough of their new baby-girl and had to go looking at her sleeping in her crib every five minutes, so amazed by this new addition to their family. All their kids were grown up and were starting their own families. Sami had had Will; Belle had recently given birth to his first granddaughter Claire. He couldn’t wait to take them all with them on their vacation.

 

“Ouch dad, don’t hug me that much…Ouch…” Lisa laughed and tried to loosen his grip.

 

“John be careful her ribs…Hey Earth to John…” He was miles away. Marlena put a hand on his arm. He was startled and came back to reality.

 

“Ohhh, baby. I am sorry. I just love you so much.” They all laughed, it seemed that life for the Blacks was finally taking a turn for the better.

“Hey…I was looking for you.”

 

Mike Horton looked up from his file and turned around to see if the woman who had spoken was talking to him. He had been standing in the hallway leaning relaxed on the counter with his elbows and was pleasantly surprised when he found Lisa Black in front of him.

 

“Hey…am I glad to see you!” He said immediately scanning her from head to toe with his doctor’s eye. “And you look great too, how are you feeling!?” He asked, he saw again so vividly how this same woman who was now standing before him, had entered his trauma room in critical condition only two weeks ago. It was nothing short of a miracle that she, except for her arm that was still in the sling, seemed to have recovered completely, in such a short time! Lisa laughed at the expression on his face.

 

“Much, much better. Still a bit sore, but I can’t complain.” Lisa answered while she told him about the past week. She stopped when she saw how Mike suddenly seemed to be distracted by something behind her. She turned her head and saw he was looking at Andrews, who was standing there looking at them talking. Lisa sighed, she had forgotten all about him the moment she had entered the hospital even though he had drove her there.

 

“Meet my shadow, Mike. Mr. Andrews.” Lisa introduced him. Mike quickly shook his hand and realized that Lisa was guarded 24 hours a day. He was familiar with the Blacks history with crime lord Stefano DiMera and he had heard from his cousin Hope that there was a possibility Lisa was run over on purpose. He assumed that was the reason she had a bodyguard now.

 

“Mr. Andrews, this is Dr. Michael Horton, the man who saved my life.” Lisa said. Mike immediately blushed.

 

“Don’t be so modest, Mike. It’s true. Without you I wouldn’t be here today.” Lisa wanted him to know how thankful she was. “Thank you for everything, I won’t ever forget this…” she said, stepping forward to hug him.

 

“I am so glad you are ok, Lisa. We were so worried about you.” He returned her hug and they held each other for a while.

“I have had quite a scare myself.” She said slowly letting him go.

 

“I know, but that’s all over now. You are ok.” He knew that everything was still very fresh, tears had welled up in Lisa’s eyes. Carefully he wept them away while they both cherished the silence that followed.

 

“…what brings you here today…?” Mike decided to change the subject to something lighters.

 

“Oh another check-up…I am seeing Lexie in five minutes.” She told him, getting herself together.

 

“I won’t bother you any longer, Mike. Thanks again, I will always remember what you did for me.” She kissed him on the cheek and left for Lexie’s office.

 

###

 

“Do we really have some time alone, Doc?” He stroked her hair, while he drowned in the depth of her hazel eyes. She gazed back into his baby blues and even if it was for a little while, they were able to forget everything that was on their weary minds. It was such a blessing that whatever happened they could always shelter in each other’s arms and let their love for each other carry them to a place that belonged only to them.

 

“It’s just you and me, baby.” She whispered. His hand moved to her face where his thumb slowly traced the lines of her lips. He pulled her closer and kissed her. When they finally let go Marlena curled up in his arms, she loved it to just cuddle and kiss and talk. This was the first chance they had had since Lisa’s accident.

 

“I can’t wait until we are away from all this, John. You, me and the kids…like we used to.” She remembered some of the terrific holidays they had spent at the beach when Brady, Belle and Lisa were younger. She smiled when she thought of a seven-year-old Belle and a five-year-old Lisa who simply refused to leave the beach because ‘they definitely hadn’t collected all the seashells yet’. It had taken John and their big brother Brady for ever to explain to them that there were so many seashells that came ashore with every wave of the sea that they would never be able to bring them all, and then they finally had been able to return to the cabin they had rented that summer. John couldn’t get enough of looking at her while she showed her most beautiful smile. That particular smile that appeared instantly when she was thinking about her children.

 

“What are you remembering, Doc…” He could tell she had found a very happy memory. They laughed together when she told him about the sea shells and together they remembered even more of that perfect holiday. Soon they would make even more perfect memories.

 

###

 

“The X-rays, are fine. Your arm and shoulder are healing as they should. We will continue to let your arm rest, the way we do now in the sling. Your ribs are slowly healing and you’ve rested out your concussion. There’s no reason to keep you confined to home and bed any longer.” Lexie said after she had examined Lisa and helped her to get her shirt and sweater back on.

 

“Oh…that’s good news.” Lisa said happily. Lexie smiled back at her while she carefully placed Lisa’s arm back into the sling. Lisa looked so much better it was such a relieve to see her up, walking and smiling again.

 

“John consulted me when he got his idea for your holiday and as far as I’m concerned there’s no reason you shouldn’t go.” She added. “You can start physical therapy for your arm and shoulder this week and continue there.”

 

“Oh this is wonderful news, I can’t wait to go.” Lisa said.

 

“You deserve it all so much after everything that’s happened. Just take it easy and don’t overdo it ok?” Lexie said looking very serious. Lisa wondered, it almost seemed that Lexie really cared about her. I want to trust her…

 

“I promise, doctor.” Lisa said, she took Lexie’s hand.

 

“Lexie, thank you, for taking such good care of me and my parents.”

 

“You are so welcome, Lisa. Where are you going on holiday, by the way?” she asked. Lisa wanted to answer that it was her dad’s big secret, but suddenly a small voice popped up inside her. Why does she want to know? She is a DiMera. Lisa was so silent so suddenly that Lexie thought she didn’t feel well. Lisa tried to figure out if she was paranoid now but she came to the conclusion she had every reason to be. I will forever have trouble to trust someone who’s related to Stefano DiMera. I am sorry Lexie, I just can’t. How can I know that you aren’t in this together with Kristen? She looked straight in Lexie’s eyes, trying to find an answer but it wasn’t there. Maybe she should get another doctor. This wasn’t working.

 

“Are you all right?…Lisa?” Lexie asked, Lisa was now staring at her.

 

“Yeah…” Lisa said quickly. She looked at the clock. “I should be going, Lexie. I am a bit tired. I’ll go home and take a nap.” Telling Lexie the first thing that came to mind to give her an explanation for her behavior. She realized it must have been pretty odd.

 

“Good idea. I’ll make sure to stop by before you all leave, ok?” She said. Lisa nodded while Lexie opened the door of her office for her. “Thank you, Lexie. See you soon.”

 

As soon they were outside the hospital she stopped Andrews. “Could you please take me to the police station? I want to talk to Roman Brady.” She had to talk to him about her concerns…

“I assure you that nobody, except John, Bo, Hope and I will know where you and your family are going…” Lisa lay awake thinking about the talk she had had with Roman earlier that day. In the end he had finally been able to convince her that her father’s ‘escape’ plan really would work.

At the same time Roman lay awake next to Kate, thinking about the exact same conversation.

 

“Promise me you won’t tell a soul, Roman. Not even Abe.” She had asked him. Then she told him what had happened in Lexie’s office. Roman could understand her so well but at the same time he felt so sad that it had come this far. Lisa had come to the point of not even trusting Abe because he was living in the same house as Lexie Carver. He realized that Abe’s decision to not look actively for Kristen hadn’t been pleading to his case either. Lisa’s eyes had painfully reminded him of Marlena’s in the times that he had failed to protect her and their children from the DiMera’s. Even after everything that had happened he still felt a deeply rooted love for his ex-wife. After all they still shared their children, Carrie, Eric and Sami and wonderful memories of their marriage which had been sacrificed to give the love between Marlena and John it’s freedom. He knew that, even though it still hurt sometimes to see them together, their hearts belonged together and that their love really was meant to be. It had taken a long time to accept it but he had finally been able to let her go because it was obvious that it was John who made her truly happy. And that was all that counted, her happiness. He even realized how lucky they were to still share their lives and their children the way they did despite every cruel attempt to tear them apart. And that thought gave him the satisfaction and the peace of mind he needed to finally fall asleep. You will never get your way…

 

Lisa however couldn’t shake off the strange feeling that had come over her today. It had started in Lexie’s office and even though she wasn’t sure about anything because all the events of the past weeks were wrapped up in mystery, uncertainty and vagueness, the idea that Stefano and Kristen were now probably thinking out their master plan to destroy her family and that the authorities weren’t doing anything to stop it drove her crazy. Knowing that this was going to be another restless night in which she was haunted by insomnia because she feared that bad dreams would catch up with her once again, she tossed and turned. Unable to clear her head, she buried her face in her pillow and cried helplessly. I need to get away from all this…Please, I need a break.

 

###

 

“So, John Black is taking his family on a holiday.” He nodded contently with the news he had just gotten from the man who was in front of him.

 

“You proved yourself very useful, I might be able to spare your wife and kids after all…” he said slowly, making sure this coward in front of him got the message.

 

“I am begging you, please don’t ask me to continue. John Black will kill me when he finds out I betrayed his family.”

He waits prepared to do anything. His knees were trembling with fear. He instantly realized that what he had just said was not what he had wanted to hear. Oh my God…help me…protect my wife and children.

 

“Come here…” it was all he said while he continued to look at him as if he were nothing more than dirt. Something he could get rid of the instant he felt like it. He obeyed and stumbled forwards.

 

“You are far from finished. You’ll continue to do what I tell you to do. Is that clear? You can count on keeping my word if you don’t.”

 

“Yes sir…very…clear.” He knew that God would never forgive him for this. He had just sold his soul to the devil himself.

 

“Get out of here…I will know where to find you…”

“That must be Sami!” Belle said when the doorbell rang, she gave Claire to Brady, who had no clue what to do…

 

“Belle, I can’t …help me?!” He said while he was carefully holding his sister’s little girl feeling extremely uneasy. The baby wasn’t happy and looked as if she was about to cry.

 

“You are doing just fine, man.” Eric said. “Support her head, like this…” he moved Brady’s arm a bit further under Claire’s head.

 

“Yeah…this is better…” Brady said to the baby, who was now looking contently at him.

 

Lisa opened the door and had to step backwards when Will burst inside.

 

“Oh I can’t believe we are really going today!!” Will excitedly hugged his aunt Lisa when she had opened the door the let them in. Sami laughed at her son’s enthusiasm.

 

“Heyyyy Will!!” Lisa hugged him tightly and then turned to Sami to hug her too.

 

“Hey sis…” Sami said smiling, she was looking forward to spend time with her family as much as Will did. It was too bad that Carrie, Lucas and Philip couldn’t make it because of work, but she was very happy that her mother and John had invited her and Will.

 

“William, be careful with your aunt, she is still getting better from her accident, remember.”

 

“Yes, mom.” He said immediately. Lisa ran her hand through her nephew’s hair.

 

“It’s no problem, Sami. Really.” She winked to her sister.

 

“Doc, I can’t believe you want to bring all this.” They heard John say to Marlena upstairs. “I told you we were only going ten days, right?”

 

Lisa and Sami laughed when they heard Marlena explain that she really needed everything.

 

“Hurry John, the kids will be here soon…” she said as they appeared in the hallway to the stairs squabbling all the way down. John had a lot of trouble carrying all their luggage. They stopped in mid-sentence when they realized they had an audience. Belle, Lisa and Sami standing there looking at them frowning.

 

“Oh! They are here already…” Marlena giggled as she looked at her three beautiful girls. She walked over to them.

 

“I am sorry you had to witness this, men just don’t understand our basic necessities …” she whispered to her daughters, they all cracked up with laughter. John dropped Marlena’s suitcases.

 

“Doc…what did you say…” he asked suspiciously.

 

“Nothing…” She said winking to her girls who were still laughing. John looked for help towards the boys. But they both shrugged.

 

“Sorry John…I didn’t hear.” Eric said. Brady shook his head too. Even Will who usually heard everything had been occupied watching Brady with the baby and said he didn’t know.

 

“Ok I give up, are we all ready to go?” He asked. The next moment John and Marlena’s house was swarming with the activity of a large family about to leave for their holiday. Ten minutes later John locked the door of their deserted and silent penthouse and joined his family in the elevator.

 

Marlena looked to her side, when she heard Lisa taking a deep breath. She was in the car with Eric, Brady and Lisa as Andrews drove them to an airport that was obviously outside of Salem.

 

“Let it all go, Lisa…We are going to have a lot of fun.” Marlena said to her daughter as Brady and Eric were discussing the latest baseball scores with Andrews who appeared to be a big fan as well. John was following in the car behind them with Sami, Belle, Will and Claire. From time to time he’d call Andrews to give him directions.

 

“I know, mom. It’s going to be wonderful!” she answered showing her mom a smile. Her mom was right, she should start to enjoy this right now!

 

###

 

“And? Did you find out, where they are going?” Kristen burst into his office without knocking. He had been in deep concentration playing his game of chess and he hated it when anybody disturbed him. Angry he slammed the chess-pieces from his expensive chessboard and they scattered on his desk.

 

“Can’t you ever knock, Kristen?” blaming her for ruining his game. Kristen looked at him. He was so angry lately, it was as if she couldn’t do anything right in his eyes.

 

“I am sorry, father.” She just said. Stefano DiMera looked at her and knew he had been hard on her, but she had messed up too many times. He loved her but as far as he was concerned she couldn’t know about his plans in this stage, the risk of her doing foolish things again was too big. He normally had a lot of patience but because of Kristen’s former actions his plan was behind on schedule and everything had become a lot more complicated.

 

“I will let you know, when it’s time, Kristen. And that’s all I say.” He said more calmly now. You can run, John Black. But definitely not hide.

“I can’t believe we actually made it…” Marlena lay in John’s arms watching their kids laughing together on the private jet that John had rented to fly them to their destination. So far he had still managed to keep a secret despite all the efforts they had made to make him tell. It had been hard not to but he wanted to guarantee their safety. They would find out soon enough.

 

“It’s going to be wonderful, Doc. I can’t wait to do absolutely nothing.” He answered her.

 

“Nothing?” She said looking up at him with that particular look. John knew it so well. She was looking forward to their romantic private time as much as their time with the kids. John grinned

 

“Nothing but…this…” He kissed her on the cheek

 

“And this…” kissing the back of her hand.

 

“And maybe some of this…” He kissed her on the lips.

 

“Mmm…in that…case. I like doing ‘nothing’.” She laughed.

 

Brady suddenly popped up in front of them. They had been so occupied by one another that they hadn’t even noticed.

 

“Hey, what are you two doing…” he teased them, he couldn’t believe the pair of them.

 

Marlena looked at John, John looked at Marlena and they replied in unison:

 

“NOTHING!!!”

 

###

 

“Soon, my love…” Kristen said staring at a picture of her and John in the beginning of their relationship as she was holding a glass of whiskey.

 

“Soon we’ll be together again…and it will be the way it was before.”

 

It was because of Marlena, Lisa, and Susan that she had had to endure several agonizing years in a concubine, dancing for an oil sheik. She didn’t even want to think about everything that had led up to it, but that bitch Marlena Evans and her spoiled brat of a daughter had made sure to ruin her future with John. Lisa had given her a hard time from the moment she had divorced Tony and had gotten back together with John. Lisa had never given her relationship with John a fair chance.

 

“You deserved everything, Lisa Black…” She said through clenched teeth trying to control her anger. “And I am not done yet…you and your mother will get what you deserve and I will be with John again. I will hurt you in the same way you hurt me.” She drank the remaining whiskey in one big swig and closed her eyes waiting for the alcohol to take its effect…

 

###

 

“Oh my…” Marlena was overwhelmed by the beauty of the hotel room. A well decorated enormous space with French doors that gave direct entrance to a large balcony looking out over the beach with its palm trees and the blue sea. She put down her bag on a table and walked speechlessly to the French doors to step onto the balcony.

 

“Oh John, this is gorgeous…” she whispered as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her close as they looked at the view together listening to the waves crashing ashore.

 

“Grandmaaaaaa, open up…..” they were back to reality when they heard Will banging on their door. John laughed and went to open the door. Will was already in his swimming pants, carrying a large towel.

 

“Come on!! We are going to the beach!” he was so enthusiastic that he was bouncing up and down the room.

 

“Hold on chap, we will be right there!!” He said. Marlena walked into the room from the balcony to find her grandson in his swimming attire.

 

“Hey Will!” She laughed. He was so much enjoying this.

 

“Doc, hurry up, we are ready to go to the beach!” John said pointing at will, giving her a wink.

 

“Yes John…I better hurry up. Will, if you make sure everybody is ready to go, John and I will be right there, ok?” Marlena said.

 

“Ok, grandma!!!” He said and he was off again to get the rest.

 

John had rented three suites next to each other. Brady, Eric, Sami and Will where in the first, Lisa, Belle, Claire and Andrews in the second and John and Marlena in the third. All the suites where located in the VIP section of the resort which meant that excellent security was assured. Nobody could enter this part of the resort and the private beach without passing security officers. They would be totally free to enjoy their holidays on the beautiful Caribbean island of Anguilla…

 

He was lying awake, tossing and turning, sweating when he thought of the day that was about to start. He felt sick. Quickly he got out of bed and hurried to the bathroom to throw up, it took several minutes for his nausea to subside. Exhausted he stood up to wash up his face and to drink some water to remove the awful taste in his mouth. He looked in the mirror and saw the face of a broken man. He was such a hypocrite, he hated himself with every fiber of his body and felt disgusted by his own cowardness. How the hell had he gotten himself into this mess? Everything had been so prosperous in his life, lately and now he knew that he had lost it all. Whatever decision he made he would not get back his life. He knew he was about to sacrifice a family’s happiness to save his own loved ones and he was going to pay. He himself would pay the highest price, tonight…

 

“Lisa?…” John saw that his daughter was sitting on the balcony reading a book. When he got closer he saw it had been impossible for her to hear him as she was wearing headphones listening to music. When he saw him she immediately put them off.

 

“Dad, I am sorry…I didn’t even hear you come in.” she said.

 

“Andrews opened the door, don’t worry.” He said.

 

“Listen I am going to take your mom for a long walk. Are you going to be ok?” he asked. He knew that she would be alone with Andrews for a while, all the others were still on the beach. Lisa had gone back earlier because of her physical therapy and Marlena and John had decided to go back with her to be able to do ‘nothing’.

 

“Yeah definitely!! Go! Andrews is here.” She said. “I have my book, and please…please don’t worry about me and enjoy your walk ok?”

 

“Ok, sweetheart. We won’t be long.” He kissed her on the cheek and then left.

 

With trembling hands he dialed the number and waited until the recipient of the call picked up the phone. As he connected with the person he was calling, he was glad to know that this was the last time they would speak to each other.

 

“Sir, the Blacks are on the Island of Anguilla, in the Diamond Orchid Resort.” It was all Andrews said. He waited for confirmation and then put down his phone. He had done what he had to do to keep his wife and children safe. For the first time in days he was calm. It’s time…

 

He listened carefully if he could hear Lisa, but as far as he could tell she was still on the balcony of her room reading in the sun. The moment he wanted to leave and held the knob of the door however he was stopped by her curious inquiry. He froze.

 

“Andrews, are you leaving me?” he turned around and was greeted by her pretty smiling face. He looked at her and the feeling of guilt that came over him was suddenly overwhelming. After all she had gone through she was the last person to deserve his betrayal, but as the images of his wife and young children appeared in his head he knew he really didn’t have a choice. Lisa looked worriedly at him.

“My father is not back yet…” She said wondering why he would leave when her experience was that he didn’t leave her out of his sight for a second when her father wasn’t there.

 

“I don’t have any range here. I want to call my wife; I am going to the roof terrace for a minute. Lock the door behind me. I’ll be right back, ok?” He said. He sadly noticed that even lying was going more smoothly. He had broken every rule and value that he had found so important in his children’s upbringing. He couldn’t bare to look in her eyes any longer and didn’t even wait for her answer. In his hurry he forgot his cell phone. Lisa saw it on the table, picked it up and went after him.

 

“Andrews, you forgot your phone…” she entered the terrace on the roof just as he stepped onto the ledge. She looked worried at him. What the hell was he doing?

 

“Andrews, be careful. What are you doing?” He turned around and Lisa saw so many emotions on his face that she knew instantly.

 

“Stay there, Ms. Black…” He said.

 

“Andrews?…” Oh my God! Is he going to jump??

 

“I am sorry, Lisa…I have to.” He tried to apologize for what she was about to witness. God, why had she followed him. He moved forward and took his step. Lisa started running and then dove forward bending over the ledge just in time to grab his arm. Her barely healed right arm painfully folded under her body, her muscles heavily burdened holding his weight, while his body was violently swinging beneath her. She had trouble breathing under the enormous strain.

 

“Mr Andrews…please! Thomas…” she held on to him with all the strength she had. She didn’t feel any pain anymore just the need to hold on to save his life.

 

“Lisa, let go. I am begging you.” He cried. He knew that if she didn’t let go he would bring her in jeopardy too. Slowly he moved his fingers to weaken her grip.

 

“Nooo, Andrews…” she begged him, as she looked in his eyes. He seemed to have accepted he was going to die but Lisa couldn’t rest with his decision.

 

“It’s payback time for me, I hope that you will ever able to forgive me…” He managed to say before he used his last strength to free his body. Then Lisa felt how his life slipped away between her fingers as he started falling to the depths below.

 

“Noooooooo…” Lisa screamed after him in agony and pure horror, she had to look away as her whole body and soul cramped together. She realized he had just fallen to his death. She was shaking and was in extreme pain from using all her strength to hold on to him. She couldn’t move, she froze right there on the ledge of the hotel building, her hand still reaching for his hand that was no longer there.

 

The door of the roof exit swung open and John and Marlena rushed onto the terrace. They had been coming around the corner of the hallway, returning from their walk when they had seen Lisa taking the stairwell upstairs, without Andrews.

 

John immediately saw Lisa in her extremely dangerous position on the ledge. She was not moving. He rushed over to her, Marlena following only a step behind.

 

“Oh my God…” He heard her mutter as he grabbed Lisa in his strong arms and lifted her back on the terrace where they both tried to find out what the hell had happened. Lisa was staring to something in front of her, without responding to their touches. She was shaking…

 

“Lisa…? What happened. Lisa talk to us!!”

Marlena took her daughter’s face in her hands trying to get through to her.

 

“Doc, what the hell is going on with her…” John asked.

 

“I don’t know…she almost seems to be…in shock.” Marlena almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing with her own eyes. What could have caused this?

 

“Lisa, please talk to us…” She said softly.

 

Lisa closed her eyes and finally spoke.

 

“He’s dead. Andrews. He jumped. I couldn’t stop him.”

 

John and Marlena looked at each other and John immediately rushed over to the ledge to look down. From his body language she could tell what Lisa had said was true. John came walking back to them, looking pale.

 

“Doc, take Lisa downstairs to our room and stay there. I will take care of this…of Andrews.” John said while he helped Lisa on her feet. Marlena grabbed his arm.

 

“Be careful, John.” She said.

 

“I will, I’ll be right back.” He said and he hurried downstairs.

“Tek, what did you find?” Abe asked immediately when he entered his office. He was followed by Roman. Tek put a little plastic evidence bag on Abe’s desk.

 

“Tracking device in Lisa Black’s car. We found it in the bolt of one of the wheels.”

Abe had to hold the bag to the light to see that there was actually something in the bag, it was miniscule.

 

“I’ve never seen one like this before…”

 

“It’s state of the art, I asked one of the guys in the lab and he said they pay $25.000 for those on the black market. It works with a receiver and a common GPS system.” Tek explained.

 

“Well Abe, I think this proves that someone wants to hurt Lisa Black.” Roman said carefully avoiding the name Kristen Blake DiMera. Abe was silent then got the phone dialing a number.

 

“This is commander Carver. I want a court order to exhume the coffin of Kristen Blake. I’ll send Tek over in a minute to present you with all the evidence we have so far.”

 

Roman couldn’t listen to Abe any longer when his phone rang. He stepped outside the office. “Roman Brady.” He answered.

 

“Roman, it’s John.”

 

“Hey John! How’s everything going over there, enjoying the sun?”

 

“Roman, I am calling with bad news…”

 

“Bad news? What happened.” Roman looked around and saw that he wasn’t alone. “Hold on John, I am not alone.” Quickly he walked over to the locker room which was empty. He could talk freely here.

 

“What happened John? Tell me.”

 

“Officer Andrews killed himself.”

 

“What?! Why?”

 

“I hoped you could shed some light on the matter. I have no clue and I don’t trust this at all.” John said.

 

“John, we have known Thomas Andrews for years…”

 

“Yeah I know, but why would he take this job and fly all this way with us to kill himself. It just makes no sense. Something’s terribly wrong. Please send someone out to go to his wife…”

 

“I will take care of that John. Is everybody ok?”

 

“Yeah. But Lisa witnessed all this, I haven’t had the chance to talk with her yet. She’s very shaken up, Marlena is with her. I have a really hard time understanding what is happening. Any news in the investigation?”

 

“We found something here, John. A tracking device in Lisa’s car.” Roman told him. There was a short silence on the other side of the line.

 

“I knew it…so Lisa is officially a target now.”

 

“I am afraid so, John. But the good news is that Abe is on top of this now. He is working to get a court order to get Kristen’s coffin exhumed and to see if it’s really her.”

 

“Roman, I can’t trust anyone…I need you out here. You have to help me to get everybody home safely. I will not take any risks.”

 

“I need to talk with Abe first, but I am sure he’ll let me go. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

 

“Ok, thanks Roman.” John hang up. He saw that paramedics just carried Andrews’ body to an ambulance. He walked over to the hotel manager and the head of hotel security.

 

“Mr. Black, we and I am sure the police too would like to ask some questions to your daughter. I am really sorry that this happened to her and the rest of your family.” The head of security said. He felt a bit responsible too. Mr. Black had paid a lot of money to guard and shield his family from danger and now something like this had happened in their hotel.

 

“Thank you, I really appreciate that.” John said. “Could you bring the officers in charge of the investigation to our room in thirty minutes? I want to make sure my daughter is ok first.”

 

“Definitely, Mr. Black. We will take care of the rest down here.” The hotel manager shook his hand.

 

###

 

“I am on my way, is everything ready?” Stefano was talking on the phone, he leaned back comfortably in the leather chair of his private jet. Kristen was opposite to him listening trying to figure out where they were going. At least she had been able to convince him to let her go with him. She knew that whatever the destination was that John, Marlena and their children were there. It would also be the place of her sweet revenge AND the place where she could be together again with the man of her life. Soon John…soon you and I will be back together…

 

###

 

“I am ok, really.” Lisa tried to convince both her mom and dad that she was fine. Shaken up but fine. It had happened so quickly that she couldn’t even remember the details. All she remembered was the look on his face right before he fell. He had said something to her but she couldn’t remember his last words. All she knew was that they were addressed to her. What was it he had said, it had been important…

Lisa was still trying to remember to remember what Andrews had said. She had talked to the Anguilla police earlier and everything had come back to her as it happened except his last words. She was thinking as hard as she could to the point of becoming extremely frustrated. She slammed her fist on the armrest of the couch.

 

“Hey are you ok?” Belle sat down next to her and put her arm around her sister. John had just told everyone what had happened to officer Andrews.

 

“Yeah…I’m just…I try to remember what Andrews said to me, but I can’t.”

 

Lisa explained. “I don’t understand why I forgot.”

 

Belle felt so sorry for her sister. She had gone through so much already and now this. Of all times during their family vacation, which should have been the perfect way to leave the bad times behind, for all of them. She watched how her mother closed the balcony doors, it was getting chilly now the sun had gone under. Marlena squatted down in front of her daughters.

 

“Lisa don’t try to push it too hard, it will come to you…” she said. Laying a hand on her daughter’s knee. She was exhausting herself like this.

 

“I know you are right mom, but I can’t help it…I am trying to find the explanation…the reason why. I know he said something.” She tried to explain to her mother and her sister. Marlena was worried, why couldn’t Lisa remember anything? Was she suppressing another traumatic experience? Her behavior was strange, she was so fixated, almost obsessed with remembering. She hated it to psycho analyze her kids, to act like a shrink at home, but she couldn’t ignore the signs. Lisa had been in shock up there, right after she was acting like everything was just fine and giving the police a clear and objective statement and now she was almost obsessed on getting every detail. She hadn’t seen any emotions so far, at least emotions that where normal for her daughter.

 

###

 

“Yes, Mr. DiMera, we are ready. If all goes well, we will meet you at the harbor in about an hour and a half. I’ll bring you what you have requested.” He hung up the phone and leaned back contently against the wall. Darryl Fleming, Head of Hotel Security at the Diamond Orchid Resort knew that his task would be extremely easy. He had access, authority and they would never suspect him. After tonight he would be a rich man. His life and job had become a drag. It was boring and predictable and when this man had approached him he knew this was a one in a lifetime chance. This was an offer he could not refuse. He would finally be able to leave the island and start a better life somewhere else. He knew he had to work drastically, but he didn’t care. After tonight it would be a distant memory only.

He was ready, the Blacks were in their rooms and Mr. DiMera’s men were in position to finish what he started. He walked down the hallway holding a small black bag, to the VIP section of the resort and entered the maintenance area which was for personnel only. He closed the door behind him. He looked around and found what he was looking for. He opened his bag, put on gloves not to leave any fingerprints and got out a screwdriver to unscrew the grate that was blocking of the ventilation shafts that were used for the air-conditioning. He placed a small gas tank into the shaft and turned it on, slowly the gas leaked away into the ventilation shaft. He had to work quickly now. He put everything back in the original state and then left quickly making sure nobody saw him.

 

###

 

“Lisa, sweetie. You have to try and let it all go for a while.” Marlena could no longer bare to see her daughter ponder and agonizing. She was so occupied trying to remember what Andrews had said that she had forgotten everything else. She was just sitting there holding her head in her hands staring to no particular item in front of her. Marlena felt helpless and she suddenly had an enormous headache, she looked at John for support but he shook his head and he took her in his arms.

 

“I think she needs this time, Doc…” he whispered in her ear. He wasn’t sure if it had been everything that had happened today but he didn’t feel well, he felt extremely tired and dizzy and maybe it was time they all went to bed.

 

“I don’t know, John…she is…not ok…” Suddenly she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. “John…I don’t…feel…”

 

“Doc?” John saw how his wife gasped for air and then her knees gave away.

 

Lisa finally looked up when she heard her dad calling out to her mother. She saw how her mom collapsed in her father’s arms.

 

“Mom?” worriedly she rushed over to her father who carefully put down Marlena on the floor. But before John could help his wife he too was overcome by an extreme spell of dizziness and before Lisa had reached them he had collapsed next to her mother.

 

“Mom? DAD!!!!” Lisa’s heart was racing, what the hell was happening here!!! She fell down on her knees and placed two fingers in her mother’s neckline to check her pulse. It was weak but steady and she was still breathing. She moved over to check her father’s vitals but as she did that, her legs and arms started to feel extremely heavy and she could barely lift her head. In a matter of seconds, she was on the floor only vaguely realizing that something was terribly wrong. She forced herself to open her eyes and saw how two men, one tall and one short, with gasmasks entered the room… Oh my God, no. She knew instantly that they would get her and her family. It was too late. She fought to stay conscious. Noo, they cannot hurt us again…

 

“Get Dr. Evans…” The tall one said.

 

“Nooo…” Lisa moaned she was able to grab his ankle before she lost consciousness…

The short one was startled. When he suddenly felt the pressure on his leg.

 

“Dammit!” he cursed, kicking in the air until the young blonde woman on the floor let go of his leg.

 

Lisa was trying to beat the intoxicating effects of the gas. No. Wake up, you have to stop them. Come on fight this, if you don’t do anything it will be too late. Lisa fought to wake up, she heard them talking. They were going to take her mom…

 

All the images of today’s events shot incoherently through her head. She was holding on to Andrews and then in her subconscious state he said the words she had been trying to find in her memory all day. His eyes full of sorrow and regret.

 

“It’s payback time for me, I hope that you will ever able to forgive me…”. It all became clear and the shock of his confession brought her back to consciousness. Andrews told Stefano… she lifted her head and she saw two men who were trying to carry her mom out of the room. She crawled up, got on her feet and in blind rage she stumbled forwards to attack them, to prevent them from taking her mother.

 

“Get her!” The tall one yelled as Lisa started kicking and hitting the short one. Lisa screamed in agony when the short one grabbed her wounded right arm and twisted it to her back. She fought with all her might to loosen his grip but she was too weak to continue and the unbearable pain shot through her body. He was so much stronger and she was overcome by the pain. The moment she let go she knew she had failed. He got a cloth from his pocket and pressed it on her face, within seconds she stopped resisting all together. Slowly he let her limp body slide to the floor.

 

“Jesus, I thought this gas would knock out everyone!!” He put his foot on Lisa’s body to make sure that this time she was really out.

 

“Only Dr. Evans! You heard the boss!” The tall one lifted Marlena over his shoulder.

 

“This girl saw us; we have to take her too…” The shorter one took care of Lisa’s unconscious body.

 

“Oh…the boss is not going to be happy…”

 

“Stop whining, idiot. Come on! Don’t forget to leave the package.” The short one said and headed for the door.

The tall one struggled under the weight of Marlena’s body to get a small box out of the pocket of his jacket and put it carefully in the middle of the table.

 

“Jesus! What happened here?” the bell man who had brought Roman to the rooms of the Blacks with his luggage cried out in a state of shock when he saw several staff members laying on the floor on the hallway of the VIP section. Roman dropped everything he was holding and squatted down by the first motionless figure he encountered. This person was alive. He moved on to the next, and then the next. They were all alive. Soon he started to feel extremely light-headed. First he thought it might have been the travelling but then it hit him. He had been feeling like this before, in Maison Blanche in New Orleans when he had saved John and Marlena from a dungeon filled with gas.

 

“Please open the doors to all the rooms and all the windows and then call the police and ambulances, I think we have a gas leak…Cover your mouth.” Roman said as he reached for his handkerchief in his pocket to cover his mouth and nose. The bell man grabbed a phone in the hall to call for help.

 

When the bell man opened the door of the first room a few moments later they immediately saw John on the floor. Roman fell down on his knees next to John while the bell man opened all the doors and windows. Roman started to drag John’s body towards the doors to the balcony to let him breathe in the fresh air. He patted John’s cheeks.

 

“Come on, John. Wake up buddy!” he said while he looked around to see if he could see Marlena. John moved.

 

“John, where’s Marlena?” Roman asked grabbing John’s shoulders when he opened his eyes. John moved his hands to his head. What the hell had happened, he felt as if he had just woken up after a party with way too much alcohol. Roman stood up and quickly checked the other chambers but they were all empty. Marlena wasn’t there.

 

“Roman??” John still had no idea what was going on, he struggled up.

 

“John there has been a gas leak, where is Marlena? I can’t find her.” Roman was extremely worried, where was she!

 

“I…don’t know…she was here…with me and Lisanne, I think…” John answered He tried to clear his head. Everything was so vague.

 

“Maybe she is with the kids…” Roman knew they had to find Marlena and the kids. If they were affected by the gas they might be in immediate need of medical attention.

 

“The kids…are they ok?” John asked.

 

“I don’t know, come on…Let’s go check on them.” Together they hurried off, neither of them noticing the little package that was standing in the middle of the table…

“We have looked, everywhere…we can’t find my wife and daughter.” John said to the hotel manager. He had never been so scared in his whole life. Where the HELL where Marlena and Lisa!

 

“Mr. Black I assure you that we are looking everywhere, every room in this hotel will be checked. My head of security is on it and is working together with the police.” John looked at his incomplete family that had gathered in one of the suites.

 

The kids where all right, still groggy and dazed but all right. By the time Roman and John had found Brady, Eric, Sami and Belle unconscious in their suites the paramedics had arrived and the place was now swarming with rescue workers to tend to all the guests. Luckily both Will and Claire had been asleep in their room with an open window and they had escaped the effects of the gas. Roman sat next to Sami, worriedly and gently stroking her back, as the paramedic administered oxygen. Roman had had a real hard time waking her up and she was still delirious.

 

Eric was trying to set Will’s mind off things and Brady sat next to Belle who was crying. She had been so worried about Claire and now her mom and sister were missing. She shivered and looked outside to the ocean that seemed so calm under a perfect night sky with a bright full moon and stars. But the wind was chilly and strong. All the doors and windows where still wide open and the curtains fluttered violently. Brady looked around and found one of his sweaters.

 

“Put this on Belle, you are cold.” He said as he brotherly helped her to put it over her head. Belle then stood up. She had to keep her baby close to her.

 

“I am getting Claire…” she said. “…is it save to bring my baby in here, sir?” She turned to the paramedic who finally saw some improvement in Sami’s condition. She finally started to respond as she should.

 

“The gas is gone, ma’am. All the windows are open. Your baby is perfectly fine, there’s no danger anymore.” He said and remembered how everybody had wanted him to check out the baby and the little boy first. The baby had been crying and had been alert the moment they had woke her up from her deep and peaceful sleep. Belle went into Claire’s room to fetch her.

 

John was pacing up and down the hallway, trying to find a logical explanation for Lisa and Marlena’s disappearance. Maybe they went to get help? Maybe they were affected by the gas right after they went to get help? But his heart, his heart was so afraid. He was sure they would never leave their family if they were in need of medical attention.

 

“John, any news? Sami’s better.” Roman said.

 

“No still no word, they are still trying to find them.” John said as he walked another time to his and Marlena’s suite to turn the place upside down again. As they entered, at the same time they both saw the small package on the table bound together with a red ribbon.

 

“What the hell is that? That wasn’t here before…” John said, staring at it.

Roman moved forward to examine it more closely.

 

“Are you sure this doesn’t belong to Marlena? Or Lisa?” he asked.

 

“No we were here right before this happened, and I am telling you, bro this wasn’t there. Somebody has been in here…” John’s stomach twisted painfully as he said it. Something terrible had happened, he felt it. He reached over the table and with a trembling hand he took the package in his hand…

 

###

 

Marlena had no idea where she was when she woke up. She didn’t understand what had happened. Her surroundings where pitch black and she couldn’t see anything. She tried to move and stuck out her hand, which immediately met with cold metal. She was laying on something soft and all she heard was a monotone humming. Was it of a distant engine? It didn’t sound familiar.

 

“Hello?…” She spoke indecisively. She startled herself when her voice echoed back loudly. Nobody answered.

Think, Marlena. What happened? Carefully, with her hands stretched out in front of her, she sat up, her legs folded under her body. Immediately an unpleasant nauseous feeling came over her she tried to take a few deep breaths to sigh it away but the air was tenuous and damp and didn’t bring much relieve. The strange feeling in her head and her inability to orientate made it even worse. Easy, don’t panic. You’ll figure it out. Take your time. She told herself to calm down and tried to control her breathing but the ever increasing feelings of panic were beginning to submerge her. Come on, think. She closed her eyes and secretly hoped that if she would open them this had all been just a nightmare.

 

You are on holiday with John and the kids on Anguilla, wake up. She opened them but nothing had changed, she was still a captive of the darkness that had surrounded her before. A sob escaped from deep within when she realized this was real.

 

“John?!” she called out for him but she knew that it would be in vain. He was not here, because he would have had had her in his arms already.

 

She crawled forward her hands once again in front of her to make sure she wouldn’t hit anything. As she moved forwards her knees suddenly met with the same cold metal she had felt before next to her. She had been laying onto a mattress. Slowly she moved a few feet further forwards and suddenly stumbled on something warm and soft. Carefully she felt in front of her and she let out a cry of shock when she felt a face. There was someone else in this room!!

 

###

 

“Careful John…CAREFUL” Roman said as John hastily unwrapped the package. His heart missed a beat when he saw what it was. Roman looked at it in pure horror. Between his thumb and index finger John was holding a black wooden chess piece. It was a pawn…

Marlena carefully bended forward to figure out who was laying in front of her. She felt locks of long hair and the posture and shapes told her this was a young woman. She immediately smelled the faint traces of chloroform and she could tell from the slow and superficial breathing that the woman in front of her was deeply unconscious because of it. She needed light to help her properly. She crawled further and struck another wall. This time she felt the handle of a door. The door was locked but when she got up she found what she he been looking for, a light switch. When she turned it on, her eyes hurt so much from the bright light that it took several seconds for her to adjust to it.

 

She quickly looked around. What the hell was this place? She tried to open the door again but it was no use. There was no way out, she had to figure it out later. She now had to take care of whoever was with her and turned to look at her. The woman was lying motionless on the cold floor hands bound behind her back. The long blonde hair had fallen over her face. Marlena’s heart missed a beat when she recognized the clothes and then her shapes. Lisanne? She rushed over her and saw that she was treated badly.

 

“Lisa…? Can you hear me baby?” She brushed the hair from Lisa’s face while she struggled to loosen up the ropes that were so tight around her daughter’s wrists that they were bruised and swollen. She tried to see if they had hurt her, Lisa obviously had put up a fight because her hands and arms were full of bruises and scratches.

 

“…Oh your arm…” She tried to be as careful as she could. Her face showing the pain she felt for her daughter. She tried to figure out if they had broken it again but as she examined Lisa’s arm she couldn’t tell.

 

“Who did this to you baby…” she whispered, but she knew the answer to that question. Her blood was boiling with anger while she continued to take care of her daughter. Carefully she turned Lisa on her back, placing her arms alongside her body. I’ve sworn you would never touch my children again; this time you will go down. I swear. Lisa moved.

 

“…Mom?” Marlena could only barely hear her. She helped Lisa to sit up and took her in her arms. They had to get out of here. She had to find a way to get Lisa up and walking fast because there was no way they could get away in the state she was in.

 

“Come on Lisa, wake up.” She caressed her cheeks.

 

“Lisa, listen to me, we are in big trouble…wake up, baby. You have to help me.” She said finally fully realizing that they were kidnapped. It looked like they were on a ship. John… her soul cried out for him. What would he do if he was here. If they really were on a ship and it sailed off only God knew where they would end up. She knew John would do everything to try and get off before they did sail off.

 

“Lisa, honey. Come on!” Her attitude towards her unconscious daughter had changed now she knew that they were in serious danger. She patted her cheeks and talked to her in a strict tone. Lisa moaned softly and she stirred as a reaction on Marlena’s palm that uncomfortably encountered her cheeks.

 

“Get up, Lisa. Come on, we are going to walk.” She had to use all her strength to get her daughter on her feet and dragged her across the room, barely being able to keep standing under the weight of Lisa’s limp body. She had to get the drugs out of her daughters system…

 

###

 

“He has them…” John couldn’t believe it had happened right in front of him. He stared at the pawn and the feelings of guilt, powerlessness and defeat where so strong.

 

“God dammit he has them…”. Roman placed his hands appalled against his head. He felt at least as guilty. John bended forward over the table, burying his face in his hands as his blood started boiling with uncontrollable anger. DiMera, this time you won’t live to tell the tale. I am going to kill you with my bare hands and I swear to God that I have you beg for mercy…

 

He hadn’t been able to keep his promise. He had sworn to Marlena and Lisa to keep them safe but he had failed. How could this have happened? But he knew the answer, now it was all crystal-clear. You blackmailed Andrews… John could hit himself. Why hadn’t he realized it sooner. Stefano had used Andrews to get to his family. How could he have been so blind. It was his fault, he was responsible. John could no longer control his fury. Why had he trusted Andrews in this? He shouldn’t have trusted anybody. He had made the critical mistake.

 

“God damn you ANDREWS” he grabbed a vase and threw it with all his strength against one of the walls where it shredded in at least a thousand pieces. “Marlenaaaaaaaaa” he yelled in agony.

 

###

 

“Mom, please stop…let me sit down. I feel sick.” Lisa felt as if the room was spinning around her. She closed her eyes again, she wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep. But her mother didn’t listen to her pleas. Marlena had started to wonder if it was only chloroform they had given her because Lisa was so disorientated and groggy. Her daughter’s head was resting heavily on her shoulder and even though she had wrapped her arms around Lisa’s middle she could barely hold her.

 

“Come on, Lisa. Help me. Walk!” She said still struggling to keep Lisa up.

 

“Mom…just let me sleep.” Lisa whispered trying to push her mother away but she had not even enough strength to lift her arms.

 

But Marlena knew her method was working. There was some progress. She was protesting and talking, that was a very good sign. She was getting lucid again.

 

Lisa had no idea why her mother was so mean, she didn’t understand. She was so tired and her legs felt so heavy.

 

“Why are you so angry..?” Lisa snapped at her irritable.

 

“I am not angry, baby. I think Stefano has us. You have to fight this…they gave you something.” Marlena panted, she couldn’t hold Lisa much longer.

 

“Stefano…?” Lisa giggled. Was her mom not feeling right?

Marlena kissed her daughters hair and looked up.Please God, help me. Let John find us…

John rushed so quickly downstairs to the hotel lobby that Roman had a hard time keeping up with him. He wanted to make sure that the search for his wife and daughter was carried out in the way he wanted to. The hotel security staff was now gathering all the security tapes to see what had happened in the time he had been unconscious. John had very good hope they would find some clues to what had happened but he knew he was up against Stefano DiMera. He was very well aware of the fact that he had extremely rough times ahead of him. DiMera never gave up on something and having Marlena was his ultimate goal in life even if it meant holding her against her will. He would never willingly give her up and was capable of anything to prevent him from getting her back. And if he teamed up with Kristen it logically explained where Lisa came in. Kristen was obviously trying to get to him by taking his daughter and it was in both Stefano’s and Kristen’s advantage that he now had to divide his attention between two loved ones. Dammit Stefano what is it that you are planning, where are you taking Lisa and Doc…

 

“John hold on one minute…” Roman said, out of breath. He grabbed his elbow. John turned around impatiently, he had to keep on moving, there was no time to waste. John had been coming into the suite to get a picture from both Lisa and Marlena to give to the police. Roman who had been on the phone with Abe had tried to sign to him he had news but John had run out again before he even had had the chance to fill him in.

 

“I just spoke to Abe, I told him that Lisa and Marlena are missing. He told me that he got permission from the court to dig up Kristen’s coffin a few hours ago. Tek and Bo are preparing to dig it up. If they can prove it’s not her in the coffin, Interpol, the FBI and the ISA are ready to hunt down both Stefano and Kristen. All they need is the evidence, they are ready to go.” He said, but John was not at all satisfied.

 

“It will take too long! That exhumation will take hours at the least!” John disapproved. “You know how DiMera works, it’s a matter of hours before he has them out of the country. We HAVE to work faster than this!” John snapped and continued his way. He was so worried and he would not rest before he had them safe in his arms again, they had to hurry. Roman followed him, knowing he was right. He prayed that they weren’t already too late. He let John go ahead and stopped. He had to do something. He had a lot of contacts at the FBI and at the ISA he wanted to know everything they had on Stefano DiMera, even the smallest bit of information could lead them to Lisa and Marlena.

 

###

 

“Lisa? Are you ok?” Marlena watched worriedly how Lisa straightened her back as she sat up and sighed heavily. Her back and arms were aching and she felt nauseous and light-headed.

 

“I feel awful…but I am sure that will pass…” Lisa answered. “…it’s not important, we have to get out of here.” She stood up and explored the walls and ceilings for the fourth time in ten minutes. But it was hopeless. There was no other way to get in and out then through the steel door and it was locked. Lisa squatted down to look at the lock.

 

“Mom, we need something metal, something long and sharp…” She said. Marlena took a look around but then she thought of something…she pulled one of the hairpins from her hair and gave it to Lisa. Who started trying to pick the lock.

 

“Where did you learn to do this…” Marlena wondered but when Lisa looked up and meaningfully raised her brow she knew the answer before her daughter gave it.

 

“Noo..” she said in a disapproving tone but secretly her heart jumped with joy.

 

“Oh yes..” Lisa replied while she concentrated on the lock. Her dad had taught her the fine art of pick locking in a boring rainy weekend when her mother was away to a congress. Lisa was so occupied that she didn’t notice the sounds of footsteps approaching. Marlena heard them first and they both froze when they heard voices outside the door.

 

“Lisa get back here…” Marlena whispered pulling her daughter away from the door, moving all the way to the back of the room. Then she stepped in front of her youngest, her heart thumping wildly in her throat…

 

###

 

“Hello Mr. Captain Roman Brady…” He had to keep the receiver far from his ear when he was confronted with an incredible loud high pitched woman’s voice.

 

“Hello?” Roman had no clue who was on the other end of the line. “Who is this?” he said annoyed. He was in the middle of contacting the FBI and ISA to get the latest intelligence about Stefano DiMera and they could call him back any minute now. This woman was obviously not any FBI or ISA representative judging from the strange way she addressed him. He had no time for other matters. They couldn’t afford to waste any time, it could make the difference of finding Lisa and Marlena.

 

“Hello??” The woman replied on his question. Roman was puzzled

 

“Please say your name or I have to hang up, I am very busy at the moment.” He sighed. Who the hell had given this weirdo his cell phone number.

 

“Sir, it’s me. Susan Banks. I need to speak to you, since you are the police man. I am on my way to Salem. With my deaaaaaaaarrrrr Edmund and my Elvis. It’s really, really, REALLY important.” Her unpleasant voice pained his ears. Finally, he could place her voice, he hadn’t heard from her in eight years. She was the most eccentric, weird female he had ever met. But she had her heart in the right place and as so many others she had been a victim of Stefano’s evil schemes.

 

“Miss Banks, I am very sorry, but I am not in Salem right now. If you need someone at the Salem Police Department I advise you to talk to Bo Brady or commander Carver. I have to go; I am sorry…I am extremely busy.” He said and hung up on her, he really had no time for Susan Banks!

“Hold on, the boss is about to get here…” a voice echoed outside their locked door.

Marlena and Lisa both heard it and Lisa felt how her mother tensed up. To them relieve the footsteps and voices became more distant again. Apparently they had changed their minds and had left. She sighed with relieve they had some more time…

 

“He is on his way…” Lisa whispered, she was terrified. All the bad memories of Santa Cruz flashed through her head. Please God, not again…. She closed her eyes and tried to suppress the negative thoughts.

Marlena quickly turned around to face her daughter.

 

“Listen to me baby, tell me one more time, everything that happened before they took us.” Marlena realized that every piece of information could be valuable. They might be able to leave clues for John. Lisa quickly told the story again about the tall and the shorter man who had wanted to take her mother and how she had fought them.

 

“Andrews betrayed us…” Lisa concluded. She had trusted him because her father and Roman had trusted him. She had doubted everything except the integrity of her bodyguard. He had been so thoroughly and seriously in his job, he had won and deserved her trust. How could she have been such a fool?

 

Marlena knew what she was thinking just by looking at her and she knew that her daughters trust in other people had gotten another blow.

 

“I trusted him too, and I am sure that Stefano threatened him to hurt his family…” she said understandingly and she pulled her daughter close to hold her.

 

“That’s why he killed himself…it’s so sad. Why didn’t he go to dad?” Lisa pondered. Marlena let out a deep sigh.

 

“Stefano DiMera is a master in blackmailing, humiliating and making threats…it’s obvious Andrews didn’t see another way out.” Marlena spoke sadly.

 

Lisa was very silent for a moment and Marlena let her take that moment. At least this time they were together and they could turn to each other for support. One small blessing in this whole ordeal.

 

“I don’t know why, but at least we are here together…” she whispered while she was still holding her daughter in embrace. Lisa stared over her shoulder and wondered why they had wanted to take her mother only while everything that had happened lately had pointed to the fact that she was the target.

“Mom…” Lisa started. Marlena listened.

 

“I don’t think they were planning on taking me too in the original plan.” Lisa told her. Marlena let go of her daughter to look her in the eye.

 

“What are you saying, Lisa?”

 

“I don’t know…I thought I heard them say ‘Dr. Evans only…’” she said and they looked at each other in astonishment. Nothing made sense anymore…

 

###

 

“Excellent…” Stefano DiMera was very satisfied. Everything went according to plan and his driver was now driving him to the harbor where he would finally be reunited with Marlena. He was staring absently to the fast passing scenery. It was slowly getting light and the sky was painted with a beautiful variegation of colors.

 

“Oh my beautiful Marlena…” he whispered avoiding Kristen to overhear him, but she had anyway. She looked at him and couldn’t believe it. How could he be so head over heels with the woman she hated with everything she had inside her. Stefano DiMera, the most feared, went weak over a woman and of all women it had to be Marlena Evans.

 

She was angry, he had told her over and over again to be patient and she had listened to him. But so far he was the only one to benefit from his plans and she had been foolish enough to step back. And now she was supposed to watch her father drool all over Marlena and play with John’s emotions in the meantime? No thanks. It was time that she put her own plans in action. She would not allow her father to hurt John again. Yes, it was a good thing Marlena was in his hands and out of her way but John was hers. In the end he would forget Marlena, she was sure of it.

 

###

 

“I want you to go back home…” Roman concluded. He was talking to the kids. They had been waiting up all night for news about their mother and sister. John had asked him to make sure they all got back home safely.

 

“I am not going home…” Belle said immediately. Roman had counted on that and he saw how his own daughter Sami was ready to tell what she thought of it too.

 

“Dad…” Sami started, her eyes full of resistance. Roman looked at her and knew she was there for her mother all the way. Sami and Marlena had had a very troubled relationship for many years. She had blamed John for splitting up her mother and father and she had given Marlena a very hard time. But Roman knew that despite all her anger, that still surfaced now and then, her heart was in the right place and she loved her mother more than anything in this world.

 

“Listen to me, all of you.” He looked in each face of the four young people in front of him. Those beautiful personalities that John, Marlena and himself were so proud to call their children. It hurt him so much to see their eyes so full of worry. Brady stood up and stood still in front of Roman, looking directly into his eyes.

 

“I want to help you and dad to find Marlena and Lisa.” Brady said knowing that Roman was not going to let him. Roman had known it wouldn’t be easy to convince them. Brady was not likely going to change his mind.

 

“I know you want to be here, but right now I am thinking of Will and Claire. And I need you to look out for each other and make sure you get back to Salem safely.”

 

When he mentioned Will and Claire he sent an understanding look to Eric and Brady. There was a long silence. Roman knew that he had put them in a position where they were forced to do the right thing. He was sorry but it was the only way to keep them all safe.

 

Brady realized Roman and John counted on him and Eric to take everybody home safely, and he knew that that was his task. They would make things worse if John and Roman had to spend time worrying about them too. He was the first to speak.

 

“You are right, Roman. We’ll go home. The little ones should be our first priority, right Sami? Belle?” he knew that Will and Claire would always come first. Sami looked at Belle, who was staring to the ground.

 

“Yes, we will go home. If that helps.” Sami responded and Belle nodded too.

 

“Good, I promise…that we will keep you posted. I am going to arrange your flight back to Salem.” Roman said and he left the suite to go look for John….

“Sir…I am sorry, but we were forced to take Dr. Evans’ daughter as well. She wasn’t as effected by the gas as the others and regained consciousness when we entered. She saw us.” The tall one said he slightly bowed, submissively, he was not sure at all about how the boss was going to react. The short one stood conscientious behind his partner. You did not mess with Stefano DiMera and you did especially did not make any mistakes. They should have get rid of Lisa Black when they had the chance. The boss was going to explode in anger any minute, he knew it. They would feel his wrath and when they did they probably wouldn’t survive.

 

“What? You took Isabella?” he asked frowning.

 

“No, her youngest…Lisanne.” The tall one said. Kristen could not believe it they had both Marlena and Lisanne!! There was her ticket to love presented to her on a platter. Stefano looked as surprised as she did for just a second, but he was able to hide it immediately, his eyes turned so dark that the tall one stepped back on the toes of the short one who let out a strange squeak.

 

“You don’t think that I am going to pay you now, you screwed up!” Stefano yelled.

 

“ GUARDS!” he bellowed and immediately the short and the tall one where surrounded by Stefano’s henchmen.

 

“Get rid of them!”

 

“ No! Mr DiMera, I am begging you. We brought you Dr. Evans!!” The tall one screamed as he was taking away. The short one was silent ad they grabbed him too. It was all over.

 

Stefano called some more men. “I want you to take my prisoners to my ship. Give them that new drug that Rolf developed, during transportation and shackle them up tightly in their new accommodation.” He ordered, he then turned to Kristen who looked more contently than she had in ages.

 

“You will stay away from both of them, right now…go to the ship. We’ll sail off the moment they are on board.” He said and she decided to listen, for now.

 

###

 

Stefano sighed deeply before he entered. Finally, she was in his possession again. He would be free to look at her every day and he was ready to take her to the most beautiful place on Earth and there he would do everything to get her to love him, she would eventually.

 

Moments later he bended over her bed where she was laying still recovering from the drugs he had to give them to be able to move them without being noticed. She opened her eyes and he felt sorry when he saw her fear.

 

“ Hello Marlena…” Stefano came closer and caressed her cheek. She quickly moved her head away to avoid his touch. She was still groggy, unable to stand up from her bed but she remembered vaguely what had happened.

Four men had come in and had grabbed both her and Lisa and had both of them injected with a drug and they had both passed out shortly after. When they had woken up again, she had found herself in another room, a prison, chained to a wall, hands bound behind her back, with nothing more than a toilet and two beds. She had tried to reach Lisa who hadn’t reacted on her calls but the effects of the drugs hadn’t worn of yet and she couldn’t stand up.

 

The moment Stefano had entered and had approached her mother Lisa had finally stirred, sensing the danger. She immediately tried to stand up but her hands were cuffed together in front of her and she could only make a few steps, they had locked her in chains on the wall opposite against Marlena’s and they had made sure they couldn’t reach each other. The drugs made her almost collapse on the floor and she had to sit down on the bed again.

 

“Leave her alone..” Lisa could only whisper as she fought her dizziness, the room was spinning around her.

 

“Don’t you DARE touch me.” Marlena tried to move away from him as far as she could. But she couldn’t get away. His hand went down and rested shamelessly on her left breast. She looked into his evil dark eyes and send all despise and hate to him without speaking. It forced him to back off. He had to restrain himself, like this he would never deserve her trust.

 

“ Don’t touch her, you bastard.” Lisa yelled at him, she went crazy at the sight of Stefano harassing her mother. She stood up and tried to pull herself free from her chains. She was ready to hurt him so badly. Stefano paused, turned around and looked amused at his young captive trying to free herself in agony over his bullying.

 

“Oh how much your daughter reminds me of certain times with your husband, Marlena” he let out a deep laugh. Lisa’s anger intensified when she heard that, she wanted to make him pay. She was going to fight him. This had to end.

 

“You bastard. Let us go!” Lisa screamed and she pulled on the chains again, using all her weight.

 

“ Lisa, don’t let him get to you…” Marlena couldn’t watch how Lisa hurt herself over and over again, as she tried to break the chains that were holding her back. She saw how her daughter’s wrists had started to bleed.

 

“ I will never force myself on your mother, Lisanne.” Stefano said as he approached her and tried to push her back on the bed while he tried to avoid Lisa’s violent attempts to knock him of his feet and to hit him. He was no longer amused. Marlena feared what he was going to do. Stefano grabbed Lisa’s shoulders and forced her back on the bed.

 

“If you don’t calm down now, I will have to drug you again.” Stefano said.

 

“NO..” Marlena let out.

 

Stefano knew that he had to keep Lisa safe and healthy, if he ever wanted to win Marlena’s trust. Right now Lisa was hurting herself badly. Lisa Black was going to have to accept her destiny, she was never going back to Salem again.

 

Marlena knew her daughter wouldn’t care less about his threats she was blinded with rage, hysterical, she had to do something.

 

“ No, Stefano…please. Don’t drug her…” Marlena pleaded. “Just leave us, I will talk to her.” Stefano looked at Marlena and decided to do what she asked.

 

“ Make sure you calm her down. If she attacks me again, you will know the consequences.” He said and left.

Marlena saw how her daughter, fell down to her pillow and how her body was shaking as she recovered from the exhaustion that had overcome her. Marlena worried so much about her, she had never seen such an outburst of anger in her before.

 

Lisa had finally calmed down when the door was opened again. Lisa looked up her eyes hurt from the bright light that came from the hallway. Her heart started racing when she realized who it was…

“ Kristen…” Marlena couldn’t believe it. She was really standing in front of them. She had believed Lisa all along but to actually see her alive and kicking was another story. Kristen stood there and enjoyed the appalled look on the faces of the women she loathed with every fibre of her body.

 

“Hello guys! Long time no see! So how do you like your new room!” she asked lightly and grinned.

 

“ So, it’s true…” Marlena said. Kristen didn’t understand what she was talking about. It looked like she had already known that she was alive. How could that be?

 

“What are you saying Marlena?” she asked suspiciously.

 

“Lisa saw you that night, at the pharmacy…We have known that you are alive for weeks.” Marlena said knowing she had her. Kristen’s face turned pale. Oh boy, Stefano is not going to be happy when he hears this… She had just lost her advantage of being ‘dead’. They had thought they hadn’t been looking for her and now they probably were. Where had she been, had she been seen? She thought of all the public spots she had been in the past weeks. They might just be able to trace her in a heartbeat.

 

“John knows that you are alive and it’s only a matter of time before he will find us. The FBI, the ISA and Interpol will find us before you and Stefano know what hit you.” Marlena snapped at her.

 

“I don’t think so, Doc.” She said trying to sound careless. But Marlena wasn’t falling for it. This was a REAL setback for her.

 

Suddenly Lisa’s voice interrupted the strange, uneasy and tense mood. Marlena saw how Lisa stood up.

 

“Why did you want to kill me…?”

 

Kristen slowly turned around to face Lisa. It was dead silent for a moment and then Kristen started laughing. Marlena’s heart broke when she saw the expression on Lisa’s face. She was so vulnerable and Kristen’s reaction hurt her into the deepest part of her heart and soul.

 

“Did it hurt, little girl…?” She laughed loudly again. Marlena was watching her in horror, couldn’t believe she was gloating, laughing almost psychotically over the fact that she had almost killed another human being. She didn’t care that she had critically injured a young woman, a woman she had almost called her stepdaughter once, there was no trace of guilt or sorrow about her deed. Marlena was aghast. How could such a loving, religious, beautiful person as the Kristen she met so many years ago could have turned in such a monster. She was a psychiatrist and in her head she knew that her fellow colleagues would say that it was all Stefano’s fault, that it was because he raised her and used her and influenced her in the worst possible way. But having known the old Kristen who could make a difference between right and wrong, a woman who was sincere and honest she believed that she consciously had made the choice one day to go bad.

 

Marlena was shaking. Her body was trembling as she was dealing with an overload of shock and emotions she could not even name. She would never be able to forgive her for the way she had hurt her family. She would forever hate her for almost taking her daughter away from her, for physically hurting her. Marlena could only watch how Kristen was still laughing trying to provoke her daughter and she laughed even harder when Lisa’s face reddened with anger and she struggled with her chained hands and feet trying to get closer to hurt her, to make her stop laughing. But in the process she was only hurting herself, she could only move three small steps.

 

“ Kristen, I am warning you…leave her alone..” Marlena said in a low voice. Kristen stopped laughing and walked over to Marlena and grabbed her at the collar of the jacket of her pantsuit that once had been white, but which was now smudged with dirt and dust.

 

“Or else, Marlena?” she roughly grabbed Marlena’s chin to force her to look her in the eye. “ What were you going to do?” she laughed in her face when she held up the chains which confined Marlena to the wall.

 

“I am telling you to leave Lisa alone.” She pronounced each word separately to give them more meaning, her eyes full of fire because of the rage that was building with every second. Lisa had never seen her mother so angry.

 

“ You might just get your wish…” Kristen said. And she pushed Marlena over on her bed. Marlena struggled up so fast that she surprised Kristen and was just in time to grab her arm.

 

“ What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked her. Kristen diminished from pain under her forceful grip. She was surprised by Marlena’s unbelievable strength.

 

“ You figure it out! Let go of my arm…” Kristen hissed, pulled herself free she and was out of their prison before they knew it.

 

Lisa slid herself in a sitting position and took her head in her hands, she was so angry that she had to bite her lip not to scream and yell. She was counting to ten over and over again. Then suddenly she broke down and tears were dripping down and landed on her cheeks.

 

Marlena couldn’t stand the fact she couldn’t go over to her to hold her and to comfort her. She couldn’t deal with this, the frustration was killing her.

 

“ Lisa, if I could I’d hold you baby. I love you so much. Keep believing that your dad will find us. We’ll find a way to escape, together.” She told her daughter softly, trying to comfort her, but Lisa was inconsolable.

 

“They are going to separate us soon…once we get where they are taking us…” Lisa said softly as she curled up on the bed against the metal wall and began staring blankly at her knees. Her worst nightmare was here again…