Stefano glanced up from his novel as John’s breathing grew suddenly harsh. Moving softly to the bedside, he looked down at the man who lay curled in the center of the bed. After hours of staring soundlessly up at the ceiling, exhaustion had finally become too great a foe and he had succumbed to sleep. But even in his dreams, he appeared to be haunted. His lips twisted in a grimace of pain or fear, and his hands wrapped possessively around the shotgun as if it could somehow slay the demons in his mind. With short rapid breaths, he tried to run. To something, from something… Dimera couldn’t say.

An eye snapped open to stare out at him, wildness reflected in the blue-black depths. Slowly, John pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. “What?” he asked with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

“You were dreaming,” Stefano answered, going to sit back down in the armchair.

“Didn’t scream out or anything, right?” John muttered, looking away as if ashamed.

“No. Nothing like that. I was just worried,” was the studied reply. “You don’t still do that, do you?”

“I’m not a kid anymore, Stefano. Stop worrying about me.” Grinning a manic gin, John dismissed the question and rose to his feet, stretching out the kinks. Thank God it was finally dark outside and they could start thinking of getting Marlena back. If he had to wait any longer, he would have lost it completely.

“Where’s that Vivian woman? Shouldn’t she be here by now?” John asked distractedly as he checked over his weapons, the act as much a mental preparation as a physical one.

“‘That Vivian woman’ as you so eloquently put it, is a lot sharper than you give her credit for. I would suggest you show her a little respect when she returns. ‘If’ she returns. You were not exactly gracious during your last encounter.”

Shrugging indifferently, John slung the shotgun across his shoulder. “So what’s up with you and my ‘aunt’, anyway?” He asked casually, studying Stefano with wry amusement.

“And what business is it of yours if I am,” Stefano replied, cocking an eyebrow and shooting John a superior look.

“No business at all,” John answered with an ugly grin. “Just thinking about what I’m going to tell Marlena. ‘Hi, honey, I’m back! While we’re here, why don’t I introduce you to my brother, the pervert who was trying to force you into marriage. Oh, and this is my aunt who is currently screwing Stefano, the ‘other’ man you hate with every fiber of your being. If we’re really lucky, they’ll get married and then Stefano Dimera, the criminal mastermind wanted in almost every country with indoor plumbing, he’ll be not only my father figure but my uncle as well!’ Yes, this is going to be a beautiful reunion. I can just see it now!”

“What makes you think Marlena hates me?” Stefano asked in a wounded tone, ignoring the issue of Vivian.

“Perhaps the fact that every other sentence out of her mouth is ‘I hate Stefano’?”

“I think she likes me, she’s just embarrassed to admit it,” Stefano said complacently.

“I’d be embarrassed too,” John muttered under his breath, tiring of the argument.

A sharp wrap on the door interrupted their discussion, and John faded silently back against the wall.

“Ah, Stefano! I thought I would drop in for an after dinner drink,” Vivian’s high-pitched voice called out. She stepped quickly into the room, sliding along with her back to the wall and her eyes actively searching for John. He couldn’t help a small smile at her performance. Deciding a bit of charm couldn’t hurt, he stepped forward from his place against the wall. “I am grateful you came,” he said, giving her a small bow.

“Nephew,” she nodded back with a pleased smile as she moved to the center of the room. “Really, Stefano, couldn’t you have shown the dear boy to the shower? He’s still all covered in that horrid black gunk!” she commented, breezing by Dimera and settling herself comfortably at the table. In the absence of knives, she was beginning to feel much more at ease about this situation. She had almost decided not to return after the events of last night, but the lure of ousting Mikos was simply too strong. Perhaps this would all work to her benefit in the end.

“What can you tell us?” Stefano asked, moving to sit across from Vivian, John choosing to maintain his post by the door and simply listen, at least for the moment.

“Well, most of the news is good. Mikos has had Marlena locked in her room. She is to receive no visitors until she actually calls out and asks for Mikos. So… If she were to disappear, one could have a decent head start before her absence was noted.”

“And is she all right? Can she be moved safely?” Stefano prodded, pouring Vivian a glass of wine in an effort to keep her happy.

“I did manage to speak to the physician who saw her. A mild concussion, nothing serious. But.... Mikos ordered that she be sedated. I think she must have… resisted him, bruised his ego in some way,” Vivian said, choosing her words carefully as she watched John’s face begin to darken. “Anyway, the doctor gave her a shot. She’s probably still under its effects, at least according to the doctor.”

“I can carry her out,” John noted tightly, his hatred for his brother seeming to grow with each new word. “But the kids. What did you find out about the children?”

“Nothing, I’m afraid. Mikos put Dimitri, the head of security, in charge of the children. I know they were driven into town late last night and flown out by helicopter. I don’t know where they are now. I’m sorry, John. Truly.”

“Marlena won’t leave without the children, John. Mikos is using them to blackmail her. I know it’s why she agreed to the marriage. She can’t leave until the children are safe,” Stefano commented, watching John for his reaction.

“Marlena is leaving. Tonight. With or without the children. That is not subject for debate,” John answered coldly. “We will find the children. We’ll find them if I have to string Dimitri up by his thumbs and beat the location out of him. But Marlena leaves this house tonight. She will not be forced to ‘resist’ that son of a bitch again!”

Stefano merely nodded, not liking the idea but not having any alternative either. “So when do you go? The sooner the better?”

“Any patrols you know of?” John asked, with a nod toward his aunt.

“About every half-hour they walk the halls. They really shouldn’t be that hard to avoid. But Mikos is the only one with a key...”

“Not an issue,” John replied tersely.

“Then you go after the next patrol?” Stefano asked.

“Unless you have a better idea...”

He crept silently across the hall, ears pricked for the slightest hint of a guard. So close.... Too close to screw up now. Dropping to his knees he fumbled at the lock, trembling hands refusing to do as his mind commanded. Taking a deep breath, he wiped the sweat from his face and tried again. This time the faint click of the lock indicated his success. Gingerly he pushed the door open and stepped into the room, seeing nothing in the dim light.

He didn’t need his eyes to tell him she was here. He could feel her presence. Smell her scent in the air. Hear the very beat of her heart. A tremor ran through his body as pain he hadn’t known he felt suddenly eased and a genuine smile curved his lips for the first time since she had been taken. Soundlessly he pulled the door shut behind him and moved to her side.

He didn’t want to frighten her, to startle her by touching her in the darkness. He didn’t want to touch her at all until he was certain that it was what she wanted. Carefully he reached out and turned on the table lamp that sat beside the bed. The golden glow chased back the shadows and illuminated the body of the sleeping woman. With a low moan, her head turned away from the light and she muttered out in her sleep. “No… please, no.”

Oh sweet Jesus, she had been hit. Her cheek stood out, purpled and swollen. This was the result of no accident. No trip down the stairs. No fall from a bike. A human hand had done this to her. He knew the signs all too well. Knew how it felt to deliver such a blow. Knew how it felt to receive one.

Crouching at her side, the tears trailed down his face as his hand hovered above her broken flesh. Wishing he could make it go away. Knowing that he couldn’t.

“Doc? Marlena? Can you hear me?” he whispered raggedly, his fingers dropping to gently caress the silky blond hair that lay spread across the pillow. “Baby, please. It’s John. Please open your eyes for me.”

She sobbed in her sleep and he knew that the pills must still be clouding her mind. Maybe it was better that way. He didn’t want her to wake up here. Not while she was still in this place. Not while she would still know fear. Ever so gently he reached out and wrapped the thick blanket around her slim form. Effortlessly he took her in his arms, holding her as if she were a child. Holding her as if she were the only thing on this earth that mattered to him.

Swiftly he made his way out the door and down the hall, making certain to secure the doors behind him in his wake. His pursuers would come soon enough and he would need every second he could get to assure her safety. He had her back, he would not lose her again.

As if from a great distance she heard the sharp crackle of a fire. Felt the glow of the heat against the side of her face. Her face… it hurt. Moaning under her breath, she tried to bring her hand up to rub against her sore cheek, but her body refused to respond. Drugging her. Mikos was drugging her, the panicked thoughts shot through her confused mind as she recognized the effects of the sedative. No drugs. Please Lord, no drugs. “My baby,” she whispered out fearfully through the haze of unconsciousness.

“Marlena, shhh...” he said in a low voice as he crouched at her side. Reaching down, he brushed back a damp strand of hair, the feel of her skin beneath his hand a gift he had feared lost forever. “Your babies are fine, Marlena. I promise you, I will get them back. I swear it. Just rest. I will take care of everything.”

A broad grin lit his face as her eyelids began to flutter. Not wanting to scare her, he dropped his hand and sank back on his heels. “Hey, sleeping beauty,” he called softly as her eyes finally seemed to focus on him.

“I’m dreaming,” she muttered weakly, knowing that John could not be here, no matter how badly she wished it were true.

“If you were dreaming, I’d be Brad Pitt,” he replied, looking down on her with a contented grin.

“John?” she whispered, her eyes widening as she tried to sit up, gasping as the pain lanced through her head like a knife.

Instantly he was there, his big hand cradling her head, easing her back down to the soft surface of the sleeping bag that lay stretched upon the sand. “Go slow, baby. You were hurt, you have to go slow,” he said worriedly as he knelt above her and peered down into her eyes. He saw the panic flash through those golden depths a moment before her hand shot up to latch onto the neck of his T-shirt in an unbreakable grip. With a strength that surprised him, she yanked him down until his body pressed close against hers and it was all that he could do to keep his entire weight from crushing down on her slender form.

She squeezed her eyes tight shut and held him close, her free hand wrapping around his broad back while she clutched at the thin fabric of his shirt. “I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead, but I knew you would come. I knew it, but… What took you so long!” she babbled, the words rushing together incoherently as her mind raced and her heart seemed to sing.

Frightened by her reaction, he looked down to see the tears streaming across her battered cheek. She was never going to forgive him. Not after he had left her for so long. Not after what Alamain had done to her. “Marlena, let go. Please, Doc, let me up before I hurt you,” he said, struggling to brace himself on his elbows and keep his body from smashing her.

“No!” she said stubbornly, her head shaking back and forth as the hand at his back wrapped itself around the material of the T-shirt. “I won’t let go. You can’t make me. What took you so long!?”

“I’m sorry, baby. So sorry,” he soothed, finally managing to bring his hand around to press against the small of her back. With a muffled grunt, he pulled her to him and rolled over on his side, relaxing down against the cool sand. She clung tightly to him, burying her face in his chest, and it felt so right to have her close to him. It felt so good. He bit down hard on his lip, trying to ignore the way his body responded to her as his right hand continued to pat awkwardly at her back.

She lost herself in the sharp male scent of him, knowing that as long as she was in his arms, she was safe. Wherever she was, she was safe in his arms. Finally the frantic pounding of her heart seemed to slow and her hands loosened ever so slightly as she began to accept that he was real and not just some figment of her imagination. Tilting her head to the side, she muttered, “You stink!”

His chuckle shook his entire body, and she could not help but smile as he replied, “I missed you too.”

“I knew you’d come. I told Mikos you would!” she said almost fiercely, looking up to gaze into his eyes. Feeling his body tense at her words. Knowing immediately that it had been the wrong thing to say.

With a firm hand, he pushed her away and slowly sat up. His face was blank, his emotions hidden away behind a stonefaced mask. Marlena didn’t need to see his face to know his thoughts. She didn’t need to see the ways his hands clenched into fists or the vein in the side of his neck pulsed hard and fast. She didn’t need to see him at all to know what he was thinking. To know that it scared her.

She pulled her knees to her chest and slowly sat up, noticing for the first time the cool air that cut through her thin nightgown. Looking across to where he sat watching her, she couldn’t help a tremble that had nothing to do with the cold.

“He didn’t touch you, did he? He didn’t hurt you?” John asked calmly.

The look in his eyes frightened her. The thought of what he might do.... Numbly, she shook her head. “No, he didn’t hurt me John. Really.”

“Somebody hurt you,” he replied gently, reaching out toward the bruise on her face. Glancing down in guilt when she flinched away from his touch.

“No. It was an accident. Really John, it’s okay,” she said, her hand coming up to cover the bruise, to hide it from his eyes.

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?” he asked, looking up with a crooked smile.

“He’s your brother. Did you know that? He’s your family...,” she trailed off, avoiding his question and trying to defuse the anger she sensed twisting within the man she loved like some dark force that would steal him away from her.

“I know he’s my brother, Marlena. I simply don’t care. You are the only family that matters to me. The only one that will ever matter,” he said coldly, his eyes narrowing as the rage he felt bubbled to the surface.

“John, I want to go home. I want to go home now. That’s all I want, to go home with you and our children and to never think about Mikos Alamain again,” she said, reaching forward to link her hand in his. “Take me home, John. Take me home and never leave. Please?”

She was so beautiful. Always had been. So beautiful and so much more than beautiful. She filled the empty places in his soul, and he would do anything she asked of him. Mikos Alamain wasn’t worth the look of fear on her face. With a rueful shrug, he finally smiled and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Dimera can have him. It’ll be punishment enough. Hell, if I know Stefano, he’ll eat the man’s liver for dinner.”

She exhaled a deep breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and pulled herself forward until she was nestled in his arms. Laying her head back against his shoulder, she smiled. “I will assume you’re kidding.”

“More like wishful thinking,” he responded, dropping his head to nuzzle lightly against her hair.

“Mikos Alamain isn’t worth wasting your time on. Not when you should be home with me and our children,” she said as she moved their linked hands to rest against her stomach, the thought of John holding their child in his arms bringing tears to her eyes.

“Are you sure you want me to go home with you,” he asked in a low voice, the question startling her from her happy thoughts.

“Hm? Well, where else would we go? John, there is no way I plan on living the rest of my life in one of Stefano Dimera’s ‘safe-houses’!”

He snorted in wry amusement despite himself. With a shake of his head, he forced himself to ask the question again. “No. No, I meant, are you certain you want me to go back with you. Marlena, I promised to take care of you. To watch over you. So far, I’ve failed pretty miserably. Doc, you might be safer without me.”

Her grip on his hand tightened and she said in a small voice, “I don’t want to be without you, John. I don’t ever want to be without you.”

Afraid to ask why, he was simply willing to accept it. It was far more than he deserved.

“I won’t leave you again, Marlena. I was stupid, careless, to let you out of my sight. You should never have been brought here and I know it’s my fault. I won’t make that mistake again,” he said flatly.

She wanted to absolve him. Wanted to pin the blame squarely where it belonged, on Mikos and his warped little mind. But there was no way she was going to get John started thinking about Mikos again, and anything that would keep John at home, she could live with. Instead, she leaned back and planted a light kiss along the line of his jaw, feeling his breath quicken at the touch of her lips. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear.

His head dropped to cradle in the crook of her neck and his arms wrapped around her in a crushing hug. “I love you too,” he whispered back.

She relaxed against the broad expanse of his chest, the fear finally beginning to fade. “When do we go? I can’t wait to see the children, John. After the accident, I don’t remember.... Are you sure they’re all right?”

Guilt surged through him. She didn’t know. She thought they were safe. Oh God, she was not going to like this. Keeping his voice calm and even, he carefully chose his words. “They’re fine, Marlena. Vivian said that other than a few bruises, the kids walked away just fine. And you’ll see them soon. Bo’s already working on it. We should know where they were taken any time now.”

She froze beneath his grasp, seeming to shrink in on herself as the import of the words became clear. “He still has the children? Mikos still has the kids?” she asked, her voice rising as the fear firmly took hold again.

“Not for long,” he said, trying to calm her down.

Pulling away from him, she lurched to her feet and walked to the fire, putting her hands out to the flames and trying to chase away the bone deep chill that seemed to possess her. Mikos had her children… she was still not free. “He will hurt them, John. He will hurt them because he knows it will hurt me. He told me as much,” she said in a distant voice.

Cursing Mikos for the bastard he was John stood, helplessly watching her. Nothing he said would matter. Not in the face of a threat against her children. Knowing it was futile, he said with as much confidence as he could muster, “We will get them back, Marlena. Before he has a chance to do anything to the children, we will get them back. Bo will find them before Alamain even realizes you are gone. Trust me.”

She refused to turn and face him, instead staring down into the crackling flames of the pit. “Can you promise me the children will be safe and that you will get them away before Mikos knows I’m gone?” she asked woodenly.

“I promise you,” he replied without hesitation.

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?” she asked, throwing his words back at him as she turned to face him.

The flames rose up behind her, the white silk of her gown translucent before the blaze. He simply stared at her, knowing that he would lie to her in a heartbeat if he thought it would spare her any pain.

His silence was the only answer she needed, and she quickly turned away. “I have to go back,” she whispered.

“What?!” he choked out, unable to believe what he had heard.

She wrapped her arms around herself and thought of her children. The risk was too great. She could not leave Mikos until she knew that they were safe. He would kill them. Purely out of spite, he would kill them, she knew it in her heart. “Just until you get the children. Please, John. It will be okay. If he doesn’t even know I was gone...”

“The man ‘hit’ you, Marlena!” John exploded, taking an angry step in her direction.

“I can stay away from him, John. I can handle him!” she snapped, hating that John was arguing with her about this. Couldn’t he see, she had no choice?! Didn’t he know how hard this was for her?!

“You’re right. You will stay away from him. Far away from him. There is no way I will let that son of a bitch drag you back to him,” he stated flatly, as if that somehow ended the discussion.

Her temper flared at his tone. She was a grown woman. She would do what had to be done to protect her children. Trying not to think too hard about the child she now carried inside, she turned to face him. “The choice is mine, John. I want to go back,” she said coldly.

“Marlena, I don’t give a damn what you want! I’m not letting you get anywhere near that man. Not now. Not ever. Not for any reason. Got it?!” he hissed, blue eyes narrowed in anger.

“You can’t stop me,” she shot back at him.

“Want to bet?”

She took a step toward the passageway and he moved to block her way.

“You stay here, Marlena. End of discussion.”

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