“Did you find Carrie?” Dimera asked from where he still sat on the couch, awaiting John’s return.

“Yes… We talked,” he replied shortly, dropping into the chair opposite Stefano. Leaning forward, he propped his elbows on his knees and gave Dimera a firm look. “I don’t want you around the kids, Stefano. Leave them alone.”

The older man’s eyes narrowed in irritation. “I did not seek Carrie out, John. She came to me. She is a very persistent young woman.”

“I’m sure if you set your mind to it, you will be able to resist a young girl, Stefano.”

“Ah, like you resisted Sami this morning, John?” Stefano shot back, raising an eyebrow. “I thought Marlena wished you to… to ‘keep your distance’ as they say. Who did you spend your morning with?”

John ducked his head. “I had Sami ask if it was okay. Marlena knew...”

“Mm, of course she did, John,” Stefano replied with a smile. “You aren’t going to pretend you believe that are you?”

John had recognized Sami’s nonanswer when he had asked if Marlena had given her permission to go. Hell, he had known Marlena would never agree. He had taken Sami with him anyway, had wanted the time with her too badly to deny himself. With a mental shrug, he looked back at Stefano. “I wasn’t aware we were discussing my behavior, Stefano. We are discussing yours and the fact that you will stay away from that family.”

“Or?” Dimera asked pointedly.

“Or Jensen will be planning a funeral,” John responded, his face cold.

Stefano gave a sigh of frustration and rubbed at his temples. He was tired of the constant threats, the constant tension. “Do you remember what I did to you, John? What I did to make you remember who you are? Do you realize how much of your blood I already have on my hands?”

His stomach knotting, John stiffened in his seat. “Is that a threat?”

“Damn you!” Stefano spat, rising to his feet and stepping to John. “You think I wanted that? I raised you! You think I wanted you screaming, coughing up blood?!” Roughly, he reached down and grabbed John by the scruff of his neck, forcing the blue eyes to meet his own. “Do you think I want you laying dead at my feet?!” With a snort of disgust, Dimera shoved John away and paced back to the chair he had occupied.

John sat frozen, stunned by the outburst, by the anger that Dimera so rarely let show through. With a groan of frustration, he ran a heavy hand through his dark hair. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I don’t want to fight you, either. But… This hurts her. We hurt her. I won’t let that happen, not to her and not to the kids.”

“Stefano, please. We should leave them alone. Leave them in peace. Too much wrong has been done already...” he said, the words directed at himself as much as at Dimera. “I will kill to protect her, Stefano. I will kill anyone who is a threat. Don’t make me come for you.”

“Samantha Brady!” Marlena called sternly, as her daughter attempted to quietly sneak to her room. “Would you care to tell me where you have been all day?”

“Um, Mom!” Sami cried, starting guiltily. “I was just around. You said it was all right for us to leave the suite.”

“I did not say you could stay gone all day! Sami, I was ready to panic when I couldn’t find you. We are being held here against our will and you just disappeared. I only knew you were with John because Carrie told me!”

Sami flushed, looking down at her feet. “I’m sorry, Mom. I should have told you where I was going. But… Well, I thought maybe you wouldn’t let me go...”

Marlena gave a sigh and sank back down on the couching. Patting a cushion, she gestured for her daughter to join her. As Sami tucked herself into the corner and turned to face her mother, Marlena commented, “You’re probably right. But Sami, you still should have asked. Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am,” Sami muttered, nodding.





Softening, Marlena continued more gently. “So, do you want to tell me about it? What did you two do?”

Sami brightened, a smile lighting her face. “It was great! We hiked out to this big lake and had a picnic and went swimming. You should come with us, Mom! It was, it was like before.”

“Honey, you shouldn’t get your hopes up, you know. He isn’t coming back.”

Sami shrugged, letting her gaze wander. “I know. Dad and I talked. He said he couldn’t come home. But I think he would if you asked him to,” she said with conviction, her eyes locking on her mother’s.

“He isn’t your dad, Sami. You know that, right?” Marlena asked, more worried than she would have liked to admit.





“He said it was okay! He said I could call him that. That he would always come if I needed him,” Sami said, her temper beginning to flare.

Surprised, Marlena spoke without thinking. “He shouldn’t have...”

“What?” Sami cut her off. “Shouldn’t have said to call him dad?”

Her face flushed and Sami shot to her feet. “He is my dad, and nothing you say is going to change that!” She ran to her room and slammed the door before Marlena could think of an adequate reply.

“Hey,” Carrie said distractedly, flopping on the double bed opposite the one Sami rested on. Rolling onto her back, she stared at the ceiling. “Mom said to tell you dinner would be up soon. She told Jensen we’d be eating up here tonight.”

Sami reluctantly cracked an eye open. “I’m not hungry. How about you?”

“Nope, not really.”

Still studying her sister, Sami hesitantly asked, “Why were you so mad at Dad? When Stefano told us about his past he couldn’t help any of that, you know?”

Carrie released a deep sigh. “I know. I wasn’t mad about that. It’s just… I guess it was important to me that when John left us, it was against his will. You know Dimera forced him, somehow. Then they’re sitting there talking about how Stefano took him in. How he saw something ‘special’ in him. And John was sitting there blushing like Dimera was some bragging father!”

Carrie’s eyes narrowed at the memory. “I think I was actually jealous. I thought that John had left because he wanted to be with Stefano more than he wanted to be with us. It really hurt to think he did that.”

Sami propped herself on an elbow. “That isn’t why he left, Carrie.”

“I know,” her sister replied. “We talked about it. I think he left because he was afraid he would hurt us.”

“I know that’s why he won’t come back. He told me so,” Sami replied. Sitting up on the bed, she wrapped her arms around her legs and gave Carrie a sly look.

“But...I think he would come back if Mom asked him,” she continued, trying to gauge Carrie’s response.

When Carrie made no comment, Sami prodded, “You want that, don’t you?”

A brief knock sounded, saving Carrie the effort of a reply. Eric stuck his head in. “Hey, come on you two, supper’s almost ready.”





“We’re busy, Eric. We’ll be there later, okay?” Sami said, giving him a hard look.

Rather than take the hint, Eric came in and took a seat on the end of Sami’s bed. “So? What’s up?”

Sami merely rolled her eyes, not wanting to get into another argument with her twin. As usual, it was left to Carrie to break the stalemate. “We were just talking about John, Eric.”

“Why?” he asked, a scowl instantly plastering itself to his face. “I thought that was a dead issue. He’s gone and he’s not coming back! He doesn’t want anything to do with us and that’s just fine by me.”

“He is hardly ‘gone’, Eric! He’s just down the hall, all you’d have to do is yell and he’d come running in!” Sami said, rising to the bait.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

“Enough, both of you!” Carrie said. “I can’t stand any more of your arguing. Sami, you just aren’t being realistic when you pretend nothing has changed. Even John says he isn’t the same man he was when he raised us!”

Eric shot his twin a superior smirk and Carrie’s focus shifted to him. “And Eric, you aren’t any better. We know John didn’t set that bomb. He isn’t the one who killed… Roman. And you can’t even come close to understanding why he left the family after he remembered his past. You don’t know enough to judge his actions!”

“Oh, and you do?” Eric replied, his face flushing.

“Look, let’s just drop this,” Carrie said, getting to her feet.

“No! You brought it up. I want to know. Why do you think he left? What is it that makes you so ‘knowledgeable’?”





Carrie glared down at her younger brother. She still wasn’t certain how she felt about John and she resented having to defend him. “Fine, Eric! You want the truth, I’ll give it to you. John told us about how he went to work for Stefano. He had no parents. No family. He was living on the street, robbing people. Selling drugs. Who knows what. He went to work for Stefano when he was younger than you, Eric!”

As she told the story, the anger grew. Anger over how John had had to live. Anger over how many of the people she cared about ended up leaving her. Anger that John had left. The anger showed in her voice, as she virtually yelled at a now cowed Eric. “He didn’t just work for Stefano. He killed for him. That’s what he did. It’s what he is, Eric! He was good at it, he even liked it! He remembers all of that, and those memories make him different. They make him dangerous. That is why he left, Eric. He left because the man he is now is dangerous!”

She wiped a tear away in frustration, wondering how much more of this she could stand. This endless debate over what had caused their family to be torn apart was pointless. The truth was things would never be the same and she was no longer certain the reasons mattered.

As she opened the door to leave, Sami’s voice stopped her. “You never did give me an answer, Carrie. Do you want John to come back?”

Carrie looked at her younger sister for a long moment. Without answering, she stepped out of the bedroom, pulling the door shut behind her.

Sami and Eric sat in stunned silence. Shocked by the outburst from their normally calm sister, neither knew what to say.

“You really think he would come back?” Eric muttered.

“He will. I know it.”
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