“Sami, he isn’t coming back. Now stop bugging me about it!” Eric said, rising from his perch on Carrie’s bed. “I do not want to have to go down there and eat breakfast with the man. I’ve embarrassed myself enough. I’m not going to go begging him on my knees!”

“Jeesh, Eric. I never told you to just walk up and just ask him to come home! Come on! He obviously has a few issues he’s dealing with here!” Sami shot back in exasperation from where she lay stretched out on the bed.

“Well, I don’t know why you have to turn everything into such a damn soap opera, Sami! I mean, if he wanted to be with us, he would come home. It’s that simple.”

“Don’t be so dense. I cannot believe we are related! If you would open your ears, you would realize… Dad keeps saying he ‘can’t’ come home. He never said he didn’t ‘want’ to. He just needs to be persuaded that we are safer with him than without him. And nobody is better at persuading him than Mom!”

Eric snorted, shaking his head. “Yea, that’s true. She pretty much could get him to do anything she wanted him to. Remember the Halloween she got him to dressup as Tarzan?”

Sami chuckled. “I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so embarrassed in my life! But when Mom came down in that ‘Jane’ getup, he didn’t say a word in complaint. Just gave her that big smile of his and trotted out the door behind her.”

In a gesture reminiscent of his father, Eric ran a hand through his short hair. Sighing, he gave in. “Okay… Maybe you are right. If Mom asked Dad to come home, he would. But do you really think that’s going to happen? I mean, she just found out that he killed that director guy with the ISA. From the little bit of the news I managed to watch, it was pretty gruesome!”

Sami shrugged indifferently. “Mom said he was the one behind the bombing. He made Mom lose the baby, Eric. He killed Roman. What would you expect Dad would do?”

“Damn! Remind me never to piss you off!” Eric said, grimacing. “Sami he cut the guy’s head off! I mean maybe, just possibly, he could have called the cops or something! Called Uncle Bo, at least. Even you have to admit, this was a bit extreme!”

Sami rolled her eyes up to stare at the ceiling. “Well, yeah maybe it was a little overboard. But you know he was just protecting Mom. When Dad was a cop, he had to kill somebody once. This isn’t really that different.”

“I’m not sure Mom sees it that way Sami. And even if she did, it does make him kind of scary. Maybe Mom doesn’t want him to come back.”

“Eric, tell me does the Y chromosome have ‘stupid’ written on it, or is it just you? All you have to do is open your eyes when they are in the same room. Any idiot could see that it kills Mom every time he walks away from her, that she lights up every time he comes back!”

“You know, Sami I think I just realized why you don’t have a boyfriend...”

With a smirk, she cut him off. “Thank you, Casanova. When I want dating advice, I’ll ask. Now come over here and help me figure out how we can get Mom and Dad back together.”

“I didn’t realize you were planning on carrying a shotgun as a regular thing, John,” Dimera commented as he walked onto the porch, nodding at the gun that rested against the rail.

Looking up from his coffee, John pawed at tired eyes. He had gotten no sleep the night before and had ended up going out to the woods a little after three in the morning. “I was walking the posts earlier. Had it with me, so I thought I might go down and shoot some skeet after I ate. You want to join me?” he asked, scratching at the rough stubble on his face.

“I would, but I have a conference call scheduled. The business doesn’t run itself, John,” Stefano replied as he stirred his coffee.

John managed a smile at that. “Shooting is my business, Stefano. Or had you forgotten?”

“I hadn’t realized I would be dining with John Wayne,” Dimera rejoined, sipping at the hot coffee.

John’s reply was cut off as Sami came bounding out the door, followed closely by her brother.

“What are you two doing here?” John asked uneasily, straightening in his chair.

“We are having breakfast. What are you doing?” Sami shot back with a smile.

John chuckled, slumping back into his seat. “Okay, smarty. Does your mom know you are here? And this time, I would like a straight answer.”

“Mom said it was all right. Really. Right, Eric?”

Looking slightly uncomfortable, Eric gave a shrug as he picked up a glass of juice. “She said we could come down for breakfast if we wanted. She just wants us to checkin if we go outside.”

“So… what are you guys planning to do today?”

“Actually, we were thinking we’d just check out the house. Maybe walk around a little...” Sami said.

“You mentioned there was a media room?” Eric added, dutifully playing his part. “We thought we could maybe watch movies tonight. The Marx brothers, or Monty Python or something.”

“Better yet, we could see “Something About Mary’ again. I love that one!” Sami said. She had really wanted them to watch Titanic it was just so romantic. However, Eric had pointed out that the guy does end up dying in the end and that maybe it really wasn’t such a great choice after all. She’d been forced to agree with him on that one.

“You guys have the run of the house. As long as it is okay with your mom, you can go downstairs anytime you like,” John said.

“Dad! We want to have a ‘movie night’. You know popcorn, movies, everybody there...” Sami trailed off, trying not to sound hurt.

John had known exactly what she meant, he’d just hoped she wouldn’t back him into a corner over it. “Sami, I don’t think your mom wants me around that much. I think it would be best if I didn’t come,” he said softly.

“Da… Uh, John. I really don’t want to be the only guy down there,” Eric said, studiously examining the muffin he was holding.

“It’s okay with Mom. Really!” Sami added.

Ignoring Dimera’s glare and the flush he could feel creeping up his neck at the thought of being around Marlena, he forced himself to sound casual. “Okay. How about seven o’clock?”

Sami beamed and Eric gave a shy smile. Feeling a vague sense of guilt, John got to his feet and pickedup the shotgun.

“Where’re you going?” Eric asked, his eyes bright.

“I thought I would do a little skeet shooting. Do you want to come along?” John said, surprised by Eric’s interest after their talk the night before.

Uncertainly, Eric nodded. “Yea, I would. If it’s all right?”

“I’d like it,” John replied. “But, you need to...”

“Ask your mother,” Sami parroted.

Her good humor was infectious and John couldn’t help but smile. “Please tell me you don’t want to come too? The thought of Sami Brady armed with a shotgun must, at this moment, be striking fear into the hearts of young men everywhere,” he teased.

“Why do I get no respect from the male gender?!” Sami responded, rolling her eyes. “No. You two go ahead. This sounds like a guy thing to me,” she said, giving her brother a smile.

“Go on, “ John said, with a nod at Eric. “I’ll meet you back here, I want to go get a 20 gauge for you to use.”





The two men took off together and against her better judgement, Sami allowed herself a satisfied grin. “Why is it that he never looks that happy when he’s with you, Stefano?”

Dimera simply studied the young woman across from him for a long moment, recognizing for the first time that she did make a formidable adversary. “He won’t leave me, Samantha. I won’t let him. People will only get hurt if you try and change that.”

“If you try and stop him, you’re the one who will get hurt,” Sami answered, with a confidence that was a match for Dimera’s own.

“I can’t believe your mother let you go see that movie!” John said, wiping the tears from his eyes and trying to catch his breath. “Saddam Hussein and Satan as lovers...” he again broke into laughter. “Did this film have any redeeming features?”

Eric unrepentantly shook his head. “Not a one. It was truly horrible and I loved every minute. You have to see it, Dad. Really!”

Distracted by the conversation, they were almost to the porch before John noticed Marlena sitting there, watching them walk in. She was dressed in faded jeans and a white silk shirt that draped casually off of her shoulders. Her hair was loose, random strands twisted about by the gentle breeze. He realized he was staring and he felt his face begin to flush.

“Hey,” he said, looking up at her from the bottom of the stairs. “I wasn’t expecting to see you down here.”





She couldn’t help the smile that his appearance brought so she didn’t bother trying. “I decided I couldn’t stand being in that room for another minute. You told me it might be a couple of weeks before this is over and we can leave so I decided I might as well try and relax, enjoy the end of the summer.”

“This is a good place for that...” he answered, bobbing his head and trying to think of something intelligent to say. “Um… the weather is really great this time of year.”

“The weather. Yes, the weather is nice...” she answered distractedly.

Eric simply watched with amusement as the two adults in his life acted like school girls with crushes. He hated to admit it, but Sami was a lot smarter than she looked. Wanting to give them some space, he muttered a quick, “See ya later,” and trotted to the door.

“I think we bored him,” Marlena said with a laugh, watching as her son retreated into the recesses of the lodge.

“I’m not much of a conversationalist,” John said ruefully as he climbed the stairs. Hesitantly, he eased himself down into the chair opposite Marlena.

“You seemed to be doing all right with Eric a moment ago. Was everything okay between you two?”

“Yea. Yea, it was,” he said, sounding surprised. “Everything was good. We didn’t really talk about anything, just spent time together. I really miss him...” he finished awkwardly, wishing he hadn’t brought it up.

“It’s been hard on him, John. He’s the only man in the house now. I think that hit him hard. It would be good for him if you two can make peace.”

With a bitter snort of laughter, he met her eyes. “I hadn’t realized we were at war. But, yea… This was good. I hated knowing I had hurt him, hurt him so bad he hated me. It was nice to let that go for a while.”

“Maybe it’s time we all made peace, John. I don’t want to fight with you anymore,” she said softly.

This time, his chuckle was genuine. “How can I fight with you, Marlena? You’re always right it would be pointless.”

“Well, I’m glad you realize that, John! Now, would you mind showing me around this compound of yours? I’ve been coopedup inside for way too long.”

Rising to his feet, he gave a small bow. “It would be my honor,” he said, gesturing for her to lead the way down the steps. As they walked out beneath the morning sun, he left the shotgun where it lay.

Marlena curled on the sofa, watching him as he lay on the floor next to Eric. Their poses were identical, stretched out on their stomachs and propped up by their elbows. The big bowl of popcorn between them was rapidly dwindling as they kept up a running commentary on the show. While the video collection had been rather sparse, they had found an old favorite, “Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail”, and were busy repeating lines they knew by heart. She allowed her eyes to travel the room, glancing down at Carrie, propped against the opposite end of the couch, her attention fixed on the television. Sami lay across an overstuffed chair, appearing completely content as she absently flicked popcorn kernels at her brother, trying to get one to stick in his hair.

The fleeting nature of this moment was a sadness she forced her mind to turn from. After a long sleepless night, she had decided she was tired of pushing him away. Tired of patrolling the walls she had built to keep him out. He would always be a part of her. A part of her family. Even if he could never come back to them, he would still hold a place in their hearts. She had decided to use the time at the cabin to gain some closure, collect some happy memories before they returned to build a life without him. Watching as he joked with his son, she could not bring herself to regret the decision. 

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