He walks through a world gone gray, searching for something he knows he will not find. The sounds of muffled footsteps are his only companions, a mocking reminder that he has made this journey many times before. Always the search is futile. Always he returns.

He looks out over mist shrouded water. He tries hard to forget....

“No! Shit!”

“Roman?!”

With a ‘click’, the soft light of the bedside lamp chased away the darkness and she turned to find him sitting upright in the middle of their bed. He gasped for air as sweat ran down his bare chest and for a moment she was almost afraid, though she didn’t know why.

“Roman? Honey? Are you okay?”

Her arms wrapped around him, pulling him close. He gave a sharp shake of his dark head and tried to banish the sense of dread that tied his stomach into knots. “Sorry, Doc. A nightmare. Sorry....”

“Well it must have been a doozy. You look like you’ve seen a ghost! Please tell me you weren’t chasing bad guys in your sleep? You do enough of that in your day job,” she teased, planting a kiss on his shoulder and hugging him tight. Gradually, she felt his breathing even and the tension ease from his body.

He allowed her to pull him back down to the cool pillows and tried to remember the visions that had disturbed his sleep. The shadowed images darted away from him, staying just out of reach. With a soft sigh, he let them go. “Hey, a guy’s got to make a living! But… I’m sorry if I woke you up,” he finally said, the sense of unease slowly fading, banished by her touch.

“Mmm, well, we have to be up in a couple of hours anyway,” she replied, her finger twirling idly around a curl of dark chest hair. “Tell me what you were dreaming about and I just might forgive you.”

“Ah, I’m going to have to earn your forgiveness?” He quirked an eyebrow and with one sudden movement rolled over so that he straddled her slender hips.

“Oh yes,” she whispered with a grin, wiggling beneath him just the slightest bit. “You have disturbed my beauty sleep, I believe that it is the least you can do.”

“What if I can’t remember the dream?” he said, bending over to plant light kisses down the side of her throat.

She bit back a gasp and reached up to trail her fingernails along the line of his rib cage. “Try harder.”

“Oh, you want harder?”

“Harder is good,” she whispered through smiling lips.

His fingers tugged at the soft material of her nightgown and he tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling as he contemplated her question. “Let’s see. Nightmare. We were talking about a nightmare. What could I dream about that might be bad?”

She bit back a laugh as her gown slipped above her hips, refusing to give him any help. Her own hands were busy playing with the waistband of his boxers, and she was amused to see him gulp for air in an effort to continue his explanation.

“Nightmare? Bad stuff? I got it! I must have been dreaming about your cooking! That’s it!” he said, looking down on her with a triumphant grin as he finally managed to yank her gown over her head.

Her eyes widened in a close approximation of anger. “Rat! You rat!” Grabbing the pillow beside her, she whopped him dead in the face.





He let the force of the blow carry him backwards, collapsing face-up at the foot of the bed. Lunging upright, she leaped on top of him and pinned his hands above his head. Completely naked, she loomed over him, the most incredible thing he had ever seen. “I love you, Marlena,” he whispered, the need to say the words suddenly overwhelming.

A faint blush tinted her cheeks and her smile softened. “I love you too.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

Holding his gaze, she lowered herself slowly down on top of him. Fingers skimmed across sweating flesh. Breathing quickened. Lips met. And nightmares were forgotten.

“So, do you have any plans for the summer?” Roman asked his oldest daughter, as he deftly flipped a blueberry pancake.

“Not really, Dad. I figured I’d catch-up with some friends. Maybe check on getting a summer job at the mall. Right now it’s just good to be home. My first year at the university was great- but it’s really nice to be home for the summer. I hadn’t realized how much I would miss my family,” Carrie replied.

“Even your pesky little brother and sister?” Roman joked, as Eric came storming down the stairs.

“Dad, Sami’s hogging the bathroom again!”

“Yea Dad, even them,” Carrie said with a smile.

“Sami- get out of the bathroom,” Roman yelled up the stairs. “I’ve got to leave for work, and if you want me to drop you at Jamie’s, you’d better get a move on!”

Sami ran down the stairs, followed closely by her mother. Roman was struck by the likeness between the two and with a proprietary gaze looked over his tow-headed brood gathered around the kitchen table. Watching as they attacked the stack of pancakes in the center of the table, he briefly debated the need for moonlighting to keep his crew in food. Grinning to himself, he strapped on his shoulder-holster, calling “O.K., who needs a ride?”

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