"Son that's no way to greet John's wife." Roman began confused by Eric's sudden outburst. "She saved my life yesterday. You should be thanking her."
"Yeah Eric." Kristen piped in with a big smile. "Who's your friend?"
"Dad," Eric began turning away from Kristen," this is my friend Jenny. Jenny this is my dad."
"Nice to meet you." Jenny said shaking Roman's hand.
"It's good to see Eric's friends." Roman smiled at her. "For a while there I was afraid that Eric wasn't making any friends out here since he's been spending all of his time with his old dad here."
"Jenny's from Colorado." Eric informed him. "She's going to school at the University and she works at the hospital."
"Really?" Roman asked her. "Where are you working?"
"I'm working for...." Jenny began to tell him.
"Actually dad, she has to leave now for work." Eric interrupted her. "I'm going to take her to the office and then I'll be back."
"Why don't you have Jenny come over for dinner tonight so that she can meet your mom?" Roman asked Eric. "What do you say Jenny?"
"That sounds nice. "Jenny smiled at him.
"Uh-um." Kristen muttered clearing her throat.
"Aren't you going to introduce Jenny to Kristen?" Roman asked him.
"Oh yeah." Eric muttered not looking at Kristen. "Jenny this is Kristen. Kristen this is Jenny. Well, we gotta go now."
"Nice meeting you Jenny." Kristen piped out as Eric pulled Jenny out of the room.
"I wonder what's wrong with him this morning." Roman said watching Eric rush off.
"He's a young man Roman. It's just the age." Kristen informed him. "You know the whole hormone thing."
"I guess you're right." Roman nodded shrugging it off.
"I see that there's no love lost between you and Kristen huh?" Jenny said as Eric nearly ripped her arm off as he escorted her to her office.
"She's such a bitch." Eric said fuming.
"Ouch that's harsh." Jenny said looking Eric over. "What's she done to make your blood boil so much?"
"Let's just say that she is about seventy-five percent of my family's problems." Eric explained to her. "She has done nothing but try to ruin my mom's life."
"I see." Jenny replied realizing that there wasn't time to hear any more. "You'll have to clue me in on all of the details later when we have dinner tonight."
"You know we don't have to have dinner with my parents tonight." Eric began telling her. "My family is so crazy that I would really hate to get you involved in any of it."
"Eric, I'm involved with you aren't I?" She asked him.
"Well yeah, but...." He began as she raised her finger to his lips.
"Your problems are my problems too. Okay?" she said looking at him.
"Alright, but I'm warning you that it's going to be crazy." Eric gave in looking at her. "I just hope that you won't think differently of me."
"Eric, how bad can it be?" she asked giving him a goodbye kiss.
"Daddy, where are we going?" Brady asked from the backseat of the Jeep.
"Well, I'm taking you and Belle over to Grandma Caroline's house for a while so that mommy and I can pick up Mr. Roman from the hospital."
"Why do you have to get him daddy?" Belle asked him. "Sami and Eric are big enough to pick him up. If they get him, then they can take care of him."
"Sweety, it's not that easy." John began thinking of how he was going to hate being away from his family.
"But daddy, if Mr. Roman goes away then you can stay with us forever at our house." Belle explained with tears in her eyes. "We don't want you to leave again."
"That's right dad." Brady agreed with his sister. "We love you and we want you to stay with us."
"Daddy, if you stay, I promise that I'll stop picking on Brady and I'll be a good girl from now on." Belle added quickly.
"Yeah dad." Brady piped in. "We will even promise to keep our rooms clean all of the time if that means that you'll stay with mom and we can be a family again."
"Come here you two." John said shutting off the ignition as he pulled into the pub parking lot.
"What daddy?" Belle asked as she crawled into his lap and Brady stood at his side.
"I love you both very much and nothing will ever change that." John informed them both as he kissed them. "I promise that I'll be at home living with mommy very soon."
"When dad?" Brady asked him.
"I'm not sure son, but it'll be very soon." John said fighting back the tears that were forming in his eyes.
"Daddy, we don't like Roman living with mommy." Belle said crying on his lap. "He's always trying to kiss her and it's not right."
"No, it's not right Belle," John explained as his heart broke, "but Mr. Brady is very sick right now and he doesn't know any better."
"I don't like it." Belle snapped at him.
"Yeah dad, we want to punch him when he does that." Brady informed him.
"No son." John said tightening his hold on Brady. "That isn't right."
"But dad I love you." Brady explained as tears fell from his tiny face. "I can tell that Mr. Brady is hurting you and mom."
"Why do you say that?" John asked his son.
"Because when he's around you and mom never smile or kiss, but when he's gone you both are so happy." Brady informed him. "Just stay with us dad."
"I can't right now son," John sighed sadly as he realized how much pain his son was feeling, "but I promise you that I'll be home soon."
"Where are you going to stay daddy?" Belle asked as he wiped away her tears.
"I'm going to stay at the Pub with Grandma Caroline and Grandpa Shawn." John informed them. "I'll be only a phone call away."
"Will you still come over and visit us everyday?" Belle asked him.
"Of course I will sweetheart." John explained kissing her little face. "In fact, I'll take you two to a movie this week. Would you like that?"
"Is that a promise dad?" Brady asked him.
"Yes son." John said opening the car door. "Now what do you say we go see if Grandma Caroline has made some of those yummy chocolate chip cookies for you two?"
"Yeah." Belle said as her face lit up with excitement.
Marlena cleaned up the mess in the kitchen as she realized that she was truly happy. It was the first time in a long time that she had woke up with a smile on her face. Her mind started drifting back to her adventure in the kitchen earlier this morning when she was cooking with John and the kids. They were all so excited to be together. She thought about the evening that her and John had shared together and she suddenly was overwhelmed with fear that she wouldn't be able to share another evening with him like that for a long time. Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing.
"Hello," she said cheerfully picking up the phone.
"Doc," Roman's voice rang through the other end, "I missed you last night."
"Roman." she began as she tensed up. "How are you?"
"I'll be better when I'm back home again." he informed her. "Mike, just said that I can go home any time now."
"Alright." she said looking at her watch. "I'm going to take the kids to Shawn and Caroline's, then John and I will be there to bring you home."
"You're with John?" Roman questioned with an unusual tone in his voice.
"Yes, he was visiting the kids." she lied as her heart raced. "There isn't anything wrong with that is there?"
"No," he said looking over at Kristen with a smile, "that's just fine. I'll be looking forward to seeing the both of you. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye." Marlena said confused as he hung up the phone.
"John's with Doc and they are on their way over." Roman informed Kristen with a smile. "It's time to put our plan into action."
John drove home thinking about his painful talk with his children. He had never before realized what kind of effect this situation was having on his kids. He didn't like seeing them cry in pain. It hurt him as much as it hurt him to see Marlena in pain. He decided that he just couldn't sit still and take it anymore.
John entered the penthouse as Marlena walked out of the kitchen. She smiled at him and moved in for a kiss.
"Roman just called." she said after she broke away from the kiss. "He's expecting us to go over to the hospital and pick him up soon."
"That's fine Marlena, but we need to talk about this." John said growing suddenly serious.
"What's wrong John?" she asked concerned by the shift in his mood.
"We'll bring Roman back here," he began staring into her eyes, "but I'm not going anywhere."
"What?" she asked confused.
"I said 'I'm not leaving you and the kids alone with him.' I won't do it Doc." he declared. "I'm staying right here at the Penthouse with you and the kids from now on."
