"Marlena, why don't you want John to know?" Mike asked confused.
"What don't you want John to know Marlena?" Carrie asked walking into the room.
"Oh Carrie, I didn't realize that you were back." Marlena said practically jumping out of the bed.
"What did you find Mike?" Carrie asked concerned as she looked back and forth between Mike and Marlena. "What's wrong?"
"Carrie, I'm pregnant." Marlena explained to her. "That's what's wrong with me."
"That's wonderful news Marlena." Carrie smiled rushing to give her a hug. "I'm so happy for you."
"Thank you Carrie." Marlena smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Now why don't you want to tell John?" Carrie asked looking at her.
"Think about it Carrie." Marlena said looking at her and Mike. "I'm living with Roman right now and John keeps pressuring me to let him come back to the house and live with us. If he found out that I was pregnant, he would want to tell Roman the truth and I know that Roman can't handle that right now."
"But Marlena, I don't think that it's going to do you or the baby any good if you continue to live under these stressful conditions." Mike informed her. "Your stress level is up higher than it should be for a woman in your condition."
"Mike there is no way that I can tell Roman the truth about John and me right now. I don't know if he could handle that." Marlena said starting to cry. "I don't want to kill him."
"Marlena," Carrie said sitting at her side, "you can't keep this from dad too long. He's going to figure it out sooner or later."
"Because I was stupid enough to get myself pregnant." Marlena said thinking about how this was going to complicate things. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love having another baby with John, but this is awful timing."
"Marlena, maybe this is God's way of saying that it's time to end the lies with dad." Carrie explained to her.
"John what do you think about the lead we received?" Abe asked realizing that John wasn't listening to a word he was saying. "Hello partner are you there?"
"Huh?" John asked looking at Abe. "Yeah, it's great."
"Did you even hear a word I said?" Abe asked him.
"I'm sorry Abe. I just keep thinking about Eric." John explained to him. "I know that he's really hurting right now and I wish that there was something that I could do for him."
"John, there isn't anything else that you can do." Abe informed him. "Eric is at the stage in his life where everything is unclear to him and he needs to figure things out on his own."
"I know the feeling." John sighed. "I feel so uncertain about everything in my life right now too. The only thing that I'm sure of is that I love Doc and sometimes I think that only hurts her."
"Why do you say that John?" Abe asked looking at him. "You are one of the happiest things in Marlena's life. She was miserable when you two were apart."
"I just feel like I'm making her miserable by wanting to be with her as much as I do." John announced.
"Why do you say that John?" Abe asked him.
"I just hate that she's hurting right now. She wants to do the right thing for Roman and I understand that. Hell, I respect her for that quality. It's one of the reasons that I love her, but I just can't stand being away from her." John explained to him. "I want to spend every moment with her and lately I've been pressuring her to let me move back home. I know that I shouldn't do it, but I can't stand the thought of her being alone with Roman."
"I told you that you had to be careful when it came to your feelings about Marlena." Abe sighed noticing that his friend was in turmoil. "I knew if you and Marlena started sleeping together again that you would be overcome by your protective nature."
"Abe, it's got nothing to do with that." John informed him. "I just hate the thought of Marlena being alone with Roman after what he did to her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to her."
"Well, hopefully Roman meant what he said when he promised that he would change." Abe said hopeful. "That might have been one, isolated incident."
"I hope your right Abe." John said staring out the window. "I hope your right."
