"You!!!" Roman shouted looking at Stephano.
"Yes, me!!! Now get your hands off of my daughter Roman." Stephano insisted
calmly. "This is between you and me. Leave Kristen alone."
"I should've known that the two of you were working together." Roman
announced releasing Kristen. "All you Dimeras stick together."
"Roman, Roman, Roman." Stephano sighed shaking his head. "You've got it all
wrong."
"Dimera, you're the one that's wrong." Roman yelled moving towards him.
"You've ruined my life!!"
"Ruined your life? Hah!" Stephano laughed at him. "Roman I saved your life. It's
my blood pumping through your veins. I'm the one that sent Kristen to pick you up from
that ISA hospital. You would be dead right now if not for me."
"What kind of game are you playing now Dimera?" Roman asked in anger as he
raised his fist to hit Stephano.
"You can hit me if you like Roman," Stephano replied calmly "but it won't take
away any of the pain that was caused by the real enemy."
"What are you talking about Dimera?" Roman spat at him. "You're the one that
took me away from my family so long ago. You took me away from Doc."
"I'm not the enemy Roman. I'm not the one that took Marlena away from you..."
Stephano smiled arrogantly. "...John Black is."
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
John entered Marlena's hospital room to find her sleeping. He stepped along side
of her bed and watched her body move with each breath she took. The more he watched
her, the stronger he felt about her. His eyes drifted from her beautiful face to her
abdomen. He was drawn in by the thought of the baby growing inside of her and without
giving it a second thought he reached out to touch her.
"John," she whispered sleepily opening her eyes, "you're here."
"I promised you that I would be when you woke up Doc." he smiled brushing his
lips tenderly along hers. "I always keep a promise Doc."
"We've missed you." Marlena smiled realizing that his hand was still on her
stomach as she looked into his vibrant blue eyes.
"I missed you both too." he said gently rubbing her stomach as he kissed her
again.
"Baby," she asked touching his face and noticing that he looked hurt, "what
happened?"
"It's a long story Doc." John said taking her hand and kissing it. "It doesn't matter
what happened though because I'm here with you now."
"John, did you find Eric?" Marlena asked worrying about her son.
"Yeah, I did." John smiled as he remembered Eric's declaration of love.
"What is it?" Marlena asked slowly sitting up and watching John's eyes fill up with
tears. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing Doc." he said grabbing a hold of her tightly. "I have a feeling that
everything is going to be just fine from now on."
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
"You have to do me a favor Carrie." Eric said from his hospital bed after Mike
had left the room to run some tests.
"Anything." Carrie said happy to see that her brother was feeling alright.
"Can you call Jenny and tell her that I'm okay?" Eric asked feeling weak again as
he laid back in his bed. "I was such a jerk the other day to her and she needs to know how
I feel about her."
"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Carrie suggested to him as she gazed
off.
"Huh?" he asked turning around to follow her gaze.
"Eric," Jenny smiled as tears rushed down her face.
"I'll leave you two alone." Carrie said slipping out of the room and shutting the
door.
"Thank God you're alright." Jenny smiled as tears ran down her
face. "I was worried about you Eric Brady."
"Jenny, I'm so sorry." Eric began sitting up. "I acted like such a fool."
"You did." she agreed walking over to him.
"I never should've took my aggression out on you." Eric said looking at her. "I
was wrong about so many things and I'm sorry for what I did."
"I know you are." she said sitting down next to him.
"Jenny, I saw
what happened to my father when he was overcome with rage and I realized tonight that I
was going in the same direction as him." Eric began taking her hand. "I realized that
everything that I tried to believe about him was a lie and my being wrong about him hurt
so many people...my mom, John, and you."
"It's over now." Jenny said
running her fingers through his soft hair as he closed his eyes.
"I love you." he said opening his eyes to look at her.
"I love you too Eric Brady." she replied leaning in to kiss him.
"I'm so scared Jenny." Eric insisted holding her tightly.
"About what Eric?" Jenny asked noticing that he was starting to shiver.
"I just hope that I never turn into the monster that my father has turned into." Eric
said hugging her tighter as he thought about Roman. "He was so full of vengeance tonight
and I think that he would've killed John or even my mom if he was given the
chance."
"They're safe now." Jenny assured him as she kissed his forehead.
"But
for how long?" Eric asked looking at her. "How long until the madness starts up again?"
