Chapter 114

"What has gotten you so excited this afternoon?" Marlena asked as she watched John move around the cabin straightening things up.

"I'm just trying to help you with some of the housework." John explained wheeling himself over to her side. "Is there something wrong with a husband wanting to help out his wife?"

"No, but I just don't understand where this sudden bout of energy has come from. Even the kids are busy cleaning." Marlena insisted hearing Belle and Brady in their rooms picking up their toys. "What have you done to my family?"

"You'll find out." John smiled taking her hand and pulling her down to him as he pressed his lips to hers. "Have I ever told you lately how much I love you Doc?"

"Not in the last five minutes." she joked looking into his deep blue eyes that seemed to have their old spark in them again.

"In that case, I have a lot of making up to do." he replied pulling her towards him for another kiss. "I love you Marlena."

"I love you too." she whispered as he pulled back from their kiss with a huge grin on his face. "What are you up to?"

"You'll see." John chuckled as the children rushed out of their rooms.

"They're here! They're here!" Belle and Brady shouted running to open the front door.

"What are they talking about?" Marlena asked looking at John.

"You'll find out." John laughed turning to his children who were eagerly waiting for his approval to let their guests in. "It's alright. You can open the door."

Marlena watched as her children opened the front door and rushed outside. A few minutes later Belle walked in carrying hot dog buns and Brady was carrying hamburger buns. Shortly after Mike and Carrie walked inside carrying large containers of food.

"What's going on?" Marlena asked curiously. "Mike? Carrie? What are you two doing here?"

"We're having a picnic today." Carrie explained setting down the large containers and giving Marlena a hug. "John wanted to surprise you."

"You planned this?" Marlena questioned turning to John who's face was beaming with excitement.

"I sure did." John smiled at her. "I thought that a day with the family would be just what we needed."

"What a brilliant idea." Marlena replied giving him a quick hug. "I love you so much."

"I know." he smiled as Mike returned from the kitchen empty handed. "Hey Mike, what do you say we get some hamburgers and hot dogs and go get the grill ready for when Eric gets here?"

"Sounds like a great idea." Mike agreed as he followed John out to the back of the cabin.

"I get the feeling that today is going to be a great day." Marlena announced as she helped Carrie take the rest of the food containers into the kitchen.

"A family picnic sounds so exciting." Jenny said as she and Eric drove up to the cabin. "It sounds like John is getting better if he's up to company. Eric?"

"Huh?" Eric muttered coming out of thought as she spoke to him. "Did you say something?"

"I was just saying that it seems like John is getting better now that he's up to having a picnic." Jenny repeated turning to Eric.

"Yeah, it does look that way." Eric agreed looking at the road ahead of him.

"Are you alright Eric?" Jenny asked noticing that Eric had seemed preoccupied with something since they had left her apartment earlier that morning.

"I just keep thinking about that damn reporter." Eric said remembering the phone call that he had gotten as he was about to walk out the door.

"Eric, they're just trying to do their jobs." Jenny said hoping that he would just let his anger go.

"I don't care." Eric snapped at her. "They can do their jobs somewhere else. They don't have to hound my family."

"Eric..." Jenny began reaching for him.

"I'm sorry." Eric apologized realizing that he had yelled at her. "I don't mean to be such a grouch, but after all my family has been through, I just want to have a little peace. You know what I mean?"

"I understand Eric." Jenny replied giving his leg a quick squeeze. "Look on the bright side, today everyone is going to be spending the day together and we won't have to worry about reporters or anything else like that for a few hours."

"I guess you're right." Eric agreed shaking his head. "Today will be good for all of us."

Belle and Brady walked along the shoreline as Brady pulled out his magnifying glass to look at the rocks that lay before his feet. He picked up a small seashell and began to inspect it with his hands before placing it under his magnifying glass.

"Brady, I don't think that mommy and daddy are going to like us going this far away from the cabin." Belle insisted tugging on her brother's shirt.

"Oh, don't be a baby Belle. Dad is cooking with Mike and mom is talking to Carrie. They won't even know that we're gone. Besides, don't you want to find something beautiful to make a present for mom with?"

"I guess, but I just don't think that we should be going so far away from the cabin because daddy is cooking dinner." Belle insisted looking back at the cabin. "I don't want them to worry."

"Relax Belle. Look!" Brady assured her as he spied a frog up ahead. "Come on Belle."

Belle watched as her brother rushed ahead of her chasing the frog. She started to slow down because she couldn't keep up with him. She stopped to watch him because her feet were getting tired.

"Brady, I'm tired." she called out to him, but he just kept going forward.

"Come on Belle." he shouted turning around and seeing her sitting on the ground.

"I'm tired Brady." Belle shouted back at him.

"Come on you sissy!" he yelled at her as he started to get angry that the frog was getting away.

"Fine." she said reluctantly getting to her feet again and following him as he rushed along.

"So John, how have you been feeling lately?" Mike asked as he and John entered the backyard with the hot dogs and hamburgers in containers ready to be cooked.

"I've been feeling a bit stronger Mike." John explained to him. "Just the other day, I swore that I could feel my toes again."

"Good." Mike said hoping that John was making progress. "As soon as you get back to Salem, I'd love to run some more tests on you to see how things are going."

"Mike," John began turning to face him, "today is a day for enjoying ourselves. Let's just take this day to relax and put things like hospitals and work outside. What do you say?"

"Alright John." Mike smiled walking over to the grill. "That sounds good to me."

"Good." John said wheeling over next to him. "So tell me, what's going on with you and Carrie?"

"What?" Mike asked turning around and looking at him.

"Oh come on Mike. I've seen it for months. You're in love with her aren't you?" John asked curiously.

"Gee.......you don't waste any time do you?" Mike chuckled.

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my daughter's best interest after what happened with that louse of an ex-husband she had." John explained to him seriously. "I just want to see her happy."

"Well, in that case, yes I do love her. I love her with all of my heart John." Mike admitted to John.

"I thought so. That's all that I needed to hear. I know that you'll make her very happy." John said quickly. "Now what do you say we get this food started?"

"You've got it." Mike said turning to the grill once more.

"Oh Carrie, I'm so happy for you and Mike." Marlena said giving her a hug.

"We're not going to rush into anything just yet Marlena." Carrie explained to her. "I'm not going to risk things by moving too fast like I did with Austin."

"You and Austin just grew in different directions." Marlena explained to her. "Sometimes that just happens to people."

"Like you and Roman." Carrie said looking at Marlena. "I'm sorry."

"No, that's okay." Marlena replied thinking it over. "There was a point in time when I thought that your father was the love of my life, but then I fell in love with John and I knew that here with him was where my heart belonged."

"That's how I feel when I'm with Mike." Carrie explained to her. "Everything just feels so right and it's the most wonderful feeling in the world Marlena."

"That's how I feel when I'm with John." Marlena said looking out the window at John and Mike. "Now that we're together it feels like everything is going to be okay."

"Have you told him about Stefano's trial yet?" Carrie questioned her.

"I haven't found the right moment." Marlena confessed turning to face her. "I know that it's going to upset him terribly to hear what I'm doing."

"Marlena, John loves you and once he hears about what happened, then he'll see that you have no other choice, but to speak in Stefano's behalf." Carrie insisted reaching out to her.

"I don't know about that Carrie." Marlena began nervously shifting around the kitchen. "How do I tell John that my testimony could potentially be the deciding factor in whether or not the man who has single handedly destroyed his life by taking away his past will be free to walk the streets or not?"

"John will understand." Carrie repeated handing her a spoon for the macaroni salad. "Besides, Stefano hasn't managed to destroy his life. John has your love and that is something that Stefano can never take away from him."

"You'll never believe this!" Mike announced coming into the kitchen and looking at Carrie and Marlena. "Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all." Carrie said sliding her arm around Mike. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, I knew that there was something that I forgot to pick up on the way here." Mike began explaining to Carrie.

"Oh my gosh." she gasped lightly hitting her head. "We forgot the charcoal."

"That's right. I can't believe that it slipped my mind like that." Mike said as John came into the kitchen.

"Mike, it's not that big of a deal." John insisted with a smile. "It's not as if you were too busy thinking about other things like getting elected Chief of Staff."

"You're Chief of Staff?" Marlena questioned looking at the grins on both Mike and Carrie's faces. "Why didn't you tell me Carrie?"

"I was waiting for Mike to tell you since it was his good news." Carrie explained happily.

"It's our good news Carrie." Mike insisted placing his arm around her shoulders. "Without Carrie, I never would've been given this honor."

"Congratulations Mike." Marlena said giving him a hug. "I knew that you'd get it."

"And now I think it's time for me to take over my duties as Master Chef for the day by going to get some charcoal." Mike announced reaching for his car keys.

"Actually," Carrie began stealing his keys away, "why don't you let Marlena and I get it while you two sit here and wait for Eric and Jenny to get here?"

"Oh by the way, Eric called from his car phone about ten minutes ago and said that he'd be a little late, but I suppose that'll be okay since dinner is going to be post-poned a bit." Marlena explained to them.

"Then you two have fun while us guys talk about guy things." John smiled glancing over at Mike. "I'm sure we have plenty of gossip to catch up on."

"No kidding John." Mike said with a grin as he began playing along. "You wouldn't believe what happened on television last night during the football game."

"That's it. We're leaving before you two start talking about anything else." Marlena announced giving John a quick kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too." John waved as Marlena and Carrie left.

Brady hurried as fast as his little feet could take him as he caught up to the frog. He lept forward hoping to catch the frog, but it was no use because the frog was too fast for him. He wasn't ready to give up yet though so he took another jump towards the frog and he was able to catch it. He held the slimy creature in his small hands and looked down at it in admiration.

"Hey little guy, I'm Brady Black." he said to the big eyed frog that started at him blankly.

"RRiiibbbiiiitttt." the frog sounded out at him.

"This is so cool! Belle, you have to see this." he exclaimed turning to show Belle his prize. As he turned he realized that his little sister wasn't behind him as he had expected her to be. He looked along the shoreline and realized that she was nowhere to be found.

"Belle!" he shouted wondering if she was hiding on him. "Come out would you? This isn't funny."

Brady waited with the frog in his hands for what felt like an eternity to him as he spied the area to see if his sister was hiding on him. He suddenly started to worry that something was wrong with Belle and he decided that he'd better go look for her just in case she was getting into trouble.

"She probably went back to the cabin." he told himself as he looked down at the little green frog. "Girls can be such babies sometimes."

"John?" Marlena questioned walking back into the cabin to find John and Mike sitting in the living room engaged in conversation.

"Doc, what are you doing back already?" John asked realizing that she'd only been gone for about five minutes.

"John, do you know where the kids are?" Marlena asked in a panic.

"They were playing in the backyard just a few minutes ago." he informed her quickly.

"John, Carrie and I went out in the yard to say goodbye to them just a couple of minutes ago and they're not back there." Marlena said worried about what might have happened to her children.

"Doc, they were just there." John said in a panic as he wheeled over to her.

"Carrie's out there looking for them right now." Marlena explained to him.

"I'll go help her." Mike said getting up as there was a knock at the door.

"Where were you two?" Marlena asked rushing to open the door only to find Eric and Jenny standing there.

"Mom?" Eric questioned noticing the look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"Belle and Brady are missing." she explained to him as he entered the cabin. "Carrie is outside looking for them, but she hasn't found them."

"Don't worry Doc." John assured her. "We're going to find them."