Chapter 1
The Truth Always Comes Out

Promises Made
Promises Broken
Measures of Our Demise
Secrets of souls that rarely get spoken
Pleasure's a thin disguise

Dozens of ways
Dozens of reasons
Shielding our hearts from pain
Riddles of romance
That distance may yet explain

Certain of nothing
So fearful of love
Nobody seems to show you enough
Over and over
The scenes are replayed
And once again
Those promises made....

It is a trademark foggy night in Salem USA and two men, deep in thought make their separate ways to their favorite thinking spot. It is a magical, special place that brings peace and comfort in troubled times, a place of mystery and romance as well.

Leaning against a piling, lost in his worries about losing the woman he loves to the man he once thought he was....again, John Black doesn't hear the other man approaching. Roman Brady arrives, also thinking about the woman he loves, wondering why he seems to be getting such mixed signals from her, sensing there is something being kept from him. As he walks slowly down the creaky old stairs of the pier, he doesn't see his unknown rival for that woman's affections, but he hears a quiet lament, "Oh, Doc....what's gonna happen to us?" and he knows.

Roman continued down the stairs and then stepped out in full view. "Hello, John," he said with a tone that implied several different emotions, one of which was jealousy and John found himself instantly on guard. "Hello, Roman, I...uh... didn't hear you, how are you doing?"

"Why do you ask, John..because you really care, or so you can tell me your little secret, you know the one everybody has been trying to protect poor sick Roman from?"

Stepping out in the open, John winced at the fire in the man's voice, realizing that this was the time for the truth that could no longer be avoided and said, "You..heard me just now, didn't you?"

Roman replied angrily, "Yes, I did, John...it just confirmed my suspicions, it appears that you and Kristen are not quite the loving couple....you stormed out of the restaurant tonight. That's all been a charade for my benefit, hasn't it?" he confronted.

John scrambled for damage control saying, "Roman, listen....there are some things that happened...before you came home, things that..."

"Oh John... let's just cut to the chase. You've all been protecting me, being very careful what you say because I was dying, well, I'm not dying now and the least you can do is tell me the truth." He paused long enough for John to just tell him what he essentially knew already, but the man didn't do it. "John, don't make me ask you.."

The guilt for lying again was there in full force and John started in apologetically, "You're right Roman, we all have been and it's time it stopped. It's true, we've been keeping something from you, it's about Marlena and myself. We....love each other, we were supposed to be married on the day Kristen brought you home, she lied to you about her and I being happily married. She did it to stop the wedding."

Suspecting it and hearing it come out of John's mouth were two very different things and Roman reeled from the truth as if he were punched in the gut. "Oh...I see," was all he could say at first. The silence that followed was very long and painful for both men.

"Roman, I'm sorry we continued her lie, but you were so sick. We thought..."

Roman was hurt and angry and put his hands up to echo his sentiments, "No, I don't want to hear your apologies, John!" Roman was quiet for a moment, formulating his next statement. "You know I thought when I came back that the least I deserved from you and Marlena after everything that happened between us was honesty." His anger rising, Roman stepped very close to John and said, "Well, I guess that was just too much to expect. Or maybe you like it this way, you know...the forbidden passion, playing me for the fool...again!"

John felt the man's pain and realized even more completely how wrong it had been to go along with the lie from the very beginning. John let the remorse touch his voice and it was shaky with emotion, "No...Roman, it's not like that....I swear it! We never meant to hurt you. You were dying and we... thought it was the best thing for you if we went along with Kristen's story. We didn't...we...weren't... Oh, Roman, I'm so sorry, you're right, we should have told you the truth." He hung his head in shame when he was finished.

"Yes you should have, John, both of you!" Roman was thoughtful for a second and then expressed his powerful feelings about Marlena's part in it. "She agreed to marry me for God's sake! We would have been if it hadn't been for you showing up with the cure. If you arrived five minutes later, she would have been my wife, John. What.. she planned to get an annulment or divorce after I recovered? And then, after I began to recover, she kept up the pretense, saying she still wanted to marry me, she let me move back into the Penthouse with her John." He paused for effect and then couldn't resist adding a jab at his rival for her affections, "You know if I were you, John, I'd be asking myself why she did that if she were supposedly in love with you."

That one hit close to home, but he had to talk about it, the man deserved to know the rest of it if he wanted. Shutting out the image of the other two standing at the altar in St. Lukes and the pain he felt watching them and Sami and Eric leaving the hospital together the other day, John said, "Roman, she thought she was doing the right thing for you, she agonized over it. Marlena cares so much about you, Roman and she always will. She just.."

"Obviously not enough to tell me the truth!" he interrupted. "She lied to me again, she let me go around telling everybody how much I love her and gush all over her and all the time she's loving you, planning to marry YOU!! I am so...ANGRY!!" Roman's face was inches from John's and it appeared he might take a swing at the man. John would have taken it without resistance because he felt he deserved it.

Roman thought better of it and walked a few steps away, letting the silence speak for him. Then after a few moments more, he decided to take John down a notch, his fierce anger driving him to want to hurt back. Turning to face his rival again, he said, "You know I...kissed her the other day and she...didn't put me off like it was all pretending. I think she..liked it. What do think that means, John?" he asked with a gloating quality in his voice as he looked at John. The painful expression on the man's face made his own pain a little more bearable somehow. "Oh, I'm sorry, John. I just thought you should know the truth, it's the least I can do." That was another stab and it left John speechless, his mind confused. He had been wondering about her commitment to him since the day Roman left the hospital.

Deciding that the situation could only go from bad to worse, John started to leave, "I....uh think I better be...going now, Roman. Whether you believe me or not, I am very sorry we continued Kristen's lie, it was wrong, but we did it because we thought it was best for you."

Roman reached out to grab John's arm, stopping his progress toward the stairs and countered firmly again, "At this point, I don't even care why you did it, John. The fact is that you and Marlena lied to me again, just like you did four years ago. I should think you might have learned something from that experience John, but I guess nothing ever changes in Salem." John didn't say anything else, thinking it would just end in a fight or at the least, more open hostility, so he pulled away as easily as possible.

As the other man started to walk away again, Roman said, "John, there's something else you should know about all of this. God only knows why, but I want her back and I'm gonna fight for her. I've already made a good start on it. I'm living with her, you know." Looking at his watch, he said quite deliberately, "Oh, would you look at the time, I better be getting on home, wouldn't want Doc to be worried about me....see ya, John." He brushed past his competition, heading quickly toward the stairs.

The way he said it all plunged another dagger of doubt into John's heart. He had essentially been kicked out of the house in favor of Roman without even being asked before she went along with Eric's idea. That alone had started the doubts rolling and now Roman said he kissed Marlena and she liked it? 'Oh, Marlena...I don't want to lose you again!' Reaching out a restraining hand like Roman had, John said, "Don't do this, Roman. She loves me and we're going to be married. She was planning to wait and tell you when the doctors thought you were..strong enough to handle it. Now that the truth is out in the open..."

Roman wasn't about to bow out easily and responded firmly while yanking his arm out of John's light grasp, "Now that the lies are exposed...you mean. I'm gonna fight for her, John and I'm gonna win. She may have had an affair with you, but she did choose to stay with me, it might happen again. Now, like I said, I have to go home..to Marlena!"

He left John alone on the pier to contemplate his next move and his uncertain future. John thought seriously about going straight to the Penthouse to see Marlena too, but it would kill her to see them..fighting over her; he just couldn't do that to her. He resigned himself to talking with her in the morning, believing that their love was strong enough to handle anything Roman tried to do to come between them further. The more he thought about it, the more he worried about it, so he called her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Doc, it's me. He knows Marlena, Roman knows about us." There was dead silence on the other end of the line, "Doc...are you there?" he questioned. Still nothing. "Doc? Marlena, answer me!" Panic pierced his heart and John closed up the phone and left the pier at breakneck speed, heading straight for his Jeep. As he got into the vehicle and started it up, he realized the fact that he had no idea where she was and the fear was overpowering.....