John stood in his living room looking at his fiancee's blank face. The two of them were discussing Marlena's disappearance when suddenly John noticed that Kristen looked preoccupied with something else. He wasn't sure what was on her mind, but he could tell from the look on her face that it wasn't good.
"Did you hear me Kristen?" he asked breaking through the silence.
"Huh?" Susan said realizing that he was directing his question towards her. She still hadn't gotten used to him calling her Kristen. "What did you say?"
"Do you think that we should cancel this ceremony until I find Doc?" John asked Susan once again.
"What if we never find her?" Susan asked pretending to be upset about Marlena's disappearance. She watched John as he held her hand.
"I will find Doc. That is a fact Kristen and I will bring her home." he said kissing her hand. "When I find the monsters that took her, they are going to pay dearly."
"Oh John," Susan whispered realizing how mad he would be to know that she was really Susan. He would be so angry with her if he found out that she had Marlena and Kristen locked up in the basement.
"I know how close you and Doc have become this year. I know how important she has become to you and I will understand if you want her to be here when we renew our vows sweetheart." he said touching her face. "It is up to you."
"Oh, honey," she began turning away from him so that he wouldn't see the wrinkled look upon her face. "I think that Marlena would want us to continue with this ceremony. I know that she would want us to be happy."
"I guess that you're right Kristen. She would want nothing but for us to be happy." he said squeezing her in his arms. "You know, you always want to do what is best for everyone no matter what the circumstances and I love that about you. You are such a strong woman Kristen. I know that it is tearing you up inside that Doc is missing, yet you still go on making the best of things."
"I sure do. I am just trying to do what is best for everyone." Susan said smiling as she looked into his deep blue eyes. "I love you so much John Black."
"I love you too dear." he said kissing her forehead softly. "Now I think that it's time for you and I to get a little shut eye considering tomorrow is our big day."
"I'm gonna to stay up for a little while if you don't mind sweety." Susan said as she thought about Stephano returning to her home.
"Is everything allright?" he asked looking her over.
"Everything is fine." Susan said forcing a smile. "Now you get to bed before it's too late. I don't want the groom to fall asleep at his own wedding."
"Okay, see you later." John said kissing her goodnight and walking upstairs.
Susan sat on the couch thinking about the week's events. Stephano had stopped by to see if he could pick up Marlena. She had managed to get rid of him before he found out the truth about her, but he promised that he would come back for the wedding. She realized that if he went into the wine cellar to take Marlena, then he would find Kristen as well, and it would be over for her. She closed her eyes hoping to find the answers about what to do.
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Carrie Brady and Mike Horton sat in the hospital lobby outside of Laura Horton's room. Laura had been a coma for about two weeks after being driven to the edge by Kristen DiMera and Kate Roberts.
"Do you think that your mom is going to snap out of her coma soon?" Carrie asked looking Mike over.
"I hope so." he said sitting down in one of the chairs in the lobby. "There are so many things that I need to talk to her about. Also, Jen needs her more than ever now that Jack is in jail. All that we can do is pray that one day she will be her old self again.
"If she is anything like you or Jenn, then she will be able to make it out of this." Carrie added smiling and taking his hand.
"What do you mean by that?" Mike asked looking into Carrie's eyes.
"Well, I think that you are just such a strong person Mike Horton. You are so full of life and courage." she began explaining.
"Courage?" he asked looking slightly puzzled. "Why do you say that?"
"You save people's lives everyday." she continued.
"That doesn't take much Carrie." he said modestly. "Anyone can be a doctor."
"Not anyone can be a great doctor though Mike. You are a wonderful doctor and I when I look at you I see that. You are so courageous and willing to help anyone out in their time of need." she went on.
"Carrie, I'm not as couragous as you think." he said thinking about his feelings for her. "There are things that frighten me. Things that I am afraid of."
"Like what?" she asked looking into his blue eyes.
"If only you knew." he said smiling. He looked at Carrie sitting in the chair across from him with her blue floral print dress on. He realized that there was no point in fighting his feelings any longer. He was in love with Carrie Brady, and no matter how wrong he knew it was, he couldn't stop being in love with her.
"Is something wrong?" she asked noticing his faraway look.
"No," he said remembering how in love with Austin she was. "Not at all. What were you saying?"
"I said that you always think the best about life." she said taking his hand in hers. "I really am glad that I have you around in my life. I would be lost without you."
"You don't know how much hearing that means to me Carrie." Mike said squeezing her hand tighter.
"I think I have a clue." she said moving in closer to him. "You have been so caring and self-less lately listening to me whine about my problems with Austin and I really appreciate that."
"Hey," he began clearing his throat, "that's what friends are for."
"Friends," Carrie repeated moving only inches from his face, "I think that what we have is much stronger than that."
Mike closed his eyes and sat speechless as he felt the warmth of Carrie's closeness.
"God, how I want to kiss her." he thought to himself.
"Mike I think that the two of us need to have a talk about the future." Carrie said as she kissed Mike's cheek.
"Huh?" Mike said opening his eyes as he slipped back into reality.
"I think that we need to talk about our future." she said softly.
"Our future?" he asked her with confusion in his voice.
"Yep, you are my bestfriend and you have helped me through so much." she began smiling at him. "When this whole issue with Austin and I is resolved, we are going to find you a great woman because you deserve it."
"Right now you should focus on you and Austin." he said feeling slightly disappointed to hear her talk about finding him another woman when all he wanted was her.
"Well, I think that I need to figure out if fighting for Austin is really worth my time and..." she began.
"Carrie, I thought that you were completely in love with Austin." Mike stated.
"I am,...well, I was." Carrie began. "I am not sure anymore."
"What are you saying Carrie?" he asked looking at her.
"I just don't know if there is a chance for Austin and I anymore. Too much time may have passed." she explained.
"Carrie," Mike said taking in a deep breath, "I know that this isn't the right time, but there is so much that I want to tell you and I don't know where to start."
"Try from the beginning." she smiled. "That works the best for me."
"Here it goes," he said taking in a deep breath, "I started thinking that..."
Mike's words were interrupted from stange beeping noised that were coming out of Laura's room. He jumped up from his chair and ran into Laura's room. He frantically ran into Laura's room and played with some of the machines while Carrie watched him silently. She couldn't see Mike's face, so she had no idea of what was going on, but she feared that something was terribly wrong.
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"You know Marlena." Kristen said knocking on the bathroom door again. "This is getting kind of old with you hiding in there."
"Why do you care if I am in here or not Kristen." Marlena yelled from out of the bathroom.
"Normally I wouldn't care Doc because the sight of your face makes me sick, but I need to get in there." Kristen yelled as she kicked the door. "Let me in."
"Fine," Marlena said walking out the door. "If you are going to carry on about it so much, then it is yours."
"Gee thanks Doc." Kristen muttered sarcastically as she slammed the bathroom door.
Marlena sat on the bed thinking about her life and how Stephano had destroyed eveything that she had ever cared about. First he took Roman and he children away from her, he took her away from John, made John's life miserable,and now she would be forced to be his prisioner when he came for her. She knew that she would never see John or her children again if Stephano came back. The thought of her children growing up without her was tearing her apart. She was trying to hold it together by playing it cool in front of Kristen, but she could feel the tears forming in her eyes. She had seen Stephano's determination about taking her when he had stopped by earlier in the week. She wiped the tears from her eyes and hoped that Kristen wouldn't come out of the bathroom anytime soon to find her falling apart.
Marlena closed her eyes and silently pleaded with God to let her be freed from the hell that Stephano wanted to take her to. She started wiping the last of her tears away when she looked up at the monitor and saw John appear. He had entered her bedroon and was sitting on her bed holding a picture of her. He started talking to it.
"Oh Doc," he began as tears started forming in his eyes, "how could I have been so foolish to let you get away from me? After all that we have been through I never should have let you go. I should have held onto you when I had the chance and neither one of us would be where we are today. When Roman walked out on you, I should have fought for your love instead of fooling myself by trying to move on. I'm not saying that Kristen isn't special, but she's not you Doc. She could never be you."
"Oh John, I love you too." Marlena said moving closer to the television screen. "I'm right here my love."
"I have this life now Doc and it is like a dream..." John continued as he stared deeper at the photo. "actually it's like I am walking around in a nightmare and every minute I'm hoping to wake up and find you in my arms again. If only I could have told you that my feelings for you have never died, then we would be together and Stephano couldn't have gotten his hands on you. I would be here protecting you forever."
"John it was Kristen not Stephano." Marlena said tapping the monitor. "I am down in the wine cellar my love."
"If only I could have said that I loved you Doc. If only we could have had that chance to be together once again. If only I could be able to hold you, make love to you, share my life with you..." he trailed off. " When Laura told me that you still had feelings for me, I couldn't wait to get home and see if that was true. I wanted you to love me the way that I love you, so that I could have a reason to...what am I thinking? You don't love me like that. You're made it quite clear that you only think of me only as your friend. I am only fooling myself to believe that you could ever love me like that. Even if you don't love me like I love you, I will find you Doc. You are my world and I can't go on without you. I will save you. I swear to it." he said kissing his finger and touching the photo with it. "Goodnight Doc. I hope that you are allright wherever you are. I love you."
"Oh, I love you too." Marlena said touching the monitor trying to feel the warmth from his face.
"What are you doing you up there fruitcake?" Kristen asked coming out of the bathroom.
"None of you business." Marlena said getting down from the monitor.
Kristen looked up at the screen and saw John sitting on the bed. She noticed that he had just set something down and he layed down on the the bed closing his eyes.
"Get used to it Marlena." Kristen laughed loudly. "That will be the closest that you'll ever get to touching John again."
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"What is going on Mike?" Carrie asked as Mike rushed out of his mother's room. "What's happening to Laura?"
"She is out of it." Mike said smiling in disbelief. "I don't know how it happened, but by some miracle, she came out of it."
"That's great!" Carrie said throwing her arms around him. "I'm so happy for you."
"You would think that she was never in a coma because she is allready making requests." Mike said looking at Carrie.
"What does she want?" Carrie asked enthusiastically. "Is she hungry? Thirsty?"
"No. She wants to talk to you." he said noticing her puzzled expression.
"Me?" Carrie asked.
"That's what she said when she saw you standing out here." Mike began. "I have no idea what she wants, but she was being pretty persistent."
"I'll go see her then." Carrie said as seh rushed towards Laura's door.
"I'll be right back. I'm going to call Jenn and tell her the good news." Mike called out to her.
"Hey Laura," Carrie said smiling as she walked into the hospital room. "I am so glad that you are feeling better. We were all so worried about you."
"Carrie, I need your help." Laura said with an urgency in her voice.
"What's wrong Laura?" Carrie asked.
"Did John find Marlena?" she asked sitting up.
"No, I'm afraid that Stephano has been able to escape somewhere with her, but John hasn't given up the search." Carrie explained.
"Carrie, I know this is going to sound strange, but where Marlena is and I need your help rescuing her." Larua explained.
"I don't understand Laura." Carrie said puzzled. "Marlena was kidnapped by Stephano and not even John has a clue about where to find her."
"You have to believe me on this one Carrie. I know how we can save Marlena. She is in danger right now and I need your help getting her. Will you help me?" Laura asked her. To Next Chapter
