Mike and Carrie Saga

Why would Austin do that?" Mike gasped for air. This color had totally drained out of his face making him look even whiter than he had last night. Carrie helped him stand to his full height. He leaned on her and she walked him over to the couch.

When he got his breath back, Mike replied, "It was a misunderstanding. When I came to the door, I was buttoning my shirt. He saw you across the room still dressing and drew his own conclusion." Carrie was relieved to see the color coming back into his face. "That is not a reason to hit you. If he would have just talked to me..."

"He's jealous, Carrie. And jealous men do strange things. Believe me, I know. I've done a few things in the name of jealously myself. So don't come down too hard on him." Mike hated to keep encouraging Carrie to pursue Austin. He had his own interest in her, yes, but he hated the way Austin was treating Carrie these days.

"Are you going to be ok?" Mike placed his hands on her shoulders, swung her around, and zipped up her dress. Mike turned her back toward him.

"Let's go. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Carrie grabbed her purse and they drove to St. Luke's.

By the time they arrived at the church, many of the guests had arrived. There was a strange tension in the air. Carrie saw Sami across the way deep in discussion with Lucas. Laura walked into the room and came up to Mike and Carrie.

"What took you so long? You've missed all the excitement."

"What's going on Laura?" Carrie was beginning to become concerned. She could hear whispers that John and Marlena had canceled the wedding.

"Kristen, that's what." Laura put her hands on her hips. "She brought some man in a wheelchair to stop the wedding."

"Why would she do that? Who's the man?" Mike could tell from his mother's expression that this wasn't going to be good.

"She says it's Roman Brady!"

At that moment John came out of the bride's room. He sent Mike to retrieve his medical bag. Carrie hugged John.

"Are you really canceling the wedding?"

"It looks that way, pumpkin." When Mike returned the tension in the air had increased ten fold. John brought the two of them into the room where the mystery man was. Marlena rushed to John and clung to him with questions in her eyes. What would this mean for their happiness? Mike could tell she was shaken by this man. His face was covered in bandages, only his eyes and mouth were left uncovered. From what he could see of the man's face, he sure looked like Roman Brady. Mike hoped for the family's sake he really was. Mike took a few preliminary readings but called the hospital to be ready to completely check him out. "What's wrong with him Kristen?" John was not in the mood for evasive answers. "Who is this man, who is he really?"

"He's really Roman Brady. I found him in an ISA hospital."

John walked over to Abe. "Hey, partner, we've got to find out who this man is. If he really is Roman." Abe told John he had a plan to get the man's fingerprints. The man awoke and asked for some water. Laura brought it to him. When he was finished, Abe took the glass, put it in a plastic sleeve and sent it off to be analyzed. While Abe was getting the fingerprints, John put a call into the ISA looking for Shane. He was told Shane couldn't be reached. Just in case he left a message for Shane to call him immediately. Maybe he could clear up this mess.

Sami burst into the bride's room when she heard that the mystery man could be Roman. He opened his eyes at her entrance. "Peanut? Is that my peanut?"

"Oh, Daddy. Daddy, you're back. Oh, I've missed you so much. I have so much to tell you." Sami was nearly hysterical. Marlena tried to tell her that they didn't know for sure if it was Roman.

"This could be a trick, Sami. We don't know anything for sure."

"I only know one thing. Kristen brought my daddy home. She is truly an angel." Kristen could only smile. At least someone was on her side. At least someone was happy to know that Roman was alive.

"Hey folks. This man is very ill. We need to admit him to the hospital as soon as possible."

"No, Mike." The mystery man tugged at his jacket. "No more hospitals. I want to go home."

John still hadn't heard from Shane, but Abe came in with the results from the fingerprint analysis.

"The fingerprints are his. It is Roman."

"It can't be partner. Shane assured me that Roman was dead. How could he suddenly be alive? They did a DNA test to prove it." John turned to find Kristen standing behind him.

"I can answer that." Kristen looked so smug. Marlena could see it from across the room. It made her want to slap Kristen. Marlena turned to see Sami sitting at Roman's feet holding his hand, crying and telling him how much she loved him. "Roman was on a suicide mission. He told Shane he didn't have anything to live for since Marlena loved John. It's because of you Marlena." Kristen pointed at her. "It's because of you that Roman is about to die."

Mike cut in on Marlena and Kristen's conversation. "Roman refuses to go to the hospital." Mike was concerned about his patient's health. "I don't care where we take him, as long as we take him somewhere soon. I need to run a lot more tests on him."

"The penthouse. We'll take him to the penthouse."

"No. You can't." Kristen burst in on the their conversation. "You don't have enough room. What with Susan, her baby, John and the kids staying there. And, you'll never be able to get his wheelchair up the stairs."

Marlena knew she was right and turned to John for advise. "John, I promised myself I wouldn't set foot in that woman's house again."

"We may have no choice, Doc."

"Anyway," continued Kristen. "I have an elevator and plenty of room. My staff can meet his every need."

Although Marlena hated the idea, she gave Mike the go ahead to call the ambulance and have the paramedics take Roman to Kristen's house. Mike gathered up his medical supplies and caught Carrie on her way out the door.

"Are you going to ride over with Marlena and John?" Mike didn't realize how wiped out he was. Maybe going to this wedding wasn't such a good idea after all. But he wanted to be there for Carrie.

"No. I want to go home and change first." Mike fished in his pants pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

"Here, take these." He reached for Carrie's hand and gently placed the keys inside her palm. "Take my car. I'll ride over in the ambulance with Roman."

The ride to the DiMera mansion was a short one. Kristen gave out directions to the paramedics and they set up Roman in the room closest to the stairs. After Mike had monitored Roman's condition, the paramedics took what readings he had taken and delivered them to the hospital. Mike watched as Marlena walked into the room. He was glad to see her. She was exactly what Roman needed. He pulled her over to the side of the room out of Roman's ear shot.

"From all I can tell, he's pretty sick. I won't know more details until I get the test results back. I recommend in the mean time that you try and keep his spirits up. Don't upset him if you can help it. He'll heal much faster if he has a positive attitude." Marlena nodded in agreement.

"Ok, thanks Mike." She turned and walked over to the bed where Roman was coughing and wheezing. Mike sensed the two wanted to be alone and walked out softly closing the door behind him.

Marlena didn't know if it was her imagination but Roman definitely perked up once she walked in the room. He actually looked strong enough to talk.

"Marlena. I'm sorry about the funeral. There were people after me and I couldn't avoid it. Having them believe I was dead was essential in our plan to save those hostages. I tried to stay away, but when Kristen found me and told me how happy she and John were together. I had to come back. I had to come back for you." Marlena was touched by his words but vowed to ring Kristen's neck the next time she saw her. Roman suddenly seemed weak and leaned his head back on the pillow. He was asleep.

When Marlena fianlly made her way downstairs, she discovered Kristen had a huge dinner prepared for everyone. Kristen pulled Mike and Carrie aside. She sent them down to the wine cellar for bottles of wine. Mike looked at her suspiciously. What was she up to?

Kristen hid in a shadowy corner and phoned Stefano. "Ok, I did it. I sent Mike and Carrie to the cellar. What do they have to do with your plans?"

"Plenty, Kristen. Plenty indeed." Stefano laughed. Kristen snapped the cellular phone closed. That man was definately losing his mind.

By the time Kristen had returned to the table, everyone had gathered. Marlena and John, Sami and Austin, Lucas and Kate and... "Has anyone seen Mike and Carrie?" Kristen still went along with Stefano's plan even though she didn't understand it. "Sami, could you go check on Mike and Carrie? I sent them to the cellar from some wine."

Sami put on her best 'I'm still the sweet Sami' smile. "Sure, no problem."

As Mike was looking through the wine selection, he noticed one was stuck. He pulled on it harder and it came out of the wine rack. It had the back of the rack still attached to it. "Hey, what the..." Suddenly the wall in front of him started to move.

Stefano could see them through the monitor. He didn't really have plans for Carrie and Mike. He had just told Kristen that. The less she knew the better off he was. What this ruse was really intended for was to test Sami. He wanted to see what she would do with the opportunity put in front of her. The more he watched Sami's performances, and indeed they were performances, the more he liked that girl. She was quite amazing.

Mike pulled the opening wider and discovered a room on the other side. It looked vaguely familiar. When he noticed a bed sitting in the middlle of the room, he realized where he'd seen it before. "This is the room. This is the room where Kristen was holding Marlena hostage. I'd totally forgotten about it being down here. I guess I was distracted with finding Marlena and Kristen unconscious."

"That's understandable. We all were." Carrie stuck her head through the doorway and looked back at Mike. "I want to see it Mike." Carrie walked inside while Mike was holding the door open.

"You know I don't think this is such a good idea... Carrie... If the door closed, we'd be trapped." Carrie walked back out long enough to take the strange wine bottle with the diamond piece of wood glued to the bottom and wedged it under the door.

"There. That should hold it."

Sami walked down the cellar stairs in enough time to see Mike and Carrie pass through the door. She snuck closer and saw them talking on the other side of the room.

"Can you believe this?" Carrie was disgusted. "Kristen had no intention of letting Marlena go. This room was ment for long term captivity. There's even a bathroom."

"In Kristen's eyes, she was justified in her actions." Mike turned to see the monitor hanging from the ceiling. "John told me that Marlena could see every thing that was going on in the house. Even when he was making love to Kristen."

"That is disgusting. Even Sami wouldn't sink that low."

Sami could hear Carrie's remarks. "You never know big sister. I am capable of anything, and I know when to take advantage of a situation." Silently Sami slipped the wine bottle from under the door and without even a push, the door began to slowly close. She could have cheered when the lock clicked. "There. Now you two love birds can get to know each other better." Sami knew Carrie and she knew what she was like when she was falling in love. She was clueless until the truth hit her in the face. Well, she just hoped the truth would come out tonight. Sami grabbed a bottle of wine and made her way back up the cellar stairs.

"Did you find them, Sami?" Kristen took the bottle of wine out of her hands and gave it to one of her staff members.

"No. They weren't down there." Sami looked directly at Austin. She knew he still loved Carrie. The closer Carrie became with Mike; the farther Austin would be from marrying her. "I guess they wanted to be alone. Love must be in the air."

Austin had to remind himself that Sami didn't mean for that remark to hurt him. She didn't know he really loved Carrie. And the way things were looking, she would never find out.

After a tense dinner, Sami went up to the nursery to spend a little time with Will. Most everyone else had left except John , Marlena and Austin. All three were talking walks in the garden. John and Marlena together and Austin by himself. Sami put Will down for a nap and went in search of Austin. She didn't make it far because Stefano stepped out of the shadows and appeared in front of her.

"You are quite a crafty girl, Sami. One after my own heart."

"What do you want, Stefano?" He could only laugh. Straight to the point. So much like him.

"I thought you might enjoy seeing something." Stefano lead Sami through a secret passage that ended in a control room. Monitors were set up everywhere. He pointed to the monitor he wanted her to look at. She could see Mike and Carrie pounding on the door. They were locked in. Sami gave a smug half smile. She was surprised to see pain in Mike's eyes. He was holding his side and pounding on the door with the other hand.

"What are you up to Stefano? Why did you lock them in there? Stefano had to laugh again. She certainly was a convincing liar.

"Brava! Brava! You give me too much credit, little one. It was not I who put them in there. It was fate, and fate has a name." Sami was taken aback by his confidence. He knew. He put a tape in the VCR and pushed the play button. The screen came to life and she could see herself lock Carrie and Mike in the secret room. Stefano could already see a plan hatching in Sami's eyes.

"Ok. What do you want? I'm assuming you want something or you wouldn't have gone to so much trouble."

"As I said before. You're a very clever girl. You seize every opportunity and use it to your own advantage. Kristen could learn a lot from you." Stefano paced the floor. "What do I want? Here is what I want, Sami..."

Mike could tell that he had torn open his wound from pounding on the door. He began to feel faint and sat on the bed. "It's no use. They can't hear us." Mike didn't want Carrie to worry about him so he tried to put a smile on his face.

"Someone will let us out when we don't come back." Carrie joined him on the bed but noticed a red mark on his shirt. He probably needed to change his bandage. Mike was so focused on Roman's health; he neglected his own.

"I don't know," said Mike. "Marlena and Kristen were stuck in here for quite a long time before John found them." The red spot on Mike's shirt became larger.

"Don't say that! Don't even think it!"

"Hey, hey calm down." Mike gave Carrie a hug careful not to show her he was in pain. He needed to put the focus on something else. He decided that now was as good a time as any to tell her about Roman's test results. "I'm glad we're alone actually. I have something to tell you about your dad."

"What?" A look of terror glazed over Carrie's normally shining eyes.

"I don't now how to say this except just to say it. He's dying, Carrie." Mike looked pale. Carrie was growing concerned about him but now she couldn't think straight. Her dad was dying?

"No, Mike! I can't lose him again. We just got him back. What's making him so sick?" Mike fidgeted on the bed but never moved the hand holding the bandage.

"It's a biochemical agent used in germ warfare. I found out about it just before Kristen sent us down here."

"Germ warfare? But you can cure that, can't you Mike?" Tears filled her eyes at Mike's silent no. A single tear fell down her cheek. Mike wiped it away with his thumb. Even with his own pain, he knew Carrie needed him to be strong.

"It's a synthetic germ." Mike let out a small cough. "So it's hard to isolate it in the bloodstream. Right now, even with all our technology, it's ultimately fatal." Carrie hung her head and silently cried. Mike gently turned her head to face him. "But there is alway room for hope." Even with the little hope she had, all she copuld do was cry on Mike's shoulder.

"Oh, Carrie. Carrie listen to me. Don't dwell on Roman's condition. He's back home and that's what is important. You have time to spend with him you never would have had." Carrie noticed the red spot was still growing. But he was the doctor, he knew when he needed medical attention.

"I know you're right I can say all the things I never got to before."

"That's right. But when you say them, stay positive. Try and keep his spirits up because as corney as it sounds laughter can be the best medicine."

Carrie nodded and even smiled. "Especially with my dad, he can be such a prankster."

Mike had to agree. "A man like Roman is pretty hard to forget. Just like his daughter. You're a very special woman Carrie Brady."

"You're pretty special yourself." Carrie hugged him. She did feel special when he was around. Mike put his arm around her shoulder but without warning it fell to his side. When she tried to pull away from the embrace, his body followed her movement. She pushed at his chest but he felt like dead weight. "Mike stop it. You're scaring me." Mike fell forward but her sudden movement caused him to fall backwards onto the bed. The hand he had been holding over his bandage was bloody and so was most of his shirt.