"This is a little early for one of our normal chats, isn't it, Doc? You never call before midnight," John said laughing.
Marlena glanced at the clock, and noticed it was only 11:45 pm. She had been lonely, and the house was so quiet. Roman had left a message saying he was working late on some undercover thing, and she hadn't given much thought to picking up the phone, and calling John.
"I miss the twins," she said softly. "I want them home."
"Then bring them home, Doc. I can take you...on Victor's plane. We could fly to Colorado tomorrow if you wanted to," he said.
"Every time I try to speak with Roman about it..." she says, and then she stops speaking for a moment before continuing. "Well, when I try to discuss it, he changes the subject or comes up with excuses to let them stay there. I feel like he doesn't want them home. That's frustrating...because I lost so much time with them already..."
"Do you want to go get them?"
"Yes...I want my babies back," she said as silent tears flowed from her eyes. "I don't understand why Roman doesn't seem to want them back..."
"Maybe try, and talk to Roman again. Let him know how serious you are. Don't just broach the subject, Doc, but let him know that you want them home, and you plan on bringing them home," John told her. "Roman's the kind of guy, you have to be really straight with. Don't make leaving them in Colorado...don't allow that to be an option. You want the twinners home...tell him you're bringing them home."
"You're right. I know you are," she murmured. "I'll speak with him...he's not home right now...so tomorrow..."
"You know, Doc...maybe we oughta tell Roman about this check thing with Carrie, too. I mean, especially now that we know that she is innocent."
"We told her we wouldn't do that," Marlena says.
"Roman is her father," John says, even though it pains him every time he has to say it.
"I know that...I know that. We promised we wouldn't talk about it, and she trusts us...and if we do, we'll betray that trust. She might not confide in us again."
John pauses, before he responds, saying, "Perhaps she'll just tell him on her own, right?"
"Sure...maybe she will," Marlena says noncommittally.
"You don't believe that, do you?"
"I think..." she says, "...this is very confusing for Carrie. I mean, she thought that Roman was dead, she thought that you were her father, and Roman came back—"
"—Now that's kind of a tough situation for anybody to handle."
"Present company included," she whispered into the phone.
John knew that the events in Mexico, and their separation for the last year had been difficult on her. It had been excruciating for him. It still was, honestly. He responded the only way he knew how...with generic reassurance, "We'll work this out...I just think that we expected...everything to fall into place a little too quickly. Sometimes, that shouldn't happen."
"I bet you're right. I bet it will work out," she replied with equally generic reassurance. After a long pause Marlena smiles, adjusting the phone at her ear, and says, "You know what would be really good right now? Pancakes. You used to make the best pancakes."
"Doc, it was a box mix," he said laughing.
"I know that, but I always seemed to mess them up, but when you made them they were perfect! Mine are either too runny or I burn them...or they're lumpy, or—"
"—I know, Doc. I remember," John says. "The twinners used to eat three each, I think. Sometimes Eric wanted blueberries and, of course, Sami wanted chocolate chips. I made a lot of pancakes. You know, I taught Carrie how to make pancakes..."
"You did? I didn't know that."
"When you were gone, Carrie...well, Carrie took over a lot of things in the house. She also wanted to learn how to cook. She was so great, Doc," John said quietly. "When everything was falling apart we became this team..."
"I can see that, in how the two of you interact. There's an understanding between the two of you, that she doesn't have with Roman. You work with her to solve problems, while Roman tries to solve them for her, and then demands she do what he says," Marlena says. "Carrie is too stubborn for that. She's too independent."
"We went through so much together...she had a huge crush on Frankie that nearly broke her little heart. G-d, Doc, I wanted you here so much when the period talk came up! You'd be proud of me though, I muscled through that one as well..." John laughed. "Although Carrie would likely tell you to never mention it...ever. She was so embarrassed."
"Roman doesn't understand any of it. He's angry. He thinks you took his life...but you didn't take it...I-I gave it to you."
"You thought I was Roman. You loved me when I was Roman," John told her with a deep sadness in his voice.
"I loved you...when I thought you were John Black. I even loved you, when I thought you might be Stefano..." she whispered. "I should have told you that. I never wanted you to think I only loved you, because I thought you were Roman."
"What about now?" he asked her in hushed tones.
"Do I love you now?" she asked.
"Yeah."
There was a silence that dragged on for a lengthy period before she finally said, so quietly he could barely hear her, "I do."
John's heart skipped a beat, but he had to know, so he asked her, "How do you love me, Doc?"
"As a wife..." she whispered. "...and what do I do with that, John? I can't lose you, it would break me. I need you, Carrie needs you...the twins are going to need you..."
"Maybe I need to go for awhile, Doc. Take Brady, and work from Europe for a couple months...I mean, he's young enough to do that."
"John! You can't!"
"If I don't, baby...we're gonna cross a line...we already have crossed the line, you know that," he says.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Roman, I want the twins home," Marlena told him, as he was getting ready for work the following morning.
"Doc, you want to just pull them out of school, and disrupt their education. Bring them home this summer. They like it in Colorado."
"How do you know that? You don't even call them. Eric sounds so sad, and Sami misses your parents, and Shawn D. No. I'm tired of waiting. I lost five years with them, Roman, I want them home," she said firmly.
"I still don't think it's a great idea. You're just going to get a flight, show up, and pull them out of school? Do you know how hard it's going to be, traveling through the airport with two eight year olds? What about layovers and stuff?" Roman asked her, trying to stall the inevitable.
"John said we could use Victor's plane, that we could—"
Roman was enraged, cutting her off, "—Fucking, G-d damned, John! Why the hell are you talking to him about this? It's not his business, and he's not their father!"
Marlena just stared at a man she didn't recognize. The man standing in her bedroom with all of the anger, and rage evident on his face, was not the same Roman Brady she had married. John was right, though, she needed to unequivocally state that the twins were coming home. This was not an argument. She said quietly, "I'm bringing them home, Roman. I want them home. They are my children...and I'm bringing them home."
