You fooled me with your kisses
You cheated, and you schemed
Heaven knows you lied to me
You're not the way you seemed
~ "You're the Devil in Disguise", Elvis Presley
Kristen wakes the following morning, and realizes that Rolf has been lying to her. He seems nervous, making up some story about how her father is now in Bern, Switzerland. He'd been nervous the whole time, and she'd been suspicious. Now he seemed confident, as if he were sure he knew where Stefano was, which meant, he'd spoken with him.
Kristen stared at Rolf for a moment before she demanded, "When did you speak to Father?"
"I don't know what you mean," Rolf replied nervously.
"I'm not an idiot, Rolf. I was raised by Stefano. You've been nervous for days, now you're calm, and collected. So, you've spoken with him. When?"
Rolf sighed, rubbing his forehead. Kristen was exhausting, and he would be glad to be rid of her. "I spoke with him last night," he conceded.
"And he's in Bern? You're sure of it?" she said.
"I am. I told him I would be bringing you today."
"Probably after he told you to get rid of me," she mumbled under her breath, and looking at Rolf's face she could tell it was true. "I'm going to get my things together, and then we can go."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Marlena sits across the table from John nibbling on a strawberry pop-tart, and looks at him glumly, "You know these things are barely palatable in the toaster. Straight out of the package, they are awful."
John started laughing, while he picked at his own pop-tart,"You know, the kids love them, Doc."
"Children are not known for well-defined palates," she mumbled, thinking she would hear him snicker, but when she looked at John's face, she could tell something was wrong, maybe something had been wrong this whole time. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked him.
Sighing, he dropped his food onto the table, and said, "G-d, Doc, you read me so well. I've been having dreams, memories, actually, of Roman's. New ones, that I haven't had before. They wake me up, and then I spend the day with them rolling through my head."
"Are they scary? Or overwhelming?" she inquired gently.
"Not exactly. I just get frustrated, because it's hard to separate his emotions from my own. The hardest are the ones with the children, especially Eric and Sami. I felt so much like their father when I was raising them, but now-now I remember their birth, and bringing them home. It's just hard, because Sami hates me," John told her.
"Sami doesn't hate you...or me. Not really. Her life has been complicated, John. You were the only father she knew, and you were essentially taken away from her. I blame myself for allowing that, but Roman wanted it. A clean break, and it worked...partially," she said quietly. "But Eric left, and hasn't returned, and Sami latched on to Roman like a lifeline. It was unhealthy. I could see it, but I just told myself she was adjusting."
"These memories of Roman's...I already love you on my own terms. Now I just feel like Roman's memories muddle everything. They make me love you more...but they aren't mine," he whispered.
"It sounds like it would be confusing for you," she said.
"His love for you was so strong, it adds to my guilt over the affair...but...I never told you this, during the affair, it was right, Doc. It's like being with you settled my soul, because when I lost you, a part of me was torn in half. It's so fucking weird that I can appreciate Roman's memories, and damn them at the same time."
