Every Memory Repeats

Chapter 11

Marlena smiled at John. Marlena had cancelled their last session because she was still healing after the incident with Frank Delany. She'd wanted the bruising to be less unsightly before she returned to work, but it seemed to be healing slowly. It didn't help that she was also plagued with nightmares. Dreams of Frank's face in a sneer, or his sour breath wafting along her neck. Dreams where Frank's face morphed into Stefano's face, or Frank's face somehow became Kellam's face. Frank's image turning into Stefano or morphing into Kellam had actually made it so that Marlena almost feared going to sleep.

She woken the night before with a scream on her lips, and Roman had simply grunted, and rolled over in bed, so that he was no longer facing her. She'd been covered in sweat, having to shower and change before she could lie back down and attempt to get a few more hours of sleep. Talking to Roman about her nightmares had been unsuccessful. She had hoped that he might understand how what happened in her office with Frank had somehow triggered other unresolved trauma, making it nearly impossible to sleep, but he seemed unconcerned, telling her, "Give it time, Doc. It will pass."

John smiled at Marlena from his end of the plaid couch in her office. She seemed so sad, and tired. Reaching for her, he said softly, "Come here, Doc."

She wanted to go to him. She wanted to so badly, but instead, she pushed herself back further into her end of the couch, and she said softly, "I'm fine. This is your session, and we need to discuss some things."

She couldn't get too close, and allow herself to sink into his warmth. She was married to Roman, and John was getting ready to marry Isabella. She needed to stay professional, because interspersed with her nightmares of Kellam and Stefano, were dreams of John. Dreams of John licking his way along her body, John's hand buried between her legs, while he sucked at her breast, and she trembled with orgasm, and John pushing her against the shower wall in her bathroom, and fucking her from behind while she moaned his name.

She couldn't get the images out of her mind, and after Roman had left for work that morning, her fingers had made quick work of bringing her to climax, as the hot water of her shower sluiced over her naked flesh, while she relived the dream that had woken her just minutes earlier. Marlena felt like she was in limbo. She was unable to move forward with Roman because of her continued attachment to John. Plus, Roman was emotionally distant. He had returned from his time with Stefano a changed man, and she wasn't sure she could love the man that he'd become.

John watched her carefully from where he sat, his eyes glancing over her form in silent appreciation, and he noted how she seemed to get lost in her own mind for a moment. He curiously took in her accelerated breathing, flushed cheeks, and her slightly dilated pupils. He felt his own body reacting to her signals. His cock twitched, and his own breathing picked up. When she looked up, she seemed almost surprised to see him sitting there studying her, and she cleared her throat shakily, saying, "We need to discuss if you've made a decision about Lawrence, and if you wanted to undergo an x-ray to verify what you remembered under hypnosis about a microchip."

His body was tense. The sexual tension in the room was thick, and neither one of them would acknowledge it, so he said, "I'd like you to be there when I speak with Lawrence."

"When would you like to do that?"

"Next week? I'd like to get it done before the wedding, and the wedding is in a few weeks," John said softly, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest.

"Are you excited?" Marlena asked him. "About the wedding?"

He's silent for a long moment, before he says, "I'm not sure. With the hypnosis, and everything else, I just feel...overwhelmed."

Another long pause ensued, before Marlena said, "I see." Both of them saying so much, without actually saying anything. She didn't know what else to say, so she said, "What about the x-ray?"