John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 7: Apologies for Some

Kristen looked at her watch. Where was John now? Surely it couldn't take him *that* long to find her. Perhaps she hadn't done a good enough job of looking wounded. The truth be known, she had been amazed and shocked at Marlena's outburst. All she'd had to do was convey that to John and she was sure she'd done that perfectly adequately. Marlena had played right into her hands....

Footsteps clicked in the hushed cafe. She was still, not daring to turn and see if it was him. A hand brushed down the back of her hair and John planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"How you doin' honey?" He sat in the seat next to her and took her hand in his. She met his eyes finally and nodded, almost imperceptibly. "Look I'm sorry about what happened in there. She's pretty upset, and I wasn't helping."

"I only wanted to help John. To be there for her." Her voice sounded plaintively in the empty room.

"I know sweetheart," he cupped her cheek with his hand, "and it was very sweet of you."

"How is Belle?" Kristen decided it was time to play concerned mom-to-be.

"Not so good." John's voice was husky. "They're going to transfer her to the burns unit. She may need surgery." He gulped and Kristen squeezed his hands tightly.

"She'll be okay John. She's a strong girl." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Just like her dad." John struggled for a smile and then patted her stomach.

"And her little brother or sister." He stood and pulled her up. "C'mon, let's go see if she's been moved yet."

As they walked down the hall John found his mind not on the woman next to him. Or on his baby daughter but drawn back to Marlena and the pain on her face as he'd, in effect, called her a bad mother. For a day that had started off with so much promise, he had certainly made a mess of things.

******

Sami turned the corner. She held Will tightly in her arms and looked cautiously through the door. The doctor at the unit had put Belle in a private room to enable them to more effectively control her pain. She was in a cot, the sides of which had been lowered, permitting Marlena to sit on the bed. Carrie sat on a chair next to the bed and she held Marlena's hand.

"Happy families," Sami muttered. Will squirmed as she held him. She shifted him slightly, adjusted his top, and stroked his cheek. "Don't worry little guy. I won't let anything like this happen to you." She kissed the top of his head. Peering through the door again she was rewarded with the sight of Carrie standing and hugging Marlena. Sami scooted back around the corner and waited. She was still avoiding Carrie after the Paris fiasco and she wasn't prepared to meet up with her just yet.

As soon as Will had been found, Carrie and Austin had slipped away and secretly married. She had been forced to fly home with them after they had come back from their brief honeymoon in Provence. They had been sickeningly simpering all the way home, sitting in the seats in front of her and Marlena. She finally had to face the fact that Austin would never be hers and it devastated her. She'd spent most of her time since their return holed up in her apartment, her misery compounded by the squalor she had chosen to live in. Her mother had offered a room in the penthouse, but Sami's pride wouldn't let her accept. Not then anyway. Perhaps if Marlena offered now - especially in light of the mouse dropping Sami had found in the cupboard this morning. She shook her head. The last thing she wanted to think about was Carrie and Austin. Not when Belle was lying in a hospital bed.

Carrie was gone and Sami quietly slipped through the open door. She watched Marlena watching the child in the bed. She used to look at me like that. She choked the bitterness down. She was tired of making the effort to be angry with her mother. It took too much energy and she had to channel that into other areas at the moment. Her shoes sounded muffled on the hospital linoleum as she walked over to the bed.