Whisper My Name

Chapter 4

**TRIGGER WARNING** Miscarriage**

January 16, 1992

Salem Police Department

A butterfly risin' from the flame

You and me don't need no chain...

~ Lighter Touch ~ Heart ~

Bo stormed into Roman's office slamming the door behind him, "Roman!" He'd just heard from a source near Pier 14 that Roman had nearly been crushed by a falling shipping crate the night before. The rope had been intentionally cut.

Not realizing Bo's level of agitation, Roman barely looked up from the file in his hand, "Hey. What are you doing here little brother?" He placed the file on his desk, and reached for his car keys.

Bo replied, "I wanna talk to you–"

"--well, it's gonna have to wait, I'm on my way out," Roman told him, attempting to walk by.

Bo reached up, placing his palms on Roman's chest for considerable force. "No. You're gonna listen to me."

"C'mon! What's your problem?" Roman said, finally looking at Bo. He was obviously upset about something.

Was Roman really going to act like he didn't know why he was upset? Staring his older brother down, Bo said, "I heard about what happened on the pier!"

Roman groaned as if Bo were overreacting, "What? Are you talking about that crate that almost fell on me? It was nothing."

Leave it to Roman to try, and minimize something that could have been fatal. He'd always had a penchant for making light of the adrenaline rush that came with his flirting with death. Bo stared into his brother's eyes, trying to get him to understand how upset he was, "I'm talking about that crate that almost killed you! Why didn't you tell me about that?"

Roman tried to walk around Bo, "Well, I didn't think it was worth telling you about that–"

"--that's because you're still working on that Raffi Torres case right?" Bo asked him with frustration. Roman was supposed to have dropped it, and he hadn't. It's the only reason he would hide something of this magnitude. "G-d dammit, Roman! What is the matter with you? You just get your life back, and now you're wasting it! You're throwing it away!"

Bo, Marlena...his family. None of them understood. In anger he yelled, "Maybe I can't drop the Torres case because I just got my life back. I spent seven years in that damned dungeon of Stefano's! You want to talk about wasting a life? Huh? The only thing I could think about was you guys! My family. All I had was my memories...of growing up here. How good it was, and how much I wanted to get back. But now that I'm back, I look around, and what is it? It's all changed. Salem used to be a good, decent city! A place you felt you could raise your kids, and not worry about them! But now that's all changed, and it's changed because of this scum that's taken over this city! Scum like Raffi Torres! Well, this is still my home, and I'm not about to let them take it over! I'm going to take it back!" Roman wouldn't say out loud that work and the Raffi Torres case fulfilled him the way his marriage and his life weren't. He wouldn't admit that the life he'd returned to was lacking. It wasn't what he dreamed of all those years he was imprisoned. Marlena no longer stared at him with stars in her eyes, and his children seemed to be more wary of him than idolizing. Weren't children supposed to idolize their father? Life was complicated, work wasn't.

Bo felt like Roman was taking it too far. He'd been told by the police commissioner to back off the case. Probably for good reason. Roman, in all of his stubbornness, wasn't able to take on a crime syndicate by himself. "Samuels told you, Roman...he told you to back off."