John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 40 - Motherhood

"Uh, no. That can't be possible Mike." John shook his head, the disbelief registering plainly in his eyes. "I know that she's done some pretty weird stuff in the past - but this is impossible. How would she have done it? When would she have done it?" His brows beetled. "*Why* on earth would she have done it?" He shook his head again. "No Mike. Your guys must have made a mistake."

Mike looked at him, his face taking a solemn cast.

"John, we checked, and we double-checked and then we checked again." He laid his hands out, palms up on the desk, showing his frustration. He could understand John not believing it. He hardly believed it himself. But the scientific proof was there, and it was undeniable. "It's not genetically Kristen's child." He shook his head. "I don't understand how either John. It *seems* impossible. The timing alone seems to make it impossible. But you have to trust me. That child is not Kristen's and that's a scientifically indisputable fact."

John stared at him in shock, his heart beating frantically in his chest. This wasn't making any sense. "But if this child isn't Kristen's," he breathed, "then whose is it?" Mike stared at him for a long moment. "I have no idea, John. I was hoping you might be able to help with that."

******

Marlena stared at the box, her breaths deep and controlled, as she tried to calm her apprehension. This was Kristen's doing, she knew it. Kristen was doing her best to make sure that she and John stayed apart. Marlena sighed. For a while, she had almost gotten her way. A misunderstanding here, a slip-up there. That's all it had taken.

But then Kristen had slipped up. Or at least her lackeys had. This box was proof of that. She just had to find out what was in it. But the little voice in the back of her mind held her back. Are you ready for what's in there? Are you ready to forgive him? And she knew she would. Somehow, she had always known she would.

"Oppen it NOW, Momma!" Belle demanded irritably. Marlena switched her attention to Belle immediately. It seemed like it might be nap time.

"Yeah." Brady chimed in. "Open it!"

Marlena looked at Q pleadingly. He turned down her unspoken question flat as he shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't you just open it?"

"A great lot of help you are," Marlena muttered under her breath as she watched Belle inspect the carton. Q appeared directly behind her, startling her as he leaned over her shoulder.

"I could be if only you'd ask me the right question," he breathed into her ear.

"Oh, go away." Marlena swiped at him with her hand as she tried to ignore the innuendo that heavily threaded his lazy voice.

"I oppen it." Belle decided as she grasped hold of a piece of tape with a tiny fist.

"Don't Belle!" Brady grabbed her hand away from the box. "Let Mommy do it. It's not yours."

"T'is *too* mine," Belle argued back, her fingers tucked into her palm in a tight little ball.

"Is *not*." Brady confronted her. "It's Momma's. Don't be *greedy* Belle."

"I's *not* gweedy Bady!" Belle's lower lip quivered with practiced ease. "I jest wanned to oppen it."

She turned to Marlena, her eyes flooding with crocodile tears. "Bady bein' mean Momma."

Marlena took a deep breath and then attempted an intervention.

It was too late, as Belle had turned back to Brady and taken a swipe at him. Before she knew it, Marlena was in the middle of a full-scale sibling argument.