John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 42 - Plane Truths

Q regarded John with a modicum of surprise and wondered if perhaps he had underestimated the man a little. He swiveled in the seat of his chair and swung his legs over the arm. Leaning back, he folded his arms and fixed John with a benevolent smile.

"Well, well John. Right first time. I'm almost impressed."

John looked at him with amazement and shook his head disbelievingly.

"It's Marlena's. Doc and I are going to have another baby?" He was questioning himself more than Q. He couldn't believe this was happening. Belle was going to have another sibling. But Kristen was carrying the child. He swallowed, suddenly filled with trepidation for the safety of this child which, in five minutes, had become infinitely precious. He felt almost guilty for loving this child more now that he knew that it was Marlena's. But he reasoned that the love he felt for Marlena couldn't help but increase his love for their child.

It was several moments before he looked at Q again. He couldn't read the expression on the other man's face, but it suddenly struck him.

"How long have you known? How long have you known and not told me? Or Marlena." Q's expression remained deliberately blank as the events of the last few months scrolled back in John's mind. John's eyes were wide when he looked back up. "You've known the whole time, haven't you?"

******

Marlena's hands were shaking as she looked at the piece of paper enclosed in her fingers. It had taken her several moments before she realized what it was.

The inscription on the certificate told her that she and John were now joint owners of a plane called La Belle Miracle. She had finally started to shed the tears she had been holding back so determinedly when she realized that the plane in question was Victor's. The plane on which she had finally admitted that she could not live without John in her life, and they had created their little miracle.

Despite the pain that that night had caused Marlena and her family, she wouldn't have changed it for anything. John had once told her, that night on the plane, she had brought him back to life. What she had never admitted to him, to anyone, was that he had done the same for her. After the nightmare of being held by Stella in that abandoned warehouse and the strain of keeping her marriage to Roman together, she had almost lost herself. As much as she had loved Roman, it had taken her a long time to admit that their marriage was no longer working. In fact, it had been a long while after he had left her that she had finally realized it had always been an inevitable truth that their marriage would end.

He had been a different man after all those years in captivity. Being kept away from his family by force for seven long years. And then to come back and find John in his place. Marlena's heart had broken for what he had been through. And she had battled long and hard to keep their love alive. But in the end, it wasn't enough. They had grown apart and she could not bridge the gap. The embittered man that Roman had become was not the Roman that she had loved and married all those years ago. There *were* glimpses of him. Moments so divine that she had fooled herself into believing that this could be forever. But the incontrovertible truth was that she loved John, and she couldn't switch off that love, however hard she had tried.

And that night on the plane, on the verge of never seeing him again and forever, she had broken down and wept at the utter unfairness of it all and John, losing the last vestige of his denial, had taken her and made love to her so that her body sang with the glory of it. And despite the guilt that had followed she wouldn't give that night up for all the world.

She looked back down at the deed and wept.

******

Q pursed his lips and considered how best to approach this as John stared at him, angrily searching for answers. He jumped as John unexpectedly slammed his fist down on the desk.