Blurred Lines

Chapter 4 - Forever

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Take these roses off of me

Let me live, let me be

For a little while

Let my eyes

See everything and nothing in their time

I do not mind

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Marlena and Roman Brady Residence

July 10, 1992

Marlena's hand shook as she stared at the photo recently taken of her and Roman. He'd insisted that they have family photos done, and she'd indulged him. It wasn't often that he was free of work obligations. The day itself had been chaotic. Sami was argumentative, and rebellious, while Eric was sullen. Carrie had almost refused to do the photos at all, but at some point she'd changed her mind. Marlena suspected that John had something to do with her change of heart, although neither he nor Carrie ever told her that. Rolling her head on her shoulders, she sighed, trying to stretch the knotted muscles in her neck. Her eyes scanned the wall near the French doors, and she held the photo up, deciding where to place it.

She'd decided to take the day off after another argument with Roman over Carrie. He'd found out everything about Carrie's apartment, and who was paying for it. He was enraged to learn that Marlena had known about it, and said nothing. That was her fault. She knew it was. As soon as John told her, she should have told Roman, but she was tired of the fighting, and she'd said nothing. That only seemed to create a larger issue. Roman couldn't seem to understand that the people in his life kept things from him because his temper was so explosive. She was starting to see the negative effects more and more.

Just as she was hanging the photo on the wall, the doorbell rang. Marlena fumbled with the hook, trying to get the picture in place, while calling out loudly, "Okay, okay, okay! Just a sec, hold on! I'll be right there!" She scurried to the door, pulling it open, "Yes–oh!"

John stood there staring down at her with deep blue eyes that crinkled at the edges. There was a smile on his face, and she stopped speaking for a moment. She hadn't seen him since he'd shown up at her office the week before with a bag of Chinese food. As they ate egg foo young and egg rolls, they'd talked about Carrie's adjustment to her new found independence, and John learning the ways of early fatherhood, since the twins were toddlers when he first came into her life.

"Hi," he said, staring down at her look of surprise. It should be a sin to look as good as she did. Soft honey hair, and a golden bare shoulder as her lilac sweater sat askew.

Noticing the bruise on John's cheek, she reached out, touching it softly, "What happened?"

"It's nothing, Doc. Is this a bad time?" he asked her with a laugh.

"What? No! No!" she said, coming out of her daze. She reached for his arm, pulling him into the house excitedly. "You're being silly. Come on in."

He stepped inside the house, looking around with a profound sense of sadness. He hadn't been there since he'd said goodbye to the twinners, and being there now was almost physically painful. He barely heard Marlena close the front door.

"You're just in time," she said, walking towards the picture wall she'd been working on. Stepping in front of it, she pointed at the photo of her and Roman, "Help me... is that straight?"