It's Never Too Late

Chapter 3 - Just A Kiss

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Lyin' here with you so close to me

It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe

I'm caught up in this moment

I'm caught up in your smile

I've never opened up to anyone

So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms

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Rachel Blake had spent twenty-five years of her life in hiding. Twenty-five years trying to forget the horror of her life, and Stefano DiMera's obsession with her. She'd lived in the shadows of Aremid, traveling hidden paths in the depths of the walls at Blake House, and traversing the systems of caves underneath the town. She was a myth. She was ghost, never willing to come out of the shadows until now. Her hands shook as she held Tony DiMera's journal in her hands. She stared into the sleeping face of a man she hadn't seen since the night before her exile. Slowly her hand slid under the lace veil covering her face, and her fingers traced over the mottled skin beneath. She'd once been a great beauty, a wife, and a mother. She'd lived an idyllic life, until the day her husband brought home his new business partner. That first day was the last day - at least to her mind.

Stefano DiMera had charmed his way into their lives, enthralling her children with tales of his travels, while promising her husband wealth beyond his wildest imagination. It was all a lie, a facade, and she'd known it from the beginning. She saw the way Stefano's eyes followed her around the room. She wasn't susceptible to his charms, but her husband was seduced by money. After a life of poverty he wanted more, and he was willing to overlook the things she found questionable. He was willing to excuse Stefano's fawning over her, even asking her to play along, while promising her a wonderful future.

She crouched down, staring at the man who had once been a priest. Following her husband's car accident, she and her children had been at Stefano's mercy. He promised to take care of them. He bought the children games, and toys. He paid for extravagant educations for them, and all the while he wanted more and more from her. His obsession grew. Father John Black had been her salvation, or so she'd thought. A beacon of hope in the darkness of Maison Blanche, until their secret was discovered. Stefano's rage was all consuming. She'd said too much, and Father Johnny was taken away. Her children were taken away, and she... she'd risked everything to save him. Then she was sent away to Aremid, and in one last desperate bid for her freedom, she attempted to kill Stefano. Instead... she'd killed herself, because the world believed that Rachel Blake was dead. The woman left behind was a shell of her former self.

John started mumbling in his sleep. She reached for him, but pulled her hand back quickly. She couldn't touch him. She took a shaky breath. She shouldn't even be there. Softly, she whispered, "You didn't do it, Johnny."

His eyes opened. His mind was hazy. He'd taken the sleeping pills Mike had given him, but his sleep was so disturbed. He kept having nightmares and waking abruptly. Struggling to sit up, he saw a woman in front of him shrouded in white, and he heard her whispered words, "It's the truth, Johnny. Here... it's the truth."

His eyes wouldn't focus as he shook his head to try, and clear it. "What is this? Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"Johnny?" she whispered. She was so scared she could barely breathe. Stefano was too close, and her leaving her hiding place made her vulnerable, but she had to give him the book. "Johnny..."

His eyes opened wider. He recognized her voice. It was the voice of the woman he remembered from Maison Blanche. The woman who called him Johnny. "Oh, my G-d... it's you." His breath started coming rapidly, and dizziness overtook him. Falling back against the wall behind his cot he stared up at her, still trying to bring himself fully awake.