John and Marlena: The Divorce

Push me out of your heart.

It was a chilly, spring day in March as John pulled the keys of his Jeep out of the ignition. He had just pulled into a parking spot near Horton Square. He had spent the past few weeks...make it, months, in Italy "focusing on Basic Black." At least that's probably what he told Marlena he'd be doing the last time they spoke--whenever that was. Their past conversations blurred together in his mind, a flurry of arguments and snide remarks. He glanced over at the cafe. One particular argument toward the beginning of their divorce unfolded before him...

"The reason I called you is that I'm leaving town today," he spoke to Marlena coldly as they sat down.

"Today?" She asked. "You're leaving...today?" Her tone was a mixture of disbelief and anger. But he could hear the sadness there too.

"My meetings in Paris and Milan got set up faster than I expected," he lied. Why he was stupid enough to try to lie to Marlena was beyond him at the present moment.

"Bologna! You're running away," she accused him. Again with the psycholoanalysis. "You don't even want to stay and fight for us! Do you?!" Her psychobabble was truly exhausting sometimes. And right now he was down right irritated with her theatrics.

"NO. What I WANT is to figure out a way to break up my son from that...woman," he seethed, unable to even refer to her by name. Brady had to be the priority right now. They would figure out their stuff later. "And for some reason I just can't think in this environment," he explained. But it wasn't for "some reason." The reason was Marlena. She was not only a distraction, but her constant intefering wasn't helping. "Not lately anyway," he added. She looked hurt.

"When are you coming back?" she asked, unable to meet his gaze.

"I don't know," he tried to avoid her questioning, "...thinkin' about staying in Italy for awhile after I wrap up my meetings just to check out what's changed since we last left." It was bullshit. Or bologna, as Marlena would say.

"So everything that we've built...everything we've survived...everything we've meant to each other...You're gonna throw that away because I didn't tell you about Brady and Kristen?!"

"If I had known earlier what was going on, maybe I could have done something for my son. But you made a decision. You let that woman use him! Maybe even destroy him!" He was beginning to lose his patience.

"You told me she was right and I was wrong!" Marlena spit back. He was tired of rehashing her past vendetta with Kristen. It didn't matter. Not anymore.

"See," John affirmed. "You didn't have any faith in me." This whole series of fucked up events had transpired because Marlena didn't believe he could see the situation with Kristen objectively. She didn't trust him. So she hid information from him about his son. And now they were reaping the consequences. "You know what really bothers me, Doc? You still don't," he spoke more quietly. A tone of resignation.

"How long will you be gone?" she asked again, determined to get an answer from him.

"I don't know," he repeated for the umpteenth time.

"And do you have any suggestions as to how I keep the family safe from Kristen while I'm alone?" She asked. Great. Now the manipulation was beginning.

"Kristen's MO has changed. She's into mind games now," he reiterated. She wasn't in any physical danger. He would never put her in harm's way. And she knew that. At least, he thought she did.

"She is?!" Marlena questioned sarcastically. "OH- really?! OH my!" She really could be annoying at times.

"Stay away from her," he warned, refusing to acknowledge her sarcasm. "Do not engage."