An Aremid canon divergence story rewritten with a John and Marlena love story at its center.

After John announces he's leaving Salem with Brady, Marlena goes to the loft under the guise of returning Brady's forgotten teddy bear. The decision she makes that night changes everyone's lives.

John left Salem in 1994, after he was no longer able to live on the sidelines watching the life that he once had. No Isabella nor Brady. If the twins were 9 in 91, makes their graduation (in my timeline) 2000. It is soon after this that Marlena and John bump into each other. These chapters discuss the idea of regrets and fate helping two people who are meant to be. Quite the rewrite from the original version out there.

I wrote this many moons ago and never got to finish it up. Going to try to rediscover the story and characters as I go. You're welcome to come along for the journey, if you wish. This is my take on the affair from 1993, set in that moment in time. Hope you enjoy (:

John struggles with his love for two women. One who is dying, and the other belongs to someone else...but she used to be his.

A month after Roman's return Marlena realizes that everyone is unhappy. Roman wants their life to be the one he left behind seven years ago. John feels like everything he loved is lost, and Marlena is in love with the man who is not her husband, but once was.

A rewrite of the affair...

John and Marlena chose separate paths in Mexico, staying friends but choosing to move on with other people. Isabella's death, and Roman's infidelity push them back together. When they need each other the most, two friends come together and realize that maybe they were always inevitable.

Their love was rumored fact and fiction, blurring the lines between reel and real. After a decade apart, John Black, a retired baseball player and now Hollywood star, reaches out to Marlena Evans with an opportunity she cannot refuse. The challenge? They must contend with feelings of longing and attraction, leading to an arrangement.

A Maison Blanche canon divergence. After being emotionally, and physically tortured at the hands of Stefano DiMera, John and Marlena finally get free. Do they continue to live the lives people expect of them, or do they finally take what they want in life? Each other.