An AU rewrite of the Salem Strangler storyline with several twists and turns. How would it play out if John Black came to Salem in 1982?

John and Marlena have their 1993 but it lasts for six months, before Marlena pleads with John to help her break it off. John leaves. Fast forward 5 years and the two bump into each other in Chicago, both attendees at the same wedding.

Post Marlena's 1992 return to Salem. Marlena made the decision to give her marriage to Roman a try, but is struggling. John, putting his own pain aside, is frequently there to help her. Thank you to Ms. Goldie for the cover art and for inspiring me to revise and continue this story!

2015. I always wanted more build up to their reunion. I wanted to see them dating and actually finding their way back to one another.

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.

John Black's world changed forever in February of 1995. Losing his son and the one woman who always held his heart nearly killed him. Five years later his marriage to Kristen is falling apart. His obsession with finding the last of Stefano's clones might destroy him... or possibly bring him back from the darkness he's called home for the last five years.

These stories are all one-offs. They are not meant to tie together. These explore the divorce and post-divorce storylines.

These are all stand alone stories. They do not go together in any way. Just a way to look at all of the ways that J/M could have gotten together, with a huge focus on them being "normal" people, doing "normal" things, especially as parents of younger children.

Please Note: this story is in the process of being heavily rewritten/re-edited to fix style, depth and continuity issues. I have gone back to the beginning to completely revise chapters to allow for the change in story direction as I have been going along. ********************************************************** It's late 2014 when John wakes from a coma believing it's still 2012, and that he and Marlena are still married and deeply in love. But in reality, they're divorced. Their relationship broken by pain and choices that can't be undone. Marlena tries to guard her heart. John only remembers how to love her. Going Home to Doc is a slow-burn, second-chance romance that asks: can soulmates ever truly let go? Notes about the use of canon in this universe: John & Marlena have been married since 1999 and that marriage was fully intact until 2012. There was no Princess Gina, no Alex North, no Gemini Twins, no reasons for multiple separations and marriages over the years. Until 2012 their relationship was solid and the tests to their relationship always came from the outside, never within. 2012 changed everything.

Marlena Evans grapples with the sudden loss of her husband and the life she must live without him.