Some love stories begin with a rescue. Others begin with goodbye. Escaping a failing marriage, Marlena Evans travels to Alamainia seeking peace and finds something she never expected: John Black. One unforgettable summer changes both of their lives forever. But when Marlena disappears before sunrise, leaving behind only a letter and a broken heart, neither realizes that their story is only beginning. Years later, fate will offer them another chance-if they're brave enough to believe in myths, legends, and the power of a love that refuses to die.

A week away was supposed to change nothing. When Marlena Evans agrees to speak at an Empowering Women lecture series, she hopes the time away from Salem will give her a chance to breathe and escape the growing tension surrounding John, Kristen, and the secrets threatening to tear their family apart. Instead, one devastating accident changes everything. As old wounds reopen and impossible choices are forced into the light, John and Marlena must confront the truths they've spent too long avoiding. In the aftermath of tragedy, both will discover that sometimes the most painful transformations are also the ones that lead us home. Set during the turbulent fake-baby era, Transformations explores love, loss, forgiveness, and the enduring bond between two people determined to find their way back to each other.

What if John left Salem and let Belle be raised by Marlena and Roman? This is a multiple part short story. Well, was a stand alone (old) short story that I have decided to dust off, change a bit, and add to. So, there will be at least two parts. Maybe more. We will see. Thank you MsGoldie for the cover art!

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.

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.

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.

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

This series begins Easter 1996. It will take our couple through a year of holidays, because we didn't get holidays with them together and their kids still little, which was so unfair. Not only to make Christmas 97 about Roman, Sami & Eric after everything we went through, but then to age Belle and Brady before we could have any time with them.

In this story, John Black has decided to retire and spend the rest of his life enjoying time with his family, but his grandson is attacked, so John decides to go on one last mission to bring down the assailants. What unfolds depicts the author's idea of what could have been the last storyline for our beloved hero, had he been able to have one. It portrays the final days of John's life, as well as his death, and should be read with that in mind. It also continues the timeline of two previous stories, Whispers in the Dark and Just a Matter of Time and follows what the characters were doing after those stories ended, not the current storyline. Finally, this story was written with love and respect to the memory of Drake Hogestyn, who was an amazingly talented actor and, by all accounts, a wonderful human being. It is my hope that this story honors him and his legacy to Days of Our Lives. Please read it with discretion, and only as you are comfortable doing so.

John Black has had many injuries in his life. This one, however, threatens not just him, but those he loves as well.