The bathroom is silent for long minutes and John starts to worry. Grace's behaviour is so bizarre and out of character for her and he doesn’t have a clue what's going on inside her head. One moment she's making smart cracks and the next moment she's practically hysterical and she's throwing up. It's not like her and he's starting to wonder if he's been pushing her too hard.
He waits for another minute but he can't hear anything from beyond the slightly ajar door. Feeling nervous, he stands and works his way to the entrance of the bathroom. When he can't see her through the crack in the door, he pushes it open and catches his breath when he sees her naked body prone on the floor.
It only takes him three steps to get across the room and he pulls her into his arms.
"Grace....?" He smoothes the damp, tousled hair from her face and leans closer. "Hey, wake up sweethe-" He checks himself at the use of the endearment he uses for Marlena. At moments like this it's increasingly hard to remember that she's not Marlena. That she's not the woman he loves.
She lays still and cool in his arms, her body slack and heavy. He frowns and scoops her up in his arms. In the bedroom, he lays her down on the bed and peels back the covers. He maneuvers her onto the clean, cool sheet and takes her hand as he sits beside her.
"You can wake up now," he says softly. Entreatingly. "You're safe now. Come back to me." He stops and looks at her with untapped curiosity. "Doc? Can you hear me? I'm here baby. I want you back so badly…" he trails off, the words choking in his throat. "Please come back to me."
She lays deathly still and pale and John chews the inside of his lip as his fingers trace nervous patterns over the back of her hand. What happened to her? What made her react that way? She had seemed utterly irrational in the bathroom, almost terrified.
That wasn't like Grace at all, it was almost like the woman's raison d'etre was eliminating all fear from her life. But maybe if she didn't acknowledge fear, fear might be the one thing that had the power to break her.
He shakes his head. None of it makes any sense. But then what of this nightmare *does* make sense? He hasn't been able to fathom Grace and her motivations. Her emotions.
Her desires are easy enough. She has the destructive force of an emotional hurricane. She hates Marlena and all that she stands for and she seems to want to hurt anybody that loved her alter-ego. As though by destroying everything Marlena stands for, she will destroy Marlena's whole existence.
He frowns. For someone who refuses to admit she feels fear, Grace seems to spend her whole time running from any kind of emotion.
His mind picks back through the debris of the past few weeks. The information that she has given him. Some of it has been willingly, some she is not even aware she imparted. He's just not entirely sure how it all fits together. He's missing something. Something important, he just wishes he could work out what it is.
His heart jumps as she stirs and his attention suddenly focuses completely on her and this moment.
"Sweetheart?" A look of pain flashes across her face and his heart twists. He smoothes his fingers over her hair. "C'mon Lady, wake up. You're safe now."
Her eyelashes flutter. "John?" Her whisper is quavering and contains a myriad of questions.
"I'm here," he smiles, his blue eyes bright with hope. "I'm always here."
"I know." Amber entangles him in a web of unspoken words and hopes. "I…" she looks at her delicate hand in his oversized paw. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," his lips twitch at the corners. "You fell."
"I fell." She repeats. "I fell?"
"Yeah," John swallows, his heart pounding. He has to know. "Doc?"
"Mmmmm?" She blinks, her eyelashes fanning against pale cheeks. "John, where are we?"
"Doc!" His mouth drops open as his gaze sweeps over her. "Oh my God, Doc?"
"John?" she looks confused, but there is laughter lurking in the corner of her smile. "What's going on? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong!' His breath is short as he laughs. "No, everything's right. Now it's all right baby, it's… it's perfect!"
"John," she does laugh now, strong and happy. "John, you're not making any sense!"
"I know I'm not," his glee is almost intoxicating as he pulls her into his arms and holds her close. "It doesn't matter baby, I'll explain it all later. What matters now is that you're safe. You're here and you're safe and I will never, *never* let anyone hurt you, ever again."
"Mmmmm," she wraps her arms around his neck and holds him close. "I don't know what happened, but whatever it is, I do like the result."
John loosens his grip and brings his palm around to cup her cheek. He stares at her intently, his bright azure gaze studying every curve of her face.
"John, what?" she smiles gently. "What *is* going on?"
"You know how much I love you, right?" his words are fiercely intense and her smile fades into concern.
"Of course I do, you silly!" She raises her hand to his face and caresses her thumb across the plain of his cheek. "And I love you."
"Oh Doc…" he grins and lets his body relax into her embrace. "You make me the happiest man alive. If I didn't know how lucky I was to have you before, I sure as hell do now."
"Mmmmm," she closes her eyes and leans forward, nuzzling the roughness of his unshaven cheek. "I guess lucky runs in the family." With a deft move, she reaches down and delves a hand under his t-shirt, laying it against his lean stomach.
The weeks of pent up sexual desire flood into his consciousness and John groans as her fingers tremble across his skin.
"Doc…"
"Mmmmm?" her lips skim the ragged edge of his almost-beard and seek out his. He gasps for breath as she nibbles tenderly on his lower lip. At her touch, all verbal ability flees him and all he can do is to lay her back on the bed and smother her with kisses.
She moans as he pulls back and looks at her. Skin that was pale is now flushed and her lips are scarlet and slightly parted. Her golden eyes flash with need as she reaches for the bottom of his shirt.
"Show me how lucky you are, baby," she pleads; her voice husky and her breathing reedy. She pulls on his shirt and he raises his arms, allowing her to work it up and over his head. She discards it carelessly and eases herself up in the bed, running her fingers through the rough hair on his chest. She looks up with wild eyes and slides her hand around behind his neck, pulling him back down to the bed with her.
"Mmmm." He bends his mouth to her neck and begins to kiss her. She rolls her head back and gasps at the feeling of his lips and teeth. She's consumed completely by her need to feel him against her and she forcefully rolls him over, unwrapping herself from the constrictive sheets. Her naked body arches against him as his mouth leaves a moist trail down to her breast.
"Oh, God… John!" Her cry is lost in a sob as he rolls his tongue around a tight nipple and her fingernails dig into his back as he rolls her over again and brings his hand up to her other breast.
Her hands slip down to the waistband of his jeans and she locates his belt buckle. With deft fingers, she undoes it and pulls it free. Disengaging himself, John looks up and finds her smoky amber eyes looking back at him. They are almost bottomless pools of lust and for a moment he stops what he is doing and stares back at her.
"Please. Make love to me John," she says softly. "I don't know why, but I need it. I need to feel you; right here, right now."
His moment of misgiving is washed away with the tiny, sweet smile that follows her words. The sexy, wanton, gorgeous smile that is completely Marlena.
He reaches out with his hand and brushes his thumb over her lips with an answering smile of his own. And then he reaches down and fumbles with the fly of his jeans.
With a throaty laugh, she helps him wriggle out of the offending denim prison. He has long dispensed with his boxers and he groans as he slides a leg in between hers and feels the heaven of her skin, warm against his.
She reaches for his lips and kisses him softly and gently. With her tongue, she parts them and enters his mouth. In reply, he increases the insistence of the kiss, his fingers lacing in her hair as he moves with her.
She grinds herself against his thigh, desperate for release as he begins to kiss her neck again. His tongue investigates all the familiar, intimate hollows and curves of her neck as she writhes against him.
Her moaning becomes more adamant as he becomes aware of the heat and wetness of her moving against him. And then the sharp, exquisite pain of her teeth gripping the skin of his shoulder as the waves of her first orgasm sweep over her.
"God… Doc!" He grunts, the sound and feel of her sweeping away all sense of reason. Everything is instinctual, everything is touch and sound and warmth. And lust.
"John!" she gasps, as his hands find hers, fingers entwining tightly as he pulls her hands above her head. He moves his leg away from her and "Oh… oh… more. Please, *more*!"
She lets out a shuddering moan as he takes her nipple in his mouth again, plundering her nerves with his tongue. Exquisite trails of fire run down her skin to collect in the delicious moisture between her legs. She sobs in delight as he bites gently on the sensitive nub and her hands clench in fists around his.
She moves deliberately and rhythmically as he ministers to her body, worshipping it with unhurried and decisive sweeps of his lips and tongue.
"Oh…." The moans are coming in short, static gasps now as he moves between her legs. "John, please!" She pins him with a sensual glare as he remains raised above her for a long moment, teasing her with the expectation of impending bliss.
And then he dives into her, into her sweetly welcoming warmth. Into the hot, wet pleasure that envelops him. She cries out as he enters her and she wraps her legs around his hips, welcoming him utterly.
He is lost to all thought as he moves, thrusting and sliding against her. The sweetly familiar and suddenly new sensation of her damp skin against his is utter ecstasy and the sound of her whimpers in his ear drives him wild.
"John," she gasps again as she throws her head back and arches her body against him. And then she's sliding down towards a shattering orgasm, every muscle tensing as she wraps around him, pulsing and driving and screaming as the sweet agony floods her consciousness.
And John can't hold on any longer as the sound and feel of her drives him to a point of near frenzy. A cacophony of sound explodes in his head as he slams into her and a white hot fire of liquid ecstasy pounds through his body to the point where they are joined.
And at last John collapses into her embrace, his head against her chest. He can hear her heart pounding like a drum in her chest. But instead of the joy he expects to feel, he feels curiously bereft.
He knows exactly why that is a moment later when he feels and then hears the deep rumble of laughter erupt from her.
A cold nausea spreads from his gut through every part of his body. Scrambling away from her, he turns horrified eyes to meet with hers.
"Hi stud!" she chuckles. "So, did the earth move for you, *baby*?