"I'm not happy about this." Roman takes Marlena's arm and pulls her back towards him. "Doc, you don't have to do this. Let's just go home now. It's over." He's agitated and there's a hint of desperation shading his voice. "Let's just go home."
"No, Roman." Marlena shakes her head; her expression is resolute. It's an expression that scares him, just a little bit. It reminds him of Grace. It reminds him that this Marlena is not completely the Marlena he's grown so used to. "We talked about this. It's something I need to do. You know that."
"I..." Roman falters as she turns to him and gently places her hands on his upper arms. He stands for a moment longer with his mouth open, apparently engaged in an internal debate as to whether to continue.
"Please Roman," her voice is gentler now, with a hint of pleading. She knows he only wants to protect her. But she also knows that she needs to move on from this episode on her own terms. Roman can't protect her from the nightmares when they come and he can't protect her from the anger and the fear she feels. She has to face that on her own. And she has to start here. "Just let me do this. He can't hurt me. Not now. Just let me look at him, this one time and say what I need to say."
Roman sighs, a multitude of misgivings gnawing at the pit of his stomach. He wants to give her what she needs but at the same time, the thought of even letting her be in the same vicinity as DiMera makes his skin crawl.
"Roman, Marlena!" They turn in unison at the sound of the familiar voice, the smooth, velvet tones oddly welcoming in such a foreign environment. "Hey Marlena, it's so good to see you up and about!"
Abe enfolds her in a bear of a hug and Marlena laughs. "Not as good as it feels to be out of that room. If I never have to eat another hospital meal, it'll be too soon!"
“Well, I’m sure that there are some folks in
Roman nods. “Two tickets booked for
“You wanna trust anyone else with DiMera?” Abe raises his eyebrows expressively. “With his history?”
“No.” Marlena hurriedly shakes her head. “No Abe. Thank you for taking care of it. I don’t think I could feel easy if you weren’t there keeping an eye on things."
"I want to see DiMera stay behind bars as much as anyone, Marlena," Abe glances at her with an intensely serious expression. "What he did to you... if I couldn't be sure he was going to be locked away for a long, long time... I don't know if I could be held responsible for what I might do."
"You and me both partner," Roman growls, taking Marlena's hand protectively. "And that's why I don't want you seeing him today, Doc. If he were to hurt you any more...."
"He can't hurt me any more," Marlena says softly looking first at her husband and then shooting a pleading glance at Abe. "I really appreciate how much you both care, and how protective you are, but I don't need it. Really. I can look after myself where Stefano is concerned. Well, at least while he's behind bars." Her lips twitch into a wan ghost of a smile. "And I have things I need to say to him."
"Doc..." She gives him a sharp look and he sighs in defeat. "I'm standing right beside you, okay? You can see him, but I'm gonna be there. And if I think he's trying to get to you, to upset you or hurt you, then all bets are off, okay?"
He waits for her argument, but she only looks at him with her golden eyes and a knowing smile that says "Okay baby, if that's all it'll take to make you happy...have at it."
"I'll be there too," Abe nods. "And Doggett, that's the FBI agent who's handling the DiMera case," he tells Marlena. "If you feel like DiMera is threatening you in any way, you just say the word and we'll get you out of there, okay?"
"Okay," Marlena shrugs easily but winces at the sudden stabbing pain in her side. Her wound has healed enough for the doctors to let her out of hospital, but remnants of the pain keep flaring when she least expects them. She stops with a small gasp of pain. "Don't-" she holds up her hand in Roman's direction. "I'm fine, Roman, please don't fuss any more." She loves him so, but really, his overprotectiveness is getting on her last nerve already and they've barely even left the hospital.
She turns to Abe who is watching Roman with the hint of an ironic smile. "Okay," she takes a steady breath and smiles as the pain ebbs. "Take me to him, Abe." He raises his eyebrows and waits for a moment, waiting for Roman's assent. He's amused to see Marlena turn a steely gaze on her husband. A look passes between them and Roman's doubtful nod comes only a moment later. Abe is well used to this unspoken communication between Roman and Marlena but even so, he is awed to see how much trust and understanding exists between the two of them, especially given everything that has happened to them and between them.
"Okay," he says in a gruffly emotional voice. His eyes are bright as he looks down the corridor in front of them, "it's this way."
Marlena's heart thumps uncontrollably swiftly as she steps into the holding area in front of Stefano's cell. Her mouth is sticky and dry and she has to fight the sudden urge she has to grab Roman's hand and flee the building.
Instead, she steps further into the room so that she is only feet away from the bars.
DiMera stares out her with muted interest.
"Ahhhh, the beautiful Dr Evans." He raises one black beetling eyebrow and leans lazily over the back of the chair he is sitting in. "To what do I owe the inestimable pleasure of your presence?"
Marlena swallows, her throat parched and sore. "I came to see for myself that you are where you should be," she says in a husky, emotional voice. Roman steps up behind her and wraps his hand around her trembling fingers.
"Ah, Marlena, Marlena, Marlena..." Stefano clicks his tongue against his teeth as he swings himself off of his chair and propels his bulky body upwards. With a nonchalant swagger, he thrusts his hands deep into his pockets and makes his way towards the bars. "You disappoint
"You think I'm weak Stefano?" Marlena takes a step towards him. Her mouth curls into a harsh smile and she gives a sharp chuckle. "You really have no idea, do you?" Her eyes narrow and they shimmer a deep moss green in the half-light of the cells.
"You think Grace was strong? That what you did to me made her some kind of indestructible warrior for your cause?" She forces another laugh, but she is feeling more certain now, more sure that she is doing the right thing. "Stefano, you made Grace, I'll grant you that. You made her, all right. You broke and twisted *me* and built her out of the ruins of what was left. She couldn't have been anything but your creation. She was your weapon, but she wasn't *strong*." Marlena's voice is scornful now, deathly cold and loaded with rage. But she is as controlled as she has ever been. Far more controlled than Grace ever had it in her power to be.
He says nothing, simply stares at her from eyes as black as jet, the hint of a sneer playing around his lips.
She's not intimidated. She refuses to ever be intimidated by him again. He's taken too much from her but he's also given her the truth, despite himself. She's whole again, she knows exactly who she is and what she wants. And she will stop at nothing to protect that.
"Everything you *touch* you destroy, Stefano!" She slips her hand from Roman's and takes another step towards the bars that separate her from her enemy. "Grace, Gina, Kristen and Peter... that's hardly even scratching the surface. You might have created Grace but you doomed her in the very same breath. She was nothing but pain and lies. She was never *real*, she only existed to mask the emptiness you left when you ripped out my heart." Tears glitter briefly in her eyes and then she takes a deep breath, summoning the strength so long inaccessible. "And as soon as I discovered the truth, your house of cards came tumbling down." She glares at him now, incandescent with simmering fury and he actually takes a faltering step backwards from the bars. "So tell me Stefano, how is it that Grace was strong when she broke the moment your lies crumbled?"
"You know nothing about her," Stefano spits, clearly unnerved by Marlena's manner and her words. "Grace was much, much more than simply a weapon, Marlena. She was..." his voice falters for a moment and then his shoulders straighten almost imperceptibly. "She was *magnificent*." His lips twitch and his eyes glitter almost obscenely as he regains his composure. He will not waver before Marlena Evans, of all people. Despite everything, he will never give up his quest for her and now, more than ever it is imperative that he hold his ground. Only this way will he win her respect. Only this way will she know that he is worthy of her, that she is destined to be his, however much she denies the fact.
He reaches out and curls the fingers of one heavy hand around a steel bar and then he bears his teeth in a smile that can only be described as feral. "Ahhhh Marlena, I shall miss my beautiful Grace very much."
"What's there to miss?" Marlena shrugs defiantly but beneath the easy gesture, her body is taut and there is an almost violent hostility radiating from her with every word that she speaks. "It's not as though she ever would have let you *touch* her."
DiMera says nothing, merely stares at her. But his smile falls away almost involuntarily and Marlena knows she has met her mark. "You might have created that monster Stefano, but you were only ever the means to her end." Her pale lips curl into a darkly amused smile as she watches the emotions and the anger flicker across his face. She knows him well. Too well, in fact.
"Once she found John, she didn't need you any longer. And you always knew that would happen," she gives a laugh laced with irony, "that's why you were so desperate to keep her away from him. But you were fooling yourself. You always were delusional." Her eyes glitter darkly as she regards him with a shake of her golden head. "You could never have held her. You could never have *touched* her, not really. She would never have respected you and once you had desecrated her like that, she wouldn't have been your perfect goddess any more. It would have been a marriage made in hell, never to be consummated. And in the end, the wanting her and not being able to have her would have driven you crazy," she whispers the word with a smile on her lips, "and you would have done anything to have her. And in return, she would have destroyed you, and you know it."
This is too much for Stefano and he takes an aggressive step towards the bars. A growl rumbles deep in his throat. "If I had wanted her, she would have *begged* for me and she would have liked it!" His eyes are ebony black and filled with a fury that burns bitterly cold. "And you are wrong Marlena. Grace was *not* weak. She had no moral code to bind her to your misguided sense of justice and fair play. And she did not have your frailty. Your emotion has always been your weakness. Your family, your love for them." He sneers as his eyes flick to Roman and back again. And then he smiles a greedy, vengeful smile, sending a shiver through her. "I freed Grace from those bonds, *I* gave her independence and the freedom to wield her will in any way she saw fit. She was *not* weak!" He spits the words at her furiously.
"My love for my family is my greatest strength." Marlena's voice fills the cold space between them, ringing cold and brilliant against the stone and steel. "You still don't get that, do you?" She shakes her head, incredulous that after all these years Stefano can still regard her love for Roman as her weakness. "You lose, *every* time, because you can never understand the love that brings Roman and I together is what makes us so strong. It's what sustains us in the face of *anything* you throw at us." She swallows, her heart thumping as she takes another step towards Stefano. She can feel Roman stir behind her and she deftly slips her hand behind her back and waves him into silence. She needs this, needs to confront her demons at long last. This demon, at least.
"Individually, Roman and I are strong," she continues, her eyes wide, her voice steeled with the knowledge that she is absolutely right and that she is so much more than Stefano could ever hope to be because she has the power to know this one fact. "Roman is an extraordinary human being. You know that, otherwise you would never have marked him as such a worthy adversary." She gives Stefano a knowing smile. "You warned Grace about him. You *knew* that once she fell into his orbit, you would lose her. But you never understood why." She turns to look at Roman, her eyes softening as they meet his. "Granted, any woman would be drawn to him. He's such a wonderful man; he has so much to offer any woman. And he is so... so beautiful." She turns back to Stefano, her smile full of love and hope and joy. In return Stefano can only scowl darkly.
"But I share so much more than that with Roman..... Grace... on a soul level, she couldn't ignore the pull she felt to him. Because she's part of me and because beneath everything, Roman was still the same *incredible* man I fell in love with." Her voice is strong and full of passion. "And because we're strong individually, but together, our love makes us so much more. It can overcome anything Stefano. It overcame the devil and it sure as hell can overcome anything you throw at us." She takes another step forward and grasps the bars that stand between her and her adversary. He is so close now that she can almost feel his breath on her skin. She recalls his hands touching her as Grace inhabited her body and her skin crawls.
She lowers her voice, her eyes boring into him as she speaks. "Together Roman and I are stronger than you can even *hope* to imagine. And you could never understand that, because you are not capable of love." Stefano stares back at her, his face taut and his lips thinned with rage. Marlena doesn't back away, doesn't even flinch in the face of his fury. Her own matches it, but it is fuelled by her righteous anger at what has been done to her and what she has done under the tutelage of the monster before her. And the knowledge that she has Roman at her back is all that she needs to spur her on to say what needs to be said. "Love is selfless. It's a sense of wholeness and a knowing that there is someone in this world who has seen your soul and loved you for every single thing you are. It's accepting and it's unconditional. It doesn't discriminate for weaknesses or flaws. It simply embraces them and transforms them into something more. It's a sense of peace and a sense of being part of something so much more than you could ever be by yourself. Love is finding your place in the world and giving you every reason you need to keep it. But you're not capable of putting another individual before yourself, Stefano. Even your children you see as a means to an end. *You* are the fool. You are a sad, pathetic old man and you are *finally* where you belong. These walls will give you all the love and adulation you deserve. All the love you are capable of returning."
"Do you really think these walls can hold me?" Stefano hisses, his voice low and malevolent. "You are the fool Marlena, if you think that you understand what I do and do not know."
He looks up from Marlena and smirks at Roman. "Ahhh, John, your wife is full of righteous anger and stubborn pride. But I wonder if now you can forget Grace. If you can ignore the moments you had with her. She was... rather different from your lovely wife, no?"
"His name is *Roman*." Marlena's voice is threaded with barely contained wrath. "And Grace is part of me, so I hardly think that Roman will be ignoring anything."
"Part of you, is she?" Stefano raises his eyebrows and his rasping voice is dangerous. "Which part is that? The part that had Roman Brady in her bed or the part that killed Lamont in cold blood? Or how about the part that all but destroyed her family and enjoyed every moment of it?" He looks at her, his malevolent gaze boring right through her. "I'd be very careful Marlena, in claiming Grace and her.... talents," he smirks unconscionably. "You might find yourself accountable for more than you bargained for."
"I know exactly what I am accountable for, Stefano." She narrows her eyes and tosses her head, her golden hair shimmering in the low light. Stefano stiffens, sucking in a rapid breath. "I also know which of us is in this prison cell. And you had better believe that I will do everything in my power to ensure that you stay in this cell or one very much like it."
"And does that include torture and murder?" Stefano's lips curl once again into an eloquent smirk.
"That includes testifying in every court in the land if I have to," Marlena glares at him, golden eyes burning with hatred. "That includes telling anyone who will listen what you did you me, what you had others do to me and what *I* did for you. If I have to pay for that with my own freedom, then so be it. It will be worth it, to know that you will never hurt anyone I love again." Stefano is silent, seemingly lost for a retort and Marlena chuckles bitterly, her eyes shimmering with tears. "It’s that word again, isn't it? Love. How do you answer that? Oh, that's right, you try to destroy it." She lifts a hand and flicks away the tears before they have a chance to tumble over her cheeks. "Well, you failed, Stefano. Once again, you failed. Roman and I found each other *again*, and we're going to have the rest of our lives to live and love and be happy while you rot behind these bars." Stefano glowers at her but she doesn't flinch, she only gives him a look that leaves him in no doubt of how she feels about him.
And deep within him, his resolve to have her, to take her and bend her and break her until she is at last his, grows yet more pronounced.
"I hope you think about us every day for the rest of your miserable life," her fingers tighten around the bars and she leans forward, lowering her voice so that only he can hear the words that are uttered in a quiet and deadly tone. "I hope you think of how happy we are and it eats you up inside. I hope you think of what you did to me, how you tried to *destroy* me and how you failed. I want you to think of me in Roman's arms and know that you will never be able to *touch* me again."
"I did not try to destroy you, Marlena," Stefano replies in a low, guttural voice. "I only ever wanted to love you. You think I don't understand love? I have only done the things I have done because I loved. I loved you and I wished for your love in return. And for that you would have me "rot" in jail."
"For trying to destroy my family in the name of that thing you are calling love.... I would see you *dead* if I could!" Marlena hisses. "That's not *love*. That's a sick, twisted *obsession*. What you claim as love is a grotesque parody. You wouldn't have the first idea how to truly *love* someone. All you really do is covet that which you want to own and control and corrupt." She feels nauseated as she looks at him, so close that she could reach out and wrap her fingers around his neck.... she squeezes the metal bars even more tightly, her head swimming with the overwhelming disgust and anger that she feels.
"I *love* you, Marlena," Stefano returns in a low fierce whisper. "You would deny my love and why? Because you fear what you might find inside yourself should you choose to admit it? That Grace lives in you yet, yearning and fighting to be free, as I will fight...." he shakes his head, his breath short and hot on her fingers as he leans close. "I *will* have you Marlena. I will not think of you with John." His voice is fiercely passionate now and his eyes burn with a fever that is uncomfortably close to insanity. Marlena shivers, her throat dry again as his whispered words continue to wash over her. "I will *not* give up that which is the only thing I have left to gain. I will come for you Marlena, that, I promise you. Watch your beautiful young family and enjoy them while you can. Because I will be coming, when you least expect it."
"If you lay so much as a finger on any member of my family and I will *kill* you old Stefano," she hisses violently. She is shaking now; her knuckles bleached white where they are wrapped around the bars. "You know I can do it and I *promise* you, I will. I will *not* let you take anything more from me or my family." She pauses for a moment, forcedly gathering her composure. And then she is still and her face is perfectly pale, all smooth lines and porcelain planes as she glares at him. "Stay away from us or you'll pay."
She flinches with the light touch of Roman's fingers on her shoulder and her heart thunders out of control for a moment. He curls a protective hand around her waist. "C'mon Doc, let's get out of here." His voice is harsh beside her ear and she can feel the tension emanating from him as he reaches out and lays a hand over one of hers. She can’t say anything for a moment and then she feels him peeling her fingers from the bars and she sags against him slightly, silently grateful for his support.
"Ahhhh, John. Ever the handsome hero, riding to the rescue of the fair Marlena, once again." Stefano chuckles darkly. "Although I might watch her if I was you. It would appear that my beautiful Grace has not completely left us." He smirks and leans against the bars casually. "I have to wonder how you, such an upstanding man, once an officer of the law, can love and trust a woman who can take another's life with such...." he pauses, savoring the moment as both Roman and Marlena glare at him, "such *pleasure*."
"Rot in *hell* Stefano," Marlena snarls at him, struggling weakly in Roman's arms.
Stefano only throws his head back and roars with laughter. "That I might do, Marlena. That I might do. But if we consider the blood that your delicate hands have shed, I rather think we might be bedfellows in eternity in that case."
"Well one more won't hurt then, will it?" She tears herself from Roman's arms and grabs the bars with both hands, her voice rising to an almost panicked shout. "I swear I will kill you Stefano. You stay away from my family or you'll regret it."
"Hey! Come on Doc," Roman is seriously worried now and he pulls Marlena bodily away from the bars and wraps his arms around her. "C'mon baby, s'okay..." He turns to see Abe at his side, his chocolate eyes deeply concerned. "Get her out of here Abe," he murmurs and allows Abe to slip his arm around the shaking Marlena. He watches Abe talking to her softly as he guides her from the room.
Then he turns back to Stefano.
And smiles.
"She won't kill you, of course," he says almost conversationally. "Because she won't have a chance. If anyone gets the pleasure of killing you, old man, it'll be me." His smile falls from his face and his expression hardens. His eyes are like chips of frigid blue ice as he faces down Stefano.
Stefano waits for a moment and then, "what John? No more words? No threats and warnings?"
"The name is Roman Brady, old man." Roman says, his voice laced with hatred. "And you and I both know what the score is. Doc... she's the words person. Me, all I need are my hands." He curls his right hand into a fist and rests it against the palm of his left. "You understand me?"
"Ah come now Roman," Stefano grins knowingly, "surely you can do better than that. After all, you are so protective of your beautiful wife. It must pain you to know how close I was to having her."
"You'll never have her," Roman growls. "You're going to rot in a jail cell. You're never going to see sunlight again, you old bastard, much less see my wife."
"Are you sure about that, Roman?" Stefano raises his eyebrows. "I have a long reach. I have many friends and many favors to call in. If not, then why is Grace not in custody now? Why is she not facing a capital charge over the murder of "Roman Brady"?"
"He was NOT Roman Brady," Roman's cheek twitches with the effort of keeping his muscles taut. "And you better think twice before you make threats against my wife, DiMera. I'll see you dead before you can hurt her again."
At this, Stefano roars with laughter again. "Your threats are hollow, John. How many times now have you threatened to kill me? If you really meant to do it, you would have done it by now." He smiles again, his teeth showing, his smile as predatory as a shark. "You have had ample opportunity. And yet, you stand back, uttering these facile, impotent threats and all the while, delivering your beautiful wife into my hands time and again."
"And you've gotten lazy and incompetent." Roman snorts a little, his laugh bitter and cynical. "Let me make you this promise Stefano." His voice grows low and hollow, and as cold and sharp as steel. "This is no empty threat. You crossed a line. You almost destroyed her and that I will not forgive. You might be safe now, behind those bars. But if I ever see your face again, if I find out you've ever been anywhere near my family again, you won't even see me coming."
"Brave words John, but somehow I wonder if you would have the fortitude to carry them through." Stefano is still all bravado and forced amusement, but Roman can see the pallor that touches his skin and the doubt that shadows his eyes.
"Believe me, old man," he laughs harshly and then continues with gravel-laden voice, "I spent enough time with that cockroach of a mercenary you created crawling around my brain to learn a thing or two. And I know what you did to her. I'll live every moment of that with her for the rest of our lives and so help me God, if I get my hands on you DiMera, it *won't* be fast and it *won't* be painless."
Stefano is silent for a moment in the face of Roman's menacing threat. Roman waits for his caustic retort but it doesn't come. Instead, there is a glimmer of surprise and grudging alarm in Stefano's inky eyes.
With a slow, satisfied smile that creeps across taut lips, Roman turns his back on his nemesis and leaves the cells.