Sami leans against the wall by the blackened fireplace, watching her younger sister. Belle is standing nearby, giggling just a little too loudly as she talks with Shawn-Douglas. It's glaringly obvious that Belle has a crush on Sami's cousin, and it makes Sami feel uncomfortable and little bit queasy to think of them together. She knows Belle's not related to the Brady's by blood but even so, it's weird. No matter how much she tells herself that, reminds herself of the facts as they are, it just doesn't feel right. Not right at all.
She looks across at her aunt and notes the concern on Hope's face as she takes in the same scene. Clearly, she's not the only one that feels uneasy about the situation. She wonders if she should say something. To Belle. To Bo and Hope. But what would she say? Really? I think you should keep your son away from my sister. ‘Cuz I find it really gross. Yeah, that'd go down well.
But really, shouldn't it be Belle's *parents* that say something? Or have a problem with it? Or are at least, like, *here* to have a damn opinion on the whole business? But no. True to form, when Marlena's children could *really* use her support and advice, she's nowhere to be seen. She and her husband have disappeared, once again.
"Hey sis!" She whirls at the sound of the voice that is so familiar it almost hurts and immediately throws her arms around her brother.
"Eric! You came back!" She doesn't know if she's ever been happier to see her twin than she is today. He'd gone back to
"Yeah well, when Uncle Bo called, he said this meeting was really important." Eric flashes a brilliant smile. "So how could I say no? Especially when it means seeing my sister. And my *baby* sister. Hey there pipsqueak!" He ruffles the hair on Belle's head as she moves across the room to greet him. She smiles widely and then flings her arms around him in joyful welcome.
"Eric, I didn't know you were coming home!"
"Neither did I; until last night." Eric squeezes her hand with a shrug. "If I'd known I would have kept you company on the plane last week." He turns and looks around him. "So, anyone know what's going on? What this is about?"
"Uncle Bo wouldn't say, but I think..." Sami follows his gaze as it tracks the small gathering of familiar faces. Hope, standing close to the kitchen, next to Shawn and Caroline. Uncle Bo deep in conversation with Aunt Kayla, who had arrived about an hour ago. Shawn-D, standing alone now, next to the door that leads to the pub beyond. Not many of them, a small and intimate family gathering. The only people missing, aside from Carrie, are John and her mother.
"I think it's something to do with Mom. Bo, Hope and Abe took off in a real hurry a few weeks ago. And there've been all sorts of weird things going on since. I told you Mom was behaving really weirdly."
"I believe that the words were ‘even more of an uber-bitch than usual'." He raises his eyebrows skeptically. "So what was it, Sam? More of the same or really weird?" When Sami glares at him, he laughs. "Poor Mom, she just can't catch a break with you, can she?" Seeing Sami's anger, he laughs and punches her lightly on the arm. "Relax Sami, I'm just kidding ya. Anyway, I thought you'd finally started to patch things up with Mom and John?"
"You clearly haven't had any contact with our mother for months." Sami says coolly.
"Neither have you, by the sounds of it," Eric shrugs casually but Sami can tell there is concern underlying his frivolity. She knows Eric too well to miss the signs. Well he can be concerned about Mom, she no longer cares.
Sami is roused from her ruminations by a hush that filters through the room, each person falling silent in what seems like a ripple effect. Sami follows Eric's eyes to see her mother standing uncertainly in the doorway, John solidly behind her, his hand covering hers. Despite the fact that she'd halfway been expecting this, Sami feels a stab of anger that floods through her. How *dare* they just show up here, like nothing has happened?
"Hey everyone," John's warm voice fills the room but it is followed by a burst of nervous laughter. "Thanks for coming."
"Mom!" Belle's voice is a squeak of joy and Sami feels an intense burst of annoyance as the teenager pushes past her and launches herself into her mother's arms.
"Oh Belle!" Marlena's arms fold around her daughter almost of their own accord but Sami sees the grimace that crosses her face and her annoyance at Belle turns to pity. So nothing's changed then. Poor Belle, she's got a shock in store.
Sami's jaw sets in defiance. Well that's fine. But they better not expect her to stand here and watch the floor show. Not this time. She's had enough of that from Marlena, enough of watching her family become confused and hurt as they glimpse the true nature of the woman Dr. Marlena Evans Black really is.
She takes a step to start a determined exit but she's arrested when she hears Marlena's cry of pain and sees the ashen hue of her face as John holds her upright.
"Oh God, mom, I'm sorry, I didn't realize!" Belle is stricken and stands by helplessly as John helps Marlena across to the sofa, which she sinks into with a pained groan.
"Its okay baby girl," Marlena struggles to smile although her eyes are sparkling with tears which Sami watches her surreptitiously brush away with her fingertips. "Of course you didn't know."
"Know what?" Sami hears herself say in a harsh, cold voice. For all she knows, this is simply a ploy to gain Marlena some sympathy. She's not going to be so easily taken in. But she can't help but swallow reflexively when Marlena looks up at her. Those beautiful golden eyes look haunted by misery. She's never seen Marlena look at her like this. She's seen guilt and she's seen a myriad of emotions from joy to grief, but she's never seen this... this... she can't even put a name to it. Whatever it is though, it effectively stops her in her tracks, her mouth dry and her feet suddenly like lead.
"Your mother was involved in a.... an accident, Sami." John says, his hand on Marlena's shoulder.
"What kind of accident Mom?" Belle's cornflower blue eyes are wide with amazement and a tremor of fear she hadn't even known was appropriate before this moment.
Marlena bites on her lower lip and lifts her head to meet John's eyes. He nods and she forces a half smile before turning back to Belle. "That's part of what we want to tell you all. About what's happened over the past few weeks... well, months really."
She casts her eye around the room, meeting the critical gaze of her family. Her gaze lingers for a long moment on Eric's face but Sami can't read the emotions that flicker through her eyes at the sight of her son. Then she stops as she meets Caroline's eyes. Sami sees Marlena recoil slightly and feels a twinge of gratification. Good. They're not going to make it easy for her then.
"Caroline?" Marlena's voice is husky with emotion and doubt. "Is that okay? Are you all right with me being here?" There is a long pause as Caroline looks at Marlena with narrowed eyes, her lips pursed in anger and disapproval. It's a look Sami knows from her grandmother only too well.
Marlena reaches for John's hand, seeking some kind of comfort as they seemingly stand united against their family.
Caroline takes a breath and speaks. Her words are sharp; emotionally she feels very hurt and angry and very betrayed by her once daughter-in-law. "You said and did things here Marlena. Things that I..." she looks at Shawn, who smiles at her and places his hand against the small of her back. "Things that *we* didn't and still do not understand." She pauses, taking a breath to compose herself. "We *lost* *Roman* and you seemed to do all you could to add to our pain." Caroline's eyes glitter and her lips tremble but she pulls herself together to utter a final thought. "Our world was shattered and you just wanted to ruin us further."
Sami has an overwhelming urge to applaud her grandmother and just as irresistible an urge to turn around and scream at her mother to get out and never come back. But she's waylaid by the soft, mournful sound of Marlena's voice which is laden with a sorrow what stops her cold.
"I know it seems like that," she says quietly. "And nothing I can say will take away that pain. And I am *so* sorry for that, I truly am." Her words are reflected by the profound sorrow in her eyes and Sami feels a momentary twinge of empathy for her mother before she realizes what is happening and she deliberately smothers it. "So, if you really want me to, I'll go." Marlena nods, never wavering from Caroline's icy stare. "But Caroline, Shawn; *please*at least hear John out. Don't punish him for the things that I have done." She's pleading with them as though her life, or John's, depends on it. "He has some things to tell you that you *need* to know."
"*No* Doc," John shakes his head forcefully, his face dark with anger. His piercing gaze sweeps the room, finally resting on Shawn and Caroline Brady. "You're Marlena's *family*," he spits out the words as if they are a curse, his voice expressing the pain that the anger won't let his face show. "She's been there for you, she's loved and looked after you; she's helped you more than any of you can ever comprehend. And all she wants to do is explain what happened to her. At the very least, you owe her that much."
Sami feels a flash of irrational anger blossom in her gut and she steps forward defiantly. "How dare you presume to tell this family what to do, John!? You have nothing to do-"
"Samantha!" Bo stalks from where he stands with Kayla over to where John stands, his expression a clear warning to Sami to stop before she says something that none of them can take back. And before Sami can utter a single word in retort, Hope moves from beside Caroline, and goes to stand beside Bo.
"Ro..." She seems to suddenly stall mid-word and for a moment, Sami could swear she was just about to start talking about what Roman would have wanted. "John is right." She continues after a moment, turning to look directly at the older generation of Brady's. "Marlena's been a part of this family for as long as I can remember. And for that reason alone, you owe it to her to hear her out." She turns her head and smiles at Marlena, a warm and compassionate smile. "She's never turned her back on any of us, no matter what we've done."
"Hope, you've heard what she has to say?" Shawn asks stiffly, slipping his arm around his wife's shoulders and guiding her towards the group gathered around the sofas and the fireplace. Kayla and Shawn-D follow them so that they are all clustered in a small group around the sofa where Marlena sits.
"We both have, Pop." Bo slaps his palm on Shawn's shoulder. "And you should too. Trust us, okay?
Shawn turns his head to look at Caroline. She meets his eyes with her own uncertain ones. Sami bites her lower lip as she watches an unspoken conversation that seems to pass between them. Finally they appear to come to a decision and Caroline turns back to where Marlena sits stiffly on the sofa, her arms wrapped around her middle.
"We will listen to what you have to say." The anger and hurt she still clearly feels seeps into her voice, frosting her tone until it is sharp and icy. "I don't know what your excuse can be, but it must be a good one to convince Bo and Hope."
Marlena sighs and unfolds her arms. One hand grips the other tightly and they lay uncomfortably in her lap as she speaks. "It's not an excuse, Caroline. *Nothing* can excuse the things that I said and did. But maybe it's an explanation. And an abject apology. That's what I'm offering."
Caroline stares at her for a long moment, and then she nods and it's almost like the tension in the room collapses with that one movement.
But not for Sami.
She feels angrier than ever. They were all betrayed by Marlena and that they should just sit quietly in the face of pointless explanations and apologies doesn't seem right to her. Nothing can make what was done and said right.
Even John. Why John would even want to have anything to do with Marlena after the way she's treated him, Sami can't imagine. He must be a glutton for punishment. At least her Dad knew when to get out. Saw Marlena for what she really was....
But he didn't really get out, did he...?
Sami clenches her jaw as she watches Marlena prepare to make her lame excuses and tearful apologies. She can't think those thoughts. She can't go down that road again; she can't allow herself to think like that.
It had been shortly after Marlena and John had disappeared from
You'll never believe what I heard. My cousin Bernie works down at the station and she says that Dr. Evans is a suspect. In that murder; of the Police Commander. Her ex-husband.
Sami had marched into the staff-room and just about torn the head off that idiotic nurse. She had been severely reprimanded for it, of course, but it had been worth it. Her mother was not the world's greatest mother, true enough. But that didn't make her a murderer. If there's one thing Sami knows, it's that her mother is not a murderer. No way.
But still, every time she thinks of her father and of her mother at the funeral, leaving with Stefano DiMera, every time she thinks of Hope falling down the stairs at the penthouse, she feels a sick, churning feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Um... I'm not exactly sure where to start." Marlena's voice intrudes on Sami's thoughts and for once, she is momentarily content to listen to her mother and to give up the endless questions that are chasing their way through her head.
"How about at the beginning, Doc?" John suggests gently. Hope has settled onto the sofa, next to Marlena and John grabs a chair and swings it around so that the back is facing the group. Belle has moved back to stand beside Eric and he is watching Marlena intently. "I suggest you pull up a seat folks," John adjusts the chair so that it is close enough that he can still have contact with Marlena and then he swings his booted foot across the chair and sits on it, propping his forearms on the chair back. "This could take a while."
There's silence then everyone waiting expectantly, all eyes trained on Marlena. Then she takes a deep breath.
"You'll all know that a couple of months ago, I had an accident." Her lips flicker into a pained half-smile at the distant memory. "I hit my head. And when I woke up, the first thing I did was tell John I wanted him to move out." She glances directly at Sami for what seems like the first time, but Sami refuses to give her anything in return. No look of pity or sympathy. There's nothing that Marlena can say that will persuade Sami that what she did was justified or that there is any kind of reason to excuse her cruel words and behavior.
"What John didn't know then, what none of you could have known was that *I* wasn't the one that woke up." She frowns awkwardly. "I suppose you could say, for lack of a better term, a different personality awoke while I stayed dormant."
"What, you mean like when Mom was Princess Gina?" Shawn-Douglas blurts out.
"Not exactly the same; but it was along the same lines, yes." Marlena nods.
"Oh c'mon Mom, that's a little too convenient, don't you think?" Sami snaps angrily. That's an opportune excuse if ever she heard it. "So what, you're saying ‘hey, I was a bitch but don't blame me. After all... not my fault ‘cos hey... wasn't *me*'. That's pretty lame."
"Samantha Gene." John's voice holds a note of steely anger, a warning that makes Sami's stomach flip. She can't remember the last time he used that voice with her, but it was a long time ago.
"I'm not saying it wasn't me, Sami," her mother says quiet resignation. "In a lot of respects, Grace *was* me. She wasn't like Princess Gina; she wasn't a creation of Stefano's. She came from inside me but she was..." Marlena runs out of words here and in a gesture of desperate anxiety runs her fingers through her hair.
"That's not strictly true Doc," John tells her. "Grace was a creation of Stefano's in many ways. You know that." He turns back to the assembled group, his cerulean eyes unusually bright.
"When Marlena disappeared from our lives thirteen years ago, we know she ended up in Stefano DiMera's care. What we didn't know until recently was that for most of the time Stefano had her, she was conscious."
"I didn't remember any of this until a few weeks ago." Marlena says simply. "But this is what we've been able to piece together from these new memories and things that I've read and been told in the past few weeks."
"Grace told me some of it when we were holed up after we left
"When I woke up after the plane crash, it was the strangest feeling. I didn't know anything, I had no idea who I was or what had happened. I had nothing of my past to hold onto, just the immediate moment." She goes on to describe the immediate days following and the presence of the stranger at her bedside. The man who had introduced himself as Stefano DiMera.
"I didn't know any better." She shakes her head as if berating herself silently, even though her words say differently. "I thought he was my rescuer and my protector. He was kind to me, or so I thought at the time and I grew very quickly to depend on him and to trust him. So, when I started having memories of Roman and my family," she glances at John and then at Sami and Eric, her expression clearly apologetic, "and he told me that Roman simply hadn't bothered to make the effort to find me, I'm afraid I believed him."
"Oh, but how could you believe him!?" Caroline exclaims angrily. Her anger clearly hasn't abated any and Sami silently gives her grandmother another cheer. "Roman *never* would have abandoned you if he'd had any idea that you were alive!" This cuts Sami's glee short, however and she narrows her eyes angrily.
"Can we *please* stop calling him Roman?" she points at John furiously. "That man is not my father and he is not fit to use my father's name."
Again, John looks at her, his blue eyes cold and brittle as ice. There's a fury in them and an anguish that momentarily leaves her head spinning and she has to clutch at the mantelpiece behind her to catch her balance.
However, he appears to ignore her outburst and instead, he addresses Caroline. "She believed Stefano because he played her. Because he knew exactly the things that would break her heart, even if she didn't remember why they should. He showed her pictures of me with other women. Of Samantha, Eric and Carrie laughing and playing. Of all of us getting on with our lives. She couldn't have known that we thought she was dead." He directs another angry look at Caroline and then casts it around the room. Sami is not sure exactly whom he is angry at now, whether it is Stefano or them. Or maybe himself. "He lied to her and he twisted what little she knew until she didn't know it any longer. And then, when she was at her most lost and vulnerable, thinking no-one but Stefano cared for her, he arranged for one of his thugs, a man called Lamont, to attack her."
Sami flinches at the word and she sees Marlena close her eyes as if trying to will away the memories of that day. For the first time, Sami can't help but see her mother's pained reaction as genuine and it makes her uncomfortable and scared. She's not sure she wants to hear what comes next. She tightens her grip on the fireplace surround and presses her lips together as John continues.
"Stefano came back to the compound and stopped Lamont just in time. Grace had no idea that Stefano had planned the whole thing, to scare her half to death and to reinforce his status as her protector. But even then, it seems she was still too strong. He had to break her completely before he could make her into what he wanted." He lets his words sink in to the slightly bewildered gathering.
"Honey," Marlena's voice is shockingly husky and anguished as it shatters the silence. "I don't think we need to go into any more detail. Not with the kids here." Sami looks at Belle, who is standing beside Shawn-D and is as pale as a ghost. She looks like she's about to throw up and Sami kind of knows how she feels. Eric, beside her looks as furious as she's ever seen him and she knows that if he saw Stefano now, he'd probably try and kill him with his bare hands.
If it hadn't been enough that he'd taken their mother away, kept her locked up in a hospital room, a sleeping ghost, now they find that she was attacked and abused... and.... God... is there even worse than that?
John looks around, and sees Belle's face. Sami gets the impression that he's so caught up in his anger that he's almost surprised by the fact that Belle is still there. Pushing himself from his chair, he strides over to Belle and takes her face in his large palms. His expression is soft and gentle and Sami feels a stab of irrational jealousy as she watches the intimate father and daughter moment.
She'll never have another of those, never be that close to anyone again, anyone who loves her as unconditionally as John and Marlena love their precious Isabella.
She looks away, trying to shake the feelings of envy and loss. She doesn't want to feel like that about her sister. Belle is innocent in all of this and Sami loves her, almost despite herself.
"Izzy, I'm sorry baby," John tells her tenderly. "I didn't mean.... I don't want to upset you." Slipping his arm around her shoulders, he pulls her close and then turns to face Sami and Eric. "I don't want to upset any of you. But I want you all to understand what your mother", he looks around at the rest of the family, "what Marlena went through all those years ago. When the old man did what he did to her; and Marlena's right, I'm not going into any more details there; but what he did, it broke her; completely destroyed her spirit and her fight. And what was left, what he manipulated and twisted after all she closed down, was the personality that became Grace. And it's Grace that we've all been living with for the past few months...."