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Post by madelinehawaii on Aug 6, 2006 14:01:14 GMT -5
hi all...afraid RL kinda got in the way this summer but I'm back to working on this again. I'm going to post beginning with the last chapter I'm working on and the rest of the story can be found here: www.fanfiction.net/~madelinehawaiiPlace: Montreal Time: January 2003, same afternoon Tony pushed open the heavy oak door to the room he and Anna were sharing and nearly stepped on the blouse she’d worn earlier. It lay sprawled in a heap and not a foot away he spotted one of her heels, followed by a silk stocking draped across the bedspread. His eyes continued along the rest of the trail she’d strewn, leading in the direction of the bathroom door, cracked open an inch or so. Wispy curls of vapor hovered around the edge of it and now that he was paying attention, he heard water running in the shower and he grinned. The woman had an unerring knack. Whatever her other numerous faults, she knew precisely the recipe to coax him out of a sour mood. Hastily he threaded his way between the clutter, catching his foot and tripping only once in the process of kicking his shoes off and collected the towel she’d left hanging on the door as he stepped inside. There was no shower curtain, or sliding doors. Instead, two massive walls of glass stood offset, one positioned in front of the other, devising an open entry way and though both walls were pretty steamed up on the inside, Tony could still see his wife’s trim, incredibly alluring body arched against the back of the stall, her head resting over so that her glance was directed away from him and towards the opposite end of the shower. There, behind yet another thick piece of glass, an elaborate planetarium blazed with color. Someone had spent a small fortune creating that space he was certain, someone with an eye for exotic orchids, and beauty. Not that he’d paid it much attention. It was difficult focusing on anything else besides Anna when she was in the same room and their time spent in the shower more than kept his mind occupied. Tossing the towel aside onto a diminutive and luxuriously upholstered loveseat residing in front of the dressing room table, he yanked on his sweater, and pulling it clear of his head began to unbuckle his belt. Within seconds he could feel her watching. Bringing his face level with the shower, he found her eyes glued to him, taking in every movement. For a brief sliver of a moment, she acknowledged his gaze but her attention wandered back down as he stepped out of his jeans, and with a leisurely grace any cat would admire, her smile grew from the impish curve of her lips to a smirk. She never, ever tired of seeing him undress. His technique was flawless and he handled it with such an intuitive elegance as though it were completely natural. For all she knew it was but that didn’t really matter. The way it sparked off a hammering in her pulse and set her entire body tingling with anticipation provided all the purpose she required. That and the sight of him naked. Slowly her eyes perused the entire length of his body and a silent chuckle made her mouth twitch, remembering how she’d teased him once, telling him that he’d make the perfect model for a greek god…with the temper to match, and he’d retorted in kind and called her Hera. “You might have at least chosen Diana or Aphrodite,” she’d complained but he’d only grinned back at her without the slightest hint of remorse. “Not even Aphrodite is as devious as you my dear.” “You…you snot,” she sputtered, lifting her hand to take a smack at him but he’d easily caught it first and hauled it around her back, kissing her soundly, though not a second longer than it took to get a response, at which point he’d stopped to wink at her. “You are such a devil and one of these days,” she warned, “you are going to meet a woman that doesn’t work on, you know,” but he’d only grinned and kissed her again, more persistently this time, and then proceeded to tickle her into submission. Knowing her warning had come true didn’t bring her any satisfaction now. Kristen had been such an utter fool to throw Tony away as though he was less worthy or deserving than John simply because he’d lied to her. Of course the woman hadn’t given a d**n that he’d forgiven her lies, her betrayal. She’d refused to even consider doing the same for him, the little witch, Anna fumed silently. “What’s the matter?” he asked, bringing her back to the present with the touch of his lips. She shook her head and dragged his body closer until she could feel ever inch of him pressed up against her. Warm, wet flesh. Hands delved into her hair and slid around her back, and she pushed forward, feeling his fingers trace a path down her spine. “Anna, what’s wrong?” There was the old hint of impatience alongside his concern for her that for some reason didn’t annoy her the way it used to. She recalled those days too, when simply the inflection in his voice could send her into a flaming temper, landing the two of them in the middle of some silly, horrendous quarrel they managed to milk for weeks, or even longer. Both of them were far too stubborn and she didn’t kid herself thinking either of them had changed all that much, but this time she knew it was different. It wasn’t pride or trust that had torn them apart in the end, but fate. And how could she fight that? She’d never been any good or given a d**n about being patient. The role of supportive wife just wasn’t her forte. She’d never be Marlena. But she believed in him, she needed no more proof or space to convince herself of the truth. Those first few days in Paris had been all she required because he’d admitted even his darkest, most agonizing fears. He’d come to her. He’d chosen and he’d made a commitment and no one knew better than she did the lengths he’d go to in order to live up to that decision. And, if after all the years of hurt she’d put him through he could love her enough to do that, how difficult could it be to learn to trust fate just a little and have faith. Even Stefano had his limits. “Nothing’s wrong…well, other…other than the fact that you’re going away tomorrow, so enough with the questions already. Kiss me.” It was such a charmingly petulant demand he had to bite his lip to dampen the familiar itch to wrap her in his arms and shake her, all at the same time. “Yes, well…” His lips moved so close she could taste his breath as he murmured smoothly, “since you’re the one giving the orders tonight…” Laughter lay suppressed in his voice, bending his accent so that she could detect the slightest trace of his youth in Australia. “…how exactly would you prefer that madam? A gentle peck?” The touch of his mouth, no more than a caress brushed fleetingly, allowing her only the tantalizing flavor of him before it vanished. “Or perhaps a more…indirect route...” and hot breath hazed her skin so that she was hardly aware of the moan escaping her lips as he flicked his burning tongue along the edge of her jaw and let it dance lazily beneath her ear, nibbling and sucking slowly at her skin before finally reaching her ear lobe. He played with that too, giving it a tug with his teeth before slipping the wet tip of his tongue inside her ear. By now every nerve in her body was taunt, and she yearned for the touch of his fingers, any of which could arouse the most delectably maddening sensations. Unlocking her hands from behind his head, she eased one of them over his shoulder and raked her nails lightly across his chest to reach down but he must have guessed her intention because he quickly pinned her arm to the shower wall with his shoulder and moved to grab her other wrist and swung it above her head. “If you do that, and this isn’t going to last very long,” came his breathless voice in her ear, the humor beneath the words even more pronounced than a moment before. “All in good time, love.” “Tony…” Her breath caught in her throat as his free hand molded itself to her breast and he let his thumb glide across the top of it, teasing it gently. “Yes?” The drawl in his voice was only a muffled sound against her neck. She swallowed. “I swear you love torturing me.” His mouth appeared once more just a fraction of an inch away from her own. “Not nearly as much you enjoy it, my dear.” And though it was true, he had to admit that the fact of the matter was, they were both insatiable. Her body captivated him almost as much as that convoluted and adorably illogical mind and no amount of time together or experience dulled the fascination. It was simply impossible to be bored in her company. “You are…” “Irresistible?” she whispered as her eyes gazed back at him, daring him seductively. “Quite naughty is more like it,” and his lips prevented any response to this observation, devouring her now with a hunger she responded to without hesitation. “…and delicious…my god woman, that mouth is…” “All yours,” she laughed and the delight softening her face was contagious. Thick, silky lashes so black they cast a shadow across his cheek fluttered tentatively a moment and then glided upwards to reveal a look stripped of any pretence except a fierce desire and joy and his eyes glowed with the intensity of it. “No wonder I went mad without you.” Biting her lip, she tried but couldn’t help the giggle that slipped out. “I thought it was being around me that drove you mad,” and the quip brought a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Occasionally. Better mad together, eh?” “And who said anything about…” but she got no further. The shreds of her indignation bled away beneath the sweet taste of him, lips so enticing she’d never been able to resist, and oh, the things he could do with his tongue…she felt herself flush with pleasure at just the thought. And he was never in a hurry. He knew her mouth as intimately as he knew the rest of her and used it to drive her straight to the edge of begging. By the time he pulled away, she was breathless but still she moaned in disappointment. “I take it,” he said, the huskiness in his voice not quite masking his amusement, “that means I probably couldn’t talk you into washing my back…” “You don’t bring that mouth back over here, I’m going to wash it out with soap.” Throwing his head back, his laughter echoed through the layer of steamy mist floating above their heads. “You’d try it too, wouldn’t you?” “For being such a brat, I ought to…” she squirmed against the wall, still caught securely behind his weight. “Yes?” “I’m…” She flashed a determined look at him. “…okay, I’m thinking about it.” “I’ll bet you are,” he chuckled, his eyes running appreciatively along the curves of her body. “And no doubt, you’d drive me right to the point of enjoying it…” “Either that or you’d want to kill me.” He shook his head. “I’m getting too old for that, my dear.” “Oh yeah, fat chance I have of that ever happening.” “What, no sympathy for your old man?” which simply brought him a snort of laughter and a knowing glare. “I see, well my darling I’m worn out after this morning, thanks to you and,” he sighed, “Colin’s tales, so how about we call down to the kitchen for something a little less…” he flashed her a mischievous look, “…strenuous.” “That could mean either something to paddle me with or whipped cream…unless of course you’re in the mood for chocolate.” “How about both,” he suggested with a grin. She stared back him with her eyes gleaming, at the possibilities he hoped, though he had not the faintest idea what was really going on behind them. “Does that include the paddle?” “I’ll leave that up to you,” he said, reaching for her lips once more but she pulled away and shook her head. “And what if Shane’s still down there? Knowing him, he’d get quite a kick out of delivering it personally.” Tony shrugged. He was tempted to tell her that it was already too late to salvage even the slightest indication of propriety in Shane’s eyes, especially after what the poor man had gotten a glimpse of in the kitchen the night they’d all arrived. “Probably, but so what?” “And then he’d sit through dinner with a grin all over his face, him and Eugene.” Dropping a kiss on her nose, he said, “Who says we’re going down to dinner?” Anna’s eyes popped wide in surprise, though it took only the space of a minute for a look of perplexed suspicion to replace it. “I figured you’d insist. That you’d want to sit through the entire dreadful production just to keep the peace considering Colin would be there and…well,” her voice faltered, meeting his steady gaze, “you know what I mean.” “Colin isn’t a child,” he reminded her, “and since he’s managed to keep his neck intact this long around Stefano and the Bradys, I hardly he needs any assistance with Shane and if I’m wrong, Gene will be there to take care of it.” “Either that or we’ll just hear the furniture being smashed into little pieces downstairs.” Tony blinked, taken aback by her sudden concern. “You don’t approve?” “Of Colin? No, it’s not that…” She bit her tongue and looked away uncomfortably. It wasn’t like they couldn’t talk about Andre but she’d certainly avoided the subject as often as possible and there were places that she made sure never to mention his name. “I’m just a little worried. I mean, what if Shawn and Stefano aren’t the only ones who suspect you had something to do with Colin’s disappearance?” “Ahhh,” and Tony sighed. “I see. Eugene has been talking to you too.” “Yes.” “Darling look, I don’t want you to…” But before he got any further, she pulled her hand from his grasp which had slackened and slipped it over his mouth. “Just listen for a minute, okay?” and to her amazement he didn’t argue. In fact, he even relaxed, leaning against the wall and waited with an air of intent curiosity. “You and Shane set this all up so that Stefano would believe that Larry’s responsible for taking care of Colin, but if Gene’s suspicions are correct and Larry is working for…” They stared at each other for an awkward moment. “…Colin’s father…” Tony murmured, his eyes darkening to grim fathomless pools and she could almost see the memories surfacing. Nodding, she rushed on. “They’re both going to assume it was you. I mean, they both know it wasn’t Larry and unless you can somehow leave evidence that would point at someone else, you’re the one that looks guilty.” “Someone else…like who?” “Well, if you’re going to make Stefano think it was Larry; why not make Larry think it was Stefano?” A smirk appeared and he gave her shoulder a playful and reassuring squeeze. “That would be amusing but a tad…” “Obvious, yes I know but we can’t let him go along believing it was you.” “No you’re right…although…” His eyes lit up and his grin widened devilishly and without any warning, he kissed her, his tongue bursting into her mouth with an intensity that lingered for only a moment . “Oh, you are brilliant, my dear.” “What, Stefano?” “No, no, no. The Bradys.” But she just shook her head in confusion. “I’m afraid…” “Being stuck in the middle of all this, don’t you see? It’s simple,” he said, cupping her face between his hands so that she would focus on what he was saying. “We just play each side off against the other,” and he waited as the pieces clicked together in the back of her eyes. “You don’t mean Bo.” “He’d make the most sense, considering Colin’s plans and what Larry has been up to.” She didn’t appear all that pleased with the idea at first but then she realized what he was getting at. “You think that making him look guilty for Colin’s murder might just motivate Shawn to talk.” Tony’s smile beamed and he drew her closer, planting another brief but gratifying kiss, and hugged her tightly. Thankfully, she felt at least a portion of her anxiety melt away in his arms but the seed Eugene had planted earlier remained, murmuring its warning over and over in the back of her mind. Andre was out there...
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Post by madelinehawaii on Aug 6, 2006 14:07:50 GMT -5
Place: Farmhouse outside of Salem Time: earlier that day
Despite a few hairy road conditions, and weather that made her think rather fondly of the fireplace in Roman’s living room, Kate Roberts had arrived at the appointed place. She was even on time which would please the old reprobate. Of course, in all probability he’d take credit for that due to the demise of Mr. Murphy. Her summons showing up only the day before the man’s ‘murder’ was too much of a coincidence, a concept she pretty much shunned anyway come to think of it. The unexpected rarely happened in Stefano’s world. He mapped out even the smallest details with a precision that was truly awe inspiring at times, though admittedly she found the process of it tedious whenever he’d check up on her as he was doing now.
Irritably, she jerked the key from the ignition and began searching her ring for the one that had arrived with the note that she’d long since destroyed. If Stefano didn’t trust her by now, didn’t know her more than capable of handling her end of the operation with both John and Roman perhaps it was time she reminded him of the reason why he needed her in the first place, and how Rolf, the arrogant son of a pregnant dog had failed him miserably, with not only Roman but John and Tony, and Lexie as well. And the twins...she shook her head in disgust at the memory of how the eminent doctor had managed to loose track of them so that they’d ended up sequestered by the ISA.
And on top of all his other blunders, he’d managed to piss off Tony and make him suspicious.
Perhaps that was the reason for this meeting…damage control.
Fingering the house key, Kate glanced out the window at the stark landscape surrounding the car. A water-stained sky hung over the fields. Only lone patches of snow remained on the ground so that everything for miles around was one shade or another of dull brown, some darker, some lighter but without exception depressing and nondescript. Not a speck of green anywhere, no pine trees or decorations. There were few trees of any variety except near the house and their bare branches did nothing to enhance its appearance. In the summer with a limitless and purely azure horizon stretching out in every direction it might be picturesque, flowers trailing from wire baskets beneath the windows and hanging on the porch but on such a day as this, the washed out boards instilled a sense of tawdry gloom that she did not appreciate.
As usual, Stefano’s aims were quite transparent, and forcing her to meet in such a hovel was his way of reminding her just how much of her life she owed to him and what would be left of it if she failed, and that only served to strengthen her determination.
She grabbed her purse and locked it into the glove compartment, and then steeling herself against the artic wind, threw open the door. There was still plenty of the ice on the blacktop. Gingerly, she made her way around the SUV and up the walk until she reached the porch, bare except for a decrepit rocking chair and a couple of tall windows, tightly shuttered as though the occupants had escaped for the winter to a warmer tropical climate. Just the idea of Bermuda sounded heavenly but she pushed it out of her mind and unlocked the front door. At least, the place didn’t feel or smell as deserted as it appeared. The heater was on. And someone had only just finished breakfast she noticed as she turned to close the door. Their empty plate sat on the dining room table, a napkin tossed next to it and quickly her eyes darted towards the kitchen.
“Stefano?”
She pulled off her heavy fur coat and throwing it across the chair where he’d just been sitting, made her way in the direction of that tantalizing smell she’d encountered as soon as she’d stepped inside. The man might put up with crude surroundings but life minus his small rituals was not to be tolerated and at this time in the morning, the ritual he insisted upon was his coffee. And by no means did it resemble Mrs. Brady’s version. Nothing on earth tasted as divine in the morning as Italian coffee and Stefano’s particular concoction was quite distinctive. He’d even left a cup out on the counter for her. That could mean only one thing, he was busy and expected her to wait patiently until he arrived back downstairs.
Kate certainly had plenty of experience doing that but being dragged all the way out to the middle of nowhere had pissed her off royally, especially when he’d failed to give a reason or explain himself. And if all of this was just a matter of soothing his nerves because of what happened to Lexie, because like everyone else, she’d been fooled by Shane and Bo’s little scheme and let him believe for even a couple of days that his daughter was truly dead, Kate’s ability to contain her temper would get a real workout.
With a sigh, she slowly brought the steaming cup to her lips, and closing her eyes, inhaled its fragrant aroma. After a careful sip, she reminded herself that there were other possibilities. Perhaps he had news of his own, hopefully about Billie, and how her daughter had fallen into Welsh’s snare. Though admitting it at the moment set her on edge, he’d always been considerate of her feelings when it came to her children and treated her with far more dignity than most of the people in her life, never like a servant and to a large degree, quite a bit better than he’d treated his own children but then he knew her to be entirely trustworthy. She’d given him no reason to ever suspect her over the years and yet despite this, he still refused to open up to her and share what he was up to…exactly.
Oh, she knew about the Bradys but why did he insist on treating his son this way?
Stefano behaved as though the sight of Tony going after John would give him nothing but satisfaction, even joy. He’d done everything in his power to push Tony in that direction; leaked information, made him believe his wife was dead and made certain he was aware of exactly how John had treated Kristen after Arimed; he’d revealed everything except their past in Ireland. And Eleanor. That she didn’t understand if the object was to take down John…and if that wasn’t the objective, what on earth was he doing?
Into this reverie broke the sound of a chair scratching the floor upstairs. He’d be down soon. With some difficulty, she shrugged off her unease and irritability as it would only create tension between them. That wouldn’t get her anywhere, so catching another quick sip, she swept out of the kitchen doing a balancing act with her cup as she picked her way between the table and buffet in the cramped space that served as a dining room, finally arriving at the set of doors just in front of the stairway. Without even a second thought, she gave one of the doors a push. It slid noiselessly into the wall and she walked into the darkened space.
“Ah Kate, I’m delighted to see you haven’t forgotten how to enjoy life in my absence.”
The voice, familiar with just the slighted hint of a thingyney accent stopped her dead in her tracks, twinges of paralyzing shock threading their way into every limb side by side with instantaneous denial. It was a trick, it had to be, or some kind of test or…but she didn’t get past that thought because he switched on a lamp.
And her cup went crashing to the floor. “This…this can’t be happening because you…you’re dead…you’re just an apparition,” she said, her tone dropping to a whisper, “you’re not real.”
“Oh?”
He was coming towards her and without thinking she stepped back, clawing at the door to find that someone had shut it behind her and locked it. Desperately she kicked at it but her heel only scratched the finish before steely fingers gripped her arm and swung her around. Cold black eyes, ones that she’d seen radiate their appreciation and desire and melt when she’d entered a room bored into her now without even an ounce of feeling and Kate, who was never afraid began to panic.
“Darling, please…you don’t…”
“Now it’s darling? How…” he paused and smiled, his tongue slipping along the edge of his teeth. “…devoted.”
Her reply stuck in her throat.
“And speechless. Now that is definitely a first. I’ve never known you to be at a loss for words, Kate…unless of course you don’t have an explanation.”
That insinuation got her blood pumping with a vengeance. “Don’t you dare try and…”
“What?” he bit back, his face now only inches away from her own as he leaned his elbow against the door. “Expect that when a woman says that she loves me and wants to marry me that she’d be loyal? That she might just question Stefano’s motives in wanting to come between us unless of course his fairytale was the merely the excuse you’d been searching for to escape our little arrangement.”
“No…it wasn’t like that. He had proof.”
“Well, naturally.”
Kate’s dark eyes blazed furiously. “I saw you, with her.”
The chuckle that nearly choked him didn’t sound amused. “And you stuck around to make certain...to nail me to the wall for betraying you, eh?”
“I…couldn’t.” Somehow she managed to wring the words from behind clenched teeth and immediately the images materialized, ones she’d buried years ago but they hit her now with a clarity as ghastly and unbearable as the day she’d stood in front of that monitor and let him rip her soul apart piece by piece while he caressed Marlena’s face and body... “You never loved me. I doubt you even know what the word means,” she sneered up at him.
“Unlike you,” he replied, and a soft perilous edge grated in his voice. “The woman who would just as soon sell her love to the highest bidder.”
White hot rage seared through her mind, consuming what little check she’d maintained over her emotions and the sound of her hand slapping his face rang in her ears and left a tiny trickle of blood on his cheek, oozing from a spot where she’d caught him with one of her nails. Loosing his grip on her arm, he wiped the blood away with his finger and stared at the result before his eyes traveled up to meet hers.
“Did I strike a nerve, Kate?”
Her breathing was uneven and her heart hammered in her chest but she glared back at him defiantly. “My relationship with Victor had absolutely nothing to do with his money.”
“And we both know it had nothing to do with love either.”
“How dare you presume to…”
“…remind you of what we shared?” he asked, cutting off her tirade as he backed her up against the door. He hadn’t touched her but his presence was difficult to ignore. As always, his shirt revealed as much as it concealed so that she was acutely aware of the manner in which his body affected her and the scent of him that kindled reactions and memories she couldn’t hide from. “Yes,” he murmured next to her ear, “even Stefano couldn’t destroy that.”
It took all of her self control to keep her hands at her side and as his breath swept across her skin, her jaw clamped down, trying to stifle her senses until his lips almost touched hers and they were so close, it was maddening. “I didn’t want to believe him, but…”
“But you did.”
The faint taste of cigar smoke lingered in the air when he spoke. “What did you expect?” she asked, making an effort to concentrate on her anger. “The person in that bed, touching her was you.”
“No.” Despite the softness of his voice, there was an absolute finality to his denial.
“I know what I saw.”
“Oh, he was counting on that my dear and weren’t you most obliging but the man you got an eyeful of in bed with Marlena was Cousin Tony,” he informed her coldly, straightening up and folding his arms across his chest, “not me.”
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Post by madelinehawaii on Aug 6, 2006 14:08:23 GMT -5
“Andre…” Kate’s laughter expressed her utter disdain scathingly. “Clever, but hardly convincing since I happen to know that Tony was on a business trip at the time.”
“Really? And did you escort him to his destination in person?”
“You know perfectly well that I didn’t,” she snapped impatiently and his mouth settled into a thin, bitter smile so reminiscent it took her back years to numerous quarrels they’d gotten into, typically whenever the subject of his uncle came up. Stefano’s hold on both of them had always been a thorn in their relationship. Its mere existence infuriated him to no end and after all the two men had put each other through, Kate could certainly understand Andre’s frustration but she’d never allowed it to influence her loyalties, and it was a resolution she’d stuck to, even with Stefano, telling him to butt out when he tried to warn her away from his worthless, pathetic excuse for a nephew as he put it.
Perhaps, knowing Stefano as she did, she ought to have been more suspicious when he grudgingly acquiesced, to the point of postponing his plans and even offering to play host at their wedding and the idea that he’d manipulated the situation provided her a ray of hope when he’d first broken the news to her about Andre but he had all the necessary answers ready and waiting; and they were incontrovertible.
How he’d purred with sympathy over Andre’s betrayal, assuring her that he’d see to it personally her fiancé never bothered her again, and she’d been quite grateful.
“You know as well as I do that Tony had no idea that island existed,” she reminded Andre now.
“Luck isn’t even a part of your vocabulary, is it?”
“Frankly…” she sucked in a deep breath, “no, and I don’t believe in coincidences either.”
“Or fate?”
Despite the twisted, cynical curve of his smile, she sensed the pain lurking beneath his façade. But then Andre thrived on pain. He nursed it as though its absence would be the death of him and with very little difficulty she crushed the pang of guilt that nudged her conscious when she began to grasp it was all that remained. Once upon a time she’d been enticed by that moody, seductive gaze, and his distress. Their grief had forged a bond between them but that was all so long ago. Another lifetime. “What took place on that island was hardly fate.”
“Something tells me that John won’t find it in his heart to agree with you when he discovers the truth.”
“And which truth is it that he’ll be learning?”
Andre’s eyes narrowed. “The only one that matters as far as I’m concerned. Blaming me for what happened in Ireland was a mistake I’m not about to let him stop paying for…ever,” he told her with a frightening determined look so like his cousin’s it was eerie.
“So, you too want John to believe it was his brother who slept with Marlena.”
The smile on his face leered at her. “My dear sweet Kate, if I’d taken the opportunity to know Marlena…” he paused, a gleam in his eyes devouring what lay beneath her sweater and slacks possessively, “with the thoroughness that Tony managed, do you honestly think I would have kept the fact to myself?”
For the first time, Kate felt spots of clammy pins and needles spring up along the back of her neck. “You didn’t tell John in Arimed…”
“Bravo my dear. It’s nice to see you finally waking up to the obvious,” he nodded, the conversational tone in his voice in no way reflected in the rigid stance of his body or his face that regarded her now as though she were Stefano. “I didn’t tell him because I didn’t know anything about it.”
Her gaze, meeting his for only a fleeting moment, was horrified. And she thought she might be sick.
This is what she’d prayed for that night on the island. And unbidden came the memory of Stefano’s benevolent but piercing eyes waiting for her as she’d spun away from the sight on the monitor. That b*stard would do anything to get his way, ruin any life, rip apart and destroy the happiness he couldn’t share. How dare he use her this way, simply to further his own schemes, just as he’d used his nephew…
Up to now, she’d not permitted her mind to linger on the years she and Andre had spent together, full of moments that were still as raw as an open wound but now her mind drifted back to that first time she’d seen him arguing with Stefano about Tony. She’d recognized immediately what turned her on…after all, she had her pick of shrewd, debonair men to choose from so the spark that hit her when she witnessed their confrontation came as quite a shock. He had potential. Despite his history with Stefano, one that she’d heard in explicit detail, he held his own and refused to just lie down and let his uncle use him once again without getting what he wanted in return.
And d**n, if he hadn’t pulled it off in spite of everyone.
What a moment that would have been, to see Stefano’s face when learned the truth about Arimed but this drew a sigh out of Kate. Once the knowledge that Andre had beaten the odds would have made her proud and she had to admit that to some degree it did, considering what she knew now about Stefano, but it wasn’t a victory she could share with him. She hadn’t been strong enough or believed in him enough to question what was right in front of her face so she hadn’t the right to feel anything now.
Except perhaps worried.
Because here was a man whose only companion in life was the score he wished to settle.
When she raised her eyes, Andre was still standing only a few feet away, waiting for her response presumably. Not an apology of course. He knew better than to expect one out of her and if she had the nerve, he’d no doubt fling it right back in her face. “Well, you…” she pursed her lips together nervously. “Why tell me now?”
He didn’t react at all for several long, tenuous moments, forcing her to hold his gaze without breaking down and slowly, so that she thought she was imagining it at first, a mischievous grin materialized. “What a waste, you and I…” Fingers brushed her cheek gently, and then wandered, as if with a life of their own, to her mouth. The tip of one finger followed another, tracing her upper lip. “No one ever understood me the way you did,” he murmured.
Just the bare touch of his skin against hers made her nerves tingle, arousing memories that were d**ned inconvenient.
“When you finally weaseled your way inside my soul, I admit you thoroughly amazed me. The discovery you made didn’t frighten you in the least, did it?”
All Kate could manage was a brief shake of her head. He could still get to her with that smooth accent and those eyes that dared her to follow him even though she knew he had the black soul of a pirate. How did he do that?
“You convinced me you know, so that I believed we had a chance, that it could work.”
“No, you convinced yourself,” she whispered.
With speed she’d forgotten he possessed, he grabbed a fistful of hair at the nape of her neck and yanked it back viciously. “You console yourself with whatever lies you find necessary,” he hissed from just inches away. She’d never seen him this close to the edge of loosing control, or found his rage concentrated to such a degree on her. Instincts switched on automatically but his reflexes were too quick and he slammed her body against the door, using the full weight of his body to immobilize everything except her arms which were not strong enough to push him away or reach his face. “I’m finished listening to people whose only desire seems to be their need to rewrite my history for their own benefit.”
“Andre…”
Stretching her head back even further, he kissed her. It wasn’t as rough as she might have expected but angry, and a bit frightened, she tore her mouth away and spit at him. Instead of producing the effect she was after, he laughed. “You of all people ought to know better than to think I’d fall for that,” and this time he took her without holding back, overwhelming her senses with an ease that mocked at her resistance. She hated herself but couldn’t stop her body from reacting and after only a few more moments, didn’t care, didn’t want anything other than the taste of him, and the magic of his tongue which never simply explored its target but demanded her full attention and rewarded her with the most exquisite pleasure. She craved his touch as much as she ever had before. Not even the voice in her head telling her that he was only doing this to prove a point made a difference, until he pulled away as if right on cue.
“I didn’t need to convince myself of anything,” he said, a drawl to his voice and with one more pointed stare, he walked away.
An awkward silence took over the room. Outside the wind had picked up and she could hear scratching noises, probably the tree branches swaying outside the windows and poking the shutters. Kate didn’t move except to shut her eyes. After the island, she’d vowed never to let another man inside. The hole he left had nearly driven her mad though, until she’d met Andre, baring her soul hadn’t been an option. She flatly refused to hand over control of her emotions to someone else, especially a man. And he’d understood. Too well in fact because no amount of rejection worked with him and the wily ingenious manner he used to ease his way past her defenses amused her, like a game it seemed until the day arrived when she realized walking away from him would leave her in a gray world devoid of joy and possibilities.
So many possibilities...and she’d let Stefano destroy every last one of them. Knowing Andre as she did, she couldn’t imagine he’d brought her here merely to drop this bomb on her. If he’d learned what happened years ago, perhaps, but not now. It was way too late for them so he had to want something.
And she had rather a bad feeling she could guess what it was too.
“I won’t help you destroy Stefano.”
Andre had taken a seat in an overstuffed chair near the empty fireplace and a sarcastic chuckle slipped out the side of his mouth. “Not even after everything I’ve said, eh?”
“Don’t give me that line. You’ve wanted his head since long before I met you, and I’m not getting in the middle of that.”
“You already are in the middle of it, love,” he said, eyeing her coldly, “whether you like it or not. ”
“I won’t betray him.”
“Too bad he didn’t show you the same consideration.”
Frustrated, she looked away and wondered how many times they’d had this same stupid argument, over and over again. Maybe they would have ended up here anyway, even without Stefano’s interference she thought miserably but it no longer mattered and she wasn’t about to throw away what was left and destroy her children’s lives just because Andre felt she owed it to him. “I don’t see why you’d even need my help since you’ve managed to get what you wanted all on your own.”
“Not exactly but I didn’t arrange for this amusing little rendezvous because of old animosities.”
“Then, I’m afraid I’m confused.”
Andre leaned forward and gazed intently at her, searching, though for what she hadn’t a clue. Waiting for her to hazard a guess perhaps. But then, without warning, he shrugged and got up to pour himself a drink from a tray near the window. He made one for her as well which he offered and when she nodded, set it on table in front of where he’d been sitting. There was a matching chair across the table but Kate wasn’t about to allow herself to relax once more around this man. She collected the glass and stood so that the chair remained between them. Andre didn’t sit back down either. Instead he propped his shoulder against the stone mantle and swirled the scotch in his glass, watching it. “He has my son, Kate.”
She didn’t react immediately and had to repeat his words over in her head until she realized what he meant and her eyes clouded over with concern. “Oh Andre, I know that you’ve never accepted his death, that you…”
“Colin Murphy.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Kate stared at him, not quite sure what to think of his mental state. “That’s not…”
“…possible? What, you think Shawn Brady couldn’t or wouldn’t pull off such a scam? My dear, don’t let that blarney masquerading as Irish charm fool you, he’s just as capable of trickery, or slight of hand in this case as Stefano. You know as well as I do that no body was ever found.”
“Yes I know, but that’s most likely because they stopped looking.”
“It doesn’t make any difference. I have proof, and the boy knows as well.”
Kate’s laughter was biting. “That boy is anything but a child and certainly not innocent in whatever the hell has been going on. You know he’s mixed up with Stefano.”
A thoroughly self-satisfied smile lightened up Andre’s face. “Precisely.”
“But don’t you see, this is so typical of what your uncle would do, the perfect opportunity to distort reality and make it look as though Shawn Brady lied all these years, that he tried to cover it up. If Stefano knows you’re alive, he’ll do anything it takes to bring you out in the open.”
“Well I must say, your concern is…” both eyebrows shot up, “touching.”
She swallowed the snide comment that instantly sprang to mind. Advice from others never sat well with Andre and she doubted that he’d taken the risk and exposed himself because he was interested in what she thought of all this. He had only one use for her now. “Forget it,” she said, eyeing him coolly in return. “I have absolutely no intention of helping you go after your uncle.”
“I see.” And the smile that slid up both sides of his face created an unpleasant chill that raced down her spine. “In that case, I guess your children’s welfare isn’t quite as important as you’ve made it out to be.”
“You touch any one of my children and we both know what Stefano will do to you.”
“As I understand it, Stefano is having some difficulty protecting his own children at the moment.”
The comment didn’t sink in immediately and Kate opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell but then the implication broke in a blinding flash and she had to stifle the urge to hurl her glass at him. “Larry Welsh.” The name escaped her lips almost as though she considered it a curse. “My god, you arranged that, didn’t you? All of it, especially framing Lexie for Hope’s kidnapping and then her murder.”
Andre snorted in disgust. “If I didn’t know better Kate, I’d say you borrowed yourself a set of morals since you arrived in Salem.”
She wanted to do more than just slap him this time and his comment was ignored as she imagined the pleasure she’d take in raking her nails across his face. “You b*stard, you…you ordered him to involve Billie in this mess and use her, so you could what? Pay me back? He was supposed to kill her, wasn’t he?”
“No.”
They glared at one another and Kate’s dark eyes flashed, murderous intensity simmering very near the surface.
“He had no orders from me to shoot her but then Donovan showed up. Larry…I don’t know,” he waved the glass, “panicked I guess.”
“Billie almost died.” Kate accused him and she could barely contain her emotions, especially her rage but even that didn’t quite obscure the gaping pit of emptiness in her heart, one that she’d endured for too many years and without even realizing it, a single tear slipped down her cheek. As she stared at him, something in the back of his eyes wavered. Compassion perhaps, or memories? She couldn’t be sure except that it was there and then it vanished so that his face became set again with a merciless glare he’d reserved for Stefano in the past.
“I’m sorry but you made your choice Kate.”
“And if I hadn’t, if Stefano hadn’t interfered, would things really be any different?”
He considered her question carefully before he said, “You’d be my wife.”
“And of course you think that means I would have chosen you.”
“Yes,” he replied with no hesitation and the confidence in his voice irritated her even more than what he’d said because she couldn’t honestly tell herself that he was wrong. The chance that he’d turn on Stefano had existed right from the start except that she’d been determined to find a way to resolve their differences, at least to the extent that Stefano would see that Andre deserved to be his heir. With time and patience, she’d believed she could bring the two men around but what if she’d been wrong. After marrying him, could she have walked away because Stefano expected her to? She found herself staring down at the drink she hadn’t tasted yet, wishing that she’d given herself the chance to find out instead of having to spend whatever time she had left wondering. A pointless exercise she knew but inevitable now. Looking up, she found him eyeing her curiously.
“Please Kate, all I want is my son back.”
“Back? He doesn’t know you exist.”
“Stefano will…” he took a deep breath, “torture him. That’s the only purpose he has in wanting him, so he can hurt me.”
“You mean the way you tortured his son.”
Andre snorted. “Pity for Tony, well, that’s new.”
“The person who suffered the most was Stefano and you…that’s precisely what you planned, what you’ve dreamt of all these years.”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right about that and boy, did I have a bloody long time to dream about it too, all the while I believed my son was dead. When the hell did Stefano ever give a d**n about my children?” he snarled at her, and pounded his fist into the wall. “Tony’s children, now that was always a different story.” He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head forward momentarily but then pushed himself away and sat back down in the chair. Even then, it took seconds before he’d composed himself enough to speak. “I have a proposition.”
“I already told you that I won’t…”
But he slammed his hand down on the table with enough force cut her off. “Just shut up and listen Kate. You‘re going to deliver a message for me, an offer, shall we say.”
With a glare and a stiff nod, she waited for him to continue.
“If Stefano frees Colin, then I will stop what I am doing to Tony.”
Although it took quite an effort, she managed to keep her surprise in check. “Doing?”
“You didn’t imagine I allowed him to come out of the coma without having a reason, did you?”
Kate’s mind skipped back to the last couple of times she’d seen Tony, only days ago and he’d seemed fine, in perfect health though the rumors about his first night in Salem had made the rounds and she knew he’d been admitted the hospital only the next day. “And you expect me to believe that you’re the one responsible for keeping him in the coma.”
Andre’s smile was so thin, it was practically nonexistent.
“And now?” she asked, certain that whatever was coming would be something she’d never willingly choose to tell Stefano.
“I think it is time Tony remembered all of his past.”
Kate’s hand flew to her mouth and she realized it was shaking but she couldn’t make it stop. His reasons for doing such a thing…she knew why, but still… “Dear god Andre, please, if you want him to find out tell him but don’t…” She couldn’t keep her voice from trembling so that she could say the rest out loud and spun away, barely keeping hold of the glass in her other hand. Here was a truth she’d never wish on anyone because she’d experienced its hell firsthand and even Andre’s love hadn’t masked the horror entirely. No matter what she did it remained just out of reach so that she couldn’t smother it or run from it until out of nowhere a miracle restored everything to her but no miracle would be waiting for Tony. She’d spent too many nights listening to Andre’s nightmares not to be utterly certain of that.
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Post by Teri on Aug 16, 2006 12:46:41 GMT -5
Andre snorted in disgust. “If I didn’t know better Kate, I’d say you borrowed yourself a set of morals since you arrived in Salem.” Love that line.
The scenes with Tony and Anna were amazing as always.
Tony's children? I don't remember . . .
So even Kate is worried about Andre has planned for Tony and what Tony will remember? That is a scarey thought.
I think this story gets better and better with each new chapter.
Thanks for posting it!
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Post by madelinehawaii on Sept 9, 2006 13:22:56 GMT -5
;D ;D thank you...
the comment about Tony's children will be explained...you're not supposed to remember lol
and thank you for the review...you have no idea how much better you helped me make the story!!!
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Post by madelinehawaii on Oct 23, 2006 15:59:02 GMT -5
Place: Monteal Time: later that night
Tony paused once he stepped onto the landing midway down the staircase. A door leading into the library stood ajar and shadows emanating from the firelight within reflected across the mirrored surface of the paneling in the hallway below him. It was late, long past midnight so he’d expected to have the entire bottom floor to himself though not necessarily looking forward to it. Sitting alone as he nursed a scotch and soda would do little to dispel the remnants of his dream. He’d tried that often enough. And almost any form of companionship would have its appeal right now, even that of his newest relation, though neither Colin nor Shane would be his first choice considering the events of the previous day and so he breathed a thankful sigh upon reaching the doorway.
“When I saw the light, I thought perhaps I’d misjudged Colin’s ability to behave himself in polite company.”
From all appearances, Gene seemed to have anticipated his arrival and he didn’t even raise his head at the sound of Tony’s voice. “Were you expecting him to hurl his food or maybe a few utensils across the table?” he asked from his seat in front of the fire where he lounged, his long legs stretched out over the elegant Oriental rug so that his toes rested a matter of inches from the screen.
“Something like that.” Tony had located the bar and already had a glass in hand. “Anna figured there was a real possibility we’d have to replace furniture.”
And Gene laughed. “No, you’re safe enough in that department.”
There was no amusement in his tone and indeed he came across sounding preoccupied. “But?”
A pause followed Tony’s query and he could tell Gene was weighing the possibilities with a great deal of caution, as though he anticipated traversing a minefield.
“He’s ah…well, I suppose curious would be the term, after yesterday’s charming little family discussion.”
“Curious…what about?” Tony asked, making an effort to keep his irritation under control as he searched behind the bar in vain for a bucket of ice.
“You father.”
The hell with the ice, he thought and reached for his drink as he turned slowly around to face Gene. “Tell me he didn’t put it that way.”
“Not exactly…but he is clever, “ Gene reminded him, eyeing Tony and sporting a small quirk of a smile, “so he’s put two and two together and come up with the assumption that John’s father is…was …the gardener.”
Not a tremendous leap under the circumstances Tony thought, stewing silently and cursed himself for allowing his emotions to get the better of him at the time because only his reaction would have pointed Colin in that direction. And his frustration must have been evident.
“You could just tell him,” Gene pointed out with a shrug of his shoulder, causing Tony to nearly choke on his scotch.
“No.” It erupted with a forcefulness he hadn’t intended, and quickly he tried to cover it up with laughter that was equally forced. “I mean, I’d be breaking any number of old, time honored family traditions.”
“Such as?” asked Gene, a vein of sarcasm slipping through his normally good-natured and tolerant humor.
“Take your pick.” Tony’s smile sparkled devilishly but an uncomfortable expression accentuated the dark circles beneath his eyes and he swiftly turned away from his friend’s gaze, though he could still feel it as he strode to the fireplace. Leaning his arm against the mantle, he rested his head and stared down into the flames.
“I understand your reservations,” came Gene’s voice from behind him, “but if you’d learned he was any other DiMera, say Renee’s son for instance, would you feel the same way?”
Tony shut his eyes in an effort to block out the images still vivid from his nightmares. “Could you?”
Silence descended, except for a hissing and fly of sparks as a log collapsed into a bed of glowing embers, and then, “He’s not his father.”
“No,” Tony agreed slowly, keeping his eyes trained on the fire. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”
“I am taking him home with me, back to Haiti…and Calliope, so I’d guess that would be a yes.”
“I see.”
The chair where Gene sat was placed at just enough of an angle so that he had a partial view of Tony’s profile, bathed in amber light and shadow but inscrutable, distant even, as though he were determined to shut out all the pain and the memories this odd state of affairs had driven to the surface but Gene knew better. No matter how badly Tony wanted this mess to disappear, he was far too stubborn to simply walk away. One of the few traits he and Stefano shared, Gene thought as he watched him straighten up and take a swallow of his drink. Neither man could let go. And Tony…he’d face a bitter end before admitting defeat. There had to be a way to the other side of all the hatred and revenge and endless betrayals, for his children if no one else.
“In that case,” began Tony, ”I should probably share my…doubts…” He hesitated. “Or suppositions.”
“About who?” asked Gene with a frown. “Colin?”
Tony shook his head. “No, they involve my father.”
Confusion mixed with curiosity stirred briefly in Gene’s face and his look met with a wan smile from Tony who’d taken a seat in the chair next to him.
“Apparently,” said Tony, his voice tight, “his friendship with Stefano wasn’t nearly as innocent as my mother led me to believe.”
“Are you talking about her stories of them growing up together?”
Nodding, Tony took another long swallow from his drink. “And others. And what she told me is true enough as far as it went but I came across some information, or rather, someone wished to acquaint me with facts that I’d never heard before…or suspected. According to Mother,” his eyes narrowed in concentration. “My father’s personality was as far removed from Stefano’s as two men could possibly be; he was considerate, tender and thoroughly disgusted with the way she’d been treated. In fact as she described him, I can hardly imagine him willing to be associated with the family in any manner.”
“A paragon of decency.”
Tony’s gaze turned from the fire to Eugene, a bit surprised but still amused at his friend’s sarcasm. “From what I’ve learned over the years about her marriage, he probably seemed to be everything her husband was not, and she worshipped him. Once he was gone, she truly didn’t care about going on, so I find myself hoping that she remained ignorant of the truth.” His gaze dropped down to stare at his drink that he held in both hands, elbows resting on his knees. “When his parents died, Stefano was young… merely a child and certainly not involved in the family business, not from boarding school anyhow. Instead, control rested in the hands of two of his elder brothers, one of them being Andre’s father.” He let this sink in before glancing up to meet Gene’s eyes, which had widened noticeably.
“And he ended up broke, ruined…” said Gene, thinking back, “In London, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“And his brother?”
Sinking back into the soft upholstery of his chair, Tony wore an expression Gene had witnessed more often then he cared to remember, one filled with profound disillusionment. It was carved into the lines, deepening the corners of Tony’s mouth. No matter how many times he’d been forced to deal the truth of it, the pain each betrayal dredged up made it immediately fresh once again, and brought back that murderous brittle gleam of indignation that boarded on rage lurking in the depths of his eyes.
“Dead.”
Gene sucked in a breath. “And you believe Enrico was responsible?”
“Yes, though it appears to have been at Stefano’s behest, or with his knowledge.”
“My God, how old were they?”
“Pretty young actually, both of them were still in University at the time.”
“Both.” Gene turned to him wearing an air of skepticism.
The lines around Tony’s mouth etched themselves a little deeper. “It seems my father’s official job description was no more than a cover. Most people wouldn’t expect to find the family’s hit man out and about potting daisies.”
Gene continued to stare in disbelief for another moment and then squeezed his eyes shut. “Tony…” But there was nothing to say, at least no word that would provide any comfort to such an admission. For Tony to learn his father was no better than the man who’d been responsible for nearly all the misery in his life had to be a blow and one that Stefano no doubt took immense pleasure in revealing to his son. And what of Enrico’s other child? Gene’s eyes snapped open at this thought and he leaned forward to look at Tony. “That’s it.”
Raising his eyebrow just a hair, Tony waited.
“John…. Andre’s motive for setting him up for your murder in Arimed.”
“Maybe,” shrugged Tony, “but Andre didn’t know about either man’s role in what happened or he would never have been a party to any of Stefano’s plans and I find it impossible to believe that Stefano would tell him.”
“So Stefano is the only one with the information?”
Tony finished his drink and nodded silently.
“Any chance he made it up?”
The snort of laughter that erupted out of Tony was harsh. “Have you ever known Stefano’s lies to be so convenient?”
“When you put it that way, no, but I think we both know the lengths he’d go to in order to ruin Enrico’s reputation in your eyes.” And Gene’s attempt drew a grateful, if somber glance from Tony.
“I’ve been unable to corroborate my father’s involvement in that particular incident but there are plenty of others he’s tied to, and many of them Shane has just verified for me.”
“But if Shane could gain access to the information, why couldn’t Andre?”
“Like I said, there was a bit of supposition involved…the links that existed all appear innocent, just like the funds channeled through Enrico’s account that paid for John’s education but once I was able to give Shane with the other half of the puzzle, the half Stefano provided, he could match events and movements together and we found solutions to incidents that have been, until recently, unexplained.”
“So your father really was Stefano’s…” Gene bit his tongue before the word could slip out.
“Assassin, yes. Partners in everything apparently,” said Tony getting up and heading once more to the bar, “until he made the mistake of getting my mother pregnant.”
“Oh lord,” and Gene chuckled at the thought that suddenly popped into his head and turning, he looked over at Tony who’d picked up a decanter only to set it back down.
“What?”
“Well, its difficult not to find the irony amusing, at least where John is concerned.”
And instantly the sight of John kneeling at Daphne’s grave flashed through Tony’s mind, along with that look of disgust as Marlena practically drug him away from the cemetery grounds and back to their parked car, and Tony knew a sliver of satisfaction at the thought of what John’s reaction would be when he learned about his father. “It may not be justice,” Tony said finally after pouring his drink, “but I can’t say I won’t relish the moment he’s forced to come to terms with a legacy that is anything but heroic. Somehow I doubt his response with match the one he’s shoved in my face all these years.”
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Post by Teri on Oct 24, 2006 6:19:52 GMT -5
Poor Tony. He just can't win. Thanks for the update.
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Post by madelinehawaii on Nov 6, 2006 17:01:17 GMT -5
Poor Tony. He just can't win. Thanks for the update. yeah, Tony has such wonderful family issues lol, its too tempting not to add to them. ;D I added just a bit onto the last section I posted.
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Post by madelinehawaii on Nov 10, 2006 2:08:00 GMT -5
Place: Salem Time: Next morning
“Kate, this had better d**n well be important.”
Even a thousand miles failed to dispel the forcefulness of Stefano’s presence and Kate’s body tensed as the underlying threat in his growl seemed to materialize in the room around her.
She’d spent what felt like eons the previous night debating with herself. On the one hand she’d imagined the pleasure ripping into him would afford, nailing him for his betrayal, for his lies and interference but she knew she couldn’t afford to indulge herself right now … and she’d considered her options since leaving the farmhouse and forced herself to view the previous day’s events logically. Yes, Andre wouldn’t take the chance of lying to her. He knew that her first call would be to Stefano, so she was certain he’d been circumspect in that area. That wouldn’t stop him, however, from purposely omitting details that might tip the balance in favor of his uncle, and she sensed that he’d left out quite a bit of the story, much more than he’d actually told her, and that made Kate nervous. She needed details, and information. She needed to know what the hell was going on between Andre and Stefano or she and her children could easily end up caught in the middle of a very messy war.
“I spoke to Andre.”
That created a dead silence on the other end of the line.
“Stefano?” she prodded after several moments.
“Yes, well, I’m afraid I should have expected as much out of him after…”
“… you arranged for Tony to kidnap his son.”
Another, even longer silence stretched out and it took all of her self control to restrain herself until, to her surprise, “He told you about Murphy.”
“Yes, and why the hell didn’t you?” she hissed from between clenched teeth and was met with a confidently benign drawl.
“I was under the impression Kate, that you wouldn’t want to know. After all, you requested this arrangement of me in order to forget about him because you said it was the only way to obliterate him from your life, so that it would be as though he never existed. You do remember that conversation, right?”
“One that wouldn’t have been necessary if…” But Kate caught herself just in time.
“Yes?”
She inhaled a deep uneven breath and made an effort to stifle the rage that surged through her at such a blatant excuse, but didn’t quite succeed. “And Tony, have you warned him or told him that his cousin is alive?”
“You needn’t concern yourself with Tony’s welfare, Kate. That’s not your job.”
“Well, how very convenient,” she said, not bothering to curb her sarcasm, “and forgive me for being curious because I have to wonder if you’re concerned about your son at all.”
This time Stefano’s silence was not a matter of shock. She was too well acquainted with his temperament not to recognize the danger signals or ignore the sound of a glass hitting the table that echoed through the phone, and Kate wondered if she’d gone too far.
“There are times my dear when I wonder why I haven’t had someone slit your throat.”
The low edgy growl in his voice only barely concealed his bemusement and letting out a sigh, she grinned. It was rather a sick joke Kate had admitted to Andre once upon a time but one she and Stefano used every so often, a warped signal of sorts that allowed each of them to cross into that dangerously gray area that required telling the truth instead of their normal practice of dancing around it.
“You need me Stefano. You don’t trust anyone else, not even your own son.”
And as she expected, a chuckle rumbled through the line. “I’m afraid that’s a scenario you’ve got turned around. I know exactly what Tony will do but unfortunately, he refuses to accept me as I’ve accepted him. He’s the one unwilling to let his guard down.”
“Perhaps with good reason?”
Stefano’s sigh was weary. “Yes, but the past is something he’ll just have to get over if he’s interested in his own survival.”
“I’m not sure,” she ventured carefully, “that will be possible.”
“I realize being back in Salem has churned up old memories…”
“Location is not what I’m talking about, Stefano.”
He began to talk right past this remark but halted abruptly. “Oh?”
“Andre wants Colin released.”
“Of course he does.”
“If you don’t, he’ll follow through with his own plans for Tony…and I don’t think you need for me to spell out what he’s talking about, do you?” To her surprise, Kate experienced a degree of satisfaction in delivering Andre’s ultimatum, and it occurred to her suddenly that he’d known she would, picturing the look on Stefano’s face, an image to match the one that she’d worn so many years before and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she’d watched her dreams crumble into oblivion.
“He’s bluffing.” The tone in Stefano’s voice sounded confident enough.
“Possibly, but I doubt it… and even so, are you really prepared to take that risk?”
The hesitation this time lasted barely a second. “There is only one man capable of pulling off such an incredible…feat.”
“Yes, you’re right,” said Kate, her voice softening to a purr. “The same man you paid to block those memories away in the first place.”
“Just what are you inferring, Kate?”
“A simple proposition really. I think its possible that Rolf has…made what he believes is a prudent business decision.”
“Be careful…”
The pitch of Stefano’s voice sent a chill through her but Kate was determined, and convinced that she was right. “Whatever else Andre is, he’s never been a fool and if he managed to convince you that you needed him, even after what he did in Ireland, what would make Rolf immune to his persuasion? Do you honestly think that Andre would forget to remind him of what Tony would do to him once he learned the truth? Think about it. Rolf is simply looking after his own future.”
Nothing, not a sound or breath made its way through the receiver. She could almost hear his mind racing. And it was a scenario she was certain he’d considered already, perhaps even checked into once he discovered what his nephew had been up too in Arimed but she was also aware of how careful Rolf and Andre would be about covering their tracks. When he spoke up once more, his tone was guarded and suspicious. “You have given this a great deal of thought, I see.”
“I’ll admit I’ve been suspicious for some time now but after yesterday, it suddenly began to explain Andre’s incredible stroke of luck back in Arimed.”
“Andre didn’t need all that much luck,” he grumbled at her, “Just the face I provided him.”
“No, you’re…” but she bit off the last of her sentence before the word ‘wrong’ slipped out.
“You’re behaving,” Stefano spoke up dryly after a moment’s silence, “as though he hasn’t gotten enough practice over the years.”
“He shot himself for heaven’s sake, and managed to keep everyone believing, even while under anesthesia that he was Tony. Now I’ve never made a secret that I think Andre’s impersonations are brilliant, but even he’s not that bloody good. Nobody is.”
When he finally replied, Stefano did her the courtesy of not pretending or covering his indignation, which very nearly bordered on embarrassment though it was hard to be sure. “Well, he’s done it before though I do see your point, my dear…” His voice trailed off into another lengthy silence, which she was reluctant to break. There wasn’t anything she could say at this point that didn’t have the potential to set him off on a tirade or make him completely loose him temper and belaboring the point would only make her look jealous of Rolf.
The two of them had stayed clear of each other over the years, and she’d made no secret of her loathing, though she’d learned quickly that keeping her suspicions to herself was the smart choice around Stefano.
“I’m assuming that clever imagination of yours has been busy concocting an explanation,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Let’s hear it.”
“Yes…well, obviously Rolf used the same drugs he created for you, the ones used to save Andre the first time…”
“I know that already,” he snapped back at her.
Kate took a deep breath. What she was about to suggest would sound insane in any other situation, or if she was talking to anyone else but getting Stefano to believe it could actually happen wasn’t the problem. He’d hired Rolf, after all and paid him to develop all the experimental drugs and techniques Andre was taking advantage of. The problem was, Stefano didn’t truly want to accept Rolf as a traitor because the man knew too much. Just the implications were terrifying. “I’d guess Andre…allowed Rolf to alter his subconscious, make him believe he was Tony so that he wouldn’t give himself away. Hell, Rolf could make a person believe himself to be you if he was ordered to…”
“Why on earth would Andre bother? Like I said, he’s gotten away with it once before.”
“And learned that there were risks involved from his experience, not to mention the first time around, he was treated in a hospital full of people, many of whom didn’t know Tony well enough to recognize a mistaken comment or gesture. Arimed was a different situation entirely and Andre wouldn’t overlook a detail like that.”
Stefano’s laughter was short. “Well, you have quite a bit more faith in my nephew’s ability to trust someone else to such an extent, more than I do, anyway.”
“Without an incentive, maybe not,” Kate agreed, “but if he learned Colin was alive back then I think it would change him. Give him reason for taking such a risk.”
“Andre never gave a d**n about his son in the first place…”
“You don’t expect me of all people to believe such a travesty. I know better, from personal experience shall we say.”
“I know Andre too,” Stefano insisted stubbornly.
“And how many of his nightmares startled you out of a dead sleep,” she shot back, struggling for control of her temper once again and it took a moment before she realized that she’d made him stop and consider her point.
“Alright, I’ll grant it’s possible…maybe…”
“Stefano, if I’m right, god knows what Rolf has done to the twins, or should I say, what Andre has ordered him to do.”
“All the more reason to keep our hands on Colin, ” he told her and Kate smiled.
“So…you do have him.”
Stefano hedged. “I will, very soon now.”
Kate hadn’t managed to keep alive and in one piece over the years without the ability to read the man’s moods. He could lie on a dime with creatively that defied belief but even he slipped now and again when he allowed sentimentality to get in the way. Admittedly, this happened rarely, but he’d almost lost his daughter, again and so despite his behavior, Kate knew he was worried, about his children and Andre, but especially what his son might be doing off on his own. “You don’t know for certain where Colin is, do you?”
“He’s with Tony,” came the reply with a quickness that gave him away.
“And just what the hell do you think Tony will do when he learns the identity of Colin’s father?”
“I know what you’re thinking but that’s not going to happen.”
Kate’s laughter held nothing back this time but to her amazement, he didn’t loose his temper and his reproof was even pretty mild.
“You may think you know what Andre is capable of, but you haven’t the faintest idea where Tony is involved.”
“Are you all that certain that you do?”
“I know he’d do absolutely anything for those twins, and Alexandra, in fact, I’m counting on it, but taking out his revenge on Colin for what the boy’s father has done over the years just isn’t in Tony’s nature.”
“I hope you’re right because if something were to happen to Colin, I have no doubt that Andre will bring Tony’s past crashing back with a vengeance and once it’s back, what he’ll be capable of doing to you, to his brother and Shawn Brady, but most especially Andre could easily get out of control. He’ll be out for blood Stefano, just as you were…”
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Post by madelinehawaii on Dec 8, 2006 3:32:48 GMT -5
Place: DiMera Jet, Over the Atlantic Ocean Time: mid February 2003
“Where are you?”
Shane didn’t come across noticeably irritated but even so, Tony could tell he was annoyed. They’d had no contact since his accident because in Shane’s view, it was too risky as long as Tony remained in the hospital but he had taken the chance and sent a coded email asking Tony to contact him as soon as possible, so Tony had returned the call once he’d finally browbeat the chief of staff into releasing him but Shane had been unavailable and Patrick adamant. The news had to come from Shane.
“On a field trip of sorts.”
“Tony…” Shane’s blood pressure seemed to be getting a real workout lately and it didn’t take much to get him going either.
“What a boring old stick-in-the-mud you’re gotten to be lately,” Tony grumbled back. “Since you’re so interested, I thought I’d join John and Marlena who departed Salem the other day. I understand they spent their Valentine’s Day back at the DiMera compound, and have decided to stick around a few more days until they’ve dug up the answers they’re seeking.”
“Oh that’s just swell. And what are you going to do, wheel yourself around the place or follow them on crutches?”
Tony laughed appreciatively. “Such faith you have in the talent at University Hospital.”
“Not the hospital,” Shane corrected him, “just the streak of luck you’re experiencing lately,”
“It could be worse….”
“Well, it ought to be after that stunt you pulled with Brady.” And Tony rolled his eyes.
“I assume that means you’d rather he felt free to stick his nose into my business and play junior spy. I’m sure John would be thrilled to discover what you’ve been up to...”
“You could have thought of a better way,” Shane told him none too gently and Tony’s patience snapped.
“Perhaps next time, I can call first and ask your permission.”
His frigid air of civility produced a cold silence in return and as it lengthened to the point of being somewhat awkward, he considered what the odds were of Shane hanging up on him.
“You’re right,” came a reply finally, though it was definitely strained, even, he thought a tad forced. “I’m not squat in the middle of the situation and you have to make your own decisions.
Tony was so taken off guard he didn’t say anything at first. “Well…I appreciate your confidence,” and fought off the urge he had to laugh. “What exactly was it that you needed to tell me anyway?” he asked, sensing that Shane’s news had something to do with his irritability.
“I wanted to speak to you about the twin’s DNA.”
“Yes?” Tony urged when Shane didn’t continue, “What about it?”
“We ah…that is Patrick has done the impossible, according to Stefano anyway. He’s unlocked it.”
Tony’s heart began to beat faster. “And?”
“Well, you’ll be happy to hear they don’t belong to Andre,” said Shane in a wry tone that made Tony appreciate the distance between them. If they’d been having this conversation in the same room, he was pretty sure he’d have lost his temper entirely at such a remark.
“That is not amusing.”
“Or John.”
“Shane,” Tony warned, softly and he could hear Shane take a deep breath.
“Yes…well, your suspicions have been correct all along, about both of their parents.”
“Marlena?” he whispered.
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
Tony swallowed past the knot that formed in his throat. Despite all the months of fearing, even assuming it to be the truth, there was something about hearing it uttered aloud, now an indisputable fact that sent a chill coursing through his body. Their worst-case scenario…okay, he admitted silently, not quite the disaster it would have been if they’d belonged to Anna and Andre, but still…what was he supposed to do if Marlena remembered everything? For that matter, what the hell did remembering ‘everything’ consist of? He felt so d**n blind, thanks to Stefano once again.
“Tony?”
“Yes,” he replied, not caring whether Shane detected his exasperation or not, “I’m here.”
“You certain you want to go to that island all alone?”
“Why? Did you want to tag along?
“This isn’t a joke,” Shane snapped back, “and what’s with the attitude? I thought you were expecting this news.”
“Theoretically.”
Shane didn’t have a comeback for this stark bit of honesty, perhaps because he knew what if felt like to be mired in such a sticky situation, complete with a formidable, and extremely jealous opponent. “I must say that I’m glad you’re taking your brother seriously for a change.”
“Oh god forbid I not take John and that attitude of his seriously,” Tony sneered before he could choke back his anger and another edgy silence ensued as he struggled to regain control of his emotions. “Sorry,” he said after endless minutes of nothing but the drone of airplane engines in the background. “The possibilities in this situation seem to do nothing but get worse.”
“Are you still worried that Marlena will regain all of her memory?” asked Shane, and Tony figured he was probably thinking back to one of many conversations in Montreal.
“Maybe I wouldn’t be so nervous if I knew exactly what that entailed.”
“On the other hand…”
“I know,” Tony interrupted him before Shane could utter the fear they both shared after reading the letters. He didn’t need to hear it out loud again.
“I take it,” prodded Shane after a moment, “that you haven’t remembered.”
“Not a bloody thing.”
“Then perhaps you’d care to explain that message you left with Patrick yesterday.”
“Message…” Tony tried to think back to what he’d considered so important the day before. “Oh, the one about Kate.”
“Kate and her former employer…you’re not serious are you?”
“That she worked for Stefano?” Tony chuckled as he imagined the look on Shane’s face. “Can you come up with any other reason why he’d leave her money, a rather large sum and then go out of his way to make certain that I knew nothing about it?”
And as Shane hesitated, Tony could tell he was cursing under his breath. “How much?”
“One million dollars.”
“Bloody hell,” muttered Shane as the implications began to sink in, followed in quick succession by an incredulous whistle, and then silence. After a few more seconds ticked by, “It sounds, like her relationship with Stefano, whatever it may be, is far from over.”
“Possibly.”
“Don’t be get coy with me, “ said Shane in a voice that indicated just how little patience he was maintaining. “If Kate works for Stefano, you know what that means as well as I do.”
Unfortunately Tony knew exactly what it meant. “Her relationship with Roman.”
“Hardly likely that is a coincidence.”
And in his mind, Tony saw again Peter’s old room back in Europe, the one he’d searched the previous spring and where he’d discovered items linked to Roman. “No, probably not.”
“Have you spoken to her?”
“A couple of times, and before you suggest that I try again, talking to Kate isn’t going to get me anywhere, she’s far too clever for that, but she does have her Achilles heel,” said Tony, letting the satisfaction he felt seep into his voice. “Quite a number of them in fact, but one will do.”
“And which one did you have in mind?” asked Shane, not shocked in the least at Tony’s reasoning.
“Lucas.”
“Were you planning on arranging a little accident for him too?”
“Of course not,” Tony said, straining in an effort to swallow his temper once more. “Actually, I thought perhaps I might find a job for him.”
“Doing what, for christ’s sake? “
“Well, he used to work for Victor, he must have some talents because Victor does not suffer fools, even for the sake of his wife…not during business hours anyway,” and that insight earned him a knowing chuckle from other end of the line.
“No, he doesn’t…which brings me to another idea I’ve been considering.”
“About Victor?” asked Tony in surprise. “Aren’t there enough people involved in this mess already because I’ll tell you, the last thing I’m interested in acquiring is one more ticked off citizen in this town who has it in for me and thankfully Victor is far too busy creating misery for his wife to annoy anyone else.”
Shane’s chuckle quickly turned into a bark of laughter. “Is he? And just how is it that he managed to acquire the information on Colin blackmailing her, eh?”
“Not from me.”
“No,” said Shane in a voice that was clearly amused. “Of course not.”
Biting his tongue and very annoyed, Tony tried to steer the conversation back on course. “You mentioned an idea?”
“Ah yes…. I think I’ve come up with a solution to one of your other problems we were discussing last month.”
Tony waited, and the slightest twinge of unease began to tick in the back of his mind.
“We know every employee who works in the mansion reports back to Stefano, in fact everything you’re involved in, every single business, even the ones that have always been in your name are connected to Stefano because he instated his own contacts at the time you were in your coma, and if Stefano is getting information, so is Andre. I think it’s time we do something to change that.”
Tony couldn’t be certain why, maybe it was the fact that Shane seemed to be beating around the bush, or maybe it was a matter of his temper being on such a short fuse, but whatever the reason, Tony suspected this idea of his hadn’t been designed to make life any easier.
“I’m waiting,” he reminded the man on the other end of the line finally.
“It’s simple really, you’re just going to purchase a corporation within Victor’s holdings, one that I’ve already checked out.”
Tony’s laughter had a definite ring of sarcasm. “Simple. As if Victor would sell anything to a DiMera at this point.”
“You’ve done it before,” Shane pointed out quickly.
“That was different, and he didn’t agree to it for my sake, he went along with the idea because I was providing him the opportunity to repair Kate’s relationship with her daughter, and in a different lifetime I might add. Bo didn’t feel about me the way he does now, and he and Victor have grown closer…something Victor isn’t about to risk by helping me.”
“So, don’t allow to catch onto the fact that he’s helping you.”
Frowning to himself, Tony’s suspicions kicked in as he realized that Shane was purposely trying to avoid the subject of which company. “Perhaps you’d better tell me the name of the firm you have in mind before we get into the logistics.”
“Ah…” Shane stalled momentarily and Tony thought he heard him shifting papers around on his desk. “Here it is. Club Echelon.”
Tony grimaced. “A club? What, a nightclub where teenagers try and sneak past the bouncer with fake IDs and the college crowd dance all night? I can just see John’s face...not to mention how the hell I’ll stop the twins from checking it out.”
“No, it’s a gentleman’s club.”
“You can’t possibly be serious,” Tony snapped, his irritation beginning to get the better of him now. “Just how long do you think it will take John to discover that juicy bit of news?”
“Why Tony…I had no idea you gave a d**n about John’s opinion.”
Tony slammed his hand down hard on the table next to him. “He’s my children’s step father.”
“Okay, I know what you’re thinking, but he wouldn’t do that,” Shane said, the amusement gone from his tone and his demeanor serious once again though he knew the minute he said it that he wouldn’t going to get very far on this one.
“If…and it’s a big if we’re talking about here…” Tony bit out with as much control as he could hang onto to, “he doesn’t try and rip my head off when he learns about the twins, he might try and behave himself in front of his wife, but that is as far as it will go and you know John better than to try and convince me otherwise.”
He heard Shane’s sigh through the receiver. “Alright, John might be a problem, but not any worse than he is right now. Hell, he already suspects you of crimes that make owning a…
“Brothel?” Tony supplied when Shane paused.
“If you wish…the point is, he’s not going to find the idea shocking in any way.”
And to his own amazement, Tony found this rather droll. “Pleased, yes, but certainly not surprised. You’re right about that.”
“I realize this wouldn’t be your first choice…”
“Oh really?” Tony snorted in disgust.
“But, its been used in the past for some very shady operations, and has the infrastructure we need,” Shane explained patiently. “If we simply bought any other business and tried to set it up in the same way, not only Stefano would learn of it, but also John, and most of the ISA. This way, we have a running start at least.”
“And you going to tell me that the ISA doesn’t know about it already?”
“Well, not exactly.”
“Shane…”
“Its something that Patrick and I worked on about a year ago and the only other person with access to the file has retired, and I know for a fact that he’s clean…no chance he’s got ties to anyone we’d have to be worried about.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then we’re back to square one again…Victor.”
Shane chuckled. “I did my part, I found the perfect cover. Now you just have to talk him into selling it to you.”
“Yes,” Tony winced. “Perfect…perfectly insane if you ask me. I might as well walk around town wearing a target on my chest.”
“I think you’re exaggerating a bit.”
“Yes, well you’re not the one who will be explaining to his children, or their morally uptight mother why he’s suddenly running a sleeperhouse.”
There was a slight hesitation and then, “And perhaps you’d like to keep operating from the mansion so that another curious young member of the Brady or Black families can get him or herself into trouble neither of us will be able to fix next time.”
“No,” Tony snapped back at him, “I wouldn’t. I just don’t like this one d**n bit.”
Shane refrained from sharing his opinion at this remark, knowing he’d won the argument and that rubbing it in would only create tension, which they seemed to have plenty of lately. Not that it was all Tony’s fault. Springing the news about John’s mother in the middle of Colin’s wake had been Shane’s idea after all and so he could hardly blame Tony for what had taken place, but the aftermath had not been pleasant. Nearly every single Brady with the exception of Caroline has phoned him, irate at Tony’s actions, and blaming him for Shawn’s heart attack, especially Kim who hadn’t even been in attendance. What a tongue-lashing she’d given him after talking to Roman and Bo. And of course they’d told her that Shane was not going to arrest Tony, or help them investigate Colin’s murder. She hadn’t called Shane a traitor or a murder at least, but nearly everything else she could think of came pouring out and they’d had a terrible row, which boiled down to the fact that he cared more about his job than his family.
It was one of the most difficult things he’d ever had to do, listening to her accusations, to every hurtful word she threw at him and continue to remain silent about her father, and Colin. But that wasn’t the worst part. Since Shawn’s heart attack, he feared something awful had taken place in Ireland because nothing else explained what had happened at the wake or even previously at Stefano’s memorial service. Colin’s revelations back in Montreal appeared to be true and that being the case, Shane feared for his children, but even more for their mother and what she and her siblings might learn about Shawn Brady’s past.
Thankfully, this preoccupation was cut short when Tony finally spoke up again. “I’m almost afraid to ask but was there anything else you wanted to discuss?” Shane tried to collect his thoughts.
“Nothing that can’t wait till you get back, really…Gene called. He says Colin and Calliope are getting along famously and everything’s quiet. Patrick has a line on Ms. Torricelli’s brother, so now all we have to figure out is what to do about the twins.”
Tony lay his head back on the seat and shut his eyes to try and ease the throbbing in his neck. “If your ideas for resolving our dilemma with the twins is anything like the last solution you just came up with, you’re right. I don’t want to know what it is yet.”
“Actually, I’m not sure there is a way to fix that, short of locking them away somewhere so that Stefano can’t get to them.”
“That is not an option,” Tony growled with absolute finality.
“I didn’t mean that literally…”
“I know what you meant and they’re not being sent away or kept in protective custody, not after what they’ve been through.”
“Tony, be reasonable. This is for their benefit as well as yours.”
“And just how the hell do you propose that we explain that to them?” Tony asked, his impatience working up speed again. “Or,” he added, “better yet, their mother?”
“At the moment, I have no idea,” Shane acknowledged, “but what if Stefano told you the truth for a change? It sounds to me like only a matter of time before he puts his plans into motion and once that happens, there isn’t a way I can think of to prevent the twins from following through on their programming... or to stop him from threatening you with the consequences.”
“There’s got to be another way, Shane.”
“Like what, for instance?”
“I don’t know.” The softness in Tony’s voice nearly broke as he uttered this admission. “But you don’t know what you’re asking of me.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No…” but immediately he stopped. Shane had a point, and he was one of the few people who understood the position Tony was in because he’d been there himself. He rarely saw his own children who lived with their mother, and when he did, dealt with the constant fear of what his job might bring about…how it could destroy them. “It's a hell of a lot easier when all you have is a split second to think about it instead of contemplating all of this," he said finally.
But Shane wanted the conversation over with. “And I think we ought to wait to discuss this until you get home...”
“Wait until Marlena knows the twins are hers, so that we can drag her though this mess as well?”
“You and I are not the ones responsible for that decision, we didn’t create them and we didn’t choose Marlena.”
“I know that…”
“Then stop trying to fix it.” Shane snapped suddenly.
“As if I could.”
Shane stayed silent for a moment, and then, “Look Tony, you can’t go back and make things right again…hell, we don’t even know for certain what that would be and until you or Marlena remember what took place in that bloody fort, all we can do is act on what is here in front of us. That is where we have to focus our energies.”
“Easy for you to say,” thought Tony but he didn’t say it aloud. Instead he took a deep breath and made an effort to shove his misgivings elsewhere. “You’ll let me know if you locate Ellie’s brother?”
“Of course.”
“Then I guess, that is it for now.”
“Tony, please watch your back in that place…”
“Next you’ll be asking me to behave myself.”
“I don’t know…is that possible?” Shane asked evenly and Tony laughed.
“I suppose it depends on my brother.”
“In that case, I’m afraid you’re going to need enough patience for both you and John.”
“You do enjoy asking for the impossible, don’t you?” Tony told him, with only a hint of sarcasm this time and Shane knew that was all he was going to get.
“Okay, so it’s a waste of my breath, but be careful,” and without another word, he hung up.
Tony shut his phone and stared at it, hearing again Shane’s voice telling him that Marlena was definitely Rex and Cassie’s mother. Why was he suddenly bothered by this news? Shane was right, he’d been expecting it, they both had and he’d expected to feel relief at hearing it was certain but instead he felt an sense of dread he couldn’t explain. It was easy enough to make Shane believe it had to do with John, but Tony’s intuition told him that it had nothing to do with Marlena’s husband, or Anna, since he’d already explained the possibility to her and the twins would be ecstatic after they got over the shock...so that only left one person to worry about…Marlena.
That look on her face the morning he’d come to the penthouse, after Montreal, in fact their entire conversation had an air about it that seemed familiar. Not déjà vu exactly, but a sort of recognition. She’d opened up and let him glimpse her vulnerability when it came to the twins and just that spark of desperation that gleamed in her eyes for an instant…he’d seen that before. He was certain. Only there was no way he could have unless the information he discovered in those letters was accurate.
He’d gone back and forth over every single one. Having only one side of the conversation made it a bit more difficult to piece together but not impossible though of course, the bare facts all by themselves couldn’t make it real and hadn’t produced any memories or feelings to match the one hint of anxiety she’d let slip, and there was plenty of things the letters didn't explain.
What had truly happened between the two of them?
And why?
For the first time since the letters were found he faced the one possibility he’d tried to bury but which refused to lay quietly in the back of his mind any longer. Rearing its ugliness, he was forced to accept what he’d done in the past and might be capable of doing once again.
He knew how volatile he’d been at the time, the constant anger that blew up without warning at the most inconsequential remark from Stefano, to the point that he’d purposely avoided him as much as possible without actually breaking ties completely, so, if he’d discovered Marlena locked up on the island, had he taken advantage of the situation or allowed his anger to take over? Had he forced himself on her?
Nothing he read in the letters suggested such a thing, but he only had the ones he’d written. Where were hers?
A portion of his fear sprang from the many similarities in the situation and his frustration. All those uncontrollable emotions he’d ignored after learning Renee was his sister until it was too late, so that with little warning they’d come boiling to the surface and he’d exorcised his rage and disappointment, and stubborn determination to have a child on the one woman unlucky enough to be in the way, his wife Liz.
He hid his face in his hands thinking it could have happened all over again. After Salem, he’d spent years searching out any method he could think of to erase Anna from his mind and soul but it hadn’t worked. No matter what beautiful woman he was with, she simply didn’t measure up to his memories and failed miserably to excite his senses the way Anna had. He longed for her constantly. Every time he laughed, he’d hear her laughter too and see that smile, and those incredible lips he longed to touch again…kiss again. Was it possible he’d used Marlena in the hopes of forgetting her permanently?
The thought of such behavior make him nauseous, particularly because he couldn’t convince himself that it was impossible.
Setting down his phone on the table next to him, he pulled out the letter he carried around with him ever since he’d found it lying on the bed, the last one he’d written to her. He didn’t need to open it as the words remained burned into his memory, but looking at it helped. Seeing the steady script and the words that flowed across the page…’I’m sending you home to John, where you belong.’
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Post by madelinehawaii on Dec 15, 2006 10:18:51 GMT -5
Place: DiMera Compound Time: February 2003, later that night (following Marlena’s sleepwalking)
Tony’s eyes trailed after his brother who’d retreated upon handing out his threats, taking the stairs two at a time. Only when Tony heard him reach the top and make his way along the hallway that led to the bedroom he and Marlena had chosen did Tony relax and lean up against the wall, shifting his attention back into the main living area, most of which lay in shadow, except for a lone spotlight shining onto the seascape that hung above the mantel.
With the house cleaned and no longer covered in sheets, his sense of recognition seemed to be magnified, particularly in this room. It had nearly overpowered him on his arrival earlier that evening and he knew now that something ghastly had take place in its confines, the memory of which hovered at the very edge of his consciousness, tangible enough to make him feel as though he were walking about in a nightmare, but without substance. The minute he’d try to grab hold of it, all but the flavor would evaporate.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to relax, to let it pass through and center his emotions but nothing happened. Even the calm he’d achieved in his meditation when he retired had disappeared and if he didn’t know better, he could have sworn the few hours of peace he’d spent upstairs were a figment of his imagination. Obviously avoiding the feelings did no good, so perhaps the moment had arrived to face the past, whatever it was…
With some hesitation, he used his unease to guide him around the room. It wasn’t all that much larger than the living room of the mansion back in Salem, but the furnishings were sparse, and walls of stone instead of the paneling he was used to, and it lent the room an air of formality. Stately, but not warm or inviting to the senses. He purposely made his way across the spot on floor he’d ordered fixed, replacing the trap door, where only a few months ago he’d hung over the abyss, begging for John’s help to no avail.
…Nothing.
Same with the place in front of the DiMera crest etched into the wall. He glanced up at the rafters, almost invisible but for the light aimed at the mantle and its glare created red spots in his field of vision. Squinting and then squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head and when he looked again at the floor near the massive fireplace, it was gone…no blood, no stains or color marring the flagstones, gone as though it hadn’t been there at all except for the certainty within that it was not just his imagination. Neither was the vertigo he felt. He had to force himself to make his way over, to kneel down and press his palm against the uneven surface. It was cool to the touch as he’d expected. No hint of anything unusual appeared but still his senses insisted that it was here.
“Sir.”
His head snapped up and standing just out in the entryway was the caretaker whose name Tony couldn’t remember.
“Are you…alright?”
Tony nodded, about to send the younger man away but then something about the familiarity of his face, which he’d noticed earlier in the evening made Tony stop. “You grew up here, on the island with your family, didn’t you?” he asked, confused as to why he felt the need to mention this out loud.
The man seemed surprised too, that Tony would recall such a detail, or maybe that he’d forgotten it. “Until my father passed away.”
“Your father…”
“Sebastian.”
“Ah, yes,” breathed Tony, as the resemblance fit into place. So much like his father, except the eyes. Sebastian’s eyes had literally danced with merriment and laughter until…when? Tony couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his old friend, and couldn’t recall hearing about his death either but it seemed a odd subject to broach, particularly awkward somehow, so instead he said, “Thank you,” dismissing the young man who didn’t move, reluctant to walk away and leave Tony sitting alone on the floor, or so it seemed, but then his gaze drifted to the fireplace and returned to Tony. It was hard to be certain in the low light, but Tony swore the man’s subtle gesture had been deliberate, almost a signal. Before he could say a word though, the man turned and disappeared into the darkness, heading towards the kitchen.
It didn’t seem possible for the caretaker of all people to be ignorant of the room hidden beyond the fireplace. In fact, he’d probably been the one to place the letters Tony found the last time around and it occurred to him suddenly that more information could be waiting. Glancing into the darkness where the entry to the room stood, a cold apprehension gripped him, though lurking along with it was the tiniest sliver of anticipation. The answers were in there...waiting, if he had the nerve.
Slowly he climbed to his feet and found the button concealed beneath the conch shell on the mantel. A black hole appeared as a section of the wall slid open noiselessly. Throwing a quick glance at the stairs that remained empty, Tony bent down to avoid hitting his head and emerged on the other side of the hearth in the passageway, and feeling along the walls in the darkness found the door, so that he arrived at the top of stone steps. The empty room was visible with only a faint luminosity thanks to a full moon that was fading in and out of the clouds. Nothing had changed. It contained only the bed, canopied with sheers. The material glimmered where the moonlight shone through it and for an instant he imagined a pair of bodies intertwined amid the covers. With a shake of his head the image vanished but not the sensations that emerged and set his heart hammering in his chest.
Again he had to fight his reluctance. One step at a time, he made his way into the room and tearing his eyes away from the bed, walked to one of the windows and rested against the side of it so he could gaze through and down into the garden. Even now, in the middle of the night, muted colors blended together in a haze provided by the spray of the ocean he could hear but not see...and far away he heard a door slam, sounding hollow as though it came from a terrible distance…
He’d never been this angry, not even after his mother’s death on the island could he recall experiencing the rage that boiled within him now.
“Rolf,” he thundered as he heaved the mahogany door shut behind him. “Where are you?”
No one appeared immediately, and after a glance at the stairway off to his left, he strode into the main living area. “d**n it man, get in here, now.” Silence. Where was the little b*stard he wondered and at the point of turning to check the laboratory upstairs, Sebastian burst into the entryway from outdoors.
“Tony.” He was flushed and had probably run all the way from the cottage down near the beach. Nervously, he eyed the stairs. “You didn’t warn me you were coming.”
“Where is he?”
Sebastian swallowed, trying to speak past the dryness in his mouth. He’d rarely seen the Count in such a state and recognized that Tony was beyond caring about anything, especially being cautious. “He had to go on an errand he said, something about medicine for the twins.”
“When?”
“Yesterday. He…he said he’d be back in a few days, but both of his assistants are still here. They’ve got the twins upstairs…”
Tony didn’t wait to hear the rest but spun on his heel and headed back into the living room, straight to the mantel.
Sebastian hesitated for only a moment and then followed. “Tony, please…you need to wait…” but he was ignored. “The twins are going to need a feeding again soon, they’ll be down here with them and…they can’t find you in there.”
“Keep them busy,” Tony snapped and tried to ignore the look of fear and shock that settled across his friend’s face.
“Think about what you’re doing, about the consequences if you’re caught.”
But the grim look on Tony’s face remained, even as he reached out his hand to squeeze Sebastian’s shoulder and then without a sound, ducked beneath the low ridge as soon as the hidden door opened.
Marlena sat on the far side of the room in her usual rocker, pulled next to the window. Her head leaned against the back of it so that blond hair, streaked with sunlight cascaded over the top, her eyes closed until she heard his boots scuff against the rough stone at the top of the steps. When her lashes fluttered open, a look of confusion quickly gave way and she gazed at him with concern.
“Tony? What’s the matter, has something happened?”
“That b*stard.” His words exploded through the small space and reverberated off the walls with an intensity she’d not been expecting. “He…” Tony came down the steps too quickly and missed the top one so that he slid down several move and landed squarely on his bottom about half way down. Marlena was out of her seat instantly but he held up his hand. “I’m fine,” he bit out, “but that no good piece of nuts I have for a father has lied to me for the last bloody time.”
Marlena’s expression mirrored Sebastian’s from only a few minutes before though she managed to bury her panic beneath a adept air of professionalism. “Okay,” she soothed, though her eyes still conveyed her alarm at his condition, “just calm down, you need to relax and then you can tell me…”
But in a fury, he hurled his keys still clutched in his fist at the far wall. “Stop it.” His heart was racing uncontrollably and he was breathing in gulps of air until finally the terror on her face registered in his mind and he dropped his head into this hands. “Marlena I’m sorry, but don’t try and manage this…and for god’s sake, I’m not in the mood for being analyzed.”
She didn’t reply, and didn’t argue. After giving him a minute, her hand reached out and touched his fingers gently, pulling a hand away from his face and hanging onto it. When he forced himself to look, he found her resting on the step below him.
“I do understand, but it’s a reflex, you know,” and she smiled.
It still took all the control he could muster to stay seated and found himself unable to smile back. “You have no idea how sick this is…”
“Don’t be so sure,” she broke in, her face tightening at the thought. “It is Stefano we’re talking about after all.”
And he had to shut his eyes and turn away at the stab of humiliation that shot through him as he listened to the bare hard truth. How had he ever allowed himself to be fooled again? The man was nothing but a liar, a… “He…” Tony gulped and bit his lip to try and gain some semblance of control. “They’re mine.”
Fingers brushed his arm but he refused to turn around and look at her and he could tell what he had said affected her. “Who?”
Though it was the hardest two words he’d ever had to utter, he managed to get them out in a steady voice. “The twins.”
Not bothering with the subtle approach this time, she carefully but firmly used her hand to guide his face around in her direction until she could see the misery that made his eyes black, almost a void, and let go. She said nothing.
Silence descended over the room and as it lengthened there was a ringing in his ears from the adrenalin still rushing through his body. Every instinct within screamed for release. He tried to pull his hand from her grasp but as soon as he did, she tightened her grip and yanked on it, rising with a nimble grace to her feet.
“Come sit over here,” she said pulling him further into the room.
“No…”
“Tony, I insist,” she said, and there was a steely ring to her voice that made him finally turn around to face her. She stared back at him with eyes so incredibly beautiful, the flecks of gray green muted like the color of the tide pools at the shore, but also every bit as determined as she’d ever been. Part of him couldn’t help but admire her audacity, and in spite of the resentment eating at him, he was tired.
He took a deep breath and climbing to his feet, allowed himself to be led over to the bed where she sat down.
“Sit…right here,” she told him, indicating a spot next to her.
Tony raised an eyebrow, but her smile was charmingly innocent and no doubt calculated to put the patient at ease. He sank into the comforter anyway and eyed her cautiously. “Now, if I understand what you’ve said, the twins belong to the two of us, is that correct? You and I are their parents.”
He nodded.
“Well, we’ve both had our suspicions in that area for weeks now,” she pointed out, admitting what she’d never actually said out loud until this moment and with a great deal more patience than Tony imagined anyone could have in this situation, “so this cannot be the extent of what you learned, not if you’re this upset.”
Tony closed his eyes for a moment and then lifted his head and faced her squarely. “I don’t know with whom, but before I came to Salem I had children…twins…” He faltered at this point as the emotions he’d dealt with for the last two days threatened to overwhelm him once again but she squeezed his hand to give him reassurance and knowing he had to do this, he grit his teeth and forced the rest out. “A girl and a boy. The only information I have about them is the fact they were mine…and the date they both…died.”
Up to this point, she’d listened calmly, but the last two facts were too much and despite all her years of training, Marlena’s steady demeanor crumbled as the implications of what he’d just told her began to sink in. “You mean, they’re gone and you have no memory of them at all?”
Tony had to shut his eyes to keep the tears in check.
“Oh, god no…” And just hearing the pain her voice, and the pity was too much to bear and he jumped up and headed over to the window.
“Is it possible they could belong to you and Liz?” she asked tentatively from behind him.
“No,” he said, rubbing at his eyes that ached from a lack of sleep and the long flight. “According to the dates I got a look at, they died several years before I met her.”
“And their mother?”
But he just shook his head from side to side. “God knows…”
“Oh, I’m sure Stefano does,” she said, a twinge of the bitterness she’d buried so deeply welling to the surface.
Hearing her mention his father, he swung about to confront her. “Rolf is gone…according to Sebastian, for at least another day or two, and there is plenty of room in the plane for all three of you. Sebastian is an excellent pilot. I’ve got to get you and twins out of here, Marlena, tonight.”
“I’m afraid they’d never make it,” she told him, still sitting as before and staring down at the bed, her fingers clutching at the coverlet, twisting it around in a way that reminded him that her façade was merely that, a way to deal with the constant anxiety, the insanity of her situation and worse, trying to fight the sense that it would never end no matter what she did. “That’s the reason Rolf went off island because the last batch of medicine wasn’t enough.”
“He told you that?”
There was anguish in her eyes making them far too bright as her gaze reached his. “He didn’t need to, both of them are still so weak, and I…” but she couldn’t tell him the rest. Her hand, shaking uncontrollably, tightened into a fist as she clamped it hard against her mouth, fighting with every ounce of strength she still possessed to keep from breaking down.
“d**n Stefano,” Tony snarled leaning his head back against the window frame. “What gives him the bloody right to play God with our lives?”
“You…you think he purposely ordered your memory be erased?”
He continued to stare at the ceiling and then his eyes drifted shut. “I’d give anything to believe otherwise but I don’t know what other conclusion I can draw at this point and,” his tone grew bitter, “I’m too well acquainted with Rolf’s capabilities now.” He paused, letting his gaze drift out the window, and then, “I just don’t understand why…” the last word trailed off as he recalled all of the unanswerable questions he’d wrestled with on the long journey to the island. Endless and one after another; who was the twin’s mother, where was she, how did they die and who was responsible because Tony couldn’t accept that Stefano would go to all the trouble of covering up such an event unless he needed to hide the truth.
It was difficult to imagine that his opinion of Stefano could worsen after everything they’d been through in Salem but the last couple months had taught him that there were no depths his father could not sink to, especially when he’d discovered Marlena trapped here, and learned what Stefano had done to her…once that came to light, the beliefs he’d clung to just to make it through each day had begun to spiral out of his grasp.
He shut his eyes and pressed his hand over them to shut out the light. There was no truth in his life anymore. He’d walked away from all the people that meant something to him because of Stefano. He’d left Anna. There was nothing to hang onto to. No one…no one that mattered at least…except for two helpless babies lying upstairs whose lives depended on Rolf and his father.
Without warning, the touch of cool fingers on his arm startled him. His eyes shot open to discover her standing in front of him, wearing the same stubbornness in her expression that he’d become familiar with all over again. “You can’t worry about Stefano anymore, or why any of this happened.” Her look was so focused it boarded on a glare. “You can’t afford to,” she told him; sounding every bit the competent psychiatrist, though even now there remained a hint of how close to the edge she stood.
He knew what she was doing, and in the same situation, remembered reacting with similar instincts because surviving and getting out was all that mattered but it wasn’t that simple now, not after the things Stefano had stolen away, and sure as hell not easy. With only a tenuous hold on himself, he gazed back at her. “Have you any idea how it feels after all these years to be stuck in this family…to know,” and his words came lashing out at her, “that the person who has robbed me of all that matters is my own flesh and blood?”
Instantly a spark in her eyes flared with indignation. “Yes, I do.”
But Tony shook his head at her. “No Marlena. Your sister hurt you, I know but it is not the same.”
“You don’t know…” she began angrily and then stopped as he spun away. “Alright, you’re furious with him, I understand that but you can’t let him...”
“What?” Tony demanded suddenly, turning back and eyeing her with glare of his own now. “Steal your…our children? Do you honestly believe I would allow that to happen?”
Unshed tears hovered on her lashes as she stared back at him and she shook her head slowly. “No, of course not,” she whispered.
“I’m just as worried as you Marlena. I have not a single illusion left about what my father is capable of but asking me to just walk away from this without any answers is not an option I can live with.” The fear in her expression hardened stubbornly for a moment and then she looked away, confused. “I’m not going to do that,” he told her as gently as he could manage, “ and frankly I don’t think you could live with it either.”
“But can’t you at least wait until we’re out of here?”
He tipped his head to one side to catch her eye. “Unless I was able to do so without Stefano learning I’m the one responsible, I’d loose all the access I currently have, to information, to the people willing to share what they know…to any chance of discovering the truth.”
“But what if…”
His hand reached out to cover her mouth. “Don’t. Please let’s not argue about this,” he said quietly, and with a look of resignation she bit her lip and tried to hide her misery by looking out the window.
The sight of her tears made him feel a complete heel. How the hell had she ended up in this mess anyway he wondered again irritably, flexing his hand and then clenching it into a fist to try and cope with his anger. Screwing with his life was one thing, but dragging Marlena into this disaster masquerading as a family and then experimenting on her, using her to recreate something they’d lost was so beyond depraved that just seeing her standing there with her head bowed made Tony want to shove his fist through the wall.
“You’re looking at me that way again,” she said, in a voice low and raspy from crying.
He blinked and went to turn away again but she caught his arm.
“You’re not responsible for any of this Tony…” “I’d say that’s hardly a given,” he broke in. “They were my children and he…”
“Is sick, yes…but those are his actions and you haven’t any control over what he does, or how he chooses to carry out his plans, whatever they may be. You’ve got to stop manufacturing guilt for yourself over this. It can’t change anything that’s happened.”
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Post by madelinehawaii on Dec 15, 2006 10:19:19 GMT -5
Though she meant well, her logic struck him as ludicrous considering their current predicament and it did nothing to improve his mood. Rationalization was simply not going to work and unable to keep the pain at bay any longer, he pulled away from her and started for the door knowing it was a mistake to have come here while he was still so upset, but she slipped in front of him, one hand on his chest and the other gripping his shoulder, manicured nails biting into his back. “Tony, don’t…” and before he could stop her, she leaned forward and kissed him, not like a sister, or a friend, but passionately and obviously with no intention of letting go. Startled at first, he was far too agitated to think straight and he let himself be drawn in, the soft taste of her lips and her tongue as water in a black desolate landscape, which was just what his world had deteriorated to over the last couple of days.
And she wasn’t in the mood for being gentle either. After what seemed only a few moments of creating a riot in his senses, she raked her nails down his chest and ripped open his shirt, sending the first two buttons flying off to bounce across the stone floor. Breathlessly, he pried his lips away and caught her hand.
“We can’t.”
Her eyes glared back at him, and it was a look he’d never encountered from Marlena before. There was a wildness in her. “Don’t you tell me what I can or cannot do. I get enough of that from everyone else around here.”
“But, Roman….”
And her head dropped down on his chest. “Tony…” a sob broke and raked her entire body and unable to just stand in front of her without providing comfort, he gathered her into his arms and held her close. It took awhile, longer that he imagined it would but when she regained her bearings, she tossed her head back far enough to look him in the face. “Don’t you know I’ve done nothing besides pine for Roman? Besides dream of him and wish he were here, and lie there waiting for him to show up and get me out of this d**ned hellhole? For god’s sake, I screamed his name giving birth to the twins…but the fact of the matter is, he’s not the one who walked through that door in the end. You did.”
He opened his mouth but she quickly put her hand up to silence him. “I’m not blaming…I don’t know…fate, and certainly not Roman, but right now, we only have each other…and,” Dark lush lashes swept down to cover the agony that burned in her eyes but they couldn’t cover the tears that came streaming one after another. “I know you think I’m brave…invincible,” a tiny sob that was supposed to be laughter broke through, “but I’m not. I’m scared, terrified actually and the only thing keeping me sane is you and…” she had to stop and take a deep breath. “you…” but she couldn’t finish.
“I would never desert you, Marlena.”
She shook her head crossly. “And I’d never suggest such a thing.”
Forcing himself to be patient, he waited as she held onto him and tried to compose herself.
“We’re both going to crack here pretty soon if we don’t face reality. I’ve been here for five years, five,” she almost spat at him “and if we don’t just accept that we need each other…”
“Marlena,” he said, more impatiently then he meant to, “this isn’t you talking.”
For a moment, she glared at him with such fury he though she might take a swing at him but instead her gaze grew icy and brittle. “You’d never speak to Anna this way.”
And in spite of himself, the corner of his mouth curled into a lopsided smile. “No, probably not, but then I’d never have guessed you would find my restraint insulting.”
Instead of answering, she kissed him again. It was leisurely, even mellow compared to the first one but every bit as pleasurable and he could feel his body begin to react. “Marlena…”
“No,” she whispered, “don’t say no.”
He didn’t want to say anything. He’d spent forty-eight hours in abject misery, berating himself and ready to tear into anyone who looked at him the wrong way because of what his father had done, to him and this beautiful woman in front of him, and incredibly, instead of treating him harshly, all she asked of him was something he should have been thrilled to give her. “Maybe I’m just worried you’ll feel differently afterwards.”
And for the first time since he’d walked in the door, she beamed at him, her eyes bright with amusement, though he could swear he detected something else lurking in their depths, a kind of reckless abandon that he didn’t recognize at all. “You mean, better?”
He shook his head and chuckled. “Oh, lord help me.”
As she slipped her hands beneath his silk shirt and casually explored his chest, her smile widened. “This isn’t the same Tony DiMera I’ve come to know, calling on divine intervention at the sight of a woman. I’m not really all that dangerous, am I?” This time, she wasn’t in a hurry, and didn’t tear the remaining buttons off of his shirt, but undid each one with deliberate ease until she got to his belt. A simple obstruction, soon undone, and then she stopped. “Your turn.”
Tony couldn’t be certain but he’d begun to feel as though this were all a dream. He allowed his gaze to slip down past her mouth, parted ever so slightly and then the curve of her neck to her shoulder, where a single strap held her dress in place.
“It won’t bite,” she whispered, holding back a giggle and instantly his eyes connected with hers, and they sparkled with a naughty air, full of mischievous laughter.
“No, but I do.”
A remark that would have set Anna off and running but not Marlena who merely raised an eyebrow, though it was taking all of her self control to continue standing in front of him, just waiting...forcing herself to hold her hands down by her sides.
He leaned his head over slowly until his lips hovered only a breath away from hers. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he whispered and with a gentleness she wasn’t expecting, his mouth began exploring her lips, with just enough persistence so that they tingled when he moved onto to her neck, making her feel things she’d thought impossible, dangerous things. “Tony….”
“Um?”
She caught her breath as his tongue located her ear and he nipped it playfully. “What…” but realized she’d forgotten her question. Realized too that she didn’t care. His hands were creating nearly as much havoc as his mouth, and having dispatched her straps and then the zipper of her dress, one of them moved freely down her back as the other caressed her neck, her shoulders, dancing across her skin as if they knew exactly where to touch her. She closed her eyes and let the sensations wash over her until her dress glided to a heap on the floor and she felt herself lifted off of her feet and into his arms.
The hunger in his eyes was obvious now. She’d seen Tony look at other women, seen his eyes trail after a pretty figure with appreciation, seen him sit back and eye his wife in such a blatantly lascivious manner it had embarrassed her just to be a witness, but he’d never turned such a look in her direction, until now. And having never imagined how she’d feel, she was unprepared for the effect it had on her, the shiver that ran like liquid fire up her spine as unabashed, he stared at her from beneath impossibly long dark lashes.
He knew what he was doing to her. Just the hint of a smile hovered on his lips and his gaze focused on her chest that rose and fell unevenly. She was probably all flushed too. This is not what she’d been expecting which irritated her but only off in the back of her mind somewhere and it faded away when he learned over and kissed her.
More persistent this time, his tongue swirled deliciously in her mouth, working up a frenzy that drove out every other distraction, even the sticky afternoon humidity. She wrapped her hands around his neck to draw him closer and he obliged, indulging her need to loose herself and make her problems disappear, if only for a moment, though he had to admit to savoring it as much as she was. When he finally pulled away, his smile spread to a lusty grin. “So Madame…to the bed?”
“Have you always been this much of a tease?” she asked, plastering a frown on her face, though she figured she couldn’t hold onto it for long.
The grin on his face widened. “It’s not as though you haven’t known that for a number of years now, you used to say I was terrible, remember?”
She made an effort to clear her throat in disapproval but it got swallowed up in her laughter. “You are terrible…you’re a terrible cynic and terribly naughty, and as I recall, you have a terrible temper.”
At this point he was laughing with her.
“…but terribly attractive…” she added, bringing a finger to his lips to trace the edges but he grabbed it with his teeth. She shook her head at him as his tongue slipped across the end of it and then he let go and kissed it gently. “Terribly unpredictable too.”
“Why thank you, my dear,” he said, inclining his head in appreciation. “And are we done with this particular adjective yet?”
“I sincerely doubt it,” she laughed again and his eye twinkled back at her.
“You have no idea how good it is to see a smile on your face.”
“Yes,” she murmured, “I know what you mean.” And having waited long enough, she pulled his head back down to meet hers. “You may take me to the bed now.”
He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing but the urge disappeared in just a moment as her lips demanded his attention, and he had to remind himself which direction to go in order to reach the bed, all the while her tongue pursued his own relentlessly, darting about and teasing him, making it difficult to focus and he hoped the shape he’d stumbled over to was actually the bed and not just a shadow in the corner of his vision. “Speaking of unpredictable…” he whispered as he pulled away to breathe, and check for something solid before he lay her down.
“What, you disapprove?” A challenge flared up in her eyes but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling or letting her gaze drop down as he unbuttoned his jeans. Her smile and her eyes widened as he slipped them off. “Terribly….” Her eyebrow inched up. “Ready?”
But he gazed back with only the ghost of a smile now, letting his eyes skim across her body slowly, as though he aimed to memorize every curve, every inch of creamy alabaster skin between her toes and her face, and by the time he’d reached journey’s end, the pleasure gleaming in his eyes was quite evident and all the incentive she needed to grab at his hand again and drag him onto the bed, on top of her. His weight was comforting somehow but she didn’t have time to figure out why before his hand cupped her breast and she felt his mouth, and then his tongue flick around the edges of it, alternately kissing and biting his way to the top where he nibbled until she cried out. And as if on cue, his mouth covered hers. His tongue delved much deeper this time, pushing her to respond with an equal passion and she could feel her own body begin to burn with wanting him. The sensation made her almost desperate and her nails dug into his back. “Tony…”
Marlena awoke with a start, her heart beating wildly and in desperation, shut her eyes to try and snatch back the fragments of her dream but her head was pounding with such ferocity that she couldn’t concentrate or focus on what she wanted and it vanished. All that remained were the feelings of absolute frustration she’d been dealing with for weeks now. The memories were all there, like echoes in her head but she couldn’t see any of it or touch it without the essence evaporating into nothing and the longer this continued, the worse it got. She was beginning to think she might go crazy.
“Doc?” John’s hand moved to embrace her and pull her over against him. As usual, he sounded wide-awake and she tried to squash her guilt at knowing he was so worried about her that he hardly slept soundly any longer. “Are you alright?”
Taking a deep breath, she lied. “Yes, I’m fine,” she soothed, planting a kiss on his forehead. “Go back to sleep.” She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled as he eyed her suspiciously. She knew that look but there was nothing for him to do except worry along with her and she didn’t think she could handle anymore of that. Kissing him again, this time on the lips, she turned on her side and curled up next his warmth, and immediately his arms wrapped themselves around her as though he could protect her from everything.
“God, I love you…” he whispered into her hair.
She didn’t answer but squeezed his hand and lay still until she could hear him breathing evenly again.
First the sleepwalking, and now this. What the hell was happening to her she wondered for only the umpteenth time that day, and why was she certain that Tony had the answers? How John hated that, and though she completely understood, it was getting harder to deal with his attitude about his brother. She just wanted to know the truth. She had to make him realize it wasn’t about Tony. This was her life, her memories, perhaps her children too.
She lay for a while with questions chasing each other through her head incessantly until she couldn’t think she could take it another second. Carefully, so that she didn’t wake him up again, Marlena lifted John’s arm and crawled off the bed, picking up her robe that hung over the back of a chair, and made her way through the dim light to the door. Just as she’d stepped out into the hallway and shut it behind her, she heard footsteps ascending the staircase. With no time to go back, she waited and barely a moment later, Tony came around the corner. He stopped dead at the sight of her and stared, perhaps not sure if she was awake.
“Can’t sleep either?” she asked politely.
“Marlena.”
“Yes?” He gave her a strange look and seemed to almost be waiting for something to happen, for her to say something but then he snapped out of it.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, and then remembering he was her host, “is there anything you need?”
“I need my life back, my memory…” she told him, rather shocked to hear it come out of her mouth while the two of them stood about awkwardly in their robes, and here it was the dead middle of the middle of the night, but she wasn’t about to take it back either.
She saw him swallow uncomfortably but his eyes regarded her evenly, without even a speck of guilt. “You may want to reconsider such a desire, Mrs. Black,” and before she could reply, he swept past her, continuing down the hallway to his own room.
Marlena stared at his back and then the door of his room after he shut it quietly. He’d never called her that. And was it her imagination, or had she heard just the slightest air of sarcasm as he’d uttered her name? For a moment, she was tempted to follow him and demand an explanation but the last thing she needed right now was John finding her in Tony’s room. She was already nervous about what the two of them might do to each other if she left them alone together, so trying to stifle her intuition that told her that Tony knew more than he was letting on, she turned and headed down to the kitchen in the hopes of finding something to help her sleep.
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Post by madelinehawaii on Jan 6, 2007 18:02:53 GMT -5
Alone again with the door shut securely, Tony sank down on the bed only to jump up restlessly and pace across the floor. Imagines swam in his mind, he and Marlena in bed. He could see her face flushed with pleasure, lashes a dark smudge that swept across the iridescence of her eyes as she whispered his name and her finger gently traced a path along his cheekbone searching for his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut but still it persisted. The touch of her skin, its coolness and the sense of simplicity he felt lying next to her. How idiotic was that given the predicament the two of them were caught in…could it have been a matter of delusion or relief?
Reaching the wall, he leaned his forehead against the smooth plaster and tried to remind himself that he ought to feel relieved. Problem was, he didn’t. Not relieved, or guilty, or even a sense of vindication knowing he’d had John’s wife. In fact the dread permeating through every corner of his awareness from the moment he’d entered the house clung with more tenacity than before.
He’d promised her that he would keep the twins safe from his father, but obviously he’d not succeeded, or managed to get her home with her memory intact, which meant his plans had gone terribly awry and to a point that Stefano didn’t want either of them to remember what had actually transpired. A nagging instinct sent him back to his encounter earlier, and the strange intuition he’d felt as he spoke to Sebastian’s son. What events was this mysterious young man privy to when it came to the past?
For the first time, Tony considered the possibility that the letters had found their way to him without Stefano’s knowledge, and without his approval. They revealed a history after all that he’d done everything in his power to hide and if this were the case, he would have already made certain that his gifts to Marlena awakened only the memories he sanctioned. He’d not allow her to remember anything that involved Tony…doing so would ruin his plans. It would mean John would know that Tony sent his wife back to him.
“And that is the last thing you want him to learn, eh Father?” Tony whispered at the ceiling. Apparently, someone else out there either hoped for the truth to come out, or was working to throw a wrench into Stefano’s plans, or maybe a combination of the two, which meant his theory wasn’t foolproof. Still, what could it hurt if Marlena did remember it all? John would be angry but stuck and a part of Tony relished this scenario immensely, for here was a fact his brother couldn’t ignore or explain away. And more delicious yet, John could do nothing but remain silent in front of his wife as sounding off would only prove he was bent on a vendetta, though on second thought it occurred to Tony that having lived so long with the habit of distrust and the need to protect Marlena, John would be none too willing to cut his lifeline. It made him feel vital. And he’d succeeded where Tony had failed.
That was a sobering admission come to think of it, especially considering he had a pretty sketchy notion of the details, but not even Stefano could prevent the screen holding back Tony’s memory from unraveling now and he sensed that its momentum was beyond the point of anyone’s control.
~
“Would you mind repeating that?” said Shane, his voice so carefully controlled that Patrick instinctively moved back a couple of steps and prepared himself for an explosion.
“He told me that he meant to set up the laboratory exactly as it was before.”
“Now he wants her to remember? What the hell is going on down there,” he muttered as he turned to reach for his cell phone. It wasn’t in the spot where he normally kept it and he had to shuffle several stacks of papers before locating it beneath the folder he’d just set down, as he’d come in the door. “So help me, if this is some kind of test, or…Tony…” and the tone in his voice altered just slightly, though Patrick could still detect the edge of Shane’s temper, and knew he was only barely keeping it under control. “Isn’t this a little early in the morning for you to be worried about redecorating?”
Tony’s laughter had an edge of its own. “Concerned about my sleeping habits, how thoughtful.”
“No, I’m concerned with your sanity.”
“You and John both.”
Shane cursed under his breath but with an effort, forced himself to stay calm. “Please tell me you’re doing this because you learned something constructive or at least have some reason to believe this will work. Tell me this isn’t some crazy risk you’ve concocted thinking that you can control what she remembers.”
“You honestly believe we’re controlling anything at this point?” Tony asked rather mildly.
“But you’re going to try it anyway.”
“Well…” he heard Tony sigh, “my options seem to be dwindling.”
Leaning back against his desk, Shane decided he didn’t like the implication or the conclusions his mind leapt to automatically. “Why?”
An answer from Tony wasn’t immediately forthcoming and Shane knew he was right but still he waited for Tony to say it. “The letters are…genuine, only I’m beginning to wonder just who is it that wanted me to have them. Not Stefano, I think.”
The typical sharpness in his tone was gone and Shane swore he’d let his guard down for a moment. “So tell me what you remembered, exactly.”
And Tony chuckled. “I don’t think you want to hear the exact version.”
“Alright,” Shane growled, “then how about enough to help me understand your reasoning here.”
“I’m not sure I can. It’s this place as much as the details of what I know now…” his voice trailed off as though searching for a way to put his feelings into words. “Whatever happened here, I sense it is something Stefano would bury if he could, permanently.”
Confused, Shane shook his head. “Then why give Marlena the pillow? Why deliberately draw her here to the island where her memories could resurface?”
“Perhaps he’s predetermined which ones she’ll recover.”
Shane’s whistle was low but appreciative. It sounded like the kind of safeguard Stefano would keep in place and Tony’s ability to crawl inside his father’s psyche and read the man continued to amaze Shane who shook his head. “He’s hoping she remembers the twins.”
“Yes.”
“Interesting theory. What if you’re wrong?”
“You mean, what if she remembers everything?”
Shane felt himself holding his breath as he waited for Tony to answer his own question.
“After a few hours in this house, I’m not entirely sure I want to remember all of it,” and veiled beneath his wry bemusement was a hint of the desperation that had slipped through his defenses back in Paris the summer before. “But the bottom line seems to be that I tried to send her home. I can’t for the life of me imagine Stefano wants either of them learning that bit of information.”
“At least not from Marlena.”
Tony didn’t pipe up to agree with him but Shane could still see his smile and thanked whatever God existed for his partner’s ability to find humor in the worst of situations.
“So what do you need in order to pull off this little experiment?”
“I gave a list to Patrick.”
Glancing up, Shane eyed Patrick who was standing on the other side of the room leaning over the window and as he felt Shane’s gaze, he turned and pointed at the laptop, which lay closed on the desk. Shane raised an eyebrow and Patrick smiled back at him a bit sheepishly. “It seems,” said Shane with more amusement than irritation, “that you’ve won over I disagreeistant.”
“Excuse me?” said Tony, sounding confused.
“The supplies are already in route.”
“Oh.” For a moment there was silence and then in a quiet, incredulous tone, “tell him thank you.”
“I will…and Tony…”
“Yes?”
“Please try to remember that John is even more in the dark at this point than you are… I’d really like to see you get off that blasted island in one piece. John has no idea of what’s going on. You do.”
“I’m afraid I’m not nearly as sure of that as you are,” said Tony cryptically but he didn’t elaborate before he hung up and Shane was left with the uncomfortable impression that Tony’s gut was leading him to some rather ugly conclusions. What if he was right? Shane had read all the letters and as much as he’d hoped they disclosed the true story, there were far too many missing pieces, especially at the end. Somehow Stefano had discovered Tony’s plans and put a stop to them but Shane doubted it was so cut and dried. Having been on the receiving end of Stefano’s wrath, Shane knew nothing could have been simple or pleasant for Tony if he’d crossed his father.
“You look as worried as he sounded.”
Shane tossed the phone on his desk and shot a look in Patrick’s direction. “I think I’d much prefer to discuss this abrupt change of attitude in regards to Count DiMera.”
“Abrupt,” murmured Patrick thoughtfully. “I suppose it seems that way.”
“Two weeks ago you wanted me to throw the book at him after we learned what he did to Brady and now when he asks for assistance, you dispense it without even asking for my approval.” Shane kept his eyes on Patrick whose profile disappeared into the morning sun as it shone through the window.
“I may have been a bit…hasty.”
Two small wrinkles appeared between Shane’s eyebrows. “You care to explain that?”
Patrick knew that tone. It wasn’t a request but an expectation and he’d better have the right answer, or at least an honest one but that meant divulging things about his past that Patrick never discussed and did his best to ignore. “I…ah…” He shut his eyes and rubbed them. “Okay, I admit that I didn’t want to believe Tony’s story after you got involved with him. It was preposterous. This man has wealth I can’t even imagine, so why on earth would he feel the need to come to you for help? What a convenience given your connection to John and the Brady family…”
“Even after I told you about his history with Stefano.”
Patrick looked down. “Yes.”
“But?”
There was a hesitation before Patrick replied. “I don’t know…I guess I assumed that because he was rich, he couldn’t possibly have to deal with problems in the same way as the rest of us.”
Shane didn’t laugh as Patrick expected him to. Instead he sat down on the couch and leaned his head against his hand, and waited patiently.
“I’m not doing much of a job of explaining this clearly…”
“You’re doing fine,” Shane told him, but Patrick was still agitated and turned to look out the window.
“Everything you told me about his past; the falling out with his father, his cousin’s hatred, loosing his fiancé, his mother…” Patrick shrugged, “I couldn’t see how those things meant much if he was willing to…well, deal with the devil so to speak,” and with a strange combination of uncertainty and antagonism, he whipped back around and his eyes bored into Shane’s. “To me that indicated he’d been more interested in the money, and his position in the family than he was in their memory.”
Shane just nodded silently.
“What never occurred to me, until you met up with him in Montreal was that he may have had other motives, ones I didn’t want to accept I guess.”
“Because of his wife?” asked Shane.
“No, because of Colin.”
Now Shane looked more confused than ever and Patrick swallowed with difficulty past the knot in his way. “My father…” he began, and then stalled when the words stuck in his throat. It took several moments and a deep breath before he managed to choke out, “he…was violent sometimes. He beat us.” After an even longer silence, he finally glanced up at Shane who didn’t appear shocked and wore a carefully guarded but still sympathetic air in his eyes. Patrick scratched his head. “The worst was when he did it to Mimi and Connor. I couldn’t stop him…”
“And you though you should have.”
Patrick just nodded, numbly.
“You thought because you were the eldest, it was your responsibility.”
“Yes.”
“Patrick…”
“Wait,’ he broke in before Shane could get any further, “I’m not finished. I…” he turned away again and Shane could almost see him working up the nerve to get this thing out, whatever it was. “I left, the minute I got the chance, I took off running as far and as fast as I could from him, from Salem and my family.” He exhaled a shaky breath. “I thought if I could just get away, and do something that mattered that perhaps I could make up for it somehow but that’s not the way it works.” The smile curling his lips as he faced Shane was wry and bitter. “The fact of the matter is, I was a coward.”
Again Shane was silent but there was no disgust in his eyes, which was what Patrick had feared to see there. He merely listened without casting any judgments.
“Tony could have easily let you have your way with Colin in Montreal. You were right, it would have solved a world of problems for him but,” Patrick shook his head in amazement, “he didn’t, and for the first time I began to understand how much more complicated his personality…no…” Slowly, he closed his eyes. “I realized his determination to do what I’d could not.”
Raising an eyebrow, Shane’s lips pursed together momentarily. “But you still tried to convince me to inform John and Roman after what he did to Brady.”
The wry smile popped up once more. “I didn’t say realizing I could be wrong was a comfortable thought, or that I liked it.”
And Shane nodded. “I see.” For a fleeting instant, he felt a burst of pride and forced himself to bite his lip to keep from smiling at the young man standing in front of him. To admit one’s shortcomings was difficult enough, but doing so because of someone Patrick had been raised to believe the worst of, made his behavior all the more remarkable to Shane. “What made you accept it?”
“The twins,” said Patrick simply, as though it would explain everything but Shane shook his head and Patrick frowned.
“He could have used them to get his revenge on his brother, to play on Dr. Evan’s memories until he tore her marriage to shreds but instead he put their welfare first. He’s determined to protect them, even now…”
“Now…what do you mean, even now?”
A quirk at the corner of his mouth was the only indication of just how uncomfortable this was for him. “He protected her, or tried to and risked his father’s displeasure to make sure she made it home…to his brother.”
“Among other things, yes,” said Shane, hiding a smirk behind his hand.
“You know what I mean.”
And Shane sighed. “If that is the way it happened, Tony’s ability to stick to the high road could very well be as tricky, even as difficult as the path you’ve been traveling all these years. Unless John learns the truth, he’s not going to make this easy. In fact I think a part of him already suspects there is an invisible connection between his wife and his brother, and I’m not all that sure that even Tony’s children will be enough to help him live with whatever truth he uncovers on that island.”
“Why?”
The question shot at him with the inquisitiveness he’d come to treasure in his assistant and Shane answered him honestly. “Tony is afraid.”
Patrick’s eyebrow inched up a sliver. “I realize you’re guessing, but of what exactly?”
“Learning he made the wrong choice perhaps.”
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Post by madelinehawaii on Jan 22, 2007 18:59:37 GMT -5
Chapter Twelve
Place: DiMera Compound Time: February 2003
Leaning in the doorway, Tony tried to visualize the room as it used to be. Tables with trays full of instruments, metal carts and old-fashioned machines designed before the advent of computer technology, the incubators complete with labels marked boy and girl, an examination table he remembered moved off to one side of the room on which Marlena had given birth to their children. A room of horrors… and miracles.
Just allowing his imagination to picture it stirred a host of conflicting emotions. His children. His beautiful, incredible children so starved for love and attention, and programmed to do what? They’d been created in a laboratory and in the beginning, perhaps it had been an act of desperate, even twisted love, but not by the time their existence became a fact. By then, Stefano cared about only one thing, revenge. His life had deteriorated until wreaking havoc consumed him, perhaps in an effort to fill the void that had become his entire universe.
“Excuse me sir,” The voice piped up from behind him and he turned to make room for a workman guiding a crate through the doorway and down the steps on a dolly. There were already several more scattered around and soon the room would not require an act of imagination. It would be transformed.
A prospect Tony certainly was not looking forward to. His memories of this room were anything but pleasant and it had taken only a glimpse to recognize the source of his waking nightmares, the ones that had plagued him for months now. It had all taken place here. He’d spent months wanting to know why but not anymore because inevitably it led to the same bloody maze from which escape was no more than an illusion. Discovering his past was turning out to be a nightmare.
He lifted his glass, but it was empty so with one last glance around the barren stonewalls, he left and descended the first flight of stairs, which brought him the section of the house where John and Marlena’s bedroom was located. There was no one in the hall this time and their door remained closed. No sound or movement. That would change as soon as the hammering began he was sure but for now at least he could enjoy the silence. Once he reached the bottom floor, he replenished his drink and taking it with him, strolled outside into the warm balmy, tropical air. The crashing of the waves against the cliffs echoed in the distance along with a voice…
It was trying to yell over the din of the propellers, and not succeeding. Tony had taxied the plane over next to the one kept at the island for Rolf’s personal use. Sebastian stood waiting, shouting something. Tony cut the engines, and heard the end of his message, “…your scuba gear,” and figured it probably had to do with whatever excuse Sebastian made up to explain his frequent visits to the island. It seemed farfetched but Rolf might accept it, after all Sebastian had been the one of Tony’s favorite dive companions once, and the island had an incredible reef. Rolf would still be suspicious but he’d have to pretend to be respectful.
“Here,” he grunted, lifting a bag from behind his seat and handing it to Sebastian. He had to scrounge to find a tank and a wet suit that would fit him properly, and then a pair of fins that matched. The equipment in the plane wasn’t being taken care of, and he made a mental note to talk to Peter when he got back about straightening up after his friends.
“If this is the same tank you used last time, I hope you had it repaired.”
Tony’s normal response would have been some smart-ass remark, but he ignored his friend’s worried caution knowing it had nothing to do with the safety of his gear. “How’s Marlena?”
“Tired, but she perked up enough when she heard you were coming,” and Sebastian’s grin was lopsided.
Tony did his best to ignore this too. “And the twins?”
His friend’s lascivious grin vanished instantaneously. “They’re better,” he said carefully, “but…”
In the midst of hoisting the tank on his back to carry it down though the tunnel, Tony stopped, alarmed at the tone he heard in Sebastian’s voice. “But?”
Sebastian bit his lip. “I think they’re going to take them away from here.”
He straightened up slowly, and leaned back against the fuselage thinking that he should have known this would happen eventually. It had never been Stefano’s intention for Marlena to keep the twins. No doubt he had plans of his own. “When?”
But Sebastian shook his head with regret and Tony nodded.
“More information to try and dig up,” he signed, lifting the tank with his gear attached, and heading off to the trap door. He could hear Sebastian trudging behind him. At the ring of banana and palm trees he halted, waiting for Sebastian to catch up and open the door that lead to the flight of steps but when he did reach his side, Sebastian stopped too, and simply stared at the piece of rusted metal which was the only part of the door that was visible, without moving.
“You’re here because you have bad news for her, aren’t you?”
Not all that many people existed in his life that could read Tony as well as the man beside him. It was a gift, quite a special one. Sebastian could touch people and creatures in ways that never failed to astound Tony and to an even greater degree than Stefano, no doubt because he used his ability to different ends but there was still a down side to having such talents. If he could touch them, they could do the same, and Tony couldn’t disguise the pain that resided in his soul now without obliterating what was left of his conscience, and so he nodded.
Silence, or rather the sounds of the ocean and the wind took over as Sebastian hesitated, debating how to reply. They’d known each other since childhood but it wasn’t until later, a number of years after Tony came back from Australia they’d formed a bond that helped both weather difficult times. After that, Tony left and went to America. Sebastian learned only bits and pieces of what had happened to him there, the most shocking one from Marlena herself… Stefano had tried to kill his son. It was a fact incomprehensible to Sebastian who’d witnessed Stefano’s pride in his children, especially Tony. What terrible thing had torn their relationship apart to such an extent that it made Stefano do the unthinkable and Tony willing to believe the worst of his father? Though he couldn’t ask, he knew it wasn’t just a figment of his friend’s imagination because the proof of it lived in Tony’s eyes. Much the same as the fear that he could see haunting Marlena.
“Does the information have something to do with your father?”
“My father...” and Tony actually laughed, “…is insane.”
There it was, the fierce sense of hopelessness and the answer to the question he’d avoided. “He is no saint, I know but…”
Setting the tank down once again, Tony faced him. “I haven’t been entirely up front with you about what is going on here.”
But Sebastian shook his head. “You needed my help, as I needed yours once.” His gaze was pointed. “You asked no questions of me at the time, demanded no assurance or explanations.”
The edge in Tony’s eyes softened and he had to glance away. “Yes, but you have a family now, a wife, your son. I’d never forgive myself if I was the cause of Stefano hurting them in anyway.”
Betrayal was not tolerated in this family but Sebastian had lived his entire life within its folds, protected. Stefano did not secure the loyalty of his people by indulging himself as Tony was suggesting. “Surely you don’t believe that.”
“You think I want to?” Tony squeezed his eyes shut and ran a hand across his eyes. “God, not even after I learned the twins were mine but…” his usually expressive face hardened as he tried to hold in the emotions. “He’s changed Sebastian. I’ve always known what he was but this is different…when I came back I thought perhaps there was a chance for our relationship but I was so wrong and,” he turned to eye his friend squarely, “I don’t want you paying for my mistakes.”
“Are you trying to fire me?”
That got the response he was hoping for, even if the smile was a bit wry and for a moment Tony’s face had the wickedly boyish look to it that Sebastian remembered fondly from the old days. “No, I was hoping you might quit on your own.”
“Ah…” Sebastian smiled back at him, “but I don’t work for you, remember?”
“All too well.”
And he did, in fact no one understood that concept better than Stefano’s son Sebastian suspected. It was a strange, even archaic system, especially to those on the outside, and perhaps it had seen its day but for those whose lives it sheltered, as it had Sebastian and his family’s since before Stefano took charge, it provided a purpose, and security that didn’t exist elsewhere…unless the one responsible for providing that haven betrayed his trust. Sebastian thought back to the days when Tony had only just arrived from Australia and how Stefano’s eyes would light up when Tony entered the room…his pride and joy, and he made no bones about how he felt.
When Tony came to the island originally and discovered its secret, Sebastian thought him upset at Stefano merely because of her. It was obvious they knew each other, that there was a connection. But nothing happened at first. He made no play for her and treated her more like a sister than anything else and then Marlena had opened up to Sebastian about her history with Stefano…about her husband, and what Tony went through when he was in the States.
Sebastian didn’t understand why. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to either seeing the pain Tony was going through but he could no longer ignore the implications of what was taking place here after what he heard from both of them. The time had arrived to make a decision, and choose sides. “Your father might be the one who pays me,” Sebastian said finally, his eyes reaching Tony’s and holding his gaze, “but he doesn’t own me.”
Tony hung onto his smile but now it contained a sadness that Sebastian had never seen there before. “I’m afraid my father has sunk to the point that he believes in his right to own whatever falls into his grasp.”
Sebastian shrugged. “His delusions are his own problem.”
“That is true,” said Tony, drawing the words out slowly, “but he has the power and resources to back them up.”
“If you are convinced of that, why fight it? Why did you come back at all?”
“You already know the answer to that,” said Tony, woodenly
“Perhaps…” Their eyes met once more and Sebastian let the silence hang a moment. “Perhaps I’d like to be certain you still believe it.”
Tony’s gaze dropped down and he leaned over the tank. Sebastian could see him struggling with it. It was a responsibility he didn’t want, not the way his father had before him but it had dogged him and somehow been the one thing that drug him through those times when he’d been tempted to give up and surrender. He might not be the future of the DiMera family, but he could make sure one existed for them. “I won’t…can’t let him destroy it all merely to satisfy his own twisted idea of justice. I’ve seen what he’s capable of now, and…” Tony shook his head with angry resignation, “he’ll keep it up until there is nothing left and he’s used every last one of us.”
When he glanced back up, he found a smile dancing in Sebastian’s fair blue eyes and his friend gave a nod. “In that case, I’d hardly be doing my family any favors by allowing that to continue, now would I?” and when Tony opened his mouth, Sebastian reached over and squeezed his arm. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m doing this as much for myself as I am for you.”
Tony nodded uncomfortably as Sebastian let go of his arm and went to open the trap door.
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Post by madelinehawaii on Jan 22, 2007 19:00:13 GMT -5
“How long have you known Sebastian?” Marlena’s voice wasn’t sleepy at all as she lay in his arms, and he smiled in amusement. Anna had been the same way. Sex always left her wide-awake, and hungry, but then he couldn’t think of single thing that hadn’t sparked Anna’s appetite.
“I’m not sure, since I was a child before my mother took me away.”
“And were you always friends?”
The question provoked images of the first time he’d seen Sebastian upon his return, down in front of the family’s Venetian residence with Andre and a young Peter. Andre had not been happy to see Tony there. Poor Peter had been caught in the middle of what turned into a malicious reunion until Sebastian took matters into his own hands, purposely stranding Andre as he guided the gondola away with only Tony and Peter aboard. The look of outrage on Andre’s face was one that Tony still treasured. “No,” he told her “but Sebastian has a unique way of choosing his friends.”
“Like Eugene?”
“Well, he doesn’t have vibes like Gene does but…”
“He knows people, its almost as though he can see right into your soul.”
Her insight piqued Tony’s curiosity. “What did he say to you?”
“Oh,” Her embarrassment was evident and Tony was about to tell her to forget it when she said, “I don’t know if he told you about our first meeting.”
“No, he didn’t.”
He felt her breath skimming across his chest as she exhaled slowly. “It was quite a while ago, when I first arrived here on the island and before the procedure. I’d asked if I could take a walk to the shore. I knew they’d send someone with me if they even agreed to let me go, but when he showed up…well you can imagine my surprise.” The sound of her laughter was gentle.
Tony could understand her amusement because Sebastian was hardly the type of escort she’d been used to dealing with. He was a dark, not particularly tall, wiry islander, his face weathered from years in the wind and sun and he’d always kept his hair long too though it turned gray early on and for as long as he could remember the picture of him in Tony’s mind included a strange kind of elegance. That probably had much to do with the grace he displayed underwater but still there was something about him at first glance, an air of dignity that most people weren’t expecting. “If you’d tried to swim away, I guarantee, he’d be able to stop you quicker than anyone else around here.”
“Oh yes, I figured that out later on.”
“Marlena…” he threw her a sharp look, “you didn’t attempt to…”
“No, of course not silly,” and she laughed at him. “I was out swimming one day and the current was too strong…well, for me at least. He didn’t seem to have any difficulty and he pulled me back into shore without even breaking a sweat, and you actually thought I’d make a break across the open sea to where exactly?” She’d turned over and was looking at him, her chin resting on her hands. There wasn’t much of a moon out so it was difficult to make out her features in the darkness but her eyes caught the bit of starlight that shone through the windows and they gleamed at him.
“Sorry…I just know how desperate a person can begin to feel…” he broke off before adding anything else, embarrassed.
Instead of the laughter he was expecting, she drew close, brushing his lips with a soft kiss. “I know.” She laid her head back next to his shoulder again. “Anyway, that first day we met, he didn’t say too much at first. He strolled along behind me once he’d pointed out the path and funny enough I didn’t even mind him being there after a while, it was almost as though he was a part of the rest of the island…the breeze and the sound of the birds. He just blended right in. And then we reached the shore line and I guess I was expecting a beach, you know with plenty of white sand and all but instead its just a strip of dirt and dead leaves, tree roots sticking out everywhere…and rocks…
“Coral,” he corrected her.
“Yeah, he said the same thing when I complained.”
Tony chuckled remembering how he’d been lectured on his first visit too. “He’s none too happy with the byproducts of Rolf’s experiments and what they are doing to the reef and he’s right, there is more and more of it dying off out there. He points it out to me every time we dive.”
“I wish they’d let me go, the way he describes it, must be such an incredible sight.”
Biting his lip, Tony stayed silent as she shared her thoughts wistfully. There were so many things he wanted to do for her that were impossible and it did no good to stew about them but he couldn’t say that out loud to her…wishing was one of the few pastimes she had left along with her memories.
“Anyway, Sebastian didn’t think too much of my disappointment. In fact, he was rather insulted that I didn’t find it as beautiful as he did but then...” her voice trailed off.
Tony waited. He had an inkling where this was headed now and knew it was the reason she’d hesitated at first to share it with him.
“He asked me what it was I envisioned out there.”
“And did you tell him?”
She nodded, and then perhaps not sure that he could feel or see her reaction, said “Yes,” in a soft voice. “I did. I…I told him about Mexico.”
“And Roman.”
There was a short silence, not uncomfortable really but he knew she was lost in her memories…her dreams. Finally, she brushed the back of her hand across her cheek and whispered, “About Roman, yes.”
He kissed the top her head gently.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was stronger now with just the tiniest sliver of irritation.
Having to make an effort not chuckle at her reaction, he smiled into her hair and said, “Why?
“Well, I would think that would be obvious, after all…” but he leaned over quickly and kissed her soundly.
The whisper that slipped though his lips when he pulled away bordered on a sigh. “There’s no need to apologize, Marlena. You think I don’t know how much you miss him?”
“And it doesn’t bother you?”
He let her think about what she’d asked him for just a moment before he opened his mouth, and saw her close her eyes and turn away as it hit her. “Tony…god, I wasn’t thinking. I…”
Shaking his head he wrapped both arms around her and kissed her shoulder. “Forget it,” he murmured softly.
For a while they lay quietly in the warm silence, just listening to the wind rustle the fronds of the palm trees beyond the window. “How did we end up surrounded by so many ghosts?” she asked him after a few minutes.
He knew her comment was not limited to the partners that each of them longed for constantly, or those who were lost like Renee, and she was right, there were too many whose lives had been cut off and wasted but they amounted to more than just the bare facts surrounding their deaths. “Those ghosts provide memories neither of us would want to part with,” he reminded her.
“Is that how you made it through?”
Immediately, he could feel his heart rate quicken and prayed she wasn’t asking him what he feared. “Through what?”
She sat up suddenly in the darkness, not even bothering to pull the sheet around her so that her silhouette was visible but not her face. “Stefano didn’t keep you in a room like this…a comfortable bed, freedom to move around and enjoy the view, and he didn’t allow you outside…”
“No.” He swallowed uncomfortably. This was not a subject he’d discussed with anyone before, other than Anna, and not one that he dealt with all that well even then. Despite the number of years that had passed, the nightmares remained. Or rather, they’d resurfaced once he’d left Salem and pushed Anna away because she’d been the only one who understood him to the degree where he could open up and let out his rage. How did he tell Marlena that he’d survived by planning his cousin’s death over and over again? And Stefano’s. “I’m not sure what I did to make it through,” he said finally but even he could hear the insincerity that accompanied it.
There was no reply to this at first and then, “You expect me to believe such blatant nonsense, do you?”
“If you’re not going to accept the answer I’m willing to give you, perhaps you shouldn’t ask” he told her in a stiff voice.
“For heaven’s sake Tony, did you think I’d consider you less than honorable because you spent all your time wanting to tear Andre’s head off? I shot your father…I may not have spent months dreaming about it or figuring out how I was going to do it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want the same result as you.”
“No Marlena, I don’t think you were after the same thing as me,” he told her, not willing to mince words any longer. “You just wanted the madness to stop.”
“And you wanted what, revenge?”
Tony closed his eyes. He could still remember having this same conversation with Jasmine the night of the Ice Show, and recall how cheated he’d felt. Stefano was dead but he hadn’t paid, not suffered nearly enough for the destruction he’d rained down on all of them, the horror. He’d meant what he told Stefano that night. The only thing he regretted was leaving the penthouse because then his father would have remained his prisoner and that night would have turned out as should have. Things would have been different. “Yes, I wanted revenge, and if I’d gotten it, maybe you wouldn’t be here right now.”
And it was her turn to pause, and consider the past, and she took her time about it too until he began to wonder if she’d regretted her decision to broach the subject. “That could be true, but…I…” her voice stumbled and to his surprise, he could hear her straining to keep control of it. “Not that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do at this point to be home with my family but making Stefano pay that way…it would have destroyed you.”
He could tell she believed it wholeheartedly but that wasn’t what shocked him the most. Up to this point, he’d pushed aside his guilt over what they were doing because the only feelings involved were the sense of comfort they provided each other. Yes, they were friends and they cared for one another but that was all. They were not in love…and he was going to make d**n sure that didn’t happen. But what he heard in her voice was more than just her concern for a friend.
“Don’t do that.” He could hear the harshness grating in each word as it came out but he had to put a stop to this now.
“Why?” she demanded. “You think if I care about you that means I care less for Roman?”
“You don’t know me.”
A chuckle rippled through the air and though it had a lighthearted flavor, he almost got the feeling he’d been slapped. “You suppose men are the only ones who discuss their conquests?” she asked him with a vein of sarcasm he didn’t associate with Marlena.
“Whatever Renee told you…”
“I wasn’t speaking of Renee, or Liz.”
“Oh.” That left only one possibility and Tony wasn’t sure he liked the implication one little bit. “I see.”
“Knowing your wife, I’m sure you do.”
“Somehow,” he said with a drawl, “I have quite a difficult time picturing the two of you discussing your…sex lives.”
“Do you?” And he could almost see the impish grin on her face. “If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share…”
At the point of telling her no, he considered calling her bluff just to see if she actually knew anything beyond the basic facts. After he’d gone, Anna might have needed someone to talk to, but he seriously doubted she would share it all with Marlena, no matter how good the woman was at listening …there were parts of Anna that she didn’t share with anyone. For Tony, that was part of her insatiable charm. “Thank you, but I’ll pass.” “Coward.”
He smirked at the challenge in her voice and grabbing her wrist, pulled her over on top of him. “If Anna had been honest with you, she’d have warned you what happens when you do things like that.”
“And what makes you so sure I wouldn’t enjoy it?” she whispered in his ear.
“Because your not…”
“Anna?” she finished for him.
“No,” he shook his head a couple of times. “Defiantly not a prerequisite.”
“Then maybe its because you think I’m not that kind of girl.”
“With a body like that, I suspect that’s as far from the truth as you previous assumption.”
“Then enlighten me, please.”
“Oh for christ’s sake, you’re not a fool Marlena, so stop acting the part,” he said suddenly, ruthless impatience cutting through his accent as he let go of her and sat back against the pillows.
And her eyes grew wide. “You’re afraid.” There was a touch of awe in her voice as though she could hardly believe what she was saying, “of getting attached…to me.”
He’d not expected her to see through him that quickly and he had to bite back the smile that threatened to spread across his lips. “Yes,” he agreed simply.
It was obviously a consequence she hadn’t considered and she continued to stare at him in astonishment. “But I…” she stopped and turned over on her back. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t even thought you’d be interested.”
Now the grin broke through despite his mixed emotions. “The perennial libertine, is that it?”
“No,” she shot back, insulted by his attitude. “I know you better than that, I think.” And he found himself confronted by a pair of glowing eyes that bore into him and stripped away any attempt at pretence. “You can’t seriously imagine I haven’t been aware of your feelings for her. Hell, you made it impossible for anyone to miss that.”
“Yes, well Anna and I are divorced,” he reminded her but she just laid her head over to one side and although it was too dim to make out the burst of annoyance tightening her face, he knew it was there.
“One tiny piece of paper, and you think that would cut her out of your heart.”
“It’s a piece of paper that will keep her alive.” Tony said in a quiet voice that only barely concealed the sense of loss he couldn’t seem to outrun, “and that is what matters.”
“Good Lord, you’re serious.”
“Yes I am, and you can skip the ‘love will conquer all’ routine please, because I’ve heard it far too often.”
“That’s probably,” she told him stubbornly, ”because it’s the truth.”
“And Renee’s body lying in that grave before her time, what is that? A lie? An aberration? Maybe just a figment of my warped imagination.” The sheer agony in his voice as it lashed out was savage, and Marlena remained silent this time. She had no easy answers handy because of course, there weren’t any. Turning away, he shut his eyes, and instantly regretted loosing his temper. “I’m sorry,” he said, “and yes, I’m being selfish and whatever else you want to call it, but I couldn’t go through that again, especially if I was the cause of her death.”
He felt the tentative touch of her fingers along his arm as they felt their way to his hand, which was resting on the sheet. Gently she laid hers on top and he could feel the warmth of her skin. “Is it truly so difficult to believe in miracles?”
“Of course not.”
“But?”
She wasn’t going to let this go but off in the back of his mind, beyond the gaping hole of emptiness she was forcing him to examine with such openness, another thought took hold, one so ironic it brought a bittersweet smile to his lips and actually lifted his spirits some. After all, they’d never truly been friends. Come to think of it, other than Calliope who could put up with almost any behavior, Anna hadn’t any friends who were women, and Marlena would have been at the bottom of the list of possibilities. They were as different as any two people could be. And not that Marlena wouldn’t have tried to lend a shoulder after Tony disappeared but if she’d managed to break through that abrasive, selfish exterior Anna used to protect herself, what a miracle all on its own.
Flipping his hand around so he could take a hold of hers, he squeezed it thankfully. “I think the miracles we get aren’t always the ones we’re hopping for, or expect.”
His words must have caught her off-guard because she didn’t answer him right away and when she did, he could barely hear what she said. “No, they’re not.” And just as he thought she’d retreated back into her own world, her own problems, she added, “but you’ve never been one to give up on anything, or anyone. Other than Roman, you are by far, one of the most stubborn people I know.”
“You make is sound as though all we need is perseverance and it will fix everything just the way we’d desire it to be.”
“You’re not going to get by giving up.”
“And sometimes,” he said, his tone schooled so that it betrayed none of the frustration eating at him “we don’t get it at all, no matter how badly we want it.”
Snatching her hand away, she sat up and folded her arms across her chest. “Well, that’s a load of self-pity if I ever heard one.”
“If you like.”
“Tony….”
Her voice was sharp at first but faded as he climbed out of bed. He grabbed his robe and made his way over to one of the gracefully arched windows full of stars and the shadows of plants that teamed with noises. Leaning his arms along the stone sill, he breathed in deeply. The air had remained close and he could smell the scent of gardenias blooming below him in the garden and a hint of the plumeria trees. A seeming island paradise to the casual observer. What was taking place here though was so incredibly sorted and ugly it had infuriated him from the moment he’d discovered Stefano’s dirty secret. He’d sworn then he wasn’t going to allow his father to use Marlena but with his discovery that the twins were his too, he’d come to the realization that Stefano would never quit. Someone would have to stop him. Without turning from the window he said, “As soon as the twins are strong enough to make the trip, I’m sending all three of you home.”
“Home.” He could hear the longing in her whisper and then, “what about you?”
“I’m staying here.”
“Tony.” For just a second he could hear the echo of Anna’s exasperation in her tone. “You can’t. How long do you think it will take him to figure out who it was that orchestrated my escape?”
He shrugged and turned an easy grin in her direction. “And what would he do when he learns? Throw a tantrum?”
But her expression didn’t change. Instead her frown deepened and she gazed up at him suspiciously. “He will kill you, “ she said and there was a deep sense of conviction ringing in every word. “Or worse…”
Tony’s grin vanished. “Not if I get to him first.”
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