**Note: I am trying a new style of writing because the way I had been writing was very time consuming. I am going to condense a lot of the scenes and use dialogue sparingly. I hope you all won't mind it too much.**

- As Marlena drives home from the hospital she thinks of all the events that have transpired today. She is deeply sad that Sami would try to kill John and wonders how she can help her daughter rid herself of the need for vengeance.

When Marlena reaches the penthouse she finds a long white box in front of the door. She picks it up and reads the card; it says: “To my darling Marlena.” She takes in inside the house and opens it. She screams when she sees what’s inside.

- Belle pushes the cart into the laundry room. She tells Shawn that he can get out of it; the coast is clear. Shawn stands and hands a sleeping Claire to Belle.

“We’re safe now,” Belle says. “The door is over there. It leads out to the parking lot.”

“We won’t be safe until we get away as far as possible from here,” Shawn says.

Suddenly a woman walks into the laundry room. She sees Shawn and Belle with Claire and starts screaming, “They’re here; los banditos aqui!”

Shawn grabs Belle’s arm and pulls her out the door.

They race through the parking lot, looking for a place to hide or a car to drive away in. “They’re going to find us now,” Belle says.

“Calm down; I have an idea,” Shawn says.

***

- Kayla watches in horror as the car bears down on Steve. She screams his name and tells him to get out of the road. Steve hears her and rolls away before the car can hit him. Kayla runs to him and asks if he’s alright. Steve nods. “I’m fine,” he says.

The driver of the car gets out and demands to know why Steve was standing in the middle of the road. He adds, “I could have hit you, jerk, and then the cops would be all over my ass. I’d get tossed into jail or my license would be revoked. Stay out of the damn road!” He gets back into his car and drives away.

“Steve, are you okay?” Kayla asks again.

“I hurt my side when I rolled but I’ll be okay,” he replies.

“Let’s go by inside and get you cleaned up.” She helps him stand up. “Promise me, Steve, that you’ll never do something like that again. I was so scared for you. I just got you back; I don’t want to lose you all over again.”

“I don’t know what came over me,” he says. “But I’ll be okay and stay out of the road for awhile.”

“Thank god,” Kayla mutters.

- Carrie rushes downstairs when she hears Marlena’s scream. She asks her former step-mother what’s wrong. Marlena tells Carrie not to worry about her; Marlena was just a little startled. Carrie looks into the box and grimaces. There are a bunch of maggots lying in a bed of dead flowers. “Gross,” Carrie says. Marlena asks if Carrie heard the doorbell ring and she says she didn’t because she was in the shower. Carrie insists on calling her dad even though Marlena tells her not to. “He can hopefully find some prints on the box,” Carrie says, picking up the phone and dialing her dad’s cell phone number.

- “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Belle says. “We’ll be caught for sure.” Shawn tells her not to panic. He leads her over to an ambulance. There are no people around it or in it. There are keys in the ignition. Shawn is a little nervous thinking about what happened to him the last time he tried to steal a vehicle but its their only way out in his opinion because no one will stop an ambulance. They get inside the vehicle just as a trio of police officers come rushing out of the laundry room.

Shawn pulls away from the curb and tells Belle to duck down with Claire. The cops are so busy checking behind cars for them that they don’t see Shawn pulling the ambulance out of the parking lot.

When they are out on the street two EMTs come out of the hospital and ask the cops what happened to their ambulance. The cops say they didn’t notice it. The EMTs shout at the cops to find their vehicle.

Meanwhile, Shawn and Belle have abandoned the ambulance in an alley five blocks away. When Belle asks where they are going, Shawn replies that they are going to walk to the train station and buy tickets to take them to California – their new home.

- Roman arrives at Marlena’s penthouse. He knocks on the door and Marlena lets him in. “What’s going on?” He asks. Carrie shows him the flower box. He grimaces and asks who Marlena thinks could have sent it. Marlena reluctantly admits that she thinks Sami did it to get back at her for not telling Sami Carrie’s secret before the wedding. Roman says Sami wouldn’t do that behind her back. “No,” Carrie retorts, “Sami wouldn’t do it behind Marlena’s back; she would do it while Marlena is watching.” Carrie rubs the area around her bruised eye, remembering how Sami attacked her at the church earlier that day.

Marlena asks Carrie to go upstairs while she talks to Roman. “I feel like a kid again,” Carrie says smirking. She goes upstairs. Marlena tells Roman that she caught Sami trying to kill John. Roman is taken aback. “Are you sure you didn’t read the situation wrong?” He asks. Marlena replies that Sami admitted she was trying to kill John. “I’d better take her into the police station,” Roman says.

“No, don’t, Roman,” Marlena says. “Let’s let her cool off a bit. I don’t want to see her behind bars.”

“If she’s dangerous, she needs to be stopped before she really hurts someone,” Roman protests.

“We’ll stop her from doing anything else,” Marlena assures him.

“I’d better go talk to her.”

“Maybe you should. She needs to feel that she is still loved even though she made a huge mistake.”

“Marlena, don’t let Sami bully you. And don’t baby her either. She needs to know when she’s done wrong,” Roman says.

“She knows. And you can remind her of that. Tell if she doesn’t stop acting out that there will be consequences.”

“I’ll do that,” he promises.

Roman tells Marlena and Carrie that he is leaving and says goodbye to them. He also mentions to Carrie that they will need to have a long talk soon. Carrie agrees that it’s a good idea. He takes the box with him and says he will try to have someone analyze the handwriting as the prints are probably smudged now.

When Roman’s gone, Carrie admits to Marlena that she overheard part of what Marlena and Roman said. Carrie asks: “If she tried to kill John to get back at you – what will she do to me?” Marlena sighs but doesn’t answer. She has no idea what her daughter is planning but she hopes she can stop it in time.

- Roman is on his way to Sami’s apartment when his cell phone rings. As a police officer he knows he should not be using a cell while driving but reasons that there may be some kind of emergency at the station. There is an emergency he finds out when he answers the phone. But it isn’t work related; its family related. Bo has called him to say that Hope is in the hospital and is very close to death. They need Roman’s help in contacting their friends and family. Roman is sad to hear that Hope is doing worse and promises Bo he will start calling everyone as soon as he gets home. Bo thanks him and then hangs up. Roman shakes his head. “When is this family going to finally have some peace?” he wonders as he drives through the dark Salem streets.

Coming up on “Salem Fantasies”:

~ Roman confronts Sami for trying to kill John

~ Chelsea stops by Max’s garage and tries to seduce him

~ Abby brings Josh to the garage and a fight breaks out

~ Kimberly Brady receives a phone call from an unexpected person