IMissAremid

(Let's see how long I can keep up this picture thing...) AT MAISON BLANCHE: “Just what is going to hurt me, Samantha?” E.J. asked to Sami’s surprise. “E.J. I… well…” Sami stammered as she concealed the diary by cradling it in her arms as if she had a chill. “You what? And something about the baby?” E.J. asked as he set her breakfast tray on a table and then turned around to close the attic door. Seeing the opening, Sami quickly shoved the diary under the mattress of the bed and pulled the bedspread to cover it before E.J. turned back around. “E.J., so nice of you to bring me breakfast, again,” Sami said, stalling to try to devise a lie to placate him about what he overheard. “Well, it’s getting late, sweetheart,” E.J. said, smiling even as he recognized her tactic. “I figured you would be pretty hungry by now. Both of you.” E.J. sighed as he saw Sami touch her large stomach at those words. The past several months had been excruciating for E.J. as he tried to reconcile the past with the present and his divided loyalties between Sami and his family. E.J. still remembered very little beyond the grainy memory of the night their child was conceived. He didn’t want to remember more. He didn’t understand how or why some of his memories had been erased, but it did enter his thoughts that it was within the realm of possibility for his father to erase his memories if he thought it was for his son’s own good. If he had been the one to cause Sami the pain that led her to try to kill herself burning down the cabin as Rolf had said, he didn’t ever want to reclaim those memories. At times over the months since they made love, E.J. would resolve to help Sami escape from this place and ask her to never see him again, but at the same time he couldn’t bear the thought of letting Sami go and knew she was the only hope his father had for survival so he would always give up the idea before he acted. Sami sensed E.J.’s distance so she pounced on the chance to change the subject. “E.J. I just want to thank you again for getting these new maternity dresses for me,” Sami said holding a shopping bag and stepping behind the bathroom curtain to dress. “I only hope I have enough time to wear all of them before the baby is born.” “Oh, those,” E.J. said still distant. “Lexie picked them out. She thought you could use something to pick up your spirits a little.” “Well, I’ll just have to thank Lexie then,” Sami said stepping from behind the curtain, a little miffed. E.J. sensed her frustration but his mouth dropped when he saw her in the gown sparkling nearly as bright blue as her eyes in the morning light. “I shall have to thank her, too, Samantha,” E.J. said sincerely. “You just glow in that dress, darling. I doubt there’s ever been a mother more beautiful than you.” Inside, Sami melted at the words, while E.J. turned his head in embarrassment. He still loved her. As hard as he tried to stop for her sake, he still wanted her and wanted to be with her. But he didn’t think himself worthy of her love at all. “Anyway, when I came in you were saying something about me?” E.J. said trying to distract himself from his own angst. “I was?” Sami said pretending not to remember. “Yes, sweetheart,” E.J. said biting his lip. “You were…” But before E.J. could finish Lexie was at the door. “E.J., I need to talk you right now,” Lexie said sounding concerned and completely ignoring Sami. “Good morning to you, too, Lexie,” Sami said snidely. Lexie glared while E.J. walked off with his sister. “Enjoy your breakfast, Samantha,” E.J. said before exiting and shutting the door. Sami let out a sigh of relief that she had dodged this catastrophe and sat down to eat her breakfast. Then, while buttering her toast she paused to wonder just what would have been so bad had she told E.J. the truth. “Oh so Stefano would lock me up and prevent me from ever again seeing my loved ones in Salem?” Sami said with a sardonic laugh before the expression on her face became serious. “Or Stefano will just let E.J. get hurt again. Ugh. I have to convince Lexie to help make this right.” Sami slammed the knife down in frustration. AT ABE'S HOUSE: “Stefano!” she said clenching her fist. Celeste knew he was what the card meant not just because of the evil associated with the devil, but also because she knew the card contained so much paternal energy and represented bondage with the man and woman kept in chains at the devil’s feet. “Oh, I bet Stefano ordered E.J. to kidnap Lexie so she could take care of him,” Celeste said. “Damn those Dimeras.” Celeste tried to set aside some of her rage to try to get more information. “Spirits, please tell me, is my Alexandra alone?” Celeste asked. The next two cards were stuck together so she overturned them both to reveal The Emperor and The Empress. Celeste tapped her fingers on the table to try to make sense of the cards depicting on their basic level: man and woman, Aries and Taurus, Mars and Venus, a warrior king and a beautiful mother. “Mother.” Celeste said aloud. “Samantha! This must mean Samantha and E.J.”

AT MAISON BLANCHE: PART TWO We jump ahead several months in the story to find Sami still captive at Maison Blanche and now 8 and a half months pregnant. Chapter 1 Sami sighed with contentment as she cuddled with E.J. in the Jacobean four poster bed and nestled the crown of her head beneath his chin before then tilting her head back to look up at him. “Good morning,” E.J. said as he leaned in to kiss her forehead and Sami shut her eyes. Yet when Sami opened her eyes E.J. was gone. She pushed the pillows in her arms away in frustration. It had been another dream. Just like the others. Slowly and warily she sat up in bed, holding her large stomach with her right hand and tried to wipe the sleep out of her eyes with her left. She couldn’t however, wipe away thoughts of E.J. and the passionate night the two of them shared five months earlier and all the lonely nights since. She still didn’t understand it as many hours as she had spent crying over it. After the night they shared, Sami was in ecstasy but E.J. told her the next morning it could never happen again. That he would never make love to her again. She was married and he respected her vows too much to allow her to break them again, he said. Sami laughed as a tear trickled down her cheek as she thought about it. E.J. never cared about those wedding vows before. She was certain he didn’t care about her marriage to Lucas even if he still had no memory of it. She decided E.J. just wasn’t interested in her that way any more. But the strange thing was E.J. hadn’t totally shut her out. In fact, in most ways he was more attentive than ever. He held her hand and beamed with pride as if he knew the baby was his when Lexie performed the sonogram in the home’s makeshift medical room. He never stopped spending time with her during those months he continued as her “guard” and they shared childhood stories and read books together and he spent many, many hours trying to teach her how to play chess. He was so patient with her as he attempted to impart basic chess strategy even if he would tease her that the way she played chess was much like the way she lived her life, emotionally and recklessly. As Sami thought about that playful taunt, she decided it was time to prove E.J. wrong. She had stayed at Maison Blanche long enough hoping that E.J. would remember her and remember his love for her, but if he wasn’t going to be there for her completely she needed to develop a rational, calculated scheme to escape so she could get back to Salem. Even if Lucas wouldn’t forgive her or understand or support her raising this child, she knew her mother would. Sami immediately thought of Stefano’s diary she had found. Tony had not returned to Maison Blanche in the months since Lucas was there so Sami had not had an opportunity to show him the truth about E.J.’s paternity. She was also more afraid of revealing the truth to E.J. than ever after getting an up close look at the unbelievably close relationship between Stefano and E.J. that she had witnessed as Stefano’s remarkable recovery from the kidney transplant had allowed him to move about the house on his own and spend many hours a day among them, reading books, listening to music and telling stories, even as he waited for her baby’s umbilical cord blood to be fully restored to health. Bart and Rolf would not care about the secrets contained in the book, she thought, and they might even destroy it without Tony ever seeing it if Stefano asked them to. She sighed in frustration. But just then a strange idea popped in her head. It was risky, but she had exhausted all other options. She would have to go to Lexie with the diary and ask her help in escaping Maison Blanche, she thought. Sure, her relationship with Lexie was just as icy as ever, but Sami had perceived a growing softness in her heart toward E.J. in the months she watched the two of them get to know each other and work together in caring for Stefano. And if Lexie knew about this diary, she could get in contact with Tony, who would be so furious with his father that he would allow both of them to return to their husbands and children in Salem even if it meant Stefano would die. Sami excitedly opened the trunk and retrieved the diary and hugged it to her chest and smiled to herself. “I’m sorry this is going to hurt you, E.J., but I need to do what’s best for our baby,” Sami said staring into space. “Just what is going to hurt me, Samantha?” E.J. asked to Sami’s surprise. AT ABE'S HOUSE: “Listen, Abraham. I’ve already told you,” Celeste said as she stood inside the doorway of Lexie and Abe’s home where she had lived since Lexie’s disappearance as she helped Abe raise Theo and nursed Abe through recovery of his latest eye surgery. “I don’t like missing out on it either, but I’ve got many errands to run today so you and Theo will just have to have a fantastic time at the zoo without me,” Celeste said patting Theo on the head. “Well, all right,” Abe said kissing Celeste on the cheek before turning his attention to Theo and heading out. “Guess we’ll just have to make the most of guys' day out.” “I’m sure you will. Good bye,” Celeste said shutting the door behind them and leaning against it sighing with relief that they were finally gone. Celeste had been dying for a moment like this for months – a moment alone to collect her thoughts. But Celeste had never had that chance between all the hours spent caring for Theo with Lexie gone and then also looking out for Abe during his recent corneal transplant from which he had only now fully recovered. Recently she began to suspect that Abe may have mistaken her motherly nurturing for something else. Or even worse, she thought, was that Abe might not be mistaken about why she agreed to spend so much time caring for him. There were all these passing glances between them that turned into stares. Or a friendly touch of the shoulder that lasted a little too long. The night before he had even brought her flowers and cooked her dinner. Abe said it was just to thank her for all she had done to care for him and Theo, but Celeste was so relieved when he had to leave to go on a police call before they opened the bottle of wine he had brought. Celeste knew Lexie was still alive. She felt it in her bones. She just had to find a way to prove that her daughter was alive and bring her back to Salem soon, before she and Abe betrayed her. Celeste sighed again. Looking out the window, she saw that Abe’s car was gone so the coast was clear and she quickly shut the blinds, locked the door and dimmed the lights. Abe had forbid her from practicing her “dark arts” as he called them in his home, because he said they gave him the creeps. Celeste respected that opinion as she knew this dabbling in the occult had many times brought pain for her and her family, but she also knew it was the only hope she had to try to track Lexie down with all the police leads gone cold. She walked over to the closet and retrieved a shopping bag she had stowed away a few weeks earlier for just a moment like this. Celeste walked over to the table and lit a red candle at its center before she reached in the bag and pulled out a folded piece of purple cloth. As Celeste unwrapped the handkerchief to retrieve her worn and faded tarot cards, she marveled at how she thought she could still catch a light whiff of Stefano’s old cologne. She shook her head as she tried to put thoughts of that man out of her mind and grabbed a picture of Lexie out of a desk drawer and laid it in front of the candle and sat down at the table bowing her head and shuffling the cards three times before she spoke. “Oh spirit world, I come to you in need of an answer about the whereabouts of my daughter, Alexandra,” Celeste said. “Has she joined you or does she remain among the living? Please give her mother the peace of knowing.” Celeste turned over the first card to reveal the Queen of Swords, a card Celeste knew did not just represent a woman sitting on a throne holding a sword upright but also the abstract concepts of personal emotional loss and separation. “This is Lexie. She’s alive!” Celeste said excitedly. “Thank you, spirits, for your help, but I have more questions if you have the answers. Tell me, why has my Alexandra not come back to me if she is alive?” As soon as Celeste said the words she knew her answer instinctively, but still she turned over the next card to confirm it as she looked at The Devil card in front of her.

AT THE HOSPITAL: Marlena watched in horror as the machines attached to her husband pulsated with a cacaphony of distress signals and the doctors and nurses chaotically moved about John's bed in attending to him. Hearing the commotion, Roman walked toward the room and leaned up to get a look at things through the small square window of the door. "Ma'am you need to get out of here," A nurse told her putting her hands on Marlena's shoulders and pushing her back. But Marlena would not be pushed around and she shoved the nurse out of the way to creep down to her husband's bedside holding his hand. "John," Marlena said smiling through tears and grasping his hand tightly while the doctors worked around her crouched kneeling at his bedside. "I just want you to know I'm here. Marlena is here for you. And I will always be here for you no matter what. Now if you're in there and you can hear me... if you're ready... John please, why don't you come back to me? I need you so much." Suddenly John's heart monitor started beeping again slowly but steadily. "What?" Marlena asked. "What's going on?" "It's a miracle," one of the doctors told her. Marlena's tears of fear and sorrow soon began flooding her face with joy as she held his hand with her right hand and ran her fingers across his scalp with her other hand. First, John's hands started wiggling. And then his eyes fluttered. "I understand you had a bit of a rough day today. I'm sorry I had to leave you," Marlena told him. "I'm sorry I had to go to New Orleans without you. I promise I'll never do that again. I promise I'll never leave you again." With that promise John's eyes opened wide and he smiled a giant blissful, if groggy smile at the sight of her face. Marlena delighted at the expression of devotion he showed while Roman seeing everything unfold through the window turned away from the door deciding he'd seen enough and knew how this story would end. "Marlena," John said sighing. "You're safe. Stefano didn't get you." Marlena didn't understand the meaning of John's words and just chalked them up to a strange comatose dream he must've had about their past battles with the Dimera patriarch. She was too happy to have her husband alive and awake in that moment to worry what the future would hold for them. IN THE ATTIC AT MAISON BLANCHE: "It's complicated, E.J.," Sami said frowning and looking at the floor. "Indeed," E.J. said taking his thumb and index finger to lift her chin upright to look at him. "You know they say most things of any value are." Sami's frown changed to a grin as she looked away from E.J. thinking about how different he was since his memory was gone, yet how much he was the same. "It's just, E.J., I thought this time would be different," Sami said. "I finally got married. After TEN tries I finally got married..." E.J. slapped his hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh at the phrase prompting a glare from Sami who continued. "I thought this would be the time I got my happily ever after, you know," Sami whined. "I thought I had finally gotten my fairytale ending with the handsome prince standing by my side after all the obstacles that had kept us apart. Now I find out I'm going to be stuck. Alone. Forever. Just me and the frog." E.J. put his hand on Sami's shoulder. "I know you probably don't want to hear it from me, I just wish you could see how amazing you are, how lucky any man would be to have you in his life, Samantha. Just the drama and chaos and that surrounds you could provide enough excitement to last a man ten lifetimes," E.J. declared. "Not to mention, the beauty and the charm you possess. I mean you are the quite possibly the most bewitching woman I've ever met." "Bewitching, is it?" Sami snarked. "Well I certainly know a few men who would agree with at least one of those syllables." "I'm serious, Samantha," E.J. said. "You know, I'm not necessarily proud of this, but I have to admit I've gotten to know quite a few women in my day but none of them, not one of them, stirred my heart the way you do. I mean if I had a woman like you in my life and someone tried to take her away from me..." E.J. paused as he tried to choose the right words to convey his convictions. "If someone took her away from me, I would never give up on her... Know that, Samantha. If someone took her away from me, I would never stop looking for her..." E.J. said emphatically. "I would never stop fighting for the chance to hold her in my arms again." Though E.J. had told her similar things many times, in that moment as she finally and truly looked at the handsome man who was saying them and contemplated the passion and sincerity behind them her resistance finally melted. She had tried to play by Salem's rules so many times for so many years and all it had done was leave her heartbroken and alone. Here was a beautiful, charming man -- albeit a STRANGE, beautiful, charming man with A LOT of baggage -- but one who loved her deeply and unconditionally, even without a single memory to tell him why. With that thought, it was as if a veil had been lifted from Sami's heart and mind. "I would die before..." E.J. continued in his flowery speech before Sami interrupted. "Oh, just stop it already," Sami said rolling her eyes. "I get it." "Do you?" E.J. asked. "Yeah, E.J.," Sami said biting her lip. "For the first time... I think I do." To E.J.'s surprise, Sami began to move toward him and placed her hands on his chest sliding them slowly upward until they rested on each side of his face. "For the first time, E.J.," Sami said. "I finally understand." E.J. closed his eyes and smiled as Sami stood on her tiptoes to lightly peck at his neck for several seconds before he turned his head so that his lips could find hers and they could share an intensely passionate kiss. The two of them continued kissing as if the other's lips was their only source of oxygen, as if their lives depended on the two of them loving each other and expressing that love. Clawing frantically at E.J.'s chest while kissing him, in one swift motion Sami ripped the shirt from E.J.'s body sending a few buttons flying across the room. "Wait, hold on," E.J. said pushing her back and allowing the two of them to come up for air. "What is it?" Sami asked out of breath. "What's wrong?" "Nothing, darling," E.J. said caressing her face with his large right hand and lightly brushing her hair out of her face. "I just don't want to rush this. I want to take our time to make sure we savor every single second of this, Samantha." With that E.J. put both his hands around her face and gave her a long, soft kiss that made Sami's toes curl. He tenderly slid his hands downward along her neck and to her shoulders, where he gingerly slid his hands beneath her robe and helped guide gravity in removing it from her body. Next he scooped her up in his arms and carried her onto the four poster bed where beneath the wine-colored drapes the two of them made love for hours. Finally they stopped when the pleasure receptors in their brains could no longer handle the euphoria the two of them being together created. The two of them just laid in the bed facing one another silently for several minutes, staring at each other in total contentment, until finally Sami spoke. "Oh, E.J. that was... amazing," Sami said cooing. "Yeah?" E.J. asked, smiling with his ego swelling so big it filled the entire room, if not the whole house. "Tell me more. How do you feel?" "E.J., I feel... I don't know how to describe it... it's like... like floating on a sea of endorphins," Sami said while E.J.'s head turned as he tried to place where he'd heard that phrase before. "I mean, even if a lightning bolt fell from the sky right now, you know... I would just die with the biggest smile upon my face." Sami sighed after saying the words while E.J. involuntarily winced as he contemplated them. He clutched at his face with his right hand as his mind was flooded with a grainy, incomplete memory of the last time he heard those words. Strangely, they were in his own voice, he thought. He was in a car. A car with... with Samantha, he remembered. And they were talking and Sami was mad at him. Because they had just... "Oh God, what have I done?" E.J. said after he put the last piece of his puzzling recollection together. But Sami was too caught up in the afterglow of their lovemaking to hear or acknowledge his words. "Hey you, come here," Sami said pulling E.J. in for a long slow kiss and then wrapping her arm around his shirtless torso and putting her head down on his glistening chest with a smile spread across her face. E.J. was motionless as he laid there staring into space holding her and consumed with total anguish and shame with the knowledge of what he'd done. He decided he would let Sami savor this moment of peace without the burden of knowing that he was starting to get his memory back. That he now knew she was telling truth about his memory being erased even if not all his memories had yet returned. In fact, he wondered if he should tell her at all that he remembered as he ran his fingers through her hair then kissed the crown of her head. He wondered if she would ever let him touch her again once she knew that he knew what had happened. He decided he couldn't take that risk. Not yet. END OF PART ONE http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=120

IN THE ATTIC OF MAISON BLANCHE: "Oh please," Sami heard a familiar woman's voice on the other side of the attic door say."It's time to give up this charade." It was Kate! "Just my luck," Sami whispered. "I get captured by the Dimeras and Kate Roberts is on my Salem rescue squad." "Shhhhhhhh," E.J. whispered covering her mouth again gently. "What charade, mom?" Lucas asked. "How is it a charade that I happen to care so deeply about my wife that I am willing to turn over every nook and cranny in this place just to find one little sliver of a clue where the hell she is? Sami smiled beneath E.J.'s hand. "It's a charade because not an hour after she disappeared and you got that note from her you were on the phone with me telling me how it was over between the two of you for good this time," Kate said. Sami's smile evaporated while one began to take shape on Tony's face on the other side of the door. "You were going on and on: 'How can she do this to me? How can she do this to Will? Again? Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from Sami Brady'" Kate reminded him. "She threw it all away for that limey bastard." E.J. didn't know what to make of the "limey bastard" comment, but for a reason he didn't understand felt offended. Lucas said nothing but just glared at the truth while Kate continued. "You know as well as I do that we wouldn't even be here if Roman hadn't talked you into looking for Sami," Kate said. "I mean what does that say about the two of you together that her father believed she'd never run away on her honeymoon and abandon her wedding vows so carelessly but her husband would." Sami's devastation tugged at her like an anchor and her body started to slide toward the floor. E.J. caught her and pulled her back up. Filled with sympathy he guided her away from the door so the two of them could no longer hear the conversation outside the room and he enveloped Sami in a huge bear hug. Sami's tears filled the front of his shirt. E.J. caressed the back of Sami's head whispering "It'll be all right, darling" and other sweet reassurances while she heaved with sobs in his arms for several minutes. Finally, her face flushed and with no tears left to cry she looked up at him. "E.J., I... I don't know what I'll do without Lucas. Without EVER having a real family with him," Sami said sniffling. "I... I... I don't think I can go on living." With those words Sami fainted in his arms. E.J. carried her over to the bed to lay her down and sat down next to her. "Samantha... Samantha... wake up... Samantha," E.J. said gently patting her cheek. Sami finally came to but when she opened her eyes and saw it was E.J. who was there to greet her she was no longer the placid, melodramatic Southern belle in need of her smelling salts. "YOU!" Sami accused. "Me?" E.J. asked, confused. "It's YOUR fault this happened," Sami claimed hopping angrily out of the bed and pointing her finger in his face. "If you... if you had never come to Salem I would be married to Lucas right now and we'd be a real family." But after saying those words she realized she needed to clarify. "Well OK... actually I'd be married to Austin if you never came to Salem," Sami said. "But... but... if you had never developed this SICK obsession with me trying to make me fall in love with you and being around me all the time... if you had never tried so hard to come between me and Lucas... if you and your screwed up family had never tried to... plant the Dimera seed in me... then Lucas and I would be happily married together." "You really think that?" E.J. asked. "Yes I really think that," Sami said folding her arms across her chest. "I know you don't believe me because you don't have any memory of what happened. But I know it. It's true. Lucas and I would be happy if it wasn't for you." "Now Samantha, setting aside all this... plant the Dimera seed business...," E.J. said wincing at the phrase. "Why on earth would you think your husband would be justified in thinking that you would run away on your honeymoon with another man if you didn't cheat on him? Have you told him what you think happened when this baby was conceived?" "Yes, E.J.," Sami informed him. "After the wedding I told Lucas that you RAPED me." "AFTER the wedding?" E.J. said, perplexed. "Yes!" Sami said exasperated at trying to explain the situation. "After the wedding I told him everything, well most of everything anyway, and he believed me. For the first time in our relationship, he truly believed ME, not his mom, ME. And he promised to stand by ME and that we would work all this out." "O.K..." E.J. said. "He promised to stand by you... until you disappeared the first night of your honeymoon together and he said, 'Forget it, that's her problem.'" "It's complicated, E.J.," Sami said frowning and looking at the floor. "Indeed," E.J. said taking his thumb and index finger to lift her chin upright to look at him. "You know they say most things of any value are." AT THE HOSPITAL: Marlena ran through the hospital with Roman trailing behind her where they stopped at the hallway outside John's room. There they found Belle not crying, but devastated just the same. "How's your father?" Marlena asked out of breath from the rush of getting there. "Oh Mom," Belle said hugging her mother. "It doesn't look good." Marlena gently patted the back of Belle's head. "We're going to get through this," Marlena told her. "No matter what." Then she turned to Roman. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming back with me so I didn't have to be alone," she said. "Now if you two don't mind, I think I need to see John for myself." Belle nodded and left to get them all cups of coffee. Marlena opened the door and walked into the room to find John surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses. "How is he?" she asked a nurse enterting data from some tests she had performed into a computerized chart. The nurse just shook her head as if to say no while she attended to her work. In a panic, Marlena rushed over to get a closer look at her husband and was saddened to see the tubes running through his nose and mouth while wires were attached all over his body. Still, she felt a slight comfort in the ba-bump she heard beeping from the heart rate monitor. Until the the monitor flatlined. "What's going on?" Marlena cried. Marlena watched in horror as the machines attached to her husband pulsated with a cacaphony of distress signals and the doctors and nurses chaotically moved about John's bed in attending to him. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=120

E.J. shuffled toward the door along with Sami in his arms so that he could lean against the locked door and block it should anyone try to break it down. The two of them could hear everything the voices in the stairway were saying. Listening so intently to the conversation, E.J. lost concentration for a moment and his hand slipped off Sami's mouth. Sami was also listening intently, so much so she didn't notice. "Lucas, I really think we've done about all we can do today," Tony said. "I think it's time to head back to Salem." "No, Tony, I'm not giving up until I've searched every single inch of this place," Lucas said. "And that includes whatever it is that's behind this door." "Oh please," Sami heard a familiar woman's voice say."It's time to give up this charade." It was Kate! "Just my luck," Sami whispered. "I get captured by the Dimeras and Kate Roberts is on my Salem rescue squad." "Shhhhhhhh," E.J. whispered covering her mouth again gently. "What charade, mom?" Lucas asked. "How is it a charade that I happen to care so deeply about my wife that I am willing to turn over every nook and cranny in this place just find one little sliver of a clue where the hell she is? Sami smiled beneath E.J.'s hand. "It's a charade because not an hour after she disappeared and you got that note for her you were on the phone with me telling me how it was over between the two of you for good this time," Kate said. Sami's smile evaporated while one began to take shape on Tony's face on the other side of the door. "You were going on and on 'How can she do this to me? How can she do this to Will? Again? Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from Sami Brady'" Kate reminded him. "She threw it all away for that limey bastard." E.J. didn't know what to make of the "limey bastard" comment, but for a reason he didn't understand felt offended. Lucas said nothing but just glared at the truth while Kate continued. "You know as well as I do that we wouldn't even be here if Roman hadn't talked you into looking for Sami," Kate said. "I mean what does that say about the two of you together that her father believed she'd never run away on her honeymoon and abandon her wedding vows so carelessly but her husband would." Sami's devastation tugged at her like an anchor and her body started to slide toward the floor. E.J. caught her and pulled her back up. Filled with sympathy he guided her away from the door so the two of them could no longer hear the conversation outside the room and he enveloped Sami in a huge bear hug. Sami's tears filled the front of his shirt. Meanwhile, Kate continued her scathing critique in the stairway. "I tried to warn you, Lucas," Kate said. "I tried to tell you that Sami and E.J. were together the night you were trapped in that cabin. Tried to get you help the night Sami DRUGGED you to run off and be with E.J. The night he said he was supposed to marry Brandy Mathas. Remember?" Kate paused for a minute clenching her teeth in frustration at all the time she saw her favorite son waste on a woman who would only bring him misery. "And yet you still married her," Kate said attempting to hold back tears."And yet you went on this honeymoon with her here after she admitted it all. Even that the baby she is carrying could be another man's." Lucas just pouted. "Face it, Lucas," Kate said. "This isn't about Sami. This is about you trying to be some tough guy hero you're not. It's about you trying to... to... finally earn some man badge you feel like you never got because of your drinking or because of Nicole or because Carrie or because of something..." "ENOUGH!" Lucas raged. "You've made your point. Let's just get the hell out of here." "Yes, let's," Tony said nodding as the two of them began their descent down the staircase and out of Maison Blanche. As they headed out the front door, Tony looked back on the house and smiled at how beautifully all his plans were working. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF MAISON BLANCHE: "Lucas, we don't have time for this," Roman said furiously. "Marlena needs to get back to Salem NOW." Tony sensed he wasn't quite as lucky as he thought, although he knew deep down it's really up to a man to make his own luck. "Lucas wants to keep the search going... as do I," Tony volunteered. "I think I have a solution for us." "You?" Marlena scoffed. "Yes. Me," Tony smiled. "I say you two head back to Salem on John Black's plane while Kate and Lucas can continue the search and we can all head back to Salem on the Mythic company jet that I took here to New Orleans." "You're using the Mythic jet already?" Lucas sneered. "Lucas, we are very fortunate that Tony used that jet and joined us here so that we can continue the search," Kate scolded. "Now I'm not so sure about...." Roman said before Marlena interrupted. "Roman, you can stay too if you want," Marlena assured him. "But I have to get back to Salem." "I know you do, Doc," Roman whispered hugging her warmly with one arm while opening the door with his free hand. "Let's go." The two left and Tony's grin grew. Tony and Kate shared conspiratorial glances as they followed Lucas around the house, occasionally picking up objects to look busy but mostly just waiting for Lucas to give up the search. The way he always gave up at everything. Yet this time Lucas seemed intent as he went about the house, running his hand along walls, opening cabinets and drawers and closets throughout the first two floors of the house. Something about seeing Marlena learn that perhaps she was about to lose the love of her life made Lucas cling that much tighter to the faint hope he could be reunited with Sami. Still, even noticing that intensity, Tony chaperoned Lucas's search throughout the house with total nonchalance. That is until sweat beads began gathering around his neck and his pulse raced when he saw Lucas start walking up the stairs to the attic. IN THE ATTIC OF MAISON BLANCHE: "You... LIKE... me?" Sami laughed. "That's funny, is it?" E.J. said, his ego bruised. "Well it's true. I... I... don't know what it is about you. But I want to help you. And I think I can if you stay here." Sami considered his words with not just her brain, but also her eyes and mouth, before responding several seconds later. "E.J., I was pretending to be asleep before," Sami revealed. "I heard Tony say that he wants me to go into surgery NOW. That he needs to take this baby from me to stop your father from dying." "Well, that's not true," E.J. said. "That's just Rolf's impatience. Father can wait until your child is born naturally. And I am NOT letting Tony take your child. Neither is Lexie." "Ha! Lexie?" Sami said throwing her hands in the air. "Lexie hates me, E.J. After everything I've put her through over the years with Brandon and her cancer screening and my sister and losing her job at the hospital..." Sami said ticking off her litany of crimes against his sister before stopping when she looked up and noticed E.J.'s confusion. "Just suffice it to say, there's no way she would stick her neck out for ME. She hates me." "Well she doesn't hate me," E.J. said. Sami was once again reminded of how much E.J.'s lack of a memory of the last year colored his outlook on things with much more optimism than the situation should have allowed. "And she wouldn't let her brother's child be killed. If everything is as you say and I've had my memory erased... if everyone is just lying to me as you say then Lexie knows that this child is mine and wouldn't let anything happen to it. Right?" But before Sami could answer E.J. and Sami heard voices outside the door. E.J. instinctively wrapped his arms around Sami. E.J. covered her mouth but this time Sami didn't bite it or try to speak. Nor did she struggle. She realized she would have to show Tony the diary to make this madness stop if it ever was to stop. She would have to pray that Tony's outrage that Stefano had kept the fact that E.J. was his son a secret all these years would be enough to protect her baby. E.J. shuffled toward the door along with Sami in his arms so that he could lean against the locked door and block it should anyone try to break it down. The two of them could hear everything the voices in the stairway were saying. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

SPLIT SCREEN OF HOSPITAL AND FIRST FLOOR OF MAISON BLANCHE: Belle was standing outside her father''s hospital room holding a cell phone up to her ear and crying as she prayed her mother would pick up at the other end of the line. "Hello," Marlena said. "Mom... It's Dad... He's... He's..." Belle said crying too hard to get the words out. "No, not John," Marlena said, her mouth agape as she turned to look at Roman and the rest of them stopped and stared wondering what bad news about John Black awaited Marlena on the other end of the phone call. Roman put his arm around Marlena knowing he couldn't protect her from whatever bad news she was getting but wanting to help her get through it just the same. "Belle," Marlena said setting aside her concern for her husband for that of their child. "Calm down. It will be all right. Just tell me what happened." "Oh... OK... well... you see... after... you left... today," Belle said through tears. "Dad... he started to move... He moved his hand when I was here." "He's coming back to us. Finally. That's wonderful," Marlena said sighing in relief and placing her hand flat against her heart. "Well... no, Mom. It's not," Belle explained. "Because after... after he moved his hand... it stopped moving... And his machines started beeping... And all the nurses and doctors rushed in... They made me leave," Belle said. "Mom, I think Dad's going to die soon." Marlena said nothing for a few seconds and covered her mouth with her face as a single tear dripped down her face. "Belle, you've just got to keep your spirit up, all right," Marlena said smiling through tears. "I need you to keep believing in your dad. Because you know he's believing in us right now. Inside. Deep down. Whatever he is like on the outside. I'm going to leave right now and get there as soon as I can. I just need you to believe until I get there, all right, sweetie." "O.K. Mom," Belle said as her sobbing subsided somewhat. "I'll see you soon. Bye." "Bye, honey," Marlena said. "I love you." Marlena closed her cell phone and fell into Roman's arms sobbing. Roman knew his search for Sami was over. "Well, let's go," Roman said to Kate and Lucas as he shepherded Marlena toward the mansion's exit so they could hurry back on John's jet to Salem. Tony couldn't believe his luck. But Lucas didn't follow Roman, Marlena and Kate toward the door. "Lucas, let's go," Roman said while Marlena continued to cry. "Are you coming or not?" "I'm not," Lucas said. IN THE ATTIC OF MAISON BLANCHE: "You're sorry?" Sami said incredously, turning to face E.J. and pounding at his chest with her fists. "No, you're not sorry. Maybe you could have been sorry before. But not now. Not after Rolf wiped your memory clean. Not after Tony has just proven that you were never here to PROTECT ME you're hear to IMPRISON ME." Sami began to sob. "Not after I've told you the truth which you refuse to acknowledge and you still believe that this child..." "Samantha, I don't know what the truth is..." E.J. said pausing to wipe a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I only know that disobeying Tony right now puts your child... or our child... if that is the case... in more danger than doing what he says." "You're so naive," Sami said shaking her head. "I'm naive, eh?" E.J. said. "O.K. Maybe I am naive. But I'm not CRAZY. Which is exactly what you are telling me this insane story that my family had my memory wiped clean for disobedience yet begging me to disobey my brother now." Sami rolled her eyes but deep down sensed he might be right about this. "Look, Samantha," E.J. said. "You have an ally in me right now. Regardless of what you think happened between us in the past. Regardless of what I think about the baby you're carrying. Regardless of our talk last night..." E.J. let out a sigh. "I like you, all right." "You... LIKE... me?" Sami laughed. "That's funny, is it?" E.J. said, his ego bruised. "Well it's true. I... I... don't know what it is about you. But I want to help you. And I think I can if you stay here." http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

IN THE ATTIC IN MAISON BLANCHE: E.J. walked toward Sami and sat at the end of the bed and turned to face her but said nothing and sighed. "Is someone here to save me? Is something good happening to Samantha Brady FOR ONCE? Am I really getting out of this awful place?" Sami said to herself as she excitedly hopped out of bed with her voice picking up in volume as she bounded around the room until it had built to a shout. "Is my dad here? My mom? Did Lu...?" E.J. stood and covered her mouth with the palm of her right hand before she could finish her thought about her husband coming back for her. "Samantha... I... I can't let you... I'm so sorry... So so sorry," he whispered. To E.J.'s surprise Sami bit down hard on his hand. "Owww," E.J. said in shock more than pain as he shaked away the minor sting. "You're sorry?" Sami said incredously, turning to face him and pounding at his chest with her fists. "No, you're not sorry. Maybe you could have been sorry before. But not now. Not after Rolf wiped your memory clean. Not after Tony has just proven that you were never here to PROTECT ME you're hear to IMPRISON ME." Sami began to sob. "Not after I've told you the truth which you refuse to acknowledge and you still believe that this child..." "Samantha, I don't know what the truth is..." E.J. said pausing to wipe a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I only know that disobeying Tony right now puts your child... or our child... if that is the case... in more danger than doing what he says." ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF MAISON BLANCHE: "Well, Kate, dear," Tony said moving toward her and caressing her face. "I assure you that I want to find E.J. and Sami and bring them back to Salem just as much as you do." Kate knew that meant he actually didn't want to find Sami and E.J. at all, but considering them staying gone would mean the end of Lucas's marriage to the witch she was intrigued. Kate licked her lips and leaned in for a kiss but stopped when they were interrupted. "Hey, just what in the hell is going on here?" Roman asked furiously, while a disgusted Marlena and a horrified Lucas looked on. Tony smiled. "Is it a little early yet for love in the afternoon?" Tony joked but was the only one who laughed. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist. But Roman, if you must know I'm here to lend you my services." "Your services?" Lucas scoffed. "Yes. You see I'm here to help out the search party any way I can," Tony said grinning, not even bothering to feign sincerity. "Why do you care if we find my daughter?" Roman asked angrily. "How did you even know where to find this place?" "Well, as you all know by now, my brother, E.J. made off with quite a bit of money that Kate and I have a responsibility to try to track down as Mythic's chief corporate officers, so she thought I might join you here," Tony said with a wink at Kate. "Oh did you, Kate?" Marlena snarled, still filled with fresh hatred for Kate for the danger in which Kate's son Phillip had put Belle and her granddaughter Claire in Tinda Lao. Not to mention her lingering disdain for Kate keeping Claire's paternity a secret from Belle and Shawn and the fact that while she no longer wanted Roman, she hated the idea of any other woman having him even if it was only for a short while in Kate's marriage to Roman. Suddenly defensive, Kate played right into Tony's hands covering up for him not so much to protect him but to protect herself from Marlena's damning stare. "Look, I know I have had my issues with Sami over the years, but she is... my son's... wife," she said gulping as the words came out of her mouth. "And I just thought we should use all the resources that we could to track her down and Tony certainly has a lot of them." Tony smiled. None of them were buying Kate's story but it wouldn't matter because at that moment Marlena's phone started ringing. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

AT MAISON BLANCHE: Tony shut the door and worried what E.J. would do. He had hoped to get Sami downstairs and through the secret passageway to bring her into surgery before the Salem search party arrived, but now he would have to rely on his suddenly quite untrustworthy brother to subdue her and hope for the best -- that no one would look in the attic. Rolf had told him about his memory erasing procedure he had undertaken on his brother and while Tony regretted Rolf's doing so without his authority he was disappointed it did not afford them the control over E.J. that they expected. Tony quietly tiptoed down the steps to the second floor when suddenly he heard footsteps and voices coming up the stairs. Luckily, Tony was able to dart back up and hide behind a bend in the staircase between the second floor and the attic while he watched Marlena, Roman and Lucas ascend the top steps of the grand staircase without noticing him and then turn right and disappear down a long hallway once they arrived at the second floor. He listened as Lucas led them into a far bedroom and showed them where he slept the night Sami disappeared. Seeing his opportunity, Tony bounded down the the steps of the grand staircase swiftly but with precision, like a tiger. Heaving a sigh of relief when he saw no one and nothing downstairs in the large front room he calmly adjusted his suit tie and walked toward the fireplace just about to press the button to open the secret passageway and make his escape... when a familiar voice stopped him. "Tony, just what do you think you are doing here?" Kate whispered. Tony recognized the voice and turned on his heels back to face her with a smile over his face. "Kate, love, I'm here to join the search party," Tony said. " E.J. made off with $10 million of our money and I intend to track him down and get it back from him." Kate scoffed. "I see, Tony," Kate said throwing her hands up in the air. "Funny how you failed to mention your New Orleans trip yesterday." "Am I sensing a little skepticism?" Tony asked flirtatiously. "Not a little," Kate said just as flirtatiously. "A lot." "Well, Kate, dear," Tony said moving toward her and caressing her face. "I assure you that I want to find E.J. and Sami and bring them back to Salem just as much as you do." Kate knew that meant he actually didn't want to find Sami and E.J. at all, but considering them staying gone would mean the end of Lucas's marriage to the witch she was intrigued. Kate licked her lips and leaned in for a kiss but stopped when they were interrupted. "Hey, just what in the hell is going on here?" Roman asked furiously, while a disgusted Marlena and a horrified Lucas looked on. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

AT MAISON BLANCHE: Sami awoke to the sound of two men arguing. At first she thought she was still dreaming as she groggily listened to them carry on. "We need to get her into surgery now. Father may not last if we wait another five months for the umbilical cord blood. I don't know why you are fighting me on this." "Sorry, Tony, I won't let you do that to her. Or to her innocent child." Sami was filled with panic as she recognized the voices. It was E.J. and he was arguing with Tony Dimera, who had come to try to take her baby. At first Sami reached down beneath the bed for Stefano's diary and prepared to reveal all to Tony, but the menace in Tony's voice terrified her so much so that instead she quickly pulled her arm back without the men noticing and pretended to be asleep. Sami pulled the sheets up to her eyes while listening in horror. "Where did your sudden interest in the innocents of this world come from, brother?" Tony asked. "You know as well as I do that this woman agreed of her own free will to Father's plan to pay her $10 million to become pregnant with this child for the sole purpose of saving Father's life." "Do I?" E.J. muttered, but not so quiet that Tony couldn't hear him. "What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked. But before E.J. could answer they heard rustling and then the murmurs of people's voices through the vents downstairs. "Damn," Tony said. "I thought they would arrive here later than this." "Who is they?" E.J. asked. "Don't worry about it," Tony said. "Just keep the girl here in this room and keep her quiet. Do NOT let her get out so that they might see her." "Why can't these people see her, Tony?" E.J. asked. "I'll tell you later," Tony said. "Just know that Father's life depends on you following these orders." Tony left the room to head downstairs while E.J. looked over at Samantha now sitting upright in bed clutching the sheets tightly with her hands. He pondered what to do next. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=90

OUTSIDE CHEZ ROUGE: Anna sighed as she stopped outside the sign for Chez Rouge and waited for the valet to retrieve her car. She had come back to Salem in hopes of putting the past behind her once and for all, an idea that seemed plausible back in London when she and Carrie dreamed it up but not so much when that past was staring her in the face in the personage of her ex-husband Tony Dimera. And her ex-husband Roman Brady, who nearly knocked her over as he brushed against her walking purposefully to the restaurant's front door. "Hey, watch where you're going," Anna said with a laugh. "Anna? Anna! I'm so sorry! It's so good to see you," Roman said sheepishly while offering her a friendly hug. "When the hell you'd get back in Salem? And how long you staying?" "I just got back recently, Roman," Anna said. "And I'm not sure how long I'll stay. At least as long as it takes to complete the Countess Wilhemina relaunch. I just joined up there to head their new fashion division." "Wow. That's great," Roman said wistfully. "You know I can't tell you how nice it is to see you. Finally some good news on what's been a truly awful day." "What happened?" Anna asked. "What's wrong?" "Oh hell I don't think it's fair to dump all my troubles on you yet," Roman said. "I was just coming here to pick up a cell phone I left behind but whaddya say I buy you a drink and then I tell you all about it. And you tell me all about what's going on with you. And how Carrie is doing in Europe. I hate that damn time difference and how the two of us can't have those father-daughter talks like we used to." "Actually, Roman, I'd love to but I have to..." "You have to have a drink with me because I'm not taking no for an answer, Anna," Roman said. "C'mon. One drink." Under other circumstances Anna would have been loathe to turn down a free drink, especially with a kind man like Roman. But she got uncomfortable imagining walking into Chez Rouge with him and Tony seeing them together and getting the wrong idea. He might get jealous. Just then the memory of that trashy tart Kate Roberts sitting in Tony's lap flashed in her brain. Hmmmm, she thought, he might get jealous. "OK, Roman, if you insist," she said plastering on a flirtatious grin and locking arms with him as the two of them entered the restaurant. As the two of them walked through the crowd of the bar to take their seats Anna craned her neck to glance at Tony's table but other patrons and the restaurant's waitstaff obstructed her view. Finally the sea parted and she got a good view of his table. And her heart sank. Tony was gone. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=90

IN THE ATTIC AT MAISON BLANCHE: Sami set her fork down on her plate and looked down at the few crumbs she had failed to inhale. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her stomach and groaned a little, so full after scarfing down the dinner EJ had brought her it felt as if she had gained another baby growing inside her. Yet still she wasn't yet showing the baby she carried. Sami didn't know what to do about EJ but she didn't know how to stop thinking about him. Oh I think I'll about that tomorrow, she said to herself. Then something she spied across the room through the corner of her eye caught her attention. Sami walked toward the attic walk-in closet and decided it was time to explore more of the secrets of Maison Blanche. She dragged her hands over the elaborate ballgowns of gold and purple and green and black, smiling as she felt the unique, cool, luxurious texture of each dress on her skin, before stopping on the red. It reminded her of something she'd seen in a movie once before. Sami examined the burgundy ball gown of French silk velvet and marveled at its heart shaped bodice clearly intended to accentuate the wearer's decolletage, its poofy sleeves and flowing skirt. Pinned inside the dress she found a matching set of gloves which she slid on her hands and arms. Suddenly she felt elegant and graceful. She felt wealthy and powerful. She wondered what sort of a woman wore those gloves before her, if any Dimera woman had worn them or they were just kept as props for Stefano's games. Still, even the thought of Stefano couldn't shake the spell this gown had over her. She can began to disrobe down to her bra and underwear and held the dress up to her front while standing in front of a full-length mirror with her back to the doorway. So taken by this outfit, Sami hadn't noticed the man who had just entered into the room with her until she saw him in the mirror. "E.J. Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Sami snarled with frustration. "Sorry. Sorry." E.J. said averting his gaze and covering his eyes with his large right hand. "I didn't mean to interrupt dressup time. I just needed to talk to you." Sami quickly pulled the dress over her head but had not unfastened all the buttons in the back before doing so. E.J. couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he listened to Sami struggle with the gown with her face covered and peeked through the space between his fingers so he could watch her arms pumping furiously in the attempt to pull the dress down. "Sweetheart, do you need some help?" E.J. asked, not really interested in helping Sami become fully clothed, but making the attempt at being chivalrous. "No, I think I got it," Sami huffed as she finally pulled the dress into place and bent over the bed heaving out of breath from the struggle, her face flushed and her long golden hair flowing wildly. "So what do you want?" Sami asked standing up to face E.J. "Wow." E.J. said emphatically. "Darling, you look amazing." Sami looked down and noticed her cleavage practically spilling out onto the floor and covered her chest with her arms self-consciously. "I said... what do you want?" Sami said. E.J. shook his head for a second as if snapped back into reality. "I wanted to talk to you, Samantha," E.J. said sitting down on the bed to face her while she stood. "Although I must admit I feel a little funny having this talk with you dressed like this." "We're not having this conversation with me naked, E.J., so just say what you came here to say," Sami said impatiently. "All right. Here it is. Something has bothered me all day today, darling. What was it you were trying to tell me before? Before your pains started? Before I helped you breathe again? Before we...?" "Any WE before was a mistake, E.J." Sami scolded. "I regret asking you to lay with me even if it was only to sleep. It was wrong and it was unfair to you." "How was it unfair to me?" E.J. asked. "Because I'm married!" Sami said. "And I plan on staying that way." E.J. had sensed as much as he felt the gold band around her ring finger when they held hands before, but he had hoped the man in question had left her when she decided to become Stefano's surrogate. Or better yet the man who had given her that ring was dead. "Oh," E.J. said. "Well I'm sorry if I haven't been as gentlemanly as I should have been in my dealings with you, Samantha. But may I ask... when did you marry this man? Before you agreed to be the surrogate mother of my father's child?" "Dammit E.J. I am NOT Stefano's surrogate and this baby isn't his!" Sami screamed. "It's yours!" "But you said you're married to another man..." E.J. said awash in confusion. "I am," Sami said exasperated. "But I am pregnant with your child because..." "Because what, Samantha?" "Because you RAPED me!" Sami gasped after she said the words and tears started spilling out her eyes as she watched the words explode in E.J.'s face like a nuclear bomb. First there was the shocking noise they made, then brilliant, bright fury and finally total devastation. "What do you mean, I raped you?" E.J. said, his voice quivering. "We just met this morning for the first time and you are accusing me of rape? Accusing me when I have been nothing but kind to you, nothing but a gentleman to you aside from this moment when I didn't announce my presence before entering the room?" Sami sobbed as she watched E.J. pace around the room. "I could NEVER rape someone. Never... especially... especially not someone like you." E.J. said defensively though he didn't know why. "Where do you get these crazy ideas anyway?" "I got these ideas from the truth, E.J.," Sami said through tears walking toward him and putting her hand on his face. "Even if you don't remember it. It's the truth." E.J. looked deeply in her eyes and put his hand on hers and he knew her hurt was real. Yet still he had no memories of hurting her that way. Even if he knew he had lied when he told her he wasn't capable of hurting her that way. "I'm sorry that you think this is what happened, Samantha, but I need to go," E.J. said crestfallen and pushing her hand away. "Good night." Sami cried as she watched E.J. solemnly walk out the door of the attic and shut the door behind him. She quickly threw off her dress and climbed into bed collapsing in a heap of sobs and wishing she had kept her big mouth shut and wondering if she had thrown away any chance of escape. That night Sami cried herself to sleep. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=90

AT CHEZ ROUGE: Kate kissed Tony on the cheek and said goodbye, but before she had even taken three steps away Tony was already locked into Anna’s gaze. “So why did you come back to Salem, Anna?” Tony asked. “Well, I’m actually going to be going into business with Kate’s daughter, Billie, if you must know, over at Countess Wilhemina,” she said matter of factly. “But why would you decide to do that? To come back here to work there when you had her your own company back in England?” Tony asked. “I thought you always said Salem wasn’t good enough for you, wasn’t big enough for you --- that to feel alive you needed the rush and the ritz and the… the… the romance that you could only get across the pond.” “Maybe as you get older and closer to death you get tired of all that, the trappings of being among the young and fabulous,” Anna said turning away from him with a sigh. “Lord knows I stopped feeling young and fabulous long ago." Anna paused for a moment then turned back to face him. "But Tony, I just want you to know, that even after all that’s happened and well, what hasn’t happened, I think it is nice to see you, too.” Tony smiled appreciatively. “Now I really need to be going,” Anna said, her eyes soft and lips pursed as she waited for Tony to say something, anything back. He didn’t. Tony wanted to kiss her just then but he didn’t. He didn’t hug her either. He thought it might hurt too much to hold something he could never have so he just let her walk out of the restaurant and watched her go. Tony then sat back down at the table having forgotten the martini mess he had made earlier until the spilt vodka had already soaked right through the jacket sleeve of his fancy Italian suit. It reminded him of the bigger mess at Maison Blanche he would have to clean up before Roman and the others got there. INSIDE THE SECRET ROOMS OF MAISON BLANCHE: Lexie hovered around Stefano's bed as she checked over his chart. There had been no change in her father's condition for several days, which was a good thing but also a bad thing. Stefano's body had accepted John's kidney and his vital signs were stable, but since the surgery he couldn't get out of the bed on his own and spent much of the day asleep. Lexie looked down on her father, the great and powerful Stefano Dimera suddenly helpless and weak, and marveled at how even he was succeptible to life's own fragility. Caring for him day after day and seeing him in this weakened state made him seem human to her for the first time, so different from the larger than life monster she had tried to shut out of her life so many times before. As much as she hated the way her brother had threatened her to get her to come to Maison Blanche and take care of Stefano, her opinion of E.J. had also changed in the weeks since she had been in Salem. She missed Theo, Abe and her mother terribly but she was amazed that despite how cold EJ had been to her and his enemies, how kind he was to their father as he sat with him, fed him ice chips, talked with him. While Stefano was still not able to respond, his eyes lit up at the sight of EJ just the same. Though EJ's devotion to their father had kept her away from her family, for reasons she didn't understand their bond impressed her. Perhaps because she knew she would never have the same relationship to Stefano she was jealous of it. Lexie was just about to whisper goodbye for the night to Stefano when a rustling of the curtain behind her startled her so much she nearly fell onto the hospital bed. "E.J. You nearly scared me half to death!" Lexie told him catching her breath. "I'm sorry, Lexie," E.J. said. "Is there any change in Father's condition?" "No. I'm afraid not. He needs that umbilical cord blood or he's not going to make it," Lexie said. "Well how long does he have to wait?" E.J. asked concerned. "Well *I* think he should make it five months," Lexie said. "Rolf, on the other hand..." "What about Rolf?" E.J. asked. "Well Rolf is pressuring me to induce labor in Sami," Lexie said. "He is getting impatient." "But it's too early, isn't it?" E.J. worried. "Samantha's child would die, wouldn't it? That wasn't part of Father's deal, was it?" Lexie frowned hearing E.J. speak of the pregnancy as if it was a bargain, a business transaction. But she knew she would lose everything if she crossed Tony and revealed the truth to E.J. that he was the father of the child. "No, E.J., as far as I know that wasn't part of the deal," Lexie said. "But when Tony gets back he might try to renegotiate..." "Well you can't do it," E.J. said. "Samantha has been through enough with her troubles whatever they are. We can't take away her child as well." Lexie eyed his concern for Sami with surprise. "Did Sami tell you something about the baby?" Lexie asked. "No... I mean she tried to tell me something earlier but she got upset and I had to calm her down but she said nothing once she was all right," E.J. said. "Is there something else I should know?" Lexie looked at him with pity. But not so much pity that she was willing to put her neck on the line to help him. And especially not to help that witch, Sami Brady. "No. Nothing," Lexie said before changing the subject and pushing him out the curtain of their father's room. "Really we should both go now. Father needs his rest. And so do you. Good night, E.J." E.J. sighed. Lexie watched as her brother left the makeshift medical station and started walking toward his room and out of sight then quickly turned back past the doorway again walking toward the secret passage to the living quarters of Maison Blanche. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=75

AT TITAN: "Oh no, Billie," Lucas said. "Not you, too?" "Not me, too, what?" Billie said squinting at her brother's strange mood swing. "This," Lucas said picking up the piece of paper and waving it at her furiously. "After you're finally free of that bastard E.J. Wells now you're going to work for Tony Dimera?" "What?" Billie was confused. "This e-mail address. ADIMERA. Antony Dimera," Lucas said. "What is it with these Dimeras? It's bad enough that they all seem to get in mom's pants but why do they have to go after you at the same time?" "Whoa. Hold up," Billie said. "Last I heard Tony was in jail so I don't know what you're talking about. And this ADIMERA isn't Antony Dimera. It's Anna Dimera. You know, Carrie's mom?" "Oh yeah, Carrie's mom, the fashion designer," Lucas said. "Well, why are you talking to her?" "Because SHE is going to be working for Countess Wilhelmina," Billie explained. "I don't know why she wanted to leave behind all that glitz and glamour in London, but when I was calling around everywhere in the industry trying to find someone to head up the company's new fashion division, she said she wanted to come back to Salem and so I decided to hire her right away." "I see," Lucas said. "Now that that's settled, what's up with you?" Billie asked. "So Mom didn't tell you?" "No. She didn't. Are YOU going to tell me what's bugging you?" "Well I think it would be a shorter conversation if I told you what's NOT bugging me," Lucas said sinking into a chair. "Sami's gone. She actually left me a note on our honeymoon that she was leaving me for E.J. and that she knew even when she married me that baby was his and the whole time had just been hoping I'd find out her secrets and I'd leave her like always so she wouldn't have to feel ashamed of hooking up with E.J." "Oh Lucas, that's horrible." "Well, I thought so too. That's why I caught the first plane I could back to Salem,: Lucas said. "But talking to Roman about things made me see that there's a good chance E.J. kidnapped her and maybe she still loves me and this is just another one of the Dimeras' sick games, you know?" Lucas stood up from the chair and started pacing around the office. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could let Will stay with you for a few more days," Lucas said. "I'm heading down to New Orleans to help Roman look for clues tomorrow and I'm not sure when we'll be back." "Sure, bro. Anything you need just let me know." Billie said patting his shoulder. "I just wish there was some way we could get that damn family out our lives once and for all." "Funny you should say that," Lucas said. "Because even though E.J. has vanished and I finally no longer have to put up with him at work, Tony came back to town today." "He did?" "Yeah," Lucas said. "Apparently his lawyers got him off on appeal. Some technicality or something. And he's already got his paws all over Mom and now HE is going to be my boss. Again." Billie felt bad for Lucas as she saw him throw up his hands as if in defeat, but she knew there was nothing she could do to make him feel better. He would have to find a way to make his life better on his own. The way she did. .............................. AT CHEZ ROUGE: Kate gulped down her fourth vodka martini, and stood up from the table at Chez Rouge too quickly so that she needed to put her hands down to steady herself from the head rush. Then she leaned in and flirtatiously told Tony that as much as she enjoyed their lunch she needed to get back to work at Mythic to settle things before she left for New Orleans. "Work?" Tony said pulling her on his lap. "Work can wait." Tony shut his eyes as the two of them leaned in for a passionate kiss, but his lips went as limp as a fish's when he opened them to look over Kate's shoulder and see the stunning blonde coming out of the restroom. Oblivious, Kate continued to nuzzle at Tony's neck while Tony blurted, "Anna!" It was his ex-wife, Anna Dimera. The two hadn't spoken in the more than 20 years since she left for London heartbroken by their failed marriage attempts and the loss of the child they had conceived. So much had changed for both of them but as he saw her standing there he realized his feelings for her hadn't changed. Anna laughed as she watched Tony quickly move to disentangle himself from Kate so he could get up to greet her. "Oh, Tony, don't interrupt your uh... love in the afternoon, that’s what it was called right?... all on account of me," Anna cackled. Kate plastered on a fake smile while she seethed inside and straightened her suit jacket. Tony got up to kiss Anna's hand. "Anna, you have no idea how good it is to see you," Tony said. "Probably not," Anna said dismissively. “Anyway, I believe this is Kate Roberts you have with you?” “Yes, Anna,” Kate said proudly stepping forward to offer a firm handshake. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Austin told me that he and Carrie had a wonderful time spending Christmas in England visiting with you.” “Well that’s good to hear,” Anna said wistfully. “It’s funny, I spent most of Carrie’s life across the ocean from her while she was here in Salem and I was in London, and yet when she finally joins me in Europe she winds up encouraging me to come back here.” Tony watched the two women size each other up while making polite conversation and couldn’t help but compare them. Kate was powerful in her business suit yet sexy in the way her short brown hair was always a perfect mess, her skirt a little too short and how she left one too many buttons of her blouse undone. She wore a little too much makeup but she also knew how to have fun as well as any woman he knew. As hard as life had been for her, he knew that she would be easy for him, Tony thought. Anna was graceful in her elegant black dress and gold bracelets with her oversized sunglasses holding back the bangs of her long flowing golden hair. Her makeup perfectly accentuated her sensuality and her manners and movement did the same for her complicated vulnerability. The moment with Anna wasn’t a fun one for Tony as it brought to the surface so much pain and regret. Tony knew it would be hard, if not impossible, to make up for all the mistakes the two of them had made, to get back what was lost in the twenty years since they had last seen one another. Meanwhile, Kate sensed the unspoken tension building between Anna and Tony and decided she had enough feeling like the third wheel for the day and left the two of them alone to have things out. Kate kissed Tony on the cheek and said goodbye, but before she had even taken three steps away Tony was already locked into Anna’s gaze. .............................................. AT MAISON BLANCHE: "Samantha, I thought you might be a little hungry..." E.J. said pausing while he watched Sami stuff something behind her back. "...so I thought I would bring you an early supper. Sorry I didn't wake you for lunch but you seemed like you needed to catch up your rest." Sami felt him eyeing her with suspicion so she turned on the charm as she shoved the book behind her back and under the bed. "Oh, E.J., this looks great," Sami said getting up off the floor and walking toward him. "Thank you so much." E.J. set down the tray so that Sami could shower him with a warm embrace in appreciation of his gesture. And in that embrace he got a strange sense of deja vu. (watch 40 second mark of this) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itD2XCZlbN0 As he clung to her tighter and tighter holding the back of her head in the palm of his hand, his thoughts were with this dream-like faint memory of him and Sami. They were hugging and he was comforting her, but where they were and why he was comforting her and what she needed comforting from he did not know. "E.J.! E.J.!" Sami pounded on his chest while his arms still wrapped around her. "What are you doing?" Snapped out of the dream, E.J. quickly released her as he was embarrassed by the episode. "Nothing, Samantha. I'm sorry. It's just..." E.J. paused turning away from her with self-consciousness before coming back to face her and returning to his old cocky, flirting ways. "You know, you need to be a little bit more careful about your affections, sweetheart. I mean... before when you took your nap and now greeting me this way... someday you could give an old boy the wrong idea and break his heart. Or worse. He might break yours." Hearing those words Sami was instantly reminded of the night when she agreed to have sex with E.J. if he helped her save Lucas's life. She winced and rubbed her stomach as she thought about the night her baby was conceived. E.J. noticed the change in her demeanor. "Did I say something wrong, Samantha?" E.J. asked even though he already knew the answer. "No. It's nothing," Sami lied. "I just am really hungry and can't wait to sit down and eat what you've brought me." Sami put on a fake smile and asked if E.J. would be joining her for the meal. "Actually, I can't, darling," E.J. said kissing her on the forehead before heading out and pausing at the doorway. "But I'll be back later and we can visit some more. First I have some business to attend to with Father." Sami watched as E.J. left and the door shut behind him. "Father," she muttered to herself. "If only E.J. knew." http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=75

AT THE HOSPITAL: "What do you have to tell me?" Marlena said as her tears stopped and fear gripped her face. "It's Sami. It seems her honeymoon with Lucas was short-lived," Roman said. "Oh no, did Lucas leave her AGAIN?" Marlena said throwing her hands up in the air. "You know, Roman, I tried to get her to tell Lucas the truth before the wedding. I tried to get her to see that THIS TIME she needed to go into her wedding vows with all her secrets out in the open..." "No, Doc, it's not that. Sami did tell Lucas everything and they still went on their honeymoon," Roman explained. "It's just when they got to New Orleans Sami disappeared. Left Lucas a note saying she was running off with E.J. Wells and she was having his baby. She told him she wanted Lucas to leave her so she wouldn't feel guilty about being with him. She said she thought it would give her family, give us, a reason to accept her decision to spend her life with a Dimera." "Oh no..." Marlena moaned covering her mouth with her hand. "But I don't believe it, Doc. Not for a second. Something just ain't right," Roman said. "This whole thing. New Orleans. The Dimeras. It actually kind of reminds me of that trick Stefano pulled. With us." Roman and Marlena shared a long painful stare as they contemplated Maison Blanche and how even though their marriage was already on shaky ground before that happened, they knew that was the final straw that ruined any chance of them staying together. "Well, what does Lucas think?" Marlena asked desperate to think about something else. "That's a good question," Roman said. "Lucas came back here to Salem after he found the note and was pretty upset with Sami, but I had a talk with him and now we're going to head down to New Orleans tomorrow to try to search the house they were working at to see if there's anything there we can use to track em down." "How are you getting there? Do you want to use John's plane?" Marlena asked. "Well now that you mention it... that was something we were hoping..." "On one condition," Marlena interrupted. "You let me go with you." Roman sighed. He worried about Marlena heading into this house and getting sucked back in to another one of the Dimera's schemes. "Are you sure, Doc? What if E.J. is just helping his old man to use Sami as bait to lure us back there? Lure you there?" Roman said. "I'm not sure that's a good..." "Roman, you know me," Marlena stopped him. "You know you aren't going to be able to talk me out of this. You also know that I can handle myself pretty well against Stefano. The Dimeras have been coming after me for a long time and they haven't beaten me yet. Like hell I'm going to let them win now." "Well, all right," Roman said accepting but not liking the risks he knew Marlena was willing to take for her children. "See you tomorrow." He sighed and started heading out then paused at the open doorway. He looked back at Marlena but she had already turned her attention back to John. "I guess I should head back home now and start packing for New Orleans so I can help Roman and Lucas try to find Sami, but I'll be back to you just as soon as I can, John," Marlena said to herself as she caressed John's face. "Now I need to leave right now to take care of things and let the pilot know to get ready for our flight to the Big Easy..." Marlena kissed John's forehead and got up to leave before turning back to look at him. "Big Easy... ha!" Marlena said heading out. "This isn't going to be easy at all, is it?" If Marlena had shut off the light of John's hospital room just one second later maybe she would have seen. Maybe she would have stopped as John's eyelashes started fluttering and his lips moved. "Marlena," John murmured through labored speech that had guttural tone. "Marlena, doooooon't gooooooo." ...................... AT TITAN: Lucas put on a half-hearted show of enthusiasm about her sister's unlikely sudden success as they walked back to her office, but Billie was too oblivious to notice her brother's jealousy. "So here it is, bro," Billie said as she paraded around the office. "I am the new president of Countess Wilhelmina. Titan is bringing back the brand and they are letting me spearhead the whole thing. Except this time it's not just cosmetics... it's fashion... it's accessories... it's everything I've ever wanted. Oh it's just SO great to be back working here again! To really get back to my roots, you know. I wish I had never given it up." "Yeah, Billie, that's great," Lucas said flatly. "I can see you're really excited about this opportunity. But what about Century Cell and everything you put into your security system? I mean when did Titan even decide to restart Countess Wilhemina? It certainly wasn't something that was even in the idea stages six months ago and here they've already got you working on the relaunch?" "Well, for that I have Century Cell to thank, actually," Billie said. "I don't understand." "Well you know how mad I was at Phillip for using my security equipment to spy on Bo and Hope?" Billie asked. "Yeah?" "Well Bo and Hope were even angrier with Phillip when he got back from Tinda Lao," Billie said. "But Victor and I reached an agreement where I told Bo that I was wrong when I talked to him before. It wasn't Phillip but E.J. and E.J. alone who was responsible for bugging their house." "And Victor's end of the agreement was this?" "You betcha," Billie said proudly. "I decided to put up my Century Cell shares as seed money while Titan provides backing for the whole thing and now I get a shot to finally really make something for myself without relying on Bo, or Mom, or E.J. for help." Lucas nodded then looked down. A printed e-mail on Billie's desk caught his eye. "Oh no, Billie," Lucas said. "Not you, too?" "Not me, too, what?" Billie said squinting at her brother's strange mood swing. "This," Lucas said picking up the piece of paper and waving it at her furiously. "After you're finally free of that bastard E.J. Wells now you're going to work for Tony Dimera?" ...................... AT MAISON BLANCHE: Sami wondered what sort of book would be kept that had no title and no author noted on the outside. Then she began leafing through the pages and got her answer. Sami browsed past several pages of the book without much care until she stopped on a page about a quarter through the book and made sure to read every last word on the page. "Stefano, how could you?" she said slamming the book back shut. She couldn't read anymore. Just when she thought the man couldn't be more vile, more insane or more cruel for what he was doing to his son, E.J., in allowing his memory of the last year to be erased, she had to go and learn that he was capable of this... That Stefano had lied to his entire family all these years because E.J. was actually the son of Tony and Anna Dimera! She had to tell E.J. what was going on, she thought. But then she worried. E.J. might not believe her. He might hate her for ruining his idea about his family or maybe E.J. would confront Stefano so that Rolf would wipe E.J.'s memory clean again and she would just back where she started... or worse. No, she couldn't tell E.J. She would have to keep it a secret from him just like Stefano had. Sami sat down on the floor next to the bed and wrung her hands in frustration as she contemplated how she always knew how cruel the Dimeras had been in keeping people in her family apart because of Stefano's sick vendetta against the Bradys, but she wondered was it really so important to him that he would do this to his son and grandchild? She cursed Stefano. But then she paused. She thought harder about what she had read. She picked up the diary again and tapped her fingertips across the cover. She thought some more. And she thanked Stefano. Because she could use this diary to convince TONY to let her go. That Stefano wasn't worth saving after all so that she and her baby's umbilical cord blood weren't needed to save him. She smiled as she formulated ways to go about executing the scheme. But when Sami started diligently reading the diary again she became so engrossed in the material she didn't hear the rustling outside the door or the door opening until E.J. was already standing in the doorway holding a tray. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=75

AT TITAN: Lucas paused for a moment before walking over to the Titan receptionist to ask for his sister. Sure, the pitch to the shareholders had gone well and he would get to keep his job at Mythic Communications, but that didn't assuage the shame he felt returning to Titan for the first time since Victor Kirakis fired him. He only realized then how much he missed his old job at Titan. He missed not feeling like a lapdog for his mother or E.J. Wells or Tony Dimera, even if he had to admit at Titan he did hold a similar role there for Victor. The difference is that Victor never made him feel like a flunkie or a loser... at least until he refused to help him in his quest to get Claire back for Phillip. "Dammit," he muttered under his breath. Even if it would have meant helping Victor and his brother take Sami's sister's baby away from her, if he could have done things over again he would have done as Victor ordered, he thought. He sighed as he stepped up to the counter. "Uh, hi, I'm here to see Billie Reed," Lucas said. "And you are?" the receptionist asked with an incredulous glance that surprised Lucas. "Her brother." The receptionist laughed. "You're definitely not Phillip Kiriakis," she said eyeing his J.C. Penney suit with skepticism. "Definitely not in that getup." "I'm aware that I'm not Phillip Kiriakis," Lucas said fidgeting with his shirt collar defensively. "Just tell her her other brother is here." "Oh, are you Austin Reed?" the receptionist asked with excitement. "I thought you lived in Europe? Oh, she's told me so much about you... but you look kinda different than the pictures in her office." "No, dammit, I'm not Austin," Lucas said slamming his fist on the counter. "I'm LUCAS ROBERTS! I used to WORK here!" "Oh, I see," she said with pity. "It's too bad you don't still work here. I'll call for Ms. Reed, right now." But just as the receptionist put the phone to her ear Billie came out to the lobby to greet him. "Lucas!" Billie said excitedly. "So nice to see you! I just have to show you my new office!" AT THE HOSPITAL: Roman paused at the door of John's hospital room trying to think just how he should break the news to Marlena that once again just when their family seemed to have a tiny sliver of happiness -- Sami finally getting the wedding she always wanted -- the Dimeras swept in to turn their lives upside down. He decided he would try to be as direct about things as possible since blunt is the only way he knew how to be and knocked on the door. "Come in," Marlena said sniffling. "Marlena, you're crying," Roman said walking toward Marlena with concern as she sat next to John's bed holding his cold, limp hand and dropping it to wipe away her tears. "Is John... dead?" Marlena gasped. "Oh no, Roman. He's alive. He's just not able to show me he is," she said getting up from the chair because she couldn't handle looking at her husband any longer. "It's just how I get sometimes sitting here alone. When I start to wonder if he'll ever come out of this. If I should put him in that nursing home and stop waiting for him to come back to me." "Listen, Doc," Roman said putting his hands on her shoulders. "You should do what your heart tells you to do about John. There's no wrong answer here. Your heart knows what's best." "But I don't know what my heart wants," Marlena said sobbing, then self-consciously turned away from Roman realizing how strange that sounded being said in his arms. "Well I don't know what to tell you about that, Doc," Roman sighed. "But I do have something else to tell you. Something you're not going to like." "What do you have to tell me?" Marlena said as her tears stopped and fear gripped her face. AT MAISON BLANCHE: Sami looked around the attic room trying to find something to do. She picked up a few of the boxes and coughed from the dust their moving had stirred. She set them back down and then walked back toward the bed sending the globe into a rapid spin on her way there. But instead of sitting down on the bed as she originally intended, she chose to kneel at the foot of the Jacobean four-poster bed. Something was calling her to open the rich brown trunk that matched it. To her surprise, the trunk wasn't even locked. She slowly lifted the lid to find a collection of books, papers and faded pictures. Even though she knew none of the people whose photographs and personal messages she handled, she couldn't resist poring over them. Once she had finished reading the handful of letters that weren't in Italian and had stared at all the pictures so intenty they were burned in her mind, she turned to the small leather bound books. Sami wondered what sort of book would be kept that had no title and no author noted on the outside. Then she began leafing through the pages and got her answer. She leafed through the pages of the book without much care until she stopped on a page about a quarter through the book and made sure to read every last word on the page. "Stefano, how could you?" she said slamming the book back shut. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=60

AT CHEZ ROUGE: Roman reached for the note but before he could grab it Tony stood up and upset his martini glass so the letter was drenched in vodka. "Oh, Roman, I'm dreadfully sorry..." Tony said feigning regret for his calculated clumsiness. "Dammit," Roman said. "Well there's no way to get the fingerprints off this now. We're going to have to head to New Orleans and that house you two were working at to search for clues." Tony's impish smile turned to a frown at the words. He didn't like this turn of events at all. Roman told them he was heading to the hospital to tell Marlena what happened. Even though they hadn't spoken in two weeks, he knew the place to find her was with John, who was still in a coma, at his bedside. "I'm not sure if Doc will want to come with us or not, but we need everybody's help we can get if we want to figure this out," Roman said. "Maybe she'll save us some trouble and let us use John's plane." He told Lucas to pack his bags and be ready to head out first thing the next morning as he had some loose ends to tie up at the police station. "Roman, I can come, too," Kate said. Roman eyed her skeptically but agreed to accept her offer. "Damn those Dimeras for hurting her once again," Roman muttered to himself as he walked out of Chez Rouge. Lucas stood up from the table. "Mom, I'm going to head out too," Lucas said kissing her on the forehead. "Will should be out of school soon and I need to check in with him to try and explain this latest nightmare. Oh, I guess I should stop by the apartment building and see if Billie can handle Will staying with her a few more days." "That's fine, Lucas, but you'll have to go to Titan find your sister," Kate said. "Maybe I should come with you. I can make sure my grandson is all right after what happened and I'm dying to find out how Billie's first day back at Countess Wilhemina went." "No, Mom," Lucas said. "I need to do this alone. I need to be alone right now." Lucas hurriedly left the table but that didn't stop Kate from yelling out to him, "OK honey! Call me later!" Tony shook his head at all of Kate's smothering. What a waste, he thought, to see a woman like Kate wasting so much of her life lavishing attention on an ungrateful, sniveling son like Lucas when there were better, more satisfying things she could be giving attention her to. Like him. Kate gulped down her fourth vodka martini, and stood up from the table too quickly so that she needed to put her hands down to steady herself from the head rush. Then she leaned in and flirtatiously told Tony that as much as she enjoyed their lunch she needed to get back to Mythic to settle things before she left for New Orleans. "Work?" Tony said pulling her on his lap. "Work can wait." Tony shut his eyes as the two of them leaned in for a passionate kiss, but his lips went as limp as a fish's when he opened them to look over Kate's shoulder and see the stunning blonde coming out of the restroom. AT MAISON BLANCHE: All Sami's worries, all her troubles melted away in E.J.'s arms she ran her fingers through E.J.'s hair and closed her eyes to say, "I love you." Yet E.J. was gone when Sami's eyes opened. In a panic and feeling the sweat ringing around her neck she rolled over in the bed but found E.J. was not in the bed. He was no longer even in the room. She heaved a sigh of immediate relief and sat up in the bed before a more long-term concern crept into her mind. "Oh, this isn't good," Sami said to herself. "This isn't good at all." Sami wondered where these dreams were coming from. She loved Lucas, she thought. She loved being with Lucas and that's why she married him. Or at least loved the simplicity of being with him. With Lucas if there was a problem there wasn't a lie or a bedroom trick that she couldn't pull to cover it up. But E.J... He always knew what she was up to because he was usually up to something, too. She couldn't hide her lies, her schemes, herself from him the way she could everyone else. She could fool her family, but never him. So what if it that meant it was almost impossible for her to get their acceptance and E.J. cared for her unconditionally? What did a Dimera's love and respect mean anyway? And Will. Will wanted so badly for his mom and dad to be together. As Sami looked around the room she suddenly remembered where she was. Maison Blanche. The horrible house that had ripped her family apart and forever ruined any chance of her mother and father getting back together. "I am NOT going to be like my mother," Sami resolved. "I am NOT going to be like my sisters. I am going to hold true to my vows and make sure I raise my baby with my baby's father." Just then she felt a stab in her stomach. It was a pang of hunger but reminded her she would now have to think of more than just Will when considering her children's feelings. Sami was sure that hunger pang meant she slept through lunch, but she wondered how late it was. She wondered where E.J. went. And if he would be back. Then she scolded herself for worrying about him so much. "Oh what am I going to do?" she said. "That's it. I can't think of that right now, I'll think of it tomorrow." http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=60

AT MAISON BLANCHE: A small part of Sami felt some guilt in E.J.'s embrace. As she rested her weary head upon E.J.'s chest it was filled with fleeting thoughts about her vows to Lucas. But she was so tired. Tired of fighting E.J. Tired of fighting her feelings. So, so tired. She looked up at E.J. and he gave her a wink and a wry smile. He tenderly brushed the bangs out of her face and held her chin. "You need to relax, Samantha," E.J. said. "Let me do something for you." "What do you have in mind?" Sami flirtaciously asked. "It's a surprise. Just give me a minute," E.J. said getting up from the bed. One more wink from him and Sami had a grin a mile wide spread across her face. She let out a sigh as she anticipated just what E.J. had in store for her and watched him walk away. As she laid there waiting for E.J. to return she took in a deep breath and noticed an intoxicating fragrance was suddenly filling the air. She blinked only to open her eyes to find E.J. standing over her wearing nothing but a white towel, much like he looked that first day they met, the day so much had changed for her and for them. If only she knew then what she knew now she would do so much differently. But E.J.'s words swept her out of her thoughts. "Are you ready?" he asked. "Ready?" Sami asked. "For what?" "For this!" E.J. said as he reached down and scooped her up off the bed. Sami giggled appreciatively. E.J. carried her to the other side of the room sweeping away the curtain to reveal a tub filled with a sparkling freesia-scented bubble bath surrounded by candles. He put her down and the look of surprise and excitement she gave when she saw what he had done for her lit up his face with contentment and pride. He put his hand on her face and pulled her into his gaze. "Oh, E.J." Sami said. "This is so lovely, I don't know how I can..." E.J. stopped her by pressing his right index finger over her lips. "I do," he said as his towel dropped to floor and he leaned in for a kiss. Sami at first bobbed her head a little bit to avoid his lips but like before she realized she was tired of fighting and she finally gave in to a kiss more intense and passionate than any she had ever felt. All her worries, all her troubles melted away in his arms and as she came up for air she ran her fingers through E.J.'s hair and closed her eyes to say, "I love you." Yet E.J. was gone when her eyes opened. In a panic and feeling the sweat ringing around her neck she rolled over in the bed but found E.J. was not in the bed. He was no longer even in the room. She heaved a sigh of immediate relief and sat up in the bed before a more long-term concern crept into her mind. "Oh, this isn't good," Sami said to herself. "This isn't good at all." AT CHEZ ROUGE: "Well, after the reception, Sami told Lucas that she and E.J. had slept together that night and E.J. told me the same thing," Kate said. "And this whole time she has been making Lucas think that he was the father of the baby she is carrying, she kept it a secret that the baby may be E.J.'s" "But she helped us set him up with the police that night," Roman said. "SHE was the reason he went to the boathouse the night John was shot. She wouldn't sleep with him unless she had no choice. Oh God..." Roman was horrified. Kate put her hand on his shoulder to try to console him as he sat down and laid the note on the table. "I can't believe I let Sami get drawn into this," Roman said. "What was I thinking? How could I have used her like that to try to get E.J. to the boathouse so we could bring him down? And that bastard gets his revenge by raping her that night?" Roman was in anguish. Lucas finally decided to start chiming in. "Well there's more to the story than that, Roman," Lucas said. "She slept with him that night because she needed his help to save my life and lift up the beam when I was trapped in the cabin and that was the only way he would help her." In that moment, Roman's nostrils flared as his heart filled with quiet rage when he looked at Lucas and wished Sami had let him die. "So Sami loved you so much that she let E.J. have sex with her and that's the only reason you're alive today," Roman said angrily. "And now after she marries you, she disappears and you automatically think she would just walk out on you for HIM? What kind of husband are you?" Lucas pondered Roman's words. The criticism stung but he knew he deserved it after all the times he had doubted Sami before. "Roman, there's more to this," Kate said trying to justify Lucas's suspicions. Tony's eyes lit up as he thought how lucky he was to have Kate around to help him, even if she didn't know she was doing it. He leered at her lustily wondering what other ways she could be helpful to him. "Sami also kept it a secret from Lucas that she drugged him and was with E.J. the night that his cabin burned down," Kate said. "This was after E.J. had told me and Lucas that he was running off that night to Las Vegas to marry a Brandy Mathas." "What?" Roman asked. "Brandy Mathas," Kate said. "It's an anagram for Samantha Brady. Remember I told you all this the night that I came to you at Chez Rouge for help getting in Lucas's hotel room the night that it turns out that I was right all along and Sami had drugged him to be with E.J." Roman wasn't interested. "Don't you know all of this is just like what Stefano did to break up me and Sami's mother?" Roman said. "He kidnapped Marlena and he made me think... he made me think she had been unfaithful with John." "Well wasn't she?" Kate said to another quiet chuckle from Tony. "We were trying to make it work..." Roman blurted before he started getting wistful. "If that monster hadn't taken John and Marlena hostage at Maison Blanche all those years ago and made me think she had run off with him, maybe the two of us could have worked things out. Even after Belle was John's daughter." Tony didn't like the way this conversation was heading. "I think I get what you're saying, Roman," Lucas said. "We need to find Sami to find out the truth." "Exactly," Roman said. "I need to talk to Marlena and tell her what the hell's going on right now, but later all of us need to get together to try to come up with a plan to find Sami." Roman reached for the note but before he could grab it Tony stood up and upset his martini glass so the letter was drenched in vodka. "Oh, Roman, I'm dreadfully sorry..." Tony said feigning regret for his calculated clumsiness. "Dammit," Roman said. "Well there's no way to get the fingerprints off this now. We're going to have to head to New Orleans and that house you two were working at to search for clues." Tony's impish smile turned to a frown at the words. He didn't like this turn of events at all. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

AT CHEZ ROUGE: "This is all you got," Roman said scoffing. "You gave up on your wife because of a piece of paper? You really think she would abandon her wedding vows and run off with this bastard who shot her step-father, tortured her uncle and God knows what other horrible things he's done to her family? After she finally got the wedding she wanted all these years? How do you even know that Sami wrote this letter?" Roman turned to walk out and said, "I'm taking this down to the police station to get handwriting analysis done and check this piece of paper for fingerprints." Tony eyed Roman nervously as he remembered handling the note with his bare hands when he forced Sami to write it back at Maison Blanche. But to his relief, an unwitting Kate came to his rescue and stopped Roman in his tracks. "Roman, did you talk to Sami before she left for the honeymoon? About that picture that showed up in her and Lucas's wedding video?" Kate asked delicately. "The one of the two of them together the night John Black was shot," Roman said sighing. "No, I didn't have a chance to talk to her about that." Lucas put his head in his hands listening to his mother explain the situation to Roman. "Well, after the reception, Sami told Lucas that she and E.J. had slept together that night and E.J. told me the same thing," Kate said. "And this whole time she has been making Lucas think that he was the father of the baby she is carrying, she kept it a secret that the baby may be E.J.'s" "But she helped us set him up with the police that night," Roman said. "SHE was the reason he went to the boathouse the night John was shot. She wouldn't sleep with him unless she had no choice. Oh God..." AT MAISON BLANCHE: Finally, E.J. gave into the moment and clutched the back of her head with his right hand wishing he could touch every last strand of golden hair on her head while his left hand reached out for her right one and found it. Instinctively he clung to her wishing they could stay like that forever. He wished he could stay with Samantha in that bed forever. But he knew they couldn't. Sami knew that as well, but she just couldn't stop herself from clinging to him tighter and tighter. She needed this. A moment of peace in her chaotic life to just be held and feel safe for once. For the first time since E.J. held her like this so many times last summer. It's not that she forgot that E.J. had been manipulating her then to get her to trust him and that many of those embraces were a result of his schemes. It's that in that moment when she really thought about it she realized so much of herself in them, she understood them, she had lived them, the way that she had always fought so hard and so many times fought dirty to get what she wanted, the man that she wanted, whatever the cost. And she had been fighting for so long - fighting for Austin, fighting for Will, fighting against Lucas, fighting against her family, fighting against E.J. - fighting so hard for so long she realized that she had forgotten what it was like to love. Or perhaps, she thought, she never knew what it was to love. A small part of her felt some guilt in his embrace. As she rested her weary head upon E.J.'s chest it was filled with fleeting thoughts about her vows to Lucas. But she was so tired. Tired of fighting E.J. Tired of fighting her feelings. So, so tired. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

CHEZ ROUGE: Lucas started to speak but quickly shut his mouth to try choke back the emotion he felt. "Lucas, it's OK," Kate told him. "I'll tell him." "What is going on?" Roman asked as he was getting impatient. "Oh God, Is something wrong with Sami? The baby?" "In a way, Roman... both. You see E.J. apparently tracked down Lucas and Sami to New Orleans. And she ran away with him," Kate said. "Because the baby she is carrying... is a Dimera." Roman was shocked and shook his head in disgust for a few moments before collecting himself again. "I don't believe it," Roman said. "I don't believe it for a second." "It's true, Roman," Kate said. "Lucas, tell him." Lucas still was too hurt to speak but the pain in his eyes let Roman know that Lucas agreed with his mother's assessment of the situation. "Look, I know Sami's done some pretty horrible things to the three of us," Roman said looking at Lucas and Kate. Tony cleared his throat. Roman glared at him but continued, "I know she's done some pretty horrible things to ALL the people of Salem... but running away with E.J. just days after she married Lucas? It doesn't make any sense." "Since when has there been any sense to the things that little witch does," Kate said. "Hey!" Lucas and Roman said in unison. "Oops, I slipped. Sorry," Kate said remembering herself as Tony quietly chuckled. Roman glared at him then looked at Lucas. "When were you gonna tell me this? Tell her family that she was gone?" Roman asked. "And how do you even know it's true? She told you that she was leaving you for this scum?" "Not... exactly..." Lucas said. "Well what is it then exactly, Lucas?" Roman asked. "Well... she left me a note..." Lucas said as he reached into his suit coat pocket and handed it to Roman. "...and then she left me and she left Will and she left you and she left all her family for E.J. Wells." Roman looked over the note and scanned it. "This is all you got," Roman said scoffing. "You gave up on your wife because of a piece of paper? You really think she would abandon her wedding vows and run off with this bastard who shot her step-father, tortured her uncle and God knows what other horrible things he's done to her family? After she finally got the wedding she wanted all these years? How do you even know that Sami wrote this letter? I'm taking this down to the police station to get handwriting analysis done and check this piece of paper for fingerprints." Tony eyed Roman nervously as he remembered handling the note with his bare hands when he forced Sami to write it back at Maison Blanche. .......... AT MAISON BLANCHE: "Oh no," E.J. said desperate to help Sami back toward the bed so she could lay down. E.J. positioned the many pillows on the bed to allow her to lay back somewhat upright as he knelt beside her clutching her face. "Sweetheart, just breathe with me," E.J. said breathing along with her and staring deeply in her teary blue eyes. Sami complied and stared back at his face with wonder as she calmed down in his gaze. Here he remembered nothing of her, of them, yet somehow he was just as he was back in the hospital when she had these pains before. The two breathed together for about fifteen seconds when the pains subsided and E.J. wiped her bangs out of her eyes soothingly. "Are you sure you're OK now?" E.J. asked with a concerned look on his face. "Yes, I'm all right," Sami said. "Do you want me to get Lexie so she can check out you and the baby?" E.J. asked. "No, I think I'm fine," Sami said then sighed. E.J. smiled with relief. "Well I'm glad you're all better now," E.J. said smiling and still caressing her face. "You put quite a scare in me just then. Now, at the risk of upsetting you all over again, Samantha, do you think you can tell me now what you were trying to tell me before?" Sami went to tell him, but stopped herself before she said the words. She knew he wouldn't remember. The truth would only confuse him or make him think she was crazier than he already did. "Oh, it can wait," Sami said trying to put what she had to say before out of her mind. "But could you do one thing for me?" "Anything," E.J. grinned from ear to ear. "Would you just hold me?" Sami asked longingly then blinked quickly surprised at herself for saying it. Suddenly E.J.'s grin turned to a confusion as his lips quivered and he held his mouth agape while he stopped to think. "Samantha, I'm not sure that's such a good..." "Please?" Sami begged realizing it was what she really wanted. "Well, I did say I would do anything for you, didn't I?" E.J. said with a nervous laugh. E.J.'s pulse quickened as he gingerly climbed into bed with Sami. As soon as he had positioned himself comfortably laying on his back, Sami turned so that she could rest her head over his heart. E.J. self-consciously hoped she couldn't tell how much his heart was racing beneath her head while Sami reached with her left hand to wrap it around the right side of his long torso. Finally E.J. gave into the moment and clutched the back of her head with his right hand wishing he could touch every last strand of golden hair on her head while his left hand reached out for her right one and found it. Instinctively he clung to her wishing they could stay like that forever. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...4762&st=105

AT CHEZ ROUGE: Lucas decided he could not stand for one more second to listen to his mother coo as she flirted up a storm with Tony Dimera over their lunch at Chez Rouge. While the two of them were blissfully unaware and lost in their own conversation, Lucas turned around to get up to leave. But just then their giggling stopped when Kate and Tony felt a middle-aged man's hands on each of their shoulders. "Hey, just what in the HELL is going on here?" the man said. Lucas turned around and sat back down at the table. "Roman... hello... it's nice to see you," Kate said uncomfortably. "Nice to see you, too, Kate," Roman said passing harsh judgment on her with his eyes and then turning his attention to Tony. "But I can't say the same thing for this bastard. Not very smart of you to come back to Salem after you broke out of jail, Dimera." Tony smiled. "I understand if you're not interested in being friends now that I'm back in town, Roman, but I'm a free man now and have the right to live wherever I please and be with whomever I please," Tony said looking at Kate for that last part before shifting his attention back to Roman. "But I just want you to know that in a show of good will and my interest in showing that I am an upstanding citizen of Salem, I promise I will help you however I can as you search for my brother and your daughter." "Your brother and my daughter? E.J. and Sami? What's he talking about?" Roman said looking at Lucas. "You haven't told him yet, Lucas?" Tony asked. "Told me what?" Roman wanted to know. AT MAISON BLANCHE: "Look, Samantha, Rolf told me everything..." E.J. said stroking the back of her wrist and hand with his. "Everything?" Sami said as she rolled her eyes. "Just what did that crazy doctor tell you? I want every last detail." "Well... I can see this is upsetting to you... I'm not sure if I should bring this up right now, Samantha," E.J. said dropping her hand. "Maybe I should just let you rest." E.J. got up off the bed to stand up but Sami pulled him back down. "No, E.J." she said staring deeply in his eyes. "I NEED to know what Rolf told you." Her head turned as she thought to herself, I need to know what I'm up against. "OK... well the way I understand it, and while your figure certainly doesn't show it, that beautiful glimmer in your eye is indicative of the fact that you are currently with child... with a Dimera child, is that right?" E.J. asked. "Yes," Sami said. "It's true. At least that's what YOU told me." "What I told you?" E.J. said his as his eyebrow raised. "Oh boy. I really don't think I can go on, Samantha. Maybe another time." E.J. stood up once more yet Samantha tugged on his waist to pull him back to her once more. "Go on," Sami encouraged. E.J. nodded. "The plan for this pregnancy with the Dimera child that you're carrying from what I understand is that the umbilical cord blood from the baby's birth is used to develop a cure for my father's illness," E.J. said. "Yeah, that's the plan," Sami affirmed. "Is it coming back to you, now?" E.J. said furrowing his brow at her. "Just finish the story," she sighed. "And the reason I am assigned to guard you is that you were having too much stress back in Salem and we brought you here for me to keep an eye on you because..." "Because what?" "You tried to attempt suicide," E.J. said with pity. "You were upset about something, Rolf didn't tell me what, and you almost burnt yourself alive at a cabin. And you survived but the stress of the whole ordeal put you in the hospital where you almost lost the baby." "Pfffft," Sami shook her head. "Rolf said that, did he?" "Yes. And also that you became pregnant because my father, Stefano Dimera, agreed to pay you $10 million if you were willing to have one of your eggs implanted with the Dimera seed and be the surrogate mother for his child," E.J. said somewhat embarrassed even though he wasn't sure why. "WHAT?" Sami asked, so livid she shot right up out of the bed and folded her arms in front of her chest before turning back toward E.J. who had also stood up. "Rolf told you THAT! Oh how could he do this? How could Stefano do this to both of us?" Sami's blood pressure went through the roof as she paced back and forth with a scowl enveloping her entire face. "Samantha, I don't understand what I've said to upset you so," E.J. said attempting to calm her. "I'm so sorry..." E.J. reached out to put his arms around her and get her to stand in one place. "It's not true, E.J. It's not true," Sami said pounding her fists on his chest. "The truth is you... you..." But before Sami could say more she felt a stabbing pregnancy pain and started sobbing. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=45

AT CHEZ ROUGE: Lucas felt sick as he sat with his mother and Tony for lunch at Chez Rouge watching them giggle and flirt with Tony whispering in Kate's ear and his mother licking her lips every minute. It was too much for him to take... the excessive touching, the stares... it all looked too familiar and then he realized how much he hated the idea that just when his life had been rid of the Dimera who had been ruining his life the past six months another Dimera sprung up in his place. Lucas turned his head from them and stared off into space. Sure, Tony had succeeded in convincing the investors that E.J. had been responsible for Mythic's missing money and E.J. would be broke and likely arrested if the police could ever find him, but that didn't matter. Lucas realized E.J. would always have Sami. If she could forgive him after he raped her... if she was even telling the truth, he thought, and cringed looking down at his left hand... then she was E.J.'s forever no matter what Sami said when she placed the band of gold around his finger that he was now fussing with. And as he noticed the background to his thoughts was Kate and Tony carrying on and guzzling vodka martini after vodka martini while he sipped on gingerale, his bitterness only grew. Even though they were probably thousands of miles away, all he could see was E.J. with Sami, his wife, and his fist began clenching on its own tighter and tighter. "So I was saying... Lucas... Lucas, aren't you listening to me?" Kate attempted to draw him back into their conversation. "Sorry, mom. I'm just real tired from last night is all," Lucas said. "I think I'm just gonna head back to the apartment and take the rest of the day off." "Like hell you are," Tony blurted. Kate was shocked. Suddenly it was as if she was snapped out of a spell and she glared at Tony after hearing him talk to her son that way. "Now Tony, Lucas flew in late last night to help resolve this shareholder situation and hasn't had hardly any sleep," Kate said. "Can't you give him a break just this once, I mean, especially after what that bitch..." "MOM!" Lucas shouted. "Sorry, Lucas... I see even after all that happened you still have feelings for her... but as i was saying after what that witcherr... woman did to him," Kate said as she stirred her martini. Tony smiled. "I see how harsh that sounded and I apologize," Tony offered diplomatically. "But what I meant was I don't think you should go home Lucas. I mean, all those memories. You shouldn't put yourself through that right now. If you would like to get some rest I would be willing to put you up in a suite at the Towers for as long as you needed it." "Well, Tony. That's very generous, but I..." Lucas said before interrupted. "Oh, Lucas, it's not an entirely selfless gesture," Tony explained. "Just because we pacified the shareholders today doesn't mean that Mythic doesn't remain in a very precarious situation. We need you focused on your work going forward and not getting distracted by what is in the past." "Lucas, I think that is a great idea," Kate said. "Tony, I truly don't know what I'd do with out you." Kate cooed while Lucas gagged and turned around to get up to leave after he noticed they had resumed their giggling and flirting. But just then the giggling stopped when Kate and Tony felt a middle-aged man's hands on each of their shoulders. "Hey, just what in the HELL is going on here?" the man said. AT MAISON BLANCHE: "I have to say I'm rather confused exactly why you are letting me stay in this room and why you're being so nice to me," Sami said. "I mean if Stefano sent you to guard me and keep me prisoner here, I don't get it." "Prisoner?" E.J. said just as confused as Sami had been. "I'm not here to keep you captive. I've been instructed by my father to protect you." "Protect me?" Sami said exasperated. "From what?" "From yourself," E.J. said to Sami's surprise. "Myself?" Sami snickered and turned away from him and sat down on the bed. E.J. followed her and sat down next to her. He reached for her hand and clasped it in both his hands. "Look, Samantha, Rolf told me everything..." E.J. said stroking the back of her wrist and hand with his. "Everything?" Sami said as she rolled her eyes. "Just what did that crazy doctor tell you? I want every last detail." "Well... I can see this is upsetting to you... I'm not sure if I should bring this up right now, Samantha," E.J. said dropping her hand. "Maybe I should just let you rest." E.J. got up off the bed to stand up but Sami pulled him back down. "No, E.J." she said staring deeply in his eyes. "I NEED to know what Rolf told you." http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=45

AT MAISON BLANCHE: "I've been told a flat for you in the attic has finally been finished so if you would like me to show you I'll take you there," E.J. said. "O.K." Sami said, a little fearful but less so once E.J. grabbed her hand and held it as they made their way up to the stairs to the heavy door at the top of the stairs that he started to unlock. Sami held her breath as the key turned and E.J. opened the door to the dark room. "After you," E.J. said, but this time his gentlemanly ways were not appreciated. "No. You go first," Sami said frightened of the unknown, which E.J. sensed immediately after he had said the words. "As you wish," E.J. said and kissed the top of her head. He stepped up into the room leaving Sami on the top step while he retrieved a lantern, lit it, and returned back to her. Sami could have run away just then but she didn't think to. Perhaps it was her curiosity that compelled her to stay. "Well, I checked, Samantha, and there are no monsters here," E.J. said with an impish smile. Sami made a face as she thought, I hope so. "A lot of dust and maybe some cobwebs, but if there are any spiders here they are no match for me," E.J. said making a show of putting up his fists. Sami shook her head and let out a sheepish grin as she stepped up into the room to join him. "Did I just get a smile out of you?" E.J. said teasing. "I think I did." But Sami was too distracted by the room to notice. Sure there were plenty of dusty boxes, candles everywhere, bookcases stacked with old books and odd pieces of furniture including an old desk, benches and even a large globe that she would have to sort through later... but first her eyes were drawn to the far corner where the room offered a beautiful dark brown Jacobean four poster bed with a trunk to match resting at the foot of it, the most beautiful bed Sami had ever seen. Sami just loved the wine-colored plush drapes that gilded the posts and its same-colored bedding. Despite her earlier fear of this room and how little she still knew of it she couldn't resist racing over to the bed for closer inspection and began running her fingers over the soft luxury it provided. She sat down and found the bed soft, but not too soft and smiled to herself. "A little bit nicer than your accomodations last night, eh?" E.J. said as he set down the lantern and used all of his 6'4" inch frame to reach up and pull back some dusty curtains on a small window that seemed to let in a quite disproportionate amount of sunlight into the room for its size. The sunshine did more than just illuminate the room. It filled Sami with a feeling of warmth. E.J. looked back at Sami and bit his lip as he saw the way the sunlight made her bright blonde hair sparkle before snapping out of it. "And I believe this is your suitcase, Samantha," E.J. said dragging a heavy piece of luggage from a large walk-in closet that Sami had not yet spotted. "If you so choose however, you are welcome to any of the clothes here in this closet. They're a bit old and fancy and formal for just lounging around the house, of course, but they've just been cleaned and I'd have to say they are in pretty remarkable condition." Sami's blue eyes appeared almost green as her eyes perked up at the thought. "Although judging by how heavy that bag is of yours I'm not sure how necessary you will find the closet," E.J. said with a chuckle. Next he pulled back a curtain along the wall opposite from the bed. "Sorry this water closet doesn't offer more privacy, my dear, but it does work well and it looks like someone left you quite the array of toiletries and some fresh towels here," E.J. said as he picked up one and held it in front of his face for a second to take in the feeling of home it gave to him. Sami didn't know why but she had always loved white tubs with feet and was glad this room had one. She couldn't wait to use the flower-scented bubble bath that had been left for her and soak for a while and relax. She couldn't remember the last time she relaxed between her breakup with E.J. and getting back together with Lucas and what happened the night she and E.J. were together and Lucas was saved and all the lies and heartbreak and wedding stress and now this awful honeymoon that followed. She needed to relax. And as she saw E.J. holding that plush, white towel she couldn't help thinking back to their first their meeting when he was wearing nothing but one and laughed to herself. She started to mention it, but then she remembered E.J. would have no recollection of the memory. "Hey, E.J. This is all... great... I mean... I never would have expected all this..." Sami tried to get out. "Samantha, it is nothing," E.J. said. "You deserve nothing less and probably much more." "That's nice, E.J.," Sami said getting off the bed and walking toward him. "But I have to say I'm rather confused exactly why you are letting me stay in this room and why you're being so nice to me. I mean if Stefano sent you to guard me and keep me prisoner here, I don't get it." "Prisoner?" E.J. said just as confused as Sami had been. "I'm not here to keep you captive. I've been instructed by my father to protect you." "Protect me?" Sami said exasperated. "From what?" "From yourself," E.J. said to Sami's surprise. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=45

AT MYTHIC COMMUNICATIONS: "Why Kate and Lucas Roberts? It's been a long time no see, hasn't it?" smiled Tony Dimera. "Tony," Lucas blurted. "What are you doing here?" Tony chuckled. "Now by here do you mean in this office, or in Salem or outside of a jail cell?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Well I am here in this office because I am going to save this company, I am back in Salem to reclaim my life and I'm outside of the jail cell because... well our judicial system works. It may take a few years and a few million dollars in attorney fees, but oh does our judicial system work." Lucas's brow furrowed while Kate laughed nervously at Tony's joke. "Well, Tony, we welcome any ideas about how to save the company," Kate said walking closer toward him as if drawn by a magnet. "I assume you are here to tell us the whereabouts of your brother?" "Well, no, I'm afraid not," Tony said. "My brother as I assume you already know, Lucas, has foolishly decided to run away with another man's wife and totally shirked his responsibilities to this company. I am here to make things right. And when I'm done with that I plan to assume the position of Mythic CEO." "But how?" Kate asked. "With this," Tony said producing a stack of papers from inside his suit pocket. "I have proof that my brother, E.J. Wells, deflated earnings reports last year so he could pocket $10 million for himself." "You're going to turn in your own brother?" Lucas asked, betraying some jealousy in his voice from the knowledge that he would not be the one to get bring down E.J. and would have to get revenge some other way. "Yes, Lucas I am," Tony explained. "E.J. is family and I do value my family. But not at the expense of this company's investors. Now if you two would join me in the conference room for our presentation..." "Yes, Tony. This way," Kate said, locking her arm in his and escorting him to the waiting board of directors. "Oh and Lucas?" Tony said smiling and turning his head back toward Lucas who trailed behind them. "I really think I'm going to like working together again." ------------------------- AT MAISON BLANCHE: As the kitchen door shut behind E.J., Sami started in on Lexie, "So has Rolf wiped your memory clean, too? You sure seemed to enjoy E.J.'s screams of pain last night." "Listen Sami, I'm just trying to do what I have to do to survive. So that one day I can get back to my son... and my husband, if he'll ever take me back," Lexie said defensively before turning it back on Sami. "That's something I'd think you could relate to, isn't it?" "But..." The two of them stopped as E.J. re-entered the room. "Ready to go, Sami?" E.J. asked cheerfully as Sami looked at him, then Lexie and sighed and got up to leave. "After you," E.J. said ushering her through the kitchen door. Sami started walking back toward the fireplace when E.J. came close behind her and grabbed her shoulder. "Where you going, sweetheart?" E.J. said. "Well, I thought you were taking me back to my cell so I could lay down," Sami said flatly. "Your cell?" E.J. laughed. "No, we're not going back to my room. Do you really want to go back to that wretched hovel?" Sami was perplexed. "I've been told a flat for you in the attic has finally been finished so if you would like me to show you I'll take you there," E.J. said. "O.K." Sami said, a little fearful but less so once E.J. grabbed her hand and held it as they made their way up to the stairs to the heavy door at the top of the stairs that he started to unlock. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=45

AT MYTHIC COMMUNICATIONS: "Lucas, the shareholders are getting restless," Kate said as she hovered over Lucas's shoulder. The two of them had spent the entire morning searching for documentation that proved E.J. Wells had been skimming profits from Mythic Communications, but Kate's search through his file cabinets had turned up nothing and Lucas's snooping through E.J.'s computer files had been fruitless as well. Kate worried what they would tell the board of directors who had already been waiting for five minutes in Mythic's conference room to hear word from Kate and Lucas about the state of the company and the status of E.J. Wells. Lucas paused a moment to think and rubbed his eyes, which were red and puffy from the sleepless night he'd had the day before. Lucas had raced as quickly as he could back home catching the last flight from New Orleans to Salem when he learned that Sami had run off with E.J., but he had failed at leaving behind any of his bitterness or regret that he masked with self-righteous anger. "I can't believe Sami ran off with that bastard who's framed us for embezzling," Lucas groaned as he stood up from behind the computer desk and threw his hands in the air. "It's over, Mom. He's got us. And there isn't anything we can do about it." Just then E.J.'s office door opened, which was startling because Kate had locked it behind the two of them when they went to work. Lucas's mouth hung agape and Kate held her breath when she saw the tan, middle-aged well-dressed man enter. "Why Kate and Lucas Roberts? It's been a long time no see, hasn't it?" smiled Tony Dimera. "Tony," Lucas blurted. "What are you doing here?" ............................................. AT MAISON BLANCHE: Sami couldn't have been more confused about what was happening to her at Maison Blanche or what had happened to E.J. She sat silently at breakfast and watched as Lexie and E.J. laughed carelessly as he told stories about his time on the European racing circuit over their orange juice and the pancakes he had made. The two of them carried on as if they were old friends, Sami thought, then realized no, the banter and stories and jokes reminded her of something else. The conversations she would have when she talked on the phone with her twin brother, Eric. She wondered if she would ever speak to her brother again and almost started to cry before putting him out of her thoughts with other matters. Even with Bart and Rolf out of sight and E.J. distracted, Sami decided not to attempt another escape for a while. The horrifying work of Rolf on E.J. had served its purpose. "Sami... Sami..." Lexie said shaking Sami out of her thoughts. "You hardly touched any of your breakfast. Remember, you're eating for two now so you need to be careful. "How could I forget," she mumbled to herself. Sami began shoveling in several large bitefuls of her breakfast while E.J. and Lexie went back to their conversation. About a minute later she slammed down her fork on the plate interrupting them. "All finished," Sami told them. "Now, I would like to lay down for a bit. Is that possible, E.J.?" "Well, I suppose that's all right," E.J. said turning to Lexie. "I'll clean up the breakfast mess," Lexie told him. "You go ahead." E.J. told Sami he had to take care of something first but would be right back. As the kitchen door shut behind him, Sami started in on Lexie, "So has Rolf wiped your memory clean, too? You sure seemed to enjoy E.J.'s screams of pain last night." "Listen Sami, I'm just trying to do what I have to do to survive. So that one day I can get back to my son... and my husband, if he'll ever take me back," Lexie said defensively before turning it back on Sami. "That's something I'd think you could relate to, isn't it?" http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=45