AUTHOR' S NOTE
The following story dates back to 1995-1996...maybe 1997, basically when the show began to spiral into hell. But certain things are different. This is also a crossover tale with As The World Turns.
Holly Lindsey is married to Fletcher Reade, but Meg does not exist. Ben is off at boarding school. Roger has left town with his new wife Amanda(who is Alan's daughter not his sister). But soon, circumstances and a nasty reveal, will bring Roger back to Springfield and back into Holly's life.
Maureen is dead, but the trouble really begins with the new woman Ed Bauer has begun dating: a fashion designer named Barbara Ryan and her ex-husband, James Stenbeck who has married Alexandra Spaulding, cause trouble for Springfield...
Ross didn't understand that Blake wasn't just suddenly overcome with illness, when she was introduced to Alexandra's new husband, James Stenbeck, at a small dinner party the newest Mrs. Stenbeck had chosen to put on that evening. But Ross was concerned. After all, Blake had thrown right up on Alexandra when she locked eyes with Stenbeck.
Not that Ross was all that pleased to see the man here in Springfield himself. James Stenbeck had just had all of his past crimes erased in some strange federal deal, where he revealed the location of two exiled, third world country, war lords. So now the man was free as a bird and skulking around Springfield. Why didn't he go back to Oakdale?
And although Ross had always been relatively fond of Alex, her taste in men just grew from appalling to damnable. Roger Thorpe had been bad enough but James Stenbeck?
He waited for Blake to emerge from one of the upstairs powder rooms. When she did, she looked as if she may be sick again!
"Honey! What is it? Did you eat something that didn't agree with you?" Ross asked, rubbing her shoulder.
"Ross, we have to leave! I have to go and find Mom."
Ross raised a brow.
"Why? So she can print a story about Alex being married to the nefarious Stenbeck? Everyone knows already, honey. If anything, I feel sorry for poor Ed. When he gets here with Barbara..."
"Ross, I have to go! Tell Alexandra I'm sorry for throwing up on her dress, okay?" Blake said dismissively and hurried down the hallway. Ross stared after his wife, his mood changing from concern to anger. Blake didn't throw up on Alex because she had been sick. Stenbeck, or the mere sight of him, had caused her to vomit. But why? Or did he even want to know?
Ross decided that for now, he was going to catch Ed when he arrived, and run what happened by him.
Blake had taken her and Ross's car and sped like a bat out of hell, down a stretch of highway, before getting off at an exit that would take her to the Springfield Journal. She knew Holly was working there late and that Fletcher was out of town.
She also knew that Fletcher, when he heard that Alex had married James Stenbeck, had decided to write a book on him! Holly had not been pleased, as she was forced to wonder if her husband's wanting to write a book about James, was really about James, or proving to Alex what a monster she had now married?
Blake parked in the undercar garage, hurried to the elevator and soon found herself at the offices of the Journal. She walked in and found that her mother was the only one there, alone at her desk, working on something. When Blake came to her office door, Holly looked up in surprise.
"Hey! What brings you by? I thought you were attending the soiree of the year?" Holly asked, half glancing up at her. But then she took a hard look at her only child. Blake looked...well...sick.
"Blake?" Holly asked, standing up. "What is it?"
"Mom...I don't want you to freak..."
"Freak? Boy, I haven't heard you to ask me not to 'freak' since you were a teenager." Holly smiled, trying to inject some humor into the discussion. But she could quickly see that Blake was in no mood to be pacified.
"Mom," Blake, said, clearing her throat, "James Stenbeck is Mr. Lindsey."
Holly stared at her, unblinking, for several long moments, before speaking again.
"What? Blake, what are you talking about?"
"James Stenbeck is Mr. Lindsey! OUR Mr. Lindsey! The man you married after Daddy supposedly died! The man you tried to make a new life with..."
"Honey, I've seen pictures of what James Stenbeck looks like. I was not married to James Stenbeck. You know that! What on earth put that into your head?"
"You've seen pictures of him when, Mom? The last time he surfaced was in 88' or 89', right? You were only married to him for three years..."
"I was NOT married to James Stenbeck! And I've seen pictures of him and so have you! Oh and we have memories of him... Oakdale is the next town over. Now Blake, really, I don't have time for this. I have to work on the budget."
Blake's mouth dropped open briefly, before she closed it. She touched her mother's arm.
"Mom, listen to me: I should've known as well. We're both in the communications business. But back then, we weren't. Back when you married the man and he took 20 trips out of the year. We hardly ever saw him. Isn't that the reason the two of you divorced?"
Holly turned away and began shaking her head! This was absurd!
"Mom, I just never put it together. With all that's happened to us in recent years, I just never put it together. James's son Paul was accused of killing him back in 89'. What were we doing then? I was plotting my way into Spaulding and Phillips's life and you..."
Holly looked at her daughter again.
"I was on my way back here. To see you. To prepare myself to see Ed again. Then there was the shock of finding out that your father was alive..."
"And before that? You married Mr. Lindsey in 83'. James Stenbeck had supposedly been thrown out of an airplane. You meet him, marry him, we all live as a family in a big house on the East Coast and he travels alot while I'm at boarding school. You divorce him in 86' because the two of you never see one another. That man that I looked at tonight, KNEW ME! I threw up on Alexandra's dress the moment I locked eyes with him! Mom...what I'm trying to say is, it all clicked when I looked at him. Everything came rushing back. Things that I didn't even know I remembered!"
Holly held up a hand!
"I am going to the Spaulding mansion tonight. I'll see for myself."
"And if I'm right? Mom, Fletcher is writing a book about James Stenbeck! Jack Lindsey was clearly an alias in a long line of Stenbeck aliases. Fletcher is going to find out you were married to him!" Blake protested.
"I said I would handle it!" Holly snapped, looking for her purse. "But I think you're wrong, honey. I think you've upset yourself over nothing. And in the morning, we'll both be laughing about this."
Blake said nothing. She didn't think she would ever feel like laughing again.
By the time Holly and Blake returned to the Spaulding mansion, in their respective cars, other members of the media were there. Holly parked and got out. Blake had a little trouble finding a spot, and did not catch up to Holly right away.
"What's going on?" Holly asked Gilly, who was talking to her camera man.
"You haven't heard? Alan and Amanda Spaulding were killed in a plane crash. The Spaulding Jet is now at the bottom of the Florida Everglades. The word is that the FAA thinks the plane was tampered with and Roger is being held as a 'person of interest'." Gilly said, peering at Holly for her reaction.
This had to be one of the worst nights of Holly's life. Truly. First, Blake is cockfire sure that she was once married to James Stenbeck, now Alan and Amanda Spaulding were dead and Roger was being accused of killing them. Blake was already so upset! This news would be...
Ed and Barbara Ryan came out of the mansion, followed by Ross. Holly hurried up to them.
"Ross, Blake is around here somewhere trying to park the car. She is going to need you." Holly told him. Ross looked at Ed, then nodded at Holly. Barbara linked arms with Ed.
"Well, this has been a horrible night. First Alexandra, who is smart enough to know better, parades James in our faces and now her brother and niece could be dead." Barbara sighed.
Ed spoke.
"They're saying Roger could be responsible." Ed said, looking directly at Holly.
Holly rolled her eyes!
"Roger wouldn't do something like that. I'm sure THAT part of this tragedy will be cleared up soon enough." Holly said dismissively. Ed snorted with disgust!
"Really, Holly? You're still defending that man? You know better than anyone what he's capable of." Ed argued.
Barbara jumped in it.
"Holly, we both know what it's like to be married to...well...to..."
Holly smirked! She disliked Barbara Ryan immensely! She firmly believed that this woman was the reason Michelle had insisted on Ed sending her to boarding school!
"Roger is NOTHING like James. Now if you will excuse me, I need to make my condolences to Alexandra." Holly said and walked off. Ed looked at Barbara.
"I'm sorry about that."
Barbara held up a hand.
"Don't. Don't worry about it. And if anything, Alex is who we should be concerned for. I know James. He's going to want a piece of Spaulding. He certainly didn't marry Alex for love."
Ed nodded in agreement, but looked over at Holly and watched as she just opened the front door to the house, fending reporters off as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. Ross and him had had an interesting conversation this evening, and now, just looking at Holly and her demeanor, he was convinced there was something to Ross's suspicions about Blake's reaction to Stenbeck. Now Holly was here. Her and Alex were not friends. So there was no need for Holly to make any special visits over here to see her.
Unless, Alex was not who Holly came to see.
James leaned back in the chair that USED to belong to Alan Spaulding. Alex was upstairs resting, after the 'horrific' news was told to her, via an FAA official by phone. James lit one of his cigars and inhaled deeply. Even before the news of the plane crash, the evening had been most entertaining. He sensed it would not be long now until...
Holly appeared in the doorway of the study. She softly closed the door then slowly walked towards the desk that James sat behind. He leaned back in his new chair and grinned at his 'ex-wife'.
"Hello, Holly. My, Christina is just beautiful, isn't she?"
Holly stared at James. What was happening? Looking at him right at this moment, everything came flooding back. Memories of meeting him in Europe, of his telling her his name was Jack Lindsey. Marrying him and then...
Holly had not divorced Jack Lindsey, because he was always away. She had divorced him because he had been seeing another woman.
"Why am I just NOW realizing that James Stenbeck and you, are the same man? You have been trouble for YEARS! I have seen your picture in papers many times before and I never..."
James stood up.
"Christina and you know what I want you to know. And I wanted the two of you, on this night, to remember our little family." James replied, puffing on his cigar. Holly began to back back! This was absurd! Why was she suddenly remembering James as Jack Lindsey? Jack Lindsey looked like...well...looked like...she had kept one picture of the man, hadn't she?
"What do you mean by that? That Chrissy and I know what you want us to know'? What the hell did you do to us?"
James sighed and put out his cigar.
"All in good time, Holly. Now, I must see to my wife. She's had a terrible shock this evening."
"As have I!" Holly snapped. "You're not leaving here until you tell me what is going on! Why are my daughter and I just remembering our lives with YOU? Why are you here? Why did you really marry Alex?"
"Don't you run a newspaper, dear? The competition is outside, beating you by miles. Unless you'd like an exclusive? Alex isn't up to any interviews, but you can quote me by telling your public how sorry I am for the loss of my brother-in-law, Alan Spaulding, and my step-niece, Amanda Spaulding Thorpe."
Holly said nothing, as James walked past her and out of the study. Holly stood stock still for a few moment, then sank into a chair. James had...had...hypnotized her and Blake all of these years?! That's the only thing that made any sense! She had known she was married to Jack Lindsey but never gave him any thought. She had known what James Stenbeck looked like, as did most people, but never associated him as being Jack.
Until tonight. James had wanted both Blake and her to recognize him tonight. Holly slowly stood up. Fletcher...he would find this out when he researched James and yet...what was she supposed to tell him? That she had been married to James Stenbeck and didn't remember it? That sounded ridiculous!
Holly's thoughts flitted to Roger. Roger would've believed her. If only he was the one she had to explain this to and not Fletcher. Holly sighed and closed her eyes briefly, before opening them again. Blake eased into the study and closed the door behind her.
"I told Ross I was coming in here to get you! Mom, he is on to us! He knows something is up!"
Holly stared at Blake, then spoke.
"You were right. But James did something to both of us. Some kind of hypnosis or something, so we wouldn't remember him as Jack Lindsey."
"Why?!" Blake snapped. "I mean I guess that's a stupid thing to ask, since he is James Stenbeck but..."
"Honey, he has a game plan. He wanted us to remember him and for the life of me, I don't know why. I know I can't tell Fletcher that I was married to that man and that I 'don't remember'! It sounds stupid!"
"I can't lie to Ross." Blake said firmly.
"Honey, no one can know!"
"I can't lie, Mom! I don't think our marriage could take another deception."
"Okay, okay! Just tell Ross that I have a past with him. He'll never think that I was married to him. But that little bit of explanation is bad enough, that he'll understand why we were both so secretive." Holly said.
Blake nodded.
"And it is the truth, isn't it?" Blake asked aloud. Holly shook her head and pulled her daughter into an embrace.
"I'm sorry for causing all of this trouble."
Blake pulled back.
"You're not trouble, Mom. But you are IN trouble. We have to figure out what that man wants with us."
Holly nodded. Yes, she knew that.
Fletcher could not believe what he was looking at.
He had been forced to spend time at a Florida airport, on layover, before returning to Springfield. He had had no luck talking with any of the people that had known James Stenbeck down South, during one of the many times he was on the run.
He had just spotted a source he knew. Federal Agent Jack Snyder, going into a room with Roger Thorpe! Roger the Dodger. What the hell was going on?
Jack, at one point, came out of the room and Fletcher got out of his chair and walked over to him.
"Jack."
Jack half glanced at him.
"Fletcher, you know I can't say anything in connection with the Spaulding crash."
He had already said too much.
"Spaulding crash?" Fletcher repeated slowly. Jack realized his mistake.
"I'm sorry, Fletcher, I can't be your source here. Sorry."
"Jesus, Jack, just tell me who?! It wasn't Alexandra, was it?"
"No. Goodbye Fletcher." Jack said and went back into the room. Fletcher just stared after him. What the living hell? The Spaulding jet had crashed and Roger Thorpe looked like he was being held in an interrogation room, right here on these grounds! That couldn't be a coincidence!
Fletcher looked around, then spotted a phone. He had to call Holly and some of his sources to find out what was going on.
Meanwhile, Jack eyed Roger, as he handed him a thick file to look at. Frankly, he had always been wary of Thorpe, considering his past. But the CIA had wanted him in on this. Now more then ever, after what had happened.
Roger glanced through some of the contents, before setting the file down.
"The public is already starting to say that I somehow sabotaged my own wife's plane."
"You two weren't getting along, were you?" Jack asked.
"We weren't even living together," Roger admitted, "I had caught her with someone. Not that I blame her."
"Look, Roger, I don't need to know the details. We want Stenbeck for the crash. And we think we can prove motive."
Roger shrugged carelessly.
"Stenbeck obviously wanted to get rid of Alan and Amanda, so he could take over Spaulding. All he has to do is get by Alex..."
Jack shook his head.
"We think it goes beyond that. We think Stenbeck is trying to kill off every Spaulding. We think he was responsible for the death of Brandon Spaulding in Barbados, back in 84' and we think he murdered Brandon 'Lujack' Luvonoczek in 1985."
Roger slowly stood up.
"You think that Stenbeck killed Alex's father and son, long before he knew her?"
Jack folded his arms.
"We're not entirely sure of that. You see, we have reason to believe that in both of those murders, Stenbeck had an accomplice. A woman."
"Like I said, Amanda and I recently separated and even before that...look, I care that someone killed her. I don't see what that has to do with me though, and why the CIA thinks I can help?"
"Roger, there is something in that file, that indicates that one of your ex-wives was actually married to Stenbeck."
Roger raised a brow.
"Well, yes, Alex."
"No. Not her," Jack said, picking up the file and pulling out a family picture and handing it to him, "it's Holly and your daughter."
Roger gaped at the little family portrait, where in which a man that was clearly James Stenbeck, was standing with Holly. Stenbeck had one hand on Chrissy's shoulder. Roger flung the picture at Jack!
What is this?! A doctored picture?!"
"I wish it was. But Holly apparently, was married to Stenbeck and we believe that she would know who his woman accomplice was. The divorce petition says that Holly divorced Jack Lindsey because he was unfaithful. That woman..."
"Wait! Holly thought Stenbeck was Jack Lindsey? Well, there you go! She didn't willingly marry that maniac!"
"Roger, she HAD to know what Stenbeck looks like! She knows by now, probably long before now, that she was married to that 'maniac'. Look, I know this is hard for you. Fletcher Reade is in this same airport and he eventually is going to find this out as well. The FBI and the CIA want you to return to Springfield, under the guise of wanting to use your wife's shares of Spaulding as a way of fighting Stenbeck for the company. No one will question it. But you find out what your ex-wife and daughter know."
Roger stared at Jack for a long time, then spoke.
"You're telling me that Holly and Chrissy could be implicated in some way, aren't you?"
Jack nodded but did not speak. Roger picked up the file.
"I guess I'm going back to Springfield. And no, no one would question what I am about to do." Roger said. What was left unsaid was that he had planned on doing just that, before Jack had pulled him in. Amanda had still been his wife and her shares of Spaulding were legally his. He had no intention of letting that kind of power out of his hands.
Roger spotted Fletcher at a phone booth, his back to him. He clutched the Stenbeck file closer to him. He had found a way to get everything that should've been his, long ago, back.
Now if only he could keep it this time around.
It had happened the same way before.
Holly slept fitfully, not knowing what to tell Fletcher when he returned home. Unable to believe she had ever been so stupid. Her head was filled with images of James, Roger and even Daniel St. John...
She did not hear the creak outside her door, or even hear her bedroom door come open, as a man named Dr. Weston, stepped in. He walked over to her bed, put his hand over her frightened mouth, and injected something into her neck.
Who she would be, when she awoke, would say volumes.
