Chapter 6

Sami opened the curtains and leaned to look out of her kitchen window. Finally she was home and safe. Her father had arranged police officer to keep an eye on her and her family and with Andre behind bars they were one step closer to getting the DiMera's out of Salem. Lucas had decided that they needed to celebrate what had happened with a feast. Sami found herself smiling when she heard a gentle knock on the door. She went to open it and found her mother behind it.

"Hi mum, come on in", Sami said stepping aside to let Marlena in.

"Is Lucas home?" Marlena asked looking around her.

"No he went out to get something to eat. Why?" Sami saw that Marlena was contemplating what to tell her. Then she obviously decided to postpone what ever bad news she had and smiled widely handing Sami the next letter. Sami took the paper and looked at it in amazement. She asked:

"New one? This soon?" Marlena squinted and tried to evade:

"Not exactly. You forgot it and I decided to drop by to give it to you."

"Mum, what is wrong?"

"You know that Andre has been pretending to be Tony for two decades now. John and I are going to go and try to find the real Tony but I had to make sure you'll be all right before we leave." Sami didn't believe a word of what her mother was saying.

"Thank you for that mum but tell me what's really wrong." For the first time ever Marlena looked really old and tired. She sat down and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I have some really bad news and I really didn't want to tell you this but John said I should", Marlena stopped to bite her lip, "You know that you look exactly like Colleen. What you don't know is that you're not the only one with a look-alike across the time. Roman found a picture of Santo while he was arresting Bart and, gosh, you are going to hate this."

"What is it?" Sami went and sit next to her mother and waited.

"Santo looks exactly like EJ Wells."

"How is he?" Bo stopped the doctor rushing out of the hospital room.

"Critical." Was the short answer Bo and Steve heard.

"Is he going to live?" Steve asked looking somewhat concerned.

"Honestly, I don't know. Right now his chances are less than slim. Excuse me", the doctor said pushing the two men aside and ran across the hall to another room. Bo and Steve looked each other. Bo surprised himself by saying little prayer silently in his mind for the man fighting for his life. To justify the change of heart Bo thought of the fact that without this man, he would have had to watch his brother die. As if reading Bos mind Steve asked:

"Do you know where Roman is? I would think he'd be at least little bit interested was his life bought with another man's life."

"I don't know", Bo shook his head and saw something alarming in Steve, "What's wrong Steve?" Steve adjusted his patch and muttered:

"There's something familiar about this situation. It's like déjà vu."

"Sami, are you all right?" Marlena reached out to her daughter but it was years too late. Somewhere along the line Sami had learnt to deal with all the pains of her life alone and to hide them from her mother. By now the wall between was unsurmountable.

"Yes I am. You were right, I hate this. It feels more like fate every time I think about it and every time I read another letter but I hate to think that EJ and I are Santo and Colleen reincarnated."

"It's understandable darling. It really is", Marlena finally managed to grab and squeeze her daughters hand but she was the only one gaining strength from that touch. Sami was about to ask something when the door was opened and Lucas stepped in barely controlling himself:

"Sami! I've got some great news! I saw Roman at the town and he told me that EJ is knocking the hells gates. Oh Marlena, I didn't see you there."

"Hello Lucas. I was about to tell Sami about that", Marlena spoke calmly directing her words to Lucas, "Did Roman mention to you that EJ saved his life?"

"No", Lucas looked somewhat annoyed as he heard this detail.

"Must have slipped his mind", Marlena brushed off the lapse turning to her daughter again she said, "EJ took the bullets meant for Roman. He's in hospital now fighting for his life."