The Chapel

Behind the narrow wooden screen that hid him from the others, Tony shifted on the bench, trying to find a more comfortable position and wondered who else planned on showing up to entertain him this evening. He might as well have arranged to meet Elvis back at the hospital.

Nevertheless, he was relived seeing John's son. Hopefully, the boy would rescue his damsel and get her the hell out of here so he could break the rest of his unpleasant news to EJ. He didn't like the idea of his brother hearing it from Nicole. If that happened, Tony seriously doubted EJ would be able to keep control of his temper and the news about Samantha required some finesse.

Of course, first he'd have to calm EJ down from the state he'd worked himself into -

"Get OUT!"
EJ's voice thundered through the stillness in the chapel but it didn't seem to have any effect on Brady.
"Save it, DiMera,"

Nicole didn't say anything but her eyes pleaded with Brady to do something…anything.

"And let go of her. Now."
"This is a private conversation, Brady and one that has nothing whatsoever to do with you. Now I've asked that you leave." The fury in his tone was still evident but he was no longer yelling and there was purpose behind the words that alarmed Nicole as she listened. "If you choose to ignore my suggestion, I haven't any problem with making you wish you'd listened the first time."
"Oh, I'll leave, but I'm taking Nicole with me."

For an instant, the two men merely stared, each gauging the other's intent until EJ's eyes narrowed and he snarled, his anger rising to the surface all over again.

"You bastard, you knew this whole time, didn't you?"

Brady's only answer was to march up the aisle until he was about a foot away at which point, EJ dropped Nicole and before she or Brady could react, sent Brady stumbling back, his right fist smashing into his cousin's jaw with such force, EJ could feel the impact shoot all the way up his arm. Still, it felt good, and he wanted to do it again, and again but Nicole was between them now. She didn't say anything but stood her ground.

EJ eyed the two of them in disgust. "What a bloody fool I've been all these months, eh darling? Swearing your love to me whilst you were ever so busy hiding the fact you were carrying Brady's child and in a way that not even Victor would suspect."
"The baby was yours, EJ."
"Really."
Behind Nicole, Brady glared at the younger DiMera but made no move to argue or continue their fistfight. Instead he reached for Nicole's hand and tugged on it. "Let's get the hell out of here."
EJ sneered, "Yes, by all means, keep the slut."
The word affected Nicole as though he'd slapped her. "EJ, I wasn't with Brady. I love…"
"Don't you dare," he hissed, taking a step towards her now but Brady's insistence grew more frantic and he practically dragged her with him in the direction of the exit. Nicole went, reluctantly, but she couldn't take her eyes from EJ's tortured face, not even as Brady pulled her through the door.

Once they were gone, EJ just stood for several long minutes, not knowing what to do with all the pent up rage boiling inside of him. God, she'd played him for a complete sucker.

With Brady.

How could he have missed something so blatantly obvious?

Wrapped up in his own misery and regrets, the sound of footsteps as Tony made his way from the confessional to sit in a pew near him didn't register at first. He simply couldn't grasp the depth of his own folly. He'd trusted her with everything. Thinking back over just the last couple of days and how blissfully ignorant he'd been, convinced he was happy. Even when he's arrived home that day to find Samantha was back. He'd told himself it made no difference…it couldn't. He had what he wanted; a wife who fawned over him and didn't make conditions about his family, along with another DiMera heir, and the thing he treasured above all, or thought he did…his father's love and approval.

And what had it brought him?

A dead child that may or may not have been his, a father who'd swear on a stack of bibles he doted on his children, but not enough to share the truth, let alone practice forgiveness, and best of all, a woman who was no better than a whore.

And for all that, he'd tossed Samantha aside.

God, what a colossal fool he'd become.

Feeling his brother's eyes on him, he turned to meet the censure he was expecting but Tony sat upright in the pew, his expression carefully neutral.

"Oh, now comes the poker face. After I brushed off your warnings about Father and the job he was going do on me…"
Doing his best to keep his tone light, Tony countered, "But in the end, what did he and Nicole accomplish, other than wounding your pride? It could have been far worse."
"If you tell me I got off easy, I swear Tony, I'll deck you harder than I did Brady."
Tony looked away but not before EJ spied the hint of satisfaction playing across the other man's mouth in the form of a wry grin. "Even if I did, you wouldn't believe me."
"You're right, I wouldn't."
Tony sighed but didn't say anything.
"Please tell me," said EJ in a voice that was too calm, "I've heard the worst of this nightmare."

With a shrug that displayed his own growing frustration, Tony replied, "that rather depends on you, brother."
Being that EJ's temper was still raw, he instantly took exception. "I'm not about to play this game with you Tony. Whatever the fuck you have to tell me, you'd better just say it."
"Alight, but I need you do to something for me first."
"What?"

The sarcasm EJ was using to mask his embarrassment and the other emotions he wasn't quite sure how to handle wouldn't be going away Tony knew. He'd expected something like this. It might not be a problem, as long as he was able to frame what was coming in the right order.

"You need to keep in mind who chose to listen to that siren song Father has perfected over the years."
EJ scowled and turned his back on Tony, not wanting to acknowledge the bitterness the words dredged up, truth or not but Tony was on a mission.
"If you care about Samantha the way you assured me you did back at St. Luke's just a year ago, you will do this."
"I don't need another bloody conscious, thank you," EJ snapped over his shoulder.
"Fuck a conscious Elvis. This isn't about whether you have one or even use it. I thought you at least understood that much or you wouldn't have picked a girl like Samantha to begin with."

In spite of his mood, the last reminder lifted EJ's spirits some. Tony knew…it wasn't that Samantha expected EJ to behave himself. In fact, the last thing she'd appreciate would be him following in the same path as her last husband but there was always the sticking point between them…Stefano.

The one and only thing she'd asked of him.

And it had nothing to do morality. She'd dealt with more than her share of the hypocrisy that seemed to accompany Salem's version, courtesy of her own family. No, it was oddly straight-forward with Samantha...self-preservation…hers and her children's…and his as well. Or at least she'd felt that way during the lockdown at the hospital.

But then Stefano returned and moved right back in to the mansion as though nothing had happened and EJ had allowed himself to fall back on old habits.

"So, what did Samantha do that I'm not going to like?"

Tony sat weighing the raw sarcasm in EJ's question, tempted to put him on the spot and exact a promise that he'd not rush off or blame her but caught himself. It wouldn't do any good in the long run. So, instead he took a deep breath and forced himself to take the hard road. "She did what you would not…protected herself and the child she was carrying from Father's tendency to butcher everything he loves."

The silence in the chapel deepened when the last echoes of Tony's voice died away until he could feel it ringing in his ears.

Ej had no idea of what say. He stood in shock, allowing the images to crowd in on him, especially the day he'd arrived at the hospital to find Samantha in that exam room, swearing that there was nothing wrong and then later at the cabin as he'd sat with her and Allie and Johnny while she tried to find a way to say goodbye to her children. He saw again his son's hand reaching to pat Samantha's stomach, saying, baby.

He'd known she was hiding something, but…

"She lied. Straight to my face."
"And if she'd told you the truth instead?"
EJ whipped around to confront Tony's insinuation. "I would have…"
"Moved out of the mansion? Cut off all ties to Stefano permanently?"
Narrowing his eyes, he met his brother's even stare and fumed internally. It took longer than Tony would have liked but finally, he admitted the truth, the one they were aware of already.
"No."
Tony nodded, a hint of sympathy in his gaze. "I don't expect you to ignore what she's done, or not to be upset. That's perfectly natural."
"My, thank you," came EJ's sarcasm once more, as he folded his arms across his chest. "That's most generous of you considering how you dragged your wife into the mansion against her better judgment."
And to EJ's surprise, Tony grinned. "See, now that is one of your problems, brother. Despite your lovely Samantha's keen nose for trouble, you rarely pay attention."

"What the hell…"
"It wasn't simply a matter that Anna was upset…it's why she was upset."
"Yes," agreed EJ, "she didn't want you anywhere in the vicinity of Stefano."
"But for an altogether different reason than you imagine."
EJ shook his head, confused and with something of a smirk, Tony looked away, up to the altar. "When Anna's radar lights up to such a degree, I pay attention. She used to work for the man."
"Anna? Worked for Stefano?"
"Shocking, eh?"
"Well, no, not really but she behaves as though she's terrified of him."
"And she's oh, so very convincing, isn't she?" laughed Tony.

Pursing his lips tightly, EJ glared at his brother. "Ok, I get the point, I think," he said, leaning back against the edge of the pew behind him. "I don't listen to Samantha the way I ought to."
"Or give her enough credit."
"She makes it awfully bloody hard sometimes."
"Didn't we have this conversation already?" said Tony, chuckling. "Back the pub one day if I'm not mistaken. Women never make it easy."

EJ sucked in a ragged breath. "Cute, Tony. So is this your way of telling me that there's more to the last few months that I'm still in the dark about."

The grin Tony had been sporting faded away and reluctantly, he nodded. "I'm afraid Nicole's sins go far beyond lying to you about the miscarriage…"
"If the child was even mine."
"I understood you had proof of that and besides, I thought Brady was hidden away in a treatment center by Victor."
"I don't know what to believe anymore," said EJ, shaking his head in frustration, "especially when it comes to anything that comes out of her mouth. The bitch has done nothing but lie to me from the minute she arrived in town. Hell, since before that."

Tony gave another short nod, guarding the pity he felt suddenly, lest it show in his eyes. He'd been here before. Caught between two women, both of whom had lied to him for their own purposes, angry and hurt and lashing out and yet, neither Renee or Anna's motives had been as simple as he'd wanted to make them at the time and even now, he lived with the guilt that if he'd handled it all differently, Renee might have survived.

He just had to hope that EJ would show more wisdom than he had all those years ago.

"Nicole, you can't do this," Brady called from behind as she hurried toward her car.

Once outside the chapel, she'd sunk down on the top step and buried her head in Brady's broad shoulder, her sobs soaking his shirt. It broke his heart to see her this way, just as it had the awful day she'd lost the baby. No one deserved such pain. But after she'd cried herself out, she'd wiped her eyes and sat up, refusing to say anything to him but he could see the wheels turning in that devious mind of hers.

When she arrived earlier, she'd had her keys in her hand but not any longer. Probably dropped them when she was inside, she guessed and she wasn't about to go back and get them.

"Will you take me to the mansion?"
"Nicole," he'd said with a worried expression.
"There is something I need to pick up."
"Nothing is worth risking your life. How long do you think it will take for Stefano to discover his secret is out?"
"I have to get Sydney."

Brady told himself that he'd not heard her correctly but she turned to face him and the gleam in her eye was determined. He shook his head. "No."

"Please…"
He stood up and took a few steps back from her. "Absolutely not."
"I can't leave her in that house with Stefano, Brady. If he does learn that EJ knows the truth, he'll take her and disappear with her and EJ and I will never see her again."
"And what do you think is going to happen when he discovers the child isn't really his granddaughter?"

The merest hint of guilt appeared in her gaze, but it didn't stop her. "Fine, I'll call a cab."
"Nicole, listen to me. You have a chance to extract yourself from this mess…walk away, right this minute. If you don't take it, Stefano and EJ are not going to show you a single shred of mercy."
"Sydney is mine," she said in a hollow voice. "She's all I have left now and I'm not leaving her behind."
"She's not yours…"
Nicole jumped up and started down the stairs.

"If you go to that house, you might as well put a gun in Stefano's hand and stand right in front of him."

But she wasn't listening. Already she was at the curb and crossing the street to where her car sat parked to get her phone and call a cab.