Disclaimer: The wedding vows and Shawn's greeting to the guests were taken from Soap City's days website under the specials feature title "It's Official." They were the vows from the wedding on the show according to the site. The italics are the flashback. In the first flashback, I have reality coming in and out. So please note if it's a flashback it will be italicized and present time regular style. Also the Louie line is from Casablanca.

Chapter 10 Her New Friend

Jayden found herself on the pier after wandering around aimlessly after the cemetery. She was filled with guilt for what her presence was doing to a family she just met. She was staring into the blankness of the water when she heard a tune that sounded familiar. The world started to fade as something came over her.

Shawn Douglas Brady stood before his friends and family in a rented tuxedo. Next to him stood his blushing bride as she glowed in the white old fashion wedding dress that was given to her from his grandmother Caroline, and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He saw the tears of joy in her eyes and he reached down and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze. She took her right hand and covered it with his, he returned the gesture. He smiled at her when he felt the twenty-five cent plastic ring he got from a gum ball machine. The one he gave her when he first proposed. She insisted on wearing it on her wedding day even though his great gran gave him the Horton diamond that was set in a ring, Mimi's ring. Shawn took his eyes away from his bride and looked at their guests.

"First I want to thank you all for being here. It means a lot to both of us to have our friends and family share in this day. And for the people who couldn't be here, they're still very much in our thoughts, and in out hearts." He said before turning back and facing his bride, "And Mitzi, to you I just want to say that I'm the luckiest guy alive, because today I'm not just marrying the woman I love, I am marrying my best friend. I know a lot of people say that, but for us it's really true. And it's given us a bond built not only on love, but on trust. I can't wait to start our lives together." He saw a few tears escape from her eyes and he brought his thumbs to her face, wiping them away.

"Shawn and Mimi," the priest said, "have chosen to write their own vows to each other. Shawn."

Shawn and Mimi turned towards one another. He reached down and grabbed both of her hands, "I've known you just about my whole life, Mitzi … We grew up together, and we were always there for each other. I don't even know if I'd be here right now if it wasn't for you. I can't believe I didn't see it so much sooner. I love you, Mitzi. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." Shawn brought both hands to his lips and gave them both a chaste kiss. He smiled brightly at her as he lowered their hands.

Mimi's face broke into a huge grin as she listened to her soon to be husband's vows to her. She wondered if she would be able to find her voice to tell him the vows she spent weeks agonizing over.

"Mimi," the priest guided her.

She looked into Shawn's chocolate brown eyes and found her voice, "I remember the exact moment I fell in love with you. It was second grade. We were in art class. We'd been given a homework assignment to draw a picture of something we thought was beautiful. So I drew a rainbow. But the other kids were making fun of it, because I did it in pencil on scrap paper … because my mom couldn't afford paints and markers and drawing paper like everyone else had. But you said it was the best rainbow you'd ever seen. That it was like magic. Because it let you imagine the colors however you wanted to. And I knew then I wanted to share that magic with you forever. It didn't always look like it was possible. But now … I am. I love you, Shawn. And I love the magic you've brought into my life." She looked at him and noticed a tear trying to escape. She reached up and brushed it away from his face, noticing he did the same for her.

"Do you have the rings?" the priest said, as he watch Philip place them on his Bible. The priest said the blessing and directed Shawn to take the ring he was giving to his bride. "Shawn Douglas repeat after me."

"Excuse me miss are you alright?" a voice called out.

Shawn grabbed Mimi's left hand and slid the wedding band over her left ring finger, "Miriam, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live."

"Miriam," the priest said, "repeat after me."

"Miss, are you alright?" the concerned voice called out to her.

Mimi took Shawn's left hand and slid the ring onto his finger as she repeated, "Shawn Douglas, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my husband: to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to have and to cherish, as long as we both shall live. And hereto, I pledge you my faithfulness to show to you the same kind of love as Christ showed the Church when He died for her, and to love you as a part of myself because in His sight we shall be one."

"Miss are you hurt?" the voice was more frantic.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest said, "You may…."

Shawn pulled Mimi into his arms and kissed her passionately at the alter.

"Your bride," the priest finished with laughter. When they parted the priest announced, "I would like to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Shawn Douglas Brady."

"Miss are you alright?" the voice asked again.

Jayden heard a voice through the cheering but couldn't place it. She screamed when something touched her. She turned around to see and equally startled young man with dark hair and eyes staring back at her.

"Would you stop screaming!" he shouted.

Jayden stopped screaming and noticed her hand was on her heart, "You scared me half to death!" she chastised the stranger, "Next time why don't you announce your presence first instead of sneaking up on someone!"

"I did," he insisted, "I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes."

"Oh," she said.

"It's not safe to be out here by yourself at night," he continued, "Especially if you're a bloody space cadet."

"Bloody space cadet?" she repeated as she looked over her body for any injuries. She was slightly confused when she didn't see anything.

"If I was a man of unquestionable morals," he continued his rant, "I could have violated you eighteen different ways and you probably wouldn't have noticed."

"Hey!" she yelled at him, "I wasn't that oblivious to the world! I knew you were there!" He gave her a look that told her he wasn't buying whatever she was trying to sell him. "Sorry," she said, "had a rough couple of days."

"Need a shoulder to cry on?"

"I don't know you," she said.

"I don't see the problem."

"The problem is that I don't know you," she said, "so why would I open up to you."

"Because I'd be the perfect confidant," he insisted.

"How so?"

"I don't know you and you don't know me," he said, "no prejudices or reputations to spur the other one into judging the other." He noticed she broke out into a huge smile. "What?" he asked.

"You don't know me."

"I thought we already established that," he said perplexed.

"You don't understand," she continued, "ever since I came to this town, yesterday might I add. Everyone I met mistaken me for someone else."

"Who?"

"Do you know the Brady's?" she asked and was surprised when he snorted in response.

"I'm a DiMera," he said, "Of course I know the Brady's."

"Your families close?" she asked. She saw him immediately stare at her as if she sprouted a second head right before his very eyes, "What?"

"No," he said, "we're not buddies. You don't know the DiMera's?"

"No," she said, "Should I?"

"How long you lived in Salem?"

"As I said previously," she said, "I moved to town yesterday. So this would be what day two?" she added a little mocking at the end. The glare she received told her it wasn't appreciated. She just shrugged.

"Well darling that explains everything," he said, "So give it at least another day until you hate me."

"I don't judge," she said. She hesitated for a second before asking, "If you know the Brady's do you know a Miriam Brady?"

The man paused for a second to think, "The name sounds familiar," he said before pausing to try to retrieve her from his memory, "Didn't she die?"

"Yeah," she said, "About five years ago."

"Then no I don't," he said, "I've only been a resident for two years."

"Oh," she said, "so to recap, you don't know me," she started listing them with her fingers, "I don't know you, you don't me, and your family has a bad reputation. And most importantly you don't know me."

"You're an odd bird you know right?"

"What's with the accent?"

"I was born in Salem and raised in England," he explained.

"You have a name or should I make one up for you?"

"EJ DiMera," he said extending his hand.

"Jayden Douglas," she responded shaking his hand, "What does EJ stand for?"

"It stands for," he said, "No way in hell I will ever disclose that information to you."

"That bad huh?"

"You have no idea," he insisted.

"Consider the subject dropped," she said.

"Just like that?" he asked skeptically.

"I don't see how nagging someone will gain respect and trust," she said, "If you don't want me to know; then you won't tell me. Being a pain in the arse won't change the fact." Jayden turned her attention back to the water and the sky that was littered with stars, "It's so beautiful."

"It is," EJ said admiring the horizon.

"That star," she said, "I know that star."

"Which one?" he asked.

"That one," she pointed to the star in question.

EJ followed her direction to the little star a few inches from the little dipper, "What's its name?"

"I don't know," she said, "But it feels like it should be important to me."

"Why is that?" EJ asked. This woman interested him, she was like a puzzle that he wanted to put together so he could see the picture. When a few seconds past and she didn't respond, he looked down and noticed the glaze look over her eyes. "Jayden," he asked. He realized she was drifting off again. He looked around to make sure that there were no potential dangers. He didn't know this woman, but he felt an innate need to protect her from harm.

Twelve year olds Shawn and Mimi were sailing his father's boat. Mimi was down below cleaning up their dinner as Shawn was steering the boat. Mimi came topside and looked around at the empty water, "Shawn," she said, "We need to get back to shore."

"We will."

"I'm serious," she said, "You're dad's going to blow a gasket when he realized you took his boat!"

"He said we could use it," Shawn defended himself.

"To picnic on," she said, "not take for a spin!"

"Relax…"

"I will not relax!" she yelled as she interrupted him, "It's dark and we don't know anything…"

"I do…"

"Fine I don't know anything about boats!" she screamed, "I want to be on dry land!"

"We'll go back in a second," he said as he dropped the sail, "I have to show you something."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Come here," he said, "it's a show and tell kind of a surprise."

"Only if we leave afterwards," she said, "I'm already in enough trouble for sneaking out. I don't need to add theft to the list."

"I promise," he said with a smile. He extended his hand and Mimi placed her delicate hand in his. He escorted her to the bow of the sailboat and pulled her in front of him. He whispered in her ear, "You see the small dipper," he said pointing to it.

"Yeah," she said.

"Go down and to your left about two inches," he directed, "see that little tiny star sparkling in space?"

"Yeah," she said.

"That's your star."

"Excuse me," she said as she looked up at him confused, "Did you just say my star?"

"Yeah," he said, "I did all the paperwork to name a star after you."

"That poor star has my ugly name!" she said. She looked up and noticed the hurt expression, "I didn't mean it like that. It's just; you know how much I hate my name."

"Miriam is a beautiful name."

"It means bitter," she said, "and I'm not bitter."

"Never," he said playfully. She threw him a look and he held his hands up in surrender. "I named the star Mitzi."

"Mitzi?" she asked, "What's that?"

"It's a who," he said, "and the who is you."

"I don't get it."

"I spend the past six years of my life listening to how much you hate your name," Shawn said, "A few weeks ago I picked up a baby name book."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to give you a nickname that would mean something that would capture the essence of you."

"Mitzi?"

"Mitzi comes from Miriam," Shawn said, "It means bitter..."

"Gee thanks Shawn D," she said rolling her eyes, "just want I always wanted."

"Let me finish woman!" he scolded.

"Sorry," she said holding up her hands in surrender.

"Mitzi means bitter," he said, "as in bitterly wanted child. The star of the sea. Because that is how I see you. And I got my star a star so that no matter where you are or what you are doing; you can look up in the sky for your star and know that you are wanted. That you are the star of the sea, a sea that I very much love."

"Shawn," she said with tears in her eyes, "I don't know what to say."

"I do," Bo said from the rear of the boat, "How about you're grounded."

Jayden snapped out of the dream, or what she thought was a dream and looked around at her surroundings. Her eyes landed on EJ.

"If you continue to do that," he said, "I'm going to have to start calling you Captain Space Cadet."

"I'm sorry," she said, "I was just…"

"Daydreaming of someone special?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, "I feel like I don't know anything any more. The things I did know, I don't anymore. Nothing makes sense anymore!" She buried her face in her hands and left out a scream. She felt EJ's hand rubbing small circles on her back.

EJ opened his mouth to respond when his cell phone went off. He read the caller ID and rolled his eyes. He sent the caller to his voicemail and looked back at Jayden. By the look in her eyes, he knew the moment was lost. "If you need anything," he said as grabbed a pen. He looked patted his pockets looking for something to write one but came up empty. He grabbed her left hand and scribbled down his phone number, "Please call me."

"I will," she said as she looked at his number, making sure she could read his penmanship. She grabbed his pen from him and then started writing her number on his hand. EJ laughed at the juvenile feeling it brought. "And you do the same," she instructed, "I could really use a friend in this town, especially one without any expectations."

"I feel the same way darling," he said, "Now I'm going to escort you back to your car because this is no place for a lady this late at night." He held out his elbow and she slid her hand inside of it as they walked to her car. "So don't let me catch you here at night by yourself again young lady."

"Yes Sir!" she said with a mock salute before they both broke out in laughter.

"Louie," he said with a bright smile, "I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"Me too," she said with a smile.