Chapter THIRTY SEVEN

EJ turned abruptly as he got to the end of the hall and then had to hold his side because of the sharp pain the action caused in his wound but he barely noticed, continuing in his nervous pacing. Sami had been in surgery for over an hour now and the waiting was getting unbearable. They'd released him from hospital earlier that morning and Sami had insisted that he went and checked on the twins which he did. He found them full of beans and very excited to see him and it had been hard to hold all the emotion in check when he finally held them in his arms again. They had come so close to being orphans the day before and EJ was unbelievably grateful that they'd never know that. All they knew was that they'd had fun with Grandma Caroline and apart from Daddy holding onto them a little too tightly for a little too long, all was well with the world.

Amongst the Dada's there were also a lot of Mama's from the twins and EJ's stomach clenched painfully knowing that their mother wasn't out of the woods yet. After having a bit of a game with each of them and helping Caroline feed them some morning tea EJ felt like he had to return to the hospital because Sami was about to go into surgery. He'd thanked Caroline profusely for all that she'd done for them which she'd waved away, telling him to go and look after her granddaughter for her. So that was what EJ had done but unfortunately there was precious little he could do other than pace the hallways of the waiting room and wait for Samantha's surgery to be over. John was keeping him company. EJ hadn't asked him to and John hadn't offered. It had become this kind of unspoken rule somehow that John was always the one to keep vigil over these kinds of things.

"Stop that you're being annoying," said John stoically, not looking up from his newspaper as EJ swept past him for the umpteenth time – he'd stopped counting when he got to triple figures.

EJ gave a grimace and took a seat beside John on the padded bench. He'd no sooner sat down though than his right leg began to jiggle up and down with nervous energy and he began to tap out distracted beat on the wooden arm rest.

"I've changed my mind," said John expressionlessly, still not looking up from his newspaper, "That's more annoying, go back to the first thing you were doing."

EJ sighed heavily and slouched forward in the chair, putting his hand to his face and determinedly keeping his anxious tics to himself. Marlena walked back in then from where she'd gone to make some phone calls and EJ immediately straightened up, looking at her expectantly.

"I haven't heard anything EJ," she said immediately, answering his silent question, "I'm sure that as soon as there is something to tell the doctors will come directly to you."

She looked at him sympathetically, seeing the anxious creases to his face and felt a great empathy with him. She'd been here so many times before, worrying over the fate of a loved one and feeling utterly helpless. Sami was her daughter and it was beyond unbearable to imagine anything happening to her and she could see that EJ felt the same way.

"How are you?" she asked EJ softly.

"Annoying," replied John flatly, turning the page of his newspaper.

EJ sent him an exasperated look at that.

"Gee Uncle," he said with a tinge of sarcasm, "Pot… kettle… black anyone?"

John shrugged, unconcerned by EJ's dig and just kept on reading.

"What is taking so long Marlena?" asked EJ anxiously, "Lexie said that this was going to be a relatively straight forward operation."

"It's always hard to judge these kind of things," Marlena tried to reassure him, "Don't worry EJ, everything is going to be fine."

"That's right," nodded John, "I mean, what's the worse thing that can happen – surgery goes badly and they have to take off the leg. What's the big deal? I mean she's always going on about losing weight, so all in all it wouldn't be that bad."

Marlena and EJ just stared at him, too horrified even to speak.

"Well we have a new winner for the worst thing you have ever said Uncle," said EJ faintly when he finally regained the power of speech, "And there is some very stiff competition for that particular title let me tell you!"

"Why?" asked John in consternation, "There are plenty of perfectly happy people with one leg in the world and would you love her any less because of it?"

"Of course not!" EJ and Marlena in unison.

"Well there you go," said John reasonably, "See all you've got to do is take the worse case scenario and think it through and you find that what you've been worrying about isn't that bad after all."

"I think there is actually some kind of twisted logic in there," said EJ slowly.

"Of course there is," said John with a bit of a pout, offended he should think otherwise.

"But it was still a truly dreadful thing to say Uncle John," said EJ flatly, not willing to give him too much ground, "And besides, that is not the worst thing that could happen Uncle, Samantha could die in surgery."

EJ's voice caught a little as he said the word 'die' and his jaw clenched involuntarily as he struggled to remain calm.

"The wild cat isn't going to die," John dismissed easily with a snort as though that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard, "I have never met anyone with more life and fight in her then that woman. She's not going anywhere."

That, at last, made EJ feel better. The great certainty with which John had said those things reminded EJ that he was right. Samantha Jean DiMera was a fighter through and through. After all, yesterday she'd come back from the dead for him – a little bit of surgery for her was nothing. And whatever the outcome of that surgery was they'd deal with it together.

"Thank you Uncle John," said EJ sincerely, feeling some of his anxiousness subside, "That actually made me feel better."

"If anything," continued on John blithely, "She's going to be the one burying you. Then she'll probably meet some other guy and remarry…"

"Alright, alright!" said EJ abruptly, unhappy at the mental image John was giving him of Samantha with another man, "I get the picture."

John gives… and John takes away.

That should be his creed EJ decided darkly as Marlena took a seat beside him, he was the only person he knew that could make you feel happy one moment and then destroy that with the next sentence. It was like some kind of gift and EJ so wish he knew where he could go to return it!

"You're not going to die EJ," said Marlena, patting his leg comfortingly as she sat beside as she saw the unhappy look on the younger man's face.

"Yes he is," corrected John, going back to his newspaper, "We all are."

"But not for a long time," said Marlena with a smile, determinedly ignoring John's pragmatism.

"You don't know that," said John, turning the page of his newspaper again, "He could choke on some food or have a stroke or get eaten by a wild animal…"

"In Salem?" EJ challenged him sceptically, "Is there a high probability of me or anyone else being eaten by a wild animal in Salem do you think Uncle?"

"Could be if the Circus was in town," said John straight faced, "You could be eaten by monkeys."

"Monkeys don't eat humans," said EJ with a sigh, wondering how they'd managed to end up at this particular juncture – he just never saw these things coming!

"They probably just don't advertise the fact," said John knowingly, "Bad for the monkey business."

"EJ," said Marlena and gave him a pointed look.

"I know Marlena," he said, sighing again and shaking his head at his Uncle's ramblings, "There's no way out. I know that but I still keep looking for that escape hatch, or at the very least a self destruct button."

"What are you two talking about?" frowned John, having a feeling it was him somehow.

"Mr DiMera?"

EJ was saved from answering that and falling deeper into the rabbit hole by the sound of a man's voice. They all turned their heads to see Sami's surgeon standing there, still dressed in his surgical greens smiling at them.

"It went well," he told them, pre-empting the inevitable question, "I'm very pleased with how well it went actually. I'm confident that with time and some rigorous physiotherapy your wife will regain full use of her leg."

EJ felt like he started to breathe again as the doctor said that, relief surging through his body like a tidal wave.

"Really?" he needed to hear that again, "She's going to be alright?"

"Well we still have to be concerned about post op infections of course," he said with a little shrug, "But she's young, fit and healthy so I don't see that being a problem and I can't see any reason why your wife won't make a full recovery."

"Thank you," said EJ earnestly, grabbing his hand and shaking it, almost too hard, "Thank you so much doctor!"

"My pleasure," smiled the surgeon – this was the best part of the job – delivering positive outcomes to relatives, it made up for the times when things didn't go so well.

"Can we see her?" asked Marlena, feeling a little teary with her own sense of relief that her little girl was going to be fine.

"She's in recovery now," said the surgeon, "Give it about a half an hour or so and she'll be starting to come out of it and you can see her then."

EJ and Marlena chorused their thanks and the doctor smiled, taking his leave of them. EJ and Marlena grinned at each other and EJ impulsively leant down and hugged the older woman tightly, sharing his joy with her. Marlena laughed and returned his embrace.

"Hey!" said John, standing up and sounding miffed at seeing the two hugging like that, "You got to see her naked – you don't get hugging too!"

"John!" exclaimed Marlena, breaking away from EJ and looking around herself in embarrassment, wondering if anyone had heard John's proclamation.

But then again after the big twin's birthday party there could hardly be a person left in Salem who hadn't heard about that particular embarrassing incident!

"And I was the one who said she'd be fine all along," he pouted, "Where's my hug?"

"Alright big boy," EJ teased him, suddenly in a playful mood after hearing the good news, "Come here and give me a cuddle."

EJ put his arms around John and hugged him. John kept his arms at his side and just stood there.

"Well this is a very depressing turn of events," he said, sounding less than impressed which just made EJ and Marlena laugh at him.

EJ straightened up, a big grin on his face now.

"Come here John," said Marlena, a smile on her face now as well.

She held out her arms to him and John moved in to them willingly, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. Marlena caught EJ's eye over John's shoulder and they shared an affectionate smile, bonding over John's quirkiness.

"I'm going to go down to the flower shop and pick up some flowers for Samantha," he told them, a big smile still on his face.

Marlena smiled and nodded to EJ, still locked in John's embrace. EJ wandered off then and actually began to whistle away happily to himself, all of his own aches and pains completely forgotten now in the euphoria of the knowledge that Sami was going to be alright. He pulled out his cell phone and began to make some phone calls as he made his way to the gift shop downstairs.

"Ah John?" said Marlena finally when John still hadn't released her, "I think you can let me go now."

"No," said John happily and just kept on hugging her.

A work colleague of Marlena's walked by and grinned to see her like that and she smiled calmly back, trying to look as professional as she could under the circumstances. As the seconds ticked away into minutes and John didn't look like he was going to be stopping any time soon Marlena just shook her head.

"John…?" she tried again but he interrupted her before she could get the words out.

"No," he told her just as happily as before, enjoying very much the sensation of holding his Blondie in his arms especially somewhere she couldn't make a scene and get him to stop.

"Well at least buy me lunch afterwards," said Marlena flatly, rolling her eyes and as EJ was learning to do… just went with the flow.

oooOOOOooo

"So you understand what it is you're to do?"

The two men exchanged vaguely nervous glances - not about what it was they were about to do rather there was something about being in the old man's presence that was always unsettling.

"Yes Mr DiMera," said one whilst the other nodded.

"Good," said Stefano, giving them a both a hard look before slowly taking a seat, "Do not fail me… I have no patience for people who fail me."

"Yes sir," said the two men in unison.

Stefano waved a hand at them, summarily dismissing them. They left and Stefano leant back in his chair more fully and tapped thoughtfully on the arm rest with a finger.

"It is time for the final act of our aria my son," he said softly to himself, his face hard and unyielding, "The final act…"