Kim's subconscious understood what Shane was trying to tell her before her conscious mind could grasp it. This explained why she hadn't pulled away or slapped the man who sat beside her now in a hotel room in Seattle fervently proclaiming his love—despite having inflicted more than two years of anguish and heartbreak.
"Shane, your legs. . . you can walk?" Kim searched his face for an explanation.
Realizing at this moment that this aspect of the charade was the most easily explained, Shane sighed, "I was never paralyzed, Kim. It's all part of the plan, another detail in this long sordid mess that's separated us."
Exasperated, Kim stood and searched Shane's face for a trace of the stony bravado she'd grown accustomed to from him in the recent past, but miraculously she found none. "I don't understand. What are you doing here? What happened to Drew? And what does it have to do with me?" Slowly, Kim's simmering anger struck at the man who had wounded her so. "When you left us in California, you made it perfectly clear that our only connection is the children. So what, now that my sister has dumped you, you think I'd take you back? How bloody cold-hearted," she surmised. Walking toward the chair that Shane had been sitting in when she had entered, Kim felt the heat of his eyes on her back. Turning to face him, she was astounded by what she saw. Tears stung his bloodshot eyes, and he seemed to bear her vitriolic words like Atlas, a world-size dose of the pain she'd meant them to be. His appearance carried her back to the warden's office, when she'd been sentenced to prison for Emma's murder. That Shane had suffered like this, bearing the weight of locating Andrew, finding Emma's real killer, and freeing her from prison. Yes, he had tried then to be strong for her, but Kim had felt that he was dying inside. This Shane in front of her now ached the same. Incredulous, Kim just stared at him, just as she had at the very same prison when he'd brought the news of her freedom and of Teddy Stewart, their Andrew.
Very carefully, Shane began, "Kim, all I can say, as unbelievable as it sounds, is it wasn't me. None of it. Not California, not the paralysis, and not Kayla. Dear God, how you must have suffered. My only hope these two years has been that the lies and evil Drew perpetrated didn't kill your spirit or our love." Slowly moving towards her once again, Shane took her hands in his and continued, "It's still there, Kim, our love. I can feel it. And from that kiss, I know that you still feel it, too." His lips sweetly brushed hers. "I can see, though, that Drew's deception and lies did their damage, just as I feared. I swear I'll spend the rest of our lives making that up to you."
Kimberly felt Shane's electric touch as powerfully as ever. "It wasn't you." She stated, more a fact than a question. "It was Drew. How? When?"
Guiding her to the sofa, Shane began the explanation he had been waiting what seemed a lifetime to give: "You remember after the business with my amnesia and Winters, we finally were able to put our lives back together. We were so happy, Kim. You had gone back to work, and I was trying to figure out what, if anything, I planned to do for the ISA. About two weeks after the mess with Winters, I had gone riding, and on my way back to the house from the stables, I was attacked. I'd been hit from behind. My reflexes were a bit off, I suppose. When I'd awakened, I knew my attacker at once." Shane sighed.
"Drew." Kim responded, knowing her brother-in-law's penchant for the surprise.
"Yes, Drew. I was shackled to a bed in a dark place I didn't know. I had no idea for how long I'd been unconscious. I pleaded and cajoled him, trying to get him to explain what was going on, where we were, and why he'd brought me there.
"Dear brother, you'll understand it all in due time." Drew smirked. "But when you do, you'll be powerless to stop us."
"Us?" Shane wondered aloud. His brother's laugh confirmed Shane's worst suspicions. It was DiMera. Drew was once again in his employ.
"Don't worry. You're more valuable to us alive than dead. It's just such a right-o commodity that we look exactly alike." Drew taunted.
"I tried to get away, tried to get Drew to tell me more, to give me something I could use to break free. It was futile. He left me in the care of one of Stephano's henchman." Shane shuddered remembering those first few desperate months he was held captive. "He visited infrequently at first and then more often at the end." Easing his anxiety, Shane's eyes found in Kim's face the reassurance that she believed this incredible saga.
Kim listened intently, realizing the gravity of what Shane told. Her heart, heavy for the pain Shane had suffered, fluttered in her chest. His words confirmed what the core of her had known—Shane loved her, he hadn't stopped. The reality of the two years they'd been separated suddenly hit her and she threw her arms around him.
Her head on his shoulder, Kim whispered, "Shane, I knew you loved me. I felt your love. It wasn't coming from you, or who I thought was you. But it was out there, still alive. And that's what I couldn't understand: how you, or who I thought was you, could tell me we were finished, that you wanted a life with Kayla, when I still felt you loving me."
Shane held the embrace, relishing the smell of her hair and her perfume. He pulled back, so they were leaning forehead to forehead, to finish the tale that sealed their future. "Kim, there's more. Posing as me proved more difficult than Drew realized, but he had some well-funded, well-positioned assistance thanks to DiMera. The one element of the plan they couldn't troubleshoot for was you. Drew knew you'd realize it wasn't me. . ."
Kimberly cut him off and guiltily acknowledged, "And I played right into his hands by running away when I realized I was pregnant and that Cal could be the father." She shuddered remembering the desperation she'd felt then.
Shane squeezed her hand, dismissing her feelings of guilt. "The circumstances made it easy for Drew to drive you away. He knew he had to play it as though he'd been the injured spouse, pained by the woman he loved, cold and unforgiving."
"But I should have known, Shane," Kim began to think aloud. "It didn't make sense that when Jeannie was born you wouldn't tell me you'd been at the hospital. That you'd use her as bait to catch Cal, that you'd react so nonchalantly when we discovered she was your child, not his."
"Jeannie," Shane smiled, breaking Kim's reverie. "You named her after my mother." Overcome with emotion, Shane ran his hand through his hair, tears stinging his brave eyes yet again.
"She's beautiful, Shane. She has your eyes. I can't wait for you to see her. She adores Andrew. Oh, he has grown so much. Oh, Shane," Kim couldn't continue as tears filled her eyes now, too. She reached for the photo of their children she kept in her purse and handed it to him.
"She does have my eyes. My Andrew, he's quite the young man isn't he? Damn it, Kimberly. I've missed so much." Seething, he continued, "My damn brother robbed us of two years. Our children suffered and you've suffered. He has paid with his life. It's a price I never intended, but sitting here now I'm acutely aware of the anguish he's caused. I dare say he deserved it. What I don't know is how I'll ever be able to forgive myself for not stopping him sooner."
Catching her breath, Kim asked, "How did you stop him, Shane? How did you get away?"
"It took months of waiting, watching Stephano's henchman, regaining my strength after months of being kept immobile. Drew's visits to what I came to discover was Stephano's island in the Caribbean grew more frequent as time passed. DiMera has something big planned, something the ISA has intelligence about, so to reemerge with little threat of being foiled, he needs Drew. Getting rid of you made things easier for Drew. No chance you'd discover him. He had free reign of the house and my contacts. There was one thing he wasn't banking on, though."
Kim finished his thought, "Kayla."
"Yes, your sister was the surprising 'fringe benefit' as he called her that in the end led to his downfall. He'd talk about Kayla, wanting to know all I knew about her. He couldn't seem ignorant of details I should know. I realized his ardor was his Achilles's heel, his weakness I could capitalize on to make it back to you." Shane kissed Kim's hand. "I tried not to dwell on the pain you were feeling, thinking I'd abandoned you and the children while involved with your sister. I worked for months to loosen the bindings that held me to that bed. I knew the right time to strike would be fortuitous; I'd know it when it came. It finally did come. In January. Drew told me you and the children had relocated to California.
"She took it well, old chap." Drew sneered. "Must not have been much of a love affair if she were willing to run off again." Drew moved closer to Shane, who lay on the bed with his back to his twin. "She did pledge her love for you again, though, dear brother. I'm somewhat inclined to believe that, despite everything, she does truly still love you."
Wanting to see the hurt in his brother's eyes, Drew grabbed his brother's shoulder to turn him over. In one swift move, Shane slugged him with one hand, knocking the wind out of Drew, now lying on his back on the floor of the hut. Shane stumbled to his feet, relishing the feel of the hard earth beneath his feet. Drew sprang to life, once he realized Shane was no longer tethered to the bed.
Pulling a knife from his pocket, Drew snickered, "Don't give me a reason to use this, little brother." In an instant, the brothers were fighting for the knife and, Shane knew, the right to live. Only one would leave that hut alive, and thoughts of Kim, Andrew, and the daughter he had never met urged Shane to fight, to survive. Wrestling on the floor of the hut, Shane's ISA training, reawakened by his yearning to make it back to those he loved, proved the deciding factor. Shane grabbed the knife, holding it to his brother's throat.
"I should kill you." Shane spat.
"You wouldn't. That conscience of yours is quite the albatross."
"You'll pay. There's no way out, Drew." Shane pulled him up by the scruff of his shirt, throwing him on the bed.
"You're wrong, Shane." Drew seethed, eyes cast down. Keeping his eyes away from his brother's seemed to give Drew courage to do what he thought was unavoidable. Grasping another knife from his pocket, Drew lunged at Shane, piercing his left shoulder. Instinctively, Shane took the knife in his hand and plunged it into the back of his brother, his attacker.
Shane finished the tale and with a sigh explained, "I killed Drew. I killed my brother. I had to. And our lives now will never be the same. Posing as me, Drew was able to get him the information he wanted and needed for DiMera. Posing as Drew, I'm going to bring down DiMera once and for all."
"Shane, what are you saying? This isn't over?" Kim pleaded.
"My darling, I can promise you that, if you'll have me, we can be together. The details to make that possible, though, you might not approve of."
"I will do anything for us to be together. Anything. You know that." Kim answered, pulling Shane towards her for a kiss. Kim felt Shane's hands on her skin, knowing this dance well, anticipating where it would lead. "Make love to me, Shane." His receptive eyes gave an undeniable answer. Moving gently toward the bed, their euphoria was palpable. Suddenly and without warning, Shane's walkie-talkie sounded a three-beep alert. Kim sighed as Shane reached for the device.
"Damn it." Shane spoke into it, "Collier?"
"Donovan," the voice was curt. "No activity. You're safe until dawn. Be at the car at the prearranged time. Out." Shane put the walkie-talkie on the nightstand, next to the photo of their children, and turned back to his wife.
"Shane, I'm assuming he's ISA." Kim began. "And he's on our side."
"Yes, Phillip's my new partner. We can trust him, Kim. We'll have to, for my plan to work. For our family to be safe."
"I told you," Kim said coyly, "I'll do anything for us to be together." She ran her hands over his bare chest, still incredulous that he was here and they were on the verge of making love.
"Anything?"
"Anything."
Shane felt compelled to share the crux of the plan that involved Phillip. "Kim, Phillip is going to be much more than my ISA partner."
Kim noted the seriousness was back in Shane's voice."What else is there, Shane?"
Picking up the walkie-talkie, Shane grimaced, turned the knob to on, and replied, "Kim, say hello to your new husband."