Chapter 17.
"It sounds like Lucas went upstairs," Tony said as he, Lexie and Rolf huddled inside the fireplace passageway. "We should check on things to see if he's out there."
"I'll go," Lexie said.
Tony eyed her suspiciously.
"Don't worry," Lexie assured him. "I don't want Lucas to find Sami any more than you do."
"All right," Tony said as he and Rolf headed back toward the medical room. "I'm going to go check on Father."
Lexie nodded and walked out into the large front room of the mansion. She walked up a few stairs but didn't hear anything coming from upstairs so she started to walk back toward the fireplace to report back to Tony, when she heard the kitchen door open behind her.
"Alexandra, is it you?" Celeste asked.
"Mom?" Lexie asked turning around to face her with tears beginning to well in her eyes.
"Alexandra, I found you," Celeste said walking over to give Lexie a warm hug. "I knew you were alive. The spirits brought you back to me. And now I need to bring you back home to Salem to be with Abe and Theo."
"Oh, Mom," Lexie said pulling back. "I can't go yet."
"What do you mean?" Celeste asked. "This is the perfect time to escape. My car's out front and no one's around. Let's go."
"No, Mom," Lexie said stopping her mother. "I need to stay here and take care of my father."
"But he had you kidnapped and kept away from your family all these months, didn't he?" Celeste asked incredulously. "How can you have any loyalty to him after all this?"
"It's complicated, Mom," Lexie insisted. "These months have been very interesting for me and I've gotten to know Stefano DiMera, the man, as I've cared for him and seen him vulnerable. He's not just the monster you and everyone else made him out to be."
"No, Alexandra," Celeste said. "Apparently he's worse because he's somehow brainwashed you into feeling so sorry for him that you would leave behind a husband and small child who need you just so you can play nurse maid to some dying old man."
"But don't you see, Mom?" Lexie asked. "I'm doing this for Theo. Father told me that he's leaving everything to Theo when he dies. He wants Theo to inherit the DiMera legacy."
Celeste laughed.
"If Stefano dies – and you know darling that is a very big if when it comes to The Phoenix – if Stefano dies he's leaving nothing behind," Celeste said. "Nothing but pain and sorrow and regret."
But before Lexie could give a rebuttal, Tony and Rolf came out of the fireplace passageway.
"Celeste, darling," Tony said. "What a nice surprise. Did you get a little homesick for the years you spent here as my Father's mistress?"
"I came here for my daughter," Celeste said indignantly.
"And she's leaving without her," Lexie said just as indignantly.
"Well, I'm not so sure that Celeste leaving is a good idea right now," Tony said smiling. "It sounds like Celeste's psychic friend, Lucas, paid a visit to our friends in the attic. I need Rolf and you to head upstairs to keep an eye on them. Meanwhile, I think our father would enjoy the company of your mother if she could stay and visit with him a while."
"But Tony…" Lexie said before Tony interrupted.
"You know it's what Father would want," Tony said as he ushered Celeste into the fireplace passageway and watched as Lexie turned around to walk up the stairs with Rolf toward the attic.
Chapter 18
"Lucas!" Sami said as she saw her husband standing in the open doorway.
"Sami?" Lucas said, his face a snarl of confusion as he saw the embrace E.J. and Sami shared. "What the hell is going on? What the hell did you to do to my wife, huh?"
Lucas rushed to come between them and started pushing E.J. back repeatedly in a display of insecure machismo.
"You wanna go?" Lucas asked. "Let's have this out once and for all."
E.J. chose to let Lucas get out his aggression and did not push him back, much as a dog being pestered by a fly might not care enough to bother to swat his tail at it.
"I thought you might have kidnapped her to keep her away for me, to keep her all to yourself, but you didn't, did you?" Lucas accused. "So arrogant and stupid that you just kept her locked up here in this house. Just like your sick old man kept Sami's mother locked up in Maison Blanche all those years ago. Well I'm not gonna let you do that any more. My wife and I are going back to Salem and you are NEVER going to come between us again."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," E.J. said matter of factly as he winced, not from the force of Lucas's shoves but because of the unpleasant odor that emanated from Lucas's breath as he shouted in E.J.'s face. "Honestly, I have no idea who you even…"
"Oh just stop it with your lies and your mind games," Lucas interrupted. "You made her help you escape the police when they were trying to arrest you for shooting John Black and then you tortured and tormented her all these months that you threatened to say she was your accomplice. You ruined our wedding. You ruined our honeymoon."
Lucas paused for a moment as let the rage in his heart wash over his entire body.
"And that's not to mention how YOU RAPED HER that night when she let you have sex with her just so she could get your help saving my life! Well that's two mistakes too many, buddy, because I'm about to take yours."
It was then that Lucas slammed E.J. against the wall of the attic with such force that a nearby large framed picture of Stefano DiMera came crashing down and shattered splattering shards of glass everywhere.
"Stop it, Lucas!" Sami demanded through her crying.
"No, Sami," Lucas said shouting at her but staring at E.J. "Because this is never going to stop until one of us is dead! And it's not gonna be me!"
Lucas thrust his hands around E.J. in an attempt to choke him, but E.J. was much too strong for him and quickly pulled them off his neck and shoved him backward so he tripped and fell over a bench crashing into a stack of boxes.
E.J. looked over at Sami who was in a crying heap on the floor sitting leaned against the side of the bed with her face buried in her hands. His heart broke. The more he learned about his past the more pain he learned he had caused Sami. In this case, he learned of the way he had doomed her marriage. Fuzzy memories of times that he tormented her began to seep in his consciousness and E.J. was filled with shame for all the things that he didn't even remember well enough to ask for her forgiveness about, yet she had forgiven him anyway. His family had tortured her and her family for decades, he had done many bad things to them himself, and yet Sami still cared enough about him to want to help him.
Sami looked up just then and she and E.J. locked eyes. As if Sami had cast some spell over him pulling him toward her, he ambled toward her with a lone tear streaming down his face mouthing "Samantha, I'm so sorry…"
But before E.J. could get to her Lucas jumped on his back from behind and pushed E.J. down to fall face forward on the ground.
The left side of E.J.'s face was suddenly filled with a strange warm sensation and as he pushed himself up to sit on his knees and wiped the oozing liquid from his temple with his left hand before holding it in front of his eyes. He watched as red streams poured out from between his fingers and across the creases of his palm and groaned as the tiny cuts on his face and arm burned with pain.
Lucas stopped for a moment and turned his head as the sight of blood had always made him somewhat squeamish.
Then Lucas gulped and shut his eyes as he started to make a move at rushing E.J. again for another confrontation but was halted by the sound of someone bursting in the attic door behind them.
"I don't know what is going on up here, but you are all in big, big trouble," Rolf said.
Chapter 19
John emerged from the cockpit to tell the group that he just spoke with his pilot and his jet was finally ready to take off for New Orleans.
John settled in to his seat next to Marlena and put his arm around her as she held her head in her hands and sighed.
"It'll be all right, Doc," John said. "We'll get through this together, just like we always do. Just like we did the last time we went to Maison Blanche."
"Well hopefully we don't have so quite a close call this time," Marlena said wistfully. "I've always hated the fact that we never were able to fully resolve the secrets of your past because the mansion burned down. Not that I wanted to Stefano to rebuild it, of course."
"Of course," John laughed. "I wanted to find out the clues to my past too, but it's just something I'll have to live without ever knowing. If I still worried about that I'd drive myself crazy with the wondering."
Marlena shook her head and looked out the window.
"I just can't believe this whole cycle is happening again with the DiMeras and our family. Poor Sami. She was there right under our noses and we missed her," Marlena said in frustration. "I just can't imagine what it must have been like for Sami there. I mean it was bad enough when Stefano held us prisoner at Maison Blanche, John, but to be locked up and pregnant? I just feel so guilty I didn't…"
"Shhhh, Doc," John said. "Don't blame yourself. You had no idea what was happening."
"No, I didn't. You're right," Marlena said nodding, as her voice changed to an angry whisper. "But Kate did. I can't believe you agreed to let her come with us."
"Doc, Kate told us she knew Tony was up to something, but she didn't know what and I believe her," John said. "After all, she did come to us and tell us about Tony taking off in the Mythic jet for New Orleans."
"Funny how she decides to come forward with this information only now that her child is in danger from the DiMeras," Marlena hissed through gritted teeth.
Meanwhile, Kate was quite nonplussed herself, as she seethed with envy at the other end of the cabin watching Roman look into Anna's eyes with devotion as they held hands in seats nearby.
"Roman, I'm sorry I went to Tony the way I did," Anna said frowning.
"No, Anna, you don't need to apologize," Roman scoffed. "If it wasn't for you doing that we wouldn't be on our way to bring my daughter back home."
"Yes, I know that, and for that I'm glad," Anna hedged. "But what I mean is, I'm sorry that I couldn't accept your proposal right away because I needed to see if I still had feelings for my other ex-husband. That's why I was at Mythic."
"I figured," Roman said nodding. "So what did you find out? Do you still have feelings for Tony?"
Anna thought back to her time with Tony. Their weddings, their fights, their lovemaking, their splits. She knew she would never fully get Tony out of her system. But as she remembered seeing him at Mythic, she also knew that he had chosen a life as an obedient DiMera son over a life as his own man so he was no longer the same person she fell in love with so many years ago. That man no longer existed.
"Roman, I'll be honest with you, for the first time in my life," Anna said with a laugh. "I think I may always have some sort of feeling for Tony… just like you do Marlena. But he's different and I'm different and we're different. And if you'll still have me, I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you."
"I would be honored," Roman said giving her a soft kiss on the lips. "Do you still have that ring I gave you? I don't think we'll have time to stop at the jewelry store in New Orleans."
"Oh yes," Anna said laughing nervously.
She opened her handbag to pull out the ring and watched it sparkle brilliantly. Roman grabbed it from her hand and unbuckled his seatbelt to get down on one knee.
"Well, let's make this official," Roman said with a wink. "I didn't do this right the first time so hopefully if I do it right now I'll get a better answer. Anna, will you marry me?"
Roman held out the ring and Anna smiled and gasped as a single tear dripped down her cheek. She knew she could no longer live in the past.
"Yes, Roman Brady, I will marry you," Anna said. "Again."
They both laughed as he slid the ring on her finger and kissed.
Marlena and John noticed the romantic display and got out of their seats to congratulate their friends. John gave Anna a big hug while Marlena winked at Roman and whispered how happy she was for him.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Marlena noticed Kate's snarled face shooting daggers at Anna with her cold, jealous stare. But before Kate could notice Marlena, she turned back to face Anna and Roman.
"I don't think I could be happier for the both of you," Marlena said with a wide smile.
Chapter 20
"I don't know what is going on up here, but you are all in big, big trouble," Rolf said.
Rolf stood with a gun drawn and pointed in the direction of Sami and Lucas, while E.J. moved to block his aim at Sami.
"Rolf, I don't think that is necessary," E.J. said walking toward Rolf with his uninjured hand outstretched to block the gun.
"Don't take another step, Elvis," Rolf said as Lexie stepped into the room behind him.
"E.J., what the hell happened here?" Lexie asked as she surveyed the mess of the room and noticed the blood dripping from E.J.'s temple. "Rolf, I do think the gun is a bit much."
Rolf put the gun down and moved back toward the door to stand guard. Sami gingerly walked over toward the bathroom to pick up a towel and placed it against E.J.'s head to help stop the bleeding. E.J. smiled a pained smile in appreciation.
"Lexie?" asked Lucas, who was shocked to see her enter the room. "You're not dead?"
"Thanks for noticing," Lexie said with a laugh.
"Hey, Sami," Lucas yelled remember his reason for coming to Maison Blanche. "What are you doing? That jerk got us locked up here and you're helping him?"
"Lucas, just shut up and calm down for a second," Sami said. "You don't know the truth."
"The truth?" Lexie scoffed as she walked over to examine EJ's wounds and pulled out some bandages and peroxide from a mirrored bathroom cabinet. "As if you know anything about the truth."
"What's she talking about Sami?" Lucas asked with a skeptical eyebrow raised.
"I have no idea," Sami said defensively.
"Lucas, the truth, which Sami kept from you before you married her, is that she is carrying the child of my brother, E.J.," Lexie said as she dressed E.J. wounds.
"It is?" Lucas asked as he looked in the eyes of both E.J. and Sami to confirm it. "But I thought that note was a fake because you didn't run off with E.J. Or did you? Sami?"
Lexie laughed.
"No, Sami didn't run off with E.J.," Lexie said. "She's been here the whole time. She agreed she would give the umbilical cord blood from her pregnancy to save my father, because she so loved E.J. that she was willing to do anything for him."
E.J. stared at Lexie confused as his understanding of how Sami came to Maison Blanche was still hazy.
"That's not true and you know it," Sami said through gritted teeth.
"So you don't love me?" E.J. asked.
"No, I do love you, E.J., but…" Sami said before Lucas exploded.
"You love him? You LOVE him? That son of a bitch RAPED you and you love him?" asked a volcanic Lucas. "Or were you lying about that, too? Damn, Sami, this is unbelievable! Here I come to New Orleans to try and rescue you and this whole time you've been playing house with your rapist so the baby that you had let me think was mine can be the magical cure to save spawn of Satan's father."
Sami started crying hysterically.
"That's not what happened! Lexie is lying!" Sami screamed. "You've just got it all mixed up. Yes, E.J. did rape me but I've fallen in love with him. Maybe I always loved him but I tried to give things another shot with you Lucas for Will's sake, but when I heard the awful things you said about me to your mother and realized the way you had given up on me I…"
"You heard that?" Lucas said with a sigh.
"Yeah, I heard," Sami said sniffling. "And since then being here I've done a lot of thinking about things. And E.J. has really been here for me. He's shown that he truly loves me. And I learned he is just a much a victim of Stefano DiMera as I am."
"Oh, here we go, more Sami Brady lies on the way," Lexie said rolling her eyes in an attempt to discredit Sami's story.
"Him? A victim?" Lucas said sarcastically. "The man who shot John Black, who drove Steve crazy, oh and the one who last time I checked… you claimed RAPED you… although now that I think about it maybe you've been lying the whole time about THAT, too."
"Oh just shut up, you pathetic twerp," E.J. yelled. "You don't know anything about Samantha or me."
"The truth is Lucas that I was taken prisoner here and E.J. tried to help me escape, but they erased his memory to punish him," Sami said. "But then I found out that you didn't love me anymore, or so I thought, and E.J. was so kind to me when I was here that… well anyway… So while I was locked up here all these months I found Stefano's diary that said that E.J. was actually the long lost son of Tony and Anna and so I went to Lexie to try to get her to help me use that information to get free. I thought we could go to Tony and when he found out he would be so mad at Stefano that he wouldn't want my umbilical cord blood to save him, but what I didn't realize is that Lexie hates me so much she was willing to keep that a secret from E.J. and Tony, all so she could protect her sociopathic father."
"What I was protecting my father from was your crazy lies," Lexie said.
E.J. sighed and started pacing.
"E.J., you believe me, right?" Sami said clutching his arm with desperation. "Please tell me you believe me."
But before E.J. could answer, the lights in the mansion suddenly went out.
Chapter 20
"Just what do you think you are going to accomplish by keeping me and my daughter prisoner here, Antony?" Celeste asked angrily as Tony ushered her down the secret passage hallway toward Stefano's bedside.
"Prisoner? Well, I hardly think that's the right term to use for Lexie given that she has decided on her own to stay here, but I suppose that will work for you, Celeste," Tony said sarcastically.
"I just don't understand it," Celeste huffed as they stood outside the curtain that hid Stefano resting in his hospital bed. "I thought for sure the cards meant that Lexie had been kidnapped and forced into taking care of her father."
"And yet your own daughter told you she wanted to stay here of her own free will," Tony said with a laugh. "Well, truth be told, it appears for once your vibrations may be good in that she was originally kidnapped. By E.J. But Lexie came to relish her responsibilities caring for our father – as you well know he can be quite the charming man – and she was especially needed after E.J. had his memory erased…
"You erased your own brother's memory?" Celeste asked in horror.
"Well, actually," Tony said sighing, "That was Rolf's own idea. But for the most part it seems to have worked out quite well."
Celeste made no effort to hide her disgust.
"Oh save me the sanctimony," Tony said. "He was going to sacrifice my father's health and betray the family for that bimbo. Don't you see that? You cared about my father once. Wouldn't you do anything to save him? I know Stefano and I have had our differences, but my father is all I have left. His legacy is all I have left."
"Unbelievable," Celeste said rolling her eyes. "Whatever feelings I may have had for Stefano DiMera in the past are just that, in that past. And you need to put him in your past too if you ever want any happiness for your life. How can one man destroy all that he creates, ruin all that he loves and spawn so much evil and so much greed in everyone he touches? If only you knew what that monster told Lexie about his legacy…"
"Shhhhhh," Tony said interrupting her without listening to what she said. "I think I hear something."
"Your conscience, finally, Antony?" Celeste said.
"Oh be quiet, gypsy," Tony said in panic. "It sounds like a car. Damn. Someone must have followed you here. I can't let anyone find out we're here. That Sami's here."
"And how do you think you're going to accomplish that?" Celeste laughed.
"I'll have to shut off the power so they don't know anyone is here," Tony said walking toward the fuse box to shut off electricity to the entire mansion.
"But your father's machines," Celeste said pointing at the blinking monitors behind the curtain.
Tony laughed.
"I thought your feelings for my father were in the past," Tony said. "Well don't worry, we have a generator for those."
"Silence," Tony said pulling out his cell phone. "Hello, Rolf, this is Tony. I need you and Lexie to keep everyone locked up in that attic and keep them quiet. I think we're going to be having some visitors soon and we can't let them know anyone is in there. But don't let them suspect anything either. We can't have E.J. trying to be the hero again."