Chapter 29

Tony paced outside Stefano's hospital room impatiently waiting for Anna to arrive. Stefano's condition was stable, but Tony knew that once Andre found out that Stefano lived there was a very good chance he might come back and try to finish the job.

She had called him back and told him that she was coming to the hospital from Mythic, but Tony knew that Anna, for all her charms, never was the most punctual of ladies so even though his heart was sick with worry that Andre might have done something to her he also knew there was just as good of a chance she may have been waylaid by a designer shoe sale she noticed when passing by Salem Place.

Just as Tony was about to pick up his phone and leave another voice mail, Rolf came out of Stefano's room and asked Tony if he would like a cup of coffee. Though Tony wasn't thirsty, drinking the cup would give him something to do so he agreed.

After pacing for some time with his mind racing with thoughts of the events of the day, Tony looked down at his watch and realized Rolf had been gone ten minutes. Given that the coffee machine was just around the corner in the lounge, Tony got a suspicion something wasn't right.

And when he walked in the lounge that suspicion was confirmed as he stepped into a puddle of spilled coffee just a few feet away from blood spilling out from Rolf's slit throat.

"Oh, God," Tony said as he covered his mouth with his hand and recoiled in horror remembering all the blood his treacherous cousin had shed in the past. "Not again."

"Afraid so, Tony," said a familiar voice behind him. "Couldn't have Stefano's most faithful of servants trying to be a hero at the last minute and stopping me before I killed him. Just like I can't have you stopping me and that's why you're next."

Andre brandished his still bloody knife, but before he could make good on the threats he was panicked with fear with the sound of footsteps down the hall. Andre put the knife away in his pocket and pulled out a gun, ordering Tony to drag Rolf's body into a janitor's closet. Taking a moment to grab some dirty scrubs from the closet and wipe up the blood, Andre went into the closet intending to shoot Tony, but voices outside in the lounge stopped him from doing so.

"Tony, I saw you through that window," Anna said. "Where did you go?"

"Damn," Andre said, frustrated that yet another person stood in his way of killing Stefano and hearing Anna through the door of the janitor's closet.

"You won't get away with this, Andre," Tony said indignantly as Andre scratched his forehead with the gun trying to figure out what to do.

"No, you're right," Andre said. "I, Andre DiMera won't get away with this. But you will."

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

Andre laughed as he ordered Tony to undress so that the two of them could trade clothes.

At first Tony struggled as if he was going to try to disarm him, but one whisper of Anna's name got him to back off and comply with all of Andre's orders, even as he took some rope to tie Tony to Rolf's dead body.

"You're a sick bastard, you know that?" Tony sneered.

"Thank you," Andre said with a smile. "But even if they say flattery will get you everywhere, I'm afraid in your case it will only get you locked in a janitor's closet."

"Just promise me you don't touch Anna, Andre," Tony said. "Don't touch one hair on her…"

"I promise," Andre said with a mischievous laugh as he took some duct tape off the workbench and placed it over Tony's face.

"Anna, darling," Andre said stepping out of the darkness of the closet while Anna's back was turned.

"Tony," Anna said relieved and walking over to hug Andre. "I was so scared when I got your message about Andre especially when I showed up here and I couldn't find you. By the way, where the hell did you come from?"

"Oh I was just… tying up some business, my dear," Andre said. "But that's all taken care of. Stefano wanted us to pick some clothes up for him at the mansion. Why don't we head back there?"

"Sure, Tony," Anna said locking her arms with Andre's, unable to shake the suspicion that something about her Tony was a little off, but eventually deciding it was just paranoia setting in after he kissed her tenderly on the cheek.

Meanwhile, Tony struggled to free himself from the rope. Because Andre had been in such a haste to make his getaway he hadn't tied the ropes very tight. Though pushing against Rolf's corpse to get free had not been an exceedingly pleasant experience for Tony, it had not been an exceedingly difficult one either.

When the locked door prevented him from escaping, Tony wondered if he would ever get out in time to warn everyone. Depressed he leaned against the wall and slunk down, until a bump beneath his backside gave him hope after all.

"That crazy bastard left his cell phone in his pocket," Tony said with a smile as he flipped open the phone and dialed. "Hello, Marlena?"

Chapter 30

Roman looked down at his watch impatiently as he stood at Kate's secretary's desk waiting for the assistant to get off the phone.

Even though he had only been waiting for about two minutes, he knew that might be two more minutes than he had to spare so while the secretary was looking under her desk to pick up a file he darted past her and opened Kate's door barging inside.

"Excuse me, sir, do you have an appointment?" said the secretary chasing after him. "Sir, Kate Roberts is an extremely busy woman and you'll just have to wait your turn like everyone else who…"

"Thank you for your diligence, Beatrice, but Roman Brady is a friend of mine and needs no appointment," Kate said as she sat at her desk giving her employee an icy stare.

"Oh, sorry, Ms. Roberts," Beatrice said nervously. "Do you want me to hold your calls?"

"Yes, that's fine. Whatever. Just leave us," Kate said with a sigh.

"She's new, isn't she?" Roman said with a wry smile. "Did you fire yet another secretary, Katie?"

"Not this time," Kate said throwing her hands in the air. "Penelope quit last week. Said I was too demanding of a boss and that she was sick of my micromanaging her work. Can you believe the nerve of that little bitch to say that to me?"

"I can't believe it," Roman said still smiling.

"Well, Roman," Kate said, "as much as I enjoy seeing you the most of all my ex-husbands I'm a little busy right now trying to finish this project before next Wednesday so I don't have too much time to chitchat…"

"I'm not here to chitchat, Katie," Roman said.

"What are you here for then?" Kate asked leaning back in her chair and folding her hands on her desk.

"I'm hear to talk about our kids," Roman said taking a seat on the edge of Kate's desk.

"Our kids?" Kate said. "You mean the Salem P.D. finally got word about the whereabouts of Rex and Cassie? Oh that's marvelous…"

"Uhhh no, Kate," Roman said uncomfortably. "We have absolutely no idea what happened to Rex and Cassie. It's as if they fell off the face of the earth. Sorry to get your hopes up like that. What I meant was I'm hear to talk to you about your son and my daughter, Lucas and Sami."

"Well, what about them?" Kate asked, trying to sound innocent but failing miserably.

"As you may know, Katie, Sami is missing. She left a note saying she ran away," Roman said.

"Oh really?" Kate said snickering. "A little old to be running away from home don't you think? Too old to get her picture on a milk carton for sure."

"Very funny," Roman said. "But any time now you can cut the comedy routine and tell me what you know about where Andre is keeping her and where Lucas took off to with Sami's twins."

"Uhhhh Roman…" Kate said. "I… I have no idea what you're talking about. Sami's twins, my grandchildren, are missing too? Hmmmm. And you think Lucas had something to do with it? I can't believe it."

"Really, Katie?" Roman said. "Well let's see if you can believe this. If you don't tell me what you know about Sami and Lucas believe that you don't have to worry about the SEC taking you down for Mythic because I'll press charges against you for blackmailing Nick Fallon into falsifying medical records."

"You wouldn't!" Kate said.

"Wanna try me?" Roman asked angrily. "You know, it takes some piece of work to be so obsessed with sabotaging her own child's happiness to throw her grandchildren away to the wolves, to those DiMeras, to let them nearly be cut from their mother's womb. I thought you were better than that, Kate, but I guess even when we were married I didn't know you at all."

Roman was about to walk out of Kate's office, but as the tears bubbled up from within Kate's heart she pleaded with him to say.

"Wait! Roman, don't go," Kate blubbered. "Listen, I know that Andre has Sami. I don't know where. And honestly I really hope you find her safe and sound."

"And what about Lucas?" Roman asked.

Kate paused as another wave of tears swept over her face.

"Tell me, Kate," Roman said. "You've wasted your whole life trying to protect Lucas, to keep him from getting hurt and all you've done is hurt the two of you over and over with your lying and scheming. Do you know where Lucas is?"

Kate nodded.

"Lucas came here before," Kate said. "He was a total mess. He'd been drinking, didn't look like he'd had any sleep and he told me he wanted to say good bye because he was leaving with the twins."

"Are you going to tell me where?" Roman asked.

Kate sighed as the tears began to dry up and she contemplated turning in her own son to the authorities.

"Look, Katie, I know this isn't easy for you, because you really do love your son and you would do anything for him, but if he was willing to blow the whistle on you and let you go down for Mythic for something you didn't even do just so he could get back at E.J., why should he expect you to keep quiet about something he did? Think of these grandchildren, Kate," Roman said. "These grandchildren that you put in danger when you had Nick falsify the lab reports. These grandchildren that you can help rescue from danger now."

"Roman, you always were my conscience," Kate said finally, digging in her top desk drawer to pull out a piece of paper with the location of the Italian villa where Lucas was headed and sliding it across the desk to him. "Always knew just what to say to get me to see what was right. It's a shame things didn't work out for us."

"It's a damn shame, Kate," Roman sighed.

The two of them just stared at each other contemplating what could have been and perhaps what should have been between them, but that was interrupted by Roman's ringing cell phone.

"Roman Brady," he said after opening the phone putting it to his ear. "Tony, you're trapped in a janitor's closet at the hospital? What da hell?"

Chapter 31

"What is it, Samantha? Are you scared?" E.J. asked with wildness in his eyes that terrified and thrilled his wife.

Sami nodded.

"Are you scared of me or are you scared of your feelings for me?" E.J. asked again.

"B-b-both," Sami admitted trembling.

To Sami's surprise, E.J. just smiled.

"Well you have nothing to fear from me," E.J. said leaning in to whisper in Sami's ear, his face lingering at her cheek and his breath pouring over the side of her neck. "Just tell me what you want… right now."

E.J. leaned back to observe the reaction on Sami's face.

At first Sami was in shock and her mouth spread agape at E.J.'s boldness and the strangeness of the moment. But then Sami's eyes squinted as her cheeks allowed a hint of a smile. That smile was reciprocated by E.J., who was pleased with Sami's response as she tightly grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him in for a deep, passionate, fiery kiss full of longing and desperation.

Finally breaking for air, the two of them paused to look at each other as they both tried to absorb the apparently life-changing moment they shared.

"I love you, Samantha," E.J. sighed. "I've always loved you and I always will."

"I love you, too, E.J. I want you to know that I want you," Sami blurted before pressing her lips against E.J.'s once more.

The two of them inhaled each other's breath as if they couldn't live without it while their hands began to roam and explore each other almost independently of their conscious thoughts. Sami made quick work of removing E.J.'s tie from around his neck, but as her fingertips drifted halfway down his shirt unbuttoning it, E.J. pushed back.

"What's wrong?" Sami asked breathlessly. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," E.J. said with a bitter smile. "It's just… it's just…"

"It's just what?" Sami asked.

"Well I feel like a bloody fool saying this aloud, but it's just that I have wanted this moment for so long, Samantha…" E.J. said.

"And I have too," Sami said leaning in for another kiss before E.J.'s head swerved away from her lips.

"I know… but what I mean is… I've wanted this moment for so long, Samantha, that I sort of had it all planned out in my mind how it would go, you know?" E.J. said wistfully. "We'd share an intimate candlelit dinner, drink a bit of bubbly and do a little dancing…"

Sami smiled as E.J. put his left hand on her hip and took her left hand in his right and the two of them began dancing around the cinderblock room to an imagined romantic tune.

"And then what, E.J.?" Sami asked sliding her hands up his chest to wrap them around the back of his neck.

"And then you'd ask me if I wanted to lay down and listen to a little music," E.J. whispered in Sami's ear, his breath on her neck sending chills up her spine. "And then I would carry you upstairs to our bed and…

"And we'd make love for hours on a bed of rose petals?" Sami asked with mock sensuality before busting up laughing.

"Something like that," E.J. said through gritted teeth before hanging his head down.

Embarrassed, E.J. stopped and turned away from Sami, his ego deflated by the only person in the world capable of doing so.

"Hey, I'm sorry, E.J.," Sami said tugging on his arm and pulling him back toward him to face her and pushing his chin up to look at her. "Come here, you. Come back. I'm sorry. I just had no idea you were so sentimental. You know, I kind of like seeing that side of you."

"Well, good luck getting me to show that side again, sweetheart, if you're just going to take the mickey out of me for doing it," E.J. said with a smirk.

"No, no," Sami said lightly pounding on his chest with her fists. "Don't give up. I think it's romantic. Here, I can be sentimental, too."

Sami walked over to the corner and pulled out a dingy, old blanket, waving it around to clear off the dust before laying it flat on the floor.

"What's this?" E.J. asked with a curious smile.

"A bed of rose petals," Sami said biting her lip.

"Really?" E.J. asked. "Looks like a blanket to me."

"Well if I can pretend that you, Mr. Wells, are not a bastard but actually the love of my life then you can pretend this blanket is a bed of rose petals," Sami said with a grin.

"I suppose so," E.J. laughed before scooping up Sami in his arms to her delight and delicately laying her on the floor where the two of them shared slow, soft and deep passionate kisses and an experience even more sensual and perfect than E.J. had dreamed it would be.

For both of them, being in each other's arms was so enthralling it was as if they were two incomplete souls coming together as one and it was as if no one else existed in the world.

Perhaps that explains how the two of them failed to notice the door to their cinderblock room open.

Chapter 32

There was something about the way Tony touched her arm that sent shivers up Anna's spine and not in a good way. It wasn't that he was rough, but the electricity she felt when near the love of her life just wasn't there since she met up with him at the hospital.

Sure Tony looked the same and walked the same and talked the same, but there was something a little off she decided as the two of them headed into the mansion.

Anna tried to keep her deepest fear from being realized in a conscious thought, but the more time she spent with this seemingly strange man the harder it was to suppress.

"Well, Tony, I don't know about you but I'm beat," Anna said plopping down on the couch and pulling the man claiming to be her husband down with her. "What an exhausting 24 hours it's been. Can you believe it's only been a day since we were here having dinner with Stefano? Oh it's so dreadful he had to have that bad spell. He sure didn't look sick at all during dinner, wouldn't you say?"

"No, I wouldn't say that is how I saw him look during dinner," Andre said strangely.

Anna suddenly knew that the man in front of her was Andre, but before she made a move she needed confirmation first.

"Hey, Tony," Anna said with a slyness that completely masked her fear. "It's too bad that Stefano is in the hospital, but with Sami and EJ gone I think that means we have the house to ourselves.

Just as she suspected, when Anna winked and then swooped in for a kiss, Andre recoiled saying he was thirsty and asking if she would like some champagne.

While Andre left the room to head to the kitchen, Anna pulled out her cell phone and was just about to dial the last digit of the phone number where she hoped she would find the real Tony when a tapping on her right shoulder stopped her from dialing.

Anna was just about to scream, but the hand quickly muffled the sound her mouth tried to make. To Anna's surprise when she opened her eyes, however, the hand was not the rough, tanned one of Andre but a woman's.

"Marlena?" Anna asked as her friend came around the couch to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to find Sami. I think she's being kept somewhere here in the mansion," Marlena said. "And Tony called me to tell me to look out for you because Andre's impersonating him again."

"So Tony's all right?" Anna asked anxiously.

"Yes, for the most part," Marlena said. "He's just stuck at the hospital and wanted me to get over to warn you. But it looks like that's not necessary since Andre is already gone."

"Oh no, Marlena," Anna said with fright remembering herself. "You have to get out of here. I can handle myself but Andre is just in the kitchen right now. Quick, I think I hear him coming."

Just as the door to the parlor swung open, Marlena darted up the staircase, but if Andre saw her go up the stairs he didn't seem to much care as he failed to acknowledge her while he carried the champagne bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other.

As Andre poured her a glass and handed her the champagne flute after they clinked glasses, Anna wished she hadn't been so brave before with Marlena as she wondered if she really could handle herself if Andre had drugged her drink.

But to her relief, Andre seemed just as nervous of being found out as she was and quickly made up an excuse that he just remembered he needed to tidy up some matters at Mythic that couldn't wait.

After sharing an awkward kiss on the cheek, Anna opened up her phone and placed a call to warn Roman that trouble was on the way.

Meanwhile, Marlena began exploring the upstairs of the mansion, whispering Sami's name and treading softly afraid of what she might find in her search.

Marlena pressed open Sami's bedroom and found the room just as she had seen it earlier she thought at first glance, but evaluating the room again something was off.

Walking toward the closet she started to remember all the times she had held captive as part of DiMera plots and she began looking through the closet to see if there was a secret door there like the one Stefano had installed in the bedroom of her penthouse before she was possessed.

Finding nothing, she sighed and stood next to an eerie-looking painting on the wall that she noticed was tilted sideways even though it hadn't been like that when she was in the room before.

As she stared into the frightening painting and thought she saw its eyes move, she recoiled in horror sliding her hand against the bureau until it fell on the phoenix statue and accidentally opened a passageway she hadn't even realized was there.

"Oh my God," Marlena said stepping into the passageway. "Sami! Sami Gene! Are you here? Sami!"

Swallowing a lump in her throat as she walked in the darkness, Marlena breathed deep knowing the very distinct possibility she could open the door and find her daughter dead.

But when Marlena opened the door and saw her daughter, Sami was actually alive, although somewhat dead to her just the same as she saw her in the naked embrace of E.J. Wells, the dastardly DiMera who had shot her husband and terrorized Sami's family.

Despondent at the sight, Marlena shut the door and walked briskly down the hallway as if she could outrace the tears building up behind her eyes if she just got back to the secret passageway door before they fell down her cheeks.

But when Marlena stepped back into Sami's bedroom and leaned against the wall and shut the passage door behind her and leaned against it, still those tears fell and they fell fast and hard.

So fast and hard that Marlena didn't recognize the person in front of her through the blur of her tears until Anna finally said her name.

"Marlena, what's wrong?" Anna asked with concern.