Part 15

The next afternoon

"All right, people, listen up." John was taking the lead in their last discussion before the final night of the show. "They came at us separately last fall. And Shane, Tony, Ops and I are sold on Victor's idea that they won't try that again. So we're waiting to be double-teamed by Alamain and his ... girlfriend. And that's just fine, because they don't know that they're going to be triple teamed by all of us, the Feds and ISA. In other words, we're even more ready for them now then we were in November, so as far as I can see, they don't stand a chance. Kate, I think you were next in this rotation. Go ahead."

"Everyone, there has been one and only one change in the show tonight. But it's going to effect everyone on and off the catwalk. There are going to be security people walking along with every one on that walk, and at least one with every two people backstage." Kate told them

"And if any of those people who are only here for our protection, give you the word to take cover, that's exactly what you are going to do. The idea tonight is to keep everyone alive and in one piece each. Besides, there wasn't enough time for our seamstresses to make color coordinated flack jackets for all of us."

"But Mom," Phillip joked, "If you'd let me know ahead of time, I could have picked up all we wanted, with armor plating, on base, in three hot colors, khaki, black and camo."

"Darn, I knew the Marines would have been good for something." Shawn laughed; seeming far more relaxed with his longtime friend than he had in months.

"I'm glad to find you all in such high spirits." Victor said, arriving with his usual dry wit. "But what happens tonight will not be a laughing matter, at least not until we all have the last laugh on those who thought they could take us down. They tried, twice so far, they wounded us to be sure. But their plan as a whole failed and it will fail again tonight for the last time. That's all I wanted to say."

"Victor, wait." Hope called out, walking from her constant place at Shawn's side these days. "There's something I want to say, to you, in front of witnesses, so I can't deny it later."

"And what would that be?" the older man asked, with a wariness that surprised no one.

"Thanks."

"I'm sure I don't understand."

"No, I was the one who didn't understand. I admit it, I had you down in my book as only a little less cold hearted than Stefano. But that was before I went home again last week for a few days, and took the time to ...to visit those of my family who aren't with us any longer. You see, I hadn't been able to make myself go back in so long. I didn't know what you ... I saw the memorial you had made for them, and then I took Shawn and Zach to see it with me. It's beautiful and so ... incredibly perfect,  Victor, I've spent years thinking you didn't love or even care about  your son, your oldest son, the one you had so few years with. And I just wanted to make sure that you and everyone knows, that I was very, very wrong. I'd like to apologize, if you'll let me. I'd like my sons to get to know their other grandfather."

Now Victor Kiriakis looked as startled as anyone who knew him had ever seen, excepting only when he learned he had a grown son and daughter he'd never met. That grown daughter walked up beside him now, and offered her hand to her sister in law, with tears welling up in her violet grey eyes to match those in Hope's wide dark ones. The two women shook hands and hugged and walked away, arm in arm with the still silent older man.

Tony shook his head wonderingly at the trio and nodded to everyone, "Well, that is what I believe they call a tough act to follow." he quipped. "Still, its good to see some healing begin even before our work is finished here tonight. Victor and I have a reputation for ruthlessness in common, and deservedly so. But I assure you, that in the past few months I have learned a great deal and lost a great deal and gained ... as have we all. So I am here today to show that ruthlessness only to those who still seek to destroy us. I shan't allow that, and I daresay neither will any of you. Now, some of you may still be thinking that a tiger as long in the tooth as I am cannot change his spots, anymore than a Dimera can change his name." Tony grinned.

 "And there have been times in my life when I would have agreed with that assessment. Now, I do not. And yet now, I understand someone I have hated as much as all of you, most of my adult life, at least to the extent that I feel the same drive to cherish my dear ones and keep them safe, against all odds and all comers. That's my understanding of the aftereffects of parenthood, and its something that many of you understand just as deeply as I. Or you wouldn't be here. So let's finish this matter and get ourselves and our children back to what truly matters, shall we?"

A quiet affirmative answered him from every throat, and he smiled again. Then he clapped Lucas and Rex on their shoulders and hugged Cassie close to his heart, and led all three of them off to talk quietly in private. Sami was waiting for them, on a chaise with a stand alongside, allowing her a clear sightline to the stage, and the rest Mike Horton insisted on.

"You're looking quite a bit better, today, Samantha." Tony said.

"Thanks, I feel like an invalid. Is it really going to work?" she demanded.

"As far as anyone can predict. Yes. My brother, I think is correct in saying they won't believe we're ready and waiting for them, this time. And you can believe me, my dears, that I will have no more compunction in taking these two murderers out than I did with the maniac who started this whole debacle."

"Just try not to let them return the favor, Dad." Rex asked, with Cassie nodding her assent.

"Not a chance." Tony grinned. "I'm to be a grandfather, again, after all. I wouldn't miss that for the world. Not to worry, This family is just getting started." Then he signaled and a half dozen security types surrounded the five  before taking positions all around them. Satisfied with that arrangement, Tony began giving instructions:  "Rex, come with me, Cassie, I dare say you're needed backstage. Lucas, I don't think I need ask you to stay with your family."

"I'll be right here. But don't leave me out ..."

"But that is exactly what Sami and I need you to do." Tony said in a tone that allowed for no debate. "Stay out of the fray. Do I have your word?"

"Yes, sir." Lucas said, sounding and looking dejected.

"Lucas, you heard what I said a moment ago. This is why we're here. This is what matters most. Not all our playing toy soldiers with a pair of bloody handed lunatics. I shouldn't need to tell you this."

"You don't." Lucas nodded. "I never really liked playing soldier anyway." He sat down next to Sami as Tony and the twins walked away.

"You've got too soft a heart for that, General." Sami smiled, taking his hand. "Lucas, I know you want to be part of this. But Tony's right. He knows I'd go nuts over here if you were in harms way."

"Sami, until those two are down for good, we're all in harm's way. That's why I asked you to stay upstairs."

"And that's why I couldn't. Lucas, the last thing any of you need is an hysterical, hyperventilating pregnant woman barging into the middle of a firefight, if that's what's going to happen. Think about it." Sami said and began to laugh, nervously.

"That would be something to see." Lucas agreed. "So, we'll stay right here, and both of us will practice deep, cleansing breaths. Right?"

"Very right. Lucas, look at me." Sami asked. "We've come so far in less than two years. And it was hard enough just to get through to myself that I wanted us back, that I missed us, I love you, Lucas Roberts, and I didn't propose to you to see it all get blown away, now."

"Lucas Brady-Roberts." he corrected her softly, holding up his left hand, for her to see the ring she gave him.

"Sami Brady-Roberts," she laughed, "Pleased to meet you." Then she leaned in and claimed his mouth in a kiss before he could turn somber again.

"Sami," he protested, "in case you didn't notice we're being watched, here."

"No, we're being guarded here," Sami grinned "And ask me if I care." she teased and reached for him again.They were still kissing when the audience for the finale of BBI Design's presentation were filing into their seats. And after a couple of deep, shaken breaths, still kissing when the lights and music came up on the stage and catwalk a few yards away. For the next hour, nothing that Kate, Belle, Cassie, Billie and Sami hadn't planned on was seen or heard in the auditorium. Spring into summer fashions were modeled by all the women, and a great many of the men of Salem. The only difference between this and other shows was that security had excluded any flash cameras, any camcorders or digitals were being thoroughly checked before they were allowed in.

Billie, Maggie, Carly, Mimi, Liz and Laura, Anna, Julie, Chloe, Nancy with Joy firmly in hand, and Celeste, Kim, Jeannie and Stephany, Kayla, and a somewhat reluctant Isabella walked up and down in sheer, glowing colors and subtle tones. Phillip, Mike, Doug, Shawn, Nicholas, Mickey, Brady, Craig, John and Rex were a handsome, if somewhat reduced male contingent, in very complimentary neutrals. And in a clever touch, the security team Kate had mentioned earlier walked along with the models, ten lithe young women and sixteen athletically built men in total. But they were all waiting for something more than the enthusiastic approval of their guests. And it finally came. With a muffled cry, followed by a furious demand for silence, Kate, Cassie, Billie and Belle were led out onstage, against their will. Lawrence, Rosa and two accomplices no one recognized were holding each woman by their throat, with a blade poised in deadly fashion.

"Alamain!" John shouted angrily, and looked ready to rush the younger man, but allowed himself to be held back..

"You think you're running this show, brother?" Lawrence sneered. "Well, think again. You and your family, all of your families are going to pay dearly for destroying mine. Did you really think I was done with you? No, not now and not ever. You were so clever, John, guarding the models that you forgot to guard the bitches who seem to mean something to you."

"Cousin," Tony said, stepping out of the crowd, his eyes locked on Cassie and Kate the danger they were in. "Haven't you already killed and injured enough of people who can't really fight back? What satisfaction can you get from killing women and children? Or is it just something in your bloodline that makes it so much easier for you? A strain of brutality, or is it just a long, long tradition of cowardice?"

Alamain laughed harshly. "That's rich coming from you, cousin. Stefano's first born calling me brutal? And as for cowardice, how many times have you run from your own heritage, Count? And it seems to me that my accomplice and I managed to take down a few of the fine men of Salem, including the one who never stopped trying to steal my wife!"

"You're wrong, Lawrence." Carly Manning told him, walking directly up to face the man with whom she shared her only child. "Bo Brady died last summer because he refused to stop working to find and save as many of your wished for victims as he could. I know this for a fact because his wife and sons let me share their grief for his death and their pride in his life. And you're right; part of me never stopped loving a courageous, even reckless man who wanted only to give me his own wounded heart and a share in his life. I'm not ashamed of that, anymore than any woman here is ashamed of loving. Its the best and strongest gift we have.

But you wouldn't know about that. I thought once that you did, but you don't. You only know about pretense, sham about power and greed, the worst kind of greed, the kind that makes you want to own another soul. You can't do that, No one can."

"That's not so, Caterina and you know it." Lawrence said with an unexpected flash of lucidity in his dark eyes. "Because you stole mine, years ago."

"That would have been about the same time you deceived me and left me alone to carry my son? Well, believe me, if I felt there was any part of your soul in my hands right now, I'd tear it into a thousand pieces for you. I want no part of you and neither does .."

"Mother, wait." Nicholas called out, shrugging off those who would hold him back.

"Nikky," Alamain and Carly said together, with the same longing tone. But their tall, elegantly handsome son shook his head and went on walking up to face his father. Those who were in position to see said that the younger man's gaze was as fiery as the older man's was cold.

"I'm too old to let my parents speak for me, not the one I love with all my heart, and not the one I once thought I wanted to be when I grew up. In the past few years though, I learned better. I traveled, I observed and I met an amazing group  of people who don't think the world belongs to them to grasp and to crush at their will.

And I watched my mother's heart break a hundred times because she'd made a choice she couldn't take back for years. So this is what I want you to know. My mother ran away to Paris, to escape a plan for her life so medieval I almost don't believe it could happen. She met an older man there who charmed her and courted her and lied to get her into his bed. She struggled through a difficult pregnancy with the help of another false friend. Between those two the lies were enough to keep us apart for nearly ten years. She fled Europe and found a home and work that made her feel wanted and needed again. And she changed her name, because she wanted to forget her past and leave it behind."

"Son, I really don't think your supposed friends here are going to give either of us time to finish this history lesson." Alamain laughed coldly.

"You don't get it, It is finished. Here and now, I was born out of wedlock and fathered by a man whose surname my mother didn't know. So, as from today, I have no father, and my name is Manning, Nicholas Ivan Manning. Deal with it. And while you're at it, let my friends and their friends off your enemies list. No one of them ever harmed you or me nearly as much as we hurt them."

Nicholas turned his head to wink at Kate, and then to Billie mouthing just two words 'I'm sorry', And then, from where she sat, Sami was sure he nodded ever so slightly to her and Lucas.

"Lucas, that's it!" Sami whispered, pulling his ear close to her lips. "Nikky knows we're over here, but Alamain doesn't! Let's go!"

"Sami, Tony will take my head off with his bare hands if .."

"Tony will not thank us if we let those lunatics kill your mother and our sisters, and neither will Mike, Phillip or Andrew."

Lucas looked at his bride of five months and suddenly the worry in his eyes was replaced by a smirk.

"That's my girl." he chuckled softly, nodding to their security unit. "Let's get this show on the road, partners."

Sami's agility had been amazing Lucas for months, but today, he considered, she was outdoing even herself. They moved, hand in hand closer by the moment to the panels that blocked the audience view of backstage. Once in place, they caught the glances of  Mike, Phillip Shawn, Hope, Andrew, John and Tony across the way. Ranged near them were Rex, Mimi, Anna and the rest, all at a cautious distance from the eight figures at center stage

.

All they needed now was a distraction, and Billie Reed provided it, crying out: "Now!" as she elbowed her captor and kicked him twice with perfectly aimed precision. In seconds, Nicholas had kicked that first knife out of the way, and turned his well-trained fists on the man holding Kate, expertly freeing her from Lawrence to run to Tony's arms. Tutored by John, Phillip, Hope and Billie earlier, Cassie and Belle both now showed amazing calm and strength, kicking Rosa's feet out from under her and knocking the last enemy to the floor together. At first it seemed no one was seriously hurt, but then Cassie tottered towards her father and brother, violently sick. Rosa Adriana Lenouri lay where she had fallen, on the vicious blade she had been holding to Belle's throat, only moments before.

But it wasn't over, the last man down, ignored for the blink of an eye as the captives were gathered into their family and friend's arms, began to stand up and reach for his weapon once more. Sami looked around behind the flat they were next to, and grinned. Reaching down she handed Lucas roll of canvass almost as heavy as a baseball bat. Lucas grinned widely and hefted the makeshift missile as if about to lob a game winning run over left field. Instead, he threw the canvass roll, and crowed as it connected solidly with that man's outstretched arm.

"That's my guy." Sami laughed, and hurried onto the stage with everyone else.

Mike and Laura were kneeling next to Rosa, while Kate clung to Phillip and Tony, and when she saw him, reached for Lucas. Hope and Billie stood clutching Mike's shoulders and letting their tears finally overflow. Belle was sitting next to her red-headed sister, wiping her face, while Rex encouraging Cassie to sip at a cup of water. And Nicholas was holding Carly close, as they watched Lawrence being carried away, his jaw swollen and probably broken.

Sami stood still a moment and felt the scene shift, but not as it had the day before. Instead, she seemed to see the stage becoming more crowded by the moment, with not only the people who had won the fight today, but the sun-bright forms of those they had fought for. Alice Horton, her arm linked with Tom's walked easily among them. Bo Brady's trademark grin blazed, as his arms seemed to encircle Hope and Shawn. Sandy Horton and her uncle Bill, with his daughter Jenn and granddaughter Abby stood like starry shields around Mike and Laura. And for a split second, Sami was sure she saw Jack Deveraux, winking at her with his blue eyes shining. Roman Brady was even closer to her, and silently gave her a thumbs up, but seemed to be sharing a private joke with Caroline and Shawn. Sami turned, bewildered, to see Neil Curtis hovering over Liz and Noelle, While Nicole Kiriakis seemed to be walking down the catwalk on Austin's and Eric's arms, she stopped, to place a weightless kiss on first Lucas' then Victor's faces.

But nothing she was 'seeing' surprised Sami more than a glowing figure who couldn't be anyone but Lexie Carver, hesitatingly laying a hand on Celeste's shoulder, as her mother turned with a glad cry. This spirit's eyes were familiarly large and dark, but held an unalterable sadness Sami never remembered seeing there. Now a breeze that couldn't exist inside the auditorium brushed by Sami then and whispered her name. Sami turned again, and her eyes brimmed over. Marlena Evans was leaning on John's arm, as she had so often in life, but holding out her other hand to her oldest daughter. Her bright glance seemed to rest for a moment on Sami's wedding ring and then move to the obvious change in Sami's shape and size, bringing the smile that had warmed her daughter's childhood memories. Unable to speak aloud, past the ache in her throat, Sami nodded, and held up two fingers.

And now, unmistakably she heard Marlena's voice, clear as a bell. 'Hey, Timmy, Tim's a great name, it was my uncle's, Hey Tonia, I think that's the perfect name for you, too. Its grandma, Twinners, and I love you and your big brother, and your folks so much! Sami, you make my heart soar. You always have.' Then she laid a gentle hand over Sami's heart, and nodded, sure the gesture was understood.

"Sami," Lucas quietly called to her. "Uh.. Sami?"

"Sami, its over. Relax, Okay?" Kate said, peering at her.

"Samantha, what were you looking at just then?" Celeste asked, with a look on her face that clearly said she knew.

"Hey, sis!" Billie called, leaning on Mike. "My guy just worked a miracle on that sad creature. She might just pull through."

"No," Mike shook his head, "It wasn't me, or Mom. We shouldn't have been able to stop the bleeding. I honestly don't know what did. But she won't die, now."

"I've come to believe she was very nearly as much a victim in all this as we were." Tony added.

"She was caught in her father's madness," John suggested, walking up, "And Lawrence only made it worse. Hey, Twinner, how're you doing?"

Sami shook her head as the brightness that had surrounded all of them faded.

"I'm great, John, I'm really great. And I have something important to do before we go home. Gosh, doesn't that sound fabulous ... go home? Anyway, if you will spare me a minute, I want to say I'm so glad to be here with you, and I'd like to introduce you to a couple of small people you will all get to baby-sit in the near future." Getting the laugh she wanted and tapping her expanding stomach, Sami said, "Salem, I'd like you to meet Timothy Evans Brady-Roberts, and his sister Antonia Elisabeth, the next generation of Brady twins."

Another beginning.