*To make it easier to follow, Imaginary Marissa and everything she says will be written in italics*

…

"Did that make you feel better?" asked imaginary Marissa, as JR slammed down the phone.

He had got some of his anger out by having a good rant at his cousin Scott, delighting in the chance to berate him for loosing Miranda. Only he didn't feel any better. No matter what he did, nothing seemed to make him feel better. His son still hated him and it hurt. He didn't know how to fix it.

"I know how to fix it." said Marissa.

"Get out of my head." snarled JR.

"I am your head." said Marissa defensively.

JR stared at her angrily for the longest time as he fought to control his breathing and stop himself lashing out. Especially when he knew his son and the spawn of 'Saint Bianca' were in the next room.

"Okay then," he said quietly, his tone much more even, "How do I fix it?"

"Stop going after Marissa."

"What!"

"Stop going after Marissa. Stop trying to chase her out of AJs life. He loves her and the more you try to punish her the more you push your son away."

"You think I'm going to let her get away with the way she treated me!"

"The way she treated you? You're serious!" Marissa looked him despairingly.

"She left me!"

"And that is the part that makes you so mad, isn't it. That is the reason you hate her so much, because you wanted her but couldn't have her. You were hurt and humiliated so you lashed out! The worst part is, after all the abuse and all the hate you've spewed, you still want her."

"That's ridiculous!"

"JR you can't lie to me!"

"Well you lied to me…" snapped JR, his anger making him forget for a moment he was talking to a phantom in his head. "…I mean she lied! Marissa climbed back into my bed and told AJ we would be a family again…"

"One lie, one lie which she instantly regretted. What about all your lies JR. I think I lost count of the amount you've told."

JR was about to protest but the image of Amanda on a hotel bed flashed through his mind…

"Precisely." said Marissa once more reading his thoughts. "You can hardly claim the high ground here! You tried to murder her!"

"She stole my son!" cried JR, determined to prove he was right. "She made him hate me!"

"No you chased your son away; she was only protecting him… from you!"

JR scowled at Marissa. A new memory stuck in his head, his son's fists punching him and the terror in his eyes as JR had tried to pull him away at Krystal's.

He knew his drunkenness had upset AJ but he was sober now… and still his son hated him.

"Face it JR the person who ruined it all was you, and you alone. You were a family, it may not have been the family you wanted but you had gotten over the divorce and where solid co-parenting friends and AJ was happy. Only you couldn't let it be. You wanted more. You decided your family wasn't perfect enough. You wanted your own little wife, to raise your kids and warm your bed and you decided that Marissa should fill that role."

"Why is that so wrong?" demanded JR.

"Because at no point did you consider what Marissa wanted."

"Is this where you tell me she wanted Bianca. That was brainwashing pure and simple - that lesbian whore manipulated her and screwed with her mind!"

"You can't pretend it didn't happen; that they didn't fall in love."

"Well as far as Memory-Loss-Marissa knows it didn't happen." said JR coldly. Then he stopped as a new thought filled his head. Marissa didn't know anything. He could tell her whatever he wanted because she would never know the truth from the lies. Marissa could still take on the role he had dreamed for her, he could still get the perfect family he had always wanted. He smiled at the thought of it. To get her back, that would show Bianca. That would prove he was right all along - Marissa belonged with him.

"Oh god, you are seriously thinking you can charm her back into your bed!..." gasped Marissa, "That's never going to work. She won't fall for your games twice."

"As far as she knows it will be the first time!" said JR, it was his turn to be smug, "And don't act all high and mighty now. I'm following your advice; I'll be giving AJ back the mother he's always wanted."

"That is never going to happen! Never in a million years!" Marissa shouted after him, as a smiling JR went back into the parlour to check on his son.

…

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