…

"You can't believe this is going to work!" said Marissa hurrying along behind JR as he marched down the hospital corridor.

JR didn't respond. He was getting good at that, ignoring his imaginary companion's nagging tone.

When he first found out about AJ's hospital visits his was mad. He had been filing for full custody of AJ on the grounds that Marissa had shown no interest in seeing her child. Stuart taking AJ on those little visits had ruined his plan, but now an even better one had formed in his head and it was so much more ironic.

"I bet you think this is some form of justice. Well I think it is twisted and sick and it's not going to work!"

"I guess there's one way to find out." JR said coldly.

…

He wasn't sure what to expect when he'd heard about Marissa's amnesia, would it make her pliant and easy to manipulate, or would she still be wary of him.

He took a moment to compose a friendly smile on his face as he walked into Marissa's room. When he saw her it was very hard to keep the smile in place. He couldn't take his eyes from angry red scar that streaked into her hairline and disappeared under a dressing at the back of her head after her surgery.

"You did that!" whispered Marissa.

The real Marissa was sat up in bed and welcomed him with a wide innocent smile of her own. This threw JR slightly as well; it was an expression that he never thought he'd see again, he was too use to the anger and the fear.

"Are you here about AJ?" Marissa asked.

"I am." replied JR, taking a seat on the chair Marissa had gestured to. "I'm not sure how much you know about the custody arrangement?"

"Only what AJ has told me. I didn't ask my mother. I got the impression she doesn't approve of you, so I was kind of afraid to ask."

"If you were to ask her I'm sure she will insist I've done you many an unspeakable wrong."

"That is the impression I got as well. So I thought it best to hear it straight from the horse's mouth if you will. I'd like to hear about us, about our family."

The trust in her expression was so open; it took all of JR's effort not to laugh. This was too easy. It was all a matter of spin, as long as he wasn't caught with an outright lie he had it made. His plan was simple. All he needed to do was to lay down the foundations of trust and then the rest would surely follow.

"A little full of yourself aren't you!" muttered the Marissa in JR's head as she restlessly paced behind him, clearly hating every second of this.

"We were married for two years;" he said, deciding to stick as close to the truth as possible, "You helped me through a very traumatic period of my life, while I was undergoing treatment for cancer."

"Oh god" gasped Marissa.

"I'm fine now, thanks in a large part to you."

JR gave Marissa what he hoped came across as a loving smile.

"How can you be such a pig?" demanded the other Marissa. "How can you think fooling her now changes any of the despicable things you have done? Or the horrendous things you have planned!"

"Do you remember our wedding day?" JR asked, ignoring Marissa's derisive tone.

Marissa shook her head.

"My heads a clean slate, I'm sorry. I don't remember my life with you at all."

"Well it was a wonderful day and we were very happy for a while and you adopted AJ so we could be a real family, but it didn't last and we began to drift apart. In the end we both had affairs. We agreed a divorce was the best way… but we remained friends for our son's sake."

"Until you blew it with your selfishness." finished Marissa.

"Recently I'll admit I went off the rails a bit." continued JR; Marissa snorted at the 'bit' comment. "I am an alcoholic and after two years sobriety I fell off the wagon and upset my son, which is the last thing I wanted. I wasn't entirely to blame… you know about Bianca?"

"My best friend, AJ told me about her."

Marissa pointed to a picture by her bedside that featured her and AJ, with Bianca and her bastard offspring. JR also noticed beside it was a picture with him in; it was in an equally prominent position. Marissa clearly was still in dark about a lot of things.

Marissa was looking from JR to the picture of Bianca, confusion on her face.

"Wait, are you trying to tell me you had a thing for Bianca? She wasn't who you had an affair with?"

JR bit back the scathing response that almost escaped his lips at her suggestion.

"She doesn't know!" gasped Marissa. "Why has no one told her?"

JR's mind was suddenly a whirl of possibilities. He had to be careful how he moved forward but Marissa was so gullibly open to everything he was saying, so desperate to believe him. Right this moment he had the perfect opportunity to get between Marissa and Bianca and he couldn't resist it.

"What happened between me and Bianca isn't important," said JR, hoping Marissa would read too much in to his omission.

He continued spinning his yarn,

"Quite rightly you took over full custody of our son while I tried to pull myself back together. Since you've been in hospital I've taken AJ back home with me. The thing is I want us to get back to our shared custody arrangement. I hear you are going to be discharged soon; I wanted to offer you your old room back at the mansion. You would be close to AJ, which he will love and you will have family all around you."

"Oh. That's a really kind offer. I've made plans to move in with my mother at the Martin's house."

"Oh very subtle." groaned Marissa sarcastically, "Using AJ already I see. Do you know why, because he is still the only person she cares about? First and foremost Marissa fell in love with AJ long before she fell for you…"

JR wanted to shout at her to get out of his head. It was taking all his strength to ignore imaginary Marissa's commentary as he took the real Marissa by the hand, giving her his best 'dreamboat' smile.

"If you are sure," he said, "Tad's is already quite a full house. If you ever change your mind let me know. You, me and AJ will always be family, and you will always be welcome in our home."

"Thank you." said Marissa quietly.

"Spreading it a bit thick aren't you! I think I'm going to throw up." snapped Marissa, more than a little angry that Marissa was clearly falling for it.

"I'll think about it." finished Marissa; a shy smile lighting up her face.

…