Shane looked across his desk to where Roman was pacing. Roman 1, Shane reminded himself, even as he contemplated how bizarre that sounded.

"You're going to wear a hole in that rug at this rate," Shane said to his best friend.

Roman ran a hand through his black hair. "Sorry, partner. I'm just. . . . Hell, I don't even know how to describe it."

Shane was sympathetic. Roman had arrived about 30 minutes earlier, interrupting Shane's plan to work with his physical therapist. Seeing how agitated Roman was, Shane made arrangements to postpone his therapy until later in the day. Since then, he had watched from his desk chair as Roman did his best impersonation of a pinball ricocheting from one end of the library to the other. The past few days of waiting for the results of the DNA test had obviously taken their toll.

"Frustrated? Confused? Angry?" Shane suggested. "How's that for a start."

"Really. All of the above." Roman walked over to the couch and plopped down. "You know what's the worst thing?"

Shane tried to make light of the situation. "The worst thing about having someone claim to be who you think you are? I haven't got the foggiest idea."

"It does sound so nuts when you say it like that." Roman chuckled a little, leaned back, and raised his head so he was looking at the ceiling. "The worst thing's Marlena and Isabella. You know how things were with Izzy B. I loved her and we just got engaged. And then Marlena came back and I felt I had to be there for her. She had lost so much time and she needed that connection."

"And now you don't even know if you were that connection?" Shane asked.

Roman shook his head wildly. "No! I know I am. No matter what anyone says, I know I'm Roman Brady. But I don't know what's going to happen with Marlena. She's spending all this time with . . . him." The last words came out bitterly. "I'm not even sure I'm the one she wants. And then there's Isabella, who's been trying to be supportive through all this, even as I felt like I should be with Marlena. She is my wife after all."

"I guess I do know something about that," Shane said. Roman looked up with a curious expression on his face, so Shane explained. "Emma. Oh . . . right, that was between the island and your arrival in Salem. You weren't here when she first came back."

Shane fell quiet for a moment as he remembered that time. He had been so confused. It was right after he had finally allowed his walls to collapse and had professed his love to Kim. Only, right after, he had found reason to believe Emma was alive, and within a few weeks, she had turned up, brainwashed by the Dragon.

"Emma's situation was a little like Marlena's," Shane said. "She couldn't remember anything about where she was. On the other hand, it was nothing like Marlena's, unless Marlena is holding out on some secret assassination plot she's been brainwashed into committing."

Roman laughed. "You know . . . from what I saw of Emma when she was with Alex Marshall, I'm not sure she needed any brainwashing."

Sadly, Roman was probably right about that, but Shane shook his head. "I couldn't see that at first - I mean, I couldn't see what Emma had become. To me, she was still the woman I had married, and who I thought had died because of my connection to the ISA." Shane could see that resonated with Roman; he thought Marlena had been killed by Orpheus in revenge for an ISA mission gone wrong. "And she was so confused and lost that I felt I had to take care of her. The thing was . . . my heart wasn't with Emma. It was with Kim."

Shane could hear the guilty tone to his voice as he remembered. Kim had been going through hell at the time. She had lost her sight, but kept that secret from him and, when he found out, she had pushed him away. Then she had gotten sucked in by Victor.

"It nearly destroyed us," Shane said.

"This is different, though," Roman said. "I love Doc. Even when I didn't have my memories, I was drawn to her. Those feelings were still there. And they were there when she came back, but now I don't know how she feels about me."

Shane understood Roman's frustration, but he also could see things from Marlena's perspective. "Did it ever occur to you that she's going through what you went through a few months ago? Suddenly, there's a man who looks like Roman and sounds like Roman, and he's claiming to be Roman. And he's as lost and confused as Marlena was when she came back. Or when Emma came back. She feels responsible for him, Roman. She probably hasn't even had a chance to sit down and think things through, or figure out what she wants. Not to mention, she's dealing with the uncertainty of which of you is the man she first fell in love with."

"So what? I should just sit back and let him take my place?" Roman scrunched his eyes closed, something he often did when frustrated. "God! I hate this!"

Shane wished he could do more to help, but he doubted anything he could say would make Roman feel better. "I'm sorry. . . ."

"I know," Roman said, regaining his calm. He fell silent and stared out a window at the garden. Shane just waited, knowing Roman would talk again when he was ready.

The silence lasted a few minutes, but finally Roman spoke once more.

"What if it's true?" he asked.

"If what's true?" Shane replied.

"If I'm not really Roman Brady. What if I'm . . . Jeez, I don't even know who I'd be. John Black was just a name I pulled off a plaque." Roman jumped up from the couch and began pacing again, this time very quickly. "I could be a criminal, Shane. I could be some killer. Or maybe I worked for Stefano. I know he had me after the island. . . ."

Shane sighed. "Roman, it doesn't matter. You're not some killer. You're a good man."

"But that's just it, Shane. You think I'm Roman, and Roman Brady is - or was - a good man. The good cop, ISA agent, family man." Roman cupped his head in his hands. "What'll this do to my family? Not just the kids, but Ma and Pop. Who will they think I am?" Roman stopped and looked at the desk. Catching Shane's exasperated expression, he asked, "What?"

"Are you done ranting?" Shane asked.

Roman closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "I did kind of get carried away, didn't I? But that's not the point. My folks . . . Roman's folks. They've believed I was him. They accepted me. They treated me like a son. How can I ever face them if it all turns out to be a lie?"

"I think the Bradys are pretty forgiving people," Shane said. "Whatever happens, though it might take some time, they'll remember that you were a good son to them. And if it turns out that you're not Roman - if - we all know you're a good man."

"Stop saying that," Roman snapped. "You don't know that."

Shane shook his head. "I do. . . . And you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because we both knew instinctively we could trust each other," Shane said. "You let me listen in on Victor-"

"And we know how that turned out," Roman muttered.

Shane tried to ignore the reminder of how getting access to Victor's was the way he learned that Kim had slept with Victor and might have been carrying his child. He tried to tamp down on the image that formed in his head of her on the monitor screen as her voice came through the speakers, saying that Shane would never know the truth. Shane had to take a minute before her remembered that it was 1991, Andrew was his son, and he loved Kim more than he believed possible.

Remembering the subject of the conversatin, Shane said, "Now you're the one who's missing the point. The point is that I knew I could trust you, and I had no idea who you were. On the flipside, when you were running from Victor, who did you call?"

"You," Roman admitted.

Shane nodded. "That's right, and I don't think John Black was the most trusting sort back then. Look . . . I'm serious. Whatever that bloody test shows, I assure you that nothing between us will change."

Roman stopped pacing. "You mean that?"

Trying not to sound too exasperated, Shane said, "Yes. Absolutely yes, I mean that."

The room fell silent once more as his friend took that in. Finally, Roman gave an acknowledging bob of his head. "Thanks, partner. If all else fails, at least I know I've got one place to turn." He walked back over to the couch and sat down. "So I guess there's not much to do except wait for the results."

Shane wished he could suggest something, but he had no idea what to suggest. He looked down at his desk, wishing again that he could do more for his good friend. It was hard even to imagine what Roman was going through, but Shane had meant every word he had said. Roman was as close to a brother as Shane had. In many ways, after Drew's betrayal, Roman had become Shane's only brother. Shane watched as Roman fiddled with one of the throw pillows, then tossed it aside, the anxiety once again building, and pledged that, no matter what might happen, he would have Roman's back.

Roman was family, after all.