Major Players:

Marlena Evans, John Black, Tony & Stefano DiMera, Sami Brady, Roman Brady.

Prologue:

In 1991, Marlena returned from the dead to reclaim her family and her life after being comatose on an island called San Cristobal for five years. She and "Roman" reunited until the real Roman returned from the dead as well (see A Tale of Two Romans). "Roman" found out he was really John Black, and Marlena left him for the real Roman, even though she loved John. John married Isabella, who suffered from cancer and died in Italy, leaving newborn Brady and his father. When John returned to Salem, his heart was for Marlena.

In late 1992, Stella Lombard, the mother of Dean and Jesse and husband of Roger, went after Marlena with vengeance. Marlena was working with the family in therapy after Dean was killed in an explosion and University Hospital was found to be at fault for poor treatment. Stella was a bit insane and believed that Marlena was putting the moves on her husband. Roger did have a crush on Marlena, but she was not at all interested in him. After getting Marlena drunk one night at Wings, Stella further put her plan to eliminate Marlena into motion. She learned of a building that was being demolished by John Black's company. She kidnapped Marlena and threw her in a pit in the building. At first she taunted Marlena, feeding her and bothering her on a daily basis. Eventually Stella left her to die. It was John who saved Marlena, just before the building was to be demolished. The two bonded in the Pit and once again felt the closeness they had once shared.

The Story:

In early 1993, Marlena and John continued to have run-ins where it was clear they had a lot of sexual tension. The pair shared special moments on the pier (see Monday 18th January 1993 summary) following an appearance on Jennifer's talk show, recounting their time in the pit, and at the Brady Pub when they shared a fantasy.

On the night of Roman and Marlena's wedding anniversary, John declared that he was leaving Salem because he couldn't get Marlena out of his mind. Marlena realized his plans and spent the evening tracking him down. She finally met up with him on Victor's plane, just before he prepared to depart. After sharing many important emotions, the two couldn't resist their passion. They made love on the plane, conceiving Belle. Marlena returned to her house that evening and found herself in the middle of an anniversary party, all the while thinking of John (see Thursday 4th February 1993 and Friday 5th February 1993 for a detailed account of this evening.)

The next week, John made his feelings for Marlena more public. A Salem PD benefit brings the town to Wings. As the evening moves on, bidding for dances begins. Everyone at Wings is in shock over John's bid of $100,000 for the dance with Marlena. "Unchained Melody" starts to play, John reaches out and takes Marlena's hand. Everybody claps when they get close enough to dance and Marlena manages to plaster on a smile. She asks what he's doing here and he says he knew she was here....Rebecca originally invited him, but she was called away (thank *God*). They continue to dance, and Marlena tells him they can all see how he feels. And how she feels, he asks? No - to them, they're just two good friends...who used to be married. Marlena notices he's taken off his wedding ring and John affirms that he's decided it's time to move on. The dance ends and folks are still stunned over John's bid. (It's obvious that Victor and Kim both have an inkling of what's going on now). Of course,through the remainder of the party, everyone's commenting on how stable Roman and Marlena's marriage is and how perfect all is between them (funny how *everyone* in Salem has commented on it in the past few days - I think even *Vivian's* mentioned it!). Kim comes up to Marlena and they talk (don't exactly remember what about - I was still oohing and aahing over that *dance*) and Kim mentions that John's gone. Marlena tells Kim to tell Alice and Tom goodbye and she starts to leave. She realizes that Roman took the car and asks the valet to call a cab. Before he can, John steps out of his Cherokee (a rockin' man in a rockin' car- and he was *waiting* for Mar! - wow. That *almost* rhymed. *Anyway*...). He tells Marlena he'll drive her home, she protests,he insists, she says okay, but *straight* home, no stopping (no *bonking*in other words, and keep your paws to yourself, but of course, Mar's *way*to refined to say that). She gets in the car and says *again* how she's married to Roman and loves Roman and won't betray him again. John tells her he'll stop making her uncomfortable and he won't tell her anymore how much he loves her. But he wants her to know that he'll think about her everyday - he won't forget how much he loves her and he won't forget what it's like to make love to her. And he wants herto know that, if the time ever comes when she wants him, he'll take heron whatever terms she asks. She says there will be no terms as it's not going to happen. It's *over* for them. They pull up at Mar's place and John leans across to open the door (sparks *fly*, too). Marlena's all flustered and hot and bothered and rushes out of the car,not replying to his "I love you, Doc."

A couple weeks later, Marlena makes it to the Titan Publishing party and calls Roman. He tells her again that he won't be coming and cuts her off. She runs into John, who is surprised to see her without Roman. She tells him that Roman is coming but he tells her that she couldn't lie to him when they were married and she can't lie to him now. He tells her she looks beautiful and wants to talk to her, but all she wants to do is get far away and she tells him that if he loves her he won't touch her....ever again.

She heads up in the elevator to the party but John soon catches up with her and spends most of his time trying to pursue her around the room without much success. Finally, when the photographers mistake them for Carrie's parents and husband and Wife, Marlena loses her cool and rushes from the room. John finds her down in the conference room. She says she needed sometime alone, he says he'll go but first there is something that he wants to say to her. He gives her the Zen speech and tells her that 'that's how it all started, with one man that woke up'. He tells her that's how she makes him feel, awake and alive and if nothing else comes out of this he just wants to thank her for that. He tells her that now he will go if she wants him to. He is so close he reaches out and touches her face. She is flushed, her chest rising and falling as she tries to steady her breaths. He asks her again if that is what she wants. Does she want him to go? Slowly she shakes her head, her eyes glittering with tears as he leans in and kisses her. They separate moments later and, her eyes wide, she leans back on the conference table, John lowering her carefully down to the polished surface. He joins her on the table for a spot a serious dusting (and moaning) as the door of the room slowly opens......

When Marlena's daughter Sami witnessed the event through a cracked door, she became distraught. Always her daddy's little girl, Sami couldn't take her mother's betrayal. She rushes off to the lift where she finds Roman who is looking for his wife. She gets him back up to the party but he tries to find out what is wrong. Meanwhile down in the conference room Marlena is smoothing her dress and checking her makeup. She can't even look at herself in the mirror. She doesn't know why she does this, why *they* do this when they know that it's wrong. John tells her that they can't help themselves. He asks her if she can deny that they make each other happy, if she regrets making love to him. With tears in her eyes she whispers that he makes her very happy, she doesn't regret that. But she says, he has to understand that this will be the last time. As difficult as it may be, she will stay faithful to Roman from now on....

Marlena rushes from the room and back up to the party where Sami is about to spill all to Roman. She is surprised to see both of them and thinks that Sami is upset because of the boy she has a crush on. Sami tells them he came with another girl and then runs off. Sami discovered that her sister Carrie's new boyfriend was Austin, the same hunk she had been lusting for after meeting him in Carrie's building. Roman asks Marlena to leave her be and then apologizes for his behavior saying it was none of his business whether she took the job or not. They kiss but their evening is soon interrupted by Jonah who tells them about Carrie. They rush to the hospital where the news is not good. Sami is sulking and won't talk to John or her Mom. John is having a hard time not being able to comfort Marlena- but Sami catches the surreptitious squeeze of the hand that he gives her and decides that it's time to tell her Daddy something very important.....

Later, Carrie, who had just been named Bella's magazine's face of the 90s, was spattered in the face with acid. At the hospital Sami wants to tell Roman about Marlena and John but every time she is about to, something gets in the way. Caroline brings Marlena some clothes to change into. She heads down to the chapel to pray fro Carrie but is unnerved as John sits next to her and the conversation turns to them. She is blaming herself for Carrie's accident, if she hadn't been with John but with her family maybe this would not have happened. When they get back to the trauma center, Austin wakes up and remembers that it was Gus who threw the acid. Roman blames him and Marlena blames herself (and so it begins) and John for not telling Roman about Austin's problems. Meanwhile Austin is distraught at Carrie's injuries. Sami soon became bulimic.

Sami, infatuated with Austin, and Lucas, who fell for Carrie, worked together to break up the couple. When Marlena learned she was pregnant, she was unsure who the father was. Marlena went into labor while in the Horton cabin on Smith Island. John and Kristen arrived, also looking to relax for a while, and found Marlena going into labor. John helped deliver his daughter and administered CPR shortly after her birth, when her breathing was haulted. After Belle was born, Sami found out her father was John, but switched the blood test results to make it appear Roman was the father.

Desperate to keep her parents' marriage together, she came up with a plan. She kidnapped her sister Belle and arranged to give her up for adoption, selling her on the black market. On December 23, Sami's baby broker/lawyer, Miller lied to her saying that he had found an out of town couple to adopt her baby. Later Sami told Caroline that she would not attend midnight mass with the family because she was spending the night with Jamie who was alone because her parents were out of town.

Miller rang John and told him the mother had agreed to the adoption. Sami overheard Shawn telling Bo that the police were watching the adoption lawyer's office and when the mother showed up she would be caught. Sami panicked and asked Mr Miller to move the meeting place to a restaurant out of town. At the restaurant, Sami was anxiously waiting for Miller to appear when John approached her and asked what she was doing there. Sami told John that she was meeting Jamie and her parents for dinner but she thought she had the wrong restaurant. John then told her that he and Kristen were there to meet a lawyer and a girl who possibly had Belle. Sami panicked and returned to University Hospital to ask Jamie, who was working, if she could borrow her credit cards. Jamie gave them to Sami and all of this was witnessed by Stefano. Sami arrived at the airport, hoping to escape Salem with Belle.

Kristen told Stefano how she was frightened that Sami would blow their cover at the restaurant. Stefano then told Kristen about Sami and her desperate need for money. Kristen figured out that Sami was the mother and with John they raced to the airport.

At the mass Marlena told the congregation she was grateful for their support. As Billie sang, John and Kristen came in with Belle and handed her to Marlena.

On the day of Belle's baptism, John and Marlena told Sami that they had decided never to tell Roman the truth which delighted Sami. Peter and Stefano discovered that John was the father of Belle, after reading Sami's diary. At the church, Peter told Marlena that Stefano knew about her affair with John and that he wanted to tell everyone before he died.

Midway through the baptism ceremony, Stefano arrived in the church, seen only by Marlena. She knew that Stefano would tell Roman of the affair so she tried to stop the ceremony so she could tell him, herself before Stefano could. Roman would not wait until after the ceremony so Marlena told him that she had broken their marriage vows by sleeping with another man. Roman was shocked as was the entire congregation.

At the church, everyone was shocked when Marlena told Roman that she had had an affair. Roman refused to believe it thinking that Marlena was under a lot of stress. Marlena, crying, told him she was speaking the truth. Sami was especially distraught and told her mother that she should have kept quiet like she had promised to do. Roman realised that keeping the secret had been the cause of Sam's emotional problems and blamed Marlena for letting Sami suffer. At this point John stood up for Marlena. Roman told him to stay out of it but John admitted he was the man Marlena slept with. Roman attacked John but Shawn and Caroline broke up the fight.

Everyone left the church except Roman, Marlena and John. Roman was angry and questioned John and Marlena about the affair. Marlena and John tried to apologise and justify the affair but Roman would not listen. Billie became more determined to keep her secret after seeing the affect it had on Roman. Kristen had trouble accepting that John could betray Roman like that and Carrie was also devastated.

Stefano left the church unseen by anyone and told Peter they would save the news of John being the father of Belle for another time.

Marlena moved out of Roman's house and into the Horton center, where John shared his first real moments with his daughter, giving her a bath and putting her to bed. Later, before Kristen and Tony took their marriage vows, Stefano told her John fathered Belle. When John tried to stop Stefano by shooting at his car, the vehicle exploded and Stefano faked his own death. Kristen married Tony without hesitation.

Aftermath:

This story left huge repercussions for several years. It began Sami & Lucas‚ scheming days, and her misdeeds proved to haunt her during her trial in 1998 for murder one.

Return to the Classic storylines Page

Return to my Days Page.