Background:

In January 1986, a man with his face wrapped in bandages, ends up at University Hospital. He won't speak to anyone, so they bring in Dr. Marlena Evans to speak with him. They begin to develop a friendship, slowly. It eventually leads Marlena to promise John that she'll help him search for his identity.

To West Virginia

John tells Marlena about a plastic surgeon that reconstructed his face. He thinks the surgeon is dead. Marlena takes the time to find out for sure. After several calls, she's talking to the master surgeon himself. Though he does not remember John's original name, he does have a photograph of him before the surgery, the man claims. John and Marlena are elated and make immediate plans to meet the doctor at this cabin in West Virginia.

John and Marlena arrive at the cabin to meet the plastic surgeon. He's not there but they soon get a call from him, claiming to have car trouble. "Relax and have a beer," he says before reporting straight to Ingrid and the KGB! The waiting makes John so nervous that Marlena suggests he take a shower to calm down. John does, but when the phone rings and John rushes from the bathroom clad only in a towel, Marlena is stunned to see a tattoo on his back of the Phoenix! Terrified, she tries to slip out unnoticed, but John senses her fear. Covering, Marlena convinces him to go out for food.

While he's away, she calls Bo. "John is Stefano: you've got to help me!" she cries. Bo grabs Shane and the two head for West Virginia, unaware that Hope is hiding in the back seat. By the time they find her, it's too late to turn around.

When John returns, Marlena becomes so frightened that she attacks him with a knife. He stops her and demands an explanation. She confesses her suspicions. But he refuses to believe he's Stefano until he sees the tattoo.

Marlena's not waiting around though, and she sneaks away with his car keys. Realizing what she's up to, John jumps in as she hits the gas. In his effort to stop her, the car swerves off the road and slams into a rock and Marlena is knocked out cold. With kindness in his eyes, John gently tends to her wounds.

But when she awakens, she tries again to escape. This time, John pins her down. "I've had enough of these stupid stunts," he says angrily.

Just missing them, Bo, Hope and Shane arrive at an empty but very messy cabin. Outside, Bo finds fresh tire tracks, which they trace to the crash site. John spots the group coming and retreats deep into the forest. Broken branches and Marlena's dripping blood provide just enough of a trail for Bo and company to follow, but it soon becomes too dark to go on.

They return to their car while John and Marlena sleep in the woods. Feeling sympathetic, John removes the gag, but she betrays him and cries out. "Probably a wild animal," Shane figures from afar. John replaces the gag. After she's fallen asleep, though, he removes it, hating himself for what he's putting her through.

Later that night, when John is asleep, Marlena nearly kills him by smashing his head with a rock. Bleeding badly, he ties her to a tree, then leaves her there as he follows the sound of a car he hopes is the surgeon's. Bo, Hope and Shane follow the noise as well, but John lures them right into the hands of a "good-old-boy," named Tiny, who's operating a moonshine still. A dimwitted deputy shows up and carts the three "city-slickers" off to the county jail.

Meanwhile, out of the woods, Marlena is found by Ingrid and a KGB agent, who, expecting John to play hero, bring her back to the cabin. "I'm not on his side...Why would I be tied to a tree?" Marlena argues. They wait anyway. But John outsmarts them again by dropping a piece of rubber down the chimney. Soon the cabin is filled with thick, black, pungent smoke. Ingrid and the agent flee the cottage while John crawls under the smoke and rescues Marlena. They take off through the woods. Just out of jail, Bo, Hope and Shane spot them and give chase down a river. Having stolen a raft, John and Marlena are already heading downstream and into some white water. Bo steals a raft, but they don't get far before it capsizes! Drifting in the swift current, Bo and Shane manage to get to shore but there is no sign of Hope. They travel the river's rocky edge until nightfall. Still, no Hope. Meanwhile, clinging to a rock as the water rages around them, John makes a desperate attempt to drag a badly injured Marlena to shore. They make it safely. Marlena is unconscious and John has to revive her using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. John slaps her to calm her down. They hide in a cave, dream kiss, John keeps Marlena warm. John kisses her, she slaps him, Then they head for the river to wash up.

A quarter mile upstream, Bo and Shane finally spot Hope clinging to an overhanging branch. Bo carries her to the shore but she's too weak from hypothermia to go on. Though anxious to get back on John and Marlena's trail, Bo agrees to allow his wife time to recover. In the meantime, Shane calls Peach for assistance on his watch radio. But before Peach can relay the information to anyone, she suffers a stroke. Bo and Shane wait, assuming the ISA will move in within hours. The reinforcements never come. Bo is furious because time is being wasted and he storms off in pursuit of the man who killed his brother. Hope pleads with him not to go. "What happens to me if you're killed by Stefano?" she cries. Bo backs down and agrees to wait longer.

Delirious, Marlena reaches out to John Black, thinking he's Roman and asks him to save her from Stefano. But once awake again she tries to get away. She's hardly strong enough to move, though and John catches her. When another day is wasted waiting and the ISA still doesn't show, Shane, Bo and a partially recovered Hope resume their search. Back in Salem, Peach revives enough to tell Kimberly about Shane's message. But when Kim phones the ISA, Kiriakis intercepts the call. Later, she gets on what she thinks in an ISA helicopter but horrified to find Victor Kiriakis. They fly to the river but the gusty winds in the canyon cause the pilot to lose control. The craft crashes in a ball of fire! Assuming the helicopter belongs to the ISA, Bo, Hope and Shane rush to the crash site, where they see a tattered Kimberly and Kirakis being led away by KGB agents. Shane secretly follows them while Bo and Hope head out after Marlena and John, who are holed up in a cave for the night. Marlena is confused by her growing feelings for this alleged maniac. Although "Stefano" killed husband, Marlena fantasizes about making love to him. While Shane lurks outside the ranger station, Kiriakis has the KGB "kidnap" him so Kim won't know he's actually working with them! In the confusion that follows, Shane rescues Kimberly but they are easily recaptured when Kim's sudden abdominal pains slow them down.

Victor sets out after John. In the woods, Bo is almost killed by a KGB agent, but Kiriakis intervenes, saving his life and leaving Bo puzzled. Later, Bo gets close enough to shoot John but Marlena blocks his line of fire. To John's amazement, Marlena stays with him as they manage to evade the others. After she's asleep, however, he sneaks away, hoping to keep Marlena out of danger. He turns himself over to Kiriakis, then makes a run for it in order to lure the Greek away from Marlena. But he meets a tougher opponent--Bo Brady. While Bo grapples with "Stefano," Marlena finds John's medical papers in a KGB briefcase. She's stunned to discover that he's not Stefano after all, but Roman! She screams at Bo to stop but her cries are too late. "Roman" falls over the edge of a cliff!

Meanwhile, Shane and Kim escape from the KGB once again. Running through the woods, Kim has a contraction. By the time they find a vacant cabin, the contractions are only minutes apart. Shane delivers the baby. It's a boy, but is he Shane's son? (That's another story.)

Bo is on the verge of stepping on John's fingers as Black clings to the cliff's edge when he hears Marlena screaming that John is Roman. Although he can't believe it, Brady decides not to chance killing his own brother. Bo reads the medical papers but remains skeptical. Marlena is thoroughly convinced of his identity. "I knew you seemed so familiar," she says, elated. For John, the news brings no new rush of memory, only relief that he's not the master criminal Stefano DiMera. John returns to Salem to start out his life as Roman Brady. (And we all know that is ANOTHER story.)

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