(August-December 1988)
Steve "Patch" and Kayla honeymooned in the Orient in late summer, unaware that they were being watched by people working for a man named Orion. He was the grandfather of a young deaf boy named Benjy. He planned on leaving Benjy with Steve and Kayla. They found Benjy when he was abandoned by his mother Ellen Hawk in the hotel where they were honeymooning. They took him in and hid him from Benjy's father.
When Patch and Kayla couldn't find Benjy's parents, they considered adopting the boy. Benjy saw a postcard from Bo and Hope and said that he had been to the place in the picture. The postcard showed a pagoda, which was the last place Benjy saw his mother. Kayla gave Roman the postcard hoping that he could find Benjy's mother, but instead Roman went into a trance which unwillingly made him an assassin. Stefano had actually sent the card. He had used a pagoda as the trigger when he was brainwashing Roman. He sent the card to Kim and Shane in Bo and Hope's name.
Benjy's mother, Ellen, resurfaced after finding out Patch and Kayla were going to adopt her son. Ellen set a date to retrieve her son, but she had hired a woman to pose as her to get Benjy back from Steve and Kayla. Kayla saw through her and tested her with sign language. When the woman didn't understand, they knew she was a fraud. Steve and Kayla begin to get threatening phone calls--return Benjy to his father--or else. Roman shows the brought back from Bangkok, and Benjy recognizes his father as the man wearing the mystery ring. But when Roman asks him for the man's name, Benjy won't answer.
Ellen contacted Steve and Kayla and told them she was running from Benjy's father but wanted him back. Orion drugged Ellen the night she was supposed to come to get him because he thought it was safer for Benjy to be with the Johnsons. When Ellen did finally try to get him back, she was killed on the pier and Steve found her body. For a while, Roman thought he had killed her because right before he went into a trance he saw her on the pier and recognized her. Actually, one of Stefano's men had killed her.
A few months later, there was an attempted kidnapping of Benjy. However, Kayla rescued him in time. Not too long after, Benjy was abducted by Drew, Shane's identical twin brother, who had disguised himself as Shane. Shane and Kim had met up with Drew during their second honeymoon in England and brought him back to Salem. Drew brought Benjy to his father, Stefano, whom his mother had tried to protect him from.
In late September, Diana began receiving clues that led her to believe that Marlena was alive. She was first sent a scarf that was covered with Marlena's perfume. She began to investigate the circumstances around Marlena's death using the resources she had at the Spectator. She found out that Marlena's body was never found. On September 30, Roman and Diana were mysteriously locked in a jewelry store and a strange lady looked in on them (someone we were to believe was Marlena).
A few days later, Diana received two wine goblets in the mail. She didn't have any idea of their significance until she shows them to Roman and he recognizes them as the goblets that he and Marlena had bought at a country inn many years earlier.
Diana is nearly killed in a fire that is mysteriously set. When she gets out of the fire and looks in the mirror, she sees a lady who looks identical to Marlena. It is unclear if she is just a hallucination or if she's really there. Days later, while still recovering in the hospital, Diana receives lilacs, Marlena's favorite flower.
Despite all of these eerie occurrences that lead her to believe that Marlena is alive, Diana agrees to move into Roman's house in late October, 1988. When she begins to move her stuff into the house, she finds a piece of lingerie in the dresser drawer that belongs to Marlena.
In late October, Drew is seen contacting the mysterious lady who has been lurking in the shadows around Diana. He is now working as a photographer at the Spectator thanks to Diana, but is just using the position. Drew gives the mysterious orders, which we assume have something to do with Diana. At that same point, Diana is receiving mysterious handwritten messages. After finding a birthday card written by Marlena in the closet at Roman's house, she had a handwriting analysis done and discovered that the letter was written in Marlena's handwriting. Drew, who is obviously working with the mysterious woman, is later seen developing pictures of Marlena.
Victor Kiriakis agreed to help the ISA bring down Stefano, provided he obtain full immunity from prosecution. Shane convinces Victor he can be trusted by showing him "confidential" ISA files. To further strengthen the alliance, Shane enlists Kim's help--the Donovans plan a huge costume party for Halloween and invite Victor. Drew overhears Kim and Shane discuss their plans to snare Victor. Drew phones his contact to report about the set-up. Later, he meets with the mysterious woman and arranges for her to attend the party in costume. Drew phones his boss again and tells him everything is in place.
During the Halloween masquerade party, Diana, who is dressed as a Balinese dancer, sees a mysterious caped figure walking in the gardern. Diana follows her outside and calls to her. After heitating, the woman slowly turns around. The mystery woman turns out to be Drew, in a frightening mask. Later that night, Carrie is kidnapped. Roman finds a note which reads, "Your child for mine..." and realizes Stefano has been kidnapped by Benjy's father. To protect Benjy, Patch goes into hiding with him. She is taken to one of Stefano's tropical islands. There, Carrie and Orion, Benjy's grandfather, are both held hostage in Stefano's compound on a boat.
Finally, on November 4, Stefano is shown for the first time since 1985. We first see him riding around on his island on a horse, with a copy of the Spectator that has Marlena on the cover. Stefano is wearing a special ring. It is actually made up of three rings that are interlocked. This ring will later be a key for Roman in locating Marlena. At this point, Diana can't handle the eerie feelings she has about Marlena and finally tells Marlena about her suspicions that Marlena is alive. Roman realizes that only one man could be behind all of this--but he's dead.
At one point, with Orion's help, Carrie manages to get to a phone. She tells her father she is on a boat, just as the phone is slammed down by her captor. Seeing his face, she screams--it's Stefano DiMera.
Eventually, Roman and Diana head to the Bahamas. Drew, who was actually Stefano's assistant, Iago, invited Victor to the island. Soon after, Drew was joined by Shane, Kayla and Kimberly. He lured Kimberly to the island with a fake message from Shane, saying he needed her. Steve and Kayla had been lured to the island in pursuit of Benjy. With the entire Brady clan on the island, Stefano began an elaborate game of cat and mouse. He tries to kill Steve by putting him into a magician's trick in a tank of water with chains. Kayla rescued him before he was killed. In late November, Diana goes through a cave. Inside, she discovers a house that looks like Roman's on the outside. When she walks into the house, she finds a woman looking at pictures of Roman and Marlena. Startled by the woman, Diana says, "Oh my god, you are alive." When the woman turns around, we see that she is not Marlena, but someone Stefano has used to get to Roman and Diana. With a little photographic magic, Roman receives a picture of Diana and Marlena together.
Stefano believed Roman was responsible for his son Benjy's loss of hearing. Stefano had programmed Roman to be a hitman. Roman was given an assignment but couldn't go through with it. Plan B was for Roman to blow up the building. Benjy was in the building as it exploded, causing him to lose his hearing. Stefano blamed Roman because he was supposed to kill the person, rather than blow up the building, which resulted in Benjy's hearing loss.
Before leaving the island, Diana told Roman that Marlena was alive and where to find her. Roman went to look for her, but she wasn't there. Diana didn't leave the island and was left behind when she was searching for Roman. In early December, there was an explosion and Stefano kidnapped her and took her to a place just like the cabin where Roman and Marlena spent their honeymoon. Stefano lured Roman there and told him that he could take home one of them--Diana or Marlena. Roman refused to believe Marlena was alive and picked Diana. Meanwhile, Benjy had snuck into Roman's jeep when he figured out that Roman was going to see his daddy. He saw what Stefano was doing and called him a bad man.
Stefano put Roman in a trance and ordered him to kill everyone on the island. Fortunately, Diana was able to shake Roman out of it, but before Roman could apprehend Stefano, he escaped in a helicopter. Roman got everyone off the island and finally accepted that Marlena was dead.
Shane ended up the odd-man out in the Brady family when it was revealed that Shane knew that Roman was alive when Stefano had supposedly killed him in 1984. It came to a choice for Shane to free Roman or Drew, and he chose his brother, Drew. For many months following the island adventure, the Bradys could not forgive him for letting them think their son was dead for nearly two years.
Thanks to Nicole for writing portions of this summary, to Stacy Krugman for making some corrections and additions, and to TMTSoapop. Some additional info was added by me from memories and Soap Opera Digest.