Post by Mimi on Aug 18, 2006 10:41:24 GMT -5
The sound of the doorbell ringing awoke Marlena from her restless slumber. No matter how many times she tried to sleep, it seemed elusive to her. She was going on her tenth straight day with little to no sleep and the last thing she wanted to do was to entertain a well meaning Salemite. Opening the large peephole on her door she saw that it was Alex North.
Shit.
A feeling of restless deep within her gut slowly made its way up into her brain. Alex North was the last person she wanted to see on earth and here he was, separated only by a 2-inch piece of wood.
“Alex,” Marlena forced herself to say cheerfully. “Just a moment.” She shut and locked the peephole door and leaned against the door for support as she slowly turned the locks to let him in. Her fingers were shaking and she tried to breathe deeply to calm herself.
Abruptly she flung the door open, wanting to get his visit over with as quickly as possible.
“Marlena dear, it’s so good to see you,” Alex North said as he entered her house and kissed Marlena on the cheek. The familiar scent of his Irish Springs soap permeated her nostrils. She always hated the smell of that soap and probably always would. No matter how many times she tried to get Alex to use a different brand of soap or at least use aftershave, he’d always refused to.
“Alex, it’s nice to see you too,” Marlena said sincerely. She was confused. Although he terrified her on some level, he was comforting. As unhealthy as their relationship was in the past, he knew more about her than any other living person and hadn’t abandoned her like so many others had. That had to count for something.
“I hear you had quite a little adventure in John’s overreaction to my presence,” Alex said as he sat down on Marlena’s floral couch.
“Is that what you’re calling it Alex?” Marlena said laughing as she sat down across from him and nervously crossed her legs.
“Marly dear…this is no time for a joke…If I didn’t know better I’d think that you were ignoring or hiding from me.” Alex leaned forward in his seat, elbows on his knees, hands supporting his chin. His eyes bored deep into her.
“Alex, you know that I tried to call you,” Marlena said as she looked away uncomfortably.
“Yes and I am grateful that you did,” Alex said as he studied Marlena. “I was sick with worry about you and your welfare. I have only your best interest at heart, you know that.”
“I know, although sometimes with your possessiveness, it doesn’t feel that way,” Marlena said as she got up from the couch and went into the kitchen and brought back two cups of tea. She handed one cup to Alex. He grabbed onto her wrist with his other hand.
“You my dear, need to learn to trust others.” Marlena slowly sat down next to him on the couch.
“That’s what you always used to say,” she said as she tried to put some distance between them on the couch.
“Well it’s true…I’m not some monster that you make me out to be.” He reminded her so much of her biological father. He was such a smooth talker and so convincing. Half of the time Marlena felt guilty for thinking negative thoughts about him and his motives. She watched as he slowly inched closer to her on the couch.
“It doesn’t help when you try to blackmail me…look I remember the past, I do… I’m well aware of all that’s gone on,” Marlena blurted out, his proximity suffocating.
“All of it?”
“All of it…you can’t hoodwink me anymore Alex… I know how you tried to keep John away from me and I know that it wasn’t in the name of therapy either.” Memories of his so-called ‘therapy’ rose to the surface of his mind. She remembered laying in his arms, him comforting her with kisses and caresses telling her that she was just transferring her feelings for John onto him. It had all been a lie. He’d used her trust and taken advantage of her. She couldn’t let him know how much that bothered her and give him the upper hand. She was no longer a naïve seventeen year old looking for a savior.
“Do John and Roman know that you’ve remembered the past?” Alex asked as he picked up his cup of tea and took a sip. Her directness puzzled him. He couldn’t let Marlena get to him; he had to make sure that he was in control of this conversation. He always had far more to lose than she ever did.
“Of course, why wouldn’t they? Its not some big secret?” She looked at him quizzically, not understanding where he was going with his line of questioning.
“Is it?”
“I hate when you get like this Alex…I really do…It used to piss me off before and it still pisses me off,” Marlena responded in anger. Alex was getting to her.
“Why, does it remind you of your mother?” He asked snidely, purposely trying to hurt her and turn the tables on their conversation.
“Hardly,” Marlena lied as she laughed. “I barely remember her… If your intent is to get under my skin, it’s not working.” She picked up her cup of tea off of the coffee table and took a sip, holding onto the cup for support.
“I’m glad to see that your bout of amnesia brought back the old Marly…I was really getting tired of the submissive good doctor Evans routine you had going on there….you were really quite boring,” Alex said as he stood up from the couch and went and looked out the window. “How have you been, really?”
“Fine, but you probably already know that,” Marlena said as she got up from the couch and stood next to him at the window. The distance he put between them, although welcome, made her uncomfortable.
“God, I’ve missed you,” Alex said as he put his arm around her, bringing her closer to him. He leaned closer and breathed in deeply, inhaling her scent. “You look good too, I’m glad that you took my suggestion and lost your extra weight…John likes you fat so that other men won’t look at you… You look much better now… It’s like the old Marly is back…I hope that you are planning to do something about the wretched clothes you’ve been wearing,” Alex said while taking in her lose black slacks and pink sweater.
“You are such a snob…. There’s nothing wrong with what I wear,” she said looking down at the clothing that she was wearing. She was insulted that Alex considered her clothing style wretched.
“But you look so much better when you show some skin,” he said as he brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed her neck. She jerked away from him. “Don’t,” she warned him, walking away from him and sitting back down on the couch.
“So inquiring minds want to know what dear John’s reaction was to your memory returning,” Alex asked as he walked around the living room of the penthouse, looking at the things that defined who his Marly had become. Previously when he’d visited the penthouse he spent all of his attention and energy in keeping Marlena from remembering John and their past that he never paid much attention to his surroundings.
Marlena picked up her cup of tea and looked at the cup. “Oh, you haven’t told John, have you?”
Marlena continued staring into her cup, contemplating how she was going to gain control over the situation and conversation. She couldn’t afford letting Alex control the conversation. He always seemed to have a way of turning it to get to her. “He knows what he needs to know.”
“John doesn’t know that we were married, does he?” Alex asked.
“There is no need for him to know,” Marlena said staring into the bottom of her cup.
“Why, are you ashamed?”
“No,” she said faintly as she continued staring into her cup.
“Then why haven’t you told him?”
“Alex, its not like we sit around and talk about you,” Marlena responded, looking up at Alex, wanting to change the course of the conversation, but not knowing how.
“Touché Marly…I’ll forgive you for your failure to mention that you are in fact Mrs. Alexander North and always will be,” Alex said as he sat down next to her on the couch and put his hand on her knee. He smiled inwardly as he felt her flinch.
“Don’t remind me,” she said as she closed her eyes. Years before she’d made a deal with the devil that continued to haunt her. Trade one evil for another.
“Why, I’d say my time with you was some of the happiest times of my life,” Alex said as he took her small hand in his and kissed it.
“Maybe for you, but somehow I don’t recall our brief time together quite the same,” Marlena said as she closed her eyes, trying to ward of feelings of hopelessness. Memories of her past with him and how dysfunctional she had been, they had been, rose to the surface of her mind. As much as she tried to deny who she was, she seemed incapable of escaping her past.
“You can’t deny that the sex was phenomenal,” Alex said as he slowly stroked her hand with his fingers, refusing to let go of it.
Marlena blushed and turned her head away in embarrassment. “Please be a little more mature,” Marlena said, not knowing what else to say.
“That thing that you used to do with your mouth…did you ever do that for John?”
“I’m not going to answer that,” Marlena said as she jerked her hand out of his and stood up. “So what do you want? When are you going to leave town?”
“I want what I’ve always wanted, you, and I’m not going to leave Salem without you.”
“Alex, that’s not going to happen…I’ve moved on,” Marlena said as she stared out the window and watched as a mother bird brought back a worm to feed to her babies in the nest.
“Yes I can see, with quite a few men after me, too bad that you failed to divorce me when you left me…kind of puts a kink in your relationship or should I say marriage with John…What do you think he’s going to say when he finds out that his saintly wife is a bigamist,” Alex threatened. Although Alex wanted to be the one to tell John and see the reaction on his face, he relished torturing Marlena by making her the one to tell John more.
“Alex, sorry to burst your little bubble of reality you’re living in, but John divorced me months ago.”
Marlena looked at Alex with satisfaction seeing his face turn an ashen color. “He did?”
“Of course.”
“John Black let go of you….he divorced you?” Alex still didn’t believe her. Could this be another one of her tricks to get him to let her go?
“Yes.” Score one for Marlena, she thought. She was enjoying this turn of the conversation.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Go to the courts and look up the records for yourself.”
“But why?”
“That Alex, is none of your business,” Marlena replied smugly.
“But you just gave birth to his children, why would he divorce you?” A million thoughts ran simultaneously through John’s head. How? Why? When? “Did you suddenly become frigid with him and refuse to provide for his sexual needs?”
“It’s a complicated family matter that I’m not going to discuss with you…. End of story.” She knew that he wanted a reaction from her at his last comment and she refused to give him that satisfaction.
“I guess it’s for the best, because I’m positive if I told dear John about you and your torrid past, he couldn’t run to divorce court fast enough and file for sole custody of your children,” Alex threatened.
“You know Alex, I’m sick of your veiled threats…I really am…If you want to tell John all about me, go ahead.” She threw her hands up in frustration.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I’m not kidding…”
“Marlie, I know you too well…. You try to act all tough and strong, but I know you’re not…deep down your terrified that all of Salem will know that this little world you’ve created, this façade, isn’t real.”
“What do you want me to say Alex? Do I want you to tell all of Salem about my past? No, of course not, but I refuse to be blackmailed by you.”
“I love it when you’re feisty.”
“You are really sick Alex, you know that.” Marlena rubbed her temples, where a dull ache had started to form. Her lack of sleep and the events of the last three weeks had taken their toll on Marlena. It had been three weeks since Marlena had made the decision to keep Rachel on life support and they were just beginning to see signs of her condition stabilizing. She was still in critical condition and the odds were still against her, but she had a chance. A chance that Marlena was hanging onto, hoping for. Memories of her past returning in waves, Rachel’s daily fight for survival and her complicated relationship with John, had Marlena on an emotional roller coaster that she couldn’t control or stop. Alex’s presence was an accelerator.
“And your point would be?” He said, a hint of glee evident in his voice. He knew that he had her where he wanted her. He was winning.
“Just a statement, nothing more… Look if you want to tell John about me, go ahead… I’ve lost him anyway.” Her emotional armor was slowly coming down. She knew that she didn’t have the strength to fight him, she never had. It had all been a sick illusion.
“I still find that hard to believe… Why would a man like John ever give you up?”
“Gee, wonder why?” Marlena said as she stared laughing nervously. She could think of thirty good reasons off the top of her head why she was toxic and why John should stay away.
“What’s so funny?” Alex asked.
“You…what is it with you and your obsession with John? If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you wanted him, not me.” Her head was now pounding, and her vision becoming blurred. She knew that she had a migraine headache and needed to take her medicine. The sooner that she got rid of him, the sooner that she’d feel better.
“That’s absurd,” Alex said angrily. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll never mention that again.”
“Please give me a divorce Alex, please.” She didn’t care what it took; she wanted to be done with him.
“No.”
“Why are you doing this to me…why are you trying to hold onto me?” She said, unable to hold back her tears. The pain from her migraine and Alex’s emotional torment had her unglued. She was unable to control her emotions, her body racked with sobs.
“I love you.”
“How can you love me…you barely know me anymore… I’ve had minimal contact with you over the past thirty years,” she cried out to him in anger.
“You are my soulmate…we belong together…always have and always will,” Alex said to her convincingly as he approached her.
“No, that’s not true.” Marlena panicked when she saw the look in his eyes. She knew what was coming next. He was nothing, if not predictable.
“It is,” Alex said as he roughly grabbed Marlena by the face and kissed her hard. “You belong to me…no one else.”
“No, please let me go,” she begged as she tried to get out of his grasp. Her nausea kept her in place. His words of adoration, the repulsive scent of her father, his grasp on her, and John’s perceived rejection of her, had her mind swirling. She was unable to process the truth for what it was.
“You will always be mine,” Alex said as he kissed her again, this time forcing his tongue inside her mouth. Marlena clenched her teeth shut and tried to block out his intrusion, but he pulled hard on her hair. “Don’t,” he warned her. He reached for the buttons on her pink sweater and slowly undid them.
“Don’t do this Alex…you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded with him, tears in her eyes. Her body trembled in fear. This couldn’t be happening to her again.
“You’re my wife, I have to show you how much I love you and how we belong together,” Alex said as he removed her sweater and led her up the stairs to her bedroom.
Shit.
A feeling of restless deep within her gut slowly made its way up into her brain. Alex North was the last person she wanted to see on earth and here he was, separated only by a 2-inch piece of wood.
“Alex,” Marlena forced herself to say cheerfully. “Just a moment.” She shut and locked the peephole door and leaned against the door for support as she slowly turned the locks to let him in. Her fingers were shaking and she tried to breathe deeply to calm herself.
Abruptly she flung the door open, wanting to get his visit over with as quickly as possible.
“Marlena dear, it’s so good to see you,” Alex North said as he entered her house and kissed Marlena on the cheek. The familiar scent of his Irish Springs soap permeated her nostrils. She always hated the smell of that soap and probably always would. No matter how many times she tried to get Alex to use a different brand of soap or at least use aftershave, he’d always refused to.
“Alex, it’s nice to see you too,” Marlena said sincerely. She was confused. Although he terrified her on some level, he was comforting. As unhealthy as their relationship was in the past, he knew more about her than any other living person and hadn’t abandoned her like so many others had. That had to count for something.
“I hear you had quite a little adventure in John’s overreaction to my presence,” Alex said as he sat down on Marlena’s floral couch.
“Is that what you’re calling it Alex?” Marlena said laughing as she sat down across from him and nervously crossed her legs.
“Marly dear…this is no time for a joke…If I didn’t know better I’d think that you were ignoring or hiding from me.” Alex leaned forward in his seat, elbows on his knees, hands supporting his chin. His eyes bored deep into her.
“Alex, you know that I tried to call you,” Marlena said as she looked away uncomfortably.
“Yes and I am grateful that you did,” Alex said as he studied Marlena. “I was sick with worry about you and your welfare. I have only your best interest at heart, you know that.”
“I know, although sometimes with your possessiveness, it doesn’t feel that way,” Marlena said as she got up from the couch and went into the kitchen and brought back two cups of tea. She handed one cup to Alex. He grabbed onto her wrist with his other hand.
“You my dear, need to learn to trust others.” Marlena slowly sat down next to him on the couch.
“That’s what you always used to say,” she said as she tried to put some distance between them on the couch.
“Well it’s true…I’m not some monster that you make me out to be.” He reminded her so much of her biological father. He was such a smooth talker and so convincing. Half of the time Marlena felt guilty for thinking negative thoughts about him and his motives. She watched as he slowly inched closer to her on the couch.
“It doesn’t help when you try to blackmail me…look I remember the past, I do… I’m well aware of all that’s gone on,” Marlena blurted out, his proximity suffocating.
“All of it?”
“All of it…you can’t hoodwink me anymore Alex… I know how you tried to keep John away from me and I know that it wasn’t in the name of therapy either.” Memories of his so-called ‘therapy’ rose to the surface of his mind. She remembered laying in his arms, him comforting her with kisses and caresses telling her that she was just transferring her feelings for John onto him. It had all been a lie. He’d used her trust and taken advantage of her. She couldn’t let him know how much that bothered her and give him the upper hand. She was no longer a naïve seventeen year old looking for a savior.
“Do John and Roman know that you’ve remembered the past?” Alex asked as he picked up his cup of tea and took a sip. Her directness puzzled him. He couldn’t let Marlena get to him; he had to make sure that he was in control of this conversation. He always had far more to lose than she ever did.
“Of course, why wouldn’t they? Its not some big secret?” She looked at him quizzically, not understanding where he was going with his line of questioning.
“Is it?”
“I hate when you get like this Alex…I really do…It used to piss me off before and it still pisses me off,” Marlena responded in anger. Alex was getting to her.
“Why, does it remind you of your mother?” He asked snidely, purposely trying to hurt her and turn the tables on their conversation.
“Hardly,” Marlena lied as she laughed. “I barely remember her… If your intent is to get under my skin, it’s not working.” She picked up her cup of tea off of the coffee table and took a sip, holding onto the cup for support.
“I’m glad to see that your bout of amnesia brought back the old Marly…I was really getting tired of the submissive good doctor Evans routine you had going on there….you were really quite boring,” Alex said as he stood up from the couch and went and looked out the window. “How have you been, really?”
“Fine, but you probably already know that,” Marlena said as she got up from the couch and stood next to him at the window. The distance he put between them, although welcome, made her uncomfortable.
“God, I’ve missed you,” Alex said as he put his arm around her, bringing her closer to him. He leaned closer and breathed in deeply, inhaling her scent. “You look good too, I’m glad that you took my suggestion and lost your extra weight…John likes you fat so that other men won’t look at you… You look much better now… It’s like the old Marly is back…I hope that you are planning to do something about the wretched clothes you’ve been wearing,” Alex said while taking in her lose black slacks and pink sweater.
“You are such a snob…. There’s nothing wrong with what I wear,” she said looking down at the clothing that she was wearing. She was insulted that Alex considered her clothing style wretched.
“But you look so much better when you show some skin,” he said as he brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed her neck. She jerked away from him. “Don’t,” she warned him, walking away from him and sitting back down on the couch.
“So inquiring minds want to know what dear John’s reaction was to your memory returning,” Alex asked as he walked around the living room of the penthouse, looking at the things that defined who his Marly had become. Previously when he’d visited the penthouse he spent all of his attention and energy in keeping Marlena from remembering John and their past that he never paid much attention to his surroundings.
Marlena picked up her cup of tea and looked at the cup. “Oh, you haven’t told John, have you?”
Marlena continued staring into her cup, contemplating how she was going to gain control over the situation and conversation. She couldn’t afford letting Alex control the conversation. He always seemed to have a way of turning it to get to her. “He knows what he needs to know.”
“John doesn’t know that we were married, does he?” Alex asked.
“There is no need for him to know,” Marlena said staring into the bottom of her cup.
“Why, are you ashamed?”
“No,” she said faintly as she continued staring into her cup.
“Then why haven’t you told him?”
“Alex, its not like we sit around and talk about you,” Marlena responded, looking up at Alex, wanting to change the course of the conversation, but not knowing how.
“Touché Marly…I’ll forgive you for your failure to mention that you are in fact Mrs. Alexander North and always will be,” Alex said as he sat down next to her on the couch and put his hand on her knee. He smiled inwardly as he felt her flinch.
“Don’t remind me,” she said as she closed her eyes. Years before she’d made a deal with the devil that continued to haunt her. Trade one evil for another.
“Why, I’d say my time with you was some of the happiest times of my life,” Alex said as he took her small hand in his and kissed it.
“Maybe for you, but somehow I don’t recall our brief time together quite the same,” Marlena said as she closed her eyes, trying to ward of feelings of hopelessness. Memories of her past with him and how dysfunctional she had been, they had been, rose to the surface of her mind. As much as she tried to deny who she was, she seemed incapable of escaping her past.
“You can’t deny that the sex was phenomenal,” Alex said as he slowly stroked her hand with his fingers, refusing to let go of it.
Marlena blushed and turned her head away in embarrassment. “Please be a little more mature,” Marlena said, not knowing what else to say.
“That thing that you used to do with your mouth…did you ever do that for John?”
“I’m not going to answer that,” Marlena said as she jerked her hand out of his and stood up. “So what do you want? When are you going to leave town?”
“I want what I’ve always wanted, you, and I’m not going to leave Salem without you.”
“Alex, that’s not going to happen…I’ve moved on,” Marlena said as she stared out the window and watched as a mother bird brought back a worm to feed to her babies in the nest.
“Yes I can see, with quite a few men after me, too bad that you failed to divorce me when you left me…kind of puts a kink in your relationship or should I say marriage with John…What do you think he’s going to say when he finds out that his saintly wife is a bigamist,” Alex threatened. Although Alex wanted to be the one to tell John and see the reaction on his face, he relished torturing Marlena by making her the one to tell John more.
“Alex, sorry to burst your little bubble of reality you’re living in, but John divorced me months ago.”
Marlena looked at Alex with satisfaction seeing his face turn an ashen color. “He did?”
“Of course.”
“John Black let go of you….he divorced you?” Alex still didn’t believe her. Could this be another one of her tricks to get him to let her go?
“Yes.” Score one for Marlena, she thought. She was enjoying this turn of the conversation.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Go to the courts and look up the records for yourself.”
“But why?”
“That Alex, is none of your business,” Marlena replied smugly.
“But you just gave birth to his children, why would he divorce you?” A million thoughts ran simultaneously through John’s head. How? Why? When? “Did you suddenly become frigid with him and refuse to provide for his sexual needs?”
“It’s a complicated family matter that I’m not going to discuss with you…. End of story.” She knew that he wanted a reaction from her at his last comment and she refused to give him that satisfaction.
“I guess it’s for the best, because I’m positive if I told dear John about you and your torrid past, he couldn’t run to divorce court fast enough and file for sole custody of your children,” Alex threatened.
“You know Alex, I’m sick of your veiled threats…I really am…If you want to tell John all about me, go ahead.” She threw her hands up in frustration.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I’m not kidding…”
“Marlie, I know you too well…. You try to act all tough and strong, but I know you’re not…deep down your terrified that all of Salem will know that this little world you’ve created, this façade, isn’t real.”
“What do you want me to say Alex? Do I want you to tell all of Salem about my past? No, of course not, but I refuse to be blackmailed by you.”
“I love it when you’re feisty.”
“You are really sick Alex, you know that.” Marlena rubbed her temples, where a dull ache had started to form. Her lack of sleep and the events of the last three weeks had taken their toll on Marlena. It had been three weeks since Marlena had made the decision to keep Rachel on life support and they were just beginning to see signs of her condition stabilizing. She was still in critical condition and the odds were still against her, but she had a chance. A chance that Marlena was hanging onto, hoping for. Memories of her past returning in waves, Rachel’s daily fight for survival and her complicated relationship with John, had Marlena on an emotional roller coaster that she couldn’t control or stop. Alex’s presence was an accelerator.
“And your point would be?” He said, a hint of glee evident in his voice. He knew that he had her where he wanted her. He was winning.
“Just a statement, nothing more… Look if you want to tell John about me, go ahead… I’ve lost him anyway.” Her emotional armor was slowly coming down. She knew that she didn’t have the strength to fight him, she never had. It had all been a sick illusion.
“I still find that hard to believe… Why would a man like John ever give you up?”
“Gee, wonder why?” Marlena said as she stared laughing nervously. She could think of thirty good reasons off the top of her head why she was toxic and why John should stay away.
“What’s so funny?” Alex asked.
“You…what is it with you and your obsession with John? If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you wanted him, not me.” Her head was now pounding, and her vision becoming blurred. She knew that she had a migraine headache and needed to take her medicine. The sooner that she got rid of him, the sooner that she’d feel better.
“That’s absurd,” Alex said angrily. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll never mention that again.”
“Please give me a divorce Alex, please.” She didn’t care what it took; she wanted to be done with him.
“No.”
“Why are you doing this to me…why are you trying to hold onto me?” She said, unable to hold back her tears. The pain from her migraine and Alex’s emotional torment had her unglued. She was unable to control her emotions, her body racked with sobs.
“I love you.”
“How can you love me…you barely know me anymore… I’ve had minimal contact with you over the past thirty years,” she cried out to him in anger.
“You are my soulmate…we belong together…always have and always will,” Alex said to her convincingly as he approached her.
“No, that’s not true.” Marlena panicked when she saw the look in his eyes. She knew what was coming next. He was nothing, if not predictable.
“It is,” Alex said as he roughly grabbed Marlena by the face and kissed her hard. “You belong to me…no one else.”
“No, please let me go,” she begged as she tried to get out of his grasp. Her nausea kept her in place. His words of adoration, the repulsive scent of her father, his grasp on her, and John’s perceived rejection of her, had her mind swirling. She was unable to process the truth for what it was.
“You will always be mine,” Alex said as he kissed her again, this time forcing his tongue inside her mouth. Marlena clenched her teeth shut and tried to block out his intrusion, but he pulled hard on her hair. “Don’t,” he warned her. He reached for the buttons on her pink sweater and slowly undid them.
“Don’t do this Alex…you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded with him, tears in her eyes. Her body trembled in fear. This couldn’t be happening to her again.
“You’re my wife, I have to show you how much I love you and how we belong together,” Alex said as he removed her sweater and led her up the stairs to her bedroom.
