Post by Tammy on Aug 17, 2006 13:02:43 GMT -5
John was lying in his bed in the penthouse trying his best to get some sleep. He knew that if he was going to get through the next couple weeks he was going to need all the strength that god had given him. He looked over at the alarm clock which read 7:00pm. Five more hours! He thought to himself. He stirred in bed when he heard a loud thump downstairs. He knew that something wasn’t right because he locked the door after he came home from the pier. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He swayed for a moment having the same wave of dizziness hit him as it had earlier on the pier. He bent over ever so slowly and grabbed his pajama pants off the floor and slipped them on. He walked toward the door and stopped as he looked around for some kind of an object to defend himself with, and he grabbed the fireplace poker. He walked toward the stairs and looked over the landing to see if he could spot what had made the noise. He saw nothing out of the ordinary so he continued his journey down the stairs. He came up upon the kitchen area and heard another loud crash. With his fireplace poker in hand he slowly opened the kitchen door to sneak up on the intruder. He pushed the kitchen door open a little further and it made a small squeaking noise. At that noise the intruder turned around and let out a loud scream, to which John jumped back against the wall bracing himself from falling! “JOHN!” John caught his breath, “Marlena!…Jesus Christ…You scared the HELL out of me!” Marlena bent over trying to catch her breath, “I scared YOU! I’m…not exactly having a laughing fit myself.” They both took a few minutes to get over their shock when Marlena’s laughter broke the silence. John looked at her as if she was insane, “Marlena what is wrong with you!” She pointed at his weapon of choice that he still held in his hand, “That! What were you planning to do…come in here and poke me to death!” John looked down at the fire place poker and began to laugh as well, “It was the best I could do…on short notice.” After the laughter subsided John’s smile disappeared and his seriousness took over again. That look had Marlena worried. That was the same disheartening look he had earlier at Salem Place. She shook her head, this evening is not starting out like I had hoped, she thought to herself. She needed to do something to lighten the mood. She walked over to John and placed her finger under John’ s chin to lock eyes with him, “John…smile…it increases your face value.” That comment brought a wide smile to John’s face just like Marlena knew that it would, “Doc…I thought I told you about that!” Marlena got a childish smile on her face, “Told me about what?” John let out a hardy laugh, “I have told you time and time again…you are forbidden from watching Steel Magnolias! How many times have you watched it since you have been home?” A coy smile crept across Marlena’s face, “Once…a day” she said barley above a whisper. A huge smile spread across John’s face, “Something’s never change do they?” Marlena’s smile faded a bit, “No…thank god…there are something’s that you can always count on!” They both locked eyes at that moment. John reached up to wipe away a few pieces of Marlena’s hair that had fallen into her eyes, and slid his hand down her cheek. Marlena leaned her face into his hand…and John felt that oh so familiar spark fly between them and let his hand fall from her face. He took a deep breath, “So…what brings you by?” Marlena look at him and saw the forced coldness residing there in his eyes, “Well…you said earlier when I saw you…that you weren’t feeling well. I thought that I would come over… and make you dinner. John smiled at that comment and tried his best not to laugh, “Doc…if you wanted to force me to throw up…you could have just brought me some ipecac, then I wouldn’t have to eat your cooking!” Marlena got a shocked expression on her face as John was bent over laughing. She took the dish rage and slapped him with it, “Very nice…smart ass!” Marlena let out the laughter she was holding in, “As a matter of fact…I brought you your favorite…from The Grille!” Marlena walked back over to the stove where she was heating up the food, she took it out of the oven and held it over the garbage can, “But…if you are still feeling sick I can throw it away!” She looked as thought she was going to dump it in the garbage when John raised his hands up in protest, “No…no…I feel much better! Please I will do anything…just don’t throw away a perfectly good steak!” Marlena gave him a cocky smile, “ Okay…but you know what you have to do!” John raised one eyebrow, “What exactly would that be?:” Marlena walked up to him slowly with an extra swing in her step. She ran her hand threw his hair and down his cheek, which came to rest on his chest, “You…have to…compliment my cooking!” John let out a small snort try as best he could not to bust out laughing right in her face, “Well, in the words of Sami… the bartender from Steel Magnolias…I Would Rather Eat DIRT!” He let out a burst of laughter as he ran away from her. Marlena was not far behind him. She chased him all the way out of the kitchen, and around the sofa. John stood there in back of the sofa with Marlena standing in front of the sofa, “Give it up Doc…you will never catch me!” Marlena let out a laugh, “You wanna bet! You can run John…but you can’t hide!” John laughed again while darting back and forth from side to side, “Oh that’s and original line Doc…now you sound like Mohamed Ali.” Marlena laughed and ran around to the back of the sofa while John ran to the front. Marlena placed her hands on the back of the sofa, “That is it Black! I…am gonna…kick your ass!” John stopped and pointed at her, “Hey…that line is from…Beaches! You really need to get out of the house more Doc!” Marlena let out a hearty laugh and leapt over the sofa and grabbed John by his shirt. As she went to stand up she lost her footing and fell backward onto the sofa taking John down on top of her. They both were lost in fits of laughter when Marlena looked up and wiped his hair out of his eyes, “My…how I have missed you!” John took her hand from his face and laid a gentle kiss on her palm, “I have missed you too…more than you could ever know!” Marlena began to move in ever so slowly to kiss John, when he backed away and stood up. He grabbed her hands and pulled her to stand beside him, “Come on…we can’t let a perfectly good dinner go to waste.” John wrapped his arm around her waist and walked beside her to the kitchen. He stopped for a moment and looked at her, “You want to know what would have made this dinner even better?” She looked up at him and smile that special smile that she reserved just for him, “What would that be?” John smiled back at her, “If you would have cooked it yourself!” She smiled at him and then began to laugh, “Ha…you call that a compliment! You are going to have to do a lot better than that!” “Damn…” He said as he playfully slapped himself on the forehead, “I thought that would work!” He walked away from her and went to the kitchen laughing. Marlena stood there and watched him walk away as she though to herself, This evening is getting better by the minute! Maybe…just maybe…THIS will be our new beginning!
