Chapter 16 - The Truth Is Revealed!

John and Marlena are in front of Roman's room. Marlena puts her hand on the doorknob. She pauses for a moment and she takes a deep breath. "Doc, we don't have to do this right now." Marlena turns to face John. "No, I want to do this now. All of the lies have to stop." Marlena takes another deep breath as she opens the door.

"Roman, are you awake? Could we talk to you?" "Sure, Doc I want to know what the hell happened to you?" "That's why we're here Roman." Marlena sits down on the bed facing Roman. "I was shot." "You were shot. Who?" "Kristen was the one who shot me." "Kristen?! Why?" "Roman she's not the same person she was when you left three years ago. She's done some horrible things to a lot of people but most of all to John and myself." "I can't believe this. John, how could you stay married to this woman?" "I'm not married to her." "What?" "John was never married to Kristen. Do you remember when Kristen first brought you to town?" "Yes, she brought me to St. Luke's. There was a wedding going on there that day." "Roman, John and I were getting married on that day. She brought you there to break up our wedding." "So all this time you were lying to me." "Roman we were afraid that the truth would be too much for you."

There's a moment of silence. Marlena can see anger and pain on Roman's face. She hadn't seen that look since Roman found about her affair with John. "DOC, HOW COULD YOU LIE TO ME! YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT LYING DOC. HOW COULD YOU LEAD ME ON LIKE THIS? I ACTUALLY THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO GET BACK TOGETHER! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?" Marlena is speechless. "ROMAN WAIT ONE MINUTE! ROMAN I KNOW YOU'RE ANGRY BUT THAT IS NO WAY TO TALK TO MARLENA. SHE LIED TO YOU BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH AT THE TIME! SHE WAS DOING WHAT SHE FELT WAS IN YOUR BEST INTEREST!" Marlena gets up from the bed. "STOP IT THE BOTH OF YOU!"

Marlena is visibly shaken. Roman calms down and pleads with Marlena. "I'm sorry Doc. I still love you and I know that you still love me." "Roman a part of me will always love you but I'm IN love with John." "Come on Doc! The only reason you fell in love with him was because you thought he was me." Marlena looks at John and she can see the pain in his face over Roman's comment. Marlena can't take it anymore she starts to say things that she's wanted to say for years. "You weren't there. You could never know how I felt. When I thought you died a part of me died with you and I thought I would never find love like that again." Tears start to flow from Marlena's eyes. "Then I met John and I started to fall in love with him. I felt so guilty for loving him. When we were trying to find out his identity there was a time when we thought he was Stefano. You know what? I still loved him even though I thought he was my greatest enemy." Marlena wipes her tears. "I felt like I was betraying you. Then we found out he was Roman it and that took away my guilt for loving him."

"Doc, you chose me when I came back all those years ago." "Roman I didn't have a choice. When we were in Mexico I loved the both of you and I was so confused. You kept telling me over and over that the thought of being with me again was what got you through those seven years of being held prisoner. What could I do I felt like I had to go back to you. It made it a little bit easier because John had Isabella. I did what would make everyone else happy instead of doing what would have made me happy. I don't want to hurt you but if I had a choice to make all those years ago I would have chosen John and I think he would have chosen me. I went back to you out of obligation." Marlena can see the anger building inside of Roman. "DOC HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT!" "Roman I don't know how else to get through to you. I'm in love with John. I never stopped loving him. The affair wouldn't have happened if I didn't still love him. My heart always has been and always will be with John."

Roman gets out of bed. "What are you doing?" "I can't stay here any longer." Roman reaches for the phone. "Who are you going to call?" "I'm going to call pop to get me out of here." "Shawn and Caroline are downstairs. We'll go get them for you. Roman I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." "No you never mean to hurt me Doc but you always do." John puts his arm around Marlena and they leave the room.

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John and Marlena enter the living room. Caroline speaks first. "How did it go?" "Not good. He wants the two of you to take him to the pub. He's getting packed now." "I guess we should get up there and help him." Caroline and Shawn start to walk towards the stairs when Marlena stops them. "Sean…Caroline I'm sorry." "Marlena there's nothing for you to be sorry about. We understand the situation and with time so will Roman. We will help him through this." Caroline and Shawn leave the room.

John and Marlena sit on the couch. John is holding Marlena in his arms and he gives her a kiss on her forehead. "Are you all right?" "I'm fine. Actually I feel like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I don't regret anything I said. I meant every word. I want you to know that I love you! I have always loved YOU!" "I know that now Doc." "I didn't mean to speak for you in there." "What do you mean?" "I said that you would have chosen me over Isabella. I shouldn't have said that." "You were right. I would have chosen you. I loved Izzy-B but I never loved her or any other woman the way I love you."

"Do you ever feel like we were cheated all these years?" "What do you mean?" "When Orpheus kidnapped me he did it to get back at Roman but you weren't Roman. All those years were lost to us for nothing. If he didn't kidnap me then Megan would have never been taken away from us and maybe Brady would have been my child. I feel like we were cheated out of so many years that we could have been together and happy." "I have thought about that from time to time. There's a reason we went through all that we did and I think our love is even stronger than it was back then. All that matters is that we are together now and we will never be apart again." "You promise." "I promise."

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Shawn and Caroline enter Roman's room. He's packing his suitcase. "Roman, can we do anything for you?" "I'm almost done here. I guess the two of you knew about John and Marlena?" "Yes." "Why didn't you tell me?" "Roman we thought that if you were told the truth then you would loose your will to live and we couldn't take that chance." "I should have been told the truth." Roman closes his suitcase. "Let's get the hell out of here!" Roman leaves the room with Caroline and Shawn behind him.

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John and Marlena can hear footsteps on the stairs. The both of them go into the foyer. Roman glares at John and Marlena. He moves to the door. "Roman!" Roman pauses for a second then he opens the door and leaves without looking back. Marlena begins to cry. Caroline goes over to Marlena. "He's going to be fine. Don't worry." John takes Marlena into his arms. "Just let it all out Doc. I'm here for you."

To be continued...

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