Chapter 23 - Kristen's Demise

Jesse's entering information into the computer at the Horton Center. She's listening to music through her headphones when suddenly she feels like someone is staring at her. Jesse looks up and is startled to see someone standing in front of her. "Oh my god! Marlena! You scared me!" Jesse takes off the headphones gets up from behind the computer. She hugs Marlena. "I missed you so much. When did you get back?" "About an hour ago." "What are you doing here? You should be at your new house with John and the kids." "John can handle that for now. I came here to ask you to go out to lunch with me." "Sure. I just have to finish putting this into the computer and I'll be ready to go." "Is Alice here?" "I think she's in the kitchen." "I'll talk to her while you're finishing." "I'll come and get you when I'm done."

Jesse sits back down in front of the computer. She quickly enters the information into the computer as she finishes Mike walks through the front door. "Hey what are you doing here?" "Well there are two reasons I came here. The first reason is right here in my hand." Mike hands Jesse an envelope. "What is it?" "It's the results of your paternity test." Jesse's shaking. "Would you open it? I have this thing against opening envelopes since I opened my adoption papers." Mike opens the envelope and takes out the paper inside. "Well! What's the verdict?" "The tests prove that Don is your father. Is this good or bad news?" "Honestly, I don't know." "What are you going to do?" "I guess I'll call him. I don't know. So what's the other reason you came over?" "Let me think. Why else would I want to come over here? I know. I wanted to know if you would like to go out to lunch." "I'm sorry. I all ready told Marlena I would go with her." "So she's back in town?" "Yes they got in about an hour ago. I really want to hear all about her trip." Mike looks disappointed. Jesse puts her arms around Mike. "How about this? You can take me to dinner tonight." "Oh can I?" "Yes and afterwards we can go back to my place and I can thank you properly for the wonderful evening we had." Mike smiles. "I like that idea." Mike kisses Jesse. "I thought you would." Jesse and Mike kiss again. Marlena and Alice enter the room. "Sorry to interrupt the two of you." They stop. "Are you ready to go Marlena?" "I'm ready if you're ready." Jesse grabs her coat and purse. Marlena says her good-byes and leaves. Mike holds the door open for Jesse. "I'll see you tonight." Jesse kisses Mike and walks out the door.

"Michael, would you like a sandwich?" "Sure Gran." The phone rings. "Mike, could you answer that while I make our lunch?" "Hello, Horton Center, Mike Horton speaking." "Mike, this is Don Craig. I was wondering if Jesse was there? She just left I'll see if I can catch her." Jesse turns to Marlena. "So who's car are we going to take?" "Why don't we take mine? It's right across the street." Marlena steps off the curb. "Jesse! Jesse!" Jesse turns around. "There's a phone call for you." Suddenly she can hear the squealing of tires. She looks back towards the street to see a car speeding right at Marlena. Everything seems to move in slow motion. "MARLENA WATCH OUT!" Marlena turns to see the car speeding towards her but she can't seem to move. Jesse runs towards her and pushes her out of harms way. She tries to get out of the way as well but it's too late the car hits Jesse. She flies several feet in the air. She lands on the street like a rag doll. The car continues to speed out of control until it hits head on into a telephone pole. All you can hear is the blaring of a car horn.

Mike is horrified at what he sees. He immediately runs to help Jesse. The doctor in him tells him not to touch her but his heart wins out. Mike cradles Jesse in his arms. "Jesse! Jesse, please open your eyes." Marlena picks herself up and rushes to Jesse's side. "Mike. Mike let her go!" Jesse opens her eyes. "Marlena?" Marlena takes Jesse's hand. "I'm right here." "Are you all right?" "I'm fine. How about you?" "I'm having trouble breathing." Marlena's stroking her blonde hair. "Just take slow, deep breaths. The ambulance should be here soon." Mike is checking out Jesse's injuries. He opens her blouse and starts to examine her. He starts applying pressure to different parts of her abdomen. "Does this hurt?" Jesse lets out a scream. "WHERE IS THAT AMBULANCE?" Jesse speaks. "Mike, calm down. Go check on the person in the car." Mike hesitates. "I'll be right back." "Marlena, promise me you will take care of Maddie for me." "Don't worry about that now." "Promise me that you will love her like I know only you can. Promise me." Marlena has tears streaming down her face. "I will." Mike grabs his medical bag and rushes to the car. The front of the car is crushed. Mike tries to open the driver's door but it's jammed. He goes around to the other side and gets in. The woman is slumped over the steering wheel. First he checks for a pulse but there is none. Mike moves the body from the wheel when he notices that it's Kristen. He knows that there is nothing he can do for her so he rushes back to Jesse. "Jesse I'm here." "How is the person in the car? Don't worry about them." "Mike you know who it was, don't you? Who was it?" "It's not important." "I want to know who did this to me." "It was Kristen." Marlena's in shock. She walks towards the car. "Mike…Mike." "I'm right here. You just hang on." I don't know if I can. I want you to promise me something." "What is it?" "I want you to promise me that you will talk to Carrie. Tell her how you feel. Don't go through your life wondering what might have been. Please promise me you'll tell her." "I.." Suddenly Jesse's eyes roll to the back of her head. Mike checks for a pulse but there is none. "Jesse! Oh my god no!" Mike starts to perform CPR. Marlena hears Mike's cries and rushes back to help him.

The ambulance finally arrives. The paramedics take over performing CPR. They stabilize her and get her to University Hospital. Marlena and Mike travel in the ambulance with Jesse. They both tell her that she has to hold on for Maddie's sake. Once in the ER Mike goes with Jesse but Marlena is told to wait in the waiting room. Marlena can't stand to sit in the waiting room any longer so she goes to the chapel to pray. Marlena kneels down. "Sam, I'm so sorry I failed you. I know that you are taking such good care of DJ in heaven and you trusted me to take care of your child and look at what happened. I'm so sorry. Oh dear god please don't take Jesse. I beg of you.." Marlena feels a hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see John. They embrace. "Oh John! It was horrible." "I know. I know it was but honey you have to calm down. Think about the babies." "I know you're right but I can't help it." Mike enters the chapel. "Mike, how is she?" "She's still in surgery. She has a lot of internal injures and she also has a severe head injury but the surgery is going well so far." "Is she going to make it?" "It's too hard to tell. Why don't the two of you go home? She's going to be in there for a while. I'll let you know if anything happens." "No, I want to stay here." "Marlena I think you need your rest if not for you then for your babies." "Doc, you know he's right." "Marlena I will let you know as soon as she gets out of surgery." "I want to know the second she's out." "I will."

John and Marlena finally make it home to their new house. John opens the door. Marlena goes to walk through when John stops her. "My new wife isn't going to walk into our new house for the first time. I'm going to carry you across the threshold." "John I feel silly. We don't have to do this." "I know we don't have to but I want to." John picks Marlena up and carries her over the threshold. He continues to carry her upstairs to their bedroom. Marlena falls asleep in his arms. John gently lays her down on the bed. He very carefully takes her coat off so that he doesn't wake her. John then joins her in bed. He puts his arms around her and holds her as she sleeps.

Jesse spends the entire night in surgery. It's early in the morning when Mike calls the Black house with news about Jesse. The phone rings. John answers the phone. "Hello? Mike!" Marlena pops up out of bed. "It's Mike, give me the phone." Marlena rips the phone from John's hands. "Mike, how is she?" "Marlena, she's out of surgery." "We'll be right over." Marlena hangs up the phone. "How is she?" "Mike said that she's out of surgery. I have to get over there." "I'll drive you."

John and Marlena race to the hospital. They go into the ICU waiting room where Mike is waiting for them. "Mike, how serious are her injuries?" "I don't know. They wouldn't let me into the surgery. Her doctor, Dr. Corday is going to come out to speak with you in a couple of minutes." Carrie, Austin, and Eric enter the room. Eric's visibly shaken. "How is she?" "We don't know. We do know that she's out of surgery." Dr. Corday enters the room. He extends his hand out to Marlena. "Dr. Evans, I'm Dr. Corday. I was one of the doctors who worked on your niece." "How is she?" "Your niece sustained some very serious injuries. Your niece had several broken ribs, which punctured her lung. We tried to save her spleen but there was just too much damage done to it. The injury we're most concerned with is her head injury. We had to go in to repair the damage, which was caused by the accident. She's in a coma right now. We won't know if there will be any damage until she wakes up. The good news is that there has been some brain activity. The next 24 hours are going to be critical." "When can I see her?" "As soon as we move her into her own room you can see her." Dr. Corday goes to leave the room when he stops. "I'm not sure if I should mention this but did your niece tell you that she was pregnant?" "Pregnant?" Eric questions the doctor. "How far along was she?" "I don't know. We could run tests on the fetus if you want to find out." Everyone's in shock to think that this child might actually have been Eric's but Mike speaks up. "No tests need to be run. The child was Jesse's and mine. We just found out and we were going to tell everyone soon." Marlena questions the doctor. "Will she be able to have another child?" "I don't see any reason right now why she wouldn't be able to have another child." "Thank you doctor." "I just hope that we were able to save your niece." Dr. Corday leaves the room. John tries to comfort Marlena. The entire situation is too much for Eric so the leaves. Mike stands staring out the window. He starts to remember what Jesse wanted him to do. "Mike…Mike." "I'm right here. You just hang on." "I don't know if I can. I want you to promise me something." "What is it?" "I want you to promise me that you will talk to Carrie. Tell her how you feel. Don't go through your life wondering what might have been. Please promise me you'll tell her." "Mike?" Mike is startled. "I'm sorry." "It's all right Carrie." "I'm so sorry about Jesse…the baby. I just want you to know that I'll be here for you if you need me." "Thanks." Carrie walks over to Marlena. "I'm sorry Jesse but this is one promise I can't keep."

Marlena and John fall asleep in the waiting room. A nurse walks in and tries to wake Marlena. "Dr. Evans?" Marlena wakes up. "I'm sorry to wake you but Dr. Corday told me to find you when your niece has been moved into her own room. Her room number is 417." "Thank you Sarah." Marlena turns to John. "John wake up." John opens his eyes. "Jesse's been moved to her own room." "Let's go." John and Marlena enter Jesse's room. "Oh my! She's so bruised." "They'll heal, Doc." Marlena sits down in a chair next to Jesse's bed. She takes Jesse's hand. John stares at Jesse. Suddenly he's taken back in time to when Marlena was in her coma. John feels just as helpless as he did back then. He knows that there is nothing he can do or say to change things. "Doc, I'll give the two of you a few minutes alone. I'll call and check on the kids." Marlena turns to John. "Don't be gone long." "I won't."

Marlena wipes the tears away from her eyes. Once again she takes Jesse's hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. This was all my fault. Kristen was trying to kill me. I failed again. Once again Don is going to lose another child because of me." "Baby, don't say that." "It can't be." Marlena turns around to see Don standing in the doorway. Marlena gets up from her chair. "Don…OH DON." They embrace. "It's okay baby. This wasn't your fault." Don goes over to Jesse. He kisses her on her forehead. "This is the first time I've seen her since I found out that she's my daughter." With tears in her eyes Marlena puts her arm around Don. "I just want the chance to get to know her." "You will. Let's go to the chapel and pray."

Jesse's lying in her hospital bed in a lot of pain. She tries to open her eyes but she can't. Suddenly she feels no pain and her eyes open. There's a bright light shining in her eyes. She can see a woman. "Jesse." Jesse looks closer. "Marlena?" "No, it's Sam." "Where am I? Am I dead?" "Not you're not dead, you're just sort of in-between." "How long will I be here?" "You'll be here as long as it takes to decide your fate." "You mean right now it's being decided whether or not I'm going to live or die and I have no say in the matter. My daughter needs me. I want to be there for her." "I know and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you will be with your daughter again. You just have to be patient." "I just want to know that I will see my daughter again." "I know." Jesse looks at Sam. She can see the pain in her face. "I think you do know." "Jesse we have been given this time together and I don't want to waste a single minute."

Don and Marlena are in the chapel praying. Don speaks first. "I hope this works. I can't loose another child." Marlena takes Don's hand. "I want to get to know her." "I know you do. I know how much your children mean to you." "Do you ever think that maybe she could have been our daughter? I think that she was meant to be born whether it was to be to you or Sam I don't know but I just feel like she was meant to live. Maybe if Sam hadn't done what she did then maybe Jesse would have been our child. Then maybe just maybe our marriage would have survived DJ's death. Do I sound crazy?" "No…oh no. I've thought the same thing from time to time. In a way I think of Jesse as my daughter. I'm very grateful to have her in my life. I feel like I have a piece of Sam with me. She's so much like Sam." "Is there anything about her that reminds you of me?" "She definitely has your stubborn streak in her." "Hey, what do you mean? I think that comes from your side of the family." Marlena laughs. Don puts his arm around Marlena. She rests her head on his shoulder. It starts to feel like old times. John enters the chapel to see Marlena in Don's arms. He knows that they will always just be friends but he just can't help but be jealous. "So where are you staying?" "I haven't found a place yet. I came here from the air port." "You can stay with us." "No Marlena, I couldn't." "Yes you can, besides Maddie is staying with us. I think it's about time she meets her grandpa." "Grandpa huh." Marlena smiles. "Yes, grandpa." "I kindda like it." "I knew you would." "Let's go see her." Marlena and Don get up from the pew. "John, why didn't you let us know you were here?" "I didn't want to interrupt you." "How are the children?" "They're fine. Maddie's a little upset." "I think we'd better get back." The three of them leave the chapel. Marlena pauses before she leaves. "Dear god please let Jesse be all right."

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