Waking Up Worlds Apart

Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I can love you from here........

It was early morning in Salem, the sun was up, and the children would be waking up at any given moment. It was time to start the day and put her feelings aside to concentrate on them and their needs. They were missing their Daddy very much, and they couldn't really understand what he had told them about the reason for his trip. To them, it was just more time away from a father who loved them, but left them a lot, as their Mommy had done. Belle and Brady knew that sometimes their parents left and it wasn't because they chose to do so, but this time... Daddy went away on purpose. It didn't make any sense to them. If they and their mother were the most important thing like he said, why did he spend so much time away from them?

"Belle... are you awake now?" asked Brady, as the sunlight flickered through the curtains, tickling his eyes awake. At some point during the night they ended up in the same bed, something they did occasionally, especially when one or both of their parents was away from home.

The blond haired blue eyed little girl popped right up, wasting no time in asking a question that had been weighing heavily on her mind, "Brady... how long is Daddy spossed to be gone?"

On moonbeams, on heartstrings.....

"I don't know... Momma said not too long," Brady answered hopefully. He hated it when his father was away... or when his attention was on something other than he and his little sister. It made him sad to think it would be a long time, which to a small boy was anything longer than a day or two.

The little blond cherub sighed exasperatedly, and then said, "I know, but that's what they always> say."

Love makes it's way through anything
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I will always be near, I'll love you from here........

As she stood staring out over the city in the coolness of the early morning breeze on a mid-summer's day, Marlena was trying hard not to focus what they were all missing out on.. yet again. Days at the park, trips to the zoo or the beach, time with both of their parents as a family, something they were all longing to have. She and John had recently acknowledged the fact that either one or both of them had been essentially absent from their children's lives on numerous occasions, many times against their will, but this was by choice and in certain moments, Marlena found herself resenting John's decision. She couldn't deny the facts, however, which were she was the one telling him he should go with Hope, encouraging him to search out his past, believing she might join him soon. Circumstances that existed with her grown children, as well as the needs of the little ones had quickly changed her mind about that. Someone simply had to be there for them, and if it had to be her, then so be it.

Well, time will never change me
You just gotta believe it......

Glancing down at the smiling image of his handsome face once again, she said with a long sigh, "Oh.. John... I don't begrudge you this time... but you must realize that it doesn't come without a price... I love you, I'll always love you and I'll be waiting here for you. I truly hope you find what you're looking for, my love. But most of all, I hope you know how much we all miss you and that we need you and want you to come home soon."

Besides all of that, there was her own project to consider. It *would* be easier to pursue without John around, she mused, striving to convince herself she'd made the right decision about it. Before she resolved the issue of whether she should tell him what she'd been working on while he was away, the children were standing behind her, eager to get going. Within minutes they were off to breakfast, all other matters forgotten for awhile.

And the dream that saves me
Is that you're happy and you're free......

Later on... half a world away, John and Hope were in their separate rooms, getting ready to head out for a late dinner. Although he'd talked to her once already... John had been thinking about Marlena and the kids off and on all day long, and every time he did, he had the strangest sensation that something was wrong, so he rang Hope's room to tell her it would be a few more minutes. John wanted to call Marlena again, just to make sure everything was allright at home. As he reached out his left hand to pick up the phone, it rang and a sudden jolt of terror landed in his belly when he heard whose voice was on the line, "John... it's me, Abe.. there's something I have to tell you... It's about Marlena...."

Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I can love you from here.....

There was an agonizing pause and John knew it all the way to his soul; it was very bad news... 'Oh... please let her be okay... that's all I ask, Lord...please!' he pleaded silently, as he waited to hear Abe say quietly, "John... you better sit down> for this...."

Still standing, an adrenaline rush born of sheer panic coursing rapidly through his veins, he demanded anxiously, "Just tell me, Abe... what's wrong?"

Abe Carver agonized over how to tell his best friend the words that would plunge him into a raging torrent of emotions, one of them guilt, of which there had been more than enough in the last five years.

to be continued.......