To Chapter 7
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"Dad, are you sure that you don't want me to drive to the hospital?" Eric asked watching his father grab the car keys.
"Son, I've been feeling great lately." Roman insisted getting into the driver's seat. "The medication is really working and I'm ready to jump back into my old life again."
"Okay," Eric reluctantly agreed fastening his seat belt.
"Son, I need to ask you something." Roman began as they drove to the hospital.
"Yeah dad?" Eric asked settling in his seat.
"Do you know what's wrong with your mom?" Roman asked him.
"Mom?" Eric repeated.
"Yeah. She seems to be bothered by something lately and I can't quite figure it out." Roman began explaining. "Do you have any idea what it could be?"
"No dad." Eric lied feeling guilty. "Mom seems fine to me."
"You think so?" Roman asked looking at his son. "It just seems like she has something on her mind that she hasn't told me about."
"I'm sure she's fine Dad." Eric repeated. "I think that it's just the holiday season wearing her down."
"I guess you're right Eric." Roman agreed thinking it over. "She hasn't had too many good holidays lately. The family hasn't been together in so long that she probably needs to be reminded of what a true Brady Christmas is like."
"Excuse me Dr. Evans." A voice called out interrupting Marlena's thoughts as she looked up from her desk.
"John," she gasped smiling to see him, "I was just thinking about you."
"I thought so." he said as she rushed over to hug him.
"What are you doing here?" she asked realizing that he was supposed to be at the police station with Abe.
"Well, I ran into a couple of Santa's little helpers and they insisted that I bring them over here immediately." he said opening the door as Belle and Brady ran into the room.
"Mommy! Mommy!" the children cheered running over to her.
"Sweeties." she laughed lowering herself to their level. "How I've missed you two angels."
"Mommy, I drew you a picture in school today." Brady said handing her a drawing of a Christmas tree.
"It's wonderful sweetheart." she smiled kissing him.
"Mommy." Belle interrupted squeezing between Marlena and Brady and handing her a brown paper bag. "Daddy helped me make you lunch because you've been working very hard."
"Thank you very much sweety." Marlena said kissing her and accepting the paper bag. "What is it?"
"It's an apple, some juice, and a peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich mommy." Belle smiled proudly.
"Oh," Marlena replied looking at John, "daddy helped you with this?"
"Actually, it was my idea about the sandwich." Belle smiled brighter. "Daddy said that it wasn't one of your favorite sandwiches, but I told him that you would love it."
"I see." Marlena grinned again hugging Belle. "It's a wonderful lunch."
"Dr. Evans." Jenny said coming into the office and seeing the crowd. "I didn't realize that you had company."
"Jenny, this is my family. This is my fiancee John..." Marlena explained nodding to John as she put her arms around Belle and Brady. "... and these two are my son Brady and my daughter Belle."
"Hello you two." Jenny smiled talking to them. "How are you today?"
"Fine." Belle smiled brightly. "We were just visiting mommy to bring her lunch."
"Oh I see." Jenny said looking at the children.
"Dad, when can we go get some food from the cafeteria?" Brady asked his father.
"Actually, I thought that we would talk to mommy for a little while." John explained to his son.
"Come on Dad. We're hungry." Belle insisted tugging at her father's leg. "We need to eat."
"Bridget and I can take them to the cafeteria." Jenny suggested smiling at the two children.
"You don't have to." Marlena explained to Jenny.
"I'd love to." she explained to Marlena and John. "I have two little brothers back home and I always enjoyed taking care of them."
"Please dad." Brady begged again. "Can we go get some french fries?"
"Well, alright." John gave in to his son.
"Do you two like video games?" Jenny asked the children.
"Yeah." Brady cheered.
"Well, if it's okay with your parents, then Bridget and I have a couple Game boy's out in the lobby if you want to play with them after you eat your french fries." Jenny informed them.
"Please mom!!!" Brady insisted tugging on Marlena's leg.
"It'll be no trouble at all." Jenny explained smiling. "It will give you two a little time to be alone."
"Come on dad." Belle pleaded flashing John a beautiful smile. "Can we?"
"I guess that will be okay." Marlena said giving in to them. "You two be good for Jenny."
"We will." they assured their parents as they followed Jenny into the lobby.
"She seems nice." John said wrapping his arms around Marlena after he shut the door.
"She's my new assistant." Marlena smiling kissing his nose softly. "She's from Colorado and she's going to school here at the University."
"Hey, she's cute." John said getting an idea in his head. "Maybe you should invite her to dinner some time to meet Eric."
"That's an idea." she agreed touching his cheek. "Did I ever tell you how cute you are?"
"Not in the last few hours." he grinned kissing her lips softly.
"You know," she said breaking away from the kiss, "I don't know if I should let you kiss me anymore."
"Why Doc?" he asked confused.
"You let my daughter make me a peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich." she explained wrinkling her nose. "That was a nasty thing to do."
"Nasty huh?" he said reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a grilled chicken sandwich. "I'm sure that you wouldn't want this then."
"How did you know I was craving one of those?" she asked amazed reaching out for the sandwich.
"Not so fast Doc." he said pulling the sandwich backward. "I believe that you mentioned something a few minutes ago that I didn't like too much. Something about not letting me kiss you anymore."
"John, you know I was just kidding." she explained moving towards him.
"I don't know...you sounded pretty serious." he teased her.
"John, what can I do to make it up to you?" she asked inching closer to him.
"I'm sure that you can think of something Dr. Evans." he smiled mischievously. "I think that we can work out some kind of deal."
"I thought so." she said snatching the sandwich from his hand while his guard was down.
"Hey, that's no fair." he protested grabbing her again.
"John, I'm hungry." she insisted looking into his eyes. "No more playing around."
"Okay," he said releasing her, "I'll let you eat your chicken while I go check on the kids."
"John, the kids will be fine for a little while with Bridget and Jenny. Besides," she said tossing the sandwich onto her desk top, "that's not what I'm hungry for right now."
"You are amazing Doc." he laughed as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down on top of her on the couch in her office.
"I'm just making the most of our quiet time alone." she informed him pressing her lips to his.
Roman walked alone into the hospital for his appointment with Mike while Eric ran a few errands. He checked the time and wondered if Doc was in her office or out to lunch. He decided that he was going to take a trip towards her office. He was walking past the maternity ward when he saw a familiar face.
"Kristen, what are you doing here?" he asked noticing that Kristen was staring at the newborn babies.
"Roman, I didn't know that you were here." she smiled at him. "What are you up to?"
"I have a check up with Mike today." he explained looking her over. "The question is what are you doing here?"
"Well, a friend of mine just had a baby." she lied to him. "Why?"
"Oh, when I suggested that John bring you over to celebrate for the holidays with us, he said that you were out of town visiting an old college friend for the holidays." Roman informed her.
"Well, I was." Kristen lied to him suddenly getting an idea. "I just came back home and I kind of wanted to surprise John."
"Well, hey, we're all having dinner tonight at the penthouse." Roman added to her. "Why don't you just show up at about six thirty? I'm sure that John will be delighted to find out that you're back home."
"I'd love to Roman." she smiled in delight.
"I know that tonight is going to be special for everyone now that you're back." Roman added smiling.
"Definitely Roman. I guarantee everyone will be surprised." she grinned realizing that Roman would be able to help her get John back.