Chapter 650
RENAISSANCE LONDON HEATHROW HOTEL - ENGLAND
A short time later, John and Cassie were walking down the corridor of a hotel. John stopped at one of the doors.
JOHN: This one’s yours.
John used a key to open the door and he and Cassie walked in. Cassie looked around and put down her bags.
CASSIE: Nice. Nicholas certainly has good taste.
JOHN: Can’t deny that. As I’m supposed to be guarding you, I got us adjoining rooms.
John handed Cassie an envelope.
JOHN: While we’re here, we’ll be going undercover, should Vivian’s people try to find us. We can still venture out for things, but we’ll have to go by different names. This envelope has your assumed name, papers and details.
Cassie opened the envelope and looked at the passport within.
CASSIE: Raven Croshaw?
JOHN: Yep. When we’re out in public, you’ll use that name. I’ll be posing as your father, Marlon. We’re here seeing the sights after you graduated from NYU.
CASSIE: Okay, should be able to remember that.
JOHN: Good. There’ll be more information in those papers. Now, I’m sure you have questions, so let’s see if I can answer some of them.
JENNIFER’S HOUSE
CARLY: What do you need, Nicholas?
NICHOLAS (over phone): To clear the air. What you saw and heard over the last few months back at the Mansion...it wasn’t the whole story.
CARLY: Hold on a moment.
Carly put a hand over the phone.
CARLY: Sorry, but it’s Nicholas. I’m gonna take this upstairs.
JENNIFER: Oh, that’s okay. Come down when you’re done. And, good luck.
CARLY: Thanks.
Carly walked up the stairs and went into the guest room, where she was staying.
CARLY: All right, what is the whole story? And this better be the truth.
NICHOLAS (over phone): It is. Yes, I married Cassie, but not for the reasons I originally claimed. I did it because I needed to show Aunt Viv that I was on her side, but really, I was working against her the whole time.
CARLY: What do you mean?
NICHOLAS (over phone): Mother, you of all people know what Aunt Viv can be like. I was afraid that she would kill Cassie, and it’s likely she would. From the moment she revealed that she had tricked me, I knew that she wasn’t the real Cassie. True, I’ve never met the real Cassie, but you’ve always told me to follow my gut, and my gut was telling me that this vindictive witch wasn’t really her. So, I pretended to go along with Aunt Viv’s plan, for a while. But, the whole time, I was thinking of a way to get Cassie out of Aunt Viv’s clutches. That’s why I whisked her away to Alamainia.
CARLY: Isn’t that a little counter-productive? Taking her to a micronation where Vivian is the undisputed ruler to get her away from Vivian doesn’t really add up.
NICHOLAS (over phone): Let me finish. A few days after we got to Alamainia, I took Cassie for a drive out of the country. I gave her this medication to restore her memories.
CARLY: Okay. Where did you get this medication?
NICHOLAS (over phone): From a doctor I’ve known for a while. Anyway, as it turns out, I was right. Cassie had been brainwashed by André, and this medication restored her to her old self. I had to wait until I was far away from Alamainia, though, or else Aunt Viv would suspect something. Anyway, I dropped her off in London, but made arrangements for her to be reunited with her real family in the near future.
CARLY: I see.
NICHOLAS (over phone): So, there you go. That’s the story.
CARLY: Well, I can’t say I’m thrilled with the way things went down, but I’m glad I was at least wrong about you turning into your father.
NICHOLAS (over phone): As am I.
CARLY: So, are you back in town?
NICHOLAS (over phone): Not yet. I have a few things yet to take care of. I’ll be home soon.
CARLY: Let me know when you come back.
NICHOLAS (over phone): I will. And Mother? I love you.
CARLY: I love you, too, Nicky.
ALAMAIN MANSION
Lawrence and Vivian took a sip of their drinks.
LAWRENCE: Excellent. Just as I remember it.
VIVIAN: I’m so pleased. Now, don’t keep me in suspense any longer. Tell me about all you’ve been up to for the last decade.
LAWRENCE: Well, where to begin? I suppose being stabbed by Carly would be a good place to start.
VIVIAN: Yes. Just another thing that I will never forgive that woman for doing.
LAWRENCE: Anyway, I woke up with absolutely no memory of anything. My entire past, gone. It was like being John Black. Anyway, after waking up, I found that I was in a mansion. But it wasn’t this one, or the one in Alamainia. It was one of several DiMera Mansions, specifically the one in Aremid. It seems that the DiMeras had been keeping an eye on me for a while and saw the perfect opportunity to bring someone back to life when Carly stabbed me. They gave me a new backstory and a new name, James Forrester. I suppose they thought it was a rather clever play on my middle name and one of John’s many false identities.
VIVIAN: I can only imagine. That does sound just like them.
LAWRENCE: Well, for a time, I was a DiMera hitman. They sent me on special missions to eliminate many of their enemies. But, their plans soon came to a grinding halt when, quite by coincidence, nearly a year ago, I ran into my son.
VIVIAN: So, Nicky knew that you were alive. And he didn’t say anything?
LAWRENCE: He wanted it to be a surprise, Plus, he had to wait for my memories to return. In his time as head of Alamain Industries, Nicholas had become associates with a Dr. Salinas, who had previously worked on a miracle drug to combat the effects of dementia, and was, at that time, working on a similar drug to bring back lost or corrupted memories.
VIVIAN: My word!
LAWRENCE: It took quite a while for Nicholas to convince me of who I really was, but once he got me to take the pills, my memories came flooding back. As soon as I was back to my old self, I wanted to run back here to see you, but Nicholas told me to wait, that he knew the perfect time for me to come back.
VIVIAN: Oh, that boy. He certainly knows how I love surprises. Well, darling, now that you’re back, what’s the plan from here?
