Kintsugi

Chapter 20

All of John's fears over whether Shawn would accept him, or question the truth of what they were telling him, went out the window, when John found himself engulfed in his father's arms, it was like finally coming home. Wrapping his arms around the man he had considered his 'father' for the last ten years, John marveled over the fact that Shawn Brady was actually his father, which made Roman, Kimberly, Kayla and, yes, even Bo, his siblings.

Shawn pulled back from their embrace, tears in his eyes, and he grabbed John's face in his hands, saying, "Ever since the day I met ye, there was something. I couldn't figure it out..."

"I never knew why you accepted me so easily," John said. "I always wondered, because everyone so readily accepted me for Roman."

"Yer eyes, John," Shawn said. "I always felt something about your eyes."

"You're really my Pop," John whispered. Then with a smirk, he said, "The family tree just got a lot more complicated."

Marlena watched the scene unfold, and said quietly, "Shawn, I have a message for you...from Luna."

"From Luna? How?" he asked her.

"It's complicated...the short version, I'm 'touched'," Marlena said softly.

John slid back into the booth beside Marlena, taking her hand in his, and asking, "Doc? Why didn't you tell me this part?"

"I wasn't sure, I think I needed to process the significance."

Shawn sat back down heavily, staring at Marlena's face, and knew she was telling the truth. He said, "I woke up the other morning, and I felt...I knew, I had to tell Caroline the truth. It was a feeling that filled me up, until I had to come out with it. I never felt anything like it, so I'm not judging ye."

Taking a deep breath, Marlena said, "I was standing on the cliffs of Moher, in Galway, under a full moon. I remember enjoying the feel of the cool air rushing off the sea, and I heard her voice, a voice I've never heard before, but still a voice I knew. When I turned around she stood there, as she would have been before she died. Young...beautiful. She had a message for you, Shawn." Marlena watched him, her eyes full of kindness, and grabbing his hand in hers, she said, "You gave her everything she needed. You loved her unconditionally. She said she was a 'bird with clipped wings in a gilded cage', and you gave her the love she needed."

Shawn gasped softly, remembering Luna saying the same thing to him, "She said that to me once...she told me she was a bird. A bird whose wings has been cut, and she was forced to live in a golden cage. Stefano kept her so confined, and while he provided everything she needed. All the best quality, it was still a cage."

"But, Doc, what about the other part, the part about you being 'touched', because Gabe told me it was his last visit to me, but that he would see you again," John said.

"I asked her why Gabe had come to me in my dream...why I could see her. She said I was 'touched'. When you offered yourself up to save me in the morgue, during your final battle with the demon...Gabe intervened. Only the souls that are pure are ever touched..." Marlena said quietly, trailing off at the end.

"I gave my soul to the demon. It came into my body, and I felt so helpless, so cold," John whispered.

Marlena's hand covered her mouth, as she gasped softly, "You did?"

"I did. I never wanted you to know...Gabe arrived. He ended it. He saved us both, but you, Doc...you..." His mind wandered back to the night more than three months ago.

John looked into the most beautiful face he had ever known. If he had to die, he would be grateful he died looking into Marlena's face. The demon said to him, "You're mine John."

"What have you done to me?"

"You lost the battle, John. It's over," the demon told him, while holding his face in its hands. "The priest who dared to fight my will, is now in my control. Your soul in mine. John, it's time for you to die. You're going with me to hell," it said, squeezing his neck with more and more force. "Don't fight me. Don't fight me! It's over...it's over, John. You're mine."

He felt his body being lowered to the ground, the grip of the demon around his neck, and with his last available breath, John cried out, "No! Help me, G-d! Please help me!" Suddenly he had strength, he had power, and he stood on his feet, pushing the hands of the demon away. Before him stood Marlena's body, still possessed, but frozen in movement. "What does this mean? What's happening? John asked.

"It means you acted in time, John," said Gabriel from behind him.

John turned in the dark room, calling out, "Who's there?" while moving to protect Marlena's body from whatever was there.

"You called, and the Lord heard you," Gabriel said, moving into the light.

"Gabe?"

"Yes, it's me John. It's time now," he said, reaching for John's shoulder.

"It's time?"

"Yes, it's time to do, what you were chosen to do. Cast him out, John. Cast out the devil," Gabe said with force, releasing John's shoulder, and stepping away from him.

John turned slowly, facing the woman he loved, and the demon inside her, as Gabe gazed on the scene. He whispered to the demon, "It's over. All the misery. All the pain you inflicted on Marlena, on Father Francis, on me...on everyone in this town. It's over!" Stepping closer to Marlena, John said, "In the name of Christ, I cast you out Demon! Be gone, back to hell where you belong!"

The voice of the demon rang from Marlena's body, yelling "No!", as she collapsed into Gabriel's waiting arms.

John stood there, watching in shock, as he said helplessly, "That's it? After all this time? The demon's gone?"

"Yes," Gabe told him. "The devil is gone, because you called on G-d's name. You've triumphed."

John was still almost speechless, barely processing what had just happened, "I've called on G-d before—"

"—but this time, you surrendered completely...to G-d's power, and compassion...and he's honored you with victory," Gabriel said gently, still cradling Marlena's limp form.

John starts crying, blinking the tears from his eyes, as he approaches Gabe, saying, "What about Doc?"

Gabe touches her face softly, and then turns to John, saying, "Marlena has been though a terrible ordeal. You must do everything you can for her, John."

Stepping even closer, and reaching for her, John says softly, "Oh, I will. I will." Lifting her body close to him, he kissed her lips softly, whispering, again, "I will." He ran his fingers over her face, looking at her lovingly, and saying to Gabe, "Is she gonna be okay?"

Gabe touches Marlena's chest softly with his fingertips, causing her to gasp softly, as her body lifted from the table slightly. Gabe starts to disappear before his eyes, saying, "This is your work, not mine..."

When John finished explaining to them what had happened in the morgue, he looked at Marlena. His fingers ran along her face, touching her lips softly, saying, "The last thing Gabe did, before he left that room, was touch Doc on the chest. Her body arched up as she took a breath...and then he was gone."

"And ye brought her to the church?"

"Yes, that was when I came to the church with her, but right before Gabe disappeared he said, 'This is your work, not mine'," John said to Shawn.

Caroline was silent before she spoke, "What I think Gabriel meant, John, was that while he may have touched her, and brought her back...Marlena's healing would be yours to help her through. I think you've done that. I think you're both healing."