She peered out of cloudly eyes to see the most wondrous sight. It was a miracle... John was alive.. how could that be, he was to be executed. Stefano had said he was dead. Marlena wondered if they were both in heaven, together at last. "John... " she offered tentatively. "Are we... are you..."

John simply stared at her for a moment... finding himself speechless, caught up in the awesome power of the moment. All he could manage was a tearful nod and a gentle touch. His left hand held her right, and the knuckles of his right hand tenderly caressed her left cheek. "Yes... honey.. we're both alive and relatively well. You had a rough go of it for a little while there, but God gave you back to me." He smiled warmly at her through grateful tears.

Let me be your freedom
Let daylight dry your tears
I'm here
With you, beside you
To guard you and to guide you.....

Moisture was forming fast in her eyes too, as reality started to sink in, "Oh.. John... you're really alive.. Stefano said.. Oh.. John.. you're all right.. I'm so glad... I thought I would never get to see you again.. and I didn't.. get to say... goodbye.." As her trembling hand reached up toward his face, and he grasped it lightly and guided it to its destination on his flushed cheek. She gave a sigh of immense relief in response to that simple contact. It was indescribable, but having come so close to losing him made her love him all that much more and her heart filled with joy as she peered out of teary eyes.

Feeling the same emotions about her near death to drowning, John leaned down to hold her, saying softly.. "Shh... it's okay, it's over... I'm fine now. And you're safe, that's all that matters to me."

She was grateful too, but she wanted to know the details, at least some of them. "But how... John? What happened?"

"Jack and Jenn... they found the diary. Tony set the whole thing up to frame me and they got it there just in time to stop the execution. I was..." He suddenly coughed a little bit, still feeling the effects of the gas in his lungs.

Realizing from the coughing that he meant it literally, just in time, she cried out worriedly, thinking of how frightening it must have been for him, "Oh.. my God, John... Oh... honey.. you mean.. you were in the chair and they had.. already turned on the gas?" Her eyes were wide with the thought of how frightening that must have been.

He nodded tearfully again, remembering the moment when he thought he was going to die, the instant he had accepted the finality of it. "Yea... but.. I'm okay," he said, trying to sound reassuring, working to squelch the emotions he felt in that terrifying moment, but not quite managing it.

Her hands covering her mouth to control her own feelings about how very close she had come to losing him, she cried out again, "Oh, John... Oh my God.. I'm so glad! Oh, just hold me.. please just hold me!" He complied instantly, needing the embrace as much as she did. They stayed that way for a few long minutes, instinctively massaging each other's backs, stroking each other's hair and whispering soft soothing sounds in each other's ears.

Recalling exactly what he felt in those last moments before losing consciousness, John pulled out of the emotional embrace to share what was in his heart for her. It was time for the truth, his near death experience cementing his belief that if he felt something for someone he should say it, no matter what happened next.

Taking both of her hands in his and gazing at her with all the hidden love he felt during those long years apart, he began to speak, quietly revealing himself, "Marlena.. there's something I have to say to you.. and it might take you by surprise.. it might even shock you, but I have to say it. When I was.. in that gas chamber and the gas was pouring out all around me, beginning to choke me... all these images from the past came to mind.. and dreams I was never going to get a chance to live out... and it made me understand something.. Doc... I... realized that... the way I feel about you... it's so much.. more than.. friendship.. and it always has been. Doc... I... l...." A sense of fear struck like lightning.. what if she didn't feel the same, what if she were hurt by what he was going to tell her, what if it ruined the friendship? He couldn't handle that. 'Oh.. what should I do, please help me out here, Lord.' he beseeched the God he had thanked for bringing her back from the brink of death so many times. Was it too much to ask that he be granted the privilege of spending the rest of his life with her?'

"John... go ahead... what did you want to tell me?" Marlena asked, curious and suddenly more hopeful that he returned her feelings of love than at any time since the affair ended. She did the best she could to send him a look that told him of her love without making it too obvious, in case she was wrong in the conclusion she was drawing about what he intended to say.

Taking a deep breath and then letting it out slowly, he just said it before he could chicken out. With a shaky tearful voice, he said as rapidly as he could manage, "Okay... Doc...I.. love you, I've always loved you.. that's what I realized tonight when I thought I was going to die and I.. wished that I could tell you... that I could.. hold you in my arms.. one last time. I love you Marlena Evans.. I always have and I always will."

Tears of joy burst forth from her already glistening eyes and she shared her heart with him, "Oh.. John... I love you too... I've been realizing it more and more, especially since we came to Aremid and you were arrested. I was so scared I was going to lose you and it made me recognize that what I felt for you was so much more than close friendship. John... honey.. God... saved our lives and now... he's giving us back our love... Oh.. I just love you so!"

His eyes went wide open with ecstatic surprise. "You do... you love me? You really love me, Doc?" he asked incredulously. He half expected her to let him down gently, telling him again how much his friendship meant to her, how much she *cared,* about him, but this was different. He could see it in her eyes, and in her smile. Marlena felt the same way about him. She nodded her answer, showing him all the love she had inside for him, the love that was suddenly no longer forbidden. Quietly, she said what he needed to hear, "Yes, honey, I really do love you, with all of my heart and all of my soul, and I always have."

He started to cry again, tears representing the great joy overflowing from his heart, "Oh...Marlena.. you just made me the happiest man on the face of this earth, no.. in the universe! I'm the happiest man in the universe... I love you so much, Doc!"

John and Marlena embraced again, their mouths meeting in the most wondrous of kisses, their tongues intertwining in perfect rhythm and rhyme to ignite the once forbidden passion that always dwelled deep inside them, the tears of elation flowing and mingling together on their flushed cheeks. There were no more words necessary at this moment. It truly was a miracle. Two people on the brink of death were brought back to life and two hearts so far apart were reunited, at long last. Never again would they hide or deny the love that existed between them. Theirs was a love which was written in the book of life and they would stay in love this way until the end of time and beyond.

Lyrics taken from song entitled All I Ask of You written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart amd Richard Stilgoe, as performed by Barbra Streisand