February 23, 2007

Marlena: Oh, no, I'm sorry. I haven't heard from Belle since she sent that goodbye letter through Chelsea. Yeah. I will. And if you hear from Shawn, you'll call me, too? All right, thanks. Yeah, you, too. Bye.

Kayla: Marlena. Oh, thank you so much for coming over.

Marlena: You sounded so upset on the phone. I assume that Steve's gotten worse?

Kayla: He choked me.

Marlena: He choked you?

Kayla: Listen, Marlena, it wasn't his fault. Whatever E.J. did to him is making him act like someone else.

Marlena: Kayla, I'm so sorry about this. What do you want me to do?

Kayla: I want you to find him.

Marlena: No, I won't do that. I'm sorry. That's something I just won't do.

E.J.: Bring John black to me.

Marlena: Kayla, I'm sorry. I've got to say no.

Kayla: I wouldn't be asking you if I wasn't desperate

Marlena: Steve is delusional. He needs help.

Kayla: I know. That's why I called you.

Marlena: I'll help him gladly once he's under control.

Kayla: What are you saying I do -- I just sit here and wait and hope that he comes back here in his right frame of mind?

Marlena: You don't do that. You call Roman. You have him brought in.

Kayla: I'm not gonna do -- I'm not betraying my husband.

Marlena: That isn't betrayal. That's protecting him. The Steve we know would never hurt you. This Steve did. Who is he going to hurt next?

Kayla: No one.

Marlena: Kayla, what are you doing?

Kayla: I'm gonna find my husband.

Marlena: He attacked you.

Kayla: I don't care. I am not turning him over to the police. Whatever E.J. did, I am gonna undo.

Marlena: You can't do that. Kayla, he's not there. You can't do it.

Kayla: You know what? Can you reach John? He's in a coma. Can you reach him?

Marlena: Yes, but that's different.

Kayla: No, it's not really different. Both of us have lost our husbands. Both of our husbands are loved. You found a way to reach your husband, and I'm gonna find a way to reach mine.

Marlena: Kayla, I won't let you leave.

Kayla: Steve needs help, and if you're not gonna help him, then I am.

Marlena: Steve is delusional. Whoever he saw when he attacked you, it wasn't his wife. It wasn't the mother of his daughter.

Kayla: I know that. That's why I feel that I could just reach him.

Marlena: But you can't reach him. The DiMera’s have rewired his mind. Look, I know how this works. I know this one.

Kayla: That's why I thought that you would understand.

Marlena: I do understand, which is why you have to listen to me. Honey, Steve belongs to them now.

E.J.: Bring John Black to me.

Marlena: The DiMera’s own his mind. Sometimes he's aware of what he's doing, but most of the time, he's under their control. Whatever they want him to do, he will do.

Kayla: I have to find Steve. I have to stop him.

Marlena: Stop him from what -- following DiMera's orders? Wherever Steve is now, he only has one focus -- completing his mission.

Kayla: I've already lost him once, Marlena. I can't lose him again.

Marlena: You can't save him either.

Kayla: You know what? I got through all those years of not knowing if Steve was alive or not. I can get through this.

Marlena: He tried to choke you to death. You can't go in the streets looking out there for a madman.

Kayla: Don't say that.

Marlena: Call Roman. Have him put out the APB.

Kayla: Why would I do that to Steve?

Marlena: He's dangerous. John said --

Kayla: John said what?

Marlena: Nothing.

Kayla: Marlena, don't you turn away from me. If you have information about Steve, you need to tell me what it is.

Marlena: It isn't information that's based on any fact or science.

Kayla: Come on. We have both been in enough emergency rooms to know that fact and science doesn't always explain everything.

Marlena: It. . . was a dream.

Kayla: Bo told me about this dream. Something about Steve, but you woke up before he finished. Marlena, what do you think that John was trying to tell you?

Marlena: That Steve has been programmed to kill someone.

Kayla: John told you this in a dream -- a dream.

Marlena: I know that sounds a little crazy, but it's like a visit. I can feel him. I can hear him. What he tells me has never been wrong, not once.

Kayla: Well, he's wrong this time, because Steve is not a killer. That's not who he is.

Marlena: Don't think of this man as Steve Johnson or as Patch. That man is gone.

Kayla: I-I cannot believe that.

Marlena: Kayla, do you want to help him? If you do, you've got to be honest about who he really is. He's a man who tried to kill you. Look, that man is not Steve. But Steve will be blamed for whatever -- whatever he does. And my guess is it's going to be murder.

Marlena: Kayla, that is why the police have to be involved.

Kayla: No. They will just arrest him and have him committed.

Marlena: No. It'll be a couple weeks for observation.

Kayla: I don't care if it's a week or a day. Steve hates the idea of being locked up in some institution where they are picking away at his brain.

Marlena: Do you know what he's going to hate even more? Waking up from this psychotic nightmare to find out that he has killed someone.

Kayla: We have no proof that, that's gonna happen.

Marlena: Are you waiting for something more tangible, like something in the form of a victim?

Kayla: I can't betray my husband.

Marlena: You're not betraying him. Remember me -- Marlena -- your friend who has been tortured by the DiMera, who's had her thoughts controlled by them, who's been tucked away in an asylum? This is not betrayal. This is imperfect salvation.

Kayla: I don't think Steve's gonna think that I'm saving him.

Marlena: I'm not just talking about Steve here. I'm taking about the person that we need to save from Steve.

Kayla: There must be another way.

Marlena: Honey, I'm so sorry.

Kayla: All those years that everybody kept saying that Steve was dead, I just- I didn't believe it. I just kept feeling that he was alive out there. And then, when he came back --

Marlena: I know.

Kayla: I just -- I just felt like something was wrong. And I kept trying to reach him. I almost thought I could.

Marlena: This is not about the connection that the two of you share, you know. You have not failed here.

Kayla: I haven't been able to reach him.

Marlena: I wouldn't be so sure of that. Something has kept Steve fighting for his own mind -- for control of his mind. I think that might be you and Stephanie.

Kayla: Stephanie. How on earth am I gonna tell her that I had her father locked up and institutionalized?

Marlena: By considering the alternative, which will be you're going to have to tell her that her father killed someone and you could have stopped it.

Kayla: All right. I'll do it.

Marlena: It's the right thing.

Kayla: It's hard sometimes doing the right thing when you know that it's gonna hurt the one you love.

Marlena: Yes, it is. And I know under all the evil that the DiMera have programmed into Steve is the real Steve Johnson. And he would hate to think that he'd hurt somebody.

Kayla: He couldn't stand that.

Marlena: Excuse me. Sorry. Hello? Yes. Dr. Evans. I'll be right there. John's not in his room. The hospital can't find him.

Kayla: What?