Disclaimer – I own neither DOOL nor its characters. I only own the idea and the original characters. I began this back in the spring of 2010 as a way to fix the godawful mess that TPTB at DOOL had (IMO) created. It was originally posted at The Princess and the Sailor, a site for a small group of Bo and Carly fans. This story is very much about Bo and Carly and the life that I wanted them to have. The overall rating is M and it covers some pretty serious subject matter, none of which I take lightly, but please be warned. I don't feel that the descriptions I've given are particularly all that graphic, but I like to be upfront with people. Themes that will take place in this story include spousal abuse, rape, kidnapping, mental illness, prescription drug abuse, anger issues and suicide. This is my love song for Bo and Carly, and I'm only sharing it in the hope that it will bring happiness to someone else. Along the way, I'll be mentioning specific stores and restaurants which are not native to DOOL's Salem. These places coincide with restaurants and stores in my hometown, and I felt they would go well within Salem's city limits.

Of Pasts and Futures

Chapter 1

Nicholas Alamain read carefully over the hand-written page in front of him. It can't be true, he thought to himself. But it was all there; every detail, every nuance of his father's willful and malicious attempt to drive his mother to the brink of insanity, preserved forever in volume after leather-bound volume of Lawrence Alamain's journals. Nicholas could no longer deny the day-to-day hell in which his mother had existed. And as he re-read the final few lines once more, he understood immediately why she had murdered his father. In fact, he rather wished he'd killed the sadistic bastard himself.

Tonight, I will show Katerina the latest photograph of her illegitimate brat. After I've used her to my liking, after I've taken her over and over until she loses consciousness, I will rouse her and once again show her the girl's picture and reveal to her my final plans for her precious daughter. No longer will I suffer the humiliation that Katerina has brought to my name and my house. The girl will not live beyond tonight. She will draw her last breath while her loving mother looks on via live internet feed. Then Katerina will watch as her erstwhile lover, Daniel Jonas, suffers the same fate. Oh yes, I have at last learned the name of the man who dared touch what was mine, my wife, my Katerina, all those years ago. He will meet the same fate as his bastard offspring, all while Katerina watches. Only then will she understand once and for all that I own her, body and soul, and she cannot even exist in this world without my good pleasure. It ends tonight. It ends tonight.

"Jesus H. Christ," Nicholas muttered to himself. He certainly couldn't ignore the truth of the situation any longer. His father had been a maniac, and his poor mother had been the sole victim of Lawrence's insanity for years.

No more, he vowed to himself. She was not alone, and he was going to beg her forgiveness for his own mistreatment of her the past few years and do whatever he could to help her. He was the reason, after all, that she had stayed with his father. "Well, half the reason, at least," he mused. He'd never even known that his mother had been pregnant, much less that she had given birth to his half-sister. His mother had stayed, suffered unspeakable tortures, all to protect her two children from a monster.

Nicholas was interrupted in his thoughts when the door to his father's study burst open, and a red-headed blur tumbled into the room. Carys Mackenzie was his best friend and the only person he knew to be stubborner than himself. Of course, she wouldn't heed his warnings to leave him be while he sorted through his father's papers.

Carys was Scottish, and he suspected that had a great deal to do with said stubbornness. She clutched a newspaper to her chest, and from the way she was panting, it looked as though she'd run all the way from Edinburgh to get to him, rather than the bedroom down the hall. She crossed the room at break-neck speed and thrust the paper in his hands.

"Your mother," she began. "I know you said we weren't to speak her name in your presence, but according to the American press, she's been arrested for the attempted murder of a young nursing student. For God's sake, Nicky, will you not go to her?" Before he could respond, Carys drew herself up to her full height, all six feet of it, obviously gearing up for a fight. "Nicholas Alamain, I've held my tongue for months while you kept up this ridiculous treatment of your mother, and I will no longer remain silent. If you will not provide aid to your mother, then I'll just go to Salem and do it myself." Spinning on her heel, Carys made for the door, but Nicholas's words stopped her in her tracks.

"You're right." Carys spun around again, waist length hair whipping into her face, and stared at him dumbfounded. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, unable to decide what to say. Nicholas had to laugh at the sight, and when the flush crept up her face and he knew her temper was about to be unleashed, he quickly rushed to explain.

"You're right," he repeated, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the room while digging in his pocket with the other hand for his cell phone. "I'm going to my mother and you're coming with me. How fast can you pack for Salem? Never mind, we'll just buy what we need when we get there. I'm not sure how long this will take anyway." Having retrieved his phone, he punched "2" on speed dial and his pilot answered immediately.

"Ready the jet, Stuart. Miss Mackenzie and I will be arriving momentarily via helicopter." They had reached the roof of the compound where the ever-ready helicopter waited.

"Very good, Sir, and to where will be traveling?" Stuart asked in his dry British accent.

"Salem," Nicholas replied as he handed a slightly confused Carys up into the helicopter. He disconnected the call and was about to climb up himself when he remembered his father's journals. Seized by inspiration, he told the helicopter pilot to wait for him and dashed back into the compound, running all the way to his father's study. There had to be at least thirty journals, all penned in his father's handwriting. He grabbed the last one, the one he'd been reading when Carys found him, and tossed it into a box along with several others that he chose at random.

Arriving back at the helicopter pad, Nicholas thrust the box into Carys's arms and climbed in beside her. She squeezed his hand as a small smile graced her lips. He answered her smile with one of his own and looked out over the landscape of Alamania, land of his family for hundreds of years. He silently vowed that his mother would suffer no longer for the sins of his father and that he would do everything in his considerable power to right all the wrongs she had endured.