Days of Our Summer

"Days Of Our Lives" and it's characters are trademarks of and copyright Corday Productions Inc., in association with Columbia Pictures Television.

"Passions" and it's characters are registered and belong to NBC and Outpost Farms, Ltd.

This story is a work of fiction based on characters from the aforementioned NBC soap operas. It is not meant to imply the true sexual behavior of the actors playing these characters, or the characters themselves.

"THE FINAL DAYS" Part Three by Rychard on June 3, 2001

Shawn Brady was on the ground, his eyes closed and his forehead bleeding.

"Oh my god," yelled Belle. "He's dead!!"

Shawn's eyes fluttered open, but his vision was blurred. He couldn't make out anything that he was seeing. Everything appeared green and brown. Cautiously, he sat up, rubbing his aching head with his bruised hands.

Slowly things became clear to him. He was sitting in his neighbor's front yard. More specifically, he was sitting in his neighbor's bushes. The blast had sent him flying through the air, and through some miracle he had landed in a safe place.

"Please," Belle yelled out, "someone help!! He's not breathing!!"

Shawn looked out above the bushes and saw the aftermath of the bomb.

Smoke was wafting through the air, but the view was still clear. His father, Bo Brady, was laying face-down on the ground, his hands covering the back of his neck. In the street, he saw a blond woman who he recognized as Nicole Walker laying on the ground, next to a taxi cab. Next to her on the ground was someone else: a man. Shawn recognized the shirt as belonging to his ex-boyfriend Jason.

Shawn couldn't see Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald anywhere, though. He remembered that it was Miguel who had grabbed that mysterious brown package away from Bo, but after that, everything was a blank.

He heard Belle's voice again.

"Oh my God!!"

Shawn stood up, his head dizzy, but he forced his legs to stiffen to prevent a fall.

He saw Belle standing on the opposite side of the taxi. She was leaning into it, shaking the driver, trying to awaken him.

She looked up and saw Shawn. She let go of the driver and ran towards him.

"Oh my god," she shrieked, "Shawn, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, not quite believing himself, "I'm fine."

Shawn saw over Belle's shoulder that Bo was getting up. Shawn rushed over to him.

"Dad," he let out, "are you alright?"

Bo coughed, and then looked at his bleeding son.

"I'm doing better than you are," Bo said. "What the hell happened here?"

Shawn looked towards the street, and saw that both Nicole and Jason were getting up to their feet as well. Belle tore a piece of fabric from the bottom of her shirt and pressed it against Shawn's forehead to stop the bleeding.

"There was a bomb," Shawn explained. "Miguel took it out of your hands before it killed you."

"Who's Miguel," both Bo and Belle asked simultaneously.

"A guy I met in Harmony," Shawn said, "but I don't see him anywhere."

Belle looked towards the street, at the taxi.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed, "Bo! You have to call an ambulance! That taxi-driver wasn't breathing. He looked really bad."

Bo rushed over to the taxi, as Shawn and Belle followed him.

Inside the cab, they all saw a gruesome sight. The entire left side of the driver's body had been burned pretty bad.

"How did that happen," Belle whispered.

"I'm so sorry," a guy's voice said.

Shawn turned around and saw Miguel standing there, looking disheveled.

"Miguel!"

Shawn rushed up to him and hugged him.

"Thank god you're okay," he said.

Miguel pulled away from Shawn's hug.

"It's all my fault," Miguel said, his eyes fixed on the taxi driver.

"What do you mean," Bo asked him.

"When I grabbed the package away from you," Miguel explained, "I threw it towards the street. I didn't realize that by doing that, I was throwing it directly at the taxi. I saved one life just to end another."

Miguel's eyes filled with tears.

"It's not your fault," Bo said, "it's whoever planted this bomb. Most likely that bastard Stefano DiMera."

"Brandon!!!!!!!!!!"

The four of them looked towards Nicole Walker, who was screaming out her brother's name. She was running from the street towards the Brady house front yard.

"What the hell is she doing here," Bo asked.

Nicole reached the bushes where her brother was hiding prior to the bomb exploding. She saw his body on the ground, his hand clinging onto what appeared to be a small remote control. A detonator.

She leaned down towards him, his body laying still on the ground, and his eyes closed tight. She put her hand on his neck, feeling for a pulse. She found nothing.

Despite the fact that he had been hidden safely away from the bomb's explosion, her brother, Brandon Walker, was dead.

An hour or so later, Shawn was laying on a hospital bed. Bo was at his side. He reached up to touch his forehead and felt a bandage covering it.

"Four stitches," Bo said.

"That's it," Shawn asked.

"The doctors said you were lucky to have landed where you did," Bo went on, "if you had landed on the street, well..."

There was a moment of silence between the father and his son.

"Dad, I--"

"Shawn," Bo said, interrupting, "I've had to see you in a hospital bed too many times this week."

"I know."

"And it's got me thinking that we can't let things come between us anymore. I know I was wrong to keep secrets from you--"

"But I was wrong, too, Dad, I kept secrets also."

"But none of that matters. We're both alive, and that's what matters. You're my son, and I love you."

"I love you too, Dad."

Both men's eyes filled with tears, and Bo leaned over and hugged his son.

Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald watched the father and son reunite through the window of Shawn's hospital room. Though he was happy to see their tender moment, he was still plagued with guilt, feeling responsible for the taxi-driver's death.

"I saw what you did, man," said a voice behind him.

He turned around and saw a young blond man facing him. He recognized him as one of the people who was slightly injured at the bombing. He remembered Shawn's friend Belle referring to him as "Jason."

"I'd rather not be reminded," he told Jason.

He started to walk past him, but Jason grabbed his arm.

"It's not everyone who would grab a bomb from someone else to save a life," Jason said.

"But I didn't save a life. That innocent man died."

"You didn't have control over that. Obviously it was Brandon Walker who was responsible--"

"But I should have looked before I threw it into the street!"

"You didn't have time," Jason said. "No one blames you."

"I blame me."

Miguel pried himself loose from Jason's grip, and walked away. Jason watched him, then looked inside Shawn's hospital room, relieved to see him alive.

He turned around and walked away, realizing that it was too late for him and Shawn. As he walked, he bumped into Dr. Craig Wesley.

"Jason," Craig said, "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Yep, physically I couldn't be better."

Jason half-smiled then walked away.

Nicole Walker sat alone in another part of the hospital, awaiting any news from the doctors on what had caused her brother's mysterious death.

She didn't notice as Miguel approached her.

"You knew, didn't you," he asked her.

She didn't look up.

"Well," Miguel continued, "I guess we're both to blame then, aren't we?"

Meanwhile, at the Black Family Penthouse, John Black and his son Brady were sitting on the sofa, bare-chested, still recuperating from their threesome with Jason. Brady had wanted to chase after his sister Belle after she had walked in on them, but John convinced him it was better to let her sort things out for herself.

There was an awkward silence between the father and son, as they realized that now that they were alone, they'd have to come to terms themselves with what had happened. Though they were careful, for the most part, not to have much contact with each other during the experience with Jason, they were still undeniably attracted to the other's body.

"Brady," John said.

"Yeah, dad?"

"We should..."

"Yeah....?

"Watch some TV."

"Definitely," Brady said, almost laughing out of relief.

In true male fashion, they were contented to sit back and enjoy a cold one while watching the tube.

As John stood up to go get some beers, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," he said, as he walked over and opened the door, revealing Jason, who was still disheveled-looking from the explosion.

"What the hell happened to you," John said.

"There was an explosion at Shawn's house," Jason explained. "And Belle was there."

John and Brady looked at each other, then both grabbed their shirts and prepared to leave to the hospital.

Shawn Brady was asleep in his hospital bed, so Bo left his room and walked out into the waiting area. He saw Miguel sitting there with his head in his hands.

"Miguel," he said.

Miguel looked up at him with tear-stained eyes.

"Look," Miguel said, "I don't need someone else telling me that what happened wasn't my fault, okay?"

"Okay," Bo said. "Then can I ask you a completely unrelated question?"

"Um, yeah," Miguel responded.

"How do you know my son," Bo asked.

"We, uh," Miguel stammered, "we met in Harmony. I live in Harmony."

"I know that," Bo said, "but how well do you know him?"

"Honestly, not that well."

"Then why are you here?"

"I don't know," Miguel answered. "I thought I'd follow my sister's way of life and allow fate to run it's course, but I didn't know it would end up with someone dying."

"Hey," Bo said, "if it wasn't for you, then I would be dead. I'm in no way trying to say that my life is more important than the cab-driver's, but I'm grateful to you nonetheless."

At that moment, a female nurse walked up to the two men.

"Are you Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald," she asked.

"Yeah."

"The patient in that room is asking for you."

The nurse pointed towards Shawn's room.

John and Brady Black rushed into the hospital, and found Belle sitting alone. When she saw them approaching her, she stood up and walked away.

John started to follow her, but Brady held him back.

"She needs time," he said.

"I just want to make sure my baby girl is okay," John said.

"I'm sure she's fine," Brady responded, "otherwise she wouldn't be walking around. If she was hurt she'd be in one of those beds."

"I'm not talking about that kind of hurt," John said.

Inside Shawn's hospital room, Miguel sat on a stool next to Shawn's bed. There was a long silence between the two young men, until Shawn finally spoke up.

"I can't believe you showed up here in Salem," he said.

"Yeah," Miguel said. "It was stupid, I know."

"It wasn't stupid."

"Yes it was. I was dumb to think that by showing up here you'd want to pursue a relationship with me or whatever. And that stupidity caused one man to die."

"Dude, if it hadn't been that taxi-driver it would have been my dad. I owe you so much for saving his life."

"Well that doesn't matter," Miguel said. "I should just catch the next plane back to Harmony, and try to make amends with myself. If I can."

Outside Shawn's room, Bo watched through the window, wondering just how close his son and Miguel had gotten in Harmony.

As he turned to find a bathroom, he saw that Dr. Craig Wesley was standing right behind him.

"What do you want Wesley," Bo asked.

"As Shawn's parent," Craig said, "I need you to sign these forms."

"You couldn't have sent them with a nurse?"

"Look," Craig said, "I know we don't have the best relationship--"

"Best relationship? You fucked my underage son!!"

"Yeah, and we all know you got your revenge by posting that video of me and Brandon on the internet. That's not the point here."

"Then what is your point, because I'm getting really sick of looking at your face."

"I just wanted to tell you what a resilient son you have," Craig said. "He's been through a lot, physically and emotionally in the last few months, and he's survived through it. I admire that in him, and I wanted you to know that."

Bo turned away from Craig, facing the window into Shawn's room.

"I just wish," Bo said softly, "that that other young guy was as strong as my sailor man."

"What do you mean?"

"He blames himself for that taxi-driver's death."

"Because he threw the bomb away from you and into the street?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," Craig said.

Nicole Walker stood up from her secluded seat. Her brother was dead, and there was no reason for her to stick around at the hospital any longer.

As she walked towards the elevator, she heard an old woman call her name.

She turned to her right, and saw a peculiar image in a shadowed corner of the hospital. It appeared to be an old woman carrying a doll of some sort.

"Who's there," Nicole called out.

In a flash, the strange woman turned and disappeared down a corridor.

Nicole followed her for a moment, but then saw a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and looked at the odd writings on it.

On the paper there appeared to be directions of some sort. They looked like directions for a bomb.

"Oh my God," Nicole said aloud to herself.

"What is that," another female's voice asked.

Nicole turned around to see Belle Black looking at her.

Belle grabbed the paper from Nicole.

"Nicole," Belle said, "these are directions for making a bomb."

"I, uh, found them--" Nicole stammered.

"I've got to show these to Shawn's dad."

Inside Shawn's hospital room, Shawn and Miguel sat in silence, until Bo and Dr. Craig entered the room.

"And how's the patient doing," Craig asked.

"Ready to go home," Shawn answered.

"Well I don't see why you can't," Craig said. "For such a powerful bomb, it's amazing that the only casualty was Brandon Walker."

"Wait," Miguel said. "What about the taxi-driver?"

"Oh," Craig answered. "Well, it turns out from the autopsy report, that the poor man died from a heart attack just minutes, maybe seconds, before the bomb went off."

"What," Miguel asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yep," Craig answered. "The bomb may have barbecued him a bit, but it didn't kill him."

For the first time, Miguel smiled, sighing of relief. Shawn smiled back at him.

"Anyway," Craig went on, "you can go ahead and get dressed Shawn, and go home with your dad."

"Great," Shawn said. "Hey, can I have a second alone with Miguel?"

"Sure," Bo answered. "Come on Wesley."

Bo and Craig left the room, leaving the younger guys alone.

"I can't believe this," Miguel said.

"Well, looks like fate was on your side," Shawn said. "By throwing the bomb where you did, you avoided it from killing anyone. You're a real hero."

"I don't know about that," Miguel said, "but I sure do feel a lot better. I mean, now I'm feeling less guilty than I do dumb."

"Why are you still feeling dumb?"

"Because," Miguel answered. "I came out all this way, without even any real reason to think that you'd want me to. I didn't even book a hotel or anything."

"Well," Shawn said. "Then you can come over and stay at my house. I'm sure my dad won't mind having a real life hero around.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

Outside Shawn's room, Bo grabbed Craig's arm as he was walking away.

"Hey Wesley," Bo said.

"Yeah?"

"That was pretty quick," Bo said.

"What was," Craig asked.

"The autopsy report on that cabbie. It's pretty amazing you could get those result so soon."

"I guess so," Craig said.

"Especially since it takes at the very least a day to get them analyzed and stuff," Bo went on.

"What are you getting at?"

"There was no autopsy. You made that heart attack story up."

Craig was silent.

"I just wanted to say," Bo continued, "thanks. That was a pretty decent thing of you to do."

Craig smiled, then walked away.

Bo was left alone for a moment, until Belle Black ran up to him, followed by Nicole.

"Bo," Belle said, as she handed him the bomb-instructions, "you have to look at this!"

"Where did you find these," Bo asked her.

"Nicole had them," Belle answered.

"I found them on the floor," Nicole protested.

"I'm going to have these compared to the bomb at the site of the accident," Bo said, "I have a strange feeling that this will answer a lot of questions."

Hours later, that same night, Bo, Hope, Shawn and Miguel were sitting in the Brady's living room.

"Thank God I wasn't here with the baby," Hope said.

"Well," Shawn said, "even if you were, Mr. Miguel-Lopez-Fitzgerald The Hero here would have saved you both."

They all laughed.

"Well," Hope said, "I'm just grateful to you Miguel for saving my husband's life. And for that you can stay here as long you want."

"Thank you," Miguel said. "But I should probably be going back home soon."

"Why the rush," Bo asked. "I'm sure you and my son have a lot of catching up to do."

Shawn looked at his dad, surprised.

The three men smiled at each other knowingly as Hope's interest was piqued.

"What do you all know that I don't," she asked.

"Nothing," all the guys answered at once.

There was more laughter, interrupted by the phone ringing. Bo picked it up and excused himself into the kitchen.

Hope looked at her son.

"Well," she began, "I think you and I need to have a talk very soon."

"We do," Shawn agreed, "but not now. Okay?"

"Sure," Hope said. "Just remember something honey."

"What's that?"

"A mother always knows."

Hope smiled warmly at her son.

Bo walked back into the living room with a puzzled look on his face.

"Who was on the phone," Shawn asked.

"The station," Bo answered. "The forensics people finished examining the bomb, the detonator, and those directions Nicole found."

"And what did they find?"

"Those directions were meant for the type of bomb that Brandon used. But here's the funny thing. Those instructions made it to where once the detonator set off the bomb, the detonator itself was rigged to send out a shot of powerful electricity."

"Oh my gosh," Hope said, astonished. "But that would mean that whoever set off the bomb also meant to kill themselves?"

"So," Shawn asked, "then Brandon wanted to kill himself as well? That doesn't make sense."

"No," Bo said. "It doesn't make any sense at all.

On the other side of Salem, at the airport, Tabitha Lennox sat in the waiting area, waiting for the next plane to Harmony to start loading. In her arms, she held her living doll Timmy.

"Well Tim-Tim," she said, "our work here in Salem is done."

"But Princess," Timmy questioned, "Timmy doesn't understand what your plan was? I thought you wanted Miguel to die."

"I do, Timmy," Tabitha explained. "But we don't always get what we want. Once I realized that the growing love Miguel had in his heart for Shawn was too powerful to beat, I just about gave up on evil-doing altogether."

"So what happened to change Princesses mind?"

"Brandon Walker walked into my life. I knew from the look in his eye that he was a troubled soul. And once he explained to me about his connection to that Shawn Brady fellow, I just knew I had been given a golden opportunity. He wanted revenge, but the people he wanted revenge on were protected by the power of love. So, in order to get back into the graces of our friends in the basement, and other powerful doers of evil, I decided to build up false hopes of victory into this lost soul, and then shatter them, killing him in the process."

"But Timmy still doesn't understand why you would want to hurt Brandon Walker?"

"Because, Stuffing-For-Brains," Tabitha went on, "his final act on Earth would be one of evil, thus insuring him to be condemned eternally. I scored one for the dark side!"

"So the directions you gave him for that bomb," Timmy said, "also would cause his death."

"Exactly. It may not be how I originally planned things, but it was a victory for us nonetheless."

Tabitha began laughing.

"Timmy will have to make his princess a Martimmy when we get back in Harmony to celebrate!"

"Of course, lad," Tabitha cooed, "of course."

Alone in Shawn's bedroom, Miguel and Shawn sat on the bed in silence.

"Are you sure it's okay that I sleep in your room," Miguel asked.

"Hey, my dad is the one who suggested it," Shawn answered.

"That's cool of him."

"Well, he's a pretty cool dad."

There was another silence.

"I just," Miguel began, after a while, "don't want you to think that..."

"Don't worry," Shawn said. "I don't think you're just after sex. As a matter of fact, I'm kind of glad that you're not."

"What?"

"I don't know," Shawn explained, "it's just that every guy I've been with, not that I've been with a whole bunch, the main attraction was a sexual one. Especially with Jason. I mean, sex is great and all, but after a while, it doesn't mean anything if there's no love."

"You didn't love Jason?"

"I thought I did. But he didn't love me. I was talking to my friend Belle earlier, before we left the hospital, and she told me that she walked in on Jason having sex with her father and brother."

"Whoa."

"I know," Shawn continued, "I wouldn't want to be in her shoes right now. I'm sure things are pretty tense in the Black family penthouse right now."

"Do you think things will get better?"

"I hope so. Belle's a really strong person, and she has me to help her through it."

"You called me a hero earlier," Miguel said, "but you're the real hero. After everything you've been through, you still put others before yourself. That's heroic."

"That means a lot coming from you," Shawn replied. "I'm really glad you came to Salem."

"You are?"

"Yeah. It might sound mushy or whatever, but I think you're a really sweet guy."

"Me too."

Miguel leaned in towards Shawn, but Shawn backed away.

"What's wrong," Miguel asked.

"Nothing," Shawn said. "I just, I don't know, I don't want this to be like every other relationship I've had. They've all started and ended because of sex. I just hope that there could be something more than that for us."

"I totally agree," Miguel said, "and I just want you to know, that the kiss I was about to give you wasn't meant to be a lead-in to sex. It was just going to be a kiss. A sort of beginning to whatever fate has in store for us."

Shawn smiled.

"Man," he said, "I completely look forward to falling and staying in love with you."

"Me too," Miguel said. "Me too."

Shawn leaned in to Miguel and gently kissed him on the lips.

In the last few months, Shawn had found many different forms of pleasure derived from the human body, but they all paled in comparison to this first kiss. He wrapped his arms around Miguel, melting into his kiss, stopping time.

Eventually they would stop, pull apart, catch their breath. Then they would go to sleep, awaken to a new morning, living their lives like sands through the hourglass, falling more in love with each other with each passing day, their passion growing stronger with every hour...

But for now, they were kissing, oblivious to it all.

And Shawn Brady was happy.

THE END ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments? Send them to Barik02@aol.com

This is the end of the Days Of Our Summer "Anthology," but who knows...I may just start up another story sometime soon!

Many thanks go out to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story!! I enjoy reading your e-mails, and they kept me encouraged me to keep going!