a passionate and torrid affair, which was discovered by Marlena and Roman's daughter, Sami Brady. Marlena later found out she was pregnant, and John asked for a blood test to determine the paternity, which said he was not the father. When Marlena went into labor, John delivered her baby girl, Belle. When Belle was kidnapped, John rescued her from Sami, who tried to sell her on the black market. At Belle's christening, Roman found out about John and Marlena's affair, and was furious. Marlena found out that Sami had switched Belle's paternity test, and John was actually Belle's father. Marlena moved out with Belle, and she and Roman divorced. John provided Marlena and Belle a place to stay while she was working out the divorce. Though their feelings were strong, John and Marlena were too guilt-ridden by their past mistakes to think about starting a relationship. When Marlena was possessed, John helped perform an exorcism when he was led to believe he was a priest. He was successful, and Marlena was saved. He left the priesthood, and started a relationship with Kristen Blake, the adopted daughter of John and Marlena's worst enemy, Stefano DiMera. However, the pull between Marlena and John remained there. Kristen eventually became insecure, and hatched scheme after scheme to keep Marlena and John apart. John found out, and eventually broke up with her, and reunited with Marlena. Though the two were together, circumstances out of their control separated them again. Their love prevailed, though, and John and Marlena wed on July 5, 1999. The couple faced many obstacles in their married life that included a brainwashed Hope Brady seducing John and becoming pregnant, though the child was later proven not to be John's, the feud between John's son, Brady and Marlena (later resolved), Marlena being brainwashed into believing she was a serial killer, and Marlena becoming pregnant with Roman's child, and later miscarrying the baby; Marlena develops amnesia, as a result. In 2005, amnesia specialist Alex North came to town, later revealing himself to be Marlena's real husband from college. Marlena became torn between Alex and John and, due to John's raging jealousy and Alex's manipulations, especially his drugs, Marlena chose Alex. However, John did not give up on his love and did everything to try to win her back. However, even when it seemed that he was making headway, his drugs and manipulations enabled Alex