An idea for Colleen and Santo...Let me know what you think!

Chapter One

Meeting in the Church

The two men dragged' Santo Dimera into the church. "Colleen, he's hurt! He was in a fight over at the local pub!"

"I should get the priest...He knows more about this than I do. Ah, but he's at a funeral." Colleen sat down. "Just set him here, let me have a look at him!" She looked at his bloody head and frowned. "He got hit mighty hard. Fetch me some water and a cloth." She ordered one of the men.

He nodded and brought it back to her. Santo fell into Colleen's lap and she took care of the wound. "Thank ya' for bringin' him ere'." She thanked the men and that was their que to leave. "Hey..." She whispered. "You alive?" She asked him. No answer. "I know yur' breathin'..."

His eyes fluttered open. It was like he had seen an angel, and he was smitten! From the moment he woke up and called her the Virgin Mother, he knew she was the one for him. But she was none other than a nun. That in and of itself devistated him! And he was married...Could they ever be together?

That was something they had both questioned. Once the priest had walked in however, there was no going back to each other. There had to be a way to meet, a place they could call their own. She had only the church at this point, and he stayed above the pub.

Colleen knew that she would be picking berries on the south side of the island later that week, and she knew Santo would probably be at the pub nearby and could meet her. It was one of the few times she was allowed to be alone outside of the church. She had to see him again. His gentle brown eyes had stirred her heart and filled her with a fire like no other! She had never thought she would fall in love, which explained why she was a nun in the first place.

Everyone on the island was either related to her or boring, and she didn't want any of them. Here she had a handsome young man from Italy who had come into her life unexpectedly and she was smitten too. She had the butterflies! And she also had this longing just to look at him...She had never wanted to just look at anyone before!

"Dear God...You put people in our lives for a reason, why is Santo in my life? Don't you want me to be a nun?" She prayed, shortly after Santo had left and the priest had gone to teach the boys at school.

"Perhaps he doesn't want you to be one." A voice she had never heard before spoke. It was an old wise one. "Who's there?" She turned around and gave a questioning look all around the room. No one was there...Was God talking to her? Or was it someone else?

The next day, she went for a walk, her mind, once again, only on Santo...

XXXX

SANTO'S POV, RIGHT AFTER MEETING COLLEEN...

He headed down the street and over to the pub. His heart was racing. There was no one else on the Earth like her. But she knew he was married, she knew that there was someone back home waiting for him.

It felt then, as he realized this, like a dark shadow was crossing over his heart. The thought of never seeing her again, the thought of never being with her again...He could never...He didn't know if his heart could handle that!

He wanted to sleep more than anything because his bloody head hurt terribly, but he couldn't because she was all that was on his mind! When would he see her again...When?

XXXXX

Colleen had a dream about Santo that night. She dreamt that they were walking by the water, and she was out of her habit...She wanted more than anything to be with him, to love him, to...well...she wanted everything!

A knock came to the church door and she shot up, grabbed her robe, and headed down the stairs to see who it was. There, lying beat up even more than before and on the church doorstep was Santo. "What happened to ya'?" Colleen asked, pulling him into the church and finding them a place to sit.

Santo was dizzy, his heart racing faster and faster as he thought of the incident. "I'm not...I'm not...welcome here..."

"This is a house of God, and you are welcome here." Colleen replied. "No one else will hurt you here."

Santo wore only a white t-shirt that was largely ripped down the front and black pants.

"Where can I sleep?" Santo asked her.

"Pick a pew..." she replied pointing to all the pews that the church had.

"Will you be nearby if I need you?" He asked.

"Of course." She replied. "But...Why...?" She began...

He smiled. "Santo..." she began.

"Say nothing." He told her. "I feel your heart racing too..." He placed his ear against her heart, and she wanted to do nothing more than undress herself in the middle of that church. But she didn't, she just relaxed and let him fall asleep, gently removing herself from him and back to her room when she was sure he was sound.

She closed the door to her room and pressed her back against it and slid down to the ground. "Oh Santo...How you have me smitten!" She closed her eyes and shook her head.

XXXSANTO'S DREAMXXXXX

The battfield was muddy, and soldiers from both sides were dead everywhere. His head was spinning as he was trying to decide who he should fire at next. A bullet came whizzing by his head...

Santo's eyes shot open and a scream came from him. Colleen came running down the stairs as did the priest. "Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Everything is fine, its okay father..." Colleen ran to Santo and held him the way she had before.

"That is completely inappropriate!" The priest told her. "You are a nun!"

"Not yet I'm not..."

The priest stomped off, knowing full well that Colleen had not yet taken her final vows. She was happy she hadn't, it meant she could go away with Santo if she wanted to. However the wife factor that still remained troubled her.

Santo was relaxed there, with Colleen. As long as they were near each other, both felt that nothing bad could happen to them. Santo and Colleen both stayed half awake half asleep until morning, and when morning came, the men of the town were ready to go after Santo again...