It could happen this way:
A clearly annoyed John McBain sits in his office, rummaging through his desk, trying to find something related to the administrative work he’s been stuck with as a result of Bo Buchanan’s suspension from the LPD. In his wanderings he comes across a plain white napkin. He stops what he’s doing and picks up the napkin, staring at what’s written on it – ‘I love you – E’.
Immediately his mind heads back to his birthday the year before – he and Evangeline at the Palace restaurant where he’d been given a surprise birthday party, supposedly by Natalie but everyone knew that Roxy was the one who’d arranged it so that Natalie would be given credit for the idea. He remembers standing out on the patio with Evangeline and how she’d wanted to give him something for the birthday that she’d known nothing about until that very day. That’s when she wrote what she wrote on the napkin.
John carefully places the napkin back into the drawer – back to the spot that’s reserved for personal keepsakes – stuff he wants to hold onto. As he closes the drawer, his eyes land on the football – the one Evangeline gave him, the one that's sitting in the middle of a bunch of papers littering the top of his desk. He picks up the football, gripping it and holding it in his hands as thoughts come to him - one after another.
Impulsively, he reaches over, picks up the telephone receiver and dials - almost without thinking, the number’s still that deeply ingrained. After three or four rings, the voicemail message kicks in. ‘You’ve reached Evangeline Williamson. I’m not able to take your call right now but please leave your information after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.’ At various points throughout the message, John considers hanging up. Evangeline has moved on with her life. That much is clear. What good would it do for him to leave a message? It was just a spur-of-the-moment call – nothing important.
He hears the beep and figures he might as well leave a message. He's gone this far. His chair swivels around and he looks out the window as he speaks.
He doesn’t notice when Natalie appears in the doorway.
“Hey. It’s me…Just wondering how you’re doing…I know I’ve been pretty scarce but…well, Mikey told me about your surgery and everything – that you got your eyesight back…I’m real happy for you, Evangeline. I’d tell you in person but…well, I remember what you said in the courtroom that day after the Manning verdict came in – how having me around hurts too much so…Anyway, I got to thinking about you and I thought I’d give you a call…I guess that’s it – nothing important…Hey…I hope you’re happy. After everything you’ve been through, nobody deserves that more than you do…Take care…”
He turns around and hangs up the telephone. He places the football back on top of the desk. He stares at it and sighs deeply, remembering how great it used to be with Evangeline – regretting the loss of so many wonderful moments.
He looks up as Natalie appears in the doorway for what he thinks is the first time.
“What’s up?” he asks.
“I found the file you’re looking for,” she tells him.
And just like that, things are back on the right track. It’s that easy. All it takes is a little imagination, a staff of skilled writers, and some honest determination from The Powers That Be at ABC Daytime to return OLTL to what it once was – a daring, often groundbreaking show with interesting stories about interesting characters, featuring a budding Super Couple known as Evangeline Williamson and John McBain, played by the incredibly talented Renee Elise Goldsberry and the equally incredible Michael Easton.
After all, OLTL is a soap and, on a soap, anything and everything is possible - as long as it’s written. The first step on the long road back could easily be something as simple as what you just read - the tying of what's happening today to something - anything - that happened yesterday.
All it takes is for someone to write it.