DaysTalk

By Libby

A new storyline

How do you solve a problem like Nathan?  Well, some of the DaysTalk community want to see Nathan pursue Melanie again or even Chloe.  But Chloe has a number of men and a baby on the way.  And I am not sure pairing Nathan and Melanie will fix the boredom problem since we have experienced them in the past. Back when Nathan first arrived in Salem, I was enthralled with how cute and sweet  this medical resident, Nathan Horton, was.  Now, not so much.  He is still cute and nice, but his stethoscope has tarnished for me over these few months.  He and Stephanie are always in the midst of some romantic tryst scene or he is pensively looking at the ceiling.  In my opinion, he is a pretty dull fellow now.

As a legacy character and a member of the vanishing Horton clan, Nathan should play a bigger role than he has.  When I first saw Mark Hapka as Nathan, he reminded me of the Bucky Carter character on Ryan’s Hope in the late 1970’s.  Now, I really started to watch Ryan’s Hope on Soapnet back a few years ago.  I did not watch during its original run.  It seems Soapnet only runs the first  2-3 years of the soap in a loop with two back to back episodes airing from 5 am – 6 am weekdays.

Bucky  Carter was a neurology resident at Riverside Hospital and heir to a 30 million dollar trust fund. He was very sensitive about his patients and his money.  I think parts of Bucky’s character profile could help the character profile of our Nathan in Salem.

First, I must admit I would have Nathan make a break with Stephanie. He clearly does not love her and it is painful to watch her desperate attempts to keep him tied to her.  Days of Our Lives needs to show what Nathan is really passionate about – and not make it  about a girl, for now. As  we know in the DaysTalk community, Nathan’s father has never been identified.  His mother, Melissa, was involved with Pete  Jannings back in the 1980’s.  But Pete Jannings  was never publicly  identified as Nathan’s biological father.

Well, here is my proposal.  Nathan’s biological father dies tragically in a plane crash at age 48.  Melissa returns to Salem to let  her son, Nathan, know of the tragedy.  She had cut off communication with his father long ago.  Nathan’s father had made inquiries about Nathan several times, but she never responded.  The pain had been too deep with their breakup and she was still concerned about her ex- boyfriend’s stability.  Well unbeknownst to Melissa, Nathan’s father had developed a small computer program which was purchased and incorporated into a best selling software package making him millions over night.  Nathan’s father  decided his good fortune should be put to good use after his less than well-spent youth.  He invested his money in environmental recycling and other  software development opportunities and amassed a fortune of $30 million dollars.  He was an anonymous giver to many medical and environmental charities around the world.  He was returning from a humanitarian food relief trip to the Sudan when his plane unexpectedly crashed and burned upon takeoff – killing him instantly.

It seems Nathan’s father left his considerable fortune to Nathan, his only child, who he had never known along with a letter explaining why he had been too ashamed to ever approach Nathan directly in his life.  He wanted to give his fortune to Nathan with the hope that Nathan would continue to use the money for good all over the world and in his own town of  Salem.  Nathan is shocked by the news of his father’s death and even more shocked by the responsibility to create a humanity type aid foundation.  At first, Nathan goes through the stages of grief for his unknown father.  Searching for  when and why his father had changed so in his life – yet never contacted Nathan – even after he became an adult.  It was obvious that his father had kept tabs on him throughout his life.  As a matter of fact when EJ had first gone to work for Mickey in his law practice, EJ had helped Nathan’s father set up his will and wishes for the foundation after his death.  Nathan goes to EJ – who is just recovering from his tragic breakup with Sami and revelations of wrong doing with the Baby Sydney kidnapping.  When contacted, EJ was eager to help Nathan wade through the details of the will and the specific wishes that his father had left behind.

All of his father’s personal belongings, with the exception of a small houseboat that he had kept moored in New England for many years, were left to a woman not to be named.  She had clearly loved and cared for his father during his transition to becoming a better man – yet they never married.  Nathan decides to accept the houseboat and have it transported to Salem.  He wants EJ to keep the $30 million dollar fortune a secret to everyone at this point.  He needs to get used to so much that is on his plate, including his latest residency rotation at the hospital which continues to bear down on him.  Nathan has always been a little overwhelmed with the weight of being Dr. Tom Horton’s grandson at University Hospital – he is not sure how he will deal with being the guardian of such a tremendous humanitarian foundation too.   Nathan thinks by moving into the houseboat – maybe he will get a better sense of who his father was and who he became during all of the missing years.  EJ and Nathan quickly become friends as they work through the details of the inheritance and the foundation.  (Now, this is not a Chad/Will or Chill type situation.  These guys are merely friends. EJ and Nathan will remain completely heterosexual.)  EJ can identify somewhat with Nathan’s father who made many mistakes and then wanted to redeem himself and make himself worthy of meeting and knowing his son.  He wants to help because he thinks it will help him to learn how to fully redeem and forgive himself for his errors with Sydney, Johnny and Sami.

Nathan cannot help but be curious about the mysterious woman that inherited his father’s personal belongings.  And he asks EJ to coordinate an investigation into who the woman is.  Because EJ is the executor of Nathan’s estate  he cannot handle this request.  But refers Nathan to Justin Kiriakis to engage investigators. This whole situation softens Nathan.  He promises to always be Stephanie and Melanie’s friend but feels like he is being called in a new direction for his life and it really cannot include either  girl.  Besides, mistakes have been made on all sides of that triangle over the years.  Nathan dives into his work at the hospital and may be getting too emotionally involved in each case.  Melanie and Stephanie both see it.  But feel helpless to interfere.  They wonder about Nathan’s decision to move into a houseboat on his own (and where the houseboat came from ) Nathan is sensitive about the subject.  He does not feel he is at a point to share any information, except with his Grandmother Maggie, his mother in Nashville and his attorneys/friends, EJ and Justin.

In a few months, Justin’s  investigators come back with information related to the woman that Nathan’s father bequeathed his personal belongings.  It is a 38 year old woman living in nearby Chicago.  Nathan is curious about her.  He wants to meet her.  She is a woman who was brought up in a wealthy family in Salem and moved to the Chicago area after high school.  Nathan helps organize a fundraiser for medical aid projects and gets EJ to contact her to come to Salem to participate.  Nathan hopes to meet her anonymously and find out more about her.  She does come to Salem  saying she knows the town well because she grew up there as a child.  She is aware of the Horton and Kiriakis families.  Justin seems to know her well  but does not offer much information other than she was a lovely and caring girl growing up.  Nathan becomes more intrigued and wants to learn more about her.  Perhaps, she could help him manage the foundation that his father wants him to build.  Nathan  becomes besotted with  the older woman from Chicago.  Maggie gently points out that while this woman seems to be  a fine person with a caring heart for others  she is 10 years his senior and still very much a stranger to all of them.  And no one really knows much about her relationship with Nathan’s father.  All of this provides an interesting subtext to Nathan’s ambitions as a neurological resident at the hospital and gives him new friends in EJ, Justin and the older and attractive woman from out of town.

Now, would this be more interesting than Nathan and Stephanie or Melanie at this point ?It also gives Nathan a chance to interact with Maggie and other characters, like EJ, Justin and the mysterious woman. Share with us your thoughts. Would this storyline help or hurt Nathan ?  Or have you thought of some other storylines for him lately?