The comeback
Fifteen years after being send to the island prison, Kristen returned to Salem. Stefano had saved her from the island, although Kristen lived apart from her family in Europe all those years. He asked Kristen to return to Salem because the family was shattered since the dead of Kristen's sister, Lexie. Kristen tried to patch things up between EJ and Chad while Stefano was staying in Europe. Ofcourse, Kristen still had some other people to deal with. She visited John and Marlena, claiming she had changed and wanted to live in a peaceful co-existence. After being hesitant at first, John and his son Brady believed her. Marlena never did. Kristen, ofcourse, had an agenda. She blamed John and Marlena for hurting her in the past and finally had her chance to take revenge. Kristen's revenge plan involved using John's son Brady. Kristen had arranged to be mugged while Brady would see it. Brady intervened and held off the muggers to save Kristen, but ended up in the hospital himself. Kristen send John a couple of messages to warn him, but Marlena deleted them and had to admit to it later. Kristen started to cause trouble between John and Marlena. Kristen caught Marlena breaking into her hotel room. Since Marlena couldn't find anything incriminating, Brady believed for sure that Kristen had changed. In the church rectory, Kristen made a confession saying she had feelings for Brady, well aware that Brady was eavesdropping. Brady followed Kristen to her hotel room where they had sex for the first time. Brady and Kristen agreed to keep their affair a secret for now. Marlena walked into them once, but kept quiet because this would mean Kristen wouldn't be sleeping with John. Jennifer saw Brady and Kristen kissing once, but promised to keep quiet also. Jennifer and Kristen slowly began to build a friendship again. After Kristen got under Marlena's skin once again, Marlena made sure John would find Kristen and Brady making out. Kristen finally put all her cards on the table and declared to John she came back to take revenge. There was a big fight between John and Brady which put both men in the hospital. John decided he needed a break from Marlena and Salem while Brady and Kristen moved into the DiMera mansion.