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"If we look at this story like a mature love story and you get to a point where you live the characters and you know the point of frustration, the dam has to burst," explains DAYS OF OUR LIVES Executive Producer Tom Langan. And boy, does it ever. After nearly two years of suffering in silence, loser-in-love Mike Horton finally declares his feelings to Carrie. "It was just natural at this point in the story," says Langan. "it didn't have to come out of an elevator crash or the house burning down with her inside; it came out of a real emotional place."
Mike just can't take anymore," sighs his portrayer, Roark Critchlow. "She's there all the time, they've kissed twice and the longing hasn't lessened any. She's way too close and driving him crazy"

At last, Mike's frustration gets the better of him: He throws caution to the wind and declares his love. "Carrie
is quite stunned that he articulated this and so is he," grins Langan. "In effect, it leads to much more tension between them. Before, everything just seemed like flirtation; now, they have to deal with a very deep emotion - Mike's love for Carrie."

But what ahout Carrie's feelings for Mike? She's married to Austin, but she's hardly been the ideal wife lately. "She loves Mike back, but she can't really say anything," notes Christie Clark (Carrie). "It's a very confusing time for her now. She's married, and she wanted to tell him that she loves him, too, but you can't do that when you're married"

Her silence doesn't sit too well with Mike, who basically has put his heart on the line. "Mike is really opening himself up and she says, 'I don't know what to say,'"  previews Critchiow. "As soon as she says that, Mike is thinking that he made an idiot out of himself. There was his heart, and she just shredded it." But what Carrie doesn't say is also significant. "She doesn't deny it," he points out "She doesn't deny that she loves him. She says, 'I don't know what to do, I'm very confused....' He embarrassed her and it's horrible. It's absolute vulnerability. She doesn't have the guts to make the move."

P'robably because of that little band of gold on her finger. After all, she and Anstin have only been married a little over a year. Hardly the time for irreconcilable differences - even in Salem. "She's still in love with Austin," insists Clark. "He's her first love, and she's never known anything different  It was young love, and when you're young you think, 'This is it,' and then you're in another relationship in a year and you're like, 'Oh my God,what was I thinking?' She thinks she should've waited. She keeps flashing back on Mike saying, 'You should wait, you're rushing into this.' And there's a lot of baggage with Austin and it's the same old thing: Sami and Will, Sami and Will. So that draws her to Mike more.

But Mike wants to put some distance between them after her ambivalent response to his bold declaration. "He tells her, 'You 've got to chill out and give me some room and some space.' And he rattles on that maybe she should quit the job [at the hospital] because he can't take it anymore," says Critchlow. "She says, 'What are you going to do? Fire me?' He says, 'I'm not going to destroy somebody's career that way.' She says, 'So are you ask ing me to quit?' I say, 'Yeah. It would be better if you did."'

"If she stayed away for a while and really tried to get him out of her head, they could go back to being friends," Clark muses. "But at this point, all they want to do is kiss again and that'll go just a little further - and then they'll be in trouble."

Critchiow, on the other hand, doesn't see them going back to the "just friends" stage any time soon. "It's still a love affar," he declares. "There's not even an attempt to be friends. To Mike, it's just a straight up awareness of what the truth is and then just dealing with it. He's not going to stop loving her and be her friend. He can't. So
she's around because he's willing to take the pain of having her there because he's a loser [laughs]. Deep down in his heart, he knows she can't begin to feel the love he feels."

So, where does this leave them? "This is basically the beginning of an affair," says Langan. "They've kissed twice, she's broken her vows and she should have gone to Austin the first time she kissed Mike and told him.
That's what a relationship is all about: honesty and communication. This is going to be potentially disastrous for all three people." But that doesn'tmean all is lost for star-crossed Carrie and Austin. "I still think Carrie and Austin are the long-term rooting couple," says Executive Producer Ken Corday. "They've been put upon by the evil sister [Sami] and she's used all of her wiles to get Austin to really care about Will." However, he previews, "He will risk his love in kind of a not-too-niceway." Uh-oh.