Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 239,871 times)

[heroicmuse]

Thank you André DiMera , Kpatch , krw627 , and tghca for your comments this week. As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. Seeing people be engaged with my story week after week is so rewarding.

I'm excited for what's coming up and I hope you are too! Here's a sneak peek.

Next Week on Breaking Ties...



After JJ fills Nicole in, Paige worries that the so-called source could be plotting to kidnap him to stop him from exposing Judge Thorpe. Nicole doesn’t think so, but unfortunately, her assessment of the situation causes an argument between her and Sally because Sally’s experiences with the police make her not inclined to give the cops that arrested Hannah the benefit of the doubt, while Nicole sees them as non-corrupt and therefore not likely to harm JJ. In any case, Nicole thinks JJ should check out the source just in case she’s legit but be careful.

JJ makes arrangements to meet in Club TBD and Paige insists on coming along to watch his back. She sits at another table, watching as best as she can, but is interrupted by Bev, who is all wound up after her run-in with Trask and needs someone to talk to. Paige is reluctant to take her eyes off JJ but ends up giving Bev a pep talk anyway. Bev ponders what to do -- should she call her dad and prove Trask right or try to deal with this on her own and hope Trask doesn’t blackball her?

Meanwhile, JJ’s source does have an ulterior motive for meeting: blackmail. She tells him that Thorpe is a good man and warns him to drop the story. At first JJ is unintimidated, since most of Salem knows his past so there’s nothing she can hold over his head. But then the woman threatens to make sure Hannah’s judge denies her request to have her sentence converted to probation. And when JJ threatens to expose the blackmail on the air, the woman says he has no proof the conversation even happened, since she won’t allow him to record their conversation, and that she can drag his reputation through the mud if he tries to expose her. Does this woman really have the power to carry out her threats? And more importantly, will JJ give in?

After the conversation, JJ interrupts Bev and Paige and silently alerts Paige to the threat against Hannah. Paige doesn’t want him dropping the story no matter what, though she’s worried that this woman could revoke her probation too if she’s pushed and she doesn’t want to go back to jail. And before the young couple can decide on what to do, Paige gets the phone call she’s been waiting all afternoon for: Kayla has made a decision about her employment.

Elsewhere in Salem, Jennifer and Abigail’s session doesn’t quite go how she expected, as Dr. Asher tries to mediate the conflict between her and Abby and suggests they decide together what kind of care Abby needs, including whether or not Jennifer getting a power of attorney over her is a good idea. The session gets emotional for both women, and Jennifer realizes part of why she has such trouble letting go is because of her past, but will this insight change anything?

At the principal’s office, Claire has to wait with Hope while her parents talk to the principal. Hope gives Claire some tough love, and on top of that, when Chase and Ciara are sent there too, Claire is immediately smitten with Chase and afraid he will never forgive her for getting him in trouble. Soon, Claire is called to the principal’s office, where the principal tells her she has chosen not to press charges but that she wants her to tell her the truth: who else was involved? Claire is reluctant, but eventually she admits to Ciara’s involvement. The principal promises not to tell who snitched on Ciara, but will she keep her promise? And even if she does, could Ciara figure it out anyway? Meanwhile,Claire gets a bit of good news as she is leaving, which gives her a little bit of hope for the future.

Finally, Duncan is irritated with Wolfe’s attempt to talk to her about racial bias, and later Wolfe finds himself on the hot seat -- but the IAB agent seems more interested in what Roman was doing than in him. And Sami takes the opportunity to have a heart to heart with Allie, but will she get through to her? 

[André DiMera]

Glad J.J. isn’t going to this meeting alone. Wonder what Bev’s gonna do. I think this “source” is bluffing, and I hope J.J. calls her bluff. He’s too smart to give in to blackmail. Can’t wait for what Kayla’s decision is!

I hope the session goes well, for Abby, at least. Sounds like Jennifer might realize she’s needs to let go.

Ooh, I can’t wait to see Claire meet Chase! I’m glad that it sounds as though she won’t get in too much trouble.

I hope Duncan tells Wolfe to go away. And I really hope Sami can get through to Allie!

Thanks for the previews, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

JJ is being threatened into dropping the story...I knew it...because I knew that JJ if he even tried to put this story in the papers or broadcast it on the air there would be consequences and there will be should JJ decide not to drop the story. JJ is being blackmailed and it isn't like he can go to the cops either because he has no proof of this conversation ever happening and he doesn't know the woman by name either. She can make life difficult not just for him but for Paige and everyone else he loves or cares about. Sounds to me that this woman is pretty dangerous, does JJ want to test her?

Paige wants to be JJ's back-up...I can't blame her but last I checked Paige is not a reporter

Claire meeting Aiden's son Chase...I wonder if there will be sparks

[Kpatch]

I am ready for Prescott and Horowitz to get together.

Claire is a brat.

[heroicmuse]

Week 229 - 1
“What you missed is this,” JJ said, shoving his phone at Nicole. “We were just talking about how to tell if this is a legitimate source or someone trying to start trouble.”

“Look at you starting with the attention-grabbing headline,” Nicole said dryly. “Mind giving me the story behind it?”

“I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version,” Sally said. “It looks like the cops grabbed a girl for the color of her skin and not for what she did, but the joke’s on them, if you can call it that, because she’s JJ’s cousin. It all started with…” She finished filling Nicole in. JJ, Alison, and Paige all jumped in at different times to give her more details.

“So just when we’re stuck, all of a sudden this text comes through,” JJ said when they were finished, “and something tells me it’s too good to be true.”

“What do you know? I don’t have to tell you to look before you jump into trouble,” Nicole said. She double checked the text. “They checked all the right boxes. Too scared to talk, want to do the right thing… though using a blocked number was a nearly fatal flaw in their plan, it makes it obvious they don’t want to be traced.”

“So JJ’s right, it’s not for real?” Paige asked. She reached for JJ’s hand. “What for? Not… they aren’t trying to kidnap him to keep him quiet, are they?”

“The excitement never ends around here,” Nicole said, “but I doubt that. For one thing, the Brotherhood tried that and failed, and they had far more reason. JJ’s not exposing mass corruption on the part of powerful people this time. It seems like this is more or less one moron setting off a chain reaction that relied on pressing a bunch of well-intentioned people’s fear buttons.”

“Well-intentioned?” Sally said. “The cops didn’t even see the other girl involved when she was right under their noses!”

“You know what i mean,” Nicole said. “They didn’t wake up that morning thinking about how to make life miserable for a black teenager. It was more or less by mistake.”

“Doesn’t make it any less hurtful.” Sally was rustling papers on her desk, trying to hide how upset she was. “It’s not the cops that shot Alfie at point blank range and left him to die in the street, but it all comes from the same source. Thinking people like us are dangerous, that we’re prone to violence, that the world has to be protected from us. That girl’s lucky she’s just in jail. The manager said she was in a gang and in his store causing trouble when she wasn’t doing a thing but buying soda at a store just like anyone else and they could have justified holding her at gunpoint based on that alone and when she talked back…” She shuddered. “It happens these cops were cool headed enough not to, but locking her up because she had an ‘attitude,’ because she tried to stand up for herself… when the best we can say is at least they didn’t kill her over it, can we really call it a mistake?”

“Maybe mistake’s the wrong word,” Nicole said, “but we don’t have better ones, Sally, there’s no word for someone who tries to be a good person but does stupid things that make racists win anyway.”

Sally blinked hard. “It’s nice you’ve never experienced anything so bad you can give a cop the benefit of the doubt when something like this happens. I have and I can’t.”

There was an awkward silence. Paige said quietly, “I can’t either.”

“Cause of what they did to you?” JJ asked.

“Not just that,” Paige said. “I heard a lot of stories in jail.” She twisted her bracelet, nervously. “Everyone had one and most of them were completely unfair. It really opened my eyes, because… well, I thought getting arrested for a murder I didn’t commit was as bad as it gets. But the cops were so nice to me when I was arrested. So, so nice. They took me to the emptiest part of the lake so people wouldn’t see I was being taken away in handcuffs and they kept apologizing, like they felt bad they had to arrest me at all. And when they took me to the holding cells, they said they had to treat me like all the other prisoners and that was why they had to make me strip in front of them and they couldn’t give me a book to read and then they apologized again. I was arrested for MURDER. For killing someone. And they kept apologizing to me. But look how they treated Squeaky when the only thing they were charging her with was holding an open container of beer she hadn’t even drank out of.”

“Yeah, but they know you,” JJ said. “Abe helped us get together and he knew exactly who you were cause your grandma’s a Brady.”

“Squeaky’s a Horton,” Paige said. “But they treated her like she was dangerous anyway.”

“Cause they didn’t know her!” JJ didn’t know why he was getting so upset. He let his breath out slowly, trying to get a handle on it. “The cops in East Salem did the same thing to me, Paige, remember? They had no clue about anything except someone called them saying I was holding a gun on an officer. They came at me with theirs drawn and I had to beg them not to shoot me.”

“And they listened,” Sally said. “Thank God that they did. But my brother had his hands up just like you did and they shot him anyway.”

“And they made Gina lie in the mud for 20 minutes,” Paige added. “That’s someone else I met in jail, she was black too and they caught her stealing a car battery when hers died. She said they came at her the same way they came at JJ when they thought he was a hostage-taker and made her lie down on the ground and they took forever checking things out before they finally arrested her, and on top of that they charged her with stealing the battery to make drugs with when there was no reason for them to think that. I’d suggest you interview her too, JJ, but she kept shutting down when I tried to talk to her so you wouldn’t get anywhere.”

“Warden won’t let anyone but Nicole interview prisoners anyway,” JJ said.

Nicole said, “And with that, this conversation comes full circle. I think you should check out what this source has to say, JJ. It’s our only way right now to get our foot in the door so we can find out what Judge Thorpe was thinking and why he has this habit of sending people to jail for the hell of it. Just be careful just in case. Meet somewhere public enough that you can attract attention if anything strange happens and keep your eyes and ears open. No abandoned parking garages or anything like that.”

“Cool,” JJ said.

“I’m coming with you,” Paige added. “I won’t scare them away, don’t worry. I’ll sit at another table so I can flag someone down if I need to.”

“This is way overkill, but if it makes you happy I guess you can,” JJ said. “I owe you a date anyway, after this is done we can have dinner for real.”

“While those two lovebirds are having a romantic evening of spying on questionable sources, I need someone to talk to Hannah’s public defender,” Nicole said. “That’s a stone we don’t want to leave unturned.”

“I’ll ask Emily to do that,” Alison said. “I’m going to swing by the DA’s office and pick up my girlfriend. On the off-chance that she actually got something out of Spota today, I’ll text you.”

Nicole nodded. “I’d do some of this myself, but I have to get ready for my show.” She glanced over her shoulder at Sally, who was staring straight ahead. “And obviously Sally and I have a lot to talk about. Call me if you need help, any of you.” She turned towards JJ. “Especially you, don’t let that source get the better of you.”

“I won’t,” JJ said, looking up from the text he was sending. “I promise.” He bit his lip. “You and Sally gonna be okay?”

“I’m sure we will. We always have before. Now stop worrying about me and get out of here.”

The kids all left. Nicole pulled the chair next to Sally’s desk out with her foot and threw herself into it. “Okay,” she said, “let’s get this all out in the open. You know how highly I think of you, Sally, that you’re the best friend I’ve ever had and I’d like to actually not mess that up for once. So tell me what I can do to make this right.”


Spota stuck his head out of his office. “Ms. Scott,” he said to Kelsey. “I need you to pull the file on a defendant named Hannah Martin. Email it over to me and then see that I am not disturbed for the next hour. I have a video conference related to this case.”

“Yes, sir, right away,” Kelsey said. “May I ask with whom you’re conferencing?”

“You may not,” Spota said. “Why do you want to know?”

Kelsey shrugged. “Just curious.”

“Don’t be. I’m not giving you anything to give to that reporter girlfriend of yours. Now hurry up and get me that file.” Spota slammed the door.

Kelsey pressed a few buttons on her computer. She downloaded the file and then slipped a flash drive into the side of her computer. “This is my lucky day,” she said to herself. “This was exactly who Alison was asking me about.”

She pressed some more buttons. Once she’d emailed the file, she opened Spota’s calendar to try to find out who he was video conferencing with.

“That’s odd,” she said to herself. “Whoever this is, it’s not in the calendar.” She took her flash drive out and put it away, then stared at the screen, thinking.



Hope was already sitting in a seat in the waiting area when Claire and her parents got to the principal’s office.

Claire put on her biggest smile even though she was nervous and said, “Hi, Grandma.”

“Hi.” Hope’s voice was hard. She turned to Shawn. “Principal Smith is probably going to want to see you first. She’s hoping Claire will do the right thing and tell her exactly how this happened.”

Shawn nodded. “Alone or with our little miscreant?”

“I don’t know,” Hope said.

“Let’s go find out,” Belle said. “Stay here with Grandma, please, Claire.”

Claire’s eyes flashed. “So much for not treating me like a kindergartener,” she said, throwing herself into her seat.

“Maybe the way you’ve been behaving has something to do with it.” Hope’s voice was still hard. “What were you thinking, doing something like this? You had to know this would just make things worse.”

Claire’s lip trembled. “Wow. You’re really mad at me.”

“Of course I am!” Hope said. “Claire, you and Ciara broke into a school computer to get you registered for class here against your parents’ wishes. Do you have any idea how serious that is?”

Claire looked at the floor. “I didn’t mean to get anyone in trouble. I just wanted to stay in Salem.”

“Yeah, well, this isn’t the way to do it.” Hope crossed her arms. “Why didn’t you just talk to me, honey? If you wanted to stay here that badly maybe I could have worked something out with your parents.”

“I didn’t think you’d listen. Mom and Dad wouldn’t. And Ciara said that if she got me registered everybody would have to go along with it.”

Hope sighed. “So Ciara was behind this. I thought so, and Aiden and I are going to have to deal with that. But we can’t just blame her for this. You had to have known somewhere deep inside that this wasn’t the right way to get what you want, and you went along with what she told you anyway. That isn’t on her, honey. That’s on you.”

Claire bit her lip. “What’s going to happen now?”

“I don’t know,” Hope said. “We all have to wait and see what Mrs. Smith says. But in the meantime, if I were you I’d start making better choices before you do something that can’t be resolved with a trip to the principal’s office.”

The door to the waiting area opened just then and a teacher brought Ciara and Chase in. Claire watched as the teacher marched them over to where Hope and Claire were sitting.

Claire tilted her head up and watched as Chase and JJ strummed and sang together. “Who’s THAT?” she asked CIara, gesturing at Chase.

“That’s just Chase,” Ciara said. “Haven’t you ever met my stepbrother before?”

“Um, when have I ever been around to meet anyone?” Claire said. She grabbed Ciara’s wrist as Chase came closer to the edge of the stage. “Oh my gosh, he’s so gorgeous. Are you really telling me once I move in with you and Grandma I’m going to get to live with him too?”

Chase looked even more gorgeous close up. His eyes were like Claire’s but a softer shade of blue and his hair was the perfect mix of brown and blonde.

“Sit down, both of you,” the teacher said, “and wait quietly.” She turned to Hope. “If I were you, I wouldn’t let them talk to each other.”

Hope crossed her arms. “I’ll be the one doing the talking, believe me. Chase, your teacher told you to sit.”

Chase threw himself into his seat. Hope said to the teacher, “I’ll take it from here.”

The teacher left. Chase turned towards Hope, his eyes full of fear. “I didn’t do anything! I swear! I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Me either,” Ciara said.

“Don’t try it,” Hope told her. “Now, maybe Chase didn’t have anything to do with this, but you did, and if I were you I’d tell me the entire truth right now before we even get to see the principal.”

Chase slumped over in his seat. Claire stared at him, regret rising in her chest. He’s never going to want to get to know me now, she thought. Not after I got him in trouble when he didn’t do anything wrong.

Just then the principal’s office door opened and Shawn said, “Come join us, please, Claire.”

Chase’s eyes flickered to her, then away, as Claire got up and dragged her feet all the way to the principal’s office.
|

[André DiMera]

It’s really sad how screwed up the system is. I can see why Sally and Paige are upset. I hope J.J. meeting with this “source” goes well.

Glad Kelsey is trying to find out what Spota’s up to.

I’m glad Hope told Claire that this isn’t the way to get what she wants. Looks like Claire has a crush on Chase. I wonder if he feels the same way.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

Sally and Paige are upset well more so Paige because she knows how the system is...she was a victim of the system not only being arrested but being sentenced and convicted. Paige is an ex-felon but then again her friend Hannah is a felon too through no fault of her own. JJ's meeting I still say is a trap and JJ is walking right into it without even knowing it because do you really think the source isn't anticipating JJ's every move?

Hope of course is being a good grandmother to Claire by telling her that the way to get what she wants is not the way to go about doing things...that I can commend Hope on but at the same time Shawn Douglas he had to know that his little sister Ciara was behind this...so I wonder why Shawn isn't talking to his sister Ciara about this? Or better yet why Belle isn't talking to her sister-in-law about this?

Claire of course has a crush on Chase but will Chase feel the same way about Claire as she does about him?

[Kpatch]

I hate seeing the police vilified.

I think Chase likes Allie. Are we heading for a triangle?

[heroicmuse]

Week 229 - 2
“Claire, right?” Mrs. Smith said. “Have a seat, please.”

Claire sank down into her seat. Mrs. Smith said, “We have a big problem here, Claire. It seems that you somehow faked your registration to get around your parents’ decision that they were not moving to Salem. Now, if you were a student here, you’d be facing very serious consequences. At the very least, you would be suspended while we’re looking into how this happened. But since you are not a student here, there is nothing I can do to you. Except one thing: I can bar you from ever becoming one.”

Claire’s eyes widened. “So even if Grandma takes me in I can’t go to school with Ciara? That’s not fair!”

“Oh, I think it’s more than fair,” Mrs. Smith told her. “You cheated, Claire. You put yourself at an address that isn’t yours so that you could take advantage of this school. And on top of that, you defied your parents, tried to undermine their authority. No one’s going to reward that.” She crossed her arms. “However, there is one card you can still play. You see, I know you didn’t do this alone. This prank, if you want to call it that, involved hacking into our computerized registration system to get you enrolled. I don’t pretend to understand exactly how it works and I don’t have time for the computer experts to explain it, but somehow they were able to figure out that whoever broke into our system did it from inside this school. That means it was another student or set of students, and I agree with your parents that one of the guilty parties was most likely your cousin or whatever she is. So if you tell me the whole truth, including who was involved and how they did it, then if in the future your parents should decide they do want to come to Salem you will be welcome at this school.”

Claire crossed her arms. “First of all, your deal is meaningless unless my parents let me stay in Salem. I’m not going to turn on my best friend for nothing. And by the way, Ciara’s my aunt, not my cousin.”

“Claire,” Shawn said quietly. “We talked Mrs. Smith out of pressing criminal charges against you and Ciara for this. I would suggest you don’t make her regret it.”

“It’s all right,” said Mrs. Smith. “She’s not the first rebellious teenager I’ve ever deal with.” She leaned forward. “You’re going down a bad path, Ms. Brady. A bad, bad path. But I can see you want to do the right thing. So tell me the truth. How did Ciara do it?”

“I don’t know how,” Claire said weakly. “She didn’t tell me that part.” She crossed her arms. “All I know is Chase didn’t have anything to do with it. You have to believe me, you can’t punish him.”

“Uh huh.” Mrs. Smith didn’t sound like she believed Claire at all. “But Ciara did have something to do with this?”

Claire nodded. “Please don’t tell her I cracked,” she said, her voice shaking. “She’ll never forgive me.”

Shawn put his hand on her shoulder. “She did this to herself, Peanut.”

“Your dad’s right,” Mrs. Smith said. “But she won’t hear from me that you told on her. Now, I’m going to need you to tell me everything you do know about this little scheme.”

“I don’t know very much,” Claire said. “Only that Ciara said if my parents wouldn’t let me stay with her she knew how to make it happen. I asked them this morning and they said no. So I texted her to go to Plan B.”

“And she didn’t tell you what Plan B was?”

Claire shook her head slightly. Mrs. Smith made a note on her pad. “Mind if I take a look at your phone?”

“Yes, I mind!” Claire snapped. There were a ton of texts between her and Ciara about other things that she didn’t want the principal to see. “I-I heard Paige Larson went to jail for something she didn’t do after the cops looked at her texts, why should I - “

“My daughter has a point,” Belle said, “though not much of one. We’ll look at her texts ourselves when we get home.”

Claire’s eyes snapped but she said nothing.

“Very well,” Mrs. Smith said. “You can take her home now, then. I’ll let you know my decision about whether she’ll be welcome at this school after I’ve finished my investigation.”

Claire got up slowly. “Wait… why would you tell them if - “

“Because they’re your parents,” Mrs. Smith said.

“And because we told Mrs. Smith that we were more concerned about you going behind our backs than anything else,” Belle added. “Maybe you have a point about being so far away from the rest of the family. So we’re… considering what to do and we’re not going to make any promises, but there’s a chance you might get what you want if you start being more like the sweet Claire we know and love and less of a problem child. Now come on so that Mrs. Smith can talk to Ciara.”

Claire’s eyes lit up, then the light faded again. “I just hope Chase forgives me,” she said to herself as she followed her parents out.


Duncan’s eyes narrowed. “That’s for you to think about, not me,” she said. “Look, Wolfe, your heart’s in the right place, all right, but you can’t just go to a black officer for reassurance that you’re good on race issues. That’s not gonna fly.”

“I’m not trying to get reassurance! I’m trying to do better, all right? If you’d asked me before this thing, I’d have said I’m the most fair cop there is, I treat everyone the same no matter who they are, but I was so focused on the perp in front of me I didn’t even see the one right next to her, and when she said that beer wasn’t hers, you didn’t see me lift a finger to stop Stone from arresting her instead of writing her a summons. But here’s the thing. I didn’t think, let me arrest her cause she’s black, not in so many words. So if I was racist towards her it was whatcha call it, subconscious or whatever. So I need another set of eyes to help me see it. You copy?”

“I copy,” Duncan said, “and like I said your heart’s in the right place. If you’re serious about eradicating whatever biases you have, I want to help. It’s just, I feel singled out. I don’t want to just be the token black friend who educates you on what racism looks like.  That just adds insult to injury, can’t you see that?”

“I’m not trying to offend you. I’m trying to do the right thing.” Wolfe crossed his arms. “What the hell am I supposed to do? I didn’t think I was being racist when I arrested that girl so how am I supposed to see it if - “

Just then, the intercom went off. “Officer James Wolfe to conference room 1, please.”

Wolfe sighed. Duncan said, “You’d better go.”

Wolfe said, “Right. Just so you know, you’re not a token anything to me.” He turned and walked away.


At Club TBD, Paige had sat down at a table close enough to the back to keep an eye on JJ but far enough away that no one would guess she was watching him.

Someone wearing a hoodie came into the Club and looked around before heading for JJ’s table. Paige leaned forward to watch, but just then the door opened again and Bev called, “Paige!” Bev hurried over to the table and threw herself into a seat. “Thank God you’re here,” she said. “I just came from that luncheon and it was every bit as much of a disaster as I expected it would be.”

“What happened?” Paige twisted a lock of hair nervously, trying to look at Bev and keep her eye on JJ at the same time.

“Trask happened,” Bev said. “You know, the ex-DA who’s been out to get me since I was a teenager. She had the nerve to tell me that if I didn’t come up to her standards she was going to make sure Mason is blackballed.”

Paige frowned. “She can’t do that, Bev,” she said flatly.

“She can! She has a lot of power, she’s the exact kind of person who - “ Bev cut herself off. “This is a bad time, isn’t it?”

“Kind of.” Paige sighed. Lowering her voice, she said, “JJ’s meeting with a shady source, I’m trying to make sure he’s okay.”

“All the more reason we should hang out,” Bev said. “It’ll look suspicious if you’re sitting at a table by yourself staring into space.”

“I guess you’re right,” Paige said. She twisted her ring. “I’ve been really paranoid since I got out of jail,” she said. “Please tell me that goes away after a while.”

“It does,” Bev said. “For the most part, anyway. Once in a while I have a moment. But I had it less bad than you did, I guess.”

Paige shrugged. “I had it less bad in jail than a lot of other prisoners, but it was still pretty bad.” She swallowed hard. “A friend of mine might be getting out soon. If she makes it to her court date. She called earlier and she insisted no one’s bothering her but she was holding something back, I can tell.”

Bev patted her hand. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“I hope so.” Paige played with her bracelet. “She has to make it out, she shouldn’t have been there in the first place. That’s what JJ’s reporting on, I can’t say any more til the story comes out but she’s one of the people who had it worse than me. Anyway, I want you to meet her, she’s going to need friends who won’t judge her for spending time in jail.”

“Of course,” Bev said. She sighed. “What do you think I should do about Trask? I never wanted Mason to be in this stupid school in the first place because I just knew it would be filled with people like her. But now that she’s actually tried to use my past against him…” She shook her head. “I can’t let her win, I can’t let her ruin Mason’s chances.” She took her phone out of her purse. “I keep thinking about calling my dad. He got me that interview with Mrs. Lockridge in the first place and I’m sure he has just as much influence as that bitch Melinda Trask does. But I keep thinking about how she said he bought my way into that school, like Mason doesn’t deserve to be there, and if I let him fix this for me it makes it look like she’s right, you know?”

“Right,” Paige said. “So we have to think of something else. But first let’s wait for JJ, okay? I’ll feel a lot better when I know he’s safe and he’ll know what to do to help you.”

“Okay,” Bev said, “but if I’m going to sit here, I need to order something. I barely ate anything at that stupid lunch because Trask ruined my appetite.” She slumped over her menu, pretending to study it, so Paige wouldn’t see how upset she was.


Meanwhile, JJ’s source sat twisting her hoodie string and saying nothing.

“Look,” JJ said quietly. “I’m not gonna share your name with anyone, I swear. But I gotta have it for my records. How else am I gonna know you’re legit?”

“All you have to know is I’m a clerk in Judge Thorpe’s courtroom,” the source said, keeping her voice very low, “and I have something to say to you.”


The warden at Salem City Jail paced back and forth in her office. “Okay, so some reporter wants to talk to Hannah Martin. It doesn’t mean anything. She doesn’t know anything about me and she’s pretty much been a model prisoner so what damage can she do, really?”

She picked up a photo on her desk and looked at it. “She doesn’t know about us,” she said. “She doesn’t.”

Her phone rang. She picked it up. “Warden Jefferson. Yes. Thank you for returning my call. We have what may be a crisis to head off. Some reporters are sniffing around the Hannah Martin case. They want to get her side of things. Well, I haven’t had many dealings with her. She’s pretty much been a model prisoner. But she was almost stabbed last month and if she blabs about that… Really? You think that will work? All right, then. We’ll try it.” She hung up, then pressed a button and said into her intercom, “Step in here for a minute, please. I have a job for you.”

[André DiMera]

Claire’s lucky things didn’t go worse. Hopefully, she won’t be banned from Salem Junior High. What Belle said at the end sounds intriguing.

I really hope Wolfe listens to what Duncan said!

Wow, this source sounds really shady. Moreso than before. I’m glad Bev showed up, this way it looks less like Paige is just randomly sitting there. Hopefully she can find a way to get Trask out of her business.

Wonder who the warden is calling, and if there’s more that she doesn’t want to get out, besides the almost stabbing.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

I'm glad JJ has a legitimate source.

Ciara should go into the technology field when she's ready to enter the workforce. She takes after cousin Sami. LOL. I felt bad for Claire, getting caught in the middle of all this. Hopefully Chase is kept out of the mess, but I have a feeling he won't be.

Poor Bev. I can't believe Trask is still harassing her. She is trying so hard to be a good mother.

[tghca]

Claire told on her Aunt Ciara...well she didn't have much of a choice it was either that or say nothing and risk ever not being a student at Salem High but I'm sure Ciara will figure out pretty quickly that it was her niece, her brother's daughter that told on her. Either way I don't see how Claire and Ciara come back from this.

JJ of course has a source but who is to say she's even legit. I mean she seems to be but all things are too good to be true especially in this case.

The warden must be into something dirty and shady especially if the judge is also involved...it makes me wonder who else is or could be involved? I mean you could have a crime ring on your hands here in Salem

[heroicmuse]

Week 229 - 3


Abigail’s eyes flashed. “Mom! I don’t need… I forgot the words you used but if I did need that I’d want JJ to do it, not you!”

Jennifer looked hurt. “Abigail, sweetheart… I’m only trying to do what’s best for you.” She turned towards Dr. Asher. “You see why I wanted you here? My daughter resists me at every turn. She thinks I’m trying to infantilize her, but nothing could be further from the truth. She has a brain injury whether she likes it or not, and she can’t take care of herself. That’s just how it is.”

Abigail’s eyes blazed. “You don’t… you know, you’re not trying to help. You just want to…” She stared into space. “You know, when you try to make someone do what you want them to do when they don’t agree.”

Dr. Asher held up his hand. “Abigail,” he said. “I hear how angry you are and that you feel that your mom wants to control you. And Jennifer, I hear your fear and your frustration because your daughter won’t allow you to take care of her in the way you think is best. That’s what is causing the conflict between the two of you, because Mom wants to protect and Abigail wants independence.”

“I’m an adult,” Abigail said. “Just because I don’t have all my words doesn’t mean I’m a baby.”

“That’s certainly true,” Dr. Asher said. “Jennifer, what do you think about that?”

“I know she’s not a baby,” Jennifer said. Her voice shook. “I just remember what she was. She was smart and funny and sensitive and she had such a bright future ahead of her. Then one night a few years ago Ben Weston got ahold of her and he destroyed all of that, he drove her car drunk and crashed it and left us with… with this shell of what my daughter used to be. And I just want her to get well, to be as whole as she possibly can be, but to tell you the truth, I’m not sure we’ll ever get there. And so I’m trying to come to terms with that, to do what I have to do because the new normal is that my daughter is severely disabled, and on top of everything else we’ve lost… now the daughter that used to be my best friend hates me.”

Dr. Asher handed Jennifer a tissue. Abigail said, “Do you think I like being… this? My memory is broken but I remember when I used to be smart too! I was so… you know, my brain worked so fast and Daddy used to… um… when you call someone a name but as a joke, not to be mean. Anyway, he said as a joke that Abby was short for Abacus because I was so good at math and he would say he left his brain at home and needed mine. And I used to… you know, when you’re not a teacher but someone needs help, I did that with people and I used to make JJ so mad when he was, you know, like this.” She put her hand palm down near the floor to show JJ as little. “We used to watch… It was a game on TV, you had to guess the words and there was a big wheel and I always knew the right answer fast and JJ would get so mad. And now I can’t remember the words I want to say. And Mom makes it like she’s the one something bad happened to when I’M THE ONE WHO LOST EVERYTHING!!!”

Abby began to cry too. Dr. Asher said softly, “You both are in a lot of pain over Abigail’s disability. I know this has to be so hard for both of you. But maybe this can be a starting point. You have something in common now. You’re both heartbroken about the way the car accident changed Abigail.”

Jennifer dabbed at her eyes with her tissue. “Just tell me one thing. In your professional opinion, will Abigail ever get better?”

“You know,” Dr. Asher said, “I could give you my best guess. But I’d rather not do that right now, because my prediction won’t help you two solve anything. I do believe there’s hope, and that’s important, but I also think that right now what we need to focus on is figuring out together what is best for Abigail given what her condition is today and for the foreseeable future. And my emphasis, Jennifer, is on TOGETHER. You see, I think that’s where the problem lies. You, Jennifer, are doing what comes naturally to you when you see your daughter is struggling. You want to help her, to protect her. But your daughter does not want or need that kind of help. She is well aware she has some serious limitations right now, but she is equally aware that she wants and needs some say over her own life. So my suggestion is that rather than assisting you in communicating your decision about her need for guardianship to her, that I assist both of you in talking through your concerns so that you can find ways to deal with Abigail’s current limitations that are acceptable to both of you. Would you both be willing to do that?”

“I’ll try my best,” Jennifer said.

“That’s all we can ask. Abigail, what do you think?”

Abby’s lips moved silently as she tried to remember what they were talking about. Jennifer started to tell her, but Dr. Asher held up his hand and said, “Let her think.”

Abigail bit her lip. “Will Mom really let me help?”

“She said she would,” Dr. Asher said. “Will you try to let her help too?”

Abigail hesitated again, then nodded.

“Good,” Dr. Asher said. “So let’s start again.” He got up and wheeled a large white board to the center of the room. “Jennifer, you go first. Tell Abigail what some of your concerns are and let’s take it from there.”



“I’m listening,” JJ said. “Mind if I record it too?”

“I do, actually. Pen and paper only. My voice could be recognized and I don’t want to lose my job.”

“We could disguise it,” JJ said.

The source played with her hoodie string. “I don’t want my voice on the record. I don’t even know if I should be doing this.” She leaned forward. “What I have to say is this, Mr. Deveraux, and you can quote me on it but I don’t think you’ll want to.” She twisted the hoodie string around her finger. “Judge Thorpe is a good man and a good judge. He doesn’t deserve to be dragged through the mud in the press.”

“I’m not trying to! I’m just trying to get to the truth.”

“Right. And you’re not bitter because he sent your girlfriend away?”

“He gave in to a freaking mob,” JJ said, “but that’s got nothing to do with this. I got the court records, I saw he threw the book at Hannah Martin for a tiny little thing that nobody would have cared about if some racist asshole hadn’t called the cops on her. All I wanna know is what he was thinking. If he had a reason besides not liking the color of her skin, why doesn’t he just say so?”

“I somehow doubt you’d believe him if he did,” the source said. “Besides, he’s too busy to talk to some reporter with an ax to grind.”

“So he sent you instead?”

“No. He doesn’t know I’m here.” The source leaned forward. “It’s like this, Mr. Deveraux. I can tell you his reason for sending Hannah Martin away for a year and I can explain his decision about your girlfriend too. But then that has to be the end of it. Don’t investigate any further.”

JJ’s eyes narrowed. “I gotta get back up for what you say, especially if you’re not going on the record.”

“Well, you’re just going to have to take my word for it. I don’t like reporters with agendas, and you clearly have one. So I’m warning you, drop this story.”

“Or else what?” JJ demanded. “Go ahead and try and blackmail me, there’s nothing you got on me that’s any worse than the stuff everyone already knows already.”

“Nobody said anything about blackmail,” the source said, twisting her hoodie string. “There’s no need to get paranoid. I’m just saying, actions have consequences. If you insist on painting Judge Thorpe as the bad guy when he has been one of the fairest judges in Salem for over 30 years, life could get very difficult. Judges talk to each other and so do clerks, and if you want Hannah Martin released the last thing she needs is a judge in a bad mood because of the hatchet job you’re doing on Judge Thorpe over her sentence.”

JJ’s throat tightened with anger and under the table, he clenched and unclenched his fist, but he did his best not to show it on his face. “Yeah? What stops me from exposing this crap on the air, telling the world that Judge Thorpe’s clerk threatened to make sure an innocent girl who’s already been screwed over once gets screwed over again if I didn’t kill the story on her sentencing?”

The woman laughed. “You’ve got some fire in you, I’ll give you that. But I have the upper hand. You don’t have any proof this conversation ever happened. You don’t even have my name. So if you try to make me out to be the bad guy, I can easily make it clear to everyone you’re just angry that Judge Thorpe sent your girlfriend to jail. You wouldn’t want to get that kind of reputation before you even graduate, would you? After all, you don’t want to be stuck working for Nicole Walker forever, you want a better job than that. And you won’t make it to New York writing smear pieces.”

JJ couldn’t help scowling. The woman said, “But it doesn’t have to be that way, Mr. Deveraux. If you do what you’re told and drop the story, there can be a happy ending for everybody. Your cousin will be out of jail before summer, your reputation will survive intact, and life goes on. So, are you going to make the right decision?”

[André DiMera]

So glad Dr. Asher wants to hear from both sides. I really hope this helps Jennifer and Abby!

Wow. So this “source” isn’t blackmailing J.J....except, she totally is. This lady must have no idea who J.J. is if she thinks he’s gonna give in to a threat like the one she made, or any, for that matter.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

My heart broke for Jennifer when she said she lost her best friend as well as her daughter. It speaks volumes. There's no easy answer.