Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 248,990 times)

[krw627]

I feel so bad for Abigail. Glad T is beyond supportive.

Love the Paige & JJ scenes. They are slowly creating their "new normal".

[tghca]

Sarah will probably end up in jail sooner or later. All alcoholics have to hit bottom and her bottom is either going to prison or almost dying. So either she gets arrested or she gets hit by a car again or she drives drunk and gets into an accident or drives drunk and hits someone with her car.

JJ and Paige finally have some alone time. About time these 2 figured it out.

[heroicmuse]

Week 233 - 4

Jennifer wrapped her fingers around her coffee cup.

“My daughter is having surgery, that’s what’s wrong!” Chloe said. “In two days she’s going under the knife and Parker’s going to need constant reassurance until then that everything’s going to be all right and I can’t give him that because he’s staying with you.”

“You want an extra day?” Daniel asked. “The surgery’s not til Thursday, if you want to take him tonight so he has a little extra time with you and Philip - “

“I’m afraid that’ll make it worse for him. I want this to be as normal as possible.”

“Don’t worry,” Jennifer said, putting her hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “We’ll give Parker all the support he needs. He’ll be fine.”

Chloe’s eyes narrowed.”So you’re going to be here the whole time? I hope you can do a better job of being patient with him than you usually do. The last thing he needs is anyone yelling at him.”

“...can’t quite trust it,” Hope was saying. She frowned. “Cuz? Did you hear a word I said?”

“Sorry,” Jennifer said. “I was a million miles away.”

“I can see that.” Hope patted Jennifer’s hand. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, really. Just the usual. Chloe doesn’t really trust me with Parker and why should she? Look at the mess I’ve made out of things with Abigail. I never thought that JJ would be the one I don’t have to worry about, of the two of them I thought he was the one that was harder to reach, but now…”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re in an impossible situation with Abigail. She was so bright and full of promise and for all that to be taken away… no one could deal with that. No one.”

“It’s been two years. You’d think I’d have learned by now.” Jennifer sighed. “Take my mind off this. Tell me about the wedding.”

“We’re taking care of caterers and music this week,” Hope said. “I was going to ask you to watch Ciara but since you have so much going on maybe I’d better make other arrangements.”

“No, I can. Chloe will probably be glad to hear I won’t be with Parker full-time.” Jennifer made herself smile. “I guess I need to start talking to the bridesmaids about your bachelorette party. Don’t worry, it’ll be tame enough for Ciara and Allie.”

“Knowing you, it’ll be all word games and jigsaw puzzles.” Hope sighed. “I wanted to arrange a bridal shopping trip but that’s too much fun for Ciara while she’s grounded so I guess it’ll have to wait.”

“Maybe wait until the second week of her suspension so that she has a reason to be cooperative this week.” Jennifer shook her head. “I can’t believe she actually hired someone to hack into a school computer.”

“I can believe it, knowing Ciara. But what I can’t believe is how much attitude she’s giving me over it. She’s acting like this isn’t a big deal and she’s so convincing I keep asking myself if maybe I’m just overreacting.”

“You’re not. Trust me, you’re not. Remember how much in denial I was when JJ got involved with drugs? I really wanted to believe all the excuses and stories and flat out lies he told me and that just made things worse. Maybe he wouldn’t have ended up in handcuffs for destroying a store window if I’d seen how much he was struggling earlier and done something to get him back on the right path.”

“I don’t think you could have. He wasn’t ready. Hopefully Ciara is. One of my officers talked to her and she thought she was starting to get through to her, but who knows if she really did. Paige talked to her too, maybe with enough people getting on her case she’ll start to turn herself around.”

“She will.” It was Jennifer’s turn to pat Hope’s hand now. “Ciara’s spirited, but she has a good heart, and sooner or later we’ll get through to her.”

“I hope so. I just hope it’s not too late.” Hope’s phone beeped. “Speaking of which, I’m needed at the station. Sorry to cut this short but I have to run.”

“I should go too,” Jennifer said. She got up and hugged Hope. “Hang in there.”

“You too. Things are going to work out for all of our kids. They have to.”

Hope left. Jennifer said to herself, “I wonder what’s going on at the station? Abigail’s at her day program for the next few hours and Daniel’s at work, I might as well see what I can find out.”


Meanwhile, Valerie sat in the waiting area at the airport, checking David’s flight on her phone for the 90th time. It said it was on time and would be landing shortly.

She sighed, imagining how things would be if everything was different.

Hannah sat next to Valerie, holding a sign she’d made herself that said WELCOME HOME DADDY in glitter-decorated letters and had her handmade drawings on it. “You don’t think this is too corny, do you?” she asked.

“Of course not. You’re such a talented artist, you take after your father that way. And he’ll be so thrilled to see it. And you.”

The PA system came to life, announcing that David’s flight had landed. “Well,” Valerie said, “this is it.” She and Hannah stood up. Soon, David came around the corner.

“Daddy!” Hannah called. “Over here!”

David smiled as he turned towards them. “My God, you’ve gotten so tall. You’re never going to stop growing, are you?” He ruffled Hannah’s hair, then turned towards Valerie. “And you… you’re even more beautiful than I remember.” He and Valerie kissed.

Valerie shook her head sadly as people came streaming out of the gate for real. David looked around as he came out, holding a laptop in a bag. Valerie waved and he came up to her.

“It’s so good to see you,” Valerie said.

“You too,” David said, hugging her briefly. “So, um… when does visiting start at the jail? I want to see Hannah as soon as possible.”

“It’s a two hour drive, but are you sure you don’t want to eat first?”

“All I want is to see that our daughter is more or less in one piece.”

Valerie’s eyes narrowed. All you want? she thought, wishing David wanted HER too. But it would be selfish to say so, especially with their daughter locked up. She hoped David didn’t blame her. “Let’s go, then,” she said, reaching for his hand. She was surprised he let her take it.


Squeaky was, at that moment, being taken into a conference room where Nicole was waiting. The guards took off the cuffs and said, “We’ll be right outside and she knows it.”

“Oh, I think I can handle her,” Nicole said. She smiled slightly, but the guard didn’t smile back, just said, “Let us know when you’re done, ma’am.”

The guard left. Nicole said, “She’s a barrel of laughs, huh?” Squeaky shrugged. Nicole said, “Rub your wrists, get some blood pumping to your brain, and then let’s start over. I’m Nicole Walker from WXIR and I’m here to get your side of your arrest.”

“My side? You’re going to put my story in the TV?” Squeaky’s eyes lit up, but then her whole body deflated. “It’s not like anyone’s going to care what I have to say even if you do. They’ll probably all change the channel, ‘cept for here where we have to watch what the guards put on.”

“WXIR might be scraping the bottom of the barrel, but even our ratings aren’t that bad. Some people’ll be watching.” Nicole leaned forward. “Seriously, Hannah, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Talking to me could help you get out of here and maybe actually get some justice for a change. Don’t you want that?”

Squeaky bit her lip. Yes, she wanted that, of course she did. But there was no way… if she said too much the warden would have her framed or something, she had all the power and worse, Squeaky had no idea what she was and wasn’t allowed to say. “I don’t think there’s any justice for me,” she said quietly.

“Diving right in with the hard-hitting stuff,” Nicole said. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why do you feel like there’s never going to be justice for you?”

“Cause. I never thought I’d be on the wrong side of a jail cell.” Squeaky blinked back tears. “When I was arrested I thought it was all a big mistake, my mom’s gonna come bail me out and if not in court the judge’ll throw out the case because it’s all wrong and besides, who cares about a stupid open container, right? Only none of that came true, not at all.” Hannah watched Nicole taking notes. “The judge said I had to pay $1500 if I wanted to go home. $1500! I didn’t have any $1500, the money I got waitressing last summer wasn’t nearly enough and my mom said she wasn’t about to pay a penny to get me out of jail when it was my own fault I let Nat put a beer in my hand.”

“$1500? You were only charged with an open container, right?”

“Yeah, well, they can do what they want.” Squeaky sighed.”That beer wasn’t mine but do you think the police cared? Uh uh. They said they were arresting me cause I had an attitude but that was a lie and my mom believed it 100%. A-and now…” But she couldn’t risk telling Nicole that the warden had framed her as a warning and could do it again any time she felt like.

“And now what?”

“Nothing.” Squeaky swallowed hard. “Now I wish I’d listened to my mom and not hung out with Nat, I guess. She’s not the monster my mom thinks she is but she didn’t help anything. She was the one who got the bright idea to buy beer with a fake ID and she couldn’t even take her ear off the phone long enough to back me up with the cops. Though maybe it was a good thing she didn’t, they just would have arrested both of us without even bothering to hear a word we said.”

Nicole’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Did the cops mistreat you during the arrest?”

Squeaky hesitated. “They didn’t spit in my face or pull out a gun or anything like that. They just weren’t real nice, that’s all. The one cop was real quiet and the other did all the talking, he came at me out of nowhere and yelled at me to show him the can and when I tried to tell him it wasn’t mine he screamed in my face I’d better shut up.”

“And what did you do?”

“I shut up. I didn’t want to but… look, if I hadn’t, who knows what he might have done and the quiet one wasn’t going to lift a finger to stop him.” Squeaky wriggled.

“What happened after you were arrested?” Nciole’s voice was soft.

“I just told you. I went to jail cause I couldn’t pay the bail.”

“That’s not what I meant. You’re jumpy, and I don’t think the only thing you’re holding back is that my questions are aggravating you. Now I’ve been doing this a long time - “

“I don’t want to talk about jail, okay?” Squeaky blinked back tears. “I mean, I do, but I can’t…”

Nicole crossed her arms. “When I said I’ve been doing this a long time, I didn’t just mean reporting. I meant picking up on when someone’s been sworn to secrecy about being abused. It comes with the territory of having a perverted creep as a father. He did terrible things to me my entire life, things I’m not sure you’re old enough to hear. And do you know what the worst part of it was? Having to live with this gigantic secret because I thought that it made ME disgusting and horrible and I didn’t want people to hate me any more than they already did. Now I call you being in jail and raise you one: I’ve been in prison for something I actually did. I know some of the things that go on there.” Nicole put her pen down. “Off the record. Who’s threatening you?”

“N-nobody.” But Squeaky’s eyes were wide and she could barely get the word out.

“Uh huh. Is this nobody a prisoner or staff?”

Squeaky twisted a lock of hair around her finger, nervously. “I can’t… not til I’m free.”

“So staff, then.”

Squeaky hesitated, then nodded.

“And they’re threatening to block your release.”

Squeaky nodded again. “For all I know it’s down the drain already. The guards put a crack pipe on me and took me to the hole.”

Nicole’s eyes widened. “When was this?”

Squeaky wriggled again. “Yesterday, I think. Or the day before. I don’t know. I can’t hear the bells for work or meals or anything so I don’t know what time it is anymore.” She bit her lip. “Please don’t put this in the TV. Any of it. Just say that I went to jail because I couldn’t pay the bail and if you really have to tell them my mom wouldn’t pay it either. She deserves to be embarrassed over that, she let me sit here in jail over nothing and she barely comes to visit. That’s newsworthy enough, right? You don’t need to tell the world that the warden’s threatening me, if you do I’ll never get out of here.”

Nicole patted her wrist. “I said it was off the record, so as much as my boss would love the ratings jump, it stays between us unless you change your mind. But in my experience, blackmailers are like cockroaches and the best way to get rid of them is to shine a light on them. So maybe once you’re out of jail you’ll want to come to the studio and expose what’s been going on?”

“Maybe.” Squeaky shrank back. Nicole sounded sincere, but could she trust her?

“Good,” Nicole said. “Now, I can’t go back empty-handed unless I want to pay for my own gas to get all the way down here. So let’s get the story I came here to get even if it’s not the one I really want to tell. Now I have the store manager’s side of what happened the night of your arrest. Let’s get yours.”

[André DiMera]

Of course Chloe’s still mad at Jennifer for “yelling” at Parker one time. I get she’s under a lot of stress because her daughter is about to have surgery, but still. Glad Hope and Jennifer talked.

I hope David doesn’t blame Valerie. Glad he’s finally back in Salem!

So glad Nicole was able to get (most of) the truth out of Hannah!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

Chloe should be mad at Jennifer given the fact that Jennifer did yell at Chloe's son Parker. What mother wouldn't be upset? Chloe is under a lot of stress because she not only has Parker to worry about...she has her other child to worry about hers & Philip's daughter that is about to have surgery so Chloe being on edge is understandable.

David even if he is back temporarily I do have to ask if he blames Valerie for their daughter Hannah being in prison? I mean where was David while his daughter was going through hell? That's right he was halfway across the country because he couldn't be bothered with coming back to Salem...because he was too concerned about his memories of Salem...so damn what? I mean you have a daughter who ends up in prison and because of your memories, your bad experiences it keeps you away from your own wife and child seriously what sort of man is David really? Both Valerie and Hannah deserve so much better

Nicole even if she does get the truth or most out of it out of Hannah...it is not like she can even use this information because if you remember JJ's blackmailer is still watching. If Nicole uses that info and broadcasts it on air or it ends up in the papers at the Spectator, Paula will make sure that Paige goes back to prison and Hannah whatever shot she had at freedom goes out the window because Paula is not only that well connected still but she has enough power that she can make both things happen essentially at once.

[heroicmuse]

Week 233 - 5
Paige walked into a patient room. “What have we got here?” she asked, adjusting her stethoscope around her neck.

Kayla gestured towards the person in the bed. “Peel back the covers and see.”

Paige pulled back the covers. At first, it looked like Gina in the bed, but then the face changed to Squeaky’s. Machines started beeping and Paige heard Kayla say, “She needs air, all these other people are taking up too much room in her brain.” She blinked and realized she was the one gasping for air. All of a sudden, she was in a jail cell with Ciara and Ciara said, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?”

Paige jerked awake. She hugged her blanket against herself while she caught her breath. She could hear the electric shaver going; JJ was in the bathroom already.

JJ came out a second later, wearing nothing but a towel. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Paige said, and made herself smile. “I’d better get ready, though, I can’t be late to therapy.” She slid off the bed and hurried to the bathroom. JJ watched her go, a concerned look on his face.



Maggie sat on the edge of her bed staring into space.

“I really wish you would stay here,” she told Melissa, taking her hand. “Sarah has become so used to you always being there no matter what she does and I just don’t think - “

“It’s 7 AM. That’s the sweet spot between when she wakes up hungover and when she starts drinking again.”

“Melissa - “

“She’s my sister. And your daughter. How can you - “

“I don’t want to!” Maggie snapped. “But after all my years in the program I’ve learned that this disease isn’t something any of us can control and that sometimes the only thing you can do is walk away, give someone the space to realize what they’re doing to themselves. Even when it’s my own daughter.”

“Maybe you can do that, but I can’t.” Melissa put her purse on. “I’ll be back later.”

Victor came in from the shower. “I hope you aren’t allowing Melissa’s sense of desperation to infect your usually sunny spirits,” he said.

“I’m not.” Maggie sighed. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”

There was a knock on the door. Maggie practically ran to it.

It was Melissa. Her face was trembling.

“Oh my goodness,” Maggie said as Melissa collapsed into her arms. “What’s wrong? Was Sarah already drinking?”

“Worse,” Melissa said. “She never came home last night, her bed was untouched and her things weren’t there, a-and she’s not answering her phone...”

“I’ll call the local authorities,” Victor said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she crossed paths with a police officer who wasn’t in the mood for drunken stupidity last night.”

“Or she got hit by a car or something,” Melissa sniffed. “She’s either hurt or in jail and it’s my fault because I didn’t come home…”

“No, it isn’t,” Maggie said. She stroked Melissa’s hair. “Ssh…” She held her daughter, trying not to let the fear show on her face.


Meanwhile, in the alley behind the Melting Pot, Sarah was lying all sprawled out on her stomach. Her expensive shoes had been removed and were gone, along with her purse. She was breathing, but completely unconscious, and the lead pipe someone had used to knock her out was half-sticking out of a trash can on the other side of the alley...


Alison met Kelsey at the bagel shop by school. “I’m glad you at least had enough time for coffee,” she said as she unwrapped her bagel. “You sure you don’t want breakfast?”

“No time,” Kelsey said. “Um, you said there was a new development?”

“Yeah.” Alison had been about to reach for Kelsey’s hand, but she dropped hers. “Spota ever mention a Paula Jefferson?”

“Not in front of me. Why?”

“Because. She’s the one who threatened JJ.” Alison crossed her arms. “This is serious stuff, Kels. The cops think this woman’s off her rocker but she’s got a connection to the warden so…”

Kelsey’s eyes widened. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“I don’t know.” Alison wrung her hands. “I mean, it might be nothing but she threatened to send Paige back to jail and Hannah Martin too and we don’t know for sure that she can’t do it. And JJ told me last night that the cops insisted on putting a car outside my dorm just in case.”

“In case of what? Alison, in case of what?”

Alison sipped her iced coffee. “It’s not very likely, but we’re uncovering things that some people might prefer stay hidden. There might be a connection between the warden and the judge or this judge might be dirty in some other way, and when people in power are threatened with losing it, sometimes they get desperate. JJ said that a couple of years ago he broke a story about some corrupt cops and they tried to kidnap him but - “

“WHAT?” Kelsey said. “Oh, hell no, Alison. Drop the story.”

Alison crossed her arms. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do that. We’re already in too deep, especially you. You’re working undercover for a possibly corrupt DA, you can’t back out now.”

“Maybe I’m not undercover,” Kelsey said quietly.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” Kelsey leaned forward. “I can’t lose you, Alison. It was bad enough when you were mugged and almost died, I can’t have you risk your life. This story isn’t worth it, no matter how many prizes it wins and how many trips to New York you get out of it.”

“This story IS worth it, first of all, and I don’t appreciate you accusing me of only doing it for the awards. I’m not nearly that shallow, Kelsey, and if you think I am - “

“I didn’t mean it that way!”

“Then how did you mean it?”

“I meant, you should play it safer, that’s all. I want you around for longer than this story and if that means dropping it… we can’t all be world savers, Alison, sometimes it’s better to step back and let someone else take the risks.”

Alison raised her eyebrows. “Who?”

“I-I don’t know. Someone who’s not you. Someone who I don’t love.”

“In other words, some random person who might or might not do anything. Most people don’t even know anything about this, Kelsey. Our friend went to jail because this judge made a stupid decision and he might have done it on purpose. And JJ’s cousin is sitting in jail too. Her life is all messed up because she’s been locked up almost a year when she didn’t do anything wrong. And people don’t know that, but I do. And JJ does. And we’re going to do something about it.”

Alison’s eyes were blazing. Kelsey looked away. “Aren’t you even listening? I just told you I loved you.”

“I love you too,” Alison said, “but I decided to go into journalism because after all the crazy things that happened with Josh, I wanted to be able to tell people uncomfortable truths, truths they would never learn on their own, so that I could help other people not go through what my family went through with him. And now I have the chance to expose some people who are turning the criminal justice system into a criminal injustice system. I’m not giving that up. No way, no how. And if you love me, if you really love me, you’ll support me instead of telling me to play it safe. So can you do that, Kels? Can you accept that sometimes it’s going to be dangerous? Can you hold me when I’m scared instead of telling me to back off? O-or…”

“Or what?” Kelsey’s eyes were wide.

“Or,” Alison said slowly, “do we need to call off whatever this thing is that we have going on because you can’t accept me, career choice and all?”


Allie looked around as she came into the kitchen. “Where is everybody?”

“Lucas took Johnny and Syd out for pancakes,” Sami told her.

“That’s not fair. I want to go too.” Allie threw herself into her seat.

“Really? So, you’re not worried about choking if you go out to breakfast?”

Allie bit her lip. “M-maybe if I cut them into small pieces like when I was a baby…”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s try it out.” Sami gestured towards the table. “It happens that I’m almost as good at pancakes as whoever it is who invented diners. I made blueberry pancakes this morning, just for you.”

Allie’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because,” Sami said, taking a plate out of the cabinet and handing it to Allie, “the other day you were about to tell me something very important and then you ran away when your brother came home. So I have arranged for him to be out of the house for long enough that you can’t use him as an excuse.” She sat down across from Allie and said, “It’s just you and me now, kid, so spill. What happened at camp last summer?”

Allie wriggled. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Sami looked up from the pancake she was cutting up for Allie. “I’m sure you don’t, but as your mother I’m duty bound to annoy the hell out of you until you tell me anyway. Come on, Allie, I’m cutting your food up for you like you’re a baby. Is this really how you want to go through life?”

“I guess not,” Allie said. “I don’t exactly want to be this way. I want to eat like a normal person but every time I sit down to eat either I get scared I’m going to choke or my stomach feels like it’s going to explode.”

Sami frowned. “Maybe that’s because you’re holding on to a secret. Now come on, if you can’t trust your mother, who can you trust?”

Allie played with the top of the syrup container, opening and closing it. “Well, I told Grandma Marlena so I guess maybe…” She sighed deeply. “Amelia didn’t exactly drink my drink by accident.”

“What? What are you talking about? Of course she did. You wouldn’t give her a drink she’s allergic to on purpose.”

“Of course not! That’s not what happened.”

“Then what did happen?”

“Well - “

There was a knock on the door. “Sami?” Abe called. “Can you come to the door for a moment?”

“No, I cannot,” Sami said to herself. Abe knocked again and she said, “Hold that thought.” She went to the door and pulled it open. Allie followed her.

“What?” Sami demanded.

“Good morning to you too,” Abe said. “I hate to interrupt, but I need to talk to you.”

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it,” Sami said. “For once.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. But Johnny might have.”

Allie gasped. “Is Johnny going to jail?”

“Not over this,” Abe said. “But twice now Theo’s told me he’s afraid of Johnny. He won’t give me details but it’s obvious to me that Johnny is bullying him. And that needs to stop. Can I come in so we can discuss this?”

[tghca]

Abe's son being bullied by Sami's son...it is just gonna make everything worse by Abe talking to Sami. Johnny will just bully Theo even more and even worse but to think Johnny is bullying his own cousin.

Paige needs to stay in therapy

[André DiMera]

That was a crazy nightmare Paige had. Hope therapy goes well.

It’s not Melissa’s fault at all. I hope someone finds Sarah. Wonder who attacked her.

What is going on with Kelsey? So she’s not undercover, she’s actually working for Spota? I really hope this isn’t the end of Alison and Kelsey, but with the way Kelsey’s acting, I wouldn’t be surprised. I hope Alison doesn’t back down on this story.

Obviously Abe and Sami need to talk about this, but this was really inconvenient timing.

Can we please have previews, heroicmuse?

[Kpatch]

I don't blame Chloe for being leery of Jennifer's interactions with Parker after the way she treated him that time. The child deserves better.

[heroicmuse]

Thank you André DiMera, Kpatch, krw627, and tghca for your comments this week. It's so much fun to see a range of diverse viewpoints and responses to my story.

I'm super excited for what's going on next week! My next Rory appearance just might coincide with his next appearance on DAYS. LOL. Here's a sneak peek.

Next week on Breaking Ties...

When David and Valerie arrive at jail to visit Hannah, David is upset to find out that she is currently not allowed to have visitors because she’s in solitary confinement. Valerie doesn’t like David getting angry at the guard on duty, while he feels she is not angry enough at how their daughter is being treated and the two almost get into an argument. However, Valerie refuses to fight with David, instead opting to call Hannah’s lawyers to try to get this resolved. Meanwhile, the situation makes David realize he has something in common with Julie after all and warns the guard that he’s her son and not any less prone to stubbornly fighting for what he wants.

Later, David turns up at Julie’s hoping to mend fences with her but is shocked when Rory opens the door -- especially when he finds out the long-haired ex-stoner is his adopted brother! How will he handle realizing how much things have changed while he’s been out of touch?

David’s outburst at the jail may have a chilling effect on Hannah too, as the guard tells the warden that the girl she is trying to blackmail is Julie’s granddaughter. The warden is unfazed, however, and sends the guard away after reassuring her that she has everything under control. Her secret weapon is, of course, her boyfriend, and she calls him to ask for a favor.

Judge Thorpe goes to see Judge Walston, who is in the middle of using a morning off to spend time with his daughter and grandson. Thorpe interrupts Walston’s conversation with his daughter about something important to someone else in Salem to suggest Walston continue his vacation -- by giving Hannah’s hearing to Thorpe. Will Salem’s fairest judge fall for this trick or will he see right through his old friend?

Meanwhile, JJ checks in with Alison about their investigation into Hannah’s arrest and related topics. Alison is upset about Kelsey’s attitude and is on the verge of breaking up with her, something which JJ tries to talk her out of, but will she listen? JJ also thinks that all roads lead back to Thorpe and that they have to try to interview the judge whether Paula likes it or not, which Alison doesn’t think is the best idea. She looks into Paula’s record to try to find out whether Thorpe was the judge who let her off easy, but the record is completely sealed!

JJ and Alison go to ask Nicole for help and she fills them in on her interview with Hannah. JJ realizes that with all this blackmail going around, it’s obvious that more than one person has something to hide. Nicole discourages him bothering Thorpe, instead asking him to try to get ahold of the public defender that originally took Hannah’s case before heading over to court to support Hannah at her hearing while she has a different assignment for Alison.

While all this is going on, Paige has a difficult therapy session that ultimately leads to a breakthrough! At first she is focused on getting Genieva to sign the release form so that she can move forward with her job application, but Genieva won’t allow her to do that and instead confronts her about her difficulty accepting that she has PTSD. Therapy is painful for Paige but she begins to make progress. However, she isn’t any happier about the new homework assignments Genieva gives her than she was about the last one -- will she follow through this time? And later, JJ fills Paige in on what’s going on with Hannah and tells her that he wants to move forward with the story but will drop it if she asks him to. What will Paige say?

Across town, Abe tries to talk to Sami about Johnny but gets nowhere because she refuses to believe that her son could be bullying Theo on purpose. However, Abe can tell that Allie is holding something back and makes an attempt to talk to her as well before he leaves. Sami puts a stop to that, however, and Abe leaves empty handed. A nervous Allie is glad to see him go, but when Sami tries to get back to their previous conversation, Allie accidentally blurts out that she’s afraid Abe might arrest Johnny if he knew the whole story. How will a shocked Sami respond?

Finally, Sarah awakens and realizes that her headache is from more than being hungover. Her assailant stole her purse so she has no phone to call Melissa for help and has to turn to a local business owner. Is she really out of danger, and will this experience be enough to get her to consider leaving alcohol behind?

[André DiMera]

I’m sure there will be a LOT of changes that David has to adjust to.

I really hope Judge Walston can see right through Thorpe. And that the warden doesn’t punish Hannah because of David, though I have a feeling she will.

Not sure going to Thorpe is the best idea, and I’m glad Nicole gives J.J. and Alison other tasks that will still be helpful to the investigation.

Glad Paige has therapy. I hope she actually listens to her therapist this time.

Wonder who attacked Sarah. While I hope this experience will get her to sober up, somehow, I have my doubts.

Thanks for the previews, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

Sarah after this experience will still keep drinking

David I can see him accepting Rory as his brother almost immediately

[heroicmuse]

Week 234 - 1

Sarah groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head was throbbing and she felt sick. “I shouldn’t have drank that vodka,” she said to herself. “Oh God, and Mom saw, and Victor…”

She looked around, disoriented, then sat straight up. She wasn’t in her bed at home. She was lying on her back in what looked like an alleyway and when she ran her fingers through her hair she not only found gravel in her hair but found a large bump on the back of her head, one that hurt like hell when she touched it.

What had she done to herself? She tried to remember, but she couldn’t. She remembered trying to throw her keys into her purse and missing, then heading out of the house… then nothing except waking up in this alley.

She wondered if Melissa had come home, if she even cared that Sarah was missing. Might as well call her, she guessed. But when she reached for her phone, there was nothing there. No purse to search through, no phone anywhere nearby.

“Okay,” Sarah said, standing up. She was unsteady on her feet and gravel poked at her toes. Her shoes were gone too, she realized, looking down. “Okay. So I was drunk and somehow I ended up here with no shoes and no purse. So…” She rubbed her head. “Someone must have seen I was out of it and…” She rubbed the bump on the back of her head. “I must have been knocked out so they could rob me. Okay. So now what? Think, Sarah, you’re smart enough to figure out what to do.”

But she couldn’t think. Her head hurt too much.

She had to get home, but even if she did she had no keys to get in the house and she wasn’t sure she could make it, anyway. She banged on the back door of some business that led into the alley.

Someone opened the door a crack. “We’re closed.”

“You have to help me,” Sarah said. “I was mugged, they took my purse and I have no phone and no way to get home.”

There was a pause and then the person behind the door said, “Okay. Come in and I’ll call the police.”



Alison was staring into space when JJ got to the bagel shop. “Sorry it took me so long,” he said as he slid into the seat across from her. “I had to drop Paige off at the Horton Center, with everything going on I wanted her to have a witness proving she did what she’s supposed to in case this Paula person tries anything.”

“Right. Of course.” Alison sighed.

JJ frowned. “You okay?”

“I guess.” Alison played with her straw. “Kelsey’s all freaked out about the story.” She sighed deeply. “Like, so freaked out I didn’t even get to ask her if she could look into Paula while she’s working for the stupid DA because we got in a fight about it.”

“Crap.” JJ patted Alison’s hand. “You want out of the story? Cause I can take it from here if it’s too much.”

“No.” Alison’s voice was hard and her eyes were steely. “I want her to accept that this is what I do. I know it’s dangerous, but it’s for a good cause. People are getting locked up, losing their freedom. Paige was bad enough but your cousin... “ Alison shook her head. “She went to jail because some idiot didn’t think she had the same right to walk into a store as anyone else, she’s been locked up almost a year and God knows what’s in store for her when she gets out. And a lot of that’s because of some judge who has a secret so bad that someone wants to scare us off the story. If I gave up now, I might as well drop out of school because if I can’t take the heat I don’t deserve to call myself a journalist, ever.”

“I totally agree,” JJ said. “It’s just, I hate for you and Kelsey to get messed up over it.”

“Me either. But honestly, I’m not sure it’s that big a loss.” Alison crossed her arms. “Ever since she started working for Spota, it’s been downhill. She changed her major without telling me and that job’s become her entire life, especially since Rubin resigned. She barely has any time for me. And now she thinks she’s going to tell me to quit MY job? She was supposed to be a journalist too, she helped with your project last year and you asked Nicole to set her up with the camera crew so she could learn how to work a camera the way she wanted. And now all of a sudden she’s working for the DA and thinks journalism is too dangerous. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve had this feeling for months like I’m losing her and this is just the final straw.”

“Don’t do anything rash.” JJ stared down into his coffee. “Trust me, that never works out well. And you and Kelsey love each other, right? So…”

“Maybe,” Alison said. “Or maybe we were just in love with who we thought each other was. She was my first girlfriend but…”

“Was?” JJ asked. “Seriously, you guys have one fight and you’re gonna give up?”

“You think I shouldn’t?”

JJ hesitated. He didn’t want to give Alison the wrong advice and it wasn’t like he had a whole lot of experience besides Paige and a bunch of random girls he’d hooked up with when he used to get stoned. “Look, I can’t tell you what to do, okay, but I do know one thing. When me and Paige were having problems half the reason was we weren’t talking to each other, and right now you’re sitting here talking to me about why you’re mad at Kelsey instead of talking to her. You’re throwing in the towel way too quick, okay, if you really love her you gotta fight for her even if it means fighting with her.”

“I guess.” Alison sighed. “But later. Right now we have work to do. What’s our next step with this story?”

“Damned if I know. Get Paula Jefferson’s records, I guess, I wanna see if Thorpe was the judge on her case. And if he was…” JJ let his breath out slowly. “I know this is kinda like poking the hornet’s nest and maybe we shouldn’t, but I don’t see any way forward with this thing unless we talk to him.”


“This isn’t exactly a good time,” Sami told Abe.

“Actually, it’s a great time,” Allie said. “Johnny isn’t home so he won’t know someone snitched on him.”

Abe raised his eyebrows at Allie. “Your daughter has a point,” he said. “Please. I won’t take up a lot of your time. I just want to tell you what Theo said and then you can tell me what the hell you’re going to do about it.”

“Fine,” Sami said. “Allie, go finish your breakfast. We’re going to finish our conversation as soon as I straighten this out.”

Allie crossed her arms. “If Johnny’s getting in trouble I want to be here for it.”

“He’s not,” Sami said. “Now go.”

Allie scowled, but she turned and left.

“I thought Allie and Johnny were very close with one another,” Abe said to Sami.

“They’re going through a phase,” Sami said. “But that’s not what you came here to talk about. So spill, Abe. What’s Johnny been doing to Theo?”

“I don’t know, exactly. After Caroline’s memorial dinner, Theo told me he didn’t want Johnny as a cousin because he’s mean and didn’t elaborate, and then this afternoon he told me he was glad Johnny doesn’t go to school with him because more than enough people pick on him already.”

“It sounds like the problem is with these other kids, then,” Sami said. “Johnny and Theo haven’t even crossed paths since the memorial and you know Johnny, always going too far joking around. I’m sure Theo misunderstood.”

“I certainly hope that’s all it is. I would appreciate it if you would talk to Johnny and make sure he knows that Theo’s Autism is not an appropriate topic for jokes.”

“I’ll try, but what can you do? Boys will be boys.”

“Not when one of the boys is my son and the other is yours. I will not have Theo be made the butt of someone else’s jokes just because he has a disability.”

“Of course not.” Sami crossed her arms. “Come on, Abe. You have to know Johnny wouldn’t intentionally hurt Theo.”

“I don’t know anything anymore,” Abe said. “Lately a lot of things have been happening in this town that I thought we were long past.” He sighed. “I shouldn’t take it all out on Johnny. But please, if he is making fun of Theo… tell him to cut it out.”

“I will, but I told you, he’s not doing anything on purpose.” Sami got up. “Here, how about I walk you out and you can - “

“That’s all right. I’ll let myself out.” Abe patted Sami’s hand. “Nothing to do with you, I assure you. I just want to say goodbye to Allie without disrupting her breakfast any more than I already have.”

Sami looked confused. “Of course.”

Abe walked away. Sami said to herself, “Now what’s he really up to?” She went in the same direction he had.



Principal Lockridge was meeting with the members of the preschool board. “All right,” she said. “Next application. Mason Walters.” She pressed a button and a photo of Mason appeared on a screen on a big-screen TV in the corner of the room. “Grandson of Robert Walters, who as we all know has plenty of money to contribute to educational causes.” She pressed another button. “I interviewed Mason and administered his IQ test and skills tests myself. Here are his formal and informal scores. As you can see, through my informal testing I assessed Mason to have skills commiserate with an average three-year-old in language fluency and arithmetic. He can count to ten and speaks well though he is a little slow to warm up to strangers. Now his formal scores show an IQ of 120, as best as these things can be measured, and his subscores are all in the average range.”

“Do we really want a child who is just average?” Melinda Trask interjected. “My Haley can count in Chinese and English and is already reading a few words, we don’t want some child who is going to drag her down far below her potential.”

There were murmurs of agreement. Mrs. Lockridge said, “The child does not have the intellectual stimulation at home that some of our other children do. But as a matter of principle, should we deny a child who is otherwise qualified because he is not being raised the way we expect children of our families to be raised?”

“I don’t understand,” another board member said. “Bob has the resources to hire the best tutors in the world for him. Why has he not hired a nanny with the ability to teach him far beyond his years?”

Mrs. Lockridge sighed. “Bob is only the grandfather. The mother… well, you’ve all met her. She is a sweet woman but I’m afraid she is not quite one of us. She tries, but the girl clearly is not all that bright and if it weren’t for her father’s influence this child would have no chance at all. That is why I want to admit Mason to our school despite his scores being entirely average. I have a video of the child interacting with me and I am sure you will agree that he would be an asset to our school, and we would be doing something charitable by giving him a space so that he can grow up to take his proper place in the world despite his mother’s disadvantages.”

Melinda stood. “Before you play that video. I think it’s only fair for the board to know the whole story. Beverly Walters is not merely disadvantaged. She is a criminal who gets away with her crimes because of her father’s money and her lack of intelligence is due to years of drug use.”

[André DiMera]

I hope this experience teaches Sarah something, but I doubt it.

J.J. gave Alison good advice. I hope she listens. Glad they’re still working on this story!

I have to wonder what Abe is up to, as well. Of course Sami doesn’t believe her son could be a bully,

Trask, shut up! Though, either way, it looks like they’ll only be taking Mason because they see him as a charity case.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[heroicmuse]

Week 234 - 2

“So how’s everything going?” Genieva asked Paige.

Paige squeezed the armrests of her chair so tight her arms hurt. “That’s a hard question,” she admitted. “I’m starting to feel normal, I guess, only every time I think I’m getting better something happens to remind me that I’m not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like last night I finally let my boyfriend make love to me. And it felt really good to let him hold me but I guess I paid for it because I had an awful nightmare. And on top of that he wants to go on a road trip this summer and he doesn’t understand that I can’t go because I have to be here every week or I’ll go back to jail.”

“If you did want to go away with him we could work it out. You’re allowed to skip a week if we give you permission. But before we talk about that, I just want to point out that you began by talking about this nightmare you had and then very quickly changed the subject to your boyfriend’s feelings about your court commitment. That suggests to me that you’re trying to avoid dealing with the fear behind your bad dream. What do you think?”

“I’m not hiding behind JJ if that’s what you mean.” Paige’s eyes were narrow. “I’m just frustrated that he doesn’t understand I can’t just take off like he wants.”

“You feel your boyfriend doesn’t understand your situation. Is the fact that your ability to travel is limited the only thing that you feel he can’t get?”

Paige was quiet, thinking. “It’s not like JJ hasn’t been great through this whole thing but…” She wriggled. “He’s dealt with bail before and he’s been in the holding cells before but it isn’t the same as going to real jail, not by a long shot. He worries about me when I freak out and he’ll defend me to anyone, and he’s trying to find out why the warden let Tiana wander around free to keep harassing me and Squeaky when she knew Tiana had it in for me. But all that’s not the same as having been there. It’s… it’s a different world and if you aren’t unlucky enough to be forced into it you can’t ever really understand. It’s not like it is on TV, it’s not that everyone gangs up on you. If I hadn’t looked at Tiana funny probably I would have been okay. But even without the violence it’s so… I don’t even know the words for what it is, just that when they locked me up I learned very quickly what it actually means to have all your freedom taken away and it’s not something you can ever explain to anyone else.”

“Going to jail is different than just hearing someone talk about it. You find it hard to communicate with your boyfriend about what you’re going through because even though he has had negative interactions with the cops too he hasn’t experienced living in a jail setting. How do you think that impacts your relationship with him?”

Paige bit her lip. “I don’t want jail to get in between us. It’s bad enough that after I was raped I was pushing him away, I don’t want to go backwards.”

“But?” Genieva’s voice was gentle. “You’re telling me what you want to happen so I can only guess that that’s not what is happening. Am I right?””

“Sort of.” Paige played with her promise ring. “JJ wants to marry me. I told you that, I think. He has the ring and everything but when I asked him to propose to me he said he didn’t think it was a good idea until I’m better.”

“And how did that make you feel?”

Paige gave Genieva her angriest look. “How do you think I feel? I don’t want to be broken.”

“You’re not broken.” Genieva’s voice was soft. “You’ve suffered some serious traumas on top of having difficulty adjusting to being back in the free world after a few months in jail and you need some help, that’s all.”

Paige bit her lip. “I just hate being treated like I’m made out of glass. It doesn’t help, it makes things worse. And I want to marry JJ and come home to him every night after a long day working at the hospital, but I have to wait. And before you say anything, I understand that I have to go slowly, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She took a folded paper out of her purse. “Here.”

“What is this?” Genieva asked, taking the paper.

“It’s a release form. I asked Kayla for my old job back and she said I needed to give her permission to talk to you before she’d consider it.”

“I see.” Genieva’s voice was quiet. She opened the form and glanced down at it. “I think we should talk about this.”

Paige scowled. “Does that mean you’re not going to sign off on it?”

“I didn’t say that. But I do have some concerns that I think we should discuss before we go any further.”

“You mean because I didn’t listen to you.” Paige swallowed hard. “I’m not usually like that. It’s just that I think getting back to work would be good for me, and Dr. Jonas -- that’s who’s going to be supervising me -- said so too. He said that he thought I had too much time on my hands and that getting back to my internship would help keep my mind off everything. That’s why I brought you the form, because he talked me into it.”

“You’re eager to get back to work and you feel like it would be good for you, so you’re willing to put up with having to sign a release-of-records form. I understand that. But I also understand how PTSD works, Paige, and I know that part of the way you’re coping with the traumas you have suffered is by doing whatever it takes to regain a sense of control -- including refusing to cooperate with your treatment. Now, I want you to know that I am not angry at you. I believe I said this last time, but I’ll say it again: just because you are legally obligated to come here does not mean you are obligated to listen to my advice. It’s ultimately up to you what to do, and if what I say doesn’t feel right, I encourage you to dissent. However, since we are at the very beginning of working together and I know from what you told me last time that you likely are having issues with accepting the need for treatment, I feel it’s best for us to explore together the reasons that you chose not to do as I asked. How do you feel about that?”

Paige crossed her arms.”It’s not like you’re wrong,” she said, her voice shaking, “but I don’t want you to be right.”

“I’d like you to give that feeling a name. Tell me, ‘Genieva, when you tell me we need to explore why I didn’t follow our treatment plan, I feel _____’”

“It’s a little kindergarten but okay. When you tell me we need to explore why I didn’t follow our treatment plan I feel…” Paige looked away and whispered, “Filled with shame.”

“Good, Paige. I know that’s not easy to say but now we’re getting somewhere. Take a deep breath and then let’s talk about what’s making you feel so ashamed.”


“What the hell do you mean?” David demanded of the guard sitting behind the glass at the visitors’ center. “Look, I’ve been in California for months but I’m on the visitor list. I’m her father, for God’s sake! It’s bad enough she’s locked up, how dare you stop me from seeing her?”

“David,” Valerie said quietly, putting her hand on his sleeve. “It’s not this guard’s fault. She just works here.”

“Could you be a little more upset, please?” David demanded. “This is our daughter they’re barring us from seeing, don’t you care? Oh yeah, you let her sit in jail when you had the money to bail her out, so I guess not.”

Valerie’s eyes narrowed with hurt but she just said, “We’re not arguing about that now, especially when I’m not the one you’re really upset with. I regret every minute of every day that I let her go to jail, but I did and now here we are and yelling at the guard or at me isn’t going to change a damn thing. Not a damn thing!” She pulled her shawl more tightly over her shoulders and turned towards the guard. “I don’t understand what the problem is. Could you please explain?”

“This prisoner,” the guard said flatly, “is currently being held in the segregated housing unit for disciplinary reasons. Prisoners in that unit are barred from receiving visits from anyone other than their lawyer.”

“Disciplinary… What did she do? Please, I’m her mother, after traveling all this way to see my baby I at least deserve to know what she’s being punished for. Please!”

“I’m not supposed to talk about it, ma’am. All I can say is that the warden chose to punish her in-house rather than refer this matter to the District Attorney’s office.”

“The District… thank God for small favors. And how long before her visiting privileges are restored?”

“That’s up to the warden to decide, ma’am. She’ll be in segregated housing until tomorrow and then it will be determined whether she is eligible for restoration of visitation rights. Until then, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Valerie and David looked at each other. Valerie said, “I’m calling her attorney.”

David nodded. “Good. We’ll go out to the car for now. But unless the lawyer expressly forbids it, we’re going to be back and we’re going to be demanding a meeting with the warden over this.” Valerie put her hand on his sleeve, but he pulled away again. “I have long wished this wasn’t the case, but I am Juliie Williams’ son, and whatever else you want to say about my mother, I have inherited a certain refusal to stop banging my head against brick walls until those walls should happen to crumble, especially when it comes to my daughter! Come on.”

David and Valerie left. The guard picked up her phone and made a call. “We may have a problem. Do you have a minute?”

`
Chloe leaned over Charley’s crib, singing to her:

I can see baby’s little self.
Baby’s little self in the morning time…

Charley smiled and made noises like she was trying to talk.

Philip came in. Chloe finished the song and said, “Go to sleep now.” She kissed the top of Charley’s head.

“That song’s kind of fast for a bedtime song, isn’t it?” Philip whispered.

Chloe shrugged. “Whatever does the trick.” She sighed deeply. “I can’t believe that the day after tomorrow we’re taking her to the hospital. I’ll be glad when this is all over with.”

“Me too,” Philip said. “I was doing some reading. This surgery isn’t exactly a walk in the park.”

Chloe stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just, it’s going to be a while. They have to insert a camera down there so they can see what they’re doing and they have to move slowly since her genitals are so small. But if this is going to help her live a normal life - “

“Is it, though?”

Philip frowned. “Chloe. I thought we agreed a long time ago that this was what was best for Charley.” He took Chloe’s hands. “Talk to me, my dark swan. Are you having second thoughts about letting Charley have this surgery?”