Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 248,987 times)

[André DiMera]

So glad Genieva and Paige are talking about this, and getting to why Paige didn’t listen to her. I hope it helps.

I’m not sure what David did helped at all. Looks like the guard may be in on this with Thorpe and the warden.

Glad Charley’s finally having the surgery tomorrow. Wonder how Chloe will answer Philip.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

I think Genevia should sign off on Paige's release for work. It will hurt her more to feel she's unable to handle working than it will for her to ease back into work and life.

Hoping Charley's surgery is a success, but knowing the author, there will be complications.

[tghca]

I think there ends up being complications with Charley's surgery but nothing too serious I hope

Paige's release from work I can see it being signed

Johnny bullying his own cousin Theo is only gonna get worse especially with Abe talking to Sami...if Theo thought that whatever happened was bad, it will get even worse especially with Sami being in denial

[heroicmuse]

Week 234 - 3
Warden Jefferson met with the guard in her office. “So Hannah Martin’s related to Julie Williams, huh? Wouldn’t have guessed that. But you know what? I don’t care. Doesn’t mean she deserves special treatment. Besides, if I go easy on her she could open that big mouth of hers and then we’re both in trouble. Me cause I allowed a sociopath like Tiana Harris free rein and you cause you turned a blind eye to everything Harris was doing to Paige Larson and her friends.”

“Right.” The guard bit her lip. “I hope you put the fear of God into her cause if Julie Williams wants her out of the hole or even out of jail altogether that’s what’s going to happen.”

“She’s not leaving here any time soon. She’s got another four months to go and if we have to we’ll make sure she stays a little longer.”

“Easier said than done,” the guard said. “She’s got a private attorney now. Don’t know how she pulled that off but she’s on the court transport list for this afternoon, heard they’re going to try for probation.”

Jefferson frowned. “What judge?”

“Walston.”

“Damn. He’s the kind who’s gonna have sympathy for a girl like Hannah Martin. Unless…” The warden frowned. “There has to be something we can do to encourage him to make the right decision.”

“I hope you come up with something cause like you said, if she gets out we’re sunk. We won’t have any power over her and she’ll probably go running her mouth the second she’s free.”

“Not necessarily. We have a couple cards we can still play.” The warden smiled slightly. “Go back to your duties. I got this all under control.”

“What are you - “

“Don’t worry about it. All you need to know is I’ve got things handled.”

The guard’s eyes widened but she said, “Yes, ma’am.” She left.

The warden said to herself, “I think I’ll pay Hannah Martin another visit, but first…” She picked up her phone. “Alan, it’s me,” she said in a low voice. “Listen, I need you to do something for me.”


Alison frowned. “Not to rain on your parade or anything, but are you sure that’s the best way to handle it?”

“No,” JJ said. “I’m not sure of anything. But what the hell else are we supposed to do? All roads lead back to Thorpe and if we can find a connection between him and this loser that’s blackmailing me we can neutralize her and expose him at the same time.”

“Right,” Alison said, “but there has to be another way.” She sipped her coffee. “At least run it by Nicole or something.”

“You’re right, I probably should but I just feel like we’re running out of time. This whole thing’s a tangled mess and Hannah’s freedom hangs in the balance. Paige’s too. The longer we let these assholes get away with this, the worse it gets.” JJ tapped his fingers on the table. “You get Paula’s arrest record yet?”

Alison picked up her phone. “I’m on it.” She typed a few things. “Here it is.” She frowned.

“So? Was it Thorpe?”

“I don’t know. It’s - “

“What do you mean, you don’t know? Either it was or it wasn’t!”

“Stay calm,” Alison said. “You’re going to need to be clearheaded for this.”

JJ let his breath out slowly, trying to switch back into being the dude he most wanted to be. “I’m calm,” he said. “But the suspense is killing me. What’s up?”

“What’s up,” Alison said, “is this record is sealed so I can’t get any information at all, not even what judge she saw.”

Just then JJ’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it. “Maybe Nicole can do something about that,” he said. “She’s on her way back from talking with Hannah and she wants us to meet her in the newsroom soon as we can to talk about our next steps.”


Paige looked away. “I’m not usually like this, I swear,” she said. “I’m not the kind of person who does whatever she wants and doesn’t follow directions.”

“You feel ashamed of not listening to what I told you to do. Let’s go a little deeper, okay? What do you think it might mean about you that you didn’t do what I asked you to do?”

Paige fidgeted. “I… I don’t know how to put it.” She looked at Genieva, who said nothing, then back down at her hands. “I don’t want you to think I don’t respect you or that I’m going to just disregard whatever you say and not let you help me.”

“I don’t think that. In fact, I don’t want you to just blindly follow what I tell you. That wouldn’t be helpful to you. You’re not in jail anymore, Paige. You don’t have to worry about being punished if you don’t do exactly what you’re told, no questions asked.”

“Right.” Paige’s voice was flat.

“I wonder,” Genieva said. “What I asked you to do was not an order. It was a suggestion. But did it feel like a command to you?”

“I guess.” Paige wasn’t sure where this was going, but she didn’t like it. “I’m studying medicine, I know that not following doctor’s orders can make things worse.”

“That’s certainly true. But every patient has to decide for themselves if the doctor’s advice makes sense, as it were. Now, I want you to be willing to try new ways of behaving. That’s how you’ll grow past some of the pain that’s keeping you stuck. But I don’t want you to approach this as if you’re still in jail and I’m the warden.”

“Right.”

“The shame and now depression that you feel over not having done exactly what I told you to do are interesting,” Genieva remarked, leaning forward. “Did you ever feel that way when you were in jail?”

“I guess.” Paige played with her ring, twisting it around and around. “I was ashamed of being locked up in the first place even though I hadn’t really done anything wrong. I felt like such a failure, like I’d completely gone off track and this was the ultimate proof of how badly I’d ruined my life.”

Genieva nodded. “We talked about that a little last time, about how you felt like going to jail was your hitting bottom even though you were innocent of the crimes that you were locked up for. That deep shame suggests that you felt you deserved to go to jail even though you hadn’t really killed that girl. What’s that about?” Paige shook her head, blinking back tears and Genieva said, “I know this is really hard. I can see the pain in your face. If you were willing to share just a tiny little bit of that pain with me, what might you tell me?”

“It was… logical,” Paige said, her voice shaking. “I’d screwed everything up so badly that it was only a matter of time before I went to jail. I mean, I’m not a criminal, but a year before I was arrested, I got drunk in the Square and the cops didn't do anything when they found out about it because I’d already gone home to sleep it off. JJ gave me a second chance too, but it’s not like I made any real changes after that. I just kept going on, wasting day after day of my life, having no purpose at all because JJ didn’t need me to do things for him anymore because of his ADHD. If I hadn’t been arrested this time… well, sooner or later I probably would have got drunk again or done something else destructive. I had so much promise and so much potential and now I’m nothing but a… a housewife.” Tears rolled down Paige’s face.

“And that’s what you’re really ashamed of. You feel like you wasted a lot of time and that your life is far emptier than you hoped it would be. No wonder you were in a rush to get your job back. You were really after that sense of purpose, weren’t you?”

Paige nodded. Dabbing her eyes with a tissue, she said, “It’s almost my birthday and I really wish it wasn’t. JJ’ll want to do something special to celebrate that I’ve been in the world for 25 years but it’s just more proof of how much time I’ve wasted.”

“Mmm hmm. You’re deeply ashamed of how little you feel you’ve accomplished. What did you think 25 would be like?”

“I thought I’d be in medical school, maybe doing a residency with a heart surgeon or something. And engaged, if not married.”

“I see. And what you came in here telling me today was that you are depressed that your boyfriend isn’t ready to propose to you and that you don’t have a medical internship yet. Do you see how hard you’ve been pushing to make those dreams for your life come true?”

“It’s not that JJ isn’t ready. He thinks I’m not ready.”

“And that upsets you. But what do you think, Paige? Do you think you’re ready to get married right now?”

Paige swallowed hard. She shook her head slowly and said, “I”m too much of a mess.”

“In what ways?”

Paige was quiet, thinking about it. “Too emotional,” she sniffed. “It took me forever to even be able to let JJ hold me. I have nightmares and even when I’m awake I get freaked out for no reason. I wish it wasn’t true, I wish I was more myself, but I’m not so I have to accept that.”

“That’s not easy, to accept that you have PTSD and that your boyfriend is right to hold off on getting engaged.”

“Yeah.” Paige flopped back in her chair. “This isn’t getting anywhere, it’s just more of the same feelings that I’m so sick of feeling.”

“It feels pointless. I know. But there’s a big difference. Before you were running away from your feelings. Now you’re feeling them.”

"Right." Paige wiped her eyes. "I don't know what to do about any of this and I'm really not used to that. I used to have everything together and now I come here once a week and fall apart and it doesn't change anything."

"You feel stuck, like there"s not much of a point to feeling these painful emotions about the direction your life has taken. But you know, I don't think you just feel this profound sense of shame and disappointment when you're in my office. Uh uh. I think you're living with it all the time, that it weighs on you constantly and colors every choice you make. It's just that you try to suck it up and move forward as best as you can in your daily life and therapy is the only place where you give yourself permission to really express those feelings. Do you think there's any truth to that?"

Paige stared at her shoes.

Paige's eyes widened as she realized Bev was the other hostage. As she took in the gun pressed against Bev's shoulder, Jeff snapped, "Heads down! Now or you"ll both be sorry."

Paige shuddered, trying to push away the memory. "You're right," she said slowly. "I've been depressed for a very long time." She played with her ring. "For a while after JJ rescued me, I didn't understand why he bothered. But then we got back together and I felt better for awhile."

"Then what happened?"

"JJ went back to school." Paige swallowed hard. "He was so proud of himself and so excited once he started his journalism program. And I wanted to be happy for him and in a way I was. But at the same time I felt so...empty, like I was nothing because he was moving forward and I was in the same place I'd been in since I quit my job."

"Mmm hmm. You began to feel very depressed again because your boyfriend was moving ahead in his life and you weren't moving forward in yours."

"Right. That's why I got drunk that time, JJ and I had a big fight and I was so afraid I'd lose him forever I almost made it happen."

"You were depressed about how much of a standstill your own life seemed to be at and you wanted to numb the pain. But getting drunk didn't solve anything. When you sobered up the pain was still there."

Paige nodded. "It was even worse because I was scared JJ would never forgive me."

"Mm hmm. And going to jail a year later didn't help either, I'm sure."

"Uh uh." Paige swallowed hard. "I thought applying for my old internship would help and it did a little, but now…" She sighed. "What if it's just another distraction?"

"That's a good question. I think working will help you feel more purposeful and I agree with your mentor that it will be good for you to get back to it. But as you know, nothing will really change until you address the feelings at the root of the problem. Are you willing to do that with me, starting right now?"

[André DiMera]

Wonder how the warden intends to keep Hannah there longer. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t work.

I agree with Alison, they should run this by Nicole.

So glad Paige is having this session! I hope it helps, and that she’s willing to address her real feelings!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

The warden plans on keeping Hannah there longer but I can't imagine how

Nicole needs to know because she is their boss

[heroicmuse]

Week 234 - 4

“Of course I am.” Paige pressed her arms against her chest. “Just because I’m forced to come here doesn’t mean I don’t want to get better.”

“I know you do. I didn’t mean to suggest you didn’t. But what you’ve been telling me, last week and again today, is that you want to be normal, that you want to not have PTSD. And as long as you put all your energy into fighting your diagnosis instead of trying to treat it, nothing’s going to change.”

Paige played with her ring. “Isn’t that the point? To be able to be normal again?”

“No. The point is to create a new normal. There’s no reset button, Paige. We can’t go back to the way things were before you were raped or even before you were arrested. But what we can do is put the pieces of your life back together so that you can move on from here.”

Paige’s eyes burned. “S-so I’m never going to get back to being the way I used to be, is that what you’re telling me?”

“I know how much you want to be able to be who you were before these traumatic events changed you.” Genieva’s voice was soft. “That’s just not possible. They DID change you. But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost, Paige. That doesn’t mean you can’t still have a wonderful, happy, fulfilling life. It’s just not going to be exactly how you planned, that’s all. How do you feel about that?”

Paige sniffed. “I know this sounds stupid and ridiculous, but it’s like I just found out I died. I mean, I knew Jeff changed me and I guess jail did too but I thought therapy would help me get back on track. And now you’re saying I’ll never feel normal again and it makes me feel like, what the hell is the point of this if you can’t fix me?”

Genieva handed Paige a tissue but she didn’t wipe her eyes, she just sat there twisting it while she fought tears.

Genieva said softly, “It’s okay to cry, Paige. You feel like you lost something very important and you need to grieve that.”

Paige said, her voice shaking, “I want the old me back. I used to be so strong and smart and level-headed and now I’m… I’m so weak…” All of a sudden she was sobbing.

“You’re not weak.” Genieva’s voice was still soft. “You have survived a hell of a lot. You were the victim of a very violent crime and then on top of that you were arrested for a murder you didn’t commit and spent three months in jail, and in between you’ve dealt with a lot of crap. A LOT. And yet you survived, yet you kept going.”

“WHAT GOOD WAS IT?” Paige demanded. “You’re saying I’m always going to be this way, I’m always going to be a shadow of who I was. Jeff won, he broke me and I can’t be unbroken.”

“NO!” Genieva said. “Look at me, Paige, and listen to me.” Paige glared at her but she looked. Genieva said, “Just because you can’t go back to the way things were doesn’t mean you can’t rebuild anything positive in your life. You know, there’s an old story that makes the rounds on PalPage and places like that about a broken vase. Have you heard it?”

Paige shook her head slightly, afraid if she tried to talk she’d burst into tears again.

“It goes like this. A woman like you had a beautiful, colorful vase that she kept on her mantel and loved to look at. One day when she was cleaning, she accidentally dropped the vase on the floor and it shattered into a thousand little pieces. The woman was devastated and she got the broom and dustpan to sweep up the pieces and toss them in the trash. But then she saw how beautiful each piece was, how unique, and she had an idea. She knew she couldn’t restore her vase. It was gone. But she could create a colorful mosaic out of all the pieces that would give her just as much joy as her vase had given her. It would take work. It would take time and effort and a ton of glue, but at least she would have something beautiful in the end even if it wasn’t the same thing she had before her vase broke. What do you think about that?”

Paige shrugged. “I understand what you’re trying to say but it’s kind of different b-because she broke her vase by accident and in my case it’s like someone broke into the house and smashed mine on purpose.”

“Okay. I’ll give you that. But what difference does that make?”

Paige was quiet, thinking. “Because I don’t want the person who did it to me to win, but no matter what I do they still ruined everything.”

“I see. So it sounds like you feel the only way to defeat the people who hurt you is to go back to exactly the way things were. But is that really true? Even though someone broke your vase, if you create something beautiful out of the wreckage, who’s really the winner?”

Paige picked at her bracelet. “I am. I can see that. But just the fact that there was wreckage in the first place makes me feel like I lost.”

“Keep going. Tell me what makes you feel that way.”

Paige bit her lip. “Well, in a way it’s ridiculous because if my life is broken, it’s broken, I can’t just put my head in the sand and pretend it’s not. But I wish I was strong enough that the things that happened to me couldn’t break me in the first place.”

“You’re expecting too much of yourself. With the exception of comic book superheroes, there’s nobody in this world who could face extreme violence like you’ve faced and come out unchanged. You were held at knifepoint, Paige. Your attacker tied you up so you couldn’t fight back and took you to a secluded area where nobody was likely to find you and then he forced you to get drunk before forcing himself on you.” Paige squeezed her eyes shut and Genieva said, “I know I’m being graphic and that it’s hard for you to hear it. But I’m doing that purposely, because I think you have numbed yourself to exactly how bad it was in an effort to convince yourself that you’re fine and that all you have to do is move forward like nothing ever happened. And I have to disrupt that, Paige, I have to take away that fantasy and confront you with the reality of the situation for your own good. The fact is that what you faced was a completely insane, terrifying, and painful situation, and there is absolutely no way that anyone would have emerged from it unscathed. The need to run away from studying medicine, the tendency to overfocus on your boyfriend or on other people so that you won’t have to deal with your own problems, the difficulty you have admitting you need to take things slow so that you can really deal with what happened to you… as painful as all of that is, it is a completely rational response because you were faced with something so crazy that your mind can’t make sense of it even almost four years later. So you have got to stop being so angry at yourself for not being unbreakable. That is what’s keeping you stuck right now.”

Paige swallowed hard. “The judge wasn’t kidding when she said sometimes therapy would be so painful that if I wasn’t forced to go I’d stay home.” She smiled sadly.

“I know I’m laying it on heavy, especially since we barely know each other, but I think we really need to get over this hurdle so you can start to get better. And that’s what you want, isn’t it? To get better, to create that beautiful mosaic?”

Paige blinked hard. “I just want to be whole.”

“I know. And you will be. I promise. It might not look exactly how you wanted but you will be whole and happy again.” 

Paige hugged herself tight, wishing Genieva had a couch with throw pillows like a normal therapist so she could pick up a pillow to comfort herself with. “What do I have to do to start?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound pathetic.

“I’m glad you asked that.” Genieva smiled slightly. “Now that we’re both on the same page about where we’re going, let’s start working on figuring out how to get there.” She took out a form from her desk. “We have about 15 minutes left. Let’s spend it strategizing.”


“That’s not suspicious or anything,” Nicole said when JJ and Alison had told her about Paula and her sealed record. “So the warden’s daughter just happens to get a far lighter sentence for drugs than half the population of Salem City Jail AND a completely sealed record, leaving her free to continue harassing my star intern.”

“Yep,” JJ said. “There any way you can get it unsealed?”

“Oh, I’m sure I can.” Nicole turned to Sally. “Can you reach out to a few sources in the courthouse? I’d rather not have to file one of those pesky Freedom of Information demands, I’d like to get an answer before I retire.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Sally smiled slightly.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about Hannah Martin,” Nicole said. “You guys need to sit down for this.”

JJ and Alison exchanged glances. “This doesn’t sound good,” Alison said as she pulled out a chair. “What happened?”

“What happened,” Nicole said, “is that someone has that girl running scared. I got her to tell me a whole lot of things off the record that really should be on the record, but unlike the warden, I have some actual ethics so we’ll have to build the story another way.”

JJ scowled. “They abusing her in jail?”

“More or less.” Nicole crossed her arms. “Apparently a day or two ago, the guards coincidentally found a crack pipe on her during a search that I’m sure was entirely random and dragged her off to the hole. Equally surprisingly, this happened five minutes after I got permission from the warden to come interview Hannah, and even more shockingly, the warden wasn’t available for follow-up interviews after I finished reassuring our source that her secret was safe with me.”

JJ’s eyes flashed. “You telling me her probation’s down the drain?”

“That would be true if the warden pressed charges. But for some weird reason, she didn’t. In fact, she delivered this news to Hannah while she was locked in a tiny cage in the solitary wing and informed her that when she would be allowed the illusion of freedom again had to do with what she told me on the record.”

“So I’m not the only one getting blackmailed.” JJ’s eyes widened. “Wait… was this before or after your show last night? Her getting jammed up I mean?”

“Before, I think. Why?”

“Cause.” JJ pulled out his phone. “Cops traced this to East Salem, but it was probably a burner. But this is what Paula had to say about your last broadcast.” He showed Nicole.

Nicole scowled. “Like mother, like daughter, huh? Seems to me these blackmailers need better coordination. Paula’s mother threatened Hannah before you even got the message. Kind of defeats the purpose of trying to intimidate you.”

“Either way Hannah’s paying the price for all this crap.” JJ’s eyes flashed. “You know if Aiden’s in the loop on this yet? Maybe he can sue like he did when the cops messed with me.”

Sally typed something into the computer. “She’s scheduled for court this afternoon with Judge Walston, if he doesn’t know maybe someone can fill him in before.”

“Good. At least one thing’s going our way. Walston’s totally fair, if he’d been on Paige’s case there’s no way in hell she’d have been locked up a second after her arraignment.”

“I hope he’ll be fair to Hannah too, then,” Sally said. “That girl needs some luck going her way.”

“Right. So what’s our next step?”

“JJ thought we should try to interview Thorpe again,” Alison added.

“As fun as poking sleeping bears and hoping not to get your arm bitten off is, no,” Nicole said. “Right now our story is that Hannah Martin went to jail because she couldn’t afford the ridiculously high bail set for a minor crime. We’ll investigate Thorpe behind the blackmailer’s back and expose him when the time is right, which isn’t now.”

“What are we supposed to do, then?” JJ demanded.

“You’re supposed to act like you’re in your second year of journalism school and not like that impulsive teenager I had to stop from literally letting his curiosity kill him,” Nicole said.

JJ turned bright red. “Duly noted,” he said after he’d made himself breathe a couple times. “So what are we doing while we’re not bothering Thorpe?”

“First things first,” Nicole said. “Let’s deal with all the moving parts of the jail system. Did you guys tell me you got ahold of the public defender?”

“Not yet,” Alison said. “Emily tried but she never got a call back. She said the woman literally had 200 cases on her desk and no time to talk to reporters.”

“Try her again,” Nicole told her, “and make it clear she needs to make time so that our story is based on something better than general interest websites about the public defender program and our own vivid imaginations. Meanwhile, JJ.”

“Yeah?”

“ADA Wendy Turner represented our illustrious government in the case of Salem v. Hannah Martin. She could have agreed to release Hannah without bail. Instead she demanded $1500. Go find out why and don’t accept ‘no comment’ as an answer. And try to do it fast so you can be in court to see what happens with Hannah’s case.”



Judge Walston helped his daughter put out a blanket under the trees in the park. He had taken his tie off and was wearing a dress shirt and slacks.

“I’m glad you’re able to do this with us even if it is only for an hour,” the judge’s daughter said. “Jimmy really needs some grandpa time.” She squeezed her three-year-old son’s hand. “Try this out, Jimmy.”

Jimmy jumped onto the blanket. “Look, Grandpa!” he said. “I’m swimming!”

Judge Walston couldn’t help laughing. “So I see.” He turned to his daughter. “Are you going to look into swimming lessons for him in real life this summer?”

“He’s been begging for them. But I think he’s too young.”

“Sit, Grandpa!” Jimmy interrupted. “I wanna lap.”

“Please,” his mom told him.

Judge Walston sat down and Jimmy climbed into his lap. “What’s happening with pre-school for next year?” he asked.

“I wanted to ask you about that, actually,” his daughter said. “I was at a meet-and-greet for parents the other day at my first choice school for him and I met this woman who I think you probably know in an official capacity. Beverly Walters.”

Judge Walston frowned briefly, then said, “Oh yes. I forgot, she has a child Jimmy’s age. I believe his name is Mason.”

“That’s right. Anyway, the point was for all the new mothers to meet, we’re going to have to be working together if our children are admitted. And I know she went before you for some rather serious crimes -- Melinda Trask has a daughter in the program too and she made sure everyone knew HER opinion.” She rolled her eyes. “Beverly seemed perfectly nice, though. Kind of shy, and I could tell she felt awkward, like she didn’t fit in. I tried to make her feel comfortable but I think Melinda scared her away. She left early.”

“That’s a shame,” Judge Walston said. “Beverly Walters has made some serious mistakes in her life but she has worked hard to turn it around and the fact that she is trying to provide a proper education for her son scores her a lot of points in my book.”

His daughter nodded. “So do you think her son might be a good playmate for Jimmy? I’d like to try to reach out to her and show her we’re not all obnoxious snobs like Melinda is.”

Just then, Judge Thorpe came over to them. “Henry! I thought that was you.”

“Alan.” Judge Walston smiled slightly. “I’d get up to shake your hand, but I’m not quite sure my grandson will allow that.” He put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. “Jimmy, this is Judge Thorpe, a friend of mine who works in the court too.”

Jimmy put his thumb in his mouth. Judge Thorpe said, “I only wish I could be that imposing a figure to the criminals who I see in my courtroom.” He smiled slightly. “I hate to interrupt what is clearly family time."

"It's all right. What can I do for you?"

“How would you like some extra time with your family? I saw that the first case you have scheduled when you come back after lunch is Hannah Martin’s. I’d be glad to take it off your hands for you.”

[André DiMera]

I’m sure that was hard for Paige to hear, but she needed to hear it, and I’m glad Genieva said it! Hopefully, they can start moving forward now.

So glad J.J. and Alison told Nicole everything, and that she stopped them from doing something impulsive.

Oh, so Judge Walston has a grandson the same age as Mason. I hope his daughter reaches out to Bev. And that Walston sees right through Thorpe.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

I was kind of wishing there were pillows for Paige to hug too.

[heroicmuse]

Week 234 - 5
Allie was sitting in the kitchen, stirring her pancakes around a pool of syrup instead of eating. Abe said to her, “You know, I wouldn’t let Theo get away with playing with such wonderful food like that and I doubt your mother wants you to either.”

Allie shrugged. “I’m not hungry anymore.” She pushed the plate away. “Want some though? Mom made a ton.”

“That’s very kind of you, but no.” Abe pulled out a seat. “Tell me something, though, Allie. Have you witnessed Johnny picking on Theo or anyone else since you’ve been back in Salem?”

Allie’s eyes darted back and forth. He knows about camp, she thought. He’s just trying to trick me into saying it so he can arrest Johnny, and maybe me too.

“Well?” Sami said, coming into the kitchen. “Answer him. Tell him your brother hasn’t been picking on Theo.”

“He hasn’t been,” Allie said flatly.

“See?” Sami said. “So now you can stop interrogating my daughter.”

“That certainly is not what I am doing,” Abe said. “Though it does seem to me that she’s holding something back.”

“Would you stop being such a cop?” Sami crossed her arms. “My children are not criminals, Abe, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t treat them like they were. Now if you’ll excuse me, Allie and I were in the middle of an important conversation. An important, PRIVATE conversation. So…”

“I wouldn’t dream of interrupting,” Abe said. “Allie, I hope you will keep an eye out for Theo if you see him. He is very vulnerable to bullying and he could use some more friends, especially if your brother is one of the ones behaving inappropriately.” He patted Allie’s shoulder before he left.

Sami locked the back door. “Now,” she said, sitting down. “What were you saying about Amelia’s accident?”

“Nothing.” Allie stared down at the table.

Sami stood. “I wonder if Abe’s still outside. Maybe I should have him take over this conversation after all.”

Allie shuddered. “No! Don’t! If he arrests Johnny it’ll be all my fault!”

Sami’s eyes widened. She sat back down and said. “Okay. Spill. What exactly happened in camp and why do you think Johnny’s going to be arrested if you tell me?”


“That’s very kind of you,” Judge Walston told Judge Thorpe. “However, it is only one case and I’m sure it won’t take long. Besides, my family understands my commitment to justice.”

“Are you sure?” Judge Thorpe said. “It’d give you a long weekend.”

“Excuse me a second,” Judge Walston told his daughter. “Jimmy, I need to get up. I have some business to discuss with Judge Thorpe in private.”

Jimmy pouted but Judge Walston’s daughter said, “We don’t ignore people when they tell us they want us to get off their bodies. Now come help me put food out so when Grandpa comes back we can eat.”

Jimmy looked like he was going to cry but he slid off Judge Walston’s lap. “Come back soon Grandpa,” he said.
,
“I will,” Judge Thorpe promised. He got up. “Come, Alan.”

Judge Walston took Judge Thorpe over to an empty corner of the park where his family couldn’t hear. “All right, Alan,” he said. “It’s just you and me. Why are you so eager to take this case off my hands?”

Someone in the bushes took a couple photos of him and Judge Thorpe standing together. Then they turned their camera to the other side of the park and took several photos of his daughter and grandson.


JJ met Paige for lunch in the Square. “How was therapy?” he asked.

“I think it’s best we take a multifaceted approach,” Genieva told Paige. “What I’d like to do is combine traditional talk therapy with what’s called Eye Movement Desensitization Response therapy, or EMDR.”

“What’s that?” Paige asked.

“I was just getting to that. Basically what I’ll be doing is helping you reprocess the trauma you’ve suffered so that your brain can shift it into memory instead of responding as if you’re still living it. The idea is that I will be helping you make certain movements with your eyes while we talk about what happened to you. I know it sounds out there but it’s been proven to be very effective for PTSD. I can give you some studies if you’d like.”

“That’s okay. How soon can we start?”

“Our next few sessions will involve getting you ready for EMDR. We’ll spend part of the session talking about whatever you’d like to talk about and part of the session talking about the things that have so badly affected you, especially the rape and the time you spent in jail and how your responses to these events might have been impacted by how things were for you growing up. Then - “

“My mom, you mean.” Paige swallowed hard. “What does she have to do with this? She’s not the one who raped me, even if her stupid voice in my head made it hard for me to think for myself when I met Jeff.”

“Well, the available research shows that childhood experiences have an impact on how you deal with later trauma. So by processing all the aspects of your past, you can begin to heal. And then once you get used to talking about it, we can use EMDR to help accelerate your healing process. Sound good?”

“I guess.” Paige sighed. “My mom wasn’t really as bad as it sounds. She was good to me, really good to me. She just couldn’t deal with me growing up.”

“You’re very loyal to your mom. You want to protect her from other people’s potentially negative opinions of her even though some of the things she has done have made you angry. What do you think that’s about?”

Paige shrugged. “She’s my mom, of course I don’t want people to think terrible things about her.”

“Like the girls in Catholic school who called her names.” Genieva’s voice was soft. “I’ll tell you what. This week, I want you to spend some time journaling about your mom. Write about all your feelings about her and especially about what it means to you when other people are mean to her or think negative things about her.”

Paige crossed her arms. “Can you sign the release form now?”

“I will.” Genieva signed it. “One more thing, Paige. Your court mandate only requires you to come here for your individual sessions, so I can’t force you to do this, but we have a group for sexual assault survivors on Wednesday evenings. I’d like you to come to our next meeting and see if it’s a comfortable enough group for you.”

“A group? Why?”

“Because you’ve been dealing with your rape all by yourself, and that’s part of what’s made it hard for you to process it. I think that being with other survivors in an environment where it’s not only okay but encouraged to talk about it will help you be able to begin to pick up the pieces and move forward. So think about it and I hope I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

“Therapy was okay, I guess,” Paige told JJ now. “It gave me a lot to think about.”

“I get how that is.” JJ reached for her hand across the table. “When I first started seeing Dr. Lewis, when I came out I felt like I’d been hit by a ton of bricks. You wanna talk about it?”

“Not exactly.” Paige squeezed JJ’s hand. “Let’s talk about something else. How was your morning?”

“About that. I got good news and I got bad news.” JJ played with Paige’s knuckles. “Good news is Hannah’s going in front of Judge Walston this afternoon, if anyone’s gonna give her a fair shake it’s him.”

“Thank God. We should both go to support her. Wait, what’s the bad news?”

“For one thing, Nicole wanted me to get ahold of the DA who insisted on $1500 bail for a stupid little thing that didn't mean anything, but she’s not taking my calls and I’d rather go support Hannah before I try to track her down in person. But more than that, Nicole went to the jail to see Hannah and…”

“Oh God.” Paige swallowed hard. “I knew something was wrong when she called the other day. What happened?”

“What happened’s the stupid warden made it look like she’s on drugs and put her in solitary. She’s not pressing charges but she’s using it to blackmail her just like her daughter did to me. She told her to keep her mouth shut when she talked to Nicole or else she was gonna make sure she stayed locked up.”

Paige’s eyes widened but she said, “She won’t get away with that. Judge Walston’ll let Squeaky go and that’ll be that.”

“I hope so,” JJ said. “Either way, we’re obviously onto something, there’s way too much going on to try to keep us from getting to the truth. They're not gonna get their way blackmailing us into silence but who the hell knows what else they're gonna try."

"Right." Paige had gone pale. "T-they could try to hurt you."

JJ nodded. He squeezed Paige's hand and said,  "I don’t wanna drop the story no matter what they threaten me with, but I will if you tell me to. You gonna be okay with me moving forward with this?”


Rory was using the hallway mirror to brush his hair when there was a knock on the door. Julie called from upstairs, “Can you see who that is, dear? I’m still getting dressed.”

“No problem,” Rory said. He went over to the door and looked out the window. He saw a guy he’d never seen before, a guy who was balding but who had the same eyes and face shape as Julie.

He opened the door. “I sure hope you’re not a sales dude,” he said. “We got a sign saying not to be and everything.”

“Oh, I’m not,” David said. “The only thing I’m selling is an apology. I’m Julie’s son, David.”

“No way,” Rory said. “You’re the dude from the Christmas ornament. Come on in.”

David’s eyes widened as he came in. “So you know about the Christmas ornaments,” he said, closing the door behind him. “I thought maybe my mother had some hired help, but clearly you’re more than that. Mind telling me who you are, exactly?”

“I’m Rory,” Rory said. He grinned. “I’m your brother. Julie and Doug signed the papers a couple years ago to make it legal.”


Victor leaned his phone on his ear. “Is it done?”

In a deserted warehouse somewhere, a man played with the strap on Sarah’s purse. “It is. I knocked her out but I was careful to ensure no lasting damage. I don’t understand why you didn’t want me to take her, just the purse and shoes.”

“I had my reasons,” Victor said, “and that is between me and God. Take whatever money she had on her as extra compensation for a job well done.” His phone beeped and he added, “Be on standby in case I need you again.” He glanced at his phone, checking a message, then smiled to himself.

[tghca]

So Victor was behind Sarah's mugging? If he is, then why would he do that or have that done to his own stepdaughter? What does he gain from that?

Abe is trying to get answers like any concerned parent but if Abe continues to force the issue...Theo's bullying will only get worse

Rory and David meet but now that David knows that Rory is his brother, I wonder how David will feel about this?

If Paige had any brains she would tell JJ to drop the story

[André DiMera]

I really hope Allie tells Sami!

It seems that Judge Walston isn’t gonna just agree to what Thorpe said, which Im very glad about. Wonder who’s taking pictures.

I hope Paige agrees to go to the therapy group, it could be helpful for her. Glad J.J. told her what’s going on, Wonder what they’re gonna do next.

I’m not entirely sure how David’s gonna react to this news.

Ah, so it would seem that Victor is trying to teach Sarah a lesson. This should be interesting.

Can we please have previews, heroicmuse?

[Kpatch]

What is Victor up to? Maggie will not be pleased.

I laughed out loud at "You're the dude from the Christmas ornament."

[krw627]

Hopefully Paige will tell JJ about the group and he will convince her to go.

I hope the judge doesn't give in and give the other judge the case. Squeaky will be sunk if the other judge takes it.

I hope the reporters push forward, the warden and judge have too much power at the moment.

[heroicmuse]

Thank you André DiMera, Kpatch, krw627, and tghca for your comments this week!

Things are really heating up in Salem -- and in Nashville -- as we head towards summer! Squeaky's hearing begins, we find out what Victor's plan is, and more next week. Here's a sneak peek.

Next Week on Breaking Ties...



Most of Salem prepares for Hannah’s hearing. Paige tells JJ to forget about dropping the story and that she admires him for being so willing to fight for Hannah, who he doesn’t even know, and the two head off to court. Meanwhile, Valerie meets with Aiden and Berger who assure her that Hannah’s chances are good because Judge Walston will be fair. And over at Julie’s, Julie is thrilled that her son is back but not sure what she can do when he asks her to use her influence to help his daughter, but Rory comes up with the winning idea: Julie and Doug should go to the hearing to make sure the judge sees that they want to be part of Hannah’s life now.

Outside the courtroom, JJ and Paige run into Steve and Kayla and JJ goes off with Steve to discuss the investigation into Thorpe and how to neutralize Paula, while Paige gives Kayla her release form so she can get started at the hospital. Valerie walks by with Abe and Kayla introduces her to Paige, thinking Valerie might be able to help Paige learn about heart surgery later. Valerie thanks Paige for helping get Hannah a lawyer and they all head into the courtroom. However, David arrives with his family just in time to overhear Kayla ask Abe if he is hoping to get back together with Valerie! Could Kayla’s innocent question cause trouble for David and Valerie’s already-fragile relationship?

Meanwhile, JJ talks to Steve about the case he’s working on. Steve suggests that he and JJ work together to find Paula and her connection to Thorpe so that he can give JJ some additional training in how to stay safe while looking into people with power. Will JJ agree?

In his chambers, Judge Walston wonders to himself whether he is overreacting or whether Thorpe is really allowing Warden Jefferson to unduly influence him. Before he can resolve this for himself, his clerk comes in with an urgent fax for him -- and when Walston reads it he realizes someone is threatening his family.

Rather than put off Hannah’s hearing, Walston arranges for another judge to take over while he reports the threat to the authorities. The good news is that it’s not Thorpe, but the bad news is that this judge is more inclined to be hard on Hannah than Walston would have been.

The judge believes Hannah was treated unfairly by the police, but also believes that she is not entirely innocent and insists she takes responsibility in open court for her behavior. Hannah is willing to admit that she allowed her friend to give her an open container of beer to hold, but she is unwilling to state on the record that she resisted arrest when she didn’t. Aiden tries to intercede, but the judge says that if Hannah refuses to take responsibility for her behavior during her arrest, she doesn’t deserve to have her sentence converted to probation. Will Hannah be denied her freedom because she won’t confess to a crime she didn’t commit?

In Nashville, Melissa is desperate for some news about Sarah and not really in the mood when Maggie suggests they go to a meeting together for friends and family of alcoholics. She reluctantly lets Maggie lead them in prayer, mostly to humor her mother.

Soon, Victor comes back into the room with news: Sarah is in the hospital recovering after her attack. Melissa thinks Victor should stay at the hotel while they visit Sarah so that she won’t be tempted to drink by his presence, but Maggie won’t hear of that -- she needs and wants Victor’s support and wants Melissa to stop tiptoeing around Sarah in an attempt to control her drinking. Victor comes up with a compromise: he will take Maggie to the hospital, but stay in the waiting area and check in with Philip about Charley’s surgery while Maggie is with Sarah.

Of course, Maggie and Melissa aren’t aware that Victor is involved with Sarah’s attack. Victor feels guilty about lying to Maggie, but feels she wouldn’t understand that he did it to try to get Sarah to realize she has a drinking problem. While waiting for Sarah’s doctor to come talk to them, Victor lets slip that he once had Brady kidnapped and taken to rehab against his will, an idea which Maggie vetoes. Melissa is listening to this conversation from the other end of the room -- will she put two and two together about Victor’s involvement this time?

Back in Salem, Chloe shares some doubts with Philip about Charley’s upcoming surgery, but he convinces her to go ahead with it after all. Roman has some harsh words for Abe when he comes in to tell him he’s hoping to get his job back, and Johnny catches on to the fact that Sami engineered his outing with Lucas so that she can talk privately to Allie while in the middle of trying to get Sydney to do something that could get her in trouble.