Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 240,184 times)

[André DiMera]

Glad Aiden’s talking to Chase about this. Or, at least, trying to.

The truth or dare game should be interesting. I’m glad Ciara wasn’t the one asking Allie a question.

Somehow, I don’t think Johnny’s plan is gonna work.

Well, this is interesting. I really hope someone figures out who Paula is!

It’s not out of thin air if it’s the truth, Wanda. I can’t wait for these two to get caught, even though that likely won’t be for a while yet!

The fact that Kelsey gave in so easily to blackmail should be a sign she’s not. I get she thinks she’s protecting Alison, but still.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[heroicmuse]

Week 241 - 5

The next morning, Chloe was packing Charley’s overnight bag. “That’s everything,” she told Philip. “Her favorite toys, her favorite books, and of course diapers and clothes. The doctor said she’d only be in the hospital overnight but I overpacked just in case, you know there are always complications.” Her voice shook.

Philip put his hand on her shoulder. “She’ll be fine. I’m far more concerned about her mother right now. How are you, my dark swan?”

“How do you think I am?” Chloe turned her back to him. “In some ways this is worse than when Parker had his heart surgery. That was a matter of life and death so there was no question we wanted the surgery. But Charley’s even littler and this is elective and I just don’t know how it’s going to affect her years from now.”

Philip hugged her. “It’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine.” He kissed her. “Try to get yourself together before we wake Charley so you don’t scare her, okay?”

“Hold me a while longer, then.” Chloe leaned against Philip.

“Gladly.” He stroked her hair and back. His phone beeped, making a sound like an elevator dinging. “It’s time,” he said. “Let’s get her.”

Chloe swallowed hard, trying to compose herself. She reached for Philip’s hand. “It was so hard not feeding her last night. She kept saying, ‘Hungry.’ and ‘Food.” and she didn’ t understand when I told her she couldn’t eat because she has to go to the doctor.”

“I know,” Philip said. “But it’ll be over soon and she’ll be fine. Come on.”

A few minutes later, they came out with Charley. She said, “Breakfast?”

“Not yet,” Philip told her. “First you have to go to the doctor. The doctor is going to give you sleeping medicine and then when you wake up again you can have food.”

“Hungry.” Charley began to cry.

Chloe rocked her and stroked her hair, looking upset herself. “Let’s go, I guess,” she said.

Philip opened the door.

Brady Black was standing on the other side of it. “I heard you were taking Charley to the hospital,” he said. “Victor asked me to come with you since he can’t be there himself.”


JJ had met Alison for breakfast.

“She was so...weird,” Alison said. “It was like she wanted me, I could feel her wanting me, but she was holding back and when I confronted her she said I just had to trust she loved me and stay away from her until she could explain.”

JJ frowned. “Spota’s gotta be doing to her what Paula tried to do to me. When I met her that time, she told me if I didn’t back off the story she was coming after Paige.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t give in.”

“Cause I’ve had self-defense training, I know it’s the oldest trick in the book. Kelsey doesn’t.” JJ sipped his iced coffee. “Question is, what’s he trying to make her do?”

“Right.” Alison bit her lip. “So you don’t think I should just move on?”

“Up to you. But if she’s pushing you away cause of him, that means she’s in over her head and she could end up in danger herself. So before you do anything, we gotta find out what he’s doing to her and what we can do to get her the hell out of there.”

"That's what I thought too last night, but then I woke up this morning thinking I don't want to be a stalker."

"Nah. Not a stalker. Trying to save her life." JJ’s phone buzzed. “It’s Sally. Hold on a sec, okay?” He answered his phone. “Hey Sally, what’s up? What? No, they must have been gone by the time me and Paige headed out. Hell yeah, we will. I’m with Alison right now, we’ll head down to the station and see what we can find out.”

“What happened?” Alison asked.

“We got another story to cover before we can get to Kelsey,” JJ said. “Cops arrested Julie’s next door neighbor last night, let’s go find out why.”


Meanwhile, Julie’s next door neighbor sat at her kitchen table, staring into space while she stirred her coffee.

She’d been led into the interrogation room, her hands cuffed in front of her. The cops sat her down before removing her cuffs.

“Good news, Miranda,” her lawyer said. He was a tall black guy with a shaved head and goatee. Miranda didn’t like that shaved head look but having someone like him on her side would help diffuse the claims that she was racist, so whatever. “They’re releasing you on a desk appearance ticket. That means as soon as you’ve signed the paperwork, you’ll be free to go and you just have to go to court on August 2, where hopefully we’ll get rid of this.”

“You couldn’t get them to toss the bogus charges tonight?” Miranda snapped.

Her lawyer shook his head. “The police department is insisting on pursuing what looks like vengeful prosecution to me. They want to make an example out of you because they’re mad that Julie Williams’ granddaughter spent nearly a year in jail. But don’t worry, we’ll make mincemeat of them at your arraignment. The police will feel lucky not to face another lawsuit on top of that one that was in the news a few years ago.”

She pushed her coffee away and stood up. “It was four in the morning when they finally let me go!” she said, pacing back and forth. “Me! Not the little punk I called the cops on. So I made a mistake, so I assumed that little crossover was there to cause trouble. How was I supposed to know Julie Williams had people like THAT in her family? Should I have been humiliated, dragged out of my own house in handcuffs, spent half the night in a cell the size of a closet when all I did was try to be a good neighbor and call the cops on someone who I was sure was hellbent on causing trouble for the woman next door to me? And that black cop got a chip on her shoulder too, acting like one of her kind couldn’t possibly do any wrong. What was her name?” She glanced at the paperwork. “L. Duncan. That’s right. Well, I’ll fix her wagon all right, make her sorry she messed with me.”

Miranda threw herself back into her seat and typed something into her computer. Then she pulled out her phone and made a call.

Citizen’s Complaint Review Board, how can I help you?

“I need to make a complaint about being mistreated by a police officer,” Miranda said. “Her name is Duncan and her badge number is… let me see… 8691. Officer Duncan used excessive force and made threats against me, and then arrested me without cause.”


“It sounds like you had a nice time at your birthday party after all,” Genieva said. “Your family showed you a lot of love and you enjoyed the surprise your boyfriend planned for you even though you were embarrassed at first. I know that you were struggling for months with depression over the prospect of turning 25. How do you feel now?”

Paige looked away, then back at her therapist. “I’m not sure. I mean, I had a good time but it wasn’t all great.” She wriggled. “I can’t stop thinking about Squeaky. Hannah, I mean, my friend who I made in jail. She seemed so depressed, worse than I was when I first came out of jail. She had to leave early because she’s under a curfew and she was so sad about it.”

“I’m hearing a lot about how your friend feels,” Genieva said, “and very little about how YOU feel. Your tendency to focus exclusively on other people’s problems is not healthy, Paige, and it’s something that we need to work on changing for your own good. So let’s go back and edit what you just said. You told me that your friend seemed depressed and was sad to have to leave the party early. Now tell me how you felt during that interaction.”

Paige picked at her bracelet. “I was worried about her. I was afraid she might…” But she didn’t want to betray Squeaky’s confidence, not even to her therapist. Genieva might have to call the police to do a wellness check if she thought Squeaky was suicidal and that would scare her, she would think they were there to arrest her. “Never mind. I just didn’t like that she was so sad, that’s all.”

“You were worried about your friend’s sadness and depression. Were you afraid she might hurt herself?”

Paige shrugged. “I thought we’re supposed to focus on me,” she said flatly.

“We are. I’m trying to understand what concerned you, that’s all.” Genieva paused for a second, but Paige said nothing. “Was worried the only thing you felt when your friend had to leave early?”

Paige fidgeted. “Sad, I guess. Angry because she was treated even worse than me in jail and it was so unfair, and it wasn’t right that she couldn’t stay for the fireworks because if she did she might get arrested again for nothing.”

“It feels really hard for you to share your own feelings, doesn’t it?” Genieva’s voice was soft. “It’s a lot easier for you to tell me how your friend felt than how you felt. When you’re talking about someone else’s feelings, you don’t have to feel them, you don’t have to experience the pain and anger that you’re feeling right now.”

Paige blinked hard. “That can’t be right. I’m not that kind of person, I swear I’m not. I don’t run away from my feelings. Or at least, I don’t think so.”

“It’s okay that you do that.” Genieva’s voice was still soft and gentle. “This is very common with trauma, Paige. People who have been through something as violent as the abduction and rape you experienced often have a hard time processing emotions afterwards because feeling anything means beginning to feel the terror and feelings of helplessness they felt during the trauma.”

Paige shuddered. “Can we not…”

“You’re not ready to hear that. That’s okay. I told you, we’re going to go as slow as you need to reprocess those feelings. But in the meantime, tell me: how did you handle your emotions after your friend had to leave?”

“Not that great.” Paige stared at the ground. “I mean, I talked to JJ about it but…” She swallowed hard. “I… for a minute I thought about getting a glass of wine. I haven’t drank since the time I got drunk and I wasn’t going to risk it but I wanted one really badly all of a sudden.”

“I see. So you were talking about how upset you were and you suddenly wanted some wine, but you decided that wasn’t a good idea. What made you decide that?”

“I just told you. I didn’t want to get drunk again and make a scene. I mean, I don’t know… no one ever said that I was an alcoholic or anything, I only got drunk the one time, but how do I know that won’t happen every time?”

“Especially since you started thinking about it when you were talking about painful feelings. I think not drinking right then was a good decision.” Genieva wrote something on her pad. “Let’s back up a little. Your friend left and you felt worried, sad, and angry. At some point you felt tempted to drink. Can you remember exactly what you were talking about when that feeling hit you?”

“I didn’t want my birthday to end like that. I remember saying, let’s talk about something happier so I can keep having a happy birthday.”

“Okay. So you didn’t want to feel these difficult feelings in the middle of what was supposed to be your birthday celebration. But let’s try to pinpoint it more precisely. Think back for a second. Your friend left. What did you say or do next?”

Paige thought for a second. “I told JJ that I was worried about Squeaky. He said he thought she was just having a hard time adjusting like I did when I first got out.”

“And how did you feel when your boyfriend said that?”

“I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think I was ever that depressed and I hoped he was wrong because…” Paige twisted her ring. “It’s shameful. I know better than to let jail break me.”

Genieva sighed. “You felt and feel deeply ashamed of having been depressed after your release from jail. You believe that it makes you weak and helpless and that’s not how you see yourself. But you aren’t giving yourself enough credit, Paige. You were locked up for three months for a crime you didn’t commit, and on top of that,many of your strongest virtues were treated as problems in jail. You are a bright, assertive young woman who doesn’t just accept what other people say without question, and you have a strong compassionate streak that leads you to want to help others. In the free world, those are assets that I can help you learn to harness properly so that you can achieve what you want. But in jail those are liabilities. Other prisoners may take advantage of your intelligence and compassion and the guards may try to punish your independence and refusal to obey unquestioningly. Being treated like that day after day, month after month… being abused by guards and prisoners alike and feeling helpless to defend yourself… that experience can break a person down, even a strong person like you. And then when you came out of jail, when you were finally free to express yourself, those helpless feelings came with you.”

“But it was over.” Paige’s voice shook. “I should have just got past it.” She swallowed hard. “I was arrested in the first place because I couldn’t get past the rape but obviously I didn’t learn my lesson because now what happened to me in jail still makes me cry when it was months and months ago.”

“Let yourself cry,” Genieva said gently, handing Paige a tissue. “I know you don’t want to feel the pain. You want to be able to just let it go. But the only way out is through, Paige. You have to feel it so you can process it.”

Paige dabbed at her eyes. Genieva said, “What happened to you in jail was incredibly painful and I’m sure in some ways it reminded you of your abduction. You were held against your will and required to go along with what someone else wanted you to do.”

“It was like I belonged to them.” Paige twisted the tissue. Little pieces fell out onto the floor. “I had to do whatever they wanted or I’d be handcuffed and taken to the hole and probably if they wanted to beat me up they could do that too. Sometimes they’d take me aside and tell me to take all my clothes off. They didn’t need a reason, all they needed to do was say that they wanted to strip search me and I had to do it. If I even asked why, they threatened to put me in the hole and once the warden told me that if I didn’t start cooperating better with the strip searches she would make me sorry.” Tears were rolling down Paige’s face but her voice was flat, empty of emotion. “I don’t know what she meant by that. Maybe she just meant putting me in the hole but maybe she meant making me strip in front of everyone instead of taking me to a little room where they could search you without other prisoners seeing. That happened once. There were a bunch of us going to court and the guards cuffed all of our hands behind our backs and took us to the search room. They made us stand in a circle and they took the cuffs off and told us all to strip.”

“That must have felt so humiliating,” Genieva said. “Did it remind you of your rape?”

“I was reminded of that ten thousand times a day. But it was okay.” Paige’s voice was still flat. “I told Dr. Evans, I knew I’d been arrested because God wanted me to stop running away from what Jeff did to me and that this was the punishment, the guards kept doing things to me to remind me of what Jeff did to me so that I’d learn my lesson and deal with it already.”

Genieva made some more notes on her pad. “Paige,” she said gently. “You’ve said a lot of painful things and I want to talk about them. But first I need to ask you, are you aware that you have tears rolling down your face right now?”

[lumiforeverandalways]

Good chap

[André DiMera]

Brady? I wonder what he’s doing there. I mean, he just said what he’s doing there, but still. Glad he’s there for the surgery.

That was interesting advice J.J. gave. I see Alison is already considering moving on from Kelsey.

Oh geez. This Miranda lady is an even bigger racist idiot than I thought. I hope the review board laughs her right off the phone. She shouldn’t have been released that quickly.

So glad Paige is having this session! And that Genieva isn’t letting her run away from her feelings by hyperfocusing on other people!

Can we please have previews, heroicmuse?

[Kpatch]

I'm stunned that Victor called Brady. I don't think he was the best choice. I didn't know Charley could talk already. I think I've lost track of time.

[heroicmuse]

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

Super excited for what's coming up next. We've got a mean girl, an intense therapy session, and more. Check out this sneek peek.

Coming Up on Breaking Ties


The sleepover continues the next morning. Claire has a great time showing Ciara some new music, but when Allie starts talking in her sleep, Ciara’s mean side comes out again. Allie is clearly having some sort of nightmare, but Ciara thinks it’s funny and records it on her phone -- something which Claire doesn’t want her to do, especially when Ciara suggests they use it to force Allie to keep her distance from Chase. The girls’ argument about it wakes Allie up but before Claire can decide whether to tell her what’s going on, Hope comes in.

Hope wants to take the kids to breakfast, but she doesn’t like Ciara’s attitude towards Allie and warns her and Claire that if she hears anyone bullying Allie, they will not be going out to breakfast with her, Aiden, and Chase. Ciara loses the attitude in front of her mother, but as soon as Hope is gone, Ciara warns Claire that if she tells Allie about the video, Ciara will no longer be her best friend. Will Claire do the right thing even if it means losing Ciara’s friendship?

Across town, Paige’s therapy session quickly turns intense, as Genieva gently guides her to realize that she dissociated from her feelings while talking about what she went through in jail and helps her to understand her PTSD symptoms. Genieva carefully moves forward, attempting to help Paige process a little more of the pain she feels unequipped to deal with, leading Paige to understand at last what was driving her obsessive behavior towards her dormmate when she was behind bars. Exploring Paige’s past also causes her to make a painful confession to Genieva -- will she finally begin to heal now that she’s got it out of her system? And when Genieva gives her an assignment to try to stop her from overfocusing on Hannah, will Paige be able to follow through?

After her therapy session, Paige goes to the coffee shop, intending to hang out with both Bev and Hannah, but when the girls meet, Bev realizes that Hannah is the girl the protesters who attacked her were so angry about, causing the two to get off on the wrong foot. And when Bev decides to go home rather than talk things through with Hannah, Paige can tell that her former jailmate is depressed again. Will Paige be able to stick to the new behaviors she’s trying to learn despite her fear that Hannah could become suicidal again?

Meanwhile, JJ and Alison go to the police station to try to find out why Julie’s neighbor was arrested. JJ overhears Abe tell Kayla over the phone that Paula is not allowed visitors, but he doesn’t know who Abe is talking about and Abe refuses to enlighten him. And just as Abe is about to explain about the woman who used 911 to try to harass Hannah, he is called away on an emergency. JJ is tempted to search through the papers on Abe’s desk while Abe is away, which Alison thinks is wrong -- will he listen?

Meanwhile, Abe has to deliver bad news to Duncan: he has to take action because of the woman’s complaint. Duncan feels Abe is being unfair to her and that he’s allowing this woman to get away with being racist. Is she right? And later, Duncan makes an impulsive move that could possibly harm her career.

In Nashville, VIctor, Maggie, and Melissa discuss what Sarah’s doctor had to say, while in Salem Philip and Chloe find themselves on opposite sides about whether or not to accept Brady’s offer.

And finally, Hannah has to go through the humiliation of her first drug test at the probation department, while over at Sami’s, Sami’s attempt to bond with her little miscreant is interrupted when Rafe shows up to talk to her.

[lumiforeverandalways]

I cant wait to read this week. Particularly the Allie storyline.

Will be updating tomorrow

[André DiMera]

Ciara needs to learn to deal with the consequences of her actions. I hope Claire does tell someone, even if Ciara isn’t her friend anymore.

I really hope Paige follows through with what she’s learning in therapy.

Hope J.J. listens. Sounds like Abe’s being unfair to Duncan. Don’t all the cops have bodycams? Surely Abe could watch Duncan’s to see that this stupid woman is lying.

These discussions for both sides of the Kiriakis family should be interesting.

People need to stop interrupting while Sami’s punishing Johnny.

Thanks for the previews, heroicmuse!

[billiereed]

I started reading this again from the very beginning. Wow, it's so good. It must take you so long to plot out such intricate tales but you do it amazingly well. Please continue!!

[heroicmuse]

Week 242 - 1
“What?” Paige said, and dabbed at her eyes with the tissue. She frowned. “What’s wrong with me? How did I not know I was crying?”

“It’s okay,” Genieva said. “That’s a very common trauma reaction called dissociation, when you block your awareness of what's going on when you get deeply upset about the traumatic event. It's a way to numb yourself to the feelings and memories you don’t feel equipped to handle.”

“Right.” Paige took another tissue and wiped her eyes. “So now what?”

“What do we do about it, you mean?” Genieva asked. Paige nodded and Genieva said, gently, “The first thing to do is to accept that this is part of how you’re trying to protect yourself.  Here, let me show you a technique that can help shift your feelings. You tap on certain pressure points like this while repeating aloud the way you want to feel. In your case, as you tap you’ll say, ‘Even though I sometimes dissociate, I deeply love and accept myself.’”

“Okay…” Paige hoped this wasn’t some New Age nonsense that wasn’t scientifically proven, but it wasn’t like it could really hurt her so she decided to go along with it for now. Genieva showed her how to tap on her temples and under her eyes and all around her face, then on her collarbone and on her left hand. Paige did it and repeated the mantra every time even though a voice in her head said this was silly and a waste of time.

“Good. Now take a deep breath and let it out slowly.” Paige did and Genieva said, “How do you feel?”

Paige shrugged. “A little more relaxed, I guess, but I also feel like this is ridiculous.”

“It’s not what you expected from therapy, I’m sure,” Genieva said. “A lot of the treatments for PTSD may seem weird to you until you try them and see that they work. We won’t be lighting candles and charging crystals, I promise. But we will be working with the tapping method a bit and when you’re ready we’ll also start EMDR, which is going to seem even weirder to you because it involves eye movements. “

“As long as you have studies showing me that you didn’t just make this all up,” Paige said weakly.

“I’ll be happy to forward you some research,” Genieva said, “but for the rest of this session I’d like you to trust me.”

“I’ll try.” Paige crossed her arms against her chest, feeling defensive for no reason. “Do you need special training to know how to do it?”

“For EMDR you do,” Genieva said. “I’m certified in it. The EFT tapping anyone can do, it’s just a matter of learning the pressure points.”

Paige nodded. “So then if Squeaky’s very upset I could show her how to do it too?”

“I imagine so. But let’s not talk about your friend’s problems right now. Let’s keep the focus on you.” Genieva made a few more notes on her pad while Paige did her best to hide the scowl she could feel creeping across her face. “Now, obviously talking about your experience with strip searches in jail caused you to dissociate, so I don’t want to go too deeply into it. But I’d like to explore it just a little bit, if that’s okay, so that you can begin to process some of the pain you felt.”

“I guess.” Paige wriggled. “Oh, JJ said the awards banquet in New York is the last week of October, so I need to use my skip that week.”

“I’ll make a note so that when we schedule October we can give you a week off. But - “

“Can you believe that last October I was arrested and this year I’ll be going to New York?”

Genieva raised her eyebrows. “Paige,” she said firmly. “It seems to me you’re desperate to avoid talking anymore about what happened while you were behind bars. It’s okay if you don’t feel ready to talk about it, but if that’s the case, I want you to tell me. Please don’t try to change the subject and hope I let you get away with it.”

“I wasn’t. I just....” But Paige knew Genieva was right. “Okay, I was, I guess. I don’t like thinking about jail.”

“I know you don’t.” Genieva’s voice was soft. “You told me earlier that you felt that your arrest was punishment for not having dealt appropriately with your rape. What did you mean by that?”

Paige stared at her feet. “I can’t remember if I told you about the scarf. The person who really killed Jill strangled her with a purple and blue scarf and I had one in my purse. It was the one Jeff used to gag me when I was kidnapped. He stuffed it in my mouth but it wasn’t enough for him, he pinched me and warned me if I made a single sound he was going to hurt me worse.” She shuddered. “Anyway, I was carrying it around to try to prove he didn’t win and the police found it and thought it was the murder weapon.”

“And that’s when you were arrested?”

Paige nodded. “T-they put me in a holding cell and everything.” She fidgeted. “I had a lot of time to think while I was waiting to see what was going to happen to me. I wasn’t allowed to have a book to read or anything, I just had to sit there doing nothing. So I started asking myself how I ended up in jail. I knew I hadn’t killed Jill, so that wasn’t the reason, but I knew I deserved to be there anyway.”

“You felt you deserved to be locked up even though you didn’t commit the crime you were accused of. What made you feel that way?”

Paige was quiet, thinking. She wondered if she should do the tapping again since she felt anxiety bubbling up from her stomach. “My life had gone so off-track that it was inevitable I’d go to jail sooner or later. And it just seemed… the year before when I didn’t get arrested for being drunk and crazy in the Square, that was God giving me a second chance, only I wasted it because I still wasn’t doing anything positive with my life. S-so I thought, the first time God gave me another chance and I didn’t take it seriously enough so now this time He’s letting me go to jail so I can learn my lesson.”

“I see. So when you were trying to make sense out of having been arrested, you concluded that that since you didn’t make the changes in your life you’d have liked to make after you narrowly escaped arrest for your drunken behavior,  God allowed you to sit in jail for a crime you didn’t commit so that you could get right with yourself.”

“Y-yeah.” Paige swallowed hard. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not crazy, I swear.”

“I know you’re not crazy.” But Genieva’s voice was very soft, like she was afraid of upsetting Paige. “I think that you had suffered multiple traumas at this point. Even before the rape I think you were struggling a little bit with the way your mom was when you were a little girl.” Paige stiffened, but Genieva held up one finger. “I know you don’t like hearing that, but bear with me. I think that your childhood was more traumatic than you’ve ever admitted to yourself, and then the abduction and rape probably re-opened some of those wounds in addition to being a hell of an ordeal in its own right. And ever since, your attempts to protect yourself have left you feeling more and more like your life is meaningless, that you’re just drifting without any real purpose. So given all that, it makes total sense that you felt that going to jail was a natural progression of the problems you’d been experiencing and that God was trying to give you a serious wake-up call.”

“Right,” Paige said. “I mean, from the second I was arrested I had to put up with being touched in ways I didn’t like all the time. I was strip searched a billion times and even when they let me keep my clothes on, they were always patting me down and I didn’t like that either. So I thought, it has to be that God is making me remember my rape constantly so that I have to deal with it.”

“Only you didn’t know how to deal with it, and in jail there really wasn’t anyone to help you.” Genieva’s voice was still soft. “So you did the best you could, didn’t you?” Paige nodded and Genieva asked, “What did you do to cope with the traumatic memories while you were in jail?”

Paige stared at the ground, thinking. She remembered all the times Gina tried to tell her to leave her alone and her real friends telling her the same thing. “I obsessed over Gina,” she whispered.



Abe rubbed his temples as he stared at the information tech had given him about the Jane Doe in the hospital.

Facial recognition match: Paula Jefferson **ACTIVE WARRANT FOUND FOR SUBJECT’S ARREST***

DNA match: Paula Jefferson **ACTIVE WARRANT FOUND FOR SUBJECT’S ARREST***

“So we catch up with you at last,” Abe said to the screen. “I have so many questions for you. Let’s hope you have answers.” He picked up his phone and made a call. “Kayla, it’s Abe. I wanted to let you know that we ID’d your Jane Doe. I’m afraid we’re going to have to put a police guard on her door and ask you to turn her over to us as soon as she is released from the hospital. Long story short, her name is Paula Jefferson and she is wanted for assault. Yes. I’m about to make the arrangements. Do not allow her any visitors without prior approval from this police department. Because she attempted to intimidate JJ Deveraux into dropping a story by threatening people close to him, among other crimes she’s going to be made to answer for. Yes, her mother is the warden at Salem City Jail, Women’s Detention Division, you may notify her that Paula is in the hospital but make it clear to her that she needs to clear it with me before she visits. Thank you.”

“Who’s gotta clear what with you?” JJ asked, coming in. Alison came in behind him.

“I still haven’t broken you of the habit of listening at doors, I see,” Abe said. “I can’t comment on that phone call, JJ, I’m sorry.”

“That’s cool,” JJ said. “Me and Alison came here to ask you about something else.”

Abe frowned. “Business or personal?”

“Business,” Alison said.

“Mostly, anyway,” JJ said. He crossed his arms. “We heard Julie’s neighbor got arrested while you and me were at Paige’s party yesterday. Wanna tell us what that was all about?”

“I wish I didn’t have to.” Abe sighed. “I’d like you to keep this to yourself until I’ve had a chance to talk to Hannah.”

JJ frowned. “Hannah? What’s she got to do with it?”

“What she has to do with it is that last night, a woman - “ Abe’s phone beeped. “Excuse me. That may be an emergency.” He glanced at it. “Yes. It is. I’m sorry, JJ, but we’ll have to discuss this later. Something’s come up that I need to take care of right now and I’m not at liberty to explain to you what it is.”


“Thanks, but no thanks,” Philip said. “If my dad can’t be there, I don’t need weak-ass substitutes.” He started to close the door.

“Don’t,” Chloe said, putting her foot against the door and her hand on Philip’s shoulder. “Brady was nice enough to go out of his way - “

“For the woman he once loved,” Philip said. “Don’t think for a minute that my father did this out of the goodness of his heart. He’s hoping I’ll storm off in a jealous huff and never be seen again.”

“Come on, man!” Brady said. “You’d have to be drunker than me at my worst to believe that. You think Victor would be any happier if Chloe was with me than with you?”

“Thanks?” Chloe said.

“Look,” Brady said. “You guys are going through something with Charley. You need support. And I’m here to give it. Maybe I don’t have Eric’s gift for saying the right thing at the right time, but I’m not totally useless. So how about I give you a ride to the hospital?”

“You don’t have a car seat,” Philip said coldly.

“He can drive our car,” Chloe said. “I’m too nervous to drive and you probably are too.” She glanced at Charley, who had two fingers in her mouth. “Charley, this is an old friend of Mommy’s. He’s going to take us to the hospital. Can you say hi?”

“No hi,” Charley said.

“That’s my girl,” Philip said. “All right, I guess we’d better go.”

They followed Brady out of the house. As they were locking up, Philip said under his breath, “Can you believe the nerve of my father?”

Chloe shrugged. “It could be worse. At least he didn’t ask your mother to chaperone us.” She locked the door and took Philip’s hand.



Ciara and Claire were up and sharing a pair of earbuds so they could watch videos on Ciara’s phone,but Allie was still asleep.

“This is awesome!” Ciara said to Claire, bobbing her head in time to the music. “How did I live to be 14 without knowing about this group?”

“Right?” Claire said. She grinned. “Now that I’m back in Salem I can introduce you to all the awesome music coming out of the West Coast you don’t know about.” She glanced at Allie, who was tossing and turning in her sleeping bag. “Should we wake her?”

“What for?” Ciara asked. “Maybe she’ll say something interesting in her sleep.” She giggled. Just then, Allie mumbled something and Ciara said, “See?”

“We shouldn’t - “ Claire began, but Ciara put her finger on her lips.

“It’s not my fault,” Allie mumbled. “Please don’t make me eat cake.”

Ciara giggled again.

Suddenly, Allie began to cry in her sleep. “No… I’ll choke… Johnny stop….” She began to sob.

Ciara and Claire looked at each other. Then Ciara gave Claire a wicked grin and turned her phone’s camera on. She held it so she had a perfect shot of Allie thrashing around and begging Johnny in her sleep, then hit RECORD to start videotaping it.

[heroicmuse]

Jul 21, 2019 2:19:52 GMT -5 billiereed said:

I started reading this again from the very beginning. Wow, it's so good. It must take you so long to plot out such intricate tales but you do it amazingly well. Please continue!!

Thanks! Wow, I'm honored you started reading from the beginning. It's so long at this point.

[lumiforeverandalways]

Ciara is turning into a real bitch
Poor Allie
Update soon pls
Excellent work as always

[André DiMera]

At last, Paige admitted it! So glad she’s having this session!

Wonder what that phone call was about. So glad Abe is gonna catch Paula!

While I don’t think there’s anything sinister going on, I’m not sure why Victor thought sending Brady would be a good idea.

I hope Claire tells someone about this.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

Ciara is evil.

I expected that reaction from Philip. I laughed when Chloe said thanks after Brady said Victor wouldn't be any happier if Brady was still with Chloe.

[heroicmuse]

Week 242 - 2
“Ciara!” Claire whispered. “What are you doing?”

Ciara hit the STOP button. “We need proof, duh. She’s not going to believe she was talking in her sleep, so…” Her eyes widened. “Although maybe it’s better we don’t tell her. This could come in handy later.”

Claire crossed her arms. “What are you talking about?”

“Look, it’s like this. Last night she said she didn’t like anyone. But what if she was lying to protect your feelings ‘cause she likes Chase?”

Claire bit her lip. “What if she does?” she said flatly.

“He likes her so you’d be out of luck. Unless we have something to make her back off.”

“No!” Claire said. “That’s mean, Ciara! She’s family, you can’t - “

“I’d only do it if we have no other choice. I mean, I see the way you look at Chase. You’d never get over it if he chose Allie over you and now that you’re in Salem you shouldn’t be all broken-hearted.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to get him like that. I want to get him because he likes me better, not that he does. And anyway, if I was talking in my sleep I wouldn’t want it saved on someone’s phone so we shouldn’t do it to her. You have to delete it, Ciara!” Claire reached for Ciara’s phone.

“No!” Ciara held the phone out of reach. “If you don’t want my help, fine, but you’ll lose Chase. Anyway, I can use this for a good cause, I can tell Sami - “

“DELETE IT!” Claire said.

Ciara jumped on the bed to get away from her. Claire was about to go after her when Allie jerked awake. “What the - “ Allie said. She caught her breath and said, “Why are you making so much noise when I’m trying to sleep?”

“Sorry,” Ciara said. “We were just - “

Hope came in before she could finish her sentence.



“What was that all about?” Alison whispered to JJ.

“Dunno,” JJ said, “but we came here to get a story and I don’t wanna leave empty-handed.” He looked around the office. “Abe’s gotta have a file on his desk or something that tells us what he was up to when we came in.”

“JJ!” Alison said. “He trusted us to leave when he did, otherwise he would have walked us out. Don’t betray that trust.”

“I’m not! I’m not gonna go through his stuff. I’m just saying, if there’s something in plain sight - “

“Or, we could ask another cop for a quote,” Alison said. “Did Sally say who the arresting officers were?”

“Uh uh, just to ask Abe about it.”

“Well, those cops that helped us with the texting and driving project have always been friendly. Why don’t we ask one of them if they know what happened yesterday?”

JJ had seen Paula’s file sticking out from under a paper and had been about to check the name on it. But Alison was right, they shouldn’t be violating Abe’s privacy like that. It wasn’t cool, not when Abe had been so good to them. He put the paper back on top of the file, stopping only to see what it was. It was a sheet of handwritten notes, hard to make out. JJ only had time to figure out that Hannah’s name was on it somewhere before Alison said, “Come on then!”

He sighed and followed her out of the room, turning the lights off before he left.


Hannah’s eyes darted all over the place as she followed her mother into a room marked PROBATION DEPARTMENT. It looked like a waiting room in a doctor’s office except there was a cop sitting behind the desk instead of a receptionist.

“Which one of you’s on probation?” the cop asked. Hannah wondered if he ever smiled.

“She is,” Valerie said coldly.

“Name, please. Last name first.”

Valerie looked at Hannah. “It’s your probation. Find your voice and talk to him.”

Hannah crossed her arms, then dropped them in case the cop thought she was up to no good. “Martin, Hannah,” she said, putting her hands behind her back like she was always required to do when she spoke to the guards.

The cop flipped a page on a roster. “Assigned to drug testing on Fridays?”

“Y-yes. Sir.”

“All right. Come with me.” The cop glanced at Valerie. “Only the person on probation is allowed in the testing area, ma’am. Have a seat and I’ll bring her out when she’s done.”

“Thank you,” Valerie said, her eyes very narrow.

The cuffs jingled on the cop’s belt as he walked. Hannah kept her eye on them as she followed, praying he had no reason to take them out and put them on her wrists. He took Hannah into a small room with a table in it. There was a bathroom in one corner.

“Have a seat for a minute,” the cop said. Hannah pulled a chair out, nervously, and sat down. She started to slump in her seat, then made herself sit up straight.

“Let me see your hands,” the cop said. “Put them face up on the table.” Hannah obeyed, staring at a spot on the wall while he inspected her hands, she guessed for signs of drug use though since she’d never used drugs, not even weed, she had no idea what those signs would be. The cop told her to flip her hands over and she did.

“Any interactions with the police I need to know about?” the cop asked after he was done.

“N-no, sir.”

“Have you moved or changed your phone number?”

“No, sir.”

The cop nodded. He looked Hannah up and down. ““All right, let’s get this over with. Get up.” The cop grabbed Hannah’s arm as she did and walked her to the bathroom, where he handed her a small plastic cup. “Pee into this cup and put it on the shelf. Do not flush the toilet or the test will be considered invalid and a warrant issued for your arrest. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes.” Hannah was tired of saying sir so she didn’t.

The cop raised his eyebrows. Then he said, “I”ll be right outside the door. When you’re finished, knock and I will escort you to the handwashing station. He opened the door. “Remember, don’t flush.”

Hannah’s eyes snapped. She made herself hold her head as high as she could as she walked into the bathroom.


Genieva was quiet for a second. Paige could hear her pen scratching against her pad. Then Genieva said, gently, “You focused exclusively on this other woman while you were in jail and now you feel deeply ashamed of your behavior. I think that your new awareness that you put all your energy into her situation to numb your painful feelings about your rape is an important insight. I’m proud of you for not only realizing that, but confiding in me about it even though you’re embarrassed. I’d like you to lift your head and look at me while we talk about it. Would you be willing to do that?”

“I guess.” Paige wasn’t sure she had a choice. After all, if she didn’t cooperate, Genieva could report to the court that she wasn’t doing what she was supposed to, couldn’t she? She lifted her head, slowly.

“I want to hear about what happened with Gina,” Genieva said, “but first let’s talk about these feelings of guilt and shame. What makes you feel so terrible about realizing you obsessed over her?”

“Because it made things harder!” Paige’s voice shook. “Tiana was ready to beat me up because of Gina, and Angel got into it with her and her stupid friend more than once and that was why Tiana put that knife in my bed and then after Gina took the fall she and Lisa went after Squeaky. Squeaky could have died and it would have been all my fault because I wouldn’t stop bothering Gina even after everyone told me she wasn’t a real friend and she told me herself a million times to leave her alone!”

“You feel guilty about the problems you had in jail that stemmed from your interest in Gina. But it wasn’t all your fault, Paige. You were one piece of a very complicated puzzle. All of the women you were locked up with had experiences that shaped them and influenced their decisions, and on top of that, you were all in a jail system that was designed to break all of you down. Some of your choices contributed to the situation, but you were not the only one making choices, and you certainly didn’t put a knife into Tiana’s hand and tell her to attack you or your friends with it.”

“That’s true.” Paige twisted a lock of hair nervously.

“You know,” Genieva said. “These feelings of guilt and shame and self-blame are things that many people feel after they are raped. Do you think that might be part of what you’re feeling so deeply right now? The painful feelings you felt after your attack that you never knew what to do with?”