Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 248,078 times)

[krw627]

Nat is getting desperate. I hope she slips up soon.

Mike should know Jennifer would figure out that he was lying.

What is going on with Roman being served?

[Kpatch]

Does Roman have to give testimony at Rafe's trial?

Melinda was definitely threatening JJ. She knows way too much about his life and now she's blackmailing him. Hopefully she won't follow through on her threats. She is so corrupt.

[heroicmuse]

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

I'm so excited for JJ's response to Trask and for the next step in Rafe's trial. Read on for spoilers!

Coming Up on Breaking Ties...

Trask thinks she has the upper hand, but there's a fatal flaw in her plan and JJ puts her in her place... but now he's on her enemy list with Alison. What will her next move be, and will it cause trouble for JJ and Alison?

Meanwhile, Judge Walston cross-examines Cooper, but Rafe is left wondering if he's already lost his probable cause hearing, if not the upcoming trial.

Elsewhere, Roman blows up at Kate after he sees what's in that envelope.

Finally, Jeremy and Chanel work together to try to win over Hannah and Kenneth, but the other two safe house residents have something more serious on their mind after Hannah has a nightmare while taking a nap.

[André DiMera]

Glad J.J. puts Trask in her place! I just hope she doesn’t come after him.

Hopefully Rafe hasn’t lost the hearing.

Wonder what exactly Roman sees in the envelope.

Good luck to Jeremy and Chanel.

Thanks for the previews, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

Uh oh what's in the envelope?

JJ needs to be a little shrewd here and not get emotional.

Thanks for the prevs.

[heroicmuse]

Week 496 - 1
JJ stared at Trask. “So you’re saying that if I pressure Rafe to take the deal and do some jail time, you’ll make sure no one embarrasses me by reporting on the crap I used to do?”

“A little slow on the uptake, aren’t you? But yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. So do we have a deal?”

“How about…go to hell?” JJ crossed his arms as Trask’s smile turned to a scowl. “There was a time that might have worked, but those days are long gone. See, I may not be proud of the stuff I used to do, but I’m not ashamed of it either. That’s not me anymore, and honestly, it never really was. I was screwed up cause of my dad’s death and that’s not an excuse, but now that I get that… I don’t hate myself anymore. And even if I did, there’s no way I’d sell out someone I care about just so I won’t be embarrassed.”

Trask raised her eyebrows. “Aren’t you enlightened?”

“It’s called working things through in therapy. Maybe you should try it.” JJ started to walk away, then turned around again. “By the way, if you think I’ve forgotten about whatever it is on your phone you don’t want me to know about, you’d better think again. This stupid stunt just made me twice as determined to dig up your dirty little secret.” JJ went back into the courtroom.

Trask squeezed her eyes shut. “Damn it!” she said. “Of all the reporters to run into…” She sighed. “Maybe I should make good on my threat. At the very least, it’ll discredit him, and it’ll make it that much less surprising when that little blonde friend of his ends up in jail.” She stared at her phone, thinking. Her eyes widened. “I got it! This should kill two birds with one stone, or at least… get them locked up eventually.” She began typing something into her phone, smiling to herself.


Inside the courtroom, Judge Walston turned toward Cooper. “As I explained at the outset, I will be asking you questions instead of Mr. Hernandez’s defense attorney,” he said.

“Yes, sir, I understand,” Cooper said.

Judge Walston nodded. “Were you the only other member of law enforcement on the scene when Mr. Hernandez made the decision to allow Ms. Roberts and Mrs. Horton to remain present at what appeared to be a hostage situation?”

“Yes,” Cooper said, “but Salem PD was on its way to provide backup and we were also prepared to call for an FBI hostage negotiator if necessary.”

“But none of those people was present when the original decision was made, correct?”

“Yes, your Honor.”

Judge Walston wrote that down before he said, “Now you stated that this was a violation of protocol. What, if anything did you do about it at the time?”

Cooper sighed. “Nothing, your Honor. I trusted Rafe implicitly and I figured if he thought it was best for these two ladies to be there, there was a good reason for it.”

“And what about when Ms. Roberts allegedly shot Mr. Montague and then dropped the gun in her purse? Were you also the only wintess to that event?”

“I think so. I mean, other cops were around but the scene was kind of chaotic, with Rafe inside trying to wake Johnny Dimera up and the perp jumping out the window. A lot of yelling, running, that kind of thing.”

“And you are absolutely sure that Ms. Roberts shot Mr. Montague?”

Cooper hesitated. “I’m 99%. I mean, she had the gun in her hand immediately after he was shot and she was looking pretty pleased with herself, so…”

Cooper poured himself another glass of water from a pitcher by the stand. Judge Walston waited for him to finish before he said, “You stated that you ordered Ms. Roberts to put her hands behind her back but Mr. Herandez told you to let her go. Why did you choose to listen to that directive?”

Cooper shrugged. “Like I said, I implicitly trusted Rafe, and still do. Besides, we’d never have had a case against her. Grieving grandmother shooting the pervert who abducted her grandson in the leg? Yeah, she did our job for us, but there’s not a jury in the world that would convict. So if you ask me, Rafe was in the right.”

“I see. Now before I ask you the next set of questions,, I must remind you that you have to right under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution to refuse to answer any question that will incriminate you. That said, for the sake of finding out if there is sufficient evidence against Mr. Hernandez to proceed to trial, I must ask you: did you ever lie to investigators about what happened in the woods that evening in an effort to prevent Mr. Hernandez’s arrest on these charges?”

“Absolutely not, your Honor.”

“And did Mr. Hernandez ever ask you to do so?”

“Again, absolutely not.”

Judge Wlaston nodded. “Did anyone ever offer you a bribe in exchange for your testimony, truthful or otherwise?”

“No, sir, and I wouldn’t have taken one.”

Judge Walston checked his notes on his legal pad. “Agent Cooper, were you notified at any time, either personally or through an attorney, that you were a potential target in the prosecution’s investigation into Mr. Montague’s shooting?”

“No, sir. I mean, I was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury and they asked me pretty much the same questions they did in court today, but as far as I know I was only called as a witness.”

“FBI policy states that any agent who is arrested must be suspended from duty, is that correct?”

“Yes, sir. That’s why Rafe was suspended. Our boss had no choice.”

“But you faced no disciplinary action yourself even though you admit that you went along with Mr. Hernandez’s violations of protocol, is that correct?”

(Justin and Rafe exchanged glances. Rafe said under his breath, “I don’t like where he’s going with this.”

Justin put his finger on his lips “He’s impeaching a witness against you. I would have done the same thing if he’d let me.”)

Cooper said, “That is correct, sir. I know it doesn’t seem fair, but it’s how it shook out.”

Judge Walson said, slowly, “I don’t want to throw mud on your reputation spuriously, but I must ask this question. Given that only Mr. Hernandez was disciplined for this incident and only Mr. Hernandez was in legal trouble over it, is it possible that you have spun your account in such a way to ensure that he gets in trouble and you do not?”

Cooper’s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

[André DiMera]

So glad J.J. didn’t give in! Wonder what Trask will do.

Can’t wait to see how Cooper responds to this!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

I think Melinda will find that most people don't care about the history or police record of a reporter, especially in today's day and age.

[heroicmuse]

Week 496 - 2
Roman leaned his phone on his ear. “Damn it,” he said to himself. “Justin’s probably in court as we speak.” When Justin’s voicemail came on he said, “Uh, yeah, hi, Justin, this is Roman Brady. I got some bad news for you. I just got served with a subpoena in Rafe’s case. Now, you know and I know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt his chances. He was one of my best cops back in the day and if you ask me, this whole trial is a lot of nonsense engineered by someone with a grudge. But I’m guessin’ it’s too late now to squash it, and that’s probably why they waited til the thing had already begun to give it to me. I’m headed down to the courthouse right now, soon as I change, cause I could be called at any minute and anyway I wanna try to catch you to talk to you in person. But on the off-chance that you get this before I see you, could you please give Rafe a heads-up so he doesn’t feel blindsided? Thanks.”

He hung up the phone. “Damn it to hell!” he said.

Kate had just come into the Pub to get a drink. “Roman?” she said. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that snake Sloan Petersen’s makin’ me stab one of my best friends and best officers in the back,” Roman said, shaking the subpoena, “and it’s your fault cause if you hadn’t shot that gun off, none of this would have ever happened.”


In the courthouse, Agent Cooper said, “With all due respect, your Honor, no one who knows me in the slightest would ever ask such a question. I’d take my lumps if it came to it, and I sure as hell wouldn’t throw Rafe under the bus to save my own skin.”

“I understand.” Judge Walston said. “All right, I’m satisfied. Any redirect, Ms. Petersen, or shall we allow Agent Cooper to step down from the witness stand?”

Sloan stood. “Just a few more questions, your Honor. Agent Cooper, did you cooperate fully with the investigation into who shot Bill Montague?”

“Yes, ma’am. I answered every question to the best of my ability from the get-go and did it again at the grand jury.”

“And you answered honestly even though Rafe Hernandez is a friend, did you not?”

Cooper sighed. “Yes, ma’am, I had to.”

Sloan nodded. “Thank you, Agent Cooper. That’s all.”

Judge Walston excused Agent Cooper. Then he said, “We’ll adjourn for lunch now. Se eyou all back here in one hour’s time.”

The judge banged his gavel. The bailiff had everyone rise as he left the room.
As soon as he was gone, Rafe said to Justin, “Give it to me straight. How bad was that? Cause from where I’m sitting, if he says those same things at trial, there’s some time behind bars in my future.”




Chanel and Jeremy had gone into the kitchen in the safe house. “I liked baking til the Second Chance Home,” Chanel said as they got supplies out of the refrigerator. “I was on kitchen duty too much there. That’s part of the program, everyone has to do chores every day so they can learn to be a responsible person or whatever. But it was horrible because this other girl picked on me all the time when we had to cook together.” She sighed. “And now the cops said she was the one following me around trying to scare me out of testifying.”

“Not surprised,” Jeremy said. “She sounds like the kind of loser who would do that. I mean, anyone who can’t see how amazing you are needs their eyes checked.”

“Maybe that was the problem.” Chanel cracked an egg into a bowl. “I know I have a past or whatever, but I guess she could have been jealous.”

“No doubt about it.” Jeremy kissed the back of Chanel’s neck. “Screw her. Let’s forget all that. It happens that you’re a master baker and I’m a genius at making breakfast burritos. So, even though it’s not morning, how about we get to work on a few things we can use as a peace offering when that other girl comes out here?”


Hannah had settled in for a nap while Kneeth sat in the chair he was going to sleep in tonight, reading a book since it was about the only thing he could do to entertain himself.

Hannah tossed and turned in the bed.

She was being escorted in handcuffs down the hall to the solitary confinement wing… she was in the day room in her jail dorm, watching TV, but a guard blocked the TV set and two others ordered her to get to her feet… she was taken out of the breakfast line and made to stand against a wall to be patted down…

Hannah groaned in her sleep. Kenneth jumped up and ran to her as she mumbled, “Let me out, please let me out…” and began to cry.

Kenneth shook her shoulder, hoping he could wake her easily.

[André DiMera]

Roman’s not entirely wrong, but I wonder how Kate will react.

I really hope Rafe doesn’t go to jail! Hopefully the rest of the hearing will go better.

I like the idea of Jeremy and Chanel making food as a peace offering.

Hope Kenneth wakes Hannah up from that nightmare!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

Roman is being really hard on Kate. I hope Roman doesn't have to say that he took Rafe's shield and gun away once upon a time.

[heroicmuse]

Week 496 - 3
Henry knocked on Valerie’s office door while she was working on updating her charts before she left for the evening.

“You still here?” he said.

“Obviously,” Valerie said, “or you’d be talking to the air.” She smiled nervously.

Henry blushed. “Okay,” he said, “that was a stupid question. I meant, I was surprised you’re still here this late.”

Valerie sighed. “I really should go home, I guess.” She stood. “I just don’t want any free time right now while my daughter…” She stopped herself just in time, remembering she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that Hannah was at a safe house.

Henry frowned. “I thought your daughter just went away with her boyfriend. That’s a happy thing, isn’t it?”

“For her it is,” Valerie said, and tried to smile. “For me and David, it’s another story.”

“Right… but you don’t want to spend time with your husband?”

Valerie’s jaw tightened. “What’s with the third degree? I just want to get these charts finished, all right?”

Henry held out his hands. “I wasn’t trying to start something. I just thought maybe you’d want me to walk you to your car. As a friend, that’s all. I know you’re not interested in anything else.”

“I appreciate that.” Valerie sighed as she checked her phone. “It is late, and that parking garage is isolated, so, let’s go.”

She closed her computer and she and Henry walked out of the office. As they went past the nurse’s station, the charge nurse said, “Oh, you’re still here, Dr. Grant.”

“I am,” Valerie said, “but not for long. Why?”

“There’s a patient just came in asking for you,” the charge nurse said. “He doesn’t seem urgent but with heart stuff you never know so…”

Valerie’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t have any appointments scheduled for after 4. You know that.”

“I know, but I just thought…”

Henry said, “How about I take a look at him? You hang out here and take a load off your feet and soon as I have him on his way I’ll walk you down.”

“I guess,” Valerie said. “I mean, I don’t need an escort but since you insist…”

“Be right back, then. WHich room is he in, Doris?”

“12B,” the charge nurse said.

In room 12B, the “patient” paced back and forth nervously. There was an outline of a gun under his shirt…



Mike sighed. “I wish I could tell you,” he said, his voice shaking. “Believe me, I want to, Jen, but…”

Jennifer frowned. “So you know where they are?”

“Kind of.” Mike swallowed hard. “Abe didn’t tell me that part, just that they’d be safe and that he’d patch through a call as soon as it was safe.”

“Abe?” Jennifer scrunched her face up, confused. “Wait…,” she said. “A number of years ago, there were some corrupt cops after JJ, so Rafe took him and Paige somewhere to keep them safe. Not that JJ stayed there… but that’s not the point. That’s where Jeremy and Chanel are, isn’t it? A safe house somewhere?”

Mike nodded slightly. “You didn’t hear it from me,” he said flatly, staring into space. “The official story is that Chanel was arrested for drug possession and sent to Salem City Jail on a probation violation and Jer turned himself in at the Embassy for the warrants they have out on him in Cape Town.”

“I understand. Believe me, I want them to stay safe too. But what I don’t understand is who’s after them? Was it someone from Jeremy’s past?”

“Not his. Hers.” Mike swallowed hard again. “Apparently Chanel’s supposed to testify against this girl at trial and the girl isn’t having it. Abe said that Jeremy’s not in much danger. In fact, he doubts Jer is on this girl’s radar at all. But Chanel was afraid to go to the safe house by herself. She didn’t want to leave him behind. So what does my boy do? He agrees to be put in protective custody with her, and all he wanted… all he wanted was to make sure that I knew he wasn’t really on his way to a dingy South African jail cell.” Mike blinked back tears. “So now they’re being held in protective custody for God knows how long, and so far they haven’t been allowed to call me, cause trust me, if he could, Jeremy would check in so I’d know he was okay.”

“I know,” Jennifer said. “Waiting like this is the hardest part, trust me. But at least they’re out of the reach of this person Chanel is so bravely testifying against, so there’s that. And eventually, this trial will be over and the kids can come home.”

“Yeah, but who knows how long that’ll be? And what damage there’ll be to their reputations? Jeremy was trying to get a job as an electrician, and they’re very particular about criminal records in that industry. He really might have to go back to South Africa to go before a magistrate and get those warrants cleared because he needs to be squeaky clean before he can get hired. But if they think he spent six months or however long it takes for this to be resolved behind bars and not in protective custody, he can kiss any such job goodbye.”

“Well, hopefully after it’s all resolved the police will back him up about where he’s really been. I can ask JJ to cover ito n SPN. When he’s back, not now.”

“That could be dangerous. There might be other Fire Lions hungry for retaliation, so the police may advise him to keep his mouth shut about where he’s really been.”

Jennifer shook her head sadly, but she patted Mike’s hand and said, “Let’s worry about that if it comes to that. Right now, we just need to pray that the kids stay safe until they can come home.”

[André DiMera]

Glad Henry’s going to check on the “patient” instead of Valerie. Not that I don’t think she could handle herself, I just don’t want her to get hurt.

Of course Jennifer figured out what’s really going on. I’m glad Mike told her the truth.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

Uh oh. I'm nervous about this patient. Who is it?

[heroicmuse]

Week 496 - 4

Kate crossed her arms. “I beg your pardon?” she said. “Why are you wasting your breath yelling at me? The one all that wrath should be going toward is that snake Sloan Petersen. Look. She was mad as hell that Rafe and Nicole got Melinda Trask fired for cause, okay? She was determined to get him back, and somehow she convinced a grand jury that he did something wrong, which doesn’t even make sense because I wasn’t indicted for actually shooting the pervert, so how can Rafe be charged with covering up a crime that in the eyes of the law did not happen?”

“I dunno, but I know one thing. We would not be having this conversation if you had just left this to the police in the first place.”

Kate gasped. “That pervert had kidnapped YOUR grandson. As far as I’m concerned, Johnny will always be family even if he’s not Lucas’, but he is yours, so you should be grateful that I did something to make sure the bastard who kidnapped him pay. Rafe found him naked, Roman! No sign of his clothes anywhere and he was so incredibly out of it that he didn’t even recognize Rafe when he came in there searching for him. And I’m supposed to feel sorry that I shot the pervert who did that to him? I only shot the man -- and i use that term loosely -- in the leg, Roman. You should be glad it was me who got the idea in my head to shoot him and not Sami, because she was there too, and trust me, if hse’d had that gun in her hand it would have been a lot less than a flesh wound.”

“Sami was there?” Roman said, surprised.

“Of course she was! She’s Johnny’s mother. Do you think there’s any chance in hell she’d back off and let the cops find her son?”

“No, but she was married to Rafe. She should have trusted him. And so should have you. Why either of you was there is beyond me.”

“Well, we were. And I did the cops’ job for them and stopped that disgusting pervert from running away after everything he’d done to Johnny. And now Rafe is paying the price and Sloan Petersen is playing mind games. You know why she subpoenaed you, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Roman said. “She wants to get inside Rafe’s head and make him think even his best friends are turning against him.” He sighed deeply. “I gotta try to get ahold of Justin again cause at the very least, I want Rafe to know I’m not voluntarily testifying against him.”

“Right. Not that anyone in this town would ever do this in a million years, but maybe you should consider apologizing to me for blowing up at me when I’m not the one who’s got you all hot under the collar?”

“{No, you’re right.” Roman sighed. “I’m sorry, Katie. This whole situation with Rafe has got me all tied up in knots, and I don’t want Sloan to ruin my friendship with him with her stupid games.”

“And she won’t. We won’t let her.” Kate reached for Roman’s hand. He hesitated, then took it. Kate said, “Go to the courthouse and find Justin. He got my subpoena tossed so maybe he can do the same for you.”

“I hope so,” Roman said, “but I got my doubts.” He sighed as he picked up his phone to try Justin again.


At the safe house, Hannah jerked awake as Kenneth shook her shoulder. “What in the world?” She rubbed her eyes.

“You were having some sort of nightmare,” Kenneth said. “You were begging to be let go.”

“Oh.” Hannah’s cheeks darkened. “Sorry about that. I guess I was dreaming about when I was locked up at Salem City.”

“I don’t blame you for having nightmares in a situation like this,” Kenneth said. “I guess it reminds you of being behind bars when you're awake, huh?”

Hannah nodded. “I feel like we’re the ones who are under arrest when we didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll be glad when this trial is over and I’m done testidying, that’s for sure, especially if I gotta share close quarters with your stupid cousin.”

Kenneth frowned. “Ma says she’s not the same as she was when she framed me.”

“She still shot Marcel in the back and let us take the fall for it. Mostly you, but we were both held for questioning at the court and I’m lucky they didn’t make up a bogus probation violation as an excuse to hold onto me til they could get evidence we conspired to kill Marcel ourselves.”

Kenneth held his hands out. “I’m not saying she was right to do any of that. And maybe I’d feel different if I’d actually been sent to Salem City over it, but as it is, they let us go after questioning and I dunno, I think Chanel deserves a second chance.” Kenneth patted Hannah’s hand. “You wouldn’t be where you are today without a whole lot of people who gave you one.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t kill anyone. I just held onto an open beer.”

“And gave Nat rides to East Salem to score drugs. If you’d got caught doing that you’d be looking at 25 years, and maybe in a higher security place than you landed in over that beer.”

Hannah swallowed hard, knowing Kenneth was right “Still wasn’t murder.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Hannah said, “Now what?”

Kenneth opened the door. Jeremy said, “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we made food and we were hoping you guys would join us for dinner.”