Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 248,074 times)

[Kpatch]

Roman was being really unreasonable. I think Rafe would figure out Roman was subpoena'd without hearing it from Justin.

I hope Jeremy accepts Kenneth's offer.

[André DiMera]

I’m so glad Kate said all that! It’s as if certain people are forgetting that the person Kate shot was a literal pedophile who had kidnapped and drugged someone! Good on Roman for apologizing, and calling Justin to try and get the subpoena dismissed.

While Hannah’s anger is understandable, I’m glad Kenneth pointed out that Chanel isn’t the person she used to be. Wonder how Jeremy’s invitation will go over.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[heroicmuse]

Week 496 - 5

The patient in room 12B turned as Henry knocked on the door. He hurried to sit down on the exam table, biding his time til he it was the right time to pull out the gun.

“Come in,” he said, trying to sound weak.

Henry came in. The patient’s eyes widened as Henry said, “Mr. Marshall, I’m Dr. Shah. I’m a cardiologist here at East Salem Med. What seems to be the trouble today?”

“Dr. Shah?” the patient said, confused. He bent his head one way, than the other, cracking his neck. “What happened to Dr. Grant?”

“Dr. Grant is gone for the day, but don’t worry. I’m just as qualified as she is.” Henry smiled slightly. “Have you seen her before? Is that why you’re so eager to see her now?”

“Nah, just heard of her.” Marshall felt under his shirt sleeve for his Fire Lion tattoo, trying to remind himself why he was here. “She’s the best, right, and that’ what I want. Not a second rate replacement.”

“I know just as much as she does,” Henry said calmly. “Now how about you start by telling me what the trouble is?”

The patient pulled out his gun. “The trouble is I want Valerie Grant in here, now!” he said, pointing it at Henry. “Do whatever it takes to make that happen, understand?”

Henry swallowed hard as he raised his hands slowly into the air and backed up a step.


Justin took a deep breath. “Remember, this is only a probable cause hearing. When we get to trial, if we end up having to do so, I’ll have the chance to cross-examine Agent Cooper and any other witnesses the prosecution puts up. That’s a whole different ball game than what’s going on here today.”

“Yeah? You think you could poke enough holes in his testimony he doesn’t bury me?” Rafe shook his head. “I can’t believe he stabbed me in the back like this.”

“Rafe.” Justin’s voice was soft. “He was subpoenaed. That means he didn’t have any choice in the matter. Didn’t you see how hard he was tyring to not incriminate you? I only said the bare minimum he had to and when he could, he shaded things to make them feel less bad. And like he said, he trusted you. That’s a point in our favor.”

“Is it? Cause all I heard is ‘I trusted him but he screwed up.’ If a jury thinks that way…”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’re not at the jury stage yet. First the judge has to decide at this hearing that there is probable cause to put you on trial. Basically, Sloan Petersen has to prove she has a decent case against you, or the whole thing goes away.”

“Which it won’t. Cooper already sealed my fate there. So what happens next?”

“Next, he has to consider the motion to dismiss that I already filed. There’s no point to it til after this hearing, because if there’s not enough evidence he’s going to dismiss anyway. But if it comes to it, I’m going to argue that the idea of you being arrested for covering up a crime that Kate Roberts is not being charged with is nonsensical. Hopefully that will sway him.”

“And if not?”

Justin sighed. “Then we prepare for trial. Sloan will try to offer you a plea deal that includes jail time, but we’re not taking it, at least not yet. The only reason to make that kind of deal is if it seems like the jury’s buying what she’s selling, and I don’t think it’ll come to that.” His phone beeped. “Excuse me a second.”

Justin glanced at the phone.

Text from Roman
Dunno if you got my previous message, but I just got served with one of those orders to testify against Rafe. Kate thinks you can get rid of it, but if you can’t, can you at least warn him?

Justin sighed deeply. “More bad news coming our way, but I’m gonna try to stop it.” He turned toward Rafe and said, gently, “The prosecution’s ordered Roman to testify against you. I’m going to argue that since you no longer work for him and he wasn’t at the scene, there is no reason to call him, but on the off chance the judge doesn’t go for it, I need you to tell me anything he knows that might hurt your case.”

[André DiMera]

I hope Henry doesn’t get shot.

Wonder what Rafe will say. Hopefully Roman won’t have to testify.

Can we please have previews, heroicmuse?

[Kpatch]

Looks like someone plans to use Valerie to get to her daughter. Yikes.

[heroicmuse]

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

Things are about to get tense for Henry, and there's plenty of other drama coming up too. Here's a sneak peek...

Coming Up on Breaking Ties...

After secretly calling for help, Henry tries to talk the gunman down, and it might work... but when the police arrive, could that put him in the middle of a very dangerous situation?

Elsewhere, at the safe house, Jeremy makes a move toward peace with Kenneth, disclosing his own past to try to find common ground, but with Hannah struggling to cope, it may be for nothing, and what he tells Kenneth could make things worse in another way.

Meanwhile, Rafe confides in Justin about an incident from his past that could tank his case...and Roman knows about it. The best solution would be if they can quash the subpoena, but will Judge Walston go for it, or is judgment day coming for Rafe? And while they are dealing with things legally, Trask and Sloan are celebrating their assumed victory -- and setting their sights on a new target.

Finally, Chloe and Philip, far removed from the high-stakes drama elsewhere, begin making plans for a celebration of their own involving the kids.

[Kpatch]

Yay. Chloe and Philip will appear.

I hope in the long run the safe house residents can become friends.

[André DiMera]

Hopefully Henry can talk the gunman out of this.

Wonder what Jeremy will say that could potentially make things worse.

I really hope Judge Walston gets rid of the subpoena!

Excited for Philip and Chloe’s celebration!

Thanks for the previews, heroicmuse!

[heroicmuse]

Week 497 - 1
Henry stared at the barrel of the gun that was being pointed toward him. “Let’s not do anything hasty,” he said, his voice calm and even despite how hard his heart was pounding. “How about you tell me what your beef with Dr. Grant is, hmm? And then maybe we can work it out.”

The gunman’s eyes darted back and forth. Henry stared at them, trying to get a read on what he was dealing with. Was he high or just upset? The gunman said, “I don’t have no beef with her. I never even met her before.”

“Okay,” Henry said. “Then why are you so insistent that we bring her into whatever this is? If it’s money you want, I’m sure you can fetch just as high a ransom for me. I am a highly qualified cardiologist too, after all. So forget her. Just take me.”

“It’s not about money!” the gunman snapped. “It’s… look, just get her in here, all right?”

Henry stared at the gunman’s fingers. They were way too close to the trigger for his liking. “It would help if I knew what to tell her,” he said slowly.

“Just page her!”

Henry backed up a step. “Okay,” he said. “I have to turn around and press this button, all right? Don’t panic and shoot.”

“Shut up and do what I say and you won’t get shot,” the gunman said.

Henry turned around slowly and pressed a button, but it wasn’t the button the gunman thought it was. It was the emergency call button. “Valerie Grant, Code Gray to Room 12B,” he said, and repeated it, letting the emergency dispatcher know there was a patient with a weapon in this room and hoping they understood that the gunman was after Valerie.

“It’s done?” the gunman said. “She’s on her way?”

Henry nodded, trying not to think about what would happen once hospital security and armed police officers arrived instead of the victim the gunman was expecting. “She’ll be here in a minute, I’m sure,” he said. “While we’re waiting, how about you tell me what this is all about?”

The gunman’s eyes darted all over the place. “It’s about nobody disrespecting the Fire Lions and getting away with it, that’s all.” He gestured with the gun. “That’s all I’m gonna say. Sit down right there. Hands behind your back.”

Henry had no choice but to obey.

As the gunman secured Henry’s hands behind his back, he laughed nervously and said, “Looks like I’m getting two hostages for the price of one. When Dr. Grant gets here, you’re both coming with me.”


Rafe crossed his arms. “Roman isn’t gonna stab me in the back if he can help it, I can tell you that much.”

“Be that as it may, he’s under subpoena,” Justin said, “and if I can’t get it tossed, Sloan Petersen is going to use him as a weapon against you every way she can. So out with it. What does he know?”

Rafe bit his lip. “Nothing! At least, not about this incident. He wasn’t part of it. Don’t think he even knew Sami was there.” His eyes widened. “Sami… years ago, okay, like so long ago no one’s even thinking about it, she shot EJ Dimera in the head and I lied and said she was with me to keep her out of trouble. Fact, that’s how I ended up working for him. I quit the FBI for a while so I could get into the Salem PD and focus all my energy on digging dirt up on EJ so he’d leave Sami the hell alone about that damn shooting.”

Justin frowned. “Does Roman know about it?”

“He fired me cause of it, so yeah.” Rafe swallowed hard. “And if they get Sami on the stand, not that she’s gonna do what they say cause of some stupid paper, all hell is gonna break loose.””

“That’s a good point. But one problem at a time.. If Sloan Petersen gets that little story out of Roman, she’ll say this is a pattern with you. You covered up her shooting EJ Dimera just like you covered up Kate shooting Bill Montague, and in fact the first time was so bad he fired you over it. I don’t know if it would work at trial, but as far as the probable cause hearing…”

“It’s enough to hold me over for trial.” Rafe swallowed hard.

“You’ll still be out on bail, but yeah, and the judge won’t be impressed that you used the police department as a weapon against EJ, either, and bounced back to the FBI when it was convenient.” Justin sighed deeply. “All right. Anything else I need to know?”

Rafe sighed. “A lot of crazy went down when I was with Sami.”

“Not surprised. Anything Roman can tell the judge to hurt your case?”

Rafe sighed. “I broke up with her cause EJ was blackmailing me over sending Gabi to jail for her part in Jack Deveraux’s death, but that works in our favor cause I didn’t let Trask do the same thing.”

“Maybe.” Justin crossed his arms. “Anything less than a decade old? So far it seems like I might be able to make the argument that they went looking for ancient history because they were so desperate to nail you.”

Rafe gulped. “There is one thing but it isn’t how it looks.”

Justin sighed. “Let’s have it.”

Rafe said, “Couple years ago, some corrupt cops tried takin’ over the station. Sent this guy Rodman down from the Capitol who was forcing all kinds of crap on Roman. Among other things, he made Roman suspend me. I don’t even remember what it was I’d supposedly done. Nonsense to be sure. But Roman, he was forced to take my gun and my badge for a while cause just like what Sloan Petersen is doing now, Rodman wanted me out of the way before I could prove he was corrupt and arrest him, so he went for my badge to stop me from looking into him, not to mention he wanted to abuse his power to mess with JJ Deveraux and he couldn’t do that with me on the force.”

Justin nodded. “We can work with that. But first things first. I’ll file an emergency motion to squash the subpoena so hopefully Roman won’t have to testify at all. But brace yourself because if it doesn’t work… things are about to get rough.”

[André DiMera]

Glad Henry alerted the emergency dispatcher. Hopefully this won’t lead to anything bad happening.

Glad Rafe told Justin the truth, and that Justin is working on getting rid of the subpoena!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

That was really quick thinking by Henry. I'm impressed by how willing he was to sacrifice himself for Valerie. I sure hope that coded message was received loud and clear and that Henry doesn't get caught in the crossfire. Jumping ahead and making some assumptions, I wonder if this will lead Valerie to cheat on David with Henry.

[heroicmuse]

Week 497 - 2
Kenneth exchanged glances with Hannah, who was sitting on the bed, her arms crossed. “Um,” he said, “that’s nice of you but…”

Jeremy’s shoulders fell. “Talk to you a sec outside?”

Kenneth bit his lip, not wanting to leave Hannah alone but feeling like he had to give this guy something after he’d gone to all this effort to try to build bridges. “Yeah, sure,” he said. He squeezed Hannah’s shoulder. “Be right back.”

“K.” Hannah’s voice shook slightly.

Kenneth kised the top of her head, feeling awkward about doing more than that, before he followed Jeremy outside the room.

“Sorry about my girl,” Kenneth said under his breath. “She’s not herself. This situation’s getting to her too much.”

“I get that.” Jeremy sighed. “Look, I don’t know if you got a past, but I have one and obviously we all know Chanel does. And I’m guessing your girlfriend does too cause you don’t end up in a safe house waiting to testify against a gang leader if you haven’t done some things you wish you hadn’t.”

Kenneth hesitated, not sure how much to say. He didn’t want to betray Hannah, but he did want Jeremy to understand. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, “Let’s just say that my cousin’s not the only one who spent some time behind bars.”

Jeremy nodded. “I did too. In fact, my cover story’s that I turned myself in at the Embassy cause I have warrants in South Africa, the second part of which is true. I don’t know how that’s ever gonna be resolved, man. I ran away to the US cause I was too much of a coward to face trial for doing something really stupid and now I don’t know any way out of trouble unless I really do go back and sit in jail in another country.” He swallowed hard as Kenneth’s eyes narrowed. “You probably didn’t need to hear all that.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” Kenneth crossed his arms. “Want to tell me what you did? I won’t judge.”

Jeremy looked away, turning red. “I, um, I punched a guy who wouldn’t let me steal a $2 candy bar from a convenience shop. I-I was all messed up in the head then, I’m not like that anymore.”

Kenneth nodded. “I promised I won’t judge, so I won’t. Besides, Hannah has stupid stuff in her past and the whole reason Chanel was able to frame me was i lost my mind after Marcel Simmons kidnapped me and I bought an illegal gun. But I will say this, man. Chanel, she might have framed me once, and there was a time I hated her, but now I get she was screwed up by thinking we didn’t want her. Which is to say, she’s my cousin and I love her, and as much as I believe in second chances, if you ever hurt her…”

Jeremy put his hands up. “I won’t. Wouldn’t want to get on your bad side.” He laughed nervously. “Besides, I wouldn’t ever want one tear rolling down my beautiful Chanel’s face, and I couldn’t stand it if I were the one who made her cry.”

Kenneth nodded but said nothing. Jeremy said, “So, we cool?”

“Yeah,” Kenneth said, and held out his hand.

They shook and Jeremy said, “You guys gotta eat and I make mean breakfast burritos. So tell that girl of yours to get off her high horse long enough to try one.”

“It’s not that,” Kenneth said. “Not mostly that, anyway.” He lowered his voice. “She’s in a bad way, man. Being locked up here’s got her spiraling back into memories of the year she spent in jail.”

Jeremy frowned. “Tell you what,” he said. “Why don’t we make up a plate for her and you ee if you can at least get her to eat in her room?”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan. I’ll tell her.” Kenneth opened the door a crack and said to Hannah, “I’m gonna go grab us food. You want to eat with everyone or should I bring it back?”

Hannah shrugged. “I’m not hungry,” she said, “but I guess if it’s food time, it’s food time.” She stood up and walked out of the room, holding her hands behind her back the way she’d been required to when she was in jail.


Sloan and Trask had gone out to dinner to celebrate the hearing seeming to go their way.

“The look on Hernandez’s face,” Trask said, smirking. “His partner destroyed him on the stand and he knows it.”

“Yeah,” Sloan said. “I just wish it was the trial. This hearing is a waste of time. We’re going to have to do it all over again in front of the jury.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Trask smiled slightly, “By the time this is over, I bet you anything Justin Kiriakis will be begging us to make a deal. After all, when a jury finds Hernandez guilty, he’ll lose his career along with his freedom, so he should be open to whatever crumbs of hope we want to offer him.”

“We’ll see. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First we have to get through this hearing.” Sloan leaned forward. “By the way, don’t think I didn’t see you sneaking out of the courtroom during the most exciting part. Did you get something related to our other project?”

“I certainly did,” Trask said. “But not something I can discuss in public.” She pushed her hair over her shoulder. “It’s bad enough I almost got caught by JJ Deveraux. You’d think he’d show some respect after I threatened to send him to jail over that broken window all those years ago, but no. He had to stick his nose where it didn’t belong.”

“Never mind him. He’s nothing,” Sloan said, “or at least nothing we can’t take care of. What did you get?”

“Photos of Alison McCarthy and her new little sidekick, or maybe it’s a side piece,” Trask said. She opened the phone and showed Sloan photos of Alison and Dani.

Sloan smiled. “This is excellent news. See, I know this girl.” She tapped on Dani’s photo with one finger. “Client of mine kept getting her drunk last year, hoping to get his way with her. Created a monster because she became a full blown alcoholic.”

“Just like Joshua McCarthy,” Trask said. “No one will believe a word she says if she tries to claim McCarthy was framed.”

“It’s even better.” Sloan lowered her voice. “She got arrested not that long ago trying to get alcohol illegally, and as far as I know, she’s on probation. And that means that if she starts to be a problem…”

“The threat of being sent back to jail should be enough to keep her in line,” Trask finished, smirking.

[André DiMera]

Glad Kenneth and Jeremy seem to be getting along at least, and that Kenneth isn’t judging Jeremy. I’m worried about Hannah.

Ugh! Trask and Sloan are disgusting!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

Very nice of Jeremy. It would be nice if they all ended up friends.

[heroicmuse]

Week 497 - 3
The gunman paced back and forth in front of Henry, his eyes darting back and forth. “What is taking our friend so long to get here?”

“I told you,” Henry said calmly. “She left for the day. It’s going to take time to get her back here.” He wiggled his fingers, trying to free his hands, but he’d been tied too tightly. He had a feeling it wasn’t the first time this guy had tied someone up.

Henry stared at the gunman, trying to figure out his next move. The guy looked young, little more than a kid, really, and it saddened him that someone with their whole life ahead of them had fallen so deeply into a life of crime already that he would tie up a doctor just because Natalie Simmons said so. “Let’s talk about you,” he said uncertainly.

The gunman wheeled around. “What about me?” he demanded, pointing the gun toward Henry.

“Nothing bad,” Henry said. “I just wanted to know what your plan is, what you think you can make anyone do once you kidnap me and Dr. Grant. But let’s talk about it calmly, okay? Do me a favor and point that gun somewhere else. You’re making me nervous.”

“Good,” the gunman said, but he lowered the gun, pointing it toward the floor. “Not up to me. Depends what she wants to do with you guys. All I know is, that bitch that turned on her’s not gonna be able to testify tomorrow.”

“So this is what this is about. Natalie Simmons’ trial.” Henry’s voice was soft. “That bitch, as you put it, is a human being just like you and me. Her name is Hannah and she’s gone through a lot these last few years, starting with doing a year in jail behind an open beer that belonged to your friend.”

The gunman swallowed hard, but he said, “Her loyalty would have been rewarded but she stabbed the Queen in the back.”

“Have you ever met Hannah?” Henry asked, still speaking softly. “Do you know anything about her except that she’s testifying at this trial?”

“Nah, and I don’t want to, either.” The gunman crossed his arms. “The FIre Lions supposed to be like family. You don’t ever snitch on family.”

“Family doesn’t kidnap each other either,” Henry said. “Marcel Simmons did the same thing to Hannah’s boyfriend you’re doing to me. And after he was arrested for it, I guess he was too much of a liability cause Nat, she ordered her own brother killed and she wanted Kenneth to go down for the crime. She forced some poor girl to shoot him in the back and put the gun under Kenneth’s seat. In the back, Kevin, or whatever your real name is. Where I come from we have a name for that.” He lowered his voice. “Coward.”

The gunman hesitated, his jaw trembling. “That’s a lie. That’s what they’re gonna say in court but it’s not true. That girl did that on her own and she blamed the Queen when she got caught.”

Henry shook his head slightly. “I know that’s what you’ve been told, but it bears no resemblance to reality. Think for yourself, man. You’re gonna en dup doing time while she could get off scot-free. Is that really what you want to do?”

The gunman hesitated. He started to lower the gun…

And just then someone knocked the door down and a bunch of security guards and cops ran in, shouting, “Police! Don’t move!”


Chloe was looking through old photos on her phone and smiling to herself. Philip came into the room and kissed the back of her neck.

She flinched. “Oh. I didn’t see you there. Not that I mind. You can do some more of that if you want.”

Philip squeezed her shoulders. “Gladly. But what have you got there that’s got you so distracted?”

“Parker’s childhood pictures.” Chloe’s voice was soft. “We have an eighth grader as of this afternoon. You know what that means? Another year and he’ll be in high school. I can barely believe it.”

“Me either. It seems like just yesterday we were fighting with Daniel over which one of us was really his father,” Philip quipped.

Chloe gave him a look. “Not funny.” She squeezed his hand. “Biology or no biology, you are as much his father as Daniel is, maybe even more. There’s a reason he wanted to live with us.”

“And I’m glad he did.” Philip stroked her hair. “You’re not feeling sad about the fact that we’ve had a bona fide teenager in the house for the past year, are you?”

Chloe shook her head slightly. “Just nostalgic.” She squeezed his hand. “Next year we’ll hace a third grader and and eighth grader. I wish they were just a little closer in age so we could throw a double graduation party next year, but even so… I’d like to have a beginning of summer party for them this year. What do you think?”