Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 252,081 times)

[André DiMera]

Wonder who hasn’t stopped by to pay their respects yet.

Hopefully Nat won’t be able to get bail.

Curious who’s following Dani.

Can’t wait to see if Ruby acts on her feelings!

Thanks for the previews, heroicmuse!

[heroicmuse]

Week 515 - 1

Dani got off the Salem City Bus and walked toward the Titan building to meet Sally. Someone slid out from behind a utility pole and followed her at a distance as she passed.

Dani looked over her shoulder, feeling nervous for no reason, and the person slipped back and out of sight. They resumed following her as she turned around.

Dani went up the steps toward the building entrance. The person following her could see metal detectors inside and that someone was checking visitor IDs.

This was it, then. The end of the line. They couldn’t go in without getting caught.

The person made themselves flat against the other side of a tree and made a call. “I followed her to the Titan building but then I lost her cause of the security. What do you want me to do?”


A murmur shot through the courtroom. Judge Hildebrand banged her gavel. “I will have it quiet in here.”

Rubin stood as soon as everyone had quieted down. “I don’t want to deny a potential victim her voice,” she said, hoping the sarcasm in hers wasn’t dripping through, “but I do have to ask, what does this have to do with whether or not she was complicit in illegal activities such as kidnappings, forcing children to commit crimes, and trafficking drugs?”

“It goes to the fact that she, too, was a victim,” Saxon said. “It’s Marcel Simmons who is the real villain here, but unfortunately, he’s dead, so his sister is left holding the bag for the crimes he committed.”

“Maybe she shouldn’t have ordered him executed, then!” Rubin snapped.

The judge banged her gavel. “That is enough, both of you. This is not a high school debate club, nor is it the halls of a middle school where adults have to be on the lookout for children losing their tempers and settling their problems with their fists. Now, we began this day with a discussion of whether the defendant deserves a second chance at attending this trial in person rather than watching from behind bars because of her blatant disrespect for this court. Do not think I will hesitate to impose the same penalty on an attorney who brings dishonor to their license to practice law in this courtroom.”

“Sorry, your Honor,” Rubin said. Saxon said nothing, just looked away.

“Now,” Judge Hildebrand said, “it seems to me, Mr. Saxon, that we are close to the line between out in left field and a proper defense. Please tie your line of questioning to your stated purpose of demonstrating that your client is not responsible for the crimes she is accused of and do not get lost in salacious details meant to engender sympathy without being relevant to your case.”

“Yes, your Honor. Thank you.” Saxon cleared his throat. “Nat, you have already testified that it was not your choice to kidnap Kenneth Hansen or force Hannah Martin to exchange herself for him. Did you do anything to stop him?”

“Yeah,” Nat said. “I mean, yse, I did.”

“What did you do?”

“For one thing, I kept putting Hannah off when she offered to surrender to him. I figured the longer I could drag it out, the more chance I had of coming up with a plan to get her boyfriend out of there.”

“I see. And what else did you do?”

“I drugged Marcel’s coffee.” Nat grinned. “He always had roofies lying around to use on girls that didn’t want to put out so I figured, why not give him a taste of his own medicine?”

Saxon nodded. “Even though that was against the law, were you charged with the crime of sedating him against his will?”

“Nope,” Nat said. “They left that off. They got me for kidnapping and assorted other nonsense that was all Marcel.”

“I see,” Saxon said. “Where were you headed when you were arrested?”

“I’d just left Marcel after I drugged him. I knew the drugs would take a minute to kick in, see, so I was gonna go hang out til they did and then double back, but the cops had another plan cause they got me right there on the street and then went and got Kenneth themselves.”

“I see. And what would you have done if you hadn’t been arrested?”

“I’d have given it maybe 20 minutes and then sneaked back in and freed Kenneth and then when my brother woke up I would have told him he escaped and talked him out of going after him no more.”

“So, to summarize, your testimony is that Marcel kidnapped Kenneth, not you, and that you were attempting to put off his attempted kidnapping of Hannah Martin and had taken steps to release the hostage at the time of your arrest, is that correct?”

“It’s what I said, isn’t it?” Nat’s eyes narrowed when the judge’s jaw tightened. “Sorry, your Honor, I don’t mean to be disrespectful.”

“I’d suggest thinking before you speak, then,” Judge Hildebrand said. “As a reminder, I will be deciding this afternoon if bail is to be restored. Continued speaking as if you are on a street corner getting ready to fight is not a good way to demonstrate that you have learned your lesson about being respectful in court.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Nat mumbled, staring down at her knees as if she was really contrite.

“Answer the question properly, then,” the judge said, “and if you have forgotten it, the court stenographer can read it back to you.”

“No, ma’am, I got it,” Nat said. “Yes, it’s correct that it was all Marcel and I was trying to protect Hannah and her boyfriend. If the cops hadn’t interfered I’d have been the hero like I wanted to be and her and me would be friends again.”

Rubin’s eyes narrowed and she wrote a note on her pad: Hannah Martin - OBSESSION??

[André DiMera]

Wonder who’s following Dani and why.

Rubin’s right, Nat is definitely obsessed with Hannah. Glad Judge Hildebrand isn’t standing for any nonsense.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

Trying to catch up. I'm both looking forward to and dreading the tributes.

[heroicmuse]

Week 515 - 2
Brady and Sarah had met Paul at the airport. “I’d say it’s good to see you, brother,” Brady said, “except that doesn’t feel right when the reason you’re here is cause our father is gone.”

“I know what you mean.” Paul sighed. “When I got off the plane, I was looking for him at the meeting spot instead of you. He always dropped whatever he was doing to come meet me if I was coming in, even if it was three in the morning or I’d only given him a few hours’ notice I was coming back to Salem.”

“That was our father, all right,” Brady said. “Generous to a fault.” He sighed deeply. “Wait, where are my manners? Have you met Sarah?”

“Of course,” Paul said. “You’re Maggie’s daughter, right?”

“And you’re Paul Narita, the famous ball player,” Sarah said.

“I was Paul Narita, the famous ball player. Now I’m Paul Narita, the not-quite-so-famous ISA tech expert. I shouldn’t have blurted that out in an airport full of people, by the way, so keep it to yourselves.”

“Your secret’s safe with us,” Sarah said as they headed toward the baggage claim.

“Speaking of baseball,” Brady said, “I just had an idea. You know how Dad loved the game. So maybe we should do something with baseball to honor him. Maybe start a baseball scholarship in his honor or something.”

“Honestly, I’m not ready to think about that,” Paul said. “When it’s sunk in that he’s really gone, sure. But in the meantime, the best way we can honor him is by living our lives in a way that would have made him proud.” Paul lowered his voice. “Speaking of which, you haven’t been tempted to drink over his death, have you?”

Brady shook his head. “I’ve got Sarah to keep me out of trouble,” he said. “I wouldn’t throw away my life with her just for a momentary high.”

“Glad to hear it,” Paul said. “And I bet Dad’s proud, too, wherever he is.”

“Yeah.” Brady’s voice was flat and his shoulders slumped.


Nat was finally coming to the end of her testimony. Saxon paced back and forth now, having gotten his confidence back after questioning her. “Why did you order Chanel Dupree to shoot your brother?”

Nat said, “I didn’t. I just wanted her to scare him. If she did more than that, it’s on her.”

“Okay, so why did you want to scare Marcel?”

Nat shook her head sadly. “Same reason Hannah and Chanel did. He terrorized me just like he did them, only it was worse cause he was my brother. “

“Worse how?”

“Like I said earlier, he knew how to push every one of my buttons.”

“And so you decided the only way out was to have him shot, is that it?”

Nat nodded. “I’m not proud of it. I mean, he was my brother. I didn’t want to go all, what do you call it, Cain and Abel? on him. But you gotta understand, there was no way out. I was desperate.”

“Why were you so desperate?”

“I told you before what he did to me. But it was worse than that. See, what Marcel wanted, he always got. And if he didn’t get it, you don’t know what kind of hell there would be to pay. When it came to Hannah, my brother was obsessed like no one’s business. He wanted her any way he could get her, and he didn’t care who he hurt as long as he could possess her. He’d already kidnapped her boyfriend -- that’s why he was on trial. And I knew he’d tell a lot of silver-tongued lies and get away with everything, just like always, and I’d have no recourse then. So… I know it was wrong, but I really felt murder was the only way out, and Chanel was one of the few girls who he let close to him. So she had the opportunity to do some damage.”

“I see. So you used Chanel to do your dirty work?”

“Like I said, I’m not proud. But I did not kill Marcel or anyone else.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Saxton sat down.

Rubin could see the fear in Nat’s eyes as she stood, getting ready to cross-examine her.

[André DiMera]

Glad Paul is back in Salem, despite the reason. The baseball scholarship idea is a good one.

I wonder how much of that fear in Nat’s eyes is genuine.

Great chapter,heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

It's good seeing Paul and I liked his first meeting with Sarah.

[heroicmuse]

Week 515 - 3
Alison paced around the hotel room, her phone pressed to her ear. “That’s exactly right. I have a feeling he’s dodging us. Can you help? Um, I don’t know. I figured maybe you could put in a good word for us, tell your brother that we’re people he can trust. Of course we are! Look, you said it yourself, you don’t think your brother’s involved. And if he is, don’t you think that needs to be exposed? I mean, yes, I know he’s your brother, but I also know you’re the kind of cop who is proud to wear the badge and doesn’t want bad apples spoiling everything. Okay. Thanks.”

Alison hung up and threw her phone down on the bed.

“I’m guessing that’s a no?” Emily said, not looking up from her tablet.

“Not sure. I mean, he said he’d see what he could do, which could mean he’s blowing us off but could also mean he’s seriously gonna try but can’t promise anything.”

“Right.” Emily sighed deeply. “Al? Do you think maybe all this is a sign that we should, I don’t know, just forget this and go home?”

“Emily!” Alison’s voice rose. “My brother was sentenced to 25 years. He might be innocent.”

“I understand that! But Josh doesn’t want you to do this! He said that you’re just putting a target on his back. And look at what’s happened since we got here. We were nearly arrested for nothing, the cops are stonewalling us, and even the guy back home who’s a genuinely good guy doesn’t want to help. Is it worth pursuing, putting ourselves in danger, when your brother doesn’t even want us to do this for him?”

Alison crossed her arms. “If Josh was drinking and didn’t want us to take the keys away, you wouldn’t say that wasn’t worth fighting him on.”

“That’s different. That’s about saving lives, including his own.”

“So is this. If someone’s doing something to my brother that is so bad that he’d rather stay in jail for 25 years when he’s innocent than help us find the truth, that person needs to be stopped. For his good and for other people’s good. Especially if there are corrupt cops involved. I’m not giving up just because they’re throwing a couple of obstacles in the way, and I didn’t think you were the type of person who would either.”

“I’m not,” Emily said. “I swear I’m not.”

“Then don’t,” Alison said. “You loved Josh. WHen we were little you talked about how you wanted to marry him when you grew up and in high school you were upset when he told you he was too old for you and that he couldn’t even consider it.”

“Yeah,” Emily said flatly. “I did. But then he was arrested and I figured he wasn’t who I thought he was.”

“It looked like it,” Alison said. “You weren’t the only one who fell for it. My whole family did too. I was the only one who ever thought he was innocent. And now I’m even more convinced of it. They wouldn’t go to all this trouble if he was guilty. Some powerful people are hiding something and we need to find out what it is.”

“RIght.” Emily’s voice was flat. She glanced down at her tablet, then back up at Alison. “It’s just, it feels like the universe is giving us signs we’re not meant to be the ones to do this.”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s the opposite.” Alison raised her eyebrows as Emily looked down at her tablet again. “Wait… did someone send you a threatening message? Is that why…”

Emily shook her head, but her face was trembling.



Orientation was over for the day and the kids were walking back to their buses, though Jade had told Ruby to text her when she was done if she wanted a ride.

“So you’re really only in ninth grade like me?” Ruby said to Sydney as they walked out of the building. “You seem so much older.”

Sydney blushed. “Mr. Woods and Mrs. Jefferson chose me to be a peer mentor because they thought I’d be a good role model. But I didn’t expect anyone to actually say I seem older.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “How old did you think I was?”

Ruby bit her lip. “I figured the peer mentors would be like, juniors and seniors.” She played with her phone. “Anyway, I’m glad you were my peer leader today. I feel a lot less anxious about school now.”

“Good,” Sydney said. “That’s what I’m here for.” She grinned. “I can’t wait til school starts for real. I just know you’re gonna make a lot of friends, but if you need, on the first day you can sit with me and my friends. My cousin Theo will be there and his girlfriend and of course my big sister Allie and my brother Johnny and…”

But Ruby wasn’t listening anymore. The words my big sister Allie were echoing in her ears along with her awareness that Sydney was related to the Hortons.

The image flashed through her mind of jumping in between Allie and the boy who had tried to kidnap her and Allie shooting her.

“Anyway,” Sydney said, unaware that RUby hadn’t been paying attention, “I don’t want to miss my bus so if you don’t need help getting to yours…”

“No, my sister’s coming to get me,” Ruby said. “Thanks.”

“Cool. Your bus number is on your student ID in case you’re gonna be taking it once school starts.” Sydney patted Ruby’s shoulder. “See you when school starts.”

Sydney left. Ruby sank down onto the wall around a raised flower bed, her smile fading. “Just my luck,” she said to herself. “The nicest girl in school is related to the girl who had to shoot me to save her own life.” She blinked back tears as she picked up her phone to text Jade.


Meanwhile, Sydney turned her phone back on now that she was headed home. It began buzzing right away with missed texts and calls. “What the heck?” she said to herself. She stared at the screen, her eyes widening. “No… it can’t be…” SHe blinked back tears as she called a number. “Lucas, it’s me,” she said, her voice shaking. “I just got out of orientation and I have like 5000 texts from Mom. What the heck happened to Grandpa John?”

[André DiMera]

I have a feeling Emily did get some kind of message and that’s why she’s so adamant that she and Alison should stop this.

Wonder what Ruby will do now that she knows Sydney and Allie are sisters.

Poor Sydney to have to find out that way.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[Kpatch]

What an awful way for Sydney to learn about her grandfather--by text.

[heroicmuse]

Week 515 - 4

Lucas had picked up Sydney from school on the way to Marlena’s. The three of them had come in and Marlena was giving Allie a hug now.

“You’ve gotten so tall,” she said. “Grandpa would be so happy to see it i-if he was here with us.” Her voice shook, but she let her breath out slowly. “Well… I’m glad you’re here, anyway.” She looked around as Sydney came up to her for a hug. “Where’s your mother?”

Allie pushed her hair behind her ear. “Y-you mean she’s not here yet?”

Marlena shook her head. “I assumed she was coming with you and your dad.”

“She left me a billion messages,” Sydney said, “and she made it sound like she was already here, or at least on the way.”

“Oh dear,” Marlena said. She let her breath out slowly. “I'm sure there’s nothing to worry about. I’m just on edge because of losing your grandfather so suddenly, that’s all.” She looked at Lucas over Sydney’s head, her eyes wide with fear.



Rubin came up to the witness stand. “From your testimony, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot,” she said. “Your brother pushing your buttons, forcing you to do things you didn’t want to do… terrible.” Her jaw tightened and her voice hardened. “How much of that was true, Ms. Simmons? Any of it?”

“T-that’s two questions,” Nat stammered.

Rubin turned toward the judge, deliberately looking at her instead of Nat as she said, “That’s not an answer to my question.”

“Ms. Rubin is right,” Judge Hildebrand said. “If you do not want to answer because it will incriminate you, you may assert your Fifth Amendment right. Otherwise, you need to answer the question and leave any potential objections to your lawyer.”

Nat scowled. “I’m not lying,” she said. “I’m not!”

“Really.” Rubin crossed her arms. “You said that Hannah Martin was your best friend. But isn’t it true that you gave her your can of beer to hold the night she was arrested for possession of an open container?”

Nat’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean for her to get arrested. Marcel called and I didn’t dare not pick up.”

“So that was another thing that was Marcel’s fault, was it?”

Nat swallowed hard. “I-I didn’t say that. I mean, he didn’t know that the cops were rolling up on us, so how could he have done this on purpose?”

“So, to recap. You illegally bought beer. You illegally opened it on the street. You then chose to push the beer into your ‘best friend’s — “ Rubin made air quotes around the words “best friend” — “hand so you could answer your phone, leading to her arrest. And then… by the way, what did you do when the cops detained Hannah?”

Nat shrugged. “I couldn’t exactly stop them.”

“You mean, you couldn’t have stopped them without getting arrested yourself. Isn’t that right, Ms. Simmons?”

“They gonna do what they gonna do. No use both of us going to jail.”

“So, in other words, the cops arrested your ‘best friend’ for the beer that you bought and opened and you said nothing, just let them think it was hers.”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Nat’s voice shook.

“It sounds to me like you made plenty of choices that night.” Rubin’s voice was hard. “Yes or no, you just didn’t want to go to jail yourself?”

“I didn’t think they’d do much to her! I figured her mama would bail her out and they’d get a good lawyer and make it go away. Besides, jail protected her from Marcel. He couldn’t get to her in there.”

“So now you let her get arrested because you thought you were protecting her from Marcel? But a minute ago you said you had no choice but to stay out of it once the cops got her. Which is it?”

Nat’s eyes darted all over the place. She landed on her lawyer, begging him silently to help her, but she knew he wouldn’t. “It’s both,” she said, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t have no choice, okay, but once it was done I realized at least this way Marcel can’t get his hands on her.”

“A likely story,” Rubin said. Saxon started to stand and she said, “Withdrawn. I could ask you more questions about this, Ms. Simmons, but I don’t want to waste the court’s time, so I’ll move on to some of the other things you did to your so-called best friend. Whose idea was it to send Darren Brown to Hannah’s apartment to shoot at her through the window so that she wouldn’t testify against Marcel?”

Nat’s eyes darted all over the place. “He wasn’t gonna hurt her. There weren’t even real bullets in the gun.”

“Hmm… so you hired Darren to shoot at Hannah to scare her, and he used real bullets instead of blanks, and later you hired Chanel Dupree to shoot your brother to scare him, but he got killed instead. What do you think would have happened if one of those bullets had hit your supposed best friend?”

“I didn’t hire nobody to do nothing to Hannah,” Nat said. “That was Marcel. It had to be. I’d never shoot up her house, ever. She was supposed to be off-limits cause of all she did for us.”

“All she did for you. You mean, all she was forced to do for you, don’t you?”

Nat swallowed hard. “She wasn’t a prisoner or nothing.”

“Yet you told her if she ever left, you’d make the sex she and Marcel had — which by the way is actually rape — public so that she’d be humiliated and friendless, didn’t you?”

Nat fidgeted. “That was Marcel’s idea.”

“Oh, I see. So everything is Marcel’s idea, you’re not responsible for any of it, is that what you’re saying?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Nat’s cheeks were getting red and she was fidgeting. “It was all him. He made me do these things to Hannah and to other people.”

“He didn’t make you put that beer in Hannah’s hand,” Rubin said, “and unless I missed something, you never once tried to help her get out of trouble. You just let her take the fall, didn’t you?”

“Marcel…”

“Marcel told you to let her take the blame, is that it?”

“Yes!”

“And you went along with him, didn’t you? Did you ever try to stand up to him, to tell him that this was your girl and you weren’t going to let her be treated this way?”

Nat stared down at her knees, ashamed. “At the beginning but…” she shook her head. “I couldn’t control him.”

“I see. So you chose to go along with him, no matter what he did to your supposed best friend. He told you to manipulate her into giving him drug money and rides, and you did that. He wanted to force himself on her sexually, you allowed that too. You let him hold her boyfriend hostage and torture him when all you had to do was go to the police and it would have been over. Why didn’t you do anything to protect your best friend?”

“I couldn’t!” Nat’s voice shook. “We Fire Lions have a code, and snitching’s a death sentence. Besides, you know how much he had on me? If I’d turned on him, he’d have turned on me.”

“So, then, your testimony is that you could have taken action to protect your best friend and her boyfriend many times, but you couldn’t do it without going to jail yourself, and you weren’t willing to make that sacrifice? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No…” Nat whispered. She fidgeted, her eyes darting everywhere. Why didn’t her useless lawyer say something?

“Let me ask you this,” Rubin said. “By the time of this trial, Marcel was long dead, was he not?”

“Yes… my brother is dead. Why you rubbing that in my face?”

“Because,” Rubin said, “that means you can’t blame him for what you did to try to get out of trouble. Isn’t it true, Ms. Simmons, that you arranged for someone to bump Hannah Martin’s car from behind and then texted her warning her that if she testified, the next accident would be fatal?”

Nat’s eyes darted around wildly. She had no answer, no way out. “I-I never…”

“Marcel didn’t tell you to do that from beyond the grave,” Rubin said, “so what made you decide to do that to your best friend?”

“She broke the code. Friends don’t snitch on friends.”

“No, they just let them go to jail for things they didn’t do, right?” Rubin didn’t bother to hide her disgust.

Saxon finally stood up. “Your Honor, she’s been badgering this witness this whole time, but this is beyond the pale.”

“You won’t have to worry about it anymore,” Rubin said. “I’m done with this witness.” She did her best to hide her smirk as she sat down.

[Kpatch]

Maybe Sami is confronting Kate. But she should be there with her mother at a time like this.

[André DiMera]

Wonder where Sami is!

Wow! Rubin’s questioning was great! I loved seeing Nat squirm and not be able to do anything about it! She’s pretty much sunk herself, hopefully.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[heroicmuse]

Week 515 - 5
Saxon stood as the bailiff escorted Nat off the witness stand and back to her seat at the defense table. “I really need Dr. Evans’ testimony,” he said. “She has examined my client and can testify as to whether she fits the profile for someone who did terrible things under duress. She also is familiar with the witnesses and the likelihood that they are twisting the truth for their own benefit.”

Rubin stood. “Your Honor, I think my opponent needs to find another expert witness. Dr. Evans’ husband died suddenly this afternoon. To ask her to testify now is beyond cruel.”

“I agree,” Judge Hildebrand said. “I will give you a 48 hour continuance to have a different psychiatrist examine your client.”

“I’d also like to make a motion to exclude any testimony related to witnesses the expert has not personally examined,” Rubin added. “It would be unfair, to say the least, for such an expert to brand them as liars or anything else without ever having spoken to them.”

“That’s why she, or he, is an expert,” Saxon argued. “They know human behavior and they can predict from the testimony the person’s mental state.”

“Don’t even try it,” Judge Hildebrand said. “If you want to impeach these witnesses, we will make arrangements for them to be interviewed by your expert via video chat. Otherwise, the expert will have to confine their testimony to their opinion of your client, who they will presumably have interviewed.”

“I understand, your Honor.” Saxon crossed his arms. “Since you’re granting a continuance, I make a motion that my client’s bail be restored.”

“I was getting to that even before your reminder,” Judge Hildebrand said. “If the defendant could please rise.”

“Be respectful,” Saxon whispered as Nat stood. “Don’t make her have second thoughts if she’s planning on granting you bail.”

Nat’s eyes flashed but she did what she was told, standing with her hands behind her back and her head bowed slightly.

“I have observed your behavior carefully today,” Judge Hildebrand said, “as well as considered the DA’s argument against restoring bail. I therefore have made a decision about whether or not to give you a second chance to act like an upstanding citizen while out on bail.”


Eric had come over to sit with Allie and Sydney. “I know this has to be a big shock for you,” he said. “It is for all of us.”

Allie shrugged. “I’d feel better if I knew where my mom was. She only pretended to still hate Grandpa John by the end.” She sighed deeply. “Remember how he wa so patient with me when I was afraid to eat cause I thought I’d choke? She was super grateful, not that she’d ever admit it.”

“We all were.” Eric patted her hand. “I’m sure your mom is fine. We all mourn in our own way, and knowing her as I do, she didn’t want to come see everyone until she had herself together enough that we wouldn’t notice anything was wrong with her.”

“That sounds like her, all right,” Allie agreed.

“Can’t you use twin radar or something?” Sydney said. “Like, know where she is without her saying anything?”

“I do have an idea where she went,” Eric said. “Let me check with my mom, but if it’s okay with her for me to step out for a few minutes, I’ll see if I can track Sami down.”

There was a knock on the door just then. Everyone turned, hopefully, but it wasn’t Sami.

It was Steve, his face trembling. “Kayla just told me the news and I couldn’t believe it,” he said, his voice shaking. “Is it really true? John’s gone?”

[André DiMera]

Can’t wait to see what the judge’s decision is!

Wonder where Sami’s gone. Glad Steve is there, though I’m sure this is hard for him.

Can we please have previews, heroicmuse?