EPISODE 65
Written by A. Washington-Beeby
Story Consultants: ML Cooks & C. Nathaniel Richardson
Jennifer steps into the town square, and sees Liam off in the corner. Jenn looks over and waves his way, as Liam walks over to her from across the square. Liam notices the glum look on Jenn's face and, as he meets Jenn near one of the tables in the square, he gently touches her chin and smiles as she looks up at him.
LIAM: Jenn? You alright?
Jenn sighs heavily before answering Liam's question. She turns away slightly as she answers, her voice heavy with concern.
JENNIFER: I don't really know.
LIAM: Well...what's wrong?
JENNIFER: (sigh) Aibigail...disappeared this morning.
Liam appears distressed by the news, Jenn immediately tries to placate him.
LIAM: What?
JENNIFER: No! No, she's okay...
Liam breathes a sigh of relief at the news, visibly relaxing after a moment's tension.
LIAM:Oh, thank God for that--
JENNIFER: ...but the problem is where she's gone.
Liam looks up, confused, Jenn tries to calmly explain the situation, hoping not to upset Liam again.
LIAM: What do you mean?
JENNIFER: (sigh) It turns out that Sami sent her on an assignment to Italy last minute, and so now, one day after she's in hospital for that fall, she's on a plane to Europe to work for the DiMeras.
Liam looks at Jenn, not sure quite how to respond or react to Jenn's news. He looks off, away at nothing in particular, deep in his own thoughts.
---
Sami stares out the window at the DiMera mansion, deep in thought as she considers the possibility that Abigail's project in Italy may not be purely a business decision on EJ's part, but a clever manipulation among many others. Considering Jennifer's words from earlier, Sami is mentally checked out.
***Sami flashes back to Episode 63***
JENNIFER No. (sigh) When I came here, I was upset and I was...blaming EJ for it because I just...I had this feeling that it's all this big...plan to get Abigail back on side so that Chad can move back in but...
***
Sami snaps back to the current moment and realizes she needs to speak to someone. She walks quickly over to her purse and pulls her cell phone out, she quickly makes a phone call.
SAMI: (into phone) Laura? You wouldn't happen to be free for a house call, would you?
---
Hope drives down the road at lightning pace, obviously speeding as she makes her way towards Horton Town Square in time for Brady's memorial. Her impatience is plain on her face and in her mannerisms as she moves frenetically between looking at the road and checking the time on her car stereo.
HOPE: Come on, come on, come on. Ugh, this damned guy in front of me would just MOVE!
Hope honks angrily on her horn as she shouts at the cars in front of her.
HOPE: COME ON! Ohhh my God, I'm so late.
Hope leans back in her seat, looking to the sky, trying to calm down, as she mutters to herself.
HOPE: Come on, Hope. You're not supposed to be the one getting road rage, you're a cop. You're supposed to obey the traffic laws, and smile and drive defensively!
Hope takes a second to breathe before finally getting fed up and turning into the next lane, when the car in front of her turns abruptly to make the same move. Hope hits her brakes, but not soon enough and bumps into the side door of the car in front. Hope curses as she undoes her seatbelt to get out of the car.
HOPE: Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Hope gets out of the car, infuriated. She continues to curse as she steps out on the roadway and turns toward the driver of the car she hit.
HOPE: As if this day couldn't get any...
Hope slams her car door shut and turns around to see the man in the car in front get out.
It's Aiden.
HOPE: ...worse.
---
Victor stands by his office desk at Titan, and looks at Sonny incredulously.
VICTOR: Rescind the offer? What for?
SONNY: Because I don't want him sucked into this world of greed and lies, I just...
Victor's face turns to one of anger and frustration upon realizing what's going on.
VICTOR: You've been sucked in by those knuckle-dragging treehuggers, haven't you?
SONNY: No, I--
VICTOR: Because I've got news for you, Sonny. The offer stays on the table, and you'd better back off if you ever want to see Will Horton stand at the altar with you.
---
---
Laura sits in a chair in the DiMera living room, a recording device in hand as she leans over to speak to Sami, who is casually laid down on the nearby sofa, shoes off. Sami is still deep in thought as Laura tries to coax out her inner most feelings to try to give Sami some sense of healing.
LAURA: Tell me what you feel at this exact moment.
Sami pauses a moment, staring straight out at nothing in particular. A very expressionless look on her face as she ponders, then answers Laura's question.
SAMI: Helpless. I feel like...like I've finally run out of ways to fight back...or maybe I just don't want to fight anymore. I can't tell.
LAURA: That's not, in my experience, your usual way of reacting.
SAMI: No. It's not.
LAURA: For as long as I've known you, you seem to lash out when you're backed into a corner, so tell me what's different this time.
Sami hesitates, breathing in deeply as she tries to honestly answer Laura, but is almost afraid to respond so openly.
SAMI: Because this time, it's my son who would bear the brunt of it. I can't defend myself without...destroying Johnny.
LAURA: What do you mean?
Sami becomes increasingly emotional, but tries to hold herself in as responds.
SAMI: I mean I can't look at my own child without thinking about how he was conceived. I can't feel his touch anymore and feel the love he clearly feels for me and the warmth and love I saw...see. Every time I look at my own son, I love him, I know I do, but...there's this...
Sami looks down at the engagement ring EJ got for her. She looks at it thoughtfully as she pulls it off her finger, and holds it up for Laura to see.
SAMI: It's like this ring. You see, I have looked at this ever since EJ put it on my finger.
Laura smiles as she looks at the beautiful diamond ring, clearly noteworthy for the size and shine of the diamond.
LAURA: It's absolutely beautiful, I have to admit.
Sami manages a weak smile as she takes the ring in the palm of her hand and closes her fist around it tightly.
SAMI: Yeah. I always thought so too. But then I was looking at it from a weird angle one day when I was out and....you know...the sun just...hit it at just the right angle. And...you know, I saw this...tiny, tiny imperfection just on the top right hand corner. It's...barely visible to any normal person, even if you looked it over with a magnifying glass, you'd never notice it.
Sami holds the ring up again, this time right up in front of her eyes, shaking her head, disappointment in her face and her voice.
SAMI: ...But you know...now...that's all I see is that tiny little flaw. And I can't unsee it. I don't know if I ever will, and I know that I shouldn't let it overtake everything else about it for me but...I'm worried I can't help but feel that way. I mean...this is just a ring. But, I mean, we're talking about my son. My beautiful....beautiful boy. And I can't see him without thinking of how...the man I'm supposed to be marrying...he forced me to have sex with him in exchange for his sister's father's life.
Sami stands up and begins to pace before the couch. Laura follows her every step carefully, her every expression, her every gesture.
SAMI: I mean...how screwed up is that? How...terrible of a situation to be in, not to mention how he even came to be.
Sami stops and sighs heavily. She sits down again and looks earnestly at Laura, struggling to ask her a question as the emotion wells up in her voice.
SAMI: Laura...how am I going to...when the time comes...I mean...he'll have questions. How am I going to be able to tell my son that he was the product of rape?
---
Hope sheepishly looks Aiden's way as he steps over to Hope's car. Aiden looks at Hope sternly.
AIDEN: I thought the police were meant to be better drivers than the rest of us.
HOPE: I'm....really sorry. I just...I thought you were gonna turn with the car in front and then you just...turned fast into me and...
AIDEN: Oh, so now you're gonna blame this on me?
Hope shrugs, trying to play nonchalant with Aiden, who is quickly getting angrier.
HOPE: Well...you turned out of your lane without signalling...you know I could have you ticketed for that.
AIDEN: Ohhh you're gonna pull THAT one out now. Just throw your weight around? You know, I was on my way to a meeting with a new client, a real important client and--
HOPE: ...And I was on my way to my friend's son's funeral. And now I'm gonna be late. And I'm not happy.
Aiden, upset, and worried, walks over to the driver's side door of his car as he speaks.
AIDEN: Oh, YOU'RE not happy. I don't have a fender now because of you...you...you know what? Just, let's just...I'm going to the repair shop now, and maybe I can get a rental in time to meet with my cli...client...
Aiden looks over to see Hope taking her cell phone out and taking pictures of the damage to his car. He walks back over
AIDEN: What in the hell are you doing?
Aiden doesn't look up at Hope, but at her car, then back at his page.
HOPE: Writing down your licence plate number, and...I'll need your insurance info.
AIDEN: Oh for...Hope, let's be reasonable, okay? You have to get to your friend's memorial service, and I need to get to your client, so can we agree to do this later? Our cars are still perfectly capable of getting to where we're going, so we can just--
HOPE: We can just...don this by the book. Okay? Or would you rather that ticket I was talking about?
AIDEN: Okay. Okay...look, you're right. Let's just...drive down to the police station, we'll get this checked out and...I'll just...have to call my client and say I'll be a bit late.
HOPE: There we go, now you see sense!
Aiden walks around to the driver's side door again and Hope to hers, before they both step into their respective vehicles, Aiden looks over to Hope and shakes his head before stepping in. He sits down in the driver's seat and turns the key in the ignition. The car grumbles and then fails.
AIDEN: Ohhhh great.
Hope, overhearing Aiden's car's failure, saunters over to his window. He winds it down and looks out to see Hope's smug face, raised eyebrow and smirk.
HOPE: Need a lift?
---
Sonny stands in Victor's office, arms folded as he angrily counters Victor's threat.
SONNY: Are you seriously gonna stand there and tell me that unless I cowtow to your demands, I'm gonna lose my fiance?
VICTOR: Will needs a job, this is a great opportunity for him. If you deny him this, he'll resent you until the day you die...which will be about twenty minutes after he finds out we had this conversation.
SONNY: He won't find out if you don't tell him.
Victor stands, unmoved. Sonny gestures in frustration.
SONNY: Which you will. Of course. Because everything needs to be your way.
VICTOR: Sonny, I've had a hard day. We lost a member of our family, and I've had to make some tough business decisions. You should be thrilled that I'm welcoming Will into the family fold, especially considering the bunch of winners he calls his kin.
SONNY: Well, I'm not. Not under these circumstances. You're pitting him against me to prop up your dirty business. As if you think you can buy my approval of this disgusting project of yours. Well it's not gonna work.
VICTOR: I'm doing no such thing.
Sonny tries to hold back from yelling at Victor. He fights it a moment but his frustration lets loose regardless.
SONNY: Yes, you are! Don't act like I'm stupid, Uncle Vic. Please, just...tell Will that you...decided to go with someone more experienced and no one has to know we ever had this conversation. Please. For Will's sake, for my sake. Ari's. Just...please just take the offer back.
Victor looks straight into Sonny's eyes, a stern, almost stone-like expression on his face.
VICTOR: I'm sorry, Sonny. I can't.
Sonny shakes his head before turning toward the door.
SONNY: No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever tried to talk any sense into you. Because it's obvious to me that all you care about is the bottom line. You're no better than any of these other snake CEOs trying to...pillage the land of every drop of oil they can get their hands on at any cost. Well, guess what? You just cost yourself an awful lot more than just money, Uncle Vic.
Victor looks steadfastly ahead, never once looking away from Sonny, though it's clear the hurt this is causing both of them. Sonny turns back around when Victor calls out to him.
VICTOR: Sonny!
Sonny looks at him, eyebrows raised, looking like he isn't really interested in what Victor will say, but he gives him the opportunity regardless.
VICTOR: You'll thank me soon enough.
Sonny guffaws as he begins to turn back around for the door.
SONNY: Right. See you around.
Sonny slams the door to Victor's office shut as Victor looks away, mad at himself for the turn things took.
---
Liam stares off into the distance. Jenn looks concerned by Liam's sudden distraction and calls out to him.
JENNIFER: Liam? ....Liam??
Liam snaps back to reality. He turns towards Jenn and puts a hand on her shoulder.
LIAM: I...have to make a quick call, I'll be right back, okay?
Jennifer watches with concern as Liam steps off towards the exit of the Town Square. JJ walks in from another entrance as Liam leaves. Liam pulls his phone from his jacket on his way out. Observing Liam walking out, and Jenn's concerned reaction, JJ decides to discretely follow Liam out, as Jenn gets distracted by Maggie handing her program bookets for the memorial service.
Outside the square, Liam gets on the phone, while JJ hides behind the archway, obscuring any way of Liam seeing him.
LIAM: (into phone) Yeah, so when exactly were you gonna tell me about Abigail Deveraux? ...mmmhmm?...Yeah? Well, tell Stefano I want an update every day until she's back then. Got it?
JJ's eyes widen as he makes a connection between Liam, Abigail and Stefano. Terrified for his sister, he sneaks off quickly from the park towards the square, unsure what he'll do next.
---
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