08-25-2017 (Friday) The Interruption

Dante comes home to find Lulu, dressed in a baseball uniform (with a still, obvious pregnant belly); she tells him that Charlotte is with Valentin and her mom has Rocco.  Dante is thrilled they have the house to themselves; they start making out on the couch.  They talk about the last time they made love – three weeks ago on top of the dryer – and Rocco interrupting them; the doorbell rings.  It’s Valentin, with Charlotte; he says he hopes they aren’t interrupting anything.  He tells them that he had something come up so he can’t keep Charlotte tonight; he says, if all goes as he hopes, all of their lives will improve for the better.  He gloats that he may be considering leaving town, if it doesn’t go well, and would take Charlotte with him, so they should hope for the best.  Lulu tells Dante this wasn’t the romantic evening she had planned.

Nina tries to pick the perfect dress for her dinner with Valentin tonight; Nelle gets a call from Morocco.  Nelle books tickets; the flight leaves in two hours.  Nina realizes she can’t meet Valentin for dinner; she shows and tells him she “can’t do it.”  He thinks she means she can’t come back to him; she explains she can’t give him her answer tonight after all, because she has to leave town.  She tells him he is really sexy when he is frustrated, and says goodbye.  He says she’ll see him sooner than she thinks, and gets on his phone.Dillon rubs Kiki’s shoulders and offers her a margarita, poolside; she tells him she has to study.  He takes off his swimming trunks and throws them at her.  She ignores him; he stands there drinking his drink – she tells him studying is now her job.  He gets a call from Nina; she wants him to fly to Morocco tonight; he asks Kiki to come with him.  She tells him she has to stay and study; he tells her she better ace that test.

Michael asks Ned if they can talk about ELQ; apparently he made a decision Michael is not happy with, while filling in for him, and they argue about it.  Michael lets Ned know, if he is setting the groundwork for a takeover, he will have a big fight on his hands.  Ned assures him he has no interest in taking over ELQ right now; Michael asks if he would be interested in coming to work for him at ELQ.  He asks what kind of role he had in mind; Michael suggests VP of New Businenss.  Ned contemplates the offer; Michael has to go pick up Nelle.  When he gets to Crimson, Nelle tells him that she has to go to Morocco with Nina; he suggests he go with her.  He says, if he stops in to check on ELQ’s North African holdings, he can call it a business trip.  He asks Ned to sit in for him for a few more days; Ned says he’d be happy to.

Scotty tells Julian that he thinks it’s good news that the judge has come back with a decision so fast; Ava asks Griffin what he is doing there.  He says he came by to offer her support; Julian is found guilty on all three counts.  They decide to start the sentencing hearing immediately.  Julian speaks, saying he accepts responsibility and regrets the pain he has caused his children and the woman he loves; he says the judge should keep him away from them.  The judge agrees many people have suffered because of his actions; she sentences him to no less than 15 and no more than 20 years.  Alexis asks the bailiff to wait when he goes to take Julian; Julian says he hopes his going away will help her move on and forget about him.  He kisses her forehead and is taken away; Alexis breaks down crying.  As Ava stands, talking to Griffin about her brother’s sentence, a news reporter storms into the courtroom; he begins asking questions to Ava about her injury.  Griffin pushes the camera man and tells them to leave; Ava steps forward and yells at the reporter, saying he assaulted her and she is going to sue him… they leave.  Griffin smiles, and says maybe he didn’t need to protect her; it seems the old Ava Jerome is back, he says.  

08-24-2017 (Thursday) Things Change

Nina is on the phone; problems in Morrocco.  Valentin brings Charlotte to show off her new ballet outfit; Charlotte tells Nina she misses her and hugs her.  Nina says she misses her too.  Charlotte tells Nina she wants to grow up just like her; Nina tells her to do whatever she wants to do in life, adding that she and her father will support her no matter what.  Charlotte questions them not being married anymore and asks if things can go back like they were before.  Nina changes the subject; Valentin tells Charlotte her class is about to start.  Charlotte invites her to come watch her dance; Nina accepts the invitation.  Afterward, Valentin asks Nina about Charlotte’s inquiry.  She tells him she has made a decision and says she’ll give him her answer over dinner.

As Finn looks through Hayden’s office, he finds a picture of the sonogram; Anna steps in the door looking for Hayden.  She asks Finn what he knows about the diamonds Hayden got from her father; she shows Finn the diamond she got from Emma.  He says he knew nothing about it; Lucy comes in and asks Finn if he wants out of the contract on the house he and Hayden were buying, spilling the beans to Anna about Hayden leaving town.  Anna apologizes about going on about the diamonds; Finn laughs that the diamonds are really what brought he and Hayden together.  Anna fills him in on her suspicions about the diamond she has; Finn tells her he will find Hayden and then she can ask her herself.  Anna says it doesn’t seem like Hayden wants to be found.  She asks him if he will not say anything to anybody about the diamond or her investigation; he says he doesn’t know anyone to tell.  Anna says she can think of one person; she suggests go he with her to talk to Hayden’s father, Raymond Berlin.

The judge gives a stern warning to Julian for his actions and tells Scotty to restrain his client; Scotty apologizes to her.  He tells Julian he needs to get himself under control; Alexis walks in the courtroom; she asks how things are going.  Julian tells her Rudge’s testimony was damning, making it seem like he and his sister were Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid.  Scotty recounts the witnesses they have for the defense, none of which are truly reliable, including her.  Alexis tells him any witness he can call, Julian has hurt in the past.  She says any good they can do will be out done by the prosecution; Julian tells Scotty to put him on the stand and let him tell his own story.  Alexis agrees.  Julian takes the stand; Alexis watches as he recounts the events that led up to his sister’s blackmailing him.  He ends by saying that his daughter and grandchildren are safe, as is Alexis now, and if going to prison is the price he has to pay for that, he is okay with that.  Scotty announces, “the defense rests.”  Closing arguments are made and the judge retires to her chambers to deliberate.  They are called back to the courtroom within half an hour.

Jason tries to explain to Carly that things were “volatile” – she can’t believe that after twenty-four years of friendship, he and Sonny would decide to lie to her.  She is pissed to think they would treat her, like they treat the cops; she is more angry that Jason would lie to her than Sonny, saying they always trusted each other before and asking when that changed.  He tells her they now know what they have to lose; he says he couldn’t ask her to be part of a cover up when this is a life she doesn’t want to live.  She says she understands, but it makes her sad, because he used to know she was always there for him; she says she’ll get used to the fact that has changed, and agrees not to say anything about Sam’s involvement.  Jason and Sam leave; Carly tells Sonny he should have told her the truth.  He says he just got her back and didn’t want to fight; he admits he’s not perfect and Carly makes a huge deal out that.  He admits that he probably should have told her.  They discuss Jason’s newfound perspective; Sonny tells Carly that Jason turned down his offer to work with him legitimately on the distillery project because he was afraid it would send the wrong message, making it look like a front, like they were still in the business together.

Sam tells Jason she doesn’t know why she didn’t trust him; he says that infection was very powerful.  She says their connection was always so strong, she felt they could overcome anything, and this time it failed her and she doesn’t know why.  He assures her she can trust him, and she says she knows that; she just doesn’t know if she can trust herself anymore.  

08-23-2017 (Wednesday) Imaginary Friends

Carly is confused about Sam’s confession; she says Garvey is the one who shot Sonny.  Jason tries to get Sam to leave, but Sam refuses.  She tells Carly, she deserves to know what really happened.  She cries as she describes to Carly, the horror of her hallucinations and how she could have done what she did, thinking what she thought; she explains how she did it, and why, still somewhat confused herself.  She describes how sympathetic Sonny was; with the gun in her hand, he told her he would never do anything to hurt her or her family.  She explains that the gun went off when Sonny tried to take it from her hand, insisting it was NOT an accident.  She cries harder as she describes how she kicked him into the hole after pulling that trigger, and left him there to die; Sonny calls her over to him and lovingly tells her she has nothing to be sorry about.  Carly glares.  As Sonny talks to Sam, Carly just shakes her head; he points out problems others of them have had; Jason says he should have noticed and feels he wasn’t paying enough attention.  Sam says she was hiding it; she questions why she couldn’t come to him when he is the person she trusts most in this world.  Sonny points out that he was out of his mind much the same way when his bipolar would get out of control; Jason points out that she had an infection, and it is gone now.  She worries it may have left some lingering effects.  Sonny tells her it’s over now; Carly says no it’s not… “not as long as the police are investigating.”  Carly tells Sam she is completely unaccountable for her actions and says she doesn’t blame her at all, but, she turns to Sonny and Jason and tells them that she can’t believe they could keep this from her.

Franco comes out and hugs Elizabeth; she tells him she misses being there with him.  She says all the art and creativity, makes her feel at home; he tells her she should start painting again and says he wants her to think of his art studio as her art studio.  She thanks him, although she doesn’t think she will have time anytime soon.  He tells her he fears his “talent” and the darkness may have been intricately connected; he asks what if one can’t exist without the other.  She tells him that “edge” is what people love about him – he says, “in the art world.”  Liz asks what other world there is; Franco says, “our world.”  He tells her she thrills him and calms in at the same time, calls her his first “sane girlfriend” and says he doesn’t deserve her.  He says he loves the world they have created and he is terrified he is going to mess it all up; she tells him he won’t.  She points out that one of his paintings stood out to her; she says it’s lighter… even hopeful.  He gets a text from Ava; she will allow him to show his work at her gallery.  He tells Liz, though, “that one” is not for sale; he describes an imaginary friend he had as a child… this is a painting of the two of them, in their respective opposite realities.  He laughs about how the nicest thing he’s ever painted is a manifestation of his childhood psychosis.  He talks about his different interactions with this ‘friend’ clarifying with Liz that he knows now that he was just imaginary; she says she loves the painting, and loves the story behind it.

Ned runs into Alexis at the Metro Court; he tells her she looks happy and says he needs her legal services.  He says he wants to update his Will; he wants to add Olivia and Leo – with Leo as his son.  He asks her if she would help him convince Julian to agree to the adoption; she says no.  He asks if that has anything to do with her still being hung up on Julian; she admits that she still loves Julian, and doesn’t know why, and knows she shouldn’t.  She deduces that she goes after men who are like her father, because her father didn’t love her; Ned tells her maybe it’s time to break that pattern.  She explains that there seems to be two sides to Julian, just like her; she knows he loves her, but that’s not enough.  She says she has to get off of this roller coaster.  Ned tells her she hasn’t been able to get out of her own way so far, but if anyone can break this cycle, it’s her; he kisses her on the cheek and leaves her sitting there.

Julian’s trial continues; the Prosecution adds someone to their witness list and Scotty objects.  The judge allows it; the people call Winston Rudge, insisting his testimony is vital to the case.  Scotty asks Julian how bad this is going to be.  Rudge gets on the stand.   He testifies that Julian says he was willing to do anything his sister needed; Scotty objects.  He’s allowed to continue; he describes Olivia and Julian’s conversations as very “conspiratorial” and describes one particular lengthy conversation between them.  He says Julian was always concerned about the legal ramifications and claims they had conversations about him claiming to be coerced, if they were ever caught.  Scotty points out that this entire testimony amounts to nothing but hearsay and points out that his client, Julian, tried to kill his sister years ago.  He also gets him to admit that sometimes he was “in the loop” and sometimes, he wasn’t; he then asks if he has any incentive for testifying today.  Rudge says he just had to make things right for Anna, Robyn, Sam and everyone else who suffered at the hands of Olivia and Julian.  Julian jumps up and tries to attack Rudge; the judge orders him restrained.  The prosecution rests.

08-22-2017 (Tuesday) To Tell the Truth

Liz calls Franco to tell him she’s off her shift; she wants to come to his loft to see what paintings where returned to him.  Ava closes the door in Franco’s face when he says he has a proposal for her; she says she has no interest in any of his hair-brained schemes.  He tells her, it’s actually her daughter’s hair-brained scheme.  She lets him in and tells him about Kiki’s idea, for her to sell his art; she says that sounds great, except she is never going to step foot in her gallery again.  She says it just reminds her of everything she lost; millions of dollars in art, not to mention her face.  He tells her his work is still in demand, especially since it’s still “up in the air” whether or not his talent left with his tumor.  He offers to up her commission, appealing to some extravagance her heart may desire; she looks over at Valentin’s business card.  Liz is surprised to see the painting Franco cut up; when he comes in he tells her he cut it up because “it’s ugly” – not in its looks but in the intention and attitude behind it.  He tells her he wants to grow and evolve for her, the boys and their future; she tells him to do it then.  He says he’s afraid that he might lose her if he stops pretending the man he used to be doesn’t exist; she says the past is the past and the future is theirs, and kisses him.  Franco tells her it means a lot to him that she believes in him, adding he doesn’t ever want to go back to who he was; Liz asks what happened to him in New York.  He gets a phone call; she starts looking through his other paintings.

An officer tells Dante that Jason Morgan was at the station, waiting for him, when the gun that was in evidence went missing.  Sam tells Jason she knows Carly is going to figure things out; he tells her not to worry about it today.  Jason goes to check on Sam’s paperwork; Andre comes in to see if she wants to talk about what she did while she was sick.  She tells him there is nothing to talk about; she was sick, and now she’s not.  He tells her it’s not that simple; he says hallucinations are like dreams – some are as random as pink elephants, and others can be manifestations of the subconscious.  Sam is confused.  Jordan sees Jason at the hospital and tells him that she wants to talk to him about an incident at the station yesterday.  Sam tells Andre that she used to think Jason could survive anything, but admits that she now worries about him dying and thinks she has to protect him.  He tells her that could have contributed to the hallucinations and suggests that she still talk to someone; she tells him he is right.  Sam comes around the corner to hear Jordan questioning Jason; she tells him that she believes he is trying to impede the investigation and says she will get to the bottom of this.  Sam backs up and goes back down the hall before Jason sees her.

Jos argues with her mother about being at the construction site with Oscar; Carly tells her, outside of school, she is never going to see Oscar again.  Jos is stunned; she says she thought her mother was okay with her seeing Oscar.  Carly says that was before she found out that she snuck out with him.  Jos excuses herself to the restroom; Alexis sees Carly and sits down for a minute.  They talk about kids, particularly daughters, and how difficult they can be, acknowledging what a hard time they gave their parents and then agreeing on what a blessing they are.  Alexis leaves as Jos returns to the table.  Carly tells Jos she has changed her mind; she can see Oscar, but there will be all kinds of rules to abide by.  Joslyn hugs her mother and tells her she’s the best.  Alexis goes to see Sonny, who is now walking with a cane again; she tells him she feels like there is always going to be some boogy man lurking around waiting to jump out and wreak havoc in all of their lives.  She tells Sonny that she isn’t sure their daughter is going to be okay; Kristina partially overhears and assumes they are talking about her, and accuses her mom of running to tell her dad about Parker first chance she got.

Alexis explains that they were talking about Sam, but suggests she tell her dad about Parker.  Kristina tells him they saw her in the park and Alexis admits she and Parker “had words.”  Kristina tells them she had her own conversation with Parker afterward and reminds them both that it is her choice whether to be with Parker or not.  Her mom leaves; Kristina tells her dad she can’t hate the person who helped her see the person she is.  Sonny tells her parents just don’t want their kids to get hurt; Kristina reminds him that we learn from falling and getting back up.  They hug.  Sam shows up at Sonny’s; she tells him that Carly deserves to know the truth.  Carly walks in and says she couldn’t agree more; just before Sam says anything, Jason walk in the door asking why she left the hospital without him.  She apologizes and tells him she has to tell Carly the truth; she tells Carly she is the one who shot Sonny.

Kristina sees Valerie at Perks; Valerie tells her she is waiting for a blind date.  Curtis tells his Auntie he feels like she is up to something; she says she just wants him to meet a new friend.  He reminds her that she wasn’t supposed to try to set him up; he is surprised to see Valerie.  They explain to Stella how Curtis “completely and utterly” broke Valerie’s trust by looking at a file when investigating a case (Morgan’s death).  She apologizes and they both tell her it’s okay; they make their apologizes to each other once more and Curtis takes Stella home.  Valerie sits down; Kristina comes back to find her sitting there and has a nice talk with her about mothers.  Valerie reminds her, having lost her mom, that time is precious and shouldn’t be wasted.  Kristina says she has to get back to work, mentioning that she is not only the owner’s daughter, but she is also the boss’s ex; Valerie says they need to talk because she has some dirt to dish.  Alexis shows up; Valerie smiles when she hears her tell Kristina that she is sorry for interfering in her relationship; Alexis and Kristina hug.  Curtis sees Jordan at the hospital; she tells him that she always loved him in that jacket.  He admits his aunt tried to set him up on a blind date, but that it didn’t work out.  He tells Jordan it’s because she didn’t set him up with her.  Jordan says she has to go and tells Curtis he should find someone who makes him happy; as the elevator doors close, he says, “so should you.”

Anna takes the diamond to an appraiser, who tells her it is stolen property.  She tells him she thought it was part of the Berlin diamonds; he says it’s not one of them.  He tells her it was part of a high-profile jewelry heist; part of a set stolen in a smash and grab in Central Europe.  Anna asks if they know by whom it was carried out; he says no, but tells her the authorities will figure it out.  He shakes her hand, leaving her with the diamond.  Andre sees her; he says she looks a little distracted.  She tells him she is just thinking about her next case, smiling with intent.

08-18-2017 (Friday) Can Franco Save Ava?

Nina a Valentin meet; she makes a list of things he will need to do to win her back.  She tells him her list goes way beyond physical endurance.  He tells her he will do anything he needs to, to bring her back to him.  She mocks promises he has made before and how they all just evaporated; he swears his priorities have changed.  They look at the next item on her list, making peace with Spencer; he says he has tried, but he will keep trying.  He reminds Nina that no body was ever discovered and there is no proof that Nikolas is dead; she tells him to put that one in brackets.  Next item; Charlotte’s custody.  He tells her he is willing to entertain the idea of shared custody; he has decided that spending time with Lulu is good for Charlotte.  Nina just doesn’t buy his sincerity.  She asks if he can promise he will never to anything to disrupt their lives again, if she were to come back to him; he says no.  He says, what he can promise her is that he will never do bad things to her or Charlotte, asking if that’s enough.  She says she thinks he can do better than that; he tells her he won’t beg, and he leaves her sitting there.

Anna asks Emma why she isn’t eating her pancakes; Emma says she is stressing over giving this gift back to Spencer, so she can go out with this other boy, Leif.  Anna says she will help her pack it up and mail it back to Spencer, but she questions the diamond in the center of this little heart-shaped rock.  She thinks it might be real.  Emma asks her grandmother if she thinks Spencer was involved in “espionage” – Anna smiles.  She says she thinks he just may have gotten ahold of it without realizing it was valuable; she gives the stone back to Emma and says she will hold on to the gem.  She asks her if she thinks it could be one of Hayden’s diamonds.  She tells Anna that Nikolas did spill them once, and maybe he missed picking one up – Spencer could have found it.

Franco and Liz come back to his loft; he reminisces about good, and bad, things that happened there.  Liz says they should work on making some new memories; he tells her she should go for now.  She asks if he is trying to get rid of her; he says he just works better alone and wants to go through all of this stuff so he can get home to her.  She says okay and leaves; he grabs two cans of spray paint, a canvas, and starts spraying… he then cuts the canvas corner to corner, and accidentally cuts himself, dripping blood on the canvas.  Liz makes it to the hospital, apologizing to Griffin for being late; Anna comes in for her appointment.  She asks Liz if she can talk to her about something; she shows Liz the diamond.  Liz looks confused.  Ava dreams of kissing Griffin; she says “I need you” and takes his shirt off.  She wakes suddently, on the couch, breathing heavily; Griffin asks Kiki if she has seen Anna yet.  She tells him her mom is late for a session with Dr. Hoffman; he mentions seeing Ava last night.  Kiki goes to see her mother; she tells her she was worried.  Ava says she was just having trouble falling asleep, claiming she felt a little feverish.  Kiki feels her forehead and says she does feel warm, and insists on taking her in to be checked at the hospital.  Kiki starts to call Griffin; Ava stops her.  She tells her she isn’t his patient; Kiki says Griffin doesn’t mind and Finn isn’t available, persisting until her mother agrees to go.  However, she says, Griffin has enough on his plate without worrying about her.  They get to the hospital; Ava goes to see another doctor.  Kiki gets a text though and asks Griffin if he would look out for her mom while she’s gone.  Turns out she has a “touch of the flu” and needs to go home and lie down; Griffin says he will take her, but Ava gets defensive and tells him to leave her alone.  Liz asks what that’s all about; he says he wishes he knew.

Franco unpacks a crate of former art, I guess, and starts to paint over them all.  He mocks himself, a crazed artist who became famous – in reality, he says, he is nothing but a psycho.  As he goes to stab his next painting, Kiki yells stop.  He tells her the only reason he wanted this stuff back was to obliterate it; he doesn’t want Liz to see these paintings, ever.  She asks if that’s what the text was about – the apartment is hers; she tells him she’s happy for him, but says his art is from another time.  Picaso had his “blue period,” she says; so he had his “dark blue period.”  They may represent a part of his life he is not proud of, but it is art and it has it’s place in the world – she tells him he should give it to her mom.  She says it’s a way to turn something bad into something good; he could put the money to use for something good, saying it would redeem the paintings.  She says he owes it to the world to put his work out there and let people react to it however they will.  She reminds him that he once told her an artist doesn’t own his work; he gives it to the world.  She welcomes him back, says she missed him and leaves.  She goes back to get her mom and takes her home; Ava looks at herself in the mirror again, and wonders what anyone could ever feel for her, but pity.  Griffin tells Liz, he genuinely likes “the woman” – Liz says, if anyone can save Ava, it is him.  Franco goes to see Ava; he tells her he has a proposition for her.

08-17-2017 (Thursday) Too Many Secrets

Spenelli and Maxie watch Georgie play at the playground; they discuss why she can’t talk Nathan into coming to Portland.  Spenelli suggests maybe they could make him jealous again; Maxie declines.  He offers to talk to him, “man to man” – she tells him she has a new investigation, the publicity crime of the century.  She tells Spenelli about “Ask Man Landers” and Spenelli admits that he loves that guy… he says he’s the one who told him to grow the beard (which I think looks pretty good).  She says if she can expose this bunko artist, her bosses boss will see that she deserves to be the boss; then, she says, Nathan will want to come there to be with her.  After Spenelli points out how many readers and listeners Man Landers actually has, Maxie decides maybe it would be better to get him to work with her instead of exposing him to the world.

Mac and Felicia discuss whether or not they are going to tell Anna about their “little adventure.”  Felicia reminds him that Maxie is not the “sole of discretion” and says it’s only a matter of time before all of Port Charles knows.  Anna comes in with Emma; they hug her.  Everyone sits down and orders a non-alcoholic drink and they toast to “Noah Robert,” the newest member of the family.  Felicia leaves the table and Emma gets phone call; walking away, Emma says, “excuse me, I have to take this.”  Anna tells Mac it’s a boy; he doesn’t seem happy about that.  Amy walks up behind Nathan at the diner; he hugs her.  She sits down and asks him if he misses the action of being Man Landers, insisting she is sure he does, and if the opportunity to do it again came up, he would probably want to.  Nathan inquires if she is asking him to do it again… she smiles.  He makes it clear he doesn’t want to, bringing up the indecent act he encouraged his in-laws to get into; Amy asks him to spill.  He simply says they got into trouble spicing up their love life in public; Amy says that was their choice.  He tells her that Maxie is determined to unmask Man Landers; Amy says, “Maxie can never know.”  Felicia walks up and asks, “know what?” Amy makes up a story about colluding with Nathan about what to get Maxie for her birthday; Felicia notes that isn’t until October.

Anna asks Mac if he has something for her; he hands her a flash drive, saying it’s a full accounting of everything Valentin has been doing in her absence.  She puts it in her phone and starts looking through it; notices the horse retirement stables.  Mac tells her it was a gift for Nina.  She sees an address that is Julian’s and wonders what business he has with him; Mac notes that it is Ava’s address too.  Amy excuses herself; Felicia sits down and asks Nathan what that was really about.  He assures her it was nothing and excuses himself; Amy meets him outside and asks if he covered, saying no one can ever know that he is Man Landers or she loses her book deal.  He tells her trust him, saying he has gotten them this far; she hugs him.  Felicia watches through the window.

Curtis tells Finn he could probably find Hayden and bring her back to Port Charles, but says he won’t; Finn tries to use vanity to persuade him to do it, but he says “out of respect for Hayden” he can’t take this job.  He tells Finn, the truth is, he has already been looking for Hayden; he says he came up empty.  He says she doesn’t want to be found, and that’s her right; he says, he doesn’t have to like it, but he has to respect it.  He tells Finn he has to respect her choice because she is doing what is best for her; he says he loves her too much to let her walk out of his life.  He says if Curtis was in his place, he wouldn’t just let her go… he tells him he doesn’t need his help; he will find her on his own.

Franco tells Liz she can’t be sure that Olbrecht had anything to do with Hayden’s disappearance; he asks her to “allow” him… he goes over and seriously asks Leisel what she is doing here, confronting her about trying to ruin Hayden and Finn’s lives.  She asks if he can blame her, and gets excited when she thinks she might see Hayden getting dragged off in handcuffs.  He tells her that’s not going to happen because Hayden is “gone.”  He asks Obrecht what happens if Finn finds out what she’s done; she says she hopes he does.  

Liz suddenly tells Franco her shift just ended and pulls him away; Olbrecht tells Liz to say hi to her sister, “if” she finds her.  Liz turns around and confronts Olbrecht, mentioning the baby, which brings a slight glimmer of compassion to Olbrecht, briefly; but then she brings up the poor young woman confined to a wheelchair due to Hayden’s drunk driving.  She says she righted a wrong and hurt Hayden; a “two-fer” she says… and then the fact that she avenged herself, she says, makes it a “trifecta.”  Liz calls her a bitch; Franco pulls Liz away.  Finn walks up behind Olbrecht; he asks what that was all about.  Olbrecht mocks Hayden’s disappearance and asks if they were having difficulties; making fun of having secrets and Hayden running from her problems.  She says she thought about running too, but them she remembered she had friends and family, and decided to stick it out and “stick it to those who hurt” her.  She turns to get on the elevator; Finn puts his hand on the wall in front of her, saying, “you did this.”  

At home, Liz tells Franco that she wants him to move in with her; she is ready, she says, to tell the boys, saying, “they’ll be over the moon.”  A lovely song plays, as they begin to make love; pretty romantic scene to end on.

08-16-2017 (Wednesday) Who Believes in Miracles?

Griffin takes off his shirt as Ava stands in the doorway, watching.  She touches him cautiously; Griffin tells her she’s a miracle worker, after she gently puts the ointment on his bee sting.  She asks him what it’s like to be perfect, not to be tempted… he looks at her and says, who says I haven’t been tempted?  He then tells her about Claudette; how thinking Charlotte was his daughter made him think something good had come from his fall from grace.  Ava thanks him for letting her see this side of him.  She says it’s nice to know he is human at all; he laughs.  He tells her it is not a sin to want to love and be loved, wanting the touch of another human being.  She laughs and says she’s getting tired, politely excusing him; he accepts as long as she gives him the chance for another outing, minus the bees.  He thanks her for going out with him; she says it was nice and they awkwardly look at each other.  He leaves and she takes a deep breath as she closes the door; she pours herself a drink.  After a while, she gets up to pour herself another; she pulls back the covering from the mirror and is shocked to see her face without a flaw.  As she stares at it, Griffin walks up behind her; she asks how this could be.  He says miracles really do happen; she turns around and they kiss.  She drops her glass, and wakes up; she walks to the mirror and looks at herself, still wearing her mask.  Valentin calls to see if she changed her mind about his offer, saying they can work miracles; she tells him she doesn’t believe in miracles.  She takes out his card and starts to tear it, but stops.

Kristina talks to Parker; they each ask why they came back; they laugh.  Kristina says her mom doesn’t control her, regardless of what she may think; Parker says she didn’t think she’d be there – honestly, she tells Kristina, she thought she would off somewhere, far away from her parents - off seeing the world.  Kristina tells her she decided to go to Port Charles’ Business School; Parker says she’s proud of her.  Kristina asks what happened with her wife; Parker tells her, she didn’t want to leave her patients.  Their marriage is over, she says.  Kristina asks what happened; the conversation turns to their encounter.  Parker feels she took advantage of her, but Kristina says she didn’t.  Parker admits through all of this, she discovered something about herself.  She says, part of her felt brave for following her heart; like one of those flawed heroines in her syllabus.  She promises not to get in Kristina’s way, saying she hurt her once and doesn’t want to see her unhappy again; she says she is going to go, but Kristina asks her not to.  She brings up Morgan, saying losing him taught her not to waste time; she tells Parker she was glad to see her today and Parker admits she was glad to see Kristina too.  Still, she leaves.

Finn desperately looks for Hayden… Curtis tells him to let her go, for now.  Finn lets it be known that he is not going to let her get halfway around the word.  Curtis insists she is gone until she decides to come back, pointing out that Port Charles has an International Airport, gateway into Canada, and an Interstate onramp leading to anywhere in the United States.  Finn gets angry at Curtis and says maybe it would have been better if Monica had filed charges; he says he just wants her found and maybe the police could do that.  Curtis accuses him of being ready to use again; Finn says he isn’t going to do that.  He tells him about their last encounter, as he holds Hayden’s wedding ring.  Curtis says, when you find out what people are capable of, it shakes your foundation; Finn can’t believe she didn’t trust him, thinking stealing money from the hospital was a better solution.  Finn says he NEEDS to find her, to make sure she’s okay; he wants to tell her that he is as much to blame for this as she is.  He tells Curtis, when he was detoxing he had told Hayden she couldn’t be trusted; he questions why she would have any faith in him.  He says she stayed by his side during all that, and he couldn’t return the loyalty, so this is all his fault.  Jared walks in and Finn grabs him by the shirt; he asks where she is.  Jared says he wishes he knew, and calls her a lying a bitch.  Finn starts to grab him again; Curtis stops him.  He says, “your hands are for healing… mine are not” and he punches Jared, hard.  They sit him up; he continues to demean Rachel/Hayden, saying she ran off on both of them.  They shove him out the door; Finn tells Curtis he can’t just let her go and not even look for her.  Curtis reminds Finn that the girl knows how to disappear; Finn reminds him that she was still found.  He hints, that someone who knows the way her mind works, could probably find her, Curtis gets the hint.

Liz calls Naomi, looking for Hayden, trying not to concern her; she bumps into Franco in front of Kelley’s diner.  They kiss; she tells him she has to get back to work.  He says he is going to call the hospital and tell them she’s sick, so he can take her home and put her to bed;-)… she insists she has to get back to work, but tells him to come by the house afterward and she will make it up to him.  Olbrecht comes in and mocks them, saying it “warms the heart”… Liz asks how she would know, seeing as she doesn’t have one.  They joke a little, kiss again and Liz excuses herself; Franco tells Olbrecht he is glad to see her.  But the conversation turns not so friendly when Olbrecht starts bad-mouthing Hayden, thinking she is being hauled off to jail.  Olbrecht gloats when he tells her that she ran off before her wedding to Finn; she laughs about how heartbroken Finn must be.  Franco asks her, sincerely, if she knows anything that would help Liz find her sister, to tell him.  She says, after what that “bean counting hob goblin” and her fiancé did to her, they more than deserve whatever is coming.  She leaves.  Franco goes to see Elizabeth and asks her if she has tried looking in jail for Hayden; he asks Liz why Leisel would be so convinced that Hayden was arrested… Liz realizes, she was in on it.

08-15-2017 (Tuesday) The Third Gun

Alexis meets Kristina for a picnic in the park; she tells her she doesn’t know if her testimony hurt Julian or helped him.  Kristina tells her she is there to try to get her mind off things and says she should just enjoy it; Alexis says she right and asks how registration went.  Kristina says it was fine.  Alexis begins talking about leaving your past in the past, then stops suddenly, looking up; Parker is standing there.  Alexis is a little upset to find out that Molly has this woman as a professor in one of her classes; Alexis says Molly will be dropping the class.  Alexis chews Kristina out after Parker walks away, saying honesty and open communication goes both ways, and goes to get some lemonade.  Alexis catches up with Parker and continues to confront her, asking why she would take a job teaching at PCU; Parker says they offered her tenure.  Kristina follows her mother and tells her this is enough.  Kristina apologizes to Parker for her helicopter mother; Parker says it’s fine, she actually admires her for being so protective.  Kristina yells at her mother, saying she isn’t a victim and can handle herself; Alexis apologizes, saying she’s right, and tells her to enjoy the concert and leaves.

Griffin comes by to see Ava; he tells her he is going for a walk and asks if she would like to join him.  He tells her they need a blanket; she asks why… he says for the concert in the park.  She says she isn’t going and accuses him of just feeling obligated to make her feel better; he says maybe this is just him asking as a friend.  She scoffs at that, but agrees to go.  He jokes with her a little and then says he can’t tell if she’s smiling because of that mask; she asks why he is acting so interested in her, being a burn case.  He tells her she isn’t a case to him; he really cares about her.  Griffin gets stung by a bee and has an immediate reaction; Ava tells him he must be mildly allergic to bees.  She says Kiki has the same problem and tells him she has some stuff at home for that; they go back to her apartment.  Ava stares at Griffin when he takes off his shirt; she gently rubs the ointment on and it helps at first touch.  He tells her she is a miracle worker and turns to look at her.

Michael and Nelle are at the park, waiting for the concert to start; Nelle gets a call.  The call is from the police; they want her to come in to answer some questions about Sonny’s shooting.  Oscar meets Joslyn on the footbridge again; he asks her if she wants to go with him to the concert in the park tonight.  She asks if he means like a date; he says exactly like a date.  They run into Michael and Nelle; Michael tells Jos it is time to come clean about where they found the bullet casing.  He tells Jos Nelle has been called to the station; Oscar volunteers to go with Nelle to the station to tell them he found it.  Michael tells Jos that was cool of Oscar to step up like that; Joslyn says he’s a pretty cool guy.  Michael tells Jos that their mom is going to find out the truth at some point anyway and reminds her it would be best if that truth came from her.

Sam is on the phone with Danny; she tells him she can’t wait to get home.  Carly comes storming into her room and calls her a psycho bitch; she says, “I know what you did to Sonny.”  She throws Sam’s tray on the floor and grabs Sam by the throat, as she asks Sam if she really thought she wouldn’t find out what she did to her husband.  Sam wakes with a start to find Carly sitting there; Carly tells her it’s okay… she just had a nightmare.  Carly is holding a pillow and Sam cringes; Carly puts the pillow behind her head and asks if she wants to talk about her dream.  She tells Sam she can tell her anything; Jason comes in and interrupts.  He says Sam needs to rest and Carly excuses herself.  Dante tells Sonny they just found a posting on the ‘dark web’ that matches the ballistics and got an address for the purchaser; he tells Sonny if there is anything he knows about this, now is the time to tell him before the truth comes out.  Sonny swears he knows nothing; Dante tells him he is worried he knows who it is and will retaliate, but Sonny assures him that isn’t true.  Carly picks up Sonny’s medicine and goes to Sonny’s house; she tells him about her visit to Sam and says she feels like everyone else knows something and she is out of the loop.  Sonny says he has something to tell her.

Michael and Joslyn walk in; Joslyn tells Carly about Nelle covering for her.  At the station, Oscar finishes giving his statement; Nelle tells him he did good and he says he hopes so.  A suspect is brought into the station; Dante tells him they traced the IP address to his computer, and have records of money going into his account in exchange for guns and ammunition; the guy has nothing to say.  Dante shows him a picture of the gun and asks who he sold it to.  He says he sold that gun to a woman.; Dante asks for a description, but the man’s lawyer walks in before he can answer.  An officer tells Dante that they have a situation; the third gun has gone missing from the evidence locker.  A young officer hands the gun to Jason, standing on the footbridge; he tells Jason he hopes that makes him even with Mr. Corinthos and Jason assures him it does.  Jason pulls the gun out of the bag, wipes it off again and throws it in the river below.

08-14-2017 (Monday) Where Has Hayden Gone?

Scotty shows up at Ava’s; he asks Julian how she is.  Julian says she’s at a physical therapy session.  Scotty tells Julian that the trial has been recessed for the day; maybe tomorrow too he says.  Julian says that’s good; Scotty says maybe not.  He tells Julian that the prosecuting attorney made up some lie about another trial going on, and there is no other trials going on.  Scotty says he is worried about what Jason might say if called as a witness; Julian says he was just trying to protect his kids.  Scotty tells him to try telling that to Jason.  Sam tells Jason about the conversation she believes she had with her father, which he denies; Alexis comes into Sam’s room and Jason goes to see Julian.  Sam tells her mom she still feels bad about things she did and said; she says she has to make it right.  Alexis asks Sam what it is she needs to make right; she says she was mean to Sonny.  She was so sure he was going after Jason; Alexis assures her that Sonny forgives her.  Jason asks Julian about the conversation and he admits that he lied to Sam about remembering it.  He tells Jason Sam was acting odd that day, and he admits what he told her; Jason tells Julian Sam was confused and hallucinating, tells Juliann to stay away from her and leaves.

Michael talks to his father; he asks if he plans on retaliating against whoever shot him.  Sonny tells Michael he has no intention of retaliating against the person who shot him.  Michael gets a phone call.  Dante and Nathan get confirmation that the bullet from Sonny’s leg doesn’t match the two guns that were found at the scene; an officer comes in with another gun that was found in a dumpster on the site.  Dante tells them to run it and get him the results as soon as possible.  They go to see Sonny and tell him about the last gun they found… they say that the gun was wiped clean; there are no prints and the serial number has been filed off.  Dante wants to know who else was there; Dante gets a call.  He tells Sonny there is some new information about the new gun; Jason goes to the police station to talk to Jordan – to try to smooth things over before the truth comes out.  Jordan is gone; so are Dante and Nathan.  Jason decides to wait; he overhears them calling Dante about the new information.

Finn sits in the park; Curtis finds him and says he doesn’t look like a happy man.  He tells Curtis what Hayden did.  He also tells Curtis that he told Hayden he loved her and they could work this out; he says that’s when she walked out on him.  He says he probably should have gone after her last night, but he figured he needed to give her some time alone; Curtis says, yeah, adding that a woman like Hayden doesn’t need to be left alone.  Finn goes to find Hayden; Curtis follows.  Monica is angry when Olivia tells her that she fired Cook; she says there is nothing prepared for the wedding reception.  Olivia tries to tell her that she already started preparing something, but Monica won’t listen; she says she has too many problems already and doesn’t need to add Olivia to her list.  Olivia is upset to think that she has become a problem; Ned assures her it will be okay.

Obrecht is meeting with Jared; he agrees to go along with her plan.   Jared tries to access the account Hayden set up and sees that it has been closed; he calls “Rachel” a bitch, upset that she double-crossed him.  Finn and Curtis show up at the mansion; Finn asks to talk to Hayden.  Monica tells him that she isn’t there; Liz says she should be getting her hair done.  Finn asks how she was this morning; Liz admits that she hasn’t seen her yet.  Liz runs upstairs and comes back down saying all of Hayden’s things are gone… everything except for her wedding ring.

08-11-2017 (Friday) The Last Lie

As much as Alexis tries to avoid pointing the finger at Julian, she has to admit that the night on the bridge could have possibly been avoided if the defendant had told her the truth.  She says, “that is an accurate description.”  Scotty gets up and asks Alexis to explain the details of that night, and why she is here to tell about it today; she explains Julian’s intentional betrayal of Olivia’s orders to shoot her, shooting the handcuffs off instead so she could get away.  They discuss the fact that he was presumed dead for some time; Scotty asks if she would say Julian put his life on the line to save her, and she says yes, calling it “true heroism.”  Scotty asks her to read the letter Julian wrote before their confrontation with “Liv” – it takes some time.  She admits she understands now that Julian was just doing everything he could to protect his family.  Scotty asks if that means she has forgiven him; she says, “no I haven’t.”  The trial recesses; Julian asks Alexis if she could ever see herself forgiving him.  She says she can only see herself living one day at a time and leaves.

Carly gives Sonny a hard time about getting shot again; she smiles and says, she knows he wouldn’t keep any more secrets from her.  He reflects on Sam and his conversation with her; Jason comes in to see Sam.  Sam tells Jason she shot Sonny; he tells her she was sick, but still she feels regret.  He tells her nobody else needs to know want there’s nothing to worry about; she says, “there is for me.”  She says she can’t have this on her conscience for the rest of her life.  Jason promises her everything is going to work out, saying their version of what happened is already in motion; her coming forward would hurt more people than just her.  Carly gives Sonny a hard time about doing his physical therapy; she says she is tired of being in that hospital.  She tells him the most important thing from her on out is to be honest with each other, obviously sensing that he seems to be hiding something.  He tells her he just doesn’t remember anything more; she says okay.  Jason comes in; she goes to see about Sonny’s discharge.  Sonny asks how Sam is; Jason tells him she’s feeling guilty.  Sonny insists they stick to their story; Sam sees Carly out in the hall and says she needs to talk to her.

Nathan tells Dante about his most recent call to the park, where he had to bust his in-laws for indecent exposure.  Dante makes light of this Ask Man Landers being responsible for giving bad advice; they then talk about the shell casing found at the site where Sonny was discovered.  They notice something strange about the ballistics report on the shell pulled from his bulletproof vest; Dante says they have an interview to conduct.  They go to see Sonny; he tells them he wants  Jason to stay.  They ask for more details about that night; he tells them what he claims to remember, Garvey shooting him in the bulletproof vest.  Dante questions if anyone else was there; he tells Sonny the bullet from his vest came from a different gun than the one in his leg.  Sonny says he can’t tell them anything; Dante scratches his head, and thanks him for his time.  They leave.  Sonny tells Jason that’s not the end of it; not by a long shot, he says.

Sam tells Carly that she was seeing things that weren’t there, and admits being afraid of losing Jason; Carly tells her that’s not crazy, they’ve lost him before.  Sam goes on, telling Carly she had said things and done things that she wishes she could take back; she tells her about “going off” on him, accusing him of trying to take Jason away from her and the kids.  She tells her, she really believed it was true and had to do something about it; before she can say anything further, Jason finds them and takes Sam back to her room.  Carly tells Sonny Sam seemed really torn up about something she did; she asks if he hass any idea what it was.  He doesn’t answer.  Dante tells Nathan, he thinks his dad is not telling them something because he knows who it was and wants to take care of it himself; they fear he is going to start an all out drug war.

Finn questions what the phone call was about, and why she gave them the name Rachel Berlin; he asks her what she has done.  Hayden tries to blow it off, and avoids answering his questions until she blurts out, “this time was different because I was going to pay it back.”  She explains to Finn, she was trying to buy their freedom… from her ex-husband.  He questions if this was the guy that introduced himself as ‘Adam’ the other day; she admits, yes, then tells him about the young girl she hit four years ago and how Jared covered for her.  Finn understands, but questions why she couldn’t tell him this the minute Jared came to town; he tells her he should have been the one person in the world she could trust.  She says he is, but she convinced herself that she did it for him; she says she was afraid if he found out the truth, he would go back to doing drugs.  He asks if she has that little faith in his recovery; he says it would have taken some time to get through it but he would have understood.  She says maybe it was just easier for her to use that excuse, because she’s a coward; she brings up his ex-wife and what a saint she was.  He admits he loved Reko and says he has accepted her loss because he loves Hayden now; he says he doesn’t know what to do with the fact that she didn’t trust him, though.  He tells her for better or for worse; he tells her they need to not just say the right things, but to live with them and honor them.  She says, “good luck with that” telling him to let her know when he figures that out and walks out of the room – I’m confused, it sounded (to me) like he was forgiving her.  He is left standing there, shaking his head.

08-10-2017 (Thursday) dba Rachel Berlin

Julian is in court, awaiting his trial; Scotty says he is worried about whether Alexis is going to save him or throw him to the wolves.  Alexis has lunch with the girls; they ask how she is feeling about Julian’s trial.  They encourage her not to even think about saving Julian; Kristina says he deserves to be in prison for life.  They ask her to promise them she won’t help him; she promises only to tell the truth.  Julian tells Scotty maybe he should file a plea of guilty; the trial begins.  Molly tells her mom it’s okay that she gave him the benefit of doubt in the past, but the problem is, she still does.  Alexis reminds the girls they need to go register at PCU today and tells them to get going.  The girls sit down to look at their schedule and Molly notices a visiting professor – Parker; Kristina is visibly upset.  Alexis is sworn in as a hostile witness.  She is asked how she first met Olivia Jerome; she explains.  He questions whether Julian ever revealed the fact that this woman was his sister; she admits no.  He presses her about how much she believes Julian was involved and she admits it’s possible he could have prevented her being kidnapped if he had been honest with her.

Kiki goes to see her mother; Ava opens the door and is surprised to see Griffin standing there with Kiki.  Kiki asks how the group therapy session was; they ask her to join them for lunch, but she refuses.  Griffin tells her he understands and gives her some books; he tells her she has to learn how to manage living her new life.  Kiki tells her mom she is going to get her out of that apartment, even if it kills her… she tells her mom she owes her.  Charlotte has lunch with her father at Kelley’s; she tells him she likes living with Lulu and Dante, but would rather be living with him.  She asks about Spencer trying to take Wyndemere away; he assures her that isn’t going to happen.  Ava walks in to the diner with Lulu and Griffin; Charlotte points and screams, “that woman.”  Ava runs back outside.  Valentin tells Charlotte that woman was injured and explains that it was probably really hard for her to come out because she was afraid people would react just the way she just did.  Charlotte apologizes to Ava and tells her she hopes she gets better soon; Ava thanks her.  Valentin reminds Ava about his offer; she declines again.  They take her home; Griffin apologizes for what happened and Ava says maybe it made her stronger.  Kiki asks about her talk with Valentin; she says he was just apologizing for his little girl.  They leave; Ava puts Valentin’s business card in a box.

Hayden takes the call and tells the office she is switching medical suppliers, admitting to setting up the account yesterday.  Liz questions the changing of medical suppliers and Hayden gets rattled, telling her to quit bothering her. She apologizes, saying she is just stressed; Finn tells her he’ll see her later and kisses her goodbye.  Liz asks Hayden what is really going on; Hayden tells her she is afraid everything is about to fall apart.  Finn takes a cactus to Hayden’s office; he finds the visitor’s pass in her garbage and confronts her about it when she comes in.  She apologizes for not telling him, saying she just needed some closure; he tells her he supports her and leaves.  Liz brings her a note, saying “an old friend” dropped it off, but she didn’t get his name; the card is from Jared and tells her not to let anything ruin her wedding day.Finn walks in to Hayden’s office to hear her on the phone, talking about the company she set up as a “dba” for Rachel Berlin.

08-09-2017 (Wednesday) Al Fresco Sex

Stella tells Curtis she wants a BLT from Kelley’s; he leaves her in the park to go get it.  She hears a noise and looks through the bushes; she screams, “oh my god.”  Valerie happens by; she asks what’s wrong?  Felicia and Mac come stumbling out, half dressed.  Stella insists Valerie arrest them; Felicia suggests she call Nathan West, their son-in-law.  Maxie surprises Nathan again; this time, at the station.  She’s on her way back to Portland from Paris; she says she has about two hours in town and tells him she appreciates how understanding he has been about all of this.  Nathan gets paged; Maxie insists on riding with him.  She is shocked when she sees her parents and asks if they got mugged; Stella interjects, telling Nathan he needs to teach these people a lesson.  He and Valerie decide to just give them a warning.  Maxie asks where they ever got the idea to have “al fresco sex” and Mac says he actually got the idea from Ask Man Landers.  Nathan cringes and looks away.  Maxie starts mocking the advice columnist and Nathan comes to his defense; she asks why he is defending this man.  He gets a little nervous; Mac and Felicia excuse themselves.  Maxie tells Nathan that she is going to have to go now; they wasted all their time because her parents took terrible advice from Man Landers.  She suggests he come back to Portland with her; he tells her he can’t and goes to make a call.  She sits down and makes a call herself; she says she has an idea for a new article… unmasking the identity of Ask Man Landers.

Finn and Hayden eat, at Kelley’s, after getting their marriage permit; Curtis shows up. They tell him they are getting married and Hayden insists he be there.  She gets a text from Jared, who says he won’t be ignored.  He demands they meet now; she tells Finn she has to go, saying there are some things a bride still gets to keep secret.  Finn asks Curtis to be his best man.  Elizabeth thanks Kiki for her help in the emergency room; a doctor “Bensch” asks to speak to her.  He tells her he was impressed with her actions and her cool demeanor in there, and suggests she think about going to med school.  Kiki thanks him.  Finn asks Liz if she would come to the wedding.  Hayden meets Jared in the park and tells him about the dummy corporation she set up for him; Curtis comes back by with the sandwiches and is surprised to see Hayden speaking to this man.  He mentions the wedding; Jared insists on coming, telling Hayden he will see her tomorrow.  Curtis senses something is wrong and asks Hayden about it after Jared leaves; she tells him this man has the power to blow up her life and she is doing everything she can not to let it destroy her future.

Stella shows up at Kelley’s and finds Valerie there; she sits down and they start talking.  Stella tells her she would like to set her up with her nephew; Valerie, not knowing who she is, agrees to have a cup of coffee with him.  Stella texts Curtis to let him know where she is and he comes back for her; she meets him outside the door.  Kiki meets up with Dillon for lunch and tells him what the doctor told her; she tells Dillon her mind is blown just thinking about going to med school.  Dillon starts uttering, “Dr. Jerome” and says it has a nice ring to it; Kiki thanks him for his support, but asks what if she doesn’t have what it takes.  Dillon tells her he has faith in her and says the only choice is whether or not she wants to be a doctor; he tells her he will stand behind her whatever she decides.

Hayden comes back to the hospital and tells Finn she needs to talk to him; he gets a call and asks if it wait just a minute.  She asks Elizabeth if she will be her Maid of Honor and tells her she needs this wedding to go off without a hitch.  She says she can’t have anything, or anyone, ruining it; Liz hugs her and says she will take care of everything.  Jordan meets Dr. Bensch; he brings up an old movie, which she says she likes.  He asks her if she would like to join him to go see it, and grab a drink afterwards.  She thanks him but politely declines, saying she isn’t ready to get back into the dating scene yet.  Finn comes back and asks what Hayden needed to talk to him about earlier; Liz tells Hayden she just got a call from financial.  They need to talk to her about some suspicious activity in one of the hospital’s accounts; Hayden looks worried.

08-08-2017 (Tuesday) Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Hayden tells Finn she has a trip planned, to Tanzania; she tells him they “need this.”  He agrees, adding one condition; he says he wants to make it their honeymoon.  She is surprised; she says she really just wanted to get away… she wasn’t trying to trick him into marrying her.  He reminds her that he wants to marry her and it was his idea.  She smiles, and agrees; they are going to get married.  She says that means they can’t have a big wedding; Finn gets sarcastic and asks if she had her heart set on something like that.  Jared walks into the office; and announces himself as Rachael’s husband.  Then he laughs, and says not “married, married” – he says she was his “work wife.”  Finn asks what business he is in; he says debt collection.  He suggests they all three go out to dinner, says he’ll tell Finn some old stories about Hayden.  She says they don’t have time for that; Finn mentions that they are taking a trip to Africa.

Finn says he needs to get going; Hayden stays to talk to Jared (who is calling himself Alex now).  He asks her if she really thought he would just be gone when he got back, or if she thought she would convince the good doctor to just stay there.  She says she has had worse ideas.  He tells her she doesn’t have a choice in this matter; he says she better pay him the money she owes him, or he tells her fiancé` everything.  She sits down at her computer and enters a bogus medical company name into the records, making a payment of $250,000.00 to “White Hat Limited Medical.”

Olivia feeds a cannoli to Dillon; he loves it.  He and Ned look at each other with concern, however, when she tells them she made it there, in the kitchen.  She asks why they look like that; Monica appears in the doorway and tells Olivia she needs a word with her.  “Cook” starts throwing pots and pans around in the kitchen; Olivia asks what’s going on.  Monica reminds her that she told her the kitchen was Cook’s domain; Olivia says she thought she was exaggerating.  Monica assures her she wasn’t; she says she can’t go in there either.  Olivia is shocked, saying, “this is your house.”  Monica says, “and the kitchen is off limits.”  Ned goes through some ELQ records; he says he told Michael he would help out for a few days while he is busy with Sonny.  Dillon questions if he is “angling for Michael’s job.”  Ned assures him he has no desire to work at ELQ again; Dillon tells him he doesn’t believe him. Olivia says she doesn’t feel like part of the family; she feels like an outsider.  Monica talks to Olivia; she tells her she felt that way too at first.  She says the Quartermaines converse by arguing; to fight is to love… she tells her not to “go along to get along” but to go for what she wants.  I think Olivia took that a bit too literally; she fires Cook.  She asks Ned and Dillon who wants Ziti; they are dumbfounded.

Jos tries to give the necklace back to Oscar; she says she doesn’t want her mom to find it and then ask how she got it.  She lets him know it is because of him that they found Sonny, though.  He tells her to keep it and just put it in a drawer somewhere; he says he doesn’t care if anyone else sees it, he just wants her to have it.  She says okay; he asks her out on a date.  Carly goes to see Michael; she thanks Nelle for her part in helping to locate Sonny… she asks Nelle about how she got a hold of the necklace.  Nelle makes up a story that kind of fits the truth and Carly can tell she is lying; she asks Michael if he believes that – he gets sarcastic with her and she admits it doesn’t matter.  Sonny is okay and that’s all that matters.

Sam gets Sonny to tell her everything that happened at the demolition site; the whole scenario replays in her head as he describes it.  She can’t believe she kicked him into the whole and left him there to die; she says she doesn’t feel that way about him… she swears, she loves him.  She cries.  He tells her it’s okay; she was sick.  She says it’s not okay and questions how she could do something like that; he says he understands what it’s like not to be in control.  Jason and the nurse come in and find her; the nurse takes Sam back to her room.  Jason and Sonny agree that no one else can know about Sam shooting him; Sonny says, “this is over and done with.”  

08-07-2017 (Monday) You're Still Alive

Sam dreams about her conversation with Sonny again, just before shooting him; she wakes up again, saying, “it has to be a dream.”  Sonny dreams about the same conversation, he reaches out to take the gun from her; he wakes up, looking confused.  Kiki comes to pick her mother up; Ava tries to avoid even opening the door, but Kiki insists she let her in.  She tells Ava she is taking her to a survivors meeting; Ava doesn’t want to go.  She says all she needs is a new bottle of vodka and another jar of olives.  Kiki calls Griffin for backup; he arrives.  He convinces Ava to go to the meeting; they escort her to the hospital, but she draws the line at being walked to the door, remarking that this isn’t her first day of kindergarten.  Sam sees her in the hallway.  Ava goes in, and no one else is there yet; Sam walks in the door behind her.

Sam asks Ava about how she was acting at her apartment yesterday; she asks Ava to tell her exactly what she said.  Ava says she can’t remember, exactly, but she remembers that Sam was talking as if Sonny was her enemy; she said, it was like she hated him.  She tells Sam she wasn’t acting like herself, at all; Sam leaves.  Ava tries to leave, but Griffin meets her at the door; she agrees to stay, but says the leader better not ask her to talk about her feelings or she’s out of there.

Hayden calls Finn and tells him she needs to push back their dinner plans; she says she is “up to [her] ears in fabric swatches and paint samples.”  Really, she is visiting her father in prison; they bring him in.  He says, “hello Rachel.”  She says, “hi dad.”  He apologizes for refusing to see her when she first came to see him, years ago; she explains to him how she had to change her name and start a new life because it just became impossible to continue living with her former name.  She tells him about Finn, and the baby they are expecting, and about her ex-husband blackmailing her.  She asks if he has any money stashed away anywhere; he tells her there is nothing left.

He says she has two choices; either embezzle the money from the hospital and pay Jared off, like he wants her too, or come clean with Finn and tell him everything.  She goes back to her office; Finn comes in.  He asks where the shopping bags are, and she admits that she didn’t buy anything, saying she thought they should make those home-decorating decisions together.  He asks her what she has been doing then; she says she has been looking at exotic vacations online, and then tells him she bought two tickets to “somewhere far away from there.”

Dante comes into Sonny’s room to ask some clarifying questions about what he said yesterday; he inquires about whether Garvey actually shot him or not.  Sonny says he shot his bullet proof vest; says, “it hurt like hell.”  Dante asks about the bullet in his leg; Sonny seems to be confused.  Carly tells Dante that Sonny needs to rest some more; she says these questions can wait until tomorrow.  Dante agrees to go; Carly walks out with him.  Sonny closes his eyes to rest for a while; when he opens them again, Sam is sitting on the end of his bed; she says, “you’re still alive.”

08-04-2017 (Friday) So Long, Again, Spencer?

Laura tells Spencer that she has decided to re-enroll him in boarding school and send him back to France; he begs her to change her mind.  He offers to be good, even go to public school; she tells him she has made up her mind.  He starts to cry and asks her, “don’t you love me anymore?”  She tries to explain that she does, and that’s why she is doing this; Kevin tries to explain that the danger lies in the fact that he thinks he won’t get hurt.  Spencer tells Kevin there is only one thing that scares him; being, all alone.  He fights to hold back the tears.  Kevin reminds him that his father would want him to be safe and live a long and happy life; Spencer takes a deep breath and tells his grandmother than he will go back to boarding school.  She tells him she is going to fly there with him and stay for a few weeks, to make sure he is settled in.  Spencer admits he will miss Kevin; Kevin decides to go with them too.  They all embrace in a group hug.

Ava asks Valentin what he has that he thinks he can offer her that she can’t refuse; he tells her he can give her back her beautiful face.  She seems intrigued, and listens, but in the end, tells him she would not be willing to change her testimony for him; he killed Nikolas and she will not say otherwise.  He leaves, but tells her she will regret her decision because she won’t be able to live a happy life looking like that; she sees him out the door, then turns to take her mask off.  She looks in the mirror once more and cries, “oh God, oh God, oh God.”

Garvey dies; massive heart failure, they say.  Jason is pissed because the last thing Garvey said to him was, “you’ll have to ask her,” leaving him confused.  Carly drags Sonny several yards, but the countdown hits “1” and the demolition begins; explosions surround them and debris begins to fall on top of them.  The dust clears and Carly finds Sonny knocked out again; she tries to wake him but he is out cold; the foreman announces ‘phase two’ to begin in 60 seconds and begins counting down again.  Seems to me, he is counting too fast.  Sonny wakes up around the count of 20 and tells Carly, again, to leave him; she won’t.

Just as the count reaches 5, Dante runs up and tells the foreman to stop the demolition; he says they have reason to believe somebody may be up there.  He finds Sonny and Carly, and calls for transport to get Sonny to the hospital.  Sam has a dream; she recalls much of what happened between she and Sonny.  She is starting to feel better, but she still senses that something is wrong; she tells Jason she is worried she may have hurt someone.  She makes sure she didn’t hurt the kids; they are okay.  She asks about Sonny; Jason asks why she is wondering about him.  She says something isn’t right; he tells her just to rest, assuring her everything is okay.  He finds Carly; she tells him Sonny is going to be okay.  Sonny appears to be dreaming  now, about his conversation with Sam just before she shot him in the leg; but when she shoves him in the hole, admitting that she meant to do it, Sam wakes up with a start.

08-03-2017 (Thursday) Sonny is Found

Laura and Kevin talk about remodeling Spencer’s room to give him as much space as possible; Kevin mentions how great it is that Spencer felt like going back to camp today; Laura says Spencer is very resilient.  Valentin walks into his study, reading his tablet; Spencer is sitting at his desk in the corner and startles him by suggesting an article on a piece of art.  Valentin tells Spencer he needs to leave; Spencer refuses.  Valentin grabs him by the shirt and calls Laura; he tells her he believes he has something that belongs to her.  She and Kevin pick Spencer up, chew him out and take him; Laura tells Kevin she fears she is not able to control Spencer, and worries about keeping him safe.  She says she knows what has to be done.  She tells Spencer they have to have a serious talk when they get home.  Julian visits his sister; he gives her a check from the insurance company and tells her it’s time to buy a new storage unit and reopen the gallery; she tells him she is not going to run a gallery looking “like this.”  He leaves.  Valentin goes to see Ava; he tells her he is about to make her an offer she can’t refuse.

Sam gets flustered when she sees Garvey being wheeled off the elevator; she gets faint and Jason says it’s time to get her back to her room.  Alexis comes by and offers to take her; the guard in front of Garvey’s room gets called elsewhere and Jason goes in to see Garvey.  He wakes him, by putting his hand over his mouth.  He demands to know where Garvey left Sonny’s body; Garvey tells him, he shot Sonny but he didn’t kill him.  He passes out before he can anything more.  Sam tells her mother that there is something she isn’t remembering; she senses that something is very wrong.  Alexis goes to find the nurse; Sam begins to remember the conversation between she and Sonny.  Her dad comes in, as she is trying to get out of bed; she tells him she needs to go see Sonny.  He tells her she can’t go see him; then she asks for a phone to call.  He says she can’t call him either; she is confused, but then begins to remember her last conversation with Julian – she tells him, “you told me I needed to get rid of Sonny.”  Julian denies having that conversation.  Alexis comes back in and asks Julian what he is doing there; he says he is trying to help their daughter.

Carly talks to her mother at the diner; she tells her that she and Nelle have “had a thawing.”  Michael asks Joslyn where she got the bullet out of which Oscar made her necklace.  She doesn’t want to tell him; he tells her it is imparative that he knows where this bullet came from, and she reluctantly tells him about going with Oscar to the Black Duck Distillery.  She starts to talk about this awesome old brick building from the 1800s, etc., but he interrupts; he tells her that he and his father are renovating the distillery.  They are getting ready to demolish the entire site, except for that brick structure; he begins to yell at her that the demolition is starting this morning, and there were signs posted everywhere.  She admits to seeing the signs, and ignoring them.  He says he needs to call the police about someone shooting guns out there; Jos says it was probably from a long time ago.  Nelle looks at the bullet and says, no… this bullet was fired recently; Michael agrees.

Carly comes to see Michael; she tells him the police have narrowed the search.  They think Garvey took Sonny to an isolated structure somewhere; he begins to wonder about the demolition site.  They show her the necklace with the bullet, but Nelle doesn’t say where it came from.  Carly immediately runs to the demolition site and finds Sonny quite quickly; he lays, collapsed at the top of the pit.  She tries to wake him; the buzzer is sounding.  Demolition is about to begin; the announcement comes over the speaker, “all personnel accounted for” and begins counting down… thirty seconds, twenty-nine, and so on.  Sonny tells Carly he can’t move and insists she get out of there; she refuses to leave.  He says his leg is worthless and he’s glad he got the chanced to say goodbye to her, demanding again, that she go.  She tells him, if he wants her to live, he better get moving; she puts his arm over her shoulder and starts walking, practically dragging him out of there.

08-02-2017 (Wednesday) The Necklace

Jason talks to Sam, telling her she needs to wake up; he talks about the first time Danny felt Scout kick inside her belly, then about laying with the kids on the couch.  He says he told Scout she is the toughest person he knows and will be fine, then asks Sam not to make a liar out of him.  Sam wakes up… she doesn’t remember anything since yesterday.  Her fever has come down and they say it looks like she’s on the road to recovery.  Jason asks Griffin about her memory; he tells him not to push it, it may come back, he says.  Sam wants to get out of bed; the nurse says she could take a walk once around the floor, then back to bed.  Sam asks Jason to fill her in on everything she missed; as they turn to head back to her room, Garvey is wheeled out of the elevator.  Sam sees him; Jason asks her what is wrong.

Hayden comes to see Finn; he yawns when he goes to kiss her.  He hides a bag behind his bag, with some kind of “gem” in it; the nurse tells Hayden a patient in exam 1 has a complaint about an invoice.  The patient is Jared; he says it’s not really about an invoice – he says he has a broken heart and asks Hayden if she thinks she can fix it.  Hayden tells him she wants nothing to do with him, but he says she doesn’t have a choice… he tells her either she deals with him, or he will deal with Finn.  She tells him to give her some time; she goes out and notices Finn holding something behind his back.  Griffin and Deanna make excuses and leave immediately when she returns.  Finn shows Hayden a ring he picked out for her; he says he’d like to make their engagement official.  He thinks she doesn’t like it; he says Tracy helped him pick it out.  She can’t believe he did this; he jokes that the diamond has a better chance of lasting than the onion ring.  She hugs him, and kisses him, saying she wants to go get it sized right now.

She meets her ex, pissed that he demanded it be at the house she and Finn are buying; she says the best she can do is use her strings to get him an interview at ELQ.  He tells her he doesn’t want a job, he wants money; she says she has nothing to give… he grabs her hand, and says, “you’ve got that.”  She tells him to forget that; he’s not getting the ring.  He threatens to tell Finn the whole truth and says she won’t have that ring for long then… she begs him not to ruin her life.  He tells her he has a plan; she can keep her ring.  Instead, he says, he wants her to start skimming money from the General Hospital fund; she says she can’t do that.  He tells her she doesn’t have a choice.  Finn starts burning letters from his wife, Reiko, as he tells her about Hayden, and the coming baby and their engagement; he says he will always love her, but he has to let her go now.  He lets the burning letter fall into the garbage can.

 Nelle asks Michael if there is any news on his father yet; he says all they have are photos of Garvey’s car down by the riverfront, but that’s a large area to search.  Michael tells Nelle that he doesn’t think his dad is dead; but, he says, the longer it takes to find him, the worse his chances get.  She tells him to go shower and they will go look for his dad; he questions if she doesn’t have to work.  She says she’s earned enough points with Nina for a personal day, and he is her priority today; Michael smiles.  Jos opens her door to get the newspaper off the porch and scares Oscar; he falls backwards.  She helps him up, and they come face-to-face again; she turns and walks in, and he follows.  He tells her he has a gift for her; he says he was just going to leave it for her.  She says he knows she is going through a lot right now, with her step-dad missing and everything; she says things are better with him there.

Joslyn says Oscar must think she is crazy because she went on and on about how much she hated Sonny, and now she is all concerned about him; he says that makes her human.  She says Sonny can be both kind and generous, and then awful at other times; he says he thinks she is a wonderful, caring person and then says he should probably leave.  She asks about the box he was going to give her; he laughs and hands it to her – it’s a necklace he made out of the “piece of metal” they found at the distillery yesterday.  She loves it.  He tells her it looks amazing on her.  She goes to see Nelle; she wants to show off the necklace.  She tells Nelle it’s a one of a kind.  Nelle looks closely at it and tells Michael he needs to see it; he tells Jos it is made out of a bullet casing.  

08-01-2017 (Tuesday) The Strength of Stone

Julian comes home; he asks Ava when she started wearing her mask.  She tells him Sam convinced her to put it on; she tells him she came by looking for him, was actually really nice to her.  She says she didn’t seem like herself; he tells her she wasn’t.  He says she is in the hospital now and might be dying; mentions the Toxoplasmosis, which he believes she got when their sister pushed her off that bridge.  She tells Julian about her conversation with Sam, and she says she couldn’t tell if Sam was encouraging her to move on from all Sonny has done to her, or to destroy him.

Hayden stands up, shocked to see Jared (her ex)  and asks him how he is there; he tells her he thought she would wait for him when he was serving time for her.  He says maybe it was naive but he thought doing the time would save their marriage.  She says they are done with each other; he says no they’re not.  He tells her he is happy for her, but kinda feels bad for the “good doctor.”  He tells her she owes him for what he did for her.  He tells her he wants money; she laughs.  She tells him she makes very little at the hospital and has nothing to give him.  He starts going off about what a horrible wife she was, always nagging about his deals on the tennis court, and what she did to him, bringing up her getting in a car, drunk and swerving down the road – hitting a girl who was walking her dog on the side of the road, throwing her up against a tree.  She screams she knows it was her who did that, but says he was the one who told the cops it was him; he say yeah, “you did the crime, I did the time.”  She lashes back with how he tried to blackmail her; she says she was so upset about his running around on her, she got drunk and made the biggest mistake of her life.  She says he took the most horrible thing she’s ever done and used it against her to get a payoff.  He leaves, telling her this isn’t over.

Finn goes to the Floating Rib, where he finds Curtis; he tells Curtis about his conversation with Hayden regarding marriage.  Curtis tells Finn that his Aunt Stella moved to town and ripped his relationship with Jordan clean apart.  Finn says he needs to tell Curtis a few things; he asks if maybe his aunt is using this convalescence to control him a little bit, maybe even subconsciously – Curtis says if he’s with Jordan, it makes his aunt sick.  Finn says, “no it doesn’t.”  He tells him he is a doctor and he knows neither he nor Jordan caused her stroke; he says if he wants to be with Jordan he can’t let his aunt stand in the way.  Jordan and Curtis run into each other when Curtis goes to the hospital to get his aunt’s meds; Jordan explains she has a perp up in surgery.  They have a little small talk, ending with “it’s always something, isn’t it?”  .  Finn comes home, pulls out an onion ring and asks her to indulge him; he takes her hand and asks her if she will marry him.  She hesitates, still regretting her past mistakes, but with his reminder of his ever-lasting love, she says she meant what she said the first time, and answers, “yes, I will marry you.”  They kiss.

Jordan tells Dante that they also founds strands of hair in Garvey’s car; they think they are going to match Spencer.  They can at least put him in jail on kidnapping charges; Dante asks if they didn’t find any evidence on Sonny’s whereabouts.  She says sorry.  Carly holds Garvey’s Morphine line in her hands; she tells him to tell her where he left her husband.  She tells him she knows other people that can make him talk, maybe even require him more surgery; Dante walks in the room and asks Carly what the hell she is doing.  Dante tells Carly she needs to leave; she says okay, but if he can’t get this bastard to talk, she’ll get someone else who will.  Jordan assures Carly she will do everything she can to find Sonny.  Sonny stares now at the figure standing before him; he asks if he is dreaming.  The man kneels doan and tells him its good to see him; and they hug… I don’t recognize this man – could this be “Stone”?).  Sonny stands, without a problem, and tells this man he has thought a lot about him over the years, the life he had and the way he died - he says it was unfair.  Sonny asks if he is there because he’s dying; the man says that’s up to him.  Sonny calls him “buddy” and says he isn’t afraid since he is there; he says if he goes with him, he can see Morgan.  Sonny tells Stone about Morgan; his namesake and Jason’s.  He says he has been trying to figure out how to live in the world without him; he thinks he may have just found out.  Stone asks if he is sure he wants to give up, reminding him of all his other kids, Michael, Kristina, Jos and Avery; Sonny thinks maybe Avery is better off without him.  Stone says if he really believes that, they can go right now; it’s Sonny’s call.

Dante introduces himself to Garvey, as a detective and as Sonny Corinthos’ son; he says he could either put a guard outside his door or let Carly do whatever she wants to do.  He asks him then, “Garvey, what did you do my father?”  He asks him one more time, after letting him know that they got all the evidence they need to hold him for Spencer’s kidnapping; Garvey losses consciousness.  The doctor tells Dante the rest of his questions will have to wait until tomorrow.  Michael and Nelle break the news about Sonny to Joslyn; Jos feels horrible for the way she has been treating him and bad-mouthing him to her mom.  Michael hugs her and tells her that Sonny understands.  Carly goes home; Jos apologizes to her, for everything.  She says she is really sorry for being so mean to her; Carly hugs her and tells her it’s okay.  Sonny changes his mind and decides that he wants to go home to his wife and kids; Stone tells him to close his eyes and feel that there are no walls that can stop him.  He tells him to open his eyes and look up; he says that’s the way out – he tells him he just has to fight, and reminds him that he is one hell of a fighter.  Sonny wakes up, struggles to his feet and determines to make it out of there

Nelle tells Carly that she is sorry for all they are going through, and tells her she is there if they need anything, but says she is going to go now… she turns to get her purse.  Dante comes in and says they’ve narrowed the search along the river bank; he says it’s not much but it is progress.  Carly suggests they all say a prayer for Sonny; Nelle starts to leave and Jos stops her, she says she is a part of her and she wants her to be a part of this… Carly says okay, and begins the prayer as they all hold hands.  She says the sky is darkest just before the light; prays this is true because it all seems so dark.  She asks God to fill them with his light and to make all right in the world as he has planned and wants it to be.  Sonny gets a burst of strength and hoists himself up onto some barrels.