"Asleep on a couch in the parlor of Chandler Mansion, Brooke English was haunted by a recurring nightmare. In the dream, David Hayward and JR Chandler struggled for control of a handgun. The gun fired at least two times. Brooke suddenly awoke from her sleep with an audible gasp. Adam raced to her side to comfort her.
"Is it ever going to end?" Brooke asked as she looked at Adam.
At that moment, AJ entered the room. Upon learning that Brooke had suffered another nightmare, AJ rolled his eyes and told Brooke that the event that had taken place in her nightmare had happened five years before and she needed to "move on."
AJ headed to his room where, clad only in a towel, he rocked out to some music and played along on his electric guitar. As he danced around the room, his towel dropped to the floor. At the same time, the door to his room opened and Miranda Montgomery walked in. AJ lashed out at Miranda for not knocking, but she quickly noted that she'd seen what was under AJ's towel many times before.
Miranda whipped out her tablet computer and pulled up her Facebook page where someone has posed the question: Miranda Montgomery -- "vagatarian" or does she eat meat? The question was a dig at her sexual identity. AJ gallantly offered to "burn" anyone who'd speak ill of Miranda. Miranda recalled how AJ had once beaten up a boy in kindergarten who'd made fun of her for having two moms.
AJ focused on getting dressed, and Miranda yanked the towel off of AJ. AJ screamed out Miranda's named and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Back downstairs, Adam said that Brooke had put her life on hold for him. He then professed his love for Brooke and asked her to marry him. Brooke happily accepted -- but as soon as she did, Adam told her that he had a favor to ask of her.
AJ and Miranda returned to the room on their way to school. AJ correctly assumed that his grandfather was headed out of town soon. AJ then challenged Adam to a rematch in the video game "War Demons." Miranda wasn't sure why AJ would make the challenge, since Adam always seemed to win. Brooke asked Miranda how Miranda's mother, Bianca, was doing. The room suddenly went cold as Bianca's face grew serious. "She's okay... as okay as she ever is since," Bianca started before AJ interrupted and told them to stop talking about what had happened.
Brooke sat down at a desk and signed her name on some documents. She asked Adam if he was sure about what he was doing. He nodded. Brooke, he said, had run a national magazine with great success and that there was no one else that he'd have chosen. "You're the one person that would never betray me," Adam added. They then kissed.
Later at school, Miranda was over the moon that one of the school's hottest guys, Hunter Morrison, had spoken to her. AJ was incredulous, noting that all Hunter had said was "hey." Miranda assumed that AJ's response was meant to indicate that she was in some way not good enough for Hunter. AJ argued that he felt just the opposite -- Hunter wasn't good enough for her. Miranda then smiled wryly and asked AJ if he was jealous. AJ did his best to convince Miranda otherwise, but his face told a different story.
At Cortlandt Manor, Opal Cortlandt held a picture of her late husband, Palmer, and cooed excitedly that their "baby boy" would soon be returning home.
Somewhere just outside of town, Peter Cortlandt drove through the countryside in a blue Porsche convertible. He smiled as he passed a sign that welcomed drivers to Pine Valley. As he sped through the downtown area, Peter attracted the attention of a young woman wearing a plaid skirt and blue blazer, presumably from a local private school.
Peter arrived at Cortlandt Manor with his cell phone pressed against his ear. He told the person on the other end of the phone that "everyone is watching TV online now." He hung up the phone when he saw his mother standing before him. Opal gushed about how much she'd missed her son. She became choked up and made a remark about "Tad being gone." Peter gave his mother a hug and kissed her on the cheek.
Dixie was quietly folding laundry when she spotted a photo of herself and Tad from nearly 20 years before. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked skyward.
Later, Opal showed Peter her latest project: a scrapbook that chronicled his many achievements. The book contained pages and pages of newspaper clippings and other mementos, but one of the pages was bare.
"I keep it blank because this is where your diploma from Stanford would've gone," she explained.
Peter sighed and asked his mom to accept the fact that he had dropped out of college. Diploma or not, Opal commented that Peter was "a star." With that, she asked Peter to help revive his father's company, Cortlandt Electronics, from the dead. Peter looked over some business documents that had been prepared, and he agreed with plans to have a receiver take over Cortlandt Electronics, shut down the unprofitable segments of the company, and then sell off whatever was left. Opal disagreed with the findings in the report and demanded that Peter step in. Peter suggested that it might be time to let go of Cortlandt Electronics.
The discussion then turned to how often Peter returned home to visit. Taking on a role at Cortlandt Electronics would require Peter to be in Pine Valley more often than he'd want, and Peter's idea of frequent visits was nowhere near as often as Opal wanted. Frustrated, Peter said that he needed to get some air. Opal invited herself along, but Peter said that he wanted to be alone. He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and left.
As he sat in his car discussing a business move, Peter saw the young woman he'd unknowingly passed earlier collide with another pedestrian. The woman's belongings fell to the ground. Peter told his business associate that he'd call him back later and then headed off to help the woman. Peter was quite taken with the young woman who nervously picked up an apple that she had dropped and took a bite out of it. The woman closed her eyes for a moment and marveled that she'd eaten an apple off of the ground. "Apples are my new favorite fruit," Peter said smoothly in an attempt to not make the woman feel uncomfortable.
The woman realized that she was running late for her job teaching art history at her alma mater and said that she had to be going. As she dashed off, Peter called out to her to ask her for her name. "Celia," the woman replied. After Celia darted off, Peter noticed that she'd lost part of a heart-shaped locket. He picked it up and looked at the photo contained inside.
At the school, Celia rushed around her room to get herself together. She found a wallet and looked at it with a reminiscent smile. An older woman stormed into the room and announced that Celia was late. As Celia attempted to explain her tardiness, the woman grumbled that Celia had some explaining to do. The woman then produced a condom.
Back at Cortlandt Manor, Peter told his mother that he'd decided to stick around Pine Valley for a few more days. Opal was elated but realized that they would have to "live large" and "savor every minute." She then announced that they should do some scrapbooking together.
Jesse Hubbard hurriedly put together a breakfast tray for his wife, Angie. He quickly stepped outside to the patio, where he pulled a daffodil from the ground. He barely had time to put the flower in a vase before Angie wandered into the living room. She was pleasantly surprised by the croissants and fresh strawberries, but she told Jesse that she knew what he was trying to do. Before Angie could go into detail about why she was upset, Jesse took her into his arms and gave her a kiss.
Later, after the pair had made love, Angie told Jesse how sad she was that Lucy had moved to Portland. Angie then turned her thoughts to what had happened five years earlier. "Pine Valley lost a part of its soul that night," Jesse agreed, but urged Angie to focus on all the good things in their life. Jesse then ordered Angie to put an end to her "lollygagging" because she needed to get dressed and ready for a surprise that he had planned for her.
Angie excused herself to go to the shower. On her way, she passed by a picture and remarked that they had a wonderful family. She stopped, cocked her head to the side, and told Jesse that his surprise had better not be that he'd finally fixed the garage door she'd been asking him to fix for quite some time. Jesse chuckled and replied that his surprise was big -- "Big like Christmas morning. Big like fireworks. Big like you and me." Angie then suggestively remarked that she wasn't sure she could "take anything else big this morning." Laughing, Angie headed for the shower -- and Jesse followed quickly behind.
After the shower, Jesse made a phone call to Cassandra Foster, Angie's adopted daughter. He was giddy with excitement over her impending arrival as part of the surprise he'd planned for Angie. Angie put on her jacket and announced that she was headed out to pick up something for dinner. She mused that whoever Jesse was hiding could "come out now."
Once Angie had left, Jesse placed another call to Cassandra, but no one answered the call. In an unknown location, a phone rang with the name "Jesse" displayed on the Caller ID screen. The phone was thrown to the ground and a large boot suddenly slammed down on top of it. Jesse then placed a call to the driver he'd hired to pick up Cassandra from the airport, and was alarmed to learn that Cassandra had never shown up.
In the staff locker room at Pine Valley Hospital, Dr. Cara Castillo lovingly looked at a necklace she was wearing. A hand gently touched her shoulder and caressed her. Cara smiled broadly as David leaned in and kissed her shoulder. The pair quickly stripped down and gave in to their passion. David hoisted Cara into the air and pressed her against the lockers as they made love.
Cara suddenly snapped out of her daydream and realized she was alone in the room. Her brother, Dr. Griffin Castillo, entered the room and asked Cara if she was ready. Cara shook off her daze and responded affirmatively.
Later in a patient's room, Cara reported to Griffin that the patient's condition hadn't changed. "It's a hell of a way to spend five years," Griffin remarked. Griffin then commented that the patient and Cara both had something in common; they'd both had their lives altered by David Hayward. Cara become nervous at the mention of David's name and told Griffin that David could never find out about what she had done. Griffin did his best to assuage Cara's angst, reminding her that David was "buried behind bars for manslaughter."
A metal door opened to an open area on the other side of a barbed-wired-topped fence. David stepped outside and relished the feeling of sunlight on his face. A Department of Corrections officer slammed a paper bag into David's chest. David realized the bag contained his personal effects. When asked where he was headed, David replied, "Home sweet home."
David got into the backseat of a waiting car. He looked into the rearview mirror and realized that the driver recognized him. "I'm that guy. Chandler Mansion... the shooting," David muttered. "That was me."
David headed to a cemetery where he looked over one of the gravesites. "I've been behind bars five years for what happened to you," he said coldly as a tear streamed down his face. "But now I'm back. And there's gonna be hell to pay.""
- Dan J Kroll
soapcentral.com