Episode #110
Immediately After #109

TEASER

INT: OFFICE
AFTERNOON

HELEN is seated behind her desk, attempting to make sense of the figures spread out on the sheet of paper in front of her. Her mind, however, will not allow this -- she can think of nothing but her husband, Don.

He’s probably found the note I left him, she reflects. How will he react? What will he do? And where will he stay tonight?

She takes hold of her thoughts, however, and tries to put things in perspective. He left me, she reminds herself. He ran off to Europe with his ex-wife.

Helen sighs and begins to reread the paper of which, although she has run her eyes over it several times, she has not absorbed a single word.

***

INT: ELEVATOR
AFTERNOON

The elevator doors slide closed, a passenger having just exited. As the elevator resumes its upward motion, the lone passenger, DON, removes the note from his pocket -- the note Helen had left at the house for him. He had been expecting difficulty, certainly. After all, he had lied to her about Sally accompanying him. But now, this whole thing had been blown wildly out of proportion. There has been too much miscommunication, and it just might destroy Don’s life.

DON: I’m going to fight for you, Helen. I’m not going to give up this easily.

***

NEW YORK
INT: YANG MANSION (STUDY)
EVENING

ANDREA rushes into the room in response to STEVE’s urgent-sounding call.

ANDREA: What’s wrong?

STEVE: I’d like to know what happened to my files. They’re all out of order.

Andrea looks at the pile at which he is pointing -- it is the pile that Matt knocked over while he and Sarah were hiding up in the study. She struggles to conjure up a response.

***

INT: TIM & CLAIRE’S APT. (LIVING ROOM)
AFTERNOON

CLAIRE stares in frozen horror as flames quickly rip across the carpet. RYAN takes off his coat in an attempt to beat them dead, to no avail.

RYAN: Claire, get out of here!

She says nothing and hardly moves, stepping back just a few inches.

RYAN: Claire, you’ve got to get out of here!

She does nothing but point towards the center of the room -- where the flames are quickly surrounding the children, TRAVIS and SAMANTHA.

ACT ONE

INT: OFFICE

AFTERNOON
HELEN drops the paper onto her desk, knowing that it will be useful to try to get any work done. She can’t stop thinking about Don.

Maybe he is telling the truth, she wonders. Maybe Sally just tagged along ... maybe he didn’t even want her there.

HELEN: But still, that doesn’t change the fact that he lied to me.

She drops her head down onto the desk in despair. A knock on the open door of her office makes her look up. She is distressed to see DON standing there.

***

INT: TIM & CLAIRE’S APT. (LIVING ROOM)
AFTERNOON

RYAN moves his eyes back and forth between the frozen CLAIRE and the trapped TRAVIS and SAMANTHA. It’s quickly becoming apparent that he will have to get all three of them out of the apartment safely -- but who first? And how, exactly?

He takes hold of Claire’s shoulders and moves her towards the doorway. She obliges only partially, taking several steps backward, although her eyes remain fixed upon the children. Ryan turns back to the kids, but before he goes to them, he pulls the door open and begins shouting for help. He gives Claire another look and tries to gesture for her to move outside, but she is unaware of his motioning. She continues to look only at the children.

Without any further hesitation, Ryan moves toward the kids -- just as a ring of flames leap up, surrounding them.

ACT TWO

NEW YORK
INT: YANG MANSION (STUDY)
EVENING

STEVE seems to find ANDREA’s silence to be explanation enough.

STEVE: Matt did this, didn’t he?

ANDREA: No--I was ... I was up here before, and I knocked it over--

STEVE: Yeah, I’m sure you did. Andrea, why did you let that loser in here?

ANDREA: He’s my friend!

STEVE: He’s a two-faced moron! Not only did he think he could get away with stealing your jewels, but then he actually thought he could count of you for help when the police caught onto him. Jeez, I’m surprised he didn’t try to worm his way into bed with you while he was at it.

ANDREA: Steve! That’s enough!

STEVE: No, I’ll tell you what’s enough: This game you’re playing with Matt Gray. He’s playing you, Andrea. Can’t you see that? He was jealous that he couldn’t get you back once we got engaged, so he stole your jewels as some demented kind of revenge tactic!

He lets his eyes drill into her, forcing his message inside her mind.

***

INT: TIM & CLAIRE’S APT. (LIVING ROOM)
AFTERNOON

By this point, even neighbors have become aware of the blaze; 911 has been called and people have begun to evacuate the building. Still, CLAIRE remains near the doorway, frozen, and RYAN is trying to figure out how to get to TRAVIS and SAMANTHA.

CLAIRE: Ryan, do something!

RYAN: I’m trying!

He moves closer, trying to reach out a hand to the now-wailing children without getting them too close to the flames, but is unsuccessful.

RYAN: Dammit!

CLAIRE: Ryan, save them! Save my babies!

Claire stands watching in horror as Ryan struggles to get to the children.

CLAIRE: My babies ...

ACT THREE

INT: OFFICE
AFTERNOON

DON remains in the doorway, eyeing his wife, HELEN, for a sign of her reaction to seeing him. All he can detect is a chilliness which speaks volumes.

DON: Hi.

HELEN: Hi.

She says nothing more, and after a few moments of frigid silence, Don gets up the nerve to speak again.

DON: How are you?

HELEN: I’m fine.

She spits out her response and immediately returns to her work, trying to look busy and nonchalant.

DON: Helen, look--

HELEN: Save it, Don. I really don’t wanna hear it.

DON: But you don’t--

HELEN: I don’t care. I really don’t wanna hear anymore about your little escapades with your ex-wife.

***

INT: TIM & CLAIRE’S APT. (LIVING ROOM)
AFTERNOON

RYAN reaches across the ring of flames and this time, he gets a grip on TRAVIS’s hand. He is able to pull the little boy away from the flames and sets him down safely out of the way. As Travis runs over to CLAIRE, Ryan sets his sights on SAMANTHA. The little girl is in the middle of the ring of flames, standing and shrieking.

Claire picks up her son and directs her attention to Samantha’s plight. She pulls Travis closer and begins speaking quietly, almost to herself.

CLAIRE: Where is the damn fire department?

A quick look out into the empty hallway does nothing to reassure her.

CLAIRE: Come on, Ryan ...

No sooner has she said this than does Ryan manage to grab ahold of Samantha. Before he can lift her, though, he falls forward -- right towards the flames!

CLAIRE: Oh my god!

He catches his balance mere inches before making contact with the fire and is able to lift Samantha up. He hoists her out of the fire and immediately rushes over to Claire, who now seems "awake" again.

RYAN: We’ve gotta get out of here ...

They push out of the door just as the fire department arrives. Once in the smoky hallway, Ryan and Claire begin heading for the stairs -- but they come face-to-face with TIM!

ACT FOUR

NEW YORK
INT: YANG MANSION (STUDY)
EVENING

STEVE’s words have shaken ANDREA quite a bit. She says nothing in response to his tirade.

STEVE: Look, I know you consider him a friend. But I think it’s time you open your eyes. Matt Gray is bad news -- end of story.

She opens her mouth in protest, but remains silent.

STEVE: The only reason they came back here was because they figured if they could get you on their side, Matt wouldn’t go to jail for this. All I’m telling you is this: Just stay away from him and Sarah from now on!

Without another word, he leaves the room. Andrea looks down at the disorderly pile of papers heaped upon the desk in distress.

Moments later, the ringing doorbell stirs her from her stupor. She quickly makes her way downstairs, though still quite distracted.

Her confusion is only greatened when she sees SARAH standing on the other side of the door.

SARAH: I need your help, Andrea.

***

INT: APT. BUILDING (HALLWAY)
AFTERNOON

CLAIRE is frozen as she realizes there is no turning back now -- TIM and RYAN have come face-to-face.

TIM: What’s going on? I thought I’d come home from work early ...

CLAIRE: Something caught fire in the apartment. It’s being taken care of, don’t worry. I just hope it doesn’t damage the rest of the building.

TIM: I’m just glad these little guys are okay.

He takes SAMANTHA out of his wife’s arms and holds her in his. TRAVIS, who is standing next to Claire, looks up at both his parents and smiles.

Claire looks down at them. Thank goodness they’re okay, she thinks. If anything had happened to them, I’d never have been able to live with myself.

CLAIRE: You can thank him for that.

Before she even realizes it, these words have escaped her lips. Tim looks at Ryan and extends a hand.

TIM: I’m Tim Fisher. And you are ... ?

ACT FIVE

NEW YORK
INT: YANG MANSION (FOYER)
EVENING

Before she even answers SARAH verbally, ANDREA has begun to slowly shake her head.

ANDREA: I’m sorry, Sarah. I can’t help you.

SARAH: What?

She tries to step inside the house, but Andrea holds her outside.

SARAH: All I need you to do is let me look through the study for fifteen minutes.

ANDREA: Sarah, please. Just leave.

SARAH: What is going on with you? I thought you wanted to help Matt--

ANDREA: Not anymore. I can’t.

With that, she shuts the door, leaving a very bewildered Sarah out on the front porch.

***

INT: APT. BUILDING (HALLWAY)
AFTERNOON

CLAIRE pauses before finally introducing TIM and RYAN.

CLAIRE: Tim, this is an old friend, Ryan Moriani. He saved the kids from the fire.

Tim gives Ryan’s hand a hearty shake, a big smile plastered on his face.

TIM: I can’t thank you enough, Ryan. If we lost these two ... it would all be over.

Ryan’s eye wanders to Claire, but he pulls it back.

RYAN: I know the feeling.

TIM: Anyway, why don’t we all head downstairs? It’s really smoky up here.

CLAIRE: Good idea.

Tim begins herding the kids to the stairs. Claire and Ryan walk well behind, speaking in hushed voices.

RYAN: Why’d you do that, Claire? I thought you wanted to keep me hidden from everyone here.

CLAIRE: I changed my mind. You didn’t have to risk your life to save the kids of someone who had basically just told you to get lost.

RYAN: They’re innocent kids--

CLAIRE: I know, but the old Ryan would have just gotten himself out of there. Today you showed me that you’ve truly changed.

RYAN: Really?

CLAIRE: Yeah.

They continue their walk downstairs in silence.

***

INT: OFFICE
AFTERNOON

HELEN continues to be unresponsive to DON, who simply stands in the middle of the room shifting uncomfortably for several moments before speaking.

HELEN: Would you please leave? I have work to do.

DON: Helen, we need to talk. There has been so much miscommunication between us these last few months, and it’s all just been blown out of proportion.

Helen, finally enraged to the point where she can no longer keep everything bottled up, stands.

HELEN: Excuse me, but would there have been any miscommunication at all if you hadn’t been halfway across the world with a woman I didn’t even know was still part of your life?

DON: Sally hasn’t been back for very long. She was there after I woke up from my coma, and I didn’t know what to do--

HELEN: You’ve made it quite apparent that you have no idea what you’re doing. Did you really think I wouldn’t catch on eventually?

DON: Of course I-- I don’t know. I just wish it didn’t have to be this way. Helen, I love you. We’ve got such a history together. I’m sure we can work through this.

HELEN: Let me give you a bit of advice: Next time you claim to love someone, it’s probably not a good idea to run out on them!

DON: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!

HELEN: I don’t care! Just get out.

DON: But--

HELEN: Out

Don backs out of the door slowly, waiting for Helen to change her mind, though she never does. Once outside, he pulls the door shut and then leans against it. For the first time, the seriousness of his offenses -- innocent as they may have seemed to him at some point – truly hits him. He rushes to the elevator as tears build in his eyes.

END OF EPISODE #110

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