Episode #91
Immediately After #90

TEASER

INT: RESTAURANT

EVENING

Elegant, live orchestral music dances in the air. At one particular table in the well-occupied restaurant, RYAN is now sipping a glass of wine. CLAIRE has chosen mineral water.

RYAN: What amazes me most is that you actually became a nurse.

She suddenly turns defensive.

CLAIRE: What’s that supposed to mean?

RYAN: Nothing ... calm down. I’m just saying that it’s amazing, because even when you were 13 you knew you wanted to be a nurse. How many people follow through like that?

Her expression softens, as does her voice, at this compliment.

CLAIRE: Thank you. I guess once I decide I want something, I go after it full-force.

RYAN: We’ve always been alike in that way.

He lets this linger in the air for a moment.

***

INT: HOTEL (HALLWAY)

EVENING

ANDY and DANIELLE walk down the hallway, having just come in from dinner.

DANIELLE: I’m so glad this is our last night in this hotel!

ANDY: I know the feeling. By this time tomorrow, we’ll be settled in our own apartments.

DANIELLE: But nice as it’ll be to get out of here, I have to admit, I’m gonna miss living with you.

He holds up his index finger.

ANDY: Hold that thought.

With an air of mystery around him, Andy slips inside the hotel suite, making his fiancée stay in the hallway.

***

PARIS, FRANCE

INT: HOTEL ROOM

MIDDAY

SALLY stands by helplessly as she listens to DON having a conversation with his wife. Momentarily, Don puts the phone down and turns to Sally.

DON: She’s putting on some "mystery guest."

Sally tries to act interested, but privately is relieved that, if nothing else, he is not talking to Helen right now. It doesn’t sound like he said anything too damaging, she tries to reassure herself.

ACT ONE

INT: RESTAURANT

EVENING

CLAIRE, though aware that RYAN’s last comment was a shameless attempt at suggesting a remaining bond between them, cannot help but grin slightly.

RYAN: So if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the deal with your kids? You said only one of them was yours ...

CLAIRE: The boy -- Travis. He’s 18 months old. The girl, Samantha, is my husband’s.

RYAN: Previous marriage?

CLAIRE: No, but it’s a long, complicated story that I’d rather not get into. Let’s just say that, as usual, my father managed to complicate it even further.

RYAN: While he was still around to do it.

CLAIRE: Yeah.

RYAN: Let me see if I’ve got this straight. He kidnapped your son and ran off to the jungle?

CLAIRE: And then, when Tim and I showed up to get Travis back, he tried to kill us. Yeah, a nice wholesome family situation.

RYAN: Ouch.

CLAIRE: Tell me about it. If you’ve changed just one thing in the last fifteen years, it thrills me that you didn’t follow in your father’s footsteps with the mob.

Ryan shifts uncomfortably, trying to hide his uneasiness at this statement.

***

INT: HOTEL (HALLWAY)

EVENING

As DANIELLE waits outside the suite, she muses over the engagement ring on her finger.

DANIELLE: (to herself) I had to turn down that record offer. There was no other way. Otherwise, I may have lost Andy. No, what I did was definitely worth it ...

She takes another glance at the ring.

DANIELLE: ... I hope.

Just then, the door of the suite slips open, and ANDY pops his head out into the hallway.

ANDY: Okay, Miss Taylor, you may enter now.

He holds the door open as Danielle walks into the suite.

INT: HOTEL SUITE

EVENING -- CONTINUOUS

As an amused ANDY looks on, DANIELLE enters the darkened hotel suite, only to find candles lit all around her. She smiles at her fiancé.

***

INT: CHASE HOME (KITCHEN)

EVENING

ALEX takes the phone from HELEN.

ALEX: Don?

PARIS, FRANCE

INT: HOTEL ROOM

MIDDAY

On the other end, DON’s attention is riveted by this person’s voice.

DON: Hello?

ALEX: Hey, uh, this is Alex.

DON: Alex Marshall?

Back in the hotel room, SALLY is stunned to hear her son’s name.

ALEX: Yeah. I came by to -- to see you, I guess. Bad timing, huh?

DON: Yeah, really. I’ll have to--

He stops mid-sentence, having heard a click.

DON: What was that?

INT: CHASE HOME (KITCHEN)

EVENING

HELEN: What’s wrong?

ALEX: We got disconnected, I think.

HELEN: You didn’t get a chance to ask him about your mother?

Alex shakes his head.

***

PARIS, FRANCE

INT: HOTEL ROOM

MIDDAY

A befuddled DON hangs up the phone as he looks around. SALLY stands by innocently.

SALLY: What happened?

DON: I think we got cut off.

SALLY: That’s weird. But you know how weak the connection is, right?

DON: I guess.

He stands, and Sally kicks the phone plug, which she removed from the jack, under the table to keep it out of sight.

SALLY (THINKING): That was too close.

DON: You’ll never believe who was on the phone.

SALLY: I heard ... Was it really Alex?

DON: Yeah. We haven’t talked about him much, have we?

She sits down on the bed.

SALLY: No, I guess not.

DON: You know what, Sally? I think it’s about time we did.

This comment makes her jumpy once again, carrying with it the potential for disaster.

ACT TWO

INT: RESTAURANT

EVENING

CLAIRE has gotten herself going on such a tirade that she hardly notices RYAN’s discomfort at turning the topic of conversation to the mob.

CLAIRE: I still feel guilty for doing what I did, and I wish I never had to do it, but I can’t help but feel relieved that my father is gone -- even if it was my fault. He never caused anything but misery for me.

She pauses to take a sip of her water.

CLAIRE: Then again, he was a miserable man in general. He never got over my mom leaving him -- but can you blame her? He practically drove her away. Then he drove me away too, only I was too stupid to realize what a good thing that was. I should have told him that I knew about his mob involvement sooner than I did -- then maybe I’d have had some control over him.

RYAN: But he thought he was helping you by doing whatever he did, right?

CLAIRE: He may have thought he was helping me, but I don’t know where he got that idea! You know what he did? He had my husband shot! How helpful is that?

RYAN: Well, he always was famous for his temper.

CLAIRE: And if I remember, your dad was the same way.

RYAN: Right you are -- and he still is.

This seems to confuse Claire.

CLAIRE: I thought you said you didn’t have anything to do with him anymore.

***

INT: HOTEL SUITE

EVENING

As DANIELLE looks around the room in surprise, ANDY turns on his CD player. "I Still Believe" by Mariah Carey plays as he moves closer to Danielle.

DANIELLE: What is this?

ANDY: Well, like you said, this is our last night in this hotel. I just wanted to make it ... memorable.

DANIELLE: Ah-ha!

She giggles as she throws his arms around her and begins kissing her neck.

***

INT: CHASE HOME (FOYER)

EVENING

COURTNEY and LAUREN have been waiting for Helen and Alex all this time.

COURTNEY: What could they be talking about?

LAUREN: You heard the phone ring, didn’t you? Maybe your dad was on the phone.

COURTNEY: And I didn’t get to talk to him?

LAUREN: Maybe she’s still on with him.

COURTNEY: It doesn’t matter. I don’t even know what I’d say at this point. How could they keep something like this from me?

LAUREN: I can see their thinking, Court. How do you bring up something like that?

COURTNEY: I don’t know, but I think I deserved to know, didn’t I?

LAUREN: Did you ever specifically ask your father if he’d been married before?

COURTNEY: No, but--

LAUREN: It’s not like they lied to you. Besides, it was obviously something that he and your mom talked about and decided to keep in the past.

COURTNEY: I just don’t get why they couldn’t have told me. It’s jarring to find out something like this after you think you know someone so well.

At this point, HELEN and ALEX enter.

HELEN: That was your dad on the phone.

Lauren turns to Courtney with an "I-told-you-so" grin.

HELEN: Alex tried to find out where his mother might be, but they cut got off.

COURTNEY: Oh.

Everyone can tell by the way she says this that she is pouting about something, and Alex in particular takes the hint.

ALEX: You know what? I’m gonna get out of here.

HELEN: Are you sure?

ALEX: Yeah. Thanks again for all your help, Mrs. Chase.

HELEN: If I find out anything else, I’ll be in touch. Where are you staying?

ALEX: Actually, I have to go get myself checked into a hotel.

HELEN: Oh, all right ... Why don’t I give you our number?

ALEX: Sure.

Helen looks around for a minute and finds a notepad sitting on a small desk by the front door. She rips off a sheet of paper and scrambles to find a pen.

ALEX: Here you go.

He pulls a pen out of his pocket and hands it to her. When she has written down the number, she hands him both the pen and paper.

HELEN: There you go.

ALEX: Okay, thanks.

He opens up the front door.

ALEX: Again, I really appreciate everything. It was a pleasure meeting you -- all three of you.

He walks out the front door and pulls it closed behind him.

HELEN: Courtney, I know you’re upset about this ...

COURTNEY: You know what? I’d rather not talk about this right now. I’m just gonna go upstairs and cool off, okay? We can discuss this later.

HELEN: Fine.

Courtney heads upstairs without even saying anything to Lauren.

LAUREN: I guess I should get going, huh?

HELEN: That’s probably a good idea. I have no idea how Courtney’s going to act the rest of the night.

LAUREN: For the record, I understand why you guys would keep that from her. I’ll keep trying to talk some sense into her.

HELEN: Thanks, Lauren. But you know how it is ... When Courtney gets mad about something, there’s very little logic can do to help calm her down.

ACT THREE

INT: RESTAURANT

EVENING

CLAIRE prepares to stand, upset by what RYAN has just said.

RYAN: I wasn’t lying, Claire.

This at least gets her to stay in her seat.

RYAN: I haven’t cut all ties with my father. I just stay out of his business entirely.

Sensing some disappointment in Claire, he continues.

RYAN: I owe him so much, even if he’s done terrible things in the name of money. He’s the reason I even have what I do today.

CLAIRE: What do you mean?

RYAN: I found something out a few years ago ... something that changed the way I looked at my life in a lot of ways.

CLAIRE: What was it?

RYAN: I’m adopted, Claire.

CLAIRE: Really?

RYAN: Yeah. Like I said, even I didn’t know until just a few years ago. My father was always scared that he’d lose me if he told me, but eventually his conscience got the best of him.

CLAIRE: That’s a surprise for Nick.

RYAN: Yeah, really. But after that, I saw that no matter how much I might disapprove of the things my father does, he genuinely loves me. There’s no way I could’ve been unwanted -- he went and asked for me, you know?

CLAIRE: Yeah, I see what you mean.

Claire is visibly touched by Ryan’s outpouring of his emotions to her.

***

INT: HOTEL SUITE

EVENING

As the CD player continues to emit romantic music, ANDY and DANIELLE have collapsed onto the bed in the dark, candlelit room. He is shirtless and she is barely covered at all.

There is genuine passion in their kisses, their embraces. This is more than sex -- it is lovemaking. Still, every time Danielle opens her eyes briefly, it can be seen that something is troubling her.

Not surprisingly, it is the topic of her career and, more specifically, Roberta Owens’s offer of a record contract that is bothering her. She can’t shake the feeling that it was unwise to turn it down -- but still, she couldn’t have brought herself to make Andy wait a year for her.

She tries to force these distractions out of her head as they roll over once again. She knows she loves him, and isn’t that what really matters? She runs her hands over his chest, trying to push everything else out of her mind.

***

INT: CHASE HOME (KITCHEN)

EVENING

HELEN is standing around the kitchen, her mind still clouded by thoughts of Don and Sally and Alex and Courtney -- the whole situation in general. Why had Alex come to them in search of his mother? What had led him to believe she’d be there? Only one thing could have, of course -- his mother.

HELEN: (to herself) There has to be something more than I know about going on here. I just wish I could get Don on the phone and figure it out.

She picks up the phone and holds it in her hands wishfully.

***

PARIS, FRANCE

INT: HOTEL ROOM

MIDDAY

Despite her nervousness, SALLY just wants to dive right ahead and convince DON of how sorry she is.

SALLY: Honestly, Don, that’s a mistake I wish I’d never made. I was stupid -- I got what I wanted and then didn’t know where to go from there. Don’t get me wrong -- I love Alex -- but it would’ve been so much better if he’d been yours.

DON: Well, he wasn’t, huh? And maybe it’s better that way ... After all, we didn’t exactly make it, did we?

SALLY: No, I guess not. But we could’ve, Don. I know we could’ve.

DON: I guess we’ll never know, will we?

Though tempted, Sally does not reply with some witty comment about her plans for the future.

DON: I just wonder what he was doing over at my house. Did you tell him you were coming to visit me?

SALLY: Yeah ...

DON: Sally! Didn’t you warn him at all?

SALLY: Well, no. I thought he’d come by, talk to, and find out where I was. This whole trip was so sudden that I hadn’t had a chance to contact him yet -- and I sure didn’t expect him to come looking for me this soon.

DON: You just better pray that Helen doesn’t find out you’re here with me. I doubt it’ll sound so innocent if she finds out that I went on a trip I’ve been planning with her for years with my ex-wife -- just on a friendly basis, of course.

SALLY: How much does she know about us?

DON: As much as she needs to. She knows I was married before, she knows your name, and she knows we had a bad break-up.

SALLY: And now I’m assuming she knows a little more, thanks to Alex.

DON: Yeah, well, you’ve got to get ahold of him somehow and make sure he doesn’t say anything else. Otherwise I may not have much of a family left when I get home.

END OF EPISODE #91

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