Every night we lay down on soft, fluffy pillows and spend a few hours with visions of sugar plums and candy canes dancing in our heads. But, some nights, we don’t get sugar plums and candy canes. Some nights, we get surprises – some nasty, some pleasant. Like Bianca Bishop. When Layla finally turned in to sleep on their squeaky, motel bed, she got to dream a little dream of her own …
Bianca: Is this your dream or mine?
Jasper: I don’t know. I can’t tell them apart anymore.
Bianca: I’m afraid to touch you. Sometimes, in my dreams, I touch you and you disappear.
Jasper: Sometimes in my dreams, you won’t touch me.
Bianca: They’ve finished cleaning up the cabins. Now, there’s nothing left.
Jasper: This place holds so many memories for us.
Bianca: The place where I lost you.
Jasper: The place where I found you.
Bianca: Don’t give up on me, please. I’m still in here, Jasper. I’m here and I miss you and –
Jasper: And, what?
Bianca: And, I love you. I’ve told you so many times in my dreams, but I don’t know if you hear me.
Jasper: I hear you. Maybe not on a physical level, but my soul, my heart hears you. Please don’t give up on me, either, Binx. I can’t remember when I’m awake, but I don’t love her. I could never love anyone the way I love you. Bianca: I want to come home.
Jasper: So do I.
Bianca: But, what if we can never go home? She’s getting stronger and I don’t know how long I can keep fighting.
Jasper: We’ll find our way, Binx. Just have a little faith in me and my love for you.
But, when Jasper opened his eyes, the dream – and Bianca – faded away. He saw nothing but the memories of three months past, the vast nothingness beyond that and Alison, who’d been up all morning, watching him sleep.
Jasper: Hey. How long have you been up?Alison: Not long.
Jasper: I’ll make breakfast.
Alison: I thought we agreed you won’t cook?
Jasper: I was thinking about making my specialty – Cocoa Puffs.
Alison: You are a culinary genius in that department.
Jasper: I was thinking, maybe later we could go for a picnic? I’m also quite skilled in the peanut butter and jelly department, unless you want to make burgers.
Alison: You want to leave the house?
Jasper: Might be nice to get a change of scenery.
Alison: Alright. I need to go take care of a few errands, but we’ll see when I get back.
Across town, Rebecca Turner, too, was up early. Then again, it’s not to hard to get up early when you didn’t sleep at all the night before. She met Sam in the kitchen when she returned for her seventh cup of coffee.
Rebecca: I didn’t know anyone else was up.
Sam: Grant’s got me on cleanup duty.
Rebecca: Oh. Jane’s room?
Sam: Yeah, the police released the crime scene late last night.
Rebecca: So, have they made any progress on the investigation?
Sam: You didn’t hear? It’s closed. They’ve ruled Jane’s death a suicide.
Rebecca: I don’t believe that.
Sam: Becca, her prints were the only ones on the gun, there was gunpowder residue all over her hands.
Rebecca: She may have pulled that trigger, but she’s dead because of Brian Drake. She was scared to death of him, apparently to the point she took her own life and I’m going to find out why.
Sam: If you need any backup, let me know?
Rebecca: Thanks. I will. Speaking of progress…nothing on Bianca?
Sam: No. I’m going to catch up with Franklin at lunch, do some internet work to see if we can track her down. She’s doing a very good job of keeping under the radar. Bianca’s credit cards haven’t been touched, her savings account hasn’t been accessed. Then again, she always was resourceful.
Rebecca: I’m sorry.
Sam: I know things got bad between us, and most of it was my fault. I wanted too much too soon and didn’t realize I already had everything I needed. I also know I’m not going to get a second chance, but I still want her to come home. Even if she never speaks to me again, just having her here and safe –
Rebecca: Come here. Bianca is strong. She’ll fight her way back. I believe that and you have to believe that, too.
At sunrise, Franklin went to his and Bianca’s place. Sometimes, before everything went crazy, they would sneak out here and watch the sun come up or sink below the sky. They’d talk about school and boys and the shocking cliffhanger on last night’s Vampire Diaries. He’d always been Team Stefan, she Team Damon, which in retrospect, kind of explained the Jasper thing.
And, though this morning he’d intended to be alone, a friend found him.
Franklin: How’d you know where I was?
Noel: Creature of habit. Your room is also right above my new room, so I heard you when you got up.
Franklin: You changed rooms?
Noel: Wanted to be closer to Rebecca, in case she needed me. Grant approved.
Franklin: How’s she doing?
Noel: She didn’t sleep at all.
Franklin: I had a dream last night that Bianca came back and killed Grant because he okayed the blue paint in the bedrooms instead of red. Then, she used his blood to repaint them.
Noel: Sounds like Bianca.
Franklin: Yeah. There may have also been a hot Australian man who was here seeking a mate and – you probably don’t want me to finish that story.
Noel: That’s okay. I’m comfortable with your newfound out life. My fight with Rebecca taught me a very valuable lesson to not push my religious beliefs and values onto others.
Franklin: I wish other people felt that way, like certain Brian Drakes.
Speak of the devil and he doth appear.
As Rebecca was heading out to her morning classes, she ran into old Lucifer, lurking about just beyond the Dalton House gates.
Rebecca: Oh goody. Winthrop Prep’s resident stalker.
Brian: I heard they’re establishing a memorial outside of Jane’s room. I was just coming to pay my respects.
Rebecca: Respects? She’s dead because of you.
Brian: She’s dead because of a chemical imbalance and because a pawn shop owner cared more about a few hundred dollars than following the law and sold to a minor without a permit.
Rebecca: Something happened between the two of you.
Brian: You’re right. It did. We slept together. No, that’s an inaccurate euphemism. I turned that girl out six ways from Sunday to the point she came crawling back, begging me to do it again, but, what can I say? I didn’t have nearly as much fun as she did.
Rebecca: Somehow I doubt you’re a sex god.
Brian: Someone had to take over as the campus Casanova after Jasper went and got all woobified over that hot pair of boobs he hooked up with last semester. As for my talents, I could show you. It’d be a first for me, I’ve never had one like you. Rebecca: What’s that supposed to mean?
Brian: Is it true what they say about your kind in bed?
Rebecca: You should leave. Now.
Brian: Fine, but I’m warning you. You shouldn’t go sticking that pretty nose of yours in where it doesn’t belong, or something might blow up in your face.
Rebecca decided she would have to have a chat with Beth about Brian’s behavior. But, first, she had a class to attend and classmates to question.
In her new headmistress’ office, Beth Davenport finished writing up the proposal to the budgetary committee regarding the design project for Dalton House. She’d hoped Noel Redding’s design would be chosen and in a couple of hours was supposed to meet with him and a representative from the school newspaper to take a picture and do an interview for the school website.
At least until a bull rampaged into her china shop.
Rachel: Do you think you can just take everything that’s mine?
Beth: I haven’t tried.
Rachel: What about that letter you released to the press on behalf of the family? The one where you so graciously thanked the community for their continued support of your family?
Beth: Ted and Bianca are my family.
Rachel: No, they’re my family. Ted is my husband –
Beth: Ex-husband.
Rachel: And, Bianca is my daughter.
Beth: I love her as if she were my own.
Rachel: But, she isn’t your own. She’s mine. You are not her mother.
Beth: No, I’m not. And, I dare say if I
were, I would never have let a guy like Pete Summers around her. You can stomp into my office, raise your voice to me, try to instill the fear of God into me all you want, but it doesn’t change things. You took her away from her father only to make her vulnerable to a guy like Pete who not only abused you, but abused your daughter in the most horrific way possible to the point she fractured into another person just to survive it. So, no, Beth, I am not her mother. A mother would die before she let something like that happen to her – Suddenly, Beth became quiet and uneasy on her feet.
Rachel: Are you okay?
Beth: I’m fine. My blood sugar is just low. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning. If we’re done here, I’m going to the cafeteria.
Rachel: We’re done, but remember that Ted loved me once and things like this only bring people closer together. I’ll always have a place in his life you can never hold – I gave him a little girl with his dark hair and his big, green eyes and his disastrous taste in music.
As Rachel left, Beth tried not to let her words penetrate her mind, but they did anyway. Each day that Bianca was gone served as a constant reminder that she was Ted’s only living child. He’d lost Layla, Bianca might have been dead for all they knew and she could never give him another flesh and blood anchor to this world.
Alison was perplexed at the site Jasper chose for their picnic.
Alison: Why here?
Jasper: I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about this place a lot lately and I don’t know why. Is it okay?
Alison: Yeah, fine. I just am a little surprised, is all.
Jasper: Was something here before? Something that isn’t now?
Alison: Cabins. There was a boathouse and a couple of changing rooms, used by the Winthrop Prep rowing team.
Jasper: Oh. Did I ever row? I can’t recall a fondness for boats, but something about this place –
Alison: We should eat. Our food is getting cold.
Alison tried to eat, but her appetite was gone. Instead, she stood up and went to the water's edge.
Jasper: Are you alright? You feel so distant.
Alison: I’m fine. I’m just glad you’re starting to remember.
Jasper: I don’t know about that. It’s less remembering and more a sense of déjà vu. You’re not still worried about me remembering and hating you all of a sudden, are you?
Alison: I’m in love with you, Jasper. I try not to be, but I am, and there’s nothing I can do about it. This morning, I woke up and I came into the living room and I saw you lying there, sleeping, and I thought to myself that I have never been happier in my life than I am when you tell me you want me. But, then you got up, and there was this brief moment between when you were awake and when you were still asleep and you looked at me with so much hate.
Jasper: How can you say that?
Alison: Because, it’s true. I think you remember who you are in your sleep, where you come from and where you’re supposed to be. And, when you wake up, those dreams linger in the back of your mind for a few seconds, until they fade away and the blankness overwhelms everything.
Jasper: You’re projecting your insecurities onto me.
Alison: Am I? Or does some part of you know you don’t belong here with me?
Jasper: I do. If I wanted to be somewhere else, I would be there. But, I want to be with you. I want to love you and to … to make love to you. You’re the one stopping this, not me.
Alison: Because it isn’t right. How can you make a decision like if you want to have sex with me or not when you don’t even know who you are?
Jasper: I don’t need to know who I am. I know who you are. You’re the amazing woman who found me when I
had my accident and nursed me back to health. You’re the sweet girl who I held when she grieved the loss of her mother. You’ve been my friend, my advocate, everything I could ask for. Whatever reason people in this community might have to dislike you, I don’t care. I’ve seen you. There is nothing you could say or do to make me hate you.Alison: I wish that were true.
Jasper: Let me prove it to you. Alison, let me go home and show you I am in this for the long haul, regardless of what memories might come back to me.
Rebecca tried her luck at lunch with the kids who congregated out in the quad. Their responses to if they’d seen anything weird between Jane and Brian ranged from complete ignorance to cagy dodging.
Gus Hart had been willing to talk, but it turned out he didn’t really know anything, he just wanted a date with Franklin. She’d had to tell him Franklin wasn’t into mullets.
Disappointed, Rebecca was about to call it a day, but the foreign exchange student, Fortuna, called her over to the table where she practiced her chess.
Fortuna: You wish to know about Brian Drake, no? Rebecca: I do.
Fortuna: Very troubling young man.
Rebecca: Why do you say that?
Fortuna: I come here in December, when everyone else is away on break. They placed me in Howard Hall, in room two doors down from Jane. She did not go on break. But, Brian Drake did not go away, either.
Rebecca listened as Fortuna told her story, her blood boiling more and more with each word she said.
Meanwhile, Layla was in her motel room, just now waking up.
Meanwhile, Layla was in her motel room, just now waking up.
Layla: I have a hangover and your nattering is not helping, Bianca.
Bianca: Where are you going?
Layla: Out. I was thinking I might work on our tan. You’ve let us get so thin and so pale. God, if we sparkled we’d be mistaken for vampires.
Bianca: Let me go home. Back to Jasper.
Layla: Jasper’s dead, cupcake.
Remember? It’s why I’m out here and you’re in there? Bianca: I feel him, like he’s still here.
Layla: You’re not about to start singing a Celine Dion song, are you? Because, remember, hangover?
Bianca: When you’re with those other guys, it feels like I’m cheating on him. It makes me sick.
Layla: Ugh. You’re stressing me out. Look, we’re getting a pimple.
Bianca: This is my body –
Layla: And, when you’re in control, you can abstain all you want in the name of your beloved Dead Jasper. But, I’m driving this thing right now and I want to enjoy it with a boy. Or, maybe two. I did so enjoy that when we went to New York.
As Bianca sank back into the recesses and Layla went about her business, she wondered if maybe her dreams weren’t just the fantasies conjured by a broken heart. And, if he was out there, where was he and what was he doing?
Alison: Are you sure?
Jasper: Yes.
Jasper: I’ve never wanted anyone in my life like I want you…
Jasper: …Bianca.
Alison: No!
Jasper: I – I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.
Alison: I do.
Jasper: Do I know a Bianca?
Alison: Yes. She was your girlfriend.
Jasper: Then, it’s probably just a slip of the tongue.
Alison: No, it’s your brain telling your body what we both know. It belongs to someone else. I’m just glad that this happened before we had sex, because now I know what needs to be done.
Rebecca came home after her final class to find Noel in the sitting room, holding a slab of meat to his face.
Rebecca: Noel? What happened?
Noel: I was defending your honor.
Rebecca: You were? How come?
Noel: Because you were upset about what Brian said to you and he needed to be hit.
Rebecca: You hit him?
Noel: Well, not exactly. See, I tried to. I swung, but I missed. Then, I tripped over my shoe laces, stumbled forward and cracked my eye on the edge of the fountain. Rebecca: That’s incredibly sweet and incredibly stupid.
Noel: Yeah, well, let him upset you on a day I’m wearing sandals. We’ll see who’s got the black eye then.
Rebecca: Pretty sure it’ll be you.
Noel: Yeah, probably. I just don’t like him talking trash to my girl. Speaking of Brian, did you find out anything today?
Rebecca: One key piece of evidence – apparently, Brian didn’t go home for winter break. He stayed on campus. With Jane.
Noel: Really?
Rebecca: Yeah, and according to that foreign exchange girl, Jane spent the entire time in her room in Howard Hall. And, guess who came by at all hours of the day to harass Jane? Guess who broke in and left a dead bird on Jane’s pillow? Guess who threw a rock
through her window in the middle of the night, causing her to move to Dalton Hall when classes resumed? Noel: Brian?
Rebecca: Right. He tortured her until he broke her, and I’m not going to stop until he’s paid for it.
Noel: Can I cry now?
Rebecca: Yes.
Noel: Owwwwwwww.
On her way into the bar, Layla bumped into Lucas.
Lucas: Hey, Eric Clapton’s kid.
Layla: Hey, the unfunny comedian.
Lucas: I would offer to buy you a drink, but you’ve probably already stolen my credit card.
Layla: Don’t need to. Memorized the account number and the three-digit code on the back. Besides, with what I’ve got on underneath this coat, I’m sure the boys will be begging me to let them buy me a drink.
She went inside – Lucas drooling on her heels – and a wink at the bouncer got her inside the VIP lounge. This chain wasn’t all that different from the one in Sunset Valley, but she liked it better. On account of it not being in Sunset Valley.
Layla dropped the coat off at the door and made a beeline to the hot tub. Unfortunately the place was dead, but it was still early. For now, she would humor Lucas and his obvious lust for her.
Lucas: So, WooHoo on the Beach is your drink, right?
Layla: You have a good memory.
Lucas: You just make an impression.
Layla: You know, I can’t figure you out. The other night we met and I offered to let you have a crack at me and you didn’t take me up on it. Why not?
Lucas: Never been one for one night stands.
Layla: So, why are you sniffing around me tonight?
Lucas: Maybe I want to get to know you.
Layla: And, fall in love with me? Con me into marrying you and sacrificing this figure being your breeding machine? No thanks.
Lucas: Why are you so anti-love?
Layla: Never seen it work out. It
always winds up with the guy divorcing you or cheating on you or abusing you or getting blown up by psychotic bitches from Kansas – Lucas: Huh?
Layla: Doesn’t matter. Bottom line, love is for losers. Sex, however, is for winners. I like winning. I’m very good at it.
Lucas: You’re a beautiful girl, Layla. You’re smart and you’re funny and you’re – okay, you’re a pickpocket and kind of heavy on the snark, but I like
that about you. And, if you’d give me the chance, I would like to get to know you before we start … winning. Layla: Why?
Lucas: Because you deserve better than some guy from some bar who’s not even going to remember your name the next morning.
Layla: I have to go.
Lucas: Please, come back. Layla! Look, just give me one night to see if I can put a smile on your face without having sex with you. That's all I'm asking for here, one chance to show you how much you matter.
Back home, Beth tried her best to tend to Ted, to offer him some support. But, something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Ted: Are you okay?
Beth: I’ve just been kind of out of it all day. I think I need to go see Dr. Griffin about an adjustment on my insulin regulators.
Ted: Why don’t you go to bed and I’ll make you something to eat.
Beth went to bed, but when Ted came back with a snack, she was already fast asleep and dreaming away. She didn’t even stir when the doorbell rang.
They say a dream is a wish that your heart makes, but eventually, we all must wake up and face the harsh light of day. No dream was meant to last forever and reality must eventually be met, whether we’re dragged kicking and screaming or surrender and admit defeat.
Ted: What the hell are you doing here?
Alison: Jasper’s alive.
