It didn’t take much to fascinate Shirtless Wonder. Sudoku puzzles. Windmills. Watching the clothes tumble around through the window on the dryer. He was much like a Golden Retriever in that way. On that particular Thursday morning, it was the coffee machine that held him in rapt wonder.
Grant: Crack of dawn. Surprised you’re up.
Sam: Becca’s having her surgery today. I’m about to head to Bridgeport to see how she’s doing. Thought I’d get an early start, try to beat traffic and shave an hour off the drive.
Grant: Well, I hope she’s alright, for her sake and the sake of our insurance premiums.
Sam: Not cool, Grant. This has been a very difficult time for her – Grant: And, our stove. And, her door. And, our blender. And, four of our table lamps…
Sam: I know. But, they’re things. They can be replaced. Becca can’t.
I should go by Noel's room and see if he's coming with me.
Grant: He’s not there. When I got up, I saw him heading for Franklin’s room.
Jasper was at home. At least, that’s what he called Mancini Manor. It was the place he grew up in, the place where he’d lived with his family. Now, it was just walls and floors and ceilings, a place filled with distantly happy memories and nearer, more painful truths.
He must’ve fallen asleep, boxing up the library, for when he awoke on the couch it was morning and Beth was there.
Beth: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. The front door was open.
Jasper: It’s fine. Are you sure it’s okay for you to be here? There’s so much dust and your immune system--
Beth: The doctors think I am strong enough to leave now. I have to go back weekly for outpatient chemo, but I have moved into the next stage of my treatment.
Jasper: I’m glad.
Beth: What’s all of this?
Jasper: Just packing. I wasn’t going to mention anything until you felt better and could help me handle it, but I’m thinking of selling the house.
Beth: Why would you want to sell this house? It’s been in your family for generations.
Jasper: I need to tell you something.
Beth: I’m listening.
Jasper: You know Dr. Masters, the woman who’s been caring for Bianca? Beth: I do, she’s a colleague. We’ve consulted on Bianca’s case.
Jasper: She wasn’t always Dr. Millicent Masters. Before, she was Mrs. Roger Mancini.
Beth: Your mother?
Jasper: One in the same. I found out a couple of days ago. I didn’t believe her, at first, but she volunteered to have a DNA test done.
Beth: Did you get the results?
Jasper: Yesterday evening, they were sent over by messenger from the hospital. It was all there in black and white. She’s my mother.
Beth: Wow. Jasper, this should be good news.
Jasper: How can it be good news? When she was dead, I mourned her. Now I know she abandoned me. She just left. She chose Lucas and his
father over me. Beth: Are you sure about that? Have you talked to her?
Jasper: I don’t want to talk to her. Beth, when you offered to adopt me, I was happy. You’re a good woman with a sweet soul and a huge heart. You said you weren’t trying to take her place, but you did. Just knowing I had somewhere to go, somewhere other than Bianca, it made me feel safe. That’s not something I feel a lot.
Beth: Nothing has to change that. Whether or not I am legally your mother, I won’t just leave you. I promise.
Jasper: Could we still proceed with the adoption?
Beth: If she doesn’t contest and relinquishes her rights, yes. But, are you sure you want that?
Jasper: I don’t know what I want anymore.
Beth: Do me a favor. Talk to her. And, if you want to proceed with the adoption, I will sign on the dotted line with a smile on my face. But, if you don’t, Jasper you still have me. I’m not going anywhere.
Meanwhile, Bianca, too, enjoyed a day of freedom from the confinements of a healthcare center. Though, unlike Beth, this Cinderella had to get home by eight PM, when her day pass expired. Ted took her to show her the new house he’d bought, fulfilling his promise to Beth to get them a bigger place once Bianca was home.
Ted: So, what do you think?
Bianca: I think you screwed up and I’m really, really glad I’m not you right now.
Ted: What gave me away? The linoleum?
Bianca: Your face. You have zero poker face, Dad. Do you want to tell me what you did or do I have to guess?
Ted: I slept with Rachel.
Bianca: Oh, God – old people sex. What’s wrong with you?
Ted: It was when you were in the hospital, you were in the coma, the doctors didn’t know if you were going to wake up. I lashed out at Rachel, went to apologize, she broke down and I saw something in her I hadn’t seen in a long time. We kissed and, I guess we got so swept up in it that things just spiraled out of control.
Bianca: Does Beth know?
Ted: No. Rachel doesn’t want her to. They’ve become close, she doesn’t want to mess that up. And, I don’t want to hurt Beth. I love her, Bianca.
Bianca: I know that. Doesn’t change that you made a dick move and you have to tell her.
Ted: Do you think she’ll forgive me?
Bianca: Beth isn’t like me. She’s understanding and forgiving to a fault. She knows grief makes people do crazy things. I think it’ll take her some time to get over it, but yes, I
think she’ll forgive you. Me, I could never forgive Jasper. Ted: You forgave him for running you over with my stolen car.
Bianca: That was an accident.
Ted: Either way, it wouldn’t break my heart if you two broke up for good.
Bianca: Dad, I’m okay. My alternate personality and I are all mushed together again, my injuries have healed, I’m a happy, healthy Bianca.
If I’m not holding it against him with my forgiveness issues, that should say something. Besides, Beth’s adopting him so, even if he isn’t my boyfriend, he’s going to kind of be in your family regardless. Ted: Don’t remind me. So, what would you like to do with your day of freedom?
Bianca: I want to go out on the boat.
Ted: We haven’t been out on the boat together since Layla died.
Bianca: I know. It’s time, if you’re okay with it.
Ted: I’m okay with it.
Bianca: Cool. I’ll go call us in some lunch at that diner by the marina. We can pick it up when we get there.
Ted: Excellent idea. I’ll go change clothes.
Bianca: Great. Try not to have adulterous grief sex with your ex-wife while I’m gone.
When he was ready to hit the road, Sam went upstairs to Franklin’s room, looking for Noel. What he found was something unexpected entirely…
Sam: Hey, Franklin, man, have you seen –
Sam: Oh my God.
Noel: This isn’t what it looks like.
Sam: Really? Because, it looks like you’re making out with Franklin.
Noel: Okay, it is what it looks like.
Sam: Rebecca said she thought you were seeing someone else –
Noel: What does it matter? She dumped me for you. Remember? You had sex with my blind girlfriend?
Sam: No, I didn’t. Jesus, this is just getting out of hand. Nothing is going on with Rebecca and me. She just told you that because she was trying to protect you.
Noel: Protect me from what?
Sam: I don’t have time to explain. Are you going to the hospital with me or not?
Noel: Five minutes.
When Sam left, Noel went to Franklin.
Noel: Franklin, I –
Franklin: You don’t have to say anything.
Noel: I have to go.
Franklin: I know.
And, when Noel was gone, Franklin tried not to let his heart break – tried and failed, miserably. First Vincent, now Noel. Would he ever sleep with a guy who stayed gay afterwards?
Beth sat with Jasper in the conservatory. For a while, neither said a word, and Jasper didn’t understand why she’d brought him down here when he’d been perfectly happy brooding in the library.
Beth: This is where Ted proposed to me.
Jasper: It is?
Beth: During that party last fall. He’d proposed a few times before, but I didn’t feel worthy of him because of a decision I’d made when I was your age. But, Bianca made me see that he loved me, that when you love someone, there’s nothing insurmountable.
Jasper: That was the night I found out about my father killing Cynthia.
Beth: I know. See, bad things happened that night, but good things happened, too. This house, there are bad memories here, but I know there are good ones, too. Get rid of the bad ones, there will be room for even more good ones. Think about it, someday you could marry Bianca, live here with her, raise your children with her, grow old with her.
Jasper: I want that more than anything.
Beth: You love her.
Jasper: She’s my world. I don’t know what I would do if I lost her.
Beth: I feel the same way about Ted. And, I know he loves me. That’s why he hasn’t told me that he slept with Rachel when Bianca was in the hospital.
Jasper: How do you know if he hasn’t told you?
Beth: He has no poker face.
Rebecca was in her room, waiting for the nurses to prep her for surgery while her parents went to the cafeteria to get something to eat and her sister, Denise, went to flirt with the cute orderly she saw cleaning the bathrooms. She tried to think about something other than how nervous she was. What if the surgery failed? What if she never saw again? But, the only alternative was thinking about her mystery caller, the person who knew what she did to Brian Drake.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps advancing across the floor, coming closer and closer towards her bed.
Rebecca: Is someone there?
Noel: It’s just me.
Rebecca: Noel? What are you doing here?
Noel: I know everything.
Rebecca: Everything?
Noel: You, Sam, what happened to Brian Drake.
Rebecca thought she’d be furious at Sam for telling her, but she wasn’t. Her eyes welled up with tears and all she could be was grateful. With Noel, all her fear vanished.
Rebecca: I was trying to protect you. I thought if we broke up –
Noel: They wouldn’t bring me into it. Rebecca, you have to know, I don’t care how dangerous something is, if you’re there, it’s where I want to be.
Rebecca: And, I didn’t have sex with Sam.
Noel: He told me that, too.
Rebecca: I’ve missed you so much. You don’t know how hard it’s been,
pretending I didn’t want you.
Noel: I have to tell you something--
Rebecca: I don’t care. Whatever it is, I don’t care. All I care about is you kissing me and holding me and being here when I come out of surgery.
Noel: I’m not going anywhere.
Outside, Sam watched the reunited lovebirds embrace and tried to remember he was never a contender in this fight.
Franklin was frustrated. Noel called and, for a minute, he hoped Noel was calling to tell him things were over with him and Rebecca. Instead, he’d asked for a favor ….
Franklin: “Feed my fish for me, would you, pal?” “Sure, buddy, I’ll just forget you’re the best sex I ever had and go take care of your freaking fish!”
When he was done, he decided to play an arcade game, in hopes of calming down. Was this what detoxing junkies felt like?
Beth went home to get some sleep after she and Jasper had lunch. He’d cooked. Not many people knew that about Jasper, but he made the best PB&J in Sunset Valley. Afterwards, he went to work packing the parlor. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to sell or not, starting a family here with Bianca appealed to him in ways he never imagined it could. But, one thing was for certain – he wanted to wash his hands of anything related to Roger and that woman who called herself his mother.
He hated her so much the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when she came over, uninvited.
Jasper: What do you want?
Millicent: To talk. I got the DNA test results back.
Jasper: So did I.
Millicent: Then, you know it’s true? I’m your mother.
Jasper: You’re the woman who gave birth to me. You’re not my mother.
Millicent: Jasper, please. You don’t understand.Jasper: What is there to understand? You left.
Millicent: No. Your father tried to have me killed when I told him I was leaving him. I should have died in that accident. I was burned over thirty percent of my body, my face was virtually destroyed. But, I got lucky. My high school sweetheart made good and he was one of the doctors working the burn center I got transferred to. I told him what happened and he took care of everything. He exchanged my
records for that of Millicent Masters, a patient of his who’s died earlier in the day. She had no family, no one who ever visited her. Your mother was dead and, after almost two years of skin grafts and reconstructive surgery, Millicent Masters lived. Jasper: So, why didn’t you come back?
Millicent: I looked like a monster. I didn’t want you to be afraid of me. By the time I resembled a human being again, you’d mourned me. I thought it was best to just let you be.
Besides, I knew Roger would never hurt you. You were his first born, his prized possession. Jasper: How noble of you. So, where does the other son fit in? Lucas is older than me, isn’t he?
Millicent: When I was a senior, I got pregnant. Harry Holloway, the high school sweetheart I told you about, was the father. I didn’t want to be a mother, not that early in my life. So, Harry took custody of the baby boy I gave birth to, Lucas. I went to college, intent on med school like I wanted, but then I met Roger, two years later, and I got pregnant again, with you. Jasper: Why didn’t you pass me off, too?
Millicent: I missed Lucas terribly and I couldn’t miss out on my second chance.
Jasper: You made it to med school anyway.
Millicent: Harry and I fell in love all over again while he was caring for me. He slowly introduced me to Lucas’ life and he helped me the entire way. I had a family, but there wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t want you to be a part of it. I knew you wouldn’t understand, so when I found out about Bianca, I thought it was my chance. If I could heal this girl you loved so much, maybe you might be so grateful you could forgive me.
Jasper: I am grateful for all the help
you gave Bianca, but there’s no place in my life for you. I’m going to be eighteen in a few months. I’ve had more sexual partners than I can count, been addicted to drugs, found out my father killed his girlfriend, had drug-induced amnesia, nearly killed the girl I love and was forced to watch her suffer a mental illness. I have experienced so many things that you weren’t here for. I didn’t need you then and I don’t need you now. If you want to do something for me now, find Beth Davenport, sign away whatever rights you have to me and let me have the family I want. Millicent: I do love you.
Jasper said nothing. The lump in his throat prevented him from saying a word. Instead, he stood there until she took the hint and left of her own accord. And, when she was gone, he wept just as he’d done the day they told him she’d died.
Noel came out of Rebecca’s room when the nurses came in to prep her for surgery. There, he met Sam, who’d chewed his fingernails down to the quick, nervous about Rebecca’s impending procedure.
Sam: How is she?
Noel: Better. Thank you for telling me.
Sam: It was the right thing to do.
Noel: Are you going to tell her about Franklin and me?
Sam: No.
Noel: Why?
Sam: Because, I’m in love with her. I don’t know when it happened, but I woke up one day and realized I was crazy about her. If she finds out about you and Franklin, it’ll hurt her and I can’t stand the thought of her going through another minute of pain. But, don’t worry, I’ll never tell her that, either. After Bianca, I’ve learned my lesson about interfering with soul mates.
Noel: She wants to see you when the nurses get done.
Ted Bishop had noticed a remarkable change in Bianca. She’d seemed at peace on the boat, sitting in quiet reflection for a while. She didn’t say a lot for the entire trip, but her eyes spoke volumes. She’d finally let go of the guilt, they’d said. And it’d helped him loosen his grip on his own guilt, as well. He would never stop mourning Layla, as he didn’t think anyone ever really got over losing a child. But, Bianca had helped him in more ways than she knew.
When he came home, Beth was there. He’d told her he had a surprise for her and drove her out to the new house.
Ted: So? Is it okay?
Beth: It’s beautiful. I especially like the linoleum.
Ted: Good. There’s a room just down the hall, I thought it’d make a nice nursery, you know, if you’re still open to adopting when you get better.
Beth: All I want is a life with you. But, I need you to know something. Ted, I’m not as fragile as you think. I’m not going to fall over dead because you tell me something that’s
going to hurt me. Ted: I don’t know what –
Beth: Stop lying to me. Please. I already know, I just need you to say it out loud.
Ted: It was one time. I swear, I don’t know what came over me.
Beth: People are funny things. All these chemicals in our bodies, responses and emotions we can’t always make sense of – that doesn’t mean it hurts any less.
Ted: I never wanted to hurt you and I don’t love Rachel.
Beth: I know.
Ted: Can we make it through this?
Beth: Yes, because I love you more than I hate what you did. But, if you lie to me again, whether it’s to protect me or to protect yourself, this relationship will be over. Am I understood?
Ted: Crystal clear.
When the nurses left Rebecca’s room, Sam went inside.
Sam: Noel said you wanted to see me? Rebecca: I wanted to thank you for taking such good care of me these past few weeks.
Sam: Anytime.
Rebecca: There’s something else. He called while the nurses were here.
Sam: What did he want?
Rebecca: Half a million dollars. He has a tape. He played part of it, I could hear the audio. It was you and I conspiring to get rid of the body. He said he’s sending it to the police if he doesn’t have the money by Sunday.
Sam: I’ll take care of this. Don’t worry. You just focus on getting your sight back.
Rebecca: I don’t know what I’d do without you.
In his room, Franklin was exercising his stress away. Rather, he was trying to. He didn’t quite know how to work this thing.
Bianca: I’m pretty sure if the inanimate object is winning, you’re doing it wrong.
Franklin: Bianca!
Bianca: Hey, my sweaty, stinky friend.
Franklin: Are you okay? Wait, are you Layla? Did you run away again? Do I have to handcuff you to the bed and call the men in white coats?
Bianca: One, if I were Layla, do you think I’d run away to Bianca’s best friend?
Franklin: Good point. Two?
Bianca: Two, you have handcuffs? Someone’s gotten kinky since I’ve been gone.
Franklin: Well, I took them from that box of things we removed from your room when they did renovations.
Bianca: I forgive your thievery. So, what’s up with the – coat rack?
Franklin: I need to tell you something, something I’m not sure you’re going to like.
Bianca: You had sex with him, didn’t you?
Franklin: Excessively.
Bianca: He went back to Rebecca, didn’t he?
Franklin: This morning.
Bianca: Do we need quality snuggle time?
Franklin: In a minute, that’s actually not what I wanted to tell you. Okay, I 
don’t know how to say it, so I’m just going to spit it out. I’m leaving Winthrop Prep.
don’t know how to say it, so I’m just going to spit it out. I’m leaving Winthrop Prep. Bianca: What? Because of Noel?
Franklin: Because of my uncle, Stavros Cristea.
Bianca: You have an uncle?
Franklin: He and my father are estranged. My father doesn’t associate with his family. His son, Oliver, died.
Bianca: I’m sorry.
Franklin: I’m going to go live with him in Bridgeport. He really needs someone. I was talking to him on the phone and he was saying crazy things about how now that Oliver is gone, I’m the only one to carry on the Cristea legacy of vampire slaying.
Bianca: Haha, you’re the gay Buffy?
Franklin: I know, right?
Bianca looked away, trying to hide her tears.
Franklin: Please, don’t cry.
Bianca: I’m sorry.
Franklin: You know I’ll come back any time you need me, right?
Bianca: I love you.
Franklin: I love you, too.
Bianca: Can we snuggle now?
Sam went home after Rebecca was out of surgery. With her family and Noel there, he felt out of place. He was heading for his room, when he overheard Grant talking to someone on the phone.
Grant: Look, you’ll get your money. I’m good for it. By Sunday. I swear.
