"The courtroom gasped collectively as Tad announced that he knew why Brooke hadn't shown up for court. "She's not well," Tad said solemnly. Judge Foster looked quite peeved and told Tad that Brooke had better be "hospital ill," or she'd be in big trouble. "As a matter of fact," Tad replied. "She's in quarantine." Tad told the judge that Brooke had contracted a "highly contagious" and "possible fatal" disease. The courtroom erupted in a cacophony of gasps and whispers. Judge Foster sounded his gavel several times and demanded that order be restored. He threatened to boot everyone out of the courtroom if even one person disobeyed him. Keith appeared to be the only one who questioned Tad's announcement. The assistant district attorney called it "highly suspicious" that Brooke hadn't called the court to tell them of her hospitalization. Tad blamed the lack of notification on himself. He claimed that he'd dropped by Brooke's house and found her unconscious on the floor; because of this Brooke was obviously not able to pick up the phone herself. Keith was still unconvinced. He told the judge that he wanted to visit Brooke first-hand and verify that she was, in fact, sick. Tad cast Keith a piercing glance and told him that he's welcome to visit with Brooke---but only if he wants to end up in quarantine too! Tad added that even Brooke's family isn't allowed to visit for more than five minutes at a time. The thought of contracting a rare and possible fatal infection changed Keith's mind awfully quickly. He decided that speaking to Brooke's attending physician would satisfy him. Tad announced that he could have the physician appear before the court in a matter of minutes. Keith followed Tad out of the courtroom and quizzed him about Brooke's supposed illness. He found it somewhat puzzling that Tad had helped Brooke, a woman with a highly contagious and potentially lethal virus, to the hospital and had not been asked to stick around the hospital to be checked out himself. The look on Tad's face showed that he hadn't really thought about that part of the story. He quickly scurried to come up with a reply that would satisfy the attorney. He said that he was headed back to the hospital later to have himself checked out. Keith simply said, "Mm hmm," and headed back to the courtroom. Joe appeared some time later and before Tad could find out if his father was still going to take part in the scheme. A bailiff ordered Joe to appear before Judge Foster. Joe told the court that he believed that Brooke was suffering from a "rare form a pneumonia," one which was nearly resistant to all conventional drug treatments. He explained that to be sure, they were running a series of tests on Brooke. The results, however, would take several days. In light of the news, Trevor made a motion that the judge grant a continuance until Brooke was in better health. Keith vehemently objected. Just in case no one else had noticed, Keith pointed out that Joe was the former father-in-law of the supposedly ailing defendant. Trevor argued that Joe was the Chief of Staff at Pine Valley Hospital and that he would not lie about a patient's health. Judge Foster listened to the two men go back and forth with Tad offering an occasional interjection. When the men seemed to have run out of things to say, he asked them if he could get a word in edgewise. Judge Foster told Keith that he knows Joe on both a personal and professional level. His wife, he said, had been treated by Joe and he had even served on the hospital board with Joe a few years back. Dr. Martin was a man of the "utmost integrity" and Judge Foster wasn't about to doubt what the doctor has said. Judge Foster still wasn't too thrilled by the idea that the test results would take several days to analyze. He gave Joe forty-eight hours to get at least an inkling of what was wrong with Brooke and how long she might be hospitalized. Joe nodded his head and left the courtroom. Tad quickly met up with his father outside the courtroom and learned that getting fake test results wasn't going to be an easy task. Joe told him that all paperwork would have to go through "the proper channels." The implication was that the more false documentation they had to come up with, the more likely they were to get caught.
Emotions went from high to low in just a matter of seconds for Liza, as she sat peacefully on the sun porch. Dr. Clader mused that Liza was his "errant patient" because she'd left her room without telling anyone. That, however, wasn't a problem and Dr. Clader assured Liza that her injuries did not threaten her ability to have a child. In fact, he gave her the green light to begin artificial insemination at any time. Liza hugged the doctor and Dr. Clader went on his way. Soon after the doctor left, Liza received a visit from yet another person with ties to the medical community---Allie. Allie, a cold expression on her face, commented that Liza looked well. Just as quickly as Allie seemed to want to make small talk, she went into a belittlement of Liza's decision to get pregnant using Jake as a sperm donor. "How do you do it?" Allie asked. "How do you win everybody's sympathy and at the same time make me look like a villain?" Liza didn't have the fortitude---nor the desire---to get into a shouting match with Allie. She simply explained that her decision to go through artificial insemination was in no way any of Allie's business. She also noted that she hadn't decided to use Jake as the donor to get back at or hurt Allie. Allie insisted that Liza's choice did affect her. Liza had asked Jake, the man that Allie loves, to father her child. "I can't even give him his first born," Allie growled, referring to that fact that Liza would be the first woman to father Jake's child. She then urged Liza to find her own man because Jake was all hers. Liza sadly noted that she didn't have a special man in her life. She explained that she was not trying to steal Jake away from Allie---and remained adamant in her claim that she wants Jake and Allie to live happily ever after. While Liza was not in love with Jake, she was madly in love "with a baby that hasn't even been conceived yet." Liza asked Allie to look into her heart and realize that she never meant to hurt her. For a moment, Allie seemed overtaken by emotion. Then she snorted and snapped, "Nice try." Allie turned and walked away.
Edmund pushed Dimitri away and asked him to hit him. Dimitri shook his head and told his brother that he was not going to fight him. Edmund sighed. He'd asked, begged, and now threatened to beat Brooke's whereabouts out of Dimitri---nothing worked. Dimitri failed to see why Edmund was so concerned for Brooke. "What's your personal stake?" he asked Edmund. Edmund reminded Dimitri that Brooke has always been one of his best friends, not to mention his co-worker at Tempo. He didn't want to face going to work every day and knowing that Brooke was running around the world to escape prosecution. Dimitri argued that Brooke had made up her own mind to flee the country. Edmund knew that his brother had prodded Brooke along during the decision-making process. In addition to one of his friends that was already out of his life, Edmund didn't want to lose Dimitri. He marveled at the long way they had come in their relationship. Edmund noted, however, that Dimitri was risking it all by refusing to say where he'd sent Brooke. To Edmund, the fleeing the country scenario reeked of another of Dimitri's famed attempts to beat the legal system. When Maria had learned that Kelsey was going to regain custody of Sammy, Dimitri suggested that she flee. That led to a painful downslide that ultimately resulted in Dimitri and Maria sleeping together. Tad stumbled into the castle and asked Dimitri where he could find Brooke. "I can't tell you," Dimitri replied pigheadedly. Tad tried to convince Dimitri that he needed to have his son back in his life. The he realized that appealing to Dimitri's paternal side would do little good because he has a record of "stealing children." Dimitri didn't acknowledge the remark. He turned and walked away. Tad started to chase after Dimitri, but Edmund told him to stop. If beating Dimitri would have resulted in finding out where Brooke was, Edmund said that he'd already have done it. Both men knew that he needed to locate Brooke within the forty-hours allotted by Judge Foster.
Jack told Erica that she looked familiar, but explained that he had no idea who she was. "I am Erica Kane," Erica trumpeted proudly. "We're engaged to be married!" Erica flashed the diamond engagement ring on her finger. Still, Jack looked dazed. Erica worried that Jack was in serious condition and dashed out of the room to find a doctor. While Erica was gone, Mike walked over to Jack and introduced himself. "Who the hell do you think you're kidding?" he asked after introducing himself. Jack shook his head and asked Mike was he was talking about. "You can't con a con man," Mike laughed. Jack again shook his head and muttered in confusion about Mike being a con man. Mike laughed loudly and he commented that he'd created a monster. Once Mike's laughter subsided, he told Jack that his attempt to gain Erica's sympathy wouldn't work. Jack could only stay injured for so long, Mike stated confidently. And while Jack was bust being bedridden, Mike announced that he'd be wining and dining Erica in "the lap of luxury---or any other lap I can get her on to." Jack observed Mike's reddened face and asked if he needed a nurse. Jack said that it wasn't a good sign for a con man to be hot under the collar. Erica returned "Would you mind saying that again?" Those were the first words to leave Mike's mouth after Erica confessed that she loved him. Erica wondered if Mike hadn't heard her. Mike assured her that he'd heard her, but joked that he wanted to get her admission on tape. Mike didn't think that he'd ever hear those words again. It had been thirteen years, after all, since Erica had told him that she loved him. Before Mike had a chance to savor the moment, Erica was ready to bring him back down to Earth. She told Mike that while she did love him, she loved Jack, too. "I love you
In the hallway, a panicked Allie tracked down Jake and told him that she's been unable to get any sleep knowing that David is back in town. She claimed that she had nightmares about David trying to hurt her. Jake titled his head to the side and reminded Allie that David no longer had anything to hold over her---the truth about her forged transcripts was out, the videotape confession had been destroyed, and Allie had not accepted David's offer to pay off her student loans. Allie begged Jake to return home with her, but Jake told Allie that he had more important things to do. When Jake walked away, Allie was furious. She slapped her arms against her side and frowned miserably. Jake headed down the hall and into a small room. Pacing nervously inside, Kelsey began to reconsider taking part in Tad's plan. Jake entered the room and handed Kelsey a red wig. He urged her to put it on. Even with the mousy red wig, Kelsey knew that she couldn't pass for Brooke. Jake assured Kelsey that she'd do fine---and explained that a guard was going to be stationed outside the door so that no one could get inside the room. Kelsey seemed appeased, but she still wasn't thrilled about being locked in a room by herself. Jake left and Kelsey resumed her pacing pattern around the room. As she peered through the window, she noticed that Keith was approaching her location. She lunged across the room and got into bed, the back of her head facing the window. Keith pushed open the door and readied to walk inside. A nursed raced up to him and told him that he couldn't go inside the room---until he'd put on a protective garment and mask. With outfit in place, Keith headed back to the door.
On the sun porch, Liza told Jake about her latest encounter with Allie. Jake said that he hated to disappoint Liza, but said that he might have to back out a donor. Liza nodded understandingly and told that she supported his decision. Jake asked Liza if they could still be friends now that he'd dashed her hopes of having a baby. Liza smiled broadly and gave Jake a big hug. "Always," she said. Neither knew that Allie was standing in the doorway. Allie's placed her hand over her mouth and tried her best to keep from making a sound. She quickly ducked behind a corner so that she wouldn't be seen. Allie hadn't heard any of Jake and Liza's conversation---she'd only seen the hug. Liza headed back to her room and Jake went off to perform his rounds. Allie scurried to a pay phone and placed a call to someone, saying that she had important information about Liza. Time went by and the mystery person still hadn't shown. Then, he appeared----Adam! Adam groused that he isn't used to being summoned by anyone. Allie explained that she had a good reason for calling Adam to the hospital. She then accused Adam of being the reason that Liza and Jake were back together. The divorce, she said, left Liza looking for the first man she could get her hands on. Adam refused to believe that Jake and Liza were once again a couple. Allie's face, serious throughout the conversation, told Adam that Liza had asked Jake to father her child---and added that Jake had said yes."
- Soap Central