"The sun had already risen over Pine Valley, but Mateo, Raquel, and Max all remained fast asleep. Like most children, little Max woke before his parents. Upon seeing his mother and father on either side of him, Max scurried out of bed so that his parents could be alone. Shortly after Max left, Mateo rolled over and cuddled up next to the woman in bed with him. He was apparently under the impression that he was nuzzling Hayley. When Mateo opened his eyes and noticed that he was cuddling a brunette, he jumped out of bed and immediately demanded to know what was going on. "I couldn't help myself," Raquel proclaimed. In Raquel's mind, the scenario was much like a fairy tale, a realization of a lifetime of hopes and dreams. To Mateo, however, it appeared that Raquel was using Max to get closer to him. Raquel apologized for upsetting Mateo, but it didn't calm Mateo down any. He was still furious with Raquel and perhaps a little embarrassed that he'd made the mistake of cuddling up to someone other than Hayley. He angrily informed Raquel that he was headed to the police station for Hayley's arraignment.
Worried about Tad, Dixie spent a sleepless night at Cortlandt Manor. To top off her troubles, Dixie knew that in a matter of hours she would find out if her health was on the upswing. In the morning even a cup of tea couldn't help perk her up. She sat in the parlor with Braden, agonizing over how she was adding to Tad's troubles by not telling him the truth about her illness. Braden tried to convince Dixie that Tad didn't need to know about her health. Dixie remained insistent that she would tell Tad the truth if she learned that she was getting even the slightest bit better. Disheveled and equally tired, Tad staggered into the parlor and immediately apologized for the interruption. Dixie called out to Tad and asked him to stick around. When she learned that Tad planned on having some gumballs for breakfast once he got to WRCW, Dixie grabbed Tad by the arm and told him that she would make him eat breakfast---even if she had to spoon-feed him. Braden lowered his head in frustration as Tad and Dixie walked off together. Palmer observed from across the room. He walked up to Braden and lectured him for allowing Tad and Dixie to remain close. Not convinced that Tad and Dixie's bond was in any way an indication of his ineptness, Braden argued that Palmer---and his feud with Opal---was the only reason that Tad and Dixie were currently having breakfast together. Palmer reissued his order to permanently destroy Tad and Dixie's relationship. Braden wondered how far Palmer would go to accomplish his goal. "As far as it takes," Palmer smiled sinisterly. Braden nodded his head and remarked that he had a doctor's appointment to keep.
Already at WRCW and full from breakfast, Liza reviewed some scripts and recorded her comments on a pocket tape recorder. Adam appeared in her doorway with a broad smile. He carried a veritable goodie bag for Liza complete with bagel, fruit salad, and a cup of herbal tea. Liza thanked Adam for his thoughtfulness, but informed him that she'd already eaten. Still, the fruit salad called out to her and Liza reluctantly yielded to Baby Colby's hunger for a piece of fruit. Suddenly, a distraught Marian stomped into the office. "A gun," she snarled. "Somebody give me a gun." Adam looked in Marian's direction and indifferently offered her a bagel. Liza gave him a stern glance and walked across the room to see what was wrong with her mother. Before Liza could get an answer, Marian's cellular phone rang. Marian took the call. Her foot tapped slightly against the floor as her eyes blinked rapidly. "Of course," she remarked coldly. "I expected as much." Marian hung up her phone and took a deep breath. She then started bashing her phone against the table. Liza looked to Adam for help. "Stop eating and do something!" she called out. Adam put down his bagel and slowly moped across the room towards his former mother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law. Marian explained that she was having the worst possible day. Seemingly everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong: the shop where she'd bought her wedding gown had burnt to the ground with her dress inside and the caterer she'd hired had gone out of business because of repeated health violations. In short, Marian was convinced that her dream wedding was never going to materialize. Adam smiled slightly and asked Marian how she envisioned her perfect wedding. After listening to Marian's description, Adam told her that he would help her make the wedding a reality. Marian's teary eyes looked dazedly at Adam. She first believed that Adam was toying with her, but she soon realized that he was being sincere---or at least honest. Marian accepted Adam's offer to help, but informed him that Stuart would have to agree to Adam getting involved in the wedding plans. Marian scuttled out of the office to find Stuart. Liza, meanwhile, pursed her lips together and gave Adam a funny look. She asked her former husband why he'd decided to help out her mother. Adam explained that he wanted Liza to be happy---if Marian was happy, then Liza was happy, and by extrapolation he'd be happy. Happy enough, he figured, to want to marry him again.
As Ryan slept on the sofa, Gillian snuggled up next to him. The couple exchanged a few small kisses until Ryan fully woke up. His nostrils flared and his eyes opened in alarm. "Fire! Fire!" he shouted. Gillian didn't move and showed no sign of concern. She smiled slightly and told Ryan that there was no fire. The burning smell he detected was breakfast---toast, to be exact. Ryan forced a smile as he looked down at a charred piece of bread that Gillian had prepared for him. Showing that he does, in fact, love his wife, Ryan took a bite out of the toast and happily ate it. Later, Ryan found a trunk of clothing in the attic. The clothing was not any of Erica's Chanel or Versace gowns, but rather a trunk full of costumes. Gillian had fun donning a green sari, red boa, and a plastic Groucho Marx nose. She eventually found some clothing more suitable for the mission she was about to undertake: heading to the boathouse to retrieve the money Hayley had left for them. They had no way of knowing that Hayley had been arrested. Ryan was fearful that Gillian might get spotted and offered to go in her place. Gillian was likewise worried that Ryan might be captured if he headed out into the open and insisted that she be allowed to go by herself. Gillian slipped out the back door and headed off to the river. Only minutes later, the front door opened and Erica walked inside. Ryan tried to hide, but Erica already knew that he was hiding out in her house---she'd seen him the night before. Ryan asked Erica if she was going to call the police. Erica was unable to maintain eye contact with Ryan and mulled over the idea of phoning the authorities. She told Ryan that he needed to be "more careful" unless he wanted to be apprehended. Ryan was shocked to learn that Erica had spotted him the night before, but thankful that she hadn't squealed. Erica remained reasonably sure that Kit was lying about having been raped. Erica also explained that she did not want Jack to ruin his reputation by prosecuting an innocent man. Since she had not yet completely moved out of Linden, some of Erica's belongings were still inside the house. Erica told Ryan that the movers would be arriving in a few hours and told him that he'd have to be gone by then. Ryan smiled and told Erica that he and Gillian had already come up with an escape plan. The plan, which Erica pleaded with him not to tell her, was that they would retrieve the money Hayley was to leave at the boathouse, purchase fake passports, and the fly to Budapest to stay at Vadzel. Erica did manage to shush Ryan before he divulged his secret plans, saying that it was better if she did not know.
A female police officer angrily approached Hayley and Eugenia>'s jail cell and unlocked the cell door. Smiles abound, the two women filed out of the cell. The guard stepped in front of Hayley and shook her head; Only Eugenia would be given her walking papers. Hayley was sure that there had been a mistake. Eugenia assured her that she'd try to pull some strings to gain her release. Hayley was tossed back into her cell unmercifully. Trevorarrived within seconds and told Hayley that no mistake had been made---she was going to be arraigned on reckless driving charges. Hayley insisted that she would not talk and begged her uncle to get her out of jail. Assistant District Attorney Keith McLean strolled into the cell block and announced that Hayley's arraignment hearing had been scrapped. This, believe it or not, was actually good news. Keith explained that he'd been given permission to offer Hayley immunity in return for a full disclosure of Ryan's escape plans. Hayley sassed that she had no idea where Ryan was, asking if she was supposed to use her "extraterrestrial perception" to locate him. Trevor implored his niece to come clean, but nothing he said made Hayley feel differently. A voice called out from behind the men, asking for a few minutes alone with Hayley. Mateo approached the cell, but waited for Trevor and Keith to make themselves scarce before speaking to Hayley. He asked her why she was so unwilling to do the right thing. Of course in Hayley's mind, she was doing the right thing. Mateo informed Hayley that Raquel had hinted that she might use Hayley's imprisonment against him in court. Hayley countered by saying that Raquel could only use the jail time against Matt if he planned to marry her at some point. "Here's a quick fix," she snapped. "Don't marry me." Mateo shook his head in frustration. He told Hayley that thinking that he would not marry her---or not want to marry her---was foolish. He assured Hayley that he wanted her in his life, but he also wanted Max to be in his life, too. That meant that he was not pleased that Hayley's shenanigans might be jeopardizing his rights to custody of Max. Hayley remarked that somewhere in her life, she'd lost the part of her that was willing to fight for what she believed in---her backbone. Her timing might not have been best, but she was proud that she'd regained her chutzpah. Kieth and Trevor returned to the cell area and asked Hayley if she was ready to cooperate. She shook her head and adamantly denied knowing Gillian and Ryan's whereabouts. Without cooperation, Hayley would be forced to go through the arraignment process. She was carted off to jail shortly after Trevor voiced his unhappiness in his niece's decision. Some time later, Hayley was returned to her cell. She'd been found in contempt for failing to tell the judge what she knew about Ryan's escape. Mateo offered to bail Hayley out of jail, but all the money in the world wasn't going to get Hayley out of jail. She would be forced to remain in her jail cell until she decided to cooperate with the court and tell what she knew about Ryan's escape plans.
Belinda rushed to Cortlandt Manor to see if Opal had heard from Adrian. Opal hadn't seen Adrian since he stormed out of her bedroom the night before. Belinda told Opal that she'd tried to help Adrian process the news that she (Opal) was Adrian's mother, but concluded that she'd failed miserably. Tad and Dixie returned from their joint breakfast. Dixie told Opal that she understood why she'd felt it best to keep the truth from everyone. Opal asked Tad to call some of his friends at the police station and set up a town watch for Adrian. Tad refused, saying that Adrian was a grown man who was capable of taking care of himself. Belinda had friends of her own at the station and headed back to her apartment to call in some favors. Dixie headed off to her doctor's appointment, leaving Tad and Opal alone to talk things out. Opal begged Tad not to be upset with Adrian. Tad looked his mother in the eye and told her that he doesn't hold anything against Adrian---because he hadn't done anything. He blasted his mother for turning his life upside-down yet again. Every time he believed he knew his family, Opal dropped yet another bombshell. Opal had walked away from him, he said, when she allowed Ray to dump him off in a park. That was nearly exactly what Opal had done to Adrian. Opal claimed that she'd turned her back on both of her sons for the same reason---she wanted them to have better lives. Tad didn't disagree with Opal's assertion that both he and Adrian had been better with Ray out of their lives. But why hadn't Opal told him the truth? Opal admitted that she'd been wrong to conceal the truth. She admitted that she should never have even laid eyes on Ray Garner in the first place. But the abusive, maniacal man had given her Tad and Jenny. For that she was most grateful. Indirectly, he'd also allowed her to meet Frank and subsequently give birth to Adrian. "I'm a horrible mother," Opal sobbed. She said that she felt it was better to abandon Adrian than to risk having Ray hurt the baby---or Frank. Opal said that she'd hurt the people she loved by hiding the truth and that she felt that telling her secret would only hurt them more. Was it worth hurting everyone again? Tad shook his head and admitted that what Opal had been trying to do might not have been so bad. He then realized that Dixie's remarks about trying to shield loved ones from bad news was also right on the money. Opal dried her eyes as the doorbell rang. She'd hoped that Adrian had returned, but he hadn't. She opened the door and saw a familiar, yet aged face staring back at it. "It's been a long time," Frank Dawson said softly. Opal's eyes welled with tears. She reached out an embraced her former lover as Tad looked on in the background.
Braden entered David's office at Pine Valley Hospital with somewhat of a swagger. He plopped himself down in a chair and told David that he knew that Dixie's blood work results were due back. David nodded his head, commenting that he found it off that Braden was so up to date on Dixie's medical news. Braden claimed that he cared about Dixie and wanted to be kept informed of her progress. David reminded Braden that he could not divulge any patient's medical records because of the doctor-patient confidentiality agreement. "I scraped her off the floor of my apartment," Braden snapped coldly. It was the first time that he ever spoke condescendingly about Dixie, her health, or the way he'd saved her life. David was unfazed by Braden's callousness, replying that it was up to Dixie to tell him the results of her tests. Braden wanted to know the results of the tests. So determined was he to get the information, he decided that another approach might yield him the desired results. "I heard you left Stanford," Braden said matter-of-factly. He then added that he'd heard the reason for David's departure was Stanford's refusal to build him a state-of-the-art cardiac wing for the hospital. David nodded his head. Braden reminded David that Dixie's uncle was the mighty Palmer Cortlandt, a board member at Pine Valley Hospital. The implication was that if David did what Braden asked, Palmer might be ever so willing to make the cardiac wing a reality---complete with a heart transplant facility! David was spellbound by Braden's remark. Braden told David that while Palmer wanted his niece to get better, he did not want Dixie to know that she was getting better. David told Braden that he would do what he thought was best for his patient. Braden nodded his head and left the office just seconds before Dixie showed up for her scheduled appointment. David knew that Dixie did not want anyone to know about her health problems. David had even sent the blood to an outside lab for processing. She asked him pointblank if she was getting better. "I'm sorry," David said glumly. "You're not." Dixie squinted in the doctor's direction. "I don't believe you," she responded. "You're lying.""
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