"With the sordid details of his personal life splattered across the front page of the Bulletin, Tad found himself on the other side of the media's magnifying glass. Phone calls from reporters flooded WRCW and interfered with Tad's work. Tad asked Rudy to man the phone lines while he handled the situation once and for all.
The news of Erica's accident was difficult for Dimitri to handle. While it may not have been much of a bright spot, Joe did have some good news for Dimitri. The doctor told Dimitri that Erica was "lucky to have one of the finest cardiac surgeons" by her side. Dimitri nodded his head and agreed that Dr. Hayward was a fine doctor. There was still the matter of Erica's facial lacerations. Joe offered to escort Dimitri to speak to Dr. Weiss, Erica's plastic surgeon. The plastic surgeon was less than optimistic during his discussion with Dimitri. "Let's be honest," said the doctor indifferently, "the possibility for scarring is enormous." Dimitri sighed heavily and bowed his head. He commented that Erica could not live with a marred face. The surgeon vowed to do everything in his power to restore Erica's face to its original beauty. But he warned Dimitri that even his best work might not be enough.
Braden hurried around Cortlandt Manor preparing to head to the courthouse for Ryan's day in court. As he was on his way out, Dixie appeared in the foyer. Dixie demanded answers from Braden, but Braden claimed to have no time for small talk. Dixie blasted her friend for taking the news of Tad's ordeal with Kit to the papers. Braden feigned ignorance, but the process of deduction made it clear that Braden was the only person who could have leaked the story to the press. Dixie was upset that "every fact [she] told [Braden] in confidence" had ended up on the front page of the Bulletin. Braden claimed that he had not seen the morning edition and denied telling Tad's story to the paper. "Why did you do it?" Dixie asked sadly. Tad appeared in the foyer and announced that he wanted to hear the answer to the question. Tad's voice cracked as he informed Braden that his office and home had been inundated by calls from the media. Two reporters had even showed up at Brooke's house looking for Jamie. Tad warned Braden that he would pay dearly if anything happened to Jamie as a result of the leak. Braden explained that he felt he had to contact the media to save Ryan. Ryan said only that he and Ryan "have a long history." Tad was furious that Braden felt he could sacrifice his privacy for Ryan's. Tad said that he would gladly have testified at Ryan's trial and told the court about Kit's bogus rape allegations. Braden announced that he had to head to the courthouse. As he was talking, however, he made an intriguing slip of the tongue. "I want to help before [they] pull to plug on my.... my friend," Braden commented. Braden started walking towards the door. Tad reached out and grabbed hold of Braden's shoulder, thereby halting the man's forward progress. He demanded to know why Braden was so interested in Ryan's case, but Braden said nothing. As Braden walked out of the house, Tad vowed to find out how Braden and Ryan know each other.
There was no single emotion that Mateo was feeling. He was angry with Raquel for lying about Max's disappearance, but relieved that Hayley had not neglected her parental role with the boy. Mateo apologized for having doubted Hayley. "Once an alcoholic, always a suspect," Hayley grumbled. The couple shared an embrace, after which Mateo asked Hayley to head upstairs and start packing her bags. Raquel entered the room in a frenzy and pleaded with Mateo not to move out. She admitted that she was wrong to have staged Max's disappearance, but she was quick to come to her own defense. "I was desperate," she sobbed. Hayley responded that even in her most desperate moments she had never hurt her loved ones. Raquel argued that she had not hurt Max by staging the runaway. Mateo, however, felt otherwise. He stated that Raquel was teaching their son to lie and disregard his role as his father. Raquel begged for one more chance to prove herself, but she'd already had too many chances. She panicked as she asked what would happen to her and her son if Mateo and Hayley moved out of Wildwind. Mateo again explained that Max would be living with him. As for Raquel, well, Hayley figured that Edmund would let her stick around for a little while---at least until her condo was available. Again Raquel pleaded for a chance to redeem herself. That proved to be the breaking point for Mateo. He accused his wife of playing mind games with their son. Unbeknownst to anyone, Max was observing the argument from the next room. He scurried into the room and sadly told his mother that he had not broken their promise to keep the game of hide-and-seek a secret. Mateo closed his eyes, ran his hand through his hair, and let out a deep breath. He hadn't wanted his son to witness a fight between him and Raquel. Matt crouched down next to his son and assured him that he'd done nothing wrong. He tried to impress upon his young son that he is always to listen to what he and his mother tell him. Mateo prepared to tell Max that they were moving out, but Hayley stepped in and asked the boy if he wanted to see Sammy's new pet gerbil. Raquel and Max scurried upstairs to watch the little critter run around in his exercise wheel. Once they were gone---and Hayley listened to make sure that they went all the way upstairs---Hayley told Mateo that they could not move out of Wildwind. She explained that Max would misinterpret their move as some sort of punishment. She asked Mateo to stay put for a few weeks while things cooled over. Then, she said, they could move without the fear of hurting Max in any way. Mateo knew that staying was the last thing Hayley wanted, but he could see that she was willing to sacrifice her own happiness for that of his son. Hayley started to cry as she told Mateo that she know longer thinks of them as a two person deal; She sees them as a trio with Max as the third partner. Hopefully, Hayley said with a teary-eyed smile, Mateo wouldn't "mind that [she's] fallen in love with another man---[his] son."
Outside the courtroom, Jack was mobbed by members of the media. Jack announced that he had no comment and that his actions in the courtroom were all he would say on Ryan's case. Inside, Trevor taunted Jack with the possibility that the DNA tests would be thrown out. The attorney's arrogance irked Jack, and he haughtily warned Trevor not to get his hopes too high. Gillian entered through the back of the room and Ryan angrily told her to go home. Gillian could do no such thing---she'd been subpoenaed by the prosecution. The judge appeared in the front of the courtroom and the hearing to argue the admissibility of the DNA test was ready to begin. Trevor argued that the test was performed "involuntarily" and without the consent of legal counsel. Jack, however, claimed that Ryan had willing agreed to take the test. Trevor explained how everything had gone down, saying that Ryan was in jail on "trumped up assault charges." The only person, Jack stated, that could tell exactly what had happened was the defendant. Ryan took the stand and painted a vivid picture of the District Attorney "hammering" him into concordance. Jack was not pleased by the implication that he had overstepped the line of what was permitted by law. Trevor noted that Jack had threatened Ryan's wife and that he'd had Immigration tail Gillian around town. Again, Jack had a quick answer. He said that he had contacted the INS to check on the status of the princess' citizenship. Once he'd learned that Gillian had received her green card, Jack said that he knew he had the green light to charge Gillian with "aiding and abetting a fugitive." Ryan refuted the DNA match, implying that the match would have been more than seventy-percent if he had really raped Kit. Jack sneered and informed that judge that he had "an eyewitness that says otherwise." The judge announced that he was beginning to believe that Jack had overstepped his authority. Seeing that his case was in trouble, Jack announced that the defendant's own wife could help shed light on the situation. Ordinarily, a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. Apparently the law is nullified when a witness is present---and since a lab technician had been present to draw Ryan's blood, Gillian could be called to testify. Jack asked Gillian to tell the judge what Ryan had told her when she arrived to bail him out of jail. Gillian became quiet and claimed that she could not remember. Jack continued to pressure the witness and even offered a few of his own recollections to help jog her memory. He stated that Ryan had told Gillian not to worry about the blood test because it would prove his innocence. Braden slipped into the courtroom unobserved as Jack asked Gillian if it was true that Ryan had told her that he wanted to take the test.
Myrtle asked Erica not to speak so that she could save her strength. Erica's hand slowly moved towards her bandages. Her hand shook violently as she asked Myrtle what had happened. Myrtle didn't want to tell Erica about her accident, but Erica begged for an answer. Myrtle told Erica that she'd been in a car accident and that her face and chest had been hurt. "I'll be alright," said Erica, her voice shaking. "Will I be alright?" Myrtle was silent. Finally, she assured Erica that she'd make a full recovery. "You'll always be the most beautiful girl I know." David entered the room and gave Erica a brief check-up. Erica pulled away as the doctor approached. Myrtle wasn't quite sure why Erica was acting so strangely and explained that David had helped her after the accident. David seemed relieved---and perhaps even pleased---that Erica had no recollection of the accident. She had memories of being stranded at the airport in New York, but after that everything was blank. David told Erica that it was common for trauma victims to have some form of amnesia. When her memory was blocked, David told her that she should try to focus on something good that would happen to her in the future. This was a momentary flash of how kind the doctor actually could be. Myrtle and David stepped into the hallway and Myrtle tore into David for not telling Erica that he'd been the one who'd been driving at the time of the accident. David felt that Myrtle should be berating the person who'd left the truck abandoned on the road. He also stated that it was not good for Erica to get upset during her recovery. Dimitri was allowed into the room to visit Erica. Erica had drifted off to sleep, so Dimitri gently took her hand in his. When he did, Erica stirred slightly and her eyes opened. Dimitri apologized for waking Erica, but she told him that she was happy to see him. Erica remarked that she must look horrible. Dimitri smiled and shook his head. He asked Erica if she remembered the Halloween in which she'd dressed up as the mummy. "The best part" of that night, said Dimitri, was when he unwrapped Erica. Underneath the gauze, which he mused was more than the entire yearly usage for all of Pine Valley Hospital, was the "beautiful woman [he] loved." Dimitri told Erica that that same woman was still underneath the bandages. David returned to the room and told Erica that her latest tests showed that she was "healing nicely." Erica's lips quivered slightly as they formed a smile. Erica announced that it would be only a matter of time before she was filming her television special and returning to the world of modeling."
- Soap Central