Episode 120, originally published 03-Jan-99

Frosty Relations

Might Victor respond favorably to a cold call from Alice?
Does Michael continue to give Phyllis the cold shoulder?
Should Sharon show Nick an ice time?
If Grace's cool plan to save Cassie fails, has she met her match?

Connie enters Victor's office. "I'm sorry to intrude, Mr. Newman, but there's a Miss Haggart here to see you," she explains. Victor looks up thoughtfully. "I don't think I know anyone by that name," he says. Alice walks in and shoves Connie out of the way. "Well, you do now," she says pushily. "Thanks, Connie--you been a big help," she says, shooing her back out the door. Connie shrugs sheepishly at Victor who nods to her that it'll be ok, and Connie ducks out leaving the two of them alone. "Now then," Victor says, "what was it you--" "I'll come straight to the point, Vic," Alice says, "Someone's kidnapped my daughter and I need your help."

Victor stares at Alice. "Your daughter has been kidnapped? So why have you come to me? Do you think perhaps I had something to do with it?" "No, not really. But I think you're rich and powerful, and I figure that's just what I need to get my daughter back." "Oh you do, do you?" he asks, laughing. She isn't amused. "Well, let's put it this way. I ain't rich and I ain't powerful, and so far getting her back isn't going so smooth, ya know? So I figure you're just the ticket to putting my family back together, you know what I mean? Or maybe you don't. I dunno--from your picture in the paper, I somehow figured you for a family man. But, then, maybe I just pegged you wrong. Story of my life." "No, no, in fact family is very important to me." "Great! Then you'll help me?" "Well, no, actually--I'm much too busy." "Busy? Busy with what? I heard you resigned." "I did. But only temporarily, and only because I had other matters to attend to. I must now attend to those other matters. But meanwhile, I tell you what: I like your style, Miss Haggart, so I'm going to assign my most competent legal advisor, a certain Ms. Christine Williams, to work with you on this case." He hands her a business card, presumably containing contact information for Cricket. "Now give me all your money," he says. She is taken aback. "Money? Do you think I'd be coming to you if I had money?" "Oh," Victor says with a slight amount of surprise. "I wasn't going to take it permanently--it's just a game we play around here. One doesn't qualify for Legal Aid, where Ms. Williams works, unless one has no money. So we always remove the money from our pockets before we drop by to see her. But if you're destitute, you can just dispense with that step and head right over to see her," he says with a smile.

* * *

It's evening a few days after and Paul and Cricket are in bed watching Columbo on TV. "I just have one more question," Paul says to Cricket. "Shoot," she says. He takes a breath, then says, "Well, you've switched sides and are now representing Alice Johnson in her attempt to take Cassie back from her natural mother." Cricket nods. "That's about the size of it." "Can you do that?" "Well, Paul, it's not like I wanted to--I had no choice." "Couldn't you have said you were already representing Cassie's side?" "Well, when I took Alice's case I didn't know Cassie was involved." "But when you found out, couldn't you have backed out?" "I could, but not without exposing that I already knew about Cassie and her whereabouts." "But don't you have to reveal those whereabouts now?" "Nope, it's privileged information about another client--I don't have to reveal that. Don't you see, Paul? Once I was working for both of them, I had to resolve it in Alice's favor." "For Cassie's sake, you had to take the side against Cassie? Chris, at times like this, I'm really glad I'm just a detective. I don't think I'm cut out to be a lawyer." "Well, fortunately, there are always other lawyers around. I'm sure Grace and Sharon will find someone." Just then, her phone buzzes. Cricket looks at the clock and sighs, then picks up the phone. "Gail?" she says, surprised. "What's--you're kidding! You're not kidding. Uh, huh. OK. Well, thanks for the warning. Yes, you, too--sleep well." She hangs up. "What was that about?" Paul asks. "Grace got a new lawyer." "And she called to tell you?" "No, Gail did. She figured I'd want to know right away." "Right away? It's the middle of the night." "Well, the new lawyer is Michael Baldwin."

* * *

Phyllis sits on Michael's couch, watching him wander back and forth aimlessly behind his desk. "Michael, stand still," she says, "you're making me dizzy walking in circles that way." He looks over at her, surprised. "Hmm? Phyllis? What are you doing here?" he asks. "I've been here talking to you for the last hour, don't you remember?" He thinks for a moment, and then shakes his head and goes back to thinking. "You're in love with her, you know," Phyllis says. He stops again and stares at her. "Grace is a client. I don't get involved with clients," he insists. "Not Grace, that pathetically pale little bleach-blonde, Christine." "Christine? Hmmm?" "Not Christine HMMM, Christine WILLIAMS. You know, like Paul Williams. Her HUSBAND." "Phyllis, what ARE you talking about? Why did you even come here today? Just to harrass me?" "No, Michael, I didn't. I came here to have lunch with you. Or to have you with lunch. I'm not fussy about the word order." Michael rolls his eyes at her. "You're crazy," he says. "For wanting you for lunch? You used to enjoy that," she says with a little sadness in her voice. "No, for thinking I could be in love with Christine. We're mortal enemies. Now and always."

Phyllis continues to rag on Michael. "You may be on opposing teams, but you aren't acting like her enemy. Do you know what you do to your enemies, Michael? You demolish them." Michael smiles with a certain pride. "I do, don't I?" he says. "And what have you done to Christine?" she asks. "What do you mean `what have I done to her?' I haven't done anything to her. How could you ask such a question?" "Of course you haven't done anything to her. You revere her. You want her--" "I want her respect." "THAT," Phyllis says, "is NOT what you want from her. And let me tell you, Michael, what you DO want from her--I can give you lots better." "You're imagining things." "Maybe. Or maybe you're repressing things. But either way, it amounts to the same. Because you're not going to go after her the way a REAL lawyer would. You can't. You're Superman with X-Ray vision and she's a bar of lead. You're the Green Lantern and she's the color yellow. She stops you cold, Michael. And you've lost this case. Face it."

* * *

"I'm afraid we've lost," Michael explains to Grace. "Lost?" Michael nods. "I'm sorry, Grace. But it's all but certain that the judge is going to order Cassie back with Alice." Grace stares in disbelief. Then soberly she asks, "How much time do we have?" "Not much. Closing arguments are tomorrow morning. If he wants to, the judge could make a ruling tonight." "So whatever is to be done has to be done tonight," she says. Michael looks at her. "Grace," he says worriedly, "you're not going to do something stupid, are you?" "Who said anything about being stupid?" she asks, trying to pretend she doesn't know what he means.

In Noah's crib room, Sharon and Grace are straightening up. (He's growing, so the crib has been enlarged. But for some reason, the kid still doesn't walk. Don't ask me why. I don't write these things. I just parody them.) Grace is fluffing the bed. "Grace, this is the stupidest plan I ever heard. First, you and I don't even like each other any more. And now you're saying `trust me'. That's bad enough. But what am I supposed to trust you about? That you can trick a guy into sleeping with you?" "Really, Share--guys can be dumb sometimes. Really dumb. Especially if you get enough alcohol into them. And that's your job. Now do you understand your role?" "Of course I understand it. It's just stupid. I don't want anything to do with him." "Pretend." "But even if I do, he'll NEVER buy it. He'll know something is up." "Then you might as well stop helping me and spend the time saying good-bye to that precious little girl of yours right now. Because Michael says this case is lost unless desperate action is taken. Now which is it?" Sharon shakes her head. "Ok, ok. What do you want me to do?" "Just check that the camera is pointed at the bed, and go check upstairs that the monitor is working and there's a tape in the VCR."

* * *

Later in the evening, it's dark at Sharon's and a door opens. A shadowy figure enters and stumbles around until he finds Noah's crib room. There is a rustling of sheets and then a muffled voice, "Hey! What the--I thought you were gonna be--" He stops and sees the camera on the wall. "I thought you were gonna be Sharon--she promised me she'd be here." The lights come on and Nick comes running in. Al Fenton is there with Grace. "What's going on here?" Nick asks. Al rushes out of the house, while we hear Sharon come rushing down the stairs. Meanwhile, Nick says to Grace, "I can't believe it. You just can't resist tricking guys into sleeping with you here, can you?" "Nick," Sharon says, "it was for a purpose. He was SUPPOSED to think he was sleeping with Cassie. Then we could have proof he was a child molester and they could--" "Lock him up?" Nick says. "No, not lock him up," Grace says. "That would defeat the purpose. Then it would be like Cassie was returning to a child-molester-free home. We would have left him out on the streets--well, living with Alice anyway--so that we could claim she was an unfit mother." "Ah," Nick says. "Very smart."

"Only something didn't go according to plan," Grace says. "I don't understand," Nick says. "Neither do I, really," Sharon says. "You were supposed to tell him Cassie was here in bed," Grace said. "I did tell him that," Sharon says. "Then why did he say `Sharon'?" "Well, I don't know. Maybe he saw the camera and decided to lie. The real question is, why did you ever think a guy couldn't tell the difference who he was sleeping with?" "I figured in the dark he just wouldn't notice." "Wouldn't notice?" Sharon asks. "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Nick, tell her how stupid that is..." Nick looks embarrassed. "Uh," he says meekly, "that'd be pretty stupid, I guess." He stands there blushing. "Look, the real question is--what are we going to do now?" Grace says. Sharon starts to walk back up the stairs. "I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to go say good-bye to my daughter, who I'm apparently going to lose because of your hare-brained scheme."

Grace looks to Nick. "So, it looks like you're getting back together with your wife." He smiles and nods. "Family is very important to me." "You could have fooled me with the way you behaved on that trip," she says. "Come on, Grace. We just got caught up in the moment." "Caught up in the moment?" she asks. "You came onto me." "But I knew you wanted it." "Like I wanted it when you came onto me that night here in Noah's room?" Nick looks around to make sure Sharon isn't watching. "Shhh!" he says. "Sharon doesn't know about that." "Are you sure?" Grace asks. "Of course I'm sure--do you think I'd be stupid enough to tell her?" Grace shrugs and grabs her coat from the nightstand nearby. "Goodnight, Sharon," she says. Nick looks at her. "Sharon?" he asks. Grace nods, and points to the camera, then walks out, leaving Nick to his "reconciliation" with Sharon. In the background as she leaves, we see Sharon clumping down the stairs carrying the video tape and looking none too pleased.

* * *

At the Genoa City Diner, which is apparently open all night this week for New Year's celebrations, Grace sits at a table sipping on a beer. She pours a little into a glass and says to no one, "Happy New Year, Cassie. I'm sorry you won't be around. But I did try..." Just then, she looks over at a nearby booth, where she sees someone she assumes is Cassie. She gets up and rushes toward her. "Cassie? What are you doing out at this hour? Did you run away?" she asks hurriedly as she approaches her. The girl looks at her quizzically. "Are you talking to me?" she asks. "Yes, Cassie, of course I'm talking to you," Grace says, kneeling at her table. "But why do you keep calling me Cassie?" she asks, confused. "Because that's your name: Cassie Johnson." "But I'm not any Cassie. My name is Mary," the girl says. For a moment, we're in Grace's mind. We see a fantasy of rushed images of this little girl being swapped for Cassie just as Alice hauls her off, and then the other Cassie rushing out safely to live with Nick and Sharon, who are so grateful that Grace has saved Cassie that Sharon becomes Grace's best friend and Nick hires her back to be his assistant. But the image is fleeting and interrupted by the girl saying "Mother, thank goodness you're here. This strange woman was talking to me and kept calling me Cassie." In a moment, Grace's dream is snatched from her. But all that stands between her and that dream is the girl's mother. She turns to look up at an unfamiliar face. That of Sheila Carter.

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 121!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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