Valerie sits at home, preparing an e-mail to Crystal Clarke, the new nurse she's hired on at University Hospital.

 

She finishes up the e-mail, and hits send. Closing her laptop, she smiles.

 

VALERIE: Alright. There we go Crystal. Welcome to University Hospital.

 

---

 

Alex, Tyler, and Justin stand in the Kiriakis living room, contemplating their next step in dealing with Nick.

 

ALEX: Well, not knowing much about this Fallon guy, I...I mean the best thing to do is assume he has stuff on all of us and collect whatever we can on him.

 

Justin shakes his head, walking toward his briefcase to grab his tablet.

 

JUSTIN: Mmm, probably not enough time for that. We have the board meeting this afternoon.
TYLER: What we're going to have to do is ensure we have a strong bloc of board members who won't budge on Nick. 
JUSTIN: That won't be easy. Especially when we're flying blind like this.  John's out of the country...

 

Tyler shakes his head, frustrated by the sudden turmoil everything's been flung into by Nick's hubris.

 

TYLER: We'll have to do some convincing other board members. Who else have we got?

 

Justin looks up at Tyler, suddenly having a thought.

 

JUSTIN: Billie Reed. Her and I have had a rapport as of late, it shouldn't be too hard to convince her, and if she's on side, Kate and Lucas will easily follow suit.
TYLER: Let's do it.

 

Justin zips up his bag, and pulls his cell phone from his front pocket on his soft briefcase.

 

JUSTIN: I'll have Billie meet me at the office.

ALEX: Excellent.

 

As Justin steps out of the room, Tyler shakes Alex's hand.

 

TYLER: I'll see you all at Titan, then. Good work, men.
ALEX: Absolutely. See you.

 

Tyler steps out of the Kiriakis mansion, his tension immediately lessens, as he exhales loudly.

 

TYLER: Let's just hope this stops everything from falling apart, now. Titan can't afford any more problems. And neither can I.

 

Tyler steps away, heading off for his car to head to Titan.

 

---

 

Daniel and Chloe pace the main lobby at City Hall, as they wait for Marlena and Sami to finish grilling Eric and Nicole on their now-not-so-secret wedding.

 

CHLOE: How do you think it's going in there?
DANIEL: Ohhh, pretty terrible, I'm sure.
CHLOE: I was afraid you'd say that.

 

Daniel sighs, putting his hands in his pockets as he looks toward the elevator door, expecting anyone from the family to step out.

 

DANIEL: Well...Sami's anger is all at Nicole, but I also don't think Marlena took too kindly to being shut out of her son's wedding, and personally, I can't blame her.

 

Chloe looks up at Daniel, nodding gently in agreement. She turns toward the elevator, looking very concerned for her friend.

 

---

 

Nicole stands with Sami in the Justice of the Peace's office at Salem City Hall. Visibly uncomfortable, Nicole folds her arms, as Sami looks back at her. Sami steps towards Nicole, arms folded, shaking her head at Nicole.

 

SAMI: You know, I'm really impressed by your chutzpah, Nicole. Sneaking away the first chance you get to marry my brother like that. 

 

Nicole rolls her eyes at Sami's petulence.

 

SAMI: And it's funny, because you're doing it on company time, too. 
NICOLE: Sami--
SAMI: You are SO lucky that your big report airs this week, because otherwise I'd have grounds to fire you.

 

Nicole looks at Sami, who's still staring her down, trying to intimidate her. Nicole holds firm.

 

NICOLE: If you try to have me fired, I will sue you for wrongful termination. And I will win.
SAMI: (laughs) Oh yeah right, Nicole. Even you're not that stupid.

 

Nicole ignores Sami's petty comments and speaks firmly and cuttingly in response, never taking her eyes off Sami.

 

NICOLE: I'll win because everyone in the entire state knows how much you hate me. You are so petty. Really, Sami, you're better than this. Don't even TRY to fire me.
SAMI: Oh why? So you can sink your claws even deeper into my brother? You know, it wouldn't surprise me if you had found those files on Dr. Chyka and you'd just been hiding them all along? That's how desperate you are, Nicole.

 

Nicole stirs uncomfortably at Sami's insinuation.

 

---

 

 

---

 

Marlena and Eric step into the waiting room at City Hall, Marlena closing the door behind them. 

 

Eric looks over at Marlena, clearly displeased by Marlena and Sami's intervening in their wedding.

 

ERIC: Look, Mom, I said it in the other room, and I'll say it again. I have really nothing more to say about this.

 

Marlena holds up on hand to try to stop Eric from continuing.

 

MARLENA: I know. I know, but hear me out, anyway.

 

Eric sighs, and shakes his head as him mom carries on.

 

MARLENA: Eric, this is your wedding day. And, regardless of who you're marrying, I think your father and I deserved to be there.
ERIC: Mom, you knew that this was just a private little ceremony and that we were going to take our time and plan a big wedding with all the family down the road.
MARLENA: I know. But that doesn't change the fact that this....this looks like you're running away from something. And I'm pretty sure I know exactly what it is.

 

Eric looks at Marlena, annoyed by Marlena's prying.

 

---

 

Nicole stands in front of Sami, arms folded, uncomfortable with Sami's insinuation, but trying to deflect.

 

NICOLE: You know, Sami. I would have to be really sick to keep something so important from the man I love.

 

Sami looks at Nicole, a smug, mocking smile on her face, almost laughing as she responds.

 

SAMI: Yeah. Real sick. Sounds just like you.

 

Nicole rolls her eyes, and starts to head for the door.

 

NICOLE: I don't have to listen to any more of thi--

 

Sami grabs Nicole's arm as she walks past, stopping Nicole from leaving the room.

 

SAMI: Oh no, not so fast, Nicole.
NICOLE: Sami, there is absolutely nothing you can do. Eric and I are married. And nothing you, or Marlena can say is going to change that. 

 

Nicole rips her arm away from Sami, and glares back at her.

 

NICOLE: If you'll excuse me.

 

Nicole turns to leave the room, leaving an annoyed Sami behind.

 

---

 

Billie sits at her office at Titan, behind her desk, finishing a phone call while putting away some papers in her desk drawer.

 

BILLIE: He'll be at the airport at 11:40am? Perfect. Okay, thanks, Shane. Yeah, I'll pick him up and fill him in. Great. Bye.

 

Billie hangs up the phone, breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, when she hears a knock at the door.

 

BILLIE: Come in!

 

The door opens, and Justin steps in. Billie looks up at him and smiles.

 

BILLIE: Justin! How are you?

 

Justin looks a bit less than enthused as he away from the door, closing it behind him.

 

JUSTIN: I've...been better.

BILLIE: Uh oh. What's happening?
JUSTIN: Well...I don't know if you heard about the attack on the Titan server last night.

 

Billie looks down, debating momentarily whether she should speak on it or not.

 

BILLIE: I uh...I had. In fact, I was trying to stop it from happening...but someone beat me to it.

 

Justin looks at Billie, confused and surprised.

 

---

 

Valerie walks through the main hall of her home, turning the lights out, and grabbing her coat and bag from the coat rack by her front door.

 

VALERIE: Okay...oven's off. Got my laptop. Got my...

 

As she grabs her jacket, she feels in her pocket, suddenly realizing she doesn't have her hospital key card.

 

VALERIE: Damn it...where's my key card.

 

Valerie frantically searches her purse, hoping to find the key card, but to no avail.

 

VALERIE: (sigh) Where is that damn thing?

 

---

 

Jerome steps toward Valerie's office at University Hospital, carefully checking to make sure the coast is clear, before pulling Valerie's key card from his pocket. He carefully inserts the card into the card reader on the door, unlocking it.

 

Checking once again to make sure there's no one around, he opens the door and quickly steps inside, closing the door behind him.

 

Once inside, he turns the office light on, heading for the office's desktop computer. At Valerie's desk, he moves the mouse slightly, waking the dormant machine back up. 

 

JEROME: Computer still on, and logged in. Grandma, you need to work on your computer security a bit.

 

Double checking the info on his phone momentarily, he goes online, and accesses Crystal's e-mail. Quickly digging into his bag, Jerome pulls a USB from his bag, and plugs it into Valerie's computer. After a moment, a program loads.

 

JEROME: Alright. Let's open you up.

 

The program deciphers Crystal's password character by character, slowly plugging in the resulting characters into password input box on the screen.

 

JEROME: Come on...come on.

 

After a minute, the password is entered, and Jerome presses "enter" to login to Crystal's e-mail account.

 

Inside, he finds the first e-mail, sent by Dr. Valerie Grant. He smiles, as he notices it hasn't been marked as "read". He quickly deletes the e-mail, and empties the trash folder, covering his tracks, before quickly logging out.

 

JEROME: Alright, Sheryl. You are now officially Nurse Crystal Clarke.

 

---