EPISODE 163

Written by A. Washington-Beeby
Story Consultants: C. Nathaniel Richardson & Nick Monarco

 

 

Jennifer and Liam step into Jennifer's bedroom, Jennifer smiling as she walks toward her chest of drawers, looking for a towel.

 

LIAM: Well, I think that went pretty well.
JENNIFER: I do too.

 

Jenn turns around after grabbing a fresh towel, and looks lovingly at Liam.

 

JENNIFER: I want to say, I am so proud of you.

 

Jenn wraps her arms around Liam, pulling her body in close to his.

 

JENNIFER: For being so honest with me, with my mom and JJ. I know you have a lot of anger at how things went with your ex-, but...this is a huge step. I  really am proud of you.
LIAM: Thank you.
JENNIFER: No problem.

 

Jenn leans in and gives Liam a quick kiss on the lips, before turning away and heading for the ensuite bathroom. 

 

JENNIFER: Now, if we're gonna see JJ off, I need to shower.
LIAM: Alright, I'll be here.

 

Jenn smiles as she shuts the bathroom door, leaving Liam alone. His expression changes almost instantly as he pulls his cell phone out, quickly making a phone call.

 

LIAM: (into phone) Yeah, it's me....

 

Liam walks over toward the door to the bedroom and shuts it, ensuring no one overhears him.

 

LIAM: (into phone) Oh, just wanted to give you a heads up. I had to put out a fire with Jenn and the family...no! I didn't name names, I just...twisted some truths around.

 

Liam paces the room, looking intensely at the chest of drawers, where a photo of Jenn, JJ, Abby, and Jack rests. Liam glares at it, menacingly.

 

LIAM: (into phone) Trust me. They'll never know what's really going on. Promise.

 

---

 

Sami walks down the pathway to the Brady Pub, on her cell phone to Lucas.

 

SAMI: (into phone) Hey Lucas. We need to get together soon...yeah, I need to go over some plans for Will and Sonny's wedding...oh yeah, it's no rush...okay, talk soon. Bye.

 

Stopping outside the pub's front door, as she ends her call. Stepping inside, she's immediately greeted warmly by Kim.

 

SAMI: Hey, Aunt Kim! How are you?

 

Kim beams from behind the bar, thrilled to see her neice. She nods slowly, as she motions to Sami to come over to the bar.

 

KIM: I'm alright. Come sit down.
SAMI: Sure!

 

Sami obliges, sitting down across from Kim at the bar. Sami senses something slightly off with Kim, but chooses not to address it right away.

 

KIM: So how's things? How's the wedding planning coming along?

 

Kim deflects, smiling broadly as she asks Sami about WIll & Sonny's upcoming nuptials.

 

SAMI: Oh my God, Kim, it's going so well. I know Will has a lot on his plate right now with work, so I've been taking some initiative myself. 
KIM: Ooh! Show me, show me, show me!

 

Sami pulls out her tablet from her bag to show Kim pictures of the matching tuxedoes Sami's proposing to Will & Sonny.

 

SAMI: So...I wanted to do something slightly different with the tuxes, but still keeping it traditional.

 

Sami turns the tablet toward Kim, whose eyes light up at the pictures.

 

KIM: Oh wow, that's amazing. You know, I can't wait for the big day.
SAMI: Neither can I. I dunno if Will and Sonny can, though. They seem pretty...stressed out.
KIM: It'll pass. I'm sure of it.

 

Sami nods with a hopeful smile.

 

SAMI: I know it will. So, how's things with you?

 

Kim rests her elbow on the bar, looking less than enthused.

 

KIM: (sigh) Alright, I guess.

 

Sami furrows her brow, knowing for sure Kim's not telling the whole truth.

 

SAMI: Why don't I believe that?
KIM: Ahh, it's just a few things have come up, that's all.
SAMI: Like?
KIM: Like...(sigh) I've had to find a sublet for Theresa's apartment.

 

Sami sighs, realizing the situation she finds herself in with Theresa in a coma.

 

SAMI: Oh wow. I'm sorry, Kim.
KIM: It's okay. I know this woman's going to be dependable while Theresa's in the hospital, so that sets my mind at ease.

 

Sami looks intrigued.

 

SAMI: Oh? How do you know?
KIM: Well, she's a new hire at University Hospital. Valerie Grant hand picked her herself, and...from the conversations I've had with her, and her background check and all, I think she'll work out fine. 

SAMI: Oh that's fantastic. She's a doctor or something?

 

Kim smiles confidently, feeling an increasingly unusual sense of relief.

 

KIM: Nurse, actually. Her name is Crystal Clarke.

 

---

 

Sheryl emerges from inside the locker room, checking both ways to make sure the coast is clear. She looks down the hall, noticing at a nearby patient room sits an empty wheelchair, with a neatly folded blanket on the seat.

 

Thinking quickly, Sheryl darts over and swipes the wheelchair, and wheels it hastily inside the locker room.

 

Inside, Nurse Crystal Clarke's lifeless body lays on the ground, a towel draped over her wet body just near the showers. Sheryl reaches down and covers Crystal's head with the towel, then struggles to lift her upper body upright, wrapping the blanket around her to hide her naked body.

 

After struggling with this, Sheryl manages to steady the wheelchair enough to drag Crystal into the wheelchair. Strapping her in the best she can. 

 

Sheryl quickly runs over and moves the contents of Crystal's locker to her own, before shutting Crystal's locker, and locking her own.

 

 

Outside the room, Maxine emerges from the patient's room where Sheryl stole the wheelchair, and looks confused by the disappearing wheelchair.

 

MAXINE: What the...?

 

Looking around, baffled, Maxine turns herself around, before tutting in frustration.

 

MAXINE: These new hires, I tell you.

 

As Maxine walks off back to the nurses' station, Sheryl pokes her head back out the door, ensuring the coast is clear. She momentarily backs into the room when she notices Maxine passing, but once Maxine is around the corner, Sheryl opens the door wide, and pushes Crystal's comatose body out the door on the wheelchair, rushing as fast as she can while still walking for the service elevator.

 

---

 

 

---

 

Laura and JJ stand in the foyer of the Horton house, resting for a moment after loading some more boxes into JJ's SUV. They pant in exhaustion from their labour.

 

LAURA: Something tells me you're taking the entire house with you.

 

JJ laughs through his breaths.

 

JJ: Hah, well, I don't think I'm....gonna have enough room in dorm for that.
LAURA: You know I'm so proud of you, JJ.
JJ: Thanks, Grandma.

 

Laura sighs, as JJ questions her.

 

JJ: So...once I'm gone, what's gonna be your next move?
LAURA: Well, I'm gonna get out of the line of fire as soon as I can.
JJ: What do you mean?

 

Laura looks upstairs to be sure Liam nor Jennifer hears her.

 

LAURA: Well...I've been looking at getting a place of my own. I mean...the house is lovely and all, but...I have a feeling that if I'm not around, that might lull Liam into a false sense of security. Maybe...just maybe we can investigate him better from a slight distance.

 

JJ takes a drink from a water bottle he left on the side table. His brow furrowed, uncertain about Laura's plan.

 

JJ: You sure that's a good idea? I mean...Abs is still living here and all.
LAURA: Well, hopefully not for long. Now that she's working at WXIR, she's been saving some money. She may be moving into her own place soon, too. At least, that's what I'll be encouraging her to do.

JJ: Alright. But what about Mom? Are you sure Liam isn't gonna hurt her?
LAURA: Trust me, JJ. The last thing he will want to do is hurt your mother. If he feels threatened, then I worry, but I don't think that's the case. She'll be safe here.

 

JJ nods slowly, as Liam emerges from the top of the stairs. Both JJ and Laura immediately look up at him with surprised expressions, which catch Liam off-guard.

 

 

---

Justin slams his coffee cup down on the bar table in the Kiriakis living room, fed up with Alex once again siding with his mother.

 

JUSTIN: Anjelica, do you pay our son to do this? Or is he just hardwired to see things your way.

 

Alex snaps back at his father from behind the sofa, walking around to confront his father.

 

ALEX: You know, I resent that. Dad, you know full well if my mother is doing something I don't approve of, I'm gonna call her out on it. But the same goes for you. And right now, I think Nick Fallon is too dangerous for us to be riling him up.

MAGGIE: Alex has a point, Justin. 

 

Justin looks away, shaking his head, but listening to his son's point of view.

 

ALEX: He holds all the cards. He has our company, he has our property, he has everything. If we want it back, we have to play smart, not with brute force. Not by lashing out. Not by throwing tantrums around the living room. Now, I don't like him being here any more than you do, but I can't stop him. 

 

Justin looks up at his son, as Noelle walks in through the front door, the lattes she went out to get in hand. She listens in on the conversation her husband is having with his father very closely, never stepping into the room so as not to be seen.

 

JUSTIN: Who says I can't?
ALEX: The law, Dad. You know, that thing you practice?

 

Justin rolls his eyes at his son's barb, as Alex continues.

 

ALEX: Besides, Anjelica is right. As much as you don't want to admit it. If you want to get the drop on Nick Fallon, you have to let him live here, get comfortable here, let him get sloppy, let him make mistakes. THAT is how we're gonna win our company back. And you know I'm right.

 

Justin sighs, nodding in agreement with Alex, as Noelle stands just outside the cracked-open double doors to the living room, beaming with delight at her husband's convincing argument that unwittingly helps her plans.
 

---

 

Sami sips on a cup of coffee while sitting on the barstool at the Brady Pub. Kim finishes settling up with a nearby customer, before turning back to Sami.

 

KIM: So, how are the kids doing at school?
SAMI: Oh, they're good. They miss home, of course, but...I needed to give them space with everything going on here. With all this drama with Kristen, and Nick, EJ and I and our problems...and Dad doing so badly.
KIM: Trust me, I get it. 

 

Sami sighs, a bit saddened by the family's situation.

 

SAMI: You know, I'm really worried about him.
KIM: So am I. (sigh) I just wish your mom felt the same kind of urgency.

 

Sami looks at Kim, baffled.

 

SAMI: What's that supposed to mean?

 

Kim leans in closer, trying to speak in hushed tones to Sami.

 

KIM: Your mom met up with Eric here last night.
SAMI: Last night? It's Eric's wedding night, what's he doing alone at the pub?

 

Kim shrugs, before continuing.

 

KIM: I have no idea. Presumably, Nicole was busy? I...honestly, I couldn't tell you.
SAMI: Okay...?
KIM: Anyway, when I came in, she was asking Eric to do a DNA test with Roman. 
SAMI: What? Why?
KIM: That's what I wanted to know. Apparently, Marlena thinks there's a chance that the man that Kristen brought back to Salem in 1997 wasn't actually your father. They have no medical records before then. So of course, Marlena thinks there's some kind of DiMera conspiracy at play, and now instead of getting Roman the help he needs and figuring out what's causing his decline, she's spending all her time trying to figure out whether this really is your father or not.

 

Sami looks on, increasingly frustrated. She chokes out a response.

 

SAMI: And every day that goes by, he loses more and more of his memories.
KIM: That's what I said. But she and Valerie are convinced. This is the only way. Eric didn't want give a sample either, and I told Marlena...

 

Before Kim can even finish, Sami interrupts, getting up from her stool, and reaches into her bag for her cash.

 

SAMI: Sorry, Aunt Kim. I gotta take care of something.

 

Sami lays down a $20 bill on the bar and runs out of the bar, Kim calling out after her.

 

KIM: Sami? Wait, Sami!

 

Not once looking back, Sami leaves the pub as if she hadn't even heard Kim. Kim stands behind the bar, more worried than ever.

 

---

Sheryl waits impatiently inside the service elevator, as it descends to the parking garage below University Hospital.

 

SHERYL: Come oooon, come on come on come on come on...

 

As the elevator dings, indicating it's arrival on the underground level, and the doors open.

 

Sheryl, wheelchair in tow, jettisons out of the elevator, and into the parking garage, checking carefully to ensure she's alone.

 

Arriving at her vehicle, Sheryl struggles to open the door to the SUV, and keep the wheelchair containing Crystal's lifeless body. As Sheryl locks the wheels, she attempts to lift Crystal out of the wheelchair when a familiar voice calls out to her.

 

DANIEL: You need a hand there?

 

 

Sheryl drops Crystal back into the wheelchair, as she stands back up. Her mouth agape, as she hears Daniel's footsteps, as he stops, standing behind her.