This is a 2 week synopsis for the week of 9/15 and 9/22.

----------------------------------------------------------

Dusty wakes up and feels beside him. His hands run down a naked body barely wrapped in a sheet and he turns to face her. Emily smiles and tells Dusty that she is officially out of his life since she still hasn't given him an answer and it's been 24 hours since he proposed. Dusty grins and teases that she said "yes" enough times last night that he thinks he knows her answer by now. Emily's still unsettled about the whole idea, but Dusty quietly sympathizes that they can go as slow or as fast as Emily wants. Later, Alison drops by to tell Emily of Michael's hearing and finds her sister and Dusty wrapped in sheets. On her way out, Alison bumps into Casey in the lobby of the Lakeview. Casey seems concerned and Alison asks him what the matter is. Casey informs her that Aaron has asked him to come by the house and talk. Alison calls Aaron, but he surmises he was just going to settle things with Casey and offer an olive branch. Alison thanks him for being so forgiving and for finally realizing that Casey is not a threat to their relationship. He's just a friend, she says. Later, while Alison appears at Michael's hearing, Casey arrives at Alison and Aaron's apartment and can't find Aaron. He hears the shower running and guesses Aaron forgot he was coming by. Opting to leave and just come back, Casey strolls past the dining room table and notices a box of letters and pictures. In the box are all the nude photos and gorey letters that Gabe has been sending Casey and that Margo had been hiding. Aaron comes out of the shower as Casey fumes, wanting to know where Aaron got all this trash. Aaron hold back a smile and shrugs that he guesses Alison picked it up one night when she was dropping him off at his house. "After all, she doesn't want you to get hurt again", Aaron sighs.

Tom informs Susan that Michael's hearing has been scheduled for the next day. Susan refuses to go, but upon urging from Alison to go and "face her demons", Susan agrees. At the hearing, Michael tries to plead his case once more to Susan but Emily stops him from "humiliating her mother any more". Doris is weak when she testifies, but recalls the night in question. Doris claims Michael was sleeping with her and when she suggested they tell Susan about their reunion, he went into a rage. Michael gets up to testify and the D.A. berates him with questions. Brad notices Katie crying and escorts her outside. In tears, she tell him they have to prove Michael is innocent. She can't bear to lose her uncle. Later, after the jury goes out to deliberate, Katie and Brad quietly corner Doris in the parking garage. Katie won't stop pushing, despite Doris (and Brad's) multiple attempts to calm her down. Finally, Doris snaps and admits the whole thing was a set-up. Doris, now furious after recalling Katie's interference in her marriage to Michael, lunges after her and pins her to the ground. The ladies ensue in a fight as Brad tries to pull them apart. Margo appears and stuns Katie, forcing her to let go of Doris. Doris, on the edge of the parking garage wall, loses her balance and plummets to the ground. Katie fears she'll be arrested for murder, but Margo informs her that it was all self-defense. The coroner pronounces Doris dead as Katie wails to Margo that Doris admitted she framed Michael and now, they'll never be able to prove it. Brad, with a grin on his face, pulls out a tape recorder. "I didn't become a reporter for nothing," he chimes.

The next morning in the Snyder household is hectic, but it's obvious to Carly that the kids and Jack relish being together in the house again. Conversely, she feels awkward and deliberately keeps her distance from Jack. She lets him take the kids to school in her car, and calls a cab to take her to work. At a staff meeting, Kim brings up the yearly affiliates awards ceremony in Chicago, and encourages them to attend. Later, Kim pulls Carly aside and informs her that she's getting an award for all of her hard work and wonderful set designs at WOAK. Carly wonders aloud if she should bring her family and friends. Kim gives a stern nod and says that this is an award that has never been given to WOAK. Playfully, Kim teases that in all her time at the station, she hasn't seen anyone as talented as Carly. She apologizes for underestimating her, but Carly refuses the apology and thinks Kim has been much too kind to her. Later, after Jack convinces Carly that bringing the kids along will be some good family time they can spend together, they all arrive in Chicago. Kim offers to have her assistant watch the kids while Jack and Carly attend the ceremony. After the award has been presented, Jack suggests they go for a celebratory drink before returning to the hotel. Once they have a few drinks, Carly wonders aloud why Jack came to Chicago with her in the first place to a "boring awards ceremony". With a quiet bitterness, Jack tells her he gets "the message". She doesn't want him hanging around anymore. Carly denies she's made any decision about their future, but she feels guilty and pressured and spending family time together with him and the kids only makes it worse. Softening, Jack takes her hand, and tells her to take all the time she needs. "I don't want to mess this up, Jack," she declares, kissing his cheek. "You won't", he replies looking deep into her eyes. The moment overtakes her, and Carly gingerly brushes her lips against his.

Arriving in Canada, Barbara calls Paul who scolds her for coming all this way when he just told her not to. Barbara frets that she couldn't hear him and came because she thought he and Rosanna were in trouble. With reluctance, Paul agrees to meet Barbara in town so that they can resume their search. Paul tries to make amends for the previous night with Rosanna, but she coldly remarks that she just wants to find Cabot and leave the country so that James can never find them again. Paul had no idea Rosanna wanted to leave and gets quite upset. On their way to meet Barbara, Paul and Rosanna gets seperated in the midst of a parade in town. Later, we see someone coming out of being unconcious. Surrounded by unfamiliar things, Paul remembers being bopped on the head. Not to his surprise, James emerges and promises Paul freedom if he tells him where Cabot is. Paul denies knowing where Cabot is and argues that he thought his father had the child. James tells Paul that if they work together, they can find Cabot, Paul will become a hero, and Rosanna will re-open her arms to him. Teased by the idea, Paul goes along with it, but plans on eventually leaving James in the dust when he does find Cabot. James later calls Barbara and makes a seperate ultimatum. He will exchange her Paul for her signature. Curious, Barbara asks what the hell James is referring to. Boasting, he reminds his former wife of a missing document and a new intern and suggests that one might have to do with the other. With that, he hangs up. Rosanna, meanwhile, has found Barbara and the two women decide to call Carrie. Noticing that James's plan has taken a different course, Carrie lies and tells Barbara that James was wanting her signature on a marriage certificate that he had her obtain. By herself, Carrie wonders if James's change of plans might be the end of the road for her....meaning he will finally hold up his end of their agreement. Noah drops by and Carrie tells him that she might be leaving town soon. Distraught, Noah fears it's because they're moving too fast, but Carrie shakes her head and issues a vague "you'll see".

Jade settles in for a quiet day at the apartment with Colin. So glad to have the day off, Jade guesses that since Colin wants to know so much about her family, he should meet them. The idea proves to be a mistake when Colin asks Lily why Rose seemed to want no financial help from Lily or her mother. Lily becomes upset and excuses herself. Lucinda waltzes in, overhearing, and warns an extremely embarassed Jade to keep her boyfriend away. Later, Jade decides to go for a run to clear her head. She runs past Donovan's and finds Luke outside. Luke just dropped off his application and wonders what Jade's doing in this part of town. Jade heaves that she couldn't stand to be around Colin one more second. Luke asks if he's still saying a bunch of stuff about Jade's mom, his Aunt Rose. Jade huffs that she's beginning to be creeped out. "It's not exactly protocol for your new boyfriend to be asking a millino questions about your dead mother", Jade hisses. Luke decides that Colin must have some sort of motive and suggests they get to the bottom of it. At Donovan's one night, Colin approaches Luke and asks what his beef with him is. Three sheets to the wind, Luke steps up and declares that Colin's creepy with all the questions he keeps asking about Rose...not to mention that he and Jade only knew one another a week before they moved in together. Colin smirks that Luke's aunt must have been a real whore since nobody ever wants to talk about her. With that, Luke smacks Colin square in the eye (twice!) before finally fleeing. In a rage, Luke calls Jade in the middle of her shift at Java and grumbles that Colin just called her mother a whore and Luke punched him for it. "We've got to find out why this guy is so interested in Aunt Rose," Luke says. "and get him out of our hair as quickly as possible."

Kim comes home from the awards ceremony in Chicago and finds that some of Bob's stuff is in the driveway. Worried, she comes in only to meet Bob in the driveway with a suitcase. She breaks down and begs Bob to stay, only for him to meet her with a puzzled gaze. "Have you not heard?", Bob asks her. "I'm not leaving. I'm going to pick up Chris. He's been released."