Slipping into a booth at Al's, Emily checks her phone before making an order to go. Aaron comes in and guesses that Emily must be working on her next big story. What could possibly top the story that practically wrecked his grandmother's relationship and destroyed his stepmom's ties with her mother, he asks sarcastically. Realizing that this isn't going to end pretty, Emily stands up to leave. Alison sees the stand off from the window and rushes in. Quickly, she tells Aaron to get their food and wait for her in the car. Emily reluctantly thanks her sister for stepping in and hisses that he must still be mad over the incident between Dusty and her. Alison shrugs that if he is, he's rightfully just in being mad. She jumped to conclusions like always and now, both of their relationships are on the chopping block because of it. Alison denies that she would ever hurt Emily or Aaron like that ever again; she learned from the mistake in Vegas. She concludes that Emily was wrong in what she did. Swallowing hard, Emily bites her tongue until Alison and Aaron are out of sight. Storming into Susan's, she recollects the incident at Al's and fumes that Alison had no right to lecture her. Susan shrugs that like it or not, Emily was wrong. Dusty was wrong, too, but Emily had no right to jump to conclusions like she did. Her temper high, Emily elects to take a walk to relieve some stress. As she reflects back on all the good time that she and Dusty have had, she realizes that her mother is right for once. If Dusty and Emily wanted to sleep together, they would have. It was just a drunken mistake on Dusty's part and after all she's put him through, he deserves the benefit of a doubt.

Carly storms into Brad's office and asks him what the hell he thinks he was doing telling Mac there was something going on between them. Brad tells her he's protecting her. He doesn't trust this guy. He could be anything from a pedophile to a rapist. Carly scoffs at the idea, citing that the OPD sponsors the hockey league and all employees of the league go through a scrupulous background check. Brad argues that Mac might not even be his real name. Exasperated, Carly tells Brad to back off and stop acting like Jack. Maybe that's the problem, Brad speculates. She's interested in Mac, and doesn't like the thought of Jack's brother standing in her way. Carly hauls off and delivers a teeth-rattling slap to the side of Brad's face, which Katie and Jimmy, the intern, witness. Carly hisses the next time Brad talks to Mac, it better be to apologize for being such a douche. Carly storms out, missing Katie and Jimmy, who have hid around the corner. Katie tiptoes toward her office door, just in time to see Brad backhand a pile of tapes off his desk and curse about what a louse "Donnelly" must be. Smiling, Katie sneaks away and calls information, looking for a new listing in Oakdale for Mac Donnelly.

Will greets Carrie as she enters Java and wonders aloud what was so urgent that she needed to see him about. Laying the real estate card down on the table, Carrie reveals Barbara's latest ploy to interfere in her life. She bought a house. Will scoffs, wondering why his mother would do that. Continuing, Carrie details that the same house that Barbara bought is the same house that Noah tried to get her to room with him in. Somehow or another, she surmises, Barbara must have roped Noah into saying that be bought the house so that Carrie would move in with him. Will huffs that he knows his mother can be a little too hands-on at times, but why would she care if Noah and Carrie lived together? Carrie sighs that she doesn't have an answer for him, but she's sure if he asked his mom, she could fill him in. Later, Will still thinks that Carrie's notions are ill founded, but decides to test out Noah and see what he knows. Letting on that he knows everything, Noah eventually caves and reveals that Barbara bribed him to get Carrie to move in with him to keep Carrie and Will apart. It's been her plan for months, he says. Furious, Will heads off to confront Barbara.

Still steaming from her confrontation with Brad, Carly settles into the couch to watch some television. Rosanna comes by and informs her that she told Craig no. She recalls how he came by the house and called Cabot his son. She knows that Craig spent a lot of time with Cabot, but he's never truly been Craig's son. She accuses him of playing mind games again and shutters when she remembers the hell he put his other two children through. One dead, and another that ran out of town to escape him. Carly assures her sister that she did the right thing, but asks what Paul thinks about this. Rosanna sighs that she hasn't spoken to Paul since he griped her out about considering Craig's offer. Carly reminds Rosanna that she's come a long ways with Paul's help. He's obviously seen what Craig can do to a child and just wants the best for her and Cabot; that's probably why he was so angry that Rosanna even considered the option of a deal with Craig. Later, at Java, Rosanna thanks Paul for agreeing to meet her. She apologizes for letting her thoughts get jumbled. She knows Craig's a dangerous man who can't be trusted, and she'll be damned if she lets him get close to Cabot and somehow endanger his life. She's gone through too much to get her son back. Paul applauds her for finally coming to her senses. As they leave, we see Craig has been listening to them from a corner booth this whole time. He mumbles that he'll be damned if he stands by and watches Rosanna rip Cabot away from him...much less watch a Stenbeck help raise a child that he's come to think of his own. He pulls out his phone and makes a call.