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Dusty asks for Susan's help. After just missing Lyla leave the cancer center after her check up, Susan tracks down Michael and demands an explanation for his quick exit the previous night. Michael explains that a patient needed him, but he promises it won't happen again. Susan accuses him of having cold feet about resuming their relationship, but Michael denies it. Later, Susan meets Dusty in the hospital lobby. Dusty asks her to talk to Emily for him, but Susan recants that she already has. Emily's not budging; she's still mad. As Lyla comes back from her check up, Craig comes down the stairs. He kisses his mother goodbye, neglecting to hear her mention of a family meeting that night. Across town, Paul enters Fairwinds to find Rosanna in a big sobbing heap on the couch. Rosanna hands him a document and sighs that Craig is suing her for custody of Cabot, as if he hasn't put them both through enough this past year. Paul scoffs at the papers and hands them back to Rosanna before heading out to confront Craig. As Craig emerges from Java with some muffins and hot cocoa, Paul corners him near his car. Paul angrily blasts his nemesis for thinking he can get away with kidnapping and then get custody of Cabot after it's all said and done. Craig takes advantage of Paul's uncontrollable anger and taunts him that Cabot will be better off without James Stenbeck's flesh-and-blood hovering over him. His temper at a boiling point, Paul slugs Craig as he falls to the ground. Failing to find a phone number for Carly's mystery man, Katie buzzes over to Casey's and makes up an excuse to borrow his car. In a floppy hat and sunglasses, she slouches down, waiting for Carly to leave WOAK. Once Carly emerges from the building, Katie tails her all the way to her house. She waits until finally, a mystery man drops off J.J. and Parker. She gets ready to tail the man, no doubt "the" Mac Donnelly that she's heard so much about, but she's halted by Lyla's call urging her to stop by. Writing down the license plate, Katie zips over to Lyla's and finds Margo and her mother waiting in the parlor. Knowing that Lyla can't use Katie's absence as an excuse for delay any longer, Margo prompts her mother to spill what's so important. Lyal takes a gulp before divulging that her cancer has returned. Both daughters don't believe it, recalling Lyla's previous lie about her cancer. Choked with tears, Lyla asserts that it's true; just ask Michael. The women immediately rally around their mother's side.

Swinging the door open, Will confronts Barbara about her role in buying the house. She denies everything, but Will reveals that he just got off the phone with the real estate agent; she can't lie anymore. Trapped, Barbara finally grumbles that she did buy the house with the intent of Noah and Carrie moving in together. She reasons that Will has become much too attached much too soon with Carrie and she knows he's still in love with Gwen. Will scoffs that even if he was, it's his own life. Barbara has no control over who he sees or what he does. Later, an angry Will trashes Barbara's suite, but Carrie settles him down. Aaron thanks Alison for calming him down at Al's. If she had not have come in, there's no telling what he would have done. The doorbell rings and Aaron wonders who this could be. It's Casey, coming to talk to Alison about Sofie's letter. He received another one, which tells Casey that she's happy, getting married, and never returning to Oakdale. Casey calls himself stupid for letting a guy like Gabe around Sofie. Aaron defends that there's no way he could have known that they would end up together. Both of them push for Casey to go on another date with Gwen. Casey shrugs that he likes Gwen, but he's still not all the way over Sofie. Susan reminds Emily that it wasn't too terribly long ago when she needed forgiveness from Dusty. Now, it's her turn to repay the favor. Emily mutters that she'll sleep on it, heading upstairs for the night. Michael comes by and Susan giggles when she sees that he's brought take-out from Al's and a small candle (that he stole from Susan's foyer) for them. Susan admits that this should make up for him having to cancel last night. After dinner, Michael starts to nibble on Susan's ear but she stops him by revealing that Emily's upstairs asleep. Michael smirks that they can be quiet, but Susan suggests they get a hotel room. As they gather their things, Michael gets a page from Lyla who isn't feeling well. Although he promises the medical emergency won't last long, Susan is visibly upset. Across town, while giving her some medication to help with the pain, Michael finds out that Lyla still hasn't told her family. She promises to tell them soon. Michael warns her that the sooner they know, the lesser the fall-out. Opening the door, Lily comments to Craig how late it is. She's glad Holden is over at Emma's helping her with a pregnant horse, or he would be livid. Craig thanks Lily for her time and assures her he won't be long. He just needs to know if he has made the right decisions since he came back to town. Lily sympathizes with Craig and gushes that he sacrificed his own life to save Cabot's and kept him out of harm's way all of this time. The least that Rosanna can do is acknowledge the bond that he's formed with Cabot and share custody of the young toddler. Craig explains that he knows it's a long shot, but he's a changed man and he feels like Cabot is his own son after spending almost a year with him. Lily fears that Craig is using Cabot as a replacement for Johnny, but Craig denies it. He still hasn't stopped looking for Lucy and Johnny. Before leaving, Craig hints that he's done something that will change his situation for the better.

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.

At the hockey game in Chicago, Carly treats the team to popcorn while Mac buys them sodas. While the teens are engrossed in the game, Mac notices Carly's boredom, and compliments her on coming in spite of "everything". Carly admits she doesn't like hockey, but it's something all parents do at one time or another. Then she asks what he meant by "everything". Embarrassed, Mac tells her he's gotten to know Parker and JJ a little bit, and they told him about their parents' divorce and her ex-husband being gone. Defensively,Carly corrects him; her ex is out of town working--not gone. Mac apologizes, between the boys and Brad, he misunderstood the situation. Carly asks what Brad has to do with this. Mac informs her Brad acted like a jealous lover and warned him to stay away from her and the kids. Over coffee with Michael, Lyla contemplates the next step in her treatment. Michael warns that the radiation therapy might be too much for her to bear alone. Her family deserves to know the truth, he argues. Craig comes in and Lyla lets on that she's not as healthy as they all might think. Judging by his reaction, Lyla sighs that she can't do it. Her family's been through enough in the past year to be worthy of their own reality show. The last thing they need is the news that her cancer has returned. She even argues that they might not believe her after the stunt she pulled when she thought Katie was leaving town. Later, Michael runs into Susan and she hints that she's not busy this weekend and was hoping he'd take her on a date. Recalling that Lyla's scheduled for treatment that same day, Michael grimaces and fumbles for an excuse to miss. Although disheartened, Susan smiles that he'll have to make it up to her. Luke paces back and forth in his jail cell, counting the bars. He's relieved to see a familiar face when Lily comes in and informs him that the judge has agreed to let him post bail, thanks to Tom's urging. Once he's released, Luke's elated to see Kevin waiting for him. At home, Lily frets over the whole situation. Jade comes down and overhears, stopping Lily mid-sentence. Jade grumbles that she's mad with herself that she can't remember anything. Remembering Kevin's suggestion that the third person in the park might be Luke, Lily asks her if she remembers Luke being in the park the night of the incident. Jade becomes frustrated when she can't remember and heads back upstairs with a throbbing headache. Across town, Kevin's subtle comments make Luke start to think that his boyfriend assumes he killed Colin. Angry, Luke goes to Lily's and reveals that he found the knife in Jade's purse and hid it in the woods to protect her. Lily starts to lecture him, but she's cut short when Faith, Natalie, and Ethan return home from a field trip. Before ushering the kids upstairs to cheer up their favorite cousin, Lily promises Luke that they'll talk about this later. Latching the horse stall back, Holden turns around to see Lucinda approaching the barn. She pleads with her son-in-law to talk to Lily. He shrugs that he doesn't have a dog in the fight and judging from their mother/daughter spats in the past, he thinks it'd be better for him to stand on the sidelines. Getting nothing from Holden like she had hoped, Lucinda returns home in just enough time to see Carrie and Noah enter the guest house. She heads down to see when they'll be moving out, but Carrie still hasn't decided if she's moving in. After Lucinda leaves, Noah urges Carrie to move in with him. Confused as to why he seems so desperate, she calls him on it. Noah lies that he doesn't want to waste a bunch of money buying a house that he can hardly afford by himself. Once he drops her off at Barbara's suite, Carrie starts cleaning. She finds a real estate business card under the couch and stands fuming once she realizes that Barbara's behind Noah's new house.

Lily bursts through the door at Lucinda's and asks how she can be so careless about everything. First, she hides her past from her own daughter and then, out of nowhere, she emerges from seclusion to blame Colin's murder on Jade. Lucinda initially scolds Lily but soon retreats, knowing she can't win against Lily when she's this upset. Later, Margo shows Lily that the park pulled a security camera showing Jade at the scene with Colin, but there's another person. Both ladies look stunned when Kevin insinuates that it was Luke. Craig stops by Fairwinds and talks his way past the maid. He walks in while Rosanna's out of the room and picks up Cabot. As he starts to play with him, Rosanna comes out and threatens to call the cops. Craig insists that he was just spending some time with his son; it wasn't like he was going to run off with him. He knows he'd have OPD tailing him by the time he got his car out of the driveway. Rosanna stands stunned at Craig calling Cabot his "son" and asks him to leave. On his way out, Craig asks for an answer about his recent proposition. Rosanna mutters a quick "no" and locks the door behind her. Margo finds the police report documenting Carly's car being vandalized. Immediately, she probes Katie about what she knows, not mentioning her own suspicions that her little sister has resorted to violence. Hurt, Katie lashes out at Margo for thinking she did it. But, Katie laughs, as far as she's concerned, Carly's getting what she deserves too. After leaving, Katie runs into a weak looking Lyla. Katie insists that her mother go see Michael for a check up, unaware that Lyla's just returned from treatment. Grabbing a cup of hot cocoa, Alison thanks Casey for meeting her. She wanted to tell him in person that she and Aaron will no longer be working at Donovan's. However, they can still stay in contact. Gwen walks by and Casey gets cold feet when it comes to saying hi. Alison calls him out on it and Casey explains that he got a letter from Sofie last week and it still hasn't sank in. She and Gabe are getting married. Alison admits that while that is sad, it's also good news. Now, Casey's got the closure he needs to move on. Meanwhile, Gwen runs into Will and admits that she misses the way things used to be. Will asks to see Hallie one time before the custody hearing. Gwen seems to be okay with the idea, but Iris returns from shopping and instantly shoots it down. Gwen and Will share a longing glance before Gwen's whisked away under Iris's watchful wing. ------------------------------ ANWT will be pre-empted tomorrow for the inauguration ceremony.

Carrie's cut short from telling Will her plan when a call comes in from Noah, asking to see her immediately. After meeting her at Java, Noah blindfolds her, promising the surprise of a lifetime. As they drive up the driveway to the new house, Carrie unmasks herself and stands doe eyed in front of the door. Noah smiles that he bought the house, intending that she might room with him once she moves out of Barbara's. Carrie breathlessly asks where Noah got the money to afford such a place. Shrugging, Noah mumbles that he had some money saved up. Carrie gulps and promises to get back to him with an answer. Later, Barbara pressures Noah to do whatever it takes to get Carrie to move in with him. With the new house, he can keep Carrie pre-occupied and away from Will. Noah protests that what they're doing is wrong. She should learn from the mistake she made by bringing Darryl back to town; Carrie doesn't want Barbara interfering in her life. Leave the philosophy to her, Barbara snaps. All Noah has to do is get Carrie to move in and keep her away from Will. Alison and Dusty both sit at Al's, waiting and hoping that their respective others come through the door any minute. Alison resentfully mumbles that this is all Dusty's fault. He apologizes profusely; he never meant for any of this to happen. It was just a drunken mistake that got out of hand. Their showdown is short-lived as Emily and Aaron come traipsing through the door. Aaron drags Emily to the table and mumbles that he doesn't want to be here either, but Alison and Dusty have a right to plead their case. Judging by the awkward silence, Alison can tell this is going to be a long shot where Emily is concerned. Desperately urging Emily to hear her out, Emily snatches her hand away. Dusty starts off, recalling how upset he was at learning that Emily had known all along about Lucinda and Clark, despite Lucinda's urgings that she didn't. To add to it, she published a story that he never intended for her to know and caued Lucinda and her family immeasureable anguish. So...he got drunk and lost judgement. He never meant to hurt anyone; it was just a kiss...and Alison stopped it. Emily isn't so moved by the explanation, but Aaron starts to see that Alison wasn't in the wrong. Brad runs to Java for coffee and a muffin, and spots Mac sitting at a table reading a paper. Throwing his leg over the empty chair, Brad sits down uninvited, and proceeds to grill Mac about his life. Amused, Mac admits surprise that Brad wants to get to know him---he didn't seem like the friendly sort of guy. Brad tells him he's not...he doesn't like Mac spending time around his brother's family. "The family", or just Carly, Mac asks. Brad insinuates that he and Carly are more than friends, and that Mac shouldn't confuse Carly's empathy for the "new guy in town" with anything more personal. Mac laughs that Carly doesn't seem like the kind of woman needs help letting anyone know exactly what she feels. Leaving Dusty and Emily to talk inside, Aaron apologizes to Alison for doubting her. On the other hand, he doesn't think he can ever trust Dusty again and heads inside to announce his and Alison's resignations from Donovan's. Back outside, the two seal their reconciliation with a kiss and head home. Inside, Emily grumbles that she never wants to see Dusty again and gives back the engagement ring. Later, Emily returns home and fills Susan in about what happened at Al's. Smiling, Susan recalls a time when Dusty couldn't trust Emily; she had him chained to a wall with a pistol pointed in his face. But in time, he forgave her and even fell in love with her. Fidgeting in her seat, Susan lectures Emily that she thinks that if Dusty had meant to be with Alison, he would have slept with her that night. Instead, he didn't. He knew what he did was deathly wrong and he apologized. Now, the cards are in Emily's hands. Carly takes the afternoon off of work, walking into Milltown just as her answering machine picks up a call. Breathlessly, she picks up to find Jack on the other end. He jokes that he must really be having trouble with the time zones if she's home. Carly admits to blowing off work, and tells him the kids miss him. He tells her he misses them too. After an awkward silence, he tells her he'll have trouble keeping in touch--his client's decided to go to a ritzy retreat---absolutely no outside contact allowed. Carly promises to explain it to the kids--and jokingly reminds him to apply lots of sunscreen. Jack promises he will, and asks her to give everyone his love. Before Carly can assure him she will, the dial tone buzzes in her ear. As Jack closes his cell phone, he turns up his collar and steps onto a snow-covered street before disappearing into a crowd of people.

Brad and Katie head to their office, where the hostilities continue---silently. Brad dumps Katie's scripts in the middle of her desk, she retaliates by throwing his secret stash of junk food in trashcan and stomping on it. Finally, Brad suggests a truce, and dividing the office into his and her zones until they can move into separate ones. Katie agrees, as long as Brad gets his "girlfriend" Carly to quit. There's no way she can work with both Brad and Carly at the station. Brad tells her she's being ridiculous. There's no way he can ask Carly to quit her job, she's got kids to support. Katie snarks that it's an excuse--Jack has always supported his kids. Brad calls her a vindictive little bitch who loves spreading misery. Luke stealthfully glides through the woods, intent on retrieving the bloody knife and tossing it elsewhere. When a canine spots him, the officer shines his flashlight right on Luke just as he's picking up the murder weapon. Startled, Luke starts to run, but another deputy tackles him and places him in handcuffs. All the while, Luke maintains that he had nothing to do with the murder. While talking with Holden about letting Jade live with them for a little while as she recuperates, Lily gets a call from Margo that Luke has been arrested. The two speed over to the station and probe Luke as to why he would do this. When Holden leaves the room, Luke whispers to Lily that he's just looking out for Jade. Puzzled, Lily contacts Tom about posting bail. Lucinda comes in, determined to pay whatever amount she needs to in order to bail Luke out of a situation that, she claims, Jade caused. Still upset with her mother, Lily sends her off. Later, Lily asks Kevin what Luke meant when he said that he was protecting Jade. When Carly's meeting finally ends, she finds out her car's been vandalized in the WOAK parking lot...both headlights have been smashed in.While she waits for the OPD and tow truck to show up, Mac spots her as he's driving home. He insists on waiting with her, and they chat about the boys. He mentions taking the team to a minor league game in Chicago, and Carly ends up volunteering to help him chaperone the trip. After the police report is filed and the car towed to the garage, Mac drives her home, where Brad is waiting with the kids. While Carly explains why Mac is bringing her home, Brad glares at him, and quickly declines for Mac when the boys invite him to watch a hockey game on tv. When Mac leaves, Carly hauls Brad into the kitchen and chews him out for being rude to her guest. Brad asserts that he's just watching out for them---being family and all. And he thinks there's something fishy about Mac being so friendly so quick. Carly scoffs that his latent Snyder genes have rendered him an idiot. Mac is just new in town and hasn't had time to make many friends yet. Brad rolls his eyes at her, telling her she doesn't have a clue when it comes to men and what they want. Carrie walks into the office, mumbling under her breath. She isn't even back at the office a full day yet and Barbara already has her doing three things at once. Paul comes in, trading barbs with Carrie. He thought she had left, he wonders aloud. Carrie smirks that he can't get rid of her that easily. Barbara comes in and Paul informs her of Craig offering to pay off Fairwinds in exchange for Cabot. Then, he exclaims, she had the nerve to consider it, knowing full and well that Craig has no intentions of holding up his end of the bargain. Carrie interrupts, reminding Barbara of a meeting tomorrow to discuss options for the ad campaign. As soon as Paul leaves, Will comes in and invites Carrie to Al's. She gladly accepts when she notices Barbara getting agitated. Later, Barbara meets with Noah and reminds him that Will is steadily gaining progress with Carrie. If Noah wants to keep her, he's going to need to make his move very soon. Handing him a key, Barbara reminds him that Carrie is to never know that she bought the house. Once she moves in, Noah gushes, the last thing that will cross her mind is Barbara or Will. That's exactly the point, Barbara adds before walking away. At Al's, Will confides in Carrie that he's going to need a miracle to gain custody of Hallie when their case goes to trial soon. Remembering the stories that Will has told her of Iris's shenanigans in the past, she offers up an idea.

Kim orders Brad and Katie into her office. While Kim finishes a phone call, they trade barbs under their breath, blaming each other for the studio melee. Their voices grow louder until Kim clears her throat and gives them one of her iciest stares, shutting them up. When she's ready to address them, she shows them unedited footage of the fight and asks them if they know how ridiculous they look. When they start accusing each other, Kim slaps her desk; startling them into silence. Eyes blazing, she informs them that if there is another incident between them that wastes station time and resources, their paychecks will be docked accordingly. For everything from the crew's salaries to the ink used in getting statements to put in their permanent files---she is done playing den mother to a pair of spoiled brats. Margo arrives at the Holden and Lily's and tells them that Colin's body is being autospied as they speak; they suspect foul play, no doubt. Lily pleads for Margo to go easy on Jade since she just got walking papers from the hospital. Inside her room, all that Jade can recall is walking through the park after work. After that, everything goes blank, she cries. After some earnest pleading from Lily that the questioning has gone on long enough, Margo relents. She promises to get back to them soon. Later, Luke worries that Jade is responsible. He flashes back to finding the bloody knife in Jade's bag after the ambulance picked her up. Protecting his cousin, he remembers throwing the knife in the woods at Lincoln Park and realizes that the police might find it there. Panicking, he hurries off to the park without telling anyone where he's going. Carly panics when a production meeting gets rescheduled for late afternoon, leaving her unable to pick up the kids after school. None of her usual backups can help, so Brad offers to pick up Parker and JJ from hockey practice. He arrives to find practice already over, and Parker and JJ still on the ice getting extra one-on-one help. The boys introduce Brad to their coach, who insists they all call him Mac. The boys consider it a privledge, and go on and on praising Mac while Brad drives them home. When Brad finds out Mac had dinner with the family, it's clear he doesn't like it. Wandering through the ailes of the local store, Emma accidentally bumps into Lucinda. The two women share an awkward silence before Lucinda finally apologizes for not telling Emma about her past marriage to Clark sooner. She was young and stupid, she reasons, and they haven't spoken since the annullment. Emma quips that Lucinda should be ashamed of herself. The one time that Emma actually has a shot at happiness, Lucinda rolls in and steals her thunder. She cuts Lucinda a harsh glare before finally storming off. Back at Lucinda's, Noah informs Lucinda that he's moving out of the guest house and finding his own place. When Lucinda asks why, Noah beams that he's getting his own place and inviting Carrie to come live with him. Lucinda warns Noah that he might be moving a little too fast, but Noah reasons that it's nothing more than a friendly gesture.

Lyla meets with Michael and asks that he keep the fact that her cancer has returned secret, for the sake of her children. Michael agrees, but later, Susan sees the two and wonders what she's doing there. Michael covers that it's just a check-up. The two make plans to meet for dinner at Mona Lisa. After dinner, Michael invites Susan to his house where Susan reasons that she wants them both to be completely honest with one another from now on. Dusty tries to see Emily, but she refuses to come out of her office, even calling security to take Dusty away. Waiting outside, Dusty bombards her when she gets off work and explains that he kissed Alison, but she never kissed him back. When Emily returned, in his drunken stupor, he thought it was Alison. Later, Dusty tells Alison that Emily didn't listen. Carly meets with Rosanna at Fairwinds. Rosanna painfully admits that Cabot is attached to Craig. He sees her as a stranger. She also brings up Craig's ultimatum about shared custody. Carly scoffs that it's just like Craig to make such a selfish ultimatum. Although she hates the man, Carly gives her sister the cold hard truth. Right now, Cabot comes first. If he needs Craig, Rosanna needs Craig. Period. Lily paces the floor, unsure what's going to happen next. Luke and Kevin come in and Lily informs her son that they found a body in Lincoln Park. Kevin stays hopeful, asserting that it might all be coincidence. Bob interrupts to inform them that Jade wasn't raped. Meanwhile, Holden returns with even grimmer news. According to Margo, the body has been identified as Colin Taylor.

Lily rushes over to Luke and Kevin's. Once there, Luke informs her that Jade is taking a nap. She doesn't remember anything, but they did find blood all over her clothes. Lily insists they have Bob take a look at her to make sure she wasn't raped. At the hospital, Bob reveals that Jade was assaulted and Margo is on her way now. Lily comforts her niece until Margo gets there. Growing agitated at the questioning, Jade cries that she can't remember anything. Margo opts to let Jade rest for a while before coming back. In the mean time, she'll need Lily to keep Jade comfortable. Across town, Luke throws a bloody knife in the woods. Alison walks through the lobby of the Lakeview, only to be bombarded by Aaron. Angrily, he confronts her for what she did with Dusty the other night. After asking him to continue this outside, Alison denies that she did anything more than take Dusty home. Aaron reveals that Emily told him that she slept with Dusty. She scoffs that it's absurd and that Dusty told Emily that to spite her. Leaving Aaron behind, she heads off to confront Dusty. At his house, Dusty explains that the kiss was just a drunken mistake. It isn't until Alison reminds him of Emily's appearance that he remembers he called her Alison. Dusty vows to make everything right as Alison grunts that he better; her relationship is on the line once again because of him. Lyla rounds the corner of her living room couch and hands Katie another box of tissues. Sympathetically, she preaches that Katie can't just sit here all day. Katie mopes that her career is now over thanks to Brad. Plus, her marriage was probably a lie; Brad was probably banging Carly the whole time. And now, Brad wants $10,000 to do what he did while they were married: eat burnt pizza and drink beer. Craig happens upon the conversation and offers to talk to Brad. Katie refuses the idea, but Craig stalks off to confront his brother-in-law anyway. In Old Town, Brad walks the other way as he sees Craig approach. Craig ridicules him for treating his baby sister the way he did, but admits amazement at Brad bedding Carly. He always thought she was too hung up on his brother to give a rat's tail about, much less sleep with, his ignorant brother. Fuming, Brad attacks Craig. Clark knocks on the door, repeatedly calling out for Emma to open up. Holden comes up behind him with a pitchfork, fresh from working in the barn. Standing tall, he tells Clark that his mother has gone out of town to a farmer's market and won't be back anytime soon. He has two options; leave or be forced to leave. Clark obliges to do the former, but explains that he never meant for Emma to be hurt. Later, Emma thanks Holden for sending Clark away, moaning that she doesn't think she can bare to see him. If he didn't tell her he was once married to Lucinda, how is she to know he isn't keeping any other secrets? Holden gets word about Jade and heads off to meet Lily at the hospital. As they wait for the results of the rape kit, they watch the TV in the waiting room. As they watch, a news bulletin flashes that a body has been found, stabbed to death, in Lincoln Park just north of Luthers Corners.

Ramsey OUT! Wes Ramsey has been let go from the show, says a show spokesperson. The recurring character of "Colin Taylor" will last air sometime in February. Colombino OUT! Terri Colombino has also been released from the show...in a way. The actress has taken a temporary hiatus from the show, but will return in about three months. Colombino will make her departure sometime in late February. Show IN! Grant Show joins the cast in the role of "Mac Donnelly", Parker's new hockey coach. Expect the actor to share several scenes with Maura West and share a surprising connection to someone in Oakdale. And according to insiders, the cast changes over at ANWT aren't over quite yet.

At WOAK, Kim meets with Brad and Katie in her office. She offers her sympathy on their loss, and realizes what a strain that's been on their marriage. Kim pointedly tells them she's ignoring the gossip flying around the station, and expects them to be professionals on the set of Oakdale Now. When Brad starts to protest there's no way he's working with Katie, Kim shuts him up by reminding him he's under contract. Anyone who breaches their contract will get their fanny sued off before she's done with them. As they exit, Katie tries to apologize for her outburst at Donovan's on New Year's Eve. Brad tells her to get used to seeing him around town having fun because he's made it his New Year's resolution, in addition to divorcing her as quickly as possible. As he walks off, he loudly asks Jimmy, the new intern, if he knows where Carly is. The assistant district attorney meets with Rosanna and Paul and tells them that there's no way that they're going to spend time on Craig's case. Since he's still legally Cabot's adoptive father and there's no hard evidence that says Craig was harming the child, the case will be thrown out. Meanwhile, Margo reluctantly lets her brother out of his cell and sighs that she'll probably see him back around these parts sooner or later. Paul's furious after the meeting with the A.D.A. and confronts Craig at the Lakeview, demanding he sign over his rights to Cabot immediately. Craig snaps back and Lisa interferes, helping avoid a brawl between the two men. Later, Craig overhears a realtor stating that Fairwinds is close to foreclosure. He makes his way over to the estate and tells Rosanna that he knows her payments on the estate have been lack because of her exhaustive search efforts for Cabot. He agrees to foot the bill and get her out of her financial troubles, with the exception that she share custody of Cabot with him. Rosanna refuses, but when Cabot won't stop crying, Craig is the one able to soothe him. Reluctantly, she agrees to think it over and brings it up to Paul. Paul blows up and scolds her for even letting the thought cross her mind. Hurt, Rosanna lashes back that he has no say-so in the matter and asks him to leave. Barging into Carly's office, Brad vents about Kim's expectations for him to just suck it up and work with his soon-to-be ex. Carly gives him no sympathy, telling him he's lucky Katie hasn't made it her mission to send him to jail. Brad scoffs; Katie's gonna wish for jail by the time he's through with her. He's got an appointment with a divorce lawyer, and he's suing for alimony. Carly laughs, until she realizes he's serious. Margo returns home and meets Lyla at the front door. She heard Craig had been released and was hoping he would be stopping by later. The two discuss Craig's knack for always getting himself into trouble, but Lyla surprisingly has hope that he's a different man now. Margo smirks that Craig never changes. Katie comes in, fuming over her meeting with Kim and Brad. She hisses that she thinks Carly is behind Brad's sudden attitude change and promises to take it up with the old plug the first time she gets the chance. Later, Lyla meets Casey and Gwen while they shop for Hallie some new clothes. She comments what a cute couple they make, causing both to blush and fumble for words to change the subject. After dropping off Gwen, Casey seems upbeat. When he arrives at his apartment though, he gets a letter from Sofie. Meanwhile, Lyla arrives at Oakdale Memorial for her check-up and gets devastating news from Michael that her cancer has returned. Carly's about to sit down to dinner with the kids, when someone rings the bell. Coach Donnelly's on the porch, holding Parker's cellphone he forgot at the rink. Parker thanks him profusely, and Carly ends up inviting him to stay and eat with them. He accepts, provided they start calling him "Mac", and not "Coach". Off the ice, at least. He regales them with stories of his days playing semi-pro hockey, making everyone laugh. When they say goodnight, Carly realizes there's no car outside, and offers to call Mac a cab. He says that's not necessary. He's rented the house at the end of the block. Holden helps calm Lily as she still tries to process that her mother had a past that she never knew about. She knows there's more to the story, but doubts Lucinda will ever spill. Holden brings up the sore subject of Craig and Lily groans that she was just helping a friend. Later, Lily sneaks out when Craig calls her. He recalls that he hired Rohan back in Barbados, but only to throw them off of his tracks. He appreciated Lily looking for him, but wasn't sure if James was following them. Disappointed that he didn't trust her enough to let her know he was okay, Craig smirks that that's why he left his watch. Smiling, she digs for the watch in her purse and hands it back to him. He tells her to keep it...as a souvenir. Parker finds a video message from Jack in his inbox. He wishes all of them a happy new year, and tells them how much he misses them. He promises to keep in touch the best he can, but his job is keeping him on the move. After the kids are in bed, Carly checks her own account, and finds an email from Jack. It's simply a beautiful picture of Iguazu Falls. As Carly touches the screen, we see Jack in bed somewhere. He rolls over in the dark and quietly whispers... "I love you, Carly." Alison comforts Dusty over the demise of his and Emily's engagement. Dusty gets so drunk that he needs help getting home and Alison agrees to drive. Once at the house, Dusty gets up to go in, but stumbles. Alison picks him up and he pulls her into a kiss. Remembering the hell that it caused them both last time, Alison scolds Dusty and sends him to bed. When Aaron confronts her about smelling like alcohol, she explains that she had to drive Dusty home after he got too drunk, neglecting to mention the drunken kiss. Across town, Susan agrees to let Emily stay with her for a while. She goes to Dusty's to get her things and in his drunken stupor, he mistakes her for Alison, returning to finish what they started. Upset, Emily slaps Dusty and throws a few things together before storming off, ignoring Dusty's comments that she's jumping to conclusions. Later, Emily angrily confronts Aaron and tells him that she thought he should know that Dusty and Alison slept together again. Kim arrives on set, determined to personally oversee Brad and Katie's first day back. During the show, Brad resorts to biting sarcasm, but Katie goes out of her way to make it seem like their previous playful banter. Kim scowls at him during a commercial break, and Brad dials it down, but barely. After the show wraps, Kim leaves while they tape promos. Brad sullenly disrupts the taping, purposely stepping on Katie's lines, getting in her shot, until Katie elbows him in retaliation. As they finish the last one touting "ways to keep your new year's resolutions", Brad motions to a man in the back of the stage. With the tape still rolling, the man serves Katie with divorce papers. Stunned, Katie starts reading through them, and stops when she gets to Brad's demand for $10,000 a month in alimony. Chaos erupts as she attacks him, and two security guards have to restrain her. Lucinda hangs up the phone with her legal team and tells Andrew to send her visitor in, knowing already who it is. Clark enters in and muses that he never thought he would see the day when he would come face to face with Mary Ellen, or should he say Lucinda, again. Lucinda informs him that she has no intentions of re-kindling the flame with him and he chuckles that the thought never crossed his mind; he's completely in love with Emma. Together, the two conclude that they must keep what happened a secret. Later, Emma's flabbergasted when Clark finally confesses that he used to be married to Lucinda. She's irate that he would keep something like that from her and accuses him of still having feelings for the Walsh dame. Furious, she kicks him out. Days later, Holden learns that Emma kicked Clark out and reiterates her sentiments that the man can't be trusted. Carrie arranges a meeting with Barbara. She elaborates that she's had time to think about things and Barbara's interference in her personal life must come to an end. The only way for that to happen, she shrugs, is to hand in her resignation. Barbara reasons that B.R.O. is weeks away from launching a massive ad campaign and she was hoping Carrie would oversee the project. After negotiating a new salary, Carrie agrees to look after the new project but after it wraps, she's quitting. Barbara agrees to her terms. Days later, Carrie runs into Will in Old Town and he asks her not to take the kiss seriously; they got caught up in the moment. That's all. Carrie smirks that she knows that it didn't mean anything. Little does she know that it meant something to Will. Later, Will gets notice from the court that the custody hearing is fastly approaching. Luke returns from registering at Oakdale U for the spring and finds Kevin all dressed up. Kevin reveals that his mom has come to town for a business conference and they're supposed to be meeting with her for lunch. At Mona Lisa, Gretchen Davis makes no attempts to hide her displeasure with seeing Luke and Kevin together. Luke and Gretchen engage in a war of words before he finally storms out. Kevin runs after him and convinces him that his mother's word is no good; she's the least of their concerns. The two decide to go home early and upon returning home, they spy blood on the doorknob. Luke and Kevin find Jade crying with blood on her hands. Kevin fumbles for the phone to call 911, gasping that Jade must be injured. Luke stops him. The blood isn't Jade's, he calls out. It's someone else's.

The next morning, a package arrives for Parker. It's a gift from Jack, a Brazilian soccer team jersey signed by the entire team. Also attached is an apologetic note, since he knows it's going to be late. Carly offers to get it framed, but Parker insists he'd rather wear it. Carly offers to give him a ride to hockey practice, and when Carly tries to assure him Jack will be home soon, he sits in stony silence. At the rink, their coach announces he has to have surgery, but he's gotten an assistant to take over for the rest of the season, Mick Donnelly. Lily assures Craig through jail cell bars that Rosanna will see the light and eventually drop the charges. Until then, she's hired Tom to represent him. Craig chimes that he and Tom haven't exactly gotten along, which Tom walks in to hear. Tom changes the subject, stating that Craig's case is pretty open and close. Since Craig is technically Cabot's adoptive father and the child was in danger, the court shouldn't have a case. Later, Holden voices his concern in Lily's innate soft spot for Craig. He's showed her time and time again that he can't be trusted, he grumbles. The fight is cut short when Lucinda calls Lily and orders her over as quickly as possible. Across town, Rosanna makes her first public appearance with Cabot in tow, knowing that Craig is behind bars. She calls Gwen over and the two have a bonding moment with the toddler that they both once called their own. At Lucinda's, Lily walks in to her mother's worst nightmare. Reporters crawl the lawn, hoping to get a quote from the millionaire's daughter. Lily's confused and once inside, Lucinda has her sit down. She explains that when she was Mary Ellen Walters living in Peoria, she met and fell in love with a man. They soon got married, but things didn't work out. In the end, she fled to Montega and the rest is history. Lily's overcome with shock; her mother had a past that she neglected to mention until now. Lucinda prepares her, hissing that Emily broke the story in today's Intruder and she wanted Lily to know before she picked up a copy or heard from someone else. Lily asks who the man is and why Emily had anything to do with it. Playing innocent, Lucinda comes up with a last minute excuse for Emily's involvement and blurts out that the man is Clark Allan. At the farm, reporters are buzzing outside. Emma's livid, demanding that they all retreat. Holden offers to scare them off, but Emma says she already tried. They've been out there all morning. Since the Intruder made a false claim that Lucinda and Clark were once married, her phone has been ringing off the hook. Even Chicago reporters are taking an interest in the humorous tale. Clark comes in, fresh out of a meeting back home, and asks what the fuss is about. Emma explains everything and Clark chuckles. He doesn't even know Lucinda Walsh that well; only from business dealings. Later, Clark sees the photo from the Intruder and finally realizes that Lucinda is Mary Ellen. As Susan kisses Michael goodbye, Emily rushes in the door. She mumbles that her life is falling apart, wiping tears from her eyes. Dusty won't return her calls and the city is abuzz with a story that she never intended to go to press. After recalling the story of how she found out Clark and Lucinda were once married, she explains that Lucinda paid her off to keep quiet. The story was just a mock-up, she cries, in case Lucinda did anything to further complicate the situation. Susan rolls her eyes and grumbles that Emily digs her own hole alot of times. Meanwhile, Dusty tosses back drinks at a dark and empty Donovan's. Alison comes in to help clean up the debris from the previous night's party but Dusty moans for her to go home. Instead, Alison pulls up a chair and Dusty informs her that he and Emily are over. This time, for good.

Brad convinces a reluctant Carly to break away from an impromptu birthday/pizza party for Parker at her house and go with him to the New Years's Eve Party at Donovan's. Later, Brad and Carly, unaware of the mounting infidelity rumors surrounding them, hit the dance floor. Furious, Katie spots them and threatens to charge Brad with adultery in the divorce. Michael tells Susan that he's not going to let her go into the new year alone. Susan grunts that she's been through many alone before, but Michael stops her. She doesn't have to anymore, he says. Susan gets agitated thinking about how Michael just left her like that. Michael admits that what he did was cowardly, but he did it to make sure that Susan wasn't in anymore danger. Susan hauls off and slaps him, demanding he leave. Their pent up anger soon turns into red hot passion and the two make love on the living room sofa. Dusty continue to charm Emily throughout the night. He admits that he never thought he could love again after Jennifer, but Emily has taught him that love comes in all shapes, sizes, and forms. Flattered, Emily goes to the restroom to powder her nose. In the bathroom, Emily gets a call from Lucinda but the call is dropped due to bad signal. Later, Dusty shows Aaron and Alison the engagement ring that he bought Emily. Slamming through the doors, Lucinda shoves the latest issue of the paper in Emily's face, ferociously barking if this is some kind of a joke. Emily's jaw hits the floor as she sees the headline "Lucinda Walsh Has Secret Past With New Businessman in Town". She turns to watch as Dusty, no doubt angry over her betrayal, storms out of the party. Aaron chases after him and learns that his grandma's new boyfriend used to be married to Lucinda when they were teenagers. And now, because of Emily, the whole town of Oakdale will soon know. Carly threatens to inform Kim of Katie's "show" at the party, smirking that Kim would dump her in a minute to save the station from scandal. Katie hisses that Kim's better than that, but Carly reminds her how fast Molly got dumped years ago, thanks to Katie and Henry. Steamed, Katie stalks off after warning Carly to stay away from Brad--or else. Later, Carly runs into Lily and Holden, who are headed home to relieve Luke and Jade of babysitting duty. Gwen corners Will and tells him that he's too much of a danger to Hallie to be around her. Will scoffs, asking Gwen if she's blind or if she really can't see that Iris set him up. Gwen rolls her eyes, moaning that everything is always about him. Will finally leaves, with Carrie closely behind. At the bar, Gwen confides in Alison that she doesn't know who Will is anymore. Across town, Will takes Carrie to a cliff high in the hills. There, they sit on the edge and watch the fireworks from afar as Will vents about the situation with Gwen. Taken by the dazzling colors and the electric showers of light, the two get swept up in the moment and share a brief kiss. Alarmed, Carrie pulls away and changes the subject. Back at the party, Noah can't find Carrie anywhere and while looking for her, bumps into Luke. Luke and Noah share an awkward silence before Noah finally admits he's looking for Carrie. Feeling bad for him, Luke points out that Carrie's just not that into him; he figured Noah would have gotten the clue by now. Hurt and angry, Noah walks off. Carrie soon returns and informs Noah that she would like to go home. Noah automatically thinks that Will tried something, but Carrie denies anything happened. At the Wagon Wheel, Barbara recalls running into Craig at the Lakeview. He's not going to stop until he has this baby back, she warns. Cabot has now replaced Johnny in Craig's life. Rosanna realizes that this is a very sensitive situation, but Paul talks her into going forward with the kidnapping charges. After meeting with Rosanna, Margo finally finds Craig at the Lakeview bar. She nonchalantly arrests him, all the while reminding him that she warned him this would happen. Having dropped off the kids with Emma, Lily and Holden walk through the lobby and witness the arrest. Lily is in shock at the sight of Craig standing before her. She tearfully hugs him, gasping that she can't believe he's alive. Meanwhile, Holden looks on with disapproving eyes.

Lyla's still reeling from the revalation that Craig is alive. Overcome with happiness, she's soon brought back to reality once Margo explains that he's wanted for kidnapping. Since Craig was never technically in control of whether or not people thought he was dead, he can escape the fraud charges. But he's had Cabot for months and she's sure Rosanna will file charges. Later, Lyla tells Craig that he might be a wanted man before long. Still not giving up on getting Cabot back, Craig decides to hide out at the Lakeview. Katie goes into work for her first day back. Kim assures her that she doesn't have to do this, but Katie asserts that she needs to get her mind off of things. Later, Katie overhears whispers. Supposedly, someone saw Crad and Carly come close to a kiss last week in the parking garage. Livid and hurt at the same time. At her mother's, she confides in Lyla that she fears Brad might have been having an affair with Carly. Lyla dismisses the tale as a rumor courtesy of an exaggerative co-worker. Plopping down on the seat beside her daughter, she suggests that maybe going to the New Year's Eve bash at Donovan's might be the fun time Katie needs to just forget about things. Emily scrambles to throw together some last minute stories before running out of her office to meet Dusty to prepare for the NYE bash at his club. She neglects to realize that in one of the stacks of paper she handed her assistant was a mock-up of the story about Lucinda and Clark. Later, Emily gets a call from her printer to ask her to come give the paper a once-over before it goes into full print. Confident, Emily assures the man that she doesn't need to see it; she's sure the paper is just fine. As Emily ends the call, Dusty promises her that this is going to be a night she'll never forget. Meanwhile, Susan stays home with a bag of popcorn watching the ball drop over Times Square on TV. She's startled when Michael shows up at her door. He smiles and tells her that as much as she hates him, she doesn't need to be alone tonight; she needs a friend. Reluctantly, Susan lets him in. Jade and Luke convince Lily and Holden to go out to Donovan's and ring in the new year right; they'll take care of the kids. Holden chuckles how weird it will be seeing Clark and Emma together at the bash. He still hasn't gotten used to the idea of Clark being around, he tells Lily. After a while, Noah appears at Donovan's with Carrie. Lily speaks with Noah and he gushes that he has hope for the new year, even if he and Luke weren't meant to be. Holden, meanwhile, notices Carrie's gleeful gaze upon seeing Will enter and assumes the two are a couple. After entering the packed club, Casey thanks Alison for convincing him to come. Aaron tends to the bar while Alison meets up with Gwen and introduces her to her blind date for the evening: Casey. Gwen's reluctant given the fact that the first date wasn't all that, but after some coaching from Alison to get back into the game and let the past be the past, Gwen finally approaches Casey. While she watches the two laugh about something, Alison confides in Aaron that she thinks they might have actually gotten Casey back out of his shell again. Across the room, Will realizes that Gwen is there and decides to take an exit to avoid his future ex any discomfort. Instead, she follows him outside and asks if he signed the papers. He's fine with a divorce, he explains, but he's not going to be kept away from his daughter. Gwen promises that this is a fight that he'll lose, but Will dares her to just wait and see. Neil comes into the room and advises Rosanna that they've been informed of Craig's whereabouts. He's right here in Oakdale. Her first instinct is to flee. Paul grunts that he'll take care of Craig. Rosanna still seems frightened of the man, recalling how he's the one behind the accident that left her in a coma. She can't let a man like that raise her child. Meanwhile, Barbara's flabbergasted to find Craig hiding out at the Lakeview. Although he's disguised by sunglasses and a fake beard, she can tell it's him. Finally, he reveals himself to her, but asks her to keep the fact that he's alive a secret. He tells her the story of James holding him captive and rescuing Cabot. Barbara asks if he has any leads on Johnny and is shocked when Craig informs her that he quit looking months ago. Wondering what brought the ruthless mission to an end, she eventually realizes that Cabot has substituted the void in Craig's life that was left by Johnny's absence.

While Emma prepares for the traditional Snyder Christmas, Brad makes his excuses and tries to duck out of the festivities. Emma takes him aside and tells him he needs his family right now. Brad tells her he'd rather be alone, where people don't know or care what a fool Katie made of him. Emma hugs him and gives him her blessing. But she asks one favor---taking Jack's presents for the kids to Carly's house. Barbara turns the corner at the cemetary, toting a bouquet of flowers to put on Jennifer's grave. She stands in shock when she notices a stranger kneeling beside her daughter's headstone. Darryl turns around, wiping tears from his eyes, and addresses her. He didn't think anyone was watching, he says. Barbara admits that she just got here and kneels down beside him, placing the bouquet beneath the headstone. She watches as Darryl sadly runs his fingers across the date of her birth and the date of her death. He comments through tears how he's a curse. Anything he touches, dies. First, it was Carolyn. Then, it was Carrie. He killed her spirit, he explains. And now, Jennifer. Carly grabs a bag of presents and some of Parker's hand-me-downs to take to Rosanna. Brad drops by with Jack's presents, and apologizes for trying to kiss her. Carly tells him if he ever tries to do that again--drunk or sober--he'll be playing Jingle Bells on a necklace of his teeth. Brad laughs, and Carly tries to send him on his way so she can visit Rosanna. Brad stalls, inviting himself inside, and ends up playing video games with the kids. Jack calls the kids to wish them a Merry Christmas, telling them he misses them, but not the snow. When Jack hangs up without talking to her, Brad notices how upset she is and tries to console her. Barbara brushes a tear from her own face and sniffles that he didn't do anything. Jennifer died suddenly and quickly; there was nothing he could have done. Darryl clenches his hands tight, forming a fist, and grits his teeth. He should have been here, he reasons. But instead, he was wasting his life away. Babara comments that she doesn't know what happened to him or Carrie when they left, but whatever it was, he needs to quit beating himself up over it. Now in a bundle of rage and grief, he explodes that because of his drug habit, he made Carrie lose something very special. And she'll never get that back. Carly blows Brad off, and lets the kids open Jack's presents. Parker gets a new snowboard, JJ a pair of hockey skates and Sage riding boots. There's one box left---addressed to Carly. It's a star ornament, and a certificate with the coordinates of a star named in her honor. Later, Carly manages to sneak out to the Wagon Wheel. The sisters embrace and wish each other Merry Christmas. Rosanna thanks her for all her help, and for bringing Cabot presents for his Christmas morning. Carly gives her a stocking with Cabot's name embroidered on it, and Rosanna laments she hasn't anything to give Carly. Carly tells her they'll share her present---her own private star to wish on. As soon as Carly leaves, Paul asks Rosanna what their next move is; it won't be long before Craig comes looking for them. Rosanna smiles that she doesn't know and she doesn't care right now. All she cares about right now, she gushes, is spending Christmas with her son. Paul smiles as he watches Rosanna sing "Jingle Bells" to Cabot. The toddler delightfully rips open his presents that his Aunt Carly brought, smiling ear to ear. Rosanna looks down at Cabot and smiles. "It's so good to have you home", she tells him. She looks up at Paul, both smiling, and they turn their attention back to Cabot as he admires his presents. Carrie thanks Noah for letting her stay the night with him at Lucinda's guesthouse. Noah surmises that it was no trouble at all; she needed a friend and he was there. Carrie fumes that Barbara had no right to do what she did. Darryl has been out of her mind for years and suddenly, Barbara gets a heart and decides that bringing him to town would be beneficial to their relationship? She scoffs. Noah reveals that he really doesn't have any family in Oakdale and was hoping that she would spend Christmas Day with him. But only if she wants to, he adds. Carrie smiles and says that she'd like that very much. Clark comes in and announces his arrival to Emma. She's happy to see him and tells him to make himself at home. Meanwhile, Lily informs Holden that Lucinda is running late. Emma overhears and asks Holden about it. Bewildered by his mother's interrogation style questions, Holden seems confused. He thought Lucinda and Emma were getting along fine. Emma chuckles and says that they are; she was just wondering how many places to set at the table. Holden, Lily, Lucinda, Brad, Alison, Luke, Jade, Aaron, and all the kids filter in around the table and say grace before diving into a scrumptious turkey. After dinner, Jade approaches Lily and thanks her for everything that she's done since she's been back. Lily brushes the hair from her niece's face and smiles that she's so proud of the progress Jade has made since the last time she was in town. Rose would be proud of her, too. Both women hug. Kim opens the door and sees Darryl and Barbara on the other side. She smiles big, spreading her arms wide for a hug. She pulls Barbara aside and asks what Darryl's doing back in town. He's here on business, she whispers, but he's leaving in a few hours. She thought that he could use a little Christmas cheer. As Nancy asks Darryl about his life since he left Oakdale, Barbara can tell something isn't right with him. His face is beet red and he's shaking vigorously. Darryl chalks it up to bad nerves and Barbara seems satisified with his excuse. Later, Barbara wishes him well and walks him to his car. He'll never be able to thank her enough for trying to mend his relationship with Carrie, but some wounds are too deep, he winces. Will approaches and issues his apology for being late; he thought he would get to see Hallie since it's Christmas, but Gwen wouldn't return his calls. Barbara gives him a sympathetic peck on the cheek and introduces him to Jennifer's father. Will mubles that he's heard of him before. Hostile, he asks Darryl why he decided to come to town and mend a relationship with a daughter that won't even look at him, but yet he never showed his face when his other daughter was on her death bed. Darryl explains that he didn't want to cause any more grief. Will starts to open his mouth again to hurl insults at Darryl, but Barbara reminds him it's Christmas. She urges him to go in; she'll be right there. Now alone again, Barbara hands Darryl a check, reminding him that she promised to repay him for his travels if he came. Darryl takes the check and kisses Barbara on the cheek. In the kitchen, Emma confronts Clark about him staring at Lucinda the whole time. Clark apologizes, but something deep inside of him tells him that he's seen her before. She's a prominent businesswoman, Emma shrugs. Maybe he knows her from past business deals. Clamed by Emma's observation, Clark still can't help feeling like he knows Lucinda. Across the room, Aaron asks Alison if they're going to Susan's next. She nods yes, but she has to make a stop first. Aaron agrees to wait on her. Later, Alison shows up to Casey's and gives him a Christmas present: a rock CD that he had been wanting. Alison asks if Gwen has stopped by yet, but Casey shrugs that he hasn't seen her in weeks. A double date is in order, she reminds him. New Year's Eve at Donovan's would be perfect, she smiles. Casey eventually agrees after some convincing and Alison leaves. A knock at the door startles Noah and Carrie from their pleasant watching of "It's A Wonderful Life". Noah opens the door and finds Darry pacing back and forth outside. Carrie groans as Darryl asks to speak with her outside. Noah reminds her that she doesn't have to do this if she doesn't want to. Carrie heads outside and has a heated exhange with her father. She told him that she never wanted to see him again, she reminds him. What part of that wasn't understandable? Darryl acknowledges that he made some mistakes, but he thought he owed her enough to at least come and say goodbye. Carrie hisses that the only thing he deserves is a 6x6 cell. Hurt, he asks her why she is still so bitter. Tears now making her eyes puffy, Carrie furiously sobs that he knows what he did; he pawned off her baby to support his own drug habit. That's not a father, she adds. That's a low life scum who deserves to rot in hell. Darryl reminds his daughter that he's clean now, but Carrie scoffs. He's feeming so bad right now he can't even see straight. Carrie whirls around and storms back in, locking herself in the bathroom while Noah implores her to come out. Later, Darryl stops in a dark alley and hands some money to a thug. Tying a turnicut around his arm, he loads the needles and taps it lightly. He winces as he pierces his vein with a needle. Rocking his head back and sighing orgasmically, he waits for the heroin to kick in. He staggers to his car and gets in, pushing the accelerator and driving into the cold, dark night. Across town, the Perettis say grace and pass around the Christmas feast. Margo comments how wonderful it was to hear from Adam and Lien. She's just sorry that they couldn't be here. Shoving her mashed potatoes into her corn, Katie stares at her fork as it swirls around the plate. Lyla pats her on the back. It won't hurt like this forever, she reminds her. We all make mistakes and then we're given a new year to make new ones. Each year, we learn from previous ones and look to learn from others. Katie hugs her mother as Margo looks on disgruntled. Changing the subject, Margo can't help but wonder what this Christmas would be like if they were all together, Craig included. Lyla tears up at the mention of her son's name. Later, they all drink egg nog and look out at the stars. Lyla sees a shooting star and Katie tells her to make a wish on it. Those never come true, Lyla amusingly giggles. Just as Lyla closes her eyes to make a wish, the doorbell rings. Everyone looks around, confused as to who it might be. Margo calls out that she'll get it and opens the door, revealing Craig on the other side. A thud permeates the silence and everyone looks to see Lyla has fainted. "Am I too late for some egg nog", Craig asks. Weary and slightly dirty, he smirks. Everyone rushes to Lyla's side to fan her back into conciousness. As the whole cast gathers around the Christmas tree in Carly's Milltown house, the whole cast sings "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". As the song comes to a close, Helen Wagner addresses the audience: "Merry Christmas. From our family to yours." -------------------------------- SPECIAL NOTE: "A New World Turns" is pre-empted on December 25th and 26th. Merry Christmas!

Rosanna stands back, cradling Cabot's eyes from watching Craig point his gun at Paul. Craig asks how he knows James hasn't sent his son Paul to do his dirty work for him. Paul matter-of-factly responds that James is dead. Craig scoffs at Paul's claim, citing that it wouldn't be the first time the old man has played possum only to return once more. Rosanna dangles a fantasy of them being a family again like they used to be in front of Craig and he drops the gun. Paul doesn't want to risk it and tackles Craig to the ground. The two men engage in a scuffle. As Craig regains his bearings, he sees a blurred vision of Rosanna and Paul taking off down the hallway with Cabot in tow. Not down for the count by a long shot, Craig watches them hop on Rosanna's private jet and sets his sights on Oakdale, boarding a flight of his own. Carly gathers up the kids and drives them over to Emma's. There, Emma coddles them and has them start helping her do some cooking. Carly leaves to take her exit, but stops cold when she gets a call from Rosanna. Relieved to hear from her sister, Carly assumes that yet another false lead has tricked them but grins wide when she hears a toddler in the background. Rosanna explains that Cabot's been with Craig all these months, but Carly says it's not possible. Craig is dead. Rosanna details how he was put on a wild goose chase and subsequently captured by James but somehow escaped and found Cabot along the way. After recalling all the events of the past few hours, Rosanna asks that her sister book them a room at the Wagon Wheel under an assumed name; it's the last place he would look. Carly agrees and turns to find Brad standing in her way. He apologizes for the way he acted last night, but Carly's too preoccupied to listen and scurries off. Once there, she helps Rosanna and Paul settle in and proudly plays with her nephew for the first time in years. Katie mopes in her bed as Lyla comes in with a cup of hot cocoa. Katie blubbers that Lyla doesn't have to worry about her; she's fine. Lyla promises her that things will work out. Margo pulls Lyla outside and scolds her mother for pampering Katie. The only way she'll ever learn from her mistakes is if people stop constantly babying her. Michael comes by with presents and trots upstairs to check on his niece. He asks her what the matter is and Katie tells her story, vaguely mentioning that she had hoped he or Alison would help her continue her pregnancy charade, but she felt too guilty asking an uncle she's just beginning to know and a friend that deserted her years ago. Michael sternly commands that Katie wipe it up and quit feeling sorry for herself. Ever since he's been in town, he's heard rumors of how conniving and manipulative she is, but he always stood up for her. But now that he knows that her lies know no limits, he's not sure if he wants to know his niece anymore. After he leaves, Margo tells Katie to get a good night's rest. They're going to have Christmas dinner tomorrow...with or without her. Darryl thanks Barbara for letting him stay in a suite at the Lakeview last night. Maybe, he proposes, Carrie will be a little more accepting today. Will meets them both outside, demanding he speak with his mother in private. While they talk, Darryl slips into Barbara's room unnoticed and finds Carrie napping. She's livid to see her father and hisses for him to go away. Darryl begs his daughter's forgiveness. Instead, she turns away from him and grunts that he knows that it will never happen. He is the reason, she cries, that she will never see her son again. Clean or not, she will never forgive him. With a harsh tone and teary eyes, she verbally disowns him and promises to make his life a living hell if he ever makes any form of contact with her again. As he exits, Darryl agrees to his daughter's conditions, but adds how ironic it is that Barbara practically twisted his arm to get him here. Outside, Will continues scolding his mother for bringing Darryl to town. Carrie hates her father; he knows Barbara had to know. Barbara sincerely denies she did. She thought she was doing something right for a change. Will protests that nothing she ever does follows through as perfectly as she hopes; she should know that by now. Noah approaches and asks what's going on. Darryl slips down the hall as Carrie storms out and yells that Barbara brought her father to town as some sort of torture. She grabs Noah by one arm, her luggage with another, and thanks him for coming so soon to pick her up. As Noah escorts Carrie down the hall, she whirls around to give Barbara a look that could kill. Will irritably sighs that his mother will never learn and hurries to catch up with Noah and Carrie.

Carly goes to work at WOAK, to find the station buzzing about Katie's miscarriage, the hastily cancelation of Oakdale Now's Christmas shows, and the rumors of a divorce for the co-hosts. Instead of feeling victorious, it leaves her feeling sick to her stomach. Heading home early for the day, Carly spies Brad sitting alone....and drunk in the parking lot. He stumbles to her, apologizing for getting her in trouble with "Brother Jack" when all she was trying to do was tell him the truth about Katie. Brad insists his apology is sincere, and pulls out his cell phone to call and explain everything to Jack. Carly takes the phone away, telling him Jack's left town for a while on a job. Brad laughs in her face, telling her to "see the light" and admit Jack's dumped her again. Carly ignores the taunt and offers to call him a cab. He doesn't have anywhere to go, Brad laments. Carly offers to take him to Milltown and sober him up. Brad rejects the invitation and turns to get back in his own car. He falls flat on his face, and a passing security guard helps Carly pick him up and get him to a nearby cab. As she tries to open the passenger door, Brad almost topples on top of her. Finally, she pins him against the car, only to have Brad try and pull her into a drunken kiss. She struggles to break free from his grasp and gathers her breath before handing the cab driver a folded twenty and reciting the address of the farm. Rosanna and Paul stand in shock as they watch Craig turn around. Rosanna nearly faints when she realizes that the toddler Craig is carrying is Cabot, but Paul catches her. Furious, Paul blasts his sworn enemy for keeping Rosanna's child from her. Cool and collected, Craig makes a vague jab at Paul, recalling that Paul did the very same thing to Craig himself and Jennifer. Rosanna grabs for Cabot and Craig reluctantly offers the boy to her. While Rosanna takes Cabot in her arms, Craig explains that he's been on the run for months. He was given a false lead about Johnny and Lucy being in Barbados and before he could realize it was a fake, James had someone sabatoge the plane. He stumbled upon Cabot one day at the Stenbeck compound and has been on the run ever since. Choking back her pride, Rosanna thanks Craig for taking such good care of Cabot and gets up to go. Paul starts to leave when suddenly, Craig pulls a gun on him and harshly exclaims that they're not going anywhere. Barbara puts the phone down and turns around. Admiringly, she watches Carrie working on design after design and gushes how much the young designer reminds her of Jennifer's rigorous work ethic. Will thinks his mother is using Carrie to lessen the blow of Jennifer's absence, but Barbara begs to differ. Emerging from her office with folders of work materials, Carrie groans how thankful she is to have the rest of the week off. Barbara reminds her about dinner at her place, to which Will arches an eyebrow. He asks why he was never informed of the impromptu gathering and Barbara shrugs that it's a girl thing. Later that night, Carrie comes in and finds several odd things out of place, like they've been looked at, admired, and then placed back. She rounds the corner only to come face to face with her father, Darryl Crawford. He smiles from ear to ear and gestures for a hug, but instead, Carrie slaps her father as hard as she can and starts clawing at him with tears flooding her eyes. Barbara breaks the two of them up, only for Carrie to run back out into the hall. Will stumbles upon her and tries to comfort her heavy sobbing, but it gets to the point where he fears she might have trouble breathing. Worried, he calls Barbara outside and away from Carrie, she informs him that she brought Darryl back to town to make things right with Carrie. Rolling his eyes, Will scoffs at his mother's sinister plan and wonders aloud when she'll ever learn to quit interfering in other peoples' lives. Lucinda echoes to Emily that people that cross her seldom live to tell about it. Emily is livid and wonders when Lucinda is ever going to be completely honest with her family. For years, she's kept things from Lily, Sierra, Holden, etc. all in the name of "protecting them", but in the end, all it did was further estrange them from Lucinda. Scoffing at Emily's Dr. Phil moment, Lucinda implores her to keep her nose where it belongs and don't mutter a word about Lucinda's past with Clark Allan. Later, Clark reveals to Emma that his growing interest in selling his company to Worldwide is partly because of his instaiable curiousity about Lucinda. Emma feels threatened, and goes to confront Lucinda. Lucinda denies knowing Clark and reminds Emma that she's done for in the romance department. Somewhat satisifed, Emma returns back to the farm and invites Clark to the annual Snyder Christmas dinner.

Block's World Turns Again Hunt Block makes his return to the daytime genre when he reprises the popular role of Craig Montgomery, starting December 19, 2008. Just in time for Christmas, Craig returns to the scene when Paul and Rosanna stumble upon him in Kansas City. "I was approached a few months ago and they told me 'We killed off Craig back when we first started the show, but we're interested in resurrecting him and we think the time is right for you to come back' ", says Block. "I was reluctant, given my turbulent past relationship with the show, but Dusty [Alford, Headwriter & Executive Producer] wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." "I'm thrilled to be back," gushes Block. His first scenes air on Friday, December 19, 2008. However, Craig isn't alone. "I actually have Cabot [chuckles]. I thought I had seen the last of that kid until I got the script and 'Oh look, I'm holding Cabot when they find me'. That just complicates things, doesn't it?" Block was last seen earlier this year on the ABC daytime soap One Life To Live, where he portrayed jaded FBI agent Lee Ramsey. Smith Returns to His Roots Another familiar face returning to Oakdale is that of Rex Smith. He'll be reprising the role of Darryl Crawford, the very same role that helped jump start his career. "Dusty [Alford, Headwriter & Executive Producer] called me one day while I was on tour and told me that they had aged Darryl's daughter Carolyn and were wondering if I'd be available to do a very brief cameo," explains Smith. "I had a little time before my tour started, so I flew out to Brooklyn and we taped my scenes in about 2 days". Now a popular musician that sings to worldwide audiences, Smith was grateful to be able to return to the same studio that he previously called home. "It was a bit of a trip down memory lane. Working with Colleen [Zenk-Pinter] and Kathryn [Hays] again....it just brought back all sorts of wonderful memories". Darryl crawls back into town on Monday, December 22, when Barbara entices him to come make things right with his only living daughter. "She sees Carrie as a lost soul and she hopes that bringing her father back to town will help her find herself again, but like with all of Barbara's elaborate plans, it all goes to hell". And for all the die-hard fans wondering where Darryl has been since he left Oakdale with baby Carolyn in tow nearly twenty years ago, that will be explained, too. "Darryl's been through alot. I wish they had given me material this powerful the last time I was with the show," says Smith. "It's so dark, yet so real." Stay Tuned... -Word has it that a couple of actors are on their way out. More details to come soon.

At home, Katie paces back and forth in her bedroom. Lyla tries to reassure her; seeing the way Brad supported her has convinced Lyla he's a good husband. Katie's glad her mother finally sees through his rough exterior, but it's not Brad Katie's worried about---it's Carly's next move. Lyla tells her not to borrow trouble, Brad obviously doesn't believe anything Carly says. And there's no reason he should start now. Once a little time has passed, she and Brad can start planning their family for real. Brad appears in the bedroom doorway, startling them. Katie skittishly hustles back into bed, while Lyla pretends to fuss over her. Brad thanks Lyla for watching over Katie, especially when she must be exhausted herself. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for my baby," Lyla tells him. Somewhat detached, Brad wonders if he'll ever get to say those same words. Barbara glides back into town and meets up with Noah at Java. He explains that he can't do this to Carrie anymore; she obviously doesn't share the same feelings as he does for her. Barbara barks that the only thing Carrie has on her mind is Will and her son has been through enough heartbreak; she can't risk sending him down the same path towards another possibility of heartbreak, no matter what a good person Carrie is. Later, Barbara stops Carrie in the midst of her designs and vaguely points out that Noah seems to have her best interests at heart. Carrie sighs that she knows, but she's too preoccupied with work and personal problems to care about Noah the way he cares about her. Taking a break from work, Carrie checks her mailbox and finds a letter from Darryl, surmising that he's clean now and wants to see her. Carrie scoffs and throws the letter in the trash. Barbara comes behind her and notices the letter. At home, Carrie learns from Barbara that she read the letter and is livid. Just because she is Jennifer's half-sister doesn't give her the right to go through Carrie's personal things like a mother. Barbara winces at Carrie's harsh words. She thinks about calling Darryl and decides that as much as she doesn't want to, maybe bringing Carrie's father to town to mend old fences would be the perfect holiday surprise. Brad insists Lyla go home and rest. He'll "take care of" his wife. Lyla stalls, sensing Katie's guilt grow as Brad starts to pamper her. Brad stands firm, and Lyla reluctantly leaves. Katie starts to ramble, making plans for the holidays, until Brad shouts for her to stop. There won't be any big family gathering at the farm---at least not for her. Shocked speechless, Katie starts to cry as Brad tells her he knows the pregnancy was a lie. Worse, the miscarriage was too. The fact that he was blindsided by her makes him sick. Katie tries to deny it, but Brad shows her the hotel bill proving she was drinking in Chicago, instead of visiting her sister. Stuck, Katie admits it, and tries to explain. Grabbing and shaking her, Brad barks there's no excuse for her lies. It's bad enough she lied to her husband, but Lyla doesn't deserve her twisted mind games. They're over, he fumes, walking out the door and leaving Katie in shambles on the floor. Lyla comes in and explains that she heard everything and she's so sorry. She lovingly pats Katie's head as her daughter melts into tears. Carly summons the kids downstairs upon Jack's arrival. Sitting them down on the couch, he explains he's taking a job out of the country, and he doesn't know how long it will last. Parker notes the tension between Jack and Carly, and asks if that's the only reason Jack's leaving. Jack assures him it is, and that it's an important job he needs to handle himself. J.J. and Sage accept the news reluctantly, but hug Jack and tell him to hurry back home. Parker is less trusting, but with some prompting from Jack, promises to shoulder more responsiblity around the house. With promises to keep in touch, Jack kisses the kids and ushers them outside to the waiting school bus. He tells them to enjoy their last day of class before the break. Carly invites Jack in for some tea, but he says he has to go and ventures outside to his car. Realizing it's now or never, Carly rushes after him, stopping Jack as he gets in the driver's seat. "Don't go," she pleads. Voice cracking, Jack looks her straight in the eye and repeats that he needs to go. The job's that important. Seeing he won't be swayed, Carly steps back out of his way. Jack starts the engine, as Carly wraps her arms around herself against the cold. The car starts backing out of the driveway, stops, and Jack gets back out. Taking the scarf from around his neck, he gently wraps it around Carly's . "Take care of yourself, and the kids. I'll be back as soon as it's over," he promises before returning to the car and leaving. Alison, Aaron, Casey, and Gwen all go on a double date to Mona Lisa. Lisa comments on how lovely Gwen looks and assumes that they're on a double date. Recalling that Gwen only wanted to come because she thought they would be discussing ways to help Will get help, Alison changes the subject. Gwen reflects that the whole time she's known Will, she never thought he'd be so reckless as to drink around their daughter. Casey changes the subject, protesting that they're having too good of a time to worry about Will. After dinner, Casey confides in Aaron that he's worried Gwen might still have feelings for Will. Across the room, Gwen tells Alison that she's reluctant to start a relationship so soon after Will, especially with Casey. After all, they do have a rocky past together and Casey still has feelings for Sofie. Rosanna and Paul arrive in Kansas working on the lead that they received from Neil. A nurse from a local clinic reveals that a toddler matching Cabot's description was brought in yesterday. After reluctantly agreeing to aid them in their search (thanks to a promising donation pledge from Rosanna), the doctor pulls the medical records for them. He explains that the toddler had a mild case of the flu, but his symptoms worsened until it developed into pneumonia. He tried to convince the father to take his son to the hospital, but the father strangely refused. The doctor hands them the medical records and asks them to please not implicate him or he could lose his license; he has a family to support and that would be the ultimate nightmare. With the kids obviously feeling down, Carly tries to cheer them up by suggesting getting and decorating a Christmas tree. No one musters any enthusiasm for it, including Carly. The night passes quietly, and after a movie the kids don't protest going to bed on time. Later, as she locks up for the night, Parker comes downstairs and asks Carly for the real reason Jack left. Carly admits they fought, but chastises Parker for insinuating Jack lied. The job came at a convienent time, but she doesn't doubt Jack has work to do. Parker warns that he "feels" something is off, and that Jack didn't want to go. Carly assures him he's just upset and Jack promised he'd be back soon. Not mollified, Parker goes to bed, leaving Carly alone in the dark. Clark reveals to Emma that he feels as if he has seen Lucinda some place before. Emma neglects to tell her boyfriend the mighty Lucinda Walsh's poor farm girl background, but offers up the hypothesis that maybe he did business with her once before...way back in the day. Later, Holden drops Faith and Natalie by the farm. Natalie spends time with her grandmother's new boyfriend and after he's left, starts playing with his jacket and wallet. An old timey photograph comes out of a hiden pocket within the wallet and Natalie observes it. The photo being taken way before her time, she doesn't realize that the photo she's staring at is an old photo of Clark and Lucinda when they were teenagers. Days later, Natalie asks Clark (in front of Emma) about the photo and Clark, recalling the girl he once loved, reveals that the woman in the photo is a very special woman to him. Emma seems to be a bit jealous and Clark teases her about it before heading back to his room at the Lakeview. Once in bed, he remembers Lucinda's face and thinks it odd that she and Mary Ellen have so many similarities, foregoing the thought or possibility that Lucinda and Mary Ellen are one in the same. Flipping through the pages of a magazine, Dusty jumps when he hears a knock at the door. Lucinda reveals that she saw Clark today and he thought he recognized her. She almost lets it slip that Emily knows about her relationship with Clark when she makes a side comment about hoping Emily hasn't spilled the beans to Clark. Dusty asks what she's talking about, but Lucinda quickly covers. Across town, Emily learns from Michael that Susan is playing hard to get. Emily reluctantly agrees to speak with her mother, but Susan won't budge against her grudge she's holding. Lucinda comes by and asks Emily if she told Clark anything and Emily denies that she did. Lucinda hisses that if she finds out that Emily told a soul about her past relationship with Clark Allan, she'll make her pay. Stunned, Emily asks if Lucinda's threatening her and Lucinda coldly fumes, "You're damn right". Paul finds the man's contact address, and he and Rosanna end up at a Kansas City hotel. Paul bullies the desk clerk into giving them the room key to Mr. John Doe's room. Once inside, Rosanna gets teary eyed when she spots a blanket that she bought for Cabot his first night home with her. Outside, a man walks up to the door carrying a small child. He sees the door cracked and takes off towards the elevator. Paul hears the man's rapid footsteps and chases after him, cornering him as he steps into the elevator. With the toddler now whimpering, the man turns around and Paul wearily exclaims, "You!" Rosanna runs behind him and stops dead in her tracks when she comes face to face with the man. "Oh my God! Craig!! You're alive!"

Brad mumbles to Carly that Katie never went to a conference. Raising an eyebrow, amused at how easily he can be fooled, Carly tells him to check with Kim if he wishes, but his wife was in Chicago. Later, Brad approaches Kim and asks if Katie went to Chicago. She tells him yes and Brad decides there's only one more thing to do: call Cricket. After learning from Cricket over the phone that Katie never came by, Brad is stunned. He eyes the expense report that Carly handed him and starts reading off "wine, lobster, trout, beer". His eyes grow wide with confusion and hurt. Over in Milltown, Jack arrives to announce to Carly that he's leaving out tomorrow and will be by to say goodbye to the kids. Carly nonchalantly hisses that the kids will be disgruntled if they learn that Jack is missing another holiday. Apologizing, Jack retreats and calls out that he'll be by first thing in the morning before the kids go to school. Aaron sees Casey drive up to the apartment. He asks Casey what he's doing here and Casey smiles that he just got his own apartment in the same complex. Old jealous habits die hard and Aaron later vents to Holden that he thinks Casey might have bought the apartment to be close to Alison. Holden urges his son to give Casey the benefit of a doubt. Later, Aaron's fears are settled when he overhears Casey telling Alison how great it was to see Gwen the other night. Alison suggests they go on a double date, but Casey fears Gwen might not want to. Aaron shrugs that it's worth a shot. Will thanks Carrie for agreeing to meet him on such short notice. He recalls how jealous Noah seemed the other night, but Carrie laughs it off. She and Noah are just friends, she giggles. It's not what it looked like to Will, he discloses, and Carrie might have to deal with the fact that Noah still has feelings for her. After returning home, Noah grills her as to where she's been and Carrie finally asks him if he still likes her. Noah reluctantly admits that he does and Carrie lets him down easy, smiles that they're great as friends, but nothing more. Noah, hurt, calls Barbara once Carrie has gone to bed and remarks that their plan is off. Barbara tells him that she has other plans and she'll be home tomorrow to discuss them with him. Meg gathers up her luggage and kisses Emma goodbye. She hates that she can't stay any longer, but Josh has planned a big Christmas back home. Emma understands and asks Meg to keep her updated. Clark comes down and explains that he's late for a business meeting. It seems that a company named Worldwide is interested in buying out Allan Enterprises. They're set to negotiate this evening. Hours later, in a huddled conference room, Lucinda calls a start to the meeting, neglecting to realize that Clark is in the room. Clark, meanwhile, can't keep his eyes off of Lucinda. Once she eyes Clark in the corner of the room, she quickly excuses herself and leaves the meeting. The meeting comes to a close and Clark finds Lucinda pacing in her office. He knocks gently and asks if he knows her from somewhere. She quickly retorts that she doesn't think so and shuts the door, grumbling that she's very busy. As Clark walks away baffled, Lucinda braces herself against the doorway and exhales heavily.

Rosanna arrives at Fairwinds and asks the maid to let her speak with Paul. Paul isn't pleased to see her and tells her that he realizes now he was coming on too strong; he should have never used the search for Cabot to get her closer. Rosanna stops him and tells him that Meg approached her and she never realized just how much her hostility towards Meg had rubbed off towards Paul and she's sorry. Paul's touched and Rosanna extends an olive branch by asking him to accompany her to Kansas on a new lead. Carly drops the kids off at Emma's and on the way out, spots Brad. She tells him that whether he likes it or not, his wife has been lying to him. Brad denies Katie would do anything of the sort and calls her out on still being bitter about Katie marrying Jack. Angry, he accuses her of sabatoging his relationship with Katie and causing her to miscarry. Carly scoffs at the accusation and gives him a document, explaining that these purchases were made during a business conference to Chicago. Jade thanks Lily for letting her stay the night and wonders what happened at the party last night. Jade informs her that Colin never left town. Lily's a bit peeved and heads off to find the scumbag herself. Coming up on him in Old Town, Lily once again orders Colin to leave town and leave Jade alone. Colin asks what Lily's going to do if he doesn't and Lily coldly replies that she's going to make him wish he had, just as Luke comes around the corner. Later, Luke confides in Kevin that Colin is causing too much trouble with his family and he needs to be stopped. As Michael makes his rounds, he spots Susan giggling with a fellow colleague. The man introduces himself to Michael and raves that he's heard so much about his pioneering efforts in the fields of cancer research. Michael asks to speak with Susan alone and once they have time to themselves, Michael asks Susan what she's doing. Is she trying to make him jealous, he blasts. Susan quips that she isn't doing anything; Michael is the one that left town and left her behind. In a short tempered moment, Michael huffs that it was because his ex-wife was trying to kill them both. Later, Michael runs into Katie and she's hurt that her uncle hasn't made much of an effort to spend time with her since he's returned. Michael apologizes, citing that he's been busy and promises to be in touch soon.

Colin thanks Gwen for coming as Luke, Alison, and Jade all stare on with disgust. Colin eventually provokes Luke into a fight and Aaron, defending his little brother, punches Colin out cold. Gwen's horrified and as people start coming in for the party, they all stare at Aaron as the bad guy. Aaron gets heated and leaves with Alison chasing after him. Casey sees it all and manages to pry Gwen away from Colin. He convinces her to not let Colin's insistence in going home ruin her night of fun. Colin abruptly leaves in a huff and Jade halfway smirks. Later, after a few drinks, Casey and Gwen bond over their old times together, choosing to reflect on the positive and not the negative. With a little alcohol in their systems, Casey and Gwen share a brief kiss, but both pull away once they recall what happened the last time they got drunk together at a party. Jade and Luke find Alison trying to talk Aaron into returning to the party. Luke thanks his brother for standing up for him, but Aaron grunts that he wouldn't have had to had it not been for Jade. Without Jade here, Colin would have never come to town. Feeling guilty, Jade decides to go back to her empty apartment. Once she's there, she gets spooked by a loud noise and calls up her aunt, asking if she can crash at Lily's for the night. Holden doesn't like the idea, but Lily reminds him that she promised Rose she would look after Jade and that's what she's going to do. Will comes by the penthouse looking for Barbara but she's already left for her meeting out of town. Noah answers the door shirtless and when Carrie emerges from her room watching television in her robe, Will gets the wrong idea. After he collects himself, he sees Gwen inside the party at Donovan's. He loses it again and starts to run off, but Carrie heads him off at the pass. She explains that Noah was suffocating her and she needed to get out for a while. She heard there was a party at Donovan's tonight and hadn't planned on stopping until she saw Will outside. Gesturing towards the door, she suggests they go in. Will voices his reluctance in going into the party, but Carrie eventually convinces him to just do it. Seeing them enter out of the corner of her eye, Gwen decides to make her exit. Will stops her and tells her not to leave on his accrod. Without saying a word, Gwen walks right past him and gives Carrie a quick glance-over. Carrie reminds Will that he and his wife are both hurting right now; the best thing to do is just shrug it off and don't worry about it for tonight. Just have a good time, she says. Across the room, Alison notes the tension between Gwen and Will and shrugs that she was almost sure that what Will and Gwen had would last forever. She finds Aaron drifting asleep and immediately becomes alarmed. She takes him to the hospital reluctantly. Once there, Bob informs them that during the fight, Aaron hit his head pretty hard and has a mild concussion, so they're going to keep him overnight just to be safe. Back at the party, Noah comes in and finds Carrie and Will talking with some friends of Will's. Noah pulls Carrie aside and asks her to come back to the penthouse. Finally having enough of his clingy behavior, Carrie takes a stance and sternly replies that she's staying with Will and she'll come back to Barbara's when she feels like it. Defeated, Noah walks outside. Lucinda catches Emily doing last minute Christmas shopping in Old Town and reminds her rival to keep her mouth shut about her past with Clark Allan. Emily irritably replies that she is. After Lucinda asserts that Emily has a had a problem with keeping her lips sealed in the past, Emily tells her off. Wanting to blow off some steam, Emily seeks out Susan at the house. Susan's on her way to the hospital to check on Aaron and Alison. Emily hoped the two of them could talk and Susan obliges, sitting down on the front porch. Susan coldly remarks that Michael has returned to his position with the cancer center and she can barely stand to look him in the face when she passes him in the halls now. Emily's outfit catches her mother's eye and Susan asks where she found the money to afford one of Fashions' more pricier wardrobes. Emily makes up an excuse, but Susan isn't buying it. Emily refuses to reveal where she got the money and Susan warns her to not get in over her head like she always does. Returning to the office, Emily grows agitated when she recalls her mother's warning. Dusty comes in, apologizing for running off earlier and the two decide to ehad to Donovan's to close up for the night. Once there, Dusty and Emily dance in the dark to a romantic song on the radio. Dusty apologizes for accusing her of blabbling Lucinda's secret. Emily, agitated, hisses for Dusty to quit worrying about it and never speak of it again. Although initially shocked and confused by her outburst, Emily quickly apologizes and the two continue dancing. As they dance all alone in a dark, empty Donovan's, we hear Dusty ask if she'll do him an honor and be his fiancee again after he was so stupid to call it off. Emily gladly re-accepts, smiling and signaling that she never took off her ring.

Barbara thanks Noah for bringing Carrie back to the office last night after she spotted them cavorting at Yo's. Noah tells her that he thinks this is a bad mistake. Sensing his frustration, Barbara recalls that she has a business meeting out of town and would feel better if a man were at the house to watch over Carrie; and since both of her sons are pre-occupied with their own problems, Noah seems like the perfect guy for the job. Noah reluctantly agrees, only accepting at the prospect of having some alone time with Carrie. When Carrie returns home from work, he suggests they go to Donovan's but Carrie wants to go to bed. Noah sets up a makehsift bed on the couch as we see Carrie having a dream of James chuckling with Cabot in his arms. She screams and Noah bolts when he hears her. He calms her down and asks what she dreamed about, but Carrie says it doesn't matter..she's fine. She thanks Noah for checking up on her before sending him back to the couch. Later, Rosanna catches Barbara making a last minute stop at the office. Rosanna asks if she knows where she can find Paul and Barbara vents that if Rosanna plans on giving her son anymore hell for the fact that he believed Meg over her, she can forget it. He's already trashed the office because he was upset over a confrontation with Rosanna last week. Rosanna thanks Barbara for her help and decides to check in on Carly before going to work. Carly gives her sister the details of the Katie situation and snaps how convenient it was for Jack to miss Thanksgiving with the kids, but come back in on his white stallion in just enough time to give her another ass chewing about how her bitterness towards Katie is slowly ruining innocent little Katie's chances at a happy life. Rosanna suggests she talk with Jack some more about it; maybe now that they've both cooled off, they can have a civil conversation. Taking her sister's office, Carly arrives at Emma's and finds Jack working on a crossword puzzle. Carly coldly asks if there's a five letter word for liar before finally suggesting "K-A-T-I-E". Jack sighs that he doesn't want to fight anymore; if that's what she came to do, she can show herself out. Carly smiles that she didn't come to fight. She just came to "inform" him that Katie has a habit of suffocating her men until they either leave town to get away from her or spontaneously combust; he should know since he just had his divorce from the little nitwit finalized months ago. What's to say that she's not lying about her pregnancy to suffocate Brad? Jack steps back and says that maybe she has a point. He and Carly have hurt each other too much, too long to ever get back what they had. Not to mention that her vengeful behavior has made her claim a miscarriage she helped cause never really happened. Huffing with frustration, he tells her he got a job offer--a private security gig out of the country. And since he needs some space, he's going to take it. Carly stands speechless. Casey puts trays down on the counter, wiping his forehead and calling out to Aaron that all the trays have been cleaned. Alison emerges with a basket of decorations and asks for the boys' help with them. As they laugh and cut up while hanging the decorations, Colin walks in and asks if he's missed the party. Alison hisses that she thought he left town. Colin smirks that he had originally planned to until a blonde hottie caught his eye. Oh what a gentleman, she quips, excusing herself before she "gets sick" at the sight of him. Outside, Jade and Luke comb out the spot and comment how nice it is. Jade asks if Kevin is alright and Luke promises he'll check on him if he hasn't heard anything from him in a little while. He's probably riding around, jamming out, just letting off some steam. As the two finally enter the club, they're stunned to find themselves face to face with Colin. Luke asks what the hell he's still doing here. Colin chuckles that the gift his Mom gave him to leave town was quite generous, but he had a last minute change of plans. What was that, Jade irritably asks. Just then, Gwen walks in the door. Colin motions his location and runs to meet her at the stairs as Luke, Jade, and Alison all look on with disgust.

Will approaches Jade and asks to speak with her alone. Finally, away from the crowd, Will apologizes for the way things went south between them. He knows that deep down, Jade has a good heart. Jade thanks him and asks what brought this all about. Seeing Carrie out of the corner of her eye, Jade hints that he doesn't have to mend bridges with her; she deliberately ruined his relationship with Gwen just to get what she wanted. They agree to leave the past where it belongs and move on. Later, Carrie congratulates Will on taking steps to smooth things over with Jade. Noah comes and pulls Carrie aside, telling her that Barbara has asked her to come in and edit some designs because of a last minute fabric snafu. Carrie leaves with Noah, but not before bidding her friend Will goodbye. Later, Casey gives props to Will for finally getting out of the house. He mentions Carrie being quite the catch, but Will sternly mumbles they're just friends. Rosanna tries to avoid Meg calling her name, but eventually turns around. Bothered, she asks what brought Meg to town. Does she care to fill Paul's head with lies again. Meg looks down and fiddles with her fingers before admitting that she and Josh have actually reunited. Rosanna tells her that she's late for an appointment and asks Meg to just spit out what she wants to say. Meg reveals that she knows she hurt Rosanna. The truth is that she did all that out of fear. She knew that she no longer held Paul's heart and she was just a fill-in for the one woman that he had never quite gotten over: Rosanna. Hearing all this, Rosanna says that what she did was unforgiveable; but Meg stops her. She doesn't want forgiveness for herself, but rather for Paul. He was just caught in the middle and he was the innocent one. He only believed Meg because he was stuck in the middle and the child issue was a factor. Before taking her cue to exit, Meg urges her to remember the good times with Paul and don't ever give up on getting those good times back. "I'm sorry that I was the one that kept those good times from you both," she musters with a teary face before walking away. Standing baffled by his abrupt entrance and his hurls of insults, Carly asks what he's talking about. Brad tells her that thanks to her shoving Katie, she's now miscarried. Carly's jaw drops open, unable to fathom the lies Katie must be spinning now. The two get into an extremely heated argument, and Jack walks in just as Brad grabs Carly and starts shaking her. Jack gets him to back off, and Brad spills his version of events, making Carly seem like a vengeful bitch and leaves, making some snarky assed comment about Jack being better off without her. Jack's silent as Carly starts explaining everything---how they ran into each other in Chicago, where Katie spilled a drink on her, how she seemed nervous that Carly would mention it to anyone, that they had a big fight then tries to show him the bill from Katie's room listing various food and drink items that pregnant women shouldn't be indulging in. Jack says he doesn't care what Katie did. He's upset that Carly is carrying out some stupid vendetta. He doesn't like that side of her, which kept messing things up for them for a lot of years. Carly bitchily wonders why he's not congratulating her for discovering the truth, which he's always said is so important to him. At least when she's lying to him, anyway. His precious Katie gets a pass, and she's sick of it. Fed up, Carly heads upstairs and slams the door behind her, leaving Jack to show his own self out. Luke finishes up some studying at Java when Alison comes in and reminds him of the back to semester party that Donovan's is holding. She asks him if he and Kevin have worked things out and Luke reports that Kevin went back to the apartment, got in his truck, and hasn't returned calls since. Alison explains that he probably just has a hard time dealing with mentions of Noah, especially since they were together for a while before Kevin returned to town. Alison thinks that maybe Kevin held his feelings for Luke inside out of fear of rejection. All the time Noah spent with Luke, she continues, is time Kevin lost because he was too afraid to express his long suppressed feelings for Luke. Thnking it over, Luke says he might make an appearance at the party. Later, Alison runs into Emily who beams that she and Dusty finally worked everything out. Alison spies her sister wearing an expensive bracelet that she wanted, but it cost a fortune so she kept walking. She asks where Emily got the money to afford such a thing, but Emily jerks her arm away and musters a smile. She got it on sale, she explains before quickly making an exit. As she walks away, Emily hopes that Alison bought her story and will quit asking questions.