Previously...

James, Jordan and Alex bribed the assistant D.A. into reducing the charges against Heather.  Upon her release, Heather became dependent on Stormy and had an unnatural lack of regret over her actions.  Miranda held her position with Brett and insisted that their marriage was over.  Jordan and Renee shared a drink and comisserated over their love lives. Angered by Stormy's smug attitude, Brett arranged for flowers to be delivered from him to Samantha Fallmont, hoping to reignite their relationship in an effort to push Stormy out of James's favor again. After Brandon quit, James hired Kenny as his attorney.  Their first mission was to counter hostile allegations from another environmental group over the pipeline. Brooke told Ethan that she was not going to tell James the truth about Michael's paternity.  

Episode 52

"Administration"

Sitting in her office at Hotel Terranova, Miranda heard the door open and looked up with surprise when she saw her father enter the room.  A bright smile lit up her face and she got up to greet him.

“Daddy, what brings you down here today?” she asked and kissed him on the cheek.

James gave her a quick squeeze and sat down in a chair by her desk.  “I have a meeting in the dining room in a few minutes and thought I’d stop in and say hello to my favorite birthday girl,” he replied with a wink.  “I took the liberty of planning a party for you tomorrow night at the house.”

“You’re so sweet,” she blushed happily.

“You didn’t come down for breakfast today.  I get the feeling that things aren’t going so good for you lately.  Is it Brett?”

Sighing, she plopped back down at her desk and swiveled around a few times.  “I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you this, Daddy.  I asked Brett for a divorce.  He’s been sleeping in a guest room.”

“Yes, I noticed that.  Miranda, are you sure that divorce is the answer?  Isn’t there anything you can do to work it out?”

Miranda shook her head adamantly.  “No, there isn't.”  She paused, uncertain whether she should get into all the dastardly deeds Brett had conjured up recently.  She didn’t want to be married to him anymore, but she wasn’t quite sure that she wanted to unleash her father’s wrath on him.  Almost nobody deserved that.

Obviously upset by the news, James leaned forward and leveled a look of uncertainty at his daughter.  “I can’t pretend that I’m happy about this.  Brett has changed you over the past two years, Miranda.  For the better as far as I’m concerned.  I mean just look at how far you’ve come since he came into your life.  You took an interest in this hotel, you stopped your drinking and getting high and carousing around every night.  You’re even being nicer to Brooke.”

She rolled her eyes.  “I don’t think we can give Brett credit for all of that,” she said sarcastically.  “Besides, you hated him when I first brought him home, Daddy.  You didn’t trust him one bit.  Now all the sudden you’re his biggest supporter?”

“Not all the sudden.  Brett proved himself as a worthy husband to you over time.  It didn’t happen overnight, you know.  When I was recovering from surgery last year he stepped in and did a hell of a job running the studio.  He still is.  He and your brother are working together and I couldn’t be prouder.”

“So you just don’t want to lose an executive, is that it?” Miranda asked bitterly and shot to her feet.

“I don’t want to lose a son,” James corrected her.  “And Brett has been like a son to me.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that he and Stormy are at each other’s throats all the time?  I mean, how many times have they wound up trashing the house in one of their dog fights?”

James walked up behind her as she gazed out the window at the grounds.  “You of all people should know that your brother isn’t always so easy to get along with.  He’s controlling, he refuses to take ownership of his own mistakes, and he’s careless.  Look what he almost cost me by having an affair with Senator Fallmont’s wife.  The pipeline was almost shut down because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.”

“Well, he stopped seeing her, didn’t he?”

James smiled and lifted his daughter’s chin.  “Sweetheart, your brother isn’t the issue here.  It’s you and Brett.  Now, whatever decision you make I’ll support you.  But I just would hate to see you make a rash decision that you’ll wind up regretting.  Especially now.  It’s a new year, Michael is home, Brooke and Heather are free.  This family just has so much joy to give right now.  I’d hate to have a divorce ruin all that.  At least for right now.”

Miranda nodded uneasily as James walked over to the door.  He paused before leaving and turned back to her.

“Brett is a good guy.  Just remember that.”

Miranda managed a smile as her father left the room.  She sighed and sat back down at her desk, picking up a picture of herself and Brett at their 4^th of July party last summer.  She knew her father would sing a different tune if she knew everything Brett had done.  He would fully support her decision to divorce him.

But as usual, the guilt her father made her feel was overpowering.  Now she was more confused than ever about what to do about Brett.

Terri screamed at the top of her lungs, panting with exhilaration as she lay on the desk with her legs over Brett’s shoulders.  He stood before her, sweat dripping down his face and neck as he made expert love to her in his office at Sunset Studios. 

“Shhhh,” he said and covered her mouth with his hand.  The last thing he needed was Stormy coming in and finding him screwing their secretary, his pants around his ankles, his shirt crumpled on the floor, and his tie still hanging loosely around his neck.

“You are so fantastic,” Terri squealed with delight.   She decided that having a boss like Brett Armstrong was another good reason for having gone into the movie business.  All the new executives were young, handsome and horny.

“Just make sure you keep this between us,” he said as he leaned down and flicked his tongue inside her ear.  “You just keep coming in early every day and we can do this for as long as you want.”

Just then, the phone on his desk buzzed and Brett groaned with irritation.  He quickly snatched up the receiver and tried to sound as normal as possible.

“Armstrong,” he said, slowing his feverish pace.

“Why isn’t Terri answering the phone?”  It was Stormy calling from his cell phone in his car.

Brett looked down at the beautiful brunette and smiled devilishly.  “She just got off,” he said.  “Of the phone, I mean.  What’s up?”

“I’m going to an appointment with Heather this morning,” Stormy replied.  “I don’t know if I’ll be in today or not.  Is everything okay there?”

Brett grinned again, unable to control himself.  “Everything’s great.  Give Heather my best.”

After Stormy clicked off, Brett dropped the phone and picked up his rhythmic pace again until he finished in an explosive climax.

The waitress brought three cups of steaming coffee to the table in the dining room at Hotel Terranova where James and Jordan sat with Ed Littleton.  After she left, James leaned in and spoke quietly.

“Need I remind you of the seven figure donation we made to you a few days ago?” he said to Littleton.  “All I’m asking for is a little cooperation from the D.A.’s office.”

“You paid me to get Heather Blackthorne's murder charges reduced,” Littleton whispered, all the while glancing around the room to ensure they weren’t being overheard.  “That deal didn’t include anything about the charges against your uncle.  France doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the United States.  That’s the only reason he’s free.”

“Damnit, Littleton, it’s been twenty years,” Jordan said.  “Drop the charges against Nathan Blackthorne once and for all.”

“The man is a pedophile,” Littleton hissed.  “I don’t care if it was twenty years ago or two hundred years ago.  He raped countless young girls and then–“

“Statutory rape,” James corrected him.  “They were all consensual.” 

“So he said before he fled the country.”

"No, so the witness at the trial said,” Jordan replied.

Littleton shook his head, refusing to budge.  “Nathan Blackthorne made a habit of sleeping with underage girls.  I know he was a famous actor and director in his day, and I know that you Hollywood types think you’re above the law, but he committed a crime.  It just so happens that Debralee Scott was the only one who was willing to come forward.”

“She was fourteen.  Her parents forced her to testify,” James admonished.

“She wasn’t the only one who testified as to what kind of man your uncle was,” Littleton said, his eyes challenging James steadily.

Jordan shook his head in frustration.  “Maybe we’ll just see what Debralee Scott has to say about this,” he said belligerently.  “It’s been twenty years.  She could probably care less if he were in jail or not.”

Littleton glared at him.  “You’ll never find her,” he said.  “The publicity and the media attention the trial got was such a circus that her parents took her into hiding by the time it was all over.  Trust me.  You’ll never find her."

"We already have," Jordan said with a grin.  "She lives in upstate New York.  She just published a self-help book.  She hasn't exactly been reclusive lately."

Littleton wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.  "Getting her to come back here is a different story.  She'll never do it.  And if Blackthorne even tries to come back to the United States, he’ll be arrested the second he gets off the plane.”

James slammed his fist onto the table as Littleton got up and left the restaurant.  He turned and looked at Jordan in deep concentration.  “Now what do we do?”

Jordan felt defeated, but he refused to give up.  “I think we can get her to come back,” he said.  “If she was to give a statement to the press…”

“Then the D.A.’s office would look like fools for not dropping the charges,” James said.  “Debralee Scott was only fourteen at the time.  She’s an adult now.  The media would crucify the D.A if she she came back and publicly exhonerated Nathan for what transpired between them."

Jordan slid out of the booth and dropped a twenty on the table.  “I’ll try to contact her agent."

James followed him through the dining room, unaware that Alex was seated in the booth just behind theirs.  She lowered her sunglasses and placed a hand on her beating heart.

She refused to let them bring Nathan Blackthorne back to Hollywood.  She’d do whatever it took to stop it from happening.

Getting up from the booth, she raced to the lobby doors.  There was only one person who could help her.  Only one other person besides herself knew what kind of man he was.

Stormy sat in the waiting room of Dr. Anderson’s office downtown, leafing through a magazine while obnoxious music played over the loudspeaker.  He sighed and glanced around the sparse waiting room, cringing at the sight of a tacky plastic fichus tree in the corner with a strand of half blinking lights.

As much as she resisted, he knew that Heather would benefit from seeing a psychologist.  Sooner or later the guilt over what she’d done to Will Thomerson would sneak up and she’d be vulnerable and broken.  At least this way she could talk it out with a professional and brace herself for the fallout.

A few minutes later the office door opened and Heather emerged, a sullen look on her pretty face.   Stormy shot to his feet and waited eagerly for some kind of reaction.  All Heather did was turn and shake the doctor’s hand politely.

“Thank you, Dr. Anderson,” she said.

“See you on Thursday, Heather?” the doctor asked.

She nodded unenthusiastically and then turned back to Stormy.  “Ready?” she asked.

Taking her arm in his, Stormy led her down the hall to the front door.  Once they were in the car on the way home he finally had to break down and coax information out of her.  “So how did it go?”

Shrugging, Heather pulled at a long strand of hair that whipped around in her face.  “Okay I guess,” she said, then offered a smile.  “Can we go to that little smoothie stand on the beach we used to go to?  I haven’t been there in forever.”

Stormy couldn’t help but smile.  “Sure,” he said, getting the distinct feeling that Heather was trying to block out what happened.  It worried him.  If she couldn’t even talk about it to him then she was in for a rude awakening when it finally hit her.

Back at Hotel Terranova, Renee DeWitt opened the door of her posh two bedroom suite and harrumphed at the nerve of Alex Reynolds showing up at her door.

“Alex, what an unwelcome surprise,” Renee said, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she looked in awe at the woman.

“Relax, Renee, this isn’t a social call,” Alex said and strode purposefully into the sunken living room.  “I have news.  News that I don’t think you’re going to like.”

Hesitantly, Renee closed the door and followed her across the room.  “Any news that comes from you is news that I probably won’t like, so there’s no big surprise there.”  She sat down on a plush white sofa and crossed her legs.  “So tell me, Alex, what is it that’s got you so riled up?  Did Angie Dickinson beat you out of another role?”

She ignored her snide remark.  “It’s much worse than that.  I’ll give you a hint.”  She paused for effect, then looked at Renee with cold dead eyes.  “Nathan Blackthorne.”

Renee’s brown eyes flashed open wide and she looked at Alex with a mortified expression.  Nathan Blackthorne was a name she hadn’t thought of in years.

“I thought that might get your attention,” Alex said with a clever smile.  “James and Jordan are trying to get the D.A. to drop the charges against him so he can come back to the United States.”

“But his trial….” Renee began, her thoughts going in a million different directions.  “I mean, why would he come back now?”

Alex shrugged indifferently.

Speechlessly, Renee got up and walked across the room in a daze.  “Jordan didn’t mention anything about this to me,” she said almost in a whisper.

Alex laughed.  “Well why would he, dear?  Oh, you mean the other night when you ran into each other downstairs in the bar?  Well, no offense, but I ran into him just after that and it appeared that my husband had a few too many Cutty Sarks, if you know what I mean.”

Renee knew perfectly well that Alex was trying to downplay her spending time with Jordan.  That angered her more than the prospect of Nathan Blackthorne returning to Hollywood.  “Alex, if Jordan wants to bring Nathan back here then let him,” she said, although didn’t really mean it.  “But if it means that much to you, I’ll ask him about it tonight at dinner.”

“Dinner?  Tonight?” Alex asked, a hostile tone to her voice as she stepped closer to her.  “Renee, are you dating my husband?”

“He won’t be your husband for long from what I hear,” Renee said, then walked up to the door and opened it wide.  “Like I said, I’ll speak to Jordan this evening.”

Furious, Alex stormed toward the door and paused to give Renee a final parting shot.  “You do that,” she said before leaving in a huff.

After she’d gone, Sierra came out from her bedroom and stifled a yawn.  “Mother, who was at the door?”

Renee forced a smile and tried to put Alex and Nathan Blackthorne out of her mind for the time being.  “No one, Darling.”

After leaving Hotel Terranova, Alex rushed back to her office at Blackthorne-Reynolds to try to talk some sense into James.  By the time she got there, James and Kenny were up to their eyeballs in paperwork regarding the pipeline, so she quickly shifted gears.  Nathan Blackthorne would have to wait.

“Any news on the drilling problems?” Alex said as she walked into the room and peered over Kenny's shoulder.

"Nothing that you're going to like," James said.

Alex sighed and lit a cigarette in an effort to calm herself down.  She didn't take a chance on this new business venture just to have it shut down by a bunch of bleeding heart environmentalists.  First the Fallmonts and now this.  

"We hired a geologist and he came up with an alternate drilling route," Kenny explained.  "It should satsify the opposition, but..."

"But what?" Alex demanded impatiently.  "Whatever it is, let's just do it."

"It's going to cost us another fifteen million," James explained.  "And as of right now, neither one of us in the position to put any more capitol into this deal."

Throwing her hands up in resignation, Alex walked across the room in a fit of despair.  “Brilliant!  Now what are we supposed to do?  My uncle left this land to me, and since then it's been nothing but a headache.  I should have known I couldn't do anything but act."

"And you weren't even very good at that," Kenny jibed.

Alex shot him a cold, penetrating stare and placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Very funny," she hissed.  "Do I need to remind you that without us you would still be jobless and peniless?  I'm starting to think Renee had the right idea in dumping you."

"I could say the same thing about your husbands."

"That's it," Alex shrieked.  "I'm fed up with-"

"That's enough, both of you!" James shouted.  "Now unless you want to watch this business go to down the drain, I'd suggest the two of you stop bickering long enough to think of how we're going to come up with that fifteen million dollars."

“Don’t worry, we’ll think of something," Kenny finally said.  "This project is a sure win.  An extra fifteen million is a drop in the bucket compared to how much money is at stake.”

That evening, Jordan and Renee sat at a candlelit table at an exclusive restaurant in Beverly Hills.  He cut his steak diligently, not moving his eyes from her the whole time.  The flicker of candlelight illuminated her flawless skin and made her look even more attractive than usual.  Jordan could think of nothing else.

“I find it hard to believe that you adopted Sierra so young,” he said, forcing himself to concentrate on the subject at hand.  “You must have been just a kid yourself.”

Renee smiled and lifted her glass of wine to her lips.  “I was twenty-five,” she replied.  “I was Sierra’s Godmother.  Her parents were dear friends of mine.  When they were killed, I became her guardian.  I decided to adopt her illegally shortly after that.”

“You’ve certainly kept her hidden.”

“What do you mean?” Renee asked, caught off guard by his remark.

Jordan shrugged and set his fork and knife down on his plate.  “I’ve never heard you or Kenny mention her.  She’s never been here to visit.  It all just seems a little secretive.”

Renee didn’t want to divulge that Kenny didn’t even know of Sierra’s existence.  It would incite too many questions and then she’d be forced to deal with reality.  Instead, she used the opportunity to question him about Nathan.

“Secretive like you and James trying to bring Nathan Blackthorne back to Los Angeles?” she asked, studying his eyes carefully to catch his reaction.

Jordan shrugged indifferently.  “That’s not much of a secret,” he said.

“You nev