Previously...

Jordan convinced Debralee Scott to make a press statement exhonerating Nathan.  Stormy planned to tell Heather that he didn't want to get back together with her.  Samantha showed up in town and Brett arranged for Heather to walk in on her and Stormy in bed together.  An angry Heather ran straight to Miranda and filled her in on Brett's affair with Terri.  James told Alex that he still doubted her claim that Nathan had raped her.  After speaking with Miranda, Brooke jumped to the conclusion that Ethan knew about Will being his father, and ultimately wound up confirming the truth to a stunned Ethan. After getting drunk in his room, Ethan raced to tell James the truth about Michael.  Sierra learned that Renee had never told Kenny about her.  Hurt and upset, she ran straight into the path of a drunken Ethan behind the wheel of his car.  

Episode 55

"Return of a Matinee Idol"

Flashing lights from the police cars and ambulance lit up the dark night sky outside of Hotel Terranova.   Word had quickly spread throughout the staff and guests.  The concierge phoned Renee in her room and calmly told her of the accident under the porte-cochere.

The paramedics loaded Sierra’s unconscious body into the ambulance while several onlookers gave statements to the police.   Several feet away, two uniformed officers handcuffed Ethan’s arms behind his back and read him his rights. 

“I didn’t see her,” he murmured to himself, having been startled sober after the horrific accident.  “I didn’t see her.  She came out of nowhere.”

Ignoring his protests, the police officers pushed him into the back seat of the squad car and closed the door.  They turned just as Renee came darting outside into the crowd.

“Where is she!?” she cried, spotting Sierra inside the ambulance just before they closed the back doors.  “Oh my God, Sierra!  What happened?  Is she going to be all right?”

One of the police officers had to physically restrain her to keep her away from the ambulance as it lurched forward and sped off down the long driveway from the hotel.  He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently in an effort to snap her out of her frenzy.

“She’s being taken to Cedars-Sinai.  She’s in critical condition, but she’s alive.”

“Oh my God!” Renee exclaimed, her eyes flooding with tears.  “How did it…”

Just then, her eyes traveled across the drive to Ethan sitting in the back of the squad car, his head hanging low and his eyes red and bloodshot.   She placed a hand on her heaving chest and covered her mouth with the other.   The tell-tale damage on the hood of the BMW told her just what she needed to know.

“We’ll take you to the hospital,” said one of the police officers and led her to another squad car. 

Renee nodded, realizing she had to keep her wits about her for her daughter.  She couldn’t think of anything else until she was out of danger. 

Across town at the Blackthorne mansion, Brett followed Miranda into the parlor room downstairs, intent on making her reconsider her hasty decision.  Heather followed fast on his heels.  She was determined not to let Brett talk his way out of another sticky situation.

“You can’t do this, Miranda,” Brett said.  “I’m your husband, damnit.  I love you.  I wanted us to have a baby, remember?”

“With me or with Terri, your slutty secretary?”  Miranda screamed.

“Don’t let him talk you out of this, Miranda,” Heather chimed in.

“Stay out of this, Heather!” Brett yelled angrily.

Folding her arms across her chest, Heather glared heatedly at Brett.  “He set it up so I would walk in on Stormy with Samantha Fallmont tonight,” she explained.  “He knew that I would freak out and probably hoped that it would take my mind off of seeing him with Terri.”

“You’re a piece of work,” Miranda said and walked steadily toward him.  “When I think of all the strings you’ve been pulling around here it makes me sick.  You just can’t stand it unless you’re in the middle of everything.  Well now you’ve finally outfoxed yourself.”

Brett decided to take off the kid gloves and get nasty.  “If you make things difficult for me I swear to God I’ll tell your father about Stormy and Samantha Fallmont.  Last time all he got was a slap on the wrist.  This time he’ll be removed from Sunset Studios permanently.  Do you want that on your head?  Do you want to be the reason that your brother fails again?”

Miranda gritted her teeth angrily and slapped him clean across the face.  Brett brought his hand instinctively up to his cheek and looked at her in amazement.  It seemed there was nothing he could do to get out of the mess he’d made.

“If you tell my father anything, I promise you I will make damn sure that you leave this marriage with nothing.  Your stock options, your car, your clothes, your bank accounts.  It’ll all be gone.  You’ll have to go back to selling phony tickets to tours on the strip just to make enough money to eat.”

Brett jolted back a step, swallowing hard as he was forced to admit defeat.

“Or I can get a quickie divorce and you can leave with everything you’ve acquired during this train wreck of a marriage,” Miranda continued.  “What’s it going to be?”

Taking a minute to consider the options, Brett glanced at Heather and then back at his wife.  He knew she meant business, and one word to her father would leave him destitute.

“Fine, I won’t say anything,” Brett said with a certain amount of regret.

Miranda didn’t react.  She simply stood and stared at him with contempt, her eyes following him as he made his way back out of the room.  After he’d gone, she looked at Heather and shook her head with disappointment.  Minutes later, the phone rang and she looked at it with irritation.  With her luck, it was probably more bad news.

The paramedics pushed the gurney with Sierra’s motionless body into the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai.  A team of doctors and nurses rushed over just as they entered.  Dr. Farraday quickly went to work at checking her vitals.

“What happened?” he asked, prying open her eyes and shining a pen light into her pupils while his nurse checked her pulse.

“Hit by a drunk driver,” said a paramedic.  “She’s been unconscious since we got to the scene.”

“He pulse is weak, Dr. Farraday,” said the nurse.  “She’s in shock.  There could be internal bleeding.”

“Let’s get her into the O.R.,” he said, just as Renee burst into the emergency room with her police escorts.

“Sierra!” she cried and dashed over to her.  “Is she going to be all right?  Dr. Farraday, please-“

“We’ll do everything we can,” he replied and motioned for the police officers to restrain her.   “Now we’ve got to operate to stop any internal bleeding.  We’ll have someone get you as soon as we know anything.”

With that, they were wheeling Sierra down the hall to the operating room.  Renee stood back, her hands covering her mouth in horror.  If anything happened to her daughter she’d never forgive herself.  It was her lies that sent her running out of that hotel tonight.

“Ethan knows?” James asked in shock.  He and Brooke were standing in the library at the mansion, the crackle of the fireplace breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Brooke looked into James’s eyes and saw the pain and regret that overcame him after hearing the news.  She reached out her hand and pulled him into an embrace, wishing she could make it better but knowing that nothing would.

“How did he find out?” James asked in bewilderment.

She closed her eyes with regret.  There was no way to sugar coat the truth.  “I told him.”

Suddenly and without warning, James abruptly pulled away and took a step back.  He looked at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.  “You what?”

“It was an accident, James,” she said hurriedly.  “Miranda saw him and came to me and said she was worried about him.  Something she said made me think that he knew about Will.  So I went to see him and…”

“And you confirmed something that he didn’t even know in the first place?!” James shouted angrily.  He’d never been so upset in his entire life.  “Brooke, do you realize what you’ve done?”

She nodded her head, tears flowing down her cheeks.  The look in her husband’s eyes reminded her of when they were first married, when James learned that she’d had an affair with Ethan.  She was suddenly taken back to that angry, distrusting man that she married.

“I didn’t mean to!” she sobbed, following him across the room and reaching her hand out to him.  “You have to believe me!  James, please-“

He shrugged her away violently, turning and placing a hand on his forehead.  “You’ve destroyed everything that I tried to do for twenty-eight years!”

“It was all lies!” Brooke reasoned.

“For Ethan’s own good!” James screamed.  “You know what kind of man Will Thomerson was!  Look what he did to our family!  Is it any wonder why I never wanted Ethan to know who his father was?!”

Brooke buried her face in her hands and shook her head miserably.

“Now because of you and your stupidity, everything I’ve done has been destroyed.  God only knows what Ethan will do now that he knows the truth!”

The hateful tone in his voice sent chills down Brooke’s spine.  She knew she’d made a terrible mistake, but he was like a different person now.  He looked at her with so much hatred and contempt.

Just then, Miranda pushed the door open and walked inside.  “Daddy-“

“Not now Miranda!” James yelled, his eyes unmoving from Brooke.

She knew they were in the middle of something, but what she had to say was more important.  “But Daddy, it’s Ethan.  He’s been arrested!”

James and Brooke both turned and looked at her.  Suddenly Brooke knew that her slip up was going to have more ramifications than either one of them could have imagined.

Jordan raced into the hospital and scanned the waiting area.  Renee saw him enter and raced over to him in a frenzy.

“Jordan, thank God!” she shrieked and threw her arms around him.

“Shhh,” he said and held her close.  “How is she?”

Renee shook her head in despair and led him to the waiting room.  “They’re operating on her now,” she said.  “They say she may have internal bleeding and they’re trying to stop it.”

“How did this happen?” Jordan asked.  “All you said on the phone was that she was upset and she ran off.”

Wiping her eyes, Renee threw her hands in the air and sat down in a chair.  “She found out that I never told Kenny about her,” she explained.  “She was hurt, and I can’t say that I blame her.  Jordan, I’ve handled everything so badly.”

Jordan sat down beside her and rubbed his hand softly down her back.  “And she didn’t see the car coming?”

Renee shrugged and looked up.  Her eyes traveled across the room to two police officers leading Ethan inside the emergency room.  Quickly, she shot to her feet and raced across the room toward him.

“It’s because of you!” she screamed, pounding her fists into Ethan with all her might.  “You did this!”

Ethan backed away, looking at her apologetically as the police and Jordan restrained her.  “I’m so sorry,” he said.  “I didn’t see her, I-“

Renee could smell the booze on his breath and her eyes flashed open angrily.  “You were drunk!” she screamed.  “You got drunk and got in that car and hit my daughter!  Now she’s in there fighting for her life and you’re standing here getting a cut on your forehead bandaged!”

“Renee, stop-“ Jordan said, trying to pull her away.

“It was stupid, I know,” he said.  “Look, if there’s anything I can do-“

“Haven’t you done enough!” Renee screamed and burst into tears.

Just then, James and Brooke walked into the waiting room and immediately sensed the conflict between Ethan and Renee.

“What’s going on?” James asked and looked at his nephew, his arms bound with handcuffs and a gash on his forehead.  “Ethan, are you okay?”

Ethan glared angrily at James, still reeling from the revelation of his betrayals about his father.  “I’m fine.”

“If you’ll excuse us, we need to get the suspect treated and then back to jail while he awaits his hearing,” said the police officer before leading Ethan back to a private examination room.

“Renee?” James asked with concern.  “What’s happened?”

Too upset to continue, Renee turned and ran off to be alone.  Jordan took a deep breath and led James and Brooke off to a corner of the waiting area.

“Sierra’s in the O.R,” he explained.  “Apparently Ethan had been drinking.  He got in his car and…there was an accident.”

Brooke gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.  “Oh my Lord.”

“Is she going to be all right?” James asked flatly.

Jordan shrugged.  “She’s critical,” he said before returning to Renee’s side.

Brooke shook her head in disbelief.  She could feel James’ disapproving stare.  He blamed her, and rightly so.  She pushed Ethan to the edge and now an innocent young woman was paying for it.

“I’d better go call Kenny,” James said.   “Ethan’s going to need an attorney.”

He walked away, ignoring the way Brooke looked at him with pleading eyes. 

Across the room, Dr. Farraday emerged from the O.R. and approached Renee in the waiting area.

“Dr. Farraday, my daughter…is she going to be okay?” Renee asked breathlessly.  “Please tell me that she’s going to be okay.”

He held his hand up in an effort to calm her down.  “Renee, we’ve been able to stop the bleeding, but she’s lost a lot of blood.  Sierra has a very rare blood type and we don’t have an adequate supply on hand.  There's a very good chance that your blood will be a match.  We’ll need you to-“

“Of course, anything!” Renee exclaimed in a hurry.  “I’ll donate as much as you need.  Just please save my daughter, Dr. Farraday.”

“Renee, wait,” Jordan said and clasped his hand around her arm.  “Chances are you’re not a match.   Sierra isn’t your biological daughter.”

Jordan’s words hit her like a truck.  She felt her heart beating wildly in her chest and she struggled for words.  “Yes, but I….” she stammered awkwardly.  “I have to at least try.  Dr. Farraday, you’ll test my blood and we’ll see.  We’ll find out if I’m a match, right?”

Jordan looked at her suspiciously and dug his hands into his pockets.

“I had my nurse pull your medical history just in case,” Dr. Farraday said, turning just as the nurse approached with Renee’s file.  He flipped it open and paged through a few sets of charts.  His forehead creased and his eyes narrowed on the information printed on the page.  “Unbelievable,” he said.

“What?” Jordan asked.

“Renee’s blood type is A negative.”

“And what blood type is Sierra?” Jordan asked.

Dr. Farraday leveled a look of disbelief at them both.  “A negative.”

A hush escaped Renee’s throat and she began to perspire.  A light-headed feeling overcame her and she placed a hand on Jordan’s arm to balance her weight.

“Are you saying that Renee and Sierra have the same blood type?  They’re not even related.  What are the odds of that happening?” Jordan inquired.

“Under normal circumstances it wouldn’t be so unusual,” Farraday explained.  “But with Sierra having such a rare blood type…well, the fact that her adoptive mother has the same rare blood type…it’s just mind boggling.  Only seven percent of the population has type A negative blood.”

Renee wrung her hands together and turned around with apprehension.  She gathered her wits and took a deep breath before turning back to them.  “Well let’s not stand around in awe over a coincidence.  I just want to help my daughter.  Let me donate the blood and we’ll-“

“It’s impossible,” Dr. Farraday cut her off.

Sighing, Renee shook her head adamantly.  “Look, I know it’s a medical marvel, but the point is that Sierra and I are a match, so let’s not waste any more time!”

“No,” Farraday clarified.  “I mean you can’t donate blood, Renee.  You’re anemic.  You’re not a candidate to donate blood to anyone.  We’ll have to find another donor.  I’m sorry.”

Beside herself, Renee began pacing the waiting room with frustration.  “I’m not worried about my health.  I just want my daughter to live.”

“Are you in contact with her biological parents?” the doctor asked.

Renee stopped and grew into a daze.  She couldn’t stand any more questions.  It was too difficult to deal with on top of everything else.  She felt backed into a corner and she didn’t know how much more she could take.

Suddenly, she began to feel light-headed again and the room began to spin.  She felt her eyes flutter and then her knees grow weak.  Finally, she collapsed into a dead faint and Jordan quickly swept in to catch her.

“You need to sit down,” he said and led her over to a chair.  He was unable to shake the strange feeling he got from Renee’s behavior.  He’d never seen her so nervous before.

He poured a cup of water from the cooler and handed it to her before turning back to Dr. Farraday.  “Her parents are dead,” he said. 

“I see,” Dr. Farraday remarked and lowered his glasses as he studied Renee’s chart again. 

“I’m O negative,” Jordan announced hopefully.  “Is that any kind of match?”

“Not an ideal match, but it’s just as rare and probably the most compatible donor we’re going to find at this short notice” the doctor said.  “Would you consider donating, Jordan?”

“Of course,” he said without hesitation and turned to Renee.  “Listen, she’s going to pull through.  You’ll see.  I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Jordan, thank you,” Renee whispered and hugged him warmly.

After he’d disappeared into the back with Dr. Farraday and the nurse, she placed a hand on her head and took a deep breath.  Sierra’s accident was becoming more of a tragedy by the second.

Stormy walked into Heather’s bedroom at the mansion and saw her standing at the bed folding clothes into a suitcase.  Frowning, he quietly closed the door behind him and approached her with apprehension

“Look, about earlier-“ he began.