Previously...

While aiming for a rival, Benji accidentally shot Blake in the arm.  After being released from jail into Jordan's custody, Benji manipulated his father into believing he'd been acting out as a result of Suzanne's disappearance.  Miranda, desperate to get over David, went out in search of revenge sex and wound up going home with Eddie.  Stormy and Kelly continued to hide their relationship.  Ethan informed James that Sunset Studios was in financial trouble as a result of the twenty-five million dollar loan James had taken out against it.  Alex caused trouble on the set of Angel Assassin 2, prompting James to worry over the film's release.   Heather continued to keep Brett in the dark regarding their unborn baby's chances of being mentally retarded.  David continued to pursue Brooke, who refused to become involved with him.  

Episode 77

"Love Vibration"

The heartbeat sounded normal.  Dr. Mitchell even went as far as saying it was healthy and strong.  These words came as a great source of relief to Heather as she lay on the examination table, shivering from a chill in the air and from the sticky gel and medical instruments that had been placed on her stomach.  Maybe Madam Valda had been wrong about her prediction last year.  Maybe her baby was going to be all right after all.  

“You may deliver early,” Dr. Mitchell said as she wiped the residue from Heather’s skin.

“But I still have another month and a half,” Heather insisted, sitting up on the table and pulling her gown over her stomach.  “It’s not enough time.”

“Sometimes the fetus is just ready early.”  She smiled hopefully.  “That’s a good sign.  It means she’s ready to start living.”

Heather felt the corners of her mouth draw into a smile.  “That is good news.”

“Have you spoken to your husband yet about-“ Dr. Mitchell began as she jotted notes down into Heather’s chart.

“Yes,” Heather lied.  She had endured enough lectures about that subject.   Not only from Dr. Mitchell, but from Brooke, the only other person who knew what was at stake.  The fact that she hadn’t told Brett about the toxoplasmosis and what it could mean for their child was enough of a burden and a source of guilt.

“I would have thought he’d be here with you.”

Heather’s eyes stung with tears.  “He’s very busy.  He was going to try to meet me here but-“

“Well, at least you have good news for him.  Your baby is healthy and strong.  Physically at least.”

Nodding along, Heather got dressed and left the room.  Standing at the elevator waiting for the doors to open, she wrapped herself in her trench coat and tugged her purse tightly over her shoulder.  When the elevator arrived, she stepped inside and pushed M for Mezzanine. 

On the way down, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  All she had to do was hold on for a few more weeks.  Her hopes were that their baby would be born perfectly normal and she wouldn’t have to burden her husband at all about the doctor’s concerns.  And if she turned out to be anything else….well, she had plenty of time to decide what to tell him. 

Movie sets were often plagued with accidents waiting to happen.  Anything could go wrong at any given time.  There could be a malfunction with the lighting equipment, shorts in electrical supplies, misused props, out of control fires, water spills, and any other hazardous materials one could think of. 

The makeup trailer wasn’t an area that yielded many accidents, however, or so Brett Armstrong though until the makeup artist for Damage Control wound up in the emergency room.  Brett was in his office at Rydell Productions when he learned of the incident with hot molten latex.  The majority of the crew was on lunch so he took it upon himself to rush her to Cedars-Sinai.  There he waited for the doctor to give him the woman’s prognosis.   Immediately he began to stress over who was going to do makeup for the film if she was unable to return to work.  Selfish, yes, but that was the movie business.

Deciding he needed a pick-me-up, he went down to the cafeteria while he waited.  Standing in line for an energy drink, he spotted Heather’s OB/GYN a few spots ahead of him.  He’d only met her once and it was months ago.  He wondered what she must think about his never being with Heather at her appointments.  Strangely enough, it seemed that every time she had one was when he had to go out of town on studio business.

Deciding it was appropriate to at least say hello to the woman, Brett moved through the line and garnered her attention with a smile and a brief wave.

“Dr. Mitchell?”

“Yes,” she asked.

“I’m Brett Armstrong,” he said.  “Heather Armstrong’s husband.”

“Oh yes,” Dr. Mitchell said with a friendly smile.  “If you’re here for Heather’s appointment I’m afraid you missed it.  I just finished up with her about twenty minutes ago.”

Confusion set in almost immediately.  “Appointment?” he asked, then shook his head with an awkward laugh.  “No, Heather didn’t have an appointment today.  I’m sure she would have told me.”

“I thought you were going to try to meet her in my office.”

Brett shook his head.  “No, she didn’t tell me anything about having an appointment.  Was it a last minute reschedule or something?”

“No, she’s had the appointment scheduled for some time.”  The doctor slowly began to realize that Heather had been dishonest with her.

“Strange,” Brett murmured to himself and raked his fingers through his blond hair.  ”It seems that I’m out of town every time she schedules them.”

Dr. Mitchell knew it was none of her business so she tried to say as little as possible.  Granted, he was her husband and had every legal right to know what was going on, and she had every legal right to tell him, but her personal ethics told her otherwise. 

“Well, you weren’t out of town today,” she simply said, hoping that it was enough to get him to realize something was wrong. 

“Right,” Brett said in a daze as he tried to piece together a valid reason why Heather would have lied to him.  “Dr. Mitchell, is there something I should know about?  Is our baby healthy?”

She chose her words carefully.  “Your baby is physically healthy,” she said.

Brett breathed a sigh of relief.  “Thank God.  But if everything’s fine then why wouldn’t she want me to-“

“Mr. Armstrong,” she said and placed a warm hand on his.  “Talk to you wife.  I think that the two of you need to have a dialog and I can’t be the one to mediate it.  But please, after you speak to her, call my office and set up an appointment if you have any questions at all.”

Before Brett could even respond, she’d dropped a handful of coins at the cash register and darted across the crowded cafeteria.  He furrowed his brow, uncertain of what it was she wanted him to talk about with his wife if everything was supposedly fine with their baby. 

That evening, Stormy and Ethan were paying pool in the game room at the Blackthorne mansion.  Across the room, Kelly sat on the sofa leafing through a magazine while she watched with meager interest. 

“We should have made this interesting,” Stormy said and chalked his stick as he eyed the table like an animal watching its prey.   “What do you say next time we buy in?”

Ethan took his shot, succeeding in maneuvering three balls into three holes.   He grinned slyly and leaned against the table.  “Sure.  Put your money where your mouth is.”

“On second though,” Stormy said with a good natured laugh.

“Yeah, I thought so.”   Ethan turned and looked at Kelly across the room.  “You want to play the winner, Kelly?”

She looked up from her magazine and shrugged.  “Sure.  Why not?”  She got up and made her way across the room, tossing a mane of black hair over her shoulder.  “I should warn you, though, I used to be the champion back at this little bar I went to in Honolulu.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Stormy said and winked.

Kelly reached into her low cut blouse and removed a roll of twenty dollar bills, dropping it onto the table.  “And I do put my money where my mouth is,” she said, her eyes a sultry mix of innocent beauty and provocative seduction. 

Stormy and Ethan exchanged harried glances just as Leilani entered the room, a feather duster in one hand and a scowl on her face.

“Kelly,” she said sternly.  “Can you speak to you please?”

“Sure mom,” Kelly replied, then turned back to Stormy.  “I’ll be back.  Why don’t you rack ‘em up?”

Again, Stormy and Ethan looked at one another and both smiled in amusement.  After Kelly and Leilani were out of the room, Ethan turned to his cousin and began removing the balls from the pockets. 

“She’s a nice girl,” he said.

“Yeah, she is,” Stormy agreed and started to rack the balls. 

“How long have you been sleeping with her?” Ethan asked.

It took a few seconds for Stormy to register the question, and when he did he broke into a smile and punched him playfully on the arm.   “Is it that obvious?” he asked. 

Ethan laughed.  “Yeah, it is.”

Outside the room, Kelly followed her mother a few feet down the hall into the conservatory.   “What is it, mom?  We were just about to play a game.”

Leilani looked disapprovingly at her daughter.  “Kelly, you keep forgetting that you’re a guest in this house.  You are the help, the same as I am.  I don’t play games with the Blackthornes, I don’t eat my meals with them, and I don’t overstep my bounds.”

“Mom, they treat you like family,” Kelly noted.  “You’re like a mother to Stormy and Miranda, so don’t tell me that that’s not overstepping.  Besides, I don’t work here as a servant.  I work at the hotel.”

“You’re still an employee of Mr. Blackthorne.”

Irritated by her mother’s unreasonable demands, Kelly planted her hands firmly on her hips and glared angrily at her.  “Stormy is nice to me.  Ethan too.  They treat me like everybody else, just like they do you.  I don’t see what the harm is in me having a little fun now and then.  Or would you rather I work all day at the hotel and then come home and sit alone in my room until it’s time to get up and do it all over again?”

“No, of course not,” Leilani insisted.  “I just-“

“You don’t have any right to tell me who I can and can’t spend time with.  I swear, ever since I came here all you’ve tried to do is push me away.  The only thing you care about is me going back to Ke Liu.”

“Kelly, that’s not true.  I just think that Ke Liu was a wonderful man and you should have tried harder to make it work.  I hate the thought of you living a life of service the way I have.  You can do so much more.”

“I still can,” Kelly said defiantly.  “I can be whatever I want to be.  I’m not going to stay a maid forever, you know.  This is Hollywood, mama.  I’m going to be a star.”

“How are you going to do that?” Leilani asked.

“How do you think?” Kelly asked, her tone full of conviction.  With that, she spun around and ran back into the game room where Stormy and Ethan were waiting. 

James called Brooke and told her he was on his way over.  They had business to take care of.  Today they were signing the final divorce papers that served as the last step in the six month long proceedings.   Rather than have Kenny arrange for the papers to be messengered to Brooke in a thoroughly impersonal manner, he asked to do it himself.  They owed their marriage that much.  After three turbulent years – of two marriages, only one of which was legal, of squabbles, affairs, kidnappings, paternity issues, jealousy, distrust and general dysfunction – they were finally free and clear.   And as much as he knew it was for the best, that rationality didn’t make it any easier. 

“Good evening,” Brooke said with a refreshing smile and gestured for him to come inside.

James smiled graciously and stepped into her town home.   He looked around and nodded approvingly.  “This is very nice, Brooke.  You have a lovely home.”

“It’s nothing like the mansion, but I like it,” she said.

“Is Roz still staying with you?”

Brooke nodded.  “Yes,” she said, then added quickly and with a grin, “don’t ask.”

He smiled and withdrew the papers from his pocket.  “I’ve already signed them.”

His pronouncement was oddly unsettling to her.  Yes, she knew their marriage was over, but for some unfathomable reason she felt hurt that he’d already signed the papers.   It didn’t occur to her until just then that he was in just as much a hurry to get on with his life as she was. 

“Let me just get a pen,” she said and started toward the kitchen. 

“I have one,” he said and withdrew a silver engraved pen from his pocket.

He brought a pen?  Another sign that he’d already moved on.   She couldn’t help but reflect on the happier times…

A car horn outside the window caught her attention and, thinking it was her friends finally showing up, she tore across the room to peer outside.   The corners of her mouth turned upward into a bright smile when she saw James standing next to his Rolls Royce Limousine by the curb.

“I missed you!” he called up to her.

"James, the girls will be here any minute!” Brooke replied, leaning out the window and gazing down at him.   “It’s my bachelorette tonight, remember?”

“I know, I know,” James sighed.  “But can you blame me for wanting to see you even for a minute?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow at the rehearsal dinner,” Brooke said, tossing her long mane of hair teasingly over her shoulder.

“Okay, I guess if I have to wait…” James said with a sly grin.  “I just wanted to tell you that I love you.”

Brooke smiled, blushing a little as several people jogged by her apartment and did a double take at the fancy car parked by the building.  “I love you too!” she called back, deciding to ignore the gawking passers by.  After all, she was getting married to a rich, successful movie producer and none of those people in the Valley mattered to her anymore.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” James said with a wink before he got into the back of the car.

Brooke waved ecstatically at him as she watched the limo pull away and drive down the street.   With a smile, she retreated back into the apartment from the window and joyously danced around the living room.   She was on top of the world.   Who wouldn’t be jazzed to be marrying a man like James Blackthorne?

So much had happened since then, Brooke realized as she put pen to paper and slowly scribbled her signature on the divorce papers.  After the six months since their separation, she had a difficult time remembering why things fell apart so quickly.  All she remembered were the good times.  But then reality would set in and she remembered the betrayals.

“I guess that’s it then,” James said as she handed the papers back to him.

She gestured to the kitchen.  “Can I get you anything?  Coffee?”

He shook his head.  “No, but thank you,” he said.  “How is Michael?”

“Good.  Michael’s good.  My mom’s upstairs tucking him in.”

James looked around the living room again.  “This really is a nice place.”

She smiled.  “I’ve come a long way since that little apartment in the Valley.”

James laughed fondly.  “Yes, you certainly have,” he said.  “Listen, I know we settled everything already but are you sure you don’t need anything else?  All the money you got in the settlement went to buying this place.  Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said proudly.  “I don’t want to minimize our marriage to numbers and dollar signs.  This is all I need.  I was thinking of going back to work anyway.”

James headed for the door.  “Well, please know that you can always come to me if you need anything at all.  For yourself or for Michael.”

“Ethan’s been very good,” Brooke said with an awkward smile.

James knew they’d made progress when her mention of Ethan didn’t instill anger in him.  Maybe it was because they too were no longer together, but he was more inclined to believe it was because they had all grown since last year.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your evening,” he said and opened the door.  Turning to her, he put his hands in the pockets of his trench coat and looked fondly at her.  “Goodnight Brooke.”

She started to close the door, then paused, calling after him.  “James, wait,” she said. 

He stopped and turned back, raising a curious eyebrow. 

“Your pen,” she said and handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he said with a smile and took it from her.  Slowly, he turned and stepped off of the porch and down the sidewalk to his car. 

Brooke closed the door and listlessly put on the chain.  Just as she turned, she spotted her mother standing directly behind. 

“Why didn’t you stop it?” Roz asked.

“What are you talking about?” Brooke asked and walked to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.

“You could have told him you’d changed your mind.  All you had to do was rip those papers up and-“

“Mother, I haven’t changed my mind,” she said with irritation.  “Please just drop it.”

“All I’m saying is that what I just witnessed didn’t seem like two people who wanted to get a divorce,” Roz exclaimed and ran the kettle under the faucet.  “I know the two of you had problems, Brooke, but I also know that there was a time when that man adored you.  I think he still does.”

“Mom, stop,” Brooke warned her.  “Besides, I think you need to worry about your own marriage and stop focusing on mine.  You still haven’t told me what’s going on with you and dad.”

Quickly wishing to drop it, Roz set the kettle on the stove and threw her hands up in resignation.  “Fine, I’ll stay out of it.”

The phone rang and Brooke used the welcome distraction to her advantage.  When she answered, she wasn’t surprised to hear David on the other end. 

“Hello David,” she said.

Roz stopped what she was doing and turned quickly toward her, casting a disapproving stare at her daughter while she listened. 

“David, I don’t know,” she said breathlessly.  “I told you it’s too soon to-“  A pause while she listened to him.   He was one of the most persistent people she’d ever known in her life.   “If I say yes will you drop it?  Fine, I’ll go.  Tomorrow night.  See you then.”

“What was that all about?” Roz asked after she’d hung up.

“David Jenner wants me to go to the grand opening of one of his new hotels tomorrow night,” she said.

“Are you going to?”

Brooke shrugged.  “I said I would.”

“Do you think it’s wise that you start dating already?  I mean, with your divorce just becoming final and your relationship with Ethan ending so badly.”

“We’re not dating, mother.  I’m just going as a friend.  David and I are just friends.”

Roz bit down on her lip and eyed her daughter conspicuously.  She was now more sure than ever that Brooke should go back to James.  David Jenner was not the man for her daughter, and she planned to make sure she knew that.

“What did you do today?” Brett asked as he brought a cup of herbal tea into the living room and set it down on the coffee table. 

Heather shrugged and nestled down onto the sofa with a blanket.  “Not a lot,” she said.  “Just hung around the condo mostly.”

Brett looked into her eyes, hurt that she would lie to him, and confused as to why she would do it.   “When do you have your next appointment with your OB?”

Heather hesitated, wishing he would drop the subject as quickly as it came up.  “I’m not sure,” she said.  “I lost that card thingy that they gave me last time.  I’ll have to call the service and find out.”

“I can do that,” Brett said and picked up the phone.

Nervously, Heather fidgeted on the sofa and shook her head with a breathless laugh.  “That’s okay,” she said.  “I know it’s not for a few more days.  I’ll just call tomorrow.”

“But I want to make sure I clear my schedule so I can go,” Brett remarked, fully aware that she was stalling.  He’d made the decision to give her the opportunity to come clean with him, but it was getting too difficult to continue with the charade.

“Brett, I said I’ll do it tomorrow.”  She was on edge, hating the feeling that she was being cross-examined by her own husband. 

Finally he decided to reveal the truth, that he knew something was amiss.  “I ran into Dr. Mitchell today,” he began.

“What?” Heather asked in confusion.

“Our makeup artist had an accident and I had to take her to the hospital,” he went on.  “Dr. Mitchell said that I’d just missed your appointment.”

Realizing she’d been caught in a lie, Heather struggled to her feet beneath her weight and her sore back and ambled across the room in an effort to avoid eye contact with him.

“Heather, what’s going on?” Brett demanded.  “Why are you purposefully keeping me out of your pre-natal appointments?”

She shook her head as a tear fell down her cheek.  “I’m not keeping you out of anything” she said.  “I just….I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

“How would you disappoint me?” he asked and walked toward her.  “Nothing you could ever do would disappoint me.”

She wrung her hands together, angry with herself for lying to him but realizing she had no other choice.  She couldn’t tell him the truth.  Not yet.  Instead, a half-truth formed in her mind and she decided to use it. 

“Every time I see Dr. Mitchell I get scared that she’s going to tell me something is wrong with our baby,” she said and slowly turned to him.  “I can’t bare the thought of doing that to you, Brett.  Not after you lost your first child.”

He approached quickly, pulling her into an embrace.  “You don’t have to protect me,” he said.  “When Miranda lost our baby it was terrible, but there’s no reason to think that there’s any danger with your pregnancy.  Is there?”

She closed her eyes and a waterfall of tears came flooding out.  This was the perfect time to tell him the truth.  She knew it was the right thing to do.   If she continued lying to him now, she’d be guilty of the worst kind of betrayal.  How could she live with herself knowing that?

“Heather?” Brett continued and lifted her head.  “Dr. Mitchell told me our baby is physically healthy.  Was she lying about that?”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes.  “No.”

The next morning, James steered his Rolls Royce through the gates at Sunset Studios, waved to the security guard on duty, and proceeded to his parking space at the front of the building. 

Stepping out on to the pavement, he passed a studio tour bus and waved with a generous smile.  He walked into the building and made his way to his office where Ethan had a stack of ledgers spread out on a conference table.

“Morning, Ethan,” he said and set his briefcase on his desk.  “I was wondering where you were at breakfast this morning.  You must have been up and out early.”

He nodded and rubbed a hand over his face.  “I’ve been here since five this morning,” he remarked.

“Is there a problem?” James asked, already knowing the answer.

Ethan rolled up his sleeves and took a deep breath.  “That loan payment is coming due tomorrow.  We have the funds to cover it, but that will mean we won’t have enough to pay the crew for Angel Assassin 2.”

James quietly walked across the room and stared outside at the busy maze of sound stages.  He contemplated their options, realizing that he’d taken a big risk in taking the loan to pay his fines to the government.  At the time it was his only option.  Now they were paying the price. 

“I’ll just have to pay the crew’s salaries with my own money,” he finally announced.

“That’s like putting a band aid on a shark bite,” Ethan cautioned him.  “It might solve things for this month but what about next month and the month after?  You can’t keep doing that forever, James.  I wish you would let me help.”

James turned to him and shook his head adamantly.  “No,” he said.  “This isn’t your problem, Ethan.”

Sighing, he patted his uncle firmly on the shoulder and offered an apologetic expression.  “I’m sorry about all of this,” he said.  “Once Angel Assassin 2 is released we’ll be in good shape, but that isn’t for months from now.”

“We’ll be fine,” James insisted.  “Don’t worry about it.  Now why don’t you get out of here.  Isn’t today the day you spend with Michael?”

Ethan nodded.  “Yeah.  I was going to call Brooke and tell her that I’ll have to make other arrangements.”

“Absolutely not,” James said.  “You need to spend time with your son.  I insist that you leave and go pick him up.  It’s a beautiful day.  Take him to the park or the zoo or the beach.