John grabs a wounded Meyer, and demands to know who shot him. Meyer begs for John to help him get out of town, but unbeknownst to John, it's a setup and Meyer is not really injured. Rather, he's wired and a feed is being sent back to Jason and Sonny's men, who clearly hear John admit to being the person who found the file in Sonny's apartment. Before Meyer's wire is discovered, Jason leaves the van and rushes to the dock where Meyer and John are standing. This gives Meyer time to run away, and John quickly has Jason arrested for threatening him and for possibly shooting Meyer. At the station, Jason tries to get back to Sonny's other men and tell them to get a copy of John's confession to the courthouse, but they are unable to hear him clearly on the phone and have no idea what he wants them to do. Jason tries to make another call to get Sonny the information in time, but Mac won't let him.

Skye pretends to be Heather when Heather's cell phone rings and it's a woman wanting to know what she should do with Laura. The woman realizes that Skye is lying, so she promptly hangs up. Skye apologizes profusely to Luke for not finding out more information, and the two try to come up with a way to get Laura's whereabouts out of Heather. They rush to GH and beg Steven to drug his mother with a truth serum, but he refuses. He explains that he feels for Luke, and that he's very sorry for his mother's actions, but he won't compromise the health of any sick person. Steven tells Luke that the serum wouldn't work anyway, because Heather really does think she's Laura. Luke grows angry with Steven, but Liz comes up and breaks things up. She agrees with Steven that Heather is too out of it to be any help to anyone, and escorts him away from Skye and Luke. Luke then decides that he and Skye should split up to find things out, with Skye checking into the cell phone records, and Luke going to get Lucky to use his police authority to get to Heather at Ferncliff.

Brook stops by Kelly's on her way to the studio, and is happy to find Diego there. She tells Diego that regardless of what her mother says, she won't stop seeing him. He apologizes again for getting her in trouble, but she tells him she doesn't blame him. Lois arrives, and asks Diego to leave her alone to speak to her daughter. He takes off, and Lois tries to explain to Brook that Diego is trouble. Brook refuses to listen, especially since Lois won't stop seeing Alcazar, and she instead thanks her mom for shedding light on Diego's situation, so that she's better prepared to deal with it. Alcazar walks in, so Brook leaves, but is nicer than usual to him. Lois explains that she and Brook have reached an agreement that both can have their own "bad boy," but Alcazar wonders if Lois knows what she's getting herself into. Lois promptly asks him to not go after Sonny when he's vulnerable and in the middle of a custody battle, but Lorenzo refuses, and tells Lois he won't do such a thing for her.

Dillon continues to find Maria's necklace familiar, and he realizes he's seen the same symbol on faxed documents at the Haunted Star. He and Georgie try to figure out the origin of the documents, but have no idea who sent them to Luke. Meanwhile, Diego finds them and tells them he thinks Sonny is the man in Port Charles that Maria wants to keep him away from, and he guesses that perhaps Sonny killed his dad. Dillon doesn't think that Sonny is the man who Diego is supposed to stay away from, so in order to figure out who it is, he faxes a letter to the fax number on Luke's documents, and waits for the person to meet him on the docks. As he and Georgie hide at the docks, they are shocked to find Lorenzo Alcazar show up.

Alexis is stunned when Sonny goes back on their agreement, and states in court that Kristina belongs with him. She jumps in the middle of Ric's cross examination, and petitions to finish it herself. Ric objects, but the judge allows Alexis to question Sonny. Despite her best efforts, Alexis is unable to get a clear victory in her cross, so Ric calls for a short recess. During it, Alexis tearfully tells Sonny that she wishes she had another choice, but he's left her no option. She refuses to allow joint custody, and tells Sonny that she's turning the file of evidence against him over to Ric. After the hearing begins and Ric continues to question Sonny about the legality of his business dealings, they are interrupted by a police officer who promptly arrests Sonny for RICO violations. Ric, Alexis, and Carly follow Sonny and the police to the station, where Ric promises to put Sonny away for good. John appears at the last minute, however, and confesses for everyone-including Carly-to hear, that he illegally obtained the file from Sonny's penthouse.

Nikolas struggles with his marriage to Emily and the possibility that his looming jail sentence will keep her from being happy. Liz reminds him that Emily makes her own decisions, and wants to be married to Nikolas, but he still isn't convinced that he's not ruining her life. When Edward has annulment papers drawn up, unbeknownst to Emily, and sends them to the station and to Nikolas, Nik thinks about signing them. He almost does, but then he can't bring himself to do it. Meanwhile, Emily speaks to the judge assigned to Nikolas's case, and begs him to read Helena's file before he makes a decision on Nikolas. She tells the judge that Helena was threatening Emily's life, and that's the only reason Nikolas murdered her. The judge agrees to take the circumstance, and Helena's murderous past, into consideration.

Jax shows Courtney the new office space he's purchased for her foundation. Courtney is thankful that he got it for her, but she refuses his offer. She explains yet again that she has to do things on her own, for herself. Jax manages to romance her, and the two make love. He again suggests she take the office space, but she declines.

Edward warns Skye that Luke might care for her, but he'll drop her the minute he finds Laura. Skye refuses to believe Edward, but internally she fears that his prediction is correct. Meanwhile, Luke is angry that Lucky will not help him break into Ferncliff and get to Heather. Lucky refuses to help his dad get in trouble again, and warns him to give up on chasing his fantasy. Luke and Skye meet back at the Haunted Star, where Skye questions Luke's loyalty to her. He puts her fears at ease, and they then comb over Heather's financial records. They find a check she made to a P. Connelly, and think that they might be a step closer to finding Laura.

As Diego and Brook question Mike about Sonny's possible connection to Diego's dead father, Dillon and Georgie try to get info from Alcazar to help them figure out the charm on Maria's necklace. Alcazar admits he sent Luke the fax, and they apologize-pretending they misinterpreted it and were only trying to help Luke out with the Haunted Star. When Alcazar forgives them for dragging him down to the docks, Dillon innocently asks about the design at the top of Alcazar's letterhead. Lorenzo explains it's his family's corporate logo, and Georgie and Dillon realize that Alcazar must have something to do with Diego's past.

Carly is stunned when her father announces to everyone at the station that the file of evidence against Sonny cannot be used because he obtained it illegally from Carly's things. Despite Ric's warning of consequences, John officially admits to taking the evidence, and therefore makes it unusable against Sonny in any way. Carly runs out of the station, and Jason follows her and tries to comfort her. She apologizes for refusing to listen when Jason warned her that John was only after Sonny, but Jason reminds her that although her dad came to town for Sonny, his admission at the station was clearly all about Carly. Later, John arrives on the docks and finds Carly sitting and waiting for him. She thanks him for what he did at the police station, but she tells him that he can no longer be a part of her or her sons' lives. John protests and reminds her that he potentially just ruined his entire career for her, but Carly is unable to forgive him.

Ric and Alexis must deal with the aftermath of John's confession, and they realize that the file of evidence will not affect Sonny. Ric tries to reassure Alexis that she can still beat Sonny in the custody trial, but Alexis's faith in the system wavers. Ric tries to prepare her for her own testimony, but Alexis doesn't think she can go through with it. Just as Ric is able to remind her that she is the parent that Kristina knows and loves, Sonny shows up and tells Alexis that he's going at her with everything he has to get full, sole custody of their daughter.

Going undercover to search for Connolly, Skye and Luke slip into the Blue Note, a seedy dive, masquerading as a blind musician and assistant. Later, as Skye sings, the bar patrons howl in protest and the manager fires the duo. In the melee that results, Luke and Skye spot the patron known as Connolly. After being forcibly ejected from the bar, Luke and Skye switch disguises. Posing as a street-walker, Skye slips back inside to try to quiz Connolly, but Luke is accosted by the local 'manager' of that 'territory,' who gives Luke a knuckle-sandwich for trying to move in on his 'territory.' Inside, Skye makes fast friends with Connolly and is shocked when the woman confides that she believes that she is about to be rubbed out. However, Connolly becomes suspicious when Skye begins to ask too many questions. When Connolly bolts out of the bar, Luke and Skye follow Connolly to the local cemetery. When Luke and Skye again try to quiz Connolly about Laura, Connolly points out a grave and insists that Laura is buried there.

In his new office, Jax calls his mother and arranges for Lady Jane to share lunch with him and meet Courtney. However, Courtney catches Jax on the phone and later expresses her reluctance to take such an important step as meeting Jax's mother so soon. Meanwhile, a disguised Brook Lynn pretends to have a package in the lobby for Sonny and decoys Max away from the door so that Diego can slip into Sonny's Penthouse. However, as Diego fumbles with picking the lock, he is stopped by a gun-wielding Samantha, who is soon joined by Jason. At the same time, Dillon and Georgie meet secretly on the Docks and Dillon explains that the pendent that he discovered in the apartment of Diego's sister is the same as the Alcazar family's corporate logo. As they talk about the pendent, someone eavesdrops from a hidden corner. Later, Georgie and Dillon are joined by Lorenzo and Dillon hands the pendent over to Lorenzo. Lorenzo is immediately surprised to see the pendent and demands to know where Dillon got the pendent. Dillon tries to convince Lorenzo that he found the pendent at a flea market, then beats a hasty retreat. In the meantime, Jason calls Courtney to pick Diego up at Jason's Penthouse. When Courtney arrives, she demands answers and Diego finally admits that he believes that Sonny killed his father and might be intending to get rid of Diego as well. Diego is surprised to learn that Sonny wasn't even in Port Charles seventeen years ago, when Diego's father was killed. At Sam's request, Jason promises to investigate the death of Diego's father. After Jason leaves with Diego and Brook, Courtney admits to Sam that Sam has more in common with Jason that Courtney ever had. While Courtney and Sam discuss Jason, Jax meets with his mother, who wonders WHY Courtney does NOT have the courage to meet Jax's mother. However, Jax insists that he is serious about Courtney and believes that his father would have been equally impressed with Courtney. Jax begins to list all of Courtney's community-spirited achievements. At the same time, in Jason's Penthouse, just as Courtney admits that she could NOT deal with the violence of Jason's lifestyle, Jason returns home. Sam makes an excuse to leave Jason and Courtney alone by announcing that she is starting dinner. Meanwhile, on the Docks, Dillon confides to Georgie that he believes that perhaps it is Lorenzo who is the Port Charles resident that Diego's sister believes is dangerous to Diego -- just as Diego arrives to meet with Dillon and Georgie. Choosing NOT to announce himself, Diego tracks Lorenzo down at Kelly's. The shadowy figure who has been eavesdropping on the docks steps out of the shadows to follow Diego - and is revealed to be Maria. However, when Diego checks over his should, Marie ducks back into the shadows. Later, as Jane advises Jax that he may NOT be ready for a new relationship yet, Courtney arrives and admits that she is crazy about Jax, At the same time, at Jason's Penthouse, Samantha burns dinner and gets her sweater soaked as she tries to put out the fire. As Jason helps Sam out of her wet sweater, they share a close moment.

In court, the Quartermaine family shows up to support Nikolas and Emily. Meanwhile, Ric assures Alexis that he has done everything possible to get a reduced sentence for Nikolas but he has a bad feeling about the outcome. Inside the court room, Emily is shocked when she realizes that a new Judge will be presiding over the case. As the Judge gets the hearing under way, Ric is surprised when the Judge waves aside Ric's recommendation for a light sentence for Nikolas. Everyone is stunned when the Judge expresses his view that Nikolas murdered an elderly family member in a callous and brutal manner and deserves the death penalty. When Emily and Alexis rise to defend Nikolas, the Judge declares that he will NOT have his court run by a bunch of rich people who believe that they can get away with murder and calls for a recess, announcing that he will listen to character witnesses later. After the judge leaves, Emily tries to convince Nikolas to recant his confession and request a jury trial, but Alexis warns that it is too late for Nikolas to change his statement and that they will all have to depend on an appeal. Later, an emotional Emily warns her family NOT to begin bickering in front of the Judge. When court resumes, as Monica, Alan, Tracy and Alexis testify about Helena's murderous history, the Judge merely observes that murder seems to be a Cassadine family trait. When he takes the stand, Nikolas admits to the Judge that he has NO regrets about permanently ridding himself of his lethal grandmother.

Luke and Skye find the woman who Heather hired to take care of Laura. They follow her to some cemetery where she is standing with a bottle of booze in her hand. They confront the woman. Luke shakes the drunken woman and demands to know where she put Laura. The woman tells him that his wife is over there. Luke looks over to find a small sign on a stick in the ground that is labeled "Laura Spencer." Luke turns on the woman and calls her a liar and refuses to believe Laura is dead. The woman tells him she was hired by Heather to watch over Laura but that there was a terrible fire in her apartment building because of some faulty wiring. Luke doesn't want to believe her. The woman takes out a newspaper article from her pocket and hands it to him to read. Luke reads it. The woman takes off and Skye goes after her. Later, Luke calls the police station in that area and demands to know why he wasn't called since he was Laura's next of kin and demands to have the DNA results sent to him on Laura's body. Luke starts digging Laura's grave. Skye tries to get him to not put himself through the agony of looking at Laura's burnt body and try to remember Laura as she looked before the fire. Luke digs up her grave anyway and sees her body. He is devastated and finds her wedding ring and keeps it. He says goodbye to Laura and tells her she was always his angel. He finds Skye back at the bar where they found the woman earlier. He tells Skye he took her wedding ring off and is keeping it. Skye takes his hand to comfort. However, an unknown woman is seen rocking a chair with a ring missing from her finger and it is assumed that it is the real Laura, and her death wasn't real but faked.

Jason helps Sam with her sweater and the two find themselves up close and personal. Jason grabs Sam and kisses her on the lips. Sam doesn't reject his kiss. She pulls away and tells Jason that she wasn't drunk this time and now knows that the kiss they just shared felt right to her now and that he kissed her this time. Jason doesn't know how to respond at first. Sam tells him she doesn't reject the kiss they just shared but thinks he probably does and tells him she is o.k. with that. Jason tells her he shouldn't have kissed her. She tells him she is glad he kissed her. She tells him that she wants to be with him. Jason tells her that can't happen. Sam thinks he doesn't care about her the same way she cares about him and asks him if he is still in love with Courtney. He tells her he isn't still in love with Courtney. Sam suggests that he could leave for a couple of hours and come back and they can pretend they are just friends. Jason tells her it doesn't have to do with how he feels about her but that he can't be with her because of his lifestyle and how she may not be able to accept what he does for a living. Sam reminds him that he was there for her when she really needed him and that he was the only man in her life that stood by her and helped her instead of running away. Sam changes her clothes and packs her things and tells him that she can't live with him anymore since he doesn't want her. He tells her she can still live there with him and that he isn't rejecting her. She tells him that he is rejecting her by not wanting to be with her. Sam leaves the apartment and heads to the elevator. She goes to push the button and Jason puts his arm across the button and stops her from pushing it. She turns around and looks at him. She asks him if he wants her to stay. He tells her he doesn't want her to leave. Meanwhile, Courtney arrives late for her dinner with Jax and his mother. She overhears Jane tell Jax that she isn't so sure that Courtney is as crazy for him as he is for her and wants him to be more careful with Courtney. Courtney steps into the room and tells Jane that she is crazy about Jax. Jane invites her to join them. She starts to grill Courtney with questions about her past marriages. Courtney tries to explain that her first marriage to AJ was not based on love as much as on rebellion and that she was trying to find out who she was at the time. Jane asks her why she turned around and married AJ's brother Jason. Courtney explains that she married Jason because she loved him and he loved her and that they couldn't make their marriage work because they had different values. Jane questions her about how she can be sure that she won't change her mind about how she feels about Jax. Jax steps in and asks his mother to stop interrogating Courtney. Courtney tells them she needs to step outside and get some fresh air. After she leaves Jax asks her why she is giving Courtney such a hard time and asks her if she likes Courtney. Jane tells him she doesn't really like her but that it has more to do with not liking her for Jax. Jax asks her why she doesn't like Courtney. Jane tells him that she just doesn't feel that Courtney loves him the way he loves her and that she is afraid that Courtney will break his heart in the end. Jax asks her to explain. Jane tells him that she believes Courtney doesn't look at Jax the way Brenda and Skye used to look at him. She tells him she thinks that Courtney is still very much in love with her ex, Jason. Courtney overhears her and comes back. Jax is called by one of his construction guys to go look at some tile to approve for the hotel. He tells Courtney and Jane to behave. Jane tells Courtney that she can tell her not to mettle if she wants to and explains that she is a woman that shoots from the hip and is always outspoken about how she feels when it comes to her son's welfare. She tells Courtney that she understands that Jax can be charming and likes to sweep women off of their feet but that Jax has reached his limit as far as how often he has had his heart broken. She tells Courtney that she thinks she will end up breaking his heart because she doesn't love him like he loves her. Courtney loses her cool and tells Jane off. She tells her that she and Jax went very slow and that they got to know each other really well and tells Jane to mind her own business and stay out of Jax's love life. Courtney storms out. Jane is impressed with Courtney's passionate display. Later, Courtney returns to find Jax sitting by himself waiting with the food for their dinner. He tells her Jane isn't here anymore. Courtney tells Jax they need to have a serious talk right now. Jax tells her that Jane will back off as soon as she realizes what they feel for each other. Jax tells her he hopes to someday here her tell him she is in love with him too.

Everyone is stunned in the courtroom when Nikolas is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Emily stands up and pleads with the judge to reconsider. The judge tells them that Nikolas killed someone without any remorse and should go to prison. The judge leaves without listening to Emily. Emily starts crying hysterically and pleads with Lucky to do something. Nikolas is lead away in handcuffs. Later, at the police station, Nikolas tells Lucky to keep Emily away from him for her own good and that she shouldn't see him in handcuffs and chains around his feet. Lucky tells him that Emily should be able to see him if she wants and that it may hurt her more to be kept away from him. Back at the courthouse, Monica tries to soothe Emily. She suggests she go back home and stay with the family. Tracy agrees with Monica that Emily shouldn't be left alone. Emily insists on going to the police station and seeing Nikolas. The family tries to persuade her to not go to see Nikolas right now. Emily takes off anyway and Liz goes with her. Emily tries to go in to see Nikolas but Lucky tries to stop her. He tells her that he is just following Nikolas' wishes. Emily refuses to listen and storms into Nikolas' visiting room. Nikolas tells her she shouldn't have come and seen him like this. She tells him that she is not leaving his side and will visit him every day. Nikolas tells her he can't let her live her life waiting for him to be released when he won't be. He tells Lucky to take Emily out of the room. Emily cries in Liz's arms after Nikolas rejects her. Liz brings her back to Kelly's. They go inside and sit. Lucky yells at Nikolas for rejecting Emily and hurting her more than before. Nikolas feels that he is doing this to protect her and doesn't want her to put her life on hold visiting him every day in prison. Alexis shows up to tell him she will get his sentence reduced. Ric also tries to assure him he will do what he can to get the sentence reduced to at least 10 years with parole since the judge didn't know all the facts of the case so soon. Nikolas acts like he is giving up. Mac tells them Nikolas has to be transferred now and Lucky can't be the one to escort him out. As they are heading toward the exit, Nikolas surprises everyone by hitting one of the cops holding his arm and knocks the other one down. He runs to the exit to escape. One of the cops shoots Nikolas in the back as he tries to escape. Meanwhile, Emily tells Liz that she isn't giving up on Nikolas and will visit him every day and convince him they belong together. She hears the phone ring behind her and gets a bad feeling, especially when Mike answers and tells her the phone is for her.

Nikolas is injured in the confusion and rushed to the hospital. Emily waits in the hospital chapel while Nikolas's condition is assessed and prays for his recovery. During emergency surgery, Nikolas's heart stops and he pays an unearthly visit to Emily in the chapel.

Sonny and Ric find out that Kristina is missing from her hospital room. Alexis attempts to sneak Kristina out of the hospital and is nearly caught by Carly. Later, Carly agrees to go out with Steven but insists that it not be considered a date.

Jason admits to Sam that he likes being with her but doesn't want to do anything that would hurt her in the long run. She decides to move into a room above Kelly's then heads to Jake's to drown her sorrows. When Carly warns Jason that he is self-destructing, he finds Sam at Jake's in Coleman's comforting arms!