Due to the New Year's holiday, As The World Turns did not air. On behalf of everyone at Soap Opera Central, I would like to thank all of the visitors who have come to our site in 2000. You have made 2000 our most successful year --- and we're hoping to repeat that accomplishment in 2001 with your help. We've got a lot of special things planned for the year ahead and we hope that you will join us.

Dan Kroll
Founder, Soap Central

Rose walks into Lily's house to find her sitting in front of the TV eating ice cream, alone. Rose tells her that this is what she expected Lily to be doing. Lily reminds her that Simon has married Katie and they are off on a make believe honeymoon. Rose suggests that she run off and join Simon and Katie on their honeymoon. Lily says that she can't because of the children. Rose reminds her that "Aunt Rose" is there and the children love her. Lily decides to try to make the train that Simon and Katie are going to be traveling on.

Simon and Katie are on the train and it is very crowded. Simon finds a seat and tells Katie that he is not going any further, they are going to sit right here. They sit down and get situated and then Katie decides that she is hungry. She asks Simon to go to the club car to get her something to eat. He says absolutely not. The train is full of drunks and he is not going to fight the crowd. He tells her to go to sleep and they will be at their destination soon. She settles in and puts her head on his shoulder. Simon lays his head back and closes his eyes. Through the crowd, Lily fights her way, wearing a hooded coat and sunglasses. She sits in the seat across the aisle from Simon and Katie. Simon opens his eyes and looks over at the lady sitting across the aisle. He puts his head back and closes his eyes. Lily continues to look at Simon from behind her sunglasses. Simon opens his eyes and looks over at the lady again. Lily pulls down her sunglasses and peers at Simon over the top of them. She waves at Simon. Simon gets excited to see Lily, but does not want to let Katie know she is there. Simon wakes Katie up and tells her that they just made an announcement that they are giving away free champagne in the club car. He asks her to go get them some. He also asks her to get him a sandwich while she is there. She says that when he is hungry she has to go get him something. She says that she doesn't think that she can carry all that back. He says that if she doesn't get back soon, he will come and find her. Katie leaves and Lily hops over into Katie's seat. Simon asks Lily why is she there? She tells him that the best way to be together and escape the clutches of the INS is to join him on his honeymoon. They start to kiss. He is so happy to see her. Lily notices that everyone has left the car that they are in. The lights go out and it is midnight. They kiss each other again. Simon picks Lily up and puts her on his lap. She straddles him and they are kissing. Lily takes off her coat and they are kissing. Lily takes off her top (she is wearing a camisole) and they are kissing.

Carly visits Julia. She tells Julia that she is there to apologize to her. Julia and Carly talk about her pregnancy. Carly fills her in on the joys of motherhood. She tells Julia to enjoy everyday of it. Carly talks about when she was pregnant with Parker. She tells Julia that Parker was born in this living room. The two women start to talk about Winston Lowe. Carly asks Julia, as she is standing there with her hand on her stomach, does she swear that she did not intentionally rat her out to Winston? Julia swears to Carly that when she and Winston started talking, she did not know whom he was. When Carly starts to leave, Julia tells her that they should do this again. Carly tells her that she is not looking for any new friends. She adds that they can be cordial in front of the little ones. Julia agrees and Carly leaves. Jack comes home later and Julia tells Jack about Carly being there. She tells Jack about Carly's behavior. She adds that it was nice to talk with Carly and not have a fight. Jack puts his arms around his wife and suggests that they go up to bed and snuggle together.

Jake has hired a ghost buster. When the ghost buster gets to his apartment, he starts to have second thoughts. Molly asks him to humor her. She says that Vicky has entered her life and she needs to find out what she wants. Adam and Abigail are there and they help the ghost buster set up his equipment. Adam is all excited because he is so into the supernatural. He asks the ghost buster all kinds of questions. As they are setting up they all move to Jake's bedroom. The camera is set up in the living room. Molly asks the ghost buster how he came to be in this line of work? The ghost buster tells them about one morning he woke up and his mother was sitting on the end of the bed. He asked her what was wrong? She said that nothing was wrong and went downstairs to make her morning coffee. When he got up later, she was in bed and had died. The coroner told him that his mother had died in the middle of the night. Jake is standing off to the side and he starts to scoff. Molly flashes him a look. Adam sees something on the monitor. They all gather closer to the monitor to see what is happening. The ghost buster says that they are very lucky to be making contact so quickly. As they are watching, Vicky appears on the screen. Molly says, "There she is! I wish you all could see her." Abigail says that they see her too. Molly asks if they can see her and they all answer yes. Molly looks over at Jake and he has a look of disbelief on his face. He can't believe that he is seeing his dead wife. He starts to go out the door. The ghost buster says that he shouldn't go out there. Molly tells him to let him go. Jake gets to the door and hesitates. Then he goes out the door and into the living room. He walks up to Vicky's ghost and looks at her. Molly is watching on the monitor with tears in her eyes. Vicky turns to Jake and smiles. She says, "Jake! I've missed you."

Lily and Simon passionately embrace in the train until they hear Katie's voice. Holden discovers that the videotape of the horse show is missing from WOAK's archives. Chris and Emily's kiss is interrupted by Henry, who confronts them about snooping through his resume. As Molly watches on the monitor, Jake tells Vicky's ghost he doesn't believe she's real--it's a trick. Vicky makes her case to Jake by showing him an old pair of tennis shoes she wore. Jake cries as he realizes Vicky is the only one who would know they had "Rely on Jake" written on them.

A disguised Lily bumps into Katie as she flees the train. Holden calls Katie on her cell phone and she tells him Henry took the videotape. Jake is disappointed when he can't feel Vicky touching his hand. When Jake asks about the plane crash, Vicky assuages his guilt by assuring him she had no memory of it, and it wasn't his fault for investigating Alec Wallace--it was just her time. Molly stops the paranormal investigator from approaching Jake and Vicky to get more readings--leave them alone, she orders.

Lily surprises Simon in his honeymoon suite in Bay City, unaware she has dropped her bracelet on the floor. Chris and Emily jeer Henry about the 18-month gap in his employment history, just as Holden arrives to confront Henry about "horse business." Molly insists to Abigail that Jake needs to talk to Vicky. Vicky explains to Jake that after the plane crash, Bridget greeted her and told her she had unfinished business to attend to. I need Molly's help, Vicky declares.

Before Vicky can explain to Jake what she meant, she tells him she's feeling weak and she fades out of sight. Bring her back, Jake demands to the investigator. When Holden threatens to tip off the police, Henry admits to stealing the videotape, but says it was only because he was ordered to do so. When Katie returns unexpectedly, Lily hides in Simon's closet, incensed as Katie begins stripping in front of Simon.

Simon stops Katie's suggestive talk and gives her his T-shirt to wear. While Katie goes off to brush her teeth, Simon helps Lily escape the suite, thanking her for coming. When Katie emerges, she finds the bracelet and remembers Holden showing it to her--this is Lily's, she realizes. The investigator explains to Jake that he can't bring Vicky back or make her disappear, but believes she will come back on her own. Abigail and Adam apologize to Molly for pushing things so fast, but Molly insists they only did what Jake requested. I can't do this, Jake later tells Molly.

Simon denies to Katie that Lily was in her room and frantically explains that it's a replica he bought to thank her for all her help with the INS. Katie is touched and vows to wear it always. In the train on the way back to Oakdale, a morose Lily welcomes the New Year. Henry is rattled when Holden vows to get to the bottom of the mystery. Jake stiltedly tells Molly he can't stay with her and walks out.

Tom goes to visit Chris but gets a surprise when a half dressed Emily answers the door. Tom goes nuts and lectures a non-listening Chris and warns him of Emily's past flings. Chris admits to loving Emily and Emily and Tom have the same confused look on their faces. Tom reminds Chris of Penny's leaving and tells him about breakfast and leaves but not before giving Emily and Chris a long hard stare. Emily tells Chris she doesn't love him and just wants to be friends and Chris said he wanted more and she left.

Rose takes the kids to visit Holden and Emma while Lily sleeps. Lily later joins everyone at the farm and she and Holden engage in a discussion about her life. Holden admits to still loving her and Lily leaves. Henry stops by and admits that Isaac made him steal the tape for him and later Henry called a mystery person. Joe pops in to find out the latest on Flashdance. Holden doesn't want to talk, so Rose convinces Holden to go have lunch with her, Emma, Joe and Faith. Lily and Sierra visit and discuss the nature of their married lives.

Bob and Penny notice Nancy having lunch with a guy...Joe. Joe and Nancy breakup there visit so Joe can go see Rose and Bob, Penny and Nancy get ready to say their good-byes.

Agent Halliwell dropped by the farm to grill Holden about Lily's relationship with Simon. He informed Holden that if he could confirm the fact that Lily and Simon still had a thing going, then they had a chance to deport Simon. Holden refused to confirm or deny it and left for Lily's house. Once there, he told her about Agent Halliwell's visit and they had an emotional discussion about their marriage, Simon, and Rose.

Upon Katie and Simon's arrival home from their honeymoon, a furious Katie discovered that the bracelet Simon "gave" her actually belonged to Lily. The bracelet had an engraved inscription that said "To my L, love H". She demanded to know what Lily had been doing on their honeymoon with them. Simon insisted that it was a surprise--he had no idea that Lily was going to be in Bay City. An argument ensued and Simon reminded Katie that ultimate reason for their marital arrangement was so that he could be with Lily. Later they had a meeting with Agent Halliwell where the sneaky agent described the possible consequences (five years in prison and a $250,000 fine) to Katie if their marriage was exposed as a sham. After the meeting, an angry Katie decided to pay Lily a visit and warned Lily to stay out of her and Simon's marriage.

At Java Underground, Isaac told a sympathetic Lisa about Craig Montgomery's threats to take away the club if the money he borrowed wasn't paid back immediately. During their discussion, Bryant stopped by to make amends with Isaac for the money he stole from the cash register. He tried to give Isaac an expensive watch his mom gave him for Christmas but Isaac refused to take it from him. Lisa happily agreed to act as an investor and Isaac's new business partner if he would allow her to help run the club.