At church, Cassie decorated a Christmas tree while Will drew a family picture. Cassie was upset when she saw that Will had left himself out of the picture. They made Christmas chains for decorations. Will told Cassie that if Josh and the others don't show up, they'd have a good Christmas without them.

Thanks to Will, everyone was stuck at the mall. Reva, Josh, and RJ were stuck in the stairwell. Josh and Reva remembered past Christmases and Shayne called to wish them a Merry Christmas. He told them they couldn't imagine what's going on over in Africa, and the phone began to break up. Shayne called back to tell them he didn't have any Christmas music. They played Christmas music over the speakerphone, and Josh and Reva shared a dance. Shayne guessed they were dancing, and he told them that they've made his Christmas.

Beth found herself stuck in the mall with Alan. She was surprised to see all of Alan's gifts and realized the gifts were for her baby. He explained that he was on his way to buy Natalia a gift, but found himself in the baby store instead. Beth realized that Alan had feelings for his future daughter-in-law, but Alan dismissed the idea. Suddenly, Beth began to have contractions. Alan raced to find help and found Josh and Reva. Josh tried to comfort her while Beth wondered who was going to deliver her baby.

Gus searched the mall and found Olivia behind a dressing room curtain, waiting for the seamstress to return with her dress. They shared a bottle of champagne in the stairwell, and then decided to head to the rooftop. They raced up the stairs, and Olivia freaked out when she found herself unable to catch her breath. Gus held her and told her he admired her strength. He finally calmed her down and the two shared a kiss.

Daisy, Ashlee, and Lizzie also found themselves trapped in the mall. The girls discussed their hard years. All of the girls are anxious for 2008 to begin. Lizzie remembered Sarah, and Daisy told Lizzie about her abortion. Ashlee admired both girls' strength this year. The girls found the Food Court and had a good time playing in the mall.

Gus and Olivia found Beth and the others. Josh asked if Gus had ever delivered a baby, and Gus reminded them that he'd delivered Jude. As Gus prepared to deliver Beth's baby, Jeffrey and Rick arrived. Beth's contractions suddenly stopped.

After the mall doors finally opened, Olivia wished Gus a Merry Christmas, and Ava arrived with Emma. Later, Olivia witnessed Gus kissing Natalia. Alan asked Rick if he was going to check out Beth, and Rick reminded Alan that he could take care of his wife.

At church, Josh and RJ finally arrived and Will almost let it slip that they weren't supposed to make it. Josh began to read the Christmas story as the mall group made their way around the Christmas tree to listen to the story.

*The annual Christmas crawl at the end of the show featured volunteers from the Hands On projects.

Due to the Christmas holiday, today's episodes of all your favorite soaps were pre-empted for various holiday programming. This pre-emption was anticipated and there will be no "lost" episodes as a result. Programming will resume on Wednesday, December 26th.

On behalf of everyone involved in Soap Central, I'd like to take the time to wish you and your family a very happy and healthy Christmas holiday. For our friends of other faiths and in other countries, we invite you share in the spirit of the holiday season as your celebrate holidays and festivals of your own.

Dan J Kroll
Founder, Soap Central

Inner Monologue

Lizzie planned a little TV news story about how Bill Lewis slept his way to the top. As a result, Bill's reputation has taken a hit around town with the ladies. Lizzie talks to herself and Roxie about her frustration with Bill. In the hallway, she runs into Dinah, who wonders who Lizzie was talking to. Her dog, she replies. She announces her hatred for Bill. She notices that Dinah is free. Dinah nods. She's still in rehab-the same one that Billy is in. She knows she needs help and maybe Bill will realize he needs some, too. Lizzie wonders if it's weird that she talks to her dog. Dinah doesn't think so. She talks to herself in her head.

On Main Street, Lizzie enjoys talking to herself in her head. It beats having a diary that Bill can pilfer through. She sees a couple and their baby. It makes her think about Jonathan and Tammy. Tammy was really loved. Lizzie thinks she'd rather be alive and hated than dead and well loved-maybe.

At Company, Lizzie watches Bill get shunned by one past lover after another. She fights her own attraction to him, reminding herself that there was no more falling in love for her any more. Bill slams down on her table a front-page article about how he slept his way to the top.

They argue. Bill thinks no press is bad, but Lizzie wonders how many clients has Lewis gotten since her announcement. Spitefully Bill takes Lizzie off all Lewis projects and regulates her to the phones. Lizzie goes to see Billy. She plows him with gifts to convince him to come on board with her plan to fix Bill. Billy agrees. Lizzie barges into one of Bill's power lunches with Dylan, announcing that Dylan was given Billy's power of attorney. After Bill and Dylan argue, Bill declares that he will get a judge to declare Billy incompetent and then he'll have power of attorney by lunch time.

Determined that Bill won't hurt another woman, Lizzie puts a sob story on Vanessa. As his mother, however, Vanessa finds it hard to see Bill as anything but misguided. Lizzie scoffs that she wouldn't say that about a stranger who might do to the same to Dinah or Maureen. She also implies that Bill intends to force Lizzie to go along with backdoor favors that he has made to get new clients.

Vanessa finds Bill at Company and complains about what a louse of a son he is. She says she doesn't even know him. He figures out that Lizzie put her up to it. Later at Towers, Bill puts a man up to coming on to Lizzie. She begs Bill not to leave her alone with this guy, but Bill does, saying he's not the one who broadcast their affair to the world. The guy offers to take Lizzie to his hotel room. She stomps on his toe and leaves.

Later Lizzie breaks into Bill's hotel suite, looking for something to use against him. She winds up in his closet, smelling his shirts. Beth comes into the room and turns on the lights. She rolls her eyes, saying that she knew this wouldn't be good. She saw the door ajar and figured Lizzie was in there. Lizzie asks her to help and continues to destroy the room, looking for a journal. Beth tries to put the things back in order, urging her to leave. It occurs to Lizzie that Beth had been married to Bill. Beth was married to him when she wasn't herself. Lizzie begs for any bit of dirt on Bill, but Beth urges her to let it go. Lizzie racks her brain about what she can do to get Bill back.

Lizzie hatches a scheme for Emma to go missing for a while. Doing so would teach him how it feels to be betrayed. Beth is appalled, telling Lizzie that she's acting just like Phillip. They argue. Lizzie goes on and on about all the things Bill has done. He hurt Lizzie. Beth believes that is the only real reason why Lizzie wants to hit him again. She ushers her out of the room.

In the hallways, Lizzie pleads that she was a good person, helping Billy, Dinah and even Bill. Beth explains that being a good person doesn't mean bad things won't happen to you. Lizzie doesn't see the point of being good. She was bad and she lost Coop, Sarah and Jonathan. Lizzie has tried to be good and do the right thing, but people still don't treat her right. Her own mother didn't even tell her that she was getting married. Lizzie expresses that she's still hurting over Jonathan and Sarah. Beth doesn't think that Sarah would be proud of what Lizzie's doing. Lizzie tells her mother that she'd rather be like Phillip than like her. Beth pleads with her daughter to let go of Jonathan and Sarah and live for herself now. Lizzie wishes that she can go back to that day and go off the cliff with them. She runs away as Bill comes up and sees the room and the devastation.

Up on the roof, Lizzie thinks of what she really wants in life. Her thoughts turn serious, as she knows that she wants her father well. She wants Tammy, Jonathan and Sarah back even if they don't speak to her again. She wants a normal childhood for her new baby sister. She wants Bill the way he was before she woke up.

Bill appears on the roof, worried that Lizzie is trying to jump. He's shaken as Lizzie tells him that his ego is way too big to think she'd jump off a building for him. She reminds him that he asked her if she knew what it was like to stand on the edge, holding her breath and waiting for a push. Bill sighs, wondering what she thought he meant. She shrugs. She thought he was talking about meditation. She wonders what he really meant. He doesn't answer and takes her down from the roof.

In his room, Bill wants to make sure that Lizzie is warm. She wants to go to her room. He warns her that Beth might be in there. She got her mother pretty upset. Bill gives her one of his "hoodies" and settles her in his bed to warm her up. Lizzie wonders why he followed her on the roof. He keeps insisting that the thought she'd jump. He wonders what she thought she would find in his room. Lizzie doesn't know. He can't blame her for what she's done. He did the same kinds of things, going after people who hurt him. She points out that he hurt her before she ever hurt him. He says he knows that he used her as a way to get to Billy. He sweet-talks Lizzie, saying that he shouldn't have taken her off those projects. Suddenly he thinks she's intelligent and can really help him. Lizzie starts to buy his sincerity and they kiss.

Just then Dinah enters the room. Lizzie runs out. Dinah tells Bill to watch himself. She reminds him that she has had to tell a lot of lies to help him take down Billy. She hates to lie to Lizzie, but Bill is her brother. She urges him not to fall for Lizzie because he'll lose his focus. While Dinah does recon in rehab, she tells him not to fall in love with Lizzie.

Meanwhile at Billy's rehab room, Lizzie sits on the bed thinking about Bill. Billy says that he heard about her and Dylan setting Bill straight today. Billy plans to teach Lizzie everything she knows, but she's got to let go of this Bill thing. He wants her to promise that she won't see Bill any more. Even though Bill is all she can think about, Lizzie agrees. She says she doesn't want him in her life any more.

Harley and Cyrus get information about a laptop thief, and they go to investigate. On Main Street, they are testing walkie-talkies, and Roc Hoover appears and offers to help. He introduces himself, and says he's a writer, while she introduces herself as Harley Cooper, to which Roc comments about how there a lot of Coopers around! Then she goes back to working with Cyrus, backing up more and more testing the range of the walkie-talkies, when she literally bumps into Natalia, who is with Gus and carrying a wedding dress. Harley learns the wedding is in January. Harley looks somewhat disappointed as she looks at Gus. After Harley and Cyrus leave, Gus turns to Natalia ready to apologizes for what just happened with he and Harley, but Natalia says it's ok, and that she knows he's where he wants to be. Gus reassures Natalia that he is happy to be with her.

As Harley and Cyrus arrive at Towers and the doors to the elevator open, Harley is having another panic attack. She deduces that it's due to being trapped in a small, confined space in the collapsed building, and gets an idea on how to try to overcome that – locking herself in the elevator. She tells Cyrus to lock her in the elevator for 15 minutes, while they each have walkie-talkies to communicate with, and to not let her out for 15 minutes no matter what she says. He agrees, and not long after the doors shut, Harley sees a long snake slithering from out of the corner of the elevator and heading right toward her. She tells this to Cyrus, but he thinks she is only trying to get him to open the door, so he keeps her locked inside and tries to talk her through this tough time. The snake gets closer, and Harley blacks out. She wakes to find the snake has slithered up her side and is on the top of head! She tells this to Cyrus, but he still doesn't believe her. Then, a young boy approaches Cyrus asking if he has seen a snake around, and explains that his snake got out of his bag. Cyrus quickly realizes that Harley wasn't lying and opens the door.

Gus happens to see Olivia in the hall and she expresses how happy she is to spend this Christmas with Emma, realizing it might be her last due to her heart condition. As she talks, she begins to cry and Gus comforts her with a hug as Natalia just happens to see this as she was coming around the corner. As Gus and Olivia continue to talk, Nat makes her presence known, walking up to them. When Olivia asks for Gus' help with the decorations, Natalia tells Olivia that Gus is need to be with her at the bridal boutique, and they leave. Then Olivia sees Ava walking out of Bill's room. Ava seeks Olivia's approval to be with her ex-husband, and Olivia tells her she wants her to be happy. Ava can tell that these nice gestures are because she has feelings for Gus, and she encourages Olivia to call him. Olivia does, using the excuse that the wedding planner, Melinda, needs to talk to him. Gus goes to take care of this, while Natalia takes care of the wedding dress issues.

Gus arrives at Olivia's with a bottle of wine that is meant to age and will be ready for when Emma graduates high school.

Meanwhile, Natalia is trying on her wedding dress and Rafe sees her. They talk about how she had other chances to married before now, but that she waited and hoped that Gus would return. Melinda the wedding planner arrives, Natalia asks where Gus is, and discovers that she never had plans to meet with him, which means that Olivia's story to get Gus to come over was not true. Natalia quickly goes over to Olivia's, upset about Olivia's apparent manipulation, and begins to question Olivia about the alleged plans with Melinda. Olivia suggests calling Melinda to clear the "miscommunication of schedules", and Natalia calls her bluff and picks up the phone saying to call her. Gus intervenes and hangs up the phone, the suggests that he and Natalia go out to dinner. Olivia offers to store her wedding dress, saying she does it for all of the other brides too. Natalia allows this, then she and Gus leave. Olivia holds the dress up to herself as she looks in the mirror.

Ava sees Roc on Main Street and strikes up a conversation. She starts to talk and speak some of the drama in her life. He tells her he's a writer and he also helps an old colleague on projects sometimes, then says his friend's name is Jeffrey O'Neil and asks Ava if she knows him. Ava responds that Jeffrey is her father, which makes Roc quickly stand up and tells her that he knows Jeffrey and that dinner is out of the question, then leaves.

Lizzie is laying across her bed, dreamily thinking about how good it feels when she's with Bill, and then he knocks on the door. He brings her flowers, and as she thinks this is move he is making on her. Then he tells her she's fired. When she starts to scream at him, he tells her that they can't work together because it's not a good idea to "mess where you make a living". She is still furious with him, believing he his playing his games again, and she shoves the flowers back at him, saying she hates him for making her care again after only 1 year since she lost Jonathan and Sarah. She adds that he can't fire her because she quits.

Dinah is checking herself into rehab to try to get info from Billy and becoming annoyed with the nurse going through all of her things, and then Bill calls her, checking to be sure their plan is in motion. Then Billy stops by her room to see how she's doing. He tries to help get used to everything, and she begins to put her plan into action by playing nice to be able to get information from him along the way. Dinah brings up Bill and suggests that Billy just let go of being upset with Bill. Billy responds that since he believes that the company is at risk, that he thinks the best thing to do is to make his other son, Dylan in charge of the whole company, and make Lizzie #2 in charge. Dinah reports this back to Bill. They decide that they need to try to split Dylan and Lizzie apart, so Dinah said she'll handle Dylan and Bill will handle Lizzie. Dinah is alone with Dylan briefly, and makes herself sound alone in her rehab struggle. After Bill leaves, Billy goes to Dinah's room offering support again.

Bill knocks on Lizzie's door again, and with flowers, again. He tells her that he only fired her because he was afraid of how he felt about her. He tries to sell her the idea that he came back to hurt his dad, but what he didn't count on was meeting her and feeling for her like he does, and he asks for a second chance. Lizzie tells him that she's not falling for his lies again, and closes the door on him. Inside, she smiles at Roxie the dog and glows as she says "I'm all he can think about."

When Ashlee enters Company, Coop greets her as the Fixer. He explains to an unsettled Ashlee that he is talking about how she arranged for one of Buzz's favorite bands to play at his inaugural. Coop then returns the key that he "borrowed" and tells her that he bought her a dress for the occasion which is setting in her room. When Ashlee asks why, Coop laughs and sates that if it was not for her, they would not be celebrating. He then gives her a big hug. Later, as the pair makes plans for the inaugural, they come across Doris and Ashlee learns that her mother helped Coop pick out her dress. Ashlee is rendered speechless and asks her mother why she is not still upset about losing. Doris explains how she would have needed to cheat to win so maybe losing was not such a bad thing. When Doris leaves, Ashlee runs into Ava who shows her the photo of her and Einstein. Ashlee warns Ava that if she uses it she will hurt the Coopers, especially Buzz. Though she likes Buzz, Ava points out that she likes his son more. After pointing out that Ashlee can wear the dress Coop got her to her arraignment, Ava tells Ashlee that she wants to be Coop's guest at the inaugural. Later, Ashlee gives Coop a lame excuse about needing to be in her friend's wedding in Chicago. Coop cannot understand why this wedding is suddenly so important and accuses Ashlee of letting him down. When Coop states that there is no point of him being there if she is not, Ashlee suggests that he go with someone else--like Ava. Coop points out that Ashlee cannot stand Ava and Ashlee responds that she is getting over that. She then asks Coop to think about it. Coop tells her he will, but cannot promise that he will say yes. Later, Frank and Buzz find Ashlee outside the restaurant. Ashlee asks Buzz if being mayor is really what he wants. He replies that that is the reason why most people run. Ashlee asks Buzz to tell her that he wants to do good things for the town. Buzz states that if he is sworn in, he promises to do good things. When Ashlee walks off, Frank tells his father how proud he is of him and gives him a hug. Just then, Doris comes out and gives Buzz a copy of the inaugural speech she was going to give. She figures someone should read it. Unsettled, Buzz refuses by saying that it is hers and not his.

At Towers, Cyrus comforts Harley about the elevator incident. Their close proximity almost leads to a kiss which is interrupted by Cassie. After the pair tells Cassie about the snake mishap, Cyrus excuses himself to talk to Frank about Marina. Harley and Cassie go to the bar and Harley confides in Cassie about her panic attacks. Harley tells Cassie not to tell anyone, especially Gus. This is something she needs to work through by herself. Cassie points out that she is not working through it by herself--she is using her niece's boyfriend. When Cassie admonishes her for going after Cyrus, Harley says that according to Dinah, would not make it long term anyway. Cassie is shocked that Harley is actually making excuses and Harley gets defensive and states that she was going to say that it would make no difference anyway since it is wrong for them to be together. Skeptical, Cassie tells Harley to call her when she is ready to talk about how she really feels.

Cyrus is asking Frank about Marina's chances of being a cop again. As he jokingly suggests taking it to the mayor and working a "backdoor deal" Buzz appears. In private, he thanks Cyrus for helping Marina. He states that with all the bad luck she has had with me, he thinks that will be different. Later, Cyrus walks over to Harley at the bar. She has just been given papers by the Spaulding family attorney. Their divorces are finalized. An ecstatic Cyrus begins to call Marina but stops when he notices how depressed Harley is. He apologizes for being insensitive but Harley insists she is fine. Cyrus consoles her and takes a sip of her drink, stating that friends do not let friends drink alone. Soon the pair gets a little drunk and Cyrus decides they need a cab to take them to her place.

Josh is at home reading the newspaper when Will enters the room to ask where his mother is. Josh tells Will that he was reading about the mall lock down in the papers and asks why Will was so surprised that he got out in time for Christmas. Will denies being surprised but Josh remembers Will making a comment about it. Josh tells Will that there has been no explanation about why the mall mishap happened. As Josh presses the issue, Will blurts out that he was just happy Josh was not there. He wanted his mom, not him. Meanwhile, outside, Cassie comes across Daisy who is there to tell her that whenever they need a babysitter for Will, she is available. They enter the house in time to hear Josh admonishing Will. When Josh tells them about his suspicions, Daisy confesses to causing the lock down. She states that she did it for Reva and apologizes for acting without thinking like she normally does. When Daisy leaves, Will asks to say goodbye. Outside, he thanks her for covering for him. Daisy makes it clear that she did it to score some money toward the car she wants but warns him not to pull a stunk like that in her presence again. She can only cover for him so much. Inside, Cassie blasts Josh for his distrust of Will. Afterwards, Josh visits Billy and unloads about his problem with Will. He admits that in the end, he came off looking like a jerk but there is definitely something weird about Will. He then wonders if he is not a little off too. Josh admits that he had fun with Reva at the mall and feels a little guilty about that because of Cassie. He wonders if he is blaming the kid so that he will not have to blame himself.

At the farm, Cassie and Will are having hot chocolate when she suggests that they meet Josh at St. Mark's after his church meeting so they can all go out. Will replies that he does not feel good and has a fever. Cassie decides to take his temperature and tells him that if he does have one, they will stay home. Cassie leaves the room when she places the thermometer in his mother. Will places the thermometer in the hot chocolate. As expected, it reads as if Will has a temperature and the pair opts to stay in.

At a hospital in San Cristobel , Edmund suddenly stirs and mutters "St. Mark's" Later, he has the doctor place a call to Josh. Josh, now at his meeting at St. Mark's, takes the call and Edmund tells him "Will--pushed" before losing consciousness.

As the song, "Everybody hurts sometimes" is playing we see a montage of character. Cassie is placing a blanket on Will on the couch, Ava is picking out a dress to wear to the inaugural while Ashlee folds her new dress away, and Cyrus tucks Harley into bed before laying down himself to get some sleep.

Back in San Cristobel , Jeffrey appears and hangs up the phone that Edmund had been using to talk to Josh. He then does something to Edmund's intravenous line.