Mitch Laurence Goes Over The Edge
A delusional Mitch Laurence talks with his deceased father about the abuses he suffered as a child and insists to a shocked Jessica that they will start a new life as Father and daughter. Jessica explains that she only spent the night with him to save her mother's life, but Mitch ties her to a chair and tells her it's for her own good.
As Flash takes the stage, a jealous Jennifer Rappaport (Jen) fumes. As she turns to leave she runs into Cristian, who is looking for Natalie, which only makes her angrier. Natalie arrives and informs a furious Cristian that Keri and the baby are alive, but at the moment they need to find Jessica.
R.J. warns Keri that if she lets Antonio know that she is alive, he will hate her and try to get custody of the baby. A determined Keri says that she can't live a lie and Antonio needs to know about his son. She leaves to find Antonio. R.J. orders his henchman to find Antonio immediately.
Flash in the Pan
The Buchanans are gathered at Llanfair when Jen arrives to tell Joey about Flash's true identity. He tells her that he can't be bothered about that right now because of a family crisis. Viki tells Jen that Jessica is missing and in grave danger. She gives them information that leads Joey to Flash. He asks her if she is truly Tina and Cord's daughter and why she lied about her identity. A flustered Flash cryptically explains that she is Sarah Roberts, his cousin, but won't say why she hates Tina or why she ran away.
Antonio arrives too late to where Mitch was holding Jessica and is examining the scene when R.J. knocks him out from behind. Meanwhile Keri, figuring that Antonio must be working on a case, takes her daughter to R.J.'s house.
Mitch, arriving at his new hideout, carries a drugged and unconscious Jessica up the stairs.
"Mom, I'm home!" Starr Manning bursts into the living room surprising Blair, Dorian, and Walker. The excitement over her homecoming is tempered with a phone call from Cassie alarmed that she left summer camp with a forged note. Starr also helped herself to Cassie's credit card, forged another note stating she had her mother's permission to travel solo, and booked her own trip home. Dorian leaves for Savannah to fetch Jack and "mend fences" with Cassie. Starr studies their home life situation, clarifying that Walker stays in the guest room, and privately warning him, "If you ever try to take my dad's place, it will be the last move you ever make. You don't mess with the Cramer women."
Mitch's henchmen prop Jessica up as she negotiates the staircase at Lion's Heart. In her bathrobe, she looks like a fallen starlet from The Valley of The Dolls. Her daddy takes her hand into the dining room and insists she wear a vintage gown and dance with him to a morbid classical piano concerto. She will not be going anywhere, ever. "Understand me, Jessica," Mitch explains. "There is no need for you to leave this house." Jess droops like a rag doll from her tranquilizer hangover, her hair straight and unkempt. Mitch bestows her with an early twentieth century necklace from Victor and dotes on her resemblance to his mother. He puts himself into a bitter trance with these memories, ignoring his daughter's fatigue and fear. She gets a brief chance alone with one of his henchmen and tries to persuade him to give her the opportunity to run. But the messenger's spell prevails and the henchman injects her with more drugs. Mitch enters the room and catches the nodding waif in his arms.
Jennifer's jaw drops to the floor when Keri enters Capricorn looking for R.J. Rex doesn't know where he is. Keri continues her search at the garage where she comes face-to-face with her disapproving brother-in-law. Cristian admonishes, "You had no right to do that to my brother!"
Antonio is passed-out as R.J. drenches him in hard liquor and plops him on a train to Miami without his wallet. R.J. returns to his nightclub where Evangeline is surprised to hear their deal is on again. She demands, "You will pay a chiropractor to treat my whiplash!" She's irritated by R.J.'s "fickle" behavior, but their banter keeps a flirtatious tone and she is glad he's staying in town. They kiss goodbye before she leaves for a business trip. Keri finally catches up to her dad convinced he had something to do with her inability to find Antonio. R.J. confesses, "I just bought some time to talk sense into you." But Keri lays down an ultimatum: stop interfering or she and his granddaughter will check out on him permanently.
In a train station in Richmond, Virginia, Antonio wakes up on a bench after being kicked off the Miami train just as Dorian is changing trains to go to Savannah. Dorian's convinced he's really drunk, but helps him out anyway with a new train ticket back home and a fresh t-shirt from the gift shop. Their serendipitous meeting also provides Antonio with clues to further his search for Jessica. Dorian had availed herself of certain papers belonging to Mitch before Viki kicked her out of Llanfair. She instructs Blair via phone to give them to Antonio when he returns, but taps her purse smugly knowing it's not a complete collection. Antonio, Walker, and Blair deduce that a letter describing a meeting place must hold the key to Jessica's whereabouts: "the palace of the living dead."
Natalie and Joey have a heart-to-heart about family and their concern for Jessica. Flash and Joey deal with the fallout of being cousins. They reminisce about their childhoods and Joey agrees not to tell Viki that Flash is Sarah Roberts. The rock'n'roller and her AWOL brother, C.J., are spitting mad at their mumsie, Tina. She apologizes to Joey for lying: "You were supposed to be this dorky cousin that I could just use and lose." She tried to rationalize their budding romance with the fact that they were only half-cousins. They part on a friendly note, quickly turned sour by Jennifer's entrance. Joey gets his second apology of the day from a lovesick girl, but this one has a disclaimer. "I know exactly how a guy looks at me when he wants me," Jen asserts. "And that's the way you look at me all the time." When he rejects her again, she turns on her heel, "Go to hell!"
On a bleak sidewalk, Flash sits violently coughing. Riley comes to her aid.
Antonio runs into Natalie and Cris at the garage and he can tell by their faces that something is wrong. They won't admit to anything but instead listen to his tale of the previous night's trip to Richmond. Cris realizes that it was R.J. who knocked his brother out.
Keri looks for Antonio at the police station but finds Nora instead, who ecstatically gives her a hug. Realizing that R.J. is probably behind Keri's disappearance, Nora nevertheless agrees not to tell anyone, especially Antonio, that Keri is alive and well. Keri wants to do that herself. When Antonio shows up at the station later, Nora can only bite her tongue, instead suggesting that he go home and take a shower since he reeks of liquor. Flash delivers some important mail to Nora and receives some advice in return. Be honest.
An apologizing Brian asks Jess to forgive him for giving her the injection, but Mitch would kill him if he helps her out. She decides to write notes for him to deliver the next time he goes out on errands. Brian begs her not to write but she pleads; she won't let on to their whereabouts. She does include cryptic messages though, telling Antonio that she'll have a yellow rose dropped off to him every day. She ends by calling him "mi leon." She signs off on her message to Viki by calling herself "daughter of your heart." She requests that more roses be picked from the garden. When Mitch's other watch dog goes out, she picks his pocket and removes the phone she saw him place there.
Bo and Hank go fishing to relax and forget their problems. Many topics come up, beginning with Bo divulging that he is Matthew's real father. They try to figure out where Victor lived all of his years in hiding, somewhere called Palace of the Living Dead.
Flash calls Joey to make sure that he didn't tell Viki about her. He tells Viki he's not seeing the girl anymore but finds himself thinking about Jen all of the time. Perhaps he's dating Flash to avoid Jen, she suggests. She makes him feel like he did around Kelly and he's afraid of getting hurt. She has to admit though, she's not happy with him possibly dating a troubled Jen. He needs to speak to Jen honestly, she continues. After Joey leaves, Flash returns looking for him but encounters Viki instead. Flash reminds her of someone, she points out.
Jen and Rex decide to take a trip to Atlantic City for a few days. She couldn't care less about missing the first week of summer school. She runs into Flash and calls her Mrs. Roberts. Flash orders her to stay the hell away from her.
Arriving home, Antonio picks up a yellow rose and a note placed by his front door. Before he can open it, he answers the knock at the door. It's Keri and his first response is to envelop her in his arms. He can't believe his eyes or ears as he learns that his baby is alive but that Liz is dead. When Keri's story develops and he finds out that she wanted everyone to think her dead because of him, he spits venom and fire, especially when it dawns on him that R.J. knew. He demands custody of his baby immediately, especially with her mother being dead. Not easily, Keri breaks the news that the baby is hers, hers and Antonio's. The DNA test proved the baby was not premature and was hers instead of Liz's. Yes, she knew all along, but she was angry and didn't want to tell him, she acknowledges. Sobbing, she admits that she could no longer lie, that she can't keep the baby from her father. A now shocked and crying Antonio realizes that R.J. knocked him out and stuck him on the train to keep him away from Keri and the baby. He'll kill him if he ever sees him, he promises. "Everything I ever believed..has changed." Keri can only hope that he'll forgive her one day.
Viki receives a call from Jessica but the girl has to hang up quickly when Mitch returns. In a secluded mansion, is all that Viki can learn of her daughter's location. Mitch wants to have another dance and though Jess tries to dissuade him, he removes the cover of the box to play a tune. The hastily hidden phone is there and she has to admit that she knew about it. He redials the last number and hears Viki's voice.
Riley shows Flash a love song that he wrote. She wants to know the lucky girl that he wrote it for.
Nora discloses to Hank, accidentally, that Keri and baby Jamie are alive. He guesses correctly that R.J. already knew. Joey stops by looking for Jen and learns from Marcie that she's heading for Atlantic City via train. He heads for the station.
Before Jen and Rex get set to board their train, he admits to Jen that he's worried about her. He wants to go to Maryland instead and get married. Joey arrives as the train takes off.
Bo gets to a frantic Viki and learns of the two phone calls received. He reads the message in the note and after seeing Antonio, learns of the clue in that note as well. What could lion and heart possibly have to do with each other?
At Lion's Heart, Jess swears to Mitch that she took the phone from the bodyguard's pocket and that he had nothing to do with it. Mitch announces that he's taking the man for a walk in the woods.
At the Palace, R.J. tries to convince Keri to move back in with him, but she refuses. When Antonio runs into Keri at the restaurant, he gets to hold his daughter for the first time. Enraged, R.J. nearly comes to blows with Antonio, but Keri comes between them and insists that Antonio will be a part of Jamie's life.
While Joey and Natalie continue to worry for Jessica's safety, Jen and Rex show up at Llanfair and announce their plans to wed. When she asks Joe to perform the ceremony, she is pleased by his negative reaction. Later at the Palace, Jen and Rex spot Troy, who Jen blames for the current state of her life. Deciding to use Troy as the subject of one of her assignments, she has Rex secretly film Troy's reaction as she flirts with him.
Horrified to realize that Mitch killed one of his own men, Jessica begs Brian to take a rose to Antonio, who is busy working with Bo to figure out the clues that she left. After searching through the book ‘Lord of the Banner', which Sloan Carpenter had written about Victor Lord, the two realize that she is being held in Lenape Forest. Desperate to escape, Jessica is thrilled when she realizes that a bar on the window is loose.
Much to Nigel and Renee's surprise, Asa introduces his new butler to the pair. Later, the two confess to Max and Roxy that they are trying to teach Asa a lesson. Though they fear that Asa won't try to stop their wedding, Renee insists on going through with the ceremony.
When Mitch catches Jessica trying to escape, her injects her with more drugs. After showing the Badhra diamond to Jessie, Mitch informs her that he intends for them to live together forever. As he dances with his daughter, Jessica is shocked when Mitch's delusional state causes him to think he is dancing with Viki.
Walker shows up at Llanfair offering his help to find Jessica. Viki is leery, but Natalie and Joe convince her to share what they know with him. When Walker confides the mumblings he overheard of Mitch, Viki has a flash back to her childhood, remembering when her father promised to build her a house called "Lion's Heart". While Natalie and Joey are fixing Viki something to eat, Mitch confronts her on the terrace. Holding a gun on her, he demands that she go with him.
At the police station, Keri informs Antonio that she wants him back, but he walks away from her. She tries again, but Antonio refuses to forgive her. Walker walks in, informing him he may have news on Jessica's whereabouts. While Walker and Antonio search the map, Keri calls a geologist friend and finds the location of the house.
The confrontation between Hank and R.J. continues. When Hank blames R.J. for Liz's death, Nora breaks them up, then blames R.J. for Keri's actions. When R.J. tries to blame Antonio, Nora reminds him that he is the father of Keri's child.
Renee is determined to go through with the wedding unless their secret weapon, Rae, can get Asa to admit he loves Renee. When he denies that he loves Renee, he confides that he is certain that they won't go through with it and if she does they deserve each other. As the time for the wedding nears, both Nigel and Renee begin to doubt that Asa is going to stop them. Deciding to go through with their plan, Renee and Nigel begrudgingly begin the wedding, relieved when Asa barges in. Asa apologizes to Nigel, but refuses to admit his love for Renee, stating that Renee knows how he feels and the two reconcile.
