And the walls came crashing down

A bomb may or may not have taken Chance's life. Will he rise from the ashes like the phoenix? Is Billy's arrogance going to put ChancComm in ruins? Are Mariah and Tessa on solid or shaky ground? Can Nick and Phyllis rebuild their relationship? Can Sally break down the wall around Adam's heart? Grab your protractor and check out the blueprints of love and loss in this week's Two Scoops.

Goodness, where to begin this week. I guess we should start with Abby. It's so sad that Chance is missing or killed in that explosion. Where is Nina through all of this? Has she even been informed about Chance? Abby is in complete denial about Chance's death, but I can't blame her. I guess I would be, too, until the body of my husband was produced.

Abby and Chance had five minutes together as a married couple then "poof," he was gone on a very long assignment. I thought they were going to replace Donny Boaz as Chance. They even showed who they had been considering, but so far, there hasn't been any news on whether he has been replaced, although I have seen some rumblings that someone had been cast as Chance. Whether that is true or not, we will have to wait and see. This storyline would make more sense if they'd had Chance come home. I really hope they aren't planning on pairing Abby with Devon. Abby and Devon have been great as friends. I love Devon with Amanda.

Devon is always Abby's first call when something is amiss with Dominic. I believe she relies on him far too much, and as a result, Devon is growing more and more attached to Dominic. This is really going to mess with his head if or when Chance comes home.

In the meantime, Mariah is sitting back and jealously watching Devon feed Dominic and rock the baby to sleep. As much as I want to believe Mariah is over her obsession with the baby, she isn't. I believe this is going to drive a wedge between her and Tessa. Will Tessa turn to Noah? Could they rekindle their relationship? This should be interesting. I wonder if this is even a possibility, but there have been many wistful glances between them.

Abby is in complete denial about Chance's death. She claims she would have felt it if Chance had died. She would have felt it in her bones. In order to keep her belief alive, she makes up happy little scenarios as proof he couldn't have been in the building at the time of the explosion, rather than facing the real possibility that Chance died in that explosion. Everything points to the fact that Chance was killed. But was he?

Bringing Chance back from the dead would be such a relief to this storyline. I really think this baby storyline shouldn't have happened without Chance. If the storyline had started off with Chance and Abby waiting a bit to see of Chance could be the donor, then it truly would have been their baby. Mariah wouldn't have been kidnapped and bonded so strongly with her Bowie, and Devon wouldn't have been relied upon to constantly help Abby with Dominic.

There could have been so many great scenarios about Chance and Abby with their newborn baby, rather than just with Abby. I believe this storyline could be redeemed if Chance returned home. I want to believe that Chance escaped the blast, but perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part. Everyone was slowly losing hope that he'd survived, especially after Christine returned to the Chancellor estate with Chance's wedding ring. Christine explained that Chance had refused to take off his ring, and he had incorporated it into his cover. Abby certainly has great family support, and eventually, she will accept that he is gone.

Billy Boy, your days might be numbered with ChancComm. Victor and Adam have set quite the trap for him, and he is falling into it, as was expected. Billy is single-minded. Once he has a mission, he becomes obsessive about it, just like a gambler. He gambled and lost by bringing Gaines to Tuscany to reveal the truth about Ashland to Victoria, but Victoria already knew.

Ooops, there go Billy's millions he'd paid Gaines for his story. Victor and Adam obviously want Billy to keep his focus on Gaines so that he won't see what else is happening right under his nose. If Victor and Adam are successful in their plan, Billy and Lily might lose ChancComm. I wonder what will happen if that actually happens.

I think everyone recalls how obsessed and certain Billy had been about Adam being the one who had poisoned Rey, only to discover that Chelsea had set Adam up. That had been a gamble, and Billy lost that one, too. When is Billy going to let go of blaming Adam for Delia's death? Billy seems to have forgotten that he put the whole scenario into play. He left Delia in the car with a puppy on a dark road just to buy a carton of ice cream.

To me, Billy was more responsible for Delia's death than Adam ever was. Adam just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I still really wonder whether Adam killed Delia. If I recall correctly, Nikki had been drinking that night, and she'd been driving on the same road at the same time. It is very possible that Nikki might have accidentally hit Delia. I guess we will never know, but that has always been at the back of my mind.

I find it interesting that Billy is trying to reach out to Victoria for help. Victoria is ignoring him. Billy really believes that Victoria will help him and that she will be able to influence Victor and Ashland and stop whatever plan they have to decimate ChanceComm. Little does he know that Victoria believes Billy needs to be brought down a peg or ten. Billy is on his own with this one. It's too bad Lily might suffer the consequences because of Billy's single-mindedness. If they do lose ChancComm, how will Lily feel about Billy then? Will she stand by her man, or will she run for the hills? I personally can't wait to see Victor and Adam's plan in action.

Billy really had some nerve making his accusations about Adam in front of Sally. Billy is acting like he has been a model citizen and has never done anything wrong. Billy claimed that Adam turning over a new leaf is a complete sham, and he warned Sally to stay away from Adam. I loved Sally's comment when she told Billy that Adam was aware of her past, as she was of his; however, she judged people on who they were, and not who they'd been. Later, when Sharon bumped into Billy in the park, I cheered when she gave him a dressing-down and reminded him that he seemed to have forgotten how people had given him a second chance. She said Adam deserved a second chance, as well.

Sharon accused Billy of using Rey because Billy knew how much Rey disliked Adam. I believe that Sharon's loyalty to Adam is going to cause acrimony in her marriage to Rey, and that is going to be the end of their marriage. If it does, I see the writers might be heading for either a reunion with Adam or with Nick. Sharon and Nick seem to be extremely comfortable and very open with each other. I can't say the same for Sharon and Adam. There always seems to be that little bit of tension between them; however, that could just be my imagination, since I really wouldn't want to see them together again.

Nick cheated on Sharon, but he seems to have matured and appears to stay loyal to the one he is with. Adam, on the other hand, caused Sharon so much stress that she left her family and went into hiding just to stay away from him. Adam has turned over a new leaf, but for how long? Something might trigger him into turning back the pages and reverting to the evil Adam, and if that happened, where would that leave Sharon? I would rather see her with Nick.

Well, here is a shocker: there is trouble in paradise for Nick and Phyllis. It looks like they are out of sync -- again. It all seems to boil down to Nick. Nick just seems to be discontent with life itself. He is acting like a six-year-old kid who has daddy issues because daddy loves Adam more than him. Grow up, Nick. I get it when Phyllis claims she has no idea what the issues are. Obviously, the issues aren't really about them, and they aren't deal-breakers.

Nick has issues with his family, and by extension, he isn't happy that Phyllis has turned to Jack as a "friend" to confide in. These two are also on different pages when it comes to the Newmans. Phyllis has asked Nick to disassociate himself from the Newman drama, not the family; however, what Nick heard was that she wanted him to walk away from his family. Phyllis said that any statement she has made, Nick has misunderstood.

At one point, it looked like they were going to put their issues to bed and move on until Nick said that someone had said that his and Phyllis' relationship was based on video games and hot sex. Ha, I said that a long time ago. Phyllis wanted to know who Nick had been receiving advice from, but Nick refused to tell her, and that started round 14 of these never-ending squabbles. What difference did it make who said it? The fact remained that is how many people perceive them. I can't see them staying together, so prepare yourselves, ladies and gents, because we might all need our tissues to mop up those allegator tears when they say their sad farewells.

There might be a bright side to all of this for Nick and Phyllis. Jack is in the wings, hoping for another run with his one true love, Phyllis (Jack's words, not mine), and Chelsea should be returning soon. She might be able to put Nick into a better frame of mind. We know that Chelsea and Adam are over, since she framed Adam for poisoning and almost killing Rey. I can't see a reunion happening between them.

I think Adam is going to move on with Sally, so that leaves Chelsea in a position to snuggle up to Nick. These two have a history, but I have to wonder whether Nick will want to take another chance with Chelsea. When she returned to Genoa City with a new husband, who later died from a heart attack, she and Nick became close once again, but Chelsea chose Adam over Nick, and Nick was left out in the cold again. He might be reluctant to reunite with her. I guess that remains to be seen.

Let's chat about Chelsea. Chloe has ensured that Chelsea will have a job to go to when Chelsea returns. Hmm ... I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of fireworks happening at Newman Fashion. Uh-huh, they have Sally, you know, the one with the really strong personality, and we have Chelsea, who also has a very strong personality. Umm ... What could possibly go wrong in this situation? Which one of them will ultimately come out on top?

Both Chelsea and Sally are great designers. At the moment, Sally is on a high from her success with Victoria's wedding dress, much to Lauren's chagrin. Chelsea will need to do some catching up, but we know what Chelsea is capable of when she sets her mind to something. There is also the little problem of Adam. Sally has her eye on Adam, while Chelsea remains very possessive of him, even though she knows things have ended for them as a couple.

Chloe is going to be caught in the middle of these two women. Chloe, too, is a strong personality, but she is no match for Sally or Chelsea. Chloe was certain she had two fantastic designers. She was right, and the three of them could create a powerful design house for Newman Media, but I don't think she thought about the dynamics between Chelsea and Sally, two very strong-minded women. Chelsea and Sally just might wind up blowing up their platform.

Did Lauren have the right to give Chloe and Sally a dressing-down over Victoria's wedding dress? I don't think so. The fashion industry is a very cutthroat world. Everyone is trying to outdo the other in order to become top dog in the fashion industry. What Sally did was no different than what could happen in the real world. Lauren has been the only game in town until Sally, but Lauren fired her. Did she expect that Sally was going to just slither away and never design another dress?

Lauren knew how good Sally's designs were, and now she feels threatened by that. What is she going to do if Sally and Chelsea, by some miracle, become friends and begin designing and become the hit of the fashion industry? Lauren is going to wind up with some very steep competition if this happens. Will Lauren go to Chloe, Chelsea, and Sally, and tell them to back off? Lauren will need to pull up her socks and try to keep up. I think this dynamic is going to be very interesting to watch. I'm sure there will be a lot of spit and fire that will happen.

Welcome, Rory Gibson, as our new Noah Newman. What a sweetie, and he is doing a great job as the new Noah. Okay, I confess, I love him with Tessa. I know, she's with Mariah, but things aren't going so well with this couple. Mariah, even though she claims she has distanced herself from Dominic, hasn't. Tessa told Mariah that she had to let go.

This baby thing is going to come between them, and there goes another relationship down the rabbit hole. However, if Mariah and Tessa can't fix the problems they are having, and if they do split, I would love to see Tessa back with Noah once again. We all saw the closeness between these two in Tuscany. They seem to have quite the connection, and we all saw those wistful glances and smiles Noah gave Tessa. Was that a hint of things to come, I wonder?

If that did happen, that would make things very awkward between Tessa and Mariah. If you recall, Tessa had been Noah's girlfriend before she and Mariah were attracted to one another. If Tessa went back to being Noah's girlfriend -- and it might happen because Mariah hasn't been treating Tessa very well lately -- things could get weird, especially because Noah and Mariah are siblings.

Victoria and Ashland have fallen very deeply in love with each other, so there goes my theory that Ashland was using her and the Newmans to exact his vengeance on Victor for not calling for medical help when Ashland was having a heart attack. Victoria has accepted Ashland for who he is and not who he'd been.

The way Ashland described his earlier years with Camilla Rhodes and Jesse Gaines Sr., I might have misunderstood, but I thought that after Camilla's death, it had been Jesse Gaines Sr.'s idea to change the will, not Ashland's. Ashland went along with it, and yes, it was wrong, but all Ashland saw was a way out of his situation from his abusive father. I think Victoria saw it that way, as well, but she wasn't judging him about his past, which I find delightful, because everyone was trying to stop her from marrying him. She saw the good, the bad, and the ugly, but she still loved who he was.

They are both fighting to keep Ashland alive, and I love that Ashland is willing to try any experimental protocol or treatment out there to preserve his life for as long as possible. Who am I kidding? This is a soap, and you know that something miraculous will happen, and Ashland will live to be 99 years old. I love Victoria and Ashland's interaction. They really look like they are completely enamored with each other. I love this couple, and I hope he will be around for a long time. Perhaps he and Victoria could become the next Victor and Nikki -- if and when Eric Braeden ever decides to retire. No rush, Eric!

Amanda is ready for a fight. From the spoilers, it appears that Amanda is going to have a snoot full of problems with Sutton. She is determined to make him pay for killing her father, and Sutton seems to be just as determined to try to scare her off. He doesn't know Amanda very well. Amanda does not back off. That's where she and Hilary were very much alike. They both went after what they wanted, and they would bulldoze their way through to get it. I'm team Amanda. I hope she brings Sutton to his knees.

That's all from me for this week. I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts and opinions, with a speculation or two thrown in. I would love to read your comments and opinions. In the meantime, until next time, stay safe!Nel

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