Previously…
– Sarah inadvertently spilled the news about Molly and Brent’s affair and Molly’s resulting pregnancy in front of Christian.
– When Brent and Molly finally had the chance to talk to the twins, Caleb was reluctant to engage with them, while an upset Christian rushed out.
– With Jake in need of a new kidney after his fall from the attic window, Matt volunteered to be a donor for his brother.

Thick drops of rain slap lazily against the pavement outside. Their inconsistent patter fills the air and echoes all around the house, but inside, Molly Taylor is still aware of a silence that feels overpowering. Since they all arrived home last night, the twins have barely acknowledged her; they ate dinner as quickly and dutifully as possible and then disappeared into their bedrooms. Now Molly stands at the kitchen counter, preparing lunches for them to take to school and dreading how they might address her when they finally emerge.

She is slicing two rustic ciabatta rolls when the doorbell rings. After wiping her hands on a plush dishtowel, she navigates toward the foyer, peeks through the glass pane on the side of the door, and opens the door to her ex-husband.

“How’re you doing?” Brent asks.

Molly lets out a long, weary sigh.

“I can’t believe how not well this has all gone,” she says as she steps aside to let him into the house. “All I wanted was to tell the boys about the baby in our own way.” 

“Yeah, well, that ship has sailed.”

He wipes his shoes on the mat.

“Thanks for taking them to school today,” Molly says.

“No problem. They’re not ready yet?”

“Of course not. I knocked on doors and then heard the shower running a few minutes ago, so they’re up, at least.” She motions for him to follow her as she starts back toward the kitchen. “I’m finishing their lunches now.”

“Someone’s going all out,” he comments when he spots the heaping bowl of freshly made chicken salad on the counter.

“I’m trying. I thought maybe if I made their favorite lunch…” She shakes her head ruefully. “I know I can’t change the way things played out, but I feel like I have to do something.”

“They’ll come around. They will. And if I remember correctly, this chicken salad can work some major miracles.”

She smiles and pulls a spoon from a nearby drawer. “Here. Have at it.”

Brent takes the spoon and helps himself to a bite of the chicken, mixed with mayonnaise, mustard, celery, apples, and golden raisins.

“Wow,” he says as he savors the bite. “You haven’t lost your touch.”

“Let’s hope our sons feel the same way.”

“They won’t be mad forever. They’re in shock.”

“I could wring Sarah’s neck for this.”

“She didn’t know Christian was in the house,” Brent says.

“She didn’t have to run her mouth the way she did, either. What happened to minding your own business?”

“What’s important is that we keep you calm,” he reminds her.

“It’s hard to stay calm when my kids won’t look me in the eye.” She touches her hand to her growing stomach. “I can’t believe how wrong this has all gone.”

“It’s all gonna work out.”

She shoots him a dubious look as the sound of footsteps on the stairs jolts them both to attention. Caleb enters the kitchen.

“Good morning,” she says, overly cheerfully, as she resumes making the sandwiches. “I made chicken salad for your lunches.”

Caleb hesitates and then simply says, “Cool.”

“Thank your mother,” Brent says.

“Thanks,” the teen says, somehow managing to express all the annoyance of an eye-roll without actually rolling his eyes. He dips into the pantry and comes out with a protein bar.

“Go and tell your brother that we need to get moving or you’ll be late for school,” Brent says.

Caleb stops opening the protein bar’s wrapper. “Where is he?”

“Upstairs,” Molly says, confused. “Has he even showered yet?”

“He wasn’t in his room or the bathroom,” Caleb tells them. “I thought he came down here.”

“No, I haven’t seen him.” Molly’s eyes flare with concern. “If he isn’t upstairs, and he isn’t here… where is Christian?” 

Tendrils of steam climb out of the mug of hot cocoa, winding their way up through the air before fading off into nothingness. Christian Taylor stares into the frothy surface of the drink.

“Nobody’s perfect. Your parents made a mistake,” Bree Halston says to him from across the small, lacquered white table. They sit inside Thaw Coffee & Tea, which is in the midst of its morning rush; Bree still wears her tights and skating dress, and her hair remains in the messy bun that she wore for this morning’s practice.

“I don’t expect them to be perfect. No one is,” Christian responds. “But this is, like… my dad was going to propose to Claire, and instead he–” He grimaces rather than referencing his parents’ sex lives aloud. “It makes them seem so hypocritical.”

Bree offers him a reassuring smile. “It must’ve been a huge shock to find out your mom’s pregnant like that.”

“It was.”

“Try and think about it like this: what if they’d gotten to sit down and tell you the way they said they wanted to? Like, to explain what happened and how they’re feeling and what they’re concerned about?”

Her questions linger in the air for a long moment. Christian’s gaze flashes toward a woman picking up her debit card from the floor a few feet away.

“I don’t know,” he finally admits.

“All I’m saying is, maybe a bit part of your reaction is that you got so blindsided by the news.” Bree takes a sip from her own cocoa. “Christian, I know better than maybe anyone how it feels to find out your parents have royally screwed up. I didn’t even want to see my mom after her and Jason’s wedding.”

“But it got better? Or… what changed?”

“Life goes on,” she says sympathetically. “She’s my mom. You maybe never look at them the same way again after something like that, but… she’s still my mom.”

Christian props his face up in his hands and looks at her gratefully. “Thanks for talking to me about this. I had to get out of the house.”

“I knew things had to be bad if you were voluntarily coming to watch me practice at the crack of dawn.”

“I didn’t want to face any of them this morning. Even Caleb. It’s like, I try to talk about anything serious and he acts like I’m the biggest loser on Earth.”

“We all know Caleb’s too cool for real emotions,” Bree says, and the two teens share a snicker.

Christian feels his phone vibrating in the pocket of his jeans and pulls it out. Instead of answering the incoming call, however, he simply stares at the screen.

“Your mom?” Bree asks.

He nods and lets the call go to voicemail.

“Send her a text. Let her know you’re okay,” she says. He hesitates. “Christian. Come on. Scaring them isn’t going to help this.”

After another several seconds of regarding the phone, he drops his shoulders in submission and begins tapping out a text message.

“Christian? What are you doing here?” a voice asks from across the café.

Both Bree and Christian turn to see Jason Fisher approaching them. Christian quickly sends his text message and sets down his phone.

“Oh, um, I just… came to see Bree,” Christian tells his uncle.

Jason furrows his brow and studies the two of them. “At morning practice? When you’d be seeing her at school soon anyway?”

The teenagers limply shrug back at him.

“Okay,” Jason says. “What’s really going on here?”

With the rainfall tapping against the window of her husband’s hospital room, Mia Davich Gray sits in an all-too-rigid chair, attempting to busy herself with a newspaper that she picked up at the gift shop downstairs. Occasionally she glances at the bed, where Jake has been sleeping since before Mia returned from her quick trip back to the house to shower and change her clothes. She is just becoming absorbed in an article about the local mayoral election when she hears light groans coming from the bed.

Setting aside the newspaper, Mia stands and gently approaches Jake’s bedside.

“Jake,” she says softly as his eyes flutter open and closed and then open again. “It’s me.”

He breathes out deeply through his nose, and his eyelids slowly raise again as he finds her.

“Hey,” he says. His voice is labored but has an optimistic note to it.

“The doctors said you woke up while I was home showering. They tell me everything’s looking great.”

“That’s good to know.” He lets his head sink back into the pillow. “I don’t even remember waking up.”

“Well, the surgery went as well as anyone could’ve hoped. Congratulations on your new kidney.”

“I can’t believe I have someone else’s kidney inside me. That’s weird.”

“It’s a miracle, that’s what it is.”

He nods weakly before asking, “How’s Marcus?”

“He’s on his way to school. But he’s happy you’re doing well. He’s been nervous.”

“But the doctors say we don’t have to worry, right?”

Mia takes his hand and nods. “We have to keep monitoring you and following protocol — but it sounds like you’re on the road to recovery.”

“Man. That’s amazing. The fact that they even found a donor…”

Instinctively Mia sucks in her lips. Her whole body stiffens.

“What?” Jake asks.

She hesitates. In response, Jake squeezes her hand.

“Mia. What’s wrong?” he presses.

“Jake, hon,” she says, steeling herself. “There’s something you need to know.”

“What? Did something happen while I was having surgery? You said Marcus is fine–”

“Marcus is fine. He’s great. What I have to tell you… it’s about your kidney donor.”

—–

“How did he get out of the house without me hearing?” Molly asks as she re-reads the message from Christian. “That’s impossible.”

Caleb finishes unwrapping his protein bar. “Why? ‘Cause you know everything?” he mutters.

“What’s that?” Brent asks.

“I know I put the alarm on last night,” Molly says.

The teen takes a bite of the bar and chews it slowly. However, he can feel his parents’ eyes boring into him as he eats.

“The alarm’s not that hard to turn off silently,” he blurts out. “I figured it out, like, two years ago.”

Brent sets his jaw. Molly places a hand on his arm to try and keep him calm.

“At least Christian is only at the arena with Bree,” she says. “We know he’s safe.”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Brent warns Caleb.

This time, Caleb does fully roll his eyes. “Why are we the ones getting in trouble when you guys are the ones who fu– messed up?” 

“You aren’t in trouble,” Molly says. Sighing in frustration, she turns back to the counter to finish packing the twins’ lunches.

“Go get your stuff,” Brent says to Caleb. “We need to get going.”

Wordlessly, Caleb blows out the room, a veritable cloud of angst swirling around him.

“They’re lashing out,” Brent says more quietly. “This won’t last forever.”

“But they’re right.” Molly stuffs the wrapped sandwiches into two paper sacks. “We did screw up. We hurt Claire. And now our kids have to see us in a light I never wanted them to see us in.”

“You mean, as human beings? They were going to find out sooner or later that we aren’t perfect, Mol,” he says. “As impossible as it might sound.”

“I don’t want them to hate us,” she says, her hand once again moving to her stomach. “And I don’t want them to resent their little brother or sister.”

“They won’t. This’ll blow over.” He picks up the two lunches. “Focus on taking care of yourself and the baby. Try and relax today. I’ll check in later.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Their eyes meet, and a loaded uncertainty floats over them. Molly sees a twinkle in Brent’s gaze, a twinkle she remembers well from so many years ago.

Just as quickly as it took hold, however, the spell is broken by the sound of Caleb’s footsteps.

“I have my stuff,” he says, not even bothering to conceal his irritation.

“That’s my cue. Have a good day, Mol,” Brent says.

“Thanks,” she replies before Brent exits the kitchen. She leans back against the counter, wondering what the future could even look like for their fractured little family.

—–

Inside Thaw, Bree fires a pointed look over the table at Christian.

“We actually need to get to school,” she says. Jason can feel the chill emanating from her; her anger over him suing for custody of Peter — and then decking Spencer — remains palpable, even months and months later.

“You can go shower and change,” Christian tells her. “I’ll be fine for a few minutes.”

“Are you sure?” Bree asks.

He nods.

Bree stands from her chair. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” Still making a point of ignoring Jason, she slips away from the table and out of the café.

Jason takes the newly vacated seat and focuses on his nephew. “So what’s going on? Something happen at school? You and Bree seem good…”

“We are.” Christian picks up his hot cocoa and takes a drink. “It’s my parents.”

“What?”

“You don’t know yet?”

Jason shakes his head with confusion, and Christian launches into the entire tale: how Sarah came rushing in with news of Molly’s pregnancy, unaware that Christian was in the house and could hear her; how Molly and Brent sat him and Caleb down to try and explain.

“Your mom’s pregnant,” Jason says, dumbfounded. “Wow.”

“‘Wow’ is right.”

“And you’re upset with them because they were keeping secrets?”

“Because they lied. They lied to Claire. And to us, by not telling us what was going on. It’s so…”

“So what?”

Christian shrugs. “Sleazy, I guess.”

“And they’re your parents, so they’re supposed to be perfect,” Jason says knowingly.

“That’s not what I said.”

“Do you know how mad I was at my mom when we found out she’d had another son before us and never told us?” Jason asks. “The answer is, very mad. We had this brother we never knew was our brother, and the fact that it was Ryan…” 

“But you and Uncle Ryan wound up being, like, really close,” Christian says.

“We did. And I forgave your grandma. Just like you’ll forgive your parents.”

Instead of responding, Christian sips his cocoa again.

“You’re allowed to have these… complicated feelings,” Jason says. “It’s bizarre to find out that your parents aren’t perfect.”

A long beat passes between them; the noise of the busy coffee shop dances all around them.

“Dad broke up with Aunt Sarah so he could marry Mom,” Christian says at last. “And now they did the same thing to Claire. It sucks.”

“The situation with Aunt Sarah was a lot more complicated than that. But yeah, it does suck. People can make mistakes and still not be terrible people, you know?”

“I guess.”

“Your mom and dad love you guys,” Jason continues, “and they’re going to do everything they can to make sure this new baby grows up feeling loved and safe, too. That much I can guarantee you.”

—–

In the hospital bed, Jake’s body stiffens with dread.

“What about my donor?” he asks Mia warily.

“I want you to stay calm,” Mia says, mentally reviewing the variety of ways in which she’s thought about telling him this news.

“You telling me to stay calm doesn’t make me feel calm.”

“Jake. The donor — it was your brother.”

“What?” Jake’s head and messy brown hair, flecked with spots of gray, hover just above his pillow. “Matt gave me his kidney?”

“Mm-hmm. He insisted on it as soon as he found out he was a match. Marcus could’ve donated his, but Matt didn’t want to put him through that. Hell, I don’t think he wanted to put me through that.” 

“Wow.” Now Jake lets his head hit the pillow and stares up at the faded white ceiling. “I have Matt’s kidney inside me.”

“You’re gonna be okay because of Matt. You’re alive because of Matt.” 

She stands over the bed, holding onto Jake’s hand and hoping that he will prove himself to be the man she married — not the vengeful, angry man of the past several months.

“Matt didn’t push you out that window,” she says. “I believe him about that.”

“I can’t believe he’d do that for me,” Jake finally says. “After how mad I was at him…”

“He’s your brother.”

“Still…” Then something strikes him. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“He’s down the hall, recovering. His surgery went well.”

“I have to see him,” Jake says. “He saved my life.”

Mia feels muscles relax that she didn’t even know she was clenching. “You aren’t mad.”

“Mad? No. I get to live and be with my family because of what Matt did.”

“That’s right.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me before they did the transplant?” he asks.

Mia widens her eyes at him. “Because we were worried your stubborn ass would refuse to take it.”

Jake winces. “You might not be wrong. I’ve been so mad at him…”

“But this is a huge sacrifice he made. I know he’s hoping it can be the start of some real healing for you guys.”

“I need to see him,” Jake says. “I need to thank my brother for what he did for me.”

“Oh, Jake. You have no idea how happy that makes me.” Mia leans down to kiss his cheek, to breathe in the familiar smell of him, to savor the possibilities of the future that they now have — all thanks to Matt.

END OF EPISODE 1012

Can the Gray family finally be able to heal?
Will Christian and Caleb soften toward their parents?
Can Jason ever mend fences with Bree?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

Next Episode