Previously…
– Samantha moved out after Jaq was exposed for trying to frame Tempest for sending the threatening letters.
– Tori and Zane announced their engagement to the Fishers, who put on a pleasant face in front of the couple. In private, Sarah and Matt vowed not to let the wedding take place.
– Elly confessed to Spencer that Loretta is blackmailing her to tank Molly’s legal case.
– Tempest urged Samantha to give Diane another chance. Although surprised, Samantha did so and spent Thanksgiving with her mother.

A slender artificial Christmas tree, adorned with strands of multicolored lights and an assortment of ornaments brought in by employees, stands in the corner of KBAY’s break room. An electric menorah with blue lights rests on the counter nearby. On the opposite side of the room, Jaq Pearson stands, waiting for the Keurig machine to finish making their tea. 

“Good Thanksgiving?” Zane Tanaka asks as he enters the room and spots his coworker — the only other person currently in there.

Jaq turns toward him with a scowl. “Not exactly. But it could’ve been worse.”

“You didn’t do the whole family thing? Or was it bad because you did the whole family thing?”

“My family did not want to see me this year,” Jaq says. “They told me to come home — which I know would’ve been nothing but lectures about how far off-track my life is, how this all started when I ‘decided’–” They use air quotes for emphasis. “–not to be a ‘normal girl,’ as they’d put it.”

“That sucks. I’m sorry.”

“It is what it is.” They wait as the machine blows out a final, loud poof of smoke and then removes the mug from beneath the spout. “How about you?”

“Pretty good, actually. Tori and I broke the news about, you know.” He holds up his left hand and indicates his bare ring finger. “Her family took it pretty well. I think they’re really coming around to me, you know?”

“That’s great,” Jaq says over the rim of the mug, as tendrils of steam rise out of it. “Have you set a wedding date yet?”

“Nah. Waiting to figure all that stuff out. I did have an idea…”

“What’s that?”

“That if her parents gave us any shit, we should just go to, like, Mount Hood and elope,” he explains. “Get a cabin — such cool places out there — ski, drink wine by the fire — have our own Winter Wonderland sort of thing.”

“But it sounds like you won’t have to do that.”

“I don’t think so. And sorry,” Zane says as he reaches for a coffee pod. “I don’t wanna sound like I’m gloating while you’re… you know. Still heartbroken and stuff.”

“It’s okay. I’m happy for you and Tori.”

“Thanks. Have you talked to Samantha at all?” 

Jaq shakes their head as Zane inserts the pod into the machine and finds a mug in the cupboard above.

“I haven’t tried,” they say. “She doesn’t want to talk to me. I can’t believe I ruined everything.”

“Maybe you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. I framed her ex for stalking me, basically. I don’t know why I was so stupid.”

“You weren’t stupid. You were insecure and freaked out. Love makes us do crazy things.”

“Look. You still want to be with Samantha, right?” he asks.

“In a perfect world, yeah,” Jaq replies. “But we don’t live in a perfect world.”

“Maybe not, but nothing’s ever as final as it seems.” He presses the button to start the coffee machine and then turns back to them. “If you want Samantha back, I can help you do it.”

—–

A sugar-cookie-scented candle burns in the center of Molly Taylor‘s kitchen table. Despite the calming, festive scent, Molly feels neither soothed nor celebratory; she sits around the table with her two attorneys, papers spread over the surface before them.

“I wish they didn’t have to drag this out for so long,” Molly says. “Having this hanging over me during the holidays…”

“I know. It isn’t ideal,” Conrad Halston says from across the table. He is dressed casually enough for this meeting, in a zip-up brown sweater with a checked, collared shirt beneath it. “But it does give us time to figure out what to do.”

“It’s a misdemeanor charge,” Molly replies, her shoulders sinking forward, “not a murder trial — which, I hate to say, I’ve also been through.”

“And that’s why this is going to be a walk in the park, even if it seems daunting,” says Elly Vanderbilt. The younger, red-headed lawyer sits at the head of the table, flanked by Molly and Conrad. “I have an idea, actually.”

Conrad looks at her curiously. “What kind of idea?”

“Go with me here,” Elly says rather deliberately. “What if we went in there and changed your plea to guilty?”

“What?” Molly responds with horror. “No!”

In a more measured tone, Conrad says, “Do you really think that would be wise?”

Elly holds up both palms, as if to say, I know it sounds crazy. Just go with me.

“The thing is,” she says, “it’s going to be almost impossible to mount a case that Molly didn’t assault that doctor. She technically did. People saw it. There are legitimate witnesses.”

“I was there trying to get answers,” Molly says, “about what happened the night my baby died. Dr. Longo is the one who has those answers. And he’s still being evasive! If a judge hears that–“

“I know that,” Elly says, softening her voice, “but a judge could still say, ‘You know what? She did assault the guy, regardless.’ And then you’re facing actual jail time. If you plead guilty, there’s no way they go for jail time.”

“She does have a point,” Conrad says with a shrug.

Molly drops her head into her hands and goes silent. She breathes in through her nose, trying to take in the allegedly relaxing scent of the candle. But all she can smell right now is its cloying sweetness.

“What about Objection?” she asks as she jerks her head upright again.

Conrad furrows his brow. “What about it?”

“The way they ousted me — when I was only charged with a misdemeanor, and I haven’t been convicted of anything — it can’t be right,” Molly says. “What if we sue the company to reinstate me?”

“Hmm,” Conrad says, folding his arms as he mulls this over.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Elly chimes in.

Molly looks at her with utter bafflement. “What?”

“I just don’t think it’s the right move.”

“And I don’t understand why you’re here if you don’t want to help,” Molly says, exasperated. “Why don’t you want to help me fix this, Elly?”

The delicate piano and soulful vocals of Mariah Carey’s “Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)” dance through the air inside Cassie’s Coffee House. Tempest Banks and her brother sit at a table beside the large window that faces the parking lot, each with a beverage in front of them.

“I didn’t want to push you in front of everyone at Thanksgiving,” Isaac says, “but you’ve gotta give me the scoop on how things went with you and Samantha.”

Tempest eyes him cautiously for a moment before saying, “It went fine.”

“Just fine? After all that mess?” He shakes his head. “You’re not getting off the hook that easily.”

“Oh, so now you’re in big brother mode, huh?”

“Gotta make up for lost time.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “I’m serious, though. It looked intense between you two. You’re good?”

“I’m good, yeah. And Sam and I — we’re better than we were before, which was… real bad. Nowhere to go but up.”

“Do you think…?”

Even without Isaac actually voicing the awkward part of the thought, Tempest feels her cheeks growing warm. She drinks from her own cup to busy herself.

“You think you’d still be with her if all that stuff hadn’t happened?” Isaac asks.

“You mean if I hadn’t gone and put Sam and her mom‘s business in the streets like that? Yeah.”

“Then what’s stopping you now?”

“Her? Me? I don’t know.” Tempest shrugs, seemingly with resignation. “What about you?”

“What about me?” he replies.

“You thought any more about what we talked about? About Diane?”

With his cup paused halfway between the table and his mouth, Isaac says, “Since when are you Diane’s number one supporter?”

“I’m not. But I’m trying to make amends for all the shit I did. The way I put you on blast when I caught you with her–“

“I get that it’s complicated for you,” he says before sipping on his coffee again.

“It is. Everything is.” 

She pauses and looks around the coffee shop, festooned with white lights and vibrant green wreaths. She remembers so many Christmases that felt anything but hopeful when she was younger; in recent years, the holidays have become less awful, less foreboding. This year, though, she doesn’t know what to expect or how she is supposed to feel.

“I don’t want to be the reason you’re staying away from her, that’s all,” she says at last. “And I know there’s shit between the two of you…”

“Yeah.” He places his cup back on the table with a thunk. 

“But I can tell you’re not, like, over it,” she says.

“And I can tell you’re not over Samantha, either,” Isaac retorts. “You deserve to be happy, Tempest. You’ve fought and scrapped and made this whole life for yourself — don’t deny yourself something good ’cause you’re ashamed of some mistakes you made in the past.”

Through the window, Tempest watches activity out in the parking lot as Mariah’s aching voice travels through the speakers and seems to surround her: Every other season comes along and I’m all right… but then I miss you… most at Christmas time…

—–

Jaq stares back at Zane in disbelief. 

“How would you do that?” they finally ask. “You can’t make Sam not hate me.”

“That’s the thing,” Zane says. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s hurt. Big difference. You know what they say about there being a thin line between love and hate?”

The coffee machine begins sputtering and spewing sounds as it prepares to make Zane’s beverage.

“What am I supposed to do?” Jaq asks. “Trick her again? She could barely even look at me that day when she walked out of the house. And I haven’t heard from her since.”

“Because you haven’t made her answer you,” Zane says. “What you two need is a real, raw face-to-face talk. She wasn’t innocent in this, remember? She kissed her ex and kept it from you.”

“I guess.” Jaq blows on their tea as they think. “It really seems like I ruined things so badly that there’s no going back.”

Zane quietly watches his coffee stream into the mug for a long moment before he says, “Do you want her out there, getting back together with Tempest?”

“No!”

“Then do something about it. I’m serious, Jaq. I’ll help you if you want.”

“Thanks. I think.” 

“I’m good,” he says, watching as the final drops drip into the coffee mug before he picks it up. “Think about it. You don’t deserve to have your happiness stolen by Samantha and Tempest — not after they were dishonest with you.”

Coffee in hand, he exits the break room. Jaq continues to blow on the tea as they gaze into the glittering lights on the Christmas tree, wondering how things came to such a bleak place.

—–

Elly’s heartbeat quickens as she feels both Molly and Conrad’s eyes boring into her. It pains her to be accused of not wanting to help someone who has been so kind to her — and pains her even more to know that that is the truth, that she is being forced to put her own interests ahead of her client’s.

“Of course I want to help you,” she says slowly. “It’s just… I want to come up with something that I feel confident about. Suing Objection is going to take forever. Maybe years. And if that’s pending, there’s no way you’re going back to work there as soon as this assault charge is resolved.”

“She has a point,” Conrad admits with a sideways nod. 

Molly lets out a long, exhausted sigh. Elly can tell that she is buying this reasoning and, in turn, lets out a quiet sigh of her own — one that she hopes is undetectable. 

“I want to keep you moving forward,” Elly says. “Not get you bogged down in this. It could be over relatively quickly if we get this case out of the way.”

“But what happens after I plead guilty?” Molly asks with desperation. “What if the board looks at that as a blemish on my character? What if they don’t reinstate me?”

Elly’s crimson-painted lips open and close without producing an answer.

“I have an idea,” Conrad says. He leans forward and folds his hands together.

“What is it?” Molly asks, as Elly once again finds herself holding her breath.

“What if you were to sue the hospital?” he suggests. “And that doctor, too. You’re so certain that something happened that night — malpractice, a cover-up, something.”

“Something did happen,” Molly says.

“Then let’s take it to the courts,” Conrad continues. “The hospital would not want this turning into a major focal point. Maybe they’d even throw that doctor to the wolves–“

“–which would make the assault charge seem more justified, even if I don’t get exonerated.” Molly’s eyes glimmer with renewed excitement. “You might be onto something here.”

Conrad grins at this positive response. Then both of them turn their attention to Elly.

“What do you think?” Molly asks. “It’s brilliant, isn’t it?”

Elly’s skin crawls at the prospect of Molly filing a very public lawsuit and perhaps emerging victorious — which is the opposite of what Loretta Ragan wants. If things take that turn on Elly’s watch, she might as well kiss her legal career goodbye; Loretta won’t hesitate to expose her fraudulent California bar exam, and even if she passes the Washington state bar before then, it won’t matter.

“I think it’s risky,” she says noncommittally. “But I can tell you want to fight. And that’s really good.”

She forces a smile for good measure, and Molly and Conrad return to brainstorming, while Elly’s mind races, desperate to find a way to stop this before it goes too far.

END OF EPISODE 1108 

Will Elly have to choose between herself and Molly?
Is Jaq going to take Zane up on his offer to help?
Can Isaac move past what he learned about Diane’s past?
Sound off about all this and more in the comments below!

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