Previously…
– Trevor was upset when Alex suggested that Finn might be in cahoots with Gia to take over Objection from Molly.
– Natalie secretly tailed Tim and discovered where Sonja and TJ have been hiding out.
– Tensions ran high as the Fishers gathered for Christmas. Rosie and Travis overheard Molly and Brent planning to file a suit for custody of Gabrielle.

“Serving the what?” Rosie Jimenez cries. She and her husband stand in the entryway of Paula Fisher‘s home, with their adopted daughter sitting on the floor with the Velcro straps of her pink sneakers undone. Michael Bublé’s chipper version of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” floats in distantly from the living room, where the rest of the guests have begun to gather to celebrate the holiday.

Brent and Molly Taylor freeze in the doorway. Molly knows, without a doubt, that Rosie heard exactly what they were discussing as they arrived: their plan to serve Travis and Rosie with a lawsuit over custody of Gabrielle.

“Uh,” Caleb Taylor says, his eyes shifting among the adults. “I’m gonna go… uh… put these presents under the three.”

“Okay. Yeah. Me, too,” his twin brother agrees, and with their shoes and coats still on, the teens slip away into the house.

“You’re serving us with a lawsuit?” Travis asks in disbelief.

“We’re — we’re figuring out our options, that’s all,” Molly says with an uneasy glance toward Brent.

“All we meant is that we didn’t want to cause any upheaval for Christmas,” Brent adds. “What we really want is to be able to see Gabrielle today.”

Rosie steps protectively in front of Gabrielle, who is still tugging at her shoes. 

“Well, you’re seeing her,” she tells them. 

“We have some presents for her,” Molly says.

Travis stoops down to help Gabrielle remove the sneakers and says, “We can do presents later. I need to get inside and see if Uncle Matt needs any help with dinner.”

Without any further pleasantries, he scoops up Gabrielle and spirits her away into the party. Rosie is right on his heels as he goes.

Molly turns to Brent, a scowl on her face. 

“I was hoping for a bit of a smoother start than that,” she says ruefully.

“We’ll figure this out. We will,” he replies, although he does not sound too convinced of it himself.

—–

“Sorry about that! We’re here!” Natalie Bishop calls out as she lets herself and her daughter into her own festively decorated home. Even before she spots another human being, she can feel the hum of energy moving through the house.

“You don’t say,” Loretta Ragan mutters as she appears in the living room and folds her arms in front of her purple silk blouse. “And never fear, Natalie — we’ve taken care of everything in your absence.”

Natalie feels Loretta’s gaze boring into her, and a shudder runs through her body. She wonders if her evil mother-in-law somehow knows where she has been — that she wasn’t only picking up Bree from Conrad‘s, but also tailing Tim in hopes of locating Sonja Kahele… and that the plan actually worked.

“You said you’d take care of Christmas dinner,” Natalie says as calmly as she can. 

“And I have. There’s a chef preparing everything in the kitchen right now.”

“At least that means I don’t have to worry about getting any arsenic in my food.”

Bree pulls her right arm out of the sleeve of her long, mahogany-colored coat. “Are we actually worried about Christmas dinner being poisoned?”

“Don’t be silly, young lady,” Loretta says. “Your mother is merely projecting her own twisted way of thinking onto others.”

The blonde college freshman regards the older redhead with an uneasy gaze.

“I’m going to go find Peter,” Bree says, thrusting her coat into Natalie’s hands before disappearing.

“You really shouldn’t be so paranoid, Natalie,” Loretta coos.

Natalie lets out a groan. “I’ve been sleeping with one eye open for years at this point, having you under my roof. It’s no wonder I’m on-edge.”

“As I see it, we reached a lovely detente a long time ago. You make space for me in your home so that I can be with my son and grandson, and I graciously keep all your nasty little secrets. What’s changed?”

Natalie bites down on the tip of her tongue. Part of her wants to blurt out that she’s found Sonja and see what Loretta will do in exchange for that information — but she knows that she needs to keep this chess piece to herself for the time being. She has to figure out how to use it to get out from under Loretta’s thumb once and for all.

“You’re right. Nothing has changed,” Natalie says, fixing a blandly pleasant smile on her face. “I just want to live my life–“

“Your very comfortable life, thanks to my son‘s money.”

“Right. Yeah. I have no interest in rocking the boat, okay?”

Loretta narrows her eyes at her daughter-in-law.

“I hope you mean that,” she says before spinning on her heels and returning to the kitchen.

Still clutching Bree’s coat, Natalie exhales heavily. She grits her teeth.

“I’m not spending one more Christmas like this,” she says under her breath. “That nurse is going to be my ticket out of this. Somehow.”

—–

In the dining room of the Fisher home, Alex Marshall is pouring himself a glass of wine at the sideboard, which has been set up as a makeshift bar, when he feels a hand on the small of his back.

“There you are,” Trevor Brooks says.

Alex turns, slightly surprised, toward his husband. “I didn’t realize you’d come in. Where’s Chase?”

“He followed Billy upstairs to look at all his presents,” Trevor explains. An uneasy blanket of silence falls over the spouses. “Could you grab me a glass?”

“Sure.” Alex reaches across for another wine glass and passes it to Trevor. “Do you want red or white?”

“Uh… red.” Trevor sticks out his hand to pick up the open bottle of cabernet sauvignon, and Alex does the same. Their hands awkwardly meet at the bottle, and both quickly pull away.

“This is weird,” Alex finally says. “I hate that it’s been like this.”

“Me, too.” Trevor busies himself with pouring the wine, and it sounds as if he has more to say, but the words do not materialize.

“I don’t want to be fighting,” Alex finally continues. “Especially not at Christmas. And not about Objection.”

Trevor looks at him with a grateful smile. “Same. This is dumb. I know you thought Katherine Fitch calling Finn was a big deal–“

“I’m not saying it wasn’t. But maybe it’s none of my business. Jason thought it was weird, too–“

“You told Jason?”

“Yeah.” Alex stands up a little straighter, his whole body stiffening. “I was explaining to him that we’d had a disagreement.”

Trevor sucks his lips together.

“What?” Alex asks.

“Nothing.” But Trevor holds the wine up his mouth, his eyes growing dark and pensive. “I don’t want to argue today.”

“Not saying what you’re thinking isn’t going to make it go away,” Alex presses.

Trevor looks around. Nearby, Tim is talking with Paula, and a few feet from them, Jason is catching up with Caleb. Christmas music fills the air.

“I don’t want to argue,” Trevor repeats. 

“Trevor–“

“You can’t say that it’s none of your business and then run and tell Jason that you’re suspicious of Finn. That’s implicating him in whatever Gia is doing.”

“I didn’t realize that the goal here was to avoid besmirching Finn’s good name,” Alex says. “I thought this was about us.”

“It is!” Trevor catches himself and adds, in a much lower tone of voice, “Let’s just agree to disagree today, okay? I don’t want to ruin Christmas.”

“Neither do I.”

“Okay. Then I’m gonna go say hi to Molly.”

“Great.”

Trevor peels off, and Alex remains stationed by the sideboard, wine in hand. Somehow, he feels even worse about things between him and his husband than he felt earlier today.

—–

In the Fisher den, Samantha Fisher sits cross-legged on the floor. She wears dark green corduroy pants and an oversized white sweater; she uses a piece of scotch tape to hold down a piece of wrapping paper around a small box.

“Oh. Hey,” Tori Gray says as she pokes her head into the room. “Have you seen my mom?”

“Aunt Sarah? She was in the kitchen a few minutes ago.”

“I just looked there. Dammit.” Tori lingers in the doorway of the den. “You’re still wrapping presents?”

Samantha looks up. Beside her is a roll of wrapping paper and a tape dispenser, but the box in front of her is neatly sealed up.

“It’s for Grandma. The wrapping ripped on the car ride over, so I wanted to fix it,” she tells her cousin.

“Gotcha.” Tori lets out a sigh. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to text you.”

“Why?”

The flames in the fireplace crackle softly as Tori formulates her response.

“I mean, I should have come to see you by now,” she says at last. “I’ve just been…” She waves a hand through the air, as if that explains anything at all. “How are you feeling? You look good.”

“Thanks.” Samantha pushes her glasses, which have begun to slip, up higher on her nose. “I feel okay. I’m still really tired, but otherwise, I’m getting better every day. I need to remind myself not to push too hard too quickly, though.”

“And you were able to go back to work?”

“I’m only doing half-days for now, but yeah. It’s been nice to get out again.”

“I bet.” Tori plants herself on the arm of the large sofa. “I’m so sorry about what happened, Sam.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, it was. I’m the one who exposed everyone to Zane for so long. If I had just stood up to him a long time ago, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Zane was manipulating you. It was abusive.”

“But I let it happen,” Tori counters. “Because I was too scared, or too weak, or — I don’t know. I never should’ve let it go on for so long.”

“You were the victim. You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

Tori shakes her head. “The idea that you could’ve died because of Zane… I hate it. You have no idea how relieved I am that you’re getting better.”

Samantha pulls herself to a standing position, using the nearby coffee table to help with her balance.

“I’m fine now,” she tells her cousin. “The doctors say I’m going to recover completely. It’ll take some time, that’s all.”

“Good. I’m really glad. I know we haven’t exactly been close in the past, but after this experience with Zane, I realize how much I’ve neglected my family. I don’t want to take the people who matter for granted.”

“Well, I’m here, and I’ll be here for a long time.” Samantha moves closer and pulls Tori into an embrace. “And Zane is behind bars. He can’t hurt you or any of us now.”

“I hope not,” Tori says quietly.

“He can’t, and he won’t.” Samantha squeezes Tori. “And you have the rest of your life ahead of you. You’re going to have a fresh start and do amazing things. I don’t want you to waste any more time blaming yourself for what a monster Zane is and the damage he caused. You aren’t responsible for that.”

“Still…”

“I said I don’t want you to blame yourself, and since I just came out of a coma, you have to do what I say. Okay?”

Tori lets out a small laugh as she takes a step back, looking Samantha straight in the face.

“Deal,” she says. 

—–

Out in the living room, Molly waits anxiously on the love seat, only a few feet away from the Christmas tree. There are only a handful of presents beneath it now, including the ones that Molly brought from her own home earlier. Across the room, Helen and Don Chase are now talking with Alex; Trevor had come out to speak with Molly, but when Alex entered the room, Trevor insisted on going upstairs to find Chase. Something about the dynamic struck her as odd, but she has too much on her mind today to expend much more brainpower on it.

“Guarding the tree?” Brent asks as he approaches her, a glass of whiskey in hand.

“I’m waiting to give Gabrielle her presents,” she responds.

“Ah. Do you think maybe we should just let Travis and Rosie take them home?”

Molly shakes her head. “We deserve to see her opening them, at the very least. We’ve been kept from her for long enough.”

They both fall silent as Gabrielle comes scurrying into the room, with Rosie right behind her.

“Hi, sweetie,” Molly says softly. The little girl stops and stares up at the glittering lights on the tree.

Molly looks up at Rosie, who is hovering nearby. “She’s so adorable. Did she have a nice Christmas morning?”

“I’m not sure she understands what Christmas is all about yet,” Rosie says, her voice tight. “Next year, she’ll probably be much more excited.”

The mention of the future instantly casts a pall over the three of them. Gabrielle touches her small fingers to various ornaments hanging on the tree.

“I have to ask… when were you planning on serving us with those papers?” Rosie says. “New Year’s?”

Brent and Molly exchange troubled looks.

“Like I said, we didn’t want to cause any trouble during the holidays,” Brent replies. “But we do think steps need to be taken–“

“What steps?” Rosie asks with horror.

“We’ve been trying to set up visits with you and Travis for a while now,” Molly answers. “And you’ve dodged our requests.”

“You showed up at my mother‘s house unannounced,” Rosie says, glancing down at Gabrielle to be sure that the child is distracted by the tree’s decor. “That was inappropriate.”

“You have to understand, Molly was desperate to see her daughter,” Brent interjects. “I am, too.”

Rosie glowers at him. “I have to say, I’m a little disappointed, Commander. I’ve always looked up to you. I’ve thought of you as a friend. But your behavior in this situation… it’s coming off as very fake.”

“Fake?!” Molly asks, nearly doing a double-take.

“You say that you understand the impossible position Travis and I are in,” Rosie says, “and then you turn around and plan to sue us without even a heads-up?”

“Jimenez, people have said a lot of things about me,” Brent responds, “but the only thing artificial or fake about me is this.” He smacks the prosthetic limb that makes up the lower half of his leg for emphasis.

“Brent and I are her parents,” Molly says as she stands. “Do you expect us not to want her under our roof?”

“You don’t even live under the same roof,” Rosie says, her voice growing louder.

“Is everything all right?” Helen asks from across the room. Alex rises from the sofa, too, sensing the escalating situation.

Molly’s jaw flaps open and closed a few times before sputters, “We– we’ve managed to co-parent our sons without a problem.”

Rosie cocks her head. “Except for the time I had to pick one of them up for buying drugs. Remember that?”

“Watch it, Jimenez,” Brent says.

Travis hurries into the room as other guests stand at the border of the living room, unsure what to do.

But instead of heeding Brent’s warning, Rosie continues: “If the two of you think this is going to be some slam-dunk case because of biology, you’ve got another thing coming. I don’t think the courts will look too fondly at someone who stood trial for murder–“

“Rosie,” Travis says. He bends down to pick up Gabrielle.

“I’m only being practical,” she says defiantly. 

Several feet away, Paula gasps and covers her mouth with both hands. “Now is not the time,” she manages to say, but no one seems to hear her.

“One could make the same argument about a woman who chose to date a drug dealer,” Molly says to Rosie. “Let alone the whole sordid story about your father.”

Rosie lifts a hand, preparing to slap the other woman, but Travis grasps her wrist.

“Don’t,” he says. “Think about how that’s gonna look.”

Vibrating with rage, Rosie nevertheless lowers her arm.

“Rocio,” Juanita Jimenez says forcefully as she enters the fray. “We are leaving.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Travis says as he holds Gabrielle in his arms.

Juanita flashes a deathly look at Molly. “Shame on you, bringing up my late husband like that.”

“Please, I’m sure we can all work this out,” Paula says with desperation.

But Travis glares at his aunt and uncle. “Not if they’re going to keep hitting below the belt.”

He and Rosie crowd around Gabrielle as they scurry back to the entryway. Juanita follows after them.

“What happened?” Paula asks as she moves toward Molly.

Molly sets her jaw. “Rosie got incredibly defensive when I tried to discuss how we’re going to move forward with regards to Gabrielle.”

“Everyone is just feeling a little heated right now,” Brent says. “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, all of us coming here today.”

Tim passes by, casting a critical eye at his sister. 

“This was not how today was supposed to go,” he says sharply.

“It’s not my fault!” Molly says.

“She’s doing her best in a very difficult situation,” Paula adds. “We all are.”

With a disapproving frown, Tim moves off to join his son and daughter-in-law.

“What happened?” Sarah asks Alex quietly as she slips into the room.

“Molly and Brent got into it with Rosie,” Alex tells her in a hushed voice. “They’re leaving.”

Paula rubs Molly’s arm. “I know you’re under a lot of stress, honey. I’m sure this will blow over.”

Several feet away, Sarah rolls her eyes. “Another successful Christmas in the books,” she mutters to Alex. “And we haven’t even gotten to dinner yet.”

Bing Crosby’s rendition of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” continues to play, its mournful notes underscoring the dour mood throughout the house.

“…if only in my dreams…”

END OF EPISODE 1165

Is there any peaceful way for the custody situation to resolve?
Can Alex and Trevor overcome the tension between them?
What is Natalie going to do with her knowledge about Sonja?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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