Previously…
– Travis and Rosie were served with papers from Molly and Brent, suing them for custody of Gabrielle.
– Claire arrived at the safehouse with antibiotics for TJ and was shocked to witness Tim and Sonja in a kiss. She dropped off the antibiotics and quickly exited. Afterward, Tim told Sonja that he’s no longer interested in a relationship with her.
– After Alex noticed Finn receiving a phone call from Katherine Fitch, Trevor was upset when Alex insinuated that Finn could be up to something sneaky at Objection. Trevor decided to ask his friend and coworker about the call.
On the eighteenth floor of Winston Tower, a wall of westward-facing windows reveals the last vestiges of a bright pink-and-orange sunset. In her cubicle, Samantha Fisher finishes packing up her messenger bag. She looks up and takes in the beautiful sunset, still barely gleaming at the edge of the horizon; since awakening from her coma last fall, she has found herself being more appreciative of beauty in the world around her, more grateful that she has the opportunity to witness it at all. Small moments such as this have certainly made her long, arduous recovery more tolerable.
She slings the bag over her shoulder and winds her way through the mostly empty bullpen of work stations to one of the private offices that border the space. Inside, she finds Trevor Brooks at his desk. Given the rapidly fading sunlight outside, the office is dim, save for the warm glow of a desk lamp.
“I just e-mailed you the PDF with that revised copy,” Samantha says from the doorway.
Trevor looks up and smiles. “Thanks, Sam. It’s nice to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back. Really good.”
“Well, I’m very happy to have you.” He smacks his palms down on the edge of the desk and then stands. “Thanks for being so on top of your assignments, too. How are you feeling?”
“Okay. I get tired, but okay overall.”
“Good. If you need time, or you want to go back to half-days or remote–“
She chuckles. “I’m going to do my best to put on real clothes and leave the house. A few months in a hospital bed makes you appreciate that stuff.”
“I’m sure. You look good, though. Healthy. Like yourself.”
“Thank you. Are you going home soon? Everyone else is almost gone…”
“I think so.” He tacks on a nod that reads as uncertain to her. “I have a, uh, meeting I’ve been waiting on that keeps getting bumped back. But soon.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” a voice says from the doorway, and both Samantha and Trevor turn to see Finn Campbell standing there. “Gia’s had me running around all afternoon.”
“I’m going to head home,” Samantha says. “My ride should be here in a minute.”
The three say their goodbyes, and Samantha exits the office. Trevor rounds the desk and crosses the room.
“Thanks for stopping by,” Trevor says. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Your text made it seem kind of serious,” Finn replies.
Trevor closes the door. “It is. But before I say anything — what we discuss has to stay in this office. Okay?”
“Okay,” Finn says, his voice laced with uneasiness. “What’s going on, Trevor?”
The front door of 322 Bar & Grill swings open as a group of diners step out onto the sidewalk. Despite the wool coat she is wearing, Claire Fisher shivers and folds her arms against the burst of cold. She cranes her head to look out at the restaurant full of customers, hoping in vain to see the hostess returning with her to-go order.
She feels another cold gust hit her from behind, and this time, she turns to see Molly Taylor coming through the door into the eatery. The two women lock eyes, but neither speaks for several seconds.
“Claire. Hi,” Molly finally says, the syllables tight and tense. “Waiting for a table?”
Claire shakes her head. “Takeout.”
“Ah.” Molly draws in a deep breath through her nostrils. “How are you–“
“I’m not interested in making small talk,” Claire interrupts in a flat tone. “Not after what you’ve done.”
Molly reacts with surprise, her eyes widening and her perfectly shaped eyebrows jumping.
“I assume you’re talking about the custody situation,” she says.
“If by ‘situation,’ you mean how you ambushed my son and his wife with a lawsuit instead of trying to work things out civilly — like family — then yes. That’s what I’m talking about.”
“Ambushed? Come on, Claire,” Molly says. “Brent and I are doing what we need to do for our daughter.”
“No,” Claire says. “You’re doing what you’ve always done, Molly: take whatever you want from whoever happens to have it. Just like you did to Sarah and to me when you decided that you wanted Brent for yourself.”
—–
“You’re making me nervous,” FInn tells Trevor. With the door closed, a thick cloud of tension has been sealed in the office with them. “Is this about the house? I’m trying to find a roommate–“
“It isn’t about the house,” Trevor says. “It’s about work.”
“Okay…”
“Has Gia asked you to do anything… uncomfortable lately?”
“What do you mean? Are you asking me if Gia has harassed me?” Finn lets out a caustic laugh. “Trevor, she’s well aware that I’m, you know, pretty gay.”
“No, I mean… something that feels unethical. Underhanded.”
Finn furrows his brow. “What are you getting at?”
“Alex told me that he noticed something a little weird,” Trevor explains. “He said you got a call from Katherine Fitch.”
Trevor observes Finn’s reaction closely, but it is too muted to read very well.
“I’m not following,” Finn says.
“Katherine Fitch is a major shareholder in Objection, as I’m sure you know if you’ve been on Gia’s desk for this long,” Trevor says.
“And Gia is the acting CCO of the company. What’s so weird about a shareholder calling her?”
“Gia isn’t the CEO. She runs creative. Why would a shareholder — especially one with as much clout as Katherine Fitch — be calling her? Or you?”
“Katherine wanted to get a hold of Gia. I don’t know,” Finn replies. “I take messages and patch through calls. Maybe she didn’t like the dresses she saw on the website.”
“Hmm.” Trevor touches his fist to his chin. “You really have no idea what they discussed? I can tell you that Molly didn’t talk to shareholders very often. They were definitely not hitting up Tori‘s cell phone trying to get Molly.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Trevor,” Finn says, but his gaze lingers on the slate gray, nylon carpet. “Except…”
Trevor’s head juts forward. “Except what?”
“You said Alex told you about that call?” Once Trevor nods, Finn continues, “Why was he even looking at my phone?”
“He came by the house to check on something. He just happened to notice it when your phone rang.”
“And he ran straight home to tattle on me, huh?”
“I don’t think it was like that,” Trevor says.
“I do.”
“Why would Alex be so giddy about accusing you of something shady?”
“Because,” Finn simply says.
“Because…?”
“Because he doesn’t like me. He never has. Don’t you get the feeling that Alex is, well, threatened by me?”
“What do you mean, threatened? By what?”
Finn inhales sharply, as if steeling himself, and then surges forward, closing the gap between himself and Trevor.
“Because of this,” he says, and then he plants his lips right on Trevor’s.
—–
By the time Samantha takes the elevator downstairs and exits Winston Tower, the sunset has faded even further, and a dim navy sky hangs over King’s Bay. She quickly scans the street and sees her father‘s car parked a few spaces down from the building.
“Thanks for picking me up,” she says as she opens the passenger door and slides into the vehicle.
“You don’t have to thank me,” Tim Fisher tells her with a smile. “We’re going to the same house. And I work downtown, too.”
“You’re still going out of your way.” She tucks the messenger bag between her feet and buckles her seatbelt. “But I think the doctors will clear me to drive soon.”
“Don’t rush things. Besides, I’ll miss having this time with you.”
“Well, I appreciate you making the extra effort,” she says as Tim pulls away from the curb and into downtown traffic. “How was work?”
“I actually wasn’t in the office much today,” Tim says with a sigh.
“Because of Travis?” Off Tim’s look, she explains, “He texted me about the custody lawsuit.”
“I’m a little floored that it’s come to this. Going to court can get really ugly, and this could drag on for a long time.”
“But they all want to raise Gabrielle,” Samantha says. “And I don’t think Travis and Rosie are just going to hand her over.”
“I don’t, either,” Tim admits.
“Did you have to leave work to go help Travis and Rosie out?”
“Oh, no, I haven’t seen them since I heard. I got a call from Sonja that TJ was sick, so I rushed over there.”
“Is he okay?” Samantha asks with alarm.
Tim nods as he puts on his blinker and makes a right turn. “He should be. It’s strep throat. Sonja was panicking, but I had Claire bring over some antibiotics.”
“That should do the trick. And that was nice of Claire.”
“It was, yeah.” Seemingly distracted, he stares at the traffic light up ahead as it turns from yellow to red. He brings the car to a stop and says, “I don’t know if I overstepped by asking Claire to help, but we were in a bind.”
“Why would think you overstepped?” Samantha asks.
“I’m not sure,” he admits. “But something about the way she dropped off the meds and then raced out of there — it was off. I can’t put my finger on it, but she seemed upset about something. Like she wanted to get away from that place as soon as possible.”
——
In the entryway of 322, Molly gasps at Claire’s accusation. She quickly glances around to reassure herself that they are alone — or as alone as they can be in a public place — and then shuffles closer so that she can speak in a hushed tone.
“I’m not proud of all my actions,” she declares, “and I’ll be the first to admit my mistakes. But Sarah manipulated Brent into marrying her–“
“That doesn’t sound like admitting your mistakes,” Claire says.
Molly glowers for a moment before continuing: “And Brent and I were disrespectful of his relationship with you when we thought we were going to die. But this is entirely different. Gabrielle is our child.”
“So you’re going to drag your nephew and his wife — who have taken excellent care of Gabrielle for two years — to court over her?”
“What else are we supposed to do?” Molly challenges.
“Not act like these are two strangers who kidnapped your baby. Travis is your nephew. And Brent is close to Rosie–“
“Which is why I thought I could try to bridge the gap by bringing presents for Gabrielle at Christmas. But look how that turned out. They took it as overstepping.”
“They heard you talking about suing them as you walked in the door!” Claire says. “Of course they weren’t receptive to gifts after that.”
“I had been trying to set up a time to see Gabrielle for weeks, and they kept stalling,” Molly says. “I’m sorry this is upsetting for you, Claire. I would’ve loved to avoid a legal situation. But she is our daughter.”
Claire is relieved to spot the hostess returning with a large paper bag.
“That’s my order,” she tells Molly, and as soon as the hostess makes it back to the stand in the entryway, Claire takes the bag’s handle, thanks her, and exits — with one final glare at Molly. She feels so heated with frustration and anger that she hardly even notices the cold now, as she hurries back to her car in the lot beside the restaurant.
—–
The warm softness of Finn’s lips on his sends a shockwave through Trevor. It has been a long time, years, since he kissed anyone but Alex, and he is immediately aware of how different Finn’s kiss feels — yet something about it is so familiar, so primal, that Trevor feels his own lips parting enough for the tip of Finn’s tongue to snake past and caress his own tongue.
“Whoa,” he says suddenly, pulling back. “What was that?”
Finn’s expression is wild with curiosity and possibility, yet stops just short of a full-on smirk.
“That’s what I was talking about,” he tells Trevor. “That’s what I think Alex can sense.”
“That you were going to kiss me? Finn–“
“That there’s something between us. A little bit of a heat. A thing. You know.”
Trevor stares back at the slightly younger man as a torrent of conflicting emotions surge through his body. He’d be lying if he were to say he didn’t find Finn attractive — he’s even admitted as much to his husband — but he had not planned on making out with him in the office after-hours.
“That can’t happen again,” Trevor says.
“Really? Okay.” Finn takes a step backward. “You guys don’t ever play on the side? Or together? I’ve wanted to ask…”
“No. I mean… we’ve discussed — it doesn’t matter. I can’t be kissing another guy — a coworker — behind Alex’s back.”
“Okay, understood. I won’t breathe a word of this to Alex. I promise.”
“Thanks,” Trevor says, his head spinning. “It’s just — look. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea.”
“You didn’t.”
“Okay.”
Unable to stand still, Trevor returns to the desk, grabs his cell phone, keys, and coat, and clutches all three in his palms.
“I actually need to get home,” he says.
Finn simply nods.
“Uh, goodnight,” Trevor says as he moves awkwardly past Finn to leave the office.
“Goodnight, Trevor. And I’m sorry for crossing a line there.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Trevor lifts the hand that holds his phone and keys in a half-wave as he exits. His heart is still thumping when he reaches the elevator, and it is only once he is on his way down to the parking garage that he stuffs his keys and phone into his pockets and then wriggles into his coat.
Still descending, he brings two fingers up to his lips. He can still feel the way Finn’s mouth felt against his.
That can’t happen again, he thinks.
—–
Back in Trevor’s office, Finn stands alone, dazed from the whirlwind experience that he just had.
“That won’t be the last time that happens,” he says quietly as he gazes at a framed photo on Trevor’s desk, showing Trevor, Alex, and Chase dressed in matching Christmas pajamas.
And at least you forgot all about Alex’s nosy questions, his mind adds as he swipes a hand over his brown hair.
END OF EPISODE 1171
Should Trevor avoid Finn from now on?
Was Claire wrong to accuse Molly as she did?
Should Tim ask Claire what’s going on?
Talk about it all in the comments below!
It looks like the custody battle is heating up as Molly and Claire get into it. I think deep down Claire is still salty at the sight of Sonja kissing Tim. Although it’s clear she’s still upset about Molly coming between her and Brent, then again, Brent and Claire were always better off as friends. Both of them had valid points, although let’s not act like Rosie would’ve been receptive to Molly and Brent if they suggested an arrangement to Gabrielle.
Well, it was a long time coming, as Finn and Trevor’s attraction has reached a whole new level. I think Finn has been wanting to do that for a while now, and it seems Trevor was verklempt yet delighted by it too. I mean, he has been with Alex for a long time, and let’s not forget his dalliances with porn and modeling, during which I’m sure he wasn’t as monogamous as he’s been now. Yet it was also obvious that Finn kissed him partly to distract him from answering his questions regarding Katherine and Gia.
And come on, Tim, put two and two together about why Claire left Sonja’s safe house like a bat out of hell. 🤣
Things are definitely moving along!
Bre
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, Bre!
Claire is absolutely keyed-up because of the kiss between Tim and Sonja that she witnessed, so that left her primed to go off on someone, and Molly was the perfect target. She has a lot of pent-up resentment toward Molly because of the way Gabrielle was conceived, but she’s generally been able to get past that except when things are heated (see also: when Brent had Tempest arrested for stalking Jaq). You’re right about Rosie’s part in this, though — it’s not like she and Travis have been holding open the door for Molly and Brent to see their child. There are a lot of historical angles baked into this whole setup, so it’s been fun to take little moments to spotlight all of those.
LOL about Tim being obtuse — in his defense, Claire made it seem that she only arrived after Tim had pushed Sonja away, so it might take him a second to realize what happened! We’ll definitely get into that more shortly.
Finn has absolutely wanted to make a move on Trevor for a while, but as it turns out, he only pushed himself to cross that line once he needed to do so to preserve his secret mission. Trevor took a responsible stance in response, but Trevor’s no angel, as you point out. He also fell into bed with Dylan the minute Dylan told him a lie about Alex, and he went after Dylan with a knife when Dylan jeopardized Alex’s book deal, and he cheated on Liam with Alex! So he’s no stranger to the gray area of the moral spectrum, and it’s clear that the attraction between him and Finn is mutual. Still, an attraction is not infidelity, so we’ll see how he handles this going forward. Finn seems to have achieved his goal of flustering Trevor so badly that his suspicions fell away, too. We’ll see what Alex thinks about that!
Thanks again!
I have NEVER liked Claire more than in this episode. She racked Molly over the coals and I loved every single minute of it. I know that Gabrielle is her child, but I am still 100% team Rosie/Travis in this because, like Claire, I have just found Molly so cringe in all of this. She means well but everything she does just turns out to be a mess, which does make the story interesting. I still think, in the end, Molly/Brent will get the child because of the kidnapping/switch but I hope it is torture for Molly in court. And I do get that Claire was reeling from seeing Sonja and Tim kissing but I am glad that she said what she said to Molly; she needs to know how poorly she has behaved.
And whoa, Finn FINALLY went there with Trevor. This has been building for months, so it was bound to happen, but I did love how he kissed him to escape the questions of his connection to Gia & Katherine; his kiss obviously rattled Trevor enough that he completely forgot what he was talking to Finn about in the first place. I sense that Trevor will soon become like Luk-ass and actually fall into bed with the Finn. What I love is that it feels very much like Sleeping with the Enemy, which I love. I can’t wait to see how this unfolds.
Thanks, Dallas! And LOL — I suspect there are quite a few folks who would not consider themselves Claire fans who were cheering her on this episode. One thing that I wanted to do with Loretta’s whole complex scheme to get revenge on Molly was not to have Molly be just a hapless victim. She’s a real person (er… in my mind) who has a good heart but also some very real flaws, and it’s been fun to expose those flaws throughout this story. Yeah, she and Brent thought they might be dying, but she didn’t give Claire a second thought when she had sex with Brent. In her mind, he was “hers.” And, as you point out, she’s been aggressive (even if it’s pretty understandable!) in how she has acted toward Travis and Rosie with regards to Gabrielle. She isn’t wrong for wanting to raise her own child, but some of her tactics have been, at the least, not super-savvy.
Plus it’s fun to let two “good” characters get into it a bit!
I suspected you’d enjoy this episode’s developments with “Fevor.” It HAS been building for quite some time, but just as Finn isn’t what he seems to most of King’s Bay, neither could this kiss be as simple as, well, a kiss. Finn definitely wanted to do it, but when he did, it was a tactic in his plan to wrest Objection away from Molly. Time will tell if Trevor has more willpower than Luk-ass, but yeah, there’s a very Sleeping With the Enemy layer to this, which is making it a lot of fun. It gets Trevor and Alex wrapped up in one of the umbrella stories, even if they don’t quite realize it yet.
Thanks again!
Okay; first and foremost, do these people not use UberEats or DoorDash? I would’ve thought by now they’d start avoiding chance human encounters. Especially in Kings Bay, a place where everyone you know is picking-up food at the same three restaurants. Although, to be fair, I’m sure that encounter was nice to see while enjoying dinner.
I think that you’ve done a great job with making it hard to root for just one side in all of this. Molly & Brent didn’t choose to give Gabrielle up, nor did Travis & Rosie choose to swindle her away from her birth parents. Having this interaction between Molly & Claire is good because; 1. Who the hell does Molly think she is trying to be friendly with Claire after everything she’s taken from her 😂 & 2. Claire needs to find another child to raise because she’s terrible at dating the same three guys in Kings Bay!
I do like the interactions between the rest of the family as they begin navigating the realities of what was left unfinished at Christmas time. How certain people have chosen sides while others really do think everything’s going to work out just fine. It’s a real world issue that plagues many families given a tough decision like this. I cannot wait to see Rosie’s mom’s interaction with Molly down the line. I just know she’s not going to back down to anyone in the Fisher family — which is a long time coming.
Finnster, darling, there’s a sea of men who have tried the very thing that you’ve tried. I do love his line when he tries to pay it cool about “playing around” it’s a reality in the gay community so I’m glad you didn’t shy away from that. But for him to make such a big move like that and then play it off afterwards is a fumble on his part. Antoni. Stop grinning. That smile makes me weak. Especially when you’re being so devious. I’m sure he’s not going to stop pinning Trevor against Alex, especially now that he has ammunition for the cannon. I just hope that Alex can overcome his insecurities and see past the Trevor & Finn situation and sniff out the lie that he’s brewing. Alex is smart… but he lets his emotions/insecurities guide him way too often. & of course now that Bricks for Brains, stud muffin Trevor went and blabbed everything to Finn I’m sure he’ll be cooking something up to keep his secrets.
Great episode Michael!
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment! Always love hearing from you.
*Dead* at your comment about UberEats or DoorDash. You really would think they’d all want to avoid going out in public at any cost, huh? I suppose one of the ‘buys’ of writing a soap in 2023 is that people are going to schlep down to a restaurant to pick up their own food instead of having it brought to their doorstep — i.e., I needed a reason for Claire and Molly to bump into one another. But yeah, folks, maybe drive an extra 15-20 minutes instead of hitting up 322, Windmills, or Bill’s on the Pier. No good ever comes of it!
And thank you for your comments on the baby switch storyline. It was a major goal of mine that there not be one “right” side and one “wrong” side. Everyone’s in a terrible situation with, frankly, no GREAT resolution. The only way this ends is with someone in pain. Which sucks! That said, everyone’s also not behaving as kindly or as neatly or as smartly as they could, but that’s how people are, and it’s what I love capturing in my writing. Rarely do we have the “perfect” reaction to difficult situations. Claire’s obviously all too happy to have an excuse to go off on Molly, and being in Mama Bear Mode makes that even more pointed. And you’re so right about this being a real thing in families — one thing that drives me nuts is how certain members of my own family just want to hand-wave trouble away and say, “It’ll all be fine, don’t worry.” Well, sometimes it’s impossible NOT to worry! This story will move into the courtroom soon, and we’ll continue to see this, uh, diversity of attitudes and viewpoints on full display.
I’m glad you enjoyed the reference to Trevor and Alex having some sort of open relationship or “flexible monogamy.” It’s a very real issue, and it would be weird for it *not* to come up between two guys in their early 40s. Finn definitely knew he could bust out a kiss to throw Trevor off-balance and distract him from the issue of Gia/Katherine, so he succeeded in that regard, at least for now — but clearly he has been wanting to kiss Trevor, too. And Trevor really is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, huh? His big plan just clued in Finn as to Alex’s suspicions. There will be some really fun fallout from this, and the story as a whole is about to hit some major momentum.
Thanks again!