Previously…
– With Conrad and Elly as their legal counsel, Molly and Brent sued Travis and Rosie for custody of Gabrielle.
– Claire, already on-edge after witnessing a kiss between Tim and Sonja, lambasted Molly over the custody suit when the two women ran into each other.
– Trevor confronted Finn about the phone call he received from Katherine Fitch, a major shareholder in Objection Designs. As a distraction tactic, Finn kissed Trevor.

The Wild Lady is uncharacteristically quiet at the moment, with no music coming through its speakers at all. Very welcome winter sunlight spills in through the oak-framed windows on the establishment’s eastern side. Kathleen Bundy stands at the bar, rolling up silver cutlery in plain white napkins, when she hears the saloon doors up front swinging. She glances up to see her son and his wife entering, each holding a hand of the toddler in the pink coat between them.

“Is that Gabrielle?” the bar’s proprietor exclaims as she sets down a roll-up. “But this little girl is so big — how could it be?”

“It’s me!” the little girl shouts excitedly.

“C’mere and give me a hug,” Kathleen says. Travis and Rosie release Gabrielle’s hands, and she hurries toward Kathleen on her short legs.

“Thanks for watching her while we go meet with the lawyer,” Travis tells his biological mother.

Kathleen scoops up Gabrielle in her arms and plants a kiss on her chubby cheek. “You don’t have to thank me. I’ll take care of this precious grandbaby any time you need.”

“Well, it’s a big help,” Rosie says. “We have a lot to go over before the preliminary hearing, and…”

“We’d like to shield you-know-who from as much of it as possible,” Travis finishes for her.

“Don’t you worry another minute about us,” Kathleen says cheerily. “We are gonna have so much fun this afternoon!”

Travis maintains a hopeful smile for his daughter’s sake, even as he says, “Good. And we’re going to find out what our odds are in this hearing. It feels like the decks are stacked against us–“

“Psssh. Hardly,” Kathleen replies.

“The courts do tend to side with biological parents in cases like this,” Rosie says.

Kathleen places a hand on her hip. “Be that as it may… it’s not always that cut-and-dry. Take my situation. I wasn’t in any place to raise a baby on my own. Do I regret not knowing Travis while he was growing up? Dang straight. But being raised by Tim and Claire was one hundred percent the right thing for him. Right?”

“I guess so,” Travis says, a tremor of anxiety apparent in his voice. “Do you want to testify to that during the hearing?”

“Who’s testifying about what?” a brash female voice asks.

The three of them turn to see Elly Vanderbilt in her black trench coat, stopped just inside the saloon doors.

—–

Trevor Brooks feels his muscle fibers tighten up as he drives his SUV down the street and sees his husband in front of their yellow bungalow, cleaning up the front yard. It is one of the first days all winter on which the sun is shining and the sky is clear, with no rain or heavy wind monopolizing the outdoors, and Alex is taking advantage of it by cleaning up all the debris that has been littering their property as a result of the recent nasty weather. Normally, the site of his husband tending to their home would bring a smile to Trevor’s face; today it causes a twisting, sinking sensation in his gut.

He pulls into the driveway and steps out of the vehicle. Alex, holding an armful of branches and leaves with his gloved hands, grins at him.

“He went into the playdate without screaming for you to stay?” he asks.

“Yes! We’re making progress,” Trevor says as cheerfully as he can. Not that their son’s social development doesn’t genuinely make him happy — it does. But since he arrived home from work last night, following his surprising encounter with Finn Campbell, he has been grateful for the buffer that Chase offers.

“That’s great,” Alex says. He crosses to the large green bin in front of the garage to dump the debris he is carrying.

“Here. Let me.” Trevor hurries over and lifts the lid.

Alex drops the pile into the bin. “Thanks. You’re my prince.”

“Prince of trash,” Trevor jokes uneasily. “Thanks for cleaning this stuff up.”

“I’m just glad to have a day to do it. And I’ll pick up Chase later, don’t worry.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

“I insist.” Alex tugs at the fingers of the work gloves. “So, hey…”

Trevor’s body tenses even further. “Yeah?”

“Did you get a chance to have that conversation with Finn? About the phone call he got from Katherine Fitch?”

He knew it was coming, but Trevor still gulps at the inquiry.

—–

“How I wish it hadn’t come to this,” Paula Fisher says wearily as she wraps her hands around the mug of coffee in front of her. She and her eldest daughter sit at the dining room table inside Paula’s house, discussing the upcoming hearing over custody of Gabrielle.

Molly Taylor takes a sip of her own coffee and then sets the mug down on the dark wooden table. “You’re telling me. Never in a million years did I think I’d be taking my nephew and his wife to court to get custody of my own daughter.”

Paula offers a sympathetic nod. “I was hoping you’d all be able to resolve this amongst yourselves… but I know that’s overly optimistic of me.”

“I know that the thought of handing over Gabrielle after taking care of her for this long must seem awful to Travis and Rosie. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. But she’s also our daughter…”

As Molly trails off, the chime of the doorbell fills the house. Paula begins to push out her chair.

“I’ll get it,” Molly insists, and she quickly stands and moves through the living room toward the home’s entryway. When she pulls open the door, she is surprised to see her older brother standing there.

“Tim. Hi,” she says awkwardly.

He hovers in the doorway, unsure what to say to her.

“I came by to see Mom,” he finally says.

“Tim?” Paula asks as she emerges from the dining room and comes toward the entry. “I didn’t know you’d be by.”

“I was taking care of some things in the area, and–” He stops and shakes his head. “It’s nothing big. Sorry to interrupt.”

“You don’t need to rush out of here,” Paula says, but when both Tim and Molly divert their gazes, she gets a knowing look on her face.

“I don’t want this situation to rip our family apart,” she tells her children.

“Neither do I,” Molly and Tim say in near-unison. The siblings catch themselves and then stare at one another.

Tim cocks his head to one side. “I’m not the one dragging their own family to court.”

“This isn’t how I wanted things to go, either,” Molly says. “But you can spare me the lecture about what a monster I am. I already got quite the earful from Claire.”

“From Claire?” Tim asks.

“I ran into her at 322 and she went in on me for daring to try and get back the baby who was stolen from me minutes after I gave birth,” she explains bitterly. “Frankly it seemed aggressive, even for her.”

Paula sighs. “I wish everyone would stop arguing.”

“I don’t know how realistic that is right now,” Tim says. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Tim,” Paula says.

He holds up one hand in defeat. “It’s nice. Guess I’ll see you in court, Molly.”

He retreats down the front steps of the house in which he grew up, leaving his mother and sister at the open door. Molly exhales loudly in distress.

Tim swiftly makes his way back to his car, his emotions whipped up once more after this unexpected run-in with his sister and the way it has evoked all the pain that this custody hearing is likely to bring. As he gets back into his car, a related but separate thought occurs to him as Molly’s words ring in his head.

“What is going on with you, Claire?” he wonders aloud as he starts the engine.

—–

“Don’t worry. I’m not here to spy on your legal strategy,” Elly announces as she saunters into The Wild Lady.

Travis furrows his brow at his ex-girlfriend, while Rosie glowers at the redheaded attorney.

“I came to see my dad,” Elly says. “Is he around?”

Kathleen switches Gabrielle to her other hip. “‘Fraid not, hon. He ran out to handle some errands before we open.”

“Dammit. It was worth a shot.” She looks to Travis and Rosie. “Hi, guys.”

“Hi, Elly,” Travis says coolly.

Elly awaits a response from Rosie but receives none. Reacting with a slight roll of the eyes, Elly looks to Gabrielle.

“Hi, Gabrielle,” she says with a tiny wave.

“Don’t talk to her,” Rosie snaps.

Elly rolls her head back to face Rosie. “Is this attitude because I’m representing my uncle and Molly?”

“I’m gonna take Gabrielle in the back for one of those cookies I baked,” Kathleen says with exaggerated brightness. “You like chocolate chip, don’t you, Gabby?”

“Chocolate chip!” the little girl cheers, and Kathleen quickly spirits her through the swinging door behind the bar. The other three adults remain quiet until they are gone.

“I don’t wish you guys any ill will,” Elly tells Travis and Rosie. “You know that.”

“Do we?” Rosie asks bitingly.

Elly turns her focus toward Travis. “Come on, Travis. You know I’m not malicious.” When he doesn’t respond immediately, she adds, “Brent is my uncle. Molly has been really, really good to me and my mom. And their baby was stolen from them, like, right after she was born–“

“We’re not disputing any of that,” Travis says.

“Then you’ll understand that I’m doing my job,” Elly replies. “I’m sure this custody case scares you both–“

“What scares us is thinking about what kind of tricks you might pull,” Rosie says. “I’ve heard all about what happened to Jason when he went up against Spencer and Natalie over Peter.”

Elly purses her lips and folds her arms.

“We should get going,” Rosie continues as she takes Travis’s hand.

He nods in agreement. “Let’s go out the back so we can say goodbye to Gabrielle.”

The spouses quickly round the end of the bar and disappear through the swinging door to the kitchen. Elly remains alone in the empty main area of the bar, reeling from the uncomfortable encounter.

—–

Trevor’s cheeks feel hot as he takes in Alex’s question, and it has nothing to do with the mild sun sitting up in the sky.

“I, uh, yeah. I did,” he finally says. “Last night.” Anticipating Alex’s follow-up, he hastens to add, “I didn’t want to say anything with Chase around.”

Alex shrugs, accepting that, and then asks, “So what happened?”

Trevor’s mind flashes back to Finn pressing his lips against Trevor’s, the way their mouths crushed together as Trevor parted his own lips and felt Finn’s tongue flicking inside his mouth.

“Nothing,” he says hurriedly. “He denied it.”

“Denied it? I saw Katherine Fitch’s name on his phone–“

“No, not that. He said Katherine called him trying to reach Gia, so he got them connected, and that’s all he knows.”

“Hmm,” Alex says, touching his knuckles to his chin.

“I just don’t care,” Trevor says. “If Gia is up to something — Molly has so much going on with the custody case. I don’t want to alarm her when we don’t have any concrete info. You know?”

“Yeah. I understand.”

“Let’s not worry about Finn anymore,” Trevor says, pushing a smile across his lips. “None of it matters. Nothing matters but what we have here: our house, each other, Chase.”

“Aww,” Alex says, and he relaxes his posture as Trevor reaches down and takes both of his hands.

“This is what’s important,” Trevor tells him. And when Alex leans in and kisses him, for a split-second, Trevor recalls the way Finn’s mouth felt on his. He clenches his eyes closed harder, doing his best to force out the memory and focus on his husband.

END OF EPISODE 1172

Will Trevor keep his kiss with Finn in the past?
Can the Fishers survive this custody case?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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