Previously…
– Desperate to stop the stress upon his loved ones, Travis signed a plea deal to accept responsibility for Loretta’s murder.
– After Rosie suggested that Sonja killed Loretta, Natalie tried to divert the accusations by positing that Spencer was the killer.
– Rosie produced proof that Sonja had been aware of TJ’s need for a bone marrow transplant prior to coming back to King’s Bay, and Sonja admitted that she had killed Loretta in order to be able to return to town safely.

Flashing lights from the squad car wash across the backyard in pulses of red and blue, turning the Fisher house into something surreal. Moments ago, the yard had been full of shouting, accusations, panic. Now there is only aftermath.

An officer finishes reading Sonja Kahele her rights, while another steps behind her with a pair of handcuffs. The metallic click seems to echo forever. Sonja flinches, not because the cuffs hurt, but because this is real.

She glances back at the house.

“Can I please see my son?” she asks the officers.

Brent Taylor steps up to the trio. “Not now, Sonja. We need to take you down to the station.”

“I have rights,” Sonja says through gritted teeth.

“You have a right to an attorney and to a fair trial,” Brent reminds her. “Not to stall this.”

“I have a son–“

“And he’ll be safe here with his father,” Brent says. “Let’s get you booked.”

Nearby, Rosie Jimenez stands frozen beside Travis Fisher. He has an arm around her back, pulling her close to him as if he is afraid to let go. Rosie’s hand clutches her stomach protectively.

Off to the side, Natalie Bishop stands by the patio table, pale and rattled.

“I can’t believe Sonja would do any of this,” Samantha says.

“Me neither,” Natalie agrees. Her mind is ten steps ahead of the present situation, but it cannot seem to find footing on any path that leads forward. Her niece lingers mere feet away, watching the spectacle unfold in disbelief.

I cannot let Sonja tell them about those payments that she thinks came from Loretta, she thinks, or it might blow me out of the water.

As the officers lead Sonja toward the back gate, they pass Tim and Claire Fisher, who are planted in the grass staring at her with horror.

“Tim,” Sonja says. “Please, you have to let me explain.”

Tim doesn’t move, doesn’t even blink. The hurt in his eyes is so deep that they almost look hollow.

Before he can find words, Travis approaches them.

“There’s nothing to explain,” Travis says. “You framed me.”

Sonja recoils, hands still bound behind her back. Tears begin to stream down her face. “I was trying to save my son–“

“You almost destroyed my life!” Travis fires back. Months of rage and fear crack through in his voice at once. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put Rosie through? And she’s pregnant!”

Rosie, coming up behind Travis, makes no move to stop him.

“I never wanted any of this,” Sonja whimpers.

Claire lets out a bitter laugh. “Save it, Sonja. Travis is TJ’s brother, and you did this to him.”

“Claire–“

“My son was about to go to prison for a murder he didn’t commit because of evidence you planted.” Fury radiates off Claire as she steps closer. “You sicken me.”

Sonja turns toward Tim. “Please, say something.”

But Tim’s expression is unreadable. It isn’t rage, and it isn’t grief, either. It is something different: complete disillusionment.

“You looked me in the eye every day,” he says. “Every day. You saw how painful it was for me to face losing TJ, and you– you were somehow okay taking another son away from me.”

“I didn’t mean for it to go so far,” Sonja pleads.

“But it did!” Tim holds up his hands. “I have nothing else to say to you.”

“Please!” Sonja cries, but Brent gives the officers a brisk nod. They continue leading her toward the gate and out of the backyard. This time, she does not resist.

Rosie instinctively holds onto Travis as they watch Sonja be taken away.

At the gate, Sonja looks back one final time. At Tim, the man who trusted her. At Claire, the woman who gave her a chance. At the house, with little TJ inside, wondering where his mother is.

Tim turns and walks back toward the house. Claire watches Sonja disappear out of the yard, then hurries after Tim. The flashing lights continue painting the yard in red and blue, even after the car door slams closed.

—–

Inside the house, the chaos from outside feels muffled and distant. Flashing police lights spill faintly through the living room curtains, bathing the walls in soft pulses of red and blue. Paula Fisher is doing her best to keep TJ focused on anything but those lights.

Seated on the sofa in front of the coffee table, she helps the little boy stack mismatched plastic blocks into a tower that keeps collapsing every minute or two.

“There,” Paula says warmly as TJ balances another piece on top. “That’s what I call architecture.”

TJ giggles. “It’s wobbly.”

“Just like Grandma after her water aerobics class.”

He screws up his face as he tries to work out that statement, but the sound of the sliding glass door opening in the kitchen steals his attention.

“Mommy?” he calls out.

Instead of Sonja, though, Tim and Claire enter the room.

“Daddy!” TJ says, springing to his feet. “Why’s there police outside?”

Tim catches him automatically, lifting the boy into his arms. The movement is pure instinct, but the moment TJ wraps his arms around his neck, something in Tim nearly breaks.

“Hey, buddy,” he says. “The police just had to ask some questions. Nothing to worry about.”

TJ glances toward the closed curtains. “Are the police mad at Mommy?”

Claire looks away instantly, pained. Paula slowly rises from the sofa.

“No,” Tim manages to say. “Mommy has to go take care of something, though.”

TJ frowns. “Where?”

Tim searches desperately for an answer that a child TJ’s age can live with.

“Downtown,” he says. “But you’re safe here with us, okay?”

“Can I FaceTime her?”

Tim forces himself to smile, though he barely holds it together. “Not tonight. But you can see her soon.”

TJ absorbs this with the solemn seriousness only children seem capable of, then nods. “Okay.”

He rests his head against Tim’s shoulder, already exhausted from a day he cannot possibly understand. Tim kisses the top of his son’s head. Over Tim’s shoulder, Paula meets Claire’s gaze, and the two women share a look of mutual, immediate heartbreak.

“Why don’t we go open that pack of cookies we bought yesterday?” Claire suggests.

TJ’s head jerks upward. “Really?”

“Really.” Claire holds out her hand. “Come on.”

Tim sets TJ down, and he runs off to the kitchen with Claire.

Paula softly asks Tim, “What happened out there?”

“I don’t even know how to feel,” Tim admits, staring toward the window as the police lights finally begin to pull away from the house.

—–

The backyard begins to empty. The squad car carrying Sonja is gone now, and neighbors who had drifted outside to observe the commotion retreat back into their homes. Rosie stands near the patio, arms wrapped around herself despite the warm spring air. She watches the gate at the side of the yard where Sonja disappeared only minutes ago. Now Travis pulls it closed and latches it.

“I kept thinking someone was going to stop it,” she says as he walks toward her.

“Stop what?” he asks, slipping an arm around her shoulders.

She leans into him. “All of it. Every time something good has come up lately, something I thought could save you… some other piece of evidence popped up to ruin it. I was scared it would happen again.”

A sad smile tugs at Travis’s mouth. “Me, too.”

He pulls her tighter against him. The weight of the last few months hangs in the miniscule space between them.

“You were really going to do it,” Rosie says.

“I didn’t have much choice.”

“You had a choice.”

His jaw tightens. “Rosie–“

“You could’ve kept fighting.”

“And lost.” The answer comes so quickly that she looks up at him with surprise. Now she can see it all: the exhaustion — not just physical, but mental. Emotional.

“You idiot,” she says with a shaky laugh.

He responds with a laugh of his own. Despite the exhaustion, it is a real laugh, genuine.

“We’re going to be okay,” Rosie tells him. “All three of us.”

But Travis is quiet. Too quiet.

“You don’t believe that?” she asks.

“I want to.” The honesty in his voice breaks her heart. “But I’m afraid to. I signed the plea deal. You know how Audrey Tam is.”

“Sonja confessed. There were a lot of witnesses.”

“Still.” He swallows hard. “I can’t let myself believe this is over until it’s actually over.”

Rosie nods, knowing there are no words that can wipe all of this away. She moves his hand to her stomach, and they hold onto one another as the quiet settles around them. For now, that is enough.

—–

The holding room is quiet, eerily so, as Sonja sits alone at the small metal table. Her hands, still cuffed, are folded tightly in front of her. Fluorescent lights cast a harsh glow across the gray walls, making everything feel even colder than it already is.

The sound of the door opening makes her look up immediately. Hope flashes across her face.

“Conrad.”

The attorney steps into the room. The door closes behind him, the sound echoing through the hollow space. Sonja waits for him to sit, but he doesn’t. He remains standing across the table from her.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” she says.

“I almost didn’t.” His fists are tight at his sides. “Sarah called me and filled me in.”

“Conrad, I can explain–“

“No.” His voice isn’t angry. It’s controlled. That somehow makes it worse.

“I never wanted any of this,” she says.

“Somehow, I believe that. But it did anyway.”

“I was scared,” Sonja says, what remains of her composure cracking. “I was trying to protect TJ. I know it sounds crazy–“

“It is crazy.”

The interruption lands like a slap. Sonja recoils. Conrad steps closer. She can see the disappointment in his eyes.

“I don’t condone murder, but I can understand why you might have felt like you had no choice but to poison Loretta,” he says, low and measured. “But you framed an innocent man. Methodically. Over months. And you saw how it was tearing me up that I might not be able to save him.”

Fresh tears spill down her cheeks. “I am so sorry. I didn’t want to keep this from you, Conrad. I’m falling in love with you…”

He shakes his head slowly. “I was falling in love with you, too. It turns out I never even knew you.”

“That isn’t true.”

He stares back at her, his gaze so intense that she reflexively drops her own toward the table.

“Will you at least represent me?” she asks.

“You want me to defend you?”

“I need you to. I know I’ve made terrible mistakes. But if you’ve ever cared for me… you’ll have enough mercy on me to help me. To help TJ.”

He lets out a slow breath. “I’ll refer you to a competent attorney.”

“I don’t want a competent attorney. I want you.”

All he can do is shake his head.

“I’ll make some calls and have someone contact the station within an hour or so,” he says.

He moves for the door, but as he grasps the handle, he stops.

“Sonja, if there’s any part of you that really is the woman I knew — the woman I thought I knew–“

“I am that woman. I swear. I just made a terrible mistake.”

“Then you’ll take full responsibility for this,” he says. “Cooperate with the District Attorney. Make it impossible for them to hold Travis to the plea deal that he signed a few hours ago.”

Sonja lets out a whimper as the reality of her situation truly strikes her.

“I’d like to believe you’ll do the right thing,” he says. His voice is softer, but not with affection — with grief.

Then he pulls the handle and opens the door. “Goodbye, Sonja.”

“Conrad. Wait.”

He walks out without looking back at her. Sonja’s head drops to the table as sobs overtake her.

END OF EPISODE 1304

Will Travis finally be cleared?
Does Sonja deserve forgiveness?
What’s ahead for Tim and TJ?
Talk about it all in the comments below!