Previously…
– Travis and Rosie finally reunited, but not before he was hit on by and bought a drink for Jasmine, not realizing that she was a high school student.
– The night before the hearing over Peter’s custody, Jason and Alex were knocked out and placed in bed together. 
– A private investigator seemingly hired by Spencer and Natalie’s legal team produced evidence that Jason had an overnight guest and lied about having had a flat tire, causing the judge to dismiss Jason’s custody suit.

When he returns home from court, Jason Fisher is stunned by the absolute silence of his house. There were a lot of things he foresaw when he and Courtney purchased this home so many years ago, but complete quiet was not one of them. So often over the years, he has returned home to the sounds of Sophie yelling, or of Natalie bustling around, or Alex cheerily greeting him, or so many other signs of life. Today, however, the place is deathly still.

He kicks off his shoes, moves into the kitchen, and contemplates whether a drink is appropriate at this midday hour. He opts instead for a coffee and starts the espresso machine. Its hissing and chugging provides a welcome respite from the distressing quiet of the house, but it doesn’t take his mind off what happened in court.

The bang of the judge’s gavel rings in his head.

“Case dismissed.”

Just like that. His chances of bringing Peter home — raising the boy he knew as his son for two years — are gone. The very thought causes a sharp ache in the pit of his stomach.

He is pulling his cup out from beneath the machine’s nozzle when the doorbell rings. He considers ignoring it; as horrible as being alone in the house is, as it reminds him that Peter is not coming home now, he doesn’t think he can fake it with anyone right now.

Then he hears the voice calling through the door.

“Jason! Open up. It’s me!” his sister shouts.

He takes his coffee and walks back to the foyer. When he pulls open the door, Sarah is standing there in a black leather jacket and blue jeans, her face held tight with concern.

“Come here,” she says, quickly enveloping him in a hug.

“I’m guessing Mom told you,” Jason says, his chin hooked over her shoulder.

“Of course she did.” She gives him a squeeze and then moves inside the house. “Is Sophie here?”

Jason shakes his head. “She’s still with Helen and Don.”

“I figured.”

“What?”

“That you’d try and isolate yourself from the world like you do. I’m not letting you be alone right now.”

“Thanks. Seriously. But I’m okay.”

She levels a hard stare upon him. “Are you really?”

He shrugs. “I don’t even know. I was so convinced that I had a chance — that the judge would see how wrong it was that Natalie played God with all of our lives and would send Peter home with me. And then I didn’t even get to argue my case.”

“What happened? Mom explained, but it didn’t even make sense.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Jason says. “Someone set me up so that the case would be thrown out. And actually… I really need your help.”

—–

“Where’s my little boy?” Natalie Bishop calls out from the foyer of her and Spencer Ragan’s home.

“Mommy!” Peter’s voice shouts from somewhere toward the back of the house.

“He’s watching one of his shows in the family room,” Claudia Bishop says as she bustles into the foyer. Despite being on babysitting duty, the older woman is still dressed in a pink woven Chanel jacket and black slacks, her makeup and jewelry as refined as ever.

“I can’t wait to see him,” Natalie says.

“I’m happy the judge saw fit not to rip a little boy away from his mother,” Claudia comments.

“Or his father,” Spencer, who has just set the deadbolt on the front door, adds.

“Yes,” Claudia says. “Of course. I hope we’ll all be able to put this behind us now.”

Spencer moves past her and into the kitchen. The two women follow. Peter sits on the floor of the family room in the open-concept space, intent upon the iPad that rests before him.

“Hey, buddy,” Spencer says as he goes to the toddler. Peter looks up and flashes a cheesy grin.

“We missed you!” Natalie trills as she hurries in and rushes to Peter. “Did you have fun with Grandma?”

“We had a lovely time,” Claudia says as she trails them in. “We certainly saw a lot of those dogs…”

“Paw Patrol!” Peter cries out, sounding offended by her lack of recall.

“Yes, Paw Patrol. Peter was a very good boy.”

Natalie stoops down to give her son a hug, which he submits to even while keeping his gaze firmly on the iPad.

“I love you so much,” she tells him, “and you’ll always be safe here. You know that, right?”

Peter nods without breaking his attention from his program.

“I’m so happy that this nightmare is over,” Claudia says quietly to Spencer as they watch mother and child. “Thank goodness for that private investigator.”

Spencer breathes in sharply through his nose as he throws his mother-in-law a suspicious side-eye. “Yeah,” he says. “That really worked out well for everyone. Well, almost everyone.”

“Travis! Hey!”

Travis Fisher is pulling his debit card from the chip reader when he hears his name called. Both he and Rosie Jimenez, who is standing beside him at the counter of Cassie’s Coffee Shop, turn to see Travis’s cousin approaching. Travis quickly thanks the barista and steps aside.

“What’s up, Caleb?” Travis says to the teenager, who wears a denim jacket over a long black t-shirt and a backwards cap over his messy, dark hair.

“Not much. Just grabbing a snack.” Caleb’s eyes flicker over toward Rosie. “What about… you guys?”

Travis grins as Rosie wraps an arm around his waist.

“We’re good. Both off work today,” Travis says.

“So you’re like…” Rather than finish the question, Caleb motions back and forth between them with his index finger.

“We are,” Rosie says.

“Good. I’m glad.” The teen’s expression grows more serious as he looks to Rosie. “You know I never blamed you for all that…” Again he substitutes a hand gesture, this time an upward-facing palm, for the rest of his thought.

“Thanks,” she answers. “I was only doing my job. I didn’t want to have to bring you in.”

“I know. And you saved my ass by just calling my dad, and then you helped save him and my mom, so — thank you.”

“It was the least I could do,” Rosie says, a somber note infiltrating her words now. “Truly.”

Travis watches the moment play out between the two of them, hopeful that it will be one more step on the path to healing for Rosie now that Diego Barrera is dead and she can finally live her life without the specter of his threats hanging over her.

“Speaking of that whole disaster,” Travis says, in a pointedly more amused tone, “I had a little run-in with a friend of yours.”

Caleb frowns. “What? Who?”

“The girl who sent you to the park in the first place when Rosie picked you up. Jasmine.”

“What’d she do now?” Caleb asks with a groan.

“She used a fake to get into The Wild Lady and then tried to get me to buy her a drink,” Travis tells him.

Rosie swivels her head. “I thought you said you did buy her a drink.”

Travis grimaces. “I did. But she never drank it, because my mom and Brent showed up.”

“Did my dad bust her?” Caleb asks nervously.

“He recognized her and told her to get lost. But she is bad news, dude. Stay away from her.”

“Don’t worry,” Caleb says emphatically, as a barista calls Travis and Rosie’s names at the end of the counter. “I’m not gonna go anywhere near Jasmine Knight ever again.”

—–

“You genuinely don’t remember sending any of these texts to Alex?” Sarah asks as she passes her brother’s phone back to him.

“No. Because I didn’t,” Jason responds. He sets the phone down on the kitchen table, where he and Sarah are now sitting with two coffees.

“So who did?”

“Whoever knocked me out in the garage!” he says emphatically, jolting forward in his chair. “I know I pulled in… but I don’t remember anything after that until Alex and I woke up together.”

Sarah picks up her coffee cup, but before she can take another sip, she pauses.

“We need to get you to a lab,” she tells him. “Either at the hospital or a place that can draw blood to run a test. If someone drugged you…”

His eyes go wide. “Yes! That’s a great idea.”

She checks the time on her own phone, which has been resting on the table beside her. “It’s possible whatever’s in your system has passed by now, but it’s worth a shot. If you can prove someone drugged you, you might have a chance at appealing this.”

“Yeah.” Jason pushes out his chair and stands. “And the other thing I need from you…”

Sarah stands up, as well. “What is it?”

“I need you to figure out who the P.I. following me was, and who hired him or her. Because I’m convinced that the same person lured Alex over here and set us up last night.”

“Didn’t Elly claim that she did it?”

“Yeah, but maybe she’s covering for Natalie. Or Spencer. Or both. Or she had someone knock us out and plant us in the bed. My lawyers said there were photos of Alex and I together, going all the way back to Pride — us hugging, hanging out…”

Sarah shakes her head in disgust. “This is so gross.”

“Mm-hmm. And whoever did it needs to pay.”

“Do you really think Spencer would do this?” she asks. “He is family. And I know I’m the last person to act like that’s impossible, but even when I was my angriest at Molly… I don’t think I’d have done something this crazy.”

“He might be our family, but he’s also a Ragan. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

“Agreed.” She picks up her phone. “You call the hospital and see if there’s a lab that can take your blood. I’ll make some calls, too.”

“Great. Thank you.” He unlocks his phone and then pauses to focus on his sister. “I really appreciate it, Sarah.”

“Anything for you. I mean it.” She returns her attention to Googling local labs on her phone. “Now let’s get to the bottom of this.”

—–

While Natalie and Claudia tend to Peter, Spencer slips upstairs to change out of his suit. He hangs the pants and jacket in the expansive walk-in closet and tosses his dress shirt into the hamper.

As he pulls on a pair of gray joggers and a long-sleeved t-shirt, his mother-in-law’s voice keeps churning in his head:

“I’m so happy that this nightmare is over. Thank goodness for that private investigator.”

He hates to admit it, but Tim’s words have been haunting him ever since they left the courtroom. Spencer had no reason to doubt that Elly hired the P.I. — even if her shrewdness surprised him — but now he wonders if there might be something to what Tim said. And as much as he might not put it past Natalie, hearing Claudia speak in praise of the move made him realize another possibility entirely.

“I have to figure this out,” he says as he grabs his phone from the king-sized bed and directs the browser to Google Flights.

—–

“The hospital’s lab is open,” Jason tells Sarah when she finds him in the living room. Both still clutch their phones in their palms.

“Okay, great. I found a lab downtown that could take you, too,” she says.

“I’ll head to the hospital.”

Sarah stands by and watches as he grabs his shoes and sits down to put them on.

“I’m glad you’re doing this,” she says. “Just… be prepared for what the results might say.”

Jason stops mid-movement to look up at her. “What?”

“It’s been a long time, relatively speaking. The drug could’ve passed through your system, or whoever did this might have done something else to you.”

“Yeah, but it’s the best shot I’ve got.” He resumes tying his shoe. “I might actually have a chance of appealing the ruling and getting Peter back if something shows up on this test.”

Tight-lipped, Sarah nods. She moves to a nearby end table, where a photo of their parents rests. She picks it up and looks into their father’s face; it is so inviting, so familiar, that it seems impossible that she hasn’t actually seen it in the flesh in close to so long.

“It’s so weird that he’s gone, isn’t it?” she asks.

Jason finishes tying his other shoe and again looks up. “What?”

“Dad. It’s almost four years.”

“Yeah.” He lets out a sigh as he stands to join her. “Crazy, huh?”

“I always wonder if he’s seeing all this. You know I’m not religious the way Mom is, but… it’s nice to think that he watches out for us.”

“If he is, I wish he could step in,” Jason says. “Between everything you’ve had to go through with Tori, and this situation with Peter…”

“Maybe he is. Maybe there’s some kind of grand plan to all of this.”

Jason cocks an eyebrow at her. “You sound like Mom right now. Or–”

“Don’t say Molly.”

He seals his lips for a second. “Fine. I won’t.”

Sarah places the photo back on the table. “Sometimes it’s nice to think that he could have our backs. That this will all make sense in a way that we can’t see yet.”

“I’d like to think that, too,” Jason says, “but the world seems too fucked-up for me to buy it. But I do miss him. Especially at times like this.”

“Yeah.” She exhales heavily and then turns to him again. “Just keep your expectations in check, okay?”

“You know, sometimes I miss the old Sarah who refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Even in the face of all contrary evidence.” She rolls her eyes. “She’s still in there. Just with a little more common sense.”

“Send me some of that defiant energy if you can find it,” he says as he pulls his keys from the pocket of his suit jacket. “Because I need it today as much as I’ve ever needed it.”

END OF EPISODE 990

Does Jason stand a chance of appealing the ruling?
Where is Spencer planning to fly?
Will Caleb really be done with Jasmine forever?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

Next Episode