Previously…
– When Jason and Alex woke up together and confused the morning of Peter’s custody hearing, Jason questioned whether Alex had something to do with the seeming setup.
– The judge dismissed Jason’s custody suit after a private investigator proved that Jason had lied about having a flat tire that morning.
– Spencer became suspicious of Elly’s claim that she had hired the P.I. without his and Natalie’s knowledge.

Alex Marshall is pouring Cheerios into a plastic bowl when he hears the doorbell ring. He stoops down to hand the cereal to his excited son, who immediately pops a piece into his mouth.

“Let me just see who that is,” Alex tells Chase as he dips out of the kitchen and moves to the front door of the bungalow.

“Hey,” he says after a moment’s pause. He wasn’t expecting to see Jason Fisher today, and having his best friend standing before him right now fills him with trepidation.

Jason’s expression is difficult to read. It takes him a few more seconds to say, “Hey. You have a minute?”

“Of course.” Alex steps aside to let Jason into the house and then closes the door.

“Hey, little man!” Jason says to Chase, suddenly switching on the enthusiasm. “What do you have there? Cheerios?”

“Mm-hmm,” Chase replies with an exaggerated nod and a grin.

“Aren’t you happy to see Uncle Jason?” Alex asks.

“Yeah!” Chase exclaims, throwing his arms wide open. Jason kneels down to hug the boy.

When he stands up, however, Jason turns to Alex with a grave look on his face.

“Can we talk?” he asks.

“Yeah, let me just get him settled.” Alex scoops up Chase and deposits him on a sofa in the living room with Frozen playing on the Apple TV. Then he returns to the entry, where Jason is standing awkwardly; it strikes Alex how unusual it is to see his best friend so ill-at-ease in this house.

“Do you want coffee or anything?” Alex asks.

“Nah, I’m good. But thanks.”

Nevertheless, they move into the small kitchen, with its black-and-white checked flooring. Alex pours himself a cup of coffee from the pot that has been warming on the counter, more to busy himself than because he wants the beverage.

“I just want to say… I’m sorry,” Jason tells him.

Cradling the coffee cup between his palms, Alex turns toward him. “Thanks. I appreciate that. Jason… there is no way I would do something like that to you.”

“I know. But I was confused, and upset that I was running late, and… I just lashed out at whoever was there. And that happened to be you.”

“I get it. And I’m sorry about the hearing. That’s so horrible.”

Jason shakes his head in anger and disbelief. “Beyond. But it wasn’t fair of me to accuse you of– of drugging me. You aren’t that kind of person.”

“Glad you think so,” Alex says with a tiny laugh, eager to break the tension. “But someone is.”

“I know. Sarah suggested that I go get a blood test — they did a full tox screen–”

“I did the same. I was going to text you, but I thought I’d wait until I had more info.”

“You haven’t gotten the results yet, have you?”

“No. But I’m on pins and needles waiting.” Alex takes a sip of the coffee.

“I feel like it’s my one shot at proving to Trevor what happened that night.”

“He’s that upset?”

“Beyond,” Alex says. “And I’m worried about what he’ll do if I can’t prove that you and I were drugged.”

—–

Spencer Ragan taps his foot nervously as he sits in the plastic chair before the plexiglass window. As many times as he has come to Carroll County Prison to visit the woman who raised him, it never fails to turn his entire body into one giant, tense knot. And the worst part is always the waiting. As many times as he rehearses what he wants to or could say to Loretta, she has a way of disarming him — anyone, really — and spinning the conversation in whatever direction she desires.

He glances up and down the row of visitors, separated by the glass from orange jumpsuit-clad inmates on the other side. Finally he spots his adoptive mother being led toward her station. He is always surprised by how much older she looks every time he comes here; despite having gotten her hands on some basic makeup in prison, it is clear that being here has aged her beyond the amount of years she’s spent locked up. Nevertheless, a catlike grin spreads over her face as she sits down across from him.

“My darling,” she coos through the handheld phone receiver. “It’s so wonderful to see you.”

Spencer remains stone-faced. “Hi.”

“I heard the good news,” Loretta says. “I’m so happy that my grandson is safe and sound.”

“And I guess you know that’s why I’m here,” Spencer replies.

She returns a coy look through the glass. “You came all this way to tell me that you and that– that wife of yours won the custody suit?”

“No, because you already know that. I came all this way to–” He lowers his voice and holds the receiver closer to his mouth. “–to ask if you’re the reason why we won.”

“I’m flattered that you think I have the ability to influence the law, darling. But if I did, would I really be in here?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Her only response is a challenging stare.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” he says. “You hired that P.I. to tail Jason.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Loretta. It was you. You had someone follow Jason and then set him and Alex up to look like they’d had sex.”

Suddenly Loretta’s eyes flare and her voice becomes fiery. “What did that little bitch tell you?”

Outfitted in a plaid coat with an oversized lapel, Natalie Bishop saunters brashly toward the counter of Thaw Coffee & Tea. The barista behind the counter grimaces at the sight of her new customer.

“Natalie,” Sabrina Gage says from behind the register, an unmistakable coolness emanating from her.

“Nonfat Chai latte,” Natalie responds.

Sabrina purses her lips. “Coming right up.”

“What’s with the attitude?” Natalie asks.

For a brief moment, Sabrina looks caught, guilty. But she returns her expression to neutral.

“I don’t have an attitude,” she says as she punches buttons on the register. “I’m surprised to see you here. That’s all.”

“Bree was having her skates sharpened, so I’m picking them up.”

“Great. You can insert your card.” Sabrina points to the chip reader.

Natalie places her debit card into the machine.

“I am a little surprised you’d dare to show your face around here,” Sabrina adds quietly.

Natalie looks up sharply. “Excuse me?”

“After what you put Jason through at the custody hearing.”

“And what exactly did I put him through? He’s the one who was late and lied about it.”

Sabrina hesitates before responding.

“Exactly what sob story did Jason feed you?” Natalie asks.

“He texted me to tell me that the judge threw out the case — something about a P.I. setting him up so he’d be late–”

Natalie interrupts, letting out a throaty cackle. “So he failed to mention what he was doing all night.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that he was with Alex the entire night. I never really thought twice about their friendship, but maybe it was a perfect storm.”

“What are you talking about, Natalie?”

“Jason spent the night with Alex and then lied about it,” Natalie says, savoring each syllable upon her lips. “That’s why he was late to court, and he got caught in his lie.”

“You’re lying,” Sabrina says weakly.

“You can ask anyone who was in that courtroom.” Natalie flashes a cocky smile over the register. “Now where’s my latte? I have to get going.”

“It’ll be ready at the end of the bar,” Sabrina manages to say, but she feels her breathing growing shallow as Natalie moves off. Even after the other woman has left the store, all Sabrina can do is replay the awkwardness between her and Jason the night before the custody hearing — and wonder if there really was another reason that their date ended so strangely.

—–

“He doesn’t really believe that something happened between us,” Jason tells his despondent friend as they each lean against the kitchen countertops. “Trevor knows you better than that.”

Alex shakes his head. “I don’t know if he’s sure what to believe.”

“Well, we’re going to get those blood test results and prove that someone drugged us.”

“I hope so.” Alex sets his coffee cup down on the counter with a slight clink. “It still doesn’t change the fact that I went over there.”

“Because you were worried about your friend, who was sending you weird messages the night before a major court hearing.”

“Still. He thinks it says a lot about my priorities…”

“You put your sick husband and kid to bed and then went to check on a friend. Those sound like pretty solid priorities to me.”

Alex shrugs one shoulder and lets out a sigh. “I wish Trevor would see it that way.”

“He will.” Jason steps closer to Alex and squares the other man’s shoulders, forcing Alex to look directly at him. “Is there anything you need to tell me?”

“What?”

“Anything you need to tell me. About you and me?”

“No!”

“Then that’s that. After all that we’ve been through, I know as well as you do that this is a friendship — a great, close, awesome friendship. I’m sorry I ever doubted you or let myself believe that you could be responsible.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And Trevor will remember that, soon enough,” Jason says. “He’s trying to make sense of a situation that doesn’t make any sense. He’ll come around.”

“I can’t wrap my head around Elly being the one to set all of this in motion,” Alex says. “I know she went to law school and grew up and everything, but to go as far as hiring a P.I. to set us up and drug us?”

Jason bobs his head up and down in agreement. “There’s more to this. I’m convinced of it. And as soon as we get those test results, we’ll have the first piece of evidence we need to prove that.”

—–

The fury coming out of Loretta like fire causes Spencer to sit back sharply in his chair, despite the plexiglass barrier between them. It takes him several seconds to compose himself enough to form a response.

“You mean Elly,” he says.

“Yes, your apparently incompetent attorney,” Loretta says. “What did she say?”

“She said that she was the one who hired the P.I. because she was trying to cover all her bases. But something about that seemed a little off to me. Now you’ve confirmed everything I was thinking.”

Now it is Loretta’s turn to sit back, but there is something so calculating about it that it sends a shiver up Spencer’s spine. She eyes him long and hard.

“I’ve confirmed nothing,” she finally says. “But I’d think you would be grateful to whomever made it possible for you to secure custody of your child.”

He exhales loudly. “This whole thing is so fucked up.”

“Watch your mouth!”

“I wanted to keep Peter, but not like this,” he says. “The whole thing is so… did Alex have to be dragged into it? And it’s like… I don’t know… gay-shaming.”

“Who’s shaming anyone?”

“We literally made the case that if Jason had sex with a guy, he wouldn’t be capable of being a good parent to Peter.”

““Please! I love the gays. They do all my dinner parties and Christmas decorations, for starters.”

“You’ve been in prison for, like, a decade,” Spencer hisses through the receiver.

“Well, they did, and they will once I’m out of this hellhole. But if that man is sleeping with someone who’s married, his morality is clearly twisted and he can’t be trusted with Peter. The fact that the person he’s sleeping with is a man was just a salacious extra tidbit to get tongues wagging in that courtroom.”

“So you admit it.”

“I’ve admitted nothing,” she says, “and I won’t. Spencer, you should be very grateful to that lawyer of yours that she had the forethought to hire someone who would catch Jason Fisher in a compromising situation.”

Spencer barely manages to bite his tongue. He looks up and down the row of visitors and inmates again, all too aware of how many people are around.

“I didn’t want it to happen this way,” he says.

“You have nothing to feel badly about,” Loretta says. “You’re a father with full custody of his beautiful young son — whom I really wish you’d bring here to see me.”

Spencer finds himself shaking his head at her.

“Peter is my grandson, after all,” Loretta continues. “I can’t wait to meet him. If you won’t bring him here, it will have to happen once I’m released from this dreadful place.”

“You’re not getting out of here any time soon, are you?” he asks.

“We’ll have to see about that.” That devious smile again curls her lips, accentuating the lines around her mouth. “You should know by now that I always have another trick up my sleeve, darling.”

With that, she hangs up the receiver and signals to the guard that she’s through with the visit. Spencer watches as she stands, waves to him, and is escorted back into the prison; her ominous words ring in his ears.

END OF EPISODE 991

Will Jason be able to appeal for custody of Peter?
Is Sabrina falling for Natalie’s scheme?
Will Trevor eventually come around and forgive Alex?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

 

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