"Are you sure you don't want any wine?" Anne asked as Eric sat on the couch, staring at his glass of water. "It's far better for drowning your sorrows in, believe me. Besides, this is the best wine our pitiful salaries can buy, so you might as well indulge."

"No, thank you," Eric tried to smile. "I'll be better company once I get my thoughts together. I promise."

"Besides," Theresa said, sounding slightly tipsy, "he's probably working on changing what's in his glass with his eyes. Didn't Jesus turn water into wine or something?" She giggled to herself.

"Now what could a handsome gentleman such as yourself have to frown about?" Anne asked, ignoring Theresa. "It's a beautiful day, unseasonably warm but since we're all going to hell anyway we might as well get used to it, right? And you're spending Thanksgiving with your favorite cousin and her gorgeous Barbra Streisand look-alike friend, so why so down in the dumps?"

"Anne!" Theresa said. "Leave him alone. He used to be a priest - he doesn't want you."

"What do I care what he used to be? I used to be a good Jewish girl. Speaking of which, are you staying for dinner, Eric, because if you are… Chinese food ain't cheap."

"Right, of course."

"Eric, don't," Theresa said. "Anne was just joking. We can cover this."

Anne glared at her. Theresa said, "Can I see you in the kitchen?" She took Anne aside and said, "Look, unlike us, my cousin Eric has options. He could be at Brady Pub with the rest of our so-called family right now pretending to be happy and answering embarrassing questions about his relationship with my sister."

"Yeah, but he's here."

"Exactly. There's only one reason he'd come to our black sheep celebration instead, and that's because something happened between him and Eve and he knows I'm the only one who'll understand. So stop acting like you have a cash register for a heart and go get the food while I talk to him."

Anne made a face. Theresa said, "Please, Anne? He's the only relative I have left who doesn't completely hate me, doesn't that count for something?"

"All right, all right, I'm going. But you owe me." She left.

Theresa came over to the couch and sat down next to Eric. "So…," she said. "What'd my sister do that was so bad you decided to put up with Anne this Thanksgiving?"

Eric shook his head. "I don't know that I want to talk about it," he said, "especially not if you're going to gloat. I learned something about Eve, something she'd done that's so horrible I don't even want to repeat it, especially considering your own tumultuous history with JJ Deveraux."

"With JJ?" Theresa acted surprised, as if she hadn't seen what she saw that day at Barons'. "It can't be that bad," she said slowly. "I mean, it's not like she somehow tricked him into sleeping with her, is it?"

Eric made a face. "What? No, thankfully that's never happened as far as I know. Using Jill as her proxy wasn't much better though." He sighed. "I don't know if I'm mad at Eve for the role she played in what was done to JJ or because Kristen Dimera is gone so I can't lash out at her for the similar thing she did to me. I'm not convinced Eve meant for JJ to end up full of drugs he didn't intend to take. From what she says - "

"You can't believe what she says," Theresa interrupted. "Eve is even better than I am at telling people exactly what they want to hear. She knows that you can't resist the fallen woman with a heart of gold. She's been playing that role for months around you."

"I suppose you're right," Eric sighed. "But as I said at the outset, I can't take you gloating about it."

Theresa's face fell. "I don't mean to gloat, I swear. It's just… look, Eric, I don't know if this is like, a rebellion thing you never outgrew or what, but you always go for the woman that's like, the total opposite of a good Catholic girl. Not that I care. I mean, I'd rather have my sister be my cousin-in-law than end up distantly related to Jennifer. Anyway, my point is, if you like the bad girls, then like the bad girls, you know? Stop looking for something that isn't there and like Eve for who she is. My sister is a selfish, lying bitch - if you love that, more power to you, but if you think she's anything else, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment."

Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You're right, I suppose," he said. Sipping his water, he added, "For the record, this is not my attempt to reclaim my lost youth by dating women my mother hates. I think sometimes I have too much faith, too much belief that if I love the person underneath all the deception, they will grow into who I believe them to be. Eve said that she lied to me because she became addicted to my faith in her. Maybe that was a lie too - I can't tell. But in any case I… the one who is lost is not Eve, and it is not Nicole and it is not whoever falls into my path next. The one who is lost is me."

Theresa sipped her wine, buying herself time to get her thoughts together. "Eve's way more lost than you are," she said. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you believe in me. Someone has to." Eric shrugged. Theresa said, "I tried to tell you about her a long time ago. I even tried to tell JJ instead of using what I knew to blackmail Eve just for fun. So I guess you had some effect on me, cause a year ago I would have totally messed with both of them just to stop myself from getting bored."

"You have a better heart than you know," Eric told her. "Perhaps someday you'll drop the uncaring act and allow it to be apparent. Anyway, what you just said reminded me. JJ said you had a video, proof of Eve's intentions in this matter. Could I… would you send it to me?"

"Are you sure you want to see it?" Theresa asked. "I mean, it's not exactly light viewing, even if I did find it entertaining." Eric gave her a look and she said, "All right, all right. Here." She picked up her phone and loaded the video.

Daphne was sitting on her bed when Paige came out of the bathroom. Paige had dressed as if she were going to see JJ, putting on a purple dress that had sparkles on the sleeves and a black belt around her waist. She locked eyes with Daphne, scowling, but said nothing, instead going to get her purse out of the closet.

"You look really nice," Daphne said. "Going somewhere special for Thanksgiving?"

Paige ignored her, instead emptying her purse contents onto her bed so she could put them in a smaller purse that matched her dress.

"Really, Paige?" Daphne said, crossing her arms. "Come on, it's Thanksgiving. How long are you going to give me the silent treatment for?"

"I dunno," Paige said as she closed the purse. "Depends on if I ever have anything to say to you besides 'Stay away from me.'" She went over to the vanity and started brushing her hair. "Just so you know, I'm only staying here til I find another place to live. Seeing you every morning is almost as bad as dreaming about what Jeff did to me."

Daphne's face crumpled. She watched Paige brush her hair. "Have it your way, Paige," she said. "It's your loss. I was the first person to welcome you when you moved to Salem and I'd do anything for you. It's not my fault your first boyfriend turned out to be a loser when he drinks and that your second one ran out on you because you wouldn't let yourself move on. So if you want to let a boy get in between us, especially a boy like JJ Deveraux who's never going to do anything but break your heart over and over, go ahead."

Paige's eyes narrowed. "You're the one who did that, telling the cops lies in the hopes he'd get locked up."

"Paige, I didn't - "

"You did, and it was on purpose. And to think I moved in here to get away from my mother and her stupid schemes. What you did is far worse than anything she ever did. If I see her today, I'll be sure to tell her you said hi." Paige pulled her jacket on, grabbed her purse, and stomped away, slamming the door behind her.

Mrs. Hunter had decided to go to a little cafe in the square that had advertised Thanksgiving specials. Thanksgiving alone was better than nothing.

She played with her phone while she stared at the menu, debating whether to try Marissa one last time. All sorts of memories were flashing through her head of other Thanksgivings, of the first time Marissa had tried turkey when she was a baby, the cute little dresses she made her wear for the holiday when she was in pre-school and kindergarten, the middle school years when Marissa helped her in the kitchen…

She could see a tall, blond woman at the table across from her. The woman also looked like she was near tears. Mrs. Hunter was glad she wasn't the only one.

Looking away from the woman, she dialed Marissa's number. Of course she got voicemail. "Marissa, honey, it's Mom. I probably should just say Happy Thanksgiving and leave it at that, since JJ told me you're not dead and I believe him. I'm sure you're having a good time with him somewhere that I'm not. I don't know what I did to you that you don't want me in your life, Marissa. You at least owe me an explanation, after all the worrying I've done. I'm your mother, and I deserve to know what's going on. Call me." She hung up.

A shadow crossed her table. The woman from across the table smiled at her. "I couldn't help overhearing. My daughter's not talking to me either, not really."

"W-who are you?" Mrs. Hunter asked.

"Eve Donovan." The woman held out her hand. "It's not like me to go up to a complete stranger and offer advice, it really isn't. But you have a daughter out there somewhere and so do I, and both of them aren't talking to their mothers." Eve pulled her chair out and sat down without being asked. "We have something else in common too, it sounds like. See, my daughter and I were close til a boy came into her life. It was her first boyfriend, you know how that goes. Anyway, this boy's name was JJ Deveraux, and you said something about your little girl being with a boy named JJ today. If her JJ is the same one my little girl had her heart set on for so long, there's something you need to know."

Horowitz stared at the white board where the patrol assignments were listed, her eyes widening. She glanced at Roman's closed office door, but he had taken the day off for Thanksgiving, so she was stuck with what she had.

It doesn't matter, she thought. After yesterday it's just as well. But when she turned around, Jenkins was staring at her.

"Really, Jenkins?" Horowitz said. "You switching partners on me cause of yesterday?"

"Don't take it personal. It's a matter of self-preservation." Jenkins crossed his arms. "My partner's supposed to have my back, not the perp's back. You were standing right there. You saw what went down, what it looked like."

"We do things based on what it looks like now and not what it is?"

"Don't act all surprised." Jenkins moved a step closer. Horowitz felt like moving back but she stood her ground. "You know and I know that kid did something even if it wasn't exactly the way it seems. Kid like that with a rap sheet like his, he doesn't change. He can't. So even if he wasn't good for the Larson attack, he was up to something and we had an opportunity to get him off the streets. Besides, he needed to be taken down a peg or two after turning himself into a hero at our expense."

"Look," Horowitz said, "this time all we had was a kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and even if we did have enough to make the arrest, we couldn't have made it stick, not with the way you were treating him. After five years of watching you toe the line, you finally crossed it and I was trying to get you to step back before you got yourself in trouble. Ever thought of that?"

"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that, Horowitz. The fact is we gotta be tougher than ever on perps cause they're watching us. We had Deveraux dead to rights and if we had just been able to keep him in that cell, it would have been all good. Now he's probably busy running his mouth to anyone who'll listen, making it seem worse than it was and we're probably both gonna get called in to see rat patrol over it. Now I know you're Rodman's pet. I've seen him sniffing around you. But if I were you, I'd make sure your story matches mine cause otherwise, things are gonna get real ugly."

Horowitz crossed her arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means." Jenkins played with his cuffs. "Let's just say I got my suspicions about who's in bed with the press. Now I'm no rat, but things come out, ya know, and people get what's coming to them." He made his cuffs clink. "Hope you have an easy shift." He walked off, leaving Horowitz staring wide eyed at the spot he'd just left.

Paige decided to treat herself to coffee, since she really had nowhere to go. She stopped to check her reflection in the bookstore window, allowing herself to fantasize as she fluffed her hair up. In her mind she saw JJ coming up to her, putting his hand on her shoulder, smiling at her as he took her arm in his and they both walked towards the coffee shop together, laughing and acting like nothing had happened.

Shaking her head, Paige picked up her phone and reread JJ's text. "It's just coffee," she said to herself. "That's all it is. Anyway, it's not today."

As she turned, she saw Marissa's mother sitting with a woman that looked an awful lot like Eve. Paige frowned. What was her mother up to now? She tiptoed forward so she could hear better.

"My daughter may not be a great judge of character," Mrs. Hunter said, "but I certainly am, and I don't need any help figuring out who her friends are."

"Of course not," Eve said. "I just thought I could help save you some of the heartache I'm going through. You see, I'm not sure JJ Deveraux understands the value of family. The poor boy lost his father, you know, and his mother is too busy and too naive to think that he needs more than the lip service she gives to taking care of him. He's been left on his own a lot, so he just doesn't understand how much girls need their mothers."

"I think he understands that just fine," Mrs. Hunter said, but there was a note of doubt in her voice. Paige crossed her arms, not liking what she was hearing. If Marissa's mom started trying to stop Marissa from being with JJ,it would push the two of them together, maybe even before Paige even had a chance to try to make up for pushing him away. Besides, Eve was repeating more stupid lies about JJ, and about Jennifer too. Jennifer was the opposite of neglectful, and Eve knew it.

"Now I'm not saying he would hurt your daughter on purpose, of course not," Eve went on. She really had the concerned stranger act down. "But if she's already fighting with you, well, he's not going to do anything to close that rift. If anything, he'll widen it by painting you as the big, bad parent who doesn't understand and wants to control her."

It was what had happened when JJ was arrested all over again, except this time Paige was determined not to keep her mouth shut. "Oh, he didn't need to do that," she said, coming up to their table. "You did that all by yourself by constantly trying to stop me from dating JJ in the first place."

"It turned out I was right about him, didn't I?" Eve snapped before remembering her promise to Eric. "I mean, I thought I was, anyway." She glanced at Mrs. Hunter. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name before I began rambling on, so I can't introduce you properly to my daughter Paige."

"That's because I didn't give it," Mrs. Hunter said, "but it's all right. I've seen her around." She glanced at Paige. "How are you doing since what happened yesterday?" Eve looked puzzled, but Mrs. Hunter's back was to her so she didn't notice. "I know it must have been as upsetting for you as it was for JJ, if not more so."

"I'm fine," Paige said flatly. "Have you seen… do you know if JJ's okay?"

"No, not since last night. I assume he and my daughter Marissa are doing something today and hopefully getting his mind off of what happened to him."

Pain flashed through Paige's eyes; she fiddled with her phone, hoping whatever JJ was doing with Marissa wasn't any more serious than what Paige had done with T.

Mrs. Hunter glanced over her shoulder at Eve, then back at Paige. "I'm going to go so that you and your mother can talk. I don't know what happened between the two of you, but I hope you work it out. There's no words for the emptiness in my heart, knowing my daughter is here somewhere and deliberately hiding from me."

"It's not her," Paige said flatly as Mrs. Hunter got up. "It's what happened to her. Being tied up, made powerless… not knowing what he's going to do to you or if you're even going to survive it…. that changes you."

Mrs. Hunter sunk back into her chair. She put her hands over her mouth, blinking back tears.

"Paige!" Eve said. "Don't scare this poor woman like that." She turned towards Mrs. Hunter. "I must apologize on my daughter's behalf. Paige has been through a terrible ordeal. She was… well, she was kidnapped by a madman."

"And my daughter?" Mrs. Hunter's voice trembled. "She… she came into contact with this horrible person too?"

Paige nodded. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I thought you knew. She… the guy…." Paige swallowed hard. "I guess she should tell you herself but yeah, it all started with her, with them finding her…" Paige played with her purse strap while she tried to get her words together. Mrs. Hunter's eyes were wide. "I… I can't talk about it anymore," Paige said flatly. "Please don't make me." She threw herself into an empty chair.

"Do me one favor," Mrs. Hunter said, "and then I'll leave you alone, I promise. Please, Paige, JJ felt he had to respect Marissa's wishes, but given the situation… please tell me where my daughter is."

Horowitz's new partner, Duncan, turned out to be a woman she'd seen around at officers' meetings but never really talked to. "So what was up at Fall Festival?" Duncan asked as they drove towards the Square, looking for people doing anything that struck them as suspicious.

"What do you mean?" Horowitz asked, glad she had to keep her eyes on the road.

"Nothing really." Duncan sipped her coffee. "Just, I heard there was a big arrest or something and all of a sudden I'm working with you and Jenkins is with Russo. Not that I mind. Russo was getting on my nerves with all that hyper masculine thinking he has to protect me crap. Truth be told, I needed a break from him. Jenkins like that too?"

"Yeah." Horowitz's voice was flat.

"Men." Duncan shook her head. "So what happened? It had to be something big if you ended up working a holiday when you're like, the Commissioner's favorite beat cop."

"Nope, I always take Thanksgiving. That way I can get off Christmas." Horowitz was trying to get a reading on this new cop. Was she for real or a plant to try to intimidate her? "You?"

"I'm too new to have any say over my schedule. I work when they tell me."

Horowitz nodded. Before she could think of a suitable response, she saw a car stopped by the side of the road, facing the wrong way. "Something's not right here. Let's check it out." She put the lights on and pulled over.

As they pulled up, Horowitz could see a familiar figure behind the wheel. It was that kid that had caused JJ all that trouble at the festival. His eyes looked glazed over. Horowitz parked and hurried over to him. His door was locked. "Get the magnetic pop a lock," she told Duncan. "Hurry!" Duncan did and she shoved it onto the door, then pulled.

Nothing happened at first. She pulled again, then one more time and it finally opened. She quickly put her fingers on Rory's neck. "I've got a weak pulse. Seems to be breathing, but barely." She picked up her radio. "10-52 at intersection of Horton Town Square Drive and Grayson Avenue. Unconscious male, approximately 20 years of age, shallow breathing, weak pulse. Possible overdose, repeat 10-52, possible overdose." She glanced down at Rory. "What'd you do to yourself this time?" She climbed over him and into the passenger seat, feeling a need to sit with him. "Hold on, kiddo," she said. "Ambulance is on its way. We're gonna undo whatever it is you've done. I promise. But you've got to hold on!" She took Rory's hand, but Duncan was looking at her, so she made it look like she was just searching for his pulse.

Marissa stood in the vestibule between the dining room and living room, her arms crossed, looking around. JJ had made some small talk with her during dinner and even smiled at her a couple times and she'd hoped that meant everything wasn't ruined between them, but as soon as dinner was over he'd gone off somewhere with Hope's boyfriend before Marissa could even get near him. Now she was standing here, looking around, wondering what she'd come for. JJ's aunt was nice but she was too busy to pay much attention to Marissa and the only other person she knew besides JJ was Detective Brady, who she didn't particularly want to see. She bit her lip and made herself walk into the living room, since she was supposed to be socializing.

JJ's mother was sitting on the couch with Detective Brady. There was an empty spot next to her. "Marissa," she called as Marissa walked past. "Come sit with us."

"Oh, hi Mrs. Deveraux." Marissa could feel herself blushing. "Um… have you seen JJ?"

"He went for a walk. But I'm sure he'll be back very soon." Marissa's face fell and Jen said, quickly, "I know you must be feeling really overwhelmed with all the strangers in the room. Please know that my son doesn't mean to be selfish and leave you alone. He's just going through a really hard time right now."

"Yeah, I know," Marissa said, sighing. She sat down next to Jennifer. "Do you know my cousin Hope?" Jennifer asked. Marissa nodded, too shy to say that she didn't really feel comfortable with Hope sitting there. "So you go to school with JJ?" Jennifer asked. "Is that where you met, in class?"

"N-no," Marissa stammered, remembering that long ago day when she saw JJ staring at his reflection in the bookstore window. "We, um, we ran into each other in Horton Town Square." She glanced at Hope, remembering how she had interrupted just when Marissa thought JJ might actually come over to her. "God it seems like so long ago," she said. "It wasn't, really, I guess but…" She realized she sounded like an idiot. "Anyway, yeah, so we got to know each other and everything but then I ended up in the hospital. I really didn't expect to be invited to Thanksgiving and everything. I hope I'm not intruding on your family."

"Not at all," Hope told her. "I'm glad to see you're doing a little better, and I know Jennifer is excited to get to know you."

Jennifer nodded. "JJ's been so down since he and Paige broke up last year. I don't know where you are in your relationship with him, but just the fact that he's showing an interest in someone else makes me happy."

"Right," Marissa said. She swallowed hard, pushing her hair behind her ear and wishing she could believe what JJ's mom was saying.

"So what's up?" JJ asked Aiden. They were sitting in a gazebo in the backyard of the Kiriakis mansion. It was the best place to have a private conversation, and it wasn't too cold because Maggie and Victor had installed an underground heating system last year.

"I was hoping you could tell me that." Aiden sighed. "I've been watching you look like you wish you could melt into the couch all afternoon. Wanna let me in on what happened last night after we parted ways?"

"Not really." JJ's arm started acting up again. He rubbed it and said, "You were right, okay? I should have just gone home or whatever." Aiden nodded. JJ said, "I did a bunch of stupid stuff - nothing that's gonna mess up our case. I don't think so, anyway, but - "

"How about you let me be the judge of that?" JJ shrugged and Aiden said, "Look, I'm more concerned about you than the case right now. But if you did anything that I need to do damage control on, I'd better know sooner rather than later."

JJ thought for a second. Eve could go to the cops' lawyer and say that he tried to attack her, but he didn't think she would, not when she knew he could tell Roman or Rafe what she'd done to him. "It's nothing like that," he said at last. "I swear."

"Tell me anyway."

JJ gave Aiden an exasperated look. Aiden said, "Look, whatever this is, it's got you all upset, and even if I wasn't worried about it making you vulnerable to whatever your enemies want to try next, I'd still want to help. I know I'm just a lawyer to you, but I'm not too bad at listening and I've heard my advice tends to be sound. So what do you say? Wanna give me a try?"

"Honestly, I'm probably just wasting your time." JJ sighed. "I screwed up really big and there's no way I can undo it, cause if I try, I dunno what Marissa's gonna do and I don't… I can't have that on my conscience."

Aiden looked puzzled. "Slow down. I'm coming in at the tail end of a story that I know nothing about. Marissa, as in the girl in there who only has eyes for you?"

"Yep." JJ sighed heavily. "Marissa, um, she's had a thing for me, like forever, okay, and I've tried to make her get that it's not gonna happen. But then last night… I dunno what came over me, Mr. Jennings. I was pretty messed up over what the cops did to me, I guess, but that's not… there's no excuse for what I did."

"Which was what? Come on, JJ, don't make me drag it out of you like you're the other side's star witness. I'm here to help, not to judge."

"Yeah, okay." JJ stared straight ahead. "I kissed her. I kissed her when I want Paige and if Dr. Evans hadn't walked in on us I dunno, I might have done way more." Aiden nodded and JJ said, "Dr. Evans was livid. She made me come to her office and she said what I did could really mess with Marissa's head." JJ looked up at Aiden, and he had the same fear and pain in his eyes that he did after his arrest. "Marissa's in the hospital cause she took a knife to her wrist and when I tell her me and Paige are gonna have coffee, she's probably gonna try it again. And even if she doesn't, I don't deserve Paige, not after messing around with someone I don't love and probably leaving her in worse shape than when I started." Aiden frowned. JJ looked away from him. "So now you know. Believe me, you're not nearly as disappointed in me as I am in myself."

"No," Aiden said. "It's not that, not by a long shot. It's more like, you already made one big mistake and I'm trying to find the right words to stop you from making another one." He put his hand on JJ's shoulder as he leaned forward. "Believe it or not, I get it. The cops did a number on you and getting some attention from a girl who was eager to give it was the best substitute for the comfort you wanted. But I'm afraid you're about to sentence yourself to a lifetime of misery and pain with her just to protect her feelings, and I don't wanna see you do that. You love Paige, and settling for anything less when you don't have to… that's just setting yourself up for a lifetime of heartbreak. No matter what it is you did last night, you don't deserve that. Now what is this malarky about not being good enough for Paige just cause you kissed another girl?"

JJ looked at the ground while he thought about it. "I… she wanted me to move on, but I didn't. I couldn't. I know we were broken up or whatever, but I… it just feels like I cheated on Paige, and the worst part is, it wasn't even with someone I'm into."

"I'm glad you're not on the bench cause you're tougher than any judge I know. Look, you know I'm the first to call you on it when you're making a bunch of excuses for something you shouldn't have done, but this time you're misstating the evidence. No matter how much you love Paige, you weren't in a relationship with her last night except in your head. You're not guilty, my friend, not the way you think. Stop punishing yourself for letting your hormones get the better of you while you were at your weakest point. All right?"

JJ swallowed hard. "If you say so." He rubbed his bad arm. "But I knew Marissa's into me and that she's in the freaking psych ward for trying to end herself. This whole thing could push her back over the edge."

"Not your fault if it does." Aiden's voice was soft. "Listen to me. There's only one person in the world who can stop Marissa from hurting herself and that's Marissa. Don't ever let your fear for her dominate you like that. You put a stop to it, starting right now. Tell her the truth before this goes any further."

JJ looked at Aiden, realizing something but not quite able to put it in words. He said weakly, "I will. I promise."

Aiden patted his shoulder. "Good." He leaned back and asked, "Feeling any better?"

"I guess."

Aiden looked concerned, but his phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at it. "I gotta take this. And you, my friend, have a conversation you need to get over with." He patted JJ on the shoulder as he picked up. "Aiden Jennings. Yes, Officer Horowitz, unfortunately I do remember you. What do you need?" He walked off, still talking. JJ watched him go while he tried to get his thoughts together.

Jennifer stood at the window, watching the gazebo. JJ was sitting by himself, hugging himself like he was cold, but not making any effort to get up. He looked small and sad and alone to her; she put her hands over her heart, trying not to think about how much her son was suffering.

"Letting go is hardest when you know your child needs you, isn't it?" Marlena said from behind her.

Jen turned. "I was just…" She cut herself off, seeing the concerned look on Marlena's face. "Yes," she said. "Yes, it is." She wrung her hands together. "If I can see how unhappy he is, I'm sure you can too. He's sitting out there by himself, like he's hiding from me… from all of us. I can't take this anymore, Marlena, I really can't. Every day he seems worse than he was the day before and there's nothing I can do for him because he'll tell me he's fine or he'll tell me he's just tired or his arm just hurts and I know he's lying to me but if I push him he gets so angry."

Marlena nodded. "Hopefully he'll call the doctor I gave him. In the meantime, have you made an appointment for yourself with either of the people I recommended to you?"

Jennifer shook her head. "I will first thing in the morning," she said. "I wanted to get through Thanksgiving first."

"I understand. For your own sake, though, please don't wait until after Christmas."

"No, I won't. It's getting to the point where I have no choice because seeing my son like this is too much for me to bear."

Just then, Hope came up to them, looking upset. "Excuse me," she said to Marlena, "but do you mind if I borrow Jennifer for a second?"

Philip and Chloe had bought turkey sandwiches at the hospital cafeteria, but neither of them really felt like eating. "I guess if we have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital, this is better than nothing," Philip said, biting into his sandwich. "I hope they give Parker something better than this."

"We should get back to him." Chloe twisted her necklace around her fingers.

"In a minute." Philip put his hand on Chloe's wrist. "I know this is the last thing either of us wants to talk about, especially when we're spending Thanksgiving with a sick kid, but we need to discuss what comes after, especially if he can't travel."

Chloe nodded. "I don't even want to think about it, you know? The whole time he's been in the hospital, I've been looking forward to him getting out. He's had the surgery and he's almost ready to go home, so the nightmare is supposed to be almost over. But now the rug's pulled out from under us all over again. And yes, I know it's Thanksgiving and I should be grateful I still have a little boy to worry about because something was majorly wrong with his heart and he could have died several times over. But this just feels like it's never going to end, ever. There's always going to be something else and Parker is always going to be sick. Is this going to be our lives from now on? Is this going to be his life? Doctors and hospitals and limitations and a heart that just can't really be fixed?" She blinked back tears.

Philip reached for her hand. "Hey. This has to end sometime. Everything always does." Chloe's eyes narrowed and he said, "I didn't mean it that way. Just… he's getting better, and the travel limitation may only be for the first six months or whatever. Anyway, look, he's still going to go to school and… and grow up… and be something someday. That hasn't changed. And we're still going to be together, no matter what. That hasn't changed either. The only question is how we're going to deal with this latest setback. We both have homes and businesses in Chicago and coming down here for a few weeks while Parker's in the hospital is totally different than moving everything here."

"What are you saying?" Chloe asked. "We should go back to Chicago without him because he can't travel? Cause I'm not - "

"You think I could leave that little boy for a second now that I've found him again?" Philip asked. "Don't let your anxieties get the better of you, Chloe, not now. All I'm saying is we have to work out the logistics, figure out how we can stay here until he's able to come back to Chicago, move our co-parenting and our careers and everything else back to Salem. Also…" Philip swallowed hard. "God, I wanted this to be romantic, not in a hospital cafeteria while we're discussing our son's future. And yes, I said our, because Chloe Lane, what I'm trying to say is that from the second I laid eyes on you again in Humboldt Park I've been thanking God that you're in my life again and waiting for the right time to do what I should have done years ago. I didn't want to rush us this time. I wanted to do everything right so that we could really be a family. You, me, Parker, and whatever other children we decide to have together later on." He took Chloe's hands in his and played with her fingers. "I want to get down on one knee at some candlelit restaurant somewhere and tell you how honored I'd be if you would agree to be my wife. But Parker's illness is making me realize that life is too short to wait around for the perfect moment to take the next step, and with him sick, romance isn't the only thing on my mind. I don't ever want another doctor to tell you that I can't be at a meeting about Parker's health because on paper I'm not his father. I want to be his… his stepfather and your husband. I want to have a voice in our family. So I'll give you a raincheck on the romance, Chloe, and as soon as he's well enough that we can get out of this hospital and settled in our new home in Salem, I'll do this the right way, the way we always envisioned, with a ring and a bottle of wine. But in the meantime, Chloe Lane, are you ready to marry me?"

"Of course," Marlena said. She patted Jennifer's hand. "You let me know if you want to continue this conversation later." She walked off.

"What's up?" Jennifer asked Hope.

"Aiden just gave me some news that I think you'll want to break gently to JJ."

"Oh my God." Jen's mouth dropped open. "Something happened to Abigail and Ben, didn't it? They didn't make it to New York or they got into an accident or - "

"Honey, no. Stop, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to panic you. Abigail is fine. This is about JJ's friend Rory."

"Rory?" Jennifer was surprised. "Whatever he did, JJ obviously didn't have anything to do with it. I don't think they're even friends anymore, and you know as well as I do he's been here all day."

Hope sighed. "I wish it was as simple as Rory spending some time behind bars. That's a lot better than what… Jennifer, one of the uniforms found him unconscious in his car. We're waiting for Kayla to confirm an overdose and what it was" Hope glanced over Jennifer's shoulder out the window. "JJ was so determined to get Rory on a sober path. He's going to be so devastated at the thought that he might not get that chance now. Anyway, one of us has to tell him and I thought it would be better for it to come from you."

"He's already devastated." Jen's voice was soft. "I don't know how much more he can take, Hope. Can't I wait til tomorrow morning to tell him so that he can salvage whatever little bit of happiness he can tonight?"

"If I were you, I'd call Kayla and find out what Rory's condition is before making that decision. As much as it'll hurt JJ to find out about this, I don't want to cheat him out of being able to see Rory one last time if the worst happens." Jennifer nodded. "Go to him, honey," Hope said. "This is the best time, because we're all in the same place so we can help you be here for him."

JJ pressed his hands together, trying to get a handle on the thoughts swirling through his head. Mr. Jennings was right - he had to tell Marissa that kissing her had been nothing but a mistake. He pulled out his phone, swallowing hard, and texted her: I'm in the backyard. Can we talk? Putting the phone away, he stared straight ahead, trying not to think about what was about to happen.

He kept going over the kiss in his head, again and again, asking himself what had gotten into him last night. He didn't want Marissa - did he? So what had made him suddenly hunger for her instead of for Paige? He shook his head, sadly. It was bad enough he had to break Marissa's heart, but he couldn't even tell her why he had given her hope for something that was never gonna happen. He opened his wallet and took out the card Marlena gave him, staring at it, wondering again if maybe this guy could help him figure it out. He heard footsteps and quickly put the card away.

Marissa stood in the entranceway, blocking what little light there was. JJ turned slowly towards her. "Hey," he said, trying to smile.

"I got your text." Marissa's voice held a note of hope. "Um, I'm glad you wanted to talk out here. Too many people inside for me." JJ shrugged. Marissa asked, shyly, "Can I sit down?"

"Yeah." JJ's voice was strained. "Of course."

Marissa sat down too close to him. He slid over a little, turning away from her so he didn't have to see the hurt in her eyes. His arm throbbed. Ignoring it as best as he could, he said, "Look, Marissa, I, um… I didn't wanna talk about last night, not really, but it's better if we do." He allowed himself to rub his arm before he went on, "What happened between us was… um... it was totally a mistake."

Pain flashed through Marissa's eyes, but she said, "So that means you have to leave me alone with all these strangers so you don't have to deal with me, and then when you're finally ready to act like I exist, you have to move away when I sit down like I have the plague or something?"

"I'm not doing that!" JJ couldn't help raising his voice. Marissa flinched and he said, "Sorry. I… look, Marissa, this is hard, okay? I'm not trying to hurt you, I swear. I - " He winced as another wave of pain shot through his arm. When it passed, he said, "I know I look like a coward to you, but honestly the reason I've been avoiding you is I didn't know what the hell to say to you. I can't pretend that kissing you meant something more than it did, and I can't… I can't be your boyfriend cause I'm sorry, but I still don't feel that way about you, not any more than I ever did." JJ swallowed hard. "I love Paige, Marissa. She asked me to have coffee with her and even though I totally don't deserve it after what I did with you, I wanna try again with her. And I've been sitting out here for two freaking hours trying to find a way to say it that won't destroy you."

Marissa blinked hard. "I've lived through worse, believe me. This… this is nothing compared to what Jeff did to me." She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. "But you can't tell me… you can't tell me it meant nothing, cause when we kissed… I felt something, JJ. I felt something coming from you. So come on… you're really going to try to tell me you didn't enjoy what we did, not even a little bit?"

"I… I dunno what I felt, okay, but it doesn't matter cause it's over and it's not happening again."

Marissa's face crumpled and JJ said, "Look, I've been sitting here racking my brains, asking myself why the hell I kissed you, and I'm coming up empty. And I hate that, Marissa, cause I don't wanna be the kind of guy who just messes around with people's feelings. I… it would be easy to say it happened cause I felt like crap cause of the cops or whatever, and maybe it did. I dunno. But what I do know is it doesn't change anything, not between you and me."

"I get it!" Marissa stared down at the ground. "It… it's not like I thought you'd suddenly be looking at me with stars in your eyes just because of one stupid kiss. That only happens in cartoons, right?" She laughed bitterly. "You know, your mom and your aunt and everyone welcomed me with open arms, like I was really your girlfriend, like I was really part of your family and… and I thought, this proves how good we are together and even though you say you're not over Paige, maybe soon you'll see it too. But I guess the best I'll ever do is one kiss, one kiss that meant everything to me and nothing to you." Her shoulders shook. "Stupid me, I should have known better. You've been telling me for months you just want to be friends. Why the hell would you kissing me change that? I mean, if you hadn't got arrested last night, none of this would have happened, right?"

"You gonna be okay? " JJ asked, but just then footsteps pounded on the pavement outside the gazebo. He turned slowly as his mother walked into the gazebo. She stood staring at JJ, her face trembling, and he couldn't tell if she was brokenhearted or mad at him.

Jenkins was nervous as he walked into the conference room where Rodman did all his meetings. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes. Thank you for coming so promptly." Rodman smiled at Jenkins as he closed the door and stood stiffly waiting. "Please, sit down."

Jenkins tried not to show his nervousness, but under the table his leg twitched anyway. Rodman said, "As you're aware, whenever there's any question of misconduct during an arrest I have to look into it. And it seems certain people are very concerned about JJ Deveraux's arrest last night."

"I… I can explain sir." Jenkins swallowed hard. "We had more than enough to arrest him, but it wasn't gonna stick if we couldn't get a confession out of him. I'm sick of punks like him slipping through the cracks, enjoying their freedom at other people's expense when they should be behind bars. So I pushed him a little, tried to get him to see that telling us the truth was his best bet. It wasn't out of line, nothing like that. Just putting a little pressure on, that's all."

Rodman nodded. "You're a good cop, Jenkins, and we've never had any problems with you before, though we have had plenty with young Mister Deveraux. So I don't want you to worry. If there is any fallout from this unfortunate incident, I'm going to make sure it disappears." Rodman watched relief spread across Jenkins' face. "Good cops protect one another, after all, as I'm sure you'll agree. I'm sure someday when the tables are turned you'll return the favor."

Jenkins' eyes widened but he said, "Of course, sir."

"Excellent. In the meantime, I want you to keep your eyes peeled; sooner or later Deveraux'll do something else and this time I want him to spend more than a few hours behind bars. Also, I'll need you on standby… I'm working on something quite big that I may need your help with."

"Yes, sir." Jenkins stood. "You can count on me." He left.

Rodman leaned back in his chair. He waited until the door closed behind Jenkins before taking out his phone. Speaking in a low voice, he said, "It's me. Remember the good news I had last night? Unfortunately, we ran into a snag and we couldn't hold onto the boy. No, we don't have to resort to that drastic a measure yet. He hasn't found out anything worth worrying about. Besides, I have another angle. The boy remains free in large part due to having the best counsel his parents' money can buy. The gentleman - and I use that term loosely - goes by the name of Aiden Jennings. I want you to look into his background for me. Dig deep, use as many resources as you can. There has to be something we can use to put a stop to his interference with our plans."

"Mom," JJ said, his mouth very dry. "How long have you been standing there?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping, if that's what you're asking." Jennifer glanced at Marissa, who was blinking hard, trying to compose herself so she didn't embarrass herself in front of JJ's mom. "I'm sorry, honey," Jennifer told Marissa. "I know you two are in the middle of an important conversation, but I need to speak to my son privately."

"Right." Marissa sniffed. "Of course." She got up.

"Marissa." JJ put his hand on Marissa's wrist, but he dropped it when he saw how her eyes lit up. There he went giving her false hope again. "Go talk to Dr. Evans, all right?"

Marissa pulled away. "I'm fine, JJ," she said. "Perfectly fine!" She walked off, quickly. JJ watched her go, his eyes full of hurt. He could feel his mother staring at him and turned towards her.

"What's up?" JJ asked.

Jennifer squeezed her hands together. "A lot. I… I'm trying really hard not to freak out like I usually do, JJ. I came out here to tell you something. But it seems you have a few things to tell me first. Obviously there's a lot I don't understand about your life." She laughed bitterly. "I should have seen it coming. The staying out til all hours, the not talking to me, the anger and sadness whenever you did bother to come home. It was only a matter of time before we were back to dealing with police and courts all over again. What was it this time? Did Rory give you drugs, the same drugs he - "

JJ's eyes flashed. "Mom! I would never… yeah, Rory got me in trouble but I was set up, okay, I didn't do a freaking thing and they knew it!"

"Don't, JJ!" Jen's anger was rising now. "I can deal with whatever it is you did, but I can't deal with you lying to me. Why would they do that, JJ? And if you're completely innocent, if this was all a mistake, why didn't you just tell me about it?"

"Cause I knew the second you heard I was locked up, you'd flip out and you wouldn't even wanna know what happened. I didn't do anything,I swear, but that never crossed your mind, not for a second, did it?" Jen bit her lip and JJ said, "All I am to you and to everyone else in this freaking town is a guy who used to be on drugs and who's just waiting to screw up again."

"That is not true, JJ! I have never stopped believing in you, ever, and I want to believe so badly that this is a mistake, that you didn't do anything to deserve being put behind bars. But what am I supposed to think when even after I accidentally overheard your girlfriend or whatever Marissa is to you saying you got arrested last night, you still won't tell me what happened?"

JJ swallowed hard. Images were flickering through his head of his arrest, of being forced to turn his back on Paige, of being threatened over and over with that taser, of having that cell door slammed behind him. "You don't wanna know, Mom," he said thickly. "You really don't." He started to rub his sore arm, then changed his mind. "All you gotta know is it's bad enough that Aiden Jennings thinks we should sue, and Rafe, he said he's gonna look into the cops who did it to me."

Jen's mouth dropped open. "Aiden… so that's why he took you for a walk. To talk about your case."

"Not exactly. I don't wanna go into it." JJ glanced at her. "I… I should check on Marissa."

"No, JJ." Jennifer blocked the exit to the gazebo. "You and I have a lot of talking left to do," she said. "If Marlena didn't have to look after her patient that Aunt Maggie invited for your sake, I'd ask her to join us right now because we both have things to tell each other that aren't easy to talk about." JJ made a skeptical face. Jennifer said, "Maybe we should wait til we get home, sweetheart, because what I have to tell you is going to break your heart even more and I want to put that off for as long as I can, but I haven't had a chance to check in with Kayla and we've wasted too much time as it is. I should have just told you this first, no matter what it is I overheard."

"Mom… what… why are you being so weird?"

"Sit down, honey. Please."

JJ did, too scared to disobey. His mother took his hands in hers. "As angry as I am about you not telling me that you spent time behind bars last night, I'm grateful, sweetheart, that that's all that happened to you. I can't say the same for Rory, baby." JJ looked puzzled. His mother squeezed his hands, making pain shoot through his bad arm. "Rory's in the hospital, honey. Hope said she thinks what happened to Theresa that time happened to him."

Paige played with her phone. "Um… I don't know if I should…"

"Please, Paige," Mrs. Hunter said. "It's bad enough knowing my daughter was attacked and that she chose to handle it all on her own but to not know where she is now… it's beyond cruel. I know you don't know me, but you know what I did for JJ. Do I seem like the kind of person who would hurt my own daughter, who deserves to be left out in the cold, not even knowing where she is, only that she's suffering?"

Paige glanced at her mother, thinking. "Not everyone who seems like a good person is," she said flatly. She saw the hurt in Eve's eyes and added, quickly, "My so-called best friend told a bunch of lies about JJ. That's why they put him in jail. And Jeff… I didn't realize something was off about him until it was too late. My mom'll tell you how smart I am, how I got accepted at Stanford, but still. I don't think asking me to trust you is the right way to go."

"My daughter's the same way." Mrs. Hunter's voice was soft. "Maybe there's only so much to go around and when you get the advanced intelligence you can't have the street smarts too. I don't know. All I know is that when you got away from this Jeff person, I'm sure your mother rushed to be by your side, and that's all I want, Paige… just to go to wherever my daughter is and hold her in my arms and tell her I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier. Please, Paige, please give me that much."

Paige's eyes narrowed but after a second she said, "All right. She's… she's at University Hospital. I… I've been meaning to go see her but…"

"I understand. You're not a saint, honey, just a regular girl trying to survive something terrible. More than one thing after seeing what the cops did to your friend." She got up. "University Hospital is… "

"Across the street and down three blocks." Paige's voice was flat.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Mrs. Hunter pressed Paige's hand into hers, then took off.

When she was gone, Eve said, "That was so kind of you, baby. I'm glad to see you're coming back to your sweet self instead of all that anger and pain talking."

"Don't count on it." Paige's eyes were very narrow. "What did you think you were doing, telling lies about JJ to Marissa's mother? Haven't you hurt him enough?"

Eve paled. "What has that boy been telling you about me? I never did anything, Paige, except try to protect my little girl's heart. Now maybe I was wrong about JJ, maybe he and Jill didn't - "

"Don't, Mom. If I were you I'd just quit while you're ahead, cause if you try one more time to remind me how JJ broke my heart I'm going to scream. Besides, you're the one who took Jill in. You and Eric. Where is he, anyway?"

Eve swallowed hard. "Brady Pub, I imagine, with the rest of that huge judgmental family of his. I wouldn't be welcome there for obvious reasons. Besides, I wanted to see you. So we took a little break from each other, just for today."

"Right." Eve couldn't tell from Paige's voice whether she believed her or not. Then Paige said, "Out with it, Mom. What did you do to ruin the one good thing you had in your life besides me?"