On a sunny, cool and crisp day, Emerald's small, little car pulls into the parking lot of The Pine Valley Zoo with her and AJ inside.
The car barely pulls to a stop, before AJ quickly opens the car door and leaves the car. Emerald is quick to leap from the drivers side and round the car, calling out to him, "AJ, wait!"
AJ quickly stops at the sound of his nanny's voice, and walks back to her side. "Yes, Emerald?" He asks.
She kneels to his eye level, and looks at him seriously, "AJ, it is very dangerous for you to walk away on your own. You could get hit by a car, or a stranger could steal you."
"I'm sorry, Emerald." He looks at her apologetically, "I forgot."
"It's okay, but you need to remember to stay very close to me, at all times, today." She stands and reaches into the car, pulling out his coat, "Also, you need to put your coat, hat and gloves on."
"Why?" AJ groaned, "If we don't hurry we'll be too late to feed the giraffes."
"It won't take but a minute to put them on. Come on, AJ, put them on or you'll catch a cold. I know it's sunny out, but it's too cold to go without them."
"Okay," He sighs and concedes defeat, "but will you help me then? I can never get my fingers to go into the gloves right."
"Of course I'll help you, sweetie. Here, give me your hands." AJ outstretches his hands to her and she gasps them carefully to find them chilled to the touch, "See your fingers are cold already. Imagine how cold they would have been if you'd forgotten your gloves." She then rubs his hands between her own to warm them and then helps him to put his gloves on.
"Thank you, Emerald. You're so nice to me." He smiles at her with sweet, child-like affection that warms her heart.
Emerald smiles and gently slips his hat over his blond head before stealing a kiss from his forehead. "Okay, now, let's go feed those giraffes."
"Yeah!" AJ exclaims as he takes her hand and pulls her towards sidewalk to the zoo's main entrance.
Jake and Cara are putting on their hospital scrubs and preparing for surgery, when he receives a text. Jake quickly checks his phone and a torn expression comes over him.
Cara studies him for a moment before asking, "Is everything okay?"
"I don't know. It's from Amanda. She wants me to call her right away." He looks at the small screen indecisively, "She says it is important."
"We need to get inside and get started, Jake."
"Yeah, I know." Jake relents before he tucks the phone away again, "I'll call her after we finish." Jake moves to wash his hands in the sink next to Cara. "She probably wants to ask me about nursery themes again."
"Have you two finished moving in to the new house already?"
"Yes, we are all moved in, finally." Jake says with an exhausted voice. "Now she is working on the nursery, for the new baby, and she is about to drive me nuts with decorating as she is constantly changing themes from one day to another." Jake continues as Cara helps him to dry his hands, following hospital regulation sterile procedures. "First it was Winnie the Pooh, then it was Disney Babies, then Disney Princesses and Lord only knows what she wants to change it to now."
"David and I are thinking about having a Winnie the Pooh theme also." Cara says as she begins washing her hands. "First we need to find a house though. We searched all weekend with the realtor. We really like the neighborhood that Angie's and Jesse's house is in, but so far we've not found anything with a big enough yard there."
Just then his phone alerts him of another text. "Not now." Jake says, to no one in general, as he holds his hands out to avoid contamination and a nurse helps him put surgical gloves on.
Cara, putting on gloves as another nurse helps her, says, "Maybe it isn't from Amanda this time."
Jake talking through is surgical mask now, as the nurse carefully ties it to his face says, "Whoever it is, they'll have to wait now. Are you ready?"
"Almost there." Cara says as a nurse ties her surgical mask on and another nurse pushes open the operating room's door for them to enter in.
Amanda nervously paces the hallway outside of Liza's office, as she continually checks her phone and waits in a near panic for Jake to return her text messages or call her.
Liza opening her office door looks out at Amanda and says, "Amanda? You're still here?"
Amanda, almost startled by Liza's voice, says, "Yes, Liza. I'm just waiting for Jake to call me back."
Liza comes closer, leaving her office door open and says, "Amanda, it's okay if you can't reach Jake right now. I only needed your signature on that one page that you missed; Jake already signed it. Everything will be okay. I'm certain of it. I know you want to give him the good news, but there is nothing for you, or him, to do right now but wait. The pediatrician from Llanview General says that your baby appears to be just fine. She has suffered no ill effects from the early c-section and they are only running normal and routine tests." Liza now motioning to her next client to enter her office ahead of her continues, "Amanda, Jake doesn't have to be here today. You can go home now and don't worry. As soon as your baby is able to be released, I'll call you."
Amanda busily looking at her phone and sending another text to Jake doesn't look up, but only says, "Okay, Liza. Thank you. We'll be waiting to hear from you then."
Jake's phone continues to ring text alerts, one after another, as he, Cara and the other hospital staff members try to concentrate on the operation in front of them. Suddenly, Cara speaks, "Jake, I can't stand it any longer. You need to have that turned off or else go answer it."
"Yes, I'm sorry everyone. Megan, could you, please, come over here and turn off my phone?"
Megan, frustrated by the chain of events, says nothing as she moves to turn off Jake's phone. She then begins the process of re-washing her hands so that she can continue her duties in the operating room.
Jake embarrassed, says, "Sorry, I forgot to leave it in the scrub room. Thank you, Megan."
Annie stirs in her large, plush and extremely comfortable bed at The Parisian Hotel suite. A voice pulls her from her deep, dreamy sleep and she is startled awake. Her mind, still in a half asleep state, doesn't connect and her eyes blindly dart around the room for the cause of her awakening.
Cognitive thought returns quickly and she follows the sounds to the man that lies beside her and she watches momentarily as JR talks in his sleep. His voice shifting from loud shouts, deep sobs, to quiet mumbles as his eyes stay closed and he stays asleep. She struggles for a moment to untangle herself from the satin sheets and she moves across the enormous bed to wake him. But as her hand outstretches, to rouse him from his dreams, his words stop her dead.
"I didn't mean to shoot Natalia, Dad. I didn't mean to shoot Erica. I was only trying to shoot Marissa and… Dad… I'm sorry. I was just so angry with you." He mumbled quietly, "I wasn't thinking. I thought you had abandoned me. I lost everything, dad!" Suddenly his voice rose to a shout, and Annie flinched away, "I lost the house! The company! AJ and then you too! You let me drown on my own! Dad, I'm sorry." His voice lowered to a pleading whisper, "I was drunk. I wasn't thinking. Please, dad? Please?"
Annie sits back in stunned silence, eyes wide and fully awake.
Shock and even fear spinning in her mind with every other thought. Her mind races back to the night of the shooting and she tries to think of her own actions that night. How she escaped Oak Haven with Marion and Scott.
She struggles to remember what time it was when she snuck to the airport and boarded the jet. Her mind is a wash with memories, thoughts, shock and fear that grows with every second.
Her eyes wander mindlessly off into the room. She wonders what she should do. Should she wake JR? Should she tape record his words as he keeps repeating them over and over again. Is JR still drunk, in his sleep, from the night before? Will JR kill her, if she reveals to him what he has said? Will he remember what he is saying, in the morning?
She thinks briefly of packing a suitcase and fleeing from the hotel, far away from him, but her heart stops her as it reminds her of her deep love for him. She fears for her own safety and wonders who this man, in the bed next to her, really truly is… deep inside his troubled mind. She whispers out loud to herself, "And they call me crazy."
"Annie?" JR's voice says quietly.
She is startled by his voice, and chokes down a yelp as she quickly looks back to his face. Fear quickly floods over her as she sees his eyes open and him fully awake.
"Annie? What's the matter with you?"
Annie's blood runs cold, for a brief moment, as terrifying fear refuses her to speak.
