Grown Ups: Part I
We've followed the stories of Llanview's youth but how about a deeper look into the lives of the adults that we all know and love for this chapter of "Llanview Lives"?
Destiny and Dani spent the entire day shopping and went to the Palace afterward for lunch.
"We were on a mission today." Destiny said.
"Yeah, we got so much stuff… You know you always look like you have everything together." Dani said.
"I have a good poker face but it's just that I know things could be worst. Things have been worst."
"I wish I was as strong as you are."
"You are! What are you talking about? Is something wrong? Things should be great. You have Victor back."
"…It's just that I feel like something is up with Jason."
"Like?"
"Funny, I run into you two here."
Destiny and Dani looked up and saw Matthew standing over them then he joined at their table uninvited and sat next to Dani and across from Destiny.
"Oh please, have a seat." Destiny said sarcastically.
"Thanks." Matthew said. "What's up? Looks like you two went on a shopping spree."
"We did. What's up, Matthew?" Destiny said wondering if he wanted something. They don't all exactly hang out together.
"The three musketeers can't hang out anymore?" Matthew asked.
"We haven't been the 'three musketeers' in over a decade." Destiny said.
"I was here alone, ok. You know I don't have any friends." Matthew admitted.
"That, I can believe." Destiny said.
"How's Miry?" Matthew asked.
"Why don't you call and ask her yourself?" Destiny asked
"I'm sorry; I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that my sixteen year old daughter is having a baby." Matthew said.
"What does that have to do with you talking to her?" Destiny asked.
"It's a step by step process. You know I just got out of rehab. This is your entire fault anyway."
"My fault? How is it my fault?"
"You should've been paying more attention."
"I can't be everywhere at once and if I recall correctly, Miracle was under your roof when this happened and it's not like I can control everything she does. Plus, how can you blame me and you haven't even been present? Another thing, you're a little bit too concerned about this situation when your other two daughters are really running around getting into trouble. If you want to jump on the daddy train, how about you start with them?"
"Are you questioning my parenting?"
"I have been lately, along with your baby mamas."
"Ok! Stop! You two are going to give me a headache." Dani said.
"Sorry." Destiny said to Dani.
"Why can't it ever just be pleasant with us?" Matthew asked.
"Well Matt it's not me, it's you."
"You were my first love, you know." Matthew said to Destiny.
"Correction, Dani was your first love, remember? I was your first really good friend and the first mother of your child."
It suddenly got silent until Destiny's phone rung.
"I have to take this. I'll be right back." Destiny got up and walked away. It was about Izzy's case. Izzy's dad was trying to appeal the restraining order but Destiny wasn't worried. She knew it wouldn't work. Destiny glanced over at Dani and Matthew and saw Matthew whispering something into Dani's ear. It looked strange to her but she didn't give it a second thought.
-v-
Victor knocked on Téa and Shaun's door. Shaun answered.
"Hi Shaun." Victor said.
"Hello Vic. Did you want something?" Shaun said.
"I just wanted to see Leon."
"I think he's on his way out but come in." Victor entered the house. "I have to go. I'll see you later." Shaun said on his way out.
Victor met Leon in the living room,
"Hey dad. I wasn't expecting you. I'm actually going to leave sometime soon."
"I heard. Where are you going?"
"Miracle and I are going out."
"Ok." Victor said sitting down.
"Something wrong?"
"No. I've just been held captive for 16 years and I have no life. The life I thought I had before wasn't even mine to begin with and my brother is living it."
"I guess you need to start over and make a new life."
"That's the plan. I just don't know where to start."
"I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Do you want my mom back?"
Victor laughed.
"Of course I do."
Leon paused before he went on.
"Are you going to try to get her back?"
"No."
Leon looked relieved.
"Good. I want you to be happy. I really do but I don't want you to complicate my mom's life or Shaun's. They're happy together and I want them both to stay happy."
"I want your mom to be happy too and besides, Shaun could crush me with his bare hands."
"You don't completely act like people said you did, in some ways yes but in a lot of ways you don't."
"I've spent 16 years alone. I had a lot of time to think. I was brainwashed. I didn't have any real memories, the ones I had were Todd's and every move I ever made was based on a life I never even had. It all made me rethink the things I did. Now I think some things were right… and others weren't."
"I'm sorry it's so hard for you. I could cancel my date if you want."
"No. Go ahead. Don't worry about me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, go on."
"I'll see you at lunch tomorrow." Leon said as he left.
Téa was standing in the arch way of the living room.
"I didn't know you were here." Téa said.
"I came to see Leon." Victor said as Téa sat across from him. "Why did you name him that anyway? You can't even say it with a Spanish accent."
Téa laughed.
"Don't you remember that that was my father's name? I always knew that if I had a son I would name him after him. Leon Vic Lord, it was very easy to come up with. So how are you adjusting?"
"I'm doing better than would be expected I guess and it's not so bad at Vicki's. I have no money but I get to live in a mansion."
"You know, that can be fixed."
"What?"
"You being broke."
"How?"
"Victor Lord left everything to his son, he never said what son and he didn't even know there was another son, a twin. You can fairly sue for half of everything."
"Are you going to be my lawyer again like old times?"
"I'm retired… usually. I can take your case. At least this time I'm not trying to keep you from going to jail or get you out."
"Gracias."
Téa laughed thinking that it was cute that he said it in Spanish.
"No problemo. What are you going to do now?"
"I have no idea… Hey, do you want to play a game of Money Honey?"
Téa laughed.
"I don't think that's such a good idea."
"Come on. I have no where to go and nothing to do and you don't look busy to me."
Téa sighed.
"One round." Téa said.
-v-
Meanwhile at La Boulé Todd just learned that Victor is a live from Starr and Blair. They walked away to the living room, leaving him alone.
"Victor's alive. I didn't kill my brother… but I killed Walker Laurence. No one cares about him. I'm in the clear."
Starr and Blair watched Brendan sit outside alone through the back door.
"I can't believe no one told me about Victor." Starr said.
"No one told me either. I had to hear from you." Blair said.
"Téa said she was going to tell us on Leon's prom night but you know things didn't go as planned. Someone should've told us long before that anyway. Dani, Jack, Sam and Leon have been seeing him every since they found out."
"I'm sure they have a reason for not telling us."
"Even Aunt Vicki knew. He lives with her."
"…Do you think Brendan could get better?"
"Huh? Oh better, how?"
"You know normal. He's been through so much. He just sits out there all day alone. The only person who's been able to get through to him besides me is Uttara."
"Maybe if we continue to make him feel comfortable he'll start to open up. He's not used to people, remember?"
-v-
Ford was in his office at his home on the phone with Ryder.
"Dad, when are you going to put me in one of your movies?" Ryder asked.
"When I see that you can act, you keep asking me and you still haven't showed me what you can do."
"Fine. What are you doing today?"
"I'm meeting with a screenwriter."
"What's their name?"
"I'm not sure yet."
There was a knock at the door. Ford looked up.
"Langston Wilde." Ford said.
"Who?" Ryder asked confused.
"I'm going to call you back. I love you." They hung up. "Langston, what are you doing here?"
"I'm the writer."
"Wow. Why would you want to work with me?"
"I need a phenomenal director for my new screenplay and I figured my best bet was you."
"Have a seat."
Langston joined Ford at his desk.
"You've done really well for yourself. You came a long way." Langston said.
"Thanks, so have you. I'm sorry about you and Markko's divorce."
"It's been a few years, I'm fine. What about you? Was that your girlfriend on the phone? Starr didn't say you were dating anyone."
"No. That was my son. I'm single, free as bird."
"Call me bold but do you think you may want to rekindle an old flame but you know, maturely like the adults that we are now?"
"That sounds great to me." Ford said smiling ear to ear. "You just made my day walking back into my life like this."
"You're all I've been thinking about since I saw you on the Oscars last year, congrats on your win by the way."
"Thanks. We should probably talk about your movie now. You wrote it so I'm sure it's good."
"We can make magic together." She got up then walked around to the other side of the desk and sat on the edge with her legs crossed. "And not just on the big screen."
"Do you want to go out tonight?"
"If I can find a babysitter for my son, I'd love to."
"What's your son's name?"
"Hugh, he's seven now."
-v-
Jessica and Antonio were having dinner at the Palace. Things had been getting better but after Keri walked back into their lives things reversed. Jessica had just noticed Ford and Langston having dinner together on the other side of the restaurant. She was happy for him and was glad he was able to move on because even though she loved him, she loved Antonio too and they were married so she was determined to make it work.
"You don't want Keri back, do you?" Jessica asked.
"Keri and I were over decades ago and we weren't even together before we thought she died. She's been held captive for a long time. She's not even stable." Antonio said.
"Was she stable before? And that's not what I asked you."
"She wasn't always like that but no I don't want Keri back. I'm married to you."
"Right… What does stable have to do with it anyway? I'm not always stable."
Antonio put down his fork.
"Can we just enjoy this dinner?" Antonio asked.
"How can we enjoy this dinner when we have all this stuff going on?"
"What stuff?" Keri said standing at their table.
"What do you want?" Jessica asked.
"Jessica!" Antonio exclaimed.
"What?"
"Relax Jessie. I'm just here for dinner with my father and my daughter will be joining us later. I like the sound of that, MY daughter. I missed her so much. Enjoy your dinner." Keri left them at the table. Jessica was growing more and more irritated. She knew what Keri wanted and that was her man and her daughter.
Meanwhile, Ford and Langston's dinner wasn't going as well as they had hoped it would.
"What's wrong?" Ford asked.
"You said you were single. Is that because you're dating a married woman?"
"No because I'm not dating a married woman."
"Two words, Jessica Vega." Langston said putting a newspaper on the table the showed a picture of Jessica and Ford together.
"Oh."
"You lied to me. I thought you changed and not only did you lie but you're seeing a married woman."
"I didn't lie."
"A picture says a thousand words."
"I was seeing Jessica but that was months ago. It was wrong, I know but I didn't take advantage of her or anything. She was sane; she wasn't Tess, Bess, Wess, a teenager or anyone else. We were in love but she loved Antonio too and she decided to make it work. I understood and I let go. It's all over the paper because Bree has it out for her family for some reason, especially Jessica. She wants to bring her down and me too because we found out she had DID and we took her to St. Anne's. She said she wouldn't expose us if we didn't but we put her first. I have no rights but I helped. I love Bree like she's my own. Jess and I realized we were wrong and couldn't continue what we were doing so she made her choice and she chose Antonio."
"So it's really over with you and Jessica?"
"Definitely."
"You wouldn't lie to me?"
"I have no reason to."
-v-
Neela Patel knocked on a door and waited for an answer.
"Julie, I'm so glad you answered the door. I came to pick up Bel." Neela said.
"One moment." Julie, the nanny said and walked away.
Five minutes had gone by.
"What is taking so long?" Neela wondered.
"You are not leaving this house with my daughter!"
Neela turned around to face the father of her eight month old baby girl, Bel who was being carried by her father.
"Jack, don't be difficult!"
"I'm not being difficult. You disappeared for months. Why should I let you take her?"
"I did not disappear. You know where I was. I had to go back to my home country to help take care of my sick father. I would never leave Bel if I didn't have to."
"Tell that to the judge."
"Judge? I have custody."
"We share joint custody."
"Then why are you complaining?"
"I want full custody."
"That's just like you Jack, you can never leave well enough alone. Fine, you want to sue me then sue me. I have Destiny on speed dial."
"I have Téa on speed dial."
"Téa's retired."
"She'll still take my case."
"It doesn't matter. They're both the best lawyers in this town but this isn't about winning, this is about Bel and you shouldn't want to do this to her."
"I'm doing this for her."
"No you're not. You're selfish as usual. So go ahead and sue me but right now I'm taking my daughter home."
"No you're not!"
"Try and stop me." Neela took Bel from Jack's arms. "Hey baby girl, mommy missed you so much. Say goodbye to daddy." Neela walked out of La Boulé with Bel.
"Neela! Get back here! Mrs. Manning!"
Neela turned around, annoyed.
"Don't call me that!" She yelled and then kept on her way.
-v-
Shane was at the Buchanan mansion where he lives with his parents, Bo, Nora and son, Chad. Shane was teaching Chad how to play the drums. He had been giving him lessons for years now and Chad had gotten extremely good at it.
"I want to be in a band!" Chad exclaimed and continued to play.
"I rang the bell but no one answered!"
Chad stopped playing the drums at the sound of the voice.
"Mom!" Chad exclaimed, ran over to her and hugged her.
"Chad Raman Balsom, you've grown so much!"
"Neela, you're back." Shane said.
"Yeah, sorry I didn't call." Neela said.
"That's fine. How's your father?"
"The same but I couldn't stay. I had to get back to my darling children."
"Bel has grown so much."
"Hasn't she? I wish I didn't have to miss it."
"Are you hungry?"
"Yeah, I'm starving."
"I'll go get you something from the kitchen, mom." Chad said and left the room.
Shane and Neela got comfortable on the couch with Bel.
"How are things going?" Shane asked.
"Jack is suing me for full custody of Bel."
"Jackass."
"I can't wait until this divorce is final."
"Why did you marry him in the first place?"
"I loved him, stupidly but I married him because I didn't want him to take Bel from me but I couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't continue to put up with the emotional abuse. Do you understand why I keep going back to him because I can't? This was the last time. I mean it. I am done with Jackass Manning. I wish Bel wasn't his daughter so that I could really be done with him."
"Have you spoken to Destiny yet?"
"Yeah, she has my back."
"So do I, whatever you need, just ask." Shane said and then kissed Neela.
"Are you two back together?" Chad walked in and saw his parents kissing and got excited.
"Aww man." Shane said thinking he should've been more careful, neither of them new what to say.
"Are you?" Chad asked again.
Neela looked at Shane wondering what he was going to say because he kissed her and she had no idea what was going through his mind.
"No, son. I'm sorry to disappoint you." Shane said.
"Oh well. It's ok." Chad said handing Neela a trey of food. "I'll be back." Chad walked away.
Neela moved away from Shane and just ate her food.
"I said that because if we went out and things didn't work, I didn't want him to be disappointed." Shane said.
"Oh. Really?" Neela asked.
"Yeah, I never stopped loving you."