Julian stretched out on the couch and glanced at Molly over his shoulder. She was staring at her computer screen, pretending to work. In reality she was fuming. Julian had no problem sitting through the tension in the room—this was like a massage compared to some of his afternoons with Ava. But Julian needed information, and the TV was the best way to get it. Unfortunately, that meant telling Molly what happened to Silas first, and he was unsure of the wisdom of that particular course of action.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock. He slowly stood up and sauntered his way over to the door. "Molly, when you hear me talk to the police, I need you to go upstairs and get your mother."

-"Police? Why are the police coming here?"

-"Look. This will all be clear in about 10 minutes. But for now, I need you to promise me that you'll get her."

Molly stared at him, "Maybe I prefer if the police have their way with you withOUT benefit of counsel."

Julian's eyes narrowed at her, and then he smirked. She was an Alexis-in-training—if Alexis were ten times as bratty. "Oh, Molly, Molly, Molly. The police aren't here for me."

The knocking was more persistent as Julian turned away from a clearly thrown Molly and opened the door. The surprise on his face was mirrored on the visitor's—TJ, laden with takeout from Kelly's.

-"TJ. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

-"Mr. Jerome. I think that feeling's mutual. Is um…is Molly here?"

-"Yup, she's right here." He nodded toward the takeout, "Good to see that Alexis still cooks. I guess you should probably come in."

TJ wasn't sure how to handle Julian's joke. He was pretty sure Ms. Davis had broken up with Julian, and Molly was pretty convinced he was still in the mob. Which meant he was in the awkward position of incurring the wrath of his Mom's boss or his girlfriend. He decided to play it safe with a noncommittal "Thanks."

But when he saw Molly, he went over and hugged her. "Molly how are you? How is Sam doing?"

Molly looked at him as though he'd sprouted three heads. "What are you talking about?"

-"You mean you don't know?" He looked around at the only other person in the room. Judging by his face, Mr. Jerome DEFINITELY knew. "About Silas. Molly, I'm so sorry. He's gone."

-"What do you mean 'gone'?"

-"I mean he's dead, Molls. He and his wife were murdered."

Julian watched Molly carefully, waiting for her reaction. He really needed her to be the dogged Molly who wouldn't let anything go, and not the Molly who was going to crumble into tears. The latter wasn't going to turn up anything useful for him.

-"Murdered? How? Why? Who would do that to him?" The tears had started to flow, but she was demanding answers.

Jackpot, thought Julian.

-"I don't think they've arrested anyone yet."

-"When did this happen? How did this happen?"

-"Today. It was around 4:30 or so. They said an employee found them. I guess it was that nurse that's always around Mrs. Clay."

-"Oh my God, TJ. Sam! Oh my goodness, does Sam—" Molly stopped. Suddenly it made sense. "Oh. Sam knows now, doesn't she? That's why you're here, Julian?" Julian didn't answer. Until Alexis cleared his next move, he wasn't admitting to anything. "Why won't you answer me?"

-"I think we should wait for your mother, don't you Molly?" He turned to TJ, deciding curiosity as the best course of action: it would provide both information and witnesses to when he acquired it. "TJ, what else did you hear?"

-"There weren't a lot of details. There are rumors they were shot. But maybe there's more online now."

-The thought of research lit a fire in Molly. "C'mon TJ, let's look and see what we can find."

Julian let the kids go off in the corner to huddle around the laptop. He walked to the television and turned it on, hoping it would provide more details.

Twenty minutes later Alexis descended the stairs to find Julian watching the local news as TJ and Molly huddled around the computer.

Molly rushed to her mother. "Mom! How's Sam? Is she all right? Who would do something like this to Silas and his wife?" Alexis took a second to gather her bearings. It had been a while since her daughter had openly sought her comfort or opinion on anything.

-"She's sleeping now, sweetheart. Obviously she's incredibly upset. I'm going to give her a bit and then go up and check on her. How are you?"

-"I don't know," tears welled in Molly's eyes. "I mean I'm of course horrified he's dead. But I have such mixed feelings about Silas. On the one hand he hurt Sam. But on the other he saved Danny and he was Rafe's uncle." Her voice got smaller, "I really, really hate this summer."

For the second time that evening, Alexis pulled one of her daughters into an embrace and comforted her as tears flowed. Julian watched, slightly embarrassed he was intruding on something so personal but unwilling to leave until he could talk to Alexis.

It was TJ who broke up the moment. "Molly, why don't we give your Mom and Mr. Jerome a couple of minutes." He turned to Alexis, "Ms. Davis, your food's in the kitchen with Sam's. Can we heat it up for you?"

-"I'm OK, TJ. But maybe you could take my girl for a walk for a little bit and get some air?"

Molly looked at her mother, "Mom, I don't want to leave you and Sam. TJ and I have been reading about Silas online. Maybe we can find out more information about what happened. Maybe that can comfort Sam—there's nothing worse than not knowing."

Alexis felt a wave of relief settling in as the harridan who appeared to have possessed her daughter for the past few months stepped aside and her sweet, considerate youngest child returned. She hoped the reprieve wasn't temporary. "What have you learned so far?"

-"The news and bloggers were pretty fuzzy on details, but it looks like they were both shot."

Alexis looked from her daughter to Julian. She looked back at Molly and tried to make her next question sound driven entirely by curiosity and not by a gap in Sam's timeline. "So, do we know when it happened?"

-"I saw one news report say around 4:30," said Molly.

-TJ jumped in, "One article stated the police got there around 5."

Alexis remained impassive, purposely not looking at Julian. "Do we know anything else?"

-"They said an employee found them. We think it was that nurse that follows Silas's wife around," Molly responded.

- Alexis sighed, "It's so sad, but I'm glad you both are looking out for Sam. She needs that." She smiled grimly. "Listen, I don't think she's going to be down for awhile, but if she does come down we're going to need supplies." She looked at Molly. "I don't know what her mood is going to be, but we should be ready for anything."

Molly nodded knowingly, "we don't have any chocolate and we're low on ice cream. We are all clear on popcorn, though."

Julian couldn't stop himself before he jumped in, "is she really going to want chocolate and ice cream?"

Molly glared at him, suddenly remembering his presence. Alexis looked at him, "it's important to be prepared, Julian. And even if Sam doesn't eat it, Molly and I are going to need it." She turned to the couple, "Can you guys do a supply run to the corner? And can you also grab something for headaches—and maybe some Tylenol PM? Sam's going to be feeling miserable for a while, I bet. She's gonna need some sleep, too."

-"Sure, Mom. We'll be back in 15 minutes or so."

Julian watched them depart, catching the last stink-eye Molly threw him as she shut the door behind them. He immediately turned to Alexis, "So?"

- Alexis dropped the front she'd put up for Molly as her shoulders sagged. "Well, she's devastated."

-"How devastated? Is she OK? Can I see her?"

-"I can check on that last part, but I think you and I need to talk before you start speaking to Sam."

-"OK." Julian looked slightly puzzled, "what do you need to tell me? Is it bad?"

Alexis looked at Julian and considered her approach. Manipulating him with a subtle flirtation would yield the best immediate reaction, but create confusion for both of them; she opted for straightforward.

-"Here's the thing. I'm Sam's mother. But I'm also her lawyer. Anything she tells me is protected, but anything she tells you—"

-"Alexis," he cut her off, "you don't need to worry about me. I'd never share anything she told me with the police."

-"OK. See now that's why I'm worrying."

-"Why? Why would that worry you?"

Alexis sighed, "Because Julian. You can be subpoenaed. You can be forced to testify."

-"Then I'll just lie."

-"Jesus, Julian," Alexis threw her hands up in disbelief. "Can you not tell me that you're planning on committing perjury? Even hypothetically? This…*this* is what I'm worried about"

-"I don't see how that should come as a surprise to you."

-"OK. Stop. Just stop talking." Alexis was clearly frustrated, "This is what I need you to do for the next three days."

-"Anything," he wanted to get back into her good graces, "you know I'll do anything."

-"Great. But I don't want you to do *anything* Julian. I want you to do *nothing*"

Julian took a step back, confused and if he was honest—a little insulted. "OK, OK. Back up a second. Before we talk about how you don't want me to involve myself in my daughter's life—which by the way, Alexis? Not gonna happen—why don't we talk about how much trouble she may be in?"

-"What do you mean?"

-"I mean, does she have an alibi?"

Alexis stared at him. "Julian, you know I can't discuss what I discuss with my client."

-"Great. So this is what it's going to be like? She may be your client, but she's *our* daughter, Alexis." Julian shook his head in frustration, "you know what. It's fine. Don't tell me anything. I'll just ask her myself."

-"No," Alexis raised her voice and then realized she had two people asleep upstairs or at least trying to. She switched to a harsh whisper. "I don't want you asking her anything."

-"Well we can't always get what we want, can we Alexis?" Julian snarked.

Alexis stared at him, letting him know she caught every meaning in his loaded response. Time to try another tack. "Julian," she reasoned. "You asked me what I need you to do. Can you just let me tell you?"

Julian looked at her, his face grim. "Fine, go ahead."

She looked at him, marveling at how sometimes dealing with him was like dealing with Molly. Alexis shook off the feeling and decided her best approach was to reason with him.

-"First, I need you to do nothing." She raised her hand to stop his immediate protest, as though the physical act would keep his temper in check. "For now." Julian shrugged, giving her the signal to continue. "Look, we don't know if Sam is actually a suspect yet. Sure, on paper she makes sense. But Dante knows Sam, Nathan knows Sam—they know she would never have done this."

She looked at Julian to see if he was following before she continued, "but they're cops Julian. They need to check all the angles. And if they can't find another suspect, she may start looking good to them. And even though Nathan may know Sam didn't do this…well, his sister was just murdered. If he changes his mind and decides that Sam is a suspect he's not going to let go."

Julian looked at her, "Right. So how does doing nothing help?" He moved closer to her, lowering his voice and grabbing her hand, "Look Alexis. I don't know what she told you. I'm assuming she doesn't have an alibi because you're planning like someone who has a client that's a suspect. But we can just nip that in the bud right now. We can clear her in one phone call."

Alexis pulled away from his grasp, a harsh edge in her voice, "you don't get it, Julian. You want to know why I don't want you to do anything? That's why." She felt herself getting worked up, but she needed to make him understand. "You feel threatened and you react. You don't think it through. And then there's a whole new mess to clean up later." She softened her voice, "what happens if you give her an alibi and then someone contradicts it? She can't be in two places at once. And then the cops think she's lying, Julian. And why would someone being investigated in a murder case lie? Right. Because she did it." She finished, "Do you see where this is going?"

Julian avoided her eyes. He disagreed with her, but realized he didn't have a leg to stand on. Between what happened with Lucas and her house, he wasn't going to be able to change her mind—not tonight anyway. And the look on her face, the trace of anger and blame he saw there—he couldn't look at it. It was too much.

He felt her hand tilt his chin up so he was looking at her, "Julian, I have no idea what circumstantial evidence they may or may not have that would point to Sam. But I'm not making any moves now. I need to see what they have before we decide on a strategy. It's a waiting game. Just do nothing, at least for the next three days. Then we can revisit."

Julian instinctively put his hands up to her face. He stared at her and his voice became husky, "You've asked me to be patient and do nothing. Neither one of those things are a part of who I am." Alexis sensed his next move, and she lifted her hands to pull his own away before he could kiss her.

-"So that was the first thing I need you to do." Her voice was high and unsteady. God what Julian could do to her just by being in the same room. "Um…I also have a second."

-"Sure."

Julian's gaze was so intense she had to take a step back before she took a step forward. "I need to focus until we're sure Sam's cleared as a suspect. And you," she stammered looking for the right word, "you are a distraction. I can't wrestle with myself every time I see you."

-"Then don't. You know where I stand."

She closed her eyes. "I can't. I can't make a snap decision and change everything I think and believe in. I'm not built that way. But I struggle when I see you, Julian. I ache when I see you."

-"So what do you want me to do?"

Alexis looked at him directly. "Keep your distance from me. I get that you're a part of Sam's life and Danny's life, but when I'm too close to you, or you look at me the way you're looking at me right now…I just can't. I need you to stay away."

Julian looked at her hard. "I'll make you a deal. I'll do as you ask. I won't do anything to interfere in the case. I'll stay away from you and keep my distance."

-"OK"

-"But this 'revisiting' we're doing in three days? We're not just talking about a Sam strategy. We're also talking about you and me and distance." He walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "Because I can't *not* help Sam, and the best way to help Sam is to work with you."

He kissed her on her forehead. His lips lingered there and Alexis leaned into him. They were connected, no matter what Alexis said. He knew he was going to have to work to win her back, but he was content for the moment that she gave into the pull between them. It was the first peace he'd felt in weeks. He wanted it to go on forever.

The temporary bliss was shattered by an open door and Molly's cry of "MOM!" Jolted from her sense of calm, Alexis pulled away.

Looking for an escape before he said something he'd regret, Julian whispered to Alexis, "I'm going to go check on Sam." She looked at him dubiously. "No questions beyond how she's doing, Alexis. I promise."