EMERALD CHURCH

Standing in the center of the church, Alexis Lopez was regaining her composure following the argument she had just had with Ryan Phillips outside the church. Alexis had no understanding as to why Ryan had violently attacked her, but she assumed that it was due in part to her amnesia.

She tried digging in the corners of her mind to find out what she had done to anger Ryan, but the memories just weren't coming. Alexis was about ready to give up, when she suddenly felt a wave of nausea attack her. Holding her stomach, Alexis cried out as her body felt as if it were overheating.

"Oh God, what's wrong with me?" Alexis gasped.

Alexis moved through the church, with memories of her past suddenly flooding her brain. She was remembering everything about the night she first slept with Ryan, to the pregnancy that she had faked, to the…

"You're pregnant, Ms. Lopez," Dr. Collins said. "Nearly two months pregnant."

Alexis's face went completely white, as Dr. Collins' words echoed in her head. She couldn't believe it…she was pregnant before, but she had only been faking then. And even then, Ryan had forced her to get an abortion.

An abortion which Alexis had effectively faked as well, but now there was this. An actual pregnancy that Alexis had no idea how to deal with. Especially now that Ryan thought she had gotten an abortion already.

"I can't tell him…I can't…" Alexis spoke aloud.

"Ms. Lopez, are you okay?" Dr. Collins asked. "I can try —"

Dr. Collins didn't get to finish his sentence, however, as his pager went off at that second. He checked it and saw that it was an emergency, and so he excused himself from the room for a few moments.

Once Dr. Collins was gone, Alexis used all of her strength to climb out of the bed and stumble over to the door.

"I have to…I have to leave…" Alexis continued. "I have to…"

She reached for her clothes in the closet next to the door and began changing.

"I have to get…out of here…I have to…"

"Oh God, am I pregnant?" Alexis wondered aloud.

Then she collapsed onto the floor in the center of the church.

"Did Ryan rope you into marrying him by getting you pregnant?" Nikki Vicman, Vanessa Watson's sister, demanded as they stood in the center of the church.

Nikki was standing next to her husband, Marcus Vicman, as they were questioning Vanessa about her impending nuptials. Having only arrived in Marquette Cove that morning, Nikki hadn't had the time to properly voice her opinion on Vanessa's wedding to Ryan Phillips, a man that she shared a troublesome history with.

"Nikki, that is not the reason I'm marrying Ryan," Vanessa insisted. "I'm in love with him."

"See? I told you so," Marcus said, trying to calm his wife down. "Now, let's find a way that we can help with the…"

Marcus' voice trailed off as he noticed a young girl in a bridesmaid dress stumbling into the church, looking disheveled. He turned Nikki and Vanessa's attention to the girl as well, and Vanessa cried out when she realized who it was.

"Alexis!" Vanessa cried out, moving to the girl's aid.

Nikki and Marcus followed, as Vanessa crouched down over Alexis and tried to see what was wrong with her. Marcus held his sister-in-law back.

"Vanessa, stop," Marcus said. "You'll hurt the baby, let me and Nikki help."

"Help! Someone help us over here!" Nikki cried out, wildly glancing around the church.

"Is everything okay?" Father Thomas Grady asked Ryan Phillips as they stepped into the hallway outside of his office.

"Yes, everything's fine," Ryan said. "I'm just checking to see when we'll be able to start. I want to get this thing over with."

Father Grady shot Ryan a suspicious look.

"I just…I want to be married, that's all," Ryan said quickly.

"Well, as soon as everyone in the procession is dressed, and the guests arrive, we can begin," Father Grady answered. "No later than noon, I'm assuming."

Ryan smiled. "Great."

Before Ryan could continue, they both heard Nikki crying out from further inside the church. Kimberly Black opened the door to Father Grady's office, still carrying the bouquet of flowers that she had been inspecting earlier.

"What's going on?" Kimberly demanded.

"I'm not sure," Father Grady said, heading towards the sound of Nikki's cries.

Kimberly and Ryan filed behind Father Grady, and the three came across the others in the church surrounding an unconscious Alexis Lopez in the aisle in the center of the church. Father Grady helped Marcus lift Alexis to her feet, trying to wake her up.

"Should we be moving her?" Kimberly asked. "She might have fractured her back or something!"

Ryan rolled his eyes, then pushed past Nikki to stand closer to Alexis. He glared at the teenager intently, wondering what had brought on her sudden fainting spell.

"Let's get her into Father Grady's office," Ryan said. "Then we can interrogate her."

Everyone else shot Ryan odd looks off his use of the word "interrogate," which caused Ryan to nervously wring his hands.

"I meant, let's see what's wrong with her," Ryan corrected. "Come on, we're wasting time here! She could be hurt!"

"Ryan's right," Marcus said. "Father, can you help me take her back into your office?"

"Of course," Father Grady nodded, helping Marcus carrying Alexis into the back of the church.

Vanessa turned her attention to her fiancé, noticing that he was still staring at Alexis as Father Grady and Marcus carried her away. Vanessa frowned, wondering if Ryan had something to do with what had just happened to Alexis.

"Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me," Vanessa muttered.



HANLEY HOME

Michael Hanley unlocked the door at the bottom of the hidden stairwell in his home office. After making sure no one was following him, he pushed the door open and stepped into a long hallway. He walked through the hallway to another door, and when it was opened it led Michael to a large white room. Inside the room was a large table, and standing next to it was Dr. Victor Collins, the chief of staff at Marquette Cove Memorial Hospital.

"Victor," Michael said, greeting him.

"Hello Michael," Victor said, glancing up at Michael. "Coming to check up on things?"

"How's our little project going?" Michael asked.

"Smoothly," Victor replied. "Our special guest will be up and running soon enough, and ready to follow your every command."

Michael approached the table Victor was working at. "Good."

Resting on the table was a man that Michael knew all too well — a man that many of the citizens in Marquette Cove also knew. It was a man they all remembered fondly, because they assumed that he died two years ago. But he hadn't.

"Sean Moore," Michael spoke aloud. "Remember how your brother tried to kill you with a car bomb? Well, I've got great news for you! I'm going to do the same thing to him."

Michael laughed, turning to face Victor.

"But it's going to be a little different this time," Michael continued. "Unlike you, he's actually going to die."

"Derek Moore, your brother?" Victor asked.

"Derek is no brother of mine," Michael snapped. "That bastard is only related to Sean by blood. Since Sean was adopted by my father in some last ditch effort to keep me from inheriting what's rightfully mine when he croaks, he's the only one of the brothers I'm actually related to."

Victor nodded.

"But it looks like I'm going to get the final laugh," Michael said. "Everyone thinks Sean died in that car explosion two years ago, but no one thought to think that I had the dental records switched between Sean and the person who really died in that explosion."

"And Derek?"

"Not even my dumb accomplice knows that his brother is alive," Michael answered. "Such a shame, really. I wanted to see the look on his face when Sean returned from the dead. But he has proved to become too much of a liability, which is why he's going to die before Vanessa and Ryan reach the altar."

Michael checked his watch.

"And speaking of the wedding, I should check on Vince to see if he's ready," Michael said, being over and kissing his brother, Sean, on the forehead. "I'll tell your son hello for you."

Vincent Moore stood in one of the guest bedrooms at the Hanley mansion, which had become his own bedroom now that he had officially made the decision to move into the mansion. He was nearly dressed for the wedding; all he had to do was place the jacket from his tuxedo on.

Next to Vince was Antonio Gomez, who was sitting on the edge of Vince's bed. Antonio stood up, folding his arms.

"So, you're really moving in here?" Antonio asked.

"Yeah, I am," Vince said. "Is there a problem?"

"No, none whatsoever," Antonio said.

"That's surprising," Vince muttered. "I thought you were my guardian angel, or whatever."

"I'm human now, remember?"

"Like hell you are," Vince said. "Normal people don't phase in and out of rooms like they're on the damn Enterprise."

"I said I was human, I didn't say I was normal," Antonio countered. "But let's focus on something more important. Like how you're going to deal with your uncle, Derek. I'm sure he won't like you moving out of the house."

"As long as I'm at the Hanley mansion, he's got no reason to believe I'm going to turn him in for murdering my father," Vince said. "As much as I want to…I need hard evidence. Something besides that stupid tape recorder with his confession on it."

"You're not turning him in?" Antonio demanded. "Why not?"

"Because I'm going to kill him," Vince said.

Antonio tried to hide his glee and Vince's declaration to kill his uncle. While he was still pretending to be on Vince's side, he needed Vince to think that he had his best interest at heart. "Vince, I don't think that’s a good idea…you're talking about murder."

"No, I'm not going to murder my uncle," Vince insisted. "Matt Holden is going to be murdering Derek for me."

"What was that?"

Vince whirled around, realizing that Michael was now standing in the doorway. Vince took a deep breath and quickly tried to come up with an explanation.



MOORE HOME

Akilah Moore stood in the living room, putting on a necklace in front of a mirror that belonged to her mother. Akilah was now fully dressed to attend Ryan and Vanessa's wedding, even though a wedding was the last place she wanted to be. She was still wishing that her mother were in Marquette Cove with her, instead of back in rehab at a clinic in Fordham Bay.

"Mom, why did you have to do this to us?" Akilah wondered out loud. "Don't you know how much we need you?"

Once the necklace was on, the doorbell rang. Akilah wiped away a small tear and hurried to the door to open it for her best friend, Julia Mitchell, and Julia's mother, Anna Mitchell.

"Hello Akilah," Anna smiled, stepping inside and embracing her. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Akilah said. "I'm about ready, so we can get going."

"Is Vince coming with us?" Julia asked.

"No, he's not," Akilah said. "He's going with Mr. Hanley."

"Michael Hanley?" Anna asked, surprised. "Why would Vince be going to the wedding with Michael?"

"Oh, you haven't heard the news yet…" Akilah said, her voice trailing off.

"What news, honey?" Julia asked.

"Vince is moving into the Hanley mansion," Akilah replied. "He hates his family so much that he can't stand to even be in the same house with us."

"Oh, Akilah," Julia said, giving her friend a hug. "You know that's not true. Vince loves you. It's that sleazy uncle of yours that he hates."

"Excuse me?"

The three women turned to find Akilah's uncle, Derek Moore, standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a tuxedo for the wedding, but from all the sweat on his forehead, it seemed as if he had just jogged around the block five times.

"Derek, is everything okay?" Anna asked, elbowing her daughter to keep her quiet.

"I can't go to the wedding," Derek said. "I have to leave…for work."

"Are you sure that's all?" Julia asked.

"Julia, please," Anna said.

Derek resisted the urge to glare at Julia, then excused himself from the room. He walked into the kitchen, nervously leaning against the sink.

"Dammit," Derek said. "I sure as hell can't go to that wedding…not if I want to stay alive."

Simon Holden opened the front door and walked into the foyer, looking for son, Matt. Simon had just returned from the Marquette Cove Police Department, where he had a tense conversation with Detective Joel Kincaid.

As Simon peered into the living room, he could see Matt sitting on the couch, dressed in his tuxedo. He was playing with his cell phone, trying to pick a new ringtone.

"Matthew, we need to talk," Simon said, catching his son's attention.

"Not now, Simon," Matt said, focusing on his phone. "I'm busy. Go bother mom."

"I was at the police station today," Simon continued. "I had another talk with Detective Kincaid."

Matt rolled his eyes and set his cell phone on the coffee table in front of the couch. Matt rose to his feet. "I'm assuming you think I'm a cold-blooded murderer now."

"No, I don't," Simon said. "And after my conversation with Detective Kincaid, I don't think he'll be bothering us anytime soon."

Matt's eyes widened. "Oh, really? What did you say to him?"

"That's…that's not important," Simon insisted. "I have to find your mother. Where is she?"

"I'm right here," Valerie Hanley-Holden announced, entering the living room.

She was wearing a light yellow dress and carrying a matching handbag with her. Valerie ran her fingers through her light brown hair as she paused next to her husband. He gently squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her.

"Where have you been, honey?" Simon asked. "You weren't home when I woke up this morning."

"I had to go pick up my dress for the wedding," Valerie said. "That's all."

Simon frowned, noticing that his wife was acting nervously. But he decided that he was only misinterpreting her emotions, with Ryan and Vanessa's wedding occurring in a few hours, and so he decided to ignore his suspicions.

"Uncle Michael called earlier," Matt added. "He wanted to ask you something about that fire at grandpa's storage department."

Valerie froze; trying not to tip off her son and husband that she was more involved in that fire than she was letting on.

Valerie Hanley-Holden allowed tears to stream down her face as she reached into her pocket and removed a box of matches. Her hand shook nervously as she slid open the box and took out a match. She struck the match against the box, igniting it.

"I'll show you, you bastard," Valerie hissed, discussing her father. "I'll make you pay for what you did to me!"

Valerie tossed the match onto one of the stack of papers, then watched as the papers began to burn. But she decided that it wasn't burning quickly enough, so she lit another match.

"You manipulated me!"

Valerie threw the second match onto the same stack of papers.

"You used me!"

Valerie struck a third match and dropped it onto a separate stack.

"I'll make you pay! You bastard!"

Valerie continued lighting matches and throwing them onto the paper. It took almost five minutes for her to realize what she had done…she had lit every stack of paper in the room on fire, and a growing ring of flames surrounded her.

"Mom, are you okay?" Matt asked, becoming slightly worried about Valerie.

"I'm fine, honey," Valerie said, regaining her composure. "We should get going before we're late. You know how Michael hates it when his family is late."

Valerie quickly exited the living room and headed toward her bedroom to finish applying her makeup. As she did so, when Matt and Simon weren't looking, she wiped away the tears that were sliding down her cheek.



EMERALD CHURCH

Blake Thomas approached the church with his friend, Kelli Anderson, and his boyfriend, Chris Server. They had just come from Blake's house, where Kelli and Chris arrived to find Blake lurking in his basement, as usual.

Unbeknownst to his friends, Blake had been downstairs attempting to resurrect his brother, Michael Thomas. Blake had already brought his brother back from the dead once, after Thomas died of cancer two years ago. With the help of the ghost of Nicholas Brennan, who convinced Blake that he was back from the dead to help Blake save his brother's soul from eternal torment in Hell, Blake successfully brought Thomas back to life.

Blake tried to integrate his brother back into a normal life for the year following his resurrection, but all of that was taken away from him when Nicholas returned and put Blake into some sort of mystical coma.

Now Thomas wouldn't wake up…he couldn't move…it didn't even seem like he was breathing. But he wasn't dead. He was still alive, and now Blake had to find a way to bring his brother back to life. Again.

"Blake, what's wrong?" Chris asked.

"Huh?" Blake asked, turning to Chris. "Nothing."

Chris tried to take Blake's hand, but Blake moved it away from him.

"Not here," Blake said quickly. "No one can know we're dating."

Chris frowned, knowing there was a time when he was the one keeping his feelings for Blake a secret. But when Chris had finally come to terms with the fact that he was in love with Blake and willing to come out in the open with their relationship…he found Blake was the one pulling away from him.

Kelli took Chris' hand instead, to comfort him. Chris glanced at Kelli and forced a smile.

Detective Joel Kincaid approached the church, now dressed in a tuxedo for the wedding. He was there to keep an eye on Alexis Lopez, which made his visit official police business. Luckily, that meant he hadn't had to pay for renting the tuxedo himself.

Though she had been released from the hospital so that she could attend the wedding, Alexis was still in police custody. With her amnesia, she was unable to remember the events leading up to Allison Gellar's disappearance, but the moment her memory returned Alexis would be wanted for questioning. She was the prime suspect in Allison's disappearance, even though Joel knew there was more to the case than all of the involved parties were letting on.

Joel was also expecting to run into his ex-wife, Anna Mitchell, at the wedding. He hoped they would be able to keep things civil between one another for the sake of Ryan and Vanessa's wedding, and for Julia, who was also attending.

"Detective Kincaid."

Joel turned to see Chris standing next to him, while Blake and Kelli behind him.

"What can I do for you?" Joel asked.

"I'm wondering if there's been any news in Damon's murder case," Chris asked. "He was a close friend of mine at one time…I'd like to know if you're any closer in finding out who killed him."

"I can't really discuss the case," Joel said. "But I can assure, we're doing everything we can to find the murderer."

Blake suddenly felt sick to his stomach, and turned away from the others.

"Is something wrong, Blake?" Joel asked.

"No, everything's fine," Blake insisted, hurrying toward the entrance. "I need to find a bathroom."

Kelli and Chris exchanged worried glances as Blake left them, while Joel instead narrowed his eyes at the teenager as Blake entered the building.

Father Grady stood over Alexis as she was seated in one of the chairs in his office. Kimberly and Vanessa were now in the room with him, wanting to see what was wrong with Alexis while Vanessa also prepared herself for the wedding.

"Is she okay?" Kimberly asked.

"I'm not sure, why don't you ask me a few more times?" Father Grady responded.

Kimberly rolled her eyes and turned to Vanessa, who was standing in front of a mirror with an apprehensive look on her face. Vanessa wiped beads of sweat away from her forehead, and spoke softly to herself.

"Vanessa, are you okay?"

"I can't do this," Vanessa said, spinning around to face Kimberly and Father Grady.

"Do what?" Kimberly demanded.

Father Grady raised his head as Vanessa began to answer.

"I can't…I can't go through with this," Vanessa decided. "I can't marry Ryan."



MOORE HOME

Derek watched from the window over the kitchen sink as Anna, Julia, and Akilah left the house for the wedding. Once he saw them drive, he removed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"It's Derek. I'm going to need a one-way ticket out of the country."

"I don't have time for this, Derek."

"I'm serious!" Derek cried, slamming his fist onto the kitchen counter. "I need to get out of Marquette Cove fast, or I'm a dead man."

"Hmm…that doesn't sound all that bad to me."

"Look, I know I still owe you some money, but —"

"You still owe me some money? That's hilarious. You owe me a lot of goddamn money, Derek."

"And I'll get it to you, I swear! Just please, help me with this," Derek pleaded.

The other end was silent for a moment.

"Alright…fine."

"Thank you, so much."

"Yeah, whatever. Where do you need to go? Mexico?"

"No, I hate Mexico," Derek said. "How about Europe? Get me a one-way ticket to Europe."

"So what, Downtown Europe or the European Countryside?"

"Huh?"

"Pick a goddamn country, idiot."

Derek sighed. "Let's see…how about Paris?"

"Predictable. I'll get you your ticket."

After a few moments, the phone line went dead. Derek breathed a sigh of relief and hung up the phone, placing it back in his pocket. Now he had to grab whatever belongings he needed before Michael Hanley's henchman found him first.

Because if that happened…Derek was a dead man.



HANLEY HOME

"Who were you talking to?" Michael asked Vince, unable to see Antonio standing in the middle of the room.

"Um…myself," Vince said. "I was just talking to myself about things."

Vince glanced over at Antonio, who smiled at Vince. Vince realized that Michael couldn't see Antonio, and then he turned back to their conversation.

"Are you ready to go to the wedding?" Michael asked.

"Yes, I am," Vince said, nodding.

Michael smiled, then started toward the door. Vince called out to stop him.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Hanley…Michael…I wanted to thank you for everything that you've done for me," Vince said. "For letting me stay here in your mansion."

"It's a pleasure, Vince," Michael said. "It's nice to have someone around in this large place to keep me company. I want the history between our families to be just that — history. It's time to start over. I hope in time, you'll come to trust me like a friend…like a father."

Vince frowned.

"I'm sorry," Michael said quickly, realizing his error. "I don't mean to take the place of Sean Moore, your actual father."

"No, I know that," Vince said. "I'm just…thinking about the wedding we're late for. We should get going."

Michael smiled and patted Vince on the back, before exiting the room. Once he was gone, Vince took a deep breath and followed him.

"I'll talk to you later," Vince told Antonio, closing the door and leaving him alone in the room.

"Bravo," Zaliphyr said, clapping from the desk he was perched on.

Antonio turned to face the demon, rolling his eyes. Vince hadn't noticed Zaliphyr because Zaliphyr currently only existed in Antonio's body. And now, he could only make himself visible to Antonio for time being.

"Shut up, Zaliphyr," Antonio said. "I'm not in the mood for your unsolicited irritations."

"That's too bad," Zaliphyr said, standing up. "Because like it or not, you're stuck with me…and if I can't go anywhere, I'm going to make sure you deal with Vincent Moore and the rest of the people in Marquette Cove once and for all."

Antonio grinned. "Oh, don't worry about me."

He turned to watch the door.

"As of today, everything in Marquette Cove is going to take a turn for the worse."

Zaliphyr smirked. "Then everything has aligned itself perfectly."

"Almost."