Melissa Maddock walked into the Highwind Resort's Private Screening Room, where she found Duncan Kincaid and his brother, Joel, seated on the couch in front of a large television. They were both sitting on opposite ends with their arms folded. Melissa sighed and sat between them, hoping that she wouldn't get pulled into one of their arguments.

"So I guess you both got invitations as well," Melissa said.

"Yeah," Duncan said. "But I don't know why we've been called here."

"Maybe I can shed some light on that."

The three adults turned to see Rory Kahn, their director of proceedings, standing in the doorway with a grin on his face. He walked toward the television in the room and clasped his hands together.

"Welcome, everyone," Rory said.

"What's the meaning of this?" Joel demanded.

"Well, it came to my attention that we missed celebrating one of your holidays," Rory explained. "Christmas has come and gone in Marquette Cove, and yet we didn't even celebrate that joyous occasion here in St. Laurent."

Melissa sighed. "We'd noticed."

"Actually, I'd sort of forgotten it was Christmas," Duncan muttered. "I mean, I don't even know how long we've been here."

"Well, seeing as how Christmas was yesterday in Marquette Cove, I can assure you all that you have been here for no less than four months," Rory said. "Since the end of the summer, actually. Merry Christmas!"

"You bastard," Joel snapped. "Do you get off on torturing us all like this?"

"No, I don't," Rory insisted. "The person holding you captive certainly does, however. And now, without further ado — ah, it appears we have a latecomer."

Rory raised his head to find Lori Racine entering the room. As she walked into the room, she nervously walked toward the couch and sat on the arm of the couch next to Duncan.

"What's going on, guys?" Lori asked.

"Your late Christmas present," Rory said. "You're about to see how everyone in Marquette Cove celebrated Christmas…without you."


LAKESIDE

"You're…you're dead!" Kelli Anderson cried, staring at Michael Thomas as he stood before her. She reached out to touch his face to see if he was real, and was horrified that he was. As she spoke, neither of them noticed as Vincent Moore stepped outside and watched them as they stood near the lake. "You weren't brought to the island with us!"

"Island?"

"Ski resort," Kelli said, correcting herself. "You weren't brought to the Highwind Resort with us! You died three years ago, Thomas!"

Thomas remained silent for a moment, and then he saw an opening to keep the other guests from discovering his identity. "I…I didn't die two years ago, Kelli."

"What?" Kelli demanded. "You had cancer, Thomas! I was there when you were pronounced —"

"Kelli, I'm not Thomas!" Thomas said quickly, cutting her off. "Don't you recognize your best friend?"

"What?"

"It's me, Blake," Thomas lied. "I'm not my brother, Kelli. It's Blake. I only arrived here at the hotel a few days ago."

"Blake?" Kelli asked. "You're…oh, Blake! I thought…I thought I'd never see you again."

Kelli hugged Thomas again, trying to fight back tears to keep them from freezing in the snow. She smiled for the first time in days, grateful that her best friend was now in this place with her. Even if it meant that they were now both being held prisoner in some foreign land by someone who had yet to reveal themselves.

"I'm just glad to see you, Kelli," Thomas said, hating himself as he continued to lie to Kelli about his identity. "I'm just so glad to see you."

Vincent Moore frowned and started toward them, when he noticed an envelope lying in the snow. He bent over and picked up the envelope, which had an invitation inside. The invitation looked similar to the one he and Kelli had received earlier that day to a private screening in the Highwind Resort's Private Screening Room.

"The Highwind Resort cordially invites Michael Thomas…" Vince read aloud, his voice trailing off as he read the name. "Mystical coma my ass. He's been right here the whole time!"

Vince stepped back as Kelli and Thomas broke away from each other, and she started toward him. Once Kelli found Vince, she hurried forward and hugged him.

"Vince, I have great news!" Kelli cried. "Well, not great really, but…Blake is here on the island with us."

"Blake?" Vince demanded. "Is that what he told you?"

"You saw him?" Kelli asked. "When did…hey, what's that in your hand?"

"My invitation to the private screening," Vince said. "It's getting kind of cold in here. Why don't you go on inside, and I'll be in later."

"That's fine," Kelli said. "I'll…talk to you later then."

"Okay," Vince said.

Kelli gripped her own invitation in her hand, and then walked back toward the hotel. Vince frowned and turned back to find Thomas still standing alone by the lake. Vince stuck Thomas's invitation into his coat pocket and started toward the lake.


PRIVATE SCREENING ROOM

Robert Bale sat on the couch in Melissa Maddock's living room, speaking on a telephone. He loosened his tie and leaned back against the couch. "No, I want the memorial to be perfect. The love of my life, Melissa Maddock, died four months ago and I want to spend today, Christmas, remembering her."

Robert hung up the phone and glanced up at his son, Alec Bale, as he entered the living room.

"Hey dad," Alec said. "I was reading the paper, you know, about how Melissa's grave was exhumed and we found out there was no body in the coffin. What do you plan on doing about that?"

"I don't know," Robert said. "I mean, at first I thought it meant that Melissa's death had been faked and that I should look for her on some remote island name Evocetteuqramwen, or some ski resort, but I think I just really have to accept that she's dead."

"And keep living in her mansion off her money and having sex with mom in her bed?" Alec asked.

"Of course, honey," Felicia Bale, Alec's mother, said as she entered the room in lingerie. "Now hurry on to your room. Your father and I are going to be extra loud tonight."

"Oh my God," Melissa gasped, staring at the television screen. "That's…that's disgusting."

"This is ridiculous," Joel said. "There's no way that really happened. What the hell is going —"

Rory snapped his fingers and waited a few moments for the effects of his spell to take effect. Soon, Melissa became emotionally distraught over what she'd viewed on the television screen and gripped Joel's hand for comfort.

"Robert…he's moved on without me," Melissa cried. "He went back to his wife, and he's forgotten all about me and our child together!"

"No one's really going to come and save us, are they?" Kelli asked, entering the room. "I mean…that's what that video means? They've all given up?"

"Don't give up hope," Duncan said. "Someone has to realize that we're not really dead. I mean, if we're all here, there can't have been bodies. Someone's going to realize that."

"Kimberly certainly won't be," Rory said, smirking. "That's the next thing I have to show."

Rory pressed a button on the remote control he was holding, and found the next section of the DVD he was showing to everyone.

Kimberly Black hurried away from the swimming pool at the Hanley mansion, and tried to go inside, but she was confronted by Gregory Black.

"Greg, I can't talk right now," Kimberly said, clutching her stomach. She couldn't believe that she had just discovered she was pregnant only a few days ago.

"We need to talk about getting married," Greg said.

"Of course I'll marry you," Kimberly said. "And once I do, we can start a family together."

"Well, we don't have to do that right away, but that's a possibility," Greg said, as Officer Jamie Grady started toward them.

"Hey guys, why'd you leave the pool?" Jamie asked.

"I have to make a call, Jamie," Greg said. "Can you watch Kimberly for me while I get her some tea?"

Greg hurried inside, prompting Kimberly to turn around and look at Jamie.

"What are you doing?" Jamie demanded. "You can't marry him."

"I can, and I will," Kimberly snapped.

"You can't marry Greg, Kimberly!" Jamie cried. "He's your brother!"

Kimberly slapped Jamie across the face and glared at him before hurrying off to the house. Once she was inside, she stopped near the door and broke down into tears.

"I can't let anyone know I'm pregnant with my dead boyfriend, Duncan Kincaid's, baby," Kimberly said. "I won't have a child born out of wedlock…I have to marry Greg and make everyone think he's the father."

"My…that was…implausible," Rory muttered. "Maybe we should all forget that happened."

Rory snapped his fingers again to erase everyone's memories of what transpired on the video screen. He had no idea what the hell Tom King was thinking when he scripted the DVD, but he wasn't about to screen any more of it.


LAKESIDE

"Hello Blake," Vince said, approaching Thomas.

"Vince!" Thomas cried, faking surprise. "I can't believe you're here too! When I saw that you were dead, I thought I'd never see you again."

Thomas stepped forward to hug Vince, but Vince backed away from him and frowned. He reached into his pocket and removed the invitation he had stashed away. "I wanted to see if you were going to lie to me. Obviously, I was right…Michael Thomas."

"Thomas? No, I'm Blake, Vince," Thomas insisted.

"Don't insult my intelligence," Vince said. "Your brother told me all about how he resurrected you. I know you've been back from the dead, so I want to know what the hell you're doing here."

"I don't know what —"

"Stop lying to me!" Vince cried. "Are you behind all of this? Do you know who is?"

Thomas paused for a moment. "No."

"How did you get here?" Vince demanded.

"I've been here for months…I don't remember," Thomas said.

"It must have been that coma…someone brought you here like us," Vince said. "Look, we need to go and talk to everyone else."

"No, you're not going to do that," Thomas said, grabbing the invitation from Vince's hands and ripping it to shreds. He threw the remnants onto the snow and scattered them before turning back to Vince. "No one's going to know that I'm here. The only thing they're going to think is that I'm Blake."

"That's stupid, Thomas," Vince snapped. "When we get —"

"We're never going home!" Thomas cried. "Don't you get that? No one is going to find out that I'm not my brother. I don't even have my hair bleached anymore. We look exactly alike."

"I'll tell Kelli," Vince said. "She'll be able to tell."

"Ah…you two are pretty close now, right?" Thomas asked. "Blake told me all about how close you two got while I was dying."

Vince glared at Thomas. "You told her to move on."

Thomas punched Vince in the face. "You bastard! I was on my deathbed and you went after my goddamn girlfriend!"

Vince reached for his jaw and tried rubbing it to ease the pain, while staring back at Thomas. "Look, Thomas — I can explain."

"There's nothing to explain," Thomas insisted. "The only thing you'll be explaining is how I'm really Blake Thomas, because there's no way you can prove I'm not. Blake has told me everything about his life. I know that he's gay, I know about our parents dying, I know everything. You won't be able to trip me up."

"Someone's going to find out," Vince said.

"Not from you," Thomas said. "So I suggest you keep your mouth shut, or face the consequences."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You asked me if I know who's behind all of this," Thomas replied. "If I do…it wouldn't be very smart of you to piss me off, now would it?"

"Are you threatening me?" Vince demanded.


PRIVATE SCREENING ROOM

"This is cruel and disgusting," Lori snapped, staring at Rory. "How could you torture everyone like this? Showing images from home?"

"It wasn't my idea, miss," Rory said. "However, I did enjoy it."

"Everyone's going to come for us," Kelli insisted. "They have too. Too many people are gone, and new people are arriving every day. Someone has to notice."

"New people?" Joel demanded. "Who are you talking about?"

"Blake Thomas," Kelli said.

"What about him?"

"He's here at the hotel," Kelli said. "He just arrived."

"Oh my God," Melissa gasped. "More people are arriving?"

"Looks like," Duncan said, rising to his feet.

"When did he get here?" Joel asked, standing as well. He had always been suspicious that Blake Thomas was behind Damon Johnson's murder back in Marquette Cove, and right now, it wasn't exactly pleasant news that he was stuck in a ski resort with him.

"I don't…I don't know," Kelli said. "But he's outside right now, talking to Vince."

"There's a frightful pairing," Joel muttered, starting toward the door.

Everyone else soon followed him, as Rory stood next to the television and placed his hands on his hips in anger.

"Did I say that I was done?" Rory demanded.


LAKESIDE

"You are not going to get away with this!" Vince exclaimed. "This is tantamount to blackmail. You just threatened to kill me!"

"I did no such thing," Thomas said. "Though it would serve you right for stealing my girlfriend from me. You've had a lot of things handed to you, Vince, and you're a self-righteous prick to boot."

"Excuse me?"

"You stole my girlfriend out from under me, and yet you had the nerve to get pissed off when Alec hooked up with Jessica," Thomas said.

Vince's eyes widened at the mention of Jessica. "How did you know that?"

"There's very little about you I don't know, Vincent," Thomas said. "Like how you claimed for years that the Hanleys destroyed your little family unit, and now you're living with the grand bastard of them all? Tell me, how do things look from that high horse you like to ride around on?"

Vince tried to hit Thomas, but Thomas grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Don't forget that I'm in control here, Vince," Thomas said. "There's no way you can prove I'm not Blake, and if you try, everyone will think you're crazy."

"We're all alive because someone faked our deaths, it's not exactly implausible," Vince insisted.

"Just try me, you little punk," Thomas said. "Piss me off, and it will be the last thing you ever do."

Just as Thomas finished threatening Vince, the other guests from the Highwind filed outside and hurried toward the lake. Soon all seven guests were standing around together. A few moments later, Rory materialized outside.

"Okay, move the party out here, whatever," Rory said. "It's not like I can feel the cold either way."

"Blake Thomas?" Joel asked. "What are you doing here?"

"It's not really —" Vince started, but stopped himself when he caught a look from Rory of all people. As it turned it out, Thomas might not have been lying about the clout he held at the Highwind Resort. "— all that difficult to understand. Blake was hurt in the accident at the church like me, and someone must have faked his death as well."

"Looks like I'm a prisoner, just like you guys," Thomas said. "But…it's kind of cold out here. Can we go inside where it's warm? I can answer all of your questions inside, Detective Kincaid."

Joel frowned. "Of course. Let's go on inside."

Joel turned around and started back toward the hotel.

"I guess a welcome is in order, Blake," Melissa said. "For whatever that's worth."

Everyone else spoke variations of the same, and then they followed Joel inside. Once Vince tried going after them, Thomas grabbed his arm again.

"Oh, and by the way, there's something else I'm going to be doing," Thomas said.

"And what's that?" Vince demanded.

Thomas smirked. "While I'm pretending to be my brother, I'm going to take back what's mine…I'm going to steal Kelli right out from under you, and make her see you as the bastard you really are."

"Kelli will be able to see through you," Vince said.

"No, she won't," Thomas said. "Just you wait and see."