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Duncan Kincaid approached the Emerald Palace, holding Kimberly Black's hand as he walked. He was wearing a suit for the first time since his trial, and Kimberly was wearing a beige dress. Once they reached the entrance, Duncan smiled and leaned forward to kiss her on the lips.

"I promise, this will be a night you won't forget," Duncan said.

"I hope so," Kimberly replied.

"I only wish we could have done it two nights ago, when there was a full moon," Duncan said. "Then we could have walked along the lake."

"Don't worry about it," Kimberly said. "As long as I'm here with you, I'm happy."

"That's good," Duncan said. "I've forgotten what it's like to make people happy. Instead of everything I've made my brother feel since I've gotten to Marquette Cove."

"That's your own brother's fault," Kimberly insisted. "Everyone has been able to welcome you here, he should do the same. So don't even think about Joel tonight."

Ricard Branch took his seat in the Emerald Palace, amazed at how stunning the restaurant looked, with Eastern style designs and furnishings. Sitting across from him was Sara Reynolds, his date for the evening, and she also looked amazing in a light blue dress. Ric himself was wearing a grey suit — the one he'd bought last year when he was supposed to graduate from high school last year.

Though he'd made a lot of money selling drugs for Quentin Blood, Ric never used the money to buy expensive things like Matt Holden did. He sent most of his money to his mother, who lived in Florida, where she'd moved after Ric had himself legally emancipated. They had a difficult relationship, but he still loved his mother, and was hoping she'd be able to see him graduate next month.

Now, Ric was unfortunately out of a job. But he had Sara with him, which was all that he wanted. He'd only kept working for Quentin this year in order to win over Sara, even though that had ultimately led to the death of Sara's girlfriend, Erin Maddock. Ric still felt guilty about that, even though it wasn't directly his fault. Quentin had only goaded Ric into saying he wanted Erin out of the picture in order to blackmail him.

But Ric wasn't going to think about that now. He was going to put thought of Erin out of his mind and move on with Sara...as his girlfriend.



Marquette Cove Memorial Hospital

Valerie Hanley-Holden left Dr. Collins' office, checking her reflection in a compact mirror. She had gone to the hospital for a check-up, which meant she had to leave her home to run around town where someone might see her. Once again, Valerie had imposed an exile from town on herself. The last time she had done so was when she burned down her father's storage building last year, and she was afraid she might get arrested for arson. Yet now, she was over that fear because she has a new one.

Last summer, in an attempt to get revenge on Melissa Maddock, Valerie tried to expose Melissa's past as a hooker. Unfortunately, her scheme caused a frantic Melissa to miscarry her child and believe that Felicia Bale, Valerie's half-sister, was responsible. Valerie was banking on Melissa's memory block staying intact, and she didn't want to jog her memory by running into her. Hence Valerie taking to do her work for Hanley Enterprises from her home.

Unsurprisingly, Valerie's most recent problems had to do with her father, Kevin Hanley. What he'd done to her when she was only a teenager was still negatively affecting her. Not that her father was the only one to blame. Melissa was at fault as well, and once this ordeal blew over, Valerie would get her back once and for all.

"Valerie!"

Startled, Valerie dropped her mirror and spun around to find Melissa approaching her. Valerie panicked and quickly bent over to pick up her mirror. As she did, she noticed that it had cracked.

"Damn," Valerie grumbled.

"Oh, that's seven years of bad luck," Melissa said.

"I've had a lot more than that, thanks to you," Valerie thought coldly. "Hello, Melissa."

"What are you here for?"

"To see Dr. Collins."

Both women remained silent for a moment, waiting for the other to speak. Valerie wasn't enthused about the idle chatter, but went along with it regardless.

"And you?" Valerie asked.

"Oh, I'm here to see Aaron," Melissa replied.

"About your baby?" Valerie asked bluntly, regretting that she said it almost immediately.

"No, I'm actually...just visiting my cousin," Melissa said. "Robert and I are moving on instead of thinking about —"

"His soon-to-be-ex?"

"Yes," Melissa said, uncomfortable with the conversation.

She quickly began to change the subject, through Valerie didn't mind. It was apparent that Melissa didn't blame Valerie at all for the accident, and since Felicia couldn't remember the events of the night either, Valerie was in the clear. At least, for now.

Chris Server stepped off the elevator and onto the hospital's second floor, carrying an envelope in his hand. He had received the letter from the Marquette Cove Courthouse, and it detailed his community service requirements from his sentencing weeks earlier.

He was going to be working as a volunteer at the hospital, which seemed simple enough as far as volunteer work went. His job orientation was tonight, and so he had to find Dr. Aaron Maddock, who was in charge of court appointed volunteers.

Chris walked toward Dr. Maddock's office and knocked on the door. After a few moments, Aaron opened his office door to greet Chris.

"Hello Chris," Aaron said. "Come on in."



Mitchell Home

Julia Mitchell laid seven Tarot cards across the living room floor and stared ahead without speaking. She could feel the heat from the candle sitting next to her; the only source of light in the living room. Julia reached out and turned over the second card in the spread — a reversed Page of Swords.

"Powers stronger than yours are at work," Julia whispered, recalling the description of the card from her library book. "I knew it...something's not right here."

"No, nothing's right here, Julia."

Julia turned her head to the left and saw Erin Maddock standing in the living room. Gasping, Julia rose to her feet and took a step back. Erin advanced on her, but Julia held out her hands to stop her from moving.

"Stop!" Julia cried. "Leave me alone!"

"Nothing's right here, Julia," Erin whispered.

Before Julia could respond, Vincent Moore appeared in front of Erin. Vince glared at Julia, a frown forming on his face. "You're damn right that nothing's right here. Nothing's going to be right ever again."

Vince and Erin moved closer to Julia again, and she continued holding her hands in front of her to keep them away. As Vince approached, Julia's hands passed through Vince. Julia felt an odd sensation in her body as her hands seem to pass through something that was freezing cold. But instead of doing the same with Erin, Julia's hands touched her.

"Oh God," Julia cried, backing away. "Why didn't...why didn't my hands pass through you?"

"Nothing's right here," Vince and Erin repeated.

"Stop!" Julia cried.

Just as she cried out, the front door flew open and Julia spun around, accidentally knocking over the candle on the floor. Julia screamed as loud as she could.

Love is eternal. Life is forever. Yet things shall always remain...guasti cose.

"How's the food?" Sara asked, smiling at Ric.

"It's amazing," Ric replied. "I can't believe I've never been here before. You must eat here all the time."

"You know, my parents don't have as much money as my aunt and uncle," Sara replied. "The Bun Shack is usually fine enough for me."

"Well, I don't know about that," Ric said. "I'm sure they grind up cats to make their burgers."

Sara paused, trying not to spit out the food she had in her mouth.

"Oh, sorry," Ric said. "Not really appropriate dinner talk, I guess."

"It's okay," Sara said. "I'm enjoying spending time here with you. On our first real date."

"Yeah," Ric said. "Me too. Maybe we can do it again."

Sara smirked. "Well, if we did that...wouldn't it make you my boyfriend?"

"I don't know," Ric said. "Do you want that?"

Sara reached her hand across the table and touched Ric's hand.

"Yes," Sara replied. "I do."

Ric took a moment to take in Sara's comment, elated at the fact that she actually wanted a relationship with him. Before he was able to respond, he heard someone clapping. Ric looked up and saw Erin Maddock standing behind Sara.

"How beautiful," Erin said. "Now that I'm out of the picture, you can have Sara. Now that I'm cold and dead in the ground, you can have my girlfriend."

"No," Ric gasped.

"I haven't eaten this good in years," Duncan said, shoveling pasta into his mouth.

"Really? I've heard so many wonderful things about prison food," Kimberly said.

Duncan smiled and set down his fork.

"I'm really glad you came here with me," Duncan replied.

"Me too," Kimberly said. "I'm just wondering why it took so long for it to happen."

Duncan reached his hand across the table and touched Kimberly's cheek. "I was waiting for the right moment."

Duncan leaned in to kiss Kimberly, but he was interrupted by a loud scream coming from inside the restaurant.

"Ric, your arm is on fire!" Sara cried, rising to her feet.

Ric looked down and realized that the candle on the table had been knocked over, and his arm was indeed in flames. He stood quickly and stumbled, crashing into the table next to them and knocking over a second candle.

As the candle hit a plate of food with grease on it, the flames grew larger and began to envelop the entire table. In less than a minute, the flames caused the sprinklers in the restaurant to go off, drenching everyone inside.



Marquette Cove Memorial Hospital

"So I'm going to be what, a secretary?" Chris demanded.

"You'll be handling files and records," Aaron replied. "But I'd say you're getting off pretty easily, considered. You were responsible for a girl's shooting. A girl whose father is one of my colleagues and friends."

"I'm sorry," Chris said. "But I wasn't exactly responsible for —"

"That's enough," Aaron snapped. "I don't really give a damn what you have to say. I want you to do your job and that's it."

"Aren't you supposed to be a psychiatrist?" Chris demanded.

"You're not one of my patients," Aaron said. "You start tomorrow. Be on time, you'll need to check in."

Aaron rose from his desk and crossed over to the door, opening it for Chris. Chris remained still for a moment, but eventually rose to his feet and exited the office. As they left, they noticed his lawyer and Aaron's cousin, Melissa, standing near the door.

"Aaron, can I speak to you for a moment?" Melissa asked.

"Of course, Melissa," Aaron said. "I'm done here."

"Thank you, Dr. Maddock," Chris muttered. "Hello, Ms. Maddock."

"Hello Chris," Melissa said.

As Melissa walked into Aaron's office, Chris headed toward the elevator. He bumped into Valerie on his way there, and stopped momentarily to apologize to her, but she stopped first.

"Watch where you're going," Valerie snapped.

"Excuse me? You're the one who's running around like crazy," Chris said.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be? Someone to shoot, maybe?" Valerie asked, sarcastically.

Chris rolled his eyes and walked away. Once she was sure that Chris was gone, Valerie crept toward Aaron's door and began to listen quietly. While she was positive that Melissa didn't remember anything about Valerie causing her miscarriage, that didn't mean Valerie still wasn't planning on using anything and everything she could to destroy Melissa's life for good.



Mitchell Home

"Julia, what the hell is going on?" Vincent Moore demanded, from the doorway to the Mitchell home.

He'd stopped by to see Julia, but instead found her doing some sort of spell through the window. Startled, he'd unlocked the door using his psychokinetic powers — the ones given to him by Antonio that he was still attempting to figure out how to handle. It certainly didn't help that Antonio was still alive and somehow trapped inside Vince's mind, but Vince managed to keep the demon dormant for most of the time.

"Vince!" Julia cried. "Oh my God, is that really you?"

"Of course it's me," Vince snapped. "Were you doing a spell, Julia? Jesus, we've talked about what that sort of crap leads to, Julia. Don't you think we've had enough with demons and cults?"

"I was just...after everything that happened, I wanted to learn more," Julia replied. "And something…something doesn't feel right, Vince. I don't know what it is, but something just feels wrong."

"Oh, something's wrong here all right," Vince muttered, referring to his current situation.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Vince said. "What were you doing?"

"Trying to do a Tarot reading," Julia said. "I guess I'm not very good at it...dead people aren't supposed to appear."

"Dead people?" Vince demanded.

"Well, one dead person, one not so dead person," Julia answered. "I saw Erin Maddock...and I saw you. But my hands passed through you like you were a ghost. Erin...she was real. She was really here, I swear it."

Vince frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Julia said.

Vince crossed over to the candle on the floor, which had been doused as it fell onto the carpet. He picked up the candle, feeling a wave of pain rushing through his body.

Vince opened his eyes and gasped for air, finding himself surrounded in darkness. He had no idea where he was, the only thing he knew was that he had been trapped.

"Oh my God," Vince cried.

He started clawing at the cover of his coffin, still unaware what he was grabbing at. As he did, he tore the coffin's fabric and scratched his fingernails against the wood.

"Someone help me!" Vince screamed at the top of his lungs. "God, someone please help me! Don't let me die!"

"Julia! Blake! Alec!" Vince cried, continuing to hope someone could hear him. "Get me out of here, please! Don't let me die in here! I'm still alive!"

"Vince, are you okay?" Julia asked.

"Get rid of all of this," Vince snapped. "I have to go."

"Vince, I need to —"

"Stop! Just stop it, Julia!" Vince shouted. "Leave all of this the hell alone before something else horrible happens."

Vince tossed the candle onto the floor and stormed out of the house, leaving Julia alone. She sighed and stared out the door after him. Once Vince was out of her sight, she dejectedly picked up the candle from the floor.



Emerald Palace

Sara and Ric ran outside, along with the large group of other patrons from the restaurant. Both were completely drenched from head to toe, and now they were cold from the wind outside. Ric took Sara's hand and took a few steps away from the restaurant, so as to avoid any of the restaurant's owners.

"Let's keep out of dodge before they try and make us pay for the damages," Ric said.

"Ric, it's fine, we can just pay," Sara said.

"Come on, let's be dangerous," Ric insisted.

"You like danger, huh?" Sara asked. "And spontaneity?"

"Yeah," Ric replied. "Sure."

"Good," Sara said.

She reached up and wrapped her hands around Ric's neck, pulling him closer to her. She pulled him into a kiss, taking Ric by surprise. He pulled away initially, startled. But a few seconds later, he leaned back in and continued to kiss Sara.

"This is nuts," Duncan said, wringing out his suit jacket while standing outside. "Leave it to me to ruin our first date."

"You didn't ruin it," Kimberly insisted. "There was a fire."

"Yeah, but what did I tell you about bringing pain to everyone I know?" Duncan demanded.

"I'm not in any pain, Duncan," Kimberly said. "In fact, I'm kind of happy."

"Happy? Why?"

"Because the date's over," Kimberly replied.

Duncan frowned. "Oh. You're glad the date's over?"

"Yes. Because now I can do this," Kimberly said, as she leaned forward to kiss Duncan.

executive producer
Ira Madison

next time...
Vince is pushed to an emotional edge.
Quentin uses Chris' predicament to his advantage.
Jessica and Akilah square-off over Tim.