1177 Regency Drive
The street address of Llanfair
230 Cross Street
Dorian and Herb lived here with Cassie. [1983]
432 Jameson Street
A rooming house close to the Backstreet. Clover lived there and convinced the landlady to rent #3 to Niki Smith. Mitch also managed to rent a room in order to get close to Niki. Harry Smith was killed in #3. [1985]
Angel Square
The Latino area of Llanview; it is located near the waterfront. [1995]
The Arrows
Angel Square's "bad" gang; Tico was the leader. [1995]
The Banner
Victor Lord bought this paper when it was close to failure and turned it into an award winning and widely respected organ. Viki inherited the paper from her father and nurtured it [at least when she was in her right mind] and shared responsibility for it with two of her husbands, Joe Riley and Clint Buchanan. Various family members tried their hand at the family firm including Danny Wolek, Tina, Richard Abbott and finally Kevin.
The Banner 50th Anniversary Banquet
The culmination of months of preparation during which Viki make it more of a celebration of her father than of the paper. Mitch altered the program. [1985]
Blood Type G
Tina, and CJ's, conveniently rare blood type. [1988]
Blue Jay Records
Jacara Principal's company.
B-negative
Bo's blood type. [1998]
Buchanan Enterprises
The umbrella under which Asa wheels and deals.
The Buchanan Palace
Renée managed to get this hotel in her settlement and turned it into one of the most popular places in town.
Canton, OH
The Cramer family hailed from here.
The Carriage House [Garage Apartment/Gatehouse]
Larry and Meredith lived in this outbuilding on the grounds of Llanfair, and Meredith died after hitting her head in a fall here. Later Viki rented the space to Echo di Savoy. David Renaldi lived there before and after his marriage to Jenny. It was still referred to as the garage apartment when Tina moved in with Jenny. After Jenny and David were gone, Rob and Cassie lived there. When Tina was in control of Llanfair, she offered the Carriage House to Viki, Clint and the boys planning to keep the main house for herself. Clint leant the house to Tom Dennison. When Kevin and Joey decided that they wanted to get some distance between themselves and the parental eye, they moved in there.
The Chronicle
Clint moved to this tabloid style paper when he found he could no longer work with Viki. He turned it into a quality paper and ended up in a newspaper war with his former boss/future wife. Asa bought the paper from Reggie Robbins as a wedding present for his son, but kept the controlling share for himself. When he found he could not make Clint bend to his will, he fired his son. [1982-83]
Club Indigo
When R.J. took over Olanov's he renamed it as well. [1995]
The Country Club
This became the place to go in the early ‘90's.
Eterna
An underground city build by Victor Lord. It's fabled riches would impact many of the citizens of Llanview, for better or worse. [1989]
F.A.B.:
An unusually corrupt federal agency. Alex was employed by them as well as Fred Porter. There didn't appear to be any honest people working there!
"Heed the Messenger"
The code phrase used by Mitch to control the members of his cult [1986]
Iguazu Falls
Dante Medina had a hideout near the crest of these falls; Tina went over in a small boat and was believed dead. [1987]
JL 5 3741
The phone number at the mountain cabin [and it is a 555] [1984]
The Lady
Carlo left this painting by Raphael to Renée. [1992]
Llanfair
The seat of the Lord family, a large estate featuring orchards, stables, a large garage, a secondary residence and at least one greenhouse. The exact history of the house is unclear. Presumed to have been erected by Victor Lord, it might be a replacement for an earlier residence of Randolph when he first moved east. Llanfair was the childhood home of Victoria and Meredith, and Victoria's ties to the house are strong, sometimes to the point of unhealthiness, just as her feelings for her father are. After Viki and Meredith were gone, Victor remained in the house. He was later joined by a new wife, Dorian. Viki was a bit surprised that Dorian was given the house as part of Victor's estate, but she remained happy with her husband Joe and accepted that status quo. However under Victor's will, Dorian's remarriage would mean forfeiture of the house. Viki did not insist on immediate adherence to this clause, but when she was planning to marry Clint Buchanan, she decided that she wanted the house and forced Dorian out after much maneuvering. More than enough house for one family, Viki has offered the West Wing to family from time to time. Pat and Tony lived there for a while.
It is a large estate with orchards and stables. The house has revealed some secrets over the years, the most stunning of which was the discovery of a secret room built by Victor and in which he conducted a secret life which included spying on the household, assignations with young women and secreting stolen art works.
It was discovered that Llanfair was built on land which contained the mineral solaramite. This seemed a potential source of power for cars, but the experiments proved unsuccessful.
Llanfair has suffered some devastating damage. One Halloween night, Jessica carelessly left a jack o' lantern with a lighted candle too close to the curtains of her room and the resulting fire did considerable damage.
When CJ and Al were lost underground, it was necessary to open a passageway by using an explosive charge under Llanfair, although no lasting damage was done.
Viki's alter, Jean Randolph, reopened the secret room [which had been sealed after Tracy James died there], building a glass cell in which she held Dorian captive. Tori, torched Llanfair in her attempt to destroy all of Victor's works, but again the damage was limited.
Llantano Country
The district in which Llanview lies. It would seem to be the only town in this tiny Pennsylvania county.
Llantano Mountain
The site of Viki's mountain cabin; the city of Eterna was dug out of it.
Llanview
A small town in Pennsylvania with a university, airport, two major newspapers, etc. It is sometimes a suburb of Philadelphia; sometimes equidistant from Philly and Harrisburg.
Logan's Department Store
Everyone in Llanview shopped here at one time or another. Blair convinced them to carry Melador products exclusively, in her battle against Max and Serenity Springs.
The Manning Building
Todd has never suffered from lack of ego.
Melador
When Blair started this cosmetics company, she named it for her mother and aunts.
The Men of 21
A mishmash of international intrigue and criminal greed. [1995]
Mendorra
A charming middle European kingdom; Charles Sanders had been ambassador for some time. Dorian took over the post for awhile. There was infighting among the royals which ultimately involved the Gordon sisters. [1990]
The Mill House
Marty's home; Kevin bought it for Cassie and himself.
Moose
A parrot who seems to be Todd's greatest confidant. [Flash and Lucky 1997; Ron Gallup (voice) 1997]
The National Intruder
A tabloid newspaper which chronicled many of Llanview's scandals. When Dorian couldn't get control of the Banner, she bought the Intruder. Blair worked there and nearly destroyed both Dorian and the paper. It was later sold to Todd and renamed it the Sun.
NSB (National Security Bureau)
They placed a surprising number of agents in Llanview over the years.
Olanov's
Alex and Asa started this club/casino. R.J. bought the club under the name Mr Smith. [1993/1995]
The Olympia Buchanan Burn Center
Sam used money which Asa gave her to fund this facility which was located right next to the hospital. Steve Piermont took a job here. [1982]
Patterson College
Georgie Phillips attended this institution; she tried to ruin the president. [1998]
Le Petit Oiseau
One of Llanview's classier restaurants. Viki and Clint staged a heck of a brawl here. [1983]
The Prides
Angel Squares' "good" gang
Rialto
Billy Douglas hid in this theater, afraid of his parents' rejection. When CJ was a runaway, the family thought he might be hiding here. [1992]
St Anne's
Addie Cramer and Allison Perkins seem very content at this psychiatric facility. [1995/2001]
Serenity Springs
Max and Luna finally found their niche with the spa. Later sold to Renée. [1992/1997]
The Sun
When Todd decided to follow his father's footsteps, he bought the National Intruder from Dorian and punnily renamed it. He loved nothing more than using it to bait the town with outrageous headlines.
Tabernacle of Joy
Angela Holliday's church; it was a scam although there were some true believers. [1993]
Talk to Tiffany
When Tina decided to try her hand at journalism, she wrote an advice column for the Banner under this name. [1986]
Twisty
Viki's cat; Tori put it out so it would not be injured when she torched Llanfair. [1995]
View on Llanview
Dorian hosted this interview show on WVLE for a while
The Waterside Inn
When first mentioned, it was in New Jersey. Later the Waterside Inn in Llanview; Mitch used it as the base for his religious cult. Later Megan stayed there.
WVLE
Another part of Victor Lord's communications empire. Dorian managed the station, and appeared as interviewer. When she fell on hard times, she had to sell. Max controlled it for a while. Todd bought it.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Parallel OLTL: 2004
2004
Shannon McBain worked her feminine wiles on River Carpenter, seducing him with ideas of becoming a rock star by joining Riley's band, Midnight Logic.
Lindsay and RJ's plan of revenge against Rex went into effect when they bailed Ultraviolet out of financial trouble by using a mysterious and dangerous loan shark, intending to get Rex in over his head.
Carlotta lied to Antonio about suddenly needing to leave Llanview to care for a sick friend in Puerto Rico, when in reality, Dorian was smuggling Carlotta out of the country! David caught on to Dorian's scheme and demanded answers, but instead, Dorian agreed to marry him in exchange for his agreement to trust her without asking questions. Dorian and David married in a simple, but unique ceremony at City Hall.
Paul Cramer hired Evangeline to contest Aunt Betsy's will, and Evangeline's first order of business was to discredit Adriana as a blood heir. Dorian and David counteracted Paul's threat by launching a full-scale investigation into Paul's past. First to turn up in their investigation was the name Chase Jackson, a young man residing in Miami, Florida. Dorian and David visited Chase, who was adamantly against going to Llanview with them.
Kevin and Kelly enjoyed every moment with their new baby Ace, and had even more cause for celebration when Governor Harrison Brooks convinced Kevin to take back his position as Lieutenant Governor! Kevin's replacement was forced to resign when proof surfaced of the man's ties to organized crime. Governor Brooks had no choice but to ask for his resignation because of the scandal it brought forth. Now that Kevin was a settled family man, Governor Brooks was sure that any scandal Kevin may have been involved with were officially a thing of the past, and Kevin's renewed focus made him the best man for the job. Kevin accepted the Lieutenant Governorship back, and his first platform was an end to organized crime!
Natalie's odd behavior unsettled her loved ones. Little did they know she was under Stephen Haver's control, and watching videos instructing her on how to frame John for Haver's murder! Bo and John decided that the only way to free Natalie from Haver's grasp was to let her think Haver's plan was being carried out. "New evidence" suddenly surfaced, leading to John's second arrest for Haver's murder, and Jessica volunteered to be the key to breaking Haver's control over Natalie. Antonio wasn't comfortable with Jessica putting herself in harm's way, but agreed to go along with the plan.
Jessica had faith that Natalie was strong-willed enough to break free from Haver's hypnosis if someone she loved was in danger. Jessica decided to pretend that she was still under Haver's control and act as though she had been programmed to shoot John in the courthouse on the day of his preliminary hearing, as Haver had been shot and killed. When Jessica fired at John, Natalie's fear for John's life broke her free of Haver's control and she hurled herself in the path of the bullet. The pandemonium subsided when Natalie realized that Jessica was firing blanks and the whole ordeal was staged in order to save Natalie. Natalie was grateful for the trouble that everyone went through to help her, and Natalie decided that she needed a little time away from Llanview to get her head together after the harrowing experience. Natalie traveled to London to spend some quality time with her father Clint.
Starr renewed her campaign to reunite her parents as Blair began to soften towards Todd. Todd delighted in his post as Editor-in-Chief of the merged "Banner Sun", especially since the newspaper would serve as a great venue to follow Kevin's sudden return to the Lieutenant Governorship. Viki warned Todd not to abuse his position at The Banner Sun, or he would lose it. Blair and Kevin continued to collaborate with David Vickers on the teen magazine, Craze, and David suggested spotlighting Midnight Logic in their debut issue.
Marcie continued to pester John and Bo about police procedure and case histories, and even began combing old Llanview PD case files for inspiration. As busy as Marcie kept herself with her book, she still stepped up to the plate to run the D-K Diner for Antonio Vega while his mother Carlotta was out of town. In between serving up cake and coffee at the diner, Marcie immersed herself in the old Llanview PD case files and was particularly intrigued with the file on the notorious Carlo Hesser.
Midnight Logic performed at the newly reopened Ultraviolet, with River making his debut as part of the band. After the performance, Riley was shocked to see Flash in the crowd! Flash had returned to Llanview, and to Riley, after having received intensive therapy for her vocal chords. There was a good possibility that Flash would sing again, as long as she didn't push herself too hard, too fast. That wasn't all the good news that Midnight Logic received that night. Rex informed them that a scout from Centurion Enterprises' Recording division was in the crowd as well, and was going to send their top agent to meet with the band to open up a "discussion". Flash was thrilled for her band, Adriana was thrilled for River, and Shannon was thrilled to take all the credit. Llanview would not be thrilled, however, once they learned who Centurion's top agent was -- Marco Dane!
Adriana took the court-ordered DNA test, and Kelly caught Dorian trying to tamper with the results! Kelly read Dorian the riot act for cheating her brother Paul out of Aunt Betsy's inheritance, but Dorian argued that she deserved it more. Dorian reminded Kelly of the years she's cared for her, in the hopes Kelly's loyalty to Dorian would be stronger than her loyalty to Paul. When Paul pressed Kelly to get the goods on Dorian, Kelly lied that if Dorian was up to no good, she'd been too careful to get caught so far. Meanwhile, Kelly started to feel as though Paul's "love" for Kelly would only go as far as Kelly's usefulness to him.
Marcie became so engrossed with Carlo Hesser's history, she hoped to pattern a character in her novel after him! Marcie quizzed Bo about Carlo, and soon found that most everyone in Llanview had their own reasons for hating him! In her research, Marcie tried to establish a timeline of Carlo's life that set him down the dark road of his life. Marcie was intrigued by the gaps of years in Carlo's life, when Carlo would travel to Rome or Mendorra, and disappear for years. Michael grew concerned when Marcie wanted to try to find Mortimer Bern, in order to interview him about Carlo. Who would know Carlo better than his own twin?
Midnight Logic, featuring the recently returned Flash, and recently recruited River, headlined at the launch party for Craze magazine at Ultraviolet. Marco Dane, the party's VIP, immediately wanted to sign the band to Centurion Enterprises, but Viki warned her niece Flash that Marco was not to be trusted! Viki hadn't forgotten all the torture that Marco put Viki's friend Karen Wolek through, or the trouble he constantly had gotten Viki's daughter Megan into. Asa agreed with Viki's opinion of Marco, and retained Evangeline Williamson as Midnight Logic's official representation, to protect his great granddaughter from going into the music industry blind.
Marco took up-and-coming schemer Rex under his wing, advising him to expand Ultraviolet by adding a "back room" for more exclusive and upscale clientele.
Jen relinquished her trust fund and took a job waiting tables at the D-K Diner to prove to Lindsay how much Jen wanted no contact with her.
Adriana appeared in the first issue of Craze, and Dorian was furious. Dorian scrambled to take Adriana out of the country under the guise of inviting her on an "extended belated honeymoon" with Dorian and David. Antonio grew suspicious of the sudden plans to leave and followed them all to Belize, and spotted Dorian giving Adriana over to Carlotta!
Confronting them all, Antonio demanded answers. Finally, Carlotta tearfully confessed -- she, not Dorian, was Adriana's biological mother! While in Mendorra as Dorian's maid, Carlotta was attacked by an extremely dangerous man, resulting in her pregnancy with Adriana. Not wanting to shame her family, Carlotta gave birth to Adriana in secret and Dorian arranged for her adoption by the Colon family. Antonio begged his mother to identify the man who raped her, but Carlotta refused. Instead Carlotta asked for Antonio's blessing to allow her to disappear with Adriana, possibly to never resurface again. Although it pained him, Antonio bid a sad farewell to the remainder of his family, and returned to Llanview by himself.
Two weeks after leaving Llanview, Natalie returned, with her father Clint by her side! Once Natalie told Clint about Viki's heart problems, Clint immediately decided to return to Llanview for the time being, to make sure Viki was taking care of herself. Being hovered over by her loved ones wasn't a comfort to Viki, it was a hazard! Despite following her doctor's orders, Viki suffered from serious palpitations, causing Clint and their children to rally and bring Viki to the hospital.
Asa and Bo were thrilled to have Clint back in Llanview, and Asa quickly worked to cement Clint's return to town by campaigning to replace Todd with Clint as Editor-in-Chief of The Banner Sun. Todd was not about to give up his position. Todd warned Viki that running The Banner Sun was crucial to his winning back his family, and nothing, not Kevin or Clint, would stand in his way. Viki begged Todd not to mount a war with her family, but Todd maintained that he needed to protect what was his, and he would do everything in his power to protect Viki. Viki wished someone would protect Todd from himself.
With prodding from Eve and Roxy, Natalie and John finally went on a date, and sparks flew.
Adriana's absence nearly destroyed River, who drowned his sorrows in alcohol and drugs while partying with Shannon McBain. With Adriana out of the running, Paul thought he finally had his chance at nabbing Betsy's millions, so Dorian and David revisited their "Plan B", by trying to dig up whatever they could on young mystery man Chase Jackson.
Rex followed through with Marco's advice by going to Lindsay and RJ for another loan from their company. In turn, Lindsay and RJ got Rex in deeper with the deadly loan shark, and the noose around Rex's neck began to tighten, though Rex remained unaware. Dining at the D-K Diner, Marco was smitten with his waitress, Jen. Marco knew a guy who would soon be hiring beautiful young women like her to make much more money than they could pouring coffee. Though Jen reacted with disgust, she hung onto Marco's card.
As things cooled off between Lindsay and Daniel, Daniel began spending time with Nora working cases in the D.A.'s office, and collaborating on crossword puzzles on their breaks. Nora and Daniel developed a surprising friendship, which rubbed Lindsay -- and Bo -- the wrong way. At the same time, Bo was surprised by his own rapport with Eve.
Marcie left the Diner in Jen's hands, and went on a quick trip to New York City to Centurion Enterprises headquarters. She had an appointment to meet the CEO -- Mortimer Bern! Back in Llanview, Viki was surprised to find a face from her past at her hospital bedside: her sister Tina!
Shannon McBain worked her feminine wiles on River Carpenter, seducing him with ideas of becoming a rock star by joining Riley's band, Midnight Logic.
Lindsay and RJ's plan of revenge against Rex went into effect when they bailed Ultraviolet out of financial trouble by using a mysterious and dangerous loan shark, intending to get Rex in over his head.
Carlotta lied to Antonio about suddenly needing to leave Llanview to care for a sick friend in Puerto Rico, when in reality, Dorian was smuggling Carlotta out of the country! David caught on to Dorian's scheme and demanded answers, but instead, Dorian agreed to marry him in exchange for his agreement to trust her without asking questions. Dorian and David married in a simple, but unique ceremony at City Hall.
Paul Cramer hired Evangeline to contest Aunt Betsy's will, and Evangeline's first order of business was to discredit Adriana as a blood heir. Dorian and David counteracted Paul's threat by launching a full-scale investigation into Paul's past. First to turn up in their investigation was the name Chase Jackson, a young man residing in Miami, Florida. Dorian and David visited Chase, who was adamantly against going to Llanview with them.
Kevin and Kelly enjoyed every moment with their new baby Ace, and had even more cause for celebration when Governor Harrison Brooks convinced Kevin to take back his position as Lieutenant Governor! Kevin's replacement was forced to resign when proof surfaced of the man's ties to organized crime. Governor Brooks had no choice but to ask for his resignation because of the scandal it brought forth. Now that Kevin was a settled family man, Governor Brooks was sure that any scandal Kevin may have been involved with were officially a thing of the past, and Kevin's renewed focus made him the best man for the job. Kevin accepted the Lieutenant Governorship back, and his first platform was an end to organized crime!
Natalie's odd behavior unsettled her loved ones. Little did they know she was under Stephen Haver's control, and watching videos instructing her on how to frame John for Haver's murder! Bo and John decided that the only way to free Natalie from Haver's grasp was to let her think Haver's plan was being carried out. "New evidence" suddenly surfaced, leading to John's second arrest for Haver's murder, and Jessica volunteered to be the key to breaking Haver's control over Natalie. Antonio wasn't comfortable with Jessica putting herself in harm's way, but agreed to go along with the plan.
Jessica had faith that Natalie was strong-willed enough to break free from Haver's hypnosis if someone she loved was in danger. Jessica decided to pretend that she was still under Haver's control and act as though she had been programmed to shoot John in the courthouse on the day of his preliminary hearing, as Haver had been shot and killed. When Jessica fired at John, Natalie's fear for John's life broke her free of Haver's control and she hurled herself in the path of the bullet. The pandemonium subsided when Natalie realized that Jessica was firing blanks and the whole ordeal was staged in order to save Natalie. Natalie was grateful for the trouble that everyone went through to help her, and Natalie decided that she needed a little time away from Llanview to get her head together after the harrowing experience. Natalie traveled to London to spend some quality time with her father Clint.
Starr renewed her campaign to reunite her parents as Blair began to soften towards Todd. Todd delighted in his post as Editor-in-Chief of the merged "Banner Sun", especially since the newspaper would serve as a great venue to follow Kevin's sudden return to the Lieutenant Governorship. Viki warned Todd not to abuse his position at The Banner Sun, or he would lose it. Blair and Kevin continued to collaborate with David Vickers on the teen magazine, Craze, and David suggested spotlighting Midnight Logic in their debut issue.
Marcie continued to pester John and Bo about police procedure and case histories, and even began combing old Llanview PD case files for inspiration. As busy as Marcie kept herself with her book, she still stepped up to the plate to run the D-K Diner for Antonio Vega while his mother Carlotta was out of town. In between serving up cake and coffee at the diner, Marcie immersed herself in the old Llanview PD case files and was particularly intrigued with the file on the notorious Carlo Hesser.
Midnight Logic performed at the newly reopened Ultraviolet, with River making his debut as part of the band. After the performance, Riley was shocked to see Flash in the crowd! Flash had returned to Llanview, and to Riley, after having received intensive therapy for her vocal chords. There was a good possibility that Flash would sing again, as long as she didn't push herself too hard, too fast. That wasn't all the good news that Midnight Logic received that night. Rex informed them that a scout from Centurion Enterprises' Recording division was in the crowd as well, and was going to send their top agent to meet with the band to open up a "discussion". Flash was thrilled for her band, Adriana was thrilled for River, and Shannon was thrilled to take all the credit. Llanview would not be thrilled, however, once they learned who Centurion's top agent was -- Marco Dane!
Adriana took the court-ordered DNA test, and Kelly caught Dorian trying to tamper with the results! Kelly read Dorian the riot act for cheating her brother Paul out of Aunt Betsy's inheritance, but Dorian argued that she deserved it more. Dorian reminded Kelly of the years she's cared for her, in the hopes Kelly's loyalty to Dorian would be stronger than her loyalty to Paul. When Paul pressed Kelly to get the goods on Dorian, Kelly lied that if Dorian was up to no good, she'd been too careful to get caught so far. Meanwhile, Kelly started to feel as though Paul's "love" for Kelly would only go as far as Kelly's usefulness to him.
Marcie became so engrossed with Carlo Hesser's history, she hoped to pattern a character in her novel after him! Marcie quizzed Bo about Carlo, and soon found that most everyone in Llanview had their own reasons for hating him! In her research, Marcie tried to establish a timeline of Carlo's life that set him down the dark road of his life. Marcie was intrigued by the gaps of years in Carlo's life, when Carlo would travel to Rome or Mendorra, and disappear for years. Michael grew concerned when Marcie wanted to try to find Mortimer Bern, in order to interview him about Carlo. Who would know Carlo better than his own twin?
Midnight Logic, featuring the recently returned Flash, and recently recruited River, headlined at the launch party for Craze magazine at Ultraviolet. Marco Dane, the party's VIP, immediately wanted to sign the band to Centurion Enterprises, but Viki warned her niece Flash that Marco was not to be trusted! Viki hadn't forgotten all the torture that Marco put Viki's friend Karen Wolek through, or the trouble he constantly had gotten Viki's daughter Megan into. Asa agreed with Viki's opinion of Marco, and retained Evangeline Williamson as Midnight Logic's official representation, to protect his great granddaughter from going into the music industry blind.
Marco took up-and-coming schemer Rex under his wing, advising him to expand Ultraviolet by adding a "back room" for more exclusive and upscale clientele.
Jen relinquished her trust fund and took a job waiting tables at the D-K Diner to prove to Lindsay how much Jen wanted no contact with her.
Adriana appeared in the first issue of Craze, and Dorian was furious. Dorian scrambled to take Adriana out of the country under the guise of inviting her on an "extended belated honeymoon" with Dorian and David. Antonio grew suspicious of the sudden plans to leave and followed them all to Belize, and spotted Dorian giving Adriana over to Carlotta!
Confronting them all, Antonio demanded answers. Finally, Carlotta tearfully confessed -- she, not Dorian, was Adriana's biological mother! While in Mendorra as Dorian's maid, Carlotta was attacked by an extremely dangerous man, resulting in her pregnancy with Adriana. Not wanting to shame her family, Carlotta gave birth to Adriana in secret and Dorian arranged for her adoption by the Colon family. Antonio begged his mother to identify the man who raped her, but Carlotta refused. Instead Carlotta asked for Antonio's blessing to allow her to disappear with Adriana, possibly to never resurface again. Although it pained him, Antonio bid a sad farewell to the remainder of his family, and returned to Llanview by himself.
Two weeks after leaving Llanview, Natalie returned, with her father Clint by her side! Once Natalie told Clint about Viki's heart problems, Clint immediately decided to return to Llanview for the time being, to make sure Viki was taking care of herself. Being hovered over by her loved ones wasn't a comfort to Viki, it was a hazard! Despite following her doctor's orders, Viki suffered from serious palpitations, causing Clint and their children to rally and bring Viki to the hospital.
Asa and Bo were thrilled to have Clint back in Llanview, and Asa quickly worked to cement Clint's return to town by campaigning to replace Todd with Clint as Editor-in-Chief of The Banner Sun. Todd was not about to give up his position. Todd warned Viki that running The Banner Sun was crucial to his winning back his family, and nothing, not Kevin or Clint, would stand in his way. Viki begged Todd not to mount a war with her family, but Todd maintained that he needed to protect what was his, and he would do everything in his power to protect Viki. Viki wished someone would protect Todd from himself.
With prodding from Eve and Roxy, Natalie and John finally went on a date, and sparks flew.
Adriana's absence nearly destroyed River, who drowned his sorrows in alcohol and drugs while partying with Shannon McBain. With Adriana out of the running, Paul thought he finally had his chance at nabbing Betsy's millions, so Dorian and David revisited their "Plan B", by trying to dig up whatever they could on young mystery man Chase Jackson.
Rex followed through with Marco's advice by going to Lindsay and RJ for another loan from their company. In turn, Lindsay and RJ got Rex in deeper with the deadly loan shark, and the noose around Rex's neck began to tighten, though Rex remained unaware. Dining at the D-K Diner, Marco was smitten with his waitress, Jen. Marco knew a guy who would soon be hiring beautiful young women like her to make much more money than they could pouring coffee. Though Jen reacted with disgust, she hung onto Marco's card.
As things cooled off between Lindsay and Daniel, Daniel began spending time with Nora working cases in the D.A.'s office, and collaborating on crossword puzzles on their breaks. Nora and Daniel developed a surprising friendship, which rubbed Lindsay -- and Bo -- the wrong way. At the same time, Bo was surprised by his own rapport with Eve.
Marcie left the Diner in Jen's hands, and went on a quick trip to New York City to Centurion Enterprises headquarters. She had an appointment to meet the CEO -- Mortimer Bern! Back in Llanview, Viki was surprised to find a face from her past at her hospital bedside: her sister Tina!
OLTL History 2001-2004
2001
Blair agreed to marry Todd but put a stop to his plans for a quick wedding and said she wanted to wait and get married in Llanview. Blair remained torn over her plans for a future with Todd and shared these fears with Kelly, who tried to warn Blair away from Todd.
Todd learned that Skye was really Rae's daughter but didn't share this news with anyone. After going to Rae for advice about Blair, she told him to give Blair an emotional gift to prove how he felt about her. Todd then presented Blair with a copy of the Bible page and she was thrilled to learn a secret that could shatter Skye's world.
Skye was released from jail after passing a lie detector test that John had arranged for. Skye wanted to get revenge against Todd and Blair and eventually forgave Max for not believing in her innocence. Max and Skye then teamed up to destroy Todd and Blair.
Todd and Blair vowed to get even with all who had wronged them. To that end, Todd and Blair told Skye that Rae had shot Max. Todd and Blair then told Renee that Max knew the identity of her real son and also told Asa that Max had been scamming him. Thrilled with the havoc they had created, Todd and Blair spent the night together and made love.
Nora was still determined to get the truth from Colin, who grew even more obsessed with her and even built a secret shrine to her in his home. Lindsay tried to warn Colin about Nora's true motives but his arrogance prevented him from believing her.
Viki was horrified when Ben was kidnapped before her eyes. As it turned out, Ben's abductor was Gina Russo, his first love and member of the Russo crime family. Gina was furious when Ben asked her to help him bring down Tim Rourke and her brother Tommy, but she later agreed to help him. Ben then returned home, much to Viki's relief and delight.
Melanie turned down Bo's marriage proposal for fear of having her secret about her father come to light. Melanie disappeared one day but Bo soon realized where she had gone and tracked her down. Bo told Melanie she could tell him her secret when she wanted to and she accepted his marriage proposal.
Rae convinced John to investigate her in Max's shooting after Todd and Blair accused Rae of the crime. By doing this, Rae hoped to create reasonable doubt for Skye. Rae also decided not to tell Skye that she was her mother.
Max and Skye set out to destroy Todd and Blair. To that end, Max drugged Blair and arranged for Todd to see him and Blair in bed together. Todd, however, had no idea that Blair was unconscious from the drugs and thought she had betrayed him on the night before their wedding.
On her wedding day, Blair walked down the aisle in front of her guests and was shocked by what happened next. Instead of saying "I do," Todd announced to everyone in the room that Blair had shot Max in the back! Blair was speechless by Todd's betrayal and couldn't fathom why he had done this. But Todd wasn't done yet! After exposing Blair's secret, Todd announced that Skye was really Rae's daughter and that Max wasn't the real Buchanan heir. Todd later told Renee that Ben was her son and Ben admitted that it was true.
Todd and Blair were both arrested and Blair didn't understand why Todd had betrayed her as she still had no idea about Max's manipulations. Still thinking Blair had committed the ultimate betrayal, Todd agreed to turn over incriminating evidence against Blair in exchange for no charges being brought against him.
Jennifer Rappaport came to Llanview from her Switzerland boarding school. Jennifer was a troubled girl who put misplaced trust in her evil Uncle Colin MacIver. When Jen was a little girl, Colin helped her when she caught her mother Lindsay having an affair. Colin held this over Jen's head, convincing her she was responsible for her parents' divorce. Colin tormented Jen and even made a pass at her.
Roseanne was thrilled when Antonio asked her to move in with him. Roseanne's happiness was short-lived, however, after Antonio learned that she had deliberately withheld an urgent message for him from Sophia. As it turned out, Sophia was in desperate need of back up and Roseanne had jeopardized Sophia's life by failing to give Antonio the message. Antonio was furious with Roseanne and told her to pack up and leave. Antonio then cleared up the misunderstanding with Sophia and explained he never would have ignored her call for help.
After Antonio dumped Roseanne she was heartbroken. She got drunk, and devious Dr. Colin MacIver took advantage of her. The two ended up sleeping together. Roseanne was horrified when she realized what she'd done. Soon after, Antonio forgave Roseanne for not giving him Sophia's message, and they got their relationship back into gear again. Roseanne feared that if she told him about Colin then he would leave her again. When Roseanne finally told him the truth about Colin, Antonio was upset, but forgave her again.
Antonio and Sophia made it their mission to nail R.J. for all his crimes. Sophia suspected that Roseanne, who took over as receptionist at the Llanview police station, was tipping off career criminal RJ Gannon. Sophia tried to prove Roseanne was a mole, and even worked with former rival Kelly to do so.
Colin continued his campaign of threats and blackmail and added Roseanne to his list when he learned she was RJ's mole at the police station. Colin also took great delight in torturing Jen and had spent years making her feel responsible for Sam and Lindsay's divorce.
Nora's quest to expose Lindsay's role in her kidnapping led her closer to Colin, who promised to tell Nora everything if she made love with him. Nora was repulsed by Colin and made it clear she would never love him. This sent Colin even more over the edge and his behavior became increasingly dangerous.
Colin told Will the truth about Lindsay's role in Nora's kidnapping and he angrily confronted his mother. Although disgusted by what she had done, Will agreed that he wouldn't turn Lindsay over to the police. Jessica began to suspect that Will was keeping a secret but he couldn't bring himself to confide in her.
Viki was immediately suspicious of Gina Russo and she had every right to be. When Viki confronted Gina about her "contacts" and need to spend time alone with Ben, Gina admitted that she wanted Ben back for herself! A strong Viki, however, remained confident that nothing would ever come between her and Ben.
Jen stole a fake ID from Break Bar and ended up almost dying from alcohol poisoning after drinking alone in the park. Cristian and Skye took Jen to the hospital and she recovered, but Will was determined to find out where she had gotten the fake ID. A short time later, Jessica discovered that Cristian was the person selling fake IDs to minors but didn't share this news with Will.
Max blackmailed Asa by threatening to tell the police that Asa had put the hit out on Ben. Blair forced Max to confess that he had drugged her and made Todd believe they had slept together. Before Blair could get to Todd, the police arrested her for shooting Max based on evidence Todd gave them. Todd got wind of Max's setup from Nora and scared Max into telling him the truth. Todd, deciding he and Blair belonged together, tried unsuccessfully to get the evidence back from the police. Todd planted a bomb in Bo's office, but Bo and Melanie managed to diffuse it before it went off. Meanwhile, Blair realized she still loved Todd, but followed Sam's advice and told Todd their life together was over.
Colin summoned his enemies to a "secrets and lies" dinner party and announced he was leaving for Maui. Colin also revealed that he was prompted to make the call that ended Sam and Lindsay's marriage after receiving a call from frightened Jen, who had witnessed Lindsay's affair. Later that night, Colin lay in wait for Nora to return home. Colin injected Nora with a mystery drug and planned to abduct her, but was confronted by an unseen visitor. Sam later rescued Nora from Colin's, but Colin was nowhere to be found. Bo began to investigate Colin's disappearance.
Viki discovered that Gina was Rourke's boss and that she was setting up the attempts on Ben's life to get him back. Gina forced Viki to leave Ben and lie that she was on a speaking tour by threatening to kill Jessica. Gina locked Viki in a room in her basement and convinced Ben to stay with her for his own protection.
While in the woods, Jessica and Will stumbled upon Colin's body. Jessica reluctantly went along with Will, Jen, and Cristian when they decided to rebury the body and keep quiet about their discovery. Jessica returned to the gravesite to retrieve a charm she lost and was spotted by Bo. Jessica panicked when Bo decided to have the grave dug up, but all the police found was a scarecrow. The foursome wondered what had happened to Colin's body, which was actually in RJ's possession.
Sophia and Antonio received an anonymous tip and raided RJ's warehouse, but instead of finding stolen goods, they found a box with a murdered Colin MacIver's body in it. During the raid, Sophia's back was injured and she was in need of intense physical therapy to regain full use of her legs. Sophia was sent to rehab in Minnesota and she made Kelly promise to uncover Roseanne as the mole and make her pay.
Kelly confronted Roseanne about this information, and forced her to tell Antonio the truth. When Roseanne told Antonio the truth he was very mad. He didn't tell anyone, but forced Roseanne to resign from the police station, and ended their relationship once and for all.
Jen took a liking to Cristian Vega, who stood by her when she was a suspect in Colin's murder.
After Todd failed to steal the evidence against Blair, her case was bound over for trial. With Kelly's help, Blair concocted a plan to get Max on her side. Blair lied to Max that she was pregnant with his child. Todd found out about the baby before Blair could clue him in to her scheme. Max forced Blair to take a pregnancy test at the hospital, and Blair was stunned when the test came back positive.
Ben grew suspicious about Viki's whereabouts, so Gina had Viki call him and say she had left town to get away from him. Ben learned from Gina that Asa had put the hit on him. To keep Ben close, Gina lied that Rourke was still gunning for him after Ben learned Asa called off the hit. Viki grew more agitated during her confinement and eventually turned into Niki Smith.
Determined to meet her father, Skye followed Rae to Port Charles.
Max learned from Renee that Asa was planning to remarry Alex. He rushed to the ceremony but was shocked when he discovered Gabrielle Medina was Asa's new bride. Gabrielle revealed that Asa had legally adopted their son Al who had disowned Max as his father. But Asa's marriage to Gabrielle was just part of an elaborate revenge plot against Max.
The forensics report proved that Melanie's hair matched the samples found at Colin's house. She confessed to killing Colin and also admitted to murdering her own father. Lanie was arrested but Nora and Bo didn't believe she committed the crime. Lanie returned Bo's engagement ring and called off the wedding. Meanwhile, Will concealed Colin's passport behind a picture in his apartment. Jen admitted to Will that she witnessed something that night at Colin's. In a shocking turn of events, Sam confessed to killing Colin. Jen and Cristian grew closer but she was unable to move forward because of the secrets she was keeping about Colin's murder. Lindsay spirited Jen into staying quiet and tried to keep her away from Cristian.
Bo suspected that Melanie was keeping a secret but she beseeched him to just let the matter drop. Bo, however, had no intention of just letting Melanie walk out of his life and became determined to learn why she was pushing him away. Bo found out that Melanie assisted her father's wish to die when he was in a prolonged battle with cancer, and decided that Melanie was right in her decision to help her father die with dignity. However, Melanie became paranoid when Bo wasn't in a rush to get married anymore, and Lindsay encouraged Melanie to pretend she was dying so that Bo would marry her. Once Bo learned of Melanie's duplicity, he ended their relationship, and Melanie moved to Seattle.
Over time, Renee was able to bring Asa and Ben together for a rare dinner at The Palace, but both men were too stubborn to openly accept each other.
Gina held Viki captive in her basement. However, Viki's alters began emerging and Gina was introduced to "Jean Randolph", "Tommy", and "Niki". Ben became suspicious after learning that Gina questioned Jessica about Viki's DID. "Jean" convinced Gina that she could impersonate Viki in order to break-up with Ben. After passing Gina's test, "Jean" met Ben at crossroads and told him it was over. Ben finally understood that Viki was sending him clues and he realized that Gina was behind Viki's disappearance. Ben turned the tables on Gina and demanded to know where Viki was. Gina's thugs had already taken Viki up to the cliff where Gina planned to get rid of her. Ben arrived as a struggle broke out between Gina and Viki. Ben intervened but not before Gina rendered Viki unconscious with a hit to the head. Ben tried to coax the gun away from Gina but she accidentally fell off the cliff. Viki and Ben reunited and Viki revealed that the emergence of her alters was just a plot so she could escape.
In a quest to destroy Blair, Todd evicted her and humiliated her with a slanderous headline in The Sun. Blair learned she was pregnant with Todd's baby but decided to pass it off as Max's when Todd vowed to gain sole custody of Starr. Blair awaited Max's arrival at her hearing but instead Todd showed up to testify. Todd revealed Blair's crazy actions on the stand. The judge rendered her temporarily insane and remanded her to St. Ann's. Blair figured out that Todd's testimony was actually a ploy to prevent her from going to jail.
To keep Max from knowing when she gave birth, Blair fled to Mexico to have her baby in secret. Todd followed, and actually delivered the child he thought was Max's! Todd was disgusted at the sight of Max's child and ordered the midwife, Paloma, to get rid of the child. Paloma refused, so Todd took the child away and tried to give it to some nuns at the local airport.
David Vickers saw Todd give the baby away and told the nuns that Todd was his “life partner” and got the baby back. He brought the boy to the hacienda where Todd and Blair were staying, and Todd paid David a hefty sum to “get rid of the baby." Meanwhile, Todd lied to a devastated Blair that the baby had died, and brought Blair back to Llanview away from Paloma, who still knew the truth. Believing the baby was dead, Blair told Max that the baby was Todd's after all.
Blair learned that it would be virtually impossible for her to regain custody of Starr. Todd propositioned Blair to move in to the penthouse in order for her to be close to Starr. Todd and Blair sparred over the living arrangements, and they ultimately decided that it would make more sense to live at Dorian's place. Todd and Blair continued to argue, but agreed to sleep in the same bed for Starr's sake. Starr overheard Roseanne talking to Senora Lena about a love potion and decided to obtain some for her parents. Todd discovered that Starr had spiked Blair's lemonade with the potion, and he rushed to her aid. Touched by Todd's concern for her and the baby, Blair pondered telling Todd the truth -- that he was the father of her baby.
Gabrielle reacquainted herself with Viki in an attempt to bury the hatchet, but Viki believed that she had a hidden agenda. At Asa and Gabrielle's wedding reception, Gabrielle manipulated a huge fight between Ben and Max. She then suggested that Ben join her revenge plot against Max, but he refused. After a confrontation with Al, Max decided to move out of the mansion. Asa reminded Gabrielle that Max moving out could hinder their revenge plot, and he demanded that she somehow convince Max to stay. Asa and Gabrielle then staged a fight as part of their plan to keep Max at the mansion. Max and Gabrielle continued to fantasize about one another and reflected upon the passionate times they had shared in the past.
Nora vowed to prove that Sam was taking the rap for someone else. However, the results of the forensics report lead Bo to arrest Sam for Colin's murder. Jen confided the truth about Colin's murder to Rae. When Lindsay found out, she broke into Rae's house to steal Jen's confession tape. Lindsay and Sam asked Jen to stay away from Cristian for fear that Jen would reveal the truth about Colin's murder to him. Jessica and Will's relationship suffered when she found Colin's passport. She suspected that Will was lying to her, and he refused to open up to her. Sam's trial began, and Lindsay spirited Jen out of town so that she wouldn't be called to testify. Nora concluded that Will was the murderer after overhearing a conversation between Ben and Sam. On the stand, Nora cross-examined Will about Colin's passport, but Jen arrived and announced that Colin gave her his passport the night he was murdered. Jen took the stand and testified that she saw her parents carrying Colin's body out of the MacIver house the night of the murder. Lindsay and Sam finally realized that Jen didn't kill Colin after thinking all along that they had been helping to cover her guilt. Nora surmised that Lindsay murdered Colin, and Lindsay was subpoenaed to testify. Meanwhile, Nora continued to be haunted by flashes of Colin's laughter. Nora badgered Lindsay on the witness stand relentlessly in Colin's murder trial before Nora finally remembered the truth; Nora herself had killed Colin in self-defense, and blocked out the traumatic memory. Nora wasn't brought up on charges.
Will and Jessica later broke up, and then Will left town shortly after, to roam the country and find himself. Jessica moved out of Will's loft and back to Llanfair. Jessica was able to pick up the pieces with the help of her new friend Natalie Balsom, and a new man, Seth Anderson.
Seth Anderson, Cristian's friend from Union Square, arrived in Llanview. Renee hired Seth at Palace Bar while RJ also gave him a part-time job at Break Bar. Natalie befriended Jessica and Natalie claimed to be homeless. Jessica took Natalie into her home at Llanfair, and convinced Viki to hire Natalie as her personal assistant.
When Allison Perkins appeared in town and was asking Viki's "forgivness" for kidnapping her baby all those years ago, Ben was suspicious, but Viki was open to forgiving the regretful Allison. After Viki forgave her, Ben overheard Allison talking to someone on the phone, saying "Viki forgave me. It's all set." Ben decided to go to St. Ann's as "Dave", a mental patient. He pretended to be simple Dave so Allison would tell him what she was up to. Allison began to fall in love with "Dave," but Ben wasn't worried. Before he could get the truth from her, she found out who he really was.
David gave Todd and Blair's baby to a rich Texan couple, and when Todd found out the child was not Max's but his, Todd forced David to tell him where the baby was. Todd got the baby back, and told Blair that he was “adopted.” Blair named the child John Cramer Manning, "Jack" for short.
Natalie's claims and Natalie's intentions were two different things. Ex-cult member Allison Perkins had actually switched wealthy heiress Jessica Buchanan with Natalie, classless Roxanne's daughter, when Natalie and Jessica were babies. So the Jessica the Buchanans thought they had gotten back was really baby Natalie Balsom! Natalie came to Llanview and worked with her boyfriend Seth Anderson, and her one-time kidnapper Allison, in a scheme to get close to Jessica and Viki. Once Natalie got the Buchanan inheritance that was due her, they would split it and live the life they all felt they deserved. As Seth went through all the motions, he discovered he had true feelings for Jessica!
Roseanne vowed revenge on R.J., as well as Kelly. She enlisted the help of Senora Lena Minta, the voodoo priestess. Roseanne asked Senora Lena to help her put a curse on R.J. Senora Lena asked Roseanne to obtain one of R.J.'s personal items in order for her to craft a voodoo doll of him. Roseanne's manipulation of the R.J. voodoo doll lead to his arrest. However, R.J. struck a deal for immunity in exchange for information that implicated Will as Colin's murderer. Roseanne then asked Lena to help her make Antonio fall in love with her. Lena gave Roseanne a love potion, and Roseanne decided to test it on Kelly. However, Roseanne's plan was foiled when she spilled the potion. Realizing that she and Antonio were truly over, Roseanne left Llanview in June 2001.
John was reunited with Rae, who told him that Skye had met her father, Alan Quartermaine, and had decided to stay in Port Charles. Rae felt guilty for not telling John what she had learned about Colin's death. When John found out, he was furious with Rae for withholding the information that Jen confided to her.
Cristian and Jen continued to grow closer as Cristian helped Jen through her father's trial.
Seth's odd behavior around Jessica prompted her to confront him, but he evaded her questioning. Seth eventually confessed that he was responsible for Llanfair being set ablaze years earlier. Though it was an accident, Seth had never come forth about his guilt. Jessica forgave Seth, and they even started dating.
Lindsay disliked Cristian and thought of him as unsuitable for her daughter. With the help of Chad, a bartender at Break Bar, Lindsay set up a website featuring video clips of Cristian in his loft in his underwear, in order to undermine Cristian and Jen's relationship by making it appear Cristian was flaunting himself over the internet. Eventually, the truth came out, and Jen was furious when she found out what her mother had done. While Cristian felt extremely betrayed by Chad when the truth came out, he realized that Chad was just a pawn in Lindsay's game and forgave him.
It didn't take long for Gabrielle and Max to feel their old attraction again, and Gabrielle did her part by luring Max to the Buchanan lodge and cheating on Asa. Meanwhile, Asa did his part by catching the affair on videotape. What Gabrielle and Asa hadn't planned was for Gabrielle's guilt got the best of her, resulting in her revealing to Max all the details of Asa's devious plan. The affair was meant to serve as Max's motive for Asa's murder!
Gabrielle tried to back out of her plan with Asa, but he wouldn't let her. Asa went ahead and faked his death, leaving both Gabrielle and Max as prime suspects! Commissioner Bo Buchanan was determined to see his father's murderer go to jail, and Gabrielle became more unglued as time went on.
Natalie legally forced Viki to allow her to stay at Llanfair by citing a clause in Victor Lord's will that established any Lord offspring to reside in the mansion. Furthermore, when Viki exposed Natalie to all of Allison's dirty dealings that Allison had failed to mention, Natalie refused to share any of her money with Allison! Natalie refused to see Allison anymore, but Ben still did not completely trust Natalie.
Roxanne Balsom was a simple woman who was always looking to better herself -- financially. Roxy, as her friends call her, earned her meager wages as a croupier at various Atlantic City casinos. All that mattered to Roxy was her money, her beer, and her luck. The last thing on her mind was her daughter Natalie! But Natalie was destined for greater things; being an heiress to the Buchanan wealth, switched at birth with Roxy's real daughter. Roxy's daughter was raised as Jessica Buchanan. Roxy only worried about one thing... how much money she could get out of either of her daughters, biological or otherwise! Allison Perkins needed a new angle if she was to get any money out of the Buchanans, and Roxy was the best angle to play.
Back in Llanview, Rae and John's relationship continued to grow. In August of 2001, John got a job offer in San Francisco. A huge promotion, John took the offer. A couple months later Rae went to see John in San Francisco where he broke up with her, and told her that he was going to be living in San Francisco permanently. A heartbroken Rae went back to Llanview. Rae got help from her many friends in getting over losing John.
Keri Reynolds came to Llanview in August of 2001, looking for her father. She deduced that District Attorney Hank Gannon was her father, since she found money that Hank regularly gave to Keri's mother Elizabeth as support for Keri's upbringing.
When Keri confronted Hank over never being a true father to her, Hank denied that he was her father, which infuriated Keri. Keri was stunned to learn that Hank really wasn't her father, Hank's brother RJ was! Keri's mother Elizabeth confided in Hank when she got pregnant by RJ, and swore Hank to secrecy about the pregnancy because RJ was recently sent to prison. Hank decided to support Elizabeth and her baby financially since RJ couldn't be a father to baby Keri. Keri apologized for being so abrasive with Hank, but RJ wasn't so forgiving about being kept in the dark about having fathered a child.
Hank had grown closer with Dr. Rae Cummings around that time, and found her very easy to talk to about the drama surrounding RJ and Keri's relationship. Hank could share with Rae his concern about Keri, and felt he could trust her with anything.
Nora worried when Dr. Troy MacIver appeared in Llanview at the reading of his murdered twin brother Colin’s will. He did not get a warm reception; Sam Rappaport knocked him out, and Lindsay tried smothering him with a pillow while he was unconscious! Because of his uncanny resemblance to Colin, the citizens of Llanview distrusted him.
Troy wanted to earn Nora’s trust, and his chance came when Matthew, Nora and Sam’s son, was diagnosed with a rare muscle disease. Troy tried an experimental treatment on Matthew and cured him. Nora was thrilled, and a fragile truce was established between Troy and Sam.
Colin was publicly blamed for Nora’s memory loss, and Troy became determined to clear Colin’s name and prove for once and for all that Lindsay had given Nora the drug. He gave Nora pills to restore her memory, but she was able to remember everything but the crucial moment when Lindsay pricked her with the needle. Troy hatched a plan to pretend to fall in love with Lindsay, and get her to trust him so she would confess. Nora originally objected to Troy's plan, but he convinced her that her need for the truth about the pain Lindsay had caused was far more important than and pain Lindsay herself might feel.
Asa fled with Nigel to St. Blaze's Island, where Asa returned to using the alias of Captain Jeb Stuart. Unfortunately, Asa's ex, Alex, ran into Asa after attending his funeral in Llanview, and blackmailed Asa into marrying her so that she wouldn't blow his cover! Asa had to think fast, and so he paid a drunken janitor to stumble into their wedding and marry Alex instead! Alex protested, since the legal vows named Jeb Stuart as her husband. Asa surprised Alex by revealing that the janitor had his name legally changed to Jeb Stuart! Fortunately for Max and Gabrielle, Asa was found living well on St. Blaze's!
Antonio met stunning beauty Keri Reynolds when he was her student at Llanview University as he was completing a few credit requirements for his promotion in the Llanview Police Department. Antonio and Keri couldn't help but feel the attraction between them. Chad was briefly hired by RJ to follow Keri and find out more about her.
Cristian was working undercover for the police to get evidence to put RJ Gannon away. Lindsay found out and told RJ was Cris was up to, and RJ sent a hit man, Keith Schaeffer, after him. When Cristian evaded him, Keith went after Jen. Jen thought he was just another friendly student on campus, but she got suspicious when he kept popping up everywhere she went. Cristian was alarmed, and decided to break up with Jen to protect her from the man that was after him.
Jen knew nothing about the hit man and was heartbroken, thinking Cristian just decided to dump her. Jen turned to Al Holden, who loved her, and the two made love. When Keith was apprehended, Cristian rescued her and told her the truth, prompting Jen to break things off with Al and return to Cristian.
2002
Jen missed her period and thought she was pregnant, and Cristian was hurt. Leaving in a rage to find Al, Cristian was gone before Jen found out she really wasn't pregnant.
Cristian and Al fought and Al accidentally fell over the edge of a cliff at the quarry, resulting in Al being paralyzed from the waist down. Jen, since they were fighting over her, swore she would stand by Al until he could walk again. Realizing Jen would leave him if he regained the ability to walk, Al decided to fake paralysis until she realized he was the right man for her. Devious Natalie Buchanan found out about Al's scheme and decided to blackmail him over it!
Starr whined for months about wanting a baby brother, but when she finally got one in little Jack Manning, she didn't want one anymore! All Jack did was cry and sleep and take all the attention away from Starr! Starr gradually warmed up to her little brother, and even saved him from a poisonous spider that found its way into his crib!
When Antonio and RJ both realized their connection to Keri, Antonio and RJ's animosity almost destroyed Antonio and Keri's relationship, but Keri was able to keep a tentative peace between the two most important men in her life.
When Asa was brought back to Llanview, he was punished for his duplicities, and sentenced to community service to be worked off at Ben's clinic, as well as court-appointed therapy with Rae Cummings, a "quack" that Asa couldn't stand! Asa fought back by punishing Gabrielle. Asa ended their marriage and threw Gabrielle out of his mansion, penniless and alone.
Bo took pity on Gabrielle, realizing she was manipulated a great deal by Asa, and let Gabrielle move in with him. As time went on, Bo began enjoying their time together. Asa was furious to see Gabrielle getting her hooks into Bo, and tried all he could to get Bo to give Gabrielle the boot, but to no avail.
Paloma turned up in Llanview, attempting to tell Blair the truth about baby Jack, but Todd tricked Paloma into thinking Blair already knew, and Paloma left town. David Vickers seized the opportunity and blackmailed Todd into giving him money or he would tell Blair everything. Todd tricked David into meeting him at the waterfront and had the Moroccan police arrest him. David was hauled away, but not before he told Todd what he thought of him.
RJ secretly tried numerous times to throw a wrench into his daughter Keri's relationship with Antonio, including hiring one of Keri's students to claim Keri carried on an improper relationship with Antonio while he was her student. Even though they waited until Antonio was out of her class before they became involved, the claims of the student nearly destroyed Keri's career. Fortunately, Keri's co-worker, Rae Cummings, vouched for Keri's adherence to University rules and regulations, and the charges against Keri were dismissed.
After a lengthy seduction, Troy finally proposed to Lindsay and the two were scheduled to fly off to Paris for their wedding. Troy purchased an old funhouse outside of town, with fake mirrors that led to secret mazes. Pretending to be Colin, Troy lured Lindsay to the funhouse to “rescue Troy”. Lindsay confessed, and the confession was taped. Lindsay found out it was a trap and hit Troy over the head with a crowbar, then chained him to a huge wheel. Days passed, and Troy still refused to tell her where the tape of her confession was. Nora found the tape at Lindsay's art gallery, and Nora and Lindsay fought over it, even ending up in a trash compactor together! Nora emerged with the tape. Lindsay was arrested and sentenced to 28 years in Statesville prison. When Nora admitted she was starting to have feelings for Troy, Sam broke up with Nora and she and Troy began dating.
While trying to deal with the shock that Natalie, not Jessica, was her daughter, Viki began seeing visions of Niki Smith, who taunted Viki about how Viki didn't realize all those years ago that the baby she got back wasn't the same baby that was taken from her. Niki hinted around some terrible secret that Viki would never be strong enough to know about. Viki kept the visions of Niki a secret from Ben, and met with Rae. Viki asked Rae to hypnotize her and bring Niki out, in order to get Niki to reveal the secret. Rae brought Niki out, but even Rae didn't realize Niki never went back in!
Allison and Roxy saw their chance when trusting Jessica Buchanan showed an interest in getting to know Roxy. Allison began scheming with Roxy to get money from Jessica by pretending Roxy had a severe illness. Once Jessica gave Roxy money for the medical bills, they planned to split the earnings and skip town. But Jessica's boyfriend Seth Anderson learned the truth and exposed their plan to Jessica. In order to keep them from going to the police, Allison followed them in her car and ran them off the road. Believing that they were dead, Allison framed Roxanne for the accident and left town.
Roxanne swore she didn't run Jessica and Seth off the road, and Jessica and Seth believed her. They decided to hatch a plan to get Allison back to Llanview. When Allison read in the newspaper that Jessica was going to give Roxanne $100,000, she headed back to Llanview to get her share of the money from Roxanne. Unfortunately for Allison, the police had bugged Roxanne without her knowledge, and when Allison admitted that she had been the one to run Jessica and Seth off the road, she was arrested and sent to Statesville prison.
Natalie had been in love with Seth Anderson, but Seth left her for her sister Jessica Buchanan. Natalie had Al pretend to be Seth in order to frame Seth for cheating on Jessica. Al felt guilty over deceiving Jessica, who'd been a friend of his since childhood, but he went along with it so as not to lose Jen.
Gabrielle and Max each found out about Al being able to walk, and pleaded with him to come clean to Jen, arguing that Jen would stay with him no matter what if she really loved him. Al refused, and even proposed to Jen from his wheelchair. Jen agreed, still riddled with guilt over his paralysis. Al and Jen's marriage was not to be, because Natalie told Cristian about Al's plot and Cristian interrupted the wedding with the truth!
Blair noticed that Jack looked a lot like Starr did when Starr was a baby. Todd claimed that all babies look the same. Jack fell ill and needed a bone marrow transplant, much like Starr did when she was a baby, and Todd raced to figure out how to save his son's life without tipping Blair off to Jack's real identity.
Todd tracked down Alex Olanov, who had donated her bone marrow to save Starr several years before, and got her to agree to donate to save Jack. Todd was able to get the transplant done in secret while Blair was out of town, but a message that Alex left for Blair about the transplant started the house of cards tumbling down.
Once Blair learned that her "adopted" son was really the baby Todd told her had died, Blair threw Todd out and swore to never let him near either of his children ever again. Blair hired security to keep Todd at a distance, but her head guard, Ross Rayburn, happened to be on Todd's payroll!
Téa Delgado, Todd's ex, returned to Llanview for a brief visit in May 2002. While she was there, she visited Carlotta at the diner and learned that Todd and Blair had broken up. Téa went to visit Todd, but he rudely kicked her out. A few days later, Todd tracked Téa down and asked for her help keeping custody of his children. Téa turned him down, but Todd insisted she would help him because she's still in love with him.
While on vacation in Hawaii, Ross tipped off Todd, who made plans to kidnap Jack and Starr and disappear with them. Todd enlisted the help of his ex-wife Téa, but Téa doublecrossed him and warned Blair about Todd's kidnapping plot. Blair took the children, and Todd ended up washing ashore on a deserted island, only to be stranded there for months with Ross and Téa!
Free to be together, Keri and Antonio savored every moment. Keri faced Antonio's disapproving mother, Carlotta, who had her own issues with RJ, but Keri proved herself to be worthy of Carlotta's son.
Roxanne was cleared and decided to celebrate at the casinos in Atlantic City. While there, Roxy ran into an old acquaintance, Max Holden, who was depressed over a falling out with his son Al. Roxy took advantage of Max's drinking binge and lured him to the chapel to get married. Roxy even had the forethought to make Max sign an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement that would leave Roxy with all of Max's money if he dared divorce her.
Roxy really did love Max, and tried everything she could think of to make herself a better person -- a person Max could love back. Roxy's chances at winning Max over were threatened when her son Rex came to Llanview! Rex had been taken away from Roxy when he was a child, by his aunt Corinne, Roxy's sister-in-law. Rex knew Roxy's deepest secret; the fact that she'd never given birth to a baby girl... Rex was her only child!
With Lindsay behind bars, Troy was tormented by memories of his late wife Joanna. Troy's sister Emily came to Llanview in June 2002, and Emily knew that Troy had suffered through a serious trauma with Joanna in Africa. Emily reassured Troy that what happened to Joanna was not Troy's fault and that he had no way of preventing what befell her.
In Statesville, Lindsay's cellmate became Allison Perkins, the kidnapper of babies Jessica and Natalie Buchanan. Lindsay was determined to escape, and since Allison was the daughter of the former warden of the prison, she knew a secret tunnel to get out. The only problem was that Allison didn't want to leave prison, the guards were kind to her and gave her special priveledges and there was nothing waiting for her on the outside.
Keri and Antonio went on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2002, where Antonio planned to propose. But Keri had her own plans in mind. Keri had been given an old camera by Rae, and one of the old pictures she developed was of a young Rae and a man Rae identified as "Mark," the love of her life. Keri found out that Rae attended the University of Hawaii with him, and set out to find Mark and reunite Rae with her former flame.
Antonio noticed a hole in Rae's story about "Mark," since the love story Rae told Keri was really about the affair Rae had had with Dr. Alan Quartermaine, a doctor in Port Charles, New York. Keri and Antonio decided to get to the bottom of the discrepancy, and went to the University of Hawaii looking for records on Mark. Looking through old college yearbooks, Keri found Mark's picture, but the name on the man's picture was Ray Cummings!
Chad had stars in his eyes when it came to Blair Cramer Manning, a stunningly beautiful older woman who often enjoyed a drink at Break Bar. When Blair was hurting over her husband Todd's latest dirty deeds at the time, a drunken Blair threw herself at Chad and they almost made love in the alley behind Break Bar! Blair's friend Sam Rappaport interrupted them before Blair went too far, and Chad realized he almost took advantage of her. Chad apologized.
Charming Rex Balsom was fortunate not to have been raised by Roxanne. When Rex was a young boy, he was taken by his Aunt Corinne to live in Michigan, away from the neglectful Roxanne. Rex missed his big sister Natalie, who Corinne had left behind. Rex came to Llanview in 2002 when he found out that the sister he knew in his childhood, Natalie, was really a wealthy Buchanan heiress switched at birth with Jessica Buchanan, Rex's true biological sister. Always looking to further himself, he set out for Llanview to reunite with Natalie, and buddy up to Jessica.
Rex didn't expect Jessica's boyfriend Seth to be suspicious of him right off the bat. Seth pegged Rex for the fortune-hunter he was, and when Seth found newspaper clippings that proved Rex knew about the baby switch before coming to Llanview, he accused Rex of using Jessica for her money.
Crafty Rex covered for himself, claiming that he didn't want Jessica to know that he was aware of the baby switch, because she would assume that he was after her money. Jessica trusted Rex and dumped Seth, even though she did let Rex move into Llanfair with her and paid his college tuition at Llanview University.
Rae was warned from Hawaii that Keri and Antonio were snooping around the University, and Rae flew to Hawaii to cover her tracks. Keri confronted Rae, and Rae was crushed that her friend had dug up the painful truth. Rae only lost out on her own degree because she became too personally involved with her patients; she cared too much. Seeing Ray throw away his misspelled diploma seemed like a chance for Rae to help people like she always wanted to. Keri was sorry that she'd exposed Rae's fraudulence, because Rae truly didn't mean any harm.
Keri and Antonio visited Ray Cummings, where they learned the whole ugly truth: Keri's friend Rae wasn't really a doctor at all; she stole a misspelled diploma that Ray had received, and then the former Gretel Cummings changed her middle name to "Rae" to match the misspelled doctorate degree. Rae had been practicing without a license for years!
Unbeknownst to Ben, Viki's alter ego Niki was now pretending to be Viki. But Niki wanted to be free of having to pretend to be "boring" Viki and decided the first thing she must do was get rid of Ben, permanently. She came up with a plan to make her daughter, Natalie believe she had Disassociative Identity Disorder and that one of Natalie's alters killed Ben, when it would be Niki Smith who really did away with him. Ben figured out what was going on and confronted Niki Smith, but Niki pushed him out of a window and made it look as if Natalie had done it. Ben recovered, but couldn't remember who pushed him out the window.
Lindsay convinced Allison that Ben Davidson, or, as Allison calls him, "Dave", was in danger of Niki Smith and needed Allison to save him. Allison agreed to help Lindsay after Lindsay blackmailed RJ Gannon into providing them with a getaway car and safe house. Allison showed Lindsay the passage and the two of them escaped through the tunnel.
When Natalie was found out for having Al pretend to be Seth in order to frame Seth for cheating on Jessica, she was further alienated from Jessica and Seth, and finally realized she couldn't force Seth to love her. Natalie leaned on her friend Cristian Vega while she came to terms with losing Seth for good, and was surprised when she started fantasizing about him. The only problem was; Cristian was involved with Jen Rappaport. In time, Cristian's feelings grew into love for Natalie as well, and they realized they felt the same way about each other.
Al refused to give up on Jen, even though she had reunited with Cristian once again. Al was able to rebuild his friendship with Jen, but he still knew he was better for her than Cristian would ever be. Al even set fire to Jen's house in order to rescue her! Gabrielle found out that Al had become an arsonist and helped him cover his tracks because she didn't want to see him suffer through prison like she did years before. Gabrielle even lied to the man she loved, Police Commissioner Bo Buchanan, to cover for Al. Bo found out about the arson, but didn't arrest him as long as Al agreed to an "unofficial" community service. Bo and Gabrielle patched things up, and Gabrielle was once again walking the straight and narrow.
Chad was again smitten when he met sweet Emily MacIver. They enjoyed a few dates, but Chad's checkered past came back to haunt him when gossip at Llanview University reached Emily. Once Emily learned about the webcam in Cristian's apartment, and then the incident with the married Blair in the alley, Chad's dirty dealings were too much for Emily to overlook, and she broke off their blossoming relationship.
Rae had been treating Asa Buchanan in court-appointed therapy sessions. Rae challenged Asa, and argued that Asa felt weak and powerless. Asa fought back, telling Rae about all the dirty, illegal dealings that he took part in to amass his fortune. Rae was disgusted, but she couldn't tell the authorities because of doctor-patient confidentiality. Asa was thrilled when he uncovered the truth, and turned Rae's dark secret into a media blitz, encouraging all of Llanview to sue Rae for every penny she was worth!
Overwhelmed with lawsuits and negative media attention, Rae decided to fight back, and decided to use her taped therapy session with Asa to blackmail Asa into marriage! Rae was no longer bound by doctor-patient confidentiality, since she wasn't a licensed doctor, and threatened to expose Asa for all his illegal dealings if he didn't marry her, pay all her legal bills, and settle all her lawsuits. On August 26, 2002, Asa reluctantly married Rae, and Renee's heart was broken! Rae was her best friend, and Renee had actually considered getting back together with Asa again.
RJ ironically hid Lindsay and Allison in Rae Cummings's house, which had been taken away from Rae when it was revealed that Rae was practicing without a legal license. Roxanne inadvertenly stumbled upon Allison's hideout and Allison ended up kidnapping both Roxanne and Niki Smith. Feeling the cops closing in, Allison and Lindsay took Niki Smith to the Buchanan lodge and Allison debated whether to use her one remaining bullet on Lindsay or Niki.
When Ben began to remember Niki pushing him out the window, Niki had been taken hostage by Allison Perkins up at the Buchanan lodge. Before Allison could kill anyone, college student Mollie Serafin stumbled upon the hostage situation, and Allison was going to use the bullet on her. Lindsay talked Allison into not shooting Mollie, and then the police captured Allison and she was sent back to a padded room at St. Ann's. Ben arrived on the scene with the police, and was accidentally shot by officer Antonio Vega. Viki emerged again, just in time to watch Ben slip into a seemingly irreversable coma. Viki transferred Ben to a clinic in Switzerland that could best care for him, and took sessions with Susannah Hanen to get to the bottom of Niki's secret.
Mollie was the daughter of the Governor, and since Lindsay saved a young woman's life, Lindsay was pardoned from her sentence and set free. It was not long after when Lindsay overheard Troy and Emily discussing Joanna, Troy's wife, which led Lindsay to investigate. Lindsay traveled to Africa and uncovered the truth, and began holding it over Troy's head, threatening to tell Nora what he'd done and ruin their relationship!
Al was all too happy to oblige when Jen sought comfort from him in bed after a fight with Cristian. Little did Al know that Jen was actually trying to get pregnant by Al in order to trap Cristian with the child! Jen found out that Cristian had fallen in love with Natalie and plotted to use Al's baby to keep Cristian and Natalie apart. Jen did get pregnant, but kept it a secret from Al.
When Antonio accidentally shot bystander Ben Davidson while trying to get a hostage situation under control, Antonio was devastated when Ben went into a seemingly permanent coma. Antonio left Llanview to get his head together, and had a one-night stand with a blond stranger at a roadside motel. Antonio told Keri about his indiscretion, and Keri understood that Antonio was in a very bad place and it was only a one-time thing.
Keri visited her mother Liz in Chicago. Liz was mourning the death of her husband Steve in Africa before making her way back to the United States. Once she was back on American soil, Liz met a mysterious man at a motel who was at a crossroads in his own life. They ended up seeking comfort from each other in bed, and decided not to exchange names.
Liz was both shocked and thrilled to learn she had become pregnant. She had been trying for years with Steve, but to no avail. Unfortunately, because of a heart condition, Liz wouldn't be able to carry her baby to term. Liz contacted the woman who agreed to be her surrogate, but the woman backed out at the last minute. When Keri visited Liz and learned of her mother's problem, Keri volunteered to carry her mother's child to term. Although Liz was reluctant to allow Keri to do that, Liz ultimately agreed.
Once the procedure was finished, Liz moved to Llanview with Keri and met Keri's fiancee Antonio. Liz was shocked to find that Antonio was the man she had slept with that night at the motel! Liz and Antonio decided Keri would be crushed to learn the truth about their night together, and vowed not to tell her.
Cristian decided to tell Jen that he was leaving her for Natalie, but Jen had news for Cristian first -- she was pregnant! Jen decided that she would get back at Cristian, Natalie, and even Al, for hurting her by trapping Cristian in a marriage and forcing Natalie to watch from a distance! Jen befriended Natalie and even asked Natalie to be her maid of honor at the wedding. Natalie and Cristian were tormented by the feelings they couldn't act on, but Jen wasn't satisfied. Jen feared that guilt wouldn't keep Natalie and Cristian apart for long and tried to get Natalie to leave town. Natalie refused and Jen moved the wedding date up.
Eager to escape from his latest hellish marriage, Asa noticed the feelings that Rae and Hank Gannon had for one another. He even had Nigel lock Rae and Hank in the wine cellar together, but when passion didn't ignite, Asa had to find a new plan. Noticing that Max was in a similar unhappy situation with his wife Roxanne, Asa proposed that he and Max help get rid of each other's wives!
Asa started to charm Roxy, hoping to woo her away from Max, despite Max's greater understanding of why Roxy was the way she was. When Asa's wife Rae told Roxanne of Max and Asa's scheme, Roxy left Max and took a large portion of his money with her! Unfortunately, Roxy also took on most of Max's debts!
Ross had been on the run from embezzlement charges and was scared that the authorities had tracked him down. The three sailed into a storm which ended up marooning them on a deserted island in the south pacific! Todd built a raft that could hold two people, in order to head back to the United States, but Téa knew Todd had a slim chance of survival if he tried to make it on the open seas. Téa decided to stay with Ross on the island, and if Todd survived, he was to send help for Ross and Téa. Téa and Ross were later rescued, though they didn't return to Llanview.
Todd made his way back to Llanview, and was determined to get both of his children back, whether Blair decided to be a part of that family or not! Blair moved on with Sam while Todd was on the deserted island, and Sam helped her to legally protect her children from Todd. But danger found Blair in another way.
Seth set out to find out more about Rex, and traveled to Michigan to dig up dirt on him. There, he discovered that Roxanne never even gave birth to a baby girl! Rex wasn't Jessica's brother! In fact, Rex was Roxanne's only child! The truth was that Jessica and Natalie were fraternal twins born to Viki and Clint Buchanan. After Jessica got her mother Viki back, Jessica was so grateful to Seth that she reunited with him.size=2>Rex was able to hide the fact that he knew all along that he was Roxanne's only child! He was even more determined to keep it a secret that he was holding it over his own mother's head and blackmailing her with it!
When the truth about Jessica and Natalie was exposed, Viki was relieved that Jessica and Natalie were both her biological daughters. But Viki decided that she and Bo must figure out why Mitch Laurence had Allison switch twin girls!
Marcie Walsh, a trusting, optimistic, and some would say a naive soul, was first seen in October 2002 when Jen was in dire need of an ally. Marcie was absolutely awed by Jen, since Jen was the popular girl at Llanview University, so beautiful, so smart, and, in Marcie's eyes, so deserving of anything Jen wanted. All Marcie wanted was to be Jen's friend, and when Jen saw what Marcie could do for her, Jen quickly formed a friendship with her. Marcie was an assistant to an obstetrician at Llanview Hospital, and Jen needed Marcie to change the due date of her pregnancy to make Cristian believe the child was his.
Al caught on to Jen's scheme and just needed proof that Jen was carrying his baby. Al had already realized that Cristian loved Natalie, and thought that if Jen was really carrying his baby it was only a matter of time until Jen realized Al was the right man for her. Jen managed to change her baby's due date with help from Marcie. Al wasn't entirely convinced that it wasn't his child, and suspected that Jen had convinced Marcie to lie for her. All Al had to do was prove that the due date was faked.
Antonio became worried that the child Keri was carrying for Liz was actually his child! Liz lied to Antonio, swearing that she was pregnant before their night together, but Antonio wasn't sure about believing her. Liz confided in Hank yet again about her baby's father's identity, and Hank was upset to be asked to keep another secret that promised to devastate several lives. At the same time, RJ was still bitter over Liz shutting him out of Keri's life from day one, and was suspicious at the sight of Liz and Antonio together. RJ could potentially uncover the true connection between Liz and Antonio!
In October 2002, a man named Michael Lazarus turned up in Llanview after it was revealed that Viki had given birth to twin girls Jessica and Natalie, and that one of the girls had been stolen at birth and given to the low-class Roxanne Balsom to raise. Allison Perkins had switched the two girls, and the only question remaining was "why?"
Michael looked startlingly like Mitch Laurence, and he offered a shoulder for the innocent Natalie to cry on when she was having romantic problems with the man she loved, Cristian Vega. Natalie was unaware of the entire Mitch Laurence debacle, and would have been the perfect target if Michael Lazarus was indeed a resurrected Mitch.
Natalie married Mitch when she believed she and Cristian would never be able to be together. When Natalie brought Michael home to meet Viki, it was then Natalie realized that she'd married the very monster who masterminded the Natalie/Jessica baby switch in the first place!
Blair had recently done an exposé on a crime syndicate in The Sun, and angered mob boss, O'Brien. O'Brien even sent a hitman to kill Blair for naming names in the newspaper, but the hitman mistakenly killed the family Nanny, Suzanne, instead. Blair witnessed the shooting, which made things considerably more dangerous for her.
Al read Marcie's journal, in which she detailed all of Jen's brilliant plotting, but the wedding was interrupted by Jen doubling over in pain! Jen lost the baby, and Marcie was there to help Jen through the tough time. Jen recovered, and teamed with the evil Mitch Laurence to get revenge on Cristian and Natalie. Mitch married Natalie under false pretenses, and Natalie wanted to leave Mitch for Cristian once she realized what a monster Mitch was. Marcie worried about Jen getting involved with Mitch, but Jen was determined to exact her revenge.
Rex Balsom grew comfortable with living the high life and used his wealth to seduce various ladies around the Llanview University campus! Unfortunately, Rex's free ride at the Buchanans came to an abrupt halt when Jessica learned of his duplicity.
Mitch had one more shocker for Viki: He was Jessica's biological father! Mitch admitted that he drugged Viki one night, and they conceived Jessica that same night. Furthermore, Mitch entered the delivery room after Viki gave birth to both Natalie and Jessica, and Viki was apparently so horrified to learn Mitch fathered Jessica that she sat idly by as Mitch walked away with Jessica in his arms! Mitch's retelling of the events jogged Viki's memory, and she was mortified to recall every detail.
Viki had Seth take Jessica out of town to protect her from the truth that Mitch Laurence was her father. Jessica caught on to the fact that Seth was lying to her, and finally broke up with him and returned home to demand Viki to tell her everything. Jessica couldn't find Viki, but Mitch found Jessica. It was then that Mitch revealed to Jessica the shocking truth.
2003
Jessica was mortified as well to learn that Mitch was her father, and not Clint, as she'd always thought. Mitch wanted nothing more than to be a father to her, but Jessica refused to ever let him be a part of her life. Mitch was slightly comforted, however, when Jessica shut Viki out of her life, claiming that she'd never be more to Viki than a reminder of what Mitch did to her all those years ago. Despite Viki's insistance to the contrary, Jessica couldn't believe that Viki would ever love her the way she used to, and Jessica left town, leaving Viki heartbroken.
Mitch goaded Cristian into punching him, and then had Cristian arrested for assault. Then, Jen lied in order to aid the judge in deciding to put Cristian away. Jen and Marcie delighted in the fallout, but Jen eventually had an attack of remorse and told the truth. Jen realized what an evil man Mitch was, and Marcie helped Jen break into Mitch's home to find some incriminating evidence against him. Jen found medical records Mitch had under lock and key, on Jessica and Natalie Buchanan. Mitch came home and found Jen, and when he attempted to strangle her with a scarf, she escaped and ran out into a blizzard, and nearly froze to death! Fortunately, Al found her and brought her to the hospital where she recovered.
Todd hid Blair in his penthouse for weeks as he wormed his way back into Blair's affections. Blair ended her relationship with Sam and agreed to marry Todd again, especially when Todd gave her the wonderful news that all of O'Brien's men had been caught and it was safe for Blair to reclaim her life.
Sam, however, wasn't so willing to trust Todd, and he uncovered the truth that Todd had set up the entire O'Brien ordeal in order to win Blair back! Sam proved it by bringing the very much alive Suzanne to Todd and Blair's next wedding! Blair, devastated once more by Todd's lies and deceptions, broke things off again with Todd, and took Starr and Jack back to Dorian's old mansion.
Troy began sleeping with Lindsay to keep her quiet about what happened to Joanna. Troy and Lindsay's affair continued, and once Nora discovered their trysts, she ended things with Troy. Backed into a corner, Troy admitted the whole ugly truth to Nora.
Troy admitted that Joanna was his wife in Africa, and when her flirtatiousness drove Troy mad with jealousy, he tricked Joanna into thinking she'd slept with Colin (though she'd only really slept with her own husband, Troy). Joanna was so horrified at "cheating" on her husband, that she ended up falling off a cliff to her death. Sadly, Nora could have gotten past the truth about Joanna, but could not get past Troy's sleeping with Lindsay. With nothing left to lose, Troy became bent on revenge against Lindsay.
In February 2003, Viki got a glimmer of hope when her younger son Joey returned home to Llanview. Joey became Reverend Andrew Carpenter's new curate, and was assigned by Andrew to reach out to the troubled youths at the community center in Angel Square. Viki was glad that Joey planned to become a minister, since it balanced the evil that Mitch Laurence brought back into Viki's life. Viki was thrilled when Jessica also returned to Llanview. Visiting Clint helped Jessica to get her head together and realize Viki would always love her, no matter what.
Marcie was thrilled when Carlotta Vega gave her a job waiting tables at the D-K Diner. She started her new job in February of 2003, when "the storm of the century" struck Llanview. The Diner brought Marcie many new opportunities. She discovered the sexy voice of a new deejay on the radio, "the Voice of the Night." Also, Marcie met attractive Joey Buchanan, Jessica Buchanan's older brother. Marcie was instantly smitten.
Al Holden, over his fixation on Jen Rappaport, worked to get some direction back into his life. The rest of his life wasn't going so well anyway -- he was flunking most of his classes at Llanview University! Unable to stay up for the amount of hours he needed to study, Al turned to pills to keep him energized.
RJ was still bitter over Liz shutting him out of Keri's life from day one, and was suspicious at the sight of Liz and Antonio together. Eventually RJ learned that truth and planned to tell his daughter, but Antonio decided that he needed to be the one to reveal the truth. He told Keri, who was devastated and went into premature labor. She gave birth to a baby girl, Jamie, named for RJ (Randall James).
In February 2003, a teenage runaway named Flash turned up in Llanview, and on the job, Joey (who had become a curate) took a particular interest in her. The more he tried to help Flash, the more she resisted, and the more Joey wanted to figure out why she was so protective of herself. Flash revealed that she knew Joey's cousin CJ, and was determined to find him.
The evil Mitch Laurence tried to kidnap Starr, when Blair found him and convinced him to take her instead. Mitch kidnapped Blair in order to use her to bargain with Todd. Todd, in an effort to get Blair back safely, agreed to find and kidnap Natalie and trade her for Blair. Todd did find and kidnap Natalie, but Natalie agreed to go along with Todd's plan to get everyone away from Mitch safely. Unfortunately, the plot went awry, Todd accidentally shot Cristian, and Mitch made off with Natalie!
Mitch drugged Natalie and dyed her hair light blond. He then brought Natalie to a secluded clinic where he introduced her as "Jessica" to an ailing but alive Victor Lord! Somehow, Victor Lord hadn't died as Llanview had long thought. But Victor was close to dying if he didn't get a heart transplant -- one that Mitch planned to facilitate using Natalie's strong, young heart!
Viki and Jessica tracked Mitch to the clinic, where Viki was horrified to find her monstrous father alive! Once the ailing Victor was transferred to Llanview Hospital. There, Viki had the chance to do what she'd wanted the chance to do for years: confront her father over his abuse. Unfortunately, Victor never admitted to the abuse he put Viki through before Victor's black heart finally failed.
Evangeline Williamson, a formidable and confident lawyer, came to town in 2003 as Mitch Laurence's counsel. Despite the reprehensible nature of her client, many in Llanview saw that she was a brilliant attorney and sought her counsel on different matters.
Needing a new direction for her life, Nora took a job as Llanview's Assistant District Attorney.
Needing to support the lifestyle to which he'd become accustomed, Rex took a job at the Palace, working for Renee Divine as a bartender and bellhop. But Rex wasn't working there for the wages, he was there to steal from the guests' rooms!
The doctors revealed stunning information to Keri that they had just discovered -- Jamie was actually Antonio's baby with Keri! She was already pregnant when they attempted to act as a surrogate for her mother, which was not a success. Keri kept the news from Antonio and, protective of his daughter and granddaughter, RJ encouraged them to get away from Antonio. Soon, the news of Keri, Liz and baby Jamie's death in a plane crash broke. Keri and Jamie survived the plane crash, however, and were secretly living in Canada.
Antonio was devastated at the loss of Keri and his daughter, and leaned on Jessica Buchanan, who knew what it was like to lose a child. Jessica had also just gained a father in Mitch Laurence, but the mad violence Mitch bought to Jessica's life served to bring Jessica and Antonio closer together, and they soon fell in love.
While Mitch's lawyer, Evangeline Williamson, was able to spare Mitch jailtime for his crimes, Mitch worked to be a real father to Jessica, despite Jessica's resistance. Mitch got wind of Lindsay Rappaport's unrequited love of Troy MacIver, and decided to twist it to suit his own purposes. Mitch was out to destroy Todd Manning, and wanted to frame Todd for murder. Mitch stole Todd's gun and gave it to Lindsay, and then sent her to Blair Cramer's home, where Mitch convinced Lindsay that Troy was seducing Blair. An unbalanced Lindsay saw a man leaning over Blair's bed, and shot him in the back, only then to see that she'd shot and killed Sam Rappaport, not Troy! Nora and Matthew were devastated when Sam was killed with the bullet meant for Troy. Blair was then devastated when it appeared Mitch had killed Todd, but Blair couldn't prove it.
Jen was devastated by the March 2003 death of her father, and shaken even more to realize that her mother pulled the trigger! It was clear that Lindsay had become unbalanced, and Jen fortunately had the support of her brother Will when Lindsay was sent to St. Ann's Sanitarium.
Needing funds again, Roxy turned to Asa for financial support in realizing her dream: "Foxy Roxy's Hair Haven", a beauty parlor! Asa and Nigel worked closely with Roxy during the construction of the Salon, and Roxy got involved when Asa demanded Nigel kick his cigarette habit. Roxy suggested hypnosis by her old Atlantic City pal, Mysterio. Mysterio proved his talents at hypnosis when he hypnotized Nigel and Roxy into falling in love! The simple utterance of the word "bourbon" would trigger the amorous instincts in the unlikely pair. Once the spell was broken, Roxy and Nigel formed a close friendship.
Gabrielle was tested by a letter that had the potential to ruin Gabrielle's future with Bo permanently; a letter that revealed Bo was Matthew Hanen Rappaport's father! When Sam Rappaport was accidentally shot and killed, a letter was delivered revealing that a clerical error named Sam as Matthew's father, when in fact Bo was the true father! Gabrielle intercepted the letter, but ultimately gave it to Bo and Nora.
Marcie began tutoring Al Holden, who was doing poorly in his classes. Marcie realized that Al was addicted to prescription drugs, and vowed to help him kick the habit. Locking herself and Al in Al's dorm room, Marcie forced Al to stop taking pills and promised to help him through the difficult time of withdrawl. With Marcie's support, Al was able to kick his habit. Once Marcie realized that Al was "The Voice of the Night", her radio crush, it deepened her feelings for him and the two began to fall in love.
With Victor officially dead, a new, more recent will was read -- leaving everything to Mitch! Viki was further shocked when Dorian returned to town, married to Mitch! Kicked out of Llanfair, Viki and the residents of Llanview were plagued by Mitch for months. Viki was disgusted that Dorian would go so far as to marry the evil Mitch, who had caused her family so much grief in the past. However, Dorian had a plan in mind -- she wanted revenge on Mitch for hurting Cassie years earlier, as well as his inheritance from Victor (including the expensive Badhra diamond).
Spoiled and self-destructive Jen Rappaport caught on to Rex's scheme and forced him to take her on as his accomplice in robbing the rooms at The Palace Hotel. It wasn't long before Rex realized what great company Jen was -- especially in bed. Jen was the complete package: beautiful, party-loving, and wealthy. Rex knew Jen was vulnerable after the death of her father Sam, and also knew that she came into quite a bit of money since Sam's death.
When an accident blinded Mitch, Jessica's guilt over blinding Mitch allowed her to let Mitch into her life. Dorian saw Mitch's blindness as a way to extricate herself from their marriage, and teamed with Blair and Lindsay Rappaport to drive Mitch crazy. Dorian used Mitch's blindness to sneak around Llanfair, in the hopes of finding the Badhra diamond, and she did succeed in nabbing the priceless gem.
Flash performed with her band, Midnight Logic, despite being very ill. After being forced to seek medical attention, Flash was not pleased to be told to take time off from singing, or she may lose her voice altogether!
Flash formed a friendship with Nora Buchanan, who was surprised to discover Flash was Tina's daughter Sarah. Flash moved in with Nora and offered her services as a babysitter for Nora's young son Matthew. When Flash was held hostage at the D-K Diner with Nora, Natalie Buchanan, Marcie Walsh, and Carlotta Vega, Flash confided that she had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend when she was younger and aborted the child, leading to more distance between Flash and her mother.
Concerned for Jen's self-destructive ways, curate Joey Buchanan took an interest in Jen, hoping to convince her to turn her life around. Joey counseled Jen, who began to have feelings for him, and tried to seduce him. Joey fought his attraction to Jen, and Jen believed he had feelings for another troubled girl he was trying to help at the time, Flash.
Jessica caught on that Dorian was gaslighting Mitch, but allowed herself to get caught up in the plot which led to Mitch being presumed dead. Mitch had been saved, however, by his estranged younger brother, Walker Laurence!
Bo hired Marcie at the Llanview Police Department as the receptionist. Meanwhile, Bo and Nora worked to come to a decision about how to introduce Bo into Matthew's life as a father figure without eclipsing Sam's role in Matthew's life. As Bo began spending more time with Nora and Matthew, Gabrielle feared that old feelings Bo and Nora shared would resurface.
Clint Buchanan returned to Llanview in May 2003 to meet Natalie, reaffirm his love for her, and for Jessica, who was guilt-ridden over Mitch's supposed death.
A shady producer hooked Flash up with another doctor, who gave her a spray that provided a quick fix for her vocal chords, but wouldn't prevent any long-range damage.
Rex and Jen partied frequently, and after Rex was fired for the recurring robberies at the Palace, and after being expelled from Llanview University, Rex maneuvered Jen into marriage!
RJ maintained contact with them, but Keri returned to Llanview to reconcile with Antonio. When Antonio told Keri that they had no future together, but he would always be a father to Jamie, Keri descended into madness.
Raised by adoptive parents in Puerto Rico, Adriana Colon never knew her biological parents. She came to Llanview to stay with godmother Carlotta Vega in May 2003. In July 2003, River Carpenter came to stay with his father Andrew in Llanview, but clashes with Andrew led him to move in with his grandmother, Dorian Lord. Adriana met River Carpenter and the two quickly fell in love, a union which Carlotta did not approve of. Carlotta did everything in her power to separate Adriana and River, finally whisking her out of town under mysterious circumstances.
Digging into Flash's background with help from Flash's bandmate Sheyne, Jen turned up Flash's real name: Sarah Roberts. Jen was convinced that Flash was married to Joey's cousin CJ Roberts, but once she revealed Flash's identity, Jen learned that Sarah was CJ's sister -- and Joey's cousin!
Flash explained that Tina had gotten wrapped up with Cain Rogan again, and it led to their family falling apart. CJ had run off and joined the military, while Tina never approved of Sarah's dream of being a singer, and Sarah would sneak out often to perform at clubs. Flash had no idea what had become of her mother, and refused Joey's offers to try to track her down. Once Asa realized Flash was his great granddaughter, he flew in a specialist that resolved Flash's throat problems.
When Mitch was revealed to be alive, he kidnapped Jessica, only for her to be saved by Walker. On June 30, 2003, Jessica was forced to do the unthinkable when she struck Mitch on the head to protect Walker, and succeeded in finally killing Mitch. Throughout the Mitch ordeal, Jessica had grown closer to Detective Antonio Vega, and they fell in love.
Ambitious attorney Daniel Colson has a history of rubbing people the wrong way. Daniel struggled for years with an alcohol problem, which was integral in the destruction of his marriage and the rift between Daniel and his son Riley. Daniel worked closely with Joe Riley as his mentor early in his career. His work with Joe inspired Daniel to even name his son Riley, after Joe. Having suffered a strained relationship with his father, Riley struggled with a drug problem. He managed to get himself sober, using his love of music as a focus.
Riley Colson, lead guitarist of Midnight Logic, began to develop feelings for its lead singer, Flash. Flash seemed unaware of Riley's feelings at first, but eventually she realized how Riley felt and reciprocated. The two fell in love. Flash encouraged Riley to rebuild a relationship with his father Daniel, which Riley attempted to do.
Kevin returned to Llanview in June 2003 without Kelly, determined to climb the political ladder in Pennsylvania. All the while, Kevin had a growing attraction to Kelly's cousin Blair! Asa was grooming Kevin to become Pennsylvania's next Lieutenant Governor! Asa fought hard to keep Kevin on the campaign trail, and keep Kevin's eyes off Blair! Asa made sure Kevin's devotion was to the office of Lt. Governor, and to his wife Kelly, and not to Asa's "she-devil" ex-wife Blair, who had come to rely on Kevin heavily as her life was filled with one dramatic turn after the next.
Looking forward to a new chapter in her life, Viki was thrilled to welcome Kevin back to Llanview, and was his strongest supporter in his bid to become Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor! Around this time, Viki was named President of Llanview University, where she utilized her warm compassion and keen judgement on a daily basis.
Clint returned to Llanview again in July 2003, and ended up supporting the radical changes Kevin made as Editor-in-Chief at The Banner, despite Viki's insistence that Kevin unnecessarily fired many long-standing, hard-working employees. Though there would always be disagreements, Clint and Viki proved they'd always understand each other, and Clint congratulated Viki on her new position as President of Llanview University.
Once the horrific Mitch ordeal was behind her, Natalie and Cristian were free to be together, and became engaged, despite Cristian's mother Carlotta's belief that Jessica was the best thing that ever happened to Cristian. Natalie struggled to overcome the disapproval of Carlotta, Cristian's mother, while living with Cristian on a limited budget.
It soon became apparent to Jen that Rex wasn't the healthiest influence in her life, and with support from Joey Buchanan, Jen fought for a divorce from Rex. Rex granted Jen's wish, knowing deep down that he'd always have a hold on Jen.
In time, Joey realized he wouldn't be able to fight his attraction to Jen much longer, and was willing to leave the ministry for her. Jen realized it was unfair of her to expect Joey to make such a sacrifice, and offered to break things off, but they came to a different solution: marriage!
Rex used the money he got from the divorce to go partners with RJ Gannon in a new nightclub, targeted toward the 20-something crowd. Rex and RJ opened Ultraviolet, which turned out to be a booming success. Rex saw great opportunities with Ultraviolet, and after eventually buying RJ out of the club, he started allowing prostitutes to work out of the club!
Troy's mental state began to deteriorate rapidly. After sleeping with Lindsay once again, he plotted to keep her quiet by institutionalizing her outside of Llanview under the name of Joanna Farrell, in the hopes that no one would find her. Fortunately, Lindsay was rescued. When Llanview Hospital administrator Claire Baxter saw Troy with Lindsay, Troy felt he had no choice but to kill her! Nora suspected him of killing Claire, and Nora teamed up with Bo's girlfriend Gabrielle to expose Troy's crime. Before his reign of terror was over, Troy took Nora captive and nearly poisoned her in a bizarre suicide pact. Bo saved Nora, while Troy was sent to a mental institution.
Kelly returned to Llanview in July 2003 to attempt a reconciliation with her husband, willingly playing the devoted wife in the eyes of the press. In Texas, Kevin's devotion to his work left Kelly feeling neglected, which, combined with much friction with Kevin's son Duke, led Kelly to have an affair that nearly destroyed her marriage to Kevin. Now that Kelly was back in Llanview with Kevin, she hoped that a baby would cement her marriage to him, but Kevin was unwilling to jump into parenthood because he couldn't get past Kelly's affair in Texas.
Marcie hung a peace sign from her dorm room window for the International Peace Rally, and her room was trashed as a result! Marcie was ostracized by her fellow students, who believed she was against the war effort, and unsupportive of the United States troops. Marcie's brother Ron Walsh came to Llanview to support Marcie, and also delivered the bad news that the family business back in New Jersey was suffering due to the upset she caused at Llanview University.
Madison Kensington, a stuck up sorority girl at Llanview University, set a plan against Marcie in motion when she invited Marcie to join her sorority. Marcie's initiation hazing took a cruel turn as the sorority sisters took delight in humiliating her. Jen caught Madison confessing to the hazing on tape, and Madison was quickly expelled from Llanview University. Madison exacted revenge by having her boyfriend Deke terrorize Marcie and toss her in a dumpster. Once Marcie's attackers were arrested, Al's love helped Marcie put the ordeal behind her.
Keri schemed with RJ to frame Antonio for being abusive, so as to drive a wedge between Antonio and Jessica Buchanan, but their love proved too strong for Keri.
Evangeline met RJ Gannon, and after a long flirtation the two began a relationship. Their romance encountered a roadblock when Evangeline represented Antonio in a custody suit with RJ's daughter Keri. The two weathered the storm and have only grown closer.
David Vickers returned to Llanview in August 2003 looking for the priceless Badhra diamond, and he and Dorian found themselves clashing. However, a simmer of attraction underscored all their interactions.
When time came for the District Attorney election in Llanview, Nora was eventually convinced to run for office, against attorney Daniel Colson. Colson wasn't popular around Llanview, and when Nora learned Colson had a history of alcoholism, she refused to use the information to sway voters. Daniel Colson ended up winning the election, while Nora continued working for him as Assistant District Attorney.
Rex was crushed as Jen grew closer with Joey, and worked furiously to undermine their relationship. When Rex couldn't prevent Jen and Joey from marrying, Rex took a different route to Jen; her mother Lindsay. After months in St. Ann's, Lindsay was released with a new outlook on life, determined to rebuild her life and her relationship with Jen. Rex tried to win Lindsay over in order to get her endorsement with Jen. Lindsay liked Rex, and believed he loved Jen, but wasn't sold on the fact that Joey was wrong for Jennifer. Joey was on his way to becoming a minister! That was why Rex was convinced Jen would never be happy; Jen wouldn't be satisfied living the life of a minister's wife -- she needed the excitement that only Rex could provide her.
Walker insinuated himself into the lives of Jessica, Dorian, and Blair, and Blair came to trust Walker, who took a bullet for Blair and saved Starr from drowning. Blair had grown close to Kevin Buchanan over the previous few months, which drove Walker mad with jealousy. Kevin was suspicious of Walker Laurence, who had come into Blair's life. Investigating Walker, Kevin uncovered the truth -- Walker was really Todd, after radical plastic surgery!
Walker journeyed to Atlantic City to meet his spitting image: Flynn Laurence (formerly Walker Flynn)! Flynn was Mitch's actual younger brother, and Todd had made a deal with him to receive plastic surgery and assume his identity.
Kevin was named Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, working directly for Governor Harrison Brooks, who pursued Viki romantically.
Natalie's natural talent for billiards became evident when she got a job at Crossroads bar. She began playing professionally and came to the attention of John McBain. John approached Natalie claiming to be a scout for pool tournaments and recruited her into playing a large tournament in Vegas. Natalie agreed and did not realize that John was really a front man for Flynn Laurence, the crime lord brother of Mitch.
Seeing no escape from her pain, Keri took her own life by leaping from a balcony at the Palace Hotel, where Keri's father RJ Gannon discovered her body and her suicide note. RJ withheld the note and Antonio was suspected of murdering Keri, but ultimately Antonio's innocence was proven. Despite their mutual animosity, RJ and Antonio agreed to have equal involvement in Jamie's life.
Jessica followed in Viki and Clint's footsteps when she developed a strong interest in investigative journalism, and took a job at The Banner.
Blair found Flynn Laurence in Las Vegas, and, believing he was Walker, lashed out at him for leading a double life behind her back. Just then Walker (Todd) arrived, and convinced Blair that he and Flynn were twin brothers. Eventually Walker revealed to Starr that he was Todd, having returned to town with a new identity to win back Blair!
Al transformed the way Marcie viewed herself. Through Al, she realized she was as beautiful and capable as anyone else. Marcie unknowingly picked up a rare disease from the germs and bacteria in the garbage of the dumpster into which Madison and Deke had thrown her. Al, her lover, caught the disease and was hospitalized. Despite a valiant struggle, Al died, leaving Marcie, Gabrielle, and Max all heartbroken.
Shortly following Al's funeral, Max and Gabrielle traveled to Argentina to bury Al's body, and after a brief return to Llanview, Max decided to relocate to North Carolina to be a real father to his twins, Frank and Leslie in October 2003.
It wasn't long into Jen and Joey's marriage that Jen was feeling neglected by Joey, whose work demanded the majority of his attention, which left Jen more susceptible to Rex's charms. Jen became pregnant by Joey, but refused to tell Joey, and soon suffered a miscarriage, which Rex helped Jen through. As the cracks in Jen and Joey's marriage continued to form, Rex weasled his way back into Jen's life, and her bed.
Kelly was shocked in October 2003 to receive a call from a brother she never knew about, Paul Cramer! Paul Cramer grew up with his father, never knowing that he had a sister in Kelly. Paul joined the military and served some time in the Middle East. At some point, Paul decided to use the last name Cramer in honor of his mother. Paul's father passed away, and upon his death Paul found evidence that he had a half-sister, Kelly. Paul had never really known his mother, so he ventured to Llanview to meet Kelly and this new side of his family. After a rocky first meeting, Kelly began to accept Paul and the two built a relationship. Dorian and David weren't so receptive, and were suspicious about whether Paul was a fortune-hunter or not. Paul got a job at the local hospital as a medivac pilot.
Natalie and Cristian were elated when Viki gave them a surprise wedding surrounded by family and friends, and Clint traveled to Llanview to walk Natalie down the aisle for the October 17th wedding. Natalie and Cristian went to Las Vegas for their honeymoon, where Natalie would participate in the pool tournament.
At the tournament, Flynn ordered John to have Natalie throw the game. John approached Natalie, but she chose to defy John's orders and ended up getting kidnapped by Flynn. John then revealed his true identity to Cristian -- he was an FBI agent working undercover to bust Flynn! Cristian and John rescued Natalie, but Cristian went after Flynn and was presumed dead. When it became clear that Flynn was a threat to his future with Blair, Walker (Todd) rigged an elevator to kill Flynn, which put Walker's immediate concerns to rest. Blair agreed to marry Walker and the two were wed on November 13th, 2003.
When Kelly learned that getting pregnant could be deadly for her, Kelly wanted to adopt. Kelly turned to dastardly David Vickers, who had recently wormed his way back into Llanview society, and asked him to help her adopt, no matter how illegal the process was. Though David was willing to get Kelly a baby for a price, Kelly had second thoughts and nixed her plan.
A devastated Natalie returned to Llanview, where Carlotta and Antonio shared in her grief. As far as the Vega family was concerned, Natalie would always be a part of it. To help Natalie through her grief, Roxy moved in with Natalie at her cottage.
John McBain soon moved to Llanview after taking on the Music Box Serial Killer case. As John worked on finding the serial killer targeting young women around Llanview, Natalie slowly began overcoming her resentment of John's role in Cristian's death and building a friendship with him.
During her grief over Al, Marcie met Dr. Michael McBain, an intern at Llanview Hospital whom she believed to be bitter and arrogant. She would also routinely receive visits from Al's soul, who desperately wanted to reunite with her. Unbeknownst to Marcie, Al's spirit took root in Michael's body, determined to win her back. Luna's spirit revealed to Al that he had only until Valentines Day to get Marcie to recognize him.
Lindsay revived her art gallery and took on shady David Vickers as a partner. But District Attorney Daniel Colson issued a serious warning to Lindsay about David -- that he was a con artist! Lindsay cautiously continued to work with David, hoping to trap him in an art forgery. Fortunately, Lindsay and David's partnership dissolved before David cost her any serious amount of money!
Viki was relieved to learn that Todd had not been killed by Mitch as it had appeared months earlier, but Viki was not happy to learn that Todd had reconstructive surgery and wormed his way back into Blair's life under the identity of Walker Laurence, Mitch's brother! Kevin exposed Walker to Viki, but Viki had already discovered the truth. At his mother's behest, Kevin didn't reveal the truth to Blair, but this brought Kevin and Todd's age-old rivalry to a whole new level.
Viki was uncertain about moving on with her life while Ben was still comatose, but ultimately decided that returning to the dating world was what Ben would have wanted for her. Viki dated Governor Brooks just long enough to inspire Dorian's jealousy.
Dorian went so far as to stow away on Governor Brooks' private plane while Viki was on board! Dorian had discovered that Walker was really Todd, and was desperate to warn Blair! Both Viki and Dorian regretted Dorian's decision to stow away when the plane crashed, leaving Viki and Dorian at the mercy of a life-threatening avalanche! Viki and Dorian proved what survivors they were when they made it home with only minor injuries. Dorian owed her rescue to Todd, and didn't reveal Walker's true identity, hoping that Blair would figure it out herself, before it was too late.
Jen carried on with Rex and one of his hooker friends, Karen Reeder, much to the dismay of Natalie, who felt her brothers, Joey and Rex, could do better than Jen. When Jen passed out in a hotel bathroom during one of their binges, Jen awoke and stumbled out of the bathroom to discover Karen had been murdered by the Music Box Killer!
Dorian's Aunt Betsy came to Llanview and the rich and bitter woman revealed to Dorian that she was dying, and wanted to leave her $30 million fortune to a female Cramer who had never been married or had children. When no single female Cramers met her standards, Betsy decided to leave everything to Paul, on the condition that he never married or had children.
What Paul didn't want anyone to know was that months earlier, whenPaul returned to the states, he arrived in San Diego where he met a flirtatious and beautiful young woman, Arabella "Babe" Carey. After one drunken night, the two got married! Both woke up the next day and realized their mistake, with Paul giving Babe annulment papers to file.
Paul was shocked when Babe re-entered his life asking him to keep his mouth shut if anyone asked questions about her past. Babe had since gotten married to JR Chandler of Pine Valley, and did not want anyone to find out what she soon confessed to Paul -- they were still married! Babe never filed the annulment papers, meaning her marriage to JR was invalid and she was still married to Paul! Desperate to keep this secret (for it would invalidate him in Aunt Betsy's will), Paul and Babe came to a mutual agreement.
Jen had Rex help conceal her whereabouts and wipe the crime scene clean of any trace of her, but when the police eventually caught up to her to question her about Karen's death, the truth proved too devastating to Jen and Joey's marriage, and they decided to divorce.
Paul allowed himself to be charmed by Babe, who wanted Paul to ensure that paternity test results for her unborn child read JR Chandler as the father. With Babe's promise of sex and money, Paul agreed to have the results say JR was the father, but never told Babe whether he actually had to change the results or whether JR was naturally the father.
It seemed that attending dance classes was a common thread amongst all the victims of the Music Box Killer. As Madison Kensington was the next to die at the hands of the Music Box Killer, suspicion first fell on Marcie's brother Ron Walsh, who was an experienced dancer.
Gabrielle was insecure, worrying that the increasing time Bo and Nora were spending together both at work and with Matthew would drive Bo to leave her and reunite with Nora, and would go to out of town bars, where she had run-ins with Troy, who had apparently been getting overnight passes from Statesville.
Bo and Nora worked together as Bo tried to find the Music Box Killer, who had been targeting young women in Llanview. Once Gabrielle admitted that she'd seen Troy, Bo and Nora suspected that Troy had been on the killing spree.
Jessica began investigating sexual harrassment on the Llanview University campus and began consulting with Professor Stephen Haver, a well-respected professor on staff. Jessica developed a friendship with Professor Haver, which provided Jessica with great support when the Music Box Killer began targeting young women on campus at the University.
Marcie started her own radio show on the Llanview University radio station, called "Bridging the Gap", which focused on both sides of controversial topics and social issues.
Joey moved away to London, and Rex was certain that he finally had Jen back, but Jen didn't want Rex anymore -- she wanted something better for her life.
Bo eased Gabrielle's fears by proposing marriage! Bo and Gabrielle were happily engaged, until their joy was cut short by the Music Box Killer, who claimed Gabrielle's life on New Years Eve 2004.
Blair finally put the pieces together and knew that Walker was really Todd, and Blair got back at him by sleeping with Kevin on New Years Eve of 2004!
2004
Blair taunted Todd with the fact that she bedded Kevin, and the confrontation exploded into a sexual encounter of their own. Blair claimed Todd raped her, while Todd maintained it was consensual, but rough, sex. Kevin stood by Blair as Blair had Todd arrested and their marriage annulled.
In January 2004, Kevin resigned from the office of Lieutenant Governor, and Kelly was able to hang onto Kevin long enough to get pregnant! Kelly was willing to brave the pregnancy and play it safe, and Kevin and Kelly soon reunited. Kelly forgave Kevin for his indiscretion with Blair, yet still had reservations about the time Kevin and Blair would be spending together since Kevin hired Blair to work for him at the Banner!
River tracked Adriana to Puerto Rico and snuck her back into Llanview.
Dorian and David refused to see all of Betsy's money go to Paul and began investigating his past in order to disqualify him as a contender for Betsy's heir. Their search led them to Pine Valley's Adam Chandler, whose new daughter-in-law, Babe, had a past with Paul. Adam was as eager to do away with Babe as Dorian and David were to do away with Paul, and Adam promised to help them in any way he could, so long as Dorian reciprocated.
Paul allowed himself to be charmed by Babe, who wanted Paul to ensure that paternity test results for her unborn child read JR Chandler as the father. With Babe's promise of sex and money, Paul agreed to have the results say JR was the father, but never told Babe whether he actually had to change the results or whether JR was naturally the father.
As Plan B, Dorian schemed with David to prove Adriana Colon, goddaughter to her longtime friend Carlotta Vega, was her long lost daughter in an effort to get the money. To that effect, Dorian told Adriana that she was her biological mother and invited her to move into La Boulaie.
Troy was apprehended, but insisted that he wasn't the killer, he was being framed by "the doctor"!
Starr enlisted young Matthew Hanen Rappaport in her plan to help her father escape police custody. Todd was being taken in a police van with the unbalanced, captured fugitive Troy MacIver. Starr had Matthew lay down in the road and pretend he was ill, while Starr flagged down the police van carrying her father. As Matthew worked as a sufficient diversion, Starr tried to set her father free, but Todd refused to run away. In a shocking turn of events, Troy used the diversion to make his escape, and ended up taking Matthew hostage!
Eventually, Matthew was rescued, and a remorseful Starr apologized to Matthew's parents, Bo and Nora Buchanan, for endangering Matthew's life. Starr and Matthew would not spend time together again for a long while, and Starr faced charges for what she'd done. Starr was sentenced to community service at Llanview Hospital, under her Aunt Viki Davidson's supervision.
Roxy's life slowly turned around with the success of the Hair Haven, and Roxy kept busy by playing cupid to the lovelorn teens River Carpenter and Adriana Colon. Roxy's friendship with Nigel flourished, and she was his chief supporter in his decision to leave the servitude of Asa Buchanan and pursue his dream of running a hotel. Roxy has helped Nigel run his Angel Square Hotel, which became quite the popular hot spot for all the newcomers to Llanview.
Starr decided to initiate a non-violent protest, and went on a hunger strike to make her parents see the error of their ways, and to convince her mother to drop the charges against Todd. The hunger strike didn't last, once Todd convinced Starr to keep eating, and not punish her mother in such a way.
Daniel began pursuing Lindsay, as they found they had a lot in common when it came to parenting troubled kids, and having to bounce back after making major life mistakes.
Rex continued to work the Lindsay angle, asking woman of the world Lindsay to educate him on art, culture, and the finer things in life. It wasn't long before sparks ignited between Rex and Lindsay!
Rae resumed her work at Llanview University, and enjoyed comparing notes with Human Sexuality Professor Stephen Haver. Rae and Stephen's expertise was called upon by the Llanview Police Department when Bo Buchanan and FBI Agent John McBain needed a psychological profile on the Music Box Killer.
After a fight with Riley, Flash was attacked by the Music Box Killer and nearly died by strangulation. She survived the attack, but suffered throat damage, so Asa called Cord to spirit Flash away to London, where she could receive the attention of a specialist who would be able to tell if she'd ever be able to sing again. While grateful that Flash was alive, Riley sunk into a depression after Flash moved away.
RJ and Evangeline's relationship stumbled once again when Evangeline took on Todd Manning's defense in his charge of raping Blair. Despite his past history, Evangeline believed in his innocence and proved a capable defense attorney.
Riley began to use drugs again, but a developing friendship with Jen Rappaport helped him to realize that using drugs again was doing him harm.
Rae was shocked to be the first to discover that the killer was none other than her colleague, Stephen Haver! Rae tried to needle Stephen and understand his motivations, in the hopes of proving his guilt, but Stephen realized that Rae was onto him! Stephen drugged and kidnapped Rae, who woke up in an isolated room, where Stephen threatened to kill her if she couldn't name his next victim!
Viki was thrilled on Valentines Day 2004, when Ben awoke from his coma long enough to share a few sweet words with his "Blondie" before sadly slipping back into his coma. With those brief moments together again, Viki had hope that her husband would be back for good someday.
At first, Marcie was surprised and unnerved by the sincerity and kindness that normally angry Michael was displaying towards her, but slowly she was won over. On Valentine's Day, Marcie realized that Al's spirit had inhabited Michael's body. He told Marcie that his soul would always remain in Michael's, and encouraged Marcie to find love with Michael.
Al's spirit departed this world, leaving Marcie with no recollection of her heavenly encounter with Al. However, Marcie developed deeper feelings for Michael and looked forward to continuing their relationship.
Famous lounge singer Eve McBain was widowed by her police officer husband in Atlantic City, leaving her to raise their two sons, John and Michael, on her own. The epitome of class and style, Eve sang for their supper, while John pursued a career in law enforcement, and Michael strove to become a doctor. Once John and Michael both settled in Llanview, Pennsylvania, Michael's girlfriend Marcie invited Eve to town to help reunite the estranged family. From there, John and Michael convinced Eve to relocate to Llanview permanently, where she was offered a regular gig performing at Capricorn, a nightclub owned by RJ Gannon.
Marty Saybrooke shocked Llanview by returning in February 2004 to testify at Todd's rape trial -- for the defense! Marty, now a psychologist, testified in her professional opinion that she didn't believe Todd was capable of rape at this point in his life.
Rae got to the bottom of Stephen's psychosis -- his neglectful mother, Marlena Haver. Rae drove Stephen over the edge with talk of his mother, and Stephen bound and gagged Rae before setting the room ablaze, presumably killing her!
When Evangeline refused to call Todd to the witness stand, Todd disagreed with Evangeline's tactics and fired her. By the time he re-hired her, the jury had already been swayed and found him guilty. The verdict crushed Starr, who told her mother she hated her. RJ didn't mind seeing Todd go to jail, and was disappointed when Evangeline was able to get his sentence overturned on a technicality.
Betsy fell for the scheme and named Adriana as her sole heir. Betsy soon after died in David's arms (she offered him $1 million for a kiss). Dorian, along with David, was making plans for the $30 million that Adriana stood to inherit, while Paul was determined to prove that Adriana was not the rightful heir.
Despite the shock of her maternity, Adriana began to grow close with Dorian. Dorian, and Carlotta (albeit reluctantly) allowed River and Adriana to see each other, and the two were blissfully in love.
Blair, who had been suffering from terrible head pain, collapsed. She was diagnosed with a specific type of brain tumor, one that can alter perception and cause mental confusion. After the tumor was successfully removed, Blair began to wonder whether her memories of her encounter with Todd were accurate. Kevin was certain that Blair was correct in her initial belief that Todd had raped her.
Sensing the growing importance Natalie held for John, the serial killer targeted Natalie more than once, which only brought John and Natalie closer.
The embittered Bo worked furiously with John to trap the Music Box Killer, who was revealed to be Llanview University Professor Stephen Haver. John soon learned that Stephen was the same man responsible for killing his fiancee Caitlin. Years earlier, John fell in love with a woman named Caitlin, and the two planned to marry. At the time, John was investigating a serial killer in New Jersey, and publicly taunted the killer at a press conference. Shortly afterward, the serial killer killed Caitlin out of revenge. Guilt stricken over what he feels was his role in Caitlin's death, John was determined to bring Stephen Haver to justice and not let him hurt another woman -- especially Natalie.
While the Llanview Police Department pegged the disturbed Haver as the serial killer, Jessica refused to believe he was guilty. But Jessica wasn't aware that Haver had drugged and hypnotized her! Antonio and the authorities did get through to Jessica and convinced her to help bring Haver to justice.
David aggressively pursued Dorian's hand in marriage, but Dorian refused to unless David got a job! David resisted getting a job, and after David and Dorian each tricked one another into signing each other's prenuptial agreements, David snagged himself a job working on Blair's new teen magazine, Craze. Leaving Dorian with no reasons to turn him down, David set up an elaborate wedding for Dorian, complete with one enthusiastic guest, but Dorian backed down at the last minute. She couldn't marry him because she was falling in love with him!
When the authorities closed in on Stephen, who was holding Natalie Vega and John McBain hostage in John's hotel room, John played his trump card: a very much alive Rae! Rae had been saved when Haver's fire blew the door of the room open. Rae and John used Haver's mother once again to trip Haver up, and Haver was finally apprehended.
Having come so dangerously close to death, Rae decided to sail around the world and enjoy all that life had to offer, with the love of her life, Detective John Sykes by her side.
When Kelly had complications with her pregnancy, Kelly asked Paul to get her to the hospital, where she tragically lost her baby. Kelly refused to let Paul tell Kevin where she was, and forced Paul to make it appear as if Kelly had gone to Texas for a vacation. Meanwhile, at Llanview hospital, Kelly asked Paul for a dangerous favor -- to get her a baby!
John quit the FBI when a manipulation by Haver led John's boss to suspect John of improper conduct. John's colleague, Commissioner Bo Buchanan, found comfort in Eve McBain's soothing voice, and was in regular attendance for Eve's performances. Not wanting to lose John, Bo offered him the position of Detective with the Llanview Police Department, which he accepted.
Asa found happiness with Renee once again, and they married for a third time in 2004.
Shannon McBain came to Llanview in March 2004 to stay with her aunt Eve and attend Llanview University after she was "asked to leave" her previous school. Acerbic Shannon promises to be a handful for Eve as well as cousins John and Michael.
Evangeline's next client was John McBain, a detective for the Llanview Police Department. On Stephen Haver's first day in court, the serial killer was shot dead, and through an elaborate setup, it looked like John had killed him! Fortunately, with fancy legal work from Evangeline, and the investigative skills of co-worker Antonio Vega, John's innocence was proven and the charges against him were dropped.
Todd launched a full scale assault on Kevin as he claimed a job at the newly merged newspaper, "The Banner Sun". Todd made contact with Kevin's son Duke in Texas, and reinforced Duke's feelings of distance from his father.
Matthew asked Starr for help in a scheme to get Bo and Nora together by entering them in a dance contest.
Rex's ambitions drove him to plan to take over an abandoned theater in order to transform it into a restaurant.
Fate intervened when Babe called Paul from Pine Valley, and begged his help when she was stranded in a cabin as a storm raged on, and she was going to give birth! Babe was stranded with her friend Bianca Montgomery, who had just given birth to a baby girl that Bianca named Miranda. Paul arrived at the cabin just in time to deliver Babe's son. Realizing that he could secure one of the babies for his sister Kelly, Paul gathered Babe, Bianca, and their babies into his helicopter, and then staged a crash. Paul lied to a weary Babe that her baby was killed in the crash and washed away in the river, but the truth was, Paul had delivered the baby boy to Kelly! Kelly named the boy Ace, after Kevin's grandfather Asa. When some of Babe's loved ones confronted Paul, he then lied that Bianca's baby girl was actually Babe's daughter. When Babe awoke in Pine Valley Hospital, she was confused to meet her baby daughter, and had fuzzy memories of giving birth to a son.
Paul claimed to Kelly that the baby's biological mother didn't want the child. Kelly fought her unease and began weaving a web to convince her family and Kevin's that she had given birth to baby Ace on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Kelly and Paul almost had all their bases covered, except for the fact that the ever-unpredictable Todd Manning knew all about the baby switch.
While Jen and Riley planned a comeback concert at Ultraviolet for Midnight Logic with Riley debuting as lead singer, Rex and Lindsay's affair drove Daniel Colson mad with jealousy. Daniel made plans to shut down Rex's club in order to exact his revenge. Once Ultraviolet was raided, Riley was furious with Daniel for ordering it the night that Midnight Logic was giving their big performance. Jen faced a devastation of her own that same night, when she caught Rex and her mother making love at Ultraviolet. As a result, Jen and Riley's friendship deepened.
Though Dorian and David finally got engaged, a disturbing letter rattled Dorian, leading her to drug David so she could leave town and not be followed.
Blair finally admitted that she now knew that Todd didn't rape her that night, but she also made it clear to Todd that they still had no future together. Privately, Blair was obviously conflicted over her feelings for Todd.
Lindsay was devastated when Rex refused to help her fix things with Jen, and then claimed to have never cared for Lindsay at all. RJ and Lindsay decided to teach Rex a lesson and get their revenge at the same time.
Marcie decided to pen a mystery/crime novel called "The Killing Club", based on Marcie's group of friends in high school who used to pass the time by coming up with creative murders. Marcie began digging into police procedure and the personal lives of Llanview's Finest in order to enrich her book with gritty reality.
Viki's loved ones worried when Viki complained of shortness of breath and palpitations. When she saw a doctor, Viki learned that she'd had a mild heart attack a while back. Viki admitted that she'd been having palpitations for years, but didn't believe they were rooted in any potentially serious medical condition. Viki was urged by her family to pay attention to her doctor's orders to ensure that her heart condition would not be a threat to the very full life that Viki had ahead of her.
Blair agreed to marry Todd but put a stop to his plans for a quick wedding and said she wanted to wait and get married in Llanview. Blair remained torn over her plans for a future with Todd and shared these fears with Kelly, who tried to warn Blair away from Todd.
Todd learned that Skye was really Rae's daughter but didn't share this news with anyone. After going to Rae for advice about Blair, she told him to give Blair an emotional gift to prove how he felt about her. Todd then presented Blair with a copy of the Bible page and she was thrilled to learn a secret that could shatter Skye's world.
Skye was released from jail after passing a lie detector test that John had arranged for. Skye wanted to get revenge against Todd and Blair and eventually forgave Max for not believing in her innocence. Max and Skye then teamed up to destroy Todd and Blair.
Todd and Blair vowed to get even with all who had wronged them. To that end, Todd and Blair told Skye that Rae had shot Max. Todd and Blair then told Renee that Max knew the identity of her real son and also told Asa that Max had been scamming him. Thrilled with the havoc they had created, Todd and Blair spent the night together and made love.
Nora was still determined to get the truth from Colin, who grew even more obsessed with her and even built a secret shrine to her in his home. Lindsay tried to warn Colin about Nora's true motives but his arrogance prevented him from believing her.
Viki was horrified when Ben was kidnapped before her eyes. As it turned out, Ben's abductor was Gina Russo, his first love and member of the Russo crime family. Gina was furious when Ben asked her to help him bring down Tim Rourke and her brother Tommy, but she later agreed to help him. Ben then returned home, much to Viki's relief and delight.
Melanie turned down Bo's marriage proposal for fear of having her secret about her father come to light. Melanie disappeared one day but Bo soon realized where she had gone and tracked her down. Bo told Melanie she could tell him her secret when she wanted to and she accepted his marriage proposal.
Rae convinced John to investigate her in Max's shooting after Todd and Blair accused Rae of the crime. By doing this, Rae hoped to create reasonable doubt for Skye. Rae also decided not to tell Skye that she was her mother.
Max and Skye set out to destroy Todd and Blair. To that end, Max drugged Blair and arranged for Todd to see him and Blair in bed together. Todd, however, had no idea that Blair was unconscious from the drugs and thought she had betrayed him on the night before their wedding.
On her wedding day, Blair walked down the aisle in front of her guests and was shocked by what happened next. Instead of saying "I do," Todd announced to everyone in the room that Blair had shot Max in the back! Blair was speechless by Todd's betrayal and couldn't fathom why he had done this. But Todd wasn't done yet! After exposing Blair's secret, Todd announced that Skye was really Rae's daughter and that Max wasn't the real Buchanan heir. Todd later told Renee that Ben was her son and Ben admitted that it was true.
Todd and Blair were both arrested and Blair didn't understand why Todd had betrayed her as she still had no idea about Max's manipulations. Still thinking Blair had committed the ultimate betrayal, Todd agreed to turn over incriminating evidence against Blair in exchange for no charges being brought against him.
Jennifer Rappaport came to Llanview from her Switzerland boarding school. Jennifer was a troubled girl who put misplaced trust in her evil Uncle Colin MacIver. When Jen was a little girl, Colin helped her when she caught her mother Lindsay having an affair. Colin held this over Jen's head, convincing her she was responsible for her parents' divorce. Colin tormented Jen and even made a pass at her.
Roseanne was thrilled when Antonio asked her to move in with him. Roseanne's happiness was short-lived, however, after Antonio learned that she had deliberately withheld an urgent message for him from Sophia. As it turned out, Sophia was in desperate need of back up and Roseanne had jeopardized Sophia's life by failing to give Antonio the message. Antonio was furious with Roseanne and told her to pack up and leave. Antonio then cleared up the misunderstanding with Sophia and explained he never would have ignored her call for help.
After Antonio dumped Roseanne she was heartbroken. She got drunk, and devious Dr. Colin MacIver took advantage of her. The two ended up sleeping together. Roseanne was horrified when she realized what she'd done. Soon after, Antonio forgave Roseanne for not giving him Sophia's message, and they got their relationship back into gear again. Roseanne feared that if she told him about Colin then he would leave her again. When Roseanne finally told him the truth about Colin, Antonio was upset, but forgave her again.
Antonio and Sophia made it their mission to nail R.J. for all his crimes. Sophia suspected that Roseanne, who took over as receptionist at the Llanview police station, was tipping off career criminal RJ Gannon. Sophia tried to prove Roseanne was a mole, and even worked with former rival Kelly to do so.
Colin continued his campaign of threats and blackmail and added Roseanne to his list when he learned she was RJ's mole at the police station. Colin also took great delight in torturing Jen and had spent years making her feel responsible for Sam and Lindsay's divorce.
Nora's quest to expose Lindsay's role in her kidnapping led her closer to Colin, who promised to tell Nora everything if she made love with him. Nora was repulsed by Colin and made it clear she would never love him. This sent Colin even more over the edge and his behavior became increasingly dangerous.
Colin told Will the truth about Lindsay's role in Nora's kidnapping and he angrily confronted his mother. Although disgusted by what she had done, Will agreed that he wouldn't turn Lindsay over to the police. Jessica began to suspect that Will was keeping a secret but he couldn't bring himself to confide in her.
Viki was immediately suspicious of Gina Russo and she had every right to be. When Viki confronted Gina about her "contacts" and need to spend time alone with Ben, Gina admitted that she wanted Ben back for herself! A strong Viki, however, remained confident that nothing would ever come between her and Ben.
Jen stole a fake ID from Break Bar and ended up almost dying from alcohol poisoning after drinking alone in the park. Cristian and Skye took Jen to the hospital and she recovered, but Will was determined to find out where she had gotten the fake ID. A short time later, Jessica discovered that Cristian was the person selling fake IDs to minors but didn't share this news with Will.
Max blackmailed Asa by threatening to tell the police that Asa had put the hit out on Ben. Blair forced Max to confess that he had drugged her and made Todd believe they had slept together. Before Blair could get to Todd, the police arrested her for shooting Max based on evidence Todd gave them. Todd got wind of Max's setup from Nora and scared Max into telling him the truth. Todd, deciding he and Blair belonged together, tried unsuccessfully to get the evidence back from the police. Todd planted a bomb in Bo's office, but Bo and Melanie managed to diffuse it before it went off. Meanwhile, Blair realized she still loved Todd, but followed Sam's advice and told Todd their life together was over.
Colin summoned his enemies to a "secrets and lies" dinner party and announced he was leaving for Maui. Colin also revealed that he was prompted to make the call that ended Sam and Lindsay's marriage after receiving a call from frightened Jen, who had witnessed Lindsay's affair. Later that night, Colin lay in wait for Nora to return home. Colin injected Nora with a mystery drug and planned to abduct her, but was confronted by an unseen visitor. Sam later rescued Nora from Colin's, but Colin was nowhere to be found. Bo began to investigate Colin's disappearance.
Viki discovered that Gina was Rourke's boss and that she was setting up the attempts on Ben's life to get him back. Gina forced Viki to leave Ben and lie that she was on a speaking tour by threatening to kill Jessica. Gina locked Viki in a room in her basement and convinced Ben to stay with her for his own protection.
While in the woods, Jessica and Will stumbled upon Colin's body. Jessica reluctantly went along with Will, Jen, and Cristian when they decided to rebury the body and keep quiet about their discovery. Jessica returned to the gravesite to retrieve a charm she lost and was spotted by Bo. Jessica panicked when Bo decided to have the grave dug up, but all the police found was a scarecrow. The foursome wondered what had happened to Colin's body, which was actually in RJ's possession.
Sophia and Antonio received an anonymous tip and raided RJ's warehouse, but instead of finding stolen goods, they found a box with a murdered Colin MacIver's body in it. During the raid, Sophia's back was injured and she was in need of intense physical therapy to regain full use of her legs. Sophia was sent to rehab in Minnesota and she made Kelly promise to uncover Roseanne as the mole and make her pay.
Kelly confronted Roseanne about this information, and forced her to tell Antonio the truth. When Roseanne told Antonio the truth he was very mad. He didn't tell anyone, but forced Roseanne to resign from the police station, and ended their relationship once and for all.
Jen took a liking to Cristian Vega, who stood by her when she was a suspect in Colin's murder.
After Todd failed to steal the evidence against Blair, her case was bound over for trial. With Kelly's help, Blair concocted a plan to get Max on her side. Blair lied to Max that she was pregnant with his child. Todd found out about the baby before Blair could clue him in to her scheme. Max forced Blair to take a pregnancy test at the hospital, and Blair was stunned when the test came back positive.
Ben grew suspicious about Viki's whereabouts, so Gina had Viki call him and say she had left town to get away from him. Ben learned from Gina that Asa had put the hit on him. To keep Ben close, Gina lied that Rourke was still gunning for him after Ben learned Asa called off the hit. Viki grew more agitated during her confinement and eventually turned into Niki Smith.
Determined to meet her father, Skye followed Rae to Port Charles.
Max learned from Renee that Asa was planning to remarry Alex. He rushed to the ceremony but was shocked when he discovered Gabrielle Medina was Asa's new bride. Gabrielle revealed that Asa had legally adopted their son Al who had disowned Max as his father. But Asa's marriage to Gabrielle was just part of an elaborate revenge plot against Max.
The forensics report proved that Melanie's hair matched the samples found at Colin's house. She confessed to killing Colin and also admitted to murdering her own father. Lanie was arrested but Nora and Bo didn't believe she committed the crime. Lanie returned Bo's engagement ring and called off the wedding. Meanwhile, Will concealed Colin's passport behind a picture in his apartment. Jen admitted to Will that she witnessed something that night at Colin's. In a shocking turn of events, Sam confessed to killing Colin. Jen and Cristian grew closer but she was unable to move forward because of the secrets she was keeping about Colin's murder. Lindsay spirited Jen into staying quiet and tried to keep her away from Cristian.
Bo suspected that Melanie was keeping a secret but she beseeched him to just let the matter drop. Bo, however, had no intention of just letting Melanie walk out of his life and became determined to learn why she was pushing him away. Bo found out that Melanie assisted her father's wish to die when he was in a prolonged battle with cancer, and decided that Melanie was right in her decision to help her father die with dignity. However, Melanie became paranoid when Bo wasn't in a rush to get married anymore, and Lindsay encouraged Melanie to pretend she was dying so that Bo would marry her. Once Bo learned of Melanie's duplicity, he ended their relationship, and Melanie moved to Seattle.
Over time, Renee was able to bring Asa and Ben together for a rare dinner at The Palace, but both men were too stubborn to openly accept each other.
Gina held Viki captive in her basement. However, Viki's alters began emerging and Gina was introduced to "Jean Randolph", "Tommy", and "Niki". Ben became suspicious after learning that Gina questioned Jessica about Viki's DID. "Jean" convinced Gina that she could impersonate Viki in order to break-up with Ben. After passing Gina's test, "Jean" met Ben at crossroads and told him it was over. Ben finally understood that Viki was sending him clues and he realized that Gina was behind Viki's disappearance. Ben turned the tables on Gina and demanded to know where Viki was. Gina's thugs had already taken Viki up to the cliff where Gina planned to get rid of her. Ben arrived as a struggle broke out between Gina and Viki. Ben intervened but not before Gina rendered Viki unconscious with a hit to the head. Ben tried to coax the gun away from Gina but she accidentally fell off the cliff. Viki and Ben reunited and Viki revealed that the emergence of her alters was just a plot so she could escape.
In a quest to destroy Blair, Todd evicted her and humiliated her with a slanderous headline in The Sun. Blair learned she was pregnant with Todd's baby but decided to pass it off as Max's when Todd vowed to gain sole custody of Starr. Blair awaited Max's arrival at her hearing but instead Todd showed up to testify. Todd revealed Blair's crazy actions on the stand. The judge rendered her temporarily insane and remanded her to St. Ann's. Blair figured out that Todd's testimony was actually a ploy to prevent her from going to jail.
To keep Max from knowing when she gave birth, Blair fled to Mexico to have her baby in secret. Todd followed, and actually delivered the child he thought was Max's! Todd was disgusted at the sight of Max's child and ordered the midwife, Paloma, to get rid of the child. Paloma refused, so Todd took the child away and tried to give it to some nuns at the local airport.
David Vickers saw Todd give the baby away and told the nuns that Todd was his “life partner” and got the baby back. He brought the boy to the hacienda where Todd and Blair were staying, and Todd paid David a hefty sum to “get rid of the baby." Meanwhile, Todd lied to a devastated Blair that the baby had died, and brought Blair back to Llanview away from Paloma, who still knew the truth. Believing the baby was dead, Blair told Max that the baby was Todd's after all.
Blair learned that it would be virtually impossible for her to regain custody of Starr. Todd propositioned Blair to move in to the penthouse in order for her to be close to Starr. Todd and Blair sparred over the living arrangements, and they ultimately decided that it would make more sense to live at Dorian's place. Todd and Blair continued to argue, but agreed to sleep in the same bed for Starr's sake. Starr overheard Roseanne talking to Senora Lena about a love potion and decided to obtain some for her parents. Todd discovered that Starr had spiked Blair's lemonade with the potion, and he rushed to her aid. Touched by Todd's concern for her and the baby, Blair pondered telling Todd the truth -- that he was the father of her baby.
Gabrielle reacquainted herself with Viki in an attempt to bury the hatchet, but Viki believed that she had a hidden agenda. At Asa and Gabrielle's wedding reception, Gabrielle manipulated a huge fight between Ben and Max. She then suggested that Ben join her revenge plot against Max, but he refused. After a confrontation with Al, Max decided to move out of the mansion. Asa reminded Gabrielle that Max moving out could hinder their revenge plot, and he demanded that she somehow convince Max to stay. Asa and Gabrielle then staged a fight as part of their plan to keep Max at the mansion. Max and Gabrielle continued to fantasize about one another and reflected upon the passionate times they had shared in the past.
Nora vowed to prove that Sam was taking the rap for someone else. However, the results of the forensics report lead Bo to arrest Sam for Colin's murder. Jen confided the truth about Colin's murder to Rae. When Lindsay found out, she broke into Rae's house to steal Jen's confession tape. Lindsay and Sam asked Jen to stay away from Cristian for fear that Jen would reveal the truth about Colin's murder to him. Jessica and Will's relationship suffered when she found Colin's passport. She suspected that Will was lying to her, and he refused to open up to her. Sam's trial began, and Lindsay spirited Jen out of town so that she wouldn't be called to testify. Nora concluded that Will was the murderer after overhearing a conversation between Ben and Sam. On the stand, Nora cross-examined Will about Colin's passport, but Jen arrived and announced that Colin gave her his passport the night he was murdered. Jen took the stand and testified that she saw her parents carrying Colin's body out of the MacIver house the night of the murder. Lindsay and Sam finally realized that Jen didn't kill Colin after thinking all along that they had been helping to cover her guilt. Nora surmised that Lindsay murdered Colin, and Lindsay was subpoenaed to testify. Meanwhile, Nora continued to be haunted by flashes of Colin's laughter. Nora badgered Lindsay on the witness stand relentlessly in Colin's murder trial before Nora finally remembered the truth; Nora herself had killed Colin in self-defense, and blocked out the traumatic memory. Nora wasn't brought up on charges.
Will and Jessica later broke up, and then Will left town shortly after, to roam the country and find himself. Jessica moved out of Will's loft and back to Llanfair. Jessica was able to pick up the pieces with the help of her new friend Natalie Balsom, and a new man, Seth Anderson.
Seth Anderson, Cristian's friend from Union Square, arrived in Llanview. Renee hired Seth at Palace Bar while RJ also gave him a part-time job at Break Bar. Natalie befriended Jessica and Natalie claimed to be homeless. Jessica took Natalie into her home at Llanfair, and convinced Viki to hire Natalie as her personal assistant.
When Allison Perkins appeared in town and was asking Viki's "forgivness" for kidnapping her baby all those years ago, Ben was suspicious, but Viki was open to forgiving the regretful Allison. After Viki forgave her, Ben overheard Allison talking to someone on the phone, saying "Viki forgave me. It's all set." Ben decided to go to St. Ann's as "Dave", a mental patient. He pretended to be simple Dave so Allison would tell him what she was up to. Allison began to fall in love with "Dave," but Ben wasn't worried. Before he could get the truth from her, she found out who he really was.
David gave Todd and Blair's baby to a rich Texan couple, and when Todd found out the child was not Max's but his, Todd forced David to tell him where the baby was. Todd got the baby back, and told Blair that he was “adopted.” Blair named the child John Cramer Manning, "Jack" for short.
Natalie's claims and Natalie's intentions were two different things. Ex-cult member Allison Perkins had actually switched wealthy heiress Jessica Buchanan with Natalie, classless Roxanne's daughter, when Natalie and Jessica were babies. So the Jessica the Buchanans thought they had gotten back was really baby Natalie Balsom! Natalie came to Llanview and worked with her boyfriend Seth Anderson, and her one-time kidnapper Allison, in a scheme to get close to Jessica and Viki. Once Natalie got the Buchanan inheritance that was due her, they would split it and live the life they all felt they deserved. As Seth went through all the motions, he discovered he had true feelings for Jessica!
Roseanne vowed revenge on R.J., as well as Kelly. She enlisted the help of Senora Lena Minta, the voodoo priestess. Roseanne asked Senora Lena to help her put a curse on R.J. Senora Lena asked Roseanne to obtain one of R.J.'s personal items in order for her to craft a voodoo doll of him. Roseanne's manipulation of the R.J. voodoo doll lead to his arrest. However, R.J. struck a deal for immunity in exchange for information that implicated Will as Colin's murderer. Roseanne then asked Lena to help her make Antonio fall in love with her. Lena gave Roseanne a love potion, and Roseanne decided to test it on Kelly. However, Roseanne's plan was foiled when she spilled the potion. Realizing that she and Antonio were truly over, Roseanne left Llanview in June 2001.
John was reunited with Rae, who told him that Skye had met her father, Alan Quartermaine, and had decided to stay in Port Charles. Rae felt guilty for not telling John what she had learned about Colin's death. When John found out, he was furious with Rae for withholding the information that Jen confided to her.
Cristian and Jen continued to grow closer as Cristian helped Jen through her father's trial.
Seth's odd behavior around Jessica prompted her to confront him, but he evaded her questioning. Seth eventually confessed that he was responsible for Llanfair being set ablaze years earlier. Though it was an accident, Seth had never come forth about his guilt. Jessica forgave Seth, and they even started dating.
Lindsay disliked Cristian and thought of him as unsuitable for her daughter. With the help of Chad, a bartender at Break Bar, Lindsay set up a website featuring video clips of Cristian in his loft in his underwear, in order to undermine Cristian and Jen's relationship by making it appear Cristian was flaunting himself over the internet. Eventually, the truth came out, and Jen was furious when she found out what her mother had done. While Cristian felt extremely betrayed by Chad when the truth came out, he realized that Chad was just a pawn in Lindsay's game and forgave him.
It didn't take long for Gabrielle and Max to feel their old attraction again, and Gabrielle did her part by luring Max to the Buchanan lodge and cheating on Asa. Meanwhile, Asa did his part by catching the affair on videotape. What Gabrielle and Asa hadn't planned was for Gabrielle's guilt got the best of her, resulting in her revealing to Max all the details of Asa's devious plan. The affair was meant to serve as Max's motive for Asa's murder!
Gabrielle tried to back out of her plan with Asa, but he wouldn't let her. Asa went ahead and faked his death, leaving both Gabrielle and Max as prime suspects! Commissioner Bo Buchanan was determined to see his father's murderer go to jail, and Gabrielle became more unglued as time went on.
Natalie legally forced Viki to allow her to stay at Llanfair by citing a clause in Victor Lord's will that established any Lord offspring to reside in the mansion. Furthermore, when Viki exposed Natalie to all of Allison's dirty dealings that Allison had failed to mention, Natalie refused to share any of her money with Allison! Natalie refused to see Allison anymore, but Ben still did not completely trust Natalie.
Roxanne Balsom was a simple woman who was always looking to better herself -- financially. Roxy, as her friends call her, earned her meager wages as a croupier at various Atlantic City casinos. All that mattered to Roxy was her money, her beer, and her luck. The last thing on her mind was her daughter Natalie! But Natalie was destined for greater things; being an heiress to the Buchanan wealth, switched at birth with Roxy's real daughter. Roxy's daughter was raised as Jessica Buchanan. Roxy only worried about one thing... how much money she could get out of either of her daughters, biological or otherwise! Allison Perkins needed a new angle if she was to get any money out of the Buchanans, and Roxy was the best angle to play.
Back in Llanview, Rae and John's relationship continued to grow. In August of 2001, John got a job offer in San Francisco. A huge promotion, John took the offer. A couple months later Rae went to see John in San Francisco where he broke up with her, and told her that he was going to be living in San Francisco permanently. A heartbroken Rae went back to Llanview. Rae got help from her many friends in getting over losing John.
Keri Reynolds came to Llanview in August of 2001, looking for her father. She deduced that District Attorney Hank Gannon was her father, since she found money that Hank regularly gave to Keri's mother Elizabeth as support for Keri's upbringing.
When Keri confronted Hank over never being a true father to her, Hank denied that he was her father, which infuriated Keri. Keri was stunned to learn that Hank really wasn't her father, Hank's brother RJ was! Keri's mother Elizabeth confided in Hank when she got pregnant by RJ, and swore Hank to secrecy about the pregnancy because RJ was recently sent to prison. Hank decided to support Elizabeth and her baby financially since RJ couldn't be a father to baby Keri. Keri apologized for being so abrasive with Hank, but RJ wasn't so forgiving about being kept in the dark about having fathered a child.
Hank had grown closer with Dr. Rae Cummings around that time, and found her very easy to talk to about the drama surrounding RJ and Keri's relationship. Hank could share with Rae his concern about Keri, and felt he could trust her with anything.
Nora worried when Dr. Troy MacIver appeared in Llanview at the reading of his murdered twin brother Colin’s will. He did not get a warm reception; Sam Rappaport knocked him out, and Lindsay tried smothering him with a pillow while he was unconscious! Because of his uncanny resemblance to Colin, the citizens of Llanview distrusted him.
Troy wanted to earn Nora’s trust, and his chance came when Matthew, Nora and Sam’s son, was diagnosed with a rare muscle disease. Troy tried an experimental treatment on Matthew and cured him. Nora was thrilled, and a fragile truce was established between Troy and Sam.
Colin was publicly blamed for Nora’s memory loss, and Troy became determined to clear Colin’s name and prove for once and for all that Lindsay had given Nora the drug. He gave Nora pills to restore her memory, but she was able to remember everything but the crucial moment when Lindsay pricked her with the needle. Troy hatched a plan to pretend to fall in love with Lindsay, and get her to trust him so she would confess. Nora originally objected to Troy's plan, but he convinced her that her need for the truth about the pain Lindsay had caused was far more important than and pain Lindsay herself might feel.
Asa fled with Nigel to St. Blaze's Island, where Asa returned to using the alias of Captain Jeb Stuart. Unfortunately, Asa's ex, Alex, ran into Asa after attending his funeral in Llanview, and blackmailed Asa into marrying her so that she wouldn't blow his cover! Asa had to think fast, and so he paid a drunken janitor to stumble into their wedding and marry Alex instead! Alex protested, since the legal vows named Jeb Stuart as her husband. Asa surprised Alex by revealing that the janitor had his name legally changed to Jeb Stuart! Fortunately for Max and Gabrielle, Asa was found living well on St. Blaze's!
Antonio met stunning beauty Keri Reynolds when he was her student at Llanview University as he was completing a few credit requirements for his promotion in the Llanview Police Department. Antonio and Keri couldn't help but feel the attraction between them. Chad was briefly hired by RJ to follow Keri and find out more about her.
Cristian was working undercover for the police to get evidence to put RJ Gannon away. Lindsay found out and told RJ was Cris was up to, and RJ sent a hit man, Keith Schaeffer, after him. When Cristian evaded him, Keith went after Jen. Jen thought he was just another friendly student on campus, but she got suspicious when he kept popping up everywhere she went. Cristian was alarmed, and decided to break up with Jen to protect her from the man that was after him.
Jen knew nothing about the hit man and was heartbroken, thinking Cristian just decided to dump her. Jen turned to Al Holden, who loved her, and the two made love. When Keith was apprehended, Cristian rescued her and told her the truth, prompting Jen to break things off with Al and return to Cristian.
2002
Jen missed her period and thought she was pregnant, and Cristian was hurt. Leaving in a rage to find Al, Cristian was gone before Jen found out she really wasn't pregnant.
Cristian and Al fought and Al accidentally fell over the edge of a cliff at the quarry, resulting in Al being paralyzed from the waist down. Jen, since they were fighting over her, swore she would stand by Al until he could walk again. Realizing Jen would leave him if he regained the ability to walk, Al decided to fake paralysis until she realized he was the right man for her. Devious Natalie Buchanan found out about Al's scheme and decided to blackmail him over it!
Starr whined for months about wanting a baby brother, but when she finally got one in little Jack Manning, she didn't want one anymore! All Jack did was cry and sleep and take all the attention away from Starr! Starr gradually warmed up to her little brother, and even saved him from a poisonous spider that found its way into his crib!
When Antonio and RJ both realized their connection to Keri, Antonio and RJ's animosity almost destroyed Antonio and Keri's relationship, but Keri was able to keep a tentative peace between the two most important men in her life.
When Asa was brought back to Llanview, he was punished for his duplicities, and sentenced to community service to be worked off at Ben's clinic, as well as court-appointed therapy with Rae Cummings, a "quack" that Asa couldn't stand! Asa fought back by punishing Gabrielle. Asa ended their marriage and threw Gabrielle out of his mansion, penniless and alone.
Bo took pity on Gabrielle, realizing she was manipulated a great deal by Asa, and let Gabrielle move in with him. As time went on, Bo began enjoying their time together. Asa was furious to see Gabrielle getting her hooks into Bo, and tried all he could to get Bo to give Gabrielle the boot, but to no avail.
Paloma turned up in Llanview, attempting to tell Blair the truth about baby Jack, but Todd tricked Paloma into thinking Blair already knew, and Paloma left town. David Vickers seized the opportunity and blackmailed Todd into giving him money or he would tell Blair everything. Todd tricked David into meeting him at the waterfront and had the Moroccan police arrest him. David was hauled away, but not before he told Todd what he thought of him.
RJ secretly tried numerous times to throw a wrench into his daughter Keri's relationship with Antonio, including hiring one of Keri's students to claim Keri carried on an improper relationship with Antonio while he was her student. Even though they waited until Antonio was out of her class before they became involved, the claims of the student nearly destroyed Keri's career. Fortunately, Keri's co-worker, Rae Cummings, vouched for Keri's adherence to University rules and regulations, and the charges against Keri were dismissed.
After a lengthy seduction, Troy finally proposed to Lindsay and the two were scheduled to fly off to Paris for their wedding. Troy purchased an old funhouse outside of town, with fake mirrors that led to secret mazes. Pretending to be Colin, Troy lured Lindsay to the funhouse to “rescue Troy”. Lindsay confessed, and the confession was taped. Lindsay found out it was a trap and hit Troy over the head with a crowbar, then chained him to a huge wheel. Days passed, and Troy still refused to tell her where the tape of her confession was. Nora found the tape at Lindsay's art gallery, and Nora and Lindsay fought over it, even ending up in a trash compactor together! Nora emerged with the tape. Lindsay was arrested and sentenced to 28 years in Statesville prison. When Nora admitted she was starting to have feelings for Troy, Sam broke up with Nora and she and Troy began dating.
While trying to deal with the shock that Natalie, not Jessica, was her daughter, Viki began seeing visions of Niki Smith, who taunted Viki about how Viki didn't realize all those years ago that the baby she got back wasn't the same baby that was taken from her. Niki hinted around some terrible secret that Viki would never be strong enough to know about. Viki kept the visions of Niki a secret from Ben, and met with Rae. Viki asked Rae to hypnotize her and bring Niki out, in order to get Niki to reveal the secret. Rae brought Niki out, but even Rae didn't realize Niki never went back in!
Allison and Roxy saw their chance when trusting Jessica Buchanan showed an interest in getting to know Roxy. Allison began scheming with Roxy to get money from Jessica by pretending Roxy had a severe illness. Once Jessica gave Roxy money for the medical bills, they planned to split the earnings and skip town. But Jessica's boyfriend Seth Anderson learned the truth and exposed their plan to Jessica. In order to keep them from going to the police, Allison followed them in her car and ran them off the road. Believing that they were dead, Allison framed Roxanne for the accident and left town.
Roxanne swore she didn't run Jessica and Seth off the road, and Jessica and Seth believed her. They decided to hatch a plan to get Allison back to Llanview. When Allison read in the newspaper that Jessica was going to give Roxanne $100,000, she headed back to Llanview to get her share of the money from Roxanne. Unfortunately for Allison, the police had bugged Roxanne without her knowledge, and when Allison admitted that she had been the one to run Jessica and Seth off the road, she was arrested and sent to Statesville prison.
Natalie had been in love with Seth Anderson, but Seth left her for her sister Jessica Buchanan. Natalie had Al pretend to be Seth in order to frame Seth for cheating on Jessica. Al felt guilty over deceiving Jessica, who'd been a friend of his since childhood, but he went along with it so as not to lose Jen.
Gabrielle and Max each found out about Al being able to walk, and pleaded with him to come clean to Jen, arguing that Jen would stay with him no matter what if she really loved him. Al refused, and even proposed to Jen from his wheelchair. Jen agreed, still riddled with guilt over his paralysis. Al and Jen's marriage was not to be, because Natalie told Cristian about Al's plot and Cristian interrupted the wedding with the truth!
Blair noticed that Jack looked a lot like Starr did when Starr was a baby. Todd claimed that all babies look the same. Jack fell ill and needed a bone marrow transplant, much like Starr did when she was a baby, and Todd raced to figure out how to save his son's life without tipping Blair off to Jack's real identity.
Todd tracked down Alex Olanov, who had donated her bone marrow to save Starr several years before, and got her to agree to donate to save Jack. Todd was able to get the transplant done in secret while Blair was out of town, but a message that Alex left for Blair about the transplant started the house of cards tumbling down.
Once Blair learned that her "adopted" son was really the baby Todd told her had died, Blair threw Todd out and swore to never let him near either of his children ever again. Blair hired security to keep Todd at a distance, but her head guard, Ross Rayburn, happened to be on Todd's payroll!
Téa Delgado, Todd's ex, returned to Llanview for a brief visit in May 2002. While she was there, she visited Carlotta at the diner and learned that Todd and Blair had broken up. Téa went to visit Todd, but he rudely kicked her out. A few days later, Todd tracked Téa down and asked for her help keeping custody of his children. Téa turned him down, but Todd insisted she would help him because she's still in love with him.
While on vacation in Hawaii, Ross tipped off Todd, who made plans to kidnap Jack and Starr and disappear with them. Todd enlisted the help of his ex-wife Téa, but Téa doublecrossed him and warned Blair about Todd's kidnapping plot. Blair took the children, and Todd ended up washing ashore on a deserted island, only to be stranded there for months with Ross and Téa!
Free to be together, Keri and Antonio savored every moment. Keri faced Antonio's disapproving mother, Carlotta, who had her own issues with RJ, but Keri proved herself to be worthy of Carlotta's son.
Roxanne was cleared and decided to celebrate at the casinos in Atlantic City. While there, Roxy ran into an old acquaintance, Max Holden, who was depressed over a falling out with his son Al. Roxy took advantage of Max's drinking binge and lured him to the chapel to get married. Roxy even had the forethought to make Max sign an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement that would leave Roxy with all of Max's money if he dared divorce her.
Roxy really did love Max, and tried everything she could think of to make herself a better person -- a person Max could love back. Roxy's chances at winning Max over were threatened when her son Rex came to Llanview! Rex had been taken away from Roxy when he was a child, by his aunt Corinne, Roxy's sister-in-law. Rex knew Roxy's deepest secret; the fact that she'd never given birth to a baby girl... Rex was her only child!
With Lindsay behind bars, Troy was tormented by memories of his late wife Joanna. Troy's sister Emily came to Llanview in June 2002, and Emily knew that Troy had suffered through a serious trauma with Joanna in Africa. Emily reassured Troy that what happened to Joanna was not Troy's fault and that he had no way of preventing what befell her.
In Statesville, Lindsay's cellmate became Allison Perkins, the kidnapper of babies Jessica and Natalie Buchanan. Lindsay was determined to escape, and since Allison was the daughter of the former warden of the prison, she knew a secret tunnel to get out. The only problem was that Allison didn't want to leave prison, the guards were kind to her and gave her special priveledges and there was nothing waiting for her on the outside.
Keri and Antonio went on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2002, where Antonio planned to propose. But Keri had her own plans in mind. Keri had been given an old camera by Rae, and one of the old pictures she developed was of a young Rae and a man Rae identified as "Mark," the love of her life. Keri found out that Rae attended the University of Hawaii with him, and set out to find Mark and reunite Rae with her former flame.
Antonio noticed a hole in Rae's story about "Mark," since the love story Rae told Keri was really about the affair Rae had had with Dr. Alan Quartermaine, a doctor in Port Charles, New York. Keri and Antonio decided to get to the bottom of the discrepancy, and went to the University of Hawaii looking for records on Mark. Looking through old college yearbooks, Keri found Mark's picture, but the name on the man's picture was Ray Cummings!
Chad had stars in his eyes when it came to Blair Cramer Manning, a stunningly beautiful older woman who often enjoyed a drink at Break Bar. When Blair was hurting over her husband Todd's latest dirty deeds at the time, a drunken Blair threw herself at Chad and they almost made love in the alley behind Break Bar! Blair's friend Sam Rappaport interrupted them before Blair went too far, and Chad realized he almost took advantage of her. Chad apologized.
Charming Rex Balsom was fortunate not to have been raised by Roxanne. When Rex was a young boy, he was taken by his Aunt Corinne to live in Michigan, away from the neglectful Roxanne. Rex missed his big sister Natalie, who Corinne had left behind. Rex came to Llanview in 2002 when he found out that the sister he knew in his childhood, Natalie, was really a wealthy Buchanan heiress switched at birth with Jessica Buchanan, Rex's true biological sister. Always looking to further himself, he set out for Llanview to reunite with Natalie, and buddy up to Jessica.
Rex didn't expect Jessica's boyfriend Seth to be suspicious of him right off the bat. Seth pegged Rex for the fortune-hunter he was, and when Seth found newspaper clippings that proved Rex knew about the baby switch before coming to Llanview, he accused Rex of using Jessica for her money.
Crafty Rex covered for himself, claiming that he didn't want Jessica to know that he was aware of the baby switch, because she would assume that he was after her money. Jessica trusted Rex and dumped Seth, even though she did let Rex move into Llanfair with her and paid his college tuition at Llanview University.
Rae was warned from Hawaii that Keri and Antonio were snooping around the University, and Rae flew to Hawaii to cover her tracks. Keri confronted Rae, and Rae was crushed that her friend had dug up the painful truth. Rae only lost out on her own degree because she became too personally involved with her patients; she cared too much. Seeing Ray throw away his misspelled diploma seemed like a chance for Rae to help people like she always wanted to. Keri was sorry that she'd exposed Rae's fraudulence, because Rae truly didn't mean any harm.
Keri and Antonio visited Ray Cummings, where they learned the whole ugly truth: Keri's friend Rae wasn't really a doctor at all; she stole a misspelled diploma that Ray had received, and then the former Gretel Cummings changed her middle name to "Rae" to match the misspelled doctorate degree. Rae had been practicing without a license for years!
Unbeknownst to Ben, Viki's alter ego Niki was now pretending to be Viki. But Niki wanted to be free of having to pretend to be "boring" Viki and decided the first thing she must do was get rid of Ben, permanently. She came up with a plan to make her daughter, Natalie believe she had Disassociative Identity Disorder and that one of Natalie's alters killed Ben, when it would be Niki Smith who really did away with him. Ben figured out what was going on and confronted Niki Smith, but Niki pushed him out of a window and made it look as if Natalie had done it. Ben recovered, but couldn't remember who pushed him out the window.
Lindsay convinced Allison that Ben Davidson, or, as Allison calls him, "Dave", was in danger of Niki Smith and needed Allison to save him. Allison agreed to help Lindsay after Lindsay blackmailed RJ Gannon into providing them with a getaway car and safe house. Allison showed Lindsay the passage and the two of them escaped through the tunnel.
When Natalie was found out for having Al pretend to be Seth in order to frame Seth for cheating on Jessica, she was further alienated from Jessica and Seth, and finally realized she couldn't force Seth to love her. Natalie leaned on her friend Cristian Vega while she came to terms with losing Seth for good, and was surprised when she started fantasizing about him. The only problem was; Cristian was involved with Jen Rappaport. In time, Cristian's feelings grew into love for Natalie as well, and they realized they felt the same way about each other.
Al refused to give up on Jen, even though she had reunited with Cristian once again. Al was able to rebuild his friendship with Jen, but he still knew he was better for her than Cristian would ever be. Al even set fire to Jen's house in order to rescue her! Gabrielle found out that Al had become an arsonist and helped him cover his tracks because she didn't want to see him suffer through prison like she did years before. Gabrielle even lied to the man she loved, Police Commissioner Bo Buchanan, to cover for Al. Bo found out about the arson, but didn't arrest him as long as Al agreed to an "unofficial" community service. Bo and Gabrielle patched things up, and Gabrielle was once again walking the straight and narrow.
Chad was again smitten when he met sweet Emily MacIver. They enjoyed a few dates, but Chad's checkered past came back to haunt him when gossip at Llanview University reached Emily. Once Emily learned about the webcam in Cristian's apartment, and then the incident with the married Blair in the alley, Chad's dirty dealings were too much for Emily to overlook, and she broke off their blossoming relationship.
Rae had been treating Asa Buchanan in court-appointed therapy sessions. Rae challenged Asa, and argued that Asa felt weak and powerless. Asa fought back, telling Rae about all the dirty, illegal dealings that he took part in to amass his fortune. Rae was disgusted, but she couldn't tell the authorities because of doctor-patient confidentiality. Asa was thrilled when he uncovered the truth, and turned Rae's dark secret into a media blitz, encouraging all of Llanview to sue Rae for every penny she was worth!
Overwhelmed with lawsuits and negative media attention, Rae decided to fight back, and decided to use her taped therapy session with Asa to blackmail Asa into marriage! Rae was no longer bound by doctor-patient confidentiality, since she wasn't a licensed doctor, and threatened to expose Asa for all his illegal dealings if he didn't marry her, pay all her legal bills, and settle all her lawsuits. On August 26, 2002, Asa reluctantly married Rae, and Renee's heart was broken! Rae was her best friend, and Renee had actually considered getting back together with Asa again.
RJ ironically hid Lindsay and Allison in Rae Cummings's house, which had been taken away from Rae when it was revealed that Rae was practicing without a legal license. Roxanne inadvertenly stumbled upon Allison's hideout and Allison ended up kidnapping both Roxanne and Niki Smith. Feeling the cops closing in, Allison and Lindsay took Niki Smith to the Buchanan lodge and Allison debated whether to use her one remaining bullet on Lindsay or Niki.
When Ben began to remember Niki pushing him out the window, Niki had been taken hostage by Allison Perkins up at the Buchanan lodge. Before Allison could kill anyone, college student Mollie Serafin stumbled upon the hostage situation, and Allison was going to use the bullet on her. Lindsay talked Allison into not shooting Mollie, and then the police captured Allison and she was sent back to a padded room at St. Ann's. Ben arrived on the scene with the police, and was accidentally shot by officer Antonio Vega. Viki emerged again, just in time to watch Ben slip into a seemingly irreversable coma. Viki transferred Ben to a clinic in Switzerland that could best care for him, and took sessions with Susannah Hanen to get to the bottom of Niki's secret.
Mollie was the daughter of the Governor, and since Lindsay saved a young woman's life, Lindsay was pardoned from her sentence and set free. It was not long after when Lindsay overheard Troy and Emily discussing Joanna, Troy's wife, which led Lindsay to investigate. Lindsay traveled to Africa and uncovered the truth, and began holding it over Troy's head, threatening to tell Nora what he'd done and ruin their relationship!
Al was all too happy to oblige when Jen sought comfort from him in bed after a fight with Cristian. Little did Al know that Jen was actually trying to get pregnant by Al in order to trap Cristian with the child! Jen found out that Cristian had fallen in love with Natalie and plotted to use Al's baby to keep Cristian and Natalie apart. Jen did get pregnant, but kept it a secret from Al.
When Antonio accidentally shot bystander Ben Davidson while trying to get a hostage situation under control, Antonio was devastated when Ben went into a seemingly permanent coma. Antonio left Llanview to get his head together, and had a one-night stand with a blond stranger at a roadside motel. Antonio told Keri about his indiscretion, and Keri understood that Antonio was in a very bad place and it was only a one-time thing.
Keri visited her mother Liz in Chicago. Liz was mourning the death of her husband Steve in Africa before making her way back to the United States. Once she was back on American soil, Liz met a mysterious man at a motel who was at a crossroads in his own life. They ended up seeking comfort from each other in bed, and decided not to exchange names.
Liz was both shocked and thrilled to learn she had become pregnant. She had been trying for years with Steve, but to no avail. Unfortunately, because of a heart condition, Liz wouldn't be able to carry her baby to term. Liz contacted the woman who agreed to be her surrogate, but the woman backed out at the last minute. When Keri visited Liz and learned of her mother's problem, Keri volunteered to carry her mother's child to term. Although Liz was reluctant to allow Keri to do that, Liz ultimately agreed.
Once the procedure was finished, Liz moved to Llanview with Keri and met Keri's fiancee Antonio. Liz was shocked to find that Antonio was the man she had slept with that night at the motel! Liz and Antonio decided Keri would be crushed to learn the truth about their night together, and vowed not to tell her.
Cristian decided to tell Jen that he was leaving her for Natalie, but Jen had news for Cristian first -- she was pregnant! Jen decided that she would get back at Cristian, Natalie, and even Al, for hurting her by trapping Cristian in a marriage and forcing Natalie to watch from a distance! Jen befriended Natalie and even asked Natalie to be her maid of honor at the wedding. Natalie and Cristian were tormented by the feelings they couldn't act on, but Jen wasn't satisfied. Jen feared that guilt wouldn't keep Natalie and Cristian apart for long and tried to get Natalie to leave town. Natalie refused and Jen moved the wedding date up.
Eager to escape from his latest hellish marriage, Asa noticed the feelings that Rae and Hank Gannon had for one another. He even had Nigel lock Rae and Hank in the wine cellar together, but when passion didn't ignite, Asa had to find a new plan. Noticing that Max was in a similar unhappy situation with his wife Roxanne, Asa proposed that he and Max help get rid of each other's wives!
Asa started to charm Roxy, hoping to woo her away from Max, despite Max's greater understanding of why Roxy was the way she was. When Asa's wife Rae told Roxanne of Max and Asa's scheme, Roxy left Max and took a large portion of his money with her! Unfortunately, Roxy also took on most of Max's debts!
Ross had been on the run from embezzlement charges and was scared that the authorities had tracked him down. The three sailed into a storm which ended up marooning them on a deserted island in the south pacific! Todd built a raft that could hold two people, in order to head back to the United States, but Téa knew Todd had a slim chance of survival if he tried to make it on the open seas. Téa decided to stay with Ross on the island, and if Todd survived, he was to send help for Ross and Téa. Téa and Ross were later rescued, though they didn't return to Llanview.
Todd made his way back to Llanview, and was determined to get both of his children back, whether Blair decided to be a part of that family or not! Blair moved on with Sam while Todd was on the deserted island, and Sam helped her to legally protect her children from Todd. But danger found Blair in another way.
Seth set out to find out more about Rex, and traveled to Michigan to dig up dirt on him. There, he discovered that Roxanne never even gave birth to a baby girl! Rex wasn't Jessica's brother! In fact, Rex was Roxanne's only child! The truth was that Jessica and Natalie were fraternal twins born to Viki and Clint Buchanan. After Jessica got her mother Viki back, Jessica was so grateful to Seth that she reunited with him.size=2>Rex was able to hide the fact that he knew all along that he was Roxanne's only child! He was even more determined to keep it a secret that he was holding it over his own mother's head and blackmailing her with it!
When the truth about Jessica and Natalie was exposed, Viki was relieved that Jessica and Natalie were both her biological daughters. But Viki decided that she and Bo must figure out why Mitch Laurence had Allison switch twin girls!
Marcie Walsh, a trusting, optimistic, and some would say a naive soul, was first seen in October 2002 when Jen was in dire need of an ally. Marcie was absolutely awed by Jen, since Jen was the popular girl at Llanview University, so beautiful, so smart, and, in Marcie's eyes, so deserving of anything Jen wanted. All Marcie wanted was to be Jen's friend, and when Jen saw what Marcie could do for her, Jen quickly formed a friendship with her. Marcie was an assistant to an obstetrician at Llanview Hospital, and Jen needed Marcie to change the due date of her pregnancy to make Cristian believe the child was his.
Al caught on to Jen's scheme and just needed proof that Jen was carrying his baby. Al had already realized that Cristian loved Natalie, and thought that if Jen was really carrying his baby it was only a matter of time until Jen realized Al was the right man for her. Jen managed to change her baby's due date with help from Marcie. Al wasn't entirely convinced that it wasn't his child, and suspected that Jen had convinced Marcie to lie for her. All Al had to do was prove that the due date was faked.
Antonio became worried that the child Keri was carrying for Liz was actually his child! Liz lied to Antonio, swearing that she was pregnant before their night together, but Antonio wasn't sure about believing her. Liz confided in Hank yet again about her baby's father's identity, and Hank was upset to be asked to keep another secret that promised to devastate several lives. At the same time, RJ was still bitter over Liz shutting him out of Keri's life from day one, and was suspicious at the sight of Liz and Antonio together. RJ could potentially uncover the true connection between Liz and Antonio!
In October 2002, a man named Michael Lazarus turned up in Llanview after it was revealed that Viki had given birth to twin girls Jessica and Natalie, and that one of the girls had been stolen at birth and given to the low-class Roxanne Balsom to raise. Allison Perkins had switched the two girls, and the only question remaining was "why?"
Michael looked startlingly like Mitch Laurence, and he offered a shoulder for the innocent Natalie to cry on when she was having romantic problems with the man she loved, Cristian Vega. Natalie was unaware of the entire Mitch Laurence debacle, and would have been the perfect target if Michael Lazarus was indeed a resurrected Mitch.
Natalie married Mitch when she believed she and Cristian would never be able to be together. When Natalie brought Michael home to meet Viki, it was then Natalie realized that she'd married the very monster who masterminded the Natalie/Jessica baby switch in the first place!
Blair had recently done an exposé on a crime syndicate in The Sun, and angered mob boss, O'Brien. O'Brien even sent a hitman to kill Blair for naming names in the newspaper, but the hitman mistakenly killed the family Nanny, Suzanne, instead. Blair witnessed the shooting, which made things considerably more dangerous for her.
Al read Marcie's journal, in which she detailed all of Jen's brilliant plotting, but the wedding was interrupted by Jen doubling over in pain! Jen lost the baby, and Marcie was there to help Jen through the tough time. Jen recovered, and teamed with the evil Mitch Laurence to get revenge on Cristian and Natalie. Mitch married Natalie under false pretenses, and Natalie wanted to leave Mitch for Cristian once she realized what a monster Mitch was. Marcie worried about Jen getting involved with Mitch, but Jen was determined to exact her revenge.
Rex Balsom grew comfortable with living the high life and used his wealth to seduce various ladies around the Llanview University campus! Unfortunately, Rex's free ride at the Buchanans came to an abrupt halt when Jessica learned of his duplicity.
Mitch had one more shocker for Viki: He was Jessica's biological father! Mitch admitted that he drugged Viki one night, and they conceived Jessica that same night. Furthermore, Mitch entered the delivery room after Viki gave birth to both Natalie and Jessica, and Viki was apparently so horrified to learn Mitch fathered Jessica that she sat idly by as Mitch walked away with Jessica in his arms! Mitch's retelling of the events jogged Viki's memory, and she was mortified to recall every detail.
Viki had Seth take Jessica out of town to protect her from the truth that Mitch Laurence was her father. Jessica caught on to the fact that Seth was lying to her, and finally broke up with him and returned home to demand Viki to tell her everything. Jessica couldn't find Viki, but Mitch found Jessica. It was then that Mitch revealed to Jessica the shocking truth.
2003
Jessica was mortified as well to learn that Mitch was her father, and not Clint, as she'd always thought. Mitch wanted nothing more than to be a father to her, but Jessica refused to ever let him be a part of her life. Mitch was slightly comforted, however, when Jessica shut Viki out of her life, claiming that she'd never be more to Viki than a reminder of what Mitch did to her all those years ago. Despite Viki's insistance to the contrary, Jessica couldn't believe that Viki would ever love her the way she used to, and Jessica left town, leaving Viki heartbroken.
Mitch goaded Cristian into punching him, and then had Cristian arrested for assault. Then, Jen lied in order to aid the judge in deciding to put Cristian away. Jen and Marcie delighted in the fallout, but Jen eventually had an attack of remorse and told the truth. Jen realized what an evil man Mitch was, and Marcie helped Jen break into Mitch's home to find some incriminating evidence against him. Jen found medical records Mitch had under lock and key, on Jessica and Natalie Buchanan. Mitch came home and found Jen, and when he attempted to strangle her with a scarf, she escaped and ran out into a blizzard, and nearly froze to death! Fortunately, Al found her and brought her to the hospital where she recovered.
Todd hid Blair in his penthouse for weeks as he wormed his way back into Blair's affections. Blair ended her relationship with Sam and agreed to marry Todd again, especially when Todd gave her the wonderful news that all of O'Brien's men had been caught and it was safe for Blair to reclaim her life.
Sam, however, wasn't so willing to trust Todd, and he uncovered the truth that Todd had set up the entire O'Brien ordeal in order to win Blair back! Sam proved it by bringing the very much alive Suzanne to Todd and Blair's next wedding! Blair, devastated once more by Todd's lies and deceptions, broke things off again with Todd, and took Starr and Jack back to Dorian's old mansion.
Troy began sleeping with Lindsay to keep her quiet about what happened to Joanna. Troy and Lindsay's affair continued, and once Nora discovered their trysts, she ended things with Troy. Backed into a corner, Troy admitted the whole ugly truth to Nora.
Troy admitted that Joanna was his wife in Africa, and when her flirtatiousness drove Troy mad with jealousy, he tricked Joanna into thinking she'd slept with Colin (though she'd only really slept with her own husband, Troy). Joanna was so horrified at "cheating" on her husband, that she ended up falling off a cliff to her death. Sadly, Nora could have gotten past the truth about Joanna, but could not get past Troy's sleeping with Lindsay. With nothing left to lose, Troy became bent on revenge against Lindsay.
In February 2003, Viki got a glimmer of hope when her younger son Joey returned home to Llanview. Joey became Reverend Andrew Carpenter's new curate, and was assigned by Andrew to reach out to the troubled youths at the community center in Angel Square. Viki was glad that Joey planned to become a minister, since it balanced the evil that Mitch Laurence brought back into Viki's life. Viki was thrilled when Jessica also returned to Llanview. Visiting Clint helped Jessica to get her head together and realize Viki would always love her, no matter what.
Marcie was thrilled when Carlotta Vega gave her a job waiting tables at the D-K Diner. She started her new job in February of 2003, when "the storm of the century" struck Llanview. The Diner brought Marcie many new opportunities. She discovered the sexy voice of a new deejay on the radio, "the Voice of the Night." Also, Marcie met attractive Joey Buchanan, Jessica Buchanan's older brother. Marcie was instantly smitten.
Al Holden, over his fixation on Jen Rappaport, worked to get some direction back into his life. The rest of his life wasn't going so well anyway -- he was flunking most of his classes at Llanview University! Unable to stay up for the amount of hours he needed to study, Al turned to pills to keep him energized.
RJ was still bitter over Liz shutting him out of Keri's life from day one, and was suspicious at the sight of Liz and Antonio together. Eventually RJ learned that truth and planned to tell his daughter, but Antonio decided that he needed to be the one to reveal the truth. He told Keri, who was devastated and went into premature labor. She gave birth to a baby girl, Jamie, named for RJ (Randall James).
In February 2003, a teenage runaway named Flash turned up in Llanview, and on the job, Joey (who had become a curate) took a particular interest in her. The more he tried to help Flash, the more she resisted, and the more Joey wanted to figure out why she was so protective of herself. Flash revealed that she knew Joey's cousin CJ, and was determined to find him.
The evil Mitch Laurence tried to kidnap Starr, when Blair found him and convinced him to take her instead. Mitch kidnapped Blair in order to use her to bargain with Todd. Todd, in an effort to get Blair back safely, agreed to find and kidnap Natalie and trade her for Blair. Todd did find and kidnap Natalie, but Natalie agreed to go along with Todd's plan to get everyone away from Mitch safely. Unfortunately, the plot went awry, Todd accidentally shot Cristian, and Mitch made off with Natalie!
Mitch drugged Natalie and dyed her hair light blond. He then brought Natalie to a secluded clinic where he introduced her as "Jessica" to an ailing but alive Victor Lord! Somehow, Victor Lord hadn't died as Llanview had long thought. But Victor was close to dying if he didn't get a heart transplant -- one that Mitch planned to facilitate using Natalie's strong, young heart!
Viki and Jessica tracked Mitch to the clinic, where Viki was horrified to find her monstrous father alive! Once the ailing Victor was transferred to Llanview Hospital. There, Viki had the chance to do what she'd wanted the chance to do for years: confront her father over his abuse. Unfortunately, Victor never admitted to the abuse he put Viki through before Victor's black heart finally failed.
Evangeline Williamson, a formidable and confident lawyer, came to town in 2003 as Mitch Laurence's counsel. Despite the reprehensible nature of her client, many in Llanview saw that she was a brilliant attorney and sought her counsel on different matters.
Needing a new direction for her life, Nora took a job as Llanview's Assistant District Attorney.
Needing to support the lifestyle to which he'd become accustomed, Rex took a job at the Palace, working for Renee Divine as a bartender and bellhop. But Rex wasn't working there for the wages, he was there to steal from the guests' rooms!
The doctors revealed stunning information to Keri that they had just discovered -- Jamie was actually Antonio's baby with Keri! She was already pregnant when they attempted to act as a surrogate for her mother, which was not a success. Keri kept the news from Antonio and, protective of his daughter and granddaughter, RJ encouraged them to get away from Antonio. Soon, the news of Keri, Liz and baby Jamie's death in a plane crash broke. Keri and Jamie survived the plane crash, however, and were secretly living in Canada.
Antonio was devastated at the loss of Keri and his daughter, and leaned on Jessica Buchanan, who knew what it was like to lose a child. Jessica had also just gained a father in Mitch Laurence, but the mad violence Mitch bought to Jessica's life served to bring Jessica and Antonio closer together, and they soon fell in love.
While Mitch's lawyer, Evangeline Williamson, was able to spare Mitch jailtime for his crimes, Mitch worked to be a real father to Jessica, despite Jessica's resistance. Mitch got wind of Lindsay Rappaport's unrequited love of Troy MacIver, and decided to twist it to suit his own purposes. Mitch was out to destroy Todd Manning, and wanted to frame Todd for murder. Mitch stole Todd's gun and gave it to Lindsay, and then sent her to Blair Cramer's home, where Mitch convinced Lindsay that Troy was seducing Blair. An unbalanced Lindsay saw a man leaning over Blair's bed, and shot him in the back, only then to see that she'd shot and killed Sam Rappaport, not Troy! Nora and Matthew were devastated when Sam was killed with the bullet meant for Troy. Blair was then devastated when it appeared Mitch had killed Todd, but Blair couldn't prove it.
Jen was devastated by the March 2003 death of her father, and shaken even more to realize that her mother pulled the trigger! It was clear that Lindsay had become unbalanced, and Jen fortunately had the support of her brother Will when Lindsay was sent to St. Ann's Sanitarium.
Needing funds again, Roxy turned to Asa for financial support in realizing her dream: "Foxy Roxy's Hair Haven", a beauty parlor! Asa and Nigel worked closely with Roxy during the construction of the Salon, and Roxy got involved when Asa demanded Nigel kick his cigarette habit. Roxy suggested hypnosis by her old Atlantic City pal, Mysterio. Mysterio proved his talents at hypnosis when he hypnotized Nigel and Roxy into falling in love! The simple utterance of the word "bourbon" would trigger the amorous instincts in the unlikely pair. Once the spell was broken, Roxy and Nigel formed a close friendship.
Gabrielle was tested by a letter that had the potential to ruin Gabrielle's future with Bo permanently; a letter that revealed Bo was Matthew Hanen Rappaport's father! When Sam Rappaport was accidentally shot and killed, a letter was delivered revealing that a clerical error named Sam as Matthew's father, when in fact Bo was the true father! Gabrielle intercepted the letter, but ultimately gave it to Bo and Nora.
Marcie began tutoring Al Holden, who was doing poorly in his classes. Marcie realized that Al was addicted to prescription drugs, and vowed to help him kick the habit. Locking herself and Al in Al's dorm room, Marcie forced Al to stop taking pills and promised to help him through the difficult time of withdrawl. With Marcie's support, Al was able to kick his habit. Once Marcie realized that Al was "The Voice of the Night", her radio crush, it deepened her feelings for him and the two began to fall in love.
With Victor officially dead, a new, more recent will was read -- leaving everything to Mitch! Viki was further shocked when Dorian returned to town, married to Mitch! Kicked out of Llanfair, Viki and the residents of Llanview were plagued by Mitch for months. Viki was disgusted that Dorian would go so far as to marry the evil Mitch, who had caused her family so much grief in the past. However, Dorian had a plan in mind -- she wanted revenge on Mitch for hurting Cassie years earlier, as well as his inheritance from Victor (including the expensive Badhra diamond).
Spoiled and self-destructive Jen Rappaport caught on to Rex's scheme and forced him to take her on as his accomplice in robbing the rooms at The Palace Hotel. It wasn't long before Rex realized what great company Jen was -- especially in bed. Jen was the complete package: beautiful, party-loving, and wealthy. Rex knew Jen was vulnerable after the death of her father Sam, and also knew that she came into quite a bit of money since Sam's death.
When an accident blinded Mitch, Jessica's guilt over blinding Mitch allowed her to let Mitch into her life. Dorian saw Mitch's blindness as a way to extricate herself from their marriage, and teamed with Blair and Lindsay Rappaport to drive Mitch crazy. Dorian used Mitch's blindness to sneak around Llanfair, in the hopes of finding the Badhra diamond, and she did succeed in nabbing the priceless gem.
Flash performed with her band, Midnight Logic, despite being very ill. After being forced to seek medical attention, Flash was not pleased to be told to take time off from singing, or she may lose her voice altogether!
Flash formed a friendship with Nora Buchanan, who was surprised to discover Flash was Tina's daughter Sarah. Flash moved in with Nora and offered her services as a babysitter for Nora's young son Matthew. When Flash was held hostage at the D-K Diner with Nora, Natalie Buchanan, Marcie Walsh, and Carlotta Vega, Flash confided that she had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend when she was younger and aborted the child, leading to more distance between Flash and her mother.
Concerned for Jen's self-destructive ways, curate Joey Buchanan took an interest in Jen, hoping to convince her to turn her life around. Joey counseled Jen, who began to have feelings for him, and tried to seduce him. Joey fought his attraction to Jen, and Jen believed he had feelings for another troubled girl he was trying to help at the time, Flash.
Jessica caught on that Dorian was gaslighting Mitch, but allowed herself to get caught up in the plot which led to Mitch being presumed dead. Mitch had been saved, however, by his estranged younger brother, Walker Laurence!
Bo hired Marcie at the Llanview Police Department as the receptionist. Meanwhile, Bo and Nora worked to come to a decision about how to introduce Bo into Matthew's life as a father figure without eclipsing Sam's role in Matthew's life. As Bo began spending more time with Nora and Matthew, Gabrielle feared that old feelings Bo and Nora shared would resurface.
Clint Buchanan returned to Llanview in May 2003 to meet Natalie, reaffirm his love for her, and for Jessica, who was guilt-ridden over Mitch's supposed death.
A shady producer hooked Flash up with another doctor, who gave her a spray that provided a quick fix for her vocal chords, but wouldn't prevent any long-range damage.
Rex and Jen partied frequently, and after Rex was fired for the recurring robberies at the Palace, and after being expelled from Llanview University, Rex maneuvered Jen into marriage!
RJ maintained contact with them, but Keri returned to Llanview to reconcile with Antonio. When Antonio told Keri that they had no future together, but he would always be a father to Jamie, Keri descended into madness.
Raised by adoptive parents in Puerto Rico, Adriana Colon never knew her biological parents. She came to Llanview to stay with godmother Carlotta Vega in May 2003. In July 2003, River Carpenter came to stay with his father Andrew in Llanview, but clashes with Andrew led him to move in with his grandmother, Dorian Lord. Adriana met River Carpenter and the two quickly fell in love, a union which Carlotta did not approve of. Carlotta did everything in her power to separate Adriana and River, finally whisking her out of town under mysterious circumstances.
Digging into Flash's background with help from Flash's bandmate Sheyne, Jen turned up Flash's real name: Sarah Roberts. Jen was convinced that Flash was married to Joey's cousin CJ Roberts, but once she revealed Flash's identity, Jen learned that Sarah was CJ's sister -- and Joey's cousin!
Flash explained that Tina had gotten wrapped up with Cain Rogan again, and it led to their family falling apart. CJ had run off and joined the military, while Tina never approved of Sarah's dream of being a singer, and Sarah would sneak out often to perform at clubs. Flash had no idea what had become of her mother, and refused Joey's offers to try to track her down. Once Asa realized Flash was his great granddaughter, he flew in a specialist that resolved Flash's throat problems.
When Mitch was revealed to be alive, he kidnapped Jessica, only for her to be saved by Walker. On June 30, 2003, Jessica was forced to do the unthinkable when she struck Mitch on the head to protect Walker, and succeeded in finally killing Mitch. Throughout the Mitch ordeal, Jessica had grown closer to Detective Antonio Vega, and they fell in love.
Ambitious attorney Daniel Colson has a history of rubbing people the wrong way. Daniel struggled for years with an alcohol problem, which was integral in the destruction of his marriage and the rift between Daniel and his son Riley. Daniel worked closely with Joe Riley as his mentor early in his career. His work with Joe inspired Daniel to even name his son Riley, after Joe. Having suffered a strained relationship with his father, Riley struggled with a drug problem. He managed to get himself sober, using his love of music as a focus.
Riley Colson, lead guitarist of Midnight Logic, began to develop feelings for its lead singer, Flash. Flash seemed unaware of Riley's feelings at first, but eventually she realized how Riley felt and reciprocated. The two fell in love. Flash encouraged Riley to rebuild a relationship with his father Daniel, which Riley attempted to do.
Kevin returned to Llanview in June 2003 without Kelly, determined to climb the political ladder in Pennsylvania. All the while, Kevin had a growing attraction to Kelly's cousin Blair! Asa was grooming Kevin to become Pennsylvania's next Lieutenant Governor! Asa fought hard to keep Kevin on the campaign trail, and keep Kevin's eyes off Blair! Asa made sure Kevin's devotion was to the office of Lt. Governor, and to his wife Kelly, and not to Asa's "she-devil" ex-wife Blair, who had come to rely on Kevin heavily as her life was filled with one dramatic turn after the next.
Looking forward to a new chapter in her life, Viki was thrilled to welcome Kevin back to Llanview, and was his strongest supporter in his bid to become Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor! Around this time, Viki was named President of Llanview University, where she utilized her warm compassion and keen judgement on a daily basis.
Clint returned to Llanview again in July 2003, and ended up supporting the radical changes Kevin made as Editor-in-Chief at The Banner, despite Viki's insistence that Kevin unnecessarily fired many long-standing, hard-working employees. Though there would always be disagreements, Clint and Viki proved they'd always understand each other, and Clint congratulated Viki on her new position as President of Llanview University.
Once the horrific Mitch ordeal was behind her, Natalie and Cristian were free to be together, and became engaged, despite Cristian's mother Carlotta's belief that Jessica was the best thing that ever happened to Cristian. Natalie struggled to overcome the disapproval of Carlotta, Cristian's mother, while living with Cristian on a limited budget.
It soon became apparent to Jen that Rex wasn't the healthiest influence in her life, and with support from Joey Buchanan, Jen fought for a divorce from Rex. Rex granted Jen's wish, knowing deep down that he'd always have a hold on Jen.
In time, Joey realized he wouldn't be able to fight his attraction to Jen much longer, and was willing to leave the ministry for her. Jen realized it was unfair of her to expect Joey to make such a sacrifice, and offered to break things off, but they came to a different solution: marriage!
Rex used the money he got from the divorce to go partners with RJ Gannon in a new nightclub, targeted toward the 20-something crowd. Rex and RJ opened Ultraviolet, which turned out to be a booming success. Rex saw great opportunities with Ultraviolet, and after eventually buying RJ out of the club, he started allowing prostitutes to work out of the club!
Troy's mental state began to deteriorate rapidly. After sleeping with Lindsay once again, he plotted to keep her quiet by institutionalizing her outside of Llanview under the name of Joanna Farrell, in the hopes that no one would find her. Fortunately, Lindsay was rescued. When Llanview Hospital administrator Claire Baxter saw Troy with Lindsay, Troy felt he had no choice but to kill her! Nora suspected him of killing Claire, and Nora teamed up with Bo's girlfriend Gabrielle to expose Troy's crime. Before his reign of terror was over, Troy took Nora captive and nearly poisoned her in a bizarre suicide pact. Bo saved Nora, while Troy was sent to a mental institution.
Kelly returned to Llanview in July 2003 to attempt a reconciliation with her husband, willingly playing the devoted wife in the eyes of the press. In Texas, Kevin's devotion to his work left Kelly feeling neglected, which, combined with much friction with Kevin's son Duke, led Kelly to have an affair that nearly destroyed her marriage to Kevin. Now that Kelly was back in Llanview with Kevin, she hoped that a baby would cement her marriage to him, but Kevin was unwilling to jump into parenthood because he couldn't get past Kelly's affair in Texas.
Marcie hung a peace sign from her dorm room window for the International Peace Rally, and her room was trashed as a result! Marcie was ostracized by her fellow students, who believed she was against the war effort, and unsupportive of the United States troops. Marcie's brother Ron Walsh came to Llanview to support Marcie, and also delivered the bad news that the family business back in New Jersey was suffering due to the upset she caused at Llanview University.
Madison Kensington, a stuck up sorority girl at Llanview University, set a plan against Marcie in motion when she invited Marcie to join her sorority. Marcie's initiation hazing took a cruel turn as the sorority sisters took delight in humiliating her. Jen caught Madison confessing to the hazing on tape, and Madison was quickly expelled from Llanview University. Madison exacted revenge by having her boyfriend Deke terrorize Marcie and toss her in a dumpster. Once Marcie's attackers were arrested, Al's love helped Marcie put the ordeal behind her.
Keri schemed with RJ to frame Antonio for being abusive, so as to drive a wedge between Antonio and Jessica Buchanan, but their love proved too strong for Keri.
Evangeline met RJ Gannon, and after a long flirtation the two began a relationship. Their romance encountered a roadblock when Evangeline represented Antonio in a custody suit with RJ's daughter Keri. The two weathered the storm and have only grown closer.
David Vickers returned to Llanview in August 2003 looking for the priceless Badhra diamond, and he and Dorian found themselves clashing. However, a simmer of attraction underscored all their interactions.
When time came for the District Attorney election in Llanview, Nora was eventually convinced to run for office, against attorney Daniel Colson. Colson wasn't popular around Llanview, and when Nora learned Colson had a history of alcoholism, she refused to use the information to sway voters. Daniel Colson ended up winning the election, while Nora continued working for him as Assistant District Attorney.
Rex was crushed as Jen grew closer with Joey, and worked furiously to undermine their relationship. When Rex couldn't prevent Jen and Joey from marrying, Rex took a different route to Jen; her mother Lindsay. After months in St. Ann's, Lindsay was released with a new outlook on life, determined to rebuild her life and her relationship with Jen. Rex tried to win Lindsay over in order to get her endorsement with Jen. Lindsay liked Rex, and believed he loved Jen, but wasn't sold on the fact that Joey was wrong for Jennifer. Joey was on his way to becoming a minister! That was why Rex was convinced Jen would never be happy; Jen wouldn't be satisfied living the life of a minister's wife -- she needed the excitement that only Rex could provide her.
Walker insinuated himself into the lives of Jessica, Dorian, and Blair, and Blair came to trust Walker, who took a bullet for Blair and saved Starr from drowning. Blair had grown close to Kevin Buchanan over the previous few months, which drove Walker mad with jealousy. Kevin was suspicious of Walker Laurence, who had come into Blair's life. Investigating Walker, Kevin uncovered the truth -- Walker was really Todd, after radical plastic surgery!
Walker journeyed to Atlantic City to meet his spitting image: Flynn Laurence (formerly Walker Flynn)! Flynn was Mitch's actual younger brother, and Todd had made a deal with him to receive plastic surgery and assume his identity.
Kevin was named Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, working directly for Governor Harrison Brooks, who pursued Viki romantically.
Natalie's natural talent for billiards became evident when she got a job at Crossroads bar. She began playing professionally and came to the attention of John McBain. John approached Natalie claiming to be a scout for pool tournaments and recruited her into playing a large tournament in Vegas. Natalie agreed and did not realize that John was really a front man for Flynn Laurence, the crime lord brother of Mitch.
Seeing no escape from her pain, Keri took her own life by leaping from a balcony at the Palace Hotel, where Keri's father RJ Gannon discovered her body and her suicide note. RJ withheld the note and Antonio was suspected of murdering Keri, but ultimately Antonio's innocence was proven. Despite their mutual animosity, RJ and Antonio agreed to have equal involvement in Jamie's life.
Jessica followed in Viki and Clint's footsteps when she developed a strong interest in investigative journalism, and took a job at The Banner.
Blair found Flynn Laurence in Las Vegas, and, believing he was Walker, lashed out at him for leading a double life behind her back. Just then Walker (Todd) arrived, and convinced Blair that he and Flynn were twin brothers. Eventually Walker revealed to Starr that he was Todd, having returned to town with a new identity to win back Blair!
Al transformed the way Marcie viewed herself. Through Al, she realized she was as beautiful and capable as anyone else. Marcie unknowingly picked up a rare disease from the germs and bacteria in the garbage of the dumpster into which Madison and Deke had thrown her. Al, her lover, caught the disease and was hospitalized. Despite a valiant struggle, Al died, leaving Marcie, Gabrielle, and Max all heartbroken.
Shortly following Al's funeral, Max and Gabrielle traveled to Argentina to bury Al's body, and after a brief return to Llanview, Max decided to relocate to North Carolina to be a real father to his twins, Frank and Leslie in October 2003.
It wasn't long into Jen and Joey's marriage that Jen was feeling neglected by Joey, whose work demanded the majority of his attention, which left Jen more susceptible to Rex's charms. Jen became pregnant by Joey, but refused to tell Joey, and soon suffered a miscarriage, which Rex helped Jen through. As the cracks in Jen and Joey's marriage continued to form, Rex weasled his way back into Jen's life, and her bed.
Kelly was shocked in October 2003 to receive a call from a brother she never knew about, Paul Cramer! Paul Cramer grew up with his father, never knowing that he had a sister in Kelly. Paul joined the military and served some time in the Middle East. At some point, Paul decided to use the last name Cramer in honor of his mother. Paul's father passed away, and upon his death Paul found evidence that he had a half-sister, Kelly. Paul had never really known his mother, so he ventured to Llanview to meet Kelly and this new side of his family. After a rocky first meeting, Kelly began to accept Paul and the two built a relationship. Dorian and David weren't so receptive, and were suspicious about whether Paul was a fortune-hunter or not. Paul got a job at the local hospital as a medivac pilot.
Natalie and Cristian were elated when Viki gave them a surprise wedding surrounded by family and friends, and Clint traveled to Llanview to walk Natalie down the aisle for the October 17th wedding. Natalie and Cristian went to Las Vegas for their honeymoon, where Natalie would participate in the pool tournament.
At the tournament, Flynn ordered John to have Natalie throw the game. John approached Natalie, but she chose to defy John's orders and ended up getting kidnapped by Flynn. John then revealed his true identity to Cristian -- he was an FBI agent working undercover to bust Flynn! Cristian and John rescued Natalie, but Cristian went after Flynn and was presumed dead. When it became clear that Flynn was a threat to his future with Blair, Walker (Todd) rigged an elevator to kill Flynn, which put Walker's immediate concerns to rest. Blair agreed to marry Walker and the two were wed on November 13th, 2003.
When Kelly learned that getting pregnant could be deadly for her, Kelly wanted to adopt. Kelly turned to dastardly David Vickers, who had recently wormed his way back into Llanview society, and asked him to help her adopt, no matter how illegal the process was. Though David was willing to get Kelly a baby for a price, Kelly had second thoughts and nixed her plan.
A devastated Natalie returned to Llanview, where Carlotta and Antonio shared in her grief. As far as the Vega family was concerned, Natalie would always be a part of it. To help Natalie through her grief, Roxy moved in with Natalie at her cottage.
John McBain soon moved to Llanview after taking on the Music Box Serial Killer case. As John worked on finding the serial killer targeting young women around Llanview, Natalie slowly began overcoming her resentment of John's role in Cristian's death and building a friendship with him.
During her grief over Al, Marcie met Dr. Michael McBain, an intern at Llanview Hospital whom she believed to be bitter and arrogant. She would also routinely receive visits from Al's soul, who desperately wanted to reunite with her. Unbeknownst to Marcie, Al's spirit took root in Michael's body, determined to win her back. Luna's spirit revealed to Al that he had only until Valentines Day to get Marcie to recognize him.
Lindsay revived her art gallery and took on shady David Vickers as a partner. But District Attorney Daniel Colson issued a serious warning to Lindsay about David -- that he was a con artist! Lindsay cautiously continued to work with David, hoping to trap him in an art forgery. Fortunately, Lindsay and David's partnership dissolved before David cost her any serious amount of money!
Viki was relieved to learn that Todd had not been killed by Mitch as it had appeared months earlier, but Viki was not happy to learn that Todd had reconstructive surgery and wormed his way back into Blair's life under the identity of Walker Laurence, Mitch's brother! Kevin exposed Walker to Viki, but Viki had already discovered the truth. At his mother's behest, Kevin didn't reveal the truth to Blair, but this brought Kevin and Todd's age-old rivalry to a whole new level.
Viki was uncertain about moving on with her life while Ben was still comatose, but ultimately decided that returning to the dating world was what Ben would have wanted for her. Viki dated Governor Brooks just long enough to inspire Dorian's jealousy.
Dorian went so far as to stow away on Governor Brooks' private plane while Viki was on board! Dorian had discovered that Walker was really Todd, and was desperate to warn Blair! Both Viki and Dorian regretted Dorian's decision to stow away when the plane crashed, leaving Viki and Dorian at the mercy of a life-threatening avalanche! Viki and Dorian proved what survivors they were when they made it home with only minor injuries. Dorian owed her rescue to Todd, and didn't reveal Walker's true identity, hoping that Blair would figure it out herself, before it was too late.
Jen carried on with Rex and one of his hooker friends, Karen Reeder, much to the dismay of Natalie, who felt her brothers, Joey and Rex, could do better than Jen. When Jen passed out in a hotel bathroom during one of their binges, Jen awoke and stumbled out of the bathroom to discover Karen had been murdered by the Music Box Killer!
Dorian's Aunt Betsy came to Llanview and the rich and bitter woman revealed to Dorian that she was dying, and wanted to leave her $30 million fortune to a female Cramer who had never been married or had children. When no single female Cramers met her standards, Betsy decided to leave everything to Paul, on the condition that he never married or had children.
What Paul didn't want anyone to know was that months earlier, whenPaul returned to the states, he arrived in San Diego where he met a flirtatious and beautiful young woman, Arabella "Babe" Carey. After one drunken night, the two got married! Both woke up the next day and realized their mistake, with Paul giving Babe annulment papers to file.
Paul was shocked when Babe re-entered his life asking him to keep his mouth shut if anyone asked questions about her past. Babe had since gotten married to JR Chandler of Pine Valley, and did not want anyone to find out what she soon confessed to Paul -- they were still married! Babe never filed the annulment papers, meaning her marriage to JR was invalid and she was still married to Paul! Desperate to keep this secret (for it would invalidate him in Aunt Betsy's will), Paul and Babe came to a mutual agreement.
Jen had Rex help conceal her whereabouts and wipe the crime scene clean of any trace of her, but when the police eventually caught up to her to question her about Karen's death, the truth proved too devastating to Jen and Joey's marriage, and they decided to divorce.
Paul allowed himself to be charmed by Babe, who wanted Paul to ensure that paternity test results for her unborn child read JR Chandler as the father. With Babe's promise of sex and money, Paul agreed to have the results say JR was the father, but never told Babe whether he actually had to change the results or whether JR was naturally the father.
It seemed that attending dance classes was a common thread amongst all the victims of the Music Box Killer. As Madison Kensington was the next to die at the hands of the Music Box Killer, suspicion first fell on Marcie's brother Ron Walsh, who was an experienced dancer.
Gabrielle was insecure, worrying that the increasing time Bo and Nora were spending together both at work and with Matthew would drive Bo to leave her and reunite with Nora, and would go to out of town bars, where she had run-ins with Troy, who had apparently been getting overnight passes from Statesville.
Bo and Nora worked together as Bo tried to find the Music Box Killer, who had been targeting young women in Llanview. Once Gabrielle admitted that she'd seen Troy, Bo and Nora suspected that Troy had been on the killing spree.
Jessica began investigating sexual harrassment on the Llanview University campus and began consulting with Professor Stephen Haver, a well-respected professor on staff. Jessica developed a friendship with Professor Haver, which provided Jessica with great support when the Music Box Killer began targeting young women on campus at the University.
Marcie started her own radio show on the Llanview University radio station, called "Bridging the Gap", which focused on both sides of controversial topics and social issues.
Joey moved away to London, and Rex was certain that he finally had Jen back, but Jen didn't want Rex anymore -- she wanted something better for her life.
Bo eased Gabrielle's fears by proposing marriage! Bo and Gabrielle were happily engaged, until their joy was cut short by the Music Box Killer, who claimed Gabrielle's life on New Years Eve 2004.
Blair finally put the pieces together and knew that Walker was really Todd, and Blair got back at him by sleeping with Kevin on New Years Eve of 2004!
2004
Blair taunted Todd with the fact that she bedded Kevin, and the confrontation exploded into a sexual encounter of their own. Blair claimed Todd raped her, while Todd maintained it was consensual, but rough, sex. Kevin stood by Blair as Blair had Todd arrested and their marriage annulled.
In January 2004, Kevin resigned from the office of Lieutenant Governor, and Kelly was able to hang onto Kevin long enough to get pregnant! Kelly was willing to brave the pregnancy and play it safe, and Kevin and Kelly soon reunited. Kelly forgave Kevin for his indiscretion with Blair, yet still had reservations about the time Kevin and Blair would be spending together since Kevin hired Blair to work for him at the Banner!
River tracked Adriana to Puerto Rico and snuck her back into Llanview.
Dorian and David refused to see all of Betsy's money go to Paul and began investigating his past in order to disqualify him as a contender for Betsy's heir. Their search led them to Pine Valley's Adam Chandler, whose new daughter-in-law, Babe, had a past with Paul. Adam was as eager to do away with Babe as Dorian and David were to do away with Paul, and Adam promised to help them in any way he could, so long as Dorian reciprocated.
Paul allowed himself to be charmed by Babe, who wanted Paul to ensure that paternity test results for her unborn child read JR Chandler as the father. With Babe's promise of sex and money, Paul agreed to have the results say JR was the father, but never told Babe whether he actually had to change the results or whether JR was naturally the father.
As Plan B, Dorian schemed with David to prove Adriana Colon, goddaughter to her longtime friend Carlotta Vega, was her long lost daughter in an effort to get the money. To that effect, Dorian told Adriana that she was her biological mother and invited her to move into La Boulaie.
Troy was apprehended, but insisted that he wasn't the killer, he was being framed by "the doctor"!
Starr enlisted young Matthew Hanen Rappaport in her plan to help her father escape police custody. Todd was being taken in a police van with the unbalanced, captured fugitive Troy MacIver. Starr had Matthew lay down in the road and pretend he was ill, while Starr flagged down the police van carrying her father. As Matthew worked as a sufficient diversion, Starr tried to set her father free, but Todd refused to run away. In a shocking turn of events, Troy used the diversion to make his escape, and ended up taking Matthew hostage!
Eventually, Matthew was rescued, and a remorseful Starr apologized to Matthew's parents, Bo and Nora Buchanan, for endangering Matthew's life. Starr and Matthew would not spend time together again for a long while, and Starr faced charges for what she'd done. Starr was sentenced to community service at Llanview Hospital, under her Aunt Viki Davidson's supervision.
Roxy's life slowly turned around with the success of the Hair Haven, and Roxy kept busy by playing cupid to the lovelorn teens River Carpenter and Adriana Colon. Roxy's friendship with Nigel flourished, and she was his chief supporter in his decision to leave the servitude of Asa Buchanan and pursue his dream of running a hotel. Roxy has helped Nigel run his Angel Square Hotel, which became quite the popular hot spot for all the newcomers to Llanview.
Starr decided to initiate a non-violent protest, and went on a hunger strike to make her parents see the error of their ways, and to convince her mother to drop the charges against Todd. The hunger strike didn't last, once Todd convinced Starr to keep eating, and not punish her mother in such a way.
Daniel began pursuing Lindsay, as they found they had a lot in common when it came to parenting troubled kids, and having to bounce back after making major life mistakes.
Rex continued to work the Lindsay angle, asking woman of the world Lindsay to educate him on art, culture, and the finer things in life. It wasn't long before sparks ignited between Rex and Lindsay!
Rae resumed her work at Llanview University, and enjoyed comparing notes with Human Sexuality Professor Stephen Haver. Rae and Stephen's expertise was called upon by the Llanview Police Department when Bo Buchanan and FBI Agent John McBain needed a psychological profile on the Music Box Killer.
After a fight with Riley, Flash was attacked by the Music Box Killer and nearly died by strangulation. She survived the attack, but suffered throat damage, so Asa called Cord to spirit Flash away to London, where she could receive the attention of a specialist who would be able to tell if she'd ever be able to sing again. While grateful that Flash was alive, Riley sunk into a depression after Flash moved away.
RJ and Evangeline's relationship stumbled once again when Evangeline took on Todd Manning's defense in his charge of raping Blair. Despite his past history, Evangeline believed in his innocence and proved a capable defense attorney.
Riley began to use drugs again, but a developing friendship with Jen Rappaport helped him to realize that using drugs again was doing him harm.
Rae was shocked to be the first to discover that the killer was none other than her colleague, Stephen Haver! Rae tried to needle Stephen and understand his motivations, in the hopes of proving his guilt, but Stephen realized that Rae was onto him! Stephen drugged and kidnapped Rae, who woke up in an isolated room, where Stephen threatened to kill her if she couldn't name his next victim!
Viki was thrilled on Valentines Day 2004, when Ben awoke from his coma long enough to share a few sweet words with his "Blondie" before sadly slipping back into his coma. With those brief moments together again, Viki had hope that her husband would be back for good someday.
At first, Marcie was surprised and unnerved by the sincerity and kindness that normally angry Michael was displaying towards her, but slowly she was won over. On Valentine's Day, Marcie realized that Al's spirit had inhabited Michael's body. He told Marcie that his soul would always remain in Michael's, and encouraged Marcie to find love with Michael.
Al's spirit departed this world, leaving Marcie with no recollection of her heavenly encounter with Al. However, Marcie developed deeper feelings for Michael and looked forward to continuing their relationship.
Famous lounge singer Eve McBain was widowed by her police officer husband in Atlantic City, leaving her to raise their two sons, John and Michael, on her own. The epitome of class and style, Eve sang for their supper, while John pursued a career in law enforcement, and Michael strove to become a doctor. Once John and Michael both settled in Llanview, Pennsylvania, Michael's girlfriend Marcie invited Eve to town to help reunite the estranged family. From there, John and Michael convinced Eve to relocate to Llanview permanently, where she was offered a regular gig performing at Capricorn, a nightclub owned by RJ Gannon.
Marty Saybrooke shocked Llanview by returning in February 2004 to testify at Todd's rape trial -- for the defense! Marty, now a psychologist, testified in her professional opinion that she didn't believe Todd was capable of rape at this point in his life.
Rae got to the bottom of Stephen's psychosis -- his neglectful mother, Marlena Haver. Rae drove Stephen over the edge with talk of his mother, and Stephen bound and gagged Rae before setting the room ablaze, presumably killing her!
When Evangeline refused to call Todd to the witness stand, Todd disagreed with Evangeline's tactics and fired her. By the time he re-hired her, the jury had already been swayed and found him guilty. The verdict crushed Starr, who told her mother she hated her. RJ didn't mind seeing Todd go to jail, and was disappointed when Evangeline was able to get his sentence overturned on a technicality.
Betsy fell for the scheme and named Adriana as her sole heir. Betsy soon after died in David's arms (she offered him $1 million for a kiss). Dorian, along with David, was making plans for the $30 million that Adriana stood to inherit, while Paul was determined to prove that Adriana was not the rightful heir.
Despite the shock of her maternity, Adriana began to grow close with Dorian. Dorian, and Carlotta (albeit reluctantly) allowed River and Adriana to see each other, and the two were blissfully in love.
Blair, who had been suffering from terrible head pain, collapsed. She was diagnosed with a specific type of brain tumor, one that can alter perception and cause mental confusion. After the tumor was successfully removed, Blair began to wonder whether her memories of her encounter with Todd were accurate. Kevin was certain that Blair was correct in her initial belief that Todd had raped her.
Sensing the growing importance Natalie held for John, the serial killer targeted Natalie more than once, which only brought John and Natalie closer.
The embittered Bo worked furiously with John to trap the Music Box Killer, who was revealed to be Llanview University Professor Stephen Haver. John soon learned that Stephen was the same man responsible for killing his fiancee Caitlin. Years earlier, John fell in love with a woman named Caitlin, and the two planned to marry. At the time, John was investigating a serial killer in New Jersey, and publicly taunted the killer at a press conference. Shortly afterward, the serial killer killed Caitlin out of revenge. Guilt stricken over what he feels was his role in Caitlin's death, John was determined to bring Stephen Haver to justice and not let him hurt another woman -- especially Natalie.
While the Llanview Police Department pegged the disturbed Haver as the serial killer, Jessica refused to believe he was guilty. But Jessica wasn't aware that Haver had drugged and hypnotized her! Antonio and the authorities did get through to Jessica and convinced her to help bring Haver to justice.
David aggressively pursued Dorian's hand in marriage, but Dorian refused to unless David got a job! David resisted getting a job, and after David and Dorian each tricked one another into signing each other's prenuptial agreements, David snagged himself a job working on Blair's new teen magazine, Craze. Leaving Dorian with no reasons to turn him down, David set up an elaborate wedding for Dorian, complete with one enthusiastic guest, but Dorian backed down at the last minute. She couldn't marry him because she was falling in love with him!
When the authorities closed in on Stephen, who was holding Natalie Vega and John McBain hostage in John's hotel room, John played his trump card: a very much alive Rae! Rae had been saved when Haver's fire blew the door of the room open. Rae and John used Haver's mother once again to trip Haver up, and Haver was finally apprehended.
Having come so dangerously close to death, Rae decided to sail around the world and enjoy all that life had to offer, with the love of her life, Detective John Sykes by her side.
When Kelly had complications with her pregnancy, Kelly asked Paul to get her to the hospital, where she tragically lost her baby. Kelly refused to let Paul tell Kevin where she was, and forced Paul to make it appear as if Kelly had gone to Texas for a vacation. Meanwhile, at Llanview hospital, Kelly asked Paul for a dangerous favor -- to get her a baby!
John quit the FBI when a manipulation by Haver led John's boss to suspect John of improper conduct. John's colleague, Commissioner Bo Buchanan, found comfort in Eve McBain's soothing voice, and was in regular attendance for Eve's performances. Not wanting to lose John, Bo offered him the position of Detective with the Llanview Police Department, which he accepted.
Asa found happiness with Renee once again, and they married for a third time in 2004.
Shannon McBain came to Llanview in March 2004 to stay with her aunt Eve and attend Llanview University after she was "asked to leave" her previous school. Acerbic Shannon promises to be a handful for Eve as well as cousins John and Michael.
Evangeline's next client was John McBain, a detective for the Llanview Police Department. On Stephen Haver's first day in court, the serial killer was shot dead, and through an elaborate setup, it looked like John had killed him! Fortunately, with fancy legal work from Evangeline, and the investigative skills of co-worker Antonio Vega, John's innocence was proven and the charges against him were dropped.
Todd launched a full scale assault on Kevin as he claimed a job at the newly merged newspaper, "The Banner Sun". Todd made contact with Kevin's son Duke in Texas, and reinforced Duke's feelings of distance from his father.
Matthew asked Starr for help in a scheme to get Bo and Nora together by entering them in a dance contest.
Rex's ambitions drove him to plan to take over an abandoned theater in order to transform it into a restaurant.
Fate intervened when Babe called Paul from Pine Valley, and begged his help when she was stranded in a cabin as a storm raged on, and she was going to give birth! Babe was stranded with her friend Bianca Montgomery, who had just given birth to a baby girl that Bianca named Miranda. Paul arrived at the cabin just in time to deliver Babe's son. Realizing that he could secure one of the babies for his sister Kelly, Paul gathered Babe, Bianca, and their babies into his helicopter, and then staged a crash. Paul lied to a weary Babe that her baby was killed in the crash and washed away in the river, but the truth was, Paul had delivered the baby boy to Kelly! Kelly named the boy Ace, after Kevin's grandfather Asa. When some of Babe's loved ones confronted Paul, he then lied that Bianca's baby girl was actually Babe's daughter. When Babe awoke in Pine Valley Hospital, she was confused to meet her baby daughter, and had fuzzy memories of giving birth to a son.
Paul claimed to Kelly that the baby's biological mother didn't want the child. Kelly fought her unease and began weaving a web to convince her family and Kevin's that she had given birth to baby Ace on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Kelly and Paul almost had all their bases covered, except for the fact that the ever-unpredictable Todd Manning knew all about the baby switch.
While Jen and Riley planned a comeback concert at Ultraviolet for Midnight Logic with Riley debuting as lead singer, Rex and Lindsay's affair drove Daniel Colson mad with jealousy. Daniel made plans to shut down Rex's club in order to exact his revenge. Once Ultraviolet was raided, Riley was furious with Daniel for ordering it the night that Midnight Logic was giving their big performance. Jen faced a devastation of her own that same night, when she caught Rex and her mother making love at Ultraviolet. As a result, Jen and Riley's friendship deepened.
Though Dorian and David finally got engaged, a disturbing letter rattled Dorian, leading her to drug David so she could leave town and not be followed.
Blair finally admitted that she now knew that Todd didn't rape her that night, but she also made it clear to Todd that they still had no future together. Privately, Blair was obviously conflicted over her feelings for Todd.
Lindsay was devastated when Rex refused to help her fix things with Jen, and then claimed to have never cared for Lindsay at all. RJ and Lindsay decided to teach Rex a lesson and get their revenge at the same time.
Marcie decided to pen a mystery/crime novel called "The Killing Club", based on Marcie's group of friends in high school who used to pass the time by coming up with creative murders. Marcie began digging into police procedure and the personal lives of Llanview's Finest in order to enrich her book with gritty reality.
Viki's loved ones worried when Viki complained of shortness of breath and palpitations. When she saw a doctor, Viki learned that she'd had a mild heart attack a while back. Viki admitted that she'd been having palpitations for years, but didn't believe they were rooted in any potentially serious medical condition. Viki was urged by her family to pay attention to her doctor's orders to ensure that her heart condition would not be a threat to the very full life that Viki had ahead of her.
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