Recap by Kaydee

One Life to Live Recap for Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Happy New Year, everyone!! I hope that this year brings you all the hope, prosperity, peace and success that 2002 did not! I can't believe that in 9 days, I will be celebrating my one-year anniversary as a recap writer, and I hope that for those of you who have taken the time out to write me with your feedback, and have told me how you have laughed at my work, I will continue to do more of the same this year. Thank you all for your support and loyal readership!

Let's end this year with a BANG, shall we??

LOONVIEW TEEN BEAT: GOOD VS. EVIL, WITH A DITZ TO BOOT!!

Weeeellll, Cris and Mitch stand face-to-face with Dizzy Lizzy Rappaport standing in the sidelines. Cris demands to know what the hell Mitch is doing there, and as Jen stands there with an "Oh, man, am I busted!" look on her face, Mitch calmly wiggles out of the noose by telling Cris that he was there searching for him. He wants to know where his wife is.

Jen interjects, in an attempt to keep up with the pretense of not knowing Mitch, and asks Cris who this man is and should she call the police. Cris tells her that Bo is right downstairs, so go get him. Jen leaves, leaving Cris to face the Devil's advocate all by himself. Mitch growls that Cris must be really proud of himself for mastering the art of trespassing and kidnapping, seeing as to how he dragged Natalie out of a second-story window against her will. Cris smirks, telling him that he indeed is proud of himself, since Natalie didn't want to be there.

He tells Mitch that he's on to him. He knows all about how Mitch threatened to kill him if Natalie left him, and since Natalie HAS left him, and he and Mitch are alone, now is Mitch's big chance.
"Come on, Mitch, take your best shot!" Cris says, "I'm here. Let's go!"

Mitch flashes that creepy, diabolic smile and tells Cris that he's a religious man, and the Bible says "Thou shalt not kill." Cris tells him that he didn't have any religious convictions when he chose lied to Natalie about who he was. Mitch counters with: "And you obviously had no problem with coveting thy neighbor's wife, now did you?"
Cris tells Mitch that he's the last person that he needs to get Bible lessons
from. He knows the Commandments, and he obeys them, but, he tells Mitch, he will not have a problem breaking one of them...Thou shalt not kill.

"Because," he tells the demon, "If you do one thing to hurt Natalie, I'll KILL you!"

This being said just as Bo and Dizzy Lizzy are standing in the doorway. Mitch asks Cris to repeat himself a little louder, so the Commish can hear him. Cris turns around and Bo shakes his head at Cris before turning on Mitch. What the hell is he doing here? (THAT question seems to be going around.)

Mitch repeats his cover story to Bo, and tells Bo that he's looking for his wife, who was abducted by Mr. Vega. Bo asks Mitch if he can support his accusations with evidence, and Mitch tells him that no proof he provides will satisfy Bo, since Bo himself was a party to the scheme. Bo asks him if he can support THAT theory with evidence.

The conversational two-step continues for a few seconds more, and finally Mitch leaves. Bo zeroes in on Cris, asking him if he's crazy, allowing Lawrence to bait him that way. Both men are talking freely around Jen, unaware that she and Mitch are allies. Bo tells Cris to watch his temper and then advises Jen to call him immediately if Mitch should contact her again. Bo leaves, and Cris storms off into the bedroom, still consumed with residual anger, and begins throwing some belongings into a duffel bag.

He returns to face Jen, and she asks him what he's doing. He tells her that he's going to be staying at the Llanfair carriage house for a while, to help Natalie and Mrs. Davidson out in this time of crisis. Jen continues to play the Mature Scorned One, and wishes him well an Natalie luck. He leaves after a few apologetic words, and an offer to let her keep the loft.

Two seconds after he's gone, there is a knock on the door. It's Mitch. The two psychos stand smiling at each other. Mitch is congratulating her on her superb performance, and Jen toasts to the end of Nat and Cris.

LLANFAIR: BATTLEFIELD #64722

Viki is still a basket case, (No pun intended!), about Jessica. Natalie, hurting for her mom and her sister, assures Viki that Jess will come around.

(Yes, Viki, she will. Just as soon as she digests that plate of Crow!)

She tells Viki that when the bomb smoke clears, Jess will have a lifetime of wonderful memories to reflect back on, and they will carry her right back to Viki. Viki is not so easily convinced, but Natalie continues to point out all of the positive things about the situation.

Natalie points out how Jessica grew up with love and support, and how Viki and Clint have done nothing but show her that love and support again and again. She tells Viki that no matter how far away Jessica's hurt takes her, she'll never forget that, and she'll be back. Viki tells Natalie that Jessica is outraged with her because she didn't stop Mitch from taking her.

Natalie tells her that she had no control over that. There was a heap of things taking place at that very moment, and maybe she wasn't Niki Smith when Mitch took Jessica, but she had just found out the worst thing at the best moment of her life, and she really needs to give herself a break.

Viki smiles at Natalie, telling her that she is truly a very, very, very, very, very...(I counted, she said very 5 times!), special young lady, and she's very grateful to her. If it hadn't been for Natalie, Viki tells her, she would have fallen apart in the midst of all this.

Natalie smiles and says: "Thanks, I got the special part from my mom."

Nora enters at that moment, and Viki invites her to sit down. There's a commercial, during which Viki has explained the whole Mitch Lawrence fiasco in a nutshell to Nora, and when the show returns, Nora is sitting on Viki's couch, blown away by the revelations.

Viki goes on to ask her if she can help Natalie get out of the marriage, and Nora says, "Ohhhh, DEFINITELY."

They are happy, and Nora briefly points out the pros of their case. Mitch concealed his true identity from Natalie, he's refused to grant her an annulment, he is a reputed dangerous criminal, etc. She can help, but she has to talk to Bo about some things they've revealed to her and she has to leave to get started.

As she's leaving, Cris enters. Natalie and Cris tightly embrace, and Nora questions their connections. Viki summarizes the reason behind Cris's presence at Llanfair, and tells her that he's going to be staying in the carriage house. Nora tells them all that is OUT of the question! It'S obvious that Natalie and Cris are involved, but if she wants out of this marriage, she has to keep her closet free of skeletons that can be used against her in court. So, no hanky-panky for the teens, or she will remain Mitch's prisoner.

Flash over to the Crow Dinner table, we find Jessica and Al in the Llanfair stables. Jessica is singing the "Why Me?" blues as she coughs up Crow feathers. Why did everyone lie to me? My mother never wanted me..she gave me away without a fight to Mitch Lawrence. I'm not a Buchanan, (again), I don't want to see my mother, oh why did this happen to me? WHY, WHY, WHY???

Al tries everything in the world to appease her. Your mother loves you. She didn't know what happened. There had to be a reason why this happened....

(Okay, I have to interject here, people! The woman had just delivered a child after a grueling labor. Not only is she shocked to discover that her work isn't done because she is about to have another child that she didn't know she was carrying, but she also discovers that a member of her Labor & Delivery Squad is Mitch Lawrence in disguise. Then he tells her that she is about to deliver THEIR child, because he had sex with her under the influence of a drug, AFTER trespassing on to her property. She was under the influence of delivery fatigue, shock, and fear..Heck, I don't have D.I.D., but under those circumstances, I'd probably have been a robot who handed her baby over, then turned into Niki Smith, too! Grow up, Jessica!)

Asa finds them and notices that Jessica isn't too peppy. He asks her what is wrong, and is annoyed to find that Al is acting as her mouthpiece. He asks Jess a question, and Al comes up with the answers. He barks out some Asa-style comedic quips at Al and continues to prompt Jess for some info. He notices that she is holding a photo of her and Clint, and he starts to tell her some happy childhood stories that only saddens Jessica. Finally she manages to get Asa to leave, and Al offers her sanctuary away from the world in his bedroom.

She again sings the blues, and again Al tries to console her, and she tells him that he's her best friend. They hug, just as Seth walks in!

OPERATION SUPERBROOM: THE DOCTOR IS IN!

Troy arrives at the trashed Rappaport Art Gallery and informs Lindsay that he has proposed to Nora. Well, having spied on him and Nora in bed earlier, she knew that already, and she was holding a letter opener to express her congratulations. She turns to Troy and tells him that there will not be a wedding, she'll kill him first.

Looking at the letter opener in her hand, Troy is a little afraid at first. But he recovers quickly and turns the tables on her. He grabs her and tells her that he will NOT let her ruin his life, it ends here.

She lets out a fear-filled scream, then struggles to get away from him and runs over to the phone. She screams out that she is going to call Nora right now, and Troy snatches the phone right out of the wall. She tells him that she'll get to Nora no matter what.

He walks after her, and she scrambles to the room. She tries to lock the door, but he pushes his way in. He grabs her again, and tells her that he knows how to shut her up because he knows something about her. He knows that she still wants him. She feebly denies it at first, but after a few persuasive gestures on Troy's part, namely a dangerous closeness that was the prelude to a kiss, he gets her to confess that she does want him, and they engage in a passionate kiss that precedes a sex session! Shame on you, Troy!

A little later, outside on the Llanfair grounds...

Seth and Rex are fencing with those testosterone swords again! Rex baits
Seth, telling him that Jessica is missing and it's all his fault. Seth tells him to back off and tells Rex to go mind his own business. He might get a life while he's at it.

Rex can't pass up the opportunity to rub Seth's nose in his own frustration, and the argument continues. He tells Seth that Jessica is missing because of him, and because of him, she just may be with that psycho Mitch Lawrence. (Psycho, did he say?? And he himself is what, SANE???)

Seth is so heated that he fumbles for a reply, but then something hits him, and he blurts out: why is Rex so damned interested in him and Jessica anyway? Rex turns to Seth, with a sneering grin, and says:

"You don't get it. I'm not interested in YOU at all!"
"Oh, so that's it! You want Jessica all to yourself. So you can go after her loot?"

Rex tells him that he should stop looking at HIM as a threat, and focus on the real threat....Al Holden, who's with Jessica alone as they speak. Seth takes the bait, and rushes off to Al's.

Later, he finds Jessica and Al in an embrace..in Al's bedroom!

LLANVIEW COMEDY SEGMENT:

How Stella helped Roxy get her groove back.....

I'll be the first to admit that I never thought Llanview could produce a character as sleazy, dim-witted and hysterically funny, if not more so, than Roxy. But surprise! Enter Stella, Roxy's mom. Need I say more?

After hearing Roxanne suffer more abuse than he can stand, Max barges in to Stella's apartment and tells Stella that she has gone far enough, it ends now. Stella barks, while balancing a lit cigarette between the corners of her lips and squinting to see through her glasses and a thick cloud of smoke,

"What?? Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Max Holden, Roxy's husband, and NOBODY speaks to my wife that way!"

(I'm not sure, but I think Roxy did a double-take when she heard that.)

"She's my kid! This ain't none o' ya business!"
"She's my wife, it's all of my business! What kind of a mother are you, speaking to your child that way? She is a human being with feelings! I can only see one exception here."

"What's that? Oh...what? Heeyyyyy, I have feelings, too!"
"Yeah," Max says, "Greed, sadism..."
"Hey! Do you hear how this ingrate of a husband of yours is talking to me?"

Anyway, she gets no support from Roxy, and she tells them that she's going to try on her outfits, and he'd better be gone when she gets back.
Roxy asks Max why he defended her, he tells her that no one deserves that.

She thanks him for the support, and Stella returns. Max tells Stella that Roxy is done there, and they're leaving. Stella says that Roxy can't leave, she hasn't cooked her holiday dinner yet. She always does, with all the trimmings. Max says that she won't be cooking anything for Stella this year.

Roxy tells her mother: "Sorry, Ma, but if my husband says we're leaving, then we're leaving!"

And they do, hand in hand. Bravo, writers! Very nice twist!

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Recap written by Kimberley Barnett, © Copyright by Katherine Thurston & 2002.