Recap by Kaydee

One Life to Live Recap for Wednesday, May 22, 2002

MOTHER'S REVENGE, MOTHER'S REMORSE:

Gabrielle is sadly packing up her things in her office at The Sun. She tells herself, as she sadly admires her name plate, that she was really good at the job, and when she looks back, it will be something she can be proud of, with the exception of how she actually got the job.

As she tearfully puts the name plate into the box with the rest of her things, she hears footsteps approaching, and she looks up to see Blair. Before she can say more than Blair's name, Blair charges at her and delivers a powerful, stinging slap across her face. Gabrielle takes the slap, realizing that it was coming from the tortured soul of a mother acting under the sting of the ultimate betrayal. A betrayal in which she played a part for selfish reasons.

Blair, seeing red, hisses, "What kind of person are you?"
Torn apart by her own guilt, Gabrielle brokenly replies,

"The kind of person who made a dreadful mistake." Blair is not moved by Gabrielle's attempt at redemption. Blair spits out if that is supposed to be an excuse, and Gabrielle says:

"By no means is it an excuse! I am terribly sorry for keeping Todd's secret. I should never have done that."

Blair is disgusted by Gabrielle's remorseful apologies. She asks Gabby how she would feel if Al were dead? Gabby asks her:

"What kind of a horrid question is that?"

But Blair is not concerned with being diplomatic about her point. She continues to throw Gabby some hypothetical worst-case scenarios, and asks her to think about she would feel if she were in those situations. How would you feel if you never got to hear Al's voice? Or get to even see him and get to memorize his face? Gabrielle feels stronger stabs of painful guilt pierce her heart with each scenario Blair puts to her. Gabrielle tells her that she would be devastated, and Blair screams out: "Then how could you do that to ME!"

"I'm terribly sorry, Blair," Gabrielle says again, "I tried so many times to tell you the truth.."

"OH SHUT UP, Gabrielle!" Blair screams, "You wouldn't know the truth if it walked in here and slapped you on the other side of your face!"

Gabrielle again tries to tell her that she did everything she could to convince Todd to tell Blair the truth, and again, she's sorry. Blair smugly tells her that now that the truth is out, Gabby can't continue to blackmail Todd. Gabby assures her that she has given up her position at The Sun, and frankly, Gabby tells her that she's relieved that it's over. But Blair spits her gesture back in her face by saying,

"Oh, Gabrielle, I don't care about your damned job! And you think it's over?" Blair lets out a sarcastic chuckle, then continues on to say, "Oh, it's not over by a long shot!"

Terrified, Gabby asks her what she means. Blair tells her that she wants Gabrielle to suffer the way that she did. She wants her to feel the pain of having her child ripped away from her for a long time. Again, what does Blair mean? Blair cites the same charges that the police attempted to stick to Todd, and Gabrielle flinches as Blair tells her that she intends to press charges. Gabby says that she thought Blair had decided not to press charges against Todd.

"Oh, this has nothing to do with Todd, this is all about you!"

Gabby is terrified and angry as well. So Todd goes free for lying to her about the baby's death, paying her and David Vickers off, hiring some girl to pretend to be Jack's mother, but Gabrielle has to be punished? Blair tells Gabby that she doesn't owe her an explanation for doing what she wants to do, but Gabby counters by telling her that she will owe AL an explanation for sending his mother back to prison. Blair heartlessly tells her that she should of thought about that before she took part in Todd's scheme.

Gabby now pleads with Blair not to send her back to prison, and then she tries to make sense out of Blair's methods. Why is it that she's picking on just Gabby, when it was Todd who did the brunt of the crime? Oh, wait! She must be afraid of Todd! Too afraid to go toe-to-toe with him. Blair says she's not afraid of Todd, and Gabby says she is. But there's got to be more to this story..and Gabby figures out what that is...

"Oh my god, Blair!" Gabby says, "Don't tell me you still love him?"
Blair remains silent, but her eyes tell all. Gabby says, God help you, Blair.

Later, Blair emerges from the kitchen with a glass of wine and heads out to the hallway staircase. She looks up at the family portrait hanging at the top of the stairs, and she climbs the steps, throwing her wine at the picture of Todd, and saying,

"I'm not afraid of you, Todd. Gabrielle is wrong. And I don't love you, not anymore. I don't love you, I don't love you, I don't love you..."

Her protests are broken off by her collapse into heartbreaking sobs. Flash over to her in the bedroom she once shared with Todd, and we find her removing all of Todd's from the closet and throwing them furiously on the floor, continuing her chant of "I don't love you," with each vicious toss.

Down in the hall, we get the camera angle of a mystery person climbing the Manning staircase and heading toward the master bedroom. The mystery person finds Blair sobbing into mid-air, and she turns to face the figure.

NIKI SMITH: KILLER FOR HIRE?

With her patience running thin, and Viki trying to resurface, Niki hurries to set her plan to eliminate Ben into motion. She races over to Bo's apartment, primping in the cosmetic mirror and dropping a few criticizing lines about Viki's sense of style and fashion, then she knocks on the door.

Bo answers and she walks in. Bo acknowledges that she sounded urgent on the phone and asks her what the problem is. She breaks down and says in a panicked tone, "Oh, Bo, I need you!" then embraces him tightly. Bo is concerned, and he asks her if Ben went on a rampage again. Niki immediately says, no, not since the incident regarding Allison Perkins.

Niki starts the conversation by telling Bo that she knows that he had a talk with Ben about his anger. Bo says, "Yeah, and it only made him go off some more." Niki nods, then says that she also knows that Bo kept the conversation she shared with him a secret from Ben, and she just wanted to tell Bo how much she appreciates the way he takes care of her. She takes his hands and then gives her nervous look, causing Bo to become more concerned.

"What's wrong, Viki?" Bo asks, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Weeeellll...

Now Niki springs into action and zooms in for the kill. She tells Bo about the call she received from Clint, who wants to discuss legal matters concerning Jessica and Natalie, and they both decided that it would be easier to do it in person. Bo agrees, and she continues. She tells Bo that she's going to London. Bo happily tells her,

"Really? Wow! You're going to see Clint! It's been so long since anyone has seen him. So do you want me to look after the girls for you while you're gone? It won't be any trouble..."

No, Niki tells him, she wants him to go one better..Why not take the trip with her?

(I'm sorry, but did anyone see Bo nearly choke?)

Niki sure noticed, and she tries to rush into an explanation that would justify her request. She tells him that she'd originally wanted to use the trip so that she and Ben could have some time alone..

Bo says.."That's a great idea!" But Niki tells him that Ben couldn't get the time off from the bar and the clinic. Bo tells her that Ben has his priorities all mixed up. Then Niki implants the "bad Ben character seed" in Bo's mind by telling him of a bogus jealousy that Ben has of Viki spending time alone with her ex-husband in London. So she tells Bo that that's why she wants him to come along. She figures that maybe Bo coming will quell some of Ben's jealousy.

Bo tells her that he's not sure he can take the time off on such short notice, and Niki says she understands and sadly begins to walk away. Bo, feeling guilty, tells her to wait and he'll make some phone calls to see what he can do. When he goes into the other room, Niki does her victory dance thing and heads out to the terrace, where she indulges in another fantasy about her and Bo.

A few minutes later, Bo returns and happily tells her that since Blair isn't pressing charges on Todd, he can take time off for the trip. She's overly excited and hugs Bo, just as a very distraught Gabrielle walks in with her boxes and a tear-stained face. Immediately on alert at the sight of her tears, Bo asks her what's wrong.

Niki watches angrily as Bo hugs Gabrielle, and listens as Gabby tells Bo of the encounter she had with Blair. Niki silently rejoices as Gabby tells Bo of Blair's intent to have her arrested. Her victory is short-lived, however, as Bo comes over to cancel his role in their trip. Secretly eating her sour grapes, Niki tells him that she understands and leaves. Out in the hall, Niki adds "the South-American slut", as she refers to Gabby, to her hit list.

Inside, Gabby breaks down into tears and tells Bo that she just can't go back to prison....

NORA/TROY/SAM: COLD WAR IN PROGRESS!

Nora and Troy are under the influence of their heated passion for one another as they await Matthew and Sam's arrival. Nora desperately tries to free herself from the spell by telling Troy that she has to be clear-headed when Matthew arrives, which should be in another half-hour. She sluggishly moves away from Troy, but he embraces her from behind and tells her that he can't believe he's really with her. Somehow, they manage to find themselves on the couch just as Matthew comes bumbling in with Sam right behind him.

Nora and Troy guiltily try to compose themselves, but it's too late. Sam angrily glares at them and Nora diverts her attention away from the stare to tend to her son. A short time later, Matthew scurries off upstairs to watch a show and Sam turns to leave, leaving a jerk-sarcastic remark behind about calling before he arrives in future.

Troy, feeling the wrath of the nuclear tension between the former mates, announces that he, too will be leaving. Nora asks him to stay and races out after Sam. Sam return, irritated, and rudely asks her what she wants. She tells him that they need to talk about what he and Matthew walked in on.
Sam strongly tells her that her personal life is none of his business, and they should just leave it at that.

Nora sidesteps that command and tells him that she didn't deliberately set it up so that Sam could walk in on the scenario. She wasn't expecting them for another half-hour. Sam apologizes for Matthew just barging in...

(Okay, another awkward moment in the life of Sam and Nora)

Nora tells him that they have to talk . If their son saw something that he was uncomfortable with...Sam interrupts her and tells her that he's confident that she'll help him through it, she always does a very good job of that. He just hopes that Nora is truly concerned with Matthew's state of mind and not trying to make things okay for him. She asks him if he's okay with what he saw, and he angrily reassures her that he's accepted her personal life.

He turns to leave, then informs her that if Matthew should ask, he's already told their son that both of his parents are friends and that they love him very much. Nora thanks him for the info, and says that she hopes one day it will be true. Sam says a nasty, "Maybe", and walks away.

(Okay...Can anybody tell me where exactly Sam gets off having an attitude with Nora because HE failed her miserably? Talk about sour grapes!)

Back inside, Matthew has returned to the living room where Troy is sitting on the couch. Troy tells the boy that he thought Matthew was watching his favorite show. Matthew says it was "prevented". (LOL, cute!). Troy laughs and says that he hates when that happens. Matthew, out of the blue, asks Troy why he was kissing his mother. (Now, Troy is the choking victim!)

Troy tries to bow out of that one by telling him that if he has questions of such nature he should ask his mom. Matthew, however, cleverly replies that Troy promised to always be honest with him. Troy is trapped. He asks  Matthew if he has a girlfriend, and the child replies that he has two.

"Two girlfriends! You're a regular ladies' man, eh?" Troy asks Matthew if he ever holds hands with either of them. Matthew tells him sometimes. Well kissing for adults is like holding hands. It's how grown-ups tell each other that they like one another.

"Seems yucky to me," Matthew says. Troy laughs and tells him to stick to holding hands for now. A few seconds of silence pass, and Matthew asks troy if he loves his mommy. Troy nearly chokes again on the "Yummy Worm" candy Matthew gave him. He comments that the child is just bubbling over with questions, and since he promised to be honest with Matthew, he says:

"Yes, I do love your mother." And Nora walks in just in time to hear that.


SAY "I DO", TO PEPCID COMPLETE!

Well, folks! What can I say? Max is feeling the acid reflux disease that was triggered by sobriety on the morning after. Roxy has just announced to the teens that she is the new Mrs. Holden, and Max could do nothing but rub his chest to quell the heartburn.
(It seems to flare up every time Roxy's says "wife").
Al rips into his father in front of the teens and Roxy. How could he be married to, to, to, to...THAT! What was Max thinking? There's no way that,  that thing could be Max's wife!

Roxy indignantly asks "Legs", as she refers to Al, what his problem is, and who does he think he is, talking to her and Max that way? Max painfully tells Roxy that Al is his son, and he's entitled to his opinion. Well, Roxy is thrilled to have connected with yet another aspect of her marriage and she grips a disgusted Al around the middle in an embarrassing hug and says,

"Come to Mama!" Al wrestles her away and tells her that no matter who she's married to, she'll NEVER be his mother. Roxy is unfazed and tells him that any good mother knows that a child needs lots of space, so she'll give him his. Natalie sarcastically says that Roxy doesn't have a clue what it means to be a mother, let alone a good one. Roxy blows her off and heads to  the slots.

Al takes Max aside, and Max shamefully tells the story of how the Elvis wedding came about. Al doesn't rip into his dad any further, seeing that the wedding fiasco was punishment enough to the older man. Instead, he's prompted to apologize for the indirect part he felt he played in the whole thing. If he had listened to his father in the first place, he would never have been in Vegas stalking Jen, and Max would never have been in Vegas to meet Roxy.

Max tells him to look at the bright side. Al asks him, Where would that be, exactly? Max comically says: "I didn't gamble." Al tries to figure out how Max came to be so uncharacteristically drunk that he doesn't remember getting married, and then he retraces his own steps, which led back to their argument, and realizes that Max took to liquor because of all of the horrible things Al said to him.

Al feels terrible and tells him that he's sorry and he loves him. Just as they hug, Roxy comes bumbling over and tells Max that she decided to hire a limo to return to Llanview in style, but she needs their address. Max dejectedly tells her: "72 Hill Road". She savors at the classy-sounding address and hurries off.

Max turns to his son and tells him that despite the wedding mishap, there's still a place for Al in his home. Al tells his dad, no offense, but he can't see himself living with Max and his "lovely' (NOT!) new wife. Max firmly tells Al that he doesn't and never had any intention of EVER living with Roxy. Al reminds his father that he just gave her the address. A glint of smug mischief glows in Max's eyes as he replies,

"What? You mean ‘72 Hill Road'?"

Al says: "Uh, yeah?"

Max says, "OOOOH! Oops! I don't know...new place, new address, there's bound to be a few mistakes!"

The Holden men share a good laugh as they walk away in a hug.

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