Episode 42, originally published 18-May-97

Breaking Free

Not having heard from her friend Grace since Noah's birth, Sharon rings the doorbell at Grace's. Grace opens the door, "Sharon!" She looks around to make sure Cassie is not in sight and finally opens the door wide. "Grace, I haven't seen you in so long. I just wanted to make sure we were still friends." "Oh, Share, of course we're still friends. I feel so bad not having been over to see you but I've been so busy." "Oh, that marketing job at Jabot, right?" Sharon asks. In a voiceover, we hear Grace saying, "Damn! I forgot all about that job. I wonder if I'm even still employed..." She looks at a calendar on the wall, thinking about how many weeks it's been since she even thought about work. The camera blurs out.

Michael Baldwin stands to address the panel at the parole hearing. "Members of the parole board, and your distinguished guests, although I appreciate and am deeply touched by the interests and efforts of those who have chosen to speak here on my behalf, I am afraid I must now disappoint you."

At Jabot, the camera unblurs and we find ourselves in Ryan's office looking at his desk planner. Neil Winters has been walking up and down the hall peeking in doors; he looks into Ryan's office. "Rye--have you seen Grace Turner around anywhere?" Ryan says, "Not for several weeks. I think she's been too busy to work lately. Do you want me to check on it?" "Wow, could you? With all these people away, I'm having to deliver the mail myself, and now it's salary review week so there's the extra burden of delivering all these Vice Presidential promotions." Neil starts thumbing through the mail, "Is there one in here for you?" Ryan smiles, "Already picked it up. Hey, is there one in there for Antonio--he's been hanging out with Grace, I think." "Antonio? Isn't he already on the board?" Neil asks (in reference to an AWO event that dates back to Episode 27). "Oh, yeah, that's right." "No, wait, there's an envelope here for him," Neil says, puzzled. "Probably just a bonus check then," Ryan guesses. Neil nods. "Well, whatever it is, how about I leave it here with Grace's promotion notice and you can handle both of those." "No problem, Neil. Consider it done," Ryan says helpfully. "Good man!" Neil says, as he heads on down the hall.

Michael checks to see he has everyone at the parole hearing's attention, then continues. "It had been my hope that by now Christine would have been able to put the past into the past and that I would then be able to do the same. But I see that is not to be. Christine is unable to shake the pain and the hurt I have caused her. And until she can, I don't see how a parole for me could work. It was naive and perhaps even selfish of me think Christine would be able to just set this aside and move on with her life. I see that now. I did some awful things. I have hurt her too much. I should never have hurt her at all. And I certainly have no wish to be an ongoing source of harm or even concern to her in the future. So if the mere thought that I might be free somewhere is going to bring such concern and fear to Christine, then I can't in good conscience recommend my own release. Instead, I find myself in the somewhat embarrassing position of requesting your indulgence in hosting me here a while longer, where I can do no harm to anyone."

Sharon is still at Grace's. The situation is plainly still tense. The telephone rings and Grace answers, grateful for any distraction. "Tony?" Grace asks as she picks up the phone. Sharon raises an eyebrow at Grace's expectation. "Nope, it's not Tony, it's someone else you used to see around the office," Ryan chuckles. "Ryan?" Grace asks, remembering his voice. "Bingo!" Ryan says. "Hey," he continues, "you really shouldn't make yourself so scarce around here this time of year--vice presidential appointments are out and yours is gathering dust in your mailbox." "Oh, really?" Grace says. "That's so sweet of you to let me know--I'll drive by today and pick it up." Both hang up without saying good-bye. Sharon says, "I guess that's my cue to leave--sounds like work calls. No wonder I haven't seen you in so long. But Grace, really, don't be a stranger, ok? Stop by and say `hi' once in a while." "Ok, Share. Thanks so much for dropping by." As soon as Sharon leaves, Grace breathes a huge sigh of relief and starts looking around the house. "Cassie? Cassie?" She stops cold when she sees an open window with the obligatory gusts of wind blowing the curtains around to emphasize the fact. "Cassie!" she yells. But Cassie is nowhere to to be found.

Michael Baldwin's gaze turns to Christine, whose jaw has dropped. His is the perfect poker face, revealing nothing of what he thinks; her face, by contrast, can be read like a book. Michael's stunning statement puts success within her grasp--but can she trust him? She stands uneasily to address the panel. "Don't you see what he's doing?" She asks frantically. "He's playing on your sympathies!" The panel's chair engages her in dialog. "So you don't agree with him--that he should be kept locked up until you are better able to cope?" She pauses, then responds, "No, I DO agree with him..." "You agree with him, and yet you wish to debate him? What is it you're trying to say?"

Sharon is getting out of her car at the Newman ranch when to her surprise the back window rolls down and Cassie pokes her head out. "Hello," Cassie says. "Hello!" Sharon says with great surprise. "Who are you and where did you come from?" she asks. "I'm Cassie," the little girl says. Sharon asks again, "Where did you come from? Did you stow away in my car? Your mother must be very worried about you!" "I don't really have a mother. There's just Millie. But then these people came and told me they'd take me away to where I would be a princess! So I went with them, but they locked me in a room just like Millie did." "That's terrible!" says Sharon. "Well, not really. I never had pizza and donuts before... I LIKE pizza and donuts... But I'm getting kind of tired of them. I was wondering--could me and Cindy stay with you a while?" "Cindy?" Cassie nods her whole head up and down. "Cindy's my best friend." Cassie makes her doll poke her head out the window. "Say hello, Cindy," she prods the doll. Sharon smiles and says, "Well, you two come in and we'll see what we can arrange." "I don't want to be any trouble," Cassie says earnestly. "Oh, it's not any trouble," Sharon says. "I like children. I have a little boy of my own." "You do? Can I meet him?" "He's still very small, but you can meet him. Come on in the house--I'll show you around. And I'll see if I can get Miguel to fix you something good to eat." "Miguel--is that your husband?" "No, he's just a nice man that lives nearby and brings food whenever we want it." "Wow!" Cassie says with her eyes widening. "Are YOU a princess?" Sharon laughs. "Something like that, I guess. Come on now, let's go into the house."

Christine tries to clarify her reasons for concern. "First, the implication that I'm unable to get past my feelings is insulting." "So you'd recommend we release him?" "No." "But you just said you agree with him that he should stay locked up until you're ready--" "It's not about me!" The Bug says firmly. "Then why are you testifying?" the chair asks with growing irritation. Cricket sighs. "What I mean is, I represent women everywhere." The involuntary winces and raised eyebrows of the few women in the room suggest this might not be 100% true, but the chair lets the remark go by. "Let's go back a step, Ms. Williams. Which parts of what Michael said were not true?" Cricket thinks for a moment, then repeats, "None of it... but it's important that you don't believe him anyway." "In asking us not to believe what he says, and what you admit is true, is there something else we should believe? Perhaps something that is not true?" the chair asks, now sure that she is making no sense. "Well, I--uh--" Christine sputters.

Back at Grace's, Tony is flipping out. "She went out the window? Why weren't you watching her??" "I WAS, but then Sharon came by and I didn't want to let on that we had her daughter..." "And so now you don't have her daughter. Well, that's a lot better now isn't it." "Ohhh--Tony--I didn't KNOW that would happen. And it was only a few minutes. Let's go out and look for her." "I already circled the block--it's a sure bet she's hiding and doesn't want to be found or that someone else has taken her in," Tony sighs. "Well, maybe that's good, right? I mean, she needs someone to take care of her." "Grace! If someone finds out that you had custody of her and let her go, you're going to be in a lot of hot water... That's assuming they don't just sell her or something." "Sell her?" "Well, it's been known to happen--there's big business in the illegal child adoption business--especially for cute kids like Cassie. Grace, you gotta tell Sharon what's happened now!" "Bite your tongue, Tony. What am I going to tell her? `Hi, Sharon. I found your baby and took her out of a perfectly good home to stay with me, where I lost her.' Oh, I'm sure that's going to endear her to me. Sharon's my best friend. I can't just lose her daughter!" The phone rings.

As Cricket struggles to respond coherently, Michael rises. "Am I permitted to object? I've done nothing here but agree with Christine that if her injury is still ongoing, I might be better off locked away until she can heal." Cricket whines, "Are you going to let him get away with this?" The chair pounds his gavel and says, "I think we've heard what we need to hear. We'll retire to make a decision." They file out of the room.

"Hello?" Grace says into the phone. "Grace. Hi! It's me, Sharon. I know I was just over there but I have the most amazing thing to show you." "Oh, Sharon, now's not a good time, ok?" "Oh. Things bad with you and Tony?" "Uh, something like that. Anyway, I gotta go right now--I'll call you, ok?" Sharon looks disappointed. "Ok. Don't be a stranger, though, right?" Both hang up. The camera zooms back at Sharon's house to show Cassie being fed a healthy feast by Miguel. "Oh, Sharon, Cindy and I are enjoying this very much. Cindy was wondering--could we pretend that you're our mommy? Then we could be like princesses, too! We'll be very good and eat all of our broccoli. We don't want to be any trouble..."

A short while later, the panel is reconvened. "We've considered the testimony and have reached the only outcome we believe possible. Michael, you've testified that you should not be released until Ms. Williams is able to cope. Perhaps under ideal circumstances, the world would work this way. However, we are not confident that Ms. Williams' agony over this is not a self-induced psychosis of some kind, and as such we are ill at ease in trying to measure when it might be over. We have chosen to disregard her testimony, and to rely only on those others who have testified. You have asked not to be released, but you are not the official voice of the court and cannot always have your way either. Our ruling, then, is that in spite of your request to the contrary, you will be granted parole with high honors. And, additionally, if Ms. Williams feels she would like a psychological referral, the court will be happy to provide one. This hearing is adjourned."

Michael gets up from his chair and moves to Christine. "I'm sorry," he says. "I know this was a disappointment. I did my best to help you, but I've been in here a long while now, and I guess I'm just losing my touch." But it is Christine that has lost touch. She just sits and stares, unable to understand how Michael has managed to beat her again.

Nick walks in and sees the new arrival. "Nick..." Sharon says uncertainly. "Hey, babysitting for someone? Good way to pick up some extra income," Nick says approvingly. "Not exactly," Sharon explains. "Cassie here is a runaway. She doesn't seem to have a home and she hasn't been treated very well in the places she's been staying. Could we keep her for a while? At least until we can make sure she's got a good home?" "A runaway, huh?" Nick mulls. "She sounds like she'll fit in well around this family. Sure, Sharon, whatever you want. I know I didn't warm up very well to this kids thing at first, but it seems to be working out, so... sure, the more the merrier!" He looks over to Cassie, "Hey! Welcome to the family." Cassie replies, "I don't want to be any trouble." Nick laughs and says, "Oh, don't worry, you won't be. That's why we've got Miguel--right, guy?" He punches Miguel playfully in the shoulder.

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 43!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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