Episode 44, originally published 30-May-97

Taking Charge

Flo calls to Phillip, "Phillip, are you up there? Your mother's coming over. Phillip...?" No response. She walks up the stairs cautiously saying, "Phillip?" No response. She opens his door and finds him laying asleep on his bed. Next to him is an empty bottle of gin! Seeing it, Flo shrieks, "Phillip! How could you!!"

Victor enters to find Hope watching television. "Well, what's going on here?" he asks curiously. "Shhh... it's the Daytime Emmies," Hope says. "Well, why are you watching that--you can't even--" "Victor! I may not be sighted but I can still tell a lot about what's going on... And this is all about that show `The Young and the Restless'." "Oh, I see," says Victor. "Isn't that the one they based on life in Genoa City?" "That's right," Hope says with a smile. "Ever since I met you, I've been following it religiously. It can be pretty funny at times, though lately the plots have been very--oh, wait,--here's the award for best writing..."

Flo shakes the sleeping Phillip in his bed. He looks up and scowls at her. "What do YOU want?" "Phillip! Don't you dare talk to me that way. Now your mother is on her way over here, and we have to get you into a shape where you can see her." "Ohhh... can't you just tell her I don't want to see her?" "You've been doing that too much, Phillip. At some point she's going to notice there's something strange about you. Now come downstairs and I'll feed you some coffee to get you sobered back up." "I don't want to." Phillip says stubbornly. "If you don't, gramma Flo's going to have to tell your mom why you can't go down and see her." "You won't do that," Phillip says flatly. "Don't push me, Phillip." "You won't and you know it. Because if she finds out about me, I'm gonna tell her where I got it--from your little stashes all over the house!"

Tony peeks around from behind a bush at the Memorial Day party and says "Pssst!" Sharon turns to see him. "Oh, hi, Tony, what's up?" she says cheerfully. "Grace in the house?" he asks. "I think so--shall I go find her?" "No, that's fine--it's you I wanted to talk to." "Me? About what?" "About Cassie. It's time you knew the truth, Sharon." "The truth?" Sharon asks. "Uh, huh. About the little girl. You see, she was taken from her mother illegally and being held ...." "Oh, Tony--don't tell me any more. I can't believe this." "I see you understand the situation," Tony says. "Oh, I do. I do. Thanks, Tony. Thanks."

Hope is glued to the set waiting to find out who the best writing team for daytime drama is. "And the award goes to... Days of Our Lives," the host announces. "Well, I'll be damned," Victor says. "That Genoa City thing doesn't just win? What's the number of that place?" he asks, fumbling with his cell phone. "Hello, operator. This is Victor Newman. I want to speak to my attorney, Mitchell Sherman. You what? Who do you work for... uh, huh. uh, huh.... well, you just dial him up anyway or you're... Hello, Mitchell? Victor Newman here. I want to buy that--" He turns to Hope and whispers, "What's it called?" "The Daytime Emmies," Hope says, shaking her head. "That damned Daytime Emmy place. There's a daytime drama called The Young and the Ruthless--" "Restless!" Hope corrects him. "Yes, the Young and the Restless," Victor says. "It's based on our lives here and it should be number one... Well, yes, I know it's judged independently. I don't care how you do it, Mitchell. Just see that it's done, ahright?"

Nina arrives and finds Flo pacing anxiously, worried about having not gotten any coffee into Phillip. "Where's Phillip," Nina asks. "He's upstairs, Nina. He wasn't feeling very well." "He isn't?" Nina asks. "Maybe I should--" Flo shakes her head. "I don't think he wants to see you, honey." Flo calls upstairs, "Phillip, your mother's here. Won't you come down and say hello?" Phillip comes halfway down the stairs and says "hello" in his usual monotone and then starts back upstairs. "Phillip, wait!" Nina calls to him. Phillip stops and turns back as she rushes up to him and kisses him. "What's that smell?" Nina asks curiously. "Cough medicine," Flo answers quickly. "Can I go now," Phillip asks. Nina sighs and nods. As she returns to the first floor, the doorbell rings.

Victor is still on the phone with his lawyer. "Oh, and Mitchell? See if you can find out what's up with a phone company named A, T, and--what's that? ... Yes, that's it, AT&T. Their operator didn't know who I was--there's more than one? Well, I want you to buy the thing and fire the whole lot of them. Just have Connie handle the calls, ahright? She'll know who I am, and--Mitchell, are you getting old or what? You used to jump at the opportunity to pull off deals like this. Ahright, forget the damned AT&T purchase if you don't have time for it--just get to those punks at the Daytime Emmies. If necessary, tell them we'll hire my son-in-law Cole Howard, or one of those folks from that soap newsgroup that thinks they're so hot--Kent Pitman or Roberta--what's her name?" He looks to Hope. "Seed. Roberta Seed. But Victor," Hope says hesitantly, "she calls your character `The Toadman'..." "Toadman? Are you sure she's not confusing me with that punk Wartman from m'boy's first imprisonment?" "No, Victor, she knows the difference," Hope says. "Ahright, well, forget her then. Just stick with that Pitman fella."

Jill enters Flo's apartment to see Nina and Flo. "I heard from your doorman that you were on your way over here and just came by to see how you were doing with Phillip," Jill says to Nina. "Everything is fine," Nina says. "So is Phillip ready to move back in with you?" Jill asks. Phillip pokes his head back downstairs. "Gramma Jill?" "Hi, sweetie," she says. Phillip runs and gives her a hug. "What's that smell on you?" Jill says. "Cough medicine," says Nina. "Noooo way," says Jill. I've heard that line before too many times from Katherine and it's NOT cough medicine. Show me the bottle," she says. Phillip tries to run away to his room, but Jill follows. As she forces her way in, she sees the gin bottle in the trash can.

Sharon runs to Doris and says, "Mom, I have to talk to you." Doris wheels over to a place in the side of the patio where no one else is. "Mom, Tony just told me that Grace didn't really get Cassie from a relative! She stole her! Can you believe that! The nerve of her, calling herself my friend." "Now, girl, don't go getting any ideas--" "Mom! How could I not get ideas. MY child is out there--God only knows where--and I can't do anything for it. But here this lovely little girl falls in my lap. If I don't do something for her, how can I expect someone to do something for my child? I've got to take her, Mom."

Victor is off the phone and Hope is once again `watching' TV. "Hey, that's the character that plays me. Turn up the volume." "The volume is UP, Victor. You're not supposed to hear. He doesn't talk, he just mumbles." Victor says something under his breath but Hope doesn't quite hear. "What was that, Victor?" "I SAID," he says in a loud, irritated, but commanding tone, "THAT DOESN'T SEEM VERY REALISTIC, NOW DOES IT? Maybe I was hasty in giving them the best writing award--is that really how they write me?" "No, it's the actor or the director that adds that embellishment, but it's pretty realistic don't you think?" Hope asks rhetorically.

Jill is incredulous. "You let that little boy drink?!" she says to Flo, shocked. "Don't you know he inherits a tendancy toward alcoholism from his father?" Flo looks embarrassed and unsure how to respond. "Well, I... didn't really LET him... He's a hard little guy to control." "Well, if he's drinking gin by the bottle, I can see how that might be!" Jill says scornfully. "No wonder he's been such a little snot lately," Nina says, starting to understand. "Oh, and you had no idea about this?" Jill challenges her. "That he was being a brat? Yes, I saw that," Nina responds. "But no, I had no idea why. He barely spends 3 seconds with me and then throws me out. I just figured he was mad about me and Ryan." "Well, he was," Flo explains. "That's why he turned to the bottle..." "And where did he get that bottle," Jill asks, staring at Flo. Flo shrugs again, "Well, I--" Jill shakes her head. "Oh, I can't believe it! Phillip! Pack your bags, honey. You cannot stay here any longer. You're coming home with Gramma Jill!" she calls to him upstairs. "Jill, you can't just march in here and take--" Nina starts to say. Jill stares straight back at Nina. "And what? Take him? Or take care of him? It won't be very hard to do a lot better than you two seem to be doing. You two just pray I don't arrange to have you arrested for child neglect... or worse! To have your living allowance curtailed! You only get that because you're Phillip's guardian, you know."

"Now, shhh," Hope prompts Victor as they continue to watch the Daytime Emmies. "Here's Jack." "Jack? Jack Abbott? What's he doing there?" "He's competing with you for best actor." "Jack really thinks he's a match for me?" "Well, Victor, just because you've stolen his fiance doesn't mean he can't be a good actor." "Stolen his fiance--who told you about that? How do they get these plots?" "The talk around the town is that Christine Williams sends them the stories." "Christine Williams? That know-it-all paralegal we demoted back to the mail room at Newman Enterprises?" "I don't know Victor, maybe she snoops in everyone's mail, but she really knows what's going on around here...except..." "Except what?" "Well, all the stories end up changed from real life." "Well, don't they have to do that for legal reasons?" "No, I don't think it's that. Somehow she ends up in all the stories as the hero--the greatest lawyer, the most beautiful model, and things like that. I think she's adding that herself. She seems to have a pretty healthy ego, I'll give her that. Though lately the rumor is that that drifter--Kurt Costner--is trying to compete with her as an information source." "Uh, huh," Victor says. "Well, a man can understand that--he's just trying to compete with his brother, Kevin, I guess."

Jill returns home to the Dennison household with little Phillip in tow. "Who's that with you, Jill?" Trish asks. "This is my--uh, this is Ryan and Nina's son Phillip--my grandson," Jill admits. "He's going to be staying with us for a while." "You're Ryan's mother??" Trish asks with sudden very urgent concern. As Jill shakes her head, Trish breathes a huge sigh of relief. "Nina's?" she asks. "It's a long story," Jill says. "Come on, Phillip," Jill says as she whisks him off. "Let's go check out Gramma's kitchen and see what's there." After the two exit, Trish picks up the phone and calls Ryan. "Hi, my love," she says. "Trish?" he asks. "Right Answer!" she says with a smile that indicates she's ready to move him into the bonus round any time he's ready. "Why are you calling?" he asks. "Oh, nothing really," she says in a voice that belies her statement. "I was just thinking about what it's going to be like having your child..." She trails off, mischievously ambiguous.

Victor is back on the phone. "Mitchell, on this best actor thing--I want them to pick someone from one of the other shows. ... No, no, don't you see the way he mumbles? ... The MUMBLING. IT'S HIS MUMBLING. Has everyone around here gone deaf, or what? And no, I won't have Jack Abbott winning... Yes, that's fine. Thanks, Mitch." After a few moments on the screen, we see "And the winner is..." As they tear the envelope, someone comes running up and whispers something in the announcer's ear. A small argument ensues and both envelopes are dropped on the floor. The announcer blushes and takes one of them. "Sorry," he says, opening it. "And the winner is... Aaron Lustig!" "Wait a minute," Victor says, "that's not who I authorized should win." "It's probably who was going to win anyway," Hope says with a smile. "He plays Dr. Tim Reid and is a very sweet man. He deserved to win." "Well, I'll be damned." "You'll be quiet is what you'll be, Victor. Stop interfering and just watch the show. They're doing better without your help."

It's late at night and Tony (sleeping on the couch) hears a very light tap on Grace's door. He gets up and answers it quietly. "Sharon!" he says in a whisper. "Tony! Oh, I'm so glad you answered. I've come for Cassie. Can you sneak her out to me?" Tony nods and disappears for a moment inside. When he returns, Cassie is with him, in her pajamas. She's carrying Cindy. "Come on Cassie," Sharon says, "You're going home with me. I'm going to be your mother from now on." "Grace isn't coming?" Cassie asks. "No," says Tony. "She thought you were being a lot of trouble." "Oh!" says Cassie. "I don't want to be any trouble." And so Cassie leaves with Sharon.

It's morning at Grace's house. "Tony, have you seen Cassie?" Grace says, concerned. The phone rings. "Grace, it's Sharon. I have Cassie. Tony told me the full story." "He did?" "He did. Grace, I can't believe you could just take her and keep her like that. I don't know how I ever thought you were my friend." "Sharon, I--" But the phone is hung up. Cassie is home, and Sharon knows the truth. More or less. Let's have a nice chorus of "Bless the Beasts and the Children" and call it a wrap, shall we?

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 45!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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