2×19: Death and a Wedding
Previously on Liberty City:
Susan tells Keith she’s ending their marriage.
Susan and Dustin both file for divorce; Susan files for full custody of Isaac.
Susan and Keith become intimate.
Jamie and Dustin reconnect in shocking ways.
Scene One: The Smithson Home, 745 Brooklyn Road, Liberty City, 01948.
In the kitchen, Leah and Dan keep silent, not speaking to each other. Dan sits at the kitchen table drinking his coffee and reading his paper; Leah preparing food for Claire, who sits in her high-chair
“Are we just going to stay silent for the rest of our lives?” Dan asks, hoping to break the silence. Leah continues to ignore him, still angered by his previous statements concerning Cassandra’s involvement with Claire. Fed up with being ignored, Dan slaps the newspaper down and storms out of the kitchen. Not impressed by his behavior, Leah storms after him.
“So because I want to be pissed and not get involved in an argument, you’re going to stomp off like a baby,” Leah exclaims. Dan responds, “No. I stormed off because I’ve been trying to apologize for days and you’ve been ignoring me and making sure you’re in bed before I even walk through the front door.” “Well, whose fault is it that he works 24/7.” “At least I work.”
“You’re saying I don’t work? I take care of that beautiful little girl in there,” Leah snipes. Dan responds, “Okay, if you say so. I just can’t understand why we can’t try and include her in Claire’s life, even in a small capacity?” “Do you not know what she’s put Claire through already? She’s not fit to raise a child.” “Obviously I don’t Leah, I don’t see the Cassandra you saw growing up, and maybe that’s my flaw and I won’t let it keep her from Claire. I want to finish this before it gets ugly and neither of us is able to see her. I mean, what else do you want me to say?” “Nothing. There’s nothing you can say,” Leah says, as if not caring about the situation any longer.
Unable to find anymore words to say, Dan grabs his coat, and leaves.
Scene Two: Liberty City Memorial Hospital, 1281 Bunker Hill Avenue, Liberty City, 01948.
Dr. Brian Connolly stands at the employee desk completing charts for several patients admitted into the hospital. Dr. Bridget Carter approaches the desk and says, “Dr. Connolly, I’m glad I caught up with you. Is Dr. Spencer in today? I haven’t seen him.” “Ah, Dr. Carter it’s lovely to see you. And no, I haven’t seen Dr. Spencer; I believe he’s taking some short-term personal time right now. Is there anything I could possibly help you with?” “Oh no, there are just a few patients he assigned to me and I wanted to check in a few things with him. It’s okay though.”
As Bridget walks away, Brian turns his attention to the other new staffer: Dr. Ameera Perry. “Dr. Perry,” Brian begins. “How was you doing today?” She responds, “Very well, thank you. I’m just looking over some consultations that I need to re-examine and familiarize that Dr. Montez left behind when she vacated this job.” “It’d probably be a good idea to contact her son and ex-husband, and get to know her work ethic and how she handled the job.” “Good idea; I actually have to call them anyways, she left some knick-knacks at her desk. Figured they’d want to regain possession of them.”
As Brian and Ameera exchange their goodbyes, Ameera proceeds to her office where she closes the door. She logs onto her computer, and looks up Brenda’s contact information in case of hospital emergency. Listed is Braden’s phone number. Ameera picks up the receiver and dials the number; after several rings Braden picks up the phone.
Braden: Hello?
Ameera: Hello. Is this Braden Montez?
Braden: Yes. May I ask whom is calling?”
Ameera: This is Dr. Ameera Perry, the new Head of Nursing at Liberty City Memorial.
Braden: Oh, yes. Well, what can I do for you Dr. Perry?
Ameera: Actually, I was hoping to meet with you and Officer Stevens, if at all possible?
Braden: We should be able to do that. I can call him now, is everything okay?
Ameera: Everything is fine Mr. Montez, there’s just a few of your mother’s belongings I’m sure you’d like to collect.
Braden: Oh yeah, cool. Umm, if I can get in contact with him, we could meet you at your office around like three o’clock?
Ameera: Three is fine. I look forward to meeting you.
Ameera hangs up the phone and immediately pulls out a photo frame of Brenda, Mathew and Braden. She looks at the photo, wondering what happened to the happy family that was photographed.
Scene Three: Liberty City Hotel – Room 534, 300 Earp Street, Liberty City, 01948.
On the couch Cassandra is sleep, having fallen asleep reading a book. As she tosses and turns, she wakes up suddenly from her sleep. The sounds of a baby crying are then heard from somewhere inside of the hotel room.
As she gets up to look around, she is unable to find the crying baby. The sound of the crying baby is then over-powered by the sounds of a loud banging. Cassandra then snaps out of sleeping, again, revealing it was all a dream. As she adjusts to be woken up, the banging continues; she gets up and walks over to the door rubbing her eyes open. Upon opening the door, she is greeted by Dan.
“Dan? I didn’t expect to see you,” Cassandra greets to her visitor. Dan replies, “I was hoping to talk about Claire with you.” As Dan walks into the hotel room Cassandra asks, “Is everything okay with Claire?” “Claire is fine Cassandra, but I’m starting to think that maybe keeping you from her is a bad idea.”
Intrigued, Cassandra bites her bottom lip. She asks, “What changed your mind? This obviously wasn’t an over-night decision. You and Leah were so adamant about keeping me from Claire, and now, you’re cool with it.” “I don’t want Claire to grow up without her mother, or her parents on the same page,” Dan replies. “I heard about what happened with your mom and your dad. Does that have something to do with this?” “You could say that.” “Why do I feel like there’s a catch to this deal? I mean, I don’t want visitation, I want my daughter full-time.” “I know, but it’s all I can offer.” “Unless.” “Unless what Cassandra?”
Cassandra struts her way over to Dan, closes in on him and whispers, “Unless you marry me.”
Scene Four: The Smithson Home, 745 Brooklyn Road, Liberty City, 01948.
Leah tries to get Claire to eat up her food, but is persistent in not eating. “Come on Claire. Honey, you got to eat,” Leah says to her hoping she’ll eat. Fed up with trying, Leah takes Claire out of her highchair and cleans her up.
Upstairs, Leah places Claire in her crib and tucks her into bed for her afternoon nap. “Goodnight sunshine,” Leah says in a light tone. As she returns downstairs, the doorbell goes off. Halted in folding a blanket, Leah makes her way to the door. Opening, she sees her mother. “What do you want?” Leah asks. Patricia replies, “I wanted to talk with you.” “Mom, I’m really not in the mood to talk about anything.” “Then you can listen to what I have to say.”
“Listen mom, I get it. You’re on Cassandra’s side. And I have no intentions of letting her get Claire back,” Leah makes known. Patricia replies, “But she’s her mother.” “And that excuse was where when I helped Cassandra out when she came running to me. I was 20 raising my 12 year old sister because our mother wasn’t there for her. Was it even you who sent her away?” “Do you think I would send her away?”
As the two women stare at each other with no words to say, a loud thump is heard upstairs. Both women rush upstairs to find Claire laying on the floor, crying. Leah immediately picks up Claire and begins to comfort her, trying to calm her down. “Looks like you can’t even put a child down for a nap,” Patricia snaps, as if her whole demeanor had changed. Leah replies, “I don’t have time for this. I have to bring Claire to the hospital to make sure she’s okay.”
Scene Five: Liberty City Memorial Hospital, 1281 Bunker Hill Avenue, Liberty City, 01948.
Ameera sits at her desk, typing up medical review forms that are missing from several charts. In a split moment, a knock is heard at the door. “Come in,” Ameera announces. As Braden and Mathew walk in, Ameera asks, “Can I help you two gentlemen?” Braden replies, “I’m Braden Montez. We talked on the phone. And this is Mathew Stevens, my mother’s ex.”
Ameera shakes both Braden and Mathew’s hands and says, “It’s very nice to meet you both. Thanks for coming. Please, have a seat.” Mathew asks, “Braden told me you wanted to talk to us about something. Is everything okay?” “Oh yes, I mainly wanted to return some of Ms. Montez’s belongings, as well as talk to you about her and how she handled her job. It’s not easy being the new person in a high-profiled job. Especially following the praise and excellence I hear she had when she was on the job.” “My mom was definitely dedicated to her craft,” Braden responds.
Ameera asks, “Was there anything she did as a person that helped her craft herself into the doctor she was?” Mathew answers, “I just know she was dedicated to her job. And if you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to know this?” “I want to know because it will help me become better at this job. I understand the high standard she set, and I’m hoping I can bring some of the familiarity to the job; hopefully it will make the transition easier for the staffers.”
Braden responds, “Well, I know she really took into account how the patient was feeling and really listened to the nurses about their concerns and always had an open door policy.” “Well, I’ll hopefully keep these things in mind. I don’t want the other staffers thinking I’m going to come in and change everything up on them. I want to make sure they still have the same feeling they had working under Ms. Montez.”
“Well, I do have to be going. I only got 30 minutes off from the station,” Mathew says, standing up. Ameera says, “Well, I do thank you. Maybe we could all get together over lunch someday soon and discuss more. I’m really into getting to know her more, you know, to bring more comfort to the hospital. Change these days can be so unsettling.” “Yeah, sure. I’ll call and make the appointment.”
Ameera hands Braden the box of his mother’s belongings and escorts them out of her office.
Scene Six: Liberty City Hotel – Room 534, 300 Earp Street, Liberty City, 01948.
Dan looks at Cassandra confused and says, “Marry you? I can’t do that Cassandra. I’m with Leah, that’d never work out. Besides, I’m not even that insane to marry someone like you.” “Listen, if you want to see Claire, you’ll marry me. Or I’ll contest to get your parent rights taken away,” Cassandra threatens. “Taken away? On what basis?” “For letting someone who could be potential of so much violence, like per say, putting someone, who is pregnant, in a coma? Plus, we were together for less than a month before I ended up pregnant and you went to Leah.” “That just proves that I made a mistake with you.”
Cassandra questions, “Are you calling our daughter a mistake?” “No, I’m calling our relationship a mistake. The best thing out of it was Claire. Other than that, I would take back our time together,” Dan says. “I’m sorry you think that Daniel. However, it’d be in your best interest to marry me. Think about it, if I’m capable of getting Claire back, do you honestly think I’m not going to go all out in removing you from her life?” “If you dare threaten me Cassandra, I swear, I will protect Claire from you every second of the moments I’m alive.”
“Dan, come on now, you’re a cop. Chief of Police even, but that doesn’t protect you from the evils of life,” Cassandra says, pulling a bag of cocaine out of her back pocket. She continues, “And if you don’t marry me, these drugs will be multiplied and placed in your home and in your underwear drawer, and in Leah’s purse.” Dan replies, “You can’t do that.”
Cassandra walks up real close to Dan’s face and whispers, “Ball is in your court.” As she slams the baggies onto his chest, she opens the door and says, “It’s your choice. Claire or Leah. Whose it going to be Dan?”
Scene Seven
As Leah and Claire exit the home, Patricia follows suit. As she gets into her car, she gets a mysterious phone call from someone named “Blaine Carraway.” As she picks up the phone she says, “What do you want? No, I can’t do that.” After a long pause, she continues, “I can get into town by the end of the month. Other than that, this stays between us. He can’t get any closer than he is. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll let you know when I’m in town.”
Ameera sits in her office and stares around. She opens her desk once more, and again takes out the photo of Brenda, Braden and Mathew. She says, “What could have made you run Brenda? What scared you so much that you had to leave Liberty City?”
In the hotel room, Cassandra exits the bathroom and walks over to where Dan sits on the couch. She wraps her arms around him and asks, “So, Mr. Spencer, how does it feel to be married to the mother of your child?” After moments of silence, she kisses his head and goes, “You made the right decision.”