2×17: Climbing Up a Wall
Previously on Liberty City:
Jamie is surprised by her mother’s appearance in Liberty City.
Adam visits Diane, and leaves behind a secret note.
Jessica sees Jason the first time since the finalization of her divorce.
Tori makes it known to Galvin she doesn’t want a repeat encounter.
Scene One: The Johnson Estate, 721 San Quentin Avenue, Liberty City, 01948.
Logan pulls up into her driveway, and as she exits her vehicle with shopping bags, she wraps up her phone call: “Hey Michael it’s me, your mother. I’m sorry you didn’t stay for Thanksgiving, but I guess you went back to Australia. Hopefully I’m not waking you up. Call me back, love you.”
As Logan unlocks her front door, she announces, “Meredith! I’m home! Can you come help me with these bags?” As she lifts her head up, she’s startled by the vast amount of guests in her living room. Shocked Logan asked, “What’s going on here?” Jennifer stands up and says, “Nothing. Some of us just want to talk to you.” “Talk to me? About what?” Logan asks, still caught off-guard by what she was seeing. “About how you’ve been acting ever since Tim passed away,” Donna interjects. “How would you want me to act? I lost my son!” “Yes, but that didn’t give you the means to treat us as lower beings or slaves.” “Why not? You all stuck by that whore while she brainwashed by son into going into the battlefield. She killed him.”
“No,” an unknown voice says. “The only person that tried to brainwash him was you Logan.” Logan turns around to see Cristina standing behind her, with her arms folded, unimpressed by Logan’s crude remarks.
Scene Two: The Smithson Home, 745 Brooklyn Road, Liberty City, 01948.
Leah walks into Claire’s room and covers up a sleeping Claire, who is restlessly sleeping in her crib. To help her, she spins up the Mobile that hangs above the crib, and lets it play a soft lullaby, which quickly calms Claire down.
Leah makes her way downstairs, and enters into the kitchen where Dan is, getting together a bowl of cereal. “I guess Claire’s this morning wasn’t enough,” Leah jokingly states to Dan. He lets out a slight giggle and replies, “No, it wasn’t.” “Is everything okay Dan?” “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just tired, that’s all.”
Leah wraps her hands around Dan’s waist and says, “Well, I can think of places better suited for those of us who are tired.” “Leah, I’m not in the mood,” Dan says back, removing her hands and walking off into the living room. Angered by his actions, Leah steadily follows Dan into the living and quietly exclaims, “Excuse me! You don’t get to just tell me you’re not in the mood and walk off like I’m some problem.” “Do you want the truth, Leah?” “No, I’m standing here like a loon because it brings joy to my life.”
Dan puts his bowl on the stairs and replies, “I’m starting to think it’s not such a good idea to keep Claire from Cassandra.”
Scene Three: Liberty City Court House – Room 400, 1230 Oakland Road, Liberty City, 01948.
Lisa sits at her desk, ruffling through her draws. “Where is it?” she says out loud to herself. In that moment, she finds the missing letters written to Mathew and Braden. Relieved, she quickly grabs her coat and clutch and races to the door.
As she opens the door, she’s greeted by Cassandra Brighton, who is about to knock on the door. “Can I help you?” Lisa asks. Cassandra replies, “Yes. You’re the DA, correct?” “Yes?” Cassandra then welcomes herself into Lisa’s office and says, “Good, because I have business I need to discuss with you.” “Um, I am off duty right now and have errands to run, so if you can come back at a later date, that’d be amazing,” Lisa says in a rush, trying to get Cassandra out of the room. “Sorry Ms. Daley, but that’s not happening. I checked with your secretary, you have this block of time free.”
Clearly ticked off, Lisa hesitantly closes the door and returns to her desk. She asks, “So, what can I do for you Miss..?” “Brighton, Cassandra Brighton,” Cassandra replies, putting in the blank. “Thank you. What can I do for you Ms. Brighton?” “I need you to help me get my daughter back.” “Ms. Brighton, I would love to help you, but I can’t. You can dispute that in family courts, but that’s not the type of business I handle.”
“But you don’t understand, if you don’t help me, I can’t get my daughter back,” Cassandra tries pleading with Lisa. Lisa, clearly unimpressed replies, “Listen, I’ve heard all the sob stories, but I don’t do family case work. I do high profiled cases that are for the good of this town.” “This is for the town Ms. Daley, my daughter was taken from me while I had no way to defend myself. Yes, I’ve made bad choices but I’ve learned from them. My daughter should be with her mother.”
Lisa stands up and simply replies, “I’m sorry Ms. Brighton, but I cannot help you. I sincerely apologize.” Cassandra grabs her things and immediately leaves, but not without saying, “You will regret this Ms. Daley, you’ve just made sure a child’s life is less than what it should be.”
Scene Four: The Johnson Estate, 721 San Quentin Avenue, Liberty City, 01948.
“I’ve just about had it with your snide remarks and your degrading, hurtful comments towards me. It’s getting old Logan,” Cristina says to Logan. Logan turns to the rest of her family and says, “This was the best you could do? Cristina? She doesn’t scare me, she’s not even family.”
Logan drops her bags and walks towards the door. “I wouldn’t do that Logan, don’t walk out on your family. You’ve already left them emotionally, don’t do it physically,” Cristina says in a firm tone, hoping to keep Logan from leaving. Logan snaps around and simply says, “I’ll do whatever I want.”
As she opens her front door, Meredith is seen standing there, firm in her stance. “Meredith move out of my way,” Logan says. Meredith replies, “No.” “Excuse me? Since when do you talk to me that way?” “Since someone taught me I’m old enough to stand up for myself. Now turn around and listen to what we have to say. We’ve listened to you whine and mope about. Now listen to us.” “I don’t have to listen to anyone Meredith.”
“Tim would want you to listen Logan,” Cristina says. Logan replies, “Please, refrain from telling me what my son would want me to do. You were only married to him for a few months before he left for war. I raised him since he was born.” “Then you should’ve known he wanted to be in that war. He wanted to defend his country.”
“Logan, you need to get over this. You need help,” Donna says. Logan replies, fighting off tears, “You don’t know what I need. None of you do.” “Mom,” Meredith says. “We want you to be happy again.” “The only one I’ll ever be happy again is if my son comes home. But he never will. He’ll be in the ground, forever.”
Unable to handle the situation, Logan picks up her things and immediately leaves.
Scene Five: The Smithson Home, 745 Brooklyn Road, Liberty City, 01948.
“You’re considering what?” Leah snaps at Dan. He replies, “I’m considering that keeping Cassandra from Claire is a bad idea.” “How is that a bad idea? She wouldn’t have her best interests at heart.” “You don’t know that Leah. We haven’t even given her a chance.”
Leah huffs and replies, “A chance? She doesn’t deserve a chance. She failed at her chances when she was on drugs during her pregnancy.” “She’s the mother of my child Leah. She deserves that much, whether it be visitation or not,” Dan replies.
Leah snaps and exclaims, “She’s the mother of your child?! And I’m not either? I’ve been caring for your daughter since day one. Does that not constitute anything?” “Of course it does Leah, but you know that’s not what I meant,” Dan says in the hopes of redeeming himself.
“You’re telling me that if I had a baby with another man, and he came along and told me he wanted that baby, you’d be okay with me saying that he should get his rights?” Leah asks. “That’d be different,” Dan replies. “How is that different? Because you’re a man?”
“No Leah, that’s not it. I’d let him come. I just don’t want Claire to miss out on her mother,” Dan replies. Leah, still furious replies, “And what if Cassandra doesn’t do something right and ends up hurting Claire more?” “Well, we’ll have to properly get Cassandra training in doing what she needs to do with Claire.” “I’m not discussing this right now Dan, I really can’t. I love that girl too much to let my sister, who I know is incapable of taking care of a child when she can’t take care of herself.”
Fed up, Leah begins to walk away. “Where are you going?” Dan asks. “I’m going to bed, I’m not up for this right now Dan,” Leah replies, continuing her way upstairs.
Scene Six: Liberty City Hotel – Room 534, 300 Earp Street, Liberty City, 01948.
Cassandra opens the door to her hotel room and slams the door shut. Patricia pops out of the bathroom and asks, “Oh hey honey! How did that appointment go?” “It went horrible. I just can’t seem to get the help I need to get Claire back into my life,” Cassandra replies.
As Cassandra plops down on the couch, Patricia joins her and says, “Maybe it’s just not meant to be Cassandra. You have to work to get your daughter back. And I know that with hard work and determination, you can get her back. They can deny a neglectful mother, but they can’t deny a solid, deserving mother of her baby.” “Mom, I deserve Claire. I know I can be a good mom if I’m just given a chance.” “I know baby, and you’ll get that chance when you’re able to have it.”
Cassandra cuddles up into Patricia and lets out light tears and muddles, “I just want my daughter.” Patricia continues to coddle her daughter back and forth, calming her as if she were still a baby. She says, “I miss this. I didn’t get to enjoy it as a young mother and it’s a shame you can’t do it for your daughter.”
The two just cuddle on the couch, until Cassandra begins to fade off into a sleep.
Scene Seven
Theo opens the door to the loft he shares with Cristina, and as he walks in, he turns on the light and finds no one is home. He slowly makes his way into the bathroom and as he turns on the light and looks in the mirror, we see a badly bruised and bleeding Theo in ripped-to-shreds clothing.
After cleaning himself up, he crawls into his bed alone and just sleeps.