Monday 27May96
On Monday, Austin goes to Carrie to see where they stand, but before he can ask, Lucas arrives - ready to move in. Lucas makes it seem as if he and Carrie are having sex, which leads Austin to believe that Carrie is over him. With a heavy heart, Austin returns to Sami. [He discovers that she has left the apartment with Will as she said she would. When he finds her, he begs her to come home. She agrees, but only for tonight.] He assures Sami that he is committed to her and takes her in his arms to prove it. Carrie shows up to talk to Austin [actually, she's out on the fire escape and can see into Austin's apartment], and seeing their embrace, believes that Lucas is right about Austin and Sami making a commitment to one another. Enraged, Peter lashes out at Stefano for what he did to his dear mother. In fact, Peter is so steamed that he comes close to killing his Dad, but at the last minute, he pulls back. Why? Because Peter would rather see Stefano rot in jail, that's why. [Stefano insists that this woman is *not* Rachel Blake. Peter was too young to remember her anyway, and he has convinced himself that she is his mother. Stefano explains that Rachel was an accomplished pianist, and would often hum a tune by Chopin, playing an imaginary keyboard with her hands. This woman has not done that. Rachel talks with Marlena, telling her that she hates to see her so sad about "Johnny". Marlena says she has accepted the situation and doesn't want to hurt them. But what if she knew that John loved her more than Kristen? Maybe Rachel can help.... Kristen sees them talking and interrupts. Alone, she begs her mother not to tell Marlena about her secrets. Rachel says she can't promise that, and then Kristen doubles over in pain. Concerned, Rachel agrees not to say anything. Learning that Rachel is to go to San Francisco for surgery, Jack decides he must try to talk to her before she leaves. He begins to get through to her, emphasizing how much he wants to protect his daughter from Peter. Distraught, Rachel goes outside to be by herself, and begins to hum a tune. Stefano and Peter hear it and investigate. Tears well up in Stefano's eyes when he sees the woman 'playing' the piano.] Once he composes himself, Peter reaches for the phone, ready to turn Stefano in [actually, he was going to bring him to John.] But Stefano stops Peter in his tracks when he threatens to tell Jenn and the police everything Peter has done. Peter has no choice but to let Stefano go. [Stefano overhears Marlena tell John that she will be accompanying Rachel to San Francisco, despite his protests. She is certain that Stefano won't be back for many years, and can't live her life in fear.]
Tuesday 28May96
On Tuesday, Celeste tries to talk Stefano out of kidnapping Marlena, but it's no use. Stefano knows that Marlena is escorting Rachel to San Francisco for reconstructive surgery, and he feels that's the perfect time to make his move. [Celeste is further upset when he hints that he might take Lexie too]. Stefano heads over to the mansion (since he once lived there, he knows all the secret ways in and around the house), which will enable Stefano to listen to what John Black is up to. Meanwhile, John calls Abe and Bo over to the house to try to work out a way to get Rachel and Marlena to San Francisco safe and sound. [Bo was having dinner with Hope (and discussing, surreptitiously, marriage), and Abe was having dinner with Lexie (and enjoying the fact that they both had the night off) when John summoned them. Benny finds Hope and tries to convince her that he's on to something, and he won't leave her alone until she says she'll stop by and listen to his tapes. She is unaware that the shadowman is watching her, plotting her death. Celeste approaches Lexie and offers to send her and Abe away on a vacation. It's clear to Lexie that Celeste is trying to get her out of town, but why? She surmises that Stefano is around, and thinks back to what Celeste said about his involvement with Jonah's re-acceptance into med school. Upon speaking to one of the doctors on the board, Lexie is convinced that it's true.] When John suggests going along with the women, Kristen freaks out and has a cramp [she's not faking. Rachel is upset since she knew Kristen was also in pain earlier, but she didn't tell anyone.] She's scared she's losing the baby, so Mike is called. He tells Kristen that she'll be fine, as long as she relaxes. John says he won't go, and Kristen is relieved. They finally come up with the idea of hiring four duplicate planes to fly out of Salem international, but only one plane will have Rachel and Marlena on board. Unfortunately, Stefano is hiding in a secret passageway, and he has heard everything. [But how to find out which plane Marlena will be on? He sneaks into Kristen's room, where she is resting. Unbeknownst to either of them, Marlena is about to enter.]
Wednesday 29May96
On Wednesday, Stefano slips into Kristen's room, knowing that she is the one person besides himself that would do anything to see the last of Marlena in Salem. [She refuses to help him. Stefano lays it on thick, saying that if John goes back to Marlena, she'll have to raise her child herself; and this the only child she will ever have. Despite Kristen's protests, he gives her a number where he can be reached. If she can get John to tell her which plane Marlena and Rachel will be on, she is to call Stefano. She gets a cramp again, and is truly torn about what to do. She goes to her mother (who, by the way, innocently diverted Marlena from entering Kristen's room while Stefano was with her).] Rachel knows the turmoil Kristen is in, and tries to convince her daughter that if John loves her, she must trust him to do what's best for all of them. Meanwhile, Marlena thinks it would be best for all concerned if she just stayed in San Francisco. [John is stunned when she announces her plans to look into moving to San Francisco. Kristen is secretly pleased to hear it. John wants to discuss it further with Marlena, but she says it has been a long day and goes to bed (she is staying at the house before leaving for San Francisco). The shadowman continues to watch Hope on the boat, waiting for his chance to get her alone so he can kill her. He is constantly interrupted, first by Caroline and Shawn-Douglas, and then by Bo.] Hope and Bo make plans to spend a romantic evening together, but Benny shows up with the tape he has cleaned up. He needs to listen to it with Hope to see if they can identify Stefano's voice. [Hope regrets not telling Bo about her possible lead on Stefano, especially after he gushes about their wonderful relationship built on love, trust, and respect.] Remembering Bo's words, Hope promises Benny that she'll see him first thing in the morning. Benny leaves, not knowing that the shadowman is following him [and that he heard everything they said]. The shadowman knocks Benny out cold and sets his garage on fire, vowing to see to Hope next. [Feeling relieved, Kristen goes to her mother to tell her that she has decided not to help Stefano. Her mother is asleep, but Kristen babbles on about her deception of Marlena. Unfortunately Marlena walks in and hears Kristen as she talks about how she had to keep John's letter from her.]
Thursday 30May96
On Thursday, Marlena hears Kristen admit that she had John's letter all along, and that she deliberately kept it from Marlena and John. Horrified that Marlena has overheard, Kristen tries to deny it, but Marlena is furious that she has been deprived of the man that she loves. [She lets in to Kristen for being so selfish and deceptive to both her and John, and slaps her. Downstairs, Abe and John go over the final plans for Marlena and Rachel's trip to San Francisco. John says that only he will know which plane they are on. Marlena apologizes for physically hurting Kristen, who insists that it doesn't matter what happened in the past -- John is with her now. Marlena doesn't buy this, and knows that if it weren't for Kristen's schemes and deception, she and John would be together now.] Marlena is determined to go to John with the truth, but just as she starts out the door, [John shows up and sees that Kristen is upset. He assumes she's anxious about her mother's trip, and when Marlena suggests that something else is upsetting her,] Kristen doubles over in pain. [When Marlena checks Kristen's pulse, it is normal.] Marlena suspects that Kristen is faking, but she can't be sure, so out of respect for John [and because he asked if whatever she wanted to talk to him about could wait until tomorrow], Marlena keeps mum. Later, [after a nightmare about John learning the truth from Marlena and running to her] Kristen calls Stefano with the news [after getting the info out of John "If I can't trust the mother of my child, who can I trust?"] that Marlena will be on plane #3. [She makes Stefano promise that he will *never* tell John that she told him. Marlena dreams of being reunited with John, and is certain that nothing can keep them apart now.] Lexie, Abe, Jonah, and Wendy go to a party at the Salem Club [it's a benefit party]. Stefano watches as Lexie wins a pearl necklace that he's arranged for her to win. She thinks it's a worthless string of fakes [though she still thinks it's very pretty and is excited because she's never won anything], but Stefano knows the pearls are real and he has given them as a symbol of the bond he intends to have with his daughter. [Celeste wants him to stay away from Lexie, but it's clear that he will do no such thing.]
Friday 31May96
Quoted shamelessly from CityLine [comments mine] On Friday, Kristen begs Rachel to persuade Marlena to say nothing to John about that letter. Rachel knows what pain Marlena is in, but she is also aware that if Kristen becomes too upset [and she is already quite upset], she could lose John's baby. Marlena realizes the same thing, and this stops her from telling John. Marlena figures she'll decide what she wants to do about this during her flight to San Francisco. [While Rachel is thankful, Marlena emphasizes that she's only postponing the inevitable -- she will tell John about what Kristen has done. John unknowingly gets a hint from Marlena when he tells her how concerned he is for her safety; Marlena replies "I know how you feel about me, and I feel the same way." While gathering their luggage together, John accidentally leaves his cell phone behind.] The plane starts to taxi off, with Stefano hidden on board [he has disguised himself as a pilot.] Bo and Abe discover Hope was working with Benny on tracking down what has turned out to be a strong lead to Stefano. The fact that Hope didn't follow procedure by telling them about this has put Marlena in danger, and could very well hurt Hope's career, as well as her relationship with Bo. [Benny is alive, though not in good condition, in the hospital. He's too weak/sedated to talk to Hope about what happened. Among Benny's belongings is his tape recorder with the cleaned-up version of Stefano's voice on the phone. When the officer assigned to the case listens to it, he immediately brings it to Abe and Bo. They recognize the voice as Stefano's, as does Hope. Bo starts yelling at Hope for keeping this information from him, and she tries to explain that she had nothing concrete until now. Abe breaks up their argument and says they have to warn Marlena fast. All communications with the airport were shut down for security purposes, and since John doesn't have his cell phone on him, they can't reach him. Abe and Bo rush to the airport. John and Kristen watch the plane leave.]