Episode Theme song: "Harder to Breathe" Maroon 5

Previously on One Day at a Time
- Melissa plotted to break up Cory and Robin and used Robin’s premier as the back drop
- After learning the truth about Eva being her mother, Natasha turned to Ryan for support as her got her more pain killers for her sore back. He was surprised when she told Kim that they were dating
- Leah was thrilled when Robbie’s health improved
- JC and Andy had sex
- Chris and Trenyce separately prepared for the custody hearing

Scene One – Twin Peaks General Hospital

Leah walks from her car into the hospital with a suitcase as she is about to get Robbie and take him home. She has never felt more relieved in all of her life that Robbie is getting released from the hospital. She reaches the elevator that will take her from the parkade up to the Robbie’s floor and as the door opens, she is surprised to see Jeff emerge from the elevator.

“Jeff, hi,” Leah says, giving him half of a smile.

“Hey,” he says back to her, looking at her and noting how happy she is. “I guess the suitcase means Robbie is going home today?” he asks as she nods. “You look really good, by the way,” he continues to observe her large belly.

Leah blushes a little, “Thanks. The baby has been so active lately. I guess he or she knows that their Daddy is coming home,” she says as she puts her hand on her tummy. She secretly hates that she is lying, again, about the baby’s father but she realizes though that if she doesn’t lie, her marriage and family will fall completely apart. “How are you doing? I guess we haven’t really seen each other since New Years Eve.”

“I’ve been good. I’ve been working a lot, not much else,” he tells her. He looks down and she can tell that there is a sadness with him. “I didn’t realize how much time we had spent together this past year. It’s hard to replace that kind of companionship.”

“I thought you and Madeline were growing closer?”

Jeff sighs and smiles, not wanting Leah to see how upset he truly is over losing her in his life. “We are, but it’s not the same, you know?”

“I do know, but after what happened last spring, it’s just for the best, you know?”

He comes up to her and grabs her hand. “Yea, I know. Just know that I do still care Leah. I probably always will.”

Leah feels her eyes swell with water. “I know Jeff. You’re a good man. I should get up to Robbie. You take care of yourself okay?”

“You too,” he says as he lets go of her hand and walks off into the parking lot. Leah watches him before she finally walks into the elevator. As the door closes, a single tear escapes from her eye. She knows that what she and Jeff had was in the past; she loves her husband and she wants her marriage to work, yet it still hurts her to see Jeff in that state and having to lie to him.

***

Eva walks up to the nurses station and greets some of the women that are working behind the counter. It has been her first day on the job and she’s just about to leave for the day, but she still hadn’t met everyone in the hospital yet and she wanted to ensure that she did say hello before she left. As the new Chief of Staff, she thought it was important for everyone to put a face to the name Eva McCloud. Everyone had heard that she was the new COS, but she wanted to ensure to give that person touch.

She turns and sees Shane coming into the station. He looks at one of the nurses as he requests for a file to be passed to him. “Anything I can help with Dr. Glubbs?” she asks as he gets the file.

Shane looks up from reading the file and smiles at Eva, “No, thanks. I am just getting Robbie Calimo’s discharge papers.”

“Oh,” Eva arches her eyebrow in surprise. “I didn’t realize he was well enough to go home already.”

Shane shuts the file and looks over at her. “Look, I know that you’re the new COS here, but you’ll have to do a better job of hiding your personal feelings in cases.”

Eva’s mouth drops open in shock, surprised that Shane would speak to her superior in that way. “I’m not sure I know what you’re in referral too. And I don’t appreciate you speaking to me in that tone.”

“You’re Natasha’s mother; it’s in the paper today. Everyone knows the truth now. I’m just calling it as I see it, you clearly have personal interest with the Calimo’s,” Shane replies to her. “Look, we’ll have to talk later, I’m going to give Robbie and Leah the good news.”

***

Natasha slowly walks into the waiting room and spots Ryan sitting there. For a brief moment, she wonders what she is doing with him. She knows that Kim had told her that she thought he was up to no good, but since she has met him, he has done nothing but support her. She is grateful that someone is there for her right now; she hates the idea of being alone and since she has pushed her family away right now, he is her only source of comfort. Not to mention the fact that he has the pain killers that she craves.

“How’d your appointment go?” Ryan asks her as he stands up to greet her.

“As well as to be expected,” she replies to him, as she grabs her back a little. “He said that I should be feeling better, but I still have a lot of pain in my back.”

“Did he give you another prescription?”

She shakes her head no. “He said with therapy, I shouldn’t need it.”

“I think otherwise. I can tell by the look on your face that you’re in pain still, even right now,” he tells her as he grabs her hand. “I have an idea. Let’s go back to my place, I have more pills there. You can have a couple.”

Natasha looks at him and smiles. “That sounds perfect.”

Shane enters the waiting room and stops dead in his tracks. He spots Natasha and Ryan holding hands and seemingly smiling at each other. He fumes under his collar, feeling jealous at the fact that a man is paying such close attention to Natasha. While he has tried with everything in him to be a better husband to Cassie, he knows that he is still in love with Natasha. Nothing will ever change that, he realizes.

Natasha notes that Shane is watching them and quickly grabs Ryan’s hand. “Let’s go. I could use another pill,” she tells him as Ryan notes Shane’s presence. They walk off together, leaving Shane with a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

***

Leah opens the door to Robbie’s room and smiles at him as she brings in the suitcase. “I hope this one is big enough,” she says as she reaches the bed.

Robbie, who is standing at the bedside in jeans and a t-shirt, laughs a little. “I don’t have that much stuff here. You know, seemingly how they make you wear that hospital gown and all,” he grins back at her. “Seriously, I can’t wait to go home with you Leah.”

“I know, me too,” she replies coming up and hugging him. “Whatever you need, you tell me and I will be there for you. You still have to work your way back up to being 100%, okay?”

“Whatever you say,” he grins at her.

Shane enters the hospital room and looks over at the two of them. “Sorry to interrupt, but I have some discharge papers here that need your signature,” he says approaching them, thrilled that Robbie is leaving.

Robbie turns to Shane and shakes his hand. “Thanks for everything Shane, seriously. If it wasn’t for you …”

“Don’t thank me Robbie, that’s my job. I always want everyone in here to go home happy and healthy. You got very lucky,” he tells him. He turns his attention to Leah, “You make sure he still gets plenty of rest.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Good. Just leave the papers at the nurses station on your way out. And Robbie, don’t forget about your check ups.”

Scene Two – The Twin Peaks Executive Hotel; The Ballroom

The premier of Robin’s new ad-campaign for a perfume is under full swing in the ballroom of the Executive Hotel. The are large banners showing off Robin’s photos for the ad. The room is filled with modelling agents, models and photographers all mingling with each other. Robin stands next to Cory, holding a glass of champagne and unable to remove the smile from her face.

“This is pretty awesome,” Cory tells her into her ear. He has to admit to himself that while he was never a huge fan of Robin modelling, this premier is amazing. The photos of Robin with the bottle of perfume are absolutely stunning; he has never been more proud of her. “I finally get why you love modelling. You look so beautiful in the pictures.”

“Thank you!” she gushes back to him. “Does this mean you’ll be okay with me taking more job offers?”

“Absolutely!” he smiles back to her. “Before I was feeling jealous, but being in the this room with you, knowing that all the men want to be where I am … I am proud of you baby!”

Robin leans in and kisses her husband passionately. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”

“Get a room!” Dean Kratz smiles as he comes up to the couple.

“Oh Dean, the photos look amazing,” Robin smiles to her photographer.

“Yea, they really do,” Cory chimes in.

“You must be Cory,” Dean replies shaking Cory’s hand. “You’re one lucky guy.”

“Tell me about it!” Cory laughs. “You have a wicked eye with the camera.”

“Thank you, it helps having a fantastic subject. Robin, have you seen some of the agents? They’ve all been asking about you.”

“No, I haven’t. I guess we should start to mingle some?” Robin asks as she looks up to Cory, who nods in agreement.

“After you,” he says letting her walk in front of him.

***

Melissa grabs another glass of champagne from a waiter. She takes a long drink and watches as Cory and Robin walk through the crowd to a circle of agents. She smiles knowing that soon Cory and Robin will be over. She grabs her phone and looks at the message that she just received. “Everything is set. Let me know when.” The message reads from Karl, the man she hired to help with her plan.

Melissa puts the phone back into her bag. She has to wait for the right moment; the moment that will forever break up Cory and Robin.

Scene Three -- Roboto; Bob’s Office

Bob sits at his large desk fuming. He is at work late tonight because he can’t bare the thought of going home, not after reading the article in the Sun earlier in the day. He has a copy of the sun sitting on his desk, he can’t help but continue to look at it. “Calimo Family Lies” the headline reads; it makes him sick to his stomach. He knew that once the truth came out about Eva being Natasha’s biological mother his family would suffer, he also knew that the media would have a field day with it as well, but what he didn’t expect was the fallout from the media to play on Roboto’s success. Slowly all day, after the Sun’s article hit the press, Roboto stock has been dropping. He sighs heavily and covers his eyes with his hand.

The door to his office opens and Sofia comes in quietly. She observes her husband for a moment; she can tell that he is tired and thinking of ways to correct the situation with Natasha. If only they had been honest with her from the start, Sofia thinks to herself. People adopt children every day, why they thought they had to lie to everyone is foolish, she know realizes.

“Bob, darling,” she finally speaks to him, causing him to look up at her. “It’s late and you didn’t come home for dinner. I was getting worried about you.”

“Did you read the Sun today?” he asks her without moving. She shakes her head no and he picks up the copy of the Sun. “Here, read it.”

She grabs the paper out of Bob’s hands and her mouth falls open as she sees the article about Eva, Natasha, Bob and herself. “My God, how did this get out?”

Bob laughs, “It was bound to get out Sofia! I knew the moment Eva opened her big mouth that this would happen. It’s too late to change this now, we have to think about damage control.”

“What can we do?”

“I have to get the company under control, firstly,” he says finally standing up and walking over the bar. He pours himself a scotch and drinks it slowly.

“The company?” Sofia asks him, unaware of the stock crisis. She thanks him after he passes her a drink as well.

“Stocks are falling because of this lie being exposed. Not much, but I still have to get everyone back on track. I’ve built this company from the ground up, I refuse to let Eva McCloud and Dominick Robertson ruin this!”

“Anything that you need darling, I am here for you.”

“I know, being here helps. Have you heard from Natasha at all?”

Sofia shakes her head. “No, she doesn’t answer my calls and she doesn’t return my voicemails.”

Bob arches his eyebrow. “I’m giving her another week, then I’ll go see her. She can’t possibly shut us out forever,” he sighs. “Did you hear about Robbie?”

Sofia finally smiles, “Yes, Leah called me and told me the wonderful news that he’s going home. We have one thing to celebrate.”

“I will celebrate when I get my revenge on Dominick. That man has put this family through enough pain!”

Sofia stands up, “Bob, listen to me! This feud with Dominick has got to end! Too many people have been hurt already. We simply can’t go on with this.”

He turns and looks at his wife, “No one gets away with hurting my family Sofia. No one! No, Dominick will pay. It just has to come together nicely first. Then we will all watch him suffer.”

Sofia begins to protest again, but she knows it will fall on deaf ears. When Bob gets his mind wrapped around something, there’s no stopping him. All she can do is hope that no one else gets hurt in the crossfire.

Scene Four -- The Twin Peaks Executive Hotel; The Ballroom

Robin laughs at a joke that an agent tells her before she excuses herself and quickly walks away. She comes up to Cory, who was talking with another agent. “Are you having fun?” she asks him as he hands her another glass of champagne.

“I am, actually,” Cory tells her. “So many of these guys have a lot of great ideas for future projects for you. I really have no idea how you’ll decide which ones to do!”

Robin pauses and takes a drink from her champagne, thrilled that Cory has seemingly finally come around to her modelling. She knew that this premier would show him that he had nothing to really worry about with the modelling career. “I’m so happy that you’re here tonight by my side and supporting me Cory. I know that you were apprehensive, but…”

“That’s in the past. This is awesome Robin, I told you earlier I want you to take as many of these projects as you can!”

“I will try!” she laughs at him as they cheers their glasses.

“Oh Robin, there you are! I’ve been looking every where for you,” Melissa says in a panic as she approaches the two of them.

“Mother? What are you doing here?” Robin asks dumbfounded that her mother is at the premier.

“You didn’t think that I would miss this special night for you, did you?” Melissa explains to her, never once willing to reveal the real reason she is there. “Listen, I just overheard Dean talking, saying that there was some photographers outside looking to get photos of everyone in attendance. You and Cory should head out there!”

Robin looks up at Cory who nods, “I think it’s a great idea babe,” he tells her. “It’ll get you more exposure.”

“Okay, let’s head outside,” Robin says. “Thanks Mom.”

Melissa watches them walk off to head outside. She grabs her phone and dials a number quickly. “It’s me. They’re going outside. Remember, do not hurt my daughter. Make it look like you want to hurt her, but you fail. All we have to do is scare her with the acid and it will seem like Cory set it up to look like some crazy fan is after her…. I know you’re a professional Karl, but this is my daughter! Nothing can go wrong.”

Scene Five -- Capers

Trenyce sits down at the table across from Andy and JC. She was happy when Daisy agreed to baby-sit Andrew for the evening so she could go out with Andy and his new friend; anything to get her mind off of the upcoming custody battle which has been weighting on her heavily.

“I’m glad we could finally get together,” Trenyce smiles at Andy as she sits down. “It’s been far too long since we’ve hung out.”

“I agree,” Andy replies to her. “I want you to meet someone. This is Juan Carlos Fernandez, or JC.”

“It’s nice to meet you JC,” Trenyce says over to him.

“You as well Trenyce. I’ve heard that you’re Andy’s best friend,” he smiles over at her.

Trenyce laughs, “Yea, we’ve had our ups and downs, but we are always there for each other. So how do you guys know each other.”

“We…” they both say at the same time before laughter breaks out. “Go ahead,” JC tells Andy.

“We work together. JC is a photographer for the Sun. We’ve been spending some time together. He’s turned out to be a good friend,” Andy says, squeezing JC’s knee under the table, remembering the other morning when they had sex for the first time. The words, however, sting JC. Friends? He asks himself. He knows that they were going to take their relationship slowly, but he assumed that after they slept together, they would at least classify themselves as casually seeing one another. He feels hurt by the words, even though he knows that they are going slowly.

“If you will excuse me for a second, I have to go to the boys room,” JC explains standing up, and walking away. In truth, he just wanted a few moments away to compose himself.

Trenyce looks at Andy and leans into the table after JC has left. “Okay, so what’s the real story?”

Andy laughs as he takes a drink of his wine. “What do you mean?”

“He’s really hot Andy!”

“Yea he is,” Andy chuckles. “We … we slept together,” Andy reveals to he, lowering his voice so no one else will hear him. “Don’t say anything, we are going slow. I’m not ready for a relationship or anything yet. It’s still soon after Reese, you know?”

“I get it, I do,” Trenyce says over to her friend. “Regardless, you deserve some happiness!”

“Thanks,” Andy smiles, knowing that JC does make him happy even more so that they are going at a slow pace.

“Word of advice though?” she offers to him as he nods his head. “Make sure JC is okay with the way things are going? You called him your friend and you should have seen the look on his face. You guys may have said you’re going slow, but I think he’s fallen hard.” Trenyce tells her friend about her observation. The news hits Andy, he never thought that JC would be think anything different, and why would he? They both agreed that they would go slowly.

Scene Six -- The Michaels House; Chris, Trenyce & Andrew’s Home

Daisy knocks on the front door of the house. She wait’s a few minutes for Chris to open the door. He does and looks surprised when he spots his ex-wife. In reality, Daisy knows that Chris wouldn’t be expecting her, especially after she agreed to support Trenyce for keeping custody of Andrew. She let Trenyce move into her condo at the Towers knowing that it was going to get far too awkward with her living under the same roof as Chris, but she had to stop by to get one of Andrew’s favourite blankets before he went down for the night.

“Daisy, this is a surprise,” he says as he opens the door and lets her and Andrew in.

“I know, I’m sorry I didn’t call first,” she explains as she lays a sleeping Andrew in the crib that is still set up in the living room. “I’m baby sitting for Trenyce tonight and Andrew’s favourite blanket is here. I guess the car ride put him to sleep anyways.”

“Ah,” Chris says. “His blanket is over there,” he continues pointing in the direction of a stack of blankets and diapers. “He’s gotten so big.”

“I know he has,” Daisy replies picking up the blanket. “I don’t think you should pick him up,” she says as Chris goes into the crib and picks his son up. Daisy sighs realizing that it’s too late, Chris is holding his son.

He looks up at Daisy and smiles, “He’s amazing.”

“I know, give him back to me now please,” Daisy insists walking back over to Chris. “He’s under Trenyce’s custody right now, I know she wouldn’t like this happening.”

Chris looks at her, unable to understand her point of view. “I don’t get you Daisy,” he says in a stern, low voice, as to not to wake Andrew. “You claim to be all about family, yet you don’t want a father to hold his own son? What gives?”

“What gives?” Daisy asks shocked that she he even has to ask. “You slept with my sister and my niece, get her pregnant and wonder what gives? You do realize if you could keep your penis in your pants none of this would have happened, right? And don’t get me started on the fact that Trenyce was a minor when you slept with her!”

Chris sighs again. He realizes that his affairs did hurt Daisy a lot, but what happened has happened. He can’t go back and change the past. “I’d love to go back and change history Daisy, but I can’t. I screwed up, I admit that. But I have a son now. I have to make it right with him.”

“That’s not your place to decide. Save it for the judge,” she snaps at him, grabbing the baby from his arms. “I’m leaving now. Sorry to disturb your night.”

“Are you still that hurt from what I did to you? Or this is about all the men that have hurt you? Me, Terrence, Brett … are you out for revenge on everyone that has crossed you? Don’t let Andrew get caught in your fire,” he yells at her as she’s walking to the door.

“How dare you!” she turns back to him. “Never speak to me that way again!”

Before he can reply, the front door opens and Victoria walks in. “What is going on here? I could hear voices from outside.”

“Nothing, I was just leaving,” Daisy snaps at them before she brushes past Victoria and leaves the house.

Victoria turns her attention to Chris and arches her eyebrow. “What was that about?”

“It’s a long story,” he says shutting the door, wondering if he will ever get his son away from Trenyce and Daisy.

Scene Seven -- Top of the Peak Motel; Room 13

Natasha and Ryan sit on the sofa in his motel room on the sofa. He has always stayed in the motel; it’s easier to quickly leave in the event that the police were to discover his drug dealing ways. The room is small and dirty looking due to the old, worn out furniture. There is a slight smell of mould that no one ever seems to mention for fear of what it would lead too. Ryan looks over at Natasha, who is feeling raw from seeing Shane earlier. She has never opened up about her feelings for Shane to Ryan and she has no intentions of doing so. The good thing about Ryan, she concludes, is that she can tell him what she wants and he is there for her, regardless.

“How’s your back?” he finally asks her, as he rolls a line of cocaine for himself.

“It’s in pain. You have anymore of those pain killers?” she asks him, barely noticing what he is doing on the coffee table.

“No, I’m out actually. It might be a week or so until I can get more.”

“What? I thought you said you had some? How am I supposed to deal with this pain?” she asks, dumbfounded that he doesn’t have anymore of the pills that make her feel so good about everything.

She sits up and watches him snort a line through his nose. “You could always do a line with me. It’s a better rush, you’ll feel great after.”

Natasha pauses knowing that she has never done any kind of drug before. She has always been the good girl. But where has that got me? She asks herself. Cory and Shane have left me; my parents have lied to my face my entire life, she thinks to herself.

“How do I do this?” she asks him leaning forward. After some simple instruction, Natasha quickly snorts up the cocaine. She lefts her head and shakes it for a second before falling back into the sofa feeling amazing. She laughs a little. “This is wild,” she says with a grin on her face.

“Isn’t it great?” he laughs with her. He looks into her eyes and touches her face.

“Thank you for helping me,” she says touching his face back with her hand. He leans in and kisses her passionately. His hand goes down and starts to massage her breast through her shirt. She pushes him off for a second and then pulls him in kissing him harder than before, as her hands start to undo the zipper on his jeans.

Scene Eight -- The Twin Peaks Executive Hotel; The Red Carpet Out Front of the Hotel

Robin and Cory walk slowly along the red carpet, as a line of photographers snap photos from every direction. Robin waves to a few of them and laughs as some people ask a few questions.

Suddenly about 15 flashbulbs go off at once creating a sparkle effect in the dark skyline. Melissa watches from across the street, hoping that everything goes down as planned. She checks her watch and then she looks up and sees Karl rush to the front of the crowd “Robin!” he yells out, causing Robin and Cory to turn into his direction. In his hand he has a small vial, he projects the liquid from within out of the vial and it lurches towards Robin. Cory watches in slow motion, not sure of what to do or what is happening. Melissa feels her heart drop as the acid hits Robin’s face and she hears the blood curling screams start to emerge from her daughter’s mouth.

Next on One Day at a Time
- Will Melissa get caught?
- JC stops a scared Trenyce from making a mistake
- Olivia & Preston have a conversation with Madeline