Episode Theme song: "Set Fire to the Rain" Adele

Previously on One Day at a Time
- Natasha and Shane got engaged and planned a masquerade ball for their engagement party set to taka place New Years Eve
- Victoria and Donovan were followed by a mysterious figure. On Christmas Day, Donovan got a Christmas card from their father. Meanwhile, Eva and Will were also followed
- Cory asked Madeline to investigate the real reason that Robin filed for divorce as he believed Liam had something to do with her decision, unaware of Madeline’s connection to Robin’s reasoning
- Dean showed Reese some contacts that may help him move into another modelling gig
- Craig and Andy had a nice first date
- Helen and Casey worked on a mysterious plan to keep Adam in the dark about his shooting
- Leah and Jeff grew closer while working together, despite his relationship with Veronica and her marriage to Robbie

Scene One - The Calimo Mansion

Shane and Natasha stand in the living room of the mansion and look around in awe of their engagement party. Everyone really took the masquerade ball theme seriously as everyone is dressed in a tux or a dress with a matching mask to go with it. Shane smiles over at Natasha, who takes a sip of her champagne, “This is amazing,” he tells her as she swallows hoping that she feels the same. He knows hat she had her doubts about the party being tonight as it is the one year anniversary of Sofia’s death.

“It really is,” she replies to him, looking around at all the masks and costumes. “It looks like everyone is having so much fun.”

Shane moves a little closer to her as he senses something is off with her, “Are you okay? You seem…distant or something.”

Natasha looks at her fiancé and sighs a little. While she has been trying to have a good time, and she is, she can’t help but think back to the previous new years eve. Shane was scheduled to marry Cassie at the mansion and Sofia was killed in the car explosion, not only any car, Natasha’s car. She feels her mother’s presence more than she has since Sofia died last year, and she is feeling melancholy because of it. “I guess I’m just thinking of Sofia tonight,” she admits to him as her eyes meet his, thinking that he already knew this.

He hugs her and holds her for a moment, “I knew that this night would bring back memories for you. I have an idea,” he suggests to her as they exit their embrace. “Why don’t we head outside to the memorial that your father built for her near the rose garden. We can have a moment there if you’d like, we can tell her how happy we are tonight.”

“That’s why I’m marrying you,” she tells him as she gets water in her eyes. “You always know what’s best for me. I’d love to go outside and visit my mother.”

***

Across the room, a unknown man takes a drink of champagne and looks around the room searching for something or someone. His eyes stop on Victoria and Donovan, who are the small buffet table filled with various snacks. He watches as they laugh about something one of them is saying and he feels his blood start to boil. He turns around and spots Will and Eva coming into the living room together and he feels his hand form a fist instantly. He knows that soon, very soon, it will all be over.

At the buffet table, Victoria looks at her brother as she takes a bit of her snack, “This is a lot of fun. I’m glad you came tonight.”

“Where else would I be?” he asks his sister as he look around for a waiter. He grabs two glasses of champagne and hands one to her. He knows that they have been through a lot together lately, but he does want them to enjoy their first New Year’s together in a very long time.

“Thank you,” she replies taking the glass from his hand.

“This next year Marbella, it will be our best year yet. Let’s make a toast to having the best year of our lives! We are back as a team and we will get through this together,” he says as he raises his glass and looking into her eyes.

“I’ll drink to that,” she replies as she cheers him and they take a drink of the beverage. She wants nothing more than to have this stalking ordeal put behind her once and for all. She wants to get back to living her normal life.

Suddenly, a waiter comes up to Victoria, “Excuse me, Dr. Franky?”

“Yes?” Victoria replies confused as to what is happening.

“Another guest asked me to bring you this note,” he tells her as he passes her a small piece of paper.

“Thanks,” Victoria fakes a smiles curiously as she grabs the note. The waiter walks away and Victoria turns to Donovan and arches her eyebrow. “I wonder what this is?” Her mind, immediately, goes to the stalker.

As Victoria unfolds the piece of paper to read the note, Donovan teases her. “Is it a love note from your security guard?” he can’t help but make reference to Victoria’s crush on Robbie. He hopes that the note is from Robbie, because like Victoria, he believes it’s probably from the stalker.

“That’s not funny!” Victoria laughs as she opens the note, knowing that her crush on Robbie will be platonic because of his marriage to Leah. “You need to keep your voice down, you know his father owns this place!”

Donovan laughs with his sister, but quickly turning serious as he wonders what the notes says. “What does the note say?”

“It’s not signed and it’s just asking me to go upstairs into the study,” Victoria tells him as their eyes lock. “It seems a little weird, don’t you think? I mean, why would I get an anonymous note telling me to go upstairs? The party is down here.”

Across the room, the man that was watching her smiles at himself knowing that she won’t be able to resist going to the study to see who was requesting her presence. That’s when he will make his next move. Nothing will ever be the same after that, he thinks to himself as he takes a drink of his champagne, having waited for this moment for some time.

Donovan grabs the note from Victoria and arches his eyebrow, “You’re not going up there alone Marbella. I have a bad feeling about this, but maybe this is our chance to finally stop this creep from stalking you. I’m going with you.”

***

“This place looks amazing,” Eva tells Will as she looks around the party with her young lover next to her. “Natasha and Shane really went all out for this party. I couldn’t be more pleased for her.” Secretly, Eva is a bit upset that Natasha hasn’t asked her for any assistance with the wedding plans, but she hopes it will come in time.

“They sure know how to throw a party at this mansion,” Will replies as he grabs two glasses of the bubbly as a waiter walks by. “It still feels a little odd being here after what happened last year.”

Eva takes her glass and looks at Will, “Let’s not talk about that,” she tells him, knowing how horrible last year was for the entire Calimo family. “Natasha wanted to have this party tonight because she thought it would make her feel closer to Sofia. I think it’s a lovely gesture.”

“It is, you’re right,” Will sighs, knowing that he doesn’t want to upset Eva tonight. They have been growing closer again after they had grown apart because of Eva’s resistance to admit what her full past was after she had been stalked. Once the stalking seemingly ended and Will agreed to pull Madeline from the case, the two have been back to normal in their budding romance. “Has Natasha asked you for any help with the wedding?”

Eva shakes her head, “Not yet, but I will offer my assistance with anything she needs when I see her tonight. I would love to help her plan her wedding to Shane. That reminds me,” she begins o tell him. “I would love for you and Natasha to get to know each other better too. She’s my daughter and you’re my…”

“I’m your what?” he smiles at her, wondering how she will define him, not that he really cares about his label. He knows that he and Eva are in a good place.

“I love you, so I guess that makes you my better half?” she smiles back to him, hoping her answer will do justice for him.

“I love you too,” he says as he leans in and gives her a quick kiss on the lips. As they part, they go into a hug. As Will holds Eva, he sees a man wearing a black mask that covers the majority of his face watching him and Eva. Something in the pit of Will’s stomach starts to turn. He looks again at the man and notices that he can’t tell who he is as the mask covers the majority of the face. Will continues his uneasy feeling as the man quickly turns and walks away once he makes eye contact with Will. Will quickly exits his embrace with Eva and watches the man walk away quickly and disappear into the crowd of people that are at the mansion.

“Will? What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Eva observes to her lover, unaware of what he just saw as her back was to the masked man the entire time.

“I … I don’t know,” Will gulps, not sure why he has an uneasy feeling about the man that he just saw. He has no idea who he was, but something isn’t setting well with Will.

“Are you okay?” Eva asks him as he nods his head yes to her, even though he is not alright. Before he can think about it any further, they are interrupted by a waiter that approaches them.

“Sorry to bug you, Ms. McCloud,” the waiter says to her. “I was asked by another guest to give you this note.”

“Thanks,” she replies as she takes the note and the waiter scurries off. She opens the note and looks at Will. “This is odd,” she tells him as she reads the note.

“What is it?”

“Someone is asking me to meet them in the study upstairs,” she replies to him.

He looks at her and suddenly feels sick to his stomach. Was the man that he just saw the man that had been stalking her and he wants to make his move at the party? He can’t help but think about last year when Sofia was killed at the wedding that was going to take place. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to Eva because of some sick stalker. He refuses to let it happen. “Who signed it?” he asks quickly.

She pauses before looking up at him, “It’s not signed,” she tells him as even she can feel Will’s heart skip a beat.

“I’m going with you,” he tells her as she nods her head, wondering what the note could possibly be.

***

Cory walks into the living room of the Calimo mansion and gasps at the sight as he is blown away by the lengths that Natasha and Shane have gone too to throw a engagement party; the decorations and masked theme party are a brilliant idea. He walks over to the bar and grabs a glass of the champagne then he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around and sees a woman standing in front of him, the woman looks stunning in her dress and her long brown hair is pulled back into a tight bun, so he isn’t sure who the woman is because she’s wearing a mask.

“Hi,” he says to her, clearly taken with the woman in front of him. The long dark hair makes him think of Robin immediately.

“It’s me, Cory,” Madeline smiles at him realizing that he doesn’t recognize her, although she recognized him as soon as he walked in even with his mask on.

“Maddie!” he smiles back to her, somewhat stunned to see her with dark hair instead of her blonde locks. “I didn’t know it was you. What happened to your blonde hair?” he asks noting that her hair is darker than usual.

“I’m wearing a wig,” she reveals to him. “I thought if it’s a ball to hide your identity, I might as well change it up completely.”

Cory nods surprised by this side of Madeline but still feeling very attracted to her, “Good idea. You look fantastic, by the way.”

“Thanks, so do you,” she replies the compliment.

“Can I ask you something?” he asks her as the move to the side away from the bar.

“Of course you can.”

“Have you uncovered anything about the reason Robin has filed for divorce?” he asks her as she takes a sip of her champagne. He still suspects that something went down with Liam Fitzpatrick that would make Robin file for divorce. They had just gotten back together and then out of no where she wanted to end it. Something doesn’t add up. Plus, having this conversation may get his mind off how hot Madeline is looking at the party.

Madeline sighs and looks at Cory hoping that this would have blown over. She can’t admit the truth to him: she’s the reason that Robin filed for divorce because she uncovered the truth about Paige’s paternity and she blackmailed Robin into leaving Cory. She hasn’t come up with a good reason to tell Cory about what she, or has not found. She shakes her head at him, “I haven’t yet, no. I’m sorry Cory, I know this is important to you. I will keep looking okay?”

Cory nods his head, “Thanks. Something tells me that Liam had something to do with it. It was just his smug attitude when I saw him at the gym a few weeks ago. I can’t place it but it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Let’s not talk about it tonight? How about we go dance and mingle?” she suggests to him as she grabs his hand, hoping to make him forget all about Robin and his failing marriage.

“Sure,” he smiles back to her, suddenly getting drawn back into her. “I’d like that.”

***

Craig comes up to Andy holding two more glasses of champagne and quickly Andy smiles as he accepts it from his date and soon finds his free hand locking with the attractive doctor. The two of them haven’t been dating for very long, but they have seemingly hit it off and have a good time together when they are in each other’s company. Andy was apprehensive as he just got out of a relationship with JC and Craig was casually dating Reese.

“Thanks for the champagne,” Andy smiles over to his date, happy that they came to the party together.

“It’s the good stuff,” Craig replies to him as he takes a drink of this. “I can’t believe the Calimo’s can afford to serve this stuff for free.”

Andy laughs, “Yea, it’s a different life style for sure.”

“We may as well enjoy it while we are here,” Craig tells him as he squeezes his hand. “By the way, have I told you how hot you look in that tux tonight?”

Andy feels himself blush at the compliment, “Thanks Craig,” he says as he leans in and gives him a kiss on the lips. The kiss is passionate and Craig pulls him in deeper. They part and Andy smiles back to him. “That was amazing.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Craig winks back to him. “Maybe later I could take off with you and we could ring in the New Year with a real bang.”

“Well, isn’t this cozy,” Reese announces to them as the couple parts and looks at back at him. Craig quickly takes a sip of his champagne, not really wanting to deal with Reese. He always figured that Reese would be upset when he found out that he and Andy had started dating. “You sure move quickly,” Reese continues now directing his comments to Andy. He can’t believe that they are together. Craig didn’t strike him as the type of guy that would date his ex.

“Reese, this really isn’t any of your business,” Andy spits back to his ex-boyfriend tired of him creating drama. “You’ve made it perfectly clear that you want nothing to do with me, so who I choose to spend my time with shouldn’t be any of your concern.”

Reese rolls his eyes, “It’s not, you’re right. I could care less. I guess I just expected more from you Craig,” Reese tells his former boyfriend. “I know we never were very serious, but I didn’t think you’d date my ex.”

“It’s a small community Reese,” Craig replies to him, trying to stay calm. He realizes that getting riled up would only add fuel to Reese’s fire. “I feel more of a connection to Andy than I ever did with you. I’m not going to pursue it because your feelings may be hurt.”

Before Reese can reply, Dean comes up behind him and puts his hand on Reese’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” Dean asks his boyfriend noticing how awkward the scene was for his boyfriend.

“Yup,” Reese replies with a smile. “I’m done here. Have a good night guys,” he says as he walks away with Dean.

“Are you okay?” Craig turns and asks Andy.

Andy nods back to him, “Yea, I’m used to Reese not accepting anything I do. Frankly, I don’t care anymore.” He pauses before he continues and looks at Craig. “I like what you said though, I feel a connection with you too and I’m glad we are pursuing this.”

“I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Craig replies to him with a twinkle in his eye.

***

“I feel so stupid,” Adam tells Helen as she sits next to him by the balcony doorway. He agreed to come to the engagement party because Shane and Natasha are two of his best friends but he hates that he is still in a wheel chair; he continues to feel so hopeless. The party has been completely transformed to accommodate him and everyone is more than willing to assist him, but when he sees everyone walking around and dancing, he feels more hopeless than ever before.

“Adam,” Helen begins to say as she sighs a little. She can’t help but feel like she’s becoming at the end of her rope with Adam’s negative attitude. She knows that it must be extremely difficult to be in a wheel chair because of his gun shot wounds, but she wishes that he would stay positive, Lord knows she has been trying too. She believes that it would be more beneficial to everyone involved if he was. “Can we please try to have a good time tonight? I don’t want to hear you dwell on anything. We have to stay positive or nothing will get better.”

“Sorry, you’re not the one stuck in this god-damned chair though!” he snaps back at her, still being in his fowl mood. “And it wasn’t my brother that put me here!”

Helen turns her head to glare at him. “How dare you!” she quietly snaps at him knowing that she had explained all of this to Adam at the rehabilitation center. “I told you what happened and how it was all an accident. What is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? I’m in this fucking chair Helen! And it’s all because your brother shot me!” Adam yells back at her frustrated with the entire situation.

Helen looks up and some other guests that are looking at them now. She smiles and then looks back at Adam, “Would you keep your voice down!” she tells him, not wanting to create a scene at the party. “I know this is an bad situation, but you going off like this isn’t helping anyone or anything!”

Adam is about to reply but he puts his hand to his head and he shuts his eyes. He thinks back to the night of his shooting. He opens his eyes and looks at Helen, who is still looking at him.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” she asks him, knowing that something is off with her husband.

“I … I remembered something,” he tells her as their eyes lock together.

“About the shooting?” Helen asks growing concerned. She and Casey have worked too hard to ensure their plan is air tight.

Adam nods, “The basement door, it was open … Casey was walking up the stairs …” he tells her as he remembers the night. “So, how could he have shot me if he was coming up the stairs? You told me he was in the living room with you! What’s going on Helen? What happened that night?”

Helen gulps and looks at her husband, “Let’s enjoy the party, okay? We’ll talk about this later. This isn’t the time nor place to have this discussion.”

“Fine!” he says shaking his head at her. “But we will talk about this Helen. I have to know what really happened that night.”

***

As Cory waits for Madeline to return from the rest room, he grabs another glass of champagne. He sees a woman wearing the same mask as Madeline approach and him and he grins quickly, “That was fast,” he tells the woman, thinking it’s Madeline. After a few glasses of champagne, he doesn’t realize that the woman in front of him is wearing a similar, but different, dress than Madeline.

The woman smiles and arches her eyebrow. Without saying anything, she moves closer to him and kiss him hard and passionately. Cory responds and pulls her in closer to him, still feeling attracted to Madeline. Suddenly, Madeline emerges beside Cory and the woman and is stunned by what she sees. Who is this woman that looks like her and is kissing Cory? She coughs breaking up the kiss between the two of them. Madeline raises her mask so Cory can see that it is her beside him, not in front of him.

“What the?” he asks shocked to see that the woman he was kissing isn’t Madeline.

The woman takes a step back and raises her mask too. “It’s your wife Cory,” Robin reveals herself to her husband. “I wanted to say hello, and we just ended up kissing,” she purrs to her husband as she turns and glares at Robin. “Sometimes, two people are just meant to be.”

Robin doesn’t say anything else before she turns around and walks away. Cory looks over at Madeline and gives her a grin. “I told you Maddie,” he says to her. “She didn’t want this divorce!”

Madeline fumes but smiles back to Cory knowing that he was thinking that he was kissing her. She wonders what she should do next and how she can make Robin realize that she isn’t playing around with her secret and how she can get Cory away from Robin forever.

***

Natasha and Shane walk up to the memorial plaque that Bob had built for Sofia after she passed away a year ago and see her father and Robbie standing there. Bob and Robbie hear rustling in the snow and see Natasha approaching. “Looks like we all had the same idea,” she smiles to them as she approaches them. “I can’t believe it’s been one year ago tonight.”

“I’ll give you guys some time alone,” Shane tells her as he gives her a quick kiss on her cheek. He turns around and walks away leaving the three of them together.

“I can’t believe it has been a full year since we’ve seen her,” Robbie says as he kneels down at the plaque and places his hand on the stone.

“The time has just flown by,” Natasha replies to him. “The party reminds me so much of last year, only different I guess. I feel her more than I ever have tonight. She’s with us right now. I hope she’s happy for me,” Natasha says as she gets tears in her eyes. “She always wanted Shane and I together.”

“She is smiling and celebrating with us tonight Natasha, you have to believe that,” Robbie tells his sister as the grab hands. “She loved you and she loved Shane very much.”

“You’re mother would be very proud of both of you tonight,” Bob tells them as he stands above them and looks down on them kneeling at the stone for Sofia. “She loved you both very much and would be so happy of where you are in your lives. Natasha with your engagement and Robbie with your family being so strong.”

Natasha stands up and hugs her father, which is something she didn’t expect herself to do. She can’t help but reach out to him tonight because she needs him in her time of need. She hates everything he has done lately with his relationship with Kim, but she can’t help but want to be close to her father tonight. “Daddy,” she begins to say into his ear.

“Natasha, you know I love you. I will always be here for you,” he replies to her as tears escape her eyes.

“I hate that she’s dead,” Natasha tells him. “Everything has been turned up side down since that night. I hate it!”

“Nat,” Robbie replies coming up to her. “Everything will be okay. I promise you. Everything will be fine.”

The three of them share a hug as they weep for Sofia, a year after she passed away as they all remember the love that they lost.

***

“What are you doing?” Veronica laughs as Jeff pushes her into a room on the second floor of the mansion. “The party is downstairs, not up here!”

Jeff smiles at her as the he shuts the door half way closed, “Is it really wrong that I wanted to spend a moment alone with you?” he asks her as they share a tender kiss together.

As they part, she smiles back to him, “I guess not.”

“I have a present for you,” he tells her as they part and goes into his pocket. She covers her mouth with her hand as he pulls out a small black box. “You know I love you, right? Veronica, I mean … since we met in Boston I just feel this great connection to you. I know we haven’t been dating very long and I know that we just had this huge move back to Twin Peaks, but I can’t imagine my life with out you.”

***

Leah climbs the stairs to the second level to check on Paige. The small child went to sleep awhile ago because she couldn’t stay awake any longer. Thankfully, Bob has a nursery for her at the mansion. Since Robbie and his family wanted to have a moment together to remember Sofia, she thought she would sneak upstairs and see if Paige is alright. As she reaches the second floor, she hears some laughter coming from one of the rooms near by. She shakes her head knowing that the guests were supposed to stay on the main floor, but like every party at the Calimo mansion, people tend to wander. She walks up to the door that she hears the voices coming from. She freezes when she sees Jeff and Veronica in the room in front of her.

“What are you doing Jeff?” Veronica asks as he kneels down on one knee, still holding the black box. “I can’t believe this!”

“I’m asking you to marry me,” he says as he opens the box to reveal a ring inside.

Veronica gasps as does Leah at the door way. Leah had know that the two of them were growing closer, but she had no idea Jeff was at the stage of asking Veronica to marry him.

“What do you say Veronica? Will you be my wife?” Jeff asks looking up at her.

Veronica feels her eyes swell with water, “Yes Jeff! Yes, I will marry you!”

Jeff stands up and grabs her as he twirls her around. She laughs and he puts her down and kisses her passionately. “I love you so much!”

Outside the room, Leah feels her heart sink by what she just heard. She has no idea why she’s upset by the news, everything that she has been working towards is still paying off, her family is safe and secure. Still, she knows that the news of Jeff’s engagement is weighting on her.

***

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Bob says loudly to everyone in the living room. “We are quickly approaching midnight but before we ring in the new year, I want to make a toast to my beautiful daughter Natasha and her engagement to Shane Glubbs, a fine young man.”

The guests start to quiet down so they can hear Bob speak. Natasha and Shane soon join Bob and stand next to him as he continues his speech. “Tonight is a night filled with mixed emotion for our family,” he continues to say. “Last year we lost the light of our life on New Year’s Eve and tonight we are celebrating the start of what will be a magical new life together. Shane and Natasha had been through so much together but at the end of each and every day, they still love each other. That’s all that matters. That’s how my dear Sofia and I lived our life,” Bob tells him everyone in the room. “To Natasha and Shane, may they live happily ever after!”

“To Natasha and Shane,” the audience says in unison as they all toast.

“Thank you,” Natasha says to everyone as she and Shane turn and kiss each other quickly. “Now, get ready, the count down is about to begin!”

***

Upstairs, Victoria and Donovan slowly walk down the hallway until they see a door way that is the study. Victoria turns back and looks at Donovan, “This is it, are you ready?” She still is wondering what is waiting for her on the other side of the door.

“Yea,” Donovan tells her grabbing her hand for support. “Let’s do it. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Victoria takes a deep breath and opens the door to the study. They walk in and don’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Hello?” she calls out as they enter the middle of the of the study. In front of them is a desk and the chair is not facing them. The chair slowly turns around, and the man that had been watching them downstairs is sitting in the chair. Victoria turns and looks at Donovan. Suddenly, they can hear the guests downstairs begin the count down to the new year. “10!” they all shout out in unison.

“Who are you?” Donovan asks the masked man.

“Nine!”

The man smiles and puts the cigar he’s smoking in the ashtray in front of him on the desk. He slowly lifts his mask and looks at the two young people in front of them causing Victoria gasps as the sight of her father in front of her.

“Eight! Seven!”

“My God!” she cries out in shock. After all this time of suspecting that her father was back in her life she finally has the confirmation that he has been behind the stalking. “Dad!”

“Six!”

“Yes, Marbella, your father has finally found you,” Ernesto Moretti says in a calm voice. “You didn’t really think you could run away and not have me find you, did you?” he asks her knowing that he has been searching for her years.

“Five!”

“What do you want from us?” Donovan asks his father as he comes up behind Victoria and holds her, trying to give her some kind of comfort. “You’ve proven yourself to be a horrible monster! Marbella told me everything.”

“Four!”

Before their father can answer, the door to the study opens again and Eva and Will enter. Eva gasps at the sight of the man sitting in the chair and Will immediately recognizes the mask on the table as the one he saw earlier on the man downstairs. Donovan and Victoria turn and see Eva and Will enter the study too, confused by what they are doing in the study with them.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Eva asks him, stunned to see the man before her.

“Three!”

“You know him?” Victoria asks Eva quickly. “This man is our father! How would you know him Eva?”

“Two!”

Ernesto starts to laugh and looks over at Eva, who gulps. “Cat got your tongue darling? I would hate to spoil any surprise.”

“Ernesto please!” Eva pleads with him.

“One!”

“Donovan, Marbella …” Ernest tells him as he looks back to his children. “Our family is complete again. Say hello to your mother!”

“Happy New Year!”

Next on One Day at a Time
- Eva has some explaining to do
- An arrest is made
- Robin calls Madeline's bluff