Episode Theme song: "Empty Prayers"

Previously on One Day at a Time
- On New Year's Eve, Victoria and Donovan were horrified to see their father Ernesto Moretti. Ernesto stunned them both by revealing that Eva is their mother!
- Adam had another memory of the shooting and demanded that Helen explain what happened that night as his memories didn't match her story
- Bob and Kim got engaged
- Chris left town with Greta on Christmas
- Robin kissed Cory leaving Madeline furious

Scene One - The Calimo Mansion; The Study

Victoria and Donovan slowly turn their head to look over at Eva both feeling stunned that Ernesto, their father, has revealed that the older woman is their mother. Victoria can see that Eva is getting tears in her eyes. She shakes her head looking back at Ernesto glaring at him. She has believed that her mother was dead for years in a fire; why would her father now be saying that she is alive and well? To make matters worse, her mother is someone that she knows, more over her boss? None of this makes sense. None this can be trust. It must be another lie that her father is telling her.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" she asks her father returning her eyes to him. "Our mother died in that fire in Italy years ago. Why would you claim that Eva is our mother? Our mother is dead! How could you be so cruel?"

Ernesto laughs a little before he gets a very serious look on his face. He refuses to be the bad guy, not this time. He looks over at Eva, "Are you going to say anything my dear? You know that you're there mother, you've known for some time, haven't you?" he toys with her

Eva shakes her head as a tear falls from her eye. She quickly wipes it and she goes to say something but she is unable to speak. She feels her heart sinking slowly inside her chest. She looks over at Will, whom looks just as confused as her children.

"You see, she can't even say anything because she knows what I am saying is the truth. She faked her death in that fire years ago and now the truth has come back to haunt her," he replies to her with a wicked grin on his face. "I don't know why you can't speak to your children Eva, really this is so sad. She abandoned the family years ago and she continues to do so today."

"Mother? Is that really you?" Donovan asks as he walks past Victoria and over to Eva. They look at each other in the eyes and she breaks down into tears. He grabs her and they hug immediately, both realizing what Ernesto is saying is true. "My God! It is you! Mother!" he says, relieved that she is alive as they hold each other. After so many years of thinking that she was dead, he can't believe that his mother is alive and well and in front of him.

"This is true?" Will asks, shocked from behind Eva. "You're Victoria and Donovan's mother? How can this be? You've never mentioned having children other than Natasha before to anyone! What the hell is this?"

Eva exit's the embrace with Donovan and looks at Will with desperation. She reaches her hand out to him but he quickly moves back. "I can explain," she says as she covers her mouth with her other hand. For so long she thought she would never see her children again. She thought were back in Italy living their lives.

Will shakes his head unable to comprehend what is happening. How could she lie like this? He finally looks at Eva, "I can't believe you would lie about something like this!"

Before Eva can respond to Will, he races out the door of the study. "Will," she calls out as the door slams shut. She turns back and sees Donovan and Victoria, both whom have tears in their eyes as well, a combination of pain and relief.

"It looks like you someone has a lot of explaining to do," Ernesto smiles from the chair behind the desk, enjoying seeing his ex-wife squirm. "Why don't you tell your children where you've been all these years."

Victoria looks away from her father and over to Eva, "He's right, I think you owe us an explanation," she tells Eva, who gulps over at her daughter. "Why did you leave us?"

Scene Two - The Davenport House; Daisy, Trenyce & Andrew's Home

Daisy looks at Andrew sleeping in his room and smiles at the sight of him. She shuts the door as she leaves the room not wanting to disturb him. After the New Year rang in, she heard noises from the street as people were celebrating, so she wanted to ensure that he didn't awake in the commotion. She had decided not to go to Shane and Natasha's engagement party because she wasn't in the mood to celebrate. While she is happy that Chris has decided to leave town to find himself, as he put it, a part of her is still devastated by his betrayal, especially since he left with Greta. So much for finding himself, she thinks. She doesn't know how a man that claimed to care for her, to love her, could hurt her so many times over and over again. So, she told Trenyce to go out and have fun on the evening and she stayed in and watched Andrew.

As she walks back into the living room, she looks at the coffee table which is scattered with various files of hers as she was working earlier while Andrew played. She sighs and thinks that she may be slightly pathetic, working and babysitting on New Years Eve. "I had nothing to celebrate," she tells herself as she walks over to the coffee table and starts to collect her files. She is startled when she hears a knock on the front door. She quickly looks at her watch and can't imagine who would be knocking at her door at this hour of the morning.

She slowly walks to the door and looks through the peep hole. She gets a small smile on her face when she pulls the door open after unlocking it, "Vinny? This is a surprise. What on earth are you doing here at this hour?"

Vinny looks at his friend and smiles before he shrugs, "I was in the neighbourhood?" he asks her as he enters the house. "Honestly, I didn't see you out at the Calimo mansion earlier and wanted to make sure you were okay. I guess I was worried about you."

Daisy closes the door, "Well thanks," she tells him as she locks the door behind her. "You could have sent me a text or something. You didn't have to drive all the way over here."

"I know," he tells her. "I wanted to see for myself that you were okay. Plus, this way I get to wish you a Happy New Year in person," he winks at her. In reality, he was worried about Daisy when he didn't see her show up at the engagement party. The last time Chris betrayed her with another woman, she was left in a very vulnerable position that made her contemplate taking her own life. He wanted to ensure that she wasn't treading towards a similar path.

"Happy New Year to you as well," she replies to him. "As you can see, I am fine. I do appreciate you coming here to make sure that I am though Vinny. It's sweet."

Vinny shrugs, "I know Chris hurt you a lot. I just want to make sure that you're in a good space."

Daisy chuckles a little, "I'm guessing that you haven't heard the news then."

Vinny arches his eyebrow. "News? What are you talking about?"

"It's about Chris, he's left town. He left right after Christmas."

"Wow, I had no idea. Not that I am complaining. After all the damage he has caused, he should have left town," Vinny replies stunned to learn that his rival is no longer living in Twin Peaks. "What brought this on?"

Daisy shrugs at him, "He claims that he was upset that he hurt me again so he got a transfer at Roboto and left. He took Greta with him."

Vinny puts his hand on Daisy's shoulder and looks into her eyes. He isn't sure that he can read her exactly on how she feels about this. "Are you okay?"

Daisy smiles and looks back to him as water fills her eyes, "I have to be okay Vinny. I have Andrew and Trenyce to support. I'm just …" she pauses as she looks for the right words to explain her feelings. "Relieved that he won't be able to hurt me anymore. Maybe this space between us will finally allow both of us to heal and move on with our lives."

Vinny hugs his friend and holds her closely. "If you need anything from me Daisy, you know I'm here for you. It doesn't matter the time of day or night, just call me."

Daisy lets a few more tears escape from her eyes. "I will Vinny, thank you."

Scene Three - The Calimo Mansion; The Study

Eva looks back at Victoria, who is still waiting for some kind of explanation about how she faked her death and left her children alone all of those years ago. She turns her head over and sees that Will still hasn't returned. "Will can wait," Donovan tells her, realizing that she is wondering about her boyfriend. "We need to know what happened."

Eva sighs and looks at Ernesto with disgust, "This monster happened," she finally says quietly looking at her ex-husband. "Every day that I was married to him was a nightmare. I never knew what was coming or when the beatings would happen. I …" she pauses as her voice cracks as the memories are hard and painful. "I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get out."

"You're over exaggerating Eva," Ernesto interrupts his ex, not wanting to hear how horrible their marriage was. "We sometimes had arguments, but I never once laid a hand on you."

"The final straw was right before the fire at the restaurant. I was coming home, late because I had to run back to the store because I forgot eggs. When I was walking up the stairs, he emerged and pushed me down the stairs because his dinner was late getting on the table," Eva turns her back to everyone as the memories haunt her. "I had a broken foot and bruised hips. The worst part?" she says as she covers her mouth as tears continue to fall from her eyes. "My son, Donovan, was right behind his father as he pushed me. He was letting our child see the way he was abusing me. I had to leave. I had to! I had to save myself."

Donovan looks at Victoria then over at Ernesto. "I … I actually remember that," he tells everyone, horrified by the images in his mind. He looks at Ernesto and glares at him, "How could you do that to your wife? How could you do that to our mother?" he asks his father.

"My plan was to take the children with me," Eva continues her story to everyone. "I had it all worked out. This great escape plan. I would set the restaurant on fire, knowing that Ernesto would be so focused on saving the beloved family business that I could get the children away and we could run. It all went terribly wrong when Ernesto insisted that the children stay with the fire men though. I …" she again pauses as she chokes up. "I had to leave though. I couldn't stay another day with that man. If I didn't go, I was scared he would kill me." She turns and looks at her children. "I'm so sorry that I left you. I'm so sorry! If I could go back, I would."

Victoria wipes her eyes from the tears, "You left us alone with him. Do you know what he did to me? Do you know what he put me through after you left us alone with him?" She can't believe that her mother left her alone to be abused by Ernesto.

Eva nods her head, "I know your history."

"Did you know who I was the entire time you were my boss at work?" Victoria asks her, realizing that Eva and her have been in contact for some time now. "Did you know I was your daughter and you never said anything to me?"

"It wasn't like that," Eva quickly replies to Victoria. "I … I thought you looked familiar, but it was so many years ago. How was I supposed to know what my children would grow up and look like? I never imagined that we would all be in the same town living together. And I certainly never believed that Ernesto would find me again. I believed you were all in Italy."

Donovan turns his head to his father suddenly realizing what is going on. "So, it has been you this entire time! You've been the one stalking Victoria! What kind of sick man are you? How could you torture your own daughter?"

"How dare you speak to me in that tone," Ernesto replies standing up to his son, refusing to be spoken down too. "Your sister betrayed me and the entire family when she ran away. She's no better than her mother!"

"So you admit it?" Victoria asks him. "You have been the one stalking me!"

"He's been stalking me as well," Eva intercepts. "He left me dead roses on my door step. I had to go to the police because of him! I thought it was him but never had any proof."

Ernesto laughs, "You two don't really think I would do you any harm, do you? I only want what's best for my family," he says with a devilish grin on his face. "Everything I've done has been for keeping my family together."

"I'm calling Robbie," Victoria announces to everyone, sickened by her father's comments. "He needs to know that my stalker has been found."

Scene Four - The Calimo Mansion; The Living Room

Bob looks around the living room and the mini-chaos that the party left in the room. He couldn't be more pleased with the outcome of Shane and Natasha's engagement party, however. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, including Natasha. He hopes that by having the party at the mansion he and Natasha can start to mend their relationship. Bob can understand why Robbie and Natasha would be upset with his pending marriage to Kim, but he does want them to come around and accept that he wants to be with Kim. He has grown very fond of her and doesn't want to be alone forever. As he turns around, he spots Dominick preparing to leave the party. He feels his blood boil that Dominick even showed up, but he knows that for a lot of the events that his family holds, his rival will be invited because he is Leah's father and Leah is married to his son, Robbie.

Dominick catches Bob watching him and walks back into the living room for a brief moment, "Good party, as usual Bob," Dominick says to him. "I suppose I should wish you a Happy New Year, but you usually only do that to friends."

Bob laughs, "It will be a good year Dominick. This will be the year that Roboto finally squishes you and your pathetic attempt at a company."

Dominick gets a grin on his face, "I look forward to that challenge."

"I bet you do," Bob replies as he prepares to turn around and walk away from his rival.

"Before I go, I should congratulate you," Dominick announces which causes Bob to stop in his tracks. "I heard about your pending marriage. I can't say I'm surprise, I just hope Sofia isn't rolling over in her grave at the sight of you parading around town with a woman half your age. Not to mention the fact that she's your daughter's best friend!"

Bob turns around and glares at Dominick, "Never again do you mention Sofia's name in front of me, do you understand?" If there's one thing Bob can not stand, it is Dominick's persistence that he sand Sofia had some huge love affair. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Why not Bobby? Worried that I'm right? Worried that she wouldn't approve of this engagement at all?" Dominick laughs at his enemy. He can see Bob's blood about to boil over. "Don't worry old man, I'm leaving. Go have a drink to calm your nerves, you clearly need it."

Bob watches as Dominick grabs his jacket and walks out of the mansion. Bob picks up his glass and considers going to have another glass of brandy, but he sets his glass down. He shakes his head. "I refuse to let Dominick Robertson get to me. Not tonight," he tells himself, trying to convince himself that Sofia would want him to be happy, even if that means being with Kim.

Scene Five - The Calimo Mansion; The Study

Victoria quickly hugs Robbie as he comes up to the study through the hallway. He can feel her tremble a little as he holds her. As they exit their embrace, he looks at her, "Are you okay?" He can't imagine what she is going through, having just heard the entire story from her.

She shakes her head, "I … I just can't believe what's happened tonight. Finding out my father is back and he has been the one stalking me and to find out that my mother is alive and well … it's just a lot to take in, you know?"

Robbie hugs her again, "I can't imagine what you're going through. Did you father actually admit that he was the one stalking you?"

"Without so many words," she says back to him as they exit their hug again. "Apparently, he was stalking Eva too."

Robbie's eyes open wider, "Wait, Eva McCloud?"

Victoria nods slowly, "Yea, she's my mother … my father's ex-wife."

Robbie covers his mouth in surprise, "My God, this is why she was being stalked too. She came to me around the same time you first came to me about being stalked. It all makes sense now."

"What can we do?" Victoria asks him, hoping that they can press some kind of charges against her father.

"I'll show you what we can do," he replies with a slight grin on his face. "Come on."

He opens the door to the study and sees Ernesto, Eva and Donovan still hashing out the past. "Ernesto Moretti?" Robbie asks as he enters the study. Ernesto immediately looks over at Robbie. "You're under arrest."

Ernesto starts to laugh as Robbie walks up to him and places handcuffs on him. "This won't stick," Ernesto glares over to Eva and then Victoria.

Scene Six - The Black House; Adam, Helen & Dawn's Home

Helen opens the door to the house and she walks in quickly. She sighs after thinking about what a long evening it was at the Calimo Mansion. She recalls how Adam must have had another memory of the shooting and how it scares her because she knows that she has been working hard to ensure that Casey was the one that shot him, not her. Still, his memory of that night seems to be slowly coming back around and Helen simply can not let that happen.

As she shuffles into the house, she looks up and sees the basement door open. She arches her eyebrow and wonders why the door is open as she always keeps it closed. Suddenly, she sees Casey walking up the stairs. He notices his sister and gives her a slight grin. "When did you get home?" he asks her as he shuts the door to the basement.

"Just now, what's going on?" she asks him, concerned with him being in the basement.

"Nothing, it's all good here Helen. We don't need to worry about anything," he says back to her. "Did you have fun at the party tonight?"

She rolls her eyes a little and then looks at her brother, "I think we have a problem. A very serious problem."

Casey walks into the living room and picks up the beer he was drinking and takes a swig of it. "You always were the dramatic type," he tells her as he swallows. "What's so urgent now?"

"Adam had another memory of the shooting," Helen glares at him, not amused that he is mocking her. "Do you know what that means?"

"Of course I know what that means," Casey quickly tells her back. "Look, we knew this would happen eventually. We just have to come up with something else to ensure he doesn't remember the entire night. We have a very small window here Helen, let's sleep on it tonight and see what we've come up with in the morning. We can get through this, we just have to think on it."

Helen nods her head slowly before making eye contact with him again. "Yes, we will think of something. We have too."

Scene Seven - The Calimo Mansion; The Study

"Are you sure you're okay now?" Robbie asks Victoria in the corner of the study after Ernesto was carted off to jail for stalking Victoria and Eva. He can't imagine the whirlwind night that Victoria has gone through. "I can still come back to your place tonight if you'd like me too."

Victoria smiles at him with some tears in her eyes, "You're so thoughtful. You've done enough tonight Robbie, really. I'm just glad that you were still here. I want you to go home to your wife tonight though. It's a New Year, you should be with them."

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying over if you think you'll need someone," he continues to ask her not wanting to leave her alone if she needs him.

"I'm positive. I'll be fine. I'll get Donovan to come back home with me. There's really no danger now that my father is my behind bars. It's more of a mental adjustment now," she smiles at him as she hugs. "But thank you and Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year to you too Victoria," he whispers in her ear. "You know how to find me if you need anything," he says as they exit their embrace. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Donovan quickly comes up to his sister as Robbie leaves the study. She looks at him quickly and thinks that she knows what he is about to say, "Don't say it Donovan," she says quickly to him.

"Don't say what?" he asks dumbfounded about what his sister is talking about.

"Robbie and I," she grins at him. "Usually you like to make a joke about my crush on him."

Donovan shakes his head, "Nah, not tonight. I know you were just thanking him in dealing with our father. I'm just … I can't believe everything that has happened tonight."

"You and I both," she replies to him, still trying to wrap her head around the events. "I sort of expected Ernesto to be back with everything that has been happening, but I was not expecting Eva to be our mother. I don't care what she says, she never should have left us alone with that man."

Donovan looks over his shoulder and notices that Eva is gone from the study. "Where did she go anyways?" he asks his sister as their eyes lock.

Victoria shrugs, "I have no idea … maybe to find Will?"

Scene Eight - The Calimo Mansion; The Garden

Madeline walks quickly through the garden as she is treading back towards her car so she can head home for the evening. After the evening she had, she wanted to get some air before she went home. She can't believe that she and Robin wore the same mask to the ball and that Robin kissed Cory. On one hand, she is happy that Cory thought it was her that he was kissing but she doesn't know what else she has to do to ensure Robin stays away from Cory. She has already threatened to go public with the truth about Paige's paternity, even though she doesn't want to go down that path. She doesn't want to hurt innocent people but something has to give with Robin. If Robin doesn't back off however, she has to come up with something. She feels like she is close to being with Cory for good.

As she nears the exit of the garden, she sees a woman standing near the exit as well. She quickly realizes that it's Robin. Madeline walks up to her, "Robin? What are you doing out here?"

Robin barely turns to acknowledge Madeline's presence, "I wanted to get some air. I suspect you wanted to do the same."

"We should talk about what happened earlier," Madeline tells her, grabbing Robin's arm and turning her so they are facing each other.

Robin quickly removes her arm from Madeline's grip. She can't believe the nerve of the woman standing in front of her. It's bad enough that she's blackmailed her to leave her husband, but now she is continuing to confront her every step of the way. "What do you want from me? I've left Cory! You've got what you've wanted!" Robin snaps back at her, frustrated with the entire situation.

"Have I?" Madeline yells back at her. "What was that stunt you pulled inside earlier? Kissing Cory? Did you really think I wouldn't find out about that?"

Robin rolls her eyes, "He's still my husband and he still loves me. I wanted to wish him a Happy New Year Madeline. You need to get over that."

"Did you not remember what I told you Robin? I don't mind refreshing your memory," Madeline replies to her as she moves closer to her. "Stay away from Cory or I will tell everyone your sisters dirty little secret. I mean it!"

Robin laughs at her as she hears her driver honking at her. Robin turns over and waves letting him know that she's on her way. She turns back to face Madeline and smiles, "I some how don't think you have the guts to do anything with that information."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm calling your bluff Madeline," Robin smiles back at her before she turns and starts to walk away. She takes five steps before turning around, "Oh, Happy New Year."

Madeline watches Robin walk away slowly and feels her blood boil. Maybe it's time I do something drastic, Madeline thinks to herself as she watches Robin get into her car, but what?

Scene Nine - The Calimo Mansion; The Foyer

Eva enters the foyer and sees Will grabbing his jacket and about to open the front door to the mansion, clearly on his way out. "Will," she calls causing him to stop and turn around to face her. "Please don't go. Can we talk about this?"

Will sighs and looks back at Eva, "I don't think I can see you right now Eva. I need some kind of adjustment period." He has had some time alone in the mansion and he can't get his head around her lies. What else has she liked about?

Donovan arrives at the top of the stairs and slowly starts to walk down, seeing his mother and her lover interact. He doesn't mean to over heard, but he freezes and listens to the conversation.

"We just need to have time to talk about this Will, please don't go, not like this," she pleads with him.

"Like you Eva, I need time to get my head around the fact that you have two children that you never mentioned to me," Will tells her. "I'll see you later, I need to get out of here."

Eva watches helplessly as Will storms out of the mansion. Eva turns around as tears fill her eyes and she sees Donovan. She walks over to him and moves into hug him, but he rejects her hug. "Donovan?" she asks him as she covers her mouth.

"I think we all need time to get our minds around your lies Eva," he says coldly to her as he continues to walk by her.

"You and your sister need to hear me out. You need to understand," Eva pleads with him as he walks towards the door as well.

"And you need to understand that we've lived our life thinking our mother has been dead. Just because our father had the courage to tell us the truth doesn't mean we want you in our life suddenly," he replies to her, leaving her devastated.

She watches him leave the mansion and as the front door closes, she feels her heart break inside her chest. "Damn you Ernesto!" she cries to herself as she falls to the stairs. She sits on the bottom stair, puts her hand to her face and starts to weep.

Next on One Day at a Time
- Will has a revelation for Eva
- Donovan visits his father in jail
- Andy and Craig go to the next level