Episode 977
 
This Ain't No Game
Written by: Dallas Walsh | Originally Released: September 20, 2023

Episode Theme song: "worst behaviour" Ariana Grande

Previously on One Day at a Time
- After Clayton and Nicholas got married, Andy was tempted to drink
- Dale caught Dawn in his office while Cheresa waited for her at the airport so that they could elope. Adam told Helen his concerns about Dale but agreed to drop it if she wanted him too
- Daisy realized that she and Andrew needed to get away from the casino and Antonio
- Antonio wasn't thrilled about Isabelle's engagement to Jacob. Cassie, meanwhile, broke into Shane's office and searched for Natasha's file
- Victoria and Eva decided to hide out at the Calimo cabin until they could come up with a way to stop Frederick. Frederick told Bryce he would help him find Victoria if he drugged Felicia

One Day House; Second Level Offices

"I asked you a question," Dale glares back at Dawn as they stand face to face in his office. He just opened the door to his work space and he saw Dawn standing there; he can't help but recall how he noticed things were misplaced in his office a few days earlier. He thought it was odd and wondered if someone had been in his office; now, to see his fiancé's daughter standing in his office, which was locked, he can't help but wonder if Dawn has been there before. "What are you doing in here, Dawn?"

"I, uh," Dawn gulps back to him. "I was hoping that you and my Mom were here but you weren't, so I was leaving."

"Why did you want to see your mother and I?"

"Because," she replies to him quickly. "Cheresa and I, we are leaving town on a quick trip, so I wanted to say goodbye."

Dale arches her eyebrow back to her, not sure if he should believe her not. "How did you get in here? My office door was locked, Dawn."

Dawn gulps back to him again as Dale moves closer to her. "You broke in here, didn't you? And, this isn't your first time coming here, is it? What are you trying to do, Dawn? What is this really all about?"

"It…it's like I said…I was looking for my Mom…"

"Stop lying to me!" Dale yells at her. "My door was locked, why did you break in here?"

"Because!" Dawn cries back to him. "I don't want you to marry my mother! What are you hiding? Because I don't buy for a minute that you're not wanting to avenge Mallory's death."

"Don't you ever say her name again," Dale fumes back to her. "You won't get away with this, do you hear me? I won't let you ruin this for me!"

"Ruin what? Are you saying you are out for revenge?"

Dale chuckles back to her. "You're too clever for your own good."

"I'm telling my mother," Dawn hisses back to him. "You won't away with this."

"I already have," he replies to her. "Helen is engaged to me; we will be married!"

"Over my dead body!" Dawn yells back to him. Then, she kicks him in the shin. Dale yells out in pain as Dawn rushes past him and out of the office.

Dale looks back and starts to chase her. "Stop Dawn! Stop right now!"

Dale rushes out of the offices and looks in the alley to see where Dawn could be. He sees her rushing towards her car. He wonders how he can stop her and then he realizes what he has to do. He quickly moves towards his parked car and gets inside.

Twin Peaks General Hospital

"Nicholas, what brings you to the hospital at this hour?" Madeline asks as she sees her new brother in law standing at the nurses station. She hasn't seen him since Clayton revealed that he married Nicholas; she still can't believe that her brother married Nicholas on the same day that he was supposed to marry Andy. She doesn't know what happened, but she wants to know the truth.

"I had to drop off some files for some people that are staying at the One Day House," he turns and looks at her. "How are you doing, Maddie?"

"I'm just fine," she smiles back to him. "What about you? I haven't seen you since your wedding day."

Nicholas blushes back to her as he knows that he left Andy standing at the altar because Clayton blackmailed him into marriage; if Nicholas didn't marry Clayton, he would have used a clause in Preston and Olivia's will that would have left Andy and Madeline completely broke. Feeling like he had no other choice, Nicholas married Clayton and now, everyone has been left reeling.

"Yea, I guess it was a whirlwind, huh?" he finally replies to her.

"You can say that again," Madeline tells him. "Andy was really excited about the wedding. What happened? Why did you leave him and marry Clayton?"

Nicholas shrugs back to him. "It's like I told Andy," Nicholas gulps back to her. "I ran into Clayton and we ended up realizing that we have a real connection. Marrying Andy wouldn't have been fair."

Madeline arches her eyebrow back to him. "I'm not sure I believe that. I understand if you don't want to say anything, but if Clayton has done something to make you marry him, I will find out about it. Because from where I stand, something isn't add up."

"Please, just let this go."

"I won't," Madeline shakes her head back to him. "Clayton is brother but Andy means too much to me not to get to the bottom of this."

The Pink Flamingo at the River Rock Casino

Andy sits at the bar of the restaurant with a sparkling water in front of him while he nibbles on some crab cakes, even though he isn't hungry. He is still trying to figure out how, exactly, Nicholas went from wanting to marry him to marrying Clayton on their wedding day. Leading up to the wedding day, Nicholas continued to tell him, over and over again, that he was in love with Andy and the fact that Clayton was back in town didn't bother him.

"It looks like you're eyeing the vodka behind the bar," a voice calls out from behind Andy.

Andy turns around in the stool and sees Clayton standing there. "Aren't you going to congratulate me on my wedding?"

Andy glares back at him, fed-up with Clayton's smug attitude. "I don't know what you want me to say, but if you think I'm going to congratulate you for ruining my life, you have another thing coming. And for the record Clayton, I think you're an asshole."

Clayton chuckles back to him. "I see you're bitter about how things turned out. Well don't worry, Andy, I'll take good care of Nicholas; better than you ever could."

"Shut up," Andy spits back to him. "You know, you may look like Reese, but you're nothing like him. You're a monster!"

Clayton rolls his eyes. "That vodka behind the bar, it's calling your name. I say go for it. Drink up, Andy. It's all your good for anyways."

Andy turns around and gulps as he can tell Clayton is walking away from him. When he opens his eyes, he looks at the vodka sitting on the bar and takes a deep breath, knowing that he has been craving a drink for days now and this encounter with Clayton certainly didn't help the situation.

***

Meanwhile, Daisy slowly walks down the stairs from the second level hotel into the main gaming area of the casino. She can see a lot of patrons spending their money on various games, which she is not interested in. In fact, she has realized that being in this environment is not good for her, or Andrew. That's why she decided a few weeks ago that she had to stop selling her body for money; she knows that she was only doing it as a way to numb her pain from her abortion, but she needs to find a healthier way to cope with her feelings. She did, recently, sell herself one final time, so she could help Andrew pay off the loan that he owed Antonio, and now, she wants nothing more to do with it.

"Daisy, hello," Antonio greets her as he steps out of his office and sees one of his most profitable women approaching him.

"Antonio, just the man I wanted to see."

"Oh? Is everything okay?" he asks her back quickly as he opens the door to his office and lets her move inside.

"I want out," she firmly tells him as she turns in his office and looks at him. "I don't want to be a hooker anymore."

Antonio arches his eyebrow back to her. "Where is this coming from you? You are one of the most popular girls I have."

"I don't care about that," Daisy shakes her head back to him. "I…I have fallen so far from who I used to be. I need to get back to myself, Antonio. And the first step in that is leaving this…job, if you can even call it that."

"Hey, sex work is real work."

"I am not judging, it is just not for me."

"Well, it doesn't work that way," Antonio informs her. "You see, all those fancy dresses that you have been wearing; all those shoes that you have been prancing around in; all those jewels that have been draped around your neck, I bought those. So, you will have to continue to work for me until those…debts…are paid off."

Daisy feels the blood drain from her face realizing that she is in deeper than she thought. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, you're still one of my girls, one of my best girls. And that won't change any time soon," he grins back to her.

The Calimo Cabin

Victoria quickly turns off the small radio that is on the fireplace mantel that is in the small living room of the Calimo cabin. She had turned it on a few minutes earlier hoping to find a radio station to play some music when she heard a new bulletin regarding Dominick's stroke and current comatose status.

She runs her hands through her long hair as she wonders if she should tell Eva about Dominick's health status. She knows that her mother wouldn't be able to do anything currently to help him because they are in hiding from Frederick, but at the same time, Dominick is still her husband, so she has a right to now.

"Darling, I was able to find a bottle of wine in the basement," Eva grins to her daughter as she moves into the living room holding a bottle of Merlot in her hand. "Would you like a glass?"

"I would love one," Victoria replies to her. "Thanks for tracking that down."

"Of course," Eva smiles back to her. "Are you alright? You seem…off?"

"I'm fine," Victoria uneasily tells her. "I guess I am just looking at all these files that we brought from Raven's Meadow and I am feeling overwhelmed about where we can start."

"One file at a time," Eva tells her as she pours her a glass of wine. "Here, the wine will help and we can start together."

"Alright, sounds good. Thanks Mom."

Raven's Meadow

Bryce quickly moves down the hallway of the hospital, trying to wrap his head around everything that has happened the last few days. He finally got Frederick to admit that he had been holding Victoria, and Eva, hostage in the hospital because he was worried about the fact that Eva is alive being revealed. Since then, Victoria and Eva has seemingly escaped and now, Frederick has no idea where they are. Thankfully, Frederick has agreed to try to help Bryce find his wife because he is desperate to find her again.

"I have to find you Victoria," he whispers to himself. "I have been so worried about you and now to know that you were here, right under my nose, it makes my blood boil."

He stops outside one of the rooms in the hospital when he notices that the door is slightly ajar. He arches his eyebrow and moves towards the door to open it. When he can see inside the room, he gasps at the sight. In the room, he can see white feathers scattered on the floor and a large opening on the wall, which has the opening to the venting system.

Immediately, he realizes that this is the room where Victoria and Eva must have been held. "Victoria was here," he whispers to himself as he moves closer to the vent opening. "Maybe I follow the path, I'll find her and then I can be back with my wife again."

The Calimo Mansion

"I guess I should get used to be here since I'll be living here once we get married," Isabelle chuckles to Jacob as they sit next to one another on the sofa in the living room of the Calimo mansion. She is still on cloud nine over the fact that she is engaged to Jacob; she knows that the reason this is happening is because Natasha is dying and it was her last wish for Jacob to be with her. She can't believe that Natasha wanted them together but she isn't complaining.

"This place is so big," Jacob replies to her with a laugh. "We could have our own wing!"

"That is something I could get used to," she admits to him. "Seriously, are you sure you want to do this?"

"What? Marry you? Of course I am sure. I want to ensure my mother is happy before she dies."

"But what about you? Are you happy about this engagement?"

Jacob looks back at her in surprise. He wasn't expecting her to question his feelings that way. "Where is this coming from?"

Isabelle sighs back to him. "I'm sorry," she tells him. "When I told my father about the engagement, he was less than thrilled."

"Well, I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if I wasn't sure about this," he tells her as he licks his lips.

"If you mean that, prove it to me, Jacob. Take me upstairs and make love to me?"

Jacob looks back at her and realizes that he is going to have to prove to her that he wants to marry her, not that he is complaining since she is a beautiful woman. He finds himself leaning in and kissing her passionately.

"Please don't stop," she begs him as he stands her up and they start to move towards the bedroom.

Twin Peaks General Hospital

Cassie opens a filing cabinet in Shane's office at the hospital and starts to riffle through it. She has snuck into his office in hope of finding Natasha's medical file, so she can see what, exactly, this illness that she has. She thinks it might help her find a way to figure out why she wants Jacob with Isabelle, or why she has died yet, since she was only given a few weeks to live and it has been months.

She finally finds the file that reads, "Calimo, Natasha" and pulls it out.

"Ah ha," she says as she moves to the desk and turns the desk lap on. "Okay, since I don't have a lot of time, I'm going to take pictures of every single page in here and I'll read it later. The last thing I need is for someone to see me in here."

She uses her IPhone to take pictures of the pages inside the file before she closes it and puts it back in the filing cabinet.

"I need to get out of here," she says as she moves to the door. "I'll go home, pour a glass of wine and find out what you're hiding."

She opens the door to the office and peers out into the hallway to ensure no one is there; when the coast is clear, she leaves the office and closes the door, but just as Cassie does, Madeline walks by and freezes. She arches her eyebrow, wondering why Cassie was the office and what she was doing.

The Sugarbowl

"Thanks for coming to get a coffee with me," Helen tells Adam as she opens the door to the coffeehouse. "I know we were talking at home but I just felt like a pick me up."

"No worries, but I do want you to answer my question," Adam replies to her as they move closer to the line up to place their order. "Do you want me to look into Dale's past or do you want me to drop it? Because, like I said, I will drop it if you want me too."

Helen sighs back to him as she wonders what she should do. She knows that Adam, and Dawn, have been warning her about Dale as they think it is too much of a coincidence that he is also Mallory's father; still, Dale has reassured her time and time again that he never knew of their connection when they met.

Before Helen can respond, she looks over her shoulder and sees Cheresa sitting in the back booth by herself. "That's Cheresa," Helen tells Adam. "She and Dawn were supposed to be away on a romantic getaway. Why is she here?"

Adam shrugs back to her. "I have no idea, let's go find out."

Adam and Helen move to the back booth where they sit across from Cheresa. "Hey, what's going on?" Adam asks his daughter's fiancé. "We thought you and Dawn were heading out of town?"

"We were," Cheresa looks up from her milkshake. "Only, she didn't show up at the airport. Dawn ghosted me."

Helen and Adam look back at each other in concern. "That's not like her. What could have happened?"

"I guess she realized that she didn't want to marry me?" Cheresa sighs back to him. "I just wish she would told me."

"I think something else is going on," Adam admits to her. "Dawn wouldn't do this; so where is she? Where is our Dawn?"

***

Meanwhile, Dawn reaches main street after running out from the alley that is behind the Sugarbowl and the One Day House. She is out of breath but she realizes that she is close to her car.

"Once I get to my car, I can drive home and tell Mom everything," she gasps for more air. "Dale admitted to me that he wants revenge for Mallory's death. I can't believe this."

She grabs her purse and digs for her keys. Once she has them in her hands, she starts to cross the road.

As she does, two headlights appear in front of her! Dawn freezes as a car races towards her. Dawn screams as the car hits her, which causes Dawn's body to hit the windshield and roll over on the ground. The car continues to speed away, leaving Dawn's body laying on the ground!

In the car, Dale grins as he drives off away from the scene of the crime.

"You will not ruin this for me you little bitch," he whispers as he speeds away quickly.

Next on One Day at a Time
- Abby holds a family meeting
- Dawn's body is found!
- Daisy confides in Andrew

 
Discuss your thoughts here, in the ODaaT Forum!
 

Contact - odaatseries@gmail.com | © 2002-2024 One Day At A Time