Daily Updates

General Hospital Update for Friday, 18-Jan-2002

1. Kelly’s Diner - “Another Meal Goes Untouched” - Over burgers and fries that they don’t eat, Carly tells Sonny how she saw A.J. and Courtney sitting at the same table at Luke’s Club. Sonny instantly assumes A.J. is out to hurt his sister, because “he swore he’d get back at me.” And A.J. saw him and Courtney together at the police station, so he knows they are brother and sister. Sonny gets ready to go looking for A.J. Carly wants to come with him, but Sonny says no, she shouldn’t have to deal with A.J.’s insults. Instead, Carly offers to go find Courtney. Sonny says she went shopping. “If he lays one finger on my sister . . .” Sonny says. With that threat hanging in the air, he leaves the diner.

2. Hospital - “Shifting the Blame” - Skye tells Monica and Alan that Melissa is to blame for Edward’s heart attack. She fills them in on how she found the good nurse coming out of Edward’s hotel room that morning and how it looked like they’d been having a party. Melissa denies the accusation and says that Edward will exonerate her himself when he recovers and shows Skye to be the liar she is! Lila calls Alan and Monica over, saying she’s worried because Edward looks worse. The Doctors Quartermaine rush into his room. Edward comes to long enough to tell Alan to keep his mother from worrying. Alan goes out in the hall and tells Skye to get out of the hospital and the house now! After Skye leaves, Melissa tells Alan she can’t help it if Edward likes her; she never asked for any of this. Alan tells Amy to call him if there’s any change, and he goes off on a mysterious errand.

3. The Park - “Soul-Baring Between Strangers” - When A.J. comes upon Courtney on the swings in the park, she immediately suspects he’s following her. He says bumping into her was a coincidence but a nice one. In fact, talking to her the other night at Luke’s was the high point of his week. He wants to know if she’s okay. He knows families can be difficult (he’s not lying there) and was wondering if she had worked things out with her father. He tells her that his grandfather is in the hospital and could die, but he doesn’t want to see his grandson. You may still have a chance to work things out with him, Courtney offers. Why am I telling you this? A.J. wonders aloud. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to strangers, Courtney observes. A.J. points out that she still has a chance with HER father. Courtney says she’s made at her dad but only a little. But Sonny complicates things because he doesn’t care that Mike’s sorry. Forget how Sonny feels, every father should be in his child’s life, A.J. says. Courtney tells him how Mike was around when she was little, and he was a great cook, especially at Thanksgiving. Her mother is partly to blame, because she told Courtney her father was dead. He was the one who was deserted! I have the right to get to know him again, Courtney says. A.J. agrees; no one can tell you who you can or cannot see, he points out.

4. Quartermaine Mansion - “Something’s Wrong” - Jax tries to give a distracted Ned some papers for Skye. Ned says he’s worried because the house is empty - no family, no servants - and he can’t reach anyone. Skye arrives and tells them that Edward has had a heart attack. Ned rushes out, but not before he lays the blame at Skye’s feet. Jax tells her it’s not her fault. Yes, it is, Skye says quietly, then turns her attention to business. She looks over the papers he’s brought her and promises to get on it right away. Jax tries to talk to her about what’s happened with Edward, but all Skye will say is that she’s been ordered to vacate the premises and she’d better do it before the family returns. Sonny barges in and demands to know where A.J. is. Jax steps between the gangster and Skye. “This doesn’t concern you, big boy,” Sonny sneers. Skye says she doesn’t know where A.J. is but she’s glad he’s done something to rile Sonny up. Carly calls and says she’s found A.J. and Courtney at the park together. Sonny leaves as abruptly as he arrived. Trying desperately to put a positive spin on things (and failing), Skye says the day just keeps getting better and better. She recaps the day’s events to Jax, growing progressively more upset. Jax steps closer to her to comfort her, and she backs away, declaring she WILL NOT CRY. She runs upstairs and starts to pack her things but quickly collapses onto the bed in tears. Jax tiptoes in and comes over to the bed. He puts a hand on her back; she tells him to leave her alone. A sympathetic Jax says it’s okay to reach out to someone.

5. Hospital - “History Repeating Itself” - Melissa goes in to see an unconscious Edward. She implores him to open his heart and show his family how he feels. Why is he giving her his money? She says it could get messy for her. She goes over to the equipment by his bed just as Amy comes in. Amy sends her out of the room, saying Edward is HER patient. Roy arrives; he says he heard that Skye accused her of trying to kill Edward. Ned arrives and goes into his grandfather’s room. Melissa tells Roy that Amy acted suspicious of her. This could ruin my career, she laments, and tells Roy how she’s wanted to be a nurse since she was a teenager. Everyone knows Skye is a liar, Roy says. No, you don’t know how false accusations can take root, an increasingly upset Melissa babbles, eventually making you a liability for the hospital. This can’t be happening again, she wails. Roy points out she’s mentioned that before and he wants to know what she means.

6. Edward’s Hospital Room - “True Feelings Revealed At Last” - Ned paces his grandfather’s room and finally settles by the old man’s bedside. Okay, you’ve got my attention, he declares. He promises to return to his post of family gatekeeper. Then he reminisces about his boyhood years when he would sit in Grandfather’s study and learn how to check stocks and listen to him yell at people on the phone. Ned admits that he never missed his father while he was growing up, because he “had you to teach me, scold me, drive me crazy.” Ned says he has never thanked Grandfather for raising him; they’ve been too busy fighting, which is the only way Edward knows how to show love. That is such a waste of time, Ned laments and declares this will be the family’s wake-up call to appreciate what they have.

7. Alan’s Office - “Nurse Black Widow Spider?” - With Melissa’s file open in front of him, Alan places a call to her old hospital in Chicago. He asks about the nature of the complaint that was filed against her, just as Monica comes into the room. He gets his answer and hangs up. What was the complaint? Monica wants to know. Alan tells her, concurrently with Melissa telling Roy in another part of the hospital. Apparently, Melissa had a terminal cancer patient, Jeffrey Barnes, in Chicago. His medication made him irrational and act badly towards his family. She cared about him and watched Chicago Bulls games with him. When he died, he left money and a house by the lake to her. His family filed a complaint against her, saying she’d brainwashed him. The charges were dismissed but her reputation at the hospital was ruined. As Roy comforts Melissa, telling her that what happened in Chicago is behind her, Monica says to Alan that Melissa is a good nurse; she’s not out to get Edward’s money. Alan receives a phone call. It’s Father, he exclaims - code blue! He and Monica rush out of his office.

8. The Park - “Skulking in the Bushes” - Courtney tells A.J. that Sonny’s been very nice to her, even giving her $300 to go shopping. A.J. says he hopes things work out with her father so that there’s hope for him, too. As he pushes her on the swing, Carly and Sonny watch from the bushes. . .

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