Episodes 280 – 309
The information that Ryan Moriani was the son she gave up long ago burdened Paula Fisher. With only her daughter, Sarah, to confide in, Paula struggled not to act strange about and around Ryan, particularly when he spent Christmas with the Fishers as Claire’s date. Though Paula continually debated whether or not to tell her husband, Bill, about Ryan’s identity, she never felt that the time was quite right.
For his part, Ryan was touched to be accepted as a part of the Fishers’ Christmas. He recognized the enormous grief they continued to feel from losing Tim, and the holiday brought him and Claire even closer. Ryan vowed to distance himself from Nick’s dishonest business practices, hoping that Claire would never have to know of his lies. Nick expressed contempt for Ryan’s plan and reveled in the difficulty that his adopted son had in finding a legitimate job. Nevertheless, Ryan took the step of finally moving out of his father’s home and into a loft of his own.
Nick received a call from an old flame with a new business venture. That old flame turned out to be Camille Lemieux, requesting that Nick invest in her new fashion design firm. The former lovers had dinner together, reminiscing and talking business. Though this provoked some jealousy from Nick’s wife, Katherine, it was clear that Nick and Camille’s romance was a thing of the past. Still, he decided to invest in her business, as did Ryan.
At an investors’ meeting, Ryan was surprised to run into Molly Fisher. Originally, Molly had agreed to follow Camille to the new company as a personal assistant. That changed when Camille discovered a sketchpad that Molly kept in her apartment. Impressed with the designs that Molly considered a mere hobby, Camille offered her assistant a designing position. Molly accepted excitedly; she also enjoyed the opportunity to be with Brent after so long, though they continued to keep their relationship a secret.
Brent’s ex-wife, Sarah, struggled with a tentative new romance of her own. Matt Gray expressed a desire to be with Sarah, and although she wanted the same, her continued investigation into Matt’s past provided cause for concern. Sarah found herself pushing Matt away as she attempted to piece together the story of Matt’s estrangement from his brother, Jake, and the long-ago suicide of Jake’s wife, Nicole. Mia Davich, a friend of Nicole’s, told Sarah that Nicole had been very depressed but refused to confide about what. Sarah’s friend, Diane Bishop, encouraged her to get the full story before committing to Matt — especially for the safety of their daughter, Victoria.
Diane was temporarily encouraged about the prospect of renewing her friendship with Brian Hamilton when Brian visited King’s Bay, but she grew angry when he insinuated that Diane had been jealous of his romance with author Serena Scott. Diane threw Brian out but later told Sarah that she regretted pushing Brian away. With prompting from Sarah, Diane planned to bring Brian back to King’s Bay for good.
Hoping to prove her friendship, Diane arranged for Vision Publishing to offer Brian an executive-level position. Though he originally expressed uncertainty about accepting the job, he eventually did. Upon returning to King’s Bay, Brian told Diane that he would give their friendship another chance — as equals — if she would do the same. Diane agreed.
Paula decided she could no longer keep secrets from her husband and family. She confessed to Bill that she had conducted a search for her missing son behind his back. Furious, Bill stormed out before Paula even got to explain that Ryan was her son. Bill briefly moved out of the family’s home and only returned with a warning to Paula: he didn’t know if their marriage could ever be repaired. Paula decided, for the time being, to withhold the news about Ryan.
After some dire words from Bill about relationships, Matt decided to address the growing distance between himself and Sarah. He went to see her with the intention of coming clean. At the same time, Sarah realized that she had to confront Matt about his past. He was furious to hear that Sarah had investigated without his knowledge and realized that Bill was right about secrets destroying relationships.
Matt filled in the gaps of his past for Sarah. He fell into an affair with his sister-in-law, Nicole, and even thought he was in love with her. When Nicole became pregnant, she decided that she could not hurt her husband and Matt’s brother, Jake, so the couple chose to abort their child. The depression that ensued eventually led to Nicole’s suicide. Matt felt that he had to come clean with his brother, so he did — and then left Pennsylvania. The two had not spoken since.
Though he was certain that the truth would drive Sarah away, she told him that it did the opposite: it made her want to be the strength for him that he had been for her through so many things. With the truth out in the open, the couple grew closer. Weeks later, they decided to pursue romance officially and made love for the first time since the night Victoria was conceived.
Alex Marshall worked hard to finish writing his novel and continued seeing Dylan Carrington. Meanwhile, Jason Fisher found himself encouraged by the lessening animosity between himself and Courtney, though he was spending more and more time with Lauren.
Lauren and Trevor decided that they should have a party before their parents returned from their cruise. Lauren encouraged Courtney to pursue Trevor, thinking that the two would make a good pair. Courtney set her sights on Trevor, and the two danced together, but Trevor made a quick escape when things became more intense. Courtney left the party, annoyed.
Later that night, after the party died down, Jason and Lauren sat on the deck, underneath the stars. They got to reminiscing and talking about their friendship, and they wound up in a kiss. Unbeknownst to either of them, Courtney returned to retrieve her purse, which she had forgotten — and she spied them kissing. She hurried off without alerting them to her presence.
Also at the party, Trevor ran into a very familiar face: Alex, who recognized Trevor as the guy from Cassie’s and the clubs. The two young men didn’t have the chance to talk until a few weeks later, when they had another chance run-in at the coffee house. Trevor assured Alex that he didn’t blame him for what had happened with Lauren. He also offered to read Alex’s writing and give some feedback. Alex agreed. Dylan reacted jealously when Alex said that he had to meet up with someone, but Alex promised that it was only to work on his novel. But Alex and Trevor became uncomfortable when Lauren saw them together.
Shortly after the party, Courtney and Dylan went to the Fisherman’s Pier for lunch, only to find Lauren and Jason eating together. Courtney exploded, railing at them for their poor taste. Both Lauren and Jason tried to explain that they had only kissed that one time and that nothing was actually going on, but Courtney wouldn’t hear it. And despite their professions of innocence, Jason and Lauren found themselves continuing to spend time together and even shared another kiss.
Hostilities mounted between Jason and Courtney, and Lauren and Courtney. Seeing Courtney and Dylan training for the competitive season, Jason told Sandy that he wanted to find another partner so that he could finish his pairs testing. Sandy set up an audition for him, but it turned out to be a disaster, much to Jason’s frustration.
Claire became more nervous as the hearing to determine custody of her stepdaughter, Samantha, grew closer. Diane threatened that she would win full custody of her daughter. Though Ryan tried to reassure Claire, she was terrified that Diane would take Samantha away from her. Desperate to help Claire, Ryan tried to bribe Diane, who laughed in his face. She gloated that he had just given her one more kernel of ammunition for her case.
But neither Ryan nor anyone else could have anticipated the ammunition that fell into Diane’s lap. While visiting Sarah one day, Diane discovered a folder that held all the files regarding Paula and Ryan’s connection!
In an effort to discredit the Fishers, Diane’s lawyer, Eric Westin, forced Paula to admit at the hearing that Ryan Moriani was her son. Paula fainted, and the judge called a brief recess; when the hearing reconvened, the judge awarded primary custody to Diane, with limited visitation rights for Claire.
The dramatic reveal sent shockwaves through King’s Bay. Claire, unable to cope with the complications of their relationship, rejected Ryan. While Sarah and Molly welcomed their half-brother with civility, Jason refused to accept this man who seemed to be taking over Tim’s place in the world. Bill and Paula’s marriage became even more fractured, though Bill stood by his wife’s side when Nick and Katherine confronted her about “taking” Ryan from them.
Sarah was disgusted by the way that Diane had publicly attacked her family. Though Diane came up with a cover story about how she found the information, Sarah still considered the revelation a betrayal. Diane assured Brian that she would convince Sarah to trust her again. Both she and Brian were shocked by a discovery: Brent lived in the same apartment complex as Brian, they noticed, when they spied him and Molly kissing! Diane filed the incident away for future reference.
Meanwhile, Ryan and Paula both made an attempt to build a mother-son bond. Nick worried about losing his son entirely and urged Ryan not to forget his adoptive mother, Rose McGuire. And despite his repeated efforts, Ryan was unable to convince Claire to work on their relationship.