Episodes 906 – 957

Ranking of Character Appearances

As the year began, three Fisher women were anticipating the ends of their sentences: Paula for her house arrest, and Molly and Sarah for their probation. Paula encouraged Molly to act on her interest in Conrad, so when he moved out of her home into a place of his own, she kissed him, and their friendship took a turn toward romance. Claire noticed Brent’s reaction to the news that his ex-wife was moving on with Conrad, but Brent insisted that he was merely concerned because the last man Molly had introduced to their sons was Philip Ragan. Meanwhile, Sarah was disturbed to learn that Tori and Zane were talking about moving in together. As soon as her probation was lifted, Sarah revealed to Tori that Zane had blackmailed her for $100,000. Tori was rocked to realize that Zane only got close to her in order to apply pressure to her mother, though he insisted his feelings had grown genuine since then. She was equally furious at her mother for keeping the truth from her for so long. She turned to her cousin, Travis, and went to stay with him and Landon, while Matt was once again upset at Sarah for keeping something so significant from him. He decided to give himself some space by moving in with his brother, who had just relocated to King’s Bay with his wife, Mia, and teenage son, Marcus.  

Another mother/daughter pair was moving toward reconciliation, as Samantha agreed to meet with Diane and talk through their issues. They were making strong progress until Tempest happened upon them. She and Diane once again got into it, causing a frustrated Samantha to storm out.  

Nurse Sonja Kahele panicked when she returned from a brief trip home for the holidays and discovered that Spencer was having memory flashes. She made sure that he continued to use the white noise machine that was feeding him subliminal messages to keep his memory at bay, as Loretta Ragan was paying her to do. In the meantime, Sonja continued to grow closer to Spencer’s father, Tim, and the duo shared their first kiss. But all was not as it appeared to Sonja — because she was unaware that the person with whom she’d been speaking by phone, the person who claimed to be Loretta’s go-between, was actually Natalie Bishop! Natalie was desperate to keep Spencer from remembering his fall down the stairs, and she was claiming to work for Loretta in order to keep Sonja from knowing who’d really hired her. She had a near-crisis when Sophie Fisher found the second phone in Natalie’s purse and answered a call from Sonja, but Natalie managed to cover. When Jason coached Bree to a third-place finish at Nationals, Natalie was moved by the bond between her fiancé and her daughter, and it made her even more determined to hold onto the family unit they’d built. 

Travis grew suspicious of Rosie’s connection to Jesse, a busboy who worked at Bill’s on the Pier, after he caught her in a lie. He tried to ask Jesse some casual questions in hopes of figuring out whatever Rosie was hiding, but this caused a nervous Jesse to place a phone call, informing someone that Rosie was having her boyfriend dig for dirt. One night, when Travis and Rosie had plans to have dinner with Paula at her home, a masked man showed up at the door with a gun to threaten Rosie and Travis. With horror, Travis realized that the threats had to do with Rosie’s link to Jesse. A frantic Paula managed to escape the house and ran into the street, which triggered her house arrest monitor and summoned the police. The masked man got away, and Paula was taken into custody for violating her sentence. At the hearing, Rosie took the stand and bravely explained that, when she was younger, she’d dated a drug dealer named Diego Barrera. Diego pressured her into holding a package for him, and when people connected to Diego broke into her family’s home to steal the package, an altercation ensued — which led to Rosie’s father being shot and killed. She blamed herself for the tragedy. She knew that Diego had sent the gunman after her and Travis out of fear that Rosie might be trying to pin the death on him. Rosie, who was prepared to sacrifice her career as a police officer to ensure Paula’s freedom and everyone else’s safety, pleaded with the court not to punish Paula for the house arrest violation. The District Attorney, Audrey Tam, surprised everyone when she petitioned the court to cancel what was left of Paula’s sentence. The Fishers rejoiced. However, a guilt-ridden Rosie pulled away from Travis, who finally understood just why she’d pursued a career in law enforcement. 

Soon afterward, Brent told Rosie that the court had agreed to seal the records from Paula’s hearing to ensure everyone’s safety, but Audrey Tam was determined to use Rosie to bring down Diego Barrera. Tam threatened to go after Rosie for obstruction of justice unless she assisted with the case. Rosie, who wanted justice for her father’s death, nevertheless feared the repercussions of taking on the powerful drug lord — but she agreed to start by identifying Jesse in hopes of creating a solid lead. 

Danielle shared exciting news with her family: producer DJ Khaled wanted to sample her song “Whenever We Meet Again,” her performance of which had gone viral, in a new song. Feeling strong in her sobriety, Danielle reveled in this new chapter of her career. For the time being, she continued living at Molly’s to help out with teenaged Caleb and Christian. At King’s Bay Academy, Caleb met a rebellious girl named Jasmine Knight, who invited him to a rave with her. Caleb begged Christian and Bree to cover for him during dinner with their parents. After a night of taking drugs and making out with Jasmine, Caleb came home, but he was able to convince Molly and Danielle that he hadn’t been drinking. Christian worried about his brother hanging out with someone as wild as Jasmine. 

With Tori staying in his and Travis’s living room, Landon’s crush on her intensified, especially as she opened up about her heartbreak over Zane and her anger at her mother. As a show of good faith, Zane paid Sarah back nearly all the money that he’d blackmailed her for — but when he made an appeal to Tori to take him back, she stood her ground. When Tori fainted, Landon and Travis took her to the hospital, where she learned she was pregnant. Feeling alone, the young woman planned to have an abortion. When she went to her appointment, however, her cousin, Marcus, saw her outside the clinic. The encounter rattled her, and she was unable to go through with the procedure. Marcus mentioned the run-in to his Uncle Matt, who immediately went to see Sarah. The concerned parents teamed up to be there for their daughter, who admitted what was going on. Matt promised to move back home if Tori would do the same, and with encouragement from both Molly and Jake, he forgave Sarah for her actions regarding Zane. Tori finally told Zane that she was expecting his child and considered placing the baby up for adoption. 

Sonja was relieved when the insurance company’s coverage of her services as Spencer’s nurse came to an end, hoping that she could put the mission behind her and move forward with her and Tim’s new relationship. But “Loretta” contacted Sonja and offered to continue paying her privately to work with Spencer — and keep his memory suppressed. Sonja made a secret trip to New Hampshire to visit Loretta Ragan in prison, hoping to bring a peaceful end to their business relationship. Loretta maintained a poker face during the visit, which tipped her off to the fact that someone was posing as her in order to have Sonja do their dirty work. Sonja’s romance with Tim escalated once she finished her term as Spencer’s live-in nurse and moved into her own apartment. When the real Loretta contacted her, she promised to free Sonja from their arrangement… if Sonja would tie up a few loose ends for her. She also warned Sonja not to take any further orders from the go-between who’d been contacting her. When Natalie — who was unaware of any of this — again contacted Sonja, she was shocked to realize that Sonja had made things much worse by getting in touch with Loretta herself. Troubled by the potential collapse of her house of cards, Natalie staged a run-in with Sonja in hopes of garnering more information, but she didn’t realize that Loretta was having Sonja tailed, and the encounter exposed Natalie’s role in the scheme and brought her into Loretta’s crosshairs. 

As their wedding approached, Jason and Natalie clashed over how extravagant an event it should be. Jason admitted that he was nervous about a lavish wedding because it stirred up memories of his and Courtney’s tragic wedding day. Helen, who was increasingly suspicious of Natalie’s behavior and her furtive arguments with Spencer, stole one of Peter’s dirty diapers in order to run a DNA test. Helen requested another meeting with Sabrina and told her that she knew Sabrina hadn’t pushed Spencer down the stairs — but she needed her help nailing the real culprit: Natalie. Helen played on Sabrina’s growing affection for Jason to get her to sneak a DNA sample from Spencer, which Sabrina accomplished by visiting him and stealing a can he’d been drinking from. Though she felt guilty for deceiving Spencer, who’d become a friend, she justified it as helping Jason. 

The night before the wedding, Helen summoned Natalie and confronted her with DNA results proving that Spencer was Peter’s biological father. Natalie pleaded with her, offering a lie about how Spencer wasn’t interested in being a father, so they’d never had a test done since Jason was, for all intents and purposes, Peter’s father. Helen reluctantly agreed to stay quiet as long as Natalie deferred to her in matters regarding Sophie. After their meeting, Helen was mugged by one of Loretta’s goons, who stole the DNA results.  

The day of Natalie and Jason’s wedding arrived. Diane was alarmed when she found her father, Henry, vomiting just before the ceremony. She questioned him about his illness, especially when she noted how jaundiced and frail he looked. He tried to cover, claiming that it was food poisoning, but Diane grew suspicious. When Sabrina checked in with Helen about the DNA test, Helen lied and said that they’d named Jason as the father. Sabrina was privately crushed at the idea of Jason being tied to Natalie forever.  

A mysterious man crashed the ceremony, claiming that he’d been ordered to deliver an envelope to Spencer. Everyone was confused by the card inside, which read, “Congratulations! It’s a Boy!” and contained a message telling Spencer to have Sonja read him an e-mail. At that moment, Sonja received the e-mail on her phone, which contained instructions to read the paternity test results aloud to the entire wedding — or else, her work as Loretta’s secret agent would be exposed. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Sonja shared the DNA results with all in attendance, revealing that Spencer was actually Peter’s father. A desperate Natalie took Jason aside and managed to convince him that she never told him about her fling with Spencer because it had happened while they were on a break, and that the test she’d had done said Jason was the father, so she never saw the need to bring it up. Though upset, Jason was swayed by her appeal, and the wedding continued. Before they could exchange vows, however, Helen stood up and announced that she’d had a DNA test run and knew that Spencer was really Peter’s father. The incident jogged Spencer’s memory, and he remembered the truth, as well as the fact that Natalie was present for his fall down the stairs. Despite Natalie’s frantic pleas, a devastated Jason called off the wedding. 

While the Fishers rallied around Jason, Alex and Trevor offered to let Natalie and Peter stay with them in order to keep an eye on her. A custody battle loomed. Natalie asked Conrad for legal help, which caused friction between him and Molly, but he ultimately referred Natalie to an attorney.  

Tim was uncertain how to feel about Sonja after the catastrophe at the wedding. She made up a cover story about Loretta having threatened her, which caused Tim to feel more sympathetic toward her. He finally decided to trust her and give their relationship another chance, but Sonja shocked him by announcing that she was leaving King’s Bay. Tim was confused by the vagueness of her explanation but had no choice but to let her go. Sonja was heartbroken but knew she had to follow Loretta’s orders — to leave town immediately — or lose her medical license. Before leaving her apartment for a final time, Sonja threw away a home pregnancy test. 

One positive thing that came out of the wedding day was that it allowed Diane and Samantha another chance to reconnect. Mother and daughter finally seemed to be on the road to a new understanding and reconciliation. Samantha also had an opportunity to smooth things over with Tempest, a sight that displeased Diane. When Samantha and Tempest later met up for drinks, the old spark was still there, but Samantha forced herself not to take things too fast. Diane was also preoccupied with concerns over her father’s health. When her parents sat in on a broadcast of Diane’s KBAY morning show, Diane quizzed a production assistant, Jaq Pearson, who’d heard Henry vomiting. Diane later got him to confess that he’d been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He didn’t want the family to know because he wanted to spare them a long, painful grieving process. He swore a reluctant Diane to secrecy. Diane also decided that Jaq would be a good match for Samantha and planned to set them up. She conspired with Jaq to set up an “accidental” meeting, during which Sam and Jaq hit it off. 

When the King’s Bay PD’s tailing of Jesse failed to produce a significant lead, Rosie reviewed the file and took matters into her own hands. She noticed some suspicious patterns of activity in Jesse’s movements and was forced to go to Travis to ask about them. The two of them fought their feelings as Rosie attempted to keep things strictly professional. Rosie finally had a break when she realized Jesse was making covert deliveries of drugs to a local dealer, and when she followed the dealer, she caught him selling to a customer. Though she missed the dealer, Rosie was able to bust the customer — and was shocked to discover that it was Caleb, who’d been sent by Jasmine to pick up drugs for another rave. Instead of arresting him, she brought him down to the station and turned him over to Brent, who laid down the law and forced him to confess everything about the deal. Jasmine was furious when she learned that Caleb had given her name to law enforcement, but the KBPD finally had the break they were looking for: the dealer was able to help them aim their investigation higher up the food chain.  

It was time for another wedding, as Jimmy and Kathleen decided to hold their wedding in King’s Bay before officially settling down in town. On the morning of the nuptials, Jimmy had Travis “kidnap” Kathleen and bring her to see a surprise: a bar, which he planned for them to operate together. He named it The Wild Lady, after how Kathleen had described herself to him the first time they met. Kathleen was ecstatic. Jimmy and Danielle’s daughter, Elly Vanderbilt — who had passed the bar exam and adopted a much tougher attitude during her time away — returned for the wedding. The ceremony, held at Bill’s on the Pier, went off without a hitch. It also gave Elly an opportunity to spend time with Danielle, who soon announced she was leaving town to move to Los Angeles, as she’d received an offer to write songs for big-name artists.  

Spencer overheard Natalie pitching to Jason that they team up to keep Spencer (and Loretta) from winning full custody of Peter. Furious, Spencer kidnapped Peter from the Fishers’ Thanksgiving celebration. He fled to a motel but then panicked about how to take care of the boy and what he’d gotten himself into. He contacted Elly for legal help, and she felt she had no choice but to aid him. Elly came up with a plan. She contacted Natalie and brokered a deal: Natalie would help cover up the kidnapping, and Spencer wouldn’t accuse Natalie of pushing him down the stairs — if they got married. Natalie contacted the Fishers and claimed that Spencer having Peter was the result of a misunderstanding. The unenthusiastic duo were married at the courthouse, in front of several stunned family members, including Jason. Brent and Travis both questioned Elly’s involvement in the situation.  

As the year drew to a close, Claire and Brent found themselves discussing the possibility of marriage. Rosie began to let down her guard with Travis again, but she was thrown to see him having a heated conversation with Elly; Travis insisted things between him and his ex were strictly platonic. Alex was thrown when he received an invitation to the premiere of the movie based on his novel, the movie he’d been writing with Liam Cassel until Liam found out about Alex and Trevor’s fling and had Alex fired from the project. With Jason’s encouragement, he decided to attend the premiere. And, on Christmas Day, Zane delivered flowers to Tori, hoping to woo her all over again and raise their child together.