2006
Episodes #401-438

Jason Fisher's Christmas day brawl with Josh Taylor damaged more than the dinner buffet. He tried to apologize to Lauren Brooks for his rash behavior, even going so far as to show her the ring with which he planned to propose to her. Still, Lauren turned him away. Communication between the couple dwindled. Jason focused on passing his Senior Pairs skating test with Courtney, a process that drew them closer together.

After they passed their test, Courtney encouraged Jason to make the effort to save his relationship with Lauren. He left a message for her at work, asking her to meet him if she had any interest in continuing their relationship. However, Josh intercepted the message and took Lauren to 322 for after-work drinks. Courtney happened to be working that night and saw them together. Later, when Jason bemoaned Lauren's apparent rejection, Courtney told him that Lauren had been with Josh.

The night of the auction arrived, and the event looked to be a failure. Katherine's trio of (former) friends--Marj, Dar, and Tenille--were ready to walk out before the auction even began, but then they caught a glimpse of the bachelors changing backstage. The women called their friends, and shortly afterward, the place was packed. The event was an enormous success until Nick crashed it. He took the stage and announced his (fabricated) discovery that Ryan and Katherine planned to pocket the proceeds themselves, rather than donating them to charity. Katherine and Ryan pleaded with the audience not to believe Nick, but the damage was done. The confused crowd left.

In a confrontation outside the auction, Nick made a threat to Claire regarding Travis's safety. Claire shared this information with Tim, who was alarmed. Meanwhile, Katherine confronted Nick, who made her look like even more of a fool in front of Marj, Dar, and Tenille. Katherine vowed revenge on her estranged husband.

Later that night, Tim slipped out of Diane's place and returned acting strangely. Unable to sleep, Katherine went to see Nick. Ryan, whom Claire had also told about Nick's threat, claimed to be going to the grocery store, but he made a detour to his father's house. The maid, Lola Bouvier, let him in. Ryan found Katherine standing, gun in hand, over Nick's fallen body.

Nick was rushed to the hospital and slipped into a coma. Katherine was held in jail and questioned, but forensics revealed that the gun in her hand was not the one that had shot Nick. Brent Taylor questioned Tim after Lola explained that Tim had visited the house prior to Katherine. Tim swore that he and Nick had fought, but it had ended with Tim punching Nick. After finding a broken window in another room of Nick's house, Brent also questioned Ryan, who had sported a bandage on his hand since the night of the shooting. Camille Lemieux, who had also been wronged by Nick, kept quiet about memories of having fought with Nick on the night of the auction.

In the midst of the investigation, Tim and Claire received the final divorce papers. Ryan pushed Claire to sign them immediately, but Tim struggled with the end of his marriage. He stashed the unsigned papers away, and Diane found them. She confronted him. Tim finally brought himself to sign them. Ryan proposed marriage to Claire. She accepted but chose not to wear the ring for the time being, until she felt comfortable sharing the news with the Fishers.

Katherine had outbid the other women to win a date with Brian. He found himself charmed with her, as well, and she was grateful for the distraction from the Nick situation. When they went on their date, they ran into Marj, Dar, and Tenille. who mocked Katherine. Brian shut them up by planting a kiss on a very surprised Katherine. She was smitten.

Nick's maid, Lola, failed to show for a questioning appointment with the police. They found her at the Moriani house-shot dead. Also found at the scene was Tim's cell phone. Tim's alibi for the time of Lola's death was that he had been having dinner with Jason, but Jason recalled that Tim had arrived late and seemed frazzled. The police determined that the bullet that killed Lola had come from the same gun that shot Nick, and they soon found the gun in the trunk of Tim's car.

Then things took an even worse turn. Ryan decided to visit his father in the hospital, but when he got there, he was informed that Nick had passed away that morning. With Nick dead, Tim was arrested for murder. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail to await trial.

After giving birth to the twins, Molly Taylor returned to work at Objection Designs. She was edgy and off-kilter as she tried to balance the demands of new motherhood with her career. The situation grew more strained as Brent became busier with the investigation into Nick's shooting, and it culminated one busy morning when Molly forgot to load Caleb into the car. She accidentally left her son on the curb and drove to work.

Midway through her drive, Molly was horrified to realize her error and sped back home. However, someone else came upon Caleb first. Sarah came to Brent and Molly's apartment to drop off something for Brent and found her nephew on the sidewalk. When the panicked Molly returned, Sarah was holding Caleb, and the two adversarial sisters shared a strangely close moment.

However, Danielle had not been entirely honest about her recent whereabouts. One day, she ran out on an errand and left her cell phone behind. When it rang, Brent saw that the call was from Danielle's old friend, Melanie, and answered. He made a comment about Melanie having seen Danielle recently, only to learn that Danielle had not been to see Melanie and her family in a long time--which was not what Danielle had told him. He confronted his sister, who admitted that she had not been traveling; she had recently spent time in a rehab program for an alcohol addiction. Brent was supportive of her, but they clashed when Danielle did not want to tell Molly, out of fear that Molly would no longer want her around Caleb and Christian.

Sarah and Matt, meanwhile, were happily settling into married life after years of strife. They flew to Pennsylvania to attend Jake Gray's wedding to Mia Davich. At the reception, Jake and Mia told Sarah and Matt that they hoped to start a family soon. This news prompted Matt to suggest to Sarah that they expand their family. Sarah was less than enthusiastic about another pregnancy, with her career in high gear and all the stress she had seen Molly experiencing.

The issue created tension in Sarah and Matt's marriage, and it was exacerbated when they received word that Mia was pregnant. After a talk with Bill, Matt accepted that he was pushing too hard and told Sarah that he would back down. This acknowledgment showed Sarah how much he loved her, and she admitted that she feared being a mother again. She was worried that whatever success they had experienced with Tori was a fluke and that she was not capable of being a good mother. She decided to face her fear, and they had sex.

On Christmas day, Matt urged Sarah to share their news with the family: she was pregnant. Diane and Bill both noticed that Sarah seemed less than fully enthused by this development. Sarah insisted that she was just jittery because she was still in her first trimester.

After his breakup with Lauren, Jason focused on moving forward with his life. Having passed his Senior Pairs test, he began teaching lessons full-time. He was surprised to receive a call from an attorney, asking to meet with him at once. Courtney accompanied him to the mysterious meeting, where the high-powered attorney informed him that Shannon Parish had recently passed away… and had left her parents' millions (from the hot cocoa company they had once owned) to him, on the condition that he was not married to Courtney at the time of the inheritance. Since Jason was not, the money was his to take.

However, he was not so sure that he could accept Shannon's money. Paula, Courtney, and Alex all tried to convince him to take the money and do something positive with it. Finally he considered giving the money to charity. Then another opportunity presented itself: Sandy revealed to Jason and Courtney how poorly the skating arena was being managed, and Jason decided to buy a controlling interest in it and renovate the arena into a top-of-the-line facility. He consulted with Ryan about the business aspects of the move, and when his offer was accepted, Jason found himself pursuing this surprising new career. On Ryan's advice, he hired Courtney to work with him; she was all too happy to leave behind her days of waiting tables at 322. The project also cemented the new bond between Jason and Ryan, which made Tim uneasy.

During a chance run-in, Jason and Lauren found themselves able to be civil and friendly with one another. Both accepted that they could now move forward with their lives. Lauren had purchased a date with Josh at the auction after he put on a rowdy strip show onstage, and Josh held her to it. They attended a concert, and Lauren was surprised by how good a time they had. As the holidays approached, Josh surprised Lauren with a night of making gingerbread houses, and they shared their first kiss.

After his chance encounter with college roommate Seth Ashby in Portland, Alex returned to King's Bay. He chose not to tell Trevor about the run-in, but Trevor had plenty to worry about on his own. He received a mysterious call, which he ignored, only to have his agent receive one as well. A man named Cliff wanted money from Trevor. Worried about his career, Trevor made a covert trip to New York, where he met up with opportunistic Cliff Burkett. Determined to leave that part of his life behind him, Trevor paid off Cliff and returned to King's Bay.

While Trevor was away, Alex received a surprise visit from Seth. He wanted to apologize to Alex for his dismissive behavior in Portland and even invited Alex to his wedding. Alex appreciated the opportunity to talk things out with Seth, but he kept both the visit and the invitation secret from Trevor. The mutual secrecy put a distance between Alex and Trevor and began to take a toll on their relationship.

Seth went inside, and Alex waited. He was convinced that the wedding was taking place, but then Seth emerged, saying that he had called off the wedding. Alex was sympathetic toward his old friend, and they went to a hotel, where they finally discussed their past in full. Alex let out his resentment over how Seth had abandoned him, and Seth made it clear that he still thought about Alex. However, Alex refused to let it turn sexual, and he slept on the floor that night. He returned to King's Bay and to Trevor.

Meanwhile, Tim awaited his trial for murdering Nick and Lola. Diane vowed to keep Tim out of prison, which made Tim realize that she thought he might be guilty. By Christmas, Tim felt alienated by his loved ones' presumptions that his time in captivity had made him unstable enough to be capable of murder. The only person with legitimate faith in him seemed to be Claire. Tim's lawyer urged him to take a plea bargain. Tim's family and friends suggested it must have been a mob-related murder, but Tim felt Ryan was to blame. He became fixated on how Ryan had usurped his life and was determined to get even with his half-brother, especially when he spotted Claire's engagement ring.

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