From: Susan Richmond <susan@webspan.net>

Hi everyone!

Today on The City, Tess goes into surgery, Alex and Jocelyn discuss 
their relationship, and we finally find out who paid the taxes on the 
building. Here we go......



				THE CITY UPDATE
			  Thursday, February 20th, 1997


WILL YOU MARRY ME - NOT
Location: Alex and Jocelyn's apartment

Jocelyn is on the phone trying, without sucess, to learn who paid the 
taxes on the building. Whoever made the donation wishes to remain 
anonymous. Jocelyn gives up and hangs up the phone. Alex doesn't 
understand why she wants to know so badly. She hates mysteries, it's a 
lawyer thing, she explains. Alex sits down and pulls Jocelyn onto his 
lap. She suggests maybe he could do some dectective work and find out 
who paid the taxes. Changing the subject, Jocelyn mentions they need to 
put wallpaper up and Alex says she can chose whatever she wants, he's 
easy. He'd better watch it, she might take advantage of that and ask him 
to make an honest woman out of her, Jocelyn jokes, getting off his lap. 
Alex just turns and stares at her.

Alex wonders if she's talking about marriage. Of course not, Jocelyn 
exclaims, she doesn't want to get married, it was a joke. "Oh, fine", 
Alex replies.  She really doesn't want to get married, Jocelyn insists. 
Alex says he understands. Then why doesn't he believe her, Jocelyn asks. 
He's talking like a man who believes all a woman wants to do is trap him 
into marriage. "I don't believe that", Alex defends himself. 
"Unless...", Jocelyn starts to say. Unless what, Alex asks. Unless Alex 
is the one who wants to get married, Jocelyn accuses. "No!", shouts 
Alex. 

Alex wants to talk about what just happened here. Nothing happened, 
Jocelyn says, neither one of them wants to get married, that's all. 
Jocelyn thinks what they need to do is get away for awhile, like to 
Hawaii for three weeks. It's a nice thought, but Alex can't afford it. 
Joc reminds him that she'll get $200,000 when she sells her share of the 
building. Alex thinks that's great, but it's HER money. So what, Joc 
ask. "So, if I'm going on vacation, I don't want you paying for it, 
you're the woman". "The woman", Jocelyn says(much more calmly than I 
would have), she thought that she was more than "the woman". "Just less 
than the wife", she continues. All she's trying to say is that they live 
together and she thinks they should share things. "It's different", Alex 
says. "How is it different?", Joc wants to know. "It just is", Alex 
replies(well, that makes it much clearer:-) 

Jocelyn asks Alex to listen to her. She would like very much to be 
Alex's wife, but just not now. Their lives have been like a 
roller coaster since they've met. Only recently have they started to get 
to know each other like people normally do. Getting married right now 
would only add a lot of pressure that they don't need. Alex agrees 
completely, all he was trying to say was he didn't want her to think he 
didn't want to marry her. Alex does want to marry her, but agrees now is 
not the time. They can keep living in sin together, Jocelyn agrees. 
There's only one problem, Alex says, it's been at least 12 hours since 
they've sinned. "I can take care of that", Jocelyn assures him. They 
kiss.


AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
Location: TV station

Nick is finishing up an interview about his upcoming European tour. Just 
as he finishes, we hear Zoey offstage demanding "I want my check and I 
want it now!!". The man Zoey's talking to claims it's in the mail, but 
Zoey threatens she will not leave until she has the check in her hand. 
The man gives up and goes off to get the check. Zoey apologies to Nick 
if she interrupted his interview, which she didn't. Zoey asks if he's 
excited about the trip. He is, but he would be more excited if he didn't 
have to worry about the women in his life. Nick doesn't have any idea 
where Lorraine is. Zoey assures him that Lorraine's doing what she said 
in her note, taking some time to be alone. Nick's not so sure that she's 
not drinking again. Over Nick's shoulder, Zoey notices Richard come 
through the door. She tries to escape, but Nick grabs her arm and stops 
her. Zoey objects, but Nick shushes her, saying "your father has 
spoken". Richard congratulates Nick on the interview and introduces his 
assistant, Catherine. Nick asks for a moment alone with Zoey and 
Richard, so Catherine leaves. Nick wants to know what is going on 
between the two of them. 

"Is it any of your business?", Zoey asks rather rudely, before 
apologizing to Nick. Not really, they are both adults, but Nick loves 
them both and wants to know why their relationship fell apart. Zoey 
really doesn't think there's anything else to say, she and Richard have 
been over this all before. Richard disagrees, there's a lot left to say. 
He knows he didn't keep in touch, but every time he called her, she 
bugged him about when he would be coming back. It took a long time, but 
he knows where he's going now. He knows how she feels about the business 
and the Armani suits, but Richard's going to change things in the 
corporation, things they can both be proud of. Zoey needs to see past 
the clothes, he says. He's still the same guy underneath, who loves her 
and would do anything for her. She was always with him, there wasn't an 
hour that went by that Richard didn't think of her. He imagined her 
lying in bed with him at night and asked her for her advice. He still 
loves her and that's all he has to say about it. "Zoey", Nick prompts 
her to say something back. 

Zoey tells Richard she loves him, but her whole life she's been living 
on handouts from strangers. Now, someone has paid off the taxes on the 
building and she finally has some real money of her own. The money will 
give her independence, she'll be able to go where she wants to go and do 
what she wants to do. It will allow her to travel, and it will be her 
dream, not his. Some unknown philanthropist paid off the taxes, now Zoey 
can start to live her dream. Richard thinks that they could do that 
together. No, Zoey tells him. You took time to find yourself, now it's 
my turn. She may regret turning down his offer, but if she accepts it 
now, she'll never know if it was the right choice. Richard suggests what 
if she goes and travels for six months, and then they meet at the top of 
the Empire State Building. "I love that movie", Zoey says with a smile, 
but she can't give herself a deadline. The man comes back with Zoey's 
check and hands it to her. It's not the money, it's the principle that 
counts, Zoey explains. Richard suggests that sometimes you should ignore 
the principle and listen to your heart. Zoey thanks Richard for 
everything, kisses him and leaves. "She doesn't know how much she has to 
thank you for", Nick says to Richard.

Why didn't he tell Zoey, Nick asks. Because she finally has her 
independence, she can be her own person, Richard replies. If he told 
Zoey he had anything to do with that, she would resent him for the rest 
of their lives. Richard gets a phone call from Sydney, who is not too 
happy. She can either take back the power she gave Richard, or she can 
let him do what he thinks is best, Richard tells her, "in my opinion, 
paying the taxes off on the building was the right thing".


THE OPERATION
Location: The hospital

Tess is having her blood pressure taken while the doctor talks to her. 
If the tumor is not malignant, she can go home today. If it is 
malignant, they will have to perform surgery, Tess has already signed 
the release papers. Angie and Jacob come in. Angie tells Tess she will 
be there in the operating room with her, which makes Tess very happy. 
The doctor leaves and the nurse tells Tess she forgot to list her next 
of kin on her insurance forms. Who is your next of kin, the nurse asks. 
My husband, Tess says proudly. "My husband is my next of kin... and my 
best friend." Buck smiles at her. 

Buck signs the form and Tess comments that they got married in the nick 
of time. For what?, Buck asks. So that I have a next of kin, Tess 
replies. When Buck asks about her aunt in CT, Tess admits she made her 
up. Buck suspected that, and asks Tess to please never keep anything 
from him again, good or bad. Tess agrees. Buck assures her he will be by 
her side when she wakes up. Buck and Jacob leave the room after Buck 
gives Tess a kiss. Angie makes sure the doctor answered all of Tess's 
questions and assures her that both Dr. Rosen and his surgical team are 
the best. Besides, she'll be there in the operating room watching over 
Tess. Tess thanks her and Angie jokes that Tess will get her bill in the 
mail. The nurse comes in to get Tess ready and Tess tells the nurse she 
changed her mind... only kidding. 

Jacob and Buck are standing outside in the hall waiting for Tess to come 
back. Jacob tries to distract Buck, but all Buck can concentrate on 
right now is Tess and how scared he is. In the operating room, Tess is 
lying on the table waiting for the operation to begin. The 
anesthesiologist puts the mask over Tess's face and has her count 
backwards from ten. Tess makes is to seven before she goes under and the 
operation begins.  

Jacob and Buck are still waiting out in the hall for Tess. Jacob is 
assuring Buck that he and Tess will make it through this. The one thing 
Buck couldn't handle is losing Tess. In the operating room, the surgeon 
is closing. Angie goes out to the hall to see Buck and Jacob. She stands 
there without saying a word and Buck asks "Angie...How?...."

That's it for today, see you next Thursday!

-- 
Susan

