From: Susan Richmond <susan@webspan.net>

Hi everyone!

Here it is, finally. I apologize for the delay.  Since last Thursday, 
I've had a rehearsal dinner, a wedding and a bridal shower to go to.  
These things always seem to come all at once! Thank you again for your 
patience, and without further delay, here we go...  


				THE CITY UPDATE
			 Thursday, September 12th, 1996


A WALK IN THE PARK
Location: Central Park 

*Tess and Buck are walking along the sidewalk by Central Park.  Tess 
says it's time for Buck to get back and open up the bar.  Buck's got 
someone doing that already.  Well, she has a hair appointment.  Buck 
points out that that is a lie, she just had one yesterday.  Tess just 
wants to get home.  Buck thought that she'd enjoy the walk. "Yeah, well 
you thought wrong", Tess snaps, then apologizes.  A few days ago, she 
thought some nut was about to kill her and when it didn't happen, she 
thought, great, I'm alive, life is going to go on forever.  Then she saw 
Nick in the hospital this morning and realized that you just never know. 
Buck puts his arm around her and Tess lays her head on his shoulder as 
they walk down a path into the park.

*Tess and Buck are walking in Central Park near a pond.  Tess asks Buck 
if he has any regrets.  Sure he does, but there's not much you can do 
about them.  Tess doesn't want to look back in 20 or 30 years and see 
how she messed everything up.  Mistakes are the only way you learn, Buck 
says. "Then I ought to be a Rhodes scholar by now", Tess replies.  What 
does Tess really want to do.  She doesn't want to tell, he'll laugh at 
her.  O.K., she wants to sing in a Broadway musical.  Buck thinks that 
she can do it, what else?  Before the night they delivered the baby, she 
would have had a hundred different answers.  When she looked at the baby 
and it's mother she thought "I could do this, too."  Buck thinks she'd 
be a great mom.  She never thought of herself as mommy material before. 
"God knows I've had enough guys in my life who have been just waiting 
around to be dead-beat dads", she jokes.  Buck's the only man she's ever 
thought about having a baby with, she blurts out. "Did I just say 
that?", she says, looking embarrassed.

*Buck hopes she doesn't regret saying it and thanks her for the 
compliment.  He always thought that he would make a good dad, he's glad 
that someone finally noticed.  Tess never thought that she would be a 
good mom.  Buck wants her to stop putting herself down.  He regrets that 
she doesn't see herself the way Buck does. "Through rose-colored 
glasses?" His vision's just fine.  He kisses her.  They kiss for a 
while.  Tess thanks him "for everything" and they start walking again.


KLEENEX, ANYONE?
Starting Location: Hospital waiting room

*Richard is there, sitting in a chair.  Lorraine comes over to him, 
Richard looks tired.  Lorraine knows that Richard told Nick that he's 
Nick's son.  Does Nick know about his condition, Richard asks.  No, says 
Lorraine, she talked to Angie and the specialists, who said Lorraine 
should break the news to Nick.  Lorraine was waiting for Richard to come 
and help her do it.

*(In Nick's hospital room) Marianne, a candy striper, is getting an 
autograph from Nick and telling him how much her family loves his music. 
Nick bribes her with an autographed copy of his new CD to get a look at 
his medical chart.

*Richard and Lorraine enter Nick's hospital room.  How does Nick feel? 
Fine.  How did it go with Sydney last night, Richard asks.  It went OK, 
Nick tells him.  Nick looks upset, was it something Sydney said? No, 
it's what Richard and Lorraine haven't said.  They both know he's dying, 
when were they going to tell him the details?

*Lorraine sits down on the edge of Nick's bed and holds his hand.  She 
wanted to wait a day, until Nick was stronger.  "From the looks of 
things, I don't have a day to waste", says Nick.  Lorraine starts 
crying.  Nick wants to know the truth.  He looked at his chart and the 
words, "condition grave", stood out.  The immediate problem was solved, 
they were able to stop the bleeding...., Richard says. "I feel the 
biggest 'but' of my life coming on", says Nick.  But there were 
complications when they went in and these doctors feel a transplant is 
an impossibility, Nick's a bad risk.  "Did you tell them I've got a few 
royalty checks coming in, I'm good for it", Nick says, half-jokingly.  
Richard says he'll fight them on this, it's only one opinion.  Nick 
tells him not to bother.  Nick says, as a 25 year old, you think you're 
going to live the rest of your life just as you want to.  You take 
risks, Nick used to drink a quart of bourbon a night, just because he 
could.  But soon you start drinking to try to get back that feeling from 
the night before.  If some pretty fortune teller, like Lorraine, had 
told him back then that he's "going to feel the kind of love from a 
woman that you've only dreamed of" and "you're going to be a father of a 
son you never knew existed" and "you're going to write a lot of songs 
that touch a lot of people", but you better clean up your act or you 
won't be around to appreciate it.  If a fortune teller had told him a 
that back then, Nick would have said..... "Give me another double", 
Lorraine fills in.  "The next round's on me", Nick agrees, Lorraine 
knows him well.  Richard disagrees.  If it weren't for what Sydney did 
to him, Nick might not have been an alcoholic.  But if it weren't for 
Sydney, Nick wouldn't have Richard.  Nick has that to thank her for. 
"The rest was up to me. I just wish I realized that a little sooner", 
Nick says.

*When Nick saw Syd last night, he was ready to blame everything on her, 
but what good would it do?  Richard doesn't want to forgive Syd, she 
lied to him.  Lorraine says he has to make his peace with Syd.  Richard 
doesn't ever want to see her again.  Nick says that won't be easy.  
Richard will have a lot of questions and Nick probably won't be around 
to answer them.  Nick wants him to promise not to end up alone because 
he's hurting.  Life's too short.  Richard should go talk to Syd. "I'll 
do it for you", Richard tells Nick.  This isn't a dying man's last 
request, do it for yourself, Nick replies.  Richard will think about it, 
he wishes things could have been different.  He shakes Nick's hand, then 
gives Nick a hug.  Richard leaves and Lorraine goes over to sit on the 
bed.  How much time do I have left, Nick asks.  Lorraine wishes he 
wouldn't talk like that.  He's got to pack a lot of living in the time 
he's got left.  When is Lorraine going to take him home, he's got big 
plans.   Lorraine kisses him.


AT THE MEN'S CLUB
Location: See above

*Uncle Gino and Carla are at their usual table at the 'men's club'.  For 
once, Carla doesn't want to be there.  It's a tradition that members 
take their daughters to the club on their wedding day to accept 
congratulations from everyone.  And it's also a tradition that after the 
honeymoon, the bride heads straight for the kitchen to spend the rest of 
her life stirring a pot of gravy, Carla replies angrily.  Carla starts 
to leave, but Gino orders her to sit down and not cause a scene. 

*Carla obviously sat down.  Gino warns her never to raise her voice to 
him in public again.  She apolgizes, but she's under a lot of stress.  
She's about to marry a man that hates her and Gino's treating it like 
it's a love match.  Love could come later, Gino says.  The waiter 
delivers their drinks and Gino tells him that his "little girl" is 
getting married today.  Carla sighs and looks unhappy.


WEDDING BLUES
Location: Joc and Ally's apartment

*Tony tells Ally to pack her bags, she's moving in with Tony tonight, 
just as soon as he marries Carla.  They kiss.  Alex and Joc come in. Why 
does it seem like he's always interrupting something, Alex asks.  
Because he usually is, Tony replies.  Ally asks why they're back so 
early (from Alex's place, I guess).  They're going to court this 
morning.  Joc is supposed to rest, Ally remind her.  Work is the only 
thing keeping her sane. Besides, they're going to court to try to buy 
Tony some time.  Ally and Tony exchange a look.  Alex wants to know what 
that "let's keep it to ourselves look" was all about.  Tony tells Joc 
that she can stop working on his case. "Oh, you decided to go ahead and 
take that vacation on Riker's Island(a NY prison)", Alex says 
sarcastically.  Actually, he's taking a different kind of sentence, he's 
marrying Carla today, Tony tells them.

*When did they make this decision, Joc asks.  Tony tells her they got a 
FAX of Tyler. "They know where he lives, if you know what I mean."  They 
threatened Tyler, Alex demands.  Who is "they", Joc wants to kow.  It 
could be Gino, it could be one of the other mob families, replies Tony. 
But they can't take a chance, Ally adds, Tony can't testify against 
Carla.  Joc reminds them that they don't even know if this will work. 
"Spousal immunity cases" are being challanged all the time.  Besides, 
the Fed's are not going to "take this lying down".  Alex says, Tony 
doesn't know what will happen for sure and in the meantime, he's married 
to "one very nasty lady".  Before 'they' threatened Tyler, Tony was 
ready to go to jail, but he just can't risk it.  Are Alex and Joc on his 
side, Tony asks.

*Joc asks them if they'll just wait until she runs it by the judge and 
the Federal Prosecutor, maybe she can get a continuance.  She'd better 
hurry, because Gino and Carla are on their way over with a judge.  Alex 
and Joc are going to go down to the courthouse and see what they can do. 
In the meantime, Tony can help her pack, Ally tells him.  Where's Ally 
going, Joc asks.  "I'm going to move in with my boyfriend after he gets 
married", Ally tells her.

*Tony's helping Ally pack. Joc grabs a couple of law books to look at on 
the way to the courthouse.  Alex says to Tony that the next time he 
sees him, Tony will be a married man.  No, he'll have a piece of paper 
that gets him out of this mess, Tony says.  When he's really a married 
man, they'll all celebrate and Alex will be his Uncle Alex.  Alex asks 
Ally is she's OK.  Under the circumstances, she is.  Alex and Joc leave. 
Tony doesn't want Ally to come to the ceremony and she doesn't really 
want to go either.  Tony gives her the keys to his apartment and a 
keychain with her name on it.  He had it made up right after the first 
time that they kissed.  As Ally kisses and hugs him, the doorbell rings. 
It's Uncle Gino and Carla, dressed in white - It's time for the wedding.

LOD: Tess [talking to Buck about having children-]

	"Oh, come on. Now you know, I've always thought of myself
	 as the front-runner for the Joan Crawford wire hanger
	 Hall of Fame."	


That's it for last week.  See you in a few days!

-- 
Susan

FCC Tony


