From: Marni Centor <marni@panix.com>

GUIDING LIGHT UPDATE -- THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1996

                     MOTHERS DAY 
(in other words, Fletch doesn't chew too much scenery)

Highlights:
* Griff gives Gilly a job, much to Viv's chagrin.
* Holly & Fletch labor on.
* Blake broods about babies; Rick smells a dead rabbit.
* Hart is hardly helpful when Rog is haunted by his lost love, Laura.

A foggy night in Springfield, USA...

SPRINGFIELD INN: Griffin opens the door for Vivian, relieved that she 
came. She eyes the bottle of wine and the bed & says she doesn't have 
much time. Griff is grateful for any time he can have with her. "I've 
waited a very long time to be alone with you again like this."

CEDARS: Holly screams through another contraction as Fletch coaches her 
through. An incubator looms in the foreground. The contractions are now 
6 minutes apart. Fletch says Holly is great. Holly says Fletch is green 
& warns him not to pass out on her.

In the hall, Blake tells Dr. Sedwick that she saw her results & knows 
she is pregnant. The doc thinks Blake must be very happy. Rick comes by, 
thinking something big must have brought Blake to the hospital on this 
foggy night. "Something small, actually," says Margaret. "A baby." Blake 
goes pale as Rick asks, "Whose baby?"

ROOSEVELT PARK: Through the fog, Rog sees the back of a woman with long 
blonde hair. "Laura?" he asks. "Please, let this work," prays Dinah.

Hart accosts Rog & insists on talking about the farm. Rog is annoyed. 
"Look at that woman!" he demands. "What woman?" asks Hart. He wonders if 
Rog is cheating on Dinah. "She looks just like your..." Rog gives up one 
words & spins Hart around to look at the blonde. Hart tells Rog to get 
his eyes checked, because there's no one else in sight. 

CEDARS: Blake turns to Rick & tells him Holly's baby is on her way. 
Relief floods over Rick's face. He hopes it's going well. Margaret 
excuses herself & tells Blake they'll talk later. Rick wonders what that 
was about & Blake says she wants to know what she can do to help Holly 
when she gets home. Rick asks Blake if she took the test. "Life's a 
test," she responds, obviously nervous. When he presses her, Blake says 
she didn't take a pregnancy test; she's not pregnant; she had the flu.

Rick thinks Blake & Margaret were talking about having babies. Blake 
uses her anxiety to her advantage, claiming that's all they ever talk 
about, because she can't have babies. Rick reminds Blake that there's no 
physiological reason she can't get pregnant. Blake dismisses the 
fertility tests as a bunch of hooey, but looks rather ill. Rick is 
worried about her & helps her sit down. She says she's tired, hasn't 
eaten all day & just got over the flu. Rick tells her to give him a 
break & be honest with him.

In the delivery room, Fletch comments on all the high-tech equipment. 
Margaret says it's just precautionary, given Holly's age & the baby's 
heart condition. Holly warns Fletch not to make any cracks about her 
age. Fletch didn't realize the delivery would be so hard; he asks 
whether it would have been better for everyone if Holly had a C-section. 
Margaret explains that given the baby's condition, they don't want to 
use any more drugs than necessary. Holly struggles through another 
contraction. Fletch offers soothing support.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Viv repeats that she's short on time & it was hard to 
get away. She had to lie to Charles, and she never does that. Griff can 
see that she's nervous. He just wanted them to have a nice private place 
to talk--he wasn't setting up a seduction. But he has been thinking 
about her a lot lately. "It was just one kiss," she says. That one kiss 
blew the lid off Griff's memories. He gets the feeling that Viv isn't 
sure she wants to be there & may be wishing she hadn't said she still 
loves him. He'll understand if she wants to leave--no hard feelings. 
"Absolutely not. I want to be here," she says. "I have to be here." 

Viv wants her turn to talk about memories: "That's all they are." She's 
not a young girl anymore & knows that actions have consequences. Griff 
says they still have what they once did. "But for how long? Springfield 
is too small for you, Griff." She bets he's always getting offers from 
Washington & other important places. Griff says he loves teaching. He 
admits he's had offers, but he's turned them all down. He wanted to be 
near his son & now Viv is another reason. Even if he can't have Viv, he 
still wants to work on his relationship with Marcus. His organization is 
full of people who can carry on his work. He's devoted his life to The 
Cause & now he wants what's left for himself, his son & for Viv, if 
that's possible. His biggest regret was letting her go. He'd give 
anything to recapture what they had.

Viv replies in sentence fragments: married woman, wife, mother... Griff 
realizes he's asking her to do something hard, but not impossible. He 
likes & respects Charles. He doesn't want anything from Viv that she's 
not ready to give. But he can't walk away no. "If there's even the 
smallest chance that we can share something, I'll take it." He's not 
afraid of the risks & says she shouldn't be either. He plants a short 
kiss on her lips. She comes back for a more intense one. Suddenly, 
there's a knock at the door. Gilly calls from outside that she needs to 
speak with Griff. Viv gasps in shock & horror. 

CEDARS: Holly is being difficult. She doesn't want to lie down. Fletch 
takes her for a walk around the room. She hangs onto him, laughing as he 
points out the sights of the room. She freaks when she sees herself in 
the mirror. Fletch whips out a camcorder & we see Holly complain in 
black & white through the viewfinder. Fletch wants a minute-by-minute 
record for Baby Meg, but Holly doesn't want herself preserved on 
videotape looking the way she does. She blocks the camera with her hand, 
then goes into another contraction. The nurse & Fletch help her back to 
bed. Fletch talks her through it, telling her how wonderful she is.

In the hall, Rick gives Blake some water. He wants straight answers & 
will wait all night to get them. Grandma Barbara arrives with Ed, giving 
Blake a brief reprieve. Ed says only one of them can go in to see Holly 
at a time, so Blake sends Barbara in & is stuck alone with Rick again. 
He wants her to be honest with him. Blake rants about Holly being in 
labor with a Down Syndrome baby, who also has a heart defect & will have 
to be operated on within a few hours of being born. And if that's not 
enough, Ross is in Chicago & she can't get in touch with him. Not only 
has she just gotten over a serious case of the flu, but now she's got 
PMS on top of it, so Rick better just leave her alone! 

Rick says she didn't have the flu. She has the symptoms of pregnancy. 
Blake insists that she is not pregnant & is about to get her "friend." 
They yell at each other about telling the truth & then they yell about 
yelling. Fletch comes out to complain about the noise.

PARK: Rog keeps trying to get Hart to look at the woman, who Hart says 
is not there. Rog insists she looks just like Hart's mother. Even if I 
could see her, says Hart, how would I know if she looks like my mother, 
since I never knew my mother? Hart accuses Rog of going really low, 
using his mother to try to avoid giving him the farm. Rog points to her 
again, but she's gone. Rog wants to go find her, but Hart renews his 
accusation & adds that Rog is being disrespectful of his mother's memory 
to boot. Rog says he would never do that; he loved Hart's mother. "Maybe 
it's your guilty conscience catching up with you," suggests Hart. He 
wants the farm & is sick of Rog's games. "If you want to bring up my 
mother out of the blue, fine, you go ahead & do it. What do you think 
she'd say about that?" Rog tells Hart to stay away from him & heads off 
into the fog. Hart smiles with satisfaction.

PENTHOUSE: Dinah rushes inside, still dressed as Laura. She quickly 
removes the outfit & pulls on a robe, but she still's wearing the long 
blonde wig with flower. She hears Rog come in & talks to him through the 
bedroom door. She checks herself in the mirror & worries when she sees 
the wig.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Gilly keeps knocking & calling. Viv doesn't want to be 
found. Griff tells Gilly to wait; Viv hides in the bathroom. Griff lets 
Gilly in. She has a brilliant idea & wanted to run it by him while it 
was still fresh in her mind. Griff says it's late; he tries to get rid 
of her. Gilly tells him she just quit her job & wants 2 minutes of his 
time. She wants to work for him. Viv bites her lip. 

CEDARS: Barbara comes out into the hall. She's on a mission from Holly 
to get food for Fletch so he'll keep up his strength. She tells Blake 
it's her turn to go inside. Fletch thanks Barbara for being there & 
sends her off to the cafeteria with Rick. Blake doesn't feel like she 
can go into the birthing room right now. Fletch says it's OK; they have 
tons of support. Even Ben borrowed a beeper from a boarding school 
buddy, so Fletch could beep him the minute the baby is born. [Say that 3 
times fast!] Fletch thanks Blake for all the help she's given him & 
Holly. He knows Blake will be there for them all & wonders what happened 
to the spoiled, selfish brat he used to know. Fletch says he's in her 
corner, & if she ever gets in trouble, she can come to him.

In the birthing room, Margaret reads the machines & says everything 
looks good. She advises Holly to rest between contractions. Holly wants 
to talk to Ed, so Margaret leaves them. Holly asks Ed if he thinks she 
can do it. He says women do it every minute. "We're talking about me. I 
was never very good at this, remember? And now I'm older & I don't 
know..." She doesn't want to let everyone down. Ed says she won't & she 
wasn't ever all that bad. And now she's older, wiser & stronger. "Any 
woman who can survive & escape Roger can handle any cards she is dealt." 

PENTHOUSE: Dinah, hoping she can soon be counted among those women, rips 
the wig off her head & hides it under the table. Rog enters & she says 
she was worried about him because he is so late. He had a tough day. The 
wig is peeking out from under the back of the table, but it's not in 
Rog's line of sight. Dinah thinks a nice dinner will make him feel 
better. He's more in the mood for a hot shower. She suggests a nice long 
bath instead. She hopes he's not still thinking about the nightmare & is 
sorry she even brought it up. Rog says he's not suffering from post-
traumatic stress syndrome; he's just tired. Dinah gets upset because 
she's upset him again. Rog says it's not her; he had another run-in with 
Hart. They commiserate about Hart. Dinah rubs Rog's shoulders & says 
it's Hart's fault she almost lost Rog.

Dinah wishes she never had anything to do with Hart & hopes Rog can 
forgive her for sleeping with him. Rog blames it on Hart, but says he 
could never have come between them for long because they love each other 
too much. "I never want to talk about Hart or his lousy farm or his 
mother ever again," says Rog. Dinah asks why Rog brought up Laura. Rog 
guesses it's because they talked about her earlier. He gets up & goes to 
the table for some food. Dinah sees the wig on the floor & quickly 
rushes to his side. She wonders what she can do to help him relax as she 
kicks the wig firmly under the tablecloth. She suggests a bath again. 
"You're all I need," says Rog, kissing her.

JESSUP FARM: Hart stares at his mother's tombstone & wonders how he can 
miss a mother that he never knew, but he does. He misses his grandfather 
too. He tells his mom what he's doing to Rog & why he's doing it. Rog 
was pretty freaked out when he thought he saw her. He guesses Rog must 
have loved her, but doesn't understand why she loved him. "What did you 
see in him that I can't?" he asks miserably.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Griff offers Gilly 5 minutes & lets her in. She asks if 
he's planning to run his organization out of Springfield, because if he 
is, he'll need someone to help get the message out. She sells herself as 
someone who has national connections & knows the local scene. She 
promises to make him 10 times more effective as his personal press 
secretary. Griff says he can't possibly offer her the kind of money she 
was earning before. She is willing to take a pay cut. Griff asks why she 
left WSPR. She's like to say it was because of Rog's shoddy treatment of 
the union, but the truth is, she did it for her sanity. She was tired of 
cleaning up his messes & wants her own life. Griff says he needs time to 
think about it. Gilly begs him to hire her right now. He does. In the 
bathroom, Viv's jaw hits the floor.

CEDARS: Holly & Fletch play poker while waiting for the next 
contraction. When it hits, Holly screams. Fletch calls for Dr. Sedwick. 
Holly holds on to Fletch & he tells her bad knock-knock jokes. She 
responds with one of her own: "Olive who?" "I love you too." 

PENTHOUSE: Dinah breaks the kiss off, saying ouch. Rog looks at the 
bruises he left on her arm & is remorseful at having hurt her. It must 
have been all those horrible memories. He just wants to hold her. She 
says she'd like that. He decides he's a mess & goes to take his shower. 
Dinah rubs at her lips with a look of disgust. Then she grabs the wig & 
hides it behind some other stuff in a cabinet. "That was much too 
close," she tells herself.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Gilly is so ecstatic at getting the job, she doesn't 
know what to do. Griff suggests she go home. Viv looks miserable. Gilly 
promises him he won't be sorry & says she'll catch up with him in the 
morning. Griff says he likes her style; he has a soft spot for women who 
like to take charge. Gilly can't wait to get started. They say good 
night & Viv runs out of the bathroom. "You have no idea what you've 
done!" she shouts. Griff thinks maybe she should tell him.

CEDARS: Fletch gives Holly lots of encouragement. Out in the hall, Ed 
assures Barbara & Blake that they are prepared to give Holly & the baby 
the best of care. Barbara wishes she could do something; Ed asks her to 
go to Admitting to make sure all the arrangements are in order for 
Holly's room after the baby comes. Barbara heads off after Ed promises 
to page her if the baby arrives.

Ed asks Blake if she's told Ross. "Told him what?" she asks. That 
Holly's in labor, of course, says Ed. Blake left a message at his hotel, 
but hasn't heard from him. "I love him so much," she adds. Ed says Ross 
loves her too & she doesn't have to worry about him. "He does not have 
to find out about you & Rick."

Rick knocks on the door of Margaret's office, but there's no answer. He 
lets himself in to drop off a file & sees Blake's file on the desk. He 
remembers his argument with Blake over the pregnancy test & Blake saying 
she didn't take one. He wrestles with himself over whether to look at 
the file's contents.

PENTHOUSE: Dinah is under the covers when Rog returns from his shower. 
He slides into bed next to her. Her back is to him, bruises evident on 
her exposed arm, and she pretends to be asleep. Rog settles in, but lies 
awake. Dinah too is awake, remembering her night of passion with Hart. 

JESSUP FARM: Hart broods by his mother's grave.

CEDARS: Margaret announces that Holly is 10 cm dilated & she should push 
on the next contraction. The nurse announces a problem with the baby's 
heart rate; Holly & Fletch worry; Margaret tells Holly to turn on her 
side & says it's under control. The nurse gives Holly some oxygen. 

In the hall, Blake sees a nurse rush into the birthing room & worries 
about the baby. Ed puts his hands on her shoulders by way of support.

In Margaret's office, Rick wrestles his conscience & wins. He opens 
Blake's file & reads. "Oh my god. Blake's pregnant." He sits down 
heavily as the screen fades to black.

--Marni (marni@panix.com)


