From: Marni Centor <marni@panix.com>

GUIDING LIGHT UPDATE - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1997

Directed by 

HIGHLIGHTS:
* 

LEWIS OIL: Dinah & Hart, dressed elegantly, get into the elevator at 
the ground floor as they discuss the surprise of learning that Ben is 
Ross's brother. Dinah can't believe she spent most of an evening with 
him & he never mentioned it. Hart asks if Ben "tried" anything; Dinah 
says no, but shudders anyway. A cleaning woman gets on the elevator, 
and Dinah backs away, commenting that with all her cleaning products, 
she could at least keep the cart clean. The woman, a very pregnant 
blonde with a Russian(?) accent, gets defensive, but Hart apologizes 
for Dinah, saying she's upset about something else. Dinah wishes Hart 
would admit it was Cassie's fault they broke up. Hart doesn't want to 
go there. Dinah says she'll have a face-to-face with Cassie. As the 
elevator door opens, she says she's glad to know Cassie never stood a 
chance with Hart. Cassie is waiting for the elevator as they exit.

LIGHTHOUSE: Michelle samples something Jesse has cooked & proclaims it 
wonderful. Jesse explains it's from a recipe of his mother's that he 
found. He cooked it to find out what the house smelled like when his 
mom was alive. Jesse tries to send Michelle home, but she's not 
finished eating yet. She realizes he's upset about what his father 
said. Jesse says his dad is full of hate, but he has Michelle & that's 
all that counts. Michelle knows Jesse misses his mom. Jesse says it's 
hard to miss someone you never knew, but seeing her grave all 
overgrown got to him. Michelle admits that she still cries over her 
mom sometimes. Something will remind her & set her off. Michelle tells 
Jesse that his mother loved him.

Jesse tells Michelle it's time for her to go home. She says it's hard 
to leave. He kisses her, understanding. He doesn't want her to go 
either. They kiss again.

MARLER HOUSE: Ross comes home & finds Blake playing with the twins, 
who are in their playpen. She can tell Ross has had a bad day. Ross 
hasn't been able to stop thinking about Abby. He wishes he had done 
better by her. Blake assures him that he gave her the best possible 
deal & she'll spend less time in jail than if a jury had convicted 
her. Ross can't stand to look at himself. Blake blames it all on Ben. 
Ross understands Ben's anger, but thinks it's unfair for him to hurt 
Abby with it. Blake says it's not Ross's fault. Ross disagrees. Abby 
doesn't deserve to go to prison, but thanks to him, she will.

BAUER HOUSE: Rick talks on the phone to Ed about the situation with 
Abby. He can't leave her right now, & fills Ed in on what happened at 
the funeral home. As Abby stares at herself in a mirror, Rick adds 
that he's very worried that Abby has given up. He ends the call as 
Abby enters the living room. 

Abby apologizes to Rick for making a mess of his life. Rick says 
they'll get through it together. No, says Abby. She's going to prison, 
which is the right thing, after what she did. Rick says he won't let 
that happen to her. Abby tells him to stop saying that because this is 
the way it is, and he should find someone else to love. Rick refuses. 
Abby says if Rick really loves her, he should forget about her.

Rick says he'll never let her go. Abby thinks her life is over & Rick 
has a chance for happiness. She'll just ruin his life. Rick says she 
could never do that. She made him the happiest man on earth by 
agreeing to marry him. For better or worse, it's forever. Abby thinks 
she's given up her right to his love. Rick says he's not going 
anywhere. Abby says she's going to prison. Rick says that's not 
certain. Besides, he can't stop loving her any more than he can stop 
breathing. Letting her go would be like cutting out his heart. This 
sends Abby into fresh paroxysms of tears. Rick repeats that he loves 
her & that will never stop.

Security knocks on the door & Rick answers it. The guard has a young 
woman with long, dark, curly hair by the shoulder & asks Rick if he 
knows her. Rick says no & asks who she is. The woman says she is Tarry 
Clark. She came to talk to Rick & Abby, and working up the nerve to 
knock when the guard grabbed her. Rick asks what she wanted to say. 
Tarry shakes her head & says it's too late to matter. She starts to 
leave, but Abby pulls her back. She can tell Tarry is very upset & 
invites her in. Tarry knew Abby would be nice & says she should have 
come forward sooner. She says everything that happened to Abby is her 
fault, but she was afraid of what would happen if she spoke up. Rick & 
Abby are mystified. Tarry finally explains that Roy Meacham attacked 
her too. "Oh my goodness!" cries Abby, horrified.

LEWIS OIL: Cassie tries to escape by getting into the elevator, but 
Dinah wants to talk to her now & Hart thinks Cassie should hear Dinah 
out. Cassie steps off the elevator. Reva comes out & sees Hart. He 
says he has papers for Billy & Josh to sign. Reva says they're in 
Tulsa, but she can take care of it. She leads Hart into an office. 

Dinah tells Cassie that she & Hart made up over Thanksgiving & decided 
to wipe the slate clean. They've both forgiven each other for things 
they did. Cassie asks what it has to do with her. Dinah says she owes 
Cassie an apology.

LIGHTHOUSE: Jesse thinks he could kiss Michelle all night [methinks 
he'd like to be doing a lot more than kissing!] & Michelle realizes 
she has to leave. They agree to meet tomorrow after she's done with 
school. She puts on her coat, grabs her bag & says goodnight. Jesse 
can't stop watching her. He says she's as beautiful as she is in his 
dreams. Michelle says she dreams of him too. In her dreams, she's 
about to leave, but he calls her back & says don't go. They continue 
to play the action as she narrates it. She stops & he comes up behind 
her & whispers in her ear. Jesse whispers, "I love you." In her dream, 
Jesse tells her he wants to feel her body next to his. So she turns to 
him & they make love. Jesse likes the dream. They kiss some more. Then 
Jesse stops to tell Michelle his dream.

In Jesse's dream, they're on the beach together. He runs after her, so 
he can pick her up & make love to her. But no matter how hard he 
tries, she's always out of reach. Now he understands why his dream 
ends this way. Michelle looks confused.

MARLER HOUSE: Ross says Abby was a victim & it's ridiculous that she's 
now facing prison. He should have realized what Ben was up to. Blake 
says Ross isn't a mind reader. Ross thinks maybe Rick was right about 
him being distracted by Ben & not doing his best for Abby. Blake 
thinks this is ridiculous. Ross says Ben's actions might have made him 
lose his focus. He wasn't paying attention & there problems with the 
prosecution, & Ben knew exactly how to play that. Ross blames his own 
arrogance for the situation Abby is now in. Blake says it's not over 
yet. Rick & Abby will have a wonderful life together; it will just 
take a little longer to start. Ross thinks it's all a big mess. 

Blake asks if there's anything she can do to help him feel better. 
Ross asks how she would feel about leaving Springfield & going 
somewhere where they can just be a normal, boring couple. Blake says 
she would follow him to the ends of the earth.

Blake asks Ross if he really wants to leave Springfield. Ross admits 
that the real problem is living with himself after what's happened to 
Abby. He used to love the law & has worked so hard to uphold it. But 
then a thug like Roy walks because a slick lawyer knows how to bend 
the rules. Blake says she really hates Ben. "Then you really would 
have hated me," says Ross. "I used to treat people the way Ben does 
right now." He blames both Ben & himself for Abby's predicament. He 
never wants to set foot in a courtroom again.

BAUER HOUSE: Tarry explains that Roy attacked her a few years ago. She 
wanted Abby to know that she's not alone. When Abby asks, she admits 
that Roy raped her. They all sit down on the couch & Tarry continues 
her story. It happened when she was walking home from work. It had 
started to snow, so she stopped at a local hangout for a drink. She 
didn't see anyone she knew, but Roy saw her. He introduced himself & 
offered to buy her a drink. She said no, but he kept insisting, so she 
finally accepted. They had a couple of drinks & he seemed nice enough. 
When it was time to leave, he offered to walk her home. He said it 
wasn't safe for a woman to be alone on the streets after dark. So she 
let him walk her home. She thanked him & said goodnight, but he 
wouldn't leave. He grabbed her hair & covered her mouth with his other 
hand. Abby remembers this happening to her too.

Tarry says Roy dragged her down to the basement. He left the light on 
so she could remember his face & see him in her dreams. She'll never 
get his face out of her mind. Rick asks if Tarry ever told anyone 
about this. She says Roy threatened to kill her if she did. She was 
too ashamed to tell anyone. Before he left, Roy told her that he 
didn't do anything she didn't want him to do. In a way, she feels 
responsible, because she let him buy her a drink & she let him walk 
her home. Abby interrupts to insist that Tarry is not to blame. Roy 
did it to her, and it was not her fault.

Rick asks if Abby heard what she just said. Abby says this is 
different. Rick disagrees. Abby didn't deserve what happened to her 
either. Tarry wants Abby to know she isn't alone, so she won't feel 
guilty. Abby says she killed Roy, & no matter what he did, he didn't 
deserve to die. Tarry says Abby has suffered enough from what Roy put 
her through & shouldn't suffer any more by going to jail. Rick agrees. 
If Abby won't listen to him, at least listen to Tarry.

LEWIS OIL: Reva asks Hart how things are going at home. Hart says 
they're fine. He's been waiting for Reva to bring the kids over to go 
horseback riding. Reva didn't want to get in the way while Hart & 
Dinah were planning their wedding. Hart says they haven't set a date 
yet. Reva says it's good to take things slow, so he & his true love 
can be sure they want to tie the knot.

Out in the reception area, Dinah tells Cassie that they got off to a 
bad start, but she's willing to put it all behind them & make a fresh 
start. She apologizes for their misunderstandings & says she thinks 
Cassie is a nice person deep down & didn't mean to cause trouble for 
her & Hart, so she apologizes for any trouble she caused Cassie. 
Cassie isn't forgiving so easily. She believes Dinah is still the same 
"petty, vindictive witch" who almost cost her her daughter, & she will 
never forgive Dinah for that.

LIGHTHOUSE: Michelle asks Jesse why he thinks she's out of reach in 
his dreams. Jesse says it's hard to talk about, but she urges him to 
try. When he got his second chance at life with Maureen's heart, it 
scared him. He was afraid that he would die with a dead person's 
heart. He started taking all kinds of chances, riding his motorcycle, 
getting into fights, and he's been with a lot of girls. Michelle says 
that doesn't matter now. Jesse says he had sex with them, but he never 
made love with them. He never cared about anything. But now that he's 
got Michelle, he wants to live forever. And when they finally "get 
together," it's going to be his first time, too. He wants to be with 
Michelle forever. "When I'm with you, it's gonna be like a man that 
wants to be with the woman he wants to marry." [Whatever that means!]

Michelle asks if Jesse is proposing. Yes, he says. He's never wanted 
anything so much in his life. He takes Michelle's hand & places it 
over his heart. She can feel it pounding. He thinks it's Maureen 
saying, "Yes! Yes!" He thinks the reason he couldn't finish his dream 
was because he wanted it to be perfect. He wants to be with her 
forever. Michelle jumps into his arms & they hug.

MARLER HOUSE: Blake is stunned by Ross's idea of giving up law. "You 
have so many suits," she comments, & she was going to give him a new 
briefcase for Xmas. :-) Ross says he's only venting. Blake says if 
Ross does want to give up the law, she'll love him & support him. He 
could be a house-husband & she could go back to PR. Phillip would hire 
her in a minute, or maybe she could go to Lewis. Ross tells her not to 
update her resume just yet. The basic problem is he's not helping 
people the way he'd like. He thought being DA would let him do that, 
but he's done it twice & it's not working out that way. Blake says he 
should quit & go back to private practice, where he can defend people 
who really need his help. "You could even defend Abby," she suggests.

BAUER HOUSE: Abby says it's too late; she's already agreed to a plea 
bargain & is going to jail. She can't go back on her word to Ross. 
Tarry says it's not official until she signs on the dotted line. She 
mustn't let the system that let her down make her pay even more. Rick 
asks Tarry why she decided to come forward now. Tarry says Abby gave 
her the courage. Rick appreciates it, but wishes she'd done it sooner. 

Tarry says she called the DA's office right after Abby testified, but 
they thought she was a crank caller because she wouldn't give her 
name. She was afraid that Roy would get off & come after her. Abby 
understands. Tarry says she fell apart when she realized that Abby 
could go to jail for defending herself. What Roy did to them was so 
horrible, he didn't deserve to live. "If you hadn't shot him, I swear 
I would have," she declares.

Abby knows Tarry doesn't really mean that. Tarry insists she does. Who 
knows how many other woman Roy hurt? Abby is a hero & shouldn't feel 
guilty. Tarry feels guilty for not speaking up long ago. Maybe if she 
had, Roy would never have hurt Abby. Tarry wants to do whatever she 
can to help. Abby thinks it's to late. Tarry says Abby mustn't let Roy 
win. She has to fight him now the way she did the night he attacked 
her. It's the only way either of them will be free of him.

LEWIS OIL: Reva announces that she's about to butt in because she 
cares about her sister. She knows that Hart & Cassie have "connected" 
over the past few months. Hart says he just tried to help Cassie get 
her daughter back. He likes Cassie, but he's marrying Dinah. He wants 
Cassie to be happy. So does Reva. They both know that Cassie has had 
more than enough heartache in her life.

Back in reception, Cassie wonders what Dinah's up to. Dinah says she's 
just trying to be nice. "You don't even know the meaning of the word," 
retorts Cassie. What really puzzles her is how Dinah's managed to keep 
this hidden from Hart. "Maybe he's blinded by his love for me," says 
Dinah. Cassie tells Dinah to marry Hart & have a happy life, as long 
as she keeps her petty insecurities to herself. Fine, agrees Dinah, 
but she wants it known, for the record, that she tried to make peace.

Cassie realizes that this whole conversation has been for Hart's 
benefit & Dinah didn't mean a word she said. Each woman believes she 
knows exactly what the other is all about. Dinah says she is now going 
to prove to Hart that she trusts him, by leaving without him. She asks 
Cassie to "be a good little secretary" & tell Hart that she went to 
the station & will meet him at the Towers for dinner. She steps onto 
the elevator & the door closes. The cleaning woman starts fussing 
around Cassie's desk. She holds her belly for a moment, as though she 
has a pain, then comments that "that woman" is not nice. Cassie 
agrees. 

Hart & Reva come out & Hart asks about Dinah. Cassie delivers Dinah's 
message about the station & dinner. [I'll admit I'm surprised. I was 
expecting the cleaning woman to go into labor, so Cassie would have to 
run off with her to the hospital & Hart wouldn't get the message & 
Dinah would think Cassie had deliberately torpedoed her.] 

Reva didn't realize how late it was. She says she's going to pick up 
Marah & go make dinner. Cassie says she has to take care of some more 
stuff at work before she leaves & asks Reva to feed Tammy for her. 
Reva departs. Hart is glad to see no signs of a knock-down-drag-out 
fight between Cassie & Dinah. He assumes they've settled things. 
Cassie says he can assume what he wants. 

Suddenly, the cleaning woman screams. Cassie & Hart rush to her side 
as she cries that her baby is coming. [OK, maybe I wasn't so far off.]

MARLER HOUSE: Ross picks up a hand mirror & asks Blake to look at the 
man in it. She asks if he means the man who can't stand to look at 
himself, or the wonderful, sexy man she sees. Ross says #2 is the 
right answer. Blake is happy he's feeling better. Ross says she told 
him what he had to do. He heads for the phone to perform Step #1 
toward feeling happy. He calls the governor & leaves a message that 
he'll be faxing his letter of resignation, effective immediately. 
After he gets off the phone, he says the next step is to convince Abby 
that they can fight the charges & win. Blake hugs her jobless husband.

BAUER HOUSE: Rick says fighting the charges against her is fighting 
Roy & fighting for every woman he ever hurt. Abby thinks Rick & Tarry 
are right; she does have to fight. Rick hugs her.

LIGHTHOUSE: Michelle & Jesse look out the window. She asks if he's 
serious about getting married. Yeah, he says. Michelle smiles.

LEWIS OIL: Cassie sits the cleaning woman down on a bench & tells her 
to breathe. Frantically, she tells Hart the woman's in labor as Hart 
calls for an ambulance. They both try to help the woman as the screen 
fades to black.


--Marni (marni@panix.com)



