SCENE ONE: EXT. JENNIFER'S BEDROOM-MORNING

VERN is leaning against the wall, waiting for JACK to get up. He looks very annoyed. JACK exits JENNIFER'S bedroom in his pajamas with a rather wide smile on his face. As he shuts the door, VERN speaks, causing JACK to hop a little in surprise.

VERN: (dryly) Morning glory.

JACK: (throwing him a look) Do you always linger outside bedrooms in the morn?

VERN: (nodding to the door) I take it things between you and Jennifer are going well?

JACK: (quickly glancing at the door and smiling) Couldn't be better. (walking past him) Now, if you'll excuse me. (entering his bedroom as VERN squeezes in the shutting door behind him).

VERN: Oh no you don't. Do you know what this is (holding up a mini cassette)?

JACK: All those years in media and you don't know what that is? (grabbing the tape from him and shoving it in his robe pocket)

VERN: It's your answering machine tape, Jack.

JACK: (giving him a look as if he's crazy) Wh-

VERN: It's your answering machine tape full of not so nice messages from one Dr. Colin Murphy.

JACK: (sitting down on the bed with a defeated look on his face) He was serious about it.

VERN: As serious as the notes I keep tearing off your car, the messages I keep intercepting. What's the deal, Jack?

JACK: (playing dumb) The deal. Frankly, Vernon, I don't know what you're talking about. (getting up and rummaging through his drawers in haste)

VERN: Oh don't play dumb with me, Jack. Something is going on and I know it. This, this whole thing has got to stop.

JACK: Thing?

VERN: You and Jennifer holing up here. You can't keep her here all the time you know. Jo and I can't take Abby to school everyday. You have to get a job sometime. Do you plan on never leaving this house ever again?

JACK: Well, it does have a nice décor.

VERN: (throwing his hands up in exasperation) When are you ever going to learn? (calming down) Listen, Jack, I'm willing to, and God help me for saying this, help you, but I can't help you if I don't know what you're running from. Please, please, tell me what's going on. What does Colin Murphy have on you that's gotten you so scared?

OUT on JACK, wondering just how to answer. He wants to tell him but doesn't know if he can.

SCENE TWO: INT. JACK'S BEDROOM

IN PROGRESS

JACK: I'm not scared.

VERN: You're not exactly being courageous though, are you?

JACK: What do you want me to do exactly? Walk straight into the fire? Play his game?

VERN: I remember a Jack Deveraux who lived in the fire.

JACK: You didn't like that Jack Deveraux.

VERN: Well, no, I didn't, but the stakes were different then. I know what or rather who the stakes are now.

JACK: (sitting down on the edge of the bed) You're right. I know you are.

VERN: (grasping his heart) Be still my heart.

JACK: (dryly) Very funny. What if...what if I told you that this wasn't all about me per se, that it's about someone much more...more important to Jennifer than I am?

VERN: (concerned) Is this about Abby? (incensed. Punching into his hand) Why I'll kill the bast-

JACK: Calm down there, Rocky, it's not about the child.

VERN: (calming down) If it's not about Abby and it's not about you...(sitting down on the bed beside JACK) Jack, I honestly don't know who Jennifer would...Oh my God, (jumping up at his lightbulb moment) this is about Bill and that little trollop.

JACK: They don't call you an investigative reporter for anything, do they?

VERN: (pulling a face) I don't get it, though. What's the big idea about Bill Horton bedding some young lass? I mean, it's not as if he and Laura are married or together for that matter. She's still in the home in Chicago, isn't she?

JACK: She almost had a brief period of clarity due to some new drugs but...to answer your question, she's still there.

VERN: And he's had relations before with other women? That's it, I'm lost. (sitting down on the bed again in defeat)

JACK: (sighing. Heeding Brian's advice, he decides to come clean) No fear, I was as well. (getting up and opening his closet and looking for something) Let's just say that the good, kind, honorable Dr. Bill Horton isn't what he's cracked up to be. I mean he's good and kind but honorable...

VERN: (in disbelief) So, you're telling me that Bill Horton was involved in some shady activities?

JACK: The shadiest (handing VERN an envelope from the top of his closet)

VERN: What's this?

JACK: A package from the ISA. My book.

VERN: (surprised) Your book?

JACK: About the whole experience. I guess my writer's block had been lifted. It just took a whole lot of danger to break it.

VERN: (flipping through the pages) I don't...Jack, this is about tombraiding...Are you saying that Bill Horton was a tombraider?

OUT on JACK, giving VERN a look that answers his question.

SCENE THREE: INT. JACK'S BEDROOM

JACK: Not only is he a tombraider but he's also a gambler. A bad one at that. He could have learned a thing about blackjack from Jennifer, I tell you.

VERN: You say "is"...

JACK: Is...was...I don't know now...and I don't care. Why do you think I cared so much when Elizabeth, Colin's fiancée, showed up? That was the very last time I spoke to Bill Horton.

VERN: And you're sure Jennifer doesn't know? According to Jo, Jennifer hasn't mentioned her father's name in months.

JACK: And she hasn't opened his letters, either. She knows something is up. To what extent, she has no idea.

VERN: I don't know, Jack (reading on), this looks like some pretty heavy stuff. (looking up at him) You kept all of this from Jennifer?

JACK: Every last word. She could never live with herself knowing that all the money her dad ever gave her was-

VERN: Was dirty.

JACK: (nodding) Exactly.

VERN: (taking out his glasses and putting them on to read some more) So, how did you get roped into this?

JACK: Accidentally. I followed Bill one night to see why he was acting so strangely. One thing led to another and...Apparently he'd been going it alone for so long that he needed someone to talk to.

VERN: And help him. Jack, you didn't--?

JACK: Me? (making a face) Never! That stuff scares the bejesus out of me. I merely went along to bail him out of trouble. There's nothing worse than a lying father...unless it's a dead, lying father, that is.

VERN: Was he working for someone?

JACK: Who wasn't he working for? He had several financiers, one of them being this bigwig over in Pretoria.

VERN: Elizabeth's father?

JACK: Yes. And by some miraculous leap of faith that only happens in soap operas, my ex-wife, love of my life's father's lover meets, falls in love with, and is to marry my ex-wife, love of my life's wannabe lover.

VERN: Sadly, I understood that. So, you think Elizabeth told Colin all this?

JACK: I don't see any other way he could've found out. Bill kept his nose clean for the most part. What he couldn't do, I swept under the rug.

VERN: So now, in between (nodding to JACK'S face, which is still faintly bruised) giving you shiners and fat lips, he's threatening to tell Jennifer all of this unless you step aside?

JACK: Once again, you're on the money, Mr. Scofield. We should get you a prize.

VERN: (mulling it all over) Hmmmm...

JACK: Hmmm? Hmmm as in "very interesting" or hmmm as in, "I wonder what our next step is"?

VERN: I think you should t-

JACK: (folding his arms) I am not telling Jennifer. I have my reasons. Surely (flashing him an empathetic look) you understand why I won't do that.

VERN: Would you let me finish? (JACK nods to let him proceed) I was saying, I think you should go down and talk to Dr. Murphy, Jack.

JACK: Hello? (pointing to his eye) Need I remind you that the last time I tried that I wound up with this beauty?

VERN: (getting up and standing his ground) You also basically pleaded with him, Jack. Now the Jack Deveraux I once knew would never let anyone outsmart him. (pushing him to look at himself in the mirror) So, you're going to get showered, get dressed, and then you and I are going to drive down to the hospital or wherever it is that leprechaun is living and you are going to tell him that you aren't scared of him.

JACK: But I am.

VERN: No, you aren't. (exasperated) Jack, do you love Jennifer?

JACK: What kind of a question is that? Of course, I do.

VERN: Good, then I know you'll have no problem fighting for her.

JACK: Who said anything about fighting?

VERN: I did, Jack...because if you want to keep her, you're going to have to...you're going to have to fight like you've never fought before. (walking out after flashing him a look of warning).

OUT on JACK, wondering if he's up to the fight.

SCENE THREE: INT. DEVERAUX LIVING ROOM

IN on JENNIFER, putting on her coat. JACK is leisurely walking down the stairs in his best suit. Upon seeing her, however, he rushes down to greet her.

JACK: Where are...where are you going?

JENNIFER: (laughing) To the hospital, Jack.

JACK: What are you going there for?

JENNIFER: I have an appointment with Marlena, Jack, I told you about it this morning.

JACK: Why do you have to see her?

JENNIFER: Jack, you know why. We have a lot of things to discuss. I have a lot of things to discuss. Now, give me a kiss, I'm going to be late (she leans in for a kiss)

JACK: (not wanting to let her go) Kiss? Jennifer, I, (leading her to the couch) I was hoping you could stay in today. You could (sitting her down and joining her) talk to me.

JENNIFER: (smiling) Jack, I don't think that will help much.

JACK: Why? I'm a good listener.

JENNIFER: You're an awful listener. Besides, Jack, my family is probably starting to wonder where I am. I haven't seen them in a week or so.

JACK: (leaning in and nuzzling her neck to preoccupy her) I wonder why that is.

JENNIFER: (pushing him away and laughing) Jack, come on now, there's time for that later. I really should be going.

JACK: (sighing in defeat) Okay. You're going straight to Dr. Evans' office and then coming back?

JENNIFER: (walking to the door and throwing him a strange look) Yes. Why?

JACK: No reason...no reason at all.

JENNIFER: (reluctantly buying it) Alright, (picking up her purse and keys), I'll be back in a little while. I love you.

JACK: (now standing and smiling weakly) I l...you know.

JENNIFER: (smiling) I know (she exits wistfully).

JACK: (angry that COLIN may intercept her and tell her everything) Dammit!

VERN and JO walk in from the kitchen to see his outburst.

VERN: Jack, what's going on?

JACK: Jennifer...Jennifer just left to go to the hospital.

JO: To see Colin?

JACK: No...Marlena. I'm doomed, I tell you. That smarmy little Irishman is just bound to run into her and...

VERN: (grabbing his coat from the foyer) The hell he is.

JACK: What are you doin'-

VERN: I'm doing what I said I would, Jack. I'm helping you. Jo, can you stay here and make sure Mr. Irish Spring doesn't show up? (JO nods) Jack, come on, we've got a little fire to walk through.

JACK looks at him in disbelief over his actions. After a moment, he nods and they exit to go see COLIN.