By Jennifer-Lynn D'Anna
EPISODE 74
SCENE ONE: INT. JENNIFER'S BEDROOM
IN PROGRESS
JENNIFER: (flustered, sitting up and re-hooking the bra JACK somehow managed to undo) What are you talking about?
JACK: (kneeling on the end of the bed) You know very well what I'm talking about. That little (putting his fingers up in quotes) "act" of yours downstairs. I didn't buy it for one second.
JENNIFER: I'm fairly sure I don't know what (putting her fingers up in quotes) "act" you're talking about. (groaning and getting up) Now if you'll excuse me...
JACK: Oh no you don't (standing up, scooping her up and plopping her back down on the bed).
JENNIFER: (getting up to only suffer the same fate again) Jack-
JACK: (mimicking her voice) Jack! (resuming his voice) It's not going to work, Miss Horton, not this time.
He drops her on the bed one last time, much to her dismay.
SCENE TWO: INT. JENNIFER'S BEDROOM
IN PROGRESS
JENNIFER: (scooting to the side of the bed to get off; JACK only blocks her) Not that it's any of your business, but I was going to my grandmother's.
JACK: Hmmm...for tea or conversation or maybe, maybe you were going to go snooping around for whatever your father's hidden there.
JENNIFER: (mouth dropping open) How dare you! I was going to visit my poor, frail grandmother.
JACK: You know as well as I do that Alice Horton is neither poor nor frail.
JENNIFER: (continuing to try and scoot off the bed) and you are trying to prevent me from seeing her. (trying to change the subject) How do I know you're not hiding something? How do I know you're telling the truth?
JACK: (crossing his arms; sure of himself) Try me.
JENNIFER: (smiling slyly and crossing her arms) Okay...Hmmm...what is your full name?
JACK: (enjoying the game) Starting off easy, are we? Jack Harcourt Deveraux or, if you want to go on technicality, Billy Earl Johnson, although I never really liked that moniker.
JENNIFER: (nodding) Birthday?
JACK: June 28, 19-(covering his mouth and making "blah" noises)
JENNIFER: (smiling, enjoying this little walk down memory lane, even though it has little to do with "truth". She's trying to get him to stay off her case.) My birthday?
JACK: September 11, 19 (catching her "warning" look and filling the rest of the sentences with "blahs" as well)
JENNIFER: Name of my first love?
JACK: You mean I'm not the first? No, Frankie Brady, aka Francoise Von Leuschner, aka "short stuff", to me anyway.
JENNIFER: (about to crack up) Where did we meet?
JACK: As I recall, you came to see one Miss Diane Colville at my paper...well, my new paper...the Spectator.
JENNIFER: How many times did you propose to me?
JACK: Too many...okay, four....officially.
JENNIFER: Best man?
JACK: Dr. Marcus Hunter...I wonder what ever happened to him...
JENNIFER: Matron of honor?
JACK: Eww...(shuddering) Katerina Von Leuschner, a real piece of work.
JENNIFER: You're telling me. Okay...what was the name of the cruise ship we sailed away on?
JACK: That hunk of metal? The Loretta, I do believe. When are you going to learn, Miss Horton, that I retain everything?
JENNIFER: When you finally prove it....hmmm...my favorite position (JACK'S eyes light up and she makes a face) in baseball, Jack.
JACK: Well, I'd say shortstop...for baseball, that is. In other things, it's anything but sh-
JENNIFER: (stopping him) You're really telling the truth, aren't you? You've told me everything you know about this.
JACK: Don't look so surprised. (sitting down on the bed) Okay, look so surprised. I am. I mean, whodathunkit? Jack Deveraux actually advocating the truth.
JENNIFER: (scooting down to sit beside him and sighing) You really don't want me to get involved, do you?
JACK: (sighing) No, I don't. You...you have a lot to worry about. I have a lot to worry about. I (rubbing her hand and swallowing hard) don't want to spend my time worrying about you, too.
JENNIFER: Jack, I said I'd be careful-
JACK: I know you did...and I know that careful doesn't cut it. Not out there.
JENNIFER: And how are you going to survive then?
JACK: I'm going to...I'm going to be careful (with those words, the seriousness of the situation hits them both).
JENNIFER: (near tears) You do that, huh?
JACK: I will...I will. (blinking back tears and smiling) Hey, I'm not going anywhere, not just yet. How about...(sweeping her hair out of her face)...How about you and I, well, we finish what we started? Or what I started anyway?
JENNIFER smiles and without a word, reaches behind her and unsnaps her bra. JACK smiles in shock.
JENNIFER: I think I can remember where we were.
Smiling, JACK, leans over to kiss her as the camera pans out.
SCENE THREE: INT. ALICE'S KITCHEN
It is a little while later. ALICE is sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her teakettle to whistle when JENNIFER comes walking through the back door, kicking the snow off her boots.
JENNIFER: Man, it's cold out there.
ALICE: Jennifer Rose? I wasn't expecting you. If you've come to visit your father, he's not at home.
JENNIFER: (hanging up her coat and giving her a kiss on the cheek) Of course he's not, he's at my house. Besides, I've come to see you.
ALICE: (surprised at BILL'S appearance at JENNIFER'S and wondering how she's feeling about it) Oh.
JENNIFER: Oh as in, "you don't want me here" or oh as in, "I can't believe Daddy came to see me?"
ALICE: The latter. Apparently he got into a nasty little altercation last night trying to break up a street fight.
JENNIFER: (nodding to quell her fears) Uh-huh. (checking on the tea)
ALICE: You can cut to the chase, Jennifer Rose, I know something's going on.
OUT on JENNIFER, shocked that Gramma knows so much.
SCENE FOUR: INT. ALICE'S KITCHEN
IN PROGRESS
JENNIFER: (covering, sitting down) Gramma, I don't-
ALICE: Yes, you do. And I don't want to know. I do know this, your ex-husband did come over here and give your father a piece of his mind about it, though.
JENNIFER: Yeah, Jack told me about that. Gramma, you know Daddy's in trouble, don't you?
ALICE: I know that he's not here to taste my doughnuts, if that's what you're asking. Jennifer Rose, it's high time you learned that your father is always in some sort of trouble.
JENNIFER: Always?
ALICE: Always. He kind of reminds me of someone I know.
JENNIFER: (laughing and getting the teapot, which is whistling) Now, don't tell me you mean Jack-
ALICE: No, I mean you.
JENNIFER: (pouring the tea) Me?
ALICE: Yes, you. You, my dear, are not exactly an angel.
JENNIFER: I'm not exactly the devil, either, Gramma.
ALICE: No, you're not. I guess I'm just trying to see how you are handling all of this.
JENNIFER: All of what?
ALICE: (instinctively grabbing her wrist) Come here, child. (JENNIFER kneels in front of her and looks into her kind eyes) When Jack was here, he talked about a lot of things. He talked about the baby.
JENNIFER: (blinking back tears and shock) He did? Gramma, I wanted to tell you, but...
ALICE: It's okay (rubbing her hair). I just need to see for myself that you are okay, that you are fine.
JENNIFER: (softly) I am, Gramma, I am. Seeing Marlena has been wonderful and Jack, Jack's been Jack, which is wonderful and strange, but mostly wonderful.
ALICE: Good. (beat) And how's Jack? How's he dealing with all of this?
JENNIFER: I don't know. He won't open up to me about it but I expected that. I think he kind of blames himself.
ALICE: I see. (beat) And who do you blame?
JENNIFER: For a long time, me and then for a long time him, and now...
ALICE: Now you blame your father, don't you?
JENNIFER: (crying) I know it's awful, but I do...Gram, if he only told the truth, if he hadn't-I'm sorry, I...I don't want you involved.
ALICE: I already am. I'm just waiting on you.
JENNIFER: (lost) On me?
ALICE: Yes, I'm just waiting on you to tell me when to start snooping around.
JENNIFER: (shocked) Gramma! I didn't come here to snoop around.
ALICE: You didn't come here for tea, that's for sure.
JENNIFER: But I did.
ALICE: Bologna (getting up) Where do you want to start? His old room? His new room?
JENNIFER: Gramma! (about to laugh and standing up herself) Gramma, look, I promised Jack that I wouldn't get involved.
ALICE: And he believed you? That boy's lost it.
JENNIFER: He believed me because I was telling the truth.
ALICE: (shocked) You were?
JENNIFER: Yeah, I was. Jack's right, we're older now and this is much too dangerous.
ALICE: (sighing and sitting down) Okay, then.
JENNIFER: (sitting down and sighing as well) You know, we could go upstairs and look at old picture books. You never know what we might come across.
ALICE: You mean the ones I keep up in Bill's room?
JENNIFER: (knowingly) Is that where you keep them?
ALICE: (pausing and matching JENNIFER'S sly smile) I thought you'd never ask.
OUT on the two of them, running out the kitchen door and laughing.
SCENE SIX: EXT. SALEM PLACE
JACK and BILL are walking and having coffee.
BILL: So, Vern knows as well?
JACK: Look, I didn't want to tell him. I didn't want to tell Jennifer either. It's just...just-
BILL: Jack, you don't have to explain.
JACK: Good. I kind of hate this whole truth idea. It seems like more trouble than what it's worth.
BILL: Well, Jenn likes it. I'm still in awe over how easily you got her to step back from getting involved.
JACK: (recalling how she lied to him and grimacing) So am I.
BILL: So, where do we start?
JACK: Well, first thing's first, I have to see the info you have on this key. You said it was at Alice's, right?
BILL: Yup, in a place no one would ever guess to look.
JACK: I hope you're right. We can't involve anyone else in this latest scheme of yours....anyone...
SCENE SEVEN: INT. ALICE'S KITCHEN
ALICE walks in the kitchen, looking very tired. JENNIFER is a few steps behind her, drained as well.
ALICE: (sitting down) Well, that's a bummer.
JENNIFER: (laughing at her language) Yeah, I guess it was. (putting her hand on her hip to think) Where could he be hiding it?
ALICE: I don't know. Maybe he's got a secret compartment.
JENNIFER: (finding this funny) No, he's not Jack.
ALICE: (catching the clock) Oh dear, my soap's about to start.
JENNIFER: Wow, it's gotten late. Go on and watch it, I'll be in in a minute. I'll just clean up in here.
ALICE: Alright, dear. (walking into the living room)
JENNIFER begins to clean up, nonchalantly when she remembers something.
JENNIFER: (calling to ALICE in the living room) Gramma, I was thinking about making doughnuts for Abby and Jo, but I don't have the recipe. Could I borrow yours?
ALICE: (from the living room) Sure, dear. It's in the cabinet above the sink.
JENNIFER: (looking above the sink) Oh, okay. (standing on her tiptoes, she grabs a wooden recipe box)
ALICE: Did you find it?
JENNIFER: Yeah. (opening it to look for the recipe, she finds much more than she bargained for. Underneath the felt bottom of the box is a bulge. Thinking it odd, she lifts it up and voila-finds the information BILL had been hiding) What the-(lowly, to herself) I don't believe it...I don't believe it. (Voraciously opening the envelope and reading it, her eyes grow large).
Without warning, she gasps and throws on her coat, running out the door., leaving it wide open. ALICE, not hearing her anymore, steps into the kitchen.
ALICE: Jennifer? Jennifer Rose? (seeing as she left) That's funny., running out of here so quick. She didn't even close the door (closing it and walking over to the counter). Oh well, I guess she got her recipe. (picking up the recipe box, the cards all fall out). Oh, dear. (scooping them up) I guess I'll put these back in order while watching my show....(taking one more glance at the door, she walks into the living room)
END OF EPISODE 74
