Written by: Dallas Walsh

"I…this is impossible!" a stunned Lydia gasps as she sees Celeste standing in Lucinda's kitchen. She had arrived at Lucinda's determined to figure out what her plan was to get Carmen out of their lives; of course, Lucinda wasn't being very forth coming and then Lydia heard a noise in the kitchen. She raced in despite objects from Lucinda and now she is face to face with Celeste, the woman who Madi is in jail for killing all those months ago. "You're dead Celeste! What is going on here? How is any of this possible?"

"Surprise," Celeste chuckles back to her before she takes a sip of her wine. "I hate to burst your bubble, Lydia, but I am very much alive."

"I can explain everything," Lucinda comes up behind Lydia. "But you have to promise that this will stay between us."

Lydia turns around and looks into Lucinda's eyes. "Start talking! How did this even happen?"

"Celeste didn't die," Lucinda replies to her quickly. "But we had to make everyone believe that she was dead so we could carry out this plan."

"What plan? What are you talking about?"

"It was Carmen," Celeste reveals to her as Lydia spins around to face her. "She hit me over the head. She left me for dead."

"She's a murderer?" Lydia asks in horror.

"Yes," Lucinda nods back to her. "And, slowly, she is going crazy. I have been gaslighting her, Lydia. Celeste has been appearing to Carmen and scaring her. I want her to lose control completely and then, she will be out of our lives forever. She will be deemed mentally unstable."

"I don't believe any of this," Lydia admits as she shakes her head in confusion. "This is too much to believe."

"Now you understand why I couldn't tell you my plan," Lucinda tells her. "If anyone finds out that Celeste is alive, my plan will be ruined and we are so close."

"Carmen is close to snapping," Celeste agrees with Lucinda. "So, it's up to you Lydia, we can continue with this or you can ruin all the progress we have made. What's it going to be?"

***

Carmen slowly moves into the living room of the Rockwell mansion and sees Stacey sitting on the sofa, her large belly evident as she is closer to her due date than before. Carmen pauses for a moment and recalls how the previous night after she saw Celeste again, Stacey came to comfort her; Carmen, in the moment, told her that she thought Celeste was haunting her. After talking with Mateo, she realizes that she has to do damage control so Stacey doesn't start to suspect that Carmen was responsible for Celeste's death.

"Stacey, hey, how are you feeling?" Carmen asks as she moves to the sofa and sits next to her.

"I'm feeling fine, thank you," Stacey pushes some hair behind her ear. "How are you? That was some nightmare you had last night, huh?"

"I think I was still half out of it when you came in to the room," Carmen uneasily smiles back to her. "I don't know what I was thinking or saying."

"It's incredible what the subconscious can tell us," Stacey replies to her. "So don't worry about it, I'm just hoping you don't have any more nightmares."

"What's this about nightmares?" Mac asks as he comes into the living room. "Stacey, are you having nightmares?"

"No, I have been having a few of them," Carmen nervously tells her husband. She is glad that she has seemingly covered her tracks with Stacey but now she will have to do the same with her husband, which she wasn't anticipating. "It's nothing though sweetheart, I'm fine."

"I don't like the sound of this," Mac comes up to her and pulls her into a hug. "What are your dreams about?"

"I honestly don't remember," she lies to him. "They come and go so quickly that my mind is in a haze. Can you please not talk about this anymore?"

"Very well but if these continue I want you to tell me about them," Mac looks into her eyes. "I love you Carmen, I want to be there for you if you need me."

"I love you too, more than you'll ever know."

***

"I was surprised to hear from you two today," Cole admits as he sits on the sofa in Vivian's mansion. Vivian had texted him to stop by the mansion so they could talk about the upcoming trial; Cole, however, was stunned to get the invite as the last time they all saw each other, Vivian and Chase were livid that Cole was the one who told Madi that a trial date had been set. Now, they are only a day away from the start of the trial, so everyone is eager for Madi to, hopefully, get off on all the charges. "The last time we spoke, it didn't go so well."

"With the trial starting tomorrow," Chase replies to Cole. "We have to start putting our heads together to ensure Madi wins the case. We have to all be on the same page."

At the bar, Vivian fixes three drinks while Cole and Chase talk about the trial. She puts her hand into her pocket and pulls out a white pill. She opens the pill and pours the powdered contains into a glass before she adds some brandy. She gives it a quick stir and then picks it up and moves over to the sofa.

"I got us some drinks while we talk," she passes Cole the drugged drink. "Darling, here."

"Thank you," Chase accepts his glass as they make eye contact. "Perhaps we could have a quick toast? To working together to clear Madi's name?"

"I'll drink to that," Cole smiles back to them as he takes a large sip of his brandy.

Vivian sits next to Chase as they continue to look at each other, while Cole seemingly finishes his brandy. "Hopefully the drink takes some of the edge off," Vivian smirks back to Cole, as the room starts spinning for him.

"Whoa, I'm not feeling so great suddenly," Cole admits as he puts his glass down and puts his hand to his head, as he tries to get himself under control. Cole, however, falls back into the sofa with his eyes closed.

Vivian looks over at Chase with a wicked grin on her face. "That didn't take long," she tells him.

"It's a fast acting drug," Chase replies to her as they stand up. "Come on, help me get him upstairs. We don't have much time."

***

"You must be happy, at least, that the trial is tomorrow," Deacon looks over and tells his sister as they sit together in the visiting center of the jail. Deacon is trying to gage how his sister is feeling about everything, especially since this entire ordeal is the reason that he is unable to run for office.

"I just want this entire thing to be over with," Madi nods her head back to him. "I feel like I'm going crazy in here and the scariest part is that I might have to stay in here forever."

"I don't think Dad will let that happen," Deacon replies to her.

"By the way," Madi looks back at him with intent. "My parents told me that you aren't running for Senate because of me and this trial. I'm really sorry Deacon, I know how much you wanted that."

"I did, I do want it," he nods back to her. "I'm trying to be positive but I guess I do see Dad's point, you know? Our family would be smeared right now and that is the last thing we need."

"As soon as this trial is over, I promise I'll make it up to you."

***

"Okay, we have to stay calm, this note could be about anything?" a panicked Sabine tries to reassure Kent that no one actually knows about his working with Chase all those years ago to mine on restricted lands. They received a cryptic note that reads "I know what you did" and now they are worried about what this actually means.

"What do you mean this note could be about anything?" Kent yells back to her. "It must be about the restrited lands, Sabine! What else could it be about? Damn it!"

"Yelling at me won't solve this," she replies to him quickly. "We have to figure out what we are going to do!"

"This wouldn't be happening if you had just kept your damn nose out of my business," Kent continues to lay into her. "Now, we have someone, God knows who, that is after us. Who knows what they want? This is a disaster!"

Sabine turns and sees Kent storming towards the front door of the penthouse. "Where are you going?"

"I have to figure out what my next move is," he turns and grits his teeth at her. "Do me a favor and don't be here when I get back. I can't look at you right now."

***

"God, that was intense," Mateo tells Lex as they lay together on the sofa in the main office of Blackmore Ltd, as they just finished having hot, intense sex with one another. Mateo and Lex both had felt like their chemistry had been building for the last little while until they couldn't resist anymore, not that either one is complaining.

"You're telling me," Lex smiles as he leans up from laying on Mateo's toned chest and looks into his eyes. "I needed that more than I realized."

"It had been a while, huh?" Mateo winks back to him.

"Too long."

"Well it didn't show," Mateo says back to him. "You still took it like a champ."

Lex chuckles back to him. "As long as we are clear now," he tells him quickly. "No one can ever know that you switched my sister's paternity test results. That has to stay between us."

"It will," Mateo licks his lips back to him. "Especially if this can be a regular thing. We both have needs, might as well satisfy them?"

"I couldn't agree more," Lex replies to him as he leans up and kisses Mateo. "Think you have a second round in you now?"

"Needy, huh?"

"Like I said, it had been awhile."

"I like it," Mateo kisses him back as they start to get hot and heavy again.

***

"I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon," Stacey looks up from the sofa in the living room of the Rockwell mansion as Houston walks into the room slowly. The last time she saw Houston they had learned that Marat, not Houston, was the father of her unborn baby. He was, of course, livid and stormed out of the hospital room, leaving Stacey and Marat alone to deal with the fall out. "How are you?"

"As well as to be expected," he replies to her as he glares at her. "How do you think I am? I'm devastated Stacey!"

"I know," she admits back to him. "I never meant for this to happen, it just … it did."

"I don't know what you want me to say," Houston says back to her. "I know that you have to stay calm and be stress free but this entire situation fucking sucks. I don't even know if we have a relationship anymore."

Stacey feels her eyes swell with water at the his words. She knew that this was a possibility which is why she held off from telling everyone until she absolutely had too.

"I get it Houston," she replies to him quickly. "If that's how you feel, that's how you feel. I hope you understand that if you're looking for me to beg and gravel, I will not. I have to focus on my baby, I'm going to be a mother. So, if you want to fight for me, our relationship, that's on you. I can't do that for us, not this time."

"Of course you can't," he spits back to her. "And luckily for you, you still have Marat. So, it's perfect, isn't it?"

"I think you should leave," Stacey admits back to him. "I have to stay calm and you're starting to stress me out!"

Houston chuckles back to her. "Of course you have to stay calm, to hell with the fact that my blood pressure is shot because of you, but as long as you're okay, nothing else matters, right?"

"Houston please!"

"Fine, I'll go," he rolls his eyes back to her. "I have nothing left to say anyways."

Stacey shuts her eyes as she waits to hear the front door slam closed. She then doubles over in pain. "Ahhh!" she screams out loud. She starts to stand up but she soon collapses on the ground, fainting as a result of her diabetes.

***

"Don't just stand there Lydia, say something!" Lucinda demands from her former daughter in law as she stands in the kitchen with Celeste watching. They need to know if Lydia will keep the secret of Celeste being alive from everyone so they can continue to gaslight Carmen.

"Have you ever thought that I like watching you squirm old woman?" Lydia taunts Lucinda back.

"Oh come on Lydia," Celeste chimes in. "Just tell us that you'll go along with our plan. The sooner we can continue this, the sooner I can get home to Ivan. I'm missing so much of his life right now."

"You should have thought of that before you agreed to play dead," Lydia quips back to her. "But, I do think this plan is genius. Carmen losing her mind is the perfect way to get rid of her once and for all."

"So you're saying…" Lucinda starts to say back to her.

"Yes, I'll keep your dirty little secret," Lydia gets a wicked grin on her face. "I'm just glad that I get to enjoy the show now."

***

In the master bedroom of Vivian's mansion, a drugged Cole is sprawled out on the king size bed. Chase approaches the younger man and starts to unbutton Cole's shirt. Soon, Chase has removed the shirt and puts some of the blankets over his legs to give the impression that Cole is naked in the bed.

"Hurry up Vivian," Chase demands to his lover as he looks at his watch and realizes that the drug they gave Cole will be wearing off relatively soon. "We don't have a lot of time."

Vivian emerges from her dressing room wearing a blonde wig. "What do you think Mr. Cooper? Do I pass off as a blonde bombshell?"

Chase can't help but look at her with lust in his eyes as she's only wearing black lingerie. "You look incredible. I'd love for you to put that wig on for me sometime."

Vivian chuckles back to him. "Your wish is my command," she winks back to him as she moves over to the bed. "Now, make sure you don't get any pictures of my face, okay?"

"I know the plan, I came up with it remember," Chase laughs as he grabs his phone while Vivian crawls into the bed next to Cole and makes it look like they are in throws of making love to each other. Chase gleefully starts snapping multiple pictures on his phone.
"This is perfect. Madi will have no choice but to dump Cole now."

***

About 45 minutes later, Cole opens his eyes and he quickly looks around, wondering where the hell he is. Finally, he realizes that he is in his car, which is parked outside the Rockwell mansion. He puts his hand to his head as he feels a horrible headache coming on.

"What the hell happened?" he asks himself. "The last thing I remember I was with Vivian and Chase … how did I get home?"

He shakes his head realizing he should get inside and have some water to help with his pounding head. "Maybe once I feel better, I'll be able to re-trace my steps," he says to himself as he moves to the front door of the mansion. He ends up walking into the living room of the mansion and makes a beeline for the bar, where he pours a tall glass of water. He turns as he takes a large drink of it but freezes when he sees Stacey, who is still collapsed on the ground. "Stacey?" he calls out as he rushes over to her. "My God, Stace? Can you hear me?" he asks as he rolls her over and sees a large pool of liquid on the floor. "Oh my God, she's in labour! She's fainted but in labour! I have to get her to the hospital, hang tight Stacey, you'll be fine!"

***

Sabine moves inside the country club quickly desperate to have a drink so she can try to figure out a way on how to get Kent to forgive her for finding proof that he paid into Chase's political campaign years ago and in turn Chase let Kent mine restricted lands to help Blackmore Ltd get a head in the profit margin. Now, someone has sent a threatening letter indicating that they know exactly what Kent did, despite Sabine burning the documents.

"There has to be a way to make this okay," Sabine whispers to herself as she looks around for a table. She looks over to the bar and happens to see Kent sitting there with a scotch in front of him. She finds herself moving up to her lover, knowing that she has to make it right somehow. "Looks like we had the same idea," she tells him as he turns to look at her.

"I thought I made it a clear at the penthouse Sabine," he huffs back to her. "I have nothing to say to you right now. In fact, I need time away from you."

"We are better together Kent, you know that."

"What I know is that you have potentially cost me my future and my fortune," he spits back to her. "Whom ever is threatening me could cost me everything, and that is on you. If I lose my life Sabine, it will all be your fault."

***

"Another visit so soon?" a surprised Madi asks her parents as Chase and Vivian sit across from her at the visitors center in the jail house. She knows that her parents were just there a short time ago so the fact that they are back so quickly is a surprise to her. "I wasn't expecting to see you again until tomorrow in court."

"We found out some information," Vivian uneasily looks back at her daughter and then over at Chase. "We had to tell you immediately but we have to warn you, it's not good news."

Madi looks back at them with worry on her face. The last thing she needed to hear was bad news; she just hopes that it doesn't have to do with her trial. "What is it? The trial? It hasn't been pushed back again has it?"

"No, it is still tomorrow," Chase replies to her. "This has to do with your boyfriend, Cole Rockwell."

"Cole? What happened? Is he okay?"

"He's more than okay," Vivian tells her. "He's been enjoying life while you are here."

"What do you mean by that?" a confused Madi asks her mother.
"This is what we mean," Chase says as he opens the pictures on his phone and show Madi, whose face goes absolutely pale. "Your boyfriend has a new lover."

***

"Where is the doctor? We should have heard something by now?" a worried Mac tells his family as they are all back in the waiting room of the hospital. As soon as Cole called the paramedics, he called the family to tell them that he had found Stacey unconscious but that her water had clearly broke. The Rockwell's are now waiting for some kind of news on Stacey and the baby.

"She hasn't been in the OR for very long," Cole tries to tell his father to calm him down. "They are likely trying to get her to regain consciousness and then they can deliver the baby."

"I don't know, I don't like this," Lydia moves up to Mac and pulls him into a hug. "Nothing can happen to our daughter or grandchild. Nothing."

"We have to stay positive," Lex tells his family. "Until we know anything, let's try to remain upbeat?"

Before any member of the Rockwell's can reply, Dr. Jefferson enters the waiting room with Stacey's file in her hand. "Doctor, what's going on with Stacey and the baby?" Lydia asks as the family circles around the physician.

"Her water did break," Dr. Jefferson informs the family. "She must have been under some stress because her blood pressure spiked and because she has the gestational diabetes, she fainted."

"Is she awake now?" Mac asks the doctor next.

"She is," the doctor continues to explain to them. "However, she is too weak to have a natural child birth. We are going to have to do an emergency c-section. With the diabetes, however, there are more complications to this."

"Complications? Like what?" Marat asks, as he is worried about his unborn child.

"I don't want to alarm anyone," Dr. Jefferson advises them. "But, in cases like this, sometimes the child will need a stem cell transplant because the mother stops providing them because of the trauma the body is going through. It's not uncommon and it is a relatively risk free procedure, if it comes to that."

"How will you know? And who will be able to donate?" Cole asks the doctor.

"As soon as the child is delivered, we will run tests to ensure he or she is healthy. And, if need be the father will donate. Marat, I'll have you on standby just in case."

"Perfect, I'll get ready now," Marat tells everyone. "Nothing will stop me from becoming a father again."

Lex feels the blood drain from his face. He puts his hand through his hair. "Wait," he calls out to Marat who is leaving with Dr. Jefferson. "You can't donate to the baby."

"What are you talking about Lex?" Lydia gasps back to her son. "You heard the doctor, if the baby needs the stem cells, the father has to donate."

"Houston is the father," Lex stuns everyone in the room. "I…I had the test results changed to get back at Houston for what he did to Grant and I. I…I never expected this would happen!"

"You're a sick son of a bi…" Marat moves closer to Lex, wanting to get into it with him.

"This isn't the time or place for this," Mac moves in between the two men. "Lex, we will deal with you later. Right now, we need to track Houston down so he can be here for the baby."

***

Sabine sits at the bar of the country club with a brandy in front of her. She is drowning her sorrows over the fact that Kent has continued to push her away because she uncovered the truth about his past with Chase. Of course, now someone else knows about this and has seemingly sent him a threatening letter. She has no idea how she is going to get through to him but for right now, she just wants to forget about her problems.

"Looks like we had the same idea," a voice calls out from behind her.

Sabine spins around and sees Houston standing there. "Hey, wanna join me?"

"I'd love too," he sits next to her. "Rough day?"

"You have no idea," Sabine replies to him before she takes a sip of her brandy. "You too, I gather?"

"Finding out another man fathered the child you thought was yours is a pretty devastating blow," Houston admits to her as he takes a sip of his scotch. "I don't know what to do about this mess."

"Looks like we are in the same boat, Houston," Sabine admits to him. "Your father wants nothing to do with me and I don't think there's anything I can say or do to get through to him."

"Really?" Houston asks her back in surprise. "He'd be a fool to let a woman like you go."

"You're sweet for saying so," she replies to him. "Stacey is also pretty dumb for letting a guy like you get away."

Houston smirks back to her as they turn and lock eyes with one another. Before either of them know it, they are kissing at the bar. "Sorry," she quickly says as their lips part. "That shouldn't have happened."

"I don't care about anything right now," he replies to her, lust in his eyes. "Let's go upstairs and just forget the rest of the world?"

"God help me," Sabine says back to him. "I need it so bad Houston, let's go."

***

The next morning, Cole and Lydia are slowly walking towards the waiting room with coffees for the entire family. Stacey's surgery only started a short time ago as there was a back log for the ER, meaning the family has spent the night at the hospital and are lacking sleep.

"I hope these coffees help get us through the next couple of hours while Stacey goes in for surgery," Lydia tells her son. "I just hope we can get ahold of Houston."

"It is odd that we haven't heard from him all night," Cole agrees with her. "I still can't believe Lex would lie to everyone about the paternity of Stacey's baby."

"Neither can I," she admits to her son. "But I do understand his desire for revenge after Houston blew up his relationship with Grant. How long will you be here today? I know today is the start of Madison's trial."

"I'm hoping to leave right after I find out about Stacey and the baby," Cole tells her. "You know what's odd though Mom? I feel like I blacked out yesterday."

"What? When? How?"

"I don't know. I remember meeting Chase and Vivian to discuss the trial and the next thing I knew, I woke up in my car at the mansion. It's right before I found Stacey."

Lydia arches her eyebrow. "That's odd, I hope you're feeling okay?" Lydia replies to him. "That or that wicked Vivian did something to you."

Cole shakes his head. "I thought that too but I have no clue what Vivian or Chase would want with me. It's just all very odd."

***

"Did we really make love all night long?" Sabine asks Houston as they lay naked in a large bed upstairs in the country club. She almost can' believe that she and Houston ended up in bed together and had sex multiple times in the night; they both clearly had a lot of steam to blow off from their respective relationships.

"I am not complaining that we did," he chuckles back to her. "We should probably keep this from my father though. The last thing we need is for him to find out that we enjoyed each other all night long."

"I couldn't agree more," Sabine rolls to the side of the bed. "Speaking of, I should see if there's any new developments."

Sabine grabs her phone as does Houston. Houston immediately jolts out of bed. "My God," he says looking at his phone.

"What is it?"

"I don't know what is going on exactly," Houston jumps out of the bed. "But Stacey is in labour and somehow, I am the father of the baby? What the hell is going on?

"I have no idea?" Sabine gasps. "Let me know what happens, just get to the hospital!"

***

"I got here as soon as I could," Houston explains as he moves into the waiting room of the hospital. "What the hell happened? How is it possible that I am the father of Stacey's baby?"

"I changed the results to get back at you," Lex moves up to him, not ashamed of what he did. He knew that he had to get revenge on his brother; he would do it again if he had too. "I had no idea this would happen to Stacey when I had the idea."

"You're sick," Houston spits back to him. "I broke up your pathetic relationship! You lied about a baby? What the fuck is actually wrong with you?"

Before Lex, or any Rockwell, can interfere, Dr. Jefferson moves into the room. "I'm glad you're here, the baby, he needs the stem cell transplant. We have to go now."

"Let's go," Houston nods back to her. Before he leaves the waiting room, he looks to Lex and glares at him. "This isn't over, Lex. Not by a long shot."

"Did the doctor just say he?" Lydia looks to Mac as they embrace. "We have a grandson. I can't believe this!"

"Neither can," he whispers back to her. "Now, we just have to find a way to put this family back together."

***

Cole opens the door to the courtroom and scurries inside. As soon as he found out that the baby was born and needed the stem transplant, he quickly left the hospital so he could be at the opening statements for Madi's trial. He finds a seat as Vivian turns around to see him sitting down. Vivian puts her hand into Chase's knowing that they told Madi about Cole's "affair". Madi also then turns around to see Cole, but she quickly turns her back to him when he puts his hand up to wave to her.

"All rise," the bailiff announces to the courtroom as everyone stands up quickly. "The honorable Sebastian Cartwright resides."

"You may be seated," the Judge announces to everyone as he sits. "Case GR55604, the state vs. Madison Stewart. Ms. Stewart, please rise."

Madison gulps as she looks at her lawyer and then back at Vivian and Chase, who nod in approval for her to do as she's told. She slowly stands up and looks at the Judge. She can't stop seeing the images of Cole in bed with a sexy blonde girl; she doesn't know if she can go like this because she is so hurt by Cole's betrayal.

"Charges against you are murder in the first degree," Sebastian continues to say. "How do you plea Ms. Stewart?"

Madi turns around to look at Cole and immediately sees him in bed with the blonde woman from the pictures that Chase and Vivian showed her. She turns back around with tears in her eyes, trying to hold it together the best she can.

"Ms. Stewart, did you hear the question?" the judge asks her again.

Vivian and Chase look at one another with worry. "Guilty your honor," Madi finally replies to everyone as there is a loud gasp in the court room.

***

"I hope you're happy with yourself," Marat's bombing voice scares Lex to the core as he paces back and forth in the waiting room of the hospital. "Because of you, I lost a child today."

Lex uneasily looks back at Marat and gulps. "I know," he nods his head back to him. "I realize that it probably wasn't the best idea I ever had, okay? But, I can't go back and change what I did now."

"No you can't," Marat shakes his head back to him in disgust. "It's just, your little revenge plan not only hurt Houston the way you thought it would. It hurt Stacey, it hurt me, it hurt everyone. The child could have died for crying out loud!"

"I know, okay? I get it, I fucked up royally."

"You can say that again," Kent announces to his son as he moves into the room and folds his arms over his chest. "Making Houston think his world was falling apart was pretty low, even for you Lexington."

"You of all people should know why I did what I did," Lex replies to him. "How did you feel when you found out about me all those years ago? You wanted revenge too Kent. I only went after Houston because of what he was doing, what he did to me."

"You can justify this all you want," Kent responds to him. "The fact of the matter is, you have played with my family for the last time."

"What do you mean?" Lex asks him back.

"You're fire," Kent tells him. "You're no longer running Blackmore Ltd."

***

Stacey slowly opens her eyes as she lays in the hospital bed. She looks around realizing where she is and then she puts her hands down on her smaller stomach, her eyes widening as she does so.

"My baby?" she asks out as her voice is hoarse. "Where is my baby?"

"He's right here," Houston tells her as he moves up next to Stacey holding a tiny little baby. "He's perfectly fine now, we are all going to be fine."

"Houston?" Stacey asks in confusion. "What are you doing with my baby? Where's Marat?"

"Turns out, I'm the father after all Stace," Houston smiles at her. "We created this little guy, can you believe it?"

Stacey shakes her head in confusion as tears fill her eyes. "Can I hold him?"

"Of course you can," Houston tells her as Stacey sits up slowly in the bed. Houston then passes her the baby.

"He's so beautiful," Stacey lets a tear fall down her cheek. "I can't believe I have a son."

"We have a son Stace," Houston leans up and kisses her forehead. "And nothing will ever come between us again."

At the doorway to Stacey's room, Marat peers in and shakes his head in disgust. "That should have been me," he whispers to himself. "Damn you Lex. Damn you straight to hell."

***

"Stacey is awake and both she and the baby are healthy," Lucinda announces to Mac and Lydia as they both breathe a sigh of relief. "The stem cell transplant worked."

"Thank God," Mac replies to them. "That doesn't mean that Lex is getting off the hook. I can't believe what he did to this family."

"We can deal with that later," Lydia tells him. "The main thing is that Stacey and the baby are okay."

"I'm going to see her," Mac says back to his family. "Do you want to come?"

"I'll be right there, I just want to have a word with Lucinda."

Mac looks back at her in surprise. "See you there."

Once Mac is out of the room, Lydia looks back at Lucinda. "Now that Stacey is out of the woods, can you please put this plan back into motion to get Carmen out of our lives? This is a perfect time to get Celeste to have another ghostly appearance because Mac will be at the hospital for a while with Stacey and the baby."

Lucinda nods back to her. "Yes, that's good thinking. I'll head back to my mansion now and tell Celeste to get to the main house."

"Keep me posted if you need me," Lydia tells her as she walks out of the room, desperate to see Stacey and the baby.

***

Deacon opens the door to Vivian's mansion and scurries inside. After Madi's shocking announcement that she is pleading guilty, she was taken away again and court was put into recess as everyone had assumed she was going to plead not guilty. No one knows what caused her to change her mind, but Vivian and Chase were going to hang around to try to get some answers. Deacon, however, needed to get home and have a drink as his day just went from bad to worse.

He moves into the living room and quickly walks to the bar. He pours himself a double scotch and has a long drink of the liquid. He pauses when he smells something in the air.

"What smells like…"

"Your mother's perfume?" a voice calls out from behind him.

Deacon turns around and looks at his mother, Dyhannah Cooper, standing there. "Mother? Is that you?"

"In the flesh," Dyhannah smiles back to him as she pulls him into a hug. "And, I'm here to make all your dreams a reality."

***

"This is a nightmare," Vivian paces back and forth outside the court room where Madi just pleaded guilty to murdering Celeste. She can't believe that her daughter would suddenly change her plead when they all know that she is innocent. "What the hell was she thinking?"

"I wish I knew," Chase runs his hand over his face. "Could it be that she was so distraught from learning about Cole having an affair that she changed her mind?"

"That's the most insane thing I've ever heard of!" Vivian tells him. "Just because she can't be with Cole anymore doesn't mean she wouldn't make another man happy."

"You and I know that but having a broken heart makes us do the craziest of things," Chase continues to tell her.

Vivian turns around and sees Cole on his cell phone. She feels her blood boil at the sight of him. "One thing I know for sure Chase, is that Cole Rockwell is to blame for all of this year! He will pay for what he's done to Madison, mark my words!"

***

"Have you thought of any names for the baby yet?" Lydia asks Stacey as she and Mac are in their daughter's hospital room, still feeling very relived that Stacey and the baby will make a full recovery.

"Everything has happened so quickly, my head is still spinning to be honest," Stacey replies to her Mom. "I still can't believe that Houston is the father. The doctor told me Marat was. Do you guys know how the mix up happened?"

Mac uneasily sighs back to her. "There's all the time in the world to you what happened but I'm not sure that now is the perfect time."

"Why isn't it? I want to know how this happened! Please Daddy, tell me."

Mac looks back at Lydia who shrugs her shoulders to him. "It was Lexington," Mac reveals to her. "He had the test results switched."

"Lex? What? Why?" Stacey gasps back to him in shock. "Why would he do this to me?"

"He did it to get back at Houston," Lydia explains to her. "For what he did to Lex and Grant's relationship and for trying to get him kicked out of Blackmore Ltd."

"But he not only hurt Houston, he hurt Marat, me, the baby…"

"He knows what he did was wrong," Mac tells Stacey. "It doesn't make up for what he did, I know, but as a family, we have to try to come together and stop all this infighting. Do you think you can forgive Lex for what he did?"

Stacey lets a tear fall down her cheek. "I have no idea," she admits to him. "I don't know what I will do with this information."

***

Outside Stacey's room, Lydia looks at Mac with worry on her face as she is concerned that Stacey won't be able to forgive Lex for changing the paternity test results. "I'm concerned that Lex's stunt will really hurt this family Mac."

"I know so I am," Mac admits to her. "I hope Lex can do something to make it up to Stacey but I don't even know what that is or if there is anything he can do. She was devastated just now."

"Rightfully so," Lydia tells him. "I know what it's like to keep a parent from a child. It's a horrible feeling."

"Whatever are we going to do with this family Lydia? It seems like every turn we make there's another complication."

"No one body ever said that life was easy," she chuckles back to him. "How about we get out of here? Let's go to the club and get a drink?"

"I'll pass tonight," Mac tells her. "I'm exhausted and I haven't seen Carmen all day. I'm going to head back to the mansion to see my wife."

"You can't do that," Lydia blurts out, knowing that Lucinda is sending Celeste to the mansion to have another haunting. "You can't go home!"

"Why not?" Mac arches his eyebrow wondering what she is getting at.

"Because…because, I don't want to be alone," she tells him as she moves up to him and kisses him on the lips. "Please Mac, stay with me?" she asks him as they look into each other's eyes, still feeling the effects of their kiss.

***

Carmen moves to the bar in the master bedroom of the Rockwell mansion and pours herself a brandy. She picks up the glass and slowly takes a sip of it. She is hoping that the brandy will calm her nerves before bed tonight so she doesn't have another vision of Celeste. The last thing she needs is to see the ghost of her husband's ex-wife.

"I will sleep well tonight," she whispers to herself. "I have too. I can't keep having these dreams."

She freezes when she hears the door to the bedroom open and footsteps creep into the room. She takes another sip of her brandy before she turns around. "Mac, is that you?"

"It's time," Celeste gets a wicked grin on her face as she slowly moves closer to Carmen. "It's time you pay for what you did to me!"

"This is not happening!" Carmen immediately yells back to the woman she thinks is a ghost. "Get out of here now!"

"You're going to pay!" Celeste continues to taunt Carmen.

Carmen turns back around and picks up the decanter that is full of brandy. She turns around and raises her arms and throws it against the wall, which startles Celeste.

"I told you to get the hell out of here!" Carmen yells at her. "Next time, I won't miss hitting you Celeste!"

Celeste realizes that Carmen is actually losing control. The last thing she needs is to get hurt in this process or Carmen will realize that she is actually alive. While Carmen's back is still towards her, Celeste rushes out of the room and through the hallway.

"This isn't going to end well for you," Carmen says as she picks up a lamp and turns and throws the lamp in the direction of the door, just as Mac walks into the room!

"Carm…." Mac starts to say as the lamp hits him in the head and shatters! Mac's body crumbles to the ground as Carmen screams in horror!

"Mac?" she cries out as she rushes over to her husband, who is bleeding from his head. "Mac? Can you hear me? Oh my God, Mac!"

***

Back at the hospital, Lydia paces outside of Stacey's hospital room with her cell phone to her ear. She is trying to get ahold of Lucinda so she can warn her that Mac left the hospital earlier than she thought he would. She knows that Celeste is probably gaslighting Carmen as she waits for Lucinda to pick up the phone but they have to call it off before their plan goes sideways.

"Damn it," she whispers to herself as she hears Lucinda's voicemail kick in. "Lucinda its me, you have to get Celeste out of the mansion now, Mac is going home! Do you understand? Our plan could blow up in our face!"

***

"I got here as soon as I could," Mateo tells Carmen as he moves into the mansion and immediately pulls his shaking sister into a hug. "What happened? Tell me everything?"

"I … I saw Celeste again," Carmen says as tears stream down her face. "And I start to throw things at her to make her go away. Only, Mac came into the room and …" she can't continue as the tears start coming out faster.

"Its okay," Mateo tells her, trying to calm her down. "Let's go to Mac. Maybe I can help him? I work in the hospital, remember?"

Carmen finally gets her crying under control and they move towards the staircase. Soon, they arrive at the bedroom door and Mateo see's Mac's bloody body laying on the floor.

"Wow, you really hit him good, hey?" Mateo leans down and looks at the cut on Mac's head. "There's a lot of blood coming out of his wound."

"Should I call 9-1-1?" Carmen asks him as she looks in worry at her bleeding husband.

Mateo puts his fingers on Mac's neck trying to find a pulse. He looks back up at Carmen in shock. "There's no point, he's dead."

***

"Dead?" a stunned Carmen asks Mateo as they pace back and forth in the living room of the mansion. After Mateo told her that Mac was dead, they came downstairs to have a drink. She needs something to calm her nerves since she has now killed the second person in her life, this one her husband. "Are you sure he's dead?"

"I'm sure," Mateo takes a sip of his brandy. "There was no pulse Carmen."

"My God, what am I going to do? How am I going to explain this to everyone?" she asks him as she feels herself go pale. "This is a nightmare."

"We have to hide the body," Mateo replies to her immediately. "At least until we can come up with a reasonable story, like he went on a business trip was killed."

"What if we just told the truth? It was an accident!"

"No one will believe us," Mateo shakes his head back to her. "Lydia and Lucinda already think that you're a gold digger. They will spin this into you killed Mac for his money."

"You're right," Carmen shakes her head back to him. "Okay, I agree. We have to bury the body. The gardeners have started some planting out back, maybe we can put him in the yard for now until we figure out what we want to do?"

"Great idea," Mateo smiles back to her as he moves up to his sister. "Hey, don't worry. I won't let you go through this alone, okay? I'll help you."

***

"Do you even know what a telephone is? Do you know how to answer it?" Lydia barks at Lucinda as she storms into the living room of Lucinda's mansion and sees the elderly woman sipping a nightcap on her sofa. "I've been trying to call you!"

"I turn my phone off at a certain hour Lydia," Lucinda replies to her quickly. "Too much screen time causes horrible insomnia."

"Mac went home from the hospital," Lydia tells her. "He could be there right now! Have you heard from Celeste?"

Lucinda quickly becomes more alert. "What? I thought you were going to keep him at the hospital later?"

"I tried everything I could," Lydia snaps back to her. "He was exhausted from the day and wanted to sleep. Where is Celeste? Can you get a hold of her?"

"I'm right here," Celeste announces as she moves into the living room. "I just got back."

"How did it go? Did you see Mac?" Lucinda asks her quickly.

"No, I left before he got home," she tells the women, who breathe a sigh of relief. "But, Carmen had lost it. As soon as she saw me she started throwing things at me. I'm lucky I left unscathed."

"So she's lost it completely then, perfect!" Lydia smiles in victory. "Only a couple more hauntings and Carmen should no longer be a problem."

"No," Celeste shakes her head back to them. "Tonight was the last time. It's getting too dangerous to continue. The plan is officially over; Carmen has lost it."

***

"Only a couple more and we should be done," Mateo tells his sister as they throw some dirt on the big pile where they have buried Mac on the estate of the Rockwell mansion.

Carmen uses the shovel one last time then drops it in exhaustion. "I think this should be enough. You don't think anyone will suspect anything?"

"No," Mateo tells her. "We will move the body in a day or two when we figure out what we can do with him exactly. Leaving him here long term is too risky."

"Okay," Carmen nods back to him. "Let's put these shovels away and head back to the house? I should ensure there is no blood on the carpet in the master bedroom."

"Good call," Mateo tells her as they start walking away from the pile. "Hey, don't worry about this okay? No one will ever know what happened to Mac. We will cover this up, the same we did Celeste."

"I know," Carmen smiles back to her brother, as they leave their shovels at the shed. "Thank you Mateo, I mean it. For everything. Let's head back to the mansion?"

They start walking back to the mansion together, still talking about what they can do with Mac's body. Back at the grave that they made for Mac, the moon shines brightly. A stray cat quickly walks over the fresh grave and disappears into the woods that are beyond the estate. Suddenly, Mac's hand shoots out of the grave and flexes itself, showing signs of life!