Danny and Cricket Confront Phyllis — and Audra Makes a Shocking Decision

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At the Abbott house, Jack is confused when he catches Ashley’s teen alter binge-watching a sitcom on her computer. As she giggles and scarfs down popcorn, he asks what’s going on. She says she’s just trying to chill — this is cheaper than all the booze he drinks! What do they want from her? The whole family has been complaining about how she’s acting and spending her free time. Standing up, Ashley declares that she wants a “vacay” from them. As she trudges out of the room, she nearly collapses. The voices in her head tell her she’s not strong enough for this and demand she hand over control.

Traci comes in and Jack tells her Ashley stormed out before filling her in on the latest strange behavior. It wasn’t just what she was watching, she had a whole unhinged demeanor and Billy had a similarly disconcerting encounter with her. Traci wonders if she’s been covering and this whole Tucker situation hit her far harder than she’s letting on. Standing on the stairs, Ashley’s strongest alter eavesdrops on them before eventually snapping at them to stop all the psychoanalyzing. She accuses them of obsessing over Tucker more than she does. She’d love to move on but they are constantly talking about her behind her back. They don’t need to be watching her like a hawk. Declaring she wants to move on with her life, she tells them to back off and let her. After she storms out, slamming the door, Jack declares to Traci that he has tried and tried and maybe it’s time to stop. She thinks that would be a mistake. Clearly, their sister feels humiliated and judged and that’s why she’s prickly. Jack doesn’t think that’s what’s going on. Traci will admit that something is off and it’s something bigger than her obsession with Tucker.

As Christine and Danny are making out in their bed at the Athletic Club, Phyllis pulls the fire alarm in the hall. The couple starts to laugh as the alarm rings, unable to believe it’s real. They don’t want to take a chance, so they pull on their clothes and rush out.

As they head down the stairs, Phyllis is by the door loudly saying, “This is wild”. She claims she was getting some OJ when the alarm sounded. Commenting on how “unkempt” Christine looks, she guesses they were up to something. The alarm stops and hotel guests file back in. The lawyer notices a cut on Phyllis’ finger and wonders aloud if someone pulled that alarm on purpose. Pulling a face, Phyllis looks around as though baffled. Christine thinks some “poor, insecure woman” yanked the alarm. Outraged at the accusation, Phyllis waves it off. Christine reminds her that she was taunting her earlier, likely followed her upstairs, and listened at the door until it drove her crazy. Phyllis thinks the only crazy thing is that Danny could be interested in someone like Cricket. Christine points out that pulling a fire alarm is a felony and Phyllis is on probation. Danny declares that no one is calling the cops. He tells Phyllis that her obsession with him needs to end. Putting his arm around Christine, he leads her back up the stairs as the women glare at one another.

Once Christine and Danny return to their suite, she declares they are lucky Phyllis didn’t burn the place down. She’s a danger to society. Lighting a candle, he points out that she just tried to stop them and failed. They can move on. He teases that she’s wearing way too much clothing. As he puts on music, she laughs and unbuttons her blouse as they resume their kissing. Once they get undressed and into bed, he drops rose petals on her skin. Using his fingers, he writes on her back that he loves her. She feels the same.

Back down in the bar, Phyllis declares to anyone who will listen that she is wiping Danny from her life. He clearly has no taste in women or why would he want “the Bug” with him on tour?! It’s time to get her life back on track. They are wiped from her life and she couldn’t care less what they do.

Audra finds Sally sitting alone at Society. Spectra immediately starts venting about a rival, successful design company. Sitting down, Audra says she could use someone to vent to as well. It sounds to Spectra like things aren’t in a better place with Tucker since they last spoke. Audra did take her advice to try and save the relationship. As much as it kills her to say it, she doesn’t think it’s worth saving. When Sally suggests that love is always worth saving, Audra answers, “What if it just feels like love but is actually stupidity?” The redhead thought their connection was unique and real. Audra points out that doesn’t mean it was healthy. She complains that he used her in “some sick love triangle” and about Ashley always getting in their faces. She’s given him ultimatums to keep her away but now he’s claiming that she has some psychological issue. That seems far-fetched to both of them. Audra assumes it’s fake and declares that she’s done with Tucker. This time she means it.

Tucker is sitting on the patio of Crimson Lights leaving a message for Ashley. He reminds her that she claimed she wanted to give him everything and then texted to tell him to forget everything. He senses something is up and asks her to return his calls.

Audra wanders in. Spotting him, she tries to run. He stops her and assures her that what’s going on with Ashley has nothing to do with how he feels for her. Plus, they have a company to run and they shouldn’t let this get in the way. They have always found their way back to each other. “I’m angry. I feel used,” she explains, sure that Ashley is playing him with some sick seduction attempt. Not that she would care if Ashley really did need psychological help. The fact that he feels like he needs to be the one to help her tells her all she needs to know. She declares that both personally and professionally, they are done! He insists that what they have is real and as good as it gets. But he cares about Ashley and has to help her — he owes her. Tucker points out that Audra still cares about Noah, and vows that once he’s done helping Ashley, he will spend every hour trying to fix their relationship. McCall urges Audra not to turn on her career over this — it’s a big opportunity. Even if this is a mistake, Audra doesn’t care anymore. Walking away from him will be one of the smartest things she’s ever done.

When Tucker grabs Audra’s arm, she yelps at him not to touch her. “You heard the lady!” booms Nate as he walks in. She asks him to buy her a coffee and they walk off. Tucker gets a text from Ashley, who wants to meet.

Nate and Audra get a table and she thanks him for the assist. He doubts she needed it but he’s having trouble keeping track of where she stands with that guy. One moment she wants to take him down and then the next she’s holding his hand. Audra assures Nate that she is done with Tucker this time and has left his business. Although she has no plan B, she is sure she will come up with something. “I’m a survivor,” she says.

Tucker joins Ashley’s alter at Society. Once she assures him she has not been avoiding him, he asks what “forget the whole thing” was supposed to mean. She dismisses it as a stupid mistake. He’s noticed she’s running very hot and cold and hopes this is just some revenge game of hers so they can forget it and move on. Judging by the furrow of his brow, she thinks he still loves her. McCall claims it’s concern, not love. When he brings up her constant changes, Ashley claims she’s just mercurial like him. He suggests that since their big fight, she has been confused and teetering on the edge. “The edge of something beautiful. Come on, take the leap with me. You know you want to,” she urges. What Tucker wants is for her to see a psychologist. He’ll go with her and if she’s fine, he will eat crow. She finds this patronizing and declares that she already saw a psychologist friend in Paris and he said she was perfectly normal. Tucker wonders if she’s remembering that as well as she remembered their fight. He urges her to see someone unbiased and says he won’t give up until she’s done it. That makes her smile.

Adam joins Sally at Society and he fills her in on what happened with Connor and the doctor. Adam relays that his son begged to come home, so he brought him back. Adam doubts he’ll manage to stay there for long if Dr. Alcott and Chelsea get their way.

Adam and Sally go to her suite at the Athletic Club. He tells her about Alcott’s suggestion that Connor go away for special treatment. They thought things were going well at his new school but it turns out there are things that he hasn’t been telling them. He explains that Connor has good and bad numbers and had to change his dorm room just because of them. None of them knew he was struggling with these kinds of thoughts. She thinks that the facility could help and he explains that they use ERP and how that works. That sounds promising to her. “If it works,” he says, worrying it might only make his son worse. Adam complains that Chelsea and the doctor are ganging up on him when he thinks they need to get a second opinion and reflect on what accepting this label could do to Connor. It’s something he will have to carry for the rest of his life. Billy throwing in out-of-line comments isn’t helping either. Sally agrees that getting a second opinion sounds reasonable.

Adam worries that Chelsea is too eager to drive ahead with this. It’s all happening so fast and his son is terrified that he’s crazy. Sally suggests that Adam may be afraid of having to accept that his son has a disorder. It feels like he’s having a hard time believing he’s sick. “How did I not know he was struggling with this?” he wonders. Sally holds him as he worries about all the pain his little boy has been in. He keeps wondering if any of this would have happened if he’d been there more for his son. Sally urges him to focus solely on his son right now. That’s the only way through this.