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written by Margaret Royal

Love, Lies and Voldemort

The Lianca Recaps

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

Erica and Jackson's wedding—again! It's "Here Comes the Bride" and Erica and Jack exchanging gooey looks. Suddenly, Schmoopy!Jack morphs into a backlit Michael Cambias, who extends his hand. Erica is stunned. "Don't keep me waiting," Michael intones. Erica steps slowly towards the altar, where Kendall and Bianca stand rigidly next to Michael. He takes Erica's wrist and pulls her closer. "I've had both your daughters," he says to her, as she shudders. "Now I'm gonna have you." He leans in for a kiss, and—surprise!—Erica sits up with a start at her penthouse. She'd fallen asleep on the couch while waiting up for Bianca and, as a result, is still in her wedding dress. Hee. Calming herself, she lies back down on the pillow, but she's startled again by a hand closing around her upper arm. It's Bathrobe!Bianca. Erica looks shellshocked.

Worried!Bathrobe!Binks tells Erica that she heard her screaming. Erica is confused, but then remembers what she thinks she knows about Bianca, and hugs her, telling her she's glad she's there. "It's ok. It was just a bad dream," Binks says, comforting her mother but delivering the lines we all wish could one day be said about Voldemort. "Right?" Erica says she's fine now that Binks is there; she waited up for her. She begins to stroke Bianca's hair. Binks exposits that she was out real late and saw Erica sleeping on the sofa when she came in. Erica says that she had wanted to talk to her. Binks apologizes: "I would have come home earlier if I'd known that you needed me." Awww. She thinks it's about the wedding. Erica smiles tenderly. "Sweetheart, I always need you," she says. "Did you get any sleep? I've been so worried about you." "Why?" Binks asks, in all sincerity. "Mom? Why are you looking at me like that?" Fade to commercials as Erica tries to put together a reaction.

Back. Erica asks if Bianca remembers when she was little and had nightmares, and Erica would sit on her bed—"and I would hold you . . . like this . . ." Bianca laughs but consents to be pulled to rest her head on Erica's bony shoulder. She says that of course she remembers. Erica goes on: "And I would say to you, 'Tell me, Miss B. Tell Mommy what monsters were after you. Because monsters are afraid of words. They just melt like marshmallows in hot chocolate." Bianca smiles. "And then we would talk. Over cups of hot chocolate." Erica wants to do the same thing now: "Tell me your bad dream." Bianca pulls away a little and faces Erica. She duhs that Erica had the bad dream, not that it's a surprise, with Mary and Greenlee ruining the wedding and all. She asks what Jackson learned at the hospital, and Erica tells her that Greenlee is, indeed, his daughter. "She was telling the truth," she says. Binks realizes that that makes her and Greenlee cousins. Erica says that when Mary told her about this before the wedding, she thought Mary was lying, but Greens was indeed Jack's donor. Binks tries to protest that that wouldn't necessarily mean anything, but Erica knows that she should have just told Jack if there was any chance of truth. "Keeping it from him was the biggest mistake I could have made." Bianca disagrees. "You were just trying to spare him." Yes, Erica says, but it just gets harder later "when the truth comes out. If I've learned anything from this, it's that you can't lie to your loved ones. You have to trust them. And you have to open up to them, no matter how afraid of any consequences—" Binks has been watching with increasing disbelief, and now she interrupts Erica. "Mom, stop it. Just stop it!" She gets up and stalks off.

Ruffles!Erica asks Bianca what she wants her to stop. Binks "can't take anymore of this, okay, Mom? How could he?" Erica soothingly tells her that "it's over now," but Binks yells that it shouldn't be. She's talking about Jackson and the wedding, not anything else, and Erica, realizing this, tries to adjust. Binks wants Erica to stop blaming herself and also to realize that Jack will get over the shock, and eventually he'll realize that he can't be happy without Erica. Erica says that Jack will do what he thinks is right. "Which is marrying you," Binks replies. "As planned." Erica gently asks why Bianca is "so adamant about this." Because it's what Erica wants, Binks replies. "Yes, it is," says Erica. "But that doesn't mean I'll get it." She says that Bianca knows "how unfair life is; [she] know[s] that sometimes terrible things happen to—" But Binks tells her to stop. "Not to you. Not again." Erica senses what's going on. "What are you talking about now, Bianca?" Binks says she's talking about Jack breaking up with Erica. She wants them to be a family; she wants to go away with them on their honeymoon, "far away from . . ." she tears up and starts to turn around. "We have to get away!" Erica steps closer and asks Binks to tell her what's wrong. She spills about David coming by. "he says he's concerned . . . about you." Binks says she has to get dressed, but Erica asks her to wait. She says that David thinks that Bianca ". . . had an unpleasant experience." I'll say. "Breaking up with Lena," Binks denials. Erica allows how David mentioned Michael Cambias. Bianca repeats the name but trails off at the end of it. Oh, poor B. It's starting to sink in for her that she's not going to be able to keep it all hidden. Erica repeats what David said about Bianca seeming terrified of Michael at the Valley Inn last night. "Well," Binks breathes, "yeah. Michael Cambias attacked you and Kendall. Of course I'm scared of him." She turns around again, looking like she's trying to find a way out of the conversation. Erica asks, what about her? "Did Michael Cambias attack you, Bianca?" Fade to commercials as Bianca blinks in frustration.

Back. "Attack me?" Binks asks. "Where did you get that idea?" (Huh. Eden could have read that line much more over the top, but instead of emphasizing the "that," and making it sound trite and Bianca stupid, she puts a slight emphasis on "idea." It makes all the difference.) Erica asks if Michael Cambias has done anything to Bianca. "He's repulsive," Binks replies. "He cornered me yesterday at the Valley Inn, what, did David expect me to enjoy it?" So he was bothering her? "Mom, that is what he does," she eyerolls. "What right does David Hayward have to come running to you? I wish he would just stay out of my business." Erica thinks Bianca should be glad that people care enough . . . "Ugh, no, I'm sick of it!" Bianca spits. "Everyone constantly interfering and fixating on me." She says that David "just needs to get his mind off of Leora's death. And so he was "running to [Erica] and blows this encounter completely out of proportion, scaring the hell out of [Erica]." Erica wants to work together if there's a problem, but this just annoys Binks more. "Do you hear yourself, Mom? This is exactly what I was talking about. I mean, your life just crashed and burned, but why should you deal with that when you could just fixate on me!" Projection, thy name is Bianca. "Oh, Bianca," Erica sighs. Binks feels bad. "I'm sorry, I went too far. But do you see what I'm trying to say? Look, I just don't want you wasting your time and your energy on me; I'm fine. Nothing has happened that I can't handle." There's a knock on the door, and Binks tries to get it, but Erica says she will. "Maybe it's Uncle Jack," says Bianca. Of course, it's Opal. She has food, because she figgered they hadn't eaten. "Of course she hasn't," Binks projects again. Opal notes that Erica is still in her dress. Hee. Binks, offering coffee, heads for the kitchen; Opal accepts. Erica cuts her off in mid-squeaky blather to say that she's got to be alone with Binks to find out . . . "What? I mean, it can't be worse than the entire decimation of your weddin'. Can it?" Opal sees Erica's drawn face and asks what's going on.

Opal Cunningham has no clue what Erica is talking about, but Erica shoves her out, saying she'll explain later. Bye, Opal! Erica turns back into the room. Binks comes out of the kitchen with a tray of food and is surprised to see Opal gone; Erica naturally makes up an excuse involving Petey. She wants to have breakfast with Bianca, but Binks says she's running late to see an apartment with Marian Chandler. She says she needs to get a move on, so she'll tell Erica about it after she sees it. "Okay," Erica says. "Bianca . . . honey, I love you more than anything or anyone in this whole world." "I know," Bianca says quickly, touched. Erica continues: "So if there's something wrong . . . please . . ." "If there were something wrong," Bianca replies, "I would tell you. But I'm fine, Mom. I swear it." She leaves to get her shower, and we close in on Erica looking resigned, before we fade to commercials.

Later, there's a note with Bianca's name on it on the couch. Binks steps into the room dressed smartly in black pants and a gray point-collar shirt. She calls for Erica, but there's no answer, so she steps out further and sees the note. It's from Erica, who says she had to go out and wishes Bianca luck with the apartment. Binks looks disappointed. She slumps on the couch, spies the muffins on the tray, and takes a half of one in one hand. She turns it for a second, then squeezes it until it falls apart; and looking ill, she drops it back on the tray. She clutches her stomach and runs back into the other room. And I'm in denial. Anvil? What anvil? What is this Voldemort 2.0 of which you speak?

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Screen grabs courtesy of Olga Online.© 2000-2003 (texts) are with the author. If not otherwise stated, the author is Ivanova. All rights reserved.