Aaron sees Alison dropping off an envelope for Dusty and confronts her. Insulted Alison tells Aaron to stop spying on her and leave her alone. Dusty takes tearful Ali out of the diner to collect herself. Meanwhile, the Lakeview bar manager asks Aaron to train a new waitress, Sofie. Holden comes home from looking for JJ and is shocked to find Craig there. Meg is defensive regarding Craig's presence, and she talks about her confused feelings. Meg wonders what Paul would think if he could see her now? Later, emotional Meg asks Craig to stop manipulating her feelings and winds up drawn into a lip lock with him. Barbara arrives at the hospital in British Columbia and is devastated to find Paul unresponsive to her presence. Barbara wills Paul to come back to them, as Paul dreams of Rosanna. Paul wakes up and asks Barbara where Rosanna is. Later, Barbara's displeased when Paul expresses eagerness to go home to Meg.

Paul wants to know why Barbara hasn't told Meg he's alive. Paul threatens to leave the hospital and Barbara reveals that Meg and Craig are together. Paul can't imagine that Meg can willingly be with Craig, but a phone call confirms Paul's worst fears. Paul insists that he's not coming home and doesn't want anyone to know that he is still alive. Meg and Craig kiss passionately. Craig tells Meg he's still in love with her and wants to start a family with her. Craig accepts that Meg still loves Paul, but tries to get Meg to accept that Paul is dead and she should move on. Katie admits to Margo that she hasn't been to the hospital to see Jack because he looked at her and said "I love you, too...Carly." Margo counsels Katie to back off and let Jack focus on finding JJ. Later, Henry advises Katie to face her doubts, stick by Jack and find out for sure if he really loves her or Carly. Carly asks Lily not to say anything to Jack about the ransom she provided for the kidnappers. Later, Holden asks Lily where Carly got the ransom money and guesses that Lily gave her the money. Jack is hopeful that the kidnappers haven't harmed JJ since they're waiting for the ransom, and Carly admits she paid it. Jack is furious and asks Carly to give him time alone to think. Katie reluctantly goes to see Jack and he assures Katie he's missed her. He asked what he said to her when he was being taken to the hospital and Katie tells him he said "I love you," but she doesn't say he added "Carly."

Carly sees Katie and Jack kissing in his hospital room and turns away. As she is thinking about what she just saw, Dallas arrives and along with Carly, goes into Jack's room to tell him about the eyewitness to JJ's abduction. Carly expresses concern over why the kidnappers continue to hold JJ even though the ransom was paid. Jack replies that maybe the kidnappers aren't done with JJ. Jack tries to get out of bed to search for his son, but is so badly injured he is convinced by Katie and Dallas to stay in the hospital until a doctor can check him out. As Jack laments being so close to JJ, Carly blames herself and urges Jack to be in charge of the investigation. She agrees to help him get out of bed and the two share a moment as Carly helps him get dressed. Katie returns with a doctor who agrees to check Jack out before he leaves. Jack demands that Carly let him search for JJ alone and asks Katie to drive him to the station. In the hallway, Katie and Carly have another confrontation, but before it becomes heated the two call a truce while looking for JJ. Jack is released by the doctor and Katie drives him to the station where they learn from Dallas that JJ may have been taken by a former inmate and friend of Les Sweeny. Dallas checks into whom Les knew in prison and Jack tells Katie this may be the break they have been waiting for. Brad arrives and gets an update from Katie about JJ's. Jack and Dallas return with news that they have a suspect, Silas, and after seeing his rap sheet the concern for JJ's safety grows. Katie and Brad go to the station to do another public service announcement about the latest lead in the case and Jack calls Carly to tell her what he has learned. After filming the newest PSA for JJ, Katie and Brad walk though Old Town and when they separate Katie feels as if she is being followed and looks around for who it might be.

At Al's Diner, Holden asks Lily about why she gave Carly the money for the ransom even after Jack told them not to pay the kidnappers. Lily tries to explain to Holden that she gave Carly the money because she understood her pain, one mother to another, but Holden doesn't accept Lily's explanation and is angered by her decision. Holden condemns Lily's actions and her deceitful dealings that resemble her previous behavior with the diet pills. Lily denies that giving the money to Carly is anything like when she was lying about the diet pills. Holden continues to be mad with Lily for putting Carly before their marriage and blames Lily getting into business with Carly as the initial source of their current problems. Lily apologizes, but Holden is reluctant to believe her because of all the lies. Holden explains that he wants to believe her, but fears that Lily no longer knows how to trust him. Frustrated Holden walks out on Lily and as she leaves to go find him, Carly arrives asking how to get back into Jack's good graces.

Carly tells Lily that Jack excluding her from the investigation is frustrating. Lily tells Carly that paying the ransom was a huge mistake and her obsession with Katie being by Jack's side is interfering with her better judgment. Carly receives the call from Jack and goes to the station. Jack tells Carly the newest lead about Silas and her guilt and concern grows as Jack tries to reassure her that JJ will be o.k.

Earlier at WOAK, Brad thanks Luke and Noah for helping out on the hotline for JJ. Brad leaves to go to the police station to check out on any new leads and, once alone, Noah asks Luke if anything else is bothering him. Luke tells Noah that he is just worried about JJ and Noah asks if he can help him pass out flyers, but Luke declines and leaves. Maddie arrives and she and Noah share a kiss as Luke returns and then leaves again once catching an eyeful of the two together. Noah and Maddie take their kissing session into downtown Oakdale and Maddie tells Noah that he is avoiding talking to his dad and that he should call him and ask him again to pay for Northwestern. Maddie tells Noah no more kisses until he calls his dad and Noah begrudgingly agrees. He phones his dad to ask about college, but his father refuses to change his mind about Noah going into the army before going to college. Noah returns to the station and runs into Luke who avoids working with Noah once again. Noah calls him out on his reluctance to be around him and questions if he is still angry with him. Luke tells Noah that he isn't mad at him, but that he likes him, "like that". Luke basically admits his true romantic feelings for Noah.

At the Lakeview, Aaron confronts a costumer who refused to tip Sofie. She thanks him for his help and asks him why he is so upset. Aaron explains his family's troubles to the new waitress and then she opens up about her living situation with her boyfriend, Cole. Just as she is explaining her life to Aaron, her boyfriend arrives and demands she goes home with him now. Sophia tells him she can't since she has agreed to work a double shift and her boyfriend tells her she didn't sign up for it and she needs to find someone to cover her shift. Sofie refuses and her boyfriend leaves in a snit. Sofie then explains to Aaron that Cole isn't so bad. Holden arrives at the bar and asks for a double and tells Aaron about his troubles with Lily. Father and son share their frustrations over the women in their lives. Lily tries to call Holden on his cell phone, but he sees who is calling and tells Aaron he isn't ready to talk to her.

Vienna and Henry commiserate over the loss of their building. Maddie talks to Vienna about sleeping with Noah and admits that she feels they might be moving too quickly. Vienna counsels Maddie to relax and enjoy her summer romance. Later, Henry tells Vienna their insurance wasn't valid and they've lost all the money they invested in the building. Noah reacts to Luke's revelation that he's attracted to him, and says he's not gay. Luke and Noah commiserate over their feelings of isolation and Noah still hopes he and Luke can be friends. Luke tells Noah about the Kevin fiasco and explains he's mad at himself for falling for another guy who's unavailable. Noah insists that he's not Kevin. Later, Noah invites Maddie on a romantic getaway together and despite her reservations, she agrees. Ali smells alcohol on Susan's breath, and Susan covers. Alison calls Dusty and tells him she thinks her mom's drinking again. Ali confronts Susan and Susan is appalled that Alison's confided in Dusty. She continues to deny that she's been drinking, when Bob appears and asks what's going on. A fan detains Katie with info about Silas's favorite hangout in Idaho. Katie thinks Pat might be lying to protect Silas, but she says Silas stole from her, and she'd never protect him. However, she declines to go to the police station and make a statement. Jack and Carly bond in their mutual worry over missing JJ. Carly rewraps Jack's injured ribs when Katie rushes in and witnesses their closeness. Katie relates her encounter with Pat to Jack and Carly. Jack determines that Pat's lead checks out and vows to go to Idaho himself. Katie and Jack part ways. After, Jack finds Carly waiting for him, and she says she's going with him to Idaho.

At the hospital, Bob asked Susan, who was arguing with Dusty and Alison, if there was a problem. Alison stepped up and said it was her fault, that she said the wrong things and gotten her mom upset. Bob asked Susan if she needed to take some personal time, and Susan said she didn't think so. Bob walked away, and Dusty told Susan that if she didn't leave with them to go home, he was going to tell Bob that she had been drinking. Cornered, Susan found Bob and accepted his offer of taking some personal time. Dusty and Ali took Susan to Al's Diner, and then Dusty left them there. Alison told Susan she realized she'd put her through hell in the past several months, and the thing she was most ashamed of was that she'd driven her mother to lose her sobriety. Susan told Ali not to blame herself, but Alison said Susan blamed herself for her problems and Emily's problems. Alison said she and her mom could help each other, and they could start by going to a meeting together because this was "just a slip." Susan told Alison that she'd woken up that morning after having a nice dream about Emily and Daniel, and it took her a few minutes to realize that Alison wasn't living there anymore; she became depressed and had "a couple of drinks" at lunch to try to "quiet that voice" in her head, but then she realized she'd been planning to have those drinks ever since she bought the bottle of liquor a few days ago. Susan said she didn't want to go to another meeting and "for the umpteenth time, stand up and say, ‘My name is Susan, and I'm an alcoholic, and I've been sober for 20 minutes.'" She then dissolved into tears, saying, "I'm in hell!" but she shook it off and agreed to go with Alison to the meeting. Afterward, Susan ran into Bob at the hospital and told him she'd been to a meeting because she'd been drinking. She admitted having come to work after drinking but said she hadn't diagnosed any patients or prescribed any medicine. She then told Bob to "do what you have to do," but Bob said whatever he was going to do could wait until tomorrow and that they'd do an evaluation to determine how they needed to proceed. Then Bob told Susan, "I'm proud of you. And I'm proud to be your friend." Susan replied, "You've got lousy taste!"

At the Lakeview bar, Aaron and Sofie were chatting when Sofie's boyfriend, Cole, walked in, upset that Sofie was still on duty. After listening to Cole giving Sofie a hard time, Aaron went over to him and tried to explain about this being a work-related commitment that Sofie had to honor, but Cole became antagonistic, wondering why Aaron was so interested in his girlfriend's problems. Sofie came over and got between Aaron and Cole and calmed Cole down; Cole made a superficial apology to Aaron and told Sofie he'd be waiting for her to finish work, then left. Sofie then apologized to Aaron for Cole's behavior, and Aaron asked her how many times she's had to do just that. Sofie admitted that she's had to do that a lot. Aaron walked out of the bar in time to see Alison with Dusty; Alison was letting Dusty know about being successful in getting her mom to go to a meeting with her, saying she'd left her with her AA sponsor. Aaron walked away, and Dusty asked Alison if she'd rather go somewhere else; Alison said yes, but it was time she started dealing with reality, including the reality of what Aaron thinks about her.

In a car on the way to Idaho, JJ asked Silas and Ava what they were planning to do with him now that they had their ransom money. Silas didn't like JJ's questions and told him he'd have to teach him some manners. When Ava also questioned why they were hanging onto JJ, Silas said it was because he had promised Les Sweeney that he'd take care of his kid if anything happened to him and bring him up the way Les would have wanted him brought up. Silas said they'd be "like one big happy family."

At the police station, Jack told Carly that if she tried to go with him to Idaho, he'd have her arrested on the spot. Carly asked why she couldn't come, and Jack said because she was too emotionally involved. Carly pointed out that Jack was, too, and that on top of that, Jack wasn't even well enough to make a trip like that, so he should be leaving it to the uninvolved officers to track down JJ. Jack admitted that she had a point but still said he'd prefer that Carly wait at home and take care of Parker and Sage, and he promised to find JJ and bring him back to her.

At WOAK, Katie told Brad about the lead on JJ's whereabouts, and then she became upset with herself for feeling upset about Carly being there with Jack. Brad told her he thought she was doing a terrific job of dealing with a terrible situation, and he hugged her. He asked her if she was afraid of the worst, and she nodded yes. Brad said they all were, and he was sorry that she couldn't talk about it to the man she loved but was stuck with him instead. She went into his arms, crying, and Brad comforted her. Katie told Brad that he'd made her feel better and that she shouldn't be worrying about Jack and making him promise to call her before he leaves, etc., but Brad told her to look around, and there was Jack. Seeing them embrace, Brad told Jack that he should take Katie into a private office and say a real goodbye, and then he told Jack to be careful and that if he needed backup, he was there for him. Jack and Katie went into an office and kissed, then Jack said there was some unfinished business he needed to take care of before he left town. He got down on one knee and proposed; Katie accepted, and Jack promised to come back to her. Jack left, and Brad saw Katie's ring and congratulated her. Katie said she'd never been so happy, and she'd never been so scared.

At Will and Gwen's house, Gwen and Sage were going through some clothes when Sage found an outfit Gwen had bought for Johnny. That made Sage think about the fact that sometimes people take kids away and never bring them back. Gwen assured her that wasn't going to happen with JJ, and she said good things happen, too, then told Sage about the "miracle" baby she and Will were going to have in April. Sage was thrilled with the news. Carly walked in, and Sage told her; Carly said she'd known about it but had wanted Gwen to tell Sage herself. Then Carly told them she had good news about JJ, saying they knew where JJ was and that Jack was going to go get him. Sage was excited and went to get some cookies for Carly to give JJ when he got home; Carly told Gwen she didn't think Jack should be going alone, that something seemed "off" to her, and then she said that while Jack would do anything, including lay down his life, for his kids, he would never knowingly ask someone else to do that, so she was going to go, too. Gwen said it wouldn't be fair to Parker and Sage if both Jack and Carly put themselves in danger like that, but Carly said they needed to know that their mom and dad would do anything at all to save them if they were in trouble. She asked Gwen to watch Parker and Sage, then told Sage she needed to go help find JJ. Sage said JJ needed her more than she did right now, and Carly hugged her and told her she'd see her soon. She went to the Snyder farm and found Parker, who was looking at a map of Idaho because Jack had come to say goodbye and had told him where he was going. She asked him if he would go stay with Gwen and Will and Sage, and he asked if that meant she was going after Jack. Carly admitted she was and asked Parker not to tell Jack. Parker said he wouldn't, because JJ needed both of them right now to try to find him, but he said he'd rather stay at the farm because there was work to do around there. Carly said that would be fine. Parker said, "Take care of Jack," and Carly responded, "Of course," saying he knew she would do whatever it took to "put this family back together again."