Isabella asked a brooding Paul why he had gone to see Christine after the christening. Paul admitted that she was right; it had been a mistake. She tried to understand what was bothering him, but Ricky began crying so she brought their son into the living room. Paul held Ricky and told him about all the "firsts" he would be there for, including Ricky's first fishing trip. He assured his son that he was going to be there for him for a long, long time, while Isabella happily looked on.

Michael was enraged when he got to his office. He picked up something to throw at the door before he realized that Lauren was watching him. When she asked what was bothering him, he said that he had come so close to getting what he wanted with Christine. She said he sounded more like a man whose plan wasn't working than a man in love. Michael assured her that he loved Christine and had loved her for years. Lauren seemed reluctant to express the obvious conclusion aloud, so Michael guessed that she was thinking he had caused Christine and Paul's divorce. He told her that he wished he had that kind of power. Though he didn't know where Christine was or how long she'd be gone, he was confident that when she returned, the two of them would be married because he was the right man for her.

Neil came by to see Olivia and could tell something was bothering her. She finally told him the whole story about her and Brad. When he couldn't understand why she still felt troubled, since the obvious thing was to leave Brad alone and let him rebuild his relationship with Ashley, Olivia admitted that Ashley had done something wrong and it was in her power to tell Brad about it, but it could destroy Brad and Ashley's family. Neil told her that would be a bad idea. Not only would she be betraying her best friend, but she'd be doing it for the wrong reasons. He knew Olivia would never do that. Olivia wasn't as certain as he was, so he encouraged her to talk to him first if she ever decided to tell Brad what Ashley's secret was.

Dru called a courier to pick up the duplicate of the tape on which Ashley admitted Victor's paternity of Abby. As the courier was leaving, Wes arrived and overheard where he was going. When he questioned Dru about whether it had something to do with her modeling, she made him promise her the same kind of doctor confidentiality he'd given Olivia. When he did, she told him that she knew everything about Olivia and Brad, as well as Ashley's secret. Although Olivia had returned Ashley's tape to Ashley, Drucilla had made a copy. Wes put two and two together and realized what Dru had done. He exploded, telling her that giving Brad the tape wasn't going to make Brad run to her sister. In fact, Brad would probably despise Olivia for telling Drucilla things that were none of her business. Dru was stricken with remorse and worried about what she'd done.

Ashley came in as Brad was finishing a call to John in which he found out Colleen was still missing. He thanked Ashley for the support she'd been giving him about Colleen and said that when his daughter came home, things were going to be different. Ashley agreed that they needed to be more active in what was going on with Colleen. She then admitted to him that she knew about Olivia's feelings for him after overhearing a conversation between Dru and Olivia. At first she was accusatory, wondering if he, too, had feelings for her former best friend and how far things had gone between them. Brad said that he did have feelings for Olivia, but the two had never done more than kiss. When Ashley got upset, Brad reminded her how bad things had been with her health then and how distant the two of them had grown. He and Olivia had turned to each other for support, but those were extraordinary circumstances that would not happen again. When Ashley wondered why he hadn't told her in the first place, he said it was because she was already going through so much. But he owed her the same honesty she had always given him. Ashley, feeling guilty about her secret over Abby's paternity, told him they should just let it go and move forward. Brad was relieved that she was willing to do that. He then had to go to the office, and while he signed some contracts, the envelope with the copy of Ashley's tape to Abby was on the desk in front of him.

Anita and Frederick discussed Brittany's living situation. Anita knew their daughter's address, and Frederick noted that it was in a bad part of town. Anita said she wanted Brittany home before the holidays. She hoped Frederick would not only present a united front with her, but would manage to spend more time at home. The two exchanged barbed remarks about how neither of them had been a good parent or spouse, until Anita finally got disgusted and left the coffee house.

Brittany was disgruntled to wake up and see Colleen still sleeping in her and Raul's apartment. When Raul came in, he was worried because there was still no sign of Diego. He didn't believe his brother would have left with the money. Brittany was more concerned about how long Colleen would be staying. Raul suggested they go to Crimson Lights to talk it over. When they got there, Frederick told Brittany that her mother had found out where her apartment was and had gone looking for her.

Colleen was awakened by a knock at the door and opened it to see Brittany's mother. Anita wanted to know who she was and why she wasn't in school. Colleen lied and said she was a friend of Brittany's who was staying there for a few nights and she was eighteen. Anita wasn't buying it. She looked around the dumpy apartment with disdain and tricked Colleen into admitting that she was a sophomore. At that point, Brittany came home. She asked Colleen to leave her alone with her mother. Once Colleen was gone, Anita tried to get information out of Brittany about what was going on, but Brittany gave her no answers. Anita then said that she wanted Brittany to come home, even more so now that she'd seen the kind of place she was living in.

Anita talked to Brittany at her apartment and tried to lure her home by promising shopping and holiday fun. Brittany wouldn't go for it and soon Anita left, exasperated.

Jill and Frederick were talking in his office. The conversation moved to personal things such as being a workaholic and kids. They shared their sob stories about their kids and decided that the ultimate payback came when their kids had kids of their own.

Tracey showed up at the Abbott home hell-bent on finding Colleen and accusing John and Brad of being too easy on her and letting her get away. She blew everything out of proportion and insisted on calling the cops. Before long, she was accusing J.T. of statutory rape and all kinds of things. John indicated that the kids could sometimes be found at the park. The police headed out.

J.T. talked to Raul at the coffeehouse about letting Colleen stay two more days. Raul agreed reluctantly. Colleen called J.T.'s cell phone and he took off to meet her in the park. They were glad to see each other and spoke tenderly of their unique relationship. They were kissing sweetly when the police came around the corner. J.T. told Colleen to run and the police placed him under arrest for statutory rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

At the apartment, Raul brought home coffee for Brittany and they decided to take advantage of a few minutes alone in their new place. Before they could get anything accomplished, Colleen rushed through the door. She told them what happened and that she didn't even find out what they said to J.T. after she left.

Meanwhile, at Jabot, Dru and Wes were sneaking in to see if they could get the tape back from Brad before he watched it. Wes kept trying to stop her, but Dru was determined to act like she was back home at Jabot and found their way to Brad's office. They talked to the secretary who made a remark about Dru being "almost famous" which rubbed her the wrong way. They decided that Brad may have the tape in the board room, so Dru barged in and started asking Brad for a job. She wanted to be a photographer once she was too mature for modeling. Brad had opened the envelope and wanted to watch the tape. Dru held him up for a few minutes, then he finally got rid of her. The tape started rolling, but before he saw any picture, his phone rang. It was Tracey telling him about J.T.'s arrest and insisting that he come right away. The tape rolled and Ashley started to speak without Brad watching. Soon Dru's hand ejected the tape and she and Wes made off with it just in the nick of time.

Back at Dru's apartment, Wes coerced Dru into destroying the tape so that nothing else could happen with it. He helped her break it with a hammer and he took it outside to the garbage. While he was gone, she took the real tape out from a fold in the couch and said, "I hope that tape didn't have anything important on it!"

Anita found Frederick in his office after Jill left his company. They figured out that the runaway staying with the kids must be Colleen and they rushed over to the apartment to put an end to the whole crazy situation. They arrived after Colleen did and demanded that they take Colleen into the police in order to protect Brittany from getting into more trouble with the law.

J.T. told the police that he had not taken advantage of Colleen or had sex with her. The two of them had done nothing wrong; Colleen was just trying to keep from being sent away. In fact, the two of them had been on their way to the Abbott house when the police picked him up. They told him that Colleen wasn't in trouble, but as a young, helpless girl, she could be in danger. J.T. insisted that Colleen was safe with friends, but the police were skeptical and said if he really cared about her, he'd make sure she got back home safely.

The Hodges accused Raul of thoughtlessness when he allowed Colleen to stay with him and Brittany. He could have jeopardized Brittany's probation. They intended to take Colleen back to the Abbotts, but Colleen said it wasn't up to them. She started to run out of the apartment, but when she opened the door, the police were standing there. The Hodges told the police that they would clear up where Colleen had been staying; they'd been about to take her home. After the police left with Colleen, the Hodges told Brittany that she was to come home. When she refused, they said if she didn't, they would be talking to Raul's parents.

Traci accused Brad of having been negligent in his care of Colleen. Brad reminded her that she'd left Colleen in her father's care, rather than his, and no one could have seen the situation with J.T. coming, since it had happened so quickly. He then told her that he did not support taking Colleen back to New York. They argued about whether or not boarding school was the best solution for their daughter. John and the police detective came in with Colleen's diary, which detailed how much in love with J.T. she was. John said that all along, Colleen had been insisting that she and J.T. were just friends. Traci said it was obviously more of Colleen's lies. The detective got a call that Colleen was in custody.

When the police brought her home, Colleen was surprised to see her mother. She told Traci that she was not going back to New York with her. When they raged at each other, with Traci demanding answers about J.T., Colleen said that the two of them were just friends and had not had sex. She was horrified to find out that they'd read her diary. She then screamed at Traci that if her mother tried to take her back to New York, she'd run away again, and they'd never find her. At that point, the policewoman stepped in and said that Colleen wasn't going back to New York. As long as she was a threat to run away, the police would put Colleen in juvenile detention. Brad, Traci, and John were all horrified, and tried to persuade Colleen to tell the police she wouldn't run away, which was the only way they'd leave her with her family. Colleen said juvenile detention wasn't any different from the boarding school Traci was trying to put her in, and she left with the police.

Victor was not pleased when Diane sat down at his table while he was eating at Gina's. She regretted that their relationship was so hostile and wished they could get along now that he was remarried to Nikki and things were looking up for her. She said that she was going to see to it that Kyle had a good life with his father. Victor told her she was a man's nightmare--an obsessive, manipulative woman who had used her son to worm her way into the Abbotts' lives and drive a wedge between Jack and his wife. Diane reminded him that she had loved Jack since she was a young woman. She would have had the life she was meant to have if Victor had not turned her head. She'd done things in her life that she regretted, but Victor was her worst mistake. She said it was obvious he wasn't willing to break down the wall of animosity between them. Victor told her he had nothing but contempt for her.

Jack went to see Phyllis in jail. He told her that he'd gotten Diane to agree not to leave town during her trial. She wondered what he'd had to do to get that concession. He said he'd do whatever it took to get Phyllis out of trouble. She desperately tried to find another solution, including finding out who Diane's accomplice was. Jack said if there was any other means of getting information out of Diane, he'd do it. When Phyllis realized that Jack would probably be having sex with Diane that night, she begged him to hold her or kiss her. When he did, the police officer made him leave. Later, he arrived at Diane's hotel room. She was dressed in a sexy black negligee and no longer had the cast on her leg. She told him that Kyle was being taken care of by the hotel babysitter so they could have a quiet dinner. Then she told Jack to save some of his energy for dessert.

Neil and Serena talked, and she admitted that things wouldn't have worked out between them because she had some unfinished business to take care of in her life. Neil said that he'd always sensed that there was something in her past that she regretted. She agreed that there was, but now she'd done her time in purgatory and was ready to look her situation in the eye and do something about it. In fact, she had to, in order to move on. She said it was probably best that things had worked out as they had. Neil wished her the best of luck and thanked her for being there for him. Serena wished him luck, too, especially with his daughter. They kissed and she left.

Drucilla slipped the videotape of Ashley's confession into her purse, having fooled Wes into thinking she'd destroyed it. He wondered what Brad would think when he got back to the conference room and found the tape missing. Dru said that was better than the alternative; it was good that Wes had convinced her to get the tape back. When the two of them started getting affectionate, they were interrupted by a visit from Neil. Dru reminded him that Lily wasn't there, but Neil said he was looking for suggestions on things he could do with his daughter to try to rebuild their relationship. Dru remarked that Lily loved the ballet and hadn't had much opportunity to see it. At that point, Lily ran into the apartment, throwing her books down and tearfully declaring that she hated her school. Neil listened as she told Wes and Dru how awful the other kids at school were to her. They were snobs who'd been friends all their lives. They made fun of her, calling her Frenchy and accusing her of thinking she was better than them. When Dru and Wes began to seriously consider letting her change to a public school, Neil stepped in. He believed that maybe Lily was bringing some of this on herself because she had a chip on her shoulder. He suggested that she use some of her charm to win over the other students rather than running away from them. Lily reluctantly agreed to do what he asked, finally smiling and calling him a dweeb. She took his keys and went downstairs to his apartment to do her homework. After she left, Neil expressed his dissatisfaction with the way Dru and Wes were handling Lily and said there were going to be some changes.