Outraged to see AJ grab Courtney's wrist, Jason bursts into the room and attacks his brother. Ida threatens to tell the police how she saw Skye on the balcony with Luis unless Coleman coughs up more cash. Carly gently prods Sonny to at least consider the possibility of walking away from a life of crime. Jax flies back to Port Charles to search for Brenda. Meanwhile, at the precinct house, Brenda tells Scott she's come to turn herself in. Ned and Faith succumb to mutual lust during their "business" meeting. Alexis asks Cameron about the four year gap in his personal and professional history. Sonny reminds Carly why he's fully committed to the path he's chosen. Ida is intrigued to realize that Skye has no memory of her last few hours in Alcazar's suite. Jax assures Brenda he understands why she came back. Cameron berates Alexis for compiling a dossier on him. Faith fires a warning shot when Ned tries to leave her room following their session of lovemaking. Ida forces Skye to fork over her diamonds plus a hundred grand in exchange for another lie about Brenda. Later, Skye's day hits rock bottom when she receives divorce papers from Jax.
Ric and Carly break down the brick wall in Kelly's cellar and are astounded to discover a speakeasy frozen in time at one minute past midnight on New Year's Eve, 1926. An elderly woman suddenly appears and tells Carly the story of her club's opening night. Though Violet urges her fiancé to elope with her that very evening, Joe reminds her how Marco wouldn't approve of them running out on Katherine's grand opening. Later, Murphy and his men crash the party long enough to taunt Marco and enrage Joe. Back in the present day, the elderly Katherine continues her saga and describes for Carly and Ric how her dreams all came true on that New Year's Eve. With the bash in full swing, Joe and Violet decide to tie the knot after the stroke of midnight. Marco slips the mayor a fat bankroll to prevent him from closing down the joint. At midnight, Murphy's men return and spray the club with their machine guns, sending terrified patrons screaming to the floor. Joe leaps to save Marco and is cut down in a hail of bullets. After a grief-stricken Violet suffers a nervous breakdown, Marco kills Murphy and dies in prison. Forced to give up her son in the wake of the tragedies, Katherine explains to her sympathetic audience how she closed up the club for good. As Ric escorts Katherine home, Sonny and Jason find a tearful Carly standing in the abandoned speakeasy.
Due to the New Year's holiday, all soaps will be pre-empted for various holiday programming. On behalf of everyone at Soap Opera Central, I would like to thank you for making 2002 an incredibly successful year for us. It means a great deal that you visit the SOC site and take time to offer feedback, post on our boards or partake in the polls. I hope that we'll see you back in 2003. And here is hoping that your 2003 is even better than 2002.
Luke goes to Kelly's and takes a wad of money from the till and informs Liz that he is going out of town and to tell Bobbie he will replace the money he took when her returns. Lucky catches him before he leaves Kelly's. He tells him that Nikolas went to London to talk to Laura's doctors to find out how she is doing and what they are planning to do to help her get better. Nikolas shows up at Kelly's after returning from there. He tells them that according to the doctors, Laura is getting worse not better and is even more catatonic. Luke blames his last visit to her as the reason why she is worse. Lucky tells him that he was just trying to help her. Nikolas tells them that the doctors want to use drug therapy to help Laura. Luke is against it but plans to call the doctors themselves soon and ask them what they have planned. Luke heads out to meet Summer on the docks. She tells him that she has been looking forward to their secret trip. Luke hands her a wad of cash and tells her that their trip is cancelled. He tells her that he needs to stop pretending she is Laura when she isn't and tells her they need to stop seeing each other. Summer convinces him to take her on the trip and that she can pretend to be Laura or whomever he wants her since she has had a lot of practice pretending to be someone else. Luke takes her to Beechers Corners. He gets the room that he and Laura stayed in and puts up a sheet separating the beds. He tells her about when he and Laura hid out in the room from Frank Smith's men and how they had fun together and eventually they made love after alluding Frank's men. Summer is charmed by the story.
Liz talks to Zander about his new job at ELQ. He tells her he is an assistant to Ned and admits he is more of an errand boy right now. He has a package to deliver and runs into Faith Roscoe and her bodyguard soon after. Zander recognizes her as Roscoe's widow and doesn't believe her when she tells him that she and Ned are partners. Zander figures out that Ned is using Faith to go against Sonny and worries about his connection to her. He gives her the package reluctantly that has her name on it. She warns him that asking questions like that could get him killed and he'd be better off keeping things quiet.
Meanwhile, at the penthouse, Ric tells Sonny a legal strategy to help both Brenda and Jason. When he suggests that Brenda could use the battered wife syndrome as a defense he could get her off and not involve Jason at all since it would concern her relationship to Alcazar not Jason. Sonny cuts him off and tells him that Jason and Brenda will both be found not guilty together. Ric accepts Sonny's final say on the matter. Sonny heads out to go see Jason across the hall before the arraignment hearing. He sees Brenda and Jax get off the elevator holding hands. He informs them that it isn't a good idea that they be seen in public holding hands. Brenda tells Sonny that she came back to change her clothes and head over to the courthouse with Jason so they could look like a real married couple. Jax leaves. Sonny waits until Jax leaves and goes into Jason's place to talk to Brenda. He explains why it is important that she be seen with Jason only and that she can't come across as a adulterous wife to the public or it could hurt her in court. Brenda wonders where Jason is since he was suppose to meet her at the apartment. Jason goes to see Courtney. He finds her sleeping. He goes over and wakes her up. He tells her that she can no longer come to his rescue anymore and that she has to stay away from him when he is conducting business for Sonny. He asks her to stay out of his business since when she is around him like she was earlier at the Quartermaines, it distracts him so that he can't do his job properly. Courtney tells him she is worried about his life and that she only wanted to stop AJ from hurting him anymore. Jason tells her that he can't have her doing that anymore. Courtney agrees to let him do his job without any more interference. Jason goes home and talks to Sonny about what happened with AJ He tells Sonny that he was watching AJ at the Q mansion and was waiting to see if Ida would show up but then he saw Courtney show up trying to stop AJ from testifying against him to protect him and how he had to step in to protect her from AJ Sonny tells Jason that he wants Courtney to stay out of harms way and that he doesn't want her even remotely involved in what he does for a living. Jason talks to Brenda about the arraignment and how she needs to stay calm and only plead "not guilty" and then they are done. Jason already told Sonny that he can't let Brenda be found guilty even if he can't stand her. They head to the courthouse together. Meanwhile, Skye tells Scott that she wants to be able to testify in court that she saw Brenda kill Alcazar even if he has another eye witness. Scott tells her that he may not put her on the stand since she is not a real reliable witness because of her drinking problem and her personal vendetta against Brenda. Skye insists she can testify and promises not to drink when she is due in court. Scott tells her she doesn't need to be there today since it is only an arraignment. Skye insists on being there. She runs into Jax outside the courtroom. She taunts him about Brenda being guilty. Jax tells her that Brenda is here because she lied to the police. Skye tells him that she got the divorce papers. Jax tells her that nothing good will come of what she is doing to them or herself. Skye goes inside and sits with AJ Earlier, Gia had shown up at the courthouse to discuss law with Alexis and what she researched to help Brenda's defense. Alexis is very distracted with the case and tells Gia that case law won't help her defend Brenda and that she needs to get to Ida but Scott has her sequestered somewhere secretly and she can't see her to talk to her. Gia gets an idea. She heads to the police station and lies to Taggert about how she needs a receipt for a sweater he bought their mother that she is returning for her when he catches her rifling through the papers on his desk. He looks for the receipt but Gia finds what she is looking for. He hands her a receipt and tells her that he is proud of her for going to law school. She heads over to the place where Ida is being hidden. She tells the cop that she is Scott Baldwin's assistant and she is there to prepare the witness for trial. He falls for it and lets her in. She tells Ida the same thing and tells her that Scott feels her testimony has some holes in it and that she needs to clarify her testimony before trial. Ida believes her and starts to tell her testimony again. At the arraignment, Courtney runs into AJ who offers her his deal to change his testimony if Courtney agrees to go back to him. Courtney refuses his offer and tells him that Jason can take care of himself and that she doesn't trust him to hurt Jason in some other way if she returned to him. Brenda pleads not guilty in court and Jason is about to plead the same way when his lawyer butts in and says that his client doesn't need to plead anything and that Jason would like to confer with the D.A. and plead to a lesser charge. Jason looks at him in disbelief and tells the judge he wants to fire his attorney and plead not guilty. The judge tells him that he needs counsel to represent him. The attorney defending Jason tells the judge that there is no evidence linking Jason to the crime and that it all points to Brenda only and that it is in his client's best interest to plead to a lesser charge. Jason looks to Sonny for help. Sonny asks Ric if he can represent Jason. Ric agrees to step in as his attorney after promising Sonny that he will allow Jason to plead "not guilty." Ric stands up and introduces himself to the judge and asks if he could represent Jason. Jason looks at Sonny who wearily nods his head yes to Jason. Jason accepts Ric as his attorney. Ric announces that Jason is pleading not guilty to the charge. The judge sets a trial date and recesses. Brenda talks to Jason and asks him if he is sure he wants to plead not guilty so he can help her. He tells her that he meant what he said about them being in this mess together and how they would get through this fine. Brenda thanks him and hugs him for the benefit of the public. Jax and Courtney look on with concern.
Luke wakes Summer up and announces it is time for them to leave Beecher's Corner. Summer asks him if she is to be Laura or Summer. Luke tells her she is Summer. Luke thanks her for getting him through another night. Summer asks him when they are going to have sex. Luke tells her that she is a beautiful sexy woman but he isn't interested in having sex with her. They talk about themselves. Luke tells her that he is somehow more attached to his car than he is to most people he knows. Summer tells him that it is because cars don't break your heart they just break down. Luke can't start his car and is surprised when Summer informs him she can fix engines and learned from her father when she was a young girl. She tells him how close she was to her father. She asks him about his daughter. Luke tells her he doesn't see her much and that she has Laura's eyes. He also mentions to her that he has a grown-up son as well. Summer asks him why they are cutting their adventure short. Luke explains that she could find some other guy out there who would be interested in her. Summer tells him that maybe that guy is him for her. She tells him that he is one of a kind and enjoys spending time with him. Luke is flattered and touched by her words. Later, she peeks inside Kelly's diner. Scott sees the backs side of her and reacts to her looking like Laura. He goes up and approaches her to get a better look at her. Summer turns around and asks him if she can help him with something. Scott realizes it isn't really Laura. He apologizes and tells her he thought she was someone he knew. Luke thinks about Summer and an image of Laura pops up in his thoughts and it makes him jolt out of his daydream.
Jason questions Sonny about what he really knows about Ric, his new lawyer now. Jason tells him that there is something about Ric he doesn't like or trust. Sonny tells him that they don't have to like or trust him totally right now but they need to allow him to help them if he can and worry about the rest later. Ric shows up then at the penthouse. Sonny tells him that now that he is acting as Jason's lawyer now, he can interview the witness, Ida Warren. He presents Ric with a briefcase and tells him that it contains $2million and that he is to give it to Ida with his best wishes for her future and get her to change her testimony and tell the police that she didn't actually see Brenda on the balcony with Alcazar that night. Ric has no problem paying her off for him. Meanwhile, Scott shows up to see Ida. She complains to him that she is sick of being harassed and mentions that his assistant showed up yesterday and started poking holes in her testimony and made her go over it again and again and hopes he isn't there to do the same. Scott asks her to describe this "assistant D.A." Later Ric reports to Sonny from Ida's hideout. He tells him that it appears as if Ida hung herself or someone got to her first. At Kelly's AJ stops by to harass Courtney and get her to agree to come back to him in exchange for changing his testimony about seeing Jason in Alcazar's limo that night he was murdered. Courtney tells him there is no deal and accidentally lets slip that Jason and Sonny already know that he bribed Ida Warren to lie about Brenda and Jason. AJ plays coy and asks her how she knows that and guesses it was what Jason told her. Carly overhears the conversation and gets worried. AJ tells her that she has been brainwashed by Sonny just like Carly and Brenda are. AJ leaves. Carly tells her that she just blew it. Carly informs her that by telling AJ that Jason and Sonny know about the pay off, AJ has the upperhand against them again. Courtney feels stupid about it and Carly tells her not to make the same mistake she has made in the past like giving vital information to AJ to get back at him when he upsets her. She advises Courtney to tell Jason right away what she told AJ She tells her Jason may be upset but would rather hear from her first. She tells her that there may be time for Jason and Sonny to get to Ida first before AJ if they know right now. At Jason's place, Brenda welcomes Jax, who sneaks in to see her. Brenda tells him that he has to be careful that no one sees him go to the penthouse. Jax resents having to take orders from Jason concerning when he can see her. He asks her where her heart is, with him or with Sonny. Brenda is taken aback by his accusation and tells him she had to return since she and Jason have to remain married so they can't be forced to testify against each other. Jax feels she should have let him take care of her and stayed with him instead of heading back to Port Charles and getting herself arrested again. Brenda explains that she may be naive about what could happen to her at trial but she had to come back for herself and clear herself once and for all so they could have a future together. They kiss and make up but it is short-lived when Jason comes home and asks why Jax is there when he asked him to stay away from her right now. Jax tells Jason to stop giving him orders. Jason tells him that it is in Brenda's best interests if he isn't seen being with her and that he thought he understood that. Jason leaves. Jax gets upset when Brenda defends Jason's actions concerning her. Jax accuses her of still having feelings for Sonny and storms out. Later, Brenda has a nightmare that Alcazar has her tied up and is going to inject her with a lethal drug so they can be together forever. Brenda wakes up screaming at the top of her lungs. Sonny comes rushing in to see if she is o.k. She tells him it was just a nightmare and feels embarrassed that she screamed so loudly. Sonny tells her that he is right there if she needs him. She is touched by his concern.
Gia shows up at the courthouse. Nikolas shows up seconds later and is concerned about her urgent message to meet her there because of some emergency. Gia tells him it is more a catastrophe than an emergency. She tells him that she posed as "assistant D.A." so she could question Ida Warren about her testimony. Nikolas asks her why she would do something so dangerous. Gia tries to explain to him why she did it when Taggert storms over and asks her why he shouldn't throw her in jail after that stunt she pulled. Gia tries to explain that she did since she works for Alexis and wanted to shake Ida's testimony. Taggert doesn't like her flip attitude. Nikolas butts in and tries to get Taggert to let it go and not turn her in and ruin her future career as a lawyer. Taggert tells him to back off and that this between him and his sister. Taggert storms off. He ends up at the hideout and finds out about Ida's body being found. Scott informs him that someone posed as his assistant to question Ida yesterday and got it on videotape and that Ida described an African-American woman as the person who questioned her testimony. He tells her that if that video tape isn't found by him soon things could get dicey for a certain woman. Taggert realizes that Scott knows it was Gia who came and talked to Ida. Gia tells Alexis what she did and Nikolas shows Alexis the video tape of Ida talking. Alexis tells them that she doesn't want to see the tape and that as far as she is concerned they never saw the tape or talked to her about any of it. She asks Gia if the three of them are the only ones who know about this. Gia tells her that Taggert knows about what she did but he wouldn't turn her in so they don't have to worry. Ric shows up at the courthouse and informs Alexis that Ida Warren's body was found earlier and that it looks like a possible suicide. Alexis tells him that a possible suicide works for her but that most likely Jason, his client went to see Ida and tried to pay her off and since she wouldn't budge, he killed her. Jax overhears them talking. Ric tells her that Ida being dead doesn't help his client or hers since Ida's testimony can't be cross-examined now so his client had no reason to kill Ida. He tells her this news will either exonerate their clients or they both will go down for Murder 1. Jax confronts Alexis about what he overheard. Alexis tells him that he can't be listening to her talk to another attorney. Jax tells her that she needs to keep Brenda's defense away from Jason's case and prove Jason killed Ida on his own. Carly overhears them talk and doesn't like it when she overhears Alexis reassure Jax that she has this covered concerning Sonny and Jason. Jason goes to see Courtney at her place. He tells her about Ida's death/possible suicide. Courtney tells him she thinks she knows who killed Ida. She tells him about her conversation with AJ that morning and how she let slip that he and Sonny knew about Ida's being paid off and that they knew what to do. Jason isn't angry with her and thanks her for telling him right off. Courtney asks him if AJ could have killed that woman. Jason doesn't know who killed her or if it was a suicide after all. Gia goes to the docks to do some thinking. Nikolas finds her there. He offers to come with her when she goes to see Taggert. She tells him she needs to do this alone without his help since she doesn't want him implicated in what she did since he wasn't involved. She thanks him for being so understanding. Nikolas tells her he doesn't understand her and storms off. Gia takes the videotape out of her pocket and contemplates throwing it in the river. Taggert sees her with the videotape and tells her to hand it over to him.
