General Hospital Transcript
Transcript provided by Suzanne
THIS STILL NEEDS EXTENSIVE EDITING!
I love that picture. Hey. Hey. Did you forget that we were supposed to meet the reporter at virginia’s grave in 45 minutes? My mom’s grave is less than 10 minutes from here.
[ Exhales deeply ] I’m guessing this is where you went to high school. Yeah. And I had no intention of ever coming back. But we were, um… we were driving by, and I just needed to see this. I needed to see the spot where my, uh… …where my life changed in an instant.
[ Lock beeps ] Hello, ryan. Are you surprised to see me? Now, I know kevin pops in from time to time to monitor your condition, but… I just had to see for myself. And everyone assures me that you are still incapable of movement, but knowing how deceitful you are, you know, I never really bought it. I still think you could be faking it. Nikolas, thank you for meeting me. Let’s not pretend I had a choice. Why have you summoned me? You need to divorce ava immediately. Valentin: Working hard overat aurora, huh? Stock’s up.
[ Sighing ] Yeah. Yeah, it’s no secret that we took a hit when you blocked the merger, but we’re moving in the right direction. In no small part thanks to you, right? Well, uh, drew is doing a great job. He founded it. He knows what he’s doing, so… the reason I wanted to meet with you — I think your talents could be better utilized elsewhere. I want you to consider leaving aurora and coming back to elq full-time. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? Who are you? Uh, I’m josslyn jacks. I’m sonny’s stepdaughter. I know most of his guys. Are you new? I’m the new chef. Just getting my tools of the trade in peak condition. Huh. All right. Well, I left my jacket here, um, so I’m just gonna go grab it. No, you won’T.
O say, can you see
by the dawn’s early light
what so proudly…we… hailed yeah. They’re taking, uh, diane off the ventilator. I’ll — I’ll call you with an update when I get it. All right. Dr. Ashford? Ms. Miller’s breathing on her own. She’s conscious, although she’s still pretty groggy. Can I see her? Mr. Corinthos is gonna have to wait. Assuming she’s up to it, I got a few questions. District attorney. To what do I owe the pleasure? I’ve got a good mind to book you on malicious intent.
[ Chuckles ] You scared the life out of us.
[ Groans ] It was a hook, wasn’t it? Just like ava and brando. Unfortunately. But you’re a tough cookie. Here you are. Now, I know you just woke up, but, um, tell me what you remember.
I used to be a cheerleader. Did I ever tell you that? No, I don’t believe so. Yep. Reese and I made the varsity cheerleading squad our freshman year. It was quite an accomplishment. Reese — that’s peyton’s daughter? Yeah. Yeah. We were best, best friends. Hmm. So close. Like josslyn and trina close.
[ Chuckles ] Reese had it going on. Country club girl. Pretty, popular. Probably why we made the squad. Although I was a better athlete and a much better cheerleader, if I do say so myself. I have no doubt. Reese gave me access to a life I wouldn’t have been able to touch. And I was so grateful for that. I mean, we loved each other like besties. And by junior year, we ran that squad. Until that afternoon.
[ Sighs ] Reese had been ignoring me all day. And it was after practice, and reese, jody, lisa, and I, we were headed to reese’s car, and I realized I forgot my sweater. So I went back to grab it and… …on my way back to the car… …the girls were already in the convertible, and I could tell that reese was talking about me ’cause they were all laughing and whispering. And just like that, reese looked at me, started the car, and she pulled away. It was deliberate. You know, she wanted me to know that she was leaving me on purpose. And I yelled, “I hope you crash and burn.” 10 seconds later, reese pulled onto the parkway right in front of a semi. I saw the whole thing happen. Reese’s convertible disintegrated into a twisted pile of metal. Two girls dead, one in a coma. And I stood in this spot without a scratch on me. I’m not divorcing ava. Oh, come on, nikolas. You and ava have been on the brink of divorce at least three times, to my knowledge. It’s time you just got on with it. Aside from the fact that I love my wife, we’re remaining married to protect ava. Ah, yeah, you’re referring to spousal privilege. No, well, it’s true that, as ava’s husband, you can’t be compelled to testify that you saw ava and esme struggling just moments before esme plunged to her death. Keep your voice down. Why are you bringing that up? Oh, I can assure you we’re quite alone. And we’re quite done. This conversation’s over. Ava and I are remaining married. Nikolas, you seem to be under the misapprehension that you have a choice in the matter. You don’T. Let’s see how in control you really are. That’s convincing enough. Whoo! I may have overdone it there. Oh, that’s right. You don’t know about my — my injury, do you? Some maniac attacked me with a hook. Now, you know all about that, don’t you? You used to hook on at least one of your victims. And so, I have to wonder, would you use one on me, too, if you could get out of that chair? I was at brando’s garage because I’d gone there to see sasha.
[ Exhales sharply ] Um… I’d been asked to file a continuance regarding her guardianship. And? Go on. But sasha didn’t know where the papers were, where brando’s copy of the decree was. You’re doing great. Well, what happened then? Robert’s in there questioning diane. She’s not up for it. I mean, she’s still recovering. Right. She was stable when I left. I think she can handle it. Yeah. Diane’s tough. Yeah, doctor, she’s tough, she’s tough in the courtroom. She’s like a barracuda. But she didn’t have a defense against whoever attacked her with that hook, right? Look, diane — she survived. And if she can id the attacker, then we can finally get ahead of this psycho. Take your best shot. Go through all the channels. But I’m telling you right now, I’m gonna do what I have to do to make sure that diane gets justice. I admit, I did not see that one coming. Why would you want to bring me back on board after everything you’ve done to hold on to elq? I mean, you tore my family apart. You damn sure don’t trust me. No, no, I-I trust you. You and drew almost got the better of me. Fair and square. It was a strong countermove, and it would have worked. But I had ned. Right. So why risk alienating him by bringing me back to elq? I know, ultimately, you’ll put the good of elq first. Yeah, well, good luck explaining that to ned. I expect there to be pushback, and I’ll handle that. Michael, you have expertise that ned lacks. Right. Well, that’s always been the case. So what changed? What, is the — is the company in trouble? No, no, no. It’s stronger than ever. I have certain operations I’m undertaking that are at a critical juncture, and I don’t want elq to suffer. You know, you could always step aside as ceo. I’m not interested in giving up ceo. But, michael, if you come back to elq, I promise you we will both have the time and the resources to devote to our outside projects. What part of “my stepfather is your boss” is unclear? Mr. Corinthos isn’t here, and I can’t let you have free reign in this restaurant or my workspace. So, today, your access is denied. As for mr. Corinthos’ office, you’ll need his permission to go in there. You know, sonny won’t be happy to hear that you gave me a hard time.
[ Scoffs ] You think this is a hard time? What I think is you’ll regret being so rude to me. I’ll tell mr. Corinthos you stopped by.
I was attacked on the quartermaine grounds at a picnic they were having to benefit G.H.’S pediatric wing. Josslyn jacks, she found me. She made sure I got to the hospital. Unfortunately, sonny’s cousin, brando, he was attacked a few days later, and tragically, he did not make it. And then it was diane, sonny’s lawyer, who was the most recent victim. So if it isn’t you or some kind of copycat, maybe it’s sonny that’s the common denominator.
[ Thinking ] Outrageous.
Unacceptable.
If anyone is gonna gut
you with a hook, my love,
it’ll be me. Nikolas: Don’t delude yourself. Uncle victor, I’m the one in possession of the family fortune. And you have no power over me. You do not want to put that to the test, my boy. Look, I’d really rather not waste my time and resources bringing you back into line, but I will if I have to. I won’t be intimidated into giving up my wife. Well, I can’t say I blame you. Ava is a spectacular woman. Beautiful. Ruthless. Oh, and that wicked sense of humor. But, sadly, she’s also far too much for you to handle. No one “handles” ava. Yes, well, particularly not you. You are way out of your league, my boy, with your callow tricks and childish games, provoking ava into fights so that you can declare your love and win her back again. Look, marriages, they hit rough patches. We’ve hit one. But we will get past it. Your marriage hasn’t hit a rough patch. You jumped into bed with esme. Come on, open your eyes, man. Ava came out of hospital and then declined to move back into wyndemere. But she will. No, she will move home and she’ll believe in me again because I found a way to prove my love for her. It’s no secr et there’s frictionbetween you and your father. But unlike drew, I’m not interested in making peace. Just that you perform effectively at elq. I have no doubt that you will. Whatever your outside projects, they’re your own business. Uh, michael, I need to speak with you right now. Hey, uh, take my seat. I got somewhere I got to be anyway. Michael, think about it. Uh, what’s going on? I think I know why no one’s seen dex. I think sonny has dex in his restaurant. You need to help me get in there before he kills him.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and…
[ Door opens ] Don’t let me interrupt. Keep singing if you like. I just want to have things ready for when sonny gets back. Don’t waste your time unpacking. You’re not gonna get to use any of that on me. ‘Cause I’m innocent. Sonny seems unconvinced. I have another patient to see, but I’ll be back to check on diane. What? I know it seems like you’re the common denominator with all these victims, and I know everything inside you is wanting to go after this attacker and make them pay. That’s right. Don’t do it.
[ Scoffs ] Diane: It’s really just a jumble. I-I don’t even know when sonny and sasha left. But they had to have left, right, because I was alone when I was attacked. What’s the last thing you remember? Talking to sonny. And then, after that, I’m just trying to get the sequence of events right. Maybe if I could talk to sonny again. He’s outside. I’ll get him.
you can’t cause an accident by wishing someone would crash or by screaming the words out loud. I know that. But I contributed to reese’s state of mind when she pulled out onto that parkway in front of that truck. Reese and I had been best friends since we were 12 years old. She would have never… left me behind. Never. She would have never turned against me. That was before she found out I slept with her father. Victor: More games? All right. Enlighten me. How do you plan on proving your love for ava this time? It’s private. It’s between husband and wife. But all you need to know is that I’ve proven to ava that she can trust me. Oh, I’m afraid I’m gonna need to know more than that. I’m afraid you’ll have to learn to live with unanswered questions. Now, if you’ll excuse me.
[ Chuckling ] Oh. Surely you don’t expect me to answer to valentin. Both of you can go to hell. Well, I had anticipated that you would be less than cooperative, so I reached out to my son for assistance. Were you successful, valentin? See for yourself. About time you woke up. Good to see you. Thank you, boss. From what I understand, it was touch and go. How you feeling? I’m blissfully numb at the moment. My mind’s a little foggy, but it’s starting to clear. I’m just trying to piece together what led up to the attack. That’s good. Yeah, whatever you can remember. Did sasha give me permission to go through brando’s papers? Yeah. You went into his office. Sorry, we can’t have you influencing diane’s memories. We need your recollections unprompted. Okay? And I just thought hearsay applied to the courtroom. Well, I’m not too concerned about admissibility at this point. I just want to get this psycho. But dante’s right. Sonny can corroborate, but the memory’s got to be yours. Right. Okay, well, I remember being in brando’s office. I found the guardianship papers. Mm-hmm. But the li– the light — it was so dark in there that I came back into the garage to be able to read it. Was anyone in the garage?
[ Cellphone ringing ] The next thing I remember was seeing dex. Mr. Corinthos, I’m ready to get the truth out of that punk. Let me know if I can proceed without you. You again. Mr. Corinthos isn’t here. If you don’t get that, maybe your friend here will. All right, you need to consider your next move carefully. How you choose to handle the situation will have direct implications for your future as well as sonny’S. If you blow it, well, sonny won’t be so forgiving.
I know I was a minor and that reese’s father took advantage of me. You know, the adult carly knows that. Right? But reese was just blindsided, and she was devastated when she found out. Reese’s father, he — he’s dead, right? Yes. He… killed himself not long after the accident. Carly… what he did was reprehensible. Look, one day, scout is gonna be 16 years old, and if one of her friends’ fathers seduced her into an inappropriate relationship, I would annihilate him before the case even reached trial. And I know you would do the same thing if joss or — or avery or donna was ever in the same situation. I would kill the bastard. Would you blame them, or — or would you think that they brought it on themselves? Of course not. I would never. Then why are you still blaming yourself? Ava: Gee, ryan, it must be hell sitting here alone all day, every day. No mental stimulation of any kind. Just sittin’ here, waiting for somebody, anybody. You know, I wonder if you’re still waiting for your precious esme.
[ Gasps ] Bingo. “I, nikolas cassadine, of sound mind and body, do hereby acknowledge and confess that I, and I alone, am responsible for the disappearance of esme prince. I know this because I killed her.” Easy. How did you get that? Trade secret. A more pertinent question is why the hell does a letter like this exist in the first place? What do you want? Dex. Where is he? No idea. I’m the chef. I have nothing to do with other employees. Mm-hmm. Okay, right. Okay, this is — this is what’s gonna happen. My — my sister josslyn is going to look around, and if she sees that dex is being held anywhere in this restaurant, she’s going to bring him out and we’re gonna leave. And if you interfere in any way, I will call my brother, detective falconeri of the pcpd, and we will have the cops search the premises. And if they find that dex is being held here prisoner, well, then, you’ll be arrested, as well as your boss. See, sonny, though, he’ll claim that you acted on your own without his knowledge. And if you think that you can cut a deal and give him up, ll, we both know how he’ll retaliate. So your best option — well, your only option — is to not let the police get involved in the first place. So what’s it gonna be? Dex. You saw him in the garage with sonny and sasha and yourself before the attack? Yes. Who is he? Well, he works for sonny. He was there at first, and then he wasn’t there. And I assume sonny sent him on an errand. Okay, so you found the guardianship papers. You took ’em to the garage to read with the better light. Mm-hmm. Is that when you saw dex? No. No, wait. No, he wasn’t there then. He wasn’t there — he was there before the attack, but then when I — I came to for a second. That’s when I saw him. Now, let’s get the sequence right here. You came out of the office with the papers. Uh-huh. Who was there? No one. No, the garage was empty. Sonny and sasha had gone, and I started reading.
[ Exhales sharply ] And that’s when I — that’s when I saw just a glimpse of motion out of the corner of my eye. And I — and I turned around, and that’s when I saw her. She ca– she came at me with a hook. Okay, t-take it easy. Y– what did — you just said, “she”? Diane, you saw your attacker? She came right at me. She? Yeah! Yeah, the attacker was a woman.
My country ’tis of thee
sweet land of liberty
[ Door opens ] Dex. What did sonny do to you? Nothing yet, but we — we have to get out of here. His guy, carver, he’s — he’s a dangerous freak. Yeah. Yeah, he gave me the creeps, too. Wait. Joss, he knows you’re here? No, you have to go now. Go! No, no, no, no. My brother’s dealing with him. It’s okay. We need to get you untied. Use — use the knives. It’ll be faster. Did he use these on you? No. No, and now he never will. Okay. Okay, okay. Hurry, cut the ropes, and let’s get out of here.
Diane, can can you describe your attacker? A woman with a hook. I-I mean other details like, um, age, height, build, hair color, that kind of thing. Well, she was about my height. Um, I — I couldn’t tell her build because she was wearing a bulky coat with a hood. Or maybe it was a cloak. I couldn’t tell for sure. And I — I couldn’t see her hair. Okay, that’s — that’s good. Just take a minute. Diane, you’re doing great. But can you remember any more details?
[ Sighs ] Sounds. Do you remember hearing anything? Yes. Yeah. She was wearing bracelets. And they — they jangled when she raised up that hook. Bracelets, not dog tags. Why can I remember her bracelets, but I can’t remember her face? This is far too many visitors. I have to ask you to leave now. Okay. Um, you’ve given us a lot to go on. Thanks, bud. Take it easy. Okay? Ow! I’m gonna be back to check in with you, okay? Ow. Okay. Hey, robert. If I remember any other details, I’ll call you. Or I’ll — I’ll have my people call you.
[ Chuckles ] Diane, the most important thing is that you focus that considerable energy of yours on recovery. Um, you’re doing great. That’s the most important — the most important thing to remember.
[ Chuckles ] You know, it’s never too soon to quit. If you’re not here, I’ll have less to say to my brother the cop, and you won’t have to answer to him or sonny.
[ Door slams ] Hey. Is he all right? Sonny had him in the freezer. He was tied by his wrists, hanging from a meat hook. All right, let’s go. You leave when mr. Corinthos says you can leave.
[ Scoffs ] When mr. Roberts… started paying attention to me, I was flattered. I could tell he liked me. And I liked it. I even started flirting with him in my own way. And I knew it was wrong, but I… I just felt like I was doing something new. You know? And I — I should have stopped going to the roberts’ house. Hell, I-I should have transferred out of the school, but I… I didn’t want to lose reese. I didn’t want to stop being the popular girl on the cheerleading squad. I didn’t want to stop going to the country club pretending I was a member. You know, reese gave me access to a life that I didn’t want to give up, and that’s on me. Carly… carly, you were a child. He was a predator. Reese… reese found us in bed together. And the next day, she wouldn’t talk to me and she wouldn’t even look at me. And I thought — well, I hoped that we could talk after we dropped the other girls off, but… reese had already turned against me. Something had broken in her. She shouldn’t have been driving. She was too upset. She shouldn’t have been on the road. She wasn’t — she shouldn’t have been driving. She shouldn’t been there. Wait, wait, wait. Did — did her mother tell you that? Look, peyton is a vindictive snob. But she’s not wrong. Yes. She’s not wrong. Yes, she is. Esme was determined to intern at spring ridge so she could work with you. She claimed to be fascinated by your case, which of course, makes perfect sense now. I’m sure she saw you at some kind of kindred spirit.
[ Thinking ]
You have no idea. And I know that kevin banned her from having any further contact with you, but that cunning esme, she found a way around that, didn’t she?
Yes.
My clever daughter. In retrospect, I think she was blackmailing nikolas.
Because nikolas
betrayed you.
He was never
worthy of you.
Only I’m worthy
of you, ava. But all good blackmail schemes must come to an end. And esme overstayed her welcome. Now she’s gone. Victor: What on earth could possess you to write out a confession to a murder you didn’t commit? I did it to protect my wife. I would do anything to protect ava. Yea– which is precisely why you have to divorce her. Your obsession with ava is not only detrimental to you, nikolas. It’s jeopardizing the entire family. I don’t give a damn. Clearly you don’t give a damn. You didn’t give a damn when you alienated your son. You didn’t give a damn when you were unfaithful to your wife. And you obviously didn’t give a damn when you wrote out this ridiculous confession. Now, fortunately, valentin intercepted the letter before it could fall into the wrong hands. It belongs in ava’s hands. It was meant for her. Oh, until she hands it over to the police in a fit of pique. Or were you assuming she wouldn’t do that because she’d be frightened of implicating herself? No, she wouldn’t do that because she loves me. Well, be that as it may, it’s too late now to matter.
I find it very hard to believe that peyton wasn’t aware what her husband was up to. That is a — that is a dysfunctional family. I’m betting that peyton was very used to dealing with her husband’s indiscretions because she didn’t want to give up all the wealth and — and the status and — and the social position. She couldn’t afford to confront her husband. It was just way easier for her to blame you. And the only person that really did have an excuse was — was reese because she was a child. And it was — it was too painful and it was too confusing and scary for her to confront her father about what he did. So she made it all your fault, too, carly. But it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault. Yes, it was a tragedy, one in which the parents acted…badly and the kids paid the price. And I — personally, I get why you want to run away from this whole thing, because you’ve been running your whole life. But now it’s time to stop. Let go of the misguided guilt. Just let it go. Let it all go. It wasn’t your fault. What happened to reese was a terrible accident, and I hate that it happened. But it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’T. I’ve telling myself that all these years, but I never really believed it, and seeing peyton brought it all out. But it’s over, right? It’s over. It’s over. All right, we need the police. Hold on, hold on, joss. Look, this is about to escalate in a way that is not going to end well. It’s best all around if you just let us go. If you’re so confident mr. Corinthos won’t mind his guest leaving, then you can afford to wait till he gets here to give his okay. All right. To hell with this freak, michael. I’m calling the cops. Sonny can get arrested, too. No. No cops. No cops. Why not? He tried to kill you.
[ Door opens ] Michael: Oh, hey, dad. Look what we found in your freezer. You’re doing well. I just want you to try and rest. Well, sorry, doc. Now I can’t stop thinking about my attacker. I’m sure I know this woman from somewhere. I just can’t place her. And I’ve usually got such a good memory for faces. You went through a traumatic experience. Hmm. Now, the brain, the mind will go into protect mode and keep the disturbing events at bay. You might start to remember in bits and in pieces. That’s — that’s what happened to me when I went through something traumatic. But driving yourself crazy trying to remember, it won’t do much good for your recovery. So be patient with yourself. It’ll come back in time. Sorry, doc. That’s not gonna work for me. Now I just want this maniac caught. Dante: Well, this is amazing. I mean, diane just gave us some real valuable information. Yeah. Thanks to her, we now know the killer’s a woman. This could change the whole direction of the investigation. It — it could mean patterns that we haven’t detected yet, a way to tie the victims together aside from sonny. Or it confirms our worst-case scenario, that the killings and the attacks are random after all. Esme just disappeared one afternoon at the height of trina robinson’s trial. Now, I bet that topic never came up in conversation. How she framed an innocent young woman. Well, she was just about to be exposed, too, and she just vanished. And I guess that esme has made a couple of posts from the french riviera. So that’s where the authorities are looking for her.
[ Thinking ] Esme would never abandon me for a place as banal as the french riviera. She’d never abandon me at all. You know, I, for one, am so glad that she’s gone. I found esme to be a really dangerously disturbed young woman. Reckless, too. Oh, she just kept pushing the boundaries, assuming that nobody would ever push back. You know, wyndemere isn’t always a safe place. It can be downright dangerous if you don’t watch your step. And esme, well, she failed to watch hers. Yeah, I seriously doubt that anybody will ever see esme prince again. Ava is a practical woman. I’m sure she’s already beginning to realize her marriage is toxic. It shouldn’t be too hard to convince her that it’s also jeopardizing her future. I’ll even make her a generous divorce settlement offer, which I — I’m sure she’ll be only too happy to accept. Even if ava agrees, I never will. Oh, stop being so tedious, nikolas. Aren’t you overlooking something? Nikolas isn’t really necessary. In fact, if he were to disappear like esme did, spencer inherits the cassadine estate. Oh, you do have a good point. If nikolas is intractable, there is always spencer. And after all, accidents do happen. Threats. You want me to choose my life over ava? Well, it isn’t really a choice, is it? How can you be with ava if you’re dead? Victor… I love her. Love is a luxury. Survival is essential. Just remember that. Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll divorce ava. Splendid. I’ll call my lawyer, have him prepare the paperwork, obtain the necessary signatures. Then, with you divorced and esme dead, I can finally turn my attention to more pressing matters.
On the next “General Hospital” —
Back to the GH Transcripts Page
Back to the Main Daytime Transcripts Page
