Isabella came home with Ricky and found Paul moodily remembering the sexual encounter he'd just had with Christine. Unaware that her husband had seen his ex-wife, Isabella began berating Michael and Christine for ruining Ricky's after-christening reception. Paul reminded her that she was the one who invited Christine, and Isabella said that she'd done that to be nice, but Chris was completely out of control. When Paul asked if they could not talk about Christine, Isabella agreed that they should go to bed, where she could make him forget all about their awful day. Paul grimaced as Isabella ran her hands over him. He left the apartment, saying there was someone he needed to see. After he left, Lauren arrived, bringing the rest of Ricky's presents that had been left at Gina's. She was surprised to find that Paul wasn't home with Isabella, and Isabella speculated that he'd gone to see Christine.

Michael arrived at the Crimson Lights patio and spotted Phyllis. She was startled to see the condition of his face and asked what had happened. Michael insisted that she tell him what was going on with the arson case first. Phyllis, apparently no longer trusting him, kept up the subterfuge that Jack had begun to doubt her innocence and they had separated. She told Michael she was sure she'd end up in prison for a crime she didn't commit, and she had lost the support of her husband as well, just as Diane had planned. She then persuaded Michael to tell her what had happened to him. She was appalled to hear that he and Christine were engaged. But upon finding out that Paul had beaten him up at the reception and Chris didn't want to see him, she told him the best thing he could do was go see Chris with his arms full of flowers. Michael took her advice, arriving at Chris's apartment with flowers to find the place empty. As he tried to figure out where she might be, Paul showed up. The two exchanged angry words, and Paul finally stomped to the bedroom, noting that Christine's clothes and suitcase were gone. He told Michael to tell Chris he wanted to talk to her. When Michael made a comment about how Paul was forcing himself on Christine, it struck a nerve, and Paul grabbed Michael. He then let Michael go and walked out, looking frustrated and remorseful, while Michael tried to assess why Paul had reacted so strongly to his words.

In Diane's hotel room, Jack continued to keep up the pretense of doubting Phyllis and succumbing to Diane's efforts to get close to him. Diane kept reminding him how dangerous and crazy Phyllis was, but how she was willing to provide him a calm environment with Kyle to make him feel better. Jack squirmed as Diane unbuttoned his shirt, offering to give him a massage to help relax him. At that point, Phyllis called and demanded to speak to Jack. Jack was careful how he answered Phyllis's questions about what was going on and how he was handling it. When they hung up, he told Diane he really needed to be alone, and he gave her a brief kiss good-bye. After he left her hotel room, he wiped his mouth with a look of disgust. He then went to the old playhouse on the Abbott property, where Phyllis awaited him in sexy lingerie with candles casting a romantic glow over everything. He told her that he felt repulsed by Diane Jenkins and was committed to figuring out a way to get Diane to betray that she'd set Phyllis up by torching the pool house.

Mac was surprised to hear from Brittany that she and Raul had moved in together. She reminded Brit that Raul was a wonderful guy, and she hoped Brittany would be good to him. Brittany couldn't resist taking a dig at her, asking if she meant she should treat him as Mac had. Before their conversation got nastier, John Abbott came in and asked Mac where Colleen was. Mac told him that Colleen had been upset about J.T. and wanted to walk home alone. John told Mac that she had let him down, and he would hold her responsible if anything happened to his granddaughter. His cell phone rang. Traci was calling from New York, wanting to know if Colleen's mood had improved. When she asked her father to put Colleen on the phone, he told her that he wasn't at home. Traci realized she'd called him on his cell phone and said she'd just call her daughter at home. John admitted that she wasn't there and that things weren't going well. Traci got upset, feeling that she'd placed too great a burden on her father, and asked him to put Colleen on a flight to New York first thing in the morning.

After finding Colleen crying in the park, J.T. tried to apologize to her. He told her that things simply were not going to work out because of their age difference and her family's feelings about him. He said it would be best if the two of them just stayed away from each other. Colleen tried to change his mind, and J.T. said, "I don't know what I'm going to do about you, kid." Colleen told him that she loved him, and finally got him to admit that if she was older, he would want to be with her. He said she was cool and fun and of course, he liked her. Colleen urged him to have faith in love, and J.T. kissed her.

Jack came back to Phyllis' room to see her in the morning. They talked strategy about how to prove that Diane was guilty of setting the fire. Phyllis wondered whether or not she should go check out the hardware store and Jack told her to stay away from there and from Diane. She realized that Diane had insisted that they take Kyle to the wedding that night -- something very suspicious for an overprotective mother to do. Jack had to go to see his dad and Phyllis had an idea into which she needed to investigate.

Diane asked Isabella over for breakfast and wanted to know about the baptism. Isabella wouldn't even talk about it -- she wanted to hear about Diane's life. Diane was very hopeful about how things were going with Jack and told her friend about his breakup from Phyllis. Isabella was impressed, but hinted that Phyllis may be a problem after they became one big happy family. Diane wasn't bothered by that -- she was sure that Phyllis would be in jail for a long time. . .

Colleen came downstairs and found her Granddad waiting for her. He was upset about the night before and gave her the news about her return trip to New York. She couldn't believe that he was overreacting like that -- then she found out that her mother was involved in the decision. John made a phone call to the airline, and Colleen ran out the door. He tried to follow her, but could not catch her.

At Crimson Lights, Brittany found J.T. smiling dreamily at the bar. She deduced that he had seen Colleen the night before. He wouldn't admit anything, but she was sure that the two met under the moonlight. She teased him about it, then he received a phone call. Colleen was in the park and frantic. She asked him to come right away. He asked her, "Honey, what's wrong?" That confirmed it in Brittany's mind.

J.T. met Colleen to find her scared and trembling. She explained what had happened and asked him to help her find a solution to her problem. He wanted to go to her granddad and talk him out of it. She was comforted by his willingness to do this, but in her mind there was only one answer. She had to run away with him. They sat hugging on the park bench contemplating their future.

Paul met his friend Andy at the coffeehouse that morning. He told him what happened with Chris the night before with tears in his eyes. Andy wondered what Paul's true feelings were for Chris. He couldn't really identify them. He jumped up and ran off before too long.

Paul knocked on the apartment door where Chris was staying. Michael answered the door. They blamed each other for Chris being gone and everything that had happened. There were no clues as to her whereabouts, though. Soon, Michael's cell phone rang. It was Chris. She called to tell him that she would be home when she was ready. Paul kept talking in the background, and Chris asked to speak with him. Paul told her that they had to talk -- she didn't want to talk about it. She told him that he had given her something very traumatic to deal with. He begged her to talk longer, but she hung up on him. . .

Jack talked to his father about his separation from Phyllis. He admitted that it was all being staged in order to fool Diane into incriminating herself. John wasn't sure about all this -- but Jack was sure that he would never doubt his wife again.

Phyllis' first stop was Isabella's apartment. She let herself into the open door and scared Isabella to death. She wanted to talk about the night of the fire and was sure that Diane had shared the gory details of how she set the fire with her friend. Isabella wanted her out of there right away, but Phyllis wouldn't leave. Phyllis reminded her that Diane was the crazy one -- she had jumped in back of her moving vehicle in order to get what she wanted. Isabella replied that "the car was one thing, but. . . .", which caught Phyllis' ear for a minute. She wanted more information about Isabella's involvement and, of course, didn't get any. She warned her on her way out the door that she could protect her friend Diane all she wanted, but she would go down right along with her when the truth came out.

Next stop for Phyllis was Diane's hotel. The door was open and the cleaning lady was vacuuming. Phyllis snuck in and realized that Diane was away. She hid behind a door when the maid left the room, then came back out again. . . .

Jack was checking with agencies to see if any models might have posed as Phyllis to buy paint thinner at the hardware store. He was concerned that he hadn't heard from his wife, although she was supposed to meet him back at their "secret place," the Abbott playhouse. He left a message for her to call him. When Jill came into his office to talk business, Jack kept up the charade that he'd begun to think Phyllis was capable of setting the pool house fire. Jill was happy that he'd finally realized how out-of-control Phyllis was. She decided she should go to the police and tell them how Phyllis had talked to Larry about getting a hit man. Jack frantically backtracked, saying he didn't think Phyllis had actually set the fire; he just believed she was unstable. After Jack pled with her not to tell the police, Jill finally agreed, saying he'd better hope nothing happened that made her regret keeping quiet.

Phyllis hid in the closet of Diane's hotel suite, overhearing Diane telling Kyle that they would try to see his daddy later; in fact, she hoped that soon, they'd be seeing a lot more of him. When Diane went into the bedroom, Phyllis was going to leave. But before she could, Isabella showed up. Phyllis hid again, hoping to hear something incriminating. Isabella told Diane about Phyllis's threats to bring her down as Diane's accomplice. Diane told her that the threats were empty. They hadn't done anything for Phyllis to find out about. She was furious to learn that Isabella had corroborated Phyllis's suspicion that Diane had deliberately stepped behind the car on the day that Phyllis ran over her. After Diane and Isabella exchanged a few angry words about that, the two finally calmed down. Isabella left with Diane's assurance that there was nothing Phyllis could do to them. Diane then prepared to take Kyle out. She called the hotel desk and told them if Jack came by, they should let him in her room and provide anything he needed to be comfortable. She then went to take a coat out of the closet. When she saw a black mark on it, she hung it up again, and began moving clothes to find another coat. She gasped in horror as she saw Phyllis coldly staring at her from the back of the closet.

Wesley wanted to enjoy an affectionate morning with Dru, but she insisted that she had errands to run (after Neil called her on her cell phone and asked to see her). Once Dru was gone, Wes received a surprise visit from Serena, who wanted him to help her keep Neil and Drucilla apart. She insisted that she'd been there for Neil when no one else had faith in him, and she wasn't going to let go of their relationship. While Wesley was sympathetic, and didn't want to see Neil and Dru get close any more than Serena did, he reminded her that her relationship with Neil had been an enabling one. Now that Neil was in recovery, he would build a whole new life for himself, and Serena might not be part of it. He cautioned Serena about trying to stay involved with Neil; she could end up hurt. Annoyed that he wouldn't help her, Serena left, vowing that she was not giving up.

Drucilla went to Neil's apartment to find the table nicely set for a lunch of Thai food. They ate and talked. Neil thanked her for not returning to Paris, even though he was sure Sid was pressuring her to come back for more modeling assignments. Dru didn't tell him that her career as a model was pretty much over, and fished for compliments about whether or not she was still pretty, which Neil readily gave her. He also said that he felt that between the two of them, they could make a new life for Lily in Genoa City. Dru assured him she had no regrets about coming back. They heard a familiar song on the radio, recalling how they'd danced to it on their honeymoon. Neil asked Dru if she wanted to dance. As they held each other close, someone knocked on the door. While Dru continued to dreamily sway to the music, Neil opened the door to see Wes. As Wesley stared at Dru with dismay, she turned and looked flustered to see him standing there.

John called Brad and invited him over to talk about Colleen. He told him how she'd escaped Mac at Crimson Lights the night before, supposedly to walk home alone. But since she'd come in so late, John suspected that she had seen J.T. Brad called for Colleen to come downstairs so the two of them could talk to her. John then had to admit that his granddaughter had run out of the house and he didn't know where she was. When Brad pressed for more details, John told him how badly Colleen had reacted to Traci's request that John put her daughter on a plane back to New York that morning. Brad was annoyed. He was tired of being left out of the loop when it came to his daughter, and he didn't think it was a good idea for Colleen to be uprooted and forced to return to New York. He decided it was time all of them sat down together and talked about what was best for his daughter.

In the park, Colleen continued to try to persuade J.T. to run away with her. She said they could go to a new town. She'd get her GED and both of them could get jobs. The only thing that was important was for the two of them to be together. J.T. finally convinced her that he would find another way. Running away would cause too much trouble, and she shouldn't turn her back on her family. He then had an idea of how to buy them some time.

Raul fixed Brittany a lunch of tuna melt sandwiches. Though Brittany seemed a little dubious when she looked around her, she assured Raul that she was no longer a spoiled rich girl. She could live a simpler life with Raul. Their kiss was interrupted by a knock at the door, and they were surprised to see J.T. with Colleen. J.T. begged them to help Colleen, letting her stay with them for a couple of days. At first Raul was reluctant, until he overheard Colleen tell J.T. that running away was their only option. Brittany warned them that J.T. could be in legal trouble if he ran away with the underage Colleen. Raul took Brittany aside and said that he'd rather help Colleen out than see her run away again. Brittany finally agreed to let Colleen stay with them for a couple of days, though she told Raul that considering their financial situation, they should be paid for babysitting. Later, Colleen called her grandfather's house and was surprised when Brad answered the phone. She asked him to tell John she was okay, but she wasn't coming back home. Brad told her that he wasn't happy about the decision to send her back to New York. When he admitted that it wasn't his decision to make, but that if she would come home they could all talk it over and work something out, Colleen said she couldn't take that chance and disconnected the call.