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From: rika1@mindspring.com (Rika) Subject: PC: Update, Thursday, 3/26/98 Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 01:52:42 GMT X-Server-Date: 1 Apr 1998 01:53:17 GMT PORT CHARLES UPDATE Thursday, March 26, 1998 My congratulations to T'n'T for their "Lark Report" update. I wish I had thought of convincing Lark to do this update as part of her community service. TODAY'S STORYLINES: ------------------ * LAB RATS, LATIN, AND LUNCH DATES * THE MANCUSI FAMILY REUNION LAB RATS, LATIN, AND LUNCH DATES -------------------------------- Lark is in the Scanlon kitchen, reading Cliff Notes (about Oedipus, she says; I couldn't read the title). Her sweater, as usual, displays physical assets that are no doubt the envy of every girl in her high school. Frank is on his way to Lark's parent/teacher conferences; she assures him that reports will be better this time: "Except English, of course. Like, Mrs. Bauer is a total geek." Frank: "Like, how could she possibly fault your command of the English language?" Mrs. Bauer doesn't make literature "come alive" for Lark (translation: she lacks Frank's square jaw and intense blue eyes). He warns Lark that he will be calling to check up on her, and then he leaves. The Larkster calls the phone company to verify that the Scanlon phone has call forwarding, and then forwards calls to her cell phone (Lark has a cell phone, eh? Is this the same kid who couldn't afford a new sweater when she was going to visit her mom?). Meanwhile, over at GH, the interns have received the evaluations from their pediatric rotation; this time they are delivered in writing instead of in person. They tear the envelopes open and report the results: Julie: Thumbs up Karen: "Adequate" Jake: Another "Adequate" Chris: Major thumbs up Joe: "On track" Eve: "I did okay" (with a huge smile suggesting much, much more) Matt, who is busy in another storyline and who missed most of this rotation anyway, is not present to receive his evaluation. Chris assures them that the Q residency is his, since Dr. May is rooting for him. Karen reminds him that Eve hasn't had a bad evaluation yet. Joe figures Jake and Karen will skip the Q residency and get the Nobel Prize instead for their research (and your updater snorts Caffeine-Free Pepsi all over her keyboard at this idea; the Pepsi Syndrome strikes again). Our devoted researchers update the gang on their progress while Chris looks thoughtful. Frank arrives and asks if people have noticed the new billboard near the hospital (NEW STORYLINE ALERT!!!!). It says, "When Hospitals Kill." The gang speculates on the meaning, and Jake wins the gold star: "Maybe its purpose is so that we ask these questions right now." A nurse informs Jake that he has a phone call; the assembled gang teases him that it might be Chloe. Jake finds a phone in a more private corner and discovers that it is, indeed, "Chloe." She arranges to meet him at his apartment that afternoon. He returns to the nurses' station and is the target of a bunch more teasing. Jake does a "Burgess imitation" (not a good one, though - Chris could have done much better), suggesting that the gang ought to have better things to do than to stand around. (He's right; I'm sure a sick ferret or two are lined up outside the lab). Frank calls home and Lark perkily answers the forwarded call on her cell phone. The English conference went well; the Latin one is coming up. Lark evidently tells Frank to "go hang himself" in Latin (I'll have to take his word for it), and he points out the value of taking Latin: now she can curse in two languages. Lark of the bilingual cursing abilities arrives at Jake's apartment. Jake has a full afternoon planned - lunch at the Outback and an impressionist exhibit at the museum. She claims to have already seen the museum exhibit; besides, why paint the world when you can go out and be in it? Jake tries to explain the exhiliration he feels when he works in the lab, somehow relating this to painting. Lark walks up, pushes his coat off his shoulders, and moves in for a kiss. She promises: "You want art; I'll give you art." Much more kissing ensues. Later, Lark and Jake are on the couch in various states of undress (Lark is in Jake's shirt; he is in nothing but black silk boxers), kissing. Chinese take-out is on the coffee table. Her cell phone rings and she dives for it. It's Frank, giving her the thrilling news that the Latin conference went well. She tells Jake it was her roommate on the phone, and that they don't get along. Jake suggests that maybe she could get a new roommate; Lark remarks that then maybe her old one would appreciate her. She has a fantasy about marrying Jake, and having Frank come to her to beg her to leave Jake and go with him. In the fantasy, Lark kicks him out. Back in the lab, Karen, Joe, and Eve are watching Bennett going over the lab books (the fake ones). He is disappointed at the results (as well he might be, since they're all lies). They assure him that the outlook will improve with additional trials. Bennett wants them to work faster and clean up their lab books - pointing out that "we" have a chance to produce a valuable drug. Joe bridles at the "we"; Bennett reminds them that he is the head of research. He can't keep the Board off their backs forever. Bennett explains the importance of being the first one with a major discovery. He leaves. The idiot lab rats get angry that Bennett could take the credit for their work. Eve regales them with a tale of another innovation Bennett took the credit for, which was actually invented by a "brilliant but naive Ph.D. student." Joe gets out the real lab books to record some of their latest results. Karen doesn't feel good about keeping two sets of books (go with that feeling, Karen - it's unprofessional and hugely unethical and you all deserve to be tossed out of the medical profession on your butts for doing this). Eve and Joe insist that it's the only way to protect their work from Bennett. Later, the gang comes back into the lab to find Bennett there, looking into a microscope at the latest sample. He has noted that the lab books don't match what he sees. Joe tries to pass it off as an error, but Bennett is not fooled. He tells them that the lab is "my turf, and everything that grows here is mine." (That's kind of icky if you think about it - is he including the dust mites and the bacteria on the floor in the corner?) Joe challenges him - doesn't he mean that the hospital owns the discoveries? Bennett tells them that they are off the project; Karen angrily objects, claiming ownership of the idea. Bennett kicks them out of the lab, assuring them that he will change the locks. THE MANCUSI FAMILY REUNION -------------------------- Matt is in Grace's hospital room, apologizing to her for what Bobby did to her. Grace is glad, at least, that the danger is done for Matt. He disabuses her of this notion - his father is on his way to town. Since Matt's dad sent Bobby to kill Matt, it's likely that Papa Mancusi is coming to town to finish the job. Grace, whose post-surgical lethargy completely vanishes during the opening credits, anxiously begs Matt to leave town, and is angry when Matt refuses to run any more. Matt wants his father to look him in the eye if he's going to kill him. Grace can't believe Matt is so calm; Matt explains that you achieve a certain clarity when you kill your brother (let's hope he's not recommending this as a way to achieve greater clarity in one's life). Grace begs Matt to take someone with him; he doesn't want to expose any of his other friends to danger. Matt arrives at the funeral home and talks to Bobby's casket. The way things are supposed to work, your parents die when you're middle-aged and your children outlive you. But Matt was supposed to know his brother for longer. He remembers a model ship Bobby had but wouldn't let Matt touch. Matt admits he broke it on purpose - he wanted Bobby to do things with him. Both boys wanted their father's approval, but Matt drew a line at how far he would go to get it. Matt wishes Bobby had drawn some lines. Matt's mother walks in and calls out to him: "Eric." She never expected to see him again. She assures Matt that she never stopped thinking of him in the ten years that have passed (and I'm going to subscribe to the theory mentioned by someone on RATSA - sorry, I've forgotten who - that the phone call to his mom we saw in the pilot could have been to a foster mother who raised him after he entered the Witness Protection Program). Matt tells his mother that he missed her too; it was hard not knowing how she was. She approaches Bobby's casket and begins to cry: "A mother can't be happy without her children." Matt insists that he didn't want to shoot Bobby, but Bobby wouldn't let it go. She comforts Matt - she knows he had no choice. She would have stopped Bobby if she had known. Matt tells her nothing could have stopped Bobby. She offers to help Matt to disappear again. He asks why she is so frightened: "Pop came here to kill me, didn't he?" Matt's mother sometimes wishes she had taken Bobby and Eric/Matt away when they were little boys. Enter Salvatore Mancusi, who looks too short for some reason. He slaps Matt and barks, "You killed my son!" ------------------- by Rika, Thursday updater