Confronting RJ

June 20, 2003

Hank: You proud of yourself?

R.J.: Henry --

Hank: How could you not tell everybody that Keri and the baby weren't dead? What the hell kind of man are you?

R.J.: My daughter needed to get away from someone who had hurt her. all I did was --

Hank: No, R.J. you saw an opportunity to make Antonio suffer, so you took it, and who cares about anybody else?

*~*

R.J.: Who are you to judge me? you knew about Keri for years and never said a word. if she hadn't found me, I never would have known she existed.

Hank: I did what Liz wanted. You were in prison.

R.J.: Not for 20-some years --

hank: R.J., It wasn't my decision.

R.J.: Every time you looked me in the face, you decided not to tell me the truth -- every damn time.

hank: And if you hadn't found out, Liz would still be alive.

R.J.: What --

Nora: All right, all right. Wait a second. this is not the place, ok?

R.J.: Oh, let him -- run your mouth. first time's free.

Hank: No, I'm through talking to you, R.J. you're lucky I don't rip your head right out of its socket.

Nora: This isn't really helping any of us. This is not helping.

R.J.: You see, that night in my apartment, I thought that Keri was gone. I thought they all were. see, I thought I'd lost them all. I didn't know how I was going to go on. that's when you found me. and then later, when the phone rang and it was Keri saying she was alive, I'd have done anything she asked me.

Nora: But you didn't, do you? You kept her away just to make Antonio suffer.

R.J.: That boy betrayed her.

Nora: No -- no, no, no. the Keri I knew would never, ever hurt us intentionally like that. No, she wouldn't do that.

R.J.: Right. Right, of course. It's all my fault.

Nora: We've all had broken hearts. it doesn't change who we are.

R.J.: Right. right, but you two are more perfect than the rest of us. you always have been.

Nora: R.J. -- you were never going to tell us the truth, were you? and you were going to leave town. My God. if Keri hadn't come back on her own, we'd all still think she was dead. Antonio would never, ever see her or his daughter ever again.

Hank: You know, R.J., You have done a lot of things. But this is where I draw the line.

Nora: Antonio -- Keri came back here because she wants Antonio to be a part of their lives.

R.J.: Keri does not know what she wants.

Nora: Doesn't she? Keri loves him. she's risked everything for Antonio. And if you can't accept that, you're going to lose her. Do you want that?

*~*

R.J.: Look, I do not have to take a sermon from either one of you. I did what I did, and I'm not going to apologize.

Hank: R.J., You will never change, will you?

R.J.: Me? You're the one who never changes, either one of you. this is it. This is me, like it or not.

Nora: You ok?

Hank: You think I was too hard on him?

Nora: Oh, please. as the song goes, he had it coming.

*~*