Diner Hostage Day Two

May 20, 2003

Natalie: Mrs. Vega, listen -- Cristian and Antonio -- they're outside, and they're finding a way to get us out of here, ok?

Troy: I don't think you realize how serious this is.

Cole: You back off and shut up.

Marcie: It's all going to be all right.

Cole: All of you, shut up!

Flash: Why don't you just leave us alone!

Nora: Ok, Mr. Cole? You need to relax. You don't want to do this.

Cole: You stop your sniveling before I give you something to really cry about!

Al: We never know how much we can stand until we're right up against it. Sometimes the things that scare us look so big, we need somebody there to remind us how strong we really are.

[Music plays]

Natalie: Mrs. Vega, I'm going to take care of you, I promise.

Cole: Where the hell is that aspirin?

[Phone rings]

Nora: Why don't you just answer the phone already? It could be them saying they've got your car and your money, and then you can -- the faster you get that, the faster you can get out of here.

Cole: I'll answer it when I'm good and ready.

[Ring]

Troy: Cole, we got to get this woman to a hospital.

Nora: Is that what you want? Do you want a murder charge on you?

Cole: I don't give a damn if it's one of you or all six of you.

[Ring]

Natalie: It's going to be ok.

*~*

[Phone rings]

Viki: Hello.

Bo: Viki, it's Bo. We have a situation at The Diner at Angel Square. I'm afraid Natalie's involved.

*~*

Music plays]

Al: There's somebody out there thinking about you. And, hey, maybe you're thinking about them, too. and maybe that thought will help you make it through the night.

Marcie: Is there anything I can do to help?

Troy: No, thank you. We can't put this off much longer, Cole.

Nora: This woman's never done anything to you. Do you really want her death on your conscience?

Cole: If it wasn't for the damn Vegas, I wouldn't be in this mess.

Natalie: Are you nuts?

Cole: You're Cristian's girl, aren't you?

Nora: Do you really want your mother to find out that you could've saved a woman's life and you refused?

Cole: You shut up about my mother!

Nora: If Mrs. Vega dies, you're looking at murder two. Help me out here! Let her leave! I'll testify that you -- you showed compassion.

Cole: Uh-uh. I ain't going back to prison. I'll die first.

Troy: I'm not just going to stand here and watch this woman suffer, Cole.

[Phone rings]

Cole: This is Avery. I'm sending out your suffering mom.

Antonio: Dr. MacIver's coming out with my mother.

Nora: Thank you.

*~*

Bo: This is the commissioner. Hold your fire. We got hostages coming out.

Cristian: Who's coming out? mom!

Hank: All right, get out of the way. Move, move. Let's get an ambulance right away. Come on.

Antonio: We're going to get you to a hospital, ok? Go with her. Go with her.

Cristian: Natalie's still --

Antonio: Look, don't worry about that, ok? I will get her out, I promise, all right? She needs you. Look, Cris, wait -- did mami ever get the air conditioning fixed?

Cristian: No. No, why?

Antonio: Just -- go, go. Tell her I love her, ok?

[Phone rings]

Bo: Buchanan.

Cole: Where's the money and the car?

Bo: We're working on it. I think it's time for you to show some good faith. Let me talk to one of the hostages. This is a deal breaker, Avery.

*~*

Cole: You. Tell him you're alive and nothing more.

Nora: Bo?

Bo: You ok?

Nora: We're fine.

Bo: All right, listen. Avery's mother -- she's his Achilles' heel. See if you can work on that.

Nora: Uh-huh.

Cole: That aspirin that quack gave me didn't do a damn thing. You tricked me, didn't you?

Nora: What?

Cole: You tricked me!

Nora: No!

Cole: That's why I'm feeling so spacey.

Flash: Hey, hey, hey, Cole -- couldn't possibly be because you're in the middle of a kidnapping, now, could it, huh? Huh?

Cole: Shut up. Shut up!

Cole: One of you is going to pay for this -- right now!

*~*

[Music plays]

Flash: So -- um -- so what are you going to do?

Cole: You're the one who tried to put me to sleep. So now you're going to keep me up. Tell me a story.

Natalie: You got to be kidding.

Cole: Come on, big mouth. Spill your guts.

Natalie: Ok, here's a good one -- how about this psychopath named Cole Avery walks into a diner one day?

Cole: No. Not you. her. I'm waiting.

Flash: You don't have to tell him anything.

Marcie: How about a -- a pot of coffee?

Cole: Now, make it.

Natalie: I'll help.

Cole: No, no, no. You do it. I'm waiting.

Nora: All right. um -- about a week after my divorce from my first husband became final, I found out I was pregnant.

Cole: Was it his?

Nora: Yes. Only I didn't know how to tell him, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it myself.

Cole: So you got rid of it? Some folks would say that makes you a murderer.

Nora: I had a miscarriage. I just kept wondering what it would've been like. I -- I thought it was a boy. I wonder what he would've been like, and I know I would've loved him because mothers do that, you know. They love their children, even when they do big, awful things.

Marcie: Ow.

Natalie: Marcie, are you ok?

Flash: Are you all right?

Marcie: Yeah, I'm ok. I'm ok.

Cole: All right, you. talk.

Marcie: Huh?

Natalie: Why don't you just lay off of her?

Cole: Why don't you just shut up and sit down.

Flash: So lame. This is just so --

Nora: It's ok. Go ahead. Tell us about your mother.

Cole: Yeah. The worst thing that ever happened.

Nora: Stories about your mother -- they can only make you feel better when you're afraid.

Cole: You had your turn.

Marcie: I was an accident.

Cole: Hmm.

Natalie: I'm sure somebody just told that to you, Marcie.

Marcie: No, I heard my aunt and my dad talking about it.

Flash: So what? That doesn't make you a bad person.

Marcie: Well, that's not the bad part. My mom died when I was a baby. They said that having me was too much for her. So thanks to the big mistake, she --

Cole: Sit.

Natalie: Marcie, you didn't make it happen.

Marcie: Um -- not on purpose. You know, it's weird, though. Nobody wanted me, but I'm still here. And my mom, the one everybody loved -- well --

Nora: No, that's not true. Your mother loved you, and she wanted you. Mothers love their children very, very much.

*~*

Hank: Nora talked with Bo.

Viki: Yeah?

Hank: She said everyone's ok.

Viki: Oh, thank God for that.

Hank: Yeah. Excuse me.

Viki: Sure.

Bo: Snipers, hold your positions. Nobody fires till you hear from me.

Antonio: All right, there's no way in through the roof, and the alley entrance has got an alarm. He'll know we're there before we close the door.

Bo: Well, it looks like we have to wait him out.

Antonio: Or maybe not. I think there might be another way.

*~*

[Music plays]

Cole: Ok, redhead. it's your turn.

Natalie: Skip me, ok?

Nora: No, go ahead, Natalie. Nothing you say is going to leave this room.

Natalie: Roxy used to leave me alone a lot when I was little.

Marcie: How little?

Natalie: Little. She was always at the bars, doing whatever she did, except for when she was hung-over.

Nora: Go on, Natalie.

Natalie: Well -- there's just this one night. I mean, there was this really, really bad storm, and the electricity went out, and it was pitch-black. And there was this tree outside that kept scraping on the house, and it -- it sounded like this monster was trying to scratch its way in, you know?

Cole: Aren't you a little old for monsters, honey?

Natalie: Do you want to hear this or not? Anyway -- it wouldn't have mattered, I mean, Roxy being there. She just would've threatened to feed me the monster if I didn't do the dishes.

Marcie: That's horrible.

Natalie: Yeah, well, I didn't know that mothers were supposed to protect you until I met Viki.

Cole: What about you, Madonna? I bet you got a lot to be ashamed of.

Flash: Funny. I broke up with a guy over an abortion.

Marcie: What did you do?

Natalie: Marcie --

Flash: I got pregnant, and I wanted my music to come first. So I got an abortion and I never talked to the guy about it. He found out afterwards, and he couldn't forgive me. I'm sorry that I did it the way that I did it. I tried calling him over and over again, and he kept hanging up. He said that -- that I was dead to him.

Nora: Funny, isn't it? Here I am talking about a child I wish I'd known, and some of you are talking about mothers you wish you'd known. I guess that's what it comes down to, doesn't it -- mothers and children.

Cole: Shut up. Story time is over.

[Song ends]

*~*

[Music plays]

Flash: I think the pills are starting to work.

Cole: All right, you. Get some more damn coffee.

[Glass breaks]

Cole: You idiot!

Nora: Marcie --

Marcie: Please --

Nora: Are you all right?

Cole: I ought to just shoot you right here!

Marcie: Oh, no, please don't shoot me! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do it!

Nora: Come here, come here. It's all right.

Flash: The hell it is. This guy has no idea what he's doing here!

Nora: Why don't you --

Cole: Shut up!

Nora: Let her go? Let her go. You have absolutely no use for a hysterical woman. Call commissioner Buchanan. It's not too late to make a deal.

Cole: I'm not giving up.

Nora: You don't have to give up. Make a trade, then. I know. Get -- have your mother sent in in exchange for Marcie.

Cole: You shut up about my mother.

Nora: No, really, Mr. Cole. You know you're going to have to disappear. If you ever want to say goodbye to your mother, this may be your last chance.

*~*

Antonio: Now, I can go in a hole near the air-conditioning duct. The vent comes out in the kitchen. If he's in the front, he'll never see me.

Bo: You don't move until you make sure all those women are safe.

[Phone rings]

Bo: Buchanan.

Cole: Where's my money?

Bo: It's on its way. All those people safe inside?

Cole: I'm sending one out. But I want to see my mother.

Bo: All right, hold on. Mrs. Avery, your son would like to see you. Do you feel up to that?

Mrs. Avery: Oh, yes.

Bo: Good. All right, she's coming in, but she's a little shaky. I'm sending someone with her.

Cole: No cops.

Bo: Well, I can't send a civilian in there.

Viki: Bo, let me go.

Bo: No. I'm not going to trade one hostage for another.

Viki: No, I'll just walk her to the door, and then I'll come right back. Come on, he's not going to hurt me if I'm with his mother.

[Bo sighs]

Bo: All right, I'm sending a civilian, a woman. she's only going to walk your mom up to the door, and that's all.

Cole: You -- out.

Marcie: I don't want to leave the rest of you.

Nora: Go.

Cole: Now.

Marcie: Good luck.

Viki: Baby --

Bo: Oh, damn it, Viki.

*~*

Viki: Are you ok?

Natalie: What are you doing here?

Viki: Someone had to bring his mother in.

Mrs. Avery: I'm afraid for you, honey.

Cole: You better get home, mom. Go home and forget about me.

Mrs. Avery: I can't, son. I love you and I know you love me, and I'm asking you to please, please stop this before something terrible happens. For me.

Cole: This is goodbye, ma, ok?

Mrs. Avery: No!

Cole: Get her out of here.

Mrs. Avery: No --

Viki: No, I'm staying. Let my daughter Natalie leave in my place.

*~*

[Music plays]

Natalie: I am not letting you take my place.

Cole: Vega's girl is worth a lot more to me than you are.

Nora: She'll be fine, Viki, really. We'll be fine.

Mrs. Avery: I'm not leaving you.

Cole: You got to go.

Natalie: Mom --

Viki: I love you, baby.

Natalie: I love you. Just do what he says.

Viki: Yeah.

Mrs. Avery: You're a good man, Cole. You're my boy, no matter what.

Nora: Why don't you let Flash and Natalie go. I'll stay.

Cole: Uh -- no. My odds are better with all of you. So until I get what I want, you're all staying.

*~*

Phone rings]

Cole: What?

Bo: The money's here and the car. All you have to do is release the hostages. You walk away.

Cole: Well, I changed my mind. I'm maintaining a little leverage. Ok, redhead and the lawyer lady, let's go.

Nora: We're not going without flash.

Cole: I said go or die!

Natalie: Come on. Ahem. Come on.

Cole: Come on.

Flash: Ow! Ow!

Cole: That's tough.

Flash: Ow! You're hurting me!

Cole: You're going to be my shield. I'm coming out!

Bo: Hold your positions. Stand by. Disregard this. Everyone stand down.

Cole: Anybody makes a move and the girl buys it!

Antonio: Avery -- run. Three sharpshooters have you in their sights. One way or another, you're going down.

Cole: Maybe. Maybe not.

Antonio: Why don't you put the gun down, Avery.

Cole: You want to do this with fists?

Antonio: Is that what this is about? Huh? Little fight in the yard at Statesville?

Cole: You would've been dead. If it wasn't for those hacks that pulled me off --

Antonio: Ok, fine. Fine. want to do it? let's do it.

[Gunshot]

Antonio: How about that cup of coffee, huh? You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

Bo: Natalie told me that you were a real hero.

Nora: Oh -- what I did wouldn't have mattered if you and Antonio hadn't come when you did.

*~*

Bo: That was quite a night.

Nora: There was a time in there, I didn't think we were going to make it, and that whole time, all I could think about was Matthew. He doesn't know you're his dad, and if something went wrong and something happened to me, I just kept thinking, what would happen to him? Who would raise him?

*~*