At the hospital, Brando finds Dex and Michael in the stairwell and asks what is going on. Michael plays that Dex is following him, but Dex claims Michael doesn’t own the stairs. Brando sends Dex on his way and offers to talk to Sonny for Michael. Michael tells him not to bother.
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In the halls, Willow and Sasha discuss Smoltz accusing Sasha of driving under the influence when she hit Harmony. Willow assures her that she doesn’t believe him. Sasha is grateful that Willow still supports her unwaveringly, and Willow knows Sasha has her back too. TJ interrupts to speak with Willow, so they head off.
Brando finds Sasha and asks if she’s not going to be late for her appointment. Sasha explains she’s not going and tells him about talking with Willow after they ran into Smoltz. She’s emotionally drained and talked out right now. He thinks they should at least rebook her appointment. She accuses him and his mother of smothering her, which Brando insists they don’t mean to do.
Brando feels she needs to talk to a doctor and deal with the root cause of why she turned to pills. She yells, “Stop trying to control my every move!” He lashes out that given how their life is spiraling out of control, maybe someone needs to control her. He quickly apologizes, but she thinks he finally said what he felt. She claims she needs space and storms off.
In the stairwell, Sasha gets a text from the make-up artist Sienna who initially supplied her with drugs asking if she wants to blow off some steam. Sasha texts back asking where to meet.
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In an exam room, TJ takes another blood sample from Willow to make sure the first test wasn’t wrong. Willow asks TJ what he is looking for. Before he can answer, Michael arrives for the appointment. TJ departs, and Michael asks why TJ is here if this is an OB appointment. She explains he was just being a friend.
Brick finds Sonny hitting the bag at the gym. Brick has just come back from the West Coast investigating things, and the families out there have quieted down. Brick wants to focus on finding Jason’s replacement. Sonny already has someone in mind. Sonny tells Brick about Dex.
Dex arrives, and Sonny introduces him to Brick who is his second in command. Sonny asks about Felty, and Dex explains he made sure Felty wouldn’t open his mouth before the cops showed up. Sonny gets upset that the cops arrived, but Dex says nobody saw him and it was his son. Sonny cools down and remembers it was Dex who also handled the fiasco with Joss, which he thanks him for.
Sonny sends Dex off and then asks Brick what he thinks. Brick thinks he’s too arrogant, co*cky, and flippant. Sonny feels he’s eager though. Brick plans to investigate Dex’s past, but Sonny says that won’t tell him if Dex can handle the job. Sonny wants a trial by fire to see if Dex can prove himself.
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Back at the hospital, Michael gets a text from Dex and tells Willow he has a work thing, but he can postpone if she wants. Willow assures him this is a routine appointment, so he can go. Later, TJ returns to Willow and finds Michael has left. He asks if there is a reason she’s not telling Michael this isn’t her typical OB appointment.
Michael meets with Dex in an alley. Dex warns Michael that he just met this guy Brick, who might dig into his past. Michael takes that as a sign he’s making inroads with Sonny.
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At Wyndemere, Ava catches Esme before she can flee and calls her a conniving little whor*. Esme snarks, “Takes one to know one.” Ava tells her this is a new low even for her. Esme throws Ava’s affair with Morgan into her face, along with her hate sex with Sonny, which makes Ava wonder how she knows about those things. Esme says she’s done her research, but not to worry as she’s leaving town. Ava refuses to let her go until she pays for what she’s done.
Ava calls her a sick stalker given the ways she attacked her. It suddenly dawns on Ava that this is personal for Esme, and there has to be more behind her hatred of her. Esme looks down at her suitcase and the envelope that she snatched from the book earlier. Ava spots the letter in Esme’s suitcase and tries to grab it, but Esme snatches it and declares it’s none of her business. Ava orders Esme to do the right thing and exonerate Trina. Esme claims again she did not make the tape and asks why would she send herself to prison. Ava tells her if she doesn’t admit she framed Trina, she will make sure nobody ever finds her… at least not while she’s still breathing.
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In court, Taggert and Portia are stunned when Diane calls Spencer to the stand. Nikolas enters the court as Diane asks if Spencer believes Trina made the video. He does not and knows for a fact she didn’t distribute the video because she was with him when the video was released via email. Diane reminds him that he was in Spring Ridge at the time, so how was he with Trina? Spencer admits to arranging an off-the-books day pass and was caught by Trina.
Diane asks how he was able to leave Spring Ridge, and he admits someone was bribed. She further questions what was important about that day. He reveals it was the anniversary of his mother’s death, and he always visited her grave as a boy on that day. He went to the cemetery to see her and ran into Trina, who was working on a PCU assignment. Diana asks Spencer if he understands he’s jeopardizing his freedom. He cries he knows, but at some point, you have to stop doing the easy thing and start doing the right thing.
Diane asks if he had anything to do with the video, and he insists he did not. She asks if Cam and Joss could have filmed it, but he knows they wouldn’t have. Diane asks then who is left who could have made it? Spencer states it was Esme Prince, his girlfriend at the time.
The ADA gets a chance to cross-examine and points out emails can be scheduled and proves it by having an email sent to the judge and Diane at that exact moment, dinging their phones. Diane objects and says there is no proof to suggest the email was scheduled. Spencer is allowed to step down, approaches Trina, and sobs he’s so sorry it didn’t work. He walks away. Portia asks Trina why she didn’t tell them Spencer was her alibi before. She was hoping Curtis would pull a hail Mary.
Joss approaches Spencer and knew he’d do the right thing, eventually. Nikolas later confronts his son and says they need to talk and it’s important.
On the next General Hospital: Diane asks Trina to be her own heroine. TJ wonders why Willow doesn’t want Michael to know about her condition. Sam tells Michael it doesn’t take a PI to see what he’s up to. Nikolas warns Spencer he may have thrown away his freedom. Ava orders Esme to tell the truth or it’s the end of the line.
Return to the Golden Age of General Hospital and Love in the Afternoon with the below photo gallery.
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