Cheryl tried to make breakfast. The toaster exploded.
Tony and Nancy stayed up all night discussing their passions and aspirations. Dimwits in tandem. Ada came in and told them it was 6:30 AM. They were surprised. Tempus fugit.
MJ woke up screaming. Adam rushed to comfort her. She hugged him tightly. He threw extra logs on the fire. She apologized for ruining last night. He reminded her a man had attacked her and said they'd find him. She said she couldn't look at mugshots. He calmed her down. She made him hold her more tightly and asked him to make love to her.
Scott and Cheryl played house. She smacked him because he said nasty things about her cooking. A neighbour came by and said he'd seen Vince in the yard. Scott went out with him. A shadow lurked.
Tony and Nancy seemed to be kindred spirits. Nancy neglected her waitressing duties. At long last Tony tried to drag himself away. He failed.
Mitch told Ada Rachel had decided it was over and he was going to respect that. He told her he was concerned about Felicia. She told him if he couldn't beat 'em he should join 'em.
Scott found nothing. Cheryl made him take his wet clothes off. [He hadn't worn his shoes.] Mary came in and found them goofing around. Cheryl tried to explain Scott's nakedness and avoid explaining MJ's absence. Scott told the Chad story. Mary asked why she hadn't been told. She asked where MJ was. Cheryl said she had spent the whole night talking with Adam and they'd probably gone to the police station. Mary phoned the police station.
Kissing. Adam pulled back and [with a little difficulty] said he wanted this to be special and not just because she was afraid and in need of comfort. She was touched but assured him she loved him and it wasn't fear. He said he loved her. The phone rang. It was Mary. Adam sounded a trifle bemused. [She asked if she'd awakened him.] He turned the phone over to MJ. She [Mary] expressed her concern. MJ assured her she was all right. She was a little awed to find Mary was worried about her.
Mary resumed her interrogation of the babies. Scott fled to put his shoes on. Mary dragged Cheryl off to work. Cheryl feels a Talk coming on.
Mitch tracked Felicia to Tops to try to talk sense to her.
Kissing. Adam and MJ got all tangled up and unclothed on the sofa bed.
Felicia told Mitch she knew what she was doing. The guy arrived to see to the sound system.
Cheryl awaited the Talk with apprehension. She made reference to Nancy's cute guy. Scott looked and said, "you think he's cute?" He was a little jealous. He left to buy her a present.
Nancy and Tony exchanged last names. [His is Carlisle or Carlyle or some variation. I go for the S, myself.] Ada summoned Nancy to the kitchen. Tony departed reluctantly. Nancy told Ada he was wonderful.
MJ asked Adam about the first time he had been in love. He asked if she wanted to hear about the first time he had really been in love or the first time he had thought he was in love. She wanted the real one. He said he'd seen her down at the station house. She stopped him and asked for the other. Adam: it was with an older woman. MJ: yeah? How old? Adam: Sixteen and a half. MJ: oh, that's very old. how old were you? Adam: Twelve. People said I didn't look a day over nine, though. MJ: why, were you short? Adam: MJ, I was the class shrimp. MJ: I'll bet you were skinny, too. Adam: my mother was afraid to put me on the scale. She didn't think the needle would move. MJ: OK. So you were short and skinny and funny-looking and you were in love. Adam: with JOANIE LOMBARDO. What a knockout. She had black hair. She had a body like Dolly Parton. MJ: GIVE ME A BREAK. Adam: well, not exactly, maybe, but pretty close, I'll tell you. MJ: oh, yeah? What about her PERSONALITY, Adam? Adam: personality, personality, um — MJ: stop it. Stop it. You pig. Adam: she was a tomboy. She was a real toughie. Nobody messed around with her. We called her Joanie no baloney. MJ: hooked you, huh. Are you the only one that messed around with her? Adam: me? Are you kidding? MJ: you said that she was your girlfriend. Adam: no, I said that I was in love with her. that's a big difference. MJ: you mean she didn't have the same feelings for you? Adam: MJ, Joanie had no feelings. MJ: you mean it was your basic case of unrequited love. Adam: Joanie thought I was a jerk. She would laugh at me. She made fun of me if I even came near her. yeah, I think you could call it your basic case of unrequited love. MJ: that's really awful. Adam: not nearly as bad as the day I finally got the courage up to tell her that I loved her. MJ: what happened? Adam: she socked me. MJ: she did not. Adam: yeah, she did. I had a shiner for weeks. MJ: how could she do that to you? [she kissed him.] Adam: she said how did I ever think that I had nerve to think that I was good enough for JOANIE LOMBARDO? Mortified, he ran home and looked at himself in the mirror and came to the conclusion that she had been right. MJ: little did she know what she was going to miss in a couple of years: the handsomest, sexiest, wonderfullest, kindest, sweetest man I know. Adam: go on. You're just trying to butter me up. MJ: what would I want to do that for? Adam: for this long list of men that you are you've been with. MJ: there's no list. Adam: really? Just one or two, then, huh? Short list? I could have handled that. MJ: there's nobody. Adam: oh, now, come on, MJ, I don't believe that. What about Jamie? MJ: somehow Jamie and I never got quite to love. Adam: well if not Jamie, somebody else, a first love, somebody. MJ: Nope. There's nobody. [Sugar daddies don't count.]
Cheryl told Mary nothing had happened. Mary said she believed her, but spending the night with Scott was full of temptation. Cheryl said she hadn't been upset with MJ for having spent the night with Adam. Mary explained that MJ was more grown up and committed. She advised her to wait for Vince. Scott rushed in with Cheryl's gift.
Felicia listened to the sound system. Mitch gave up and said he was joining her.
Adam and MJ had a celebratory breakfast on the good dishes. It was so much fun he asked her back for dinner. The books of mugshots came. MJ was apprehensive. Adam asked if she knew her attacker. She got upset. He calmed her down. She made him hold her again. He said that if she wanted to be held he'd do it for the rest of his life.
Everyone gathered round to watch Cheryl open her present. The crowd dispersed, disappointed, when it turned out to be your ordinary common or garden toaster. But Cheryl remained. She told Scott she loved it. ["it's more than just a toaster. It's OUR toaster." She said when they were old and grey 5 million pieces of perfect toast would come out and they'd see who was laughing at her cooking.
Tony returned [as if drawn by an invisible magnet]. He kissed Nancy passionately as a more fitting goodbye and left. Nancy swooned slightly.
Felicia told Mitch she didn't need him to keep her out of scrapes. He said he'd be a sort of friend-cum-bartender. She hired him. They danced. It became a fantasy dance in which they wore Clothes. This I could have lived without.