As The World Turns Recaps: The week of December 8, 2003 on ATWT

Comprehensive daily recaps for As the World Turns, dating back to 1996.
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As The World Turns Recaps: The week of December 8, 2003 on ATWT
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the week of December 8, 2003
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Monday, December 8, 2003

Mitzi finds the financial records for Rose's Roller Palace in a drawer at Rose's house. Just as she is rejoicing on finding the evidence which would have incriminated her, she hears the front door open. Mitzi rushes out of the room, leaving the desk in a mess, just as Carly and Emily arrive to look for Rose's wedding shoes. As Carly picks the shoes up from the couch, she notices the mess near the desk. Simultaneously Emily, looking for the shoes in the bedroom, discovers an open window. Emily and Carly suspect that they smell Mitzi's perfume in the house, but they decide not to tell Rose about their suspicions until after the wedding. In the dressing room at the church, Rose, completely dressed for the wedding, talks to her image in the mirror, telling herself that everything is going to be okay. Meanwhile, Barbara, disguised as a nun, aims a gun at her through a crack in the doorway. Hal, in his tuxedo, grabs Barbara in the nick of time, asking her, "What in the name of God have you become, Barbara?" Barbara insists that she was only trying to frighten Rose into canceling the wedding, showing Hal that the gun was not loaded. The white-haired minister in the background apparently does not notice as Hal forcibly removes Barbara from the church. Lily enters the dressing room and tells Rose, who is unaware of the incident with Barbara, that she has seen Dusty and that Dusty intends to tell Paul that he spent the night before the wedding with Rose. However, Lily promises Rose that she won't let anything come between Rose and Paul. Lily slips out of the room and finds out that Molly and Dusty have arrived at the wedding, and this news upsets Rose so much that she can't stop shaking. Lily urges Rose to remember that she and Paul love each other. Emily and Carly return with the shoes. They, with Lily, give Rose something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. They all embrace.

At the church, Aaron, wearing a black suit with a dark blue shirt and tie, tells Holden, who is wearing a tuxedo, that he hopes to get back together with Lucy, while still holding up his responsibilities to Alison and their baby. When Holden warns Aaron that the arrival of the baby will change his life, Aaron is resentful of what he sees as interference. Next Susan and Alison arrive at the wedding. After Emma arrives with Lily and Holden's children, Aaron tells Lucy his hopes for reconciling with Lucy. Immediately, Nancy, Bob, Kim, and Chris arrive. When they are alone in the vestibule for a moment, Chris tells Alison that he has scheduled a sonogram for 10 A.M. the next day to help determine the age of Alison's baby. When Lucy arrives at the wedding, Aaron rushes up to her and asks if she will sit with him. Lucy coolly responds that "things are different now," and reintroduces Aaron to her date, Clark. Alison whispers the news about the sonogram to Katie, who again insists that Alison must tell Chris the truth. Alison goes out the door of the church and finds a despondent Aaron outside. Together they leave and go to Al's Diner. Alison suggests that one solution for their troubles would be to get married.

At the metro, Dusty recalls his conversation with Lily in which she warned him to stay away from the wedding and he responded, "You try to stop me and I'll make such a great scene that nobody will go home happy." Molly comes down the stairs and tells him, "Tonight, everything comes to an end." She explains that she will be glad when Rose and Paul are married and in Paris, but Dusty reveals his plan to stand up during the ceremony to say that Rose spent the night before the wedding with him. When Dusty, in a black suit with a dark blue shirt and tie, arrives at the wedding, Holden, dressed in his tuxedo, takes him outside, ostensibly to discuss Aaron's job.

In the penthouse, Paul, inappropriately dressed for the wedding with rumpled hair and a black suit and tie with a dark brown shirt, has a conversation with his father's image. When Paul insists that he will marry Rose, James demands, "If she hurt you, you hurt her back, and worse. Then you can call yourself a man." When a tuxedo-clad Jack arrives at the door, James' image disappears. Jack looks at the bottle of champagne and Paul explains, "An occasion like tonight calls for something extraordinary." Paul leaves, but first he deliberately picks up the red goblet from the mantel to bring with him.

Hal brings Barbara back to his house, where he offers to lift the restraining order and allow Barbara to see Will if she will check herself into a psychiatric hospital for thirty days. Barbara agrees to Hal's demand and promises to stay away from the wedding. Hal leaves her there and returns to the wedding. When he goes inside the church, he reminds the policemen outside not to let Barbara in.

When Jack and Paul arrive outside the church, Dusty hands Paul a folded sheet of paper. In a few minutes, Molly walks by Paul in the vestibule, where he has arranged a tray holding the champagne, three plain champagne flutes and the red goblet, a note, and a red rose. The cart is pushed into the dressing room. The girls read the romantic note, and they all toast Paul, Rose drinking from the red goblet. Lucinda arrives to walk Rose down the aisle, and Rose staggers as she finishes her champagne. However, Rose revives and declares that she is ready.

The minister, Paul, and Will come to the altar. Molly slips in beside Dusty. The flower girl and bridesmaids come down the aisle, and Lucinda escorts Rose down the aisle to Paul.

Barbara arrives and sweet-talks the policeman on guard to let her go inside, promising only to watch from the vestibule.

The priest asks if there is any reason while this couple should not be married. The camera pans Barbara, Will, Jennifer, Paul, and Dusty. Dusty stands up, but Paul is the one who speaks: "Well, if no one else is going to speak up, it might as well be me."

Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Ben and Jessica arrive in the wake of a tropical storm and are dismayed that their glamorous island wedding seems unlikely. Jessica has trouble dealing with yet another disappointment as Ben runs into R&B singer Musiq. Later, the couple finds the room romantically transformed and Musiq performs a song for them. Ben and Jessica declare their love for one another and are married. They dance and toast their new life together. Alison makes a case for getting married and Aaron suspects that she is holding something back. She thinks getting married would be a way of taking back their lives from their parents. They decide to marry. Paul announces to Rose and the guests that there won't be a wedding. He accuses his bride-to-be of deception and betrayal. Paul reveals that Rose was with Dusty the night before and does not accept Rose's attempts to protest that nothing happened. Dusty defends Rose and is kept back from attacking Paul. Rose gets progressively dizzy and disoriented as Paul tosses her ring aside and leaves. She collapses. As a distraught Paul arrives home, Rose is carried out on a stretcher by EMTs. Walker, Bob, Chris and Susan suspect Rose has been poisoned. Dusty assumes Paul did it and Emily and Carly theorize that the champagne may have been poisoned. Jennifer arrives and finds out Rose is in critical condition and goes to call Paul. He hears the news and takes off. Lucy debates telling Aaron about Rose. Alison and Aaron arrive at the church and find it empty. Lily urges Rose to hang on as Dusty accuses Paul of poisoning her.

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Jessica and Ben are happy to be married and enjoy their wedding night. Lucy gets rid of Clark and looks for Aaron. Alison and Aaron decide to travel to Indiana and get married. Rosanna and Craig arrive for the wedding and see no one there. A cop stops Craig from entering the church anteroom. Rosanna learns that Alison and Aaron missed the wedding, too. Craig spots Alison and Aaron and gets ready to give them grief. Alison drops a wedding program with the address of the Justice of the Peace in Indiana. Lucy arrives and fills Rosanna in on what happened with Rose and Paul. Rosanna gives Lucy the program Alison dropped and goes to the hospital. Alison and Aaron head off to get married as Lucy takes off after them. Hal and Emily can't find the champagne and goblets in the room. Hal doesn't suspect Craig and Emily hopes it isn't Paul. A weak Rose tells Lily she can't believe Paul hurt her the way he did. Lily comforts her sister. Dusty and Paul continue to fight and Dusty won't let Paul see Rose. Dusty insists that nothing happened between him and Rose last night, and Paul realizes he made a terrible mistake. Dusty blasts Lily for getting her way. He builds a case against Paul to Lily, who finally believes that Paul did in fact poison Rose. Paul swears to Jennifer that he didn't poison Rose and that he was wrong about Rose and Dusty sleeping together. Rose returns after tests and her condition is serious but Walker can't be specific. Paul wants to see Rose and admit he was wrong but Lily won't allow it. Meanwhile, Barbara stashes the champagne and glass in Paul's crypt.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Aaron and Alison were standing before the Justice of the Peace wanting to get married. Once the Justice agreed to marry them, he left to get his wife. Alison told Aaron that they were doing the right thing. Following them was Lucy who had figured out that they were getting married. Lucy tried to convince herself that it was okay for them to get married but then she thought if Aaron would see her, he wouldn't go through with it. Lucy arrived at the wedding right after the ceremony. Lucy told Aaron about Rose and told Alison congratulations - you got what you wanted!

Molly was sitting at Al's Diner eating a sundae when Craig approached her. They made small talk then Craig asked her how she was feeling about Dusty going after Rose now that Paul dumped her. Molly turned the tables on Craig by asking him where Rosanna was and that he had better watch Rosanna now that Paul was free. Later Carly ran into Molly who showed no sympathy for Rose.

Mike and Katie were coming up the porch at Katie's when Katie tripped. A tree had fallen and Mike said it would look good in the living room. Katie smiled and said it would. After they got the tree decorated Mike asked Katie for a date. Katie started to laugh. She thought it was funny because of everything they had been they had been through together. Mike just wanted a chance to show Katie how much he cared for her. When Katie went to check her date book, she noticed that two years ago tomorrow would have been her anniversary. After her and Mike talked about it, she told him that she wanted to go out with him and they kissed.

Lily was confronting Paul about poisoning Rose. Paul kept insisting he did not poison her. Rose overheard Lily and Paul arguing and told Lily that she did not want to see him. Walker Daniels came out of the room and told all of them to be quiet and they weren't doing Rose any good by fighting all the time. Rose asked to see Lily and asked Lily if she had been poisoned. Lily tried to tell her that they didn't know and that Rose should concentrate on getting better. Rose asked to see Dusty. She told him that he was right about everything. Dusty tried to get Rose to remember what had happened and told her that he would take care of her. Paul cam e in to the room and Rose passed out!

In the chapel, Paul and Rosanna were talking about what happened. Paul told Rosanna that he did send the champagne to Rose. He said that he was hoping that she would come clean about spending the night with Dusty. He denied trying to poison her. Rosanna asked Paul if he still loved Rose and Paul said more than ever. Rosanna said what are you doing standing here!

Barbara arrived home and discovered she still had the gloves and needed to get rid of them. Hal arrived and confronted her. She denied having anything to do with it. Hal said he would get a search warrant. Barbara told him to go ahead, she didn't have anything to hide. Hal did not find anything. Jennifer arrived home and saw what a mess the police had made and asked Barbara what she did to Rose.

Friday, December 12, 2003

by Andy

Lucy is about to leave Aaron and Alison at the justice of the peace, when the JP walks in and says the marriage isn't quite final yet. Lucy's ears perk up and Alison's heart starts to race. Aaron just numbs out. The JP says all they need to do is sign another license. After Aaron looks at Lucy, he sighs and says, "Where do I sign?" He starts for the other room, but Lucy grabs his arm and says he doesn't have to go through with it. Aaron's sense of duty wins out, and he signs the document making everything official. While he is out of the room, Lucy takes off. Aaron wants to get home to help his family with Rose's medical situation, but Alison has other plans. She suggests they get a hotel room and leave around noon the next day. Aaron won't listen, "Alison! We're goin' home now!" Alison furrows her brow because she knows she will have to confront Chris about the scheduled sonogram if she returns. Alison feigns sickness and tells Aaron she should stay overnight. Aaron doesn't want to leave her in a foreign town all alone, so he grabs the marriage license, then her arm, and they head back home.

Rozilla's fangs come out in the hospital chapel after hearing Craig's ultimatum, "My darling, ...I am not going home simply because you want me there instead of here." Craig argues Paul is playing his wife for a fool, "His is a junky for attention. Despite your friend's Mommy issues, tonight, we need you a little more than he does." Craig thinks Lucy is at home brooding over Aaron, until Rosanna tells him his daughter is probably off looking for Aaron since she told Lucy where Aaron and Alison went. Craig immediately tries to call his daughter, but she doesn't answer. Craig decides to run off to look for Lucy on his own, giving Rosanna permission to stay behind. Before he leaves, Rosanna concedes, and leaves with her husband.

At Al's Diner, Carly can't understand Molly's sudden lack of empathy for Rose especially since her own husband, Jake, was murdered. Molly doesn't feel sorry for Rose because she was in Dusty's arms the night before she was to marry Paul. Carly understands. Molly is jealous. Molly softens her voice, then deadpans, "Yup. That's my problem. You completely figured me out." Molly turns and walks away leaving Carly catching flies. Outside the diner, Molly talks to herself, "I have to find out what they know."

At Barbara's suite, Jen begins to suspect her mother has something to do with Rose's poisoning. While her back is turned to her daughter, Barbara takes this opportunity to collect the gloves she used to handle the goblet Rose used to toast her wedding. She stuffs the gloves in her purse so she can dispose them later. Babs turns and fixes her gaze on Jen then says, "Rose D'Angelo will never hurt this family again...alive or dead." Later, Barbara stuffs the gloves in a drawer, then utters the best line of today's episode, "Someday, they'll thank me for cleaning up their messes." Jen packs up and heads off to the hospital to be there for Paul. Barbara wants to ride along with Jen, but her daughter advises her to stay behind. Jen leaves, then Babs quickly follows.

At the hospital, Rose's heart monitor continues to register a flatline. John is called to help. Lily has a meltdown while Holden tries to comfort his wife. Dusty seethes with anger at Paul. Paul is mired in the wake of his own doing until Lily grabs him and shakes him back into the here and now, "What did you do!! I told you stay away from her!!" Dusty chimes in to suggest Paul wormed his way back in Rose's room to finish what he started. Paul lunges for Dusty, but Hal and Jack are there to break the two apart. Jack takes Paul into the Chapel to cool off.

Paul pleads with Jack to let him return to keep a vigil. Jack asks him if he poisoned Rose. Paul responds with a question of his own, "Do you remember what it felt when you found out about Mike and Carly?" Jack tries to avoid the parallel, but Paul presses him to answer. Jack says he was angry, and Paul says he felt the same way but not angry enough to poison Rose. Paul wants another chance to make things right with Rose before she dies, and Jack looks at the altar and snidely says, "You're in a chapel. Pray that doesn't happen." Paul asks Jack to check on Rose. After Jack is gone, Paul kneels to pray. He says, "OK Father, you have to save Rose...." The music sours, then James appears and says, "You know? I don't think so." Paul gets up as his father taunts him saying that even on her deathbed, Rose still wants Dusty. Paul scampers around for something to ground his soul, but grasps for air.

Hal eschews Dusty off into a corner and tells him he doesn't think Paul committed the crime. Dusty admits he was with Rose the night before. He also admits he should have told Rose just how much he really loved her when he had the chance.

Around the corner, Lily shakes with worry. John returns with a diagnosis, "Her internal organs are shutting down." They ask how much time Rose has left and John just shakes his head. Emily comforts Lily and encourages her to spend these precious last moments with her sister. She composes herself, then enters Rose's room. Lucinda and Holden are already there. Lucinda promises to bring her father to her bedside as quickly as she can. Both Lucinda and Holden leave the sisters alone. Rose tells her sister she doesn't want to die. Lily says, "I won't let you." Rose asks Lily to find Mitzi and tell her she is forgiven. Lily asks what for, but Rose says she'll understand. Lily assures her she will take care of Mitzi. Rose continues to say her good-byes to Lily. She tells Lily she needs to see Paul one last time.

Holden runs into Molly outside. She asks about Rose's status. Holden confides they know she was poisoned with Methanol. Holden also tells her Dusty is off somewhere with Hal.

Dusty asks Hal to check on Rose, but before he leaves, he tells him to pass along the message that he loves her, "She's gotta know that." After Hal walks away, Dusty turns around and spies Molly who heard every word. She lays into him hard, "You love Rose?!" Dusty yells back telling her she doesn't know what she's talking about and accuses her of being jealous. Molly knows her place and points out her role, "I'm just the woman you slept with while you couldn't have the woman you loved. You destroyed her! You were the one who brought poison into her life. So you get to live with that!" She's through with this joker, but before she leaves, she has one more zinger, "I guess I'm lucky I'm the one you didn't love."

Craig and Rosanna return home and find Lucy sitting on the sofa crying. The parents stand in the doorway and debate who should comfort her. Craig winces because he usually makes things worse when she is crying about Aaron. Rosanna leans in and whispers, "Well...don't do that." Rosanna walks off to check on Cabot. Craig gathers some fake compassion, then sits next to his daughter. Lucy embraces her father and cries on his shoulder, then she says, "Aaron and Alison...they got married. They got married! Not only is she having his baby. She's his wife!!" They hug, and as he whispers comforting sweet nothings in his daughter's ear, a grin surfaces on his face despite his urge to suppress it. Later, Rosanna returns and she tells Lucy about Rose's condition. Lucy wants to go to the hospital, but Craig reminds her Aaron might be there. Lucy hesitates.

Alison runs into Chris at the hospital and she can't wait to tell him she is now married to Aaron. This doesn't persuade Chris to drop the sonogram issue.

As Paul kneels at the altar making deals with God, Lily walks in with Jack and asks him to visit Rose.

Molly sits down at a booth at Al's Diner and opens a small brown paper bag. She pulls out a bottle of Methanol and says, "Somebody's gotta pay for what happens to Rose."

Paul sits down next to Rose, and promises to make everything up to her as he strokes her hair. As the strength of life ebbs out of her body, Rose whispers with a serene smile, "Why did you do this to me?" As Paul tries to explain how he wasn't involved in poisoning her, Rose closes her eyes and then the heart monitor flatlines again. Lily is standing close by and screams at Paul to get away from her sister. John arrives, and everyone clears the room. Lily and Paul rejoin everyone waiting in the lobby. They all stand at attention and want to know what is going on. Dusty whispers, "Is she alive?" Before John returns, Lily zones out and says, "She's gone." Dr. Dixon joins the group a moment later with a defeated look on his face and only says, "I'm sorry."

Jack walks up to Hal and asks, "What do we do?" Hal says, "Now? We say good-bye to our friend...and then we find out who murdered her." The camera pans around first to Dusty, then to Barbara, and finally lands on Paul.

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