General Hospital Recaps: The week of December 23, 1996 on GH

Katherine decided to undergo surgery. Carly got her old job back at the hospital. Brenda worried that Jax and Miranda had made love.

Monday, December 23, 1996

by Soap Central

Despite Justus' warning to resolve his differences with Bobbie and handlea custody battle out of court, Tony persuades Justus to take his case. Tony tellsJustus that he no longer knows Bobbie or understands the world she is living inwith the Cassadines. Justus tells Tony that the courts will have a field day withhis current arrangement with Carly and he urges no visits with Lucas in Carly'spresence. He also tells Tony not to mention the suit to anyone, as the elementof surprise may be their only tool. Tony leaves Justus and brings Lucas to theChristmas tree lot where Bobbie, Stefan, and Nikolas are picking out their holidaytree, though Bobbie is much more into the whole event then anyone else. Tonyreluctantly leaves Lucas with his "family", hugs him, and promises to see himon Christmas day. Bobbie tells Stefan how wonderful everything is between him,Lucas and Nikolas and how much they are all really feeling like a family. In themeantime, Stefan continues to have flashbacks of shooting Katherine. When Bobbieleaves to get in the limo, Stefan phones the hospital for a status update on "Ms. Bell." Meanwhile, Tony returns home to an anxiously awaiting Carly. He tellsher Lucas cannot make it for Christmas or any other visits with her involved sincehe is suing Bobbie for custody and Justus has urged against it. He goes further totell her that he needs to look clean for the court and thus has to move back to theBrownstone. Carly is very upset and resentful but tells Tony that if this is whatis best for him and Lucas, she will comply.

Brenda calls the on duty policeman into Sonny's room to try to get a trace onthe phone call from the woman who drugged him. By the time the policeman picksup the phone, the woman in non-responsive on the other end and we see that shehas been taken down. Outside of his room, Sonny finds the detective and tell himwhat happened and that he should follow up on this woman. When the detective leavesGH, Sonny calls one of his men to trail him. Later, Sonny shows up at the sceneof the crime, where the woman who phoned and drugged him, is found murdered. Thedetective suggests that Sonny may be next and accuses him of dealing heorin.

Jax and Brenda leave the hospital for home. They speak of how much they missedeach other when apart. Brenda tells Jax that if she hadn't been there for him,Sonny would have died. Jax tells her he knows she did what she had to do, as hedid by finding and bringing Miranda back to Port Charles. Brenda asks Jax if heand Miranda made love in Australia. He says they did not and that he can't possiblythink of his life without her (Brenda). Brenda tells him not to think of such thingsand the two kiss.

While decorating their Christmas tree, Lucy tells Kevin of her poor childhood andrememberings of Christmas as a not so happy time. She recalls being so jealous ofother children with their new clothes and toys. She tells him that now she hasgrown enough to realize that "things" are not what's important but rather people andfeelings. She tells him how precious their love is to her. Kevin recants by sayingthat she inspires him and touches his soul. He says how difficult it is for him toexpress his feelings of intense love for her and that that isn't fair to her. Heexplains that there is something that happened at Laura's funneral that he has beento scared to tell her. While there, he tells her, he had a vision of him and Ryan aschildren dancing around their mother's grave and being happy that she was dead. He tells Lucy that he fears the dark side and his demons may be coming out. She tellsKevin that his mother was a discusting individual who molested small children and ifhe felt happy that she was dead, then that was perfectly normal. She urges him tostop digging so deeply for darkness in his thoughts and to look at everything asmore of a healing process. He thanks her and says he will take her advice.

At GH, Alan tells Katherine that she cannot feel her legs because the bulletis lodged close to her spine and that as time passes they will be able to evaluateher condition and options better. Outside her room, Mac asks Alan directly whatKatherine's chances are for a full recovery. Alan says he is very sorry but theanswer is that he simply doesn't know yet. Miranda goes in to see Katherine and findsher in a bad way. She tries to encourage her to use the anger she is feeling ina positive manner..to focus on dreams of walking again rather than dwell on thepossibility that she may not. She tells her she can relate to her feelings and hopesthat she can help. After meeting Mac outside her room, Miranda tells him that Katherine is so lucky to have him. Mac goes into further detail for Miranda ofwhat happened to Katherine. He mentions Spoon Island and Stefan Cassadine and isthen called away. Miranda is somewhat shaken and recognizes Stefan's name. Shegets nervous and begins to shake.

At the Quartermaines', AJ jokes with Monica over the screwed up year the Q familyhas had with Jason's accident, Tracy's entrance and exit, andLois leaving Nedover the fear that her child will turn out to be one of them. Back at home, Alanenters to find Emily and her friend, Matt, on the couch. He is rude to Alan,doesn't seem to say much, and eventually leaves.

Tuesday, December 24, 1996

by Soap Central

Bobbie and Lucas arrive at GH looking for the pediatrics gala Christmas partyonly to find a few lame decorations and a half hearted attempt. Somehow theparty fell through the cracks so Bobbie and all of Port Charles pitch in topull it together in time. Bobbie calls Felicia and asks her to bring severaldecorations and presents down to GH. Felicia calls Lucy, who is with Kevin andvery sentimental over a card she received from Scotty, and asks her to pulltogether some samples of Jax cosmetics and bring them down to the hospital for all the nurses and doctors who have contributed so much. Lucy tells her she wouldlove to but she is spending the night with Kevin. Felicia tells her it is morethan okay if he comes with her to GH.

Mike, Jason, Sonny and his partner, Joseph, show up at the tree lot to pickout a tree at Mike's insistance. Maria, the proprietor of the lot who is pregnant,suddenly realizes that her water has broken. She tells her husband she doesn't wantto leave the lot for the hospital because it is crunch time and they need to pullin all the money they can from the last minute tree shoppers. Sonny convinces thelady she must get to the hospital right away and assures her that he and Josephwill run the lot for her. Jason and Mike take her to the hospital while Sonnyand Joseph play Santas.

At the Quartemaine's, the family gets a distress call from the hospital asking them to chip in for the party with a tree and decorations. All the Q's agree tocomply and head for the tree lot. Sonny gives Edward a hard time and charges him$5000 for the tree. Brenda and Jax are the next to shop for their tree and findthe one they want on the lot. Brenda laughs when she sees Sonny in his Santa hat,and Jax tells him he wants a specific tree. Sonny tells him that one's not forsale but allows him to buy another one. Brenda goes to get the car when she receivesa call from Lucy asking her to come to GH and bring samples of CD's and music fromL&B for the party. Meantime, Jax tells Sonny the tree he has wrapped up for himto take is not the one he chose. Sonny tells him he can't always get what he wants. Jax reminds him that that may be so, but that he still has Brenda.Ned and Alexis drown their troubles in alcohol at the Port Charles Grill and speak ofhow much they hate the holiday season. Robin calls Mac and Katherine at thehospital and wishes them a merry Christmas. She tells Katherine to be strong.Jason shows up at Carly's and she gives him a present: a key chain.She tells him Tony wil be home soon but that she will not be spending Christmaswith him. He tells her that maybe the two of them can do something together tomorrow. She tells him she knows it's silly but she misses her mother. Jasontakes off and visits Lila At the Quartermaines'. He brings her a box ofpeppermint candies and she asks him to fix a paper dove ornament for her thathe once made. He tells her he doesn't know how, but eventually it hangs fromthe Quartermaine tree.

Sonny shuts down the tree lot and goes to the hospital where Mike announcesthat Maria has had a baby boy. Everyone in Port Charles rushes by him as theyprepare for Alan's reading of the story of Christmas and Tony's stint as Santa.Sonny goes in to visit Maria and her husband, holds their newborn son, and presentsthem with a ton of money from his night at the lot. All is right in Port Charles with the children's party a success.

Wednesday, December 25, 1996

by Soap Central

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 26, 1996

by Soap Central

At the Quartermaine house, Emily looks in dislike at a coat Lila purchasedfor her for Christams. Monica tells her they can bring it back together. Emilytells her she can bring it back herself if she wants since she has to return a gift she bought a long time ago for Lucky. Alexis and Kevin show up to startdeveloping a psychological profile on Dr. Dorman for the case. Emily leaves butcontinues to half listen to the converstions from the terrace. Kevin asks Monicain painstaking detail of her physical relationship with Pierce. Embarrassed and notreally understanding why she needs to provide such detail, Monica tells them thatPierce was very attractive, energetic, and flattering of her in the beginning. Hemade her feel alive and attractive. By the time she realized that things wereworking out between her and Alan, and the impact her affair may have on Emily,Monica decided to break things off with Pierce. She goes on to tell Kevin and Alexisthat Pierce became very domineering and controlling over every part of her whentold him to back off and he tried to seduce her again, this time unsuccessfully.At this point, he began the idea of the suit. Monica, shaken by what she has said,asks if it is enough for now, and heads off to the hospital. Kevin suggests to Alexis that she look into Dorman's past and try to find any skeletons pointingfurther to his controlling nature. Emily takes off to the park where she meetsup with her drug taking friend who offers her the comfort he feels she needs: a hit.When Emily inhales, she coughs and almost passes out, saying how terrible it is.Her friend assures her it gets better in the times to come.

At home, Carly hears Tony phoning GH about Katherine's impending surgery whichhe will perform, and requesting Bobbie as an assistant. She is confused and whenhe hangs up she asks if he still plans on going through with the suit. He tellsher that Bobbie is the most qualified nurse for the job and that one has nothingto do with the other. He says he must leave for GH immediately and doesn't knowwhen he will be back. While he's gone, Carly does some thinking of her own aboutwhat Tony has said and of her own feelings of insecurity. She leaves soon after andheads for GH.

At GH, Alan tells Bobbie that Tony has requested her to assist with Katherine'ssurgery. Bobbie is thrilled and flattered and goes on to sing Tony's praises asa brillant surgeon to all that will listen, including Stefan. When Tony shows up,she thanks him for choosing her for the surgery. He tells her she is the mostqualified for the job. She continues to talk to Tony of her concern over anemotionally overloaded, Stefan. Tony tells her that if she needs any help with Lucas, she can count on him. He leaves to visit Katherine and discuss with her heroptions for surgery. He tells Katherine that if she has the surgery now there isa risk of serious blood clotting and if she has the surgery later there is a greaterrisk of permanent lower body paralysis. Katherine is quick to opted for the nowoption, but Mac wants a few moments to discuss this with her. When alone, Mac tellsKatherine that no matter what happens, he will still love her for all that she is.Miranda comes in and chats with Katherine until she falls asleep. While sleeping,Stefan visits.

Carly shows up at GH and announces to Tony and Bobbie that she just talked withthe physical therapy department and that they are willing to give her her old jobback. She asks Tony if he would like to go somewhere and celebrate. When theyreturn, Tony goes in to see if Katherine has made a decision. Bobbie tells Carlyshe is surprised she wants to go back to physical therapy instead of nursing. Carly tells her she figured Bobbie wouldn't be willing to give her her place in the program back. Inside Katherine's room, she tells Tony that she is ready togo into surgery anytime he is. He tells her he will go get things together.Outside her room however, he runs into Stefan who informs him that he will not beperforming the surgeryRecap --->

Friday, December 27, 1996

Friday, December 27, 1996

by Soap Central

Stefan tells Tony that he is flying in the best surgeon from Switzerland to performKatherine's operation and that he will only be assisting. Tony questions authority inmaking such medical related decisions and then goes in to see Katherine and tell her andMac the news. He tells Katherine that he will not be offended if she chooses the othersurgeon and to do what she feels is best. She talks things over with Mac and Miranda, whogives her advice to ask as many questions as necessary and then go with her gut instinct.Katherine takes some time to sleep and think about it.

At the nurses station, Carly confronts Bobbie by asking if she would have blackballed herif she chose to re-enter the nurse's program. Bobbie tells her she wouldn't have to becauseit's much more fun to sit back and watch her do damage to herself. She tells Bobbie that sheis far from done with her yet and that people are saying some pretty nasty things behind herback that indicate she only married Stefan for the money. Bobbie alludes to the fact thatCarly should know something about "behind the back" activities since that is her style, andtells her she's off to meet Tony for surgery. Carly reminds Bobbie in leaving that when sheis done working with Tony, he will be coming home to her. Tony catches up with Bobbie in timeto tell her that the surgery is off thanks to her husband, Stefan. Bobbie sees Stefan and pullshim aside to ask why Tony is not performing the surgery. Stefan tells her he is flying in thebest surgeon in the world to conduct the operation and that Tony will still be assisting.Bobbie challenges Stefan telling him he is not a doctor and shouldn't interfere with suchdecisions, and then asks if he is steping in out of spite since Tony is her x-husband. Stefanassures her that is not the case and insinuates that she should know him better than that. She tells him she wonders if she knows him at all.

Sonny, Joseph, and the detective visit where the nurse who drugged Sonny was presumablymurdered. Sonny sees a picture of her and remembers the call she made to the hospital.Sonny questions the detectives' throroughness in examing her apartment, pointing out thatlittle is out of place. The detective smugly tells Sonny they did their jobs and simply puteverything back in place. Sonny asks if he even tried to contact any of her family or friendsto try to piece things together. The detective not so politely tells Sonny to stay out of it. Sonny tells him that he can't stop him from being involved.

At Brenda and Jax', the two try to resume their "normal" lives, though Brenda seems a bitpreoccupied with the newspaper and looking for information about Sonny's attempted murder.Jax urges her to stay out of it. Brenda changes the subject quickly and asks when he thinkshis divorce with Miranda will be final. He says it shouldn't be long since she is notdemanding anything, and that like her, he just wants things to be back to the way they were.As Jax is ready to leave on business, Sonny shows up saying he has something important heneeds to discuss with Brenda and that he wants Jax to hear too. He tells them both that he checked out the nurses' apartment, he thinks she is dead, and that Brenda needs to stayas removed as possible from the whole situation. Brenda promises she will do just that andasks Sonny to keep her posted on any information about the nurse. Jax tells Sonny he isdone talking and kicks him out after they exchange a few words. Back inside, Jax tells Brenda again not to get involved or else she will playing straight into Sonny's hands. She tells him she knows he's right and not to worry.

At Luke's club, Sonny tells Mike that he went to visit Brenda and told her to stay outof his business, but that he has his doubts as to whether she will really listen. Mike tells Sonny that's because she still cares so much. Mike tells Sonny that he feels responsible for the person he has turned out to be and that seeing him in the hospital, wondering if he wasgoing to make it, really got to him. Sonny tells Mike that he is responsible for the choiceshe makes and the risks he takes and the important thing to him was that Mike was there whenhe woke up. Sonny phones Brenda from the club to check up on her. She assures Sonny shewill stay out of things and that she gave him her word. After the conversation, she leavesher apartment and heads to a place posing as the sister of Marilyn Cooper, the nurse whodrugged Sonny, and begins asking questions concerning her whereabouts.

At GH, tensions rise between Alan and a preoccupied Stefan who doesn't seem to have timefor any hospital business. When he sees Monica, Alan asks why he saw Dorman and Kevin walking the halls together. Monica tells him it is part of Alexis' plan to get inside Pierce'smind and find out what he's up to. Emily shows up at the hospital and runs into Nikolas. Shetells him she is looking for Monica and even though she is getting on her nerves lately, sheis there to help. Nikolas notices that Emily doesn't seem all there and confronts her...shetells him she just had a "hit" and has more left if he is interested. Just then, Pierce shows up and Emily tells him to stay away from her mother since everyone is on her side anywaysincluding Kevin who was at their house this morning. Nikolas sees Monica coming and takesEmily out of sight. He leads her to the Cassadine limo which is parked outside GH and tellsthe driver to take her home. He tells Emily to get rid of the drugs and that it is probablybest if she not say anything more to Pierce.

Back inside, Alan catches up with Stefan and confronts him concerning Tony's ability to perform Katherine's surgery. Stefan tells him Tony will be there for the surgery. Alan tellshim that quite a few staff members were upset about him oversteping his boundaries and thatis he wants to continue to protect the hospital, he needs to get his act together. Stefan'snose is a bit out of joint from Alan's comments and Nikolas adds insult to injury by tellinghim that the only thing wrong with GH is him. Stefan reminds him that GH is still afloat because of him and that he has no right to talk to him like that. Nikolas yells back and asks why he has to lie to him about everything that matters.

Bobbie goes into Katherine's room and tries to help her with her decision on surgeons.She tells her that even though the other surgeon is indeed terrific, she has been simplyteaching her techniques for the past five years, whereas Tony has been performing the surgerysuccessfully throughout that time. Plus, she tells Katherine that Tony would be more than just a surgeon, since he knows her personally, and would treat her with extra care. Tonywalks in on the end of the conversation to see if Katherine has made up her mind...she tellshim she just has and that she would like him to perform the operation.

In the underground parking garage at GH, Monica approaches her car, as Pierce approachesher and tells her he knows of her little plan with Kevin and that it will indeed cost her.