Follow that plane!

Tick, tock, tick tock, go the hands of the Cameron cuckoo clock. Creeping ever closer to a cataclysmic close.

Tick, tock, tick tock, go the hands of the Cameron cuckoo clock. Creeping ever closer to a cataclysmic close. But I'm getting a couple of hops ahead of myself since the end is still a wee way in the future. For the present, we must faithfully follow the buttery bread crumbs left behind for Sharon's husband to follow. Over the past week, an increasingly provocatively clothed Sharon repeatedly paraded to Cameron's hotel suite trying to get him to slip and fall into some facsimile of the truth. And by the way, Lord knows the woman was certainly wearing that black dress, wasn't she?! Any other hot blooded mortal man, at such an enticing sight, might have swooned in stupefied surrender, instantly spilling every secret thought he'd been harboring in his scheming skull. But our ignoble knave, Cameron, held stubbornly to his story. Even though his pulse was probably pounding powerfully, his deceitful heart thumping at triple its beat, he still somehow managed to keep any self-incriminating words from leaping across his leering lips. When Sharon first widened then batted her baby blues, her angelic face all dewy and innocent, begging her captor to release her from the trap in which he'd ensnared her, Cameron coldly countered with an escape plan of his own. To board his private plane post haste, fly far, far away from Genoa City's contaminated shores to live uneasily every after in lavish luxury on some sea-kissed island thousands of miles beyond the short reach of Genoa City justice. For it seems that from the second Cameron's burning brown eyes beheld Sharon's heavily inebriated beauty that long ago Denver day, he decided she was a trophy he must have for the coveted center spot on his personal mantel. All because her blonde, blue-eyed angelic-ness brought to mind the all-encompassing love of his beloved Mommy. So, if what he stated this week was mostly the truth, as many had suspected, Grace, rather than being the instigator of this diabolical plan, was actually just another pawn in Cam's elaborate game of cruel cat stalks married mouse.

So what will the next move be? While Sharon was playing Detective Darla Dress Up for her Cameron audience of one, her fellow amateur super sleuths, Nick and Michael, were racking up exorbitant charges on the Newman credit card for the latest in miniature high tech recording equipment. Unfortunately, though it is said to be small enough to fit inconspicuously in Sharon's tiny purse, it doesn't appear anyone will have an opportunity to secrete it there. Because Cameron, while obviously lacking in good sense when it comes to his pursuit of and obsession with Sharon, isn't all raging hormones. As evidenced by his immediate denial of Sharon's request for a face to face sad so long to her loved ones, on the grounds that she may rightly use the time to put in place a means to entrap him in his own verbal net.

Citing some prohibition in the law, Weber claimed his hands were tied, leaving him unable to legally assist in wiring and monitoring Sharon for a Get Cameron campaign, although I confess his explanation left me a bit baffled because isn't this exactly the method he used to help Bobby unmask Mr. Lewis and his mob? Oh well, nothing else has made a scrap of sense in this misadventure, why should now be any different? So, be that as it may, it looks like it will be up to Nick to ride in on his snorting white steed and save his damsel in definite distress. What is my wild guess as to how? Well, I'm placing my penny wager on Sharon's cell phone. Perhaps left on for its listeners to catch Cameron's confession. Weber, of course, obviously being one of the listeners. As to Cameron, if the plane actually leaves the ground, I'm guessing he'll parachute out and disappear into the deep blue ocean, his battered body never found, leaving the hatch open of course, for a return visit some time in the future. And when it's all over except for the celebratory shouting, Grace will come ambling out of hiding to fill in enough of the blanks to slip Sharon's slender neck out of the noose. And, until the next smitten suitor comes along to lose his head, his heart and every last morsel of his common sense over Sharon and her incomparable charms, life on the Newman mini-compound can go on as usual. Well, hey, I said it was a wild guess. If you fans have any of your own, I'd welcome reading them.

Well, Sharon wasn't the only Newman woman whose head was spinning in utter confusion during the week. Nikki wasn't faring much better. While Cameron is too obsessed with the object of his desire, Victor is apparently not obsessed enough. As always, his loyalties are divided. The bane of Nikki's existence for more years than she cares to count or remember continues to be Ashley. And if Ashley alone wasn't more than Nikki's insecurities could handle, adding an adorable Abby to the muddle makes it literally more than she can bear. Too bad Nikki can't see that the best way to beat the sperm stealing bimbo at her own game is to join with Victor in his pursuit of his bio baby. Not only would it undoubtedly gall Ashley unbearably to hear her darling daughter constantly singing stepmommy Nikki's praises, Nikki's support would leave no lonely room in Victor's heart to offer to a sympathetic Ashley.

Victor's preoccupation with all things Abby has led Nikki to gaze back nostalgically at a simpler, more carefree time when she was happy to cavort exotically amid raucous catcalls on the Bayou's stage. It has also left her feeling once again a need to be her own woman. A need I thought was fulfilled by investing 35 million dollars of her Victor-gotten gains to help staunch the flow of red ink leaking from Jabot's financial ledgers. But as we all know, her money turned out to be only a Band-Aid, incapable of covering Jabot's gaping financial wound, and when her anti-aging discovery was packed in cartons and placed in cold storage, Jabot ceased to fill her entrepreneurial need. So it's on to other things and one of those is deciding to team with Bobby to bring unparalleled class and elegance to Genoa City, by way of a Cabaret. Having successfully learned from the past, this time she's decided to restrict her investment to personal rather than financial. Just my opinion, but I see delightful days ahead and plenty of chemistry between these two.

Now, on to Victor. After years of rooting for Victor and Nikki, after his latest treatment of her, I'm thinking perhaps he no longer deserves to be Romeo to her Juliet. In fact, his bad behavior has earned him a whole page of black marks from my indelible pen. Usually one of his biggest fans, I have nothing but bitter barbs to lob at him this week. First of all, he can stop anytime with all further mumbled variations of the "how can I turn my back on my bio child" phrase, each one accompanied, of course, by one of several incredulous facial expressions. At Hope's request, turning his back is exactly what he did with Victor Jr. so we all know it's well within his realm of capability. His second set of black marks were for his inexcusably rude treatment to Bobby Marsino, simply for daring to phone the Ranch and ask for Nikki. In contrast, Bobby earned two gold stars and a "you go boy" for his unafraid stance against the Great Victor Newman when he deigned to pay a personal visit to the club to personally enforce his earlier directive to stay away from his wife. Bobby's already proven he's not the boy to be intimidated by Victor's dire threats. I don't know about you all, but it's going to be a blast watching these two butt hard heads. And lastly, I filled the rest of the page with black checks for extending an invite to Phyllis and her manipulative seed to reside in the renovated horse barn without consulting Nikki. May he live to sorely regret it.

Speaking of Daniel, he's definitely a woodchip off the old Mother block. I guess it's true that what goes around really does come back and nip you in the nether regions. Once having extensively used her baby boy to ruin a relationship, her nearly grown son is using himself to foil her fun and love games with Damon. Not that he had to work overly hard to accomplish that. Damon was actually doing a pretty fair job of pushing Phyllis away all by his lonesome. Obviously there is pain in Damon's love past. I had that figured out even before he broke the coffee mug, slumped to the floor and produced that stifled sob/choke thing, which I confess had me giggling helplessly and rewinding just to giggle again. Hopefully we will soon find out what has the outwardly laid-back chemist so churned up inside. I still think it has something to do with a child he may or may not know about, Devon, being the most obvious suspect.

Damon is right about one thing. Daniel is definitely purposely pushing every one of Phyllis' buttons, but in spite of that, I still can't blame him for not wanting to play shack-up with Mommy and her current lover. Obviously Damon's been around for more than 20 minutes, but let's be real, it wasn't a whole lot more than that before Phyllis was moving in, lock, stock and hair dryer. Besides the fact that these two together still do nothing to make my heart pitter patter, it just wasn't believable that someone as private as Damon was supposed to be would so easily allow someone he barely knew to move in and start poking and prodding into all his personal spaces. By contrast, Jack and Phyllis' recent re-connect reminded me of the heat that's always been visible between them, even though I know nothing is likely to come of it any time soon, if ever. If anything, the scribes have probably decided to push her in Victor's direction to further complicate things between Victor and Nikki.

As for the Carlton's, they don't need anyone or anything to complicate things between them. They're doing a fine job all on their own. With not one word of apology to her husband for granting Victor carte blanc access to Abby, mostly without his direct knowledge, Ashley returned to the City full of pretty prattle about her great and all-consuming love for her beleaguered husband and cherished child. Brad's obviously allowed himself to be pushed just about as far as he's going to, and I have my suspicions as to what he's going to do next. I can't wait to see if I'm right.

Well, for those who have wondered for years, we finally know what Chancellor Industries does. It designs and manufactures products for commercial, industrial and retail use. Okay, so we still don't know exactly what they do, but at least we know more than we did. At the moment, though, all we really need to know is that Elliot Hampton has been living pretty darn high on the executorial hog. I just hope he fully enjoyed his luxurious ride aboard the Chancellor gravy train, because if he can't come up with the proper papers to prove he hasn't been misusing Company funds mostly in pursuit of his personal pleasures, it likely won't be long before Jill prepares papers of her own for him to peruse - severance papers. With Jill having occupied herself for so long with maternal, then paternal issues, I had almost forgotten how formidable she could be in the office. It's good to have her back and I'm definitely looking forward to more of the same.

Silly Lily certainly worked my last nerve, and not for the first time. I long ago grew weary of her whines and belly aching for disregarding the warnings of everyone she knew and giving away her most prized possession to someone who didn't earn or deserve it. And for that, in her opinion, he should apparently be banned from the City, if not the entire world, just so she won't have to see him and be reminded of her stupidity. Now, before you start, I'm not glossing over Kevin's part in that fiasco; he was the adult, even though in his case, you must admit the term must be used quite loosely. In terms of mentality, he's probably younger than silly Lily. But as many have stated, it wasn't as if he forced her to chase him down and repeatedly offer her cookies until he snatched them and gobbled them all up. More than likely her first heartbreak won't be the only time she winds up with the short, sharp end of the stick in love. So for the last time, I wish she'd just get over it and move on. And she can take her concern come lately Daddy with her.

J.T. and Mac, getting together at last. While I agree J.T. and CC definitely had their "awww" moments, I side with the minority of fans who sometimes found them too tooth achingly sweet. On top of that I speak only for myself in my biased opinion that the two had little in common. Even though I thought CC's reason for departing Genoa City was haphazardly stitched together and not at all believable given their history, I confess I don't miss the coupling. Yes, CC brought out a side of J.T. that was much easier to take than his bad boy behavior, but in truth, she was the second to do that, Mac was the first. Now, having said all that, it remains to be seen whether any heat can be generated between Mac and J.T.. I thought there was plenty way back when, though at the time Mac was too hung up on Billy for it to have a chance of growing into anything meaningful. But that was then, and this is now, and it's possible too much water may have trickled under this particular bridge, making a charismatic fire unlikely. Besides, the memory of CC may still be too fresh in many fan minds to prevent them from warming to this hook-up. I guess their coming first date should tell the story.

Okay, who does the pampered princess want? Bobby? Raul? J.T.? Or none of the aforementioned? I think J.T. slammed the proverbial nail right on its round shiny head, by guessing she just doesn't like anyone enjoying any boy toy she once played with and tossed aside. And what of Raul's vow not to remove one foot from Genoa City soil until he'd seen for himself the restored perfection of Brittany's face? If he's leaving "tomorrow", does that mean the bandage is finally coming off? Speaking of that bandage, am I the only one who finds it hilarious that it maintains its pristine appearance day after day? Does she change it daily? And if she does, how can she not see whether or not the scar has disappeared? Anyway, in spite of what Brittany says about caring for Raul, in my opinion, the princess is one cold, callous .... character. It's bad enough she dumped Raul for a man twice his age, in the process breaking his heart in a million pieces, but then had the gall to want him at the wedding to watch her say I do. Talk about brutally twisting the blade! If you wonder why I'm not coming down equally hard on Raul for his attempt to flaunt Britt's successor beneath her nose, while I thought it was tacky, it was also relatively harmless, given the fact that Brittany isn't in love with him. At most, all he likely managed to do was place a very tiny pinprick in her enormous ego, but nothing that would cause it to deflate to any discernable degree.

Looks like there will be nothing but fun, fun, fun in the offices to be of Baldwin, Blair & Williams. Why just think of all the possibilities for romantic complications between the three employees and their visitors. Lynn and Chantal will have their hands full.

And lastly, wedding bells will soon be tolling for Katherine Chancellor, soon to be Hendricks. Granting one of my wishes, her answer to the Judge's proposal was a heartfelt yes.

Well, the coming week is bound to be an edge of the sofa one. I'm looking forward to what I hope will be the final chapter in the Cameron Kirsten caper (or at least the next to last), Nikki's reaction to learning the identity of the latest squatter on Newman land, and of course, the next clue in the Ruby Earring Whodunit.