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Natalie confronts Marty about why Marty’s carrying around Liam’s paternity test results. Marty’s cryptic, so Natalie snatches the records from Marty’s bag. She furiously and unwittingly tears up the evidence that her baby really is John’s, but we see that Gigi, after swiping what she believes is the tape from Shane’s shrink visit, now holds the secret. John goes to talk to Dr. Buhari about Marty, but Dr. Buhari trumps him and then pulls back. John, tweaked, accepts Marty’s previous invitation to dinner, hoping to find out more. Because Jack filed a complaint against Rex, Brody is forced to question him. Starr’s thrilled when James tells Deanna that Ford loaned him the money for Deanna to leave town. Deanna doesn’t like it one bit. Deanna reveals to James that the reason she broke up with him is because his father forced her to. Blair overhears Tomas and Calmar. Blair looks forward to her date with Tomas. Rama and Cristian grow a little closer.

Niki drops in on Echo just to see her squirm, as Niki is holding a certain audiotape confession over Echo. Echo tries to nab the tape from Niki, but the pair is interrupted by Charlie’s arrival.  Niki makes her getaway and Echo is left jarred by the experience, worried that the tape may surface at any moment, thus destroying her relationship with Charlie. Tess and Ford prepare for the outcome of their custody suit. Tess confides in Ford how her attack on Viki enabled Niki’s appearance and the subsequent hatching of the plan to win Ryder. But Tess and Ford are uneasy as the hour grows late and Niki has yet to make her entrance. Joey and Natalie visit a sedated Clint. Joey learns of Natalie’s run-in last night with Tess and a Nikily-dressed Viki. Joey and Natalie confront Ford and Tess about the possibility that Niki is back. Cutter tells Aubrey that Kelly knows everything but told him she won’t out them. Cutter and Aubrey voice doubts about the other’s commitment to the plan, in light of perceived feelings for Tess and Joey. Cutter suggests that they have been presented with a solution to one of their problems: Why not help Clint (defenseless after his heart attack) into an early grave? Aubrey flat out refuses, but Cutter hasn’t abandoned the idea. Starr confesses to Blair her misgivings about Deanna. Deanna explains that she’s always been in love with James but was forced to abandon him when she made a deal with the devil. Now she’s back in Llanview hoping to rekindle her romance with James.

Joey and Natalie want to know if Viki is Niki as the fight for Ryder’s custody is decided. Ford and Tess don’t want Niki revealed. Niki takes the stand and says she’s giving up the fight for custody. Meanwhile, inside Viki’s mind, the struggle for dominance plays out between Jean and Viki. Viki wants Jean to release her but Jean tells her she’s only as strong as Viki herself. At one point Jean takes over in the courtroom and seems to advocate for Viki to take custody, but her effort fails. Viki passes out, overwhelmed and exhausted. Natalie and Joey panic and an ambulance is called. They summon Viki back, reminding her of her strength and importance. Jean convinces Niki that if Viki dies, so do they. Even Niki urges Viki not to give up without a fight. Ultimately Viki wakes up and she’s Viki. Despite Viki’s recovery, the appearance of her alters leads the judge to deny her bid for custody of Ryder. Tess and Ford’s celebration is brief, however, when the judge finds them unfit parents and intends to place their son in foster care. To everyone’s surprise, Aubrey convinces the judge to let her and Joey take temporary custody of the baby. Kelly prepares dinner for John, only to learn that John is cancelling their date to have dinner with Marty. He explains that it’s a fact-finding mission during which he hopes to determine Marty’s real mental state and to learn what she meant by her threats against Kelly and her cryptic comments about her role in his breakup with Natalie. Before John leaves for his date with Marty, Kelly gives him the encrypted document she found hidden in Todd’s office. Marty happily awaits John’s arrival for dinner and is visited by troubled Dr. Buhari, who urges her to tell John he’s Liam’s father. Marty refuses and at John walks in on an argument that has him at its center. Rex admits to Gigi that he was, in fact, behind Jack’s beating. Gigi confesses to her own crime, having taken the tape of Shane’s private psychiatric session from Buhari’s receptionist’s desk. Gigi and Rex prepare to listen to the tape, unaware that it isn’t Shane’s recording, but Marty’s, on which Marty confesses to having switched Liam’s paternity records. Cutter and Aubrey continue to clash over her growing feelings for Joey. Dorian arrives to visit Clint and warns Cutter and Aubrey she’ll tell Joey the truth about their scam as soon as possible. After Aubrey leaves, Clint wakes up and talks to Dorian privately, blasting her for causing the severity of his condition by her refusal to get him help. Cutter overhears and at tells Dorian she’s going to keep his relationship with Aubrey to herself or the world will know she nearly killed Clint Buchanan.

Marty covers to John, complaining that Dr. Buhari accused her of stealing the tape from her session. After Buhari goes, John plays along with Marty on their “date,” trying to find out what she’s hiding. She admits she has a confession to make, but before she tells him, she kisses him. Gigi and Rex are about to listen to the tape they believe is Shane’s but is really Marty’s and Natalie interrupts. When they tell her what they were doing, Natalie offers to help them out. Starr’s stunned to find Deanna still with James. They tell her Deanna’s story about why she broke things off with James. Deanna reveals that she’s staying in Llanview. Dani tells Tea about the syringe she and Nate found in Todd’s room. Tea reveals that she was suspicious of Tomas but isn’t anymore. Tea is starting to lose hope about Todd, but she regains it. Blair and Tomas have their date. Tomas ends up disabusing her of the idea that she’ll find something out from him about whether he shot Todd and they kiss. Nate’s upset because Dani is mad at him for suspecting Tomas when they found the needle. Shaun reveals his misgivings about Tomas.