Sadly Jordan Clarke’s drug addiction had him currently off the show and that’s why we have that big lug pretending to be Billy. Bridget had given up her baby to Nadine as planned and Billy had thought it was his kid so when he finally dumped Nadine, he also went after custody of the child and Vanessa and Billy are now raising Peter. Since then the child’s true parents came out which sparked a three sided custody war between Vanessa/Billy and Bridget and Roger Thorpe who as Hart Jessup’s father was the child’s grandfather. This has generated hurt feelings on all sides. Dylan had been friends with Bridget from the beginning and those feelings were deepening, but Vanessa saw this as a betrayal. Bridget was very close with her younger cousin Michelle. Ed and Eve are dating (boo!). Holly is hiding Roger who is suffering from a gun shot wound. He was shot at Mindy-Nick’s engagement party (by Billy who was terrified over what Roger might do to Peter), but Roger doesn’t know who shot him so that’s why he’s worried about trusting people and won’t go to the hospital, he wants to know who shot him first. Roger: “Oh come on Holly where’s your holiday spirit, why don’t you let Ed enjoy the idea of my being dead for as long as he can.”

My Comments: Jordan Clarke had a drug problem in real life and wasn’t in condition to be on the show very sadly. Billy will shortly be found out as having shot Roger, and shipped off to jail for a few years until Jordan Clarke got himself pulled back together and returned to the role.  I loved the Bauer family interaction with Bridget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsfxUR5lnJo (Part 1)

My Comments: Love Holly being competent and handling the situation. I really don’t think Bloss figured out exactly how much they hurt Holly for a long time. I like it when they remember Mindy and Bill are half-siblings they don’t often. I kind of love Ed arguing with his arms full of groceries. I hate Ed-Eve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6bSDg9HWk (Part 2)

My Comments: This was kind of Bridget’s highpoint. Ed is sort of the go to guy in town to if you’ve been secretly shot. Ed: “It always gets back to the same thing. It always gets back to the three of us.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5nG08trqHw (Part 3)

My Comments: Bill tries to buy Michelle with a golfcart. Billy drinking is never good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zwbhJ_viAI (Part 4)

Spauldingfield has a YouTube Channel were they do several things, character profiles, reviews of storylines, etc. The September video is a look back at 1993. A very interesting year, apart from the horrible death of Maureen Reardon Bauer and one of the absolute worst miscasts ever as the new Mindy (who apparently aged a couple of decades while she was gone), lots of great story. Maureen’s Death, Nadine passing off Bridget’s son Peter as her own, Eve going crazy, David Grant’s murder trial, Eleni and Frank’s wedding and Harley and Mallet are just some of the sterling stories from this year. See the year in 18 minutes.

A Season of New Beginnings – Chapter 5 by Robansuefarm

Michelle peeked out into the main ballroom of the country club. The decorations were really beautiful. Strings of white Christmas lights, Christmas trees with gold decorations, and Christmas wreaths filled every corner and cranny of the room. The turnout was great, the room was completely filled. She looked out and right away her eye was drawn to the man she loved more than life itself. Danny was standing on the steps leading up to the stair landing across the room. He looked incredible in his tux with his hair slicked back. Michelle couldn’t help it, she licked her lips and wished away all the people she’d been so pleased to see just a moment before, jealous of having to share him with the crowd and wanting to show him just how much she appreciated him. Reluctantly she drew her eyes away from him before she gave in to the impulse to run over to him and drag him out of the room to first available room with a locking door.

Michelle’s eye next fell on the men standing on the steps beside him, his cousins Ray and Tony. Beyond Tony was her best friend Bill Lewis, but her eye kept being drawn back to Danny. To avoid the temptation, after all it couldn’t possibly be that much longer that she would have to wait now, she drew the crack in between the curtains closed, covering the opening between the small side room and the main ballroom. Michelle turned her back on the curtains. She crossed over the other side of the small room looking closely at all her family and friends gathered there. Everyone looked so elegant, dressed for the Special Occasion. Abby was there at her side. Her cousin Bridget Reardon Lewis had come from Minnesota in honor of such a big night. Bridget’s son little Peter was so cute dressed in his tiny tux. Lizzie Spaulding was wearing a little fluffy dress that made her look like a little princess. A dark haired beauty, Danny’s sister Pilar was there, too. Michelle giggled. She never thought she could feel so happy, so it didn’t take much to make the laughter spring to her lips. This time she had thought that for once it was everyone else’s turn to wear pink as it was the color of every dress in the small side room, besides her own.

Michelle had been right, it hadn’t been long to wait at all. The orchestra was starting to play an instrumental version of “When You Say Nothing at All” the song that had awaken Michelle on the fateful day that she met Danny. Michelle thought the words along to the music, : “It’s amazing how you can speak right to my heart, without saying a word you can light up the dark”. It truly did amaze her that she could count the number of days ago that the love described in the song was an impossible dream, but now it was her reality. Lizzie, experienced at this, grabbed Peter’s hand and propelled him along through the now opened curtains. Next Bridget followed along watching Peter proudly as she walked behind him, just as her husband Dylan was doing from his chair in the ballroom.

Pilar crossed to Michelle as Bridget left and took both her hands in hers. “Buena Suerte, mi hermana. But I’m sure you won’t need it.” Pilar picked up the flowers off the nearby table and followed Bridget out into the main ballroom. Michelle watched her walk straight across the room towards the staircase and thought she was smiling just a little too intently at Bill Lewis. Michelle would have to pump her friend for information on this the next time she saw him. She suspected Bill was holding out on her. Abby gave her hug and quick kiss being very careful not to smudge her makeup. “I love you, sweetie. I’m so glad everything is working out for you. You had us worried for awhile you know.”

Michelle simply beamed at her sister-in-law, the whole funk over Jesse seemed so long ago. She’d wasted all that time, but it had led her to standing here today so she couldn’t really regret it. What, she wondered, would have happened if they hadn’t been assigned to do the decorations together? Just the thought of it sent a shiver down her spine. It really did seem almost as if someone had planned that it turned out that way. Abby was gone now have followed Pilar out from behind the curtains.

Rick, who had entered the room a little while before, crossed to her and took her arm. “Hey, little sister, if you’re having second thoughts, I happen to know several back ways out of this place. Just say the word.”

Michelle lightly punched her joking brother on the arm. “I’m more certain about this than anything else in my whole life, Rick,” she said seriously, meaning every word.

“OK, then, we might as well go.” Rick gave an exaggerated sigh. “Your Sir Galahad is waiting.” Michelle thought it was a darn good thing for Rick that she was feeling so full of love and joy today or she might have had to plan some retaliation for her “humorous” big brother.

Michelle’s thoughts were interrupted by the music changing. Everyone in the ballroom stood up and turned to face the curtained archway. Michelle and Rick both stepped out together with their right foot (Step, together, step, together). Michelle once again mentally added the words to the music, “Here comes the bride…”

Michelle looked around the room. Her eyes played over the right side of the church which was full of mostly dark haired strangers. Most of Danny’s family she knew was in the wedding party, but she was sure she’d be meeting the others soon. Down in the front row sat Abuela Maria. She sat on the aisle end of the row and looked like the cat who swallowed the canary. An identical look was on Aunt Meta’s face as she sat across the aisle from her on the bride’s side.

Looking to her left Michelle saw the rows filled with family and friends. All the people who had supported who growing up were there. There were Phillip and Beth Spaulding with James. There was Holly and Fletcher Reade. Her aunt Hillary Bauer was front and center. There was Vanessa and Billy Lewis beside Mindy and Rusty Shayne. Dozens of family and friends filled every chair. Still Michelle’s heart wrenched that neither Maureen nor Ed were there. Then she found Danny’s eyes and nothing else mattered. She had him. He was missing his father just as much she was she knew, but all she saw in his eyes was understanding, joy, and love. She shone it all back to him.

Michelle’s thoughts played back over the last year. It had been a long time since Michelle didn’t have anything better to do than to count days, but last night, for old times sake, she had done the math. Today was day 562 since Jesse Blue had dumped her for Drew Jacobs. A day she now blessed. If Jesse hadn’t left her, she might never have found Danny, a thought not to be borne. Today, day 372 since she met Danny, was the happiest day she ever had and she was sure day 1860, day 5580, day 18,250 would be even happier. It had been quite a year. After that night locked in the lighthouse together, they had barely been able to stand being apart. There had been challenges, Rick hadn’t been too thrilled that Michelle was serious about anybody let alone someone connected with a mob family. But Michelle stood firm that she would be with Danny and much to Michelle’s surprise she had Aunt Meta’s whole hearted support. Danny proved over the course of the year that he wasn’t going anywhere and he would take care of Michelle, so finally Rick came around. He still wasn’t happy about the match, but he was willing to take part in the wedding which was more than could be said about Carmen.

Carmen had looked at Danny marrying his old girlfriend Teresa as her last chance to gain more influence in the business again. Teresa idolized Carmen and was very open to any of her suggestions. Carmen took the loss of this influence badly, especially when Michelle stood firm with her and supported Danny in whatever he wanted to do. She blamed Michelle for her loss of influence and the animosity she held towards towards “that Bauer girl” was almost palpable. Danny had finally had to move out of Casa Santos and into the Bauer family lighthouse while he waited for the house he was building for himself and Michelle at Laurel Falls to be finished. Even though Michelle and Danny had both sought Carmen out in person and asked her to come to the wedding, she had refused to come and Abuela Maria stood in place of Danny’s parents.

There had been highlights as well. They had held a bonfire and burned her Jesse mementos including that fuzzy blue robe. She had rolled up and stuck in the back of the closet the drawings Jesse had done of her, even though Danny said that Jesse hadn’t done her justice, she thought they might want the drawings someday. He had burned some things that connected with his family’s mob past. They had both felt so much freer and lighter when it was done. Danny had come with Michelle to the Bauer BBQ and Michelle had started to go to Mass with Danny, at least on the major feast days. It made her feel another connection with Maureen who had also been Catholic. Michelle felt that Maureen would approve of this match.

They had “christened” places all over town, but hadn’t been together for a week to make the wedding night very special. Michelle had been on birth control, but she and Danny had discussed it and decided they wanted a family soon and she had gone off the pills after the last time she was with Danny. Her smile grew even wider that the next time they were together they could be creating their new son or daughter.

Danny watched Michelle walk down the aisle towards him on Rick’s arm. He was amazed that every time he saw her she was more beautiful and she was more than that. She was smart. She was kind. She was feisty. He’d never known that he could feel so close to anyone. It was like he had lived most of his life missing part of himself and know he’d found it, found her. And even more remarkable to him, she felt the same way about him.

Danny had been suspicious. It was awfully convenient how they’d gotten locked together in the basement of the lighthouse behind a door that Michelle never remembered sticking before and even more convenient that it was Dietz who discovered them the next morning. It was still more convenient how quickly his Abuela and Michelle’s Aunt Meta had become some great friends, like they had known each other for a long time before he and Michelle met. Also, he really hadn’t bought his Abuela’s explanation that she’d had one of the maids take down all the family photos in her room to dust them between when he left and Michelle’s arrival, but had them all back in place by the next day. “It was the most efficient way to do it!” she’d declared, as Danny cocked an eyebrow at her. But in the end he’d decided to let it go. He’d found Michelle and exactly how didn’t really matter.

Michelle arrived at the steps and she took the last few steps alone to stand by Danny. Danny whispered, “Hola! Mi esposa bonita.” Michelle who had learned a lot more Spanish over the past year, whispered back, “Hola! Mi esposo perfecto.” Together they turned together to face Father Tomas, to find their new beginning. After all, it was the season for them.

Father Tomas began, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together in matrimony Daniel Santos and Berta Michelle Bauer….”

THE END

*Special Occasion – An evil Bill, Manny round robin fanfic with several scenes where Manny makes love, reconnecting after being friends in college and now wanting to be much, much more.

*Buena Suerte, mi hermana. – Good luck, my sister.

*Sir Galahad – what Rick calls Danny in my favorite scene in the Manny fanfic Dark Knight where Danny saves Michelle from both Ben Warren and a drug addiction.

*Step, Together – the way you are supposed to walk down the aisle in a wedding even though most people seem to have forgotten it (Sorry Pet Peeve)

* Hola! Mi esposa bonita. – Hello, my beautiful wife.

*Hola! Mi esposo perfecto. – Hello, my perfect husband. Dialogue from lighthouse scene before Michelle is kidnapped.

NOTE: Well, did I catch anybody? I was trying to make you think it was the charity for the Pediatrics wing and I hoped that it was really a Manny wedding would be a fun surprise. Besides what’s a better Christmas present for a Mannyac than that? I hope you enjoyed my continuation and I hope everyone thinks it measured up the stem I started with. I hope you enjoyed the dropping in of Spanish and of name dropping of other Manny fanfics. I hope that brought back good memories to people who have read them and that those who haven’t please check out my story index and read them. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a terrific holiday season. Oh, in case you couldn’t tell I was having Abby be Michelle’s matron of honor and Ray was Danny’s best man. Lizzie was a flower girl and Peter was a ring bearer. Pilar and Bridget were bridemaids. Tony and Bill were groomsmen.

A great example of this is Harley Cooper, played for most of her run by Beth Ehlers. Harley got a happy ever after send off when she married A.C. Mallet and they both were offered jobs at a police department in Florida. They took the jobs and “moved out of town.” Harley returned a few years later for the 60th anniversary celebration and made such a hit that they came to a deal and she was soon back on a regular basis. The Harlet marriage was broken up off screen to cover for the fact that Mark Derwin (A.C. Mallet) had moved on to another soap. The character of Mallet was later brought back as a recast. Harley moved out of town a second time when Beth Ehlers left for another soap. This time Harley was on the run from both the law and bad memories and moved to Greece.

While “moving out of town” does allow for returns, it is typically more permanent than in real life. Years can go by when a long familiar face is no longer there for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or at a very close loved ones wedding or funeral. It all depends on the ability of the actor or actress to return and the budget and inclination of the TPTB. Sometimes these glaring absences are at least accounted for with a one-sided phone call, letting everyone know why someone isn’t there or at least a mention that they were somehow in touch. Soap fans always appreciate these brief acknowledgments. For example, when Bill Lewis returned to Springfield from Venezuela in a sorry state, Vanessa of course called his best friend Michelle Bauer Santos who had “moved out of town” to California with husband Danny. Vanessa explained that if Hope, Michelle’s daughter, hadn’t been sick Michelle would have been on the next plane which she would have been.

Mindy and Marah Lewis separately moved to Paris, France to design. Bridget Reardon Lewis, Dylan Lewis, and Bridget’s son Peter Jessup moved to Michigan to be closer to a blind school that Dylan attended after he was blinded. Rusty Shayne moved to a ranch near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hawk Shayne for years had a cushy job as caretaker of Cross Creek somewhere in Oklahoma. Mike Bauer got a job with the government and moved to Washington, D.C. Hope Bauer couldn’t bear to live in Springfield anymore after Alan broke her heart and moved to New York City. Nola Reardon Chamberlain and Quint Chamberlain left town to go on one of his many archeological digs. Floyd Parker, Chelsea Reardon, Marcus and Dahlia all left town separately to pursue their various musical careers. Amanda Wexler Spaulding Thorpe and Roger Thorpe moved to California to take over Spaulding’s western division. Several Spaulding family members rotated through Spauldings European divisions over he years.  Finally, Drew Jacobs, Jesse Blue, and Max Nickerson moved to New York City when Jesse got a commission to paint a mural there.

Here’s an example of Drew Jacobs and Max Nickerson “moving out of town” to New York. Jesse had gone on ahead, but it’s a really nice example of Drew and Max saying goodbye and leaving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cly8_r17qKQ&feature=related

It turned out that Dylan hadn’t abandoned Harley. He had been arrested and convicted of armed robbery and had been in jail. So now armed with this new piece of information Dylan and Harley start out to find their daughter and pursue getting custody returned to them. The LeMays had renamed her Susan and when she shows up at Harley’s house as teenager, this is what she calls herself, they only reverted to Daisy with the recast and her second coming to Springfield where she played out pretty much the exact same story as she did the first time with nastier people. Alan-Michael is threatened by this new closeness between Harley and Dylan and with reason. His reaction is out of proportion though and he ends up kidnapping Daisy in order to give her back to Harley. This creates a huge mess and ends up creating the situation he feared most and Harley divorces him. Dylan and Alan-Michael both had to do community service as firemen from the fallout (which actually resulted in some pretty good scenes and was very lucky during the Great 5th Street fire when both men volunteered). Eventually the Lemays move out of state and take Susan/Daisy with them where there is no further contact until she is a teenager.

Dylan’s next surprise comes in the form of half an old baby blanket Reva finds in her things during one of her many moves. She remembers a baby. It starts to come out and she tries to lie about it and say her secret involved being raped, but really the baby was Billy’s and she had sought comfort from him in Josh’s absence sooner than anyone else had realized. She had hidden the baby and Sarah, probably with all her practice from giving away Cassie herself, got the baby placed for adoption. Dylan’s adoptive mother had died and the way he found out left him with severe claustrophobia. His adoptive father reacted poorly to the mother’s death and he became abusive. Dylan started to bond with Reva and then she found his birthmark and discovered he was her son.

http://www.soapcentral.com/gl/whoswho/dylan.php

Dylan had romances with Phillip’s biological sister Samantha Marler and Mallet’s sister Julie. All the while he was a strong friend to Bridget Reardon. Bridget Reardon was by turns obnoxious and a spunky heroine. She was known for causing the Springfield Blackout that trapped Jenna and Michelle in the elevator by turning on every electrical device she owned including her hair dryer during brown out conditions. She wanted Hart, but Hart was in love with Mallet’s younger sister Julie. One night Bridget got Hart drunk and took him to a haystack. They had sex and she conceived Peter. When her plan to get Hart away from Julie didn’t work (yes, Hart was stupid enough to get into the same exact set up TWICE), Bridget made a deal with Nadine. Billy had married Nadine while drunk and stayed with her because Nadine encouraged him to keep drinking. (She really didn’t care that much about Billy, she viewed him as a meal ticket.) When she realized he was getting ready to make a break from her, she faked a pregnancy to keep him. Then she had to produce a baby so she made her deal with Bridget who she hid in the attic for the remainder of her pregnancy. Nadine passed off little Peter as her and Billy’s child, but the truth came out. This broke up Billy and Nadine and eventually to Billy shooting Roger Thorpe to try to keep him away from Peter which led to Billy serving time in jail (a couple years he was off the show– Man, that was a return episode when he came back, he threw himself a party at the country club and you didn’t know it was him until he made his grand entrance, the current scribes should have watched it and taken notes, grumble, grumble). It also led to a nasty custody fight. It ended up in a complicated shared custody arrangement with Vanessa being giving the honorary title of “Peter’s Second Mother.” They all were actively involved in Peter’s rearing, until Bridget took him and left town to marry Dylan and move away from Springfield. Dylan returned to town for family functions a few times over the years, but neither Bridget nor Peter ever returned after leaving. An unpopular Dylan recast returned in 2007 saying that he and Bridget had divorced, but he never caught on with viewers and after Harley left the show, he gradually faded from sight.

Dylan and Bridget were great together. Dylan’s original portrayer once said in an interview that Dylan wasn’t a real guy, he was every woman’s idea of what a guy should be which really depressed me at the time. I wanted a guy as understanding, considerate, and romantic as Dylan. Clearly he was wrong (that ideal would be Danny Santos), but I have to admit Dylan would be a second, not a close second, but a second.

Notice Dylan who will be back sometime before the end. Peter was the biological child of Bridget Reardon and Hart Jessup after she got him drunk and into her bed, well a haystack. After the fallout of a plot of Nadine’s, Billy and Vanessa had custody. Bridget was now trying to fight for custody. Dylan is Billy’s son and that’s why he is currently living in the Lewis household. After being Bridget’s friend for years, Dylan realized he was in love with her. The blonde in the wedding dress is an incredibly miscast Barbara Crampton as Mindy Lewis, who is Dylan’s half-sister. This is her wedding to Nick McHenry, Alexandra Spaulding’s long lost son.

1993 – Events leading up to David being on trial for Vinnie’s murder [Minute 2]

I don’t really remember this storyline much, except that David was good friends with Bridget Reardon who is the redhead who jumps on his back. It is of interest to Mannyacs because it shows that David never should have been so sure Michelle was guilty after this experience being tried for Vinnie’s murder.

1993 – Maureen’s Death [Minute 4:26]

This is a short series of scenes after Maureen is rescued from the crash site and her family is holding vigil while the trauma team works on her. Her doctor is Eve Guthrie (newly recovered from being insane – no really) and Ed is not involved with her at this point although they later get engaged. Vanessa was of course Maureen’s closest friend. Lillian was a former friend, her affair with Ed being the root cause of the accident that took Maureen’s life. The dark haired young man by Vanessa is Alan-Michael with a bad haircut. (He’s Alan and Hope’s son whose naming I compare with Robbie’s in my Hope/Alan – Manny parallel. Anyway that makes him Ed’s great-nephew and he was close to Ed and Maureen once he returned to town.) That’s Nick McHenry who turns Ed around. I don’t really know why he’s there. I don’t remember much of a connection. He was involved with Eve roughly at this point, so that might be why. I think all the reactions just after Eve comes out of Maureen’s room are so REAL. It’s a great scene. It’s ironic that they make a point about organ donation and Ed even specifically mentions Maureen’s heart onscreen, well before Jesse Blue was a gleam in some writer’s eye. Poor Ed. Imagine having to go to work everyday right where your wife died.

1995 – Matt and Vanessa go Public [Minute 7:27]

Here’s one for the Mattesa fans. The people looking shocked on the sidelines are Bridget Reardon again who is Matt’s sister and of course Ross, Vanessa’s old boyfriend and father of her oldest child (Dinah).

1994 – Things Go Wrong at Ed and Eve’s Engagement Party [Minute  8:35]

You see Ed waited almost a year to re-marry. Tears your heart out doesn’t it? That’s Michelle giving the toast at the beginning. Ed gets a glass with alcohol in it (which is why you shouldn’t be serving alcohol at your party Ed or have that stupid wine rack in the Bauer kitchen) and takes a drink for the first time in 13 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc7H6pTv5L8

UPDATE: See this post for a more detailed account and many more clips surrounding Maureen’s Death.

http://glmanny.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/goodbye-maureens-death