"And my sister's going back to Europe, thank God." "So she'll be out of my life for good." "Now, tell me something, Zach." "Did you find out where Ben Carrington is?" "Australia?" "In a town called" "What?" "Yarraloola?" "Ha, ha." "Oh, what do I want with him?" "Well, you know me, I just want to say hello." "Thanks." "We'll keep in touch." "Bye now." "Well, Mother, I have some good news about the dedication, and possibly some bad news." "Well, good news first." "All right, tomorrow's ceremony will be on TV." "So all of Colorado will know about" "Denver-Carrington and Colbyco's wildlife and conservation programme." "Mm." "That's wonderful, Steven." "And I suppose the bad news has something to do with your father as usual?" "Well, they wanna interview both of you as leaders of the project." "Together." "Me?" "Share the spotlight with Blake Carrington?" "Absolutely not." "That land is a Colbyco holding." " I will not do it." " Mother, the two of you buried the hatchet on this one, and not in one another's backs." "Remember?" "Yes." "Yes." "And Blake was quite cooperative, wasn't he?" " Yes." " Mm." " Then it's okay?" " Yes, I'm positive." "Good." "Thank you." "Bye, darling." "Get me Ben Carrington in Yarraloola, Australia." "No, I don't know how to spell it." "Just get it." "Big blocks of our stock being bought up, huh?" " I wonder why?" " All I know is when." "It happened the last couple of days." " Why wasn't I told about this earlier?" " I just heard about it myself." "I've made some calls, I've talked to the largest stockholders." "They've all been approached about selling shares." "Sounds to me like somebody's planning to take over the company." " You obviously don't know who that is." " Not yet, but I intend to find out." "You do that, Adam." "Do it as quickly as you can." "Nobody is gonna take over Denver-Carrington." "Nobody." "Are you upset about me seeing you at Chris Deegan's party?" "And that I found out from Griff that you are still in the closet." "I want to come out of the closet, Steven." "And I need your advice." "But you're not gonna give it to me, are you?" "It's hard, though, Bart. It's painful." "I don't wanna see you get hurt, but I've gotta tell you, if that's your decision, it's not gonna be easy." "You ready for that?" "No." "No, I..." "I think I need some time." "Well, take all the time you need." "Because it's a lot easier to come out of the closet than it is to get back in." "Alexis thinks I've left." " But here you are in Denver." " Why, Cassie?" " It's Caress now, Blake." "Alexis loathes the name, which makes me love it all the more, of course." "Oh, by the way, if you run into her, you won't tell her that I haven't left, will you?" "What are you up to anyway?" "You didn't come in here just to say hello." "Yes, I did." "I lusted after you before my sister stole you from me." " Did you know that, Blake?" " No, I didn't." "Well, how's that for today's bit of news." "Speaking of which, there are several periodicals, magazines, newspapers in England, France, Germany, you name it, who are hounding me for stories about Alexis." " Really?" " Oh, yes, they're fascinated by her." "The European darling who became an American business tycoon." "You could say I'm a roving reporter." "And who knows, maybe it all goes well, I might even publish it as a book." "But that's, uh, being a bit premature." "Let's get to the point, shall we?" "What do you want from me?" "Information about Alexis?" "Whatever you can contribute, Blake." "For instance," "I'd like to clear up once and for all, and from your side of the story, all that terrible, that incriminating testimony that Alexis gave about you during the Ted Dinard trial." "In other words, you've got a vendetta going against Alexis." "I wouldn't say that." "But the truth is the truth, and it should be told." "Well, those stories, including the Dinard trial, are old hat." "Nobody really is interested in them." " And I can't convince you people are." " Look." "I don't like Alexis any more than you do." "But we're not on the same side on this, Cassie." "Caress." "Is it so difficult to remember, Blake?" " So you're not going to help me?" " Let me put it this way:" "Whatever I have to say about Alexis, I'll say to her face or not at all." "Well, that sounds like my cue to leave." "All right, I shall." "It's rather sad about sisters and brothers, isn't it?" "The way they drift apart." "By the way, whatever became of your brother, Ben?" "We've lost touch." "Considering what happened between you, I'm not surprised." "Goodbye." "Ben?" "Carrington?" " What is it, Jim?" " Ah, your radio's out, Ben." "You're kidding." "Somebody's been trying to get a hold of you on the phone back in town." "You care to tell me who, or should I take my time and guess?" "It's somebody connected with that big bloke in shipping." "What's his name?" "Zach Powers." "Ah." "The times I struck it big, Powers shipped a lot of my oil." "Where was this somebody calling from?" "The States." "Forget it." "Well, you" " You just gonna ignore it?" "Anything that has anything to do with the States," "I left behind me when I came to Australia." "Way behind me." "You're a funny bloke, Ben." "Don't you have family back there?" "Don't you miss them?" "Miss my old man?" "And my brother?" "The only person I miss less than my father is my holier-than-thou brother, Blake." "Darling." "I haven't seen that lovely photograph of your mother in years." " She was beautiful, wasn't she?" " Yes." "I saw another face from the past today." "Alexis' sister." "She asked about my brother, Ben." "Brought back a lot of dark memories." "Blake, what happened between the two of you?" "You've never talked about it." "I'd rather not talk about it." "I never thought I'd say this, but I don't give a damn if he lives or dies." "Tell my pilot we'll be flying to Los Angeles the day after tomorrow." "And then book me a commercial flight to Australia." "And then charter me a private plane to fly to the outback." "That's right." " You're going to Australia?" " People do, you know." "Yes, I'm going as soon as the little tree ceremony is over with." " Why?" " I'm going to find a man." " And who is that?" " It's business, personal business." "You're talking about a 14-hour flight." "Couldn't you just phone him?" "This man appears to be allergic to telephones, but I'll find him." "I'll definitely find him." "Daddy." "Krystle gave me your message." " About Dex and me?" " Yes, about Dex and you." "And what does it mean, "Tell my father I've made my decision"?" "It means that I have." "Amanda, I don't understand what you're doing with your life." "I think you're making a terrible mistake." "Now, the man is too sophisticated for you." "I know it." "He knows it too." "That's not true." "He's strong and he's gentle and I love him." "And I want him, that's all that matters." "You don't know what you want." "Of course it's all not your fault either." "You never had parents to raise you." "You never had a set of values that you learned." "Well, it's a little late now, isn't it?" "I mean, I am what I am." "You are a sweet and wonderful girl and you have your whole life ahead of you." "I know, and Dex is a part of my life." "Amanda, you are a child." "You're wrong." "I am not a child, I'm a woman." "Daddy." "I love you." "But I really think that I am old enough to take the consequences for my own decisions." "Surprise." "Let me guess, let me guess." "It's, uh..." "It's not my birthday." "It's way past graduation." "And as I recall, I think I lost at tennis today." "So why the celebration?" "Well, I think my freedom is cause for celebration, don't you?" "In exactly 90 days, which is more or less 2,100 hours from now, my divorce will be final and I'll be free." "So I've been waiting here wondering how we are gonna spend those 90 days." " Ah." " And nights." "Amanda, I, yi-yi..." " I've just gotten a divorce." " And I'll be getting mine." "Oh, Amanda, maybe Blake is right." "I am older than you." "Well, let's just say I prefer older men." "Especially when the most attractive one happens to be you." "You can forget this and this." "You can forget this whole clause." "Why?" "I wanna know exactly why?" "Because, for one thing, oil spills mean fire and explosion." " And their effect on wildlife" " Wait." "We have provided the best possible protection against oil spill." "Well, best possible is not good enough for me and for the people I work with." "This meeting was a lousy idea, do you know that?" "We never should have considered compromise, because there can't be one." "There could be if you would open your mind." "If those reports don't do anything for you, fine." "Take a look at these." "These will prove to you finally that" "Prove what?" "Who's that?" "A friend of mine." "His name was Luke." " Was?" " Yeah, he died." "I'm sorry." "I'm very sorry." "I loved Luke." "And he showed me that there was nothing to be ashamed of in that." "He made me feel good about myself in a way that I'd wanted all my life." "But we've been through all that, haven't we?" "Look, it's getting late." "Why don't we call it a night, okay?" "Sure." "We've talked about choices and decisions." "I've come to one decision." "I know how I feel about you." " Hello, Blake." " Sammy Jo." "I brought the registration papers for Auntie Krystle's horse." " I had them put a rush on them." " Fine, thank you." "I also wanted to apologise again for everything I've put both of you through." "Look, Sammy Jo, you know I appreciate your helping to save my life." "I told you that." "But I think I've gotta be honest with you too." " You did put your aunt through hell." " Ah." "I know that." "And that's another reason I came here." "I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving." " I'm going away." " Going where?" "Well, I'm not sure." "Probably back to New York." "It's a good place to get lost in." "And right now, I feel like getting lost in a big crowd." "I've caused enough damage here." "I won't bother your family anymore." "Sammy Jo, wait." "Here." "Go on, cry it out." "It's good for you." "Now, about what you were saying a minute ago." "I've given it a lot of thought, Blake." "You know you're gonna be leaving your son." "And Krystle, she's family too." "What you're gonna be doing is running away from people who love you." "You're lucky to have them, Sammy Jo." "Very lucky." " You think I should stay?" " Yes, I do." "All right, you've done some bad things, but that doesn't mean that you can't change." "I've known it to happen." "I'd like to see it happen to you." " What was my dad like?" " Oh, Jackie." "You've asked me about your father a million times." "And I never get tired of hearing about this adventurous dad of mine." "Especially the night he proposed to you on the Italian Riviera." " Santa Margherita, right?" " Ha, ha." "Right." "Am I anything like he was?" "Only when he was being an absolute pest." "Now, would you please go to your room and get dressed?" "I have some business to attend to." "Some very important stuff." "Okay." "Mwah." "I got your message." "You obviously wanna talk about Amanda." "Blake, my personal business is separate from my business business." "We have a contract for me to build the pipeline." "Are you through?" "Because if you are, I want you to know," "I have no intention of discussing you and Amanda." "I've gone over your construction proposals." "Here are my comments." "Let me know what you think by the beginning of the week." "And in the meantime, I'm putting you on notice, Dexter." "What kind of notice?" "You make one mistake in any of those and I'll find a way to break our contract." "And you." "Good luck to us both then." " Dex." "Adam." "Father, this cablegram just came in from Hong Kong." "This crisis with the Chinese comes at exactly the wrong time." "Do you want me to fly out and handle it?" "No, no, no, I'd better do that." "You stand by here in case there's a problem." "Father, about our stock, I haven't been able to learn yet for certain who's been buying these large blocks." "I found out something." "They were bought up in blocks of less than four percent." "Which means they're not required by law to register with the SEC." "Of course, I still don't know who's behind it." "Well, I've been asking around, and one name keeps cropping up." "Colbyco." "Alexis, huh?" "That doesn't surprise me." "She wanted to merge our two companies, I told her to go to hell." "Now she's trying to get in through the back door." "Well, it's not gonna work." "She's in for a big surprise." "By the time I get finished with her, she'll wish she never heard the name Carrington." "Yes, Sammy Jo, I'll tell him." "Goodbye." " Blake, she's so grateful to you." " Good, good, I'm glad to hear that." "Now, if I could only get through to Amanda." "All she wants to do is be with Dexter." "Well, right now she's obsessed with him." "But you can't control her, darling." "She's not used to having a father." "I can damn well try, though." "She may have come into my life a little late, but that doesn't make her any less my daughter." "And mine." "Any child of yours is a child of mine." "So we'll have to find a way to help her together." "Oh, I'm trying, I'm trying very hard." "Yes, but if we challenge her, she'll just be defiant." "Well, what are we supposed to do then?" "Just condone this thing with Dexter?" "No, but we have to be careful what we say to her." "Keep the communication open." "Because I think after a while, she'll be coming to us and asking what she should do." "Well, I hope so." "Oh, while I'm gone, will you keep an eye on Alexis?" " She's up to something." " What is it this time?" "Well, I think that she's trying to take over Denver-Carrington." "Her way of trying to punish me." "Punishing you?" "For what?" "What is it?" "Well, after she divorced Dex, she conjured up this delusion about our going back together again." "About rekindling an old fire, or words to that effect." " Did she really?" " Mm-hm." "And she made kind of an awkward, after-hours pass at me in her office." "Nothing to be disturbed about." "It was one of her more imaginative moments and" "Hey, now, that's what happens when you're married to a good-looking fellow like me." "Oh, one other thing." "We have that land dedication ceremony tomorrow..." "My flight for Hong Kong leaves early tomorrow morning." "Now could you stand in for me?" "Could you take my place there?" "Of course, it would be my pleasure." "And I will keep my eye on Alexis." "Mr. Carrington, who specifically is donating this land?" "This is a completely joint venture between Denver-Carrington and Colbyco." "It's fifty-fifty." "These hors d'oeuvres look fabulous." "You must be sure to have some smoked salmon." "I had it especially flown in from Paris." "Excuse me." "Well, Krystle, I had no idea that you were going to be here." "Neither did I, Alexis, until a while ago." "I don't see Blake." "Don't tell me that you are representing Denver-Carrington." "Heh." "Or are you here as Blake's former stenographer to take little notes, make yourself seem useful." "Mrs. Carrington, Mrs. Colby, we're ready to begin." "Thank you." "And I wanna thank you on behalf of my husband, Blake Carrington." "Unfortunately, he couldn't be with us, but I assure you his heart is here." "Along with his very fervent wish that the quality of life for the people of Colorado will be enhanced by the loving gift of this beautiful park." "Thank you." "It is unfortunate that Mr. Carrington couldn't find the time to join us in these ceremonies today." "But I am very happy to be here representing my company." "And to tell you that Colbyco hopes that this gift will inspire others to give." "And to keep our beautiful state of Colorado vital and unspoiled, thank you very much." " Drink, Dominique?" " No, nothing for me, thank you." "I got your message." "It said it was important." "What is it, Garrett?" " I wanna talk about Jackie." " About Jackie?" "You flew all the way from Los Angeles to talk about Jackie?" "Jackie is my daughter." "I don't have to discuss her with anyone if I don't choose to." "Dominique, I've added it all up." "She could be my daughter too." "Now, Jackie's the exact age she'd be if she were conceived on board that ship." "Isn't she?" "You stopped seeing me from the moment she arrived in Denver." "You wanna keep us apart." "Why?" "Are you so afraid that I'll know the truth?" "Afraid?" "How dare you." "I have never been afraid of anything in my life." "Then why is your hand shaking." "I'm not gonna give it up, Dominique." "It's a part of my life." "And yours too." "And you know it." "Okay, a little closer together, please." "Yeah." "Mrs. Carrington, could you turn this way, please?" " That's it, good." "Okay, just one more shot." "That dig at Blake wasn't necessary, Alexis, and you know it." "All I know is that you were trying to upstage me." "Well, I think that's all." "Thank you." "If you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them." "Yes, I'd like to talk to you, please." "Mrs. Carrington, we'd like a few personal comments from you as well." " Excuse me, I'll be right back." " Okay." "If you've come to apologise, I'm not interested." "That's not what I'm here for, Alexis." "Dexter lnternational is constructing the pipeline." "I'm part of this production, whether you like it or not." "Let's just say that I'm neutral about it." " Excuse me, I'm being photographed." " Alexis." "I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life asking for your forgiveness." "I'm just making it damn clear that nobody, not you, not Blake Carrington, is going to elbow me out of this deal." "Oh, we'll see about that." "You know what I believed?" "That you were finished with my mother." "Well, I was wrong, wasn't I?" "Dex, a friendly warning." "My mother can be like a piranha when she wants to." "Are you so anxious to be chewed up and spat out?" "Amanda, don't worry, I can take care of myself." "Mrs. Carrington, one more shot, please." "Great." "I've been talking to an acquaintance of yours." "And I wonder if you'd verify a few, well, insinuations that she made about you and Mr. Carrington." "I'd be happy to." "Uh, what did this acquaintance insinuate?" "That your marriage is in trouble." "That you and your husband sleep in separate bedrooms." "You have for the past several months." "Really?" "And he would divorce you if it weren't for your baby daughter." "I see." "Well, I'd like to help you, but, uh, I'm happy to say my marriage has never been better." "Really?" " Alexis." " Bye, Krystle." "Mrs. Carrington." "Don't you ever stop trying to screw up Blake's life and mine?" " You know how those reporters are." " I know how you are." "Blake told me about your would-be seduction." "How can you possibly think he could ever be interested in you again?" "Maybe all I really need is just a little more time." "I'm not finished." "Oh!" "Oh, you" "You stupid bitch." "Look what you've done to this outfit.." "I've never seen you looking better." "And by the way, Blake's mine." "And you're never gonna have him." "I don't want him." "You can keep him." "I know it's late, but do you mind if I come in?" "No, of course not." "Come on in." "You look beat." "Heavy day?" "No." "As a matter of fact, I didn't go to the office toady." "I went for a drive out in the mountains." "To think." " You came here to tell me that?" " I need your help, Steven." "The decision's got to be your own, Bart." "I know." "I know." "I was engaged once." "The wedding was suppose to be in January." "But the summer before I went bumming around Europe with an old college roommate of mine." "We'd been friends up until then." " Then what?" " We became lovers." "The wedding was called off." "I made some lame excuse about not being ready for responsibilities, not being ready for children." "I lied to her." "The same way I've lied to everybody my whole life." "Why are you telling me this?" "You're the first person I really feel close to." ""And Fallmont broke off his engagement because he was having an affair with his roommate."" " A man." " That's right, Mr. Carrington." "They were lovers." " And I can substantiate that." " Good work." "Very good." "Hello." "Whoever you are, hand me that towel out there, will you?" "Pleasure." "Who the hell are you, lady?" " Alexis?" " Ha, ha." "Yes." "Well, well, haven't you filled out beautifully." " You are here alone?" " Oh, yes." "Yes, I asked at your digs and they told me that you were out in the field for a few days." "I read a while back that you and Blake have a terrific divorce." " When did it happen?" " Oh, a long time ago." "What about you, are you divorced?" "Married?" "Well, let's see." "I think is was four times, or maybe five." "A few kids roaming around somewhere, give or take." "No, Alexis." "I got close to domesticity a few times, but, well, it never took." "So, what brings you to Australia?" "Aside from a burning desire to actually see a kangaroo?" "I've already seen three." "They're adorable." "I've come to talk to you about Blake." " What about him?" " I'm going to destroy him." "And I want you to help me." "Alexis, there's nothing I'd like more." "But I have a life here." "I don't wanna leave this for some scheme of yours." "I've been asking questions in town about you, Ben." "They tell me that fortune's blown hot and cold for you." "A wildcatter's roller coaster." " So?" " So now it's very cold." "You've got a dry well, you've got a third mortgage." "So how does $125 million sound to you?" "It sounds like $125 million." " For doing what?" " For coming back to Denver with me." "Alexis, I've had nothing but bad memories from Denver." "And I don't care about the money." "So I'll stay here, thanks." "Ben, care about it or not, that money belongs to you." "Blake has pushed you around, he's punished you." "But if you're half the man that you used to be, you won't let him get away with it." "Alexis, am I supposed to be impressed by the titbits you've brought?" "Is it supposed to make me thirsty and hungry for all that money?" "If titillating your appetite is going to make discussing business more pleasurable, why not?" "You discussed business, Alexis." "All I did was listen." " What are you really here for?" " Oh, Ben, there's no catch." "That money is rightfully yours." "It's part of your father's estate." "All you have to do is claim it." "My father's estate?" " So Tom's dead?" " Yes." "I was at his bedside in Sumatra." "He went peacefully." "And obviously not in his right mind leaving anything to me." "Oh, he didn't." "His estate, his $500 million estate, was divided equally between Blake, myself and Dominique Deveraux." " Oh, you didn't know about that." " No." "Who is Dominique Deveraux?" "She is your father's illegitimate daughter." "It's quite a story." "I'll tell you about it sometime." "That sounds like Tom." "But right now, I wanna hear how I'm involved in any of this if I'm not mentioned in the will." "We're going to fight it." "And with my help, you are going to win what's yours." "With your help?" "Blake doesn't need the money." "Why should you be left with nothing?" "You know this would mean that you lose 42 million of your share." "It would be worth a hundred times that to get back at Blake." "Not too fond of my big brother these days, are you, Alexis?" "I despise him." "I despise everything he's done." "And the way he's always treated you." "You may not have known, but I want you to know it now," "I've always been on your side." "That still isn't what brought you here." "I mean, you've had 20 years to deliver that message." "True." "But I never really had the chance to make the trip worthwhile." "Pragmatically speaking." "The chance for us to get to Blake." "I don't know." "This is a big surprise to me." "Why don't I sleep on it?" "All right." "And when you wake up, call me at my hotel and we'll go to Denver together." "And you'll help me destroy Blake Carrington." "Bye, Ben." " A very dry martini." " Wonderful." "Well, I'd say your digs beat my digs, by a hair." "To our brilliant future." "And there's nothing that's going to stop us from destroying Blake Carrington." "Blake Carrington, Denver-Carrington, the works." "We'll take it all." "So are you really glad that you came back here?" "I am, Alexis." "In a way I guess I've delayed this trip long enough." "How lovely." "I adore get-togethers." "Cassie." "Uh-uh." "Caress, remember?" "Whatever it is that you call yourself these days, what are you doing here?" "I thought you were going back to Europe." "No, my darling." "I've decided to stay in Denver." "Oh." "Well, where are you going to live?" "Why, here, Alexis." "With my sister." "I've moved in, I'm home." "Ben, what a coincidence." "I've been thinking about you recently." "What have you been doing all these years?" "A little bit of this, a very little bit of that." " Yes, but where?" " Down under." "Oh, Australia." "I've always longed to go." "Maybe you should." "Someday, Alexis." "Someday." "Well, what a delicious reunion this is going to be for all of us." "There'll be no reunion, Cassie." "You're leaving." "Yes, of course, darling, eventually." "But there's no rush, is there?" "Ben, I'm sure you want to freshen up after the travel." "Um, Lin's downstairs, he'll show you your suite." "I was just about to ask, "And where should I freshen up?"" " See you both in a while." " Yes." " I want you out of here." " Do you now?" " Well, I'm not going." " Oh, yes, you are." "And if I have to have you thrown out, I will." "Sorry, Alexis." "But I'm staying." "You're not." "I don't owe you a place to stay, Cassie." "No, of course you don't, darling." "You gave me a place to stay for five ugly years." "But I'm gonna be here for a lot longer than that." "You do owe me, Alexis, and you know it." "All I know is that I always deal with my enemies." "Ex-husbands, sisters, you name it." "And ever since we were children, Cassie darling, I always won." "Always."