Morning has arrived at the Not-So-Merry Murrays. Diane and Marty half-sit/half-lie, untouching, propped against the headboard of the Murray marital bed. Both stare, zombie-like, straight ahead, their faces blank with worry. It's apparent that neither have slept. Diane speaks first, seeking reassurance that Marty's apparent support for Adele's abortion was a heat-of-the-moment reaction. Marty gives her a brief look of exasperation and gets out of bed. Diane persists in her pro-life argument with reference to Adele, saying the girl has got to be made to see sense. Standing at the foot of his bed, Marty remarks briefly to Diane that an abortion is what Adele wants. She's made that perfectly clear, and if it's what his daughter wants, then he reckons she knows what's best for her at this time in her life and he'll support her. As he walks away, Diane shouts after him that Adele doesn't know what she wants, that she's only a fifteen year-old kid.
Bev walks down The Parade from her flat towards her Bar, followed close on her heels by Lance. Bev looks less than pleased - in fact she, too, looks worried. Lance calls after her, wittering happily and informing her that Fred stayed over at his flat last night. In fact, he and Fred were so excited, they almost thought of knocking on Bev's door, but it was late. Bev's makes a surly comment about spending her entire evening with a bottle of red wine for company before she fell asleep from boredom and awoke to find she'd dribbled all over a cushion. Lance obviously hasn't listened to a word she's said and carries on wittering about the wonderful new idea that has just occurred to him and Fred.
Lance reminds Bev of their earlier plan re Operation Bambino - i.e., Bev getting pregnant by Lance to provide Josh with a sibling and Lance with a child. Bev remembers and is less than enthused to do so. Well, Lance continues, there's been a change of plan with regard to that. Only now, instead of Lance making her pregnant, Fred will do so. Bev looks briefly intrigued. Lance witters on, saying that if Fred had a child in this country, there would be no way the Immigration authority would deport him. All Bev had to do was have a baby with Fred and Fred and Lance could be together forever.
Bev looks slightly sick at the thought and - as they've arrived at the door of the Bar - she hastily tells Lance to open up as she has to return back to the flat. It seems she thinks she's left the iron on. As she leaves, Lance remarks that she's a victim of obsessive behaviour and will probably find that the iron is off. (And that's the pot calling the kettle black).
At the Dixons', Mike slowly makes his way backwards down the stairs, as Anthea stands at the bottom holding his crutches. Anthea remarks how much progress Mike has made, when Rachel appears. Rachel offers to take over from Anthea as Anthea has to go out, but Mike refuses Rachel's help as she looks hurt at his refusal.
Back at the Murrays', the family is seated around the breakfast table - well, they are packed cheek-by-jowl along the camera side of the table, all facing the lens like a good TV sitcom family. Marty stands by the kitchen counter. Diane sits very close to Adele. If she got any closer to her, she'd be holding Adele on her lap. Adele looks more miserable than usual - sullen more than anything. In fact, she looks so sullen, she'd make Katie Rogers look blissful. Diane is talking about her favourite subject - the IVF process. It's a wonder her family manage to digest anything, the way she rants non-stop about her bits and what they do to them re the IVF.
Whether she intends to do so or not, it's not a very tactful subject to tackle with Adele in earshot, but hey, this is Diane Murray and NOTHING is going to stop her expostulating about her favourite subject. Today, she's going to have the embryos implanted in her and she's explaining to Antony that the procedure will take about ten minutes. Plank carries on eating his breakfast. As if an afterthought, she notices Adele isn't eating and remarks how peaked she looks.
Adele ignores her and briefly says she isn't hungry. Marty, looking supportively at Adele, remarks that Adele has her exams on her mind. It's all that revision that's making her look tired. Diane says that Adele studies too much and needs a break from that. Adele is short with Diane and tells her that she's OK. Marty, looking pointedly at Diane, says that Adele is right to want to study. It's her FUTURE. She has PLANS for UNIVERSITY (his emphasis on the words).
Antony wants to know more about the IVF procedure. He asks if Diane will have two babies if they are planting more than one embryo. Diane says she hopes not, one would be enough. (I got news for you, sister; sometimes TWO embryos take, sometimes all THREE take. Then YOU will be told by your consultant to selectively ABORT two of these embryos).
Antony asks if the embryos are babies. Adele interjects to say that they are not, that they are just cells in a tube; but the blessed Diane interjects to say that she thinks that they are little babies. Antony says he'll pray for two if that's all right with Diane. Plank has ignored the entire conversation, making a remark to his dad about his job on the Wirral and taking a piece of uneaten toast off Adele's plate. Maybe Plank isn't so stupid after all, if he can tune out Diane's incessant whine.
Anthea has run into Max on The Parade. Max is going out for the evening and is looking for a babysitter. He's asked Anthea, who can't do it; and she's telling him that Rachel is unavailable too, but hinting that Rachel could use the money. Just at that moment, Jacqui crosses the Parade from the direction of the Health Club. Anthea suggest Jacqui babysit for Max, as the girl calls out a greeting. Max scurries off quickly, leaving Jacqui looking humiliated and miserable.
Rachel and Mike, left alone, are indulging in their current favourite pastime of arguing. Rachel asks Mike if he wants a cup of tea and receives a short answer, prompting her to employ the art of sarcasm to remark that at least he's still talking to her. She asks him why he won't open up to her, why he won't let her help him; he asks her why she persists in being disloyal to his father; doesn't she realise that he would have done the same as Ron under the same circumstances? He tells her to stop patronising him and walks away angrily. As she calls despondently after him, he tells her he has a reputation to live up to - in an obvious referral to her 'half-a-man' taunt from last week.
The Murrays are discussing Adele's plight as they prepare to leave for the IVF treatment. Diane remarks how ironic it is that they are planning their NEXT baby when their other baby is wanting to get rid of her. Marty tries to reason with Diane about Adele's situation. He doesn't think it's right to force Adele to do this, as she's so convinced that she doesn't want the child. He points out to Diane that Adele wants to go to university. Singing a different song from the previous week, Diane tells Marty that there's no reason why Adele can't go to university and care for a baby at the same time. She says Adele could go to Liverpool and live at home with them and her child. While she was in classes, they could all pitch in and care for the child. (Er, money, Diane, money ... Or are you advocating a benefits' society?)
Marty sarcastically remarks that that would REALLY be letting Adele spread her wings. She'd be trapped under the same roof as they. He isn't sure this would be such a great idea. Adele may grow to resent the child prohibiting her from doing all the things she would have been able to do if she hadn't had the baby. She could grow to hate it, perhaps even harm it. Diane scoffs at that notion, saying Adele would never do anything like that. Just like they thought Adele would never have sex, quips Marty.
Diane tries a new tack. Suppose Adele has the abortion. Someday she might want to get married and start a family. Marty looks puzzled. Diane now tries to sell him on the idea that if Adele has an abortion, she might be rendered infertile, herself. And what would happen one day if she met someone and wanted to start a family? Diane knows about these things - she's read about them. (Er, actually, Diane, having a baby when your body isn't fully developed can be just as harmful to the reproductive process too. Did you read that?)
She tells Marty that they should encourage Adele to have the baby, telling her that they would both be right there for support, should she need it. Marty is giving this some thought.
Max is in the bar talking to Lance. Actually, Max wants to ask Lance if he'll babysit for him this evening, but Lance is practicing his new hobby of not listening to anyone, rather talking about the wonders of Fred and his love. He's telling Max how awful the Immigration meeting went and how Fred would probably receive his deportation papers. However, Lance isn't worried, because Bev has come up trumps for him, as only Bev can. Max doesn't understand. Lance explains that Bev has agreed to have Fred's baby, so Fred, as the father of a British child, can remain in the U.K. Needless to say, Max is gob-smacked, but he understands that Lance would never be able to live without Fred. (So totally un-Max Farnham, it's unbelieveable). Sensing the gist of their conversation, Bev stands nearby and gazes sadly in their direction.
Max leaves the bar and runs into Jacqui outside. They awkwardly greet each other. Jacqui guesses correctly that Max has been inside to see if Lance could babysit for him this evening. Max tells her she's right and Lance can't actually do the job, but can't come up with a reason why he can't. Jacqui then relents of her own accord, telling Max that IF he asks her nicely, she'll forget the fact that she was bottom of his list of people to ask and she'll babysit the children. Max is grateful. Jacqui asks if he's going on some sort of business meeting (which is odd, as Max is only the maitre d' of the restaurant and JACQUI as administrator should be the one with all the business meetings).
Max replies that he's going on a date - with Abigail, whom Jacqui knows presumably. Jacqui is visibly disappointed.
The Murrays, meanwhile are seated in the hall of the IVF clinic, awaiting the procedure. For the umpteenth time, Diane remarks upon the irony of the situation - the fact that she's desperate to have a child and Adele, who fell pregnant so easily, is not. Marty is still having reservations about encouraging Adele to keep the baby. He remarks that he hasn't slept at all since receiving news of the bombshell. Diane choses to ignore him, instead going on about the fact that she would have loved to be as fertile as Adele. And again, she reiterates the importance of stressing to Adele that her parents will help all they can with the baby, to enable her to get the education she needs. She gives Marty a hopeful look and asks for his reassurance that he will help all he can in encouraging Adele to believe that the family will rally around to help her cope with the baby.
Meanwhile, back at the Murrays', Adele is in her room, revising with Michelle. Actually, they've taken a break from revising and Adele is telling her mate the tale about telling her folks she was pregnant. Michelle is gob-smacked at the fact that Diane slapped Adele. Adele says that the way her dad reacted was totally brilliant, but SHE was really evil. Even so, remarks Michelle, she still can't believe Diane hit Adele. Adele can. After all, says Adele, Diane's not her real mum, is she?
At the Dixons', Rachel is ironing and listening to Anthea relate the tale of Max's unsuccessful search for a babysitter. They then discuss Mike and Rachel tells Anthea about their row and how he ended up walking out on her. Anthea muses that Rachel can't walk out; she's left here with 'all this', meaning the ironing et al. Rachel confides to Anthea that she doesn't even know Mike anymore. He's so angry all the time. And he keeps things from her - she had a right to know about Robbie's threats.
Anthea tries to explain that Mike isn't like that at all - it's a crude attempt at protecting her. He gets the trait from Ron. But Rachel is fed up with being protected. Mandy and Beth did the same, when they killed Trevor, not telling her about his death in order to protect her. She would never forgive them for doing that - killing her father and burying him in the back garden like some animal. Come to think of it, Rachel can't accept what Ron did and she can't fathom either why Mike can't can't see her point of view. She then remarks that the only thing in the world she cares about is Beth (which is not a very good remark to make if you're a married woman). And she understands that Ron felt the need to protect his family, of which Beth is a part. She tells Anthea that she had always felt good about leaving Beth with her and Ron, because she knew that the child would be well cared for; but, thinking about it, perhaps that was why Ron felt the extreme urge to protect the family, knowing that Beth was in the house. She reasons that, perhaps if Beth were not with the Dixons on those occasions, Ron would not have reacted the way he did at all. Anthea soothes her, telling her that none of this is her fault in the least. But she has to try to talk to Mike and to keep trying to communicate with him through all this.
Meantime, Mike is doing some communicating of his own. He sits in Bev's Bar downing a pint. Bev approaches and flops down, exhausted, next to him. It seems she's tired of dealing with the Powells - Leanne is as miserable as sin and Lance is on a permanent high. It can be tiring. She asks Mike how things are going at the Dixon household and Mike pours his problems out to Bev.
He's having a hard time with Rachel at the moment. He feels that she's not giving him any sort of moral support in the dilemma in which Ron finds himself. In fact, both Rachel and Anthea thoroughly disapprove of the course of action Ron took, fail to understand why he did it and are on at him night and day about it. Mike, like his father, feels alienated in his own home. Mike relates to Bev how Rachel is acting as though Ron did a terrible deed - in other words, she is reacting to the moral context of the situation and not the circumstance which provoked it.
Bev recognises this - whilst agreeing that what Ron did was terrible, she acknowledges that she can readily understand the causes which led to Ron's reaction. And she doesn't mince words in saying that the culprit deserved what was coming to him.
Mike tells Bev about Rachel's remark about him being 'half a man' and reveals that this has only heightened his own feeling of inadequacy. He feels that he should be back working now - if he were able to work the bar, Bev wouldn't be so dependent on the Powells. He asks Bev if she would have a word with Rachel and see if she could make her see sense.
Bev praises Rachel to the hilt, saying she's an absolute star and one of the nicest people that she knows. She reminds Mike that most of Rachel's family are either dead or scattered, so the Dixons have offered her the only stability she knows. Mike has to work at his marriage with her and try to understand her viewpoint. Really, she says, he was dead lucky to have her. She also tells him not to worry about Ron. Ron has Mike and Jacqui to support him, as well as half the community who are ready to give him a pat on the back, but Rachel has no one.
Interlude: we see a clinic room, with Diane Murray lying flat on her back and the bottom half of her body draped in a green sheet. Marty is by her side and a masked consultant sits at the foot of the bed with a long flexible tube. She is about to have her embryos implanted. Overhead, there is a television screen, so she and Marty can watch what's happening 'inside'. The pair are emotional and can't help murmuring about the miracle that's occurring.
Bev and Mike continue their heart-to-heart. Mike listens to what Bev says about Rachel's virtues and then asks Bev how her 'husband' is faring. Bev rolls her eyes and says despondently, 'Don't ask'.
She tells Mike that she hardly sees him. She recognises that she's a sucker for a madcap scheme and especially for a lost cause, but she had no idea that marriage to a gay fella would prove to be so lonely for her. And now, she tells Mike, he and Lance have come up with what they reckon to be a fool-proof idea to keep Fred in the country. They want her to get pregnant by Fred. Oh, she admits that a few months ago, it seemed like a good idea, but now she's not so sure. The pair are so wrapped up in each other that she feels that they'd have absolutely no interest in a child at all and Bev would be left literally holding the baby. Mike tells her that if she's uncomfortable with the set-up, she should refuse to do it. She has to think of what's best for her and any potential child. If she goes ahead with the scheme, she's in a mug's game.
Later at the Murrays', Marty passes Adele in the upstairs hall as she's entering her room. Marty asks how the revision is going and Adele tells him that she and Michelle have been quizzing each other. Marty smiles fondly at her and assures her that everything will be all right. As she goes into her room, Adele turns and looks at Marty, telling him that she hates being pregnant and really doesn't want the child.
He enters his own bedroom to find Diane fresh from the shower. She complains that she can still smell the hospital and that she can smell the odour on him. Marty remarks that he's just seen Adele, but Diane continues to talk about the IVF process. (What else is there?) She tells Marty that she knows that in the past few years she hasn't been a very observant Catholic, even admits to turning on the religion when it suits her (hey hey, someone's been reading the Newsgroup again). There were parts of her religion she found extreme - she even rebelled at Brigid taking her along on Pro-Life Anti-Abortion marches when she was younger. But after the hospital today, she can't help but feel that abortion is wrong - and especially wrong for Adele. (Er, Diane, does this mean if all THREE of your embryos are viable, that you will risk damaging the long-term health of all three embryos and not have a 'selective abortion', as your consultant will request?)
Marty listens to her and remarks that if there's a God, He'll see to it that the procedure worked today. But he is clearly uncomfortable about what his wife is saying and what his daughter has said.
Max Farnham props up the bar at Bev's. Lance is tending bar alone, as Quiet Paul appears to have am ear infection. He sees Max and assumes he's been stood up. Max tells him that his date has finished. All the couple could manage was a couple of drinks. Lance wants to know why, but Max only says that their compatibility was wrong. At that moment, Bev enters the bar. She seeks Lance, saying she's been searching for the moment to tell him something all day. Lance is curious and Bev drops the bombshell. She can't go through with her agreement to have a baby with him and Fred. It wouldn't be fair on the child. Now it's Lance's turn to be gob-smacked. He tells Bev that she can't renege, but Bev said she always reserved the right to change her mind and she's done so. She's sorry about Fred, but she can't go through with it. She never imagined being married to a gay guy would be so lonely.
Rachel and Anthea are still discussing Mike. Rachel is still blaming herself for Mike and is worried about the fact that they are in debt (another example of someone reading the NG), but Anthea tells her that she's spent the majority of her life falling in and out of love, mostly out, but she knows that Rachel and Mike have a relationship worth fighting for. But they have to talk. She reminds Rachel of the old saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Rachel reckons that she must have the strength of Geoff Capes.
At that moment, Mike enters the room and remarks jokingly that Rachel will have to get a lot more hairier to rival Geoff Capes. As he appears to be in a good mood, Anthea leaves the two alone to talk. Rachel and Mike sit down. Rachel tells Mike how much she was in love with him at the time of their wedding. She also tells him she admires his loyalty to his dad, but doesn't approve what his dad did. Mike understands at last, but says that he would have done the same thing to protect her and Beth. The two end by admitting that their love for each other is stronger than ever.
At the Murrays'. Michelle and Adele are dressed for bed and getting cups of tea. Diane enters the kitchen and tries to make small talk with Adele, who is giving her the cold shoulder. Diane asks Michelle to take a cup of tea to Steve while she talks with Adele. Diane tries to tell Adele that she's only acting out of concern for her and that she loves her fiercely. Adele wants to know if that's the reason Diane hit her.
Later as Diane and Marty are getting into bed, Diane is rueing the day she slapped Adele. It's as if eight years of loving care and kindness were wiped out in two seconds by a slap across the face. That slap would haunt her forever. If only she could turn back time. Marty is quiet through all this and then tells Diane that he's made his decision regarding Adele. He says that he can make Adele do her homework, he can make her go to school and he can make sure she doesn't go to sleep wearing her 'soggies' (whatever that is), but he can't make his daughter have a baby she doesn't want.
Jacqui Dixon is babysitting for Max and, looking fed up, she switches the television off with the remote. Max enters and takes her by surprise. He's home early from his date. Was anything wrong, she asks. Nothing was wrong with Abigail he says, but she had just one flaw. She wasn't Jacqui. Max then kisses Jacqui tenderly, but Jacqui is sceptical, wanting to know what his game is. Max kisses her tenderly again and Jacqui rushes from the house in confusion.
Summary © 2001 Marion Watts
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001