When Nick comes home to Katie's house, she confronts him about his relationship with Carly. Nick tells Katie that Carly is secretly working at the strip club to help with finances, but Katie informs him that Carly could make much more money as a fashion designer. Nick angrily realizes what Carly must be doing and rushes out to have it out with Carly. Meanwhile, Jack comes home to Carly, exhausted and depressed. Carly starts to give him the information she has about the gambling ring, but Jack is called away by Hal to help with the investigation of Paul's appearance/disappearance. When Nick arrives at Carly's house, he finds the note with the telephone number and is convinces that Carly is working against him.
Paul leaves the Wagon Wheel Motel before Jennifer arrives. Jennifer hysterically calls Hal to tell him that she had spoken to Paul and had arranged to meet him at the motel. Hal arrives, Jack arrives and departs to question Meg, then Barbara arrives. When Barbara spots Paul's disguise, she immediately concludes that James Stenbeck has returned. However, Hal tells Barbara and Jen that Paul is now taking on his father's evil personality. Jennifer asks Barbara to watch the baby while she goes to find Paul. Paul is at the mausoleum, covered in blood.
Mike calls Katie to tell her that he will have to stay away even longer, because of an injury to his brother.
Emily and Henry worry that Dusty might have killed Paul.
Meg drives home to the Snyder farm, where her mother advises her to face up to her mistakes and try to make things right. Jack slips into Meg's car to question her about Paul.
Katie is at Java cancelling wedding arrangements when Nancy comes in and tells her she booked a hall. Katie breaks down and as they talk, she reveals to Nancy that Nick is somehow involved with Carly. Nancy tells Katie all about Carly using her to drug Gwen and warns her to tell Nick to stay away. Katie leaves to tell Nick this information. Meanwhile, Nick is at Carly's house accusing her of working undercover on Jack's behalf. She denies Jack has any involvement and maintains that the number Nick found belongs to one of the girls at the club. He calls her bluff by starting to dial the number, when she stops him he knows he is right and that it has something to do with the case. He tells her he is going to use it to break the case himself and that if she wants Jack to keep his job, she will stay away from him and the Galaxy Club. When he leaves, she tries to retrieve the number off the computer, but it's gone. Back at Katie's house, she is cleaning up Nick's clothes when she finds a tissue with lipstick on it. When she asks Nick about it, he throws it in the trash and storms off. Katie tells him about the incident with Nancy and Gwen. Nick says he doesn't care - he doesn't want to hear Carly's name or set eyes on her ever again.
Jennifer finds Paul wounded at his memorial site. She expresses her conflicted feelings of anger and relief. He explains that he thought she would be better off with him dead, and reveals that he was at the funeral service and saw her in pain so he decided to come back. Jennifer tells him he doesn't deserve her forgiveness. He agrees, but says that if she can't forgive him, neither one of them will ever be free. In her anger, Jennifer discovers Paul's gunshot wound, which he says happened prior to the incident at the Wagon Wheel. She asks him if that means he really did try to kill himself. Before he can answer, Hal comes in with backup and has Paul handcuffed and brought to Memorial.
While this is going on, Jack is at the farm questioning Meg in her car about Paul. He tells her that he knows Paul is alive and that Meg helped him and says he can make her mistakes go away if she just helps him to find Paul. Meg maintains that she knows nothing about Paul and that it's too late to undo what she's done. Her cell phone rings and Jack answers it. It's Emma, wondering why Meg hasn't left town like she said. Jack questions whether Meg is leaving with someone else. Hal calls and tells Jack that they have Paul in custody. He advises him to tell Meg not to leave town, as he will need to bring her in for questioning. Jack tells Meg to talk to Emma and Holden and get some help. He leaves for home. Meg takes her fake passport out and burns it, lest it be found in her car. She pulls off her gloves to reveal blood all over her hands. Shaken, she takes an antiseptic wipe out of her purse and starts trying to wash off the blood.
Back at the Snyder house, Jack comes home and tells Carly that Paul is alive. She immediately jumps on Nick's mistake in declaring him dead and is sure that Hal will fire him. Jack tells her he won't get fired over a little mistake, that he would have to do something unethical or illegal. Carly mulls this over as she starts to think of a new plan.
Barbara meets Jennifer and Hal at Memorial, where Paul is getting much-needed medical attention. Jennifer tells her that she thinks Paul really did try to kill himself, but Hal is skeptical. He leaves to check on the forensics from the hotel. Barbara again mentions James as having possible involvement, but Jennifer tells her they need to accept that Paul did this all himself. She again talks about her conflicting emotions calling Paul sad and twisted but still caring and funny. They both agree they just want the nightmare to be over. Jennifer calls Dusty, but he's not at his hotel so she leaves a message. Jessica comes in to talk to Jennifer about Paul. Jennifer tells her that he will need legal help and when he asks to see her, she sends Jessica in instead. Jessica tries to get information from Paul about what happened at the hotel but all he can talk about is how Jennifer will never forgive him. Outside his room, Hal tells Jennifer that forensic evidence from the hotel shows the majority of the blood is not Paul's but someone else's. Jennifer looks at her phone and wonders where Dusty is.
At the mausoleum, Hal finds Paul's bloody cane. Hal learns a car at Paul's motel is unaccounted for.
Maddie and Casey go to Katie's to give her flower bulbs. Katie's not home, so they let themselves in. They start kissing. Nancy arrives to feed Snickers and finds Maddie and Casey on the floor. Casey says they were looking for his wallet, but his grandmother isn't buying it. Maddie suggests she and Casey feed Snickers, so that Nancy can leave. Nancy says no and sends the teens on their way.
At Java, Will gives Gwen a ring, a plastic ring. They start looking for a Justice of the Peace to marry them, but they have no luck. Maddie and Casey arrive. The newly engaged couple tells Maddie and Casey they want to get married, but they can't find anyone to marry them. Maddie thinks the idea is romantic. Maddie suggests Casey ask his dad about judges who side with teenagers. Casey refuses and leaves. (Casey leaves and finds Tom. He tells Tom he's doing a project for school and asks him for names of judges who help kids who want to get married.) Casey returns and gives Will the name of a judge in Springfield. Casey offers to drive Gwen and Will to Springfield.
Paul wakes to find Emily looking at him. He wonders if she's there to 'finish' him off. She says no; she just wanted to see that he was ok. Emily apologizes. Paul is not angry with her. Everything was his fault. Emily wants them to be a couple again. Paul declines the offer. Emily feels the reason is Meg, which Paul denies. Jessica arrives and wants to know what happened. Paul tells her he shot himself after dumping Emily, but when he survived, he thought he had a second chance to make things right. Jessica asks Emily to leave, which she does. Jessica tells Paul she's not buying his story, but she's more concerned about whom he recently had a fight with. Paul says he doesn't know, because he was attacked from behind.
At the Lake View, Jennifer still can't find Dusty. She learns he left his bag at the hotel and didn't take a limo to the airport. Barbara arrives and tells Jennifer the police found Dusty's car. Hal arrives and asks Jennifer for something with Dusty's DNA on it. She gives him a traveling kit from Dusty's bag. She and Barbara accompany Hal to the police station. Hal gets the results and the blood is Dusty's. Jennifer hurriedly leaves the police station and sobs. Barbara wants to go after Jennifer, but Hal stops her. Barbara wants to tell Will his brother is alive. Hal reminds her Will isn't speaking to her. Barbara corrects him by saying Will isn't speaking to either of them. Hal thinks their situations are different. He doesn't want to hurt Gwen. Hal gets a message to get to the hospital right away
Emily runs into Henry at the Lake View. She tells Henry that Paul has forgiven her, and that Meg only helped Paul for money. Emily thinks she and Paul have gotten a second chance. Henry isn't so sure, but doesn't care because he just wants his money. Emily won't give it to him. She wants him to track Meg, just in case Paul was lying about his relationship with Meg.
Jennifer arrives at Paul's bedside, and yells at him to tell her about Dusty.
While Emily lures Meg down to the lobby so that Henry can search Meg's room for clues about her and Paul's relationship, Jennifer confronts Paul with the evidence she has about his fight with Dusty and demands to know where he is. When Paul indicates he cannot help, Jennifer starts to freak and is pulled out of the room by Hal. Meanwhile Henry finds Dusty's wallet in Meg's room but Meg becomes suspicious of Emily and runs back to her room in time to catch Henry. Henry reveals his discovery but scared Meg threatens to call the cops and pushes them out of her room. She then gathers her things and flees. Meanwhile, Paul is transported to the police station where Jennifer and Barbara follow. When Emily arrives, she is told that Dusty has disappeared and sneaks into Paul's room to ask him what Meg knows about it. At the same time, Meg throws the contents of Dusty's wallet into the river. Lily goes through Rose's old things and is surprised when she appears before her, giving her comforting advice about Jade. Meanwhile, as Luke refuses to discuss Kevin with Jade, Jack sees as Holden puts the fear of God into Kevin about staying away from his son. Jack presses and Holden finally admits he fears his son may be gay. Jade enters to hear Holden talk about what a hard life being gay can be and how he wants to spare Luke that. After Jack leaves, Holden and Jade come to an understanding that they both want what is best for Luke and can help each other make that happen. Meanwhile, off the threat from Holden, Kevin breaks off their friendship, devastating Luke. He breaks down, admits everything is ruined and Jade asks him point blank if he is in love with Kevin.
At the Galaxy Club, Butch fires Carly for discussing the club's business outside of the club, saying a reliable source has told him that's what she's been doing. Carly sees Nick and goes up to him, asking if he's the source; he admits that he is, telling her that paybacks are rough. While Carly is in the back room getting ready to leave, Char comes in and says she's sorry that Carly's been fired because she really likes her. She offers to help Carly by letting her in on some business she does on the side, of escorting some of the guys from the club around, saying some of them have asked if Carly's available for escorting, too. Carly thanks Char but says there's a guy she loves who also loves her and she can't do that to him; Char wants to know if the guy is Nick, since he's obviously nuts about Carly. Carly acts surprised to hear this and tells Char that it's definitely not Nick. Then she asks Char if she could help her out another way, saying there's money in it for her. When Char asks what Carly wants her to do, Carly says, "Be me."
Jade tells Luke that she thinks he's in love with Kevin. Luke eventually admits that he is, saying it all began last summer when they were up at the lake, goofing around, but that he's not sure how Kevin feels and doesn't want to say anything to him about it in case it makes Kevin hate him. Luke also says there's no way that Holden could ever comprehend that Luke might be gay, and that he doesn't want to let him down. Jade tries to convince Luke that he's better off telling Kevin how he feels, in case Kevin has the same feelings, and tells him she'll help cover for him if he needs her to. They hug, and Holden walks in; Luke leaves immediately, and Jade tells Holden that Luke's angry with him for coming down on Kevin so hard. Holden wants to know if Kevin contacted Luke about it, and Jade very smoothly lies and says it was another friend, who'd heard the story from Kevin and called Luke to complain. She tells Holden that Luke is embarrassed that his friends have seen this side of his dad, and she also assures Holden that Luke's not gay and that he should relax about that. Luke returns, and Holden tells him that Jade has told him everything, and that it's okay; he then apologizes for having assumed that Kevin was still trying to contact Luke and tells Luke he should have trusted him. He leaves, and Jade tells Luke what she'd told Holden; Luke thanks her for covering for him again.
Emma drives up and sees Meg throw something (Dusty's wallet) off the bridge. When she asks what it was, Meg becomes defensive and tells her she's better off not knowing. Emma tells her that Jack is on his way to talk to them, and she tells her that Paul has been arrested. Meg tells Emma that she's broken the law and can't talk to Jack or Emma about it; she begs Emma not to tell Jack that she saw Meg throwing something off the bridge. Jack arrives and asks what they're doing on the bridge, and Meg says it's a good place to be alone and think. When Jack asks Emma if she has anything to add to the discussion, she says no. His cell phone rings, and it's Nick, who tells Jack to meet him at Java in 10 minutes, saying it can't wait. Jack leaves, and Meg asks Emma if she wants Meg to end up in jail. Emma asks her if she belongs in jail, and Meg replies that no one belongs there if they can help it. Meg leaves, with Emma correctly guessing that she's going to see Paul at the police station. Meanwhile, Jack meets Nick at Java, where Nick tells Jack he has to tell him something he should have told him a long time ago.
At the police station, Emily has managed to get into the interrogation room where Paul is waiting, and she asks him what happened to Dusty, telling him that she knows that Meg has Dusty's bloody wallet in her possession. Paul convinces Emily that it's not in anyone's best interest to tell Hal anything about Meg and the wallet. Hal walks it and tells Emily to leave, then he goes over the evidence the police have that Dusty was at Paul's motel room and tells Paul to tell him where Dusty is, asking him to have mercy on Jennifer for a change. Paul says he can't do that, and Hal goes to take him to his arraignment.
Jennifer sees Emily at the police station and pleads with her to tell her anything she knows about what happened to Dusty. Emily says she didn't have time to get Paul to tell her anything, but she adds that Paul's not the only one who had reasons to want Dusty out of the picture, and she doesn't think that Paul's the reason Dusty disappeared. Emily leaves and goes to the Lakeview to meet Henry; she tells him that she doesn't think Paul knew about Meg and the wallet, so she thinks Meg's done something to Dusty.
When they come out of the interrogation room, Hal and Paul see Jennifer and Barbara, and Jennifer tells Hal that Emily thinks someone else is involved in Dusty's disappearance. Paul interrupts to say that's wrong, and he tells Jennifer he can't lie to her anymore. He tells her it was him --- that he killed Dusty. Meg, who has just arrived at the station, hides in the shadows and overhears Paul's confession.
