Episode Theme song: "The Lightning" Arcade Fire

Previously on One Day at a Time
- Jacob told Max and Isabelle that Cassie left town. Isabelle realized her blackmail scheme worked
- Dawn saw a close moment between Cheresa and Chantel and felt jealous
- Penny and Cory shared a kiss while his family spent his birthday together
- Tyler and Meggan made love after he told her about Frederick's "death"
- Eva was thrilled that Stephanie claimed she thought Dominick could wake from his coma
- Leah warned Ethan to stay away from Abby

Dominick's Townhouse

"Thank you all for meeting me this afternoon," Eva announces to Leah, Tyler, and Robin as Dominick's children stand by the bar while Eva pours them some coffee. As she hands out the cups, Eva looks at each of them with some excitement in her eyes. She can't help but recall how she met with Stephanie earlier in the day, and the specialist told her that after her first session with Dominick, she still believes that she can pull him out of his coma.

"We were anxious to hear your update on our father," Robin replies to her before she takes a sip of her coffee.

"Have you heard from Dad's new specialist?" Leah asks Eva next quickly, still wondering how things are going at the hospital.

"I just came from a meeting with Stephanie, as a matter of fact," Eva reveals to them.

"And? What did she say?" Tyler asks her.

"She and Will had their first session with Dominick," Eva replies to her husband's children. "And she remains hopeful that she will be able to bring Dominick out of his coma. She believes it is only a matter of time before Dominick is awake."

"This is the most incredible news!" Robin smiles back to her as Leah and Tyler embrace one another. "To think that Dad could wake up, it's more than what we could have hoped for!"

"I couldn't agree more," Eva chuckles back to her. "I will keep you all posted on the progress, and in the meantime, please don't forget to send me the vocal recordings so Stephanie can continue her therapy with Dominick."

The Pink Flamingo at the River Rock Casino

Dawn picks up her margarita and takes a sip of it while she watches Cheresa, who is sitting across from her, type a text message into her IPhone. Dawn knows that Cheresa is texting Chantel some information on the file room reorganization at the hospital. Dawn can't help but think back to showing up at the hospital to take Cheresa to lunch, and she witness a close moment between her girlfriend and Chantel. In the pit of her stomach, Dawn couldn't help but feel jealous at the sight.

"Sorry about that," Cheresa tells her girlfriend as she puts her phone down on the table. "Chantel was just asking me about some of the files that she was working on, but you have my devoted attention the rest of our lunch."

Dawn chuckles back to her. "It's all good," she says back to her. "How is the project going, by the way?"

"Oh, it's going very well," Cheresa nods back to Dawn. "We still have a lot of work to do, but Chantel and Bryce, they are great to work with."

Dawn forces a smile on her face. "I'm really happy to hear that," she tells her girlfriend. I am glad that this is working out for you, Cheresa. You really needed this."

"I did," Cheresa winks back to her. "But I also needed this lunch with my girlfriend, the most beautiful woman in the world."

"I'll drink to that," Dawn chuckles as she picks up her glass and toasts Cheresa, still unable to get the vision of Cheresa and Chantel out of her mind.

***

At another table, Abby and Ethan sit across from one another with some crab cakes on the table. Abby looks over and sees Cheresa and Dawn together.

"Before I go, I should say hi to my sister," Abby tells her friend. "What's going on with you?"

Ethan sighs back to her before he takes a bite of one of the crab cakes as he thinks about how Leah approached him earlier and told him to stay away from the woman sitting across from him. He finishes swallowing before he looks at Abby with uneasily look on his face.

"What's wrong? The crab cake wasn't good?" Abby asks him as he takes a sip of her wine.

"No, they are great," Ethan replies to her. "I…I, uh, I had a visitor earlier today."

"Who was it?"

"Leah, er, my mother," Ethan admits to her. "She came up to me while I was waiting for you."

"Did she make you feel uncomfortable again by pressuring you?" Abby asks him quickly.

"No, she was pretty chill about that," Ethan replies to her. "But she did see us the other day; she saw us kissing."

"Oh God," Abby groans back to him. "Let me guess, she wants you to stay away from me?"

Ethan chuckles back to her. "You nailed it," he tells her. "She warned me that you're trouble."

"Like mother, like daughter," Abby rolls her eyes to him. "Leah and Paige, they have hated me since I got together with Dominick. I guess the question is, Ethan, what are you going to do now? Are you going to listen to your mom and stay away from me?"

The Cascade Apartments; Max's Home

Max opens the door to the apartment that he lives in with Cassie and Carter and quickly slams it behind him. His mind is racing over the fact that Jacob revealed to him and Isabelle that Cassie and Carter have left town; he hasn't heard from his mother in a few days, and he was away briefly on a business trip, so he hasn't been around to know if this is true or not.

"Mom?" he calls out to the empty space as he moves to Cassie's bedroom door and opens it. The room has been cleared out of all of Cassie's belongings, leaving Max to realize that it's true: she has left town.

"So, it's true," he whispers to himself. "You left town with Carter? But why? Why would you leave when you were so focused on getting back together with Jacob?"

He moves back to the living room quickly and grabs his cell phone. He dials Cassie's phone number and waits for her to answer. "Damnit, straight to voicemail," he says while he listens to Cassie's voice greeting. "Mom, it's me. Where the hell are you? And why didn't you tell me you were leaving town? Call me back as soon as possible!"

Roboto

"How do you think Max took the news about Cassie leaving town?" Isabelle asks Jacob as she pours herself a glass of water at the bar in the main office of Roboto. Just earlier in the day, Jacob revealed to Max, and Isabelle, that Cassie has left town. Little do the know, Isabelle blackmailed Cassie into leaving town. Isabelle threatened to say that Cassie pushed her down the stairs at the Calimo mansion, which resulted in her miscarriage if Cassie didn't leave town. Knowing Cassie's sorted history, Isabelle knew that everyone would believe her, and that's why Cassie left town.

Jacob shrugs his shoulders. "To be honest, I don't care how Max took the news," he chuckles thinking about he and Max have never gotten along. "I just wanted him to hear it from me."

"That's fair," Isabelle looks back at him. "Do you remember a few days ago when you asked me what happened the night of the miscarriage?"

"I do," Jacob nods back to her. "You said it was too fresh to talk about."

"It was," Isabelle looks back into his eyes. "But I am ready to tell you what happened now."

Jacob grabs her hand and smiles to her. "It's okay, you don't have too if you don't want too."

"No, I want you to know," Isabelle tells him. "You deserve to know what happened with our child."

"I appreciate that."

"Cassie and I," Isabelle starts to tell him. "We were having some heated words, and I went to go upstairs, I didn't want to fight with her anymore."

"Okay."

"And that's when I tripped and I fell down the stairs," Isabelle looks at him. "The fall, it knocked me unconscious, and Cassie called 9-1-1, that's what happened."

Jacob pulls her into a hug and holds her close to him. "Thanks for telling me," he holds her. "This was all just a horrible accident. A horrible, horrible accident."

The Victors Mansion

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lukas asks Meggan as they step out of his Porsche and look at the large Victors mansion. They agreed to come to the mansion because they are still reeling from the news that Frederick died in a fire at Raven's Meadow. They still can't believe that Tyler confirmed that Frederick and Felicia would have perished in the flames that took down the hospital.

"This is where Dad was hiding the last time we all thought he was dead," Meggan reminds him. "If Dad, somehow, did survive, he would be here, right?"

Lukas shrugs back to her. "I have no idea," he admits to his sister. "I don't know if we should even think that Dad is alive?"

"I am not saying he's alive," Meggan replies to him quickly. "I'm just saying, we might find something here that can help us get some closure, you know?"

"Okay, okay," Lukas tells her as he grabs her hand and squeezes it. "Let's go see if we can find some closure."

The Calimo Mansion

"Today was nice, don't you think?" Natasha asks Sophie as she pours a glass of wine for herself and her daughter at the bar in the living room of the Calimo mansion. She knows that she, Sophie, and Robin spent the afternoon together to celebrate Cory's birthday, which turned out to be a delightful afternoon.

"It was really great," Sophie tells her mother, who passes her the glass of wine. "I am glad that you and Robin were receptive to the idea of spending Dad's birthday together."

"Of course we were," Natasha sits across from her. "We know how much losing Cory has impacted you, it has impacted all of us. It was a really great idea, Sophie."

"Thanks Mom."

"I know that you and I haven't been seeing eye to eye lately," Natasha looks at Sophie. "But I want you to know that I love you and I am really proud of you for putting together our afternoon. You really are a wonderful young woman."

Sophie feels her eyes swell with water before she moves over and hugs her mother. "Thanks Mom, I needed to hear that from you today. And for the record, I love you too. Very much."

The River Rock Casino

Robin opens the door to Antonio's office and moves inside quickly feeling like she is on cloud nine after the meeting with Eva earlier in the day. She can't believe that Dominick might, finally, come out of his coma. On top of that, she had a wonderful afternoon with Natasha and Sophie as they spent Cory's birthday together.

"My beauty, what brings you by?" Antonio asks as he stands up from his desk and moves closer to his lover. He gives her a kiss on the lips when he reaches her.

"I've just had a great day and wanted to come see you," Robin admits to him.

"Really? What made today so wonderful?" he asks her as he pours them each a vodka soda from his bar.

"Well, it started by spending the day with Natasha and Sophie," Robin reveals to him as she accepts the drink. "Today, it is Cory's birthday and Sophie had the idea that we could spend it together."

"Ah," Antonio nods back to her, still feeling grateful that his plan to remove Cory from everyone's life worked like a charm. "How was that?"

"It was really sweet and touching," Robin admits to him. "I think it has upset Sophie to see me, and Natasha, move on, but she is starting to realize that life goes on."

"That it does," Antonio agrees with her. "And I'm glad that you've agreed to move on with me."

"Me too," she purses her lips together before she leans up and kisses him passionately.

"A kiss like that could get me in trouble," he chuckles as their lips part ways.

"Then lock your office door?" she suggests to him as lust fills her eyes.

"You're a bad girl," he continues to chuckle as he moves to the door and locks it. He turns and sees Robin sit on the edge of his desk. As he moves towards her, he takes his jacket off and starts unbuttoning his shirt, his lips touching hers as soon as he reaches her again while Robin starts to unbutton his pants.

Penny's Farmhouse; Holdenville, Oklahoma

Another loud thunder bolt crashes outside of Penny's farmhouse as the rainstorm continues, while Cory and Penny continue to kiss one another as they sit in front of the fire that Cory built to help keep them warm during the storm.

Penny finally breaks away from the kiss and tries to catch her breath. "Cory…" she gasps as she moves back form him. "We…we can't do this…I'm…I'm engaged to Gordy."

"Yea, I know," Cory shakes his head back to her. "I'm…I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me, especially since Gordy and I just got to a good place."

"Exactly," Penny looks back at him with lust in her eyes. "That…that being said…wow, you know how to kiss a woman."

Cory chuckles back to her. "I take it you liked it then?"

"Uh, yea, I did."

Cory leans into her and kisses her again, as more thunder crashes outside. "I liked it too," he says as lightning flashes the sky, which causes him to look deeper into her eyes.

Suddenly, Cory leans back and shuts his eyes. Memories of his past life start racing in his mind, over and over and over again. He falls back, stunned by what is happening.

"Cory?" a concerned Penny asks him as she puts her hand on his shoulder. "Cory? What's wrong? What's happened?"

Cory opens his eyes and takes a deep breath as he looks into Penny's eyes. "I…I… I remember. I remember everything."

Next on One Day at a Time
- Sophie confides in Max
- Will confesses to Eva
- Chris and Trenyce get support