Episode Theme song: "A-Yo" Lady Gaga

Previously on One Day at a Time
- After questioning all of the suspects in Frederick's murder, Simona Lopez placed Chris as her top suspect after Andrew confirmed that he heard Chris threaten Frederick prior to Frederick's shooting last November
- Dawn called Adam & Helen on New Year's Eve. Later, Dawn told Cassie in therapy she was struggling with something
- Cory told Natasha to let Shane lead his own life after she revealed her horror about Shane and Cassie sharing a kiss
- Eva tried to shake off Dominick's worry about the note Simona found in Frederick's office saying "Eva knows"
- Kim told Tyler that their night together on New Year's Eve ended his threat of telling Bob the truth about the facial cream

Scene One - Chris' Townhouse

Chris takes a deep breath as walks through his living room and up to the mantel that is above the fire place. His mind is racing about his question period with Simona Lopez regarding Frederick's shooting last November and murder on New Year's Eve. Chris can't believe that he actually may be a suspect in this death; he knows that he didn't shoot Frederick or kill him; however, his actions could prove to show otherwise. The good news, in Chris' mind, is that no one knows that he threatened to kill Frederick shortly before his death because that would be the worst case for him since it would give him even more of a motive. He just has to stay calm, and this will blow over soon, he tells himself.

"If only I hadn't been so angry," he whispers to himself. "I just couldn't help myself, not after everything that Frederick did to me and Trenyce in our attempts to trying to find out child and turning Andrew against us. He deserved what he got. But," he scolds himself. "I have to stop saying that. No one can know how I actually feel. It will just make me look guilty."

He looks at the mantel and grabs a vase that is on display. He takes the top off of the vase and pulls out his gun, which is where he keeps his weapon. "I know I told Lopez that I was at the shooting range on New Year's," he whispers to himself, as he looks at his gun. "But I should get rid of this guy. I can tell her that I didn't want it after the shooting. It's just not smart for me to be caught with a gun anymore."

He puts the vase down and quickly walks into his kitchen and drops the gun in the trash can. He ties the black bag closed and is about to walk out the back door, when he hears his front door bell ring. He rushes over to the door, still carrying the garbage bag in his other hand.

"Chris Michaels," Simona Lopez gives him a quick smile on the other side of the door. "Just the man I wanted to see."

"What are you doing here?" he asks her, as he tries to hide the garbage bag from her. Her timing couldn't be worse, he realizes.

"I have a warrant to search your property. You have some time, don't you?" she asks him as she moves into the house, as Chris gulps heavily, knowing he will be in hot water if she funds the gun in the trash bag that he is holding.

Scene Two - The Sugarbowl

"Thanks for the coffee," Cassie smiles over to Shane, before she puts the lid on her cup and then takes a sip of it. "We haven't exactly seen a lot of one another lately."

"That's exactly why I wanted to have coffee with you today," he replies to her, as he looks into her eyes. He hasn't really been able to stop thinking about the kiss that they shared on New Year's Eve but he isn't sure of how she is feeling about it. He knows that they have a long and very sorted history, but Cassie has changed in his mind. She's not the same woman that was so many years ago. Still, he feels like he has to tread very carefully moving forward.

She purses her lips together. "Well, just so you know, I ran into Natasha a couple of days ago at the hospital," she reveals to him as he takes a sip of his coffee. "She's not exactly happy that we have been getting to know one another again."

Shane shrugs his shoulders. "Natasha is my ex-wife," he tells Cassie. "What I do with my life now, isn't really any of her business."

Cassie can't help but smile back to him. "Well, does that mean that you want to talk about the kiss we shared?"

"I can't believe my eyes," Natasha announces as she arrives at their table, having come into the coffeehouse and immediately spotted the two together. She recalls how Cory told her to let Shane lead his own life, but she can't sit back and do nothing while he is with the woman who put them through hell. "Shane, why are you with this woman? Don't you remember everything that she put us through?"

Shane looks up at his ex-wife and then over at Cassie. "Natasha, you are interrupting a private conversation. I'm not sure this is the time for this discussion."

"Like hell it isn't!" Natasha barks back to him. "After everything she has done to us, I can't believe that you want her in your life! That you would want her in Jacob's life!"

"I'm right here Natasha," Cassie spits back to her. "You don't have to act like I'm not even here."

"Because, in my mind, you're not here," Natasha lashes back to her. "You should be locked in a jail cell for everything you have done!"

"That's enough Nat," Shane stands up. "I think you should go. You and I, we can talk about this later in private. Right now, Cassie and I, we are having a coffee together."

Natasha sighs heavily and looks back to Cassie. "I don't know what game you're playing, but I will find out what it is, and I will stop you," she grits her teeth before she looks at Shane. "And, yes, we will have a talk later. Because, I won't have my son around this beast!"

Shane looks back at Cassie after Natasha rushes out of the coffeehouse. "I'm sorry about that," he tells her as she stands up.

"It's not your fault," Cassie replies to him. "Thank you for defending me."

Shane manages to smile back to her. "It's the least I could do," he tells her before he looks at his watch. "Damn, she took up all of my time. I have to get to the hospital."

"Its fine," Cassie purses her lips together. "We'll finish this conversation later. I have to get going too."

"Okay," Shane nods back to her. "But this isn't over, I still want to talk about that kiss."

Cassie winks back to him. "I thought you did. See you soon, Shane. And, thanks again for the coffee."

Scene Three - The Pampa Grill

Helen and Adam sit at a table next to one another and anxiously wait for what is about to occur: Dawn has agreed to have an early lunch with them. Helen hasn't felt this excited about something in a very long time; the fact that her daughter first reached out to her on New Year's Eve and now again, so soon, must be a good sign. She looks over at Adam and smiles to him, unable to hide her sheer joy.

"This must be good, right?" she asks him. "Our daughter is asking to see us after weeks of no communication. Maybe I'm just getting my hopes up for nothing?"

Adam shakes his head back to her. "Nah, I think you're right, this is a good sign. First, Dawn calling us on New Year's, and now she wants to see us; I think we are on track to getting our daughter back!"

Before Helen can reply, Dawn appears at the table. "Mom, Dad, hi," she says, trying to stay calm. She doesn't want to seem overly excited to see them, even though she has missed them terribly.

"Dawn!" Helen gets up and hugs her daughter. "I've missed you so much. How have you been? My goodness, let me look at you."

"I'm fine, Mom, really," Dawn laughs a little. "But it is good to see you. Both of you."

Adam comes up and hugs Dawn next. "You're looking good, Dawn. Where have you been staying? How are things?"

"One question at a time," Dawn says with a grin as she sits across from them. "I'm fine, really. I've been staying with a friend and I've been going to therapy on a regular basis. Slowly, I'm getting to where I need to be."

"That's good," Helen nods back to her. "It's a shame Barbara isn't here. Your grandmother misses you a lot."

"I miss her too," Dawn admits to her. "I will see her soon. I wanted to do this slowly, you know? We've all been through so much these last few years, I just think slowly getting back on track is the way to go."

"Wait," Helen puts her hand up. "Does that mean you're not coming home?"

"We both thought that you were going to ask us to move back in with your Mom today," Adam tells her, echoing Helen's statements.

Dawn shakes her head quickly. "I'm sorry if I gave you that impression," she tells her parents. "But no, I'm not coming home. I'm not ready too. Not yet. Like I said, I want to take this slowly. I don't want to rush anything. I'm still working on things in my life that I have to get through. Once I've done that, I might come home."

"What are you going through? I wish you wouldn't shut us out," Helen tells her, hoping that she's not prying too much into Dawn's life. The last thing Helen wants is for Dawn to become closed off again.

Dawn shrugs her shoulders. "Some things, I don't even know what it is myself yet. That's why therapy is so good for me. Look, guys, I'm an adult now. I can't live at home forever. I can make you a deal though, let's be in touch? Us not talking and not seeing each other, it doesn't do anyone good."

Adam and Helen smile at one another before they look over at their daughter. "Those are terms we can accept," Adam nods to her. "You not being in our life, that's not an option anymore."

"I've missed you Dawn," Helen says trying not to cry.

"Good, then it's settled," Dawn smiles back to them. "And for the record, I've missed you guys too."

***

At another table, Eva and Dominick sit across from one another enjoying some wine and cheese together. Eva can't stop thinking, however, about the last conversation she had with her husband, where he was asking her about the note that Simona Lopez found that read "Eva knows" in Frederick's office. Eva hopes that the fact that she knew that Frederick was brainwashing Felicia isn't about to come out; she keeps telling herself that there is no way that anyone could ever know the truth, so she has to be safe, but the worry is still in the back of her mind.

"I'm glad that we could do this," she finally tells Dominick, who takes a sip of his merlot.

"So am I," he nods back to her. "After our last conversation, I wanted to take you out to tell you how sorry I am."

"You're sorry?" Eva asks him as she feels her cheeks flush a little. "I don't know what you have to apologize for."

"I was asking you about a secret that you might be keeping, remember?" he asks her as she nods back to him and takes a sip of her wine. "You were right, we have no way of knowing what Frederick was thinking when he wrote that note with your name on it."

Eva nods to him. "I don't know what he was thinking," she lies to him. "And I don't know what secret he is talking about. I mean, I know he's dead because he did so many terrible things, but part of me wishes he was still here so we could get to the bottom of this."

"Well, that's where we disagree," Dominick smirks back to her. "I don't wish he was alive. That son of a bitch got exactly what he deserved. I'm just surprised it too as long as it did."

Eva takes another sip of her merlot. "How do you think Felicia is holding up? Out of anyone, she was probably the closest to Frederick. For years, he was her confident."

"I wish she wasn't so close to him," Dominick admits to her. "But, I think she's doing okay. She seems to be handling his death just fine."

Eva arches her eyebrow. "I hope so," she tells him. "Because the last thing any of us need is for her to not be okay."

"What are you saying?"

Eva shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know," Eva admits to him. "I just hope she's on her medication. It is in these stressful times that people revert back into old patterns. I saw it all the time when I was chief of staff at the hospital."

"Tell you what," Dominick reaches over and grabs her hand. "I'll check in on her and makes sure that's fine. Now, can we enjoy the rest of time together and not talk about my ex-wife or Frederick?"

Eva chuckles back to him. "I'd like that."

Scene Four - Tyler's Townhouse

Felicia looks into the roaring fireplace as she sits on the sofa, her mind racing about her time in Simona Lopez's office being questioned about Frederick's death. She can't believe that the police actually believe that she could have done something to hurt Frederick; after all, they were so close for so many years. She does know, however, that everyone knows that she wasn't too happy with Frederick for keeping Leah in Santa Barbara for the years that he did, and that he was brainwashing her into believing that she didn't love Dominick anymore. In reality, she and Dominick would still be married had Frederick not planted those seeds in her mind.

She stands up and walks over to the bar and pours herself a brandy and quickly takes a sip of it. "Simona Lopez had better not ask me anymore damn questions," she whispers to herself as she turns to look back into the fire. "I had nothing to do with Frederick's death."

Felicia remembers the last question that Simona asked her about her medication and if Felicia had missed taking any of her pills. Felicia takes another sip of her brandy, as she knows that she has been skipping her pills, but she feels like she has her illness under control.

"I'm fine," she tells herself as she hears a buzzer go off on her IPhone. She quickly walks over to the phone and sees the notification that it's time for her medication. She quickly swipes it away and takes another sip of her scotch. "I'm fine. And, I will continue to be fine," she tells herself, not taking her medication again.

Scene Five - The Tower's; Floor Three; Shelley's Condo

"Shelley, are you home?" Dawn calls out as she walks into the condo and closes the door behind her. She quickly takes off her winter coat and hangs it up, before she moves into the living room and sees Shelley reading a magazine on the sofa. "There you are, how are you?"

Shelley looks up from the article on a new resort opening in Palm Springs and smiles to her roommate. "Here I am," she replies to her. "Sorry, I was caught up in this article. I'd love to go to Palm Springs one day and check it out. This article makes it seems amazing! How are you? How was meeting your parents? You doing okay?"

Dawn nods back to her. "Surprisingly, yes, I'm okay," Dawn tells her. "I had missed my parents a lot and they were surprisingly understanding of me needing more time to put things back together in my life."

"I'm really happy for you kid," Shelley tells her with a smile on her face. "I know you were struggling with your family for some time now, I'm happy that it's coming back together for you."

"You don't mind if I stay here awhile longer, do you? I'm not ready to go home, and maybe I'll never want to go home, you know? I'm an adult now."

"I've told you before, you can stay here as long as you want too," Shelley tells her, as Dawn comes and sits next to her on the sofa. "I've grown to enjoy your company a lot."

"I feel the same," Dawn nods back to her. "I told Cassie that I was struggling with something in therapy and she told me that the truth will set me free."

Shelley arches her eyebrow. "Well, that seems like good advice. What is that you're struggling with?"

Dawn shrugs her shoulders. "Honestly? I'm not sure, I don't know that I can put it into words exactly."

"Well, there must be something you can do to help you come to terms with whatever it is."

"I think there is," Dawn replies to her as their eyes lock on one another's. There's a moment of silence between the two of them before Dawn leans in and kisses Shelley on the lips. The kiss only lasts for a moment before they part ways and then Dawn leans in and kisses Shelley again.

Scene Six - Chris' Townhouse

"Of course, you can come in," Chris tells Simona, as he moves so the police officer can come into his house. "I mean, I can't say no to a search warrant, can I?"

"You'd be surprised what some people try to get away with," Simona chuckles back to him. "Well, if you just stay out of my way, it shouldn't take me too long."

Chris nods back to her uneasily. "Sure, I was actually just on my way out to the back to drop this trash in the dumpster. I won't be long."

Simona arches her eyebrow. "What's in the trash, Mr. Michaels?"

Chris stops walking from heading towards the back door. "Excuse me?" he tries to play dumb.

"What's in that bag that you're getting rid of?" she asks him again.

"This is from the kitchen," he tells her. "You know, kitchen scraps and paper towels. Go look in the garbage can, I didn't even have time to put a new bag in yet."

"Then you won't mind opening that bag that letting me have a quick look?" she asks him as she moves up to him.

"There's nothing in here, detective," he tries to tell her. "You're wasting your time."

"I'll be the judge of that," she says as she reaches out for him to pass her the bag.

Chris freezes. He knows that he has to give her the bag or it will make it look like he is hiding something, but at the same time he knows that if he gives Simona the bag, she will find his gun inside of it.

"Mr. Michaels?" she calls out, causing him to stop and finally pass her the bag. He only hopes that the gun went to the bottom of the bag because it's heavy and she doesn't see it. "Thank you," she accepts the bag and puts a plastic glove on her hand before she opens it.

Chris sighs a little as she looks through the bag. "What is this?" she asks him as she pulls out the gun. "Throwing a gun away, Mr. Michaels? Why would you do that?"

Chris clears this throat a little as Lopez puts the gun into a clear plastic bag. "The child safety stopped working," he tells her. "I didn't want it in the house anymore."

"You know there are safer ways to dispose of guns, don't you?" she asks him. "This doesn't look so good, Mr. Michaels. You told me there was nothing in this bag and now I find a gun. You better hope that the type of bullets this gun uses don't match the type of bullets that shot Frederick."

"What are you saying to me, detective?"

"I think you may want to get a lawyer."

Scene Seven - The Sugarbowl

Cassie finishes taking her last sip of the coffee Shane bought her, so she grabs her jacket and purse and heads towards the door. She drops the empty cup in the waste basket and then leaves the coffeehouse.

Outside, she starts to walk up the street towards her office when Natasha comes rushing up behind her. "I don't think we are finished from earlier," Natasha says to her, startling Cassie.

"What the hell is this? Did you purposely wait for me to finish my coffee so you could harass me?" Cassie asks her, shocked by Natasha's behaviour. Cassie has never seen Natasha become so unhinged before.

"I wanted to finish talking to you," Natasha protests. "You have to stay away from Shane!"

"You're losing control Natasha," Cassie tells her as they arrive at the park. Cassie always cuts through the park to get to her office, it's faster. "Shane told you that you can't control whom he sees, this isn't any of your business."

Cassie turns to walk away from Natasha, but Natasha pulls her back to face her. "You're not going anywhere, not until we get somethings straight."

"I'm running late for an appointment, Natasha," Cassie tells her. "Look, I know that we have a history, but if Shane can put all of that behind him, then so can you. It's time for you to grow up and admit that Shane has moved on. There's nothing you can do in this situation."

"That's where you're wrong," Natasha yells back to her. "I make sure my son isn't in your life! I will save Shane from you!"

Cassie laughs at her. "Shane doesn't need saving," Cassie tells her. "And, you're losing it. You're acting like a crazy woman. Now, I am not going to stand here in the cold and fight with you about this. I have an appointment. Goodbye Natasha."

Cassie turns and starts to walk away, leaving Natasha fuming. "We aren't done here, Cassie!" she yells as she starts to run after Cassie. Natasha doesn't see the patch of ice on the walk way, and as soon as her heels hit the ice, Natasha slips and falls hard on her back, hitting her head in the process. Natasha lays unconscious on the ice as Cassie continues to walk quickly away from the scene, not realizing that Natasha is not moving.

Next on One Day at a Time
- Max plots to be with Robin
- More evidence mounts against Chris
- Jeff and Leah share a close moment