In the Line of Fire- Will a shocking act of violence claim the life of one of these people? This week on AMC, hunting season starts with a bang- a major player is gunned down. But who pulls the trigger, and who takes the fall? Read on for clues!
     David takes aim! Worried that Maria will bring the vial of his life-saving- yet illegal- drug to the authorities, a desperate David pulls a gun on Aidan at the cabin in an attempt to stop the two from leaving. Thinking that the doc wouldn't actually shoot her pal, Maria refuses to give up the serum. But when David fires the pistol in Aidan's direction (purposely missing), the amnesiac realizes that he means business and reluctantly gives him back the drug.
     "Of course, Maria doesn't want Aidan to be killed," shares Eva La Rue (Maria). "At first," she says to David, "Shoot Aidan," because she doesn't think he will, because he's a coward and has a big ego. After he does actually try to shoot Aidan, though, she thinks, 'Uh, I'll take that back!'"
     As for Aidan, he might have lost the battle, but the war against Hayward isn't over. "David's not going to get away with what he's done," insists Aiden Turner (Aidan). "He's bad, and Aidan's good. A good person really can't stand bad people. Plus, Aidan cares about the two ladies [Anna and Maria] that David is affecting."
     A Bull's Eye For Anna! The next day, David rushes to met with his lawyer and tells him that he wants to cut a deal with the D.A. "David knows that Jackson doesn't have anything to arrest him on, so he decides that it would be the perfect opportunity to make an offer," explains Vincent Irizarry (David).
     After agreeing to plead guilty to corpse abuse in exchange for community service and a suspended sentence to practice medicine, David tells Jackson that he also wants Anna to have her job back. Although Jackson's not happy with this, the doc is granted his wish and celebrates with Anna afterward. "David did this for Anna's sake," offers Irizarry. "[She will no longer be] in a situation where she's compromised at work."
     Maria in the Crosshairs! Meanwhile, at the Pine Cone, Maria and Aidan discuss what transpired at David's cabin, and their talk soon turns to the nature of their relationship. "I've got a soft spot for her," syas Turner in character. "That would be the most accurate way to describe it. I've been very respectful of her wanting to get back with her husband, but I can't stop thinking about her."
     Maria's feelings, on the other hand, aren't so easily defined. "I think she's feeling very protective of him because he's gone out of his way to protect her and seek revenge for her," offers La Rue. "But she definately cares for him deeply."

Eva La Rue's Plea- Speed it up!  If AMC fans are frustrated that Maria and Edmund's reunion is moving too slowly, they're not alone. Eva La Rue (Maria) confessed at SSW that she wants a little less talk and a lot more action, too.
"It's tough," she continued. "I think they (the writers) are having a hard time writing those scenes specifically, and they tend to be boring. That's my personal [opinion]. When I've got my scenes with John (Callahan, Edmund), I think- unfortunately- they haven't quite found our voice yet. They haven't found the dance that should go on with us yet. I'm confident they'll find it. I hope we get to something a little more exciting."
There's a glimmer of hope this week when Maria has a memory flash of her past with Edmund- but will that be enough action for Edmund/Maria fans? (SOW 12/3/02)

Let's Make Love! One of these couples will reunite. Which will it be? This week on AMC, while Anna can no longer deny her love for David, Maria's memory starts to return in bits and pieces. In addition, the amnesiac finds herself drawn to Edmund like she hasn't been since returning to Pine Valley. While both couples are inching closer to reconciliation, a shocking revelation could throw a monkey wrench into everyone's happiness!
     Anna's Good News? After learning that the latest tests she conducted on David's experimental drug were inconclusive, Anna is somewhat pleased at the outcome. "It's a great deal of relief because now she doesn't have to prosecute her ex-husband and father of her child," points out Finola Hughes (Anna). "I don't think that she ever really wanted to do taht because she loves him. It's sort of taken out of her hands."
     Feeling that she must confront David anyway, Anna goes up to his cabin to pay him a visit. Although she attempts to get him to come clean about everything, David instead tells her he loves her, and swears that he's a different man because of her. Anna, however, remains skeptical. 
     Maria's Breakthrough! Meanwhile, as she watches Maddie play with a plastic shovel at the park, Maria is hit with a flashback of David burying something at the beach. Thinking that her memory could be returning, she and Edmund hightail it to the hospital to see Zeke. Per Maria's request, the psychiatrist puts her under hypnosis. As she begins to zero in on her memory, she suddenly sees David kissing her! This, of course, stuns Maria.
     "Maria believed David when he first said that they had been lovers," explains her portrayer, Eva La Rue Callahan. "Then, she was under the impression that everything he had said was a lie to get her to leave town. Now that she's having her own flash memories of him kissing her, she doesn't know what to make of it because she doesn't know what is truth and what is fiction anymore."
     Deciding to keep this revelation to herself, Maria doesn't alert Edmund that she saw David- not him- planting a big wet on her lips. "She doesn't want him to freak," explains La Rue Callahan. "He wants so much for her to remember him and she doesn't want to hurt him more by saying, 'I remember David.'" Determined to learn the truth, Maria privately calls David and demands that he meet her ASAP!
     David's Shocking Truth! Telling Anna that he will return shortly, David arrives at the park, where Maria drops the bombshell of what she's remembered. After asking the deceitful doc if what she recalled is true, David confirms that not only did he kiss her, he was in love with her! However, those feelings are now a thing of the past.
     "I think [David's feelings for Maria] had more to do with a respect for her tenacity to fight back and to survive," says Vincent Irizarry (David). "They were very drawn to each other because they were going through a life-and-death situation together." 
     Despite the fact that David has lied to Maria in the past, she feels that this time, he's being honest. "She feels safe and comfortable with him, and that's probably why she's been feeling like she could still trust him even though he's lied to her," says La Rue Callahan. "She feels something innately [for him] even though she doesn't know what it is."
     Acting upon that instinct, Maria touches David's face, which leads to an embrace. Alas, Edmund arrives at that very moment!
     Edmund's Retaliation! With his emotions already at an all-time high, Edmund lashes out at David and begins punching him! "I beat the crap out of him," jokes John Callahan (Edmund) in character. Oblivious to what Maria has just learned, Edmund wonders why she's hugging the man who kept her away from her husband and family. "He doesn't understand," Callahan adds more seriously. "David deliberately kept her existence a secret so he could experiment with her. [It's] unforgivable, even if she's got the gratitude that he saved her life."  
     Surprisingly, David doesn't fight back against Edmund. In fact, the usually vengeful doc doesn't even press charges!
    "In some ways, David identifies with Edmund because of what he's going through with Anna," offers Irizarry. "Both of them are having parallel experiences right now. David has lost Anna, the one he loves. Edmund has lost Maria because right now she's Maureen, and that's not the person that he was in love with. David can certainly understand why Edmund would be enraged."
     Reconnecting Hearts. Arriving at the park, Anna learns what transpired and offers to care for her ex's wounds. "It's difficult because she brings him into her room and wants to get him out as quickly as possible," says Hughes. But that turns out to be easier said than done, because a conversation between the two soon leads to passion. "She just is so torn [over her feelings for him], and it becomes physical," she adds. "Anna acts on that. She can't help herself."
     Meanwhile, Maria follows an emotional Edmund to the Wildwind tack room. Although he starts to blame her for "dying," he winds up confessing his love and fervently kisses her. Maria responds to him, and they also begin to surrender to one another.
     Unfortunately, one of these romantic duos discontinues their lovemaking. Is it because David or Maria spills the beans about their romantic past? Stay tuned! (SID 11/12/02)

Crossover rumor dogs duo! Psst.. Is Anna returning to GH- and will David, the father of her baby, tag along to join the GH staff? That's the gossip that won't let go of AMC's Finola Hughes and Vincent Irizarry. At the recent AMC fan weekend festivities, Hughes and Irizarry fielded endless inquiries about gossip that each of them is moving to GH in February 2003. "That's the first I had heard that there were rumors about me going to GH," Irizarry tells SID of the questions he dealt with. "I said to the best of my knowledge, it's not true. But if it comes from the Internet, it certainly can be suspect." (Hughes also refuted the crossover rumor when asked by fans.)
     As for the new deal which his leading lady just recently inked, "Yes, Finola did sign her contract," Irizarry reports. But he adds with a laugh, "There is a line in it that says, 'Only in so far as she makes Vincent happy as an actor.' If I'm not happy anymore, then she has to leave!" 
     Onto more concrete matters, the actors thrilled David/Anna fans by teasing that the unlikely couple's baby will make it to term. But as for their romance, skeletons in the doc's closet very well may cause more crises. "Somebody said they read somewhere that David was burying [Anna's dead husband, Robert] Scorpio on the beach!" Irizarry laughs. (SID 10/29/02)

Will Edmund Put David in the ER? Edmund may be thrilled that his wife is back from the dead, but he's not exactly happy that she's been kept away from him for so long. While many Pine Valley-ites point the finger of blame at Brooke for lying to her sweetheart about Maria being alive, there's only one person truly responsible for keeping Mrs. Grey apart from her family all this time- and his name is David.
     "The real culprit for five years of deceit is Dr. Hayward," points out Edmund's portrayer, John Callahan, "and the key [to the future of this storyline] is how Edmund is going to deal with that without literally tearing him up into little pieces and leaving him by the side of the road. 
     Since David's defense in the matter has been that he did, in fact, save Maria's lif, will that in any way deter Edmund from retaliating? There's not a snowball's chance in hell!
     "I don't care how many times David saves Maria's life, did save her life or will save her life," asserts Callahan, sounding as riled up as his alter ego. "The fact is, he hid her for his own ego. He was playing God. Edmund will go Sicilian on this guy," he continues. "He will not forget." (SID 10/29/02)

Will David Keep Maria From Edmund? This week on AMC, it's all about Maureen Gorman, as Tad tells Brooke that photo ID of the former hospital worker is not that of Maria Santos, while Aiden enlists Anna's help to find Maureen, who's been staying with him. In the meantime, the woman in question is busy inching closer to Maria's loved ones- but not if David has anything to say about it!
     David tells a lie! At Wildwind, David stops Maureen from knocking on the door. After dragging her away, he tells her that she must leave Pine Valley ASAP, as she could go to jail for killing Maria! A lying David explains to her that the two of them used to be involved- untile he slept with Maria. 
     Continuing with his hoodwinking scheme, David goes on to say that Maureen hated Maria so much after David had an affair with the surgeon that she hit Maria with a car and killed her! Subsequently, David leads Maureen to believe she was hurt in a car accident and was nursed back to health by him.
     A Blast from the Past- Believing that she's commited murder, Maureen tells David that she wants to make things right by turning herself in to the police. But David puts the brakes on her intentions by telling her that she has a child. The dirty doc promises that he'll arrange for her to see the youngster- if she keeps quiet and leaves Pine Valley forever!
     Having no choice, Maureen hops a plane out of Pine Valley to Mexico. During this time, she has a flashback of a plane crashing and recalls asking Brooke to take care of her baby. Realizing that Brooke has her child, Maureen makes a U-turn!
     Maureen is-Spotted! On Brooke and Edmund's wedding day, Maureen returns to Wildwind and comes face-to-face with someone quite familiar. Who is it, and how will this person react to her presence? (SID 9/3/02)

Beyond Betrayal- David may avoid jail time, but will Anna's relationship with Jackson be the doc's ultimate punishment? This week on AMC, David scrambles to obtain all the information against him in the Maria Santos Grey case. But just as he manages to work everything in his favor, he realizes that his misdeeds might have permanently cost him more than he ever imagined! Meanwhile, the betrayed Ms. Devane has been seeking solace from one of her ex-hubby's chief adversaries! Has David's deception pushed Anna straight into the arms of another man?
     Anna collapses! With all of David's research in her possession, Anna calls Jackson to inform him that she has what's necessary to put her ex-husband behind bars. But before the pregnant police chief can do anything else, she faints! Unbeknownst to an unconscious Anna, her fall causes the vial of X-17 to roll under the furniture, out of sigh!
     Luckily, Jackson arrives on the scene and takes Anna to Pine Valley Hospital so that she can be examined. While sticking around her room to offer support, Jackson also does his best to honor a specific request from the patient: Keep David away!
     "David shows up, and he's kind of the reason, as far as Jack's concerned," why Anna's in there in the first place," says Jackson's portrayer, Walt Wiley. He's made her life so full of stress and angst that she's collapsed. I have a moral obligation to stop him from making things worse."
     David, on the other hand, feels that Jackson is prying into a personal issue. "If Jack wants to go after David legally on other matters, that's one thing," says Vincent Irizarry (David). "But he shouldn't involve David's personal life. That has nothing to do with it." Although Anna soon learns that she and the baby will be all right, the doctors inform the workhorse that she needs to avoid stress at all costs. No small feat when you're David's ex!
     Leo Breaks In! Meanwhile, David is desperate to get hold of the evidence that his ex-wife has. Enter Leo, who tells him that he'll go to Anna's office and get the incriminating info. But David doesn't want his little brother to get involved. "Leo is finally free and clear on all legal matters," points out Irizarry. "He's starting his new life with Greenlee. The last thing David wants to do is have him compromised in that way. But Leo insists on doing it and just leaves."
     Once he arrives at Anna's office, a sleuthing Leo finds everything that he's looking for, yet fails to spot that ever-important vial of drugs underneath the furniture! Leo then returns to his brother and hands him what he thinks is all the evidence. David knows, though, that he's not in the clear yet, for he immediately notices the vial is missing! 
     Jackson's Big Lie! David then decides to visit Anna at her office where he hopes to kill two birds with one stone: find that X-17 sample and ask for a second chance. "David's [relationship with Anna] is of paramount importance to him," says Irizarry. "If Anna continues to go forward and tries to have him incarcerated, their life will be destroyed as a result of it. But he also feels that trying to gt this vial is in her best interest as well. Whatever he does with this evidence, she will someday thank him for it."
     Anna- who has no idea that her office has been broken into- tells a pleading David that it's too late for apologies because Jackson told her that the evidence is already in the lab. David, however, realizes that Jackson must be lying to Anna because he has all the proof in his possession! Jackson? Lie? "Jackson doesn't think that Anna needs the added stress of knowing that the evidence that we had against David could be gone forever," explains Willey. "He doesn't want her to end up back at the hospital, [so he tries to] buy a little more time [by telling her it's at the lab]."
     David's Last Chance! Suddenly, David spots on the floor the vial that he so desperately needs. Deciding that it's now or never, he gets down on his hands and knees, and begs Anna for forgiveness. In the process, the sneaky surgeon manages to secretly grab the vial!
     David may now think he's holding all the cards, but is his celebration bittersweet? It could be, considering that Anna seems to be getting closer to the one person as determined as she is to put him away- Jackson! (SID 10/15/02)

Too Close for Comfort. Brooke and Edmund's wedding day approaches on AMC- and so does "Maureen". The introduction of AMC's Maureen S. Gorman- a woman who looks so much like the dearly departed Dr. Maria Santos Grey that she actually might be her- has so far left fans with a lot of questions and not many answers. But much more information is on its way this week, as surprises are in store for several Pine Valley residents: "Maureen" is drawn closer to Edmund, parts of David's secret history with "Maureen" come to light and someone gets a positive result on the most important test of her life.
     "It's a weird situation," understates Julia Barr (Brooke) of the predicament in which her beleaguered alter ego has found herself these past few weeks: On the verge of marrying the man of her dreams, she came face to face with the spitting image of his presumed-dead wife.
     What's a bride-to-be to do? This one decided to keep quiet. "Brooke doesn't have confirmation of a connection between Maureen and Maria," Barr points out, "and the woman she saw was supposedly someone else. So, in a way, if she did tell Edmund, she'd be sending him off on some wild goose chase."
     Not to mention that Brooke has reason to believe that her eyes were playing self-destructive tricks on her. "There is much to support the fact that she hasn't been thinking straight," laughs the actress. 
     Brooke is gradually convinced that her encounter with "Maureen" was merly the result of extreme pre-wedding jitters. "It comes and goes, but for the most part, she belives that this was all her imagination," nods Barr. "She decides to let herself be happy. She decides to ease up on herself and move forward."
     But while Brooke is moving forward, "Maureen" is moving closer- and having some very strong reactions to sights (Wildwind) and sounds (Edmund's voice) that were familiar to Maria. Indeed, since landing in Pine Valley, "Maureen" has been "living in one big deja vu," says her portrayer, Eva La Rue Callahan. ""She doesn't know what any of it means, but she feels like everywhere she turns, she's been there or heard it or seen it. So, she knows at least that she came to the right place."
     The right place for what? "She's hoping to find some answers about her life,"La Rue Callahan hints. And with a little encouragement from Aidan, she decides to pump Brooke for the information she seeks. Because "Maureen" is on the run, La Rue Callahan observes, "she doesn't know who she can trust and cannot trust, but she knows Brooke came to see her and wasn't interested in what she'd done wrong or in throwing her in jail; she was interested in finding this woman," Maria Santos. She decides that Brooke has some information for this big puzzle she's trying to put together."
     "Maureen" sets out to find Brooke, but will she have the courage to go through with her mission? And will Brooke be alone- or with Edmund? One man, Dr. David Hayward, is only too aware of the furor that a sighting of Maria's doppelganger would cause, so he is determined to intercept "Maureen" before she's recognized by anyone who knew Maria.
     What is David's role in all this? "It's not that he's a Brooke and Edmund fan," laughs Vincent Irizarry (David). Rather, "there's stuff in his history with this woman that he doesn't want to get out." David is thwarted, though, when he tries to contact "Maureen" on her cell phone- it's his bad luck that her purse is at the police station after being snatched last week, and Police Chief Anna Devane answers his call. He hangs up when he hears her voice, but the damage is done.
     "Initially, Anna does her usual thing with David whenever he behaves strangely, which is to question him," says Finola Hughes (Anna). "But she stops herself. She says, 'You know what? This is ridiculous. We're not going to do this anymore. You're my husband and I need to just take you at your word.'" So, David is off the hook for now. "But all that means," grins Hughes, "is that there will be even more tension when it comes out that he does in fact know about Maureen Gorman."
     And what about Edmund, the man who will be most shocked by Ms. Gorman's existence? "He's the obvivious one, the blissfully ignorant one," chuckles his portrayer, John Callahan. "Edmund is looking forward to moving on with his life with Brooke. Unfortunately, other people feel a little bit different, as we will find out soon!"
    Indeed. Brooke and Edmund's nups are scheduled for August 23, but by the end of the week, "Maureen" starts closing in on them- and it doesn't look like David will be able to stop her. As if that's not enough, one of these women will take a pregnancy test that won't leave her feeling very positive.
     I Just Met a Girl Named Maria. Maria's memory looms large in Pine Valley, so how could David have lived there for three years without realizing the uncanny resemblance between Maria and "Maureen"?
     That's just what Vincent Irizarry wanted to know. "I was at home on Friday night looking at my scripts," Irizarry recalls, "and on the very last page, I see that David gets a call from Maureen. I was like, 'What!' It was the weekend and there was no one I could call at the studio, so I called Eva at home and told her about the scene. And she was like, 'What?'"
     The following Monday, the actor took action. "I went in to Jean [Dadario Burke, executive producer] to ask what was going on. She explained to me what they had in mind, and I said, 'You know what? If we want this to work, we really need to do a flashback of David seeing Maria's picture for the first time. Otherwise, the fans aren't going to buy it.' Jean agreed, and that's just what we did: We recreated a scene of David at the Crystal Ball seeing a picture of Maria and gettting a look on his face and all that."
     "You should have heard Vincent and I freaking out on the phone!" smiles Eva La Rue Callahan. "I have to say, this is the most excited I've been about a soap storyline every because it's the first time I've been surprised. Normally, you can see a soap storyline coming a zillion miles away; they drop enough monster hints so you go, 'Okay,so-and-so is going to get together with so-and-so, I can see it.' But this! This shocked us all." (SOD 8/20/02)

I've got a secret! One man, Dr. David Hayward, is only too aware of the furor that a sighting of Maria's doppelganger would cause, so he is determined to intercept "Maureen" before she's recognized by anyone who knew Maria.
     What is David's role in all this? "It's not that he's a Brooke and Edmund fan," laughs Vincent Irizarry (David). Rather, "there's stuff in his history with this woman that he doesn't want to get out." David is thwarted, though, when he tries to contact "Maureen" on her cell phone- it's his bad luck that her purse is at the police station after being snatched last week, and Police Chief Anna Devane answers his call! He hangs up when he hears her voice, but the damage is done.
     "Intially, Anna does her usual thing with David whenever he behaves strangely, which is to question him," say Finola Hughes (Anna). "But she stops herself. She says, 'You know what? This is ridiculous. We're not going to do this anymore. You're my husband and I need to just take you at your word.'" So David is off the hook for now. "But all that means," grins Hughes, "is that there will be even more tension when it comes out that he does in fact know about Maureen Gorman." (SOD 8/20/02)

The moment of truth This week on AMC, just as Brooke decides to quit worrying that Maria is alive, her worst fear is realized. Do Brooke and Edmund have a ghost of a chance?
     Hayley Knows Best- With the "Maria" sighting still fresh in her mind, Brooke takes Hayley into her confidence and explains her plight: she can't go through with the wedding to Edmund because she truly believes that his first wife didn't perish in that plane crash five years ago.
     Tryin to be the voice of reason, Hayley tells Brooke that there's no way Mateo's sister could be alive after all this time. Soon, Brooke begins to realize that her pal has a point. She's not being haunted by Maria, she decides. She's being haunted by Maria's memory.
     Is Brooke Seeing Dead People?- Confident that Maureen Gorman is not, in fact, Maria, Brooke decides that investigating the mystery woman is unnecessary. Her world is completely rocked, however, when the detective on the case reveals a devastating piece of info: He may already have found Edmund's "late" wife!
      With her future hanging in the balance, a determined Brooke decides to learn once and for all if Maureen Gorman is the presumed-dead Pine Valley beauty. After hightailing it back to Nevada, Ms. English heads to the hotel, where she accidentally collides into someone. When she looks up, she sees what could be a ghost. This time, however, it is not. Standing before her is a brunette with dark eyes and olive skin- a dead ringer for Maria!
     What Will Happen Next?- Could this actually be Maria? And if it is, will Brooke tell Edmund? Whatever unfolds, ramifications are sure to be felt for years! (SID 8/6/02)