Trama

Reese gets more than she expects during a getaway with Tom; Lane's new sponsor is a problem for Dean; and Veronica and Nick set out to destroy the Burton regime.

Tom has the bright idea to fake a marriage with Reese, inspired by Peyton's blonde wig she used to fool Madeline Stewart. He urges Reese into getting married to him, but she just kids around. He plans to take her on a romantic weekend searching out the ideal wedding chapel. Reese, in amorous mood, just laughs that off and kisses him all the way down.... Peyton and Nick are also at it in bed, but she's already telling him lies re 'being audited' to leave her way open to carry out Tom's scheme. She sure wants her sister Reese married and out of the way. Lane, the over-achiever and former class Valedictorian, attends her first AA meeting. Tells Dean she will try to handle it on her own. Veronica, in a slinky leopard-skin outfit paired with black maribou-feathered high-heeled mules, impatiently paces the floor of her apartment waiting for Edward to arrive. Not that he'd miss it for the world.... Finally he is there, bitterly complaining about how Eleanor is keeping such a close watch on him and his financial affairs, he could just as well be in jail, to which the seductive Veronica responds that he could not have what she is going to treat him to, behind bars. Underneath her outfit, a short black negligee. As she mounts the old guy, the duplicitous vixen reaches for, ostensibly, switching on stereo equipment to play soft, romantic music, but surreptitiously uses a remote control to activate a hidden camera camouflaged by a painting. Soft-skinned, but ever so traitorous. Her roommates urge Reese to wear something enticing on her romantic getaway with Tom. Lane arrives, back from her meeting, which went well, she has clicked with her sponsor, whom she enthuses about. Peyton approves of a sexy red dress in Reese's closet, this is what Reese should wear, but the next day Peyton is at the store purchasing an exact copy. Nick, Veronica and Rita are perusing the recorded tryst, commenting on how lively senators are in the bedroom. Rita shamelessly disrobes in front of Nick, and Veronica directs Rita in a series of solo naked poses on the bed. Clearly she has something both devious and ingenious in mind. Tom has Reese in the honeymoon suite of the hotel. A corny card professes his admiration for her, and she just loves it. He suggests tennis or swimming, but she has other exercises in mind. Peyton pretends to be secretive about her audit. Nick suspects creative accounting, she is Peyton Richards after all, but she just says that he can be allowed to know where to kiss her to drive her wild with the shivers, but not her financial affairs. Tom sets Reese up with a bottle of the most intoxicating champagne, it is to be a weekend to remember. No vacancies for writers, Lane can't find a job. She mentions her able sponsor to Dean, who kids her about him, but soon wonders who the mysterious man might be. Veronica has had the videotapes transferred to CD. While Reese is getting merrily plastered, Peyton is casually out-of-town and does a quick change at a roadside garage slipping on the red dress when her car refuses to start, but she does get it going. Aiming for a job, Lane delivers a well-written article to the Savannah Dispatch, and the editor goes for it, but she would have to give up her byline, otherwise Eleanor would put an instant stop to it. Lane agrees, but just then the old minx appears to taunt her and insist on an apology, but Lane would rather swim with sharks. Eleanor tears up her work, and Lane, fishing for a dime in her purse, is tempted to go back to drugs when she finds one last pill. Reese, down to her white underwear, is sleepy after all that champagne, and Tom is cajoling her drunken head into notions of marriage. When she drifts off, he sneaks out with her ID card, but Peyton, whose car overheats, is late. Nick ably super-imposes an image of Rita in place of that of Veronica, and voila! incriminating evidence of old Edward in bed with 'poor destitute' Second Chances charge Rita. Further 'evidence' is obtained by Rita visiting Edward's office, thanking him profusely for all his assistance, but apparently leaving there in a disheveled state with her clothing in disarray, witnessed by a shocked secretary. Lane phones Dean, postponing their date, telling him how her sponsor aided her into not taking that pill - she needs to see him again, and Dean is quietly upset about what appears to be her newfound obsession. Peyton had to hitch a ride, and she and Tom sets off to put their plan in motion. A quickie marriage chapel has to be found late at night. That horrendous wig again, a poor imitation of Reese. The two scoundrels feign being a couple with an illegitimate baby on the way to gain sympathy from the trusting old couple running the wedding chapel. Peyton registers herself as Reese Melanie Burton. Deception! One late-night marriage coming up! Over Chinese takeaway, the trio of plotters practice how they're going to do Edward in with the fabricated evidence, and they're even going to pull Eleanor into the muck. Rita goes to the police, laying sexual harassment charges, and shows the 'evidence' of the bedroom romp to a surprised Wheeler. When Peyton shows the purloined driver's license as proof of identity, there is much comment about the shoddy likeness, but she confesses she had since 'had some work done'. A hurried marriage ceremony with a tacky Instamatic camera's constant flashlights, and Peyton getting more and more impatient as they rush against time. Remember, Reese could have woken up in the meantime! Lane's sponsor turns out to be Sam Lucas, Dean's partner. Tom, snake that he is, joins still-fast-asleep Reese in bed, slipping the wedding ring on her finger. He wishes her sleeping figure 'goodnight Mrs. Massick'. Back at the wedding chapel, the kindly old couple reminisce about the youngsters, and the old lady finds a shot they had forgotten to give them. Fortunately they have the address of the happy bride...