rules of engagement

As the week begins, Elizabeth's world is in turmoil. Her high school sweetheart and husband of less than a year had an affair and is in rehab for drug addiction. She's single handedly raising young son Cameron, just discovered she's pregnant and doesn't know who the father is. In an attempt to take charge of her destiny, Liz decides to end her marriage.

"She wants to do what is best for her children and that's why she's leaving Lucky" explains Liz's portrayer Rebecca Herbst: "She loves him: It's breaking her heart that this is happening. She's still at that point where she's so ticked off that he has done this to her, but she still loves him more than anything. If she could change things, she would."

During Lucky's drug crisis, Liz spent one intimate night with her former flame Jason, who could be the father of her unborn child. "Actually, she's thinking it's probably Lucky's, Herbst notes. "There's more of a possibility that it would be Lucky's but she knows in the back of her mind, with the way her life has been, it will probably turn out to be Jason's. (laughs)

As Liz frets, Jason has trouble on other fronts. Besides his tentative reunion with estranged lover Sam, he's dealing with a war brewing on the mob front, courtesy of the newly formed alliance between Alcazar and Ric. "It will become clear that Sonny is back to running the business now," previews Steve Burton. "He doesn't want a war. Jason does. Jason's had a lot of anger in general recently so why not take it out on Alcazar for all the crap he has done? Jason tells Bernie, "I think Alcazar's got Ric on the payroll. Check to see if he's getting any money from any offshore accounts". He's trying to get proof to show Sonny and say, "Hey, I want to kill them both."

At this point, Liz decides that she needs to be honest with her old pal Jason. Dr Lee, her OB-GYN has convinced her that it's best Jason knows if he's a possibility so that he can be there in the event that it turns out to be his," explains Herbst. "So, Elizabeth tells him that the condom was defective. She found out about this through Lulu. He says "What if I am the baby's father? Is there a possibility?" And she tells him yes."

"This is a monkey wrench" sighs Burton. Adds Head Writer Robert Guza, "Jason and Sam are having difficulties now as a result of the Alexis situation. Alexis is begging Sam and Ric to take care of her kids when she's gone, so she's putting Ric and Sam together. Ric, who Jason hates!!! Sam is in an incredible dilemma because she wants to abide by her newfound mother, which means having nothing to do with Jason. Sam and Jason were, and still are, in love with each other. They've got that obstacle to get past and then, wham! In comes Elizabeth to complicate the mix."

"It's crazy when you think you could be having a kid that you didn't plan on having," expounds Burton. "Sam and Jason started to make progress to get over that anger and hurt (when Sam slept with his enemy Ric). They start reaching back to where they were--But after thinking about it, he's going to do the right thing. If this baby's his, he's going to take responsibility. Despite his lifestyle, it's natural he'd want to do the right thing."

It's a recipe for disaster." - Rebecca Herbst

Hence, Jason proposes to Elizabeth. "That's when he tells her he'd marry her", reveals Burton. Needless to say, Elizabeth is shocked. "She's very surprised that this coming out of his mouth," nods Herbst. "Part of her feels like, "Why now? This is something that she had entertained a long time ago, like, "Why couldn't we have gone in this direction when we didn't have children and it was just the two of us?" She feels that it was a generous impulse, but there's the fact that it's not safe for children to be raised in the world that he lives in. And she still loves Lucky and he still loves Sam. It's a recipe for disaster."

What about Sam?

"This is going to kill her when she finds out," predicts Burton of Sam's response to Liz's pregnancy. It's the baby they should have had--it was by accident. It's a nightmare