John grabbed a wounded Meyer and demanded to know who had shot him. Meyer begged John to help him get out of town, but unbeknownst to John, it was a setup, and Meyer was not really injured. Rather, he was wired, and a feed was being sent back to Jason and Sonny's men, who clearly heard John admit to being the person who had found the file in Sonny's apartment. Before Meyer's wire was discovered, Jason left the van and rushed to the dock where Meyer and John stood.
Meyer had enough time to run away, and John quickly had Jason arrested for threatening him and for possibly shooting Meyer. At the station, Jason tried to get back to Sonny's other men and tell them to get a copy of John's confession to the courthouse. However, the men were unable to hear him clearly on the phone and had no idea what he wanted them to do. Jason tried to make another call to get Sonny the information in time, but Mac wouldn't let him.
Skye pretended to be Heather when Heather's cell phone rang, and it was a woman wanting to know what she should do with Laura. The woman realized that Skye was lying, so she promptly hung up. Skye apologized profusely to Luke for not finding out more information, and the two tried to figure out a way to get Laura's whereabouts out of Heather. They rushed to General Hospital and begged Steven to drug his mother with a truth serum, but he refused. He explained that he felt for Luke and that he was very sorry for his mother's actions, but he wouldn't compromise the health of any sick person.
Steven told Luke that the serum wouldn't work, anyway, because Heather really believed she was Laura. Luke grew angry with Steven, but Liz arrived and broke things up. She agreed with Steven that Heather was too out of it to be any help to anyone, and she escorted Steven away from Skye and Luke. Luke decided that he and Skye should split up to find things out, with Skye checking into the cell phone records and Luke getting Lucky to use his police authority to access Heather at Ferncliff.
Brook stopped by Kelly's on her way to the studio and was happy to find Diego there. She told Diego that regardless of what her mother said, she wouldn't stop seeing him. He apologized again for getting her in trouble, but she told him she didn't blame him. Lois arrived and asked Diego to leave her alone to speak to her daughter. He took off, and Lois tried to explain to Brook that Diego was trouble.
Brook refused to listen, especially since Lois wouldn't stop seeing Alcazar, and she instead thanked her mom for shedding light on Diego's situation so that she was better prepared to deal with it. Alcazar walked in, so Brook left, but she was nicer than usual to him. Lois explained that she and Brook had reached an agreement that each could have their own "bad boy," but Alcazar wondered if Lois knew what she was getting herself into. Lois promptly asked him to not go after Sonny when he was vulnerable and in the middle of a custody battle, but Lorenzo refused and told Lois he wouldn't do such a thing for her.
Dillon continued to find Maria's necklace familiar, and he realized he had seen the same symbol on faxed documents at the Haunted Star. He and Georgie tried to figure out the origin of the documents but had no idea who had sent them to Luke. Meanwhile, Diego found Dillon and Georgie and told them he thought Sonny was the man in Port Charles that Maria wanted to keep him away from, and he guessed that perhaps Sonny had killed his dad. Dillon didn't think that Sonny was the man who Diego was supposed to stay away from, so in order to figure out who it was, he faxed a letter to the fax number on Luke's documents and waited for the person to meet him on the docks. As he and Georgie hid at the docks, they were shocked when Lorenzo Alcazar showed up.
Alexis was stunned when Sonny went back on their agreement and stated in court that Kristina belonged with him. She jumped in the middle of Ric's cross-examination and petitioned to finish it herself. Ric objected, but the judge allowed Alexis to question Sonny. Despite her best efforts, Alexis was unable to get a clear victory in her cross, so Ric called for a short recess. During it, Alexis tearfully told Sonny that she wished she had another choice, but he had left her no option. She refused to allow joint custody and told Sonny that she was turning the file of evidence against him over to Ric.
After the hearing began and Ric continued to question Sonny about the legality of his business dealings, a police officer interrupted and promptly arrested Sonny for RICO violations. Ric, Alexis, and Carly followed Sonny and the police to the station, where Ric promised to put Sonny away for good. John appeared at the last minute, however, and confessed for everyone -- including Carly -- to hear that he had illegally obtained the file from Sonny's penthouse.
Nikolas struggled with his marriage to Emily and the possibility that his looming jail sentence would keep her from being happy. Liz reminded him that Emily made her own decisions and wanted to be married to Nikolas, but he still wasn't convinced that he was not ruining her life. When Edward had annulment papers drawn up, unbeknownst to Emily, and sent them to the station and to Nikolas, Nikolas thought about signing them. He almost did, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Meanwhile, Emily spoke to the judge assigned to Nikolas' case, and begged him to read Helena's file before he made a decision on Nikolas. She told the judge that Helena had been threatening Emily's life, and that was the only reason Nikolas had murdered her. The judge agreed to take the circumstance, and Helena's murderous past, into consideration.
Jax showed Courtney the new office space he had purchased for her foundation. Courtney was thankful that he had gotten it for her, but she refused his offer. She explained yet again that she had to do things on her own, for herself. Jax managed to romance her, and the two made love. He again suggested she take the office space, but she declined.
Edward warned Skye that Luke might care for her, but he'd drop her the minute he found Laura. Skye refused to believe Edward, but internally she feared that his prediction was correct. Meanwhile, Luke was angry that Lucky would not help him break into Ferncliff and get to Heather. Lucky refused to help his dad get in trouble again and warned him to give up on chasing his fantasy. Luke and Skye met back at the Haunted Star, where Skye questioned Luke's loyalty to her. He put her fears at ease, and they combed over Heather's financial records. They found a check she had made to a P. Connelly and thought that they might be a step closer to finding Laura.
As Diego and Brook questioned Mike about Sonny's possible connection to Diego's dead father, Dillon and Georgie tried to get information from Alcazar to help them figure out the charm on Maria's necklace. Alcazar admitted he had sent Luke the fax, and they apologized, pretending they had misinterpreted it and had only been trying to help Luke out with the Haunted Star. When Alcazar forgave them for dragging him down to the docks, Dillon innocently asked about the design at the top of Alcazar's letterhead. Lorenzo explained it was his family's corporate logo, and Georgie and Dillon realized that Alcazar had to have something to do with Diego's past.
Carly was stunned when her father announced to everyone at the station that the file of evidence against Sonny could not be used because he had obtained it illegally from Carly's things. Despite Ric's warning of consequences, John officially admitted to taking the evidence and therefore made it unusable against Sonny in any way. Carly ran out of the station, and Jason followed her and tried to comfort her. She apologized for refusing to listen when Jason had warned her that John had only been after Sonny, but Jason reminded her that although her dad had arrived in town for Sonny, his admission at the station had clearly been all about Carly.
Later, John arrived on the docks and found Carly sitting and waiting for him. She thanked him for what he had done at the police station, but she told him that he could no longer be a part of her or her sons' lives. John protested and reminded her that he had potentially just ruined his entire career for her, but Carly was unable to forgive him.
Ric and Alexis were forced to deal with the aftermath of John's confession, and they realized that the file of evidence would not affect Sonny. Ric tried to reassure Alexis that she could still beat Sonny in the custody trial, but Alexis' faith in the system wavered. Ric tried to prepare her for her own testimony, but Alexis didn't think she could go through with it. Just as Ric was able to remind her that she was the parent that Kristina knew and loved, Sonny showed up and told Alexis that he was going at her with everything he had to get full, sole custody of their daughter.
Going undercover to search for Connolly, Skye and Luke slipped into the Blue Note, a seedy dive, masquerading as a blind musician and assistant. Later, as Skye sang, the bar patrons howled in protest, and the manager fired the duo. In the melee that resulted, Luke and Skye spotted the patron known as Connolly. After being forcibly ejected from the bar, Luke and Skye switched disguises. Posing as a streetwalker, Skye slipped back inside to try to quiz Connolly, but the local "manager" of that "territory" accosted Luke and punched him for trying to move in on the manager's territory.
Inside, Skye made fast friends with Connolly and was shocked when the woman confided that she believed that she was about to be rubbed out. However, Connolly became suspicious when Skye asked too many questions. When Connolly bolted out of the bar, Luke and Skye followed Connolly to the local cemetery. When Luke and Skye again tried to quiz Connolly about Laura, Connolly pointed out a grave and insisted that Laura was buried there.
In his new office, Jax called his mother and arranged for Lady Jane to share lunch with him and meet Courtney. However, Courtney caught Jax on the phone and later expressed her reluctance to take such an important step as meeting Jax's mother so soon. Meanwhile, a disguised Brook Lynn pretended to have a package in the lobby for Sonny and decoyed Max away from the door so that Diego could slip into Sonny's penthouse. However, as Diego fumbled with picking the lock, a gun-wielding Sam stopped him, and Jason soon joined her.
At the same time, Dillon and Georgie met secretly on the docks, and Dillon explained that the pendent that he had discovered in Diego's sister's apartment was the same as the Alcazar family's corporate logo. As they talked about the pendent, someone eavesdropped from a hidden corner. Later, Lorenzo joined Georgie and Dillon, and Dillon handed the pendent over to Lorenzo. Lorenzo was immediately surprised to see the pendent and demanded to know where Dillon had gotten it. Dillon tried to convince Lorenzo that he had found the pendent at a flea market then beat a hasty retreat.
In the meantime, Jason called Courtney to pick Diego up at Jason's penthouse. When Courtney arrived, she demands answers, and Diego finally admitted that he believed that Sonny had killed his father and might be intending to get rid of Diego as well. Diego was surprised to learn that Sonny hadn't even been in Port Charles seventeen years earlier, when Diego's father had been killed. At Sam's request, Jason promised to investigate the death of Diego's father. After Jason left with Diego and Brook, Courtney admitted to Sam that Sam had more in common with Jason that Courtney ever had.
While Courtney and Sam discussed Jason, Jax met with his mother, who wondered why Courtney did not have the courage to meet Jax's mother. However, Jax insisted that he was serious about Courtney and believed that his father would have been equally impressed with Courtney. Jax began to list all of Courtney's community-spirited achievements. At the same time, in Jason's penthouse, just as Courtney admitted that she could not deal with the violence of Jason's lifestyle, Jason returned home. Sam made an excuse to leave Jason and Courtney alone by announcing that she was starting dinner.
Meanwhile, on the docks, Dillon confided to Georgie that he believed that perhaps it was Lorenzo who was the Port Charles resident that Diego's sister believed was dangerous to Diego -- just as Diego arrived to meet with Dillon and Georgie. Choosing not to announce himself, Diego tracked Lorenzo down at Kelly's. The shadowy figure who had been eavesdropping on the docks stepped out of the shadows to follow Diego -- it was Maria. However, when Diego checked over his shoulder, Maria ducked back into the shadows.
Later, as Jane advised Jax that he might not be ready for a new relationship yet, Courtney arrived and admitted that she was crazy about Jax, At the same time, at Jason's penthouse, Sam burned dinner and got her sweater soaked as she tried to put out the fire. As Jason helped Sam out of her wet sweater, they shared a close moment.
In court, the Quartermaine family showed up to support Nikolas and Emily. Meanwhile, Ric assured Alexis that he had done everything possible to get a reduced sentence for Nikolas, but he had a bad feeling about the outcome. Inside the courtroom, Emily was shocked when she realized that a new judge would be presiding over the case. As the judge got the hearing underway, Ric was surprised when the judge waved aside Ric's recommendation for a light sentence for Nikolas.
Everyone was stunned when the judge expressed his view that Nikolas had murdered an elderly family member in a callous and brutal manner and deserved the death penalty. When Emily and Alexis rose to defend Nikolas, the judge declares that he would not have his court run by a bunch of rich people who believed that they could get away with murder. He called for a recess, announcing that he would listen to character witnesses later. After the judge left, Emily tried to convince Nikolas to recant his confession and request a jury trial, but Alexis warned that it was too late for Nikolas to change his statement and that they would all have to depend on an appeal.
Later, an emotional Emily warned her family not to begin bickering in front of the judge. When court resumed, as Monica, Alan, Tracy, and Alexis testified about Helena's murderous history, the judge merely observed that murder seemed to be a Cassadine family trait. When he took the stand, Nikolas admitted to the judge that he had no regrets about permanently ridding himself of his lethal grandmother.
Luke and Skye found the woman who Heather had hired to take care of Laura. They followed her to a cemetery where she stood with a bottle of booze in her hand. They confronted the woman. Luke shook the drunken woman and demanded to know where she had put Laura. The woman told him that his wife was "over there." Luke looked where she pointed and found, on a stick in the ground, a small sign that was labeled "Laura Spencer."
Luke turned on the woman and called her a liar and refused to believe Laura was dead. The woman told him that Heather had hired her to watch over Laura but that there had been a terrible fire in her apartment building because of some faulty wiring. Luke didn't want to believe her. The woman took out a newspaper article from her pocket and handed it to him to read. Luke read it. The woman took off, and Skye went after her.
Later, Luke called the police station in that area and demanded to know why he hadn't been called, since he was Laura's next of kin, and he demanded to have the DNA results from Laura's body sent to him. Luke started digging Laura's grave. Skye tried to get him to not put himself through the agony of looking at Laura's burnt body and to try to remember Laura as she had looked before the fire. Luke dug up her grave anyway and saw her body. He was devastated, but he found her wedding ring and kept it. He said goodbye to Laura and told her she had always been his angel.
Luke found Skye back at the bar where they had found the woman earlier. He told Skye he had taken Laura's wedding ring off and was keeping it. Skye took his hand to comfort him. However, an unknown woman was seen rocking in a chair with a ring missing from her finger, a woman who appeared to be the real Laura, whose death might have been faked.
Jason helped Sam with her sweater, and the two found themselves up close and personal. Jason grabbed Sam and kissed her on the lips. Sam didn't reject his kiss. She pulled away and told Jason that she wasn't drunk this time and knew that the kiss they had just shared had felt right to her -- and that he had kissed her.
Jason didn't know how to respond at first. Sam told him she didn't reject the kiss they had just shared but thought he probably did. She told him she was okay with that. Jason told her he shouldn't have kissed her. She replied that she was glad he had kissed her. She told him that she wanted to be with him. Jason told her that couldn't happen.
Sam thought he didn't care about her the same way she cared about him and asked him if he was still in love with Courtney. He told her he wasn't still in love with Courtney. Sam suggested that he could leave for a couple of hours and return, and they could pretend they were just friends. Jason told her it didn't have to do with how he felt about her but that he couldn't be with her because of his lifestyle and how she might not be able to accept what he did for a living. Sam reminded him that he had been there for her when she had really needed him and that he was the only man in her life that had stood by her and helped her instead of running away.
Sam changed her clothes and packed her things. She told Jason that she couldn't live with him anymore, since he didn't want her. He told her she could still live there with him and that he wasn't rejecting her. She told him that he was rejecting her by not wanting to be with her. Sam left the apartment and headed to the elevator. She reached to push the button, but Jason put his arm across the button and stopped her from pushing it. She turned around and looked at him. She asked him if he wanted her to stay. He told her he didn't want her to leave.
Meanwhile, Courtney arrived late for her dinner with Jax and his mother. She overheard Jane tell Jax that she wasn't so sure that Courtney was as crazy for him as he was for her. His mother wanted him to be more careful with Courtney. Courtney stepped into the room and told Jane that she was crazy about Jax. Jane invited her to join them. Lady Jane started to grill Courtney with questions about her past marriages.
Courtney tried to explain that her first marriage to A.J. had not been based on love as much as on rebellion and that she had been trying to find out who she was at the time. Jane asked why Courtney had turned around and married A.J.'s brother, Jason. Courtney explained that she had married Jason because she had loved him and he had loved her, but they had been unable to make their marriage work because they'd had different values. Jane questioned Courtney about how she could be sure that she wouldn't change her mind about how she felt about Jax.
Jax stepped in and asked his mother to stop interrogating Courtney. Courtney told them she needed to step outside and get some fresh air. After she left, Jax asked his mother why she was giving Courtney such a hard time and asked if she liked Courtney. Jane said she didn't really like her but that it had more to do with not liking her for Jax. Jax asked her why she didn't like Courtney. Jane told him that she just didn't feel that Courtney loved him the way he loved her and that she was afraid that Courtney would break his heart in the end.
Jax asked his mother to explain. Jane said that she believed Courtney didn't look at Jax the way Brenda and Skye had looked at him. She told him she thought that Courtney was still very much in love with her ex, Jason. Courtney overheard Jane and returned. One of Jax's construction guys called him to go look at some tile to approve for the hotel. Jax told Courtney and Jane to behave.
Jane told Courtney that she could tell her not to meddle if she wanted to and explained that she was a woman that shot from the hip and was always outspoken about how she felt when it revolved around her son's welfare. She told Courtney that she understood that Jax could be charming and liked to sweep women off their feet but that Jax had reached his limit of how often he'd had his heart broken. She said that she thought Courtney would end up breaking his heart because she didn't love him like he loved her.
Courtney lost her cool and told Jane off. She said that she and Jax had taken things very slowly and that they had gotten to know each other really well. She told Jane to mind her own business and stay out of Jax's love life. Courtney stormed out. Jane was impressed with Courtney's passionate display.
Later, Courtney returned and found Jax sitting by himself, waiting with the food for their dinner. He told her Jane wasn't there anymore. Courtney told Jax they needed to have a serious talk right away. Jax told her that Jane would back off as soon as she realized what they felt for each other. Jax told her he hoped to someday hear her tell him she was in love with him too.
Everyone in the courtroom was stunned when Nikolas was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Emily stood up and pleaded with the judge to reconsider. The judge told them that Nikolas had killed someone without any remorse and should go to prison. The judge left without listening to Emily. Emily started crying hysterically and pleaded with Lucky to do something. Nikolas was led away in handcuffs.
Later, at the police station, Nikolas told Lucky to keep Emily away from him for her own good and that she shouldn't see him in handcuffs with chains around his feet. Lucky said that Emily should be able to see Nikolas if she wanted and that it might hurt her more to be kept away from him. Back at the courthouse, Monica tried to soothe Emily. She suggested Emily go back home and stay with the family. Tracy agreed with Monica that Emily shouldn't be left alone.
Emily insisted on going to the police station and seeing Nikolas. The family tried to persuade her to not go to see Nikolas right away. Emily took off anyway, and Liz went with her. Emily tried to go in to see Nikolas, but Lucky tried to stop her. He told her that he was just following Nikolas' wishes.
Emily refused to listen and stormed into Nikolas' visiting room. Nikolas told her she shouldn't have gone in and seen him like that. She told him that she was not leaving his side and would visit him every day. Nikolas told her he couldn't let her live her life, waiting for him to be released, when he wouldn't be. He told Lucky to take Emily out of the room. Emily cried in Liz's arms after Nikolas rejected her.
Liz took Emily back to Kelly's. They went inside and sat. Lucky yelled at Nikolas for rejecting Emily and hurting her more than before. Nikolas felt that he was doing it to protect her and didn't want her to put her life on hold, visiting him every day in prison. Alexis showed up and told Nikolas she would get his sentence reduced. Ric also tried to assure him he would do what he could to get the sentence reduced to at least ten years with parole, since the judge couldn't have known all the facts of the case so soon.
Nikolas acted like he was giving up. Mac told them Nikolas had to be transferred, and Lucky couldn't be the one to escort him out. As they were heading toward the exit, Nikolas surprised everyone by hitting one of the cops holding his arm and knocking the other one down. He ran to the exit to escape. One of the cops shot Nikolas in the back as he tried to escape.
Meanwhile, Emily told Liz that she wasn't giving up on Nikolas and would visit him every day and convince him they belonged together. She heard the phone ring behind her and got a bad feeling, especially when Mike answered and told her the phone was for her.
Nikolas was injured in the confusion and was rushed to the hospital. Emily waited in the hospital chapel while Nikolas' condition was assessed. She prayed for his recovery. During emergency surgery, Nikolas' heart stopped, and he paid an unearthly visit to Emily in the chapel.
Sonny and Ric found out that Kristina was missing from her hospital room. Alexis attempted to sneak Kristina out of the hospital, and Carly nearly caught her. Later, Carly agreed to go out with Steven but insisted that it not be considered a date.
Jason admitted to Sam that he liked being with her but didn't want to do anything that would hurt her in the long run. She decided to move into a room above Kelly's then headed to Jake's to drown her sorrows. When Carly warned Jason that he was self-destructing, he found Sam at Jake's in Coleman's comforting arms.
