Alan, Monica and Zander all exult with a delighted Emily as she begins to regain the feeling in her legs and feet. Sorel orders Rocko to locate Sonny. Following the ugly scene between his father and Nikolas, an embittered Lucky complains to Kevin about Luke's bizarre manner of proving his "love." Meanwhile, Helena reminds Nikolas that Luke's outburst proves the prince belongs back with the Cassadines. Sonny and Angel continue to grow closer following her spill in the mud. Later, Sonny quietly phones Benny and instructs him to run a background check on Angel. Johnny advises AJ not to take advantage of Sonny's absence by attempting to grab custody of Michael. Skye holds her breath when Monica asks Emily where she got all the cash she was carrying at the time of the bus crash. Gia icily warns Luke never to mess with her man again. Angel asks Sonny to stay with her indefinitely. Covering for her half-sister, Emily tells her parents she stole the money from Skye's purse. Later, Emily privately thanks Skye for trying to help. Luke and Nikolas secretly confer about the next phase of their plan.

Helena found Stavros out on the roof at General Hospital and warned him about being out in public. Stavros mentioned to her that hiding was like a prison or being dead - it was a rooftop and no one could see him. They were argumentative and traded words about how Helena has been handling things. Stavros wanted his family back. He has a son and a wife and he was going to handle things his way. Helena looked on in disgust as Stavros went on and on about Laura. Helena was hoping that she could free Stavros from his obsession for Laura Spencer. Stavros held a crimson rose in his hand throughout his conversation with Helena.

General Hospital was compiled of a series of dream sequences from various characters:

Stefan Cassadine
Stefan looked awful; he was disheveled and ragged in his appearance and had been drinking. He made his way to his bed and pulled out a picture of Chloe Morgan to place on top of the nightstand. As he drifted into a deep sleep, he remembered himself and Alexis, as children, playing with a sailboat his father had brought him. Stavros entered and forced him to play with him. When Stefan refused Stavros took the boat and destroyed it. He told Stefan that if he ever had anything that he wanted then Stavros would take it away from him. Alexis showed up as an adult this time and told him he had to leave the past and Stavros behind him. Live in the present. Chloe arrived at the scene and was receptive and warm to Stefan. They started to kiss and then moved to the bed and Stefan knocked over the vase of roses. When Stefan looked up it was Chloe in bed with Stavros. Stefan awoke and was frazzled. He looked over at the nightstand and the roses were missing. He looked down on the floor and there lay the crimson roses.

Laura Spencer
As Laura fell asleep after the day with Scott, she imagined herself on a movie set together in the olden days. Luke was the director. Laura and Scott were not playing the love scene well enough in Luke's eyes. Luke yelled cut and mumbled the terrible, dreadful and unbelievable words about the scene. Next Luke played out the scene with Laura and Scott was upset. As Luke and Scott argued Laura looked over to find a stranger (Stavros) and a crimson rose in his hand. Laura told Luke she was afraid.

Roy and Melissa
Both Roy and Melissa were sleeping at their homes respectively. As they came upon their dream they were together at a club that they frequented in Chicago called Rosie's. Melissa brought up the topic of why they end up in the same place all the time. Roy playfully answered telling her that they were actually in Port Charles but in a dream in Rosie's in Chicago. Melissa asked Roy to play her favorite song and so he did. They began to dance and as they started to kiss and caress, Melissa looked away for a second and then Stavros appeared as her dance partner and would not let go. Stavros took her to the elevator as Roy raced after her. Melissa screamed from the elevator and finally when Roy got the elevator door open Melissa lie there dead with blood coming out of her mouth and a crimson rose lying beside her.

Felicia Scorpio
Felicia interrupted Luke's dream with James Bond parity. : Luke was walking the pier when Felicia arrived to save the day. She had decoded all the diskettes and could cure Lucky. Luke was so overjoyed that he said that he loved her. Felicia was ecstatic. Then she noticed one long steam crimson rose. She liked it and Luke wanted to get if for her. Felicia begged him not to go off into the darkness and leave her, but Luke did not listen. He went to the rose and disappeared.

Luke Spencer
Luke fell asleep in a chair awaiting Helena and also trying to devise a plan to get through to Helena's underground lair. Luke encountered Laura and divulged his plan. Laura asked why he made everything so difficult. The two took the elevator down to a place with a hole in the floor. Laura told Luke that all the answers were in the floor below and that he was on his own and good luck. Luke turned around and she was gone. He took the giant leap down into the hole. Laura had met him there; she told him that she took the fast way. Luke told Laura that the Cassadines were ruining their lives; Laura countered and said we make our own choices. Laura started to leave and wished Luke the best. He stopped her and asked if she would stay. Laura said no she had to be on her way. Luke then spotted the stranger with the crimson rose. Luke could never catch up to him.

Roy visited Melissa to make certain she was safe after he had such awful dreams of her. He got to her apartment and called out to her in fear when he heard what sounded like gun fire outside. He threw her to the floor when she came out and she laughed at him because the noise was just fireworks. Later, Roy told Melissa that his dream was the reason for his bad nerves. Melissa told Roy that she had dreamt of him as well, but she wouldn't give the details of her dream. When he pressed her, she kissed him and said she had dreamt of doing that. After a night of dreaming about the Cassadines, Luke was more determined than ever to break through the elevator shaft and see what was in the basement. Melissa and Roy stood by as he used a blow torch to create a huge hole in the floor. Tony came along just as Luke prepared to move the wires and see what was below them. He tried to hide his panic and told Luke to leave well enough alone. Luke refused to listen and he moved the wires. He was disappointed to see another layer of cement. It didn't look new so they all surmised that this was the foundation of the building. Tony breathed a sigh of relief, but Luke remained certain that there was more the basement than met the eye. Emily was thrilled when her family came in with picnic baskets of food and decorations. At Skye's suggestion, they had decided to bring the Fourth of July to Emily. Lila saw the way Emily looked at Zander and told the family that Emily probably wanted to spend time with him. Emily thanked them all for thinking of her, but admitted that Lila was right. Respecting her wishes, they took the party to the park. Alone with Emily, Zander leaned down to kiss her and she saw the gun sticking out of his waistband. In the park, Skye set up an elaborate picnic replete with tables, fine china, and flowers. Monica chided her for making the picnic such a production, but Alan and Edward thought Skye had done a fine job. AJ made several snide remarks about Skye and in a toast to her, he thanked her for being such a good sister to Emily. Ned asked him what he was trying to say and AJ declared that he knew who had helped Emily run away. Gia reeled when Nikolas told her that he was considering returning to the Cassadines. He thought it might be the best thing for Lucky considering the damage he was doing to the Spencer clan. He figured that Lucky needed his father more than his brother at this time. Gia reasoned with him and told him that he shouldn't give up his freedom at any cost. As much as she cared about Lucky, she loved Nikolas and knew that his family would hurt him. Overcome, Nikolas took her in his arms and told her how much he loved her. He promised her that he would be careful no matter what happened. Helena was annoyed by Stavros's cocky attitude about regaining Nikolas and Laura. She accused him of being careless and endangering their plans. Stavros reminded her that he was the one in control and he made Helena laugh in spite of herself. In the midst of their talk, Helena received a call from Nikolas who wanted to meet with her right away. Helena met him in the park and was shocked when Nikolas wanted to know more about his father. Meanwhile, Stavros wandered through the park and Gia accidentally bumped into him. He grabbed her by the arms to steady her and said he was happy to see her.

THE MYSTERY ISLAND
The show opened with Angel on the phone telling someone that they had more than repaid their debt to her. When Sonny came in, she ended the phone conversation abruptly. He asked her point blank, "Who are you?" but Angel never answered the question. She tried to make small talk and asked Sonny to tell her about how his family passed the 4th of July holiday. Sonny shared stories of him and Mike fishing, but when he began to get melancholy, she quickly changed the subject. Their conversation was interrupted when Mike showed up. Even though Angel denied knowing Sony, Mike told her he knew she was lying. When Mike called her bluff and told her he'd seen his son's wedding ring there, Sonny finally came out and confronted his father. Mike made Sonny aware of the fact that Carly was falling apart over AJ's custody suit and the fact that her husband had left her. Even though Sonny told Mike that he had arranged for Michael and Letticia to have protection, Mike begged his son to forgive his wife. Sonny merely glared back at Mike and said nothing.

THE PENTHOUSE
Alexis came and told Carly about the new court date in the custody case. Carly lashed out at Alexis, demanding that she do something to stop AJ Alexis reminded Carly that she was actually on her side this time, but that there was nothing to be done at this point. She then offered to go for a walk with Carly so they could enjoy the festivities in the park. Carly wasn't exactly thrilled, but she decided that it beat staying home alone.

THE PARK
The park was a buzz with 4th of July festivities. The Q's enjoyed their upscale picnic, complete with servants, while AJ taunted Skye with veiled threats. Just as the other family members were calling AJ's bluff, a better target came along! Carly and Alexis came upon the ritzy picnic. Although Alexis tried to drag Carly away, AJ and Carly fired volley after volley at each other, with AJ definitely getting the upper hand. When he threw up the fact that Sonny had dumped her like everyone else in her life, Carly was devastated and ran away, weeping. Later on in the day, AJ told Skye that they could both possibly get what they wanted.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Alexis and Ned did an encore of their duet, "My family's weirder than yours." Chloe tried to convince both of them to call a holiday truce. Instead of stopping, Ned asked Alexis if she planned to spend the rest of her life cleaning up Sonny's mess.
On the other side of the park, Nikolas met Helena. He asked her to tell him more about Stavros. When Helena questioned his curiosity, he told her that he wanted to believe that there was some good that had come out of his twisted family. Helena then proceeded to make her favorite son out to be larger than life while she put down Stefan. She told Nikolas that he should be proud that he was so much like his father. Nikolas told psycho-granny that he'd think about their conversation and would be in touch.

While skulking around the park, Stavros ran into his sons girlfriend again. He charmed her into accepting his help with her photos for the upcoming performance in the park for She-Daisie. As they sat together, he got her to open up about Nikolas and his true feelings about the Cassadines. When he realized that Nikolas had no intention of returning to his family, Stavros had to stifle his anger. He later caught up with his mother and told her that Nikolas was toying with her. She disagreed with Stavros feeling that her grandson was sincere.

GENERAL HOSPITAL
Back at the hospital, Emily freaked out when she discovered that Zander was carrying a gun. He finally told her about the threat Sorel's man had made against her life. Emily begged him to tell Sonny or the police, but Zander said he could handle this himself. He then opened up to Emily, admitting that an incident in his past had made his wary of guns. He refused to tell her anything more about it. Emily pointed out to him the legal ramifications of getting busted with a gun, but he told her he was willing to face the risk for her. Little did they know that right outside of her door, Sorel was on the phone with his man (the guard!), telling him to kill the teens immediately. After getting rid of the other partner, the fake guard went into Emily's room and drew his gun. The teens froze in fear.

The show closed with a freaked out Carly wandering through the park, alone. Stavros, who had just discovered her relationship to Luke, approached her, oozing charm from every pore. He offered her comfort and whatever she needed. Carly, of course, couldn't resist the temptation to flirt back and asked him if he wanted to drive her home or just sleep with her. Stavros laughed and told her she could choose whatever she wanted!

THE PARK
Today, Ned showed us all over again why all four of his marriages failed. He went into a total Quartermaine tirade about Alexis and her relationship/feelings for Sonny. He insinuated that her real agenda as far as Sonny was concerned was personal - not professional. She asked him, "When did you become so narrow-minded and judgmental?" Ned responded that he believed it was her judgment that was cloudy - not his. After defending her position for the millionth time, she told Ned he was silly, and stalked away.
Meanwhile, Stavros grabbed Carly and passionately kissed her until she was able to break away and slap his face. Although he kept acting as if she really wanted him, Carly was totally outraged and repulsed by what had just happened. Of course, he vanished into thin air the minute Alexis showed up, but she felt his evil vibe and told Carly they had to leave immediately. After tracking her wayward son again, Helena chastised Stavros for behaving so recklessly. "Mother - I've been asleep far too long already."
AJ struck a deal with Skye. He was willing to destroy Emily's letter in return for help in his custody battle. At first, Skye was reluctant to help, but AJ won her over by talking about his hopes and dreams of a future with his son. "I don't want him to grow up like you," he said to Skye. When she was insulted by that comment, he explained that he meant no harm. What he was trying to say was that he didn't want Michael to resent him the way she had resented Alan and Rae Cummings. Skye put her suspicions aside, and agreed to help him.

MYSTERY ISLAND
Sonny flatly refused to leave for Carly's sake. When asked him why he was more interested in staying there with Angel, a woman he barely knew, Sonny responded with, "She respects my privacy. She doesn't scream and whale, and ask me to give her things I can't give her." He finally agreed that he would at least consider returning to Port Charles, but he insisted that their marriage was over. Mike questioned Sonny trusting Angel, but Sonny reminded Mike that it was her who found him stabbed and dying. He felt that Angel had proven herself to be caring, and that was good enough. After Mike left, Sonny was looking for something to read and came across Angel's photo album. When she walked into the room and saw this she accused him of snooping. Sonny apologized and offered to play a game of truth. His questions were typical and anything but probing. She, by comparison, zinged him with a pointblank question about his intentions as far as Carly was concerned.

GENERAL HOSIPITAL
Zander immediately began to negotiate with Harry, Sorel's gunman. While he distracted Harry, Emily attempted to press her call button for help. Harry spotted her and took aim at her. Zander then convinced Harry to spare Emily. In the hallway, Zander jumped Harry just as Ned showed up. Together, they were able to get the gun away from Harry. Another bodyguard rushed in to help cuff Harry. When a man dressed as a nurse showed up, Zander asked him to call the police. When he went to check on Emily, he found her crying on the floor and called for help. Alan came in found his daughter hysterical. He calmed her down by telling her he was encouraged that she'd had the strength to get out of the bed at all! As Ned and Zander talked out in the hall, Zander realized what he needed to do to keep his lover safe. He rounded up Alan and Monica and begged them to send Emily away.

SOREL'S HOTEL ROOM
The gangster went ballistic when he found out that Harry had botched the job. When the man we had seen at the hospital dressed as a nurse, showed up and defended Harry, Sorel killed him! Knowing that the cops were closing in, Sorel left - and not a moment too soon. Taggert missed the mobster by minutes and couldn't hide his frustration when he found nothing but a dead man.

THE PENTHOUSE
Mike went back to the Penthouse to check on Carly. Although he didn't tell her that he had seen Sonny, Mike told her that he believed Sonny would come home. He did warn her though, that his son just might not come back to her. When he tried to assure Carly that Sonny would take care of her and Michael, she wanted to be a wife, not a responsibility. As he was leaving, Mike warned her to keep her head up. When Carly heard someone at the door, she thought it was Sonny. Instead, it was none other than her husband's enemy - Sorel!