It's New Years Eve night and many people in Breckenridge are partying at TV station WBRE, which is also doing a live broadcast. Eliza Braxton, wearing a sequined blue swing dress, is sitting with her co-worker and good friend Suzanne Haines. Suzanne, a beautiful blonde, is wearing a long and form-fitting red velvet gown.
Suzanne: I still can't believe you gave up pursuing Lance.
Eliza: It's something I had to do Suzanne, and I'm glad I did. Lance and I have become really good as friends and parents-to-be. Lance is totally in love with Rosamond, and he's so happy. I can't destroy that.
Suzanne: But what about your happiness? You said yourself you were really depressed at Christmas.
Eliza: I was, but not over Lance. It was Drennen. His grudge against Lance's family was not helping our friendship, and in the end, I had to sever ties with him. But it's all for the better. I have to think about my daughter. (patting her stomach) Both of my daughters.
Paul, Tess, Valerie, and Kane are dancing on the station's makeshift dance floor.
Valerie: This is a lot of fun. I'm having a good time.
Kane: Me too. It's a neat idea to have a New Year's party at a TV station.
Paul: WBRE has this every year. The money they get from ticket sales goes to the House of Ruth for battered women.
Tess: It's too bad Zoe and Amaya aren't here to enjoy the party.
Valerie: They volunteered to help Loretta at the diner since she's expecting a good crowd, and they're getting paid for it. The girls were happy to do it, they need the money.
Tess: It was nice of them to help Mom out.
Valerie: Working will take their mind off their father. Drennen's behavior has gotten them down and I just can't bear to see them so sad. For their sake, he has to come around. He just has to.
Drennen is in his hotel room standing in front of the mirror. He is holding a 9mm black pistol and smiling as he thinks to himself. Tonight is the night my life goes back to what it was, before I came to this damn place. I should never agreed to come here, but it meant so much to Valerie. Now she doesn't want to leave. She wants to divorce me and take my daughters away. But I'm not going to let that happen. There's no way in hell Paul Harper and Kane Garrett are stealing my family. He holds the gun up to the mirror as if he was aiming it. This is really all too easy. Just like ducks in a shooting gallery. Pow! He pockets the gun inside his black leather jacket, smiles again, then leaves his room.
Back at the station, the party is in full swing. Ingrid and Marcus are dancing. Paul, Tess, Valerie, and Kane are sitting and drinking champagne. Dorothy and Russell are talking with Lance and Rosamond, and at another table, Roark and Fawn are with Cordelia and Everett, eating. Eliza and Suzanne have just walked over to where Lance and Rosamond are at, and Lance rubs her belly. At that same time, Drennen pulls up in the TV station's back parking lot. Knowing he can't get in through the front, he tries to find a way to get in through the back. Suddenly, a door opens and a woman steps out, lighting a cigarette. Drennen quickly walks up to her, passes her, and enters the station. Acting nonchalant, he begins making his way through the long corridors.
Drennen (to himself): It won't be long now. Thirty more minutes, and all will be right with my life....
End of Episode 51
Next on come nightfall....
Drennen fires his gun----and all hell breaks loose.