Episode 8243

Extended Summary

Justin and Leah pull up near the beach and Justin insists on opening up the door for her. They comment on having to cut their honeymoon short. Leah wonders why Theo didn’t tell them about the van being impounded, leaving them to hear it from the police, and why it’s been impounded anyway. Justin is rather dismissive and says he’ll sort it, sending her to go and say hello to her friends at the Diner.

At the media event, Stevie is chatting with two men, Nelson Giles and Troy Morrison. Cash comes over and the others wonder if he’s her boyfriend. Stevie says he’s her ex-bodyguard. Cash says Stevie has a stalker but the others are dismissive: Troy says he’s had plenty of them and Nelson says they’re usually harmless megafans. Cash says there’s a danger, since he was just allowed to walk in there without anyone checking who he was. Stevie sarcastically says she’s just a hysterical woman. Nelson takes Stevie and Troy up on stage, introducing them as the film’s stars.

At the Diner, Alf finishes a call with Roo and tells Irene and Marilyn that she had a good visit with Poppy and that Sonia is doing better now she has support. Leah arrives and notes they missed Marilyn at the wedding, asking about Jett’s wife. She explains about the van being impounded and Justin being mysterious about it. Meanwhile, Valerie arrives home with pizza but Theo isn’t hungry. Valerie says she’d go to the police but they’d just think she was covering for him. Theo says he paid for the pills so it’s on him. Justin arrives and reminds them he wanted Valerie out, before asking why the van was impounded.

Troy is telling the journalists he’s doing his own stunts as usual although Nelson points out it’s a romcom so there’s not too many of those. He hands over to Stevie who praises up the movie and Nelson as director. She says it’s a departure for her but a film like this is her dream and life’s too short not to follow your dreams, mentioning Crystal’s death and how they always talked about stepping out of their comfort zones.

At the Diner, Leah chats to Alf, Irene and Marilyn about the honeymoon. Kirby turns up and Leah thanks her for playing at the wedding before asking what happened with the van. Kirby suggests she talk to Theo. At the Morgan house, Theo tells Justin he kept quiet because he didn’t want to ruin the honeymoon. Justin wants Valerie to own up but Theo says he told her not to. Leah arrives and Justin tells Valerie to tell her that she nearly ruined Theo’s life by getting him into drugs. Valerie rushes out and Leah asks for the full story.

Cash chats to Nelson about the impact Stevie made and asks to talk to her. He congratulates Stevie on getting the part and tells her he understands now why she has to be out here doing this. Stevie says it’s a new start and a new her. Cash asks if she told the journalists that and Stevie says she was going to before he dragged her away.

Leah has been brought up to speed by Justin and Theo. She asks why Justin didn’t tell her and he says he didn’t want to ruin the wedding. Justin thinks most of the blame is on Valerie but Theo asks them not to write her off. Leah says she never knew Valerie was like this and trusted her. Theo says they’d feel differently if they knew why she was in the clinic and offers to tell them. Meanwhile, Kirby finds Valerie upset on the beach and offers to talk. Valerie says Justin and Theo are telling Leah the whole story and she’s messed everything up.

Cash asks Stevie if they can wrap things up. Stevie sees a crowd of fans outside. Cash is worried it’s dangerous but Stevie says she’s only there because of them. She goes over and starts signing autographs and posing for photos. A young man pushes his way to the front and asks her to say her catchphrase: “Time to finish this.” Cash pulls Stevie away from him and the man runs off. Cash follows him to a car park, getting in just before the door closes. The man leaps out at him but Cash easily overpowers him and gets him in a headlock. The man protests that Stevie’s the last on his list.

At the Lyrik house, Valerie tells Kirby she knows she has a problem but it’s the only way to block out what happened to her brother. She says the only good thing that happened to her at the clinic was meeting Leah, who was like her mum used to be, so she checked herself out and followed her there. She said she had a family again and felt whole. Kirby points out she was still using. Valerie suggests she might have stopped if she’d had more time. Kirby suggests she talk to Leah and Justin.

At the Morgan house, Leah tells Justin she should have listened to him about Valerie. Justin says she thought she had it together but she’s messed up. He thinks they need to talk to Theo about the next steps. Theo is trying to call Valerie and worries about her. Justin thinks the priority should be getting Theo a lawyer. Theo says Valerie needs support, not judgement.

Cash and Stevie watch as the stalker is taken into custody. The man tries to take a step towards Stevie who warns him he’ll spend the rest of his life in jail. After he’s taken away, Cash tells Stevie his name is Sidney Wickham. Stevie is overwhelmed that Cash actually caught him. She wonders if she needs to give the police her statement. Cash says he’s arranged for them both to do it tomorrow.

Next morning, Valerie turns up at the house to be greeted by Leah, Justin and Theo. She says she panicked and apologises. Leah says she’ll drive Valerie to the clinic if that’s what she wants. Valerie says it won’t help her and she wants to stay there. Leah says she needs to make peace with what happened with her family and if she won’t go to the clinic, they’ll have to ask her to leave. Theo tries to protest and Valerie says she just wants to be part of the family but Leah says it has to be this way.

Later, Theo walks Valerie to her car, saying he’ll try and talk Leah round and also to call him when she settles so he can come to her. Valerie thinks she’s caused too much pain and tells him he has a good family there. Leah and Justin watch from a distance; Justin says it’s rough but Leah says it has to be done. Theo tells Valerie he’ll always be there as she hugs him goodbye and leaves.