Chapter 4: Winter of Forbidden Ecstasy

Quite a number of pivotal events built upon the foundation of season four, including Matthew and Dana's discovery of the book of Special Souls - which explained their special gifts, who their predecessors were, and the purpose of their connection.  For Matthew, the discovery was the final validation he needed in the special power that rested deep inside his soul, a gift that he and his deceased father shared.  After all this time, he was more like his father than he ever realized.  He eagerly shared the news with his older brother Earl, who didn't take to it very well.  The reason being that Earl knew all along about his father's interest in the paranormal and worked hard to conceal that part of their father's life from Matthew.  When Matthew realized this, he felt completely betrayed.  Although Earl tried to explain that he kept him in the dark as a promise to their parents, Matthew believed it was merely a means for Earl to keep a tight stronghold over his life.  Furthermore, he accused his brother of being jealous of the gift he and his father shared.  A frustrated Earl told Matthew that his so-called gift was a death sentence that sent their father straight to the grave.  The words leaving his blood cold, Matthew demanded to know what happened to their father.  Earl, however, refused to open up old wounds regarding the night of their father's untimely demise.  Unable to fathom how his brother could continue to withhold important information about his father that he had a right to know, Matthew washed his hands of his brother -- seeing no value in having a brother he couldn't trust, and one who couldn't trust him.  Earl tried to mend fences by enlisting Dana's help, but he only managed to alientate his brother more.  Hoping some distance might do them some good, Earl decided to visit with his son in Springfield.  Meanwhile, as Billy Clyde's condition began to improve, Matthew and Dana forged ahead with their plans to tell his girlfriend Crystal about the Book of Special Souls.

Unfortunately, Matthew and Dana's timing couldn't have been worse.  Convinced Javier Sanchez shot him in a jealous rage, Billy fled the hospital in search for the truth.  When Crystal learned from Billy's mother that he had himself discharged, she feared he was going after Javier.  Although anxious to head him off at the pass, her plans were derailed when Mathew and Dana insisted on telling her about what they discovered in the Palisades.

Despite her own experience with the extraordinary, both personal and eye witness account (watching her mother battle psychic visions for years), Crystal found the idea of her powers being linked to this bigger entity that involved Matt and Dana hard to swallow.  Truth was, she never wanted her mother's visions, and she was happy that they stopped coming to her after her face was badly scarred in the Blanchencore Hospital' bombing.  Matthew and Dana tried to explain that their powers were a gift - given to chosen members of their families -- she may have been able to suppress her visions, but they still lie deep in the subconscious of her psyche waiting to be channeled.  Unfortunately for them, Crystal was not interested in being apart of this epic tale they were trying to paint.  She just wanted to find Billy before it was too late.  Ironically, it would mean open herself up to her visions and the possibility that there was something connecting the three of them. 

With a clear idea of Billy's whereabouts, Matthew, Dana and Crystal headed to Cresent Manor, where Crystal decided to broach Javier's room without backup.  When she arrived in his room,  she was floored to overhear her ex- husband confess to trying to kill Billy.  Although he tried to make amends back at the hospital and was apologizing now for what he had done, no amount of remorse could take away her disgust.  As Javier made his way out toward the balcony, he expressed his hope that one day they would forgive him.  Noting the sense of finality in his voice, Crystal turned back to to see her ex- husband jump to his death.

Seemingly sweet and bashful Kavina Shah may have been unsuccessful in her suicide attempt, but when it came to her target of choice for murder - she hit it right out of the ballpark.  While Royce and Kendall stuck by her side, most of Hallandale turned their backs on her after learning she was the one that murdered Leonard Stone.  Of course, that didn't necessarily mean they didn't sympathesize with her plight or understand why she had been driven to the point of murder.  Rochelle and Dean's alliance, for one, came crumbling down after Rochelle admitted to Dean that she didn't think a good friend of hers should be publicly executed for killing his brother -- bringing to light the possibility that she perhaps thought Leonard got what was coming to him.  Nonetheless, Rochelle didn't want to see Kavina walk off scott-free either.  After all, this was the same woman who framed her for the crime, then sat idly by and watch the state try to prosecute her for the murder.  Then adding salt to the wound, she tried to kill her once Rochelle got too close to the truth.  Clearly one into alliances that serve the common good, when her former friend Lacreasha Dupree approached her about doing an expose on Kavina, Rochelle could not turn her down.

As their discussion about the expose commenced, Rochelle's curiosity about Lacreasha's reasons for sleeping with Leonard were reawaken.  With things so natural between them after months of hostility, Lacreasha managed to formulate the huge secret she had been harboring from Rochelle and Leonard.  After the initial shock wore off, Rochelle was livid, no doubt about it.  She resented Lacreasha for fostering a bridge of hatred between her and a man that was, in actuality, her brother.  Lacreasha reasoned that Rochelle was not in the right place emotionally or mentally to handle the truth.  Rochelle, however, was convinced it was all about power for her former best friend - going on to add how she essentially debased herself in order to keep the truth hidden. Hearing Rochelle's strict, sanctimonious ideals spewed back in her face with such fierce negativity reminded Lacreasha that the bridge of reconciliation had been burnt down long time ago, and she would never be worthy of Rochelle's ideal friendship.

Following his cross-examination by the state in Kavina's conviction trial, Anton McCloud's doubts about Kavina's guilt re-emereged, and rightfully so.  In a surprise move by the courts, Widlin Pierre was called to testify on behalf of the defense.  To Kavina's horror, Widlin admitted under oath that she was in Leonard's room just shortly after he was shot.  Realizing the possible implications of Widlin's testimony, Kavina staged a fainting attack and managed to wiggle her way out of her lawyer's custody into the woman's restroom, where she cornered an unsuspecting Widlin.

After failing to convince Widlin not to testify, Kavina begged the socialite not to share what she really saw the night of Leonard's murder.  Although she didn't like the idea of perjurying herself, Widlin found it difficult to argue with a woman that was content on accepting penance for this crime.  Unfortuantely, she had a difficult time reconstructing the facts to fit Kavina's story.  During her testimony, an observant Anton noticed that Widlin seemed to be gaging her cues from Kavina, making it clear that something just wasn't right.  Anton later shared his observations with Malina, including his theory that Kavina was shielding the real killer from justice.  Although Malina had a hard time buying his theory, she was more put off by the fact that he was willing to keep quiet about his suspicions when it  meant an innocent woman could be convicted of a crime she didn't commit.

Throughout the season, there seemed to be this underlying theme of trust, or lack there of.  Matthew didn't feel his brother trusted him enough to be honest about the events leading to their father's death;  Widlin didn't have enough faith in Darron's love to walk away from her father and his money;  Royce's loyalty to Kavina put him at odds with Rochelle, who was not please to discover that he knew all along that Kavina was guilty of murder;  The list continues to grow with the shortlived romance of Sherri Reynolds and Dr. Romain Chandler.

Sherri was actually working through a messy divorce when she met Romain.  Particularly taken in by his honest and forthright nature, she thought Romain was a step in the right direction after her marriage to Mitchell went south.  Unfortunately, her rose-colored perception of her new boyfriend was darkened by his top secret trip to North Dakota.  Romain attempted to smooth things over with Sherri by preparing a dinner for the two of them at his place, but the evening was shrouded by the mystery of his trip to North Dakota.  After intercepting a call from North Dakota for Romain, Sherri was unable to focus on the objective of their evening.  When she later tried to press him for information about his elusive call, he reminded her that everyone has things in their past that they prefer not to discuss with anyone.  Sherri, however, thought this meant that he just hadn't found the right confidante, and did not understand why Romain remained so guarded about the whole mention of North Dakota.  In a rather poorly decisive move, Romain admitted to Sherri that he was falling in love with her.  Sherri, however, was not receptive of his procclamation, accusing him of using the words to detract away from a growing problem -- his decision to remain secretive about North Dakota.

After the disastrous end to her dinner with Romain, Sherri was full of regret as she relived the whole night for her sister's analysis, worried she may have scared off Romain for good.  Sandy found it hard to believe that a man like Romain would let one messy date screw up a potentially good relationship, especially now that the "L" word was on the table.  However, she was concerned that her sister's hangups about Romain had more to do with the affair between her and Mitchell.  Sherri maintained that she had gotten past the affair, and that trust was the real issue.

Unlike Sherri and Romain, single, dependable and mechanically-inclined Derek Guittierrez was able to reconcile his suspicions about his chance encounter with Shalia Mendez and take a leap of faith by trusting a woman he only met as a result of a drunken one-night stand.  His best friend, Ben, however, did not suffer from the same blind faith and proceeded to have the woman investigated.  When Shalia caught wind of the investigation, she arranged for the power in Derek's apartment complex to go out, allowing her ample time to sneak into his sublet and pry the damaging dossier from Ben's hands.  What she didn't count on was Ben chasing her predatorily through the woods, determined to reacquire the file she'd stolen.  Fortunately for her, she skated his scent and was able to destroy the contents of the file, but escaping his growing suspicions wouldn't be as easy.

As a result of her scurry through the woods, Shalia had a tough time coming up with a plausible story to explain the scratches on her arm, which Ben felt were a direct result of her extracurricular activities the previous night.  Derek, however, chose to believe her when she said she got them while tending to the garden around her home.  Of course, one trip to her house in the outskirts of nowhere, and Ben knew she was lying.  While he remained busy trying to protect Derek from seemingly harmless Shalia, his wife Shanna was dragged into some drama of her own when a strange man showed up at her cottage, claiming he needed to use the phone after his car broke down.  As it would turn out, the strange man was operating under a hidden agenda where Shanna was concerned.  A few nights later, Shanna was shocked to find a couple of thugs roughing him up, and invited him in for some TLC.  While helping him out of his shirt to tend to his wounds, her husband returned home unexpectedly and found the two in a compromising position.  Naturally flipping out at the scene of his wife on top of half-naked young man, Ben threw out the badly beaten stranger and got into argument with his wife.  However, Shanna was able to convince him that nothing was going on and that she was simply trying to help him recuperate.  While he loved her for wanting to help every random stranger on the street, he cautioned her against trusting people so easily.