The Plot/the story, what do YOU think?

Poirot

Poirot

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While a lot of the storylines on Days lately have seemed to be duds, there were some not so bad. But we have moaned a bit about the sidelined characters. So.....without resorting to bringing in anyone new, or even a character no longer in town....can you think of a storyline for the following. and I don't mean, so & so fall in love, break up, get drunk again, etc. I mean a story outline. O.K. Bring in temp characters if you want, but temp.

So...how about

Hope
Rafe
John
Jeanie Theresa
Daniel
Aiden
Kayla*
Nicole
Maggie
Lucas*
Abby
Caroline'
Marlena
Jennifer
Ben
JJ
Abe
Kate
Eve
Anne*
Victor*
Clyde
Chad

those starred are recurring, so could just be inserted in any story, Ooops, forgot Julie
 
Salem Police have noted there seems to be a lot more drug activity going on, especially at the college. Nicole overhears a couple of cops talking, and decides to investigate. She manages to get talking to JJ, thus meeting Rory & Bev, and talks them into going undercover to expose whoever is behind this.
Eric is doing nature photography in the park, it is spring, and he is using a camera with a long lens, in order to get some pictures of the "rites of Spring" without disturbing the birds and animals. He unknowingly captures a drug deal, plus a conversation between Clyde & Jeremiah.
He shares the pics with Rafe, not understanding, but thinking it looks a bit suspicious.
Rafe recognizes Clyde, shows the pic to Jordan, asking if she knows this other man. Jordan has been running scared for some time, has had enough, tells Rafe about Clyde's business associate from Poplar Bluff.
Daniel is getting concerned because there has been an increase of patients coming in sick, bad weed, pills, etc. Bev & Jill are among them. Since Paige knows them, she realizes this is coming from the college. She tells JJ, who lets Daniel know. In turn, Daniel clues in Nicole, who now seeks our Eric with his pictures. JJ, Rory, Paige recruit Ben (who is also going to that college now) to help them out. The spring outdoor party is perfect. Undercover cops are all around, as the kids all party in the park once more. Cameras are set up in the trees, Bug planted under benches. Nicole & Rafe watch together. Eventually, the uniformed cops arrive, round up everyone.
However, the "big guy" is still out there.
 
Jordan gets to work on John, whose rehab is going well. So well, in fact, that he feels it's time to get his Basic Black pension funds back. Kate agrees, and helps him obtain his stolen funds. John asks Brady to work with him rebuilding the company...again, but he's not available. So John asks Lucas, leaving Kate feeling betrayed. To keep her in his sights, and away from his addictive son, John hires Jeannie T and offers to train her as a mid-level manager (heck, maybe she has some college background?). While working there, Jeannie develops a friendship with a young mailboy, who dreams of being a writer. [Recurring character.] She's turned around completely, realising the wreck her life had become. But she becomes worried because her friend cannot pursue the dreams she so easily achieved.

Brady and Victor are up to their eyeballs in a scandal when some bad investing - directed by Brady - has bankrupted several of their soon-to-be-retirees' pension funds. Brady reaches out to his friend Jennifer, hoping she can help do damage control, offering her a cosy job at TITAN PR. She accepts, leaving the drama of the hospital, but soon begins to side with the workers who have put their lives into the company. Maggie gets tied up as well, because a friend from AA ends up relapsing after 20 years sober, after losing his life savings.

Nicole approaches Abby with an idea for a takeover of the Spectator, her dad's former newspaper which has been run into the ground. Although Abby doesn't trust Nicole, she accepts because she's had such trouble finding a job, and she believes in Nicole's drive to improve the paper, which is part of her dad's legacy. They team up and start working on the story of the Titan Pension scandal.

Sonny decides to open a second location in a run-down district of Salem, to Will's horror, and Justin's (and Victor's) consternation. But Adrienne (and Maggie) supports him, and she even agrees to spearhead the project. On the first day the shop is open, it is robbed at gunpoint by a thug [who will be a recurring character and the brother of Jeannie T's friend], and Will is injured in the robbery. The suspect is wanted in a string of robberies, and Rafe & Hope team up to catch him. When they do, Aiden defends him, and Will and Sonny are at loggerheads concerning the criminal's prosecution. Eventually, Abe enlists JJ's help in supervising the criminal's rehab program, with Aiden's help.

Kate and Chad decide to seek vengeance after Basic Black's fledgling operation steals a major account, even though it may mean humiliating Lucas, who has grown close to Jordan thanks to his frequent visits to John during rehab.

A major corporation buys the hospital in order to cut costs, and promotes Anne to an administrative position, as she is the hospital's senior employee. She and Kayla but heads, but come to respect each other...Anne for Kayla's medical acumen and compassion, Kayla for Anne's work ethic and devotion to quality care. Both run afoul of wondersurgeon Daniel, who ends up leaving UH to start a clinic in the neighbourhood of Sonny's new shop.

Ben has a major breakdown in the HTS after a confrontation with Clyde, and is ordered into therapy with Dr Marlena Evans. Abby, terrified of his temper, sticks to work and ends their relationship. Meanwhile, another patient of Marlena's, a man-hungry chanteuse, strikes up a friendship with the troubled young man that slowly evolves as their psyches heal.

So, I had to bring in two recurring characters, and I have not much for Clyde nor Daniel. But that's just a quick outline.
 
After JJ and Paige break up, JJ manages his broken heart by throwing himself 100% into his studies, which means a lot of late nights at the library. This worries Jen, who thinks that it's not healthy for JJ to do this, and her worries are only exacerbated when Hope, who is investigating a string of robberies in the dorms, mentions to Jen that Salem U is not a safe place at night anymore. Maggie offers to step in to talk to JJ, but JJ tells her that he's not Brady and is never going back to drugs so she doesn't have to worry, but doesn't want to talk to her--or anyone--about his feelings.

In the meantime, Rory gets involved with an elaborate plan to cheat on exams, and wants JJ's help. When he doesn't want to, Rory becomes resentful because he feels everything is easy for JJ, while Rory doesn't have any family support and school doesn't come easily to him. JJ tries to convince Rory that he can do more than he thinks and doesn't have to resort to cheating, but Rory isn't having it and tells JJ that their friendship is over. This leaves JJ even more depressed, but he's also determined to find a way to help Rory rise above his problems.

Daniel gets a call from Parker's preschool that Parker is complaining of dizziness. At first, Daniel thinks it's nothing serious, but Parker continues to have episodes of dizziness and sometimes seems to be short of breath. Daniel thinks it may be asthma and takes Parker to the hospital after Parker's breathing difficulties intensify. At first, Daniel is in charge, but Kayla finds out and won't let him be the doctor to his own child. She takes over Parker's care, and Parker is diagnosed with a rare heart disease. Daniel is devastated both by his son's disease and by his own inability to catch it or cure it. Nicole reaches out to him and is able to relate to his pain because of the loss of her children, though she quickly reassures Daniel that Parker is not going to die. The two get closer again as Nicole supports Daniel and Parker through this crisis. Jen, of course, is not happy, but she is preoccupied with her concerns about JJ. Chloe (returning briefly when Daniel tells her the news about their son) is also not happy, and questions whether Daniel was "distracted" by Nicole and thus missed diagnosing and treating Parker correctly, causing Daniel to question himself. When a patient has a bad reaction and nearly dies during a routine surgery, Daniel is further shaken and decides to take a leave of absence from the hospital. Marlena comes to see him and talk "doctor to doctor," but really wants to offer support and some words of wisdom. She talks with Daniel about how difficult it is to be the one who needs support instead of the one supporting everyone else.

Roman, Rafe and Hope all work together on investigating the Salem U robber, though Roman insists that Hope be consulted on this case only as needed. Hope is angry at being left out and wants to play a major role in this investigation, but Roman won't let her because he's afraid it'll ruin her budding relationship with Aiden. Hope feels Aiden will just have to get used to it, but Roman points out that Hope divorced Bo because she couldn't just get used to him being halfway around the world, and it isn't fair to put Aiden in the same position. Hope agrees, but she's distracted during her and Aiden's romantic evening. When Aiden wants to know what's wrong, she talks to him about her frustrations, leading to more closeness, though she's not sure how to take it when Aiden jokes that he'll probably be defending whoever the Salem PD eventually arrests.

The robber has graduated from breaking in to dorm rooms to attacking students as they walk on campus, and JJ is still staying on campus late at night, worrying Jen, who finds her friendship with Eric to be helpful in keeping her from trying to control the situation. Across town, Eve is equally worried because Paige has decided to move into the dorms in order to get some space from her mother. Paige wants more independence and won't be dissuaded, despite Eve's concerns about her safety. One night soon after Paige's move, she runs into JJ on campus and accuses him of stalking her, which he denies. He walks off feeling sad and angry, and Paige walks off in the other direction, not noticing somebody lurking in the shadows...

Eve, frantic that she can't get in touch with her daughter, runs to Jen's in a panic and demands to know if JJ has heard from Paige. Jen angrily tells her that JJ's been through enough and that he and Paige are through, but Eve didn't come there to accuse JJ; she asks Jen how she would feel if JJ wasn't answering his phone and she just knew something was wrong. When Eve receives a text suggesting Paige has been kidnapped, she suddenly remembers that Jen was an investigative reporter once and begs Jen to help her find her daughter. The two reluctantly join forces, though Jen also convinces Eve to call the police. Abe apologizes to Jen outside of Eve's presence, but he has to question JJ because witnesses saw them fighting right before Paige disappeared. In the meantime, Rafe questions Rory, and since there's no evidence, both boys are released, but the police can't rule them out either. JJ and Rory also band together because finding whoever really did this is the only way to clear both of their names. JJ also decides to ask Nicole for help, which she's all too willing to give (though Rory doesn't quite trust her because in "the old days" she was always giving JJ the evil eye). Nicole's boss has been giving her fluff pieces and she wants a real story.

(Like Jason, I just threw something together quickly, and I'm sure if I think about it I can add some other storylines, but I thought this was a good enough start.)
 
Eric lands a photography job in London, and leaves to work with Percy. Nicole and him mend fences before he leaves, both realizing they weren't truly in love, but trying to recapture what they had the last time they were together. She begins having casual sex with Brady and with Daniel, but later ends things with them because she becomes really busy with her job. Eventually, Miles (her boss) is fired for sleeping with an intern, and Nicole is given his position. She brings Abby on to her team, and also hires Rafe as an investigator (a second job for him). The two grow closer and eventually fall in love, getting together. Later, they hear from a guilt-ridden Cameron that he actually sold Nicole's baby, under Stefano's orders in exchange for pay, to a child labor group, and Nicole & Rafe go on a mission and eventually bring the baby back. When they return, Eric is back in town with shocking news: he has photos of those in charge the child labor ring! And Clyde is the head honcho, with Jeremiah as his right hand man!

Kate and Chad are running DiMera Enterprises, but are seriously affected when Abigail discovers the truth about the pension funds EJ stole from John in 2011, and publishes the information at work. They get into a corporate war with Victor and Brady, who also hire Lucas to help them out. Brady starts buying drugs again--this time, from Jeremiah. Eventually, Lucas becomes his confidante about addictions, and Brady quits the drug addiction and starts back at AA. While spending time at the hospital for that and visiting his recovering dad, he also bonds with John's physical therapist: Jordan. They become close friends, and eventually start to feel more, but Jordan learns that Brady bought drugs from Jeremiah before, and explains the dangerous past she had as a child slave forced to work in a crack house making drugs. Brady and her meet up with Nicole, Rafe, and Eric, and decide to team up and expose the drug-dealing duo of Clyde and Jeremiah. Later, Chad realizes Jordan has feelings for Brady, and ends the relationship. Chad also realizes he still has feelings for Abigail. Now that Melanie is back and has stolen Ben from Abby, they reunite. But then Nathan comes back and steals Melanie from Ben. Ben leaves town, and Melanie marries Nathan at last.

Hope makes an arrest, where Kate learns of Clyde's misdeeds after they'd been in a relationship. She ends their fling, and eventually gets back with a newly-returned Stefano. Hope and Aiden run into relationship issues when Aiden becomes Jeremiah and Clyde's defense lawyer. Eventually, Eve pulls some strings (she wants to blackmail the judge because he slept with her when she was a prostitute), and Clyde and Jeremiah are free, as long as they give up their lucrative business and Jeremiah goes back to Poplar Bluff. Eve and Clyde start to interact more and become a couple. Clyde is hellbent on destroying Stefano and taking his business for himself; Eve also goes along with the plan so she can have some of the DiMera wealth.

This is what I thought of for now. I'm sure I'll come up with something else for the other characters later.
 
I just figured out a way to lose one of my new characters: I'll have Rory be the troubled thug (initially resentful of JJ being his "mentor"), and Rory's half-brother Vance Le Clair as the mailboy. (They have the same horrible mother, but Vance's father is Dougie Le Claire, Hope's half-brother.) You know, Salem connections and history being important and all that. :)
 
How about a solution to the EJ shooting? Miguel's wife, mother, or girl friend shows up at Salem P.D. headquarters to report him missing and says that he was working for EJ and had mentioned Elvis was having problems with a meth dealer. Noting the recent increase in meth sales in Salem, Hope and Rafe start and investigation and also notify the National Crime Information Center. Meanwhile, a hunter finds a shallow grave in the woods near Poplar Bluff. Thanks to the NCIC report, the local authorities quickly identify Miguel's remains. Rafe and Hope put two and two together, repeatedly grill Clyde and Jeremiah, and keep a close watch on their activities. Eventually, Clyde either becomes the latest criminal shot down by Hope (would Jordan's facial expression change if she heard Hope had shot Clyde?) or he lands in State Prison where he proceeds to annoy to death our old friends Gus, Vargas, and Dr. Baker.
 
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