David Meets Cassie On Her 17th Birthday

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Father and Daughter Meet - September 11. 1983

Dorian, Herb and Cassie at dinner: It's Cassie's birthday, but the festivities at Le Petit Oiseau are dampened by Dorian's negative attitude toward Nikos' (Cassie's boyfriend in Greece) gift: a nude statue of two lovers entwined that Cassie had admired. Upset because Dorian is prying into her romance with Nikos, Cassie informs her mother that she hopes she will respect her relationship as one between two adults. Furious, Dorian informs Cassie that just because she's seventeen does not mean that Dorian has stopped worrying about her or does not have a right to know what she is up to, especially since she is paying for Cassie's entire support. Near tears, Cassie apologizes to her father for the ruined evening, gets up, flees the table, and runs right into David, who is entering with Viki.

VIKI: Cassie.

CASSIE: Aunt Viki ... David Renaldi.... Mr. Renaldi.

VIKI: Well, of course you two don't know each other, do you? Well, David, may I please present Cassie Callison.

DAVID: Charmed.

CASSIE: I can't believe I ran into you by accident. I've been wanting to meet you for so long. Oh, I must look horrible, right?

DAVID: No, you look absolutely lovely.

CASSIE: ... mascara running all over my cheeks.

VIKI: Sweetheart, where were you going in such a hurry? Why are you so upset?

CASSIE: Oh, I got into one of my famous arguments with my mother.

VIKI: What a shame, and on your birthday.

CASSIE: Yeah, that's the problem. She hates the fact that she can't control my life anymore. She doesn't approve of my new boyfriend, Nikos, who's in Greece right now.

DAVID: Wait a minute, I don't understand. She hasn't met him, has she?

CASSIE: That's my point, thank you. So I'm not completely off-the-wall.
I'm feeling a little bit better now.

DAVID: Well maybe you oughta go back to the table and try to salvage your birthday celebration. I happen to know your mother loves you very much.

CASSIE: You mean you've talked to her?

DAVID: Of course. She's very proud of you.

CASSIE: (sighs) She doesn't act like she is. Yeah, I guess I should go over there. Aunt Viki, where's Clint?

VIKI: Oh, he'll be along soon.

CASSIE: Good, I wanted to see him. And Mr. Renaldi? I'm very happy that I met you. I listen to your tapes all the time. I play them over and over and over again.

DAVID: Well, I'm very gratified to know that. Incidentally, I happen to have seen your performance in "Blood Moon". I thought you were the best thing in the movie.

CASSIE: (brightening considerably) Really?

HERB: Well, great, she looks happy again. Maybe she can come back to the table and we can start all over.

DORIAN: I'm just so ashamed that a perfect stranger and Viki can make her smile and laugh, and her own mother can only make her cry.

HERB: You were pretty hard on her. I know it was out of fear and concern, but Angel, we gave that kid carte blanche for a whole summer, we can't just cut those wings ...

DORIAN: I know...I know... Look, when she comes back here, I'll just apologize, and then we can be our little happy family of three again, OK? I just wish she would stop bothering David ...and Viki, and come back over here.

HERB: He doesn't seem to mind. I think he's enjoying meeting her.

CASSIE: I'm back.

HERB: Ah, terrific! Good.

DORIAN: Sweetheart, listen. I'm very very sorry about that little argument that we had. Won't you please forgive me?

CASSIE: Sure Mom. I know that you love me, like Mr. Renaldi said.

DORIAN: Did he say that?

CASSIE: Yeah, they could tell I was kinda upset, so I told them we had an argument. He was just as warm and as friendly as I wanted him to be. He didn't look unbearable like you said at all. Not now anyway.

HERB: Yeah, well, for the most part he's a gentleman. What do you say we order dinner, huh?

VIKI: I think that sometimes work does save you from insanity.

DAVID: (distracted) I beg your pardon?

VIKI: Oh, it's nothing David. I was really just thinking about Clint and the way he's kept working through all this mess.

DAVID: Oh, well, I know from long experience how therapeutic work can be. (The waiter approaches their table with a bottle) Yes, well, I'd like a bottle of champagne, and this will do very nicely.

WAITER: Very good.

VIKI: David!

DAVID: Now, there are two reasons for this. First, you and Clint deserve it for your valor. And the second is that that lovely young lady over there is celebrating a birthday. Tell you what. We'll drink to futures. Clint's, as he works his way through this idiotic rumor that he killed Echo, and Cassie's, whatever her future holds for her as she blossoms.

VIKI: That's very nice. Nice to be with somebody who's so positive.

DAVID: Incidentally, I got a call from a friend of mine in Zurich last night. Now it seems that the disappearance and supposed death of the Contessa has made international news.

VIKI: Ah yes, the wire service picked it up

DAVID: Well, he started asking me for details. Seems he was a very good friend of Echo and her late husband Maxim.

VIKI: Are you serious?

DAVID: Uh huh.

VIKI: Did he say anything at all that might lead you to guess where they might be?

DAVID: No, he didn't, but I certainly can check on it.

VIKI: Oh, would you David? Maybe you could ask him if he remembers any particular place that Echo used to like to go, maybe a city or a country, or even a hotel.

DAVID: You think she might be hiding out somewhere?

VIKI: David for all we know she's already left the country and we're just wasting our time looking for her here.

Dorian continues to tell Cassie her tales of European adventure, and scolds her for "gawking" at Viki and David's table. She and Herb quiz her about boys and boyfriends, and Dorian finally asks:

DORIAN: Sweetheart, would you like to tell me what you find so fascinating over at their table?

CASSIE: Well, it's David Renaldi. He's even better looking than his photos.

DORIAN: Better looking even than Nikos?

CASSIE: No, no one is better looking than Nikos.

HERB: Yeah, right.

DORIAN: Better looking than Wales Bigelow?

CASSIE: Oh, how is he?

DORIAN: Marvelous. He called a few days before you came home. He's a junior now at Princeton.

CASSIE: That's right.

DORIAN: He seemed to absolutely adore you.

CASSIE: I adore him too. I'll have to give him a call.

DORIAN: Good! Why don't you invite him down for a weekend? He might help you get your mind off of Nikos. And remember darling, Princeton is a lot closer than Nikos.

CASSIE: Mom, Wales is great, and we were like brother and sister, but I don't think he'll get my mind off Nikos because ...

DORIAN: (interrupting) if you just try.

CASSIE: Mom, because he doesn't date women.

DORIAN (changing the suhject): Well, anyway, to get back to my European trip. When I went to Madrid, I met the most charming older gentleman ....

VIKI: I just can't imagine what's keeping Clint.

DAVID: Think there will be any problems when he sees Dorian?

VIKI: Oh, I wouldn't think so, no, he'll just ignore her. You know, it's extraordinary. Cassie has absolutely grown up over the summer. She's more beautiful than she ever was. I expect she will become one of those women who just get more beautiful as they get older.

DAVID: Puts one in mind of the young Dorian.

VIKI: Really? Did you know the young Dorian?

DAVID: (laughing) No, of course not. I was just imagining what she must've been like.

VIKI: Actually, I suspect Cassie is a good deal more grown up than Dorian was at that age.

DAVID: Why would you say that?

VIKI: Well, I knew Dorian when she first came here, and a lot of her behavior, her current behavior, came in tandem with my father's name and wealth. Whereas Cassie...Cassie was completely self-reliant and all grown up when she got here.

DAVID: Yes, of course, I understand she was raised by her grandmother.

VIKI: That's what I heard too. Apparently her grandmother was a very lovely lady. I can surely imagine having been taken from her mother and then abandoned by her father would cause her to grow up rather quickly. That kind of rejection would cause her also to achieve a certain amount of independence, I would think.

VIKI: I think I really am gonna go call him.

DAVID: Give him five more minutes.

DORIAN: What's going on there?

CASSIE: It's Dan.

DORIAN: Oh, Dan....What in the world did you say to David and to Viki that made them rush off like that?

DAN: You of all people should be able to figure that out, Mrs. Callison. Clint has been arrested for murder.