Caray, Caray!

Natalia way too politely asks Brigitte why she bad-mouthed her to Irene.  Brigitte tries to act like Irene just misinterpreted what she said, but Natalia doesn't believe that.  She points out that the only one Brigitte's making look bad is herself.  Carmen listens in as Brigitte tells Natalia she was wrong to tell her to wait for an appointment because Irene just luuuuurved her designs.  Carmen comes out from the doorway to tell the girls that Irene is doing nothing but causing problems between them and Natalia had better be as careful about Irene as she is about Diego.  She then asks Brigitte why the heck, if she's so upset with Natalia's behavior, she would go try to get a job at the same place she works.  "Because I wanted to.  Just like you, letting Chato into our house."  Carmen looks hurt as Abdul tiredly rubs his eyes.

Rodrigo's doctor believes the longer the coma lasts, the less chance Rodrigo's going to come out of it and the greater the risk that if he does, it's going to be with some serious mental deficits.  Alonso brings up the possibility of deep brain stimulation therapy, but the doc says they tried it six months ago and it had no effect.  Diego refuses to do anything that will lead to his brother's death and Irene agrees.  Alonso says he loves Rodrigo as much as either of them, but he's more inclined to agree with the doctor.  Diego storms out of the room.

Diana meets with her lawyer, who's concerned that they don't have proof of Diego's alleged adultery.  Diana calls the PI who reports that Diego left the office without Natalia and he followed Natalia to the fonda.  Whatevs…Diana wants proof! Proof, I say!  She tells him to do whatever he has to do to get it.  The lawyer asks her if she thinks this PI is good enough to fabricate evidence.  Well, considering she just called him an imbecile….

Carmen tells Brigitte not to question her.  Abdul, who a second ago was looking like he can't believe Brigitte said that, now says Brigitte has a point…Carmen turns on him now.  Natalia tells everyone to calm down, Brigitte tells her to shut it, then tells her mom that she doesn't want Chato in the house.  Abdul agrees and threatens to move out if she won't get rid of Chato.  Carmen says if that's the way it's gotta be, that's the way it's gotta be.   She's only helping Chato temporarily because he's sick.  She and Natalia head into the kitchen.  Brigitte complains to Abdul that Natalia's just agreeing with "MY" mother to get on her good side again.

Diego talks to Rodrigo again, asking him to come back--don't listen to him, Rodrigo!  He asks him for a sign.

Irene tells Alonso she couldn't be at peace thinking she might have robbed Rodrigo of the chance to live.  And Diego's less ready than her to accept that possibility.  Rodrigo's like a part of him.

Diego's still waiting for a sign and swears he won't let them "take" his life.  After he leaves, Rodrigo's eyes open.

Irene agrees she doesn't want to "disconnect" him, but she thinks Vicente needs to be updated.  Alonso has an appointment with a patient, so he cancels their lunch.

Natalia tells Carmen she'll support her if she wants Chato to stay with them while he recovers.  "I'm no one to question your decisions, and it is your house."  She offers to talk to Abdul, since she's sure he was just speaking in anger and doesn't really want to leave.  Carmen says she does have her reasons and she and Natalia share a weepy hug.

Diana and her lawyer meet with the PI and the lawyer asks him if he'd be willing to fabricate evidence.  Of course he would, for a price.  The lawyer advises Diana to accept.  The PI isn't willing to take his fee out of what she gets in the divorce…he wants money up front.  Diana admits to the lawyer that she doesn't have the money.

Natalia goes looking for Abdul, but Brigitte doesn't know where he is.  She tries sweet-talking Natalia into agreeing with them that Chato shouldn't be staying with them.  When Natalia won't agree, she gets angry.  "Don't you care that he made a fool of our mother?"  Brigitte accuses her of sucking up to Carmen.  Natalia says Brigitte needs to quit causing trouble and respect Carmen's decision, and so should Abdul. 

Abdul calls Andres to ask if he can stay at his place and tells him about Chato staying with them after his fall down the stairs.  Andres, that disloyal jerk, realizes Chato is faking his injury, using the medical supplies Andres brought him. Of course he doesn't tell Abdul that.

Diana asks the lawyer if she can borrow the money from him, but he's not willing to risk another 20M pesos…unless she's willing to part with 40% of her settlement…?  Diana thinks that's too much, but what else can she do?  She tells the PI she'll make a deposit and he asks her for a picture of Diego leaving a building, preferably a hotel.

Abdul comes back to the fonda and Natalia pleads with him  to stay.  She says Chato being there is only temporary and if he leaves, it will hurt their mom.  She reminds him that he's the man of the house and no one can take that away from him.

Chato tries to help Lupita with Mexican geography.  He's having trouble naming the states.  Lupita explains it to him and Chato tries to claim it was different when he was a kid.  Andres comes over and asks Lupita to leave them alone to talk.  "So.  A 'friend' fell off his bike, huh?"

Diego and Irene go to Vicente to tell him about Rodrigo.  He explains about Rodrigo opening his eyes, but that turning out to be a reflex action.  Irene says it's looking like there's no possibility for him to recover.  Vicente had been thinking that recently as well.  Diego gets upset, saying it would be like killing his brother.

Andres ignores Chato's excuses, as do I.  He lays down the law, saying Chato has to come clean or Andres will rat him out.  Chato has until 8pm to do it, when Andres is coming back for him.  About damn time your loyalty to the Garcias kicked in, Andres!

Vicente says he's had hope for Rodrigo's recovery, but his situation hasn't changed.  Neither Diego nor Irene wants to pull the plug, saying it's up to God to decide when Rodrigo's life should end.  Vicente says what Rodrigo has is no longer a life. He's concerned that even if Rodrigo does come out of the coma, he'll be in a vegetative state.  Vicente asks them to imagine keeping him alive without being able to think or feel or move…"just waiting for his organs to deteriorate."  Vicente breaks down and says he doesn't want to watch him suffer.  Diego begs him to wait for a miracle and Irene says at least they know he's not feeling anything.  Vicente says that's the problem…he doesn't feel or think.  It's as if he doesn't exist.  Diego just can't do it.  Vicente tells them both to be calm and they'll just wait and see how things go.  Wow.  That's more sensitivity than I would have thought Vicente was capable of.

Abdul asks Carmen to swear she won't do anything stupid where Chato is concerned.  Carmen tells him to chill…she's not about to move Chato or any other man into their house.  She's just helping him out while he's recuperating.  Abdul jokes that it's going to take forever, as messed up as he is, but Carmen says that with her "remedios" (remedies, nostrums, herbs, magical chicken soup) he'll be good as new in no time.

Diana searches the photo albums and finds a picture of Diego, probably from outside Caprico.  She puts the picture in the scanner as Diego walks in.  She tries to act like she was just sentimentally looking at pictures and remembering the good times, but Diego says he no longer has any good times with her.  He checks something on the laptop, then leaves.  Diana takes a copy of the picture out of the scanner.

Irene tells Lala about Rodrigo.  She's feeling sad and tells Lala that neither she nor Diego want to disconnect him.  Tad calls and Irene agrees to talk to him.  He invites her to coffee and she agrees, wanting someone to talk to.

The PI gets some pictures of Natalia walking into Caprico.

Irene talks to Tad about Rodrigo and has to explain what happened to him.  The sound is terrible!  Tons of background noise!  And I don't know where they are, but it doesn't look like a coffee place.  Tad leads her into a philosophical discussion about the will to live.  She thinks it's human not to lose hope, but Tad seems to be doubting that.  Irene wonders what Tad wanted to talk about.  Tad wanted to get her involved in a foundation he's starting to help low-income kids who are interested in art.  He talks about this as a legacy he wants to leave, but evades Irene's question about why he's putting it that way.  He says he's just been thinking about it for a long time and he thinks after he's gone, he'd like to think he left something behind.

Alonso calls the house for Irene, but Lala tells him she went out and left her cell phone at home.  He's sitting at his kitchen table with some books and the one he opens has "Life" and "Death" in the title.  Awwwwwww!  He knows they count on his professional opinion, so he's doing research.

Carmen, Abdul, and Brigitte get home and Chato announces that it's nice that Carmen's letting him stay, but he doesn't want to cause any trouble, so he's going back to his house.  Abdul disgusts Brigitte by saying he can stay and Abdul will sleep on the couch.  "Um…but I've got someone to take care of me at my house."  "Then call and cancel.  You're staying here."  Andres shows up just then and Abdul tells him that Chato isn't going back to his house and Abdul won't be staying with him (Andres) after all.  Andres and Chato keep making faces at each other.  That little game lasts until Carmen invites Andres to stay for dinner and Brigitte says she's lost her appetite.

The PI managed to alter the picture of Diego and one of the pictures of Natalia to make it look like they're walking out of a building holding hands.  Seriously?  That's supposed to be "proof."  Diana seems happy enough with it.

Chato tells Andres the Garcias aren't letting him leave.  Carmen goes to help Chato to the table and Andres trips him.

Eleazar goes to Luz's to apologize for canceling their dinner on Saturday.  He wants to take her out, but she says there's food in the house…and besides, she's watching Amorcito Corazon and she wants to see what happened since Willy showed up at the convent to see Lucia.  Oh, and by the way, in the realm of real life drama…Chato Reynoso is back!  Yeah, yeah, El knows.  She's a little upset that Eleazar didn't tell her if he knew.  Luz tells him that Chato is staying at Carmen's while he recovers from a bad accident.

During the meal, Andres takes the opportunity to bump Chato's supposedly bad elbow and make him spill coffee on himself.  Chato jumps up screaming and Carmen throws a pitcher of juice on him to stop the burning, then starts to dry him off.  Natalia comes in to see Chato grabbing the back of Carmen's head with his "good" hand and kissing her while Carmen tries to shove him away.  Eleazar sees this as well.  Is this Chato's attempt to get Carmen to throw him out instead of admitting he's not hurt?

Tad drops Irene off at home and they agree to meet tomorrow at Tad's.  As Irene bids him a good night, Alonso approaches.

Carmen scolds Chato, saying she likes kisses that are given, not stolen.  Chato says he just couldn't help himself.  They notice Eleazar at the door and he says he was just coming over to borrow a tool from Abdul to fix something at his mom's place.  Chato invites his "cuñado" (brother-in-law) to stay and have some dinner.  "Sure, why not.  The repair can wait."  Eleazar sits down next to Lupita, winking at her.  Carmen asks Paolo to clean up the spilled juice while Natalia serves Eleazar some dinner and she gets Chato in to some less-soaked clothing.  As they head into the hallway, Carmen grabs Chato by the front of his jacket and hisses that if he dares steal another kiss in front of her kids, he won't need a pair of crutches--he'll need a wheelchair!

Alonso brought Irene the books.  He says they're about comas, they're very readable, and he's spent the afternoon highlighting passages for her.  *Gulp*  He did research, he picked out books, he highlighted passages…. I think I just swooned.  How is he not the galan in this story? Anygüey….Tad picks up the top book in the stack, titled "Life After Death" and asks if it would be ok if he borrowed it when Irene's through with it.  "You're interested in life after death?" Irene asks.  Tad says, sure, why wouldn't he be.  He gives the book back and kisses Irene on the cheek, bidding her a good night, then drives away.  Alonso declines Irene's offer to come in, but suggests that they get together tomorrow, have some coffee, talk about the book.  Unfortunately, Irene's already made plans with Tad.  "Ohhhhh, Tad," he teases, "Well, ok then, you just call me when you have time."  Irene says she always has time for him, this was just a fluke.  "Ummmmm…well…ok then.  Uh…good night."  He kisses her just a little too much on the cheek to be romantic and a little too much on the mouth to be friendly.  Irene looks shocked…but kind of pleased…but confused…but kind of like her mouth's still tingling a little….  Hot damn!  The books, the highlighting, the making fun of his own jealous insecurity, the almost-kiss.  Well played, Alonso.  Well played.

Carmen brings up Eleazar's "girlfriend" Kimberly *barf* and suggests she and Chato go on a double date with El and Kimberly.  Eleazar talks Kimberly up and when he gets to "she's a great cook" I wonder how much of the rest of what he said was a lie.  Actually I didn't listen to most of it, but I'm sure it was all lies to make Carmen jealous.  He's going to have to explain this to Lupita.

Tad goes home to his painting of Irene and asks his housekeeper to get flowers and have the house all prettied up for a VERY special guest tomorrow.  He asks her to just fix some appetizers and coffee…definitely coffee!

Irene can't focus on reading because she can't stop wondering if Alonso wanted to kiss her.  I don't blame you, girlfriend.  Pondering the possibility of kisses is way more satisfying than reading about comas.  She thinks it just can't be…but then again, he did seem jealous of Tad…but no, he can't be interested In her.  She tells herself to quit fantasizing…then smiles.

It's down to Carmen, El, Chato, and Andres at the dinner table.  When Abdul comes in with his pillow and blanket to sleep on the couch, Eleazar has the bright idea that instead of Abdul getting kicked out of his room, Chato should go stay with Luz, who has an empty guest room available.  Andres thinks that's a great idea, but he makes an analogy about chicken coops and corrals, offending Carmen.  Carmen asks if it's fair to saddle her godmother with Chato, and makes an analogy about martyrs, offending Chato.  The response to both offenses is "What?  That's how you say it."  Eleazar goes to talk to Luz and tells Abdul to get Chato's bags packed.  Andres grins and Carmen tells Chato this will be good, that way he won't be alone when she goes to the fonda.

Natalia makes out with the conch shell Diego gave her.  She texts him.  Diego gets her text that she can't stop thinking about him and can't get him out of her head…or her heart.  Dudes.  If the PI gets hold of that, it's not going to look good.  I'm so busy thinking this text is going to come back to bite them that I tune Diego's smushy text reply out.  Geez, Natalia!  At least turn the sound off so you don't wake up Lupita!  Diego's sappiness earns him an "I love you" text.

Monday: more divorce drama and Diego has to break the news to Natalia and show her the faked photo.

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