Caray, Caray!

Diego tries to pretend he wants to go home with Irene to talk to Tad about something else, but she seems suspicious and tells him the story of her baby to see if he also thinks there are too many coincidences….

Carmen reacts predictably to Eleazar wondering if she ever wondered what happened to Natalia's mother.  He says maybe she didn't abandon her--maybe the baby was kidnapped and left in the church.

Grumps tells Rodrigo he wanted to get rid of "the girl" so his grandsons wouldn't have to share their inheritance with someone who didn't share the Cacares blood.  Tiburcio screwed everything up when he said the baby was still alive. He tells Rodrigo all they can do now is to keep quiet.

Irene is frantic and the guys are acting like she needs to calm down.  Tad tells her that the PI was corrupt, so they can't confirm that Natalia is their daughter, even though the DNA test was negative.  Tad counsels patience and Irene is pissed that they took it upon themselves to shield her from their suspicions.  She says she had every right to go through the same roller coaster of hope and disappointment they've been on.  She's convinced that Natalia is their daughter and she doesn't need a DNA test to tell her that…she's got la llamada de la sangre!



Eleazar says maybe Natalia's birth mother didn't come looking for her because she thought Natalia was dead.  Carmen is frustrated that Eleazar is bringing this up.  She's Natalia's mother, y punto!

Diego tells Irene that Natalia's not going to be very receptive and without the DNA test she won't accept it.

Eleazar can't get anywhere with Carmen, so he ends their conversation by telling her that whatever happens, she has his unconditional support.

Irene is convinced that when she tells Natalia what happened, Natalia will understand.  Tad points out that if somehow Natalia is NOT their daughter, she's going to be really hurt if the DNA test comes back negative again and they have to say "Oops, sorry!"

Natalia tries to invite Brigitte to Carmen's birthday party and she won't even agree to show up for sure because she's sooooo busy.  And if she does show up, they'd better not expect her to chip in for anything, because she's broke.

Tad stands up to Irene and says he has as much right to decide how this is going to go as she does, and he's telling her to back off and wait.  Diego leaves to try to get some DNA from Natalia…heh, no, not like that.  Natalia tries to call Irene, but Irene doesn't trust herself to answer.  She calls Diego, but he says he doesn't know where Irene is.

Alonso calls Eleazar to give him the update.  El volunteers the cop labs to do the test.  Alonso is bummed he can't use this to score points with Irene…I mean, bummed he can't see the look on her face.  Eleazar tells Alonso that he's worried about Carmen's reaction.

Tad tells Irene he's just as excited as she is to have found Natalia.  And he can't wait to see the look on Vicente's face when he finds out all his machinations have been for nothing.

Vicente remembers Irene telling him that she can't ever have another child and Tiburcio running in to tell her that her daughter is alive and having a stroke.

Irene calls Carmen and asks to meet her for a chat.

Diego calls Alonso to tell him that they had a hard time keeping Irene from doing anything before they have the test results.

Natalia wonders why everyone's being weird.  Rodrigo comes in to inform her that the repair dude is going to get the machinery up and running in no time.  They'll barely lose a week of work!  "And you're expecting a pat on the back for fixing what you screwed up in the first place?"  She tells him to get out of her office and come near her as little as possible and, inexplicably, Rodrigo asks her to pretend he's Diego…just in time for Diego to show up and hear him.

Big Abdul shows up at Jaiba's and demands to know when she's getting rid of "the kid" so he doesn't have to share her.  Big Abdul lays a lip lock on her to enhance the power of his hypnotic eyes.  It appears to work.

Diego manhandles Rodrigo out into the hallway and Natalia, at first, tells Diego not to fight with him…but when Rodrigo thanks "Preciosa" for defending him she says "Never mind…go for it!"  Rod makes himself scarce.  Diego tries to yank out some of Natalia's hair, saying he saw a grey one…"Let me yank it out…I'll prove it…oh, I think I got the wrong one…well, never mind, it's just the one."  Then he gets all weird about throwing the random hairs he pulled away…in the men's room…since he was headed there anyway.

Abdul is checking on some permits at the city office and he runs into her contact, who asks him to tell Jaiba that he's nearly got the money put together for the transfer.

Carmen and Irene meet for coffee.  Irene tries to play it off like she just wanted to chat.  You know.  Like chicks will do with their BFFs.  "No offense, but…we're not."  Carmen wonders if Irene is drinking again.

In the Men's Room of DNA Snagging, Diego calls Eleazar, who says he'll send Morales to pick up the hairs.  Ohhhhh…I like Morales, but…can we trust him with this?  Eleazar tells him it's a really big deal and will solve a 20-year-old case.

Irene wants to talk about their mutual love for Natalia.  Irene asks Carmen if she remembers what she told her about her daughter, which she does.  "Well, we just found out that she's actually alive!"  Carmen is happy for her and is now ready to listen to Irene.  Irene starts at the beginning, with Vicente's reaction to her pregnancy.

Diego's being shifty and he caps his shifty performance by dropping the baggie of illicitly obtained hair.

Irene finishes up her story by telling Carmen that Natalia is her daughter.  Carmen realizes that this is what Eleazar was trying to tell her.  Carmen apologizes to Irene, telling her that she actually made up the manger story.  Carmen Garcia Pabuena!  I'm going to kick you in the shins!

Natalia picks up the baggie and Diego says it must have gotten into his jacket at the dry cleaner's.  He tosses it in the trash can and fishes it out later, after Natalia decides the antidote to all the weirdness is some coffee and leaves to get some.

Carmen tells Irene that a friend of hers practically gave Natalia to her so she could go running off after some guy she was all hot and bothered over.  And, well, she didn't have to heart to tell Natalia that, so she made up the whole "manger" story.  She understands why Irene was all excited to think Natalia was her daughter, because she knows the affection Irene has for her, but…nope, sorry, Natalia's not the daughter she's looking for.  And oh, please don't tell Natalia, ok.  "Good luck, though.  I hope you find your daughter someday."

Natalia runs into Morales out at Rosa's desk and he makes up a story about the "sample" he's picking up being a sample of fabrics for the office.  She insists on taking him to Diego.

Who is fielding a call from a disappointed Irene.  She tells him there's no need to run the tests, because Carmen just told her that she knows who Natalia's mother is.  They're interrupted by some bad cell phone interference and Diego can't get her back on the phone.  Natalia walks in with Morales and when Diego realizes he can't get her to agree to let them go to the warehouse alone, he sends her to the warehouse instead to pick up a certain book of fabric samples while he stays there and explains the benefits of the fabric he's sending her for to Morales. Nat, still a little weirded out, agrees and Diego hands the hair off to Morales.  They debate whether he needs to stick around and wait for Nat, to keep up the farce, but Diego tells him the sample is more important, so take it and go.

Rodrigo accosts Brigitte in the workroom, where they are interrupted in a compromising, but not-quite-compromising-enough situation by Alberto.

Diego still can't reach Irene.

Alberto saw Rodrigo holding Brigitte and he doesn't believe her lie about him "just standing close."  He also recognizes Rodrigo's smirk for what it is.  He changes his mind about taking Brigitte to lunch.  He sees Rodrigo again in the hallway and confronts His Smirkiness.

Irene has some flashbacks about her pregnancy, finding out her daughter wasn't dead, and hearing Natalia's story about how she was found.

Rodrigo denies having anything going on with Brigitte and claims Bro Code as his defense, even though Alberto doesn't consider him a friend anymore.  Natalia listens in on their conversation, then runs to tell Diego to go keep them from fighting while she gets Brigitte.  Diego keeps Alberto from hitting Rodrigo, but I have no idea why, except that blood would ruin Alberto's suit?  And he needs it for work since he's the only one with an actual job?  And Natalia told him to?  Brigitte accuses Alberto of just being a jealous caveman.  "What?  Me?  With Rodrigo?  Why is everybody defending Alberto?  What about me?  What about my needs?  He's under pressure at work and he keeps taking it out on me."  Natalia tells Brigitte to go find him and talk to him.

Eleazar can't reach Carmen.  He leaves Morales in charge of the office to go find her in person and tells him to take the samples to the lab and have them run a DNA test.

Once again, Padre Juancho refuses to hear Carmen's confession until he knows what it's about.  Carmen tearfully hugs him.

Diego keeps trying to calm Alberto down.  Al goes on and on about how he's suspicious of Brigitte, but…he can't imagine living without her.  Brigitte runs up just in time to hear the last part and swears she feels the same way. They suck face in the parking lot.

Carmen tells Padre Juancho the lie she told Irene.  And she feels lousy about it because of the look on Irene's face…"Like she was dying."  But Carmen keeps insisting that Natalia is HERS and she doesn't care if it's a sin, she'll never tell the truth!  She cries about everything she did for Natalia and "a mother's not the one who brings you into the world, it's the one who raises you!" but still, she'll keep lying to keep her daughter.  Pues, Carmen!  If you think it's raising her that makes you her mother then no one else can take that away from you!  Enough with the drama!

Natalia wonders about Morales and his fabric samples.  Diego says there was an emergency and he'll take them to Eleazar's later.  They discuss Brigitte and Alberto and they're on the same page…Brigitte is up to something fishy.  As for the two of them…it's all luuuuuuurve and office smoochies.

I ignore Brigitte as she keeps taking advantage of Alberto's affection for her and makes what I'm sure are ridiculous and unbelievable excuses for her behavior.

PJ tells Carmen that Irene's not going to take Natalia away from here.  "But she has no right to…."  PJ reminds her of everything Irene has been through and says Carmen doesn't have the right to take that joy away from her.  But Carmen thinks everything she's done for Natalia entitles her to all this irrational jealousy.  She just KNOWS that Natalia, with her big heart, will hear Irene's story and accept her and Carmen doesn't want to shaaaaaaaaaaare!  She tries to beg PJ to keep his mouth shut, since she didn't actually tell him under the seal of the confessional.  "Even if I do, the truth is going to come out,"  PJ says sadly.  Carmen says she'll just keep denying it.

Natalia and Diego continue their office love-fest until Brigitte and Alberto interrupt to announce that all's well in Denial-Land.  They invite Nat and Diego to lunch and get turned down.  I'm grateful, because that would have been torturous to recap.  Alberto oblivious, Nat and Diego all cutesy, Brigitte thought bubbling how she hates them all.  Diego gets a call from Santana at the plant and heads off to deal with the repair dude.

Irene shows up at Alonso's office, looking for a reason not to drink, now that Natalia's not her daughter.

Morales gives the hair samples to the lab guy.

Irene believed Carmen's story, but Eleazar told Alonso it was true.  Irene finally realizes that Carmen lied to protect herself.  She breaks out into hysterical laughter and says this confirms it for her.

Eleazar is looking for Carmen at the fonda when PJ calls.  He says Carmen was really upset when she left.  "About Irene Cacares and Natalia?"  Yeah, yeah, it's not much of a secret.  PJ warns him that Carmen is determined to keep lying.

Carmen, with a too-calm smile on her face shows up in Natalia's office.  Oh, please let this not be the part where Carmen completely loses touch with reality.  That smile doesn't bode well.  She says she was just in the neighborhood and suggests they get lunch nearby.  Brigitte is off having lunch with Alberto and Natalia says Irene left earlier and hasn't been back yet.

Irene continues processing the realization that Natalia is her daughter, which comes with a lot of tears and laughter.

Abdul brings the renewed permits to Jaiba and asks her about selling the business.  Jaiba says the guy must have misunderstood that she was making an offer and not just talking about a "maybe one day."  Abdul tells her it's her business, and she can do what she wants with it, "But before you make any decisions, think about the girls."

Tad tries calling Irene, but can't find her.  He talks to Diego and finds out that Irene met with Carmen and, according to Eleazar, Carmen lied to her.  Tad hopes she hasn't done anything foolish.  He keeps trying to call her.

Natalia tells Carmen that Diego and Irene have been acting weird all day, and she thinks Diego was being overprotective of Irene and assuming that Natalia's story would remind Irene of her daughter and then Irene would get sad and start drinking again….  Carmen realizes PJ was right and the truth is about to explode.  So she asks Natalia if she loves her.  And, of course, Natalia talks about how she's been such a great mother.  They both end up crying.

Abdul gets the name of someone who can pick up their beer order from Jaiba.  She talks to him about not saying anything to the girls about that whole "selling the business" misunderstanding because they won't take it well and well get all pouty.  Abdul agrees and says he's been looking over the books and Jaiba pays the girls too little. "With how well the business is doing and how hard they work, you should be paying them more."  Jaiba thought bubbles that he only thinks he knows what "the business" is.

Natalia gets Carmen to tell her stories about herself growing up.  She used to speak her own little language and Abdul was never jealous--it was more like they were twins.

Big Abdul shows up at the fonda and he and Eleazar are about to get into smacks again until Angela tells them to take it outside.  Big Abdul tells Angela to tell Carmen to call him and leaves.  Lupita and Paolo show up and Lupita isn't speaking to Eleazar, but he has no idea why.

Jaiba tries to talk Abdul out of giving the girls raises because they're happy with their salaries and they live with her, so….  Abdul asks Mally (the niece, I think) what she thinks about getting a raise and she's sooooo thrilled she calls to all the other girls that she has great news!

Eleazar starts trying to worm his way back into Lupita's affections.  He tells her Kimberly's not pregnant and he was just being a total idiot and he's sorry.  "So…since there's no baby, then you're not getting married, right?"  Welllllllll…you can't always get what you want?  But, hey, he's been investigating Big Abdul like he did Chato and Gino.  "And what have you found out?"  Ummm…nothing so far.

Tad is worried about Irene and wants to go looking for her, but Elena is trying to keep him from leaving.  Alonso brings Irene home.  He had to sedate her in his office.  Tad asks him to wait while he puts Irene to bed.

The girls are thrilled about their raise, but Jaiba says it's only a question.  "You'll have to convince her," says Abdul.  Jaiba grudgingly gives in.

Irene tells Tad that Natalia's really their daughter as she falls asleep.  Tad isn't happy that she ended up going to Alonso instead of him.

Carmen drops Natalia off at work and asks her to tell her again that she loves her.  She's assuming Irene is upstairs waiting to tell Natalia the truth.

Alonso tells Tad not to BS him--he knows Tad is pissed that Irene came looking for him and he wants Tad to know that he respected their marital boundaries (yeah, yeah…this time) but that every time Irene comes to him, he's going to give her all the support he needs.  Yeah, well.   I guess it's better than telling her to go away and having her drink again.  He congratulates Tad on their daughter and says he'll leave now so that he doesn't disturb their happiness.

Carmen gets back to the fonda and drags El away from the table where he was sitting with Lupita.  She slaps him for not telling her what was going on.  He says nothing was confirmed and says that Irene never gave Natalia away, Natalia was taken from her.  Carmen is upset that everyone's so worried about Irene and nobody cares about her.  She never wants to speak to him again.  Ay, Carmen!

Tad tries to paint, but he can't help thinking about how he's acting like a jealous teenager.  "Alonso loves her as much or more than I do and I can't deny that."

Carmen sends Lupita to wash her hands and tells Paolo to sit with her while she takes a pitcher to another table.  Paolo and Lupita both wonder what's up with her.

Natalia calls Tad's place looking for Irene.  He says she wasn't feeling well and is home sick.  Natalia tells him that she hopes Irene isn't feeling bad because of their conversation earlier.  Tad says it's just work pressure and stuff.

Diego goes to the house looking for Rodrigo (why?) but Rod's not there.  Grumps is probably in his office.  Diego sees Hilda wheeling Tiburcio into the kitchen and asks to talk to him, after confirming that he's not the evil twin.  He asks Tiburcio if it's true that he left Irene's baby in the manger at the church and Tiburcio doesn't do his blinking thing, but it looks like he smiles.

Big Abdul is ready to make another move and he's sure this will be the one that drives Abdul back home.

Tiburcio is trying to talk, but Diego can't understand him, nor can Hilda.  Hilda thinks he's saying "yes."  Diego tries asking if Vicente knew, but Vicente shows up behind him and Tiburcio clams up.

Abdul gets into a fight with a bar patron who's getting too handsy with Mally.  The guy pulls a knife, freaking the girls out.  Big Abdul shows up and the party really gets started.  It's pandemonium at La Jaiba Loca tonight.

Irene wakes up and Tad brushes off her having gone to Alonso's.  He tells her that Natalia called, worried about her.  He says they'll have to tell her soon.  I don't think he meant right away, but Natalia shows up to check on Irene.  Tad hurries to invite her in and says Irene's feeling better, since Irene can't seem to get a word out.  Irene asks for a hug and tells Natalia she loves her.

Diego tells Vicente that Hilda was just telling him that Tiburcio wasn't feeling well and he was asking her if Vicente knew about it.  "Anyway, I just came by to talk about the machine fraud."  Vicente berates him for bringing that up in front of the help and they go to his office to discuss it.

The fight continues and the Abduls throw all the patrons out.  Jaiba turns on Abdul saying this is all his fault, but Big Abdul says he was just being a proper man, defending a woman.  Mally says the guy was being really rude and one of the other girls says it's true, sometimes the bar patrons get too handsy.  "Oh, you're all going to act so delicate now when we all know what your real job is!  Uh…waitresses."  She yells at them to clean the place up, but Abdul says he'll do it.  Then she turns on Big Abdul and asks QTH he's doing there when he said he was going to give her time.  "I can't wait anymore, so I was going to come talk to the kid.  But from what I've seen, he can take care of himself.  If you're not breaking it off with him it's because you don't want to.  When you show me that I mean something to you, we'll talk."  Jaiba seethes and vows to get rid of Abdul tonight.

Vicente says it doesn't matter if it was a refurbished machine or not…they've already talked about it and it's going to get fixed.  Diego says there were six machines, total, and any of them could have an issue. He wants to stop production and do preventive maintenance on all of them.  Santana thinks there's a high likelihood of the others breaking down, too.  But Vicente refuses to listen, saying if they shut down for maintenance, they won't complete their orders and he doesn't care what Santana thinks!  This is Vicente's world and things will be the way he says they'll be!  Diego thinks to himself that this is the real Vicente Cacares, and it's hard to have any affection for him.

Jaiba yells at Abdul again for wrecking her place and driving her customers away.  She tells him he's going to pay damages and then take a hike.  Abdul walks out.  Mally tries to plead Abdul's case, but Jaiba says men are disposable.

Big Abdul ponders that he got the results he wanted, but not the way he wanted them.  He sees Abdul out on the sidewalk and asks if Jaiba is still blaming him for the bar fight.

Natalia is asking Tad and Irene about how they met.  Tad was Irene's art instructor at the university.  They're taking turns talking and being distracted by having Natalia in front of them.  Irene thinks to herself that she has Carmen to thank for the way Natalia turned out.

Abdul says he'll pay what she thinks he owes.  His mother raised him to be responsible.  Big Abdul tries to nudge him back home, but Abdul admits he's embarrassed to go back.

Carmen sits in her living room thinking about Brigitte being gone, "and now they're trying to take away Natalia."  She calls Natalia and yells at her, saying she has no business being at Irene's.  She demands that Natalia come home immediately.  Irene and Tad can hear her yelling through the phone.  Natalia rushes to get out of there and refuses a ride home.

Big Abdul keeps working on Abdul.

Irene and Tad talk about Carmen's attitude.  Tad is ever patient and understanding and Irene is frustrated.  "Nobody's going to take away her daughter!"  But then again, says Irene, "If Carmen's going to take advantage of her role as mother, then I'm going to take advantage of mine, too!"  Tad: "You're scary."  Irene says she won't do anything nuts, just try to make Carmen understand that Natalia is both of theirs.

Diego tells Alonso about what happened at Casa Cacares.  He doesn't trust his grandfather anymore.  And he's not going to tell Irene that Vicente already knew that her daughter wasn't dead, because things are bad enough as it is.

Carmen flips out on Natalia for being at Irene and Tad's.  Natalia can't understand why Carmen was so sweet at lunch and now she's being horrible.  Carmen accuses Irene of trying to keep Natalia close to her.  "And why would she want that?"  No answer.

Tomorrow: Carmen breaks down some more; Carmen and Irene come to blows.  For realz.

Labels: te-quiero