Episode 2.10:

New York, New York

Summary by Scott

The travelers to New York are all on a plane headed for New York. David is still in a bad mood about everybody he knows tagging along on his second honeymoon. Donna is more okay with it but is unable to jolly David into a good mood.

Janet is thrilled to be going to New York unlike the more jaded Steve. He's been there eight times already.

Back in California, Lexi gets a phone call from Kyle McBride who's furious that she's having an affair with Michael. She truthfully tells him that she isn't but she does have a boyfriend whose identity she's trying to find out. This confuses Kyle.

In Beverly Hills, Valerie discovers that she has a lot of messages from Noah on her answering machine. She gets a phone call from Noah who wants to meet her at the Peach Pit in an hour. Val reluctantly agrees.

On the plane, Carly is having an anxiety attack about leaving Zack with Mark. Clare calms her down but Carly is still worried that things are going too smoothly with Mark.

Kelly is a little anxious about her relationship with Brandon, what with Jen in the picture. Brenda reassures her.

While the gang is riding to the hotel that they'll be staying in in New York, Clare looks out of the taxicab window and sees a lot of couples. Clare starts getting depressed about not having a boyfriend again. She tells Brenda and Carly about this. They are supportive and vow to track somebody down for Clare.

Donna and David disembark at the hotel but everywhere she goes, Donna is haunted by reminders of her fling with Joe. This particularly proves a problem when David is feeling a little horny. Donna is feeling way too guilty for sex. Annoyed, David storms out of their hotel room.

Valerie has her conversation with Noah. Noah still wants to be friends with her and is concerned that Valerie has been avoiding him. Valerie accepts the fact that Noah doesn't love her and tells him that she's okay with everything. She is, however, leaving the After Dark. She's going to do some volunteer work at a women's shelter. Noah leaves and Val is overcome with a wave of sadness about their failed relationship.

Being in New York has a wonderful effect on Clare. She snaps out of her funk completely and is ready to take on Manhattan. She is momentarily interrupted in her plans to see all of Manhattan by learning that Brenda's relationship with Noah isn't going as smoothly as Clare had thought. But Clare's enthusiasm is contagious and Brenda is soon also ready to conquer Manhattan.

Steve decides that he wants to go swimming with Janet and drags her off looking for a pool.

Carly is having another bout of mommy anxiety . She calls California but Zack and Mark aren't in.

Carly and Brenda are ready for a nap but Clare, who is obviously determined not to nap until she's seen all of Manhattan, is against it.

Valerie enters the shelter-The Safe Place- and is interviewed by a Ms. Logan. The idea of being a volunteer at a woman's shelter appeals greatly to Val, the abused child.

Mark and Zack are having fun at the 7250 video arcade until the jerk proprietor decides to shut everything off because the games are using too much electricity.

Lexi recieves roses from her secret admirer. She's getting really excited about the prospect of meeting him tomorrow.

Val drops by the Peach Pit to tell Nat the good news about her new job. After telling him, she sees Noah entering the Pit. She panics and leaves.

Dylan and Gina take an evening walk. Dylan helps Gina get her thoughts organized about what she wants to do with Donna while she's in town.

Noah shows up at Val's apartment. He saw Val darting from the Pit when he entered and wants to try to smooth things over with her. Val can't deal with this just yet. The pain of discovering him with Brenda is too fresh.

Gina and Dylan continue to plan for everybody's visit. They talk about whether or not Dylan will tell David about Donna's fling. He decides that he won't. Donna should. Gina agrees.

Janet drags a primping Steve out of the bathroom. Way too late, it occurs to Steve that he probably shouldn't tell Janet that he's primping in case there are pretty ladies in the studio.

Donna visits Gina and is rather surprised when Dylan answers the door. Gina and Donna leave and Gina tells Donna that she's changed her mind. Donna should tell David about Joe.

Janet, Steve and Brandon get going to the interview. We find out that Brenda and Kelly are going to watch the show from outside the studio.

Carly finds out from Nat over the phone that she's getting a raise. Nat hangs up when Zack and Mark come in. Despite his experience with the jerk proprietor last night, Zack is ready to hit the arcade again. Mark decides to call Brandon to wish him luck.

Kelly and Brenda leave the hotel.

Valerie has her first day as a volunteer. She has a good time but something is troubling her. She's not as happy as she'd like to think she is.

Lexi gets a phone call from Michael wishing her luck with her secret admirer. Lexi responds in her usual obnoxious manner but Michael seems more amused than anything else.

Carly and Clare are waiting for breakfast at the Plaza Cafe. Carly decides to go back to their room to make a phone call. When she gets there, she notices that she's recieved a bouquet of roses from Zack and Mark. Then she calls her lawyer. She finds out that the transaction of her father's money to her bank account has already taken place.

Kelly and Brenda run into Donna and Gina in the crowd that surrounds the Good Morning America studio. This is the first time that Brenda and Gina have ever met and they do not hit it off. And,of course, Kelly and Gina have never hit it off. It is not a pleasant conversation.

Brandon is interviewed by Diane Sawyer and all goes well. After the interview, Brandon and company decide to do a little sightseeing. Dylan joins them for a little while.

Then Dylan goes to get David at the music conference. David hasn't been getting into it anyway. He's been feeling too guilty about acting like a jerk to everybody. Dylan has somewhere to take David.

Kelly,in a wonderful mood after Brandon's interview,takes Brenda to lunch at a place called Serendipity. We discover why Brenda has taken an immediate dislike to Gina. She really can't deal with Dylan's being with Gina. She starts groping for reasons to dislike Gina.

Carly and Clare have a good time exploring the stores of New York.

Dylan takes David to New York. There's a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that Dylan wants David to see. It's a striking painting. Dylan tells David how the painting helped him learn to forgive Toni for dying and how important it is to learn to forgive the ones you love. It's his way of preparing David for what Donna has to tell him.

David leaves and we learn that Toni painted the painting. Dylan hadn't even known that she painted until after her death. Dylan got it hung at the Met.

After leaving the gallery, Dylan bumps into an old friend-our long-lost Melrose Place friend Jake Hanson. We find out that Jake's been through a few changes since we last saw him. When we last saw him, he was running a resturant and raising a family. He's no longer with either. Somehow, he wound up in New York. Jake and Dylan go off to get a bite to eat while Jake updates him on the past few years.

Brenda is resting at her hotel room when Donna shows up wanting to talk about her conversation with Gina. Donna's a little afraid that Gina has already told David and Dylan. Donna is getting more and more unsure about what to do. Brenda tells her to listen to her heart.

Dylan brings Jake to the hotel to see Brandon. They run into Carly and Clare. Sparks start to fly between Clare and Jake. They make a date for a dinner everybody's going to.

A very excited Clare immediately drags Carly out shopping again to get Clare a new outfit for the dinner.

Lexi shows up in the Peach Pit and nervously starts to wait for her secret admirer.

Carly and Clare have a very pleasant time at the dinner. It turns out that Carly also bought a new outfit while Clare was dragging her around.

Gina doesn't have as pleasant a time. Brenda and Kelly are shooting her dirty looks. She excuses herself and goes to the ladies room. Dylan follows her. Gina is genuinely hurt and angry that Kelly can't deal with her dating Brandon or Dylan. Dylan calms her down, reassures her and tells her how proud he is of her for trying to change.

Dylan and Gina return to the dinner. Dylan gently warns Brandon to be ready to be supportive of David without giving Brandon any details.

Jake walks Clare back to her hotel room and kisses her when he leaves her at the door.

David and Donna go for a walk after dinner. They wind up at the Empire State Building. They go to the top of the building. Once there, Donna finally snaps and tells David everything. David doesn't take it well. He refuses to go back to the hotel room with Donna and wanders off into the night.

Finally, Lexi meets her secret admirer-Dan-her geeky pool guy. Lexi is way too shallow to handle this well and storms out.

Carly, Clare and Brenda return to their hotel room. There's a knock at the door. Room Service is here to deliver a huge bouquet of red roses. The bellhop who's delivering them turns out to be Noah. He flew out because he had to see Brenda. Brenda is thrilled.

Lexi starts looking over old letters of Dan's. Something touches Lexi's evil little heart and she decides to drive over to Dan's. It's a nicer place than she expected. She has dinner there.

David wanders the city streets for hours. He winds up at Gina's. He wakes Dylan and Gina up. He accuses them both of knowing about Donna's fling. They can't deny it. David storms back out into the night. Dylan decides not to go after him but suggests Gina check on Donna.

Donna, in her room, tries to pull herself together. She has several strong drinks and stumbles to Brenda's room. Carly lets her in and explains that Brenda is now in Noah's room. Donna bursts into tears. The clueless Carly tries to comfort Donna but not knowing what's going on, there's not much Carly can do to help. Carly gets Janet for reinforcement. Donna manages to get the whole story out. Carly and Janet are shocked but they do comfort Donna.

Dylan decides to go look for David after all but has no luck.

Donna decides to leave Carly's room.

At 2 AM, Kelly hears a noise coming from outside her and Brandon's room. It turns out to be Donna, collapsed and crying hysterically. Kelly takes the drunken Donna back to Donna's room. She manages to get the whole story out of Donna. Before a shocked Kelly can do anything, Gina shows up and rather rudely bumps Kelly out of the comforting Donna job and Donna's room.

Brenda and Noah wake up feeling wonderful.

David wanders New York feeling lost.

Brenda goes back to her hotel room. Carly fills her in on the Donna situation. Brenda goes to Donna's room and is surprised to be greeted by Gina. Donna is sleeping. They talk for a little bit and Gina brings up with Brenda how unfair it is that Brenda's decided that she dislikes Gina when she doesn't even know Gina. Brenda realises that Gina's right and admits it. Dylan calls. He's starting to mobilise forces to look for David. He wants Gina to come home and Brenda to stay with Donna.

At breakfast, Claire explains who Joe is to Carly. Janet and a very confused Steve come down. The three women have to explain everything to Steve.

Dylan calls Brandon to get him to help look for David.

Donna wakes up and collapses into tears. Brenda does her best to comfort her. Noah shows up and gives Donna a pep talk. Donna starts to feel better.

Clare keeps a rendezvous with Jake. He's going to show her New York. Clare's already seen all she wants to see but she's certainly not going to tell Jake.

Val shows up at the Safe Place feeling awful. She's not sick, she just feels incredibly depressed. She tells them that she's not feeling well and goes home.

Brandon calls Val to get an idea about where David might be. A general suggestion of hers leads Dylan to realise that David's at the Met art galley.

Mark takes Zack out for lunch. They miss Carly's call and Carly's mommy anxiety kicks in.

David is indeed at the Met gallery in front of Toni's painting. He's finally read the name of the artist. Brandon and Dylan show up. They talk. While David realises that what happened to him is nothing compared what happened to Dylan and Toni,nothing compared to what he's put Donna through over the years, it still hurts. Steve calls on Dylan's cell phone to offer David a place to stay if he needs to sort stuff out.

Lexi gets a call from her cousin, Carly's friend, Amy. She's coming to visit in a month.

Lexi kisses Dan goodbye after he finishes cleaning her pool. She's oddly fond of the geek.

Brenda runs into David in the hotel. She reminds him that once he was the one who cheated on Donna.

Kelly shows up, relieved to see that David's okay. She starts to comfort her brother.

Kyle Macbride shows up at Lexi's office to let Lexi know that Brandon is thinking of writing a book about Kyle.

Kyle Macbride shows up at Lexi's office to let Lexi know that Brandon is thinking of writing a book about Kyle.

Lexi goes back to her office to find somebody rummaging through her papers. He says he's the UPS guy looking for something to help him collect shipping money but Lexi is suspicious of him. She throws him out and worries.

On the way home, Val passes a woman carrying an infant seat. She looks at the child and zones out for five minutes. A passer-by snaps her out of it. She has some wine, soaks in the tub and zones out again. And then, something scary happens. Val starts to star, fascinated at her razor. As if in a dream,she slowly starts to slash her skin with it. Just in time, her survival instinct, whatever it is in Val that has always stopped Val from doing irreparable damage to herself no matter how self-destructive she gets, kicks in and she stops. But it was close. Closer than it's ever been. Val is terrified.

Lexi calls Michael to see if he knows anything about the mysterious UPS guy. When he, unsurprisingly, doesn't know anything, Lexi snaps at him and hangs up.

Donna gets everything together, still overwhelmed by guilt.

David cuts her dead on the plane,puts on his CD headphones and cuts himself off from everybody.

Carly reflects on how she's bonded with everybody on this trip. Particularly Clare.

Still in New York, Dylan and Gina discuss the situation. Gina starts moving back to L.A. She's not all that happy about New York and, at least in L.A., she could help Donna.

Brandon and Kelly reflect on the situation. It's not good. Brandon worries that if Donna and David can't make it, can anybody?