Battle of the Blondes on The Young and the Restless

Honeymoon for three? On CBS's The Young and the Restless, hotshot attorney Christine (Lauralee Bell) has been in a tizzy since learning that her hubby Paul (Doug Davidson) and his pal Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) created a child decades ago when they were members of a hippie love cult. This bizarre development — news to everyone in Genoa City, including the parents — has really bonded Paul and Nikki, to the point where he now seems hesitant to go through with plans to have a baby with Christine. What's worse, that damn drama queen Nikki won't go away! On Aug. 8, she's so emotionally distraught she intrudes on Christine and Paul's long-delayed honeymoon. TV Guide Magazine went to lunch with the three stars to find out where this divine mess is headed.

TV Guide Magazine: Chris is going bat-crap crazy over Nikki these days, but is she really being rational? Isn't her reaction just a bit over the top?
Lauralee Bell: Chris feels like she's lost control of her life. First, Nikki was right there with them in the hospital, in the I.C.U., when Paul could have been minutes from death — a very private moment. Why did she have to share it with Nikki?
Melody Thomas Scott: It was extremely inappropriate for Nikki to be there!
Doug Davidson: Of course, Chris left the hospital when Paul was fighting for his life to go have dinner at the Athletic Club.
Bell: Hey, wait a minute. She left him in the room with a priest!
Davidson: [Laughs] Yeah, a priest who was giving Paul the second-to-last rites!

TV Guide Magazine: Paul and Nikki's love child, Dylan, is now a grown-ass man. How can he be a threat to Chris and Paul's happiness?
Bell: Chris has no idea how to fight this. Nikki and Paul now have something in common that Chris and Paul may never have, and that's a major issue. It trumps everything. And it doesn't stop. Now, Nikki somehow finds her way up to the mountains while they're having a belated honeymoon. And she stays! [Laughs] At one point, Chris walks in and sees them cozily working together on a jigsaw puzzle, which I'm sure the viewers will find hilarious. But Chris is pissed. The history Paul and Nikki share is a tough thing to compete with.

TV Guide Magazine: But how does this ruin their baby plans? It's not like Paul will be too busy diapering Dylan.
Bell: This could mean a delay and, when Chris decides to do something, she's ready...now! I don't think she's worried that Paul will leave her but, when he says, "Why don't we wait a bit?" her confidence is shot. Why should she wait for a baby? In her mind, everything has changed in a heartbeat. And she's freaking out about the future. Now, when there's a family gathering, do we have to invite Dylan? Do we have to invite Nikki? It used to be so simple.

TV Guide Magazine: Mel, what's your take on this? Is Nikki trying to move in on Chris's man, or is she just being...well, Nikki?
Thomas Scott: Nikki is always a wild card, though she's not consciously trying to steal Paul, at least according to anything I've seen in the scripts so far. Not at all! Nikki has no idea her behavior is inappropriate. She's always been a bull in a china shop — completely clueless to the damage she's doing.

TV Guide Magazine: And what's Paul thinking here?
Davidson: For him, it's like looking back at an old high school romance and wondering, "What if it had worked out?" A lot of people have that fantasy. "What if I had been more bold? What if I had pursued that relationship?" Nikki and Paul already share a long history. Now, suddenly, they share a son. What do Paul and Chris have when it gets right down to it? Careers.

TV Guide Magazine: Does any of Chris' emotional chaos spring from the fact that she and Paul got remarried out of the blue — at Kay Chancellor's memorial service, of all places. This revived relationship has never felt all that solid.
Bell: I think the remarriage made a lot of sense. We just didn't see a lot leading up to it, but we'd already played that out with the first marriage. Sure, there might have been more of a triangle this time with Paul, Chris and Nina, but it's one of those cases where two people split and then realize they're better off together. They thought the grass was greener elsewhere, but found out it wasn't. Paul is a great catch.

TV Guide Magazine: And he must be looking mighty damn fine to Nikki right now, after all the hell Victor has put her through.
Thomas Scott: Paul has no flaws! He is perfect but, oddly enough, Nikki kind of likes that Victor drives her crazy. Paul is so wonderful and good and kind but, deep down, I don't think Nikki could handle that. He's too passive for her. She loves and adores Paul, but she is addicted to Victor.
Bell: But it's Paul who Nikki goes to when she's in trouble.
Davidson: Nikki needs a solid rock and Paul is the only one who can be that for her.
Bell: A wife always gets upset when a husband doesn't see an issue clearly. Paul doesn't say to Chris, "Nikki's showing up in our lives all the time! I know this must be hard on you." Instead he'll say, "Poor Nikki seems really frazzled today. She must be going through so much!" For a wife, that's a knife to the heart! When a husband is that oblivious, it sends you into a panic. "Wait a second...is this going to be my new life? Always worrying about her?"
Thomas Scott: [Laughs] Women can always see through the s--t other women pull. Men can't!
Bell: [Laughs] Maybe this would be a good time for Chris to turn to Dylan for emotional support!

TV Guide Magazine: Now we're talking!
Thomas Scott: She is her father's daughter!
Bell: No! I'm just joking about that.

TV Guide Magazine: Why? It's a phenomenal idea — and it sure would frost Paul and Nikki's shorts.
Davidson: This could go in so many great directions.

TV Guide Magazine: What about Chris and Victor getting together?
Thomas Scott: Now, that would be very interesting.
Bell: The writers actually toyed with that about 10 years ago. Chris and Victor were working closely on some case or whatever. He was her mentor and they were bantering over all this legal stuff and there was sexual tension. [Laughs] Nikki didn't like it one bit.

TV Guide Magazine: Why don't I remember this storyline? Did you kiss Eric Braeden?
Bell: I don't remember. I don't think so...

TV Guide Magazine: Oh, you'd remember all right. Moving on. Another interesting twist to this triangle is that it could be a quadrangle but isn't. Victor and Paul get along like cheese and crackers.
Davidson: Which is odd, considering Victor set up Paul's sister, Patty, and drove her over the edge. He had her face redone and everything. But all that seems forgotten and they do respect each other. There's no jealousy on Victor's part, even though he sees this growing connection between Paul and Nikki. Paul is turning into the new Douglas Austin — the guy who can call Victor on his s—t and get away with it.

TV Guide Magazine: Why did Nikki freak out about her old journal, and how Dylan would react to the contents, when it was clear he was totally sympathetic? Any excuse for a meltdown
 Thomas Scott: Nikki felt disgusted to be carrying what she thought was Ian Ward's baby all those years ago and she said so in her journal, and she thinks that's very hurtful to Dylan. Yes, he's been very understanding, but that's not good enough for Nikki. When there is no drama, she creates it. She must feel bad. Nikki is the consummate victim and she will always find a way to be one.
Davidson: And Nikki did have a very graphic past. Some of these revelations make her look like a tramp.
Thomas Scott: Her self-worth was never very high. Now it's plummeting.

TV Guide Magazine: And that's good news, because it means Nikki is going back to the bottle. I'm told she will be pretty blotto by the end of August.
Davidson: The fans love that!
Bell: I think a lot of women in our audience want to be Nikki, and watching her have problems makes her more real to them.
Davidson: [Laughs] She certainly makes the rest of us feel better. People are sitting at home, grabbing a cocktail and saying, "I can handle my booze and Nikki can't!"
Bell: This is yet another reason for Paul to become Nikki's caretaker.
Thomas Scott: I can just see him sweeping her off to some mountain spa and treatment center and getting her dried out.

TV Guide Magazine: How bad will her drinking get this time?
Thomas Scott: Pretty bad, I hear. For weeks now she's been leading up to this. She's been staring at vodka bottles and playing with cocktail glasses, running her finger longingly around the rim...like foreplay. Her need for a drink is becoming more and more urgent and inevitable. [Laughs] And I am delighted! A big part of Nikki's appeal is that she's a wealthy, high-society woman who seemingly has everything, yet she's a drunk in the gutter. The audience enjoys seeing her suffer — and I am happy to accommodate!

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