1988 (#5) - Traci’s return, Brad's requests and mutual commitment

With the excuse of wanting to celebrate his victory in a recent literary contest and to spend some time with her family, Traci returns to the city, happy to embrace his father John, his brother Jack and Ashley. Traci is also positively impressed by Steven's acquaintance, and declares herself happy for Ashley for having found such a sweet and caring husband. In fact, Traci's motivation to return is to see her husband, Brad, again. Over the course of all these months at Stanford, Traci has grown and matured very much alongside her professor and mentor Tim, who she still continues dating; however, she is keen to check the status of her marriage to Brad and give the man a second chance, especially after catching Tim flirting with a student, Mary Cambridge. Brad is happy to see Traci again, and declares to her that he is ready to resume their life together. However, when Traci discovers that during this time Brad has been very close to Lauren, the woman goes into a rage. However, Brad complains that he was abandoned and had to accept his wife's affair with Tim, declaring that he is ready to leave Lauren in case she wants to resume their marriage. However, in that case, Brad asks Traci to forget about going back to Stanford and seeing Tim again, as he wants mutual respect in their relationship. When Traci points out to the man that he has always had a dislike for Tim and his literary passions, the man asks out loud for mutual respect, and so in the end Traci agrees to leave the Stanford course to continue his studies in Genoa City so she can be close to Brad, who consequently ends the relationship with Lauren by saying he wants to be close to his wife. In addition to Lauren, of course, the only one who is not happy about this situation is Jack, who can't stand Brad and is increasingly convinced that it is a real problem for his family.