1991 (#23) - Christine's Legal Aid job and Julie's problems

The marriage between Danny and Christine, meanwhile, proceeds without any problems. The two young people love each other madly and live happy and unforgettable moments together. Danny is having great success with his latest album and tour, managing to reconcile his work and family needs; Christine, on the other hand, has finally finished her law studies and is now preparing to practice law. She decides to join Legal Aid, the firm currently run by the promising young lawyer John Silva. Christine is immediately passionate and highly motivated about her work, so much so that she takes to heart every single case that comes before her. Among these, the most dramatic is certainly Julie Sanderson, a young teenager who claims to have been discriminated against by being fired from her job because she was pregnant. Christine accepts the case but, studying it thoroughly, manages to get to the real reason for the dismissal, which is Julie's drug addiction. At this point, the case for Christine becomes perhaps bigger than her and both John and Danny advise her to drop it as it could be very dangerous. Christine, however, is neither discouraged nor intimidated; on the contrary, she tries to make Julie understand the dangers of drugs, both for her and for the baby she is carrying by showing her in the hospital the ward of small children born to people addicted to crack. So Julie decides to enter rehab to ensure her child has a healthy life. Just when things were going well, however, Julie's boyfriend, Andrew Harrington, enters the scene and makes it clear that he is not interested in a baby, nor in raising their son. At this point Julie speculates that perhaps the best solution would be to have an abortion, but thanks to Christine's encouragement, the girl decides to go ahead with the pregnancy. Just as Christine makes the acquaintance of Daniel and Martha Sanderson, Julie's parents who are more excited than ever for the birth of their grandchild, it turns out, from their mutual friendship with Paul, who in the meantime is looking for information to uncover the drug ring, that Julie's father, Daniel, is none other than the brother of the late Evan Sanderson, former husband of Farren Connor, now married to Andy Richards. Paul is happy to hear that the two are doing well and living together with her daughter, Betsy Sanderson. However, this moment of joy is suddenly interrupted by the dramatic events that follow Julie's labor. Entering the operating room, due to complications we don't know whether or not attributable to Julie's drug use, Julie's baby girl lives only a few minutes, before dying of a heart attack despite all the resuscitation attempts made by the doctors. Julie, who calls the child by the name of Michelle, is desperate and inconsolable. In addition to her parents, Christine is there to support her and finally convinces her to return to her studies, since she still has a whole life ahead of her. Christine's work, however, was not at all useless, since it allowed her to unravel a drug trafficking ring that allowed Paul to arrest the clan leader Randall Kirby and two of his loyal henchmen who dealt with the drug trade, Israel Izzy Adams and Jimmy Gerolf.