Halperin Family

Origins
Eleanor and Charles Halperin had a long relationship, and Charles proposed marriage to Eleanor in one of their favorite restaurants, The Redeye. They had happy marriage, resulting in the birth of their daughter Crystal, and when Crystal was in elementary school, Eleanor expressed a desire to return to the work force. When The Redeye was in danger of being torn down, Charles bought the restaurant for Eleanor as a Mother's Day gift, to run because of its sentimental value to their relationship. Eleanor was thrilled at the opportunity to run The Redeye, but had to notify Charles that she would need to take a maternity leave in about six months, as she recently discovered she was pregnant with another daughter that they would name Rebecca.

Charles Halperin's Death
Charles worked as the Chief Financial Officer at Von Stadt International, working closely for CEO Henry Von Stadt. In October 2007, Charles discovered that VSI had been involved in criminal activity and he confronted his boss. Henry tried to reason with Charles to keep the information under wraps, but Charles was disgusted by the truth and threatened to expose it, whether it destroyed VSI or not. A struggle ensued, and Charles took a fatal blow to the head, as Henry's son Leo entered the room to witness Halperin's accidental death. Henry tasked henchman Ford Collins with creating a different scenario for Halperin's death, which meant staging a car accident during a supposed attempt by Charles to run out on his family for parts unknown.

Eleanor was devastated at her husband's death and confused at the circumstances. She believed her life with Charles was happy and ideal, so to be told she was being abandoned by her husband when his car ran off the road and crashed, Eleanor began to doubt everything she thought she knew about her husband and her family.

Eleanor & Henry
Henry received posthumous information from Charles that he left behind evidence of VSI's illegal activity, and that the truth would come out, despite the possible event of Charles's death. Henry grew nervous at the possibility of losing everything and decided to focus his attentions on Halperin's grieving widow Eleanor, in order to get his hands on whichever of Halperin's belongings contained the incriminating evidence that Eleanor had been bequeathed in her late husband's will. Vulnerable Eleanor was grateful to have Henry's support as she grappled with what was real about her relationship with her late husband and what was a lie.

Hattie Wilson
Henry hired Hattie Wilson as his executive assistant, unaware that she had her own plans to make him the new father to her daughters Julia and Tiffany, and gain access to all of Henry's wealth and power. Henry's interest in Eleanor, however, was the biggest wrinkle in Hattie's plans. Hattie made efforts to derail Henry and Eleanor from getting to know each other. Hattie "forgot" to deliver messages to Henry that Eleanor had called, and attempted to cancel plans between Henry and Eleanor for the Opera, even giving herself a crash-course in Opera in order to take Eleanor's place on the date. Eleanor still showed for the date, foiling Hattie's plans.

Hattie pretended to befriend Eleanor, even reinforcing Eleanor's tendency to drown her sorrows in alcohol, hoping to drive Eleanor to alcoholism to prove she was unfit to survive in Henry's high-profile circles. When things between Eleanor and Henry continued to progress, Hattie got Eleanor intoxicated and took her for a ride, with Hattie wearing a blond wig behind the wheel, hoping to frame Eleanor for drunk driving on New Years Eve. This plan went awry when Carina Reynoso ran out into the road and was accidentally run down. Thinking quickly, Hattie pulled a passed-out Eleanor into the driver's seat and beat a hasty retreat from the crime scene, leaving Eleanor framed for Carina's hit-and-run. Hattie's daughter Tiffany and her boyfriend Rolo came upon the scene, and Tiffany pocketed a tell-tale charm bracelet of Hattie's, which placed her in the car. Hattie was able to guilt Tiffany into keeping Hattie's involvement a secret.

Eleanor was treated at the hospital by Hattie's older daughter, Dr. Julia Lawless, had no memory of the accident, and was placed under arrest at the hospital. Hattie hoped the media attention would make it impossible for Henry to pursue a relationship with Eleanor, leaving a clear path to his door for Hattie. Eleanor insisted Hattie was her alibi, but Hattie gaslighted Eleanor by claiming to never have met her, as no one else had seen them together or could corroborate Eleanor's claim. Henry, meanwhile, discovered Hattie's machinations and decided he could use Hattie's manipulations to his own advantage, so he provided Hattie with an alibi that made it impossible for her to have been with Eleanor.

Eleanor looked crazy based on her claims about knowing Hattie, and was remanded to Shady Glen Sanitarium for psychiatric evaluation. While institutionalized, Hattie's mother Esther Wilson, who had been believed dead, was also in residence as a patient and befriended Eleanor, who was unaware of Hattie and Esther's connection. In therapy, Eleanor was diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression. Henry, needing Eleanor under his thumb, bribed a Shady Glen doctor to recommend Eleanor be released into Henry's custody, so Eleanor and all her belongings (including presumably Charles Halperin's evidence against VSI) was moved into the Von Stadt penthouse.

Hattie allowed Aviva Reynoso to believe Eleanor was responsible for her sister Carina's coma, and stoked the fires of a rivalry between the women. Hattie also used her connections at the hospital through Julia to get her hands on some anti-psychotic medication, and hired Rolo, who had access to the Von Stadt penthouse as the Von Stadt's landscaper, to switch the pills out for Eleanor's depression medication, and cause her to exhibit more erratic behavior. Eleanor suffered from hallucinations at The Redeye that Henry was a hostile Charles Halperin, and she lashed out with a knife, stabbing Henry. Henry was patched up, and stayed firm in his resolve to keep Eleanor close. Fearing she would be suspected of drugging Eleanor, Hattie had Rolo slip the remaining pills into Aviva's purse, since Aviva had a legitimate grudge against Eleanor because of Carina's hit-and-run. Aviva was experiencing erratic behavior of her own, due to her own previously-unknown history of mental instability.

Rebecca & Thomas
Rebecca began dating fellow Hunter College student and Von Stadt International intern Thomas Baldwin around the time Thomas's father Theodore won the lottery jackpot and suffered a terrifying heart attack. The recent loss of her father just a few weeks earlier helped her identify with Thomas's fears, and they were bonded ever since. Rebecca was a sounding board for Thomas as he faced the return of his half-siblings Jenna and James Baldwin in the wake of their father's windfall, and their relationship progressed with Rebecca losing her virginity to Thomas on Valentine's Day in 2008.

For Thomas's 21st birthday that May, Rebecca gifted Thomas with a special pen that belonged to her father Charles, which, unbeknownst to Rebecca, contained the incriminating evidence that could bring down Von Stadt International.

Thomas worked as an intern for Von Stadt International, and his sister Jenna asked her boyfriend Shawn Marks, Thomas's supervisor, to give Thomas a project destined to fail in order to get him dropped from his internship, as Jenna angled for VSI to back the fashion label she was trying to launch, Jenna Baldwin Originals. Shawn gave Thomas the assignment of getting Lauren Sapphyre, a mysterious, reclusive force of nature in the Cosmetics world, to align herself with VSI. Thomas and Rebecca researched Lauren, and traveled to her ranch to convince her to save her ailing company by getting under the VSI umbrella. Impressed with the young couple, Lauren admitted she needed to take their advice, and moved to New York, but insisted Rebecca join Sapphyre Cosmetics as Lauren's intern.

Rebecca and Thomas's relationship deepened, and together they discovered Shawn was cheating on Jenna with Thomas's recently-discovered brother Eddie Dawson. The duo kept quiet to protect Eddie's feelings. Jenna concocted another scheme to secure the Baldwin family fortune by "discovering" a long-lost daughter. Jenna accidentally hit a young woman with her car and decided to hire the spirited girl to "portray" Jenna's long-lost daughter that Jenna supposedly gave up for adoption in college. This would have been a complete surprise to the entire family, as no one would have known she had a child. Not wanting to draw suspicion, Jenna proposed that the young woman, Dana Worthy, befriend Thomas and through him "discover" that she was Jenna's daughter, since Thomas putting the pieces together on his own and exposing Jenna would lend more believability for the whole family.

Dana was installed as Rebecca's dorm roommate at Hunter College and started feeding details to Thomas and Rebecca that started to remind Thomas of details Jenna had mentioned about her past as well. Thomas pursued the possibility of Dana being Jenna's long-lost daughter and lo and behold, Dana was proven to be Jenna's biological daughter via DNA testing. Jenna was startled that what she believed was a well-orchestrated plan was actually the truth, and Dana's true colors were revealed as it had actually been Jenna that played right into Dana's hands. Furious with being discarded at birth, Dana decided she wanted everything that was due to her, so Jenna had one more contender for the Baldwin fortune to deal with, and it was a young woman who didn't mind using every dirty trick in the book that Jenna would use.

With the Dana plan backfiring, Jenna moved forward with a startup company called Baldwin Enterprises, convincing Theodore to invest money in her business. Becoming wise to Jenna's manipulations, Theodore only invested half of the money she needed, so Jenna took on Lauren Sapphyre as an investor, which led Lauren to pull out of her agreement with VSI and bring Sapphyre Cosmetics into a partnership with Baldwin Enterprises, and started off as a 50% majority shareholder in the company due to her investment.

Working in the chemistry lab, Rebecca came up with a scent for Sapphyre that Lauren wanted to build a new campaign around, dubbing the scent "Ingenue." Lauren did a search and settled on Tiffany Lawless to be the fresh-faced spokesmodel, which unearthed some of Rebecca's insecurities, disagreeing that a fragrance by Rebecca's design would be suited to be modeled by a young woman of Tiffany's substance (or lack thereof). Before the fragrance could be released, Henry Von Stadt exacted revenge on Sapphyre for leaving VSI by stealing the fragrance and releasing it first, essentially killing Rebecca's project before it got off the ground. Lauren was forced to dismantle the Ingenue campaign, leaving Rebecca burned by big business, and robbing Tiffany of her modeling debut.

Crystal & Rod
Crystal relied heavily on boyfriend Rodney Applewhite as she grieved for a father she wasn't sure she really knew at all in light of how he died. Rod could identify, as it was nearly a year since his father Terrence came out of the closet to his wife of over 30 years, Emma, making the Applewhite family's whole life together look like a lie. Luckily the Applewhites healed (though Emma skipped town under a cloud of humiliation), but Crystal wasn't so sure her family could rebound from this tragedy. Crystal's mother started to drink more to drown her grief, and Rebecca, the youngest of the Halperin women proved the most mature and became the rock of the family, as long as her boyfriend Thomas Baldwin was there for her.

When Charles Halperin's will was read, Crystal was surprised that her inheritance was left in a trust until Crystal was ready to marry Rod and start a family. She hadn't thought much about that yet in her young life, but it soon became clear Rod wasn't looking to build his future just yet. Rod became distracted by his father's much-younger lover, Christian Avery Field, of whom Rod was certain intended to use Terrence for his influence in the theatre community to make a name for himself in show business!

Rod transferred from his bartending job at The Redeye to a managing job at Large Bar, to keep an eye on Christian and get to know him better. Rod was furious on New Years Eve when Terrence announced Christian would star as the lead in 2008's new production of Angels in America! Rod was certain this was the next step in Christian's plan to achieve stardom, and Rod redoubled his efforts to protect his father.

Rod's hiring of a private investigator Rachel Marks, led Crystal to suspect Rod and Rachel were having an affair, unaware Rachel was working to get the goods on Christian for Rod. On Valentine's Day, Rod learned Christian and Terrence were headed to the Applewhite cabin for some snowbound romance, so Rod whisked Crystal up to the cabin to beat his father to the punch and nix their plans for the romantic getaway. Christian and Terrence ended up stranded on the road in a snowstorm before making it to the cabin, so they enjoyed the romance of it anyway, but when they made it to the cabin they walked in on Rod having sex with Crystal, with Rod mistakenly shouting out Christian's name in the heat of passion!

Crystal became concerned with Rod's growing obsession with his father's romance and the growing distance between them as a result. Terrence and Christian only grew closer, since they were living together and working together on Angels in America. Before operating hours at Large Bar, Christian and Rod were taken hostage by two masked gunmen who were in search of something in particular. Though terrified, when Christian and Rod tried to get the jump on the gunmen, Rod was accidentally shot, and the gunmen fled in a panic.

The shooting did bond Rod and Christian, and as Rod recovered he started to give Christian the benefit of the doubt about Christian's love for Terrence. The new non-hostile connection between Rod and Christian left Crystal feeling unsettled and excluded. As time went on, Rod began to trust Christian's love for Terrence more and more, and Terrence got past the lingering insecurities he had about being with the much-younger man. Rod also became much more comfortable working in the middle of the gay nightlife scene, working shirtless, doing on-stage stripteases during karaoke performances, and enjoying after hours talks with Christian late into the night, all of which worried Crystal, who felt her boyfriend gradually slipping away from her.

Desperate to recapture Rod's attention away from Christian, Crystal sabotaged some condoms and seduced Rod, hoping to become pregnant with his child. Her efforts didn't pan out, and she felt so guilty over her deceit she didn't attempt it again.

Terrence Applewhite couldn't shake what appeared to be a common cold, but a standard check-up at the hospital revealed Terrence had been living with AIDS for years, and been completely asymptomatic up until now. But since the virus had so much time in Terrence's system, his doctor revealed he now only had months left to live. Terrence struggled with his diagnosis and how to tell Christian and his children. Christian was the first to uncover the truth and was devastated. Terrence was relieved, however, when Christian tested negative for HIV. Rod and Fiona Applewhite both took the news particularly hard, and reacted in their own ways, Fiona clinging to Terrence tightly, Rod distancing himself from his father. Christian refused to abandon Terrence, the man he loved.

As Terrence had to accept the short time he had left, he resolved to make the most of it, and asked Christian to marry him. Fiona graciously congratulated her father, but Rod still struggled with his father's mortality, and couldn't see himself attending a wedding between his father and Christian. Terrence and Christian planned to marry in Canada, where their union would be legal, and ultimately Rod attended the wedding to support his father, at Fiona's urging. Crystal, unfortunately, had to stay behind to oversee the operations of The Redeye and Large Bar, while Rod, her mother, and sister attended the wedding. Left to her own devices, Crystal expressed herself through song at karaoke night, and feeling like she needed more for herself, some dream of her own to work towards, Crystal was highly receptive to Trevor Allen, a talent manager who took immediate interest in her singing.

Upon the wedding party's return to New York, Terrence's condition rapidly deteriorated, and Terrence lived out his last days surrounded by his children, Christian, and his friends before finally succumbing to AIDS in September 2008. Rod had been distancing himself from Crystal as his father continued to slip away, and Crystal took comfort in her work with Trevor Allen, who insisted she had star potential.

Terrence's death, though not a surprise, still sent shockwaves through his family and nearly broke Rodney. Rod pushed Crystal and everyone away in his grief, but after Terrence's funeral Christian was able to get Rod to admit to his pain. In deep mourning, and desperate to connect to some part of Terrence that he left behind in each of them, Rod and Christian's complex emotions exploded in unexpected, passionate love-making! While Rod and Christian hit the sheets, Crystal took a pregnancy test, and it was positive! This time Crystal was expecting!

Christian was wracked with guilt over what he felt was a betrayal of Terrence's memory, while Rod felt curious about his new emotions and wanted to continue to explore what it all meant. Christian wanted to leave town to try to escape his pain over Terrence's death and what happened with Rod, but Rod convinced Christian to at least stay for the will reading. In Terrence's will, he left Christian the brownstone, to make sure Christian had a real home, and made Rod and Christian equal partners in Terrence's production company, hoping they'd collaborate on future projects together since they'd been getting along better in Terrence's final months!

Christian wanted nothing from Terrence's estate and convinced his foster brother Dominic to run away with him, which took them on a road trip to uncover their biological roots! Meanwhile, Fiona discovered Crystal was pregnant! Before Crystal could tell Rod the truth about her pregnancy, Rod broke Crystal's heart by confessing to "kissing" Christian, and wanting to explore his feelings for him. Crystal exploded, and privately vowed not to allow Rod to be a part of his child's life.

Crystal & Trevor
Crystal turned to Trevor Allen, who'd been working with her as her talent manager as Crystal wanted to jumpstart a singing career, and begged him to claim paternity of Crystal's baby. Feeling sympathy for Crystal's situation, and hoping to access Crystal's hefty inheritance after a wedding, Trevor agreed to help her by crafting an elaborate story about their affair and conception of the baby.

Christian and Dominic broke into a records office in search of their old files from foster care, hoping there would be clues about their births. A fire broke out, which hospitalized Christian, but not before learning that Evan Royale, the attorney that Fiona works for, and representation for Von Stadt International, may hold the key to the truth about Christian and Dom's backgrounds. Rod shocked Christian by arriving at the hospital, and convinced Christian to return to New York and take their exploration of their feelings for each other one day at a time, while Rod vowed to help Christian uncover his roots.

As soon as Rod learned of Crystal's pregnancy, he was certain the child was his and didn't believe Trevor Allen's lies for a moment. Crystal, still reeling with heartbreak over Rod's betrayal, stuck to her story and rushed to marry Trevor by New Years 2009! At Trevor and Crystal's engagement party, Trevor overheard a conversation that implicated Christian's foster brother Dominic as one of the gunmen that had been involved in Rod's shooting months earlier! Pressing for more details, Trevor uncovered it was true, and held onto the information, planning to share it with Crystal at a time it would most help her in her battle against Rod over their unborn child.

Rod had hired attorney Evan Royale to bring a paternity suit against Crystal, while hoping to get close enough to obtain the sealed records Evan had pertaining to Christian's birth. As Christian started to work through his guilt over his growing feelings for Rod, their connection deepened, and Rod managed to copy crucial files from Evan's computer in the hopes of learning the truth about Christian's background. Though Rod couldn't stop Crystal's wedding to Trevor, Rod did successfully crack open Evan's secret files, which not only named Christian's biological father as Evan Royale himself, but also tied Evan to countless other adopted and foster children! Fiona was disgusted to learn that her boss Evan had fathered numerous children with various women over the years and managed to get all his biological children given up at birth and put into foster care or placed with adoptive families. What's worse, another one of Evan's "lost" children was none other than Trevor Allen! Meaning Rod's new enemy was actually Christian's half-brother!

Crystal and Trevor did marry at the stroke of midnight, January 1st, 2009, despite an interruption from Rod. But more surprising was their kiss in the honeymoon suite actually felt real.