Well, it was another excellent Evian day.

Julian began the day by telling Eve that he would help her, no matter what. That she didn't need to worry about Liz or anything else because he would be helping her.Eve told him that it was what he had said at the Book Cafe, and Julian told her that he couldn't stand seeing her in pain. That Eve deserved to be happy and to have everything good that life had to offer, and that would have it if it hadn't of been for him (Julian). He just wants the chance to make things up to Eve.

Eve then pulls her hand out of Julian's, and looks at him suspiciously. She's wondering why Julian is being so nice to her. She wants to know what Julian REALLY wants from her. Eve cracked me up when she asked where this 'born-again' Julian had come from...hee hee hee. She was sitting there, tapping her finger, ever so impatiently, not trusting this new 'convert'. Eve tells Julian to cut to the chase, and he tells her that she has it all wrong. Eve replies that she doesn't think so - his eyes give him away. I love the intimacy that line suggests - knowing Julian well enough to be able to look at him to know the truth.

Julian tells her that she always could read him better than anyone else, which makes Eve mad enough to slam on the table. Eve was furious. Furious that she felt she had been suckered by Julian. That she almost believed that he had changed. That something did awake in him; something spiritual. Eve was pissed! She was feeling like a fool. That Julian had sucker-punched her. She knew she should know better than to 'fall' for Julian's lines AGAIN. She gets up to leave and damns Julian - for never being anything other than an 'arrogant, self-serving bastard'. Poor Julian is just sitting there, contrite, sad to see her so upset. Eve's so mad she doesn't even care that the diner is looking at her go off on Julian.

Julian tells Eve to keep her voice down because she was drawing attention to them. Eve responds that she didn't give a damn - ooh, she was ON FIRE!! Julian tells her that she should because she wouldn't want it to get back to TC that she was seen being alone with him. Eve said that Julian didn't care and he told her that he did. Julian tells her that she is right - he does want something from her, but that it isn't as self-serving as she thinks. He asks her to think about his motive for taking care of the car - so TC wouldn't know that  they were in an accident. Eve says that it's probably because he wants her in his 'eternal debt', but that Julian would have to learn one day that he can't buy off everything with a Crane credit card. He tells Eve that she has the wrong impression of him, and that she should sit and hear him out. Since Eve can't leave anyway before the car is finished, she sits back down with Julian.

I LOVED this exchange between them. Julian is full of sincerity - you can see it oozing from him. He's so relaxed and it shows in his eyes. Eve wanted to believe him, but their history reared its ugly head once again. Eve has spent SO many years hating Julian; being on the defensive when it comes to Julian; having so many walls around her heart when it comes to Julian, she can't trust herself to believe that THIS is 'her' Julian. That possibly part of the man she loved is STILL there. The last time Eve let down all of her defenses, it was with Julian. He saw her at her most vulnerable, and it was a disaster. Instinctively, Eve put barriers up, and there she is, sitting across from someone who can break them all down, and he's getting to her. She has a voice in her head that's going STOP!! DON'T TRUST HIM!! There is a conflict going on inside of her, and I think it was honest, true, in-character and quite frankly, good writing.

Once they are sitting back in the booth, Julian told her that when he said he would be there for her, it wasn't done to try and manipulate her. He told Eve that he wanted her to be happy, and if a side effect of that was that Eve liked him again, that would be good, but it wasn't the main purpose. He tells Eve that he wants to be her friend.

Eve looks at him like he's lost his mind.

Julian tells her that in case she hadn't noticed, he didn't have that many friends. Eve said she didn't think that he had any. Eve told him that she was sorry, but he had chose the wrong person - she knew him too well. Julian thought that might work in his favor and reminded her that he knew her well too - better than anyone in Harmony. He cared for her - past mistakes and all. Eve reminded him that most of the mistakes were with HIM. Julian told her that was the point; that he owed her. He couldn't bear to see Eve in pain, worrying about losing her life, and to know that what happened between them all those years ago is what could destroy her life now.

Then, Julian brought out the big guns.
 

" I LOVE you, Eve."

Not past tense. Current tense.

She looked at Julian and shook her head, telling him that he couldn't possibly love her.

Julian told her that she might think he doesn't have a heart, and why wouldn't she - Alistair and his father had spent years teaching Julian how to live without one...
 

" though small and rotten it may be, I know it exists for a fact. Because it was shattered when I lost you."

Go Julian!!

Eve told him that it was a long time ago, and Julian told her
 

" and I have felt very little for anyone else ever since."

He asks her to let him try and make up for all the pain caused in the past.
 

" My love for you is real Eve......please believe me..."

Eve doesn't know what to say. She looks at Julian with disbelief. She's totally torn. She doesn't know what to think or what to say.

Julian tells her that he loves her more than anyone else in his life. That he loved her from the  first moment he saw in the club and saw her sing - like an angel.

Julian tells her that he curses himself everyday for not standing up to Alistair when he forbade Julian to see her anymore.
 

" I was too weak to fight for what I knew would make me happiest, and as a result, I lost you, and I hurt you...and I hurt myself. "

That's why Julian wants to help Eve now. Why he wants to be her friend.

By this time, Julian is holding Eve's hand, telling her that though he wants to do this for her, he also wants to do it for himself, so that he can exorcise old demons. He asks her to take his help.

Eve thanks Julian, as she pulls her hand away, but tells him that she feels she can deal with things herself. Plus, if TC found out, he would only get mad. Julian tells her that he's born the brunt of TC's temper more than once and is willing to do it again. He tells her that TC doesn't even have to know, but that he needs to help because it's his fault that Eve is in this situation. HE was the one who introduced her to the decadent lifestyle, and Eve tells him that she could have said no. Julian tells her that she couldn't have because he wasn't going to take no for an answer back then because he didn't want to lose her. He wishes he'd realized back then that his actions would have such deep consequences, but.....
 

" you know I really loved you , don't you?", Julian asked.

At this point, Eve is fighting back tears. She can't even look at Julian, and all she could respond is.
 

" It doesn't matter Julian, because I love my husband. I love TC."

Julian tells her
 

" You loved me...as much as your music..."

He tells her if she hadn't of gotten involved with the drugs, she would have been a star. Eve tells him that it's ancient history. Julian tells her that it's history he lives with everyday.
 

" If I can't have you, please give me the chance to see you happy again."

Eve can't respond to that. Julian's doing that. He's bringing it all back. He's taking away more bricks that she had placed around her heart where Julian was concerned. It was the armor with which she protected herself, and he's stripping it away by showing Eve HER Julian. She doesn't know what to do. She had armor that she could use, but since his apology and her forgiveness, and her own admission of responsbility in her downfall, Eve has few weapons against Julian.

She can't speak of her 'love' for Julian in as honest terms as he can because she's NEVER dealt with it. She shoved it down deep, and buried it beneath hatred, and that lasted a long time. But, now, that's gone, and she's clueless.

Julian tells her that he loves her enough to want her to be happy - even if it's with TC. That he will figure a way out to stop Liz from destroying the life Eve has worked hard for all these years. He doesn't have the answers yet, but he's going to find them. Eve tells him that Liz wants revenge - she wants to destroy her life, which includes taking TC from her, and she doesn't know how Julian can stop that. Julian asks her to trust him.

I love that Eve stated her own dilemma, and quite honestly, the dilemma of this triangle:
She's working hard to keep TC and her marriage together - to keep him from knowing the truth.
While sitting across from her is Julian - the man who knew her at her worst. During her deepest, darkest struggles. A man she has called every name in the book - and yet, he's still there.
 

I'm a strong Evian fan BECAUSE of this reason: Julian and Eve know one another at their WORST, and STILL they can see the good in each other. I would like to be surprised by TC and have him accept ALL of Eve, but I don't know if that will happen.

I loved the Evian scenes today. Simply terrific back and forth between Tracey and Ben.