Abby Newman

Melissa Ordway as Abby Newman

**Abigail "Abby" Newman-Abbott-Chancellor** (formerly **Rayburn**) is a resident of Genoa City, portrayed by Melissa Ordway.

## Background

Abby was conceived when Ashley Abbott, desperate to have Victor Newman's child to replace the one she aborted years ago, stole his sperm from Diane Jenkins who already stole Victor sperm from the Roberts Lab. pretending to be Mrs. Victor Newman. Ashley secretly had herself inseminated but the sperm she returned to Diane's place was some else. Later it was found that it was Jack's sample. Little Abby grew up believing Brad Carlton was her father. Abby had two sisters, Victoria Newman and Colleen Carlton, and two brothers, Nicholas Newman and Adam Newman.

## Storylines

While Ashley Abbott had cancer, she recorded a video message for Abby to see when she grew up revealing the truth that Victor Newman was her biological father. Unknown to Ashley, Abby saw the video and told Victor. Though the truth was out, Abby saw both Brad and Victor as father figures.

In early 2007, Ashley left Genoa City to work for Jabot International in Hong Kong taking Abby with her. From Hong Kong, they move to Los Angeles. They both stay in Los Angeles until mid-2008. Ashley and Abby eventually end up in London, with Ashley working for Forrester Creations' international branch. (*The Bold and the Beautiful*)

Ashley Abbott left Abby in London while she went to Paris to help Victor Newman. Ashley and Victor reunited romantically and returned to Genoa City to live together. Abby joined them on Christmas as a surprise for Victor. Abby and her mother moved into the Newman ranch and Victor took a greater role in Abby's life, including buying her a champion Arabian horse. He asked her to start calling him "Dad" which she did upsetting Brad Carlton. Not long after, Brad went missing. A threatening message from Victor to Brad was found on Brad's phone and Abby heard it.

Brad was killed while saving Noah Newman, the son of Sharon Newman and Nick Newman, from drowning in a frozen lake. Once Brad's dead body was found, Abby's adoptive sister, Colleen Carlton, let out her anger at Victor. Abby started to rebel against her mom. Abby and Colleen had a hard time dealing with their dad's death.

On September 29, 2009, Colleen Carlton was pronounced brain dead after almost drowning and was soon after taken off life support by her mother, Traci Abbott Connolly. The next day, her mother gave birth to a daughter, Faith Colleen Newman, who was really Nicholas Newman and Sharon Newman's daughter, but Adam Newman passed her off as Ashley Abbott Newman's baby.

In October 2009, Abby became interested in the much older Ryder Callahan. She began flirting with him but Ryder turned her down. On Halloween night, she met Ryder's fraternal twin sister, Daisy Sanders while trying to attend her uncle Billy Abbott's Halloween party, unaware that Daisy was Ryder's twin sister. Then Abby ran into Ryder. She tried to get him drunk until he caught her with alcohol. Abby got drunk but Ryder did not tell her parents.

Later, Abby met up with Ryder once again at an abandoned zoo where Jana Fisher and Lauren Baldwin were locked in cages, and unknowingly assisted him by getting him food and medicine. Later that year in order to try to get a reality show, Abby led a nude protest against Jabot Cosmetics unaware that her mother had been made CEO. she planned to pay for it with her inheritance but her parents decided that she was not mature enough to get the money. Desperate to get enough money to start up the reality show, she talked Rafe Torres into suing her parents for her inheritance.

In 2010, Abby was walking into Crimson Lights when she spotted Ryder Callahan. Abby tried to attack him but Daniel Romalotti dragged her away. Daniel called her a brat and then slapped her. The next day Abby flirted with Daniel and then kissed him. Daniel pulled her off but they started to kiss even more passionately. Still desperate to get money for the show, Abby decided to use Billy Abbott's magazine. She got onto his laptop to put some footage of herself on his website without his permission but finds Victoria Newman and Billy's wedding video instead.

She asked Billy and Victoria to invest in her. When they refused, she revealed to everyone their secret. The next day Abby and Ashley went to court and Abby brought along her video camera. The security guard caught it and took it away. Abby was infuriated until her producer arrived with a camera hidden in his glasses. The court ruled in favor of Ashley and Abby decided to show the world the footage to get revenge on the judge. But that was not the only footage Abby wanted to show the world. She had sex with Daniel while her hidden cameras were on because all the best celebrities had sex tapes.

Abby decided to sue her father again. After Victor got the pregnant Victoria arrested for a crime he committed, she dropped it but was soon attacking him again when she learned he had been mismanaging her trust. Victoria decided to help her out.

After being confronted by a pregnant Daisy Sanders, Abby tried to get Daniel to consider the possibility that he may be the father of Daisy's baby but he didn't want to listen. Abby told Daniel Romalotti she believed the now revealed Daisy's claims that he fathered Daisy's baby. She also said she thought they should stop seeing each other so he could focus on the paternity test and she could focus on suing her father. In December 2010, Abby was at Jimmy's Bar for a New Year's Eve party. Daniel called to say he was on his way. At Jimmy's, Abby greeted Daniel. Daniel was confident that he would soon be free of Daisy. Abby noted that Daniel seemed relieved. Daniel said aside from his relationship with Abby, 2010 had been a bad year for him. Daniel said he was counting the moments until he was free of Daisy.

Daisy escaped, and Daniel went after her. He was found the next day unconscious. He was in critical condition, and Abby stayed by his bedside until he woke up. She then stuck by him, comforting him about Daisy and his missing baby, and apologizing for how she treated him when Daisy was pregnant.

Daniel and Abby's relationship later ended in 2011.

On Abby's birthday, Jack Abbott and Victoria gave Abby good news: the judge in their court case ruled that Victor Newman must turn over his financial records. Abby got cold feet and told Victoria that she wanted out of the lawsuit so that their dad wouldn't hate her. Victoria talked her sister down. Victoria continued to manipulate her sister, and soon the lawsuit spiraled out of control, with Victoria changing the demands to 3 billion, or Beauty of Nature. Nick got involved later on to get revenge on Victor for getting Sharon arrested. Abby started to hate what the lawsuit she started was doing to her family, and wanted to drop out, but her siblings kept manipulating her into staying.

Victor got Adam involved by promising if he helped him he would get the charges dropped against Sharon. At the arburation, Adam told the judge that he forged the documents and created the trusts, so the lawsuit was based on fraud and Victoria, Nick, and Abby would get nothing. It ended up not working as Nick, Victoria and Abby, with help from testimony provided by Neil Winters, won their lawsuit.

After winning her lawsuit against her father, Abby continued to make a fool out of herself by continuing to pull various stunts as "The Naked Heiress", further embarrassing her family. She also continued to have issues with Tucker, which further strained her relationship with Ashley. However, Abby later dealt with those issues after talking with Tucker. However, she was hurt when her mother told her that she and Tucker were getting a divorce.

Abby found herself interested in a man named Carmine Basco, who worked as a bartender at Glo-worm. Carmine was in town to get even with Kevin Fisher for marrying Carmine's ex Angelina Veneziano. He was, however, interested in Abby, and they did become friends. However, Carmine, out of anger towards Kevin, tried to kidnap Chloe on the night of the art gala. However, Abby noticed what was going on and saved Chloe by jumping into Carmine's car herself. She tried to take advantage of the situation in order to get more publicity for herself. Abby ended up regretting it and turned herself and Carmine in, which ended up hurting their friendship. They did make up and had sex for the first time on the basketball court, taking their relationship to the next level.

After her relationship with Carmine ended, Abby dated police officer Alex Chavez for a time, but the two split up. She then catches the eye of Tyler Michaelson, a former Jabot PR executive who is now roommates with Abby's nephew Noah Newman. The two grow closer as they get to know each other. However, when Abby finally confesses to Tyler that she loves him, he distances himself from her. Abby is hurt by that but is determined to find out why so she asks him. Tyler confesses that he loves her as well and only distanced himself from her out of fear of his feelings for her. Their bond continues to grow stronger. They take the next step in their relationship and move in together. However, their happiness is later threatened by one of Tyler's ex-girlfriends, Mariah, who bears a striking resemblance to Abby's late niece Cassie Newman. Mariah snuck into Tyler and Abby's hotel room and made her think Tyler was cheating her. She terrorized Abby some more unnerving her and creating a rift between Abby and Tyler. Tyler went to talk to Mariah and it remains unknown what he said to her, but whatever it was, Tyler and Abby stayed together.

Victor showed up Mariah's hotel room and threatened her into staying away from Nick. Scared, Mariah called Ian and was shocked to learn that he was in Genoa City as well. After her talk with Ian, Mariah exited the room and ran into Tyler.

Mariah and Tyler argued about Abby, and Mariah followed him and tried to win him back. Mariah left the room after secretly slipping her bracelet under Abby's bed. Abby ran into Mariah and was horrified when she saw that she was the Cassie look-alike that had terrorized Sharon. Tyler was dismayed that Mariah would do something like that.

Mariah text Tyler and he went to see her in Portland. When Tyler got back, he told Sharon that Mariah had asked for her. Sharon left for Portland and got the charges against Mariah dropped. Mariah promised to get a job to pay Sharon back and apologized to Abby and Tyler for trying to break them up.

Nick hired Mariah to work at the the Underground, so she could pay Sharon back. Mariah accepted the job, anxious to have a chance to prove herself. Ian encouraged Mariah to pursue a relationship with Sharon, but Mariah almost gave up when Abby framed her for taking Noah's wallet. Mariah was angry with Nick and Noah for automatically accusing her and quit her job. Nick approached Mariah and offered her her job back with some conditions attached. One of them being that Mariah will leave town when she has paid Sharon back.

Noah tried to convince Mariah to give their mom a second chance. Abby came in and started insulting Mariah, so Mariah threw a pitcher of water at Abby, drenching her. Noah snapped at Mariah and told her she was on her own.

Bratty Abby kisses Ben at The Underground to make her ex-boyfriend, Tyler, jealous. Abby hates Ben because he was with Victoria and he hid a secret about murdering his father when he was younger. Ben "Stitch" tells this to Victoria which makes her secretly a little jealous. Ashley Abbott hired Ben Russell, not knowing his alias was Ben Rayburn, to be the new chemist at *Jabot*. Stitch agreed much to Abby's dismay who kept trying to convince her mother otherwise.

Abby, Summer, Lily, Kelly, Victoria, Mariah, and Nikki attended Sharon's bachelorette party which Sharon quickly decided to go to Crimson Lights instead. Mariah was very unenthusiastic and flirted with Tyler who was sitting at the bar just to make Abby jealous. All the girls have been heavily drinking and partying. The guys ended up showing up at crimson Lights as well and also heavily loaded. Ashley noticed Abby had been drinking too much. Abby had a couple too many drinks and bashed Sharon for marrying Nick again and going to divorce him again! Because Sharon married Adam, Nick, Abby's father Victor, Nick again...etc. Mariah picked a fight with Abby. Abby stated that Mariah spits venom about Sharon every day! Once Michael Baldwin got slammed to the floor, a drunken fight broke out. Mariah fought with Abby. Everybody there ended up in jail. Eventually, they were set free.

Abby convinced Victoria to not go on a date with Stitch because he's just trying to stay in her life because of the baby. Stitch sat down with Abby and explained how much he loves Victoria and she doesn't know what love is. Abby learned to give them a chance. Mark Harding tried hitting on Abby at the Athletic Club but she clearly wasn't in the mood.

Abby was thrilled to hear that Victoria's new child, Katherine "Katie" Rose is Billy's child. Abby walked in Ashley's office and saw Stitch and gave him a hard time for having to shove him into a cab. Ashley explained he got drunk and came to work, so she let him sleep here for the night, even though the next day they had a big meeting. Jack walked in and heard the story and fired Stitch. Ashley and Abby both exclaimed "No!". Ashley convinced Jack to let Stitch keep his job.

At the New Years Eve party at the Athletic Club, Abby went with a broken-English Dutchman named Lars. All he could say was "Shots, yeah" and Abby was clearly annoyed with him. At Midnight, Mark Harding kissed Abby and walked off.

Ashley found out the new chemist for Jabot, Tobias, had been spying on Ashley's new formula. Ashley left a formula out for Tobias to steal for Victor, which turned out to be the chemical formula for tequila. Ashley fired Tobias. Abby was shown stealing some of Jabot's love potion a bottle. At first Ashley thought it was Stitch going back to Victoria with information, but Stitch stated he would never betray his company. Abby dropped a bottle of formula and Ashley was shocked! Abby apologized and took a spy camera off the side of the desk. Victor confronted Ashley that he wanted to know about the formula. Ashley claimed he can't find out because they're using serum from a rare tropical plant in South America. Victor called the federal government to shut down the company and raid them of their equipment. Ashley raged at Victor and Jabot got their lab restored.

At the cabin, Mariah, Kevin, Austin, and Summer were joined by Abby, Fenmore Baldwin (Kevin's nephew), and Noah. Noah called Abby out on being the one who called them to the cabin, and she admitted it. Abby didn't want to be alone on Valentine's Day. Abby suggested they play Never have I ever. Summer said" Never have I ever had a crush on a best friend", which Kevin and Mariah looked at each other and drank. The game started as casual fun until Fen said "Never have I ever committed murder, which causes Austin to storm out in anger. Austin comes back and apologizes for storming off like he did, saying that talking about murder made him think of his mom. Abby wants to continue the game, but Summer and Austin decide to leave. Courtney shows up and says that everyone that has to stay there because there is a bad storm out there. Someone spikes the punch, and everyone loses consciousness after drinking it. When they regain consciousness, they can't find Austin. Kevin goes out to look for him, but comes back when he can't find him. Kevin opens the closet doors and Austin tumbles out.

Courtney tries to revive Austin, but pronounces him dead. Courtney finds blood by Austin's head and tells everyone not to touch the body. Everyone gets scared and starts accusing each other. Noah finds a vial in the garbage, and Fen admits he spiked the punch with a drug that was supposed to loosen everyone up, but he admitted he didn't know what it was and wouldn't say where he was. Abby starts yelling at Fen, and Kevin defends him by bringing out up the "Naked Heiress" stunt from Abby's past. Abby defends that it was a publicity stunt and that know one ended up dead. Mariah says that Abby cannot talk about Austin that way. Summer yells at Mariah to not talk about Austin at all, and Mariah screams at Summer that she was looking out for her feelings.

Suddenly, Mariah remembers this is like a part from one of Plato Sphere's books. Kevin gets defensive when people start attacking Plato Sphere, and he admits he is Plato Sphere. Mariah and Fen defend Kevin, but everyone else accuses him of murder. Summer remembers hiding a bloodied bookend under one of the couch cushions of the She finds it and screams in horror. Summer tearfully starts crying that she killed Austin, but Noah and Fen refuse to believe it. Courtney bags the bookend for evidence. Summer starts hyperventilating and Abby, Noah, and Fen try to calm her down. Courtney says Summer couldn't have gotten Austin into the closet, so Kevin implies that someone may have helped her. Fen snaps at his uncle, and Mariah tells Fen not to get mad at Kevin when this is his fault for drugging them.

Abby takes Summer out of the room to calm her down, and Kevin scolds Fen for using drugs again. Courtney says she has to report everything that she hears, but Kevin and Noah say they won't testify about what Summer said. Courtney tells them to stop it, and says that even though Summer's confession was made under duress; she still has to report it. Kevin and Mariah make up a story about Austin slipping and hitting his head. Courtney is dismayed that they want to cover up Austin's death. Mariah says Summer doesn't deserve to go to jail. Courtney is adamant that they be honest, so Mariah asks Courtney if she wants to tell the police that there was a homicide, and know one remembers what happened because Fen drugged them. Summer finds the murder weapon, says she did it, and gets arrested. Mariah asks Courtney how that version works out for her. Courtney says what they are doing is a felony, and asks Noah to back her up; but Noah sides with Mariah, Kevin, and Fen. Courtney says they could get caught and then all of them would go to prison. Kevin suggests that she use her expertise to cover it up. Noah, Kevin, Mariah, and Fen all agree to the cover up; but Courtney says they are making a mistake. Noah apologizes to Courtney, and she cries that if she does this then she is no better than the dirty cops that think they are above the law. Noah says he is asking Courtney to save his sister because she can't save herself, so Courtney reluctantly agrees to help them.

Mariah remembers seeing Abby and Austin kissing, and privately confronts Abby about what she saw and deduces that Abby and Austin were having an affair behind Summer's back. Abby denied it, but then came clean about it after Mariah said she will ask if anyone else remembers what she saw. Abby tells her the truth and Mariah is shocked that Abby could do that to Summer behind her back. Abby lays a guilt trip on Mariah about the things she did to her and Sharon. Abby tells Mariah if she says anything, she hands the police the perfect motive: Summer killed Austin because she was cheating on him; Mariah says it is the perfect motive for Abby because he wouldn't leave Summer. Courtney gets a text saying the roads are clear and the police would be on there way. She asks everyone more time if they are going through with the cover up. Noah says that he would tell the police that he was helping Austin with a ladder to clear snow off the roof, and that's know one else was out there; and that he didn't even see him fall. Fen goes to set the ladder to set up the cover up. He comes back and announces that Austin's body is gone.

Summer is hopeful that Austin may still be alive. Noah goes to look for Austin, and the police arrive and ask what happened. Kevin covers and says he fell off the ladder, but he is fine. They say Austin went to look for help and never came back. The group is taken back to Genoa City where they give statements. Noah leaves after hearing about a collapse at the Underground. Abby goes as well, and they leave Summer with Kevin, Mariah, and Fen. Abby is upset when rescue workers are unable to locate Victor. Abby, Nikki, Victoria, and Nick go back to the ranch where Nikki pours herself a drink. She goes to drink it, and Victor shows up.

While at the hospital with Victor, Abby is shocked to see Kyle. Kyle says he wanted to crash Abby's killed party. Abby takes Kyle to see Jack and finds him and Victor fighting as usual. When Abby returns out to the waiting room, she sees Summer, Mariah, Kevin, and Noah are also there. Kevin shows Abby the bloody towel they found in Kyle's trunk and Abby wonders why Kyle would hide Austin's body. Mariah says he did it for Summer. Abby sits with Summer, and lets Kevin, Noah, and Mariah question Kyle. Kyle asks why he feels like he is being accused of something, and asks what really happened to Austin.

Abby thinks they should tell Kyle, but Mariah says that too many people already know. An officer comes by to talk to Summer, and while that is happening out of the room, the group tells Kyle how they think Summer killed Austin, and they staged it to look like an accident. Summer comes back and says that Austin's body was found in a wrecked car. Abby wonders if Austin could have survived, and died by crashing an abandoned car; but Mariah brings up that Austin had no pulse. Summer is asked to identify the body, and the group stays in the waiting room. After Summer identifies Austin's body, she heads to the chapel to mourn him. As the group wonders if Austin had anyone else who cared about him, Abby flashes back to how her and Austin first got involved. Mariah notices Abby's facial expressions, and realizes Abby had real feelings for Austin. After Kyle leaves to check on Summer, Mariah says that she doesn't trust Kyle, and Abby says that's because she doesn't know him; Mariah adds that she doesn't trust Abby either.

Kevin, Mariah, and Noah share their suspicions about Kyle with Abby. Abby can't believe Kyle would be an accomplice to murder, but Noah says he is hiding something. The four head over to Summer's place while she is watching a video of Austin made of her and Summer. After Summer left the room in the video, Austin turn to the camera said he owes Summer an apology. Austin went on to say how he was depressed, and how he needed to tell Summer something. Summer had interrupted him before he could make his confession, Kevin noticed the way Mariah stared at Abby and took her aside to ask what was going on. Mariah avoided answering Kevin, but he asked her again when everyone had left the room. Mariah told Kevin that she doesn't think Austin was depressed in that video, and that he was instead guilty. Kevin asked about what, but before Mariah could tell him, the video switched to Austin and Abby joking around at Crimson Lights.

Abby left Summer's and went to Crimson Lights where she remembered Austin telling her he wanted out of the marriage. Abby had told Austin that he loves Summer, and she believe he is trying to sabotage their marriage because he doesn't feel worthy of Summer. Abby advised Austin to forget about their fling, and make himself worthy of Summer. Kyle shows up and tells Abby he knew about her affair with Austin. Abby asked him who he told, and Kyle said he didn't tell anyone, but he did confront Austin. Kyle told Abby the confrontation got physical and Abby accused Kyle of killing Austin. They were briefly interrupted by a text Noah sent Kyle, before Kyle explained to Abby that he watched her and Austin to make sure the affair wasn't a one time then, and then confronted Austin after Abby left. Austin had begged Kyle not to say anything to Summer, and Kyle hit him in the face. He then gave Austin a towel to clean himself up. Kyle told Abby he got her invitation to the party, and planned to show up before he fell into the ravine. Kyle and Abby continue arguing about her affair with Austin, and Abby asks Kyle not to tell Summer about the affair.

Abby arrives at the the memorial, and asks Summer what she can do to help. Summer hands Abby a photo of Austin, and asks her to put it out by the brochure. Kyle arrives and sees Abby putting Austin's picture out. He taunts her about it, and Abby asks Kyle why he hates her so much. Kyle says he doesn't hate her; he just hates what she did to Summer. As the memorial gets underway, Abby stews in her guilt and grief as Nick, Mariah, and then Summer talk about Austin. Summer's eulogy has Abby on the verge of tears when Summer stops and suddenly accuses Abby of sleeping with Austin.

Summer rages at Abby, who attempts to flee in tears. Nick stops her and demands to know how she could do this to Summer. Crying, Abby says that she was lonely after Tyler. Nick asks her how she feels now and Abby says she is in hell before leaving. She goes to the Abbott cabin where she thinks about her affair with Austin. Kyle, Kevin, Mariah, and Courtney storm in and accuse Abby of Austin's murder. Abby says she didn't do it, and says that they all have as much motive as she did. Abby says Mariah could of been jealous that Austin chose to cheat her instead of Mariah. She turns to Kyle says he could have done it because he wants Summer for himself, or Kevin could have killed Austin because he was jealous of Mariah fawning all over Austin. Abby opens the armoire and the group sees that a message reading "I know what happened here" is written on the mirror. They wonder who could have wrote it, and Courtney takes a picture of it. Summer bursts in and charges at Abby, but Noah holds her back and Abby runs out of the cabin. Abby goes to Crimson Lights and runs into Victoria, who offers her some comfort. Abby opens up to Ashley about her predicament, and Ashley encourages Abby to try and apologize to Summer. Abby goes back to the Abbot cabin and offers a sincere apology to Summer. Summer slaps Abby and says she will never forgive her encore her and Kyle leave.

Abby is at the Abbott cabin when Mariah comes in to get her scarf. Mariah taunts Abby about her affair with Austin, and Abby snaps that she tried to apologize. Mariah asks Abby how it went, and Abby admits Summer slapped to her, to Mariah's amusement. They both receive a text from Summer asking everyone to meet her at the Abbott cabin. Summer shows the message on her compact mirror, "I saw what you did", and accuses Abby of writing it. Abby says she wouldn't do that to hurt Summer. Mariah and Summer both accuse Abby, and she storms off. Kyle finds Abby at Crimson Lights and tries to emotionally manipulated Abby into admitting she is writing those messages. Furious, Abby says maybe she will go to the police since it is everyone for themselves. Abby is attacked in Chancellor Park and left unconscious. She is found by Noah, Courtney, and Summer; and rushed to the hospital. Abby learns that whoever attacked her wrote a message on she cellphone: "Shut up or you're next", Abby lies when giving her statement and and says she was mugged. When Stitch visits Abby, she accidentally says Austin was killed.

Stitch continues to push until Abby tells him everything, but she makes him swear not to tell Victoria. At Jack and Chelsea's engagement party, Kyle notices Abby is acting off, and tells her not to act like they are hiding something. When Abby gets back to Victoria's, the power goes out and Abby panics. Stitch returns home and he and Abby check out the basement. When they come back up, they see another lipstick message on the mirror that says "I'm always watching".

After Stitch sees a moment of closeness between Victoria and her ex-husband Billy, he gets drunk and returns to the Jabot Lab where Ashley is working. Ashley worries that Stitch will be hungover for an important meeting the next day and tries to sober him up with a cold shower. She orders Stitch to take off his clothes and pushes him into the shower. Stitch pulls Ashley into the shower with him, kisses her, and they make love. Afterward, they decide it was just sex, and they should stay friends.

When Ashley's daughter, Abby, and her friends become targets of a serial killer, Stitch acts as her personal bodyguard. Stitch and Abby move into a hotel together so he can guard around the clock. Stitch confesses to Abby that he cheated on Victoria, she asks, "Who is this Tramp? Who is this skanky ho bag?" Stitch answers "Your Mother". After Stitch's sister, Kelly, dies, Stitch lashes out at Victoria and becomes cold and abusive. He finds comfort in Abby while pushing Victoria away. Victoria and Stitch break up and Stitch immediately has sex with Abby.

When Ashley learns Stitch is having sex with her daughter, she confronts Stitch who accuses her of being jealous. Abby is also uncomfortable about Stitch's sexual past with Ashley, and lets Ashley know that Stitch told her about their one night stand. Ashley is disturbed by Abby and Stitch's relationship but tries to hide her feelings. During a Newman cocktail party, Ashley confesses to Stitch that she has feelings for him, and how she felt hurt that Stitch turned to Abby instead of herself after his break up with Victoria.

Stitch and Abby experience tension in their relationship after one of Stitch's patients, a war veteran, dies, and Abby is unable to understand his issues. Stitch finds it easier to confide in Ashley and talk about his feelings. At the Hospital, Stitch confesses to Ashley that even though he is with Abby, "I can't stop thinking about her Mother." They also share a moment of closeness in the park together and feelings rekindle.

However Stitch ends up proposing to Abby who accepts and they move in together. Ashley finds Stitch's engagement ring in a glass of champagne and almost drinks it. Ashley is surprised that Stitch wants to marry Abby after telling her that he cannot stop thinking about her, and confronts Stitch about it. Stitch says he loves Abby, so Ashley tries to be happy for her daughter.

After the Newman Tower catches fire, Stitch and Ashley are trapped in the inferno together. The roof collapses on them and Stitch's legs are injured. With no help in sight, Stitch begs Ashley to leave his side and save herself, but she refuses to go. Stitch believes he is dying and makes one last confession on his death bed, he tells Ashley that she was right, and that he does have feelings for her. Stitch admits they have a connection and it was real. Stitch tells Ashley, "I love you." Ashley covers his mouth, and cries. When Stitch fall unconscious, Ashley confesses to Stitch that she feels the same way about him, and passes out from the smoke.

Later, Stitch and Ashley are found by Abby, who runs to find help. Adam carries Stitch down the stairs to safety, and Ashley and Abby follow him. At Memorial Hospital, Dr Barton Shelby treats Stitch's injuries as Ashley and Abby keep round-the-clock vigil at his bedside. When Stitch wakes up, he again tells Ashley that he loves her and meant everything he said during the fire. Ashley resists Stitch's advances and tries to deny her feelings for him. Ashley insists that Stitch forget about her and marry her daughter Abby instead. She also lies to Abby and tells her that Stitch was only thinking of her in his final moments. However Abby overhears Stitch calling for Ashley in his sleep and questions him about his dream.

After Stitch marries Abby and returns from his honeymoon, he is called to the Police Station. He is told that his Ex-wife, Jenna Kieran, tragically died in a car accident in Australia. Their son, Max Kieran, was put on a plane from Australia to Genoa City and arrives to live with Stitch. Max is traumatized by his mother's sudden death, and blames Abby for the accident because Jenna was arguing on the phone with her when their car crashed.

Stitch is estranged from his son and had not seen him in several years. Max is angry and distant, so Stitch decides to put him in a hotel instead of taking him home to live with him and his new wife. The tension between Max and Abby escalates when Max witnesses Stitch and Abby having sex in his hotel room. When Stitch and Abby discover they are pregnant, Stitch tells Max about the new baby. Max pretends to be happy but secretly fantasizes about pushing Abby down the stairs and killing her baby.

After they all moved back in together, Max led his teacher to believe that his father was mistreating him. Ben was investigated for child abuse by CPS, but they dropped the case when Max admitted that he had been mad at his dad and exaggerated. Abby and Max were at Crimson Lights when Max caused her to get up quickly. Abby had some pain, and asked for help, but Max hesitated to call 911. She had to beg him to call, Max finally did, and Abby later left the hospital pronounced okay.

Ben was delighted when Max suggested they throw a baby shower for Abby at the Athletic Club. But as Abby came down the stairs for the surprise, she tripped and tumbled down the stairs. Later at the hospital, Abby lost their baby which had been a girl. Abby and Ben were inconsolable. Meanwhile viewers saw Max with a sly grin, removing the tripwire he had installed on the stairs. Because of the way he was acting, Abby began to suspect that Max had something to do with her fall. She asked him if he had done anything, and Max told his father that Abby hated him and was accusing him of causing her to lose their baby. Max refused to live in Abby's house anymore, so he and Ben left to stay at the athletic club. Then after Max overheard them talking about checking security footage, a fire broke out in the athletic club server room, destroying all data. After Lily's son Charlie admitted that Max had talked him into getting Max the master keycard, and Max confessed both crimes to Ashley, Max was taken away for evaluation by Child Protective Services crying for his daddy – something he had never called Ben before. Ben was livid with Dylan for not giving his best friend's son a break. It was determined that Max had a brain tumor and needed to be in a psychiatric facility. Ben promised Max he would never abandon him again and they would start over. Ben withdrew, but Abby forced him to let her console him.

Max's surgery successfully removed the tumor, but he began having seizures which caused memory loss and impaired motor skills. Ben was forced to put Max in a long term care facility. Ben began throwing himself into his work, and neglecting Abby. Both Dylan and Ashley urged Ben to let Abby help him, and after drinks with Dylan and Sharon, they appeared to be on the road to happiness again – until Abby brought up having another baby. Ben withdrew again, and later sat in the nursery reminiscing about how happy they were when they had found out that Abby was pregnant. Abby was livid when she discovered that Ben had donated all the baby gifts to the hospital pediatric wing, and she took them all back home. She sobbed as she opened each one and threw them across the room. After a talk with Ashley, Abby took the gifts back to the hospital and got Ben to level with her.

Time passed with Abby and Ben pretending that everything was okay between them. Then Ben suddenly decided he wanted to have another baby, just as Abby was going to end their marriage. Eventually, with both of them in tears, they agreed to divorce.

## Quotes

* "Everyone will know that Abby Newman isn’t just some empty-headed, gullible princess that people can push around." (Abby to Mariah)