It was the crash heard around Genoa City! Cassie was quickly transcending from little girl to a young woman. Sharon was keeping an eye on her and getting progressively more worried. When Cassie wanted to attend a party, Sharon hesitated but Nick encouraged her to let Cassie go. Daniel was at the party and, when Lily ignored him, he drank more than he could handle and passed out in the backseat of a car. Cassie's crush on the older Daniel led her to get into the driver's seat without a license and low and behold, she crashed, leaving Daniel with no memory of the accident.

As Cassie lay in the hospital in critical condition, Daniel stood blamed for everything. Cassie escaped from the hospital to tell Daniel it wasn't his fault, but this spiked her fever and, in a powerful Y&R moment, Cassie said her good-byes to Victor, Nikki, Victoria, Noah, Nick and Sharon and the moniter flat lined and Cassie died with Nick and Sharon in the room.

Determined more that ever to put Daniel behind bars, Nick would stop at nothing. Daniel and Lily decided to run away together to California where they were ultimately caught and leaving Daniel to face trial for the murder of Cassie. Under the full proof investigating powers of Paul and Christine, it was discovered that Cassie was the driver and Daniel was set free, but not without first leaving a powerful impact on all of Genoa City.

With Nick pre-occupied with Cassie's death, Victoria took over Newman enterprises, and in a surprise move, hired Brad Carlton. Brad and Sharon became quite close as well when Nick became distant and Sharon enjoyed spending time with not only Brad, but became close to Abby, giving Ashley reason to worry.

Sharon earned her spot of Newman Enterprises's Beauty of Nature line spokes model. When on the rode to promote the products, Brad and Sharon ended up in a kiss that Sharon soon regretted, vowing to work on her marriage.

Meanwhile, Phyllis and Nick had been forming a bond of their own. After first bonding at Michael's bachelor party, Nick asked Phyllis to work on Newman's Web site before the Web cast of the new line. When the Web cast failed, it was first presumed that Phyllis had corrupted the site, but, much to the chagrin of Jack, she actually had not. This further improved relations with Nick and Phyllis. As the holidays rolled around, Phyllis and Daniel made amends with the Newmans by bringing by pie on Thanksgiving, further strengthening Phyllis and Nick's friendship. Finally, when Brad and Sharon were away on business, Nick and Phyllis made love! Vowing to keep it a secret, Nick did not tell Sharon despite her confession that she kissed Brad.

All the while, Brad had been romancing Victoria, a move that didn't sit very well with her family. After making love to her, however, he confessed to Sharon that he was in love with her! When Sharon neglected to return the sentiment favoring to work on her marriage instead, Brad proposed to Victoria on New Year's Eve!

With Jack and Phyllis already at odds with business, Phyllis and Nikki proposed an idea for a spa to Victor, who, as a Christmas gift for Nikki, agreed to fund it. When Jack denied the venture to fall under Chancellor Industries, Nikki and Phyllis took it to Jill who gave it the green light under Jabot. This move infuriated Jack who threatened to sue Victor if he moved forward.

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