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Cover SOU March 01
SOD Apr. 3, 2001
SOD Matt & Missy

SOD Matt & Missy, Cover "Jack and Jennifer come together for Abby's sake and make a change in their living arrangements. Jen has a surprise reaction when Jack spends time with Greta. Alice and Julie do some detective work to track down Jen's mystery man in Ireland, who will be on the canvas by the end May."
 [Ken Corday] DAYS' Jack convinces Jennifer to live together, but her explosive love secret may tear them apart forever. How will Jack react to the truth?
Putting Differences Aside
 "Jennifer and Jack are divorced and she doesn't feel that Jack is capable of doing what's best for Abby," says Melissa Reeves (Jennifer). "He's a good father and Jennifer doesn't doubt his love for Abby, but he's selfish and unreliable. In her heart, Jennifer wants to do what's best for Abby, even if she doesn't feel it's best for herself." Therefore, Jennifer agrees to live with Jack for Abby's sake, and because Jack threatens to sue for full custody.
 Matthew SOU Beneath The Surface
Jennifer confesses to Hope that she's not trying to save the relationship. She says that she feels partly responsible for their breakup. "If there was another man, it seems Jennifer had feelings for him, but he didn't have the same for her," says Reeves. "I'm not certain what Jennifer is hiding, but she's hiding something about her father also. As Jennifer confides in Hope, Jack and Abby run into Greta, who notes how he handles his daughter and feels he's a wonderful father. Matthew Ashford (Jack) agrees, to an extent. "Jack is a good father. However, his motives haven't usually been clean and pure in the past. Why should they be now? He wants his family under the same roof, in an environment where he can control them. This is Jack's world and he's doing the best to hold on to it.
Intense Connection
After seeing Greta's apartment, Jack wants her to decorate the house that he and Jennifer are going to rent. "With Greta," says Ashford, "Jack can get his ideas to, vent a little. His veneer is starting to crack. With Jennifer, he's trying to find the sunny side over and over again. He's been trying to put a positive spin on everything and not let his negativity out. He's not risen to the bait very often as Jennifer vents all her anger. He's snapped at times and told Jennifer that they will be civil toward each other in front of Abigail. He knows if he lets his anger go all-out Jennifer is going to be gone. It's a side she knows is there. Sometimes, Jack pushes Jennifer and it becomes a very heated argument, but it's an intense connection. They still have that." At the rental house, Jack and Greta fall and land in a heap, unaware that Jennifer and Hope have seen them. Jennifer assumes that Jack is toying with Greta on the side.

Matthew from Article
Why Come Back

Matthew Ashford
(Jack, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)

When DAYS OF OUR LIVES wrote the immensely popular character of Jack Deveraux off into the sunset in 1993, fans were brokenhearted. Reportedly, some "Jack" loyalists even protested outside the NBC studio where the show is taped to try to win their favorite leading man back from exile.

Not long after the show brought back Melissa Reeves (Jennifer) to reprise her role early this year, viewers learned that her estranged ex, Jack, would be returning as well. But for how long?

Although his much-ballyhooed comeback was barely supposed to last through February Sweeps (just a handful of episodes," as headwriter Tom Langan originally stated), something magical, but not too surprising, happened once Ashford returned: Lightening struck twice. DAY chat boards and Update's offices were immediately barraged by letters praising their work: "They still have that same great chemistry!" and "It's as though no time past," fans wrote.