Recap: Growing Pains - Season 13 - Episode 5

As Little Jack and Elizabeth walk to school together, Little Jack shares that he wants to be called LJ because he isn’t little anymore.

At home, Lee runs through his construction presentation for Benson Hills with Gwen. Rosemary gives Gwen a pair of denim overalls, for which Gwen thanks her and says she wants to wear them to school. As Gwen heads out, Rosemary assures Lee that his presentation is going to go great.

Nathan returns one of Allie’s books to her so she can let Oliver borrow it. Nathan also notices the wolf pin, and Allie explains that Oliver gave it to her. As she leaves, he looks concerned.

Christopher is excited to announce to his father Henry that he was promoted at the electric company, and that he and his partner Rachel are planning on getting married in the spring. Christopher asks Henry if he will do a father-of-the-groom toast at the wedding, to which Henry happily agrees.

At the school, Cooper and Toby arrive to class late and ask Elizabeth for an extension on their David Copperfield essays. Elizabeth agrees but also notices that they are both wearing dirty clothes.

Lee presents his Benson Hills plans to Lucas, Maisie and Christopher. While they are all impressed by his proposal, they also question him about Coulter Construction’s ability to complete the project in one year, especially since it is a new company and Lee has other duties. Lee assures them that the project would be his priority because it is personal to him. He also emphasizes that he would only hire local workers.

While investigating the forest, Nathan, Bill and Oliver find the remains of Toby and Cooper’s cooking fire. They are still hoping to find other leads to absolve the boys of the blame. While searching, Oliver finds a tooth fossil, and Nathan reminds Oliver to stay focused. They then find chunks of burnt cement, which they want to investigate more.

Edie meets with Mike to get the key to their spare apartment. She is going to be staying and working there temporarily. Mike also gives her some wooden boxes to use as a temporary desk. On her way out with the boxes, she runs into Lucas. He offers to give her some work furniture, including a desk. They make plans to meet later to move the desk together. Lucas steps a little closer to Edie than usual to help her with the wooden boxes, and she smiles as Lucas walks away.

After class is dismissed, Elizabeth pulls Toby and Cooper aside. She offers them a longer extension and asks if they need more help. They thank her and leave.

Nathan and Bill bring Henry to the burnt cement to investigate. He tells them he is uncertain of its whereabouts, and they make plans to get maps from all the nearby companies with buildings to see if they can identify what the burnt cement rubble is from.

Oliver shows off his fossil to Allie and tells her about his theory that it’s from an aquatic dinosaur. Allie is impressed by his knowledge of dinosaurs. Oliver used to read about them when he was younger but lost the book when he was moving. Allie reminds him that he doesn’t have to move anymore and holds his hand as she gives him back the fossil. They are interrupted by Nathan, who asks Oliver to come with him.

Elizabeth tells Rosemary about her concerns for Toby and Cooper. She then sees the boys walking around, and Elizabeth decides to follow them.

Nathan brings Oliver to the stable and scolds him for slacking off during work. He tells him he is a man now and needs to show that he is worthy. Oliver tells him he hopes to be worthy.

Elizabeth finds Toby and Cooper planting trees in the forest. They apologize for their recent troubles with schoolwork but tell Elizabeth they have been busy trying to fix their mistake. Elizabeth offers to help them, and they all start planting together.

Rosemary finds Gwen looking at one of Rosemary’s old theater posters. Gwen asks Rosemary if she ever misses that life. She answers sometimes, but also explains how she couldn’t be happier with her life now. Lee returns home with good news: Coulter Construction was chosen to lead the rebuild of Benson Hills. Gwen hands Lee a drawing she made of her home and asks Lee to remake it just how it was.

Elizabeth finds Allie reading a book about paleontology. Elizabeth correctly assumes she is reading about it because of Oliver. Allie asks to borrow a strainer to sift for fossils. She wants to show Oliver that she cares about the things he is interested in. Elizabeth praises Allie and Allie thanks her for always being there to talk to.

Allie finds Oliver so they can go look for fossils but is surprised when she finds out Bill is joining them.

Nathan returns home to make dinner for Allie. Elizabeth tells him Allie is out with Oliver. A frustrated Nathan leaves and asks Elizabeth to tell Allie he is waiting for her.

Lucas and Edie meet up to move the desk. Edie tells him she was impressed with his honesty during his reelection campaign announcement. While they are moving the desk up the stairs, Edie insists it won’t fit up the stairwell. Lucas disagrees and they persist. Edie loses her grip on the desk, and it falls onto Lucas. He gets up but she takes him to the infirmary.

Allie arrives home and Nathan greets her with annoyance. He is upset that Allie was out late in the woods with a boy and didn’t tell him. Allie explains that she told Elizabeth and that Bill was also with them. Allie doesn’t understand why Nathan is upset and storms up to her room.

Nathan goes to Elizabeth’s to reflect on what happened with Allie. He is upset about how he acted. Elizabeth reminds him that Oliver is a good kid and suggests Nathan might be afraid of losing his little girl. Nathan agrees that might be it. He also admits that he is the reason for LJ’s new nickname, since he calls him that when they play baseball. They laugh it off and agree that their kids are growing but everything will work out fine.

While he is sharing more plans for Benson Hills with Rosemary, Lee drops his pencil and stops suddenly. Rosemary rushes him to the infirmary and tells Dr. Carter that he is having a heart attack.

The next morning, Nathan greets Allie with breakfast and asks if they can talk. He apologizes but warns her about love and how it can be complicated. She accepts his apology and questions where he got the idea of her being in love. He hands her the paleontology book as she leaves.

At the school, Elizabeth teaches about how some pine trees need fire to spread their seeds and regenerate. She then asks the kids if they want to help plant trees. Some of the Benson Hills students interject, saying that the trees will take a long time to regrow into a forest. Elizabeth reminds them that it’s important to contribute to the future and leave things for the generations after yourself. The students head outside to plant trees, and Toby and Cooper thank Elizabeth.

While he is recovering at the infirmary, Lee insists to Rosemary that he is fine. Dr. Carter confirms that Lee didn’t have heart attack, he had an anxiety attack. Dr. Carter warns him to listen and pull back if he needs to.

Christopher and Henry are out in the forest birdwatching when they stumble across Elizabeth and her students planting trees. Henry offers to give them some mulch. He then tells Christopher about how Toby and Cooper may have started the fire, and how they have good character for planting the trees to make up for it.

Edie visits Lucas at his office with flowers to check on him after his fall. He shares that he is at fault for falling; he insisted on moving the desk because he wanted to make up for missing her legal clinic. They agree to call it even. Edie blurts out that one of the reasons she is staying in Hope Valley is because she likes spending time with him. He replies that he enjoys her company and offers for her to continue sharing his office. She tells him that it may be too distracting, so she declines. Lucas smiles and Edie excuses herself as Lucas’ phone rings.

Gwen and Goldie return home. Gwen tells Lee and Rosemary about her day planting seedlings. Lee tells Gwen that saplings are even better to plant because they are more likely to survive the winter. They make plans to deliver some of Lee’s saplings to Elizabeth.

Lee gathers the community to help Toby, Cooper and the rest of the school kids plant the saplings. At the planting site, Nathan finds Allie and Oliver. Nathan asks Oliver to see the tooth fossil. He praises it and tells Oliver he is happy that it’s in his hands, alluding to something other than the fossil.

Joseph gives Cooper a pat on the back while the whole community joins in on the planting.

Henry finds Christopher packing his car in a rush. He claims that he was summoned by his boss and needs to return to the city. As Henry is helping pack the car, he notices burnt cement in the car and takes some. Christopher comes back outside and hugs him before driving off.