While Susan prepares to fly to Venice with Cooper, Jack tries to find the courage to utter three, make that five, little words about his feelings for her. He fails -- but Susan, having figured it out, has a miserable time with Cooper in Europe. After rejecting Cooper's extremely premature marriage proposal and returning home, she confronts Jack, accusing him of using her to compete with Cooper. Jack finally convinces her that his feelings are genuine -- but Susan tells him that she doesn't love him.

Deciding to go after the new investigative reporter position Jack has created, Susan reluctantly seeks professional advice from her old high school rival Maddy Piper, now an established and aggressive journalist - who quickly infiltrates Susan's professional and personal lives by double-crossing her, getting the story and the job, and displaying considerable interest in Jack. Meanwhile, Vicky is being driven crazy by the fact that the bagel delivery guy shows no sign of remembering the night they spent together; and Todd is disturbed by the fact that his web-surfing inevitably lands him in lesbian chat rooms.

Susan's attraction to a hunky actor gets a bit complicated after she sees him bomb onstage; Todd struggles with claustrophobia.

Shaken from witnessing Jack and Maddy's kiss, Susan shares her disappointment with Vicki---who shares it with the whole office. Meanwhile, Vicki tries to get closer to Ben.

On her birthday, Susan expects a surprise party---but the gang seems to have forgotten; Todd accidentally downloads a computer virus that wipes out The Gate's files.