They embark on the journey after getting word that Luna, Dylan's sister, has gone into labor. (Luna convinced Max to take her to the lodge after a reading of the tarot cards indicated it was the perfect place for her to give birth to the twins.) But thanks to a thunderstorm, Dylan and Marty's car gets stuck in the mud.

While waiting for the storm to clear, Marty takes the opportunity to ask Dylan about his past, a topic he's usually too reticent to discuss. "He tells her that a woman he once loved betrayed him," explains Susan Haskell (Marty). "He caught her cheating on him on his birthday," adds Christopher Douglas (Dylan). "That's when he ran off and joined the merchant marine." What Dylan doesn't reveal to Marty - but the audience already knows - is that the woman in question is his ex-wife. Meanwhile, Marty calls Max on her cellular phone and finds out that Luna has given birth to a boy and a girl.

After visiting with the happy family, Marty and Dylan go back to the barn, where Marty left the cellular phone. She sees a double rainbow in the sky, which reminds her of the twins. Reflecting on the miracle of birth and new beginnings in general, Marty comments that it's been two years since she was gang-raped at the fraternity house. Looking at Dylan she remarks that she never thought she'd be in love again. She never thought she could trust a man again. Dylan wonders: Does Marty trust him? Marty replies with a tender kiss, as the couple slowly sink back into the hay.

During Marty's two-year journey from being victim of a heinous crime to having become a survivor who's regained her self-esteem, Haskell has been in constant touch with rape survivors and counselors. To prepare for the love-making scene (which at the time of this interview had not been taped), "I had talked to people who had been raped, and they said [they couldn't be intimate] until they felt they could trust someone. And even then, they said it's like the first time all over again," Haskell explains. "That's pretty much the feeling. Something new, something a little bit scary. Once they found a person whom they could share that with it really helped them get back their own self-worth, to feel loved by a man and touched by a man in a loving way."

The actress compares Marty's feelings to those of someone who survives a major car accident. "It would be like a reflex reaction. Afterward, every time your car swerves there's that instant where you think: Oh, my god, am I going to hit something again? Even though you're physically feeling like you want to be with this person, mentally you're thinking, 'Should I be doing this?'"

For his part, Douglas relies on common sense in terms of preparing for the scene. "When somebody is in a position like that I guess it could be uncomfortable for both parties, but at the same time I know that in a loving relationship, there needs to be that support," he notes.

During the early, tentative stages of Dylan and Marty's relationship, Marty came close to making love with Andrew, with whom she's shared a long-standing sexual attraction. In retrospect, Haskell believes "that as much as she felt like she wanted to do that with Andrew, perhaps at this point she's realized that it wasn't right, and she's thankful that it didn't happen, and that she's with someone who can be with her in all the right situations."

Is the actress concerned, however, that by having Marty and Dylan consummate their love on a haystack, viewers will home in on the obvious clichés ("a roll in the hay," makin' hay," etc.) and not on the true significance of the scene? Haskell says when she first read the script, "Chris and I just looked at each other like; OK, here it is. They have to come up with something. Here we are, we're in a barn. Plus, they painted his character to be such a farm boy, that kind of thing. Michael (Malone, the head writer) always has symbolism in his things. You never know what religious connotation he's trying to bring up. The whole idea of a barn and being pure - like Christ's birth. I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't factor into it. It's not a ritzy hotel, it's very pure and basic."

As for future storyline plans, Haskell is pretty sure Dylan's ex will arrive in Llanview. "We're going to be happy for a while and then either Marty's got a problem or Dylan's got one," Haskell adds.

• Viewers first see wealthy orphan Martha (sic) "Marty" Saybrooke, a lupus patient at the hospital where Meagan Harrison is being treated for the same condition.
•  Marty and Jason Webb have a few make-out sessions in his room, but they eventually become platonic friends.
• Jealous that Andrew won't reciprocate her romantic feelings for him, Marty starts a rumor about him and Billy Douglas, a gay teen-ager. The scandal tears Llanview apart.
• Marty gets to know Suede Pruitt, who flips out when he realizes she's a snoop.
• Billy catches Marty shoplifting; Vicki stops Maty from wrecking Andrew and Cassie's wedding.
• Jason and Marty scam Lee Ann Buchanan into thinking they slept together. Although their motive is altruistic, Marty is labeled the town slut. Bo suspects Marty was involved in the car accident that killed his wife Sarah; Marty attempts suicide.
• Marty and Suede grow closer while writing a song together; Todd, with whom Marty had had a brief fling, blames her for a falling grade and plans his revenge.
• Marty is brutally raped by fraternity brothers Todd, Zach and Powell at the "Spring Fling" bash.
• The rape trial begins but ends in a mistrial.
• Marty tricks Todd into confessing that he raped her, and he, Zach and Powell are sentenced to prison; Marty holds back when she and Suede make attempts at intimacy.
• Todd escapes from prison and stalks Marty.
• Suede dies in Marty's arms after he is mortally wounded by Todd.
• Todd passes up a chance to escape in order to save Marty's life.
• Although she's had a few dates with Dylan, Marty's sexual feelings for Andrew resurface.
• Marty and Andrew are falsely accused of being lovers.
• Andrew and Marty make peace with their past while her relationship with Dylan continues to deepen.
• Dylan and Marty make love for the first time.