Belle’s cleaning out dead flowers in the living room when Brady gets home. They talk a bit about the wedding being good for Marlena and all of them — including Rachel. She’s been through a lot, Belle notes. “You have no idea…”
Belle feels horrible at the amount of trauma Rachel’s gone through recently, which is when Brady says that at least Rachel Blake was found. Thanks to EJ agreeing to free her, after striking a deal.
Roman, Marlena and Kate Vow to Help Johnny
Johnny’s rehashing the night EJ got shot, insisting it’s his fault, since there was a bullet missing from the gun he brought over. Marlena and Roman insist it’s not, but he gets a text reminder of a meeting. Roman tells him to take it, they’ll figure this out.
After Johnny leaves, Roman and Marlena get to work. Marlena’s worried about their grandson, but Roman insists he’s doing better. He pulls Marlena in to hug her and reassure her Johnny will be OK, just as Kate walks in.
Roman explains that they just talked to Johnny and he did take the gun, but didn’t shoot EJ. Roman suggests they think about the best approach to help him, then regroup. Kate gently tells Marlena that while they’re both there for Johnny, they’re both there for her, too. After Marlena leaves, Kate says she not only doesn’t mind Roman being there for her, but she encourages it.
Kate tells John that Johnny needs to talk to a lawyer. Maybe Carrie? John agrees, calls her and leaves a message. He just wishes Johnny had told them earlier. That sucks, yeah, but, as Kate points out, Philip still won’t tell her the truth about Xander. It’s mutually assured destruction.
Because of Philp’s con, if one brother goes down, they both do. Roman suggests that since Philip will be fine, it might be best to just drop it. “Never. Xander almost killed my son, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure he pays.”
Belle and EJ Mix Business and Pleasure
EJ’s yelling at Kayla on the phone, telling her the board already voted, they don’t get a do-over because Xander was exonerated! Kayla hangs up on him, then Belle shows up shortly later, wanting to know about EJ’s role in Kristen’s mom being found. Off the record?
EJ and Kristen received an agreement. He says he exchanged using all his resources to find Rachel Blake in exchange for Brady’s board vote. Belle’s skeptical, so she drops it, and EJ gets into complaining about the hospital board do-over.
Belle insists that she’d have Xander in prison if she could, but without Philip, they’re stuck. She then breaks the news that the cops know about the camera and that the memory card is missing. She doesn’t know how, but the memory card could show who shot him. Sorry, EJ shrugs, he thinks it might be gone for good.
Belle’s frustrated, but EJ changes the topic to get back to getting frisky, then kisses her.
Xander and Sarah Exchange Threats
Sarah faces Xander down in the square, where he insists he wants to see Victoria. She won’t back down, so he tells her that if they have to fight in court, he’ll file for full custody. “You can yell as much as you want, but there isn’t a judge in their right mind who would let you have full custody.”
Xander threatens to bring out the big guns if he has to. “What does that mean?” Hopefully, he says, Sarah won’t have to find out. They get into who’s trying to keep Victoria from the other, and while neither wants to coparent, they realize they may have to. After, as Xander puts it, they go to war.
They argue more over whether Xander did or didn’t beat Philip, and Xander throws her lies back in Sarah’s face, their voices rising more and more until Xander’s yelling. Maggie rushes over with Julie and yells at Xander to stay the hell away from Sarah.
Sarah says Xander wants to fight for custody, and Julie is surprised they aren’t back together after him being cleared. But no, Sarah coldly explains, there’s no coming back from the trust being broken.
She storms off and Maggie lays into her son-in-law, but as he points out, he was exonerated. Which is why the board is re-voting… And maybe he can count on their votes? Maggie tells him she’ll vote her conscience, and Julie will vote for what’s best for the hospital. Xander looks crestfallen and slinks off, sadly wishing them a lovely day.
Julie’s confused about why Maggie won’t forgive Xander, but Maggie doesn’t entirely believe Philip’s telling the truth.
Marlena and Brady Talk About Rachel
Marlena runs into Brady as she’s leaving the pub. She was just about to call him to talk about Rachel and Johnny. She yells at Brady about why he never told her about this, and she had to learn after Rachel talked in her sleep. Now she, Brady, Kristen, Roman, Kate all know. And EJ, Brady sighs.
They both agree that this isn’t worth the trauma in Rachel keeping this secret. That’s when Marlena realizes EJ thinks Johnny shot him and tells Brady that Johnny insists he didn’t pull the trigger. “Then who did it?” Brady asks.
Marlena may not have warm fuzzy feelings, but he has the right to know his own son didn’t try to kill him. Brady thinks it’ll help Rachel, too. If Johnny comes forward, that’ll hopefully keep Rachel from having to testify. Marlena just warns that they should all be careful about not tipping their cards yet.
Sarah shows up with Victoria for lunch and Brady offers to treat them. He goes to get a table, while Sarah tells Marlena her bloodwork is back. It’s totally normal, but Marlena can come to Sarah at any time, as a doctor or friend. Marlena thanks her and leaves.
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Sarah joins Brady in the pub and asks how Rachel’s doing. He says she seems to be feeling better. And a sleepover with Grandma Marlena helped, too.
Johnny and Gabi Work Together
In her office, Gabi’s yelling at her assistant once again, when Johnny rushes in, apologizing for being late. She wants to reschedule, but Johnny says he dropped something really important to be here. She can make time.
He lays into her about how she’s the one who’s late with this campaign, so she needs to crack down. “Geeze,” Gabi scoffs. “What’s with the attitude? I thought we were friends.” Johnny apologizes and says he’s under a lot of pressure, which Gabi understands, so they decide to work together to keep their jobs.
They start getting into how they’ll make this work with the slashed budget — they’ll need a model with no money. Luckily Johnny has one. Gabi. She tries laughing it off, but Johnny reminds her she used to be the face of Wilhelmina. It’s perfect! She can be the name and face of Gabi Chic!
They get on to brainstorming themes and Gabi realizes that Johnny being in charge of Gabi Chic was a great thing. He’s so creative. Johnny admits he always thought he’d work in film, but this is kind of fun. Gabi asks how he and EJ are doing, and Johnny says there’s a slight thaw, but he’s not sure if that’ll go farther.
In the Show’s Final Moments
Marlena gets home, alone. She tosses her purse aside, looks around, then drops on to the sofa and pulls out her phone. She plays John’s last message, hugs her phone and whispers, “I love you, too.”
Brady thanks Sarah for helping with Rachel. She adores Sarah, and he knows how hard it was for Sarah to raise her for a year, then have to give her up. He never told Rachel about it, and Sarah assures him it’s OK. There’s no reason for her to know.
Xander walks in and Sarah demands to know if he’s stalking her. Brady offers to help, but Sarah tells him it’s fine, so he goes to check on the order. “It’s a public place,” Xander says. Nothing will happen there. “May I please see my daughter?” Sarah nods and Xander rushes over to tell his “darling girl” how much he loves her, while Sarah smiles from her chair.
Bell tells EJ to meet her upstairs in the bedroom after she freshens up, but as soon as she’s gone, his face freezes and he stands, looking worried. He thinks back to Johnny pointing the gun at him, finding the memory card and Johnny’s threat.
Johnny and Gabi are tossing around slogan ideas, but when Johnny mentions one with, “it’s what you deserve,” Gabi freezes and remembers being at the DiMera mansion the night EJ was shot. She heard Johnny shout “It’s what you deserve!” And EJ telling his son he doesn’t want to do this.
She asks suddenly if they can reschedule, she’s got a headache, and Johnny, surprised, says no problem and leaves. Gabi rushes to her phone and calls Rafe in a panic. She just realized who EJ was arguing with. Johnny.
Next on Days of Our Lives, Kate has a request for Alex and EJ is extremely worried for Johnny.
