Stephanie’s working intently at her computer when Alex tries offering her a beer which she doesn’t notice. He tries talking to her a bit before he realizes she’s not paying one whit of attention to him. She’s prepping for her EJ meeting for the hospital.
She’s stressed about getting him as a client, but Alex just suggests she quit and write fulltime. Then he pulls out his tablet and shows her the cover of One Stormy Night. She’s delighted. Alex tells her this book is going to put their publishing division back on top, then they start kissing.
Kayla Drops a Couple Bombs On Stephanie
But they’re interrupted by someone knocking who just won’t go away. Stephanie finally gets up to find Kayla dropping by with a blueberry pie. She’s stress baking over the hospital finances, so she brought some over. Alex runs off to shower when Stephanie tells her mom to stick around to have some.
Stephanie fills her mom in on her bid to work for the hospital. She doesn’t think EJ would talk to her if he wasn’t prepared to make an offer. “Should I accept it?” Kayla thinks the hospital would be lucky to have her, but she should run the other way. “And don’t look back.”
It’s EJ’s hospital now, and he wants to make some big changes. She can handle him, but being his PR person is tricky. He’s the type of person who will leave her with endless fires to put out. Stephanie just wants to help the hospital, then Alex gets back for some pie.
Kayla’s about to leave when she spots the tablet and the book cover. Kayla gets a bit tongue-tied admitting she read it when it was going around the hospital. It was steamy. “Have you read it?” she asks Stephanie. They play dumb, then Steph looks about to hyperventilate once Kayla leaves.
Gabi Helps Xander Out
Rafe gets a text from “Kelly Jones” to meet in 20. Before he can head out, though, Gabi gets home to prep for a meeting. “Where are you off to?” Rafe says he has his own meeting to get to but it’s FBI business. He asks if Gabi’s heard from Ari, but she hasn’t. She’s fine, though. It happens when she’s having fun.
But if she doesn’t hear by tonight… time to panic.
Xander’s trying to lay down the law at work on the phone, while rocking a crying Victoria in her stroller. He tries taking her for a walk to calm her down, but nothing’s working. He’s getting desperate when Gabi shows up, offering to help.
Xander insists he’s “more than capable” of soothing his daughter, but Gabi drops her purse and tells him to give her a shot. She gets Victoria calmed, then tells a stunned Xander that she mostly just cried herself to sleep. Xander worries that Victoria forgot who he is, but Gabi just tells him they need to get reacquainted.
She’s had to do that with her own daughter, and at 18, she’s a lot tougher than Victoria. They get down to work, and Xander starts talking about his frustration with Johnny being so MIA. Gabi suggests that since he, too, was just charged with attempted murder (they were dropped, Xander says!), maybe he could cut Johnny some slack. She then reassures him that things will be OK, and Xander’s a bit surprised at how calm she is.
Who Is EJ Working With?
Chad and Thomas are in the park to play some baseball when they run into Cat. She says she’s just taking a sunset stroll, but Thomas offers her his glove to play some catch with them. Cat tells him it’s sweet, but she can’t right now.
Chad flashes back to seeing the mysterious message on her phone the other day from some guy, then Cat heads off. Chad and Thomas get down to their game of catch.
Days In the park, Chad has a baseball glove on and is looking down at Thomas, smiling, while Cat talks to them
Cat makes it to Rafe’s office, where they banter about their aliases. She pulls out a flash drive with info on EJ’s finances and hands it over, at which point, Rafe goes over their briefing. The FBI and ISA have set up this task force to take down the DiMeras. Now’s the perfect time to strike and the best way is to follow the money.
Rafe knows EJ didn’t buy the hospital out of his goodness — and where did he get the money? And Versavix won’t make money for years, so what’s EJ planning in the meantime? Cat asks how personal this is and what Rafe and EJ’s history is.
Rafe tells her to settle in, then we cut to the end of his tale when EJ replaced him with Arnold Fenniger. Again. Rafe tells her EJ’s a sociopath, and buying the hospital is terrifying. He needs to be stopped.
Cat didn’t want to jump in on this, but it’s personal for her, too, since the hospital doctors saved her sister’s life. She had no idea EJ was a supervillain. Plus, he’s Chad’s brother. Rafe assures Cat that Chad knows about his family history. And he’s a good DiMera. He never closes ranks with his less-than savory siblings and won’t stand in the way.
Cat’s not worried about Chad so much as her siblings getting hurt because of this. Rafe gets it. He’s got siblings, too, but this career is a calling for him. Cat admits she may have been called to this mission, because of her love of the hospital — but she’s not sure she’s ready for field work. Rafe offers to show her some self-defense moves.
Gwen’s Move In Attempts Are Stopped
Gwen strolls into the DiMera living room, to tweak EJ’s nose about how tough it is for her to pick a room. He takes a swig of whiskey and tells her she’s not moving in. Not today. The East Wing is getting painted, so she has to wait a few days.
They get to talking about her newfound wealth and he compliments her bling, before realizing she’s wearing the Horton necklace. EJ assumes now that she knows whose it is, she’s going to return it to its rightful owner. “When hell freezes over,” Gwen breezily tells him.
She still hates the whole lot of Hortons, ever since Laura sent her away. which makes EJ chuckle. He tells her there’s two sides to every story, which Gwen knows. And he should be on her side. Chad walks in with Thomas and greets her, seeming amused.
Gwen happily greets them, but Thomas wants to ask Aunt Gwen a question. “Why do you have Aunt Julie’s necklace? And why won’t you give it back?” Chad just smirks at her discomfort, then says that is an excellent question. Gwen tells her nephew there’s been a slight disagreement about the necklace owner.
In the Show’s Final Moments
Thomas runs up to get his action figures from Rachel’s room, at which point Chad tells Gwen in no uncertain terms that he was only nice in front of his son. He wants her to return the necklace, wrap it up, and get out of Salem. That’s not happening, she says, as EJ gleefully watches his brother dress her down.
She’s Thomas’ aunt on both sides now. She’s a DiMera and she’s moving into the mansion. Chad just scowls and looks questioningly at EJ.
Xander’s grateful to have Gabi’s help with Victoria, and is happy to have her calm demeanor right now. She remembers when people helped her with Ari, then talks about how she can never have another baby and get these early years back. “Be grateful for what you have.” Xander admits he has everything. Except Sarah.
Rafe and Cat go through EJ’s finances and agree that it raises major red flags. The only way he could’ve bought the hospital is with a silent partner.
Stephanie’s horrified that her mom read this, but Alex finds it cute. Her parents are the only two people in the world she desperately didn’t want to read the book. But they aren’t there, so how about picking up with the sexy time.
