Abigail approached Adrienne, who was standing at a coffee station in the hospital waiting area. Abigail wanted to know why Adrienne was at the hospital, so Adrienne explained that she had gone there to look for Jennifer. Abigail revealed that Jennifer was in a meeting, but Adrienne had already heard that information from someone else and had decided to leave a note on Jennifer's desk instead of waiting for the meeting to end.
Adrienne excused herself and started to walk away, but Abigail blocked the path. "[Leaving] so soon? You don't want to stay and catch up? Maybe, uh, tail me? Dig up some dirt?" Abigail asked. Adrienne was confused, so Abigail clarified that she was referring to the recent times that Adrienne had spied on Abigail and E.J. -- who happened to emerge from a nearby elevator just in time to hear his name being mentioned.
E.J. hid behind a corner so that he could eavesdrop on the conversation without being seen. Adrienne clarified that she hadn't been spying, adding that she had simply seen Abigail talking to E.J. on two separate occasions -- once at the pub and once at the club -- and that the latter conversation had seemed particularly intense. Adrienne explained that when Jennifer had expressed some concerns about Abigail's involvement with the DiMeras, she had felt compelled, as a mother, to share what she had seen with Jennifer.
Abigail clarified that her conversation with E.J. at the club had been intense because it had been about Jack, whom E.J. had praised after reading Jack's book. Adrienne was surprised to learn that E.J. had read Jack's book, but Abigail didn't understand Adrienne's reaction to the news, since plenty of people had read it. "Yeah, people with taste," Adrienne dryly countered.
"Excuse me, Adrienne? What do you know about him? Nothing. You don't know anything about him, so why don't you keep an open mind, the way my parents have taught me to? And the next time that you ever have a problem with me or with one of my friends, I suggest that you come to me instead of going behind my back and speaking to my mother. Thanks," Abigail defensively replied before walking away. E.J. waited until Adrienne was gone before following Abigail to an empty office, where he revealed that he had heard what she had said to Adrienne earlier.
E.J. said that, while he was grateful that Abigail had defended him, he didn't want Adrienne to get the impression that Abigail cared about him. Abigail complained that E.J.'s colossal ego was allowing him to make her conversation with Adrienne all about him, but he pointed out that the conversation in question had actually been all about him. E.J. assured Abigail that she didn't have to defend him or spend any more time with his colossal ego unless she wanted to do so.
Abigail wondered what E.J. wanted, and he replied that he wanted to make sure that Adrienne didn't tell Jennifer about Abigail's passionate defense of his honor. E.J. feared that Abigail was too vulnerable to handle an extensive round of questioning from Jennifer, but Abigail defiantly insisted that she wasn't as vulnerable as he believed. Abigail assured E.J. that if their relationship was over, she would be able to handle it. Abigail started to walk away, but he stopped her. "Abigail...if?" E.J. pointedly repeated.
Elsewhere, in Anne's office, Theresa eyed the check and the fake identification badge as she muttered that the whole thing seemed like it was almost too easy. After contacting a store to check its hours of operation and confirm that it was still possible to purchase gift cards there, Theresa ended the call and mischievously muttered that she was glad that the store's owner had always been too cheap to install security cameras. Theresa tucked the check in her purse and grabbed her jacket, but before she could leave the office, Anne arrived and wondered where Theresa was going.
Theresa innocently claimed that she had been headed outside to get some fresh air, and when Anne expressed some skepticism, Theresa defensively wondered if she was no longer allowed to take breaks. Anne countered that Theresa had been on a perennial break, adding that making Jennifer's life a living hell was the only task in Theresa's job description and that Theresa couldn't accomplish that task while shopping at the local mall. Theresa scoffed and said that she couldn't afford to park at the mall, let alone shop there, so Anne promised to consider giving Theresa a raise as soon as Theresa starting making progress with Jennifer.
Theresa started to sarcastically suggest that she wouldn't have to steal money if she were making a decent wage, but she stopped herself before saying anything incriminating. Still eager to leave, Theresa suggested that she could track down Daniel and try to get closer to him, but Anne revealed that he had dumped his workload on someone else earlier so that he could take the day off. Theresa feared that Daniel might be with Jennifer, but Anne admitted that Jennifer was actually working for a change.
Anne grumbled that Jennifer had called a fundraiser meeting so that Jennifer could hobnob with the rich and famous -- a meeting that Anne had not been invited to attend. Meanwhile, Anne received a phone call and reluctantly excused herself, explaining that she was being summoned to interview candidates for a very prestigious position as the cafeteria dishwasher. As soon as the coast was clear, Theresa rushed out of the office.
At the Horton house, a scantily clad Theresa climbed into J.J.'s bed, roused him from his slumber, and waved a pair of handcuffs in front of his face. "Do you like to play games, J.J.? I know you tried to set me up, so I had a little chat with the judge, and guess where you're going," Theresa urged J.J. as she secured the handcuffs to his right wrist. J.J. gasped as he woke up and realized that he had been having a nightmare.
Later, J.J. received a visit from Rory and Bev. "The eagle has landed," Rory excitedly informed J.J., who had no idea what Rory was talking about. Bev helpfully clarified that Rory was trying to say that Theresa had just contacted the store. Rory guessed that Theresa was headed to the store at that moment. Rory waited for J.J. to praise him for doing a good job, but when J.J. unenthusiastically obliged, Bev observed that J.J. didn't seem very thrilled about the latest development in their scheme. "It's just...there's no turning back now, all right? If this doesn't go exactly the way we planned it, I'm going to prison!" J.J. worriedly summarized.
Meanwhile, someone knocked on the front door. J.J. feared that the visitor was Theresa, but when he opened the door, he found Adrienne standing outside. J.J. introduced Adrienne to Rory and Bev, the latter of whom Adrienne recognized from the book club meeting that had involved a special batch of doughnuts. Bev and Rory awkwardly excused themselves so that J.J. and Adrienne could have some privacy.
J.J. apologized to Adrienne for what had happened at the book club meeting, and he assured her that nothing like that would ever happen again. Adrienne was skeptical and wondered how Jennifer would feel about Bev and Rory being in the Horton house. J.J. shrugged and innocently claimed that his friends had been at the house earlier and that Jennifer had been "totally cool with it," adding that if Adrienne didn't believe him, she was welcome to ask Jennifer for confirmation. J.J. revealed that Jennifer was at work, but Adrienne clarified that she had actually gone to the Horton house to deliver a message to J.J. about his sentencing hearing.
J.J. braced himself for bad news, guessing that someone had convinced the judge to revoke J.J.'s probation, but Adrienne clarified that she was simply there to explain that Justin was going to be unable to attend J.J.'s sentencing hearing because of an urgent business matter. Adrienne explained that Justin could either request a continuance or assign a trusted colleague to handle J.J.'s case. J.J. insisted that Justin was the best and that he didn't want anyone else to handle the case. Adrienne assured J.J. that there was nothing for him to worry about, but he replied that, while he was trying hard to turn his life around, he couldn't control everyone else.
J.J. feared that if he agreed to delay the sentencing hearing again, something might happen in the meantime that would screw everything up. J.J. reluctantly agreed to trust Justin's colleague to handle the case just as well as Justin would have. Adrienne reiterated that she was certain that everything was going to be okay -- as long as J.J. didn't do anything crazy, of course -- and she excused herself so that he could get back to his friends.
After Adrienne left, Rory and Bev emerged from the kitchen, where Rory had snagged a pint of vanilla ice cream. As Rory alternated between shoveling spoonfuls of ice cream in his mouth and complaining that no one liked vanilla ice cream, J.J. summarized what had just happened and stressed that he desperately needed their plan to work. Rory and Bev did some quick investigative work and learned that Theresa had not yet visited the store, which only made J.J. more worried about his future.
J.J. insisted that he and his friends needed to find Theresa and figure out what she was up to, but Bev pointed out that they couldn't exactly ask Theresa for details about what Theresa was planning to do with the check. Rory retrieved a joint from his pocket and suggested that J.J. needed to smoke it to help himself relax. Rory assured J.J. that no one would ever know, but J.J. pointed out that if he was asked to take a drug test, he would fail it and be sent to jail for the next decade. Rory reasoned that J.J. could argue that the marijuana had been for medicinal purposes only, since J.J. was going to lose his mind if he didn't do something to relax right away.
At the Kiriakis mansion, Brady discreetly slipped Daniel's apartment key in a back pocket. Maggie wondered what Brady was doing, and he innocently replied that he wasn't doing anything. Brady defensively asked if he was going to be expected to start explaining every move that he made in the house. Victor insisted that no one expected Brady to do that, but Brady wasn't convinced and abruptly decided that he could no longer live there.
Maggie and Victor started to protest, but Brady maintained that it would be best for him to move out of the mansion and free them from their babysitting duties before he said something that they would all later regret. Brady vowed to treat the move as an opportunity to prove that drinking was not one of his many problems. Victor said that he believed that Brady was doing the right thing. Victor added that he didn't want it to seem like he and Maggie were constantly watching Brady and waiting for him to mess up. Victor casually suggested that Brady could stay in one of the corporate suites so that the Titan mainframe would remain accessible to him.
Brady appreciated Victor's faith in him and promised that he wouldn't let Victor down. After Brady went upstairs to pack, Victor mused that the plan was working perfectly. Victor assured Maggie that he would quickly be alerted if Brady consumed too much alcohol while staying at the corporate suite, but she asserted that one drink would be too much for Brady. "Look, Maggie, I'm not gonna start an intervention if my grandson has a beer. You said it yourself -- if he doesn't want help, he's not gonna get it. This is all about keeping him safe. If we give him some respect and responsibility, maybe he'll feel motivated to earn it," Victor reasoned.
Brady returned to the foyer later with one travel bag, explaining that he was eager to leave and that he would have the rest of his stuff sent to his new place later. Maggie tearfully hugged Brady, who assured her that he would be fine. After Brady left, Victor comforted Maggie. Meanwhile, outside, Brady eyed Daniel's apartment key and muttered that he simply needed a couple of days of peace.
Brady went to Daniel's apartment, but just as he was pouring himself a glass of whiskey, someone knocked on the apartment door. Frustrated, Brady went to open the door, expecting to find that Victor and Maggie had followed him to the apartment, but he instead found Theresa standing in the hallway. Brady revealed that Daniel had left town earlier, and when Theresa wondered why, Brady joked that Daniel might have needed some time away from her. Theresa complained that she had liked Brady much better when he had been slurring his words, since that had at least spared her from having to listen to his razor-sharp wit.
Theresa started to leave, but Brady stopped her and invited her into the apartment so that he could thank her for calling Daniel when she had found Brady drunk in the town square earlier. Brady said that Theresa had done him a favor, since her actions had led him to dump Maggie as his sponsor and quit the Narcotics Anonymous program. Theresa wondered why Brady was in Daniel's apartment, and Brady replied that he was escaping the judgment of people who believed that they knew better than he did -- something that he guessed that she could relate to.
Brady invited Theresa to stick around for a while. Theresa seemed reluctant at first, since she and Brady didn't exactly like each other, but when he cryptically suggested that he might be able to tell her some interesting information about Daniel, she quickly changed her mind and decided to stay. Brady poured Theresa a glass of whiskey and urged her to accept it so that he wouldn't have to drink alone. Brady promised that he wouldn't tell anyone that he had seen Theresa drinking.
At the Brady Pub, Nick introduced Kate to the birdwatcher -- whose name was Percy Ruggles -- and acted surprised when he realized that Kate and Percy already knew each other. Percy clarified that he and Kate had encountered each other on several occasions -- most recently when he had posed as Santa -- but had never been formally introduced. Kate asked Percy to give her a moment alone with Nick, and Percy politely obliged.
"What game are you playing?" Kate asked Nick after Percy took a seat at the nearby bar. Nick claimed that he had no idea what Kate was talking about and that he was very serious about starting over in Salem. Unconvinced, Kate asked for more information about Percy. "Well, he's uniquely suited to the job. He can be a real lifesaver, trust me. You can't imagine what he's done for me," Nick vaguely replied. Kate urged Nick to elaborate.
"He's helped me understand what I want to do next with my life. If you talked to Percy at any length, you'd be surprised by -- by what he knows," Nick clarified. Kate revealed that she had previously learned that Percy knew a lot about birds -- a random piece of information that Nick claimed that Percy had never mentioned before. Kate didn't understand how Percy's skills made him a suitable lab assistant, so Nick explained that people were just like the chemicals that he worked with in the laboratory -- volatile and capable of turning on each other in an instant -- which was why his assistant needed to be someone he had good personal chemistry with.
"Oh, Nick -- you don't have good personal chemistry with anyone," Kate dryly pointed out. Unamused, Nick replied that he had handpicked Percy for the job and that he was certain that Kate would feel much more secure about everything if she hired Percy. Nick added that he would also feel better about working for Kate if he knew that Percy had his back. Kate noncommittally stated that she was going to need some time to think about the matter, and when Nick demanded to know how much time she was going to need, she replied that she would give him an answer the following day, if not sooner. As Kate exited the pub, Nick called out that he was certain that she would make the right decision. Outside the pub, Kate sighed as she watched Nick and Percy converse with each other.
In Will and Sonny's apartment, Gabi panicked when Sonny informed her that Will had gone to talk to Nick the previous day. Gabi feared that Nick was going to assume that she had sent Will and Rafe to fight her battles for her and that she wanted war instead of friendship. "Don't you?" Sonny asked, prompting Gabi to clarify that it would be best to keep Nick from finding out that piece of information so that he wouldn't have a reason to hate her. Sonny reasoned that it was too late for Gabi to worry about that, since it was highly likely that Nick already hated her, especially if he really did know the truth about what she had done to him.
Gabi sighed and excused herself so that she could get some fresh air, muttering that the whole situation was a nightmare. After Gabi left, Sonny received a visit from Abigail, and their conversation quickly turned to the matter of Nick's return to Salem. Abigail mused that Nick had been acting strangely since his return to town, and Sonny wondered how she could tell the difference. Abigail missed the sarcasm and explained that she had always been close to Nick. Abigail thought that Nick was hiding something, and she wondered if Sonny knew what had happened between Nick and Gabi before Nick had left for New York.
Sonny feigned ignorance, and Abigail assumed that Will also didn't know anything, since Sonny and Will presumably told each other everything. Sonny confirmed Abigail's suspicion and deftly changed the subject, wondering what was going on between her and her mystery man. Abigail evasively stated that it wasn't a big deal and that she had already forgotten about the guy in question.
Gabi went to the town square, where she spotted Nick. Nick didn't see Gabi, but she was still worried, so she sent a text message to E.J. Later, E.J. entered the DiMera mansion and found Gabi waiting for him in the living room. Gabi nervously wondered if E.J. had received her text message, and he impatiently reminded her that she had sent more than one. E.J. urged Gabi to tell her what the problem was. "Nick. He knows everything," Kate announced as she entered the mansion.
E.J. demanded to know exactly what Nick had said, so Kate summarized her earlier encounter with Nick. Gabi was worried about what "Mr. Greetings" knew, but E.J. snapped that she needed to stop calling the man "Mr. Greetings" because that sounded ridiculous. Kate explained that the man's real name was Percy Ruggles. "Oh, great -- that's even worse," E.J. muttered. E.J. mused that it seemed like Kate was the mouse and Nick was the cat, and Gabi worried about what that made her. E.J. pointed out that the women should have listened to him in the first place, and he decided that they were going to play along with Nick's game -- until Nick showed his hand or they tired of playing the game, at which point they would decide exactly how to end it.
Nick went to the Kiriakis mansion to see Maggie, but he received an icy reception from Victor instead. Victor was surprised to see that Nick was back in Salem, and Nick clarified that he had decided not to run away with his tail between his legs. Nick announced that he was determined to start his life all over again. "They were determined to break a record with the Titanic until they hit the iceberg. Didn't work out so well," Victor dryly replied.
Maggie entered the living room and greeted Nick, who assured her that he was back for good and that he was going to get himself the help that he needed. Maggie wondered what Nick was planning to do with the rest of his life, and he replied that he had approached Kate and felt good about his chances of landing a job at Kate's company. Maggie gushed that everything seemed to be falling into place for Nick, and she wished him luck before excusing herself. "You know, you and I both know that we make our own luck -- good and bad. You only seem capable of the latter -- not only for yourself, but all the people around you [whom] you claim to care about," Victor observed after Maggie left. Nick showed himself out after predicting that he and Victor would eventually find out if Victor's assessment of Nick's character was correct.
At Club TBD, E.J. ordered a drink as his cell phone rang. Sami called to inform E.J that there had been a problem with the distributor and that she would have to stay in Chicago overnight. Annoyed, E.J. asked Sami to return home, but Sami insisted that she needed to fix Kristen's mess with the distributor.
When Sami asked for an update on Nick, E.J. advised her to wait until Nick made his next move. Sami reminded E.J. that she was not good at waiting for other people to show their hand. Angry, E.J. ordered Sami to return home as soon as possible.
"You said that things have to change, one way or another. If that's not an ultimatum, what was it?" Sami asked. When E.J. said that he wanted to continue the conversation in person, Sami accused E.J. of delaying he conversation until it suited him. Frustrated, Sami hung up on E.J.
In Club TBD, E.J. called work and asked his assistant to schedule a meeting with his trainer at the gym. As E.J. gathered his items, T urged E.J. to eat before he left for the gym. With a sour face, E.J. remarked that he had lost his appetite. In Chicago, Sami learned that the distributor had taken her offer. With a grin, Sami said that she looked forward to telling E.J. the good news in person.
In the town square, a jovial Nick called out to Abigail. Nick invited Abigail to join him for a cup of coffee. When Abigail paused, Nick asked her why she seemed to want to get away from him. Abigail shook her head and sat down at a nearby table with Nick. Abigail stressed that she had been surprised that Nick had returned to town and that she was not avoiding him. When Abigail asked what had happened with Gabi, Nick narrowed his eyes and said that Abigail already knew what had happened.
Nick explained that he had set up Gabi's modeling job and had stalked Gabi. Nick added that he was getting help because he realized that he had crossed the line. With a sigh, Nick lamented that if he had been honest with Gabi from the beginning of their relationship then he might have been able to save his marriage. With a grin, Nick said that he wanted to tell the truth from now on, just like Abigail.
"You're all about honesty and integrity. My cousin. My role model," Nick said. With a nervous laugh, Abigail stressed that she had made mistakes. Nick added that Abigail would not intentionally hurt anyone or cover up for anyone. Changing the subject, Abigail asked Nick what was going on. Nick informed Abigail that he had a possible job in Salem and that he looked forward to spending more time with her.
In Daniel's apartment, Brady poured a drink for Theresa and urged her to drink it. Theresa declined, but Brady persisted. Theresa contemplated the drink then set it on the counter. When Brady asked if Theresa trusted him, she rolled her eyes. Theresa wiped her prints off the glass of booze, and Brady laughed. Theresa noted that she was on probation and that she needed to keep out of trouble.
Brady told Theresa that she was wasting her time chasing Daniel. When Theresa commented that Daniel was attracted to her, Brady said that Theresa was attractive and that Daniel was attracted to her. Brady stressed that Daniel wanted Jennifer and that he was not ready to be with anyone but Jennifer.
"You may know how men think, but you don't know Daniel like I do," Brady said. Brady explained that it had broken Jennifer's heart to learn that Daniel had slept with Theresa and that Daniel would never hurt Jennifer in that way again. With a sigh, Theresa noted that Daniel would not pine away for Jennifer forever. Theresa accidentally knocked over Brady's drink, spilling alcohol on his expensive watch.
When Brady casually dismissed the incident citing that he had another watch at home, Theresa called Brady a rich jerk. Brady claimed that Theresa was lucky because she had people that cared about her. After a short argument about money, Theresa stormed out of the apartment. In the hallway, Theresa looked at the check she had intercepted then left.
In the Horton living room, Rory offered J.J. a marijuana cigarette. J.J. said he was no longer interested in pot. As Rory went to light up, J.J. ordered him to put the drugs away. J.J. heard a car pull up out front, and he asked Rory and Bev to slip out the back. J.J. promised to text them later.
When J.J. opened the front door, he found Kayla on the porch. Kayla asked J.J. what he was doing with Theresa. Kayla explained that Roman had informed her that Theresa had visited J.J. at the house. J.J. explained that Theresa had dropped off a letter from work. With a shrug, Kayla said that Theresa could not be bothered to open an envelope at her desk much less deliver an envelope to Jennifer's house.
When Kayla noted that Theresa wanted something, J.J. countered that whatever Theresa had wanted, she had not gotten it. J.J. said that he had stressed to Theresa that he wanted nothing to do with her. Nodding, Kayla asked J.J. if there was anything he was not telling her. J.J. admitted that there was something else, and he asked Kayla for help.
J.J. asked Kayla how she had been able to forgive Jack. When Kayla asked what J.J. meant, he asked whether Kayla believed Jennifer could forgive him if he made another mistake. Kayla asked what was wrong. J.J. explained that Justin would not be able to be at his hearing. When Kayla asked about postponement, J.J. said that he wanted to put the hearing behind him. Kayla reminded J.J. that Jennifer supported J.J. and loved him. After Kayla left, Rory and Bev rushed into the living room from the kitchen. Rory informed J.J. that Theresa was at the supply store.
At the nurses' station in the hospital, Jennifer overheard Maxine tell someone that Daniel was not in the hospital. Worried, Jennifer asked if Daniel was okay. Maxine said she did not know what was wrong but that she believed Daniel's problem involved Parker. When Maxine suggested that Jennifer call Daniel, Jennifer admitted that she had deleted Daniel's contact information from her phone. Maxine countered that Jennifer could not cut Daniel out of her life and still inquire about him.
At the supply store, Theresa handed the clerk a check and her fake ID that identified her as Abigail. The clerk said that he needed two forms of ID. Theresa pretended that she had left her driver's license at home. When the clerk excused himself to take care of an issue in the back, Theresa turned to another clerk in the store and asked him to help her. Smitten, the clerk promised to help Theresa.
Theresa noted that she needed to pick up debit gift cards for an employee incentive program. As Theresa smiled sweetly, the clerk grabbed the debit gift cards and rang them up for her. J.J. entered the store, surprising Theresa.
At Club TBD, T placed a glass of wine at Brady's table. As Brady stared at the glass, Jennifer entered the club. Brady said hello, and Jennifer informed Brady that Justin would not be able to attend J.J.'s hearing. As Jennifer started to talk, her voice trailed off when she saw the glass of wine in front of Brady. Chuckling, Brady said he had left the program. Brady admitted that he had fallen off the wagon and that there was nothing to worry about. Brady grabbed his jacket, and he left the full glass of wine on the table in front of Jennifer.
Brady returned to Daniel's apartment and got drunk. Mumbling to himself, Brady said he hoped Jennifer would report back to Maggie that he had turned down the glass of wine. "I don't have a problem," Brady slurred as he poured another drink.
In the wilderness, Nicole spotted a cabin and exclaimed that it must be Dr. Chyka's hideout. Daniel covered Nicole's mouth to quiet her down. Daniel reminded Nicole that they needed to proceed with caution. Nicole wanted to get closer to the window, but Daniel grabbed her arm and held her back. Daniel reminded her that they could be killed. Daniel wondered aloud if they should call the police.
When Nicole worried that Stefano would be tipped off by the police, Daniel told Nicole that she could not risk her life to save Eric's future. Nicole asked Daniel why he was focused on her safety, and Daniel smiled and admitted that he cared about Nicole.
"We have been through a hell of a lot together. I will always care about you," Daniel said. As Daniel looked back at the cabin, he spotted Dr. Chyka through a window. Daniel asked Nicole to be his lookout, and he crept closer to the cabin.
Inside the cabin, Dr. Chyka made arrangements on his phone for a flight out of the country. The flight was delayed a few hours. Dr. Chyka pulled the money out of his safe, but he left all his papers behind. As Dr. Chyka sat in front of the fire, Daniel created a noise outside. When Dr. Chyka went to the window to investigate, Daniel hid.
In Club TBD, Abigail ordered a coffee from T. Abigail called E.J. and left a voicemail asking him to call her back about press releases. When T informed Abigail that she had just missed E.J., Abigail asked where he had gone. T told Abigail that E.J. was at the DiMera company gym.
As Sami approached the Brady Pub, Nick called out to her. Sami kept walking, noting that she was in a hurry. When Sami said that she had talked to Gabi and Kate about Nick, he joked that he was popular. Sami told Nick that she did not believe Nick had changed. Nick laughed. Nick warned Sami that if she did not give him a chance to make amends to her, that she would be sorry.
At the gym, E.J. thought about his phone conversation with Sami. After working out, E.J. returned to a private locker room, stripped, and turned on the shower. In the hallway outside the locker room, Abigail wandered around, looking for E.J. Abigail opened the door and saw E.J. standing naked by the shower. With his back turned to Abigail, E.J. cocked his head, then ordered Abigail to shut the door. Abigail shut the door as E.J. wrapped a towel around his waist. Abigail told E.J. that she had talked to Nick, and that Nick had said she would never do anything to hurt anyone.
"I felt like he could see right through me. He kept saying all of these wonderful things, and all I could do was think about you and me," Abigail said. E.J. countered that Abigail was a good person. Shaking her head, Abigail pointed out how they had hurt Sami, the kids, and Jennifer with their illicit affair. Abigail admitted that no matter how many times she said their affair was over, she felt like she was lying to herself.
E.J. stepped closer and told Abigail that she should not be there. In a hushed voice, Abigail said that no one had seen her enter the locker room. Tentatively, E.J. and Abigail kissed. The kissing grew heated, and Abigail stripped off her clothes. E.J. pulled Abigail into the shower with him. In the hallway outside, Sami approached the locker room, hoping to surprise E.J.
At the monastery, Eric admitted to Brother Timothy that he hadn't been able to make a decision about his future, especially if it included neither the church nor Nicole. Brother Timothy suggested that they discuss whether the church was where Eric truly belonged. Eric said that his commitment to the church had never wavered, but he feared that the church would reject him because of the video and because there was no longer any way to prove his innocence.
Brother Timothy advised Eric that the church would have to base their decision on the evidence at hand -- and Eric appeared to have been a very willing participant in the video. Eric reiterated that he had been drugged, and his friend Daniel Jonas had proved it, but the evidence had been destroyed. Brother Timothy pointed out that the attempt on Eric's life didn't prove anything about what had happened in the hotel room that night.
Eric worried that he would be forced to leave the church. Brother Timothy acknowledged that Eric would almost certainly be disciplined, but since Kristen DiMera had apparently fled the country, there was no victim and therefore no crime. He pointed out that Eric had sinned, and sin could be forgiven. "Are you saying, even if I can't prove that I'm innocent, I could still be a priest?" Eric asked hopefully.
Brother Timothy admitted that it was unlikely the church would allow Eric to return to work as a parish priest if he couldn't prove his innocence. Brother Timothy continued that if Eric repented and there was no further evidence that he'd broken his vows, the bishop might allow Eric to continue to serve God at a monastery like that one -- cloistered behind walls, where no one could ever claim that he wasn't faithful to his calling.
"You think that I should become a monk?" Eric asked incredulously. He asserted that he would never repent something that he hadn't done, and while he had the utmost respect for what the monks did, he could not live his life cut off from the world and his family. Brother Timothy acknowledged that becoming a monk was a very personal choice.
Eric explained that he couldn't be a priest if he couldn't work with and guide parishioners. "So I guess that choice has been made," Eric added. "Which leaves the other choice," Brother Timothy noted. "Nicole," Eric said.
In the locker room of the DiMera corporate gym, Abigail joined E.J. in the shower and peeled off her clothes, dropping them inside the shower enclosure. As Abigail and E.J. began to have sex, Sami returned home early from her business trip and was headed for the locker room to surprise E.J. When Sami found the door locked, she began knocking and calling E.J.'s name. She heard the shower running and realized that E.J. couldn't hear her over it, so she went to find a security guard to let her in.
A moment later, Sami returned with Carl, who was a little hesitant about letting her in, but she assured him that E.J. would be fine with it. Carl had a hard time finding the right key, because, as he explained, he had never needed to unlock that door before. While Carl tried different keys, Sami chattered away about the deal she'd just made with a guy who hadn't wanted to negotiate with a woman, and how excited she was to tell E.J. about it.
At last, Carl got the door open, so Sami entered the locker room, calling out for E.J. Abigail and E.J. panicked, and E.J. had to clamp a hand over Abigail's mouth to keep her quiet. Trying to figure out what to do, E.J. stammered that he would be right out. Finally, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, closing the curtain behind him and wrapping a towel around his waist. E.J. admitted that Sami had surprised him because he'd thought she was returning the next day.
While E.J. toweled off, Sami proudly informed him that she had gotten Richards to "cave." Feigning enthusiasm for what Sami had accomplished, E.J. asked her to wait outside while he got dressed. Sami cheerfully said that she wasn't leaving without E.J.'s signature on the contract. A horrified E.J. spied Abigail's bra peeking out from under the shower curtain. Abigail spotted it, as well, and while Sami was rummaging in her briefcase for a pen, Abigail used her toe to slide the bra inside the shower.
Sami was a bit taken aback when E.J. signed the contract without reading it, but he maintained that if it had terrified Richards, E.J. was sure it was brilliant. While E.J. pulled on his clothes, Sami apologized for hanging up on him and hurting his feelings. " I just didn't want to have one more fight on the phone where you give me another ultimatum about letting me back in your bed," Sami said gently. In the shower, a look of displeasure crossed Abigail's face.
E.J. irritably admitted that it had been a difficult day, and he would be happy to discuss whatever Sami wanted at home later. When Sami mentioned Johnny's basketball game, it was obvious that E.J. had forgotten about it. He said that he still had a lot to do and asked Sami to make an excuse to their son for him. Sami started to tell E.J. about her conversation with Nick, but E.J. cut her off, promising to talk to her about it at home. On her way out, Sami apologized again and admitted that she didn't like the way things were between them any more than E.J. did.
As soon as Sami had gone, E.J. handed Abigail a towel, which she wrapped around herself. "I had no idea you and Sami weren't sleeping in the same bed anymore. How long has that been, E.J.?" Abigail demanded. E.J. insisted that it had nothing to do with him and Abigail -- but it wasn't the time for that conversation. He told Abigail to leave, but she pointed out that she couldn't wear what she'd worn there because her clothes had gotten wet.
When Abigail said that she had a change of clothes in her car and suggested that E.J. retrieve them, he rejected the idea. E.J. said that there had recently been a photo shoot there and offered to find some of the models' clothes. Abigail was dismayed when she saw what E.J. returned with: a sparkly skirt and a leopard-print blouse that tied in the front but didn't close, so her bra and midriff showed. E.J. tried to reassure her that she looked fine.
"I will die if anyone sees me in this," Abigail complained. As he pulled her coat around her, E.J. admitted with a sly grin that he wouldn't mind seeing her in the outfit again. As Abigail headed for the door, E.J. called her back to apologize. "I should be sorry, too, but I'm not," Abigail confessed.
At the DiMera mansion, Stefano told Ricardo that he hadn't been able to reach Dr. Chyka anywhere. Stefano admitted that Chyka's apparent desire not to be found made him nervous and anxious. He hoped that Chyka had disappeared to somewhere far away from Salem, but Ricardo advised Stefano that Chyka had been seen as recently as the previous Wednesday. Stefano said that was why he wouldn't be able to rest until he knew that Chyka was no longer a liability.
Later, Abe and Theo stopped by the mansion to see Stefano. Stefano chuckled with delight when Theo presented him with a crayon drawing. Theo wanted to know if Stefano had heard from Kristen. Stefano admitted that he had not. "But she misses you as much as you miss her; believe me," Stefano assured Theo. Theo revealed that guys at his school had said that his Aunt Kristen had done bad things, and he wanted to know if it were true.
Stefano told Theo, "Kristen is your aunt. I mean, she's part of our family, you know? And family always does everything they can do to help each other, and they love each other, you know? Isn't that right, Abraham?"
After Abe and Theo had gone, Ricardo asked what Stefano wanted him to do with Dr. Chyka. "I need that loose end tied up for my daughter's sake," Stefano replied. Ricardo said that although he was sure that he could handle it alone, he would take Bruno for backup. "Good. Just find Chyka, and let's end this, once and for all," Stefano instructed.
As Theresa was completing her purchase of debit gift cards at the office supply store, J.J. showed up on the pretext of needing to buy school supplies. A nervous Theresa claimed that she had been there to buy pens. As she tried to hurry out, J.J. grabbed her bag and asked if he could get her advice on what kinds of pens to buy, but Theresa managed to keep control of the bag. J.J. remarked that Theresa was behaving strangely. She reminded him that they weren't supposed to be seen in public together.
When Theresa headed for the door again, Kurt, the cashier, called out, "Excuse me, Abigail? You forgot your receipt." Theresa rushed back over to the counter and insisted that Kurt had made a mistake, but Kurt reminded her that she'd shown him an ID that said her name was Abigail. Behind Theresa, J.J. began guffawing. When she demanded to know why he was laughing, J.J. informed her, "Theresa, you've just been played so hard!"
J.J. and Kurt began high-fiving each other in congratulations, and J.J. leaned across the counter to hug Kurt. Rory showed up and congratulated Kurt on a brilliant acting performance. Theresa was stunned to learn that Kurt and Rory were brothers -- and furious when she realized that J.J. had set her up. J.J. explained that when he'd found the check, he'd been certain that Theresa would be too greedy to pass up easy money, and the plan had really solidified when he'd seen that the check was made out to the store where Rory's brother just happened to work.
With a shrug, Theresa pointed out that it was J.J.'s word against hers. As she shoved the bag into J.J.'s hands to get rid of the evidence, Kurt proudly showed off the video that he was still shooting of Theresa. Theresa tried to snatch the phone away from Kurt, but he evaded her and calmly sent the video to J.J.'s phone. When J.J. said that if the video got out, Theresa would go to prison, she argued that it was entrapment. J.J. pointed out that his mom had already fired Theresa once for embezzlement.
Theresa stormed out, so J.J. chased her to the park outside Horton Square. Reminding Theresa that she'd been blackmailing him for months, J.J. demanded, "How does it feel to know that somebody can ruin your life whenever they feel like it?" He offered to make sure that no one ever saw the video of her, if she would make the same promise about the video of him. J.J. said that Kurt had never put the check in the till, and the gift cards could just be returned to the rack. J.J. offered to take the check home, where Abigail would think she had just misplaced it.
Theresa seemed relieved. J.J. warned her that if she messed up his sentencing hearing, he would turn over the video to Hope Brady, the LAPD, and Theresa's parents. Theresa suspected that there had to be some kind of catch. J.J. demanded, "What is your problem? I mean, is it worth it, making my life hell and making my mom miserable? Is it worth throwing your life away?" Theresa declared that she hated "that sanctimonious bitch," Jennifer, who had gone out of her way to make Theresa's life miserable -- and J.J. seemed ready to join in.
"It would serve you both right if I just took that video of you doing drugs and I went straight to the judge," Theresa said. J.J. threatened to go to the cops with the video of her stealing two thousand dollars. Theresa maintained that even if she ended up in prison, she would know that she had ruined J.J.'s life and made Jennifer's life miserable. "You're insane!" J.J. pronounced.
An incredulous J.J. demanded, "You would walk into court during my hearing and make sure the judge sees the video, knowing that I could take you down the same way?" Theresa assured him that she would. "You're an evil bitch," J.J. spat -- just as Abe showed up. "Is everything okay here?" Abe asked, concerned when he saw the two of them together.
At Dr. Chyka's cabin hideout, Chyka heard a noise outside and grabbed his gun to investigate. Daniel, the originator of the sound, hid around the corner while Chyka scanned the surroundings. Watching through binoculars from a short distance away, Nicole worried for Daniel's safety when she saw the gun in Chyka's hand. Just as Chyka was headed back inside, the sun glinted off Nicole's binoculars, causing him to turn around and brandish the gun in her direction.
Nicole ducked down behind some bushes, but before Chyka could go after her, Daniel appeared and attacked Chyka from behind. Daniel wrestled with Chyka until Chyka dropped the gun. The men continued to fight, but Chyka got the upper hand and grasped Daniel by the throat. Suddenly Nicole showed up, grabbed the gun, and ordered Chyka to stop. "Can I shoot him now?" she asked Daniel. "No, we're going to have a little talk first," Daniel replied, shoving Chyka inside the cabin.
While Nicole held a gun on Chyka, Daniel tied him to a chair. After revealing that they knew Chyka's real name, Daniel accused Chyka of supplying Kristen DiMera with the drugs she had used on Father Eric Brady. Chyka refused to talk, so Nicole threatened to shoot him in the foot. Daniel calmly reminded her that they didn't want to make any mistakes, and besides, they had plenty of time to shoot Chyka. Nicole asked Chyka whether he remembered Father Eric, and when Chyka refused to utter a sound, she began slapping him viciously.
Daniel had to physically restrain Nicole to keep her from beating Chyka senseless. While Daniel was trying to calm a frustrated Nicole, Chyka suddenly piped up that he had started to remember something. "I'm remembering what you looked like underneath that towel. Your body is definitely something to see," Chyka taunted lewdly. Furious, Nicole lunged toward Chyka. While Daniel restrained her again, he warned Chyka, "You don't want me to let her loose on you."
Chyka snarled that playing "good cop/bad cop" was useless. Daniel reminded Chyka that he was tied up, they had the gun, and they knew that he had given Kristen a drug cocktail to use on Eric. Nicole expressed her determination to prove that Eric had been drugged so that he could get his life back. Daniel continued, "You confess, frankly and fully, and after that, we really don't care what you do or where you go." Chyka began to laugh at the idea of confessing.
Chyka suggested that Nicole and Daniel should just call the police and get it over with. "Who said anything about the police?" Nicole asked. Reconsidering her promise not to shoot Chyka in the foot, Nicole threatened to blow his kneecap off instead. Chyka didn't believe that they would hurt him, since Daniel took the Hippocratic Oath very seriously. "'First, do no harm.' You will not harm me in any way," Chyka asserted. "No, but I will," Nicole declared, cocking the gun and aiming it at Chyka.
Chyka calmly said that he had done his homework on Nicole, and he'd learned that she would do almost anything, even kill, for "that sexual deviant," Eric, although the video proved that the priest didn't return her affections. Chyka urged Nicole to pull the trigger. A fidgety Nicole seemed to be prepared to do just that, but Daniel firmly yet gently reminded her, "Nicole. Our game, our rules, remember? We're going to do what we want to do, what we have to do, right?" Nicole nodded.
Turning to Chyka, Daniel said, "You, you're absolutely right." Without another word, Daniel walked out the door. Beginning to panic, Chyka asked, "Wait, where are you going? Why is he leaving? Why is he leaving me alone with you?" Nicole got right in Chyka's face as she declared that she would do anything for Father Eric because he was a good man who only wanted to help people, but Chyka had destroyed Eric's life. She promised to find a way to make Chyka confess.
Chyka accused Nicole of being in love with Father Eric. Chyka pointed out that if she succeeded, Eric would return to the church, and Nicole would be alone -- but if Nicole let Chyka go, she and Eric could live happily ever after. Nicole maintained that the most important thing to her was clearing Eric's name. "Oh, you stupid, stupid woman," Chyka said, shaking his head.
When Daniel returned with his backpack, Chyka started to fret again. He demanded to know what was in the bag. Without a word, Daniel pulled out a vial of medication and filled a syringe with it. Chyka worriedly asked what was in the vial. "Dr. Chyka, you're about to get a taste of your own medicine," Nicole explained.
At the Horton house, Jennifer received a visit from Hope, who immediately deduced that something was wrong. Jennifer explained that J.J. wasn't answering his cell phone and that she needed to talk to him about his sentencing hearing, which Justin was not going to be able to attend. Despite the fact that J.J.'s potential backup lawyer had Justin's personal endorsement, Jennifer was still worried that something could go wrong if they proceeded with the sentencing hearing in Justin's absence.
Hope advised Jennifer to seek a continuance instead, but Jennifer continued to vacillate between the two options, fearing that it might not be wise to delay the hearing and allow more time for something bad to happen. Jennifer admitted that, while J.J. had claimed that he was doing well, both of her children had been hard to read lately -- much harder than they had been at Ciara's age. Hope sighed and revealed that she was already at that point with Ciara, and she proceeded to tell Jennifer about what Ciara had been doing lately.
Jennifer was certain that Ciara was only acting out because Bo wasn't around, and Hope agreed. "Ciara feels completely abandoned by Bo, and she doesn't understand why this is happening to her. I don't understand why. Cuz, she keeps saying to me, 'Mommy, am I a bad girl? Doesn't Daddy love me anymore?' Then she looks me right in the eyes, and she's like, 'Mommy, are you keeping Daddy away?' I just -- it's killing me, and the longer this goes on, the worse it gets," Hope revealed. Jennifer wondered if Hope had ever said those things to Bo, and Hope confirmed that she had done so on numerous occasions.
After receiving a supportive hug from Jennifer, Hope excused herself so that she could get to a meeting with Father Louis and the man whose son Ciara was bullying -- a meeting that Hope admitted that she wasn't looking forward to at all. Later, Hope and Ciara entered Father Louis' office at St. Luke's, where Aiden and Chase were already waiting for Father Louis to arrive. Shortly after introducing herself to Chase, Hope received a text message from Father Louis and announced that he was going to be approximately twenty minutes late. Aiden immediately escorted Chase out of the room, reasoning that it would be better for them to wait outside so that they wouldn't have to spend any more time with Hope and Ciara than necessary. "See why I hate him?" Ciara asked after Aiden and Chase left the room, and Hope gently shushed her.
Later, when Father Louis arrived, he reported that, while he had managed to confirm that Ciara and her friends had been teasing Chase quite often lately, he had also learned that Chase was not entirely blameless. Father Louis revealed that Chase was the person who had ripped the emblem off of Ciara's school uniform a few weeks earlier, and he summarized that Chase seemed to have some impulse control issues and had been striking out against the girls. Aiden found that hard to believe, but as he waited for Chase to deny the accusation, Ciara reminded Chase that she and her friends had protected his identity all along so that he wouldn't get punished for his actions. Ciara urged Chase to go ahead and tell the truth, since it was no longer a secret, and Chase replied that he had torn her uniform because she and her friends had been laughing at him.
Father Louis suggested that Ciara and Chase needed to exchange sincere apologies with each other, and after they complied, he suggested that they could follow him to the chapel so that they could continue to discuss the matter privately. Father Louis, Ciara, and Chase exited the room, leaving Hope and Aiden alone together. Hope tried to assure Aiden that she understood how he was feeling, but he insisted that she had no idea. Hope disagreed and started to point out the similarities between her and Aiden, but he interrupted and said that if she wanted to "make nice" with him, the best thing that she could do would be to keep her daughter away from his son. After Aiden left, Father Louis returned and wondered if something had happened between Aiden and Hope earlier. "I just found out that Mr. Jennings is an even bigger jerk than I thought," Hope replied.
In a secluded section of Horton Town Square, J.J. assured Abe that everything was fine between J.J. and Theresa, but she contradicted J.J.'s statement. Theresa wondered if Abe still had connections to the police department, and when he confirmed that he did, she asked him to stick around to help her and J.J. get a few things straight with each other. Theresa reminded Abe that J.J.'s sentencing hearing had been scheduled for the following day, and she wondered if Abe believed that the judge, like everyone else in Salem, would give J.J. special treatment because J.J. was a Horton.
Abe said that Judge Goldberg was conservative but fair, and Theresa took that as confirmation that the judge would only rule against J.J. if someone unequivocally proved that J.J. wasn't perfect. "I don't know where this is coming from, Theresa. No one's perfect; I'm not, and I know that you've been given more chances than I can count to get your life squared away -- mainly because you're a Brady. You both take care, hmm?" Abe pointedly replied before walking away. "Okay, did you have your fun? Now it's you, me, deal or no deal. But I'm not going to offer it again. You want to take me down? You'll go with me," J.J. assured Theresa after Abe left.
Theresa reluctantly followed J.J. back to the store where she had purchased the gift cards. Kurt teasingly greeted Theresa as Abigail, and J.J. urged Kurt to give her a break because she was trying to make the right decision about accepting J.J.'s deal. Kurt couldn't believe that Theresa had not yet accepted the deal, but J.J. confidently assured him that she knew what would happen if she didn't accept it.
Theresa wondered what would happen to the receipt from her earlier purchase. J.J. assured Theresa that Kurt would delete the digital receipt so that it would look like the sale had never occurred, but she pointed out that J.J. would still have video proof of the sale. "Of course I'll have that. Who do you think taught me about video blackmailing?" J.J. pointedly replied. Theresa folded her arms and grudgingly accepted J.J.'s deal.
Theresa tried to get the check back from Kurt, but he refused to return it to her. J.J. explained that he was going to take the check home and make it seem like Abigail had simply misplaced it, but Theresa wasn't convinced that it would be wise to trust a "lying son of a bitch" like J.J. to do so. "I'm going to keep my side of the bargain; you'll keep yours. What is wrong with you? It's like you want everybody in the world to hate you. Why?" J.J. wondered.
Theresa quietly clarified that she didn't want everyone to hate her, and when J.J. countered that she was doing a good job of convincing him otherwise, she replied that he had practically always hated her and that she had given up on trying to change his mind. "I wonder why. Maybe it's because when I first met you, I was nothing but nice -- free pot, ready to have a good time with you any time you snapped your little fingers. But when you looked at me, you saw nothing but stupid, didn't you?" J.J. asked, and Theresa confirmed his suspicion with a flippant comment about shoes fitting.
"Oh, but I woke up. And you are the loser, not me. You know, you're so stupid, you still don't realize that you would be in a California prison right now if it wasn't for my mom asking them to give you another chance," J.J. pointed out, prompting Theresa to warn that the smartest thing that he could possibly do at that moment would be to stop talking about his mother.
"Hey, Theresa, who in this store right now would be dead if I hadn't called Daniel the night you ODed? If he hadn't risked everything to save you? Now, did that make you a little grateful? No. Hell no! You started doing everything you possibly could to make my mom believe that you were sleeping with Daniel -- while you were blackmailing me. So go ahead and take a guess why people hate you," J.J. continued.
Theresa observed that J.J. had really changed. "Yeah, you're damn right. Seeing you almost die really opened my eyes. I'd probably even say thank you, if you hadn't gotten out of that hospital and started acting crazier than what you did before. You want to act that way? Fine. Just keep the hell away from me. Thank God we are done here," J.J. concluded, but Theresa cautioned him to refrain from getting too confident about that. J.J. impatiently warned that if Theresa were trying to threaten him, it would be best for her to just forget about doing so right away.
Theresa admitted that when she had first met J.J., she had thought that he was cute. Theresa added that she had known from the start that J.J. was trouble -- although she stressed that she had believed that he was trouble in a good way -- and that she had also thought that he was kind of dumb -- also in a good way, which led him to guess that she had liked that about him because she had assumed that it would make him easy to manipulate. "But I was wrong -- you're a total jerk, and you're a lot smarter than I thought you were. I won't make that mistake again," Theresa vowed before exiting the store, leaving J.J. alone to breathe a triumphant sigh of relief.
At Club TBD, Maggie ran into Abigail, who said that everyone had missed having Maggie at Arianna's christening. Abigail mentioned that Nick had shown up after the ceremony had concluded, and she mused that, while his sudden reappearance had been kind of odd, it was nice that his loved ones no longer had to worry about him. Maggie reported that she had talked to Nick earlier and that she was planning to meet with him the following day to continue their conversation, but she also admitted that Brady had actually been her top priority lately. Maggie revealed that Brady had been going through a rough patch and that she didn't think that it was over yet.
Steering the conversation back to Nick, Maggie mused that there was something odd about his disappearance from and subsequent reappearance in Salem, and Abigail agreed that the whole thing was definitely a mystery. Maggie observed that Abigail had also seemed a bit odd lately, but Abigail dismissed the concerns and claimed that she was simply worried about J.J.'s impending sentencing hearing. Maggie was also worried about the hearing, so Abigail invited Maggie to accompany her to the Horton house, hoping that J.J. would be there so that they could spend some time with him.
When Maggie and Abigail arrived at the Horton house, Abigail immediately excused herself and went to the kitchen. After Abigail left, Jennifer admitted that she was worried about J.J., who still wasn't answering his cell phone. Maggie revealed that it seemed like Abigail was also worried about something -- something that likely had nothing to do with J.J.'s sentencing hearing, despite Abigail's claims to the contrary. Jennifer nodded and changed the subject, wondering how Brady was doing. Maggie sighed as she reported that Brady was sliding down a slippery slope and that it was unlikely that anyone would be able to help him.
Later, J.J. returned home and informed Jennifer that he had missed her calls and text messages because he had turned his cell phone off earlier. Jennifer started to chastise J.J., but she quickly stopped herself and apologized, admitting that she had simply been worried about him. J.J. hugged Jennifer and assured her that she would never have to worry about him again. J.J. explained that he had simply needed some quiet time to think about what he wanted to do about the sentencing hearing the following day, adding that he had decided that he didn't want to postpone the hearing because he was ready for the whole ordeal to end.
As Maggie and Abigail emerged from the kitchen and joined Jennifer and J.J. in the foyer, he optimistically added that he believed that things were going to go really well at the sentencing hearing the following day. Later, when he was alone in the living room, J.J. tucked the check in a desk drawer. Abigail entered the living room and wondered what J.J. was looking for, and he retrieved a pen from the drawer as he innocently replied that he needed to write something down before he forgot about it.
J.J. casually pulled the check out of the drawer and wondered if it belonged to Abigail. Abigail was thrilled that J.J. had found the check, which she had somehow lost a few days earlier. J.J. teased Abigail about losing a check that was worth two thousand dollars, and she admitted that she had been a bit flaky lately. Abigail started to chastise herself for being a horrible assistant to Jennifer, but J.J. insisted that Abigail was being too hard on herself. J.J. reasoned that Abigail had simply made a mistake and that things could always be fixed, but she argued that some things couldn't be fixed.
J.J. conceded the point and amended his statement to clarify that things could usually be fixed. J.J.'s optimism aroused Abigail's suspicions, and she wondered if there was something that he wasn't telling her. J.J. nodded and vaguely assured Abigail that it was a good thing. J.J. added that things were finally starting to go his way, and despite Abigail's confusion, she agreed to respect his wishes and just be happy for him.
Jennifer entered the living room a short time later, and Abigail told her about the check that J.J. had found. Abigail was still disappointed with herself for misplacing the check in the first place, despite Jennifer and J.J.'s assurances that she had simply made an innocent mistake. When Abigail pointed out that things could have been much worse if she had lost the check somewhere outside of the house and someone else had found and cashed it, J.J. abruptly excused himself so that he could get a glass of water.
After J.J. left, Jennifer observed that it seemed like something else was bothering Abigail, and she promised to be there if Abigail ever wanted to talk about whatever it was in a lecture- and judgment-free environment. Abigail confirmed that she understood, but she didn't accept Jennifer's offer. Later, Jennifer, Abigail, Maggie, and J.J. looked forward to J.J.'s sentencing hearing the following day, believing that they would soon be able to put his legal troubles behind them. J.J. sincerely thanked the women for their continued support, acknowledging that he hadn't always made it easy for them to believe in him.
In Daniel's apartment, Brady dreamed that after stumbling around the living room and accidentally breaking a few things, he had passed out on the couch, where Daniel had found him and wondered aloud about the number of near-death experiences that it would take to convince Brady to turn his life around. When Brady woke up, he found himself sitting upright in a chair with a glass of whiskey and the remaining contents of a bottle of whiskey each within arm's reach. Brady took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, assuring himself that the dream wouldn't turn into a reality because he had everything under control.
After pointedly pouring the glass of whiskey into the kitchen sink to prove his point to himself, Brady grabbed his jacket and exited the apartment. Later, as Brady was passing through the town square, he ran into Abe, who had recently been asked to deliver something to Brady on John's behalf and had actually been headed to the Kiriakis mansion to do so. Abe retrieved an envelope from his jacket pocket as he explained that John had known that Brady wouldn't have accepted it if John had sent it to Brady directly. Abe asked Brady to open the envelope as a personal favor, and Brady reluctantly complied.
"'Dear Brady, I know Hope told you that I was not Colleen Brady's son, but blood doesn't matter when it comes to family. You will always be a Brady, just as you will always be my son. I want --'" Brady started to read aloud before stopping himself, dismissively summarizing the rest of the letter -- that John wanted Brady to understand that, while the events of the previous year had taken a toll on their relationship, he still meant a lot to John -- ripping it into several pieces, and returning the pieces to Abe so that they could be delivered to John as an official response to the letter.
Brady returned to Daniel's apartment and promptly started to drown his sorrows again. As soon as Brady drained one glass of whiskey, Theresa started pounding on the apartment door and telling him to let her in. Brady poured himself another glass of whiskey before opening the door for Theresa, who stormed into the apartment as she snapped that he had ruined everything. Theresa explained that she had done something stupid earlier because her previous encounter with Brady had left her feeling upset about the fact that, unlike her, he had a lot of money. "That son of a bitch really screwed me over, so now I just have to figure out a way to make him pay," Theresa angrily muttered as Brady struggled to make sense of her twisted logic.
Brady tried to find out the name of the guy who had angered Theresa, but she insisted that the guy's name didn't matter and that the only thing that mattered was that she had gotten played. "You're right -- that is -- that is all that matters. I know a little something about that, because I recently got played twice -- completely screwed over by the same woman. And my stepbrother. And my father. And my stepmother. If my head were on the end of a stick, I couldn't have been a bigger sucker, Theresa," Brady admitted.
Brady held up his glass of whiskey and added that he had found a solution to his problems. Theresa pointed out that alcohol was supposedly just a temporary solution to a person's problems, but Brady countered that alcohol was only a temporary solution if a person eventually stopped drinking. As Brady refilled his glass, he and Theresa started to exchange personal mottos with each other, most of which were cynical in nature.
When Theresa excused herself a short time later, she admitted that she had kind of enjoyed trading clichés with Brady, who wondered if that meant that he had been forgiven for apparently making her do something stupid earlier that day. Theresa confirmed Brady's suspicion, but she cryptically added that someone else wasn't going to be as lucky. "Think you can just stick it to me and walk away? Think again, J.J. You and Mommie Dearest better watch your backs, 'cause I'm coming, and it won't be pretty," Theresa vowed after exiting the apartment. Meanwhile, back inside, Brady recited another clichéd motto -- "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die" -- as he continued to drown his sorrows.
In the monastery chapel, Eric admitted that he loved Nicole and that his feelings for her wouldn't change, even if he returned to the priesthood. Brother Timothy could tell that Eric also still loved the church, so he suggested that the next step would be for them to talk about Nicole's feelings for Eric. Timothy summarized that, from what he had read about Nicole online, it seemed fair to say that she was a rather duplicitous, self-serving, and untrustworthy woman. Eric protested that Timothy's description of Nicole wasn't accurate and that she had already repented for her past sins.
Timothy pointed out that Nicole had loved Eric for a very long time and had repeatedly lied to Eric about her feelings. Eric explained that Nicole had been afraid to reveal her true feelings to him, and Timothy mused that she had probably been afraid that Eric would distance himself from her if he ever learned the truth. Timothy reiterated that Nicole had a history of lying to get what she wanted, and he wondered if Eric really wanted to spend the rest of his life with and give up being a priest for that kind of woman.
Eric continued to defend Nicole, admitting that he had treated her viciously a few months earlier because he had initially jumped to the conclusion that she was the woman who had raped him. Eric explained that Nicole had forgiven him for what he had done to her because her love for him had been stronger than all of the hatred that he had shown her, and he insisted that she was a different woman than she had once been. Eric concluded that, while he loved his family and friends dearly, he loved Nicole more than anyone else -- except, of course, God.
Timothy admitted that Eric had convinced him that trusting Nicole might be the right thing to do. Eric was glad to hear that, but he pointed out that he still didn't know what to do about his future. Timothy observed that it seemed like Eric had backed himself into a corner where he felt like he couldn't choose either of the two options -- he couldn't return to the priesthood because the church would never allow that, and he couldn't be with Nicole because there would always be a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he had only chosen to be with her because the decision to either return to or leave the priesthood had been taken out of his hands.
Timothy advised Eric to pray, meditate, and decide for himself whether he wanted to be with Nicole or continue to be a priest -- before the church made that decision for Eric. Eric argued that, with no way to prove his innocence, he was certain to be defrocked, but Timothy countered that Eric was being arrogant and couldn't possibly know God's will. Timothy mused that a miracle could be happening at that moment that would change everything.
In Chyka's cabin, Chyka nervously demanded to know what Daniel was preparing to administer to Chyka. "Hmm...maybe it's a...memory-erasing drug, like the one you gave Father Eric. Maybe it's a sexual stimulant -- ugh! Or maybe it's something that'll cause a burning sensation -- become a fire, flickering through every vein in your body for hours, until you die, screaming! I don't know. Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Nicole mused with a shrug as Chyka eyed the syringe that Daniel was holding.
Chyka pointed out that drugging him without his consent was against the law, prompting Daniel to counter that Chyka knew all about breaking that particular law. Daniel warned that he would administer the unidentified drug to Chyka unless Chyka told Daniel and Nicole what they wanted to hear right away. Daniel and Nicole stressed that they didn't care about having Chyka prosecuted for any of his crimes and that they were only interested in proving Eric's innocence. As Nicole pointed her cell phone's camera at Chyka and pressed the record button, Daniel urged Chyka to do the right thing.
Chyka decided to take his chances, guessing that the syringe probably just contained a harmless saline solution. Daniel shrugged and started to sterilize a spot on Chyka's neck, but before Daniel could continue, Nicole stopped him and asked him to let her inject Chyka with the unidentified drug instead. Nicole feared that Daniel would lose his medical license if they got caught, but he insisted that he was willing to take that risk, and he proceeded to administer the drug to an increasingly nervous Chyka.
A short time later, the effects of the drug -- sodium pentothal, also known as truth serum -- started to kick in. It was clear that the drug was having an effect on Chyka, who seemed much more relaxed and cooperative than he had earlier, but he continued to answer Daniel and Nicole's questions evasively as he tried to fight the effects. Daniel administered another dose of the drug to Chyka, who soon fully succumbed to its effects. Nicole started to record the interrogation again, and Daniel proceeded to ask about Kristen -- whom Chyka was suddenly very willing to talk about.
Meanwhile, outside the cabin, Ricardo peered through a pair of binoculars as he talked to Stefano on the phone. "Mr. DiMera, you told me to contact you once I'd located Dr. Chyka. Well, I'm outside of his place right now, but it looks like he's got others with him. Should I eliminate them, too?" Ricardo asked.
Gabi was in the living room of the apartment, frantically searching for Arianna's scarf, when Will entered from the bedroom. She explained that she was desperate to get out of the house to get her mind off Nick, and she had promised to take Arianna to the Brady Pub to see Caroline. Gabi confessed that she was having a hard time keeping it together because of worrying about whether or not Nick remembered what had happened. Will said that it was possible Nick didn't remember anything, and perhaps "Mr. Greetings" was the only one who knew the whole story.
That did little to ease Gabi's mind, as she began to freak out that "Mr. Greetings" would use the information to blackmail all of them until the end of time. Will tried to calm Gabi down, but she declared that she wished Nick had never returned. Will offered to go with Gabi and Arianna to the pub, but Gabi declined, since he and Sonny had plans together. "You have been so great through all of this," Gabi said. "So have you," Will concurred. He headed out after promising Gabi that they would talk later.
Kate was at a table in Horton Square, on the phone with Ortiz. "That is exactly the development we've been waiting for," Kate said. As Kate was hanging up, Lucas arrived. Kate informed her son that their guesswork about Jordan was nearing an end, but Lucas didn't want to hear anything about what Kate was up to. He admitted that Sheryl was supposed to hang out with Rafe and Jordan and had asked Lucas to join her, but he had declined because Sheryl was an employee.
Kate thought Lucas should go, since he and Sheryl obviously liked one another -- plus Kate needed a favor from Lucas. She asked him to simply call her when Jordan and Rafe were leaving. Just then, Sheryl showed up and asked Lucas if he were sure that he didn't want to join her, Rafe, and Jordan. Kate piped up that Lucas had just been planning to call Sheryl to ask if he could change his mind. With a dirty look at Kate, Lucas left with Sheryl.
Kate immediately picked up the phone and dialed Ortiz again. Kate instructed him, "Meet me in the usual place and bring that thing that we were talking about. Yeah, I'm going to have to handle this personally."
When Lucas stopped Sheryl as they were walking toward the club, Sheryl asked if she had put Lucas in an awkward position by asking him out. Lucas assured her that wasn't the case, but he cautioned her that they should keep work separate from their personal lives. "The folks at H.R. have nothing to worry about," Sheryl reassured him.
Rafe sneaked up behind Jordan outside Horton Square and used the end of his cane to grab her by the arm and pull her toward him. Jordan responded by kissing him passionately. When Rafe said that he was excited about their date, Jordan informed him that she had invited Sheryl to join them. "I guess this means that you've sort of dropped the idea that Sheryl is in town as the result of some sort of conspiracy orchestrated by Kate?" Rafe wondered.
Jordan said that she didn't want to dwell on it, although she would never be certain about Kate. Jordan kissed Rafe again to express her gratitude for being "cool" about Sheryl joining them.
Nick went to the bar at Club TBD and ordered a beer and tried to make small talk with Sonny, but Sonny gave him the silent treatment. Finally, Nick asked if his presence bothered Sonny. Without turning around from the invoices he was working on, Sonny said that it was a free country. Nick started to explain why he had shown up at Arianna's christening, but Sonny cut him off, reminding Nick that he had already explained it.
Nick stated that he had been serious when he'd said that he wanted to try to change things. Sonny offered some advice to Nick: "Stop running around town, making sure everyone knows what you want to do, and just do it. And when you do it, look around, see if anyone notices -- or even cares. Enjoy your beer." Sonny grabbed his clipboard and headed for the back.
When Gabi arrived at the Brady Pub with Arianna later, she was startled to run into Nick, who informed her that Caroline had gone to bed early. Nick's request to hold Arianna made Gabi visibly uneasy. Nick offered a seemingly sincere apology, explaining that the last time he'd held Arianna had been the night that he and Gabi had been together. Gabi admitted that Nick had just caught her off guard.
Gabi offered to let Nick hold the baby for a minute, so a pleased Nick gently took the little one in his arms. Nick confided that he'd had a lot of time to think, and he had reached the conclusion that he and Gabi were a lot alike: they were both passionate, and sometimes their passion could make them lose control and make mistakes.
Nick believed that, with enough effort, there was always a way to start over. He guessed that Gabi agreed that mistakes should stay in the past -- and the only thing that mattered was making life as perfect as possible for her little girl. "I want that, too. Isn't that what hope is all about?" Nick mused. He returned Arianna to her mother and thanked Gabi for trusting him enough to hold the baby. Nick added that it felt like a good first step. He left with a wave goodbye to Arianna.
When Will arrived at the club, Sonny informed him that Nick had just been there, "on his 'Nick Has Changed' World Tour 2014." Sonny added that he hadn't gotten any sense of whether Nick remembered anything.
Jordan and Rafe entered just then, and Will declared that the cane made Rafe look "distinguished." Rafe and Jordan looked around for Sheryl, whom Rafe asserted Lucas was interested in.
After Rafe and Jordan had gotten a table, he presented her with opening-day tickets to Wrigley Field. Rafe told Jordan that she had six weeks to learn as much about baseball as she knew about football. "Oh, so you think we'll still be dating then?" Jordan teased.
When Lucas and Sheryl entered, Lucas introduced her to Will and Sonny. Sheryl admitted that she'd heard all about Will's daughter. Will offered to show Sheryl some pictures of Arianna, and Sheryl gamely accepted. Later, Lucas joked that Rafe wouldn't be able to make it up the ramp with his cane at the baseball game, because Rafe had purchased such bad seats to give Jordan. Jordan praised the progress that Rafe had made, but he gave her a lot of the credit for that.
Sonny let the group know that he and Will were about to leave, so Lucas returned to the bar to ask Will how he was doing since Nick had returned to town. Lucas said that Sami had told him about Nick trying to trick Gabi into moving to New York. "He doesn't have anything on you anymore. You realize that, right? So if he tries to pull anything on you or Gabi or anybody else, just tell me first this time, okay?" Lucas advised his son.
Meanwhile, Rafe offered to walk Jordan home, but she declined. Sheryl went to the ladies' room to give Jordan and Rafe a chance to say a more private goodbye. Rafe tried to persuade Jordan that the tickets he'd gotten were good seats, but she said that she didn't care because her attention would be on him. Jordan left after giving Rafe a lengthy goodbye kiss.
Will and Sonny went for a walk outside Horton Square because Will was stressing out a little over Nick and what his dad had said. Sonny suggested that they not talk about Nick -- or at all. He kissed Will to demonstrate what he meant.
Kate let herself into Jordan's apartment and began snooping around. When she didn't find anything incriminating in the living room, Kate headed for the bedroom. She began to sniffle and had to suppress a sneeze when she sat down at the dressing table. "So whatever you're hiding [...] has to be in here. I know there's something 'cause I can smell it," Kate muttered as she began rummaging through the desk drawers.
Kate had to use a tissue, which she wadded up and left on the dresser. She found Jordan's lockbox in a drawer and found a hairpin to pick the lock. The hairpin broke off in the lock, so Kate found another and went to work on the lock again. When the latch popped open and Kate saw the fake IDs inside, she gasped. "Oh, my God. I knew it! I saw this coming a mile away," Kate said as she got out her phone to take pictures of the IDs.
When Kate called Lucas a few minutes later, he warned her that Jordan had already left the club. Just then, Kate heard Jordan enter through the front door. Kate hastily closed the box and looked around for a way to make her escape.
At the monastery, Brother Timothy pointed out that a miracle could have been occurring at that moment that would change Eric's life. Eric avowed that he believed in miracles, but he wasn't sure if clearing his name were possible. Brother Timothy advised Eric to have faith in God and what He wanted. Timothy continued that Eric had only looked at the situation from his own perspective instead of God's. Timothy encouraged Eric to think about God's will and allow Him to reveal the path that Eric should take.
Alone in the chapel later, Eric reflected on his time as a priest then fantasized about going on romantic dates with Nicole and sharing kisses in the park. "Thy will be done," he said with a heavy sigh. Eric knelt at the altar and prayed.
As Ricardo peered in through the window of Dr. Chyka's cabin hideout, he phoned Stefano. "Well, I'm outside of [Chyka's] place right now, but it looks like he's got others with him. Should I eliminate them, too?" Ricardo asked. Stefano first wanted to know who was with Chyka. Ricardo couldn't tell except that the other people had tied Chyka up and appeared to be questioning him. "None of the answers to the questions that are asked of him are to leave the cabin," Stefano ordered. Ricardo loaded a clip into his pistol.
Inside, Nicole used her phone to videotape Daniel's interrogation of a sedated Dr. Chyka, who admitted that he had met Kristen DiMera through his benefactor, Stefano DiMera. Upon further questioning, Chyka admitted that Stefano had hired him to work with Kristen on "a project." Nicole demanded the name of the project. Daniel sternly cautioned her to let him do things his way. "No, no, I can't. He'll kill me," Chyka mumbled.
Daniel issued instructions to Chyka as if Chyka were under hypnosis instead of the effects of sodium pentothal. Chyka affirmed that he would answer all of Daniel's questions. After a series of queries, Chyka revealed that Kristen had ordered him to create a drug cocktail containing a sedative, a memory suppressor, and a very powerful aphrodisiac -- for her to use on Father Eric Brady. Daniel demanded proof that Chyka's drug cocktail had been effective.
Before Chyka could tell Daniel where the records were, Ricardo kicked in the door, gun drawn. Although terrified, Nicole slid her phone into her back pocket. After retrieving Chyka's gun, Ricardo demanded to know what Chyka had told his captors. In a flash, Nicole hurled a brick at Ricardo, and Daniel lunged at Ricardo and tried to grab his gun. Ricardo fought Daniel off, shoving Daniel into the fireplace mantel. Daniel hit his head then fell to the floor, unconscious.
While Nicole rushed to check on Daniel, Ricardo snarled gleefully, "One down, two to go." He ordered Nicole to move away from Daniel and against the wall, so she obeyed. She tried to plead her and Daniel's case to Ricardo, but he just laughed at her. Daniel regained consciousness, furtively grabbed a fireplace poker, and whacked Ricardo with it. Daniel leaped up from the floor and charged Ricardo, and Nicole grabbed the fireplace spade while the two men struggled for the gun.
Nicole tried to attack Ricardo with the spade, but she had to duck out of the way of the gun as it waved around in the men's grasp. Ricardo overpowered Daniel, who landed on his back on the couch with Ricardo on top of him. Suddenly, a shot rang out.
