Serena and Nicole finally met. Daniel wanted to slow things down. Melanie and Theresa promised to stay away from each other. Paige was hit with some hard news. Hope confided in Aiden about Bree. Nicole obsessed over Serena. Sonny and Will were at odds. Victor and Clyde clashed. Stefano protected Chad. Kate and Jordan clashed. Will and Paul met for Sonix business. Serena wanted to know more about Nicole.
Hope received a call from her good friend, Bree, warning her that being in a relationship with Aiden would have deadly consequences. She alluded he was a monster, and she was friendly with his wife, Meredith before she died. Aiden interrupted the call, leaving Hope panicked. Eventually, she confided in him about the conversation. Aiden wound up going on the defense, since Bree only knew Meredith’s point-of-view. He was getting frustrated that Hope was only seeing his bad side, so she responded by pulling him in for a surprise kiss.
Nicole was hanging around the Brady Pub when she saw Serena talking to Kayla. She immediately recognized her from somewhere, but Brady arrived before she could investigate. He promised her lunch at Club TBD if she could do him a small favor. She eagerly agreed, which involved her threatening his competition by dragging his name through the mud if he didn’t back off a Basic Black deal.
She next went to see Daniel with a box from Barren’s. She was disappointed to see the same box from Melanie, assuming they both got him the same scarf. Nicole opened her’s and got Daniel to try it on. It led to a moment of sexual tension as they looked like they were about to kiss.
Serena went to the hospital to discover her office was in the basement. She found Anne Milbauer and demanded her office be on the same floor as the research library where she would be doing her work. Anne admitted her hands were tied, leading Serena to threaten her by informing her boss, whom she was having lunch with the next day. Anne conveniently found her an office, leaving Serena satisfied.
Meanwhile, Melanie spent quality family time with Daniel, Maggie, and Parker before heading to the hospital to inquire about her nurse’s job. While there, she ran into Brady, and they had a moment which was witnessed by Theresa. Melanie sought out Anne about her new hire paperwork and start date. Anne snidely responded she would not be working at the hospital.
After her business at the hospital, Serena caught up with Eric some more. They went back to his apartment to continue their conversation in a more intimate manner. She inquired about why he never returned to the priesthood. He never revealed it was about Nicole, just vaguely responded he lost his calling. To lift his spirits, she asked him out on a date.
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As a way to prevent him from leaving, Hope continued to kiss Aiden, leading to an afternoon of love-making. In the afterglow, she got emotional and told him she understood why he was so secluded about his past. She exhibited similar tendencies when it came to discussing Bo. Once she left the hotel room, Aiden quickly made a phone call and some deadly threats to Bree. “You and I both know what I’m capable of.”
Daniel and Nicole almost kissed but stopped themselves. They wanted to keep their relationship to friends-only for the moment. Daniel wasn’t over Jennifer, and Nicole still harbored feelings for Eric, so they agreed not be the other’s rebound. Nicole was in good spirits until she happened upon Serena and Eric at the pub. She considered Daniel’s words and went to tell him she wasn’t in rebound mode anymore. She was ready to have a relationship with him, since she claimed to be over Eric.
Eric and Serena shared a gentle kiss in his apartment after she asked him out. Before he could answer, Roman arrived and was delighted to see Serena. They shared a friendly hug before she had to run to another appointment. Roman expressed approval towards his son for moving on from Nicole.
Melanie was blindsided by Anne and Theresa when she refused to hire her on as a nurse again. Theresa watched in glee until Brady arrived to set the head of human resources straight. Since he was on the hospital board, Brady had no problem threatening to go to Anne’s boss about her abusive power. Once he straightened her out, he went to talk to Theresa. He warned her that if she continued to go after the people he cared about, he would treat it as her going after him.
Serena met up with Melanie at Club TBD. There, she was introduced to Daniel, and she had nothing but kind words to say about the man who stood by Eric through all his troubles. They spoke of Nicole, while Melanie pried her friend fro answers about the status of her relationship with Eric. She left to go meet Eric at the pub.
Paul attempted to make inroads with Sonny, but not before being reminded of why they broke up. At the same time, Will met with Zoe and the Sonix publisher to receive his next assignment. He was to write about Paul Narita and his recovery from a top-secret surgery. Will was warned to remain anonymous and not discuss the assignment with anyone, including Sonny. He agreed to arrange a meeting with the pitcher in his hotel room.
Melanie overheard Theresa exclaim about her pregnancy scare and accused her of trying to trap Brady,
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Sonny expressed annoyance at the lack of time he’s spent with Will since he came back to Salem. He awoke to an empty bed that morning as Will left for a work meeting at Sonix. When Lucas accidentally revealed his son was fired from the screenwriting job, Sonny covered, saying he was understanding of what happened.
Will went into his meeting with Paul without wearing his wedding band as Zoe and her publisher advised him to remain anonymous throughout the process. The two men hit it off during Will’s informal “Getting to Know You” interview as they found to have quite a bit in common.
After the meeting, Will went to meet Sonny at the park per Sonny’s request as he would have been met with an ambush at the club. Sonny expressed his hurt and anger over his husband keeping the real reason why he returned to Salem a secret. He was also angry over the fact Will didn’t come back on his own; he was forced to come back after the producers rejected his work.
Lucas received a message from Sami not to tell Sonny about Will being fired from his job as he was embarrassed enough. He shared the information with Adrienne as he panicked Sami would be annoyed with him for spilling the beans.
Melanie confronted Theresa about her pregnancy scare leading to another cat fight. Brady went in to separate them, and he left with Melanie to go to the town square. He got her to admit she was the one who started the fight and agree to stay away from Theresa. At the same time, Theresa agreed to steer clear of Melanie after her talk with Anne.
While Nicole was spying on Eric and Serena, Marlena pulled her away to the park where she advised her to move on from her son. It would be good not just for Eric, but Nicole too. She was left with her own thoughts, while Eric confided in Serena the real reason he didn’t want to go back to the priesthood. He couldn’t forgive Nicole for what she did to him. He wasn’t sure if he could love or trust anyone after what happened with Nicole, which was why he was reluctant to reconcile with Serena. He didn’t want to hurt her again. Serena agreed to take things slow.
Serena went to begin her hospital research and ran into Nicole, who recognized her immediately from earlier.
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In Los Angeles, Eve and Kimberly were overjoyed to learn Shane’s condition wasn’t serious at all. However, in an effort to keep Paige and JJ apart, Eve persuaded her father’s doctor to lie about his condition to keep them in town for a good reason. Meanwhile in Salem, JJ shared his worries that Eve figured out he and Paige were still together with Rory.
Rafe attempted to blindside Chad at the DiMera mansion with a search warrant regarding suspicious activity at DiMera Enterprises. However, Stefano turned the tables on the detective by hiring his son a good lawyer to keep Rafe from railroading him.
In the town square, Kate accused Jordan of sleeping with Chad for his money, leading to another fight in the park. Jordan continued to warn Kate about Clyde, but she didn’t listen. Jordan later went to check on Chad after the ambush, and he assured her he wouldn’t let Rafe get to him.
Victor threatened to expose Clyde of his drug ring, but Clyde turned the tables by revealing he has dirt on the shady businessman. Most of the people who work for Clyde have listed Victor on their resumes, and they would sing like canaries for Clyde if necessary about the Greek’s past business dealings.
Rafe later checked in with Victor about his progress on nailing Clyde, recommitting themselves to bringing down their mutual enemy.
Nicole ran into Serena at the hospital, who introduced herself. She dug around for information from her romantic rival without revealing she was the woman who ruined Eric’s feelings toward the priesthood.
Daniel invited Eric and Serena to his house for dinner where Melanie would also be joining. Eric discovered Nicole doing research on Serena and told her to stay out of his life. Eric shared what happened with Serena to Daniel, while Nicole pledged to be completely over Eric, leading to a hot kiss between her and the doctor.
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Eve successfully convinced Paige that Kim as putting on a front about her grandfather Shane; he was a lot sicker than he appeared. In Salem, JJ almost spilled about his one-night stand with Eve to Rory. He was interrupted when Abigail invited Melanie over to the house. When JJ and Melanie were first introduced to each other, it was awkward but nice as they agreed to get to know each other better.
Paige called JJ later to inform him of her grandfather’s illness and the possibility that she and her mother would be permanently moving to California.
Eric told Serena about how she already met Nicole, she was just good at remaining invisible to her. At the same time, Nicole asked Daniel out on a date to which he declined as he already made plans for dinner with Melanie, Serena, and Eric. They agreed to pick up where they left off after the holidays and part on good terms.
The dinner party was in full swing with Daniel playing a good host, while Nicole couldn’t help but obsess over Serena and her past with Eric. Serena demanded information about Nicole from Melanie at the party, while Nicole found Serena’s hotel room with the intent to do a search on Eric’s former flame.
Sonny and Will continued their massive blowup over Will’s lie about why he was back in town. It also came out that Sonny was in trouble with the soothsaid project. When Will asked why he didn’t confide in him about what was going on, Sonny explained he wanted him to express an interest in what was going on in his life.
Theresa cornered Paul at the hospital, who decided to let her down easy about her advances. She took it in stride as they bonded over carrying torches for former lovers. His for Sonny and her’s for Brady. Paul met with Will next for another interview where the latter wanted to learn about his love life.