Serena's true intentions were revealed. Nicole lost everything. Will kept quiet about his infidelity. Sonny wanted to start over. Jordan learned why Chad was so distant. Victor made a bold move against Clyde. Aiden remained haunted by the past. Paige surprised JJ. Melanie and Brady went on their first date. Clint's boss was revealed. Theresa learned Brady moved on. Abigail continued to be there for Ben.
At University Hospital, Eric and Jennifer were discussing work when the topic of his friendship with Serena came up. He voiced his concerns over Nicole being involved all while she convinced Serena she wanted to resolve the conflict between the two of them. Serena wanted to trust her and was convinced when she saw how committed she was to Daniel at his apartment. She barged in as they were about to have a romantic moment in the shower, so Serena agreed for them to meet at her hotel room. While she took a work call in the other room, Nicole got out her flash drive and downloaded copies of Serena’s files off her laptop.
After he was finished talking with Jennifer, Eric found Daniel in his office. They cleared the air about what had been going on between Nicole and Serena, and the comments Eric made about Nicole to Daniel after the bar fight. The former priest reiterated to the doctor he did not want to lose their friendship over their significant others’ conflict. Daniel agreed, stating he was happy with his relationship with Nicole.
Clyde successfully bailed Ben out of prison, reassuring him he would handle the legal issues. They ran into Abigail at the Horton Town Square as she was surprised to see him out so soon. She pressed for Ben to tell her what Chad said to provoke the fight, but he wouldn’t budge. Clyde promised her he would do everything he could to make this go away for his son.
Victor met with his henchman, Damon, who informed him of the new trouble Clyde was causing for the trucking company. Before he could go into anymore detail, Rafe arrived, and the two men relayed their long history to Victor. Damon left to carry out what Victor asked him to do regarding their problem. Rafe questioned Victor about an extra surcharge on his shipment for the nightclub, but he was unmoved. He reassured Rafe he had the situation with Clyde under control.
Jordan stopped by the DiMera mansion to discuss her brother with Chad, but he acted like he didn’t care what was going on with her family. He was still incredibly hurt over witnessing the kiss between her and Rafe, even going as far as to assume the real reason she was at the mansion was to get him to drop the charges against Ben by sleeping with him. After almost slapping him, Jordan left even more angry and confused.
Outside of Club TBD, Rafe and Chad bumped into each other as the former detective laid into him about trying to ruin Ben’s life with the charges he pressed against him. Chad wasn’t bothered by the attack, until Jordan was mentioned. Rafe told him that even though he tried to get her to see what kind of monster he was, she remained committed to him. As soon as Rafe left him alone, Chad was filled with remorse over the mistake.
Aiden continued to avoid having to bring Hope and Ciara to the beach house at Puget Sound, claiming he had to make the trip alone. Hope gently pressed him because she thought he needed moral support. The lawyer conceited, leaving Ciara and Chase excited to plan their vacation together.
Clyde was called away for a meeting with Victor in the park. As soon as he got to his destination, he was met with Damon, who told the hillbilly Victor had a message for him. He proceeded to shoot Clyde three times, leaving him to bleed out in the falling snow.
Image courtesy of Carlos Diaz/INFphoto.com
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Nicole successfully retrieved all the files from Serena’s computer just as she was finished with her work call. She had no idea of Nicole’s deceit while she assured the journalist she only wanted peace. Later while on her laptop, Serena pieced it together that Nicole went through her things again and stole the computer files. At the same time, Nicole was excited to look at the evidence her source tipped her about just as Daniel returned home for romance. Serena went to Eric and told him what happened. They arrived at Daniel’s apartment to stop him and Nicole from going on their date.
While Victor waited for Damon, Abigail paid him a visit on behalf of Ben. She inquired about giving him a job at the nightclub. Victor gave praise when he heard Ben knocked down Chad at Club TBD and promised he would find something for the young man. During the chat, Victor got a call from Damon letting him know Clyde was taken care of just as more snow has fallen on Mr. Weston.
Ben made his rounds to Sonny at his apartment to thank him for giving him the bartender job at Club TBD. He also apologized for any potential problems that would come because of what he did to Chad. Sonny told him not to worry, and they left on good terms. Abigail met up with Ben to tell him about her meeting with Victor. He was grateful to her for always looking out for him.
Will and Kate met at the Mandalay Cafe where they discussed the Paul Narita interview. He fell apart over what he did with the former pitcher as Kate figured out he had been unfaithful to Sonny. She promised to keep quiet about what happened just as he was about to meet with Paul to gather more facts for his article.
Determined to make things right, Kate sought out Sonny and encouraged him to do whatever it took to make things right in his marriage. She didn’t reveal the affair and felt Sonny didn’t have to know as long as the spouses worked things out.
Will and Paul were in his office at Sonix where he continued to press the latter about the challenges he would face once he came out as gay. At the same time, Sonny arrived with a rose for his husband, unaware he would potentially walk in to see him with his ex-lover.
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As accusations were hurled at Nicole about her treachery against Serena, Daniel stood by her claims of innocence. However, she didn’t deny anything and explained her actions as a way to expose Serena as a fraud. Eric mentioned how Nicole needed Serena’s permission to view the files, which she refused to give. That didn’t stop Nicole from contacting Ted, who arrived with glee at Daniel’s apartment. He backed up her claims that Serena was a fraud and explained how they did work together in the past. Judging from the hurt in Serena’s eyes, she did have something to hide and wouldn’t give Nicole the satisfaction. She wanted everyone to know what was going on and gave permission for them to look at the files. Daniel opened them up on his computer as Nicole smirked behind everyone.
Jordan went to drop off a new coat for Arianna, only to be met with a smug Kate. She proceeded to rattle her cage over ruining her relationship with Chad. Jordan had no idea what she was talking about, but that didn’t stop Kate from hurling more insults at her.
At the DiMera mansion, Chad was brooding over messing things up with Jordan just as Stefano called him to check in. He wondered why he was so upset over her when he was just using her to get to Ben. He told his son to forget about her and stick to his plan of seducing Abigail for revenge. They needed to get back on track with the family business and the threat John Black is now that he was back on the force at the Salem Police Department. Stefano was glad Rafe was fired, but none too thrilled when the one man he hated more than Hernandez was his replacement.
Stefano next called Marlena to voice his concerns over John returning to police work. She would not let him get to her as she was happy that John was following his passion. At the same time, Chad confronted Jordan at her office about her kissing Rafe.
Before Sonny could witness his ex-lover meeting with his husband, he was sidetracked by Zoe, who informed him Will was in a meeting. She promised to give him the rose, so Sonny left before he could be seen by anyone else. He also had a meeting with John at TBD where he reinforced married life was fine.
Back at Sonix, Will and Paul wrapped up the final interview with closing remarks. He rushed home, determined to be honest with Sonny about his infidelity. When Kate tried to make what he did seem not so bad, he shamed her by saying he only loved Sonny, and he would never use anyone to get in the spotlight. She apologized but continued to press that telling Sonny about the affair was the worst thing to do. Sonny walked in just in time to hear Will was hiding something from him.
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Will was about to confess to sleeping with Paul, but Kate stepped in to help her grandson fabricate the truth. Sonny seemed to believe him, and when he left to go check on Arianna, Kate warned Will to never tell him about what he did with Paul. Once she left, Sonny asked Will if they could start over in their relationship, which Will was happy to agree to. He secretly hoped they would be able to move on from recent events.
Victor and Damon finally met up in the park, regarding Clyde. Damon told him he was probably still buried under a lot of snow, which seemed to satisfy Victor.
As she’s on the verge of exposing Serena’s fraud, Nicole quickly realized she was set-up by Ted, who was a mental patient off his medication. The “evidence” turned out to be journal entries Serena kept, regarding her relationship with him before he stopped his medication. His anger toward her disappeared when Daniel read the “kind” things she wrote about him. Serena called the group home he was living in, and a worker came to pick Ted up.
Once Ted was gone, Nicole was left to defend herself against an angry Daniel, Serena, and Eric. She continued to say Ted came to her with information, but Serena shot her down by saying she didn’t even bother to validate her source. Eric got Serena out of the apartment, while Daniel berated Nicole for this latest stunt. They went to Eric’s apartment where she noticed he had more African art on display. She sent him out for an errand and got down to business on why she was really there.
Chad finally blurted out he saw Rafe and Jordan kissing in her office, and Jordan explained how she pushed Rafe away from her after the fact. The DiMera felt horrible as Jordan pieced together the timeline of his fight with her brother. He promised to make things right for everyone, and they kissed.
Melanie arrived at the Kiriakis mansion, all set for her first official date with Brady. As they were about to leave for dinner, things took an unexpected turn when they both slipped on ice and fell into a snow bank. While keeping each other warm under a blanket, their passion was about to heat up when Victor caught them. Melanie quickly escaped to the night shift at the hospital, while Brady readied himself for another lecture. Victor gave his approval at the relationship, but also warned his grandson about Theresa, whom he ran into earlier at the hospital.
Theresa awoke from a bad dream about Dr. Mandrake, and Clint comforted her. She didn’t remember what the dream was about. Clint drove her to work, where she had her encounter with Victor. The Greek insinuated she was still in love with Brady, which struck a nerve about her dream. She also had a run-in with Melanie, who had a hard time figuring out what kind of person she was. Melanie headed to the community room where she witnessed Clint on the phone conversing about Theresa.
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Serena explored Eric’s apartment and found what she was looking for in his bedroom; the elephant statue similar to the one in the picture she’s been secretly hiding. He returned home and rejoined him in the living room where he proceeded to question her behavior during the confrontation with Nicole and Ted. Serena covered, saying there were some confidential items on the flash drive, and she was just protecting her sources. She accused him of not being over Nicole, which upset him as he denied any feeling for her. She quickly left the apartment before he could explain anymore. Upon returning to her hotel room, she made a quick call, confirming Eric had the statue and knew her instructions for what happened next.
At the new nightclub, Daniel caught up with Nicole at the bar, where he blasted her for going after Serena. He knew why she wasn’t so keen on checking her source; she wasn’t completely over Eric. He broke up with her after warning her over and over that he wouldn’t let her feelings for Eric get in the way of their relationship. Nicole wanted him to rethink his decision, but it was too late.
Brady informed Maggie about his and Melanie’s disastrous attempt at a first date. She convinced him the night was not over and to try again. He took the flowers to the hospital where he was met with a jumpy Theresa. She told him visiting hours were over when she saw the flowers, but was thrown when he stated he was seeing Melanie. Even though she wasn’t shocked, she was evidently hurt by the revelation.
Meanwhile, Melanie continued to listen in on Clint’s conversation with Mandrake, who revealed they were both working for Kristen to make sure Theresa never found out she was pregnant. Clint noticed Melanie eavesdropping, but she quickly covered by shaming him for smoking in the hospital. She also had another exchange with Theresa, and even though she expressed she couldn’t care less about her involvement with Clint, she questioned how well she really knew her new boyfriend.
Melanie quickly rushed home to ask Daniel if he ever heard of a Dr. Mandrake at University Hospital. He didn’t, while she kept quiet about the reason she was asking. She also noticed he was upset about something, but he didn’t divulge any information.
Eric and Nicole ran into each other at the town square where he proceeded to rip into her for constantly going after Serena. He praised Serena for being such a good person, leaving Nicole to wallow in self-pity over her breakup with Daniel.
Eve pressed JJ to leave Salem as a way to give Paige closure, but JJ wouldn’t budge. He threw her out of the Horton house at the same time Jennifer and Paige discussed his depression over their breakup. Jennifer knew he felt awful, and Paige was moved enough to go to JJ to see if they could move on from what happened. JJ was surprised, and Paige thought it would be better if they spoke more at a later date. Outside of TBD, Jennifer and Eve had a nasty argument as Jennifer was peeved at Eve possibly knowing more about JJ’s feelings than she did. Hmm…