Post by STLUEE on Jan 23, 2014 16:45:14 GMT -5
At the Horton house, J.J. looked at the check to Salem Office and Supply while telling someone on the phone, "Abigail does not know that I took this, okay? She can't; she needs total deniability." He added that it was his only chance to take Theresa down. When Jennifer entered the room, J.J. hung up rather abruptly and shoved the check and paperwork into one of his textbooks on the desk. After commending J.J. for studying on his day off, Jennifer began rummaging around on the desk, looking for a file that Abigail was supposed to have left there.
Jennifer was gone when Bev arrived a little later. Bev admitted that she'd been surprised to hear from J.J., since he had been "totally M.I.A." for so long. J.J. apologized but assured Bev that he wanted to make it up to her. He admitted that he'd felt a connection between them the first time he'd seen her. Bev confided that she'd thought J.J. was cute, as well. J.J. asked if Bev would go on a date with him -- as long as they could keep things casual, since there was a good chance that he would be going to prison.
J.J. explained that there was one incident that could look bad to the sentencing judge. Bev encouraged J.J. to divulge everything. After J.J. related what had happened with Theresa, Bev declared that they had to stop what could happen to J.J. at his sentencing. J.J. pretended that an idea had just occurred to him.
Bev called Anne's office at the hospital and asked about interviewing to volunteer as a candy striper. Anne replied icily, "Honey, this is Human Resources. I handle the professional hires for the most important positions in the hospital, not volunteers." Bev mentioned her dad, Emory Walters -- a huge hospital donor who'd had a fundraiser named after him. Anne immediately changed her tune and agreed to interview Bev.
After Anne suggested that Bev meet later that afternoon, Bev hung up and told J.J., "God, that woman is such a suck-up!"
At the Kiriakis mansion, a hungover Brady asked Henderson for some aspirin. Henderson wondered why Brady wasn't at the hospital, since Brady's brother, Eric, and Nicole Walker had nearly died the night before.
Theresa found Daniel at the hospital and asked him why he hadn't shown up for dinner the previous night. Daniel admitted that he had completely forgotten. Hope arrived and overheard Theresa's petulant response, so she informed Theresa, "He was busy saving your cousin Eric's life. [...] Someone tried to kill him and Nicole."
When Brady arrived, Theresa immediately noticed how bad he looked and called him on it. Hope filled Brady in that they suspected the person who'd abducted Eric and Nicole was the same person who had helped Kristen. Brady was angry with himself for not knowing what had happened because he'd turned his phone off, but Hope pointed out that he couldn't have done anything.
Later, Theresa thanked Daniel for saving her cousin's life -- and hers. She added that she hoped they could find some time to talk about the night of her overdose. Daniel promised to call Theresa the next day to reschedule. Theresa touched Daniel familiarly on the shoulder when she saw Jennifer getting off of the elevator.
Hope returned with her tablet and showed Daniel a sketch artist's rendering of the man Daniel had seen in his office. Brady spotted it and revealed that he had talked to the man at the airport the night before when they'd been waiting for the same flight to Las Vegas. Brady emailed the itinerary to Hope so that she would have the flight number. Brady remembered that he had thought he'd recognized Eric's rosary in the man's hands.
As she headed out for a parent-teacher conference, Hope promised Brady that she would get someone to work on his lead right away. Brady grumbled that if he'd known that Eric and Nicole had gone missing, he might have been able to stop the man at the airport. Daniel urged his friend not to beat himself up.
Jennifer approached Daniel to praise him for saving Eric and Nicole, but Theresa interrupted to ask Daniel to clarify something about Eric's condition. Jennifer made an excuse and hurried out. After he'd answered Theresa's question, Daniel noted that Theresa was going to be late for the A.A. meeting -- which Maggie was also attending. Pretending to be eager to go to the meeting, Theresa left.
Brady returned to the Kiriakis mansion and informed Henderson that Nicole and Eric were going to be all right. Alone in the parlor, Brady poured himself a drink.
When Theresa arrived at the hospital A.A. meeting, she looked around the room and was dismayed to see that Maggie wasn't there. The meeting leader advised Theresa, "Something came up last minute." Theresa muttered to herself, "What's the point of being here if I can't score points with Daniel's mom?"
Theresa tried to escape before the meeting had ended -- but a clearly drunk Brady noisily entered and announced, "Sorry I'm late. My name's Brady. Let's get this party started!"
Daniel was walking by the Brady Pub when he spotted Jennifer sitting alone inside. He went inside and apologized to Jennifer for Theresa interrupting them before. Before Daniel could explain that there was nothing going on between him and Theresa, Liam showed up to meet Jennifer -- with flowers. After a moment of awkwardness, Daniel left.
When Hope arrived at St. Luke's, she advised Father Matt that Ciara missing her dad combined with the teasing about Father Eric Ciara had taken a toll on Ciara. Referencing Ciara's torn uniform, Hope admitted that she hadn't bought her daughter's story about ripping in on the monkey bars. Father Matt said that despite Hope's guess that lots of children were teasing Ciara, there was only one classmate with whom the child didn't get along.
Before Hope could find out who the other child was, Father Matt had to leave for a moment. After the priest had gone, Aiden, the father of one of Ciara's classmates, showed up. Aiden shook Hope's hand but declared, "Your daughter is out of control." He introduced himself as Aiden Jennings, Chase's father, but Hope didn't recognize either name.
"Your daughter is harassing my son nonstop," Aiden declared accusingly. Protesting that her daughter wouldn't behave that way, Hope asserted that Aiden was offensive and out of line. "Actually, Hope, he's right. Ciara has been harassing Chase," Father Matt said as he returned.
At Will and Sonny's apartment, Gabi used Sonny as a sounding board to rehearse what she was going to say to Hope. Will returned from the hospital and informed Gabi and Sonny that Eric was doing well and might even be able to go to Arianna's christening. Gabi was worried that the christening would turn into her interrogation, but Will urged her to remember that the day was all about Arianna Grace.
Gabi got ready and gave instructions to Will and Sonny for getting Arianna dressed. She thanked the guys for helping her get through "this whole Nick thing." Sonny assured Gabi, "You don't have to thank us. We're family." Gabi embraced both guys and headed out.
Abigail arrived at St. Luke's with a tray full of pastries, and she paused when she saw the Ten Commandments on the wall in the vestibule. Recalling her tryst with E.J. at the cabin, Abigail told herself that it hadn't been adultery because E.J. wasn't married. When Julie entered and spotted the pastries, she admitted that she'd sworn off sweets ever since the strange incident with the doughnuts at the book club the previous summer.
Julie confided, "I have gotten some news about Nick, and I'm more convinced than ever his disappearance is not what it seems to be." She explained that in speaking to some of the family, she'd learned that Nick had misspelled Claire's name in a message to Shawn, he hadn't asked about Jessica's knee surgery, and he'd failed to respond to Aunt Marie with the appropriate punch line to a family joke.
Abigail thought there was likely a good explanation for all of those things, but Julie pointed out that no one had actually spoken to Nick since he'd moved to New York. "I don't think it's Nick sending those texts," Julie concluded. "Why would somebody take Nick's phone and send text messages to his family?" Abigail wondered. Julie didn't know, but she was certain that something serious had happened to Nick.
After Julie had gone, Abigail reflected on her conversation at the Horton cabin with E.J. Abigail wandered into the sanctuary and recalled E.J.'s claims that he had stopped an argument between Gabi and Nick. "How?" Abigail asked herself then she hurried out of the church in search of E.J.
The sanctuary was empty when Gabi arrived a little later. Stopping before the altar, she remembered Father Eric performing her wedding to Nick. Julie entered and correctly guessed what Gabi had been thinking about. She apologized for being so hard on Gabi earlier -- but Julie was becoming more and more certain that something had happened to Nick.
On the phone at the DiMera mansion, Stefano demanded to know if "that idiot doctor" had left town yet. E.J. overheard and asked if Stefano had been talking about the man who had tried to kill Eric and Nicole -- and if that man were Dr. Chyka, the same man who'd helped Kristen drug Eric. "If you know where he is, you need to tell me where to find him," E.J. demanded.
Stefano stonewalled his son, so E.J. pointed out that one of the people whom Chyka had tried to kill was the son of the police commissioner, and there was a search underway. "Even those fools at the Salem Police Department get lucky once in a while," E.J. cautioned. Stefano declared that finding Chyka would be a mistake. "So you're protecting a subordinate? You're going to choose an employee over me -- an employee who just tried to murder two people without orders?" E.J. asked.
Stefano wanted to know whether E.J. wanted to get rid of Chyka or hand him over to the police. E.J. contended that it would send a message either way. Stefano argued that it could destroy E.J. instead of helping him with Samantha. E.J. thought that his turning Chyka in to the police would make Samantha very happy. Stefano warned that E.J. would be double-crossing his sister, but E.J. maintained that Kristen didn't deserve his consideration.
Stefano cautioned his son, "If [Chyka] is cornered, he is going to tell the police that you knew everything that Kristen did." E.J. wasn't convinced, but Stefano asserted that E.J. should stick to his original plan. "Samantha loves you. She wants to believe in you. She's going to come around -- trust me," Stefano said.
E.J. was alone when Abigail rapped on the terrace door a little later. E.J. admonished her for showing up unannounced when Samantha could have been there, but Abigail declared that she wanted to talk about what had happened to Nick. She tried to tell E.J. what Julie suspected, but he cut her off, dismissing Julie as a "drama queen" who had too much time on her hands. Pointing out that that everything Julie had said added up, Abigail asked how E.J. had convinced Nick to leave town. E.J. casually maintained that it hadn't been difficult -- but Abigail didn't believe him.
Abigail declared that she had known from the moment E.J. had shown up on Smith Island, but she had wanted to believe him -- and he had played her. "You wanted to shut me up," Abigail asserted. E.J. countered, "What happened between us did not happen so that I could shut you up." Abigail accused him of lying to Sami at that very moment, but E.J. contended that he was merely choosing not to tell Samantha about a foolish mistake.
Abigail was determined to leave and talk to Hope, but E.J. somewhat forcefully prevented Abigail from leaving and reminded her that they'd concurred that it would be a bad idea to talk to Hope. He didn't believe Abigail when she agreed not to go to Hope. "E.J., please let me go," Abigail pleaded quietly. Taking his hands off of Abigail, E.J. asked, "Are you frightened? What is it exactly that you think that I would do to you?" Abigail demanded, "What did you do to Nick? It's going to come out eventually, E.J., so you might as well just say it. Did you kill Nick?"
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