Monday
January 3, 2011
Everything Is Different Now.

Nate and Steph are rolling around in their hotel bed in Baltimore. He gets up to have a shower and her mom starts calling. She realizes what this must be about and lets it go to voice mail. Nate returns and offers her a chocolate bar but she's not in the mood. He guesses something must be up. She suggests they get married tonight. This shocks him. He starts to stutter but agrees to a New Year's Day wedding. When he climbs out of bed to get champagne, she checks her messages and hears that her grandma had a stroke.

Philip goes to Casa da Chloe and asks to see his son. She brings the kid out and he introduced himself to Parker, promising to do right by him. He promises the baby that he will be around a lot. Chloe points out that Daniel is still legally Parker's father. Philip doubts he's coming back and says she's deluding herself if she thinks he is. "Everything is different now. Forever," he insists. Later, when Daniel returns home, Chloe runs over and kisses him. "You're dreaming you lying slut. You didn't think I would come back to you for real, did you?" he asks. She wakes up.

Maggie runs into Kate at the pub and the redhead makes vague remarks to her about Victor. Kate plays along as she gets her takeout order and then bustles off. As soon as she gets outside, she calls Victor and leaves a message asking him what's going on.

At the mansion, Mel tells her dad that Philip and Chloe can't look after a goldfish let alone a child and he should sue for custody. Daniel tells her to stop and says that taking away the child would be wrong. He promises that they will help each other through this. He leaves. She cries and then smashes her wedding picture. Philip shows up and tells her not to leave. She declares that they have nothing to talk about and storms off. Kate arrives and wonders what's going on. He pours himself a drink and explains. "Oh God no!" she gasps as he admits that he's the father of the baby. She blames Chloe and has another drink. "What's next, besides 'Jerry Spinger'?" she asks. He vows to get Mel back. She promises to support him no matter what. Meanwhile, Mel shows up at the pub and Maggie gives her a hug. Mel feels cursed and wishes she hadn't given up Nathan.

At Casa DiMera, EJ gives Nicole another ultimatum about choosing between Syd and Brady. She asks if he loves her. "Madly. Deeply. You complete me," he says mockingly. He doesn't actually love her, like her or lust after her. She demands to know how their getting married could be good for the children. He's not forthcoming but assumes she's made her choice. He leaves her to say goodbye to Syd. She calls Brady to arrange a meeting and exchange 'I love yous'. They meet at the pier, which is decorated for a party but no one else is there. He soon guesses that she is there to dump him, the only man who has ever truly loved her, and go to EJ 'Scum of the Earth' DiMera. Brady thinks she should tell EJ to go to hell but she's willing to give up everything in her life for Sydney. She kisses him goodbye and walks away. When she returns to Casa DiMera, EJ orders her to get changed so he can take her out and show off his bride-to-be.

At the loft, Sami and Rafe discuss the new year. She gets a call about her grandma and they run off to the hospital. Sami is left alone with Caroline. With some difficulty, Caroline says that she's not sorry for what she did. Sami and Rafe go home and decide to go to the fireworks show together. They go down to the pier, make out and talk about how great the future will be. EJ and Nicole arrive. Rafe wants to leave but Sami thinks the other couple should leave. She starts to rant and insult Nicole. This becomes too much for Nicole and she chucks her champagne at Sami. EJ chuckles. Rafe pulls his wife away and dries off her chest. They starts making out. EJ stares. The crowd counts down and he kisses Nicole as Brady stares at them. EJ pops some balloons and then loudly announces that Nicole is going to become his wife again.

Tuesday
January 4, 2011
Never, Never, Never.

At home, Rafe calls Carly to ask about Bo but she insists that she hasn't heard anything. Outside, Sami calls Mary to get the latest on Johnny and Syd. She then goes into the loft and chats to Rafe about her worries about EJ's next move. She rants about how Nicole is poison and she won't let her near her kids. He has to go to work, but he's afraid of leaving her alone in case she does something stupid. She promises to try not to. Sami goes down to the pub where Brady is arguing with Mr. 'Dipstick' on the phone. He pours some booze in his coffee and then tells her about how Nicole is making his life a misery. Brady explains that they faked their break-up before but now it's real. She thinks it's weird that Nicole broke up with him and encourages him to fight for the woman he loves. He refuses to do anything. She keeps encouraging him to fight but he won't be a glutton for punishment anymore. Instead, he encourages her to get creative and make EJ wish he was dead. When he leaves, she calls Mary and asks her if EJ is going out today.

At Casa DiMera, Nicole admits to EJ that she's a bit overwhelmed to become his wife again. He hands her an engagement gift. It's a bracelet. He slips it on her. "Now I'll always know where you are," he says, explaining that it's a monitoring bracelet. She thinks this is disgusting. "Thank you," he says, reminding her that this is the only way she can be with Syd. Nicole hates all of this but is going along with it anyway. He hints it won't be a marriage in name only and pulls her into a kiss. Nicole swoons a bit. EJ sips his OJ. She starts to worry what he will do with her after he wins his little battle with Samanther. He chuckles and assures her that he gave her his word. Stefano wanders in and wonders what's up. Elvis tells Nicole to run an errand. Once she's gone, EJ breaks the news that he's marrying her. "Never, never, never ho ho," Stefano grumbles. He reminds him of what happened last time they were married. Elvis insists that he has total control now and what he's doing will drive Sami crazy. His father is against it anyway. When EJ insists that this has nothing to do with love, Stefano isn't so sure and thinks he still loves Sami. He thinks they should just move to Argentina but EJ refuses to surrender his turf. When Stefano leaves, Johnny comes in and his father informs him that he is marrying Nicole. Johnny doesn't like that idea. Meanwhile, Stefano takes a stroll down to the pier and overhears Sami on the phone telling Brady that he's welcome to use her place for his rendezvous with Nicole.

In the cabin, Bo and Hope look at a map and try to figure out how far away the gas station is. He's going to go and try the pay phone there and then try to work out a deal for her. She'll peacefully go back to a different jail as long as Warden Jane is investigated. He hands her Ciara's barrette and tells her to think of their daughter and how they will get out of this. After he leaves, Ciara rushes in and hugs her mom. Hope promises to make up for missing the holidays. Ciara wonders if she is back together with Bo. Hope wakes up. This was just a dream.

Jenn is at the jail chatting to the warden about the escapees. Jane is not worried and assures her that justice will be served. Rafe makes himself comfortable and explains that he is not temporary commander. She reminds 'acting commander Hernandez' that he's not in charge of the manhunt and has no jurisdiction. Rafe claims he wants to bring Bo to justice. He accuses her of having something to do with the escape. She gives him the boot. Ben calls to hound her for some organs. She doesn't appreciate  it and tells him he'll have to find another way to save his patients. Meanwhile, Jenn wanders around and wonders what she should do. Rafe heads over to the church and finds Nicole praying for some guidance. He tells her that she's doing the wrong thing and warns her that EJ will betray her as soon as he's ruined Sami. She tells him to pray that Sami doesn't self-destruct.

Dr. Ben runs into Carly at the hospital and asks her if she's in some kind of trouble. She glosses over the Bo situation and they change the topic to his patients until she gets a call. It's Bo and he needs her help. He asks her to talk to Roman and have him get in touch with him. She says she loves him. He says he's grateful she's on his side and then hears something that makes him sure the line was tapped. Bo rushes back to the cabin to tell Hope they need to run. Simultaneously, one of Jane's henchman tells her about the call that Bo made and says that they are on his trail. Back at the hospital, Jenn and Ben catch up and he asks her out for some 'just friends' coffee

Wednesday
January 5, 2011
One Woman Plague.

Nate and Steph are on the plane back to Salem worrying about her grandma. She was hoping they would be married by the time they got back. He says her grandma can come to their wedding this way. Meanwhile, Roman and Kayla are in their mom's hospital room. He leaves and she starts blaming herself for her mom's stroke. Caroline wakes up and starts gasping Steph's name. "Tell her stay away!" she says. Kayla says it's too late. She wanders out to see her brother and Roman is sure that more happened than their mom is letting them know. Steph suddenly walks in and her mom rushes over to hug her. Kay explains that the whole truth came out. She bustles off to look at the MRI results and Nate comes over to tell Steph that the truth is all over the hospital.

Victor finds Daniel alone at the hospital. The doctor asks him to help with Chloe. "She's a one woman plague," Victor says. Daniel needs someone to look after Chloe and the baby and thinks the family should pick up the bill. Victor says that won't happen. He'd like to help but Vivian controls all of Titan's money and assets. He offers to set up a trust fund when he can. Victor tell him that he doesn't deserve any of this happening to him. Daniel doubts Lucas feels that way. Victor says the kid isn't his problem but the doctor's feelings for the wee one have not gone away.

In her sweat clothes, Chloe stares out her window in a daze until Nicole arrives at the door. She comes in and the diva walks around in a trance. "I've lost Daniel which means I've lost everything," Chloe says. She tells her the whole story. Nicole's shocked and baffled. Chloe worries Daniel won't be able to get past any of this. Nicole's sure he never will. Chloe thinks she's being mean but her friend tells her to get past it and figure out how she can go it alone. Nicole accidentally gives her a gift for Syd so she's forced to explain that she's moved back into Casa DiMera and she's getting married. "That's wonderful," Chloe says, hugging her. If EJ can forgive her, then maybe Daniel can forgive her too... Nicole tells her this marriage has nothing to do with trust or forgiveness. Later, Daniel shows up and Chloe asks him if he's coming back. He looks at the baby and then explains that he is only there to say goodbye. She weeps. The baby stares at Daniel and he tries to avoid eye contact.

Sami wanders down to the pier and hears Stefano . She fakes a call Brady to say that he can make-out with Nicole in her apartment whenever he wants. Stefano interrupts. She gets off the phone and they bicker. He advises her not to make personal calls in public spaces and then walks away singing. She laughs to herself, "Hook, line and sinker." She goes home and plants some trashy clothes that she thinks Nicole would wear so that EJ can come and find them and throw Nicole out.

At Casa DiMera, EJ tells Johnny that he's going to marry Nicole. Johnny doesn't want another mom so his father tries to convince him it could be a lot of fun. The little boy wonders if he loves Nicole as much as Sami. "That's an interesting question," EJ says as be starts blinking and comes up with a convoluted answer. Johnny wanders off as Stefano comes in. He tells his son that Nicole is still seeing Brady. EJ walks off and heads straight to Sami's where he quickly finds the clothes she planted. Smugly, he tells her that he knows everywhere that his fiancee has been. He asks her to back off so Nicole can raise her children for her and repeats that she will be a better mom than she ever could be. Sami says he'll never have Nicole's heart. He doesn't care about her heart, he just wants her butt in his house. Meanwhile, Nicole returns to Casa DiMera and Stefano confronts her about Brady. They bicker and she refuses to leave when he tells her to pack. She takes a drink. He tells her the jig is up so she shows him the tracking device she's wearing and tells him he's a moron for letting Sami dupe him. As she vows to look after the kids, Johnny sneaks out the front door.

At the pub, Jennifer tries to keep herself from reading Jack's blog. She rants at her computer as Ben wanders in and teases her. He tells her that a walkabout is a process and what Jack is going through should be good for him. She's annoyed that he never bothers mentioning her in his blog. Jenn's fed up with talking about Jack and changes the subject to Ben. All he thinks about is being a doctor and how frustrating it can be. He complains about how there aren't enough organ donors in town. She says he can't have her organs but she agrees to get to know him better another time.

Thursday
January 6, 2011
Everything Is Too Late.

Brady is at the mansion drinking when Philip wanders in. Pretty soon, Brady is confronting him about the affair. Philip already feels bad. Brady makes him feel worse by punching him in the face. They starts pounding on each other until Viv comes in and ends the fighting. Philip says she's to blame for this and explains why. He rants at Viv until Brady throws up his arms and walks out. Viv tells Philip that she can see everyone has suffered enough so she won't seek more revenge. He tells her to go to Hell and storms off. Meanwhile, Brady meets Kate at the pub. She notices he's been punched. "Philip and I were celebrating the birth of your grandchild," he says. He then explains that he's got things prepared to fly Vivian away. Back at the mansion, Viv gets a call about Titan. After the call, she arranges to have the jet fueled up. Gus shows up and she explains that she has to represent Titan in Bermuda. They get on the jet and he tries to feed her caviar. She's not in a good mood; being in a sarcophagus gave her claustrophobia. As they fly, they hit a lot of turbulence and she suspects that something is wrong. Gus gets sick and goes to the bathroom. The pilot comes in and says there has been a change in the flight plan. He hands her the phone and Brady informs her that he's taking Titan back. She's furious. The pilot gives her a jumpsuit and leads her to the door. She and Gus are thrown out with parachutes.

Maggie goes home and finds Mel polishing her silver. She can't face the world. Maggie tells her to hold her head up high. "Everything is too late," Mel says. Later, Philip shows up and asks Maggie if he can see his wife. She's not going to let him in but Mel asks him in. Maggie gives him a lecture and then leaves them alone. Mel advises him to stay out of his new son's life before he hurts him just like everyone else. She orders him out. He leaves saying that he's never loved anyone the way he loved her.

Nate finds Steph at the hospital and tells her the truth about Parker is out. He can't understand why Caroline did what she did. He's buzzed away to the ER and Kayla pops up. Her daughter worries that the rest of the truth will come out and ruin her future with Nate. Steph doesn't know how her mom could have let this happen and says she will never forgive her if Nate goes back to Mel over this. Caroline suddenly wakes up and begins berating Kayla, telling her to leave everyone alone. She convulses and her machines ring. Nate comes in and stabilizes her. He asks how they upset her and wonders if she needs a counselor. She wants a priest. Nate leaves and Steph thanks her mom for keeping her mouth shut before trailing off to see Nate. She talks to him and soon discovers that he didn't know that Chloe's one night stand was with Philip. His jaw drops when she accidentally spills that detail. Maggie shows up and Steph hurries back to her grandma. Nate wonders how Philip could have hurt Mel like this. "She's better off without him," he says. He heads straight to Maggie's to see Mel.

At Casa DiMera, Stefano chuckles after Nicole tells him about the tracking device EJ gave her. She's willing to put up with it for the kids. As they bicker, Johnny slips out the front door. Stefano wishes his son wasn't marrying a 'putana' but she says he will never get a love match. As they argue, Mary comes in looking for Johnny and explains that he's gone. Meanwhile, Rafe is in his office. One of the cops starts lugging in the boxes of files on the DiMeras. Johnny shows up and the cop explains a squad car found him and dropped him off. He wants his mommy.

EJ is at the Safe loft telling Sami that her attempt to make him think Nicole was with Brady was pathetic. They start bickering about the children. She doubts Johnny's thrilled with things. He's smug. She gets threatening. Stefano calls and tells his son that Johnny ran away. Simultaneously, Sami gets a text from Rafe saying her son is at the station. EJ rushes home and his father fills him in. Elvis begins ranting at Nicole for losing his son. Eventually, he gets a call telling him his son is at the station. Over at the station, Rafe gives Johnny a juice box and they hang out. Sami arrives as her son says that he doesn't want Nicole to be his mom. She makes him promise not to run off like this again. Taking Rafe aside, she suggests that they take the boy and run. Rafe tells her she can't do that. She tells her son that she'd like to take him home but he needs to stay in one place while he gets better. EJ and Nicole arrive and he pulls his son out of Sami's arms before handing him to Nicole. She leaves with the child and Sami lectures EJ about how he can never stop their son from loving her. "I don't have to make Johnny stop loving you, you'll take care of that," he says. She tells him that Johnny is a Brady and this is not the end.

Friday
January 7, 2011
I'm Queen Of This Island!

Bo and Hope sneak onto a boat and hide in the galley as someone follows them in. Bo whips out his gun and prepares to fire. It turns out that their old friend Leo is the guy who was following them. He says that the state troopers are on the way but they should be able to escape on a boat. Hope tells him the prison story and he asks them about their plans for the warden. He sets up a laptop for them, tells them they make a great team and leaves. Bo gets nostalgic about their time on boats but that makes Hope uncomfortable. They hack into the warden's cellphone records and discover her alternate account. All the calls are made to a single number. They go into the police computer system and track the number but come up empty.

At the prison, Jane and Lee startle Jenn when she catches her in her office. Jenn makes an excuse and then bustles away. Lee starts dissing Jenn and assumes she's hiding something. She urges her to do a background check on Jenn but Jane thinks they're safe. Ben calls and starts demanding a kidney. She offers to call him back and hangs up. Lee informs her that a prisoner just collapsed and they could scoop up her organs. Jane's reluctant. Over at the hospital, Ben runs into Jenn and she guesses something is wrong. He worries about a patient. Later, Jane calls to say that they have the kidney for him. That puts a smile on his face.

At the mansion, Brady laughs after receiving a call. He informs Kate that Viv and Gus were dropped out of the plane. They laugh and then have cocktails and talk about the evils of Viv. She thinks Chloe is to blame for her own problems and decides to go and put some salt in her wounds.

"Air travel has become unbearable," Viv says as she gets out of her parachute. Gus tries to climb out of his and they look around the island they landed on. "I'm Vivian Alamain and I'm queen of this island!" she declares. They decide to split up to search the space. There's nothing to be found. Viv groans. She orders Gus to forage for fruits, make shelter and fire. Gus gets fed up and they start bickering. She hears a plane and they start jumping to get its attention. It drops some supplies for them and she vows to survive.

Nate drops by Maggie's to see Mel. She hugs him and sobs. They sit down and she tells him he was right about Philip all along and she made a big mistake. She hates how stupid she's been. He wants to help her out but she reminds him he's marrying Steph and moving away. After he leaves, Brady shows up. They eat casserole, talk about her problems and drink milk. He wonders if she loves Philip as much as she claims considering her feelings for Nate. She stutters and says that ship has sailed.

Philip is at the hospital confronting Steph about how his life has turned to crap and she played a role in it. They go back to her place so he can lecture her. He assumes that she knew what her grandma did and kept the fact that Parker is his son from him. She tells him to keep his mouth shut about this or it will blow up in his face because Nate will dump her and Mel will turn to him. As he offers to stay quiet, Nate arrives at the door and eavesdrops on them. After Philip leaves, Nate glares in at Steph as her mom calls and they discuss the wedding. When she goes off to the kitchen, he sneaks into her email and finds a note to Ian begging him to keep their secret. Nate heads out. Later, Kayla arrives and her daughter tries on her dress. Steph promises to be on the straight and narrow from now on. After Kay leaves, Nate kicks the door open.

Chloe is at her place crying as she packs. She starts looking at pictures of Daniel washing Parker and promises the baby they can be happy again. There's a knock at the door and she gets her hopes up. However, it's only Kate. She pushes in to see her grandson and admires his dimples. As she chats with the baby, Chloe gets fed up and takes him away to put him to bed. "I'm going to have to do something about that name... and Chloe. I have plans for you too," she grumbles to herself. The diva returns and Kate suggests that she leave town and leave the baby with her and Philip. Chloe tells Kate to stop complicating her life. Kate offers her money and then lectures her for all of the lives she's ruined. "No one wants you here," Kate says. The diva thinks the doctor will forgive her and that makes Kate laugh. As she piles up the insults, Philip arrives and yells at his mom to shut up. After he sends her away, he gives Chloe a hug and offers to help her out. She's determined to stay there.