Tate paces in the living room, thinking back to blabbing to Julie. “What the hell was I thinking?” Sophia surprises him at the door, hopeful that today is the day her mom goes along with the adoption. Amy just has a few more questions, but if today goes well, they’re set.
That’s great, but Tate’s preoccupied, and Sophia knows right away that it’s about Holly. He lays out the Doug incident and breaking his promise to Holly by telling Julie her husband’s grandson was a thief.
He was upset about the time Holly was spending with Doug, and that Holly could go down for what the thief did. He told Julie before he even realized what he was doing. And he admits he wanted to punish Doug, not just protect Holly. But he’ll be the one punished when Holly learns what he did.
Sophia suggests Holly may not find out what he did, but Tate points out this is Salem. Secrets always spread.
Holly Brings Doug Home With Her
We get a fancy new outdoor shot through the gates to the Kiriakis estate, then cut to Holly fretting on her bed and texting Doug to see how things went with Julie.
Paulina sees Doug sleeping on a park bench, says something sadly about helping these poor souls and leaves her bag of Sweet Bits on the bench for when he wakes. His phone beeps and Doug wakes up, checks it and calls Holly to tell her Julie threw him out. It might have gone better if someone hadn’t told her first. He thinks it was Melinda.
Holly suddenly realizes that Doug is homeless when he says he slept in the park. During a thunderstorm. She tells him to come over to the house right away and hangs up.
He heads over and she makes him strip — because his clothes are soaked, of course — and Doug does as he’s told. She takes his shirt and jacket and says she needs to ask Maggie if he can stay, but Doug doesn’t think her grandma or Tate will be OK with this.
Holly assures him she’ll talk to grandma, then makes Doug take his pants off. Because they’re wet.
Julie Tells Maggie About Doug
Julie’s sitting despondently in the living room when Maggie pops in with lemon squares for her friend and Doug. That’s when Julie tells her she threw Doug out because he’s the one who stole the necklace.
Maggie’s shocked, and can’t understand why he’d do that, but Julie doesn’t care. He’s a thief who betrayed her after she took him in. She thought Doug III was her miracle after losing Doug, “Now my heart’s breaking all over again.”
It’s the breach of trust that hurts. Maggie asks how Julie found out about it and Julie lays out the Melinda incident, followed by Tate’s phone call. She doesn’t know how the teen knew, but he did. Maggie asks if she should stay, but Julie assures her she’ll be fine. Thomas and Charlotte will be back from school soon.
Julie just wishes she could stop worrying about whether Doug III is OK. “That’s because you’re a good person,” Maggie says. “The young man is still family.” Maggie talks a bit about Doug, mentions him and Holly, then pauses, wondering how much her granddaughter knows of this.
Maggie heads home and catches up with Nicole on the phone, then hangs up just as Holly gets down. They both need to talk to each other, but Maggie goes first, saying she talked to Julie about Doug’s threat. Holly just stares. “Huh. Something tells me that isn’t news to you.” Has she been covering for Doug?
EJ Begs Johnny for Forgiveness
Johnny’s thinking over his and EJ’s confrontation in Paulina and Abe’s home. EJ interrupts to knock desperately at the door, begging to be let in while Johnny eyes up a knife on the table. Johnny answers the door demanding to know what his dad wants.
He wants Johnny to come home, but Johnny says he is home. He’s not going back to the mansion. He doesn’t want it, his dad or anything from EJ. He rages some more about what EJ did to Sami and, when EJ mentions he thanks God that Johnny’s there, Johnny replies, “I wish I wasn’t.”
EJ begs Johnny to let him say some things, then he’ll leave. Johnny relents and EJ sits down, pauses, and talks about how he earned Sami’s love by being contrite and regretful and proving he loved her. Thanks in part to how he was raised, his DiMera DNA, etc., he was a reprehensible person whose heart was sometimes in the right place.
Sami saw the best in him and forgave him. “So do you think perhaps you could, too? In time?” Johnny tells his dad that “everything you touch dies.” There’s nothing to work out, so it’s time for EJ to go. “Fine,” EJ says sadly. “If that’s what you want.” He shuffles out as Johnny eyes the knife, only to add that he’ll send for his and Chanel’s things. “You’re dead. To me.”
Amy Ends Chanel’s Adoption Dreams
Paulina meets with Chanel in the square, and her daughter thanks her for letting her and Johnny stay with her at home. “EJ DiMera is one sick puppy,” Paulina notes after talking about what Johnny learned of his dad. Chanel worries about Amy’s reaction, but Paulina assures her there’s no reason she’ll ever find out about what EJ did to Sami.
Chanel frets a bit more about Amy and Johnny and the adoption, but Paulina reassures her daughter — but not before Chanel makes a comment about not letting anything screw it up as Amy walks up.
Amy wants to know why she’s worried, and Chanel covers, saying she’s just nervous because this means the world to her. They sit and have some tea while they wait for Johnny. Amy cuts to the chase and says after some prayer, talking to her husband (where is he again?) and her lawyer, she’s comfortable with this adoption.
But when she pulls out her tablet to get her lawyer’s document, she sees Leo’s article in The Spectator about EJ and the DiMera family in disarray. Chanel and Paulina are taken by surprise, as Amy reads the article to them about EJ’s kidnapping charges and how Rachel Blake disappeared before she could testify against him. “Disappeared?? What even does that mean?”
She goes on to read about how EJ is the worst of the family of felons and Amy reacts with, “So my grandchild would be raised in a house full of felons?” Chanel assures Amy that she and Johnny aren’t even living there anymore. But when Amy asks why, Chanel can’t answer.
The adoption is off. The article’s timing is a “sign from God.” She leaves Chanel to cry while Paulina tries to comfort her daughter. Johnny arrives and asks what’s wrong. The adoption isn’t going through. Johnny asks what happened. “Your father happened,” Paulina tells him.
Paulina and Johnny Level More Threats
In the show’s final moments, Doug gets out of the shower in a towel, picks up a photo of Tate and Holly and looks at it. Holly assures Maggie that she would never have covered for Doug if she wasn’t sure he was going to come clean. He just wanted to get the necklace back, but Melinda wouldn’t give it — and now she told Julie the truth! Oh no, no. Julie found out from Tate, Maggie says. Holly’s aghast.
Amy shows up at Tate’s to tell the teens the adoption is off. She shows them the article and says they have to find a “suitable, respectable couple,” or they’re raising the baby themselves.
EJ’s back home and leaves a message for Chad demanding he call back. He just saw the article his brother published. Paulina wanders in, telling him EJ destroyed Chanel and Johnny. “What the hell are you talking about?” The adoption fell through. Because of him and his crimes. EJ’s distraught and tells Paulina he’ll do anything she tells him to fix it. It’s too late. “No one messes around with my baby and gets away with it. No one.”
Johnny and Chanel get home and he insists he won’t let his dad get away with this. “He’s ruthless. He’s evil.” He eyes up the knife some more after Chanel says his father will always be a factor and that won’t ever change. “We’ll see about that.”
