While Max sleeps in his bedroom, someone is just outside his window about to sneak in. It’s Stephanie, who tries to wake Max up. He awakens and asks what she’s doing there, noting that it’s 3:15 in the morning. “My mom’s missing and I don’t know what to do,” she desponds. The lights come on as Steph explains that Kayla was released from the hospital today but she hasn’t come home yet. Max wonders if she could be staying somewhere else tonight, like Bo and Hope’s. Steph says she tried there, but no-one answered and she has tried calling her mom’s cell phone. She suspects that Steve’s crazy ex-girlfriend kidnapped Kayla and worries about her mom being in danger. Max speculates that Kayla is trying to find Steve, which Steph thinks is crazy since Ava’s really dangerous. Steph worries that her mom and the baby are in danger and insists that she needs to help them. Max doesn’t want Steph to put herself in danger too. Steph wonders why she even came there and tells Max not to touch her when he touches her arm. “I’m sorry,” she cries. Max comforts a distraught Steph, who worries about not being able to find her parents. Max promises to do whatever it takes to find them and offers to help her.
Steph later flashes back to Steve urging her to stay with Kayla while he goes to visit Bo at the hospital, promising to be back as soon as he can. Max approaches a distant Steph and asks her if she feels better. She assures him that flipping out on him earlier has nothing to do with him, which Max knows. Max suspects that Kayla and Bo are together, since they were both released from the hospital at the same time and now they’re both missing. Steph believes it makes sense, but is confused because Bo just had major surgery and her mom is supposed to be resting. Max affirms that Bo and Kayla are two of the most stubborn people they’ve ever known. Steph predicts that they will get themselves hurt if Ava is as crazy as Steve says she is. Max doesn’t think there’s anything they can do, but Steph disagrees and suggests going to the cops and spilling everything they know. He brings up how Ava’s part of a crime family and believes that Steve is more than capable of handling Ava by himself. He says it’s Steph’s call and will go along with whatever she wants to do. Steph decides not to call the police and jokes how Max will hate her when his alarm goes off. Max admits that now he’s in the best dream of his life. Steph walks over and kisses him passionately, then believes she should go. Max invites her to stay, but just to sleep. She agrees to stay, but doesn’t believe she’ll be able to sleep much. Max implores her to just rest. He tucks her in and lays beside her. “I feel safe with you,” she admits.
At the Kiriakis mansion, Nicole comes down the stairs and flashes back to Chloe telling Philip how worried she is about going to prison. Nicole finds Philip, who advises her to turn around and go back upstairs. “If I were you, I would die of thirst,” she counters before she fixes herself a drink. She remarks what a good time she had tonight at Chez Rouge. Philip asks her how much she had to drink this evening. “Enough to make being with you tolerable, but not enough to not want another nightcap,” she grins. Philip wonders if she really needs another one. Nicole emphasizes that she wants another one. They badger each other before Nicole recalls how the look on Sami’s face was priceless at Chez Rouge. She wonders how Sami manages to snag a man like EJ. “Well I imagine the same exact way you do. A little sex and a lot of lies,” deduces Philip. Nicole affirms that legally she’s still the woman of the house. Philip vows that she won’t be for long. He asks if she thinks it’s wise to have EJ represent her, noting that he’s a DiMera and married to Sami Brady. Nicole smiles how she can double the fun by torturing Sami and getting great legal advice at the same time. Philip warns her how the DiMeras work. Nicole proceeds to go check on her dog Pookie. Philip asks her why she came back, noting that she’s been gone for two years, then decides to come back now. He then senses that she’s tense, but Nicole claims she’s tired and a little drunk and proceeds to go to bed. Phil continues to badger her about why she suddenly came back, as the last he heard she and Austin Reed were looking to expand their company. Nicole claims her partnership with Austin didn’t work out. Philip is sure there’s more to the story and implores her to spill. They are interrupted when a peeved Chloe returns to the mansion.
A concerned Philip asks Chloe how she got home. Chloe reveals that his lawyer dropped her off, then confronts Nicole about turning her in to the Austrian Consulate. Nicole plays the innocent act, but Chloe knows that Nicole spied on her and Philip earlier. She continues to deny calling the consulate on Chloe and threatens to sue her for slander. “It’s not slander if it’s true, Nicole,” affirms Philip. Chloe and Philip continue to hurl accusations at Nicole, who notes that facing them is like facing a firing squad. “Okay, I admit it. I did it,” she says, who suspects that Chloe had something to do with Brady’s disappearance. Nicole declares that she’s made it her mission to make Chloe pay for what she did. Chloe insists that she had nothing to do with Brady’s disappearance. Nicole brings up how angry Chloe was when Brady hooked up with her. “I wasn’t angry, I was sad. Sad that Brady was so torn up over my death he thought a tramp like you could make him feel better,” retorts Chloe. Nicole rehashes how Chloe faked her own death because of her vanity. “Thinking Brady wouldn’t love you anymore because you were ugly,” mocks Nicole. Chloe rehashes what Nicole did to her when she was recuperating at the clinic. Nicole continues to provoke Chloe and surmises that Brady wanted to leave her because she was a “pathetic, washed-up hag.” “He tried to get away, and you murdered him,” accuses Nicole. “I did not!” shouts Chloe before she attacks Nicole.
