At the DiMera mansion, Marlena walks into the living room and notices that John’s up early working. John grumbles how he got an early start, as it was nearly impossible to sleep with the twins crying every hour. “Those high-pitched squeals can resonate ten inches of concrete,” states John, which makes Marlena laugh. Marlena heads off to work and asks him to inform Sami that she’ll be home for supper. “Yes Dear,” responds John. John then hears someone approaching and assumes it’s Marlena. “Did you forget to kiss me good-bye?” he quips. “I’d prefer you bought me dinner first, John. Or at least a drink,” replies Philip. John hopes he’s not going to throw another tantrum about the docks, as he’s had his fill of crying babies. Philip confronts him about having Paul Hollingsworth in his pocket, but John claims he doesn’t know what Phil’s talking about. A smug Philip hands hin the newspaper and tells him not to shoot the messenger. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” grins John as he looks at the paper.
Philip flashes back to confronting John about bribing Paul Hollingsworth. John reads the newspaper headline aloud: “Paul Hollingsworth has been indicted on charges of graft.” John assumes that Philip had something to do with Paul’s indictment and declares that he’s still claiming the docks as DiMera territory whether or not Phil approves. Philip urges him to be reasonable and work out an agreement which benefits both parties. John refers to this as boring and affirms that he’s not a quitter. Philip warns him that he’s making a huge mistake and gives him a brief overview of how he and Victor welcomed Paul’s replacement. After Philip leaves, John vows to bring the Kiriakis empire to it’s knees.
At the Kiriakis mansion, Victor reads the newspaper at breakfast and chuckles at the thought of John seeing it. Nicole emerges and sarcastically tells her husband good morning. “Don’t call me that!” grumbles Victor. Nicole refers to him as a “Mr. Grumpypants” in the morning. “And you’re still a gold-digging whore,” counters Victor. Chloe emerges and greets Victor. “Oh wonderful. Now my day’s complete,” quips Victor. Chloe helps herself to breakfast and totally ignores Nicole. “Hey! I wanted that!” rants Nicole as Chloe takes a croissant. “Then you should’ve been quicker,” responds Chloe. Nicole asks Victor to have the “grabby opera singer” give her croissant back. “You know, I wanna get involved with your petty squabbles like I wanna put a nail in my eye,” snarks Victor before he walks out. Chloe gloats how delicious the croissant is. Nicole remarks how the extra carbs aren’t doing Chloe any good.
Chloe and Nicole eat breakfast together as Nicole asks if she killed Brady herself or if she hired someone to do it. “Neither,” she replies. Nicole accuses Chloe of having something to do with Brady’s disappearance. Chloe professes to love Brady and affirms that she would never hurt him. Nicole quips how Brady killed himself because he probably couldn’t stand being married to her. “Shut the hell up,” scowls Chloe. Nicole continues to badger her about Brady. Chloe again tells her to shut her stupid mouth. “Or what? You’ll kill me too?” goads Nicole. Chloe declares that she’s not a murderer. “After hearing you sing I’m sure fans across Europe would disagree,” derides Nicole. “At least I know how to make an honest living! Your resume consists of porn videos and stealing money from rich men!” shouts an angry Chloe. Nicole reminds Chloe that she made Austin Reed millions with his company, but got bored. Chloe suspects Nicole of botching her reconstructive surgery. “Looks like your face could use some more work,” snarks Nicole. Chloe responds by throwing food at her, and the ladies chase each other around the table engaging in a food fight. Philip returns amidst the chaos and ends up getting juice splashed on him, compliments of Nicole.
Stephanie enters her mom’s hospital room and reveals that she spent the night there. She asks if the pain has gone away. Kayla says she’s fine now and the baby’s fine. Steph then berates her mom for risking her baby’s health by getting out of bed. Kayla tells Steph that it’s not nice to yell at a pregnant woman, especially her mother. Steph insists she needs to stay in bed instead of running all over town. Kayla states that she needed to check on Bo. Kayla demands for her to spill where Steve is and insists that Steph knows more than she’s letting on. A conflicted Stephanie warns her mom that she’s not going to like it. “Dad’s been trying to protect you from his past,” demurs Steph, who then reveals that Steve has a crazy ex-girlfriend who has tracked him down and will do anything to win him back. She relays how Steve escaped from Stefano and hooked up with a woman named Ava, who’s a part of some big crime family. She additionally reveals that Steve hired a bodyguard to protect her and predicts that Steve is scared that Ava will do something crazy. Kayla chastises Steph for keeping this from her. She vows to find Steve and give him a piece of her mind.
Chelsea enters Bo’s room and chastises him for getting out of bed and risking his health. Bo jokes how he wanted to run a marathon. Chelsea doesn’t find this funny and demands for him to tell her what was so important that he needed to jeopardize his life. Bo asks Chelsea to fetch him some more water. He flashes back to Steve’s phone call urging him not to bring the cops in on the missing Hope situation, then Steve promising to bring Hope back safely. Chelsea returns with the water and urges him to be careful, as he can’t afford to take chances right now. Bo notes how she’s one to talk, as she risked her life by having the operation. Chelsea tells him to save the lecture and asks why he was trying to get out of bed. Bo claims he wanted some fresh air. Chelsea reminds him that the only way he’ll be able to do that is if he stays in bed and rest, as she did. She advises him to do everything the doctor says. Daniel appears and tells Bo to listen to his daughter, noting that she’s a smart lady. He asks Chelsea to step out he can examine Bo.
