Stephanie Tries Smoothing Things Over With Joy, and Rachel’s Homecoming Is Marred By Kristen’s Absence

Philip’s trying to drum up some investors for Titan — and crashing out hard. Luckily, Gabi shows up to save the day with an apology. She realized Ari is probably the one behind leaking the bag prototype. Or rather, someone at DiMera who stole the bag for a bit.

Philip calls Gabi out for not believing him or giving him a chance, but that’s all over now. In fact, Gabi’s already begun transferring the funds she promised over to Titan. That completely changes Philip’s tune and he gives her a grateful hug, followed by one heck of a kiss!

Can Stephanie Fix Things With Joy?

As soon as Alex gets home, he breaks the bad news to Stephanie: Joy won’t sign the custody documents unless Steph is banned from being around Kelsey. He promises he won’t ever sign anything that stipulates that. Stephanie’s horrified and blames herself, no matter what Alex says. “We’re going to figure it out,” he promises. Or they’ll fight it out. One way or another!

He heads into work with a promise that they’ll do something together tonight to get their minds off this. As soon as he’s gone, Stephanie calls Roman to see if Joy’s there, then heads on over.

Rachel’s Finally Home

Marlena, Brady and Tate treat Rachel to a milkshake at the Brady Pub. And even better, Chad and Belle stop by with a present! But… no Kristen. She tries texting her mom, but gets no answer, so Tate pulls her away for a milkshake refill.

Joy pushes Kelsey in, which is super convenient because she wants to ask Belle for some legal help. She tells Belle about the little dispute over Stephanie and the custody agreement, and Tate overhears and takes her to task. “When you start using a kid to manipulate people, it doesn’t work out for anybody.” (Honestly, everyone in town should know that by now.)

Can Belle Convince Joy to Relent?

Belle pulls Joy outside to tell her that Stephanie made a mistake and it won’t ever happen again. She was traumatized and in a bad place, but she’s got a good heart. Belle heads back in and Joy ponders whether or not she’s being unreasonable. She’s not thinking long before Stephanie pops up looking to talk.

She doesn’t want Joy to make Alex choose between Stephanie and Kelsey. As Joy points out, that hasn’t been a problem so far, but, to Stephanie’s point, 18 years is a lot longer to make it work than a few months. She apologizes again for the nearly shooting Joy incident, but it’s not water under the bridge for the new mom.

How Much Are Chad and Belle Telling Marlena?

Brady grabs Marlena to confirm that neither’s heard anything from Kristen. He’s worried something is very wrong. He tells Marlena about her weird, emotional visit to Bayview and figures it was a goodbye. When they rejoin the table, Rachel gets a text from her mom saying she’s in Aremid taking care of her own ailing mother. And that’s about all the confirmation Brady needs to know something’s up.

He goes to make a call, Tate pulls Rachel away again and Belle and Chad join Marlena to give her more details about their trip to Milan and Rome. (Just blurting everything out here, huh?) Marlena knows what’s up. Or at least, that something’s up. “What’s going on here?” So Belle tells her what the trip’s really about with Stefano’s chess board.

She is not happy! “That man and everybody in his family is a threat to us.” Yikes, sorry, Chad. To her credit, Marlena does apologize and exclude him. Belle promises they’ll stay in touch with Paul and Chad says they’ll use DiMera private security to stay safe. (You mean the DiMera security that was loyal to Stefano?)

In the Show’s Final Moments

Alex walks into Titan as Philip and Gabi are going at it. They break apart and tell Alex the good news. Gabi takes her leave and Philip breaks out the happy dance. Gabi, meanwhile, looks like she has butterflies in her stomach as she waltzes through the square thinking about the kiss, then calls to put the money transfer through.

Stephanie stops playing nice and accuses Joy of trying to come between her and Alex. Joy accuses her of being unstable, which Stephanie throws back in her own face. She and Alex have done everything to try to keep Joy happy and she just keeps doubling down on her “insane demands.” Joy looks at Stephanie, takes it in, and tells her she had changed her mind before Steph showed up. She’s “mean and unhinged” and she’ll never get near Kelsey.