Chapter 9: Aroused Curiosity – Friday, August 23rd, 2013

Brady had his grandfather on Skype once again. Victor wanted to check in with his grandson before the workweek was over. Before he could say anything, Maggie peeked her head into the screen to say hi. "Brady! Are you holding down the fort over at Chez Kiriakis?"

Brady returned Maggie's bubbly attitude with a smile. "I am trying my hardest. Oh, I should probably tell you, Eric has already come by to do the pictures."

"That's wonderful," Maggie said as she placed her hands on Victor's shoulders. "I'll let you boys finish your business talk so Victor and I can return to our honeymoon."

Brady released a chuckle as Maggie vanished from the screen. After he heard a door close, he mentioned, "Your wife has a point. You should be enjoying your honeymoon. I've got everything under control here. You've got nothing to worry about."

Victor gave his grandson a look to make him stop talking. "The honeymoon has been great, but a part of me is eager to return so I can get back to work. I'll keep this short. I need you to check in with Kai and then make sure Nicholas is still on task concerning Melanie."

"Don't worry," Brady repeated. "I already made plans with Kai earlier this week. We're getting coffee to talk, and Nicholas should be here at any moment. I'll talk to you later. Try to relax and actually enjoy some time away."

After Victor grunted a goodbye, Brady shut down Skype and began to look through some of his messages. After some time, a knock on the door caught his attention. "Come in."

Nicholas entered the office with two cups of coffee. "I figured you'd like a refill."

Brady took the cup from Nicholas and gave him an appreciative nod as Nicholas took a seat across from him. "I'm sure you have things you need to work on, but I need you to check in with your sister."

Nicholas lifted his eyes a bit subconsciously because he expected Brady to bring up Melanie. Frustration attempted to consume him. He never thought lying to his sister would be part of his job description. Showing a tad of the distress of his predicament, he informed Brady, "I'm actually meeting with Melanie for lunch. I will continue to dissuade her on trying to find Daniel."

Brady caught the expression on Nicholas's face and tried to appease him somewhat. "I know this has to be difficult for you. I hate having to keep Melanie in the dark because she's a good friend of mine. I know it must be harder for you because she's your sister, but we don't want Melanie to get caught up in something bad in case something has happened to her dad."

Nicholas didn't want to hear that even if he needed to. It gave him an excuse to feel comfortable about lying to his sister, but it still raised some suspicion. Needing reassurance, he asked, "So you and Victor know nothing about Daniel?"

"We don't," Brady immediately answered. He thought about what his grandfather alluded to about Nicholas's situation before his arrival to Salem. He wanted to know more but didn't want to push it directly. Raising his eyes, he shared, "I do wonder if you know anything."

Thrown, Nicholas wasn't sure what to think of Brady's wonderment. He shook his head and denied it. "I don't know anything. If I did, I would have told you and my sister already."

Brady moved on and began to look through a file. He appeared unaffected by Nicholas's response, which was a purposeful decision on his part. He didn't want to push this conversation until he knew more. "Well, we should get back to work. I hope things go well with you and Melanie today."

Nicholas stood up, nodded, and walked out.

Brady looked up and turned his gaze to his door. "What were you up to before you came to Salem last year?"


Nathan and Will exited Nathan's office at the hospital. Will had come by to visit with his second-cousin since he wasn't able to make it to karaoke the night before. Patting Will on the back, Nathan said, "I feel bad for skipping out last night. I had no idea you were back until this morning."

"I told you it was nothing," Will replied in a way to ease Nathan's bad feelings. He chose to withhold the fact they sang songs against Chad so he didn't feel worse. "We will hang out again soon."

Nathan nodded his head in agreement. "I promise I don't live in this hospital even though it seems that way at the moment. We can hang out at my house or something." Nearing the elevator, he gave Will a hug and thought of something. "You should visit Lexie when she's not at work. I think she could really use you right now."

Will nodded his head and wondered what was going on with Lexie. "Okay. I'll try to talk to her sometime this weekend. I'll see you later."

"Later," Nathan said with a wave. After Will got into the elevator, Nathan turned and spotted Chelsea standing at the nurses' station. Rubbing his eyes on his way over, he greeted her, "Hey. You have a client this early?"

Facing Nathan, Chelsea looked him over as she answered, "No, I've got some paperwork I have to finish. You look exhausted. What's going on?"

Nathan dropped his hands as he tried to make his face look as awake as he could. He had pretty much pulled an all-nighter at the hospital. "There's a lot up in the air right now and the stress of not knowing is the part that's tiring me out."

Chelsea gave Nathan a look of empathy to let him know she was genuinely concerned for him. She was going to ask about Melanie, but her phone suddenly made a sound. "Sorry," she stated as she pulled it out to see who had sent her a text message.

Nathan watched Chelsea as she read the text message and replied. He couldn't help but notice the smile upon her face through it all. After she appeared to be done, he questioned, "Who was that?"

Trying to control her blushing, Chelsea answered, "I got a text from Ignazio. He told me he wanted to meet earlier this week, and somehow I let it slip my mind. We'll probably hang out tomorrow night."

Since his time with Ignazio was limited, Nathan didn't know much about the guy. He caught on that Chelsea seemed to be fond of him though. "So what's the story with you two?"

Chelsea struggled more with containing her feelings for Ignazio and feared they would show, but when she remembered who she was talking to, she gave Nathan a questioning look. "Why do you want to know?"

Nathan picked up Chelsea was thinking about their history. "I thought we were cool now. I'm only curious."

Chelsea nodded her head and agreed. "We are cool, Nathan. You're with Melanie – and happy," she presumed. With as much of a calm voice as she could muster, she shared, "Ignazio and I are growing closer I suppose. I love spending time with him, but we are both so busy now. The awkwardness with Sonny and Dario doesn't help us out much either."

"What do you mean?"

Appreciating the slight change in topic, Chelsea relaxed more but showed she was a bit frustrated. "Well, I hang out with Sonny and Dario, so I have to separate my time between the two because they don't want to see each other."

Nathan scratched the side of his head. He was a bit stunned to hear that. "That's so weird that Sonny and Dario still cannot be in the same vicinity."

Simply shrugging her shoulders, Chelsea responded, "I think there's something going on there honestly."

In Joselyn's office, Joselyn sat across from Manny having a therapy session, or at least it was her intent. Manny seemed distracted and somewhere else, and she caught on rather quickly. Attempting to help him open up on whatever he was trying not to process with her, she wondered, "Manuel, I notice you are struggling with answering my questions about your week. You usually don't have much difficulty in talking, so I am starting to hypothesize that something happened, and you don't want to talk about it. Am I wrong?"

Manny's eyes remained stuck on the rug underneath Dr. Brown's chair. He planned on remaining silent this time around, but the bad memories of the week plagued his mind so much that they needed to spread somewhere else. "I am frustrated," he released first. "I am not happy with my situation, and I feel like a lapdog for the Kiriakis family even though they have treated me better than how my feelings suggest."

Joselyn wasn't exactly sure what Manny meant by his current situation but figured it had something to do with the Kiriakis family. Returning to something they had discussed early on in treatment, she brought up, "Is it possible your feelings about your job are connected to your brother, Rafe? If I remember correctly, you claimed to be his lapdog, too."

It made perfect sense. Joselyn was right. Manny shook his head as he reflected on his older deceased brother. "Yes. The feeling is very similar, but I don't think Victor Kiriakis is taking advantage of me in the same way Rafe did. Rafe was my brother, and he didn't even show me the decency Victor seems to show my sister and me."

"What is the decency Victor shows you?"

Manny shook his head as his thoughts focused on Rafe. "Rafe was a real bastard, and I loved him even though he was incapable of returning that love," he claimed. "I was an idiot, and if I hadn't let him..."

Joselyn waited some time for Manny to finish his thought. Even though she asked Manny about Victor, she noted he was now stuck on his brother. "Manuel. We've processed through the things involving your brother, or at least I thought we had. Is there more you need to process through?"

"No," Manny adamantly declared. "I cannot keep talking about Rafe like this. I'm tired of it all. I need to get over it. I should be over it all. The fact that I have sat here talking about Rafe for this long just shows everyone how weak I really am."

With some concern, Joselyn tried to step in to encourage Manny. Adjusting her glasses, she shared, "I think you've made great strides..."

"I can be stronger," Manny decided causing Joselyn to stop. She believed he had come back around, but what he said next was something she never expected. "I quit. I am quitting this therapy. My required time should be completed by now, right?"

As Manny stood up to walk out, Joselyn quickly joined him by the door. "Manuel, let's take some time to talk this decision through. If you don't want to talk about it now, at least allow yourself some time to think it over."

With his hand now on the open door, Manny politely declined, "I'm sorry, Dr. Brown, but I don't need time to think this over. I've been thinking about this all week, and I've made my decision."

As Manny walked out of her office, Joselyn crossed her arms disappointed with the turn of events. "What did I miss?" she asked herself.

Manny made his way down the hall and accidentally bumped into Lexie. "Sorry," he let out immediately when he realized what he had done.

Lexie studied Manny and noticed right away that he was upset. She remembered the conversations she had with Manny after Isobel died. To escape her own grief, she quickly accepted Manny's apology and asked, "Did you just finish therapy?"

"I'm done," Manny said in a softer tone than he had with Joselyn, but he wanted to make sure Lexie understood what he meant. "I'm completely done with therapy. I'm not going back. I think I've grown enough there, and it's time to move on so I can grow some more."

Lexie nodded her head and wondered if Manny really believed he had outgrown therapy. "So today was your last session with Joselyn then."

A sigh from Manny followed Lexie's statement because it finally sank in how he ended therapy. He didn't want to dwell on it though. "Yes. I don't think Dr. Brown approves, but I know it's the best thing for me to do."

Reflecting on how she rejected Jennifer's suggestion to seek therapy, Lexie realized she had no room to question Manny's decision to quit. "I think you should do what you need to do."

A sudden wave of uncertainty hit Manny as he admitted, "That's the problem. I don't know what to do."

Lexie felt the same wave hit her as she realized that was her problem as well. She had no idea what she was doing. Reaching out to Manny, she placed her hand on his arm and spoke, "Everything will be okay." She was saying it more to herself than him though.

Without warning, Sami approached Lexie and Manny. Both figured their conversation was over, so Manny excused himself. "I should get back to the Kiriakis mansion. You two have a good day."

Sami eyed Manny as he walked off. Raising her eyebrow, she checked in with Lexie. "Everything okay?"

With Sami in front of her now, Lexie's thoughts went to what Nathan told her the night before, but she refrained from mentioning it. "He's just dealing with a lot," she finally answered while scratching her forehead. "Did you need something?"

Sami questioned if Lexie was in a hurry. Even though they had made some headway in their relationship over the last two years, she knew an understandable distance still existed between the two of them. She jumped a little recollecting why she approached Lexie in the first place. "EJ wants to have a family dinner at our place tomorrow night. Do you think you'll be free to come?"

Recognizing that things were somewhat strained between her and her family, Lexie figured she should make a new impression on them. She didn't want them to worry about her, so she needed to be as accommodating as possible. "I should be available," Lexie shared before asking, "Who are you hoping will be there?"

Sami crossed her arms as she answered, "Well, you, Theo, EJ, me, the kids, Eric, Will, possibly Maddalena, Azzura, Ignazio, Dario, and is your mom in town?"

"She is," Lexie confirmed, but she was interested in talking about someone else – someone Sami didn't mention on the guest list. "What about Chad? Will he be there?" she asked giving Sami a look to show she had no plans to back down. Even with the uncertainty in her life, she still had the power to handle Sami.

The look on Sami's face was all Lexie needed to see to show her Sami was not happy with Chad and had no plan to invite him. Sami wanted to give a definite no, but she knew she needed to keep things civil with Lexie. "I'm not sure," she answered ambiguously before adding some honesty, "I don't want to make things awkward."

While Lexie appreciated Sami for her admittance, she chose to be an advocate for her brother. "Well, if it's a family dinner, Chad needs to be there. He's back in Salem, and I don't want to see him leave again."

It took all of Sami's strength to bite her tongue and agree. "Well, I'll make sure he knows about tomorrow then." She didn't want Chad anywhere near her son, and figured she could make sure Will didn't come after all.

Lexie questioned if she could trust Sami to invite Chad. "I'll talk to my brother about tomorrow night, so you don't have to feel awkward about it."

Sami nodded her head. "That's probably best. I should let you go. I'll see you tomorrow evening."

"Are you headed to the board meeting?" Lexie's question caused Sami to stop from turning away. Giving her sister-in-law no chance to respond, her lips were now vulnerable to what she was keeping inside. "Are you going to propose the board bring Nathan in as the new chief-of-staff?" As much as she had tried to avoid this, Lexie found a power surge through her, but she didn't quite understand it yet. She felt it the night before when she told Nathan off.

Sami was stunned by Lexie's question but managed to hide her shock. "I don't know what you've heard, but we decided not to push anything until we talked to you. This would be your decision – not ours."

Lexie wasn't sure if she bought Sami's take on the situation but adamantly claimed, "I don't need help. I'm more than capable of fulfilling my duties as the chief-of-staff at this hospital."

"Well then, there's no reason to push," Sami said through a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow night." After another nod, she walked off wondering what EJ would think of his sister's claim.


Chad checked to make sure he was at the right place before getting out of his truck. He was there for an appointment to check out a venue located near the Salem River. Stepping out of his vehicle, he looked the place over and noted its appearance gave off the vibe that it hadn't been open in quite some time.

Chad pulled out his small journal and began to flip through the pages. He reflected on what happened the night before when he witnessed Will's performance. Even though it brought him down and made him see just how much damage he had done to Will, he woke up knowing he could make things right again. He couldn't give up just because he had more work to do. He was in it for the long haul.

A car pulled up next to Chad causing him to step back as a precaution. He wasn't sure about the place because it was in an area that wasn't so heavily populated. The area was quite seedy. Finally, the driver in the other car exited and walked over to Chad with his hand out. "Sorry. I hope you haven't been waiting long. My dad called me up this morning and asked me to meet you. He had an emergency with one of his students at the university, which is weird because the semester hasn't started."

After putting his journal away, Chad took the guy's hand and looked him over. There was something familiar about him. "I'm Chad," he shared hoping to get a name from the guy.

"I'm Brian Kahn, sorry," he introduced himself. "You probably talked with my dad before, but like I said he couldn't make it. Life of a music professor I guess."

Chad finally realized why he found Brian so familiar. "Your dad is the chair of the school music at Salem U, right?"

Brian nodded his head and smiled. "Yeah, he's a busy guy, and I grew up in music because of him." Motioning towards the door as he pulled a key out from his pocket, he asked, "Shall we go in so you can check the place out?"

Chad followed Brian into the building and was a bit surprised to find the interior fared far better than the exterior. "So your dad is trying to sell this place, huh?"

Brian's dad was actually quite desperate to get it off his hands, but Brian knew better than to share the fact with Chad. "Yes. This place has a rich history, and it landed in my father's hands about five years ago. My dad added a recording studio downstairs in the basement, but before it was a night club and bar."

Chad was impressed – more than he thought he would when he first saw the place. He looked the stage over and saw a silhouette of Will standing with a mic in his hand. He was singing to Chad. Blinking to return his focus on Brian, he asked, "What else do you know about this place?"

Brian smiled at Chad's question because he hoped he would get this sell for his father. "Well, it's had a few names over the years. It used to be called Sergio's before it was bought by Addie Horton. I don't really know Addie. She died before I was born, but I know the Hortons are a prominent family in this town, so it really helped business bloom when it became Doug's Place."

Trying to contain his surprise in hearing the Horton connection to this venue, Chad remained calm as he cavalierly assumed, "I'm guessing you've heard your dad deliver this pitch before."

Unimpressed, Brian decided to release some of his own assumptions about Chad. He had noted how beat up Chad's truck looked. "Do you actually have the money to buy this place or are you wasting my time here? You look rather young, and now that I'm really looking at you, you're very familiar as well. What did you say your full name is again?"

Chad realized he struck a nerve with Brian and caused some tension to enter the room. Deciding not to add insult to injury, he complied, "I'm Chad DiMera."

"Oh."

Silence quickly swallowed the one-syllable word as Chad tried to figure out what exactly Brian meant by it. "Is..."

"This was a waste of time," Brian finally declared cutting Chad off. "We should go."

Chad got frustrated because he needed this to happen. Grabbing Brian's arm, he assumed again, "Is this because of my last name – because I'm a DiMera?"

Brian pulled his arm from Chad's grasp and gave Chad a look of denial. "No, this has nothing to do with your family. Your family is actually nice from what I know, but this is about my friend Will. You're his ex, and I don't want to help you. You seemed like a nice guy, until..."

"Don't do this," Chad pleaded. The damage he had done when he left Salem seemed to haunt him everywhere he went. "I am sorry if I offended you in some way, and I am definitely sorry for what I did to Will because he didn't deserve any of that. But I'm different now, and this is business here... right? I know this is the place I want. I look over the walls and dream about filling this place for concerts, and I'm sure I can find a way to find use of the studio in the basement. How long has this place been dormant?"

Chad was clearly saying all the right things because Brian appeared to open up some. Brian took a deep breath knowing what his dad wanted for this place. "I can't really remember," he admitted. "He wanted to make this place into something special and settled with only having a recording studio. Now that a new studio is in the works at the university, he really wants to get rid of this place."

Chad knew he needed to continue to reel Brian into letting him buy this place. "This is the place where I want magic to happen," he claimed with great certainty and charisma.

Brian completely pushed back his reservations on Chad and gave in. "I can tell you really want this, and even though I don't know any good things about you, I won't let that stand in the way of business for my dad. I'll talk to him and get the papers for you by tomorrow."

Chad couldn't contain his excitement and immediately took Brian's hand to shake it. "Thank you so much. This is all going to work out for everyone," he said with great joy. He was happy to make progress in his plan.


EJ escorted Maddalena into the living room after getting word of her arrival from Marco. He wasn't sure of her precise reason for coming over, but he figured it had something to do with Lexie. "The dinner is on for tomorrow. Sami told me she would talk to Alexandra about it today."

Maddalena had plans of talking to EJ about the Santo and Colleen letters but knew she couldn't move past discussing the state of Lexie as if it meant nothing. "We will talk to Lexie tomorrow then. I wonder if we can get through to her."

Something had been bothering EJ about his aunt, and he decided to gently call her out on it. "You used to have such a connection with my sister, but things changed. It appears – at least to me – that you backed off. It happened sometime after Abe's death."

Abe's death – quite the tragedy. Maddalena shook her head in disappointment in the situation and herself. "I tried to remain close, but your sister pushed me away. I know it's still hard on Lexie. I know because I went through my own grief when I lost my husband. My children were so young."

Feeling slight guilt, EJ conceded, "Lexie has pushed everyone out."

Marco entered the room and carefully spoke because he noted a tension in the room. "Mr. DiMera. I have an update on security."

EJ eyed Marco for a moment because he had just received an update on security before Maddalena entered the mansion and realized this update must be urgent. Turning to his aunt, he decided to get rid of her. "Did you need to discuss anything else?"

With a nod, Maddalena inferred, "Samantha mentioned some letters you two read between my father and the woman whose name is my middle name. Do you still have those? I would love to read them myself."

The Santo and Colleen letters. EJ had forgotten about those and scratched his head with his finger. "It has been some time since I've seen them, but I'll check with Samantha to see if she knows where they are. I will try to give you an update tomorrow evening."

"Thank you nipote," Maddalena said before giving EJ a kiss on the cheek. "I'll show myself out and will tell Azzura of our plans for tomorrow."

A smile fell on EJ's face as he watched his aunt leave, but as soon as she left the mansion it disappeared. His eyes went to Marco. "What's the update?"

Marco's face turned quite serious as well. "Mr. DiMera, there have been a few more threats against the family. It is my opinion that something needs to be done because this can no longer be ignored."

Even if he had taken the day off from the office purposely, EJ didn't want to deal with this. He had to though. "Please set up contact with the threat, so I can deal with it firsthand. If they need to hear the seriousness in my decision than they will hear it. This is the last time though! I cannot deal with this anymore like the past two nights!"

Marco nodded his head and left soon after to set up a connection. EJ turned to the portrait of his father and shook his head. With frustration, he rhetorically asked, "Why am I still cleaning your messes?"


At Java Café, Nicholas met with Melanie for lunch as planned. He was wary of what his sister would tell him and what he would have to do in response but managed to hide it through his silly jokes and humorous play on words. With an inquisitive look on his face, he asked, "You're on vacation, so what are you doing with all your free time? Inquiring minds would like to know!"

Melanie giggled at her brother because of the way he raised his eyebrows in a playful manner. "You're in a good mood today," she mentioned trying to keep things surface level just for a moment longer. She wasn't ready to tell Nicholas her plans just yet. "I'm obviously spending it with you, silly. Remember how you claimed on Valentine's Day that you wanted to spend more time with me? Well, I'm making it happen even more since I'm not so busy."

Nodding his head, Nicholas affirmed, "I remember." After chewing a potato chip, he asked, "But what about Nathan? Shouldn't you two be vacationing together? You didn't have much of a one-year anniversary celebration."

Melanie thought about how her emotions ruined all the romantic plans Nathan had for their first anniversary at the end of June. She felt guilty for how she let her fears for her father get in the way of that, even if she was justified in worrying. "Nathan and I only postponed our plans to another time when things were less hectic. I can't think about that now though."

Nicholas sensed the quick turn in the mood of their sibling lunch. "What's going on? Are you thinking about Daniel again?" he asked realizing he didn't really help himself in following Victor's instruction by asking the latter question.

Melanie knew she couldn't avoid sharing her plans with Nicholas any longer. Gritting her teeth, she revealed, "I am in the process of getting a plane ticket out to Europe. I'm going to look for my dad myself."

"What?" Everything in Nicholas showed he was floored by what Melanie shared. He almost knocked his food down when he dropped his hands onto the table. Grabbing a hold of his lunch and his discomfort, he shifted in his seat and softly sought out for clarification. "You're not really flying out to find your dad, are you?"

Melanie knew to expect some hesitance about her plan from her brother, but his strong reaction caught her off guard. "What do you mean? I can't just stay here and do nothing. I haven't heard my dad's voice in almost a year. I haven't seen him longer. I have this time off, so I am going to take advantage of it. I'm heading out to where my dad was last seen, and I will find him."

This put Nicholas in the most awkward of positions because while he understood his sister's need to find her dad, he could not allow her to do that for many reasons. "You cannot do that. I can't let you go out there."

"Because something may have happened to my dad?" Melanie questioned out right. "I know I can be quite the emotional and irrational person, but I am not weak. I have been through a lot in my life and have met all kinds of people. I know when people are shady."

Nicholas returned to what Brady had said to him earlier. Brady wondered if he knew anything about Daniel's whereabouts, and while he wasn't exactly sure about Daniel's whereabouts or his situation, questions had burned in the back of his mind. What if he was somehow responsible for Daniel's disappearance?


Wednesday, July 18th, 2012


Nicholas climbed out of his car and made sure the doors were locked. He had arrived to the Cheatin' Heart to meet up with Melanie and a few others. Heading towards the entrance he was cut off by his sister's father. Daniel looked upset and Nicholas wasn't sure why he was there. "Whoa, Daniel. You scared me. Everything alright?"

Daniel stood his ground. "That depends on you. I have things I need to do, but there's something I need to hear from you."

"What's that?" Nicholas wasn't sure how to respond to Daniel because his demeanor towards him was completely different from anything he had experienced before. "Did something else happen to Abe Carver?"

Daniel seemed annoyed with Nicholas's question about Abe and breathed audibly. "I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about you. I need to know what happened to you before you arrived in Salem for Melanie's wedding."

Nicholas's heart stopped as he wondered why Daniel felt the need to ask him about his life before he came to Salem for Nathan's bachelor weekend party. He did not let it show though because he didn't want Daniel involved in any way. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he claimed.

Daniel showed great impatience on his face. "Nicholas, don't do this. I know you had some problems back in Europe. I just need to know this won't come back to hurt Melanie in any way."

Nicholas swallowed hard. He paused for a moment to read Daniel and besides the impatience on his sister's father's face, he also noted Daniel wasn't playing games with him either. How did Daniel know? Finally allowing the discomfort to show on his face – though minimally – Nicholas promised, "It's all under control. No one will get harmed."

Daniel crossed his arms now. He appeared to be unsatisfied still. "No one will get harmed," he repeated with a skeptical tone. "Is that due to your talk with Victor? I overheard everything at his place."

There it was. Nicholas shook his head first due to the disbelief of what was happening. He then nodded. "Everything is fine and will work out as it should. You have no reason to worry, Daniel."


Friday, August 23rd, 2013


Melanie snapped her fingers in front of Nicholas's face to catch his attention again. "If you're so worried about me, you should come with me."

Nicholas swallowed hard as he admitted, "I'm not sure if that's a possibility."

Melanie took a moment to figure out her brother. Something was off. Nicholas was awkward and stiff. "There's something shady... oh my gosh!" Melanie realized why her brother was acting weird.

Nicholas grew nervous. "What?"

"They got to you..." Melanie said while peering closer into her brother's eyes. "Yesterday, you had an emergency meeting at Titan and couldn't meet me for lunch! The meeting was about my dad, wasn't it?"

Nicholas loathed lying to his sister and wished he could be honest about the things he was doing. He couldn't though. "I already told you last night, it had nothing to do with your dad."

Melanie still wasn't buying it. "So you did not have an emergency meeting to discuss how my dad is in trouble and to make sure I never knew anything about it?"

"Whoa!" Nicholas put his hands up to stop his sister from continuing her theories. "You're paranoid now. I understand you need to find your dad, but I already told you I know nothing and I'm not sure if Victor or Brady know anything."

Melanie felt a sense of defeat come over her. She couldn't give up though. "So why won't you come with me then? It's harmless."

Nicholas knew better than that. It wouldn't be harmless. "Melanie, I think we should just stay here and Salem. Daniel will come around."

Closing off from her brother, Melanie shook her head as she declared, "Well, I'm going. You can't stop me on this."

Sonny and Abigail stepped into the café for some coffee a second before Ezra arrived for the same. Spotting Nicholas and Melanie, Sonny tried to excuse himself, "I'll let you two have a minute."

Abigail wouldn't let Sonny go though. She grabbed his arm to make him stay as Ezra moved in closer. "Hey Ezra." She couldn't afford to be alone with Ezra at this point.

Ezra hated that Abigail didn't want to be alone with him. Everything felt wrong now, and he couldn't believe he and Abigail took a few steps backward in their relationship. With concern on his face, he questioned, "I noticed last night that you left the karaoke bar for a moment and came back looking really sad. Everything okay?"

Abigail reflected on when she followed Chad outside of Martha's Sports Grille to yell at him only to see him clearly hurt and broken up about what he had done. "I'm dealing with some family stuff. I'd rather not talk about it," she covered.

Ezra took the hint. "I just wanted to check in about that and about the mayor." He pulled out the card and handed it to Abigail.

Abigail looked the card over and didn't know what to say.

"I guess call me when you decide when you want to meet with the mayor. I hope everything works out with your family," Ezra shared before leaving Java Café. He decided to get coffee elsewhere to give Abigail space.

Abigail began to walk towards the barista, but Sonny stopped her this time. "Wait. Why do you keep pushing Ezra away like that? Is there really some family drama I don't know about?"

Abigail shook her head and reminded Sonny, "I told Ezra I don't want to talk about it. Let's just get some coffee and talk about my next photography project."

Sonny sighed and eyed Nicholas and Melanie one more time before conceding, "Fine, but I am not posing for any more pictures."

"Fine," Abigail relinquished.


"Have you heard back from Chelsea?" Dario asked Ignazio as he joined him on the sofa at the DiMera guesthouse.

Ignazio answered, "Yes. We are spending time together tomorrow evening – at her father's house."

Dario's eyes opened wide. "You're hanging out with Chelsea at Bo Brady's house?"

Ignazio tried to downplay the choice of location by stating, "It's where she lives. I figure I should go to her about this."

Dario gave his brother a look of excitement. "So you're definitely having the talk."

Ignazio couldn't answer.

Grabbing his guitar to play a few chords, Dario gave his brother a curious smile. "Is it a date?" He hoped by playing, it would help Ignazio relax.

The idea of going on a date with Chelsea caused Ignazio to tense up. As much as he prepared himself mentally with the idea of being with Chelsea, he still felt unprepared for it to happen. "It remains to be seen, but I will let you know when things are clearer. What are we doing for the day since EJ told us our presence is not required today?"

Messing around with his guitar, Dario shrugged his shoulders. I don't know. We can play some tunes and figure something out, but at some point tonight I need to work out."

Ignazio took a moment as Dario began to play a song on the guitar. He didn't understand why Dario was waiting to go to the gym later that night when he could just do that earlier. Unable to take it anymore, he grabbed the neck of Dario's guitar to make him stop. "Dario, you know I love you. Maybe I don't express it enough, but I do. I am concerned, and it seems as though you are keeping something from me. When you go to the gym are you doing anything else?"

Discomfort quickly showed on Dario's face as he put his guitar down. He tried his best to hide it from his brother, but he knew full well Ignazio had a gift for seeing right through him at times. "What else would I be doing? I'm going to the gym, and that's all I'm doing. It makes me feel better, and I definitely need it."

Ignazio felt some truth in what Dario had shared but wasn't satisfied. "Maybe I should join you?"

"No," Dario swiftly cut in. "Don't get me wrong here, but I enjoy going alone."

Ignazio stood up and attempted to hold his tongue, but his concern outweighed his want to be tactful with his brother. "Fratello, I want to believe you, but I doubt you are alone when you leave to feel better. There's something you're hiding from me. Something you should not be doing. Have your homosexual tendencies returned? Does your leaving here at random times have to do with Sonny?"

Dario immediately stood up becoming defensive. "You really think I'm meeting up for sex when I tell you I'm going to the gym? You are now just as frustrating as Manny and Ari! You have no idea what you're talking about, so I think you should back off."

Ignazio stepped back with his hands up in the air. The last thing he wanted was to be compared to Arianna and Manny in a negative way. "Dario, I apologize for the assumptions I have made, but as I said before I only come to you about this with concern and love. You have told me in the past you never want to be involved with another man again. I only need to know you will not hide from me if you decide to change your mind."

Dario took a deep breath, so he could speak in a calmer tone. "It is still the truth, Ignazio, but there's something else you need to know. I will most likely be lonely the rest of my life because of what happened with Sonny."

"I do not want that for my brother," Ignazio stated as he walked over and placed his hands on Dario's arms. "I will always be by your side. You will never be alone."

Dario shook his head and turned away from Ignazio. He began to rub his head because he'd rather go back to his guitar and enjoy a light day without having to talk this out. "I don't want you to do that for me. What about Chelsea?"

Placing his hands over his hips, Ignazio grew curious. "Would you hate it if I was involved with Chelsea?"

"No," Dario quickly denied. "I want you to be happy, but I don't want to keep you from that happiness. You don't need to take care of me. I've grown so much because of you, but it's time I do things on my own a bit."

After a sigh, Ignazio acknowledged, "You have a point. If I were in your shoes, I would want the same. I appreciate you wanting me to be happy, but I want the same for you. I know it's still possible for you to live a life of happiness."

"It is," Dario agreed before clarifying, "I can be happy with what I have. I just need to keep rewiring my brain so I don't expect more."

Ignazio shook his head with a look of deep sadness. "Do you realize how depressing this sounds?"

Dario didn't want to say anything more on the subject and sighed with relief when someone knocked on the front door. Answering it, he let Azzura walk in. "Azzura, what are you doing here?"

Azzura revealed a bag of sweets in her hands and gave Dario a big smile. "I decided to stop by to give you something for your sweet tooth. I know how much you desire my cooking." After Dario took the bag from Azzura, she made sure to place her hand on his back to give him a gentle rub.

Ignazio noticed what Azzura was doing right away and didn't miss his chance to call her out on it. "What the hell are you doing with your hands on Dario? You come in here with your desserts just so you can feel him up!"

Azzura let her hands linger on Dario as she excused her actions. "I can't help but find Dario attractive," she claimed. Turing to Dario, she said, "If you need any more sweets, you know where to find me." After a wink, she was gone.

Ignazio took the bag from Dario and placed it on the table to look his brother over. "Are you okay?" he asked showing he was put off by Azzura's actions. "I cannot believe she did that to you."

Even though Azzura's overt flirting was a surprise, Dario maintained, "I'm fine, bro. I'm just as surprised as you, but Azzura is an attractive woman. I'm flattered, it's over, and she's gone."

Ignazio nodded his head trying to read his brother. "Okay. It's over," he echoed dropping the conversation. Grabbing his phone, he smiled internally because his plan seemed to work. He sent Azzura a text to keep trying with Dario.


Will walked out of Sherman's Sporting Goods with a new soccer ball. He was picking up Johnny at the pub later to kick the ball around with Ezra. Spotting the preacher of Abe's old church, Will called out to him, "Pastor Carlson, it's been a while since I've seen you."

Pastor Carlson gave Will a smile and greeted him with a handshake. "Ah Brother Horton, it has been some time since I've seen you or Lexie at church. Is everything alright?"

Will nodded his head as he assured, "I'm well, thanks. I've actually been busy with school and had an internship that was out-of-town." Giving Carlson a confused look, he questioned, "You said Lexie hasn't been to church?"

Confirming Will heard correctly, Pastor Carlson shared, "Yes. I've tried to call and make house visits, but Lexie has not been responsive. I'm worried about her and Theo. Have you seen or talked with her?"

Will tried to mask his concern, but it was there. "I haven't since my return, but I will talk to her soon. I'll let you know when I do."

"Well, I'd much appreciate it," Carlson responded. After scrunching his lips, he decided to take his leave. "I'll let you go, but I hope to see you at church on Sunday. We miss hearing your beautiful voice."

Will gave the preacher an appreciative smile before making his way towards Salem Books. His thoughts were on his experience with Lexie and the Salem Boulevard Baptist Church. On his way, he ran into Celeste, which was really odd. He was keenly aware that she hadn't been in Salem much over the last year or so. His concern for Lexie showed as he greeted her. "So when are you leaving Salem again? Does Lexie even know you're here?"

Celeste was surprised by the bluntness coming from Will but understood it because she also knew Will had spent a lot of time with Lexie when she was away. "William..."

"No, I'm sorry," Will interrupted. "That was rude of me to ask you that. It's not an excuse, but I'm worried about your daughter."

Celeste gave Will an understanding look. "I know, and I am aware that my absence didn't help things. I was doing something important for the family, but now I have returned to help Alexandra put her life back together."

Will grabbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Truth is: I haven't really been there much for her either. I feel bad for not checking in with her sooner."

"I believe she will be fine eventually." Celeste glanced across the square to her right. She was curious about something. "Have you spoken to Chad?"

Celeste's question reminded Will of the conversation he had with Lexie the night Abe collapsed. Lexie had told him to talk to Celeste about Chad, but he didn't want to – not anymore. "Yes, I have, but I don't want to say anything else about it."

Sensing Will wasn't ready, Celeste chose to back down as she glanced behind him. She spotted Joselyn walking out of Mandalay Café. "Tell me something. Do you know that woman standing right there?"

Will glanced back and watched Joselyn as he answered, "Yeah, she's some sort of therapist. Why?"

Celeste sashayed a little closer as she revealed, "There's something strangely familiar about her."

Will and Celeste were not the only ones who spotted Joselyn. At a nearby table, Jack, who was meeting with Nicole, spotted Dr. Brown as well. Standing up from his chair, Jack informed his partner, "I'll be right back. I need to talk to someone."

Nicole was not amused because Jack seemed distracted all day, and she still wanted to talk to him about what happened the night before. Her impatience got the better of her though as she called out to him, "I'm going home if you walk away. I'm not waiting around anymore."

Jack ignored Nicole's warning and caught up to Joselyn as she took a sip from her drink. "Dr. Brown, I wanted to check in with you."

Even though she had told Jack in therapy beforehand that she couldn't make the first gesture in public, she still felt a slight discomfort with him checking in. "Mr. Deveraux, what a surprise seeing you here."

Jack understood Joselyn couldn't approach him as one of her clients. "I just wanted you to know the family and I are on for session this week. We will forgo another individual session."

"That's great," Joselyn replied with some nervousness in her voice. Her anxiety only increased because she had spotted Celeste in the distance. "I really should head off. I will see you around, I'm sure."

Jack wasn't sure what to make of Joselyn's sudden exit because he had never witnessed this side of his therapist before. Turning around to return to his table, he quickly realized Nicole had kept her word and was now gone. "Dammit."

Nicole made her way under the entryway and ran into Kai and Brady. "Hey boys. You want to have some fun?"

Still unimpressed with Nicole, Kai stood back in silence. He didn't particularly like how Brady got around her either.

Since he had just met up with Kai, Brady had to decline Nicole's offer. "Can we meet up later?"

Nicole had already decided she was done waiting around for anyone, so she shared, "I can't make any promises because I might find myself preoccupied with something else. You two have fun with whatever you're going to do in there. Toodles."

After Nicole walked off, Kai broke his silence. "Why do you like her?"

Brady wasn't keen on talking Nicole with Kai and changed the subject. "Let's just talk about you."

Even though he appreciated Brady wanting to focus on him, Kai didn't want to go there yet. "We were talking about Will before we ran into Nicole."

Brady nodded his head. "Right. I really need to visit with him. How did he seem to you last night?"

Kai shrugged his shoulders. "He seemed okay. I feel bad for him because I don't think he's over Chad and with Chad back in Salem, I know that makes it hard for him."

Brady and Kai headed into Mandalay Cafe. "Chad is back in Salem?"

Kai nodded his head to confirm it.

"I had no idea," Brady stated as they got in line. Looking over the menu, he continued, "I wonder what brought that idiot back to Salem."

"I think it would have been easier for Will if he had moved on," Kai shared without thinking but then clarified, "Not with me of course."

Brady turned from the menu to study Kai. He was concerned now. "Are you okay? Maybe we should talk about something else. I hear the internship is still going well."

Kai nodded his head sheepishly because he knew what Brady was thinking. To show he was okay, he shared with a smile, "Yes. I'm excited to show what I've learned when the next semester starts. I feel further ahead because of the ability to work so closely with the doctors."

"That's great," Brady beamed. "What about your folks? Have you heard from them at all?"

Kai grimaced wishing he had something positive to report there. "Nothing has changed with my parents, and I've given up on calling and sending them letters. I have to move forward."

Brady had hoped Kai's parents would have come around by now, but he couldn't let his disappointment show in how he approached the guy either. "It doesn't matter. You're going to be okay because I'm going to make sure of it."

Kai was happy to hear that.


Hanging up his phone, EJ rubbed his face hoping he had finally gotten rid of the threat. This whole ordeal was very tiring for him because he felt out of his element. He wanted to avoid violence for the sake of his family. Walking over to the desk, he picked up a picture frame containing Sami's photo. With a small whisper, he claimed, "I love you, Samantha. I hope you still love me."

EJ continued to look at the picture of his wife. He swallowed hard because he had this fear of allowing her to see the man he had become because he felt unrecognizable. There was so much he still needed to figure out.

Chad entered disrupting the sour mood in the room with his smile. "I've got great news, but before I share what that is, I need to talk to you about something else."

EJ saw the smile disappear from his brother's face as he returned the photo frame onto the desk. "I think I want to hear the good news first."

"How could you do that to me?" Chad demanded ignoring his brother's request. "I went to talk to Lexie about my return, and you allowed me to go in blind. You had plenty of time to tell me about Abe's death."

EJ knew Chad would be upset with him, but it didn't compare to how upset he was. "You had plenty of time to come home and be here with your family. If I told you about it, you would have had it too easy."

Somewhat thrown by EJ's response, Chad wondered, "Had it too easy? Do you want to punish me for being gone for so long? I thought you were happy to have me back, but now it seems you're upset about it."

Shaking his head, EJ informed his brother he had it all wrong. "While I am upset with you for staying away and avoiding my phone calls, I am glad you're back. If you hadn't avoided me altogether when you moved to Texas, you would have known about Abe's sickness and death over a year ago. You would have known everything if you never went away."

"So this was some kind of punishment." Chad repeated as the guilt of being away seeped in again.

EJ crossed his arms. "No, Chad. It was not a punishment. It was a lesson." As soon as he named it, EJ realized something for the first time. He understood his reasons for doing this to Chad even better. Teaching his brother this lesson helped him reconnect to the person he used to be – the person he felt most comfortable being. "I want you to realize you should never turn your back on this family because our family will always need you. We all play our roles in this family and when one person stops playing his or her role, the family struggles. The family is struggling, Chad, and we needed you. We need you now."

Chad stepped back unable to say anything in response. He felt fortunate that his sister didn't hate him for being away. He didn't know what he would do if that were the case. Breaking his silence, he claimed, "I've learned my lesson, but I want to know how it all happened. How did Abe die?"

EJ softened in his approach towards his brother and after placing his hands in the front pockets of his black slacks, he slightly raised his shoulders to show he did not have definite answers. "July last year Abe collapsed the same night he was scheduled to take office again and things only progressed worse from that point on. No matter what the doctors did, his body would not respond."

Chad noted how EJ struggled in keeping eye contact with him. He knew his brother was still affected by what happened to Abe. "They have no clue what made him sick or what killed him?"

Keeping his hands in his pockets, EJ gave Chad his best hypothesis. "His death may have been caused by the solution used on him before he was found in the basement."

Chad allowed the idea to sink in as he reflected on everything that happened before and after Lexie found Abe in their father's basement. His somber recollection of the events that led to him leaving Salem and walking out on Will played heavily in his heart and mind, but then panic began to intertwine in his sadness. A thought and a memory came to the forefront. "What about Will? Could the same thing happen to Will? Didn't the doctors say some solution was used on Will?"

EJ nodded his head and shared, "Your concern has already been addressed. Will gets checked out all the time as a precaution. He is fine, so you don't need to worry about that."

Chad needed to believe EJ but couldn't help voicing one last hope. "I hope nothing is wrong with Will."

"Chad, I said he is fine," EJ repeated. "Let's focus on the future from this point on. What's your good news?"

Hope surged through Chad as he was reminded of the good news he had to report to EJ when he first arrived. A smile found its way across his lips and seemed to brighten everything in the room again. "I found the perfect venue. They are sending papers tomorrow so we can look them over."

EJ patted Chad on the back. "I look forward to seeing what you've discovered. I am happy to announce we are officially moving forward with your project, so as soon as those papers are signed, we can start working towards renovations if necessary."

Chad grinned with such joy forgetting the negative thoughts that plagued his mind just moments before. "That's great. I am happy to hear you believe in this, but I am curious."

"Curious?"

With a nod, Chad continued, "I wonder if anyone – Sami – will try to get in the way and shut it down."

EJ gave Chad a look to acknowledge he understood why Chad would be concerned about Sami. "Don't worry about Samantha. I've got her covered, but as long as we're sharing our curiosity, I have something I need to know. What exactly are you up to with all of this, Chad? Why come back to Salem with this plan?"

"I'm curious to know the exact same thing," a female voice said from the door leading into the foyer.

EJ and Chad turned and were both shocked to see Kate standing in front of them.