In Salem today, Rafe pops into Jada’s hospital room only to find her missing. Off in the park, Leo jumps at a noise, only for Jada to emerge and tell him he’s under arrest. He tries talking his way out of it, and Jada assures him there’s no misunderstanding. He tries making a run for it, only to run smack into Rafe.
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Back in the police station, Rafe handcuffs Leo to the chair as he sings Dimitri’s praises. They want to know where his “boo” is and Leo refuses to cooperate. He insists he and Dimitri are heroes for rescuing a “woman in distress” and her baby. Rafe and Jada tell him to explain. Leo fills them in, saying he left as soon as Eric arrived and Dimitri ran the baby off to the hospital. “I bet he’s still there with him, looking after the little guy.”
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Leo insists that Nicole and her baby have to be OK. “That’s the cutest little human I’ve ever seen.” He then asks to make his phone call and calls Dimitri — who picks up and reels when Leo tells him he was arrested.
Over in the DiMera mansion, Holly’s fretting about her mom, while Tate reassures her. They hug, then gaze into each other’s eyes just as EJ comes in. Holly fills him in on the location finder on her phone, saying she forgot, and EJ flips out at her. Tate tries standing up to EJ and gets called a juvenile delinquent, then says Eric is out looking for Nicole and they were told to stay put. EJ runs off, leaving the teens to fret some more.
She thanks him for being there and he wonders if it was just him or were they about to kiss before EJ ruined it all? “Are you serious right now? My pregnant mom is missing and all you can think about is you wanting to get some?” She calls him a gross womanizer and tells him to get the hell out. He apologizes for misreading the situation and slinks sadly out.
Still on the side of the road, Nicole flashes back to Leo and Dimitri helping her give birth, then tells Eric that Dimitri has the baby. She had a baby boy. “Oh my God, Eric. Dimitri has my son.” She tells him Dimitri was scared to move her, so he left with just the baby, then realizes that Eric doesn’t trust Dimitri and starts panicking. Then we get another flashback to the day before… And Nicole flips out some more, realizing Leo can’t be trusted either.
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Eric calls Rafe to let him know the fugitives have (his and) Nicole’s baby. But there’s no cell service. As Eric reassures her that her and her baby boy will get the help they need, EJ shows up, grinning like a fool that he has a son. He rushes to Nicole’s side and they’re both happy as can be until EJ asks where their son is. No one speaks and after a moment, EJ demands answers.
Once he’s up to speed, Nicole insists on getting up and EJ sends Eric off to look after his own wife. “I can take it from here.”
Sloan tells Melinda that the jig is up in her apartment. It’s time to come clean to Eric. But just as she opens the door to leave, Dimitri’s waiting to knock with Nicole’s baby. They recognize each other from their notoriety and Dimitri says he needs Sloan’s help. Melinda demands to know whose baby that is, and Dimitri’s ready to bolt as he thinks she’s still the DA. After getting reassured, he tells them the baby is EJ’s — which naturally makes them do a double take!
Dimitri fills them in on what happened. He tried going to the hospital, but there were too many cops. He knows Sloan’s good at helping shady folks out of jams, so he ran to her. But as Sloan said, “Yeah, but not like this.” But before he bolts again, Melinda stops him and tells him he was trying to do right, so calm down. “You’ve come to the right place.”
She gestures to Sloan to go along with her and tells Dimitri to leave the kid with them and they’ll take it from there. He hands the baby to Sloan and runs out. She wants to call the police, but Melinda has other ideas… She doesn’t want the cops or the hospital. “This baby could be the answer to your prayers.”
Sloan thinks Melinda’s joking about keeping Nicole’s baby — but she’s not. This is fate. Dimitri showing up just as their adoption fell through? With Eric’s son? Perfection. Sloan points out that Dimitri knows this isn’t theirs, but Melinda shrugs that off. He’s about to disappear with Leo forever and “no one will ever be the wiser.”
As if. Nicole’s going to be hunting down her son left and right. Melinda starts forming a plan to convince the world that Dimitri got the baby to the ER, but didn’t survive. She walks Sloan through the “latest in a long line of maternal tragedies for Nicole Walker DiMera.” Sloan hates Nicole… but that’s just horrible. She can’t do it.
Melinda calls EJ a monster and he shouldn’t raise Eric’s baby. They’ll use the money for the adoption to pay off a shady doctor. In fact, the same sleazy doctor that Sloan successfully represented for insurance fraud. “You came up with all that now?” Melinda promised Sloan a baby, and she doesn’t renege on promises.
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Off in the Horton Square, Stefan stops Paulina and says he needs a word. He tells her to fire her new DA because he went after Gabi. She’s innocent and EJ is using the district attorney office for revenge. “And just how did you and your lovely wife manage to cost my new DA his old job?” Stefan ignores her and accuses her of having a “kangaroo court system.” When Paulina pushes back, he apologizes, but while she sympathizes, she can’t interfere in a murder investigation — especially to aid her police commissioner’s sister. Her hands are tied.
When Paulina tries leaving, Stefan grabs her and stops her. “I’d remove your hand from my arm if you don’t want to draw back a nub.” He backs off, apologizes, and suggests he could make a sizable donation to her next campaign. Bribery? She’s going to pretend this never happened for his own sake. When he tells her she’s making a mistake she might live to regret, “Oh, you really are a DiMera aren’t you?” Yeah. So’s his brother, and she just backed the wrong one.
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In the show’s final moments, Nicole’s finally in a hospital bed, but EJ comes in and tells her no one knows where their son is. He promises they’ll find the baby. Dimitri panics hearing the Leo’s arrested, but when he’s told to save himself, he just freezes.
Eric arrives back home and is greeted by a joyful Sloan who stops him from saying where he was to tell him their baby boy was born tonight. In her room, Melinda walks the baby around, reassuring him that he’ll be home with his new parents soon…
Next on Days of Our Lives, EJ and Nicole grow increasingly panicked, as an increasingly amoral Melinda conducts some shady business.
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This isn’tDays of Our Lives‘ first baby switch — or its first dozen! — as you can see in ourphoto gallery celebrating the show’s 58th anniversary below.
