Directed by: Albert Alarr
Episode: 10,216

The Brady family celebrates Christmas at home...and are about the only ones who do as everyone else is at the hospital or searching for Marlena. (is Zach whispering to Santa that he wants his contract renewed, not cancelled?)

THE HOSPITAL
Philip and Belle stand watch over their dying daughter as Shawn and Mimi remain closeby. Shawn gives Belle an angel necklace for Christmas when Philip goes to try and find Lexie and Mimi for tea. He mentions how Claire might have been his daughter had things worked out differently. He gets a message to come home and he and Mimi leave for a while as Belle tells them family comes first.

Carrie and Austin continue their discussion on the terrace. He asks about Mike and she carefully answers that he’s still back in Israel with Jeremy. Austin asks if they’ve been under any danger there and she tells him no. She changes the subject to his company. Nicole calls and Austin quickly tells her he’s done what he’s had to do, she needs to file the papers (hello, it’s CHRISTMAS NIGHT) and that he can’t talk right now. After Sami and Lucas exchange insults after their kiss, he notices Carrie and Austin on the terrace and points it out to her. She barrels out there to welcome her sister home and asks about Mike. She notices Carrie’s ring finger is bare and Carrie tells her that she and Mike aren’t together anymore. Cue Austin’s surprised face at that news. Lucas suggests they get back to his apartment (uh, doesn’t ANYONE care about WILL…neither Sami or Lucas have even mentioned their son on Christmas Day!!) and Carrie clarifies there weren’t any hotel rooms available and Roman’s house was sold…Lucas offered her his guest room. Austin mentions she’s just down the hall from him and Sami corrects him with..down the hall from us. Carrie mentions that Lucas told her that Austin, Nicole and Sami are all living there platonically. Austin informs her about the new place he leased and will be living in ALONE and asks Carrie to see more of her while she’s in town. She agrees.


ALICE’S HOUSE
Jennifer, Abby and JJ are about the only family remaining (except for Maggie...where did everyone else go?). Jennifer feels Jack’s presence and when the doorbell rings, is sure it is him. She answers saying “you’re back”, but it’s Frankie. Due to weather his flight was delayed and he realized he had forgotten to give them their Christmas presents. We see them open JJ’s stuffed animal, Abby’s bracelet and a Charles Dickens book for Jennifer. Jack watches from outside the window as he says goodbye to his family.

BRADY HOME
We return to Bo, Hope and Zack enjoying a warm, family Christmas. Bo’s bummed as Chelsea left without saying thanks for her present or even Merry Christmas. Hope encourages him to hang in there. Sure enough, Chelsea returns and apologizes for not saying thank you when she left. His gift of driving lessons kind of smarted, but she realized it was a way for her to get her license back and for that she’s grateful. She hugs him after thanking him and wishes him a merry Christmas. Chelsea brings up having a license and no car will be hard, but Bo pipes in with they might help her with that when the time comes and Hope concurs and and smiles. A visitor arrives and Bo said it’s Hope’s surprise. He hired a photographer to take their family portrait (ouch..on Christmas night and in their own home..that’ll cost them!). Hope’s worried that Shawn’s not there, but Bo left word at the hospital for him to come home and he’ll be there. Sure enough…Shawn and Mimi arrive (sure took long enough for the photographer to set up as Shawn was still at the hospital when he arrived). Hope asks Chelsea to join them in the picture and Shawn asks Mimi to as well. Mimi doesn’t feel it’s appropriate (yeah, she’s not really “family”) but Hope agrees and Mimi does so. Shawn and Mimi return to the hospital. Later we see Chelsea playing with Zack as Bo and Hope watch. They ponder what will happen when Zack’s a teenager, but figure they’ll have 10-12 years before needing to worry about it.

THE SEARCH FOR MARLENA
We find John, Roman and Kate (in the back seat) in the car enroute to Alex’s cabin. The car is stopped and Roman took the keys as he realized they can’t just rush the cabin without cause. He and Kate both remind John it would alienate Marlena even more. Inside the cabin we find Marlena dozing on the couch and Alex at the fire. He puts a pot of milk on the fire to warm for cocoa, which he tells Marlena was one of their favorite things to do while they were together. Later the milks starts boiling over and in the rush to get it, the fire goes out by the milk. Marlena calms an anxious Alex down who was upset his plan backfired, assuring him they can rebuild the fire and heat more milk. John and Co. arrive to see Marlena bending over the fireplace then screaming (as Alex comes toward her with ax in hand). They rush in and pull Alex off of Marlena only to learn a loose ember had caught Marlena’s sweater on fire and Alex was only trying to put it out. When Marlena tells them they had no good cause to break in like that, Kate walks in saying they did…John tells Marlena that they have proof that this man (Alex) is a monster and he’s getting her away from him right now…

As the previews roll…

Lucas to Carrie…”If you’re meant to be with Austin, there’s nothing Sami can say or do to keep Austin away from you.” Carrie says that won’t stop Sami from trying.

Nicole and Sami both feel confident they’ll get Austin

Chelsea and Max are alone in the house and she decides they should take advantage of the situation as she leans in to kiss him.

John is standing next to Dr. Banks and tells Marlena he can press charges against Dr. North and get him out of her life…

As the credits roll….
Linda