Episode #10,538
Taped 3/6
Director - Roger W. Inman

Kayla & Max complete their mission in Italy, as Shawn & Belle’s plan to leave runs into trouble and EJ pays a visit to Steve, and then one to Sami at her request.

IN ITALY, the priest & nun are in a hallway, when a man, obviously some kind of guard, puts a gun to the back of Max’s head. (Max & Kayla are wearing the garb of a priest & nun). He speaks to them in Italian, and Kayla responds back to him in Italian, saying they want to pray with Stefano. He takes out keys to open a door, with a big opaque glass window, on which are printed in big letters…..DIMERA. Max & Kayla hurriedly confer, with her saying she picked up a few phrases she thought they might need from an Italian-English dictionary at the airport, but does not know what the guard is saying. Now the guard comes out, saying in Italian that Stefano is sleeping. Kayla says something back, and now the guard reverts to English. Kayla tells him they are Americans and now Max does some doubletalk with an abracadabra thrown in….and manages to get the gun away from the guard, and has the drop on him. Kayla goes inside, and we see a bed with a big drape over the top, and a hand on the side with the phoenix ring on it. She flips the side of the drape open, and evidently is able to check the body, as she comments “Oh my God, it is true. If I ripped those stitches out, I would see a kidney with John Black’s name on it." Now she moves around, taking pictures with her camera phone. (Handy little things, aren’s they?). She makes sure she gets Stefano’s face in one shot, to prove who the person is, then begins to berate him, putting her hand on the wall plug, so the world would be rid of him and his evil. Nope, she can’t do it, his fate is in God’s hands. She leaves the room, Max puts the guard in a closet, dumps the gun in the trash, and they leave.

IN STEVE’S HOSPITAL ROOM, he is exercising when the door opens and in comes EJ, who is glad to see Steve trying to keep in shape. They exchange words, with Steve saying he is sick of being EJ’s whipping boy, and tells the squire, lol, that he knows what he did. Kayla told him that EJ tipped her off he was at Billie’s, and that EJ wanted to make sure Steve was back in the hospital. Now EJ surprises Steve by telling him the WHY of it all, adding that he got a call from Philip, who told him he thinks one of his men has found Shawn. He claims he is done with Steve, and from now on, Steve is on his own. EJ gets a phone call from Sami, and says he must go. Now EJ knocks on the door, the orderly opens and he is going out the door, turning to Steve and telling him to tell his wife to keep her nose out of his business, as he would hate for Steve to become a widower. The door closes, and Steve pounds on it. He is frantic, wanting Dr. Kraft, matter of life and death. She finally gets there, and Steve tells her he has to get in touch with his wife, immediately. Dr. Kraft leaves, then returns, saying she was unable to locate Kayla. No answer on her phone, and her office (Kayla has an office??? Wow!) said she was out of the country. That she had gone to Italy. Color Steve shocked!

In Sami’s apt. she is working on the fake lab report, as Celeste paces around. Sami is convinced she has made an excellent forgery, having had lots of previous practice (lol, for sure) but Celeste tells her it is not good enough. She again tells Sami there is only one way out for her and that is to get rid of EJ. Sami says no. Celeste tells her she should tell Lucas the truth, and he would understand. Sami admits that is possible, but too much time has passed. Celeste again is urging Sami to do away with EJ, but Sami says, no, no, no. She folds the lab report (which shows no sign of being crumpled up & previously and thrown in the trash) and inserts it into an envelope already addressed. (And one wonders about the stamp and postmark that should be on the envelope). She gets a paper cut, which Celeste claims is bad luck Celeste leaves, and Sami calls EJ to come over, saying the report has arrived, and she thinks they should look at it together. He arrives, she hands him the letter. He gives it back, saying she is the mother and should open it. She does, and gets teary eyed. He asks what is wrong, but there is nothing wrong, all is right. EJ is not the father. She says “you raped me, and are not the father”. EJ replies that he did not rape her, grabs the report, and says he was so sure, so sure, so sure. He crumples the report.

ON TINDA LAO, Shawn & Belle are still packing (one wonders how they accumulated so much stuff in the short time they arrived on the island with nothing). Shawn even packed the wrapper from an empty pkg of diapers (amazing the island has diapers when Belle is talking all the time about Claire having no one to play with) so that no trace of them being there will be left behind. He leaves to find a boat, and runs into Gabby in the hall, telling her they are leaving the island. He shows her the ring, asking her if she knows someone who would be willing to trade a boat for it. She will try, and Shawn leaves to tell Duck. Gabby knocks on the door, wanting to talk to Belle. She wonders why Belle wants to leave, and pulls out all the stops, talking about how she never had friends, and will hate to lose them. She mentions the letter that they wrote, and don’t they want to wait to hear from their parents. She finally gets Belle to admit that Duck had talked to her, and Gabby claims he makes up stories, because he just does not want to lose her. That he does the same when any guys her age happen to come there. Meanwhile, Shawn has been talking to Duck, who tells him he still owes him money, and cannot leave. Shawn returns to the room, but Gabby is wise to her dad, saying he just does not want to admit how much help Shawn has been. She leaves to see about the ring and boat trade, taking Claire’s teething ring to put in the freezer so it will stay cold. She goes down to the bar, a bit angry, and throws the teething ring down, picks up the phone to call “Cap”. She hears someone clearing their throat behind her, and lo, there is Philip! She finishes up her call, then asks if she can help him. We see Shawn coming, who quickly hides and listens, as Philip shows a picture of Shawn & Belle, telling Gabby that he is looking for 2 people who kidnapped his daughter, and has reason to believe they came to this island. He asks if she has seen them.
And the previews show…..

EJ to Sami: I don’t think you begin to understand. This is not just my loss, it is your loss, too.

Belle to Shawn: So it all depends on Gabby, someone we barely know. Our lives are in her hands, Shawn, do you realize that?

Philip, angrily shaking Gabby as Kate watches ….and yes, I said Kate!…..I swear, you’d better start talking. Gabby: Fine, fine, they’re here, you’re right.

Max (on a plane): So what you are trying to say is the love of my life is……
Kayla: Abby Deveraux


Barb