EJ Tries Throwing Stefan Under the Bus — and Johnny and Julie Realize Something’s Gone Seriously Wrong at the Cabin!

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As we get into Days of Our Lives, we see a snow filled shot of Smith Island and Johnny and Chanel wake up on the couch in the Horton cabin and Johnny tells his new bride it’s “National Take a Wild Guess Day” followed by “Kiss Your Husband Day” and “Get Naked In a Cabin Day.” As they start going at it, though, Julie barges in, then rushes out in horror.

During breakfast, Julie tries to leave, but the newlyweds tell her they’re snowed in. “But it’s April!” Julie exclaims. And now she’s “trapped in the cabin with two hot newlyweds.” Julie wonders what they’ll do, then apologizes for invading their honeymoon and suggests they go frolic in the snow and “make memories.”

She decks them out in a motley assortment of old winter clothes, much to their horror. “Are we five?” Johnny asks when Julie goes back to the other room. They run out into the snow for a bit, then come back to tell Julie how great a time they had. Julie’s delighted and suggests a game of charades, along with some hot cocoa and cognac.

In the middle of charades, they notice the fire is getting low and Johnny volunteers to get more wood. Julie and Chanel talk about how great he is, then get into how Paulina is doing. Chanel tells Julie the cabin is such a special place and Julie reminisces about being there with her grandparents, Tom and Alice. It’s kind of like the time capsule — which she feels was meant to challenge the new generations. “Like a puzzle.” Chanel then suggests she should go out to help Johnny.

Nicole’s quietly drinking coffee in the DiMera mansion as EJ walks in. She was out for a run to clear her head, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the last few months, from losing the baby, to Holly’s problems and now she feels like she’s a little lost. EJ tells her to take her time and figure out what she wants to do now. Holly walks in before they leave for the big press conference and says she was hoping they’d have a snow day, but EJ informs her the snowstorm just missed them, so tough luck. Holly has apology letters for Tate and his family but doesn’t know how to deliver them.

Nicole asks to take them and says she’s proud of Holly. EJ’s not thrilled to have to issue a public apology and when Holly apologizes, EJ makes a remark about her proving him wrong for not being responsible for the drugs. Holly lashes out, telling them maybe she did it because her life isn’t all that perfect. “I’m on my third stepfather and FYI, your name comes with a whole lot of baggage.”

She storms out and EJ gets a call about Stefan’s hearing. He’s going to throw it by presenting such a weak argument, the judge will have to reject the plea agreement.

At the pub, Brady, Tate and Theresa are eating before EJ’s big public apology. Tate’s parents want to talk to him about seeing Holly at school. It’s inevitable, but he needs to stay away from her. They’re just trying to protect him. Holly’s not going to screw up his life.

Tate throws up his hands. He gets it, he won’t hang out with Holly. But he’s got something he wants to talk to them about. He wants to start working at the Brady Pub again, but Theresa doesn’t think it’s a good idea. He needs to focus on school. Brady agrees. Tate keeps pushing, but before they can get far, Holly and Nicole walk into the pub.

Theresa curses and Nicole tells Holly they should go to Sweet Bits. But Holly wants to hand out her letters of apology. Nicole reluctantly agrees and Holly hands them over to the surprised family, her hand lingering on Tate’s as he takes it. He reads it with a smile, thinking back to giving her his sweatshirt and cuddling.

Theresa and Brady thank her as well — Theresa somewhat reluctantly — and Brady is glad they’re coming to the end of this situation. But Theresa makes it clear that the letters don’t change anything about hanging out with Tate. Nicole snaps that they understand and will abide by their wishes.

They go off to eat on the other side of the pub and Holly apologizes again for hurting Nicole. They reiterate that they love each other, only to hear Tate shout “What the hell?!” at his phone. Theresa sees something about the “pill pushing” Tate coming back to school, freaks out and says she’s going to talk to the principal.

Brady insists it’ll stop when EJ makes his public apology. Theresa doubts that. Teenagers don’t watch the news. But Holly comes over and says she’ll make sure everyone at school knows it wasn’t Tate. Brady’s the only one to thank her.

Sloan is meeting with Stefan at the Salem PD, a bit baffled that he worked out a deal before he even hired an attorney. Well, he says, now he’s hiring her. But he balks when she mentions a retainer. His fund access is on hold right now. Sloan starts to walk out, but Stefan promises to pay her handsomely. And he knows she needs the help because her practice has slowed down. Sloan denies this, but says that he’ll have to pay double since he doesn’t have money upfront.

Stefan agrees then explains she’s there, even with his deal, because he has no doubt EJ will try double crossing him.

EJ comes in, surprised that the hearing was moved up, then wonders why Stefan got an attorney. Stefan says he doesn’t trust his brother at all. He needed someone on his side. They go over the terms of the deal again, and how Stefan got the deal by blackmailing EJ with incriminating evidence. But they’re family, Stefan says, and he wants his funds back when he gets home.

EJ scoffs at him coming home, but Stefan warns him it’s that, or EJ will pay.

At the hearing, EJ explains how Stefan has helped cut off drugs and explains the plea deal. Time served is all he needs. The judge rolls her eyes, “appalled” at the blatant nepotism that EJ is showing to his brother. The judge isn’t satisfied with what EJ’s presented, which is when Sloan steps in to provide a breakdown of all the help Stefan’s given in arresting those in the drug ring and curbing the “enterprises of a well-known drug kingpin.” She then talks about Clyde’s threats on Gabi, which included her being hurt because Stefan tried not doing what Clyde wanted.

She thinks that between him being forced and what he’s done to help the police, time served should be enough. The judge is taking it all under advisement and she’ll notify them all when she reaches a decision.

Stefan asks what it means. “Wait,” Sloan says. She’ll check in later. When EJ and Stefan are alone, Stefan wants to know what the hell EJ was doing. He deliberately presented a weak case, but EJ says he did exactly what they agreed to, “No more, no less.” They then trade threats back and forth. EJ can still tell people about Harris, even if Stefan has the recording yet. “My blackmail trumps your blackmail any day of the week!”

He storms out.

In the show’s last few moments, EJ’s already wrapping up the press conference when everyone arrives. As he walks over, Brady demands to know what happened. EJ plays dumb, but Theresa says he started before the press even got there. EJ motions to the guy there, who’s his PR guy. Tate convinces his parents to drop it and leave, but Brady demands a written copy of what he said.

Nicole apologizes after EJ left and insists he’s sorry, but he sucks at apologizing. “Boo hoo! Poor EJ!” Theresa mock cries. But Nicole apologizes on behalf of the whole family and they go their separate ways, Tate and Holly’s gaze lingering.

Julie’s doing crossword puzzles alone in the cabin when she wonders where the kids are. She calls for them from the porch, then goes back inside. “They’ve been out there too long.” Just as she’s about to leave, Johnny comes back with wood. He had to go farther because the wood they had was wet. Julie asks where Chanel is and they panic. Johnny didn’t see her!