Belle Battles EJ for Mark’s Freedom and Abigail’s Family Finally Accept That She’s Gone

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On todays’ Days of Our Lives, Chad gets home to the Horton house, much to Jennifer and Jack’s relief. JJ, he says, is escorting Gabi home. He fills them in on what happened, from Clyde’s coma to not getting any info on Abigail’s remains. They take in the news that they may never know what happened to her.

They assure Chad he didn’t fail him or disappoint Abigail. Jennifer tells him Abigail is with her parents, grandparents, Doug — everyone they’ve loved and lost. She goes and gets Alice’s time capsule. It was meant to preserve the family’s legacy of love. It was opened for a reason, and Jennifer believes it was to fill it with memories of Abigail.

They start gathering things, from her first article for the paper to a lock of Abigail’s hair from her first haircut and a picture Thomas and Charlotte drew of the family. Chad adds his wedding band as Jack texts JJ to let him know what’s happening.

JJ drops Gabi off at home, thanking her for what she went through to help him. He owes her a ton. “What did you have in mind?” He’s not sure, but she’s a hero. Gabi points out she wasn’t altruistic — she’ll never want to stop making Clyde pay for torturing her. Gabi’s glad he’s been shot, then immediately takes it back and apologizes because it means he won’t get Abigail’s remains back.

He tells her to stop apologizing, he gets it. He talks about how much this sets them back in moving on and accepting she’s gone, and Gabi says she understands. She lost her sister, but at least she can visit her grave. He can’t imagine going home to his parents and telling them they failed.

They part with JJ telling Gabi that he was thinking of sticking around Salem for a while instead of going back to Johannesburg. Claire can look after the business there, he has to stay by his family. They agree to grab dinner or a drink sometime and JJ leaves.

Out in the Square, Cat’s on the phone with her mom’s lawyer. She hangs up as Aaron slinks over, still feeling awkward about her being his sister looking totally different. She hugs him and reassures him it’s true. He asks about the lawyer she hired and Cat says she’s great, but it’ll be an uphill battle for their mom. It wasn’t her fault, he insists. “They have to let her go,” Aaron says, “just like they have to let Mark go.”

Self-defense won’t work, but hopefully the brainwash angle will get her off. (To be fair, it would in Salem. But Vancouver…) They’ll just have to hope for another miracle. But it’s going to be a long, bumpy road to repair the mental damage Clyde did over the years. The good news is, she’s alive and free of him.

Then Felicity shows up with her friend’s mom, who she’s been staying with. Aaron introduces the woman to Cat, who then leaves. Felicity asks if Cat’s really her sister, but hesitates when Cat assures her she is. “You don’t look like Cat.” Big sis pulls up a chair and explains what happened, from the accident to the plastic surgery.

She was just pretending with the whole Abigail thing. They recall the time Felicity cut off Barbie’s hair and tried to blame it on Aaron and Felicity’s eyes light up. “You are my sister!” Cat cries as she takes her sister in. Felicity asks about their mom, and while Cat says she can’t see them, Aaron suggests that doesn’t mean they can’t go to her.

EJ comes cheerfully singing into the SPD interrogation room to talk to Dr. Greene about his future — “or what’s left of it, anyway.” He hands him a plea deal and tells him to sign it immediately, “if you know what’s good for you.” EJ happily walks him through the guilty plea that’ll give him a reduced sentence. He’ll only get 10 years in prison instead of 25!

Mark’s incredulous, but EJ says he’s getting off easy for trying to murder his brother. He shrugs off Mark’s, “Clyde made me do it sob story.” He’s not getting away with trying to kill a DiMera and crossing his family. He pounds the table and demands Mark sign the deal.

He’s his sibling’s legal guardian. What about them? EJ tells him he has no choice, but as Mark reaches for the pen, Belle bursts in, telling him not to sign the paper. She’s not letting EJ railroad her client into making a bad deal. They start going at it almost immediately, while Mark is left wondering who Belle is.

EJ’s confused, thinking she’s still working for DiMera in Hong Kong, but she assures him she’s not an actual employee, just a consultant. And she can take whatever case she damn well wants. Tate’s the one that asked her to help Mark. She points out that Clyde forced him, which EJ pushes back on. Then she says the “alleged crime” happened in Paris, and he’s got no jurisdiction to try an international case.

Belle rolls her eyes when EJ mentions the crime happened to an American citizen: his brother. He can’t use the DA office to settle personal scores. Mark pipes up that he never meant to hurt anyone and the two suddenly remember he’s there and turn to him, with Belle telling him to shut it and let her handle things. “OK…”

EJ tries turning the crime to DNA tampering, but Belle says that doesn’t cut it in this town. Everyone’s done it and gotten off, “including your ex wife and my sister.” So he tries pushing extradition and she counters with time served, community service and NO extradition. “You and I both know, everything’s negotiable.”

In the show’s final moments, Mark’s gone and EJ congratulates Belle. Dr. Greene’s lucky to have her — but if he doesn’t adhere to the terms of the deal to the letter, he’ll prosecute him fully. EJ calls her Mrs. Brady and she informs him it’s Ms. Black. She and Shawn are divorced. She waltzes out as EJ looks thoughtful.

Out in the Square, the Greenes get excited about a family roadtrip to see mom. They hug just as Mark walks up with the news that he’s free, thanks to Aaron. He’s out on bond and only has to serve 18 months. Aaron’s aghast, but it could’ve been worse. He’s got time before he has to turn himself in.

At home, Gabi thinks back to waking up next to JJ. He, meanwhile, arrives just as the rest of the family is outside preparing to bury the new Abigail capsule. Jack and Jennifer tell him, like Chad, that he’s got nothing to be sorry about. JJ adds a memento of his own (a Halloween photo from when they were kids) and they bury the capsule in Abigail’s grave. Jack and Jen insist Chad do the burying, while JJ adds flowers to the grave.