Bo & Hope #70 October 1 - December 19, 2007: 8 hour original edit

DVD #70A 10/1 Steve tries to gain access to Stefano at the hospital. He tricks the guard outside the door into leaving and strolls right into Stefano's room. Steve pulls a gun and vows that Stefano is going to pay for Benjy's murder.

10/2 Andre returns Roman to Sami, with a bomb strapped to his chest. Andre starts the bomb's timer and tells Sami she has just minutes to say good-bye to her dad. Roman urges Sami to leave, but she insists there's time to save him. She calls Bo for help, but he's at a loss as to how to stop the bomb.

At the hospital, Steve holds Stefano at gunpoint and confronts him over Benjy's murder. Stefano swears he had nothing to do with it; Andre is out of control. Steve takes Stefano hostage, heads over to a television station and hijacks a live news broadcast.

Back at the pub, Andre is about to exit the pub with less than a minute on the bomb timer but stops in his tracks when he sees Steve and Stefano on the news. Turning up the volume, the group stares in shock as Steve sends out a message to Andre: return Roman Brady alive or he'll execute Stefano on live TV.

At the cemetery, Bo fills Hope in on Steve's reaction to Benjy's death. He's just thankful Stefano has police protection so Steve can't do anything stupid. Just then, the guard who was posted outside Stefano's door arrives and Bo realizes Steve tricked the guard into leaving. Bo and Hope rush to the hospital, but Steve and Stefano are nowhere to be found. Hope alerts Bo to the TV where they see Steve holding a gun on Stefano.

10/3 Steve gives Andre ten minutes to arrive or he will kill Stefano. Bo and Hope arrive at the television station and Bo tries to calm Steve down by informing him that Andre is on his way to the station with Roman. Tony soon arrives dragging a bound and gagged Roman. Stefano assures Andre that the vendetta is over as Sami and EJ will be married, as Lucas argues. Andre tells them it is too late as dear Samantha is just a memory by now, and laments that she was a feisty one and sure put up a fight for a pregnant woman. Bo asks Roman if what Andre is saying about Sami is true. Roman sadly nods his head as Lucas rushes out to the pub. Stefano asks what on earth has Andre down and shakes his head in grief, and calls Andre a fool. Bo tries to end the standoff by jumping Andre, but in the chaos, Andre takes Hope hostage as Bo tries to talk him down. Andre says that he doesn’t give a damn if Stefano dies. He warns Bo that from now on, he will be dealing with Andre DiMera. Bo reminds him that he is the one he wants, that he is a Brady after all. Bo reminds him that they have a deal of Roman in exchange for Stefano and he demands that Steve release Stefano. Andre says he has changed his mind as Hope is more valuable to him. Stefano orders him to release Hope but Andre just laughs.

10/4 Andre has Hope at gunpoint with everyone surrounding them. Andre sneaks out the back way as Bo runs after them. Stefano scolds Steve for getting Hope killed. Andre, Hope, and Bo followed by cops arrive on the roof in a stand down. Bo relinquishes but orders the exits to be covered. Now it's just Bo, Hope and Andre as Bo tries to convince Andre to give up. Andre threatens to jump over with Hope.

Hope tries to convince Andre to help end the vendetta. She uses inheriting the DiMera fortune as an incentive. Andre backs closer to the edge as we hear police sirens in the background. Andre wonders if there is a swat team coming but Bo denies it and offers immunity if he testifies against Stefano. Andre thinks he's lying. Bo tries to convince him that he will go free but Andre threatens Hope as they almost fall over the edge. Hope tells Bo to shoot and Andre encourages him. Hope slips. Hope elbows Andre, Bo shoots, then Hope falls over the edge. Bo is able to grab her wrist and pull her up. Cops show up and ask if she is okay? Andre has fallen but is still alive and receiving emergency help. The cops congratulate Bo for his work. Bo tells Hope that he knows the vendetta is far from over.

10/5 At the police station, Stefano vows to Bo that he'll make sure Steve spends the rest of his life behind bars. Bo storms out past an arriving Kayla.

10/8 Sami has a talk with Hope, who advises her to follow her heart.

10/9 Hope comforts Kayla, who has brought a sick Pocket to the hospital. The doctor reports that Pocket has been poisoned by various chemicals; he's going to have to report this to Child Protective Services. Kayla defends herself, but Hope warns her to contact a lawyer.

10/11 Lucas, Marlena, John, Hope and Bo are at the pub where Lucas asks them to help save his marriage and that Stefano has gotten the annulment papers. They are surprised but are willing to help. Sami listens to everyone trying to convince her not to marry E.J. She wants to believe that the DiMeras are powerless. When EJ enters, Bo tells him he's unwelcome. E.J. wants equal time to persuade Sammy to marry him but the family again tells him to leave. She tells him that it was a marriage of convenience and tries to let him down easy. The rest of the family celebrates the end of the vendetta but Sami adamantly pronounces that it's not. She is afraid for Will's and the twin's safety. They again try to convince her that marrying E.J. is not the answer. They tell her he will use the children as hostages and will control her. They tell her that they will be there for her and keep her safe.

10/12 Grandpa Shawn uses his cane to jam Andre's hospital room door and then debates "pulling the plug" on Andre's life support. He can't go through with it. Much to Grandpa Shawn's surprise, Andre, in excruciating pain, turns off his own respirator. Grandpa Shawn watches with a strange sense of peace. Responding to the machine's alarm, a nurse and cop finally manage to break into the room. A doctor tries to revive Andre, without success. Stefano returns and demands that Grandpa Shawn be arrested for murder. Bo and Hope show up and ask what happened. Grandpa Shawn tells them he wanted to kill Andre but couldn't do it; Andre killed himself. Stefano doesn't believe a word of it and responds with all kinds of threats. Bo isn't cowed and tells Stefano his "reign of terror" is over. John is hit by a car and left lying crumped in the street as Marlena rushes to his aid.

10/17 An enraged Bo demands Stefano reveal who was responsible for John's hit-and-run. Stefano just laughs in his face. Bo stabs him with a syringe, scaring him into thinking he's going to die, but the syringe is only filled with water. Later, Bo receives pieces of a broken headlight found at John's accident site and hopes it will lead him to the perpetrator. Marlena, Belle and the Bradys gather around a dying John. Though he's in a great deal of pain, John tries his best to hold on, but it's clear he's suffering. Marlena knows she must give John permission to let go, but she's not sure she has the strength to do it. She finally frees John to move on, and he dies.

10/18 It's a day of mourning as everyone prepares for John's funeral. Bo and Hope arrive at St. Luke's and learn Vivian Alamain has arranged for a beautiful service for her nephew. The entire town gathers at the church. The crowd is surprised when Victor shows up and gives a touching eulogy to his former son-in-law. Caroline, Hope, Anna, Sami, Belle and Roman also pay tribute to John. An emotional Marlena thanks everyone for coming.

10/19 The mourners head back to the pub after the service. Everyone remembers John through memories of his life, flashbacks.

10/22 Bo tries to not-so-subtly talk Shawn out of becoming a police officer. Bo and Hope just lost one of their closest friends and the fact that John was a victim of a hit-and-run has tapped into their painful memories of losing Zack. Shawn makes a powerful argument why he has to live his own life. Bo ultimately relents but he's still uneasy about his son entering such a dangerous profession.

10/23 Abe tells Bo they ran the serial number he retrieved from the broken headlight. The car that hit John belongs to a man named Harry Jenks. Bo hopes he can prove the hit-and-run was not DiMera-related so Sami won't have to marry E.J. Bo gets a call from the Police Academy Commander asking to see him and Shawn right away. The Commander is sorry to inform them he's learned about Shawn's defiance of a court order. Someone sent in a letter about Shawn detailing his flee during the custody fight for Claire. He doesn't think Shawn is Academy material. Bo and Shawn want to know who sent the letter but the Commander won't tell them. The trustees will review Shawn's record, make their final decision regarding his admission to the Academy and get back to him. Shawn suspects it was Philip who ruined his chances and takes off to confront him.

10/24 At the pub, Shawn tells Hope his enrolment in the Police Academy has been postponed pending further review. He thinks Philip is behind it as part of his ongoing attempt to make him look bad to Belle. Later, Hope discovers Belle crying in the room upstairs, the bed in disarray. It's clear something just happened, and Hope isn't leaving until Belle tells her the truth!

10/25 Shawn and Phillip are beating each other up and Shawn's face is bloodied. Caroline runs in and breaks up the fight and tells Philip to leave and not come back. Caroline calls Bo and leaves a message. Bo shows up as Shawn is cleaning up the mess. Shawn explains what started the fight. Bo tells him that the commissioner got a letter about Shawn's past giving them the heads up. Shawn believes it was Philip. Bo tells him to trust Belle and let Philip spin his wheels. Bo asks if Shawn trusts Belle and he says yes.

Hope is confronting Belle about what happened with Philip. She knows Philip was with her. Belle is in a robe, crying, sheets have been ripped off the bed and a vase is broken. Hope knows she has just cheated on Shawn. Belle makes the bed as she denies cheating. Hope wants the truth. Belle says that she doesn't know how it happened and says she hasn't been cheating, but this was just a mistake. Hope knows she has been finding any excuse to be with Philip. She denies it. She swears she never meant to hurt Shawn and wishes she could take back that foolish moment.

Hope says her heart goes out to Belle but she cannot accept Belle using John's death as a reason to cheat on Shawn. Belle says it will never happen again and she begs for her not to tell Shawn. Belle says she's never gotten over the guilt with her marriage to Philip ending so abruptly. She cries that she's always been in love with Shawn and she needs him. Hope agrees to keep her secret on one condition. That she cuts Philip out of her life completely. Belle agrees. Hope says that if she suspects this again, she will tell Shawn everything. Bo and Shawn arrive and Belle and Hope ask what happened to his face. Shawn tells them he and Philip fought and Belle wants to know why. The question is avoided and Bo and Hope leave.

Bo, Roman and Abe confront the man they believe hit John. He says he doesn't know John, E.J. or Stefano and asks for his lawyer. Abe calls for E.J. to be picked up in a squad car. They know he is using an alias and he has been jailed for armed robbery. E.J. arrives and denies knowing the man. They believe him but Abe tells them that this man's cell mate was Andre. Tony (a.k.a Andre) is on his cell phone's speed dial and they arrest him. Roman says they are not going to tell Sami. Bo wants to tell her. Roman says he's going to see the babies and he won't be telling her.

Bo and Hope arrive to visit Sami. They tell them about running the DNA test again. Sami asks Bo if the man they suspect has any ties to the DiMeras and Bo tells her about him being a cell mate of Andre's. She now believes that it was a warning to her to marry E.J. Lucas leaves and Bo follows him. Hope comforts Sami and tells her that she doesn't have to marry E.J. Bo assures Lucas that they will figure out a way to convince Sami not to marry E.J.

10/31 Bo shows up to convince Sami not to marry E.J., but she is undeterred. Bo and Hope comfort a grieving Marlena. They ask if they can do anything to help her, and she says yes. She asks them to find John's killer and stop Sami from marrying E.J. Wells. After Bo leaves to talk to Sami, Marlena gives into her rage over John's death.

11/2 Kayla calls Bo (who is enjoying a romantic early birthday night with Hope), and he agrees to help. By the time E.J. and Stefano return to the Salem Inn, Bo has arranged for Kayla's suite to be put under "quarantine." A stymied E.J. and Stefano are forced to leave empty-handed. Bo returns Hope to continue his romantic evening with his beautiful wife.

11/5 Hope confides to Kayla about Belle and Philip's affair. Hope wants to tell Bo, but Kayla warns her that Bo will blab to Shawn. Bo returns home and informs them that Shawn was rejected by the Academy, for now, because of the letter questioning his character. Kayla leaves, and Hope confesses to Bo that Belle and Philip had an affair.

11/6 Hope urges Bo not to tell Shawn about Belle's affair. Bo balks at the idea of keeping a secret from his son. Hope insists it's best for Shawn if they don't tell him. Shawn would likely do something rash and jeopardize his future at the Academy. Bo is non-committal. When Belle and Shawn call his parents over to announce the wedding date, Hope wonders what Bo will say.

11/7 Lucas tells Bo and Hope he wants the entire family to stage an intervention to stop Sami from marrying E.J. Shawn and Belle have just told Bo and Hope they want to get married on Thanksgiving. Knowing Belle's secret, Bo and Hope aren't immediately excited, which Shawn notices. Bo quickly takes him down to the pub for a drink, leaving Hope alone with Belle. Hope tells her that Bo knows about the affair. Belle assumes he hates her, but Hope says he knows people make mistakes. But she can't be sure he won't tell Shawn.

Meanwhile, Bo tries to convince Shawn he's rushing into marriage, until Shawn finally asks if he has something against Belle. Bo denies. Later, they return to Hope and Belle, and Shawn tells his fiancée that Bo approves of their wedding.

Dvd #70B 11/8 Bo, Hope, Roman, Steve and Kayla arrive at the church for Sami’s wedding and stage the intervention Lucas suggested. However, Sami is unswayed, and the disheartened Bradys return to the pub. Bo requests that Roman turn over his service revolver to him. Roman leaves and we see he is carrying a second revolver.

11/9 Sami and E.J. take their vows and the priest declares them man and wife just as three shots ring out! E.J. is hit in the back. Bo arrives and takes charge of the crime scene. Stefano tells Bo that Kate threatened him and E.J. with a gun earlier that day. Meanwhile, Steve hides a gun at Brady's Pub and is almost caught by Caroline. Shawn works his first night at the police station. He tells Bo how much he likes it.

11/12 Roman privately recalls sneaking into the church and aiming a gun at E.J. He continues to remember how he decided not to shoot the groom at the last minute. Meanwhile, Bo and Shawn question Lucas, who insists he was nowhere near the church when E.J. was shot. Bo asks if Lucas knew Kate owned a gun, but he feigns ignorance. Bo arrives at Kate’s and demands to know why she threatened Stefano and E.J. with a gun and asks where her gun is now? Kate evades as best she can and says she threw the gun in a dumpster after her confrontation with the DiMeras.

11/13 Bo confides to Hope his worry that somebody he's close to may be involved in E.J.'s shooting, someone like Roman. Hope supports him and he sounds out all his theories to her. Bo also relates his disappointment in Shawn for leaving the station without saying anything to anyone. Later, Roman delivers news that the doctors couldn't pull the slug from E.J.'s spine. Bo wonders if his brother might use his friendship with Kate to investigate her part in the shooting. Roman is put off by the idea.

11/16 Steve drops by the pub to retrieve the gun he hid behind the bar. Shawn catches him before he can get it, and Steve makes a hasty exit. A suspicious Shawn searches the bar. Bo calls Kate to the station to question her again about her gun. The cops couldn't find it in any dumpster. She admits she might not have tossed it in a dumpster, but says she doesn't remember where she got rid of it. Roman returns from searching Kate's apartment and shows her the gun they found there and asks if she wants to change her story. Shawn calls Bo to the pub, and he shows his dad the gun he found behind the bar. While Bo is proud of Shawn's good police work, he also scolds him for leaving the station without telling anyone. Later, Bo and Shawn confront Steve when he makes another attempt to retrieve the gun.

11/19 Bo escorted Steve to the station with the gun from the pub. Roman surprised Bo with a revelation; it was his gun. He explained that Steve had been protecting him. Steve had gone to the church to get revenge against E.J., but he'd run into Roman, who'd had a gun. Roman hadn't been able to bring himself to shoot E.J., and after the shooting, Steve had covered for him by hiding the weapon.

11/20 On the eve of her wedding to Shawn, Belle visited Hope, who had decorated her home for the ceremony. Hope gently probed to make sure Belle was happy with her decision to marry Shawn. Belle tried to allay Hope's fears but was mortified when Hope admitted she'd talked to Kayla about the affair. Belle insisted Philip was out of her life. Hope cautiously gave Belle her blessing.

11/21 An upbeat Shawn spent his last evening before his wedding with Hope and Bo. He accidentally overheard Hope sharing with Bo her concerns regarding Belle and Philip. When questioned, Hope covered and said she was just worried Philip might try to spoil their day. She thought Bo should talk to Philip about not going, but Shawn insisted on doing it himself.

11/23 On the day of Shawn and Belle's wedding, the bride and groom got ready for the ceremony at Bo and Hope's house. Hope was suspicious when Belle received a call from Philip, but she covered and said it was Mimi. The Bradys and Hortons gathered at the pub afterwards to celebrate the wedding and Thanksgiving. Doug gave a stirring speech about family. After the reception, Hope found Belle's cell phone. Conflicted, she listened to Belle's voicemail message from Philip and learned Belle had met with him the night before the wedding.

11/26 Stefano tells Bo that a woman dressed in black was skulking around the church when E.J. was shot. Though he suspects it was Marlena, Stefano remains vague and pressures Bo to find her. Bo arrives at the hospital and pulls Sami into the corridor to question her about the mysterious woman in black. She finally realizes it was her mother! Hope stuns Marlena with the news that Belle slept with Philip and then lied about never seeing him again. Marlena thinks Hope must be wrong, but she produces Belle's cell phone and says the message from Philip leaves no doubt. Marlena agrees to speak with Belle and is about to leave when Bo arrives.

11/27 Marlena gets defensive as Bo questions if she was at the church during E.J.'s shooting. Eventually, Marlena says he can talk to her lawyer and exits. Bo shares his suspicions with Hope and plans to follow Marlena home to see if she gets rid of the evidence. Roman shows up and takes Bo off on another lead, so Hope heads for Marlena's instead.

At the townhouse, Hope catches Marlena at the door with a trash bag. Hope discovers it's filled with the black dress, hat and veil and a gun. Marlena breaks down and confides she went to the church with the gun. She wasn't going to shoot, but another gun went off first and Marlena accidentally pulled her trigger. A compassionate Hope tells her she and Bo will do whatever they can to help her, but Marlena feels she's lost everything. At the pub, Shawn gets a call from Bo and heads off to survey a crime scene. Shawn shows up at the crime scene and gets busted by a detective when he accidentally tramples over potential evidence.

11/28 Shawn gets dressed down by a cop for carelessness at the crime scene around the cabin. When Shawn talks back, Bo busts his chops, too. He warns that Shawn must learn to follow orders. Shawn is chastened and admits there's a lot he hasn't learned. If he'd been in the Academy his mistakes wouldn't be so public. Shawn accidentally lets it slip that Belle, not Philip, sent the letter to the Academy that got him kicked out. Bo wonders if Shawn can really trust her. Shawn says he's forgiven her; she only did it to protect him from a dangerous job. At the cabin, Bo and Roman discover bullet shells, which they believe are connected to E.J.'s shooting.

11/29 (Not included: Belle and Philip kick their plan into gear to make Shawn look good in the eyes of the Salem PD. Belle sends Shawn into the alley of Brady's Pub where he comes across Phillip’s hired goons). One of his hired goons pretends to sell Kate's gun to another thug as Shawn watches. The "deal" goes south (as planned), and Shawn overpowers the thugs, managing to get his hands on the gun. He tells Belle what happened, and takes off to give it to Bo.

At the cabin, Bo and Roman go over the evidence they found, but it amounts to junk food wrappers and gun shells. After Roman leaves, Hope shows up with Marlena's gun, and she and Bo boil the case down to its simplest form: Kate and Marlena both had guns, but there's still a third shooter missing. Shawn shows up with a gun and gives it to Bo. His parents are proud of Shawn for possibly breaking the case. Bo finds out the gun has Kate's fingerprints on it which leads to her arrest.

11/30 Bo tells Shawn that the gun he found belongs to Kate Roberts. Shawn shouldn't have any problem getting into the Academy in January. Chelsea and Nick tell Bo, Steve and Stephanie they took photographs of evidence against Ford. An agitated Stephanie blasts Chelsea for causing trouble. Ford will try to get even. Bo looks at the photographs and wonders how they got them. Chelsea confesses they broke into Ford's dorm. Bo flips out but she defends her actions, saying the school and the cops have let them down. Bo wants to get a warrant so he can go after the evidence, but Chelsea tells him everything is gone. Ford realized someone had broken in and cleaned out his room. Stephanie knew Ford would get away with it. This touches a cord in Bo and Steve, and they decide to pay Ford a visit. Later, Bo and Steve sternly warn Ford to stay away from their daughters.

12/3 Bo tells Hope it was Belle, not Philip, who sent the letter that kept Shawn out of the Police Academy. Hope reveals she listened to a message Philip left on Belle's cell phone, indicating that they met up the night before the wedding. Bo wants to tell Shawn about Belle's affair, but Hope convinces him to wait.

12/7 Bo and Hope strategize how to find shooter number three. Bo says he's leaving it up to Roman to decide what to do about Marlena and gives a window into what this would cost his brother. Abe, Bo and Hope track down the dealer who sold Kate's gun.

12/10 Bo and Hope follow up Abe's lead to a female gun trader named Lee Elroy who sold Kate's gun. They arrive to find a young woman trying to destroy gun purchase records. She escapes inside the warehouse and when Bo follows, she pulls a gun on him. He discovers she's a gun novice when she can't figure out how to remove the safety. Hope discovers the real Lee Elroy is a man, and "Lee" reveals she's Lindy; Lee was her husband. He died and left her with a kid and a warehouse full of hot firearms. She's trying to sell them all to get her kid back from foster care. Bo has to confiscate the guns, but a sympathetic Hope gives the woman money. Lindy shows Bo and Hope security photos from the day Kate's gun was sold. Bo and Hope are stunned to see Lucas, and they realize he bought two guns. They head back to Salem to get to Lucas before he can ditch the other gun.

12/11 Abe told Bo that Lucas had bought two guns under an assumed name and that it was enough probable cause to search Lucas' apartment.

Hope and Caroline discussed the man that Shawn has become but when Caroline said how thankful she was that Shawn "Picked the right girl," Hope's face fell. Recovering herself, Hope explained that she just wondered if she had prepared Shawn enough for fatherhood. The conversation then moved on to Steve and Kayla whom Caroline said had left earlier. Confused, Hope noticed that Steve and Kayla's car was still in the lot outside. Hope goes outside to check on their car and finds them in the back seat making love.

Later, a giggling Hope promised Kayla that she would not tell anyone about what she happened upon in the parking lot, but Hope grew solemn again when Kayla asked her about Belle and Shawn. Conflicted, Hope told Kayla that Belle had been with Philip on her wedding night and asked Kayla for advice. Based on her recent emotional issues with Stephanie, Kayla urged Hope to tell Shawn the truth. As Kayla promised that everything would be okay, Steve entered the pub and confirmed that the brake line on their car had been cut.

12/12 Bo arrives at Brady's Pub and finds out that someone tampered with Steve and Kayla's car. He asks Hope to call Billie over, then checks out the car with Steve. Bo realizes the job was done by an amateur and not the DiMeras. Billie arrives and Bo asks her where Lucas was the night E.J. was shot. Billie wants to know why Bo is asking. Bo admits he thinks Lucas was the shooter.

12/13 Bo questions Billie about Lucas's story, and Billie admits that Lucas told her he was at the church. She doesn't think he was the shooter, but is surprised to learn he bought two guns. Billie doesn't know where they are. Bo and Hope talk to the nurse Lucas hired to stay with the twins while he went to the church, and she confirms that he left, but didn't see a gun. Bo arrives at Chez Rouge and confronts Kate. Hope finds an upset Shawn (he doesn’t tell Hope but he learned Philip and Belle set him up to find Kate's gun to make him look good to the PD). Alone with Shawn, she asks her son what's wrong, but he just says Philip ruined the reunion for him.

12/14 Hope runs into Phillip and Choloe at Chez Rouge. After exchanging pleasantries with Chloe, she asks to speak with Philip alone. Leave Shawn alone, Hope demands. She asks him to remember his and Shawn's lifelong friendship, which Philip claims not to have forgotten, but "things change." He dares her to tell Shawn that Belle slept with Philip. He knows she won't, because Shawn would never forgive her for not coming forward before the wedding. Hope realizes Belle is terrified that Philip is going to stir up trouble.

Meanwhile, Bo grills Kate about the package Lucas is running all over town trying to find, and about the two guns the cops now know Lucas bought. Kate feigns ignorance. Bo informs her they know Lucas lied about being home with the twins when E.J. was shot; he tells her he could not only charge her with obstructing justice, but since she's already been arrested he can bring her in for questioning at any time and can hold her as long as he wants unless she tells them what she knows. They play cat and mouse for a while; Roman also tries to get her to talk, but she just pouts that she wants the same special treatment Marlena gets. Bo again threatens Kate with obstruction, promising they will find out what she and Lucas are hiding. Just as Kate is about to leave, Bo gets a phone call, after which he tells her she's lost her chance because the package has been located. 12/17 EJ calls Bo and informs him that he has Lucas’ gun (suspected in EJ’s shooting). Lucas confronts EJ and demands his “package” that EJ has acquired. Lucas grabs the box from EJ, and Bo arrives and interrupts them, commenting to Lucas, “I see you talked to your mom”. Sami is floored when she learns the package contains a gun. Bo sends it to ballistics to see if it matches the bullet in E.J.'s spine. Lucas tries to assure Sami he had nothing to do with the shooting, but admits he went to the church that night. A doubtful Sami senses he's not telling her everything. In private, Lucas makes a cryptic call asking for help.

12/19 Hope helped Marlena go through John's clothes to donate them to charity. Since Marlena was clearly emotional, Hope wanted to make sure Marlena was ready to get rid of his things, but Marlena said she must move forward. She told a shocked Hope that she had gone to Stefano on Belle's wedding day and threatened to kill him. She said she was comforted by Hope's presence, since Hope loved John too. They came across a bag containing the clothes John was wearing the night he was killed, and as Hope took it from an upset Marlena to dispose of it, an air-mail envelope addressed to John fell out. They inspected it; Marlena noted that there was no return address, the postmark was smudged, and the stamps looked Spanish.

Inside was an old, black-and-white photograph of a young child sitting next to a woman, though the part of the picture showing the woman's face was torn off. On the back was written, "This is a picture of you and me. Mama." Hope wondered if the picture could be John with his mother Daphne DiMera. Marlena said it didn't look like Daphne, though the boy did look like John. She thought it might be John's real mother. They both wondered who she was, where she'd been all these years, and how much she knew about John's life before he came to Salem. Hope warned that it wouldn't be easy, but Marlena insisted she wanted to find the woman, because it would help her feel closer to John.

In Rolf's laboratory, they saw someone lying under a sheet and hooked up to mysterious machinery. Stefano asked, "Is it done?" and Rolf assured him, "Ja, ja, it is done." Alone with the patient, Stefano talked of how his father, Santo, had restored the DiMera name to its former glory after a fall from grace, and he would not let anyone destroy it again especially not a woman. He said the patient would help him destroy his female nemesis and save the DiMera Empire. **The End**