Bo & Hope #85 September 8 - November 9, 2015: 8 hour original edit

#85A9/8 In the Kiriakis mansion, Steve warned that the letters Victor had received from Bo were clearly not written by Bo. Steve offered to dig up Bo's merchant marine files and prove that Bo had never been to Tahiti. With a groan, Victor countered that Bo had been in Tahiti with Hope. Victor said he believed that Steve was "grasping at straws." When Steve urged Victor to consider that he was not imagining things, Victor said that if Steve was correct, then they needed to determine who had written Bo's letters.

Steve wondered aloud whether Bo had been working for the ISA at all. When Steve asked Victor if Bo had ever said that he was working with the ISA, Victor shook his head no. Eager to confirm whether Bo had been working with the ISA, Steve met up with John at the Brady Pub. After a joyous greeting, Steve broached the subject of Bo's disappearance. Steve asked John to tell him about the last time he had spoken to Bo. John explained that after Bo had given him the letter to give to Hope, Bo had informed John that Bo's investigation had involved an international crime syndicate. "He couldn't give me any details. I wasn't with the agency back then," John added. 

John confirmed that he had not spoken to Bo since that last meeting. John added that Bo had said that he was working for the ISA. With a sigh, John warned Steve not to look for problems that were not there. Steve refused to believe that Bo would abandon his family. "That's part of the life. I think you know that better than anybody. But I'll tell you this; before Bo left to go after Dimera, he was really driven. For the sake of his family. So I will check out this theory of yours, but I've gotta tell you, my gut says that he went off the grid of his own free will," John said. Steve frowned.

In Club TBD, Hope comforted Eric. Eric blamed himself for upsetting Serena enough to send her to the club to drink the night she'd been killed. Hope assured Eric that Serena's murder was not his fault. Eric asked Hope if she had any suspects other than Chad. As Eric looked up, he saw Chad behind the bar. Eric jumped to his feet, and Hope gently grabbed his arm and forced him back down. Hope warned Eric to stay away from Chad. As Eric glowered, Hope asked Eric to take a walk with her.

At the police station, Rafe told Roman about the key at the crime scene. Rafe argued that he did not believe that Chad was to blame because the DiMeras were usually not sloppy with their evidence at crime scenes. Roman countered that Chad had been drinking and that if he had committed a crime of passion, he might have been sloppy at covering up the crime. Shaking his head, Rafe disagreed.

Justin walked over and asked Rafe why he had not arrested Chad yet. Justin recounted the evidence. Rafe reminded Justin that the evidence was circumstantial. When Justin argued about an arrest, Rafe yelled he would arrest a suspect when he was ready. Hope and Eric entered the station as Rafe was arguing with Justin, and she asked what was going on. Justin asked Hope to remind Rafe that his job was to arrest a suspect.

Hope spoke with Rafe and Roman alone. Roman sided with Justin and argued that the key seemed to show that Chad should be arrested. As Rafe sighed, Roman said that he appreciated that Rafe wanted to be methodical, but they needed to make an arrest. Hope told Roman that she had every confidence in Rafe's instincts. Roman nodded and said that he would support Rafe if Hope said he should. After Roman left to tend to a matter, Hope offered to help Rafe. Rafe shook his head no. Rafe said he wanted to find the right killer.

In the park, Aiden told someone on the phone, "Yes, I am very clear on your expectations. Haven't I proven myself by now? I wouldn't dream of letting you down." Aiden walked over to the DiMera mansion to meet with Stefano. Aiden asked for an advance. Shaking his head, Stefano argued that he had promised to pay Aiden when he had married Hope and not a moment sooner. Aiden complained that he had fought a lot of obstacles to get as far as he had with Hope.

"I am telling you. I need the money, and I need it now," Aiden said. Angry, Stefano cautioned Aiden to remember that he worked for Stefano and not the other way around. Aiden apologized. Curious, Stefano pressed for details. Aiden said he had played Hope perfectly and that it was only a matter of time until Hope accepted his proposal. Stefano refused to give Aiden any money.

"Bo Brady is a distant memory! I've earned that money, and I need it, and I need it now!" Aiden yelped. Stefano reminded Aiden that he had evidence of Aiden's past. Stefano cautioned Aiden to remember that Stefano held all the cards.

After picking up Ciara from school, Hope and Ciara talked in their living room about Ciara's day. Ciara explained that her friend Lauren was annoyed that her crush Connor liked Ciara instead. Rolling her eyes, Ciara complained that it was not her fault. "Romance is so complicated," Ciara lamented.

 Changing the subject, Hope told Ciara that she wanted to discuss Aiden. Ciara guessed that Aiden had stayed overnight at their house recently. Hope nodded. As Hope stammered in an attempt to tell Ciara about Aiden's proposal, Ciara grinned and asked Hope if Aiden had proposed to her. Hope chuckled. Hope admitted that Aiden had asked but that she had not answered the question yet. 

Hope said she had wanted to talk to Ciara first. With a grin, Ciara said that she liked Aiden and Chase.

"The important thing is Aiden, he makes you happy, and I really don't want you to be sad any more. Tell him yes, mom," Ciara said. When Hope asked Ciara if she was sure, Ciara answered that whenever they moved in together, she wanted the biggest room. As Hope smiled, Ciara asked about the ring. Hope took Ciara's hand, and she promised that Aiden would never replace Bo. "Sometimes I wish he could," Ciara said.

After their chat, Ciara went upstairs, and Hope stared at a photo of Bo. Hope thought about past romantic moments with Bo and when he had left. "I'll be back before you know it. Nothing is going to keep me from my two beautiful girls," Bo had said. Hope then thought about the last letter she had received from Bo and her heartbreak. Hope thought about all the happy moments with Aiden. With a sigh, Hope pulled the engagement ring out of the box and stared at it. Overwhelmed, Hope broke down in tears.

In an unknown prison, a man with Bo's tattoo on his back lay on the floor of a cell. Disheveled and grimy, the man did not move when a guard entered the cell and kicked him in the back. As the guard left, the prisoner coughed. Roused to consciousness, the prisoner sat up and revealed his face. It was Bo. Bo cowered in the corner of his cell, and he carved into the wall.

9/9 At the police station, Hope reviewed the evidence in Serena's murder. Rafe explained that he still wasn't convinced Chad had killed Serena, even though Roman and Justin were eager to haul Chad in. Hope agreed with Rafe's conclusion that there wasn't enough evidence against Chad yet.

A uniformed cop arrived with a bouquet for Hope from Aiden, and Rafe taunted her a little about it. A beaming Hope declared that she was very lucky. Rafe wondered if it would cause problems between Hope and Aiden if Chad were arrested for Serena's murder, since Aiden was Chad's lawyer. Hope was confident she and Aiden would manage. 
In the park outside Horton Square, as Steve hung up, Aiden hurried through the gate. Steve stopped him so they could finish their conversation, but Aiden said they had finished. Steve bristled a bit. Aiden snappishly acknowledged that Steve was Bo's best friend, but Aiden asserted that Bo had chosen to leave Hope. 

The conversation between the men was starting to turn heated when Hope showed up and interrupted. 

Steve complained about how Aiden had "swooped in on Hope" and Hope had let him. Hope ordered Steve to stop, reminding her that she wasn't some helpless woman on whom Aiden had preyed, and Steve completely agreed. Hope wondered if he thought she'd been disloyal, even though Bo had deserted her, just as Steve had deserted Kayla. Conceding that point, Steve reminded Hope that they were talking about the ISA. Hope declared that she didn't give a damn about the ISA or how noble Bo's mission had been.

Steve told Hope about the letters that Bo had written to Victor, which Steve didn't think Bo had actually written. A skeptical Hope told Steve that it had been very painful for her to finally accept that her husband had chosen his job over his family, noting that she hadn't even heard a word from Bo after she'd filed for divorce, which had told her that he didn't care about fighting for his family. Steve wanted to know how long Hope had known "this dude," Aiden. Hope contended that it was none of Steve's business.

When Steve became angry and demanded to know how Hope could know that Bo was never returning, Aiden stepped in and pointed out how painful the whole experience had been for Hope. It appeared the argument between the men might become physical, but Hope quickly interceded. She pointed out that Steve had given her no reasons to believe his theories about Bo were true.

"You do what you want, Hope, but I won't let it go. I can't," Steve said as he left. Hope turned to Aiden and apologized for Steve, but Aiden observed that Steve had really rattled Hope. Aiden asked if Hope believed Bo was in trouble. Hope asserted that she didn't, and she was very happy with Aiden.

Later, Aiden was walking through Horton Square, fumbling with his money clip until he dropped it on the ground. A hulking thug in a leather jacket picked up the wad of cash. "Looks like the universe knew I was coming to collect on your debts," the goon said, pocketing the cash. "This is just a start. Give us the rest, or I'll be back," the thug warned Aiden.

Hope entered her house without turning on the overhead lights. She tossed her keys in a bowl by the door and plopped into a chair. Reclining against the back of the chair with a sigh, Hope sat in the dark, remembering the letter she'd written to Bo to tell him that she had to move on but would always love him.

When Aiden rang the doorbell a little later, Hope turned on the lights and opened the door. She invited Aiden inside and thanked him for being patient while she considered his proposal. "I accept!" she announced, giggling as she added, "Nothing would make me prouder than being Mrs. Aiden Jennings." Hope kissed Aiden and threw her arms around him.

A guard helped a filthy, barefoot Bo half-stumble, half-walk to the corner of the dirty prison cell. Bo collapsed into a seated position, coughing. "You're not making this easy for yourself. When are you just going to tell them what they want to know?" the man asked Bo. As Bo shivered in the corner, his leg shackled to a chain anchored to the wall, the man knelt down and ordered Bo to look at him.

Bo struggled to open his eyes and turn them to the man, but when he managed, the guard said pointedly, "You're welcome.” Bo was curled in a ball on the floor a little later, dreaming about returning to the home he'd shared with Hope. As he entered the house and called her name, he heard her screaming, "Bo!" Bo awakened with a start, his eyes darting around the cell in a panic.

A guard entered the cell, knelt down, and held a white pill between his thumb and forefinger. Bo obediently opened his mouth, and the guard tossed the pill in. Bo swallowed and opened his mouth to prove the pill was gone. After the guard left, Bo coughed up the pill, which he stuffed into a small hole in the wall.

9/10 At Hope's house, Aiden detected a hint of uncertainty on Hope's face as he happily slipped the engagement ring on her finger. Aiden vowed that he would never hurt Hope the way Bo had, but he added that their relationship would be doomed to failure if Bo continued to be a dark cloud hanging over their heads. Hope assured Aiden that she wouldn't have accepted his proposal if she hadn't been absolutely sure she was ready to marry him. Satisfied, Aiden apologetically excused himself after receiving a phone call. Hope didn't mind the interruption, knowing it was something she would have to get used to.

Later, Hope shared her engagement news with Doug and Julie. Julie was thrilled, but Doug was less enthusiastic about the matter, wondering if Hope was one hundred percent sure she was making the right decision. Hope assured Doug that she hadn't made the decision impulsively; she had made it after realizing that Bo was probably never going to return home. Hope tearfully added that she simply wanted to be happy. Doug nodded and hugged Hope, conceding that he was fine with whatever made her happy. With that out of the way, Julie was eager to start making wedding plans immediately.

Hope met Aiden at Club TBD and told him about her earlier conversation with Doug and Julie. Hope revealed that Julie had suggested scheduling the wedding to coincide with Salem's bicentennial celebration. Hope thought that was a great idea, and Aiden agreed. Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, someone was busy electrocuting Bo in an attempt to force information out of him. When the man's efforts failed, he gave up but vowed to return later to repeat the process, if Bo was still alive at that time.

9/15 As Hope and Ciara walked through the town square, Aiden watched them from nearby while he talked to someone on his phone about his debts. Aiden said that he was "on schedule." After ending his call, Aiden approached Hope and Ciara. With a smile, Ciara noted that her mother had teased her about good news. Ciara guessed that the news was about Hope and Aiden's relationship. When Ciara asked for the news, Hope asked Ciara to wait until Chase could join them. Ciara ran off to find Chase at the yogurt shop.

As Hope and Aiden kissed, Hope spotted Joey crossing the square. Hope called out to Joey then she ran over and hugged him. Hope introduced Aiden to Joey. As Aiden held out his hand, Joey stared in stony silence. Hope rambled on about throwing a welcome home party for the whole family, until Joey interrupted to say, "Except you're not family, Hope. Not anymore."

Joey grumbled that Hope had divorced Bo and moved on to another guy. Hope stressed that she loved the Brady family and that Joey would always be her family. Aiden jumped in and noted that Hope was protective of the Brady family. With a grunt, Joey said he did not believe Hope or Aiden, and he walked away. Hope thanked Aiden for defending her.

Ciara returned and demanded to know what the good news was about. Hope urged Ciara to wait until Chase joined them at home. Aidan's phone rang, and he told Hope he would meet up with her later.

Kayla asked Steve about his theories about Bo. Steve refused to turn his back on his friend. Steve wondered aloud why Bo had escorted his mother to California for medical tests but then had sent her home alone and had never been seen again. Shaking her head, Kayla reminded Steve that there had been letters. Steve argued that the letters did not sound like Bo. The discussion turned heated. Steve said he wanted to retrace Bo's footsteps, angering Kayla. Kayla accused Steve of using Bo as an excuse to skip town. As Steve shook his head, Hope entered the office and asked what was going on.

At the hospital, Aiden visited Stefano in his room. Aiden warned the sleeping Stefano not to die before Aiden had finished the job and had been paid for his work.

9/16 As Hope entered Kayla's office at the hospital, she overheard part of Kayla and Steve's conversation. "You want to go chasing after Bo?" Hope asked. Steve said no one could convince him that Bo had abandoned his family. Hope emphasized that she'd felt exactly the same way at first and she had something that might change Steve's mind. Hope asked Kayla to retrieve the letter, so Kayla opened a file drawer and handed Hope a sheet of paper that had obviously been torn up and taped back together.

Hope explained that it was the last letter she'd gotten from Bo, the last time she'd heard from him at all. She added that John had delivered the letter to her nearly two years earlier, and she'd been so upset after reading it that she'd ripped it up. Steve guessed that Hope hadn't been able to bear throwing the letter away and they both knew why. Hope asserted that after tearing up the letter, she'd realized that it had been the right of Bo's family to read it, as well. Hope gave the letter to Steve so he could read it for himself.



As Steve read the letter aloud, his voice began to break as he neared the end. When Steve finished reading, Hope believed he could no longer deny that Bo had chosen work over family. Steve acknowledged that the letter did sound like Bo, nothing like the letters Victor had gotten. Steve apologized to both Hope and Kayla, explaining to Kayla that reading the letter and seeing Hope's face had made him realize just what Steve had put Kayla through.

Steve berated himself for not being there to talk Bo out of the mission, but Hope contended that Steve would not have been able to do so. She wondered if Bo had been bored with her, but Steve refused to believe that. He apologized again and left. 

Hope asked if Kayla thought Steve would give up on the idea of trying to find Bo. "Not for a minute," Kayla admitted.

Aiden leaned over a sleeping Stefano's hospital bed and ordered DiMera not to die before Aiden finished the job Stefano had hired him to do and Aiden got paid. Stefano snarled that he was hardly worried about Aiden's debts. Aiden countered that Hope had accepted his proposal, and he expected to be debt-free when the two of them walked down the aisle.

As Aiden was leaving Stefano's room, Chase and Ciara arrived for their sports physicals. Ciara wondered why Aiden had been in Stefano's room, since she knew Mr. DiMera was a bad man. Aiden explained that he'd needed to talk to Stefano because he was Mr. DiMera's son's lawyer. Chase and Ciara knew about the suspicion on Chad for the two murders. "[Chad is] my friend Theo's uncle. He'd never murder anybody!" Ciara declared adamantly.

Aiden promised Ciara that he would do everything he could to prove Chad's innocence. Hope and Kayla showed up just as Ciara was cautioning Aiden to stay away from Mr. DiMera. Kayla admonished Aiden that he shouldn't have been bothering Stefano, who wasn't allowed visitors.

Once they were alone, Hope asked how Aiden's talk with Stefano had gone. Aiden claimed that Stefano had fallen asleep while they'd been talking. Aiden inquired about Hope's work, and she declared that it had been "fantabulous" to have Rafe back because they had such a heavy workload. Aiden remarked that it had been weird, seeing Stefano looking so frail. Hope wondered why, since Aiden had never met Stefano. Aiden quickly covered that he'd based his idea of Stefano on what he'd heard about DiMera.

Kayla returned with the kids and pronounced them fit for sports. The kids were excited when Aiden and Hope offered to take them out for ice cream, although Ciara mostly just wanted to know the adults' secret.

Steve found John at Club TBD. Steve said he'd read Hope's letter and agreed that it really was from Bo, but Steve still couldn't accept that Bo had deserted his family. John pointed out that Bo had been working undercover, although he had no idea what Bo had been working on. Steve wanted to know if John had gotten the letter directly from Bo.

"No. After I met with him, the letter was delivered to the hotel room a couple hours later," John replied. He added that he'd done some digging after talking to Steve, but John had turned up nothing. "It's as if Bo never worked for the agency," John explained. Steve was taken aback. John said, "I'll tell you what I hope didn't happen, that the mission went south and the ISA is just covering it up."

Over ice cream in the square, Chase asked his dad and Hope what the big secret was. Aiden proposed acting it out, although Ciara was worried that the adults would embarrass the kids. Aiden suggested that Chase should record what was about to happen, as he had with Aiden and Hope's dance at the gala, so Chase got out his phone while the grownups stepped away.

With their backs turned to the kids, Hope furtively removed her engagement ring and slipped it to Aiden. When Hope and Aiden turned around and Aiden dropped to one knee, Chase began recording.

 "Hope Williams Brady, will you marry me?" Aiden asked. 
"I would love to marry you," Hope replied, beaming. The two kissed, and the kids jumped up from the table to hug their respective parents. After a group hug, Ciara grabbed Hope's hand to get a look at the ring.Ciara wanted to know if her mom and Aiden had set a date yet. Hope said they'd been thinking about doing it during the Salem bicentennial celebration in November. Ciara anxiously rattled off a long list of everything they needed to do before the wedding. Chuckling, Hope declared, "Don't worry! Oh, my gosh, you are like a little Julie!"

An excited Ciara dragged her mom away to look at a dress. Chase groaned that he just didn't understand Ciara sometimes. Just then, Aiden got a text message that read, "Your time is running out!!"

9/17 At the police station, Hope and Rafe discussed the murder investigation. Rafe wanted to get Marlena's input, and Hope thought that was a great idea. Meanwhile, a cop carried a bouquet of flowers over to Hope's desk. Hope read the attached card, "Thank you for making me the happiest husband-to-be in the world"  and handed it to Rafe, who forced a smile and congratulated her.

Aiden went to a secluded section of the town square for a meeting with the guy he owed money to, but instead, he found himself face-to-face with the man who had picked up the cash he had dropped on the ground a few days earlier. Aiden nervously promised to pay the man's boss back, with interest, as soon as possible. Congratulating Aiden on getting engaged, the man extended a hand and proceeded to crush Aiden's.

"Is there no rest for the weary?" Stefano complained when Aiden woke him up. Aiden fretted that he might lose all his fingers if Stefano didn't pay him soon. "Well, is it my fault that you like to gamble, huh? Or that you blew your dead wife's inheritance?" Stefano asked. Aiden started to warn Stefano not to talk about his wife, but Stefano just closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Sighing, Aiden started to leave before changing his mind and deciding to go through Stefano's belongings instead.

After grabbing Stefano's keys, Aiden hid against the side of a wardrobe when he heard two nurses talking outside Stefano's room. One of the nurses entered the room to check on Stefano but was called back into the hallway before she could spot Aiden. Once the coast was clear, Aiden sneaked out of the room then headed over to the DiMera mansion and sneaked into the study. After snooping around for a bit, Aiden found a checkbook and helped himself to one of the checks then took a signed business document, as well.

Later, Kayla went to the police station to see Hope. Kayla had mixed emotions about Hope's engagement news; she was happy for Hope but realized that the news could mean that her relationship with Hope would soon change. Hope assured Kayla that they would always be sisters. Kayla told Hope about her earlier meeting with Steve, and Hope admitted that she wished Steve could find Bo and convince him to return home, for the sake of his kids, his siblings, and his mother, and also so she could confront him about his abandonment and tell him, face-to-face, that their relationship was over for good.

Kayla complained that having Steve back in the picture made it harder to tell herself that she loathed him and was glad to have him out of her life. "When he's in the room --" Kayla started to add, and when her voice trailed off, Hope guessed Kayla was still attracted to Steve.

"Well, I don't know if it's just, like, an old habit or something, or if it's more than that, but I am gonna do my best to fight it. That's all I can tell you," Kayla replied with a nervous laugh. Hope suspected that Steve wanted Kayla back. "Oh, he says that now," Kayla skeptically replied before letting her voice trail off again.

Later, after Hope and Kayla left, Aiden arrived to talk to Rafe, who asked about Aiden's injured hand. Aiden claimed that he had hurt it when he had tried to stop an elevator door that had been determined to close. Aiden added that he had something to tell Rafe, something he was sure Rafe was going to want to hear.

Outside Hope's house, Aiden arranged a meeting with someone, promising that he was ready to pay his debt. Aiden ended the call just before Hope arrived, and she quickly noticed his hand injury. Aiden claimed that a client's dog had mistaken him for the mailman when he had tried to pet it.

As Aiden followed Hope inside, Bo still trapped in an undisclosed location, tossed and turned in his sleep, having a nightmare about being unable to get into his and Hope's house to save her from an unseen danger.

9/18 Steve showed up at John’s and related what he'd learned from some of his old contacts in the Merchant Marine, about a year and a half or two years earlier, a woman named Monika had transported Bo on her charter boat from Hamburg to a freighter in the North Sea. Steve hoped John could find out if there had been any ISA activity in Germany around that time that Bo could have been caught up in.

A little later, John reported to Steve that the ISA had shut down operations in Germany after the incidents with Wikileaks and Edward Snowden, and the timing coincided with when Bo had been there. Steve and John concluded that by then, Bo had already stopped working with the ISA and had been on his own, although neither could figure out why.

John got on the computer to research the Marianne, the freighter where Monika had taken Bo. John learned that the Marianne made regular runs between Hamburg and Copenhagen. Steve sent a message to his buddy Axel to find out if anyone in Copenhagen had seen Bo.

John and Steve agreed that Marlena and Kayla weren't happy about the guys, "getting back in the game." John noted that he'd promised Marlena that he wouldn't let his job interfere with their relationship and if he and Steve screwed up, they would not get another chance.

John found an email from his contact about Ilya Petrov. Along with a photo of Petrov, John learned that the man had defected in 1987 and had been a teacher at Winterthorne Academy in Littleton, Vermont. Since he'd never heard of the school, John did a web search and found its website, which showed a photo of the traditional looking academy, complete with bell tower, on the shores of a serene lake.

Steve got a reply from Axel. "Looks like Bo didn't disappear, after all. He just knew how to fly under the radar," Steve announced. He explained that Bo had been in Copenhagen off and on for a while until Axel had helped him get to Cancun. John frowned when he realized what the look on Steve's face meant.

"Yeah, I'm going, man. I'm going to Cancun. I'm bringing Bo back," Steve declared.

9/21 At the Kiriakis mansion, Steve told Victor about his plan to head to Mexico in search of Bo. Steve had been retracing Bo's steps, dating back to a year before his departure from Salem, and had found a gap in the timeline, right after Bo had taken Caroline to California for treatment.

Steve had hoped Victor might be able to explain the gap, but Victor insisted it was nothing, and he instructed Steve to leave it alone. Steve wasn't willing to do that, and after spending a few minutes going back and forth with Victor on the matter, he got fed up and pulled up an image on his tablet computer that had been taken from a surveillance camera at a bar in Cancun.

"Good God," Victor muttered as he stared at the image. "I thought that'd get your attention," Steve replied. Victor demanded to know how Steve had acquired the image and how he was sure it was real. Steve explained that, after learning that Bo had gone to Cancun, he had started contacting old friends who lived there, and he had eventually found someone who had remembered seeing Bo at that particular bar. Steve added that he had gotten the owner of the bar to dig through the surveillance footage, and the image Victor was looking at was from the last time Bo had been inside the bar. Steve said the ISA had no record of Bo's movements afterward. Steve added that he couldn't even be sure the ISA had been following Bo up until that point, since the files had been sealed, and they weren't even willing to release them to John. Realizing the ISA believed that Bo had turned, Victor insisted that was ridiculous.

"Is it? You're looking at this picture. Now, who do you think Bo is talking to there?" Steve asked. "Some local. I mean, it couldn't possibly be who I thought it was," Victor replied, losing some of his confidence along the way. Steve zoomed in on the woman and showed the image to Victor again.

"It's impossible. Britta Englund is dead," Victor insisted as he stared at the screen in disbelief, looking at a blonde woman who was sporting a dagger tattoo on her right arm. Steve agreed, guessing that someone had lured Bo to Cancun under the mistaken belief that Bo didn't know Britta was dead. Observing that Bo seemed to be playing along in the image, Steve wondered what Bo had expected to gain from the meeting. Steve added that Bo had completely disappeared afterward.

Fearing that someone had captured Bo, Victor wondered how he had failed to realize that sooner. Steve insisted that no one else, not even Hope, could have pieced everything together because that would have required knowing about old contacts Steve and Bo had gained way back in the Merchant Marine days. Steve added that Victor could still help Bo, and he once again urged Victor to tell him about the gap in Bo's timeline.

Victor admitted that Bo had been trying to save Caroline's life at that time, adding that she didn't really have Alzheimer's, she had a rare neurological disease that had similar symptoms but was completely different. 

Victor explained that Bo had gone off in search of a cure and had found a doctor in Peru, Dr. Salinas, who’d had some success with experimental trials involving native plants. Victor added that Salinas had not yet completed the project but had been receiving funding from him along the way, something Caroline and the rest of her family had never been made aware of because he didn't want to give her or them false hope. Victor offered his private jet to Steve, asking only for it to be returned in one piece, preferably with Bo aboard.


In an undisclosed location, Bo was doing push-ups when he heard someone approaching his cell, prompting him to stop what he was doing and pretend to be passed out. A man entered the room, carrying a plate of food, and dismissively greeted Bo. When Bo didn't respond, the man kicked him then rolled him onto his back. Bo still showed no signs of consciousness.

After checking Bo's pulse, the man mused that Bo probably wouldn't last much longer, and he left after adding that it seemed pointless to even bother continuing to provide Bo with food. Once the coast was clear, Bo ate the food then removed a ring from one of his fingers and began using it to loosen a metal plate that had been bolted to the wall. The chain around Bo's ankle was attached to the plate, and Bo seemed to be getting close to prying it off the wall.

At Club TBD, Aiden practiced forging Stefano's signature for a few minutes before changing his mind and ripping up the blank check. Meanwhile, one of the employees informed Aiden that his credit card had just been declined. Embarrassed, Aiden started to hand the man another card but decided to pay for his cup of coffee with cash instead.

Aiden went to the police station to see Hope, and they got into a friendly argument about their conflicting sides of the murder investigation.  "May the best man win," Hope concluded, prompting Aiden to wrap his arms around her and reply that he already had. 

9/25 At the police station, Aiden promised to notify Justin and the police as soon as Chad contacted him if the police agreed to let Aiden know if they located Chad. Rafe assured Aiden that nothing would happen to Chad as long as Chad turned himself in.

While Kayla waited in the Martin house, which was still undergoing renovations and draped with drop cloths, Hope informed Roman by phone that she was taking care of some personal business and had left Rafe in charge of the search for Chad. When Hope hung up, she thanked Kayla for agreeing to be her matron of honor. Kayla asked why Hope was taking a back seat in an important case. Hope explained that she wanted to remind Rafe's superiors that he was a fine cop.

Aiden called Hope and told her that he would meet her at the Martin house soon. Hope was beaming when she hung up. Kayla cautiously informed Hope that Steve had left town because he'd gotten a lead on Bo's whereabouts and Kayla thought Steve was onto something. Hope was skeptical, so Kayla explained that she'd changed her mind about Steve's theories after she'd heard him out. Kayla added that Steve had promised it would be his very last mission. An incredulous Hope reminded Kayla that Steve was the same man who'd deserted Joey and Kayla in Africa.

Hope admitted that she hoped Steve could find Bo, but it wouldn't change how Bo had chosen his mission over his family  or that she'd fallen in love with a wonderful man. Kayla clarified that she had only thought Hope should know what Steve was doing; she didn't expect Hope to change her feelings about Aiden. Kayla got a text message and had to leave, but first she reassured Hope that she would make sure Hope's wedding was great.

Hope and Rafe talked by phone about Justin's theory that Stefano had gotten Chad out of the country. Hope didn't think Chad would have gone along with that plan because it could have made him appear guilty. She instructed Rafe to ask Roman for some more manpower to search for Chad. Stefano's henchman approached Aiden and said that Mr. DiMera wanted to see Aiden.

The henchman arrived with Aiden, who eyed André warily. Stefano demanded to know where the check that Aiden had stolen was, but Aiden feigned ignorance. Stefano warned Aiden that he'd stopped payment on the check. While Stefano coughed and used an oxygen mask, Aiden reminded him that they'd had a deal. "Our deal is off!" Stefano declared, wheezing. Aiden asserted that he'd lived up to his end of the bargain, so Stefano needed to pay up.

When it appeared that Aiden was physically threatening Stefano, André stepped in between them.  "You can collect your money in hell! And I'm also firing you as my son's attorney," Stefano growled. Aiden cautioned Stefano that it left him no choice but to tell Hope everything. André held the door open, indicating that Aiden should leave.

Aiden threatened to go to the cops, as well, but Stefano wondered how Hope would feel when she learned that Aiden had bedded her to get money from Stefano. André shoved Aiden out the door and closed it. André offered to "take care of" Aiden for Stefano, but Stefano said Aiden was more useful to them alive. 

Aiden headed to Horton Square and spotted the mobster who'd broken his finger, talking to Chase. Chase explained that the babysitter was at the ice cream shop, getting him a smoothie. Aiden told Chase to join the babysitter and assured him that it was okay to have an ice cream cone. He asked Chase to wait so Aiden could give him a ride home.

After Chase left, Aiden demanded to know what the thug had been doing with Chase. "Let me put it this way: you've got twenty-four hours to come up with what you owe my boss, or next time I bump into Chase, I'll be giving him a ride, and it won't be to your place," the goon threatened.

When Aiden arrived at the Martin house, he explained to Hope that he was late because he'd given Chase a ride home. Hope was eager to show off the house, but Aiden maintained that wherever she wanted to get married was fine with him. Surprised that her fiancé didn't want to look around, Hope asked if something were bothering Aiden.

Aiden said Stefano had just fired him as Chad's lawyer, but Hope suspected that wasn't the real reason Aiden seemed so upset. "There is something wrong. It's not about Chad... You know how much I love you, and that's why this is so hard for me. I have a confession to make, and you're not going to like what I have to say," Aiden admitted shakily.

Aboard the Kiriakis jet, Steve met with a blonde woman named Claudia to ask her what had happened to Bo Brady. Claudia was reluctant to talk, but Steve reassured her that no one would find out they had spoken. Claudia admitted that she'd been paid to meet with Bo and to lie that she had gotten the knife tattoo to honor her mother, Britta Englund. Claudia had told Bo that Britta was still alive and Claudia knew where she was.

Claudia revealed that she'd been instructed to give Bo a phone number for him to call and learn where Britta was. Claudia claimed she couldn't remember where she'd put the phone number, so Steve held up a rubber-banded roll of bills and offered her a thousand dollars to jog her memory. Claudia agreeably produced a phone number on a torn scrap of paper, and Steve handed over the cash. 

Steve immediately called John and filled him in that Claudia had been hired to send Bo into a trap. Since they didn't have an address, Steve asked John to research to whom that number had been registered a year prior. John called back later and informed Steve that the phone number had been registered to a monastery in Yucatán, Mexico. 

"Why the hell would they lure Bo there? And who gave the order?" Steve wondered.

In his cell, Bo did pushups until he couldn't do any more. He began using his bare fingers to unscrew the bolt that held a metal plate to the cell wall, which in turn held the end of the chain fastened around his ankle. Slowly but surely, he worked the bolt out of the wall. When it was loose enough, Bo grabbed the end of the chain, planted his feet against the wall, and pulled with all his might until he yanked the plate free.

The guard arrived a little later with a tray of food but found Bo's cell empty. Bo suddenly dropped down from above and put the guard in a chokehold until the man lost consciousness. Bo retrieved the keys from the guard's pocket and unlocked his leg chain, but before he could leave, another guard showed up. "Going somewhere?" the guard asked, aiming a gun at Bo.

Later, Bo was strapped to a hand truck, a leather "biter mask" face shield over the lower half of his face. While Bo panted fearfully, a guard slapped him on the shoulder and held out a knife. "Guess what! You and me are going on a little trip. But first, there's a little something we need to take care of," the guard said, holding the knife at Bo's throat. 

9/28 At the Martin mansion, Aiden reluctantly admitted that he was drowning in debt as a result of some risky investments he had made after Meredith's death. Aiden added that he had exacerbated the problem when he had chosen to seek the help of some shady lenders. Stunned, Hope tearfully wondered why Aiden hadn't trusted her enough to tell her the truth sooner. Aiden explained that he had kept the information from Hope because he hadn't wanted her to think of him as a failure.

Aiden expected Hope to say she no longer wanted him in her life, but she assured him that wasn't the case. When Hope asked for a total, Aiden said he owed one hundred thousand dollars. Hope seemed suspicious about the tidy sum, but Aiden assured her he could cover the rest of the debt himself. Hope wanted to know who Aiden's loan shark was, but he was only willing to say that it was someone she wouldn't be able to intimidate. He continues that it was someone who had, in fact, recently made some threatening remarks about Chase. Concerned, Hope quickly made arrangements for the needed funds to be available the following morning, writing Aiden a check as soon as she received confirmation that her request had been processed.

When Aiden delivered the check to the guy who had been hounding him, he was shocked to learn that his debt had already been paid in full. The guy walked away after telling Aiden he didn't know who had provided the money. Aiden met up with Hope in the town square and assured her that the matter had been handled. Aiden started to thank Hope for her help, but she interrupted and asked him to promise that he wasn't keeping anything else from her. Aiden complied, but Hope seemed skeptical.

 After Hope went to get some sugar for her coffee, Aiden removed her check from his jacket pocket, wondering what he was going to do with the money. Meanwhile, Aiden received a text message from Stefano,”We have new business to discuss. Contact me."

Steve visited the monastery to which Claudia's phone number had led him, but it turned out to be empty. Discovering shackles in one of the rooms, Steve realized that the place had been turned into a prison at some point. When he noticed a hole in the wall, Steve leaned in for a closer look, using his switchblade to pry some pills out of it. Cupping them in his hand, Steve contacted someone and asked how long it would take them to run a DNA test.

In an undisclosed location, two men parked a gurney in the center of a room, right below a crackling light fixture. One of the men welcomed Bo, who was strapped to the gurney, to his new home, and the other man mused that Bo would soon find himself wishing for death. "This guy's gonna learn what pain really means," the man added, and he and his partner laughed as they exited the room, leaving Bo struggling in his bindings.

9/30 Caroline entered the Martin house, and once again, she heard a music box playing "Für Elise" and saw Shawn's reflection in the foyer mirror. Angrily calling Shawn a "banshee," Caroline told him that it wasn't her time because her family needed her. She easily recalled the names and problems of her children and grandchildren. "It's not my time, you understand? You get out of here!" Caroline shouted at the mirror.

Julie walked in just then and gently touched Caroline on the shoulders, and Caroline's aural and visual hallucinations vanished. Staring at the mirror in confusion, Caroline mumbled, "I'm not done yet." A concerned Julie called Kayla.

At the Kiriakis mansion, Maggie and Hope started making plans for Hope's wedding. Hope remarked that she thought having her wedding during the bicentennial celebration would help to make Aiden feel more like a part of the family and the community. Hope admitted that, even though Rafe was the lead detective on the serial murder case, she had still been working long hours and until Rafe was convinced Chad had done it, she was keeping an open mind about who'd committed the murders. 

Hope asserted that Rafe was a great detective had to be because he had a lot to prove, especially to Justin. Hope declared that Rafe would soon solve the case, and then everyone would know, as she did, what a fantastic cop he was. 

Maggie and Hope began discussing the costumes for the celebration. Since Maggie didn't think most people would enjoy the nineteenth-century dress, she suggested they go with a 1960s theme, when the mansion had last been in use. Hope got excited when Maggie did a web search for clothing from that era.

Hope and Maggie had fun looking at photos of wedding gowns from the '60s. Hope dreamily noted that she could visualize Aiden in a "Rat Pack" tuxedo. While the women were discussing where people would find appropriate costumes, Dr. Pedro Salinas arrived to see Victor. As Maggie shook the doctor's hand, she asked if Victor was expecting him. "He flew me in from Peru. He said it was an emergency," Salinas explained.

Although Hope was puzzled, Maggie immediately called Victor and informed him that Dr. Salinas had arrived. Relieved, Victor instructed Maggie to get Salinas settled and have the doctor join them at the hospital later, because he was about to take Caroline there. When Victor learned that Hope was with Maggie, he told his wife, "Bring her along. Caroline needs all the people she loves near her now."

Hope and Maggie got off the elevator at the hospital just as Julie, Victor, and Kayla arrived with Caroline. As Kayla took Caroline to get her settled in a room, Maggie and Hope realized that Caroline hadn't known who they were. Julie described how she'd found Caroline arguing with Shawn as if he'd been in the room. Victor explained that Dr. Salinas had been doing some cutting-edge research about Caroline's condition and had developed an experimental protocol that had been somewhat successful. Victor was hopeful that the doctor's research could cure Caroline.

Hope and Maggie were worried about Caroline undergoing an unproven, experimental treatment. Victor pointed out that Caroline's condition was deteriorating rapidly, so they needed to begin treatment right away. Julie agreed. As the others were discussing the treatment, Kayla returned and overheard. "You want to try an experimental treatment on my mother? Over my dead body!" Kayla warned.

Stefano was in his wheelchair in the DiMera study, taking a hit off his oxygen mask, when Aiden entered. Aiden asked why Stefano had summoned him. When André entered and referred to the proceedings as a "business meeting," Aiden objected that he didn't have any business with André, whose identity Aiden still didn't know. André maintained that while Stefano was recovering, he would be handling Stefano's affairs.

Aiden wanted to know why the DiMeras had bought his debts. André explained that they had wanted to lessen Aiden's "burden." André rattled off the colorful names of the men to whom Aiden had been indebted. "We own you, Mister Jennings... And you will do exactly as you're told for as long as we need you," André said. Aiden handed over the cashier's check for one hundred thousand dollars that he'd gotten from Hope, but André pointed out that the sum would barely cover the interest on what Aiden owed.

André wondered what would happen when Hope learned how much Aiden was really in debt for. Promising to repay the rest of the money, Aiden suggested that he could represent Chad as a way to work toward that. "My brother is off limits to you," André declared, adding, "We'll let you know when you can be of service to us." He escorted Aiden through the door and shut it. André asserted to Stefano that they could use Aiden to their advantage, but they needed to take care of their own family first.

Stefano said he needed to rest, so André offered to have Harold get Stefano's room ready. Stefano declared that he was glad to have André home. André noted that people would soon find out that he was alive. "But not yet," Stefano said. "No, not if we can help it," André agreed.

Aiden headed to the police station, where he found Chase and Ciara playing a game of Monopoly at Hope's desk. Ciara informed Aiden that Hope wasn't there but would return soon. Chase asked his dad to join them, but Aiden declined until he saw Ciara taking pity on Chase and returning some of the rent he'd paid for a property she owned. Aiden agreed to play as long as they could start the game over. "Fine. I'll just beat you both," Ciara promised. Aiden seemed to enjoy the closeness that had developed between the kids, who had started calling one another "brah" and "sis."

While the trio played the game, André's words echoed in Aiden's head. 

Ciara and Chase cleaned Aiden out when he landed on their properties, but they sneakily put money back in Aiden's pile when he wasn't looking. The kids were worried because there was "a serial killer on the loose" who might kill someone else. Aiden reassured the kids that the police would catch the killer, and Hope and Aiden would keep them safe. "Nothing is going to happen to any of us, okay?" Aiden vowed, enveloping both kids in a big hug.

10/5 Maggie went to the police station to see Hope, who wanted to know if Kayla had changed her mind about administering the experimental drug to Caroline. Maggie shook her head and reported that Victor and Roman were on their way to the hospital to try to get through to Kayla. "I completely understand why she wants to proceed with caution, but Caroline just doesn't have any other options, does she?" Maggie mused.

She adding that Caroline's health would continue to decline unless her loved ones found some way to help her soon. Hope sadly noted that Bo didn't even have any idea that he might never see his mother again. Maggie pointed out that, while Hope was upset with Bo and had every right to be, it was worth remembering that her experiences with him had made her who she was; in fact, she wouldn't have even applied to join the police force if it hadn't been for him.

Later, after Maggie left, Rafe arrived and started complaining to Hope about the stunt Eduardo had pulled earlier and about Justin's refusal to back Rafe up on the subject. Hope agreed that Justin had made a bad call, but she argued that Eduardo simply wanted to find Paige's killer. 

"You know nothing about him," Rafe countered. Hope replied that she knew that Eduardo had walked out on Eve and Paige years earlier, and she guessed that probably hit a bit too close to home for Rafe.

"You have no idea. You see, before Eduardo walked out on that family, he walked out on mine. Eduardo's my dad," Rafe informed Hope. After Rafe finished filling Hope in on the details, she hugged him and assured him that she would always be available if he needed someone to talk to. Hope also promised that she wouldn't say anything to Gabi about Eduardo.

Hope arrived at the hospital and, after receiving an update, wondered how Victor had found out about the treatment in the first place. "Oh, I didn't find out about it, Bo did," Victor clarified. Maggie and Roman went to the cafeteria so Victor and Hope could talk privately. Victor filled Hope in on how Bo had discovered Salinas and had asked Victor to fund the doctor's research. Victor explained that Bo hadn't mentioned the potential cure to anyone else because he hadn't wanted to get their hopes up.

"[And] the other reason that we wanted to keep it under wraps is because it was potentially a huge breakthrough and a lucrative discovery. We didn't want people trying to get in just to make a quick buck; it would have compromised everything. I mean, if the doctor lost control of the research, we could be in clinical trials for years. If it fell into the wrong hands --" Victor added before letting his voice trail off.

"One thing Caroline doesn't have is time. We need to act now. I just hope that Kayla comes to her senses before it's too late," Victor concluded just as Kayla entered the waiting area. 

A short time later, Kayla, Roman, Hope, Maggie, and Victor gathered in Caroline's room, along with Salinas, who agreed to let Kayla administer the drug herself. Kayla injected the drug into Caroline's I.V. as everyone else watched with cautious optimism.

At the abandoned monastery, Steve contacted John and told him to be on the lookout for some pills that needed to be tested for Bo's DNA. After ending the call, Steve found some breadcrumbs on the floor. 

"Looks like I got here before the rats," Steve mused. Steve soon spotted a bloodstain on the floor, but as he leaned in to take a closer look at it, someone burst into the room and pointed a gun at him, warning him not to move.

Steve claimed that he had simply been doing some sightseeing, but when the armed man didn't buy that excuse, Steve made a sudden move for the man's gun, knocking it out of the man's hand and pulling his own gun before the man could recover. Steve demanded to know where Bo was, but the man insisted that he had never known the prisoner's name or why the prisoner was being held captive in the first place.

Steve wanted to know who had been giving the man his orders, but the man claimed that he had never been in direct contact with the person, adding that he had just been paid each week with cash that a messenger had delivered to him. Steve wondered if Bo had been hurt while being held captive. The man confirmed that extreme measures had been taken in an effort to get Bo to answer some questions, and Steve took that to mean that Bo had been tortured. Nodding, the man added that Bo had been very determined not to answer the questions, which had been about some type of formula or serum.

Pressing the barrel of his gun against the man's neck, Steve demanded to know where Bo was. The man insisted that was all he knew, and when Steve moved the gun away from the man's neck to grab the collar of his shirt, the man head-butted Steve, sending Steve falling back against the wall. Before Steve could recover, the man sprang to his feet and pulled something out of his pocket, which he tried to shove into Steve's mouth. Steve managed to knock the item out of the man's hand, so the man punched Steve and rushed off. 

"You tell your boss I'm coming for him!" Steve shouted at the man, too disoriented to chase after him at that time.

In an undisclosed location, a man approached Bo, who was strapped to a gurney. "You're a tough nut to crack, Mr. Brady. I thought the sodium pentothal would do the trick, but not even the torture would make you talk. So we have a new drug, the only side effect of which you need to know about is death. So, with that in mind, I would suggest that you start talking sooner rather than later," the man said as he injected something into Bo's right arm.

After giving the drug some time to take effect, the man began questioning Bo about the secret serum that Victor was funding, wondering what it was being used for and who had the formula. "It's for...foot fungus," Bo muttered with the slightest hint of a smile.

10/7 At the monastery, Steve concluded that Bo's captors wouldn't have kept an armed guard around for no reason. As he used a flashlight to search Bo's cell for more clues, Steve spotted a scrap of open-weave cloth affixed to the wall, and when he removed it, he found a camera hidden in a hole in the wall. Steve looked around until he found an office with an ancient-looking video monitor and a computer. He sat at the computer and found the video files from Bo's cell.

Steve watched footage of Bo eating from metal trays, strung up by his wrists and doused with water, and being zapped with a stun gun. Further into the tape, Steve saw Bo lying on the floor, a knife in his chest and a large pool of blood on the floor around him. Later, a guard zipped Bo into a body bag and dragged him out, leaving a streak of blood on the concrete floor. Sobbing, Steve leaned back in his chair but unable to look away. "No, man!" he cried, moaning despondently.

Kayla, Hope, Victor, and Maggie were gathered around Caroline's hospital bed while Dr. Salinas made notes in her chart. Salinas assured the anxious bunch that Caroline's vital signs were good, but Kayla was even more worried than the others that they had administered an untested drug to her mother. Kayla suddenly realized that Roman had left without a word.

The group encouraged Caroline to fight to return to them.

Hope and Maggie followed Kayla while Victor stayed behind with Caroline.

Kayla headed to the waiting area and fretted tearfully that her mother hadn't responded to the treatment. Seeing Kayla's anxious, agitated state prompted Maggie to suggest that the two of them take a long walk. Hope promised to stick around and call Kayla if there were any news, so Kayla somewhat reluctantly left with Maggie. Hope called Rafe and proposed that he question the DiMera staff about Chad's whereabouts and offer immunity to anyone who might have taken revenge because of a beef with the DiMera family.

Aiden arrived just as Hope was telling Rafe about Caroline's condition. When Hope hung up, Aiden walked over and silently took her into his arms. After Hope filled Aiden in, he acknowledged how not knowing could be the worst part of something like that. He offered to help Hope out in any way he could, but she assured him that his presence was all she needed.

While Hope checked in with the station, Aiden listened to a news report about Eduardo Larson's $100,000 reward for information leading to Chad DiMera's arrest. 

When Hope returned, Aiden asked if there had been any leads about Chad. Hope couldn't discuss that, but she asked if Chad had ever told Aiden, who was no longer Chad's lawyer, where he might go if he had to disappear. Aiden maintained that Chad had only insisted that he'd been framed. Aiden left for his office, and Hope kissed him goodbye as he got on the elevator.

Later, Aiden showed up at the police station and asked Lani if there were any news about Chad DiMera. Lani said the phones had been ringing nonstop since the reward had been offered. As Lani hurried off, Aiden seemed to be formulating a plan.

With Victor still at her bedside, Caroline dreamed about the time Bo had been forced to arrest her for murder, even though no one, including him, had believed she'd done it. Suddenly, in the middle of her memory-filled dream, she had a vision of Bo in his cell at the monastery and undergoing torture. Frowning and groaning, an agitated Caroline flailed and struggled in her sleep. Victor was unable to calm her, so he shouted out the door for a nurse or Dr. Salinas.

Dr. Salinas rushed into the room a moment later and injected Caroline's I.V. with something, just as Hope ran in. Caroline startled all of them by sitting bolt upright in bed and shouting, "Bo! Bo!" 

Maggie and Kayla had returned by the time Caroline calmed down. Salinas cautioned the others that Caroline could awaken soon or that it could take a couple of days. "Or that serum could have destroyed whole sections of her brain and she is never going to wake up again!" Kayla fumed.

Just then, Steve arrived and silently motioned for Victor to join him outside without letting Kayla know he was there. After Victor slipped out, Salinas advised the others that he had drawn some of Caroline's blood and would get to work on running tests right away. He hurried out.

Kayla sat at Caroline's bedside and spoke softly to her mother, "Mom, it's Kayla. Can you hear me? I just need you to squeeze my hand, all right?" Caroline slowly opened her eyes and smiled, to Kayla, Maggie, and Hope's utter joy. Caroline became a little impatient but lightheartedly so, while Kayla administered some simple, verbal cognitive tests. The women laughed as Caroline cracked jokes.

"I am so glad that you're back!" Maggie declared happily.

Hope chimed in, "We all love you so much." Caroline admitted that she didn't know how she'd gotten there, but she felt very well rested. She told the others that she'd had lots of nice dreams, except for those about Bo.

In the hallway, Victor gave Steve the highlights of what had been happening with Caroline's treatment. He quickly recognized that Steve had bad news and demanded to hear it. Steve explained that he'd tracked Bo down to a prison cell beneath an old monastery in Yucatán, but Steve had arrived too late, although it was still being guarded. 

Steve continued that Bo's kidnappers had been trying to get their hands on the serum that Victor's people had developed for Caroline. Victor understood that, but not why Steve wasn't still in Mexico looking for Bo.

"I don't know how to tell you this. Bo's dead. They murdered him," Steve said quietly, fighting back tears. Victor refused to accept it, but Steve described what he'd seen on the surveillance video. Numb, Victor lamented how hard Bo had worked to help get the research project started.

 "Now Caroline might be saved, and her son...our son..." Victor said, his voice trailing off. A devastated Steve put an arm around Victor's shoulder.
"Wish I'd gotten there sooner," Steve admitted. Victor didn't want to tell Hope because it would only make her mourn Bo all over again. Just then, Hope rushed out and breathlessly told Victor, "Caroline's awake, and she's doing really well!" As Victor headed into Caroline's room, Hope saw Steve's expression and seemed to sense that something was wrong.

aroline beamed at Victor when he entered her room. Steve and Hope walked in as Caroline was describing, "I've been dreaming a lot about [Bo], only it was more than a dream. I mean, it was real. Bo was there, and he was uncomfortable. A lot of time went by. His beard was very heavy. He was in chains." Hope and Kayla tried to downplay it, but Caroline insisted that the dream and the chains had been real.

"I hope he's all right," Caroline fretted.

At the monastery, Bo lay unconscious on a gurney, a bright surgical light flickering overhead, as the two guards entered the room.  "Today, this man is either going to tell me what I want to know or die," the bald captor declared, uncapping a syringe. As the man injected Bo, he asserted that Bo wouldn't be able to fight the drug's effects. The other man seemed concerned that Bo could die with so high a dosage. "If he does, he does. He's useless to us unless he talks, anyway," the bald man pointed out.

As the drug seemed to take effect, the bald man shined a flashlight in Bo's eyes to check his reactions. Bo suddenly stiffened and began to tremble, arching his back and grunting as if he were going into cardiac arrest. The bald man ordered the other one to get the crash cart. The other man dragged the machine over and charged the defibrillator paddles. The bald man grabbed the paddles and started to apply them to Bo's chest. Lightning-fast, Bo suddenly punched the guy, unfastened his restraints, and got up off the gurney.

While the bald man tried to recover from Bo's sucker punch, the other man approached Bo, who pleaded with him, but the man hit Bo in the ribs several times. Bo found the strength to fight back, punching the man in the abdomen and elbowing him in the chin before grabbing the fully charged defibrillator paddles and shoving them against the man's chest. The man collapsed against the floor as the bald man watched helplessly.

10/8 While taking care of another matter at the police station, Aiden learned that Clyde had been arrested, so he offered to give Roman some additional information to ensure that Clyde would stay behind bars for a really long time. "But there is one condition, you didn't get it from me," Aiden stressed.

10/9 As she waited in the park for Aiden, Hope got an obviously upsetting phone call from Roman. Aiden showed up just as Hope was finishing the call, but when he tried to hug her, she stiff-armed him. "Why have you been lying to me?" Hope demanded. Aiden owned up to helping get Clyde extradited to Florida and explained that he'd kept the truth from Hope because Clyde had threatened her and the kids.

An incredulous Hope quickly deduced that Clyde had been the one who'd mugged Aiden in the hotel room. Aiden insisted that as soon as Clyde had been arrested, Aiden had seen an opportunity to put Clyde away for good. Hope was furious that Aiden had deliberately kept her from investigating Clyde. Aiden acknowledged that it was a lot for Hope to accept after "the money thing" but he hoped they were still okay. Hope admitted that she wasn't sure because she was still trying to process everything. Aiden reassured Hope that he loved her very much, and he deeply regretted hurting her. He leaned in to kiss her, and she reluctantly kissed him back.

Later, Aiden was alone in the park when a man approached him. After making sure the man had already cased the DiMera mansion, Aiden gave him a key to the side door of the house on a fob that would disarm the security system. The guy complained that breaking into the DiMera mansion wouldn't be easy. "Well, something tells me that the huge payday I promised you will give you the courage to pull it off," Aiden retorted.

Aiden ordered the man to get inside the house and figure out where Chad DiMera was. He warned the man that the mansion had numerous secret passageways, and the guy wondered if the job would be worth it. 

"When I turn him in, it's a hundred grand. You get ten percent of that right off the top," Aiden said. The man proposed that, since he was doing all the work, he should turn Chad in himself and take all the money.

"If that happens, you will not live long enough to spend one dime of that money," Aiden warned.

Rafe and Hope were both back at the police station when Lani handed Rafe a report. "No wonder our trail has gone cold. Looks like our man Chad is on the run," Rafe remarked, showing Hope the file. After checking it out, Rafe determined that a shell company owned by DiMera Enterprises had chartered a jet to Rio. Hope noted that, if Chad had been on the plane, he could disappear forever.

10/12 At the hospital, Caroline was reading a magazine when Steve peeked into her room to see how she was doing. Caroline reported that she was feeling more like herself with each passing day. Pleased to hear that, Steve abruptly changed the subject, wondering if Caroline was still having dreams about Bo. Caroline confirmed that she was.

"He's in a hospital. It's not a nice one, like this; it's old and neglected. He's been hurt. There's a lot of blood, and his chest was bandaged," Caroline explained. Steve asked if Caroline could tell him anything specific about the room she had seen Bo in. "Well, it looked like an operating room. There's a steel tray with surgical instruments, and there's a big light overhead," Caroline replied.

Hope was horrified to see Will's body lying on the floor. After hugging Rafe, Hope forced herself to approach Will's body. Kneeling beside it, Hope inspected the necktie and noted that it was the same kind that had been used in the other attacks. Hope took that to mean that the same person was responsible, but Rafe pointed out that something was different, the location. "The coroner agrees with me; it didn't happen here," Rafe added.

Rafe continued that the crime scene didn't match up with Will's injuries. Rafe was certain that Will had been killed elsewhere and had then been moved to the apartment. Hope was eager to find out exactly where Chad was, but Rafe remained skeptical that Chad was the culprit, especially since Chad and Will had been friends. Staying focused on Chad, Hope started giving Rafe orders until he finally interrupted and assured her that he knew how to do his job.

Hope apologized, assuring Rafe that she hadn't meant to imply that he didn't know how to do his job. "It's gotten personal," Hope added, shaking her head while struggling to hold back her tears. Rafe understood and offered his own apology, explaining that he was running on fumes. Reluctantly, Rafe and Hope started making plans to inform Will's loved ones. Hope contacted Lucas first, telling him only that he needed to get over to Will and Sonny's apartment right away.

When Lucas arrived and saw the crime scene tape, he wondered if Will was okay. Hope tearfully informed Lucas that Will was gone, but he didn't believe her. When Rafe hesitantly elaborated that Will had been strangled, Lucas still refused to believe what he was hearing, reasoning that if Will really had been strangled, someone from the hospital would have alerted him so he could be there for Will when Will recovered from the attack.

When Lucas tried to rush off to the hospital, he found Hope standing in the doorway, blocking his path. Hope stretched out her arms to give Lucas a hug, but he recoiled, maintaining that Will couldn't be gone.
Lucas finally broke down in Hope's arms, insisting that he wanted to see Will. Rafe reluctantly revealed that Will's body had been taken to the morgue, prompting Lucas to lash out, warning Rafe never to say those words to him again.

"Who would do this? Who would do this to my boy? He's a good boy! He was getting his life together, and he had a sweet family, and a great job! He was a great writer! He really was! I mean, you know how proud I was of him?" Lucas tearfully asked Hope, who assured him that she knew.

 Upon realizing that Rafe and Hope believed that the person who had killed Will was the same person who had previously killed or attempted to kill Serena, Paige, and Marlena, Lucas lashed out again, complaining that if Rafe and Hope had just done their jobs for once, Will would still be alive. 

Lucas quickly apologized, assuring Rafe and Hope that he hadn't meant what he had just said. Lucas asked about Arianna, and after Rafe informed him that she was with a babysitter, Lucas wondered if Sonny had been contacted yet. Hope replied that she was waiting for Victor to call her back so she could tell him what had happened.

Hope added that she had assumed that Lucas would want to be the one to deliver the news to Sami. 

"Oh, God, Sami! How am I gonna tell Sami?" Lucas tearfully wondered. Pacing the apartment, Lucas angrily kicked some furniture as he continued sobbing. Wanting to give Lucas some time alone with Hope, Rafe left after Lucas promised to go to the police station later to give a statement, vowing that he would do whatever he could to help the police catch Will's murderer. Hope offered to call Sami for Lucas, but he declined the offer and made the call himself.

Steve went to John and Marlena's townhouse to tell John his theory about Caroline's dreams. "So, Caroline's psychic now, and we're taking that as proof that Bo's alive?" John asked incredulously. Steve maintained that the dreams were just too specific to be hastily dismissed, and he insisted that if there was even the slightest chance that Bo was still alive, he had to at least follow up on the lead. John pointed out that Steve was going to need a plan, and Steve agreed, promising to let John know as soon as he figured out what that plan would entail.

Catching a glimpse of John's laptop screen, Steve apologized for forgetting to ask how John's own search for answers was going. After John provided a quick summary of the progress he had made, Steve mused that it was too bad that Victor had eliminated Petrov, since Stefano definitely wasn't going to give John the information he was seeking. John agreed but vowed that he wasn't going to give up.

Hope arrived and sadly informed Victor, Maggie, and Kayla that Will had been murdered. Stunned, Victor excused himself so he could contact Sonny, while Hope, Maggie, and Kayla comforted each other and agreed that Caroline couldn't be told the devastating news yet because she was still too fragile. Meanwhile, Steve entered Caroline's room. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here. I saw [Bo] again. I know where he is. You have to help him; he hasn't got much time!" Caroline stressed.

10/13 Andre offered Aiden a deal to clear his debt. Suspicious, Aiden asked for details. Andre asked Aiden to steal all the evidence against Chad and destroy it. Aiden countered that if he committed a crime by tampering with evidence, the DiMeras would be able to blackmail Aiden for the rest of his life. Chuckling, Andre said he did not care about Aiden and would be happy to set him free. Andre added that Aiden had 24 hours to make his decision. Aiden returned to his office. Worried, Aiden noted aloud that he could not help the DiMeras. Aiden stared at his file on Hope. Aiden then looked up Hope's life insurance policy on the computer. Shaking his head, Aiden whispered no and looked over at his photo of Hope.

In the police station, Sami and Lucas sat with Hope. Sami was in denial and wanted details. Hope admitted that there was evidence that Chad had been at each of the crime scenes. As Sami nodded, Hope added that Chad had also attacked Marlena and there is evidence linking him to every crime scene. Marlena shared that Chad had been working with her to restore his memories about the nights of the murders.

"So Chad DiMera attacked you. He murdered my son. And other people. That's not him. That's not Chad," Sami said matter-of-factly. "I worked for him for months at Countess W, I never saw a hint of that," Lucas added. Marlena confirmed that Chad had been drinking heavily. Confused, Sami shouted that Chad did not make sense as the killer.

  Rafe entered and promised to find Will's killer. Hope escorted Lucas and Sami to the morgue.

Hope and Rafe discovered that the ties that had been used to murder Serena, Paige, and Will, had been ordered wholesale in bulk. Hope found invoices attached to the DiMera account. An officer called Hope and informed her that Chad had been spotted. Hope and Rafe rushed to the scene.

10/19 At the hospital, Steve visited Caroline and apologetically explained that he couldn't do anything to help Bo without a solid lead to go on. Sighing, Caroline closed her eyes and tried to remember more details from her visions, eventually recalling that there had been a sign hanging on one of the filthy walls, "Punta Laguna."

Later, Hope found Kayla near the nurses' station and assured her that everyone had understood why she had missed the funeral and, in fact, Sami had found it comforting to know that Caroline hadn't been alone that day. Kayla revealed that she had told Caroline about Will's death earlier. "You know what the worst part is? I'm just so afraid that, um, she's gonna wake up tomorrow, and I'm gonna have to tell her all over again," Kayla admitted.

Confused, Hope said she had been under the impression that Caroline had been doing better lately. Kayla confirmed that it seemed that way, but she added that Caroline was still quite insistent that her recent visions of Bo had all been real. "I mean, if she can't distinguish between reality and fantasy, then I can't really believe that she's getting better," Kayla concluded.

 After noticing that Caroline was pushing her call button, Kayla and Hope went to her room to make sure everything was okay. "How can I be okay when my son's out somewhere in some terrible danger? I am not crazy. Kayla, you have to understand, I can see Bo. And we have to bring him back; we have to bring him home!" Caroline insisted as Kayla and Hope exchanged looks of concern.

10/20 Hope entered Chad’s hospital room and asked Rafe his thoughts about the killings. Shaking his head, Rafe said that Chad was the kind of guy who did not get mad but instead got even. Hope reminded Rafe of Ben's theory that Chad was emotionally devastated to lose Abigail. Unsure, Rafe shook his head no. Hope said the case was up to the district attorney.

At the DiMera mansion, Aiden refused Andre and Stefano's request to destroy the evidence against Chad. When Andre made a subtle threat against Chase, Aiden vowed to pay the money he owed to the DiMeras. Chuckling, Andre suggested that Aiden should ask Hope for the money. As Aiden stewed, Andre remarked that Hope's liquid assets would not cover the amount of money that Aiden owed.

"But she does a have a lovely life insurance policy. Which would mean she would be worth more to you dead than alive. But then a man like you, I'm sure, has already figured that out," Andre said. Fuming, Aiden returned to his office and looked at Hope's life insurance policy. With a sigh, Aiden reviewed the news reports of the Necktie Killer, and he took notes.

When Hope stopped by, Aiden quickly closed his computer and covered his notes. Smiling, Hope asked Aiden what he was doing. Hope joked that Aiden was hiding something from her. As Hope reached for the legal pad, Aiden stopped her. Aiden explained that he was researching honeymoon spots. Confused, Hope asked why they were not planning the honeymoon together. Aiden shrugged. With a sad smile, Aiden promised to pay back his loan to Hope, and he stressed that he was a lucky man.

"I promise you, with me, you will always come first," Aiden said. Hope wanted to make a list for the wedding, but Aiden begged off, noting that he needed to meet with a client. Nodding, Hope asked Aiden if he had decided on a best man. Aiden shrugged. Hope suggested Rafe, but Aiden commented that he did not believe that Rafe liked him. Hope disagreed. With a grin, Hope told Aiden to ask Rafe.

Hope asked Rafe if there were any updates on the case. Rafe explained that he had invited Lani to lunch in order to get to know her better. With a nod, Hope said that was a good idea. Hope confided her concern that Aiden appeared to feel like an outsider in town. Hope added that Aiden did not have a best man for the wedding.

With a chuckle, Rafe asked why Aiden did not fly a friend in from out of town. Hope asked Rafe if he would consider acting as Aiden's best man. Confused, Rafe countered that Aiden should ask. Hope said that Aiden was concerned that Rafe did not like him. Rafe said that was not true, and he was sorry if Aiden had the impression that Rafe did not like him. Rafe said if Hope loved Aiden, then Rafe approved. Rafe said that he would consider agreeing to be the best man if Aiden asked him. Hope beamed. 

Hope hugged Rafe and thanked him profusely. Rafe promised not to tell Aiden that he had had the best man conversation with Hope.

As Aiden wondered aloud in his office, "What the hell am I doing?" Andre slipped in and loudly closed the door. Startled, Aiden asked why Andre was in his office. Andre assured Aiden that Hope had not seen him arrive. Noting Aiden's pale face, Andre asked him what was wrong. Aiden said he refused to be a hit man. Andre countered that he would never suggest Aiden should kill a member of one of Salem's first families. Suspicious, Aiden asked why Andre was in his office. Andre assured Aiden that if he decided to murder Hope, the DiMeras would not stop him. Smiling, Andre said he admired Aiden's ability to turn on Hope.

"I'm a man in a desperate situation, being forced to kill the woman I love, the mother of a young girl, to save my son's life," Aiden said. With a shrug, Andre said the Brady family would take care of Ciara. Furious, Aiden demanded to know why Andre was in his office. Andre argued that Aiden had been unable to steal the evidence against Chad and that he did not believe that Aiden could pull off a murder. Suspicious, Aiden asked Andre why he was so anxious to see Hope die. Andre shrugged and said he did not care.

"If I do whatever it takes to pay you back, what guarantee do I have that this will be over? How do I know you won't threaten my son's life the next time you need someone removed from the face of the earth?" Aiden asked. Rafe interrupted, believing that Aiden was alone in his office. Aiden invited Rafe in, and Andre left. 

Once alone, Rafe asked Aiden if Andre had hired him. Aiden lied and said that Andre was confirming that the DiMeras would not pay for Aiden's services in representing Chad, since Aiden had been fired. Commiserating, Rafe groaned.

When Rafe asked Aiden's opinion on Chad's case, Aiden noted that Chad had said he had been framed. Rafe agreed. Concerned, Aiden suggested that there could be another murder if the real killer were still on the loose. Rafe nodded. When Rafe asked about the wedding, Aiden smiled. 

Rafe offered to help with the wedding planning. Raising an eyebrow, Aiden asked if Rafe would be his best man. Rafe feigned surprise, and he accepted the position.

After Rafe left, Aiden returned to his notes about the Necktie Killer. With a sigh, Aiden added his name as the prime beneficiary on a $5,000,000 life insurance policy for Hope.

At the pub, Hope asked Abigail to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Elated, Abigail consented. Abigail said she was excited to have something to celebrate. Her smile fading, Abigail noted that she had wanted to ask Will to be her baby's godfather. Hope said she was thankful that they had Aiden and Ben to lean on.

 10/21 In his office, Aiden reviewed the edited beneficiary designations on Hope's life insurance policy, with his own name at the top of the list. Chase called his dad from Horton Square just then because he'd been about to head home but had realized he'd misplaced his keys. Aiden promised to meet his son right away. Across the square, Andre thoughtfully watched Chase.

Aiden was incensed when he arrived and found Chase chatting chummily with Andre. Aiden took his house key off his key ring and gave it to Chase, who headed off to meet some friends at the mall. With his finger in Andre's face, Aiden growled, "You come near my son again, and I will kill you." Andre nonchalantly maintained that he hadn't been trying to threaten Aiden; he'd merely run into Aiden's son.

 Aiden informed Andre that he had set everything in motion with the insurance claim. "You've crossed the Rubicon, have [you]?" Andre asked, a bit impressed. Aiden warned Andre not to cross him but promised to pay back every cent he owed the DiMeras. 

"But if I fail, I'll have nothing left to lose. Do you understand?" Aiden declared, angrily reiterating his warning for Andre to stay away from Chase. Andre asserted that Aiden couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.

John walked up just then and asked if Andre were bothering Aiden. Attempting to lighten his demeanor, Aiden lied that Andre needed a lawyer, but Aiden wasn't taking on any new clients. Claiming he needed to return to the office, Aiden left. 

At the hospital, although she spoke in hushed tones, Kayla was clearly agitated as she told Hope about what had happened with Steve before he'd left town again. Hope tried to reassure Kayla that Steve's words had indicated that he intended to return. Kayla said Steve had grabbed her and kissed her right there in her place of business, in front of her colleagues. She continues that the worst part of the whole situation had been that Steve had taken off right after talking to her mother about Caroline's dreams. Hope couldn't help but smile and point out, "Kind of seems like old times, don't you think?" Ignoring Hope, Kayla noted that, at the very least, her mother really seemed to be doing much better.

Dvd #85B Dr. Salinas entered with Kayla and Hope. The doctor urged Victor not to speak to Caroline that way, but Caroline asserted, "He's talking to me like me, not like some ditzy old lady." 

Victor explained that Caroline could go home that day, but first, Dr. Salinas thought she should have another dose of the serum. Caroline tried to refuse, and Roman and Kayla agreed that it seemed like a bad idea.

V ictor sat on Caroline's bed and stated gently that he hadn't gotten the best doctor in that hemisphere to treat her so she could quit halfway through but if she wanted to go home, she could "sit in her room and knit."

He promised to hold Caroline's hand through it. Caroline asked what Kayla thought, and Salinas reassured Kayla that administering another dose was in Caroline's best interest.

Kayla reluctantly agreed as long as she could be the one to administer the drug. Caroline requested her rosary from Roman, which he handed over. After Caroline kissed it and crossed herself with it, Victor told her to take his hand and not to watch while Kayla injected the syringe into Caroline's IV.

Carrying a duffel bag, Aiden let himself into Hope's house and called his fiancée to find out how long she would be at the hospital. Hope, who had left Caroline's room and was waiting near the nurses' station, explained that she would be a little while longer because Caroline was getting another dose of the serum before releasing her. "Give her a hug for me, will you?" Aiden asked. Hope thanked Aiden for checking in.

Kayla, Victor, and Dr. Salinas soon joined Hope. Kayla fretted that her mother was delusional and hallucinating about Bo. Victor insisted that Caroline was still doing much better; she was just worried about her son. Salinas noted that even though he and Dr. Brady were scientists, even she had to admit that they didn't know everything there was to know about the human brain. "Are you saying that you think that this drug is giving my mother some form of ESP? Because if you are, I want you off the case," Kayla said.

Once the women were alone, Hope admitted to Kayla that, even as unsettling as it was for Caroline to keep talking about the dreams, Hope's heart was breaking for her former mother-in-law. Kayla noted that Dr. Salinas' drug was making Caroline believe that her dreams were actually visions. Kayla reminded Hope that they had both worked hard to accept that Bo was gone and to move on, so they should stop thinking about Caroline's visions and focus on Hope's wedding day.

Kayla began ranting about Steve again, blaming her ex for making Caroline think that Bo was out there somewhere but unable to return home. Kayla complained, "Why couldn't he just stay in New York, you know? They like crazy people there!" Hope remarked that Steve was just in love with Kayla, who adamantly refused to believe that.

Kayla grumbled that it was just like Steve to encourage Caroline to believe she had some kind of mystical powers in which she could see Bo then for Steve to take off and leave Kayla to clean up the mess. 

"My mom now believes that her son is coming back, and it is not true!" Kayla asserted. Hope assured Kayla that, as much as Caroline wanted to believe that Bo was returning, Hope knew the dreams were only dreams. "It's time for me to move on with my life, with Aiden," Hope said.

Victor stepped outside to call Steve but got no answer. "You promised to keep me posted. What's going on? Have you found out anything? Call me back!" a worried Victor ordered on Steve's voicemail.

As he set down his bag in the Brady house, Aiden noticed a pile of response cards from the wedding invitations. Caroline's was on top, and although her name was handwritten on it, the response line wasn't marked. With a heavy sigh, Aiden sat down and unzipped the duffel, urging himself not to think about what he was doing. Sighing again, Aiden took out a pair of black leather gloves, a black turtleneck, a black hood with eye and mouth holes and a red necktie. Wrapping the tie around his hands, Aiden rested his chin on his fists and contemplated what he was planning.

Aiden pictured himself in a tuxedo, carrying Hope in her wedding gown across the threshold, and the two of them falling into bed together. Just as it seemed they would consummate their marriage, Aiden said he'd left some Champagne in the car and wanted to retrieve it so they could celebrate. Aiden watched himself go downstairs, take off his tie and tuxedo jacket, then don all the pieces of his Necktie Killer costume. "Sorry, Hope. There isn't any other way," the real Aiden told himself shakily.

Aiden imagined himself going outside and using a crowbar to make it look like the killer had broken into the house. Tie in hand, fantasy Aiden began climbing the stairs, and the real Aiden followed. While his true self "watched," Imaginary Aiden crept up behind Hope, who was blissfully remarking that she felt as if she were in a romance novel. Fantasy Aiden swiftly got the necktie around Hope's neck and strangled her until she stopped breathing.

Reality Aiden looked down at his bride's lifeless form until it vanished and he was standing next to the bed, holding the tie. He lay back on the bed, obviously dreading what he had to do. Aiden went back downstairs and imagined himself back in the bedroom, using a gloved finger to dial 911 from the landline, and placing the phone in Hope's right hand. 

Imaginary Aiden went downstairs and exchanged a long look with the real Aiden before removing his costume, which he returned to the duffel bag.

After putting the tux jacket and tie back on, faux Aiden took a bottle of expensive Champagne out of the bag and headed to the front porch. When the emergency vehicles arrived, fantasy Aiden breathlessly ran out to the street, calling, "Thank God you're here!" 

Back inside, the real Aiden told himself, "It'll work. It has to."

In Mexico, Bo was asleep on a narrow bed, sweaty but shivering and mumbling fretfully in his sleep, in a crude cabin. A woman approached and placed a gentle hand on Bo's shoulder, and he jerked awake, staring at her mistrustfully. In Spanish, she quietly urged him to calm down because he was very sick. "Sick," she managed in English. Bo insisted that he had to get home to his wife and daughter.

Throwing in what words he knew in Spanish, Bo asked for a phone or a radio to communicate with, but the woman informed that there was no electricity in the cabin. The woman gave Bo a cup of liquid and, in Spanish, encouraged him to drink because he was very weak. Bo asked if there were a town or city nearby, but the woman didn't understand. Showing the woman the scars on his arm, Bo tried to explain that bad men had hurt him, put drugs in him, and made him sick. Again, the woman didn't understand.

Bo asked if the woman had a map. She did understand that, as the word was very close to the Spanish word, mapa, and left to look for one. The woman appeared after a few minutes with a map in hand. Bo thanked her in Spanish and asked where her casa was on the map. The woman pointed it out, and Bo studied the map until he found Playa del Carmen, which didn't appear very far away and where he knew there was a safe house.

"This is very good news!" Bo exclaimed. With a few stilted Spanish words, Bo introduced himself and asked the woman's name. "Lucia," she replied, smiling because she'd understood him.

"Lucia, I love you, because now I believe I know where I am," Bo said, returning his attention to the map. Talking mostly to himself, Bo continued that once he got to the safe house, he could call his wife and daughter to let them know he was all right. As Bo used his finger to trace his route on the map and tried to get out of bed, Lucia sat him back down, urging him to rest.

Bo asked which direction Playa del Carmen was. Lucia reluctantly pointed in the general direction but told Bo to wait until the next day. When Lucia gently pushed him into a reclining position, Bo weakly submitted, falling asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

Steve found the place where Bo had been tortured and which Caroline had seen in her dreams. As he explored the dingy exam room with a flashlight, Steve spotted a sign that read "Punta Laguna," just as she had described it. Beneath that were the words "Centro Medico." 

Steve found a used syringe on the floor and gave it a sniff. He searched the gurney to which Bo had been strapped and found the unfastened restraints. "The hell, Bo? Did you do this, man?" Steve muttered.

"Where are you?" Steve wondered, looking around the room one last time before drawing his pistol and heading out. Once he was back on Victor's jet, Steve called John to tell him that he'd found the place from Caroline's dreams, although there had been no sign of Bo. Steve guessed that the syringes had been used to give sodium pentothal to Bo. John wondered, if Bo had been there, where he'd gone.

"Probably not far. But, hey, wasn't there an ISA safe house around here?" Steve asked. John said the safe house was still there. "That's where I'm headed," Steve decided. His gun drawn, Steve explored an abandoned-looking building, calling Bo's name until suddenly, a man approached from behind and used the butt of his pistol to bash Steve on the back of the head. Steve fell to the floor, unconscious.

10/23 At the Brady Pub, Hope and Aiden met with Doug and Julie for a pre-wedding celebration, fearing that there might not be time for such a thing later, when they would be busy planning not only the wedding but also the bicentennial ceremony. Aiden started to propose a toast, but Doug refused to raise his glass, stating that he had some questions for Aiden first. Doug explained that, while he was happy that Hope had found love again, he wouldn't be able to jump on the marriage bandwagon until he learned more about Aiden.

Hope curtly reminded Doug that marrying Aiden was her decision to make, but Aiden assured her that he understood why Doug was concerned. 

Aiden encouraged Doug to go ahead and ask his questions, so Doug began with a question about Aiden's first wife's death. Hope and Julie objected, but Aiden allowed the question, guessing Doug had read some of the speculation about his involvement in Meredith's death. Aiden explained that the police had ruled Meredith's death a suicide  and that was exactly what it had been. 

Aiden offered to provide more details, but Julie said that wouldn't be necessary, and Doug agreed, stressing that he wasn't trying to be ghoulish. Doug clarified that he really just wanted to know about the marriage itself, which, apparently, hadn't been a happy one. "Excuse me, when it comes to marriage, I don't think there's anyone at this table who can throw stones, Dad," Hope pointed out, but Aiden again agreed to answer Doug's question.

Aiden admitted that he and Meredith never should have married each other in the first place, since they had never been able to agree on anything, except that their son was amazing. Aiden said he couldn't look back on his marriage to Meredith with total regret because if they hadn't gotten married, Chase, who meant the world to him, and had meant the world to her, too never would have been born.

Satisfied with the answer, Doug observed that Aiden seemed to have a good, strong moral compass. As Aiden began to thank Doug for the kind words, Andre entered the Brady Pub and walked over to the bar. 

Julie and Doug were both shocked to see Andre but not the least bit shocked to learn that he had managed to find a way to avoid paying for the crimes he had committed.

 A waitress soon interrupted with a bottle of champagne, compliments of Andre, and in honor of Hope and Aiden's impending nuptials. The gesture bothered Hope, who complained that Andre couldn't just waltz in, send over a bottle of cheap champagne and pretend they were friends. Hope stood to confront Andre, but Aiden stopped her and offered to handle the matter himself.

Julie started dispensing New Age advice to Hope as Aiden carried the bottle of champagne back to the bar and set it down in front of Andre, demanding to know what kind of game he was playing. Andre explained that he had simply been wondering if Aiden's happy little gathering with Hope and her family meant that Aiden had changed his mind about the way in which he planned to repay his debts to the DiMeras.

"My debt is with your father, not his bastard son," Aiden reminded Andre. "You forget who owns you, fool. I'm a DiMera, which makes me one of my father's heirs. I will have my cut of you, no matter what," Andre countered. Hope interrupted and observed that Aiden and Andre seemed to be having a pretty intense conversation. Aiden claimed that Andre had asked him for legal advice about Chad.

Aiden proceeded to advise Andre that Chad should accept whatever deal the district attorney offered him and Andre should leave town before he did something that landed him in the prison cell next to Chad's. "You're very rude, you know that? Anyone ever tell you that? Especially when you're speaking to a man you don't even know... Or do you?" Andre replied before walking away. Hope wondered what Andre had meant, and Aiden claimed that he had no idea.

Later, Doug proposed a toast to Hope and Aiden, wishing them luck, love, and a beautiful wedding day. While taking a sip of red wine, Hope spotted someone entering the pub her son, Shawn. "Surprise!" Shawn told Hope as she rushed into his arms. After Hope pulled away, Shawn turned his attention to Aiden. 

"So, this is the guy you're gonna marry, huh?" Shawn guessed.

In Mexico, Lucia tried to nurse Bo back to health, but he remained weak and delirious, mistaking her for a vision of Hope. "I've missed you so much. I miss your touch, and your voice, and I just want to be home. I tried to get back to you. I tried to get back to you [for] so long, but I couldn't. Sometimes I thought I wouldn't make it back. I love you so very much. You're the love of my life," Bo muttered.

The vision of Hope informed Bo that she had been waiting a very long time for him to return, but she couldn't wait much longer; in fact, she had accepted that he was never going to return home, and she had decided to move on with her life. Sobbing, Bo tried to reach out to Hope, but she was too far away. As the vision faded, Bo rose to his feet and  tumbled out of Lucia's home, ignoring her attempts to stop him.

Elsewhere, Steve awoke and found himself chained to a wall. A man soon entered the room, and when Steve asked the man to tell him where Bo Brady was, the man mused that it was nice to know that Steve wasn't going to try to pretend he didn't know Bo, since that would have been a waste of time and would have caused Steve a great deal of pain. The man asked Steve to tell him about the secret project Bo had been working on. "You mean he didn't tell you?" Steve asked. The man confirmed that, despite plenty of encouragement, Bo hadn't said much. "Well, Bo never was much of a conversationalist," Steve said with a shrug.

Pulling a Taser out of his back pocket, the man warned that, while he had been quite lenient with Bo, he wouldn't be making the same mistake with Steve. Assuring the man that shock therapy wouldn't be necessary, Steve promised to tell him everything he wanted to know about the wonder drug Victor had been funding. Steve claimed that Dr. Salinas had promised that the drug would cure cancer, but it had turned out to be a dud and, therefore, anything Bo might be able to tell the man about the drug would be totally worthless. Doubting Steve's story, the man shocked Steve, promising to keep doing so until Steve told him the truth. Steve muttered that he had nothing more to say. Meanwhile, another man led Bo into the room, explaining that he had just caught Bo in the woods, trying to sneak up to the building. As Bo settled on the floor next to Steve, they smiled at each other.


10/26 At the Brady Pub, Aiden nervously sipped his wine as Julie admitted to Hope that she had encouraged Shawn to return to Salem as a surprise wedding guest. Hope introduced Aiden to Shawn, who reluctantly shook Aiden's hand as Aiden said he had heard a lot about not only Shawn but also Shawn's wife and daughter. Hope asked about Belle and Claire, and Shawn explained that they wouldn't be able to attend the wedding because Claire was still recovering from pneumonia and had been advised not to travel. Smiling, Aiden said he was glad Shawn was going to be in attendance, since he was sure that would make Hope very happy.

Unimpressed, Shawn made it clear that he didn't think the wedding was a good idea. 

"May I ask why?" Aiden wondered. 

"Yeah, 'cause you're no Bo Brady and you never will be," Shawn replied. Hope couldn't believe Shawn had actually said such a thing, but he insisted that he wasn't going to just pretend that everything was okay when it wasn't. Julie suggested that Shawn could at least voice his opinions in a more civil manner, and he conceded the point, admitting that he had a tendency to be too honest at times, a trait he had gotten from Hope.

Aiden said he liked that Hope was honest and direct and he liked that Shawn was, too. Aiden agreed that he wasn't Bo, and he stressed that he wasn't trying to be, either. Aiden hoped, however, that Shawn could still accept him as a part of Hope's new life. Shawn said he had been trying to do that since first learning about Hope and Aiden's wedding plans, because he wanted her to be happy. 

"When Dad left town, he was still in love with you, [and] it's not like he died, so it's really hard for me to wrap my head around this," Shawn added.

 Hope understood, acknowledging that Shawn had always made his feelings about the wedding quite clear. Hope stressed, though, that while Shawn was entitled to his feelings, she was also entitled to hers. 

"If your idea was to come back to Salem and save this marriage, fix this marriage, you're one parent short, and you're way too late," Hope added. Shawn maintained that Hope needed to give Bo a bit more time and stop being overly anxious to kiss him, and their marriage, goodbye. Fed up, Hope rushed off in tears, and Shawn chased after her after telling Aiden to let him handle the matter himself.

Shawn caught up with Hope in the park and conceded that it had been wrong of him to question her decision, since it was her life, and it was up to her to decide how she wished to live it.

"Even if you hate me for it?" Hope tearfully asked. Shawn stressed that he could never hate Hope; he just didn't think Bo would have left her and Ciara unless he'd had a really good reason for doing so.

 Hope said she didn't have any answers for Shawn. Hope added that she only knew that Aiden had made her feel alive again, and he was a great guy who loved her and Ciara. Acknowledging that it would be unfair to expect Hope to put her life on hold forever, Shawn apologized for his earlier reaction, and they headed back to the pub together so he could offer Aiden the same apology and start getting to know him better.

Aiden asked Shawn to step outside with him so they could have a one-on-one conversation and get a few things straight. Aiden said he understood that Shawn loved Bo and would always be quick to defend him. "Till the day I die," Shawn confirmed. Nodding, Aiden stressed that he loved Hope and simply wanted to build a life with her that would make her happy. Aiden added that he was eager to get to know Shawn, Belle, and Claire better because he didn't just want to get along with them, he wanted them to be part of his family.

When Shawn and Aiden reentered the pub, Shawn admitted that the lawyer certainly knew how to make his case. "[But] remember, we'll be watching you, 24/7,” Shawn warned as he joined Julie and Doug, who agreed. Hope complained that Shawn, Julie, and Doug needed to stop teasing Aiden, who probably thought they were being serious. "Well, we are," Julie stressed with a shrug before leaving with Doug. Aiden headed out with Doug, and Julie and walked off after thanking them for having dinner with him and Hope.

Aiden went to the DiMera mansion and informed Stefano and Andre that he planned to pay his debt to them with something much more valuable than money, Chad’s freedom. Aiden explained that he was going to kill Hope and make it look like the work of the serial killer. Stefano was pleased with that idea. Andre wondered when Aiden would be committing the murder. "Tomorrow night, our wedding night," Aiden replied.

 Andre appreciated the irony of Aiden's plan but wasn't sure Aiden would be able to go through with it. Aiden promised that he would, stressing that, while he loved Hope, his son's life was more important than hers. 

Aiden reminded Stefano and Andre that their end of the bargain included staying away from Chase.

Andre remained skeptical, asking Aiden to describe exactly how he planned to convince the police that Hope's death wasn't just the work of a copycat killer. Aiden explained that he knew specific details about the other murders because he had represented Chad for a while, and he had acquired a necktie that was exactly like the ones the real killer had used. Aiden assured Stefano and Andre that the police would be forced to let Chad go after Hope's death. After Aiden left, Stefano and Andre agreed that, while they still weren't convinced that Aiden would really be able to kill Hope, there were ways of making sure a man kept his word. Meanwhile, Hope entered her house while Julie and Kayla were in the process of decorating it for her bachelorette party. “Uh surprise?" Kayla said as Julie disappointedly deflated the balloon she had just finished filling with air.

In Mexico, Steve and Bo, both chained to a pipe that was attached to the wall, discussed how they had both been under the impression that the place they were being held in was an ISA safe house. While bantering with each other, Bo and Steve tugged on their chains, trying to loosen the pipe. Bo told Steve about how he had gone to the Amazon rainforest to get a bunch of exotic plants that Salinas had needed to create the experimental drug for Caroline. Bo complained about the mosquitoes and snakes he had encountered there, prompting Steve to decide that he needed to check the place off his bucket list.

When Bo started to talk about Hope and Ciara, Steve reluctantly revealed that Hope was planning to get married soon. Bo thought Steve was joking, but Steve explained that Hope had divorced Bo after receiving a Dear Jane letter that had left her heartbroken. Realizing that someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make Hope think he was never going to return home, Bo conceded that it might be best for him to stay away, since there was no reason for him to return home if he had already lost the love of his life. Steve stressed that Hope was planning to get married, meaning the wedding hadn't happened yet, and there was still time for Bo to stop it.
Nodding, Bo began tugging at the chains with renewed determination, and Steve continued to help while deflecting questions about his own love life. Noticing that one end of the pipe was weaker than the other, Steve focused his attention on that end, but as he banged his wrists against the pipe, he slipped and broke a nearby gas line. "My bad," Steve sheepishly stated as the room began filling with toxic fumes.

10/27 In the locked room of the safe house in Mexico, Steve and Bo struggled to breathe as gas filled the room from the busted pipe. Desperate to survive, Bo and Steve pulled at their chains to free themselves from the wall. As Bo coughed and struggled to stay awake, Steve slapped his face and urged him to think of his wife and children. Bo snapped back to reality, and the two men kicked the wall until the bar they were chained to gave way. Steve and Bo pushed the door to exit, but it would not budge. With a grunt, Bo said that ISA safe houses usually had a secret passage for escape. The two men started to feel around the room for a hidden exit. After escaping the safe house through a hidden passage in the wall, Steve and Bo ran to the jet. As Steve called out to Pete the pilot, they heard groaning. Bo and Steve checked the utility closet on the plane and found an unconscious Pete. Bo and Steve carried Pete to a chair in the main cabin.

Pete woke up and explained that two men had jumped him. Steve noted that the men had disabled the control panel and the radio. Pete felt for his cellphone, and he noted that it had been taken as well. When Bo asked if the plane could fly, Steve swore that he would get the plane working again. While Steve worked in the cockpit, Bo cleaned up Pete's head wound. Steve managed to repair everything but the radio. Anxious to leave, Pete said he was ready to fly, but it was not safe to fly without a radio. Steve reminded Pete that there were armed men nearby that could return to finish them off. Pete nodded and headed into the cockpit.

Back in Salem, a black bag was thrown over Aiden's head, and he was dragged to another location. Panicked, Aiden called out that he would fix things. When the black bag was removed, a roar of greeting surrounded Aiden from Doug, Rafe, Eric, John, and Daniel in the Brady Pub. Laughing, Doug noted that Aiden looked very pale. Aiden grabbed a shot of alcohol and downed it. The men drank a toast as a rattled Aiden thanked them for the party.


Rafe challenged Aiden to a game of darts. Tipsy, Aiden asked Rafe to bet on the game. With a nod, Rafe grabbed some darts and started to throw. Aiden lost the game. Aiden commented that he had lost the game but had won the real prize. Holding up his glass in agreement, Roman said that the pub was full of men would hurt him if he hurt Hope. Aiden promised they did not need to worry.

"I've come to realize that you are a very decent man. You love my daughter with all your heart. I can see that, so I know that you are going to be a very devoted husband to her. Also, I have seen you with your son. You're a great dad. And from that I know that you are going to be there always for my darling Ciara, 100%," Doug said. As Doug toasted to Hope and Aiden's blissful marriage, Aiden smiled awkwardly. When Daniel mentioned the wedding day, Aiden thought about murdering Hope on their wedding night.

After the toast, Abe informed the group that he had talked to the governor about Andre's pardon. Shaking his head, Abe confirmed that the governor was in Stefano's pocket. A drunk Aiden asked how the DiMeras could get away with all their crimes. When Roman asked Aiden if he knew the DiMeras, Aiden noted that everyone knew about the family. Doug said he had witnessed Andre attempt to push Aiden's buttons. Aiden shrugged as Doug complimented Aiden's restraint in facing Andre.

Seeing Aiden continue to knock back shot after shot, Rafe suggested that Aiden should slow down on the drinking. Aiden said he wanted to celebrate. After chugging a beer, Aiden went outside to get some air. Aiden walked over to the park and thought about killing Hope. 

As Aiden sighed heavily, Rafe called out to him and asked if he was okay. Aiden claimed he was overwhelmed because of the alcohol, but Rafe was not convinced. Annoyed, Aiden asked Rafe if he ever took a break from acting like a police officer.

 With a scowl, Rafe assured Aiden that he was concerned as a friend. Aiden suggested that Rafe wanted to make him look bad in front of Hope because Rafe wanted to "have a crack at her." Aiden said he loved Hope with all his heart and soul and that she did not deserve to get hurt. Concerned, Rafe asked Aiden what he meant. Lying, Aiden said he was talking about what Bo had done. Aiden swore he would not hurt her like Bo had done. Rafe nodded. With a stumble, Aiden said goodnight, and he walked home.

Hope walked into her living room and was surprised to find Kayla and Julie decorating for a surprise bridal shower. Kayla noted that Jennifer and Abigail were on their way, and she encouraged Hope to circle the block and pretend to be surprised when she returned. When Hope wondered if a ruse was necessary, Julie said that they all needed some cheer in their lives. With a grin, Hope agreed to return in ten minutes, and she left.

"Is it me, or does Hope not seem like she has that bride-to-be glow?" Kayla asked Julie. 

After Caroline, Maggie, Jennifer, and Abigail arrived, they waited in the dark for Hope. When Hope arrived, she pretended to be surprised when the ladies yelled out, "Surprise!" Hope thanked everyone for the shower. Maggie informed Hope that Marlena had sent her regrets that she could not attend, but Hope understood that Marlena was not up to celebrating so soon after Will's death. Julie suggested that they could honor Will by showing each other that they appreciated one another and celebrating in each other's company. "We're grateful for every moment we have together because they are always too brief," Julie added. Kayla informed Hope that Roman and Rafe were throwing a bachelor party at the pub. Hope joked that she was up for anything as long as they had not hired a stripper. Kayla and Abigail looked at one another guiltily.

The doorbell rang. Abigail quietly walked to the door and ushered a stripper fireman, Todd, into the house. Hope blushed. After stripping for Hope, Todd danced with Julie while Abigail informed Hope that Todd was a friend of Cameron's from the strip club in Chicago. Todd spotted Caroline and waved hello. Chuckling, Caroline joked that Todd missed her tips as she slipped some bills into his waistband. Kayla asked Caroline if she remembered Todd, and a cheerful Caroline told her daughter that the treatment was working. With an awkward laugh, Kayla looked over at Todd, who was dancing with Maggie.

After the stripper finished dancing, he went upstairs to change. Kayla toasted to Hope's second chance at love. After the ladies knocked back their drinks, Hope opened presents. Maggie was mock scandalized over Jennifer's lingerie gift. Caroline jumped in and said she would take the lingerie if Hope did not want it. Hope laughed. When a nervous Jennifer offered to provide a gift receipt, Hope said she was delighted to keep the gift.

Todd returned downstairs and said goodbye to the women. As Abigail rushed to get Todd's check, she bumped into him, causing him to drop jewelry onto the floor. Surprised, Abigail asked if Todd had taken Hope's jewelry. 

Todd shoved Abigail away, and while Jennifer grabbed Todd, Julie hit him over the head with a bottle of champagne. Hope slapped handcuffs on Todd and arrested him.

 Abigail told Hope that Kayla had examined her and that she and the baby were fine. Maggie joked about Jennifer and Julie's quick thinking in stopping Todd. Kayla chimed in to comment that their party was far more interesting than whatever the men had planned for Aiden.

Julie asked Maggie about the mansion, and Maggie confirmed that the renovations to the mansion would be complete before the bicentennial celebration.

Caroline asked Hope if she had heard from Steve about the search for Bo. Caroline informed Hope that she had given Steve a solid lead on Bo from one of her dreams. As Hope raised an eyebrow, Caroline asked Hope what she would do if Bo returned home.

Hope quietly noted that Caroline's dream was not real. Caroline disagreed. Kayla interrupted and sent Caroline into the kitchen to help Julie. When Kayla asked Hope if she was okay, Hope admitted that she did not want to hear about Bo anymore. 

"Bo's not coming back," Hope said firmly.

Alone in Hope's living room, Kayla said that Hope needed to be honest with her. Kayla said she was concerned that Hope was not ready to marry Aiden based on her reaction to Caroline's comments about Bo. Hope said that she wanted to commit to Aiden. Hope added that everything was arranged and that she wanted Kayla's blessing. Kayla nodded.

  After Kayla left, a drunken Aiden stopped by Hope's house. Surprised, Hope asked Aiden if their plan to spend the night apart had changed. Aiden shrugged. Worried, Hope asked Aiden what was wrong. Aiden said he could not marry her.

10/28 At the Brady house, Hope fretted over a drunk Aiden, who had been babbling nonsensically. Aiden explained that he'd imbibed a little too much at the bachelor party, but Hope wanted to know what he'd meant when he'd said, "I can't do this to you."

"Are you saying you can't marry me?" Hope asked anxiously. Aiden started carrying on about how beautiful and amazing Hope was and how he couldn't imagine anyone ever hurting her. "You're too good for me," Aiden stated. Hope insisted that wasn't true, but Aiden maintained that he was a mediocre attorney at best and obviously a lousy money manager, and he didn't understand how Hope could love him. Hope reassured Aiden that he'd merely been going through a tough time, but she was still confused and concerned about what he'd said before, because it had sounded like he wanted to end things with her. Aiden tearfully insisted that wasn't the case, although he thought Hope should want him to disappear from her life.

"Why are you saying that?" Hope asked worriedly, reassuring Aiden that she loved him. Aiden admitted that he'd felt terrible ever since Hope had lent him the money to pay back the loan shark.

"I've made a mess of everything," Aiden maintained. Hope was worried that Aiden was still in trouble, but he assured her that he wasn’t, although the financial advisor had told Aiden that it would be a long time before he was solvent again. His tone suddenly changed from dejected to anxious as he pleaded with Hope not to call off the wedding.

Hope reminded Aiden that the conversation had begun because she'd thought he wanted to call off the wedding. She reassured him that she loved him and promised to convince him that there was such a thing as "happily ever after." Aiden noted that he had messed up a lot, but Hope informed him that she had a rap sheet. 

Taken aback and a little impressed, Aiden said he didn't need to know the details.

 Hope reminded Aiden that she'd never thought she could love another man until she'd met him, so she would not let him get cold feet. She put a pillow behind Aiden's head and helped him get comfortable on the couch before curling up next to him. Aiden promised he would never run out on Hope. She admitted that it seemed wrong to celebrate so soon after Will's murder, but that had also reminded them all that life was too short to worry about things like money.

Aboard the Kiriakis jet, Steve informed Bo that there was a major storm rolling in, and since they had no radio, they couldn't take off. Bo urgently insisted that he had to get back to Hope, no matter what it took, plus he was worried what would happen if the goons who'd kidnapped them learned Bo and Steve had escaped. Steve tried to reassure Bo that the storm should blow over quickly, and if the plane went down, Hope would never know where Bo had been for so long. Steve put his jacket on and announced he was going to buy them some time. On his way out, advised Bo to get cleaned up.

Later, when Bo was exiting the lavatory, freshly shaven and in some of Steve's clean clothes, Steve returned. Steve announced that he'd just blown up the safe house, so anyone who found it would think the two of them had died. Bo thanked Steve for everything he'd done to find Bo. Steve explained that he'd been certain that his old pal would never have abandoned his wife and kids. Steve had become even more suspicious when he'd been unable to get any information out of the ISA. Bo didn't understand why the ISA would have forged a "Dear John" letter to Hope, and Steve didn't get it, either. Bo was determined to get his life back, then get even with whoever had done that to him. 

An antsy Bo watched out the windows as the rain began to pour and thunder cracked outside. Bo declined Steve's offer to play poker while they waited for the weather to clear, and Steve correctly concluded that Bo wanted to know what had been happening in his absence. 

Steve answered Bo's questions as well as he could: the guy Hope was about to marry was named Aiden Jennings, and he was a lawyer. Immediately deducing that Aiden was a defense attorney, Bo demanded to know if Aiden was worthy of Hope.

Steve dodged the question and informed Bo that Aiden had a son about Ciara's age, but Ciara had given both of the guys a hard time at first. "That's my girl," Bo muttered.  Steve continued that the kids had grown closer, and Ciara had begun to approve of her mom's relationship with Aiden. Bo wanted to know what everyone else thought of Aiden. Without really answering the question, Steve admitted that Kayla hadn't been a fan at first, but Aiden had eventually won her over. Bo asked what Victor thought.

 Steve wasn't sure what Victor thought about Aiden, but Victor didn't really believe that Bo was alive, either. Steve gently told Bo that everyone who knew and loved Hope just wanted her to move on with her life and find love again. Bo grumbled that everyone clearly loved Aiden, the "white knight."

"Not everybody, I think he's bad news," Steve declared, explaining, "It's almost like he's too good to be true.” Steve fiddled around with the phone until he managed to fix it. A grateful Bo immediately took it from Steve and dialed Hope's number. Snuggled up next to Aiden on the sofa, Hope let the phone ring. Bo hung up and tried again. Realizing that it might be the station, Hope answered when the phone rang again.

"Fancy Face? It's me," Bo said when he heard Hope's voice, his own voice eager yet full of apprehension. Hope repeated, "Hello?" several times, but she only heard static on the line. When Hope hung up, Bo tried again but the phone had died again. Steve stopped Bo from throwing the phone and got to work on trying to repair it again.

Aiden thanked Hope for being so understanding about him making a drunken fool of himself. He wondered why no one had gotten Hope drunk at her bachelorette party. 

"Well, because we were busy arresting the stripper," Hope said, laughing. Aiden described how Eric and Roman had kidnapped him and forced him to drink shots. Aiden admitted that, when he'd first arrived at Hope's, he'd just been afraid of losing her. Hope kissed him and reassured him that would never happen.

 As Hope started to lead Aiden into the kitchen for a midnight snack, he began mentally reviewing the details of his plan to strangle her and stage it to look like the Necktie Killer had done it. He told Hope that he wanted to stick with tradition and not spend the night before their wedding together. Hope maintained that she wasn't superstitious, but since he was in no condition to drive, he could sleep in the guest room. Aiden declined, insisting that he would walk to the square and get a cab home, because the fresh air would do him good.

"Hope, I love you more than you'll ever know," Aiden proclaimed softly and sincerely, giving Hope a tender kiss. "Good night, Mister Jennings," Hope said sweetly as Aiden left.

Steve was unable to fix the phone again. Bo admitted that he knew Hope well enough to know that she had been upset on the phone. Bo insisted that they had to take off right away so he could get home, but Steve reminded him that they were in the midst of a monsoon. "I don't care! If we have to fly into the middle of this storm, I gotta get home to my wife!" Bo declared vehemently.

10/29 After receiving a message that Chad had woken up from his coma, Hope ran out of the house and arrived at the hospital. Hope tried to calm down Abigail, who was insisting that Chad had been telling the truth earlier. Hope fretted that it wasn't good for Abigail to get so emotional about the matter.

"Yes, I'm emotional, Hope! Of course I'm emotional! I'm emotional, and I'm angry, and I'm pissed off, and, honestly, I'm sick to my stomach right now, because everybody in this damn town is so prejudiced against him because of his name! And the fact that they are just assuming that he's capable of committing these heinous crimes and these senseless murders, it's not only left everybody in Salem heartbroken, but now everybody's scared out of their minds, and they are just assuming that he did this because of who his father is, and that is so unfair!" Abigail complained.

"I know it seems that way, but that is not --" Hope began to respond. "No, Hope, it's not that it just seems that way; it is that way. It is that way. And if he were really this monster, if that's really who Chad was, then he would know. He would know," Abigail insisted before excusing herself, stating that she needed some time alone and Hope had a job to do, anyway.

Hope joined Rafe and wondered if he was buying Chad's amnesia story. "Daniel said it could happen," Rafe pointed out with a shrug. Hope admitted that she wasn't sure if Chad was lying, either. "But he's a DiMera. Although Abigail just pointed out that it's terribly unfair to assume he's lying just because of his last name, and you know what? She's right. The sins of the fathers and all that," Hope added, and Rafe agreed.

 Changing the subject, Rafe joked that Hope was spending the night before her wedding in the best possible way, working a case. Rafe hoped that Aiden was ready to have a cop as a wife, and Hope replied that Aiden knew what he was getting himself into. Hope added, however, that Rafe and the other guys had really done a number on Aiden during the bachelor party.

Surprised to learn that Aiden had contemplated calling off the wedding, Rafe assured Hope that no one had said anything during the bachelor party that would have inspired that idea. Hope explained that Aiden was just hard on himself sometimes, believing that he wasn't good enough for her.

"Well, who is? I can't think of anyone," Rafe matter-of-factly stated. Hope appreciated the kind words but insisted they weren't true, adding that Aiden was good enough for her, and they were going to be great together.

Before leaving the police station, Aiden pulled Hope aside to say goodbye to her. Hope offered Aiden the chance to postpone the wedding in light of everything that had happened that night, but he smiled and assured her that he still wanted to marry her as soon as possible. Satisfied, Hope turned and walked away. A look of tension quickly stretched across Aiden's face, replacing the smile and while Hope missed it, Rafe definitely didn't.

Later, as a police officer dragged him off to a holding cell, Chad desperately tried to convince Hope and Rafe that they were making a mistake.

10/30 Ciara and Chase prepared a breakfast for Hope and Aiden. Hope was pleasantly surprised by the thoughtful gift. When Chase noted that Aiden was expected to join them, Hope nodded and smiled. While Ciara and Chase worked in the kitchen, Shawn arrived to visit with his mom. When Shawn asked about Aiden, Hope explained that Aiden had taken on a big case. With a shrug, Hope noted that she was marrying a trial attorney. After eating, Ciara and Chase returned to the kitchen. Shawn told Hope that he liked Chase. Hope said she was glad that Ciara and Chase were such good friends. With a chuckle, Shawn asked Hope if she was happy to have a boy around the house again. Hope said she thought about Shawn, and she thought about what Zack would have been like as a teenager. Shawn hugged his mother, and he apologized for his behavior when he had returned to town.

A somber Hope told Shawn that she would always love Bo and that Aiden understood that. Shawn smiled. Reaching into his pocket, Shawn pulled out a gift from Belle so that Hope would have something "borrowed" for the wedding. Hope opened the small bag and smiled as she saw Alice's necklace. Shawn added that the necklace was good luck and that he and Belle wanted Hope and Aiden to keep the necklace.

In the town square, Aiden sat in the café and stared at a photo of Hope on his phone. 

Aiden walked to the DiMera mansion and told Stefano and Andre that their deal was off. Stammering, Aiden said he could not kill Hope. Furious, Andre warned Aiden that he had wasted his chances at redemption.

"You should know by now that father and I do not like to lose," Andre said. Aiden said he had another plan. Aiden suggested that Chad should plead that he had been insane at the time of the murders. When Andre asked about the consequences of the defense, Aiden explained that Chad would spend his life in a mental institution. 

Outraged, Stefano vetoed the idea. Andre calmed his father, and he ordered a henchman to push Stefano's wheelchair into the other room to rest.

 Once alone, Andre told Aiden that he needed to dig a grave for Hope or else Aiden would need to dig two graves to accommodate Aiden and Chase. Nodding, Aiden said he wanted assurances that, once he killed Hope, he would never hear from the DiMeras ever again. With a smirk, Andre said that Aiden could trust him every bit as much as he could trust Aiden.

 After Aiden left, Andre informed Stefano that Aiden's plan to kill Hope was back on track. Andre suggested that he and Stefano should attend the bicentennial celebration. Sighing, Andre said that Stefano did not want to miss out on the last night of Tom and Alice's granddaughter's life.

At the bicentennial Martin mansion, Caroline was overwhelmed by a vision of Bo. Julie rushed to Caroline's side and eased her onto a nearby chair. In tears, Caroline pleaded with God to protect Bo.

At Hope's house, Hope, Shawn, Chase, and Ciara had a video chat on the phone with Belle and Claire. As Shawn ducked into the kitchen to finish the call with his wife, Hope's phone rang. Aiden called to apologize for missing the brunch. Citing his need to go to the police station, Hope suggested that they handle the day traditionally and avoid seeing one another before the wedding.

When Julie and Caroline arrived at the house with the wedding gown, Julie raved about the renovations at the Martin mansion. Seeing the distant look on Caroline's face, Hope asked if she was feeling well. Caroline admitted that she had experienced more visions of Bo. Hope's face fell. 

Caroline said she felt like Bo was in danger. Overwhelmed, Hope covered her face in frustration, and Julie urged Caroline to calm down. Caroline wanted to call Steve. As Julie attempted to calm Caroline, Caroline grew more animated. Hope cried out for Caroline to stop.

 When Hope argued that it was an emotionally difficult subject and day, Caroline nodded and said that she would return to the Martin house. Hope begged Caroline to stay, but she walked out. Worried, Hope asked Julie to follow Caroline. Julie was hesitant, but Hope promised to send Julie a photo of her in the dress. Nodding, Julie ran out the door after Caroline.

After donning her wedding dress, Hope twirled around the living room and took selfies to send to Julie.

Outside, Aiden looked through the window at his bride-to-be. At the Martin house, Caroline had a vision of Bo and Steve on a crashing plane. As Caroline cried out, Julie rushed to Caroline's side.

Steve and Bo flew threw a storm on the jet back into the United States. Still without a radio, the pilot did his best to navigate the storm. When Steve suggested that they might need to land the plane, a worried Bo pleaded with Steve to keep flying to Salem. Bo said he believed that something was wrong with Hope. After some rough turbulence, the plane started to lose altitude.

11/2 Outside Hope's house, Aiden lurked near a window, watching as Hope tried on her wedding dress. When Hope unexpectedly turned her head toward the window, Aiden ducked out of view, accidentally knocking over a potted plant in the process. Hope opened the front door and glanced from side to side, looking for the source of the disturbance.

"Guess it was just the wind," Hope muttered before shutting the door and heading upstairs to get ready for the gala. Later, after Hope left the house, Aiden entered it and hid the bag of supplies he planned to use to kill her after the wedding.

Victor entered the Martin mansion with Maggie but immediately turned his attention to Caroline, realizing that something was wrong with her. Caroline told Victor about the vision of Bo she had just experienced. "He looked as if he were dead," Caroline worriedly concluded.

Ciara entered the mansion with Chase and rushed over to hug Shawn, who wondered if they were nervous about the wedding. Ciara said she wasn't nervous because Hope seemed happy, and Chase agreed. Shawn pointed out that he and Chase would soon be brothers, prompting Ciara to protest that Shawn was her brother, and she wasn't okay with sharing him.

Meanwhile, Hope arrived and started greeting everyone. Shawn was quick to ask about Aiden, wondering why he wasn't with Hope. Before Hope could respond, Rafe and Lani entered the mansion and made a point of joking that they probably wouldn't see each other again for the rest of the night.

Julie pulled Hope aside and told her about Caroline's earlier visions. Sighing, Hope crossed her fingers and said she hoped that witnessing the wedding would help Caroline face reality and finally accept that Hope was moving on with Aiden and perhaps even end the visions of Bo she had been having lately.

Aiden arrived and greeted Hope, apologizing for his tardiness. Aiden hoped it wouldn't be bad luck for him to see Hope before the wedding, since the gala had kind of made that unavoidable. Hope assured Aiden that she wasn't superstitious and she saw nothing but good luck in her future. 

Shortly after Hope and Aiden made their grand entrance, the guests suddenly stopped clapping, eyeing the front door in shock. Hope and Aiden turned and found themselves staring at Stefano and Andre, who had just arrived. Stefano chuckled as he looked around the room. "Looks like you made a wrong turn, Stefano," Victor mused.

"My friend, this town is my home, huh? I am entitled to celebrate tonight, just like everyone else is," Stefano calmly replied.

Andre added that the bicentennial committee hadn't shown any disdain for the DiMera family when they had made a donation to the cause, but Maggie clarified that she had never cashed that check and she never would. "So, why don't you boys just jump into the Batmobile and hit the road?" Victor suggested.

"You're wrong about us, all of you. And your righteous indignation. When Chad is cleared, and he will be, we'll settle our debts with the lot of you," Andre warned the guests. Victor reiterated that Stefano and Andre needed to leave, and Rafe added that they could leave the easy way or the hard way.

Andre protested that the gala was a public event, but Stefano assured him that it was okay, since they didn't really need to stay for long, anyway. Agreeing, Andre explained that he and Stefano had simply wanted to wish the bride-to-be the best of everything.

"To hell with your best wishes," Hope spat.
"Oh, cara, you never change," Stefano mused, grabbing Hope's hand to give it a kiss. Hope pulled away as Roman protectively stepped forward and told Stefano that had been a bad idea. "It's all right, we're going. Many happy returns, darling," Stefano told Hope, chuckling as he and Andre exited the mansion.

Sometime after their plane crashed, Steve and Bo regained consciousness and determined, with the help of the pilot, that they were somewhere in the northeast corner of Kansas. "Well, that's relatively close to home. Come on, let's hit the road!" Bo excitedly urged Steve, who followed Bo until they stumbled upon a mechanic's garage. The mechanic agreed to let Bo and Steve use his phone to call 911 and get an ambulance out to the wreckage site to help the pilot, who had a broken ankle. When Bo mentioned wanting to contact Hope, though, the mechanic snatched the phone away from Steve and insisted that long-distance calls weren't allowed.

The mechanic changed his mind when Steve offered him one hundred dollars for the use of his phone. Bo called Hope's cell phone, but Hope was dancing with Aiden at that time, and her phone's ringer was turned off, so the call went to voicemail. The mechanic warned that making a second phone call would cost Bo another one hundred dollars.

Steve counters that Bo had been through some rough times lately, was at the end of his rope, and would like nothing more than to take his frustrations out on someone. "And once he gets started, I can't stop him," Steve added as Bo picked up a nearby wrench.

Outside the Martin mansion, Caroline slumped down on a bench, reassuring herself that she really had seen Bo earlier. Meanwhile, Caroline's cell phone began ringing, and when she answered it, a familiar voice greeted her on the other end. "Bo! Bo!" Caroline cried out in happy disbelief.

11/3 In the middle of nowhere Illinois, Bo called Caroline's cell phone and informed her that he was on his way home. Caroline was stunned. When Caroline said that Hope was marrying Aiden that night, Bo asked Caroline to delay the wedding until he could return to Salem. After hanging up the phone, Bo and Steve found a motorcycle. Bo said the bike was a good sign because he had interrupted another wedding of Hope's with a motorcycle. Unfortunately, the bike would not start, so Steve and Bo started working to repair it. Frustrated, Bo grumbled that he would hunt down his captors and make them wish he had killed them.

At the bicentennial party in Salem, Hope confided to Roman that she was worried about Caroline. Roman stressed that he would handle Caroline and that Hope should not worry.

In the hallway of the mansion, Aiden thought about choking Hope and killing her. As Aiden shook off the vision, Rafe asked Aiden if he was okay. Aiden said he was confounded by his tie. With a raised eyebrow, Rafe asked Aiden if he was having second thoughts. Overhearing, Hope said, "He better not be. Or I'll have to strangle him." With a gasp, Hope realized the insensitivity of her joke. Rafe assured Hope that Will had loved her and would have wanted her to be happy. Hope nodded. Nervous, Aiden informed Hope that he was leaving the party and that he would meet her at the wedding.

 After Aiden left, Hope shared her concern about Aiden's nerves. Rafe stressed that nerves were normal for a groom. Changing the subject, Hope asked about Chad. Rafe refused to discuss work on Hope's wedding day. With a smirk, Hope thanked Rafe for being a good friend to her. Nodding, Rafe said he hoped Aiden knew that he was a lucky man. 

Hope returned to the party in the main room and chatted with Julie. Julie asked Hope to "be happy." Hope promised she would be happy because she was marrying a wonderful man. Hope left the party to go home.


Caroline marched into the main room and announced that she had talked to Bo. Caroline said Bo was returning home. Roman attempted to usher Caroline outside, but she stood her ground. Caroline said she had talked to Bo on her phone. When Caroline attempted to give her phone to Roman, she realized she had dropped it somewhere. Confused, Caroline turned to Marlena and mentioned that Dr. Salinas had warned her about the side effects of her treatment.

Marlena suggested that Caroline step outside. Caroline apologized for spoiling the party, and she asked everyone to forget what she had said. Citing embarrassment, Caroline said she wanted to freshen up in the bathroom. After Caroline left, Roman asked Marlena if Caroline was okay. Marlena shrugged and said Caroline seemed to be in control. As Caroline walked out of the house, she chuckled and said, "Suckers!"

When the florist arrived with the flowers for the wedding, he dropped off a "Rest in Peace" floral arrangement. Rafe pointed out the mistake to Aiden, whose ashen face stared in disbelief. Rafe promised to handle the mix-up.

In the park, Aiden sat on a bench and imagined killing Hope. Torn, Aiden sighed. When Aiden's phone rang and he saw that it was Andre calling, Aiden groaned. Aiden told Andre that his prank RIP flowers had been in poor taste. Andre joked that Aiden was too tense to enjoy the joke. Aiden warned Andre not to push him. Aiden promised to carry out the plan.



In her living room, Hope stared at her wedding dress. As Hope began to prepare to dress for her wedding, Caroline entered the house. Caroline told Hope that she had spoken to Bo and that he was on his way home. Nodding, Hope urged Caroline to sit down. Caroline stressed that she was sure she had talked to Bo. Hope asked to see Caroline's phone. Upset, Caroline cried out that she was not crazy. Caroline pleaded with Hope not to marry Aiden because it would be the biggest mistake of her life.

When Kayla arrived, Caroline told her that she had talked to Bo. Caroline asked Hope and Kayla to have faith in her. Holding Caroline's shoulders, Kayla asked Caroline to let Hope be happy. Kayla swore to punish Steve for putting ideas in Caroline's head. Caroline protested. When Kayla said she wanted to take Caroline to the hospital, Caroline pulled away and said that she needed to be at the party when Bo arrived. Hope and Kayla made pleading eyes with one another.

After Kayla left with Caroline, Hope finished getting dressed. Hope thought about what Caroline had said. 

As Hope dropped her head in deep thought, Aiden walked into the house. Hope scrambled to cover her dress with a blanket. Aiden kissed Hope.  "I just want you to know that I do love you," Aiden said. When Hope asked Aiden why he did not seem happy, he smiled. Hope asked Aiden if he wanted to back out of the wedding.  "I can't. I love you too much," Aiden said. Hope pushed Aiden to the door and ordered him to go. Cocking his head, Aiden asked what Hope had been thinking about before he had entered the house. Hope told Aiden what Caroline had said. When Aiden asked Hope if she believed Caroline, Hope said no. Hope added that she was excited to marry Aiden and that nothing would spoil her wedding night.

At the party, Julie and Maggie were surprised when Kayla returned Caroline to the party after her confrontation with Hope. Kayla said that Caroline had insisted and that Hope had agreed. After finding her phone, Caroline handed it to Victor as proof that she had talked to Bo. Victor dialed the last number, but there was no answer.

In the garage in Illinois, Steve and Bo returned from the junkyard and continued to work on the bike.  Steve asked Bo who would have wanted the serum badly enough to kidnap Bo. With a shrug, Bo said he had a few suspects but that he needed to be sure before he pursued them.

At the mansion, the party broke up as chairs were set out for the wedding ceremony. Aiden arrived and listened to Caroline talk to Victor and Kayla about the phone call from Bo. A sad Caroline said she had to have been mistaken and that she would let the matter go. In the doorway, Rafe joined Aiden. When Rafe asked Aiden if he was ready to get married, Aiden's face paled.

As the wedding ceremony started in Salem, somewhere in Illinois, Bo and Steve managed to repair the bike. Steve hopped on the back of the bike behind Bo, and Bo quipped that he liked it better when Hope was holding on to him. With big grins, Bo and Steve rode off toward home. In Salem, Hope walked down the aisle. As the priest started to speak, Caroline interjected. "Stop! You have to stop this!"

11/4 As Bo and Steve were making their way to Salem, the motorcycle they had cadged ran out of gas. A frustrated Bo nearly threw a temper tantrum because all the gas stations were closed, so he couldn't stop Hope's wedding. Steve said he'd seen a car parked at the last gas station, and if there were gas in the tank, he could siphon some out. Bo wanted to go, too, but he suddenly had a dizzy spell. Urging his buddy to wait there, Steve took off. Bo took off his jacket and winced in pain as it scraped over some wounds on his arm.

Bo sat on the ground next to the bike and imagined that he went to see Hope, but she told him she had already married Aiden. "It's us, Fancy Face. It's always been just us," Bo said to himself. He reimagined the scene with Hope telling him that she hadn't been able to go through with the wedding because she'd realized she loved Bo and would always love him. In his fantasy, Hope kissed Bo after he promised that nothing would ever keep them apart again.

Bo continued with an apology for walking out on Hope and into a trap, and an explanation that his captors had wanted to know about the drug that had helped Caroline but Bo hadn't broken because thoughts of Hope, Ciara, Shawn, and Zack had given him strength. Bo snapped out of his daydream when Steve returned with a gas can. 

"Siphoned it out of that car, left a twenty under the wiper," Steve said. Bo was ready to fill up the bike and get back on the road to Hope.

A little later, a state police officer was locking Bo and Steve in a cell. Bo and Steve begged the cop to let Bo make a phone call so they could get to Salem. 

"Not gonna happen. You can use the phone in the morning, right before you face the judge for reckless driving, driving without a license, and without proper registration," the cop said. Bo pleaded with the cop to call the Salem Police Department and ask for his brother Roman, who would verify what Bo had said and even post bail. The cop repeated that nothing would happen until the next morning. He walked out, leaving Steve and a frustrated Bo locked up. After pacing in the cell, Bo violently shook the bars and screamed, "No!" at the top of his lungs.

As Hope and Aiden's wedding got underway at the Martin mansion, Caroline jumped up and interrupted the priest. "Stop! You have to stop this!" Caroline shouted. Several people, including Kayla, Roman, and Daniel, rushed to Caroline's side to check on her. "I can't breathe!" Caroline gasped. Hope and Aiden exchanged worried looks.

Kayla checked her mother's pulse, which was a little fast, and Jennifer hurried away to get Caroline some water. Meanwhile, Rafe tried to give an edgy Aiden some words of encouragement. With Kayla, Roman, Hope, Doug, Julie, Eric, and Victor gathered around, Caroline cried that she felt terrible about ruining the wedding. She asked if they could postpone it until she felt a little better.

Kayla was immediately suspicious of her mother's behavior. She declared that she would take Caroline to the hospital, but Kayla was firm that they would not stop the wedding. Caroline claimed that she wanted to just rest for a moment because she didn't want to miss Hope's wedding.

Aiden voiced his frustration to Rafe about Caroline holding up the wedding and her refusal to go to the hospital. Rafe pointed out that Hope was part of the Brady clan, and, like Rafe had once been, Aiden would always be an outsider.

Hope proposed that they wait to continue the wedding until Caroline was feeling better. Kayla asked to speak to her mother in private, so the others moved away. Kayla hissed, "Either you are playing a game or you really need medical attention and either way, I am not letting you ruin or even postpone Hope's wedding." Kayla stood up and handed her bouquet to Jennifer, asking her to please take over maid-of-honor duties so Kayla could take Caroline to the hospital.

"But Hope, we really want you to go on without us. My mom and I want you to get married tonight," Kayla declared firmly. Hope wanted to confer with Aiden first, so she pulled him aside and admitted that she thought it would help Caroline accept the truth if she saw Hope marry Aiden. Aiden said it had to be Hope's decision.

Roman overheard and urged Hope and Aiden to get married while Kayla and Roman took care of Caroline. "You take care of her. I do mean that," Roman warned Aiden. Privately, a concerned Victor confided to Maggie that he didn't know how Caroline would ever accept reality.

 As Kayla talked to Joey, Chase asked her if his dad and Hope were still getting married. Kayla assured Chase that they were. 

"See? Told you. No one in Salem gets married without something going wrong," Ciara said to Chase, who handed over the money she'd just won. Most of the rest of the guests followed Caroline and Kayla to the door to see them off.

When Hope and Aiden returned, Hope announced that she had something to say. 

"I know this is what Caroline would want, so is everyone ready for a wedding?" The guests cheered and applauded while a guilty Aiden remembered his terrible fantasy about murdering his bride. Maggie rushed up and reminded the cousins that it was time for the ceremony to start. 

The wedding began again. Rafe and Chase stood beside Aiden at the altar, while Ciara and then Jennifer made their way down the aisle. The crowd got to its feet as Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" began to play, and Hope stepped onto the aisle runner. Instead of beaming at his bride, Aiden just looked guilt-ridden until Chase encouraged his dad to smile. With Doug on one side of her and Julie on the other, Hope walked down the aisle.

Julie kissed Hope, who, in turn, kissed her dad and Victor on the cheek. Hope handed her bouquet to Jennifer, and the guests sat down. The priest began the ceremony in the traditional way then announced that Hope and Aiden had written their own vows. Hope began by saying that she had been sleepwalking through life and living in the past until she'd met Aiden, who had awakened her. 

"I know that, if I fall, you'll be there to catch me. Tonight isn't just about you and me becoming man and wife. It's about you, and it's about me, and your handsome son, and my exquisite daughter becoming a happy family together. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow morning and start this beautiful life with you," Hope declared softly.

 Observing that Aiden looked a tad uncomfortable, Hope leaned in and asked him in a whisper if he were all right. Citing stage fright, Aiden said Hope was a "class act" who could have gotten by on her looks alone, but instead she was honest and kind and had a good heart and beautiful soul.

"I can't..." Aiden began, shaking his head and unable to look Hope in the eyes. He recovered, happily declaring, "I can't believe that you're going to be my wife. And I want everyone in this room to know that I do love you with all my heart.” After Hope and Aiden said their traditional Catholic wedding vows, the priest pronounced them husband and wife. When prompted, Hope eagerly kissed her new husband to cheers and applause from their friends and family.

11/5 At the hospital, Caroline remained adamant that Bo had called her earlier and was on his way back to Salem. Still skeptical, Kayla consulted with Salinas, who agreed that it would be best to run some tests on Caroline and keep her at the hospital overnight for observation.

Stuck in a jail somewhere between Kansas and Salem, Steve passed the time with a round of bluesy tunes on his harmonica while Bo tried to reason with the cop who had arrested them, reminding him that they were legally entitled to a phone call. Uninterested, the cop picked up an old issue of Playpen and left the room.

Frustrated, Bo knocked the harmonica out of Steve's hand, sending it flying across the holding cell. As Steve went to retrieve the instrument, he warned that, while he and Bo would make it back to Salem eventually, it didn't really matter if they made it back in time to stop Hope's wedding, because even if they did, she might still choose Aiden over Bo in the end.

Bo angrily punched Steve, who countered with a punch of his own. The cop soon returned to break up the fight, and when he got close enough, Bo reached out, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him forward, slamming his head against the metal bars. After grabbing the cop's keys, Bo loosened his grip, and the cop slumped to the floor, unconscious. Bo and Steve let themselves out of the holding cell and rushed off, bantering about their ruse.

At the Martin mansion, Rafe stepped outside as soon as Aiden and Hope were pronounced husband and wife, quietly explaining to Gabi that he needed to call the police station and see how things were going there. Meanwhile, Hope thanked everyone for being a part of her and Aiden's special day, and Aiden invited them all to stick around for the fireworks display that would be taking place later that night.

Roman returned and assured Hope that Caroline was going to be fine, claiming that her earlier episode had been a simple case of too much stress. Meanwhile, Ciara teasingly reminded Chase that she was his big sister. "By two months!" Chase protested. Hope overheard and advised Chase to never let Ciara get away with trying to boss him around. Ciara complained that Hope was supposed to be on her side, and Hope countered that there were no sides because they were all one big, happy family as of that night.

Julie gathered Hope, Jennifer, Lucas, and J.J. to let them know she had just received a text message from Marie. "She reminded me -- fifty years ago this week, she and Gram were planning her wedding. Isn't that crazy? How time flies!" Julie mused. As the others voiced their agreement, Julie called Eric over to take a Horton family photograph. Julie also called out to Maggie, insisting that she needed to be in the picture because it didn't matter how she had been spelling her last name lately, she would always be a Horton to them.



A short time later, Maggie ushered everyone off to the park so they could get ready for the fireworks display. Rafe congratulated Hope and Aiden before leaving with the rest of the crowd. Aiden suggested to Hope that they could skip the fireworks display and instead head home for some alone time, and she happily agreed.

Dr. Salinas informed Caroline that he was headed home for the night but would be back to check on her again the following morning. Caroline wondered where Kayla was, and Salinas replied that she was with a patient but would surely be seeing Caroline again before the end of her shift. "Oh, no, she won't," Caroline said in a sing-song voice after Salinas left, smiling mischievously as she jumped out of her hospital bed and began removing her blood pressure cuff.

Ciara eyed the leather jacket and wondered if Chase wanted her to steal it for him, unaware that Julie and Doug were standing behind her. Julie asked Doug and Chase to give her a moment alone with Ciara, and after the guys left, Julie revealed to Ciara that she had once been caught shoplifting herself. Julie mused that she and Ciara were alike in many ways, and she hoped that Ciara would be able to benefit from her cautionary tale.

 Julie wondered what was going on with Ciara. Ciara stressed that she was really happy for her mother, and she liked Aiden a lot. "But he's not my dad! And that jacket --" Ciara added before letting her voice trail off. Julie followed Ciara's gaze to the nearby store and realized that the leather jacket had reminded her of Bo. Ciara tearfully confirmed the suspicion, adding that she missed her father terribly.

Caroline arrived at the Martin mansion, her hospital gown still visible under her dress, and was dismayed to find that everyone had left already. Caroline slumped down on one of the chairs and hung her head, accepting defeat just as Bo and Steve burst through the front door. Caroline was thrilled to see Bo, but after they hugged, she regretfully admitted that she had failed him. "I couldn't stop the wedding. Hope is married to another man," Caroline tearfully added, causing Bo to scream in frustration.

At Hope's house, Aiden began thinking about Hope's murder while having sex with her. Afterward, Aiden excused himself so he could go retrieve a surprise for Hope. Aiden went downstairs and grabbed the hidden bag of items he planned to use to kill Hope.

11/6 At the Martin mansion, Caroline and Bo shared an exuberant embrace. Although she was beyond relieved to see her son, Caroline apologized for failing Bo because she hadn't been able to stop Hope and Aiden's wedding. "No! This can't be!" Bo bellowed. Bo wondered where all the wedding guests, and Hope, were, so Steve went outside to check. A tearful Caroline guessed that Hope and Aiden had gone home. "Home? To our house?" Bo growled furiously. He stomped around the room, throwing chairs. Bo started to leave for the house. As he turned to leave, he lost his balance but caught himself before he fell, and he lowered himself into a chair.

Steve returned and reported that it had been as deserted outside as it was inside. Steve wanted to help Bo get to the house to see Hope, but Bo insisted that Steve find Kayla right away. Caroline said Kayla was at the hospital, probably looking for Caroline because she'd escaped. As Steve headed out, he said he would leave the motorcycle for Bo. After making sure that Caroline would be all right, Bo hurried out.

Victor and Maggie arrived at the Martin house and found Caroline, still wearing her hospital gown under her gala dress, inside. 

"[Kayla] texted me. She said you were here with Bo!" Victor explained. Caroline said excitedly, "He just left! He went to see Hope to explain that he never gave up on her, that he just couldn't get home."  Victor acknowledged that Caroline had told them all that Bo was returning and had tried to stop the wedding ceremony. Apologizing, Victor embraced Caroline and exuberantly thanked her for never giving up on Bo.

Outside the mansion, Bo tried unsuccessfully to get the bike started. He swore in frustration and paced around before taking off on foot. Bo ran into the park and stopped to lean on a bench to catch his breath. As he walked away, he staggered, and, reeling, he fell to the ground. A little later, a piece of paper fluttering into Bo's face woke him up. He grabbed it and saw that it was part of the invitation to Hope and Aiden's wedding. Bo got up and headed out, obviously still feeling the effects of his long captivity.

Downstairs at the Brady house, Aiden donned black gloves and recalled the happy, romantic moments of the gala and his wedding to Hope. He paused to sit for a moment, as if he were reconsidering his decision to murder his bride, yet he was holding the necktie he'd bought to strangle Hope with. Soon Aiden moved into the dining room, out of sight, and pulled out all the pieces of his black costume and began to put them on. He pulled the black spandex mask over his head, gathered up the necktie, and slowly headed toward the stairs.

As Hope dozed in bed upstairs, she dreamed that Bo visited her. He asked, "Why did you do it? You said you loved me." An emotional Hope said she did love Bo, but he had abandoned her. After dream Bo accused her of giving up on them, Hope awakened with a start.

"Bo!" she exclaimed. "Aiden," Hope said more softly, putting her lips to her new wedding ring and smiling. She got out of bed, and pulled a silky white robe over her matching nightgown, and called, "Aiden? Do I have to come down there and find you?" She dashed out of the bedroom. Aiden ducked back into the dining room when he heard Hope on the stairs, calling out for him. Puzzled but obviously very happy, Hope stepped out onto the front porch to see if her groom were out there. Hope beamed as she looked up at the stars then she went inside and trotted back up the stairs. His shoulders dropping in defeat, Aiden pulled off his mask and muttered, "I can't do this. It's not me. What am I doing? I can't do this." He ran toward the front door. Aiden paused for a moment then, out of breath, he pulled the mask back on and headed up the stairs.

In the bedroom, Hope took a rose out of a bouquet on the dresser and remembered Aiden's words during their wedding vows. She picked up her wedding dress and hugged it to herself, murmuring contentedly, "Definitely a night to remember." Hope placed the gown over the dress form in the corner and gazed at it then at her wedding ring with a blissful sigh. Suddenly, Aiden was behind her, whipping the necktie around her neck.

Hope choked out a scream and fought to free herself. 

Spotting a pair of scissors on the dresser, Hope lunged in that direction, briefly loosening her attacker's hold on her as she grabbed the scissors. She managed to whirl around and fiercely stab her assailant in the upper chest. He moaned and struggled, but Hope twisted the scissors while shoving them further into his chest. At last he overpowered her and pushed her away, pulling out the scissors, but Hope climbed on top of him and yanked off his mask. Utterly dumbfounded and horrified to see her new husband's face, Hope wailed and fled from the room, sobbing. Aiden lurched after her, smearing Hope's wedding dress with blood.

Downstairs, a panicked Hope searched an end table until she found a gun. Just then, Aiden caught up to her and grabbed her arm as the gun went off, the bullet firing into the ceiling. Hope grabbed a vase and hurled it at Aiden, but it missed. Backing away across the living room, Hope hurled vases and tchotchke at Aiden, but they all failed to stop him. Hope grabbed an umbrella out of the stand next to the door and swung it ferociously at Aiden.

When she finally landed a blow, it glanced off his forearm, so she fled up the stairs. Aiden cut her off by leaping over the railing onto the landing. Hope punched him hard in the face and turned to run back down the stairs but tripped and fell down the last few steps. As Hope lay on the floor, Aiden caught her and started choking her. Hope managed to break free and tried to run across the room, but Aiden was faster. He got the tie around her throat and began to strangle her.

No matter how hard she struggled, pulled at the tie, and begged Aiden to stop, Hope could not get free. Aiden tightened the necktie, and Hope collapsed on the floor. Sickened by what he had done, Aiden put a gloved hand to his mouth and gagged as he began to sob. Just then, Bo burst through the front door. "No!" Bo screamed as he charged at Aiden.

11/9 At Hope's house, Bo slammed Aiden into a cabinet then rushed over to check on Hope. Aiden soon recovered and tried to escape, but Bo caught him, knocked him out, and went back to trying to revive Hope. Aiden regained consciousness and grabbed Bo from behind, wrapping an arm around his neck in an effort to strangle him. A long fight ensued, and, after breaking practically every piece of furniture in the living room, Bo and Aiden ended up struggling for control of Hope's gun, which eventually went off, leaving Aiden dead.

Bo resumed his efforts to revive Hope, performing CPR until she finally regained consciousness and immediately began screaming for help, thinking he was Aiden. Bo calmed Hope down and she realized she was in Bo's arms and he had finally returned. He assured her that she was going to be okay. Hope broke down in his arms. Hope approached Aiden's lifeless body and angrily shook it, sobbing as she kept sobbing, "WHY!!!" as Bo gathered her in his arms to comfort her.