A Heartbroken Shawn Hands Over the Baby to Evan, Who Faces a Jan Spears Sized Road Block— Plus, Rolf Prepares Stefan to Rise Again!

Belle comes to see Shawn at home and learns Evan truly is Shawn Christian’s father. He implores her to fight this so Evan doesn’t take his son. Belle knows how much he loves the baby, but he doesn’t have a legal claim to him. There’s nothing she can do.

More: WTH? Days to no longer air on NBC

At The Bistro, Evan tells Orpheus he was confirmed as the baby’s father. Now, he’s going to New Zealand to be with Zoe and David. He won’t fight his sister for custody of David, but he wants to be with him, and for his kids to know each other. He got a job on a houseboat to Chicago and he’ll go the rest of the way when he’s ready. He’s in no rush. He invites his father along, but Orpheus has unfinished business there. Evan tells him he’s renaming the boy Maddox and leaves to get his son.

More: OLTL fave to Y&R

As Shawn tells the baby he will always love him, Evan arrives. He has a court order to take his son, Maddox. Shawn’s face falls upon hearing Evan’s plans to take the boy to New Zealand. Belle asks Evan to give Shawn time, but Evan demands his son, now. An anguished Shawn says goodbye to his “sweet boy” and hands him to Evan.

After Evan leaves, Belle tries to comfort Shawn, but he shrugs her off. This is what she wanted all along. He apologizes and then rants about Jan.

At the docks, Evan prepares to sail off with Evan, but Jan appears. She explains that after falling into the water, she pulled herself to shore and has been hiding in a yacht. She asks to hold her baby. He reluctantly hands the boy to her, and she kicks him into the water. She tells her son they’re going on a trip, but vows Salem hasn’t seen the last of Team Spears.

More: There might be something to Xander’s jealousy

In her office, a panicked Gabi yells at her assistant to get Ava and Jake’s marriage certificate filed — like now. She hangs up when Li arrives. She tries to cover for what she was ranting about, but he accuses her of trying to make Jake and Ava’s sudden marriage seem real. Ava tries to deny it, but Li puts all the pieces together. Except, he thinks Ava was the mastermind behind the crazy scheme. She spits out that it’s not crazy, and it was all her idea.

After getting more details about how she pulled it off, Li congratulates her on her ingenuity. But why did she keep him in the dark? She didn’t want to put him in a terrible position. Li counters that he likes all the positions she puts him in. He approves of her doing whatever it takes to keep DiMera at number one. He knows she goes after what she wants even if it means lying and scheming along the way. He embraces her. Every inch of her. They kiss passionately, and he asks, “Are we going to um…” She responds, “And we’re not going to apologize for it.” She presses a button one of the DiMeras installed on the desk, and the office door closes. She pushes Li onto the desk.

More: How to fix Days’ love problem

More: The return that would heat up ‘Broe’

In Ava’s apartment, EJ calls the county clerk to track down Jake and Ava’s marriage certificate. Panicked, Ava tries to get him off the phone, until he gets an answer. His face falls, and he says into his phone, “Oh, I see.” Ava tells him to get out. He apologizes for assuming the worst of her and welcomes her to the family. He tells her just to ask if there’s anything he can do for her. She asks him to speed up the transfer of shares so she can pay rent this month. He suggests she move into the mansion instead.

EJ turns up his nose at her garage apartment, assuming she prefers turn-down service and a personal chef. It feels wrong to her considering he didn’t want Jake under his roof. EJ would like an opportunity to make amends by treating her the way Jake deserved to be treated. He also thinks a change of scenery would be beneficial to her, but she doesn’t want to forget Jake. He says the move wouldn’t help her forget, but help her heal. She tears up. Jake’s death doesn’t feel real. He promises it will get better. She accepts his invitation, and they stiffly hug, with both their faces hardening.

After sex at DiMera, Li looks forward to repeating it later and leaves. Gabi gets a call from Ava who tells her about EJ’s visit. Now, she’s moving into the mansion.

At the mansion, EJ tells his father’s portrait he took a page out of his book and is keeping his family close — and the pretenders closer.

More: 10 soap couples that went from hot to not

In his lab, Rolf reveals Stefan hooked up to machines. He recounts to Kristen that thought there was nothing to be done after Stefan was shot, but then he realized nothing is impossible. He modified his serum, but it wasn’t successful until after Gabi gave his heart to Julie. He resurrected everything else, but Stefan is now heartless, in the most literal sense of the word. Kristen’s relieved Lani didn’t actually kill anyone, but wonders how Rolf kept Stefan alive while he was in prison. He explains, that as long as the power doesn’t go out, the machines need no supervision.

All they need now is a donor heart, so Jake’s dying is the best possible scenario. Kristen marvels over him being able to revive Stefan with Jake’s heart like nothing ever happened. Rolf declares they won’t know until they try, but he’s willing to give it his best shot. He cackles that Stefan O. DiMera will rise again!

More: Will Stefan wake up to a ready-made love triangle?

Next on Days of Our Lives: Paulina questions Nicole about Eric, while Jada asks him out on a date.

Go back in time to the heyday of daytime’s love in the afternoon with our photo gallery below.

Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Miss today’s episode? Catch up via Peacock.