Desperate Ava Takes Cover Story with Stefan to Next Level

In the Days of our Lives recap for Monday, January 8, 2024, Ava took her fake relationship with Stefan to the next level and tried to make their cover story a reality.

Days of our Lives Recap Highlights

In addition, Nicole remained at Holly’s bedside. Both Maggie and an ailing Paulina stopped by to support Nicole. Tripp let Ava know he wasn’t moving to China, then received a shocking visit. Chad demanded answers from Stefan and Ava. And Stephanie learned more about Everett’s past. Now let’s do a deeper dive into the details of what went down.

Dark Days of the Salem Drug Trade

At the offices of The Spectator, Everett (Blake Berris) raised a bunch of questions to Chad (Billy Flynn) about the DiMera involvement in the Salem drug trade. He tried to connect the dots for his boss regarding his brothers. First, he brought up EJ’s (Dan Feuerriegel, a recent Powerhouse Performer) history of dabbling with the drug trade. Second, he mentioned drug central in Salem is the back alley of The Bistro, which Stefan (Brandon Barash) owns. Chad defended his brothers, but Everett’s claim piqued his curiosity.

With Wendy (Victoria Grace) headed off to China, Tripp (Lucas Adams) let Ava (Tamara Braun) know in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t be going with her. He felt he couldn’t go anywhere knowing that something was going on with his mother. And he wasn’t about to listen to any of her arguments. For some reason, she wanted him gone, which meant his place was in Salem by her side so he could protect her. Sure, Ava tried to play it off, but you could tell she wasn’t happy with the decision.

At the hospital, Maggie (Suzanne Rogers) visited Nicole (Arianne Zuker) and her granddaughter, Holly (Ashley Puzemis). Maggie offered the duo her support, her words of wisdom, and a blanket she knitted. Plus, Maggie felt guilt over not seeing the signs in Holly, for not being able to see something like this coming. Nicole later admitted how she didn’t blame Tate (Jamie Martin Mann) for this, that she blamed herself for not being there for her daughter.

Reconnecting and Reuniting

As Chad left The Spectator, Stephanie (Abigail Klein) arrived. A bit of an awkward moment happened, but Stephanie told Everett, it really wasn’t that awkward. That she and Chad had a talk and they’ve moved on. Over dinner, Everett opened up about this whole drug story he’s working on being triggering.

READ THIS: Find out what’s happening next on Days of our Lives.

Back in Seattle, he worked on a similar story that became personal when a friend died. It all happened right before he met Stephanie. She had no clue that he ever experienced this. Everett said it was because he wanted to focus on their relationship. Anyway, the two reconnected and reminisced and left things on a good note.

While Tripp and Ava shared words over his staying in Salem, Wendy suddenly barged in. She changed her mind. Ultimately, she didn’t want to leave Tripp because she loved him. Her justification for not going home was that her parents had an entire village to help her parents, while Ava only had Tripp.

However, the conversation took an odd turn when she didn’t think Tripp was as receptive to her staying as she thought he’d be. She couldn’t understand where he was coming from, she thought he’d be happy. He admitted he was, he just didn’t want her to think that his family was more important than hers. Then, the two worked it out and expressed their love for each other.

Leveling Up

Back at the hospital, Paulina (Jackée Harry) joined Nicole and Maggie at Holly’s bedside. She brought artificial orchids and her own words of wisdom. She assured Nicole that, as mayor, they would get to the bottom of all this drug business in Salem. And in turn, Nicole and Maggie hoped Paulina would take care of herself. Because they noticed her feeling unwell.

Finally, at the DiMera mansion, Chad confronted Stefan and Ava demanding answers about whether the DiMeras were involved in the drug trade. Immediately, he wanted to know what was going on between Stefan and Ava — because there was no reason she should be at their house when they simply worked together at The Bistro.

Then Ava planted a kiss on Stefan in front of Chad to prove that there was a relationship going on between them and nothing else. It wasn’t clear that Chad bought it. But after he left, Stefan wanted to know what the hell was going on. A desperate Ava told him they needed to act like the happy betrayers to keep Harris and Chad off their backs. And she took their fake relationship to the next level by planting a very real kiss on Stefan!

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