When Days of our Lives' Chanel was given the all-clear by Kayla after being exposed to radiation thanks to her radioactive mom, we knew there had to be more to the story, or there was no point to Paulina's snowy rescue on Smith Island. Soon, Chanel learned she was pregnant, and the radiation could cause her developing embryo to have birth defects.
Johnny and Chanel's joy quickly turned to fear, and they knew they had to decide whether to keep their child or have an abortion and try again. Johnny's father, E.J. DiMera, immediately advised his son to end the pregnancy, but Johnny said it was up to his wife. It was clear which way Chanel was leaning when she told Johnny of a teen with Down syndrome who frequented her bakery.
On the May 22 episode, the audience meets Felicity, played by newcomer Kennedy Garcia, who also has Down syndrome, for the first time, as does Johnny. Felicity drops by Sweet Bits with Tate and her brother, Aaron, who we were recently introduced to as Tate's best friend.
"[Chanel] really loves her and kind of looks at Felicity as the model and example of what her child can turn out to be," Raven Bowens told Soap Opera Digest. "She sees that Felicity is her own person. She has a boyfriend. She loves to bake and has all these things that she loves to do. Her life has not [been] stopped by something she was born with. It doesn't define her. A lot of people fear the unknown, but because Chanel has an example of it in front of her, she doesn't have that same fear."
Chanel knows that she wants to keep her baby and tells Johnny to make sure he is on board. He insists that he is, but she doesn't know he just got a job offer in Los Angeles he is considering turning down.
Now that Chanel knows what she plans to do, she just looks forward to becoming a mom, despite the unknown. It's too early in the pregnancy to learn if there are any complications from the radiation, but Chanel is not thinking about that right now.
"I feel like Chanel is optimistic on the one hand, but on the other hand, she doesn't care either way," Bowens said. "It's like she wants the best, but she's not like, 'Oh, I just want to have a child who doesn't have any type of disabilities.' She's like, 'No, I'm going to have a child. I'm going to love the child. I'm going to make the best of the situation, and it will be what it will be.'"
Are you excited to see Felicity maker her entrance onto the scene? Do you look forward to Johnny and Chanel becoming parents? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
