Stefano tells Bo that a woman dressed in black was skulking around the church when E.J. was shot. Though he suspects it was Marlena, Stefano remains vague and pressures Bo to find her. Meanwhile, Sami visits E.J. at the hospital and finds he's much better. He credits his recovery to her admission of having feelings for him. Sami confides that Lucas sent Will back to Europe and picked Allie's name without asking her. Bo arrives and pulls Sami into the corridor to question her about the mysterious woman in black. She finally realizes it was her mother!
Meanwhile, Stefano orders E.J. to get control of his son. The boy is a DiMera and Stefano wants him in E.J.'s charge. Later, E.J. tells Sami it's time to introduce his son to Stefano.
The morning after her wedding to Shawn, Belle is blissed out, knowing she made the right choice in marrying him. While Shawn makes them breakfast, Belle realizes she left her cell phone at Hope's. She spots Philip's watch and is wracked with guilt.
Hope stuns Marlena with the news that Belle slept with Philip and then lied about never seeing him again. Marlena thinks Hope must be wrong, but she produces Belle's cell phone and says the message from Philip leaves no doubt. Marlena agrees to speak with Belle and is about to leave when Bo arrives
E.J. asks Sami to bring the baby to Stefano, but she refuses. Sami says she's running herself ragged between him and the twins, so adding a grandpa visit is out of the question – especially if the grandpa is Stefano. She advises E.J. to stand up to his father.
Stefano arrives and entreats Sami to let him see the baby but she tells him to wait. He states a DiMera boy needs to be guided by the DiMera men and Sami hits the roof. Surprisingly, E.J. sides with Sami and tells his father he'll have to wait.
Meanwhile, Belle visits Lucas, hoping to talk to Sami. Lucas confides he's upset with the way Sami is splitting her time between the twins and E.J. He's starting to question her true feelings for E.J. Later, Sami comes home and finds Lucas distant. She proclaims her love and kisses him, but Lucas is still left wondering. Meanwhile, Stefano returns to E.J.'s room, telling his son to take control of the baby situation or he will.
Marlena gets defensive as Bo questions if she was at the church during E.J.'s shooting. Eventually, Marlena says he can talk to her lawyer and exits. Bo shares his suspicions with Hope and plans to follow Marlena home to see if she gets rid of the evidence. Roman shows up and takes Bo off on another lead, so Hope heads for Marlena's instead.
At the townhouse, Hope catches Marlena at the door with a trash bag. Hope discovers it's filled with the black dress, hat and veil... and a gun. Marlena breaks down and confides she went to the church with the gun. She wasn't going to shoot, but another gun went off first and Marlena accidentally pulled her trigger. A compassionate Hope tells her she and Bo will do whatever they can to help her, but Marlena feels she's lost everything.
At the pub, Shawn gets a call from Bo and heads off to survey a crime scene. Belle arrives and Philip says he tried calling her. Belle asks that he leave her alone. Philip makes her a proposition: he's found evidence in the E.J. shooting that he can arrange to fall into Shawn's hands. In return, Belle will spend one night with him, just the two of them enjoying one another's company. He wants to prove to her that they're not over. Belle rejects him, but she's still affected when he leaves. Meanwhile, Shawn shows up at the crime scene and gets busted by a detective when he accidentally tramples over potential evidence.
Marlena confronts Belle about her relationship with Philip. Belle insists they are just friends. When Marlena reveals Hope spilled about Belle sleeping with Philip, Belle again denies, saying Hope must have misinterpreted what happened. Marlena becomes frustrated at Belle's denials and finally tells her that Hope listened to Philip's message. Belle finally breaks, admitting that she did betray Shawn. She explains that although she loves him, sometimes he's his own worst enemy. There is something grown-up and attractive about Philip and how he takes care of her. Marlena advises Belle to make a choice and stick by it. Belle says it's Shawn.
Shawn gets dressed down by a cop for carelessness at the crime scene around the cabin. When Shawn talks back, Bo busts his chops, too. He warns that Shawn must learn to follow orders. Shawn is chastened and admits there's a lot he hasn't learned. If he'd been in the Academy his mistakes wouldn't be so public. Shawn accidentally lets it slip that Belle, not Philip, sent the letter to the Academy that got him kicked out. Bo wonders if Shawn can really trust her. Shawn says he's forgiven her; she only did it to protect him from a dangerous job. Later, Shawn tells Belle how he screwed up. Belle, in turn, makes a private call to Philip, saying she'll give him his one night with her if he'll help Shawn. At the cabin, Bo and Roman discover bullet shells, which they believe are connected to E.J.'s shooting.
Stephanie and Cordy tell Chelsea and Nick about Ford's terror tactics on Thanksgiving Day. Chelsea declares they must do more to stop him, but Cordy is freaked, wanting to ignore him. When she breaks down, Stephanie escorts her home. Chelsea decides to dig up evidence from Ford's dorm room that would prove he's been date-raping girls. At first Nick refuses to help, but when it becomes clear she'll do it on her own anyway, he decides to go with her. Later, as they stake out his room, Ford leaves and the couple prepares to break in!
Belle and Philip kick their plan into gear to make Shawn look good in the eyes of the Salem PD. Philip arranges for Belle to send Shawn into the alley of Brady's Pub, just as one of his hired goons pretends to sell Kate's gun to another thug. The "deal" goes south (as planned), and Shawn overpowers the thugs, managing to get his hands on the gun. He tells Belle what happened, and takes off to give it to Bo. Meanwhile, Philip lies to Kate that her gun was stolen from his car before he could get rid of it. Kate freaks out, but Philip assures her that if the gun turns up, he'll make sure she has all the resources of the Kiriakis Empire at her disposal.
At the cabin, Bo and Roman go over the evidence they found, but it amounts to junk food wrappers and gun shells. After Roman leaves, Hope shows up with Marlena's gun, and she and Bo boil the case down to its simplest form: Kate and Marlena both had guns, but there's still a third shooter missing. Just then, Shawn shows up with a gun and gives it to Bo. His parents are proud of Shawn for possibly breaking the case. Bo finds out the gun has Kate's fingerprints on it, and Roman is forced to arrest Kate.
Holding up her end of the bargain, Belle meets Philip at a hotel. Philip assures her this isn't about sex. Belle informs him that Hope told Marlena about the affair, and she's on thin ice. Philip understands this will be the last night for them and expresses how much he loves her. Caught up in the moment, Belle admits she's in love with him, too. They fall into a kiss, but Philip realizes he's only making things more difficult for Belle and asks her to leave. Belle exits into the corridor, devastated. She's trying to pull herself together, when she runs into Chloe Lane Black, who just got back into town! Chloe thinks Belle's on her honeymoon, and wants to go to her room to see Shawn.
Nick and Chelsea break into Ford's dorm room and find evidence of him drugging girls. They find sleeping pills and a journal of his victims, in which they learn Ford has raped a second Theta girl (it doesn't list names). Nick and Chelsea hide in the closet when Ford returns with a date. Once Ford realizes someone's broken into his room, he makes a quick escape with the evidence. However, Nick and Chelsea have pictures, which they hope is enough. Later, Ford confronts them about breaking in but they deny it.
Bo tells Shawn that the gun he found belongs to Kate Roberts. Shawn shouldn't have any problem getting into the Academy in January.
At the hotel, a nervous Belle deals with Chloe, who has come back for their high school reunion. Chloe assumes Shawn is inside the suite and when Belle says he isn't, she wants to know who is. Belle phumphers and is saved by a phone call from Shawn, telling her to hurry home for a surprise. Belle is about to leave when Chloe asks if Belle knows how she can get in touch with Philip. Just as Belle says she doesn't know, the door opens and Philip walks out. Philip has to run to see Kate, but promises to get together with Chloe later. Philip promises a panicky Belle that he'll deal with Chloe and keep her from getting suspicious.
Belle gets home and finds Shawn dressed up in a fake cop uniform. He tells Belle how finding the gun has changed everything for him, and the two make love. Meanwhile, Philip returns from having seen Kate and meets with Chloe. He attempts to convince her there's nothing going on between him and Belle. Chloe pretends to believe him and announces she's moving back to Salem; she and Brady got a divorce around the time of John's funeral. Later, a scheming Chloe calls Shawn to let him know she's back in town.
Roman tells Kate he may be charging her with attempted murder now that they have her gun. Kate panics and calls Philip. He comes to the police station and tells Kate he'll get her the Kiriakis lawyers. Kate is furious it's gotten this far and accuses him of trading favors with Shawn; his wife for the gun. Philip leaves. Kate, scared, asks Roman to steal the gun from the evidence room and then kisses him. Roman refuses; he can't protect her. He leaves when a cop brings in a ballistics report, which reveals Marlena's gun matched the other stray bullet in the church. He tells the cop to keep quiet about it. An eavesdropping Kate slips away, seething that Roman would protect Marlena, but not her.
Chelsea and Nick tell Bo, Steve and Stephanie they took photographs of evidence against Ford. An agitated Stephanie blasts Chelsea for causing trouble. Ford will try to get even. Bo looks at the photographs and wonders how they got them. Chelsea confesses they broke into Ford's dorm. Bo flips out but she defends her actions, saying the school and the cops have let them down. Bo wants to get a warrant so he can go after the evidence, but Chelsea tells him everything is gone. Ford realized someone had broken in and cleaned out his room. Stephanie knew Ford would get away with it. This touches a cord in Bo and Steve, and they decide to pay Ford a visit. They leave, and Stephanie chews out Chelsea, accusing her of playing hero at Cordy's expense. Stephanie storms out. Meanwhile, Bo and Steve sternly warn Ford to stay away from their daughters.
