Days of Our Lives Recap: Thursday, December 14 – Paulina Hides Illness – Lani’s Release Delayed – Tate Blows Up at Holly

Days of Our Lives (DOOL) spoilers recap for Thursday, December 14, reveals that Holly Jonas (Ashley Puzemis) came inside from fencing practice with Johnny DiMera (Carson Boatman) and flirted with him before suggesting they should order some food.

Johnny planned to take Chanel Dupree (Raven Bowens) to The Bistro instead, so Holly was bummed.

Despite initially rejecting Tate Black’s (Jamie Martin Mann) invitation, she later texted him back and said they could have dinner together.

At Paulina Price’s (Jackée Harry) place, she seemed exhausted as she tried to help Chanel pick an outfit for her date.

Paulina liked Johnny, but she still advised Chanel to guard her heart and avoid getting serious too soon.

Chanel mentioned that Johnny had a surprise in store for what would’ve been their second anniversary.

Once talk turned to Christmas and Lani Grant (Sal Stowers) coming home, Paulina offered some disappointing updates.

Lani’s prison release had been delayed due to backlogged paperwork, so Paulina said everything probably wouldn’t be processed in time for Christmas.

Paulina had an emotional meltdown that seemed to be about more than just Lani’s release, but she eventually let out all her tears and anger before insisting she was fine.

Chanel was concerned about leaving her mom alone, but Paulina said she was going to conk out since she was so tired.

There were also moments when Paulina seemed achy and out of breath, but she hid her symptoms from Chanel on Thursday’s Days episode.

At The Bistro, Nicole Walker-DiMera (Arianne Zucker) had a surprisingly pleasant night with EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel), who loved seeing her smile again.

EJ had the staff set up a Christmas tree while they were gone, so Nicole was delighted by it when they returned home.

Johnny and Holly crossed paths with Nicole and EJ briefly before taking off on their separate date nights.

It wasn’t long until those date nights merged since Holly turned down Tate’s offer to take her somewhere exotic with Brady Black’s (Eric Martsolf) gold card.

Instead, Holly just wanted to have dinner at The Bistro – and Tate understood why when they walked in and saw Johnny dining with Chanel,

Chanel saw Holly and Tate as well, so her suspicions about Holly’s crush on Johnny returned. Johnny downplayed the idea again and urged Chanel to just focus on their own evening together.

When the topic of Lani’s delayed prison release came up, Johnny offered to talk to EJ and see if his dad could pull some strings.

Chanel doubted that EJ could fix this, but she agreed to let him at least try.

Johnny wanted to do whatever he could for Paulina since his former mother-in-law might become his future mother-in-law one day.

Next on Thursday’s DOOL show, Tate told Holly that he wasn’t stupid and knew she was just using him.

Holly reminded Tate that he said he’d help her break up Chanel and Johnny, but Tate insisted he was done.

After Tate snapped about Holly’s crazy fantasy of being with Johnny, he warned that it was never going to happen.

Tate argued that Johnny would never see Holly as anything other than his little stepsister.

Furthermore, Johnny was too old – like “two to 10 in the pen old” according to angry Tate.

As Tate stormed out, Holly’s expression made it seem like she was finally starting to realize he was right.

At the hospital on Thursday’s Days episode, Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) arrived to drop off the baby with Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) and revealed that Victoria Cook had slept through the night.

Sarah thought it was sweet when Xander confessed that he sang Victoria a Scottish lullaby.

There was a close moment as Sarah touched Xander’s hand on Victoria’s stroller, but then she looked panicked and made an excuse to run off.

In Marlena Evans’ (Deidre Hall) office, John Black (Drake Hogestyn) showed up and urged her not to work too hard, but it was tough for her since so many people needed help this time of year.

After John handed over a framed photo of Jude Brady, they talked about the joy of their grandkids and shared a hug right as Sarah entered.

John excused himself to grab some coffee while Sarah sought guidance from Marlena.

Sarah acknowledged that friendly co-parenting was going well with Xander and suggested maybe she should keep the status quo.

Marlena asked if that was what Sarah wanted, so Sarah admitted she wasn’t sure she could just be friends with Xander.

Since Sarah understood that the stakes were higher with Victoria involved and was carefully weighing her options, Marlena was pleased to hear that.

In the waiting area, Xander approached John and acknowledged that his relationship with Marlena was the stuff of romantic legend, so he hoped John could offer some tips.

John thought Xander was an “ass” and a screw-up, but he still gave him some advice about turning over a new leaf permanently for Victoria and Sarah’s sake.

Once Sarah returned, Xander asked if he could walk her home with the baby.

Sarah said she’d like that very much, so she ended up taking Victoria to see Santa with Xander.

Afterward, Xander and Sarah joked about Victoria crying in the photo.

Sarah and Xander also saw a dollhouse they liked for Victoria’s room, so they decided to buy it together as a gift from both of them.

At the DiMera mansion on Thursday’s Days episode, EJ opened a package from the funeral home. Nicole saw that the box supposedly contained the baby’s ashes, so she got upset all over again.

However, Nicole calmed down soon after as she said a prayer for healing and helped EJ scatter the ashes outside.

EJ also revealed an baby ornament that he’d purchased, so Nicole put it on the tree as they resolved to hang it every year in memory of their son.

Days of Our Lives spoilers say Nicole’s emotional rollercoaster will continue, so stay tuned for all the stunning news that’s still to come.

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