Sarah Tries to Convince Xander He Can Still Win, Only for Belle to Set a Trap the Couple Can’t Escape!

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

In today’s Days of Our Lives, Philip gets a knock at the door as he puts on his shirt. Kate walks in and asks if that’s what he’s wearing to court, after which Philip fills her in on his lawyer switch. Kate thinks it’s fascinating that he’s got his exes working for him — Stephanie, Belle… He pushes past her jabs and says he asked her to come over to testify for him today. “Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she says.

She doesn’t feel comfortable talking about the letter on the stand. Vivian’s too much of a loose cannon to keep her mouth shut. Philip promises that Belle won’t ask about the letter. Kate wishes she didn’t even know about the letter and now she’s keeping secrets from Roman. She’ll always cover for him in life. Always. But she’s not perjuring herself in court.

Over at the Brady Pub, Shawn tells Roman that he’s sticking around and has rejoined the force. Roman happily congratulates him and tells him both he and Belle have been missed. Shawn gets silent, then tells Roman their marriage is over and Belle left town. They sit and Roman tells Shawn how sorry he is.

They just grew apart, Shawn said, and agreed that time and space was good for them. Roman brings up splitting with Marlena and how it took time for the wounds to heal — but he’s where he’s meant to be.

After Roman and Shawn are done, Kate shows up with the news that Belle’s Philip’s attorney. Roman’s surprised. Philip thinks Belle left already. Roman thinks they need to learn to get along, while Kate thinks it’s best if Belle leaves town when she’s done. Then Roman gets a call from Statesville. “Vivian Alamain? What the hell do you want?”

More: New life for familiar characters?

Out in the Horton Square, Belle and Shawn surprise each other with the news that neither of them are leaving Salem. They explain why and Belle asks Shawn for “a huge favor.” She wants him to be a witness now.

Brady, meanwhile, gets home to give Belle a special delivery — it’s her divorce papers. Belle seems uncomfortable but says it’s just a formality. She just wonders when she’ll ever see a leaving Shawn again since he’s going to Bo. She then mentions she’s staying in town representing Philip, which catches Brady off guard.

She explains what happened and asks for her brother’s help testifying against Xander. But he can’t and won’t. They put everything that happened with the Sarah accident/attempted murder behind them. Plus, he works for Xander and Philip framed him for murder.

Belle casually tells him she’ll just have to subpoena him and Brady tells her it won’t work. She’s got to find another way to win.

Justin’s working at the table in the Kiriakis mansion when Maggie wishes him a good morning. Justin wastes no time asking her to testify for Xander — today. The judge is unpredictable and Justin would feel better with a character witness who knew Victor like Maggie. She, though, doesn’t want to be in the middle of this. He tries talking her into it, but Maggie insists Victor never talked about these things with her.

She knows Victor wanted Xander, but Philip is still Victor’s son and she cares about him too. It’s a legal matter and she wants nothing to do with it.

More: Preview — a baby is on the way!

Upstairs, Sarah and Xander wake in bed. He shakes off her concern after she says he was tossing and turning all night. Today’s going to be intense and Xander worries about the judge siding with Philip and costing him everything. Yesterday’s confidence was a facade. Reality is a lot scarier. Sarah reassures him that no matter what, he’s got her and Victoria.

Which, he says, is why he wants to support them. His plans aren’t working: Philip got a new, supposedly great lawyer and the judge is unpredictable. Sarah reassures Xander as best she can and they start kissing. After a romp in bed, Xander says he’s feeling so much better and thanks Sarah for her unconditional love and support.

Xander finally gets dressed and goes down, overhearing that Maggie wants to remain neutral. That’s absolutely fine, he gets it. To make matters even more joyful, Sarah comes down and surprises everyone by saying she doesn’t need her cane anymore.

Sarah, Justin and Xander get to the court room, where the first two leave to get coffee. Philip walks in once Xander’s alone. Xander gives Philip the chance to drop the case before humiliating himself and says this fighting isn’t good for Maggie. Philip sneers him off and makes a jab about returning Xander to the gardener once he wins. “May Victor’s favorite son win.”

Belle shows up shortly later after Xander leaves to get coffee. Philip tells her Kate couldn’t make it and Belle says the same about Brady. He wants to know if Belle can testify, but no, she’s his lawyer.

The other three get back, followed shortly by the judge. Belle enters Victor’s supposed letter into evidence. She then presents a letter from Philip’s doctors in Europe saying he’s better after faking his own death, which is the only reason Victor didn’t leave him anything. Then, she calls Shawn to the stand.

More: The Abigail countdown has begun

Shawn testifies that he grew up with Uncle Philip, who was the golden child, groomed to take over. He was the obvious choice. He’s sure it’s what Victor wanted. Justin gets up to grill him whether Victor ever said they should ignore his will to piece what he wanted together with anecdotal evidence. “No,” Shawn admits then steps down.

Belle’s got nothing further to add. He presents the judge with Victor’s will, saying his intentions were clear. He then presents a letter of support from Alex, and Belle says he should be there to testify and let her cross examine him. Sadly, Justin says, Alex is working on Body and Soul.

That’s not good enough, the judge says. Evidence denied. Justin then calls Sarah to the stand.

Maggie drops in on Brady and says she was on her way to a meeting and wanted to see if he wanted to come along. They both fill each other in on neither being comfortable taking sides. “I think we should just let Xander and Philip hash this out for themselves,” Brady says.

In the show’s final moments, Kate snatches the phone from Roman’s hand, tells Vivian off and tells her never to call again. She hangs up, apologizes, then sends Roman off to check if the delivery is there. Except, she didn’t hang up, gets back on the phone and tells Vivian shut her mouth for Philip’s sake and her own cut. “You better not screw me.”

Over at John and Marlena’s, Brady and Maggie talk about his wakeup call with Sarah’s accident leading to his sobriety again. And Maggie says she’s grateful to him for convincing Kristen to hand over the serum. Things seem to finally be getting on track with her and Xander.

Sarah talks about Victor and Xander’s relationship and says Xander loved his dad. Their daughter was named after him. (Which Sarah did.) Sarah then mentions Philip being gone much of Victor’s final years and his money laundering scheme at Titan with Ava. Victor was “heart sick” in his son after that.

More: The Way Home shocker

Belle gets Sarah to admit that Victor kept Philip on as CEO after learning the scheme, while Xander quit in a “fit of pique.” But Philip was eventually fired, which led to his downward spiral. The judge allows Belle to strike that last bit. Belle then asks if Sarah loves him so much that she’d do anything for him.

Sarah says yes, but not enough to lie for him. Her testimony has been truthful. “So far,” Belle says, then flashes back to Brady talking about Xander’s attacks on him. “Would you perhaps lie under oath about your husbands attempts to murder Brady Black?”