Rafe’s Homecoming Goes Horribly Wrong and Kristen Gets to Brady — But Will He Convince Ava to Play Ball?

On today’s Days of Our Lives, Kristen makes it clear to Brady that if Ava takes Kristen down, she’ll also expose Rachel to CPS — and they could both lose her forever. He insists that CPS will understand that Rachel was being used by her mother and grandmother, but Kristen points out that they weren’t understanding earlier when they visited him. They’ll lose Rachel, “Unless what happened at Aremid, stays at Aremid.” She leaves to check on her mom.

More: Watch Alison Sweeney’s son grow up as he turns 20

Gabi and Kayla Run DNA

Kayla drops into Marlena’s office to invite her to dinner, but before they can leave Gabi rushes in with an emergency. She’s sure Rafe is Arnold. “EJ’s done it again.” Both doctors remember him (he tormented Sami, after all), but thought he was dead. Gabi convinces them that Arnold is back and the reason Rafe’s been so wrong. Now she needs Kayla’s help.

Out by the nurse’s station, Gabi wants to give Kayla Arnold’s hair, but the doc says they need something to compare the DNA against. That’s when she says they may not have any relatives of Arnold’s to test it against, but they have Rafe’s. It won’t prove it’s Arnold, but it could prove it’s not Rafe. The lab’s closed right now, but Kayla will rush it to get the results ASAP.

Belle Realizes How Bad EJ Is

Belle’s done with EJ and makes it absolutely clear that she’ll prosecute him. EJ tries talking her down, flirting that she likes a little bad boy — but she snaps at him that Ava’s kidnapping is a legal matter and she will take him down. After, she rushes over to Marlena’s office to fill her in on Ava’s kidnapping and EJ’s involvement. She was focused on the wrong crime with EJ.

Now she’s got no choice but to prosecute him. “Guess I should be grateful it’s just the one crime, right?” And that, of course, is when Marlena breaks the bad news about Jada, Rafe and Arnold. Belle’s horrified, wondering where the real Rafe is. Then she realizes that Rachel Blake must have known — that’s how she convinced EJ to keep quiet about Ava.

More: Stephanie’s past with Arnold

“This is so much worse than I thought.” She tells her mom to say “I told you so,” but Marlena gently tells her that everyone makes mistakes. She made a choice to ignore EJ’s red flags, knowing how bad he was. But not like this. She even defended EJ to Shawn. Belle starts to cry and Marlena pulls her into her arms: “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

Jada and Shawn Don’t Believe Rafe

Rafe wakes up on the kitchen table just as Shawn and Jada burst in demanding to know where Rafe is. He doesn’t have any memory of anyone or anything, though. Neither of them believe him, sure that he’s Arnold and that after Gabi’s confrontation, he decided to pretend to have amnesia so he didn’t get in trouble.

Jada demands to know where Rafe is, but Rafe has no clue what either of them are talking about. So Shawn takes the remarkably calm amnesiac in for “suspicion of kidnapping,” slapping handcuffs on him and reading him his rights.

They take him to the station, and Shawn wonders if this amnesia thing isn’t an act, after all. Jada’s sure it’s not, so Shawn offers to take another shot at Feniger. Jada’s desperate to know where Rafe is, so Shawn promises to do his best to get answers. She heads home, but not before cautiously bringing up their fling. Shawn tells her to focus on finding Rafe now.

Kristen and EJ Talk Strategy

Kristen gets home, railing about not being allowed to see her mom, but EJ’s too distracted to give her much sympathy. Belle was there and she intends to prosecute EJ as an accessory. Kristen assures him that Ava’s not a problem now, so he’ll be fine. “I made sure of it.” She lays out her plan and says Ava may hate her, but she wouldn’t hurt Brady by costing him his daughter. EJ, though, isn’t so sure Ava will be that sympathetic to little Rachel.

Kristen is. “Do you actually believe that nitwit will convince her to let this all go?” Yup, Ava’s a mother and if she does this, she blows up her relationship with Brady, too. Trust her. Fine, EJ, does, and tells her both Rafe and Arnold have been “neutralized.” “Fake Rafe is exiting Salem as we speak, while Real Rafe is back in the bosom of his family.”

More: Chicago Fire confirms one death

Kristen says he’s acting all cool, but she knows the Belle situation is getting to him. Not the legal stuff he’s sure he can get out of, but the relationship blowing up. Kristen does apologize for EJ getting pulled into “the Ava business.” EJ pushes past it, not wanting to talk about Belle, and just hopes Rolf got the dosage right, and if not, it errs on the side of too much memory wiping than too little.

Brady Begs Ava to Keep Quiet

Brady gets to Ava’s at the pub where he breaks the news that Kristen hasn’t been arrested yet. “We have to talk.” He haltingly tells her that Ava shouldn’t press charges against Kristen. Ava reminds Brady of what Kristen did to her, and she needs to be punished for it. But Brady says Kristen left her there only to protect their daughter. And if Ava implicates Kristen, then she does the same with Rachel.

More: Beyond the Gates scene-stealer sentenced to prison

Ava gets it. She’ll throw Kristen and Rachel Blake under the bus, but never mention little Rachel. How? Brady asks. Rachel was the one who lured Ava there. Brady’s not OK with the Blake women getting off scot-free, but he needs to protect his daughter. He begs Ava not to say anything. She takes a deep breath.

Rafe’s About to Take the Fall for Arnold

In the show’s final moments, Shawn interrogates Rafe, who is completely clueless about Jada, Arnold and “this Rafe person.” He still doesn’t know this supposed fiancée of his and tells Shawn that if he won’t let him go, he wants a lawyer.

Gabi shows up at Stephanie’s and Jada invites her in. The hospital’s testing Feniger’s hair against hers to prove he’s not Rafe. Jada says she and Shawn confronted Arnold, but he’s pretending to have amnesia. She doubts he’ll crack, though. “How are we going to find Rafe,” Gabi asks.