In today’s Days of Our Lives, Cat and Felicity are eating in the square, talking about missing Mark. Cat assures her sister that their brother isn’t a bad person, he just did a bad thing for a good reason. Then she starts gushing about Chad. “Wow,” Felicity rolls her eyes. “You really like him, don’t you?”

Of course! He’s a wonderful man. But she doesn’t like like him — OK, actually she does. But he’ll never like her back after what she did. Felicity, though, encourages Cat, saying it’s like her and Todd. He didn’t like her back at first, but after giving him a meatloaf sandwich he’s her boyfriend.

Julie’s asleep in Alice’s chair when Chad stops by, asking how she’s doing. He apologizes for being gone so long, then asks how her session with Marlena went. “Fine… I guess.” Marlena was lovely, but therapy won’t help her problem: Being lost without Doug. Chad nods. “Yeah.” They were together for decades, facing life without him has to be hard. But he thinks she’ll pull out of this — maybe talking to Marlena just for comfort will help.

Julie agrees to book another session and thanks Chad for helping her. Losing Doug is “a bigger blow than I’ve ever had to take.” She knows her heart will open again someday, like Chad, his kids and the family and friends. She tearfully tells him she’ll get there and adapt. “Yes, you will.” They say how important they are to each other, and Julie says she’s done some soul searching about Cat Greene.

She hasn’t forgiven her, but she can be a bit more quiet about it since Cat was forced by Clyde and she and Chad are friends. Chad says they aren’t friends, but maybe someday. Julie knowingly nods. She’ll be less critical, but sometimes some things might just pop up. They both hope Cat gets the assistant job with Marlena — a second chance is good. Doug would approve, Julie tearfully smiles.

Chad has to run to the paper, and Julie assures him she’ll be fine. She may even try to sleep in the bed. “I love you,” he says and heads out.

Xander stops in to visit Sarah at work to see if she wants to go to dinner. She fills him in on how crazy it’s been with all the poisoning — including Alex. But they’re all fine. Xander wonders if Justin and Philip know, and Sarah takes the opening to ask if he and Philip have been getting along.

They are! In fact, Xander says, he’s all in on going to war with the DiMeras. “What??” an aghast Sarah asks. He tells her to calm down, they’re going to find a legitimate way to go after them. At most, they’ll “bend” some rules. When Sarah worries about starting a war with Kristen, Xander promises to be careful. Also, it was Philip’s idea to do this.

Sarah doesn’t get why Philip changed his mind, and Xander explains Philip’s a lot less cautious now that he doesn’t have to worry about Stephanie getting hurt.

Alex and Stephanie are kissing on her couch, reiterating that his near-death experience just made them want to be together even more — though it sucks for Joy. (Who’s forgotten and unconscious on her bed.) That’s when Steph fills him in on what happened with the poisoning being on the scripts and Alex realizes Joy must have gotten it too. When she doesn’t answer his call, Alex and Stephanie race over to her.

Alex knocks on the door a few times, then goes in. They rush over to her unconscious body. She’s just barely hanging in, so they take her straight to the hospital. They get her in, and while Sarah’s worried she’s been untreated as long as she was, she thinks the antidote should turn things around pretty quickly.

Alex asks Sarah about the antidote, and she says they had it in the lab already. They just needed to figure out the drug that did this. That’s when Joy wakes up in the hospital bed, confused about why she’s there.

Out in the reception area, Stephanie and Xander talk about Joy and Alex, which is when he asks if she dumped Philip for his cousin. Steph thinks back to her confrontation with Philip, but is saved by Sarah who comes out to tell them Joy is going to make a full recovery. Stephanie runs off to see her, and Xander heads to the Pub to get takeout for both of them later. As soon as he’s gone, Sarah starts texting Philip.

In her hospital room, Joy marvels over Alex saving her, and tells him and Stephanie how grateful they are for saving her. “Um. Did you two run into each other in the hallway or something?” Yeah, Alex awkwardly tells his soon-to-be ex. Exactly.

Philip’s doing shirtless pushups in his room, getting ready for bed, when Kate pops in needing to talk. “My career as a soap opera mogul is a complete disaster.” Philip’s only half interested in the poisoning until he realizes Stephanie could have been hurt. She wasn’t, but she quit the show. Kate says the show has been a huge headache from the start, and she isn’t sure it’s worth it.

“It actually brought a little joy for a while,” she tells Philip. “And now, there’s no joy. It’s dead. Dead!” But she and Abe will figure it out. She asks how work is going, and is thrilled to hear he and Xander are getting along. And that Sarah and Stephanie are keeping quiet.

In fact, they’ve teamed up to go after DiMera Enterprises. Kate admires their ambition, but he may be ruffling the wrong feathers. Not Kristen or any DiMera, but Sarah. She was against this from the beginning and she knows his secret. Philip tells his mom that if it was a problem, he’d have heard from her by now. Which is when he gets her text saying she wants to meet.

She arrives at his room in a range, saying they had an understanding about keeping Xander’s worst instincts in check. Yes, but she also said to work with him. So Philip is doing that — and he’ll make sure Xander doesn’t break the law. Sarah, though, thinks he’s not such a great influence on her husband, so maybe it’s time to tell Xander the truth.

Kate runs into Xander just as he’s leaving the Brady Pub. She and Philip were just talking about their DiMera takeover plans. Xander’s annoyed, until Kate admits she’s not opposed to their plan.

In the show’s final moments, Cat and Felicity share an ice cream sundae and a hug when Chad shows up in the square. Cat introduces him to her little sis and tells Chad that they’re celebrating her new job with Marlena. He’s happy for her — but before he can run off, Felicity suggests he and Cat share the sundae. He, though, has to get to the office. Once he’s gone, Felicity just shrugs. “Worth a try!” Back home, Julie makes her way upstairs, haltingly, but determined.

Philip begs Sarah to be reasonable. If he’s gone, no one will keep Xander in check. Sarah makes it very clear that Philip is playing by HER rules, not his. They can proceed with the takeover plans for now, but if she hears about anything shady, she’s pulling the plug. Fine, Philip reluctantly agrees, and earns another threat from Sarah before she storms out.

Xander brings up the Body and Soul poisoning and how much of a close call it was for Joy, according to Sarah. Kate’s shocked to hear. Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Alex and Stephanie are talking in the reception area, agreeing that it wasn’t the right time to tell Joy about the two of them. But Alex will do it once she’s better. He reassures her this is what he wants with a kiss.

Which Joy comes out of her room just in time to see.