On today’s Days of Our Lives, Gabi tells JJ that she plans on starting the New Year on a high note, by telling EJ off. JJ says he’s glad to start the New Year with her. Philip hands Belle a glass of champagne and asks how she’s doing. It’s tough not to think about Shawn, she admits, since it’s the first she’s been single on New Year’s Eve in a long time.

Alex asks Stephanie where her date is, since it’s almost midnight, and they spot him with Belle. Neither know where Joy is, though. Philip then comes over and kisses Stephanie, glaring at Alex the whole time. As the couple laughs together, Alex mutters to himself, wondering where Joy is. He gets impatient and goes over to Philip and Stephanie, where his cousin needles him about where Joy is.

The countdown begins and Jada walks over to kiss fake Rafe at midnight, leaving a disgusted EJ to walk off. He throws back a glass of champagne with a growl, but cheers up when Belle comes over to wish him a Happy New Year. He offers a “respectful, friendly kiss” and she tells him sure — on the cheek.

She refills her glass and saunters away, at which point EJ growls some more and goes over to interrupt Jada and Arnold. He asks Rafe to help bring out more food, leaving a confused Jada behind.

Upstairs, Johnny demands to know why Joy is there, then they start bickering about how much stress they’re under. “If Chanel knew about what happened between you and me!” Chanel walks in just then and demands they spill it. Johnny tries cheerfully avoiding the question, but Chanel’s ticked and wants answers.

Joy makes up another lame excuse, but Chanel’s done buying their crap. Johnny asks Joy to leave so he can speak with his wife alone. He lays out what happened and why to an increasingly incredulous and upset Chanel, culminating in how he “made the biggest mistake of my life.”

They went back to Joy’s room, talked and drank some more, then ended up half naked in bed kissing. But that’s as far as it went! He couldn’t go through with it. He says he just thought the marriage was over and wanted to drown the pain. Chanel disgustedly tells him she believes him, then slaps him across the face.

Whether he went all the way, he still cheated. He says she’s right, but promises nothing more ever happened between them. “All this time, I was working side-by-side with the woman you almost slept with.” He apologizes again, but as Chanel goes off and starts putting the pieces together, she realizes that Alex was covering for Joy and was in on it.

Johnny explains what happened and Chanel yells at him for throwing Alex under the bus and lying to her “for MONTHS.” He was terrified of losing her, he knows he messed up, but he’ll do anything to make it up to her. But when he asks if there’s a way they can move past it, Chanel tells him flat out: “No.”

Downstairs, Joy rushes down, throws back a drink in front of a surprised Alex. Philip cheerfully throws out a question about Chloe and Joy snaps back at him and runs off. She grabs another drink, but when Alex asks what happened, she just asks that he take him home first.

Philip notes that Joy and Chloe may not always get along, but they are protective of each other. JJ and Gabi come over to wish a happy new year, where Gabi trades some barbs about Philip worming his way back into Titan. JJ suggests they grab their stuff and go, which sounds great to Gabi. Stephanie and Philip then call it a night, too.

Belle and Jada toast to Belle taking over and making an excellent DA, though Belle acknowledges that she hasn’t had a chance to tell EJ yet. “He is going to be livid!” They start dancing together, then realize no one else is around. And they don’t want to be either.

Out in the hall, EJ smacks Arnold’s hand away from the food and yells at him for kissing Jada. He then yells that he won’t go a step farther. There is no way he’s sleeping with Jada — there’s no consent and he realizes how wrong it was to do that to Sami last time around. He threatens Arnold some more, just as Gabi and JJ start leaving. Gabi demands to know what’s happening and RoboRafe promises that he can handle EJ.

Belle and Jada come out, then, but when Jada asks if RoboRafe wants to go home, EJ hurriedly tells Jada she can’t go home with Rafe. Jada demands to know why, and EJ says Steve just assigned Rafe a big case for Black Patch and he has to leave. Tonight. Arnold admits that he does, but he’ll be back before the wedding. She tells him to be careful, but before they can kiss EJ has a coughing fit and Arnold hugs Jada instead.

Back home, Philip asks Stephanie why she’s acting so weird. “Is this about Alex?” She’s been acting off ever since she found out he and Joy were going to the party together: “Like you still have a thing for him.” Maybe he’s right, she admits. But she wants to be over him. She lays out how things ended poorly both times they tried. They just aren’t right for each other, connection or not.

Back at Joy’s room, Alex is stunned to realize Chanel finally knows the truth. He’s glad it’s all out and notes that she’ll likely be ticked at both of them since he kept the secret. Joy’s sorry this is going to cost her Chanel’s friendship. Plus, she could lose her job and would have to go back to New York and prove her mother right.

Alex reassures her that she didn’t do anything wrong and that he, at least, won’t hate her. He then starts singing her praises and they kiss.

JJ and Gabi raid the fridge back home and break out a pizza. JJ then notes how weird the party was. Sure, Gabi agrees, but what did they expect from a DiMera party? The important thing is EJ was having a worse time than them… And she got a kiss at midnight.

He says the kiss doesn’t have to mean more than a New Year’s kiss at midnight, but “What if I want it to mean more?” she asks.

In the show’s final moments, JJ asks if Gabi wants more than friendship. She’s willing to explore the possibility she admits. She feels their old spark, and so, JJ confirms, does he. So she asks him to spend the night and they head up to her room.

Alone with Belle and EJ, Jada says she’s got to head out and he snaps something about bringing the “unfortunate son of a bitch” replacing him up to speed. That’s when Belle steps in and says she’s been trying to tell him that it’s her.

Stephanie and Philip commiserate on how hard letting go can be and agree to help each other. Philip asks for another kiss and they lean in together to share one. They then head to the bedroom.

Alex stops the kiss with Joy and apologizes for taking advantage of her in a vulnerable place. She says to hell with that and they get back at it, this time undressing as they lock lips and heading towards the bed.

Chanel tries to leave, but Johnny stops her and begs for another chance. No, she says, the only hope they would have had would be if he’d told her what happened from the beginning. “My heart is completely broken.” She tries to leave again and he steps back in front of her, begging her to stay. “Get out of my way, Johnny.” He finally does and she storms out.

Next on Days of Our Lives, Joy and Alex end up in bed together, and Paulina and Abe choose different sides with Chanel and Johnny.