Photo: ‘Stefano has the last laugh’. Actor Joseph Mascolo returned briefly as Stefano last week before taking another hiatus. The actor is on a Murder Mystery cruise to Alaska this week.

Spoilers For August 27th-31st, 2012

‘Getting out’

Sami gets bailed out of jail, but she’s still furious with Rafe, especially when he and Nicole refuse to drop the charade about ‘their’ baby. After Nicole and Rafe confirm for each other that they want nothing more than friendship, she hunts down Dr. Dan to tell him she wants a whole lot more out of him. He thinks she’s confused and turns her down. While she gets busy fantasizing about him, he already has a lot to deal more to deal with, like Melanie freaking out over Nick’s possible parole. Julie attempts to calm her fears and Maggie gets between the arguing women. Melanie goes home with Chad and tries to put all of this out of her mind. Hope shows up to officially tell her about the parole. Mel can’t hide this from Chad anymore and unloads her worries on him. He becomes manically over-protective! She actually has more mixed feelings about it though. Part of her thinks that Nick’s family could really use having him around after losing Jack.

Hope goes to visit Nick in prison. She’s impressed that he’s been making great progress, but warns him that Melanie’s life is still a disaster. He feels bad and decides not to seek parole. Julie and Maggie show up and try to talk to him. After he admits that he was nearly killed in custody, they suggest he talk to Marlena about his options. Hope returns and once again tries talking him into seeking parole. He’s still not sure so she brings his mom, Jessica, into the mix. He finally agrees to stick to his plan to petition for parole.

Chad bails his brother out after Elvis has enjoyed a vaguely civil visit from Kate. She bumps into John on her way out and they discuss where Stefano might be hiding. Meanwhile, Sami has already been bailed out and visits her kids… and Lucas. He is not happy to see her. Luckily for her, EJ will be happy to see her, but he runs into Nicole first. After he begins threatening her, Rafe rears his head to fend him off. As the two men lash out at each other, Rafe realizes he still has feelings for Sami. Nicole decides to use the latest threats as an excuse to pull Daniel in closer.

Elvis and Sami endure more sexual tension but she refuses to let them relieve it. She actually tries to put her kids first. They have a long talk about the children and Rafe. When she leaves to pick her kids up at Caroline’s, Will shows up and announces that he is resigning from EJ’s service. He also explains that EJ really is a DiMera after all.

Rafe runs into Brady, who is still wrought up with grief about his dead fiancee, Madison. Rafe does his best to pay his condolences. Brady decides to throw himself back into work and asks Victor for his old job back. Brady takes a walk and bumps into Mel. She’s been having nightmares about Nick so he tries comforting her. Chad joins them and, with a little pressure, she admits that it will be a harder for her to heal with Nick around. She agrees to write a letter to the parole board requesting that he be kept inside. Meanwhile, Abby and Jenn continue to grieve. After they spread Jack’s ashes, Jenn has a slightly unsettling encounter with Billie before bumping into Daniel. He pays his sympathies before going to see his mom. He asks Maggie to let Nicole move into the mansion. She offers to convince Victor. However, it may be harder to convince Nicole to go along with the idea. Jennifer winds up walking in on Maggie and Victor screeching at each other and offers to let Nic come and live with her instead.

Will confesses to Marlena that he’s seriously ruined his love life. Brian is busy trying to encourage Sonny to see it the same way, but Kiriakis turns down his sexy suggestions. Sonny runs into Tad and punches him in the face. Tad mopes around and runs into Gabi, who hears all about how upset he made Will. She quickly realizes that she and Will only had grief sex and gets upset. She meets up with William to try and get past it for the sake of their friendship. Meanwhile, with Will avoiding him, Sonny keeps hanging out with Brian. Adrienne and Victor think they’d make a cute couple but there’s only one man for Sonny. Frustrated, Brian talks him into giving Will a call., who refuses to answer his phone.

Updates:

Chad will propose to Melanie!

Sami’s twin brother Eric Brady returns to Salem in November. He will be played by newcomer Greg Vaughan.

Actress Lisa Rinna will be leaving the show in a month or so to pursue other projects, including a talk show centered around pets.

Actress Nadia Bjorlin returns as Chloe in January 2013.