DAYS SHOCKER! Stephanie Johnson’s Gun Finally Goes Off and the Person in the Way Is The Innocent Baby Who Happens to Be Her Husband’s Child!

WHAT IF STEPHANIE JOHNSON’S CARELESS GUN FINALLY GOES OFF AND THE WORST POSSIBLE PERSON IS IN THE WAY

TL;DR: The Days of Our Lives summer preview showed Alex Kiriakis rushing into a hospital room in a panic, Joy Wesley in tears clutching Kelsey’s empty blanket, and a carseat with no baby in it. We have been watching Stephanie Johnson wave that gun around all year. We are connecting the dots and we do not like where they lead.

The Fear We Have Had All Along

Stephanie Johnson has been carrying a gun for months and Salem has been holding its breath the entire time. She is not careless because she is a bad person. She is careless because she is scared, reactive, and operating in a household with an emotional temperature that has been at a full boil since Joy Wesley arrived with Alex Kiriakis‘s baby in tow.

We always thought the gun was going to go off. We even thought it might be Kelsey who ended up in danger. The summer preview did nothing to make us feel better about any of this.

In the preview, Alex is shown rushing into a hospital room in full panic. Joy is there, sobbing, clutching Kelsey’s empty baby blanket. The carseat beside them has no baby in it. Alex asks where Kelsey is. Joy falls into his arms in tears. Nobody says a word about what happened. They do not have to.

Do you think Stephanie Johnson accidentally shoots Joy or Kelsey this summer? Send your hottest takes to [email protected] and we just might publish them!

How It Could Happen

Stephanie has pulled that gun on people she perceived as threats before. She is wired to protect herself and protect her marriage and she has not always stopped to confirm what she is actually looking at before her hand moves. What if Joy comes to visit Alex, alone, carrying Kelsey? What if it is dark, or unexpected, or Stephanie hears something and does not wait long enough to see who is actually at the door?

What if Stephanie Johnson shoots at someone she believes is a threat and it is Joy instead?

And what if Joy is carrying Kelsey when the bullet hits? If so, the writers have been hanging around the ghost of Stefano for far too long.

Stephanie Johnson is Kayla Brady and Steve Johnson’s daughter. She was raised by two of the most decent people Salem has ever produced. The idea that she could accidentally shoot her husband’s child, or the mother of that child, while trying to protect her own home is the kind of tragedy that does not resolve in a single episode. That is a weight that follows a character for years.

What It Would Mean for Alex and Stephanie

Alex Kiriakis has been trying to hold together a marriage, a new baby, and a relationship with Joy all at the same time. He has been stretched in every direction. If Stephanie accidentally shoots Joy while she is carrying Kelsey, the question is not whether the marriage survives the incident. The question is whether Alex can even look at Stephanie while he is standing in a hospital waiting to find out if his daughter is alive.

Joy Wesley came to Salem with Alex’s child. She has not been the villain of this story, even though she was not honest about her pregnancy. She has been a woman in an impossible situation trying to do right by her daughter. If a bullet finds her because Stephanie mistook her for a threat, the moral weight of that lands squarely on a marriage that was already struggling to stand.

The Gun Was Always the Story

Days of Our Lives does not give a character a gun and then put it away. The gun has been the story since the moment Stephanie started carrying it and Salem started noticing how loose her grip on it was. The summer preview handed us an empty carseat and a sobbing mother and a husband running down a hospital corridor asking where his baby is.

We are not saying Stephanie Johnson meant to hurt anyone. We are saying that empty carseat has her fingerprints all over it and this summer Days of Our Lives may finally make her reckon with the consequence she has been one bad moment away from all year.

Stephanie Johnson has been waving that gun around all year and the summer preview showed us an empty carseat and a sobbing Joy Wesley. Do you think Stephanie accidentally shoots Joy or Kelsey and does this mark the end of her marriage to Alex? Sound off below!

WATCH THIS: More Kristen & Xander? YES PLEASE!

@soapoperamag We Need MORE Sexy Time Between #KristenDiMera and #XanderKiriakis on DAYS! One night was a TEASER. We are formally demanding the SEQUEL. Hit play because Salem's most dangerous duo needs ENCORE energy! #DOOL #DAYS #DaysofOurLives ♬ original sound – Soap Opera Magazine