DAYS: KRISTEN AND BRADYÕS BABY ÒDIESÓ
■ Kristen’s baby is born, then tragically dies — along with Haley — as DAYS flashes back to Mother’s Day in a week that changes the canvas forever. Things start off awkwardly when Kristen and Brady join John and Marlena for a Mother’s Day celebration. “Marlena’s not too happy to have Kristen in her home, and John just deals with it,” sets up Kristen’s portrayer, Stacy Haiduk. “Kristen is feeling hopeful. She’s willing to try and throw out all the stuff from the past to be there because she loves Brady.”
Things are going relatively smoothly until Eric shows up with Holly and is livid to see Kristen. While Brady takes him outside to talk, “Kristen is left with Marlena,” says Haiduk. “They’re having an intimate conversation when Kristen’s water breaks.” Brady and Kristen head to the hospital. “It’s a Kristen pregnancy, so it’s intense,” notes the actress. “There’s some ups and downs, but because Brady’s there, she can do it.”
Kristen passes out, and when she comes to, Brady delivers alarming news: The umbilical cord is wrapped around their unborn child’s neck. “Kristen is like, ‘Is it dead?’ ” recounts Haiduk. “Brady [assures her] the baby is okay, but she’s going to have to push; otherwise, the baby can suffocate. She’s devastated, but wants this baby and is going to fight for it.”
Kristen ends up delivering a healthy baby girl. “The doctor hands her the baby, and she and Brady have a moment to just enjoy the beauty of their newborn child. It’s wonderful, what Kristen’s been waiting for for years.”
In the interim, Xander and Sarah arrive at the hospital with Sarah’s newborn, and things take a shattering turn when Sarah’s baby suddenly dies. Victor instructs Xander to switch the two infants. As Xander brings Kristen’s child to Sarah, Haley informs Kristen and Brady that their doctor needs to speak to them and heads off to get him. “Kristen is not going to sit back and wait for the doctor,” asserts Haiduk. “She follows Haley and keeps at it: ‘Tell me what happened with my baby.’ Finally, Haley tells her the bad news. Kristen can’t believe it. She’s in total shock. Her baby was perfect and now she’s dead? It’s that pain that goes beyond. You don’t know what you’re doing and acting out. She accidentally shoves Haley down a flight of steps.”
Kristen returns to her room “in kind of a zombie state,” explains Haiduk. “Kristen can’t even speak. It’s almost like it was a horrible nightmare.” Brady comes in after, and the two try to process what happened. “They have a moment together before he brings the baby in,” notes Haiduk. “Kristen can’t even handle it. She doesn’t want to touch the baby because she doesn’t believe it’s really true. But then she realizes she has to say good-bye. They’re going through it together. It’s heartbreaking.”
■ Wyatt has been doing some soul-searching about his future with Sally from the moment she mistakenly called him Liam. “It’s crazy,” says Darin Brooks (Wyatt). “The whole thing with Sally didn’t sit right with him. He has been living in his brother’s shadow for years now, and he is fed up with being compared to Liam, and competing with Liam, and always losing out. Wyatt is a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve. What we saw was a slip of the tongue, and Wyatt doesn’t know what to think about that.”
Plus, Wyatt is still fighting his feelings for his first love. “Flo did this miraculous thing, this selfless act,” the actor notes. “She saved Katie. It reminds him of who he fell in love with in the first place — that’s the type of person she is, or she was when he knew her back in high school.”
And Wyatt is ready to put Flo’s past with Reese behind them. “Wyatt is not happy with what Flo did, but he can see it from her perspective,” adds Brooks. “It wasn’t completely her fault. She was forced into it with Buckingham and his scheme and the whole thing, and Wyatt is the type of person who, in his mind, blames the brunt of that on Buckingham. Wyatt knows that Flo is not the type of person to do something like that. She just got caught between a rock in a hard place. It was one secret that kind of grew and snowballed into a bigger thing, and I think he has made peace with that.
It’s hard now, because he is stuck in the middle.”
Sally and Wyatt get together to talk, and Wyatt can tell there is something off with her. “There’s some stuff going on there,” nods Brooks. “Sally doesn’t seem like herself, and anybody who knows anybody really well can tell when somebody is withholding some sort of information. It’s a tough spot. There’s really nothing Wyatt can do, but he does know that something is up with Sally.”
Nevertheless, Wyatt realizes that he has to end things with Sally — again — and try for a future with Flo.
“Wyatt is a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve.”