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Thanks and credit to Jackie at FL.

The week begins with EJ's immigration hearing, where Sami assures the investigator that she loves her husband. "She thinks she's doing the right thing to stand up for him and to help him stay in this country." explains Alison Sweeney (Sami). "Sami has come to rely on EJ's help with the twins. She doesn't have any friends left, so she feels justified in doing everything she can to keep him around."

Once that's taken care of and EJ's visa is renewed, Sami turns her attention to his relationship with Nicole. "Sami is not happy with the dynamic between Nicole and EJ," points out Sweeney. "Sam has issues when Nicole comes on the scene, it's 'I may not want him, but I definitely dont want you to have him.' Nicole being back completely changes how Sami feels about EJ and what she's willing to do. It brought her back to the reactionary Sami that people are used to seeing. So many things that Sami would never consider doing are now so reasonable."

Like kissing EJ, the man she has spurned for over a year. "She finds out that Nicole and EJ have been hanging out," previews Sweeney. "And she sees EJ comforting Nicole about her dog and Sami, of course, sees Nicole's actions as a scheme to get EJ to be there for her, and she's immediately jealous and suspicious of Nicole. She's also insecure about EJ, who has been proclaiming he loves her for a year and a half and then Nicole comes on the scene and he has his arms around her."

Sam's jealousy comes as a surprise to EJ. "If Sami doesn't care about EJ, as she keeps saying, and she doesn't love him, why would she be jealous?" asks James Scott (EJ). "But Sami doesn't necessarily have to have feelings for EJ to feel jealous or threatened by something. She's that girl: 'You want it? No, I want it.'"

Nevertheless, Sami marks her territory by pulling him into a searing kiss. "Frankly, EJ is her husband and she doesn't want him hooking up with some other girl, especially her total enemy who has been with both of her ex-husbands," scoffs Sweeney. "All bets are off. She doesn't just want Nicole to know that EJ is Sami's; Sami wants EJ to know that EJ is Sami's."

Needless to say, EJ is "very taken aback" says Scott. "It's contrary to everything she's said and done for the last year. It gives him incredible hope."

Both Sweeney and Scott admit that they have struggled with the story in the wake of the controversial Sami/EJ car scene that aired in December 2006. "What's made it incredibly difficult is that it's so hard to get around," explains Scott. "He forced himself on her. It was only consensual by circumstance. It was certainly an invasion, both physically and emotionally, which was inappropriate and not only that, he was such a [jerk] about it afterward. So, has it affected how I played the character in the last year? It's defined the storyline for the last year. There's not much of a middle ground."

"The storyline has been really difficult from that moment [in 2006] forward," agrees Sweeney. "It was really hard to play. I felt like there was this total push-pull for a while of us feeling like it was being written one way and we were feeling the need to defend our characters and play it a different way. It's impossible to do that for any length of time because ultimately, the writers are going to win that battle; they're the ones writing the show. For all of 2007, I felt trapped between a rock and a hard place. I read the message boards, I know what the fans think and ultimately, I can't disagree with any of them. You can completely see both sides of the story, yet I'm going to work every day and thinking, 'How do I make this work?' In some ways, there's very little you can do when you're an actor."

Ironically it was Bryan R. Dattilo's exit that helped along a potential EJ/Sami pairing. "There's no way they could have done it with Lucas there", notes Sweeney. "it reminds me of how they had to send Sami away when Austin Peck [ex-Austin] first came on the show so Carrie and Austin could reunite. If Lucas had been there, there is absolutely no way it could have played out that Sami and EJ could get together because it wasn't possible with the circumstances. They did us a huge favor, unfortunately for Bryan. It was horrible to work without him; I missed him tremendously, but it didn't take away from Sami's love for Lucas to have her get close to this guy when she believed Lucas was going to be gone forever."

Scott marvels at the "EJami" fan support that has never wavered. "The fans see past that one story point and see the bigger picture," he says. "I think Alison and I have good chemistry and we work really well together. It's such an obvious extension of the story, even though it's a very difficult place to get to. To actually have this B.S. behind us and have one of those great soap romances with all the trials and tribulations therein it will be interesting to watch. I think the fans will find it very much worth the wait."

BD's article

Bryan's Back

Bryan R. Dattilo (Lucas) is back to work at the DAYS set after nearly four months away. "I didn't know how long I'd be off," he says. "They told me it would be between two and four months, but they didn't know for sure at the time. It went by fast, so to be back at work is kind of weird for me. I missed the show and I missed the people, but the ratings are getting better and the show is tighter, so to be a part of it now is like a new beginning in the same place."

Dattilo says the timing was right for his exit. "I wasn't happy with my character's position within the storyline at the time I left," he admits. "I thought it wasn't very beneficial to be a Lucas guy at the time. But they said there was a great storyline coming and I'd be really happy about what they decided to do with the character and it seems like they kept their promise. Now that I'm back, the writing is different towards my character; it's more empowering and I thinking [Co-Executive Producer] Ed Scott is a big fan of empowering men and that's something we welcome in daytime."

Datillo says he didn't mind the break, "I really enjoyed the time off after working for 13 years straight; it was great," he reflects. "I traveled. Went skiing, went hunting, blew a hole in my forehead, little stuff like that." Come again? "I was shooting a 12-gauge shotgun at deer in Tennessee and the ground kind of got away from me and the scope hit me in the forehead and I got 10 stitches," he explains. "It left a nice scar for the makeup department to cover now. But it was really good to be home and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I got into gardening. I gained a little weight in my time off, so I had to lose it quick before I came back. I have a son, so to actually be an involved dad without a job to absorb all your time was a great thing. But it was hard to feel like I deserved to relax."

He didn't keep up with the goings-on in Salem. "I think it would have been hard for me to watch the show when I wasn't on it because I would be yelling at the TV, 'Get Lucas back!'"

Now that he is, he's thrilled. "It's just great to have someone like Ed Scott there to watch your back as a guy so you're not a total doormat. I really am excited about my character in the future."

Back to EJAMI LAND!! *HIDES FROM THE HATERS* :)))))