On today’s Young and the Restless (Wednesday, October 22, 2025), Daniel and Tessa’s friendship crossed a line with a passionate kiss, forcing Daniel to admit he’s in love with her, and she admits her feelings for him. Meanwhile, Mariah confronts her worst nightmare when Ian Ward’s ghost taunts her and she reveals how far she almost went to banish him.
Last Episode
Noah’s Hospital in LA
Nick stops in at the hospital. Sharon tells him that she just got off the phone with Mariah, who needs her help, but she can’t leave Noah’s side right now!
Nick tells her to go see Mariah… Noah won’t know if she’s there or not.
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Sharon cries and says she’s been on edge. Mariah and Noah are both “broken,” and there’s nothing she can do to fix them! She calls Mariah’s therapist and they discuss options for treatment. After she hangs up, she heads back into Noah’s room.
Nick stays in the waiting room and calls his mom, Nikki. He tells her that a detective came by and claimed he was investigating the crash. He tells her that a “friend” named Sienna called Noah’s phone, and she ended the call quickly. Everything feels off, and Nick has more and more questions about how his son ended up in the hospital.
Nikki asks for Sienna’s name and number, and she’ll give them to Victor in the morning so he can have his people look into her.
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Nick thanks her. He tears up and says he thought he wouldn’t have to sit at one of his kids’ bedsides crying.
Nikki says suffering is, unfortunately, a part of life.
A Therapy Clinic in Boston
A vision of “Ian” tells Mariah that she needs to open her eyes and see what’s in front of her.
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Mariah says he’s not here and he’s not real. He’s in hell where he belongs!
Ian scoffs. She’s hiding behind predictable arguments; he’s here with her.
Mariah asks why he’s there… He’s connected to every painful moment she’s had in her life. Victor Newman shot him, and he died.
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Ian says he’ll always be here for her, and the world is full of miracles. He asks if she’d like to feel his beating heart and asks for her hand.
Mariah tells him not to touch her. She asks him to leave. Now!
Ian says Tessa left her, and he’s the only one in this world that she can count on. This isn’t the first time she’s shut herself off from the world. Is she trying to keep the world out, or is she trying to keep others safe from her? He figures his name must have been mentioned in her therapy sessions. He’s the guiding force behind her entire existence!
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Mariah covers her ears and closes her eyes. “You’re nothing. You’re not even real!”
Ian covers his eyes and looks at her. “Peek-a-boo!” He leans over and picks up the Queen of Hearts card. It’s not torn in half.
Mariah says he’s a cheap con.
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Ian says she can’t shut him off like she has shut off everyone else… Not when he’s a part of her; he’s known her longer than anyone.
Mariah scoffs. He never knew her.
Ian says he knew her since she learned to speak. He’s touched that she brought him back.
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Mariah says he stalked her and terrorized her. She can’t get rid of him no matter what she does! She’s done terrible things to try to get him out of her life and she can’t wash him away.
Ian says she keeps him close to her and it’s because she knows he adores her darkness. He reminds her that she haunted Sharon. She keeps trying to be the “good girl,” but evil is in her!
Mariah screams that she will never believe that.
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Ian laughs. “I think you already do!” She’s fire, rage, and darkness! He says it was good how she shut her wife and child out of her life. That’ll give her a chance to live the life she wants!
Mariah gestures around the clinic. “Is this the life I want to live?” She asks what she should do with her “darkness.” How should she live with the worst parts of herself?
Ian thinks she should let the “boring mortals” see her in all her glory… What will she do with the fire inside her, and how will she unleash it on the world? Has she already taken action? He wants to know everything.
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Mariah laughs ironically. He doesn’t exist! This is all about him; the monster who came back with his monstrous bride, Jordan. Even though he’s dead, she still can’t get rid of him! She couldn’t drink him away, and ever since he took her from her mother, the sickness inside her has grown.
She says she ran into someone at a club months ago and he was an echo of Ian… She wanted to be able to get rid of him for good, so she smiled back at this man and laughed at his jokes. She let him buy her drinks and let him kiss her. He invited her back to his room, and she went because deep down, she knew that she could be rid of Ian by killing this man who stood in for him!
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Ian asks how killing that man made her feel… Did she feel his spirit escape his body?
Mariah says she stopped before she killed him. She realized that killing this man wouldn’t get rid of Ian. She’d only be giving Ian power!
Ian laughs. “The devil made me do it!” He knows why she couldn’t kill that poor man… It’s because she couldn’t kill him, and the darkness he awakened in her lives on!
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Mariah says she’s not a lost cause or a psychopath like him. She didn’t take his life because she has compassion. She’s in therapy because she’s in pain and needs to find a way to move on with her life.
Ian asks what she’s learned.
Mariah says she learned that Ian tried to make her like him when he was alive because evil spreads like cancer, but she’ll never be like he was.
Ian grins. “Never say never!”
Mariah says she didn’t need to take a life to get rid of him. He didn’t break her before, and he won’t break her now. He’s nobody; he’s nothing, and she wants him gone.
Ian disappears suddenly, and Mariah picks up the untorn Queen of Hearts card. She looks around, wondering where it came from.
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The Genoa City Athletic Club (GCAC)
Daniel and Tessa kiss passionately on the stairs. Tessa stops and apologizes. She wasn’t thinking; he’s a good friend, and he’s been patient with her.
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Daniel understands. She needed a distraction.
Tessa says kissing him was about nothing but him. She thought about kissing him before, when they were talking or playing guitar together… This wasn’t out of the blue!
Daniel says he’s thought about kissing her, too.
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They sit down in the lobby and Tessa asks if she was “terrible” for kissing him. They joke around a bit and Tessa says he always makes her feel less ridiculous.
Daniel laughs. She could never be ridiculous! He suggests they go to sleep, wake up tomorrow a bit hung over, and forget this ever happened.
Tessa wonders if he could forget about what happened.
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Daniel shrugs. Probably not. He won’t be getting that out of his head anytime soon!
Tessa asks if he’d like to take a walk.
Daniel agrees. Fresh air would help clear their heads! He takes her hand and then pauses awkwardly before they head out of the club.
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Crimson Lights
Tessa and Daniel get a coffee and sit on the patio. She thanks him for being there for her and thinks they don’t have to be awkward together. She wants him to be open and talk to her… And not hold back.
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Daniel thinks that they’d both regret letting him talk.
Tessa says she’ll talk, then. She has unexplainable feelings for him, including comfort and excitement. She sees his face and hears his voice and feels relieved because she knows that life will be brighter with him than without him. He’s gotten her through so many days. It’s wonderful, but it’s terrible, too. Life is complicated, and he’s the only one she can talk to these days. He radiates reassurance because he’s been through so much, and he makes her laugh, lets her cry, and is truly her best friend.
A tear rolls down Daniel’s face as he admits that he’s falling in love with her. He quickly catches himself and says he shouldn’t have said anything; he must have drank more than he thought he did. He should keep his mouth shut!
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Tessa says he doesn’t need to keep his mouth shut. She’s happy they can talk about tough things and not turn away from it. In a different timeline, she can see herself falling in love with him, too! This is her truth. Does it help him, knowing that she could love him, too?
Daniel says this is the only timeline he has and can focus on.
Tessa doesn’t know what is going to happen with Mariah. She doesn’t want to lead Daniel on; she wants to fight for her marriage and for her family, but he’s still important to her!
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Daniel agrees; that’s what she should do. He says they should leave this in another timeline, because he doesn’t want it to ruin their friendship.
Tessa nods and caresses his cheek. She doesn’t want that either.
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Noah’s Hospital Room
Nick rejoins Sharon at Noah’s bedside. Sharon says she was just telling Noah how much she loved his singing when he was little.
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Nick grins. “Who doesn’t love Old Nickdonald?” Noah thought Nick was a farmer and Donald was his middle name. They laugh as they reminisce.
Sharon says she’s made a decision about Mariah. She has to stay with Noah in case something happens. She says that after she talked to Mariah’s doctor, she feels that Mariah is in a good place and will get the help she needs.
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