James’s pregnant sister Dee-Dee (Channique Sterling-Brown) is set to donate her baby’s bone marrow to the child’s half-brother Frankie Bolton, after which her baby will be adopted out of the family.
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Dad Ed (Trevor Michael Georges) was worried for Dee-Dee, who had seemed unwell during a visit to Frankie and his mum Lauren (Cait Fitton) in hospital.
Then Ed delivered a surprise – none other than James, who was back from London where he has been living with boyfriend Danny Tomlinson (Dylan Brady).
James asked if he could stay at a thrilled Dee-Dee’s flat for a few nights, and she agreed.
James soon revealed that he was waiting to hear if he had secured a coaching job in the US, but the family catch-up was cut short when Lauren called Dee-Dee back to the hospital.
Lauren revealed that doctors had found a matching donor for Frankie, so his transplant could go ahead much sooner than they expected.
This meant that Dee-Dee’s baby would no longer be needed to save Frankie’s life, and Lauren was painfully aware that Dee-Dee had only continued with her pregnancy in order to help Frankie.
Telling Dee-Dee that she was grateful, Lauren made it clear that she valued Dee-Dee’s friendship and didn’t want her to feel used.
Dee-Dee put on a brave face as she claimed that now she could simply focus on getting through her pregnancy, but when Lauren asked if she had been checked over after feeling ill earlier, Dee-Dee lied that she had, and all was well.
At home, Dee-Dee told James that the thought of helping Frankie had felt like a purpose, and now this wasn’t happening.
James urged Dee-Dee to wait it out, as God would still have a plan for her – also revealing that he had been offered the job in the States.
Later, James took a furtive call from Danny, telling him that no, he hadn’t mentioned a secret something yet – but what is James planning?
