EastEnders revealed the emotional resolution of Bex Fowler's disappearance from Albert Square in Thursday's (May 30) episode.
Bex fled Walford earlier this week as her personal problems mounted, culminating with Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami) rejecting her romantic advances and a row with Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ) after she once again turned to pills.
After Bex disappeared, her worried family wrongly suspected Stuart may have harmed her after noticing a scratch mark on his neck — not knowing that he'd actually tried to stop her from taking the drugs.
Tensions exploded in Thursday's episode when Stuart turned up in the Square, just after a conflicted Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks) had shown Sonia (Natalie Cassidy) and Martin (James Bye) her secret photo of him hugging Bex outside their Narcotics Anonymous meeting.
A furious Martin attacked Stuart, with the two men brawling all around the market until Stacey stepped in to help break them up.
"You've got no-one to blame but yourselves," Stuart insisted. "You're freaking her out about school, exams. All that… All the time you're wasting looking at me, the Big Bad Man, when Bex could be out there anywhere with anyone."
What to Read Next
Pulling Stuart away from the fray, Rainie apologetically confessed her part in showing the Fowlers the photo, despite having just agreed to a truce with him.
Even though he felt betrayed by Rainie's actions, her revelation of the Narcotics Anonymous photo got Stuart thinking about where Bex may have run to.
At the Slater house, an even more troubling revelation surfaced while Martin, Kush, Stacey and Kat were debating Stuart's innocence. In the heat of the moment, Kush finally confessed that Bex kissed him weeks ago.
"I didn't say anything because I thought she's been through enough," Kush reasoned, with Martin snapping: "Maybe if you had, she'd be here now!"
With anger escalating between Martin and Kush, the episode cut away to Bex. The teen had taken more pills and was growing more paranoid that she was being followed by a hooded figure through the streets.
Just as Bex collapsed, Stuart and Rainie found her and she fell into their arms, with the unlikely duo comforting her as she sobbed.
Stuart and Rainie were able to bring Bex home safely to a hugely relieved Martin and Sonia. While it seemed as if all had been resolved, the damage had been done between Martin and his best friend.
The episode ended ominously with Martin warning Kush to stay away from Bex and the rest of his family!
"Get out of my sight unless you've got any more grubby little secrets about my daughter," Martin warned.
EastEnders continues on Friday (May 31) at 8pm on BBC One.
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Read more news, spoilers and gossip on our EastEnders homepage
Digital Spy Soap Scoop video – hit play below for all the latest EastEnders spoilers, as Louise and Phil clash over her pregnancy, and Habiba gives Adam an ultimatum.
Want up-to-the-minute soaps news, spoilers and gossip on your social feeds? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Soaps Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @soapscoop Twitter account.
