Beyond the Gates Recap for December 2, 2025: Kids, spouses, and enemies worried about Bill and Dani's connection

Here's what went down Tuesday, December 2, 2025 on Beyond the Gates when Sheryl tried to start a fire, Bill and Dani reminisced about one, and Hayley wanted to collect before her fire went out.

What happened on Beyond the Gates

On Beyond the Gates, Derek ran into Jacob at Uptown and hoped they could still be friends, since Naomi had certainly decided to maintain her friendship with Ashley. Jacob reassured Derek that they were cool and went to get them drinks; meanwhile, Derek saw his fellow firefighters Liam and Bryce at a table, where the three tried to settle whose chili was better. Sheryl arrived and declared that Derek's was the hottest – it left one's lips tingling for days, she said so flirtatiously that Bryce and Liam noticed.

Derek got uncomfortable and quickly rejoined Jacob, venting about how Ashley had gaslighted him, proposing to him when she'd had feelings for Andre the whole time. He resented that Ashley had given him so much grief about misrepresenting his condition while she was doing her own lying; Derek didn't hate her, but there was no hope for reconciliation now that he knew Ashley had tried to restart things with Andre moments after taking off his engagement ring. When Derek added that he wouldn't feel guilty the next time he got an opportunity to hook up, Jacob sensed that Derek had already had a first opportunity.

Jacob listened as Derek told him how Sheryl had come on to him while he was moving out of Ashley's apartment; Derek concurred with Jacob's contention that it hadn't been cool for him to make out with another woman on Ashley's couch. Derek wasn't ready to date anyone new, and Jacob advised him to focus on other parts of his life and not on trying to replace Ashley.

Sheryl bought Derek and Jacob drinks, introducing herself to Jacob and getting into a playfully competitive boasting match about whether the firefighter or police officer baseball team was better. After she left, Derek sighed that it would still be quite a long time before he could play ball, let alone resume his work at the fire station; he missed his co-worker family. Sheryl kept eyeing Derek, and Jacob decided that they needed to join the trio of firefighters. Derek moved from glum to animated as he got to be with his friends.

A pajamaed Ashley downed some wine and placed a laundry basket with a bottle of Tide in it next to her washer just before Jan arrived, excitedly showing her daughter the WinterFest ticket Leslie had given her. When Ashley didn't seem excited about Jan bringing her as her plus-one, she explained that she was in a mood after Derek had taken her to task earlier. Jan felt that Ashley should never have proposed to Derek if she wasn't sure she wanted to be with him; Ashley was more upset that Derek had lied about the degree of his paralysis and suddenly blurted out that she had only asked him to marry her because she'd felt sorry for him!

Ashley admitted she'd never vocalized that thought before; Jan assured Ashley that she wasn't horrible and intuited that Ashley felt better for getting it out. Ashley went on that she hadn't wanted Derek to face his disability alone, prompting Jan to comment that Ashley could have supported him as a friend instead of rebooting their romance. Mrs. Morgan stressed that Ashley needed to be true to herself going forward; Ashley agreed.

Hayley was slated to meet Bill at the country club, but she called him to let him know she was going to be late. “That should keep him off my ass for a while,” she griped to herself as she met with Randy, telling him that he needed to procure her a new, stronger batch of poison – for as much as she had dosed Bill, he wasn't showing any symptoms. Randy reminded her that Bill's death had to look like an accident, else Hayley would be the one under suspicion. When Randy wanted to know why Hayley was anxious to speed things up, Hayley complained that Bill couldn't keep his mind off his “rusty, dusty ex.”

Hayley wanted to act before she was left in the dust. Randy wondered why Bill found himself drawn to Dani; Hayley recalled that Bill had said it was the excitement of Dani's erratic behavior that had been an aphrodisiac. “I can do unhinged, too,” Hayley scoffed, wishing she had known about that proclivity of Bill's before she had decided on her “sweet and vulnerable” persona. Realizing that Bill wanted what he couldn't have – and that Bill also wanted Dani to still be obsessed with him, which she wasn't anymore – Hayley determined that she had to keep the exes apart somehow.

Dani was on a video chat with Andre, cooing about looking forward to sex with him later when Chelsea and Naomi approached. “NSFW calls in the country club your grandfather built?” Chelsea said in mock horror. “Have you no shame?” Naomi winked. Dani turned the screen toward the girls, who told Andre, “Hi, Dad.” After the newlyweds disconnected, Dani and her daughters laughed about the interaction, and Dani told Naomi and Chelsea about exchanging vows with Andre in Los Angeles, since they hadn't been able to remember their original ones in Vegas.

When Dani asked if her girls were happy for her, neither Chelsea nor Naomi could deny that Dani was radiant, and they were thrilled that she seemed to have found a good match in Andre. Dani saw Bill peeking into the banquet room and went right to him, wondering why he hadn't come in to say hello to his daughters. Bill replied that he was waiting for Hayley, though Dani said that he could stop by her table if he wanted.

Dani returned to Naomi and Chelsea, dramatically instructing them not to utter Hayley's name, as doing so would “conjure” her. Instead, the women talked about their Thanksgiving celebrations, with Chelsea hedging when Naomi got into her sister's vegan feast with Madison and her mother, which had included “mashed rutabaga with dairy-free cheese sauce.” The Hamilton sisters were in disbelief that Dani had attempted to cook; Chelsea insisted that her mom needed “to be kept from any kind of open flame.” Bill drew near and asked how many firefighters Dani had needed...“this time.”

Bill and Dani told their daughters about a time early in their marriage when, during a hotel stay, the power had gone out in inclement weather, and Dani had lit candles and attempted to heat s'mores over them. The young Hamiltons were shown in flashback (featuring different actors portraying the 20th century Dani and Bill); as they made out, Dani's marshmallow caught on fire. Bill was in stitches as he remembered how the panicked Dani had flung the flaming confection, which had hit the hotel room curtain and set fire to it. Chelsea and Naomi saw their parents' delight in correcting their conflicting stories and left them alone for a moment, unable to get their heads around their mom and dad acting “like they used to.”

Chelsea confessed that she had wished for “this;” Naomi eventually conceded that she had harbored a desire for their parents to reunite as well. Still, Naomi reminded her sister, it wasn't like Bill and Dani's marriage had been idyllic. As they watched Dani and Bill chuckling over old times, Chelsea suggested that perhaps their perceptions were being colored by nostalgia. They tried to change the subject as soon as they returned to Bill and Dani, who saw through it: the exes both said “Clearly from you” in unison as they debated who the daughters had inherited their talent for diversion from.

Hayley was still at the food court when she saw Andre walking by. She grinned that his wife was probably keeping her husband company as they spoke; Andre recollected that Hayley had tried to team up with him to keep Dani and Bill apart and stated that he was secure in his marriage. Hayley sniggered that Andre was now her from ten months ago, when she had been positive that Bill was all hers. Andre responded that he didn't have Hayley's problem, and that, if Bill had a wandering eye, Hayley needed to step up her game.

Andre didn't agree that he and Hayley had fickle spouses in common and proclaimed that Hayley needed to take her issue up with Bill. Hayley felt Andre was blind and dared him to take a mental picture the next time he saw Bill and Dani together so he could face up to what was really going on. Soon after, Andre met Dani at the country club and took immediate umbrage to Bill's presence, presuming there was somewhere else he should be and making a point to kiss Dani passionately in front of him. When Andre uttered Hayley's name, she showed up; Naomi and Chelsea giggled that Dani's conjuring theory had been spot on.

Again alone, Naomi revealed to Chelsea that she had talked to Bill about keeping his distance from Dani, adding that it was “very bad” that Dani had lit up at the very sight of him. Chelsea couldn't understand it, because Dani seemed genuinely happy with Andre. Naomi hesitantly proposed that Hayley might be able to help them; Chelsea hoped that their stepmother could find a “permanent solution.”

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Both Andre and Hayley were annoyed when Dani had a burnt marshmallow sent to Bill's table as a gag. Hayley made sure Dani could see her kissing Bill, and Andre didn't like that Bill was inserting himself into Dani's life. Dani contritely admitted that Andre was right – besides, what she'd had with Bill was like that marshmallow: messy, scorched, sticky, and nothing anyone wanted. Dani promised Andre that what she wanted was right in front of her and followed her declaration with a kiss...which Bill saw...and Hayley saw Bill's frown about it.

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.

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