Tuesday, July 18, 2006, Episode #4853

Thorne and Sally keep vigil at a comatose Darla’s bedside.
Sally and Thorne keep vigil at a comatose Darla’s bedside, hoping that Darla will fight to come back to them. Meanwhile, Stephanie talks outside the room to Lt. Baker; she reminds the cop that they’ve known each other for a long time, so she knows she’ll find who did this. Baker explains that he’s already called the body shops to look out for a car with front end damage. They will find this person, he assures Stephanie, who wonders how someone could just drive off and leave someone on the road like that.

Phoebe doesn't want to lose Taylor again.
At the Bel Air mansion, Hector is on the phone with his friend who fixed Taylor’s car after her last accident. He asks the person to fix and clean his accident prone friend’s car on the QT for him. He thanks the person and hangs up. He then turns to Taylor and Phoebe on the sofa and tells them that the car will soon be good as new. Taylor doesn’t care about that; she just cares about Darla, so she picks up her cell phone to call the hospital. Hector stops her and tells her to think before she does anything. If she admits that she was the one who hit Darla, he points out, it will be her second DUI charge, which could mean a lot of jail time. Taylor doesn’t care. Phoebe, however, does care, because she doesn’t want to lose her mother a second time!

Phoebe recalls how happy she was to have Taylor back. She was relieved when Taylor promised never to leave again. Tears in her eyes, Taylor turns to Phoebe, who says this was an accident; she knows Taylor loves Darla like they all do, so she begs Taylor to promise not to leave again. Taylor hugs Phoebe and tells her that she loves Phoebe and her siblings. Hector says that he knows this is hard, but Taylor cannot come forward. Taylor shouts at him, asking how she can think of herself when Darla is in there fighting for her life. Hector points out that Lt. Baker may have smelled alcohol on her breath, but Baker still thinks she was just there to pick up Phoebe - and that’s how it has to stay if she doesn’t want to go to jail. As if on cue, the doorbell rings; Taylor and Phoebe are scared when they hear that it’s Lt. Baker!

Hector is upset by Lt. Baker's arrival.
Letting the detective in, Hector points out that they agreed to wait until morning for further questioning, but Baker doesn’t want to lose any time trying to find the culprit. He asks Phoebe what happened; she tells him that it was foggy, and Darla was wearing black, so she doesn’t know how anyone could have avoided Darla. And it happened so fast, she adds. Taylor starts to get upset as she listens. Hector tells Lt. Baker that it’s obviously upsetting Phoebe and Taylor to relive the events of tonight, but Baker says it’s necessary if they want to find the person who hit Darla. Not tonight, Hector responds. As Taylor starts to step forward, Lt. Baker asks her if she saw the accident. Phoebe steps in and says that her mom got there after the accident and stayed with Darla while she called 911. After that, Hector and the paramedics arrived. Baker asks if Phoebe saw the car that hit Darla. She says she didn’t get a good look. Taylor looks at Phoebe and starts to cry. Baker asks if something is wrong. Hector suggests that this is upsetting and asks again if this can wait until morning. Phoebe agrees. Baker agrees to come back in the morning. On the way out, he spots the empty wine bottle and picks it up. He tells Taylor that only she knows how much she was drinking, and he hopes he doesn’t have to remind her of the tragedy that could ensue from driving drunk. Baker then leaves; once he’s gone, Taylor breaks down again and clings to Phoebe

Eric offers support for Thorne and Darla.
Back at the hospital, Stephanie tries to comfort Sally. She knows Sally feels helpless now, but they have to stay strong for Darla and her loved ones. Sally agrees, since Darla and especially Alexandria need their support right now. Inside the room, Thorne flashes back to a conversation he and Darla had, where they thought about growing older; he recalls saying that no matter what happened in their life to get to that point, they’d face it together, hand in hand. “You and me, sweetheart. Hand in hand, always.” he said. Always, Darla agreed. As Thorne comes back to the present, Eric comes in and puts his hand on his son’s shoulder.

Darla tries to hang on.
After talking to Stephanie outside the room, Christian comes inside and joins a grief-stricken Thorne, who tells Darla not to worry about anything. Thomas is with their little girl at Sally’s, he assures her. He tells her that when he dropped Alexandria off, their little girl sent him home with a kiss for Mommy, so he leans over and kisses her for their daughter. He then kisses her on the lips and says that’s from him, because he loves her so much. He tells her that he’s there for her.

Stephanie stands by Thorne's side - click here to see Thorne's flashbacks of his life with Darla.
Stephanie silently slips into the room and watches her younger son being there for Darla. He tells Darla to rest, as everything that needs to be said has been said. He’s so grateful for his life with her and their little girl, who has inside her all Darla’s honesty, her goodness, her... He stops and can’t go on, so Stephanie steps in and continues, “Your strength, Darla.” She knows Darla is tired, so it will be OK if Darla needs to just close her eyes. She goes on about how blessed they were to have Darla, who made Thorne and Alexandria so happy. “You were the finest Mrs. Forrester there ever was,” she says. Thorne agrees as he flashes back to moments with Darla - proposing to her, their wedding, Alexandria’s birth. He and Stephanie both are overcome with sadness as the heart monitor connected to Darla starts to drop. Stephanie hugs Thorne, who breaks into tears. Sally watches from the door as Thorne pulls away from his mother to look at Darla, who then flat-lines...