Thursday, March 23, 2006, Episode #4770

Dr. Ramirez gives Stephanie his grim news.

Stephanie is in the study at the Forrester mansion, talking with Dr. Ramirez on her cell phone. She tells him that the family is having a memorial service for Felicia today. So she hasn't told them, the doctor guesses. She says she hasn't, and she can't. She doesn't know how to watch them grieving today and asks Ramirez if she's made a huge mistake. The doctor says that he can't tell her that, but he can see how difficult this is for her. Given the odds, though, he thinks a memorial is approproate so the family can grieve. Stephanie asks if he thinks Felicia will die. Felicia's vitals have dropped since they last spoke, he replies. Stephanie asks if he got the DVD she sent. He says that he did, but hasn't had a chance to view it yet. She asks if he and his staff can please watch it; he wants them to get to know Felicia, to see her as this wonderful person filled with joy, and not just as another person lying in one of their beds. Felicia is a mother, a daughter and a sister, she emphasizes, and she doesn't know what they'll do if they lose her. Please look at the DVD, she says again, asking him not to give up on Felicia.

Through the magic of digital photography, a Forrester family photo.

Soon after, the doctor sits by Felicia's bedside, watching the DVD. It's a montage of pictures of Felicia with friends and family. Included in the mix are some publicity photos of Susan Flannery (Stephanie) and Lesli Kay (Felicia), shown as family photos, and there's even one that looks like a pre-B&B picture of Lesli at an awards ceremony. The montage brings a smile to Dr. Ramirez's face as he views the life of his patient.

Stephanie tells Eric that she can't say goodbye yet.

Back at the Forrester mansion, Felicia's family and friends have gathered for the service. Around the room, we see Ridge and Thomas; Hector and Taylor; Thorne, Darla and Kristen; Clarke, Sally, Massimo and Jackie; Dante and Bridget; and Nick and Brooke. There's a floral arrangement with a note of condolences from old family friend Lauren Fenmore Baldwin that reads: "Eric and Stephanie: I was so sorry to hear about your loss. Felicia was lovely beyond words." Eric reads the note and looks sad. Thorne finds Kristen looking at the photo of Felicia they have displayed; she can't believe her sister is gone. She'll always be in their hearts, Thorne assures her. Stephanie comes in and joins them by the photo. Ridge and Eric come over to join them. Eric tells Stephanie that he's glad she's here. He thinks they all need this chance to say goodbye. Stephanie is silent for a moment, She then says that she can't let go. She just can't say goodbye yet.

As everyone takes their seats, Eric thanks them for coming. He knows it's hard for all of them, but he's glad to have them here together to say goodbye to Felicia, who he thinks is there in spirit. He knows she's in a better place where she's in no pain. He just wishes he had one more day with her to tell her how much he loved her. He then tells them that he found a poem which resonated with him, so he wants to read it to them. [It's actually a shortened version of a poem called "Death is Nothing At All" by Henry Scott-Holland, the Canon of St Paul's Cathedral, who lived from 1847-1918. A copy of the full poem can be found at http://www.poeticexpressions.co.uk.] He reads:

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I and You are You.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh, as we always laughed,
at the little jokes that we always enjoyed together.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It's the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval,
somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.

Thorne, Kristen and Ridge share memories of their sister.

Ridge gets up next and talks about having to play "big brother" to his younger siblings growing up. He could handle Thorne and Kristen, but not Felicia. He recalls him letting her take his new Porsche for a spin around the block, and she wound up at a party in Palm Springs! He went out of his mind, but she had the time of her life. Kristen then gets up and recalls how Felicia shocked them when she came down for her prom, not in the dress Eric had designed for her, but in a leather outfit with a spiked dog collar. Felicia shocked Mom and Dad, she recalls, but her date loved it. But that was the way Kristen's beautiful, unpredictable sister was. Thorne then recalls how Felicia tried to convince them all to become vegetarians, until she got sick of eating leafy greens after just three days. He takes a flower from the arrangement beside Felicia's picture and gracefully touches it to the photo. "Thanks for all the smiles," he says, placing the flower in front of the photo. Ridge adds, "and all the laughs." Kristen then adds, "We will hold you in our hearts." A montage of photos of Felicia with various family members follows, ending with a close-up on Stephanie's distraught face.

Bridget tells how grateful she is that she got to know Felicia.

Bridget steps up and talks about how she never really spent much time with Felicia before she came back home this last time. But that all changed. She's grateful that Felicia entrusted her Dominick, just as she's grateful that Felicia is watching after her Nicole. Now, she and Dante will look after Dominick, just as Felicia would, and that's how it should be. It's not supposed to be this way, Stephanie says. Eric tries to comfort her, but she tells him that they're Felicia's family, and they need to do everything they can to help her. Eric tells her that she can't second guess herself. It's too late. It's not too late, she says, or at least she hopes it isn't. She walks away; Eric starts to follow, but Ridge stops him, saying that there's nothing more they can say or do right now. Stephanie goes off to the study and closes the door. She gets a call on her cell phone from Dr. Ramirez. He tells her it's Felicia. He needs her to come to the clinic right away.

Massimo watches Ridge and Brooke together.

Ridge approaches Brooke and offers to take her home to fix her dinner. She replies that she thought he understood. He does, he says, better than she knows, and that just makes him even more determined. He tells his Logan that she'll never be happy until she's with him, raising their family like it's meant to be. Massimo watches the two of them from across the room. Nick sees Mass and approaches his father, telling Mass that it's not what he thinks. That isn't Brooke's future, Nick states. Her future, Mass says, is with the father of her child. Nick guesses that Mass hasn't heard. "Heard what?" Ridge asks, having overheard as he walked over. Nick tells Mass that he thinks Mass should know that he and Bridget signed divorce papers. Nick then joins Brooke across the room as Ridge stares thoughtfully at the two of them.