Thursday, March 30, 2006, Episode #4775

Nick drops by to check on Taylor.

Nick drops by the Bel Air mansion and rings the doorbell. When he gets no answer, he lets himself in and finds Taylor passed out on the couch with several bottles of wine around. Propping her up on the couch and holding a wine bottle up, he says that he thought she gave up this stuff. She mumbles that she changed her mind. Then she can kiss the gold medal he brought goodbye, he quips. She says she's kissed lots of things goodbye lately and asks why he's here. He reminds her that he promised to check up on her now and then. Most people say things like that and never do them, she remarks. She asks what happened to privacy. He looks around and says that she has all she needs right here. Pouring herself some more wine, she says she should be asleep. And why does he care anyway, she asks, when he should be with Brooke? She suggests that he take a number, though, although that never stopped anyone.

Taylor doesn't like Nick's attitude.

Nick offers Taylor some bourbon. She says she doesn't like that stuff, but he thinks she might as well start, since she'll get there eventually. So he's trying to be funny, she comments. More like being friendly, he says; he points out that no one likes to get loaded alone, so he'll do it with her. A real friend would take her to A.A. or something, she responds. But she's not a alcoholic, he says; she's just a wannabe who feels sorry for herself since her husband dumped her. He thinks she wants to develop an addiction, so she can sit in a room full of strangers and tell them about how she's powerless over a $60 bottle of cheap wine. But he doesn't buy that. If she wants to be a drunk, he tells her, then drink like one! Taylor grabs a wine bottle, puts it to her mouth and tells Nick that she doesn't like his attitude.

Ridge wants to talk with Brooke about Nick.

In Brooke's basement office, she can't believe that Ridge is so obnoxious and self-centered that he thinks her life revolves around him. If life is all about her, he says. That's why he's committed himself like she asked. But he couldn't do it when it counted, she says. And if he hadn't, he supposes, she'd still be with him, and Nick would be the guy who just takes Hope for ice cream on Saturday. He urges her not to settle for a second choice man anymore. Brooke tries to get through to him that it's over for them. After he kicked her around like a beach ball for half her life, she asks, is she supposed to just hang around for the other half while he tells her he won't do it again? He reminds her how she always tells him how she's learned from her mistakes and thinks he should have the same chance to learn from his and grow up. He points out that he has no one in his life right now. Taylor is in a tailspin that he can't help her through. His mother snapped since losing Felicia. And Thomas and the twins will say that he's working all the time and sleeping somewhere else, all because he's in love with Brooke and is waiting for her to see it. Brooke says that's not her problem. Ridge says he's not leaving until she tells him how her love for Nick is different from what she feels for him. He wants her to be honest if that's what it takes, since he's just not buying this thing she has with Nick.

Brooke tries to show Ridge the door and says that she won't discuss Nick with him. Why not? he asks, pointing out how Nick stopped their wedding just after she told him that she loved their life together. He asks if that was a lie. She's not sure what it was, but Ridge thinks he knows. He thinks it was her heart talking. He knows everyone calls her impulsive, but he always knew what they shared was real, ever since they met when they were young. He was spoiled and selfish, and she was insecure, so things got in their way, like Nick. So Nick is an insecurity? she asks. He suggests that she got wedding day jitters, and the way she had to take Hope and R.J. and leave after he chose Taylor came back to her just as she was about to say "I do." Then along comes Nick, who never hurt her or let her down. She saw all his screw-ups in Nick, so when she chose Nick, she really chose to believe that she still couldn't trust Ridge. And why should she trust him? she asks. Why should she put her kids in the same position she was in when... She pauses, but Ridge senses something and tells her to go ahead and finish. She says that her future is with Nick. Ridge thinks she was saying that she would never do what her mother did and give her love to a man who walked away from his wife and kids. That's right. Brooke says. She thinks about how she used to wonder how her father could walk out on her, and how her crying mother kept her father's clothes in the closet for when he might return. She trusted Ridge, just like she trusted her father, and Ridge let her down the same way her dad did. She says that she'll never, never, NEVER give her kids a father who has nothing to offer them but his DNA!

Stephanie tells Eric that she knew he'd be angry with her.

At the clinic, Stephanie takes Eric aside. She says that she knew he'd be angry with her. But when did his being angry with her ever concern her? he asks. From the day they met, she replies, since he always thinks she's sure she knows she's right. That's what she thinks, he responds. She counters that she has to hear what he says before she can respond, and that response usually only comes after they've shouted at each other. She tells him that Felicia always loved him more, which is why she couldn't let him keep grieving. She's sorry for that. Dr. Ramirez then asks them to wait outside so he can check on Felicia; after they leave, the doctor goes over to Felicia and says that she's done her part, while he's falling down on the job. He hopes she won't let him lose her now. Her eyes start to flutter and open. Outside, Eric and Stephanie discuss Felicia's treatment. He frets that it's all experimental. They wouldn't even put Felicia on the donor list for a liver until she'd had the chemo, Stephanie explains, and then they took her off the life support. People can stay on that list for some time, Eric says. Because it must be a close match, Stephanie says; that's why she had them test her. She knows it might not be optimal, but sometimes, they will take a partial liver from a living donor. But when they tested her, they said it would be too risky.

Eric is surprised to learn how Stephanie approved Felicia's treatment.

Eric asks Stephanie how they could do this without Felicia's approval. She says that she gave the approval, since she was listed on Felicia's advance directive. But his name is on that, Eric says. That's why she signed MRS. Eric Forrester, she says. Eric thinks she's a lunatic for doing that, since it was illegal. She had to take the chance, she replies. Then again, Eric admits, he's the one who married a lunatic like her three times. He jokes that the minister should add that to their wedding ceremony, since he keeps on marrying her anyway. Just then, Dr. Ramirez comes over. He tells them that despite their attempts to kick start Felicia's immune system, her white count is still flat. He fears that Felicia's liver is nothing but scar tissue. Even so, she's sort of regaining consciousness. Hearing that she's starting to come out of it, Eric and Stephanie rush to Felicia's bedside and are stunned when Felicia sees her mother and tells her that she hates her!

Felicia awakens to a flashback.

Felicia asks Eric to tell Stephanie that she hates her. Eric says that he knows she's angry with her mother right now. She tells Eric to make Stephanie let her... She goes on about how they let Ridge do anything he wanted when he was her age, so why won't they let her... Stephanie reminds Eric that Felicia said almost those exact words to her before, when Felicia was 15. Dr. Ramirez suggests that all of Felicia's organs, including the brain, could be affected, since her liver can't detoxify her system. Then Felicia has to have the transplant, Stephanie says.