Thursday, November 09, 2006, Episode #4933

Ridge wonders if his mother can get through to Jackie.

In the Forrester CEO's office, Eric gets a call from Sally that Ridge's 4:30 appointment cancelled. Both men wonder how Stephanie is making out at the hospital with Jackie. Eric starts to wonder if letting his wife go there was a mistake. Ridge recalls Eric's earlier comment that Stephanie can be diplomatic when she wants to be and wonders if his mother might turn this around by apologizing. Frustrated, Eric suggests that maybe they should sell to Nick. He's tired of all the power plays for control of the company. He founded Forrester Creations to be a legacy for his family, and he's done that, since Ridge, Thorne and Felicia have all made names for themselves in this business. Ridge argues that all they know is tied to this company. Eric asks if it's worth keeping the company if Stephanie goes to jail, and he also points out that they owe Jackie for what's happened to her. Ridge points out that they've already compensated Jackie, since they're paying her bills and her employees. They've been reasonable, but Jackie wants to see Stephanie grovel. And how likely is that to happen? Eric asks. Eric looks in his cabinet and pulls out a bottle of cognac he hid away. Grateful that Brooke hadn't found it, Eric offers some to Ridge, to dull the edge of their bad news.

Eric explains his feelings for Stephanie and Jackie.

Ridge asks why his dad is being so gloomy. Eric admits that he's always worried about Stephanie's temper, so it scares him to think that she might have pushed Jackie. Ridge asks Eric if he's still in love with Jackie. Eric admits that like Ridge, he never falls out of love with a woman he's fallen for. "What about Mother?" Ridge asks. Eric replies that his relationship with Stephanie is pretty much what people see. They have a history, and he's always been fascinated by her, since she allowed him to be both an artist and a family man. But with her iron will, she kept him from his children and ran his business, and then she took it away when she got the chance. Yet they're still together, Ridge points out; he recalls how Eric only remarried Stephanie to grant Felicia's dying wish and wonders why Eric didn't walk away when Felicia lived. There is love between him and Stephanie, Eric admits, and it's hard for him to walk away from that. He thinks Ridge should understand after forgiving Stephanie time and again for trying to run Ridge's life. Now here they are, waiting for Stephanie's call to see if their life's work is forfeit. Ridge agrees that his mother fights their battles, but she also eats crow when she has to. Now she has to do just that, or they'll wind up in court. Eric hope to avoid that, but Ridge thinks that a court battle could work in their favor. He's sure they can show a jury what Nick and Jackie's true motives are, and Nick's actions will show Brooke what Nick is truly made of and kill any feelings she has for Nick.

Brooke asks Nick to be fair.

In Ridge's office, Brooke asks Nick to think about what he'd do to her by taking control of Forrester. She thinks it's wrong to force the Forresters out of the company they founded. She pleads with Nick to propose a settlement that gives Jackie what she needs. It's not enough, Nick responds. Brooke asks him to do it for her; Nick says that he loves her and would do anything for her, but not that. He can't understand why she doesn't see that he's offering her a chance to finally be free of a family that has used her and a woman who despises her. Brooke responds that she just wants to be fair, but Nick thinks she's asking him to compromise, and he won't do that after what Stephanie did to his mother.

Nick prepares Brooke to see a side of him that she's never seen before.

Brooke asks Nick who will run Forrester if he controls the company. Nick replies that he and Jackie will, as he knows business and his mother knows fashion. He invites Brooke to be a part of that, too. And when they have to make decisions, Brooke supposes, they'll always do things his way, even though she owns half the company. Nick responds that he tried to do things her way, to be respectful of her wishes. But that just got him back in a horse race with Ridge that ended with Brooke choosing neither one of them. That's not the man he is, he states, and he doesn't think it's the man Brooke fell in love with. If he wants to take the Forresters' company away from them. Brooke states, he'll have to do it without her. She still thinks it's wrong to force that family out of their own business. If the Forresters agree to his terms, Nick states, it will be a legitimate deal that lets their precious matriarch escape punishment yet again. But if they decide to keep the company, then Nick will not rest until Stephanie pays for everything she's done to Brooke and Jackie. He'll protect those he loves at any cost, since that's all he has. "Be prepared to see a side of me you never knew existed," Nick warns.

Jackie explains her motives to Stephanie.

In the hospital, Jackie continues her chat with Stephanie. She says she always thought there was a psychological explanation for Stephanie's sociopathic behavior, but now she knows La Forrester is just a bully! Stephanie tries to apologize to Jackie; she admits they both lost control and his sorry for losing her temper. But that's all she's sorry for, Jackie guesses; she supposes that Stephanie isn't sorry that she nearly died, that she may have seizures the rest of her life, or that she had to have a hole drilled in her head to save her from Stephanie's "loss of temper." Jackie fumes that she can never have the life she had back thanks to Stephanie. But life always changes, Stephanie argues. And life has left Stephanie with a choice, Jackie states, to either lose her freedom or lose her company. Stephanie asks if Jackie is doing this to get Eric. Jackie asks what Stephanie wants with Eric, anyway, since she certainly doesn't understand him as a man. Stephanie isn't surprised that Jackie thinks her relationship with Eric is just about sex. Jackie laughs that Eric will probably wind up at her door eventually, and she won't turn him away. Stephanie wonders why she expected to have a respectful conversation with Jackie and turns to leave, so Jackie admits why she is doing this. She doing it for Eric, who Stephanie humiliated by taking his company away. And she's doing it for Brooke, who Stephanie tried to wipe off the face of the planet. And she's doing it for all Stephanie's other victims. But most importantly, she's doing it for herself, since she'll never forget the look of malice and hate on Stephanie's face when Stephanie pushed her over the railing.

Stephanie refuses to give in to Jackie and Nick.

Stephanie shakes her head as she recalls the horror at seeing Jackie go over the rail. Jackie asks, "Can you look in a mirror and not see just how sick a woman Stephanie Forrester is?" Sensing Jackie wants to protect the world for her, Stephanie quips that it's too bad the surgeons didn't add some character when they were tinkering in Jackie's head. Jackie has nothing more to say. Stephanie accuses Jackie of using her "convenient" aches and pains to line her pockets and blackmail Stephanie's family into giving up their company. She admits that she has a temper, but she'd rather be a bully that faces things head on than an ineffectual, weak-willed person like Jackie. Jackie asks Stephanie if she thought she could come here to make nice. She thinks Stephanie is clever at controlling everyone but herself. Stephanie reminds Jackie of her temper. "Tempted to finish the job?" Jackie asks. "I never started the job," Stephanie retorts. Jackie bets that the thing that galls Stephanie the most is losing Brooke, even though Stephanie took years to admit Brooke's worth. She tells Stephanie not to worry, because Nick will care for Brooke. But Brooke has left Nick, Stephanie points out, and she suspects Brooke won't be coming back after this blackmail fiasco. Jackie gets out of bed and says that her mind is made up. Stephanie must choose her freedom or her company. Either way, Stephanie's reign of abuse and bullying is over. Stephanie tells Jackie to go ahead and come after her. It's not going to work, and in the end, Jackie will end up with nothing. She predicts that she won't go to jail, because Jackie's fall was an accident. As for Forrester Creations, she will never, EVER turn that company over to Jackie and Nick!