Thursday, April 12, 2007, Episode #5037

Ridge puts on the brakes with Ashley.

In the lab, Ridge pulls away from kissing Ashley. He feels like he has to put on the brakes. Ashley says that she wasn't talking about tearing her clothes off and jumping on him to make him feel better, but she was thinking more about going somewhere with him to have some fun. Ridge laments that he couldn't take her anyplace that he hadn't been with Brooke, and he doesn't want to deal with all the people who would ask him about Brooke. Ashley admits that doesn't sound like fun, and she understands, since she knows all about rebounding. Ridge says that he might as well stay here if he's going to stay up all night driving himself crazy, since he can at least get some work done. He apologizes to Ashley if... She tells him not to apologize, since he shouldn't do anything that doesn't feel right. Ridge leaves, leaving Ashley alone with her thoughts.

Phoebe frets that Rick supports his mom taking Nick away from her mom.

Rick and Phoebe are in Eric's office getting ready for their first official date. When the phone rings, Rick tells Phoebe not to answer, since it might be another person wondering if his mom's resigning from Forrester Originals means she's going back to Forrester Creations. "Is she?" Phoebe asks. Rick thinks that would make sense, but Phoebe hopes that's not what's going to happen; she fears Brooke would only go back to Forrester Creations to be close to her mom's fiance, Nick, so she urges Rick to tell his mom not to go back there. Rick argues that his mom knows that company inside and out. Phoebe takes that to mean that Rick is in favor of his mom's decision. Rick asserts that his mom, like anyone else, is entitled to her own private feelings. Phoebe thinks that sounds like he intends to just stand by and cheer his mom on while she chases after Nick. Rick suggests to Phoebe that they not make the mistakes their parents made and just let their parents live their own lives. Phoebe however can't just stop and watch when someone she loves is affected. She reminds Rick what her mom went through over the last year and thinks Taylor deserves a little happiness now, so she can't just stand by while Brooke takes that away from her mom. Rick asks Phoebe if they can drop this and go out to dinner as they planned. Phoebe doesn't feel like eating now, because she feels like she doesn't even know Rick. She storms out.

Ashley tells Rick that she's not rooting for him and Phoebe to fail.

Ashley arrives just as Phoebe leaves. She comments to Rick that Phoebe didn't look happy. Rick comments that he and Phoebe had their first argument. Ashley thinks that's understandable, since Phoebe is just young. She asks how bad the fight was. Rick feels funny talking to Ashley about this. Ash frankly tells him that she's not rooting for him and Phoebe to fail and notes that she's perfectly able to process her feelings for him, past, present and future, all by herself. Rick says he's not good at that. It takes practice, Ash advises. She then gets to why she came by; she wanted Rick to know that she made some notes on his marketing plan for the new fragrance line before his meeting tomorrow, but it's at her hotel. They could go get it if he's not working. Rick doesn't think he's doing much of anything tonight, so Ash suggests he escort her back to her hotel so she can give her notes to him. Rick thinks he can do that and they leave.

Hope asks Nick to come home.

In Nick's office at Forrester Creations, Nick reminds Brooke that she was the one who asked him for a divorce. Brooke agrees that she did, but she didn't realize she was wrong to do that until things ended with Ridge. Even so, Nick insists, it's too late. Brooke says she doesn't want to hurt Taylor, but she remembers how things didn't work when she and Nick tried to fight their feelings for each other in the past. Nick says he's not resisting any feelings this time and insists that Brooke has to accept that he doesn't want this anymore. He turns to leave, but Hope arrives and runs over to Nick, all excited to see him. Brooke asks Hope why she's here and not at the movies with Donna. Donna comes in and says that the movie was dull, and Hope wanted to see Nick, so she brought Hope over. She didn't realize Brooke was going to be here. Hope wants Nick to take her to his new boat, but Nick tells her that he has dinner plans. Hope asks Nick if he can come home after dinner; Nick doesn't know how to answer. He spends some time with Hope, who shows him a card trick, and he invites her to come down to the boat with him on Saturday. Hope agrees, so Donna then takes Hope and leaves.

Nick refuses to let Brooke break his heart again.

Alone with Nick, Brooke comments on how much he loves Hope and suggests that he adopt her little girl if he wants. Nick asks her not to do this. Brooke says she's just giving him the life they both wanted so much, but Nick reminds her that he had to watch that life get destroyed in front of him and live with it. Brooke tells him not to hold onto the things that went wrong, but Nick says he remembers it all, the good and the bad. He says he has to go meet Taylor. Brooke tries to tell him that she wants him in her life, but Nick urges her not to manipulate him. Brooke says that she loves him. Nick asks what she wants to do to him. He angrily clears his desk off and suggests that they have sex right there, on his desk, right now, since maybe that might fix everything. He then tells Brooke that she broke his heart and won't go through that again. Feeling dejected, Brooke leaves.

Stephanie pays Taylor a visit.

Taylor is at home when she gets a visit from Stephanie, who wants to talk about Nick; she wants to make sure that Taylor isn't throwing herself away on someone who's not worthy of her. Taylor says Stephanie is only here because she needs Nick to keep Brooke away from Ridge, but Stephanie insists that she loves Taylor and cares about what happens to her. After what Nick has done to her family, Stephanie fears that Nick is using Taylor, and she doesn't want to see that happen. Taylor insists that Nick wants nothing to do with the Forrester family. Then why is marrying into that family? Stephanie asks. Taylor is stunned at how Stephanie refers to her as part of the family when it's convenient for her and insists that her days of being Stephanie's pawn are over. Stephanie tries to tell Taylor that she really does love her and always will, but Taylor thinks that love is conditional on doing what Stephanie wants. Stephanie asks Taylor to talk honestly and points out that there could be a baby involved. She asks Taylor if her relationship with Nick will still be so solid if she doesn't have a baby with him. Taylor concedes that one might argue that she's only doing this to keep Brooke out of the picture, but she insists that she isn't doing that. She just wants a fresh start after missing her kids growing up and then losing the husband she fought to come home to. Nick's loyalties aren't divided like Ridge's are, so she thinks she can have that fresh start with him. Stephanie agrees not to stand in Taylor's way if this is what she wants. Taylor thanks her.

Brooke wonders what Stephanie wants.

Brooke is at home, sitting on the couch with Hope sleeping on her lap. She says to herself that she wants Nick to come home, too, since she knows there's no place else he'd rather be. When there's a knock at the door, Brooke gets up to answer and is surprised to see Stephanie there. She asks why La Forrester is there. Stephanie wonders if Brooke thought she might have some news. Brooke tells Stephanie to just come out with it if she knows if Taylor's pregnant. Stephanie says she doesn't know. Brooke doesn't think it's likely at Taylor's age, but Stephanie points out that Nick and Taylor are pretty determined. She explains that she came by because she knows how Brooke loves to destroy families, so she thought she'd drop by and tell Brooke to stay away from Nick and Taylor.