Tuesday, December 04, 2007, Episode #5200

Ridge gives Nick some advice.

At Spectra, Ridge tells Nick that he and Jackie are off the hook since Stephen has been arrested for shooting Stephanie. "I didn't know we were on the hook," Nick quips. Ridge wonders if Jackie is in over her head running Spectra, since she and Nick couldn't make a go running Forrester. Nick tells Ridge to wait and see and excuses himself, since he has a son to get home to. That brings Ridge to the other reason he's here; he hands Nick the photo of Jack that Nick gave Brooke and accuses Nick of being unfair to Brooke by giving her this and waving the baby in front of Brooke like a carrot. Nick insists it's just a photo, but Ridge says it's a connection, one Brooke gave up once she signed away her parental rights to the baby. "It's not what she needs," Ridge insists, accusing Nick of stoking Brooke's interest in Jack to revive her interest in Nick. Nick doesn't want to talk about this anymore, so he denies the allegation and excuses himself. Ridge advises that leading Brooke on will only put Nick's marriage and family at risk and cautions, "Don't screw it up."

Phoebe offers Ashley some help.

Ashley is at Forrester, fielding calls from the press about Stephanie's shooting when Phoebe comes in and offers help holding down the fort. Ashley thanks Phoebe for the offer, but she thinks doing this keeps her busy. "From thinking about my dad?" Phoebe guesses, asking if Ashley still has feelings for Ridge. Ash replies that Ridge will always be special to her, but she's spent too much time loving unavailable men to dwell on it, especially since everyone warned her that Brooke was Ridge's "destiny." Phoebe says that like Rick, she thinks of her dad's ties to Brooke as being more like a habit, and she can understand why Ashley's upset, since she knows her dad really had feelings for Ashley. Ashley thanks her for saying that, adding that it was over for her and Ridge once Brooke convinced him that she was completely over Nick. Phoebe doesn't see why her dad would be worried about that, since Nick is married to her mom and they have a baby now. Ashley doesn't know what the connection between Brooke and Nick was, but she's sure it's over now.

Ashley gives Ridge some advice.

A while later, Ridge pops in and finds Ashley taking a break from the phones. She jokes that she's not offended by his checking up on her, since the Abbott family knows all about keeping tabs on a family business, but Ridge says he just needed a place to think. Ashley says he won't get much thinking done here with the phones ringing. Ridge confides that he just had to sort out his feelings now that life's thrown him another curve-ball. Ashley asks if this has anything to do with his mother's shooting. Ridge tells her that Brooke's dad has been arrested for the shooting, which has complicated things between him and Brooke. Ashley suggests that he not let what Stephen did affect his relationship with Brooke, but Ridge points out that he has other things going on in life. Like his wedding, Ashley replies, telling him that she's accepted his relationship with Brooke. Ridge thanks her and asks how Abby is doing, fretting about the way kids get drawn into their parents' problems. Ashley thinks that brings them back to her earlier point and advises that he and Brooke will get past all the issues around his mother's shooting. After seeing how hard Brooke fought to get Ridge back, she doesn't see Brooke doing anything to risk losing him.

Katie is surprised by Brooke's revelation.

Brooke and Katie arrive home after getting word from Storm that Stephen is out on bail. Katie still has doubts about their dad's innocence given his history of walking out on their family, and she thinks Brooke should have doubts, too, since she can't imagine Ridge believing Stephen's pleas of innocence. When Brooke sighs, Katie warns her not to let their dad's arrest come between her and Ridge, for R.J.'s sake. Brooke replies that she and Ridge aren't going to let this get in their way, and they'll deal with it like they're dealing with other important issues. Katie can't think of an issue more important than Ridge's mother being shot, so Brooke tells Katie that she's baby Jack's biological mother. A stunned Katie asks how that could be, so Brooke tells her sister the whole story of the egg mix-up. Katie can see why this would be an issue for Ridge, because she knows what kind of mother Brooke is. "I'm not his mother!" Brooke insists, although she admits Ridge got concerned after she slipped up a few times and said otherwise, and after he saw the photo of Jack that Nick gave her. Katie asks if Ridge has reason to be concerned; after Brooke admits she had some reservations about parenting decisions Taylor made, Katie thinks Brooke's maternal instincts were just kicking in.

Brooke thinks something is wrong with Jack.

Brooke agrees and thinks she owes Nick and Taylor an apology, so she calls the Marone mansion to do just that, only to have a strange woman named Anya answer the phone. Brooke tries to leave a message, but the woman says, "No Marones here." Brooke hears Jack crying in the background and asks if he's OK, but the woman hangs up. Brooke tells Katie about the crying she overheard and wonders if something is wrong, since Taylor apparently isn't there. Katie tells Brooke to calm down, but Brooke insists on going over to the Marone mansion to see what's going on.

Nick wonders what Brooke is doing there.

When Nick gets home, Anya tells him that the baby has been crying a lot. When Anya says she already fed the baby, Nick suspects Jack just wants a bath and sends to woman upstairs to bathe his son. Once Anya is upstairs, Brooke comes by. When Nick greets her at the door, Brooke frantically asks where Jack is. Nick tells her that he just got here, but Jack's upstairs with the nanny getting bathed. Brooke is relieved that the baby is OK. Nick asks why she's think otherwise, so she tells him about how she called and heard Jack crying over the phone. She tried to ask if something was wrong, but the woman who answered the phone had a thick accent and hung up the phone. Nick tells her that was Anya, Jack's nanny. Brooke asks why he didn't tell her he was hiring someone, as she could have suggested someone. Nick explains that Taylor had to leave town suddenly when her dad was hospitalized for heart problems, so they had to hire someone quickly. Brooke feels so silly now, since she understands that baby Jack was just crying because he missed his Mommy. She asks why Taylor didn't take Jack, so Nick explains that they thought traveling would tax the baby's developing immune system. That was the right thing to do, Brooke says, since Taylor was thinking about Jack. "It looks like you were, too," Nick comments.