Thursday, June 14, 2007, Episode #5081

Constantine tells Phoebe that Rick isn't the guy she thinks he is.

At his studio/loft, Constantine praises Phoebe and tells her that she's the girl every man dreams of, and the girl every other girl wants to be. She inspires him, and that's why he thinks that together... Impressed the he wrote a song about her, Phoebe muses, "You want to make me a star." Constantine says that she is a star already, but with his help, the whole world will see her the way he does. All it will take is a commitment from her. Phoebe asks about Rick, who is still a huge part of her life and the man she loves. Constantine doesn't want to burst her bubble, since he sees how she feels like Rick, but he tells her that he doesn't think Rick feels the same way about her. Phoebe doesn't want to hear this and tells Constantine to stop. She assures him that Rick is a great guy. Constantine asks if she's trying him, or herself. He insists that he's not trying to cause trouble, but the one thing he can't help noticing is that Rick is never around when Phoebe needs him, and Rick doesn't even find time to answer her phone messages. Phoebe points out that she left her phone on vibrate, so she goes to check it, sure that she missed a call-back from Rick. But she's disappointed when she looks at the phone and sees that Rick hasn't called. :"Maybe he's trying to tell you something," Constantine suggests. Phoebe tells him to stop looking at her like he knows something about Rick; she knows he doesn't like Rick, but she doesn't think that gives him the right to claim Rick doesn't love her, or that Rick isn't good enough for her. Constantine says that he only knows that he wouldn't treat her the way Rick does.

Taylor tries to get through to Rick.

In Taylor's office, Rick remains in denial that he shot Grant Chambers. When Taylor tries to explain that she and Brooke wanted time to prepare him for this, Rick accuses her of falling for Ridge's lies, just like his mother always has. He thinks Ridge is just accusing him of shooting Grant so Ridge can get a lighter sentence as a first time offender, but he won't let that happen, because he knows who really shot Grant. Taylor tries to tell him he was just a boy when it happened. Still baffled at Taylor's believing what he sees as a lie, Rick thinks he knows what's going on: he thinks this is another one of Stephanie's to do anything possible to protect her precious son. He can even see Stephanie telling Ridge, "Just blame Rick. He was a kid, he won't remember." Taylor tells Rick that he's wrong, but he doesn't want to hear it, since he's sure he would remember shooting someone if he did it. Taylor tries to calm him down, but Rick turns to the door and storms out.

Brooke worries about Rick.

Brooke comes home, hoping Rick may have come there looking for her. When she sees that he's not there, she calls Taylor. When she gets Taylor's voice mail, she leaves a message explaining how Ridge told Rick the truth about Grant's shooting. "If you come across him, please be careful with my son," Brooke pleads. A few minutes later, Taylor calls back and tells Brooke that Rick was just there. She worries that she doesn't know how to handle this now that Ridge just let the truth slip out. Brooke agrees that she didn't want it like this, and she's sure Ridge didn't, either. She asks how Rick was. Taylor explains that Rick is in total denial, blaming Ridge and Stephanie for creating ridiculous lies about him just so Ridge can get out of trouble. She fears Rick might even shut down completely given how he found out the truth in the middle of an argument, which means he may never remember shooting Grant. Brooke asks where Rick is; when Taylor explains that Rick stormed off without saying where he was going, Brooke realizes she has to find her son now. After calling Catherine to take care of the kids, Brooke is about to leave when she sees Rick in the house, holding a small gun in his hand. Brooke recognizes it as the gun Stephanie brought over that time and recalls that she locked it in the safe. Rick says that was a good place, since it could have caused an accident left loose where a child could find it. Brooke tells Rick that she spoke to Ridge and urges him to put the gun down.

Rick holds a gun to see how it feels.

Rick tells Brooke not to worry, since he's not violent like Ridge or Stephanie. He just wanted to see how felt to hold a gun in his hand, since he never held one, let alone fired one. He's sure he'd remember if he ever did that. Brooke sees why he'd want to hold it. Rick asks if his holding it makes her nervous; when she asks why it should, he tells her that Ridge would feel nervous about it. Brooke says she's not Ridge. She reminds Rick that she's his mother, which is why she wants him to put the gun down. Rick tells her it's not loaded - at least, he thinks it isn't, although he isn't sure, since he's never seen a gun up close. That's how he knows he couldn't have shot Grant, and that's why he can't believe that Ridge would tell such an atrocious like and claim that he shot Grant. He suggests that Taylor get down to the jail, since Ridge needs help. Brooke assures him that it's not a lie and affirms that Ridge only confessed to shooting Grant to protect him.

Phoebe is disappointed when Rick won't talk to her.

Phoebe decides to call Rick to prove Constantine wrong. But since Rick is in the middle of his heated discussion with his mother, he curtly answers the phone and barks, "What is it?" Phoebe hears the hostile tone in Rick's voice and asks if he's mad at her. Rick angrily tells her that he can't talk now and hangs up! Phoebe is stunned. Constantine sees how disappointed she is and asks why she keeps making excuses for a guy who can't even call her back or talk to her civilly. Phoebe says he was civil, but Constantine doesn't buy it given what he heard. He asks if Rick was alone. Phoebe says she heard a woman's voice (not realizing it was Brooke's). She supposes it was someone at the office, but Constantine has another theory. He explains to Phoebe how Rick left his PDA behind the other day. And Rick came back to get it, Phoebe recalls. Constantine tells her there was a voice mail message on the PDA, and even though he knows he had no right, he listened to the message before Rick came back. He admits he's glad he did, since the message proved Rick isn't the guy she thinks he is. He plays the copy of the message back for her. Not recognizing Ashley's voice, Phoebe is stunned and distraught. Constantine tries to comfort her, whispering, "Honey, I'm so, so sorry."

Rick insists that he didn't shoot Grant.

Back at Brooke's, Rick can't believe that his mother is telling him. Brooke reminds him that he had a huge amount of resentment at the time for his father and Ridge for abandoning him, and then Grant came into her life. He saw Grant as trying to take his mother away, and then he found the gun (which Brooke says she carelessly left lying around the house, but it was actually Stephanie's gun that Rick found in Ridge's desk drawer, where Ridge was holding it to get it fixed). Rick refuses to hear this. Broke tells him that Grant told him herself. Then Grant lied! Rick fumes. Brooke asks why Grant would lie and points out that they found one of Rick's golf tees at the scene of the crime. Rick can't believe his mom thinks he shot someone based on the word of a jerk like Grant and a misplaced golf tee. Brooke tells him that a private investigator figured it out, and then she found out after. Taylor found out after that. Ridge saw how traumatized he was and volunteered to take the blame and got off on probation, and they've all kept the secret ever since. Rick thinks it's awfully convenient for Ridge to remind everyone just as Ridge is facing prison time and thinks this is just another of Ridge's attempts to come between him and Phoebe, especially since there's no proof. Brooke assures him that this really happened, but it doesn't make him a bad person. She points out that Ridge helped him then, so now it's time for them to help Ridge, and she promises to stand by Rick as they work through this, little by little.