Wednesday, March 07, 2007, Episode #5013

Taylor gets reassurance from Nick.

At the Marone mansion, Taylor tries to call Phoebe, but Phoebe's cell is out of range. Nick asks Taylor why she's calling. Taylor admits she's worried about the garbage Stephanie spouted. Nick tells her to forget that windbag and assures her that Phoebe's fine. Nick then gives her some soup he brought up, since she didn't eat much earlier. When Taylor reacts to the soup's spicy taste, Nick offers to get her something else; she says she doesn't need anything else if she has him, but she wonders if he can say the same thing about her. Nick can't believe she's questioning his feelings for Brooke again and reminds Taylor that he told her over and over that Brooke is in his past. Taylor says that she believes him, but the situation is just too complicated. Nick disagrees, because he has a simple answer: he quips that they just have to put duct tape on Stephanie's mouth to keep her from stirring up trouble like she did tonight. On a more serious note, Nick tells Taylor that their world won't be shaken by anything that happens with Brooke and Ridge. He's been happy since he found Taylor, since there are no games or agendas with her. He looks in her eyes and likes what he sees in her mind and her heart. He likes to look at her-- to touch her -- to kiss her. On that last note, Nick leans in to kiss her, and their kisses soon give way to some passionate lovemaking.

Nick tells Taylor that both his past loves are in the past.

Nick and Taylor lie in her bed, basking in the afterglow. Taylor sees that he has something on his mind and tells him that it's OK to think about her, because she knows he misses her. Thinking she's talking about Broke, a surprised Nick asks, "Her?" Taylor replies that she's talking about the first love of his life, the Marlin. Relieved, Nick agrees that the boat will be missed. It may be hard to let her go, but she's in his past now. Taylor hopes he's talking about the boat now. Nick assures her again that just like his boat, Brooke is in his past, too. He then turns the tables and asks Taylor what she'll do when psychopathic Stephanie tries to hook her and Ridge back up again. Taylor promises that it's not going to happen. Ridge had his chance and blew it, and she's with the man she wants to be with now. Besides, she can't see Ridge and Brooke breaking up at this stage of the game. Nick thinks they should stop wasting time talking like this and tells Taylor to kiss him; she does, and they then start making love again.

Stephanie urges Ridge not to buy Brooke's excuses.

At the Big Bear cabin, Brooke orders Ridge to let Rick go. Stephanie agrees that Ridge should let go, since she thinks her son should instead be angry with Brooke for lying to him! Ridge asks Brooke if she knew about this. Rick answers that his mom didn't know he and Phoebe were coming here, but Ridge says that's not what he's asking. He asks Brooke if she knew that their kids were still involved and failed to tell him. Brooke admits that she did. Stephanie boats that the truth is finally out, but Brooke wants Ridge to understand what happened. She reminds Ridge that she came to his office the other day to talk with him about Rick and Phoebe; she was going to tell him then, but he was only concerned that Jarrett had found out about Rick and Phoebe singing at Insomnia. Brooke then reminds Ridge that she loves Phoebe like she was her own daughter; that's why she tried to get Ridge to see that he can't just force Phoebe or Rick to simply suppress what they're feeling. Stephanie scoffs at Brooke's excuses, but Brooke insists that the kids needed time to work things out. "And you gave it to them," Ridge surmises, furious that Brooke didn't tell him what was going on. Brooke reminds Ridge that he threatened to kill Rick if he crossed the line with Phoebe, and she believed he might do it when she walked in tonight and found him laying his hands on Rick!

Ridge glares at his mother.

Ridge reminds Brooke that she raised a teenage girl, too, so she knows that there's no manual. You just try to do the best you can and hope you succeed, and that's why he wishes she had respected his feelings as much as she did Rick and Phoebe's. Brooke looks at Rick and says that they need to talk in the other room - now! Once Rick and Brooke leave the room, Stephanie tells Ridge that it's too little, too late, since he can't build a marriage on lies. Rick glares at his mother, who turns to Phoebe and tells her that she owes her dad an apology. Phoebe admits that she does; she wants him to treat her like an adult, but then she sneaked around behind his back, and that was wrong. Ridge admits to his daughter that he probably could have handled this better, too, but when he found out that Rick dragged her here...Phoebe tells Ridge that Rick didn't drag her here; she wanted to be here with Rick. Ridge reminds her that he promised when she was born to do anything, even if it meant going through hell, to protect his little girls, because that's what parents do. And that's what he's always done, Phoebe responds, agreeing that Ridge has been there for her any time she needed him. She understands that to him, she'll always be his little girl. But at the same time, she wants him to see that he's wrong about Rick. Ridge says they can talk about this in the car on the ride home, but Phoebe says she;s not leaving here without Rick.

Rick pleads his case to his mother.

In the other room, Rick apologizes to Brooke. He explains that he and Phoebe only came here because they never thought they'd get caught here. But they did, Brooke points out, and now Stephanie is trying to turn it into something ugly! Rick thinks that's because Stephanie sees this as an opportunity to come between his mom and Ridge, but Brooke reminds Rick that Ridge IS Phoebe's father and will always care about her. She thinks Rick should be able to understand how Ridge felt when he learned that their kids were still seeing each other, especially when Ridge realized that she knew about it! Rick says that doesn't give Ridge the right to attack him physically. Brooke agrees, but she asks how Ridge was supposed to react. She knows that Rick cares about Phoebe, and she knows that everything he did with Phoebe was done with the best of intentions. But sadly, in situations like this, good intentions often go out the window, so it was poor judgement in trying to sneak up here behind Ridge's back. Rick says it was Phoebe's idea, but Brooke doesn't think that matters. She reminds Rick that he's supposed to be the responsible, mature one, which is why she's going to tell him again what she told him before: he has to break up with Phoebe, before things spin even further out of control!

Brooke tells Ridge and Stephanie that they're leaving.

Brooke and Rick return to the main room of the cabin. Brooke tells Ridge and Stephanie that they should leave so Rick and Phoebe can have some time alone to talk. Ridge can't believe she's asking him to leave his daughter here, but she says she's not asking. Despite Ridge and Stephanie's protests, she says that she'll ride back to L.A. with Ridge while Stephanie drives her car back. Rick and Phoebe will join them once they've had a chance to talk. Stephanie asks Ridge why he's letting Brooke get away with lying to him by taking charge, but Ridge reluctantly gives in to Brooke's demands and leaves with her. Stephanie reluctantly leaves, too.. On the car ride back, Ridge starts to have second thoughts and wants to turn around, but Brooke insists that they give the kids the time they need. Ridge is still worried about what's going on up there, so Brooke tells him to pull over right now so they can get some things straight. Ridge pulls over and asks how she dares take that tone with him. Brooke says that she didn't want to get into this in front of the others, especially with Stephanie there, but she wants him to know now appalled she was when she saw him with his hands on Ridge. She warns that she will not tolerate that kind of behavior from him - EVER! Ridge agrees that he won't let that happen again - but at the same time, he wants to know what it says about their relationship that she felt her only choice was to hide the truth from him.