Friday, October 19, 2007, Episode #5170

Donna and Eric speculate on Stephanie's return.

At the Forrester mansion, Eric is kissing Donna when he pulls away. Donna asks if he's worried about Felicia's threats, but Eric thinks they should be more worried about what Stephanie will do when she returns. Donna wonders if Stephanie will even come home, but Eric is sure she will. Donna disagrees, because she doesn't see how Stephanie can show her face here knowing she was responsible for Brooke's rape. Eric takes a drink as he laments that Stephanie did a horrible thing. Donna asks if it was an unforgivable thing, noting that Eric is still wearing his wedding ring. She hopes that isn't a sign that he intends to forgive Stephanie yet again. Eric tells her that he deplores how Stephanie interferes in people's lives, but Donna points out that it did little good, since no man could ever rein Stephanie in. She laments what Stephanie did to Brooke, as well as how Stephanie turned this home into Eric's prison, but she also points out that Eric is happy now that he has company back. Eric tells Donna that he only got the company back because of her, but Donna counters that it happened because he believes in himself. She tells him that she is so in love with him, and the two of them fall into a passionate kiss.

Ann Douglas brings her daughter back to L.A.

Outside, Stephanie sits in a car with her mother Ann, who has driven her here from the airport. Ann tells Stephanie to get it over with and go inside; she's sure Eric can forgive whatever Stephanie has done since he forgave her for lying to him that Ann was dead for over thirty years. Trying to change the subject, Stephanie criticizes her mother's driving ability. Ann points out that she got Stephanie here in one piece as promised, something she felt she had to do to get Stephanie out of Chicago. After watching the way Stephanie moped around her Chicago condo, Ann guesses that Eric finally threw Stephanie out and asks her daughter what unforgivable act she committed to warrant that. Stephanie insists that her mother is off base, but Ann doesn't buy given how Stephanie still hasn't told her why she went into hiding from her husband and her children. Stephanie argues that this is between her and family. Then go in and face the music, Ann steps, hoping her daughter doesn't wind up back on her doorstep after confronting Eric. Ann helps Stephanie bring her luggage to the front door; Stephanie thinks her mother has helped enough and suggests that she leaves the bags there, since Eric can help bring them in. Since Stephanie obviously doesn't want her help, Ann says she better head back to the airport to catch her flight. She bids her daughter goodbye, gets back in the car and screeches off. Stephanie tries to open the front door but finds it locked, and her key doesn't work. She bangs on the door and calls out for Eric or Rosa the maid.

Stephanie asks Eric to forgive her.

Inside, Eric and Donna hear Stephanie knocking. Eric pulls away from kissing Donna and tells her to hide on the terrace. He then unlocks the door to let Stephanie in. La Forrester immediately asks why he changed the locks and wonders if he has a guard dog around, too. Eric tells her that a lot has changed since she's been away. Stephanie assumes he means the company and says she's glad he has control of it back, although she's surprised Nick caved so easily in selling the company back. Eric asks if she thought he didn't have it in him. Stephanie admits she was wrong about a lot of things. She asks if he found the letter she left. Eric says he did, and he was disappointed that she thought she could scribble a few "I'm sorries" and take off for parts unknown. Stephanie admits she made a tragic, horrible mistake; Eric argues that a mistake is what happens when you make an error balancing a checkbook. What she did to Brooke, however, was contemptible. Stephanie says he's right, but she tries to brush her actions off as a simple lapse in judgement that she hopes he can forgive her for. Like all the other times, Eric notes. He remarks that he hoped she would change after confronting the way her father abused her, but she obviously didn't. Stephanie asks him to believe that she did a lot of soul searching while she was away. She doesn't know if she can change, but she knows that he and their children are her entire world, which is why she'll do anything to make this right. "Please don't let this be the end of us," she pleads as Donna listens from the terrace.

Nick tries to keep Taylor from meeting the donor.

In the recovery room at the hospital, Nick tries to keep Taylor from going to the other side of the curtain to thank the donor for donating the bone marrow that saved their son. On the other side of the curtain, Brooke looks nervous. Before Taylor can go behind the curtain, the incubator with the baby is wheeled out. Taylor wants to see the baby and follows the incubator out of the recovery room. As Taylor and Nick leave, Brooke breathes a sigh of relief.

Bridget worries about how her mom is talking about the baby.

Soon after, Bridget comes by to check on Brooke. Brooke asks Bridget about the baby. Bridget says that they won't know for sure for a few months, but she's confident that Brooke gave that baby a chance at a healthy, normal life. When Brooke notes that she saw a resemblance when she looked at the baby, Bridget asks her not to talk that way. Brooke says that she knows the baby is not hers, but she fears what will happen once Nick tells Taylor who the egg donor was given the long history she and Taylor share.

Taylor is stunned whe Nick tells her who the donor was.

When Taylor and Nick get back to her room, Taylor goes on about how healthy the baby looked. Still, she can't understand why Nick didn't want her to meet the donor, especially since he got to meet the woman. Nick asks if they can talk about this another time, but Taylor senses his hesitancy and asks what's wrong. Nick tries to change the subject, but Taylor insists that he tell her. Taking a deep breath, Nick tells Taylor that the woman in recovery is not the donor they selected. Taylor doesn't understand, so Nick gently tells her that there was a lab mix-up, and they got a different woman's egg. Still, he doesn't think that matters, since they're now the parents of a healthy baby boy. Taylor however still wants to know who the woman in recovery is, fearing that the person who donated the marrow that saved their son is someone they know nothing about. Nick tries to duck the issue by reminding Taylor that the donor still came to help their son as soon as she learned of the baby's trouble, without hesitation. Taylor still wants to know what happened, so Nick explains that the lab tech accidentally gave Bridget an egg dish labeled Marone from storage, since there were eggs from another Mrs. Marone in the hospital for a research project. Taylor at first thinks he's saying that Bridget is the donor, and she doesn't see anything wrong - but she freaks out when Nick tells her that the donor wasn't Bridget, but rather was Brooke!