Tuesday, December 16, 2008, Episode #5461

Donna offers condolences.

Donna comes into Eric's office and is surprised to find him there. He explains that he told Katie that he wanted to handle the company's press release about Phoebe himself. Donna tells Eric how sorry she is, noting that Phoebe was as kind, gentle and loving as he is. She knows they're not together anymore, but she still feels like they're family, so she wants to be there for him during this painful time. She offers him a warm embrace just as Owen walks by and spots them hugging. After Eric leaves, Donna gazes at a framed photo of the two of them that Eric still has in the office and sighs.

The model who posed as Donna visits Thorne.

Thorne sits at a table on the rooftop Sky Lounge, where an employee named Sherry comes over to offer her condolences about Phoebe. After Sherry walks away, Thorne spots the model he hired to impersonate Donna enter the lounge. Thorne asks what she's doing here. She says that she came here looking for him. Thorne sternly reminds her that he paid her well for her work, but she tells him that she wasn't really comfortable with what he asked her to do. Still, she came through for him, so she hopes he'll do the same and give her a job as a Forrester model. Thorne reminds her that he told her not to ever come back here and orders to leave right now.

Owen has questions about the model.

Across the rooftop, Owen observes the intense conversation between Thorne and the model. Once Thorne leaves for Phoebe's funeral, Owen approaches the model and asks who she is, noting that he saw Thorne giving her a hard time. Noticing her figure, he assumes she's a model for the company. She explains that she is a model, but... Owen guesses that she just hasn't had her big break yet. The model explains that she thought she did, but then she was asked to do something strange. The young woman notices that Owen is staring at her as she speaks. He apologizes for staring, but she just looks so much like someone he knows.

Steffy, Ridge and Thomas worry about Taylor.

Taylor walks into her living room and finds it set up for Phoebe's memorial service. Looking at a big photo of Phoebe surrounded by candles on a table by the fireplace, she sobs that she doesn't know how she's going to get through this. As Thomas comes over to console his mother, Ridge and Steffy observe. Ridge asks Steffy how her mom is holding up. Steffy tells him that Taylor didn't get much sleep, and she wonders how her mom or any of them are going to get through today. Thomas joins his dad and sister as they watch Taylor wrestle with her grief.

Family and friends gather for the service.

Soon, the the rest of the family and close friends arrive; we see Eric, Stephanie, Felicia, Brooke, Bridget, Jackie and Phoebe's friend Madison, as well as a handful of others we've never seen before. [Although Jackie, who was related to Phoebe when Taylor married Nick, is there, no mention is made of either Katie or Nick, who I'd also expect to attend.] Thorne slips in just as the service begins.

Eric speaks about his granddaughter.

Steffy is first to speak about her sister. "She was my closest friend, my loving, beautiful twin," she laments, adding that Phoebe was "the best part of me." Placing a rose next to the photo of Phoebe, she says, "I love you" and starts to cry. Thomas gets up to help her back to her seat. Eric is next to speak; talking about how Phoebe modeled one of his showstoppers, he recalls a time when a four year old Phoebe watched him sketch in his office and said, "You draw good, Grandpa." That single review of his work is one that will stay in his heart forever, he explains, just as he'll always hold sweet Phoebe in his heart as well. Stephanie then comes up to speak, but she feels that Phoebe's death was so wrong and so tragic that she just can't find the words to say "goodbye."

Taylor mourns the loss of her daughter.

Ridge then helps Taylor get up to speak. Taylor starts out by talking about how beautiful Phoebe was and reads a scripture [from a translation of Psalm 139, verses 15-16, for those who might be interested.] As she cries, she states that there are so many things she can say about her daughter. Still, she feels it's just not right for a parent to bury her child, but now that Phoebe is gone, she finds herself looking up to her beautiful daughter as someone she aspires to be. Lovingly touching the photo of Phoebe, she takes one more rose and places it by the picture. Finally, it's Ridge's turn. He looks at the photo of Phoebe and says that it's confession time for him. He admits that he never wanted his little girls to grow up, but then they went from 8 years old to 16 to 18 before his eyes. Still, he always wanted to protect his little girl, so it tears his heart out that he couldn't do that the night she died. But at least he was able to hold her in her last moments as she sang the beautiful song she wrote for him before slipping away. "God bless you, my sweet little girl," he says as he holds Phoebe's photo and puts one last rose down beside it.

The service brings forth memories of Phoebe.

No one notices Rick slip into the back of the room. Tears fill his eyes as the recording of Phoebe's last song starts to play, and everyone in the room reflects on memories of special moments with Phoebe as the song plays. In an almost trance-like state, Rick walks up to the photo of Phoebe by the fireplace and starts to cry. "What the hell are you doing here?" Ridge demands to know as he comes up behind Rick.

Rick tries to pay his respects.

Rick sobs that he had to come to pay his respects, because he loved, Phoebe, too. Ridge tells Brooke to get Rick out of there, but Rick says that he can't leave Phoebe. "I would do anything to bring you back. You have to believe that," he weeps as he looks at the photo. "You can't bring her back," Ridge seethes as Brooke tries to get Rick to come with her. As Rick starts to unravel, Ridge spits, "My daughter is dead because of you, you bastard!" As Brooke leads Rick out of the room, Eric thanks everyone for coming and they all leave.