Thursday, December 18, 2008, Episode #5463

Ridge tells Stephanie what he's doing about Rick.

Stephanie gets off the phone with Lt. Baker and tells Ridge that the police can't do anything about Rick without his cooperation. Ridge hopes she didn't tell the lieutenant that she had his permission. Stephanie says she wouldn't do that, but she wants him to understand that Phoebe's death will never be vindicated unless he acts now. Ridge says it won't make a difference because Phoebe is gone, but Stephanie feels that Phoebe would be here if Rick hadn't acted irresponsibly and wants Rick held accountable. Stephanie then tells Ridge that he'll get through this, since death is just as much a part of living as birth is. "We're supposed to go before our kids," Ridge remarks. Stephanie points out that it doesn't always work out that way. Ridge thinks she knows that better than anyone. Stephanie admits that she hasn't thought about losing her daughter Angela in a while, but she remembers crying to get past the hurt and then eventually moving on, and she doesn't think Ridge can heal until Rick pays for what he's done. Ridge wonders if he deserves to be punished for not seeing that Phoebe was in a bad place sooner. He admits that he's mad at Rick and the whole world because Phoebe is dead, but he thinks pressing charges against Rick will only feed that rage. He needs to get past it, so he's not pressing charges, and he tells his mother that she's not pressing charges, either.

Stephanie advises Ridge to think carefully.

Stephanie hopes he's not just saying this for Brooke's sake. Ridge assures her that he's doing this because he wants to and asks why she's badgering him. Stephanie says that she doesn't mean to badger him, but she thinks he needs to figure out how he'll deal with Rick being around if he doesn't press charges. Ridge says that he just wants to get past his rage, but Stephanie points out that his kids will need to get past their rage as well, and they may not be able to do it as easily as him. Ridge says he just wants to survive, since he can't bear to take his anger out on Rick or anyone else. "If you let him get away with it, it may haunt you the rest of your life," Stephanie warns.

Grace tells Owen what Thorne paid her to do.

In his office, Owen asks Grace to tell him what's going on between her and Thorne. Grace says that it's nothing, but Owen senses that's not true and asks her to open up to him. Grace tells him that Thorne offered her a job at Forrester International. Owen thinks that sounds like Thorne wants to get rid of her and asks why Thorne would want that. Grace explains how Thorne hired her to kiss a male model right here in this office. He didn't really say why he did it, but he paid them good money in cash and made them promise never to say anything about it. But she needed her break and came back to ask for a job, and that got Thorne upset, like he was feeling threatened. Owen asks about the model she kissed. "He looked a lot like you," she replies, just like she looks a lot like Donna. Hearing Grace's story, Owen starts to put the puzzle of Thorne's plans together.

Owen confronts Thorne.

After Grace leaves, Owen confronts Thorne with what he's learned about the scheme to use the two lookalike models to make Eric think Donna was cheating. Owen guesses Thorne must have had someone in the room taking pictures, but when Thorne says that wasn't it, Owen deduces that Thorne had a hidden camera watching the office. Thorne insists that Donna would have eventually cheated on Eric, but Owen says that he's wrong. Thorne disagrees, pointing out that his parents caught Donna and Owen together. Owen admits that HE wanted Donna, but Donna only had eyes for Eric, so nothing really happened between him and Donna. But something still CAN happen, Thorne points out - that is, unless Owen opens his big mouth and blabs to Eric, in which case Owen will never have Donna. "Think about that," Thorne advises.

Donna insists that she's been faithful to Eric.

In Eric's office, Donna begs him to tell her what she did wrong to warrant his hostility. Eric says that it's not a big mystery, so Donna asks if this is about Owen. "Of course it is!" Eric fumes. Donna insists that nothing significant happened between her and Owen. Eric tells her to stop lying, as it will only make things worse. Donna swears that she never crossed the line, but Eric asserts that he saw her having sex with Owen. Donna pleads for him to believe that he's the only man she made love to since they've been together, but Eric demands that she stop and insists, "This is over!" Donna guesses that there's nothing else to say and tells him that she'll always love him. She tearfully declares that she can't be here at Forrester or even in L.A. anymore, so she's going back to San Francisco. Eric offers to have the company jet fly her there. They say their goodbyes and hug each other before Donna leaves in tears. Donna then goes to Owen's office and writes a note telling him that she's leaving him L.A. because she loves Eric too much to stay. Wishing Owen luck with the surf line, she signs the note and leaves it on his desk.

Eric is confused by what Owen tells him.

At that very moment, Owen is knocking on Eric's office door. Fuming at the sight of the man he thinks is Donna's "lover," Eric orders Owen to get out of his office AND his building, but Owen refuses to leave until Eric know the truth about Donna. Eric thinks Owen has nerve coming here and asks Mr. Knight if it strokes his ego to steal an attractive young woman from her much older husband. Owen tries to explain about Donna, but Eric doesn't want to hear it and orders Owen to get out. Owen says he's not leaving until he gets an answer to one question and asks, "Did you see the two of us making out, or didn't you?" Eric doesn't see the point in answering, but he does and admits that he saw Owen and Donna kissing on a hidden camera that he could check from his laptop. "It wasn't us," Owen confesses. Confused, Eric asks what's going on, so Owen confides, "The two people you saw on that monitor wasn't Donna and me. Donna's never stopped loving you." Meanwhile, Donna sits on the Forrester jet, sobbing as she looks at photos of her and Eric on her cell phone.

Rick learns from his mom that Stephanie wants him arreseted.

Rick explains to Brooke that he went to Phoebe's memorial service to make peace with Phoebe, but Brooke tells him that he has to make his peace with himself, too. Rick doesn't think he deserves it and wants to talk to the family about what he did. He doesn't think Thomas or Steffy or Ridge can ever forgive him, and then there's Eric, Thorne, Felicia, and Stephanie. Brooke warns Rick not to go near Stephanie, but Rick feels that he has to make things right with Stephanie. Brooke informs Rick of Stephanie's crusade to have him thrown in jail. Rick bets Stephanie is pressuring Ridge to press charges and assumes that the police will be knocking on their door any time now. Brooke doesn't think that will happen. Rick disagrees, because he knows what a bulldog Stephanie can be, but Brooke reminds him that he has someone in his corner pushing for him. Rick thanks her for her support, but Brooke tells him that she was actually thinking of someone else: Ridge.