Wednesday, December 10, 2008, Episode #5457

Stephanie tells Ridge what she learned from Lt. Baker.

Outside the morgue, Ridge asks Stephanie what she meant when she said Phoebe's death might not have been an accident. Stephanie explains that she spoke to Lt. Baker when he came by the house to see Rick and learned that the police have questions about what caused the crash. The lieutenant told her that Rick swerved all over the road based on the skid marks they found. Ridge thinks that means Rick was drunk, but Stephanie informs him that they tested Rick at the scene and he was not impaired by alcohol. But if it wasn't alcohol, she wonders, what caused Rick to lose control of the car? Ridge states that it doesn't matter; his daughter is dead, and knowing why won't make a difference, since nothing is going to bring Phoebe back.

Ridge consoles Steffy in the morgue.

In the morgue, Steffy feels Phoebe's cold, lifeless hands and starts to get a sheet or blanket to warm her sister up, but then she breaks down and asks what's she's doing. "My love will keep you warm wherever you are," she sobs. Steffy then says that she'll miss Phoebe's beautiful voice, which their mom always thought sounded like an angel's. "Now you'll be up there singing with them, and I'll know it's you," she weeps as she lays her head on her sister's body and cries that she just can't do this alone. Ridge and Stephanie come in to comfort Steffy, who recalls how she always knew when Phoebe was thinking about her. She remembers a time just the other day when she woke up before sunrise and went out on the balcony to look at a star in the sky. Then Phoebe called her and said she was also looking at the sky, and she just knew that they were looking at the very same star. She collapses in Ridge's arms, sobbing that those moments will never happen again, because Phoebe is gone. Ridge tells her that he doesn't want to believe it either. Stephanie suggests that Ridge take Steffy home, but Steffy doesn't want to leave her sister alone. "She'll always be with our family, and she'll always be a part of us," Ridge assures, but Steffy fears that her sister is gone because she can't feel Phoebe in her heart.

Steffy tries to feel close to Phoebe.

Ridge takes Steffy back to his mother's house to rest. Alone in her room, Steffy climbs out the window and stands by a ledge on the roof that overlooks the city. Looking skyward, she asks, "Can you feel me up there? Are you up there, Phoebe?" Standing on the ledge with her arms outstretched, she says that she can feel Phoebe. "You were always a star, and now you're up there in the sky and you really are a star," she states. As she stands there in a trance-like state, she says that Phoebe will always be a part of her. Ridge comes out and asks Steffy what she's doing. She says that she can still feel her sister, who is now a beautiful star. Ridge tells Steffy to come down from the ledge, but she doesn't move, so he climbs out on the roof and drags her inside, holding her close. Ridge takes Steffy to the living room and sits her down. She says she's sorry, but she wanted to feel Phoebe again. Ridge tells her that it's OK. He's just glad she's safe. Steffy tells him that Phoebe is out there and is happy, shining brighter than ever.

Rick comes clean with his mother.

At Brooke's house, a bandaged Rick looks out the window. Brooke comes downstairs and tells him that what happened was a horrible accident, but Rick tells her to stop saying that, since Phoebe is dead because of what he turned into. He decides to come clean with his mother about everything. When Taylor broke up with him, he explains, he blamed Ridge. Then Ridge met him at the Sky Lounge, and he claimed Ridge attacked him after he fell from the roof. But that wasn't true; he was the one who attacked Ridge, who was only defending himself by pushing him away. But he said otherwise because he wanted Brooke to think Ridge had attacked him again, like he did in Sydney, in the hopes of breaking Brooke and Ridge up. Then he made Brooke tell Ridge to move out so he could recover, and he actually recovered sooner than everyone thought. He did all those things to get his mom's attention, but none of that matters now, because Phoebe is dead. Brooke blames herself for not being there for Rick while he grew up due to her obsession with Ridge, but Rick tells her not to take the blame off him. He then tells Brooke how he edited the podcast to get Ridge mad at her, knowing Ridge would probably leave her. But when that didn't work, things got worse. Brooke asks why they're talking about this, but Rick says she has to know everything. He tells her how he sent Marcus to Paris so he could put the moves on Steffy, knowing that Ridge would get just as mad about that as he did about Phoebe in Sydney. He kissed Steffy, but she slapped him the face, and then she told Phoebe about it once Phoebe came home.

Brooke is stunned by the details. Rick explains that learning what he'd done was what got Phoebe so angry that she confronted him before the rehearsal dinner. Phoebe was so mad that when he walked away from her, she jumped in his car, yelling at him and clawing at his face while he was driving. Trying to get him to pull over, she grabbed the wheel and tried to slam on the brake, but she slipped and hit the gas instead, and then... "Don't you see? None of this had to happen. It's all my fault," he laments.

Lt. Baker shows Stephanie what he's found.

Stephanie meets Lt. Baker by the crash site. The lieutenant tells her that Rick was definitely speeding at the moment of impact, going at least 50 miles an hour in a 25 mile an hour zone. If Rick hadn't been wearing a seat-belt, he probably would have been killed, too. Stephanie asks if that means Phoebe wasn't wearing a seat belt. She wasn't, the police detective notes, pointing out that things might have been different if she had been.