Thursday, February 21, 2008, Episode #5254

Nick assures Taylor that he was committed to her.

Taylor comes by to see Nick and Jack. After Nick tells her how Jack is, he asks Taylor how she's doing. Taylor admits to Nick that leaving him was the hardest thing she's ever done, but she knows it was the right thing. She had no choice but to leave once he confessed his feelings for Brooke. Nick insists he was committed to her, but Taylor thinks he made himself believe that. Nick asks her not to stay that, but she doesn't know how else to put it given his admission that he's in love with another woman and always will be. Nick states that he loves her and wants their marriage and their family, but Taylor says that she can't accept being with a man who has love in his heart for another woman, especially when that woman is Brooke. She places the blame for all this on Brooke, because Brooke clearly kept trying to reignite the feelings between them with the way she kept coming around and asking about the baby. She suggests that Nick fell for Brooke's ploy by getting completely consumed in those old feelings, but Nick states that he chose to be honest about his feelings, just as she chose to walk out on their marriage. Taylor says she only walked out because she realized she wasn't in a marriage where her husband was 100% with her.

Taylor thinks it's time to move on.

Taylor asks Nick if he spoke to Brooke. When Nick is silent, Taylor assumes he has. Nick tells her that this whole situation is uncomfortable; Taylor says it's only that way because she wasn't the only woman in his heart, and she doesn't understand why he expects her to just accept that. She asks if he and Brooke are getting back together; Nick is silent again, so Taylor guesses that Brooke turned him down. She warns Nick that this is what happens when you're in love with two people: you run the risk of losing them both. Taylor informs Nick that she's done competing with Brooke for a man, as she already did that with Ridge. Nick asks her not to compare him to the dressmaker, since he, unlike Ridge, was completely devoted to her. Taylor says that he and Ridge are alike in that they can't let go once Brooke gets under their skin. Nick says he would have devoted his life to her given the chance, but Taylor doesn't want to settle for "would have." She thinks the handwriting was on the wall once the truth came out about Jack, because the draw between Nick and Brooke was too powerful. Nick apologizes. Taylor blames the lab mix-up for messing up their lives, but she thinks it's time to move on in a new direction. She hopes that in doing so, she'll meet a man who isn't in love with Brooke and who has a place in his heart just for her. But in the meantime, she's focusing on herself and on getting back to being the woman she used to be.

Stephanie tells the Logan sisters what they've brought on their brother.

At Brooke's house, Donna pleads with Stephanie to show Storm mercy, but Stephanie refuses. Stephanie argues that she should never have made the deal, because Storm is dangerous and belongs in jail. Donna argues that Storm is getting help, but he can't do that in prison. Brooke and Katie arrive. Brooke tells Stephanie to leave. Stephanie is glad to see Donna's sisters, as she's sure they knew Donna was still seeing Eric, and that makes all the Logan girls responsible for what's going to happen to their brother now. Brooke and Katie admit that they knew, but they insist that they tried to change Donna's mind. They know Donna didn't listen, but they don't think it's fair to punish Storm for Donna's mistakes. Brooke and Katie ask Stephanie to talk to Storm herself so they can see how grateful he is, but La Forrester refuses to budge. "Because of your sister's actions and your own actions, Storm's gonna go to prison, where he belongs," she warns.

Brooke and Katie try to get through to Stephanie.

Katie argues that she and her sisters are the ones who made the mistakes, so they should be punished and not Storm. Stephanie admires the way Katie defends her family but says it's too late. Since it seems that Brooke and Donna feel they can take what they want, when they want from the Forrester family, Stephanie has no choice but to send Storm to jail. She picks up the phone and calls Lt. Baker, asking him to meet her house in about an hour to discuss an new development in her shooting. After she ends the call to the detective, Brooke states, "You have absolutely no compassion, Stephanie." Stephanie says that she feels sorry for Storm in a way, since she can't imagine how betrayed he feels when he finds out his sisters sacrificed his freedom for their own selfish needs. She thinks that shows how shallow Donna is and suggests that the Logan sisters call their brother so he can get his affairs in order. "I have a feeling the court's gonna put him away for quite a while," she admonishes.

Eric asks Ridge for help...

Ridge arrives at the Forrester mansion and is surprised to see Eric there. Eric explains how Stephanie saw the photo in a copy of the newspaper on the plane and knows everything. Ridge says he knows everything too and asks Eric how he could let Storm walk away after what he did. Eric argues that Storm was under extreme pressure and is getting help. He insists that he was worried about Stephanie, about he was also worried about Donna and about the Logan family, which is why he's asking Ridge to help him by convincing Stephanie to back off. Ridge understands why his mother won't let up on this, which is why he agrees with his mother that Storm has to pay for what he's done.

...but Ridge stands by his mother.

Eric asks Ridge not to make a painful situation even worse, but Ridge accuses Eric of trying to protect Donna when he should be worrying about Stephanie. Eric argues that the situation will get worse for Stephanie as well if it escalates, but Ridge stands with his conviction that Stephanie's safety has to come first, so he's standing by his mother. Stephanie enters and is glad to see someone looking out for her, since her husband sure as hell isn't. Ridge tells his mother that he knows about the deal, but Eric insists that the "deal" was blackmail. Stephanie tells Ridge and Eric to both stop it. She insists she did what was best for both families by making the deal. Ridge points out that Storm almost killed her, but Stephanie contends that despite what others believe, she does have compassion, which is why she heeded Storm;s sisters' plea to let Storm get help. Eric asks where that compassion is now. Stephanie tells him not to go there, since Lt. Baker is on his way, and whatever will be, will be.

Donna tearfully tells Storm what she did.

Storm arrives at his sisters' request and asks what's going on. He hopes they're not keeping secrets from him again. When Donna can barely contain herself, Storm knows something's up and calmly asks what is. When none of his sisters will answer, he guesses that Stephanie had a change of heart. Realizing from his sisters' silence that he's right, Storm confesses that he knew it was too good true and regrets not going sooner to thank Stephanie personally. Katie reveals that Stephanie wasn't acting out of the goodness of her heart and wanted something in return for keeping him out of jail. When Storm asks what Stephanie wanted, Katie tells him that Donna had to leave Eric. Storm asks Donna if she broke up with Eric to earn him his freedom. Donna sobs that she did, but she didn't break up with Eric after all. Storm is actually glad to hear that, since he would never want his sister to give up her own happiness for his sake. He knows that Donna and Eric made each other happy, and that's all he wants for her. His only question is, does Stephanie know that Donna is still seeing Eric?