Tuesday, January 22, 2008, Episode #5232

Bridget spots her mother with Nick at Insomnia.

Nick drops by Insomnia for coffee and sees Brooke there. He joins her for coffee. After she tells him about some family fun she and R.J. had helping Hope with a project for school, Nick says that he looks forward to those kinds of family moments. Speaking of which, Brooke asks Nick how Taylor and Jack are. She knows she shouldn't bring it up, but she can't help but be concerned. Nick tells her that she has every right to be concerned and fills her in on his agreement to stay committed to Taylor as long as she can love their son unconditionally. Brooke is glad to hear that and hope he's right that Taylor can be the mother Jack needs. Nick thanks her for bringing Jack to him yesterday; he thinks she did the right thing after finding that Taylor had poured alcohol around their son. Brooke tells him that he's a wonderful man and Taylor is lucky to have him. "You had me once," he replies. Brooke tells him that she hasn't forgotten and places her hand on top of his. Just then, Bridget comes in and comes over to the table, asking her mom and Nick if they're holding hands. Brooke and Nick both respond that they were just talking. Bridget suggests that Taylor or Ridge might not have seen it that way if they just came in instead of her. Nick and Brooke agree that they wouldn't want that. Nick then excuses himself and leaves; once he's gone, Bridget asks her mom what she was thinking by sitting here and holding hands with Nick. "Are you trying to get yourself in trouble?" she asks.

Jackie finds Taylor trying to rid herself of any signs of Brooke.

Taylor sits on the sofa at the Marone mansion with Jack on her lap as she sorts through some boxes of keepsakes. Jackie drops by to visit Jack and sees all the boxes. Taylor explains that she found these things while cleaning Jack's closet. Since she never really got a chance to decorate and put her own style in the house when she moved in after she and Nick got married, she decided to sort through the boxes and donate some things to charity, so she and Nick can build their own memories without any leftovers from... Jackie realizes that Taylor is getting rid of anything that reminds her of what Nick shared with Brooke. Jackie decides to leave Taylor to her project, although she can't help pointing out that Brooke never lived in this house with Nick, so any sense of Brooke's presence is all in Taylor's mind. She's sure Taylor doesn't want to hear this, but she doesn't think that donating things to charity will erase Brooke from Taylor's life. Taylor disagrees, so Jackie leaves her to continue her work.

Taylor has another panic attack.

After Jackie leaves, Taylor is a bit unnerved as she hears the wind howling and objects scraping against the house. She starts to look through a box of photos and finds some of Jackie and Massimo from when they were married, but she gasps when she comes across a photo album filled with pictures of Nick with Brooke, Hope and R.J. When she gets to a picture of Nick and Brooke on their wedding day in the park by the marina, she asks herself why Nick would save these photos? Her train of thought is interrupted by Rick, who decided to drop off a gift he bought for Jack while he was in the neighborhood. Taylor nervously accepts the gift from him. Rick sees that something's bothering Taylor asks if it was anything he said. When Taylor says it's nothing he said or did, Rick guesses that seeing him reminds her of his mom and apologizes. He sees Jack and goes over to his bassinet to see the baby. When he exclaims that Jack is the spitting image of his mother, Taylor hallucinates that Brooke is standing across the room, holding Jack while agreeing that Rick is right. Taylor gasps at the "sight" of her rival and starts having another panic attack.

Rick learns who Jack's biological mother is.

Seeing Taylor's distress, Rick sits her down and tries to calm her down. When Taylor explains that she's been having panic attacks recently, Rick is surprised given how strong she usually is. As he gets her some water, he tells her that he doesn't want to interfere, but she's always been there for him and his family over the years, so he'd like to repay the favor and lend her an ear if she needs to talk. Taylor realizes that Brooke didn't tell him about Jack. When Rick asks what's going on with Jack, Taylor starts to sob. After Taylor explains about the egg mix-up, a stunned Rick understands what's going on. Taylor concedes that Jack wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Brooke giving the bone marrow transplant, but even so, she can't bring herself to be grateful. She guess that Rick must hate her for saying these things about his mother. Rick says that he understands, and he doesn't hate her. He reminds her that he was there growing up while she and his mother competed for Ridge, and even though he was young, he could see the toll his mom's pursuit of Ridge took on Taylor. While his mother is the most important person in his life and he loves her, he doesn't agree with the choices Brooke made that hurt other people, especially Taylor. While he doesn't think his mother intentionally schemed to get her eggs into the lab, he can see how much Taylor is hurting over this. Taylor doesn't want to talk about this anymore, so Rick offers to leave, but he tells Taylor again to call him if he can help in any way.

In Taylor's hallucination, Brooke is with Jack.

After Rick leaves, Taylor resumes her work and realizes that Jackie was right that she can't ever escape Brooke. She crosses the room and picks up the photos of Nick with Brooke, Hope and R.J. and scoffs that Brooke is always there. She weeps that she finally moved on with her life after Brooke got Ridge and she found a wonderful man in Nick, but then Brooke had to come in and go after Nick, too. Suddenly, she imagines that Brooke is standing over Jack's bassinet and cries out, "Get away from him!" She curls up on the sofa and starts to cry.

Brooke refuses to let Taylor self-destruct around Jack.

Rick shows up at Insomnia and sees Brooke and Bridget. He tells them that he just came from seeing Taylor and he knows about Jack's maternity, so he wants to know if there was any possibility that what happened in the fertility lab wasn't a mistake. Brooke asks how he could ask that, but Rick reminds her that she's done many crazy things in the name of love. Brooke assures him that she didn't know anything about the egg mix-up, while Bridget reminds him how distraught she was when she first found out that their mom's eggs were in the fertility lab that day. Rick apologizes, but he just had to ask. He tells his mom and sister how worked up Taylor was and tells them that he's worried about how depressed Taylor is. Brooke tells him that Nick assured her that Taylor was fine, but it doesn't sound like she is from what Rick says. She warns that she won't sit by and let Taylor self-destruct around Jack and vows to find a way to save that little boy.