Tuesday, April 28, 2009, Episode #5551

Steffy and Thomas playfully spar during breakfast.

At Taylor's house, Thomas and Steffy chow down on muffins and bacon for breakfast. When Thomas playfully tries to steal food off her plate, Steffy twists his arm. Ridge and Taylor come in with coffee and grin at the sight of their kids' sparring over the food. Taylor leaves the room and calls Stephanie to tell her about the rest of Ridge's night with the family, since Stephanie had to leave early. She raves that they all had a lot of fun. She thinks it felt so right having the family together, and she's pleased to report that Ridge even spent the night, albeit in the guest room. Stephanie thinks that can be remedied. Taylor says she'd like that to happen, but Ridge is still married, and she plans to respect that. Stephanie chuckles that fortunately, she doesn't plan to do the same.

Brooke asks Rick if he's manipulating her.

Things are less cheerful over at Brooke's, where she sits in the living room glumly sipping her coffee. Rick comes down and asks if Hope and RJ left for school yet. When Brooke doesn't answer, Rick asks if Ridge slept at Taylor's last night. Brooke says she doesn't know, but Rick thinks she does and reminds her of the last time Ridge was with Taylor overnight at Big Bear. Brooke reminds him that he knows why Ridge and Taylor took Steffy and Thomas to Big Bear that time, but Rick bets that last night was different, since he's sure Ridge and Taylor were celebrating breaking him and Steffy up. Brooke asks if he's trying to make her feel insecure. Rick thinks she's afraid of facing the truth, which is that her husband spent the night with his ex-wife. "Ridge walked out last night because he couldn't deal with me!" he reminds her. Brooke recalls that she warned him that not to get involved with Steffy, but he didn't listen. Rick thinks he can straighten this out if he talks to Steffy alone, but Brooke doesn't think he'll get the chance and advises him to forget it. Rick insists that Steffy only left him because Ridge and Taylor set him up, and he thinks it's only a matter of time before Ridge leaves Brooke as well. Brooke lashes out at her son and accuses him of wanting to see her and Ridge break up; she asks him who's really being manipulated this time.

Ridge and Taylor reassure their kids.

Back at Taylor's, she and Ridge assure Steffy that they can cancel the wedding reception and get any gifts she already received returned. Thomas kids that Steffy probably won't get any deposits she put down back, but he thinks that's a small price to pay for freedom from Rick. He's relieved that Rick is out of their lives after turning their home into a nuthouse and making him act crazy. He knows now that what he did was wrong, but he assures Steffy that he was just acting out of love. He wants her to be happy, and now that Rick's out of her life, he thinks she will be, and so will their whole family. Steffy gives her brother a hug as their parents look on with approval. Ridge thinks they'll be fine as long as they back each other help and ask for help when they need it. Taylor adds that they can't keep any secrets. Ridge assures his kids that even though he and Taylor aren't married anymore, they're still a family. He knows he hasn't been around a lot lately, but he has two families that are equally important to him, so he plans to be around more often. He regrets that he left a void in this house that made Thomas think he had to pick up the slack, and he vows never to put them in that position again.

Rick tells his mom to stand up to Ridge.

Rick asks why he should accept Ridge when Ridge was unwilling to accept him. Before Brooke can answer, she gets a call from Ridge asking about the kids. Rick eavesdrops as Brooke tells Ridge that the kids are fine and that she told them he went to work early. Ridge says that he'll be home soon and is still at Taylor's. Brooke asks if he slept there last night. Ridge says he didn't sleep much. Brooke says she didn't, either. Ridge tells Brooke that this isn't the way he wanted it, but he had to leave with Rick in their home. He begs her to get Rick out of the house before he does more damage. Brooke asks if he thinks their marriage is damaged. It's been strained, Ridge replies, and it will keep being that way as long as Rick interferes in their lives. He asks Brooke to listen to the recordings he made so she can hear what her son is like, but Brooke says that Rick already told her what Ridge made him say. As Taylor enters the room behind him, Ridge insists that he didn't make Rick say anything, but he doesn't want to argue right now. With Rick and Steffy broken up, all he wants is to come home and sleep in their bed, but he can't do that with Rick around. He tells Brooke that it's up to her if she wants him back home. He also wants her to know that he plans to ask Eric to fire Rick. Brooke begs him not to do that, but Ridge says he has to go and ends the call. After Brooke hangs up the phone, Rick fumes that Ridge wants him out of this house and out of Forrester. He asks his mom why she's letting Ridge blackmail her into doing his bidding and urges her to stand up to Ridge this time.

Taylor thanks Ridge for standing up for their daughter. Ridge thinks Brooke will see it as his taking a stand against Rick, and he suspects Eric might agree. Taylor thinks Eric will change his mind once he hears the recordings of what Rick said. Ridge says he wants Brooke to see how destructive Rick is. Taylor thinks he'll be going back to Brooke once that happens, but Ridge assures her that he'll be there if she or the kids need him. He thinks their kids are doing better now thanks to her and calls her a remarkable woman. He kisses her on the cheek and she smiles.

Stephanie is stunned to learn of an old friend's death.

Jackie, Nick and Bridget enter Jackie's office for a morning meeting with Stephanie and find that La Forrester arrived early and is waiting for them. Stephanie says that she doesn't want to lose any of the momentum they gained from their recent showing. Jackie agrees and pulls out the latest issue of EYE ON FASHION, since there's another write-up about them inside. As Jackie looks at the cover, her smile turns to a frown. Nick asks what's wrong, so Jackie shows them the cover, which has a photo of the magazine's publisher, Bill Spencer with a headline announcing his death. [For those who didn't watch B&B at the beginning, Bill was an original character. He was good friends with Stephanie and his late daughter Caroline was Ridge's first wife. He's returned a few times since leaving the show, including his giving Stephanie an abortion drug to deal with Morgan DeWitt and his helping to get Bridget admitted to an exclusive pre-med program in Europe at Stephanie's request.] Everyone is stunned, especially Stephanie. Jackie and Bridget recall that Bill worked in this very office when he owned Spectra at one time. Stephanie recalls that Bill sent her a congratulatory email after the fashion show. She meant to call him to thank him, but she didn't get the chance, and now it's too late. She thinks she should call Bill's daughter Karen to offer her condolences.

Karen Spencer talks to Stephanie.

Stephanie calls Karen to tell her how sorry she was to hear about Bill's death. Karen admits that she's glad Stephanie called, since her father instructed her before he died to call Stephanie. Stephanie assures Karen that she'll help in any way she can. She tells Karen about the email she recently got from Bill and laments that she never got the chance to call him to thank him. Karen tells him that her dad was thrilled to see Stephanie doing so well. Stephanie asks if Bill was ill for a long time. Karen explains that her dad had been in declining health for weeks, but the doctors made him comfortable so he could get his affairs in order. Stephanie asks Karen if she'll be running her dad's company. Karen isn't sure; she knows her dad was holed up with his lawyers making plans, but she's not sure if her dad would have picked her to run the company since he always wanted "boys in the boardroom." Stephanie laughs that Bill never treated her that way, but Karen thinks that Stephanie was the exception to a lot of rules. Stephanie states that Bill's email got her thinking about his family and about how different Ridge's life would have been had Caroline lived, especially where Brooke is concerned.