Thursday, May 07, 2009, Episode #5558

Steffy bonds with Marcus on the b-ball court.

Steffy comes up to the Forrester rooftop Sky Lounge and finds Marcus shooting some hoops. She brags that she can show him up on the court, so he challenges her to a game of one-on-one and beats her. Steffy asks for a rematch, but Marcus laughs that she had her chance and blew it. "Are you talking hoops now, or you and me?" she asks. Marcus points out that there is no "you and me" anymore, but Steffy hopes they can still be friends, even after she hurt him when she got caught up in something bad with Rick. Marcus tells her not to worry, because he bounces back quickly - and he thinks she will, too, as long as Rick stays away from her. Steffy assures him that she and Rick are through and she's moved on, but Marcus fears that she's still vulnerable to the guy. Steffy concedes that she was vulnerable to Rick after she lost Phoebe. She just wishes she had seen sooner that he was taking advantage of her. Marcus thinks that's the kind of person she is, where she sees the good in everyone, even the Rick Forresters of the world. He admits that part of him still wants to thank whoever it was that went after Rick. Steffy suggests that the person just wanted to scare Rick and not to hurt him. Marcus thinks that sounds like she knows who it was and asks if that's the case.

Marcus tells Steffy he has her back.

Steffy ducks the question and tells Marcus that she's just glad that they have the chance to hang out together again, since she's missed that. Marcus still fears Rick won't leave her alone because he craves any chance he can get to drive Ridge nuts. Steffy insists again that it's over between her and Rick, but Marcus wants her to know that she can always count on him. He recalls how she supported him when he first came to town, even when the rest of the family wanted to toss him out because Donna brought him into the company. He thanks her for giving him the chance to stick around and get to know his mom and figures that he owes her for that. Steffy says that he doesn't owe her anything, but Marcus disagrees and tells her to call on him anytime if she needs help getting Rick out of her system. Steffy thinks she can handle Rick. Marcus agrees that she can, but he doesn't think she should have to do it alone, so he wants her to know that he's here for her and has her back. Steffy thanks him for the offer with a grateful hug.

Taylor meets Ridge in Thorne's basement office at Forrester. She thinks it's symptomatic of the state of the company that Thorne is still stuck down here while Rick, Donna and Katie run around upstairs, running the business into the ground. Ridge thinks things will change once Thomas gets here. He tells Taylor to wait here for their son while he heads upstairs for a meeting that Eric called to discuss the impact of Stephanie's presence at Jackie M on Forrester's sales.

Thorne gets some news from Thomas and Taylor.

While Taylor waits for Thomas, Pam pops in to talk about her little clerical error. She thinks it's a hoot that Ridge and Brooke aren't legally married after all. After Pam leaves, Thomas arrives. Taylor bets that he's excited about the chance to work here. Thomas raves that he is. He feels like fashion is in his blood, plus he studied design in college and got some experience during his stint at Spectra, so he thinks he's ready. He's just glad he's getting this chance, since he didn't think it would happen after what he did to Rick. Taylor explains that she got positive reports about his progress from James, so she felt good about suggesting that he come work here to Ridge. Thomas thinks he can handle it and thanks her for giving him the chance to prove it. Thorne comes in and asks what's going on, so Taylor tells him that she and Ridge decided to bring Thomas on board at Forrester. Thorne thinks it's a great idea, since the Forresters need all the reinforcements they can get around here. He thinks it's especially hard now that his mother isn't here to keep an eye on the Logans. Taylor agrees that it's time for the next generation of Forresters to take back this business. Thomas asks Thorne if he's going to be at the meeting. Thorne laments that he wasn't invited, and he has a conference call with a supplier coming up, anyway. He just hopes "President Rick" doesn't give Thomas any grief about coming on board. Taylor hopes Rick doesn't even try to do that after what he did to Steffy.

Donna and Katie talk with Eric about their situation.

In Eric's office, he talks with Brooke, Katie, Donna and Rick about how Stephanie's working for Jackie M is impacting their sales. Katie suggests that they attack the problem head-on by having Eric assure their buyers and distributors that they're still as dynamic as ever without needing to bring in any outside designers to prove it. More importantly, they need to actually demonstrate their commitment to this business to their clients. Eric asks if anyone has any ideas how to do that. Rick points out that he and Steffy always worked well together and suggests that they put their heads together to figure something out, but Brooke tells him that he's not working closely with Steffy on anything. When Ridge arrives, Rick points out that he's late. Ridge asks what he missed, so Eric fills him in on the discussion about their negative press and the buzz about Stephanie at Jackie M. Ridge thinks their buyers aren't feeling warm and fuzzy about them lately, since Stephanie's departure showed that she was a lot more valuable to the company than Eric and his executive staff gave her credit for. Now they're paying the price, but he has an idea how to change that and bring the focus back on the Forrester family. Rick thinks he speaks for the Logans in saying that they don't need to hear Ridge's idea, but Ridge says that they're going to hear it anyway. When Ridge says that they need to recover from things like the sabotaged collection and Stephanie's defection, Katie and Donna scoff. Eric tells them all to stop bickering, since this is a time when they need to pull together. Ridge agrees and opens the door to let Taylor and Thomas in.

Ridge and Taylor announce that Thomas will be working at Forrester.

Ridge explains to the surprised attendees that Taylor came up with an idea to reinforce the Forrester name and presence in this company by bringing Thomas into the fold, and he supports that idea 100%. He thinks having someone with the Forrester name with talent and fresh ideas will be a win-win situation for everyone. Eric agrees that it's a sound idea. Thomas admits that he has a lot to learn, but he assures that he'll give it his best shot, just like he did at Spectra a few years ago, in the hope that he can make a real contribution. He knows that not everyone in this room is comfortable with this, but Forrester Creations is his birthright, too, and he wants to be here with his family. "So what 'Tommy boy' needs, 'Tommy boy' gets?" Rick angrily scoffs, declaring that there is no way in hell that he'll allow this to happen!

Pam talks with Thorne about Rick.

Pam returns to Thorne's office looking for Taylor, but Thorne tells her that Taylor went upstairs with Ridge to talk to Eric about bringing Thomas into the company. Pam is thrilled, since she thinks Thomas belongs in the family business. Thorne agrees, but he doesn't think Rick will given Rick's penchant for favoring the Logans over the Forresters. Pam agrees that the little tyrant "Icky Ricky" is hurting the company and says she can't stand him. Thorne says that he can't stand Rick either, but he thinks they have to be careful. Pam states that they would all have been better off if the person who blew up Rick's car had also blown up "Little Ricky," too.

Eric wonders why Brooke and Rick are against Thomas working there.

Back in Eric's office, Brooke agrees with Rick that Thomas shouldn't work here. Eric asks Brooke and Rick why they so strongly object, wondering if it has anything to do with Thomas's disapproval of Rick's relationship with Steffy. Rick says it's more complicated than that, but Eric thinks they can work out any issues they have as a family for the sake of the family. Brooke says that she'd agree under normal circumstances, but these aren't normal circumstances. Rick agrees and says that Ridge, Taylor and Thomas all know that. Eric doesn't understand and asks Brooke how she can object when Ridge has made so many concessions for Rick to remain here at Forrester. Rick states that Ridge isn't the only one who made concessions. Eric demands to know what that means; before anyone can answer, Eric gets a call about an emergency downstairs, so he takes Donna and Katie with him to attend to that and tells the others to stay here until he returns.