Friday, August 26, 2005
Taylor told Ridge she felt like an outsider in their marriage and feared he'd move back in with Brooke any day. She couldn't understand why he had to "try" so hard. He apologized and again asked for more time, but she didn't want to hear it. She was crushed that the only man for her didn't know if he even wanted her. She started railing about the meaning of marriage and commitment. He asked her to stop diagnosing him and laying down conditions. He explained that he was grieving, even if she'd never seen the life he was grieving for, but she took it to mean he felt forced to be with her. She suggested marriage counseling, but he said, "Thank you but no thank you. I get enough of that at home." Taylor told him to leave. He asked if this was "payback" and wondered if she was trying to show him that she was now in the power seat. She was horrified by the way he saw her, saying a counselor needed to hear them, but Ridge theorized that she really just wanted someone likeminded in the room to back her up. She reminded him that she loved him and called him "her life," but admitted the situation was stealing her respect for him and herself. Then, she suggested that if he didn't want her to have the "home court advantage," he should at least get some one-on-one counseling. He didn't like being sent out for "repairs" and warned she might not like what came back from the shop. "After all," he started, "my father turned out not to be my father, my wife turned out not to be my wife because my dead wife turned out to be alive. Apparently my mother wrote the book on guilt-tripping her son. I don't think I really need a shrink to tell me I might be a little bit damaged!" When she responded by asking if she was losing him, he got annoyed, pointing out that she was asking that right after telling him to leave. She told him to take all the time and space he needed and he said he'd leave for the night. When he went to touch her, she moved quickly, blocking his advance, but he then got a kiss in. They looked into each other's eyes and held each other for a moment before he left her crying.

Dante kept busy sketching as Bridget cleaned up to go confront Nick with the news that she never actually had the abortion. She still feared the "test" had been a mistake, though she was relieved they'd passed it. Dante remained unconvinced, saying, "There are some people in this world and once you love them, you're stuck." As he caressed her face, he continued that wishes and actions can be changed, but "in here" (the heart, of course) it stays the same. "There's no harm in that. There's no danger. You just learn how not to love them."

Of course, Brooke and Nick had not really passed her test. Thunder crashed as they continued to confess their feelings for each other. There was much passionate kissing and panting as they swore they'd hold onto their love forever. "Be my home. Be my husband," Brooke begged and he was clearly happy to oblige. That's when Bridget's call came in. She asked to see him, explaining, "There are just some things I need to say, but not on the phone." He looked at Brooke as he answered, "Me too." Before hanging up, she let him know she was "much saner" now. Nick told Brooke he was going to tell Bridget everything. Brooke didn't want to leave him, but he promised, "We have the rest of our lives together."

Bridget arrived full of apologies, but didn't get right to what she was apologizing for. She moved in closer as he promised that her mother and he were never unfaithful to her. "So we start fresh," he said, not specifying that he meant separately. "I want a life I'm happy with and I want you to find that too." "Yeah, the life inside of me," she answered. He misunderstood, so she explained, "I know I told you that I had an abortion, but I didn't. I'm still carrying your child." A stunned Nick didn't know how to react. So much for running off to live happily ever after with Grandma!

Thursday, August 25, 2005
As the storm raged, Brooke continued to profess her love to Nick, swearing it would never die. He assumed she was saying it to keep him there and called his departure into the harbormaster. The harbormaster refused to okay The Shady Marlin's departure due to the storm, but Nick didn't care. He tried to throw Brooke off the boat so he could leave, but she just kept screaming that she loved him. When she said she wouldn't let it "end this way," he retorted that it had already ended. "I wasn't meant to be a father," he screamed. "I don't want it anymore." He insisted he only wanted to be alone and tried to drag her off his boat, but she threw him off her. "You're the only man that I could ever count on," she cried and then reminded him of his vow to always be there for her and her children. She cupped his face in her hands and repeated how much she needed him. Then she realized that she'd given Nick up before because she was caught up in the fantasy that Ridge was her destiny. "Maybe I wasn't meant to be with Ridge after all," she considered. "Maybe that isn't my destiny. It's been someone else and Bridget knew that." She'd denied her feelings to protect her daughter, but when she was with Nick, she'd "felt a man I was more in tune with than any man ever." "We both fought it," Nick said as he took her hands. Their denial had led to a tragedy, but "out of that came light and clarity," Brooke insisted. "The man that I'm supposed to be with, that's you!" As they kissed each other with desperation, their theme song (Jack Wagner's "Going Back Again") started up.

Dante kept trying to keep Bridget from backing out of her "test," but he lost ground after Katherine arrived. She filled Bridget in on the hugging and consoling she spied, explaining that Nick and Brooke felt guilty and that Nick thought Bridget was over him. Dante was happy that Nick passed the test, though he admitted it was "bittersweet" since he wanted her. Bridget was calm as she talked of going to tell him the truth. "I should have trusted them," she said. "The feelings were there, but they didn't act on them."

Thomas was sighing over work when Gaby came in to get clothes. There was some serious sexual flirtation going on. Thomas figured that with all the tension between his parents, they could probably "get away with" anything. He feared his parents' marriage wouldn't make it, even if they love each other. Gaby empathized with Ridge's torn feeling, but Thomas just hoped he'd come to his senses before pushing Taylor away. Thomas was so wrapped up in his parents' drama that he couldn't concentrate his work, but Gaby was impressed with the sketches. She kissed him and told him that even if theirs was a marriage in name only, she was feeling like part of the family.

Thorne and Ridge continued their conversation about Ridge's confusion, while Taylor listened in. Ridge said his feelings for Brooke weren't like a switch that he could turn off and called her "unforgettable," and Thorne insisted he tell Taylor these things. When Ridge asked how he could explain that to her, Taylor walked in. "You don't have to say anything, Ridge," she said. "I've already heard enough." Thorne left them to hash it out. Ridge apologized that he didn't mean for her to hear it like that (but that must have been her plan all along since she set up the convo and then listened! Somewhat out of character, no?) She understood that he was trying to spare her feelings and told him she never expected him to forget Brooke, but insisted a marriage couldn't survive divided feelings. Ridge couldn't deny he had them, but asked her to be patient. She responded that she'd waited long enough and had even lowered herself to allow him to choose between them because she'd assumed he'd get the fact that they belonged together. He tried to respond, but she said it was time for him to listen. She angrily explained that she and their kids had believed he'd made a choice and that he wanted to be with them. Now, she wasn't so sure. (Hello, was this really ever about the kids?) He asked for more time, but she wouldn't hear it, saying, "I'm done."

Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Nick stopped by Brooke's house looking for Bridget, who hadn't returned. They were both calmer after a night of thinking it over. Nick understood his mistake and felt guilty for pushing Bridget into "doing something that goes against everything she believes in." Brooke told him he still had a chance with Bridget, but he said he couldn't forgive what she'd done and that they'd lost the respect and trust needed in a relationship as Katherine listened in from upstairs. He bemoaned his inability to have a relationship that doesn't blow up on him. "I hurt everybody I care about, even little Hope," he said, but Brooke believed Bridget still loves him. When he started to leave, Brooke insisted he shouldn't be alone. "A sailor's never alone when he's at home," he said. "I'm going to go back to the only lady I really ever understood." Brooke suggested that they just had to get back on course, but he concluded, "We started with a ship wreck and that's how it ends." Then he kissed her forehead and left. Katherine joined Brooke and asked after Bridget. Brooke caught her up on the abortion and told her Nick would never forgive her. Katherine was upset and asked if she could go run an errand on the way to picking the kids up from Ridge. After giving her the go-ahead, Brooke picked up a newspaper, which had a story warning that the remnants of a tropical storm were heading up the coast from Mexico. It suggested coastal town prepare for "high winds, record swells and violent storm surge." It dawned on her that Nick was planning to sail into the storm to meet his end.

Taylor called Thorne over to help her with Ridge. She feared that he was still trying to please everyone and needed to sort out his feelings for himself. She asked Thorne to be there for him and then sent him Ridge down. When Thorne said Alexandra wanted to spend more time with her cousins, Ridge responded that it would do him good to be around an "uncomplicated family." He saw having Taylor and their family reunited as a miracle, but still felt divided when he was with his kids. Thorne asked if he was over Brooke and whether he would have returned to Taylor had their mother not manipulated him. Ridge couldn't answer that. He recalled how bad the past year had been for him and how Brooke had seen him through it, even when she'd disagreed with him. "I sure couldn't see her through this," he admitted. He said he wanted her to be happy, but couldn't imagine her moving on with another man. Taylor listened in as he admitted he didn't know if he could put Brooke aside.

Still with Dante, Bridget stared at a picture of her and Nick, wishing she could believe he still loved her. After recalling the good times (a.k.a. a montage to Jack Wagner's song "Sole Reason"), she picked up the phone to tell Nick the truth. Dante stopped her. He begged her to be with him instead, but Bridget said, "It wouldn't be love." She declared her love for Nick and again voiced her fears that their plan was a terrible mistake. As the rain crashed against the window, she said he was devastated by the abortion and that she had to tell him the truth. Dante urged her to wait one more night, asking what the difference would be at this point.

On his boat, Nick was surrounded by warnings against setting out to sea. He grabbed the keys and said, "Screw it." As the storm raged, Brooke showed up to stop him from leaving. The radio warned 20-foot seas, but he insisted he'd been in worse. When she asked if he was trying to kill himself, he said "maybe." She told him he'd been a rock for their family, but he responded, "Your daughter killed my child. I think that says it all, don't you?" She told him running away wouldn't help. "You are the one man who has stood by me," she cried. Then she acknowledged that the situation was tragic and asked why he wanted to create more tragedy by killing himself. Thunder boomed as he demanded one reason he shouldn't do it. Desperate, Brooke cried, "Maybe Bridget doesn't love you anymore, but dammit, I do!"

Tuesday, August 23, 2005
At the beach, Bridget tried to stop Nick from walking away, screaming her apologies after him, but Dante caught her in his arms and wouldn't let her. He took her back to his place, where she regretted her decision. Dante gave the first hint that her abortion was a trick when he said, "You didn't just do this for yourself...You want to be with a man for the rest of your life who maybe is with you because of the baby?" Bridget was worried about Nick and said if he turns to her mother for support it was because she pushed him there, instead of being proof that he actually would have chosen Brooke over her. She feared that her decision to lie about the abortion (gasp!) was a mistake. She admitted she wanted the baby and that she wanted to raise it with Nick.

Brooke was still pondering Stephanie's gun when Hope, RJ and nanny Katherine returned from the park. She stashed the gun and asked Katherine to collect RJ's old clothes, hoping Bridget would need the hand-me-downs — telling yet another person, apparently a good friend of Bridget's, about the pregnancy before Bridget could share the news. Then Katherine was called over by Bridget and Dante, who quickly brought her up to speed on the plot. When Dante explained that Bridget was just testing Nick, letting him and Brooke feel like they were free agents to see what would happen, she warned that Bridget was taking a major gamble. They asked her to spy on Brooke and Nick over the coming days. Katherine was confident Brooke wouldn't steal Nick, especially after everything with Deacon, but Bridget just said she hoped she was right. After Katherine left, Bridget continued to struggle with pangs of guilt while Dante tried to quell her second thoughts.

Meanwhile, Nick returned to his boat, where the day's events kept replaying in his mind. He gave into his fury and trashed the place with an oar, before collapsing in tears. When Brooke called, he was so upset could barely get a word out. "I gotta get out of here," was all he said, so a worried Brooke begged him to come to her house. When he arrived, he couldn't even make it to the door, but Brooke heard him outside and joined him on a bench out front. She was confident that whatever happened could be fixed, until Nick finally stammered that Bridget had had an abortion. He grabbed her, pulled her to stand across from him and repeated the proclamation as he stared into her eyes. Brooke brought him into the house, where she cried, "We pushed her to this. She did this because of me." Nick told her no matter whose fault, the damage was done. "It's gone," he said, "The love and the baby." Katherine returned just in time to see them crying in each other's arms.

Monday, August 22, 2005
At the beach, the ocean was a gorgeous and powerful backdrop to Bridget and Nick's crashing relationship. Nick found Bridget sitting on a rock, overlooking the surf. He begged her to tell him she hadn't "done it," while Dante watched from afar. Bridget asked Nick why she'd want to have his child when he loved her mom and when she told him she'd seen a doctor, Nick finally used the word abortion. He asked if she'd done it before or after he called, "Because I'd like to know when my child died!" He grabbed her, furious and crushed that she'd had the abortion, had it without involving him and then wouldn't tell him anything about the baby she'd taken from him. "Now you know how it feels to love someone and know you can never have them," she shot at him. He backed away in disgust, accusing her of doing this to teach him a lesson, and then again ordered her to explain herself. She told him to go be a father to Brooke's children. "Give them your name. Give her your name," she said before she walked away. Again alone on the rock, Bridget was barraged by overlapping memories of the good times with Nick and the warnings everyone gave her about him and her mother. Nick quietly lowered himself to sit next to her. He told her he used to lie awake at night watching her and dreaming about their future. "When you killed that baby, you killed me, you killed us and you killed yourself," he said and this time, he walked away. She stood as if to follow, but only watched him leave.

Dante's spying was interrupted by a call from Taylor, who was concerned Bridget would make a hasty decision and have an abortion. "It's too late," he told her. Taylor was let down.

Back at Brooke's manse, she and Stephanie continued their newest round, which centered on Stephanie's pistol. La Forrester was convinced freeing Bridget of Brooke was the only way to save the baby and her relationship with Nick. As she calmly loaded two rounds, she explained to Brooke that Brooke was going to kill herself. "What's so valuable about your life anyway?" she asked. Brooke insinuated that being a mother gave her importance, but Stephanie responded that she herself would die for her children — wouldn't Brooke? Brooke then pointed out that the guilt of her suicide would ruin Bridget, but Steph promised she and Nick would support her in her time of need. She added that Bridget would even come to love her again and that, this way, the heartbreaker could die young and beautiful. As the gun was placed in Brooke's hand, she seemed to be considering it. Stephanie was calm as can be, while Brooke was in tears. She feared hell, but Stephanie told her God would understand. Instead, Brooke turned the gun on Stephanie. Stephanie figured that her own murder would be good enough, having the same effect since Brooke would be put away for life. She goaded her until Brooke finally pulled the trigger. "Oh my God, I'm just as crazy as you are," she marveled, but she'd missed, hitting the front door. "You can't even shoot straight," Stephanie shot back, but Brooke made it sound as though the miss was intentional. She told Stephanie to go home and sleep this stupid idea off, warning that she would use the gun the next time Stephanie darkened her doorstep. Still cool as a cucumber, Stephanie left, reminding Brooke there was one more bullet — for when she was ready to do what she should.