Friday, September 23, 2005
On the love boat — or is it the cruise of deception? — Nick paused before saying "I do," and asked the captain to call him by his full name. No one spoke up when objections were called for. As Brooke cried, Nick recited his own impromptu vows, promising to be the best husband and father possible. Bridget and Nick were pronounced husband and wife and sealed the union with a kiss. Massimo toasted the pair and Jackie apologized to Bridget for her past behavior. Brooke called it, "the day every mother dreams of..." Sure, if every woman dreams of her former lover marrying her daughter. Brooke thanked Nick going through with the wedding and loving her daughter. After the guests left, Nick showered Bridget with flower petals and — after some baby talk — they made love.

Hector found Taylor having dinner for one and they bantered over snails. Hector confessed that he tracked her down to check on her, not for professional advice. "I'm not rich enough to have psychiatric problems," he joked. Hector suggested they "appreciate" each other (Is that what they call it now?) and told her he wanted to show her something.

Eric found Brooke working late at his desk and she confessed that it felt good to be the mother Bridget deserved — for once. When Eric left her alone, saxophones of pain played as Brooke recalled her history with Nick and said good-bye. Ridge showed up and told her that Taylor kicked him out. Now that they were both alone and free, he needed Brooke more than ever.

Thursday, September 22, 2005
Bridget finally found her father and gave him his invite to the wedding. Eric was surprised to hear Nick was planning the affair. He was even more surprised to learn Brooke would be attending. Bridget was on cloud nine, since only a month ago her future had looked so confusing. She asked her father to find her a wedding dress. He, of course, agreed to "scrounge something up" and then sent her off to prepare for the big night. When she mentioned popping in on her mom to see if she wanted to help Nick at the boat, Eric mentioned Brooke's "heavy slate" at the office and offered to take care of it himself. Bridget declined the offer, explaining she wanted her mother to feel like part of things.

Nick continued to insist Brooke not come to the wedding. He asked how he could "get over her" when she's standing at the alter with him and pointed out that the tension between them would be palpable. He was sure that if he could somehow go through with the wedding with her there, Bridget would feel that tension anyway. He left her to fret her next move but then Bridget came in, singing, "Here comes the bride/All fat and wide." She gestured to her boobs and belly and said that while she knew she wasn't showing yet, she could feel the difference. Brooke tried to talk her into going solo at the wedding, but Bridget felt having her mother by her side would be symbolic of them leaving the hurt behind them. She insisted she wouldn't do it without Brooke there, so Brooke agreed to come. Eric arrived with a wedding dress and sent Bridget to try it on. He and Brooke discussed how difficult Brooke's evening would be. Eric was impressed that she'd "sacrificed your own happiness for hers" — especially as Bridget would never know (i.e. it was thankless). He knew "her life and our grandchild's life will be better for it." "That's all that matters," Brooke agreed.

Meanwhile, Dante found Ridge checking out the samples sporting the artist's hand painted designs. Ridge seemed to accept Dante, noting it was good "to have one of the CEOs in your corner," but he was floored when Dante said Eric "wouldn't just hire me because I'm dating Brooke." He was also surprised to hear Bridget was getting married that night, since he talks to Brooke and sees her with the kids. Ridge warned Dante that Brooke was on the rebound and Dante promised Ridge that she was over him. "I don't mean to be rude or cross the line here, but right now, you're the last thing on Brooke's mind," he said. Ridge was mildly insulted, considering they have a child together, but quickly turned to his concern for Bridget and Nick.

On The Shady Marlin, Nick was nervously getting dressed in white. His mother arrived, offering her services, and he set her to putting up the decorations. Against Nick's wishes, Jackie pushed him to discuss Brooke. She said the fact that he was thinking about her was "written all over your face." He responded, "These lines? It's irritation, Mother — from you!" She told him she'd stand by him no matter what but then brought up the tense double date she'd spied at Cafè Russe. She had little faith he and Brooke could cut off their feelings. He thrust the sonogram in her face but Jackie insisted he didn't have to marry Bridget to be a good father. Nick explained there was no point in calling the marriage off — since Brooke wouldn’t forgive him or take him back if he broke Bridget's heart. "Either way I lose Brooke," he insisted, adding that he had no choice. Then, his father and the captain showed up. Massimo, who'd been dying to see Bridget become a part of his family since long before she hooked up with Nick and got pregnant (remember Oscar?), was thrilled.

The bride and her family arrived at the boat next. Massimo superstitiously hid Nick's eyes, joking about the bad luck of seeing her before the ceremony. The "Hello"s were stilted and, after Brooke mentioned that Bridget insisted she come, Jackie distracted everyone so that Brooke and Nick could have a moment to fight about it. He again warned that the wedding couldn't happen with her there but Brooke insisted it had to. "You and my daughter are going to be very, very happy together," she said but the love she felt for him was desperate in her eyes. Eric went to get the bride as the flute player arrived. Everyone took his or her places and Nick signaled the flute player by saying, "Let's do this, huh?" Bridget walked out without pomp or circumstance in her fourth wedding dress. As the captain spoke of their future, Nick looked serious and relatively uncertain. Bridget agreed to "take Nick," but there was a conspicuous pause as everyone waited for him to say, "I do."

Wednesday, September 21, 2005
In post-proposal bliss, Nick and Bridget joked light-heartedly about their three past marriage attempts. They were cuddly and affectionate, but whenever Nick wasn't looking at Bridget, he flashed to memories of Brooke and those flashes started to be paired with an eerie, horror movie-esque sound affect. Bridget, who believed their sex the night before was so great because "they were past their problems," asked for an encore performance, but even as they made out, Nick couldn't get into it. He said couldn't get there with the distraction of being in the office: The real problem was that Brooke's picture was in his line of view. He wasted no time pushing Bridget off his lap when his assistant interrupted to let him know the minister was on the line about their wedding. After he scheduled the wedding for that night and hung up the phone, Bridget tried to get back to business but Nick again pushed her away. He suggested she get a new dress for this wedding instead of wearing the dress from the first wedding. "Lucky for me, my dad's a designer," she quipped and then called her mom instead. When she invited Brooke to the wedding, Nick gestured wildly that he wanted the wedding to be just the two of them. Bridget wanted her parents there and couldn't understand what his problem was.

Dante impressed Eric and Brooke with dresses inspired by his favorite artists. "From the language of art to the language of fashion," he said. Eric liked the combination of "innovation and classicism." Brooke continued to be distracted by memories of Nick — eerie sound effects and all but she, too, praised Dante and took credit for wanting to hire him. The "co-CEOs" hired Dante on the spot, but Eric added the caveat that Dante and Brooke didn't have to pretend to have a relationship in the office since he knew it was a sham. They were all in agreement about keeping Bridget happy, but Brooke clearly had mixed feelings as she remembered her daughter talking about her magic sex with Nick. That quickly turned into a sexy fantasy starring herself and Nick in white wispy clothes surrounded by white flowers. She was left breathless and teary. Dante came back in just as she was pep talking herself out of it and she was glad for the distraction. He offered to take her to Santa Barbara to celebrate his new job — not to mention take her mind off Nick and Bridget. She told him she was concerned about their lovemaking and seemed to fear that Nick may have been thinking about her. After Bridget called with news of the wedding, Dante admitted he'd thought of the Santa Barbara getaway because he'd known about it. As he'd expected, Brooke was not looking forward to being at the wedding, but she said, "I'm going to watch Nick marry my daughter. I have no other choice."

Bridget showed up at her dad's office and found Dante there. They shared congratulations and Dante continued to reassure her that Nick was over Brooke. He admitted Nick wasn't "his first choice" for her, but called him a man of principle. She left him to go look for her mom. Back in her office, Brooke was horrified to see Nick walk through the door, reminding him they couldn't meet like that. He was adamant that she skip the wedding. "How can I pledge myself to her if I'm thinking about you?" he asked. "You can't come to the wedding, because if you come, I don't know if I can go through with it."

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Brooke was getting down to business with Megan when Micha arrived to show her Forrester's newest cruise line and discuss his advertising thoughts. (Finally, a gay man in the B&B fashion industry!) He outlined every woman's fantasy, "alone on a yacht with a handsome but brooding captain" and envisioned a photo pictorial for the campaign. "There you are, in your newest Forrester original. It's a dark and stormy night. The boat is rocking, it's frightening, yet romance is in the air." Brooke of course flashed back to her own night just like that, where she and Nick realized they were meant for each other.

Later, Bridget stopped by to tell Brooke she'd had a good time on that horribly uncomfortable double date with Dante and Nick. She admitted she'd been concerned about Nick's response to seeing Dante with Brooke and then trailed off. Brooke told her she wanted them to be best friends, so Bridget told her about her hot night of sex with Nick, saying it was "like he took me and wanted me to know I was really his." She continued that he'd taken her to "places I never thought I could go," and then added that afterward the nookie, Nick had said he would never go back again. (A reference to the song "Going Back Again," which he wrote for Brooke, but Bridget missed that.) Nick had also told Bridget that he'd "found what he always wanted right there on the Marlin on the darkest night of his life." Poor Bridget assumed he was talking about her, but Brooke knew he was talking about their fantasy night. After an ecstatic Bridget left, Brooke had a montage of flashbacks to her song with Nick.

Nick was having the same flashbacks at work as Brooke was, at least until Dante showed up unannounced. Dante praised Brooke for sacrificing all for her daughter, but he wondered how long Nick would be able to keep up the charade. "For your information, Dr. Phil, I'm marrying Bridget tonight on my boat," Nick said. "A captain friend of mine is coming by and we're going to get this over with." Dante was quick to note how unromantic that sounded. Nick explained that this was wedding number four, so he wouldn't act like a "weak-kneed schoolboy." Dante parried with, "No, you're going to save that for Bridget's mother." Nick explained that he loved Bridget and the baby and planned to give that kid a loving family. Then he told him to butt out. "As far as that little charade you pulled the other night, it's over. That circus left town," he sniped at Dante about the "date" with Brooke.

Shortly after he kicked Dante out, Bridget showed up. The couple was flirty and comfortable together as they mooned over the hot sex they'd had the night before. He was surprised to hear that she told Brooke about it, but Bridget was overjoyed to have her best friend back, not to mention "the man that I love and I've got my baby. My life is so complete. Our life is so complete." That's when Nick told her he'd arranged for them to get married on the boat. She was worried it was just for the baby, but he quickly won her over. She handed him back her ring, so he could propose again. Nick was in the moment until a teary-with-joy Bridget said they were "never going back again." He repeated it with conviction, but was of course talking about her mother.

Meanwhile, Taylor moved back into her old office, which had become conveniently available the week before she called. Hector showed up with an office-warming gift and Ridge arrived just in time to see the fireman handing it to her. Ridge, who heard she was back at work from the kids, was rude to Hector and took Taylor on a major guilt trip about keeping him out of the loop. He was concerned about her returning to work, when they were supposed to be working to keep their family together. Then he filled her in on the fashion competition he was having with Thomas. Ridge was confident there was no contest, but Taylor was very concerned that he'd "put your son's entire future on the line with some kind of runway showdown!" She felt it was sending the wrong message, but Ridge explained that thanks to Sally's offer, Thomas wasn't planning on going to school. "So tell me: You're an 18 year old, married to a hot little number, you're arguing with your parent. What would you do?" he asked her, but Taylor remained unconvinced about the plan and told Ridge she'd never accept Gaby.

Monday, September 19, 2005
Ridge and Taylor discussed Thomas and Gaby. Taylor pointed out that since her struggle to return, her boys have both moved out. Ridge told her he wanted to be with her and the family and marveled at how fast his family had fallen apart. "Until I came back," Taylor added, but Ridge wouldn't let her take the blame. He reminded her of the trouble he and Thomas had had with Amber and told her he'd wished for her support during that time. Ridge wondered if Gaby wasn't really the "bad guy" they were painting her to be, but Taylor said that "the jury's still out." They were in agreement that Thomas was too young to be married. Then, Ridge came up with a solution, but asked her to trust him instead of filling her in. She asked if he also had "a fix for us." He wanted that, but still wasn't open to counseling. After he left, Hector showed up at the door to check on the alarm system. (Yeah right!) Taylor caught him up on the drama with Gaby and Thomas, blaming herself for the mess of her life since coming out of the coma. He praised her for how she was handling it. He admitted he expected to find her "alone, getting down on herself," and then invited her out for coffee. "You're a beautiful woman Taylor and you shouldn't be alone," he said. "Maybe Ridge can't see that, but I can." She was "touched," but told him about her recent meeting with Ridge and her hopes to bring the family back together. He was excited to hear she'd returning to work with her old partners the following day.

Thomas was still trying to appease Gaby, who felt guilty about the rift she'd caused between him and his family. He was frustrated that they were sleeping on a Spectra sofa bed when they were married and suggested he take Sally's offer so they could buy a place. Gaby wasn't sure it was the right move. Meanwhile, the Spectra clan reveled in the numbers Thomas' line was pulling in, but they were divided over the college issue. Thorne noted that Ridge and Taylor expected their son to go to college, but Sally questioned what Thomas wanted. She showed Thorne the contract, noting the signing bonus, and asked for his support just as Thomas walked in with Gaby. Thorne congratulated his nephew, whose figures outshined even Ridge's debut. Then Thomas turned the conversation to the contract. Thorne admitted Thomas was an asset to Spectra, but warned that there was no going back from signing. Thomas said he understood that this move might be perceived as him "walking away from the family, like you did." He was worried about becoming estranged from his parents, but Sally said a bit of distance couldn't hurt. When Gaby noted that he wouldn't be going to college, Sally and Clarke waved the money in their faces and Darla pointed out, "The Forresters' dream for Thomas is to be dating other girls, too." Sally added that her option is the only one that will allow them to stay together. Thorne empathized; reminding him that there was a time when Darla wasn't accepted. Sally went for the hard sell, telling him to grab the bull by the horns, to which he said, "Who really needs college with success like this?" "If that's what you want," Thorne added. With Gaby's support, Thomas started to sign on the dotted line.

That's when Ridge walked in and made an alternate proposition, "One that may be the only one we can agree upon." He suggested they "settle the situation with you and Gaby on the runway," and outlined a fashion competition. If Thomas's line made the most sales, he could sign the Spectra contract and Gaby would be accepted as his wife. If Ridge made more sales, Thomas would go to college and annul the marriage. Gaby was keen on the idea, but Thomas said it was too much of a risk. Sally suggested they make it fairer by making it a teen line that wasn't too pricey. Gaby and the Spectra clan were confident he would win, so Thomas shook on it with his dad. He had doubts later, but Gaby told him he wouldn't choke. "You're so handsome, strong and noble. I have never met anyone like you. You're like a knight from the round table," she told him. "Sir Thomas The Foolish," he muttered, but Gaby wouldn't let him stay down on himself.