Donna was continuing to defend Marcus to the Bakers, when Charlie found a box of matches on his desk. Marcus said they were for birthday parties and any smoker could've left them there. Donna urged him to stay silent while she called a lawyer. Marcus insisted he was telling the Bakers the truth.

Rick was surprised to see Pam still around Forrester. Pam said Stephanie told her she'd be making crocheted purses. Snooty Rick gave her his car keys so she could "fetch" a file from his car. Nearby, Owen had an armful of boxes. He dropped a thank you card for Eric off with Thorne. Steffy walked in on them griping about Rick. "You got fired. That sucks. Stuff happens," she huffed at Owen, before saying she was staying on at Forrester and she and Rick were together. So there. Nyah. Thorne winced and Owen cracked, "Watch your back, cutie." Steffy kept defending her man. "Tell your boyfriend if he wants to feel safe, he's in the wrong building," warned Uncle Thorne. Steffy stormed out and nearly collided with Pam. When she went looking for Rick, he was nowhere to be found. She flashed back on their candlelit, fire hazard lovemaking with a dreamy grin and then went down to the parking lot looking for him.

Taylor visited Ridge at work to drop the bombshell of Steffy and Rick's sexcapades. Ridge didn't take the news well. "He violated our daughter?" he cried. "I'm done playing games with that guy!" Elsewhere, Brooke warned Rick (too late!) that Ridge could never find out. Rick thought it was ridiculous to keep playing by Ridge's rules. "Bring it on," he said of the inevitable confrontation. Brooke begged him to stay away from Ridge and Steffy. When she went to find Ridge, she encountered Taylor and realized Taylor had spilled the sex. "Oh dear God," she gasped, panicking. As she and Taylor got into it about their kids, Rick called Ridge to meet him at the Sky Lounge to try and "reason" with him. "She loves me, and there's nothing you can do about it," noted Rick, asking Ridge to accept it. (Jake caught part of this tense chat and ran to tell Brooke.) He went so far as to "ask for your daughter's hand in marriage." Ridge scoffed, as Rick insisted he was trying to do this "respectfully." Rick drew the comparison of Ridge and Brook vs. Stephanie. Ridge revealed he knew about the sex and dubbed this speech "another one of your cons." He stonily assured Rick he didn't have his blessing and would "never have Steffy. This is over." Ridge warned him that he has no idea "what I'm capable of." It was Rick's turn to scoff. If Ridge killed him, Steffy would never forgive him. Rick said he was finished feeling guilty and made to go back to work. Ridge emphatically told him "to go get in your car and leave. Right now." (FYI, Rick's car was mentioned several times in the episode by different people.) As Brooke caught up with Ridge at the Sky Lounge and they glanced down, Rick told Steffy he loves her and went to his car. It promptly exploded!