AN:
As always I do not own a single thing
I just needed something else to write for a little bit, so here's the next installment of What if... or so I thought, this started out as a chapter for What if..., but ended up being way over the number of pages I normally have for my stories, so I decided to make this a multi chapter story as well because apparently, I just can't help myself!
One, two, three and maybe four?
Chapter one
February 19th 2013
The Cliff house
Steffy Forrester was standing on the patio of the cliff house where the baby that was growing in her belly had been conceived a little bit into December.
She watches Liam hesitantly place the ring on Hope´s fingers, hears her mother tell her to stop them, but she also feels her heart constricting.
"Mom, stop it!" She sees Taylor recoil at her tone. "He obviously chose Hope, otherwise he wouldn't have put that ring on her finger." Steffy throws her hand out with her finger pointing to the scene in front of them out on the cliff. "They're married now and I won't interfere with something like that again. I have this baby to live for now, I don't need anything else."
Taylor looks at her with wonder in her eyes. "I'll be there for you all the way!"
Steffy nods her head and then she goes around the house to get to the car.
Taylor on the other hand decides to walk down to where Liam, Hope, Brooke and Father Fontana are. She claps her hands directing them to Brooke.
"Well, look who couldn't wait for Liam´s decision and decided to manipulate the situation!" Taylor ends her statement by laughing.
"What do you mean?" Brooke crosses her arms over her chest.
"Well, let´s ask Liam if he had decided to choose your daughter two hours ago?" Taylor turns towards Liam and Hope and raises her eyebrows.
"I.. I.." Liam looks confused.
"Did you call Hope over to marry her?" Taylor expects him to answer.
"Why are you asking this?" Brooke starts walking towards her.
"Because I just stood up there.." She points to the patio. "..with my daughter watching Liam place a ring on Hope´s finger after thinking about it for more than a minute before actually doing it and you.." She points at Brooke. "...urging him on to do it. If this was Liam´s choice, wouldn't he have placed the ring on Hope´s finger with the same ease that Hope placed the ring on his? So, Liam, was marrying Hope a choice you made? Or did you just get caught up in the memories from Italy?"
Liam opens and closes his mouth having a great deal of trouble to speak and then he looks down on the ring on his finger.
"I hope you're happy in the marriage you've ended up in, because it sure looks like you weren't really sure it's what you wanted. And Hope, really? Marrying another woman's boyfriend, no desire to become your mother you say?"
She can see the light turn on in Liam´s eyes. "Steffy was here? Where did she go?"
"That's for me to know and you to not worry about anymore. You're married now Liam, you made your choice and it's not my daughter, so I suggest you stop calling her every night getting her hopes up."
"What are you talking about? Marrying another woman´s boyfriend?" Hope pushes Taylor to turn to her.
"Ask your husband what he said when Steffy left the Cliff house that day! Ask him how many times he called her and told her he loved her as they hung up. How many times did Liam contact you during this time?"
"Every day, we talked every day!" Hope looks triumphant.
"Yeah, we might have talked every day, but I didn't reach out to you Hope." Liam looks ashamed.
"What do you mean? You called me every day!" Hope looks desperate.
"No, every text I sent, I sent in response to one of yours, every time we talked it was because you called me." Liam sighs and Hope looks shocked.
"Looks to me like you made your choice and it wasn't Hope." Taylor shrugs her shoulders.
"What do you mean it wasn't Hope?" Brooke squints her eyes at Taylor.
"Well, if he had chosen Hope, he would've called Hope to tell her he had chosen her long ago and he sure wouldn't have continuously sent texts to Steffy and called her every day. The last thing he said to Steffy before she left that day was something along the lines of 'I hope you know that this doesn't mean this is the end of us and that I do love you!"
"Oh please, he was kicking her out, what else was he supposed to say?"
"Well, which one of the women stepped back and let him make the decision on his own? Who kept from dialing that phone to talk to him? Who was the woman he called every day and told her that he hopes she knows he loves her?" Taylor raises her eyebrows again. "Well, congratulation on your marriage. I hope it sticks this time!"
Taylor smiles and then walks away. She chuckles as she reaches the car. "What took you so long?"
Steffy looks over at her mother with worry in her eyes.
"Oh, I just congratulated the happy couple." Taylor smiles at her daughter.
"I hope you didn't cause any trouble!"
"Of course not!" Taylor starts the car with a mysterious smile on her face.
On the other side of the house, Father Fontana looks over at Brooke with anger in his eyes. "You said he was as single as they come!"
"He ended the relationship, he was as single as they come." Brooke is determined.
"Did you even hear what I said when I told you I told her to give me space?" Liam has turned towards his wife.
"You told her to leave, that's all I needed to know!" Brooke interjects.
"I didn't end the relationship, I asked her to give me space to figure out if that's what I wanted to do." Liam snaps at Brooke.
"Yeah, well, you married me!" Hope lays her hand on his shoulder. "I think it's pretty clear to Steffy now that the relationship is over."
Liam snaps his head to look at Hope and the expression on his face causes her to remove her hand and take a step back.
"You can't be serious?" The shock in Hope´s eyes turns to anger. "After everything she did to keep us apart?"
"What exactly has she done to keep us apart since you dumped me right in front of everyone after your brother lied to you?" Liam starts walking away when Hope can't answer the question. "She knew the truth. She asked you to trust me and you couldn't do that because you chose to believe a man you've never talked to before then other than to ask him to play a song. Your choices are what kept us apart, not anything Steffy did! I moved on and now I've caused Steffy pain that I didn't want to put on her!"
Tears starts forming in Hope´s eyes and she turns to her mother, Brooke waves her to come over for a hug and then they watch Liam walk away into the house again.
"Oh, don't worry honey, he'll come around, you've done nothing wrong! This is on Steffy and her mother!" Brooke continues to caress her daughters head.
~OTTmF~
Taylor´s house
Steffy walks through the door of her mother´s house, dumps the keys on the table next to the door and then walks over to the couch in the living room and sits down.
Taylor comes walking in after her daughter having gone and parked the car in the garage.
"So, you hungry?" Taylor asks on her way into the kitchen.
"Yeah, a little bit." Steffy sighs and then finds the remote and turns the tv on. She takes her phone out of her purse and looks through the news.
The first things she sees is a photoshopped picture of herself, Liam and Hope with a break line between her and Liam and a wedding band between Hope and Liam with the caption "Well, looks like the girlfriend has been dumped!"
"Yeah, looks like it! It's a shame really." Steffy sighs once again before shutting her phone off. She has a feeling that there will be a lot of people wanting to talk to her, but she really didn't want to talk to anyone. Letting her mother care for her for the time being was about the amount of contact with other people she could handle.
Taylor comes back from the kitchen with a tray of goodies.
"So, I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I heated some vegetable soup and made some sandwiches and whipped together a fruit salad."
"Sounds delicious mom! Thank you!" She places a spoon in the plate with soup and then looks up at her mother. "Could you please make sure that everyone knows I'm not in the mood to talk right now?"
"Of course, honey! Whatever you need!" Taylor sits down in the arm chair across from her daughter. "Have you turned your phone off?"
Steffy just nods her head while eating her soup. Taylor has taken one the sandwiches and started eating it.
There's a ringing of the doorbell and Taylor jumps up to go open the door. She opens it to find Bill on the other side of the door.
"Hi! Is Steffy here?"
"Congratulations on your new daughter in law, Bill!" Taylor says with a smile on her face.
"Well, thank you I guess. Not particularly happy about it to be honest. Anyway, is Steffy here?" Disappointment all over his face.
"She is, but she doesn't want to see any one right now."
"Oh, he's okay mom. Let him in." Steffy says from the couch.
Taylor in turn opens the door even more and lets Bill in through the door.
Steffy and Bill lock eyes and then he walks over to the couch and sits down.
"So, how are you doing?"
"Oh, I've got other things to focus on and although it hurt that he didn't feel the need to tell me about him choosing Hope, it is what it is." Steffy sends her former father in law a smile. "Thank you for dropping by to check on me though!"
"Oh, it's my pleasure. Not the reason why, but you are one of my favorite people!"
"Yeah, I know. You're one of my favorite people as well!" She reaches in for a hug and he hugs her right back. "But you're my most favorite person in the world mom!"
Taylor´s eyes sparkle with excitement. "You're my favorite female person in the world honey! I can't choose between you and your brother!"
Steffy smiles back at her mother. "Yeah, we're pretty awesome both of us! He's my favorite male in the world at the moment as well!"
"Yeah, my son is probably very low on that list." Bill chuckles.
"Well, he's not in my top five right now that's for sure." Steffy looks at Bill with an apologetic look on her face.
"Oh, it's okay. He's not in my top five either. How could he do this?"
"Oh, he got caught up in the moment. Got swept away."
"Why didn't you stop them?"
"Oh, I was there to stop them, but I came to the conclusion that he's going to have to live with this choice and a little bit into the future, he's going to regret making that choice. You just trust me, your son will come to you within the next few weeks asking you what to do and you know what I want you to say to him?"
"You made your bed, now lay in it?"
Taylor laughs at Bill´s question.
"Yeah, that's about it." Steffy smiles at Bill.
The door handle starts moving and the front door opens revealing Thomas coming through the door.
"Hey! I brought groceries! I figured Steffy would want a whole lot of her favorite dishes today, so I've bought the ingredients for many of them!" Thomas then looks up from the grocery bag. "Oh, hi Bill! How's your son doing?"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I hope he's happy with the mess he's landed himself in."
"I take you're not happy with what happened today?"
"Can't say I am actually." Bill just shrugs his shoulders.
"Can't say I'm surprised. But hey, he's made his bed, now he needs to lay in it."
The three others in the room laughs. Thomas joins in.
~OTTmF~
Hope walks through the door of the cliff house. She searches for Liam. She finds him when he comes out of the bedroom after having changed into a pair of black jeans and a hoodie on his way to pick the car keys up.
"Where are you going?"
"Where do you think I'm going?"
"To her? Why do you even need to see her?" Hope is getting impatient. "She watched us get married, she could've stopped us but she knew there was nothing she could've said that would make you stop that wedding so she didn't. Just let it go!"
"Or maybe she chose to not stop the wedding because there's something I need to learn before I can come back to her because she can see that this marriage won't last. I don't know. But what I do know is that I did not make this choice the way I should have. I should have talked to her and let her know that I was choosing you if that's what I wanted and I'm not sure that it actually is what I wanted." He looks at her with anger in his eyes. "You accused Steffy of manipulating the situation when her and I got married in Aspen. Can you honestly say that your mother didn't manipulate the situation this time? Because what Taylor said was true, I hadn't broken up with Steffy yet."
"Well, you're broken up with her now!"
"Yeah, I guess I am and we were broken up through actions made by your mother!" Liam then walks to the door and slams the front door.
Hope watches the door with tears in her eyes, then she picks her phone out and sends a text to her mother.
To mom:
He walked out on me!
From mom:
Oh honey, it can't be that bad! He'll come around, you just have to have patience.
To mom:
When I told him he and Steffy were broken up now, he said that you broke them up.
From mom:
Oh please, he broke up with Steffy the moment he threw her out of the house.
To mom:
He didn't break up with Steffy when she left because he didn't throw her out. You heard what Taylor said.
From mom:
And Taylor doesn't have any reason for telling Liam all this does she?
To mom:
Her daughter had more reason to believe he would choose her than I did.
From mom:
Just enjoy your marriage, there's nothing Steffy can do now to break you up.
To mom:
How am I supposed to enjoy my marriage when my husband believes he was manipulated into it?
From mom:
He'll come around once you spend the night together. You just need to connect again! Take it easy.
Hope puts her phone away before throwing herself on the couch with a sigh. "At least Bill hasn't stopped by yet." Then she has a thought. "What if he's visiting Steffy?"
Horrified that he might be, she picks up her purse and the car keys and drives to Steffy´s apartment. Just barely missing Liam on the way up in the elevator.
She bangs on the door to get someone to open it. Steffy doesn't open the door though. Someone does however.
As the door on the other side of the landing opens, Hope whips around.
"Oh, couldn't wait to rub her face in it could you?" The young woman in the apartment across the hall asks her.
"Oh please, after everything she did to keep us apart?" Hope snaps.
"Ah, but what about what you chose to do? Do you not have any responsibility for your own choices? Anyway, you just missed your hubby on his quest to find the love of his life."
"I am the love of his life. Not Steffy!"
The woman just shrugs her shoulders. "If that is what you choose to believe, I won't stop you. But the amount of times I've seen him stand outside her door calling her phone the last few weeks should tell you something! I can't believe she never noticed that he was right outside her door."
Hope is taken back by that admission.
"I almost called the police to alert them that my neighbor had a stalker. But hey, now that he's married to you, maybe he'll stop coming by." She's about to close the door. "But just trust me, you weren't his first choice, if you were, he would've chosen you the moment she moved back here!"
"That's not true! He was thinking about the best way to let her go!"
"As I said, if that's what you choose to think I won't stop you, but your mother really screwed you over!" The woman smiles Hope´s way before closing the door.
~OTTmF~
He makes his way down to his car again noticing that Hope´s car is parked right next to his. He doesn't have the time to stay behind though. He realized when Steffy didn't open the door that there would be no other place where she would be then her mother´s place, so he gets back in the car and drives towards Taylor Hamilton´s house.
Once he reaches the house, he parks his car and goes to knock on the door. When the doors open, Thomas greets him.
"Well, look, it's the groom!"
Liam can hear a group of people laughing at the statement. Then he hears his father telling Thomas to ask Liam a question.
"So, why are you here?"
"I need to talk to Steffy!"
"Why? Wouldn't the time to talk to Steffy have been before you walked up to stand in front of Father Fontana and vowed to love Hope for the rest of your lives? You lost that chance, so good bye!"
Liam has the decency to look ashamed of himself. "But I need to talk to her!"
"And she does not want to talk to you so you should just go home to your little bride and get on with your life!" Thomas leans forward a little as he claps his hands at the end of the sentence like he's talking to a little child.
Liam opens his mouth to say something, Thomas raises his eyebrows and then Liam turns around and walks back to the car. Thomas closes the door and walks back to where Steffy, Bill and his mother is sitting.
"Now, you know the Logan onslaught is about to hit the house. What with Liam running around searching for you and all."
"I was thinking about taking a trip to Paris for a few weeks, go visit dad again." Steffy announces.
"But that would seem like you've tucked your tail between your legs and ran away."
Steffy just smiles at Bill. "Trust me, when I get back in a few weeks, the Logan's will have anger on their faces. They won't know what hit them." Steffy steals a glance at her mother and sees the smirk on her face.
"Do you need me to go with you to Paris?"
"No, I'll be alright. I'll need you to have my back when I get back here though!" Steffy looks at her brother.
"Of course! I'm always on your side."
"Good!"
~OTTmF~
Steffy left LA the next morning and Liam was worried that she wouldn't come back, but he also had a honeymoon to get to. The problem was that he just didn't feel like going on a honeymoon. He worried about Steffy too much to focus on his relationship with his wife.
Hope had just screamed at Liam that he'd better take her on this honeymoon or stop thinking about Steffy. His answer.
"Well, until I know Steffy is okay, I'm not going on a honeymoon."
Hope's reaction, she ran out of the house and went to her mothers.
~OTTmF~
March 27th 2013
Almost five weeks passed before Steffy came back to LA and the first place she needed to visit was her grandfather´s office at Forrester Creations. She had gotten back the night before and gone straight to bed.
At the moment she was walking towards her grandfather´s office to let him know that she's back and who should she meet if not the former bride. She's happy that she's wearing a coat.
"Well, look at the former bride." Steffy gives the woman a smile.
Hope just snarls at her as she's walking past her.
"Not a happy marriage then I take it?"
"What exactly do you know about happy marriages?"
"Well, at least Liam and I were happy during our marriage, doesn't seem like you two are. But hey, marrying another woman´s boyfriend would do that to you!"
"You married my fiancé!"
"No, I married my fiancé, you dumped him remember?" Steffy stares her right in the eyes. "Anyway, I'm going to go see my granddad about something."
Hope continues on her path and Steffy continues on towards Eric´s office. She knocks on the door and enters when she hears her grandfather call out to come in.
She walks over to the chair on the other side of his desk and sits down.
"Well, look who's back!" Her grandfather looks at her with a big smile on his face.
"That I am! And some people won't be happy with that."
"Well, I can't do anything about that."
"Of course, you can! You need to set boundaries and you need to stop pitting us against each other! Stand by your decisions because there will be trouble coming between me and Hope."
"What kind of trouble?" He looks at her with curiosity in his eyes.
She stands up with her back against him and takes her coat off, then turns around to show off the visible baby bump.
"Oh." Eric sighs. "Did you know when Liam and Hope got married?"
"I did, I found out before I went to Paris after grandma died."
"Does Liam know?"
"No, I wanted him to choose me for me, he chose her so I left to get away from the stress of having to answer all these implications that I got pregnant on purpose to keep Liam from the Logan's."
"They'd never think that though!"
"Really? Do you seriously think that? Brooke planned a wedding between my boyfriend and her daughter without my boyfriend even ending our relationship. You really think they'd not say anything about me getting pregnant by my boyfriend?"
"No, I don't."
"Well then. I guess you'll be disappointed! You just never get to see the nasty side of that family!"
"Now you're being unfair!"
"Really? We'll just see about that then." Steffy picks up her coat again and puts it on. "I have somewhere I need to be. Good bye!"
Steffy then walks out of the building and goes to her car to go to her second destination.
~OTTmF~
Four hours later, Liam walks into his father's office. "I messed up dad!"
"Why do you say that? You are married to the woman 'of your dreams' right?"
"No. The woman of my dreams is having my baby and she's not my wife."
"What?" Bill is taken by surprise. "Is Steffy pregnant?"
"Yeah. About four months along now." Liam sighs. "What am I going to do?"
Bill starts to say something, but then he remembers the promise he made to Steffy before she left for Paris and stops. "Well, you made your bed, now you lay in it. She obviously wanted you to choose her for her that's why she didn't tell you about the baby while you were making your decision."
"I thought you'd be a little more supportive of me!"
"Please, you married Hope even though your heart said it was the wrong thing to do, why should I be supportive of that? But, you did marry Hope and you can't just dump her because Steffy told you she's pregnant. Hope, her mother and aunts won't be happy about this and Steffy will take the brunt of it."
"Yeah, I can't believe I'm going to have to put her through that."
"Well then, don't make her. Sit them down and explain to them that Steffy is having your baby and that they don't need to berate her about anything."
"Do you really think they'd listen to me?"
"Of course not, but you need to make it abundantly clear that you'll have none of it." Bill slams his fist into the desk. "I have somewhere I need to be!"
Bill logs off the computer and fetches his coat. An hour or so later, he's standing outside Steffy´s apartment knocking on her door.
"Well, hello Bill!" Steffy smiles at him as she opened the door. "You came by sooner than I thought you would."
"Well, my son came into my office asking me what to do, so I figured I should check up on you!"
"Thank you for that, but there was no need to." She lets him into the apartment and he sees that Taylor and Thomas are there.
"You're just waiting then?"
"Yeah, the Logan's are bound to come within the next few hours."
All four of them look at each other.
~OTTmF~
When Hope came home that afternoon, she sees on Liam´s face that he's gotten some news that might not be the most pleasant news he's ever heard.
"What's wrong?"
"You're not going to be happy with the news I got today, but not for the reasons I'm not happy about them."
"Okay?"
"Steffy is pregnant with my baby!" He sees her step back at the news.
"What?" Hope glares at him. "You cannot be serious! So, what? You're going to leave me now because your ex is having your baby? You'd really give up what we have for that.. that... "
"That what?" Liam raises his eyebrows. "I gave up what I had with her for you because your mother planned a wedding to remind me of Puglia. I moved on after you chose to believe a lie."
"So, what?" Hope glares at him. "You're going to hold that against me for the rest of our life together?"
"Well, didn't you want me to hold the gondola thing over Steffy´s head? Why should I do one thing against her and not hold you accountable for your choices the way you want me to hold her accountable for hers? What makes you so special?"
"Well, I am your wife!"
"So was she!" He bangs his hand in the coffee table. "She was my wife because you chose to give up on us over something as minor as a kiss that didn't even mean more than good bye and you took your ring off and walked out without a word. Then Steffy´s accident happened and all that. You and I give each other another chance and then you decide once again that we're not worth it. So, I move on with Steffy. Then you find out you were lied to like Steffy and I repeatedly told you that you had been. You keep blaming Steffy for us breaking up but you never blame your own choices. This baby that Steffy is carrying was conceived in a loving relationship and you shouldn't believe anything else, you just know what I'm saying and you stay away from Steffy! Unless she speaks to you, you don't speak to her. Stay away from her!"
"Oh please, are you seriously telling me that I can't go to her and expect her to explain herself after she's threatened my marriage?"
"Yes!" Liam glares at her. "Because she knows my feelings about growing up without my father and she knew about the baby when you and I were married. So now you tell me where Steffy is threatening your marriage?"
"She's carrying your baby, what other reason do you want?"
"She was carrying that baby while she was standing on the patio watching me put that ring on your finger." He points to her hand. "But she didn't tell us to stop, she didn't do anything to stop that wedding even though she was perfectly allowed to!"
"Why was she perfectly allowed to stop our wedding?" Hope takes a step back at the shock of Liam´s admission.
"Because I didn't ask you to marry me! Because I was her boyfriend! That baby was conceived in a loving relationship that happened before we were even married!" His face tells her that she shouldn't argue back. "She had a trump card that she could have used at any point of me deciding who I wanted to be with, but she didn't because she apparently wanted an even playing field. Did you and your mother allow the same?"
"How do you even know she's carrying your baby?"
"Are you questioning her ability to be faithful?"
"Well, you never know with Steffy."
"You know what?"
"What?" Hope snaps.
"Every single word that comes out of your mouth makes me less and less likely to stay in this marriage. I've tried to stay in this relationship, but you continuously show that this relationship is nothing but a win for you!"
"Oh please, she's the one who sees you as a prize, not me! I just wanted the relationship I was robbed of."
"Ah, but Steffy didn't rob you of any relationship, neither did I." Hope huffs. "You don't agree with me, right?"
"No, I don't! She went after you with everything she had knowing you were in a relationship with me."
"So? Don't you and I have any responsibility in any of this? Is Steffy responsible for me choosing to kiss her? No! She's not responsible for that, that's a choice I made." Liam sighs. "Is Steffy responsible for you choosing to believe that DJ? No! That's your choice! Steffy fought to keep her and I together. You just walk away and then when you realize you screwed up you call out this 'We were robbed'-mantra and your family tries their best to get you what you want."
Silent tears start forming in Hope´s eyes. Liam just looks at her. "You stay away from her and your mother and her sisters had better not say one word to her that does not revolve around the company. Anything they say to Steffy about our baby and you can pack your bags!"
"What do you mean?"
"If you, Brooke, Katie or Donna say something to Steffy that's not business-related, you can pack your bags because I'm throwing you out. If you can't live with the fact that Steffy is having my baby then I don't need you in my life! Trust me on this, any stress put on Steffy from you or your family and our marriage is over!" He points at her. "Stay away from her!"
Hope throws him an angry look then walks into the study taking her phone with her.
~OTTmF~
From Hope
Steffy is having Liam´s baby.
To Hope
Well, that's a little too convenient don't you think?
"What on earth is that.. that.. girl planning now?" Brooke says outloud.
From Hope
Apparently she 'knew' before she went to Paris to visit her father the first time. Liam claims Steffy knew she was pregnant when she stood there watching him putting the ring on my finger.
To Hope
Oh please, like she wouldn't have used that little fact to get him to choose her.
"I need to go see her and talk her out of trying to get Liam back."
Her phone starts ringing. Hope calling. Brooke answers the phone.
"Hi Hope! I'm on my way to see Steffy about that bait she has growing in her belly."
"No mom! You can't do that!"
"Why not? Why can't I talk to that trouble maker about her keeping Liam´s child away from him? If it's even his child in the first place, how exactly do we know it's his kid at all?"
"Because if you do, Liam will throw me out or so he says. If you, aunt Katie, aunt Donna or I go and talk to Steffy about anything that's not business related, he'll throw me out and annul our marriage."
"Why would he do that?"
"Mom! We've been married for a little over five weeks and we still haven't even made love and not for a lack of trying on my part! To top that off, he says he didn't want the marriage in the first place." Hope starts crying on the other end of the line.
"Of course, he wants this marriage, he wouldn't have put that ring on your finger otherwise. He's just second guessing his decision now because Steffy is supposedly having his child." Brooke tries to reassure her daughter.
"But I can't risk it mom, you need to stay away from Steffy." Brooke can tell that Hope desperately wants to confront Steffy about the baby.
"Okay, I promise I won't talk to Steffy about anything concerning the baby."
~OTTmF~
AN:
That's chapter one. Let me know what you think!
The next one should be up by the beginning of November!