Chapter 2

"Get off me," Thomas said as he pulled out of the hold of Carter and Rick as he was thrown into an empty office.

"Sit down and shut up, Thomas," Rick ordered as he straightened his vest.

"I need to explain. Tell them the truth," he said trying to push his way past his uncle who only shouldered him into a nearby chair as Carter took up a place where he could block the door.

"You really think you can explain your way out of this one?" Rick scoffed.

Thomas rolled his eyes: "You and your wife are the ones who branded her a cheat because of a couple of kisses."

"Yeah, and a kiss is just a kiss until it's not. Right, Thomas?" Carter put in.

"What the hell?" Rick asked as Thomas swallowed. "Yeah, Zende talks. I'd keep quiet about that one for right now if I was you," Carter warned as he shot a look over to Rick and then set his gaze back on their indignant captive.

"I'll still use that. She cheated on dad." Thomas sulked as he slid down in his chair and wrapped his arms around his chest.

"One I wanted to be with Maya. I would've used any excuse I could find and Caroline at least waited to we were living separately to get in bed with your dad while I set Maya up as if she was nothing more than a kept woman. Two your Dad doesn't consider your so-called night together cheating since they broke up for like ten seconds."

"Fine. It was still a drunken one night stand."

"Dude, she can't remember if she kissed you or not. She doesn't remember anything till she woke up the next morning- that's not the definition of a one night stand!" Carter argued from his place at the door.

"Who's talking? The family lawyer?"

"Seriously?" Carter asked as he looked up to the ceiling counting to ten and then back at Thomas. "What the hell does it matter? Look, drunken one night stand. We've done those. Shady at our age. Sure. But they happen. But girl so out of it she can't remember a thing the next morning, that's beyond shade. That's criminal!"

"She promised she wouldn't say anything!"

"And she didn't," Rick informed him coldly. "She never gave a name. You blew yourself out of the water. Hell she kept insisting it was a drunken one night stand, it's everyone else who doesn't agree."

"I asked her if she thought I was that guy, she said no."

"You really think any girl wants to think someone she trusts and is friends with is that guy?" Carter asked. "That's she's some kind of statistic when it comes to anything never mind to the number of girls/women sexually assaulted or raped by people they trusted?"

"She kissed me. For that night she was mine."

"And in the morning?" Rick pressed. "She cuddle? She smile up at you? Want to stay in bed? Or was she upset? Angry? Horrified? Mortified?"

Thomas shook his head: "she was embarrassed that she couldn't remember and upset that she went to bed with someone so soon after breaking up with my dad. She wanted to get back together with him and I was fine with that. It was one night. One drunken stupid night."

"He's not getting it," Rick sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ya think?" Carter asked as an ambulance could be heard in the distance and a knock was heard on the door.

Carter opened it slightly to Eric as an EMT crew went by led by Pam. "What's going on? Is it Caroline?" Thomas asked as he moved to get to his feet.

"Sit down young man. I think you've done enough damage for one day!" Eric said.

"Grandpa…"

"No. You are going to be on a plane to Paris tomorrow morning."

"But…"

"No buts, Thomas. You go or you're out of Forrester."

"For a drunken one night stand when she wasn't even married to my dad?"

"For the aftermath," Eric said not wanting to get into semantics with his grandson. "You are persona non grata at these offices. Tomorrow security will be told you are not allowed on the grounds until further notice."

"Steffy won't allow it."

"Thomas, it was her idea…."

Steffy stared at the wall of the hospital as Liam brought her a cup of coffee. "I can't believe this. How could this happen?" she wondered. "He was happy. For the first time that I can remember my dad was really happy. I even got over the whole age thing. I would see them together and they were just… always teasing each other and laughing… I don't remember him ever laughing so much. I mean… as a kid you always want your parents back together- even as screwed up as my dad and mom were together. And I was even used to the toxicity that was my dad and Brooke. Maybe that was it. I was used to him flittering from Brooke to my Mom and back again and I wanted to at least hold onto that illusion of malfunctioning normalcy… But I saw it eventually. He wanted this so bad and was so happy. They both were so how the hell did a day that was supposed to be so happy, even if we didn't necessarily show we wanted to be there to them, go so wrong? Even more how could that have happened to her and no one know?"

"We all knew he had a thing for her," Liam admitted.

"But to do that?" Ivy asked from her seat as she leaned forward in the chair and around her boyfriend towards the other couple.

"Why are we all avoiding the word?" Wyatt wondered as his leg bounced over the other where they were crossed. "He raped her. You want to clean it up: he sexually assaulted her, but it sure as hell wasn't a drunken one night stand. You said so yourself, Steffy. You were the first to. Does it suddenly change because it was your brother?"

Steffy sighed as she turned to look at them and shook her head: "I don't want to see him as that guy any more than Caroline does," she acknowledged. "But… look, you can't change what she said; he collaborated it. If he hadn't of said anything we wouldn't have known it was him. She was going to keep it secret…."

"I can't understand that… Having to see him every day. Work with him…. Often times alone," Ivy commented as Maya and Nicole joined the group.

"Not as much as she used to," Nicole pointed out. "She usually has interns in with them. Or they're in more public venues designing."

"Or in Dad's office with him," Steffy realized.

Maya nodded: "on some level she's uncomfortable around him. It's not the first time he's pushed the issue, only he usually doesn't push this far."

"Yeah, usually just a grab and kiss," Nicole commented.

"What?"

"Never mind. Separate issue," she said.

"So maybe that's why she doesn't admit it to herself," Liam mused getting back to the matter at hand.

"If it wasn't rape she can face him. She doesn't have to worry about what he'll do," Wyatt picked up from where his brother left off.

"And she doesn't have to hurt my Dad. Probably the real reason she never said anything. Wasn't about her. Wasn't even her and my dad, but Dad's relationship with Thomas," Steffy concluded.

"So what happens now?"

"He's out," Steffy said stiffening her spine as she went into corporate mode. "Dad and I… he gave me this look before Thomas came in. We both knew it was someone inside FC, but we couldn't comprehend or think that it would be Thomas," she looked down momentarily as she flicked the lid of her coffee cup. "It meant whoever it was was out. But since it's Thomas…

We have to contain it.

He goes to Paris and hopefully my mom can help him see how wrong this whole thing is and was. I can't believe it. My brother raped my stepmother."

Ridge stood at the room his wife was in, his head against the wood as he waited for word on not only her condition but their baby as well. And it was their baby no matter what anyone else might say. He had grown up over the years and was now mature enough to know that it wasn't DNA that made the father- he had learnt that raising Hope. No this child was a promise to them- the dream and vow they had made the day they were married. He had promised her a family and they would have it. Together.

How didn't matter. He supposed, in many ways it never had, but it was only with Caroline that he saw it.

"This is my fault," he said.

"Oh spare me the pity party," Bill Spencer intoned from a couple of feet away, legs spread shoulder length apart and arms crossed over his chest.

"Bill…" Katie warned from where she sat near him, pretending to read a Spencer Publication.

"For once he isn't at fault," Bill said looking down on his wife, before turning his attention to his on again off again nemesis. "You should have told her about the vasectomy but can't say I wouldn't have done the same."

"Remind me to have your medical records subpoenaed on Monday," Katie quipped.

"Like I really would?"

"Then hire a PI to check for more illegitimate William/Bill/Liam Spencers running around," she shot back as she calmly flipped the page.

Rolling his eyes, Bill turned his attention back to Ridge who had been following the banter: "You're not the bastard who raped my niece and I swear if I get my hands on him…"

"Yeah, 'bout that…"Ridge started as he opened and closed his bruised hand and a doctor walked out and addressed them: "Family of Caroline Forrester."

"That would be us," Bill said before Ridge could answer.

"How's my wife and the baby?" Ridge inquired.

The doctor looked him up and down taking in his hands and mussed attire. "Must have been some party. How she fall?"

"I lost my temper. Went after the guy I just found out had raped her. She was hurt in the may lay from what my family told the EMTs."

"I'm… it wasn't in her records."

"She doesn't want to admit it was rape," Katie said as she stood up. "Told us it was a drunken one night stand when pushed, but the details…"

"Can I inquire?"

"She doesn't know if she kissed the bastard or not. Woke up in bed with him the next morning," Bill said coldly.

"I take it she didn't report?"

"She wouldn't tell us who," Ridge admitted.

"Then how…"

"He tried to contradict her story…Look I just want to see my wife," Ridge said as he looked passed the doctor at the closed door.

The doctor sighed: "She is asking for you, but you need to be careful with her. Her blood pressure is very high right now which brings into play a whole host of possible complications. From what you have all just told me, we can hope that it is situational, but the stress is not good for her or the baby."

"And the baby?" Bill asked.

"We're monitoring it. Heartbeat is within normal range. She does have a fetal monitor on. I'm keeping her here at least overnight for observation. I'll suggest you drop the subject of rape. Even if she weren't pregnant she might not be willing or able to cope and process it at this time. The pregnancy can complicate it. Especially if…" she let off.

"Son of a bitch," Bill said as he spun around and punched a nearby wall causing Katie to flinch as Ridge just closed his eyes and inhaled sharply.

"I guess that answers that," she muttered as she moved aside to allow Ridge to enter the room.

He stood just pass the door uncomfortably in the dimly lit room listening to the whoosh of the baby's heartbeat mingling with Caroline's tears as she laid a awkwardly on her side with her back to the door. Inhaling, he straightened his back and crossed the room. He needed to do this for her and more importantly for them. He had to face up to what his decisions and indecisions had cost them and hope that they hadn't cost him her.