AN:
As always, I do not own a thing that comes from the show.
It's a new year in this B&B-verse now. Welcome to 2014!
Things happen
Chapter twelve
May 2nd 2014
Spencer-Forrester-James-house, living room
Steffy had just returned home after work and was sitting on the couch reading a book for the first time in forever when Thomas and Michala walk through the arch connecting the living room and dining room in the part of the house that they shared.
"Hey!" Steffy looks up at her brother and his girlfriend.
"Hi!"
"So, where's Kelleigh?"
"She's at the Cliff house with her father and Hope. She'll be there the whole weekend." Steffy gives a small smile. "I miss her." Her smile turns into a frown.
"Well, that's progress don't you think?" Thomas brings Michala with him to sit down on the arm chair opposite the couch Steffy is sitting on.
"It is and I'm so happy that Hope broke through those walls. But I'm missing my daughter."
"Yeah, so..." Steffy can see that Thomas is working up the courage to ask her something so she looks towards Michala.
"We were wondering if maybe you'd like to come with us to Las Vegas?"
"Why?" Steffy is confused.
"Well, what are the three big things one does in Vegas?" Michala asks with a straight face.
"Well, you get drunk, gamble and go to strip clubs?" Steffy is starting to get an inkling to where this is going.
"Okay, so, the four big things you do in Vegas."
"What's the fourth thing?"
"You get married."
"What? You're gonna get married?"
Both Michala and Thomas nod their heads.
"Does mom and dad know that you're depriving them of another wedding Thomas?"
Thomas looks down in shame and Michala looks confused.
"What do you mean another wedding?"
Steffy looks at her brother in shock.
"You haven't told her yet?" Thomas just shakes his head. "Maybe you should do that before asking me to follow you to Vegas for another of your Vegas-weddings. Now, let me get back to my book and you can come back when you've talked about that."
Thomas and Michala walk back to their part of the house.
"So, what was Steffy talking about?"
"Well, when I was nineteen, the housekeeper that grandma and granddad had died unexpectedly leaving her daughter behind and she risked deportation since they apparently were in the country illegally. To help her out, I asked her to marry me because I wanted to help and so we went to Las Vegas and got married. Mom found out and put up strict rules that we had to follow. Like the young kids we were, we didn't exactly follow those rules and mom called immigrations, but she also made a suggestion because she knew we had developed feelings for each other. She told Gabi to go to college and to come back to see where we would go if the feelings were still there on her side when she graduated."
"Did she come back?"
"No, she didn't. I saw her in San Francisco a few years ago, about 7 months pregnant and a two year old walking beside her. The two-year-old started running away from her, but she didn't seem that bothered and when the little girl reached a man, he picked her up and she gave him a big kiss and called him Daddy. It's been nine years since Gabi and I even talked to each other the last time and there has been a few women in between."
"Okay, I need to think about this. You really should've told me before you asked me to marry you."
"Yeah, I should have, but I didn't see the point. Gabi and I are so far in the past it isn't even something I think about that much."
"Yeah, well, finding out from your sister that you've been married before and not you when I was honest about my previous relationship is a little hard to take. You were married Thomas. He and I were never married."
Thomas just nods his head and then watches Michala walk off.
~Things happen~
Meanwhile, down stairs, Steffy has turned her attention back at the book when the doorknob turns and Wyatt comes back from his visit at his mother´s firm, he comes into the living room and sees Steffy reading.
"Hey!" Steffy turns her head so she can see him over her shoulder.
"Hey! How was your mother?" Steffy dog ears the book and puts it on the coffee table.
"She's good. Orders are coming in from both stores and private clients." Wyatt says with pride on his face.
"That's good."
"Yeah, how are you doing? Liam called and said he and Hope are keeping Kelleigh this weekend."
"Well, I miss my daughter, but it's a step in the right direction. I'm thinking we could start sharing custody by Kelleigh´s first birthday at the latest."
"That is a step in the right direction!"
There's a sound coming from the stair case leading up to Michala and Thomas part of the house and they see Thomas coming down the stairs.
"Hey! What's the sour face for?" Wyatt says with laughter in his voice.
"Well, Steffy just told my fiancé that I used to be married and I hadn't told her yet." Thomas throws himself onto the arm chair he occupied before he and Michala left.
"Not my fault. I thought you had told her already." Steffy just waves it off.
"Seriously dude? You didn't tell her you'd been married before you proposed to her?" Wyatt is surprised.
"Well, how often do you think I think about the fact that I was married for about three weeks nine years ago to a woman I haven't seen in a few years?"
"Well, I would've thought you'd think about telling the woman you're proposing to that you married a woman to save her from deportation a few years ago before you propose to her."
"Yeah, I should have, just as Michala pointed out a few minutes ago."
"Well, sounds to me you only have yourself to blame for that mishap." Wyatt points at Thomas to make his point clear.
"That's what I thought." Steffy agrees with Wyatt. "When they came down to see me about forty-five minutes ago to ask me to come with them to Vegas for their wedding this weekend, I let it slip that he was going to deprive mom and dad of another wedding of his."
"Oh, that's harsh don't you think?" Wyatt turns to Steffy with a frown on his forehead.
"Well, he went to Vegas behind their backs to marry Gabi and they didn't plan on telling either mom or dad for a while. Uncle Nick and Bridget had been there though and told on them. Let's just say that Thomas was not happy. Mom and dad were even less happy. When Thomas and Gabi then decided to not play by the rules that mom set up for them, mom and dad got even less happy."
"Oh." Wyatt´s jaw dropped to the floor.
"Yeah, so that's why you need to say these things to the women you propose to. I would've thought it would've come up in conversation when you started getting serious."
"Yeah, well, it didn't." Thomas sulks.
"Yeah, it didn't and that's on you buddy. So, what do you all want for dinner today?" Steffy decides this was way too emotional to discuss right now.
"Well, I've had a craving for lasagna all day today." Wyatt offers as a suggestion.
"Well then, I'll make the meat and tomato sauce, you'll do the cheese sauce, Thomas makes the pasta, Michala makes the salad and then Thomas sets the table?"
"Sounds good to me!" Both Thomas and Wyatt agree.
"Good, I'll go and talk to Michala for a little bit after getting the sauce simmering."
The three migrates to the kitchen and starts cooking.
Steffy chops up some onion, tomatoes and takes out the meat from the freezer to thaw while cooking in the sauce, then she adds all the vegetables and watches as the mixture starts bubbling, she then adds the spices and puts the stove on low heat and walks out of the kitchen after having given the boys instructions.
She climbs the stairs up to Michala and Thomas floor and knocks on the door. Michala comes to the door about two minutes after and Steffy can see she's been crying.
"Hey, it's not as bad as you think." Steffy opens up her arms for Michala to come and hug her.
"Why didn't he just tell me then?" Michala steps into the embrace Steffy is offering.
"I truly think it just slipped his mind. It was a teenage mistake that he hasn't really thought about in years. Yes, he should have told, but I don't think he kept it from you to keep a secret from you. Trust me, had it been an issue for him, he would've told you about it."
"But shouldn't I be allowed to receive the same level of honesty as he received?"
"Of course, you should, but I don't think either of us actually see it as that big of a deal. It was three weeks of his life nine years ago. Don't let this take away from the relationship you two have now."
"Trust is important to me and he kept this from me."
"Yeah, but still, it was three weeks nine years ago that ended in an annulment. He probably hasn't even thought about Gabi in that way for at least eight and a half years now. I didn't think about Gabi and his marriage until you two came and asked me if I wanted to follow you two to Vegas to attend your wedding. I doubt he's thought about anything concerning Gabi since he last saw her in San Francisco a few years back. He came home and was so happy that she looked so happy, they didn't even speak when he saw her."
Michala picks up a tissue and dries her tears. "If you think so."
"I truly do. He's only got eyes for you and I doubt they'd shift any time soon. Think of it like this, he unintentionally kept something from you, he didn't lie about anything. The only thing he did wrong is not tell you about it. Had it been brought up in conversation, he would have told you, but right now he's too wrapped up in your relationship that past relationships aren't even an issue."
A small smile starts forming on Michala´s lips.
"Trust me, this is only an issue if you let it be, so please don't let it be. But do try to convince him to have a wedding where mom and dad are invited?"
They hug again and Michala promises to try.
"Now, I need to go down to the kitchen to check on my sauce and the boys progress on the lasagna and you should follow to fix the salad!"
Michala takes a deep breath.
"Okay. Let's go!"
They come down to the kitchen and Michala walks over to Thomas and gives him a kiss.
Steffy walks over to the stove and stirs her pot and says awe when Michala kisses Thomas.
~Things happen~
The renovations of Bridget´s house had started almost instantly after Jessica had finished with the interior of the Spencer-Forrester-James-house and after seeing the wonderful job that the two siblings had done for both their daughter and Bridget, Taylor and Ridge had decided to use Dawson Construction and Architecture when it came to the redecoration of the Forrester Mansion. There wasn't that much they needed to do, new carpet on the staircase, redo the master bedroom, change the countertops of the kitchen, renovate the bathrooms and new paint on the wall.
Eric and Stephanie had taken really good care of the house over the years they had lived there and as a result, everything that Taylor and Ridge did to the house was cosmetic stuff and it only took two weeks to complete.
Speaking of the renovations over at Bridget´s house, Bridget had talked to the hospital she worked at and her chief called a private clinic in LA and asked if they were in need of an OB/GYN with a specialty in fetal surgery and it turned out that it was the case so Bridget´s chief of surgery at the hospital she worked at terminated her contract with them and Bridget was now working at a private practice in LA. It was a good place to work, Bridget thrived and the practice received many clients as a result and the entire practice blossomed, they even had the possibility to expand within the first two months that Bridget worked with them.
As Steffy had warned Bridget, her relationship with Derek blossomed in a way she wasn't expecting, they had been on their first date one week after the renovations of her house had been finished. He was also amazing with Logan and there seemed to be a love forming between the two as well. Logan absolutely adored Derek.
Today was Sunday and there was nothing in Bridget´s calendar that she needed to do so she was surprised when there was a knock on her door.
She comes walking from the kitchen drying her hands off with a kitchen towel to open the door.
She opens it and is surprised when she sees who's on the other side of it.
"Hello! I didn't think we had any plans today?" Bridget looks into his eyes and then leans in for a hug. "Did we?"
"Well, we don't." Just as he denies any plans on their part, Logan runs down the stair case and up the landing just inside the door and up in his arms. He has sparkles in his eyes.
"Can we go now?" Logan already has his shoes and jacket on.
"Uhm. Logan." Logan turns to his mother. "Have you forgotten to do something?"
Logan brings his finger up in the thinking position. "No, I don't think so?"
"Why don't you think a little more then?" Bridget crosses her arms over her chest and looks at him expectantly.
Derek brings his hand up and whispers in Logan´s ear. "Did you tell your mom about our plans today?"
Logan starts blushing heavily and then shakes his head. Bridget in turn raises her eyebrows.
"Momma!" Logan begins pleading with his eyes. "Can Derek and I go to the zoo today?"
"I do believe you can since you asked so nicely, but you should have asked me when you made the plans little man!" Bridget leans towards her son and kisses him on the forehead.
"Thank you, momma!"
"Hey, maybe you can ask if uncle Nick and Jack will come with you?" At Bridget´s suggestion, the sparkle is coming back into Logan´s eyes and he starts nodding forcefully. "Let me just call him and see."
Bridget walks into the kitchen to call her ex. She comes back about five minutes later.
"You'll be getting a call in a little bit from Nick, here's his number..." She hands Derek a note with a number on it. "He's just calling to make sure you're going to the same zoo. We've also decided that when it's time to come home, Jack can come with you here and have a sleep over. I'm on call tomorrow and the boys are going to school in the morning so there will be no staying up late tonight, but Nick figured that since they were spending time together today and they go to the same school, they could go together tomorrow."
"Nice!" Logan holds up a hand to high five his mother.
"You two have fun with Uncle Nick and Cousin Jack today and I'll see you when you get home."
She goes out on the porch and waves them off as they leave, then she turns around and sighs.
"Well, what am I going to do now?" She throws her hands out and groans.
She moves over to the couch and picks up her phone and calls Steffy, it takes her five rings to answer.
"Hello!"
"What do you do when your boyfriend has kidnapped your son and went to the zoo with him and his Uncle Nick and Cousin Jack?"
Steffy´s answer is quick. "You cook!"
"I'm sorry?"
"I have been childless all weekend, all I've done is cook and read. You should see our fridge and freezer."
"I'll come right over!" Bridget hangs up as she's talking and searches the house for the keys to her car and her house keys and then rushes over to Steffy´s house.
Thomas opens the door and is surprised when Bridget starts walking in asking where Steffy is.
"Well, hello to you too, Steffy is in the kitchen."
Bridget then stops dead in her tracks, then she turns around towards Thomas. "Where is the kitchen?"
Thomas chuckles. "Come with me."
Then he leads her straight to the kitchen and leaves her there with Steffy. Steffy looks up from the book she's writing in.
"You're here already?"
"Yeah? I said I was coming."
"You did, but I didn't think you meant now. Anyway, not that you're here, should we get started on this? I'm guessing you're here to get instructions on how to cook for the next few weeks?" At Bridget´s nod, Steffy starts moving towards the fridge and freezer, taking her book with her.
She opens the freezer and all Bridget sees are oven friendly containers everywhere, freezer bags with muffins, loafs of bread, pancakes and already cooked meat as well as already almost completely made sandwiches. There are also bags with different ingredients to put in the crockpot.
"Okay, first of all, you need to figure out what you're eating for the time that you'll be cooking for, this is the food for the four of us for the next five weeks. Then you need to figure out how much of everything you need. Always write everything out. We don't always stick to the plan when it comes to the meals we've planned, like this past Friday for instance, the plan was to eat a crock pot meal, but we all decided that we wanted lasagna instead and so we made lasagna as we had already cooked minced beef in the freezer and already grated cheese for the cheese sauce in another bag. Anything we don't use in the recipes is placed in the freezer in case we need it."
Bridget nods her head. Then they move over to the kitchen table.
"So, your first instinct when it comes to what you want to eat for the coming week is what?"
"Well, I was planning on chicken, meatballs in tomato sauce, one more chicken dish and then a vegetarian lasagna as well as some salmon with broccoli and couscous."
"Okay." Steffy gets up and walks over to the island of the kitchen and gets a paper and a pen. "Write up what you need from the store and the things you already have at home. When doing this you should always have the recipes handy."
Bridget write up what she needs and what she already has.
"How much of this can you use in every meal?"
"Well, if I use fresh broccoli, I can grate the stems and put that in with the meatballs to push the amount of food I end up with for that meal. I can serve one of the chicken dishes with couscous as well and then we can have left overs with both the salmon, both chicken dishes and the meatballs, the vegetarian lasagna might be difficult as it seems to be a favorite."
"Okay, now, as we both know, couscous is a dish best served fresh so I would cook it when it's time to eat it. Pasta and boiled potatoes are also best served freshly made, as is mashed potatoes. A potato or pasta bake on the other hand can be frozen for a few weeks."
"Okay, so, how am I going to do this?"
"Figure out how many times you'd be willing to eat each dish and how much you need of it for those times. Then when you get home, you cook all of it except the side dishes, in this case the couscous."
"Do you think maybe I can come see what you're doing next time you're doing this?"
"Absolutely, it will be a while though."
"That doesn't matter. I want to be there for all of it."
"Sure, I'll let you know when we are going to start planning."
"That sounds good to me!"
"Good, maybe Liam and Hope can come as well, I heard from Hope when I dropped off Kelleigh on Friday that they do this as well."
"Really?"
"Yeah, apparently Liam´s mom did this when he was younger and he made it a tradition."
"Where did you get it from? I mean, you weren't doing this when you were married to Liam right?"
"No, my love for freezer cooking comes from late night feedings and Kelleigh not sleeping watching YouTube videos. I'll send you a few links of my favorite ones."
"Thank you! Well, I guess I need to get to a grocery store and then get home and cook before Logan and Jack gets home from the zoo."
"Good, call me if you need any advice!"
"Will do!"
Bridget then leaves with the paper she had written on and Steffy continues to write in her book.
When she's done she walks into the living room to sit down on the couch and read a little more until Liam and Hope would bring her daughter back since everything else that needed to be done was already done.
About two hours later, the doorbell rings again and Steffy jumps of the couch and opens the door to greet her ex-husband and his wife with her daughter.
"Hello everyone!" She greets with a smile.
"Hello Steffy! How is everything doing?" Hope greets Steffy with a smile as well.
Steffy gives Hope a hug before giving Liam a smile and taking her daughter from him before inviting them in.
"Well, it's been a very productive weekend."
"Really? Have you been working on your child free weekend?" Liam is a little bit shocked.
"Of course not, I'm not that obsessed with work." Hope just laughs. "Okay, okay, I probably am. No, actually, we've been cooking up a storm over here this weekend. You just missed your sister by a couple of hours by the way."
She directs the last statement to Hope.
"Really? What was Bridget doing here?"
"Well, apparently her boyfriend and her son had plans today and she just didn't know what do to with herself and so she asked me and now she's on her way home to do some cooking for the week ahead. I actually wanted to talk to you both about that actually." Steffy has picked her daughter out of the car seat and hugged her close while talking.
"Really, what about?"
"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to be a part of our freezer cooking adventure next time? Bridget is going to be here from start to finish, so we're probably putting both her and Logan in the guesthouse and you two could stay there with her if you wanted? The more we are the faster we could get everything done."
Liam and Hope look towards each other.
"Sounds good to me. I think your kitchen is probably better equipped than ours as well." Hope accepts the invitation and Liam nods his head.
"You want to come and take a look? I think Wyatt will be coming down soon." Steffy checks her wrist watch. "Yeah, it's his time to make dinner today!"
Just as she stops talking, Wyatt starts walking down the stairs. "Oh! Kelleigh! My darling! Oh, how I have missed you!" He starts sprinting down the stairs when he sees his niece and when Kelleigh sees him, she starts reaching out for him.
"Wy Wy!"
"You know, I really wish she would react the same way when she sees me." Steffy sulks when she feels her daughter get pulled from her arms. "You better start on dinner soon!"
Wyatt turns to his brother and sister in law. "Are you staying for dinner?"
"Well, if you have enough for us as well, sure, we'd love to stay!" Hope accepts the invitation.
"Awesome!"
"Alrighty, give me my daughter back and go start on dinner. I'm hungry!"
"All right! I'm going!" Wyatt hands Kelleigh back to Steffy and then goes to the kitchen to start dinner.
Steffy on the other hand goes into the living room and brings her daughter with her to go sit in the arm chair by the window to get a good bonding session in leaving Liam and Hope standing in the hallway looking confused.
"Now what?" Liam turns to Hope with confusion on her face.
"Well, I guess we follow either one of them." Hope then scratches her head.
"Well, let's follow Wyatt then, see if we can help with dinner."
"Good idea!"
The two then follow Wyatt to the kitchen.
~Things happen~
Over at Bridget´s house, Bridget is going full steam ahead with the cooking. She planned on making the pasta dish Taylor and Steffy had done with the pasta sauce and spaghetti when she arrived in LA last year and a couscous salad with chicken.
The chicken was in the oven cooking away and she was preparing the salmon and broccoli. She had also decided on making a potato and leek soup while at the store that they would be eating tomorrow, so she was just going to start cutting and measuring everything up and then put all of it in a container in the fridge.
The tell tell sound of little feet running to the kitchen told her that her son and his best friend was back from the zoo. She turns around just as the two whirlwinds busts through the door to the kitchen and Derek follows just a minute after.
"Momma! Momma!" Logan comes running around the island to get to his mother. She picks him up and he clings his legs around her waist.
"Well, I guess you went and saw the monkeys, did you? Clinging to momma like a little monkey!"
"We did!" Logan says with a big smile. "One of them had just had a baby!"
"I'm guessing you all had so much fun!"
"Yes!" Jack jumps up on a barstool that's on one of the shorter sides of the island. "So much fun!"
Bridget looks over at Derek and raises her eyebrows, he just chuckles and nods his head.
"What'cha doin'?" Jack wants to know.
"I'm making parts of next week's dinners! Do you want to help me shred the chicken?" She asks the older of the two boys.
"Yeah!"
Jack had helped her with this before a few times and he knew what he needed to do.
"Thank you, my little helper!"
Jack looks up from the plate she had placed before him with pride on his face.
"Now, what do you want for dinner?"
"We ate on the way home momma!"
"Oh, you did? Did you bring me any food?"
Both young boys bow their heads in shame.
"No, we didn't." Both of them say.
"Well,..." Derek walks out of the kitchen and then comes back with a brown bag from a diner on the way back from the zoo. "We did actually. Nick reminded me that you might want some food, so he took the boys with him and I went and got you some food."
"Thank you!" Bridget walks over with her little monkey boy on her hip still and gives Derek a hug and then grabs the bag with the food in it. "Now, since my little boys have already eaten, why don't you two go upstairs and watch some tv for an hour? I'm coming up once I have everything in the fridge!"
"Yes momma!" Logan slides down his mother's legs down to the floor and then he walks out of the kitchen with Jack following closely behind.
Bridget listens for their steps on the stair case and the opening of the Sleepover-room door. After that she pulls her burger and fries out of the bag and then goes to the fridge and pulls out a mini can of sprite to have with her dinner as she waits for the salmon to be done.
"That is one amazing little boy!" Derek sits down at the kitchen table opposite her.
"He sure is, I can't take full credit for it, his father and stepmother have a huge part in him being the way he is." Bridget takes a bite out of a fry. "He didn't do anything bad did he?"
"No, he got tired there for a while but he took a nap laying on my back as Nick, Jack and I walked around the bug house."
"That was probably the best thing you could do when he napped. I know Jack absolutely loves bugs, Logan not so much so I'm thinking he's pretty thankful for that." She takes a bite out of her burger.
"Yeah, on the way to the diner Jack was talking about how awesome a certain bug was and Logan looked at me in the rearview mirror with confusion in his eyes and so I told him that he was sleeping while we went there and he said thank you. He is so well mannered that little boy."
Bridget looks up at Derek from her food with pride and joy all over her face at his words of praise for her son.
"He really is. My pride and joy."
"And Nick is a really funny guy to hang out with."
"Well, that's good to know as you'll probably will be spending a lot of time with him if we work out!" Bridget continues chewing on her fries and her burger.
"I figured that's what was going on when you said that Nick and Jack might want to come." Derek says with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, Nick needs to know he can trust you with his son and you needed to get to know Nick. Nick allowing you to drive his son tells me that he trusts you. That's all I needed to know!"
Derek looks at her with wonder in his eyes. "So, if your ex-husband trusts me to care for his son, I'm an okay guy?"
Bridget has finished eating and goes to put everything away. "Absolutely! And Steffy definitely trusts you, otherwise we wouldn't be where we are."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Well, I texted her after that first walk through of the house and she said she just knew you were made for me. I decided to just let things happen and now my son absolutely adores you, so how could I not do the same. Nick was just the last thing you needed to conquer. I do the same for him."
"Oh, okay." He gets himself off the chair and walks over to her and gives her a hug. "Thank you for adoring me!"
"Hahaha, you really thought I wouldn't?"
"Naah, I'm adorable, so how could you not?"
"I guess you're right. Now, I need to get my boys down for bed before they fall asleep in the bean chairs. It's been a big day today for them."
"Yeah, I'm sorry for not asking you when he brought up the idea."
"No worries, I knew he'd be safe with you no matter what you were doing!"
He bends down and gives her a kiss. Their first one. Her knees go weak and he has to hold her up.
"Well, that was unexpected." He says with a small smile on his lips as he presses his forehead against hers.
"It certainly was." She looks up into his eyes. "Don't break mine or his heart."
"I will do my very best to keep that from happening."
"Good! You wanna come upstairs and check on the boys with me before you leave?"
"I do!"
So, they walk upstairs and checks on the boys, true to form, they had fallen asleep in the bean chairs.
"You take Jack and put him in the top bunk and I'll take Logan and put him in the bottom one!" Bridget gives directions.
Both boys end up in their beds without waking up so Bridget turns the tv off and then the two adults walk down stairs to say good bye.
They give each other a hug and then they kiss once again. Bridget opens the door and sends him on his way.
"That was a very good day!"
~Things happen~
AN:
Okay, so, Michala didn't know about Thomas being married previously, that was a surprise to me, but hey, neither did Wyatt.
Hope has finally come around from hating Steffy for simply being alive and they're making plans. And Steffy is thinking about re doing the custody papers. There's just something that needs to happen first and it's coming up in future chapters.
Brirek is officially a couple and I'm happy for Bridget. Brooke has also moved to New York, that's good.