Taylor and Stephanie

A few hours later, Taylor knocked on Stephanie's hotel suite. The latter was very pleased to finally see her best friend again.

"Taylor, nice to see you, please come in." Stephanie had ordered tea and pastries. She wanted to pour Taylor a cup, but she declined.

"I didn't show up for a leisurely tea party." Stephanie was a little taken aback by Taylor's brusque tone.

"Okay, please sit down. How are you? I must admit I was quite amazed yesterday when Ridge told us you are living here in San Francisco. But you seem to be doing very well."

"Yes, I'm fine!"

"I'm glad to hear that, although of course I think it's a shame that you're not living at home in LA with your family."

"For me, this is my home now. I have a nice place to live, made new friends and feel very comfortable here and I'm doing a lot better than I have been all these years."

"I understand, and you and Ridge seem to reconnect?! He told us you see each other from time to time and you were at the opening ceremony yesterday."

"Yeah, we're getting along much better, but that's really none of your business." Taylor wasn't in the mood to walk around eggshells. "Stephanie, what do you want? Why should I come over here?" Taylor's resolute manner unsettled Stephanie.

"I just wanted to talk to you, how you've been. We haven't seen each other for so many months."

"You know very well, there are good reasons why we haven't seen each other in the last few months!"

"I know, even though to this day I really don't get it, why did you leave LA in the middle of the night?"

"I am aware of that. I still remember what you said to me on the phone back then. That it was childish to run away like that."

"I didn't mean it that way! We were just in complete shock when we heard from the kids that you were gone overnight. I wish you would have talked to us first."

"Why? To get a lecture from you this is a lousy idea, that it's out of question and you won't let it happen? That was my decision. You or anyone else had nothing to do with it. I did this for myself and my life!"

"I guess that decision included cutting us all out of your life completely. As if we were no longer part of your family. Yet you and I were so close, you're my best friend..."

"Let me get something straight, we are no longer friends anymore Stephanie! Our friendship ended the day you betrayed me in the worst way, like probably no one has ever done before." Stephanie looked at her with horrified shocked eyes.

"That was never my intention, you know that. I did all this for you, for your happiness, for the kids sake, so you would all be a family again!"

"I know why you did it and I also know that maybe I encouraged you with my behavior, with my desire to get Ridge back. I'm quite aware, I made mistakes too. But what you did was the most despicable, disgusting and ugly thing you could have ever done! Have you ever thought about the consequences? How many people you would hurt and harm with this scheme?"

"I didn't harm anyone."

"Oh no? What would you call it? Thomas never wanted to go on with this lie, he hated himself for letting you talk him into it. He struggled so hard with himself and was so full of guilt all the time. He told me how often he was about to confess everything and you held him back every time. You blackmailed him in the most awful way. You held it against him that if he told the truth, it would mean my unhappiness and it would cost him the reunion of our family. You shamelessly exploited his love for me so that he would keep his mouth shut. I will never forgive you for that."

"I wanted to..I was just supporting Thomas to get his family back together...his father back..."

"His father? You forced Thomas to lie to him. Ridge is your own son and you let him believe his wife seduced his son! You watched him being miserable and suffering. He didn't really want this separation from Brooke, you saw his pain and you did nothing about it. On the contrary, you pressured him to do what you thought was the right thing.

"But it was the right thing for him to break up with Brooke and you..."

"I don't even want to talk about me. You sat there the whole time and listened to me talking about how I would finally be happy with Ridge and you knew it was all based on a lie and if the truth comes out it would all be over in an instant. You knew how fragile the whole story was and that you had the power to destroy it at any time. Did it give you a good feeling, sitting next to me while I raved to you how grateful I am, how much I admire you. And then at the crucial moment, you burst my bubble and my dreams into a million pieces. You couldn't have thought of a worse time for your confession. You humiliated me in front of the entire family and demonstrated to everyone, Ridge would not have married me out of love, but only out of a sense of responsibility for his family and because of your intervention. You betrayed me and violated my trust and that as my so-called best friend. Who always says I am like a daughter to her. I think I know what those words really mean by now. I'm sure there is a reason why Felicia and Kristen moved so far away." Taylor had been running around the whole time while she was slamming all those words at Stephanie. Now she dropped into an armchair, exhausted. "Even what you did to Brooke was awful. She's not my favorite person, but even she didn't deserve that. You made her think she had crossed this line. You saw her desperation, she was about to sacrifice everything that ever had a meaning to her. You hypocritically comforted her when she was devastated, knowing she didn't do anything. I don't know how a person can be so deceitful."

Until now Stephanie listened to Taylor's tantrum quietly and meekly. But now she began to object.

"Well, that's enough. Alright I came up with this scheme and talked Thomas into going along with it, but I did it for your sake and as for Brooke. You know she has no morals and no sense of integrity. I'm still convinced, under certain circumstances it would have happened. For example, if they had been longer on that island or on any other occasion. Think about her shameless behavior on the Taboo line. Brooke is not an innocent victim. How many times did she cheat on Ridge or someone else and drag the whole family through the mud."

"The fact is, nothing happened. You can't justify your behavior with some presumption that it might have happened at some point and then use your own grandson. You are his grandmother, you should be the one teaching him values like morality, loyalty and sincerity. Instead you make him lie to the whole family. Did it ever occur to you that you almost destroyed our family! Imagine if Ridge had not forgiven Thomas? This could have ruined their father-son relationship forever. What if Steffy had not forgotten her anger towards Thomas so quickly? The two of them stuck together because they needed each other after I was gone, so Steffy got over her anger pretty fast. But that could just as easily have broken them up forever. You played a dangerous game with my family's fate!"

"I wanted to bring your family back together! I wanted you to be happy!"

"Do you really think you can build happiness based on a plot?! Do you really think Ridge and I would have been happy this way?! Do you think it would have been good for Ridge not to be with the woman he loved?!"

"Ridge loved you and you were good for him, he was always more content and relaxed when he was with you and the kids. You would have found your way. But I knew he needed a little push."

"That wasn't a little push, that was a deathblow! Besides, you know as well as I do, Ridge didn't love me, at least not the way he loved Brooke. He would never have been completely mine. It would have been just like when I came back several years ago. Me, his official wife and Brooke the woman in his heart. And this isn't happiness, I've come to realize that over the last months."

"Believe me or not Taylor. I just had your best interests in heart. You were so devastated after your breakup with Whip, you still loved Ridge so much and wanted him back. I couldn't just sit there and watch you suffer. I had to do something"

"But you don't help anyone by manipulating the whole world. Life is not a chess game. You cannot force the people around you to act on your will and what you think is best for them. I needed a friend who would have just stood by me and comforted me. Who would have helped me accept the reality and not push me further into this longing instead. But that was never you. You always need to have the feeling, you have all the strings in your hand. But I have freed myself from that, I am no longer your puppet on the string. I finally live my own life, the way I want to." Taylor glanced her former confidante straight in the eye with determination and confidence.

"And in your own life, isn't any room left for your family?!"

"Don't you dare talk like that. The kids have always been a part of my life. I've never broken off contact with them and they're welcome here anytime and even Ridge has a place in my life again." Taylor took a deep breath and paused. Stephanie stared at her tensely. In a calm tone, Taylor continued. "As for you, you are and you always will be the grandmother of my children. But that's all you can expect from me, at least for now. In a way, I have forgiven you, but I can't forget. Things between us will probably never be the same again. I can't trust you anymore and honestly, I'm doing much better since you no longer have any control over me and my decisions." Stephanie had tears in her eyes. Affected and resigned, she hung her head down.

"I really hope that maybe one day you'll see it differently. To me, you're still my best friend and one of the most important people in my life and it would make me very happy if someday there would be a way for us again." Taylor gazed thoughtfully at Stephanie. She noticed her affection and sadness. Her brokenness touched her. Conciliatorily, she placed her hand on hers.

"Well you never know and as I said, you are the grandmother of Thomas and Steffy. So we are family and who knows what the future will bring."