With Hope on her hip, she gave the dining room table a finally glance. They should be here any moment. She hoped, she cooked enough for everyone. She knew they would be starving after their all night flight and pregnant Donna was always hungry. She brought out the orange juice and waited. The silence, which permeated, the house was killing her, so she turned on the radio to create noise.

After what seemed like an endless wait, the doorbell rang. Giving her gaunt face and haggard body the once-over, she glanced in the mirror, cautioning herself, "Don't cry or you'll never stop." She kissed the top of Hope's head. "Here we go, sweetie," and with that she opened the door. Katie immediately grabbed Hope from her and gave her a passing kiss on the cheek.

"I was this close," Katie said, holding her finger millimeters apart, "to marrying a hot, rich Swiss guy. So this better be good."

"Tell Brooke how old he was?" Storm chuckled, while giving Brooke a hug. He gave her a quizzical look, but she shook her head and smiled at him.

It was Stephen's turn next. He moved towards her awkwardly, and embraced her. He kissed her and it took everything in her not to jerk away from him. She wished she could return the hug and kiss, but his part in Massimo's plot still resonated every time she saw or talked to him.

He whispered in her ear, "It's good to see you."

Before she could utter any response, much less, a thoughtful one, he had moved past her, to the dining room.

Beth watched Brooke's interaction with her sister, brother, and father, and instinctively knew something was wrong. She held her daughter's face between her hands and looked deeply into her eyes. Waves of despair and sadness, like she had never seen before, haunted her daughter's eyes. At first, she thought Brooke's request that they came to Los Angeles, had to do with the Forresters. But she had a feeling this was bigger than the Forresters. Brooke clutched on to her tightly. She rubbed the back of Brooke's head. She looked again into her daughter's eyes and said, "I love you." Brooke repeated it back to her softly.

Brooke stepped away from her mother's comforting embrace to close the door. As she was closing it, a horn beeped and a car pulled up in front of the porch.

It was Donna. Brooke walked down the stairs to help her from the car, while the reformed bad boy Mick Savage extracted his sleeping two-year-old from his car seat. Mick handed Xavier to Brooke as Donna wobbled through the front door.

"Good to see you, Brooke," Mick said getting back into the car to park.

"Same here," she replied, walking towards the house.

Brooke laid Xavier on the sofa and went into the dining room where the family was in different stages of eating around the table.

"I fixed you a plate, Brooke," her mother handed her a plate full to the brim.

"Thanks, mom." As she sat down, Mick came in, greeted everyone, and started eating off of Donna's plate.

Donna swatted his fork away. "Get your own, I'm eating for two."

"More like three or four with the way you're shoveling food down," Katie laughed.

"You just wait until you're pregnant, Katie, then we'll see who's laughing then."

Brooke watched her family laugh and joke throughout breakfast. It felt good to have everyone under one roof once again. Although it was heartbreaking to think such a tragedy was what brought them all together.

"So Brookie, what's the big Forrester news you called us here for? Are you and Ridge thinking three times the charm?" Katie asked.

Brooke stared at her for a second, not understanding. "Forrester news?"

Katie nodded, as she battled Hope over possession of her french toast laced fork. "I figured since Budge and Ricky are noticeably absent from this family gathering, then it had something to do with the other side of their family."

Brooke glanced around the table and saw everyone, except her mother, thought the same thing. She shook her head, "No, this has nothing to do with them for once, this is about Bridget and Eric Jr."

Beth, Stephan, Katie, Storm, Donna, and Mick went on instant alert; Brooke only called Ric by his real name when something serious was happening.

Brooke placed her fork gently on the table and took a sip of water. She exhaled slowly and began. "Bridgte and Ric were coming back from Catalina Island when an explosion, they believe, occurred in the galley, causing the boat to sink instantly." She looked straight ahead as she heard her family's gasps and cries. "They've found the bodies of the captain and his first mate, but they're still searching for theirs."

"Are they sure Bridget and Ric were aboard? People are mistaken for others all the time," Mick argued.

"They found Rick's escalade, workers at the dock remember two young, laughing blondes fitting their description getting on board." Brooke paused, walked to the living room, and returned. "And they found this." She laid Bridget's purse on the table. "It's Bridget's." She took a deep breath. "I've hired the best divers in the world to assist the police, but they've told me it doesn't look promising."

"Doesn't look promising!" Storm exclaimed. "How do they know they've just started looking? Where's their number, I need to talk to these incompetents and hire someone who can do the job?"

"It's on the coffee table," she said quietly.

Storm pushed back from the table and embraced her. "Little sister, we're going to find them and bring them home." He kissed her forehead and headed for the living room.

Mick held Donna as she sobbed, as Katie hung onto Hope, as if her life depended on it. And screaming Hope cried her heart out, as she picked up on the sorrow and tension in the room. Beth and Stephen ran over to their daughter and gathered her into a three-way hug. The both whispered words of comfort and love to her, as their tears soaked her blouse.

Through it all, Brooke could not and would not break down. She had to be strong for Ric, for Bridget, for Hope, for her family, but mostly because she feared she would never return from the dark place that was tugging at her soul.