Enjoy!
"Are you sure we want to do this?" Brooke asked as she inflated another balloon and handed it to Ridge.
"It's a little too late to change our minds now," he replied. Looking around the room, he liked the pastel colored decorations and the large 'Welcome Home Dawn & Will' banner hanging on the wall. If he did say so himself, they did a great job.
"Why are these events always at my house?"
"Your house is roomier."
"Your house is just as big."
"But it's rented. And what are you complaining for? It's not like you have to clean up by yourself?"
Brooke laughed. "Sure if your idea of help is giving the kids a two hour bubble bath, followed by an hour of playtime, an hour of story time, and then acting shock when you walk down the stairs four hours later to discover that I didn't wait for you and the house spotless."
"Hey, I take out the trash- -"
"Oh, you carry the bags forty feet. Well then, please, pretty please can all parties be at my house," she begged, as she handed him another balloon.
"There is no need for sarcasm because I also have to carry your no longer twenty-two-year-old, snoring self up all those stairs," he replied, tying the balloon to the chair.
"Are you trying to talk about my weight? I would punch you in the stomach, but the extra twenty pounds you're carrying around would prevent your muscles from actually feeling it."
"Ah, so you want to play dirty?"
"Or I could put you in a headlock and pluck out all your grey hairs, but I want to actually be at Will's high school graduation."
"So now Miss Clairol is a comedian, huh?"
She gasped. "I- -"
"Logan," Thomas called from the top of the stairs.
Brooke and Ridge turned towards him.
"The girls are fighting over which outfit Will should wear."
"We're far from finished Mr. Forrester," Brooke enlightened him as she ran for the stairs.
"Bring it." Looking at Thomas, he said, "What have I told you about calling her Logan? That's my name. You go get your own."
Reaching Thomas' side, Brooke pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the forehead. "Tommy can call me Logan whenever he wants."
Thomas stuck out his tongue at his dad.
Ridge held up his fist in mock anger which Thomas and Brooke promptly ignored.
"I hold Stephie and you get Phoebs," Brooke instructed.
"Got it," Thomas agreed as they walked to the nursery.
The doorbell rang and Ridge casually walked to the door and greeted their first guest. "Popeye."
"Dressmaker."
"Come in."
"Thanks." Strolling into the living room, Nick glanced around the room. "Brooke did a good job."
"Yes, we did. Thanks."
"So where is everybody else?"
"Brooke and the kids are upstairs getting dressed and everyone else should be here in another half hour or so."
"So why am I here early?"
"I wanted to talk to you," Ridge confessed to his younger brother.
Nick sat back in a comfy armchair and observed Ridge.
Taking Nick's silence as a go-ahead, Ridge began. "Massimo's my biological father as he is yours and there's nothing either of us can do to change that." He paused, suddenly unsure of how to proceed and unable to read Nick's blank face. "I would like for us to have a relationship other than that of Popeye and dressmaker. And hope maybe one day, we could call each other brother."
"What's the catch?" Nick asked, chewing on the end of his cigar.
"No catch."
"Hmph."
"I- -I," he could do this, "I sort of admire you. Besides Brooke you are one of the few people who stand up to me and would give me a swift kick in the pants if I needed it."
"Anytime you need one, I'm ready and able."
Ridge grimaced, "I'm sure you are."
"So what's the deal with you and Brooke?" Ridge looked at him quizzically.
"There's nothing going on."
"A joint party and every time I look up you, Brooke, and the kids are together," Nick responded with the doubt dripping from his tongue.
"She's the mother of my eldest and youngest children."
"I thought you adopted the munchkin on your own."
"I did, but we're working on that."
Nick nodded. "So you two are just co-parenting together, more or less?"
"Yes."
"So if I asked her out, then you wouldn't have a problem with it," Nick questioned, looking for any signs of reaction.
Ridge laughed. "You've got good taste, I must say, but you're not her type."
"She might want a strong man after the girly-men she's been with," he countered staring Ridge down.
Maintaining his stare, Ridge said confidently, "After more than twenty years of friendship, I know her type, her likes, dislikes, and you're not it. She doesn't go for the scruffy, loner type."
"Oh, she prefers the mama's boys."
He chose to ignore the sailor's comment. "You two would go out, it wouldn't work, Brooke would get hurt and then I would have to break your neck for hurting my friend and my kids. I'm just trying to give you a brotherly warning. I tried to save Thorne from the pain, but he wouldn't listen."
"Well, I'm not Thorne," Nick said standing up.
The two brothers continued their stand off, as the doorbell rang and rang.
"Ridge," Brooke shouted.
Nick laughed and slapped his older brother on the back. "I think I'm going to enjoy giving this brother thing a try. Now go open the door while I go out back and smoke this."
Leaving Ridge staring after him.
"Stephie, Phoebe, guests are arriving we need to get downstairs so come out already," Brooke shouted from the nursery. "Dawn, honey, please leave the bow alone," she requested, as she took Dawn's hands out of her hair for the millionth time. Giving Will's sailor outfit one more glance, she handed him to Thomas. "Take him downstairs with Hope- -"
Stephie and Phoebe walked through the door in matching pale blue pants outfits.
"Girls, you look so- -" Tears welled up in her eyes. "You look so beautiful and you're dressed alike. You guys hate that."
"Dad said this was your day. So we wanted you to be happy and Phoeb and I know how much you like these outfits- -" Stephie began.
"So we thought we would wear them for you," Phoebe finished.
Brooke walked over to the twins and embraced them. "Thank you so much." She kissed both of them and stepped away from them. "This is your day too. This is our family's day. We're officially welcoming two new members to our family after having them exclusively to ourselves for the past several weeks. So let's go down there and wow them."
Hope grabbed Stephie's hand and walked out the room with Thomas and Will, Phoebe and Ricky, and Brooke and Dawn following them in pairs.
"What's going on with you and Forrester?" Storm asked his sister as they sat on the sofa, watching all the activity around them.
The party was in full swing. The Logan family, en masse, was present as were all of Ridge's siblings and his dad, along with various friends of both Ridge and Brooke.
"What are you talking about?" Brooke questioned, puzzled.
Storm stared at her playing with six-week-old Will, then moved his gaze over to Ridge who was interchangeably nibbling on the necks of both Dawn and Hope and then back to Brooke. "I don't know Brooke, what am I talking about?"
Brooke reluctantly looked up from Will and followed Storm's gaze. She laughed. "Do you think something is going on between us?"
"Are you going to try to sell me some song that nothing is?"
"Stephen Logan, Junior, I'm shocked. The last thing on my mind is falling back in love with Ridge- -"
"That was the last thing on your mind when you worked the party where you met Ridge."
"Oh, please that was twenty-three years ago. I was a kid. That little girl whose whole life was all about Ridge is gone in her place is the woman I am today. A woman who has been through the fire and has emerged a changed person. My time with Ridge is over, except as parents."
"So that's all you are. Parents?"
"Yes, that's it. Will and Dawn are the last two. So we'll enjoy raising them and then watch them raise their children."
Storm gazed into his younger sister's eyes and could only see the truth radiating in them. He prayed that she was being truthful after everything she'd been through she didn't need to be back on the Ridge merry-go-round again. She deserved better than that, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was starting all over again slowly through Ricky, Hope, Dawn, and Will.
"Thomas, Ricky, Phoebe, Stephanie, Hope, Ridge and I, thank you for coming and helping us welcome Dawn and Will to the family officially. We are so glad that the people we love most in the world are here," Brooke said graciously to all of their guests as Dawn fiddled with her necklace. "We love you all so without further ado, here's the cake and ice cream."
As Katie, Donna, and Ridge took over the distribution of the goodies, Brooke handed Dawn to her mother and made her way out of the dining room to the entry way.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded of her two uninvited guests.
"We came to see our grandson," Stephanie replied haughtily.
"I don't recall either of you being invited to my house."
"Brooke, this isn't about you. This about our grandson and you're not going to keep us from him or our son, regardless of how hard you try," Massimo informed her.
"I'm not keeping you away from your son or grandchildren. It's you and the evilness you both spew that made your son ex-communicate you from his and his children's lives."
"You are the sole reason my family is ripped apart. Your inability to keep your legs closed and to keep yourself away from Ridge has destroyed my family. You couldn't even do something as simple as raise your stolen grandson and daughter without involving Ridge. You forced him to go to China with you and then stalked him in Florida. I see what you're doing and it stops here," her former mother-in-law barked.
Brooke sighed. She didn't want to create a scene on such a special day. Leave it to Stephanie and Massimo to make her choose between the two evils, create a scene and make them leave or say nothing and let them get away with their behavior. "Stephanie- -"
"Grandma, you need to leave," Thomas declared, walking towards them and stopping in front of Brooke.
"Thomas, this is an adult conversation. Please go back inside," Brooke told him in her best motherly tone.
"No, I'm not going to let her talk to you like this, Logan," he informed her.
Stephanie and Massimo grimaced at their grandson's use of Ridge's horrid nickname.
"Yeah," Phoebe and Stephanie concurred, coming to stand next to their brother as if guarding Brooke from the bad guys.
"Go back inside," Massimo commanded.
"No! You just want to say mean things to Brookie and we're not going to allow it," Phoebe spoke.
"Grandma, Brookie is the one that makes sure Dad bring us to the office on the days you're there," Stephie told her grandparents. "She has Megs check your calendar."
"Dad is the one who doesn't want us to see you," Thomas piped in. "But Brooke makes sure we do and she doesn't tell dad when we see you."
"Yeah, she makes sure dad is kept in the dark," Phoebe stated.
"Logan is Ricky's, Hope's, Dawn's, and Will's mom, and they are our sisters and brothers so that makes her- -" Thomas paused, not quite sure what Brooke was to them.
"It makes her another mom to us. And she's cool and we love her," Stephie declared with her siblings nodding their heads.
"She is not your mother or any type of mother to you," Stephanie reprimanded.
"I didn't say she was our mom, but she is kinda one to us- -" Stephie argued back.
"She is nothing to you- -" Massimo bellowed.
"Yes, she is," Phoebe cried.
"Don't yell at my sister. Get out," Stephie yelled. "No one wants you here. You're a big mean bully."
"And our mom said if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all," Thomas added.
"Thomas, Phoebe, Stephanie," Brooke said, trying to get this situation under control.
Stephie sauntered over to the front door and opened it.
"Leave Logan's house and don't come back until you can be nice," Thomas commanded.
"Yeah," Phoebe concurred with tears in her eyes.
"You've brain washed my precious grandchildren," Stephanie accused Brooke.
"Massimo, one phone call to Sonny is all it would take," Brooke spoke quietly, yet firmly. "I don't want to see either of you again. Period. Massimo make it happen or I won't be responsible for the consequences."
"Get out," Stephie repeated to her grandparents.
Massimo took a steaming Stephanie by the arm and ushered her out of the house.
"Witch!" Stephie yelled, slamming the door.
"Stephanie Anne Forrester," Brooke reprimanded.
"Well she was being mean and bad like a witch is."
Squatting to be on their same level, she looked them in the eye. "You know you aren't suppose to interrupt other people's conversations or eavesdrop at doors- -"
"But they weren't being nice to you," Thomas interrupted.
"I was handling it- -"
"Dad said that no one can say anything mean or nasty, especially to someone we love and we love you so we had to stop her," Stephie continued.
"We love you, Logan. You're family," Thomas informed her.
"Yeah," Phoebe sniffed.
"Guys," Brooke sighed, "it's my job to protect you."
"No," Stephie corrected her, "it's everyone's responsibility to protect everyone else in a family."
"We've got your back, Logan."
Phoebe kissed Brooke and wrapped her arms around her.
What could she say to these beautiful, wonderful, strong minded kids that had captured her heart? Suddenly she was swallowed up into a group hug.
"We love you, Brookie, Logan," she heard.
"I love you all, too."
Ridge quietly went back into the other room, wiser than he was before, he had come out to deal with his hard of hearing mother and Stefano.