Steffy almost smiled. Bill's comments would be considered rude coming from anyone but himself.

"This isn't a game Steffy. What got into your head that would make you want to throw your life away?"

Steffy couldn't just choose one thing. Everything was what got into her head. "All of it, too much, all coming at me at once."

"Really? You think I'm going to buy that you had too much on your plate, so you were going to give up? Tell me what it really was. The video? Please, I've seen worse, though I never got to see the video myself."

"Nobody should have seen it. It was Liam and me's moment. It was a mistake, it shouldn't have happened, it was meaningless. Is that a good enough answer? I keep saying this over and over to Brooke, my dad, Hope, everybody!"

"Maybe it isn't a good enough answer because everybody knows it isn't true. It might have been a mistake but it sure as hell wasn't meaningless." Bill said, wishing deep down that it was meaningless. Were his schemes to keep her in the family for his son's happiness or his own benefit?

"Look, I don't want to talk about this now." Steffy said, her tears slowing slightly.

"What else are you going to do? Go drive off a cliff? I don't think so," Bill reached over and pulled the keys out of the ignition and put them in his pocket.

"Bill what are you doing?" Steffy asked, surprised.

"We're talking about this, talking through this because you're not going to kill yourself."

"Isn't Katie going to wonder where you are?"

"No I was going to the courthouse to work out things with Marcus and Justin. I don't see the point though; he's doing jail time unless they can prove he somehow didn't hit Anthony. Didn't you and he have a thing?" Bill asked, trying to get her mind off the current situations.

"It was a long time ago, right after I got back from England. Remember? I was the one who found out that Justin and Donna were his parents. Then Donna went crazy and tried to get my entire family out of our own company. She wasn't too fond of me, so Marcus and I split."

"And now he's married and a culprit." Bill added, not wanting her to think he was suggesting her and Marcus should get back together.

"Some could say the same about you," Steffy said, her sense of humor coming back.

"Me?" Bill pretended to act offended. This was why he loved Steffy. Loved? Where did that come from?

"Not many men have stopped a gondola, faked a brain clot, locked their wife in a tower, got a man out of jail, and let me see what else am I forgetting?"

"Wait, got a man out of jail? Who did I get out of jail?"

"Don't play dumb Bill. I know you got Deacon out of prison. It's beyond me how you did it. It's beyond me how you pull off any of your schemes. But don't worry your secret's safe with me."

"Why would you think I broke Deacon out of jail?" Bill was sure that he had completely covered his trail.

"I put two and two together. Deacon had been in prison and was "released early" just in time for his daughter's wedding. He has impeccable timing, holding up Hope just long enough for people to get worried. Limo pulls away, street blocked off. It all has to point back to someone who has the power to accomplish all that and care enough to do it right. I know you better than you think."

"You're smarter than you get credit for. But you missed the most crucial piece."

"What?" asked Steffy, imagining what could be bigger than breaking a mean out of prison.

"The note."

Steffy froze. The note. Was she really stupid enough to believe that Deacon had written it? It changed everything. "You wrote the note?" Steffy lashed out at him.

"Why do you act so surprised? According to you I did everything else."

"Never mind, it's in the past," Steffy said, calming down. It was over and nobody could change the past, not even Bill Spencer. "Can I have my keys? I'm getting restless sitting here."

"Planning on going anywhere dangerous?" Bill asked, pretending to be scolding.

"If you consider my apartment dangerous, than yes I'm going somewhere dangerous."

Bill handed her the keys and got out. "Meet you there," he said, noticing Steffy get mad as he shut the door. He loved to make her squirm like that. As he got into his car he thought, 'Am I really going to Steffy's apartment?' Was he really following her home?

/\/\/\/\/\

A knock sounded at the door.

"Katie, what are you doing here?"

She shut him up by kissing him fiercely. She loved him more than she had ever loved anyone, even her husband. As she pulled away, she noticed that he looked disheveled.

"Ridge, what's wrong?"

"I can't talk now, Katie, the family is coming over for dinner and you can't be here."

"Why not?" Katie asked jokingly, "Aren't Bill and I family?"

"You know that your husband and I aren't on the best of terms since I decked him one."

"Oh you're a feisty man!" Katie teased, "Can I ask why you punched my husband?"

Ridge felt uncomfortable telling Katie but he knew he had to now. "He told Steffy he would leave you, and then when he didn't she almost died, and I made my feelings clear to him."

"Oh," Katie said. "I can understand."

An awkward tension filled the room when Ridge's daughter was mentioned. 'If Ridge and I get married, Steffy would be my daughter.' Katie thought. The idea repulsed Katie.

"So what brings you by?" asked Ridge, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Bill is working out some stuff with Justin about Marcus's case. He said that he wouldn't be home until after I was asleep, so I figured I could come see you."

"My family should be here any minute, they can't see you Katie!"

"Why, are you ashamed of me?"

"No, Katie! But you are well aware Brooke wouldn't react very well if she saw us together."

"Ridge," Katie started, "I know you and Brooke have something special, but we could be amazing together. Me, you, and our kid, we could have the perfect life and run Forrester together."

"Why don't you, Bill, and your kid run Spencer together?"

Katie shut the door. "I used to claim that I taught Bill how to love. Maybe I did, but I don't love him as much as I love you."

"Katie, stop throwing that word around! We agreed that one night was one night. You were hurt, you had just fought with Bill, Steffy was at Spencer, and you needed someone to be there for you. And I was, but it's time to move on."

"I can't Ridge!" Katie yelled, "Don't you get it? You can ignore our love because you have another one to turn to. I don't! I just have a husband that I know deep down wants to upgrade to a newer model."

"By newer model, do you mean my daughter?" Ridge asked, suddenly curious, "She's getting over Liam and doesn't want anything to do with Bill. She won't be infatuated with him ever again."

"Tell me how, exactly, you intend on preventing that from happening?" Katie asked, just wanting to push his buttons.

"Bill doesn't love her. He used her because he wanted her shares of the company."

"Ridge, when are you going to stop fooling yourself? Even I've come to accept that he isn't just attracted to her because of her status. Your little girl and my husband are clearly are attracted to one another and can't seem to keep their hands off each other."

Ridge cringed as Katie planted those images in his mind. This is something he would rather not discuss. "I don't want to talk about our relationships with other people."

"So let's focus on ours," Katie smiled and leaned in to kiss him again. Ridge stopped her.

"I can't keep doing this Katie. It's too difficult." He kissed her slowly. He didn't want to stop, but he had to. "I'll miss you," he told her, "stay strong for my little baby," Ridge put his hands on Katie's petite bump.

Katie didn't know what to say so she didn't say anything at all. As she closed the door behind her she felt her eyes tear up, but she stopped herself, remembering what Ridge had just told her.

'Stay strong,' she whispered to herself.

/\/\/\/\/\

They walked up the stairs together, both of them not sure if this was really happening. Bill thought he would never be associated with Steffy if she and Liam broke up. That's one reason he worked so hard to keep them together.

As they approached the door Steffy asked, 'You sure Katie won't get her panties in a bunch over this?" Her way of saying are you sure we can do this and keep our self control?

"Katie won't know about this."

They went inside and Steffy said, "We'll have to go to my bedroom, the living room's a mess."

"Fine by me," Bill answered. They both laughed even though it really wasn't appropriate to do so.

Steffy stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine and didn't even bother getting glasses. Why was she doing this again? She knew she was setting herself up for heartbreak but tonight she didn't care, she needed him.

When the pair went upstairs they shut the door behind them.

/\/\/\/\/\

"Hey dad have you seen Steffy?" Thomas asked over dinner. "I was thinking about dropping by her place later tonight."

The conversation at dinner was strained. Hope and Liam were sitting by each other but mostly ignoring one another. Brooke was encouraging them to make up and move on. Ridge was eating quietly, staying out of everything. Thomas and Caroline couldn't keep their hands off each other and wouldn't stop giggling.

"She left work around 7, she was mad at me. I don't know where she is now."

"Why?" asked Brooke. Thomas would like to tell her to stay out of it. He didn't benefit from her after all she had done since the plane crash.

"She's offended that I postponed Intimates production," Ridge answered, slightly alternating the truth.

"She doesn't deserve a line after all she did." Hope said in her bitchy-snotty-spoiled Logan kind of way. She wasn't acting at all like a Spencer, which she halfway was currently.

"Hope," Ridge cautioned before proceeding. "I would assume she went to Taylor's but I don't know for certain."

"She's not at mom's place," Thomas said. "I was there just before I came here and she didn't say anything about her being there."

Ridge was suddenly worried, remembering who Steffy turned to last time they were on the outs.

"I'm sure she just went home. She's got a lot on her plate." Liam said, not wanting to sound like he was more concerned than he should be.

"Will you stop making excuses for her?" Hope asked angrily.

Thomas and Caroline gave each other a look. "I think me and Caroline are going to get a breath of fresh air. We'll be right back," Thomas said. They got up and went outside and left Ridge and Brooke to deal with the halfway newlyweds. The moment they stepped outside, Thomas and Caroline were kissing like there was no tomorrow.