Bill was sitting in his office the following morning. He hadn't slept at all the night before. After he left Steffy's, he went to the office and essentially did nothing productive. He couldn't go home to Katie after what had almost happened with Steffy. Now he had to be at work all day. He shouldn't be thinking about Steffy. They had no future together. She belonged with Liam. Last night was only him comforting her, absolutely nothing else.

/\/\/\/\/\

"Look mom, she's made it clear that she is no longer interested in me."

"People can't turn their feeling on and off at will! Caroline was interested and she still had to be!" said Brooke, tired, grouchy, and still in her pajamas.

"Caroline's different." Rick didn't know why he was defending her. He didn't even know why he was still going after her. He could have a good life with Amber. Nobody understood why he loved Amber. She had been his first time, and for that she would always have a piece of him.

"I'm not letting another one of Taylor's children ruin one of my children's relationships!" Brook said, her temper getting hot.

"Thomas didn't ruin Caroline and I's relationship, Amber did." Was it possible to love and hate someone at the same time? "I'm moving on. She wasn't my type anyway."

"You two were perfect!" Brooke pleaded. "You don't know how many strings I pulled to get her here for you!"

"Mom, I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my love life. I'm a big boy, I can handle myself. It is my life after all."

Rick wanted his mom to stop getting involved. He was still pursuing Caroline, but he didn't want her to know that. Rick was a man of action, not a man of words.

With that, Rick left Brooke's house, leaving her alone, fuming. Didn't he understand that she only wanted what was best for him?

"Knock, Knock!" Katie said, letting herself in. "I ran into Rick on the way in."

"He won't go after Caroline!"

"Oh, what a shame!" Katie said, acting like she actually cared. "Your son and my niece would have been good together."

"So what brings you by so early by the morning? Is everything ok with the baby?"

"Yes, Brooke, the baby and I are both just fine. I'm here to see Ridge about getting some sketches for the next Eye on Fashion. Your husband had an agreement with Bill for a few articles."

"My fiancée," Brooke corrected.

"You guys are practically married."

"He's upstairs with RJ. You can go get him. I'm going to call Rick and try to talk some sense into him."

"Good luck with that!" Katie laughed. She went upstairs to RJ's room.

"Aunt Katie!" RJ exclaimed as he ran over and hugged Katie.

"Hi! Can I borrow your daddy for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, he's not very good at killing zombies anyway."

"That's right," Ridge said and gave Katie a confused and angry look that said 'Why are you here?'

They walked down the hall into Ridge's room and as soon as the door shut she kissed him. Ridge pulled back, but not before savoring it for a moment.

"Katie, are you crazy?" Ridge whispered ferociously.

"More like hormonal. I'm carrying your baby, remember?"

"Keep it down!" Ridge hushed.

"Ridge," Katie sat down on the bed, "it's too hard for me to watch Bill try to accept this child. It's tough for him to open his heart and I don't want to put him through this for nothing."

"But it's his baby remember?" Ridge said.

"No it's not Ridge. I'm not going to pretend anymore."

"It would be the end of you and Bill!"

"And the beginning of us!" Katie almost begged.

Ridge looked at Katie, deep down knowing it would be the right thing to do. He didn't know who he loved more, Brooke or Katie.

"You once criticized my daughter for saying the same things to your husband. You told her it was wrong to go after a married man, to break up a family. That's exactly what you're doing. You're a hypocrite."

"That's different. I love you Ridge. She was being immature and pining after my husband!"

"Don't insult my family."

"I want you Ridge. I will leave Bill. You can leave Brooke. I don't want my life and my son's life to be a lie."

"Your son?" Ridge asked quietly.

Katie pulled the sonogram from her purse and handed it to him. "There's your boy."

Ridge looked at the photo in awe. It was like the time he had first seen Thomas, Phoebe, and Steffy. Ridge managed to choke up: "Do you have a name?"

"I was going to talk to you about it once we told everyone it was our baby.

"I love you and our baby. But we can't tell anyone." Ridge set the picture on the dresser, on top of a stack of papers.

"Why not, because you love my sister more than me?"

"It's not like that!"

"If you don't agree soon, I'm going to tell everyone anyway."

"Katie, please,"

"It's too late Ridge. Maybe after I tell everyone you'll see that you love me."

"I do love you Katie. Don't forget it. But we can't be together, I'm engaged to Brooke."

"And I'm married! We can make this work!"

"I'm sorry Katie." Ridge said and he escorted down the stairs and to the door.

"What was that about Dad?"

Ridge spun around. "Steffy, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same about her." Steffy said as she flipped through a magazine on the couch.

"It… It was about Eye on Fashion." Ridge stammered.

"You know I despise her, right?"

"Steffy,"

"I don't want to talk about Katie," Steffy told her dad, thinking about Katie's husband. It made her smile a little that Katie had no idea what was going on between them. "You texted me and told me that I needed to stop by before work."

"Yes I did." Ridge sat down across from Steffy. "It's about the company."

Steffy rolled her eyes, not wanting to be lectured about how it was Hope who was in the spotlight now.

"I wanted to apologize for what I said to you."

When Steffy didn't say anything he continued.

"Your grandfather and I were discussing the possibility for a new line. Hope's imperfect wedding is going to get out and people are going to stop buying. We need a new line and I told him that I might know someone who would be interested in leading it."

"Me?" Steffy asked almost eagerly. 'Don't get excited Steffy, he's just going to let you down again,' she thought to herself.

"Yes Steffy. I know I've been shoving you in the background lately and it isn't fair."

Steffy jumped up and hugged her dad. Ridge almost shed a tear. It felt so good to have his baby girl in his arms again.

"Thank you so much dad!" Steffy was overwhelmed with joy. "I love you!"

"I love you too Steffy." Ridge wished that he could freeze moment like these and live in them forever.

"Well," Steffy said as she wiped a tear off her face. "I had better go see RJ. I told him I would kill a few zombies before I left." She couldn't stop smiling.

"Before you leave, there are some papers on the new line in my room on the dresser. My dad thought that you should have free reign, so you've got it."

Steffy hugged her dad one last time. "I won't let you down," she promised him.

After Steffy left, Ridge almost forgot about his encounter with Katie. Almost.

/\/\/\/\/\

Taylor couldn't fathom what Thomas had told her earlier that morning. Steffy and Bill? Surely Steffy had learned her lesson with him. If what her son had said was true, she obviously hadn't. Taylor thought Steffy loved Liam, so why would she be in her bedroom with his dad? She wanted to call her daughter. But Thomas had told Taylor not to let Steffy know that he had told their mom. She didn't know what to do. Was it serious or just a rebound? Taylor prayed for the latter. She did not want her daughter involved with Bill Spencer.

/\/\/\/\/\

Steffy was elated as she drove to Spencer Publications. She got her line. This was her chance to shine. Steffy wanted to run to Bill's office and tell him the news. Steffy knew however, that she needed to keep a low profile, to not raise suspicion. Steffy walked slowly to Bill's office with her head bowed slightly. She knew the routine far too well. She had done it a million times. Steffy walked into Bill's office without knocking. She was about to burst with happiness.

"Steffy?" Justin asked, very curious as to why Steffy came into Bill's office without knocking. He had a very bad feeling that he knew exactly why.

Steffy looked at Bill in terror, knowing she had messed up big time. Bill responded calmly, he finished signing the documents Justin had given him and said to Justin, "Not a word."

"Yes, sir." Justin said and he left the office.

"You're lucky that it was only Justin." Bill told Steffy as he got up from his desk. He was secretly glad Steffy had come.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just so happy!' Steffy squealed.

"What's going on?" Bill asked, confused. Less than 24 hours ago Steffy was miserable and contemplating suicide. Now she was on top of the world? Was she popping pills like Hope?

"I got a line! I got my line Bill!"

"That's great!" Bill enthused.

She kissed him. There was no other person Steffy would rather share her joy with.

"So what line is it?" Bill asked as he stopped kissing her. He couldn't get involved with her again. It was too dangerous.

"Dad and Eric agreed I could do whatever as long as it was different from Hope for the Future."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Bill smirked. "If you make anything close to Hope for the Future, I will never speak to you again."

Steffy laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be a little abstinence model. My line is going to be for women, not girls."

"What do you plan on doing?"

"I have no idea. Dad just told me before I came over here."

"Whatever you do, you've got to do it big. Make your mark on Forrester Creations."

"Trust me, I will. I'm going to make sales go through the roof."

"I know you will. That's the kind of girl you are."

Steffy put her arms around his waist and pulled herself close to him. "Remember when you told me to channel my feelings, let it empower me, use it to fuel me?"

"I recall," Bill said. The night when he told her that reminded him of last night. Her dad had let her down again. Why did he keep doing that? Was he blind? Steffy exceed Hope in every way, so why did Ridge choose Hope over and over again? He knew why. Ridge was held captive by Brooke. She controlled him.

"Every time I felt like I was worthless, every time I felt like I had no purpose, I replayed what you told me that night in my mind. And it pushed me to keep going, to achieve more. You told me I was a force to be reckoned with."

"Yes I did, because you are."

"Then I told you I wasn't. You told me that if I told myself I was, I was and if I told myself I wasn't, I wasn't. That's when I realized, I can do anything. Life isn't pre-arranged. You construct it yourself."

One day, when Steffy was at the top like he knew she would be, he could say 'I did that.'

"That's my inspiration for the line."

"Your inspiration is Bill Spencer?" Bill asked sarcastically. "Everyone at Forrester will love that."

"You are my inspiration. You're my idol. I'm going to drive Forrester like you drove Spencer. And I'm going to make you proud if it's the last damn thing I do."