"It really is you." RJ crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He was smiling. "Why didn't you tell me you were back in town?"

"Hey, RJ!" Katie said cheerfully, approaching her nephew and hugging him. "How did you get in here?"

Returning his aunt's embrace, RJ squeezed her extra tight. "The maid let me in. I thought you and Bill were still on your honeymoon."

"Uncle Bill," Katie reminded him with a laugh.

"I am never calling him that. But it's great to have you back. When I came back for the L&C launch things were so busy that I never got to see you. Then we became L&M and you got married and left for your honeymoon. It's been really hectic. The wedding was lovely for the most part, though."

"For the most part?" Katie chuckled and released her nephew. "What didn't you like?"

"Why would you invite my dad and Caroline? They had an affair behind your back." RJ looked off to the side and scuffed his feet on the floor. "It was just weird."

Katie caressed RJ's cheek and he looked up at her. There were tears in his eyes. "I loved your dad, RJ, but Ridge and I weren't going to work out. There was just so much working against us. When he and Caroline happened, I could either let him go or try to keep him, and whatever had brought us together was long since gone."

"That doesn't make it okay for him to cheat on you like that." RJ wiped his eyes and sighed angrily.

"You didn't come here to talk about Ridge and me. What's up, RJ?" Katie walked to the play pen and picked Will up. RJ immediately perked up and began making faces at his cousin.

"Noah and I had a talk the other day. Liam's getting him an internship at Spencer, and I wanted to invite you to a celebratory dinner tomorrow night. Bill and this awesome little guy can come, too. I... I already invited my mom. So if you don't want to come, I totally understand."

"We would love to be there, RJ. Where and when?"

Will giggled and slapped RJ in the face. It just made RJ guffaw.

"Yeah, that's right. You get to practicing that shit now. There are a lot of bitches in the world who need slapped," RJ told Will as he grabbed Will's hand and playfully made his cousin slap himself.

"Language," Katie warned as she grabbed Will's other hand and made her son slap RJ again. "If I have to tell you again, I'll be the one doing the slapping."

"Sorry, Aunt Katie. Bad habits."

"I hope you get rid of those habits before you get a kid of your own."

After shaking his head, RJ laughed and released Will. He wiped his hand on his pants and shrugged. "That's never gonna happen. I love being an uncle and a cousin, but I know I'll be a horrible dad. I like owning expensive things, and kids like breaking things. They don't really go together."

"You'll change your mind someday," Katie assured RJ as she handed Will over to him. The toddler began playing with the streaks running through RJ's hair.

"You like silver? Huh? I agree, Little Man. Gold is so overrated." RJ bounced Will in one arm and reached up with the other to move his black bangs back in place. "Nah, Aunt Katie. This? This is fine. But this is all I want. Really. I know I'm selfish and self-absorbed and spoiled and every other thing you shouldn't be before you become a parent."

"Oh please." Katie rolled her eyes and waved her hands at Will, who released RJ's hair long enough to wave back. "You're just like Bill and he's a great dad."

RJ looked at Katie like she needed to start wearing a helmet. "Did you hit your head? Do you have brain damage? I am nothing like Bill. Or have you never met either one of us?"

"You're both vain, loud, and say exactly what you're thinking without a care to anyone else's feelings, RJ. You have more in common with Bill Spencer than you think."

"If you tell me he was on the DL in college, I am walking out of this house and never looking back."

"No, RJ. Believe me, if your uncle was bisexual or whatever, he would be as deluded about men as he is women."

B&B

"How did you do it for so long?" Layla asked Maya. They had met up for cocktails at least once a week just to catch up. Rick had asked Maya to be friendly with Layla, because nobody else was, but the two had genuinely hit it off.

"Do what?" Maya asked while checking her phone.

"Survive at Forrester for so long without shooting up the place? Everyone there hates me except for Rick. Caroline and Ridge have done everything but burn a cross in front of my office. And there's that Aly girl... She's just weird."

"Ooooh. That. Yeah. There's a reason I jumped ship for a lesser paying gig when Brooke offered me a place at L&M."

"I thought it was to promote diversity in the fashion industry." Layla played with her salad, but didn't actually eat it. "Isn't that L&M's whole mission statement?"

"Okay, so there's two reasons. Promoting diversity, and getting away from Klanoline Spencer and her rotund paramour. Believe me, I dealt with those two for two years. Caroline, mostly. She's the instigator."

"Don't I know it. It's just... Rick took a chance on me, gave me my own line and it's doing well. I don't want to leave Forrester, and I don't want to leak this to the press and make things bad for the company."

"Why not?" Maya reached into Layla's salad and pulled out a grape tomato. "Go to Rick. Tell him that you want to confront Ridge and Caroline about being racist pricks, and tell him you want to record it. Publicly shame those two bitches and make Rick look good by having him defend you. You can drive Ridge to an early retirement, maybe even force him to sell his shares. And with him gone, they can fire Caroline. You'll be the only designer left. You won't be the woman behind Forrester's budget line. You will BE Forrester Creations."

"That's really, really well thought out for being on the fly, Maya. But I love it." Layla laughed and toasted her friend. Maya clinked her glass against Layla's.

"Oh, it's not something I just came up with. I was looking to do it before I left Forrester, but it seemed like sour grapes after I moved to L&M. Plus, Rick and I weren't together that first month, anyway."

"You know, I think I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna talk to Rick, and then we're gonna bring those bitches down."

"Goodbye Reich Forrester, and goodbye KKKaroline!" Maya laughed before sipping her wine.

B&B

"Thanks again for getting me in at D-Pad, Liam. I don't know anything about blogging, but do I play video games."

"Just remember to go to the third floor tomorrow morning. The site only has four people as regular staff who work in the building: that's who you report to. Everyone else is, like, a writer or contributor. They live all over the world. I talked to Jenna and she's excited to have you start."

Noah started to say something, but there was a knock at his door. "I've gotta answer that, but again, thank you! I owe you, Man. RJ already invited you to dinner tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. I'm gonna fry some tofu for everyone."

"You do that. Anyway, bye!" Noah waved into the camera and then closed the app and tossed his tablet on the sofa. He ran over to the door, wiped his hands on his pants and opened it. "Oh."

"Hi. Is it okay if I come in? Or would that be weird?"

Noah stepped to the side and let Eden pass. He made sure there was enough space between them that they wouldn't brush up against each other.

"This is where you live." Eden looked around the loft, taking it all in. "It's so... Not you."

"RJ does all the decorating. Once a month or so he donates everything to some charity auction and then buys new furniture and stuff. About the only constants raw the bed and that." Noah pointed to the guitar in the corner. "It's still weird when I come home from a day out or whatever and everything is different."

"He doesn't ask you if you're okay with it?" Eden ran her hand along the counter next to the kitchen sink.

"He doesn't give away my stuff. Most of it is still in Genoa City with my mom, anyway."

"That's not what I asked." Eden looked over to Noah and then quickly looked away. "Oh my god, I didn't come here for this. Sorry."

"Why are you here, Eden? How did you even know where here was?" Noah clasped his hands behind his back, then kicked the door shut and leaned against it.

She looked back to Noah and tried to smile. It wasn't convincing. "I work for Bill Spencer. He's married to RJ's aunt. It wasn't hard to find this place. And I... I wanted to talk to you about the other day at Spencer. Is RJ here?"

"Does it look like he is?" Noah pulled one arm out from behind his back and swept it across the loft.

"Sorry. Stupid question." Eden cast her eyes to the floor and Noah immediately wanted to apologize for being sarcastic. He didn't. "There was a reason I didn't tell you I was in town: you or RJ. I didn't want to be an issue for you guys."

Noah didn't patronize her by asking how she would be a problem. He knew. She knew. Hell, even RJ knew.

"What did he say when you told him I was here? Was he mad?" Eden bit her lip and looked at the microwave. She had never... She wasn't this soft before. When they were together, Noah loved how she was afraid of nothing. Eden Baldwin would call a bitch a bitch, and then threaten to cut said bitch. She had changed since he last saw her. But, then again, so had he.

"He doesn't know." Noah balled the hem of his shirt in his hands and absentmindedly pulled on it. "I didn't tell him."

"Why not?" Eden looked at Noah and, even though there was concern on her face, she couldn't hide the hope in her eyes.

He wanted to tell her it was to avoid a fight because of how jealous and possessive RJ could get, or because he was still in love with her and RJ knew it and he couldn't bear to see the heartbroken look on his boyfriend's face when he found out. Noah had a million half-truths at his fingertips that he could spin into plausible tales, but instead he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. Amber knows. She told me I should tell him, and she's right, but he always comes home tired and it's just not something I can spring on him."

"Why can't you, Noah? Why can't you just tell your boyfriend and one of my oldest friends that I'm in town? It's not like I came here to get you back. I have a job, a job that tens of thousands of college students would kill for. Bill Spencer picked me at random for an amazing opportunity. I would be here whether you were in LA or Genoa City or Paris." Eden's features grew hard and she looked into his eyes. He shivered but didn't look away. "Do you still love me?"

"That isn't fair," he protested, breaking the eye contact and looking at his shoes. His left one had come untied.

"That isn't an answer, Noah."

He looked up and focused on a patch of wall just beyond her shoulder. "I'm happy, Eden. I'm playing music again and my friend Liam just got me an internship at Spencer. I'm living with RJ and we share a bed."

"The other day, you raced to Spencer just to see if I was there because you thought you heard my name. You took an internship at the same place as me, even though you know I'm there. And you can't even answer a simple yes or no question. I didn't come into your life, Noah. You came back into mine and I'm just here trying to understand what it means."

"It means I need for you to leave, Eden." Noah turned and opened the door. He continued speaking, but kept his back to his ex. "You can't... You can stay in Los Angeles. You can stay at Spencer. You just can't come to my home and ask me if I still love you."

"And you can't even lie and tell me that you don't." Eden walked out of the apartment. When she was in the hall, she looked to Noah. "This isn't fair, Noah. Not to me and not to RJ."

And Noah didn't care. He released the door and took the few steps to Eden. He put his hands on either side of her face and he kissed her. At first, she was shocked, but then she joined him. Her scent was familiar but different. Her taste tingled at the back of his mind but it wasn't what he remembered. She had changed and he had changed and he kept kissing her anyway.

"You should stop," Eden warned Noah. Both of her hands were on his chest and she pushed him away. "RJ could step off that elevator at any minute. Is this what you want him to see? And why did you kiss me? Why would you do that?"

Scared out of his mind, Noah walked backwards into the loft and slammed the door in Eden's face.

B&B

"It's going perfectly," the woman pretending to be Eden told her visitor. "He thinks I'm her. He kissed me of his own volition."

"Good. That means it's time for me to step up my end of things. Bill Spencer doesn't know about me?"

"Not a clue. Does that bitch Taylor Hayes know who you are?" She opened the hotel room's mini fridge and pulled out two beers. The woman offered one to her coconspirator but he declined.

"She doesn't even know my alias, 'Eden'. And I'm fairly certain I've scared her into shutting her damn mouth."

The woman sat one bottle on her bed and twisted the other open. "That's good. But why are you in on this? What does Victor Newman have over you?"

The man who claimed to be "Thad Pasado" rose to his feet and touched the woman's face with the back of his hand. "You are an expensive imitation of Eden Baldwin, and that may be enough for that idiot Noah Newman, but the old man promised me the real thing if we pull this off."

"Eden" smashed her bottle of beer against the wall and held the jagged remainder to "Thad's" throat. "Don't you talk about him like that. I will kill you. Victor needs me, but you're redundant. Never forget that you're Plan B."

He grabbed her wrist and twisted it until she dropped the bottle, then he threw her onto the bed and laughed. "Do you know how often Plan A fails? There's a reason there's always a backup."

"Then why don't you show me?" The woman laughed and shrugged off her jacket. "It's okay, 'Thad'. I know you aren't really gay. I know everything about you."

Leaning onto the bed and into her body, "Thad" whispered into the woman's ear. "You wouldn't be a very good officer if you didn't do a background check."

Then he pulled away and watched as the colour drained from her face. "Unlike your precious Noah, I don't care for bootlegs. Have a good evening, my dear Courtney."