Brooke hugged Noah. She was terrified. When she got the call about RJ, she had left the office in Amber's completely incapable hands because her son had fallen out of a third story window. "What did the doctors say?" she asked, not ready to let Noah go. "They aren't releasing any information to me because I'm not family. You might want to ask at the nurse's station," Noah told Brooke, awkwardly patting her back. Pulling away, she nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Who else did you call?" "Just Liam. He was already at Spencer when it happened and rode over with me, but I don't have anyone else's number," Noah explained. Brooke gave him her phone and he looked at it. "What?" "Use that. Call Ridge if Liam hasn't already. Call everyone you can think of. I need to... I need to see my son." B&B "You let that woman throw RJ out a window!" Maya screamed at Bill after the police had finished questioning them. "You didn't do a damn thing to stop her. He could die!" "Are you done? I have a mountain of paperwork waiting for me, some of which you idiots knocked off my desk during that fight, and I'm already behind." Bill picked up the files from his floor, then stared at Maya. "Or do you have more to say about things you don't understand?" "Actually, I do." The man could try all he wanted, but Maya refused to be intimidated. Her secret was out. Any leverage he had was gone. "Why did you do it, Bill? Why did you out me?" "And what makes you think I did anything? Why would I bother telling the world your name used to be Michael?" Bill walked away from Maya and sat behind his desk, ignoring the shattered panel of glass directly behind him and slamming the files down. "It was Myron, and you will never call me that. My name is Maya, you overgrown child. And I know you did it because I remember you blackmailing me a couple years ago. Or did you forget that like you forgot to keep Eden from choking the hell out of RJ?" "What is your point? Even if I did out you, and I'm not saying I did, it isn't illegal. You were the one misrepresenting yourself as a woman." "I AM A WOMAN!" Maya yelled. "I have always been a woman. Just like you've always been a jackass." "This is a waste of my time. Unless you have something interesting to say, I suggest you leave. Unless you want the paparazzi to see my security team escorting you out of the building." Bill turned his chair around to face the broken window and waved to the photographers and reporters looking up at him. "You're despicable," Maya spat. B&B Noah had called Ridge. It seemed the press knew something had happened at Spencer, but nobody was quite sure exactly what occurred. When Noah explained to his ex-boyfriend's father that RJ had fallen out of a window and hit pavement, that he was in surgery and the doctors wouldn't tell him anything, Ridge didn't take it well. He went through the denial and the anger pretty quickly, but Noah hadn't heard Ridge reach acceptance before the call was ended. Similar things happened with everyone else he talked to, though each had their own variation. Donna screamed, Katie cried, and Steffy didn't answer the phone. When he called Amber, she said she already knew. Brooke had told her, then left her in charge of L&M. She asked Noah how he was doing. He hadn't thought about how he was feeling about any of it. After all, it happened because of him. They were fighting over him. Eden had tried to kill RJ because of him. He didn't know how he felt about it. Noah didn't know how he felt about the one name in Brooke's phone he recognized but had yet to call: Pasado, Thad. While Noah wasn't certain it was the same Thad that RJ had mentioned, it didn't seem to be a coincidence. What was the etiquette for this situation? Was he supposed to give a heads up to the man for whom RJ had left him? After all, they had been sleeping together. RJ said himself he was staying with the man. It sounded more serious than Noah liked, but he and RJ weren't involved anymore: besides, Thad hadn't tried to kill anybody. Noah took a deep breath and dialed the number. Each ring made his heart beat just a little harder. It almost stopped when the call was answered. "Hi, Brooke. What do you need?" There were a million things Noah wanted to say. Did Thad know RJ had a boyfriend? Did he care? Was he in love with RJ the way Noah was? "This isn't Brooke. It's Noah Newman," he said nervously. "Oh." There was a pause that proved Thad was aware of who he was. "RJ's ex? This is weird. Why do you have my boss's phone? Is Brooke okay?" Closing his eyes, Noah grabbed at his hair with his free hand pulled. He had no idea what he was doing. "Brooke's fine, Thad. It's about RJ. There was a... He fell out of a window at Spencer Publications and hit hit head. He's at UCLA." There was another long pause that Noah couldn't read. He couldn't think about anything other than how he had driven RJ into this man's bed. Noah wanted to hate Thad, but he couldn't. Thad wasn't the one who came between RJ and Noah. Thad wasn't the one who threw RJ out of a window. Noah opened his eyes and looked through the window into Eden's room. She had landed on top of RJ; he took most of the damage. "Is he okay?" "I don't know." "I'll be there as soon as I can. Thank you, Noah." Before Noah could say anything else, Thad ended the call. Noah stowed Brooke's phone in his pocket and reached for the handle to Eden's room. He didn't open it. B&B "Hello?" Taylor opened the door to the beach house but nobody was there. "Quinn? Wyatt? It's Taylor. You wanted to talk?" No answer came, so Taylor let herself in and closed the door. She walked through the foyer and into the living room. There was screaming: Taylor didn't realize she was the one screaming until she stopped to take a breath. She started to pull out her phone, but something heavy and wooden knocked it from her hand, then struck her upside the head. "No. Please," Taylor begged when she saw her attacker. "You don't have to do this." "I want her back, Taylor," Sheila Carter said as she stomped what remained of Taylor's phone. "You locked me up in that clinic and you took my daughter, and if you don't tell me where Diana is you'll end up just like those two." Taylor looked back over to Quinn and Wyatt, both of whom looked at her with dead, glassy eyes. "What did you do to them?" Gripping the 2x4, Sheila swung and Taylor heard the sound of her kneecap shattering before the pain blossomed from the point of impact. Sheila used her free hand to grab Taylor by the hair and drag the screaming woman across the floor, throwing her in front of the roaring fireplace. "They aren't dead, Taylor. Just incapacitated for awhile. Maybe forever. You won't be that lucky if you don't start answering my questions. Sheila pulled the red hot poker out of the fireplace with the hand that wasn't wielding the piece of lumber. Again, the sound of Taylor's screams rang through the beach house as Sheila branded the psychiatrist. "Now where is she, you bitch? Where is my Diana?!" B&B Courtney was awake when he entered. She had pretended to sleep the entire time Noah watched her, but eventually he had left to check on that fool RJ. She could move her toes, but the morphine drip was so strong that she couldn't do much more than that. "I'm so glad you're here. You need to help me escape before the cops start guarding my room." He smiled at her and held a finger to his lips as he shut the door and closed the blinds. It was then that she noticed the gloves on his hands. She wanted to scream, but her voice couldn't manage anything above a whisper. "Don't worry, Eden. Victor is taking care of everything. Nobody will ever know that either one of us was involved in this. And he's not upset with you. If RJ dies, then you will still have completed your original mission. Just remember that you were never guaranteed Noah's affections." The lock clicked and he slowly walked to the machines monitoring her condition. She watched him, too scared to say anything. "What is the order again?" He reached out and began hitting buttons. Courtney reached for the button that would call the nurse, but she was so tired that she couldn't do it before he saw her. The man slapped her hand and pulled the remote away. "I just want some alone time with you, is all. Is that too much to ask?" "Please, Ricky..." she begged before he put his gloved hand over her mouth and tutted. "It's Thad now, 'Eden'. Ricky Williams died: just like Courtney Sloan. You know this," he said in a gentle voice, as though he were answering the question of a curious child. "Now just lay there and let me take care of everything. You'll be out of this hospital soon enough. And if you're lucky, they'll all forget this blood type nonsense that is sure to come up. "The real Eden is O positive, but it's not your fault. It's not like you can just stop being A negative. Dr. Fascinella is good, but he doesn't have the ability to alter biology. And Victor had her medical records altered, but not Noah's memory. Not that it matters. Soon, none of it will." Ricky pulled his hand from Courtney's mouth and reached into the pocket of his jacket. It was almost summer and they were in California. Why did he need a coat? "Victor really isn't mad about what happened to RJ, but you also attacked his grandson. And you did all of this publicly. That was ill-advised. Eventually the police the will question you. We can't run the risk that you'll say something that could undo all the work we've done." Ricky pulled out a small amber bottle and a syringe. Courtney tried again to scream, but ended up coughing instead. Ignoring her, Ricky filled the syringe with whatever poison he had, then tested it. Satisfied, he grabbed her IV and felt the hose for the port where medications were added. "Oh, right, you might rip it out," Ricky noted. He adjusted the flow of morphine to its maximum, her limbs were already too heavy to stop him. "I promise, this won't hurt a bit. You'll just go to sleep like Noah Newman did when you collected your samples. Victor was going to let you carry his great grandchild. You could have had it all, but you just couldn't control yourself." Ricky shook his head and tutted again as he injected the poison into Courtney's IV. She felt nothing, but imagined that it would probably burn if she could. "Goodbye, my dear. I have to go check on my lover that you almost killed. I do hope he survives: there is something very special in the works for RJ and I would hate for it to be shelved due to an untimely demise. It's quite exciting." With a smile, Ricky pocketed the syringe and the vial of poison. He looked Courtney over, then left. She spent her last moments thinking of Noah. B&B "Aly, are you sure you're up to this? It'll be direct defiance of Rick." Steffy wished she were able to trust someone more stable, but her cousin was just clueless enough that she could be manipulated without fear of reprisal. Nodding, Aly looked over the designs. "They're really good, Steffy. Why aren't we selling them? And why do I have to say they're mine?" "We will be selling them, Aly. People just can't know I made them because then they would write them off as being from Ridge Forrester's daughter. But if this is a success, Rick will have no choice but to greenlight your shoe line. And your shoes are brilliant," Steffy lied. Aly smiled and bounced in her seat. "Okay, Steffy. It's a deal! When is the press conference?" "Tomorrow. I'll do all the talking. You just show up and make sure to say nothing to Rick," Steffy warned, patting Aly on the cheek. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to finalize a few things." "Do you want me to come with you?" Steffy shook her head. "No, Aly. I need you to stay here and wait for the mockups. They need to be perfect for tomorrow. Call me as soon as they arrive." B&B "I got here as soon as I could." Noah didn't know the man who stood in the waiting room, hands on his knees and breathing heavily, but he recognized his voice. "Thad?" Unsure of what to do with his hands, Noah stuck them in his back pockets. He looked up at the ceiling because he didn't want to look at RJ's new boyfriend. "Oh. You're Noah. I know your... From the phone, I mean." He made a hand motion and Noah looked down to see that he was imitating hold a phone. He really was handsome. For a moment, Noah almost understood why RJ had cheated with him. Then he remembered that RJ had cheated with him and let himself grow angry. "Yeah. I'm Noah." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms over her chest, adopting as confrontational a stance as he could. "And you're the asshole who stole my boyfriend." "It wasn't like that, Noah. We weren't... It just happened. And this isn't the time. Is RJ okay?" Sighing, Noah mentally agreed that it was the wrong place and time for a fight. And it wasn't like this Thad had actively pursued RJ. It was more that Noah drove RJ away with his inability to get over Eden. Everything was such a mess. "I don't know. Brooke and Liam are with the doctor. I guess Liam is legally his cousin or something so they let him into the room until everyone else arrived. Ridge and Caroline, that's RJ's dad and his fiancee, they're in the cafeteria." "And you're here..." Thad said slowly. "With me," Noah finished for him. "Maya should be coming soon if she can get past the press. Security has already thrown out three people with camera phones trying to take pictures." "Oh. Good. I like Maya. Shame what happened to her." "Yeah." Noah narrowed his eyes. "I like her, too. Too bad for you her ex-fiance is straight." Thad threw his hands into the air. "What do you want from me? An apology?" "It would be a start." "Keep waiting," Thad snarled. "I don't regret a single second I spent with RJ. It's not my fault you didn't appreciate what you had." Noah wanted to punch the man. Who the hell was he to talk like that when he was the one cheating with RJ? He may have been hot, but Thad was the piece of shit who knowingly fucked a guy with a boyfriend. "I'm going to go find out how MY MAN is doing. That is why we're here, Noah. Or did you forget that RJ fell out of a window?" Thad brushed by Noah on his way to the nurses' station. It took all of Noah's self-control to keep from lashing out. When Thad turned the corner and disappeared from his sight, Noah sat down. All he could do was wait.