Taylor sat on her patio relaxing and listening to music. Her thoughts returned to the brief encounter with Ridge. Now with a little distance, she wondered if she had overreacted a little bit and had been too harsh with him, but the situation completely overwhelmed her and actually, it had been a great feeling to finally give him a piece of her mind. She had called Thomas and Steffy and they had confirmed, her father had had no clue about her whereabouts. They had also told her the idea with the store had come from Eric and Ridge had accepted the offer to get some distance after the separation from Brooke. The two of them had explained to her, they hadn't told either of them that the other lived in town, because they had decided to stay out of it for good and just let things take their course. Taylor could understand her children's point of view, but a little warning would have been fine, even if it wouldn't have changed the current situation. She tried to come to terms with the idea of living in the same town as Ridge for the next few months. No matter what his ideas were, she was not going to be his shoulder to cry on. Those days were over once and for all.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. Taylor was surprised at first, because she wasn't expecting any visitors, but since it was the front door, it must have been someone she knew. Probably it was just Susan who wanted to drop by for a cozy chat. Elated, Taylor opened the door, but when she saw who was standing there, she froze again.

"Ridge?! I can't believe it! Are you starting to turn into a stalker now and how did you even get in here? The building is under surveillance at night."

Furious, Taylor glared at him. Immediately she wanted to slam the door, but Ridge, who had expected this reaction, held the door with his foot.

"Well let's just say I told the security guy a heartwarming story and pretended to be your husband. I showed him an old wedding picture of us, I still had in my wallet."

"WHAT and he fell for that? Oh that guy is going to be in big trouble!"

Taylor wanted to pick up the house phone to complain, but Ridge stopped her.

"Give the poor man a break, put your anger on me if you must let it out, but you also could be happy to see me and do me the favor of listening to me for five minutes."

"Why should I grant you that wish? Are you respecting my wishes?! I asked you to leave me alone and what do you do?! Again you were following me."

She made a new attempt to slam the door, but Ridge intervened again. By now his temper was gone. Emotionally he let out all his frustration.

"Now listen to me! You just disappeared overnight without talking to anyone. I don't know if you can even imagine what a shock that was for Thomas and Steffy or for me and the rest of the family. You just decided for yourself to start a new life and we all had to deal with it, whether we wanted to or not! You just decided to reject any contact, you didn't even want anyone to know where you even live. And although it was damn hard and really not easy for me, I respected your decision. Even when you didn't find it a necessity to spend Christmas with your own children for whatever reason. The fact is, for more than half a year now we've all been playing by your rules until today. I think enough time has passed, for you to come around and I don't mean it's too much to ask that we turn the tables now."

Taylor was touched by his violent outburst, she had to admit, he had a point with what he said, but she didn't want to give in that easily.

"I don't owe you anything, we're not married. I'm warning you, I'm going to count to three and then you're out of here!"

Ridge glared at her firmly and didn't move an inch.

"One!" Ridge continued to grin at her impassively.

"Two!" Ridge takes a small step forward.

"Three!"

Taylor was about to close the door, at the same moment Ridge was about to push past her, but she was a tiny moment faster so Ridge got the door with full force against his head. He cried out in pain and staggered back. Taylor could hear him cursing through the closed door. A little worried, she looked through the peephole. She saw Ridge holding his forehead with both hands and moaning. A little sympathy stirred in her, she had wanted to get rid of him but not to hurt him. Sheepish, she opened the door and rushed to him.

"Are you alright? Sorry, I didn't mean to injure you!"

Ridge was still holding the painful spot on his forehead where a distinct bump could be seen by now.

"Ow, that fucking hurts, you've got quite a swing on you. Have you been working out lately?"

Taylor wanted to take a closer look at his injury, but since the lighting in the hallway was very dim, she let him inside her apartment after all. Relieved to have at least achieved this goal, Ridge entered and dropped into the first available chair.

"Now get your hands off and let me see." Taylor looked at his bump and scanned it.

"Hey,watch it, that hurts!"

"Don't be such a baby! You're a grown man after all!"

"Wow, thank you for your endless compassion! Do you treat all your patients with such empathy?"

"No! This is my special treatment for particularly difficult cases." Taylor continued to examine the bump, but was trying to be more careful now.

"Doesn't seem too bad. You'll probably just have quite a horn tomorrow."

"Great!"

"Do you have any other pain anywhere?"

"No, my head's just still buzzing pretty hard."

"Are you feeling kind of nauseous or like you're going to throw up?"

"No!"

"Are you seeing blurry or double?"

"No!"

Taylor rummaged in her desk drawers until she found her small flashlight.

"Look at me."

She shined with the flashlight in one eye and then the other. Satisfied, she put the flashlight away again.

"Well it doesn't look like you have a concussion. Wait a minute." She disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a coolpack and a towel, she wrapped the cool pack into the towel and pressed it on his bump.

"Ahh that's cold, it makes my brain freeze."

Unimpressed by his grumblings, she grabbed his arm and instructed him to continue cooling his forehead.

"Leave it on for a while, if you're lucky the swelling will go down and the bump won't be quite so big tomorrow."

"Thanks!" replied Ridge a little more conciliatory, but Taylor only replied emotionless.

"Don't get too cocky, I'm only doing this so you can't charge me with failure to render assistance."

Ridge smirked at her comment. As he continued to cool his forehead, he observed her like she was running around the room. She seemed pretty uncomfortable. All at once it bursted out of him

"You must really hate my guts!"

With this remark, Taylor's facade collapsed, she was rattled. No longer upset, but rather sad, she glanced at him.

"I don't hate you! But what I really don't like is when you just walk all over me and try to get your way without thinking about what effect it would have on me."

"I really didn't mean to run you over and maybe you're right, sometimes I really do act too impulsive, but all I want is to talk to you for five minutes."

"Well, since you are supposed to cool your bump anyway, I guess you have the opportunity now. So go ahead, say what you want to say!"

Ridge was a little startled at first, but then he pulled himself together and made his request.

"I know I hurt you a lot back then and my behavior on Mother's confession was hard for you to take and I may have behaved a little insensitive towards you, but I never had a chance to explain myself to you or to rectify the situation."

"I don't think there is too much left to say about the situation, your reaction spoke for itself and showed your true feelings."

"I still have plenty to say. I know you are an independent emancipated woman, you definitely don't owe me any justification but we have two kids together and they deserve parents who at least are able to be together in a room and talk to each other without killing each other. All I want is for us to talk about everything, to let all the skeletons out of the closet, so that we can make peace with each other. I'm aware, our relationship will probably never be the same again, but at least peace between us should be possible."

"Do I get you right, if I agree to this heart to heart, you will stop stalking me and showing up anywhere?"

"Yes, as I said all I want is to sort things out with you and your reaction to me shows that you also have some unresolved feelings."

Taylor became very thoughtful, basically she knew he was absolutely right about everything. However, she was not sure if she was ready for such a conversation. She hesitated for a while but finally she nodded in agreement.

"All right. Probably it's really time for us to clear up some things between us."

Ridge was most pleased with her response.

"Thank you. Just say when and where and I'll be there."

"Mhh tomorrow I already have plans, so how about the day after tomorrow, Sunday? I have an obligation in the afternoon but we could meet in the morning around 9 am?"

"Okay and where?"

"There's a small park not far from here, I think that would be a suitable place. Fresh air certainly would be good, so let's say Sunday at 9 am by the first bench right behind the entrance?"

"Alright! Then I think I'll head out now. Thanks for the coolpack!"

"That was the least I could do and sorry again."

"It's okay, it was good for something. Goodbye until Sunday!"

"Bye until Sunday!"

Taylor escorted him out the door, taking a deep breath after he was gone. What had she gotten herself into?

The next day, she spontaneously met Susan for brunch. She had used a white lie when she had told Ridge, she already had plans for today. She just needed a little more time to prepare herself mentally for this meeting. Anxious, she told Susan about yesterday and the planned date. Susan was the only one in San Francisco who knew all the details of her complicated love story with Ridge.

"Well, I say that's an excellent idea, at some point you're going to have to work out your conflicts and get back to acting normal with each other. You can't avoid each other for the rest of your life."

"I know, but still honestly I have no clue what I should say to him and actually I don't want to bring up all the bad memories again."

"Just be honest with him, be honest about your feelings, what all his behavior triggered in you back then. I mean if he wants a frank discussion then take the opportunity, relentlessly and regardless of the consequences."